Opinion / Columnist

No sooner had Vice-President Mnangagwa returned from emergency surgery in South Africa for poisoning than Grace Mugabe announced that the President himself had been afflicted. Giving, if anything, too much information, she said her husband had been laid low with diarrhoea by food poisoning and had been unable to rise from his bed for two weeks.Mugabe had apparently felt so close to death that he had summoned Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, who is not only tipped to succeed him but is also apparently a trained doctor so he must have been useful with bedpans etc.The Vigil doubts that our Marxist President will ever get over the Trots. He is set in his ways. But his flight to New York accompanied by an entourage of 70 stinks enough anyway, with every member of the delegation getting an allowance of $1,500 a day for their 10 day trip to the 5 day UN summit.Most of the Mugabe family is going on the jaunt. But whether the President's toddler grandson Simbanashe also qualifies for $1,500 a day to change his nappies is open to question.Appropriately, the UN meeting is devoted to sustainable development of which Zimbabwe of course is a model. The world observes in wonder how Zimbabweans survive with no development whatsoever, sustainable or not, and everyone will listen open-mouthed as Mugabe defends North Korea against unprovoked US aggression.Of course, it is possible that they are open-mouthed because they are being sick at the hypocrisy of a geriatric who talks crap about Zimbabwe's economy rebounding when it is clearly going down the loo.While the Mugabe mafia milks millions of dollars in hard currency on their New York shopping spree, Zimbabwean companies are being driven out of business because of their inability to get foreign exchange to pay for essential imports. It seems as if the sh*t has hit the fan and the stench is overwhelming the country.
Sep 17, 2017 | By Julia

Self-described bionic pop artist Viktoria Modesta is taking the art world by storm. The Latvian model, musician, and artist has been making quite the name for herself since 2007, when she her left leg was amputated below the knee. Rather than shy away from the limelight, however, Modesta has done anything but, and instead refocused her art around her groundbreaking collection of custom, often 3D printed, prosthetics.

The high-profile collaborations with renowned museums, designers, and art institutions have been almost too numerous to count. About three years ago, Modesta and BBCs Channel 4 teamed up for Prototype, the pioneering music video that saw the Latvian performance artist dance on a pointed wooden leg. First airing during the finale of UKs popular X Factor show, Modestas video premiered to an estimated 10 million viewers. Since then, the bionic pop artist has continued to dominate the media with exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design and Viennas MAK Museum, in addition to her solo show Robotic Couture at acclaimed Dutch exhibition hall Enschede.

Now, Modesta has launched a revolutionary new project with long time collaborator Anouk Wipprecht, the Dutch designer whose work most notably criss-crosses fashion and technology. Sonifica is the duos new set of custom-made prosthetics unlike anything youve ever seen before. The partially 3D printed pieces (which currently include a prosthetic leg and a bodice) go beyond form and function, catapulting into the realm of musical performance. The bodice is particularly impressive, featuring two protruding tusks that effectively act as a modulator, similar to a pair of theremins. At the same time, aesthetics are far from forgotten. The tusks create a different silhouette, Modesta remarked. It gives you a more animalistic skeleton, but also has almost a sexual addition to the body.

Produced in collaboration with Miami-based architecture firm Monad Studio, Modesta and Wipprechts Sonica was recently exhibited at international art fair Art Basel Miami. There, Modesta stole the show with her live backing band, greeting the packed crowd with ethereal music emanating from her prosthetic tusks, and successfully intertwining music, art, fashion, technology, and performance. According to the Latvian-born star, thats precisely the point. Youve got science and art mixing in such an intense way, and you dont know where its going to go, Modesta said. Considering that the groundbreaking collaboration was sponsored by 3D printing giant Autodesk, its safe to say that 3D printing technology will continue to play an important role in Modesta and Wipprechts future creations, regardless of where they go next.

Anouk Wipprecht

Images courtesy of Anouk Wipprecht



Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Opinion / Letters

Dear Editor,I wish to commend President Mugabe for being a shining beacon to Zimbabwe's economy and Africa at large.Whilst other nations are mopping up ideas on how to improve their nations at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the opposition is thriving to seek relevance by staging demos, sadly the MDC North America chapter miscalculated, as they failed to at attract even 10 people to fight for their cause.My advice to MDC is that if at all they anticipate at luring supporters; borrow a leaf or two from the President.The United Nations (UN) even acknowledged that Zimbabwe's task to domesticate Agenda 2030 to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) had so been a stroll in the park because the country was already rallying behind its own national economic blueprint, Zim-Asset which tallied with the global vision.Zimbabwe went on to record significant economic growth over the past year with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revising Zimbabwe's 2017 economic growth upwards from -2,5% to 2% having seen progressive development in the economy.This same shared vision has also been cascaded down to fellow African countries after President Mugabe donated USD $1 million to the African Union in an effort to facilitate economic sovereignty by lessening dependence on foreign aid.In South Africa, during the 27th conference of the World Economic Forum for Africa, nations were advised to adopt new business models and policies which promote import substitution, limit raw material exportation, formalizing the informal sector; a replica of the Zim-Asset model.So, as long as imperialists feel threatened by President Mugabe's potential to unite Africa into rising and demanding what's rightfully theirs, foreign demos will always be sponsored.While oppositional politics and foreigners aim at tainting President Mugabe's image, the majority of Africans ululate to this iconic figure, whose stewardship has guided them to this day.
Congress leader Narayan Rane hit out at Maharashtra Congress Chief Ashok Chavan and the partys state in-charge Mohan Prakash for the decision to dissolve the district committee in Sindhudurg.

Sindhudurg in coastal Maharashtra is Ranes home district, and most office-bearers of the local Congress organisation were believed to be close to him.

Chavan on Saturday decided to dissolve the district and block-level committees of the party in Sindhudurg.

Rane, who has been openly critical of the partys state leadership, said he would visit Sindhudurg on Monday.

I will go to Sindhudurg and meet my party workers. There will be some decision during this Navratri festival, he said.

For quite some time there are speculations in political circles that Rane may join the ruling BJP.

He had conceded that he met BJP President Amit Shah in Ahmedabad a few months ago. During the Ganesh festival, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had visited Ranes residence, fuelling the speculation further.

Speaking to a news channel today, Rane said, The Sindhudurg district Congress committee was dissolved only because of Mohan Prakash and Ashok Chavan, because they never liked me from the day one.

The party appointed Vikas Sawant as the Chief of Sindhudurg Congress. Targeting Sawant, Rane said, He cannot even win a single seat for the party. On what basis he has been appointed as the district Chief?

Those who took efforts to gain power for the party are being spurned. They are denied rewards, and insignificant people are given the responsibility, said Rane, a former Shiv Sena leader who was once Chief Minister and who joined the Congress in 2005.

About Ashok Chavan, Rane said, He has been opposing me consistently within the Congress. The kind of presence Congress has in all power centres in Sindhudurg, Chavan has not been able to achieve it in his own district. More than 10 corporators of Nanded Waghala Municipal Corporation are likely to desert him.

The assurances given to me at the time of joining Congress have not been fulfilled, Rane alleged.
All those politicians who justified atrocities towards north Indians in Mumbai are today silent on Rohingya Muslims migrating to the City. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi once refused to wear skullcap, but received Abe and his wife Akie Abe at the mosque. Since BJP came to power the population of Rohingya Muslim illegal immigrants have gone up from 10,000 to 40,000. Many of them possess Indian Passport, Aadhar card, pan card. India is decoyed in poverty but the migrants were never a subject of concern for state politicians.

Indias national security fears are based on the inputs received on Arakan Rohingya Salvation Armys connection with Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) has a Pakistan chapter, and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa front Falah-e-Insaniyat had a presence in Rohingya refugee camps in 2012. Rohingya crisis came to limelight, first time on August 12, 2012 at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. A large crowd of Muslims assembled at the venue to protest against the Assam riots and the Rakhine riots in Myanmar, which were a confrontation between the Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. The crowds soon turned violent which led them to vandalise public property, molesting women cops, and desecrating the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial. The riots led to the death of two people. Many police officers were injured and public properties were destroyed.

Those days Rohingyas had made their way, all the way from Myanmar through Bangladesh, to illegally enter India. We all know India is already cursed with Bangladeshi Muslim migrants. With their conditions pitiable and them enduring the long and traitorous journey, they seemed to have found a safe haven in Hyderabad where various Islamic organisations extended their help, as social media messages had already flared up passions. Even, in Mumbai most of the Muslim dominating areas have not only given shelter to these migrants they are well protected by Indian political groups.

Their status of being oppressed minorities in process of rehabilitation slowly started to change after reports started emerging in 2013 about some of the Rohingyas getting radicalised by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to avenge the sectarian violence in Myanmar. The retribution though, for some strange reason, was also aimed at India, which ironically gave them the shelter. Perhaps presence of Buddhists in India was one of the reasons. Some political parties may back them for their vote bank politics, but in long term they are damaging the very right of Indians.

Currently there are about 40,000 Rohingyas in India out of which only 14,000 are officially registered. They remain concentrated in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. All this emerged after it was speculated that the Bodh Gaya blasts on July 7, 2013 were possibly retribution against the Buddhists for what was going on in Myanmar. This was almost confirmed after interrogations revealed that the blasts at the Buddhist shrine were aimed as a revenge for the Rohingyas.

In December 2014 the Hyderabad police put Rohingyas under surveillance. Khalid Mohammed, a Rohingya Muslim, was nabbed by the NIA in connection with the Burdwan blast in Oct 2014. Recently the people of Jammu have been actively protesting against the settlement of Rohingyas in the state. Reports indicate that there has been a sharp rise in the number of refugees from 5,107 in 2010 to about 13,400 in June, 2016. The security forces there too have started perceiving the Rohingyas there as a security threat after one of the two foreign militants killed in a shootout in south Kashmir turned out to be a native of Myanmar. This has also led to feeling of anger and anguish among many Indians that while the Rohingyas are being settled in Jammu and Ladakh, efforts to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandits were being opposed.

However, the issue might need quick resolution as the rise in this new ethnic group, especially along Indias eastern border poses a severe security threat and challenges of illegal immigration. Last month, India cautioned Myanmar about the long known exploitation of Rohingyas at the hands of Pakistan based terrorists. This might also prompt the Indian government too to rethink its stance of turning a blind eye to the illegal immigration, like it did for the Rohingyas chiefly in 2012 as there was domestic political pressure to allow them and international concern over human rights.

This settlement of the refugees may be the largest since India gave refuge to the Dalai Lama and 80,000 Tibetans who fled due to atrocities of the Chinese in 1959. However, the consequences are turning out to be very different in both the cases. In recent days, thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Burma have made their way to neighbouring Bangladesh and from there to India. Jawaharlal Nehru, Indias first Prime Minister personally welcomed Dalai Lama to India; India remains home to the Dalai Lama and about 110,000 Buddhist Tibetans, whose precise legal status in the country remains ambiguous.

BJP promised before elections that theyll clear the menace of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants if they come to power but did nothing till date on the issue. Rather, BJP is turning a blind eye towards Rohingya illegal immigrants. As a result of this, they grew by four times in numbers during BJP rule. Suddenly the government has woken up and are raking up Rohingya immigrant issue by deporting them. Other opportunistic parties too have jumped up to this opportunity and are issuing statements in favour of these illegal immigrants under the garb of humanitarian grounds. On one hand, BJP government is trying to hide its failure on Bangladeshi illegal immigrants by raking up Rohingyas deportation while opposition has got the opportunity to play their all-time favourite minority vote bank politics. Unfortunately, no party is bothered about National security and Indian tax payers money is being leeched by these illegal immigrants. Its nothing but playing politics over national interest.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are in London to hold an important meeting with the ex-premier, Nawaz Sharif, on Monday to deliberate on the options and his future prospects after the Supreme Court rejected the review petitions of the his family in the Panamagate case.

Some PML-N circles believe the political environment is not conducive for Sharifs return and hence, he has been advised to stay in London for some time.

The PML-N leadership is waiting to see the outcome of the NA-120 by-elections.

Insiders have said that ex-premier Sharif and his family hoped that the court might provide some breathing space to Sharif by ruling that his disqualification was not for lifetime, but only for his (third) term as premier.

However, after the court adopted a toughened stance on the issue and made strong remarks about the respondents in addition to rejecting the review petitions, Sharif had silently postponed the plan to land back in Pakistan in the coming days, The Express Tribune reported.

Ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has summoned Prime Minister Abbasi, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and his close confidante of the PML-N to London to discuss the appointment of a regular N-League chief, Sharifs return to Pakistan, his disqualification by the Supreme Court as well as N-Leagues future strategy.

He added that Sharif might decide to land in Pakistan soon, in case his wife won the NA-120 contest with a thumping majority.

The Prime Ministers political advisor Ameer Muqam said that the plan to fly to London was on the cards, but insisted that it had not been finalised.








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Myanmar, formerly Burma, is as much a criminal state as Israel has been and as a criminal state it has been fully engaged in killing people. Muslims has been its favorite target for centuries and when Burma became Myanmar the new constitutional extra fittings made the state persecution of Muslims fairly easier.

The story of pathetic existence of Muslims in Myanmar and their ill treatment by Burmese military, police and criminalized Buddhist monks has been narrated by many world writers. Since USA and other world powers back the military regime in Myanmar the crimes continue unabated. USA and Israel sell terror goods to Myanmar so that the military could deal with Muslims.

What has been happening to Rohingya Muslims for decades of persecution by the military regime is nothing short of holocaust. That the UNSC does not take any steps to end persecution of and genocides of Muslims makes the situation explosive and worst. Burmese regime does not want any Muslim to be alive.

US-Israel terror twins have been aiming to end the Palestinian race once for all and the genocides and military expansionism inside Palestinian territories. They also support the Burmese Buddhist criminals to murder Muslims so that populations of Islam are reduced sharply. Already US led NATO and other rogue states are ransacking energy rich Islamic nations, destabilizing them, killing Muslims in millions.

Israel continues to arm Burma military amid ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims. Following the hoax known as 9/11 tragedy, the Zionist-Israeli-led America has been taking unjustified revenge of the Holocaust from the Muslims in particular.

Owing to collaboration of the US-led Israel and India with the past and present regimes of Myanmar that general masses, belonging to Buddhism have been incited against Rohingya Muslims, which has, now, resulted into humanitarian catastrophe.

Because of inaction by the US-led international community, this crisis can destabilize the whole region by jeopardizing political and economic interests of America and other Western countries.

Continued genocides and attacks on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is an international shame- a shame for international community. .

Worlds most persecuted humans

Rohingya Muslims have been called one of the worlds most persecuted people.in addition to their almost total lack of legal rights, many have been regularly beaten by police, forced to do slave labor and jailed for little or no reason.

Historically, Rohingya Muslims arrived in Myanmar in early seventh century. The military junta always is allowed to play the pivotal role. It embarked on a systematic program of religious cleansing of the Burmese Muslims who are denied their basic rights, i.e. the right to freedom of movement, marriage, faith, identity, ownership, language, culture, citizenship, education etc. They have also been barred from government employment

Rakhine State or Arakan is one of the poorest provinces of Myanmar. Among the 3 million Rakhines, there are about 1.3 million Rohingyas in Rakhine State, who have been living there for centuries, and others are Buddhists who are in majority. In 1942, the criminal sections of majority Buddhists carried out massive genocide of Muslims and at least 150, 000 Muslims were massacred. During the military rule (1962-88) in Burma, Rohingyas were treated as foreigners and gradually their nationality was taken away. During that era, more than 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. Only 32600 were given formal protection as refugees.

Continued violence against minority and their ill treatment by the Myanmar government has annoyed the entire world, especially the Islamic world. Even as Muslims are targeted by the colonialist regimes in New Delhi and Tel Aviv, the perpetual crimes being committed against the Rohingya Muslims try to overtake them.

Even going by the UN estimates, over 1,000 people may have been killed in the crackdown launched by Myanmar army in Rakhine state. Approximately 500 Muslims were slain during the military operations, while it continues unabated. But media of some Islamic countries pointed out that more that 3000 Muslims have been killed since August 25, 2017 and more than 100,000 civilians have been displaced in Rakhine.

Accelerated state attack

Since August 25, this year, brutal military operations against the Rohingya Muslims across the Rakhine State accelerated in Myanmar, which forced thousands of the Muslims to migrate to Bangladesh. Some of them have gone to India too.

The Burmese regime has launched the Zionist type onslaught on Rohingya Muslims but the UNSC and world powers do not raise their otherwise loud voice against the military controlled regime in Myanmar.

In 2012, thousands of Burmese Muslims were butchered, while brutal methods of torturing, killing, inflicting physical and causing mental harm on them were employed by the extremist Buddhists. Instead of resolving the problem by protecting the minority Muslims, the Burmese military regime was being backed by the US clandestinely and supported the Buddhist rioters.

In 2012, eye witnesses had revealed that Buddhist extremists have torched several mosques, shops and houses of Muslims. Even Burmese military and police have been found involved in massacre, targeted killings, disappearances and rape of Muslim women.

In 1992, 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape the persecution, while more than 100,000 are living in the Gulf States, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand. Due to fear of extreme repression, Rohingya Muslims left the northern Arakan region, especially Buthidaung and Maungdaw.

Human rights groups raised the pressure on Aung San suu Kyi, the de facto head of Myanmars government and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who once embodied her countrys fight for democracy and human rights, has drawn international condemnation for failing to address ongoing rights abuses of the Muslim minority.

About 270,000 refugees, mostly Rohingya Muslims, have fled to Bangladesh in the last two weeks. During the crackdowns, security forces committed deliberate human rights violations such as mass gang rapes, merciless killings, brutal beatings, beheadings of babies and children, arson and looting the houses of the Rohingya Muslims. They razed several villages to the ground.

Like people from war ravaged Syria who throng European nations as refugees, exodus of Rohingya Muslims takes shelter in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The pictures on social media and migrated persons verify the rivers of blood, beheading of children and burning people aliveyou do not have to be a Muslim to protest this or discern the truth, any person with even a tiniest bit of humanity, as to their hearts will quiver with pain.

Nobel mischief

Generally, anti-Islamism has taken root sin in Nobel peace committee that chose persons to promote crimes against Muslims. Americas former President Barack Obama who was behind the massacre of the Muslims in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Syria and elsewhere in the world, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Same is true in case of Aung San suu Kyi who has been protecting the Israeli-led Western interests against the Muslims Suu is the recipient of Nobel peace prize as a reward for her endurance of persecution as she was persecuted by the military regime. But now she is also behind the military crimes against Muslims. She never criticized the crimes against Muslims.

It is known fact that the Nobel Prize was offered to Obama just after he assumed power at White house as the first ever black President. The impression gathered was that the Nobel Prize was offered to Obama as a token of appreciation of his diplomatic skills to outsmart the White Americans in his successful political fight to become the US president.

However, the Nobel was given to him, apparently, to encourage Obama to fearlessly continue with the US imperialist war launched by his Republican predecessor Bush Jr. in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Not only innocent looking Obama continued the terror wars in both Muslim nations, but also accelerated it in Afghanistan by all adding more troops and terror goods. Obama launched his sown terror war in North African Libya to kill President Col. Qaddafi and destabilize Libya. Obama knows he was not going to get another Nobel Prize in any case ad so kill Muslims.

US presidents behave alike.

Burden for Bangladesh

Bangladesh already hosts around 400,000 Rohingya from previous crises. Thousands are arriving in Bangladesh each day, joining already overcrowded camps of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar over decades of troubles. The UN refugee agency UNHCR gave the latest figure of 294,000 for the new arrivals.

The UN has appealed for urgent donations of $77 million. The Red Cross in Bangladesh welcomed the ceasefire pledge as aid agencies struggle to meet the needs of an overwhelming crisis, battling monsoon rains to deliver relief to people who have fled with few belongings. How can you handle such a big influx of people? They want shelter, they want a safe place, Misada Saif, Prevention and Communication Coordinator of the ICRC Bangladesh delegation, told AFP.

Cradling her naked screaming infant, Rohingya refugee Zohra Begum was close to tears as several hundred people were ordered to leave a strip of forest alongside the beach near Shamlapur, where families were clearing land with hoes to build shelters. We went to all the camps but there was no place to stay. That's why we came here, she told AFP. If we have to move from here, where will we go? We will die.

Better-known locally as Harakah al-Yaqin (Faith Movement), ARSA launched coordinated raids using hundreds of militants on August 25 on around 30 police posts and state offices in the north of Rakhine state.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say ethnic Rakhine Buddhists joined security forces in the indiscriminate killing of villagers. In an area split by claim and counterclaim, Rakhine villagers accuse militants of murdering their civilians while the government says fleeing Rohingya set fire to their own homes to foment fear and anger against the authorities.

At the makeshift camp near Shamlapur, Rohingya refugees doubted a ceasefire would allow their return any time soon. The Myanmar army is saying 'go away or we'll burn all of you'. How can we believe a ceasefire will have any effect? Hafez Ahmed, 60, told AFP. But Hashem Ullah, a 33-year-old farmer from a village west of Maungdaw, said he would return if I got compensation, and they accept us as Rohingya. How can we live like this here? he added, gesturing to the swampy earth.

ARSA says it is fighting to defend the Rohingya from persecution in Myanmar. But Myanmar regime labels them extremist Bengali terrorists intent on carving out an Islamic enclave for the Rohingya.

The army says it has killed only about 400 militants so far, while some Rohingya refugees have complained they were forced to fight by ARSA.

Pakistan summon Burmese envoy

While the global Muslims are perturbed by the continued violence against the Muslims in Burma, the Saudi-alliance of 40 Sunni countries keep dignified silence over the holocaust of Muslims in Myanmar, which emboldens the military to step up their terror operations on Muslims. The Sunni group was formed by America to promote sectarian divide in the Muslim world and to revive the fake global war on terror has also been criticized in Pakistan.

PM of Bangladesh and leader of the ruling party, Awami League (AL) Sheikh Hasina Wajid who came into power with the secret support of India is following Indian-policies against some Muslim countries, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan. She does not want opposition in the country as she wants to rule for ever. In order to stay in power, she criticizes Pakistan and arrests and kills Muslims on various charges. She does not sympathize with Muslims in Myanmar.

Global Muslim community has raised their voice of protest against the crimes committed against Muslims in Burma. Protests and rallies also erupted in Pakistan and Chechnya, including some other countries over a military campaign against the Muslims in Myanmar. Particularly, in Pakistan, thousands of people participated in the rallies in various cities to protest against the massacre of the Muslims in Burma. The general public of Pakistan is set gather across the country after the Friday Prayers.. The Jmmat-e-Islami Chief Siraj-ul-Haq earlier announced a protest rally in Islamabad to record protest at the Myanmar embassy but police is stopping the rally. But Siraj-ul-Haq is not willing to comply unless Myanmars ambassador is expelled from the country.

Pakistan summoned the Myanmar envoy on September 09 and lodged a strong protest over the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state, leading to the exodus of about 270,000 refugees to Bangladesh.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua summoned Myanmar's Ambassador to Pakistan U Win Myint and sought effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such violence, providing security to Rohingya Muslims, the Foreign Office said. She conveyed "a strong protest of the government and people of Pakistan at the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state in Myanmar", it said.

Janjua asked for upholding their rights to live and move without fear and discriminations, urgent investigations into recent violence against the Rohingya Muslims and holding accountable those involved in these serious crimes, it said. She said that as part of a durable settlement of the problem, the swift implementation of the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission was emphasized, which include urgent and sustained action to prevent violence, maintain peace, foster reconciliation, assure unhindered humanitarian access and address the issue of citizenship.

The Burmese envoy assured the foreign secretary to convey the concerns of the government and people of Pakistan to the Myanmar government, the foreign office added.

Turkish helping hand

Worlds largest democracies and economies refuse to support the persecuted Rohingya Muslims in any positive manner because they want to see the reduction of Islamic populations.

Only Turkey is the only European nation that comes with a timely help. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Endrogan has condemned the military crimes in Myanmar this has been happening for a long time now, innocent Muslims are being killed with extreme barbarism, not only in Burma but across the globe. Why does no one take any stand against themIs it because the Rohingya Muslims are not from Paris or BritainOr may be just because they are not Christians, Hindus or JewsIs being Muslim a crime..He would bring up the issue at the next UN general assembly. Nearly, 150,000 civilians from the Rohingya Muslim minority have now taken refuge in the relief camps of Bangladesh to escape the atrocities of the Burmas security forces. Turkey has requested Bangladeshi authorities to open your doors, adding Turkey would cover the costs associated with letting in more Rohingya Muslims.

Around 400,000 Rohingya refugees before the latest crisisstruggle to cope with the influxMany are sleeping in the open air and are in dire need of food and water after walking for days to reach safety. Despite Ankaras statement to pay the expenditures of the refugees, Bangladeshi government has closed the border, and more than 2,000 Muslims are trapped on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

In recent years, Turkey has been on an Islamic mission starting with helping the defenseless Palestinians in Gaza Strip. It raises its voice in defense of people of Kashmir.

Latest Burmese arrogance

Buddhist Myanmar does not recognize its stateless Muslim Rohingya community, labeling them as Bengalis  illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Like in Afghanistan and elsewhere, expansive state terrorism led in Myanmar emergence of terrorist groups to defend the Muslims. However, state sponsored Buddhist criminal gangs and military prowess cannot be fought successfully.

Rohingya militants, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), who sparked an army crackdown in Myanmar that has seen nearly 300,000 Rohingya flee to Bangladesh, on Sunday declared a unilateral ceasefire to allow aid to reach the increasingly desperate refugees. A further 27,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as well as Hindus have also fled violence that has gripped the northern part of the state.

The first ARSA attacks in October last year were less ambitious, but the subsequent military response by a security force notorious for its scorched earth response to insurgency sent 90,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border.

That means over a third of the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya in Rakhine state have fled in less than a year.

The United Nations said 294,000 bedraggled and exhausted Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since the militants' attacks on Myanmar security forces in Rakhine state on August 25 sparked a major military backlash.

Tens of thousands more are believed to be on the move inside Rakhine after more than a fortnight without shelter, food and water.

The backlash by security forces prompted the Rohingya exodus. International aid programs in Rakhine have been severely curtailed, as the fighting tore through parts of the state.

India's foreign ministry called for an immediate end to the violence, urging the situation be handled with restraint and maturity. But the Burmese government and military remain childish and fascist minded. Nobel peace laurite continues to enjoy the bloodshed in Myanmar.

Rohingya refugees say army operations against ARSA led to mass killings and the burning of hundreds of villages, sending them across the border.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) urged all humanitarian actors to resume aid delivery to all victims of humanitarian crisis irrespective of ethnic or religious background during the one-month ceasefire period until October 9. ARSA called on Myanmar to reciprocate this humanitarian pause in fighting.

There was no immediate response from Myanmar's military, but on Saturday authorities said they would set up three relief camps in Rohingya-majority areas.

Observation

Anti-Islamic forces relish Islamic blood. GST (global state terror) media lords promote Islamophobia and genocides of Muslims globally.

USA, whose double standards and double speaks are well known, is annoyed about the nuclear efforts of North Korea and Iran and threatens them to wind up its legitimate rights in the nuclear environment created illegally by Israel with US help but it notoriously shuts its globalized eyes on the military crimes of Myanmar against humanity.

Myanmar security forces enjoy attacking, killing and driving out Muslims as Pentagon and Mossad continue to applaud ruthless Burmese military action. Military in Myanmar is not scared of anybody or any power, not even the UNSC which is duty bound to protect the minorities in every nation. The Buddhist soldiers and civilians in Burma are attempting to cover up the massacre of the countrys Rohingya Muslim population by gathering their bodies and burning them.

Holocaust of the Muslims in Myanmar cannot be seen in isolation, as it is part of the worldwide holocaust which continues unabated against the Muslims and the Islamic countries. Under Trump administration, state terrorism in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories has been accelerated.

Extremist Buddhists have not only enjoyed the tacit assistance of politico-military regime, including CIA, Mossad and RAW, but are also being encouraged by Hindu religious extremists to wipe out the Muslims from Myanmar. As regards the present genocide of Muslims, Burmas Hindu organisations which are in collusion with Buddhists have been propagating that the latter are the most peaceful citizens, and called Muslims as trouble makers and terrorists.

The military regime used Aung San Suu Kyi to improve their foreign relations and get aid and investments from USA and other western countries.

Having economic interests in Myanmar, USA does not talk about democracy there, refuses to play a proactive role in helping the Muslims in Myanmar. USA cannot be otherwise, but the revered Pope, who criticizes private terrorists, does not condemn the state terrorism in Myanmar, also has no sympathetic word for the persecuted Muslims mainly because he would raise the issue if only Christians are attacked or killed in large numbers.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the UNO should undertake quick practical action in stopping the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims. Both the OIC and the UN Security Council must hold special sessions in this respect.

US double standard is part of its strategic game in Burma. In order to achieve their political and financial goals, he US, India and Israel had given a free hand to their secret agencies CIA, Mossad and RAW to support the previous military regimes repression of its people and particularly of Muslimswhich is also part of the ongoing anti-Muslim campaign, noted in some other Muslim countries. Yet, US leaders talk about democracy and rule of law.

Unfortunately, Muslims do not have a unified world leader to raise such state criminal issues concerning genocides of Muslims. Absence of a global leader to represent Muslims has been advantage for the anti-Islamic rogue states.

Holocaust of Rohingya Muslims by military-majority fascism of Myanmar would make the Burmese military and Lady Suu strong and happy but the state barbarism would terrorize the humanity and turn clock back to Stone Age as per the wishes of US-Israel terror twins.

UNSC is supposed to protect every nation but unfortunately continues to be focused on shielding the fascist nations like USA and Israel and oppose those nations that do not toe the imperialist line and support US brand capitalist-imperialist designs.

It is high time both UN and UNSC convened a quick special meeting to discuss the state terror operations in and around and protect the people of Kashmir, Palestine and Myanmar. UNSC cannot pretend to be blind and promote state terrorism in Myanmar and elsewhere.

One hopes soon there will be peace in Myanmar with military regime behaving well in a dignified manner not like a state terror organization. That would herald a new epoch of better relations between Buddhists and Muslims.

Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar as a human community has got the right to live on earth. They are asking for as a separate nation to exist as a dignified soverign nation but live as a part of Myanmar. Fake Nobel laurite Aung San Suu Kyi should have the common sense to comprehend it and let them in peace and dignity!

Genocides and holocaust is not a solution!
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United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. WALTER PAYTON, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. STATE OF KANSAS; 18TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT; JAMES FLEETWOOD, Chief Judge; MARK BENNETT, Chief District Attorney, Defendants - Appellees. No. 17-3107 Decided: September 15, 2017

Before BRISCOE, O'BRIEN, and BACHARACH, Circuit Judges.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

This appeal involves constitutional claims growing out of the Kansas courts' application of a Kansas law (Kan. Stat. Ann.  21-2512) to Mr. Payton. Under this law, individuals convicted of rape can petition for new DNA testing of biological material.

Mr. Payton filed a petition under this law; but the Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed, and the Kansas Supreme Court denied review. These decisions led Mr. Payton to file a federal habeas petition, but the federal courts declined to order habeas relief.

So, Mr. Payton invoked 42 U.S.C.  1983, suing a Kansas judge and prosecutor for violating the U.S. Constitution by misapplying  21-2512. The federal district court dismissed the constitutional claims for failure to state a valid cause of action. We agree with this ruling.

Mr. Payton's constitutional claims stem from a misunderstanding about the Kansas law. This law would authorize DNA testing only if Mr. Payton's biological material was not previously subjected to DNA testing or could be retested with new DNA techniques likely to be more accurate and probative. Kan. Stat. Ann.  21-2512(a)(3). If the new DNA tests were to favor Mr. Payton in a way that is material to the conviction, the Kansas district court would need to conduct a hearing. At that point,  21-2512(f)(2) would allow the Kansas district court to grant relief such as vacating the conviction, deeming the sentence discharged, ordering a new sentencing proceeding, granting a new trial, or granting other relief that serves the interests of justice. Kan. Stat. Ann.  21-2512(f)(2).

Mr. Payton appears to misunderstand the Kansas law, for

 it would not apply under his version of the facts and

 even if the law were applicable, favorable DNA results would not necessarily require relief from the rape conviction or sentence.

Mr. Payton states that before his trial, DNA tests showed that he had not committed rape. But Mr. Payton says that the state judge and prosecutor explained the results away with false testimony that the rapist had used a condom.

In this appeal, Mr. Payton clarifies that he does not want new DNA tests. Appellant's Br. at 2 (Payton is not seeking DNA testing just wants DNA testing already performed to apply KSA 21-2512.). Why should he want further testing? After all, he insists that the prior DNA tests have already shown his innocence.

But the Kansas law's remedies apply only if a petitioner obtains new DNA tests for biological material that was previously untested or that is later subject to better forms of testing. See State v. Lackey, 286 P.3d 859, 864 (Kan. 2012) (K.S.A. 21-2512 contemplates the necessity for new or different DNA testing, not the further analysis of previous test results.). Without new DNA tests, the law's remedies would not be triggered. Thus,  21-2512 would not apply even if the Kansas district court had credited Mr. Payton's allegations.

But even if  21-2512 had been triggered, it would not have required the Kansas courts to disturb the conviction or sentence. Mr. Payton contends that on a favorable DNA test, the Kansas district court must order one of the remedies listed in  21-2512(f)(2). But Kansas's Supreme Court has squarely rejected this interpretation, holding that favorable DNA results do not necessarily entitle a petitioner to any of the remedies in  21-2512(f)(2). Haddock v. State, 286 P.3d 837, 848-49 (Kan. 2012). Thus, Mr. Payton's theory rests on a misinterpretation of the Kansas law.

* * *

In our view, Mr. Payton's constitutional claims are based on a misunderstanding of the Kansas law. It would not apply here, where Mr. Payton has expressly disavowed the need for further DNA testing. And even if the law had been triggered, it would not necessarily have required the Kansas courts to order one of the remedies listed in  21-2512(f)(2). Thus, we affirm the dismissal.

Entered for the Court

FOOTNOTES

. See State v. Payton, No. 99,293, 198 P.3d 212, 2009 WL 77911, at *1 (Kan. Ct. App. Jan. 9, 2009) (per curiam) (unpublished).

. In federal district court, a magistrate judge proposed to treat Mr. Payton's  1983 action as another habeas action. In response, Mr. Payton appeared to question that treatment, pointing out that he had sued under  1983 rather than file another habeas petition. The district judge observed that it would have lacked jurisdiction to grant habeas relief. In the appeal, Mr. Payton has not questioned the district judge's conclusion regarding a potential habeas claim.

Robert E. Bacharach Circuit Judge
These images are part of a greater online exhibition on Yad Vashem's website.

"Shana Tova" (Happy New Year) card sent to Henia Pollock in Argentina, from her relatives in Konskie, Poland, 1939

Prewar, Poland, a Rosh Hashanah greetings postcard, written in Yiddish

A Rosh Hashanah card sent by Aharon and Sheindl Blumen in 1926 from Luboml, Poland. The card reads: May you be inscribed for a good year. Next year in Jerusalem. The couple perished during the Holocaust.

Postcard with greetings for the New Year that Miriam and Avraham-Simon Gorfinkel sent from Warsaw in the early 1930's to their son Schlomo and daughter-in-law Gitta who were living in Paris. "Your dear parents send to you and your wife, from deep in our hearts, wishes for a healthy and happy New Year, with prosperity and much joy."

Jacob Graiman and his wife from Lodz, Poland on a New Years card, September 26, 1936. The couple perished during the Holocaust.

Druja, Poland, Meir Levitanus (the submitter) and his sister Chaya Miriam Marla, 1941

Lodz, Poland, a Rosh Hashanah greeting card, 1941. After the ghetto was closed in May 1940, a systematic array of services was installed. Among them, a food supply department whose officials began to apportion the meager provisions, and public kitchens and distribution points for bread and other staples were set up. This card apparently reflects one of those distribution points: Bajs Lechem (which appears in the upper left corner) means "House of Bread"

A New Years card sent by Yisrael Berman and his wife from Szczecin, Poland in 1948. The Hebrew inscription reads: May you be inscribed for a good year. The Hebrew on the boat reads: Israel.

Pictured on this New Years card is the illegal immigration ship The Exodus 1947. The Exodus 1947 attempted to bring Jewish survivors to Palestine in 1947, only to be turned back to Europe by the British Mandate authorities and sent to Displaced Persons camps in Germany. The Exodus 1947 became an international symbol of the need for free Jewish immigration to Palestine. The refugees remained in the camps until 1948, when the State of Israel was established.

Lodz, Poland, a New Year greeting card, with the photo of the submitter's father's family.

A New Years Card sent from the Meor HaGolah (Light of the Exile) Yeshiva in Rome in 1948. Many of the students of the yeshiva were Holocaust survivors. Pictured on the card is Israel Milkow, a student in the yeshiva from Slonim, Poland. During the Holocaust Israel was in a Russian orphanage in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

New Year greetings card, Cyprus, 1948. Sent by brothers David (right) and Yosef (left) Sinder.

These images are part of a greater online exhibition on Yad Vashem's website.
September 14, 2017

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting this month, US President Donald Trump will hold meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Yet it is hard to see how Trumps mind could focus on the most intractable issue in international affairs, when one party  Israel  is not interested in engaging in any peace talks, and the other side is domestically threatened by hard-liners who object to any Netanyahu-Abbas meeting.

A senior US State Department official who recently visited the region told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, things at the State Department are quite chaotic. There is no coherent Middle East policy, and most decisions are made by the White House, or more precisely within the Oval Office. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is probably the most sidelined secretary of state on the Israeli-Palestinian issue in a very long time.

Still, the official cautioned against underestimating Trumps ambitions to reach a visible achievement on the issue. The way he sees it, Trumps team headed by Jarred Kushner and Jason Greenblatt is exploring two tracks of progress.

The first progress track considered by the White House is confidence-building measures in the fields of security cooperation, economic arrangements (such as facilitating trade and meetings between businesspeople on both sides), Palestinian construction permits in the Israeli-controlled West Bank Area C, as well as restraining Palestinian incitement to violence and Israeli settlement expansion.

The second track considered is exploring and composing different formulas that could serve as a basis for possible future peace negotiations.

The senior State Department official believes that these formulas would be general in nature, such as searching for a peace deal that would end the conflict, mutual recognition between Israel and the future Palestinian state, mutual security and regional counterterrorism cooperation against radical Islam, Israeli cooperation with the pragmatic Sunni countries, etc.

On the issue of a two-state solution, the US administration does not rule it out. Still, no official declaration of supporting it was made, and it is only in private talks with Ramallah that the administration has accepted that there is probably no other relevant alternative.

A senior PLO member told Al-Monitor that with these circumstances in place, the Palestinian leadership has made it clear to the Washington envoys that it will engage in such a process, provided the administration accepts four important principles: The Palestinians demand that Washington publicly agrees to and embraces the two-state solution, accepts the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as basis for negotiations, adopts the principle of security for both sides and insists on Israel freezing settlement activity.

According to the PLO official, Abbas will come in a positive spirit to meet with Trump, as he sees no alternative to the US initiative on the international scene. The PLO official also said that Ramallah will coordinate its next steps with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The idea is for Abbas to arrive to his meeting with Trump with a united Arab position, hoping to link progress on the Palestinian issue with progress on the anti-radical Islam and Iran issues. According to the official, Abbas will propose to Trump that senior Palestinian negotiators be dispatched to Washington to meet periodically with US officials and possibly with Israeli officials, so as to set a process in motion.

A senior Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Al-Monitor that Netanyahu is preparing for his meeting with Trump and that he is in constant personal contact with both Kushner and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. For Netanyahu, said the Israeli official, the Palestinian issue is not of pivotal importance. Iran is, and so is the expansion of Shiite influence from Tehran to Beirut. With the issue of the nuclear Iran agreement back in the headlines, the Israeli prime minister will ask the president to use American clout to restrain Irans support of terror activities and the delivery of missiles to Hezbollah.

Netanyahu will claim in the meeting that the Palestinian issue is a nonstarter given the weak domestic position of Abbas, and he will also highlight his own domestic political problems. And so, if any progress is to be made on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, it must be propelled by Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Will Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud exert real pressure on progress toward a two-state solution, or just pay the traditional lip service for their publics opinion? Will they condition greater cooperation on the anti-terror front in exchange for progress on Israeli-Palestinian talks? Israel and the Palestinians diverge on this point.

According to the PLO official, Abbas believes that the Arab pragmatic states will feature a united front vis-a-vis the United States during the UN General Assembly meeting. He said that it is the last chance for diplomacy.
September 17, 2017

Is Saudi Arabias King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud planning an early October visit to Moscow or not? After multiple public invitations from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the answer to this question still remains unclear. Nevertheless, the Kremlins apparent determination to arrange such a trip clearly conveys Moscows assessment of the kingdoms pivotal role in the Middle East.

The Russian government insists that Salman is indeed coming to Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed preparations for the visit, as has top Putin foreign policy assistant Yuri Ushakov. Following Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs recent meeting with Salman in Jeddah, the Russian Foreign Ministry released an official statement saying that the visit is scheduled for early October.

Nevertheless, the Saudi government does not appear to have issued its own parallel statement after Lavrovs meeting with the king. Nor did Lavrov mention the visit in a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, as he concluded his stay in the country. While Moscows official transcript presents only Lavrovs remarks, as is the Russian Foreign Ministrys typical practice, there is no other reporting to suggest that the Saudi minister mentioned Salmans travel to Russia either. Earlier Russian media reports cite only one anonymous source in Riyadh as confirmation that Saudi leaders have agreed to the visit. The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news site has noted strictly that billboards with Saudi King Salmans photos were installed in Moscow to welcome his expected visit (the billboards publicized a Russian magazine with the king on its cover); curiously, the report carefully said, The Kremlin expects the [sic] King Salmans visit to be scheduled soon, without referring to Saudi plans or expectations.

Russias interest in Saudi Arabia is multidimensional. Economically, Russian-Saudi understandings on oil production and oil exports can significantly affect global markets, Russias economy and the Russian governments federal budget, which still depends heavily on oil-related tax receipts despite declining energy prices. Moscow also sees Saudi Arabia as a potential source of investment, something of growing importance in the face of enduring Western economic sanctions. Riyadh has cultivated this investment idea, including through a pledge to invest $10 billion in the Russia Direct Investment Fund, Russias sovereign wealth fund. Economic conditions in Russia in turn shape Russias domestic political environment, where many are disappointed at a sense of stagnation as Vladimir Putin approaches a 2018 presidential election.

Then there are foreign policy considerations, including Saudi Arabias role as a leading sponsor of opposition groups still fighting Syrias Bashar al-Assad regime, the kingdom's tense relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia's privileged position as a key US ally and its control over some of Sunni Islams holiest sites, which in turn elevates the country among other Sunni Arab states. Dmitry Suslov, the deputy director for research at Russias prestigious Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, told Al-Monitor that the conflict in Syria remains the leading tactical element of Russias relationship with Saudi Arabia and sees the possible visit as a symbolic manifestation of the success of [Russias] strategy in Syria. Most important, Suslov said, the meeting would happen on Russian, not initially Saudi terms.

Riyadh has altered its initial demands of immediate departure of Assad in Syria and drastically reduced its criticism of Russian actions in Syria, Suslov said. If Moscow and Riyadh find a compromise on Syria, it would be a breakthrough for ending the war and reaching resolution on the Russian terms or closer to the Russian terms.

This could contribute importantly to what Suslov described as Russias strategic objective of strengthening its role as an independent great power globally and in the Middle East in particular. Suslov, also a senior lecturer at Moscows Higher School of Economics and a program director at the Valdai Foundation, argues that Russias government is viewing the Middle East as a pioneer region of multipolar international order and governance, where several centers of power, both global and regional, engage in complex relationships and determine development of the region together, without any one of them imposing its model of development or hegemonic system. In other words, the Middle Easts increasingly complex geopolitics will soon become global geopolitics, and a major Russian role there will buttress Moscows position as a global geopolitical force.

In this context, Suslov described Saudi Arabia as a de facto gatekeeper that can unlock the Middle East for Moscow. For Russia to play a role of accepted independent great power in the region, he said, positive relations with Riyadh are necessary. Saudi Arabia remains one of the leaders of the region with huge influence on the majority of Sunni Arab countries. At the same time, better Russian-Saudi ties would allow Moscow to have good relations with all the regional powers of the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Israel and Egypt  putting Moscow in a better position than Washington, which has confrontational relations with Iran and increasingly problematic relations with Turkey. Russia could simultaneously correct what Suslov termed an imbalance in its regional relationships that connect Moscow more closely to non-Arab states than Arab ones; this has prompted speculation that Russia is in the 'Shiite camp.'

From this perspective, the Kremlin has a great deal riding on Salmans possible visit. Indeed, so much so that the Saudi monarch may have considerable leverage of his own, notwithstanding Russias strong position on Syrias battlefields  a position that may seem much less imposing if a political settlement leaves Russia and Iran as the sole financial sponsors of a wrecked and desperate nation. If Saudi leaders are seeking to use their leverage as potential supporters of a new (post-Assad?) Syria to get what US President Donald Trump might call a better deal in Syria, this could well explain Riyadhs relative silence in the face of Moscows insistence that Salman will visit Russia in the coming weeks. Only time will tell.
September 17, 2017

Both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to use their speeches at the UN General Assembly session this week to rally support for a tougher line on Iran, but theirs may be a cry in the woods against an Iranian nuclear agreement that enjoys solid international support.

Akiva Eldar writes, With the Iranian nuke agreement signed and sealed, the issue of the bomb threat is off the international agenda. Netanyahu might actually feel himself bereft up on the podium without having a drawing of a nuclear bomb to clutch.

Ben Caspit reports that there are divisions between Israels political and military leaders about which tack to take on Iran, and it is not a strategic argument, either. The top brass of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Military Intelligence and Mossad all realize that the Iranians have not shelved their ambition to become a nuclear power  nor will they. The difference is that the defense establishment has accepted the nuclear deal as a fact and managed to find certain positive opportunities in it. The IDF has reorganized in accordance with the new situation, and its multiyear planning program 'Gideon' has been formulated on the assumption that the Iranian nuclear threat has been placed in the deep freeze for a decade. Senior Israeli defense officials have emphasized the opportunity it affords Israel to deal with other problems, reprioritize and take advantage of this window in Iran's nuclear schedule. The political leadership, particularly Netanyahu and [Minister of Intelligence and Transportation Yisrael] Katz, sees things very differently.  Netanyahu is an experienced alarmist who shares this position. So apparently does Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. Given these circumstances, Israel's military leadership will have no choice but to acquiesce to the position of the political leadership, which is the ultimate authority in the matter.

Eldar suggests that Netanyahu may pick up the thread on North Korea to make his case on Iran. The prime minister can provide proof, of course, of the close cooperation between the Iranian ayatollah regime and the communist ruler in Pyongyang, he writes. For example, the cable sent by the US State Department to the embassy in Beijing, part of the batch of documents leaked to WikiLeaks, indicated that Iran and North Korea make use of their national airlines cargo flights to transport nuclear technology and components. According to information collated by Israeli experts, quite a few Iranian liquid-fueled ballistic missiles and related launchers were developed based on know-how and technology provided by North Korea.

Caspit adds, Jerusalem is panicking over the remarkable events in North Korea and the way that the United States has lost control of the situation as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rushes toward nuclear armaments.

Israel is also concerned that a possible thaw in Saudi-Iran ties, which this column outlined last week, would lead to further isolation. Ali Hashem writes that the thaw still has a way to go. Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Bahrain remain the main points of entanglement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Hashem writes. Iraq is Irans backyard while Yemen is Saudi Arabias. Lebanon, Syria and Bahrain are areas of balanced engagement; Iran has the upper hand in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia in Bahrain; Syria remains a contested ground, though Saudi Arabia is said to have limited its role there. The regional map of control prompted some to predict that Saudi Arabias alleged use of Iraqi mediation to engage with Iran was a clear indication the Gulf kingdom was conceding to Iran and that the clash between the two bitter rivals was coming to an end. Yet this isnt the case, and Iraq is a good example in this regard.  Saudi Arabias new approach might this time be to play in Irans backyard and invest in Shiite religious groups rather than just Sunni movements and secular Shiites in Iraq. Such a move could give Riyadh additional cards to play whenever a table is set and could be Saudi Arabias way of accepting an Iranian role in Yemen by imposing the kingdom as a new player in Iraq.

Netanyahu may use the United Nations pulpit to share Israels concerns about Irans role in Syria. On Sept. 8, Israeli planes reportedly struck a Syrian missile complex in western Syria. Reportedly, because Israel has not taken public responsibility for the attack. Caspit explains, Israel views Iran's efforts to provide Syria and Hezbollah with the technology to produce precision missiles as a clear strategic danger. Were the efforts successful, in the next conflict, it would allow Israels enemies to hamper the Israeli air force's ability to effectively strike strategic targets. It is altogether possible that in the early hours of Sept. 8, what took place is one round in Israel's struggle against the Iranian 'precision project' in Syria and Lebanon.

The potential for Israeli escalation puts Russia in the hot seat. Maxim Suchkov writes, Despite their differing interests in Syria, Russian and Iranian military intelligence maintain interaction, in addition to their collaboration in the Astana cease-fire process. Numerous commentators in the Middle East believe that the Iranians and Syrians expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to curb such Israeli airstrikes. At the time of publication, the Russians continued to maintain their silence. As to what is going on behind the scenes among the various actors, time will tell.  Despite Putin's having met frequently with Netanyahu, the Russian president still views Iran as a strategic partner in his Middle East policy. Putin was also the one who personally saved the Assad regime from collapse two years ago. On the other hand, Putin understands Israel's concerns. So to what extent will Putin be involved in what is taking place near his forces in Syria? Israel can only hope and pray for the day when the Russian squadrons and aerial defense missiles in Syria return to Russia. At this stage, that dream is far off.

This column wrote in February 2014, Russia could also play a bridging role, perhaps through very quiet back channels, to calm Israel-Iran ties. That trend has only gotten stronger, and more urgent. If there is another Israel-Hezbollah confrontation, Caspit writes, Israel is intent on marking Lebanese sovereignty as a legitimate target. From the first minute, it will attack the countrys strategic infrastructure. As far as Israel is concerned, the country of Lebanon has become Hezbollahstan. At the moment, none of the sides really want to get to that stage.
Jennifer R. Statham For AL.com

When a person walks into Geeks and Nerds, better known as GaN Corp., it is evident that the place is filled with, well, geeks and nerds.

The building truly reflects the characteristics of the technology company and its employees. It is located on South Memorial Parkway in what once was the swanky two-story restaurant known decades ago as Mister C's.

When GaN Corporation Founder and CEO, Dr. Jonn Kim, purchased the building he kept the upscale interior and the open floor plan. These days, however, dangling among the grandiose chandeliers are Star Wars Fighter Ships.

Dr. Jonn Kim started Geeks and Nerds Corp. in 2004 in Huntsville.

The sprawling mahogany bar is now alongside ping pong tables, a grand piano, video games and the liquor bottles are replaced with an espresso machine.

Contrasting with the decorative brick interior is a conference table built of Legos and a Mario Brothers-themed fish tank complete with Cheep Cheeps.

"The customers that we deal with are very serious customers and some advisors thought that being called Geeks and Nerds would not be taken too seriously in that world, but I think it came down to what am I trying to do. Am I trying to impress somebody? That wasn't the point. It was about being authentic with who I am and what the company needs to be," Kim said. "Being authentic works. It was not our goal to be a multi-million dollar company, it was to be the best technology enabling company we can be, while having a great time at solving problems and making a difference."

The "tech-enablers" at GaN have primarily focused on test and evaluation for the United States Army and most recently are adding a major concentration in the area of cybersecurity, which Kim calls an urgent area. The company offers a variety of other technical services, including systems engineering, modeling and simulation and hardware and software development.

Rethinking the tech biz

Kim, 55, started GaN Corp. in 2004 and was the sole employee. Much like his current office environment, he has thrived on a balance of ingenuity and pragmatic motivations. He was born and raised in South Korea and moved to the United States with his family when he was a senior in high school. His parents wanted to join relatives who lived in California, but his father was offered engineering opportunities in both Oregon and Alabama, ultimately taking the job in Alabama and bringing his family to Huntsville.

Kim graduated from Grissom High School, though he was only there long enough to graduate, enrolling too late to even be included in the yearbook. He went on to earn a Ph.D in electrical and computer engineering from Vanderbilt University and a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Kim said originally he chose electrical engineering because it was the major that required the least amount of English and he had not mastered the language yet.

"I see my education was a means to get to where I am, as opposed to the end. I'm not a typical geek driven by technology. I'm driven by doing things and technology allows me to get there," Kim said. "My big vision as a human being was space exploration  that was how it began  and I wanted to be with NASA and I was with NASA for a while.

"Over time, I became more focused on things that are happening here. So, working for the Department of Defense, and we're going to be working for the Department of Homeland Security, working with cybersecurity, all those things have more imminent tasks that we have to work on, as opposed to space exploration, which might be more of a long-term vision," Kim said. "Basically, I want to use technology to keep our community safe, and our nation safe and that gets me interested and excited, as opposed to my own personal passions."

Kim was fortunate in his early career to be exposed to successful people, technically and professionally, he said, but he was looking for a more meaningful purpose.

"I got to a place in my career, and was fairly young, I was in my mid-thirties, where I was moving up in the corporate world and I decided that the financial and professional success I was experiencing was not really what I wanted. So, I had an early mid-life crisis in my thirties and asked myself 'What is it that I want to do, when I grow up?'," Kim said.

Kim thought about what wasn't working for him in the corporate world and decided he wanted to start a company that brought technology back to the "core roots," he said. Kim wanted an office environment similar to a large coffee shop, with an open office set-up, "sparking interests outside of computers and monitors" encouraging people to talk to each other.

"We are a technology company that tries to help the community and society with our technical geekiness and nerdiness. Our customers tend to be the government customers who are interested in national security and homeland security," Kim said. "That's what I'm passionate about, helping us become more secure, more stable, and keeping our neighbors safe, keeping our communities safe. That has been my focus for the last many, many years, more than a decade now."

Kim speaks with students at both of his alma maters, working with the schools to offer internships and sponsor senior projects. He says his hopes to help direct students in career paths, particularly in cybersecurity.

"There's a huge threat in cybersecurity and the unfortunate thing is that the majority of us know very little about what cyber threats really mean. It's a lot more grave, it's a lot more dangerous, a lot more potent than we realize. So I feel there needs to be an urgency. There needs to be leadership that is pushing our focus into things that we have and things we need to protect, because once we have major infrastructure down, our society's going to go down, it's going to perish. We don't want that to happen," Kim said. "As grim as it sounds I take the business of cybersecurity very seriously. I'm getting not only the company, but I'm getting students at UAH and Vanderbilt excited about doing something good for the good side, not the bad side, and keeping the community safe."

Kim said he talks to students and employees about the diversity of "left and right brain" tasks in technology.

"The world of cybersecurity is going to be highly multi-disciplinary. We can't just have electrical engineers or computer scientists working on cybersecurity problems. It has to be people who understand psychology, sociology, who understand business, economics, along with the technical world. So it's a combination, it's a very broad and deep topic, it's a challenging topic as well," he said.

Since 2004, the GaN Corporation has expanded to almost 80 employees with offices in Alabama, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Kim is currently working to open an office in Washington D.C. The company pulled in $20 million in revenue in 2016.

In 2015, GaN officially became an employee-owned company through their Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

"The key thing is I have accomplished more than I had ever imagined accomplishing as a businessman. My first interviewee, he asked me how many people we'd ever have and I told him 'at the maximum we'll have 8 or 9 people, because I don't want the company to ever be bigger than 8 or 9 people.' Through the years we got a lot more successful than we had ever planned on being and I felt like I also lost focus because working for yourself, it seems strange, but working for yourself is not that rewarding. Working for a bigger cause is a lot more rewarding," Kim said. "So I feel like I have more energy about the company now that we are working for an employee-owned company as opposed to working for myself, because when it's all said and done, how much money is really needed to survive? You can't trade time for money so either you get out business, because you have enough money that you don't want to work it, or if you're going to stay in it, you have to stay in it for the right cause. I feel that working for the employees and giving them opportunities to have something more than what they had is more meaningful than me simply getting more."

About a year ago, Kim also established the Geeks and Nerds Foundation as a way to give back to the community at large. The program provides financial assistance through scholarships and grants to promote opportunities for self-reliance.

The Foundation, Kim said, is "uniquely unfocused" in the fact that they are willing to assist all ages, in a very broad range of untraditional ways, to enable people to get to the next level in their lives and careers. For example, it's not about technology, he said, someone may need help with groceries, babysitting, transportations, or job training. Applicants can apply online at geeksandnerds.com.

Being a "Life Entrepreneur," Kim said is not always about business, it's about establishing a mission for your life, and learning to trade strengths and weaknesses to get to that vision.

"Tie your mission and vision to the community, or something more meaningful than you," Kim said. "Some people say I'm at an age where I need to start thinking about retirement. Retirement is not in my horizon because I think I'm just getting started on something different again. It seems like every year I'm starting something different."
Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com

MONTE SANO ART FESTIVAL

Man-made works of art displayed inside a natural work of art. Volunteers from the eclectic mountain neighborhood around Monte Sano State Park founded the Monte Sano Art Festival in 1999. For 2017, the event boasts 150 exhibitors, including 45 new to the fest, from nine states. The two-day event wraps-up Sunday. You can feast your eyes there, of course. But also feed your mouth (food vendors include Rollin Lobstah, Kudzu Cafe, Iceworks and Piper & Leaf) and ears (musical performances from Winslow Davis, Jimmy Henderson, Wanda Wesolowski and more).

Monte Sano Art Festival, 9 a.m.  4 p.m. Sept. 17, Monte Sano State Park, 5105 Nolen Ave. S.E., festival is free ($10 parking or $5 walk-in to park), artshuntsville.org

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COUNTRY ICON

Dwight Yoakam's 1986 debut LP "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc." introduced his Kentucky-via-California charisma to the world. More than 30 years and 25 years later, the Grammy-winning honky-tonk crooner, known for such hits as "Fast As You" and "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere," still delivers twang and dang. His most recent album, 2016's "Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars" contains a bluegrass-tinged version of Prince's "Purple Rain."

Dwight Yoakam, 8 p.m. Sept. 20, Von Braun Center Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, 700 Monroe St., $36.50 - $72 (plus applicable fees), ticketmaster.com

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Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com

MUSEUM DAY

Has it been a while since you've checked out the NASA-themed exhibits and other wonders inside the U.S. Space & Rocket Center? This Saturday's a prime time to rectify that. Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day Live! event provides free admission to participating museums and cultural institutions, including the Space Center, for individuals presenting a Museum Day Live! ticket. Each Museum Day Live! ticket, available online at smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-day-live-2017/tickets, provides admission for two people.

Museum Day Live!, 9 a.m.  5 p.m. Sept. 23, U.S. Space & Rocket Center, 1 Tranquility Base, free to attend (with Museum Day Live! ticket), smithsonianmag.com

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BARTENDER COMPETITION

Shaken and stirred, with a dash of flair from that 1988, mixologist-themed Tom Cruise film Cocktail. The Alabama Restaurant & Hospitality Association is looking for the states best bartender, with the Huntsville regional is open to all professional bartenders in the area. Libation enthusiasts are encouraged to watch the competition and cheer on their favorite pourers. Regional winners from across Alabama will then compete at a Oct. 16 Stars of the Industry Awards Dinner in Birmingham against other regional winners, vying for a $1,500 grand prize. Theres also a Bartender of the Year trophy involved.

2017 Bartender of the Year Competition Huntsville Regional, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sept. 20, Westin Huntsville, 6800 Governors West N.W., free to attend, arhaonline.com/bartender-of-the-year-competition

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File/Courtesy Ashley Vaughn/White Rabbit Studios

RECORDS AND RAMEN

Enjoy your Spicy Hokkaido Ramen or Tonkotsu with a side order of Iggy Pop and Radiohead. Vertical House Records owners Andy and Ashley Vaughn will DJ vinyl at Records and Ramen, which features food by local pop-restaurant Phat Sammys and cupcakery Sugar Belle (ginger cupcake, green tea matcha buttercream, cherry blossoms). Theres also bubble tea from Piper & Leaf. Two dinner times available, but seating is limited.

Records and Ramen, 6 and 10 p.m. Sept. 19, Sugar Belle, 515 Jordan Lane N.W., $20, eventbrite.com

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United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. ERODITA LEKA, Petitioner, v. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. No. 16-17579 Decided: September 15, 2017

Before TJOFLAT, WILLIAM PRYOR, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

Erodita Leka (Leka) petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' (BIA) final order affirming the Immigration Judge's (IJ) denial of her application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). On appeal, Leka argues that she established past persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution, and, thus, the BIA erred in denying her petition for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief.

We review the BIA's decision as the final judgment, unless the BIA expressly adopted the IJ's decision. Lyashchynska v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 676 F.3d 962, 966-67 (11th Cir. 2012). When the BIA explicitly agrees with the findings of the IJ, we will review the decision of both the BIA and the IJ as to those issues. Ayala v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 605 F.3d 941, 948 (11th Cir. 2010).

Factual determinations are reviewed under the substantial-evidence test, which requires us to view the record evidence in the light most favorable to the agency's decision and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of that decision. Adefemi v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 1022, 1026-27 (11th Cir. 2004) (en banc). We must affirm the BIA's decision if it is supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole. Id. at 1027 (quotation omitted). In order to reverse administrative factual findings, we must determine that the record compels reversal, not that it merely supports a different conclusion. Id.

The Attorney General has the authority to grant asylum to an alien who meets the INA's definition of refugee. INA  208(b)(1)(A), 8 U.S.C.  1158(b)(1)(A). A refugee is:

any person who is outside any country of such person's nationality  and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail him or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

INA  101(a)(42)(A), 8 U.S.C.  1101(a)(42)(A). The applicant bears the burden of proving that he or she is a refugee. INA  208(b)(1)(B)(i), 8 U.S.C.  1158(b)(1)(B)(i). The applicant must present specific and credible evidence demonstrating that he or she (1) was persecuted in the past based on one of the protected grounds or (2) has a well-founded fear that he or she will be persecuted in the future based on one of the protected grounds. Ruiz v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 440 F.3d 1247, 1257 (11th Cir. 2006). An applicant for asylum alleging persecution by a private actor must prove that the actor is part of a group that the government is either unable or unwilling to control. Ayala, 605 F.3d at 950. Evidence that merely shows that a person has been the victim of criminal activity does not establish persecution based on a statutorily protected ground. Ruiz, 440 F.3d at 1258.

We have held that persecution is an extreme concept, requiring more than a few isolated incidents of verbal harassment or intimidation, and that [m]ere harassment does not amount to persecution. Sepulveda v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 401 F.3d 1226, 1231 (11th Cir. 2005) (quotations omitted); see also Djonda v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 514 F.3d 1168, 1171 (11th Cir. 2008) (holding that no persecution occurred when an alien was detained for 36 hours after participating in a political rally, and during his detention, police officers beat him severely enough to warrant a 2-day hospital stay, several medications, and 2 weeks of rest). Minor beatings and threats are not enough to compel a finding of persecution. See Diallo v. U.S Att'y Gen., 596 F.3d 1329, 1333 (11th Cir. 2010); see also Sepulveda, 401 F.3d at 1231 (holding that three phone calls threatening the receiver with death if she did not stop her political activities did not compel a finding of persecution). In determining whether an alien has suffered past persecution, the factfinder must consider the cumulative effects of the incidents. Delgado v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 487 F.3d 855, 861 (11th Cir. 2007).

If the petitioner cannot demonstrate past persecution, she must demonstrate that she has a well-founded fear of future persecution by showing that there is a reasonable possibility of her suffering persecution if she returned to her home country. Mejia v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 498 F.3d 1253, 1256 (11th Cir. 2007). The fear of persecution must be subjectively genuine and objectively reasonable. Najjar v. Ashcroft, 257 F.3d 1262, 1289 (11th Cir. 2001). The subjective component is typically fulfilled by credible testimony that the petitioner genuinely fears persecution, and the objective component generally can be satisfied by establishing either past persecution or that the petitioner has good reason to fear future persecution. Id. If the alleged persecution is not by the government or government-sponsored, the petitioner bears the burden of showing that she cannot avoid the persecution by relocating within her home country. 8 C.F.R.  208.13(b)(3)(i); Mazariegos v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 241 F.3d 1320, 1327 (11th Cir. 2001). The petitioner also must show that the government of her home country is unable or unwilling to protect her. Lopez v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 504 F.3d 1341, 1345 (11th Cir. 2007).

An applicant for withholding of removal bears the burden of establishing that it is more likely than not that she will be persecuted or tortured upon being returned to her country. Sepulveda, 401 F.3d at 1232. The standard for withholding of removal is more stringent than for asylum, and if an applicant is unable to prove her entitlement to asylum relief, she is generally precluded from qualifying for withholding of removal. Id. at 1232-33.

An applicant seeking protection under CAT must establish that it is more likely than not that she would be tortured if removed to the proposed country of removal. Reyes-Sanchez v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 369 F.3d 1239, 1242 (11th Cir. 2004). Additionally, the alien must demonstrate a likelihood that he will be tortured with the acquiescence of the government, meaning that the government was aware of the torture, yet breached its responsibility to intervene. Rodriguez Morales v. U.S. Att'y Gen., 488 F.3d 884, 891 (11th Cir. 2007).

The BIA did not err in concluding that Leka failed to show that she was eligible for asylum because the record showed that Elir's mistreatment of her was personally motivated and, thus, she did not meet her burden of showing that she was persecuted based on her membership in a particular social group. INA  101(a)(42)(A), 8 U.S.C.  1101(a)(42)(A). Furthermore, substantial evidence in the record supports the findings that Leka's experiences of mistreatment based on her political opinion were not extreme enough to rise to the level of persecution, and that she did not show that she was unable to relocate within Albania. See Sepulveda, 401 F.3d at 1231. Accordingly, Leka did not show past persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on a protected ground and was not eligible for asylum. Ruiz, 440 F.3d at 1257. Because she did not meet the burden necessary to show asylum, Leka did not meet the higher burden required for withholding of removal. Sepulveda, 401 F.3d at 1232-33. Nor did Leka show eligibility for CAT relief because she did not show that she was more likely than not to be tortured if she returned to Albania. Reyes-Sanchez, 369 F.3d at 1242.

PETITION DENIED.

PER CURIAM:
When they found out she would be buried at 10 a.m., April Carpri's friends quickly made a memorial to place at the head of her grave.

A basic black frame contained a wallet-sized photo of the former social worker surrounded by tributes to her counseling skills. The three women at the gravesite all worked with Carpri at the Shelby County Treatment Center, a clinic that specializes in treating people addicted to opioids. The memorial cited her warmth, humor and even her diligence with patient charts.

The picture brought smiles to the faces of her former coworkers. They vanished when a cemetery worker gently told them that no markers could be placed at the Jefferson County Cemetery - a pauper's graveyard where plots are marked with numbers instead of names.

Her former boss, Susan Staats-Combs, hesitated with the picture and then threw it into the hole, where it landed on top of the casket. Nearly a month later, Carpri's friend and former colleague still remembered the clap of the frame against the wood.

"That thud," Jenny Thomas said. "It still makes me want to vomit."

Her friends have struggled to comprehend how Carpri ended up in an anonymous grave. As recently as four years ago, the University of Alabama graduate had a professional job, a house in the suburbs, a husband and a child. She lost it all to heroin - a substance she helped so many to quit.

Carpri is one of more than 150 people who have died this year in Jefferson County from drug overdoses, according to Deputy Coroner Bill Yates. Most died from heroin or fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.

Carpri worked at the Shelby County Treatment Center from 2011 to 2013 and spent much of her time counseling heroin addicts. She came to the center from the Shelby County Department of Human Resources, where she worked on cases of child abuse and neglect.

Carpri met Janee Dickinson at Shelby County Department of Human Resources. Both women started at about the same time and immediately hit it off. Carpri made waves in the office with her unusual style, Dickinson said. She sometimes appeared in court in brightly colored, shimmery dresses and stood out among her colleagues.

"She looked very punk rock," Dickinson said. "She had this flaming red hair. She had lots and lots of tattoos. That's not so typical for a social worker at the DHR."

The pair developed a quick rapport. After several exhausting years at the agency, they even quit on the same day.

Carpri soon found a job at the Shelby County Treatment Center and Dickinson followed her there. Carpri had no experience in substance abuse treatment, but took to the new job.

"She was an amazing social worker," Thomas said. "Patients were very comfortable with her. She was very approachable."

In early 2013, she and her husband bought a home and Carpri seemed happy, Dickinson said.

"She was moving into this wonderful home," Dickinson said. "She had a job that she loved. Her husband was working at Mercedes and she'd gotten her daughter into the Mercedes daycare. It was really great."

Her problems started later that year, when Carpri began seeing a man with a substance abuse disorder. The relationship quickly consumed her, her friends said. Dickinson urged her to end the relationship, but Carpri refused and the two friends didn't speak for months.

When Carpri got back in touch, she had news. Her new boyfriend had relapsed and was using drugs again, and Carpri began using too.

Dickinson was drinking a margarita at a Mexican restaurant when she took the call.

"I just started crying," Dickinson said. "And I begged her to come home to me."

By the time Carpri called, she was already shooting heroin. Her friends, who worked to save people from addiction, soon found they couldn't do much for her.

A mugshot of April Carpri after she was beaten near a gas station

"It was the fastest I've ever seen anyone get addicted to something," Dickinson said. "She went from I've smoked marijuana a few times to IV drug use within months."

Carpri's life collapsed. She left her husband and lost custody of her daughter. Police arrested her for theft, drug possession and public intoxication. The relationship with her boyfriend eventually fell apart, Dickinson said. Her friends remained in touch, offering to help, but helpless to do much of anything.

"It's hard being on the outside," Thomas said. "It's actually horrifying to be on the outside. Because you are literally watching someone die in front of you and you can't do anything. The train's coming, they are tied to the tracks and you can't do anything. It doesn't matter how loud you scream, or how hard you push or beg or bargain."

An overdose scared Carpri into seeking treatment. At one point, she asked Dickinson for help seeking one of the state's scarce detox beds.

"[Dickinson] moved heaven and earth to get her a bed," Thomas said. "What she did was impossible. And within 36 hours she was gone."

The speed of Carpri's descent shocked almost everyone. A series of mugshots show her decline. Her porcelain skin puffed out and sagged. An attack before her final arrest left one purple eye swollen and almost shut. Dickinson and Carpri went to UAB to obtain Narcan, a lifesaving drug that can reverse overdoses. Dickinson still has the dose in her car.

"It was not about losing hope," Dickinson said. "It was about me accepting that she was going to die."

Even Carpri told her friends they would probably have to arrange her funeral.

"We knew she was going to die," Thomas said. "She was going too hard, too fast, too long. I just knew this wasn't going to last long for her."

She died on July 31 from a toxic combination of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol. First responders found fresh track marks and a needle in her arm.

"The police are well acquainted with the decedent and know her to be a local drug addict," according to her autopsy report.

They didn't know her as a social worker or drug counselor. But her friends still remember her that way. In sessions, Thomas now uses her story to show her clients just how low drugs can take them - all the way down to an unmarked grave in a pauper's cemetery.

The circumstances of her death and burial horrified her friends, but for at least one moment, Thomas said she found some peace at her former colleague's passing. She and Dickinson met by the graveside before anyone else arrived, on a hill overlooking a vast field.

"We looked at each other and [Dickinson] said,' it's almost exactly as it should be,'" Thomas said. "We are the two people who unconditionally loved her. In trying to make sense of that whole situation, it was almost a flicker, somehow, of beauty. That at the end of the day, at a nameless grave, we still stand there."
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the U.S. Department of Justice remains committed to fighting hate crimes under President Donald Trump, who has come under fire for his response to racially-motivated incidents.

Rosenstein said the administration, under the leadership of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has created a hate crimes subcommittee as part of a wider effort to improve public safety. At a recent hate crimes summit, Sessions said the administration would take steps to better train local law enforcement to identify and track hate crimes.

"Attorney General Sessions affirmed that '[t]he Trump Administration and the Department of Justice are committed to reducing violent crime and making America safe for all our citizens.... No American should have to fear being violently attacked because of who they are, what they believe, or how they worship,'" Rosenstein said.

Rosenstein only mentioned Trump one time during his speech, but alluded to Sessions several times. He said the attorney general has moved to aggressively enforce laws in several high-profile hate crimes.

"In Charlottesville last month, we saw and heard people openly advocate racism and bigotry, and commit terrible acts of violence," Rosenstein said. "Our Department of Justice responded immediately. The United States Attorney's Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the FBI are working closely with our state and local law enforcement partners. The First Amendment often protects hateful speech that is abhorrent to American values. But there can be no protection for violence."

Rosenstein delivered opening remarks Sunday at a conference on hate crimes jointly hosted by the local office of the FBI and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. His speech was held at the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of one of the most infamous hate crimes in American history - a bombing that took the lives of four young girls.

The 2017 Conference on Civil Rights and Law Enforcement will include sessions on the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston and the murder of a transgender teen in Mississippi last year.

The conference comes at an auspicious time for race relations in the United States.

In early August, white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, an event that turned deadly and provoked one of President Donald Trump's most controversial public statements. The president blamed the violence on "both sides" and said "good people" had marched with alt-right protesters affiliated with white nationalist organizations.

The protest occurred after Charlottesville city officials voted to remove Confederate statues, which have become flashpoints for protests around the country, including Alabama. Birmingham's confederate memorial was covered after the violence in Charlottesville, but cannot be removed without permission from a judge. Protesters on both sides of the issue gathered in Huntsville yesterday, separated by a wall of city busses.

Rosenstein spoke about the Civil Rights movement, the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church and the leadership of men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hate took the loves of at least 4,000 people who were lynched between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War II, Rosenstein said. Almost all of them were African-American men targeted due to the color of their skin.

"The way our nation treated African-Americans is America's most tragic sin," he said.

The United States has made progress, Rosenstein said, but recent events show that more progress needs to be made.

"Next April 4th will mark the 50th anniversary of the murder of Martin Luther King," Rosenstein said. "If Dr. King were alive today, he would surely be disappointed by how much racism still exists. But I hope that Dr. King would be proud about the progress he spurred America to make."

Hate crimes are different from other types of violence because they target entire communities, Rosenstein said.

"The attack on the 16th Street Baptist church was one of many bombings in Birmingham in 1963," he said. "Each incident was not just an attack on one house of worship. Each was an attack on the entire civil rights movement."

Justice worked slowly for victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Rosenstein said. But federal law enforcement officials ultimately prosecuted several men who carried out the crime.

In the past, federal law enforcement officers were not always the good guys, Rosenstein said. But he also said prosecution of hate crimes starts with local law enforcement. Under former President Barack Obama, the Department of Justice played an active role in reforming police departments accused of violating civil rights, a program that ended under Trump.

"You can help us by encouraging people to report suspected hate crimes," Rosenstein said. "No one should suffer in silence, and no criminal should get away with a hate crime. The first and most important job of the government is securing the rights and safety of citizens. Our other rights depend on public safety. We cannot enjoy liberty and pursue happiness unless we are safe on our streets. We cannot exercise our right to free speech, our right to assembly or our right to worship, if we are afraid to leave the house."
The sign above Reggie Miller's head says "Golden Shears & More." There's an emphasis on the "more" - and not just because of the new downtown barbershop's spa or billiard room.

It sits along a street that was once lined with minority-owned small businesses, steps away from what used to be the blacks-only entrance to the Kress building in segregation-era Montgomery. Now, it's a spot that Miller, a black graduate of Robert E. Lee High School, envisions as a gathering place for people of all races.

"No matter if you're black, white, whatever you are, we want you to feel comfortable about coming here," said Miller, the barbershop's owner. "We have different barbers of different races.

"Montgomery is a beautiful place to live, and we want to be able to allow this spot to kind of work on our race relations. I think God has truly blessed this place the way the doors have opened for us and the things that He has allowed to happen in order for us to do that."

The renovated, 2,300-square-foot space at 22 Monroe St. is filled with custom barber stations, manicure/pedicure areas with personal televisions and wireless headphones, a plush waiting area and a shoe-shine room with a pool table. Former Virginia College massage instructor Marc Taylor operates a spa in a neighboring section of the space, offering a wide range of medical and therapeutic massage, body wraps and scrubs. "We try to cover all the bases here," Taylor said.

The key to attracting people from all walks of life was to offer all of that at prices comparable to other barbershops around town, Miller said.

It's an approach that won praise from his first customer, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange.

"Reaching out to all ages and all races, this could be a melting pot of what Montgomery is," Strange said. "Reggie's serious about doing what he can do to make relations better.

"When you don't see color, that's when we've arrived. Unfortunately because of the events that are happening in the world today, particularly around the South, we're seeing some color. We need to be that 'one Montgomery' that we've talked about for so many years."

As a crane lifted building materials to workers on the Kress facade nearby as Miller thanked family and friends before opening the doors. The scene made Taylor's mother, Valda Harris, reminisce about the businesses that once lined Monroe Street.

"They've all been torn down for the progress of Montgomery," Harris said. "For me, (Golden Shears) is an honor because we had family businesses here back in the day."

Unlike much of the opening day crowd, Leonard Smith isn't from Montgomery. He came in from Atlanta to handle the audio-visual setup.

But he also liked the idea of using the barbershop as a social gathering spot that crosses racial boundaries - at least as a first step.

"I don't think it would hurt," Smith said. "Perhaps there are other ways to do it, but this is a great way to kind of open the door for those types of relationships."

River Region Golden Shears & More is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Stephen Bannon, the former White House chief strategist and current executive chairman at Breitbart News, has zeroed in on the Alabama Senate runoff with hopes of unseating Luther Strange and delivering a blow to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's power structure.

The Alabama Senate race could be an early proving ground for Bannon, who is looking to purge the Senate of politicians who do not fully support President Donald Trump's "America First" platform.

National media reports suggest that Trump's confidant is planning an aggressive effort to unseat McConnell-backed candidates in the Deep South and elsewhere, and replace them with insurgents who are loyal to Trump's nationalist agenda.

The New York Times even suggested that Bannon's efforts could lead to a rare split of America's two-party political structure.

"Bannon's group is leading the fight against the establishment," said Mobile-based political strategist Jonathan Gray. "This will have an impact nationally."

Bannon effect

But will Bannon's influence in the final two weeks of the campaign season impact Alabama voters? Some longtime Alabama political observers have doubts.

For one, they claim that Bannon does little to add to Moore's populist campaign that has an established following due to the former judge's past crusades on religious liberty and opposition to legalized same-sex marriage.

In addition, they note that Moore has led in almost all polling against Strange ahead of the Sept. 26 runoff.

"Recent polls, if accurate, show that Moore doesn't really need outsiders to come to his assistance," said William Stewart, professor emeritus of political sciences at the University of Alabama.

Said Quin Hillyer, a Mobile-based conservative writer: "Bannon is merely jumping on a bandwagon, adding nothing at all to Roy Moore's lead."

Where Bannon could play a role in the waning days of the Senate campaign, observers note, is with money. Strange, thanks to his allegiance with McConnell's Super PAC, has a sizable fundraising advantage over Moore.

Bannon has ties with several anti-establishment mega-donors, some who have already pledged support for insurgent candidates during the 2018 midterm elections.

"The biggest help Bannon could provide Moore is financial," said Brent Buchanan, a Montgomery-based Republican strategist. "That has yet to be seen."

Said Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University: "Bannon can help Moore by raising a little money and by using social media to impact a sliver of the electorate, but there is no major impact unless Trump seems to waffle on his support for Strange."

Indeed, Trump's endorsement of Strange looms large ahead of Sept. 26. The president, through a Tweet, endorsed Strange days ahead of the Aug. 15 primary. Strange finished second to Moore, winning only five of 67 counties in Alabama.

Trump's endorsement of Strange has perplexed conservatives who saw the president and his populist agenda more aligned with Moore. Strange, by contrast, has the financial backing of McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund. Strange has raised more than $3 million since the campaign began, while Moore has generated less than $500,000.

Trump, who had been quiet since the primary, sent out a Tweet Saturday saying that he will be in Huntsville Saturday to campaign for Strange.

Jim McLaughlin, a political strategist and prominent Republican pollster, said that Trump's endorsement still matters even if Bannon is angling more aggressively behind-the-scenes.

"I've been asked by a couple of people why (Trump) is so strongly supportive of Luther," said McLaughlin. "They have a personal relationship. The president has spoken to Luther and he likes him and believes he is the person who can move his agenda forward. He realizes he's the closest thing to Jeff Sessions he has going down there."

McLaughlin added, "I know Steve and I like him, but the average person doesn't know who Steve Bannon is."

Bannon, though, could have had Trump's ear, Gray said. He said that Bannon's influence may have prompted the president's recent silence and a lack of White House involvement in the Alabama race until Trump's Tweet Saturday afternoon.

"There is no question the president has a lot of respect for Steve Bannon," he said. "Yes, I think Bannon is involved. I think he's more involved than we will know."

Trump loyalty

Bannon left the White House on Aug. 18 and immediately rejoined Brietbart. Since then, news reports have circulated that he's backing opposition efforts to incumbent Republican senators - all who have ties to McConnell -- such as Jeff Flake in Arizona, Dean Heller in Nevada, Bob Corker in Tennessee and Roger Wicker in Mississippi.

First, though, the attention shifts to Alabama. In a Politico piece this week, Bannon reportedly portrayed the Sept. 26 runoff as a defining battle between the conservative base and GOP establishment.

And the New York Times, in an article Monday, quoted political scientists and historians like Michael Beschloss as saying the country's 200-year-old two-party system could be splintered into three.

Timothy Hagle, associate professor of political sciences at the University of Iowa, said he doesn't anticipate a splintered Republican Party anytime soon.

"That would mainly end up hurting the Republicans, would probably last only a cycle or two before collapsing and voters would revert to their prior party," he said. "More likely, we might see some Republican candidates doing better to craft their messaging to be in line with new concerns. That could certainly be a bit more distant from the McConnell-establishment wing of the party."

A change in messaging, to some extent, is already claiming political careers. In Pennsylvania, Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent announced he was retiring, in part over claims that the GOP's newest litmus test was Trump loyalty.

With Bannon and his support network, loyalty toward Trump's agenda takes center stage.

The "Great American Alliance," an organization connected to the Great American PAC - which raised about $30 million for Trump's election last year - is bankrolling the pro-Moore bus trip through Alabama. Former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is expected to participate.

The Great American Alliance's senior adviser is Andy Surabian, who served as Bannon's political adviser when the two were in the White House together. On the organization's website, the group claims to be the "most active independent ally" of the president determined to see that his "America First" agenda succeeds.

Bannon has also reportedly been reaching out to anti-establishment mega donors, such as New York billionaire Robert Mercer, tech magnate Peter Thiel and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. Mercer has already reportedly donated $300,000 to a super PAC charged with defeating Flake in Arizona next year. Flake has been an outspoken critic of the president.

Strange, however, is a vocal supporter of Trump's agenda and his campaign advertisements have been geared to show as much.

When asked to comment on Bannon's involvement in the Senate race, Strange campaign spokesman Cameron Foster said: "President Donald Trump supports Luther Strange."

But Gray, the political strategist in Mobile, said that Strange's allegiance to McConnell and reliance on the Super PAC money resonates with Alabama voters wary of establishment politicians.

He said McConnell, in the eyes of conservative voters, has become "just as disliked as John Boehner." Boehner, the former Speaker of the House, was viewed unfavorably by conservatives before he resigned in 2015.

A 2015 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that a whopping 72 percent of GOP voters were displeased with how McConnell and Boehner were advancing the Republican agenda.

In a Public Policy Polling analysis last month, McConnell's approval among Trump voters was only 15 percent.

Alabama is a deep red state which, in November, ranked among those that backed Trump the most. More than 62 percent of voters on Nov. 8, 2016, supported Trump's candidacy over Clinton.

"Bannon's group is leading that fight right now against the establishment," said Gray. "Steve Bannon does not like Mitch McConnell's brand of Republican politics. Luther Strange might as well change his middle name to 'Mitch McConnell.'"

McConnell's unpopularity among Trump backers may not diminish his influence in the Senate, said Hagle, the University of Iowa professor.

"McConnell's ability to deal with the Senate's process is often underrated, especially by those who want more immediate results," he said. "That might not satisfy others outside the process, whether it's President Trump, Steve Bannon or others."

He added, "My guess is that any Bannon-backed candidates new to the Senate might get a quick lesson in how the Senate works and would realize that opposing McConnell isn't he way to go. Then again, if enough (insurgents) come in at the same time, maybe they could force McConnell out, but right I don't see that happening."
U.S. Sen. Luther Strange is touting his approach to ethics, calling his former anti-corruption unit the "best public integrity unit" in the country during the waning days of a campaign ahead of the Sept. 26 GOP runoff.

"I'm proud of that record," said Strange, referring to the corruption unit's efforts in securing a conviction against former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard in 2016, and for getting former Sumter County Sheriff Tyrone Clark Sr. impeached.

"I created, when no one else would, the best public corruption unit in the United States of America to follow the truth where it led which included the Speaker of the House of Alabama," Strange said after he spoke before a group of Republicans in Robertsdale Saturday. "It didn't win me any political friends."

Strange's comments come as he has battled against claims, throughout the campaign, of accepting what his opponents have called an unethical appointment to the Senate in February from former Gov. Robert Bentley while the Attorney General's Office was investigating improper behavior by the governor.

Bentley resigned in April amid allegations he was having an improper relationship with a former aide, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

Strange said he didn't believe that accepting the appointment from Bentley, to replace Attorney General Jeff Session, was problematic. Sessions resigned in February after he was confirmed to join the Trump administration as the country's top law enforcement official.

"I don't see it as an issue," Strange said. "I wouldn't be able to consider taking the appointment if I had not put together the best public integrity team in the United States that would continue to seek the truth wherever it led, which is exactly what it did and led to the removal of the governor shortly after I took the appointment," Strange said. "Clearly, there was no impropriety in anyway."

Strange's recent touting of the anti-corruption team puts the group back in the spotlight. The senator, as attorney general, formed it in 2012, two years after the Legislature adopted new ethics laws combating public corruption.

The unit's work, behind lead prosecutor Matt Hart, was magnified in 2014, when the group filed 23 counts of corruption against Hubbard.

"No one has a record that comes even close to matching mine when it comes to convicting corrupt public officials," said Strange, who then blasted his opponent, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, for being removed from the bench twice - the first time in 2003, for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building. He was suspended from the bench last year for ordering probate judges to withhold marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Moore's campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

"The contrast is really stark," Strange said.

Strange's emphasis on ethics, according to longtime Alabama political observers, is noteworthy.

"At least he is dealing with an issue that haunts him," said retired Athens State University political science professor Jess Brown, who has long said the Bentley appointment is a political problem for the senator. "It suggests he now knows he cannot win unless he reduces that liability and he has the benefit of Moore having no effective message regarding a salient economic issue."

William Stewart, a professor emeritus of political sciences at the University of Alabama, said Strange's recent messaging comes with some risks.

"Alabama voters are not known for insisting on the highest standard of integrity when they vote," Stewart said. "Otherwise, Alabama would not be ranked as one of the most corrupt states in the nation."

He added, "Strange's stand for strict adherence to law, including unpopular federal court decisions, is a commendable one. Win or lose, I think he will go down as a candidate of principle despite his heavy emphasis earlier in the campaign on very negative campaigning."
Tiera Fletcher

Tiera Fletcher, 22, a rocket engineer at Boeing Co. in Huntsville, is featured in this month's Good Housekeeping magazine as one of 15 'Awesome Women of 2017.'

(Contributed by Tiera Fletcher)

When Tiera Fletcher was 11, she already knew what she wanted to do -- build rockets.

The daughter of a construction worker and an accountant in Mableton, Georgia, Fletcher had parents who fostered her love of math and taught her how to apply it to designing and building things.

Intent on making her dream come true, she entered science decathlons and enrolled in special summer programs designed to stimulate her interest and talents in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the all important STEM of today's high-tech society.

Her hard work got her into one of the world's most prestigious universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she not only excelled, but mentored other women interested in entering STEM fields, where females are underrepresented.

"Aside from building my academic career, I also focused on becoming a well-rounded person by exploring outside interests, especially interests that truly spoke to my values and beliefs," she said.

Today, at 22 years old, Fletcher is a fresh graduate of MIT with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, and a job at Boeing Co. in Huntsville helping to build the Space Launch System, the rocket NASA plans to send to Mars. Her title: rocket structural analysis engineer.

She's also one of 15 women honored with the Awesome Women Award in this month's edition of Good Housekeeping magazine.

The honorees are everyday people like Fletcher (featured as Tiera Guinn, her name before getting married in July), and famous ones too. CNN news anchor Poppy Harlow, Spanx CEO and founder Sara Blakely, "Every Mother Counts" founder Christy Turlington Burns and actress Whoopi Goldberg are among the honorees. Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft Founder Bill Gates, was the special guest editor that helped select the women who would be honored.

"They've developed new, creative ways to safeguard infants at risk, demystify math for girls, clear our air, explore space, eradicate ethnic stereotyping, find a better job, even clean up crime in the most violent neighborhood of Chicago--and more," said the Good Housekeeping article. "These are women who know that the question isn't who is to blame for a problem. The question is, how can each one of us step up to fix it?"

Fletcher, who moved to Madison just after her wedding to start her dream job building rockets for Boeing, is planning to continue mentoring women and girls who want to pursue a STEM career.

"I like to build women up one-on-one," she told Good Housekeeping.

STEM, she said, "gives you the ability to fuel the innovation that lies within ourselves and bring it into reality."

Just because women are underrepresented in STEM fields doesn't mean they aren't cut out for it, Fletcher said.

"Do not allow demographics to deter you from contributing to the age of innovation and bringing your dreams to life," she said.



Her parents, Emery and Sheila Guinn, who have been "amazing cheerleaders throughout my life," couldn't be more excited about their daughter's new job and her being honored as one of Good Housekeeping's Awesome Women of 2017.

Fletcher is just happy to finally be building rockets, and hopefully, inspiring new rocket engineers.

"It's humbling to be a part of this moment in STEM history," she said.



Haskins writes about points of pride statewide. Email your suggestions to shaskins@al.com, or tweet them to @Shelly_Haskins using #AlabamaProud
Strange Jones Moore.jpg

The Luther Strange - Roy Moore debate has already been billed as "Thunderdome," but does anyone expect to hear something that sounds like an original idea? (file)

(file)

So we're getting a debate.

For a while there, it seemed it wouldn't happen.

First Luther Strange and Roy Moore were to meet at Samford University, but Moore objected to the debate organizer. The Alabama Policy Institute has ties to a Mitch McConnell Super PAC running attack ads against him, Moore said, so no deal.

Fair enough.

Then Moore rejected an offer from Raycom media to host a debate, instead. He didn't want a moderator at all, he said. The defrocked Alabama chief justice insisted on a Lincoln-Douglas style contest -- no moderator, no rules.

OK, said Strange.

No dice, Moore said.

And then the chorus got as far as to ask, "Are you chick..."

Moore's campaign relented.

So it's on -- a debate for the ages, to be held at a time and place to be named later, no refs, no rules. One of my cohorts, the Montgomery Advertiser's Brian Lyman has already nicknamed it "Thunderdome."

Only if it were so.

Yes, it might be nasty, but can anyone imagine something -- anything -- that might surprise anyone? Perhaps, Steve Bannon bum rushing the stage to brain Strange with a folding chair.

They're set to debate, but debate what, exactly?

Tune in and you are sure to hear two grown men talking about the Washington swamp with the argumentative eloquence two preschoolers squabbling on a playground. Each will accuse of the other of being a swamp creature, a swamp thing, a swamp critter ...

It will all be a lot of swamp gas.

We're four months into a mercifully abbreviated special election for the United States Senate, but ask yourself for real: Have you heard one thing uttered before now that in any way resembles an idea?

So far this GOP race has been an overdrawn argument over who's the Trumpiest of the candidates. Strange and Moore have both promised to support @realdonaldtrump's agenda. Neither has sworn to uphold their constitutional duty to serve as a check and balance on the executive branch's power.

Moore will likely demand Strange answer for taking his appointment from former Gov. Robert Bentley, who Strange was investigating at the time as attorney general. It's a fair line of questioning and one Strange has not yet adequately answered.

Strange will likely challenge Moore for using his nonprofit as a means to pay himself and his family with money from whom? We don't know, because the Foundation for Moral Law is several years behind on its public tax filings. Even if @realdonaldtrump won't let us see his returns, either, at least he filed his on time.

But beyond that? What? Each will recite the buzzwords and cliches of their party -- border security, traditional values, repeal and replace ... etc.

What you're not likely to hear is a debate about ideas, which is why, if I could ask one question for these stuffed shirts, it would be this.

Should you win this runoff later this month, will you debate your Democratic opponent, Doug Jones?

It's been years since we've had a general election debate in Alabama, and years more since we've had a good one.

More recently, Alabama Republicans have hidden in the bushes rather than meet their Democratic rivals in the schoolyard. It's cowardly. And it's shameful.

In 2014, Gov. Robert Bentley refused to debate Parker Griffith, even after Griffith called him a coward and toured the state with a giant inflatable chicken with Bentley's name on it.

Already this year, in a district town hall, constituents asked Rep. Mike Rogers whether he would debate a Democrat when he runs for reelection next year.

Final question of Congressman Mike Rogers' town hall: Will you agree to debate the democratic candidate(s) running against you during the next election? #YesOrNoRepresentative #ThursdayThoughts #MikeRogersAL #TownHallAL03 #MoMoneyMoMike #ElectedNotAnointed #DontLikeMike Posted by Theresa Helen Hoch on Thursday, August 10, 2017

Rogers said he wouldn't, and asked rhetorically why he should. He's got money, he said, and if a Democrat doesn't have money the only way they have to raise their profile would be to meet him on stage.

"They want me to help them get elected," Rogers said. "It's not my job to help them get their profile raised."

"It's called democracy," one woman shouted from the audience.

Rogers was undeterred, but the rest of us should alarmed.

There's nothing in the Constitution or Alabama election law requiring political opponents test their ideas against each other, but debates shouldn't be optional. Because in that idealistic, schoolbook depiction of electoral politics, they mean something. It's our one real chance to see past the campaign ad half-truths, the fake news and the social media slander -- to see what choice we still have left on election day.

But some candidate would rather take that away, too.

Candidates can refuse to debate their opponents but they can't deprive you of your vote, and if they won't give us the former, we shouldn't give them the latter.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group. You can follow his work through Reckon by AL.com on Facebook.
Rights groups concerned as likelihood of drowning increases on most dangerous route and as conditions worsen in Libya.

Refugees and migrants are dying in the Mediterranean at a quicker rate than last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported, as rights groups raise alarm over abusive conditions in Libya  now the main country of departure.

While fewer refugees have drowned so far in 2017 compared with the same period a year ago, the number of arrivals has fallen drastically  meaning that those who do set off from the Libyan coast have a greater chance of dying.

At least 2,550 refugees and migrants died from January 1 to September 13, 2017, compared with 3,262 from the same period in 2016, the IOM said  a drop of 22 percent.

However, arrivals to Europe have fallen much more sharply from 293,806 to 128,863  a year-on-year decrease of 57 percent.

At this years rate, one refugee dies for every 50 who make it to Europe. Last year, one person died for every 90 who safely reached Europe.

The rate of deaths for migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean was almost twice as high in 2017 than in 2016, the IOM said in a recent report.

Despite considerable policy and media attention and increased search and rescue efforts by a range of actors, the death toll in the Mediterranean has continued to rise  The rate of death increased from 1.2 percent in the first half of 2016, to 2.1 percent in the first half of 2017.

Part of this rise is due to the greater proportion of migrants now taking the most dangerous route - that across the Central Mediterranean by International Organization for Migration

Although fewer migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2017, a higher percentage of those on this journey perished.

The Central Mediterranean journey, from Libya to Malta or Italy, is now the most active refugee route for refugees.

In March last year, two events slowed the flow of Europe-bound refugees migrating from Turkey and Greece.

First, a string of countries effectively shut the Balkan route which allowed refugees to travel by land from Greece to Western Europe. The EU-Turkey deal also came into effect, pushing hopeful asylum seekers in Greece back to Turkey and closing the Aegean route. Most of those affected were from the Middle East and Asia.

Those attempting to travel to Europe now from Libya are mostly African, Moroccan or Bangladeshi.

Part of this rise [in the death rate] is due to the greater proportion of migrants now taking the most dangerous route  that across the Central Mediterranean, the IOM report stated.

Smugglers have also made the journey increasingly dangerous, forgoing boats for rubber dinghies, using less fuel and preventing refugees from carrying much drinking water, rights groups told Al Jazeera.

15,000 killed in four years

In the four years since October 2013, when these deadly journeys started making headlines, the Mediterranean crossing has claimed the lives of at least 15,000 refugees and migrants, accounting for more than half of the 22,500 refugees and migrants who have died or gone missing globally.

Those figures put into perspective statements by European officials, who have rushed to welcome the fact that fewer bodies are being pulled from the sea or washing ashore recently.

For example, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made his third State of the Union speech to the European Parliament on September 13, claiming: We have drastically reduced the loss of life in the Mediterranean.

Juncker did also temper his claim, however, by calling on Europe to urgently improve migrants living conditions in Libya, and acknowledging the inhumane conditions at detention centres.

Fewer departures from Libya mean more people in abusive situations in Libya itself, Judith Sunderland, associate director for Europe at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Al Jazeera.

Rights groups have for months documented widespread exploitation and abuse of thousands of refugees in Libya.

Although it is possible that not all refugees and migrants trapped in Libya fled violence at home, they are likely attempting to escape brutal conditions in the war-torn, insecure country, Sunderland added, citing reports of beatings, torture, sexual violence and forced labour.

NGOs have also condemned reports of the EU-backed Libyan coastguard shooting at aid workers and refugees at sea.

In the Mediterranean, we currently witness a full-blown offensive against migrants and civil search and rescue actors, in which EU institutions and member states work hand-in-hand with their authoritarian allies in Libya to shut down the Central Mediterranean migration route, said a spokesman from Alarmphone, a network of activist and migrant groups providing a 24-hour hotline for refugees in distress at sea.

Currently, there is no reason whatsoever for celebration. The root causes for migration and flight have not changed.

OPINION: Italy and France are playing a dangerous game in Libya

Italian officials are also among those celebrating lower arrivals figures, attributing the drop to tougher actions against smugglers.

Its not surprising, said HRWs Sutherland. Italians would celebrate lower departures and then take credit for it  its a huge political issue in Italy. The country is in campaign mode with elections in 2018.

The Western pushback against refugees was also boosted in February this year when the European Union in February signed a $215m deal with the fragile Libyan government to stop migrant boats, encourage voluntary repatriation and set up safe camps in Libya.

Currently, there is no reason whatsoever for celebration. The root causes for migration and flight have not changed by Alarmphone spokesman

Reducing the numbers of boats setting off from Libyan shores does not solve the issue, it simply pushes it back into Libya, and into the detention centres, Marcella Kraay, a Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials, MSF) coordinator on board the Aquarius rescue boat, told Al Jazeera.

Nearly all people MSF search and rescue teams save from drowning on the Mediterranean have been exposed to an alarming level of violence and exploitation while in Libya: kidnap for ransom, forced labour, sexual violence and enforced prostitution, being kept in captivity or detained arbitrarily.

The NGO says it has assisted women pregnant as a result of rape and treated people for violence-related injuries: broken bones, infected wounds and old scars from beatings and abuse.

The EU needs to shift its strategy to put the security of refugees and migrants first, said Kraay. The EU member states should shift their focus from fighting symptoms and stopping people to finding solutions and assisting people  Injecting money without transparency, monitoring and accountability risks fuelling the detention business and the abuses.

Looking ahead, rights groups are concerned that the number of people boarding flimsy dinghies from Libya could return to previous highs, with smugglers again endangering the lives of thousands more refugees.

[Refugees] need to be allowed to leave these conditions in Libya. There needs to be legal and safe ways to reach the territories of the EU, the Alarmphone spokesman told Al Jazeera.

Follow Anealla Safdar on Twitter: @anealla








United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. ROBERT SMITH, Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-2492 Decided: September 15, 2017

Present: ROBERT A. KATZMANN, Chief Judge, ROBERT D. SACK, PETER W. HALL, Circuit Judges. For Defendant-Appellant: ALLEGRA GLASHAUSSER, Barry D. Leiwant, Federal Defenders of New York, Inc., Appeals Bureau, New York, NY. For Appellee: DAVID GOPSTEIN (Jo Ann M. Navickas, on the brief), for Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, NY.

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Defendant Robert Smith appeals from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Cogan, J.), entered on July 14, 2016, sentencing him principally to twenty-one months' imprisonment for the offense of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Smith was convicted of this offense following a jury trial, where he was also acquitted of the charges of unlawful use of a firearm and of being a felon in possession of a firearm. We assume the parties' familiarity with the facts and procedural history of this case, as well as the issues on appeal.

First, Smith argues that the district court erred in not holding an evidentiary hearing on his pretrial motion to suppress evidence. In the context of a motion to suppress evidence, we review a district court's decision not to hold an evidentiary hearing for abuse of discretion. United States v. Finley, 245 F.3d 199, 203 (2d Cir. 2001). An evidentiary hearing on a motion to suppress ordinarily is required if the moving papers are sufficiently definite, specific, detailed, and nonconjectural to enable the court to conclude that contested issues of fact going to the validity of the search are in question.  United States v. Pena, 961 F.2d 333, 339 (2d Cir. 1992) (quoting United States v. Licavoli, 604 F.2d 613, 621 (9th Cir. 1979)); see also United States v. Watson, 404 F.3d 163, 167 (2d Cir. 2005). Here, the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the affidavit submitted by Smith in connection with his motion to suppress was insufficiently definite to raise a contested issue of fact as to whether his arrest was lawful.

Second, Smith contends that the district court violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in adding an enhancement to his offense level under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines on the basis of his possession of a dangerous weapon in connection with a drug offense. In reviewing Guidelines calculations, we apply a de novo standard to legal conclusions  United States v. Walker, 595 F.3d 441, 443 (2d Cir. 2010). As Smith recognizes, this Court has held that district courts may consider acquitted conduct in imposing sentence, see United States v. Vaughn, 430 F.3d 518, 52627 (2d Cir. 2005), and we are bound by that precedent. Moreover, defense counsel did not object at sentencing to the district court's authority to consider acquitted conduct, and even were we of the view that the district court was in error in considering acquitted conduct, such error was not plain. See United States v. McCrimon, 788 F.3d 75, 78 (2d Cir. 2015) (per curiam).

We have considered all of Smith's arguments and find in them no basis for reversal. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

FOR THE COURT:

CATHERINE O'HAGAN WOLFE, CLERK
If we go back well be either tortured or killed [Hear] our stories of sorrow how [would you] feel in our shoes?

Nasima Khatun, 60, comes from Rakhine State, Myanmar, which she fled a few weeks ago.

My name is Nasima Khatun and I am 60 years old. We lived a quite life before the crisis, my husband was a fisherman and we had three daughters  we lived very well for Rohingya. Although we encountered some pressure from the military, we did not face any problems with regards to food or shelter.

When the military started firing their guns in our village we all ran in different directions. I was hiding in the jungle when someone told me my husband had been shot. I felt helpless and afraid.

The military took over the village so I could not return to bring back the body, we had to leave him there and quickly move to Bangladesh.

I travelled with my daughters and some neighbours from the village, we could not carry anything with us so we just ate and drank whatever we found on the way. One day, we passed an abandoned shop which we looted  that was the only real food we ate during the 10-day journey; we were so hungry.

I cried and cried the whole way so my neighbours took pity on me and paid for our boat trip across to Bangladesh. I was so sad to leave Myanmar, I lost my husband there, my house, my land and everything I own.

Weve managed to build a shelter here, and the local Bangladeshis have supported us with food donations. But I have no opportunity to earn money, there is no work for us to do. What type of future can we have if we dont have any money?

Everyone wants to go back to Myanmar but I dont think that will ever be possible, it will never be safe there again. If we go back well be either tortured or killed. I believe the world is watching our situation. My request is that they empathise  that the world hears our stories of sorrow and death and imagines how they would feel in our shoes.

*As told to Katie Arnold in Kutupalong new shelter camp near Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh.

*This interview has been edited for clarity.

The plight of Myanmars Rohingya

More than 400,000 Rohingya, mainly women and children, have fled to Bangladesh in the recent weeks as a result of indiscriminate violence against civilian populations carried out by the Myanmar army.

The UN and other human rights organisations have warned that the mass exodus following killings, rapes, and burned villages are signs of ethnic cleansing, pleading for the international community to pressure Aung San Suu Kyi and her government to end the violence.

The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing, UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein said on Monday, September 11.

Read more to find out who are Myanmars Rohingya
Mbera refugee camp, Mauritania  It is often difficult to know where the sprawling Mbera refugee camp ends, and the desolate, desert communities of southeastern Mauritania begin.

Both spring up almost unexpectedly from the mounds of orange sand and shrubs: tents made from tarps fastened to curved tree branches, animal pens, and the odd mud-brick, tin or aluminium structure.

In this hard-to-reach and isolated corner of the Sahel, tens of thousands of refugees from Mali, displaced over the last five years by armed conflict at home, live alongside traditional Mauritanian herding and agricultural communities.

Together, the camp and the local district of Bassikounou, which comprises the town of the same name and several small villages, would amount to the fourth-most populous locale in the country.

But though the two populations share a great deal in common, living together is not without its problems.

They get everything and us, we get nothing at all, Varajou Ould Karata, 65, a Mauritanian farmer from the village of Limkais, about 10km from the refugee camp, told Al Jazeera as he took a break from working in a field.

Karata quickly rattled off a series of common complaints among locals: The refugees steal livestock, cut down trees and drain natural resources, especially water.

Since the refugees arrived, the farmland doesnt have enough to feed us, Karata said.

The refugee influx

Mbera camp is home to nearly 52,000 registered refugees, according to July data from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

The refugees began arriving at the peak of the crisis in Mali in 2012, as armed violence broke out in the countrys tumultuous north and the area was gripped by insecurity.

But as hordes of Malian families crossed the border to seek refuge in the camp, so did Mauritanians who had either been living in Mali or saw an opportunity to gain access to services in the camp that they could not find in their own communities nearby.

The Hodh Ech-Chargui region where Mbera is located is one of the poorest and most neglected parts of Mauritania, which suffers as a whole from extreme poverty, malnutrition, poor infrastructure and a lack of economic opportunities.

Mauritania imports about 70 percent of its food, and almost 27 percent of citizens are food insecure at one point every year, according to the World Food Programme. The UN also estimated that just over 52 percent of Mauritanians lived in poverty in 2011.

Of the countrys population of fewer than four million inhabitants, more than 450,000 people are in need of humanitarian aid, according to INTERSOS, an Italian humanitarian organisation that supports refugees in Mbera.

We discovered that among these refugees, there [were] Mauritanians, confirmed Nabil Othman, head of the UNHCR office in Mauritania, which put the number of Mauritanians who were registered as refugees in the camp at 8,300.

While the Mauritanians were officially deregistered from UNHCRs refugee list in 2015 and 2016, Othman said between 40 and 60 percent still live in the camp.

They do not receive food rations or other direct support, but they can still access water, schools and healthcare. Othman said the Mauritanians were allowed to stay in the camp to avoid inflaming tensions between the refugees and host communities.

I cannot give you assistance [as a refugee], whereas the local community, they are lacking such assistance, Othman told Al Jazeera from his office in Nouakchott, the capital, about 1,100km from Bassikounou.

Moving these people from the camp, it will create problems.

Handling conflicts together

But the UNs decision to deregister Mauritanians has created problems regardless, said Aliou Amadou Ba, the supervisor of community-based protection with INTERSOS.

Local Mauritanians were frustrated by what they perceived as their communities being ignored by international aid organisations, who were there to support the refugees  and only the refugees  while they languished.

Over the years, Mauritanians in the area, most of whom are herders or farmers, have accused the refugees of stealing their livestock and over-using the sparse local resources, especially wood and water.

Ba said relations between the two groups have vastly improved in recent years, especially since humanitarian groups have funded projects in Mauritanian villages, but tensions can still flare up.

Its a bit difficult, especially if the aid doesnt equally cover both [groups] needs, he told Al Jazeera in an interview from a community centre in the camp. The host community says theyre the ones who accepted to welcome the refugees, and these refugees are the ones exploiting the natural resources in their village.

Theyre asking the question: How is it that these refugees, whom we welcomed with open arms, have become the main cause of our poverty?'

Seeking to quash the tensions, INTERSOS created a special committee  composed of refugees in Mbera camp and residents of local Mauritanian communities  to handle conflicts. The main complaints include allegations, mostly unproven, of refugees stealing livestock and cutting down trees, which villagers have traditionally used to build their homes and as a source of income.

Baba Ould Baba Ahmed is among 11 Malian refugees who make up the Mixed Committee for Conflict Resolution. Like Ba, he said problems between refugees and locals are compounded by a lack of resources to support both communities.

For instance, refugees would not need to cut down trees  which they use primarily as firewood, Ahmed said  if they could have access to gas or charcoal stoves to cook with.

A lack of water more generally in the arid, Mauritanian climate puts added pressure on local resources, since both populations rely heavily on livestock and agriculture to survive.

People are nomads here. People have livestock. If the year is good and there is a lot of rain, there wont be problems between refugees and the local population. But if there is no rain, there are problems, Ahmed said.

Building ties in the market

On a hot Tuesday morning in the camp, row upon row of vendors  men, women and children of all ages  sit under tarps, aluminium awnings, and other sources of shade to avoid the scorching sun.

Plastic toys, spices, kitchen utensils, fruits and vegetables and other goods are laid out in neat piles at their feet.

Modiere Coulibalys stall is busy: The Malian mother of three wipes droplets of sweat off her brow as she scoops a mound of peanut butter out of a plastic tub and into a bag, before weighing it and handing it to a customer.

A refugee from the small town of Lere, in the region of Timbuktu in Mali, Coulibaly first landed in Mbera camp in 2012. She lived there until last year, when she decided to move to Bassikounou, the nearby Mauritanian town.

She said she sells more in Bassikounou and the surrounding villages, but she still comes to the camp every Tuesday to sell vegetables at the weekly market. Much of the produce she sells comes from Mali.

There are no problems, she said, speaking of relations between Malians and Mauritanians here.

Lubeya Mint Mohamed, a Mauritanian vendor who has been selling her products in the camp market for the past two months, echoed that sentiment. Doing business together helps, she said. I learned that the market, theres money to be made here, Mohamed said.

In Bassikounou, where she lives, Mohamed said she generally makes less than $1 a day; there are more vendors in the city, each selling out of their homes, and increased competition. In Mbera, she can make between $14 and $17 daily.

Its a good relationship. Theyre at home here, she said about the refugees she works alongside in the camp.

According to Ba of INTERSOS, the market has reinforced ties between Malians and Mauritanians. There is collaboration, there is real harmony, between the two communities that we have to take note of, he said.

Only here for the refugees

But not everyone is benefitting from the Mbera market.

About two kilometres down the road from the camp sits Mbera 2, a village that was created in the early 1990s to accommodate refugees fleeing Mali at that time.

As many as 150,000 Malians were displaced then by armed conflict, and tens of thousands sought refuge in Mauritania. According to one report, the refugee population in Bassikounou numbered as many as 85,000 in 1992.

Most of the current inhabitants of Mbera 2 were Malian refugees who decided not to return home when the fighting subsided, and many are naturalised Mauritanian citizens today.

Resident Khadijetou Mint Mohamed Lemine, 45, said the advent of the camp market has hurt local vendors, who once relied on the refugees to sustain their businesses.

Since the new market began in the camp, its become more difficult. Refugees used to come here to shop, but now they dont have to, she said, adding that many people in the village feel forgotten in the shadow of the camp. No one asks about us.

One morning in August, Mahjoub Ould Belkher, 66, was divvying up a thick chunk of meat in his sparse butchers stall in the Mbera 2 market. The area was eerily quiet and empty, save for a few men chatting on the ground near an empty stall and children milling about.

Born in Mauritania, Belkher lived in Mali for 15 years before he returned to his native country in 1991 with the wave of Malian refugees. He said he has lived in Mbera 2 ever since.

While business is slow, and although Belkher accused the refugees of chopping down most of the trees in the area, he said there have been few problems between the village and the camp.

The people are all like brothers, he said.

Still, despite being a former refugee himself from the Timbuktu region, village leader Chafa Cheihna said the presence of tens of thousands of new refugees next door weighs on the population of Mbera 2, which he said numbers some 3,400 people.

Mbera 2 does not have a secondary school, which means girls often stop studying when they finish primary school because their families do not want them to travel outside of the village alone, he said.

The villagers want better access to water and more job opportunities, and while health services have improved, they are still lacking, Cheihna told Al Jazeera.

The feeling of being overlooked and unsupported persists.

The NGOs that are here are only here for the refugees, not for us, Cheihna said. Its shocking  Were looking for development for us.

Jillian Kestler-DAmours reported from Mauritania on an International Reporting Project fellowship.
Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh  An infant lies in his mothers lap, wailing in pain, his torso, face and hands burned. A woman lies listless and seemingly alone in the corner. She, too, has burns all over her body.

Such scenes of suffering have become common at Sadar Hospital in the Bangladeshi port city of Coxs Bazar. These patients are Rohingya refugees who have fled attacks by the Myanmar military in neighbouring Myanmars Rakhine State.

The army came and burned down my house. I was inside the house at that time, says one patient, 30-year-old Shahida Begum. With no route to escape, I was also engulfed in the fire and my whole body sustained burns.

The pain is unbearable, she explains. It was better to die than suffer like this.

Three of Shahidas sons were killed two days before her house in the village of Rasidong was set on fire.

Life will never be the same again, she says.

Dildar Begum and her 10-year-old daughter, Noor Kolima, were admitted to the hospital five days ago and are the only survivors from their family. Dildar lost her husband, infant son and mother-in-law to the violence.

My family was attacked on the 29th of August. The army came and fired indiscriminately, Dildar says.

My daughter and I somehow survived the attack, but the two monks accompanying the army men tried to kill us with a big knife. They thought we were dead and left us. We hid in the house for three days and then escaped.

The journey they undertook to reach the border is a blur, she says. I was in so much pain.

Eight-year-old Mohammad Anas slipped and injured his face as he was fleeing Myanmar. His uncle, Syed Alam, is with him at the hospital.

We are from Lankhali village, Mandua district and it was attacked three days before Eid, Syed explains. We escaped to the nearby hillock. We were 10 family members when we fled, but only six of us managed to reach here. I have no clue about what happened to the others.

According to the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, an estimated 400,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25 in what is being called one of the fastest growing refugee crises of recent years.
Netanyahu will surely go, but hell be replaced by another autocrat hellbent on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Stanley L Cohen is an attorney and human rights activist who has done extensive work in the Middle East and Africa.

Its been said those who fail to recall the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. Built of help and hope, this expression is as familiar as it is simple: knowledge is the gateway to informed transformation and with it, educated change is, necessarily, sure to follow.

Breaking news: Dont kid yourself. When the chorus of selective history finds its path to be, of necessity, narrow and unbending, its but a convenient echo of certain repetition.





Indeed, time and time again, history does repeat itself. When it comes to Israel, we are, if nothing else, naive, if not slow, learners to believe that enlightened change is either inevitable or just around the corner. Its not, at least not of its own volition.

If reports are to be believed, the reign of Benjamin Netanyahu is now in its final stretch as prosecutors and purchased politicians, alike, line up to see that justice be done, and done with ease and smooth political transition. As always, the aim is to remove the bombast, yet, ensure the same old supremacist tune.

Seemingly, a power with many hats, forever  for almost a decade  Netanyahu, as prime minister, has been a storm cloud that has sucked the sheen from the sun wherever his path has taken him. From south Lebanon to the Golan, to Rafah, to the halls of the US Congress, his has been a reckless belligerent trek built of nationalist venture and little else.

READ MORE: Criminal indictments loom large for Israeli PM

Never one to grin in a vacuum, hes long been the ugly, but very real, face of Israel in its march to expand occupation and recast and darken opposition, be they home-grown dissidents or crafted belligerents from elsewhere.

Like a steady unbroken drumbeat, supremacist odium has, by design, worked its way into all segments of an Israeli culture that sees kind as weak, just as soft, and equality as something much less than equal. by

From the mourn of Deir Yassin, to the wail of Sabra-Shatila, to the level of Jenin, to the final breath of Palestinian infants denied energy to incubate in Gaza, historically each and every act of wanton cruelty has been packaged by Israel as a necessary defence to the willful guile of others. In Israel, no politician can weave their way up the path of power and survive without the hymn of perpetual victimisation. Its become very much the traditional tribal chant.

Indeed, no Israeli leader has worked it better, and been more adept at palpable deflection, than has Netanyahu who, for decades, has found an enemy lurking around each and every corner, even when no such corner exists.

Make no mistake about it: While Israel claims self-defence as a necessity from the ever-present looming hate of others, if there is hatred to be had, it is very much a convenient sale of Israels own liking and design. To be sure, the mentality of siege dictates that decency knows no reach and avarice no limits. On both fronts, Israel has excelled.

For 70 years, Israeli tropes, whether addressed in Tel Aviv, Brooklyn or Toronto, have mastered the art of self-deception. As almost an obstinate rite of passage, generations of insular, perhaps insulated, Israelis have been birthed on myth. No, not the Holocaust, for it was very real, but the offer that no speech is too vile, no detention too long, no act too extreme once swept up into a sham talismanic call of survival.

The hate that is Israel is not, at all, limited to the handful of political, military or settlement leaders that have flourished in a society whose mantra is dont ask, dont tell. Like a steady unbroken drumbeat, supremacist odium has, by design, worked its way into all segments of an Israeli culture that sees kind as weak, just as soft, and equality as something much less than equal.

For generations of Israeli leaders, the message, although at times massaged, has essentially remained very much unremitting and uniform in its hymn.

OPINION: Remembering the Sabra and Shatila massacre 35 years on

Ultimately, other than the spelling of their names, be it Begin, the wanted terrorist of the 30s and 40s, Sharon, the war criminal covered with the blood of women and children in Beirut and, later, again, in Jenin, or Netanyahu, the proud architect of multiple slaughters in Gaza, deceitful deflection has remained a constant in the halls of Israeli power.

Absent a dramatic shift, dont expect that to change, any time soon, should the current prime minister ultimately find his way to his much-deserved place in the prisoners dock.





Indeed, waiting in the wings to assume the grand lie are, yet, other scions of a shaded story that began with the romanticised myth of Kibbutzim which, almost magically, blossomed from the sand and evolved its way to the uneasy canard which, today, wraps Israel in the tattered whole cloth of democracy.

Among those surely awaiting their place in the run of ruin is Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. Recently described as a classic fascist in the tradition of Mussolini, Shaked, of the Jewish Home Party, has long been a critic of individual rights or equality under Israeli law. To her, justice is little more than a legislative doorway to Zionist superiority, with travel limited to only the states Jewish majority.

Not at all one to run from her very public and proud supremacist wrap, more than once, Shaked has announced the need for a moral and political revolution that would smother universal individual rights under the rule of national and Zionist values.

Having long learned that, in Israel, the pathway to political power is seeded with exploitation and pain of non-Jews, Shakeds racist raves have run the hateful course from attacks on infiltrators from Africa to her well-known declaration that Palestine must be destroyed because the entire Palestinian people is the enemy, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.

OPINION: Politics of water  Stealing Palestinian resources

Lest there be any doubt about what drives this proposed heir to the Israeli political throne, her vitriolic Facebook screed of 2014 ended with a public embrace of nothing short of outright genocide which calls for the slaughter of Palestinian mothers who give birth to little snakes.

Not to worry, there is competition galore. Thus stands Naftali Bennett, Netanyahus former chief of staff who has headed The Jewish Home party since 2012. At various times, Israels minister of education, minister of diaspora affairs, minister of economy and minister of religious services, Bennett is an ultra-nationalist adored by Israels explosive and criminal settler movement.

Baring a dramatic change, 70 years of history should leave little doubt about the future of Israel, both in the land that it occupies and, elsewhere, where it has shown scant hesitancy in support of other regimes which, like itself, see abusive power as a virtue and absolute, brutal control as a desired end. by

He has not only repeatedly spoken out in support of the unilateral annexation of the West Bank, but opposes the creation of any Palestinian state  proudly boasting that I will do everything in my power to make sure they never get a state. On that note, with the election of Donald Trump, Bennett proclaimed The era of the Palestinian state is over.

Not to be outdone by Shakeds call for genocide, in keeping with Israeli political necessity and tradition, Bennett once bragged, I already killed lots of Arabs in my life, and there is absolutely no problem with that.

Rhetoric, such as this, might very well mean the end of ones political future in a rational state that sees violence as the final exception to the rule and not the end itself. But in Israel, where bravado and bombast carries with it a seductive political allure and future, it helped to transform Bennett from Manhattan software entrepreneur to firebrand political hero in the eyes of both settlers and secular Jews, alike.

Highly critical of what he considered to be Israels tepid onslaught in Gaza in 2014  which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, hundreds of them children  Bennett is but another in a generation of Israeli self-apologists who see themselves beyond the reach of humanity, let alone international law.

Indeed, if history is, in fact, a guidepost of what is yet to come, Israels view of bed-fellows has long been established as not just strange but remarkable for an unbroken marriage of vile and venom which extends back decades.

Thus, Israels support for South African and Rhodesian apartheid was very public as it provided materials for the building of nuclear weapons or assault weapons and helicopters in violation of UN-imposed sanctions against both. Elsewhere, in Africa, it funded and trained the military forces of brutal dictatorships. It armed the Rwandan military and Hutu militia responsible for genocide against the Tutsis.

In South America, Israel supported Guatemalan death squads, the Contras, Pinochet in Chile, and the military junta in Argentina which disappeared thousands of political opponents including numerous Jewish civilians.

OPINION: Death by security: Israels services in Latin America

In Southeast Asia and the Pacific Region, it aided the Suharto and Marcos dictatorships. In Iran, the shahs secret death squads (SAVAK) received training from Israel and purchased over $150m in arms from it. Never known for its selfless virtue, Israel was to benefit. The shah was one of the first leaders in the region to recognise it as a state.

Today, while most of the world recoils, in sheer horror, with the sight of the rape, displacement and slaughter of hundreds of thousands in Myanmar, Israel continues to train and arm death squads that have targeted the countrys Rohingya Muslim minority for genocide.





Baring a dramatic change, 70 years of history should leave little doubt about the future of Israel, both in the land that it occupies and, elsewhere, where it has shown scant hesitancy in support of other regimes which, like itself, see abusive power as a virtue and absolute, brutal control as a desired end.

Netanyahu will surely go  whether this year or next. In his place will come another in a long, unbroken line of autocrats who see human rights and international law as barriers in their drive to complete the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians started long ago when the Nakba began, early in the morning of April 9, 1948.

Do I believe it will succeed? No. Do I believe fundamental change in a system fuelled by apartheid and occupation will suddenly reverse a steady stalk of hatred through an Israeli ballot box that has long provided a silent pretext for appalling crimes? Of course not.

Yet, ultimately, I remain hopeful that with determined, at times militant, resistance by Palestinians on the ground, along with the support of a growing world community that understands well that silence is complicity, change will come and come in a way that will echo loudly, From the River to the sea 

In the end, I have no doubt the community of nations will run out of excuses, if not time, and finally say enough, and do so in a way which ensures that millions of stateless Palestinians will return home, at long last, to find that aged, rusted keys can still open the doors to equality, freedom and justice.

Stanley L Cohen is a lawyer and human rights activist who has done extensive work in the Middle East and Africa.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Hamas says its finally ready for a reconciliation deal, but questions remain as to whether it will follow through.

The number one priority for any world leader should be the well-being of his/her own people. For Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, however, following this basic principle is challenging, as his concern for his people has to include the besieged people of the Gaza Strip. The complicated situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza makes it difficult for Abbas to determine his priorities, causing internal politics to sometimes influence his perception of Palestinian national interests.

Gaza has proven to be a difficult nut to crack, but recent geopolitical changes in the region produced a rare opportunity for Abbas to reinforce his influence on the strip. Abbas seems to have embraced this opportunity and placed enough pressure on Hamas to produce dramatic results: On Sunday, Hamas has agreed to talks with the rival Fatah movement and expressed its willingness to hold general elections in the Palestinian territories.

Putting pressure on Hamas

For a long time, Hamas has not been willing to accommodate the return of the Ramallah-based Palestinian National Authority (PA) leadership to the Gaza Strip.





Syria, Iran, Qatar and Egypt have been supportive of the group, allowing them to resist international as well as domestic pressures to cede control of Gaza. Recent developments in the region, however, put Hamas in a tight spot.

Hamas leaders abroad have been forced to abandon their ambitions in Syria and the rise of anti-Muslim Brotherhood strongman Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in Egypt has resulted in the blocking of the Rafah crossing. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) started to put immense pressure on Qatar to end its support for Hamas.

These developments weakened Hamas, and Abbas decided that the time was ripe to put pressure on the group to surrender the control of the Gaza Strip.

As he is categorically opposed to using violence against fellow Palestinians, the Palestinian presidents first move was to stop paying Gazas energy costs. This reduction in financial support caused political difficulties for Hamas, but has not immediately delivered a concrete victory for Abbas. Instead, the pressure from Ramallah has produced a strange bedfellow to the newly elected Hamas leadership: Mohammad Dahlan.

The Dahlan factor

In 2007, Dahlan led a coup against the newly elected Hamas government and was eventually forced to leave the Strip. The Gaza native, who, over the years, became a beloved protege of the UAE leadership, has recently agreed to cooperate with his former nemeses in Gaza in order to return to his homeland. More importantly, he will continue needling Mahmoud Abbas, who threw him out of the Fatah movement, which Dahlan once had high hopes of taking over.

Dahlan's return to Gaza is unlikely to solve the besieged strip's fundamental problems and end the destructive rivalry between Hamas and the PA. by

Hamas decision to bury the hatchet with Dahlan is possibly linked to its desire to end Gazas financial predicament and find a government sponsor. This plan appears to have worked, as Cairo leadership  which has strong ties to Dahlan  agreed to do just that and played an active role in the process that led to Sundays decision.

Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip for over a decade, but the Ramallah-based PA continues to pay the salaries of public service employees in Gaza, as well as a variety of public service costs such as electricity and water. The PA also continues to pay the guaranteed monthly stipend of families of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners whether they live in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) or the Gaza Strip. Legally, the Palestinian government in Ramallah has waived the need for Gazans to pay any taxes, although a number of fees are still being collected by the prevailing powers.

For its part, Israel has placed a land and sea blockade on Gaza, in addition to having destroyed the international airport of the Strip, which was opened with lots of fanfare in the last year of the Clinton presidency in 1999. International efforts to break up the Israeli blockade have failed to produce the desired humanitarian breakthrough.

Thanks to his Emirati sponsors, Dahlan is in a good position to help deliver a substantial amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which would help the Hamas leadership to survive the Israeli blockade and to counter Abbas decision to reduce financial support. Yet, Dahlans return to Gaza is unlikely to solve the besieged strips fundamental problems and end the destructive rivalry between Hamas and the PA.

Numerous attempts to resolve the conflict that has produced two competing Palestinian leaderships have done little to ease living conditions of the nearly two million Palestinians trapped in the tiny Gaza Strip. While many reconciliation arrangements and agreements were produced and publicly announced over the years, none have been executed, leaving the people of Gaza disappointed.

Currently, the Egyptians appear to have found a compromise agreement, but it is unclear if this will lead to a long-term solution unless there is a guarantee for elections and a mechanism to allow a single winner of the elections to run both Gaza and the West Bank.

READ MORE: What comes after Abbas and Netanyahu?

Past agreements focused on the need to allow the return of the PAs presidential guards to the border crossings in the north and south of Gaza, to allow a unity government to operate in Gaza until presidential and parliamentary elections take place and to reform the PLO in a way that would allow Hamas to become part of the highest Palestinian decision-making body. Despite Hamas agreeing to all these principles on paper, the implementation of any such agreement has proven to be tricky in the past.

Also, there is still the issue of the problematic international border between Gaza and Egypt.

Egypt has been at odds with Hamas since Sisi overthrew former President Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 military coup and outlawed his Freedom and Justice Party, strongly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Dahlan and his UAE sponsors have been hinting that they are eager to see closer ties between Hamas and Egypt and a new relationship between Egypt and Hamas has indeed been formed in the last couple of months. But there is still no easy solution to the border problem. Israel, the US and the international community are not likely to allow the border between Gaza and Egypt to remain open. Also, Egypt is not keen to empower Hamas any further in this way, as it accuses its leadership of providing support to Islamic militants that have been attacking Egyptian soldiers on the Sinai Peninsula on a nearly daily basis.





The only way forward

The siege on Gaza and the split between Gaza and the West Bank have gone on way too long. In addition to the human cost, the situation has crippled the ability of Palestinians to negotiate as a united people.

The only way to resolve the current stalemate is for Hamas to swallow its pride and allow Abbass presidential guards back in control of the terminals in and out of the Strip and follow up on all other aspects of past reconciliation agreements. Most importantly, Hamas needs to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in Gaza.

Once such elections are held, the PLO should be reformed to include Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. A reformed and unified PLO can hold a Palestine National Council session and such a meeting can set an agreed on national strategy and elect those who will carry on the torch in the post-Abbas era.

Sundays press release by Hamas agreeing to dissolve the administrative committee and to allow for elections appears to be satisfactory to all parties. The question remains whether this time they will indeed follow through on their promises and commitments.

Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist, is a former Ferris professor of journalism at Princeton University.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Survivors and rights groups say thousands have been abused as the four-year-old conflict continues to worsen.

Thousands of women fleeing the four-year-long conflict in South Sudan have been raped and sexually assaulted, according to rights groups and women who have spoken to Al Jazeera.

They mainly blame the government troops of President Salva Kiir, but also opposition forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar for the abuses.





Many women who survived described how their husbands were killed before they were gang-raped by government soldiers.

My husband was following a short distance behind us, one rape survivor told Al Jazeera.

When he came and found these men on me, he told them to stop, she said as she described how five government soldiers gang-raped her, along with four other women.

They grabbed him immediately and killed him with a knife.

Al Jazeera heard similar stories from other women now living refugee camps in Uganda.

They tied a blindfold on my face, another rape survivor said. They took all of my possession and stripped me, she added.

Three of them were all on me. After, I grabbed my baby and left naked. Now, I have nothing.

War crimes

Ken Scott, a war crimes prosecutor who has worked on tribunals for many conflicts, told Al Jazeera that the sexual violence in South Sudan is the worst he has ever seen.

Its such a high level of incidents, widespread, been going on for a substantial period of time, not isolated incidents, [and] one can only conclude that war crimes involving sexual violence are taking place, Scott said.

A spokesman for government forces told Al Jazeera that soldiers who rape are punished. He also questioned the stories coming from the refugee camps.

How do we substantiate those claims, to know for sure they are not made up without someone coming forward to report it? Lul Ruai Koan, a government army (SPLA) spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

These are claims that are being made in the refugee camps, he said.

How do we get convinced they are not being told to say weird things about the SPLA?

OPINION: The world has abandoned South Sudanese refugees

But rights groups say they have documented widespread sexual violence in South Sudan.

A report by Amnesty International in July found that thousands of South Sudanese has been subjected to sexual violence including rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation, torture, castration, or forced nudity.

The report found that the perpetrators were from all sides of the conflict.





This is pre-meditated sexual violence on a massive scale, Munthoni Wanyeki, Amnestys regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said in a statement during the reports release.

Women have been gang-raped, sexually assaulted with sticks and mutilated with knives, Wanyeki said.

Amnesty called on the government to take deliberate measures to halt this epidemic of sexual violence.

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, pitting President Salva Kiirs troops against those or rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar.

A peace accord was signed in August 2015 and Machar returned to the capital in April last year to share power with Kiir, before the deal fell apart less than three months later and Machar and his supporters fled the capital.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 3.5 million have been displaced since the conflict began.

The war has created what has been called one of the worlds fastest-growing refugee crises and both sides of the conflict have been accused of abuses.

Al Jazeeras Malcolm Webb reports from West Nile, Uganda.
UN Ambassador Haley warns Pyongyang a whole lot of military options are being considered to defend US and allies.

The US ambassador to the UN warned North Korea would be destroyed if it continues its reckless behaviour and forces the United States and its allies to defend themselves against any attack.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said on Sunday the UN Security Council has run out of options on containing North Koreas nuclear programme  and the US may now turn to the Pentagon.

We have pretty much exhausted all the things that we can do at the Security Council at this point, Haley told CNNs State of the Union.

READ MORE: Trump takes aim at North Koreas Rocket Man on Twitter

Haley added she was perfectly happy to hand the matter to Defence Secretary James Mattis.

Were trying every other possibility that we have, but theres a whole lot of military options on the table, she said.





US National Security Adviser HR McMaster said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is going to have to give up his nuclear weapons because the president has said hes not going to tolerate this regime threatening the United States and our citizens with a nuclear weapon.

Asked if that meant Trump would launch a military attack against North Korea, McMaster said, hes been very clear about that, that all options are on the table.

Kim has threatened Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, and has fired two missiles over Japan, a US ally in Asia, including one missile launched on Friday. North Korea also recently tested its most powerful nuclear bomb yet.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was waiting for the North to express interest in constructive, productive talks.

All they need to do to let us know theyre ready to talk is to just stop these tests, stop these provocative actions, and lets lower the threat level and the rhetoric, he said.

READ MORE: Kim Jong-un vows to complete North Koreas nuclear programme

Mattis said earlier this month, after Kim tested a hydrogen bomb, the US will answer any threat from the North with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming.

Trump has threatened to rain fire and fury on North Korea. Haley said that wasnt an empty threat from the president but, when asked, she declined to describe the presidents intentions.

If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behaviour, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed, and we all know that, and none of us want that, Haley said.

None of us want war. But we also have to look at the fact that you are dealing with someone who is being reckless, irresponsible, and is continuing to give threats not only to the United States but to all their allies, so something is going to have to be done.
Police issue order prohibiting more than 400,000 Rohingya refugees from leaving areas designated by the government.

Bangladesh has restricted the movement of Rohingya refugees, banning them from leaving designated areas in the country to which over 400,000 have fled from violence in neighbouring Myanmar.

Police said on Saturday that they have issued an order prohibiting Rohingya refugees from leaving the areas and camps the government has designated for them in the border district.





They should stay in the designated camps until they return to their country, Sahely Ferdous, a police spokeswoman, said in a statement.

She said Rohingya were also asked not to take shelter in the homes of their friends or acquaintances and locals have been asked not to rent houses to the refugees.

They cannot travel from one place to another by roads, railways or waterways, the order said, adding that bus and truck drivers and workers have been asked not to carry the Rohingya.

Police said they have set up check posts and surveillance in key transit points to make sure the refugees do not travel to the other parts of the country.

According to the state-run news agency, new camps were also being set up to help house the influx of refugees.

The restrictions were announced as Bangladesh authorities said they faced an unprecedented crisis due to the influx of 409,000 refugees since last month, according to UN figures.

Dozens of refugees were found in three towns hundreds of kilometres from the Myanmar frontier, stoking fears that thousands of the majority-Muslim Rohingya will move from the border region into the mainland of Bangladesh.

READ MORE  Who are the Rohingya?

Conditions were already worsening in Bangladeshs southeastern border district of Coxs Bazar where the majority of refugees are living in squalid conditions after fleeing Myanmars violence-wracked Rakhine State.

On Sunday, many refugees huddled inside tents as steady ran fell.

Al Jazeeras Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Coxs Bazar, said that conditions were still very dismal.

Theres a chaotic situation in relief operations, he said, adding that the Bangladesh government is under criticism for not better organising the relief distribution system.

We dont want to go back

Most Rohingya, who spent more than a week trekking cross-country from Rakhine to reach the Bangladesh border, have found existing camps overflowing and have instead settled on muddy roadsides.





Many families do not have a shelter over their heads and refugees have been fighting for food and water deliveries.

Jamila Khatun, a Rohingya refugee, outside the giant Balukali camp told AFP news agency that she handed over her jewellery to a Bangladesh boatman two days ago to get across the river frontier from Myanmar.

We walked by night for three or four days to avoid the military and then came over by boat, she said.

We dont know what we will do or where we will live but if people here feed us we will stay. We dont want to go back.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by the arrival of Rohingya refugees  the highest number to have entered the country in decades  since the violence erupted last month. There were already 300,000 Rohingya in makeshift camps from earlier waves of refugees before the latest influx.

The latest round of violence in Myanmar began on August 25 after Rohingya fighters attacked more than 30 police and army posts, prompting a security crackdown on the Rohingya.

Myanmars de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as Myanmars military, have faced international condemnation over its treatment of the Rohingya.

The mostly Muslim minority, who live primarily in Rakhine State, is not recognised as an ethnic group in Myanmar, despite having lived there for generations. Rohingya have been denied citizenship and are stateless.

READ MORE: My name is Muhammed Ason, I am Rohingya

New shelters

Bangladeshs Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who visited the refugee camps earlier this week, departed for New York City on Saturday to plead for international help and demand more pressure on Myanmar during talks at the UN General Assembly.

She will seek immediate cessation of violence in Rakhine State in Myanmar and ask the UN secretary-general to send a fact-finding mission to Rakhine, a spokesman for the prime minister, Nazrul Islam, told AFP.

She will also call the international community and the UN to put pressure on Myanmar for the repatriation of all the Rohingya refugees to their homeland in Myanmar, he said.

READ MORE: Bangladesh medics struggle to cope with Rohingya influx

Bangladesh has been criticised for turning back hundreds of Rohingya refugees at its border with Myanmar, as well as not providing enough aid to the refugees.

The government has put the army in charge of ferrying foreign relief aid from airports to Coxs Bazar.

It also plans to build 14,000 shelters, which it hopes will be enough for 400,000 people. Each shelter can house six refugee families.

Hasina has ordered the shelters erected within 10 days, Bangladeshs disaster management secretary Shah Kama told AFP.

Myanmar-Bangladesh relations

As tensions mount between the neighbours, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said Bangladesh will continue international pressure on the Myanmar government to immediately end its ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

The foreign ministry on Friday summoned the Myanmar charge daffaires in Dhaka to protest at alleged violations of its airspace by Myanmar drones and helicopter.

The ministry warned that the three violations between September 10 and 14 could lead to unwarranted consequences. Myanmar did not immediately comment.

The Bangladesh government earlier protested to the embassy over reports that Myanmar was planting landmines near their border, which have killed several Rohingya, and the treatment of the refugees.

Mahmood has also called the violence in Rakhine a genocide.

Additional reporting by Saif Khalid @MSaifKhalid
White House rejects reports saying the US had offered to review terms and re-engage in the 2015 accord.

The United States has refuted reports that it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting that Washington will still withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms.

The statement on Saturday came after the Wall Street Journal and AFP news agency quoted Miguel Arias Canete, a top European climate official, saying the US will not re-negotiate the Paris accord, but will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement.

Canete said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next weeks UN General Assembly with US representatives to assess what is the real US position, noting its a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past.

US President Donald Trump announced in June that he would withdraw the US from the 2015 global pact, arguing that it would undermine the US economy and national sovereignty. But he also left open the door to negotiating a better deal for US businesses and workers.

READ MORE: US submits official withdrawal from Paris climate pact

There has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement, said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters on Saturday. As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country.

The US State Department submitted an official withdrawal from the pact to the UN last month.





Saturdays White House statement came as environment ministers from 30 countries gathered in the Canadian city of Montreal to push forward on implementing the Paris deal.

Ministers from Canada, the European Union and other nations told reporters that they expect continued US participation in Paris climate agreement talks.

The withdrawal process will take until November 2020 to complete.

While we understand that the US position on the Paris agreement has not changed, we are pleased that they continue to engage, said Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

Attendees reaffirmed their commitment to the terms of the pact, which was signed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015.

The aim is to limit global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

To achieve this, global greenhouse gas emissions will need to be cut by an estimated 40-70 percent by 2050, and by 2100 the planet must be carbon-neutral.

READ MORE: Paris climate agreement  What you need to know

Chinas representative Xie Zhenhua said: The Paris agreement should not be renegotiated.

The Montreal gathering precedes larger United Nations climate talks in Germanys Bonn, where devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean is expected to be discussed.

Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in the last century, killed dozens of people and caused billions of dollars in damage across the Caribbean and Florida.
Far-right AfD denounces chancellor for letting 1 million refugees into the country and vows to severely punish her.

Germanys leading right-wing party will press for Chancellor Angela Merkel to be severely punished for her immigration policies once it assumes a place in parliament, its leader said on Sunday.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is projected to win up to 12 percent of the vote during Germanys federal election on September 24 and become the third-largest party in the Bundestag, polls show.





Alexander Gauland, cofounder of the AfD, told Reuters news agency the party would push for the creation of a new committee to examine Merkels track record on refugees and migrants entering the country.

We want Merkels policy of bringing one million people into this country to be investigated, and we want her to be severely punished for that, he said.

Were gradually becoming foreigners in our own country.

It was unclear what Gauland meant by punishment.

Founded in April 2013, the AfD narrowly missed out on the five percent share of the vote required to win representation in parliament during the federal election in September of the same year.

The party, which advocates the closure of Germanys borders and the introduction of a minimum quota for deportations, could now become the biggest opposition force in the national assembly if the current coalition of Merkels Christian Democratic Union party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is returned, as polling indicates is likely.

READ MORE: German election  Angela Merkel favourite to win fourth term

That scenario would result in the AfD chairing the influential budget committee and allow its parliamentarians to open the general debate during budget consultations.

Georg Pazderski, a member of the AfDs executive board, told reporters his party would use its predicted role in the new parliament to highlight the cost of the refugee crisis and trouble in the eurozone.

Well have a voice when were in parliament. We wont be an easy opposition, he said.

A number of candidates have already expressed their unwillingness to work with any new AfD parliamentarians, citing the groups controversial policy programme that includes the banning of the full Islamic face veil.

READ MORE: Will Germanys refugee policy sway voters?

Sahra Wagenknecht, a candidate for the Left Party, has pledged to vote against any AfD members who represent Nazi views being elected to positions of responsibility in the new parliament.

Wagenknecht, an MP since 2009, has declared elements of the AfDs far-right programme  such as the proposed ban on minarets  unconstitutional.

Right-wing parties have featured prominently in elections across Europe this year.

Marine Le Pen, leader of Frances National Front party, won 34 percent of the vote in Mays presidential election, and Geert Wilders, of the Dutch Party for Freedom, scored 13 percent in March, during the Netherlands general election.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ORLANDO JONES, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-4031 Decided: September 15, 2017

Before SHEDD and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Craig M. Cooley, COOLEY LAW OFFICE, Cary, North Carolina, for Appellant. JoAnna Gibson McFadden, Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Following a jury trial, Orlando Jones was convicted of one count of armed bank robbery, and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2113(d), 2 (2012); he was acquitted on charges of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and aiding and abetting, 18 U.S.C.  924(c)(1)(A)(ii), 2, and possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony offense, 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1), 924(e) (2012). The district court sentenced Jones to 282 months' imprisonment. Jones timely noted an appeal. For the reasons that follow, we grant Jones' motion to supplement his pro se brief, and we affirm his conviction and sentence.

Jones' counsel has filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), certifying that there are no meritorious grounds for appeal, but questioning whether the jury's verdict is factually inconsistent and, if so, whether the acquittals on the firearm charges invalidate Jones' conviction for armed bank robbery.

A criminal defendant who is convicted by a jury on one count may not attack his conviction on the ground that it is inconsistent with the jury's acquittal on another count. Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390 (1932); see United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 64-65 (1984). Rather, an inconsistent verdict can result from mistake, compromise, or lenity, and a jury could just as likely err in acquitting as in convicting. United States v. Louthian, 756 F.3d 295, 305 (4th Cir. 2014) (noting that several explanations existed for the jury's inconsistent verdicts); see United States v. Hassan, 742 F.3d 104, 144 n.36 (4th Cir. 2014) ([A] jury is permitted to return an inconsistent verdict if it sees fit to do so.). Based on these principles, we conclude that the jury's acquittal of Jones on the firearm charges does not invalidate his conviction on the charge of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting. See United States v. Mitchell, 146 F.3d 1338, 1343-45 (11th Cir. 1998) (upholding conviction for armed robbery under 18 U.S.C.  2113(d) where jury also acquitted on charge under 18 U.S.C.  924(c)); United States v. McCall, 85 F.3d 1193, 1197-98 (6th Cir. 1996) (same); see also United States v. Wallace, 212 F.3d 1000, 1004 (7th Cir. 2000) (finding no inconsistency in verdicts of guilty on armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting charge and not guilty on charge of using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence).

In his pro se supplemental briefs, Jones challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, the inconsistency of the verdict, the propriety of the district court's decision to decline to answer a jury question, and the application of the career offender sentencing enhancement. We grant Jones' motion to supplement his pro se brief. We have reviewed the issues raised in his brief as supplemented and conclude that Jones is not entitled to relief on these claims.

In accordance with Anders, we have reviewed the entire record in this case and have found no meritorious grounds for appeal. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's judgment. This court requires that counsel inform Jones, in writing, of the right to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for further review. If Jones requests that a petition be filed, but counsel believes that such a petition would be frivolous, then counsel may move in this court for leave to withdraw from representation. Counsel's motion must state that a copy thereof was served on Jones. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

PER CURIAM:
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says next weeks scheduled referendum detracts from the fight against ISIL.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Kurds in Iraq to scrap plans to hold a referendum on independence later this month, arguing it would detract from the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Guterres said in a statement on Sunday that any dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government should be resolved through dialogue and constructive compromise.





Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq plans to hold the referendum on support for independence on September 25 in three governorates that make up the region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces, but which are claimed by Baghdad.

Guterres said, any unilateral decision to hold a referendum at this time would detract from the need to defeat ISIL.

It would also undermine reconstruction efforts and the return of refugees, he added.

Iraqi forces have slowly retaken territory from ISIL over the past three years. In July, they retook Mosul and effectively shattered ISILs self-declared territorial caliphate.

Despite the losses, ISIL continues to carry out attacks in Iraq. On Thursday, an attack claimed by ISIL at a checkpoint and restaurant in southern Iraq left more than 80 killed and 93 wounded.

Since 2014, more than three million people have been displaced, and thousands of civilians and security forces have been killed.

The leaders of Iraqs Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence.

On Friday, the United States said the referendum should be called off, a stance also pushed by neighbouring Turkey, which fears it could create another source of conflict in the region.

Iran issues warning

Iran warned on Sunday that independence for Iraqi Kurds would mean an end to all border and security arrangements with the regional government.

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Erbil, said Iran sees the referendum as a threat to its national security.

Ali Shmkhani, Irans national security secretary, said that Iran has regarded the Kurds in northern Iraq as brothers and allies and supported them during difficult times, but the referendum is neither legal nor conducive to the security of Iraq or the region, according to the ISNA news agency.

READ MORE: Iraqi parliament rejects Kurdish push for independence

The security official added that a vote in favour of independence would also compel Iran to introduce strict border controls.

Though there are no major ethnic conflicts in Iran involving the countrys seven million Kurds, Tehran fears that a neighbouring Kurdish state could contribute to secessionist ideas.

Military intervention

The UNs Guterres urged Iraqi leaders to approach this matter with patience and restraint and offered UN help to address the issue.





On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish regions planned independence referendum results in violence.

If the Iraqi population is threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily, he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

UN envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, told Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani last week that the UN was ready to broker negotiations to address all the problems and outstanding issues between the Kurds and Baghdad, according to a document obtained by AFP news agency.

The negotiations would aim to reach a deal within two or three years on the principles and arrangements for future relations between Baghdad and the Kurdish region, the document said.

In return, Barzanis administration would agree to postpone the referendum at least until the end of negotiations.

Iraqs Kurds have long held a dream of statehood. Oppressed under former President Saddam Hussein  whose military in the 1980s killed at least 50,000 Kurds, many with chemical weapons  Iraqs Kurds established a regional government in 1992 after the US enforced a no-fly zone across the north following the Gulf War.

After the 2003 US-led invasion overthrew Hussein, the region secured constitutional recognition of its autonomy but remained part of the Iraqi state.
Group dissolves administrative committee in Gaza, saying it is ready to hold talks with rival Fatah movement.

Hamas has agreed to talks with the rival Fatah movement and expressed its willingness to hold general elections in the Palestinian territories.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Hamas said it has accepted key conditions set by President Mahmoud Abbas and dissolved the Gaza administrative committee, a body viewed by Abbas Palestinian Authority (PA) as a parallel government.

Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, when it forced troops loyal to Abbas from the coastal enclave a year after defeating his Fatah movement in parliamentary elections.

Since then, the Palestinian leadership has been divided between two rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Repeated attempts at reconciliation between the two factions have failed in the past.

READ MORE: Hamas ready to reconcile with Fatah: reports

In its Sunday statement, Hamas invited a unity government led by Abbas to return to Gaza and said it was ready to enter talks with Fatah.

The unity government was formed in 2014, but has not been able to operate in Gaza.

Hamas invites the consensus government to come to Gaza to practise its mission and carry out its duties in the Gaza Strip immediately, and it accepts holding the general elections, the statement by Hamas said.

Fatah has welcomed the new pledges, but said it wants to see vows implemented before making the next move.

Optimistic

Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Abbas, told Al Jazeera that Fatah was very optimistic and ready.

Once the consensus government  starts ruling Gaza and the West Bank, starts developing economically and starts solving the economic problems of the Gazans, that first step will set real optimism for the second step, which is elections, he told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.

Legislative and presidential elections will bring back our elected government, he said.

Hamas decision came after separate talks by Hamas and Fatah delegations with Egyptian officials in Cairo in recent days.

The movement said it was responding to the generous Egyptian efforts, which reflect the Egyptian desire to end the split and achieve reconciliation, and based on our desire to achieve national unity.

Egypt has been brokering talks with Fatah to implement a deal signed in 2011 in Cairo with Hamas to end their dispute and form an interim government before elections.

https://twitter.com/gaza_report/status/909261331408261120

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from West Jerusalem, said Hamas change in stance was hinged on a new relationship between Hamas and Egypt after the group disassociated itself, in not so many words, from the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood government, which assumed power in Egypt following a 2012 election, was overthrown by the military the following year. The group has since been banned in the country.

Pressure on Hamas

Hamas has been weakened by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade, three wars with Israel and international isolation.

In March, Abbas stepped up pressure on Hamas after it formed the contentious committee that runs Gaza. Punishing measures included cutting salaries of employees living in Gaza and reducing electricity supply to the strip.

Hamas said it formed the committee after the unity government failed to take responsibility for Gazas administration.

Political analyst Khalil Shaheen said Hamas step to dissolve the committee was inevitable in light of the pressure from Fatah and all the other factions within the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Hamas was isolated after it formed this committee. The pressure from Abbas against Gaza increased the already dire political and economic conditions in the Strip, Shaheen told Al Jazeera.

However, dissolving the committee, said Shaheen, does not mean that Hamas is giving up control over the PAs institutions in Gaza.

READ MORE: A guide to the Gaza Strip

Despite Sundays announcement, any reconciliation deal would still face many obstacles.

In previous deals, including the 2011 Egyptian-brokered agreement, both sides professed a willingness to reconcile, but ultimately baulked at giving up power in their respective territories.

A key sticking point in the past was Hamas refusal to place its security forces in Gaza under the control of Abbas government.

The Gaza Strip, an enclave of some two million people, has faced deteriorating humanitarian conditions, with a severe electricity crisis and a lack of clean water, among other issues.

Gazas economy is in tatters and it has one of the worlds highest unemployment rates.

UN officials have urged Israel to lift its decade-long blockade of Gaza.
Supreme leader warns US against undermining nuclear deal, saying his nation has been acting honestly over the agreement.

Iran will not give in to US bullying as Washington attempts to undermine Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers, the Islamic Republics Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

Iran, which is a powerful nation, will not give in to pressure and will not bow, Khamenei said in an address to police officers in Tehran on Sunday.

The corrupt, lying, deceitful US officials insolently accuse the nation of Iran  of lying, whereas the nation of Iran has acted honestly and will continue on this path until the end in an honest manner, said Khamenei.

READ MORE: Donald Trump denounces Iran over nuclear deal





President Hassan Rouhani left on Sunday for the UN General Assembly in New York, where he is set to hold crucial talks on the 2015 nuclear deal, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs to Irans atomic programme.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to tear up the deal and his administration has been looking for grounds to declare Iran in non-compliance, despite repeated UN declarations that Tehran has stuck to its commitments.

Trump must make a decision by mid-October whether to certify that Iran is complying with the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). If he does not, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under the deal.

Khamenei said in his speech that US bullying will not work on the Islamic Republic.

You are the liars. The nation of Iran is standing firm and any wrong move  will face a reaction by the Islamic Republic, said the supreme leader.

Irans warning

Iran said last month it could abandon the nuclear agreement within hours if the US imposes any new penalties, after Washington ordered unilateral sanctions over Tehrans ballistic missile tests.

Rouhani, speaking on Sunday before leaving for New York, said the US should join the countries that continue to support the nuclear deal.

READ MORE: US hits Iran with fresh sanctions over space launch

The US imposed unilateral sanctions in July, saying Tehrans ballistic missile tests violated a UN resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal, and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

It stopped short of explicitly barring such activity.

Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.
Describing the vote as illegal and unconstitutional, Iraqs prime minister says he is prepared to use military force.

Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish regions planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview.

If the Iraqi population is threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily, he said in an interview with the Associated Press news agency on Saturday.

Iraqs Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on support for independence from Iraq on September 25 in three governorates that make up their autonomous region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces, but which are claimed by Baghdad.

If you challenge the Constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation, Abadi said.

READ MORE: US urges Kurds to call off independence vote

The leaders of Iraqs Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence. However, Abadi said such negotiations would likely be complicated by the referendum vote.

It will make it harder and more difficult, he said, but added: I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible.

Iraqs Kurds have come under increasing pressure to call off the vote from regional powers and the United States, a key ally, as well as Baghdad.

In a statement released late on Friday, the White House called for the Kurdish region to abandon the referendum and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad.





Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilising, the statement read.

Tensions between Erbil and Baghdad have flared in the lead-up to the September 25 vote.

Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region, has repeatedly threatened violence if Iraqi military or Shia militias attempt to move into disputed territories that are now under the control of Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga, specifically the city of Kirkuk.

Its chaotic there, Muhammad Mahdi al-Bayati, a senior leader of Iraqs mostly Shia fighters known as the popular mobilisation forces, said earlier this week, describing Kirkuk.

Bayatis forces  sanctioned by Baghdad, but many with close ties to Iran  are deployed around Kirkuk as well as other disputed territories in Iraqs north.

Everyone is under pressure, he said, explaining that he feared a rogue group of fighters could trigger larger clashes. Anything could be the spark that burns it all down.

Abadi said he is focused on legal responses to the Kurdish referendum on independence. Earlier this week, Iraqs parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish politicians.

Iraqs Kurds have long held a dream of statehood. Oppressed under Saddam Hussein, whose military in the 1980s killed at least 50,000 of them, many with chemical weapons, Iraqs Kurds established a regional government in 1992 after the US enforced a no-fly zone across the north following the Gulf War.

After the 2003 US-led invasion overthrew Hussein, the region secured constitutional recognition of its autonomy, but remained part of the Iraqi state.

Abadi began his term as prime minister after Mosul had fallen to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, plunging Iraq into the deepest political and security crisis since the sectarian bloodshed that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.

Great cost

Over the past three years, Iraqi forces slowly retook territory from ISIL, also known as ISIS.

In July, Iraqi forces retook Mosul and effectively shattered ISILs self-declared territorial caliphate.

However, the military successes have come at great cost. In the fight for Mosul alone between 970 and 1,260 civilians were killed and more than twice as many members of Iraqs security forces lost their lives, Abadi told the Associated Press news agency.

Despite territorial losses, ISIL continues to carry out attacks in Iraq.

On Thursday, an attack claimed by ISIL at a checkpoint and restaurant in southern Iraq left more than 80 killed and 93 wounded.

Years of war have left more than three million people displaced. Cities, towns and villages retaken from ISIL lie in ruins and the forces, made powerful by the arms and training that flooded Iraq to fight the armed group, now attempt to leverage that influence.

Some 80,000 Iraqis made the treacherous journey to Europe by sea in 2015 alone, according to the United Nations.
Deployment comes after Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed to send de-escalation forces to Syria in the coming weeks.

Turkey sent 80 military vehicles including tanks to its southern border with Syria, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday.

Citing an unnamed military source, Anadolu said the deployment was part of reinforcements for troops stationed along the border. The vehicles were sent to the southeastern province of Hatay, Anadolu said.

A third convoy of armoured vehicles was heading to Hatays Reyhanli district, where Turkeys Cilvegozu border gate with Syria is located, Anadolu said.

A convoy of about 18 Turkish army vehicles arrived in an area close to the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border, sources told Al Jazeera.

Eyewitnesses confirmed the arrival of the vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, at the Rihaniyah area on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Syrian opposition officials and activists said they expected the troops would continue towards Syria as per the terms reached in the Astana agreement. The treaty requires the entry of Turkish forces in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in the province of Idlib.





Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed to set up de-escalation zones in Syria for six months during the sixth round of talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, last week.

The zones will include, fully or partly, Eastern Ghouta and the provinces of Idlib, Homs, Latakia, Aleppo and Hama.

The six-month term may be extended in the future.

The plan calls for the cessation of hostilities between anti-government groups and forces fighting on behalf of Bashar al-Assad in four so-called de-escalation zones in mainly opposition-held areas of the country, with Russia, Turkey and Iran to act as guarantors.

Turkeys pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said in an unsourced report on Friday the three countries planned to divide the Idlib region in three, with Turkish forces and opposition fighters in the northwest region bordering Turkey.

It said Iranian and Syrian army forces would be deployed to the southeast, with Russian forces in between those two zones.

The Syrian civil war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since it began in March 2011, with millions of Syrians fleeing the country, leading to the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Doha signs agreement to purchase two dozen Typhoon aircraft in second major arms purchase since Gulf crisis began.

Qatar has signed an agreement to buy 24 Typhoon fighter jets from Britain, the second major defence deal signed by Doha during its lengthy diplomatic dispute with its Gulf neighbours.

Qatars defence chief Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and his British counterpart Michael Fallon signed a statement of intent for the UK to sell the planes, according to statements released by London and on social media.

This will be the first major defence contract with Qatar, one of the UKs strategic partners, Fallon said. This is an important moment in our defence relationship and the basis for even closer defence cooperation between our two countries.

We also hope that this will help enhance security within the region across all Gulf allies.

RELATED: US and Qatar seal $12bn deal for F-15 fighter jets

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a joint project between British defence group BAE Systems, Frances Airbus, and Italys Finmeccanica.





The value of the aircraft deal was not released.

BAE agreed in 2014 to supply Saudi Arabia with 72 Typhoon jets in a deal worth $6bn.

The British ambassador to Qatar, Ajay Sharma, said on Twitter the deal is a major step in defence relations between the countries. The development was also confirmed by the official Qatar News Agency on Sunday.

In June this year, it was announced that Qatar had agreed to buy F-15 jets from the US in a $12bn deal. And in 2016, Qatar agreed to buy 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France in a deal worth a reported $8bn.

The weapon sales come after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of backing extremism and fostering ties with their rival, Iran.

Qatar has repeatedly denied the charges, claiming the dispute is an attack on its sovereignty.

The crisis has put the region on edge and prompted Turkey to send troops to Doha in a sign of support.

Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

While both sides in the dispute have ruled out the use of force, some ordinary Qataris say they worry about the possibility of military action.

Kuwaits Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the main mediator in the Gulf dispute, said earlier this month military action had been stopped.

In a joint statement, the blockading nations expressed regret about the Kuwaiti emirs comments. The military option was not and will not be [used] in any circumstance, it said.
At least seven people have been killed in an explosion in the tribal area of Bajaur agency in northwest of the country.

A Pakistani official says a roadside bomb has killed a senior tribal government administrator and four tribal police near the Afghan border.

Fawad Ali, the assistant administrator, was travelling with police to attend a meeting when their vehicle was struck by the device in the town of Mamoond, some 25km from Khar, the main town of Bajaur on Sunday.

Anwarul Haq, another tribal official, says the device was detonated remotely, and that a search for the perpetrators is under way.

Al Jazeeras Kamal Hyder, reporting from Lahore, said the police believe the attack was aimed to target the official.

The official along with his five police guards were hit by the explosion that happened along close to the Afghan border, he said.

Pakistan is blaming some of the Pakistan banned groups based across Afghanistan for carrying out these deadly attacks.

The Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehreek e-Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Armed groups have long operated in the tribal region along the Afghan border, where they attack security forces and those seen as cooperating with the central government.

In June, twin bombings killed at least 67 people and wounded more than 200 in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinars Toori Bazar.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni armed group, claimed the bombings in the predominantly Shia Muslim town.

On the same day, a suicide bombing claimed by the Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban, killed at least 14 people at a police checkpoint in Quetta in Balochistan province.

At least 10 of the victims were police officers, bringing the overall death toll from three separate attacks across the country to 85.








Six members of Syrian Democratic Forces wounded in air raid as pro-government troops advance on Deir Az Zor.

Russia has denied accusations it bombed US-backed fighters in Syria, saying the US military received advance warning of an air raid targeting ISIL members.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-supported alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said six of its members were wounded during the Russian-backed Syrian government offensive on Saturday in Syrias northeastern Deir Az Zor province.

The Pentagon on Saturday accused the Russians of deliberately targeting SDF soldiers and coalition advisers.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, chief spokesman for the Russian ministry of defence, dismissed the claims, saying Russia attacked only Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) targets based on multiple-source intelligence on their locations.

Russian air forces carry out pinpoint strikes only on IS targets that have been observed and confirmed through several channels, state news agency TASS quoted Konashenkov as saying on Sunday.

In the last few days, Russian surveillance and reconnaissance did not detect a single clash between Islamic State and armed representatives of any third force on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, he said.

Konashenkov added the SDF and American authorities had been sufficiently informed before the air raid.

To avoid unnecessary escalation, the commanders of Russian forces in Syria used an existing communications channel to inform our American partners in good time about the borders of our military operation in Deir Az Zor, he said.

READ MORE: Pentagon  Russia knowingly hit US-backed SDF in Syria

Franz Klintsevich, a member of the Russian parliaments security committee, said there was no proof supporting the accusations levelled against Moscow.

Deir Az Zor province and its capital city of the same name are regarded as a key strategic prize by both Russian-backed Syrian troops and US-supported fighters.

The area, largely held by ISIL since 2014, has been the site of intense conflict in recent weeks, with pro-government forces advancing under cover of Russian air raids from the west and the SDF approaching from the north.

ISIL once controlled most of the province including Deir Az Zor city, encircling about 100,000 civilians that lived in government-controlled neighbourhoods there.

The armed group has also been pushed out of two-thirds of its former bastion, Raqqa, by the SDF.
Police arrest 21-year-old man in the west London suburb of Hounslow under terrorism legislation.

A second man has been arrested over Fridays bomb attack on a London underground train that injured at least 30 people, police said.

The 21-year-old man was arrested in the west London suburb of Hounslow just before midnight on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

He was detained under Britains Terrorism Act and taken to a south London police station, police said.

Earlier on Saturday, police arrested an 18-year-old man in the port of Dover and raided a property in Sunbury, a small town outside London, as they hunted for whoever planted the device.

Hounslow is about four miles from Sunbury.

READ MORE: Police race to find London underground suspect

A bucket packed with nails and the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) was left on a busy train during Fridays morning rush hour. No one was killed when it went off.

Officials have said they are not sure how many people were involved in the bombing, which prompted the government to raise countrys terrorism warning to critical, the highest level.

In the wake of the attack, there was no sign of panic among Londoners and the weekend life of the city continued undeterred by the raised threat level.

Officials said the bomb was intended to do grave harm to commuters. Analysts said the injuries would have been far worse had the entire device exploded.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was carried out by an affiliated unit.

Britain has endured four other attacks this year, which have killed a total of 36 people. The other attacks in London  near Parliament, on London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London  used vehicles and knives.

In addition, a suicide bomber struck a packed concert hall in Manchester in northern England, killing 22 people. That attack in May also briefly caused the threat level to be set at critical.
Former Pakistani prime ministers wife Kulsoom secures vacated seat in poll seen as political barometer.

Lahore, Pakistan  Dismissed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs wife Kulsoom has won a hotly contested by-election seen as the ruling PML-N partys first key political challenge following the ex-premiers recent removal.

Kulsoom, 66, comfortably defeated the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Yasmin Rashid in the by-election in the eastern city of Lahore, considered the Sharifs political heartland, on Sunday, unofficial results showed.

Earlier in the day, long lines of voters were seen at many of the NA-120 electoral constituencys 220 polling stations.

Kulsoom was contesting the seat vacated by Nawaz Sharif after his dismissal by the countrys Supreme Court in July over an omission in his parliamentary wealth declarations.

Her campaign has been spearheaded by Maryam Nawaz, the couples daughter and Nawaz political heir apparent, in her first real foray into electoral politics. Kulsoom herself is undergoing treatment in the UK for her recently diagnosed lymphoma.

My mother has been diagnosed with lymphoma, cancer of lymph nodes, left side of neck in her case. Her treatment begins immediately.  Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) August 23, 2017

Nawaz Sharif and three of his children, including Maryam, are currently facing a corruption investigation and trial by the countrys anti-corruption watchdog, on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Delivering a victory speech in her mothers stead, Maryam Nawaz congratulated her partys workers on the win.

Today, you have not only fought against those who are visible in the battlefield, but also against those who are invisible, she said, a veiled hint at the countrys powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for roughly half of its 70-year history since independence.

She said the by-election result represented a rejection of the Supreme Courts decision by voters.

The people have given their verdict on the verdict today, she told a roaring crowd of hundreds gathered at the Sharif residence in Lahore.

Standing against Kulsoom was the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafs Yasmin Rashid, a middle-class doctor who has mainly campaigned on the Imran Khan-led partys anti-corruption platform.

READ MORE: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi elected as interim prime minister

The constituency, home to almost half a million of Lahores 11 million residents, is deep in the heart of the old city and is considered a Sharif stronghold. His party has not lost the seat since it began contesting elections in 1985.

Its very difficult for them to take this from us, said Sohail Butt, 48, a PML-N voter in the Mozang area of the city. In our area, work only gets done if you go through [the PML-Ns] workers.

Arif Khan, 32, a voter from the working class Bilal Ganj neighbourhood, said he voted for Sharifs party because of its overhaul of the road, sewerage, and water network in his area.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) voters, meanwhile, appeared to be motivated to vote more on national issues, rather than a connection to their partys local networks.

I see this is as the first main test for Nawaz Sharif [after his dismissal], said Zeeshan Khan, 22, a student at Punjab University. This is a way for the people to show whether they still stand with the PML-N after the verdict.

Others echoed that sentiment.

Our country is on fire, we are all on fire, that is why I am here to vote, said Asifa Aamir, 47, who said she was concerned with corruption as her primary issue in this by-election.

Work does get done on the local level in the constituency [by the PML-N], conceded Zeeshan Tariq, 28, a trader from the Mozang area. But I vote based on the national issues.

Nearby, a few PML-N workers rode by on motorcycles, raising the partys slogan, referencing their electoral symbol of a lion: Look whos come, its the lion, its the lion!

Workers at a PTI electoral camp office responded good-naturedly with cries of Thieves! Thieves!

Not all exchanges on Sunday were as friendly, however, with minor scuffles reported between PML-N and PTI activists off the citys main Mall road.

Extremist mainstreaming

Also contesting Sundays by-election were two new right-wing religious entrants to electoral politics in Pakistan, the Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan and the Milli Muslim League (MML).

Posters for the Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan, spread across the constituency, have prominently featured images of Mumtaz Qadri, the man who murdered Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer over his criticism of Pakistans harsh blasphemy laws in 2011.

The MML, meanwhile, is the political wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) armed group, long blamed for suicide and other attacks on targets in neighbouring India and the disputed region of Kashmir.

Early results showed the party was likely to finish third, beating out the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a major national political party which currently leads the opposition in parliament and rules Sindh province.

The MML shares much of its personnel with the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a humanitarian relief organisation that the UN and US both designated as a front for LeT, and which faces international anti-terrorist sanctions.

Election banners for MMLs candidate, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, prominently featured images of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the JuD chief and founder of LeT. Saeed remains under house arrest with no formal charges by Pakistani authorities under an anti-terrorism law.

Saeed is subject to a US bounty of $10m and has been named by both the US and UN as a terrorist. Sheikh, the MML candidate, was also named as by the US as a specially designated global terrorist in 2012, for his alleged role in leading fundraising and operations for LeT.

Neither party is expected to win but could bring in new first-time voters. Analysts say MML is an attempt by Pakistans powerful intelligence services to bring certain armed groups into the political mainstream to challenge the PML-Ns dominance.

If you give them money, they actually do good work, says Muhammad Naseer, a first-time voter from the Islampura neighbourhood, who voted for the MML. They are honest. I have donated to JuD and I can see their work.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras digital correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JOHN ANTHONY ROWE, Defendant - Appellant. No. 17-6309 Decided: September 15, 2017

Before WILKINSON, AGEE, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges. John Anthony Rowe, Appellant Pro Se. Elizabeth Freeman Greene, Assistant United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee.

John Anthony Rowe seeks to appeal the district court's order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.  2255 (2012) motion. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(1)(B) (2012). A certificate of appealability will not issue absent a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(2) (2012). When the district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims is debatable or wrong. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); see Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38 (2003). When the district court denies relief on procedural grounds, the prisoner must demonstrate both that the dispositive procedural ruling is debatable, and that the motion states a debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack, 529 U.S. at 484-85.

We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Rowe has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED

PER CURIAM:
Were the Founding Fathers Christians?

It's a common quarrel among students of American history  and one that's frequently fought along partisan lines. Conservatives point to the frequent references to God and divine providence made in the letters and speeches of the Founders, whereas liberals point to their rejection of clericalism and skepticism toward the supernatural aspects of religion.

This question, difficult to answer for all the major early American leaders, proves particularly puzzling when applied to Benjamin Franklin. Some scholars, most recently Thomas Kidd, have taken Franklin's proposal for prayer at the Constitutional Convention as evidence for Franklin's belief in particular providence. Others, comparing Franklin's proposal with his other statements questioning an active, providential deity, have concluded that he was insincere. Ultimately, neither perspective is quite right.

Franklin's relationship with Christianity and his thoughts on the role of religion in public life indicate that he was a humanist, but of the classical liberal sort many of today's liberals seem to have forgotten.

Franklin's earliest essays in Boston proved him to be the most radical of the young wits who gathered around his brother James's newspaper, The Courant. Franklin wrote scandalous attacks against the political and religious authorities. The very name "Silence Dogood" mocks Cotton Mather, who was bombastic yet failed to practice the principles of his Essays to Do Good. After James was jailed for such attacks, Franklin boldly printed articles that questioned the tenets of Christianity, and even the existence of God. By the age of 17, he was notorious for being an atheist.

Franklin's critique of God's providence deepened over the next several years: he pointed out the logical contradictions in, and provided psychological explanations for, the idea of an infinite God who answered prayers. He also attacked Presbyterian orthodoxy, questioning not just Jesus's divine nature, but other fundamental tenets of Christianity, including justification by faith, spiritual conversion, and original sin. Franklin later wrote to George Whitefield, "Though the general government of the universe is well administered, our particular little affairs are perhaps below notice, and left to take the chance of human prudence or imprudence." For Franklin, "God" meant the natural order in which humans participate. Nature was greatly, but not infinitely, good, and Franklin placed his faith in human prudence, not prayer, to ameliorate man's condition. We see this in his 1726 plan of conduct. Although the teenage Franklin had used the doctrine of determinism to undermine virtue, his plan marked his turn to ethical questions he had lampooned as a young man. But his subsequent list of virtues was not rooted in any divine revelation; it was all too human.

Yet Franklin also rejected atheism, which he concluded was more pernicious to society than Christian zealotry. He printed in the 1733 Gazette, "Who would not rather live with the Ecclesiastical Savages in Spain and Italy, than with these unnatural Savages?" While philosophy searches for laws of nature accessible to human reason, atheism meant belief in a disordered universe and a world devoid of ethical standards and permanent truths. The atheist, Franklin concluded, was a parasite off the political order that had nurtured him. In a famous letter, he discourages a young man from publishing a refutation of God's providence: "It is not necessary, as among the Hottentots that a Youth to be receiv'd into the Company of Men, should prove his Manhood by beating his Mother." For Franklin, the atheist's undetected resentment toward God manifests itself in his desire to strike at the very root of civility, the common belief that holds society together.

So in 1749, Franklin argued for a "Publick Religion," proclaiming the "Excellency of the Christian Religion above all others." The reasons were obvious to Franklin: the modern return to "primitive Christianity" celebrates charity, not cruelty; it is republican in politics and commerce, not based on conquest; and it embraces an experimental science that eluded the ancients.

But Franklin was no orthodox Christian. When it was politically feasible, he opposed religious tests and state-supported churches. His response to Christian doctrines that might threaten public order was to use rhetoric to make them reasonable  to measure all religions, including Islam, by a useful deist creed. Faith was an important means to moral virtue for those who could not be moral by reason.

Franklin sought to make Christian doctrines reasonable by making them compatible with natural law: "The Knowledge, and our Obligations to the Practice of the Laws of Morality ... are discoverable by the Light of Nature; or by reflecting upon the human Frame, and considering its natural Propensities, Instincts, and Principles of Action, and the genuine Tendencies of them." Franklin's teaching of natural law constituted a distinctively political project. While the principles of natural law were true  that is, beneficial considering human happiness  without a divine lawgiver to implement them (of which Franklin saw no evidence), they did not constitute a law properly speaking, and the result was chaos in human affairs. Human heroes or lawgivers must step in to provide religious teachings, civil legislation, and most importantly a code of virtue imposed by honor and shame, which enforces these useful maxims, making them genuine laws.

After his rejection of an infinite providential deity, in 1731, Franklin forwarded a "Doctrine to be Preached" that included an infinite God who rewards virtue and punishes vice in an afterlife. He similarly stressed Jesus the lawgiver, defining faith as assent to his laws and repentance as sincerely forsaking and amending sins. Religions may disagree on doctrine, but they could unite under natural law in the political "cause of Liberty."

Franklin's belief in the necessity of a public religion, more than any sincere belief in a personal God, explains his exhortation to prayer at the Constitutional Convention. It was a political calculation, not a reconsideration of the opinions he held on prayer his entire life. Every political community, he thought, requires some common belief, and in Franklin's teaching, the best possible regime would be constructed upon the "self-evident" truths of "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." He warned his colleagues not to imitate the "Builders of Babel," who, like today's liberal "new atheists," tried to build a political order without the support of religion. Such an attempt at political atheism, he believed, would result not in a more rational order, but in an entirely unreasonable alternative creed. One suspects that Franklin would have been unsurprised by the religious zealots who demand speech codes and safe spaces on today's college campuses.



Mr. Slack is a professor of politics at Hillsdale College and the author of Benjamin Franklin, Natural Right, and the Art of Virtue (Rochester, 2017).
This week, the sorest loser since Dickens Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, Hillary Clinton, began peddling her latest book What Happened. (No question mark at the end because its didactic, not really an inquiry. She knows the answer and shes going to instruct us out of her infinite wisdom and years-long expertise, including two such losses.)

On Twitter, the actor James Wood offers a visual of the reasons she proffers, feigning regret that he was not included.

James WoodsVerified account @RealJamesWoods Sep 12

Damn! Didn't make the cut...

7:39 PM - 12 Sep 2017

If you think Woods was exaggerating, heres an edited video of her interview with Jane Pauley. Its like watching a child explaining that it was Batman who smeared his mothers lipstick over the mirror.

The book is so bad that far-left Counterpunch asks whether she stiffed the ghostwriter out of the final payment (as she did to the ghostwriter of her previous overcompensated book).

Apart from casting blame upon the waters far from herself, she makes a number of preposterous suggestions. One of my favorites is the notion that Orwells 1984 reminds us that we should trust those in positions of authority our leaders, the press, experts who seek to guide public policy based on evidence. Not only is this a gross misreading of 1984, which, in fact, shows the horror of an authoritarian rule by experts, it comes at a time when any sentient person has developed good reason to be skeptical of experts, people who have for eight long years under Obama misled us on everything.

Iowahawk, in a series of tweets, expresses that jaundiced view of the rule by experts suggestion.

I trust experts. My dad's radiologist, master electricians, Ford flathead specialists. I object to the indiscriminate use of "expert." I might be inclined to trust experts more if "expert" wasn't the adult version of a band camp participation trophy.

If the book werent stunningly risible enough, Hillary compounds it by saying things like this to interviewers, as she did to Rachel Maddow: South Korea is literally within miles of the border with North Korea.

To be sure this viewpoint is not unanimous. The New Republic thinks her legacy is huge and everlasting:

These dismissive judgments arent just wrong, but betray a fundamentally flawed view of whats important in politics. By their logic, only winning matters; only those who reach the White House leave a legacy. Some of the biggest political legacies have been left by losing presidential candidates. [snip] Barriers are never broken all at once, but as with the journey from Smith to Kennedy, they require the work of pioneers who fail to win, but clear a path nonetheless. 

Although an astonishingly few Americans seem, per a recent poll, to understand much about the Constitution, I think it still affords the right to even this nonconformist view.

* More than one in three people (37%) could not name a single right protected by the First Amendment. THE FIRST AMENDMENT. * Only one in four (26%) can name all three branches of the government. (In 2011, 38% could name all three branches.) * One in three (33%) can't name any branch of government. None. Not even one. * A majority (53%) believe the Constitution affords undocumented immigrants no rights. However, everyone in the US is entitled to due process of law and the right to make their case before the courts, at the least. (And the First Amendment protects the rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, freedom of the press and the rights of people to peaceably assemble, in case you were wondering.)

Ironically, the author who tut-tuts about American ignorance of the Constitution and its protections, reveals his own limited knowledge of it. Facebook friend Tom Gelsthorpe explains:

The title is wrong. Americans don't know "literally nothing," but too few know the basics. Nevertheless, Chris Cillizza does a fine job of reviewing the disheartening level of ignorance among the general public, then sneaks in his own personal grudge in the last paragraph. Donald Trump is the "shining example" of civic ignorance? Why not Hillary, Bernie, or dozens of other candidates? Many pundits are worse. Citizens United has been misrepresented or lied about continuously since the decision was made. Bernie & Hillary both campaigned on promises to appoint judges who would reverse it. But it's not about "opening the floodgates" of private spending for campaigns. Citizens United was a group that wanted to run a documentary unflattering to Hillary Clinton. The Federal Election Commission sued to stop the film's showing on the grounds that it was illegitimate campaign spending. The Supreme Court ruled that the FEC was trying to suppress legitimate political speech. In essence, the Court said it's legal to say, "The King is a fink." If Citizens United had gone the other way, or if Hillary had been elected, we'd be on the brink of criminalizing the statement, "The Queen is a fink." If Trump was really "a fascist" as his haters insist, Kathy Griffin, Johnny Depp and a host of other loudmouth celebrities would have disappeared by now. Antifa would be holed up in a cave somewhere. If the standard banning "The King is a fink," applied to Trump, entire news organizations would be out of business. CNN in particular puts out little but hate speech nowadays. Imagine if the tables were turned, and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth had been interpreted as campaign material, and suppressed by the FEC. It's impossible for any politician or politically-appointed body to determine what is or is not campaign material or political speech. That's why free speech has to be protected. Never in my wildest dreams would I recommend jailing Keith Olbermann, even though I think he's nuts. Or suing Albert Gore, even though I feel he's dishonest and a menace to rational thought. That's his right. But we should discuss these issues in the plain light of day, without Thought Police looming over us.

Even as she continues to make herself the object of derision, facts hidden before the election bring to light her corruption.

This week, Judicial Watch finally obtained more of the emails Hillary tried to hide from exposure.

The emails show what happened was that Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin obviously violated laws about the handling of classified information and turned the State Department into a pay for play tool for the corrupt Clinton Foundation, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, in a swipe at Clinton's newly released campaign memoir "What Happened." The clear and mounting evidence of pay for play and mishandling of classified information warrant a serious criminal investigation by an independent Trump Justice Department.

The article details the specifics.

But there is, as Roncos on-air salesmen used to say, more. More evidence of the DNCs former head Debbie Wasserman-Schultzs IT scandal involving the Awan brothers keeps trickling out, and it seems clear that Hillary and her aide Huma Abedin were not the only Democrats heedless of the need to secure classified information.

What's more concerning, say senior House officials who spoke to Circa, is that Imran Awan was also allegedly transferring files -- including documents and emails -- of House Democrats to a secret server connected to the less secure House Democratic Caucus. The organization was then chaired by Rep. Xavier Becerra, who left Congress in January after being sworn in as the Attorney General of California. [snip] Officials are now asking the question of why the computer was left but the answers remain elusive. "There is no reason to accommodate all the members' data on one server and one that was apparently hidden," said the Senior House official. "Why didn't Xavier Becerra know this, because it happened on his watch? Each member had their own server to protect against this and Awan intentionally tried to hide what he had done from investigators." Becerra's office did not return phone calls for comment. The House official told Circa that Awan was also allegedly uploading "terabits of information to dropbox so he was possibly able to access the information even after he was banned from the network." The official said there is a need for a full congressional investigation on the matter. "I think this may lead to information as to who really accessed the DNC server -- everybody talks about Russia -- but look at the access (Awan) had and potentially those emails could have been sold," the House official added. Police informed Becerra that the server was the subject of an investigation and requested a copy of it. Authorities considered the false image they received to be interference in a criminal investigation, the senior official said.

Of course, Hillary, Abedin, Becerra, and Schultz are just a few of the players in a large cast of what happened to us, which includes Barack Obama and Susan Rice.

Daniel Greenfield reports:

When Obama Inc. spied on members of Congress to protect its Iran nuke sellout, it packaged the story to the Wall Street Journal under the headline, U.S. Spy Net on Israel Snares Congress. The idea was that Obama Inc. was legitimately spying on Israel, that it just happened to intercept the conversations of some members of Congress and American Jews, and that the eavesdropping somehow meant that its victims, Jewish and non-Jewish, rather than its White House perpetrators, should be ashamed. The White House had demanded the conversations between Prime Minister Netanyahu, members of Congress and American Jews because it "believed the intercepted information could be valuable to counter Mr. Netanyahu's campaign." This was domestic surveillance carried out under the same pretext as in the Soviet Union that had also accused its dissident targets of secretly serving foreign interests. Obama and his minions had used the NSA to spy on Americans opposed to its policies. Including members of Congress. They did this by conflating their own political agenda with national security. Since Obamas spin was that the Iran Deal was good for national security, opponents of it were a national security threat. And its fig leaf for domestic surveillance was that a foreign leader was involved. Now get ready for a flashback. Susan Rices excuse for unmasking the names of top Trump officials in the Obama eavesdropping effort was that they were meeting with the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates. The carefully packaged CNN story, which reeks of the Goebbelsian media manipulations of Obama whisperer Ben Rhodes, tries to clumsily tie the whole thing to the Russians. But for once its not about Russia. Its about Islam. The UAE has become best known for being the first regional Muslim oil state to turn against the Muslim Brotherhood and the entire Arab Spring enterprise. It helped mobilize opposition to the Qatari agenda. The ultimate outcome of that effort was that Egypt was stabilized under a non-Islamist president and the Islamist takeover in Libya is looking rather shaky. The Saudi coalition against Qatar, the sugar daddies of Hamas, Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, has its origins in that effort. When Obama Inc. spied on members of Congress before, it was to protect Iran. This time around, the gang that couldnt spy straight was trying to protect the Muslim Brotherhood. The Iran Deal was never about stopping Irans nuclear program. It certainly does not do that. Nor was it ever meant to do it. Instead the real goal of the Iran negotiations was a diplomatic arrangement with the Islamic terror state. The fruits of that arrangement can be seen from Beirut to Baghdad. They are written in blood and steel across Syria, Israel and Yemen. And that arrangement had to be protected at all costs.

Like Hillary, Obama confused and conflated his own interests and objectives with national interests and seriously undercut national security in the process. Thats what happened.
Hillary Clinton has recently been a strong proponent of something she called Alternate Nostril Breathing (Im not curious). But I think the technique she has really been advocating her whole life could better be described as Alternate Reality Thinking.

Since the days of her youth, when the Goldwater Girl decided to do a complete 180 and start calling up, down, black, white, and most importantly, evil, good, Mrs. Clinton has since then been a cultural warrior who never saw a traditional American value she didnt want to smash. Or should I say Christian value. As with Karl Marx himself (and young Hillarys mentor Saul Alinsky), the real enemy was always Christianity and the church.

She attacked the America of white picket fences and Ozzie and Harriet with a vengeance, in the literal sense. Dedicated leftists nearly always project the deep anger inside them from personal childhood wounds onto the chosen target, Christian Americans, who represent in their subconscious whoever wounded them, often a family member. The first public clue to Miss Rodhams new mission in life was the occasion of her speech at her Wellesley commencement ceremony.

Hillary Clinton, 1969, from Life Magazine, following her commencement speech attacking Sen. Brooke

Hillary used the public platform to attack the colleges honored guest, Senator Edward Brooke from Massachusetts, the first black senator elected since Reconstruction, for the cultural crime of having an R after his name. Already consumed by the delusion of her Alternate Reality, Ms. Rodham demonstrated that she believed such things as common courtesy didnt apply to her. Sen. Brooke was a Republican, therefore he must be destroyed.

On to law school where she made the business-like decision to hitch her wagon to a rising star named William J. Clinton. A girl grounded in reality would have seen him for what he was -- a cad, who could never, ever be faithful to her. Hillarys Alternate Reality view saw him as a ticket to stardom for herself. He was clearly going to go far in politics, and she could go along for the ride. He was likeable, she was not, therefore he would serve as the surrogate she needed to propel her rise to the top. Bimbo eruptions were no problem, as long as they could be kept secret so as to not embarrass her.

From here, the scandals are too numerous to mention, beginning with getting fired from the Watergate legal team for unethical behavior. In the Alternate Reality world of the extreme left, it doesnt matter how many rules you violate or how many laws you break in the pursuit of a worthy cause such as bagging a long-time enemy of the left, Richard Nixon. The trick is in not getting caught. Hillary was never that good at not getting caught. Instead of some elaborate cover-up scheme, she would simply lose the Rose law firm files or misplace the FBI confidential reports on political opponents.

She would pretend that it made no difference that her malicious placing of politics over the security of State Department employees cost the lives of 4 Americans in Benghazi. She exposed top secret classified information on an unprotected server, low-hanging fruit for any hacker, state-supported or not, and then pretended to be too unsophisticated about computers to understand what she had done. Wipe them, you mean like with a cloth?

In a strange way, it has worked for her, propelling her almost all the way to the top. Partly because the media covered for her, as they do all left-wing Democrats. Partly because those in a position to publicly expose her nefarious deeds were too afraid, or too dead, to do so.

But I think theres also another reason. Alternate Reality thinking has always had an appeal to a certain segment of the population. Its a siren song that appeals to anyone who wants to project anger and hurt from deep emotional wounds onto a Pretend Enemy. It appeals to those who like seeing themselves as part of an elite, the Vanguard of the Proletariat, who lead the way for those simple folks who are not capable of being intellectuals, as the leftist elitists imagine themselves to be.

And finally, it entraps those who dabble too much in it. After a while, they think their bizarre world is really real, that marriage can be between any two animate or inanimate objects, that crushing free speech is really opposing fascism. That evil really is good. The Alternate Reality universe that first seemed so appealing weaves a web of lies to self and others that entraps the casual visitor. So that when everything comes crashing down, as it usually does, the occupant of the Alternate Reality web is left wondering, What Happened?
Hate speech laws are loved not only by the do-gooders who demand them. If I were the Devil, I'd love laws that limit free speech, too.

"If I Were the Devil," a famous monologue originally written by Paul Harvey in 1965 that he reworked over a 20-year period, didn't mention hate speech laws. But listen to his final version, and feel the chill of its truths when you realize just how much Satan has achieved.

Then imagine how much more the Devil could accomplish if he could silence, under the banner of a moral imperative to limit speech, not just Paul Harvey, but all Christians.

Christian speech, like all speech here in America, though (for the time being, at least), is protected by the Constitution from the Devil and anyone else who'd like it silenced. Christianity is also protected, and it's no coincidence that religion and speech are mentioned in the same amendment.

As Alexis de Tocqueville noted a few decades after the creation of that document: "the Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other."

The Devil's been busy during the years since, constructing his idea of a "wall of separation" in both the minds of Americans and the streets of America. He's also been working, as Harvey emphasized in his monologue, to make unlimited sexual "liberty" society's focus instead of the kind of self-governing, virtuous liberty the framers had in mind.

This handiwork of the Devil has helped create not only the present-day concept of what constitutes socially acceptable, politically correct speech, but also the impression that much politically in-correct speech is "hate speech" that should be policed.

Sure, Satan loves hate speech, but he loves the word "hate" even more than the content of truly hateful speech. For a Master of Words like the Devil, it is ambiguous terms like "hate" that become the paving stones of good intentions on the slippery slope leading down to his domain.

Recent calls to censor speech have placed us at the precipice, and what began as The Morally Right Thing to Do may end at the Church's doorstep as bars on its doors, preventing the moral messages preached inside from reaching outside.

A clever rhetorical shift has already begun to erect those bars: the evolving usage of "freedom of worship" in place of "freedom of religion." Mary Ann Glendon has lectured that "freedom of religion means much more than believing what you like in the privacy of your room and worshiping in church. It means freedom to be yourself in public as well as in private ... and it means the right of citizens to advance religiously grounded moral positions in the public square."

But what happens when louder voices consider any advancement on any square to be not only politically incorrect, but motivated by bigotry and hatred?

Although it's been said that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist, it's really that he's conned people into doing, all in the name of the good, his work for him. C.S. Lewis once observed that much "wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way."

An example right out of my local paper: a full-page ad produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) titled "Ten Ways to Fight Hate." In the intro to its action plan, it says: "[W]hen hate flares up, good people rise up against it!"

Sounds "good," right? But take a look at some of the organizations the SPLC identifies as

"hate groups" that are anything but, like the Alliance Defending Freedom. One recent addition to SPLC's list, Coral Ridge Ministries Media, is fighting back and suing the SPLC. The ministry's trademark slogan is "Standing for truth and defending your freedom," but that didn't stop the SPLC from inclusion on its "Anti-LGBT Hate Map," simply because, according to Coral Ridge's suit, it "espouses and supports Biblical morals and principles concerning human sexuality."

A "disgusting anti-LGBTQ manifesto" is how an article described the Nashville Statement recently produced by CBMW, "a coalition for Biblical sexuality," signed by a lengthy and impressive list of leaders in the Christian community. Although that document was written in "the hope of serving Christ's church and witnessing publicly to the good purposes of God for human sexuality revealed in Christian Scripture," it is being read by others as "hate speech."

The anti-article linked to a confrontation last year with Tony Perkins, one of the agreement's co-signers, with this statement: "GetEqual activist Angela Peoples confronted Perkins with the fact that he is complicit in the massacre of 49 people in Orlando."

As she chased Perkins, Peoples, somehow oblivious to the "fact" that the shooter was Muslim, shouted:

You are responsible for hate and lies  a culture that has fueled violence against our community. ... You are responsible ... for all of this violence. Do you see those 49 people that were murdered in Orlando? You created that environment, Sir. ... We don't want your prayers, Tony Perkins. We don't want your lies. We want you to stop being homophobic. We want you to stop the hate speech.

The Devil himself couldn't have said it better.

The media have also been his willing accomplices. Back in 2012, in a piece on this same subject, "Christianity or Thoughtcrime," I wrote about an exchange in which NBC's Ann Curry essentially asked actor Kirk Cameron whether his views on redefining marriage are "hate speech" and "encourage people to feel hate towards gay people" and to "mistreat" them.

"We all know what the next step is," commented Breitbart's John Nolte, "and that's the outlawing of these opinions under the principle that the speaking of such things will cause harm to others."

"Harm" is as ambiguous a term as "hate," and when the two are used in unison in a law, they become the Devil's playground for a good attorney representing an unhappy individual from a favored group facing a sympathetic judge.

In Europe, where many hate speech laws are already on the books, Flemming Rose notes that "there is acceptable and unacceptable hate speech. It's okay to mock Christians but not to ridicule Islam." And although those laws were intended to champion "equality," in reality, "there is no equality before the law when it comes to hate speech."

Christian pastors there are well aware of the potential of unintended results, and they "worry that the new push for anti-hate speech laws  in the name of championing 'British values' and aimed at silencing Islamist preachers  may also have detrimental consequences for Christian free speech."

That scenario highlights another favorite deception of Satan: that all religions are equal. But as explained by Ravi Zacharias: "[a]ll religions are not the same. All religions do not point to God. All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life's purpose."

We've seen where that road to purpose can fork: where one religion's extremely devout follower becomes a jihadi terrorist, and another religion's a Mother Teresa. But somehow, in another masterstroke, Muslims in Europe and America have become a protected group.

Now, as Ryan Anderson has detailed, religious liberty is under attack, and "what started out as well-justified efforts to combat racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism have morphed into laws protecting against the 'dignitary harm' (i.e., harm to dignity) allegedly inflicted by anyone who disagrees with progressives about human sexuality."

This "threat to religious liberty" for anyone "who believes that we are created male and female, and that male and female are created for each other" sounds like more of the Devil's handiwork on sexual liberty as described by Harvey.

SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) laws that "punish the wicked" are the goal, noted Anderson, of LGBT activist and multi-millionaire Tim Gill. Many other do-gooders have been taking matters into their own hands, purging whatever they deem "hate" and whomever they deem "haters." Roger Kimball outlines their progress in his fascinating piece, "Inebriates of virtue: On iconoclasm and the restriction of free speech."

You can bet that the law that will soon be proposed will specify and target not only racist hate speech. It will open the door to the censoring of all speech.

And the Devil will smile. For he knows that such a law can be deftly twisted to bully Christians into silence  just as they were 2,000 years ago, when the early Christians were persecuted by the Roman government for the charge of "odium humani generis" (hatred of the human race). Keith Fournier explained that because the Christians didn't approve of sexual promiscuity, marriage redefined, and abortion, they were hated as "haters."

Both then and now, Satan would much rather silence his opposition than have a debate.

Yes, if I were the Devil, I'd encourage the enactment of hate speech laws. "In other words," as Paul Harvey concluded, "I'd just keep right on doing what he's doing."
After decades of affirmative action, including gender quotas, the data are now in. Why are they being ignored? How much more damage will be done?

Im going to focus this commentary on women in the police and military forces. The politically correct policy for years has been to integrate women into jobs for which, as it turns out, they are clearly less suited than the men who would otherwise have filled those critical positions. Moreover, the policy is to expand the program, by allowing women into the elite military forces such as the Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs, forces for which only a small percentage of male applicants qualify, and possibly no women could. The claim is that the standards will not be lowered, but in fact, they already have been.

The extreme price which has been paid includes the death of female Navy pilot Lt. Kara Hultgreen, who was killed while attempting to land on an aircraft carrier, but crashed instead. Critics of the policy noted that Hultgreen was pushed through her training program only because the Navy had been pressured to certify women pilots in what has been called the most difficult and dangerous occupation in the Navy. Political correctness won. The nation, and Hultgreen, lost.

That is the case with other occupations in the U.S. Navy. One qualification for sailors used to be that, in the event of an emergency, a sailor must be able to carry a wounded sailor to safety, including climbing from the lowest compartment of a sinking ship, to the surface deck. Because few (or no) women could do this, the requirement has been eliminated. Currently, the physical fitness standards for women include a minimum performance of 11 pushups, compared to 33 for men, at age 35. That is triple for men, compared to women.

The Marine Corps is also being pressured to lower its standards to accommodate women.

My military career, from 1968 to 1990, spanned the epoch in which at first, women were merely an auxiliary force, to one in which feminist politics became a powerful factor. I witnessed first-hand how performance statistics were skewed to give a favorable, but false, impression that women could meet the standards. In one 30-day field exercise, in which I participated, observers witnessed that most of the women were doing well, and this was the official report, after which the evaluators went home. Unfortunately, beginning the next day, exhaustion began to set in, and the men had to step in and do the jobs which the females were too worn out to perform.

At age 40, I could outrun 22-year-old military women in the mile-and-a-half physical fitness test, and their standards were lower than mine.

Now to the police. I enjoy watching the so-called reality shows on TV, such as Cops, and others, in which police officers are filmed performing their duties. These include both men and women. If one watches these shows, one can hardly miss the disparities in the ability of female officers to chase down and subdue fleeing, violent suspects.

Recently, I watched on TV as a male-and-female pair of officers apprehended a pair of miscreants. The female officer immediately lost control of the suspect in her grasp. He escaped. The male officer chased down the other criminal, wrestled him and handcuffed him.

In one case in New York, inside a courthouse, a criminal overpowered a female police officer, took her gun, and shot another officer to death with it. This female police officer, of petite stature, should never have been assigned the task of escorting this prisoner, and only political correctness mandated this policy.

While these examples are anecdotal, the anecdotes are far too numerous to ignore. The evidence is overwhelming that, in far too many cases, the politics of fairness outweighs the practicalities of public safety and national security.

This is not to say that women are inferior to men, nor that they should be excluded from jobs which they can do. It is simply to say that reason, logic, and common sense should trump ideology.
A massive police presence on the streets of St. Louis failed to deter violence from breaking out for the second night in a row following the acquittal of a former St. Louis policeman on first degree murder charges.

During the day, about 300 people marched peacefully through the streets of the city, protesting the killing of a young black drug dealer who was shot by now retired police officer Jason Stockley. Recordings show that Stockley announced he was going to kill Anthony Lamar Smith less than a minute before he fired his gun into Smith's car. Prosecutors also allege that Stockley planted a gun in Smith's vehicle.

But when night fell, police had their hands full.

St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Shortly before 11 p.m. at Leland and Delmar, a small group of protesters threw chunks of concrete at police and broke windows at numerous Delmar Loop businesses. A chair was thrown through the window of a Starbucks. One protester was seen hitting a police SUV with a hammer. Police made more than a half-dozen arrests witnessed by reporters, including a protester who was carried away by officers by his arms and legs. As the chaos escalated, scores of police officers in riot gear pushed forward against the demonstrators just after 11 p.m.  about two hours after daytime protest organizers had congratulated their followers on keeping their demonstrations peaceful. By 11:30, about 200 police officers had pushed most of the protesters out of the area and the violence and vandalism appeared to be dissipating. The sidewalks along the vibrant area of restaurants and shops were strewn with glass from broken windows. Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters marched through the Delmar Loop near nightfall Saturday, as Mayor Lyda Krewson appealed to residents for calm and normalcy going into the second night of protests. "These are not the images we want to see of our city," Krewson told reporters at an early evening news conference, referring to violence in the Central West End the night before that included damage to her house. "We have some work to do here." She implored residents to "go about their lives" amid canceled events and uncertainty about how long the unrest would continue. "I know our small-business owners would appreciate seeing you again," she said. "Of course, go to work, of course go out to eat. We shouldn't be so fearful here." By shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, more than a thousand protesters carrying "Black Lives Matter" signs and chanting things like "No Justice, No Profits" were blocking the major intersection at Skinker and Forest Park Parkway near Washington University. Police later closed Delmar for the marchers, who were relatively peaceful going into the evening. Some yelled "F--- the police!" while others shook officers' hands.

About 300 protesters showed up at a local mall, chanting "No justice, no profits!"

There are many troubling aspects to this case, not the least of which is the fact that Stockley's DNA was found on the suspect's gun, but no trace of the suspects DNA was discovered. There is also video from inside Stockley's police cruiser that shows him reaching into a gym bag and pulling something out. Did he plant the gun? The prosecutor failed to make that case.

First degree murder was almost certainly a stretch, but given the facts in the case, negligent homicide or voluntary manslaughter might have been in order.

There is little argument that police need to protect themselves. But they also cannot go around executing people, no matter how bad or evil they are. This incident may or may not have been justified. But the violence in response to it is never justified nor can it be tolerated.
One of the most disgraceful episodes in race-based demagoguery of the current era is coming to a close in Baltimore. The death of Freddy Gray while in police custody sparked riots, thanks to the notion widely broadcast for political profit that anti-black racism caused him to be murdered by cops. Both the then-mayor and then-States Attorney for Baltimore jumped in and fanned the flames of resentment. The Obama administration encouraged the assumption that racism was at issue.

I am certain that most readers of AT do not need to refresher on the posturing that took place, and the riots that followed. The final chapter of prosecution of the cops is mow completed, as the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (a stronghold of progressive civil rights prosecutors) declined to prosecute the cops, owing to a lack of evidence of civil rights violations. Rebecca Ruiz in the NYT:

Six Baltimore police officers will face no federal charges in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in custody, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday. After an extensive review of this tragic event, conducted by career prosecutors and investigators, the Justice Department concluded that the evidence is insufficient, the department said in a statement, adding that it was unable to prove the officers willfully violated Grays civil rights. The closure of the criminal civil rights investigation into Mr. Grays death, which prompted unrest in Baltimore, a predominantly black city, and a federal examination of its police departments practices, means that no officers will be held criminally responsible in his death.

There was, however, extensive criminal activity in Baltimore by those offended by the cops alleged but unprovable racism. Ron Unz attempts to calculate the costs of this demagoguery
When the Trump administration decided two weeks ago to halt DACA (for minor children of illegal immigrants) applications and allow six months for Congress to pass legislation that addresses the issue, a new round of political fighting was unleashed. Utilizing the constitutional process unveiled the sharp divide among Republicans concerning this issue and has shown that the leadership of the establishment are closer to the Democrats than to their electoral base. Donald Trump might still find a way to get immigration off the table as a wedge issue.

The media, ever eager to damage Trump, have tried to expose this divide to create a gulf between the president and his supporters. Minority leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have overstated any agreement on this issue. Trump had to publicly disavow any actual agreement. House speaker Paul Ryan went so far as to point out that the president and the two Democrats only had a discussion.

These insiders miss the relationship between the president and his supporters. This is the purpose of his Twitter account.

Rush Limbaugh previously offered a compromise for DACA acceptance. In this idea, the legalization of 800,000 persons (and ultimate citizenship and voting privileges) would be traded for financing necessary in building the Mexican border wall. Others have sought to limit the linkage to family members who would then apply for favored status after success in gaining protections for the DACA candidates. But this misses a grander opportunity for satisfying the Republican and independent bases.

Of the almost 200 nations on Earth, only 30 grant any citizen rights to children born to immigrants having entered the country. In more recent years, this grant has been removed from all European countries. Of the developed nations, this is generally limited to Canada and the USA. While Greece once provided citizenship for such children in the past under socialist government leadership, this has not continued. There are no countries that grant citizenship to children brought illegally.

This grant has a more onerous purpose for the benefit of progressives.

An entire industry has arisen over the years for litigating the rights of aliens. Navigating the confusing immigration process has given many lawyers, paralegals, and interest groups financial purpose and security. Despite this, some on both sides of the political isle have sought to restrict the understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment (which grants citizenship to those born on American soil) to mean those legally in the country. Even former senator Harry Reid argued for restrictions on the birthright citizenship grant for children of illegal aliens during the 1990s.

So what has changed the situation? Democrats have determined that they are likely to secure the votes of these people. Leftists have decided that they need to secure votes from newer coalitions, as they have lost the support of many working-class people. They further think family members would then be given a preference for legality, adding votes. This is probably the aim of Pelosi and Schumer.

Republican supporters of Trump want some fairness in government programs. They cannot understand how our leaders give help to immigrants before Americans of any race or creed. This is a critical issue for many of them.

A solution is to guarantee funding for border security as the compromise for any DACA relief. However, for the conservatives, it is paramount to limit the grant of legality to working and domicile status alone. Citizenship and voting privileges would require participation in the military which presently would give about 1,000 persons an advantage. The rest could have guest worker status without any opportunity for citizenship under this program. They would be required to follow existing rules and procedures for voting rights. The parents who brought them here illegally would have no rights under this law.

Further, under DACA, a person could have two or three misdemeanor violations for eligibility. Under this law, people would be allowed only one minor misdemeanor. This might limit drunk driving, personal violence, theft, and the like. It would provide some fairness for existing citizens.

We would not want to encourage additional illegal migration to secure this benefit. It is dangerous, and some have died in the desert trying to get to jobs in the states. Therefore, the legislation should have a last date certain (present) before passage.

Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue have proposed the RAISE legislation, which would reorient immigration preferences to limit less productive persons and dependent family members. It is time to encourage financially independent and productive immigrants over those who require welfare support. This would help ensure that our culture is not threatened by new arrivals. It would also limit "chain migration," which relates to large numbers of arrivals from the same town or family.

Some say this is racist. If so, another racist nation must be Canada, which provides preference for Asian skilled workers, while USA existing law favors low-skilled Hispanics.

During his first two years in office, Obama enjoyed a super-majority in both houses of Congress. Yet he did not introduce immigration reform legislation. This is likely because some credit for immigration reform would have gone to Senator John McCain, Obama's opponent in the election. Fortunately, Obama wanted the issue and not the solution.

In the end, it appears that a compromise would best take entities from all constituencies, and this would likely ensure its passage and longevity. It is not clear that a consensus exists, as the sniping is already beginning.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. KENDRICK WILLIAMS, Defendant - Appellant. No. 16-4202 Decided: September 15, 2017

Before TRAXLER, KEENAN, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges. Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Stephen C. Gordon, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. John Stuart Bruce, United States Attorney, Jennifer P. May-Parker, First Assistant United States Attorney, Phillip A. Rubin, Assistant United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Kendrick Williams appeals from the criminal judgment imposed after he pled guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C.  841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C) (2012), and was sentenced to 151 months in prison. Williams asserts only that his sentence must be vacated because his offense level should not have been enhanced under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual  4B1.2(a) (2015). We disagree.

We review a sentence for reasonableness, applying a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007). We first determine whether the district court committed significant procedural error, such as incorrect calculation of the Guidelines range, inadequate consideration of the 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) (2012) factors, or insufficient explanation of the sentence imposed. United States v. Dowell, 771 F.3d 162, 170 (4th Cir. 2014).

When, as here, a party repeats on appeal a claim of procedural sentencing error that it has made before the district court, this court reviews for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Lynn, 592 F.3d 572, 576 (4th Cir. 2010). If we find such abuse, we must reverse unless we determine that the error was harmless. Id. In evaluating the district court's Guidelines calculations, this court reviews the district court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. White, 771 F.3d 225, 235 (4th Cir. 2014).

Under the version of USSG  4B1.2(a) in effect at the time of Williams' sentencing, crime of violence is defined as an offense punishable by more than a year of imprisonment that (1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another [ (the force clause) ], or (2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives [ (the enumerated offenses clause) ], or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another [ (the residual clause) ]. USSG  4B1.2(a).* The commentary to USSG  4B1.2 enumerates other offenses as crimes of violence, including robbery. USSG  4B1.2 cmt. n.1. We conclude that Williams' prior North Carolina conviction for common law robbery was properly considered a crime of violence under USSG  4B1.2(a)(2). Cf. United States v. Jarmon, 596 F.3d 228, 23033 (4th Cir. 2010) (holding that North Carolina conviction for larceny from the personwhich is a lesser included offense of common law robberywas a crime of violence under USSG  4B1.2(a)(2) residual clause).

We therefore affirm the criminal judgment. We deny the Government's motion for summary affirmance. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

FOOTNOTES

. Section 4B1.2(a)(2) was amended in August 2016 to remove the residual or otherwise clause, as well as to remove burglary and add robbery to the offenses enumerated in the Guideline's text. USSG app. C, amend. 798 (2016). Williams was sentenced on April 7, 2016, when the 2015 version of the Guidelines was in effect.

PER CURIAM:
Motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who they claim was himself a migrant and a refugee; the Catholic Church is set to kick off their Share the Journey campaign on September 27, 2017. With left-leaning Pope Francis at the helm, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) intends to instruct all Catholics to get with the program and accept all kinds of immigrants in the U.S. -- or face eternal damnation.

Worse yet, Im going to outline how the Catholic Church is putting young people through questionable psychological exercises in an odd game of be the refugee.

Hot off the presses and hitting a church near you comes the pamphlet, Our Faith Teaches: Welcoming the Refugee and the Migrant. The pamphlet begins the churchs two-year mass education effort to condition (especially United States) Catholics to support programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and apparently accept global migration by any immigrant group -- no questions asked.

The Share the Journey website first introduces us to immigrant Ruth -- a name obviously meant to invoke the Biblical Ruth who was widowed and then followed her mother-in-law into a strange land -- and famously gave the world, Whither thou goest, I will go. Todays Ruth, however, sadly lived in the shadows until President Obama introduced DACA. We are told that, Over 780,000 youth have received protection from the DACA program since its inception by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2012. The USCCB official statement is pretty clear on the subject and reads in part:

The cancellation of the DACA program is reprehensible. It causes unnecessary fear for DACA youth and their families. These youth entered the U.S. as minors and often know America as their only homeThis decision is unacceptable and does not reflect who we are as AmericansAs people of faith, we say to DACA youth -- regardless of your immigration status (emphasis mine), you are children of God and welcome in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church supports you and will advocate for you.

So they arent just welcoming illegals into the church spiritually and offering hot meals, theyre also saying come to us and well help you fight the government.

Its much bigger than DACA, though. Over the next two years, the Catholic Church will attempt to convince every adherent to its faith that its long history of social justice is culminating in forcing every country, (but especially the United States) into accepting any and all illegal immigrants in the name of Jesus Christ. One of the two greatest commandments was, after all, Love your neighbor as yourself, (the name of the churchs first upcoming campaign for immigrants and refugees;) and if one fails to comply, that would obviously be a sin; and Jesus -- the scorned migrant -- was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. If you think this is too over-the-top, consider that the Social Justice part of the churchs catechism is being invoked with a heavy-handedness not seen since its inception. From Article 3, Social Justice, we find the phrases:

Distribution of wealth

Social justice is linked to the common good

Society ensures social justice by providing the conditions that allow associations and individuals to obtain their due.

The duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them becomes even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged, in whatever area this may beThis same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us.

These differences belong to God's plan, who wills that each receive what he needs from othersThese differences encourage and often oblige persons to practicesharing of goods; they foster the mutual enrichment of cultures.

The equal dignity of human persons requires the effort to reduce excessive social and economic inequalities

(In an interesting aside, this article comparing Socialism to Catholicism, then subsequently rejecting the idea, reads like it was written in 2017 rather than 1913.)

This scrutiny of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is done now owing to the churchs current in-your-face activism and their upcoming agenda which begins with the week of prayer and action for migrants and refugees. Set to run from October 7-13, the main webpage prominently features a Muslim woman; and since all of the pictures beneath her appear to be of Muslims, one assumes they are the only type of immigrant and refugee that the church is concerned with.

The toolkit offered for prayer and action has instructions for implementation at Mass, in Catholic schools, on college campuses, and at community-wide events.

At Mass, one can obtain a Global Migration prayer and commitment sheet. This contains a prayer not for the refugees, but to condition the person praying into taking some kind of action on behalf of the refugees. Realizing its going to go against some peoples grain, you are even instructed to ask God to Continue to call me beyond my comfort and into encounter. Then you sign the commitment sheet as an informal contract that you are going to become an immigration activist. The sheet is officially stamped by the USCCB, Catholic Charities U.S.A., and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

It also suggests asking a representative from your local Catholic Charities office (immigration legal services or refugee resettlement) to say a few words at the end of Mass.

The Schools program encourages Catholic high schools across America to become CRS Global High Schools; but waittheres moreyou can choose the Silver, Gold or Platinum commitment level. For the Gold or Platinum, CRS will provide a certificate for graduating seniors recognizing them as Global Advocates. At this point, it appears your child has learned nothing in high school except how to be an immigration rights activist after repeatedly being immersed in the Encounter migration mentality.

Remember, it was Pope Francis who urged everyone to change their attitudes towards immigrants/migrants/refugees from one of defensiveness and fear into a culture of encounter so we could build a more justworld.

On college campuses, the plan gets a little moreweird. Students are instructed to organize solidarity prayer vigils and sign personal advocacy letters. Theyre also told to hold simulation experiences in which groups of students form refugee families. They are then led through nine stations (reminiscent of stations of the cross) where they are forced to make difficult choices so they can empathize with refugees.

Colleges can find other suggestions at the CRS I Am Migration webpage; or through the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. Theyre urged to utilize social media to promote #ShareJourney.

They can also visit Cabrini Universitys WeDidNothingWrondg.Org -- an Educational Simulation about Syrian Refugees created by the Universitys CRS Ambassadors. (St. Frances Cabrini is the patron saint of migrants.) This program leads students through a more intensive course with Refugee re-enactors who orient the student then send them through a smuggling situation and a journey obstacle course which afterward requires a journey debriefer. Then its on to the Reflection Area which of course leads straight to the Advocacy Area -- because theres no way they expect your personal reflection to lead to anything but advocacy. When the programming is complete, the human propaganda machine spits out a committed immigration rights activist and a passionate Global Advocate. (There is no mention of whether counselors are available should this exercise have a negative, profound or unwanted effect on the participants.)

Lastly, organizing community-wide prayer vigils is encouraged, as well as praying the Rosary in accordance with the Catholic bishops of the United States pastoral letter, Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity. When Catholics do this, they are entering into the mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ because:

As St. Paul teaches in his first letter to the Corinthians, the mystery is that we are made part of that Body through our Baptism. By learning to celebrate our individual differences while embracing our union with others, we grow not only in our understanding of Jesus, but in the knowledge of our own true selves.

Of course theres money involved too. The website set up to create Global Advocates who will fight for all migrants, legal and illegal, is asking for donations. Share the Journey has a Help Now! button with an option to Help in the U.S. When you click it, it doesnt mention migrants or refugees at all. It simply reads Catholic Charities U.S.A. -- Donate to help us end poverty.

As professor and columnist Victor David Hanson wrote:

The history of nations is mostly characterized by ethnic and racial uniformity, not diversity America is historys exception When immigration was controlled, measured, and coupled with a confident approach to assimilation, America thrived The history of state multiculturalism is one of discord, violence, chaos, and implosion.

The Catholic Church doesnt seem to be teaching any of that in their instruction pamphlets. Instead they seem destined to systematically integrate the entire world into what they believe will be a multicultural utopiaapparently by the authority of God himself.

Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.susandharris.com
The U.K., the home of great leaders like P.M. Churchill and P.M. Thatcher, is now just another European country dealing with low birthrates, out-of-control mosques, and bombs going off here and there.

If I were a British citizen living in the U.K., I'd be screaming for some leadership after another bomb and more injuries.

This is the latest report from what used to be very traditionally British London:

Gun cops are now raiding a home in leafy Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey as part of the investigation into the terror attack yesterday. Terrified residents were told they had "one minute" to get out of their houses as police evacuated homes on the quiet cul-de-sac at around 1.40pm today. Officers from the Metropolitan police and Surrey police have put a 100m cordon in place in the area, which is a 37 minute train ride from Wimbledon  where the bombed Tube started its journey. A Met spokesman said: "A search of the address is ongoing and the cordons will remain in place until the operation is complete. "Police would like to thank the local residents directly affected for their cooperation and patience. Local officers are on duty in the immediate area to talk to the community and address any concerns that they may have. "No further arrests have been made."

Things have not been this chaotic in London town since the Nazis were bombing them every night!

In comes Trump with another tweet:

Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!

In a perfect world, I'd prefer a U.S. president who wouldn't point out these things in public about our #1 ally, especially the reference to Scotland Yard.

At the same time, we are not living in anything close to a perfect world. My guess is that there are a lot of British who'd wish that their country was indeed more proactive and less politically correct in dealing with this menace.

We hope for the best in the U.K. However, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. The U.K., and Europe, is like the ghost of Christmas future in Dickens's novel and I hope that we are paying attention and choosing our path forward wisely.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
President Trumps somewhat puzzling enthusiasm for supporting the election bid of Luther Strange in the primary battle he is facing against Judge Roy Moore seems to be increasing. Strange currently holds the vacated Senate seat formerly occupied by Jeff Sessions until a special election can take place in November.

Yesterday, President Trump announced via Twitter thaty he will fly to Huntsville next Saturday to support Strange:

I will be in Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday night to support Luther Strange for Senate. "Big Luther" is a great guy who gets things done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2017

"Big Luther" and a supporter

There are a number of reasons to question this support. Matthew Boyle of Breitbart writes:

The manner in which Strange obtained incumbency is in and of itself entirely problematic. When now Attorney General Jeff Sessions was appointed to lead President Trumps Justice Department, then-Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Strange into the U.S. Senate seat Sessions vacated. But, it turns out, Strangeas the attorney general of Alabamahad been investigating Bentley for a corruption and sex scandal that later claimed his job. Bentley was forced to resign over the scandal, and it turns out Strange had asked the state legislature to stall its impeachment proceedings of Bentley until after he was appointed into the Senate seat. Strange is also someone who has been aligned against the presidents agenda when it comes to Senate rules, as he for months supported the 60-vote filibuster rule blocking most of the presidents agenda from passing in the U.S. Senate. He eventually demonstrated weakness by flip-flopping against it after signing a letter supporting it, and publicly campaigning for it.

Strange has some strange members of his team, considering the support he is getting, as Michael Patrick Leahy writes:

The attorney currently representing Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) in the election law ethics complaint filed by the Alabama Secretary of State with states Ethics Commission provided a public guide to candidates who wanted to deprive President Donald Trump of the Republican nomination for president in 2016 by manipulating the delegate selection process. Megan Newton and Ben Ginsberg . . . lawyers from Jones Day . . . are tasked with ensuring the Senators compliance with Federal Elections Commission laws, Yellowhammer News reported in May of Stranges response to the complaint filed against Strange with the Alabama Ethics Commission by the Alabama Secretary of State.

In suspect that Trumps tweet about Big Luther getting things done reveals the pragmatic basis for Trumps support: he needs Stranges vote in the Senate. Given the necessity of the moment, he does not enjoy the luxury of supporting the candidate who might be more closely aligned with his views.

While he may be ambarrassed if Big Luther loses the primary despite presidential support, I suspect that he would not be too disappointed with a Senator Moore, should current polling showing a large Moore lead stay valid through the voting.

Perhaps the Rolling Stones song that the president uses to end his rallies is appropriately kept in mind here:
Donald Trump has decided to intervene directly in the runoff race for the Senate in Alabama. Incumbent Luther Strange, endorsed by Trump, is trailing Judge Roy Moore by 14 points in a recent poll. Senate Republicans have been begging the president to make a campaign appearance for Strange in the state and yesterday, Trump agreed to hold a rally in Huntsville next Saturday.

I will be in Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday night to support Luther Strange for Senate. "Big Luther" is a great guy who gets things done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2017

Moore has been endorsed by Trump's former chief of staff, Steve Bannon, who sees the race as a test case to challenge other GOP incumbent Senators in 2019.

Politico:

Trumps unexpected move sets the stage for a showdown between the president and his recently departed chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who is all-in for Moore. Bannon has cast the Alabama race as an-important clash between grass-roots conservatives and the Washington establishment  and a test for whether other incumbent senators can be successfully challenged by insurgents in 2018. In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other incumbent senators  including Strange himself  have leaned on the president for more help. Strange spoke several times with Trump by phone last week and asked him to visit before the election. In one of the calls, Strange told the president that he wanted him to come to Alabama but understood that Trump was focused on a pair of devastating hurricanes, according to three people briefed on the discussion. During the 30-minute conversation, Trump told Strange he supported him but was unsure what he could do. Strange also pitched Vice President Mike Pence. During a recent conversation, the senator gave Pence an update on how the race was going and contended public polling numbers showing him behind shouldnt be taken seriously, said two people familiar with the discussion. Strange said hed be appreciative of anything the White House could do. But there was still no commitment. The president is extremely popular here. His approval numbers are in the mid-80s among Republicans, said Blake Harris, a Republican strategist in the state. Even more, he's got a record of drawing huge crowds in this state  so a visit could definitely make a difference in what is predicted to be a pretty low turnout election. Stranges Senate colleagues got in on the push, too. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who is up for reelection in 2018 and faces the prospect of a primary challenge, spoke extensively with Trump on Friday and urged him to get involved, according to two people familiar with the conversation. And this week, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in a phone call that hed love to see the president head to Alabama for Strange, said two people briefed on the discussion. Kelly told Inhofe that no decision had been made.

Moore would be a weaker general election candidate than Strange, but in Alabama, it hardly matters. The state is one of the most Republican in the nation.

But Bannon is bound and determined to destroy establishment Republicans on the Hill. Moore's healthy lead over Strange in the polls show that there is support among rank and file Republicans for Bannon's effort to shake up the party.

Each Senate race is different and finding the right primary challenger to run against incumbent Republicans will be difficult. Moore started with fantastic name recognition and ready access to cash. He is also effectively using social media. Can Bannon duplicate this scenario in other states where a GOP incumbent might be vulnerable?

It's a tall order, but the Moore/Strange race shows that grassroots Republicans may be ready to fully embrace the anti-establishment message.
The White House is denying a report in the Wall Street Journal that said the administration would not withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

The rumor was apparently being spread by some members of the European Union.

The Hill:

Multiple reports surfaced on Saturday saying the administration had appeared to soften its stance toward the deal. A top EU climate official told AFPthat the U.S. had signaled it was no longer planning to renegotiate the non-binding treaty. The Wall Street Journal also reportedthat President Trump was not planning to pull out of the deal. "The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement, said the EU's commissioner for climate action and energy, Miguel Arias Canete, according to the Journal. Withdrawing was one of Trumps key promises during his presidential campaign. In June, a newly elected Trump publicly rejected the deal, which he called unfair at the highest level to the United States. The initial decision to pull out was seen as a rebuke to the international community, which agreed on the treaty in 2015.

The EU official and other international climate bureaucrats quoted an administration official who said the US would seek to remain in the deal:

The denial came after the Wall Street Journal reported that a White House senior official, Everett Eissenstat, had told people at a meeting of energy ministers in Montreal that the administration may revise or craft a new climate deal and emissions standards rather than pull out altogether, according to a top European energy official cited by the Journal. As recently as early August, the White House signaled its intent to continue the process of withdrawal by delivering an official notice to the United Nations vis-a-vis the State Department. [...] An international official familiar with the meeting told POLITICO earlier Saturday that Eissenstat, the No. 2 official on the National Economic Council, told diplomats during a closed-door meeting that the U.S. was mulling plans to remain in the Paris deal and to rethink Obama's climate pledge. But White House officials strongly denied that. Another White House official said Saturday diplomats were mischaracterizing Eissenstat's comments. A second, non-U.S. attendee at this weekend's meeting also said Eissenstat's comments were being misconstrued. The attendee, who witnessed his comments in person, said Eissenstat simply reiterated the administration's existing position, which is that the U.S. will continue to engage in climate talks with an eye toward reaching a better deal. "He basically repeated exactly the State Department press release from August," the person said, referring to a recent statement from the department outlining its intention to eventually withdraw, but continue participating in Paris discussions. "This is being misreported. Unhelpfully so I think."

This appears to be wishful thinking on the part of EU officials rather than a signal that the Trump administration was about ready to change policy. They misconstrued Eissenstat's statement, perhaps hoping to put pressure on Trump to rethink his position.

If they accomplished anything, it was to put the Paris deal back in the news.

Trump wants more pressure put on China, the number one emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. As the Paris deal stands now, China's targets for emissions are ridiculously low. This puts US companies at a competitive disadvantage.

US emissions have been falling since 2006 - the result of the fracking revolution which has dumped massive amounts of cheap, cleaner burning natural gas on the market. In fact, market forces are doing a lot more to reduce emissions than any treaty every signed. There's a lesson there that the UN doesn't want to learn.
Whoopi Goldberg is a well known fantasist so it shouldn't be surprising that she would spout an off the wall conspiracy theory about Antifa.

"The View" was talking about the violence in Charlottesville almost exactly a month ago, when Goldberg dropped what could be her most outrageous theory about the origins of Antifa.

Newsbusters:

Charlottesville was back on the hot topics table at ABCs The View, September 15, one month to the day after violence broke out on the campus of the University of Virginia. But instead of thought-provoking conversation on the serious issue, as usual, conspiracy theories about the right was the prevailing opinion expressed at the table by the liberal hosts. Whoopi Goldberg had the most mind-numbing take, actually wondering out loud if the right had made up the left-wing group Antifa, so they could have something to bitch about.

Not only that, but host Joy Behar even seemed to justify Antifa's violence as a tactic.

After discussing President Trumps response to Charlottesville and whether he equated violence on both sides, host Paula Faris was the first one to bring up Antifas dedication to violence. But she didnt even get to make her argument before fellow host Whoopi interrupted to shut her down:

PAULA FARIS: Antifa- its anti-fascism. For anybody that thinks this is a nonviolent group they're predicated on violence. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security, according to documents --

WHOOPI: I saw your thing. Let me say this to you. When we look to see what they were talking about, there was nothing there because when you look at the bottom of the list the year that they're talking about is when Obama was in. So we went to see what they had been protesting what fascist stuff Antifa had been protesting. There's nothing there. We can't find anything. This to me-- Antifa is one of those things, I dont want to say the right, but somebody came up with as a catch phrase so that you could say there's violence on the other side. I don't remember violent demonstrations before the gentleman whos in now came in.

FARIS: Thats the issue. Can I just say -- because I didnt get to finish my point--

[...]

Whoopi responded to that by asking Faris when she first heard about the group.

I actually just started hearing about Antifa a couple months ago, she replied.

That's my point, Whoopi turned to the audience and said.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. SIARRES R. NOBLE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent-Appellee. No. 17-3252 Decided: September 12, 2017

ORDER

Siarres R. Noble, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district court's judgment denying his motion to vacate sentence filed under 28 U.S.C.  2255. This court construes Noble's notice of appeal as an application for a certificate of appealability (COA). See Fed. R. App. P. 22(b). Noble has also filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP).

In September 2014, Noble pleaded guilty, pursuant to a written plea agreement under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C), to two counts of distribution of heroin, four counts of distribution of fentanyl, and one count of possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, all in violation of 21 U.S.C.  841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C). In the plea agreement, the government agreed to recommend a 240-month term of imprisonment. The plea agreement also included an appeal-waiver provision that limited Noble's right to file a direct appeal or a collateral challenge, but permitted claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.

In December 2014, the district court sentenced Noble to 240 months of imprisonment in accordance with the plea agreement, and Noble did not appeal.

In September 2015, Noble filed a  2255 motion to vacate, asserting that he did not voluntarily or knowingly enter his guilty plea due to ineffective assistance of counsel. He argued that counsel should not have advised him to plead guilty to Count 4 or Count 5. Counts 4 and 5 were for distribution of fentanyl, with specifications for causing death or serious bodily injury pursuant to  841(b)(1)(C). Noble argues that counsel should have known that the government allegedly could not have established that death or serious bodily injury would not have occurred but for the drug distributed by Noble. See Burrage v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 881, 887-92 (2014). Noble asserts that counsel failed to provide him with an email from a Dr. Jonathan Arden, purporting to show that the cause of victim IND-1's death was unclear and that, without an autopsy, the government could not have proved otherwise. Noble also argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because medical records show that victim IND-2 overdosed on heroin, not fentanyl.

In February 2017, the district court denied Noble's motion because: (1) Noble's claims were contradicted by his assertions in the plea agreement and during the plea colloquy; (2) in light of the evidence the government would have presented at trial, Dr. Arden's email did not establish that the government could not have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the fentanyl distributed by Noble was the but-for cause of IND-1's death; and (3) the government was able to present evidence, in the form of testimony from IND-2, showing that IND-2's overdose resulted from the fentanyl provided by Noble.

To be issued a COA, the petitioner must make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. 28 U.S.C.  2253(c)(2). To satisfy this standard, the applicant must show that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court's resolution of his constitutional claims or that jurists could conclude the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327 (2003).

Courts review ineffective-assistance claims under the two-part test of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). This requires a defendant to show that (1) counsel's performance was deficient, and (2) the deficiency prejudiced the defense. Id. at 687. [A] court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy.  Id. at 689 (quoting Michel v. Louisiana, 350 U.S. 91, 101 (1955)). The test for prejudice is whether there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. at 694.

To satisfy the prejudice requirement in the context of a guilty plea, the defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 59 (1985). In the Sixth Circuit, a petitioner cannot make that showing merely by telling [the court] now that [he] would have gone to trial then if [he] had gotten different advice. Pilla v. United States, 668 F.3d 368, 373 (6th Cir. 2012). The test is objective, not subjective; and thus, to obtain relief on this type of claim, a petitioner must convince the court that a decision to reject the plea bargain would have been rational under the circumstances.  Id. (quoting Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356, 372 (2010)).

Noble argues that his plea agreement was not knowingly, intelligently, or voluntarily made, because counsel should not have advised him to plead guilty to Claims 4 and 5 despite knowing that the Supreme Court [ ] demanded a higher standard of proof for the enhancement to apply than was present on the record.

This argument is directly contradicted by Noble's admissions in the plea agreement and at the plea colloquy. In the plea agreement, Noble admitted, among other things, to the factual basis of Claim 4: that Noble provided fentanyl to IND-1 on November 8, 2013, and that IND-1 did fatally ingest and overdose on [that] fentanyl, on or about November 9, 2013, which had been distributed to IND-1 by [Noble]. Noble also admitted to the factual basis of Claim 5: he provided fentanyl to IND-2 on November 8, 2013, and on November 9, 2013, IND-2 ingested and overdosed on the fentanyl distributed by Noble.

At the plea colloquy, Noble asserted that he: (1) read the information in that section of the plea agreement; (2) understood that information; (3) had no questions about it; (4) agreed that it was accurate; and (5) engaged in the conduct described in the plea agreement. Noble also specifically agreed that the government could establish the factual basis for the enhancementswhich he now wishes to challengebeyond a reasonable doubt if [the] case were to proceed to trial.

These representations by Noble constitute a formidable barrier in any subsequent collateral proceeding because [s]olemn declarations in open court carry a strong presumption of verity. Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 74 (1977). This claim does not deserve encouragement to proceed further.

Moreover, jurists of reason would not disagree with the district court's conclusion that Noble did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel. In Burrage, the Supreme Court held that, in order for the penalty enhancement provision of  841(b)(1)(C) to apply, the government must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of a drug distributed by a defendant is either an independently sufficient cause of the victim's death or a but-for cause of the death. 134 S. Ct. at 892.

As noted by the district court, Dr. Arden's email did not show that the government could not have established its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, Dr. Arden stated that there was no indication of other drugs/metabolites and IND-1 looks like an [overdose]. Dr. Arden also stated that the accessible approach on her death is the absence of an autopsy giving rise to doubt about the certainty of her cause of death as certified, and without an autopsy, he could not determine the cause of death with reasonable medical certainty. But this simply suggests a trial strategy that counsel elected not to pursue. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687. Even if Dr. Arden had testified that the cause of IND-1's death was not a medical certainty, the government could still have established that the fentanyl was a but-for cause of IND-1's death beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Volkman, 797 F.3d 377, 392 (6th Cir. 2015).

The government indicated that it was prepared to offer testimony from IND-1's spouse that IND-1 used only [the] drugs purchased from Noble on November 8, 2013, and ingested no other drugs than those acquired from Noble after November 8, 2013. The government was also prepared to offer toxicology test results, the coroner's verdict, and the certificate of death, all of which indicated that IND-1 overdosed on fentanyl. The district court determined that this was sufficient to establish that IND-1 overdosed on fentanyl, and counsel's advice was not deficient. See Volkman, 797 F.3d at 392-93. Jurists of reason would not disagree.

Noble suggests that counsel provided ineffective assistance by not providing him with Dr. Arden's email. The district court did not squarely address this issue. However, for the reasons already discussed, even if Noble had seen the email, it does not show that a decision to reject the plea bargain would have been rational under the circumstances. Padilla, 559 U.S. at 372. By pleading guilty, Noble avoided a possible life sentence. Accordingly, to the extent that this is a distinct issue, it nevertheless does not deserve encouragement to proceed further.

Noble also asserts that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by advising Noble to plead guilty to Claim 5, because the hospital report showed that IND-2 overdosed on heroin, not fentanyl. The district court determined that this was not sufficient to show that trial counsel's performance was deficient. IND-2 was prepared to testify that he purchased fentanyl from Noble and that it was the only drug he consumed before his overdose. Under these circumstances, counsel reasonably concluded that the government would have been able to establish that the fentanyl Noble provided to IND-2 was a but-for cause of IND-2's overdose, and advised Noble accordingly. Moreover, Noble appears to have had access to this information when he pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl to IND-2 and admitted that IND-2 overdosed on that fentanyl, and he does not now allege otherwise. Jurists of reason would not disagree with the district court's resolution of this claim.

Accordingly, this court DENIES Noble's application for a COA and DENIES his motion to proceed IFP as moot.

ENTERED BY ORDER OF THE COURT

Deborah S. Hunt, Clerk
The Dalton State Women's Cross Country team had another solid day on Saturday , finishing in the Top 5 of the UNG Invitational hosted by the University of North Georgia in Oakwood, Ga.



Helping the Roadrunners bring home the 5th place finish was freshman Noor Sabeeh. Sabeeh paced Dalton State on th e day with a time of 21:00. Senior Nayeli Jacobo was next over the line with a time of 21:07. Freshman Kay Vradenburgh was the third Lady Bird to cross the finish with a time of 21:23. Sabeeh, Jacobo, and Vradenburgh all placed in the Top 32 of the overall standings. Sarah Sullivan(22:19) and Ana Karen Padilla (23:13) rounded out counting scores for the Roadrunners.

so ran in the event, recording impressive times.



The Lady Roadrunners will get two weeks off before their next event, the Foothill Invitational hosted by Jacksonville State University on September 30 in Oxford, Ala.

Freshmen Morgan King (23:42) and Hayley Hight (23:43) al


The anti-Israel demo is just an excuse to hate Jews

You dont like Israel. Fine. Debate and discuss. March and shout. Being offended and outraged is good for the soul. Its not hate speech to decry a country. Its free speech. Its good speech. It makes you think and seeks answers to hard questions. So answer me this, why does Israel excite the righteous so very much? Why do the knowing want to boycott Israeli goods, academics, musicians and humans and not those of other countries? Why are there not marches against Burma, Saudi Arabia, and Islamists? Is your hatred of Israel a little, you know, discriminatory?

Why is it that when a hangover of Nazis (is that the collective term?) mass in Charlottesville, the Left tell us to #punchaNazi and declare a return to the 1930s  as if a decade is a living, breathing thing  chilling us with dire warnings that fascism is rife and unless we coalesce into anti-fascist groups, America is lost to white supremacists, but when Islamists murder hundreds of people in Europe, the buzzwod is Islamaphobia?

Censorship is a horror. Anti-Israel protests should be admired for their fervour. But, then, British Jews are seen as soft targets. Muslims less so.

Which leads to other questions: are you locked in a dictatorship of a monocular mind, where reason, tolerance, free speech and independence are trashed in favour of a conformity which says Jews are unique in their barbarism and represent the leading threat to world peace? Would a Jewish state ever be welcome in the Middle East, however benign, unarmed and free? When you say Israel is guilty of a Holocaust against Palestinians, do you aim to show your own ignorance of that horror or just to assault Jews with their own grief? Why is Holocaust Day attacked when Israel is in the crosshairs and riding high on the news cycle as war with Hamas turns civilians into human shields and the dead, so making all Jews guilty and underserving of the vow Never again?

One Londoner has an idea:

Watch: This Brit went to #TLVinLDN and encountered an anti-Israel demo outside the festival. This is what he had to say: pic.twitter.com/AyXDlJYQHS  4IL (@4ILorg) September 9, 2017

You arent an anti-Semite if you criticise Israel. But it really does help if you are.

Anorak

Posted: 17th, September 2017 | In: News, Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
iStock/Thinkstock(BOISE) -- A Porsche plowed into a crowd of spectators at a Boise, Idaho, car show, injuring 11 in a horrifying scene that saw bystanders scrambling to tend to the injured, authorities and witnesses said.

Police said the driver of the gray Porsche accelerated while leaving the "Cars and Coffee" event, lost control and ran into the nearby crowd lining a sidewalk. Police said the driver is cooperating in their investigation.



Boise police spokeswoman Haley Williams said there were many with serious injuries, but no fatalities had been reported by late Saturday afternoon. Some of those injured were children, Williams said.



Tom Weekes of Boise attended the event with his 12-year-old son and had just moved a few feet back on the sidewalk when the car lost control.



"My son and I were the last two people he missed," he said. "There was a group of kids to the right of us, and he hit every one of them."



Weekes said one of young people in their teens or early 20s flew over the top of the car and landed in front of him and his son. He said his first instinct was to help the injured.



"But one of the girls -- the way she was lying there, I seriously thought she didn't make it. So I didn't want my son to see, so I took him away and left," he said. "I'm struggling with the fact that I left."



Justin King, a car enthusiast from Nashville, Tennessee, said he was nearby when he heard the crash and ran to the scene.



"You could hear the screaming," he said. "There were people's shoes that went flying. There was at least one youngster, less than 10 -- he was kind of unconscious."



"Most people that were hit, it looked like broken legs and that type of thing," he said. "People were rendering aid pretty quickly."



He said a military medic who happened to be at the show was also helping those injured, including a man with a bad cut on his head.



Investigators are waiting to determine the severity of the injuries before they forward their investigation to the prosecutors' office, Williams said.



Six of the injured were taken to area hospitals by ambulance. Five others were taken to hospitals in private vehicles, she said.



King said the show drew about 400 or 500 cars, but only about half remained when the crash occurred shortly before the show ended.



He said car show participants were peeling out for spectators who congregated along the sidewalk to watch.



"People like to show off when they leave these events," King said.



Photos from the crash site show the Porsche convertible with damage on the left front bumper and a smashed windshield.



King said he didn't notice any police at the Boise event until after the crash.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Daughters of the American Revolution initiated the observance in 1955, when the organization petitioned the U.S. Congress to dedicate Sept. 1723 of each year to the commemoration of Constitution Week. Congress adopted the resolution, and on Aug. 2, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into Public Law #915. The celebrations goals are threefold: to encourage the study of the historical events that led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787; to inform people that the Constitution is the basis of Americas great heritage and the foundation of our way of life; and to emphasize U.S. citizens responsibility to protect, defend and preserve the Constitution.

DAR has been the foremost advocate for the awareness, promotion and celebration of Constitution Week. This annual observance provides opportunities for educational initiatives and community outreach, two mission areas of importance to the national societys work. By fostering knowledge of and appreciation for the Constitution and the inalienable rights it affords to all Americans, DAR helps to keep alive the memory of the men and women who secured the nations independence.

The framers created a Constitution that translated into law the ideals upon which our nation was built, said DAR President General Ann Dillon. Their vision was so forward thinking that their words still guide us today. No American history education can be complete without a thorough understanding of the impact the Constitution has had on the lives of American citizens past and present.

One of the largest patriotic womens organizations in the world, DAR has more than 185,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters across the country and in numerous foreign countries. DAR strives to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism via commemorative events, scholarships and educational initiatives, citizenship programs, service to veterans, community service, and more. For additional information about DAR and its programs, visit www.dar.org.

Constitution Week is to promote the education and study of the American Constitution. Free downloads of the constitution can be found online at http://constitutionbooklet.com/.

The five area chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution would like to thank Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger for his time, commitment to the constitution, and the Proclamation which is now on display at the downtown library.






If youre considering a subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service, you may be wondering how much it costs. The service is available on both
This is the blog of China defense, where professional analysts and serious defense enthusiasts share findings on a rising military power.
Im having a look at the report that Spanish Guardia Civil filed after having carried out their dangerous mission to "confiscate material" in Sant Carles de la Rapita. On a judges orders, "70 large posters were taken with the following content: Vote yes. Living free means taking part", "30 small posters with ditto content as previous" [sic],"glue, a stick and a broom".

As the report makes clear, the posters (large and small) are prohibited material. I guess the glue is an accessory to the crime. The glue is used to stick posters on walls in the same way as politicians and protestors do in democracies. The broom (which I guess is a run-of-the-mill, household one) must be used to help put up the posters. I remember it well from when I used to stick up posters, years ago, for one of the companies currently under investigation: Marc Marti. The stick must be a spare broom handle.

I can see why the Spanish gendarmes would confiscate the posters, as its consistent with their logic. If they take away the posters, it stops them from being put up, (which thus saves them from having to rip them down later, also by order of a judge). But carting off the glue, the broom and the spare broom handle is an unprecedented excess of zeal by the police. They must have thought that leaving behind the very tools one would need to stick up posters was too risky.

According to such tricorne-logic [in reference to the Guardia Civils three-cornered hats], did they consider seizing more items from the premises? In the same way that glue can be used to stick a poster on a lamppost, Sellotape can be used to stick it onto a shop window and Blu-Tack to attach it to an office wall. If you think about it, a stapler could be used to stick posters on trees or any convenient wooden surface. These items must have been there as well in that den of iniquity, and they might be being used to commit a crime at this very minute. Im dying to see the items being displayed on the news, like a drug haul, laid out on a desk with a tablecloth, like a still-life.
BarcelonaThe President of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau together with Vice President Junqueras and Speaker of the House Forcadell, have sent a letter to Prime Minister Rajoy calling for a negotiated referendum in a final attempt to resume talks. The letter, which was originally leaked by RAC1 and which ARA has also had access to, was also sent to King Felipe.

The letter proposes that the parties involved seek a political solution to the conflict between Catalonia and Spain, while pointing out that a large majority of Catalans wish to do so through means of a referendum. They call for an "open dialogue without conditions" in order to address "how we can reach an agreement as to how the Catalans can vote in the referendum", arguing that "listening to the voice of the people is never a crime".

The letter details numerous attempts by Catalonia has attempted to initiate dialogue, which have always met with "a negative or worse, an untenable, retrograde response.", such as the Constitutional Courts ruling that struck down the 2010 Statute and the proposal for a fiscal agreement, which was also rejected. It also cites recent Spanish government responses to the preparations for the 1-O referendum, such as a ban on public meetings, threats to media, criminal charges brought against members of the government and the closure of the website advertising the referendum.

Puigdemont and Colau argue that the state has begun an "unprecedented offensive of repression" that limits "freedom of expression", while praising the peaceful, mass demonstrations by the public. The document ends by reiterating their willingness for dialogue which, "has always existed and will continue to stand".

The full text of the letter

In a democratic system, political conflicts are resolved through political means which in turn are the result of negotiations and dialogue. A long-running political conflict clearly exists between Catalonia and Spain. Repeated attempts to find a solution with a broad consensus have failed. Spains response has been a consistent "no", or worse yet, it has taken untenable, retrograde measures. When the Constitutional Court struck down the Statute, which had previously been agreed upon by both the Catalan and Spanish parliaments and approved by referendum by the citizens of Catalonia, it broke the constitutional pact of 1978. Catalonia subsequently made new proposals, such as a fiscal pact in line with the Basque Countrys financial deal or a non-binding referendum in order to sound out the opinion of the Catalan people. Nevertheless, the efforts were all in vain, since they were all met with a resounding "no".

Having tried all the previous avenues for bringing an end to the conflict, the Catalan government has proposed that the problem is resolved by convening a referendum on independence on 1 October. As the whole world is well aware, the referendum is not being held with the approval of the Spanish state, which would have been desirable and which is the wish of the majority of the parliament and Catalan society as a whole. The National Pact for the Referendum was established with the express purpose of initiating a dialogue that was ultimately not forthcoming. Indeed, the Spanish justice system is currently investigating those responsible for the Pact which was established with parliamentary approval and which was not challenged by the Constitutional Court, as if it had engaged in illegal activities.

Far from opening the door to dialogue, Spain has unleashed an unprecedented offensive of repression which goes from limiting the fundamental right to the freedom of expression, the banning of public meetings and threats to news outlets, to the arrest of 75% of the mayors in Catalonia for declaring their intention to participate in the referendum. Meanwhile, it has brought criminal charges against the entire government of Catalonia and against most of the Parliamentary Bureau, closed the public information website on the referendum, banned the dissemination of information and advertising and has politicised bodies that ought to be independent, including the Constitutional Court and other judicial bodies. This is all in spite of the fact that the Spanish Criminal Code makes it clear that calling a referendum, even if it has not been negotiated with the state, does not constitute a crime.

Catalan societys support for holding a referendum is unquestionable, however one wants to look at it. The election results confirm it, as do the parliamentary rulings and the mass demonstrations on successive Diadas [Catalonias National Day], which since 2012 have mobilised millions of people. These peaceful, convivial demonstrations have been praised by the international media as shining examples of civility.

For these reasons, we wish once more to call for dialogue with the Spanish government and its Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, in particular. A call for dialogue in order to discuss how we can agree on a means for the Catalan people to hold a referendum. An open dialogue without conditions. A political dialogue, based on the legitimacy of each party, to make possible what never ought to be a problem in a democracy, much less a crime: for it to listen to the voice of its people. For these reasons, we are calling on President Mariano Rajoy and are sending a copy to the head of state, HM King Felipe VI, in order to make it clear that refusing to engage in dialogue is incompatible with resolving a problem. Our willingness to hold a dialogue has always existed and will continue to stand.

Yours sincerely.
Chinese financial institutions should not use their role in serving the real economy as an excuse to help "zombie companies" and instead must help troubled firms with good fundamentals to ride out short-term difficulties, senior officials said.

In China, the term zombie companies refers to inefficient or loss-making enterprises whose production facilities are outdated and debt is mounting or unmanageable.

Liu Guoqiang, assistant governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said at the Financial Street Forum 2017 in Beijing on Friday: "Financial institutions must reduce funding for so-called zombie companies, lower hidden local government debts and combat speculation in real estate to save financial resources for other parts of the real economy that meet the requirements of China's supply-side reform, so that we'll be able to cultivate a new economic structure and a new drive for growth."

Wang Zhaoxing, vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the country's top banking regulator, agreed, saying banks will continue to optimize credit allocation and strongly support reduction of excess capacity.

Wang further said that banks should identify zombie companies and withdraw loans from such companies in an orderly way.

They should also not stop lending to those businesses that have good potential for growth but are experiencing temporary difficulties. Disruption to funding for a potentially good business may increase financial risk or even trigger an outbreak of risk, he said.

The CBRC will further promote and improve the foundation of creditor committees to stabilize financial support for those good businesses that are running into difficulties at the moment, he said.

A creditor committee is defined as a temporary organization set up by at least three banks that are creditors to a company where the latter is unable to repay its large outstanding debt.

The CBRC will also support the banking industry to further reduce corporate leverage by carrying out debt-for-equity swaps as per market forces.

"Regulators will properly control the force and pace of financial regulation so that banking institutions will play a better role in resource allocation and risk management," Wang said.
The 'Dabangg' pair offered a fresh take on their popular song 'Mast Mast Do Nain' from their hit action entertainer 'Dabangg.'

Mumbai: After the massive success of 'Dabangg', the film's name became Salman Khan's new middle name.

The superstar earned the synonym Dabangg after playing the character of Chulbul Pandey in the popular franchise seven years ago, following it up with a successful second installment as well.

So much so that Salman also named his series of concerts in international cities as the Da-Bangg Tour.

In April this year, the superstar performed in Melbourne, Auckland and other cities, with stars like Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu and others joining him in the party.

The superstar has now kicked off his second series of the Da-Bangg Tour, in the UK this time.

Sonakshi, also synonymous with Dabangg, making a grand entry into the industry with the film, is a part of the tour this time too, and the actress couldnt help but share a picture with her first co-star on her Instagram story.

What was interesting was her caption, Mast mast 4 nain, taking on from the extremely famous Mast Mast Do Nain song Salman sings for her in the blockbuster.

The stars performed in Birmingham on Saturday and will wrap the tour with the London concert on Sunday. Jacqueline Fernandez and Daisy Shah are among the other stars present at the concert.
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China's economic planner has approved 8 fixed-asset investment (FAI) projects with combined investment totaling 10.76 billion yuan (about $1.65 billion) in August.

The projects were mainly in water conservation and high-tech industries, according to Meng Wei, spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's FAI remained basically stable in the first eight months of the year thanks to robust investment in infrastructure.

In January-August, FAI grew 7.8 percent year on year to 39.42 trillion yuan, slower than the 8.3 percent increase in the first seven months.

Infrastructure investment, which accounts for more than 20 percent of total FAI, jumped 19.8 percent, driven by investment in public facility management and road transport. High-tech manufacturing saw investment up by 19.5 percent.

FAI includes capital spent on infrastructure, property, machinery and other physical assets.
The Prime Minister has invited popular south Indian actor Mohanlal to be a part of the central government's 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement.

Narendra Modi had reportedly expressed his support for Mohanlal's film based on Mahabharata.

Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited popular south Indian actor Mohanlal to be a part of the central government's 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement, saying his presence would help in connecting millions to the initiative.

In a letter to the National Award winning actor, Modi said cinema is one of the most effective media to bring about a change on a large scale.

"A clean India is the most noble service we can do for the poor, downtrodden and the marginalised," he said in the letter, which was released to the media here on Saturday by the Kerala BJP unit.

"As a much adored film personality, you have the power to impact people's life positively. I personally invite you to lend your support to the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement and dedicate some time for the cause of a Swachch Bharat.

"Your participation in the Swachhata mission would help connect millions to the noble initiative," Modi said.

The Prime Minister said the Malayalam actor could share his experience regarding the movement with him on the Narendra Modi mobile application.

Citing Mahatma Gandhi's dream for a clean India, Modi said, "Inspired by the Father of the Nation's noble thoughts and a faith in the spirit of 125 crore Indians, let us renew our pledge towards cleanliness."

"Leading up to Gandhi Jayanti, we can encourage widespread support for, and participation in cleanliness initiatives across India....Let us all come together for cleanliness, pay a fitting tribute to Bapu and work towards building a New India," he appealed.

President Ram Nath Kovind had launched the fortnight-long 'Swachhta Hi Seva' (Cleanliness is Service) sanitation campaign in Uttar Pradesh on September 15.

The nationwide campaign is aimed at highlighting the Modi government's flagship cleanliness initiative Swachh Bharat Mission.
Anyone can see Ravis character is modelled on the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.

In Ranjit Tiwaris striking prison-break drama Lucknow Central, the very accomplished Ravi Kishan is cast as a suave, smiling Chief Minister who is accompanied by hi-tech advisers, and who keeps ticking off bureaucrats with subtle semi-humorous threats.

Anyone can see Ravis character is modelled on the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.

And Ravi is not denying it. Thats the model of a politician we had in mind. I had just three to four scenes and I was not sure I should do it. But my producer Nikhil Advani was keen. I modelled my character on Akhileshji. I studied a lot of his footage. What I liked about him was his refinement and cultured attitude, even when he was admonishing bureaucrats. Thats how I played my politicians character in Lucknow Central. Why do politicians always have to be crass and potbellied in our films? he said.

A potbelly is far from Ravis mind and body right now. Fitter than ever at 46, the actor is ready to play the most challenging role of his life in Anurag Kashyaps Mukkabaaz. I play a Dalit boxer in Mukkabaaz. To look convincing as a boxer Ive lost so much weight I can finally feel the weight of my mojo . This film is like a career re-launch for me, he said with a smile.
The cutout is being shaped by Zulfiqur Hussain, also known as Raju Artist, and is assisted by artisans especially hired from Dubai.

Lucknow: A 110 feet tall and 35 feet wide cut-out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 1500 kilograms of laddoo and a special havan for health and longevity will mark Prime Minister Narendra Modis 67th birthday in Lucknow on Sunday.

Nripendra Pandey, BJP activist, a lawyer and a hardcore Modi bhakt is sparing no efforts to make the occasion garnd. Mr Pandey had earlier walked 1200 kilometers from Lucknow to Ahmadabad to meet Mr Modis mother and seek her blessings.

A special ritual has been arranged at the temple in the district collectorate. The temple authorities will ring the 105 kg Damodar Ghanta (temple bell) at 13 hours followed by anushthaan after which 67 kilograms of boondi laddoo and 1500 kilograms of besan laddoo will be distributed among the people, he told reporters on Saturday.

The cutout is being shaped by Zulfiqur Hussain, also known as Raju Artist, and is assisted by artisans especially hired from Dubai. The cutout would be installed in front of UP Vidhan Sabha, near the gate of UP BJP headquarters.

Mr Nripendra Pandey said, Everyone should get inspired with our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his way of taking the country on a progressive path. My motive to celebrate his birthday in the most unique way is to spread the PMs message all across the state.
It is learnt that the SIT visited offices of some pro-Hindu outfits in Bengaluru too and questioned its members as part of the probe.

Bengaluru: SIT officials have questioned around 15 people, including members of the Sanatan Sanstha, which is under police radar for years now, in journalist Gauri Lankeshs murder case investigation.

Sources privy to the development said that an SIT team is already in Goa, where Sanatan Sansthas Ashram is headquartered, while another team is in Mumbai. The team has already visited the Ashram and SIT officials have spoken to the Sanstha members. They have gathered details required for the probe. Similarly, another team is in Mumbai to question some members of the Sanstha, an official said.

As the ballistic report suggested that the mechanism of crime and the weapons used in the murders of rationalists Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, Dr. M.M. Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh had striking similarities, the SIT is investigating whether the right wing Hindu group has any links to Gauris murder.

Sanatan Sanstha has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for years now, as those owing allegiance to it were arrested in bomb blast cases in the past. The National Investigation Agency had also issued a Red Corner notice against three of its members, including Rudra Patil, who is suspected to be the mastermind behind the Goa blast in 2009. His role was also suspected in the murder of Govind Pansare.

It is learnt that the SIT visited offices of some pro-Hindu outfits in Bengaluru too and questioned its members as part of the probe.
The party delegation is on a two-day visit to Kashmir to attend a series of meetings on the current situation in the Valley.

Srinagar: A Congress panel headed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government to keep the dialogue route with separatists open.

The party delegation is on a two-day visit to Kashmir to attend a series of meetings on the current situation in the Valley.

The AICCs policy and planning group was formed in April in the wake of widespread violence in the state during the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypolls. The other members of the group include Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union home minister P. Chidambaram and party general secretary Ambika Soni.

Immediately after their arrival, the group held an executive committee meeting of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee at Hari Niwas here, a party spokesman said.

He said the group was scheduled to meet various delegations from Kashmir, including opposition parties.

Apart from the political parties, the group will interact with several other delegations like civil society organisations, Shia associations, delegation of 2014 flood victims, saffron growers, house boat associations, trade and tourism delegations as well as a delegation of journalists, the spokesman said.

However, meeting separatist leaders is not part of the groups agenda, he said.

Speaking to reporters on sidelines of the meeting, Mr Azad said the Central as well as the state government should keep the dialogue route with separatists open.

The Central as well as the state government have to decide which stakeholders to talk to. Everyone knows who the stakeholders are, but they are afraid to take the names. And when they are afraid to even identify them as stakeholders, how will there be a resolution?

They (central and state governments) should talk to them (separatists) and try to resolve the issue, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by raising the emotions of people but has remained silent since taking over the reins of the country.

Modis election win was 90 per cent because of Kashmir. In our rule, one soldier was beheaded by Pakistani troops (along the Line of Control), but such instances have happened a number of times now in their (BJP) rule, and still the prime minister is silent, he said.
He said that India is no longer weak, and is emerging as a superpower that 'nobody would dare to challenge'.

Nizamabad: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday categorically stated that unless Pakistan puts an end to the 'export' of terrorism to India, there will be no point in holding diplomatic talks between the two nations.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in Nizamabad, Rajnath claimed that India has always extended its cooperation to Pakistan in maintaining friendly relations with its neighbour, but no substantial response has been given. Rather, attempts have been made to further weaken India, he said.

"India aims to maintain friendly relations with all countries, and the same goes for Pakistan. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a meeting with their leaders, it was to build a better relation. But they do not seem to understand the point. Unless cross-border terrorism ends, there will be no point in holding talks," he said.

"When firing began from Pakistan side during the ceasefire violation, I was informed by the Director General of the Border Security Force ( BSF) that India had waved a white flag as a gesture of wanting to resolve the matter by holding talks. However, since no response was given, I ordered them that India will not begin any gun battle; but in retaliation, if firing is required then India will no longer hold back," he added.

Re-iterating Modi's vision of creating a 'New India' by 2022, Rajnath stated that India is no longer weak, and is emerging as a superpower that 'nobody would dare to challenge'. He also opined that if India can move from being colonized to gaining Independence in five years, even the mission of New India can be fulfilled.

With regards to the action taken against black money, benami property and shell companies, Rajnath stated that although waging a war against corruption was not easy, all necessary measures were taken to end the menace in the society, following which over two lakh shell companies and Rs 800 crore worth of benami property has been seized so far.

"During the previous government, corruption charges always existed. Many of them have even gone to jail. The Supreme Court demanded that an SIT be constituted, but this was not done. Under Prime Minister Modi, we made it to end corruption in the society. We have seized benami property worth Rs. 800 Crore along with a crackdown on nearly 2 lakh shell companies. We will continue to wage our war against corruption, and bring out a New India with no poverty, homelessness, terrorism or naxalism," assured Rajnath.

Re-iterating the emphasis of the government on uplifting the common man, Rajnath claimed that many medical subsidies have been brought in to ensure better medical facilities to the poor, such as that on stents, medicines and procedures like dialysis and so on.

Remembering those who fought for India's freedom, Rajnath urged that India should not be divided based on any caste, creed, language or religion, adding that anti-national forces opposing our unity will not be tolerated.
A senior police official, however, said on condition of anonymity that the intelligence input may have come too late.

In this file photo Honeypreet Insan is seen with Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at the promotional event. (Photo: PTI)

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh police have launched a manhunt along the UP-Nepal border for Honeypreet Insan, the adopted daughter of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The move comes after intelligence inputs that Honeypreet may try to cross over to Nepal.

ASP Maharajganj Ashutosh Shukla said that they have circulated photographs of Honeypreet to all bordering police stations and have also posted two women constables in each police station.

Special instructions have been given to the women constables to check every woman and girl, particularly those wearing burqa or some kind of veil, he added.

We are not allowing any women or girl to cross over without frisking and document verification by jawans. Night patrolling on open border has been intensified and we are keeping round the clock vigil on those people crossing the border, the police official said.

Sunauli, located about 90km form Gorakhpur, is the most favored town bordering Nepal and is one of the major transit points of human trafficking and smuggling from both sides of the border. More security personnel have been deployed there to ensure Ms Honeypreet does not reach a safe haven in Nepal.

Police vigil has also been stepped up on the border areas in Bahraich, Balrampur, Pilibhit and Lakhimpur that are less crowded and offer a safe conduit for criminals.

A senior police official, however, said on condition of anonymity that the intelligence input may have come too late.

If Honeypreet had to cross over to Nepal, she must have done so immediately after she went missing on August 25 when Mr Gurmeet Singh was arrested. She will obviously not wait for the agencies to get her, he said.
Amit Shah said Modis life in many ways was a personification of Indias spirit.

New Delhi: Putting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the same pedestal as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr B.R. Ambedkar, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said Mr Modi had begun the countrys economic integration after both the tall post-Independence leaders achieved Indias territorial and social unification.

Using the Prime Ministers 67th birthday to heap praise on him, Mr Shah said Mr Modis life in many ways was a personification of Indias spirit. He also lauded Mr Modi for his pledge to fulfil Mahatma Gandhis dream of cleanliness by making it a mass movement.

Mr Shah wrote in his blog that India remembers Sardar Patel for the territorial integration of our nation... and we recall the role of Babasaheb Ambedkar in our social integration. Through initiatives starting from Jan Dhan Yojana to GST, Narendra Bhai has set the ball rolling for the economic integration of India.

He claimed Mr Modis sensitivity towards the aspirations of the poor had led to historic poverty alleviation initiatives, which were unheard of in India.

He said under the NDA government, honest taxpayers, a majority of whom belong to the middle class, are feeling they are valued. This had happened after crackdowns on black money and corruption through various measures, including demonetisation and the benami law.

Mr Shah said the Prime Minister was being criticised as he had ruffled several feathers by his action against the corrupt. After all, years of privilege of a select few are now over and the poor are now getting their due.

The Prime Ministers heart beats for the poor, downtrodden, marginalised and the farmers, the BJP president said, adding that Mr Modis deep concern for their welfare had motivated him to immerse himself in nation-building from a very young age.

Recalling his long association with the Mr Modi, he said he first met Mr Modi as a young BJP worker and neither of them was drawn to power as the saffron party then was far from the force it later became.

We will continue to serve the nation and support him (Modi) as he takes India to new heights of success and glory, Mr Shah added.

At an event in Ranchi, Mr Shah said the Prime Minister has pledged to fulfil Mahatma Gandhis dream of cleanliness, and the drive has already begun in that direction. The Prime Minister believes that without the participation of people, cleanliness cannot be achieved through government programmes, he said.

Mr Modi has made cleanliness a jan andolan (peoples movement), the impact of which can be seen, Mr Shah said.
The entire incident was captured in the CCTV installed in the deceaseds house.

Meanwhile, police has launched an investigation into the incident. By the time of filing this report, no one was arrested.

Berhampur: A frontline BJD leader was on Saturday hacked to death at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district. According to reports, around 10-12 unidentified miscreants attacked Laxmidutta Pradhan, a councillor of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC), with swords and other sharp weapons at his house near LIC Colony in Chhatarpur town.

Seeing the brutality, Pradhans younger brother Debidutta came to his rescue but the assailants didnt spare him. Later the profusely bleeding duo was rushed to Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital, Berhmapur where Pradhan succumbed to his injuries.

The deceaseds younger brother was still batting for his life at the medical, reports said. Though the exact reason behind the brutal incident was not yet known, it was suspected that the councillor was attacked over past enmity with his political opponents.

The entire incident was captured in the CCTV installed in the deceaseds house.

He (Laxmidutta Pradhan) was a strong leader and known for his brilliant organisational skills in the area.

He had contributed immensely for BJDs success in Chhatarpur in the last 2014 Assembly elections. There were some threats to his life due to his political prowess, said Chhatarpur block chairman Dhananjay Reddy.

Meanwhile, police has launched an investigation into the incident. By the time of filing this report, no one was arrested.

We have indentified some of the assailants and formed three special squads to arrest them, the local police said.

The slain leader faced a murder case pending against him. He was recently released on bail.
Though Yadav has the support of many of the state unites, all the 71 MLAs of Bihar have sided with Mr Kumar.

New Delhi: The Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday appointed Chotubhai Amarsinh Vasava, whose ballot might have been the deciding vote in the re-election of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha, as its national president effectively removing Bihar CM Nitish Kumar from the position.

Mr Yadav, who claims the real JD(U) is with him, held a bonafide national convention of the party in here on Sunday. The senior leader, who parted company with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after the latter decided to join the NDA, has also approached the Election Commission claiming the JD(U) arrow symbol as its own. However, the Election Commission has refused to take cognizance of the matter and has sought more evidence from him on the kind of support base he enjoys in the party.

We have already submitted all the documents and sought another four weeks time from the EC. On Monday, we would be meeting the EC again to enquire on the status of our application as to whether they have admitted our petition or not, Arun Srivastava, JD(U) leader aligned with Mr Yadav said.

Mr Kumar has also written to the Rajya Sabha secretariat to remove Mr Yadav as the JD(U) member from the Upper House as he was involved in anti-party activities.

Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu has taken cognizance of the matter, and is likely to refer it to the privileges committee of the Upper House.

Though Mr Yadav has the support of many of the state unites, all the 71 MLAs of Bihar have sided with Mr Kumar. The former is also holding Sanjha Virasat conclaves across the country and has been appointed the convener of an Opposition alliance against the Modi government.
People harvest wheat in Linzhai Village, Shenqiu County, Henan Province on June, 5, 2012. [Xinhua]

Chinas performance in poverty reduction on its road to achieving a moderately prosperous socialist society by 2020 opens the way to a global discussion on how to approach a problem still seriously afflicting too many countries and people worldwide.

China raised an average of 13.9 million people out of extreme poverty every year between 2012 and 2016, with annual per capita income also simultaneously growing 10.7 percent.

This achievement is even more worthy when seen against the background, that at the start of 2017 there were 43.3 million Chinese living below the established poverty line of 2,300 yuan (US$344.30), amounting for only 3 percent of the population.

Those designing the building blocks for construction of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics do not mistakenly measure poverty reduction only by job creation. Instead, over 775,000 skilled persons have also been deployed to most affected areas, with specific tasks and related targets.

Extreme poverty is the primary target for elimination, and services deployed in accordance with local needs include introduction of new hard or soft skills to help create new learning environments in preparation for appropriate employment.

Efforts across China are also coordinated through adequately staffed central bodies with the necessary authority to enforce implementation.

Such forward planning is key for successful achievement of the key targets necessary for establishment of the envisioned more egalitarian (socialist) society tailored to meet the needs of todays China.

Chinas poverty reduction achievements will be interpreted (or misinterpreted) accordingly elsewhere, especially by those unwilling to accept that the solution to absolute poverty is not necessarily absolute wealth. The average poor person anywhere doesnt always dream of becoming an overnight billionaire, after all.

Instead, most poor home providers first aspire to live free of big monthly debts and daily costs higher than their lowly incomes; their children having free easy access to health and education; a roof over their heads with enough living space; able to benefit from all available social services; and to put three nutritious meals per day on the home table.

Poverty reduction is more than just a political buzzword or an economic yardstick for measuring social progress. Instead, it requires adequate State-level back-up to present the policies and pilot the laws that will drive the decisions and guide the mechanisms to translate declared political will into national reality.

Central planning is a key to Chinas speedy and guaranteed success in policy implementation.

Successive Chinese governments have always planned ahead in determined cycles, always certain that their successors will be largely guided by the adopted plans thus inherited.

This isnt the case in the so-called electoral and parliamentary democracies where governments change every five years (o even less) through elections in which parties with the most money win, with outcomes that usually extend to include donors influencing government policy.

It also should be stated that poverty reduction is not (by itself) a panacea.

South American states, for example, have performed well in reducing poverty levels of late, yet havent been able to generate more jobs to maintain the momentum.

Caribbean island nations are also mainly swimming against the tide, slowly drowning while tirelessly trying to ride constantly rising waves of unemployment. Yet most still treat poverty reduction as an advocacy factor that will (hopefully) grow and incrementally influence national policy direction, over time.

In both cases, however, related poverty reduction policies are also more the results of election campaign promises than a firm ruling party with State policies designed to last beyond the defined term in office.

Cuba is pursuing Prosperous and Sustainable Socialism through Conceptualization of a Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development with Economic and Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution for the Period 2016-2021 as part of a National Social and Economic Development Plan Through to 2030.

Its also allowing greater levels of individual participation in a much wider range of private income-generating activities.

Venezuela is bravely pursuing Bolivarian Socialism, mainly aimed at redistributing national wealth to also benefit the poor and the historically dispossessed in a country with the worlds largest certified oil reserves.

However, those seeking to turn back the revolutionary process started by President Hugo Chavez and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) since 1998 are not interested in poverty alleviation, as the latest round of economic sanctions imposed by Washington will eventually hit the poorest the hardest.

President Nicolas Maduro and the PSUV plan to deliver on their election promises have been seriously thwarted by a hostile, opposition-dominated parliament bent on competing with and (eventually) nullifying the elected presidents executive power.

However, one common lesson from the cited examples is that pursuing socialism (by any name) and socialist objectives (by any means) do require some absolutely necessary mechanisms that include (but are not limited to): State authority, political certainty, popular backing for government policies, advanced central planning, and the States ability to protect, defend and extend achieved gains.

Beijings approaches to achievement of set targets on its road to moderately prosperous socialism with Chinese characteristics may not be applied (even if applicable) in places where long-term planning is anathema to partisan short-term re-election prospects and plans.

Yet, Chinas lightning speed in reducing extreme poverty levels is showing the rest of the world, once more, that whenever and wherever theres political will, ways will always be found to achieve defined national goals.

Earl Bousquet is a contributor to china.org.cn, editor-at-large of The Diplomatic Courier and author of an online regional newspaper column entitled Chronicles of a Chronic Caribbean Chronicler.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Mulayam Singh Yadav will not be involved in the conferences called by the party at the state and the national level.

Lucknow: The power tussle in the Samajwadi Party is all set to emerge once again. SP president Akhilesh Yadav has convened a meeting of the state executive in Lucknow on September 23 and a national convention meeting on October 5 in Agra.

Mulayam Singh Yadav will not be involved in the conferences called by the party at the state and the national level. However, the SP patriarch has convened a meeting of Samajwadi leaders who claim their loyalty to him at the Lohia Trust office on September 21.

Significantly, Ram Gopal Yadav, who owes allegiance to the Akhilesh faction, is the secretary of the Lohia Trust. He had not attended the last meeting of the Trust, held two months ago.

Though the agenda of this meeting was not known, sources said that meeting would discuss the situation in the SP and may even decide on the future course of action.

There are clear indications that Akhilesh Yadav will be re-elected as party president for five years on October 5 at the national convention, which means that there is no room for Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav in the party which he had founded. In such a situation, there are decisions to be taken, a senior leader close to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

Shivpal Yadav, whose loyalty to his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav has stood the test of time, said on Sunday, We want that the entire family and the party should stand united and the respect of Netaji (Mulayam) should be restored.

He refused to comment on the parallel meetings being convened by rival factions.

Meanwhile, a member of the Akhilesh faction said that things had gone too far and it was not possible to turn the clock back.

Mr Akhilesh Yadav is our president and will remain so. The elders should be content in their role of patriarchs, the aide said.
These measures include an increase of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance, radio frequency tags, visitors protocol, etc.

Mumbai: The Ryan International School management, which has been in the news following the murder of its seven-year-old student in its Gurugram school, has assured all parents whose wards are studying in its schools about the increased safety measures it has taken across all Ryan schools. These measures include an increase of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance, radio frequency tags, visitors protocol, etc.

In the message that was forwarded to all the parents of the Ryan fraternity, it said, We have already initiated installation of additional CCTV cameras in the schools to ensure intensive coverage of all areas in the schools. Extra attention is being paid to the areas frequented by the younger ones. After some time, we will connect the school CCTV feed to central monitoring cells in our regional offices.

However, parents on the other hand said the school should also focus on installing CCTV cameras inside the classrooms and the school buses. One of the parents on the condition of anonymity said, We should know what is happening inside the class. What and how the teacher is behaving or doing with our kids. We want them to record all those and at least show to the Parent Teacher Association members, if not all the parents.

Apart from installing CCTV cameras, the school management said it is also tightening the visitor management process and has enhanced security by adding more guards and housekeeping staff.

One of the parents said on the condition of anonymity, We are neither surprised nor happy with what the school has promised. The school principals are not ready to meet or interact with us. They are not showing the courtesy to at least give an explanation to us parents.

The Asian Age tried contacting Neti Srinivasan, the spokesperson of Ryan Group of Institutions, but he did not respond to calls.
Maha tells cops to complete investigations as it will help in providing speedy compensation.

A government resolution (GR) issued by the home department on September 16 stated that it was necessary to probe the reasons behind the farmers suicides so as to give compensation to the family.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has asked the police to conclude the probe into all cases of farmer suicides within a month. According to government sources, the move is aimed at providing speedy compensation to the affected families.

There were over 800 farmer suicides in the first four months of the year. But opposition parties and activists have said that there is nothing new about the decision, which may have been prompted by pressure from the farmers community.

A government resolution (GR) issued by the home department on September 16 stated that it was necessary to probe the reasons behind the farmers suicides so as to give compensation to the family. The forensic laboratory should submit its report within two days. A police inspector or assistant police inspector should immediately visit the victims family and report about it. It is the responsibility of the police commissioner or police superintendent to prepare a report within a week, the GR said.

According to a state government official, this move will help in reducing pending claims for compensation. There are many cases pending and this latest order by the government will help to expedite the cases so that victims families can get compensation early, he said.

Experts hold that this is the process otherwise also. After any suicide, the police inquire into the matter, prepare a report and send it to the tehsil or collectors office. The delay happens from the administrative side, as they do not recognise all the suicides due to the farmers distress. There are many instances of pending files so as to show a lesser number of farmer suicide. This GR by the government is just to show that how quick they are. But there is nothing new in it, agriculture expert and Nationalist Congress party MLA from Nanded district, Shankaranna Dhondge said. Kisan Sabha leader Dr Ajit Navale said the decision should be welcomed.
The police believe that a short circuit could have caused the fire even as fire officials are still investigating the cause of fire.

Mumbai: The fire at the legendary RK Studios on Saturday led to the irreplaceable loss of precious memorabilia and costumes, including musical instruments such as a piano and drums that the late Raj Kapoor had played. The police believe that a short circuit could have caused the fire even as fire officials are still investigating the cause of fire. A day after the incident, on Sunday noon, actor Ranbir Kapoor along with his uncle Rajiv visited the site.

The fire that gutted RK studio in Chembur has no casualty and hence no FIR has been registered. But prima facie, it seems that the cause of fire is a possible short circuit in the premises, said Shash-ikant Mane, senior PI, Govandi Police station. Fire officials said they might take two more days to confirm the fires cause. Fire chief P. S Rahangdale said, We are still investigating the fire which broke out at RK studios on Saturday. We cannot confirm that it was caused by short circuit. It will take us two more days to come to a conclusion.

Among the iconic things lost in the fire were old musical instruments used by Raj Kapoor as well as costumes of all RK Films. The musical instruments, like the drums and the piano, were quite old but everything has been reduced to ashes and can hardly be recognised, said a worker from the studio, who did not wish to be named.

Rishi Kapoor commented on the incident on Twitter, saying: A studio can be built again but the loss of the irreplaceable memorabilia and costumes of all RK Films is tragic for all. Fire took it away.

On Saturday, fire officials received a level 2 fire call after which six fire tenders and five water tankers were rushed to the spot. The fire was confined to a 100x400 sq ft area of the ground floor structure.
When asked about finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, food grain and salaries of about 60 workers.

Mathura: As many as 1,200 cows  mostly abandoned, sick and injured  have found a saviour in 59-year-old German woman Friederike Irina Bruning. When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

"I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund," she said while narrating her journey in Mathura. She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

"I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk," she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as 'Surbhai Gauseva Niketan'.

"They are like my children and I cannot leave them," she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund. Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

"Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leaves a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in," she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows, needing special care, are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured cows needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure. When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, food grain and salaries of about 60 workers.

"I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work," she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, "I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children."

The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year.

"I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. It's the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala," she said.
Nawaz with his base in Punjab and mind set on peace with India is a policy-politics threat that would always have to be managed.

If he shuts up, they shut up. Its what it seems to come down to. Because there was, and remains, a bit of a mystery at the heart of the ouster.

If it was about accountability, accountability was already dead. The London apartments are from the 90s, as was everything directly against Zardari.

In a decade of democracy, theres nothing new thats come up. The iqama is new, but the embarrassment of having to hang an ouster on it has forced attention away from it.

If it was about the judiciary asserting its primacy, other recent events with the judiciary and among lawyers have demonstrated that its business as ugly usual.

Sure, if youre the PM, youve got to worry about the courts, but the courts dont seem particularly keen on bringing the iron hammer of the law down in areas far and wide.

If it was about the boys wanting to get their way, it wasnt like anyone was stopping them from getting their way anyway. Theres nothing that Nawaz had actually won against them. And they had clearly figured out how to contain him. Better, then, to leave the dagger hanging above him than to plunge it in.

From inside the system, Nawaz had an obvious interest in stability and continuity. From outside, you risk him becoming a loose cannon and keeping everything uncertain and unstable.

The fierce, angry polemics in the immediate aftermath of the ouster and the GT Road defiance demonstrated the danger. But then things went quiet.

The braying and bleating lot on TV suddenly turned low energy. The next phase of the Sharifs legal woes got off to an uncertain start. The wild threats to national security quietly receded.

Seven weeks since the biggest shake up in decades of civilian political history, its like we didnt just lose a PM. Its almost like we never had Nawaz.

Part of it is likely Kulsooms illness. You cant have a slashing, bitter contest when the biggest candidate, an elderly woman no less, is getting emergency cancer treatment.

Part of it is likely IK. He doesnt like sharing the PTI spotlight and so the party candidate has had to toil in relative national anonymity. Part of it is the Sharif family drama. The Shahbaz side is sulking and plotting; Maryam is finding her political feet; and the party is worried and frozen, unsure of who will lead them into next years election. But it still doesnt quite add up.

Until you factor in one more thing: Nawaz has shut up. Hes out of the country and hes not talking. And, it seems, as long as Nawaz is willing to shut up  and possibly stay out of the country  theyre willing to shut up too.

If youre willing to be adventurous, you can even guess that theyre telegraphing a message to Nawaz: look, were not trying to hurt you and we dont want to do anything more than whats happened.

Keep your billions, enjoy your apartments, hang out with your grandkids and look after the wife. Just put some distance between yourself and Pakistan and the PML(N) and everything can be all right. If he shuts up, they shut up.

The sceptic will see that its already a case of mission accomplished. We have, in effect, a technocratic, apolitical PM. Hes unobtrusive, stays in his lane and is non-threatening.

The sceptic will note that minus Nawaz there is no real PML(N), not in a sense of seriously challenging anything that the boys care about.

The avoid-confrontation-with-institutions silliness of some in the PML(N) is just code for doing business, carving up the state between the boys and the civilians to the satisfaction of both and the misery of the people. But there seems something more, something personal, with Nawaz.

The civilians had the temerity recently to speak of past national sins and the need to move the state off the path of non-state jihad, and it barely elicited a response from the boys and their proxies in the media.

If Nawaz did that, well, weve seen what happened. So cooperation with the civilians on civilian priorities that the boys may grudgingly recognise as the right choice is not entirely ruled out. Only with Nawaz. What is it about Nawaz?

It seems to be about personality  what they think of him and what they believe he thinks of them.

Nawaz with his base in Punjab and mind set on peace with India is a policy-politics threat that would always have to be managed. But the old and well-known are also the well-understood and expertly countered.

So maybe what drove them over the edge was that Nawaz acted like he was above them, better than them. His dislike, arguably contempt, for judges and generals was on full display in his last year in office. See, the Panama hearings and the Raheel exit.

So when he was at their mercy, there was none to be had. Nawaz got done to him what he probably fantasised about doing to judges and generals, if he had the power.

And now, with him gone and, at least temporarily, having shut up, they are showing they are better than him by giving him an option: if he shuts up, they shut up.

So the weirdest ouster among the many ousters weve had has already given way to business as ugly usual.

Accountability is dead, the courts seemed uninterested in extending their primacy far and wide, and the boys get to have their way and look conciliatory too. If he shuts up, they shut up.

By arrangement with Dawn
Modern communication and the relative ease of travel have made the refugee crisis a worldwide phenomenon.

People dont necessarily recognise modern frontiers. When war, brutal suppression or starvation forces them to leave their homes they often do so as did the citizens of Syria or Afghanistan or more recently the Rohingyas living on the northern coast of Myanmar. Their displacement from their homes is not extraordinary in recent modern history, or even in the region they come from. It happened in Bangladesh when the birth of that nation was accompanied by the murder of lakhs of people and the temporary moving of millions of desperate people to sanctuary in next-door India.

As a civilisation we have given sanctuary to many people who have sought refuge on our shores, from Parsees who left Iran centuries ago to more recently Tibetans, Afghans, Sri Lankan Tamils and Bangladeshis seeking an end to repression. In the latest flareup of violence, when nearly half a million have sought refuge in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia, less than a tenth have sought refuge in India.

The Narendra Modi governments attitude towards refugees has, not surprisingly, been callous. It has overturned all previous notions of caring for those driven from their homes despite the strain it puts on our resources. Former RSS ideologue K.N. Govindacharya filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking deportation of Rohingya Muslims, claiming they are being used by Al Qaeda for terror and jihad. The minister of state for home affairs informed Parliament that 40,000 Rohingyas were to be deported. This attitude has to do with the religion followed by the Rohingya people and has nothing to do with any dangers the helpless refugees may pose.

Modern communication and the relative ease of travel have made the refugee crisis a worldwide phenomenon. Witness how refugees fled the devastated Arab world, specially countries like Syria and Libya, where the US was trying to force a regime change. Most of those fleeing their bombed-out homelands are willing to return once the terror ends. Meanwhile, Europe has to put up with the refugees at their doorstep. But it never had to deal with the crisis in the way Asian countries like India have had to.

Behind every refugee crisis is a larger political crisis. The annexation of Tibet by the Chinese led to the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers seeking refuge in India. Similarly, the breakup of East Bengal from Pakistan and the reign of terror they unleashed led to over a million Bangladeshis seeking temporary shelter in India. Something similar happened during the chaos in Afghanistan in the 1990s when there were over a million refugees in Pakistan.

Rohingyas are considered by the United Nations as the most persecuted minority group in the world. They have faced persecution for several decades, the latest being in 2016 and 2017. While Human Rights Watch has called the military crackdown on Myanmar a case of ethnic cleansing, the UNs office of human rights has declared that the crisis in Myanmar could tantamount to crimes against humanity.

In 1982, the Government of Myanmar passed a citizenship law that gave national citizenship to only those people of Myanmar who could prove they had ancestors residing in the country before British colonial rule. The Rohingyas found themselves classified as associate citizens and were deprived of holding any government office and denied several other citizenship rights. A further confusion with their status in Myanmar is the denial of their ethnic Burmese identity and are considered stateless entities by the government.

The problem is accentuated by the extreme poverty of Rakhine state  the least developed region in Myanmar. Though Myanmar is changing after decades of stagnation, opportunities are still limited. All the neighbouring countries  Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia  offer a better life and even Bangladesh has grown remarkably fast in the past decade or so. Coupled with the government repression are opportunities elsewhere that offer a better life. So together with a demand to get a better political deal for the Rohingya population in Rakhine province there needs to be greater emphasis on economic development there.

The most recent clashes in Rakhine broke out again in August 2017 after a militant group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for attacks on police and Army posts. More than 100 people died. The ARSA was declared a terrorist organisation as many such groups are in other parts of the world as well. The comparison with Kashmir, with militants there being labelled terrorists to sway public opinion, is inevitable. So also the reaction of majoritarian organisations, like the BJP and RSS, that are eager to dub any armed resistance to government misrule as terrorist.

What is more surprising is the reaction of Aung San Suu Kyi  the tallest leader in Myanmar. After she led Myanmars first democratically elected government last year, the first after the military coup in 1962 came to power, people expected her to change the style of governance. But with her grip on power still weak, she has been reluctant to battle for Rohingyas and other Muslims for fear of alienating Buddhist nationalists and threatening the still fragile leadership.

Myanmars de facto leader has denied that ethnic cleansing is taking place and dismissed international criticism of her handling the crisis. In doing so she has weakened her own position as a leader who fought for decades to restore democratic rights in Myanmar. She accused critics of fuelling resentment between Buddhists and Muslims and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said her government had already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible. She has to restore rights of Rohingyas if democracy has to survive in Myanmar.
The ongoing Sino-Indian trade imbalance is a danger signal.

The ninth annual Brics summit followed by the India-Japan bilateral summit may be over, but China remains an unresolved issue due to geography and economics. The friction with Beijing is unlikely to see any early end due to the territorially turbulent geography and the reality of gross unequal economics of one-way trade. The latter is conducted under international agreements such as those relating to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Customs Organisation (WCO). These are intended to further globalisation, inter-dependence, inter-connectivity and mutual benefit of the worlds sovereign nations, but often have a different effect.

There is a turbulent geography with Beijing over the unresolved Sino-Indian territorial dispute, which was among the many issues pushed under the carpet at the recent Brics summit in Xiamen. Unequal economics as Beijing is the only one profiting from the trade, where Indias handicap remains unresolved and unadvised. This in the long run will harm India no end, and there may come a time, and not too distant in the future, when this nation will regret the colossal loss caused to industry, employment, macro-economic policy and planning, leading to possible internal turbulence, civil unrest and political chaos, resulting in unforeseen and unanticipated dislocation in society. To understand the basics, one should note the fault lines in Sino-Indian bilateral commerce/trade  which only furthers imports of Chinese fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Its an open secret that Chinas annual bilateral trade surplus is $50 billion-plus, while Indias exports are virtually static and stagnant, at $10 billion annually. Is India planning to rectify this grim scenario? Will Indians always have to play a economically subservient role for the sake of sticking to our international commitments and obligations under WTO and WCO? Does China even follow it? Or will India alone shoulder the responsibility of acting ethically in international commerce, even if it hurts our core national interests?

In a credible recent analysis, it was found that over 80 per cent of the total import of toys was made through three major customs ports  Mumbai (Jawaharlal Nehru Port or Nhava Sheva), Delhi (Tughlakabad Customs, Inland Container Depot) and Chennai Port. This study also found over 92 per cent of imports were from China. The most significant finding, however, was that most of the traders/importers were either not declaring the brand of goods, or are declaring them unbranded in the brand column of import documents, virtually confirming that Chinese exporters are colluding with some unscrupulous Indian traders/importers to harm the Indian economy.

Another study on unbranded mobile phone parts and accessories found most of the consignments were in pre-packaged form and there was a huge variation in the import transaction value and the prices in Indias local markets. In fact, such is the price variation between the imported stuff and retail sale prices that customs officers found it not only improbable, but absurd. Interestingly, all these pertain to imports from China.

Lets therefore take another sample to do a reality check on Indias economics of public finance. The minimum unit price of imported mobile accessories fluctuates between Rs 0.8 to Rs 9.9, the ascertained local RSP  done through online market surveys  for hands-free shows the minimum sale price (MSP) to be Rs 100, and for hands-free with Bluetooth at Rs 295. There are several other studies and the result is simply bewildering  the total disadvantage of India resulting in a colossal loss to the Indian exchequer. Loss of customs revenue means loss to the Indian economy. All this is in the name of adhering to our international treaty obligations.

It is disturbing to unravel this stark picture pertaining to a national loss. It is not only damaging our economy, but is also a potential threat to national security  as the time may come when the Chinese monopoly will turn India into a country of eternal financial loss, debt, deficit and unemployment. When Indias 1.25 billion people keep spending, and the Chinese keep earning!

A fact that is often forgotten by our IAS-centric bureaucratic establishment is that there is a wing of the civil service called Indian Revenue Service, whose nomenclature has undergone a slight change with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax from July 2017. But that doesnt take away or alter the role and duty of the customs department in Sino-Indian bilateral trade, which fortuitously remains intact.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that despite customs being a major department, which can do much in finance, commerce, defence and national security, it is not being looked upon or involved in the bigger scheme of things on the nations strategic canvas. The customs department is in the forefront of national security and does an operational job, which makes it the only service dealing with both men and material, vide Customs Act 1962. One of the most effective and intelligently-crafted of all post-Independence laws, the 161 sections of the Customs Act empowers officials to know the background, behaviour, action and movement of each and every person going in and out of the country through ports, airports and land border posts. Also, every imported and exported consignment is under the official gaze of the customs department. Every piece of baggage of a passenger can be opened, searched, seized and confiscated if the situation so demands. There is also ancillary work pertaining to intelligence/investigation connected to various other laws, that empower customs officials to act. In short, no other department or service has the authority, power, duty and responsibility to do what the customs service does. There are also no other agencies that can work upfront as well as undercover wherever necessary. The police doesnt have the mandate. IAS and IFS officers cannot have knowhow of the technical, legal and operational matters of the customs department except when a secretary from an all-India service comes for less than 30 months to head a highly technical and law-oriented IRS, rendering even seasoned senior professional customs officers helpless. This has been continuing for the past 70 years. The ongoing Sino-Indian trade imbalance is a danger signal. The government needs to wake up to the reality and use the customs service more effectively to rectify the potential economic rot and a possible growing threat to national security.
US tech titans Apple and Dell have joined a bid to buy Toshiba's memory chip business.

Toshiba said last week it had picked the Bain Capital-led consortium as the leading candidate to buy its prized chip business in a deal reportedly worth some $18 billion.

US tech titans Apple and Dell have joined a bid to buy Toshiba's memory chip business, a deal seen as key to the survival of the cash-stripped Japanese industrial conglomerate, the US investor leading the consortium has said.

"Last week Bain Capital made a revised offer" for Toshiba, which "brings in a broad list of strategic partners including Apple, Dell" and others who will invest in the business, Bain Capital said in a statement obtained by AFP on Sunday.

It was the first time Apple's name has been officially confirmed as part of the bid, although it has reportedly also been involved in rival bids for the lucrative Toshiba segment.

The announcement came after Toshiba said last week it had picked the Bain Capital-led consortium as the leading candidate to buy its prized chip business in a deal reportedly worth some $18 billion.

The development was the latest twist in a long-running saga as Toshiba agonises between three groups of suitors for its chip business.

The Bain Capital-led group also includes the state-backed Development Bank of Japan and the public-private Innovation Network Corp. of Japan as well as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix.

However, Toshiba has stressed that it was a "non-exclusive" agreement with Bain Capital that "does not exclude the possibility of negotiations with other consortia".

Other suitors in the frame are a group led by Western Digital, Toshiba's US-based chip factory partner, and Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision, better known as Foxconn.

Western Digital demanded control of the memory chip business, frustrating Toshiba's management which prompted them to turn to the Bain Capital-led group, according to reports in the local media.

Toshiba has sued Western Digital for trying to block the sales process.

In the latest statement, Bain Capital said: "We believe this proposal represents a solution that meets the needs of all stakeholders."

The proposal "represents the best possible outcome for Toshiba by ensuring" the memory chip business's independence, Bain Capital said.
China has repeatedly blocked Indias attempt at the UN to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

India has identified Masood Azhar, the chief of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, as the mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016. (Photo: AP)

New York: Hoping that the United Nations would soon designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist, a top Indian diplomat has said that New Delhi will not sit idle till the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed leader is brought to justice.

India has identified Azhar as the mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016. It has also blamed his brother Rauf and five others for carrying out the attack in which seven Indian soldiers were killed along with all the six terrorists.

"If I were to use a term, the matter is what we would call in judicial terms sub judice. Currently the matter is with a UN committee. We hope that the committee will be able to fulfill its role in designating Masood Azhar who we have tried for quite some time but have not succeeded yet," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said.

"However, we would like to make it very clear, we will pursue Masood Azhar so that the ends of justice are met," he said on Saturday at a news conference in response to a question on India's effort towards terrorist designation of Azhar, which has repeatedly been blocked by China.

China in August extended by three months its technical hold on the US, France and UK-backed proposal to designate the Pathankot attack mastermind as a global terrorist by the UN.

If China would not have extended the technical hold last month, Azhar would have automatically been designated under the UN as a terrorist.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked India's move to put a ban on the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council. JeM has already been in the banned list.

Last year in March, China was the sole member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on India's application with all other 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi's bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.

"He (Azhar) may try to delay this, but the inevitable will happen. So be certain about it. The clock is ticking for him. He will be pursued until justice is met," Akbaruddin said.

When a reporter asked what are China's objections to British-backed proposal to list Azhar as a designated terrorist by the UN, he said, "You should ask them."

The three-month validity of the current technical hold is expiring on November 2.
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The Syrian army managed to besiege Islamic State (IS) militants in parts of the country's eastern city of Deir al-Zour on Saturday, a monitor group reported.

Ten days after breaking a three-year siege of IS to Deir al-Zour, the Russian-backed Syrian forces and allied fighters turned the table against IS, laying a siege to the IS-held parts of the capital city of Deir al-Zour after capturing some key areas in its countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian army captured the town of Muraiyieh and Jafra, key to laying the siege to IS militants in Deir al-Zour.

The Syrian army is now 25 km from the key city of Mayadeen in the countryside of Deir al-Zour Province.

The city is regarded as the capital of IS in Deir al-Zour.

Meanwhile, the London-based watchdog said a Russian or a Syrian warplane was hit by IS air defense system in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour.

It added that the plane was seen falling over the government-controlled part of Deir al-Zour, with the pilot's destiny still unknown.

Following last week's offensive, which led to breaking the IS siege to the government-controlled areas in Deir al-Zour, the Syrian forces advanced and have taken control of 64 percent of the city, while the IS controls the rest.

Deir al-Zour is the last major stronghold of IS, as the terror-designated group is also losing its de facto capital of Raqqa to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which has captured large swathes of the city in northern Syria.
Hasina left a day after her government summoned Myanmar envoy for the third time to protest over its neighbours actions.

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina headed for the UN General Assembly on Saturday to plead for global help coping with the Rohingya crisis, as the numbers seeking refuge in her country following a crackdown in Myanmar topped 400,000. Ms Hasina left a day after her government summoned Myanmar envoy for the third time to protest over its neighbours actions. At UN, she would demand more pressure on Myanmar.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by Rohingya Muslims since violence erupted in Buddhist-dominated Myanmars Rakhine state on August 25. The United Nations said Saturday that the total number of people to have entered Bangladesh having fled the unrest had now reached 409,000, a leap of 18,000 in a day.

Conditions are worsening in the border town of Coxs Bazar where the influx has added to pressures on Rohingya camps already overwhelmed with 300,000 people from earlier refugee waves.

Sheikh Hasina will raise the Rohingya issue during her speech at the UN General Assembly. She will seek immediate cessation of violence in Rakhine state in Myanmar and ask the UN secretary general to send a fact-finding missing to Rakhine, a spokesman for the prime minister, Nazrul Islam, told AFP.

She will also call the international community and the UN to put pressure on Myanmar for the repatriation of all the Rohingya refugees, he said.

The prime minister is to address the UN assembly on Thursday. Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali earlier told reporters: We will continue international pressure on the Myanmar government to immediately end its ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, he added.
The PM will hold bilateral meetings with a number of world leaders and the secretary general of the UN, the foreign office announced.

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will lead Pakistan delegation to 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York from Monday.

The annual gathering of the 193-member body will give Pakistan an opportunity to engage multilaterally and bilaterally to advance its priorities in diverse areas.

The Prime Minister will hold bilateral meetings with a number of world leaders and the secretary general of the UN, the foreign office announced.

The annual session of the General Assembly has special significance as is attended by a large number of Heads of the state and the government.

The regular session of the UNGA began on September 12, and the General Debate will open on September 19, with a focus on the theme, Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet.

On the sidelines of the General Assembly Session, the Prime Minister will address the Council on Foreign Relations besides interacting with the US Pakistan Business Council.

The Prime Minister will also have extensive interaction with the international media. On the margins of the session, Ministerial level meetings of many regional and sub-regional organizations will be held. A meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir will also be held.

Pakistan is a great advocate of multilateralism and the United Nations to promote collective responses to the multifaceted challenges of global peace, security and development, said the statement.

It said Pakistan would continue its constructive role and engagement at the UN with a view to protecting and promoting its national interests, including on core issues such as Jammu and Kashmir, reform of the Security Council, counter-terrorism, human rights, peacekeeping, and a host of development and other matters.
At the Angelus, Pope Francis comments on the parable of the merciful king and the ruthless servant. It is necessary to forgive because "the human being, created in the image of God, is always greater than the evil that he commits." "The heavenly Father is full of love and wants to offer it, but he can not do this if we close our hearts to love for others."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Always, you must always forgive!" because "the human being, created in the image of God, is always greater than the evil that he commits": This impassioned phrase was the focus of Pope Francis' reflection before the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. The pontiff began commenting on the Sunday Gospel (Matthew 18, 21-35), in which "Saint Peter asks Jesus:" If my brother commits sins against me, how many times will I have to forgive him? Up to seven times? "(V. 21)".

The Pope notes "Peter already thought it a lot to forgive the same person seven times; and maybe we already think twice is enough. But Jesus replies: "I do not tell you until seven times, but seventy times seven" (v. 22), that is to say always. Always, you must always forgive! And he confirms this by telling the parable of the merciful king and the ruthless servant in which he shows the inconsistency of the one who was first forgiven and then refuses to forgive. "

"The king of the parable is a generous man who, moved by compassion, removes a huge debt -" ten thousand talents "- to a servant who begs with him. But the same servant, as soon as he meets another servant like him who owes a hundred denarii - that is, a lot less - behaves in a ruthless way, throwing him into jail. The incoherent attitude of this servant is also ours when we reject the forgiveness of our brothers. While the king of the parable is the image of God who loves us with a love so full of mercy that He embraces us, loves us and forgives us continually."

"Since our Baptism God has forgiven us, removing from us an insoluble debt: original sin. Then, with unlimited mercy, He forgives us all the faults as soon as we only show a little sign of repentance. When we are tempted to close our heart to those who have offended us and who apologize, remember the words of Heavenly Father to the ruthless servant: "I have removed all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should not you also have mercy on your companion, just as I had pity on you? "(Vv. 32-33). Anyone who has experienced the joy, peace, and inner freedom that comes from being forgiven can be open to the possibility of forgiving in turn. "

"In the prayer of our Father, Jesus wanted to include the same teaching of this parable. He has directly linked the pardon we ask of God with the forgiveness that we must give to our brothers: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Mt 6:12). The forgiveness of God is the sign of His overwhelming love for each of us; it is the love that leaves us free to distance ourselves, like the prodigal son, but who awaits our return every day; it is the enterprising love of the shepherd for the lost sheep; it is the tenderness that welcomes every sinner who knocks at his door. The heavenly Father is full of love and wants to offer it, but he can not do it if we close our hearts to love for others. "

"May the Virgin Mary - he concluded - helps us to be more and more aware of the gratuity and greatness of forgiveness received from God, to become merciful as He, the good Father, slow to anger, and great in love.
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 Flash

A police vehicle patrols on a street in London, Britain on Sept. 16, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that the terror threat level is raised to critical, which means a further terrorist attack in Britain may be imminent. [Xinhua/Stephen Chung]

British police said Saturday they have arrested an 18-year-old man in Dover in southeast Britain in connection with the rush-hour tube bombing in London one day ago, which left at least 29 people injured.

The man was arrested on Saturday morning under the Terrorism Act and is held at a police station in Kent county in southeast Britain, the police said, as a nationwide manhunt is underway in the country after the bombing was declared a terrorist attack. A Metropolitan police officer said the arrest was "significant."
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The file picture taken on June 18, 2016 shows Egyptian ousted president Mohamed Morsi in the defendants' cage during his trial in Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptian court on Sept. 16, 2017 upheld life sentence in prison against the ousted president Mohamed Morsi over charges of spying for Qatar, State-run Nile TV reported. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld life sentence in prison against the ousted president Mohamed Morsi over charges of spying for Qatar, State-run Nile TV reported.

In Egypt, a life sentence is 25 years in jail.

The Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appeal court, rejected Morsi's appeal and said the ruling against him is "final and unappealable," official news agency MENA said.

The same court confirmed death sentences against three prominent figures of Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi's group, over the same charges.

The defendants were accused of sneaking classified documents about the armed forces that harm the national security to Qatar.

The documents allegedly contained secrets on "national security," and were allegedly traded with the Qatari intelligence for a million dollars. The prosecution also accused the defendants of working for the "terrorist branded Muslim Brotherhood" organization.

Qatar was a main backer of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement while he was in power between 2012 and July 2013.

Two other defendants also received life and rigorous imprisonment terms in the case.

This is the second time that Morsi got confirmed sentence.

On Oct. 22, 2016, the same appeal court has confirmed a 20-year prison sentence against Morsi on charges of violence and murder in 2012, when clashes erupted outside a presidential palace between his supporters and opponents, which killed up to 10 people.

Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, was ousted by the army in 2013 in response to mass protests against his rule.

His Muslim Brotherhood group has been designated as a terrorist group by the government.

Hundreds of the group received death and life sentences, mostly over violence, murder and spying charges.

Morsi has been also convicted in other cases.

On May 17, 2015, Morsi and 106 supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood received death penalties over a mass jail break following the 2011 uprising that ousted the long time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

But the death sentence verdict was overturned and now Morsi is facing retrial.

The ousted Islamist president, along with the Brotherhood guide Mohamed Badei and other seven members of the group, was sentenced to life in prison in June 2015 for conspiring with foreign militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah against Egypt's national security.

Yet the case is appealable.

On the Brotherhood page, the members commented that the verdicts are "an honor," adding it won't prevent creation of thousands of likewise courageous men.

Ahmed Ban, expert with Nile Center for political studies, and a Brotherhood dissident, predicted President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will pardon Morsi if finally Morsi reached execution.
One of the biggest concerns nearly a week after Hurricane Irma is flooding. That's especially true for residents in Hernando and Pasco counties.

Deputies went door-to-door Saturday, urging residents to leave

Flood levels expected to rise this week in Irma's aftermath

Officials don't expect river to crest until Thursday



On Sunday, Hernando County Emergency Management said the Withlacoochee River has reached major flood stage at the Trilby gauge. The river was at 16.79 feet and is expected to crest at 17.5 feet Wednesday.



Rescue personnel all over Hernando County have spent the weekend trying to get people away from flood-prone areas around the Withlacoochee River.

The Sheriff's Office used social media to spread the word, and deputies even went door-to-door telling people to get out.

In addition to issues at the Trilby gauge, flood levels at Croom are expected to rise to 10.8 feet by Monday morning and exceed that later in the week.

"We thought we could ride it through and it was going to go away," said resident Jonathan Crivello. "But apparently they are saying it's going to get worse."

I'm riding along with deputies w/ @HernandoSheriff who are urging folks to evacuate from flooding. @BN9 pic.twitter.com/hMfCLWH76Q  Tim Wronka BN9 (@TimWronka) September 16, 2017

Water is covering streets as high as many mailboxes, and neighbors are stunned how fast the water keeps coming.

Deputies are finding out that many people don't want to leave.

"I'm not leaving. That's just me," said resident Will Paine. "I don't want to leave and have someone steal. They've been stealing out front already."

Residents are being warned that authorities may be unable to get to them if the flooding gets worse.

Meanwhile further south in Pasco County, the same river is causing similar issues.

Water came rushing in Saturday, the result of opening up a dam further upstream on the Withlacoochee. It forced the river out of its banks and into some campgrounds where warnings went out earlier to evacuate.

Residents along the Withlacoochee River being evacuated from their campers because of rising waters @BN9 pic.twitter.com/VdLUxt2twt  Trevor Pettiford (@TrevorPettiford) September 16, 2017

Dawn Whorrell and her family were able to get their camper out of the rising water, along with other neighbors. But they're not sure where to go next.

"Right now, we had to pull out of here," said Shawn Wolford. "We have nowhere to go with our camper. We've called every RV in Pasco, Hernando. All of them are like, 'Well we don't accept kids because we're a 55-and-over park, and I think that's crazy."

Officials don't expect the river to crest until Thursday.


The flooding of the Pineville neighborhood west of Lakeland has residents pondering whether to move out.

Jessica Wilson's furniture, refrigerator thrown out due to flood damage

Mother of five is also without power, vehicle damaged too

The floodwaters rose Monday after Irma passed over Lakeland. The water from the narrow Itchepackesassa Creek behind the duplexes overflowed into the neighborhood, rising to knee level in some places.

We actually went through the window, because the water started coming from the back door, and if we opened the back door there was going to be a gush of water, said Jessica Wilson, who escaped Monday around 6:20 a.m. as the flood waters began to rise.

The flooding left a foot of water in Wilsons home. It dried out later in the week, but it left behind watermarks on the walls and the smell of mildew. By Saturday, most of her furniture was on the lawn, along with most of her neighbors.

We had to throw out furniture, mattress, our refrigerator stopped working, said Wilson.

Before the storm, the single mother of five had just bought groceries. All of it had to be thrown away. She did not have renters insurance.

When the power went out, she said she also lost a weeks worth of income at McDonalds where she is a manager.

And my vehicle wont start either, lamented Wilson. Its rough. Im just trying to stay strong for the kids.

With her vehicle not working, she wonders how she will get to work daily and get her kids to school. She tried getting help from FEMA.

They approved me for lodging but theres actually no hotels in Lakeland thats close by so the kids could be able to go to school, Wilson said.

On Saturday, she was thankful Free Life Chapel and James Bennett stepped in to help by delivering food, clothes and water that was collected during a donation drive.

Wilson has to move out by Monday. She and her kids will live with her mom until she finds somewhere else to go.
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Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh Ishar Singh speaks to the media in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 16, 2017. Seven teenage suspects were arrested in relation to the fire at a religious school that killed 23 people, mostly students, Malaysian police said Saturday. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)

Seven teenage suspects were arrested in relation to the fire at a religious school that killed 23 people, mostly students, Malaysian police said Saturday.

Police arrested the seven suspects, aged between 11 and 18, after obtaining surveillance videos from the neighborhood, Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh Ishar Singh told a press conference.

"Factors of mischief were found in the investigation," Amar Singh said, "police successfully identified several individuals in the videos, and a total of seven were arrested."

The suspects are believed to have quarrels with the residents at the religious school and might have started the fire in retribution, Amar Singh said, declining to provide more details on how it was committed.

All seven suspects were not attending schools, six tested positive to drugs while two have criminal records, he added.

A total of 21 students aged 6 to 17 and two teachers were killed in the early morning fire on Thursday near downtown Kuala Lumpur. Investigation by fire department showed that the fire was not started by short circuit as suspected earlier.

The fire shocked Malaysia, triggering calls to strengthen fire safety measures at religious schools across the country.
Video: Zooming in on N. Oregon Coast's Neahkahnie Overlooks, Its Details

Published 09/16/2017 at 7:47 PM PDT - Updated 09/16/2017 at 8:07 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Manzanita, Oregon)  The Neahkahnie Overlooks on the north Oregon coast are some of the most amazing views of the entire region. And there's more than meets the eye to them.

They sit about 300 feet above the ocean, a small portion of the entire 1600 feet of Neahkanie Mountain. That makes them among the the highest viewpoints on the Oregon coast, and certainly among the most inviting and generous with their parking spots.

You'll get an enormous, nearly 180-degree view, with considerable blockage to the north (depending where you are) but an incredible, clear line of sight to the south. You can see Oceansides Three Arch Rocks from these spots  about 40 miles to the south. You can also glimpse Rockaway Beach's Twin Rocks and the small sea stacks around Bayocean and Cape Meares.

To the north, its mostly ocean and then a rustic headland covered with trees, blocking your view to places like Arch Cape. Still, its an awe-inspiring favorite for sunset watchers and those who simply like that feeling of their jaw dropping to stunning views of Manzanita or the Nehalem Bay.





The big highlight of Neahkahnie is the numerous viewing spots, not just the main, larger one. Three smaller pullouts line this winding stretch of road, all surrounded by those charming, atmospheric rock walls that are just a tad reminiscent of a European castle.

Take a peek downward from the main lookout and check out the boulder-laden stretch that hugs the base of the mountain. A pointed rock juts upward from the trees and brush, which  when seen from below on those rocks  apparently looks like a young woman (and has the local nickname of Indian Maiden).

You can even get a sense of the changes over time from the set of small steps hidden on the other side of the rock wall at the main access. They're tucked away, and in order to see them you have to be right up against that rock wall. Obviously, at one point there was an access here that allowed people to explore this headland a little farther out. That has been removed  for good reason.

Another spectacular highlight is the gravel parking lot around the bend from the main access, a tad to the north. Here is a one mile-long trail heading down to Short Sands Beach, as well as trails to a couple of secret viewpoints, such as spots that let you see odd rock structures like Pulpit Rock or that strange hidden cove that is seen through a funnel-like configuration as youre looking down into the cove. It's called Treasure Cove, and the funnel is called Devil's Cauldron.

There's also the intriguing Cube Rock, which looks like something from a lost civilization. It's largely hidden from view, although just slightly visible from the highway and trail.

Building this road around this area was no small feat. All of that began in the '20s, when what was then called the Oregon Coast Highway started construction. Blasting tons of rock from the mountain safely was just enormous challenge. This resulted in the rather legendary landmark of that pyramid-looking rock. Rocks still periodically slide from the mountain face onto the highway to this day, although this seems to be happening with less frequency. As recent as the early 2000s, landslides would periodically block off access to the road here until they were cleared. Manzanita Hotels in this area - Where to eat - Maps and Virtual Tours

Though the majority of Highway 101 from end to end was finished in 1931, the long, zig-zagging stretch of Highway 53 was still the only means between Nehalem Bay and Cannon Beach. A few years later, the road from Manzanita to Short Sand was created; and finally, in 1942 the Arch Cape Tunnel was finished, fully opening up Highway 101 on the north Oregon coast. More on these spots below:













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A Baytown woman is expected in court Monday on a charge of murder, accused of gunning down her boyfriend, using a machete to dismember his body and then putting the parts in different trash receptacles around the city.

Cierra Sutton, 30, was arrested Thursday by the Baytown Police Department, accused of fatally shooting her sleeping boyfriend on Aug. 15, then dismembering him, according to court records.
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Van Choate drove his catering truck into a ruined trailer park off Texas 12, as his daughters, Caylin and Cameron, followed in a small van loaded with smoked and seasoned whole chickens, already roasted and wrapped in plastic and stuffed into large black bags.

The crew from Tuffy's Eatery, which Choate and his wife, Josette, own and operate, passed out the free food to people who lost everything and in most cases had nowhere to go.

"Mauriceville is hungry," Choate said in his animated, almost non-stop patter about the great need in the flooded neighborhoods.

Saturday was Choate's second day of passing out the rotisserie-cooked chickens.

"They're seasoned, too. They're really nice," he said. "It's our duty to go and give."

The 3,200 pounds of whole, organic, free-range chickens were donated by Ayrshire Farm, an organic farm in Upperville, Virginia.

Choate picked up 600 birds and fired up his rotisseries and his employees cooked chicken for seven hours straight.

Ayrshire Farm's generosity was in response to inquiries from Rebel Rescue in Alexandria, Louisiana.

The organization was contacted through social media by Jen Lewis, director of operations for the Golden Triangle Emergency Center in Port Arthur, which wanted to feed first responders like National Guard soldiers, state troopers, police and firefighters.

Ayrshire arranged to truck the shipment trucking part of the way to Southeast Texas through Wholesome Foods of Edinburg, Virginia, and the rest of the way through Wolverine Trucking of Michigan.

Tuffy's did not flood, but it's

been closed since the flood wiped out large parts of the Mauriceville area.

Choate began delivering to hard-hit neighborhoods on Friday and kept going Saturday.

Because many can't get out - their cars were flooded - he brought them food, with a smile, and connection to humanity after a disaster.

Jean Gros and her husband Eddie live in one of the mobile homes in the park that flooded for the first time in their experience.

Floodwater covered pickups to their cab tops, they said. Air conditioning units were submerged. Interiors had to be gutted. Along Texas 12, evidence of their neighbors' flood damage lined the road for several miles.

Items not moved to top shelves were inundated, ripped out and set in piles along the little lane threading between the trailers. Some trailers were spray-painted with an "X" to show they were searched for people.

Ruth Ryan, a next-door neighbor and her kids, Scott, Juan and Yolanda, were still carting out the remains of the destruction within.

A smaller pile of boxes of items that weren't touched by flood will be placed under a tent until the mobile home can be cleaned and reclaimed.

Ryan, a special education teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Port Arthur, on Friday moved into the new tent city in Port Arthur.

She was at the Red Cross shelter earlier after returning from her native Ohio, where she drove with her children in a Mini Cooper before the storm.

"We lost everything up to the closets," she said.

In Port Arthur, she'll share a tent with two other families. She already checked out the place and is happy with the security and the amenities, including air conditioning. She was already wearing her yellow identification band on her wrist.

"We're grateful to everybody," she said.

Choate's daughters finished their deliveries throughout the park and took off south on Texas 12, turning into the Igresia Evangelica, or "Casa Alabanza," the House of Worship.

Pastor Jose Sanchez, whom Choate knew a long time ago in Rose City, presided over a clean-clothing giveaway for families. Children looked through the formerly neat piles, holding up shirts against themselves to see if they were close to fitting - and looked cool.

The Choates unloaded chickens, and grateful hands accepted the offering. Out came sodas and orange juice, all snapped up.

"We had three feet of water in the building," Sanchez said.

So far, he said he had had donations of insulation and sheet rock, but he needs laminated flooring, too, to cover perhaps 24 feet-by-50 feet for his congregation.

Back at Tuffy's, a cooking team from contractor H.B. Zachry occupied some of Tuffy's parking space, and lines of cars waited patiently to file in for some fried ribs and french fries, Choate said.

Tuffy's will reopen for business on Tuesday.

"We hope to provide a nice experience for people," Choate said. "We've got bands lined up and we'll know what people have gone through and we'll try to make it as nice as we can."

Dan Wallach is a freelance writer.
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Hundreds of horses and their riders form a cavalcade on Edinburgh's Royal Mile for the Riding of the Marches, a re-enactment of the return of the Captain of the Trained Band to the city with the tragic news of defeat at the battle of Flodden in 1513 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Around 280 horses and riders have taken over the streets of Edinburgh, continuing an ancient tradition.

Crowds of onlookers lined the streets of the capital for the Riding of the Marches, particularly the final stage on the Royal Mile.

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The historic event, which dates back to the 16th century, sees riders make a seven-hour journey from the Braid Hills towards the city, ending at the Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile.

Now an annual event, it returned to Edinburgh in 2009 after a gap of more than 60 years.

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It sees the appointed Edinburgh Captain and Lass lead hundreds of horses up the Royal Mile where they return the city flag to the Lord Provost.

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The riding tradition, known as common riding in the Borders, is believed to date as far back as the 12th century.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has insisted he is a credible candidate to be the next prime minister.

Despite heading a party with just 12 MPs, Sir Vince said he could replace Theresa May in Downing Street.

The Lib Dem leader told BBC1s The Andrew Marr Show: I think its perfectly plausible, actually.

As leader of the third UK party, my job is to be the alternative prime minister.

I think British politics is in a remarkable state of flux. You have got the Conservative Party in an open civil war  complete breakdown of discipline.

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You have got the Labour Party in a suppressed civil war. They had a good election, and Jeremy Corbyn is currently riding high. But, we know under the surface there is enormous discontent about the extreme left.

I, and my party, are the alternative.

Asked if the Lib Dems could get a Commons majority, Sir Vince said: Its possible that we could break through. If British party politics starts to break up, if the traditional structures start to break up, and that could well happen, we are extremely well positioned with moderate, sensible policies.

I am very confident talking about being an alternative prime minister.

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Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Ed Davey also talked up Sir Vinces Downing Street ambitions.

He told Sky News: I think under Vince we have someone who is seen as a future prime minister. If you put him up against Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, I think the majority of people would rather have Vince in Number Ten because he comes with huge credibility, particularly on the economy.

Sir Vince said going back on the Lib Dem pledge not to raise tuition costs had damaged support as he suggested a graduate tax could be a better alternative to fees.

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The former business secretary is using the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth to position the party as the voice of Remain voters as he rejects talk of the possibility of a soft Brexit.

Sir Vince said public opinion had not changed much since the Brexit referendum, but it would once the economic reality of withdrawal from the EU sank in.

He said voters should be offered a first referendum on the facts once the terms of a Brexit deal were known so that the UK could vote on the option of staying in the EU.

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Former Lib Dem leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown told BBC Sunday Politics: Were such lovely people, Lib Dems, so decent, so moderate, so sort of soft voiced that sometimes I think we can come across with a slight poverty of ambition.

Nobody ever accused me of that and I cant accuse Vince. I mean, what are you in politics for?

Are you really in politics to say, dear British people, we love you very much, please can we go on being the third party? I dont think so.

Youve got to go out there and try and campaign and I applaud Vince Cable for having an ambition that fits the scale of the task before us.
The UKs threat level has been lowered from critical to severe after two people were arrested in connection with the terror attack on Parsons Green.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said police had made good progress in the investigation as she announced the country had been removed from the highest terror alert.

Meanwhile, CCTV images have emerged appearing to show a person walking with a Lidl bag on the morning of Fridays rush hour Tube attack.

The footage, acquired by ITV News, is reported to have been filmed near a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, which is at the centre of one of two police raids.

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Images posted on social media following the Parsons Green attack appeared to show wires protruding from a flaming bucket inside a plastic Lidl carrier bag on the floor of a carriage.

An 18-year-old man, understood to be the suspected bomber, and a 21-year-old man remain in custody after being arrested by police on Saturday.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the countrys top counter-terrorism officer, said developments in the operation had provided greater clarity  on the attack.

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He said: We are getting a greater understanding of the preparation of the device.

There is still much more to do but this greater clarity and this progress has led JTAC  the independent body that assesses threat  to come to the judgment that an attack is no longer imminent.

The 18-year-old man was detained on Saturday morning in the departure area of Dover ferry port, which is the busiest ferry hub in Europe and a gateway to the French coast.

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Police are continuing to search a house in Sunbury-on-Thames  home to Penelope and Ronald Jones, aged 71 and 88 respectively, who previously received MBEs for services to children and families.

Dave Solway, who lives opposite Mr and Mrs Jones, said he saw the property being swarmed by police during Saturdays raid.

The 44-year-old said: Counter-terror police began banging on their front door with shields, bomb-proof shields. I saw Penny being pulled out basically, I didnt see Ron, dont know if he was there.

There was loads of them, it was swarmed, there must have been a good 15-20 easily round the back, front, side of the house.

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Mr and Mrs Jones, who have been foster parents for almost 40 years, had taken in up to 300 children including eight refugees.

A local politician said he understood an 18-year-old who had lived with the couple to be an Iraqi orphan who had moved to Britain aged 15 after his parents died.

Leader of Spelthorne Borough Council Ian Harvey, whose ward is Sunbury East, said he learnt about the boys background from neighbours of Mr and Mrs Jones and information available publicly.

He said: One thing I understand is that he was an Iraqi refugee who came here aged 15  his parents died in Iraq.

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Jim Adaway, 37, a family friend, said Mr and Mrs Jones recently returned to foster caring to help resettle youngsters from overseas, but had struggled with one of the children in their care.

An address in Stanwell, Surrey  just metres from the runway at Heathrow Terminal 5  is also being searched in connection with the arrest of the 21-year-old man in Hounslow late on Saturday evening.

Local residents said the man living at the property in Lowlands Drive, Stanwell, which was raided by police on Sunday, is a light-skinned man of Arabic appearance.

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According to a couple, who asked not to be named, he habitually stayed up late at night and was often visited by two male companions, who appeared to be in their late teens.

The husband said: He seemed a really, really nice chap, we have sat there and had a drink with him, but he didnt drink alcohol.

He was from North Africa, I think, perhaps Morocco or Algeria, but he had family from Scotland. I think he moved in about 14 months ago, he was very quiet, he was on his own.

Thirty people were injured when the improvised device exploded during rush hour at Parsons Green station, with all but one now discharged from hospital.

The lowering of the threat level from critical to severe means another attack is no longer imminent but still highly likely.
ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said President Donald Trump could decide to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate accord if there is a better agreement that benefits the American people.



ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked McMaster in an interview on This Week Sunday if it was possible that the U.S. may stay in the international climate accord. The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that the Trump administration was seeking to avoid withdrawal from the accord.



"If theres an agreement that benefits the American people, certainly," McMaster told Stephanopoulos.



In June, the president announced that the U.S. would exit the climate agreement, saying, "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris."



Trumps national security adviser said the president has been clear he is withdrawing the U.S. from the deal because it does not benefit the U.S., but would be open to re-entering the accord if a there is a better deal.



What the president has said is that we are withdrawing from the Paris accord. He left the door open to re-entering at some later time if there can be a better deal for the United States, McMaster said.



The presidents objection to Paris is not that hes against the environment or the climate, McMaster said. What the president wants is a more effective approach to energy and the climate.



McMaster was also asked about the president's response to the London Underground terror attack Friday. After the attack, the president tweeted that the United States' travel ban should be "far larger, tougher."

The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

McMaster said the administration is "looking at" the issue.



He said they're looking at "how to protect the American people better, how to ensure that we know who these people are who are moving." "If you can't screen people effectively to know who's coming into your country, then you shouldn't allow people from that country to travel."



McMaster also addressed North Korea's latest missile test and the United Nations Security Council's approval of new sanctions against the regime. The president on Sept. 12 called the sanctions "not a big deal," apparently questioning their potential effectiveness.



"We all have our doubts about whether or not that's going to be enough," McMaster said of the UN action. "And so we have to prepare all options. We have to make sure all options are under development to ensure that this regime cannot threaten the world with a nuclear weapon," he said.



Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last night and asked how "Rocket Man" is doing.

I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017

Stephanopoulos asked McMaster if "Rocket Man" refers to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"It appears to be so. That is where the rockets and missiles are coming from, is North Korea," he said.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Military trucks patrol at the front line in the ruined southern Philippine city of Marawi, Sept. 16, 2017.

Updated at 6:19 p.m. ET on 2020-07-22

Philippine troops said Sunday they had recovered a Roman Catholic priest held captive in Marawi, as the government moved closer to defeating Islamic State-inspired militants who had seized the countrys only Muslim city in the south.

Father Teresito Chito Soganub scampered away as troops fought Abu Sayyaf and Maute gunmen holed up in a mosque Saturday night. The military said that amid the confusion, Soganub escaped and was picked up by troops who immediately took him to safety.

It is confirmed that he is free, presidential adviser Jesus Dureza told BenarNews, but declined to give further details surrounding Soganubs recovery.

Soganub, the vicar general of Marawi, was taken captive on May 23 by Abu Sayyaf and Maute gunmen who attacked the city, which has been transformed into a virtual ghost town with nearly all of its 200,000 residents fleeing to safety.

He was among dozens of hostages the gunmen took and used as human shields, as they engaged troops in fierce gun battles that left 668 militants, 149 soldiers and 47 civilians dead as of Saturday.

The Prelature of Marawi said Soganub was secured before midnight Saturday, near Bato Mosque in Marawi City, together with one other undisclosed companion. They are the first of the Marawi hostages known to have escaped.

Fr. Chito has always been an inspiration to us all in Marawi. News of his release certainly pushes us more to work for peace in Marawi City, said Diovelene Francisco, a student at Mindanao State University who is a church volunteer.

Soganub was seized from a Catholic cathedral along with several church volunteers. The gunmen later grouped them with dozens of other hostages they seized, including women and children.

The announcement of the release Sunday came as the military was pushing hard to end the Marawi crisis, the biggest security threat to test the year-old administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte had admitted that the military was taken by surprise by the attack, which broke out as he was on a foreign trip to Russia with his top generals.

Two weeks ago, the military recaptured Marawis Grand Mosque, where the gunmen had hid along with their hostages, backed by several fighters from Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

And on Friday, troops also took back the Bato Mosque and a structure owned by the Amaitul Islamiya Marawi Foundation, two more buildings considered enemy strongholds that were retaken after a five-hour battle.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the fighting was nearing its end, although he declined to give a specific time frame. The military had earlier missed three self-imposed deadlines they had publicly announced.

Theres only little resistance left, he said. Thats why Ive been told [by] my ground commanders that the end is near. Just a little more patience.

There was no mention of the fates of Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf commander and the acknowledged Islamic State leader in the region who had repeatedly managed to elude government forces, or of the Maute group leaders.

Government forces conduct clearing operations in buildings abandoned by IS-linked gunmen in the besieged southern Philippine city of Marawi, Sept. 16, 2017. Richel V. Umel/BenarNews

CORRECTION: An earlier version misspelled the name of the priest, Father Teresito Soganub.
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Three men remain in Garda custody in connection with burglaries and criminal damage in County Cork.

The men aged in their 30s, and one in his 20s, are being held at Bandon Garda station in connection with the incidents that happened in Ballineen on Friday.
Update 7.30pm: An acid attack on four American women in Marseille is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, French officials said.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that its counter-terrorism division had not assumed jurisdiction for the attack at Marseille's main train station on Sunday morning. The prosecutor's office has responsibility for all terror-related cases in France.

A spokeswoman for Marseille's prosecutor said earlier that the 41-year-old woman arrested as a suspect in the attack did not make any extremist declarations, but said officials could not rule out terror as a motive so early in the investigation.

Regional newspaper La Provence reported that the suspect had a history of mental health problems and did not try to flee the scene of the attack.

The Marseille fire department said two of the tourists were injured in the face in the attack in the city's main Saint Charles train station and one of them has a possible eye injury, a spokeswoman said.

She said all four of the tourists, who are in their 20s, have been taken to hospital, two of them for shock.

Earlier:

Four young female US tourists were attacked with acid in the French city of Marseille today a woman who has been arrested, the city prosecutor's office said.

Two of the tourists were injured in the face in the attack in the city's main Saint Charles train station and one of them has a possible eye injury, a spokeswoman said.

She said all four of the tourists, who are in their 20s, have been taken to hospital, two of them for shock.

She said a 41-year-old female suspect has been arrested.

In previous incidents in Marseille, a driver deliberately rammed into two bus stops last month, killing a woman, but officials said it was not terror-related.

In April, French police say they thwarted an imminent "terror attack" and arrested two suspected radicals in Marseille just days before the first round of France's presidential election.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the two suspects "were getting ready to carry out an imminent, violent action" on French territory.

In January 2016, a 15-year-old Turkish Kurd was arrested after attacking a Jewish teacher on a Marseille street.

He told police he acted in the name of the so-called 'Islamic State' group.
Bangladeshi authorities on Sunday took steps to restrict the movement of Muslim Rohingya refugees living in crowded border camps after fleeing violence in Burma whose military chief maintained the chaos was the work of extremists seeking a stronghold in the country.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed with more than 400,000 Rohingya who fled their homes in the last three weeks amid a crisis the UN describes as ethnic cleansing.

Premier Sheikh Hasina, who lambasted Burma for "atrocities" during a visit to border camps last week, left Dhaka to address the annual UN gathering in New York.

Refugee camps were already beyond capacity and new arrivals were staying in schools or huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields.

Police were checking vehicles to prevent the Rohingya from spreading to nearby towns in an attempt to control the situation.

"There is an instruction from the prime minister that we must treat Rohingya Muslims maintaining human rights," said A.K.M. Iqbal Hossain, a police superintendent.

"As many private and social organisations are coming and distributing relief, sometimes chaos breaks out."

He said with the scale of the crisis "it's very difficult to keep order, but we are doing so".

The refugees began pouring from Burma's Rakhine state after a Rohingya insurgent group launched attacks on security posts on August 25, prompting Burma's military to launch "clearance operations" to root out the rebels.

Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs.

The Burma government says hundreds have died, mostly "terrorists," and that 176 out of 471 Rohingya villages have been abandoned.

Burma has insisted that Rohingya insurgents and fleeing villagers are destroying their own homes. It has offered no proof to back these charges.

Ethnic Rohingya have faced persecution and discrimination in majority-Buddhist Burma for decades and are denied citizenship, even though many families have lived there for generations.

The government says there is no such ethnicity as Rohingya and says they are Bengalis who illegally migrated to Burma from Bangladesh.

"The violence was an organised attempt of extremist Bengalis in Rakhine state to build a stronghold," Burma's powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing said on Saturday, according to a statement posted on his official Facebook page.

"They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Burma."

He called on the nation to be "united in establishing the truth" and for all the country's citizens to "have unity with their love for the country", including members of the media.

AP
Islamic State suicide bombers have attacked one of the bases of the US-led coalition in northern Iraq, but without causing any Iraqi or foreign casualties.

There were several attackers involved, all of whom were killed in the incident in the area of the town of Hawija, said US Army colonel Ryan Dillon.
Update - 11.55am: A British Airways flight has taken off from a Paris airport after it was searched by armed police because of a "direct threat" to the plane.

A British Airways spokeswoman confirmed the flight had taken off.

The airline did not state the nature of the alleged threat.

British traveller James Anderson later tweeted: "Pilot: 'Aircraft has been deemed absolutely safe. Authorities are satisfied with the search. We will continue on to London Heathrow'."

He added: "Our pilot was an absolute credit to @British_Airways. Extremely calm and composed, handled the situation wonderfully."

Earlier: A British Airways flight has been held on the tarmac of a Paris airport because of a "direct threat" to the plane, a passenger has said.

Flight number BA0303 was stopped at Charles de Gaulle and surrounded by police and fire vehicles at around 8am Irish time this morning.

British traveller James Anderson, 20, tweeted a snap of the plane and security services.

He posted: "On British Airways flight BA0303, currently being held on tarmac at Paris due to security threat, surrounded by police and fire vehicles."

He added: "Apparently an individual has made a direct threat to this aircraft.

"We will all be led off the aircraft and baggage searched in due course."

He then posted: "Everybody's been individually searched by armed officers and given all clear. Now hold luggage being searched by dogs."

Mr Anderson said: "Initially the pilot told us there were technical issues.

"We were waiting on the plane for around an hour.

"We were then told the aircraft had to move to another part of the airport.

"That's when we noticed police and fire vehicles quickly surrounded the plane and dozens of armed officers and firefighters got out.

"The pilot then said there had been a direct security threat involving our flight specifically."

He continued: "I believe the intention is to return to the same plane assuming the search is all clear.

"We were told they are also currently searching the aircraft with dogs."

British Airways said: "The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority.

"Additional security checks are being carried out as a precaution.

"We would never operate a flight unless it is safe to do so."
The Russian military has denied claims that it struck a US-backed force in eastern Syria, wounding six fighters.

The Kurdish-led and US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces said its fighters were hit in the air strike near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in an industrial area that was recently liberated from the so-called 'Islamic State' group.

Western forces with the SDF were not injured, the US military said.

The SDF is supported by a US-led international coalition of forces to defeat IS militants in Syria and Iraq.

An estimated 900 US troops are embedded with partner forces in Syria. They provide artillery support and can command air support.

The Russian defence ministry said: "Russian air forces carry out pinpoint strikes only on IS targets that have been observed and confirmed through several channels."

SDF fighters have been advancing against 'IS' fighters on the east bank of the Euphrates while Syrian government forces and their allies are pushing on the western side against the jihadists.

The march by the SDF aims to prevent Syrian troops and their allies from expanding their presence along the border with Iraq.

Also today, the UN's World Food Program halted its air drops to Deir el-Zour after its trucks were to reach the city with food relief, for the first time since May 2014.

A five truck convoy brought with it enough wheat to feed 70,000 people, the organisation said in a statement. Monitoring groups reported that residents were receiving wheat distributions the same day.

With the city besieged by militants from the 'Islamic State' group, the WFP began delivering aid through high-altitude air drops in April last year. It flew missions five times a week and completed 309 air drops before halting the program. Nearly 100,000 people were trapped under the siege.

Pro-government forces broke the siege on September 5 and secured the road to the capital, Damascus, shortly after. It immediately began organising its own aid deliveries to the city.

The government now controls two-thirds of Deir el-Zour, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

- AP
It is important to remember that the existing commission model for mortgage brokers is not broken AFG

Theres a mismatch between what consumers think they are getting when they see a broker and what they receive Consumer Groups

OPINIONS VOICED

Twenty-six submissions were made public from the following:



1. Australian Bankers Association

2.

3. Australian Finance Industry Association

4.

5. Central Lending Solutions

6. Customer Owned Banking Association

7. Connective

8. Commonwealth Bank of Australia

9. Everfirst Financial Services

10.

11. Shawn French

12. Futurity

13. Tim Howard

14. Joint Consumer Groups

15. KeyInvest Lending Services

16.

17. Loans Actually

18.

19. Mortgage Choice

20. NAB

21. RFS Finance

22. Rice Warner

23. Smartline Home Loans

24.

25. Barry Thatcher

26. Universal Wealth Management

27. Westpac Twenty-six submissions were made public from the following:1. Australian Bankers Association2. Australian Finance Group 3. Australian Finance Industry Association4. Aussie Home Loans5. Central Lending Solutions6. Customer Owned Banking Association7. Connective8. Commonwealth Bank of Australia9. Everfirst Financial Services10. FBAA 11. Shawn French12. Futurity13. Tim Howard14. Joint Consumer Groups15. KeyInvest Lending Services16. Loan Market 17. Loans Actually18. MFAA 19. Mortgage Choice20. NAB21. RFS Finance22. Rice Warner23. Smartline Home Loans24. Specialist Finance Group 25. Barry Thatcher26. Universal Wealth Management27. Westpac

Such changes could result in unintended negative consequences for the competitiveness of the industry and ultimately, less favourable consumer outcomes Connective

The Treasury has released the industrys submissions on ASICs Review of Mortgage Broker Remuneration, revealing the ongoing friction between brokers and banks, and the industry forums daunting task at handA trove of submissions representing the vast and varied opinions of major banks, aggregators, consumer groups and independent brokers in response to ASICs Review of Mortgage Broker Remuneration have been released, shedding some much-needed clarity on where they all stand regarding the regulators 13 key findings and six proposals.The 27 publicly released responses  eight were confidential  provide the industry with a mountain of material to process. Clearly there is still a lot of work to be done before a final outcome is determined, but one thing most groups could agree on was the importance of getting a chance to self-regulate through the industry forum.Trying to come up with a solution thats considered fair and sustainable for those involved is a massive undertaking, one that the government supports and is willing to wait for.I welcome the proactive steps taken by the mortgage industry forum to engage with the government and consumer stakeholders on the issue of mortgage broker remuneration, Financial Services Minister Kelly ODwyer said, adding that the government would take the forums process into account when finalising its response.The industry has its work cut out for it.As expected, most aggregators discouraged wholesale changes to broker remuneration and pointed out their concerns and misgivings regarding ASICs findings.They argued that, for the most part, the current regulatory framework was sufficient and did not require modification.We are concerned there is a risk that any such changes could result in unintended negative consequences for the competitiveness of the industry and ultimately, less favourable consumer outcomes, Connective said in its submission.Connective had concerns about the review abandoning the existing responsible lending framework, instead seeking to solve a poorly defined problem with an impossible to implement solution.The review was based on data from 2012 to 2015, which is not necessarily reflective of the increased regulatory guidance and scrutiny the industry has undergone since then, Connective said.Implementing changes based on that data may be attempting to solve concerns that no longer exist. AFG said the development of the broking industry had given lenders without a large branch network access to an effective distribution system, limiting the oligopoly of the four major banks.It is important to remember that the existing commission model for mortgage brokers is not broken, AFG said.The aggregator did not support the introduction of a standard fixed fee, but it did agree with NAB that upfront commission should be paid on the drawn-down amount rather than the approved amount. Smartline also said this might be an appropriate way to go.AFG said some responsibility should be put on lenders to review how they priced loans, to reduce the incentive for consumers to take out larger loans than necessary.AFG also had a strong rebuke for the ABA-sponsored Sedgwick review, warning the government not to give it more weight than it deserved but to treat it as one submission from a special interest group.It is AFGs contention that the comments in the ABA Report about the mortgage broking industry are misguided and open to allegations of bias or partisanship, it said.AFG added that some banks were using this as justification to implement changes designed to reduce and marginalise the financial viability of the broking industry. Mortgage Choice said the current commission model was sound and appropriately compensated brokers for their time and effort. It said that if ASIC wished to change the shape and nature of lending, then it needed to go about this through lender credit policy and lender pricing.The only truly effective mechanism available to the regulator is through being more prescriptive in lender underwriting policy or shaping the economics at the lender end to drive an increase in consumer pricing at the higher risk end of the market, Mortgage Choice said.The ABA, which represents 25 banks, including the four majors, said it believed the ASIC proposals align strongly with the intent of the recommendations of the Sedgwick Review, in particular, the focus on reforms and improvements that reduce the risk of poor customer outcomes.The association said it supported the opportunity to develop a self-regulatory response to change payments and governance arrangements in mortgage broking, and was actively participating in the industry forum.Its submission did not directly address the main point in ASICs review, which centred on changing the standard commission model. It said the banking industry was still considering responses to ASICs Proposals 1, 2, 3 and 6 and how they would work in conjunction with the third party recommendations made by Sedgwick.The Sedgwick review was released in April, about a month after ASICs report. Three of its 21 recommendations directly related to mortgage brokers, including one suggestion that banks adopt a remuneration structure for aggregators and brokers that did not link payments to loan size, instead proposing a holistic approach to performance management.NAB, Westpac and CBA all submitted separate reports from the one handed in by the ABA on behalf of its members. There was no public submission from ANZ NAB suggested several changes to brokers commission. One of its key points was to adjust payments so upfront commission was based on the amount drawn down, not the total facility amount. It also suggested paying upfront commission net of offset account balances.NAB supports these changes and will work through the requirements to implement them. These are important improvements that NAB believes should be applied broadly across the industry, the submission said.NAB also said it would work with the industry to come up with a model that did not directly link payments to loan size, and it suggested the industry consider attaching key performance indicators, such as KPIs, to the payment of trail commissions.NAB will increase oversight on all aggregators it deals with as a lender to assist with ensuring brokers perform preliminary assessments thoroughly. To ensure lenders are comfortable with the quality of the initial discussions, lenders should be able to access preliminary assessments as, and when, they need to, the bank said.Another key area NAB addressed was in regard to increasing governance and oversight of brokers. The bank said aggregators needed greater oversight of brokers to ensure they continued to be accessible to customers who settled loans with credit assistance provided by those brokers, and lenders needed visibility of this oversight.Westpacs contribution was more muted, referring to the ABAs submission and its work with the joint industry forum. The bank did say, however, that steps to change the standard commission model would need to be taken with care to prevent market distortion and unintended consequences.Consumer groups CHOICE, Consumer Action, Financial Counselling Australia and the Financial Rights Legal Centre also made their voices clear in a joint submission suggesting that the current broker remuneration structure should be completely overhauled.The groups recommended that upfront commissions should be replaced with a fixed fee for advice model (either through a lump sum or hourly rates), while trail should be scrapped entirely.Based on cases that financial counsellors and community legal centres see, it appears that some mortgage brokers are so motivated by commissions that they put customers at significant risk and take extreme steps, including likely document fraud and breaches of the responsible lending obligations under the [NCCP Act], they said.The consumer groups also requested that they be included in future industry discussions to address the issues raised by ASIC.The industry forum to date hasnt included these groups, but that is slated to change. Strengthening partnerships with them has been identified as an important step.The groups went above just addressing ASICs six proposals, saying the regulator needed to widen its scope and deal with other problems in the broking sector.As brokers market share grows, they must be held to higher standards, they said. ASICs research into consumer perceptions of brokers revealed that theres a mismatch between what consumers think they are getting when they see a broker and what they receive.Conclusions drawn by ASICs review directly contradict findings within the broking industry, the FBAA said in its submission.We were surprised by some of the findings in that they are not supported by our own observations and those of our members, some even going so far as to directly contradict our understanding of the segment, FBAA executive director Peter White said in the submission.The FBAA also maintains that there is no correlation between broker commission and consumer borrowing patterns.Any change to remuneration models which adversely impact brokers provide no gain to consumers. Any proposal for change must evidence a clear business case in favour of consumers, White wrote.The FBAA will not support changes to remuneration models that injure the profession and deliver no consumer benefit.Noting that ASICs data indicated a possible correlation between broker-arranged loans, loan size and LVR, White said commissions could not be singled out as the causative factor.Incentives are an inherent part of any sales or fee for service model, but we should not rush to call an incentive a conflict of interest.LVR-weighted commission payments would be difficult to implement and administer, he said, which NAB and Westpac also pointed out.It may be possible to base commission payments on the utilised/drawn down balance and not on large amounts left in redraw, White added, although this would need to be subject to a reasonable time frame or a utilisation trigger so the brokers income is not left to matters outside their control.In a 46-page paper submitted to the Treasury, the MFAA gave the green light to certain proposals while expressing its concern about others.Linking upfront commission to loan size was flagged by the MFAA, with ideas such as implementing a cap on the maximum LVR, or paying upfront based on both loan size and complexity, being shot down by the organisation.Paying different-sized upfront commissions around a pre-agreed pivot point also comes with risks, including potential impacts on tax-based investor lending and first home buyers, MFAA CEO Mike Felton told Australian Broker in an exclusive interview before the submissions were released publicly.Felton said the MFAA was fully behind moving away from bonus commissions and payments as they could cause heightened conflicts of interest.Both ASIC and Treasury have been clear about giving the industry the chance to self-regulate, and Felton is taking that task seriously.Self-regulation is not a right, he said. Its an opportunity. Its also not an invitation to do business as usual. We have to use it as a window of opportunity to make meaningful change so that we can drive an increase in trust, confidence and sustainability of our industry.
Eagles can tie franchise record, but first they have to fix one issue
Disclosure: I was provided with compensation in exchange for my coverage of this event. All opinions are my own.

Did you know that diaper need affects 1 in 3 families nationwide? As a parent can you even imagine having to choose between buying food or buying diapers for your family? I really cannot imagine that stress that those parents must be feeling, as if being a parent isnt hard enough on its own. The facts are shocking, especially those that I am learning about in my own state of Colorado. In Colorado about 1 in 5 children under age 3 are living below the federal poverty line and need help.

Most of the time when the idea of helping those in need we think of providing food but diapers for those littles are very important too. After learning more about the diaper needs that affect families nationwide, I will be rethinking the items we donate through out the year. While you can find places to take your diaper donations, there are also diaper drives around the nation that you can either help put on yourself or simply donate diapers too. Yesterday, a big diaper drive kicked off in Denver and I am excited to share that information with you.

In 2010, Huggies commissioned a study that found one in three U.S. families suffers from diaper need. For the first year, the Huggies No Baby Unhugged initiative and Vizient have teamed up to help families in need. In honor of the Vizient Clinical Connection Summit taking place in downtown Denver September 13  14, Huggies and Vizient are donating 10,000 diapers to positively impact the local community.

Summit attendees can participate by helping package the diapers for delivery to The Bottom Line diaper bank. For each person who volunteers, Huggies will donate an additional days supply of diapers to the Bottom Line diaper bank in Denver.
Homeowners are dropping flood insurance despite rising risk

The number of homeowners covered by the National Flood Insurance Program in New Jersey has dropped 17.5%.
Shanghai Group has agreed to cut the size of the stake it will buy in India's Gland Pharma to 74 per cent, the Chinese drugmaker said on Sunday.

It said Gland Pharma's founding family wanted to retain a higher stake in the Indian firm because of its good performance.

Fosun had previously been targeting an 86 per cent stake valued at about $1.26 billion. It said in a statement to the stock exchange that the board had approved the new plan, which would involve an investment of no more than $1.09 billion.

The deal had earlier faced some concerns in India, a source has told Reuters.

Under the new terms, Fosun Pharma said it would spend no more than $25 million for the Indian firm's Enoxaparin prototype sales in the United States, when it gets approval there, cutting the previously proposed amount by half.

The firm has also delayed the closing date for the deal to October 3, from September 26.

(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.)
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Ltd is contemplating to set up cement making plants in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The company has bagged limestone deposits in both the states.
Of the 3.2 million arrested for their involvement in riots between 2006 and 2015, 46 per cent, or 1.4 million, were youths (between 18 years and 30 years), according to crime data. Of these, 96 per cent were men. On July 4, 2017, clashes broke out between two communities in Baduria, North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, following a 17-year-olds Facebook post on Prophet Mohammed. As many as 66 people were arrested.




It has been twelve years in the making but, before end-September, Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai (MDL) will hand over INS Kalvari to the Indian Navy -- the first of six being built in India in collaboration with French shipbuilder, Naval Group.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river, saying no other project in the world has faced so many hurdles as this "engineering miracle" which many people had "conspired to stop".

"No other project in the world has faced such hurdles as the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river. But we were determined to complete the project," Modi said here.

Addressing a rally some 55 kms from the dam site in Dabhoi town of Vadodara district, the Prime Minister said "Sardar Sarovar will become a symbol of India's new and emerging power and propel growth in the region ... The project is an engineering miracle."



Modi, who had earlier dedicated the dam to the nation on his 67th birthday, said "many false allegations were hurled on us. Many people conspired to stop this project. But we were determined not to take make it a political battle."



"I have knowledge ('kacha chittha') of everyone who tried to stall this project, but I will not name them as I do not want to go on that route," Modi said.

"A massive misinformation campaign was launched against the project. The World Bank which had earlier agreed to fund the project, refused to give loan for it raising environmental concerns. But, with or without the World Bank, we completed the massive project on our own," he said.

Modi said the construction of this dam was an engineering marvel and every engineering student should study it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi overviews the construction work of Statue of Unity after inaugurating the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadiya in Narmada district on Sunday. Photo: PTI

Noting that shortage of water was a major factor in slowing the pace of development, Modi said the project will also help take water from the dam to the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat to fulfil the water needs of BSF soldiers, besides benefitting states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers prayers to Narmada River during the inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadiya in Narmada district on Sunday. Photo: PTI

Paying tributes to Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and B R Ambedkar, Modi said had the two leaders lived longer, the dam would have been completed in the 60s and 70s itself, boosting the economy and combating the problems of drought and floods.

Nearly 56 years after its foundation was laid, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which was mired in controversies and faced stiff opposition from affected villagers, became a reality today after Modi unveiled the plaque to launch it.

Earlier, the prime minister had performed a puja at the site in Kevadia area of the Narmada district.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.




An ancient Indian manuscript, dating back to the third century, has revealed the oldest recorded use of 'zero' - pushing back one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics back by over 500 years, Oxford scientists say.

Bakhshali manuscript was found in 1881, buried in a field in what was then an Indian village called Bakhshali, now in Pakistan. It has been at the Bodleian Libraries in the UK since 1902.

Researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK used carbon dating to trace the origins of zero to the Bakhshali manuscript.

They found that the text contained hundreds of zeroes, putting the birth of 'zero' or 'nought' as it is also known, at 500 years earlier than scholars first thought.

The text dates back to the third or fourth century, making it the oldest recorded use of the symbol.

Previous studies asserted that the Bakhshali manuscript probably dated from between the 8th and the 12th century.

However, new carbon dating reveals that the reason why it was previously so difficult for scholars to pinpoint the Bakhshali manuscript's date is because the manuscript, which consists of 70 fragile leaves of birch bark, is in fact composed of material from at least three different periods.

"Determining the date of the Bakhshali manuscript is of vital importance to the history of mathematics and the study of early South Asian culture," said Richard Ovenden from Bodleian Libraries.

The concept of the symbol as we know and use today, began as a simple dot, which was widely used as a 'placeholder' to represent orders of magnitude in the ancient Indian numbers system - for example 10s, 100s and 1000s, researchers said.

It features prominently in the Bakhshali manuscript, which is widely acknowledged as the oldest Indian mathematical text, they said.

The earliest recorded example of the use of zero was previously believed to be a 9th-century inscription of the symbol on the wall of a temple in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

Although a number of ancient cultures including the ancient Mayans and Babylonians also used the zero placeholder, the dot's use in the Bakhshali manuscript is the one that ultimately evolved into the symbol that we use today, researchers said.

"The creation of zero as a number in its own right, which evolved from the placeholder dot symbol found in the Bakhshali manuscript, was one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics," said Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

"We now know that it was as early as the 3rd century that mathematicians in India planted the seed of the idea that would later become so fundamental to the modern world. The findings show how vibrant mathematics have been in the Indian sub-continent for centuries," du Sautoy added.
Union ministers took part in the 'Swachhta hi Sewa' campaign on Sunday and underscored the Centre's commitment towards a "clean, healthy and strong" India.

Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Mahesh Sharma, Hardeep Singh Puri and Alphons Kannanthanam took part in the campaign, which coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, in different parts of the country, and stressed on the importance of cleanliness.

Taking part in the campaign organised at Delhi Cantonment area, Defence Minister Sitharaman said her ministry will carry out a drive to remove garbage from high altitude areas and glaciers.

She said, "(If) we can send Mangalyaan to Mars and provide services to the world through our IT sector then why cannot we keep our environment clean?"

According to an official statement, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who participated in the campaign and wielded a broom at Sarojini Nagar Market area in the capital, expressed "serious concerns" over the garbage crisis in the city.

He termed solid waste management as the "real challenge".

"As against the target of building 66 lakh individual household toilets in urban areas, about 37 lakh units have already been built. With 56 per cent of the mission target already met, this exercise is on course," Puri was quoted as saying in the statement.

The ongoing efforts to ensure total processing of solid waste will be successful only if segregation of waste is done at source, he said, adding this is necessary for the success of the chain of processes in making compost and power from municipal waste.

"I would like to reach out to all Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Delhi by writing to them to do the needful to ensure such segregation. At present, only half of the waste generated in Delhi is being processed and this is a matter of concern," the minister said.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who took part in the campaign in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, said "for the first time" after the Independence that cleanliness is not just a matter of habit, but has become a passion under the prime minister's leadership.

"The Modi government is working with commitment to build a clean, healthy and strong India," he said.

Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma took part programmes on the similar line in Noida, where he was joined by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla.

The Ministry of Culture, in a statement, said, "He (Sharma) encouraged citizens to participate in 'Swachhta hi Sewa Abhiyaan' up to October 2 as a tribute to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi."

Union Minister for Law Ravi Shankar Prasad participates in a cleanliness drive under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 67th birthday, in Patna on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Taking the central government's ambitious cleanliness drive to a higher trajectory, President Ram Nath Kovind had on September 15 kicked off the fortnight-long 'Swachhta Hi Seva' campaign from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi had in his recent 'Mann ki Baat' programme urged the people to hold a sanitation campaign from September 15 to October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Pakistan has asked the World Bank to constitute a court of arbitration to settle its dispute as New Delhi and Islamabad failed to break the impasse on choice of a forum for settling the issue.

The World Bank hosted the secretary-level discussions between India and Pakistan at the bank's headquarters in Washington over the talks, which ended on Saturday without an agreement.

"India not only refused to accept any of the amendments proposed by Pakistan, but also refused to agree to any of the dispute settlement options proposed by the World Bank," the Dawn quoted an official, as saying.

"While acknowledging the Bank's continued efforts, Pakistan has now requested the World Bank to fulfil its duties under the (Indus Water Treaty) by empanelling the Court of Arbitration," the source added.

While an agreement has not been reached at the conclusion of the meetings, "the World Bank reaffirmed its commitment to continue to work with both countries to resolve the issue in an amicable manner and in line with the treaty provisions," the bank statement said.

The World Bank noted that both countries "reconfirmed their commitment to the preservation of the Treaty".

The bank "remains committed to act in good faith and with complete impartiality and transparency in fulfilling its responsibilities under the Treaty, while continuing to assist the countries", the statement added.

The secretary-level talks took place on Sept 14-15 at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, within the framework of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Concluded in 1960 with the World Bank's support, the treaty recognises the bank as a mediator.

In the last two months, the World Bank hosted two rounds of IWT talks. In the first round, which concluded on August 1, India and Pakistan exchanged proposals.

India is permitted to construct the Kishenganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric power plants on Jhelum and the Chenab rivers as specified in the .

Both the countries returned to Washington this week for the second round, which focussed on the technical issues of two hydroelectric plants - Kishanganga and Ratle - that India is building on the tributaries of the Jhelum and the Chenab

But Pakistan has opposed whether the technical design features of the two hydroelectric plants contravene the treaty. Pakistan believes the construction violates the Indus Water Treaty, which gives Islamabad the right of "unrestricted use" of the waters of these two western rivers in the Indus system.

India, however, argues that the treaty also allows "other uses", including the construction of hydroelectric plants. India interprets "other uses" as meaning that it can not only construct the Kishanganga and Ratle dams, but also several other projects.

Pakistan disagrees with the Indian interpretation and has asked the World Bank to set up a court of arbitration; saying that India was not fulfilling its obligations as an upper riparian state.

India opposes the court of arbitration and has instead asked the World Bank to appoint a neutral expert to look into the matter.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim had announced in December 2016 that the World Bank would pause before taking further steps in each of the two processes requested by the parties.

Since December 2016, the World Bank has worked towards an amicable resolution of the matter and to safeguard the treaty.
An ATM fraudster, who has cheated at least 50 people over the last three years, has been arrested here, police said on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad said the accused Sandeep, 28, was arrested from Farsh Bazar area of east Delhi on Thursday.

Prasad said that Sandeep, a resident of Punjab, used to work in the housekeeping section of reputed hotels and noticing the lifestyle of the guests, he also wanted to lead a lavish lifestyle.

He starting cheating people who visited ATMs by different methods and then he withdrew their money, police said.

Upon receiving a complaint earlier this month, police accessed CCTV footages and formed got a photo of the accused.

The police then circulated it to their contacts on the ground.

On Thursday, a security guard at an ATM in Farsh Bazar came to the police station and told that he had locked inside the ATM counter the person shown in the picture circulated by police.

Police said that the accused had spent all the money in leading a lavish life and touring various places in India and abroad.

Police have also recovered 12 ATM cards and a silver chain from the accused.
The rift in the that appeared during the campaigning for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in early 2017, following which the party lost power, has been growing bigger with the continuance of the power tussle in the Yadav family.

The is set to organise a state conference in Lucknow on September 23 and a conference on October 5, called on by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

It will be for the first time that the party patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav, will not be involved in the conferences called by at the state and the level.

But just two days before this, Mulayam Yadav has called for a meeting of the Lohia Trust on September 21.

Interestingly, Mulayam Singh Yadav is the trustee of the Lohia Trust and Ram Gopal Yadav is the trust secretary.

Apart from this, there are 11 other trustees of the Lohia Trust, including party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Akhilesh and Ram Gopal were not present in the last meeting called by Mulayam.
For Generations of our Fellow Citizens, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh has remained A Living Legend, says President

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The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind has written to Shri Arvind Singh, son of Marshal Arjan Singh, conveying his condolences on the passing away of Marshal Arjan Singh. .

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In his message, the President has said, I am extremely saddened to learn about the passing of our great and cherished air warrior and Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, DFC. .

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Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh was a hero of World War II and won our nation's gratitude for his military leadership in the War of 1965. He served the nation with distinction and was the first and only officer of the Indian Air Force who was honoured with the five-star rank as Marshal of the Air Force. .

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For generations of our fellow citizens, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh has remained a living legend. His service to the nation continued even outside uniform, as Lt. Governor of Delhi, Ambassador of India to Switzerland and the Vatican, High Commissioner to Kenya and Member of the National Commission for Minorities. For his services and achievements, he was honoured with numerous awards including the Padma Vibhushan. .

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Please accept my heartfelt condolences and convey these to other members of your family as well as the Indian Air Force community. I pray to the Almighty to give you and your family the strength and courage to bear this irreparable loss. The nation mourns with you". .

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Millions of people across States came out and offered shramdan" on the first big day- SevaDiwas" of the two week Swachhata Hi Seva" Campaign initiated on 15th September 2017 in response to the clarion call given to citizens by the Prime Minister. This massive turnout saw people from all walks of life digging toilets, undertaking cleaning of public places like bus stands, mandis, railway stations, statues, roads and pathways across the country. .

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Union Ministers joined millions of countrymen across the length and breadth of the country in this unprecedented campaign on sanitation. Sushri Uma Bharati, Minister, MDWS led the campaign and joined people in Uttar Pradesh where she offered shramdan and spoke to people on safe management of liquid and solid waste. She termed the massive turnout of people as unprecedented" and vowed to take the campaign to all villages of the country. .

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Ms. Smriti Irani, Minister, I&B joined people in the cleanliness drive in Kendri village in Raipur. She was joined by the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Shri Raman Singh. She said Chhattisgarh would soon become Open Defecation Free and all credits for this goes to the common people of Chattisgarh. Defence Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman visited Delhi Cantonment to join people in making their environments clean and free from open defecation. Sri S.S. Ahluwalia, Union Minister of State for Drinking Water & Sanitation, inaugurated Pit Digging Programme for Twin Pit Individual Household Toilets at Bhagalpur Village near Indo- Bangladesh Border in Tripura. Several other Union Ministers, Chief Ministers and dignitaries also joined shramdan. .

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Staff and officers of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation along with Indian Railways joined hands to clean the Nizamuddin Railway station, New Delhi in early hours of the morning. Officials of both Ministries cleaned up filth and talked to workers on maintaining cleanliness on railway platforms. .

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Gram Pradhans had made special arrangements for people collectively viewing the film Toilet Ek Prem Katha telecast by DD at the initiative of MDWS. The film carries a powerful message for the need of sanitation in rural India with a woman successfully fighting traditional mindset to get a toilet in her household. .

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Massive awareness campaign activities have been undertaken in states for mobilizing people for action on sanitation. Gram Sabhas, Communication drives, inter personal communication initiatives are underway in almost all districts to ensure that people are made aware of the benefits of improved sanitation. States have commissioned specially designed Swachhata Raths for informing, educating and mobilizing people. .

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PM dedicates Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation; attends closing ceremony of Narmada Mahotsav at Dabhoi

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The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation. The occasion was marked by prayers and chanting of hymns at the Dam at Kevadia. The Prime Minister unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion. .

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Later, the Prime Minister visited the construction site of the Statue of Unity, an iconic structure dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, at Sadhu Bet, a short distance from the Sardar Sarovar Dam. He was given an overview of the progress of work at the site. .

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At a large public meeting in Dabhoi, the Prime Minister unveiled a plaque to mark the laying of foundation stone of the National Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum. The occasion also marked the closing ceremony of the Narmada Mahotsav, which generated awareness about the River Narmada, in various districts of Gujarat. .

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Speaking on the occasion, he said the huge gathering shows the respect that people have for Maa Narmada. On the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, he said that he salutes all those who are working to build the nation. Let us leave no stone unturned to build a New India by 2022, the Prime Minister exhorted. .

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The Prime Minister recalled Sardar Patel's vision of the dam. He said that both Sardar Patel and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar gave a lot of emphasis to irrigation and waterways. .

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The Prime Minister said lack of water resources has been a major impediment to development. He recalled visiting the border areas in the past, when BSF jawans did not have enough water. We brought Narmada waters to the border areas for the jawans, he said. .

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The saints and seers of Gujarat have played a very big role in the making of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, he said. The waters of the River Narmada will help citizens and transform lives, he added. .

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The Prime Minister said that in the western part of the country, there is water shortage, and in the eastern part, there is power and gas shortage. He said the Government is working to overcome these shortages, so that India scales new heights of development. .

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The Prime Minister said the Statue of Unity would be a fitting tribute to Sardar Patel, and would draw tourists from all over. He recalled freedom fighters from tribal communities, who fought against colonialism. .

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A volunteer group in Delhi called We Mean To Clean planted 600 ecologically valuable trees in Delhi. Earlier they transformed a slum in Kirti Nagar, Delhi. Swachhata Hi Seva is fast becoming a movement that the people themselves are running. Many such organisations run by common people is the feature of the overall Swachh Bharat programme citizens becoming inspiring leaders, owning the movement and run it. .

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Enthusiastic cleanliness initiatives among the people have become a feature ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat initiative. Lending further impetus towards a cleaner India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to the nation during his recent Mann Ki Baat address to dedicate the last few weeks of September towards Swachhata Hi Seva, an initiative to pay a real tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti. .

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On the 15th of September, 2017, President Ram Nath Kovind had launched the Swachhata Hi Seva movement in Uttar Pradesh from a village in Kanpur. Ever since, the movement started it had begun to generate action and positivity. However, with the birthday of Prime Minister Modi on September 17th, it has taken off at a higher trajectory. .

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Cleanliness volunteers, NGOs and many karyakartas have enthusiastically dedicated themselves to Shramdaan towards cleanliness initiatives to celebrate his birthday as a Seva Divas. .

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It also came to light that the Prime Minister had written touching personal letters inviting people from across the nation and across domains, to participate in the movement and spread the message of cleanliness. Accomplished Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor took to social media to thank PM Modi for honouring him with an invite to participate in the Swachhata Hi Seva movement and assured he would do his best. Reports said the PM had written to Malayalam superstar Mohanlal inviting him to participate in the movement. K T Rama Rao, young politician from Telangana belonging to the TRS party also received a letter from PM Modi, reports said. .

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Most ministries, government departments and prominent public servants have been carrying out cleanliness activities in every state across the nation. While Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was seen administering Swachhata Hi Seva pledges to citizens, Governor of Rajasthan, Kalyan Singh was seen picking up the broom by himself to clean his office. .

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While it was natural for government machinery to take up cleanliness activities for Swachhata Hi Seva, well-known citizens too have ardently joined the movement. In Maharashtra, music director Anu Malik was seen cleaning a place along with a number of citizens. Telugu movie superstar couple Nagarjuna and Amala along with citizen volunteers conducted cleanliness activities in Hyderabad. Actor Ravi Kishan led cleanliness initiatives in Mumbai. Internationally renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik first led a group of citizens in cleaning up the Puri beach in Odisha and then created a sand art wishing PM Modi on his birthday. .

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From Kargil to Ramanathapuram, Manipur to Maharashtra, a renewed sense of eagerness was seen for cleanliness. While the cleanliness movement was kicked off in Kargil with great energy, the District Collector and municipal officials participated in cleanliness activities. Apart from the sheer geographic spread of the movement in just 2 days, yet again, just like its mothership Swachh Bharat, citizens became engines for the movement. NCC cadets of girls wings of Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district cleaned the offices and several areas of the Poonch district. The cadets also took out an awareness rally with a message of clean India. Volunteers conducted cleaning activities in Indore. In Puducherry, a cleanliness drive to clean the beach was organised by NSS volunteers and Karaikal Municipality. .

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Citizens were seen cleaning the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station in Delhi. Heroes from the Navy cleaned up the South Mumbai mangroves and sea front. On the occasion of International Coastal Cleanup day, citizens groups also removed trash and garbage from Mumbais beaches. Women from Self Help Groups in Agra took Swachhata Shapath and discussed initiatives towards a clean and green India. In many places across the nation, Shramdaan and sanitation drives were held, besides activities around open defecation-vulnerable spots with participation of community, self-help groups and local NGOs. .

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On social media too, #SwachhataHiSeva was a top trend on the day it was launched. Subsequently, the hashtag has become a hub of positivity where people have posted their Shramdaan activities towards cleanliness using this hashtag. A heightened sense of awareness and participation has ensued since the launch of the movement on social media. .

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Finally, two happenings showed positive signs for the future of a clean India. .

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One, that NTPC has invited national and international players to set up 100 waste-to-energy pollution-free plants across the country under the Swachh Bharat mission. This bodes well for a clean and green India. .

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Two, the future of clean India seems to be in safe hands. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had announced a Swachh Bharat painting competition for primary school students from mainly government schools earlier. A total of 2.46 crore children studying in class 1-5 have submitted their entries for the Swachh Sankalp Swachh Siddhi painting competition. The enormous magnitude of participation and the awareness being created in these children towards cleanliness augurs well. .

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We expect a lot from our computers these days. They should talk to us, recognise everything from faces to flowers, and maybe soon do the driving. All this requires an enormous amount of computing power, stretching the limits of even the most modern machines.
Soon, American Embassy employees in Kabul will no longer need to take a Chinook helicopter ride to cross the street to a military base less than 100 yards outside the present Green Zone security district.
Taking a jibe at North Korean dictator, United States President termed Kim Jong-un as "Rocket Man" during his telephonic conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

"I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!" Trump tweeted on Sunday.

The President also re-tweeted a post taking aim at the New York Times and sent a thank-you note to someone named Lana Del Fenty for tweeting "we love and support Trump!"

President also tweeted his support for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who formally announced this week that he's running for governor.

However, he misspelt Schuette's name as "Shuette" in a now deleted tweet in an apparent typographical error, earning corrections from some commenters on the social media site.

"Attorney General Bill Shuette will be a fantastic Governor for the great State of Michigan," Trump tweeted. "I am bringing back your jobs and Bill will help!"

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Dreaded terrorist Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is trying his hands in and has put his stooge in an election fray in Pakistan. However, his political stooge is also a designated terrorist.

Recently, Saeed launched Milli Muslim League political party that is fighting to win the seat of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the National Assembly.

Saeed is one of the most-wanted militant leaders in South Asia who carries a $10 million American bounty on his head.

Though the Election Commission of Pakistan has strictly prohibited the display of Saeed's picture on election posters, but the constituency in Lahore is covered with posters showing Saeed, his visage side by side with the official candidate, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, a senior Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader, reports The New York Times.

Saeed founded - Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is widely accused of being a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group that waged the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and is on the United Nations list of global terrorist groups.

Interestingly, Saeed's candidate, Sheikh, himself was placed on August 30, 2012, on a United States Treasury sanctions list of those designated as leaders of terrorist organisations.

The US Treasury Department said, "Qari Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, a member of LeT's central advisory committee, has held several different leadership positions in the group since approximately 2006. Sheikh has served as a leader in LeT's foreign affairs department since 2006, including acting as the department's deputy director of political and foreign affairs between 2008 and 2009. As of mid-2008, Sheikh was also in charge of LeT's Islamabad office, including managing LeT's general operations in and around Pakistan's capital. Between 2008 and 2011, Sheikh ran LET front organizations that were used to raise funds and recruit on behalf of the group. Sheikh ran Falah-e Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a front used by LET for fundraising purposes, from early 2009 until mid-2010, when he was replaced as the FIF head by Hafiz Abdur Rauf. FIF and Rauf were designated by the U.S. pursuant to Executive Order 13224 on November 24, 2010. Falah-e Insaniat Foundation was added to the UN 1267 Consolidated List on March 14, 2012."

It further added: "As of early 2010, Sheikh was the head of LET's ulema (clerics) wing. Sheikh has also worked with LET's donors. In late 2006 and late 2007, Sheikh was part of an LET delegation that travelled to the Gulf on behalf of LeT seeking support."

The Milli Muslim League, which says its goal is to unite Pakistan's Muslims across all ethnicities and languages, is not yet formally registered with the election commission, because it submitted its documents only in August, so Sheikh is running run as an independent candidate in the special election being held on Sunday to fill the seat that Sharif was forced to vacate over corruption charges in July, reports The New York Times.

was put in January under house arrest by Pakistan government to keep him from collecting funds for his charity in violation of United Nations resolutions. Pakistan also included the charity on an interior ministry watch list, though it did not ban it.

The New York Times report said that "against the backdrop of Saeed's arrest, many see the Jamaat-ud-Dawa's bold foray into as an attempt to gain legitimacy at a time when Pakistan's government is being forced to act against it amid pressure from the United States and groups like the Financial Action Task Force, which tracks terrorism financing".

Muhammad Amir Rana, an expert on jihadist groups who runs the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, told New York Times, "It's clear that the Milli Muslim League is meant to legitimize or camouflage Jamaat-ud-Dawa's actions and avert sanctions".
The Hamas movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, announced on Sunday that it was ready to hand over the territory to the consensus government of Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas announced the dissolution of the administrative committee created in March 2016 to manage the territory and invited the consensus government led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to arrive in the Gaza Strip to carry out the mission, an official statement said.

Hamas also agreed to an election, which has failed to take place in Gaza since 2006 as a result of the division between Fatah and Hamas, reports Efe news.

It also expressed its willingness to accept Egypt's offer for talks with Fatah in order to implement the Cairo Agreement, signed in 2011, that lays down guidelines for reconciliation.

The agreement, signed by the 11 Palestinian factions but which was never implemented, required the administrative power be run by the Palestine National Authority (PNA), although Hamas would likely retain control of security and policing in the Gaza Strip.

Other points included the establishment of joint monitoring of border posts and the absorption of Hamas security personnel into the new police force that is to be formed.

The latest announcement by Hamas puts Palestine on the path of reconciliation, with the statement announcing the group was "responding to the generous Egyptian efforts, which reflect the Egyptian desire to end the split and achieve reconciliation, and based on our desire to achieve national unity".
almost never laughs. The leader of the free world frequently displays a tight-lipped smile, but mirth-wise, that is as far as he will go. Except for the fact that Nazis dont seem to mind him too much, Mr. Trump is the Captain von Trapp of commanders in chief.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The North Korean government released on Saturday photos of what it said is the rogue regime's latest ballistic missile test.



The government said the photos, released to North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), depict an intermediate range Hwasong-12 missile, the same model launched over Japan on Friday and on August 29. The photos cannot be independently verified.



The missile on Friday traveled 2,300 miles as it flew over Japan on Friday before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean. It was the country's longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile.



The KCNA said Kim expressed great satisfaction over the launch, which he said verified the "combat efficiency and reliability" of the missile and the success of efforts to increase its power.



Photos were also released Saturday by the North Korean government of its leader Kim Jong Un watching what it says was the test launch of the Hwasong-12 missile.



Following Friday's missile launch, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement, "These continued provocations only deepen North Korea's diplomatic and economic isolation ... United Nations Security Council resolutions, including the most recent unanimous sanctions resolution, represent the floor, not the ceiling, of the actions we should take. We call on all nations to take new measures against the Kim regime."



The launch is the 14th missile test conducted by North Korea in 2017. On September 3, North Korea said it tested a hydrogen bomb, leading to sanctions being passed against the country by the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Steve Bannon, the former presidential confidante, was as apocalyptic as ever about China on the eve of his trip to Hong Kong. The man who had all but declared economic war with China in earlier interviews said to a Times reporter, A hundred years from now, this is what theyll remember  what we did to confront China on its rise to world domination. On arrival, in a speech to a big investor conference, he seemed to have softened a bit, praising Chinas leadership and offering hopes that a trade war could be averted.
On the 67th birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has urged everybody to organise and join cleanliness initiatives, and devote the day to the 'Swachh Bharat Mission', adding that the mission is very special to the former.

"I urge you all to organise or join any cleanliness initiative and share your photos on the Narendra Modi Mobile App," wrote Shah, in his blog.

The BJP president also wished "a long as well as healthy life in service of the nation" to Prime Minister Modi, and praised him for working for the nation on his birthday too.

With the BJP celebrating 'Sewa Diwas' on the occasion, Shah said that several organisations and NGOs, particularly the youth-driven groups are undertaking a wide range of social service initiatives.

"Service or 'Seva' indeed is the best way to celebrate Narendra Bhai's birthday," Shah added.

In praise of the prime minister, Shah claimed that 'India First' is a belief that he lives by.

"They (People of India) see him as their own, a person working round the clock for their and the nation's welfare, without any self interest," Shah wrote.

He also claimed that Prime Minister Modi has worked extensively towards poverty alleviation, and under his supervision, the government has undertaken "historic poverty alleviation initiatives (that are) taking shape at a scale unheard of in the history of India."

"With the Jan Dhan Yojana's unprecedented success, the banking system was opened to millions who were isolated from the financial mainstream," he said, in reference to the above claim.

He also mentioned the MUDRA Yojna in Prime Minister Modi's repertoire. The scheme aims to create an inclusive, sustainable and value based entrepreneurial culture.

"Majority of MUDRA's beneficiaries are from poor households, small towns or rural India," he added.

Adding to the string of praises, Shah credited the "historic crackdown against black money and corruption through various measures" to the prime minister.

He also reminisced his first meeting with the prime minister "as a young BJP Karyakarta", and recalled working closely with him later on, during the 1995 Gujarat elections, 1998 Gujarat elections and other party forums.

Recounting his term as the home minister for over seven years under Prime Minister Modi's office as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shah said, "I witnessed first-hand his grip on administration and how he transformed Gujarat into a model state of development and good governance."

He concluded by conveying his message of 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement.

"Let us strengthen the 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement with our active and continuous participation so that we can fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a clean India," he said.

As Prime Minister Modi turns 67 today, major political entities sent in their wishes to him.

Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Modi has hit headlines for having made major policies for the country, which have received varied responses, with few sections welcoming the decisions, while others opposing them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bollywood celebrities, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher and Ashoke Pandit? have expressed grief over the death of "most decorated" Marshal of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Arjan Singh.

The 'PINK' star took to Twitter and wrote, "epitome of valour and dignity .. most decorated .. prayers in tribute ??????????????"

Anupam Kher tweeted, "We do feel a sense of loss when a Hero leaves us. But Marshal of Airforce #ArjanSingh will live with us till d word 'Bravery' is around.??????"

Expressing his condolence, film director Ashoke Pandit said, "Wishing & praying for the speedy recovery of Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh ji. ??"

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

He was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital on Saturday morning after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the Defence Ministry said.

Remembering his contribution to the IAF, Prime Minister Modi, while addressing a public meeting in Dabhoi, Gujarat said 'the country will always remember him and his discipline'.

"He was very disciplined and had high spirits. Yesterday when I came to know about his heart attack, I went to meet him in hospital. He was filled with same energy and spirit," he said.

Apart from President Ram Nath Kovind and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the three Service Chiefs Sunil Lanba, Bipin Rawat and B.S. Dhanoa also paid their respects to Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh in New Delhi today, along with Minister of State for Urban Development Hardeep Puri.

The National Flag will fly half-mast in Delhi on Monday, on account of the nation mourning the death.

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As many as four civilians were killed and 14 others wounded in a blast in the eastern Afghan province of Khost on Sunday afternoon.

The blast took place in the underground section of Hamam market in the Khost city after explosive devices were detonated, killing a civilian and another three, the Tolo News quoted Mubarez Zadran, a spokesman for provincial governor, as saying.

Habib Shah Ansari, the head of the health department, has said that "four people were killed in the blast and 14 others were wounded."

The wounded people are receiving threats at the government hospital, Ansari added.

No group, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The local security officials have not yet commented over the blast.

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Amid the chaos created by the recent terrorist attack at Parsons Green station, the British officials have lowered the country's official terrorist threat level from "critical" to "severe."

The statement follows the arrest of a second man in the Parson Green tube station attack in west London, injuring 29 people.

However, Home Secretary Amber Rudd says that over the next few days, the military will return to their original positions, having supported police over the weekend following the bombing on Friday.

"The Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre which reviews the threat level that the UK is under have decided to lower than level from critical to severe," the local media quoted Amber Rudd.

Home Secretary Rudd further said that she would urge everyone to be vigilant but not alarmed.

The Metropolitan Police on Sunday said that another person has been arrested in connection with the terrorist attack at Parsons Green station.

Earlier an 18-year-old teenager was arrested in the departure area of the port of Dover in connection with the attack on Saturday morning.

He was arrested by the Kent Police under the Terrorism Act and remains in custody at a London police station.

The arrest came 24 hours after a homemade bomb partially exploded at Parson Green tube station in west London, injuring 29 people.

The ISIS has claimed the responsibility for the explosion at Parsons Green.

Earlier, the London's Metropolitan Police said, "The Kent Police had arrested the man in the port area of Dover on Saturday morning under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act under which a police officer can arrest someone whom they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist."

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the security services are raising the terror threat level from "severe" to "critical" in the wake of the Parsons Green terror attack.

This was the fifth terrorist attack in the UK this year. But it was the only one in 2017 in which nobody died.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Hardik Pandya shared a crucial century-run partnership to help India post a decent target of 282 runs for Australia in the opening ODI of the five-match series here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

Opting to bat first, India made what could be termed as the worst start to their innings, losing their first three wickets of just 11 runs.

Though opener Rohit Shrama (28) and Kedar Jadhav (40) tried to find their feet slowly, it seemed that the pitch was assisting the Australian pacers.

However, India rode on contrasting half centuries from all-rounder Pandya (83) and former skipper Dhoni (79) to help India recover from a precarious 87-5 and post a score of 281-7 in their stipulated 50 overs against the Steve Smith-led side.

It was Pandya's career-best ODI score, surpassing his previous best figures of 76, which he notched up against Pakistan in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy final in England earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Dhoni, who also struck four boundaries and two sixes in his 75-ball knock, also forged another healthy 72-run seventh wicket stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (unbeaten at 32) after the loss of Pandya.

For Australia, pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed the wickets of opener Ajinkya Rahane (five), and skipper Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey (both for noughts).

James Faulkner and Adam Zampa also chipped in with a wicket each.

India entered this series after having swept Sri Lanka across formats recently, and the team is gradually becoming a ruthless unit with players for every condition and situation.

Australia, on the other hand, have returned to India for the first time since their fiery and controversial Border-Gavaskar series earlier this year, which India won 2-1 and which ended with Kohli declaring some of his friendships with the Australian players had been irreparably damaged.
The Christian man who has been awarded death sentence over blasphemy charges in Pakistan will appeal in the High Court.

35-year-old Nadeem James was arrested in July, 2016 after his friend Yasir Bashir filed a complaint to the police that he received a poem on WhatsApp, ridiculing Prophet Mohammad and other holy figures, the local media reported.

The accused "was handed a death sentence by the court on Thursday on blasphemy charges," said Nadeem's lawyer Riaz Anjum Wakeel.

The Guardian quoted Riaz as saying that his client intended to appeal against the verdict, passed on Thursday by a sessions court in the town of Gujrat.

Quoting AFP, The Independent reported that in this case there had been a dispute between his client and the friend over a woman.

"My client will appeal the sentence in the high court as he has been framed by his friend, who was annoyed over James' affair with a Muslim girl," The Independent reported Nadeem's lawyer as saying.

Under the country's strict blasphemy laws, anyone accused of insulting Islam and its key religious figures risks being sentenced to death.

The European Parliament has criticised Pakistan's human rights record and squarely reminded Islamabad that it has grossly erred in handing down capital punishment for those allegedly violating the nation's blasphemy laws.

Earlier in June 12, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has for the first time sentenced Shiite Taimoor Raza to death for allegedly sharing blasphemous content about Sunni religious leaders and the Prophet Mohammed's wives on Facebook, the harshest among cyber-crime related sentences handed down so far in the country.

Authorities have asked Twitter and Facebook to help identify users sharing blasphemous materials.

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Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will today be travelling to Turkmenistan for a day to attend 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

The ten-day event, beginning on on September 17, will be held at Ashgabat.

"Travelling to Turkmenistan for a day to attend the 5th Asian Indoor & Martial Art Games in Ashgabat," Pradhan tweeted.

He also wished the Indian athletes participating in the event under various categories.

"172 athletes will be representing India in 13 disciplines at this international event. My best wishes to them," he added.

Ashgabat is the first city in the former Soviet Central Asian region, which has won the right to host the Asian Indoor Games.

The opening ceremony will be held at the newly built Olympics stadium in Ashgabat.

All the 45 member-countries of the Olympic Council of Asia will attend this event, apart from the first-timers - 17 Oceania Olympic Committees.

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After the merged factions of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) expelled V.K. Sasikala from the party, sidelined party leader T.T.V. Dinakaran on Sunday asked the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palanisamy to resign as well, because "whatever he is today, he is because of Chinamma [Sasikala]."

Recently, in a general council meeting, the party's merged factions, under Edappadi Palanisamy (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS), nullified the appointment of V.K. Sasikala as interim general secretary and Dinakaran as deputy general secretary.

Questioning the annulling of his aunt Sasikala, Dinakaran said, "It's because of Chinamma (Sasikala) that EPS and other ministers are where they are. Will they resign as they want Sasikala's removal?"

In a general council meeting, held between the merged EPS and OPS, late chief minister J Jayalalithaa was declared as AIADMK's "permanent" general secretary. Also, the General Council quashed all decisions made by Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran.

Dinakaran's representatives then approached the Election Commission (EC) and urged it to declare the party's general council meeting null and void.

Dinakaran faction of AIADMK also moved the Madras High Court on September 14, demanding a floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to prove the majority of the Edappadi K Palanisamy government.

The Madras High Court later ordered that no floor test will be conducted till September 20.

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COLUMBUS  Brothers Mark and Ron Stock have always stuck together.

They were the only two kids in their class at a country school in District 40.

I was No. 1 in my class all eight years, said Mark.

Although all five of their sisters went off to college and several earned master's degrees, Ron and Mark didnt care much for college.

At any other time that likely would have led them to work on the family farm, but this was the early 1980s, when times were tough for farmers, and Ron and Marks father didnt think there would be enough income to support everyone.

In the winter of 1983, Ron went to auctioneering school with a few of his friends. By the following spring, he and Mark had their first client.

We had a call from a gal that said, Hey, I'm moving to Arizona. Will you guys do my household sale? Mark explained.

Before the sale, Mark checked Rons closet to see if they had any clothes that matched so people would know they were working together.

We didn't have anything that matched except our yellow FFA shirts, said Mark. Someone says, One thing's for sure, we can pick you guys out in the crowd, because nobody else was wearing yellow. And we figured, why don't we just stick with that?

Kind of goofy, isn't it? he added.

Stock Auction Company did personal property sales, also called salt and pepper shaker sales, for years. They landed a few lucky breaks running auctions for the Noonan Equipment Company in Cornlea, Behlen Manufacturing, Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha Public Power District and Lincoln Electric System. The brothers added real estate to the mix and by the end of the '90s the team had to grow because business was picking up.

We were having three auctions a week all across Nebraska and into Kansas, said Mark. We're putting a lot of miles in doing sales in Atlanta, Georgia, and sales in Texas.

When the ethanol boom came in the mid-2000s, auctions slowed down significantly.

We were lucky to have three auctions a month, said Mark. Because nobody quits when they're making money."

But they had an ace up their sleeve.

In 2000, they collaborated with some young people using a grant from the Kiewit Foundation to develop an online bidding site and were the first auction company in Nebraska to offer online bids.

Nobody knew what it was, said Mark. People out in the crowd would be mad when we'd have a computer screen on and we would be saying, 'The internet  you've got to bid again. (Theyd say), 'You aint got nobody online! There's nobody there.'"

We were the very first auction company to bring live internet bidding directly out to the traditional farm auctions, Ron said. We used to drag 1,000 feet of telephone cable through the mud so we could have a dial-up internet hookup out in the auction ring. We recognized early on that the internet was going to be the future.

After 10 years of experimenting with and perfecting internet auction software, the Stock brothers launched BigIron.com in 2009.

We had plans on launching Big Iron in 2004, but the software build was slow to develop, Ron said. And it was a good thing, because in 2004 there were only 20 percent of farmers online and just five years later there were 80 percent of farmers with online capabilities.

To come up with a name, they put a piece of paper on the wall and started jotting down ideas.

We just started writing a whole bunch of different possible names that we thought would be unique and easy to spell, and then we'd start searching if those domains were available or for sale, said Mark. We searched through literally thousands of them. Finally, somebody wrote Big Iron.'"

The first Big Iron auction was in February 2009. They had 21 items up for bid and more than 800 people registered.

One of the items was a grain cart with a shot auger flighting that sold for $2,100 to a buyer in Texas.

When they came to pick it up they were so excited, Mark said. It was exactly what he was looking for because he was going to re-flight it and convert it into what we call today a seed tender to load his grain drill with.

The Stocks decided to run another online auction the next month and see if they could keep it going monthly. Things sped up.

Our one auction a month turned into two auctions a month, turned into an auction every week within one years period of time, Mark said. It morphed really, really fast.

One thing Mark credits for Big Irons success is there are no buyers fees added onto the bid and the auctions are absolute, meaning theres no minimum bid for an item.

(Buyers) know they're not wasting their time, said Mark.

Sellers save time and money because they dont have to haul their equipment to an auction site, and theyll have 20,000 to 100,000 people watching the bidding.

Big Iron spread like wildfire and theyve had to hire independent contractors as sales representatives across the country.

There's over 170 people on the sales force, said Mark. We're looking for more all the time. The demand is here to go service the needs of the customers that are constantly reaching out saying, I've got items I want to sell.

In 2016, the Stocks separated Stock Realty and Auction Company and Big Iron Auctions because the two entities had become too big. Then customers were asking if Big Iron handled real estate sales, and those from outside the state may not know about Stock Realty.

They haven't been able to connect the dots that Ron and Mark Stock also own the Big Iron brand, Mark said.

That's why the team unveiled Big Iron Realty, an umbrella that covers everything Stock Realty and Auction has done since the mid-80s, during Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island.

They also ran their 12th annual Husker Harvest Days benefit auction for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

The Stock brothers have come a long way from their small country school and still share their strong family values.

And they know they didnt do it alone. Theyve had the support of their wives Kris (Marks wife) and Kristin (Rons wife). Both couples have been married for 25 years.

Theyve also had the support of the whole Stock Realty and Big Iron team.

I learned a long time ago that if you want to be successful with anything you need to surround yourself with smart, talented people, and that's what we continue to do, Mark said. Were still looking for more smart, talented people to be part of our organization because we're trying to respond to the needs of the customer base.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Sunday reiterated his stance of making Chhattisgarh Open-Defecation Free (ODF) and said that the state is going strong to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Swachh Bharat'.

Lauding the efforts of the Prime Minister and the people in the state, Singh, while attending a 'Swachhta Hi Sewa' programme here, said, "We were wondering if we would be able to achieve the Prime Minister's vision by October 2019. I'd like to thank him and the people for making it a public movement. We hope to achieve an ODF Chhattisgarh by October 2, 2018."

He also said that a number of people visited the bathrooms in the villages and they were impressed by the cleanliness of the bathrooms.

Singh also stated that Chhattisgarh will see 10 times the development they are seeing now, if the state concentrates on cleanliness and hygiene, likening the movement with a gift being presented to the women of the state.

Chief Minister Raman Singh also congratulated the Minister of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Ajay Chandrakar, for working towards the fulfillment of the Swachh Bharat dream.

He further said that he wished to invite Prime Minister Modi in 2018 to show him an ODF Chhattisgarh.

Meanwhile, on the 67th birthday of Prime Minister Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has urged everybody to organise and join cleanliness initiatives, and devote the day to the ' Swachh Bharat Mission', adding that the mission is very special to the former.

"I urge you all to organise or join any cleanliness initiative and share your photos on the Narendra Modi Mobile App," wrote Shah, in his blog.

The BJP president also wished "a long as well as healthy life in service of the nation" to Prime Minister Modi, and praised him for working for the nation on his birthday too.

With the BJP celebrating ' Sewa Diwas' on the occasion, Shah said that several organisations and NGOs, particularly the youth-driven groups are undertaking a wide range of social service initiatives.

"Service or 'Seva' indeed is the best way to celebrate Narendra Bhai's birthday," Shah added.

In praise of the prime minister, Shah claimed that 'India First' is a belief that he lives by.

He also claimed that Prime Minister Modi has worked extensively towards poverty alleviation, and under his supervision, the government has undertaken "historic poverty alleviation initiatives (that are) taking shape at a scale unheard of in the history of India."

He concluded by conveying his message of 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement.

"Let us strengthen the ' Swachhata Hi Seva' movement with our active and continuous participation so that we can fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a clean India," he said.

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Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, while referring to Saturday's ceasefire violation in the Arnia sector of Jammu and Kashmir, said that Pakistan will face a heavy retaliation if it continues to violate ceasefire agreements.

Talking to ANI, he said, "After Pakistan fired at us, we retaliated with more force and with a heavy hand. Pakistan has also faced severe damage; we replied with the great fire. If they fire on us, our guns should not stop."

Nirmal Singh also referred to the comments made by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh a few days ago to substantiate his word. Rajnath had reportedly said that if any bullet comes from across the border, then there shall be no counting of the bullets fired from the Indian side.

Nirmal Singh further said that the ceasefire violations are an act of desperation from Pakistan.

"It is an act of desperation, because they are facing a threat from India," he said.

Singh also stated "isolation" as a reason for their desperation, especially after a joint-statement from the BRICS named few Pakistan-based organisations as terror outfits.

"Pakistan has been isolated all over the world. Even the closest friend of Pakistan that is China is not supporting it. The Muslims countries have isolated Pakistan as well," he said.

Singh said that rescue and relief operations are underway at the moment.

He said, "The firing has stopped since 6 in the morning. The IG has rushed to the place. The S.S.P. and D.C. are already there and are supervising the relief operations."

The number of injured civilians in the firing rose to six, but one of the injured succumbed to the injuries.

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The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued an official notice stating that heavy rainfall is expected for the next five days over Konkan, Goa and Coastal Karnataka, while the same is expected over Madhya Maharashtra for four days.

"The current weather analysis and numerical model prediction suggests widespread rainfall activity most likely to occur over Konkan and Goa and Coastal Karnataka for next five days and over Madhya Maharashtra for next four days and decrease thereafter," an official release stated.

The warning has been issued for September 17 to 20, stating that "Heavy to very heavy rainfall" can occur at isolated places very likely over Coastal Karnataka and heavy rainfall at isolated places over Konkan, Goa and Madhya Maharashtra.

The warning comes after an upper air cyclonic circulation was detected over south Madhya Maharashtra and its neighbouring areas between 2.1km and 4.5 km above mean sea level. Another upper air cyclonic circulation lies over north and adjoining west central Bay of Bengal at lower levels and a trough extend from this circulation to south Gujarat at lower levels, the release stated.

Meanwhile, an east-west shear zone runs roughly along latitude 14.0 degrees North between 5.8 and 7.6 km above mean sea level, the release added.

No warning has been issued for September 21 so far.

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The bullet train project now becomes a work in progress with a historic agreement reached between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during the later's recently concluded visit to India.

There has been a mixed view point in the country on ways to streamline this wide spread Indian rail route that cuts the time to travel and reduces the burden both for the passenger travel and freight transport on land, sea and air ways in a manner that the full potential of the railways can be realized.

"One of the options often talked about is the introduction of the high speed railway networks in the country. The debate over the years has been intense as it come along with a mixed bag of bearing on politics, economy and society. This debate however over the years has only intensified with the government getting more determined to bring about railway reforms and provide a faster means of transport to public via introduction of high speed rail networks and implementation of bullet train project," says Pooran Chandra Pandey, Global CEO, DOC Research Institute, Berlin - a Germany based global think tank.

The agreement paves a pathway for introduction of a high speed railway network of approximately 500 kms between industrial town of Ahmedabad and India's financial capital of Mumbai over the next five years with a Japanese soft loan of Rs. 88000 crores (81 per cent of the cost) at an unprecedented lowest rate of 0.1 per cent for 50 years ushering into a new era of Indo- Japanese bilateral partnership.

"This project would have a significant bearing on regional balance of power through this collaboration between the two nations with Japan scoring over its competitors like China and Germany, the two potent rivals as far as rail technology and innovation in railways infrastructure is concerned," Pandey stated.

"Japan has by far been a leader in high speed railways much ahead of German and Italy and subsequently with France and China since the start of the 20th century. This development also assumes a greater significance as the partnership comes a few weeks after Dokhlam stand off between China and India being resolved diplomatically and Indian Prime Minister's much touted 'Make in India' gaining acceptance globally and equally being supported by his Japanese counterpart in a rather obvious manner, Pandey added.

This is also noteworthy that earlier initiated projects to modernize Indian rail infrastructure both with support from China and Russia could not gather momentum and have by and large been labeled as a non-starter.

Concerns of safety have been raised and critics have doubted the bullet train project as it is cost intensive amid fears of domestic and local politics over the high speed rail project. Some have even expressed their doubts weather the bullet train project in India would remain a piped dream, given the distribution of railway infrastructure over multiple states with conflicting and competing political interest.

"Such an ambitious project has various aspects to it ranging from economic, social, political level domestically to one of strategic internationally. This project also sets a clear vision of regional partnerships with commercial gains that ensue in wake of this historic Indo-Japanese collaboration. This project is expected to set in spike in land price along the high speed transport corridor resulting in unlocking of dormant economic activities by putting more disposal income in the hands of those situated along the corridors, " Pandey said to ANI in an e-mail Interview.

He further said. "It is estimated that the bullet train project with Japanese government's full force support may potentially draw a line between long term partners and fair weather friends in the region, besides triggering a commercial competition to fast track regional connectivity that goes well beyond re-setting the regional geo-strategic influence. This in effect is also likely to add muscle to India's nuanced stance on its 'Act East' policy, going forward."

Pandey said , "however, it is evident that flurry of activities on this front will spur the domestic public and private sector enterprises and build in a new partnership between Indian and Japanese industries and associates".

Japanese technology and railway engineering also gives a high degree of confidence in passenger safety standards as Japanese high speed railways has no peers and its technology is known to be the best and the safest even after 50 years of its past track record, he added.

The Indian Railways now ranks among the world's largest rail networks. spread over 115,000 km, with 12,617 passenger trains and 7,421 freight trains each day from 7,172 stations plying 23 million travellers and 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight daily. India's railway network is recognised as one of the largest railway systems in the under single management. "This accolade however has not been without its share of challenges and difficulties in terms of its overall management, administration, passenger facilities, technology usage, track upgradation, safety standards and marketing of the railway economy to leverage such a vast network of railways to its fullest potential. As a consequence, a formidable reforms in the sector and infusion of technology and financial resources are the crying need for the railways and perhaps the only way to meet a fast rising public demand for a safer, shorter and cost effective travel in the one of the world's largest railway networks, he said.

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Syed Akbaruddin, India's permanent representative to the United Nation, on Sunday said that India will not sit idle till Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is brought to justice.

Speaking to ANI, Akbaruddin assured that India would persistently raise Masood Azhar issue on international forum and find a solution through dialogues.

"Many countries are with us except one (China). Only that one country is coming in way of declaring Masood Azhar a global designated terrorist at the UN. But, we want to find a solution to this issue through dialogue. This issue is under a committee of the United Nations and it is expected take decision on it in three months. But, I will assure you that we will never forget this issue. Masood Azhar is a criminal. Whatever time it takes, India will not sit idle till he is brought to justice," he said.

On August 3, China again extended by three months its technical hold on the US, France and UK- backed proposal to list JeM chief and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist by the UN. The extension is expiring on November 2.

China is supporting Masood Azhar at the behest of Pakistan.

If China would not have extended the technical hold, Masood Azhar would have automatically been designated under the United Nations as a terrorist.

Following China's stand on Azhar, India on August 4 called for international cooperation against all forms of terrorism.

Speaking at a press conference, India's then External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay had said that Azhar's involvement in carrying out terror attacks on Indian soil is a well known fact.

He also accused Azhar of fomenting terrorism in other countries and other parts of region.

In February also, China blocked the United States' move to designate Azhar as a global terrorist at the UN.

If Azhar is designated global terrorist at the UN then it would prevent the terror chief from travelling internationally and result in a global freezing of his assets.

India has accused Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Mufti Rauf Asghar and his two other key lieutenants - Shahid Latif and Kashif Jan for the January 2 Pathankot airbase attack.

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In response to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's warning of not doing politics in the name of festivals, Rashtriya Samajsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar on Sunday said that the former, herself, was politicising festivals to create a rift between the Hindu and the Muslim communities by giving such an advice, and added that her statement was "laughable, uniformed, and full of violence."

"Her statement is laughable, uniformed, and full of violence," said the RSS leader, and added that Mamata has become a "ridiculous joke".

"Her advice is her political ploy. She herself is doing the biggest politics to create a rift between both communities," Singh further added.

The RSS functionary also said that both the Muslim and the Hindu Communities, if left on their own, will celebrate Muharram and Dussehra respectively with peace and brotherhood.

In a warning against creating violence during festivities, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that "politics should not be done in the name of festivals."

Stating that communal violence may occur on Muharram day as it coincides with the day following Vijayadashmi when idol immersions are usually carried out, the West Bengal Chief Minister has barred idol immersion after 6:00 p.m.

Mamata also warned that violence will not be tolerated during festivities.

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Vijnana Bharati recently marked its silver jubilee by organising K.S. Sudarshan Memorial Lecture at Indian Science Academy (INSA) here.

The major focus of the celebration was to highlight India's contributions in the development of science and technology and to rejoice the unsung science heroes of India.

The theme of focus for the evening was 'State of Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges.'

The event was chaired by Professor Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, Government of India. Shankar V Tatwawadi, Patron VIBHA; Dr Omkar Rai, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India; Dr D. K. Aswal, Director, CSIR-NPL and A. Jayakumar, General Secretary, VIBHA were other dignified guests.

The programme was also attended by academicians, scientists, researchers as well as post graduate students. Senior Scientists from elite institutions like CSIR, Ministry of Information and Technology, IARI, AICTE were amongst the distinguished audiences.

Tatwawadi highlighted how from the millennial period, India has advanced in science. From Charak Sushrut to Venkataraman Ramkrishnan, many scientists have contributed towards growth and development of world science. He also stressed on the importance of indigenous technology, ancient scientific heritages of Vedas for betterment of Indian people and society.

Sketching a vivid portrait of K. S. Sudarshan through his words, he explained how he strived for the upliftment of Indian farmers. A strong votary of Swadeshi Science, late Sudarshanji masterminded the creation and evolution of VIBHA in 1991. He urged scientists and youths to find the solution of the problems at local and socially accepted.

Chand focused his talk precisely on the theme of State of Agriculture. "It may be noted that agriculture is a 'state subject' under the Constitution of India. However, the central government plays a crucial role in shaping agricultural policies. Although Indian agriculture is in private hands, government policies have greatly influenced its pace and character," he said.

He mentioned how his roots from an agricultural household has helped him in understanding the facets, issues and challenges in agriculture and hence planning new conventions to tackle the issues.

Explaining the role of Agriculture in India, he explained how India has moved from agriculture oriented country when it contributed 60% of India's economy and growth, has now declined. India accounts for 7.68% of total global agricultural output. Indian Agriculture is facing several challenges. These include sustaining investment, climate change, high fluctuations in prices and production, undeveloped markets, relative profitability of Agriculture vis-a-vis other sectors, raising small holder productivity, providing livelihood to large numbers, containing the cost of production and retaining International Competitiveness.

Meanwhile, A Jayakumar discussed the future prospects Indian agriculture. Explaining some of the issues he also made the audience exercise their minds in searching for possible solutions to the issue.

Jayakumar also mentioned how VIBHA plans in future to emphasize on agricultural development and directing all the developments in agricultural sciences towards the benefits of agriculture at the root level. He also vowed to bring agriculture scientists and take up projects to ameliorate the condition of farmers even not done by the successive governments so far.

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Kuwait has decided to expel North Korea's diplomatic staff, including the ambassador, from the oil-rich country.

The decision comes after Kuwait stopped issuing new visas for North Koreans citing its U.N. sanctions implementation report, Local media reports.

Kuwait, in its report submitted to the U.N. Security Council, stated that it has decided to cut the number of North Korean diplomats in the country to four from the current nine, Yonhap reported. Thousands of North Korean labourers are working in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates .

The move is in line with UNSC Resolution 2321 adopted last year to punish North Korea's fifth nuclear test. On Monday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted ninth sanctions resolution against North Korea over the country's sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3, imposing a ban on the country's textile exports and capping imports of crude oil.

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British police on Saturday arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with attack on a London Underground train in Parsons Green. Meanwhile, the threat level in the country continues to be 'critical'.

The Independent reported that the man was arrested in the departure area of the port of Dover under the Terrorism Act on Saturday morning by Kent Police.

The Metropolitan Police described the arrest as "significant" but did not give any further information on the man's alleged role, having previously suggested investigators were hunting multiple suspects.

The Independent quoted Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, as saying that "this arrest will lead to more activity from our officers. For strong investigative reasons we will not give any more details on the man we arrested at this stage".

Basu also said that the investigation continued and the threat level remained at critical. Detectives have so far spoken to 45 witnesses are receiving photos and videos from the public, while scouring CCTV footage.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday raised the threat level from severe to critical after an explosion on a Tube train in south-west London in the morning.

This is the fourth time that the assessment has been placed at the highest level in the past 11 years. Critical means an attack is expected imminently.

The UK's threat level was upgraded from "severe" to "critical" on May 23 following the Manchester bombing on May 22, in which a bomb exploded in the foyer of Manchester Arena moments after US pop star Ariana Grande left the stage. The attack left 22 dead and 59 injured.

Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the explosion on Friday in which 29 people were hurt after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasted on a Tube train at the Parsons Green Station.

The explosion during Friday's morning rush hour also left several passengers fleeing in panic.

Passengers suffered facial burns after the incident inside the carriage as it was sat at the overground station.

Police said a device was placed inside a bag and left by the tube carriage door before exploding towards the rear of the train, filling the carriage with smoke.

Passengers were seen "running and screaming" from the tracks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday paid his tributes to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Mahant Chandnath, who recently passed away after prolonged illness.

Adityanath he said that Chandnath will be remembered for his rich social work.

Talking to the media at Chandnath's last rites in Rohtak, "He was like my guru and brother. On behalf of 22 crore Uttar Pradesh people, I pay homage to MP Mahant Chandnath who will be remembered for his contribution for the developmental works. He established many educations, health centers in Haryana and Rajasthan state respectively. He also established Baba Mastnath University."

"I pray Almighty Baba Mastnath to give enough strength to his family members to overcome this situation. May his soul rest in peace," he added.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Khattar and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were also present at Chandnath's last rites.

Chandnath took his last breath on Saturday at around 11:45 p.m. at Delhi's Apollo Hospital.

The BJP District Head of Alwar further informed ANI that all the events of the day in the district were cancelled following Chandnath's death.

Chandnath headed the Nath sect of Hinduism and was also the chancellor of the Mast Nath University.

Chandnath first won the by-elections in 2014 from Rajasthan's Behror seat.

In 2014, he defeated Jitendra Singh of the Congress to became a MP from Alwar.

In February 2017, Chandnath was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) by a Haryana court for criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
COLUMBUS  Since my revelation last week, much has changed.

My couch time has been substituted with obsessively cleaning my living quarters, going on long neighborhood walks with Karsen and thumbing through my book of calculus problems. Once my delicious bag of Doritos was gone, I filled my bowls with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms to nibble on while George Gershwin kept me company.

Just as I was about to complete my metamorphosis into a bona fide fuddy duddy, I set a designated time to visit the YMCA. The same time three days a week I run through computer-simulated New Zealand and Bavarian village trails while Queens of the Stone Age sings to me about the lost art of keeping secrets. Weights are lifted, miles are traveled in one way or another, and water is gulped like its the last drop within a considerable distance.

The good thing is I have formed a proverbial circle of salt around my delightful wonder couch. Ive managed to keep myself as busy as possible, so we rarely meet. Its been a week of consistency without Mos Moto, which is great. Im not sure what was worse: making that thing or having to see it. Already I am feeling clearer and my routine is starting to come together.

A few days ago I woke up fresh as a daisy at 4 in the morning. I got the weird impulse to go for a little run around my neighborhood. What else was I going to do with this rare burst of energy? I have driven my area long enough to know where I can go on foot, so I figured this was a safe idea. I spent some time looking for my glow belt, which makes me visible in the absence of light. As is normal in moving from place to place, I of course lost it. So I donned my lime green Hurricane Harbor shirt that can be seen from space and hopefully reflect the beams of passing headlights.

Normally, I use music to time my runs. When I want to go on a distance jaunt, I play about four Metallica songs. Those last about five minutes or so and they distract me enough to not give me time to change my mind about running. I was about halfway through James Hetfield describing the Cork and Kerry Mountains when I realized something terrible.

I was so lost.

The sun had yet to peek over the plains, but the morning heat was beginning to rise. I wasnt out for very long, but I guess I got distracted with something. It may have been the Great Dane that wasnt tied up and wanted to encourage my progress.

Once I lost the dog, I walked around to scope out my surroundings. White houses. No apartments. Lots of trees. That wasnt a lot of help, so I looked up at the celestial compass.

Ive had to use the stars to find my way home in the past. When I was 19 I got my car stuck in a huge mud puddle and wasnt able to get out. It would be wise to note this was in the middle of nowhere. Daniel Boone would have been pleased with the wide expanse of nothingness. I called a friend and after a good hour we were able to find each other just by following the stars.

We made Galileo proud that day.

I have always been obsessed with maps and geography. When I was little my folks bought me a few educational place mats, which made lunchtime that much more enjoyable for me. Oftentimes, my tomato soup would reach room temperature before I was done scoping out the finer details of Europe. Its mainly because of my self-education that I know my cardinal directions better than left and right.

So I carefully followed the stars back home, avoided the dog, and made it just as the sun came up. I got back inside my humble abode and quickly decided against further twilight escapades.

Most of the lessons I have learned throughout my trips around the sun were administered the hard way. Sometimes I prefer a sticky note from a fantastical godmother to remind me to stay at home.

But what would the fun in that be?
The (BJP) on Sunday said that former prime minister should not politicize his visit to garner brownie points.

A delegation headed by on Saturday visited to take stock of the current situation in .

Speaking to ANI, leader S Prakash said if suggests any positive points to bring back the Valley to normalcy then his visit would be a great help to the society.

"As a political party, they are entitled to do all this activity. However, Manmohan Singh should not politicize his visit or his report only to garner and score brownie points. If he uses his seniority and experience in suggesting positive points to bring back the Valley to normalcy then that would be a great help and contribution to the society. We need such politics in present days," he said.

Another leader Rahul Sinha said the former prime minister's move will not make any changes in the Valley.

"During Manmohan ji government, the policy regarding was a failure. In their regime the situation in Valley had become worse and now during Modi ji rule, the situation is improving in Jammu and Kashmir gradually. Therefore his meeting will not make any changes there as only Centre can do anything in this regard," he told ANI.

The panel led by Manmohan Singh, including former Union home minister P Chidambaram, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and AICC general secretary Ambika Soni will hold a series of meetings with the people of Valley to ascertain their views on various issues.

In a two-day visit, the team will also interact with members of other political parties.

The panel was formed in April this year in view of the increasing tension in the Valley.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday stated that along with a state funeral and an appropriate gun salute, a Flypast may take place, depending on the weather conditions, to honour the contribution of Marshal of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Arjan Singh, who breathed his last on Saturday evening.

Speaking to the media outside his Kautilya Marg residence, where she earlier placed a wreath on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and paid respect to the departed, the recently-appointed Raksha Mantri confirmed that the funeral will be held on Monday at 9.30 a.m. at the Brar Square near Naraina.

"The mortal remains of Marshal of Indian Air Force Arjan Singh are lying in state in his residence until tomorrow. The cortege will leave at 8.30 a.m. on a gun carriage and will arrive at Brar Square around 9.30 a.m., where the last rites will take place. A state funeral has been announced along with an appropriate gun salute. If weather permits, a Flypast will be given to honour his contribution," said Sitharaman.

Further, the minister stated that a wreath was placed by her on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Gujarat today to inaugurate the Sardar Sarovar Dam, just after a wreath was placed by President Ram Nath Kovind.

"The family of Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh is at his residence. His daughter has arrived from Europe, while the arrival of his son is awaited," she added.

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

He was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital on Saturday morning after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the Defence Ministry said.

Remembering his contribution to the IAF, Prime Minister Modi, while addressing a public meeting in Dabhoi, Gujarat said 'the country will always remember him and his discipline'.

"He was very disciplined and had high spirits. Yesterday when I came to know about his heart attack, I went to meet him in hospital. He was filled with same energy and spirit," he said.

Apart from President Kovind and Sitharaman, the three Service Chiefs Sunil Lanba, Bipin Rawat and B.S. Dhanoa also paid their respects, along with Minister of State for Urban Development Hardeep Puri.

The Flag will fly half-mast in Delhi on Monday, on account of the nation mourning the death.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed grief over the demise of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh and said that he would always be remembered for his discipline and courage.

The prime minister remembered him as the hero of the 1965 war and saluted him for his courage.

"He was very disciplined and had high spirits. Yesterday, when I came to know about his heart attack, I went to meet him in the hospital. He was filled with same energy and spirit," Prime Minister Modi said, while addressing a public meeting here.

"I salute him for his courage. The country will always remember him, his discipline," he added.

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid tribute to Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh in the capital

The three Service Chiefs of the India - Admiral Sunil Lanba, General Bipin Rawat and Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa also paid tribute to Singh.

Also, on account of the nation mourning the death of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, the Flag will fly half-mast in Delhi on September 18.

The last rites of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh would be performed at the Barar Square, Delhi on September 18.

Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh had led a young air force into the 1965 Indo-Pak war when he was about 44-year-old.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his leadership during the war. He flew over 60 aircrafts and remained a flyer until the end of his career with the IAF.

Five-star Marshal Arjan Singh retired in August 1969. In 2016, the crucial air base at the Panagarh Air Force Station was renamed after him.

Panagarh is also the headquarters of the newly raised 17 Crops - Mountain Strike Corps.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
To mark the 67th birthday of "dynamic" Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Bollywood celebrities like Karan Johar, Riteish Deshmukh?, and Abhishek Bachchan took to Twitter and wished him "health," "happiness," and "force to drive India to greatness."

Ritesh Deshmukh wrote, "Hon Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji ... wishing you a very Happy Birthday...best of health and happiness always."

Ace director Karan Johar wrote, "A very happy birthday to the honourable Prime Minister of our proud nation @narendramodi ji may the force continue to be with you...."

Abhishek Bachchan tweeted, "Best wishes to our honorable Prime Minister shri @narendramodi ji on his Birthday."

Anil Kapoor? also praised Prime Minister Modi for being a great leader, writing, "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way & shows the way" Here's celebrating the force driving India to greatness! @narendramodi ji"

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh? also lauded Prime Minister Modi for his amazing work, writing, "Happy birthday to our dynamic Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji. May we continue to progress under your leadership. #HappyBirthdayPM"

Actress Divya Dutta? tweeted, "Honored to receive this letter from prime minister @narendramodi ji!! Ill give swachhata hi seva my best..and be an integral part of it."

Actress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirron Kher? also took to Twitter and wrote, "Happy Birthday to PM @narendramodi. May you continue to lead the nation with your honesty and inspire the world with your great vision Sir !"

Veteran actor Anupam Kher tweeted, "#HappyBirthdayPM @narendramodi! May you continue to lead our nation with great honesty, selflessness & hard work for years to come. Jai Ho.??"

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit? wrote, "#HappyBirthdayPM @narendramodi ji! May the Almighty continue to shower energy, good health & love on you. ??????"

As Prime Minister Modi turns 67 today, major political entities also sent in their wishes to him, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among many others.

On his birthday, Prime Minister Modi dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation, 56 years after its foundation stone was laid by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

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Carlos Munoz Portal, veteran location manager who worked on 'Narcos' and movies like 'Spectre,' was shot and killed earlier in the week while scouting an area in rural Mexico.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 37-year-old was found dead in a vehicle hit with multiple gunshots.

The motive of the shooting is unclear. Portal reportedly was scouting solo, and he was working in an area prone to murders

Portal often worked with Hollywood productions that filmed in Mexico, including 'Fast & Furious', 'Apocalypto', 'Man on Fire', 'Sicario' and its upcoming sequel 'Soldado'.

The streaming giant, Netflix issued a brief statement, which read, "We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate."

Season four of 'Narcos' moves from Colombia to Mexico, and it centers on the fearsome Juarez Cartel.

It remains to be seen if the production will move forward with Mexico locations for season four.

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Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz has won the crucial by-election in Lahore.

The seat fell vacant after SC disqualified Sharif in Panamagate and instructed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references in the regard.

Citing unofficial and unverified results, Geo News reported that Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Begum Kulsoom Nawaz won the by-polls after managing to attain 61,254 votes, while her competitor, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's Dr. Yasmin Rashid attained 47,066 votes.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who ran her mother's campaign, thanked the supporters for the victory and hailed their efforts which led to her win.

"A big 'thank you' to each and every PML-N supporter on social media. You guys did an unbelievable job. I am so so proud of you!", she tweeted following the victory.

Addressing party workers following the PML-N's victory in the polls, Maryam said, "All the powers which had surrounded Nawaz Sharif were defeated today."

Soon after the results were out, party workers were seen celebrating in the constituency and at the party's headquarters in Model Town.

The by-election were being seen as a major test for the ruling PML-N after Nawaz Sharif's disqualification as the prime minister.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday categorically stated that unless Pakistan puts an end to the 'export' of terrorism to India, there will be no point in holding diplomatic talks between the two nations.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally here, Rajnath claimed that India has always extended its cooperation to Pakistan in maintaining friendly relations with its neighbour, but no substantial response has been given. Rather, attempts have been made to further weaken India, he said.

"India aims to maintain friendly relations with all countries, and the same goes for Pakistan. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a meeting with their leaders, it was to build a better relation. But they do not seem to understand the point. Unless cross-border terrorism ends, there will be no point in holding talks," he said.

"When firing began from Pakistan side during the ceasefire violation, I was informed by the Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) that India had waved a white flag as a gesture of wanting to resolve the matter by holding talks. However, since no response was given, I ordered them that India will not begin any gun battle; but in retaliation, if firing is required then India will no longer hold back," he added.

Re-iterating Prime Minister Modi's vision of creating a 'New India' by 2022, Rajnath stated that India is no longer weak, and is emerging as a superpower that 'nobody would dare to challenge'. He also opined that if India can move from being colonized to gaining Independence in five years, even the mission of New India can be fulfilled.

With regards to the action taken against black money, benami property and shell companies, Rajnath stated that although waging a war against corruption was not easy, all necessary measures were taken to end the menace in the society, following which over two lakh shell companies and Rs.800 crore worth of benami property has been seized so far.

"During the previous government, corruption charges always existed. Many of them have even gone to jail. The Supreme Court demanded that an SIT be constituted, but this was not done. Under Prime Minister Modi, we made it to end corruption in the society. We have seized benami property worth Rs. 800 Crore along with a crackdown on nearly 2 lakh shell companies. We will continue to wage our war against corruption, and bring out a New India with no poverty, homelessness, terrorism or naxalism," assured Rajnath.

Re-iterating the emphasis of the government on uplifting the common man, Rajnath claimed that many medical subsidies have been brought in to ensure better medical facilities to the poor, such as that on stents, medicines and procedures like dialysis and so on.

Remembering those who fought for India's freedom, Rajnath urged that India should not be divided based on any caste, creed, language or religion, adding that anti- forces opposing our unity will not be tolerated.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who celebrates his 67th birthday today, inaugurated and dedicated to the nation the Sardar Sarovar Dam, in Kevadia, Gujarat, nearly six decades after its foundation stone was laid.

Prime Minister Modi is also expected to visit his mother Heeraben Modi, a tradition he has been following over the years, later in the day.

Talking about the dam, an official release says that the increase in the height of the dam will facilitate a usable storage of 4.73 Million Acre Feet (MAF) and will greatly benefit the participating states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961 by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru. However, it took 56 years to complete its construction.

The inaugural event also sees the culmination of the fortnight-long Narmada Mahotsav - launched by the Gujarat government to celebrate the completion of the work.

After inaugurating the dam, he will also visit Sadhu Bet to take stock of the work on the 'Statue of Unity' project.

He will then proceed to Dabhoi, where he is to take part in the closing ceremony of the Narmada Mahotsav and address a public meeting.

He will also lay the foundation stone for the Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum.

In Amreli, he will address a gathering of cooperatives, Sahakar Sammelan, inaugurate the market yard of APMC and plant of Amar Dairy, and lay the foundation stone of a honey production centre.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is observing 'Sewa Diwas' to mark the occasion.

Meanwhile, as Prime Minister Modi turns 67 today, major political entities sent in their wishes to him, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among many others.

"Birthday wishes to Shri @narendramodi ji. His leadership & tenacity has immensely benefitted the nation. I pray for his long & healthy life," tweeted Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"Birthday wishes to @PMOIndia @narendramodi Ji," said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

BJP president Amit Shah tweeted in Hindi and congratulated Prime Minister Modi saying he was constantly diligent "towards making India a world Guru again."

Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Modi has hit headlines for having made major policies for the country, which have received varied responses, with few sections welcoming the decisions, while others opposing them.

One of the major economic policies has been the Centre's move of demonetisation in November 2016 that rendered the Rs. 1,000 and 500 notes illegal. The Modi Government also introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017.

Having visited close to 50 countries in three years of his tenure, the Prime Minister's foreign policies have also garnered much attention.

Another mission of his that garnered attention from his allies and opposing parties alike was the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', under which he has been urging the countrymen to keep the nation clean. He appointed several ambassadors, hailing from various walks of the society, for the mission as well.

The BJP, under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, has already started its preparations for the general elections in 2019, in a bid to lengthen its tenure as the ruling party in India.

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Celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday as a "day of service" (Seva Diwas), Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday attended a railway medical camp in Chennai.

Addressing the gathering at the camp, Goyal said, "I am very happy to come to Chennai today and a part of 'Seva Karya.' On Prime Minister Modi ji's birthday, we are doing social work across India. BJP workers all across the country have carried out this type of social work today."

Goyal averred that the social activities that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu workers are doing with party's state President Tamilisai Soundararajan is really great.

"Tamil Nadu BJP has also donated two ambulance for the welfare of the masses," he said.

With the blessings of all citizens of India, the Railway Minister said, "we will prove our campaign by implementing our good intentions in the nation."

"We are working with 125 crore Indians and we have support of NGOs also. A new India will be comprised of where every citizen will get its home with proper toilet facility, drinking water, proper electricity , quality education, good quality health services etc. and I am sure we will be successful in doing this work," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who celebrates his 67th birthday today, inaugurated and dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation, in Kevadia, Gujarat, nearly six decades after its foundation stone was laid.

An official release said that the increase in the height of the dam will facilitate a usable storage of 4.73 Million Acre Feet (MAF) and will greatly benefit the participating states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that he would ask the United States President Donald Trump administration to shun its "militaristic approach" in resolving the Afghanistan issue and that the "talks with the Taliban will bring peace to the war-torn country."

Asif also said that Pakistan would reproach the U.S. for its new Afghanistan policy at the United Nations General Assembly next week, saying "the Trump administration is following a militaristic approach and that policy has already failed."

"Peace talks with the Taliban could be arranged if Washington works with countries in the region that have influence over the militant group", the Pakistan Radio quoted Asif, as saying

Asif further said that he would tell the UN members that peace should return to this area and force is not the solution.

He said a four-country group including Pakistan, China, the U.S. and Afghanistan could be expanded to include other countries with influence over the Taliban.

While announcing his U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Trump had earlier slammed Pakistan for providing safe havens to Afghan jihadis including the Haqqani network.

Trump said, "Pakistan has much to lose by continuing to harbor terrorists,No partnership can survive harboring of militants."

The U.S. President also pledged to use a variety of diplomatic, military and economic tools to combat terrorism.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The differences within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) party came to light, when the ex-interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali came down heavily on Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif's for 'embarrassing' the country with his 'irresponsible statements on fight against terrorism.'

Chaudhry Nisar's statement came in the light of Khawaja Asif's remark in which he said that Pakistan should first fix the matters of their "own house" in order to avoid embarrassment at the international level, reported the Express Tribune.

Asif said this in a television interview, while referring to the criticism of Pakistan by the United States in its role in the fight against terrorism.

Chaudhry Nisar asserted that people in power should not just issue statements, but rather strive to find solutions to issues.

"The main reason for this [international] criticism is that we ourselves are in the habit of ridiculing and humiliating our country with our statements and attitudes. We provide foreign powers an opportunity to blame us for their own failures," Nisar said.

He even added that the country should not be made a spectacle for the enemy to take advantage.

Nisar's spokesperson said that it was quite strange that the army chief and foreign and interior ministers have different view on the issue of terrorism.

"These two persons are ministers since past four and a half years. Have they ever spoken before the cabinet meeting or during National Security Committee meeting over this issue?," the spokesperson said.

"If the minister sees any weakness or shortcoming, he should take remedial measures or raise the issue before the cabinet or the National Security Committee. The ministers should come up with solutions and not make mere statements," he added.

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Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is the appointing authority of all intelligence chiefs, has approved the proposal for apponting more civilians in the senior hierarchy in the Pakistan's powerful spy agency - Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The number of directors general (DGs), the highest civilian post in the Pakistan's spy agency ISI has been increased from one to four. Previously, there was only one civilian DG post in the intelligence agency.

According to the office order issued by the PM Office on September 15, "the prime minister has seen and is pleased to approve the proposal at para 5 read with the views of Establishment Division. and of the Finance Division."

The office order titled: "Revised establishment - Defence Intelligence Service (DIS) Cadre Of Directorate General ISI" was signed by the Prime Minister's Secretary, Fawad Hassan Fawad, and was circulated to the Establishment Division Secretary, Mian Asad Hayauddin, the finance ministry and the defence secretary.

The post of civilian DG in the ISI is a grade 21 position, equivalent to a serving major general of the armed forces. Prime Minister Abbasi approved the summary sent to the PM Office by the Defence Ministry, proposing four civilian DGs in the ISI, the Dawn reported.

In addition, the prime minister has also enhanced the number of deputy directors general (DDGs) from eight to 15. The same summary recommended the creation of seven additional DDG posts for civilian officers in grade 20.

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet and Establishment Division, Raja Javed Ikhlas, termed the order "a routine matter".

An official of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that since the prime minister was the competent authority, as the ISI worked under the PM Secretariat, it was his prerogative to increase the sanctioned posts in the agency.

Formed in 1948 as an independent unit to strengthen the country's intelligence network, the ISI was formerly a part of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which handled intelligence-sharing between different branches of the military, as well as external intelligence gathering.

Its headquarters were initially located in Rawalpindi, but were later moved to Islamabad.

In 1950, the ISI was officially given the task of safeguarding Pakistani interests and national security, inside and outside the country.

This is not the first time that Pakistan's ISI is being re-organised earlier during the Soviet-Afghan war, the ISI was strengthened and re-organised, with a handful of posts being created for civilians from the Defence Intelligence Services (DIS) cadre.

According to a former ISI official, it was in 2005 when retired Gen. Pervez Musharraf approved the posting of a civilian as DG ISI in grade 21 for the first time.

The process for the promotion of civilian ISI officers was slow, since there was only one DG slot, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Metropolitan Police said that another person has been arrested in connection with the terrorist attack at Parsons Green station.

The 21-year-old man was arrested in the west London suburb of Hounslow just before midnight on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police force said, in a statement.

He was detained under Britain's Terrorism Act and taken to a south London Police Station.

Earlier an 18-year-old teenager was arrested in the departure area of the port of Dover in connection with the attack on Saturday morning.

He was arrested by the Kent Police under the Terrorism Act and remains in custody at a London police station.

It was a "significant arrest" as the investigation continues, The Guardian quoted a statement of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing.

The arrest came 24 hours after a homemade bomb partially exploded at Parson Green tube station in west London, injuring 29 people.

"This arrest will lead to more activity from our officers. For strong investigative reasons, we will not give any more details on the man we arrested at this stage," he said.

The ISIS has claimed the responsibility for the explosion at Parsons Green.

The Metropolitan Police has also said that further investigations will continue and the 18-year-old will be asked whether there were other conspirators involved in the attack. The detectives will also look into the CCTV footage before and after the attack to track movements of those they suspect of involvement.

Any computer and phone owned by a suspect will be examined for clues, plus the remnants of the smouldering improvised explosive device left on the tube train will also provide forensic clues.

The London's Metropolitan Police said, "The Kent Police had arrested the man in the port area of Dover on Saturday morning under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act under which a police officer can arrest someone whom they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist."

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the security services are raising the terror threat level from "severe" to "critical" in the wake of the Parsons Green terror attack.

This was the fifth terrorist attack in the UK this year. But it was the only one in 2017 in which nobody died.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Blue Revolution and Sweet Revolution have the potential to transform lives of the people in Gujarat.

"Ours is a Government at the Centre that is sensitive to the needs and concerns of the farmers," said the Prime Minister, who turned 67 today, while addressing Sahakar Sammelan in Amreli.

Earlier in the day, he inaugurated market yard of APMC and Amar Dairy plant here and also laid the foundation stone of a honey production centre.

Addressing the crowd, the Prime Minister emphasised on the potential of Blue revolution and Sweet revolution in the state.

He said that along with White Revolution and Gujarat's dairy network, farmers must be encouraged to produce honey, calling for a "madhu kranti" (Sweet Revolution).

"Gujarat's 16,000 km coastal area can lead the Blue revolution. The fishing community here and our coastal assets can bring a new revolution.

The government is working to strengthen maritime power of the county and so the livelihood of the people living on the sea coast in Gujarat is going to take a turn and increase," he added.

The Prime Minister also urged the farming community to explore opportunities relating to timber.

He further said that the government is formulating new policies to urge people to join Indian Navy.

The Prime Minister today inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada district in Gujarat.

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Terming the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project as 'an engineering miracle', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the project has overcome myriad obstacles in its journey to completion.

The prime minister further said that the project, for which even the World Bank refused to provide monetary help terming it as 'hazardous for the environment', made Gujarat win the 'green award'.

"The Sardar Sarovar Dam faced so many obstacles. No other project faced so much difficulty as faced by this project. Even the World Bank did not approve funds for this dam. But we were determined that the project will go on," Prime Minister Modi said, while addressing a public meeting after inaugurating the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

He even thanked the saints and seers of Gujarat for their contribution to the completion of the project and said that when the World Bank refused to fund "it was Gujarat's temples" who extended their helping hand.

Further stressing on the same, the prime minister even slammed the people, who criticised the project and said that the government pledged to complete the project and tried to not get involved in these kinds of politics.

"I have the entire list of the people who tried to do politics on this but. I didn't want to do politics on this," he said.

Dedicating the project to the people of the country, the prime minister said that the "lack of water resources has been a major factor in slowing the pace of development."

He said that the water of River Narmada will help citizens and transform several lives.

The prime minister said that the western part of India lacks adequate water supply and in the eastern part there is a shortage of electricity, gas supply, adding that his government is working to overcome these shortages and take Indian to new heights.

Remembering Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi said the two leaders gave great emphasis to irrigation and waterways and their soul would be happy to see this project.

"The 'Statue of Unity' being built in the memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel will be a fitting tribute to him and will draw tourists from all over," he said.

He also conveyed gratitude to people for greeting him on his birthday which coincided with the event and said that he would keep working for the welfare of the people and to fulfill their dreams.

He even urged people to leave no stone unturned in creating a 'New India' by 2022, when the nation would mark 75 years of India's freedom.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who celebrates his 67th birthday today, inaugurated and dedicated to the nation the Sardar Sarovar Dam, in Kevadia, Gujarat, nearly six decades after its foundation stone was laid.

An official release says that the increase in the height of the dam will facilitate a usable storage of 4.73 Million Acre Feet (MAF) and will greatly benefit the participating states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

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Beware! People with chronic kidney disease may be vulnerable to the deleterious effects of poor sleep, almost 6.5 hours per night, according to a new study.

Chronic kidney disease is characterised by gradual loss of kidney function over time and may eventually lead to kidney failure, leading patients to undergo dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Chronic kidney disease can be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders.

Previous studies have suggested that poor sleep is common among patients with chronic kidney disease, but few studies have looked at the effects of sleep on the progression of the disease.

Lead researcher Dr. Ana Ricardo from the University of Illinois at Chicago's college of medicine and Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University, examined the association between sleep duration and quality on progression of chronic kidney disease among 431 patients with chronic kidney disease.

The participants had a mean age of 60-years-old, in which 48 per cent were women and half had diabetes.

The participants were asked to wear an accelerometer on their wrists for five to seven days to measure motion and provide information on duration of sleep as well as periods of wakefulness.

Ricardo noted that sleep is seriously impaired in the patients with chronic kidney disease.

The findings indicated that the average hours of sleep among the participants were 6.5 hours per night.

Interrupted sleep, also known as sleep fragmentation, was associated with a slightly elevated risk of developing kidney failure.

Over the five-year follow-up, the results suggested that 70 participants developed kidney failure and 48 participants died.

Ricardo noted that each hour less of sleep duration increases the risk for deterioration of kidney function over time.

The patients with chronic kidney disease often have co-occurring hypertension, obesity and diabetes.

The research appeared in the journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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The Special Task Force on Sunday arrested three members of the Babbar Khalsa group from Punjab's Ludhiana and procurred 2.5 kilos of Heroin from them.

The STF arrested Gurlal, who, along with two other men, was going to Firozepur to supply the Heroin.

Further details are awaited.

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The Palestinian movement Hamas on Sunday announced to dissolve the Gaza administrative committee and allow the consensus government of President Mahmoud Abbas to govern in its place and hold general elections.

The announcement followed indirect negotiations between Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas in Cairo. The reconciliation move is likely to end a 10-year rift between West Bank and Gaza that started when Hamas forced the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority out of the coastal enclave in 2007.

The movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since it seized the control of the Palestinian area in 2007, said that it is ready to meet again in Cairo with Abbas' Fatah movement and other factions on the formation on a unity government.

"Hamas is ready to resume dialogue with the Fatah movement on implementing the Cairo reconciliation agreement of 2011 on the formation of a unity government with other Palestinian factions," said the leaflet.

In May 2011, Abbas and former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal signed in Cairo a reconciliation agreement, which included the formation of a unity government that prepares for general elections within six months.

Palestinian Authority also presurrized Hamas by reducing electricity in Gaza and cutting of salaries.

The negotiations were "an expression of Egyptian interest in Palestinian reconciliation and ending the division, and our interest to realize the hopes of the Palestinian people by achieving national unity," CNN quoted Hamas as saying.

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Five people, including a government administrator, were killed when a remote-controlled bomb went off at a roadside in Bajaur Agency's Loye Mamond area in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan on Sunday.

Local Tehsildar Fawad Ali and four Levies personnel lost their lives in the blast, said the political administration.The blast took place in the town of Mamoon, some 25 kilometres from Khar, the main town of Bajaur.

Ali, along with Levies personnel, was patrolling in Garigal area when his vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled explosive device, killing him and four Levies personnel on the spot. All the bodies were shifted to the agency headquarters hospital.

The security forces have cordoned off the blast site and a search operation is being conducted.

Bajaur is one of the seven tribal agencies that makes up Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas along its volatile border with Afghanistan, where Army is battling Taliban.

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Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa on Sunday, while recalling the contribution of 'philanthropist' Marshal of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Arjan Singh revealed that over Rs. 2.7 crore-worth loans have been disbursed to air warriors so far, from the money that was collected under the 'Arjan Singh trust', established in 2004.

Speaking to reporters after paying his respect to the departed at his Kautilya Marg residence, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said the trust fund was set up by Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh and his wife to help air warriors at a time when no pensions were available.

"In 2004, when he was promoted as the Marshal of IAF, he, along with his wife, sold off their property and started the Arjan Singh Trust at a value of Rs. 2 crore, which has now summed up to Rs. 3.7 crore. This was at a time when there were many airmen retiring from the service without their pensions being provided, which caused economic grief. They have disbursed Rs. 2.7 crore of loans to air warriors so far," he said.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh was 'a philanthropist to the core' and always led from the front and brought many innovative reforms to the IAF.

Recalling his contribution to India's victory in the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa stated that it was he, who steered India's victory over the enemy and spoiled its design to annex Jammu and Kashmir, despite initial setbacks.

"The 1965 Indo-Pakistani war was the first major air battle post Independence. It was his dynamic leadership that helped us overcome our initial setbacks and overpower the enemy, who wanted to annex Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Further, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh was overwhelmed with the recruitment of women as fighter pilots, and even met the three women, who were recruited.

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

He was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital on Saturday morning after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the Defence Ministry said.

The Flag will fly half-mast in Delhi on Monday, on account of the nation mourning the death.

The Government of India announced this, while expressing profound sorrow over the loss and said that a state funeral will be accorded for the same tomorrow.

The last rites of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh would be performed at Brar Square, Delhi on September 18.

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It got mired in a controversy after a 7-year-old student was found dead inside the premises, but now Ryan International School has decided to reopen its gates from Monday.

However, the father of the late student, Pradyuman, is not happy about it and fears that the evidence might end up getting tampered.

"Reopening of school without addressing security lapses poses threat to other children as well," Varun Thakur told ANI.

He further stated he doesn't want the school to reopen as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry hasn't started yet.

Earlier, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had promised for a CBI-led inquiry in this case.

The doctor, who conducted the post-mortem of the deceased student, said that there were no signs of sexual assault on his body.

The school's bus conductor, who was nabbed after the body of Pradyuman was found inside the toilet of the high-profile school, with his throat slit on September 8, following which the school's principal was suspended.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted to look into the murder case, had pointed out serious security lapses in the school.

The SIT averred that the school did not have any separate toilets for staff members like drivers and conductors, while adding that the administration even did not get their employees identification verified.

The report by the investigative team also highlighted that the CCTV cameras of the school were neither working properly, nor installed everywhere. Also, the fire extinguishers expired. It was also revealed that the school establishment had broken boundary walls.

The report further said that there were no separate toilets for conductors and drivers and the wall behind the school remained unfinished, which easily allowed anyone to enter the school premises without permission.

The report also added that a proper police verification of employees, working at Ryan International School, was not done by the school authorities.

Meanwhile, the transit anticipatory bail application of the CEO of Ryan International Group, Ryan Pinto, will be heard by the Bombay High Court.

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The Supreme Court on Monday will hear plea filed by the two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir.

The Rohingya immigrants in their plea have sought apex court's intervention to direct the Central Government not to deport them and other Rohingyas.

The Central Government is also likely to file an affidavit tomorrow in the case.

The plea filed by the two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered refugees under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), earlier stated that "this act (deportation) would be in contradiction with the Principle of Non-Refoulement, which has been widely recognized as a principle of Customary International Law".

However, on September 8, a plea was filed in the top court seeking identification and deportation of Rohingya Muslim refugees.

The plea was filed by Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan, (RSA) leader, K.N. Govindacharya.

Govindacharya, in his plea, said the Rohingya Muslims are a burden on a country's resources and also a serious threat to India's security.

The Principle of Non-Refoulement prohibits states from sending back refugees to a country where their life may be in danger.

Earlier, India announced that it plans to deport an estimated 40,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees living illegally in India. The government said that even those registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees would be deported.

The Rohingyas fled to India after violence in the Western Rakhine State of Myanmar.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said that the Congress top rung might have instructed party leader Manish Tewari to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the social networking site.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that Tewari who is recognized as a good and a sensible person has spoiled his image by making an obscene remark against the Prime Minister.

"He is a good man but I think he got an order from Rahul Gandhi. He spoiled his name as a balanced, sensible person," Swamy told ANI.

Echoing similar sentiments, another BJP leader Nalin Kohli said that it seems like Congress leaders have the tacit approval of the party's president and vice-president, which allows them to insult the Prime Minister.

"This is a clear obscenity and abuse. The senior people within the Congress Party are using obscenity for the Prime Minister of India. It shows that they have the tacit approval of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi or both. If they can't take him (Prime Minister Modi) on politically that doesn't mean they resort to obscenities by their leaders," Kohli said.

Kohli further urged Sonia Gandhi to either apologise or take action in the connection.

"The Congress president will have to either apologise for it or come out and take action against the use of obscenity against the institution of the Prime Minister," he added.

After facing wrath over his abusive tweet against 'bhakts,' Tewari yesterday evening issued a clarification, where he said that he did not mean to offend Prime Minister Modi.

The Congress leader raked up a controversy when he used an abusive word for Bhakts in a response to a Twitter user's suggestion that Narendra Modi had nothing to learn about desh bhakti from Mahatma Gandhi.

Earlier an equally abusive message was posted by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.

"Mere do achievements - bhakton ko ch*t*ya banaya aur ch*t*y** ko bhakt banaya, (My two achievements - I've turned followers (or devotees) into idiots, and idiots into followers).

Singh evoked the ire of many by posting the controversial meme.

However, he stood his ground on defending his post and said that the retweet should not be counted as him saying those words.

"I just retweeted something. I did not abuse Prime Minister Modi. I have just said that he is the best in the art of fooling. Is it abusive?" Singh said to the media.

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#StopPakistan campaign has been launched here to highlight the plight of women and minorities in Pakistan.

The initiative has been taken during the 36th session of Human Rights Council in Geneva by Pakistani Women Human Rights Organization and European Organization for Pakistani minorities (EOPM).

The European Organisation for Pakistani Minorities, an NGO, has displayed its posters on taxi bikes with an aim to make people aware about safeguarding the rights of the minorities in Pakistan.

Minorities in Pakistan are facing persecution in the hands of state and non-state actors.

A large number of Hindus, Christians and Sikhs have migrated from Pakistan after the incidents of forceful conversions, abductions and target killings.

Yoana Barakova, Research Analyst, European Foundation for South Asian Studies, The Netherlands, told ANI that "the poor state governance, corruption, weak criminal justice system, poor borders in Pakistan have induced atmosphere of lawlessness that in return breathes terrorism and criminality".

She said that religious minorities in Pakistan are facing human rights violations.

"Intellectual, academic, scholars are being prosecuted for the fact that they are raising their voices against the crimes committed by the Pakistani Army and the Inter Services Intelligence Agency. These people suffer cruel torture, they are being illegally imprisoned," she said.

"Pakistan has a history of state sponsorer of terrorism. Afghan Taliban are creation of Pakistan. They have always been funded financially and provided combat training by the Pakistani army," Barakova said.

She further added that "Pakistan is using proxies against its so perceived enemies or those who are opposing their views such as Russia, India, The United States and NATO".

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif are set to come face-to-face in New York next week where both are expected to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit and the SAARC group meetings, on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Apart from the SCO Summit and the SAARC group meetings, Swaraj will also participate in as many as 15 bilateral meetings, including the G77 meeting, the SU meeting, the G4 meeting and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) meeting.

Speaking to ANI, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "The EAM has a programme of seven to eight days. She will be reaching here tomorrow. The programme will start from Monday. The highlight of her visit is known to everyone - her speech at the U.N. Assembly will be in the morning of September 23. We have arranged many bilateral meetings, regional meetings and trilateral meetings. As far as I know, there will be at least 15-20 bilateral meetings. Apart from this, in the trilateral and the regional meetings, there will be a G77 meeting, an SU meeting and a G4 meeting, and also a BRICS meeting. And in all these meetings, the EAM will participate."

When asked if there is any bilateral planned with Pakistan, Kumar said he has no knowledge about it.

"But like I have told if in the regional meetings the Pakistan Foreign Minister is present, then in this context, it can happen, but I have no knowledge of the bilateral meeting," he added.

Sushma Swaraj will arrive in New York on September 17 for seven days of back-to-back engagements centring around the U.N. General Assembly, including her first meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

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India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj will attend the trilateral meet between India-Japan-US on Monday.

Swaraj, who is in the US for seven days will be holding meetings with her American and Japanese counterparts.

Swaraj will also hold bilateral talks with Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.

She will also take part in a meeting, chaired by United States President Donald Trump, to discuss terrorism, on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Apart from terrorism, EAM Swaraj will also take up the issues of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, reforms in the U.N., climate change, and other peace-keeping issues in the United Nation General Assembly.

Conclusively, Sushma Swaraj will also hold several bilateral meetings and multilateral commitments, apart from speaking at the U.N. general debate on September 23.

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If you cannot resist that craving to have that ice-cold beer in the evening, then a drug that influences the immune system in the brain may disrupt the desire, reveals a study.

The findings revealed that there was a significant reduction in alcohol drinking behaviour by mice, who were given (+)-Naltrexone, specifically at night time when the reward for drug-related behaviour is usually at its greatest.

The University Of Adelaide in South Australia researchers conducted the study on mice and switched off the impulse to drink alcohol by giving mice a drug that blocks a specific response from the immune system in the brain.

They wanted to show a link between the brain's immunity and the motivation to drink alcohol at night.

Lead author Jon Jacobsen said that alcohol is the world's most commonly-consumed drug and there is a greater need than ever to understand the biological mechanisms that drive the need to drink alcohol.

"Our body's circadian rhythms affect the 'reward' signals we receive in the brain from drug-related behaviour and the peak time for this reward typically occurs during the evening, or dark phase. We wanted to test what the role of the brain's immune system might have on that reward and whether or not we could switch it off," Jacobsen added.

The team focussed their attention on the immune receptor Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).

They administered the drug (+)-Naltrexone (pronounced: PLUS-NAL-TREX-OWN), which is known to block TLR4, to mice.

They concluded that blocking a specific part of the brain's immune system did in fact substantially decrease the motivation of mice to drink alcohol in the evening.

Senior author Mark Hutchinson said that these findings point to the need for further research to understand the implications for drinking behaviour in humans.

The study is part of an emerging field which highlights the importance of the brain's immune system in the desire to drink alcohol.

The research appeared in the journal - Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

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Calling the demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh as an end to a big chapter of a history, Defence Experts on Sunday said that very few can equal him in stature and his contribution to the cause of the Defence force as well as the country.

Speaking to ANI, Defence Expert Lieutenant General (Retd.) Raj Kadyan said it is a very sad loss not only to the Air and Defence force but to the whole country.

"He may have been a member of the Air Force by his uniform but he was otherwise a role model for all of in the Defence forces..he lived as a very glorious and illustrious soul. One can only recall his contribution. He was a model not only of physical fitness; he was a model of dignity, character and of poise. With his passing away a big chapter of the history has closed. I think very few people can equal him in stature and his contribution to the cause of the defence force as well as the country. We pray for heavenly peace for his departed soul," he added.

Another Defence Expert Defence Expert P.K. Sehgal said officers like Arjan Singh are a great motivational force.

"He was a very capable and a very high rank officer..In 2002, the country honoured him as a five star marshal of the IAF. In 1938, he was commissioned and retied on 1969. After retirement, he became the Ambassador in Switzerland; became a representative in Vatican City and became a Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Whatever he did in his life, he only got appreciation from everywhere. He was a sensitive, and humane person," he said.

"When I was given a task to write a book on role of the Air Defence on 1965 and 1971 wars, I got a lot of opportunity to meet him. I was shocked to see how he helped me with all source of material. I would like to pay my homage to him..this kind of officers are a great motivational force," he added.

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

He was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital on Saturday morning after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the Defence Ministry said.

Arjan Singh was a respectable figure of the Indian military history.

Marshal of IAF, Arjan Singh had led a young air force into the 1965 Indo-Pak war when he was about 44-year-old.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his leadership during the war. He flew over 60 aircrafts and remained a flyer until the end of his career with the IAF.

Five-star Marshal Arjan Singh retired in August 1969. In 2016, the crucial air base at Panagarh Air Force Station was renamed after him. Panagarh is also the headquarters of the newly raised 17 Crops - Mountain Strike Corps.

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 67 today, major political entities sent in their wishes to him, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among many others.

"Birthday wishes to Shri @narendramodi ji. His leadership & tenacity has immensely benefitted the nation. I pray for his long & healthy life," tweeted Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"Birthday wishes to @PMOIndia @narendramodi Ji," said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

BJP President Amit Shah tweeted in Hindi and congratulated Prime Minister Modi saying he was constantly diligent "towards making India a world Guru again."

"Hearty wishes to Honorable Prime Minister Thiru.@narendramodi ji. Wishing you a long and healthy life to serve the nation. #HappyBirthdayPM," said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam.

On his birthday, Prime Minister Modi will be dedicating the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation, 56 years after its foundation stone was laid by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"Tomorrow, Sardar Sarovar Dam will be dedicated to the nation. This project will benefit lakhs of farmers & help fulfil people's aspirations," Prime Minister Modi wrote in a tweet, yesterday.

Prime Minister Modi has a series of events lined up for today.

After inaugurating the dam, he will also visit Sadhu Bet to take stock of the work on the 'Statue of Unity' project.

He will then proceed to Dabhoi, where he is to take part in the closing ceremony of the Narmada Mahotsav and address a public meeting.

He will also lay the foundation stone for the Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum.

In Amreli, he will address a gathering of cooperatives, Sahakar Sammelan, inaugurate the market yard of APMC and plant of Amar Dairy, and lay the foundation stone of a honey production centre.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party will observe 'Seva Diwas' to mark the occasion.

Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Modi has hit headlines for having made major policies for the country, which have received varied responses, with few sections welcoming the decisions, while others opposing them.

One of the major economic policies has been the Centre's move of demonetisation in November 2016 that rendered the Rs. 1,000 and 500 notes illegal. The Modi Government also introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017.

Having visited close to 50 countries in three years of his tenure, the Prime Minister's foreign policies have also garnered much attention.

Another mission of his that garnered attention from his allies and opposing parties alike was the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', under which he has been urging the countrymen to keep the nation clean. He appointed several ambassadors, hailing from various walks of the society, for the mission as well.

The BJP, under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, has already started its preparations for the general elections in 2019, in a bid to lengthen its tenure as the ruling party in India.

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Questioning the Central Government's 'Jingoism,' General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury said that a day of mourning should have been observed after the death of Marshal of Indian Air Force (IAF) Arjan Singh.

"Jingoism doesn't mean shouting slogans in defence of our army, but also to respect them," he told ANI, adding, "Arjan Singh's position as a Field Marshal implies that he is still serving and that a day of mourning should have been observed to respect the 1965-war veteran."

He also paid tribute to the late Marshal of IAF and said, "He was from the imperial air force. A field marshal implies that he is still serving. He was a hero of the 1965 war with Pakistan."

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

According to the Defence Ministry, Marshal Singh was was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital Saturday morning after he suffered from a cardiac arrest.

The Flag will fly half-mast in Delhi on Monday on the account of the nation mourning the death of the Marshal of IAF.

The Government of India announced this, while expressing profound sorrow over the loss and said that a state funeral will be accorded for the same tomorrow.

The last rites of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh would be performed at Brar Square, Delhi on September 18.

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British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that Britain's terrorism threat level has been lowered from "critical" to "severe" after being raised to the highest possible in the wake of the Friday explosion at a subway station in west London.

Rudd made the statement on Sunday after British police arrested two suspects in connection of the explosion in a packed rush-hour carriage on Friday at Parsons Green subway station, Xinhua news agency reported.

The level of "critical", the highest of the five levels used to describe the threat, means a further terrorist attack may be imminent. The level of "severe" is the second highest level.

The threat level system, introduced on August 1, 2000, is based on available intelligence, terrorist capability, terrorist intention and timescale.

The two suspects -- one is 18 and the other is 21 -- were arrested by British police on Saturday.

Thirty people were injured in the explosion, none of them seriously, in the wake of the subway blast, prompting the police to stage a massive hunt for those who are responsible for the fifth terrorist attack in the country over the past six months.

Previous attacks in London this year at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park as well as a blast at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester killed dozens of people and injured more than 150.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Friday subway explosion.

--IANS

vgu/

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The Indian doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Purva Raja suffered defeat against Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil to allow Canada take a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie here.

Bopanna-Raja lost 5-7, 5-7, 7-5, 3-6 to seasoned campaigners Nestor and Pospisil in two hours and 52 minutes on Saturday allowing the hosts to take advantage in the play-off.

The visitors will now have to win both the reverse singles in order to win the tie.

In the reverse singles, Ramkumar Ramanathan will take on talented teenager Denis Shapovalov while Yuki Bhambri will meet Brayden Schnur.

Ramkumar had defeated Schnur in a tough four-setter in the opening match of the play-off to give India a 1-0 lead.

The spirited 22-year-old had used his experience to get the better of the Canadian debutant 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5, 7-5 in a bitterly fought contest which lasted three hours and 16 minutes.

The visitors will be counting on the spirited Tamil Nadu lad to produce another tough fight against the 18-year-old Denis, who is placed 103 spots above him in the ATP rankings at 51.

--IANS

ajb/tri/dg

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Egypt welcomed the agreement between Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements to end a decade-long political rift, media reports said.

Egypt welcomes the stances of the Fatah and Hamas movements regarding Egyptian efforts to unite the Palestinian people and end the current division, Egypt's official MENA news agency said on Sunday.

Egypt would continue contacts with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and all Palestinian factions to serve the Palestinian interests and cause, Xinhua news agency reported.

Repeated reconciliation attempts have failed since the Hamas militants drove forces loyal to Abbas out of the Gaza Strip in 2007, a year after defeating Fatah in parliament elections.

The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Earlier in the day, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, agreed with President Abbas's Fatah party to reconcile, form a unity government and prepare for the general parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Hamas announcement came following eight days of a dialogue in Cairo between senior Egyptian security intelligence officials and a senior Hamas delegation, headed by the top leaders of the movement, including Ismail Haneya, Hamas politburo chief.

On Friday, Afata delegation joined the reconciliation dialogue that Egypt has been sponsoring.

It also said that Hamas movement is ready to response to the Egyptian invitation to resume the dialogue soon with Fatah Party on the mechanisms of the full implementation of Cairo Reconciliation Agreement that was reached between the two sides in May 2011.

--IANS

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Four teenaged girl students of Bihar were Sunday honoured for their courage in resisting the family's pressure to marry before turning 18.

School students Gudiya Kumari, Puja Kumari, Sonam Kumari and Priyanka Kumari were conferred the Gender Alliance's Bandhan Tod awards, under its campaign against child marriage and dowry in Bihar.

"We have awarded these girls for standing against child marriage without any help from outside," said Prashanti Tiwary of Gender Alliance, an initiative of United Nations Population Fund, adding that they refused to marry so as to pursue their education and also convinced their families. "They are real champions."

The four girls also shared their personal stories and experiences at a function. "I refused to marry despite repeated pressure by my parents and forced them to allow me to complete my schooling. Now I will decide when to marry after completing Class 12 at least," said Sonam.

Puja Kumari said that when her mother informed me to be ready to get marry, she protested vocally. "I stopped eating food and threatened to inform my school authorities that my parents are forcing me for child marriage. This has changed my life and I was lucky to allow to study," he said.

The Gender Alliance, a collective effort of over 270 civil society organisations, has been working for over a year in the state on the issue of child marriage, following Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's appeal.

Through the Bandhan Tod campaign, the Gender Alliance seeks to reach out to millions of people, especially young boys and girls, for ending child marriage and dowry.

Nitish Kumar is set to launch a massive state-wide campaign against these two evils fron Mahatma Gandhi's birthday (October 2).

"It is going to be a biggest-ever campaign against child marriage and dowry. Bihar is probably the first state in the country that will launch a drive to eradicate these two social evils," said N Vijaylakshmi, Managing Director of the Women Development Corporation, which will manage the campaign.

Vijaylakshmi also assured all help to the four girls awarded on Sunday and suggested that they be made case studies and icons to encourage other girls.

The problem of child marriage is rampant in Bihar, particularly in rural areas, despite laws against it. Ironically, it particularly affects the vulnerable population of Dalits, OBCs and Muslims due to low literacy rates and other factors including poverty.

--IANS

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A female civilian who was injured in Pakistani shelling on the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, died at a hospital on Sunday, police said.

"Three other civilians injured this incident are being treated in the hospital," police said.

Indian and Pakistan troops have been exchanging heavy fire in the Arnia sub-sector for the last three days.

On Saturday, Jammu district officials visited the border residents and assured them that in case the situation worsens, arrangements would be made for their temporary shelter.

--IANS

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Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday warned against any "wrong" move by the US which aims at breaching Iran's 2015 nuclear deal.

"They (US administration) have shown wickedness and malicious behaviour with regard to the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and the US regime is truly a vicious devil," Khamenei said, referring to the chain of sanctions by the Donald Trump administration against Iran, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the negotiations with the world powers in 2013-15, "the country's officials reached the conclusion that they should negotiate and ignore some of their rights so that sanctions would be removed," he said.

"However today, we see that despite all agreements and promises and many discussions during the negotiations, the US treats these negotiations and their outcome in a totally oppressive and bullying manner," he was quoted as saying by Press TV.

Khamenei noted that "the Iranian nation is standing firmly and any wrong move by the hegemonic system concerning the JCPOA would receive the Islamic republic's reaction".

On regional issues, he noted that the reasons behind insecurity in the Middle East can be traced to the "wicked and mischievous interventions" by the US.

After years of tension with the West, struck a deal with Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany in July 2015, under which agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of western and sanctions.

The agreement is facing a serious threat of collapse as tensions mounted between Washington and Tehran recently.
With stability returning to the war-torn West Asian nation, Iraq and Russia on Sunday restored scheduled commercial airline services for the first time since 2004, an Iraqi Airways source said.

An Iraqi Airways plane left Baghdad for Moscow's Vnukovo airport, Iraqi Airways said, Xinhua news agency reported.

It is a signal on the part of the Iraqi authorities that Russian nationals can safely visit Iraq, it said.

The two countries may also later agree on air travel to the Iraqi city of Basra, the source added.

Russia suspended regular flights to Iraq in 2004 after the US-led invasion in 2003 plunged the Arab country into war.

--IANS

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Acknowledging the role played by yoga legend Bishnu Charan Ghosh and his family members in spreading Indian postural yoga in Japan, the Japanese postal department has released postage stamps on four of Bengal's famous exponents of the ancient Indian practice.

The stamps on Bishnu Charan Ghosh, his son Biswanath Ghosh, daughter Karuna Ghosh and Karuna's father in law Asutosh Ghosh, that were released recently in Japan, were official showcased here by the Japanese Consul General in Kolkata, Masayuki Taga.

"This is the first time Japan has released postal stamps on any yoga experts. It is a result of the constant endeavour by the four yogis to create a close cultural linkage between the two countries by popularising the Indian form of yoga in Japan," Taga said during the event.

He welcomed the fruitful exchange between Indian postural yoga and Japanese martial art, stating that both have similar traits and extended good wishes to the Indian martial artists performing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

--IANS

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President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday led the nation in mourning the death of Marshal of Indian Air Force (IAF) Arjan Singh, who will be given a state funeral on Monday morning.

Remembered for his role in leading the fledgling IAF in the 1965 war with Pakistan, Arjan Singh died in a hospital here on Sunday after a massive heart attack. He was 98.

His mortal remains were kept at his residence 7A, Kautilya Marg for people to pay respects to the war hero -- the first five star officer of the IAF.

President Kovind, also the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces, said he was "extremely saddened to learn about the passing of our great and cherished air warrior -- a hero of World War II who won our nation's gratitude for his military leadership in the 1965 War".

Modi, who was in Gujarat to dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation on his birthday, paid tributes to the "brave soldier".

"Even at the age of 98, he would be dressed in uniform. He would come on a wheelchair but whenever he would see me, he would stand. He was a soldier, he never forgot his discipline."

In Delhi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the air warrior's body on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Sitharaman said a state funeral would be given to Arjan Singh. And if weather permitted, a flypast may also take place to honour the soldier.

The cortege will leave at 8.30 a.m. on a gun carriage and will reach Brar Square in Delhi Cantonment area around an hour later for the last rites.

Three service chiefs -- Admiral Sunil Lanba, General Bipin Rawat and Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa -- also paid their respects.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said Arjan Singh was a philanthropist to the core and always led from the front and brought many innovative reforms to the IAF.

"In 2004, when he was promoted as the Marshal of IAF, he, along with his wife, sold off their property and started the Arjan Singh Trust at a value of Rs 2 crore, which has now summed up to Rs. 3.7 crore. This was at a time when there were many airmen retiring from the service without their pensions being provided, which caused economic grief. They have disbursed Rs 2.7 crore of loans to air warriors so far."

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said: "The geratest air warrior, true leader and an icon for generations to come, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh will be missed by the entire nation."

Though no state mourning was announced but the Home Ministry said the national flag will fly at half-mast on the day of the funeral in Delhi on all buildings where it is flown regularly.

Former Defence Minister and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar called Arjan Singh the father of IAF's modernisation efforts.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan described the "iconic, valiant and most decorated son of India" as an "epitome of valour and dignity".

--IANS

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A helicopter hired for carrying out anti-Maoist operations in Odisha was misused by Ministers and various officers, said the government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The CAG report said the helicopter was used by various officers and ministers for surveillance and monitoring which was not allowed under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme guidelines, and ministers and various officials flew in it for about 84 per cent of its total sorties.

Between February 2013 and September 2015, 341 sorties were conducted and, out of these, the helicopter was used for dropping ration and shifting of injured security personnel only in 53 of them, said the report.

Moreover, the frequency of operation had also decreased during the period.

"In contrast, when the MI-172 helicopter was used during 2012-13 and from October 2015 to June 2016, it had conducted 343 sorties mainly for evacuation, rotation of forces, dropping of ration and shifting of injured personnel, etc," the report said.

According to the SRE guidelines and instructions (June 2009), there can be need-based hiring of private helicopters at competitive rates with prior approval of the Central government. Such helicopters were to be used for dropping ration/ammunition, deploying security personnel in inaccessible pockets, and movement and evacuation of injured security personnel.

The helicopter was not to be used for surveillance and monitoring, said the report.

However, the Odisha government had signed an agreement with Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd for hiring the 28-seater MI-172 helicopter in 2011, without the prior approval of the Centre. The helicopter worked till January 2013, after which it went out of order.

In its place, Pawan Hans had provided one 8-seater Dauphin helicopter.

"The Dauphin helicopter could not serve the purpose for which it was hired because of its limited capacity of only four passengers. There was no penalty clause in the agreement for non-supply of MI-172 helicopter. The Department also did not cancel the agreement, despite PHHL's failure to provide the desired helicopter," the CAG pointed out.

Besides, extra expenditure of Rs 11.89 lakh per flying day was made, as the helicopter had Bhubaneswar as its base instead of Koraput, which is closer to areas affected by Left-wing extremism, the report said.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tribute to Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 98.

"He was a brave soldier of our country. He was a hero of the 1965 war," Modi said in Gujarat's Kevadia, where he dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation.

"Even at the age of 98, he would be dressed in uniform. He would come on a wheelchair but whenever he would see me, he would stand," he added.

"I requested him not to stand but he was a soldier, he never forgot his discipline."

Modi said that the Marshal's spirit was the same when he met him on Saturday at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital where he was admitted following a cardiac arrest.

"We have lost a brave soldier. I pay my tributes to him. The nation will always remember his bravery and generations to come will be inspired by him," he added.

In Delhi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the late air warrior's body on behalf of the Prime Minister.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Ram Nath Kovind, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the three service chiefs on Sunday paid respects to Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh, who died on Saturday.

Besides Kovind and Sitharaman, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, besides others, laid wreaths on the mortal remains of the nation's only Marshal of the Air Force.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi was away in Gujarat where the Sardar Sarovar Dam was inaugurated, Sitharaman laid a wreath on behalf of the PM.

Family members, relatives and friends also gathered at his 7A, Kautilya Marg residence here to pay their last respects.

Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa said Arjan Singh was a philanthropist to the core and always led from the front and brought many innovative reforms to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

"In 2004, when he was promoted as the Marshal of IAF, he, along with his wife, sold off their property and started the Arjan Singh Trust at a value of Rs 2 crore, which has now grown to Rs 3.7 crore," Dhanoa said.

"This was at a time when there were many airmen retiring from the service without their pensions being provided, which caused economic grief. They have disbursed Rs 2.7 crore of loans to air warriors so far," Dhanoa said.

He also remembered Arjan Singh's contribution in the 1965 war and to the IAF.

"The 1965 India-Pakistan war was the first major air battle for the country post-Independence. It was his dynamic leadership that helped us overcome our initial setbacks and overpower the enemy, who wanted to annex Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Dhanoa added that Arjan Singh was overwhelmed at the recruitment of women as fighter pilots, and also met the three women who were recruited recently in this capacity.

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, meanwhile, said in a message: "The greatest air warrior, true leader and an icon for generations to come, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh will be missed by the entire nation."

Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh died on Saturday following cardiac arrest and he will be accorded a state funeral on Monday.

--IANS

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The Metropolitan Police Department for the midwestern US city of St. Louis said nine of its officers were injured during protests over the acquittal of a white police officer in the 2011 shooting of a black suspect.

Protests even occurred Friday night outside the home of St. Louis' mayor, Democrat Lyda Krewson, where demonstrators used rocks to break a window and threw red paint at the house before being dispersed by police, Efe news reported.

The acting commissioner of police of the St. Louis Police Department, Lawrence O'Toole, said in a statement to the media late Friday night that his officers had responded to incidents in numerous locations in the city.

"After dark, many agitators began to destroy property and assault police officers. As of right now, a total of nine St. Louis officers were injured. We also received a report that one Missouri state highway patrol trooper was also injured," he said.

Besides the mayor's home, other buildings in St. Louis' west end, including a restaurant and a library, were damaged, he added.

"Orders to disperse were given numerous times. Tear gas was deployed after officers were assaulted with bricks and bottles," O'Toole said, adding that 23 arrests were made before 6 pm Friday and that officers also had used pepper balls as a less lethal option against violent demonstrators.

The demonstrators were protesting a Missouri judge's decision Friday to acquit 36-year-old Jason Stockley, a former St. Louis police officer, of first-degree murder.

Stockley had been accused in the death of 24-year-old African-American Anthony Lamar Smith, a case that has reignited racial tensions in a city that has seen other cases of police violence.

Riots in 2014 in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, where a white police officer killed an 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown, touched off a wave of nationwide racial disturbances.

--IANS

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Reformed criminals must be given a chance to start their lives afresh, says multi-talented Bollywood celebrity Farhan Akhtar, who essays the role of a prisoner in his latest film "Lucknow Central".

The movie, which released on Friday, is the tale of four prisoners who form a music band.

Farhan, who also sings in real life, is of the opinion that criminals, if reformed, must be accepted in society once they are out of the prison.

Asked if, as an individual, he would be open to employing a former prisoner in his company, Farhan told IANS here: "Well, we have to look at the larger picture. Yes, tomorrow if you are introducing me to someone saying he is looking for a job and had a criminal record, for a moment I might sit back and the thought might cross my mind that he was a criminal; I think that is only human.

"But we have to look at the larger picture for the betterment of our society. According to our laws, a person who commits a crime, goes to jail and, based on the severity and brutality of his crime, he serves a sentence -- and comes out as a reformed individual.

"We have to understand they are all normal people and that the crime (may have) happened in a moment of madness. So, accepting these people in the mainstream of society could inspire many not to attempt crime and we can build a better society."

There are prisons which give vocational training to prisoners, and Farhan feels what they learn must be put to better use.

"If we create a system where we give criminals a chance in jail to be trained in different vocational activities -- whether it is music, art, theatre or handicraft... then it makes complete sense that we should accept them back with their skill, as a reformed individual," added Farhan.

The film, helmed by Ranjit Tiwari, features actors like Diana Penty, Gippy Grewal, Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq, Ravi Kishen, Ronit Roy and Deepak Dobriyal.

Music is one of the common threads between Gippy and Farhan, but the rest of the actors have diverse backgrounds.

Farhan said the creative collaboration was quite easy.

"The best part is that they came not just from different creative backgrounds but also from different parts of the country. While Rajesh Sharma is renowned in Kolkata's theatre world, Ravi Kishen stars in Bhojpuri films, Gippy is into Punjabi film and music, Deepak and Inaamulhaq are extremely good performers.

"So when you are performing with them, you also have to be on the top of your game. I think that is why the whole filming process was so exciting," shared Farhan.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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As the Ryan International School in Gurugram is all set to reopen on Monday, Varun Chandra Thakur, the father of a seven-year-old who was found dead in the washroom of the school, says that reopening the school will erase all evidence about the case.

On September 8, Pradhuman Thakur was found with his throat slit in the washroom of the school in the Bhondsi on the Sohna road. A bus driver, Ashok Kumar has been arrested in connestion with the case.

"Pradhuman's father on Sunday expressed the concern that the reopening of the school will erase all the evidences related to the case. This will also have direct consequences on the CBI's investigation," Thakur's lawyer Susheel Tekriwala told IANS.

"Due to this the school should remain close till the investigations are not completed," he added.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday announced that the investigation of the brutal killing is being handed over to CBI.

--IANS

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India on Sunday said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) must contribute to the fight against terrorism and hoped there will be constructive and productive engagement at the forum.

India's Deputy National Security Adviser and Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat, R. N. Ravi attended the 31st meeting Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the SCO organised here.

"India looks forward to constructive and productive engagement in the framework of SCO-RATS to eradicate the common menace of terrorism and ensuring the security of the region and the world," the Indian government said in a statement.

"The meeting discussed topical issues of international and regional security as well as deepening of practical cooperation of SCO members in the fight against terrorism."

The meeting was chaired China's Vice Minister of Public Security Li Wei who handed over the rotating chairmanship to Rustam Mamasadykov of Kyrgyzstan.

In June, India and Pakistan became members of China-led SCO, which comprises Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

--IANS

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A second man was arrested over the terror attack on a London Tube train that left 30 people injured and resulted in an increase in the country's terror threat level from "severe" to "critical", police said on Sunday.

According to the Metropolitan Police, the 21-year-old man arrested in Hounslow, west London, on Saturday night, reports the BBC.

"He was arrested under the Terrorism Act and taken to a police station where he remains in custody," the Met police said.

Earlier on Saturday, an 18-year-old man was arrested the Port of Dover over the Friday morning attack, sending a ball of fire along a carriage of the eastbound District Line train from Wimbledon at the Parsons Green station.

Police are continuing to search a house in Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey. The house belongs to an elderly couple known for fostering hundreds of children, including refugees.

The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the BBC reported.

The explosion occurred through a homemade explosive artefact, inside a white bucket, which failed to fully detonate.

Less than 24 hours later, the suburban Tube station was back in use by travellers.

Prime Minister Theresa May raised the terror status to its highest level, which means another attack is considered imminent.

--IANS

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive here on Sunday to represent India at the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) session with a packed schedule of super diplomacy among an array of world leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose hectic international diplomacy has focused on bilateral meetings and visits, will miss the UNGA session again this year, leaving Sushma Swaraj as the standard-bearer.

Outlining India's goals that the minister will pursue at the session, New Delhi's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin on Saturday said: "Our agenda is broad, forward-looking, expansive, has objectives which are global in nature, and goals which we have been pursuing for some time."

The formal meetings will begin on Monday with a summit convened by US President Donald Trump to discuss reforming the UN, where she will participate on behalf of India.

The formal round of addresses by the leaders of the 193 member nations will take place on Tuesday. Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to speak on Saturday.

The UN calendar lists more than 100 events for the week on topics ranging from ending sexual abuse to health coverage, and from digital ID's potential to famine response.

She is expected to hold about 20 bilateral and trilateral meetings with leaders attending the session, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar has confirmed.

In addition, Sushma Swaraj will also participate at several meetings of regional and specialised groups like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Non-aligned Movement, G4 made up of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan to lobby for Security Council expansion, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and G77 group of developing nations, Kumar said.

She is also slated to be one of the speakers at a high-level roundtable on climate change on Tuesday.

Akbaruddin said that the External Affairs Minister was expected to focus on solar energy programmes, which are Modi's priorities for fighting climate change.

Previewing India's participation in the Assembly session, Akbaruddin said it was built around five pillars: UN reform, counter-terrorism, migration, climate change and peacekeeping.

However, Sushma Swaraj will not participate in the ceremony for signing the treaty to ban nuclear weapons, which was approved by more than 120 countries.

India and all the other countries have opposed the treaty, but citing different reasons.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is also attending the session.

The ministry spokesman said that while no formal meetings have been set between him or other Pakistani officials and Sushma Swaraj, they will be at the SAARC and G77 meetings.

China will be represented only at the Foreign Minister's level.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday termed Pakistan's targeting of civilians living near the International Border in Jammu and with firing and shelling a human rights violation.

Interacting with media persons on the sidelines of a function here, he said: "Targeting of civilians by Pakistan troops on the international border is a human rights violation.

He also said that India has been "befittingly responding" to Pakistan shelling and firing and "everything needed will be done to protect the lives and properties of people living close to the international border".

The minister, who is also an MP from the state, said that 4,000 community bunkers and 20,000 individual bunkers will be built along the International Border as shelling proof shelters for the people living close.

A woman was killed and six other civilians injured on Saturday when Pakistan Rangers' targeted civilian facilities in Arnia area of Jammu district.

--IANS

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The merger of Hyderabad with the Indian union in 1948 was celebrated across Telangana on Sunday, with the unfurling of the national flag at the offices of political parties.

While the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the main opposition Congress and others celebrated the merger day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated it as "liberation day".

It was on this day in 1948 that the erstwhile Hyderabad State merged with the Indian union following the Indian military operation against the Nizam's Army.

Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy unfurled the tricolour at the TRS headquarters in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali and other leaders.

Alleging that the BJP was dividing people on the issue, Narasimha Reddy advised the party to desist from communal .

The BJP celebrated the day on a large scale with unfurling of the national flag at many places.

At the BJP state office, state president K. Laxman hoisted the tricolor where he targeted the TRS government for going back on its promise to officially celebrate the day.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is to address a public meeting at Nizamabad later in the day.

Congress state President Uttam Kumar Reddy hoisted the national flag at the party office. He alleged that under the TRS rule, Telangana was witnessing the same repression committed in Hyderabad State and called upon the people to launch another movement.

The BJP and other Hindu right-wing organisations had called for officially celebrating the occasion as "liberation day".

Muslim groups have been opposing any celebrations as they claim that Muslims were massacred during the "police action", as the Indian military action was popularly known.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Tourism Ministry on Sunday organised "Swachhta Hi Sewa" campaign at the India Gate with its Minister K.J. Alphons taking part in a cleaning drive.

To spread the message of 'swachhta' among common people, student teams from Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa and IIMT, Noida, performed street plays themed around importance of sanitation and keeping monuments clean.

"The plays were very good. They sent a very simple and good message on cleanliness," Alphons told IANS after watching the plays.

"We have such an amazing civilisation . I wonder why would anyone dirty it... So start cleaning it now, from our streets, from our surroundings...," the Minister later told the students and those present.

He also administered oaths of "Swachhta Hi Seva" to students under which they took pledge to volunteer at least 100 hours towards such sanitation in a year.

Similar programmes were organised at as many as 15 culturally important locations around the country on Sunday, including Mumbai's Juhu Beach, Rajasthan's Pushkar Temple, and Hyderabad's Charminar.

Apart from the campaign, the ministry is also celebrating its 'Swachhta Pakhwada' (a fortnight of cleaning drives) which started on September 15 and will culminate on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.

'Swachhta Hi Seva' is a nationwide sanitation campaign which was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday from a Kanpur village, declared 'open defecation free' recently.

--IANS

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Arm yourself with some handy tips to overcome barriers when you travel to unknown destinations -- whether in India or overseas, say experts.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder of travel website ixigo, suggests a few things you need to keep in mind when travelling in India if you are a foreigner:

* If you know English, then there are chances that you might survive easily. Though you can easily find English-speaking people everywhere in the country, the regional difference in the accent makes it really difficult to understand the language. Despite the language barrier, you can survive in this country by following some simple tips --

- Break your sentences into simple comprehensible parts. Make sure you carry a pen and a notepad to draw pictures or write words. Pen down all the important names and addresses before your leave your hotel. Look for locals who speak in English and record your route.

* This country is widely known for its delicious cuisine with all kinds of curries, breads, chutneys and sweets. Indian food is spicier for its foreign visitors. Also, tourists fall victim to the infamous 'Delhi Belly' due to the poor sanitation facilities when they travel in India.

Here is how to avoid an upset stomach --

- Eat cooked food and avoid salads or juices from any local vendors.

- Consider becoming a vegetarian while in India.

- Avoid eating too much spicy food, especially chillies.

- Wash your hands often.

- Carry probiotics that suit your body.

* Indian news channels are usually filled with news related to how one community has hurt the religious sentiments of another community. Being Indians, we might be familiar with such a thing but witnessing this might turn out to be really scary for a foreigner.

They are in constant mental dilemma on what to wear, when to cover their head, what to touch and so on.

To avoid offending anyone, you must keep these things in mind --

- Respect local dress codes.

- Take your shoes off before you enter a place of worship.

- Don't eat or pass things from your left hand as it is considered uncouth.

- Don't discuss religion with the locals.

- Taking a photograph of the deity in a temple is not permitted at most places.

* While wandering in India, you will come across a number of hawkers, local guides and auto-drivers who will be eager to assist you. But remember that most of them are just looking for a chance to extort some money.

- Travelling in a group is best.

- Drinking and smoking in public is offensive.

- Don't hire taxis or auto-rickshaws from unlicensed operators.

- Never book tickets from unauthorised travel agents.

- Don't take any offerings like 'prasad' from saints or godmen.

Abhishek Ranjan, Vice President, digital wallet company Paytm, has tips for people travelling overseas --

* In this digital-savvy world, we have everything we ought to know, on the internet. Yes, from tips to overcoming different barriers, visiting picture galleries, and accessing travel blogs, reviews, etc., everything is out there. So get researching and a plan will fall into place.

* Download a language and translation app like Duolingo. This would help you understand the basics and give you the much-needed confidence.

* Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours; talk to anyone who travels often and get some advice. You would not just get an idea about where to go and what to see, but they would also prepare you for scenarios that you may have to face.

* Get money exchange done before-hand and set yourself a budget. Know how much you are supposed to spend per day and stick to your plan to avoid running out of money. Also, ensure that you have international transactions activated on your debit/credit card, if travelling overseas.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US and South Korea have agreed to increase pressure on North Korea after Pyongyang's latest missile test, the White House said.

US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke on Saturday by phone, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two leaders have pledged to be committed to "continuing to take steps to strengthen deterrence and defence capabilities and to maximize economic and diplomatic pressure" on North Korea, according to a White House statement.

North Korea confirmed that it conducted another medium-range ballistic missile test on Friday.

The missile launch, which violates UN Security Council resolutions, came just days after the council imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear test on September 3.

China on Friday said it opposes ballistic missile launches by North Korea, urging all parties concerned to exercise restraint and avoid any acts that may escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

--IANS

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US President Donald Trump who had earlier derided the UN as a good-time club for chatting, will make his debut here on Monday by convening a summit to back Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's efforts to reform the global organisation.

In an unusual move, Trump made the signing of a 10-point political declaration supporting Guterres's efforts and endorsing his own perspective.

US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley said that "120 countries have signed on and will be in attendance. That's a miraculous number".

India is one of them and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will be at the meeting, India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin confirmed on Saturday.

Describing the initiative, Haley said: "We've got a massive reform package being led by the Secretary General that really streamlines not just the processes, but also the budget as it goes forward, and makes the UN much more effective."

In response, Akbaruddin said: "But we feel that reforms need to be much broad-based... You cannot have reform of only the Secretariat. You cannot side step issues relating to governance of UN bodies."

The big issue of governance for India is the composition of the Security Council where New Delhi wants a permanent seat.

While India supports all reform efforts, Akbaruddin said: "For us reform is broad-based, all encompassing, and we look to engage with all colleagues and friends from other countries on this."

Trump's first visit as President to the UN marks a turnaround from his snub last December when he called it "just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time".

"There is such tremendous potential, but it is not living up," he had said then.

A major plank of Guterres's campaign for Secretary-General last year was reforming the UN, and although he and Trump differ vehemently on many issues like climate change and refugees, reform is a point they agree on.

The other side of the reform coin is trimming the budget.

The US is the single largest contributor to the to UN, sending in 25 per cent of the general budget and 28 per cent of the peacekeeping outlay, and Trump wants to cut the American contributions as part of his drive to slash Washington's budget.

Haley in January warned that the US would do away with "anything that is not working" and promising austerity, echoing Trump's campaign rhetoric.

The other related focus of Washington is on peacekeeping operations and Vice President Mike Pence will be attending the high-level meeting on it, Haley said.

In June, the General Assembly cut 7.25 per cent of the peacekeeping budget for next year.

India is historically the largest troop-contributor to UN operations having sent more than 60,000 troops, of whom over 7,000 are currently serving.

Asked about the US peacekeeping reform suggestions and the push for budget cuts, Akbaruddin said troop numbers were not the only factor India was concerned about and finding political solution, reforms and training mattered.

"We will continue interacting with the US on this."

India and the US were already working together in training African peacekeepers, he added.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

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Voting was underway on Sunday for the NA-120 by-election seat in Lahore that fell vacant after Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted following the Panama Papers verdict.

Long queues were seen outside the polling stations, DawnNews reported. A total of 44 candidates are in the fray for the National Assembly seat from Lahore.

The Pakistan Army personnel supervised the polling process.

This Lahore constituency elected Nawaz Sharif thrice since 1990. His wife Kulsoom Nawaz is contesting the seat for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

After her husband's incarceration following the military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, Kulsoom had led the party though she never contested elections.

For the first time in Pakistan, Biometric Voter Verification Machines are being tested. More than 100 of these machines have been installed at 39 polling stations.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi can look back with a lot of satisfaction at the recently concluded visit of his counterpart in Japan, Shinzo Abe. Nothing broadcast the warmth and spirit of cooperation between the two Asian countries better than Mr Abes resolve that Japan would be Indias friend forever. The growing convergence on strategic issues and the mutual understanding comes at a crucial time for both the countries. Japan, as the most important US ally in the Pacific, is facing sustained provocation from North Korea even as China aims to extend its control over the region. India has just avoided a clash with the Chinese over Doklam and successfully negotiated the BRICS Summit in Xiamen by building diplomatic pressure on Pakistan towards controlling terror groups originating from it. That Japan was the only country that publicly supported India during the Doklam face-off suggested a realignment taking place. The promise of increased cooperation across various sectors from the railways to nuclear power to counter-terrorism bodes well for Indias geopolitical heft in the region and it is something that Mr Modi could count as an achievement.
Only six months into power and the Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is already in hot water with a series of controversies emerging one after another.
Five workers were injured in fire at an oil producing factory in the district, a police official said.

The blaze erupted at the factory in Pashamylaram Industrial Development Area last evening after an explosion in the unit, he said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the site and the flames were doused, he said.

The five injured workers, all natives of Chhattisgarh and aged between 19 and 23, were admitted to a hospital. Of them, three were reported to be in a serious condition, the official said.

At the factory, oil was produced from old tyres and plastic which was used for industrial purposes.

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Afghanistan is considering training and arming 20,000 civilians to defend territories where Islamic militants have been driven out, officials say, sparking fears the local forces could become another thuggish militia.

The proposal for a government-backed armed group that would protect its own communities from the Taliban and the Islamic State group comes as Afghanistan's security forces, demoralised by killings and desertions, struggle to beat back a rampant insurgency.

But the proposal has raised concerns that the local forces could become unruly and turn into another abusive militia terrorising the people it is supposed to defend.

"The Afghan government's expansion of irregular forces could have enormously dangerous consequences for civilians," said Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based group said Western diplomats in Kabul familiar with the plan -- modelled on the Indian Territorial Army that supports the country's regular forces -- said Afghan officials had expressed concerns the militia could be used by "powerful strongmen" or become "dependent on local patronage networks".

American and Afghan officials told AFP the fighters would come under the command of the Afghan army and be better trained than the Afghan Local Police -- a village-level force set up by the United States in 2010 and accused of human rights violations.

"Right now we rely on commandos and air strikes to retake the lost territories but after the commandos leave we don't have enough forces to hold onto the territories," said a senior defence ministry official who asked not to be named.

"The force will operate under an army corps and will be used to fill the gaps. They will be recruited from the locals and will be numbered around 20,000."



Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed to AFP that a plan for "local forces" was being discussed.

"People will be recruited from their areas because they know their regions and how to keep them," Waziri said, but added there was no guarantee it would be implemented.

A spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support train and assist mission also confirmed a proposal for an Afghan territorial army was on the table.

But another American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told AFP the idea was still in "the brainstorming phase".

The Afghan government and its foreign backers have been cultivating militias to bolster the 330,000-strong Afghan National Security and Defense Forces as they battle to get the upper hand in the grinding conflict.

In Afghanistan, militias -- private armies and government-backed armed groups -- have a long and chequered history in the war-torn country and many Afghans are wary of them.

Civilian casualties were at record highs in the first six months of 2017, a UN report showed, with forces loyal to the Afghan government accounting for nearly 20 percent of the deaths and injuries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
plans to rationalise some routes operated by the airline and its subsidiaries, including in the Gulf region, as part of cost-saving efforts, according to the airline's chief Rajiv Bansal.

The disinvestment-bound national carrier is discussing the possible routes that can be rationalised starting from the winter schedule next month.

Two of the airline's subsidiaries -- low-cost arm Express and Alliance Air -- have significant operations. Express mainly caters to the Gulf region while Alliance Air operates smaller aircraft for regional flights.

In an interview to PTI onboard the inaugural flight from New Delhi to Copenhagen on Saturday, Bansal said the airline would be rationalising some routes as part of "chipping at costs".

"There are some routes in which Air India and Air India Express are competing. We have to ensure that we don't compete which means that it is not that Air India or Air India Express withdraws but we can work with the timings. Wherever the passenger loads are not justified, either Air India or its subsidiaries can withdraw," he said.

In this regard, Bansal said he has already held a series of meetings with Air India Express and Alliance Air.

He noted that there are some overlaps with Air India Express in the Gulf region and it is also looking to rationalise operations in smaller routes where the journey is for less than an hour and "concede space to Alliance Air in the short haul space".

"I think we should be able to rationalise five flights. I am not saying that we are withdrawing the flights, we are rationalising. Maybe I was operating seven days a week, maybe I will bring it down to three or four days for Air India Express to operate. In some cases, Alliance Air is adding capacity," he said.

Elaborating on the idea behind rationalising routes, the Chairman and Managing Director said the airline is looking at how much passenger load is likely in a particular route and what is the paying capacity of that passenger.

Then a decision would be taken on whether to operate full-service carrier Air India, low-cost carrier Air India Express or Alliance Air's turboprop aircraft, he added.

"We are an integrated company and that is my strength over my competitors. As a full-service carrier with about 110 aircraft, I have a low-cost carrier (Air India Express) with 23 aircraft and Alliance Air with 15 aircraft. It is around 150 total. There are four jumbos also. It is 152," Bansal said.

Amid the government working on the modalities for the strategic disinvestment of Air India, the airline is looking to trim costs. The loss-making airline has huge debt burden and there is a significant outgo towards servicing the loans.

On expected cost savings from route rationalisation, he said these are all "chipping" at costs.

"Not significant (cost savings) but as I said these are all chipping. If I can get each initiative bring in upwards of Rs 100 crore savings that is what is I am looking at. I have worked with my directors and said let's take one initiative a week to cut costs," he said.

When asked whether there could be the possibility of the airline surrendering some of its slots at various airports, he replied in the negative.

"Slots are our biggest assets. We don't want to surrender any slots," Bansal said.

Air India launched its first flight from New Delhi to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, on September 16, making it the airline's 11th destination in Europe.
After doing away with hand baggage tags at over a dozen airports, aviation security agencies are now planning to dump the boarding pass collection system and begin a regime of 'express check-in' aided by biometrics for smooth air travel.

The chief of the country's airport security force--the CISF--told PTI in an interview that they have begun "exploring" the technology that is required to usher in the boarding card-less system of air travel at the 59 airports that it guards at present and at the rest of such civil facilities that are going to come under its umbrella as part of a "unified command" in the future.

"We are working on two projects. The first is how to introduce integrated security solutions at airports. You need to connect all dots that exist within the security establishment. You have so many strategies to do it...You have the biometrics, video analytics and a very robust access control system.

"We will try to interconnect all these things in a very integrated fashion," CISF Director General O P Singh told the news agency.

The DG, an IPS officer of the 1983 batch, said doing away with the boarding card system is part of this process and project and a recent initiative launched at the Hyderabad airport for 'express check-in' of passengers is an example in that direction.

"We may do away with boarding cards too. But, that depends on how strong I become (with regard to technology- based security systems). The Hyderabad airport is the only airport in the country that is totally biometric. We are trying to explore this system for all airports," he said.

The DG said the launch of the new system at the Hyderabad airport is for "every" stakeholder in the airport security to see and that it was a "shining example" when it comes to bringing in smart systems and take new steps to ensure smooth and hassle-free movement of passengers at airports.

As part of the system unveiled at the Hyderabad airport recently, domestic passengers after printing a boarding pass from 'self-service kiosks' at departures forecourt area outside the terminal building, can straight head to express security check lane without getting into the check-in area and then go towards the boarding area.

The CISF's plans come at a time when there have been talks of using identities like Aadhaar and others for starting biometric entry system of passengers at airports. It plans to not only introduce a system like the Hyderabad airport but also work towards doing away with the boarding pass with the help of biometrics.

"I can assure the airport operators and others in the aviation domain that the CISF is all prepared and ready to facilitate these new systems," Singh said while talking about the future course of action vis-a-vis smart air travel.

The DG of the 1.80-lakh personnel strong paramilitary force said that there could be many ways to make air travel more secure and easy for passengers, at the same time.

"There could be so many things. What does a passenger want. They want a very smooth journey and a very less waiting time. We have noted that our time for frisking (passengers) has lessened and this is certainly below the global level.We have our own strategies to deal with passengers during peak time.

"Our frisking time is certainly better than global standrads of the world," he said adding that this time is not more than 12 minutes.

The Central Industrial Security Force, along with other agencies like the BCAS and Ministry of Civil Aviation, has recently started a passenger-friendly system of doing away with tagging and stamping of hand baggage tags for both domestic and international air travellers at 17 airports in the country.

This new system is expected to be launched at ten more airports by the end of this month or early October.

The CISF boss said his second project is to"rationalise" manpower by bringing in more smart technology not only for airports security but for similar tasks when it comes to guarding vital assets of the country like aerospace stations and nuclear power plants among others.

Singh said, "in due course", the CISF will take over the security duties of all the 98 civil airports in the country as part of a "unified command" being set up by the government for civil aviation and airports security.

"This is a concept given by the government that all airports should be taken over by the CISF. But, ofcourse it was decided that they should be given to the CISF in a phased manner. So, right now we are having cover for 59 airports. In due course we will take over some more and then further go ahead.

"We have the potential and capability to take over (security duties) of all airports. We are fully prepared, professionally and manpower wise," the DG said.

Singh said about 20,000 fresh personnel are currently under training in the force and out of these 2,000 will immediately be deployed to fill existing vacancies in the manpower at airports under the CISF cover.

Over 27,000 CISF personnel guard 59 civil airports at present.

The DG added that the force and its experts are also planning to test some more body scanners in the future, as done sometime back using foreign-made scanners.
BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours today.

He was 61.

On September 13, he was brought to Apollo Hospital in a "very bad shape", a senior doctor said.

"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

The BJP MP had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 parliamentary elections after defeating Congress candidate and former Union minister Jitendra Singh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

He will be remembered for his contribution for the developmental works, she said.

Nath was also the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Rohtak. His funeral services would be held today.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maqbool Fida Husain may have spoken volumes with his strokes, but the celebrated artist was left speechless during a meeting with the legendary Hindi film actress Meena Kumari, the author of a new book recalls.

Husain, born 102 years ago on this day, was taken to meet the actress in a hospital in 1967, when he was visiting the infant son of student and fellow artist Ila Pal.

Meena Kumari, who was also in the hospital recovering from an ailment, looked "absolutely bewitching", Pal writes in her book on the barefoot artist.

"Her husky mellifluous voice could really hold people in thrall, and that day she was determined to leave Husain devastated," she writes.

And Husain, visibly smitten, was tongue-tied.

The Pakeezah actress held a silver betel-leaf box in her lap, her eyes subtly shaded with kohl, her long hair loose, fragrant and lustrous. When she offered Husain a paan, he "could barely speak", Pal writes.

"He ate whatever she offered and nodded to whatever she said," the book 'Husain: Portrait of an artist' reveals.

"What could I do? The moment I parted my lips to speak, kambakht ne is andaaz se meri taraf dekha, meri to zabaan hi kat gai! (she looked at me in such a way that I lost my voice)," Husain told Pal when she remonstrated with him later on his uncharacteristic silence.

The biography is full of little nuggets about a man whose life many thought was an open book. What is known is that he was born in Pandharpur in Madhya Pradesh to a Sulaymani Bohra family, on September 17, and his initial years were a veritable struggle.

"He had brothers and sisters to play with, but all he wanted to do was to paint," Pal writes.

He won a gold medal at a state annual art exhibition while in school, ranked second in his second year examination conducted by the J J School of Art, but came closest to art when he started working as a billboard painter in 1936 - sleeping on footpaths, barely managing two square meals a day.

"Husain was nineteen or twenty, and six annas was a pittance ... Yet, with that amount, Husain could still buy two cheap meals," Pal, now 78 and based in Mumbai, writes.

During his first stint as a billboard painter, Husain learnt carpentry, the techniques of priming, stretching jute cloth and mixing colours.

His greatest takeaway from the job, however, was that it helped him learn how to paint large hoardings and posters, paving the way to eventual stardom.

But his mastery over his art did not prevent him from putting his "sprightly mischief" to use.

Pal, who first met him when she was studying art in what was then Bombay, writes about the time she walked into a tabla performance in an old haveli in Udaipur with Husain.

The host mistook the artist for a tabla maestro, thanks to his "flowing beard, burning eyes and his fingers keeping time on his knees".

And Husain made no effort to dispel the impression.

"No, please ... Please continue," he said with a benevolent smile on his face when the musicians urged him to take over.

"This went on and on. Unnerved by the presence of a 'great tabla wizard' amongst them, they finally wound up quite abruptly," she wrote, recalling how he didn't say a word even when they began to touch his feet.

When Pal asked why he fooled them, Husain replied nonchalantly, "I was wearing my beard, my very own beard, and I was tapping my fingers on my knees the way I always do when I am impatient to leave. What wrong did I do?"



The book also talks about the women in Husain's life, including his wife Fazila, whom he married when he was a young billboard painter, and Maria, a linguist and Husain's official interpreter during a 1956 Prague visit with whom he was "infatuated".

The artist developed a "beautiful rapport with Maria, the kind he had never enjoyed with any woman," Pal writes.

So much so, that after his return to India, he began writing letters to her, almost everyday, not only "expressing what he felt, but more significantly, sharing with her his thoughts on art, theatre and cinema, expanding his own horizons; crystallizing his own thoughts".

Maria went on to marry an Icelander, and Husain gifted her 83 of his paintings as her dowry. Years later, she returned all the work that he had gifted her.

Husain had called up Pal to express his surprise at Maria's decision.

"Can you believe, Ila, that in the twenty-first century someone would return all the eighty-three paintings I gifted her forty-five years ago?"



Husain took custody of the works, which are now housed in the Maria Zukova museum in Dubai.

Husain, who died of cardiac arrest on June 9, 2011, in London, became one of the highest selling painters in India with one of his artworks fetching $1.6 million at a 2008 Christie's auction.

His depiction of the Bharat Mata as a nude woman posed across the Indian map, provoked protests in parts of the country, compelling him to live in self-imposed exile from 2006.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Public Affairs Officer of the US Consulate in Kolkata, Jamie Dragon has said we are aware of many government and private initiatives being taken to improve the startup ecosystem in Jharkhand.

"We are aware of the many government and private initiatives that are being taken to improve the startup ecosystem of the state, including Momentum Jharkhand - and we are excited that Jharkhand is experiencing a new entrepreneurial energy led by its young citizens - people like you!," he said addressing a workshop here yesterday.

"We all know that World Bank's Ease of Biz assessment ranked Jharkhand at the third spot - and your online infrastructure and innovations have become a model for the rest of India!", Dragon said.

"In fact while in Ranchi during our several engagements, we would love to know more about the innovation and incubation centers that are being planned in the sectors like information technology, health, tourism, agriculture, biotechnology and alternative energy," a press release said quoting Dragon.

The US Consulate in Kolkata will soon be back in Ranchi to look for young entrepreneurs and startups who would like to join our Youth



He said that the spirit of entrepreneurship is interwoven into the soul of America. Initiative and creativity are responsible for the historic strength of our economy and the vast majority of jobs created in the United States.

One of the things that bring the US and India closer is our culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that define our two societies. There is much excitement about the potential of a technology partnership between our two countries that brings about a new growth model focused on innovation and technology to for a cleaner, more sustainable and more inclusive models of economic growth, he said.

"As many of you know by now, the United States and India will co-host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) November 28-30 in Hyderabad, India. Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump will lead the United States' delegation to the Summit, which will focus on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally," he said.

The theme of GES this year is "Women First, Prosperity for All".

GES 2017 will create an environment that empowers innovators, particularly women, to take their ideas to the next level. Their voices are critical to global security, prosperity, and peace, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh on Sunday began constructing 14,000 new shelters for the more than 400,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar to ensure they remain confined to an area and do not fan out across the country.

The refugees have been fleeing to Bangladesh for three weeks to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state, which the UN has said amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar says the crackdown is a response to last month's deadly attacks on police by militants in the northern state and denies it is targeting civilians.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by the exodus and struggling to house the refugees in the shelters being built with assistance from UN and other organisations.

"Work to construct the 14,000 temporary shelters began today (Sunday) at Kutupalang," a disaster management ministry spokesman told PTI, adding the army has been asked to build them in 10 days.

Kutupalang, near the southeastern Cox's Bazar city, is one of the areas where Bangladesh is setting up the shelters.

"The prime objective of the initiative is to prevent the refugees from fanning out and handle the crisis properly," disaster management and relief ministry secretary Shah Kamal said.

Bangladesh authorities have restricted the Rohingya refugees from leaving the border areas, fearing it might get difficult for the authorities to identify them later.

The police headquarters in a directive to local administration asked them to monitor the movement of the refugees. Police last week detained 20 Rohingya refugees in central Manikganj district, about 450 kilometres from Cox's Bazar.

The police in a statement said the refugees have been told not to take shelter at their friends' or acquaintances' in Bangladesh, and neighbourhood residents have been asked not to rent houses to the refugees.

"They should stay in the designated camps until they return to their country... They cannot travel from one place to another by roads, railways or waterways," it said.
A senior BJP leader today alleged that the Congress shielded the Naveen Patnaik government during the just-concluded session of the Odisha Assembly as part of an alleged nexus with the ruling BJD.

Senior BJP leader and party MLA Pradeep Purohit told reporters here that because of the alleged Biju Janata Dal-Congress nexus, the issue of flyover collapse near Bomikhal here on September 10 could not be discussed on the last day of the monsoon session of the assembly yesterday.

Alleging that there is a nexus between Congress and BJD since 2009, he claimed that Congress deliberately raised the issue of fuel price hike in the House to save Naveen Patnaik regime as a discussion on the flyover collapse, which left a man dead and 11 injured, would have put the BJD government in an embarrassing position.

Though the House was slated to discuss an adjournment motion on the flyover collapse, Congress members suddenly created uproar over the oil price hike issue as part of a "deal with the ruling BJD", Purohit alleged and said due to pandemonium the House was adjourned till 3 pm.

The BJP leader claimed that a discussion on the flyover collapse issue would have brought to the fore alleged irregularities in the Works department, of which the chief minister is in charge.

However, BJD spokesperson Amar Sathpathy dismissed the allegations as baseless and said the state government has taken all necessary steps after the flyover collapse incident.

Congress chief whip in the assembly, Tara Prasad Bahinipati rejected the charge and instead alleged that there is a secret understanding between BJD and BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi BJP today organised health camps and sanitation drives across the national capital as a part of Sewa Diwas celebrations to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday.

Union minister Arun Jaitley, accompanied by Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari and in-charge Shyam Jaju, visited the Balmiki Mandir at Sudarshan Park in Central Delhi to offer prayers for the prime minister's healthy life.

The leaders then participated in a tree plantation programme in Moti Nagar and inaugurated a health camp at Dr Hedgewar Bhavan.

A statement by the party quoted Jaitley as saying, "The leader of the country works fearlessly and with transparency and as a result entire government is working dedicatedly without any blot on it."



Tiwari said the prime minister has dedicated his life to upliftment of the poor which has inspired lakhs of people to forgo subsidies. As a result of this, crores of poor families have been benefited through free gas connections under Ujjwala Scheme, he said.

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BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours today.

Nath, head of the Baba Mastnath Math in Rohtak, was laid to rest in Samadhi at the Math premises with full state honours. He was 61.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and his Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan counterparts Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhra Raje, were present when Nath was laid to rest in Rohtak.

Thousands of Nath's followers paid tributes to the departed soul. Earlier, his body was kept at the Math to enable people to pay their last respects.

On September 13, Nath was brought to the Apollo Hospital in New Delhi in a "very bad shape", according to a senior doctor.

"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said that Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

Nath had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls defeating former Union minister Jitendra Singh, who was the Congress candidate.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

Nath was the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Rohtak.

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A roadside bomb today killed six security personnel in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, authorities said.

The incident occurred in Tangi area of Tehsil Mamond in Bajaur agency.

A senior official died in the blast along with five others. The driver was injured in the blast, the political administration said.

The levy personnel was on routine patrolling of the area when the militants detonated an improvised explosive device through remote control as their vehicle reached the spot, it said.

The security forces cordoned off the entire area and started search operation to nab the culprits, it added.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying that it wanted "to eliminate the black infidel democratic system in Pakistan" and impose Islamic justice system.

Bajaur Agency has seen intense fighting between militants and security forces in the past. Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives. But several militant groups are still active in the country, particularly in the northwest.

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Brooklyn Beckham says he had to ask "fangirls" at his new university to chill as they were too starstruck by him.

The 18-year-old son of David and Victoria Beckham is studying photography at Parsons School of Art and Design in New York, reported Contactmusic.

"I like people from school, but there are a few fangirls in the school ... Sometimes, I have to be like, 'I'm going to be with you for like, four years, so chill.'



"I mean, it's gotten better. They understand and they respect it, but it's just at the beginning, it's such a shock to them, so it's fine," he says.

Brooklyn admits his parents were unhappy when he decided to move from London to New York for university but says they have now accepted his decision.

"They know it's a big opportunity for me, so they're kind of all right with it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up Odisha government for improper implementation of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and said the expenditure for this was less than the budgetary provision by Rs 1,239.23 crore.

Performance audit on implementation of ICDS scheme covering the period 2011-16 showed that the expenditure was less than the budgetary provision by Rs 1,239.23 crore, CAG said in its report on general and social sector for the year ended March 2016.

The statement of expenditure and utilisation certificates (UCs) submitted to the Government of India were based on treasury drawals and not on actual expenditure, said the CAG report tabled in the state Assembly yesterday.

In the sampled seven districts, Rs 102.77 crore remained utilised with the District Social Welfare Officers as of March 2016, it said.

The report said funds were also not provided for supply of medicine kits and pre-school education (PSE) kits, due to which the department could not avail central assistance of Rs 81.75 crpre.

Out of 38.39 lakh children considered eligible, 3.58 lakh (9 per cent) in the state were not provided supplementary nutrition, while supply of foodstuff under the scheme was not managed properly, due to which instances of short/non-supply of eggs and 'rasi ladu' were observed, it said.

Stating that quality control mechanism for take home ration was not effective, the report said stock management of wheat and rice under Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) was deficient, while misappropriation of rice was observed in 12 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) under Joda (T) Project.

Out of 82.03 lakh enrolled children, 5.56 lakh (7 per cent) did not attend pre-school education, while health check-up was provided to only 30 per cent of the eligible children, 56 per cent of the pregnant women and 50 per cent of the nursing mothers in the state during the period, it said.

Out of 71,306 Anganwadi Centres in the state, only 28,187 (40 per cent) had dedicated ICDS buildings. The pace of construction of ICDS buildings was slow, as only 14,059 (53 per cent) out of 26,690 buildings, sanctioned for construction during 2010-16, were completed, the report said.

Dur to non-submission of Utilisation Certificates to the Central government for the funds sanctioned during 2013-14 for construction of Anganwadi Centres, the department could not avail central assistance of Rs 93.76 crore, it said.

Stating that the department had not operationalised 1,281 Anganwadi Centres even after 18 months of sanction, it said 76 per cent of the centres had no toilet facilities and infrastructure facilities at the Anganwadis were not adequate even after four decades of implementation of the scheme.

The CAG report said tht monitoring and supervision of implementation of the scheme was not adequate.

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Calcutta High Court, the oldest one in the country, is functioning with less than half its sanctioned strength of judges.

The number of judges will dip to 30 next week following the retirement of Acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre against its sanctioned strength of 72. It will go down further to 25 in December when more judges reach superannuation.

"If new appointments of judges are not made immediately, the justice delivery system (in the HC) is likely to crash ... In the absence of requisite number of judges, litigants, lawyers and the judges are suffering owing to the abysmal ratio of judges against pending cases," Calcutta High Court Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar told PTI.

"We have sought appointments from President Ram Nath Kovind, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to present our case for new judges," he said.

The lawyers had on September 13 submitted a memorandum to West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi demanding his intervention and immediate steps for filling up vacant posts of judges as per the sanctioned strength at the Calcutta High Court.

"While the sanctioned strength of judges at the Calcutta High Court is 72, there are at present only 31 judges. Nearly three lakh cases are pending before the high court at present," Majumdar said.

The number of judges will touch 30 with the retirement of Justice Mhatre on September 18 and dwindle further to 29 on Septmeber 24 when Justice Rajiv Sharma retires.

This number will further reduce to 25 in December owing to retirement of four more judges, he said.

"In the last three years, no judges were appointed in the High Court, Calcutta, except one," the memorandum said.

A section of lawyers had recently written to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention to alleviate the "plight of the justice system in Calcutta High Court" and also sat on a dharna in front of the main building demanding immediate appointment of judges.

"The situation is alarming and requires immediate'response to restore semblance of sense of justice and peace," the letter signed by around 600 lawyers said.

Acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre had on August 4 expressed anguish at the non appointment of judges saying the court was constrained for time as it was functioning at less than half of its sanctioned strength.

Flaying the Centre for delaying the appointment of judges, another division bench of the high court had on July 12 warned of "appropriate action" if urgent steps were not taken.

"Immediate action is called for to appoint maximum number of judges to prevent the justice delivery system from collapsing, which seems to be imminent," a division bench of justices Dipankar Dutta and D P Dey said.

"If no judge is appointed by February 11, the vacancy would rise to nearly 66 per cent," the bench had observed.

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After a video clip showing BJP leader Pasha Patel abusing a journalist at a press conference went viral, Latur police in Maharashtra today registered a case against him.

Patel, however, said it was a conspiracy against him.

The incident took place at Latur yesterday.

The journalist, who is from a channel, today filed a complaint against Patel under IPC sections 294 (uttering obscene words in public), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) at Vivekanand police station in the Latur city.

When asked for his comment, Patel, who is the head of agriculture price commission set up by the Maharashtra government, today said "this is a conspiracy against me by my rivals" and added that he would not tender apology.

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The central government today came under attack in Odisha Assembly by ruling Biju Janata Dal and opposition Congress over increasing price of petroleum products despite a sharp fall in the price of crude oil in the international market.

Opposition BJP, however, defended the NDA government at the Centre by asking the state government to bring petroleum products under the ambit of GST and reduce the rate of VAT on petrol and diesel.

The issue was raised in the post-lunch session after an hour-long adjournment in the wake of an uproar by BJD and Congress members over the fuel price hike issue. Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat had adjourned the House till 3 pm.

When the House reassembled after the lunch, Leader of Opposition Naraisngha Mishra of Congress slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly maintaining a double standard over the price hike of petrol and diesel.

Quoting a tweet of Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat in 2012, Mishra said, today's prime minister had then said that unchecked price hike of fuel would lead to the downfall of the UPA government.

Mishra asked, "What is happening today?"



He said the price of petrol in 2012 was below Rs 70 a litre when the crude oil price was 135 dollar per barrel.

Now the price of a barrel of crude oil is below 50 dollar but the petrol is sold at the rate of up to Rs 80, the Congress leader said.

He also accused the NDA government of increasing the excise duty by nine times since 2014.

People should get petrol and diesel at lower price as the rate of crude oil has come down, Mishra said adding it is not happening under the NDA rule.

Without taking name of Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Congress leader accused him of misleading the people.

"The oil minister says that the money got from the fuel price rise is spent on welfare scheme. Was the previous UPA government not spending on welfare schemes," he asked.

Government Chief Whip Amar Prasad Satpathy of BJD said the fuel price hike led to rise in the price of essential commodities thus affected the poor and middle class people.

"Now they (NDA) are raising the price of fuel on daily basis. This is done to appease the oil companies. The major share of excise duty is taken by the Centre and it also charges cess on many sectors," Satpathy said.

Defending the Centre, BJP's Rabi Narayan Nayak claimed that VAT on petroleum products in Odisha is 26 per cent while it remained at 17 per cent in neighbouring West Bengal.

As the state has been getting about 3.5 times more assistance during the NDA regime than that in the previous UPA government, it should reduce the rate of VAT, Nayak said.

Earlier in the day, Congress members trooped to the well of the house against fuel price hike while BJD members shouted slogans against the Centre from near their seats.

The debate on flyover collapse could not be taken up due to the adjournment, Speaker Amat allowed the members to speak on the subject in the post lunch session.

Congress members demanded an impartial inquiry into the matter and Rs 1 crore compensation to the next of the kin of the deceased person.

Mishra demanded a job for the widow of the man who died due to the flyover collapse at Bomikhal on September 10.

The monsoon session of the Assembly came to an end today.

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China must take more measures to "choke off" North Korea's resources and force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, US National Security Adviser Lt Gen H R McMaster said today, conceding that the new sanctions imposed on Pyongyang may not be enough.

China is North Korea's largest trading partner and the US has urged Beijing to use diplomatic and economic pressure - such as limiting its role as the main exporter of oil - to dissuade Kim Jong Un's regime from pursuing nuclear weapons.

"They (Chinese) have to take some steps, though, that restrict trade in any way that we can with this regime, to choke off the resources that allowed this regime to continue to prioritise their military efforts, their missile efforts, their nuclear efforts over the well-being of their own people," Lt Gen McMaster told Fox .

North Korea launched an inter-continental ballistic missile in July, another of medium range in August, and this month tested what is increasingly believed to be a hydrogen bomb. It has launched two missiles over the Japanese territory in less a month.

McMaster said it really depends on how China sees the threat from North Korea continue to manifest itself and in their judgement about how much time they have.

He said the US was "out of road" because negotiations held in the past with the North delivered "an unsatisfactory agreement, an agreement that the North Korean regime breaks."



The top US official said America has to move "with a great deal of urgency" on sanctions, on diplomacy and even military front if required to deter the Kim Jong-Un regime.

In another interview to ABC News, McMaster said sanctions imposed against North Korea were not going to be enough.

"We all have our doubts about whether or not that's going to be enough. So we have to prepare all options. We have to make sure all options are under development to ensure that this regime cannot threaten the world with a nuclear weapon," he said.

"So the critical thing is going to be to get all countries, everyone to do all they can to enforce those sanctions, to do everything they can, short of a military conflict, to resolve this problem," he said.

About a tweet US President Donald Trump sent out this morning apparently mocking Kim as "Rocket Man", McMaster said the tweet reminded him of a cover of 'The Economist' magazine a few years ago.

"But, of course, that's where the rockets are coming from. Rockets, though, we ought to probably not laugh too much about because they do represent a great threat to everyone," he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US strategy against North Korea involves a "peaceful pressure campaign" on Pyongyang.

"All of that (international pressure is) designed to bring North Korea to the table for constructive, productive dialogue. If our diplomatic efforts fail though, our military option will be the only one left," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the Congress believed in "balanced and uniform" development of the entire state.

Addressing a public meeting at Chirgaon in Shimla district, he said the Mewa-Bamsan-Hamirpur water supply scheme catering to 214 villages in the home district of former chief minister P K Dhumal is an achievement of the Congress government and not of the BJP.

Singh also announced that the community health centre at Sandasu would be upgraded and a Kisaan Bhawan would be built.

"Now, when elections are nearing, many seasonal leaders will come to lure and divide people on basis of region and religion. I exhort all people not to fall prey to the false promises and propaganda of the opposition," he said.

Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh are slated to be held later this year.

About drug menace, the chief minister said it is a problem not only in India but in other countries too.

In Himachal Pradesh, strict vigil is being maintained to nab drug peddlers, Singh said.

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A Congress delegation, led by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, concluded its two-day visit to Kashmir today, after holding discussions on the current situation in the valley with a large number of delegations representing a cross section of society.

The party's 'policy planning group on J-K affairs' returned to New Delhi this afternoon after two days of meetings and interactions with various groups, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president G A Mir told PTI.

Mir said over 54 delegations and groups, involving about 1,200 people, met the panel.

"It was a fruitful visit and the people in the valley responded because there was credibility as it was led by a former prime minister. The interactions...Are the first indicator that people want peace and discussions," he said.

He said the delegations, groups and some individuals from different shades of the society of Kashmir met the group and apprised them of the ground situation and the reasons behind the prevailing unrest and alienation of the people arising out of the resentment of the mishandling of the situation by the present central and the state governments.

"They also gave them inputs of the feelings and aspirations of the people from different nook and corner of Kashmir Valley, especially the failures of the present dispensations and the betrayal of the mandate of the people by the ruling dispensation," he said.

The delegations also referred to the various working groups and interlocutors' recommendations, including the Justice Sagheer Committee report, and sought their implementation as a way forward to restore the confidence of the people, Mir said.

"They also mentioned about various confidence building measures and initiatives taken during the UPA regime. They regretted that the present dispensation at the Centre and in the state have failed to carry forward that process," he said.

"Almost all the delegations called for evolving a consensus at the national level and debate the issue in Parliament," he added.

The Congress state president said the policy planning group would visit Ladakh by the end of this month or early next month.

The panel will compile a report and submit to the party high command, which will then decide the party's future course of action, he said.

The panel was formed in April this year after the situation in the valley worsened because of widespread violence by agitators during the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypolls.

The group met various delegations from Kashmir, including opposition parties, bar association, LoC trade delegation, minority delegation, fruit growers association, women's delegation, hotel and houseboat associations, tour and travel delegation, and panchayat delegation.

Meeting separatist leaders was not part of the group's agenda.

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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- A Russian airstrike in Syria wounded several fighters in a U.S.-backed coalition's partner force fighting ISIS, the Pentagon said.



The strike Saturday east of the Euphrates River near Dayr Az Zawr hit "a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers," the U.S.-led coalition said in a press release.



Several fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were wounded and required medical care.

The spokesman for the coalition tweeted a photo of medics treating a wounded SDF soldier.

#SDF & Coalition medics treat SDF wounded by Russian airstrike on known loc. Many #SDF from tribes local to Dayr Az Zawr, fighting vs. ISIS pic.twitter.com/rA4mkkzvKQ  OIR Spokesman (@OIRSpox) September 16, 2017

Multinational troops advising and assisting the SDF were present during the strike, but none were injured.



The Russian airstrike came as the Syrian government forces backed by Moscow and the U.S.-led coalition forces are in closer proximity in the battle against ISIS. Syrian regime forces are fighting for Dayr Az Zawr southeast of Raqqa, while SDF continues its offensive north of that city.



In the press release, coalition commander Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II seemed to remind Russian forces of the so-called deconfliction line, a communication mechanism used by the Russians and the coalition in Syria to ensure there are no misunderstandings about each other's operations.



"Coalition officials are available and the deconfliction line with Russia is open 24 hours per day," Funk said. "We put our full efforts into preventing unnecessary escalation among forces that share ISIS as our common enemy."



In a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, coalition spokesperson Col. Ryan Dillon said a deconfliction area, where Russia and the coalition seek specifically to avoid any misunderstandings, "starts south of Tabqa and runs west to east and parallels the Euphrates River." He emphasized that the deconfliction communication mechanism was holding, and told reporters the SDF would not enter into the Dayr Az Zawr city center.



In late August, Secretary of Defense James Mattis was asked about the deconfliction line for Dayr Az Zawr.



He said the line was "working ... but every day it's more and more work as we become closer and closer together."



It's unclear if the Russians used the deconfliction communication mechanism prior to Saturday's airstrike.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Congress today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Sardar Sarovar dam inauguration, accusing him of using the project as an "election gimmick".

Congress' media incharge Randeep Surjewala said Modi is indulging in "misconceived electoral hype, hyperbole and hoopla by yet again inaugurating the Sardar Sarovar Dam".

"Using the world's second largest dam built by efforts of Congress party and people of Gujarat as an electoral gimmick has become the centrepiece of BJP's 'Gujarat Model' - for this is the only tangible project that would ameliorate people's conditions, when actually completed.

"The rest of the 'Gujarat Model' is engrained with fakery, doublespeak, fallaciousness and falsehood. The BJP is ruling Gujarat since the past 22 years and not even 20 pc of the canal network, creating minors and sub-minors, has been completed," he said in a statement.

Surjewala said the dam reservoir has water but it cannot not reach the fields of the needy farmers in the absence of the canal network.

Claiming that the BJP and Modi government have failed the beneficiaries, he said, the Narmada project in Gujarat remains incomplete even though BJP is in power for the last 22 years, out of which Modi was CM for 14 years.

The Congress leader said despite stumbling blocks and challenges, it is only the Congress that strived for the completion of Narmada Valley project.

He accused the BJP of being "incompetent and insensitive" and said it has failed the people of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the beneficiary states.

From the laying of the foundation stone by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 up till 1987, when its construction work was stalled for environmental reasons and litigations, there were a multitude of insurmountable road blocks, he said, adding that under leadership of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi each blockade was cleared conscientiously and 90 pc of the work was approved for completion.

He said water has reache only three lakh hectares out of the planned irrigation of 19 lakh hectares, and asked whether the BJP government and Modi will apologise to Gujarat farmers.

He said only 18,803 km of canal network was constructed in the 22 years of BJP rule against planned length of 90,389 km.

At a time when the project is not even complete, keeping in mind the upcoming elections, the BJP has launched another yatra-Narmada Mahotsav Yatra, which the people of Gujarat have "strongly rejected" by staging protests along the route, he said.

"This is a befitting reply that the people of Gujarat- especially the farmers - are giving to the BJP for its unpardonable apathy and non-performance," he said.

Surjewala alleged there is "rampant corruption" in the Narmada Nigam and funds are being diverted. He claimed CAG, the government auditor, has confirmed it.

"What action have you taken after the exposure of rampant corruption, maladministration and misuse of funds in Narmada Nigam? Why is the BJP shielding the corrupt?" he asked.

The Congress leader said the people of Gujarat are "disillusioned" with the "insensitive 'suit-boot' policies" of the successive BJP Governments and the leadership of PM Modi, which thrives on "full publicity and zero delivery".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A team of experts from the US is providing hands-on training to Indian veterinarians at the Delhi zoo on using gas anaesthesia so as to avoid drugs to sedate animals, which have numerous side-effects.

Gas anaesthesia is primarily used for sedating cats and dogs, and the training, in which more than 30 vets are participating, is a step forward towards employing it for wildlife in Indian zoos, Delhi zoo director Renu Singh said



The training is being conducted by experts from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC.

Budhan S Pukazhenthi, reproductive physiologist at the institute, told PTI, "Sometimes if you can hold an animal safely, you can do the diagnostics without using any drugs. Gas anaesthesia is one such way of sedating animals by eliminating the need of medical drugs and the numerous side- effects that come with it."



The physiologist said gas anaesthesia is rarely used in Indian zoos and veterinarians in the country lack adequate training in this method.

"Though this technique is primarily used in cats and dogs field, we are trying to introduce it to the wildlife in the Indian zoos," he said.

Besides ensuring the safety of animals, Pukazhenthi explained, using an inhaled (gas) anaesthetic device also gives more flexibility and confidence to the clinicians.

The Delhi zoo director said the training will come handy for the staff in giving best care to the inmates.

"As zoo keepers, we often face challenging situations in terms of various zoonotic diseases. Using gas anaesthesia will also help us minimise risks to animals," she said.

Some animals may carry harmful germs which can infect people and cause illness which are known as zoonotic diseases or zoonoses.

Tony Barthel, Curator, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, underlined the importance of anaesthesia in animal diagnosis, and how using injectable drugs for the same purpose could run many risks.

"Gas anaesthesia is just another way of sedating animals, but it is a safer option as injectable drugs may interfere with the medication an animal is already on. A hand injection might also oppress breathing or blood circulation of animals," he said.

He, however, said the veterinarian attending to the animals is the best judge of his patient's diagnosis.

"For instance, in case of bigger animals, using (inhaled or) gas anaesthesia can be tricky as you should be able to get the animals' accurate weight and ready the equipment accordingly to monitor their movements," he said.

"But it is crucial for the clinicians to be armed with modern medical paraphernalia," Barthel said.

Asked why gas anaesthesia is not widely used in India, a Delhi zoo official said the main reason was lack of infrastructure. "Most of the zoos cannot afford a gas anaesthesia machine. Besides, the veterinarians need to be trained in this discipline."



The National Zoological Park, the official name for the Delhi zoo, recently procured its first gas anaesthesia machine.

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Haryana Police has made two fresh arrests in connection with incidents of violence which broke out on August 25 in Panchkula after sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in a rape case.

Efforts are also on to trace the Dera chief's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan and Dera spokesman Aditya Insan, against whom a lookout notice was issued earlier.

Pradeep Goyal Insan, a Dera functionary, was arrested on Sunday from Udaipur in Rajasthan by a Special Investigation Team of the Haryana Police, a senior police official said.

Prakash alias Vicky, who is brother-in-law of Aditya Insan, was also nabbed on Sunday from Mohali, Panchkula's Deputy Commissioner of Police, Manbir Singh said.

Another person identified as Vijay was arrested from Pinjore yesterday, he said.

"The role of all the three arrested persons Pradeep, Prakash and Vijay is under the scanner in connection with incidents of violence which broke out in Panchkula on August 25. Further investigations are under progress," Singh said.

The police have also arrested one more person from Ambala in connection with incidents of arson in Panchkula.

Haryana Police said it was collecting videos from various sources pertaining to incidents of violence which broke out in Panchkula and was trying to identify the accused involved in inciting violence and indulging in acts of arson.

Asked to comment on media reports claiming that Pradeep Goyal has told SIT that Honeypreet had already fled to Nepal, DCP Manbir said, "There is no truth in these reports. These are baseless".

The Haryana Police made several arrests after violence broke out in Panchkula that includes chief's top aide and spokesperson Dilawar Insan, who was arrested from Sonepat, on September 15.

The police had earlier also arrested Dera's state body member Gobind Insan.

The Haryana Police had earlier sent a team to Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal in search of Honeypreet, a close confidant of the self-styled godman who is serving a 20-year-old jail term for raping two disciples.

Officials of the Uttar Pradesh police had earlier said that Honeypreet's photographs were pasted at police stations bordering Nepal.

The police had on September 1 issued a lookout notice for Honeypreet and Aditya, fearing that they could flee the country.

Police have intensified efforts to trace Honeypreet, who describes herself as "Papa's angel", after it arrested and questioned another sect functionary, Surinder Dhiman Insan, in connection with an alleged conspiracy to help Ram Rahim escape after his conviction by the special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25.

Earlier, Panchkula Police Commissioner, A S Chawla had said that police needs to question Honeypreet regarding the disclosures made by Surinder Dhiman and some other arrested accused.

He said that an FIR was earlier lodged at the Panchkula police station following a statement by a newspaper reporter against Aditya and Surinder Dhiman. The duo have been booked for sedition.

Violence broke out in Panchkula after the Dera chief's conviction, leaving 35 dead, while six others were killed in incidents in Sirsa.

The 50-year-old Dera chief, who is lodged in the Sunaria Jail in Rohtak, had been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment by the CBI court for the 2002 rapes of two of his disciples.
Sidelined leader T T V Dhinakaran on Sunday asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami to resign from his post and convene a meeting of party MLAs and elect a new Legislature party leader.

Dhinakaran, who is waging a running battle with Palaniswami and Panneerselvam camp for supremacy in the party, said the chief minister should meet Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and tender his resignation and then convene a meeting of party legislators.

"Let Palaniswami say that the post of Chief Minister and the Cabinet which was given by 'Chinnamma' (V K Sasikala) is not necessary ... Let them choose anyone (as Legislature party leader)... We are not concerned," he told reporters here.

Dhinakaran who had said two days ago that the government would fall within a week, said he was ready to send his loyalist MLAs to the meeting of legislators he was proposing, and added that "I am not responsible if they do not vote for you (Palaniswami.)"



After the Palaniswami and Panneerselvam camps merged last month, Dhinakaran loyalist MLAs had petitioned the governor seeking Palaniswami's ouster.

Also, Opposition parties led by the DMK had urged Rao to order a floor test and ask Palaniswami to prove his majority.

The matter later went to the Madras High Court, which has restrained the Assembly Speaker from holding a floor test till September 20.

Dhinakaran alleged that MLAs were lured through inducements. He claimed that but for some legislators who were in the Palaniswami camp out of "selfishness", the majority was with him.

He said all his loyalists were determined (to see the ouster of Palaniswami regime), and he cannot "change" that.

He repeatedly asked why the chief minister and others in his Cabinet had given an affidavit endorsing Sasikala as party general secretary and him as deputy general secretary to the Election Commission.

Affidavits were filed by Palaniswami and other leaders when Pannneerselvam rebelled and petitioned the EC disputing the leadership of Sasikala.

Subsequently, Palaniswami and other leaders of his faction sidelined both Sasikala and Dhinakaran and after merger of the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam camps, the unified group also annulled the appointments of the jailed leader and her nephew.

To a question, Dhinakaran asserted that he had not indulged in any "corruption" and said the cases (of alleged FERA violation) against him pertained to 1996 when he was not even an MP.

He said he became an MP only in 1999.
Malayalam film director Nadirshah was today questioned by police in connection with the case of alleged abduction and assault of an actress in February.

Nadirshah appeared before the probe team at Aluva Police Club here and was questioned for around five hours, police officials said.

Talking to reporters after emerging from the club, the director said everything necessary for proving his innocence in the case has been conveyed to the police.

Nadirshah had earlier appeared before the police on Friday for questioning in the same case but could not be quizzed as he had to be hospitalised due to "uneasiness".

The questioning of the director, a close friend of Malayalam film actor Dileep, who has been arrested on the charge of conspiracy in the case, was subsequently postponed after he was declared unfit by medical experts on Friday.

Nadirshah told reporters that he still believes that Dileep is innocent.

He said he has also told the police that he had no link with 'Pulsar' Suni, the prime accused in the case.

The Kerala High Court is scheduled to consider his anticipatory bail petition tomorrow.

Opposing the anticipatory bail plea, the prosecution had informed the court that there was sufficient material to show that Nadirshah had telephonic talks with Suni.

Dileep and Nadirshah were questioned on June 29 by police in view of some revelations made by Suni.

The police have claimed that the conspiracy to abduct and assault the actress in a moving car and film the act was hatched by Dileep.

The actress, who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on February 17 night and later escaped in a busy area in Kochi.

Six persons, including Suni, have been arrested in connection with the case.

Dileep, arrested on July 10 on the charge of hatching the conspiracy with Suni to assault the actress out of personal grudge, is now under judicial custody.

A magistrate court in Angamaly will consider his fresh bail plea tomorrow.

The high court had dismissed Dileep's second bail petition before it on August 29, after considering the evidence against the actor produced by the prosecution in a sealed cover.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A large number of fish were today found dead at a pond in the Trimbakeshwar temple town here, an official said.

The fish were found dead in the Gautam pond located on the back side of the Trimbakeshwar temple, which is around 30 kms from here.

The water body has got polluted as people throw puja waste in it, Lalita Shinde, one of the trustees of the Trimbakeshwar Devasthan Trust, said.

Shinde, who is also an environmentalist, along with another activist submitted a letter to the Trimbakeshwar police urging them to register relevant offences against persons responsible for polluting the pond.

The dead fish and waste items were removed the pond following complaints by environmentalists, a source in the Trimbakeshwar Municipal Council said.

The Trimbakeshwar temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and houses one of the 12 'jyotirlingas' in the country.

The Simhastha Kumbh Mela, the largest congregation of any faith in the world held every 12 years, was organised here in 2015 when lakhs of sadhus and devotees took a holy dip in the Godavari river.

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As many as 1,200 cows - mostly abandoned, sick and injured - have found a saviour in 59- year-old German national Friederike Irina Bruning.

When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

"I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund," she said while narrating her journey in Mathura.

She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

"I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk," she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as 'Surbhai Gauseva Niketan'.

"They are like my children and I cannot leave them," she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund here.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

"Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leave a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in," she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows needing special care are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure.

When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, foodgrain and salaries of about 60 workers.

"I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work," she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, "I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children."



The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year.

"I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. It's the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala," she said.

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The government has asked steelmakers to make efforts to keep prices below Rs 40,000 per tonne as it cannot permit them to "exploit the country".

"The best range for domestic price is between 35-40 (Rs 35,000 per tonne to Rs 40,000 per tonne). If it goes beyond 40 (Rs 40,000), then yes, we will be checking. As the steel ministry, we cannot allow Indian steelmakers to exploit the country," Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma told PTI in an interview.

"So, that is the balance we have to constantly strike. That is very important," she asserted.

The government has recently taken steps to ringfence the steel from the onslaught of cheaper imports, which stirred up a hornet's nest.

Over the last 2-3 months, the steel prices have gone up by around Rs 6,000-6,500 per tonne due to various factors, including a rise in prices of raw materials such as iron ore and coal, said an analyst.

Internationally too, the steel prices have hardened nearly $150 per tonne, the analyst said, adding that at this level, there is room for price hike in future.

"About Rs 40,000 per tonne is the average price of hot rolled coil (which is the base price indicator product)," he added.

Defending the protectionist measures "as the right thing to do", the steel secretary maintained that the government is not against imports.

"What we say is you can't use India as a dumping ground. That's all. You can't do at a throwaway price," Sharma warned.

Recently, India slapped the countervailing duty for five years on certain Chinese flat steel products to guard domestic players against imports that are subsidised by the exporting nation.
The Centre has given environmental clearance for setting up a Rs 91 crore industrial hub in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka that would create job opportunities for about 17,000 people, a senior government official has said.

The proposed industrial park, to come up in an area of 1,460 acres, will be developed by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in Kallabella and Badankuppe villages in Chamarajanagar district.

"The Union environment ministry has given environmental clearance for the proposed industrial park in Chamarajanagar with certain conditions," the official told PTI.

KIADB has been asked to take 'consent to establish' from the State Pollution Control Board besides setting up a special purpose vehicle to implement, monitor and comply the environment safeguards, he said.

The proposed industry hub is estimated to cost Rs 91 crore and is likely to generate 17,000 jobs. There are no court cases against the project, he added.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had laid the foundation stone for the project two years ago.

Chamarajanagar is situated 185 km from Bengaluru and is well known for its natural resources like black granite, manganese, garnet and white stone, among others.

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Greenpeace India today condemned the inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river, saying it signals "ruin" and not development of 10,000 hapless and poor farmers.

The NGO said the Sardar Sarovar Project, which was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, would not bring any development for advasis in the absence of a just and fair rehabilitation programme.

Greenpeace India's executive director Ravi Chellam said as part of civil society, they condemned the inauguration of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and stood in solidarity with the Narmada Bacchao Andolan (NBA) which "displayed incredible courage and resilience, even now as they refuse to leave their homes by protesting peacefully in 'Jal Satyagraha'".

"This is tragically so despite a long struggle by civil society and activists, and the Supreme Court orders passed in favour of those likely to be affected," it added.

It said the "so-called development project" comes at an immeasurable cost when considered in terms of the dislocation and debasement caused to countless men, women and children, their hearths and homes, besides the destruction of forests, biodiversity and ecosystems.

The project "signals ruin not development for tens of thousands of unsuspecting, hapless and poor farmers and Advasis, in the absence of a just, genuine and fair rehabilitation programme", it said.

While inaugurating the dam, the prime minister said no other project in the world had faced so many hurdles as this "engineering miracle" which many people had "conspired to stop".

Nearly 56 years after its foundation was laid, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which was mired in controversies and faced stiff opposition from affected villagers, became a reality today after Modi unveiled the plaque to launch it.

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A high-powered group of ministers will meet every fortnight to resolve over two dozen technical glitches identified in the GST tax portal GSTN, the panel's head and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has said.

Over 25-odd glitches, which had led to the GST-Network portal crashing on at least two occasions in the very first month of filing, relate largely to payments and registration, he told PTI after the five-member GoM held its first meeting in Bengaluru yesterday.

The grouping had extensive interaction with executives of Infosys, which is providing the IT support for the portal, and businesses will notice a "lot of difference" on the GSTN portal in the next 7-10 days, Modi said.

The GSTN website had faced glitches last month as taxpayers flogged to the portal on the last day of the deadline of filing returns for July.

"Over 25 issues have been identified which needs to be resolved and timelines have been set for each of them. Overall we are satisfied with the performance of GSTN and Infosys is doing its best to make it error free," said Modi.

The GSTN, the information technology (IT) backbone and portal for real-time taxpayer registration, migration, and tax return filing under the GST, had developed a snag last month when the first deadline for filing of returns approached, forcing the government to extend the last date.

A five-member GoM was constituted on September 12 after the GST Council decided to sort out technical glitches. The first meeting of the GoM was held in Bengaluru on September 16.

Besides Modi, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender are part of the GoM.

Modi said the GoM noted that the tendency of taxpayers is to file returns on the last day, which is evident from the fact that only 3.5 lakh taxpayers have so far filed GSTR-3B for the month of August. The last date for filing is September 20.

Over 47 lakh returns in GSTR-3B was filed in July and the GST to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore was collected in the maiden month of roll-out.

On September 15, GSTN officials and state commercial tax officers also held meetings with bankers, large taxpayers and tax experts to decipher the procedural issues being faced by them on the portal.

"The GoM will meet every 15 days to review the functioning of GSTN. The GSTN system is robust and load is not an issue. We are looking into the procedural issues," Modi said.

So far, over 22 crore invoices have been uploaded on the GSTN portal, which has a capacity of handling over 3 billion invoices.

GSTR-3B is only a simple return which will ease compliance burden of businesses. Businesses will have to upload invoices and file final returns in form GSTR-1, 2 and 3 on a stipulated date.

The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state counterparts, had last week decided to extend the last date for filing final returns for July by a month to October 10. GSTR-2 for July will have to be filed byOctober 31 and GSTR-3 byNovember 10.

Currently, there are over 85 lakh registered taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. This include 62 lakh assessees who have migrated from the excise, service tax and VAT system and another 23.18 lakh new registration.

Among this, 10.96 lakh businesses have opted for composition scheme, under which they have to file returns quarterly.
Hamas said today it had agreed to steps toward resolving a decade-long split with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah, announcing it would dissolve a body seen as a rival government and was ready to hold elections.

The statement comes after Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian officials last week, and with the Gaza Strip run by the Palestinian Islamist movement facing a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Hamas said it had agreed to key demands made by Fatah: dissolving the so-called "administrative committee" created in March, while saying it was ready for elections and negotiations toward a unity government.

It called on the Palestinian Authority government based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "to come to Gaza to exercise its functions and carry out its duties immediately".

Hamas chief Ismail Haniya agreed to take such steps in talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo last week, a Hamas official has told AFP.

It was unclear, however, whether the steps would result in further concrete action toward ending the deep division with Fatah.

Hamas for now continues to run a de facto separate administration in the Gaza Strip and is in charge of the security forces there.

Previous attempts to resolve the split have repeatedly failed.

Abbas's Fatah welcomed the announcement, saying it followed "extensive meetings" between its own representatives and Egyptian intelligence officials.

Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said a bilateral meeting with Hamas would be organised to begin working out a way forward.

"There will be tangible practical steps in the next few days, starting with the Palestinian national unity government resuming its work according to law in Gaza as it does in the West Bank, in order to continue its efforts to relieve the suffering of our people in the strip and work towards lifting the unjust blockade," Ahmad told official Palestinian agency Wafa.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade, while its border with Egypt has also remained largely closed in recent years.

Abbas is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, where he is set to speak on Wednesday.

UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov said: "I welcome the recent statement by Hamas announcing the dissolving of the administrative committee in Gaza and agreement to allow the government of national consensus to assume its responsibilities in Gaza."



"It is critical that the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, most notably the crippling electricity crisis, be addressed as a priority."



In Sunday's statement, Hamas spoke of the "dissolution" of the administrative committee, which was seen as a rival government to Abbas's administration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) today said the historic Sewapuri Khadi campus in Varanasi has been revived after 26 years in a step forward to skill development and women empowerment.

It said the re-developed campus was inspired by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose birthday was being celebrated in the country today, and it was dedicated to the people of Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency.

The campus was initially inaugurated by former President Rajendra Prasad in 1946 but the historic Sewapuri, a centre of rural enterprise, was closed in 1990.

KVIC chairman V K Saxena said the centre has been re- opened now with new infrastructure, work opportunities and work force and the training centre has been restarted to develop skills in various fields.

After re-inaugurating the solar charkha project in Sewapuri, Saxena said, "Today the country is celebrating the prime minister's birthday as 'Sewa day' but for the KVIC, 'sewa' means socio-economic welfare agenda and now all KVIC schemes will be called sewa schemes."



Some of the new initiatives taken in Sewapuri campus are first-ever unit of 250 solar charkhas and 25 solar looms under one roof in the country, first ever 'lijjat' papad manufacturing unit in Varanasi.

With this, more than 500 local women and men got direct employment, the KVIC said, adding 'sewa' means empowerment of rural people.

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A roadside IED blast targeting a vehicle of security officials in Pakistan's restive tribal region today left at least five persons, including four levy personnel, dead, authorities said.

The incident occurred in Tangi area of Tehsil Mamond in Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan.

A senior official died in the blast along with four other personnel. The driver was injured in the blast, the political administration said.

The levy personnel was on routine patrolling of the area when the militants detonated the IED through remote control device as their vehicle reached the spot, it said.

The security forces cordoned off the entire area and started search operation to nab the culprits, it added.

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An Indian startup has won a prestigious award and a cash prize of USD 42,000 in Israel for developing an affordable modular greenhouse that aims to give farmers a steady and dependable income.

Kheyti, a Hyderabad-based startup, was chosen among the ten finalists in the prestigious MassChallenge Israel contest that saw participation from over 500 companies in 40 different countries.

The top ten finalists also included another Indian start-up 'Sukriti' which developed a smart toilet cabin employing hygiene maintenance systems to enhance user experience in sanitation.

Kheyti, the Indian startup, had to go through a rigorous three-month process before sharing the honour with an Israeli startup as the "diamond winners" of this year's contest. Each one of them were awarded a cash prize of USD 42,850.

The startup with a team of young entrepreneurs provides technology solutions for small farmers. It has developed a 'greenhouse-in-a-box', an affordable, modular greenhouse bundled with full stack services that, as per claims, uses 90 per cent less water, grows seven times more food and gives farmers a steady dependable income.

"We design, adapt and implement low-cost farming solutions that help small farmers increase yield and predictability of produce. We combine these technologies with end-to-end support to give these farmers a seamless path towards income increase," the team said in its presentation.

MassChallenge Israel, a startup-friendly accelerator, awarded USD 143,000 this week in zero-equity cash prizes to four of the highest-impact startups from its 2017 cohort.

The cash prize winners, along with the ten finalists, will take part in the first MassChallenge Israel US Trek, a curated business trip and introduction to the innovation ecosystems in Boston and New York in November.

Kheyti shared the top honour with Israeli startup, RenewSenses, which creates novel eyes-free perceptual experience for the visually impaired.

"I am very happy that two Indian startups made it to the top ten for Masschalenge awards and one of them, Kheyti, bagged the honours," India's Ambassador to Israel Pavan Kapoor told PTI.

"This should motivate and encourage more Indian startups, especially in the social sector, and lead to further collaboration between India and Israel on this front too," Kapoor added.

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Indo-Nepal joint military exercise focusing on counter-terrorism and disaster management techniques concluded today in western Nepal.

Indo-Nepal battalion-level combined training 'Surya Kiran XII' were conducted in the Saljhandi area of Rupandehi district.

The concluding ceremony of the two week-long joint military exercise was attended by Indian Army's Lt Gen Jagdeep Kumar Sharma.

Kumar, during his visit, also called on Nepal Army chief Gen Rajendra Chhetri, a Nepal Army statement said.

Issues related to bilateral relations and mutual cooperation figured during the meeting, it said.

The joint military exercise focused on counter-terrorism, forest fire fighting operations and disaster management techniques.

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Singapore-headquartered cross border payments company InstaReM today said it has received regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for facilitating overseas remittances from India.

The FinTech start-up company plans to start its outbound money transfer services from India by November in partnership with a leading authorised dealer - category I bank, as per RBI's governing conditions for the partnership.

InstaReM will be able to effect outbound remittances from India for transactions pertaining to business, private visits, overseas education, medical treatment, among others, it said in a statement.

It holds licenses to conduct money transfer business in Singapore, Hong Kong, US, Europe, Australia and Canada.

"Traditional ways of transferring money overseas are expensive due to high transfer charges along with hidden fees which are not known to the customers. We are able to offer transparent international money transfers at a fraction of costs compared to the traditional players. We are confident of capturing a substantial market for outbound money transfer from India," said InstaReM Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Prajit Nanu.

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Diversified firm ITC plans to open 40 new hotels, adding around 5,000 rooms over a period of time, as part of the strategy to strengthen its hospitality business, according to a senior company official.

It is working on opening 10 new hotels in the next three- and-half years under its ongoing expansion programme across different verticals entailing overall investment of Rs 25,000 crore, ITC CEO & Executive Director Sanjiv Puri said.

ITC's hospitality chain has nearly 100 properties under four brands -- ITC Hotels, WelcomHotel, Fortune and WelcomHeritage -- across 70 locations with around 9,000 rooms.

"A total of 40 new hotels which will add around 5,000 rooms are in the pipeline," said another senior company official.

These will include both company-owned as well as managed hotels, the official said without sharing a timeline for all of the new properties to become operational.

In the near-term, however, Puri said, ITC has 10 new hotels in various stages of constructions.

He said as part of ITC's 'India first' strategy, nine of these hotels are in India and one in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The upcoming are in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Srinagar while another four will be under WelcomHotels brand at Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar, Guntur and Amritsar.

The Colombo property is ITC's first overseas project and is being undertaken by a wholly-owned subsidiary in Sri Lanka.

Sharing the roadmap for the hospitality vertical, Puri said: "Our whole premise in hotels is around having an asset right strategy. So we have a mix of our own properties and managed properties.

"I think with these hotels we will have a very strong footprint and then increasingly, the focus will be on managed properties."



ITC's hotels business had posted consolidated revenue of Rs 1,414.39 crore 2016-17, up from Rs 1,357.43 crore in 2015- 16.
Jammu and Kashmr's Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh today visited the Government Medical College and Hospital here to enquire about the condition of the people injured in shelling by Pakistani troops in Arnia sector of Jammu district last night.

Six people, including three women, were injured in the cross-border shelling and admitted to the hospital, where one Ratno Devi succumbed to her injuries today, the police said.

The deputy chief minister expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul.

Accompanied by senior officials of the health department, Singh interacted with the doctors at the hospital and enquired about the treatment being provided to the victims.

He directed the hospital authorities to provide the best medical care to the patients, besides ensuring that they get medicines free-of-charge.

Pakistani Rangers used heavy mortars and targeted dozens of BoPs and scores of villages along the IB in Arnia sector since last night, a police officer said, adding, over 10 shells exploded at the Arnia bus stand.

This is the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistan in as many days.

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With more and more Indians looking for short breaks, long weekends are gradually becoming popular and there was 72 per cent growth in hotel bookings in this segment in August compared to last year, a report said.

"If we compare August long weekends to any average day in this year, hotels show an impressive 72 per cent increase in bookings," according to a report by Cleartrip.

The report has compiled data from actual hotel bookings on Cleartrip during long weekends.

Further, the report said, the Independence Day and Janamasthmi weekend registered a whopping 121 per cent higher hotel bookings than other days in the month.

"Long weekends have crafted a market of their own, contributing major business for online travel companies. For instance, the hotel bookings for the Independence Day weekend zoomed 121 per cent over other days," Cleartrip Chief Marketing Officer Subramanya Sharma told PTI here.

The report revealed Puducherry, Coorg (Karnataka), Ooty (Tamil Nadu), Kochi, Guwahati, Wayanad and Munnar (both in Kerala) were the top holiday destinations people booked for in August.

"We have observed an increasing demand for domestic destinations like Puducherry, Coorg and Ooty, among others, " Sharma added.

Among international tourist spots, short-haul destinations like Phuket (Thailand), Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and Male (Maldives) were the most preferred choices among the travellers.

"We have observed a growth in demand for short-haul overseas destinations like Phuket, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and Male," Sharma said.

The report also found that Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata were some of the bigger cities that people travelled to during long weekends in August.

It said the advance booking pattern was also higher than the previous year by 8 per cent for the Independence Day weekend and by 20 per cent for the Ganesh Chaturthi weekend.

Cleartrip is an online travel company providing online booking services for flights, train tickets, hotels, domestic and international holiday packages.

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WASHINGTON  Many Americans' moral vanity is expressed nowadays in their rage to disparage. They are incapable of measured judgments about past politics  about flawed historical figures who were forced by cascading circumstances to make difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect information. So, the nation now needs an example of how to calmly assess episodes fraught with passion and sorrow. An example arrives Sunday night.

For 10 nights on PBS, Ken Burns' and Lynn Novick's "The Vietnam War," 10 years in the making and 18 hours in length, tells the story of a war "begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings," and "prolonged because it seemed easier to muddle through than admit that it had been caused by tragic decisions" during five presidencies. The combat films are extraordinary; the recollections and reflections of combatants and others on both sides are even more so, featuring photos of them then and interviews with many of them now.

A 1951 photo shows a congressman named John Kennedy dining in Saigon. There is an interview with Le Quan Cong, who became a guerilla fighter in 1951, at age 12. Viewers will meet Madame Le Minh Khue, who was 16 when she joined the "Youth Shock Brigade for National Salvation": "I love Hemingway. I learned from 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Like the resourcefulness of the man who destroys the bridge. I saw how he coped with war, and I learned from that character." As did another combatant who loves that novel, John McCain.

Eleven years after his Saigon dinner, President Kennedy said, "We have not sent combat troops in the generally understood sense of the word." Obliqueness and evasions greased the slide into a ground war of attrition. Kennedy, his successor (who said, "Foreigners are not like the folks I'm used to") and their advisers were determined not to make the Munich mistake of confronting an enemy tardily. Tapes of Lyndon Johnson's telephone conversations with advisers are haunting and horrifying: To national security adviser McGeorge Bundy: "What the hell am I ordering [those kids] out there for?"

In 1966 alone, 18 large-scale U.S. offensives left more than 3 million South Vietnamese  approximately one-fifth of the country's population  homeless. Just on the Laos portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, more tons of bombs  3 million tons  were dropped than fell on Germany and Japan during World War II. By body counts, America was winning. As an Army adviser says in episode 4, "If you can't count what's important, you make what you can count important."

Vincent Okamoto earned in Vietnam the Army's second-highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross. He recalls the platoon he led:

"Nineteen-, 20-year-old high school dropouts ... they looked upon military service as like the weather: you had to go in, and you'd do it. But to see these kids, who had the least to gain, there wasn't anything to look forward to. ... And yet, their infinite patience, their loyalty to each other, their courage under fire. ... You would ask yourself, 'How does America produce young men like this?'"

Or like Okamoto. He was born during World War II in Arizona, in a Japanese-American internment camp. Karl Marlantes, a Rhodes Scholar from Yale who voluntarily left Oxford for Marine service in Vietnam, recalls a fellow lieutenant radioing to battalion headquarters over 20 kilometers away the fact that he had spotted a convoy of trucks. The battalion commander replied that this was impossible because intelligence operatives reported no trucks near there. In a Texas drawl the lieutenant replied: "Be advised. I am where I am and you are where you are. Where I am, I see goddamned trucks."

Weary of hearing the prudence that was so painfully learned in Indochina derided as the "Vietnam syndrome," Marlantes says (in his Wall Street Journal review of Mark Bowden's book "Hue 1968"): "If by Vietnam syndrome we mean the belief that the U.S. should never again engage in (a) military interventions in foreign civil wars without clear objectives and a clear exit strategy, (b) 'nation building' in countries about whose history and culture we are ignorant, and (c) sacrificing our children when our lives, way of life, or 'government of, by, and for the people' are not directly threatened, then we should never get over Vietnam syndrome. It's not an illness; it's a vaccination." The Burns/Novick masterpiece is, in Marlantes' words about Bowden's book, "a powerful booster shot."
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.

"Birthday wishes to @PMOIndia @narendramodi Ji," the Trinamool Congress supremo wrote on her Twitter handle.

Modi turned 67 today.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathy also extended his warm greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 67th birthday.

"The nation had immensely benefited under his leadership. I pray for his long and healthy life," Tripathi said in statement released from the Raj Bhawan this evening.

The BJP is celebrating the day as 'sewa divas' (service day).

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A man who gave the slip to customs personnel at the airport here after being caught with ganja to be smuggled to Doha two days ago has been arreted, official sources said today.

Mohammed Haneef who hails from Kerala, was arrested near the railway station here yesterday, they said.

He had hoodwinked the customs authorities and managed to escape after being caught with 4.5 kg of ganja in his baggage ahead of boarding a flight to Doha.

After his arrest, Haneef was produced in a court which remanded him to judicial custody, the sources said.

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi condoled the death of 1965 war hero Marshal Arjan Singh, describing him as an outstanding soldier and a diplomat who led from the front.

Sonia said Singh will be particularly remembered for his successful operation tenure on the Burma Front during World War II.

"His extraordinary contribution as an Air warrior would always be a source of inspiration for us," she said.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "A soldier & diplomat par excellence. Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh's demise is an irreparable loss. India has lost a true hero. Deepest condolences (sic)."



Senior Congress leader and former minister P Chidambaram said Singh was the "epitome of courage and the embodiment of wisdom".

Singh, the hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died here yesterday. He was 98.

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Miscreants today hurled a crude bomb near a hostel in Utkal University campus here ahead of students' union election but nobody was injured in the incident, police said.

The miscreants fled the spot after hurling the bomb, apparently after a scufle between two groups, police said.

As a precautionary measure, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed and security tightened in the area, a senior police officer said.

"The situation is now under control and police personnel are maintaining a close vigil to prevent any further trouble," he said.

Senior police officers visited the area to take stock of the situation.

Following the incident, security was further tightened in and around the university campus and entry of outsiders into the premises was restricted, they said adding police personnel in strength were deployed.

Utkal Univsersity Students' Union are slated to be held on September 23.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called upon farmers to launch 'sweet revolution' and 'blue revolution' by taking up honey bee farming and optimising use of waterways for transportation.

After inaugurating the Amreli Agriculture Produce Market Committee's new marketing yard in this Saurashtra town, Modi appealed to farmers to adopt modern practices such as drip irrigation and solar power to improve income, and pledged his government's support.

"After green and white revolutions, now it is time for 'blue revolution' and 'sweet revolution'," he said.

"These two revolutions have the potential to transform the lives of people of Saurashtra," Modi said, addressing a conference of cooperatives here.

"This is the launch of Madhu Kranti," said Modi, who also laid the foundation stone for an ice-cream plant and a honey farm to be set up by the Amreli District Co-operative Milk Producers Union (Amar Dairy) here.

"Like white and green revolutions, sweet revolution will also grow fast. Farmers can earn additional Rs 2 lakh even with 50 beehives," Modi said, addressing the audience at a school ground.

The PM also urged various milk cooperative unions of the state to collect honey from farmers and sell it so the agriculturists get good returns.

"Madhu Kranti can happen naturally without any extra efforts. And if the produce is marketed well, the farmer can earn a lot. It is even good for health if given to children," he said, adding that he would ensure that bee-keeping flourishes on the lines of dairy cooperative network.

The prime minister said another revolution he is working on is "blue revolution" through development of water transport.

"Gujarat's 1,600-km long coastline will contribute in a big way towards this blue revolution," he said, adding that the Centre's initiatives to promote water ferry and port development will help send Morbi's famed tiles to the east coast of India through the water route, helping generate employment in coastal areas of Gujarat.

The Centre is also encouraging the youth in the coastal areas to join the Indian Navy, Modi said.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation. Referring to it, he said, "Today is a day of immense pride for us that the work of Narmada Yojana is completed. If we adopt drip irrigation, we can ensure a better future for our coming generations."



Using drip irrigation and solar panels, farmers can cut down on water and power bills and augment their income, he added.

Asking them to grow timber on farm boundaries, Modi said his government was working on a new law to ensure that farmers were not harassed by the forest department while cutting timber grown on farms.

"Currently we have to import timber, but if our farmers take up timber farming, it will benefit them in the long run," he said.

The prime minister also asked them to adopt modern methods to rear cattle, and said the initiatives of his government would help them in this regard.

The new Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) market yard, constructed at a cost of Rs 175 crore, has a training centre for farmers, auction platform, banks, restaurants, a guest house, over 500 shops and 50 godowns.

Modi also inaugurated a new dairy processing plant and a cattle feed factory here. His other engagements in Amreli town included inauguration of the College of Dairy Science affiliated to Kamdhenu University, constructed at a cost of Rs 55 crore.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today turned 67 and started his day by taking blessings of his mother.

Modi, who arrived here late last night, drove to his younger brother's residence at Vrindavan Bungalows on the outskirts of Gandhinagar early this morning and took blessings of his mother Hiraba.

Hiraba (97) lives with the PM's younger brother Pankaj at Raisan village near the state capital.

Modi spent around 20 minutes with his mother. The PM interacted with children of the locality after coming out of his brother's home.

Modi was born on September 17, 1950.

Later in the day, the prime minister will dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation. He will also address public meetings at Dabhoi and Amreli.

To mark the day, the BJP will observe 'Seva Diwas' across the country with party leaders attending medical camps, blood donation events, and taking part in cleanliness drives.

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Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today condoled the passing away of the Marshal Arjan Singh and recalled the latter's contribution during the 1965 India- Pakistan war, describing him as an "icon" of the Indian Air Force.

"I am deeply grieved to hear about the sad demise of the Marshal of Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, India's oldest, five-star ranked air force officer," Naidu said in his message.

Stating that Singh was famous for his role in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, Naidu said the icon of the Indian military history had led a young Air Force into the war in 1965 when he was hardly 44 years old.

In his message, the vice president also recalled that the Indian Air Force named its Panagarh (West Bengal) air base after Singh on the occasion of his 97th birth anniversary last year.

"He was the only living officer to have a base named after him. I convey my deepest condolences to the bereaved members of the family and join the nation in praying for eternal peace for the departed soul," Naidu said.

Singh, the hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died here yesterday. He was 98.

He breathed his last at the Army's Research and Referral hospital, marking an end to a glorious era of the IAF, the defence ministry said.

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National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is betting big on renewable energy resources to meet its rising power requirements.

Nalco has commissioned its wind power plants with 50 MW and 50.4 MW capacity in Rajasthan and Maharastra, respectively, at a cost of Rs 669 crore. The company plans to set up another wind power plant of 50 MW capacity and looking at suitable location in the country.

Techno-commercial bids for selection of wind power developer were opened in last December and price bid is in the process of being opened, the company said in its annual report.

The company also plans to set up a 20 MW solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh. The project is registered with MPNRED (Madhya Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Department) and 55.62 Ha land has been transferred to the department in November, 2016.

Application for grid connectivity permission was also submitted to Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company. The company has issued notice inviting tender (NIT) for selection of developer for EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) for 50 MW solar power project at a suitable location in India.

It has placed an order to commission 50 KWp rooftop solar power plant at Nalco Research and Technology Centre in Bhubaneswar with a total project cost of Rs 37.30 lakh.

Nalco has also signed an MoU with NTPC to form a joint venture company, Gajamara Power Project for establishment of 3X800 MW coal based power plant at Gajamara at Dhenkanal in Odisha for supplying power to smelter expansion projects, the company said.

In FY17, the company has made the capital expenditure of Rs 876.09 crore, which includes Rs 38.47 crore towards equity contribution to joint venture companies.

Among the major expansion plans, the company is in the process of setting up 5th stream in its existing alumina refinery, which will add 1.0 million tonnes per year (MTPY) to its existing capacity of 2.275 MTPY, at a capital expenditure of Rs 5,540 crore in Odisha.

"We are adding 1.0 MTPY to its existing capacity of 2.275 MTPY, at a capital expenditure of Rs 5,540 crore based on improved medium pressure digestion technology of RTAIL (Rio Tinto Alcan International Ltd). The company has obtained major statutory clearances like environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment & Forests and Climate Change(MoEF and CC) and Consent to Establish (CTE) from Odisha State Pollution Control Board. Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (India) has been appointed as EPCM consultant for the project," the report said.

The coal ministry has allotted Utkal D and E Coal blocks to the company, which is expected to help in raw material securitisation to the company.

The company also said that Pottangi Bauxite mines with 75 million tonnes capacity has been reserved by the government in favour of the company. The Odisha government had issued the terms and conditions for issuance of mining lease in favour of Nalco in July last year and activities are undertaken for complying with various conditions to obtain the mining lease, it said.

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President Ram Nath Kovind led the nation today in paying final tributes to Marshal Arjan Singh, hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on behalf of herself and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Gujarat for the inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Dam.

The three service chiefs --Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat -- as well as Minister of State Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri were also present.

Among other dignitaries who were seen streaming in were Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, MoS for External Affairs and former Army chief V K Singh, former defence minister A K Antony and Congress MP Karan Singh.

Former Indian Air Force (IAF) chiefs S P Tyagi, N C Suri and Anil Y Tipnis as well as several decorated officers who served under Arjan Singh during the 1965 war were also present.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat described the five-star ranking officer as "a legend, an icon, a pilot-chief who led from the front and a philanthropist to the core".

He recalled Singh's immense contribution as the Air Chief during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the first major air battle of the IAF after independence.

"It was to his credit that despite initial setbacks, we were able to 'overcome and overwhelm' the enemy and spoil their design to annex Jammu and Kashmir," Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa told reporters.

Arjan Singh's daughter, Asha Singh, and other members of the family, including his niece and actor Mandira Bedi, were present at the officer's residence, where his mortal remains lie in state. His son Arvind Singh is expected to arrive later this evening from Arizona, US.

The tricolour will fly at half mast at all government buildings in the national capital tomorrow in the honour of the military legend.

The IAF patriarch will be given a state funeral at 9.30 am tomorrow at Brar Square, Sitharamnan told reporters.

The cortege will leave on a gun carriage from Arjan Singh's 7-A Kautilya Marg residence at 8.30 am. A gun salute will be given, and if weather permits, a fly past will also take place, the defence minister said.

Arjan Singh's family has also planned a ritual for the funeral.

An icon of India's military history, 98-year-old Singh breathed his last at an Army hospital here yesterday.

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President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation today in paying tributes to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and one of the country's legendary fighters.

Modi drove straight to Singh's residence in the national capital on his return from a day-long visit to Gujarat, and paid his respects to Singh, the only Air Force officer to have been accorded the five-star rank.

The prime minister also wrote a message of condolence at Singh's residence and interacted with his family members.

"My tributes to the brave soldier who had a fighter's qualities of valour and courtesy. His life was dedicated to Mother India," Modi wrote in Gujarati in his message in the condolence book at Singh's residence.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Singh will be accorded a state funeral, and if weather permits, a flypast by military aircraft will be given to him. She said he had played a pivotal role in transforming the IAF into one of the leading air forces in the world.

Sitharaman said the state funeral will be held from 9:30 am onwards at Brar Square near Naraina in the national capital. All three service chiefs and many top functionaries of the government are expected to attend the funeral.

Earlier President Ram Nath Kovind, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, visited Singh's 7, Kautilya Marg residence.

The three service chiefs --Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat -- as well as Minister of State Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri were also present.

Among other dignitaries who were seen streaming in were Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, MoS for External Affairs and former Army chief V K Singh, former defence minister A K Antony and Congress MP Karan Singh.

Former Indian Air Force (IAF) chiefs S P Tyagi, N C Suri and Anil Y Tipnis as also several decorated officers who served under Arjan Singh during the 1965 war were present.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat described the five-star ranking officer as "a legend, an icon, a pilot-chief who led from the front and a philanthropist to the core".

He recalled Singh's immense contribution as the Air Chief during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the first major air battle of the IAF after independence.

"It was to his credit that despite initial setbacks, we were able to overcome and overwhelm the enemy and spoil their design to annex Jammu and Kashmir," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa told reporters.

Arjan Singh's daughter, Asha Singh, and other members of the family, including his niece and actor Mandira Bedi, were present at the officer's residence, where his mortal remains lay in state. His son Arvind Singh is expected to arrive later this evening from Arizona, US.

The tricolour will fly at half mast at all government buildings in the national capital tomorrow in the honour of the military legend.

The IAF patriarch will be given a state funeral at 9.30 am tomorrow at Brar Square, Sitharaman told reporters.

The gun carriage with mortal remains of Singh will leave his residence at 8.30 am.

Arjan Singh's family has also planned a ritual for the funeral.

An icon of India's military history, 98-year-old Singh breathed his last at an Army hospital here yesterday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The White House today insisted that the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms, denying reports that Washington was softening its stance on the landmark agreement.

The statement by the White House comes amid reports that that the Trump administration would announce at the Montreal talks that it wouldn't pull out of the Paris accord and was offering to re-engage with the deal.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters said.

"As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," she said in a statement.

Ministers from 34 economies are meeting in Montreal to head off potential efforts by the US to weaken the accord at the November UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany.

Early this year, President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change and renegotiate the deal that was agreed upon by over 190 countries during the previous Obama administration.

Arguing that countries like China and India are benefiting the most from the Paris Agreement, Trump had said that the agreement on climate change was unfair to the US, as it badly hit its businesses and jobs.

The Paris agreement's central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise in this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The landmark agreement, which entered into force last November, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The White House today insisted that the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms, denying reports that Washington was softening its stance on the landmark agreement.

The statement by the White House comes amid reports that the Trump administration would announce at the Montreal talks that it would not pull out of the Paris accord and was offering to re-engage with the deal.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters said.

"As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," she said in a statement.

Ministers from 34 economies are meeting in Montreal to head off potential efforts by the US to weaken the accord at the November UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in an interview on CBS's 'Face The Nation' suggested that President Trump would be open to remaining in the Paris climate deal under the right conditions.

"I think if you recall, the president also said, look, we are willing to work with partners in the Paris climate accord," Tillerson said.

"If we can construct a set of terms that we believe is fair and balanced for the American people and recognizes our economy, our economic interests, relative to others, in particular, the second-largest economy in the world, China."



Tillerson said the plan is to consider other ways the US can work with partners in the Paris climate agreement.

"We want to be productive, we want to be helpful. I think under the right conditions, the president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue," Tillerson said when asked if there are chances when America can remain in the deal.

Tillerson today headed to New York to attend the annual General Assembly session of the United Nations during which he would hold a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings with world leaders.

He is also expected to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Early this year, President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change and renegotiate the deal that was agreed upon by over 190 countries during the previous Obama administration.

Arguing that countries like China and India are benefiting the most from the Paris Agreement, Trump had said that the agreement on climate change was unfair to the US, as it badly hit its businesses and jobs.

The Paris agreement's central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise in this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The landmark agreement, which entered into force last November, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The human resource development (HRD) ministry, in its first edition of 'Swachhta Ranking', has recognised the Haryana-based O P Jindal Global University (JGU) as the cleanest higher educational institution, the varsity said in a statement.

A total of 3,500 institutions applied for the first edition of 'Swachta Rankings', introduced by the HRD ministry.

Total 174 were shortlisted and following an inspection, the top 25 were selected for awards.

JGU said that it was the only university in Haryana that was selected by the ministry for a field inspection and a three-member team had visited the campus and interacted on issues including overall campus upkeep, quality of essential services, greenery and waste disposal mechanisms.

The award was presented by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar to JGU vice-chancellor C Raj Kumar.

Kumar expressed happiness over being recognised by the government as the cleanest university in the country and said this was a significant testimony to JGU's dedication and persistence in creating a world-class campus.

"For JGU, this has meant providing a physical environment that is socially and environmentally sustainable, inspires creativity, promotes collaboration and innovation, encourages a sense of inclusivity, and is a thriving home to a diverse community," he said.

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Four young American women were attacked with acid today in the French city of Marseille by a woman who has been arrested, the Marseille prosecutor's office said.

Two of the tourists were injured in the face in the attack in the city's main Saint Charles train station and one of them has a possible eye injury, a spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor's office told The Associated Press in a phone call.

She said all four of the women, who are in their 20s, have been hospitalized, two of them for shock.

The spokeswoman said the 41-year-old female suspect did not make any extremist threats or declarations during the attack. She said there were no obvious indications that the woman's actions were terror-related, but added that officials could not be 100 percent sure about ruling out terror links at such an early stage of the investigation.

The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity, per the custom of the French judicial system.

She did not release any further details about the suspects or the victims, including where in the United States the tourists were from.

The Marseille fire department was alerted just after 11 am and dispatched four vehicles and 14 firefighters to the train station, a department spokeswoman said.

Two of the Americans were "slightly injured" with acid but did not require emergency medical treatment from medics at the scene, the spokeswoman said. She requested anonymity in keeping with fire department protocol.

A spokesman for the United States embassy in Paris said the US consulate in Marseille was in contact with French authorities about the attack investigation and the condition of the American women.

US authorities in France are not immediately commenting further on what happened to protect the privacy of the American tourists, embassy spokesman Alex Daniels said.

Marseille is a port city in southern France that is closer to Barcelona than Paris.

In previous incidents in Marseille, a driver deliberately rammed into two bus stops last month, killing a woman, but officials said it wasn't terror-related.

In April, French police say they thwarted an imminent "terror attack" and arrested two suspected radicals in Marseille just days before the first round of France's presidential election. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the two suspects "were getting ready to carry out an imminent, violent action" on French territory.

In January 2016, a 15-year-old Turkish Kurd was arrested after attacking a Jewish teacher on a Marseille street. He told police he acted in the name of the Islamic State group.

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The district administration has asked onion traders to start auction of the kitchen staple from tomorrow at the major agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) here.

The authorities have warned that if the traders do not start the auction of onions at the APMCs in Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon Baswant, Umarane, Yeola and others, theirpermits would be cancelled, the district sub-registrar, Nilkanth Karhe, said today.

Notices in this connection have been served to the traders, he said.

The Income Tax department recently searched and surveyed 25 premises of seven major onion traders in Lasalgaon and surrounding areas in Nashik district, one of the largest onion markets in the country.

Subsequently, the traders attached to various APMCs stopped onion auction as a mark of protest, causing problems for the growers and leading to decline in prices of the crop, Karhe said.

He said the central government has asked the district administration to send a detailed report on the matter.

Last month, the auction (wholesale) prices of onions touched Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,700 per quintal but later the rates came down by about Rs 600 to Rs 700 per quintal.

Meanwhile, a local Shiv Sena leader, Bhaulal Tambade, said his party will launch an agitation if traders do not start onion auction from tomorrow.

A senior I-T official from Pune region had earlier said they received a specific information that the onion traders in Lasalgaon and adjoining towns were involved in hoarding of the crop and planning to create an artificial scarcity in the market in order to inflate the commodity's prices in future.

As per the intelligence, these traders have been purchasing onion from the farmers since currently, the prices of onion are plummeting, he said.

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Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought help from Cashew Export Promotion Council of India to increase its production in the coastal state, which has witnessed a dip in recent times.

He was speaking at a function organised by the council here.

"Goa has a cashew production of 650 kilograms per hectare which is less compared to the national average. We need to take this production to around 1,200-1,400 kilograms per hectare," Parrikar said addressing the event today.

He said that Cashew Export Promotion Council of India should help the state government to increase the production which will also lead to rise in the exports.

"If you work out a plan for improving the production of cashew in Goa, the state government is ready to bear 80 per cent of the cost for it," the chief minister said.

He pointed out that the state produces 7.08 thousand tonnes of cashew nuts while the consumption in Goa is 15,000 tonnes.

"The demand in the state is fulfilled with the import from outside the country, which needs to be stopped," Parrikar said.

The chief minister said that attempts should be made to increase the production and considering the coverage of cashew plantation in the state, all the shortage will be covered up in next 10-years.

Referring to the modernisation in the cashew processing industry, Parrikar feared that such a move is resulting in loss of employment for many, mostly women, who were working from home for the units.

He said that the increase in production can be one of the solution for the problem of increasing unemployment from the labour intensive cashew industry sector.

"The technology is improving our lives but it is also reducing the employment opportunities," he said adding that "biggest strength of the country is its youth, but at the same time, it can also be a problem, if there are no employment opportunities available.

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Championing the cause of fathers in the early days after a child's birth, a private member's bill proposes that all workers, including those in the unorganised and private sector, get extendable up to three months.

The Paternity Benefit Bill, 2017, which may be considered in the next session of Parliament, pushes for equal parental benefits for both the mother and the father.

Child care is the joint responsibility of both parents. They must devote time to the newborn to ensure his/her proper well-being, said Congress MP Rajeev Satav, the backer of the Bill.

He said the Bill would benefit more than 32 crore men in the private and unorganised sector, especially those doing blue collar jobs.

At present, the All India and Central Civil Services Rules allow Central government employees 15 days of . Various corporate offices also give paternity benefits to their employees.

The Bill hopes to not just extend the duration of the but also extend it to all workers, across sectors.

"The maximum period for which any man with less than two surviving children shall be entitled to, under the paternity benefit, shall be fifteen days, of which more than seven days shall precede the date of expected delivery." it states, while adding: "Provided that paternity benefit shall be availed up to three months from the date of delivery of a child."

The Bill also talks about providing similar benefits to adoptive fathers and those who have had a child through surrogacy.

"The Central Government shall formulate a scheme to be known as the parental benefit scheme for providing paternity benefit to every man," it says.

The government, it adds, should constitute a Parental Benefit Scheme Fund in which all employees, employers and the Central government shall contribute.

Quoting a report of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Satav said fathers who take leave, especially those taking two weeks or more immediately after the birth of a child, are more likely to be involved with their young children.

This can have positive effects for gender equality in the home and at work and may indicate shifts in relationships and perceptions of parenting roles and prevailing stereotypes, he added.

The bill is based on the lines of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Earlier this year, the Lok Sabha passed an amendment increasing maternity leave for working women from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for their first two children.

During discussions on the Maternity Benefit Bill, MPs from across party lines had said they were lacuna in the bill as there was no provision for paternity leave in the legislation.

Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had said there could be more sophisticated legislation in future to address the concerns of fathers-to-be.
From lecture series to exhibitions and heritage walks, it's a packed schedule at the Patna University centenary celebration, which is likely to be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The country's seventh oldest university, whose iconic premises sit handsomely on the banks of river Ganga, will complete glorious 100 years on October 1, its journey punctuated with decades of academic glory and institutional decay.

"We have prepared a whole calendar of events for this momentous occasion, which is spread over four months, starting September. The sporting activities are already underway. As it is a historic institution, we have invited the Prime Minister to formally open the centenary celebrations," PU Vice- Chancellor Rash Bihari Prasad Singh said.

He said the PU buildings have been refurbished and the various committees constituted to mark the 100th anniversary, are working diligently to put up the best, in anticipation of the prime minister's arrival.

"The Prime Minister's Office has communicated it to us that the PM has in-principle given his consent to open the celebrations. Since October 1 falls around Dussehra, we are expecting a date sometime late next month," Singh told PTI.

Excitement is high among the students, teachers and other members of the university which was set up five years after the creation of the province of Bihar & Orissa, which was born out of years of struggle led by men like Sachchidananda Sinha, who went on to also become its vice-chancellor from 1936-1944.

Ten colleges, including the over 150-year-old Patna College, once hailed as the 'Oxford of the East', the Patna Science College, the Patna Women's College and the Patna Training College are part of the university.

Its riverside campus is also endowed with the iconic Wheeler Senate House, the old University Library, and the erstwhile Bihar College of Engineering, now NIT-Patna.

"A special commemorative column -- 'Centenary Pillar' -- has been erected in front of the new Central Library building and it was inaugurated by Governor K N Tripathi in July. We have also written to the Department of Posts for issuing a centenary stamp," the PU vice-chancellor said.

"We have also written to the UGC seeking a heritage status from them and the centenary grant," he said.

A 'Centenary Run' was also held this morning in Patna, beginning from the Wheeler Senate House and culminating at Kargil Chowk at Gandhi Maidan, passing through the historic Ashok Rajpath, a senior official said.

Singh, recently was in Delhi to meet President Ram Nath Kovind and invited him to the centenary celebrations. Kovind was earlier the Governor of Bihar (Chancellor of PU) before ascending from the Raj Bhawan to the Rashtrpathi Bhavan in July.

"We have requested Kovind sahab to close the centenary celebrations. And, the PM and the President, if both grace the occasions, it would be a double honour for us, and for the oldest university of this historic city," he said.

Last year in March, Modi had also closed the year-long centenary celebrations of the Patna High Court.

For the next four months, the calendar is packed with activities, ranging from symposiums and conferences to essay, plays, quiz and photography competitions, besides a number of competitive cultural performances.

Also, a special exhibition would be held of rare manuscripts and other artifacts in possession of the university, stored at its library and other places, Singh said, adding, a "centenary souvenir" and the "centenary issue of the PU journal" would also be launched to mark 100 years.

"We are also working on erecting two grand 'Centenary Gates'. One would be installed at the main entrance, replacing the old main gate, while the other would replace the old gate of the distance education department, both facing the Ashok Rajpath.

"The NIT-Patna Architecture Department is working on the design. We have asked them to harmonise it with the architecture of the university buildings," he said.

Other heritage buildings situated in the riverside campus of the university include 19th century-built Darbhanga House, home to the postgraduate department; Minto Hostel, Jackson Hostel and Iqbal Hostel of the Patna College; the VC Residence (earlier residence of Patna College Principal) and the Patna Medical College and Hospital (erstwhile Prince of Wales Medical College).

A special centenary logo has also been launched, the design borrowed from the interlaced letters 'P' and 'U' emblazoned on the door panels of the Wheeler Senate House. The numeral 100 with the two zeroes interlooped to form the infinity symbol, sits at the centre, signifying the university's journey towards infinity.

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Police believe the slayings of two black men in Baton Rouge were likely racially motivated and today said they have a suspect, a 23-year-old white man, in custody.

The suspect, Kenneth Gleason, was being held on drug charges. Authorities do not yet have enough evidence to charge him with murder, Baton Rouge Sgt L'Jean McKneely told The Associated Press.

McNeely said shell casings from the shootings linked the two slayings and a car belonging to Gleason fit the description of the vehicle police were looking for. He said police had collected other circumstantial evidence but he wouldn't say what it was.

"There is a strong possibility that it could be racially motivated," he said.

The shootings happened about 5 miles from each other. The first occurred Tuesday when 59-year-old Bruce Cofield, who was homeless, was shot to death. The second happened Thursday when 49-year-old Donald Smart was gunned down walking to work at a cafe popular with LSU students, McKneely said.

It wasn't immediately clear if Gleason had an attorney or when his first court appearance would be.

Detectives searched Gleason's home yesterday and found less than a gram of marijuana and vials of human growth hormone in his bedroom, according a police document. After Gleason was read his Miranda rights, he claimed ownership of the drugs, the document said.

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Political parties across the state today celebrated the Telangana Liberation Day by unfurling the national flag at their respective party offices here.

The Telangana Liberation Day is celebrated on September 17, as on that day the erstwhile Nizam state merged with the Indian Union in 1948.

BJP State unit president K Laxman said the history of Telangana should be conveyed to current generations.

"Telangana history should become an inspiration to the youth. We should not forget historical moments. TRS government should celebrate it (the day) officially," Laxman added.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao favoured celebration of Telangana Day before the Assembly elections, but now he had changed his stand under pressure from the AIMIM, he alleged.

The party organised a huge public meeting marking the celebrations at Nizamabad. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the meeting.

Telangana Home Minister Nayani Narshimha Reddy unfurled the national flag at TRS party office in Banjara Hills.

Reddy told reporters that there is no need to celebrate liberation day officially as the Telangana state has already been formed.

He alleged that "BJP is trying to politicise the issue and create differences among people."



Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Uttam Kumar Reddy unfurled the tricolour flag at Gandhi Bhavan, party's State headquarters while state TDP president L Ramana hoisted the national flag at the party's office to mark the day.

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President Ram Nath Kovind, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with three service chiefs today paid their tributes to the Late Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, at his residence here.

Arjan Singh's body was brought to his 7-A Kautilya Marg residence from the Army's Research and Referral Hospital this morning.

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat arrived first, followed by President Kovind and the defence minister.

There has also been a steady flow of family members, colleagues, neighbours at his residence to say their final goodbyes to the IAF patriarch.

A state funeral will be accorded to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and the national flag will fly at half mast in all government buildings here on Monday in his honour, the home ministry said.

The last rites of Singh, who passed away at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital yesterday, would be performed at Brar Square here at 10am on Monday.

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Punjab Governor and Chandigarh administrator V P Singh Badnore today condoled the passing away of war hero Marshal Arjan Singh, saying the nation has lost a "highly decorated" soldier.

The hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, Singh died in Delhi yesterday. He was 98.

The governor said the officer's outstanding leadership in the 1965 war would always be remembered.

"In the death of Air Marshal Arjan Singh, the nation had lost a highly decorated soldier, who was always ready to defend the borders," he said in his condolence message.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also expressed grief over the death of the marshal and declared a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the officer.

There would be no official celebrations and the national flag would fly at half-mast at all government buildings in Punjab during these three days, an official spokesperson said earlier.

Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal also condoled the passing away of Singh.

Badal, in a meeting this morning, also asked Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Kirpal Singh Badungar to place a picture of Singh in the Sikh museum in Amritsar.

A state funeral will be accorded to Singh and his last rites would be performed at Delhi tomorrow.

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Punjab Governor and Chandigarh administrator V P Singh Badnore today condoled the passing away of war hero Marshal Arjan Singh, saying the nation has lost a "highly decorated" soldier.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar also expressed grief over Singh's demise.

The hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank died in Delhi yesterday. He was 98.

The Punjab governor said the officer's outstanding leadership in the 1965 war would always be remembered.

"In the death of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the nation has lost a highly decorated soldier, who was always ready to defend the borders," he said in his condolence message.

The Punjab chief minister also declared a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the officer.

There would be no official celebrations and the national flag would fly at half-mast atop all government buildings in Punjab during these three days, an official spokesperson said.

Expressing deep sorrow, Khattar said the country has lost a war hero who will always be remembered for his outstanding services to the nation.

As a mark of respect, the Haryana government has also decided that the national flag will fly half-mast tomorrow atop all buildings, where it the tricolour is hoisted regularly.

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal also condoled the passing away of the Marshal.

Badal has asked Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Kirpal Singh Badungar to place a picture of Singh in the Sikh museum in Amritsar.

A state funeral will be accorded to Singh and his last rites would be performed at Delhi tomorrow.

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Heavy rain today lashed Kerala causing widspread damage, landslip and waterlogging in various parts.

With the South West monsoon active over the state, incessant rains triggered landslip in the tribal hamlet of Attappady and adjacent areas in Palakkad district this morning but no one was injured, officials said.

Rail traffic was partially affected on the Kottayam-Thiruvananthapuram route as earth caved in and onto the track following heavy rains.

India Meteorological department officials here have forecast very heavy rainfall in few places of Kerala and heavy showers in Lakshadweep for two days.

Fishermen have been warned about strong winds blowing from southwesterly direction with an occasional speed of 45-55 kmph along the Kerala coast and over Lakshadweep area during the next 24 hours.

Taliparamba in Kannur district received 6 cm rain while Vythiri in Wayanad district recorded 5 cm rain, meteorological department sources said adding thunderstorm accompanied by gusty winds was likely to hit Thiruvananthapuram district.

According to authorities, many parts of Palakkad is experiencing heavy rain for the past three days and widespread distruction and agricultural crop loss have been reported in the interior areas.

Houses and roads were damaged in various parts.

Anakkal, Puthur and Jellyppara areas in Attappady, where the landslip was reported, were affected the most.

Many parts of high range Idukki and coastal Alappuzha district also experienced heavy rains. Waterlogging caused traffic blocks in some parts of Kochi.

The rains have come as a relief to the state which had registered a 25 per cent dip in the rainfall between June 1-August 23 this year.

The districts, where the major hydel projects are located, especially received lower rainfall during the period--28 per cent in Idukki district, 55 per cent in Wayanad and 31 per cent in Thiruvananthapuram.

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Quite like Robin Hood, they take from the rich for the poor -- but unlike the legendary outlaw, they are not after money, and it's all above board.

A band of merry men and women called the Robin Hood Army (RHA) has been seeking to feed the poor by distributing surplus food from restaurants and weddings to the hungry in the subcontinent.

Its volunteers, mostly students and young working professionals, call themselves Robins. Dressed in green, they go out in the dark, pick up food and distribute it among the homeless and others.

Last month, when India and Pakistan celebrated 70 years of independence, the RHA from the two nations joined hands to fight against a common enemy -- hunger -- and fed over 1.32 million people across 48 cities.

"Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and terrorism combined. We are not short of food, but the distribution is not right," RHA co-founder Neel Ghose told PTI.

The group was started in August 2014 with six Robins in Delhi who served about 150 people on their first night of food distribution. In three years, it now consists of 12,350 volunteers who have served over 34,36,531 people.

The RHA has some 50 chapters in as many cities in the Indian subcontinent. It started work in Pakistan in February 2015 with its first distribution in Karachi. It also has volunteers in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries, he said.

Ghose thought of starting RHA when he heard about an organisation in Portugal called 'Refood' - which picked up and distributed restaurant surplus.

He talked about the initiative with its founder Hunter Halder, and then decided to launch a similar programme in India with partner Anand Sinha, who works for an e-commerce site. The third partner, Aarushi Batra, is in business.

"A particular city chapter gets in touch with restaurants and wedding caterers in an area. Robins keep in touch with those who are ready to donate food and collect it at the end of the day or the time of distribution," Ghose said.

The food is packed into meals and then distributed among the homeless and others who need food in or around that particular area, he said.

"There are some very helpful restaurants who don't just package and give away excess food, but also donate freshly cooked food," he added.

Ghosh stressed surplus food could feed scores of people.

"Once, we picked up excess food after getting a call from a wedding venue. With that, we were able to feed about 990 people," he said.

Batra said all expenses, such as transportation costs, are met by the volunteers.

"We pay for our own cabs or autos and some use their own vehicles for distribution," she told PTI.

With the help of the social media, a large number of people have joined the army in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, apart from India and Pakistan.

"There are six chapters in Pakistan -- four in Karachi, one in Lahore and one in Islamabad. We are planning to expand it to other parts of the country," Pakistan RHA head Sameer Beg told PTI.

Though food is still its main area of concern, RHA takes up other initiatives and projects from time to time. It is now looking at ways to distribute clothes and help poor students.

RHA Chennai is crowd sourcing school bags from city schools for sending to a school in a remote village in Odisha, where a Robin is a teacher.

In Surat, classrooms are being built under a bridge from waste material for underprivileged children with the help of other organisations. In Hyderabad, they are building new toilets and renovating old one in schools.

"When northern Gujarat was hit by floods, two of our Robins travelled 1,100 kilometres after collecting 10,000 kilograms of food grains and 2,000 kilograms of clothes to help 39,000 people," Ghose said.

The team bars anybody from collecting money in the name of the organisation.

"If anyone wants to donate funds, we ask them to buy blankets, clothes, school bags and asked them to help us distribute them instead," Ghose said.

RHA has also started a Robin Hood Academy in 19 cities, where they teach slum children to help then join schools.

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The Russian military denied claims today that it struck a US-backed force in eastern Syria, wounding six fighters.

The Kurdish-led and US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces said yesterday that its fighters had been hit in the airstrike near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in an industrial area that recently had been liberated from the Islamic State group.

Western forces embedded with the SDF were not injured, the US military said. The SDF is supported by a US-led international coalition of forces to defeat IS militants in Syria and Iraq. An estimated 900 US troops are embedded with partner forces in Syria. They provide artillery support and can command air support.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said: "Russian air forces carry out pinpoint strikes only on IS targets that have been observed and confirmed through several channels."



SDF fighters have been advancing against IS fighters on the east bank of the Euphrates while Syrian government forces and their allies are pushing on the western side against the jihadists.

The march by the SDF aims to prevent Syrian troops and their allies from expanding their presence along the border with Iraq.

Also today, the UN's World Food Program halted its air drops to Deir El Zour after a convoy of its trucks was able to reach the city with food relief, for the first time since May 2014.

The five truck convoy brought with it enough wheat to feed 70,000 people, the organization said in a statement.

With the city besieged by militants from the Islamic State group, the WFP began delivering aid through high- altitude air drops in April last year. It flew missions five times a week and completed 309 air drops before halting the program. Nearly 100,000 people were trapped under the siege. Pro-government forces broke the siege on September 5 and secured the highway to the capital, Damascus, shortly after.

They now control two-thirds of the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

But the campaign has come at a high cost to civilian life, says the Observatory and the activist-run monitoring group, DeirEzzor 24.

Both groups say aircraft have been bombing river crossings, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure along the Euphrates River Valley. The Observatory reported 34 civilian fatalities since yesterday, attributing four to coalition air strikes on the IS stronghold Mayadeen.

The claims could not be independently verified in real- time. The groups rely on local contacts to smuggle information out of IS-held territory.

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The US-led coalition said today Russian forces bombed American-backed fighters battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria wounding several, despite denials from Syrian regime ally Moscow.

The unprecedented strike was initially reported by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters supported by Washington.

The SDF accused Russian warplanes of bombing its fighters for the first time in the complex war, but Russia's military spokesman denied targeting the group.

"This is not possible. Why would we bomb them?" military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told AFP at Hmeimim, Moscow's main base for its air operations in Syria.

A statement later by the coalition dismissed the Russian denial.

"Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers. Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike," the coalition statement said.

No coalition troops were wounded in the early morning strike east of the Euphrates River near Syria's oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, the coalition added.

The SDF and Russian-backed Syrian government forces are conducting parallel but separate offensives against IS in Deir Ezzor.

Regime troops are engaged in an offensive against the provincial capital, Deir Ezzor city, while SDF fighters are battling the jihadists further east across the Euphrates.

The SDF earlier said six of its fighters were wounded in Russian and regime bombing of an industrial area northeast of the city, about seven kilometres from the east bank of the Euphrates.

"At 3:30 AM on September 16, 2017, our forces east of the Euphrates River were targeted by Russian and Syrian regime warplanes in the Al-Sinaaiya area," the SDF said.

The SDF's assaults against IS in Deir Ezzor and in Raqa further up the Euphrates Valley are both backed by the US-led coalition, while Syrian regime troops are supported by air cover from Russian warplanes.

The coalition says there is a de-confliction line to prevent the two offensives from clashing and that the line has been agreed between Russia, the regime, the SDF and the coalition.

The line runs from Raqa province southeast along the Euphrates River to Deir Ezzor.

The skies over Syria have become increasingly congested as the six-year conflict has dragged on, with warplanes from the coalition, the Syrian government and Russia all carrying out air strikes.

Confrontations between the warplanes have been rare, but in June a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane accused of bombing SDF units in the north.

Today, Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS had shot down a plane believed to belong to the regime southeast of Deir Ezzor.

Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban has said it is up to Russia and the United States to see that the SDF and the Syrian army do not clash.

Syria's crisis erupted with anti-government protests in 2011 but has since evolved into a complex, multi-front war that has killed 330,000 people and displaced millions.

IS, which in 2014 overran swathes of territory across Syria, is seeing its zones of control dwindle even as it claims responsibility for bloody attacks abroad.

It once held most of Deir Ezzor province and its capital, encircling around 100,000 civilians who still lived in government-controlled neighbourhoods there.

But Russian-backed troops breached the IS sieges on the city earlier this month and are now working to shut off the jihadists' remaining escape routes.

Pro-regime forces have also begun fighting to reach the IS-held town of Albukamal, according to a statement published by a joint operations room of loyalists including Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese fighters from Hezbollah.

Albukamal lies on Syria's eastern border with Iraq and is regularly targeted by coalition air strikes.

IS has also been pushed out of two-thirds of its former bastion Raqa by the SDF.

Across the border in Iraqi desert territory, security forces backed by tribal fighters are manoeuvring to attack one of IS's last remaining bastions.

After driving IS out of Nineveh province earlier this year, the Iraqi government set its eyes on Hawija, north of Baghdad, as well as the towns of Al-Qaim, Rawa and Anna in the western desert.

Today, Iraqi government forces captured the former mining town of Akashat some 100 kilometres south of Al-Qaim just hours after attacking the IS desert outpost.

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Madhya Pradesh also joined rest of the country today in launching the 'Swachhta Hi Seva', a nationwide sanitation campaign highlighting the commitment towards a "clean, healthy and strong" India.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched a campaign to construct toilets in Ratanpur village located on Sanchi road in Raisen district.

Chouhan's cabinet colleagues also took part in the campaign organised to mark the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The campaign has been started to make the villages clean. A target has been set to dig two lakh pits (for construction of toilets) today itself in the state under this campaign," Chouhan said while announcing that the entire Raisen district would be declared open defecation free by November 19 this year.

Chouhan said several works related to the cleanliness are being started on the PM's birthday.

"The cleanliness campaign started by the PM has become a campaign directly linked with the common people. Citizens of Madhya Pradesh are also participating in the campaign with enthusiasm. Under the cleanliness campaign, special efforts will be made till Gandhi Jayanti in areas where result has not been obtained as expected," he added.

On the occasion, Chouhan also flagged off the Sawchchta Rath to reach door-to-door in villages.

The ministers in Chouhan's cabinet also took part in the campaign in their respective districts.

Earlier, Chouhan attended a programme organised by the Indore Municipal Corporation on Modi's birthday. The prime minister has enhanced country's honour across the world, he said.

"Modi has changed countrymen's mindset towards cleanliness," he added.

Chouhan launched a campaign for construction of toilets in villages in a bid to curb the habit of open defecation.

Madhya Pradesh government has set the target to construct toilets in every household of the state by 2019, he added.

The chief minister stressed the need to create awareness against the use of plastic bags.

He said that the state needs to be freed from the menace of plastic bags as it also causes death of cows in addition to creating filth.

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India along with Pakistan, China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) today discussed plans to deepen practical cooperation on counter terrorism.

Deputy National Security Adviser and Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat, R N Ravi attended the 31st meeting of Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO-RATS) held here.

"The meeting discussed topical issues of international and regional security as well as deepening of practical cooperation of SCO members in the fight against terrorism," a statement from the Indian Embassy here said.

"India looks forward to constructive and productive engagement in the framework of SCO-RATS to eradicate the common menace of terrorism and ensuring security of the region and the world," it said.

The SCO is comprised of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

India and Pakistan were admitted this year to the organisation.

For years the SCO-RATS has specialised in cooperation in counter terrorism operations with periodic exercises between the member countries.

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A second man has been arrested by Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command in connection with the bombing at a London Underground train, police said on Sunday.

Officers arrested a 21-year-old just before midnight in Hounslow, West London.

This is the second arrest after an 18-year-old man was arrested by Kent police in the port area of Dover on Saturday morning.

Both suspects are being held under Section 41 of the UK's Terrorism Act and are being questioned at a south London police station.

"The Metropolitan Police and its partners across the Counter-Terrorism Policing Network have been working around the clock and through the night to identify, locate and arrest those responsible for this cowardly crime," Neil Basu, the Met Police's Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement.

"At this stage we are keeping an open mind around whether more than one person is responsible for the attack and we are still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace," he said.

Thirty people are known to have been injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station at around 08:20hrs local time on Friday.

Following the first arrest yesterday, Met Police counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers had evacuated buildings as they began searches at a residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, south-east England.

The search remains ongoing as it emerged that the home belongs to an elderly British couple honoured with an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for their efforts at fostering hundreds of refugee children.

The 18-year-old arrested is believed to have been one of the children fostered by 88-year-old Ronald Jones, 88, and 71 -year-old Penelope Jones.

Meanwhile, the UK terror threat level remains 'critical', meaning an attack is expected 'imminently'.

The Islamic State (ISIS) group has said it was behind the bomb but Met Police's Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was "very routine" for ISIS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

The blast, which is being described as a "bucket bomb" sent a "fireball" through the Tube causing burn injuries to many commuters.

The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury.
The British police arrested a second man in connection with the bombing on a London Underground train that wounded 30 people, with the UK home secretary saying the new arrest suggests the attacker was not a "lone wolf".

Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command investigating the Friday attack claimed by the Islamic State group arrested the 21-year-old from Hounslow in west London late last night.

Earlier yesterday, an 18-year-old man was arrested in the port area of Dover. None of the suspects have been named.

Both suspects were being held under the UK's Terrorism Act and being questioned at a south London police station.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the BBC that the second arrest suggests the attacker was not "a lone wolf".

"But as this unfolds and as we do our investigations, we will make sure we find out how he was radicalised if we can," she said.

The minister alsodenied US President Donald Trump had received any leaked security information when he tweeted about the terror attack.

Trump's tweet read: "Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"



Rudd added her voice to British Prime Minister Theresa May's rebuke to Trump on the matter: "It's never helpful to have speculation about an ongoing operation, and I would include the President of the United States in that comment.

"It is pure speculation, absolutely."



She added that 24 million pounds of new government money was going to counter-terrorism operations across the country.

Thirty people were injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station during morning rush hour.

Neil Basu, the Met Police'sSenior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the Metropolitan Police and its partners were working to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly crime."



Basu said in a statement his department was "still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace."



Met Police counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers yesterday evacuated buildings as they began searches at a residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, southeast England.

The search remains ongoing as it emerged that the home belongs to an elderly British couple honoured with an Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for their efforts at fostering hundreds of refugee children.

The 18-year-old arrested is believed to have been one of the children fostered by Ronald Jones, 88, and Penelope Jones, 71.

The UK terror threat level remains 'critical', meaning an attack is expected 'imminently'.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the bombing but Met Police's Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was "very routine" for IS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

The explosion, described as a "bucket bomb", sent a "fireball" through the Tube causing burn injuries to several commuters.

The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Moved after seeing a picture of mother in a wallet he had stolen, a pickpocket in Delhi sent the wallet back to its owner in Madhya Pradesh -- albeit without the money.

Mohammed Aslam, a local resident, was astonished when a courier delivered him his lost wallet a few days ago.

The wallet was picked in Matkewali Gali on July 25 when Aslam was visiting Delhi for his wife's treatment. He reported the theft to the Sadar Bazar police.

It contained Rs 1,200, a PAN card, driving license, Aadhar card and some other important documents.

"I received the wallet through a courier last week. The pickpocket returned everything except Rs 1,200. He also sent a slip with his phone number on it," he said.

"When I called the number, the person on the other side said he kept Rs 1,200 as he was in need of money, but returned everything else. When asked why he returned the wallet, he said he was moved by the picture of my mother I had kept in the wallet," Aslam said.

"The pickpocket told me he also loves his mother and felt 'your (Aslam's) mother must be loving you a lot'", Aslam told reporters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shoot-outs between drug gangs left at least six people dead over the weekend in two Rio de Janeiro favelas, the latest in a flare-up of violence in recent months.

Through much of yesterday morning, heavy exchanges of gunfire terrorised residents of Rocinha, Rio's biggest favela with 75,000 inhabitants.

Nearly a quarter the city's 6.45 million population live in favelas, the term Brazilians give for the poor, densely populated neighbourhoods clustered on the city's steep hillsides.

"Clashes between traffickers in Rocinha. Avoid the area," Rio's military police warned on the force's Twitter account.

Local security services told AFP that one person was killed in Rocinha yesterday, the day after five other people were killed in neighbourhoods north of the city.

Witness accounts on social media indicated more than one person may have been killed in Rocinha, and several videos showed armed men running through the neighbourhood's maze of alleys.

Several helicopters overflew the area and entrances to a metro station at Sao Conrado -- a wealthy neighbourhood in southern Rio below Rocinha -- was closed for several hours.

Police also were attacked in the early morning by a group of heavily armed men near the favela, according to the authorities.

A police source told AFP that they suspect the violence was due to internal divisions in the gang that controls drug trafficking in Rocinha.

According to local media, members of the same gang were behind clashes that left five dead overnight Friday to Saturday in Morro do Juramento, a favela north of Rio.

Firefighters confirmed that they recovered five bodies from that area, while the local press put the toll there at seven dead.

Rio has seen deadly violence spiked during the first half of the year to its highest level since 2009, with 3,457 homicides, a 15 percent jump from the same period last year, according to the Public Security Institute.

The growing sense of insecurity has been aggravated by the state of Rio's dismal financial situation. On the verge of bankruptcy, it is a month behind in payments of wages and salaries to its workers, including the police.

The government has turned to the army to combat the upsurge in violence, deploying nearly 10,000 troops at the end of July.

They have already taken part in two huge operations against the armed gangs in the city's favelas.

The newspaper O Globo, however, reported that the military has not taken part in the last two operations led by local authorities and the troops may soon be pulled out of the city.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Suspected intragroup clash has claimed the lives of three militants at Muktahal village in Tamenglong district of Manipur in the early hours today, police said.

The incident occurred when suspected militants of a faction of United Tribal Liberation Front (UTLF), supported by its armed wing United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA), attacked the camp of another faction, the police said.

A police officer told PTI over phone that a faction of the UTLF and its armed wing UTLA has a camp at Muktakhal village and the same camp was suspected to have been targetted by the other faction.

The police recovered three bodies from the spot and sent them to Jiribam Hospital in Jiribam district for post mortem, the police officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Expressing concern over repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Congress leader and former minister Raman Bhalla today said the time has come to silence the Pakistani guns along the LoC and international border.

He also criticised the Centre and state government over their response to ceasefire violations and said it was the responsibility of the BJP-led NDA dispensation to find a solution.

"The time has come to act and silence the Pakistani guns as the residents of border areas, since July last year, have suffered unimaginable losses due to unprovoked Pakistani firing and shelling," he said interacting with people in Gandhi Nagar here.

He said that ceasefire violations and militant attacks in the past few months have broken all records and "this government is dragging us into the 1990s as more youths, according to agencies, are joining militant ranks".

"It is NDA government's duty and responsibility to find a solution to the repeated violations," he said.

Lauding the role of BSF in safeguarding the borders, the Congress leader said "the force has done a good job and it has done what was required of it".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today accused AIADMK deputy general secretary and his rival in the party T T V Dhinakaran of "colluding with the opposition DMK" to topple his government.

Without naming Dhinakaran, who has been demanding his ouster as chief minister, Palaniswami said, "Some are believing the DMK and making a miscalculation that they can bring down this regime and break the party (AIADMK)."



The chief minister was addressing the gathering at the centenary celebrations of late chief minister and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, here in western Tamil Nadu.

Palaniswami hit out at Dhinakaran, who claims the support of 21 of the 134 MLAs of the ruling AIADMK, alleging that he had "joined hands with a party that was considered as an evil force" by MGR.

"They (the Dhinakaran camp) are not bothered about this party (AIADMK) and the government," he said and added that it was not even appropriate to expect that from the rival faction as Dhinakaran was expelled from the AIADMK by "Amma" (late chief minister J Jayalalithaa).

"The almighty, which is Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, will punish them," he said.

Stating that "doubts" about his government's stability were raised from "day one" by political rivals, Palaniswami said they "confused" the people by raking up such suspicions.

On the contrary, the government was going ahead smoothly and all the schemes for the people were being implemented, he added.

"What are the deficiencies that you have found in this government?" Palaniswami asked the gathering and listed out the welfare measures initiated by his regime, including the Kudimaramathu initiative (an ancient practice of desilting waterbodies with participation from the common people and farmers) and distribution of laptops among students for free.

Attacking the DMK, without naming it, for its refrain that his regime had become a "slave" of the BJP-led central government, he said his government enjoyed a cordial relationship with the Centre as only then the state could get the much-needed development schemes, new plans and fundings for the same.

The chief minister referred to the Japanese industrial township in the state, announced two days ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drive home his point.

In a series of questions pointed at the DMK, he wanted to know what did it achieve on the "lifeline issues" of Tamil Nadu such as the Cauvery and Mullaperiyar during its over-a- decade-long stint at the Centre as part of various regimes.

He accused the main opposition party in the state of "only taking care of its family interests".

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, in his address, likened the AIADMK faction, led by Palaniswami and him, to a "mountain".

"The AIADMK is a mountain. If anyone bangs against it, his head will be shattered to pieces...This is a warning to the conspirators who are trying to topple this government," the former chief minister said.

Earlier in the day, Palaniswami flagged off vehicles, marking the launch of "Swachhta hi Sewa" (Thooimaye Sevai Iyakkam), a cleanliness drive of the Centre, in seven districts of the state at a function in Salem, his native district.

He also inaugurated a Rotavirus vaccination scheme for infants.

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, speaking at the centenary fete, said the "Navodaya" schools were about the "three-language formula", and asserted that the AIADMK would not waver from the two-language formula.

These comments of his came against the backdrop of opposition from various political parties to the opening of Navodaya schools in the state.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had recently directed the Tamil Nadu government to take a decision on issuing a no-objection certificate for opening the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the state within eight weeks.

Following this, there was opposition to it from various political parties in the state, including the DMK, which claimed that it would lead to an "imposition" of the Hindi language.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister K Palaniswami today greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday, which was celebrated across the state by the BJP as it organised cleanliness programmes to mark the day.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Union Minister of State for Communication Manoj Sinha took part in a medical camp held here as part of Modi's birthday celebrations.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and DMK Working President M K Stalin also greeted the prime minister.

In his greetings to Modi, Governor Rao said, "Your dynamism, pragmatic approach, effective planning towards the welfare of the people and the nation have placed India on the global map."



In the message, a copy of which was released to the media here, Rao said Modi's "vision and mission" to revive and strengthen the spirit of skill development and 'Make in India' opened up new vistas in the global market.

"I pray to the Almighty to bless you with a long, happy and healthy life in your distinguished service to the people and to the nation," he said.

Chief minister Palaniswami said, "On the joyous occasion of your birthday, I would like to convey my warm felicitations and wishes to you for a wonderful year ahead."



"I pray that the Almighty may grant you many more years of good health and strength to serve our nation and the people," he added.

Panneerselvam tweeted: "Hearty wishes to Honorable Prime Minister Thiru.@narendramodi ji. Wishing you a long and healthy life to serve the nation. #HappyBirthdayPM".

Stalin also took to Twitter to greet Modi on behalf of the DMK and its president M Karunanidhi.

"Birthday greetings to the Prime Minister Thiru @narendramodi ji on behalf of Dr @kalaignar89, DMK and I. Wish you a long and healthy life," he said.

PM Modi's birthday was celebrated across the state by the BJP which organised a series of functions and distributed sweets. Cleanliness programmes were also held by the party as part of the celebrations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Local activists today demanded that water should be released from upstream barrages regularly to protect historical buildings along the Yamuna river, including the Taj Mahal, from pollution.

In a conference here, they urged the Uttar Pradesh government to take steps to ensure that the minimum level of water in the river is maintained to control Suspended Particulate Matter in the air.

On the construction of a barrage downstream of the Taj Mahal, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, Surendra Sharma, said, "It has to be downstream of the monument so that the water stored and the back-flow keeps the river full in areas along the historic sites."



"This is necessary for the safety of the Taj Mahal and other monuments which, at present, are adversely affected by the high SPM level, dust, and the alarmingly high quantity of toxic pollutants," he said.

River activist Devashish Bhattacharya called for a review of the 1994 Yamuna Water Agreement between Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan.

He said it should be reviewed because the share of water for downstream cities is "unjust and unfair as well as unscientific".

Shravan Kumar Singh, an activist associated with the River Connect Campaign, said the country needed a comprehensive national rivers' policy.

"We have seen a lot of confusion over drawing the flood plain limits to prevent encroachments. The national river policy will address problems such as illegal mining, and help in developing green belts," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the Trump administration is considering closing down the US Embassy in Havana following unexplained incidents harming the health of American diplomats.

Tillerson says "we have it under evaluation" and that shuttering the embassy is "under review." He says the issue is "very serious" regarding the harm some individuals have suffered.

Tillerson notes that the State Department has brought home some of the people affected.

At least 21 Americans have been medically confirmed to have suffered harm in Havana. Tillerson previously called it "health attacks" but the State Department now prefers to call them "incidents." The cause and culprit haven't been determined.

Tillerson spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation" ahead of President Donald Trump's trip to the UN General Assembly this coming week.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US is committed to support Nepal in its progress toward peace and prosperity, President Donald Trump has said as he congratulated the Himalayan nation ahead of its Constitution Day.

Nepal celebrates the second anniversary of its promulgation of its constitution on September 19.

In a message sent to Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari yesterday, Trump said this is a great day for Nepali people and the people of US welcome this celebration of democracy in Nepal.

Thanking Nepali people for their commitment to the shared principles, Trump has reiterated "the US government's support for Nepal's continuing progress toward peace and prosperity."



Nepal's Constituent Assembly promulgated its new constitution which was framed by the elected representative body for the first time in September 2015 despite sparking protests in the southern Nepal districts adjoining India.

"Since you last recognised this important day, Nepal has achieved important progress," the US Embassy said in a statement.

The US president has lauded the efforts made by Nepal to accelerate post-earthquake reconstruction and to revive the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Nepali citizens affected by the disaster.

"Your economy has improved remarkably and is poised for future growth," it said.

"Most importantly, you have held the first local elections in 20 years - a significant milestone for your democratic government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The British police arrested a second man in connection with the bombing on a London Underground train that wounded 30 people, with the UK home secretary saying the new arrest suggests the attacker was not a "lone wolf".

Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command investigating the Friday attack claimed by the Islamic State group arrested the 21-year-old from Hounslow in west London late last night.

An 18-year-old man was arrested in the port area of Dover yesterday. None of the suspects have been named by the police.

Both suspects were being held under the UK's Terrorism Act and being questioned at a south London police station.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said in a televised statement that the Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre, which reviews the threat level in UK, decided to lower that level from critical to severe.

"What it indicates is that good progress has been made," she said.

Rudd earlier today told the BBC that the second arrest suggests the attacker was not "a lone wolf". "But as this unfolds and as we do our investigations, we will make sure we find out how he was radicalised if we can," she said.

The minister alsodenied US President Donald Trump had received any leaked security information when he tweeted about the terror attack.

Trump's tweet read: "Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"



Rudd added her voice to British Prime Minister Theresa May's rebuke to Trump on the matter: "It's never helpful to have speculation about an ongoing operation, and I would include the President of the United States in that comment.

"It is pure speculation, absolutely."



She added that 24 million pounds of new government money was going to counter-terrorism operations across the country.

Thirty people were injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station during morning rush hour.

Neil Basu, the Met Police'sSenior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the Metropolitan Police and its partners were working to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly crime."



Basu said in a statement his department was "still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace."



Met Police counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers yesterday evacuated buildings as they began searches at a residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, southeast England.

The search remains ongoing as it emerged that the home belongs to an elderly British couple honoured with an Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for their efforts at fostering hundreds of refugee children.

The first man arrested is believed to have been one of the children fostered by Ronald Jones, 88, and Penelope Jones, 71.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the bombing but Met Police's Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was "very routine" for IS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

The explosion, described as a "bucket bomb", sent a "fireball" through the Tube causing burn injuries to several commuters.

The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today led the central government's 'Swachhta Hi Seva' campaign in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Loksabha constituency here.

He also presented appreciation certificates to 15 'safai mitras', who contributed to the cleanliness mission, at the Sanskriti School here.

Hailing the Modi-led central government for framing policies with "honesty and without making any bias", the chief minister said people have reposed faith in a political party which is working for the poor, farmers and all sections of the society.

He also hit out at the previous UPA dispensation for favouring a particular community for the sake of their vote- bank and not for the benefit of poor and farmers.

Outlining the initiatives undertaken by the Modi government, Adityanath said in a first, 30 crore poor people got access to banks even with zero balance along with a cover of accident and life insurance of Rs 2 Lakh.

The BJP leader also held a review meeting with district officials at the Commissioner Compound here and oversaw the preparations for Modi's visit to Varanasi on September 22 and 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-In vowed today to maximise economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea following the latest missile test by the reclusive nation.

Trump spoke over phone with Moon two days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

In a twitter post after the call, Trump referred to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un as "Rocket Man".

"I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!" Trump said in a tweet.

In a readout later, the White House said the two leaders discussed North Korea's launch of the latest ballistic missile, the second such launch over Japan in less than three weeks.

"The two leaders noted that North Korea continues to defy the international community, even after the United Nations strongly condemned North Korea's repeated provocations twice in the past week," the White House said.

Trump and Moon committed to continuing to take steps to strengthen deterrence and defence capabilities and to maximise economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea, it said.

The two leaders noted that they will continue their close consultations when they meet on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the White House.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
California-based television firm Vu Technologies is eyeing revenues of Rs 350-400 crore during this festive season, a top company official said.

"It is going to be a great festive season because people look forward to buying new technology. We are looking at least Rs 350 to Rs 400 crore of topline sales across all retail formats during the festive season.

"Last year, the value sales was about Rs 150 crore during the festive season," Vu Technologies Founder and Chief Executive Officer Devita Saraf told PTI here.

The company is targeting Rs 1,000 crore revenue this fiscal as it expands product offerings based on customer feedback and increased distribution.

It had reported revenue of close to Rs 500 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company is looking at doubling its exclusive brand outlets and multi-brand outlets to 50 and 3,000, respectively, by the end of this financial year.

Vu Technologies has a tie-up with e-commerce major Flipkart and online sales contribute around Rs 300 crore to the revenues at present.

"We have been associated with Flipkart for three years now. We have invested in a very good back-end with them when it comes to product innovation, logistics and delivery and after-sales service. Flipkart has been a great partner for us, for the kind of business they have done," she said.

The company has a market share of 8-9 per cent in the total TV industry, which was estimated to be 11.4 million units last year. It is aiming to capture 10 per cent market share this fiscal.

The company fully imports products from China. It is also firming up plans to enter Europe, Saraf added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
America's prestigious Yale University has decided to replace terms such as "freshman" and "upperclassman" with gender-neutral terms like "first year" and "upper-level students".

The new terminology will likely appear in all publications and communications by the start of the next academic year, Yale College Dean Marvin Chun told the Yale Daily .

Yale College Dean's Office staff members were told about the change in an email last week, according to Director of Strategic Communications for Yale College Paul McKinley.

Chun emphasised that the memo was distributed to notify faculty and staff how the administration now refers to its students, without attempting to dictate to recipients that they use any specific terminology.

"It's really for public, formal correspondence and formal publications...We're not trying to tell people what language to use in their everyday casual conversations," Chun was quoted as saying.

"We're not trying to be language police," he said.

While Chun praised the new terminology as "modern", he acknowledged that the terms such as "freshman" and "upperclassman" are deeply ingrained in everyday language and in Yale's history.

In his email to faculty last Thursday, Chun said he expects that students, staff and faculty will continue to use these terms as they see fit, "without feeling that anyone is out of compliance with an official policy".

Yale began to consider the language change last year amid growing calls for greater gender inclusivity on campus. By the spring, the informal practice of substituting the term "freshman" with "first year" was becoming increasingly widespread.

Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarribar, who led the campus conversation about the change, had said earlier that replacing the term "freshman" is something administrators had been thinking about for some time, adding that several peer institutions had already made the move.

The University of North Carolina struck the word "freshman" from its official documents in 2009, with the University of Emory following suit in 2015.

Dartmouth College, Cornell University and Columbia University also use the term "first year" in most official publications. There are 1,580 first-year students enrolled at Yale.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A young soldier participating in operations against Al-Qaeda in Yemen has murdered three jihadist detainees who confessed to killing his colonel father, a security source said today.

The soldier -- a member of Yemen's government intelligence services -- carried out the killings "suddenly and without the consent of his colleagues" during an interrogation on Saturday, the source said.

According to the source, the soldier's colleagues were "angered" by the killings, but he did not face repercussions.

Tribal leaders confirmed the revenge killings to AFP.

The jihadist detainees were captured during a military operation last week in the district of Wadea in Abyan province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen.

The soldier's colonel father, whose name was not disclosed for security reasons, was assassinated in Wadea early last month.

Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition on Thursday managed to drive Al-Qaeda militants from Wadea, which is symbolic as the birthplace of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which the United States views as the network's most dangerous branch, has exploited more than two years of conflict between Hadi's government and Shiite Huthi rebels who control the capital to expand its presence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Being a Portfolio and Reel Gold Member gives you access to both the agency and production company databases for a whole year and the on-line On-Air-Selection DVD. Now released bi-monthly, it contains up to 70 Aust/NZ commercials with both production company and agency creative details.
Saturday, September 16, 2017 at 8:43PM

Last month we reported about a leaked headset from Bose and now we get more details about it and its features. Bose is reportedly releasing the QuietComfort 35 II and with it includes support for Google Assistant. The Verge previously spotted an unidentified button the QC35 II but they didnt know what it was for. 9to5Google got their hands on the QC35 IIs fact sheet from Bose retail employees and they saw information on Google Assistant information there which states: With your Google Assistant built in, you can control music, send & receive texts, and get answers using just your voice. Just press and hold the Action button, and start talking. Android Police got a copy of a leaked official product video in French, which you can check out in this link.

The QC 35 II looks similar to its predecessor with the exception of the button. It also comes in the same black and silver color options. It has adjustable noise cancelation and noise-rejecting dual microphone for clear calls and accurate Google Assistant response in noisy environments. This pair is supposedly lighter at 5.7oz (compared to the 8.3oz of the original QC 35), which should be great for longer use. Battery is still rated at 20 hours. Price might be the same as the original QC35 as was reported from a buyer in Australia who made a down payment for AU$499 (around CA$490) for a pair of QC35 IIs, which is the price of the current model.
The blocks are set to be sold off as part of a federal government plan to divest assets. The National Archives, housed in the East Block, will temporarily relocate to Old Parliament House as capital works are undertaken. The archives were expected to return to the block in late-2018.
The median age of the ACT population will rise from 35 to 37 in the next 10 years, with the percentage of the population aged 65 years and over to increase from 12.6 per cent in 2017 to 15.1 per cent in 2027.
"ANU have been quite unhelpful and unwilling to meet, so the emails [to people who need to be screened] will need to go out from the TB clinic [instead of the university]," one public health official wrote to another on October 31.
Canberra Liberals spokesman for gaming and racing Mark Parton was there for the running and he was similarly confident this wasn't the last Cup - even if the ACT government bans the greyhound industry, he said it would find a new home.
"I came up with the idea of the Running of the Bulldogs as a way to have a large fun day for us to get together, but also to raise money for charity."
"We don't want to disturb the current character of the foreshore precinct, we want to add to it, and if you look around there's already a lot of six storey buildings there," he said.
"With government being a leading customer for smaller companies based locally, we can help to develop leading companies globally and that is something that as the Assistant Minister for Digital Transformation I see enormous potential in. We want to build a sector here, which is a world beater and which can lead the world in so many areas."
THIS WEEK IN CAPE BRETON: Raising the peace flag, reviewing future plans for Centre 200 and more

SYDNEY  During a time of conflict around the world and with racial tensions on the rise in many parts, its clear there are those who want to find a bright, positive light wherever they can. Over the next several days, the YMCA of Cape Breton will ...
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

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In talks with Coordinator of the Cuban Committees for Defence of the Revolution Manuel Miranda Martinez, Thanh underlined the VFFs roles as a largest public organisation in Vietnam in promoting solidarity among people and revolutionary construction.

VFF Vice President Bui Thi Thanh (L) holds meets with leader of the Cuban Committees for Defence of the Revolution. (Photo: VNA)



She conveyed VFF President Tran Thanh Mans sympathy to Cuban people after Hurricane Irma, while expressing her hope that Cuban people will overcome the hurricanes aftermaths soon.

For his part, Manuel Miranda Martinez introduced developments and missions of the Cuban Committees for the Defence the of Revolution, which gather over 90% of the Cuban people.

He affirmed that Vietnam is always a bright example for Cuba while stressing the significance of the experience exchange between the two organisations.

During the visit to Cuba, the VFF delegation met with Director of the National Assemblys Commission of International Relations and President of the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association Yolanda Ferrer Gomez. They discussed the role of public organisations in elections and legislation.

They also met with Head of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committees Department of International Relations Jose Ramon Balaguer and laid a wreath of flowers at the statue of President Ho Chi Minh in Havana as well as visited branches of Cuban Committees for the Defence the of Revolution in several localities./.
Subaru just dusted off a nameplate they havent used in a while: the Rex. This time though, its not being attached to a sub-compact mini or...
Alphabet, Googles parent company, could invest up to $1 billion in ride-hailing company Lyft.



Autonews reports that the technology company could invest the ten-figure sum through either Google or CapitalG, the firms private equity firm and that meetings over the potential investment have been held in recent weeks.

In recent months, Alphabets relationship with Lyft rival Uber has deteriorated following a bitter lawsuit that alleges Uber stole trade secrets about Alphabets autonomous vehicle technology.

Uber is still the bigger of the two ride-hailing companies but Lyft recently commenced a major television campaign and has gained market share this year following the multitude of controversies involving Uber.

With a $1 billion investment, it is thought that Lyft would be able to ensure its independence while also offering more subsidies for drivers, discounts for riders and pursuing a host of marketing ventures.

Earlier this year, Alphabets self-driving division, Waymo, inked a deal with Lyft to accelerate the development and implementation of autonomous vehicle technologies.

PHOTO GALLERY
Think Toyota offers an extensive lineup in America? Well it does. But it has even more models back in its home market. And yes, that includes trucks  one of which is now returning to Japan while the other is just leaving.



On its way out is the FJ Cruiser, a model which was withdrawn from the North American market a little over a year ago already, but which is now taking its final tour of the Japanese islands before being retired there as well.

Reminiscent of the original Land Cruiser, the FJ Cruiser took on hard-core off-roaders like the Jeep Wrangler and Land Rover Defender, but with even more retro styling. It was introduced in 2006 and stuck around for over a decade before its charm wore off. To mark the FJ Cruisers retirement, Toyota has rolled out a special Final Edition for the Japanese Domestic Market, decked out inside and out in black and tan, with 20-inch aluminum wheels and side steps.

While the FJ Cruiser rolls off into the setting sun in the Land of the Rising Sun, Toyota is bringing back another truck to (sorta) take its place. Thatd be the Hilux, the pickup truck thats been around for 50 years now. Toyota sells the Hilux in 180 markets around the world, but stopped selling it in Japan in 2004. Now its bringing it back home to roost  much to the presumptive satisfaction of those 9,000 owners who still use their old ones in Japan, and those whod like to join them.

At the same time, Toyota is rolling out the Land Cruiser Prado that was just introduced for the European market (sans the Prado name). All three models are based on the same underpinnings, also shared with the Tacoma and 4Runner sold in America. The Japanese automaker expects to sell 2,000 or so examples of the Hilux, another 1,800 of the Prado, and 200 of the outgoing FJ Cruiser, in Japan each month.

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The film will inevitably renew the debate of whether processed live-action qualifies as animation. I saw the film in Annecy last June, and while the film employs animation techniques, it felt that the performances of the characters were too deeply rooted in a processed technique to truly be considered rotoscope animation, as a film like Waking Life would be. In other words, I didnt see enough creative choices made by animators to affect the source live-action performances in a meaningful way. The staging and emotional value of the performances that were shot on greenscreen (see below) was what ended up on screen.

Though possessing a solid script, the film also lacked the graphic ingenuity of a film like Waltz with Bashir in which the processed live-action technique was integrated into the animated setting and made abstract in such a way that it managed (at least in some parts) to transcend its live-action origins.

Kino Lorber distributed the 2016 SXSW documentary feature winner Tower which uses a similar processed live-action technique. Its completely understandable why filmmakers increasingly rely on this technique for both budgetary and creative reasons, but if you appreciate the work of animators and their role in giving life to characters, this live-action digital processing effect is an unsatisfying substitute for actual character animation.

Besides the U.S., Tehran Taboo will also be released in Germany by Camino Filmverleih and Austria by Filmladen. French sales company Celluloid Dreams has also sold rights to the following territories: French-speaking Canada (AZ Films), France (ARP Selection), Switzerland (Praesens Film), Greece (Seven Films), CIS and the Baltics (Maywin Media AB), former Yugoslavia (Discovery Film and Video Distribution), Hungary (Cirko Film), and Singapore (Luna Films).

The news of Tehran Taboos U.S. distribution was first announced by Variety.
Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen will all be investigated following a crash at the start of the Singapore GP which wiped out the front-row.

As the field barreled down to Turn 1 on the wet track, Vettel moved to the left to cover his position, but sandwiched Verstappen into a fast moving Raikkonen.

The Red Bull clipped the Ferrari which was pitched into the side of Vettel.

The German managed to keep going and make his through Turn 1, but eventually spun further down the road, while Raikkonen and Verstappen were out on the spot.

The incident, in which Fernando Alonso was collateral damage after a brilliant start, brought out the Safety Car.

The FIA stewards announced that the startline incident was under investigation, with a ruling expected after the race.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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Photo: BC Parks The grasslands around White Lake have been identified as an area needing protection.

In Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's latest report, Canada is behind the eight ball when it comes to protecting land.

CPAWS is asking all governments to step up efforts to meet Canadas international commitments to protect at least 17 per cent of land and inland waters by 2020.

With only 10 per cent of its landscape currently protected, Canada lags behind the global average, and also trails behind other larger countries like China, Brazil, and Australia.

The report recognizes that local and provincial governments are finally starting to take this commitment seriously after years of sitting back.

In February 2017, ministers responsible for parks and protected areas announced their commitment to work together to achieve this goal.

With less than three years to fulfill our 2020 commitment, we need to get going now, said Eric Hebert-Daly, National Executive Director at CPAWS.

In the report we identify places across Canada where a considerable amount of work has already been done on proposed protected areas. By acting now to permanently protect these sites, while also planning for whats needed to conserve nature in the long term, Canada has a chance to move from laggard to leader."

In B.C., the grasslands of the South Okanagan-Similkameen have been identified as an immediate conservation priority.

The new B.C. government has an incredible opportunity to demonstrate its leadership and commitment to conservation efforts by working immediately to establish a National Park Reserve in the South Okanagan," said Jessie Corey, terrestrial conservation manager for CPAWS-BC. "We need to protect the grasslands and forests in the southern part of the Okanagan, from the boarder to the north of Oliver and areas around White Lake."
Colton Davies

The first annual Okanagan Gleaners fall fair took place on Saturday at the societys property in Oliver.

"I see a lot of familiar faces, volunteers, present and past," said Diane Knight, a volunteer for the non-profit organization. "But I see a lot of new faces too and I see a lot of families coming."

Saturday's fair featured food, live music and kids activities.

But a regular day for the organization sees food prepared and sent off to areas in need.

"(We) utilize surplus produce and fruit from the farmers in the area, and we dehydrate it and turn it into a soup mix, which various humanitarian organizations take around the world."

Knight said since the Gleaners' inception more than 20 years ago, soup mix from the group has been given out to about 60 countries.

The Gleaners' general manager, Greg Masson, said in their first year, about 100,000 meals worth of food was delivered to countries in need.

In 2017 so far, he said 6.2 million meals have been donated.

The Gleaners started with their Oliver location in 1996, and now have eight locations in Canada with, a ninth on the way.

Knight estimated that a few hundred different volunteers help out annually, but said there is always a need for more.

"(The fair) is an invitation to come down and see who we are and what we do, and maybe they'd like to become involved."
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Trudeau pays tribute to former cabinet minister Allan McEachen.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remembered Allan MacEachen as a "once-in-a-lifetime" calibre cabinet minister who helped transform Canada into the country of its citizens' dreams at a memorial service in Nova Scotia.

Politicians of various generations were among the crowd at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish on Sunday to commemorate MacEachen, who died at the age of 96 last week.

Speakers described the long-serving Liberal MP and senator from Nova Scotia as a consummate public servant whose mix of political savvy and devotion to his constituents helped usher in some of the most ambitious Canadian social reforms of the postwar era.

"Whether they credit him or not, Canadians are living in the country that Allan J. built, and they like it," Trudeau told the crowd. "Let us honour him by recommitting ourselves as Canadians to continuing his life's work of hard things done well.

"His life's work  a Canada in which good enough is never good enough, and better is always possible."

Former prime minister Jean Chretien was among the honorary pallbearers as Mounties in serge carried a flag-draped coffin into the auditorium to the wail of bagpipes, the musician having flown in from Scotland in keeping with MacEachen's last wishes.

The prime minister bowed his head before MacEachen's coffin as he took to the stage in a tartan tie honouring his own Scottish heritage.

Trudeau said MacEachen receives too little credit for helping his father, Pierre, execute their shared vision for Canada when he was prime minister.

MacEachen was the legislative muscle behind many Canadian social programs, including the creation of medicare in the 1960s, he said.

The political allies were a "match made in heaven," said Trudeau, their friendship founded on the bedrock belief that all people are created equal.

"He also understood that making change happen is difficult, especially when its aim is to give power and resources to the people," Trudeau said.

"This Canada existed only in Canadians' hopes and dreams when Allan MacEachen entered politics in 1953. By the time he left in 1996, it was a fact of life, taken for granted."

Former Ontario premier Bob Rae said MacEachen's life was an "eloquent testimony" to the trials and rewards of public service, describing his former parliamentary colleague  and sometimes adversary  as a "gladiator" with a flair for the political stage, but a reserved private life.

"(Politics) brought him out of himself. It allowed him to relish the foibles and strengths of those around him," Rae said. "He knew that politics was not for the squeamish or weak of spirit.

"His life is a reminder that people matter, and that history is not a dance of abstract categories, but it's about real people of flesh and blood."

Born in Inverness on Cape Breton Island in 1921, MacEachen  who spoke fluent Gaelic  brought Nova Scotian values to the halls of Ottawa, said the province's Premier Stephen McNeil.

MacEachen served in a variety of cabinet posts during his decades-long political tenure, holding portfolios in finance, external affairs and national health and welfare.

He won five elections in the Inverness-Richmond riding, and another five representing Cape Breton-Highlands Canso.

MacEachen ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Liberal leadership in 1968, but served as the party's interim leader during the elder Trudeau's brief political hiatus in 1979.

He also served as deputy prime minister and was appointed to the Senate in 1984. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2008.

MacEachen is to be buried in Inverness this week following a funeral service in the hometown church in which he was baptized.
Fabian Lustenberger of Berlin and Andrej Kramaric of Hoffenheim compete for the ball during the Bundesliga match between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Hertha BSC at Wirsol Rhein-Neckar-Arena on September 17, 2017 in Sinsheim, Germany. (Matthias Hangst / Bongarts/Getty Images)

BERLIN  Hanover 96 remain top of the Bundesliga after Hoffenheim were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Hertha Berlin on Sunday after Sandro Wagner's early header was cancelled out.

In the first ever Bundesliga match to kick off at 1:30pm local time (1130 GMT), Germany striker Wagner powered home a header after just six minutes to give Hoffenheim the lead in Sinsheim.

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However, Hertha striker Alexander Esswein equalised when he dived at Marvin Plattenhardt's cross on 55 minutes and the ball flew into the net off his shoulder.

Having got themselves level, Pal Dardai's Hertha defended deep, packed players around the ball and frustrated Hoffenheim to earn a point away from home as neither side managed to create many more clear chances.

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The result leaves Hoffenheim fourth in the table with Hertha down to 11th and keeps Hanover, who won promotion back to the Bundesliga last season, as unlikely league leaders.

Hanover went top of the table on Friday for the first time in 48 years with a 2-0 win at Hamburg thanks to goals by Martin Harnik and Togo winger Ihlas Bebou.

However, Borussia Dortmund can knock Hanover from top spot on Sunday afternoon when they host bottom side Cologne, who have lost all three Bundesliga games so far and lost 3-1 at Arsenal on Thursday in the Europa League.

Defending champions Bayern Munich are second, one point behind Hanover, after their 4-0 hammering of Mainz on Saturday when Robert Lewandowski netted twice while Arjen Robben and Thomas Mueller also got on the scoresheet.
Tom & Eddie's restaurant closed its Deerfield Square location in early September after three years in the village, because it did not perform as the company hoped it would, according to a company spokesperson.



"In the end, this location just did not prove suitable for our concept," spokesperson Tony Dentice said. "The decision to close our Deerfield location was a difficult one for us and was made after much thought and of course, with a heavy heart."



The large illuminated letters above the eatery's entrance have been removed and all that remains on the door is a sign from landlord CRM Properties Group, advertising the space for lease, and a smaller one posted by the restaurant chain.



"The Deerfield Tom & Eddie's location has permanently closed," the restaurant's sign read. "Thank you for your patronage over the last 3+ years. Please visit our locations in Vernon Hills, Lombard and Naperville."



Though Tom & Eddie's left before its lease had expired, it is not shirking its responsibilities, according to Chuck Malk, one of the owners of CRM and Deerfield Square. Dentice indicated it was a hard decision to make.



"The decision to close our Deerfield location was a difficult one for us and was made after much thought and of course with a heavy heart," Dentice said. "Over the past three years we truly enjoyed serving the fresh and delicious Tom & Eddie's fare to the Deerfield community."



Malk was aware of the situation before the restaurant decided to depart Deerfield.



"We knew they wanted to go," Malk said. "They remain obligated under the lease and we are looking for a sub-tenant. This did not meet their expectations."



Tom & Eddie's is the third Deerfield Square store to close since July when Ami Ami left. The clothing boutique is planning to open a shop in downtown Highland Park later this month. At the end of August, Mephisto Great Lakes Shoes also closed after 10 years.



Owner Ray Sand, who spent eight years at Bannockburn Green before moving to downtown Deerfield, said he shuttered his business because he felt significant competition from the internet as well as economic pressure. He now operates an online business.



Malk is not worried about the recent moves. He said he has maintained occupancy of more than 90 percent over the years in a shopping center with more than 260,000 square feet.



"It's cyclical," he said. "Right now the urban (shopping centers) are hot."



He recently completed a development in Chicago which was fully leased before construction was complete.
History's 'Vikings' Heading To Russia; Casts Russian Actor In Major Character

The Vikings are an unstoppable force. After Ragnar Lothbrok's (Travis Fimmel) death, History's "Vikings" Season 5 and Season 6 will conquer new territories.

The cable network recently announced that the critically-acclaimed period drama "Vikings" will return for a sixth season. While Season 5 is yet to premiere on television, filming of the next installment to the epic of the Northsmen will resume soon.

In light of the series' early renewal, creator Hirst gave a hint at where the legendary warriors are heading to next. After Morocco and Iceland, the Vikings are journeying to Russia.

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"This season we are going to go to Russia, because Russia is called Russia because it was formed by the rough Vikings," he told The Indian Express. "We love going to different lands and countries. Last season, we went to Iceland and Morocco because the Vikings went there. It is always amazing to go into new worlds with the cast. It is very exciting time."

"Vikings" Season 5 will see the warriors discover new territories. Ragnar's first-born Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) will be sailing towards the Mediterranean as his father once dreamed. Meanwhile, boat-maker and trickster Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard), out of grief, will go on his own journey and, as history books recounted, will discover Iceland.

How the Vikings will land in Russia remains to be seen. However, the period drama has already cast a major character that will cross paths with Bjorn, Floki, Ivar (Alex Hogh Andersen), Rollo (Clive Standen) or Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) in the next season.

Deadline reports that Danila Kozlovsky, a Russian actor, has been cast in the role of Oleg the Prophet. Also known as Oleg Norwood, the newcomer was a 10th Century Varangian prince who ruled the territory.

Coincidentally, Kozlovsky also starred in the 2016 Russian movie "Viking." This might have helped him secure a role in the period drama. "Vikings" Season 5 will premiere on Nov. 29 on History, watch the trailer below.

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At some point, Chicago's Italian restaurants lost their focus, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

Going back 30 years, Italian restaurants in town self-identified as "Northern Italian" or "Southern Italian." These were grotesquely oversimplified terms; "southern" meant tomatoes and seafood, and "northern" generally meant veal and butter. Less charitably, "southern" became synonymous with family-style, red-sauce dining, and "northern" suggested more sophistication.

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Those distinctions have virtually vanished, and good riddance; today's Italian restaurant likely features a menu of cherry-picked specialties from around the country, happily proffering eggplant Parmesan, bistecca Fiorentina and cacio e pepe pasta. On the other hand, for those who care about such things, regionally focused Italian cooking can be tough to come by in Chicago. There are the Pugliese specialties of Macello, the Roman focus of Tre Soldi, the Tuscan cooking of Coco Pazzo, but these, and a few others, are the exceptions.

Now we have another, delightful exception in Osteria Langhe, a 3-month-old Logan Square restaurant dedicated to all things Piemontese.

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If you're unfamiliar with the food of this Northern Italian region, consider this a delicious introduction.

The chef is Cameron Grant, who cooked in Piemonte for almost three years before returning stateside to run Fresco 21 in Rosemont; it was then that he met Aldo Zaninotto, a Chicago-restaurant veteran (the original Carlucci, Savarin) turned wine ambassador with a particular fondness for Piemontese wines. A partnership was born, and, soon after, so was this 50-odd seat restaurant, named for the Langhe, an area inside Piemonte.

"Langhe means 'tongue' in Italian," Zaninotto says, "and everything food and wine goes through the tongue."

Though there are a few head-scratching terms on the menu (well-trained servers are quick with explanations), nearly all the ingredients and preparations are familiar, though Grant adds a subtle twist to many of his dishes. There's nothing exotic, for instance, about a seared sea scallop over cauliflower puree, though the accompanying pile of fried sweetbread nuggets is a welcome touch, as are the chopped hazelnuts, capers and golden raisins strewn on the plate. Vitello tonnato, a classic dish of thinly sliced veal (presented in bright pink, overlapping circles) and tuna aioli, gets a fillip from a crunchy-coated egg, a sort-of Scotch egg that hints at Grant's Scottish origins. My favorite starter is the light and delicate flan of sunchoke and artichoke, surrounded by a fontina-cheese fonduta and sprinkled with black summer truffles ($9 upcharge for the truffles; don't skimp).

Primi dishes (risotti and pastas) are small but powerfully flavored. Grant takes justifiable pride in his risotto, which might include oysters and razor clams one day, venison with Gorgonzola cheese the next. The version I tried was a surf-and-turf combo of scallops, chanterelles and a lamb; the flavors were good and the rice itself flawless, but it didn't quite pull together, perhaps because the lamb was a loin chop, and maneuvering around bones in a risotto dish was an annoyance.

Pasta offerings consist of tajarin (think angel hair) and plin (tiny, hand-pinched filled pasta), the former available with a robust ragu of beef, sausage and tomato, or butter-sage sauce. The plin are filled with La Tur (a tangy, three-milk cheese) and grana Padano cheeses and bathed in a butter-thyme sauce; what appears to be a skimpy portion when it arrives becomes a you-take-the-last-one indulgence a few bites later.

Main courses lean toward the conservative. The star of the secondi is the braised rabbit, pieces of pancetta-wrapped loin and belly meat accompanied by skinless roasted potatoes (nicely crisped) over a ragout of bell peppers with a rosemary-seasoned rabbit jus. Bell peppers, sweet and sour this time, add support to a meaty slab of sea bass over lentils. Skillful slow-roasting and a yummy Barolo-honey-glaze elevate the "safe" chicken breast to something worth your attention, and the crespella, the nominal vegetarian entree of crepe-wrapped market veggies, is memorable for its peppery leek fonduta and crunchy granola of quinoa, pine nuts and oats.

I have to mention the black-olive grissini, a fistful of which sits innocently on your table; made by a local baker to Grant's specifications, the long, thin breadsticks are positively addictive, and staffers are happy to bring more.

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Desserts include a daily panna cotta with ever-changing accompaniments, though Grant does like the chocolate-hazelnut pairing. The version I had featured vanilla-bean-flecked panna cotta and some chocolate-hazelnut biscotti; a later version matched chopped hazelnuts with shaved chocolate. There's also a dense flourless chocolate cake with honey-hazelnut gelato, and a cocoa-dusted, amarena-cherry semifreddo with amaretto cookie. Best in show goes to the limetta, a jar of lime curd topped with toasted, minty meringue alongside a graham cracker and shortbread cookie; it's like a deconstructed Key lime pie (the shortbread component serving as another tip o' the tam to Grant's Scottish roots).

All this takes place in a cheerfully minimalist dining space, its sole decorative highlight a long mural of the Piemonte countryside. Amid the very capable servers is the affable Zaninotto, the man to see about the well-chosen and considerately priced Piemontese wines (he's pouring a Barolo for $16 per glass) and, if you're lucky, a complimentary taste of after-dinner amaro.

Watch Phil Vettel's reviews weekends on WGN-Ch. 9's "News at Nine" and on CLTV.

pvettel@tribune.com

Twitter @philvettel

Osteria Langhe

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2824 W. Armitage Ave.

773-661-1582

osterialanghe.com

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

Tribune rating: Two stars

Open: Dinner Monday-Sunday

Prices: Main courses $17-$25

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Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V

Reservations: Strongly recommended

Other: Street parking

Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; no stars: unsatisfactory. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
Vito Glazers, 32, says he disliked Cook Countys parentage court facilities and the way it made him feel  like a file number. ( Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune )

When Vito Glazers and the mother of his child couldn't work out a visitation schedule for their then-infant son, he did what many parents do and went to court and asked a judge to intervene.

But when he arrived at the Daley Center court complex in downtown Chicago for the first time last year, Glazers learned that because he and the boy's mother were never married, his case would be heard in the basement, where former storage space had been converted into cramped courtrooms. Divorcing couples or those already divorced facing similar child-custody issues were assigned to better-appointed courtrooms upstairs.

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"I've never been to prison, but that's a little like what it felt like," said Glazers, 32, of Mount Prospect. "It was not dignified in any possible way. ... It feels like it's there to psychologically break people."

For years, the last large relic of Illinois' two-tiered system for child support and paternity cases  one court for married couples and a separate one for unmarried parents  lived on in Cook County.

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A holdover from the days when state law referred to the children of unwed parents as "bastards," Cook County's Parentage and Child Support Court for years was held in police station courtrooms and other buildings separate from divorce court in downtown Chicago. The court, originally intended as a way to quickly get unwed mothers child support, was moved to the basement of the Loop's Daley Center court complex as part of an informal settlement in a 1993 federal discrimination lawsuit alleging single parents were treated differently than divorcing parents in child custody and support cases.

Even after the move, divorce cases were heard in larger, better-appointed courtrooms upstairs.

But in February, parentage court, as it has long been informally known, was abolished in response to a new round of possible legal action over its constitutionality and an acknowledgment of larger social changes that mean not quite half of the county's child support and custody cases are now brought by unmarried parents. That's up from about 5 percent several decades ago.

"It was kind of a stepchild of the system," longtime domestic relations Judge Thomas Carr said of parentage court. The Domestic Relations Division of Cook County circuit court handles the county's divorce and child custody cases.

I've never been to prison, but that's a little like what it felt like.  Vito Glazers on Cook Countys parentage court facilities

Court in converted closets

Experts said Cook County was the only large court jurisdiction in the country, and possibly the only one period, that sent divorcing parents with custody issues through one set of courtrooms and single parents through another. It was a product of Illinois law that for more than a century treated unmarried parents differently.

"There really was a disparate impact (on unmarried parents)," said Christine Hunt, a family law attorney and adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School, where she's a supervising attorney at the family and domestic violence legal clinic. "In some cases these courtrooms were converted closets."

Judge Grace Dickler, who heads the domestic relations division and led the effort to do away with parentage court said, "We wanted to make sure there was no perception of a stigma to children of unmarried parents."

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"Forty percent or so of the kids that we deal with minimally are of unmarried parents, so why would we have something different?" the judge added.

Yet before parentage court was closed, only 7 of the 37 domestic relations judges at the Daley Center heard those unwed-parent cases, Dickler said.

Glazers' attorney Jeffrey Leving said the change was welcome and benefits more than just the parents.

"I believe that Chicago is extremely conservative and the court system historically views unwed parents as lesser," he said. "When you have unwed parents being treated like cattle in the basement of the courthouse where the future of their children is being balanced, that hurts their children."

Fewer couples are tying the knot in the first place, which meant a heavier caseload for parentage court, judges and family law attorneys say.

"People are co-habitating in large numbers," said longtime family law attorney Gemma Allen, who said the family-court consolidation has created a feeling "of greater acceptance or respect" for unmarried parents. "It never surprises me what I hear (about parenting arrangements) when I pick up the phone anymore. These are very responsible, very intentional, very concerned co-parents that want what's best for their children.

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"I think the court system has changed with the times."

Cook County Circuit Judge Grace Dickler led the effort to abolish parentage court. ( Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune )

Unconstitutional, and the Bastardy Act

The Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice, a nonprofit public-interest group that works on judicial reforms, pushed hard for the change, presenting Dickler a detailed legal analysis in 2014 that found the system constitutionally flawed.

Already, a federal judge in 1993 had found that the county's bifurcated family courts system operated as an unconstitutional "classification system" that treated married  or divorcing  and unmarried parents differently.

Not everyone agrees that there were disparities between divorce and parentage court.

Laura Vallejo, the supervising attorney for Chicago Legal Clinic's parentage and child support desk, said from her windowless office in the Daley Center basement that from her perspective clients were treated the same in both types of courtrooms. The nonprofit clinic provides legal advice and representation to people who can't afford to hire a lawyer.

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While the physical setting and busy calls may not have been ideal, she said it was attorneys who were most unhappy because cases assigned to parentage court could take up much of their day.

Like Cook County, child custody and support cases filed by unmarried parents are growing in the collar counties. In Kane and Lake counties, those cases are blended with the regular domestic relations call.

But DuPage County still maintains a separate, 2nd-floor courtroom for unmarried parents working out child custody and support issues. That's because the court system there has a judge specializing in these types of cases, said DuPage County Domestic Relations Presiding Judge John Demling. Those wishing to avoid court altogether can opt for the newly established mediation program designed for unmarried parents.

In Cook County, judges and others said there have been hiccups in the new system, in which all judges hear a mix of cases, including some in the Daley Center basement. Some judges have been receiving a much higher proportion of redistributed cases than others, judges and attorneys say.

Helping move cases along are hearing officers that this year  under new funding from the Cook County Board after the state decided to stop paying for the program  expanded their roles to help parents resolve cases more quickly, taking much of the work on about 5,000 cases from judges, according to the Appleseed Fund.

The county's two-tiered court system grew out of the Bastardy Act of 1845 and its subsequent revisions that  shockingly to the modern ear  labeled the children of unwed mothers "bastards" and in early versions of the law essentially forced moms to relinquish custody of their offspring if the father paid child support.

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Before parentage cases were heard in the Daley Center's basement, they were heard in a crowded set of courtrooms across the street. Some were also heard in a South Loop court building when the neighborhood was considered rough, said Allen, the family law attorney, and sometimes a deputy or even judge would walk her to her car when a case ended after dark.

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And before that, cases were heard in district police station courtrooms. Longtime family law attorney Paul Feinstein recalled early in his career doing parentage cases in a wood-paneled courtroom at the old, now-demolished Chicago police headquarters at 11th and State streets.

"It's a lot better (now)," he said.

Glazers spent nearly a year in court before reaching a settlement in January, a month before the court consolidation. He said it allows him to have his son one day a week and every other weekend. It's not ideal, Glazers said, but at least he can see his son more.

He won't soon forget his time in the Daley Center basement.

"They pay no attention to you down there  you feel like a file number," Glazers said. "You feel completely unheard and completely helpless."

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sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
Two people drag a tent from under the Lawrence Avenue viaduct, Sept. 18, 2017, in the Uptown neighborhood. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune)

As joggers and families walked through the Uptown neighborhood on a sunny Sunday morning, Carol Aldape sat in an electric wheelchair and sorted through a storage bin of her belongings under a crumbling viaduct near Lake Shore Drive.

She found a pair of leggings she had been looking for and stopped to eat granola bites for breakfast. Her two dogs, Chief and Bella, watched from outside another orange and gray tent.

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"You know the cartoon with the final straw, and he's holding on," she said. "Well, seems like ours just broke. And sure this place needs fixing up, but sure there are a lot of low-income people that need housing."

Aldape, 68, has called a tent pitched under the Wilson Avenue viaduct her home since May. The area is known as tent city, but the homeless people who have taken up shelter there were forced to move out after a federal judge ruled last week that the city of Chicago could move forward with a construction project.

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The project includes plans to create bike paths under the viaducts, which would shorten the sidewalks, and calls into question whether the homeless people would ever be able to return. The viaducts are expected to close Monday, and construction could last until March 2018.

The challenge over the plan is expected to continue in court. A hearing is scheduled Monday regarding a complaint the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless previously filed against the city.

The city had proposed moving the displaced people to Pacific Garden Mission, a shelter nearly 8 miles south. But the homeless who were part of tent city didn't move far.

Volunteers with Uptown Tent City Organizers picked up their tents and belongings and walked less than 500 yards west of the Wilson viaduct. Volunteers also pitched newer but smaller tents. Some of the people living under the Lawrence Avenue viaduct were expected to move to that area Sunday as well.

Brien Cron, a local advocate for Uptown Tent City Organizers, said he thought the group had a right to set up the tents on the grassy area along Wilson Avenue between the sidewalk and the road.

"This is a public right of way, so we are evoking that right as an Illinois state resident to use this area as a public way for our homeless people that are living under the viaducts," he said.

Andy Thayer, an activist with the group, said the location was also chosen because it would keep the issue of homelessness visible.

Organizers on Sunday were having difficulty squeezing all the tents into the space, prompting leaders to huddle and make the decision to expand closer to a bus stop at the northeast corner of the intersection.

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Some described the move as chaotic. Others said they were worried about disagreements between the two encampments. But all were united in their gripes about leaving the viaducts.

Outside each tent was a picket sign planted in the ground, reading: "Housing is a human right!"; Stop harassing the homeless!"; and "$ for housing, not policing."

Just north of the new encampments, Jesse Tolwinski placed his tent away from the group, under the shade of trees just west of the viaduct where he had been living for six months. Water bottles, a lawn chair and a small outdoor grill were just outside his tent. Other residents of the informal tent city had warned him that the city could force him to leave this spot, too, but he said he was willing to take his chances.

"I'm stubborn, I ain't going to move," he said. "If they lock me up, at least I'll have a roof over my head, and they have to feed me."

South of Tolwinski's encampment, Aldape's new tent was smaller than the one she used under the viaduct. The only thing that fit was a makeshift bed that her dog Bella quickly jumped on top of while volunteers continued the move. Volunteers began placing Aldape's belongings in a second tent.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Aldape told a volunteer as she stared at her things near the curb.

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Aldape wants to stay in the Uptown area; it's where her doctors are located and where she previously lived with assistance from the government. She is waiting for housing at an assisted living facility, but she won't accept anything unless her dogs can come with her.

Her friend Mark Saulys was going to store some of Aldape's belongings in his new apartment. Last week, he got the keys to an apartment in Rogers Park that he obtained through a government program.

Saulys, 56, joked that he might keep an office for the group. He had been living in the encampment for more than a year, and he was in charge of all the donated tents. He said the group gave him a sense of community, and he thought the environment was more helpful than staying at a shelter.

"Pacific Garden Mission, you wouldn't send your worst enemy there," he said.

Before he became homeless, Saulys lived on the city's West Side. He had planned to take a biking trip in the country's Northeast, but he never managed to leave.

"I got stuck," he said. "You think you're going to be homeless for a short period."

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As his friends continued to sort through their belongings, a van from Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago parked under the viaduct. Saulys loaded his belongings into the van and was driven to his new apartment.

At the Lawrence Avenue viaduct, many broke down their tents, packed their belongings and waited for trucks to move them to the easement along Marine Drive.

Others, though, refused to leave, saying the city had promised affordable housing vouchers by the time the construction was set to take place.

Among those who planned to stay were Diane Rubo, 54, who has lived underneath the viaduct since December after disagreements with her landlord. Rubo, who collects disability benefits, said she needs surgery for disks in her neck and back, which has prevented her from working.

Adding to the stress of the situation, the South Side native said she doesn't want to return to the rampant violence of her old neighborhood.

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She and others said they're staying underneath the viaduct to protest what they see as a broken promise, and their message is simple.

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"Work with me, not against me," Rubo said. "Why don't you want people to have good housing? Put one of their children in our place: Would they want them treated like this?

"They tore down the projects, put them on the street, but didn't want to do anything for them," she said.

Rubo, who wore a silver crucifix necklace, said her faith has kept her grounded.

"This is only just a scratch, but it won't shake me," she said. "Because I have an unshakable God."

emalagon@chicagotribune.com

tbriscoe@chicagotribune.com
A teacher in eastern Michigan has been placed on administrative leave after she was accused of "violently snatching" a sixth-grade student from his chair as he stayed seated for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Brian Chaney of Farmington Hills, Michigan, said a teacher consultant forced his 11-year-old son, Stone, to stand for the pledge late last week at East Middle School. Chaney called the action a violation of his son's civil rights, explaining that Stone had been making a personal decision not to salute the American flag  but to honor God and his family  for the past several years.

It had not been a problem, his father said, until now.

"When you put your hands on kids and force your own way of thinking, that's not right," Chaney told The Washington Post on Friday.

On his third day at a new school, Stone was sitting in class stressing about how to use the combination lock on his middle-school locker  which, his father said, should have been the extent of an 11-year-old boy's worries.

"The teacher consultant comes up behind me and snatches me out of my chair violently," Stone told NBC affiliate WDIV. "I was so confused. I didn't know what was going on."

The next day, on Sept. 8, Stone's father said, a substitute teacher also "berated" the boy for staying seated during the pledge.

Chaney spoke Tuesday at a Farmington Public Schools board of education meeting, demanding answers. "I'm going to say we're quite disappointed," he told board members, standing with his four sons.

"My wife and I, my father-in-law, my parents, my entire family  we've shed many, many emotions in the last four or five days," he said. "We are very disappointed that when we dropped our son off into the hands of East Middle School, we thought it would be nurturing hands."

Chaney continued: "What we see on the TVs, what's going on in America, it just came to my living room. Tears are done. I'm mad now. We're looking for accountability."

Farmington Public Schools Superintendent George Heitsch said in a statement to The Post that school leaders have opened an investigation into the incident. Chaney said that the educator who allegedly forced his son to stand during the pledge is a consultant who trains other teachers, but the district has not confirmed that.

Heitsch said the district supports each student's right to decide whether to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. "At Farmington Public Schools, we expect every child and adult in our district to be treated with dignity and respect," he said. "At this time, the District cannot speculate about the outcome of the pending investigation."

Chaney, who is black, said the choice to quietly sit during the Pledge of Allegiance is one shared by the whole family but that Stone made the decision on his own. Chaney said that sitting during the pledge is making a statement that he does not approve of what the American flag stands for or how his ancestors were treated. He said his son is a "hero" for standing up for what he believes.

Others have made similar decisions about the pledge. A Native American teenager from northern California who had been sitting it out for years reportedly was docked a grade last year when she refused to stand for the pledge.

In a 1943 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said students have the right to decide whether to participate in the pledge. According to West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

We think the action of the local authorities in compelling the flag salute and pledge transcends constitutional limitations on their power, and invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to our Constitution to reserve from all official control.

Chaney said he is not comfortable sending his son back to a school where the teachers have set a negative tone. School officials have offered to switch the sixth-grader to another homeroom or another school within the district, Chaney said, but he has not yet made a decision. He said he hopes the incident will "shake up the school district" so that "everyone will be treated equally."

"Kids have rights, too," he added.
Pets and their owners enjoyed an informational and fun day Sunday at the Mooseheart School where the Anderson Animal Shelter staged its annual Pets-a-Palooza event. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News )

Hanover Park resident Urszula Bak is an unabashed dog lover, and has saved a number of them in her lifetime.

"I've had dogs in my life since the moment I was born, and grew up with them," Bak said. "I love them for their companionship, and I currently have four of them that are all rescue dogs."

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The Mooseheart Child City and School was alive with plenty of family, friends, and furry pets Sunday as the Anderson Animal Shelter, based in South Elgin, staged its third-annual Pets-a-Palooza event.

The five-hour event featured everything from training sessions and pet education tips to contests including best costume and best pet trick. Visitors also had the opportunity to view pets ready for adoption.

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Last year's Palooza drew 3,000 people, and executive director Beth Drake said she was hoping Sunday's crowd would be equally as strong. She added that the focus of the event was all about building strong relationships within families and their pets.

Pets and their owners enjoyed an informational and fun day Sunday at the Mooseheart School where the Anderson Animal Shelter offered its annual Pets-a-Palooza event. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News )

"Our hope is that this is something that nurtures the human-animal bond, and people like to do this as a family and often bring their pets along," Drake said. "This is a big part of our mission to enhance that bond and have families grow together, which means fewer animals making their way to our shelter."

Drake said last year's guests asked for more cat-related services, and organizers this year added programs including litter box training and behavior, health, and pet first aid classes to address that request.

Drake also emphasized the need to continue to reinforce the shelter's philosophy on positive reinforcement training.

"A robust amount of studies have shown the effects of what adverse training can do, and we even have taken kids and had them teach dogs a simple behavior like sitting, and the children can see how effective positive reinforcement is," Drake said. "Kids make that connection, and we hope it's something they'll incorporate some day as parents."

Sunday's hot weather seemed to bring an equal amount of suffering to pet lovers and well as animals, but visitors vowed to press on. Joe Remijas, a volunteer with the Anderson shelter for more than a decade, said Sunday's outcome was about "people getting pet experience."

Hanover Park residents Urszula Bak and her son Phil brought two of their rescue dogs out Sunday to visit the third-annual Pets-a-Palooza event at Mooseheart School. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News )

"This is very well organized, and there are a lot of good vendors here," Remijas said, wiping some sweat from his forehead. "The best part of this for me is meeting families that have come here and adopted dogs, and seeing how those puppies have grown up. People remember me from when they first took their dog home."

Renee Johnson said she works as a family teacher at Mooseheart and that kids living there look forward each year to visiting the event.

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"Kids I live with want to see the dogs, and we've had a long-standing requirement here regarding learning service hours," Johnson said. "A lot of our kids volunteer with the shelter each week, and Anderson brings a lot of puppies over who are always welcome. Having this at Mooseheart also helps increase awareness."

North Aurora's Gail Rogers said her daughter learned about the Palooza event and talked her into coming over.

"We don't have dogs, but when we moved in with our daughter we brought two cats and she already had two herself," Rogers said. "I just love animals, and there are a lot of things to do and information, so this is just something good all around."

Larry Mathias and his friend Bob Jaeger, who live in St. Charles and Geneva respectively, strolled the grounds shortly after the event opened saying that their wives were there to promote a book they had written about a rescue dog entitled "A Mile in My Paws."

Pets and their owners found plenty to learn about and do Sunday as the Anderson Animal Shelter, based in South Elgin, held its third-annual Pets-a-Palooza event at Mooseheart School. (David Sharos/The Beacon-News )

Mathias said he grew up on a farm with dogs and said they "are a big deal."

"I've been involved in transporting rescue dogs the past four to five years, and we are expecting to hear about some from either Texas or Florida," Mathias said. "There are too many animals out there, and these animals need care."

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Jaeger called Sunday's offering "a good event" that he hoped would offer some carry over benefits.

"People need to take pets seriously and be kinder to them, and hopefully that will rub off in terms of people being kinder to each other," he said.

One of the more popular events Sunday was a pet-owner lookalike contest, and Lexi Tierney, who was representing Orchard Road Animal Hospital, wasn't about to miss out.

"I'm going home to get my dog that has a red coat that's about the same color as my hair," Tierney said as she raced to the parking lot. "I'm not going to miss this."

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.
Two teenagers face gun and attempted robbery charges stemming from a Sept. 10 shooting in Robbins, the Cook County Sheriff's Office announced Sunday.

A 15-year-old from Robbins was taken into custody Wednesday, and a 17-year-old from Sauk Village was arrested Friday, according to police. Both male suspects are charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and two counts of attempted armed robbery.

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One victim, a 20-year-old man from Chicago, was shot during the incident and is expected to recover, according to police.

The male victim and an 18-year-old Blue Island woman were in the 13400 block of Ridgeway Avenue in Robbins at about 4:20 p.m. Sept. 10 to sell marijuana to people the woman had met via the social media application Snapchat, according to police.

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The suspects confronted the victims, according to police. One assailant pointed a firearm and demanded that they give him everything they had. The male victim was shot as they tried to drive away from the scene.

Police are withholding the names of the offenders due to their ages.

Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Chief of Police Jeff Swoboda, standing, explains to Elgin City Council members Saturday morning at the Hemmens Cultural Arts Center how officers in different divisions work to reduce crime in the city. He also included a scenario if the department were to cut its budget by 5 percent. (Janelle Walker/The Courier-News )

For some city of Elgin departments, a 5 percent budget cut would mean laying off personnel, or in some cases closing down buildings altogether, city staff said.

There are no current plans to ask for those cuts, said City Administrator Rick Kozal. But as part of planning for the 2018 budget  set to go before the Elgin City Council in November  he asked department heads for that scenario.

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There will likely, however, be a need in Elgin to either cut spending or increase revenue in the next fiscal year, Kozal said. But rather than present hard numbers now, a special budget session Saturday at the Hemmens Cultural Arts Center was designed to show the council where the departments spend their budget and how cuts could change that.

Department heads or senior staff outlined those scenarios.

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For Elgin police, a 5 percent cut could be handled by laying off 15 police officers, said Chief Jeff Swoboda.

Already, he said, with fewer officers than the department had in the mid-1990s, Elgin has seen ongoing decreases in the crime rate. He attributed that trend to the department's community-focused policing.

It is better, he added, to have well-trained police instead of just more police.

"In Elgin we take the long approach of solving problems," by working with the community to reduce crime and "not just throwing cops at the problem," he said. Just hiring more officers without giving them needed training doesn't solve any issues for cities, he said.

Much like the police department, much of the Elgin Fire Department's budget goes to personnel costs, said Fire Chief Dave Schmidt.

For more than a decade, the department has worked to maintain personnel costs by giving existing firefighters and paramedics overtime hours rather than hiring more staff. It does save money for the department, Schmidt said.

If the fire department cut its budget by 5 percent, those cuts would be in personnel. That would either mean laying off three firefighters and reducing the number of firefighters on shift at any one time, or reducing by four firefighters and increasing overtime, Schmidt said.

Unlike the police department, the fire department also generates revenue through its ambulance calls. The department bills medicare, medicaid and private insurance for those calls.

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There are other ways the department can increase revenue  including charging for repeated false alarms and expanding its billing for fire-related calls.

Some states have also started taking advantage of federal funding that allows them to receive money for emergency transports through medicaid  an approach Illinois may want to research, he said.

Elgin's Cultural Arts has one of the smaller budgets, said Special Events Coordinator Barb Keselica. A 5 percent cut would be less than $50,000 to the area.

If the city were to make big cuts in those programs, it would make more sense just to close down the Hemmens, or to quit having special events, or to get rid of the Cultural Arts Commission.

She did include information on how much the department actually costs taxpayers  about $29 per household each year. They are also economic development drivers, Keselica said.

Randy Reopelle from Parks and Recreation noted that in the last round of major budget cuts, several administrative positions were cut. If more came down, cuts would likely mean closing some facilities.

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The Centre of Elgin, Reopelle noted, has seen a reduction in its subsidy from the city as memberships have increased. He also cautioned the council that raising user fees may not be the answer, as that tends to decrease participation.

One way public works could reduce its budget, said Interim Director Kyla Jacobsen, would be eliminating leaf-rake out programs and requiring residents to bag leaves if they want them picked up. However, Elgin council suggested that a few years ago and residents opposed the change.

To cut 5 percent from the overall budget, however, she would either need to cut seven staff members or cut programs and services like leaf collection  or do a combination of the two.

There are other ways Elgin could increase its revenue to cover budget gaps, said Aaron Cosentino, assistant city manager. If the city were to approve fees already seen in other cities  or by increasing some taxes and fees charged now  the city could increase revenue by $11 million. Those new revenue ideas include implementing a local motor fuel tax, bringing back city vehicle stickers, a real estate transfer tax, and others. Elgin could also increase its existing liquor and sales taxes, as well as increase the hotel/motel tax and implement the general business license it had considered a few years ago.

Kozel reiterated that none of the scenarios are being considered at this moment. The suggestions were designed to help the council get a handle on what and where potential cuts meant for the city and its residents.

"Today was not about policy," Kozal said, adding those discussions will come later in the fall.

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Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Reporters generally are bound to chase after major incidents such as a house explosion. Sometimes chaos finds us instead.

And sometimes, we don't even realize it at first.

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The house explosion in Grandwood Park on Sept. 8 was roughly five blocks from where I live, more than close enough to experience the strength of the explosion, which literally obliterated a small home on Streamwood Court.

I was getting ready to go out to dinner just after 6 p.m. that day when I heard what sounded like a large, heavy object falling on my roof. Because there are workers on our roof fairly frequently, I assumed someone had fallen down or equipment had been dropped.

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Leaving for dinner, I noticed white material along the edges of the grass on our block, looking a lot like a small, early snowfall. Utilizing 30-plus years of journalistic experience, I immediately began racing around the neighborhood to see what was up.

Rather, that's what I probably should have done. What I actually did was mentally shrug, vaguely wondering if someone had discharged a fire extinguisher, and headed on to meet a friend as planned at a Libertyville steak house.

I was about halfway to Libertyville when an editor called and asked if it was possible that a house had exploded in Grandwood Park. I responded that yes, that might explain a few things. Fortunately, by then a photographer and a reporter were on the way and did a great job of fourth estate first response.

The next day I walked to the scene of the explosion. The white material  padding and insulation from the home  was pretty much everywhere in the neighborhood. It floated in masses on top of the poor lake in the subdivision's Lake Park, which had already experienced a dam failure and the resulting temporary disappearance of the lake earlier this year, followed by a major flood that overflowed the restored lake's banks and damaged nearby homes.

More significantly, as I stood looking at the fenced-in lot covered with shredded and charred building material, It sunk in that a man had died there, a man who has still not been publicly identified.

Unfounded rumors about what may have caused the explosion were floating around the neighborhood. But it seems likely that, outside of a military zone, only a gas explosion is likely to have caused that kind of tremendous damage.

Those who lived closer to the home, including the district's County Board representative, Steve Carlson, had more dramatic experiences.

Carlson said he and his wife thought a car had crashed through the front of their house. Other neighbors described it as a sonic boom. I was interested to learn that some residents also described what they heard as something falling on the roofs of their homes, I guess at a certain distance, the direction of a blast force of that size moves downward, creating that effect.

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I have always had a healthy respect for the destructive force of natural gas, and am perhaps too easily alarmed when I think I smell it.

Whatever the cause of the explosion is eventually determined to be, the out-of-the-blue, violent tragedy was a stunning reminder to one neighborhood that the rare plane crash, natural disaster, and, yes, house explosion, doesn't always happen somewhere else.

Labor Day enforcement results

Local law enforcement agencies joined others throughout Illinois in a statewide effort to keep drunk drivers off the roadways and encourage seat belt use during the Labor Day holiday period, especially during late-night hours.

In separate efforts, both the Gurnee Police Department and Lake County Sheriff's Office ran special traffic enforcement patrols, resulting in DUI and drug arrests and a large number of safety violations.

The Sheriff's Office conducted its traffic safety campaign from Aug. 22 to Sept. 4, with special traffic patrols conducted by sheriff's deputies who focused on seat belt violations and DUI enforcement.

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Deputies arrested one person for driving under the influence of alcohol, issued 62 seat belt citations and 10 speeding citations. A total of 112 traffic citations were issued, and one person wanted on a criminal warrant was arrested, according to Sheriff's Office officials.

The Sheriff's Office Labor Day campaign was funded by federal traffic safety funds administered through the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic Safety and was part of the statewide "Drive Sober or Get Pulled over" and "Click It or Ticket" campaigns.

The Gurnee Police Department ran a series of traffic enforcement details between Aug. 21 and Sept. 6, involving seven officers working a total of 63 extra hours to man the patrols.

Results included three drug arrests, one DUI arrest, four arrests for driving on suspended or revoked license, four citations for driving without insurance and 34 safety belt and child safety restraint violation citations.

Gurnee's efforts were funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation, Bureau of Safety Programs and Engineering and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Officials said the grant-funded deployments were in addition to officers conducting their regularly assigned patrol duties.

jrnewton@tribpub.com

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Just weeks into the new school year, Maine South High School's theater department is getting ready to make some "noise" with its fall play.

"Noises Off," an award-winning 1982 British comedy, will be presented Sept. 28 through Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Park Ridge school, 1111 S. Dee Road.

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Tickets are $7 and available at the door.

Director Carrie Saurer said the play has been on her "short list" of productions she wanted to bring to the school for some time.

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"Simply put, it is the funniest play that I have ever seen," she said. "When you read the script, you laugh and there are some obvious good jokes, but the true brilliance of this comedy lies in the actors themselves."

"Noises Off" is a play within a play  the production of a farce called "Nothing On," featuring a cast of actors who can't seem to get it together. Through the course of the play, the audience is witness to the play that is being produced, but also the off-stage antics and relationships of its actors.

The cast of "Noises Off" consists of Zechariah Pappageorge, Claire Connolly, Jon Luke Lassa, Grace Goble, John Conradi, Anna Hyslop, Moise Tamas, Gabriel Ortiz, Emma Wonsowicz, Genevieve O'Shea, and Lily Haugen.

Student directors are Kati Kons and Tommy Ortman, and the stage manager is Michaela Parangalan.

According to the Maine South fine arts department calendar, other upcoming productions this school year include the annual V-Show on Nov. 3 and 4; the winter play "James and the Giant Peach," Feb. 8-10; and the musical, "A Chorus Line," which will be presented on six dates in April and May.

jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
Two people were found dead Friday in a boat docked at Marina Shores in Portage in what officials are investigating as a possible case of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Porter County Coroner's office.

Coroner Chuck Harris said the initial 911 call went out just after 10 p.m. His office was called in at 11:16 p.m. and identified Michael S. McKinney, 44, of Wanatah and Jennifer Ellenberger, 38, of Crown Point, who were both pronounced dead at the scene, Harris said.

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According to witnesses, McKinney's mother had been searching for him and discovered him unresponsive in the cabin of the boat name The Paradox, Harris said in the press release.

Carbon monoxide tests taken at the scene by the Portage Fire Department found gas present in toxic levels, he said.

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"There were no indications of any foul play during the ongoing investigation," Harris said in the release.

Toxicology is being performed by the coroner's office to confirm carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.

Portage Police, Portage Fire and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources were investigating. Portage police were not available to discuss the case. An investigator with the Department of Natural Resources said the investigation is ongoing and more information will be released as it becomes available.

Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Puebloan opening cafe in the same coffee shop that first employed her

Puebloans Vicy and Daniel Stone are preparing to launch The Sacred Bean cafe in the same building where Vicy got her first barista job 20 years ago.
China's Alipay and Thailand's Kasikorn Bank said on Saturday at Bangkok tourist hotspot Jatujak Market that they will enhance their cooperation in promoting QR code payment in Thailand.

The Thai Bank has already developed a mobile app which supports QR code payment for the Thai market. Chinese tourists can use Alipay app to scan the QR code generated by the Kasikorn app to complete the buying with Thai sellers.

"Chinese accounts for the majority of my customers and we just began to use the Kasikorn app a few days ago and we hope it will make buying more convenient for the Chinese customers," said Piyanas, a woman selling clothes at the Jatujak Market.

Viu, owner of a shop selling colorful notebooks, told Xinhua that she began to use the app this morning and one Chinese tourist had paid her by Alipay soon after.

During a press conference held inside the market, Pipavin Sodprasert, Thailand country manager for Ant Financial, which operates Alipay, told Xinhua that there are some 20,000 Thai businesses using their service and they aim to provide the convenience of QR Code payment, enjoyed by many Chinese now, to Thais, which is consistent with Thai government's target of cashless society.

"I have been to China for many times and we hope Chinese tourists can encourage our society to use e-payment," said Patchara Samalapa, senior executive vice president of Kasikorn Bank, adding that Thai customers can also use their app to scan and to pay.

The bank said their app is the first one that supports QR Code payment in Thailand and they aim to cover some 200,000 shops around the kingdom by the end of this year.
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A car made by Great Wall Motor Co Ltd is on display at the Frankfurt International Motor Show. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese carmakers used to turn up at major shows to raise their international profiles.

But now, it seems they have more practical aims as they plan to mass produce models that will meet the strictest emission standards in the world for domestic and export markets.

At this year's Frankfurt International Motor Show, two private Chinese auto companies presented new models geared to make a splash overseas.

Chery Automobile Co Ltd is one of the most successful manufacturers in China with 20 years experience and it now plans to wheel out a new line of passenger cars for the European market.

The EXEED TX compact SUV will be the first model to go on sale across Europe with other EXEED brands poised to follow.

"In just a few years, we intend to start selling a family of vehicles in European markets across multiple segments, with power supplied by a range of electrified powertrains," Anning Chen, CEO of Chery, told the media in Frankfurt this week.

The company aims to sell a range of hybrid electric vehicles, plug-ins and battery e-cars. Chery is also planning to establish research and design facilities in Europe.

Rival Great Wall Motor Co Ltd is China's largest manufacturer of SUV vehicles and rolled out six models under its high-end Wey brand in Frankfurt.

Four of them were making their global debut, including a concept model, and were branded as new-energy vehicles.

"I believe Chinese cars will perform very well in the world and not just in the domestic market," said Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall.

The company's plan is for Wey SUV brands to enter the North American market in 2021.

Great Wall also aims to build factories abroad to manufacture models locally and is actively searching for locations.

This move into key European and North American export markets underlines the Chinese car industry's newly found confidence in producing more sophisticated models.

Domestic automakers have also performed well under new high National VI emission standards, which are tougher than the old Euro 6 regulations.

"This time it is the real thing," said Zhang Yu, managing director of consulting firm Automotive Foresight Co in Shanghai.

Implementation of new emissions standards in 2019 and 2020 means automakers must produce vehicles that not only satisfy Chinese guidelines, but also regulations in Europe and the United States.

Still, Zhang said it would not be easy for Chinese auto companies to build distribution networks in Europe and North America.

His view was echoed by Peter Hage, founding partner at auto consulting firm Districom Group.

"Also, different customer expectations must be met in terms of vehicle design, quality and performance, as well as overall customer experience management," he added.
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China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) Saturday continued to issue a blue alert for Talim, the region's 18th typhoon this year.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, the eye of Talim was above the northwestern Pacific Ocean, 540 km east of Xiangshan in east Zhejiang Province, packing winds up to 35 meters per second.

The NMC forecast that Talim would move northeastward at a speed of 20 km per hour to Japan.

It said that Talim would weakened when landing in west coast of Japan between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

From Saturday evening to Sunday evening, Talim will bring gales and rainstorms to coastal regions of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang.

The NMC suggested local governments take precautions against possible disasters, and ships in affected areas return to port.

Affected by Talim, more than 200,000 people in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces have been evacuated as of Wednesday.

China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
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Tekeda Alemu, Ethiopian ambassador to the United Nations and the president of UN Security Council for the month of September, addresses a press encounter after UN Security Council closed-door consultations at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept 15, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

The United Nations Security Council has condemned the latest missile launch by Pyongyang and urged a peaceful solution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

In a press statement released on Friday after closed-door consultations, the 15 members of the council condemned "the highly provocative launch of a ballistic missile" by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The DPRK fired a missile over Japan's northern island Hokkaido and into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, which came only days after the Security Council voted in favor of a resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK over its nuclear test early this month.

"The Security Council also emphasized the vital importance of the DPRK immediately showing a sincere commitment to denuclearization through concrete action, and stressed the importance of working to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula," said Tekeda Alemu, president of the Security Council, in a readout of the press statement.

The council members stressed the importance of maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large, and welcomed international efforts to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the crisis through dialogue, said Alemu, the Ethiopian ambassador to the United Nations.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia also warned that there is no alternative to a peaceful solution.

"Threats, tests, launches, mutual threats should be stopped. We should engage in meaningful negotiations," he told reporters after the consultations.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalated recently after US President Donald Trump threatened to deal with the DPRK with "fire and fury" last month. Since then, Pyongyang has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to fire missiles into the waters around the US pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles over Japan.

To ease tensions, China has been committed to a peaceful solution by supporting Security Council sanctions on one hand, and on the other proposing initiatives which aim to suspend hostilities by both Pyongyang and Washington.

However, the crisis on the Korean Peninsula has spilled over and endangered regional security and stability, as well as relations between other countries.

Trump tweeted earlier this month that the United States is considering "stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea."
The Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, reiterated on Saturday that any advocacy of separatism, including that undertaken on university campuses, is unacceptable and an abuse of freedom of speech.

That the SAR government steadfastly condemns such activities is readily understandable since they violate the Basic Law, challenge the countrys sovereignty, and threaten the special administrative regions fundamental interests.

As proved over the past two decades, the principle of one country, two systems has been the foundation for the SARs economic prosperity and social stability, but this innovative framework is being endangered by the incessant endeavors of Hong Kong separatists.

The intent of one country, two systems was not only to maintain the citys prosperity but also to safeguard the nations sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests. Advocacy of Hong Kong independence blatantly challenges the bottom line of such vital national interests. It simply will not be tolerated by the central government and the Chinese people, including the great majority of Hong Kong residents.

The attempt to defend the advocating of separatism under the guise of freedom of speech is nothing more than sophistry, and the SAR government is right to say there is no room for discussion on the issue and to endorse the statement jointly issued by the heads of 10 local universities on Friday condemning the raising of banners advocating "Hong Kong independence" on campuses as an abuse of free speech.

All universities undersigned agree that we do not support Hong Kong independence, which contravenes the Basic Law, the statement said.

The subsequent claim by those advocating separatism that this somehow restricts academic freedom was simply more sophistry.

Asked whether the government had put pressure on the universities, Cheung confirmed they acted autonomously and stressed that the message from the university heads was both clear and correct.

And that message is indisputable, as advocacy of separatism in the SAR is both illegal and unconstitutional.
Shared bikes clutter a street in Xicheng District, Beijing, Sept 15, 2017. [Photo/ Ecns.cn]

Beijing is requiring providers of public shared bikes to purchase life accident insurance while banning children under 12 from using them and prohibiting commercial advertisements on the two-wheelers, according to a new guideline.

Jointly issued by Beijing's 11 governmental departments, the guideline aims to regulate the booming bike-sharing industry while acknowledging that it's a green solution to traffic congestion and flexible mobility.

The rules require all bikes to have GPS and meet safety standards. Users must register with their IDs and companies providing the bikes have the responsibility to remind them of safety information and provide accident insurance. The companies also need to open special accounts to save user deposits.

Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said the guideline was based on studies of Mobike, Ofo and other startups as well as administration practices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu.

Beijing's 15 bike-sharing companies have altogether placed 2.35 million bikes across the city. New addition were banned in the city.

The guideline also made it clear that electric bikes will not be encouraged here.

Beijing is still working on more specific technical standards and parking requirements to be released later under the newly introduced guideline.
Experts from Europe, US, Asia eager to see how CPC evolves next month

With the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress approaching, politicians worldwide said they are observing "with great interest and high expectation" the political and policy outcome of the event, which begins Oct 18.

Politicians, scholars and opinion leaders from Europe, the United State and Asia have expressed their predictions in interviews with China Daily a month before the once-in-five-year congress begins.

A new CPC Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection are expected to be elected by 2,300 delegates nationwide elected before June to represent China's 88 million CPC members.

In reviewing China's progress, achieved by the CPC Central Committee under the leadership of Party General Secretary Xi Jinping since 2012, they concluded that China has started to take center stage globally and they look forward to seeing how China will deliver more positive solutions to global issues.

"My view is that President Xi has given a positive surprise to the world in the past five years and surely China has started to take central stage," said former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta.

Letta, now dean of the Paris School of International Affairs, part of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, said the global political landscape has changed rapidly during the past five years due to economic growth, social media expansion, technological breakthroughs and Donald Trump's US presidency.

During the global shift, Letta said, China has grasped chances to transform its economy, eliminate corruption and further lift people at home from poverty. Internationally, it has rolled out the Belt and Road Initiative and played an active role in global affairs.

Letta said his school has groups of scholars and students who have shown interest in observing the upcoming 19th Party Congress.

Former Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz also has praised the outcome of Xi's work during the past five years, calling him "a peace-loving man and a world-class leader".

Aziz said the Belt and Road Initiative is an excellent example of his leadership. "President Xi, in my view, has changed the dimensions and policy framework of China," he said.

Jo Leinen, a German politician who is chairman of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with China also said Europe looks with great interests and expectations on the 19th Congress because "it is a great moment for the country, but also for the world".

In addition to the new leadership election and reshaping of the CPC institutions, Leinen said he also is watching what policy guidelines and directions China will take in the coming five years.

Leinen said he looks forward to seeing how Xi's coming policy addresses, ideas, thoughts and strategies regarding governance by the CPC Central Committee will be further developed.

Former US ambassador to China Gary Locke remains committed to facilitating US business and trade, saying the growing prosperity in China and the country's growing middle class are impressive achievements.

He said Xi has done an excellent job as president and the Belt and Road Initiative is receiving positive reviews worldwide.
Hong Kong's second-highest-ranking official said on Saturday that there is "no room for discussion" about separatism in the special administrative region.

Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung made the remark after 10 local university presidents issued a joint statement against recent pro-independence posters on their campuses.

The "Hong Kong independence" notion violates the Basic Law, Hong Kong's sole constitutional document, Cheung said.

"Advocating the notion challenges the country's bottom line on sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is intolerable," he said, adding that the university heads had delivered a clear message on the independence question, and advised students to focus on other issues rather than continuing any discussion of separatism.

"There is no room for discussion," Cheung said.

He added that the people of Hong Kong value freedom of speech, but there are certain boundaries and bottom lines for that freedom. All freedom should be enjoyed within proper limits, Cheung said.

He was joined by Paul Chan Mo-po, financial secretary of the Hong Kong SAR. Chan expressed hope that the people of Hong Kong would stop the wrangling, which he said leads to polarization.

Their calls were echoed by the city's education sector. Ho Hon-kuen, the chairman of a local alliance of education professionalsEducation Convergencesaid that educational institutions must make it clear to students that the "Hong Kong independence" notion violates the Basic Law.

Another local education professional organizationthe Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, released a joint statement signed by eight local educational groups and 11 individual heavyweights in the sector. They expressed their sadness witnessing the recent strife at the universities and vowed to stand firm on what is right in teaching Hong Kong's next generation.

The hubbub began when posters advocating "Hong Kong independence" appeared on university campuses at the beginning of the new semester. In one of the most widely reported incidents, a confrontation developed between student union members and mainland students at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The presidents of 10 universities in Hong Kong issued a joint statement on Friday condemning both the notion of independence and the abuse of freedom of expression. They said they do not support "Hong Kong independence" and stressed that it would be a violation of the law.

"We treasure freedom of expression but we condemn its recent abuses. All freedoms come with responsibilities," the brief statement said.

The 10 universities were CUHK, the University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Shue Yan University, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Education University, Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Open University of Hong Kong.

In a separate statement, CUHK Vice-Chancellor Joseph Sung Jao-yiu asked the university's student union to immediately remove pro-independence posters on campus. Otherwise the school will take action, he said.

Sung also apologized to those offended by "malicious personal attacks" and "abusive language" from CUHK students.

He stressed that the Basic Law stipulates that Hong Kong is an inseparable part of the People's Republic of China and that CUHK opposes the concept of "Hong Kong independence".
TOKYO, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese poetry recitation event was held in Yokohama, Japan on Friday, to mark the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations.

Scholars including Atsuo Ueda, a professor from Obirin University, recited in Mandarin Chinese poems about the long-term history of communication and exchanges between China and Japan, including works of Lu Xun, a leading figure of modern Chinese literature who used to study in a medical school in Japan.

Ueda said that the Japanese culture has been largely influenced by the Chinese culture.

"Cultural exchanges are vitally important to our future and will provide necessary foundation for further deepening exchanges between the peoples of China and Japan," he said.

Tamotsu Ueshima, vice chairman of Japan-China Friendship Association of Kanagawa Prefecture, said that the bumpy bilateral relationship needs more efforts from peoples of both countries.

"We will continue to make efforts to enhance friendship between our two countries through hosting communication activities such as this recitation," he added.

Apart from the recitation, a photo exhibition also kicked off on Friday, showing hundreds of photos featuring historical figures and exchange activities between China and Japan. The exhibition will run through Sept 24.

The poetry recitation and photo exhibition are both sponsored by the Japan-China Friendship Association of Kanagawa Prefecture.
Serbian citizens look at a photo exhibition presenting Chinese traditional culture during the event "Days of Beijing in Belgrade" at the Kalemegdan medieval fortress in downtown Belgrade, Sept 16, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

BELGRADE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The event "Days of Beijing in Belgrade" kicked off here on Saturday to present intangible cultural heritage and sights of the Chinese capital to local people.

The opening ceremony was held at the Kalemegdan medieval fortress in downtown Belgrade, which was attended by Mayor of Belgrade Sinisa Mali, Acting Mayor of Beijing Chen Jining and Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang.

The two-day event included a photo exhibition named "Charming Beijing,"as well as the presentation of Chinese traditional culture, crafts and medicine. Several agreements will also be signed by institutions and companies of the two nations in different fields, which will be eyewitnessed by mayors of the two cities.

Chen said at the opening ceremony that the the friendly relations between the two cities was established in 1980 and Belgrade became the first European city that nourished those kinds of relations with the Chinese capital.

"In these 37 years, the cooperation deepened in the fields of economy, education and sports, while the friendship between citizens became stronger over time," Chen said.
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Carma Elliot, County Director of the British Council in China and Minister (Culture and Education) at the British Embassy, delivers a keynote speech at the Inspiring Women China Volunteer Network Launch in Beijing, Sept 16, 2017. [Photo by Yu Jie/For chinadaily.com.cn]

Inspiring Women China, a British Council program based on a successful initiative in the UK, officially launched its volunteer network on Saturday at the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

The network will enable the initiative to grow to scale across China and invite more volunteers in any chosen field to share their expertise and knowledge, said Carma Elliot, County Director of the British Council in China and Minister (Culture and Education) at the British Embassy, at the event.

"The British Council aims to have 1,000 schools and 10,000 volunteers signed up before 2020," Elliot added.

Since the launch of Inspiring Women China in 2015, about 100 schools have registered to take part in program activities and more than 600 women have signed up to be volunteers. The result is the combined efforts of the informal network, Elliot explained.

"In selecting volunteers, we are not confined to ages and genders. Basically, everyone can be one of them," Elliot told China Daily website.

The network's launch is a proactive response to China's interest in addressing the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. And it also helps to position gender equality and women's empowerment at the core of the China-UK relationship, she emphasized.

According to the British Council, Inspiring Women China aims to inspire girls and young women about the world of work, to raise their confidence and aspirations, and enable them to make better informed choices about their career options.

At the heart of this program is a network of successful women from a broad range of backgrounds who volunteer their time to speak to students in schools about their work and the path they took to get there.

It is also a part of the Women of the World Festival (WOW), a UK-based event that makes its China debut in Sept at the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

The month-long WOW event features programs such as exhibitions, performances, workshops and forums, all of which celebrate women's achievements to inspire younger generations and explore the challenges that women still face today.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
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Jo Beth Young, wife of Second Baptist Church pastor Ed Young, died early Sunday. She was 80.

She was a preacher's wife for 58 years who raised three sons who each became ministers in their own right. And although the Mississippi native never sought the spotlight, preferring a more behind-the-scenes role at the church, "Joby" as her husband called her, had her own unique ministry.

"She was indeed that 'great woman' behind the 'great man,'" Second Baptist Church officials said in a statement released Sunday.

Working alongside her husband, Young helped shepherd the church's growth from about 400 members when they arrived in Houston in 1978 to about 70,000 at six Houston-area campuses.

"She made an impact behind the scenes, extending the arms of our pastor and church to the membership and the surrounding community," church officials said.

Melanie Theiss and her family attended Second Baptist Church for more than a decade before moving.

"She was one of the finest people I've ever known. She was always down to earth and led by example," said Theiss, who now lives in Nacagdoches. "She was friendly to everyone, and she was always approachable."

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Even with a growing family that eventually included sons Ed, Ben and Cliff, Jo Beth Young was kept busy as the pastor's wife. She faithfully taught Bible study classes - often going to multiple Second Baptist Church campuses - and helped mentor the wives of newly ordained deacons and pastors.

"Her Christian faith was the most important thing in her life. She was fiercely loyal to Dr. Young and his ministry," Theiss recalled. "I've never known her to have a cross word with anybody."

Mark Stouse was friends with the Young boys when they were all growing up in the early 1980s and was a frequent guest at their home.

"When I would show up, she'd always me a hug and ask about my parents. Then, she'd always hand me a snack to eat," said Stouse, who now lives in Arizona. "She was just an extraordinarily kind woman with a personal touch."

While Young had a gentle, giving demeanor, she also was a classic southern "Steel Magnolia," Stouse said. He recalled an incident when son Ed Young, Jr. brought home a bull shark he had caught fishing off Galveston. He hung the carcass from a basketball hoop in front of the home and blood dripped onto the driveway.

"Mrs. Young drove up about 20 minutes later, and let's just say, that didn't go over very well," Stouse said. "I had a lot of respect for her. She would brook no nonsense."

Ben Young and Cliff Young serve at the Houston megachurch their father still leads. Ed Young, Jr. is now the pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine. In a Facebook post, he wrote: "Today Mom went to be with Jesus. She was one of the greatest Christian women I have ever known."

In addition to her three sons, Jo Beth was the beloved "Mimi" to her 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The former Jo Beth Landrum and H. Edwin Young grew up in Laura, Miss. and attended that city's First Baptist Church with their families. When anyone would ask how long they have been together, Joby would say, "We met in the church nursery."

They dated in high school and college. She attended Blue Mountain College in Blue Mountain, Miss., church officials said.

Melanie Theiss said her Christian faith gives her comfort knowing that Jo Beth Young is now in Heaven with Jesus.

"But my heart goes out to Ed and their sons," she said. "They've lost their mother, and Dr. Young has lost his lifelong sweetheart."

A public memorial service will be held Sept. 21 at the church's Woodway Worship Center, 6400 Woodway.
As British detectives continued to question a teen Saturday night following Friday's bomb attack on a London underground train, the capital's top cop said: "London has not stopped after other terrible attacks and it will not stop after this one."

The latest figure puts at 35 the number of people injured when a home-made bomb exploded on an underground train at Parsons Green tube station.

Luckily the device failed to detonate properly, otherwise it could have caused a massive number of casualties on the crowded commuter train transporting people to their workplaces in London.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick went out on patrol in central London Saturday after traveling on the underground.

As she chatted to tourists and Londoners, armed anti-terror police surrounded a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, just over 17 kilometers from where the bomb went off on a train at Parsons Green station.

A specialist team carried out a detailed search of the property as a 100-meter cordon was thrown around the immediate area.

In London the interior minister, Home Secretary Amber Rudd chaired a meeting of Britain's top level security committee, known as Cobra. Rudd said the country's terror threat would remain at the highest level of critical, signifying that an attack was imminent.

She also said the arrest of an 18-year-old man ealier on Saturday in the English Channel port town of Dover was very significant. Rudd said: "There is no doubt that this was a serious IED, it was good fortune that it did so little damage."

British police said a number of items have been recovered at the port of Dover, Britain's busiest departure point for sea journeys to mainland Europe, following the arrest of the 18-year-old man.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said that officers had to partially evacuate the port of Dover following the "significant" arrest in the departure area.

A precautionary search of the port turned up "a number of items", Basu said. They were found following the arrest of the man "on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism".

"We are still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry, and at great pace," Basu told reporters. "Our priorities are ... to identify and locate any other potential suspects."

The swoop on the house in Sunbury in the county of Surrey came hours after the teen was arrested by the Kent Police force under terror laws near to the port. Media reports were speculating that the suspect may have been planning to flee the country aboard one of the many regular channel ferries.

The Metropolitan police said in a statement that no arrests had been made at the Surrey house, but the police cordon would remain in place until the operation is completed.

Reports in various media said the couple residing at the raided house was an elderly husband and wife who had been rewarded by Queen Elizabeth for looking after children as foster parents.

More armed police were on duty at major buildings and popular tourism spots around London, while the number of cops patrolling the streets was also increased.

Commissioner Dick said: "London has not stopped after other terrible attacks and it will not stop after this one.

"We are pleased that there has been a significant arrest this morning but the investigation continues and updates on this will be provided.

"I have joined officers out in central London today, meeting Londoners and visitors. It is a simple message, but a powerful one, to see London getting on with its business enjoying the weekend and everything the city has to offer," she said, urging the public to remain vigilant.

So far, 45 witnesses have been interviewed by police, while officers checks video recordings looking for clues.

With the security level at its critical level, police in major towns and cities across the country have increased security measures. Up to 1,000 soldiers have also been dispatched to key sites across the country to free up armed police officers needed to guard ports and key buildings.
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More than four weeks after he vanished, a missing Baytown man has been identified as the victim in a gruesome slaying and dismemberment allegedly carried out by his machete-wielding girlfriend, according to court documents.

Cierra Sutton was arrested Thursday after police accused her of shooting a sleeping Steven Coleman and cutting him up with a machete before ditching his body in different dumpsters.

But as of Sunday evening, authorities said the one recovered body part had not yet been positively identified through DNA as Coleman.

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"Based off what we learned they appear to be one and the same," Baytown police spokesman Steve Dorris said.

Sutton kicked off the case with a missing persons report on Aug. 18, two days after the slaying police say occurred at Briarwood Village Apartments. When she came into the station to file a report, Sutton told police she'd last seen her boyfriend that Wednesday, when he'd left home around 10:30 p.m.

But Coleman's car was still sitting in the lot outside the couple's shared apartment, and the 32-year-old's mother told investigators she hadn't seen him in at least a week. A friend said she'd spoken to him that Wednesday around 10:20 p.m., when he'd promised to come help look for her daughter - but then he never showed up.

The friend also cautioned investigators that the missing man had allegedly warned her before: If he ever disappeared, police should investigate his girlfriend.

Coleman's neighbors and apartment manager said they'd last seen him the Monday before his disappearance. Afterward, one witness said she'd spotted Sutton moving furniture out of Coleman's apartment, court records show. Another witness told police she'd seen two men help Sutton move stuff into a truck.

That Thursday - the day before Sutton reported her boyfriend missing - a woman matching her description used Coleman's card to buy a foam bed topper and duct tape at a Baytown Walmart, according to a sworn statement filed in Harris County court.

Five days later, a man's torso was found in the Baytown landfill in Chambers County, which takes trash from dumpsters across Baytown and Pasadena. The decomposing pelvis included certain details matching the description Sutton gave police when her boyfriend disappeared.

The week after Coleman's last sighting, police searched the couple's apartment and found it "mostly vacant" with blood traces scattered across the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.

But as the case dragged on, Sutton had disappeared as well. Before the hurricane, she told Baytown police she'd come talk with them further about the investigation - but then she never showed, according to court documents.

Instead, authorities used an anonymous tipster to help track her down in September, tracing her to Louisiana, where she'd stopped by a Covington home shared by her brother and his girlfriend. Under questioning, the brother's girlfriend told investigators that Sutton had admitted to shooting Coleman in his sleep, then cutting him up with a machete and wrapping the remains in sheets and duct tape, according to court records.

Then, Sutton allegedly loaded the evidence in her Jeep and disposed the pieces at different dumpsters.

When police finally interviewed Sutton's best friend, she and her boyfriend both offered a similar story, claiming Sutton had confessed to killing her boyfriend after an argument  allegedly while her 10-year-old daughter Trinity was in the living room. She'd chopped up his body because he was too heavy to carry, police say she told her best friend's boyfriend.

Sutton was charged with murder and arrested late Thursday in Louisiana. She did not appear to be in the Harris County jail as of Sunday afternoon, and court records do not show any assigned attorney.
With criminals ready to take advantage of confusion and heightened emotions in the days following Hurricane Harvey, the Friendswood Police Department has urged residents to be on the lookout for automated flood insurance calls.

"According to the Federal Trade Commission, homeowners and renters are getting robocalls telling them their flood premiums are past due," the department said in a bulletin. "In order to have coverage, customers are told they need to submit a payment immediately. Don't do it!"

Instead, contact your insurance agent, police said. To report fraud, call the FEMA Disaster Fraud Hotline, 866-720-5721.

BURGLARY

A purse was stolen out of a vehicle Sept. 6 in the 1100 block of South Friendswood Drive, police said.

Residents in the 3100 block of Red Maple Drive who evacuated during the flood Aug. 27 returned home to discover a safe, its contents and a fur coat were stolen from the master bedroom, according to a Sept. 7 police report.

A vehicle's front passenger-side window was smashed at Baywood Apartments, 5025 FM 2351, according to a Sept. 8 police report. Nothing was taken from inside the vehicle, police said.

THEFT

A maroon Haro Bridgeport hybrid bicycle with a cushion seat was stolen out of a garage on Windsong Lane, according to a Sept. 7 police report.

All four wheels and tires were stolen from a Honda Accord parked at Baywood Apartments, 5025 FM 2351, according to a Sept. 8 police report. The vehicle was left on blocks.

A business owner reported some thefts from an office Sept. 8 in the 100 block of Shadwell Lane. The woman told police she checked on her office Aug. 30, but when she returned Aug. 31, she found a coat rack, two wall pictures and a table missing. Then, on Sept. 8, she noticed two client chairs and a leather office chair missing, police said.

FRAUD

A Friendswood resident who did not receive mail between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2 contacted the post office and discovered someone changed her mailing address, police said. By the time she got the mail back to her address, someone had opened several credit card accounts in her and her husband's names, according to a Sept. 6 report.

A Friendswood man's bank notified him his account was overdrawn and later presented him with a forged, cashed check, according to a Sept. 7 police report.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF

A home under construction in the 1600 block of Longwood Glen Lane was damaged after a missing shower valve caused water to flood the structure's lower level, police said in a Sept. 7 report.

ASSAULT

Two employees received citations for disorderly conduct after a fight Sept. 5 at Friendswood Auto, 304 W. Parkwood Ave., police said. The fight reportedly began as the men argued about a chair being pushed underneath a desk and escalated when one swung a broom at the other.

A Houston man, 40, was taken into custody for assault, family violence after an officer reportedly saw him hit a Houston woman, 40, in the face Sept. 9 in the 1200 block of FM 528. The woman was charged with public intoxication.

NARCOTICS

Police charged a Pearland woman, 24, with possession of a controlled substance after she reportedly was seen driving suspiciously during the disaster curfew Sept. 6 in the 100 block of South Friendswood Drive. Two meth pipes were discovered during a vehicle search, and at the jail, the woman was found in possession of methamphetamine, police said.

Police charged a Liverpool man, 36, and an Alvin woman, 33, with possession of a controlled substance after a traffic stop for expired trailer registration Sept. 8 in the 600 block of East Parkwood Avenue. During a vehicle search, the officer reportedly found a meth pipe and methamphetamine. The meth pipe was still hot, police said.

Police charged a Pearland man, 20, with marijuana possession after an officer observed two suspicious vehicles Sept. 10 in the 100 block of Imperial Drive. During a search of the first vehicle, officers reportedly found a bag of marijuana in the center console. Bond was set at $1,000. Also in the car, a Pearland teen, 16, was charged with possession of a controlled substance after officers reportedly found a bag of Xanax in his pocket. Police charged the third occupant, a 17-year-old Friendswood man, with possession of drug paraphernalia. No contraband was found in the second vehicle; however, two juveniles in that vehicle received curfew citations.

DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED

Police charged a Webster man, 48, with DWI and unlawful carrying of weapons after an officer reportedly observed him speeding and drifting Sept. 6 in the 800 block of North Friendswood Drive. The driver failed a field sobriety test and was carrying a handgun, police said. An officer reportedly found an open container of alcohol and a second weapon in the vehicle.

A Dickinson man, 52, was charged with DWI after an officer reportedly observed a vehicle speeding and swerving Sept. 9 in the 3200 block of FM 528. The driver failed a field sobriety test and has two prior DWI convictions, police said.

PUBLIC INTOXICATION

Police took a 41-year-old Memphis, Tennessee, man, a 38-year-old Biloxi, Mississippi, man and a 40-year-old Hickman, Kentucky, man into custody for public intoxication after an altercation Sept. 6 at Cheers Pub, 502 N. Friendswood Drive.

WEAPONS

A Friendswood man, 67, was charged with unlawful carrying of weapons after he reportedly parked on a neighbor's property Sept. 10 in the 1300 block of Blueberry Lane. He told officers he was watching his house because someone changed the password on his home security system. Police took him into custody for public intoxication and reportedly found a weapon, a crack pipe and several syringes in his vehicle.

TRAFFIC

Police charged an Austin man, 26, with reckless driving after he was observed speeding and following other motorists too closely in heavy traffic Sept. 7 in the 1600 block of South Friendswood Drive.
A Baytown man on the run surrendered late Saturday after authorities say he shot his estranged wife in front of their two children.

Roy Garcia Jr, turned himself in to state troopers at an Interstate 10 rest stop in Guadalupe County, more than 150 miles away from the slaying, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Hours earlier, the 35-year-old allegedly gunned down his common-law wife Julia Martinez during an argument as she sat in her car with her 5- and 13-year-old children.

The 34-year-old mother and her children pulled up to a house in the 7900 block of Echinacea just before 1:30 p.m., according to sheriff's office spokesman Thomas Gilliland.

Garcia was there and wanted to talk, but Martinez refused to get out of the car, witnesses later told investigators.

"He was trying to talk to her through the window and she wouldn't roll down the window enough to talk," Gilliland said.

That apparently sent Garcia over the edge and he allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Martinez through the window, deputies said.

The woman's car then barreled into several mailboxes and other vehicles. Martinez was found dead in the wreckage by the time police arrived.

Garcia then jumped in his tan Tahoe and fled. Authorities later made phone contact with him and he finally surrendered around 10:15 p.m. near San Antonio.

The children, who were unharmed, were placed with another family member.

Garcia had a history of run-ins with the law. In 2012, he was arrested for allegedly making terroristic threats against Martinez, but the case was later dismissed.

Then in 2016, he was arrested after Martinez accused him of pointing a gun at her while she was getting the kids ready for school, court records show. Garcia fired a shot in the bathroom, Martinez told deputies at the time.

"Martinez stated she and the children ran outside to their vehicle in an attempt to get away when suspect Roy Garcia pointed the weapon at her and her children inside the vehicle, yelling at her to stop," a sheriff's deputy wrote in a sworn statement in September of last year.

Eventually, Garcia took the car keys and told the kids to go inside, Martinez alleged. Then, according to court records, he drove Martinez around on a number of errands - with a gun in his lap the entire time.

This year, Garcia pleaded guilty to an assault charge in exchange for two years of probation as part of a deferred adjudication deal.

In the new case, Garcia has been charged with murder, according to the sheriff's office, and is currently in the Guadalupe County Jail pending transfer back to Harris County.
A viral photograph is turning heads across the internet, but not for the right reasons.

An image showing what looked to be President Donald Trump "rescuing" two tabby cats from the Hurricane Harvey flood waters was posted on to a Facebook page called "All about President Trump," and has received nearly 18,000 shares.
The fate of a Houston woman who allegedly shot her boyfriend following a Sunday morning argument will be referred to a Harris County grand jury.

What police described as a "domestic situation" broke out around 3:30 a.m. at a near Northside home, in the 2500 block of Stevens.
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A correctional officer at Avenal State Prison allegedly kicked a feral kitten and was told on by an inmate who saw the incident.

Judith Shipstad of Los Gatos told the Fresno Bee that she received a letter from inmate Richard Sandoval claiming that he witnessed one of the guards kick a kitten and seriously injure it.

BAY AREA CAT KILLER: San Jose serial cat killer gets 16-year sentence

Sandoval wrote:

"One of the cops here ... was walking and then kicked the baby kitten about 20 feet up in the air and broke its back left leg. The poor baby can't walk. He tries with three legs but then falls over and lays there and cries.

"We can't get to it because he's behind a chain-linked fence, so he's helpless and in pain. I try to feed him and he just cries. I feel so bad for him. I prayed for him.

"The other inmates are trying to get the cop that did that to be held accountable for what he did. There were inmates who seen him do it. I was told by other inmates. I didn't see it myself, but I did see the poor kitty afterwards."

MIRACLE: Cat disappears in NorCal, turns up in Canada 4 years later

The kitten was taken to a veterinarian and is now being cared for at the home of a female correctional officer.

Prison spokesman Michael Tuntakit told the Bee that the animal abuse claim is under investigation, and that "if it was a staff member, we'll hold that staff member accountable."

The prison had a "feral cat colony" for three decades. According to the Bee, 15 years ago the prison briefly created "a population control program" that involved "trapping, neutering and releasing" the cats. The program has since ended.
No change in U.S. position on withdrawing from Paris Agreement: White House

(File photo by USA Today)

The U.S. government has not changed its position on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the White House said on Saturday.

"As the President (Donald Trump) has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country," the White House said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete said at a meeting in Canada that the United States wouldn't pull out of the Paris Agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The EU official said the United States has said it "will not renegotiate the Paris accord," but will instead "review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement," the report said.

Trump, who once called climate change a "hoax," announced in June that his country will leave the the Paris Agreement. His decision fulfilled a campaign promise, but was met with widespread criticism both at home and abroad.
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AKRON, Ohio - One person was shot early Sunday while sitting in a vehicle parked in a commuter parking lot south of the University of Akron campus, officials say.

The shooting happened about 2:30 a.m. at the university's Wheeler Lot (parking lot 5), next to Buchtel Field at the corner of Brown and Wheeler streets, a University of Akron public safety advisory states.

A late-model, white Chevy Cobalt pulled into the lot, and its driver got out of the car. The driver approached another vehicle in the lot, pulled out a gun and fired one shot, the advisory says.

The shooting victim was taken to a nearby hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, the advisory states. The victim is not a University of Akron student.

The shooter got back into the Cobalt and pulled out of the parking lot, heading west on Wheeler Street toward Grant Street.

The shooter has not been identified, and no arrests have been made. Anyone with information about the shooting should contact Akron police detectives at 330-375-2490.

If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park near the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport helps power airplanes, spaceships and prosperity. One of 10 NASA centers around the country, Glenn plays a big role in the world's science and the region's economy.

Last year, when the center was celebrating its 75th anniversary, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo told The Plain Dealer, "It would be almost impossible to overstate NASA Glenn's importance to northern Ohio. It is home to some of the world's top scientists and engineers who are doing path-breaking work [and] encouraging the private sector to take up these advances and turn them into business opportunities."

NASA Glenn has appeared in many Plain Dealer pages over the newspaper's 175 years.

Drawn by local strengths in aviation, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics started building a branch in 1941 at what's now Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Soon the center was testing B-29s and other warplanes.

In 1958, NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Ohio astronaut and future U.S. Senator John Glenn took plunges here that simulated zero gravity. In 1999, the NASA Lewis Research Center was renamed for him.

Today, NASA Glenn has about 150 buildings. A master plan calls for about $255 million in construction and renovations over the next few years. Meanwhile, the center is helping to develop and test spacecraft meant to reach Mars and beyond.

Glenn's current director, former astronaut Janet Kavandi, says, "We are very fortunate to have such a variety of skills and expertise here in Cleveland, and some of the greatest minds of NASA working on the toughest problems to support aeronautics and space exploration."

Glenn's scientists have earned 726 patents and many honors, including an Emmy for broadcast technology.

"Almost every aircraft and spacecraft today contains Glenn technology," Jim Free, then the center's director, said in the 2016 book, "Within Reach: Celebrating 75 Years of NASA Glenn Research Center."

Glenn is bringing $654 million in federal funds to town this year, much of it for 1,534 civil servants and 1,611 contract workers at the center's 350-acre Lewis Field in Brook Park and its 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station testing grounds in Perkins Township, near Sandusky. But the benefits spread far beyond those sites.

According to a study by Cleveland State University's Center for Economic Opportunities, Glenn enabled $1.253 billion of business earnings in Northeast Ohio and another $129 million elsewhere in the state. The study said Glenn also spurred 3,500 regional jobs off campus through grants, contracts and other arrangements.

Glenn contracts with businesses, universities, even the Cleveland Clinic, which has helped design fitness equipment for astronauts in space. The center also develops technology used in computers, communications and much more. Since 1988, Glenn has signed 69 license agreements for commercial spinoffs.

What's more, the center helps locals learn. It runs programs for students and has a visitor center inside the Great Lakes Science Center downtown.

Said Rep. Kaptur, "I look forward to many more years of extraordinary discovery and innovation that reaches out from NASA Glenn to better the lives of people in our communities."
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- John D. Rockefeller debuted in business about age 7 by stalking turkeys in the woods and filching their eggs. Son of a snake oil salesman, the spindly, pious Baptist grew up to found Standard Oil in Cleveland, become the world's richest man and help make Standard one of the world's largest companies.

At its heyday, Standard refined 90 to 95 percent of the world's oil. At its breakup in 1911, it was valued at $600 million, or nearly $15 billion today. The Plain Dealer began 175 years ago to tell Cleveland's story, and Standard Oil has played a leading role in that narrative.

In the mid-1800s, scientists began to distill oil for kerosene in lamps. In 1859, drillers tapped it 70 feet below the surface of filmy Oil Creek in Titusville, Pennsylvania. A black gold rush began. Cleveland lay about 100 miles west, farther away than Erie or Pittsburgh. But the Summit City grabbed most of the bounty.

"Cleveland monopolized refining through an uncommon collaboration among local bankers, railroaders and other civic leaders," says local historian Christopher Eiben. "They succeeded by scratching each other's backs."

Especially Rockefeller, who once wrote, "I believe in the spirit of combination and cooperation."

Rockefeller started refining oil in 1863, at about age 24. He began to borrow daunting sums and invest them with daunting results. He won volume discounts from railroads that helped him squeeze out rivals.

He incorporated the business in 1870 as Standard Oil. Leading locals who worked or invested there included Henry Flagler, Oliver Payne, Cyrus Eaton, the Severances and many others. Like Rockefeller, they spread their earnings through business and charity around town and beyond.

Eight years before his death, Alton W. Whitehouse Jr., longtime head of Standard of Ohio, told The Plain Dealer in 2005, "It always amazes me how much of the wealth of the city still goes back to Rockefeller's days."

In 1882, seeking more buyers and investors, Standard moved its headquarters to New York City. But it kept growing in Ohio and made huge strikes in the state's northwestern town of Lima.

Lawmakers and prosecutors fought the monopoly. Standard parried them by turning into a trust, then a holding company.

In 1890, Ohio Sen. John Sherman won passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act. It took 21 more years of battles to break up Standard Oil. The stock promptly went public, and the price soared five-fold during the next 10 years.

Standard's splinters included Exxon and Mobil, which eventually reunited and furnished executive Rex Tillerson to be the current U.S. Secretary of State. In 1971, the flagship Standard Oil of Ohio sold majority control to British Petroleum for access to Alaskan oilfields that proved paltry. In 1998, BP moved Sohio's headquarters from Cleveland.

But historian Eiben sees oil's legacy in our businesses and charities today. "Cleveland continues to be blessed by the fortunes created by Standard Oil and the entrepreneurial zeal that made it happen."
ABRUZZO, Italy - "So what part of America are you from? Cleveland? I know it well! I have a good friend with a restaurant there, Aldo's - do you know it?"

Yes, we knew it. And so an ocean away from Cleveland, in the small Italian mountain village of Castel di Sangro, my family and I ended up eating at an Italian bistro owned by someone whose good friend owns a restaurant a few miles from my house.

It's a small world indeed. The world felt much smaller, or perhaps more connected, on my spring visit to Italy. Instead of the grand tour, we spent much of our time in the Abruzzo region, the mountainous central Italian area east of Rome to the Adriatic Sea.

It's a land often overlooked by tourists, but this untrod path has much to offer: rugged mountains perfect for hiking, if not farming; medieval villages that look like something out of a fairy tale; Roman ruins; pristine lakes and coastal beaches; fantastic food and wine at a fraction of the cost in Rome; and more national parks than any part of Italy, making it one of the most green spaces in Europe. It's no wonder movie directors from Sergio Leone to Anton Corbijn have made Abruzzo their picturesque backdrop.

There were a few reasons for our choice: We were eager to explore Italy beyond the tourist hotspots. And, we were visiting at during Holy Week and Easter and had heard about the amazing pageantry that accompanied the holidays in the medieval town of Sulmona.

But the main reason was more personal. It was from this rugged area that my grandparents came to Cleveland. Like so many Abruzzese, their families left this tough terrain in the early 1900s, in search of a better life in America. Many found their way to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Toronto. Exactly 100 years after my grandfather and his family left Italy, I was returning with my 10-year-old daughter to his homeland.

My grandfather came to Cleveland from the coastal town of Pescara as a young boy with his family in 1917. Though much of Abruzzo is hills, there are 80 miles of coastline, too. Pescara, the largest city in Abruzzo, is a modern seaside town with excellent shopping, pedestrian walkways, myriad seafood restaurants and gelato stands.

Most of the historic buildings my grandfather must have known were bombed during heavy air raids by the Allies in World War II. What has survived, though, is the centuries-old tradition of trabocchi. These wooden fishing huts located on piers that jut out into the sea date back to the 1800s and are peculiar to Abruzzo. Today, some have been transformed into restaurants, but many are still worked by fishermen. They are fascinating to see.

My grandmother's family emigrated from an inland city, Castel di Sangro, a town of 6,000 located in a valley in the Apennine Mountains. Filled with steep cobblestone roads that all lead to Santa Maria Assunta church, it's a typical mountain village. Despite its beauty, one could see why this rugged area, in one of Italy's poorest areas until recently, would send immigrants in search of an easier life.

Not much was open the day we visited. Unlike the more touristy parts of Italy, most places in the Abruzzo still follow the old custom of the riposo or midafternoon break. We made sure to arrive after 1:30, when we thought most places would be open. The church was, of course -- a beautiful basilica which dates back to the 10th century. Most of the inside is Renaissance-era, with a lovely 14th-century Pieta.

After a visit to the church, we walked down through town. It was here that we stumbled upon Antonio at Locando del Buon Gusto. Antonio himself took care of us, bringing out course after course of foods he thought we would like, including regional favorites like a variety of bruschettas, charcuterie and a bean and noodle soup, sagne e fagioli. Along with maccheroni alla chitarra, pasta hand cut on a guitar-like instrument, this is one of Abruzzo's most famous dishes.

Paired with Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, it was a lovely lunch. We raised a glass to my grandmother's family, and took a picture of Antonio to take home to show Aldo.

A quick note on language: Antonio was fluent in English, having lived in London. Overall, though, you will find far fewer English speakers in Abruzzo than more touristy destinations. But you'll also find a far more authentic Italy, without the hard-sell of the touristy cafes and shops of Rome. You'll also find Abruzzese so happy to have American tourists visiting they go out of their way to be welcoming. We were even invited to an Italian Easter dinner by someone we had known for two days.

My daughter and I made the town of Sulmona our base for our explorations. This ancient city, a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, is known as the birthplace of Ovid. The poet is honored in bronze with a statue in the city center. Sulmona, which has been struck by many earthquakes over the centuries, is today a mix of Roman, Medieval and Renaissance architecture.

Sulmona is also known for its elaborate Holy Week processions and festivities. More than 100,000 people from throughout the region make a pilgrimage to Sulmona's medieval, aqueduct-surrounded Piazza Garibaldi for the annual La Madonna che Scappa, (running of the Madonna) on Easter Sunday, a tradition that dates back to the 11th century. It's exactly what it sounds like: A group of town leaders and priests carry a statue of the Madonna from church to church in search of her son, until finally she sees him at the cathedral. She runs to him and they are reunited to the strains of Ode to Joy and fireworks. Rarely have I found a religious pageant so moving - even if we did stand for two hours in the rain to watch.

The somber Good Friday procession, in which Sulmonese men in regal costumes carry the "corpse" of Jesus through the streets while a choir sings Miserere, was just as powerful.

On regular days, the Piazza Garibaldi hosts Sulmona's large market, a feast of fresh produce, cheese, meats, flowers, leather goods -- and last year's Topshop and Zara looks selling for a few euros. Set against the stark snow-covered peaks of the Apennines, it's a one-of-a-kind experience. We topped off our market day with an espresso in one of the many coffee bars that line the piazza; here, the coffee was one euro, as opposed to four in most of Rome.

In the evening, the piazza is the final destination for la passeggiata, the evening stroll, a tradition that is still in full force.

Step outside the market on any given day in Sulmona and you'll also find multiple stands selling confetti candy, another of Sulmona's major exports -- like Jordan almonds, but better and in more flavors. Sold throughout Italy, the colorful candies are traditional gifts for all of life's big moments, from baptisms to weddings.

On the outskirts of Sulmona are two of the region's most interesting destinations: The 18th century Abbey of Spirito Santo (and ruins of its 13th century predecessor) serves as a tourist office and part-time museum. Step inside for a fascinating, untouched look at the past. You won't find such access to historical sites and artwork in a city like Rome. We walked right up to Renaissance paintings and explored the monk's cells and kitchens, like it was no big deal.

A short drive away is a historical site of another kind. Campo 78 was one of Italy's largest World War II POW camps, housing primarily Australians. When advancing Germans ordered prisoners to stay put in 1943, those in Campo 78 were set free and many were saved by locals.

Just a short drive up the hill from Sulmona was Pacentro, a historic town of only about 1,000 people - the quintessential storybook mountain village. Dating to Roman times, with many of the buildings from the 10th century, Pacentro 's tiny winding streets and stairs are lorded over by the relatively intact 14th-century castle. We spent a delightful afternoon wandering through its hilly streets and alleys, one of the most picturesque places we visited. Pacentro is also known as the hometown of one Madonna Louise Ciccone's ancestors.

On a much longer drive from Sulmona, we experienced the high point of our visit to Abruzzo - literally and metaphorically - Campo Imperatore. Translated as "Emperor's Field," this gorgeous mountain meadow sits high in the Apennines at about a 1,900 feet. The ride up is not for the faint of heart or unskilled at driving. Though Italian roads are well maintained, the hour-plus vertical drive was quite scary at times. But perhaps I was just being a timid American; my uncle, who had driven the road several times before, did not seem phased. And it was a beautiful ride, with rocky vistas, mountain sheep and perhaps Abruzzo's most recognizable icon, 10th-century Rocca Calascio, the highest building in the Apennines.

The stunning flat expanse of wild flowers and grassy fields, replete with wild horses and other animals, is like nothing I've seen before, at least in real life. The surrounding hills stood in for the Wild West in many a Spaghetti Western. "Ladyhawke" and "The American" were also filmed in the area.

Campo Imperatore is also home to some of Italy's oldest ski resorts. It was at one of these hotels that Benito Mussolini was imprisoned in August 1943. The area was thought to be impenetrable -- but not to Nazi paratroopers, who freed Mussolini 12 days after his imprisonment.

We weren't able to drive as far as that hotel due to avalanche warnings. But we did stop for a pleasant lunch at one of the three rosticerrias (rotisseries) that dot the edges of the plain. Guests can order fresh local cheeses, cured meats, bread and wine, and make a selection of raw chicken, sausage, beef or kebabs to cook on the grills out by the picnic tables.

We did just that. Despite the snow-covered peaks in the distance, the air on the plain was refreshing and provided an idyllic backdrop for a uniquely Abruzzese lunch. There were no Roman ruins or Renaissance art or Baroque fountains or cathedrals or basilicas or fancy bistros, but this was quintessential Italy all the same.

Abruzzo, Italy: If you go

Getting there: The Abruzzo region is adjacent to the Lazio region of Italy, which includes Rome. The most direct way to get there is a flight to Rome. Bus service to Sulmona is offered daily, a 2-3 hour ride. Rental cars are also readily available in Rome; Italian roads are well maintained and easy to navigate.

As an alternative, many smaller European airlines also fly to the city of Pescara.

Where to stay: The Pescara metropolitan area is a tourist destination with many large and small hotel options. Sulmona is a good base in the mountainous area, with several hotels and B&Bs, including the popular Hotel Ovidius (http://hotelovidius.wm-hq.com/?lang=en)

Getting around: Bus lines are irregular to many small mountain towns. Rental cars, or hiring a driver, might be your best option. Tourism offices in larger cities can provide details.



For more information: http://www.abruzzoturismo.it/co.uk/
Xiamen, the host city of the ninth BRICS Summit earlier this month, is holding a week-long cultural festival to celebrate BRICS cultural diversity and cultural exchange.

The festival began with a Night of Ballet, featuring dancers from Russia's state academic Bolshoi theater, South Africa's Joburg Ballet and China's National Opera and Dance Drama Theater.

Each performed its most known piece. For China, it was a scene from Red Detachment of Women. For Russia, Swan Lake.

In the week to come, 210 artists from BRICS countries will stage 30 shows of theater performance music, dance, exhibition and cinema in Xiamen.

People-to-people exchange, including the host of joint cultural events, is one of the three pillar cooperation among BRICS countries.

Esther Jean Nasser, head of South Africa's Joburg Ballet, said her ballet has been collaborating with a Chinese troupe on performance.

"Getting together like this with other countries is a very important step for all the BRICS countries to understand each other better," Nasser said.

"I am glad the festival helps the public get to know BRICS countries' cultures. More such events are definitely needed," said Xu Gang, a choreographer from the National Ballet of China.
A pair of new Proof silver coins from the Royal Canadian Mint are a reminder of the simple joys of a beach vacation.



Issued Sept. 5, just as the unofficial end to summer arrived, these Proof 2017 .9999 fine silver $20 coins showcase a day at the oceans edge, celebrating the Atlantic starfish and the sea turtle.



The starfish coin marks the beginning of the From Sea to Sea to Sea series, while the turtle coin is the third and final issue in the Under the Sea series.

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Designed by Canadian artist Tony Bianco, the reverse of the Atlantic starfish coin presents a unique glimpse of Atlantic Canadas coastal waters. Beneath the engraved word CANADA stands a lighthouse on the rocky shoreline, where the sentinel was often the first sign of land to many travelling by sea.



A crashing wave infuses the reverse with a sense of sweeping motion, transitioning to a calm underwater realm, where outstanding amounts of engraved detail recreate an ocean floor lined with shells, sand and sea grasses.



Selectively applied gold plating draws the eye to two starfish, while providing an enhanced view of their defining characteristics. Against the silver background, the gold plating truly shines as it highlights the rough, spiny appearance of these five-armed ocean-dwellers and adds a sense of texture and dimension to the idyllic aquatic setting.



A different enhancement than gold-plating makes the sea turtle stand out on its coin.



The reverse design by Canadian artist Maurice Gervais also peers into the underwater world off Canadas coast, where color applied over detailed engraving highlights the coral, ferns and rocks that lie beneath the gentle waves.



On the left, a handcrafted embellishment by Canadian glass artist Loic Beaumont-Tremblay contains a sea turtle-shaped mosaic murini (or murrini) element unique to each coin.



Did you buy a winner or a loser from the U.S. Mint? Also in this weeks print issue of Coin World, we not only learn more about rare coins, but collectible rare cars as well.



The mosaic-based approach to this glass art technique lends itself well to recreating the turtles distinctive appearance, from its shell to its clawed feet and tail. Positioned to mimic the turtles movements through the water, the murini piece is itself enclosed in its own glass shell sculptured from borosilicate glass.



Both coins depict the Susanna Blunt effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.



Both coins weigh 31.38 grams, measure 38 millimeters in diameter and have a mintage limit of 7,500 pieces each.



The RCM issued the starfish coin at an issue price of $112.95 Canadian, and the sea turtle coin was released at $151.95 Canadian.

Two distributors offer the coin at fixed prices in U.S. dollars: Gatewest Coins in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and Talisman Coins in St. Louis, Mo.



To order from Gatewest, visit its website, www.gatewestcoins.com.



Contact the Talisman website at www.talismancoins.com.


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CORNWALL, Ontario  The Lost Villages Historical Society memorialized the 40,000 Canadians who participated in the American Civil War, unveiling their highly anticipated monument this Saturday, Sept. 16.

A project which began three years ago with the Grays and Blues of Montreal and the Township of South Stormont finally came to fruition this weekend. Numerous patrons came out in celebration of an often-overlooked part of Canadian history which will be preserved in the heart of the Lost Villages.

Over the past three years, weve had numerous reenactments, which wouldnt have been possible without our wonderful group of Civil War reenactors, said Jim Brownell, President of the Lost Villages Historical Society.

Between 1861 and 1865 approximately 40,000 Canadians fought in the American Civil War. Roughly 8, 000 men were killed or wounded and 29 Canadians received the Medal of Honor; all of whom were named and honoured on the monument.

A lot of us forget about our heritage, said South Stormonts Mayor Jim Bancroft. But in preserving it, we learn more about who we are, and where we were.

With a wine and cheese gathering following the unveiling, people had a chance to get a good look at the monument, socialize, as well as explore the museum facilities, which were open to public for the occasion.
China hopes the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump will bring bilateral ties to a new high, said Cui Tiankai, Chinese Ambassador to the US, on Friday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with his wife Peng Liyuan, meet with US President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, at the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida on April 6, 2017. [File Photo: Xinhua]

Trump is scheduled to visit Asia in November for the first time as president. At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, he will make a stop in China.

We believe that Trumps visit will be held as scheduled and both sides will achieve satisfactory results, the ambassador told reporters at an embassy event in Washington.

Since President Xis visit to the US in April, the two leaders have developed a good working relationship and a personal friendship, said Cui.

The conversations between the two leaders in the past have provided a good strategic direction for both the countries and set a constructive tone, the ambassador added.
DHAKA, Sept. 16 -- Two Bangladeshi and two Chinese firms have signed two joint venture pacts to build over 100 km rail lines and required infrastructure in the country's southeastern Cox's Bazar district bordering Myanmar.

Officials of Bangladesh Railways and joint venture China Railway Group Limited (CREC) of China and Toma Construction and Company Limited of Bangladesh; and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and MAX JV (joint adventure of CCECC of China and MAX international Ltd of Bangladesh) signed the deals on behalf of their respective sides here on Saturday.

Bangladeshi Raiways Minister M. Mazibul Haque, among others, witnessed the agreement signing ceremony as the chief guest.

In line with the agreements, the Bangladeshi and the Chinese firms will construct 102 km new dual gauge line along with 185 major and minor bridges under two different projects.

A station building will also be constructed under the project in Cox's Bazar town.

Officials say the project is part of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) support.

They said the Manila-based lender is helping Bangladesh set up double-track line between Dhaka and Chittagong and a fresh line on Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Ghundum route, procure carriages and locomotives.

Railway officials said the project is scheduled to be completed in three years.
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A suit filed against Bridgeport-based Peoples United Bank accuses the bank of wrongfully charging overdraft fees, one of a spate of cases around the country on an issue that is attracting new attention from regulators.

The class-action suit filed earlier this year by a Bridgeport resident accuses the bank of reordering pending transactions in a way that led to overdraft fees that customers were not expecting. An overdraft occurs when theres not enough money to cover a transaction; it usually results in a fee that can be much larger than the missing amount.

The artificial balance created by (Peoples)  is not the customers actual money in the account, the lawsuit reads. Rather, it is the balance in a customers account minus anticipated future debits (debits that may or may not occur) and minus deposit holds.

In a statement, the bank denied the allegations. Peoples United Bank has filed a motion to dismiss this case and intends vigorously to defend against the allegations made, its statement reads. In keeping with its policy with respect to ongoing litigation matters, the bank has no further comment.

Insufficient funds

In one instance, the plaintiff says she had $22.11 in her account when she made a purchase for $4.76, which should have left her with more than $17. Instead, she was charged a $37 overdraft fee.

The problems in overdraft cases nationwide have tended to stem from confusion over pending transactions, and how banks process them.

With customers increasing comfort with online banking, many people schedule bill payments days or weeks in advance. Banks, however, can take those scheduled payments and hold them as pending deductions, reducing the amount of money available in an account even though the bill has yet to actually be paid, critics say.

Banks are required to obtain consent from customers before being allowed to charge overdraft fees  without one, a pending transaction would simply be denied. According to the suit against Peoples, the bank did not properly stipulate that money from pending transactions would not be available.

Increasing scrutiny

According to a study from The Pew Charitable Trusts, overdraft fees have become increasingly important to banks balance sheets. Most consumers do not learn of an overdraft for two or more days, and more than two-thirds of overdrafters say they would rather have a transaction declined than incur a $35 fee, according to the 2016 report.

Overdraft fees also disproportionately affect poorer customers, according to Pew. For heavy overdrafters, or consumers who pay more than $100 of those fees in a year, overdraft fees consumed nearly a full weeks worth of their household incomes on average during the past year.

Most people surveyed said they werent aware their bank offered overdraft coverage until they incurred a penalty, according to Pew.

The issue has drawn increasing government attention. At the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created in the wake of the last recession, a study found that frequent overdrafters account for 9 percent of all accounts studied even as they pay 79 percent of all overdraft fees.

Last month, the bureau unveiled its Know Before You Owe program, designed to provide better information from banks to customers about overdraft coverage. Our study shows that financially vulnerable consumers who opt in to overdraft risk incurring a rash of fees when using their debit card or an ATM, said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in a statement.

In seeking to dismiss the suit, Peoples says sample forms offered by the bureau, which the bank says are intended to help people make more informed choices as to whether they wish to be subject to debit card and ATM overdraft fees, use nearly identical wording to the forms Peoples had used, undercutting any claims of false pretenses.

Other banks and credit unions around the country have also been hit with suits on overdraft charges, including Bank of America, Citibank, Chase and Wells Fargo, with the institutions in some cases forced to pay millions of dollars in penalties.

hbailey@hearstmediact.com
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There are more than 400 people killed by trains each year nationwide with most of the incidents occurring at grade-crossings.

The Federal Railroad Administration describes the average victim to be a 38-year-old white man who is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs with a median household income of $36,000. The FRA says 25 percent of the victims have not graduated from high school and 18 percent of the incidents are suicides.

There were six fatalities on the tracks in Connecticut last year, according to the FRA. Most of the incidents involved Amtrak trains, and a few were Metro-North.

The question is: were they preventable?

Its an issue many would rather not discuss. The railroads said publicizing suicides could provoke others to do the same. They referred me to a psychologist who has studied this issue. But even Dr. Scott Gabree, of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, tried to dissuade me from writing about this.

The less people wanted to talk, the more interested I became.

But my focus was not to highlight the suicides, but to understand the incidents that occurred by accident or out of ignorance.

There were two such deaths in as many days last month. One incident occurred in Port Chester, N.Y., and the other was in Fairfield. The results of the investigations have not yet been released. The victims were described as trespassers who were on foot, not in cars, near the tracks.

More Information Join the conversation Use #GettingThereCT to chime in on Facebook and Twitter. See More Collapse

There are no grade crossings on Metro-Norths main line between Grand Central and New Haven, though the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branches have 53 such crossings, most equipped with gates and lights. In all, Connecticut has more than 600 grade crossings, most of them rarely used by trains.

But on Metro-Norths Harlem branch, a deadly collision in February 2015 killed a distracted driver who was stopped on the tracks and five train passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the auto driver, not the railroad, for the deaths.

After the crash in Valhalla, N.Y.  the deadliest in Metro-North history  the railroad started its own education effort: TRACKS, or Together Railroads and Communities Keeping Safe. Metro-North has also established a phone hotline to help prevent suicides.

Working with the nations railroads, the Washington-based Operation Lifesaver tries to educate about the dangers of getting in the way of trains. With slogans like Train time is anytime and Stand clear, Stand here, the PSAs warn people that trains can be deadly.

In each state, local coordinators for Operation Lifesaver use grants for public education, including posters, PSAs and brochures in English and Spanish. But the Connecticut Department of Transportation has not applied for any Operation Lifesaver money in the past two years.

The state DOT said it is spending $2 million a year to improve grade-crossing safety and the lapse in Operation Lifesaver grant requests was due to a change in personnel. Still, the state left a lot of needed money on the table.

Without education, the soon-to-open New Haven to Hartford commuter line will mean more trains and increased danger on that lines 25 grade crossings. The message is simple: stay off the tracks.

Jim Cameron is a longtime commuter advocate based in Fairfield County. Contact him at CommuterActionGroup@

gmail.com
Films about emerging issues and topics affecting Hispanic-Latino cultures and landscapes in N.M. and beyond. Find a full list of films and venues online.

Instituto Cervantes is proud to present Cine Magnifico! to the New Mexican community once again.

This festival has become an important event in our community  it marks a transition time between summer and autumn, when families are returning to the routine of the school year. These films provide inspiration as the aroma of roasting green chile lofts into the late summer air. These films remind us to savor the most subtle, elegant and profound aspects of our daily lives here in our beautiful communities of New Mexico, and to enjoy your time at the cinema.

Opening night has evolved into a lively community event on South 4th Street & Bridge Street, in the beautiful National Hispanic Cultural Center, with its iconic vaulted ceilings & stunning architecture. Families, academics, students, filmmakers, artists, community leaders and so many more all mingle about before the theater opens, holding beverages and food from the best restaurants in our community, cameras flashing. It has truly evolved into a beautiful event.

This year, our team has selected a lineup of films which perfectly illustrates enriching points of view about emerging issues and topics that shape the current Hispanic-Latino cultures and landscapes both here in New Mexico, and beyond. This years screenings will take place at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, UNM and the Guild Cinema. Central themes include immigration, childrens film, as well as New Mexico films. This years festival features films from Spain, Cuba, Argentina, Honduras, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and USA.

Cine Magnifico!s vision is to present the newest films by and about Latinos to promote our culture through film and enrich our local art community. We showcase a diverse set of films, from award-winning to local and up-and-coming filmmakers. We also offer year round film programming.

Thank you for supporting Cine Magnifico! Enjoy the show!

For more information please go to the Cine Magnifico! website http://cinemagnifico.com/ or call the Instituto Cervantes at 505-724-4777

Thursday, September 14th:

7:00 PM  El Ciudadano Ilustre @ The NHCC in partnership with Globalquerque. FREE

Friday, September 15th:

10:00 AM  Mi Mama Lora / My Mom the Parrot (Argentina) @ The NHCC. FREE

6:00 PM  Somos Lengua (Mexico) @ The Guild Cinema. FREE 7:00 PM  New Mexico Short Films Program @ The NHCC. $5

9:00 PM  Fiesta Latina at Rio Bravo Brewing Company with Reviva! Saturday,

September 16th:

11:00 AM  Voices Beyond the Wall (Honduras) @ The NHCC. $10

12:00 PM  Vidas con Sabor Documentary (Mexico) + Culinary Class @ The NHCC. $25

2:00 PM  Que Dios nos Perdone/May God Save Us (Spain) @ The Guild

4:15 PM  Esteban (Cuba) @ The Guild Cinema. $10

6:30 PM  El Jugador de Ajedrez/The Chess Player (Spain) @ The Guild Cinema. $10

Sunday, September 17th:

2:00 PM  Mala Junta/Bad Influence (Chile) @ The Guild Cinema

4:15 PM Tamara (Venezuela) @ The Guild Cinema

6:30 PM  El Revenge (Brazil) @ The Guild Cinema

TBA Immigration Program @ UNM, Student Union Building. FREE
After Indira Gandhi lost power in the 1977 general elections, the new Janata Party government moved swiftly to act against her for excesses committed during the Emergency she had imposed in the country. An enterprising young maulvi approached her, with the promise that he would get her out of the political wilderness. The story goes that he asked her to make arrangements for him and his dozens of disciples to do a 40-day penance at the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Iraq's capital Baghdad. The maulvi claimed he had been told in his dream that this was needed to restore her glory.Indira asked a member of the Congress Working Committee to budget the expenditure. But the maulvi took the money, went to his hometown instead, constructed a house for himself and forgot about the task. A year later, when the Janata Party government crumbled under significant ideological and political divisions, and Indira was back in power, the maulvi came back to claim credit. He was received like a hero. He went on to occupy a prime Wakf property in the heart of Delhi. Though various structures, including a TV studio and a corporate office of a company owned by his sons, were accused of encroachment, no one in the government took any action. He was a regular feature in the parties of every Prime Minister till he died.He has been one of the many such examples. Historically, rulers in India have turned to astrologers and soothsayers. Fears of omens, ghosts, ghouls and storms have clouded many of their actions. Even wars  though many of them not won  were often influenced by astrologers. India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, known for his scientific temper, had a grouse against President Rajendra Prasad for hosting sadhus and saints in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. But Nehru's own association with a mysterious tantric spiritualist, Shradha Mata, has been known to many.Former bureaucrat RK Krishnan recalls that a certain Prime Minister was known to be guided by the astrological advice of a godman in practically all his actions. On one occasion, the date and the time of the induction of some new ministers were fixed and announced on Doordarshan, only to be changed at the last minute because the schedule, according to another set of astrologers, was so inauspicious that things begun that day would have ended up in fire and smoke!Many godmen have taken advantage of politicians' insecurities to build their own empires. Indira's Yoga guru Dhirendra Brahmachari ran ashrams in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, and became politically influential in 197577 when she declared the Emergency and suspended civil liberties. Many claim he would even influence Cabinet reshuffles.KL Shrimali lost his job as education minister after he demanded an audit report of Brahmachari's ashrams. He was also a source of discord between Indira and then Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah in the late 1980s. The J&K government had filed several cases against the Shiva Gun Factory that Brahmachari had set up in Jammu. Not only was there a complaint of land grabbing by one Saraswati Devi, the CID had informed Abdullah that guns were being distributed to unscrupulous elements. Seven years after his death, the High Court asked the government to take over his ashram in 2001 at the Mantalai peak near Patnitop in Udhampur, which had a helipad, a private zoo and a number of facilities.Brahmachari's fate changed after Indira's death, which also allowed the then struggling godman Chandraswami to emerge as a guide to politicians. He had been trying his luck since the 1970s, but Brahmachari's presence was not allowing him a giant entry. He later became famous for his closeness to former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, and would wield influence with heads of state.Former diplomat and politician Natwar Singh recalls that when he was Deputy High Commissioner in London in 1975, a senior Cabinet minister wanted him to arrange a meeting between Margaret Thatcher, who had then just become the Opposition leader, and Chandraswami. After much pestering, he agreed to arrange a party to invite both to his residence. There, Chandraswami scooped out a taweez (amulet) from his bag, and advised Thatcher to wear red when she came to see him. She obliged. He later told her that she would become the UK's Prime Minister in 3-4 years and remain in office for nine, 11 or even 13 years. All that proved true.At the Commonwealth Summit held in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1979, where Thatcher arrived as Prime Minister, she noticed Singh at the airport and gently whispered to him to forget about the meeting he had arranged between her and Chandraswami four years ago. "We don't talk about these matters," she told Singh. But Chandraswami's fall was as abrupt. In 1996, he was jailed on charges of defrauding a London-based businessman. Last year, he had an obscure death.Till 15 years ago, sadhu-like characters used to roam inside the Congress headquarters  24, Akbar Road  in Delhi. One of them had a beautiful voice. He would sing aloud, praising the Gandhi family and their sacrifices. Another one had pasted photographs of the members of the Gandhi family all over his body. They would all claim that they were there to bless the leaders. But they started disappearing as the Congress lost power, and later with Sonia Gandhi's ascendance.But even today, some ministers take charge after due diligence of their offices' coordinates, and history, mostly the length of the stay of previous occupants. They change the wall paint, drapery and upholstery, and rearrange furniture as directed by their spiritual gurus.Spiritual gurus are believed to possess unique healing powers, and people come to seek answers to social and psychological problems. Politicians meet them for votes as the new generation of gurus is less of the wandering ascetic. They are now powerful, flamboyant, and rich. They have the resources to summon thousands of supporters on to streets.Days before he was convicted on August 25 of raping two of his followers in 1999, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had launched a month-long birthday celebration, and was greeted by politicians, who openly donated pots of money to his so-called spiritual organisation Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana's Sirsa. The Manohar Lal Khattar government has been under fire after 38 people were killed and hundreds others injured, mostly in Haryana's Panchkula, where the Dera chief was convicted, in large-scale violence, arson and police firing after his followers rampaged also across Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and NCR to protest the order two weeks ago.Hall of shame: 14 fake babasThe Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, the apex body of sadhus, recently released a list of 14 "fake babas" and demanded a crackdown on "rootless cult leaders" by bringing in legislation. The list includes the names of Asaram Bapu (Asumal Sirumalani), Sukhbinder Kaur (Radhe Maa), Sachchidanand Giri (Sachin Datta), Gurmeet Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda, Om Baba (Vivekanand Jha), Nirmal Baba (Nirmaljeet Singh), Ichchadhari Bhimanand (Shivmurti Dwivedi), Swami Asimanand, Om Namah Shivay Baba, Narayan Sai, Rampal, Acharya Kushmuni, Brahaspati Giri and Malkhan Singh. Parishad president Swami Narendra Giri said, "We appeal to the common people to beware of such charlatans who belong to no tradition and by their questionable acts, bring disrepute to sadhus and sanyasis."Indira Gandhi's Yoga guru Dhirendra Brahmachari ran ashrams in Delhi and J&K, and became politically influential after the Emergency. KL Shrimali lost his job as education minister after he demanded an audit report of Brahmachari's ashrams. Brahmachari, a native of Bihar, was also a source of discord between Indira and then J&K CM Sheikh Abdullah in the late 1980s. The J&K government had filed several cases against Brahmachari's gun factory. His fate declined after Indira's death in 1984.Brahmachari's death allowed Chandraswami to emerge as a guide to politicians. He became famous for his closeness to former PM Narasimha Rao, and would wield influence with heads of state. Natwar Singh recalls that when he was Deputy High Commissioner in London in 1975, a Cabinet minister wanted him to arrange a meeting between Margaret Thatcher and Chandraswami. After much pestering, he agreed to arrange a party to invite both to his residence. But Chandraswami's fall was as abrupt. In 1996, he was jailed on charges of defrauding a London-based businessman. Last year, he had an obscure death.When the police arrested him after a two-week stand-off in Haryana's Hisar in 2014, violence spread and six people were killed. Rampal worked as a junior engineer with Haryana's irrigation department. In 1996, he resigned and set up Satlok Ashram, three years later. Soon, he had a number of followers and he opened ashrams all over Haryana. He owns a fleet of luxury cars, and lives in an ashram in Barwala, Haryana, spread over a sprawling 12 acres.Nirmaljeet Singh Narula alias Nirmal Baba did not succeed as a businessman in Jharkhand. He drew publicity with his durbars and gatherings telecast by TV channels. At these events, he gave bizarre solutions to people's problems. He faced allegations of fraudulent activities.In February 2014 he was slapped with a Rs 3.5-cr service tax evasion charge. The Allahabad High Court had directed the I&B Ministry in May to look into allegations that his TV programmes were spreading superstition, and take action against erring channels if the charges are found to be true.Self-styled 'godwoman' Sukhwinder Kaur alias Radhe Maa likes the colour red, and carries a mini trishul. In 2015, the Mumbai police declared her an absconder in an alleged case of dowry harassment, and issued a lookout notice against her. Dolly Bindra, an actress, also filed a criminal case against her. The Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 5 issued a notice against the Kapurthala SSP for failing to act on a complaint against her. Phagwara-based Surinder Mittal had lodged a complaint against her, seeking action for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.Days before he was convicted on August 25 of raping two of his followers in 1999, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had launched a month-long birthday celebration, and was greeted by politicians, who openly donated pots of money to his so-called spiritual organisation Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana's Sirsa. The Manohar Lal Khattar government has been under fire after 38 people were killed and hundreds others injured, mostly in Haryana's Panchkula, where the Dera chief was convicted, in large-scale violence, arson and police firing after his followers rampaged across Punjab and Rajasthan.He is one of the most controversial self-styled godmen in India. He was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl at his Jodhpur ashram even as her mother was waiting outside. He has been in prison on rape charges since 2013. He is also facing allegations of murder and land grab. Asaram and his son were also investigated in the mysterious deaths of two boys whose decomposed bodies were found from the banks of the Sabarmati river near his ashram in 2008. The Asaram Bapu trusts have a turnover of Rs 350 crore. He owns 350 ashrams in the country and abroad. He also owns 17,000 Bal Sanskar Kendras.
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
(Photo/AP)

Police on Saturday put up barricades around the courthouse and police headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, bracing for more protests that are expected to come in days.

Protests broke out in the city on the border of Missouri and Illinois Friday after a St. Louis circuit judge acquitted former police officer Jason Stockley who fatally shot 24-year-old Lamar Smith in 2011.

Protesters blocked highways and destroyed public and private properties by throwing rocks at police officers and bricks at the St. Louis mayor's house.

As a result, nine St. Louis police officers and one Missouri Highway Patrol officer were injured by thrown bricks, two of whom were transported to a hospital later. In the meanwhile, 32 people were arrested by the police.

In a tweet, the Missouri Police Department stated, "Agitators refuse to disperse causing property damage near Mayor's home. Those who don't comply with police orders subject to arrest."

In less than two hours, the police posted another tweet, "Agitators are being warned that this is no longer a lawful assembly. If they do not disperse, they will be subject to arrest."

Former police officer Stockley was found not guilty of first-degree murder and armed critical action on Friday, almost six years after the incident happened when he shot Smith five times after a high-speed car chase that ended with a collision.

Prosecutors said Stockley planted a gun on Smith, as Stockley's DNA was found on the gun but Smith's was not. Stockley maintains his statement that he was acting in self-defense.

Prior to the not-guilty verdict, Republican Missouri Governor Eric Greitens put the U.S. National Guard on standby in expectation of demonstrations, deploying some troops at points of critical infrastructure.

"We know this verdict causes pain for many people," Greitens said in a statement. "I'm committed to protecting everyone's constitutional right to protest peacefully, while also protecting people's lives, homes, and communities. For anyone who protests, please do so peacefully."
Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis (L) shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in San Jose, capital of Costa Rica, on Friday, September 15, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua]

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday China is ready to make concerted efforts with Costa Rica to forge a closer, more extensive and deeper strategic partnership, to better benefit the two peoples and make greater contributions to regional peace and stability.

Led by exchanges between the two heads of state, China-Costa Rica ties have seen steady development and fruitful results since the establishment of diplomatic relations a decade ago, Wang said when meeting with his Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Gonzalez.

Speaking highly of Costa Rica's adherence to the one-China policy, Wang said China is ready to keep enhancing political mutual trust with the Central American country, understanding and supporting each other on issues concerning their core interests.

China welcomes Costa Rica to actively participate in its Belt and Road construction and is ready to strengthen cooperation with the country in six major fields, namely, infrastructure construction, trade, new energy, public security, cultural and people-to-people exchanges and regional affairs, Wang said.

The Chinese foreign minister also called on Costa Rica to play a larger role in the development of relations between China and Latin American countries, especially between China and Central American and Caribbean countries.

For his part, Gonzalez said the strategic partnership based on equality, mutual trust, cooperation and win-win results Costa Rica and China forged in 2015 provides an important opportunity for the two sides to deepen cooperation.

Speaking highly of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Gonzalez said Costa Rica is ready to actively take part in its construction, which will promote the country's own development.

Costa Rica adheres to the one-China principle and will continue to staunchly support China on issues concerning China's core interests, he said.8 Hailing the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Panama, the foreign minister said Costa Rica is willing to explore trilateral cooperation with China and Panama.

Besides, the two foreign ministers also compared notes on global and regional issues of common concern. Before the meeting, Wang and Gonzalez witnessed the signing of an agreement on cooperation on economy and technology and held a joint press conference.

At the press conference, Wang pledged Chinese support for Costa Rica in the development of industries such as solar and wind energies and green vehicle.

Wang also said the Chinese side invites Costa Rica to take part in the China International Import Expo scheduled for next year.
Such is the upside-down world of Jeremy Corbyns Labour that Andy Burnham, the partys newly elected mayor of Manchester, is barred from speaking at Labours conference in Brighton next weekend  but will address the Tory rally a week later.

As an ex-Blairite Health Secretary, Andy is persona non grata in Corbyns Labour, said a Labour insider.

But as the Tories are on his turf, Andy gets to welcome them. To be honest, hes got more in common with them anyway.

Such is the upside-down world of Jeremy Corbyns Labour that Andy Burnham, the partys newly elected mayor of Manchester, is barred from speaking at Labours conference in Brighton next weekend  but will address the Tory rally a week later

Livid that private Shadow Cabinet conversations keep ending up in this newspaper, Corbyn gave colleagues a stern stop leaking order  which was promptly leaked to Dog. Jezza tried to come over all headmasterly but nobody will take a blind bit of notice, sniggered our mole.

Theresa Mays choice of Florence for a speech vowing to keep Britain at the heart of Europe if not the EU seemed rum to some. As well as being the birthplace of the Renaissance, it is where the Borgias and Machiavelli poisoned and plotted. Unlike George Osborne, their pledges not to rest until their enemies were chopped up in bags were not idle threats: they actually did it.

Is this the face of Vince's sexy hero? Does Anna Soubry, left, feisty blonde poster girl of anti-Brexit Tories, have a secret admirer in Lib Dem leader Vince Cable? The hero of his Brexit-themed novel Open Arms is a sexy, fearless, blonde Tory ex-Defence Minister who voted Remain. Dog is not buying saucy old Sir Vinces denials. Advertisement

Environment Secretary Michael Goves journalist wife Sarah Vine has talked of her planned visit to Austrian fat farm the Mayr clinic, favoured by the likes of Liz Hurley. The only male Vine is likely to see in these environs is husband Michael. He lost two stone there four years ago.

Cryer's souffle slight

Essex Labour MP John Cryer had short shrift for Lefty Remoaners who marched in London and attacked pro-Brexit Labour rebels like him. They probably drove straight back to their second home in the Cotswolds, a Guardian newspaper in their Gucci bag, and cooked a mascarpone souffle on the Aga, he snarled into his heavily stained mug of builders tea.

Tory MPs moan about threats by chief whip Gavin Williamson in Brexit votes, but he is a pussy-cat compared to David The Terminator Lightbown, the 20st whip who cowed Tory Euro rebels in John Majors day. He literally picked up an MP by the throat and banged his head against the wood panelling, recalls former Tory whip Derek Conway.

Heres hoping Boris Johnsons dash to the hurricane-hit Caribbean started better than his July Australia and New Zealand jaunt. Then, the Foreign Secretary cut it fine to get to Heathrow. Please hurry, sir, said panicking aides. Weve only got 35 minutes to get to the airport. Boris replied: Cripes! I havent packed yet.
I was walking to my mums flat last Wednesday evening when an elderly woman accosted me. Hello! she called, grinning and waving a cane at me in greeting. I know you. Off the telly! I stopped. Give me a hug!

Its not often I find a fan or someone so happy to meet me, so I held out my arms. She enveloped me in a fumbling bear hug. We had a chat, then I pointed to the entrance of my mums block, said I had to go in, and we went our separate ways.

When I was in the lift, I realised my iPhone had vanished from the outside pocket of my anorak. I rushed back outside. No sign of the old woman. Ran to Notting Hill police station, just round the corner.

Two minutes later a panda car with blue flashing lights double-parked outside. Hop in the back, I was told (stock photo)

Ive just been mugged in the street, I said to the woman behind a screen, who sighed and said: Id just report it online and get your crime number that way.

Ran home. Found iPad. Opened the Find My iPhone app, and soon discovered that my precious device, the first thing Id save in a house fire after the family photo albums, was making its way down Kensington Church Street.

At this point the full horror of what I was facing began to sink in. Id just reported my sons iPhone stolen (in Mexico). Id be calling my network provider to report a second theft in two days. Then waiting in for a new phone. Id also, of course, lose all those photos, contacts, calendar entries, texts (my back-ups never seem to sync).

As my husband said the other day: There are three of us in this marriage: you, me, and your iPhone. Forget the new iPhone X, costing more than a grand, which everyones wanging on about. I just wanted my old one back. I jumped into the car, and started following the moving blue blob on my iPad.

And then, of course, I lost signal. I didnt have my phone, so I couldnt log my iPad on to the internet, so I had to park. Go into a cafe, connect, and it was while I was doing that that the kind waitress at Blanche Eatery asked: Have you rung the police?

Little George, the convoy king Prince Georges school run, update. The third in line travels in a convoy. Motorcycle outriders, whistling to clear the traffic. Two Range Rovers, one for Daddy and son, and one for the protection officers. Round trip in rush-hour traffic of seven miles, to be done twice daily. Prince William has clearly not yet taken up my suggestion that a helicopter might be easier after all. Advertisement

And then things speeded up.

Two minutes later a panda car with blue flashing lights double-parked outside. Hop in the back, I was told.

One officer logged my iPad on to his hot spot (or something) and the blue blob was back, now moving down Kensington High Street. We have the victim in the back, sarge, one officer radioed to the cop shop.

Put your seat belt on, the other said, and turned on the siren (it was hard not to go nee naw nee naw with excitement) and we screamed off. Description of suspect? he asked, as we shot red lights and drove on the wrong side of the road at top speed.

Woman, I panted. Between 60 and 65, Id say. Hard to tell. Hat. Dark glasses. With a cane. Then it hit me. Id been mugged by gangsta granny.

We found her half a mile away. On your left! I said, my heart pounding. We pulled up, and the officers got out.

I wound the window down so I could hear. Yes, I have the phone, she admitted. She gave me a hug, and my hat came off, and she picked it up and her phone fell out of her pocket.

Why didnt you give it back? the officers asked. Or hand it in? The police station was right there.

I was going to, tomorrow, she said.

One cop got back into the car to put her name and address into a police database. What do you want to do? he asked, handing me back my device. He looked at me.

I thought for a second. Did I really want to take things further? What if she did intend to give the phone back?

Nothing, I said, feeling magnanimous. My instinct too, he concurred. She hasnt got a record, weve got her name and address. The important thing is youve got your phone back. My own thoughts entirely, sarge!

But he was continuing, looking at his own iPad: And as shes a 1965 birthday, shes not exactly going to start a life of crime at her age, is she, especially now shes on file.

I was trying not to gasp. Gangsta granny was exactly my age!

It began to dawn on me that the handsome young policemen thought I was a nice old dear (and dont they just look younger every year) who had to be humoured too, especially when one said with a grin: Oh by the way, she asked me for a hug too  and Ive still got my phone!

I will try not to hold on to that thought.

The ULTIMATE triumph of hope

Here's to Hope Hicks, the new comms director at the White House.

Miss Hope, 28, pictured above, is a former Ralph Lauren model.

Talk about the triumph of hope  or Hopie, or even the Hopester, as the President calls her  over experience.
Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge, Parsons Green  an alarming spate of attacks in the course of a single year.

MI5 and the police should be praised for thwarting numerous plots, particularly when you bear in mind that the authorities estimate there are no fewer than 23,000 people in the UK with the potential to become jihadis.

It takes a minimum of 30 people to keep a suspect under close 24/7 surveillance, so here we must be realistic: it is not possible to stop every attack and we must prepare ourselves for more.

Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge, Parsons Green(pictured)  an alarming spate of attacks in the course of a single year.

Certainly, increasing MI5s manpower beyond the current 4,000 is not the solution since it takes a long time to train agents properly. This is not a counsel of despair, however. There are things we can and must do better.

It is a disgrace, for example, that despite the incidents in recent months, Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee, chaired by Dominic Grieve, has not met since April.

This is thanks mainly to the demands of party politics, to the disruption of the Election and the arguments about the composition of the committee in the new Parliament.

Yet this group is supposed to monitor the effectiveness of our strategy and tactics precisely to defend ourselves against attacks such as this. Continuity could have been guaranteed.

I believe the Government should abandon its kid-glove treatment of Google, Facebook and Twitter and compel the internet giants to remove instantly any forms of incitement and subversion, and poisonous material which Islamists can watch in the safety of their homes.

Yes, there is a right to free speech, but there is also a right to life.

I am concerned that, since the end of the Cold War, the authorities have abandoned monitoring those who actively oppose our broader way of life.

And I regret the abolition of Special Branch, whose regionally based officers have been swallowed up into either MI5 or the new police SO15 counter-terrorist command.

I believe the Government should abandon its kid-glove treatment of Google, Facebook and Twitter and compel the internet giants to remove instantly any forms of incitement and subversion, and poisonous material which Islamists can watch in the safety of their homes

A great deal of local knowledge has been lost in the process. Sitting behind computer screens at MI5 HQ is no substitute for getting out and about on the streets.

It is also a fact that cuts to local government budgets mean that some radical Islamists have been able to take over the role vacated by youth workers in helping troubled young people.

There are encouraging signs that the Government is beginning to tackle jihadi recruitment in our prisons, establishing specialist units to isolate the more devious and influential figures.

However, we should also pay attention to the known or suspected agents of influence who are still at liberty.

The state should use the full force of its bureaucracy to monitor their engagement with the benefits system, with visas, with driving licences and so on.

And where there are infractions, no opportunity should be lost to bring the law to bear down on them. Their way of life should be disrupted.

Finally, we must be hard of heart and mind towards the hundreds of IS killers now held in detention in Iraq and Syria  and far too dangerous ever to be allowed back to these shores.

These fighters would have enormous credibility were they ever to return to Birmingham, Luton or Walthamstow.

The French response to this has been simple: the identities of its overseas jihadis has been quietly shared with pro-Western local militias. They will not be returning to France.
What a splash! Boris Johnsons dramatic intervention in the Brexit debate has left Theresa May looking dripping wet.

For what he says in his 4,000-word speech  a brilliant piece of rhetoric, presented to the world in the form of a newspaper article  is this: I am the great, dynamic, creative, fearless leader who can make Brexit a stonking success and all of us proud to be British.

It is a rallying cry to the troops. Johnson steps forward like Henry V before Agincourt.

He addresses us as his friends, exhorts us not to be fearful and promises that the United Kingdom will not be turned into a vassal state, as it would be by Jeremy Corbyns invertebrate proposal to remain in the single market and the customs union.

Boris Johnson's (pictured) dramatic intervention in the Brexit debate has left Theresa May looking dripping wet, according to Andrew Grimson

If there were a soundtrack to this speech, it would be by Elgar. As it is, Johnson gives us a snatch of Rupert Brooke, as well as echoes of Shakespeare.

He wants to put a smile on our faces as we stride towards a glorious future.

And when did the Prime Minister last put a smile on anyones face? She had her chance in the General Election campaign, and she blew it.

Theresa Mays Conservatives, as they were known during those tedious seven weeks, did not win the glorious and decisive majority she had promised them.

She remains Prime Minister on sufferance. Conservative Eurosceptics tolerate her because she has promised to implement Brexit.

But does she have the personal qualities which will be needed to bring such an ambitious project to a successful conclusion?

That is the question implied by the Foreign Secretarys intervention.

Are we content with a timid, anxious approach, in which we make frantic efforts to maximise British influence and minimise disruption, while handing over large sums of money and fudging the hard question of where power actually lies?

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured) weakened her position after a dreadful General Election result

Mr Johnson contends, in his survey of our relations with Brussels over the past 30 years, that we have often been timid, and have never got what we really wanted, which was to stop the development of a European superstate.

He reminds us that, as a young reporter, he observed the ambush carried out on Margaret Thatcher at the Rome summit in October 1990.

Speaking now as a veteran, he recalls what it was like in those battles of the early 1990s: I remember the mantra of EU officials  Britain objects, Britain protests, but in the end she always signs up.

And here he indicates another problem for Mrs May.

If at the end of the Brexit negotiations she is still Prime Minister, she will have to sign up to some sort of a deal, in which, one can guess, she will not have obtained absolutely everything this country was hoping for.

But will she be able to sell that deal either to her party or to the wider public?

For as we saw during the General Election, her abilities as a saleswoman are somewhat limited.

She will undoubtedly need the help of Mr Johnson to sell the deal.

The sober, solemn, Establishment figures who dismiss him as a mountebank, and yearn for him to be thrown overboard, never seem to take this point into account.

They regard salesmanship as a rather grubby and flashy affair, which has no place in the great questions of diplomacy, which they alone understand, and which in the end should be settled behind closed doors, by people like themselves.

But Brexit is not going to be settled like that.

It will play out in the full glare of publicity, and to cope with that, Britain may soon feel in need of a Prime Minister who is unafraid of publicity.
Theresay Mays premiership has been hamstrung by her instinctive caution. But the shockwave from Boris Johnsons detonation should give her the impetus to be bold. She is pictured outside 10 Downing Street

The atomic bomb has detonated. Last month, I wrote that one of Theresa Mays Cabinet could go nuclear. It will take only one moment of madness  a reaction to a single misjudged briefing or poorly calibrated negotiating stance  to spark a conflagration that will consume her and her Government, I warned, adding: From the perspective of several of those within her Cabinet, a pre-emptive strike is the best way to secure decisive advantage in a future leadership contest.

It has come as little surprise that it is Boris Johnson who has pressed the big red button  by using a newspaper article to launch a hard-Brexit broadside and apparently bid for the Tory leadership.

I love Boris but hes always had terrible judgment, a friend admits. Being Foreign Secretary has shown up all his weakness. Ironically, hed probably be a much better Prime Minister, where he can act as chairman of the board.

Its now unlikely he will ever be tested in that role.

Weve seen many misguided leadership bids this year. But Johnsons decision to plunge the knife into his own Prime Minister as she sat in a Cobra meeting dealing with a major terrorist attack is a staggering act of political self-immolation.

On the day of a terror attack where Britons were maimed, just hours after the threat level is raised, our only thoughts should be on service, tweeted Ruth Davidson.

Johnson did think about staying his hand. In the wake of Fridays Parsons Green attack, political editors received calls enquiring whether there would still be space for Brexit coverage. In the end, when it became clear there were no fatalities, he decided to proceed.

Staggeringly, allies of Johnson insist his intervention was meant to assist Mrs May. They say he is worried her major Brexit speech next week risks crossing a red line by signing Britain up to tens of billions of pounds of reparations as the price of withdrawal. Boris cant stomach that, an ally told me.

The feeling of nausea is replicated in Downing Street. No 10 insiders tell me they knew Johnson was unhappy at being sidelined from Brexit and were negotiating for a speech from him on the issue.

But they believed theyd reached agreement for his intervention to come after the Prime Ministers address in Florence this Friday and were stunned when Johnsons speech appeared in the form of an article in the Daily Telegraph.

Yes, Boris cleared the article with us  just a few minutes before it was printed, a No 10 insider said caustically. The major question now is the scale of the contamination from the detonation of Blond Boy.

One immediate danger is a chain reaction, with other Cabinet Ministers deciding to make their own helpful interventions. Downing Street will be closely monitoring hardcore Eurosceptics like Liam Fox, Priti Patel and David Davis, though allies of Davis tell me he remains loyal to May.

It has come as little surprise that it is Boris Johnson, pictured, who has pressed the big red button  by using a newspaper article to launch a hard-Brexit broadside and apparently bid for the Tory leadership

What is clear is it will set off a feverish new round of leadership speculation just as the Tory Party gathers for its Election post mortem in Manchester. And that in turn could take the debate over the May succession in some interesting and unexpected directions.

Over the past few weeks Ive been talking to members of the Peloton. They are a group of young, ambitious Conservatives who believe the time has come to take their destiny in their own hands.

In cycle racing, you cant just charge off on your own, a Tory backbencher explained. You wear yourself out. You have to work together. One rider takes on the workload. Then they drop back and someone else takes the lead. Thats how were going to operate. Like a peloton.

Members of the Peloton are drawn mainly from the 2015 and 2017 intakes. Few are household names. Nigel Huddleston. Nusrat Ghani. Rachel Maclean. Bim Afolami. Vicky Ford. Johnny Mercer. But they are the future now. And theres a growing feeling in Tory ranks that if the Government is to survive, the future cant wait.

Were facing two major challenges, a Minister told me. One is how to survive the day-to-day trench warfare. And to be fair, No 10 are doing a half-decent job there. But the other is how to manage the process of renewal. And Theresa just isnt the person to deliver that.

The Peloton are a diverse group. They are a long way from a settled agenda. But they have a series of broad guiding principles. One is a healthy scepticism towards their elders. One MP said: We were told, Dont worry, the grown-ups are in charge now. Well, how did the grown-ups do?

A second is a determination to avoid treading on the political third-rail of Brexit. They are mostly Remainers or Brexit pragmatists. But they are desperate to avoid being hamstrung by the issue they believe is weighing down their administration

We cant keep being defined by Brexit, one Minister explained. We need a new Cabinet where people arent pigeonholed as Remainers or Leavers.

A third, and perhaps most important, rule is that the Peloton cannot be a vehicle for individual leadership ambition.

What youll see is people acting collectively, one MP predicted. Chris Philp will float some radical ideas about housing. James Cleverly will talk about redefining capitalism. Then Rebecca Pow will set out new thinking on the environment.

Anyone doing a Boris and deviating from this communal ethos will be shunned. Last week, Tom Tugendhat  newly elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and one of the Pelotons brightest stars  angered colleagues by launching what was seen as a self-aggrandising attack on the Governments Hurricane Irma response.

It was immature and self-indulgent, one former ally chided. Tugendhats friends acknowledge his error and say he will be keeping a lower profile over the conference season.

The Peloton have also reached out to progressively minded members of the Cameron/Osborne era, such as Camerons parliamentary private secretary Sam Gyimah, Osborne ally Matt Hancock and former Work and Pensions Minister Stephen Crabb. Theyre our bridges to a time when we knew how to win seats and elections, one MP said.

According to Downing Street insiders, Theresa May is aware of the need to back the new generation. But the young Turks are impatient. It will be a defining moment, one told me. Is she going to make some serious Cabinet appointments? Or is she going to do an Alan Hansen and say, You dont win anything with kids?

Mrs Mays premiership has been hamstrung by her instinctive caution. But the shockwave from Boris Johnsons detonation should give her the impetus to be bold.

The Peloton is forming. May should ride with them. If she doesnt, like Boris, she may soon find herself pedalling forlornly in its wake.
London had a lucky escape on Friday. But still there were 29 people injured in a terror attack on a Tube train and a fanatical bomber on the loose, leading the Prime Minister to put the nation on highest alert.

As security forces searched the country, the Foreign Secretary was focused on something closer to home. Boris Johnson was publishing a 4,000-word plea for the hardest possible Brexit.

This act of sabotage against fellow Ministers was jaw-dropping on so many levels  even for a politician for whom ambition is like a flesh-eating disease coursing through his body.

For a start there was the timing, in the midst of a terror hunt. It was bad enough to see the US President tweeting claims that loser terrorists were in the sights of Scotland Yard.

Far worse to see Boris, another self-absorbed nationalist desperate to lead his country but also a senior Cabinet Minister, choosing this moment to stake out his leadership stance in the newspaper that for so long paid his wages.

IAN BIRRELL labelled Boris Johnson as 'another self-absorbed nationalist desperate to lead his country' who chose 'his moment to stake out his leadership stance in the newspaper that for so long paid his wages'

Behind the bonhomie lurks a character who cares only about putting Boris first, for all his empty Trumpian words about making Britain great again.

Clearly his magnum opus for the Daily Telegraph was a well-calibrated operation, given supportive columns elsewhere in the newspaper and allies defending him instantly in the media.

It was also an unprecedented challenge from a serving Foreign Secretary to the Prime Minister, coming just days before Theresa May delivers a pivotal speech on Brexit and a couple of weeks before a critical Tory Party Conference.

This was an ultimatum  and it shows the stunning weakness of Mrs May after her Election debacle that she is unable to sack a Minister gone so rogue.

Then there is the content of his brazen positioning statement, a mix of half-truths and falsehoods wrapped in the Union Flag and flung in the face of colleagues as they grapple with Britains biggest conundrum since the Second World War.

Boris even revives the ridiculed claim that Brexit means the NHS will get a 350 million-a-week boost. He insists Britain should not make any post-Brexit payments to the EU  yet my sources say the only issue under discussion as realism descends around the Cabinet table is how much Britain should give after departure.

Boris also says ongoing membership of the Single Market and Customs Union would make a complete mockery of last years vote.

Mr Birrell said the Foreign Secretary was part of the problem in the last General Election

Strangely, he used to say things like: Im in favour of the single market. I want us to be able to trade with our European friends and partners. But then Boris has never shown consistency in his views when they clash with his ambitions.

His Brexit manifesto  which reads like the speech he was rightly barred from giving by Downing Street  is disingenuous from start to finish.

Here are two points, taken at random. He claims housing prices in London are pushed up by foreign buyers, yet it is pointless to tax them since EU citizens cannot legally be classed as foreign.

Surely the former Mayor of London knows the majority of foreign buyers come from south-eastern Asian countries? Mind you, Boris did bafflingly little to alleviate the housing crisis when overseeing the capital.

He also suggests Britain could accelerate work on gene therapy freed from EU regimes. Yet on Thursday I was at a dinner with leading researchers into epilepsy at the forefront of such advances  and they said the exact opposite.

These scientists, making major advances on a life-threatening neurological condition that afflicts my daughter, spoke of their fears over losing both EU colleagues and funding  of which Britain is among the biggest net beneficiaries  after Brexit.

So why do we see this desperate act of disloyalty? The depth of Boriss psychology is beyond my capability to calculate, said one Cabinet colleague. But I think he is feeling insecure.

Theresa May lack of reaction shows the stunning weakness of Mrs May after her Election debacle that she is unable to sack a Minister gone so rogue, Mr Birrell claims

Clearly he has been hurt by widespread criticism. He has been sidelined over Brexit, while there were recent revelations he is so ill-disciplined that even his own civil servants see his deputy when needing a decision.

Sources say he has been alarmed to see Jacob Rees-Mogg, another cartoonish Old Etonian, emerge as the darling of activists while his own star is dimming.

Boris has shrivelled in the spotlight as Foreign Secretary. He was even found to be economical with the truth when he claimed the aircraft that flew him to the Caribbean  following his departments sluggish response to a devastating hurricane  was packed with aid. It wasnt.

So now he is trying to take back control  of his own destiny, his adopted cause and, ultimately, his country  by unleashing a political storm of his own making.

Once he posed as a liberal Tory. Now he is positioning himself as champion of the nationalist Right, ready to argue Brexit has been usurped so he can resign to launch another leadership assault.

Never mind that the last one ended in abject humiliation.

He is a flaky opportunist who helped cause the crisis

But naturally he seeks to have his cake and eat it by professing loyalty to the PM  although you had to read thousands of words before finding any mention of Mrs May in his overblown manifesto.

He even manages to shoot down Tory efforts to win back younger voters by saying young anti-Brexit Britons have split allegiances and questioning their patriotism.

Sadly, as the claims of hard Brexiteers get mugged by the reality of withdrawal, we see more and more of this disgraceful questioning of other peoples patriotism simply because they believe departure remains a disastrous idea.

Boris sees himself as a modern-day Churchill, a titanic figure who can come in from the cold to rescue his country amid national crisis.

The reality is more prosaic. He is a flaky opportunist who helped cause the crisis.

As his former ally Michael Gove discovered, he is not suited to leadership.

Not even a terrorist attack fails to divert him from ruthless focus on his own future. Yet he has the temerity to question the patriotism of others.

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, once said Boris was not the sort of man you could trust to drive you home from a party. So will she and her fellow Tories really let him steer the country when such a torturous road lies ahead?
I have just had my boyfriend to stay for the weekend, in celebration of my birthday. You can imagine what he wanted as a present. We hadnt managed it the previous time we met up, on a mini-break in Dartmoor, due to the fact my two border collies were permanently sprawled across what was more of a queen than a king.

This time, he had driven from France expressly for my birthday weekend. I knew his plan the moment he started to idly stroke my thigh while I was trying to watch Victoria. He had bought me a really nice gift, but running through my head were the following caveats:

I wonder if Prince Albert is more handsome in real life?

Has my Hollywood wax lost its shine?

If he helped more outside of the bedroom, perhaps we wouldnt be so tired inside it; as I once snapped at an ex: If you cant be attractive, at least try to be useful!

I have to get up early tomorrow to catch a plane.

I dont want to tell the collies to move over, let alone sleep on the sofa.

Ive not long eaten Sunday lunch, so my stomach is bloated.

My ex-husband, who was very keen on sex, tried to tell me making love was not like swimming: you can eat beforehand. Which just goes to show how little even sex addicts know about women.

I was shocked to hear in the local news last week about a lovely young woman called Alice Ruggles from Gateshead who had been murdered by her stalker.

She had been advised by police to remove herself from social media; her family is campaigning to have that advice turned on its head.

The stalker should be shut down and relocated, not the victim. Selling up and moving away, as I was forced to due to the stalker next door who preyed on me and my live-in assistant, never works, anyway.

My stalker, despite a restraining order, spent last Saturday night parked, watching me through the windows of my new home. I found out because he stupidly boasted of his escapade to his social worker. But have the police lifted a finger? Not on your nelly

The reason Im over-sharing, as usual, is that new research was unveiled last week by the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. It told us what we already know, of course: that women who have been with a man for 12 months are four times more likely to show a lack of interest in sex than those in shorter relationships.

The trend doesnt seem to apply to men, who maintain their amorous desires whatever the relationship length.

That last finding is also far too true: men never seem bothered about whether its romantic, in the right setting, with the right underwear and music and lighting, or even if they are near dead after a long drive.

While on Sunday night I kept saying Oh, you must still be tired, how about some cocoa?, he merely mumbled bravely: No. Ill be OK. Im happy to just give it a go. The most common reason for women tuning out and turning over so soon was found to be having children under five (the mothers are probably thinking: Oh dear God, I couldnt stand to have another one! Im not Kate bleeding Middleton!), or that they dont share their partners sexual preferences.

I would add to the list of libido-dampeners the fact that going to bed with a man is like Groundhog Day: they believe that if it worked once, why change it?

Women are easily discouraged, too. Our desire can deflate instantly, like a souffle in Hurricane Irma.

And I just dont think men have mastered the art of not-so-sweet talk. What do you want me to say? Just use your imagination!

If he helped more outside of the bedroom, perhaps we wouldnt be so tired inside it; as I once snapped at an ex: If you cant be attractive, at least try to be useful!

A few more compliments wouldnt go amiss, either, to stop us feeling like wallpaper.

None of all this matters much for the first year. There is the thrill of the chase, the getting dressed up to meet for a drink somewhere twinkly and glamorous. You still have hope that with practice they might improve.

Twelve months on, youre still hoping. We may tolerate it when we want something, like a child or a lift to the airport, just dont expect us to revel in it.

Yet still our low libido is somehow seen as our problem. I remember being on a panel with Dylan Jones, the editor of GQ, and Giles Coren. I havent had sex with my husband for nine months, I wailed. Dya think hes missing physical contact?

Hes having sex. Just not with you, they told me sagely.

You see? Even men having affairs is our fault. But is that enough reason to grin and bare it? To stop him straying? I used to be of the mind that affairs were betrayal, the end.

Im a bit more French these days. Let some other sucker get tied up in knots like a pretzel. I have season two of The Crown to look forward to
Miss Universe Australia Olivia Rogers has spoken candidly about the constant pressure of staying thin in the modelling industry.

The 25-year-old said she fell into the grips of anxiety and depression from the intense pressure to be 'stick thin' five years ago.

The 173cm model recalled an agency would persistently tell her how great her slim frame looked when she tipped the scales at 49 kilograms at her lightest.

Miss Universe Australia Olivia Rogers (pictured) has spoken candidly about the pressure of staying thin in the modelling industry

The 25-year-old said she fell into the grips of anxiety and depression from the constant pressure to be 'stick thin' five years ago

Ms Rogers - who now leads a healthy lifestyle - eventually found herself back in the modelling industry before she went on to win the Miss Australia title in June

'They were like "you look great, keep it up" ... You have to stay that way and it is just not healthy and not realistic,' Ms Rogers told Sunday Herald Sun.

'I got to my skinniest and I was not happy with how I looked. I hated how I looked.'

And while she said she never developed an eating disorder, the pressure she put on herself to meet with expectations of others left her weighing 12 kilograms lighter.

But Ms Rogers managed to overcome her issues with body image after she decided walk away from modelling to pursue her studies in speech pathology.

Ms Rogers managed to overcome her issues with body image after she decided walk away from modelling to pursue her studies in speech pathology

The speech pathologist, from Adelaide - who doesn't own a scale in her home - has urged women to stop obsessing over their weight on the scales

The speech pathologist, from Adelaide - who doesn't own a scale in her home - has urged women to stop obsessing over their weight on the scales.

'I think it is irrelevant. That number does not mean anything. You base your self-worth on how much you weigh, but why?,' she said.

By sharing her story, she explained women should not let their weight determine their happiness after she was left in a dark moment in her life.

Ms Rogers - who now leads a healthy lifestyle - eventually found herself back in the modelling industry before she went on to win the Miss Australia title in June.

Opening up about her mental health issues, the young woman previously opened up about her ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety

Opening up about her mental health issues, the young woman previously opened up about her ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety.

'I thought at first I could get over it myself but I realised that wasn't the case... I still get anxiety but I know how to cope with it,' Ms Rogers told Fairfax Media.

Growing up, she described herself as a 'chubby' and 'nerdy' child who never dreamed of becoming a model.

And despite her air of confidence, Ms Rogers said she finds runways 'daunting' - especially in a bikini.

'Even in front of my family I am a bit self conscious. So getting up on stage in front of a lot of people in not much was very scary,' she said.
(Photo/Reuters)

The Pentagon has confirmed that transgender troops currently serving in the military are able to re-enlist in the next several months as a ban on their service is under review.

In a memo to military leaders on Friday, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the Pentagon would convene a high-level panel to determine how to carry out the ban ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump on transgender individuals in the military.

Transgender service members are allowed to continue to serve and have access to medical care, Mattis said.

"Transgender service members whose term of service expires while the interim guidance is in effect may at the service members' request re-enlist under existing procedures," said Pentagon spokesman Rob Manning Friday.

Trump signed a memo late August that effectively bans transgender individuals from joining armed forces after he first disclosed his intention on Twitter in July.

The memo requires Mattis to determine in the coming months how to handle those already enlisted. The defense chief later announced to create a panel to provide advice and recommendations on implementing Trump's directive.

Trump's transgender ban was praised by social conservatives but also drew roundly criticism. Senator John McCain of Arizona said on Friday that he would back legislation designed to block the president's transgender military ban.

"Any member of the military who meets the medical and readiness standards should be allowed to serve, including those who are transgender," McCain said in a statement.

The legislation was also sponsored by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Trump tweeted in July that the government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military.

The military "must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," he said then.

A Pentagon-commissioned study in 2016 showed that there are an estimated 1,320 to 6,630 transgender service members in the military.

It concluded that allowing them to serve openly would have a minimal impact on the readiness and health care costs of the 1.3-million-member U.S. military force.
An Australian model, who is storming catwalks around the world for a raft of big name designers, has international success firmly in her sights.

Charlee Fraser, originally from Newcastle, NSW, is now based in New York City, and is heavily in-demand as the model of the moment.

Speaking to Stellar, the 22-year-old revealed how she embraces her position as an Indigenous role model, saying her heritage can be traced to the Awabakal people of New South Wales's mid-north coast.

Charlee Fraser, formerly of Newcastle, is an international hit on the modelling scene

Charlee's modeling profile went into high gear after a decision to chop her long waves into a blunt bob

'I love my Indigenous self. I'm very proud of my heritage, so it's not a problem for me at all having that [Indigenous model] 'label'.

'I've grown up being very in touch with my culture. If anybody asks me about it, I'm proud to answer.'

The dark-haired beauty whose striking features landed her a runway show with Alexander Wang at New York Fashion Week early 2016 became a sensation after her long hair was cut into her now-signature choppy bob.

The bold fashion move was a game changer and has since landed her catwalk bookings with all the main name designers including Prada, Chanel Dior and Givenchy.

'I prepared myself prior to the show that it would be a possibility. I just said, "Do it!",' she said.

The striking beauty has modeled for a raft of luxury brands including Celine (pictured)

Although the model said she was fashion obsessed, she admits she didn't know a lot about it before entering the industry

Modelling Charlee admitted was something she pursued on a whim after a shoot with a local photographer led to her being signed.

From there she quickly became one of the biggest faces of Sydney Fashion Week, Vogue reported.

'I was obsessed with fashion before I entered the industry, I just didn't know a lot about it.'

Modelling Charlee said was something she pursued on a whim after a shoot with a local photographer led to her being signed

Carving out a path as an entrepreneur in the world of fashion still holds, Charlee said

While Charlee's modelling career continues to go from strength to strength, carving out a path as an entrepreneur in the world of fashion still holds.

Her original plan after high school had been to study business and beauty at TAFE, and although her studies have taken a back seat, she remains focused.

'I definitely have goals in terms of collaborations and creativity [with] labels or creating something on my own,' she told Stellar.

'I haven't quite got there yet. It's going to take more time and more work.'

Charlee's enjoying life as a busy, and hotly in-demand model, despite the hectic pace,

The 22-year-old who is based in New York is heavily in-demand as the model of the moment

For now though, Charlee's enjoying life as a busy, and hotly in-demand model, despite the hectic pace, she told Vogue.

'It's a lot of hard work and long days, which I'm slowly getting used to,' she said.

'It has been a whole new experience for me.'
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands proved she knows how to make a splash when she stepped out in an eye-popping multi-coloured dress on Friday night.

The Dutch queen consort joined her husband, King Willem-Alexander, for a special performance at Amsterdam's National Opera & Ballet.

Maxima, 46, is fond of a bold colour palette and teamed the striking red and blue gown with colourful accessories, opting for denim-covered Gianvito Rossi heels and a Bottega Veneta clutch.

The stylish royal wore her blonde hair slicked back and added statement jewellery for Friday night's premiere of Ode to the Master.

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Queen of colour: Maxima joined her husband, King Willem-Alexander, for a special performance at Amsterdam's National Opera & Ballet on Friday night

The performance was organised as a tribute to choreographer Hans van Manen on his 85th birthday.

It was something of a whirlwind week for the mother-of-three, who attended the opening of the new season of the Concertgebouw orchestra the previous evening.

Stepping out on Thursday, Maxima donned a shoulderless 1,550 Roland Mouret jumpsuit for the opening of the new season of the Concertgebouw orchestra.

Founded in 1888, the Royal Concertgebouw is regarded as one of the world's leading orchestras.

Guests of its 'festive' opening season on Thursday night will enjoy a lavish dinner before German star soprano Diana Damrau takes to the stage.

Maxima is fond of a bold colour palette and teamed the red and blue gown with colourful accessories, opting for denim-covered Gianvito Rossi heels and a Bottega Veneta clutch

Queen of style: The stylish royal wore her blonde hair slicked back and added statement jewellery for Friday night's Ode to the Master

Last week It was something of a whirlwind for the mother-of-three, who attended the opening of the new season of the Concertgebouw orchestra the previous evening

On Monday, the Dutch royal attended the 8th annual LOEY Award ceremony at Amerstam's Cloud Building.

She rubbed shoulders with marketing entrepreneur Heleen van Oord and American physicist Sabrina Pasterski during the glitzy event on Monday night.

The royal, who is mother to Princesses Catharina-Amalia, 13, Alexia, 12 and Ariane, ten, was born in Argentina and married into the Dutch royal family in 2002, after meeting her husband-to-be in Seville in 1999.

Despite insisting she had no idea that Willem-Alexander was heir to the throne when the pair first met, she eventually became Queen consort when her husband was crowned in April 2013.
The European royals came out in force for the wedding of Hereditary Prince Ferdinand of Leiningen and Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia on Saturday.

The couple, both aged 35, had their civil reception in April but the full pomp and pageantry was reserved for this weekend's religious ceremony in Amorbach, Germany.

Viktoria Luise wore a dazzling off-the shoulder lace gown with a full skirt and a diamond-studded antique tiara.

The Prussian Meander Kokoshnik diadem was commissioned in 1905 for Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and was also worn by Princess Sophie of Isenburg on her 2011 wedding day.

Hereditary Prince Ferdinand of Leiningen and Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia on Saturday, and the European royals came out in force to see the couple tie the knot

Main event: The couple, both 35, had their civil reception in April but the full pomp and pageantry was reserved for this weekend's religious ceremony in Amorbach, Germany

The groom looked dapper in black morning suit, blue waistcoat with a matching pocket square and pale green tie.

Ferdinand is the son of the Prince and Princess of Leiningen, while his bride is the only daughter of late Prince Friedrich Wilhem of Prusia and his second wife, Ehrengard von Reden.

Saturday's religious ceremony was held at Amorbach's Princely Abbey Church, with a host of glamorous royals descending on the small Bavarian town.

Blushing bride: Viktoria Luise wore a dazzling off-the shoulder lace gown with a full skirt and a diamond-studded antique tiara

Rich history: The Prussian Meander Kokoshnik diadem was commissioned in 1905 for Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and has also been worn by Princess Sophie of Isenburg

Leading the arrivals were Erbprinz Ernst August von Hannover and his pregnant wife, fashion designer Prinzessin Ekaterina. The couple tied the knot themselves just two months ago, in a lavish ceremony in Hanover.

They were joined by well-heeled guests including Prinzessin Vanessa zu Sayn Wittgenstein Berleburg and Pieter Haitsma Mulier.

According to Royal Musings, this was the first marriage between two descendants of Queen Victoria since 1981 when Ferdinand's father, Prince Andreas zu Leiningen, wed Princess Alexandra of Hanover.

Erbprinz Ernst August von Hannover and his pregnant wife, fashion designer Prinzessin Ekaterina lef the arrivals. The couple tied the knot themselves just two months ago

Prinzessin Vanessa zu Sayn Wittgenstein Berleburg and Pieter Haitsma Mulier make their way to the church for the young couple's religious ceremony on Saturday

The website reports that the young couple are are third cousins via Victoria's eldest daughter, Victoria - or 'Vicky' - who married Friedrich III of Germany.

This weekend's nuptials are set to be a major society event, with guests from all over Europe flocking to Amorbach to join in the celebrations.

The couple got engaged in January and their civil ceremony in April, which is required by German law, was a much more low-key affair.

Historic moment: This is believed to be the first marriage between two descendants of Queen Victoria since 1981 when Prince Andreas zu Leiningen wed Princess Alexandra of Hanover
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were joined by a host of political figures at Westminster Abbey for a Battle of Britain memorial service on Sunday.

Charles, dressed in full military attire, led the arrivals on Sunday morning for the annual service commemorating the remarkable victory, and loss of life, by Royal Air Force pilots and aircrew during the 1940 battle.

He was closely followed by prime minister Theresa May and lead of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.

During the major campaign, Winston Churchill famously commended the brave RAF crews for fending off the Luftwaffe in a speech saying: 'Never was so much owed by so many to so few'.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall view a fly-past following the thanksgiving service commemorating 77 years since the Battle of Britain in London today

Two fighter jets could be seen flying over the London skyline as part of the commemorations on Sunday which were also attended by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn

The Prince of Wales, who is Patron of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association, arrives at Westminster Abbey this morning for a service of remembrance for the Battle of Britain

The annual event is regarded as occasion to mark the nation's gratitude for the service and sacrifice of those who took part in this critical phase of World War Two.

This year's service comes marks 77 years since the battle, regarded as a divisive turning point in the Second World War.

Charles, 69, who is Patron of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association, was flanked by clergymen as he arrived at the Abbey this morning.

The Duchess, 70, looked smart in a navy coat dress featuring elaborate ivory embroidery, and a broad-rimmed hat as she arrived at the Abbey to pay her respects.

Paying her respects: The Duchess of Cornwall looked smart in a navy coat dress featuring elaborate ivory embroidery, and a broad-rimmed hat as she arrived on Sunday morning

Clad in a grey wool suit and wearing a black broad-rimmed hat, Prime Minister Theresa May also attended the service at Westminster Abbey on Sunday morning

Mrs May's grey jacket featured oversized bow detail around the waist, and she gave her outfit some added edge with a leather clutch bag and zip-up gloves

Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn also joined guests at the service commemorating the victory - and loss of life - by Royal Air Force pilots and aircrew during the 1940 battle

The Duchess is seen arriving at the Abbey on Sunday. Charles was escorted into the building with his wife following closely behind

Charles looked sombre as he arrived at the Abbey on Sunday morning, flanked by clergymen, for the annual event

Sombre mood: The annual event is regarded as occasion to mark the nation's gratitude for the service and sacrifice of those who took part in this critical phase of World War Two

Prince Charles smiles as he is greeted by clergy after entering Westminster Abbey for the service marking the Battle of Britain anniversary

Charles was joined by Camilla inside the Abbey as they read from the hymn booklet and joined in prayer

The Prince of Wales leaned in to talk with the clergyman who accompanied him while walking into the Abbey

The royals listened intently as the priest began the service to mark the 77th anniversary of the turning point in WWII

Veterans gather on a balcony opposite Westminster Abbey to watch a flypast following the service this morning

Charles and Camilla gather on a balcony opposite Westminster Abbey to watch the flypast. They were joined by clergymen and veterans who gathered to enjoy the show

After the service the royal party watched a WWII flypast with veterans outside church house, and the Duchess of Cornwall looked to be enjoying the show

It was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign yet. Germany needed to control the English Channel to launch an invasion of Britain.

The RAF had 1,200 planes on the eve of battle, including 800 Spitfires and Hurricanes  but only 660 of these were serviceable.
A woman who spent six hours in labour was stunned when she met her new son as he tipped the scales at a staggering 12 lbs.

Exhausted Paula Brown, 33, from Great Harwood, Lancashire, gave birth naturally to Theo John James Brown at Blackburn Birthing Centre on September 6, weighing nearly twice the average of a newborn.

The proud mother said: 'It was not pleasant and it was hard work and tiring. But the end result of it all is just fantastic.'

After seeing the size of their son, Paula and her partner Gareth Brown, 32, were forced to ditch the baby wear they'd purchased and go and buy clothes for a three-to-six-month-old instead.

Paula and Gareth Brown were shocked when they welcomed their new son Theo who weighed a whopping 12 lbs

Paula gave birth to her son naturally after a six hour labour, and nursing staff at the hospital said Theo was the biggest baby they had seen in five years

The youngster was initially kept in hospital due to an infection brought on by jaundice but is now at the family home in Great Harwood.

Proud father Gareth said birthing staff told the couple it was the biggest baby they'd seen for around five years.

'They said it was the biggest baby out of the last 4,500. Everybody is doing fine now, Theo is home and well. He's absolutely brilliant.'

The weight of an average baby in the UK is just over 7 lbs; however, Theo does not take the title of Britain's biggest baby delivered naturally.

That is thought to belong to baby George from Gloucester born in February 2013 who weighed an impressive 15 lbs 7 oz.

After seeing the size of their newborn they had to ditch all the baby wear they had already bought and go buy clothes for a three-to-six month old

Theo with his step-sister Milly on the day he was born. Compared to her brother she was just a tiny 6lb 11oz when she was born

The tot doesn't take the title of Britain's biggest baby delivered naturally. That is thought to belong to baby George from Gloucester born in February 2013 who weighed an impressive 15lb 7oz

The family said they had been guessing what weight the baby would come in at, with two previous children weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz and 9 lbs 8 oz respectively.

Theo's 14-year-old step-sister Milly Mayor, who cut the cord for the birth, weighed a fraction of her brother's size at a tiny 6 lbs 11oz.

'We were all making guesses at what weight the baby would come in, but nobody was expecting that,' added Gareth.

A gobsmacked midwife who worked at the hospital cancelled her dentist appointment so she could see the birth of Theo

'The midwife cancelled her dentist appointment to make sure she was there for the birth, they hadn't seen anything like it.

'All of the staff at the birthing centre were absolutely fantastic with us, we can't thank them enough.

'Everyone at the Burnley hospital were great as well.

'It was strange, most of the babies there were tiny and Theo was huge.'
She may be pushing 80, but Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands showed she has no intention of slowing down when she stepped out for an official engagement in Tilburg.

The former Dutch Queen, who abdicated in 2013, was in the city of Tilburg on Saturday to officially open the WeerZien jubilee exhibition at the Museum de Pont.

Beatrix, who is mother to now-King Willem-Alexander, looked far younger than her 79 years as she donned a jaunty blue dress and patent heels, sheltering from the blustery conditions with a stylish black cape and leather gloves.

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Princess Beatrix, who abdicated as Queen in 2013, was in the city of Tilburg on Saturday to officially open the WeerZien jubilee exhibition at the Museum de Pon

Despite the unseasonable conditions, Beatrix, who was also sporting a hint of blue eyeshadow, looked to be in excellent spirits as she met with museum officials including founder Jos de Pont.

During her visit on Saturday, Beatrix also met with British artist Anish Kapoor as he unveiled his new 6m mirrored sculpture.

The glamorous royal, whose husband Prince Claus died in 2002, stepped down as monarch in 2013 following a 33-year reign, taking the title Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Queen of style! Beatrix, who is mother to now-King Willem-Alexander, looked far younger than her 79 years as she donned a jaunty blue dress and patent heels, keeping warm in a cape

During her visit on Saturday, Beatrix also met with British artist Anish Kapoor (pictured) as he unveiled his new 6m mirrored sculpture (background)

Major change: The former Queen was succeeded by her son, King Willem-Alexander and his wife, Queen Maxima, and now lives in the Drakensteyn Castle near Lage Vuursche

Princess Beatrix, who was also sporting a hint of blue eyeshadow, looked to be in excellent spirits as she met with museum officials including founder Jos de Pont (pictured)

The glamorous royal, whose husband Prince Claus died in 2002, stepped down as monarch in 2013 following a 33-year reign, taking the title Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands

She was succeeded by her son, King Willem-Alexander and his wife, Queen Maxima, and now lives in the Drakensteyn Castle near the village of Lage Vuursche, occasionally undertaking official engagements.

Willem-Alexander was officially sworn in as king of the Netherlandsm - the country's first male rule since 1890 - at a colourful ceremony in Nieuwe Kerk attended by 2,000 visitors from around the world.

In an emotional tribute to Beatrix, he said:'Dear mother, today you relinquished the throne. 33 years moving and inspiring years. We are intensely, intensely grateful to you.'
A San Diego man has been dubbed 'dad of the year' by Twitter after sending his daughter sliced mango via overnight shipping.

Cecilia Li, 19, had spent a lovely weekend with her parents in San Diego before heading back to Los Angeles for classes at the University of California when, on the drive back, she realized she'd made a horrible mistake.

Her thoughtful father had sliced up some of her favorite fruit - mango - and placed it in a Tupperware container for her to bring on the journey. Unfortunately, Cecilia had left it at home.

Special delivery: University student Cecilia Li, 19, revealed on Twitter that her father sent her sliced mango overnight

The backstory: Cecilia's dad had sliced the fruit for her, but she had left it behind

They were too far along on the drive to turn back, so Cecilia just had to go without.

During the drive, the student's father texted her about the forgotten fruit, and Cecilia admitted that she complained during the car ride about forgetting it.

Her father responded to the situation by asking for her mailing address.

Cecilia thought her dad was joking, but then he insisted to her: 'Address please.'

Arrival: Sure enough, the next day, she received a package containing a styrofoam box filled with ice

Sweet times: Nestled in the ice was the Tupperware container filled with mango

Going big: She shared the story on Twitter, where it quickly went viral

Sure enough, the very next day, Cecilia received a package: a styrofoam box packed with ice. Inside that was the Tupperware container filled with sliced mango.

'I had never been happier nor more amused that I had mangoes cut, packaged, and shipped with love,' she later told BuzzFeed, adding that she rarely gets to see her dad because he works on the weekends.

Blown away by her father's sweet and silly gesture, Cecilia snapped a few photos of her package and posted them online along with her text conversation.

Rising popularity: Users on Twitter were overwhelmed by Cecilia's dad's kindness

Good one: This user flexed his wordplay muscles in his praise for the father

'MY DAD MAILED ME A TUPPERWARE OF MANGO THAT HE HAD CUT FOR ME IN AN ICEBOX BC I FORGOT THEM WHEN I WENT BACK TO SCHOOL,' she wrote, adding that her father is 'dad of the year.'

The tweet has been shared more than 16,000 times and gained over 65,000 likes - not to mention a legion of fans for the thoughtful father.

'Don't ever let that Mango,' joked one user, while another added: 'Can i borrow your dad?'
When Sam Carlisles daughter Elvi was two, she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that would go on to cost Sam her freedom, her marriage and her high-flying career. As Elvi turns 16, Sam shares what she learned in the process

My daughter should have taken her GCSEs this year. But instead of pressuring her to revise and get off Instagram, I let her stay up all night, watching terrible TV and eating junk food, exhausted but cherishing each moment we have together. Normal rules dont apply to Elvi. They havent since our gorgeous girl was diagnosed at 30 months with an extremely rare genetic disorder normally fatal by the age of two.

Sam with her daughter Elvi, who has just turned 16

At the time of Elvis birth I was a high-flying journalist, promoted through the ranks at The Sun. I had just been made features editor, an incredibly demanding job but one I loved and was keen to go back to when Elvi was six months old.

My Australian husband Damian ran his own consultancy business from home and we had a fabulous nanny. I was determined to balance my career with being a great mum. There was just one issue. A midwife noticed that Elvi was failing to thrive because she wasnt gaining weight or reaching early milestones. As we watched other babies her age sit up, crawl, then walk, Elvi just lay on her playmat, happy but seemingly frozen in time.

It took two years for the doctors to figure out what was wrong. I was alone at work early one morning when an email came through from Elvis consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital. He stated matter-of-factly that her biopsy results revealed it was likely she had the genetic condition rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCDP). There was no explanation of what it was.

I immediately Asked Jeeves (Google was in its early days then), which threw up medical papers with grim x-rays of misshapen childrens skeletons. Amid the medical jargon, the words dwarfism and infant death leapt out at me. In an instant my life changed. I started sobbing and couldnt stop, even when Damian reassured me over the phone that we would get through it.

Sam with Elvi at home

I struggled through that mornings meetings. Afterwards the deputy editor called me into his office and asked if I was OK. I explained what had happened, but he had no idea how to react to the red-eyed, broken woman in front of him. Would you like to go home? was all he managed to say. Knowing I had to work harder than the men in my male-dominated industry, which meant I had never taken a day off sick, I foolishly shook my head and for the first time uttered a lie I would repeat over and over for the next 13 years: Im fine. I stayed at work.

And so began the most extraordinary, difficult path a parent can take. Elvis diagnosis meant that  if she lived any length of time  she would have severe learning difficulties, dwarfism and cataracts that would badly reduce her sight. There was a likelihood of scoliosis, a misshapen spine. Her organs might outgrow her skeleton and there was a very real threat of early death.

As with many parents of disabled children, Damian and I reacted completely differently. I mourned the child I had imagined; the daughter I was saving clothes and treasured books for had disappeared; the girl I would tell about the joy of being female and how hard you have to work to achieve your dreams was never going to exist. I concentrated harder on my job while trying not to think about Elvis future. My husband, on the other hand, thought he could fix her; we would find a cure. But there is no cure for RCDP.

We were thrown into the world of shambolic local authority care: well-meaning, poorly paid professionals who were better equipped to cope with children with more common conditions such as Downs syndrome and autism. Elvi baffled them because of the rarity of her condition and her lack of prognosis. There was talk of a statement, a legal document that would lay out Elvis educational needs. We filled in long forms, having to write down all the things she couldnt do, with tears in our eyes and no one to guide us.

Equipment arrived: a tiny walking frame, a pair of glasses, splints for her legs, the oversized nappies Elvi would always have to wear. She started to grow out of all these things but, due to bureaucracy, replacements took ages. It took two years to replace her walking frame; two years without vital weight-bearing exercise to build up her bones. It was bewildering and isolating.

We looked around the excellent local primary school we had always imagined Elvi would attend. The special needs coordinator surreptitiously told us our daughter would be welcome but the school really wouldnt be able to meet her needs. She required a special school. So we found a welcoming one in Kingston Upon Thames. The tiny wheelchairs parked in the corridors made us feel at home.

Here we found other parents who were going through the same difficult stages as us. Parents who would become our closest friends and amateur therapists, who would provide more information than the authorities about what help there was to be found. There was no school-gate chat because disabled children are bussed in, but we would call each other in our lowest moments and share dark jokes about our insane lives and the lack of support from a local authority  jokes no one else would understand. These were the only people we trusted enough to say: No, Im not fine. Im exhausted and angry.

My parents were supportive and Damian was  and still is  an excellent dad. But friends wed had for years didnt know how to handle Elvis condition or our reaction to it. We gave a good impression we were coping and they backed off. Actually, we werent coping. We were struggling to keep all Elvis appointments with five different consultants at three different hospitals and hold down our jobs.

Elvi with her half-brother Sonny

While I was on maternity leave, my departments working week was reduced to four days because the daily hours were so long and included some weekends. That suited me, particularly when Elvi was finally diagnosed; I worked hard, often well into the night, and fixed most of her appointments for my day off. But when a new editor came in, we were switched back to a five-day week and the home/work balance became trickier. Even so, I once told a male colleague I loved my job partly because it felt like respite from the stress of being Elvis mum, but he warned me never to say that out loud again as it would annoy every man in the office.

Meanwhile, friends wed made in antenatal classes were starting to have second children and Damian was keen to add to our family. We knew there was a one in four chance that any baby we had would have RCDP as we had discovered that we both carried a faulty Pex7 gene. Doctors told us there had been a one in 400,000 chance of us meeting and having a child together, and therefore one with RCDP. Given that we know of fewer than 60 children in the world with the condition I have always felt the odds must be even greater.

If I conceived again, we could test for RCDP at 20 weeks, but I knew I would not choose to abort a baby if it had the condition. I questioned whether we could cope with another child with RCDP when we still didnt know how it would fully manifest itself in Elvi. Sadly, the decision about whether or not to try for another baby put even more pressure on our already strained relationship and Damian and I split up.

At work there was a shake-up of senior executives and I found myself shunted sideways into a department I knew little about, which at the time made me furious. That woman who had previously made it her business never to rock the boat at work was gone: I felt I had nothing to lose because I had already faced the worst that could ever happen. Just two faulty genes had derailed my life, my job and my marriage. But, in fact, the sideways move taught me new skills and my new department head protected me while I licked my wounds. The pressure was much less and I had more time to concentrate on my daughter and come to terms with life as a single mum of a severely disabled child.

I also had time to meet someone else. My colleague Will and I moved in together and in 2006 had Sonny, a healthy baby boy. I didnt ask Will to test for the Pex7 gene as the chances of him having it seemed so slim.

By now Elvi was five and defying the odds simply by staying alive. She could say a few words, we could take her out in a large buggy and she loved school. My friendship with Damian, who remarried and had one more daughter, survived and we now share Elvis care and the decision-making about her 50/50.

I became a school governor, learning more about special-needs education and how to help other children. I also joined the grant panel of the charity Jeans for Genes, which raises money for the 500,000 children in the UK afflicted by one of more than 6,000 debilitating genetic disorders. I want to ensure families like ours feel less isolated.

Through the internet we found a family in Kent who had a nine-year-old daughter, Charlotte, with RCDP and when Damian and I went to visit them, it was like finding a lost family. Then with the arrival of Facebook we discovered more similar families, mostly in the US, and I found solace in their stories. The majority of these 50 or so children were more severely affected than Elvi and sadly many of them, including Charlotte, have since died. It wasnt until Elvi was 12 that Great Ormond Street Hospital decided that she has a rare form of RCDP, which is why she is less severely affected, but it means the doctors have even less of a clue about her future.

As Elvi became a teenager our battles changed. Her cataracts grew so we moved her to a school for visually impaired children. Eventually she had surgery to remove them. She went through puberty and became even more stroppy than usual when she couldnt make herself understood. She stopped sleeping, wanting instead to be on the sofa with me watching Dancing on Ice re-runs through the night and eating her favourite custard creams.

In her mid-teens, she can say about 70 words, mostly demands such as TV or water, and sings along to nursery rhymes. But she still wears nappies. She cant stand or dress herself. She cant switch on the TV or manage the touchscreen on her iPad  she just prods at it furiously when her music stops. An educational psychologist assessed her mental age as one or two.

Reluctantly, in December last year, I gave up my beloved job as associate editor at The Sun, a position I had fought to attain. For 15 years I had managed to juggle caring for Elvi with my career, which not only preserved my sanity but also let me speak up for parents struggling to look after disabled children. I truly believe being Elvis mum made me a better journalist and being a journalist made me a better mum. But her increasingly difficult needs, plus facing a future without the daily care her school provides, forced my hand.

It helps that there are now two families  mine and Damians  looking after Elvi, and my bosses have been very supportive, allowing me to do a job-share for a year and promoting me. But without more support for Elvi, I felt I couldnt continue my journalistic career and I also felt I needed to give my son more attention because Elvi always took priority. Despite two of our recent prime ministers, David Cameron and Gordon Brown, having children with debilitating disorders, the system that is supposed to help families is broken and works against rather than for them.

Elvi turned 16 yesterday. She is a beautiful teenager whose good genes have gifted her deep brown hair, azure eyes and a brain I know processes much more than she can ever express through words. I can now pause to look back on what I have learnt. I am stronger than I ever imagined. I am braver than I ever thought possible. My patience has had to grow to bear Elvis occasional violence and frustrations.

Elvi, Sonny and Sam in a Jeans for Genes charity campaign poster

I understand being on the outside of normal gives you the greatest perspective on what needs changing, who society should be helping and the issues we should really worry about. And I have set up a company, Cause Communications, with my former job-share partner, to create campaigns for charities. Our first client was Jeans for Genes  Elvi, Sonny and I appear on some of the posters for this years fundraising campaign (left). I miss my old life, but I know I am doing the right thing for my incredible daughter who has taught me so, so much.

Jeans for Genes Day is on Friday. For more information and to register for your free fundraising pack, visit jeansforgenesday.org
It was all going so well. We set off for our mini-break in Devon in high spirits, the puppies in the back. We finally got to Dartmoor at 9.30pm. It was pouring with rain and misty. I felt optimistic. The hotel was really a pub, and we were shown to our room: a double four-poster bed, a bathroom. It was fine though we were told, Fawlty Towers fashion, The restaurant does actually close at 9pm. David hadnt touched me once while we were in London, but I wasnt worried. We were both tired. The next day, we set off for lunch at The Pig at Combe. The countryside was glorious, and as we drove there, I felt content, happy, even though despite the website trumpeting how relaxed The Pig is, I was told dogs are not allowed inside the main house. Could you leave them in the car? the waitress suggested. I gave up the habit of a lifetime and just said, Oh, OK. I suppose its dull and breezy.

David ordered me a glass of champagne and I ordered my favourite dish: stuffed courgette flowers, picked only moments before. He had three courses, and Campari and tonic. Im sorry if this sounds like a restaurant review: my point is that lunch cost 148. I paid. We then drove to Sidmouth, where I took the dogs on the red sandy beach; David couldnt walk so sat and waited for me, smoking. I told him tales of how I had holidayed here as a child and showed him the house at the top of the hill where my dad had rented a flat for a week. My poor mum still had to cook all our meals and butter rolls for the beach, which we ate, cowering, behind a windbreak.

David was quiet, which isnt unusual. But he didnt laugh or hug me; I tried my best, lying on the bed in Myla knickers, but to no avail. That night, the dogs clambered on to the bed as usual. David disappeared for a smoke, so I looked at his texts. Lots and lots to a male friend, arranging to meet up and have coffee. When he returned, I was asleep, Gracie sprawled on his pillow. I cant even get into f***ing bed! he shouted. He banged around, waking me up, and put his pillow on the sofa. Why dont you just laugh about it, I said. You moan and pine for me, yet when you have me and the puppies, you are like a mime artist: mute. Why not just get her a biscuit?

I didnt let it bother me. I just didnt care, and went straight to sleep. When we checked out the next day, it turned out the price for three nights wasnt 295, as stated on Booking.com; as there were two people in the room, they charged me double. You are not really worth an extra 100 a night, I told David; he thought I was joking. The next day, I dropped him in Exeter so he could catch the train back to London. No sooner had I pulled away, than he was sending me texts, saying he was on the train, that it was all fine his end and that I must text him when I get home safely. So why so morose and silent when he is actually by my side?

I puzzled over this, then dismissed the thought. Id been enchanted by Devon and started to think about moving there. I got home eight hours later, went to bed and woke to a text from David, sent at 2am, full of plans and excitement. I had told him of my new rule: Im not going to look at texts, emails or my phone on a Sunday, so hed written, You dont have to read this till Monday! But I couldnt help myself. I replied: Thats the most animated youve been in a week! Why were you so monosyllabic on our mini-break, so miserable?

Thanks, he replied. I think you should stick to your rule of not using your phone on Sundays.

I replied: Oh, and you need to pay your half of the hotel, as they charged me double. You had a free meal at Moro. A free meal at Farmacy. A free meal at The Pig!

Send me the details and I will call them. I paid my way: dinner at the Saddle Room, dinner on our last night.

Send you the details? What am I, your PA? You stayed there! Find the details yourself!

So that was it. Our Devon mini-break ended in tears. My mum and dad never rowed over the bill. It wasnt my fault, was it?

Illustration: Bee Murphy
We have seen every great fashion documentary going, so needless to say we are most excited at the prospect of Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards, which celebrates the life and career of shoemaker extraordinaire Manolo Blahnik. The film  so called because lizards were the young, design-mad Manolos first models  includes contributions from fashion luminaries such as Anna Wintour, who famously wont step out in anything else. We chatted to him ahead of the films London premiere tomorrow

Shoemaker Manolo Blahnik is ready for his big-screen premiere

THE TRICK TO BEING ABLE TO WALK IN HEELS ALL DAY? There is no trick at all! Shoes simply have to be well made. But good balance always helps.

WHAT ARE THE SHOES YOU WEAR LIKE? Oh, my shoes are very boring. Sometimes I wear colour, but I prefer it on other people.

THE SHOP WHERE YOU COULD SPEND THE MOST MONEY? Anderson & Sheppard on Savile Row  I have shopped there for as long as I can remember, at least 45 years! As soon as I could afford it, that is where I went  they make the most beautiful suits.

STYLE ICON? Tina Chow [the late model and jewellery designer]  she was the most elegant person I have ever encountered. The way she put clothes together was extraordinary.



YOUR MOTTO? Keep going, keep going, keep going!

IF YOU COULD DO IT ALL AGAIN, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY? No, never!

THE EMOJI YOU USE THE MOST? Honestly, I dont know what an emoji is. Is it smiley people? [Takes a look at them on his phone.] Oh, I like the runner  keep on running, I say! I love the dogs, too. Oh, and the flamenco dancer  why not?

THE BLAHNIK BOX-SET OF CHOICE? Big Little Lies  Nicole Kidman is simply marvellous.

IF WE COULD TAKE YOU ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW WHERE WOULD IT BE? Always Bath, but I visited Prague and St Petersburg for our touring exhibition and I felt very happy there too.

Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards is in cinemas from 29 September; manoloblahnik.com

THE BAG TO BAG NOW!

Meet Aurora Londons Gigi, which Front Row has tried and tested and declares to be the most perfect size and shape around (its very similar to the Gucci Disco, but is a sixth of the price). Order it in burgundy for maximum usefulness.

The brilliant new collection from By Far for Whistles is slightly more affordable than a wardrobe full of Manolos. Particularly good are the block-heeled slingbacks, 235, a style that continues to reign this season. whistles.com

WE LOVE: Dress, 180, Comino Couture, cominocouture.com

WEAR WHERE

Legendary nightspot Annabels reopens this autumn in new digs  a fabulous Berkeley Square townhouse, where Charlotte Tilbury has designed the ladies powder room and Mario Testino heads the cultural committee. Annual memberships from 750. annabels.co.uk
With London Fashion Week in full swing, we celebrate classic British style from high-street hero Debenhams.

Coat, 95; shirt, 39; trousers, 49, and shoes, 59. All J by Jasper Conran at Debenhams.

Coat, 165, blazer (just seen), 120, and blouse, 35. All J by Jasper Conran at Debenhams.

Coat, 140; blazer, 65; jumper, 18, and trousers, 45. All J by Jasper Conran at Debenhams.

Shirt, 39, and skirt (just seen), 49. All J by Jasper Conran at Debenhams.

Coat, 125; shirt, 39; jeans, 49; bag, 149, and shoes, 65. All J by Jasper Conran at Debenhams.

Stockist

All clothes available at Debenhams, debenhams.com

Acting fashion editor Emily Dawes

Photographer Jenny Brough

Fashion assistant Bethany Ferns

Hair Choccy at One Represents using Bumble and Bumble

Make-up Jose Bass using Marc Jacobs

Model Ariane at Premier Model Management

Producer Lucy Coghlan

Sponsored by Debenhams.
Thousands of complaints have been lodged by airline passengers about flight delays, lost baggage and dirty planes.

Data collected by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) through its integrated Air Sewa mobile app shows many fliers are troubled by costly airline fares, difficulties in obtaining refunds following flight delays and issues related to boarding and check-in.

The grievance app has received over 3,200 complaints about airlines and over 1,100 queries in connection to airport infrastructure in the nine months since it was launched.

Ministry officials claim, however, that they have resolved 93 per cent of the grievances

Flight delays, refunds, long queues and a lack of proper facilities at airports along with lost baggage were the most common problems that the travellers faced.

Ministry officials claim, however, that they have resolved 93 per cent of the grievances.

According to the ministry's records, 918 complaints were received about airfares and refunds, 673 complaints regarding flight delays and 467 about lost baggage.

'A lot of passengers have approached us complaining about fares charged by the airlines, cancellation fees and delays in refunds,' said a senior official.

Passengers have also made complaints related to staff and crew behaviour

The app allows passengers to directly inform the ministry about their woes. Nodal officers are selected for all stakeholder agencies, which address the grievances.

'With an increase in flight volume, issues related to flight delays and exchanged or missing baggage has also increased, but we have been able to resolve 95 per cent of such cases,' the officer said.

Passengers have also made complaints related to staff and crew behaviour and problems faced by disabled travellers.

A lot of complaints were related to the quality of meal served on the flights, maintenance and cleanliness.

Ministry officials claim that passengers had complaints with airlines who didn't take their grievances seriously, merely rejecting them as petty issues.

Issues related to cleanliness, hygiene, seating and waiting areas, trolley, amenities, Wi-Fi and air conditioning were among the top grievances.

In the app, passengers can also complain by recording their voice and uploading pictures

'The aim of this app is to give direct access to air passengers to get their grievances registered with the ministry following which airlines or airport are asked to fix it,' the officer said.

The app on Google's Play Store has so far attracted over 10,000 users, which MoCA claims is a lukewarm response.

However this digital initiative is being promoted and monitored by Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha through social media.

In the app, passengers can also complain by recording their voice and uploading pictures.

Passengers also can check their flight status, departure gates and schedules through the portal

After submitting these details, the app displays a separate window with details of the complaint.

Once this process is complete, passengers get a reference number and the number of days it will take to resolve the issue.

Passengers also can check their flight status, departure gates and schedules through the portal.
Boris Johnson is a man of many talents  so eloquent and distinctive that he is famously said to reach parts of the electorate which other Tories cant.

But even if we take at face value the Foreign Secretarys protestations of loyalty to Theresa May, the timing of his 4,000-word Brexit opus is, to say the least, questionable  a hand grenade through Downing Streets window, in the words of one of his allies, just hours after terrorists struck London.

It is hard to view this as anything other than a hostile act, coming less than a week before Mrs May sets out her own Brexit vision in a speech in Florence.

Theresa May cannot allow Boris Johnson to drive the country to a cliff-edge Brexit, the Mail On Sunday says

The presses were already rolling on Friday evening when his officials informed Mrs May about the newspaper article, giving her less than an hours notice of what was about to befall her.

The Prime Minister, distracted by all-day crisis meetings on the Tube bomb, was completely blindsided.

Mr Johnson has clearly thrown down the gauntlet.

He denies he is firing the starting gun for a leadership challenge. But remember, this is the man who, as this newspaper has chronicled, was texting his support for the Prime Minister after her General Election catastrophe  while his allies were briefing that it was Go, go, go! for him to take over if she fell.

Margaret Thatchers biographer Charles Moore, writing in the same paper as Mr Johnsons article, describes it as Boriss leadership bid, couched in such a way that he need not unsay anything if it goes wrong.

At the very least, it amounts to a pugnacious bid to influence the content of Mrs Mays speech  and not in a way which would advantage the country.

The Prime Minister needs to put down this revolt by reasserting her grip on the Government

As talisman of the Leave campaign, and promulgator of the hugely controversial pledge to return 350 million of Brussels money every week to the NHS, Mr Johnson has simmered with frustration as the Cabinet forms a settled view on the Brexit negotiations: that if we want to unlock talks over trade, we will need to hand over around 15 billion a year to Brussels over a two- to three-year transition period, while protecting jobs by retaining access to the single market.

Mr Johnson is now virtually alone in Cabinet in advocating a damaging hard Brexit, in which we would pay only a modest divorce bill as we crash out of the EU.

The Prime Minister needs to put down this revolt by reasserting her grip on the Government  and making clear that Mr Johnson will not be allowed to back-seat drive this country towards a catastrophic, cliff-edge Brexit.

The Parsons Green bomb is a reminder that the police and intelligence services are fighting a constant battle to detect below-the-radar plots by bedroom jihadis. Despite foiling dozens of plots over the past couple of years, the threat continues to mushroom, as radicalised Islamists assemble DIY bombs by using instructions on the internet.

Although, thankfully, the device did not fully detonate, the incident showcased the resilience and forbearance of the British people  qualities which we will need in abundance as we tackle this insidious threat together.
Ryanair has promised alternative flights or refunds to customers hit by its decision to cancel up to 50 flights daily for the next six weeks.

But outraged customers are claiming the last-minute cancellations have left them out of pocket due to non-refundable accommodation costs, or because they have no choice but to book expensive alternative flights or transport.

Others said they had been left stranded in their holiday destination and many urged Ryanair to publish a list of all pending flight cancellations, as only those booked up to and including next Wednesday have been notified by email so far.

So what are you owed if you have already had your Ryanair flight cancelled, or fear you will be caught up in the chaos after the company 'messed up' the forward planning of pilot holidays.

We explain what's happened at Ryanair, run through passengers' rights and give sample wording for a claim below.

Your rights: Ryanair has promised alternative flights or refunds to customers hit by its decision to cancel up to 50 flights daily for six weeks

Why has Ryanair announced a raft of flight cancellations?

Ryanair said air traffic control delays and strikes, bad weather and a backlog of annual leave to be taken by pilots and cabin crew has led to punctuality falling to below 80 per cent over the last two weeks.

The company has apologised and said it was 'working hard to fix' the problems, but that there will be a 2 per cent reduction in its 2,500 daily scheduled flights until the end of October.

A 'slightly higher number' of flights were cancelled this weekend, and it will bring in additional standby aircraft to help restore punctuality, it said.

Ryanair says your flight is operating as usual unless you receive an email. If you are unsure whether your flight will be cancelled or not, it is giving updates here.

The airline has sent an email to anybody who was booked on a cancelled flight departing up to and including Wednesday September 20, but it has not said when people booked to travel after that date will be notified.

What are passengers' rights when flights are cancelled?

Under EU Regulation 261/2004 holidaymakers have certain rights if their flight is cancelled or delayed.

The flight must have departed from an EU airport, operating by any airline, or it must be arriving into an EU airport and be operated by an EU airline. The 'EU airport' also includes the following countries; Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Firstly airlines must offer an alternative flight or a full refund if your flight was cancelled.

You can also get a full refund if the flight wasn't cancelled but was delayed for more than five hours and you no longer wish to travel.

Airlines must also offer you meals, refreshments, and hotel accommodation as appropriate whilst you wait for a rearranged flight for both delays and cancellation.

They should also cover any transport costs between the hotel and the airport.

You should keep any food, transport or accommodation receipts to use when making a claim for compensation.

The EU regulations can be found here.

QUICK MONEY-SAVER: TRAVEL MONEY Heading abroad? Make sure you sidestep hefty bank fees on your holiday spending. Most credit and debit cards will charge hefty fees of around 3 per cent for foreign transactions, with extra charges for withdrawing cash abroad. There are several current accounts and credit cards which offer reduced fees or waive overseas charges altogether. Alternatively you could consider a prepaid currency card. FairFX is offering This is Money and MailOnline readers a free MasterCard prepaid card, which usually costs 9.95. For more help deciding on the best method for you, check out our guide here.

What if you book alternative travel?

Ryanair says it will be doing its utmost to rebook alternative flights for those affected.

But if you rebook travel by yourself because you couldn't wait for a replacement flight, it is not yet clear whether you will get a refund for that.

It's probably best to operate on the assumption it's not guaranteed, unless you hear otherwise.

Keep checking for firm general guidance from the airline on this, and press it on an individual basis to say what it will allow in your situation. Details of how to contact Ryanair are here.

When BA suffered an IT crash earlier this year, it told customers to get in contact and it would deal with issues like this on a case by case basis.

Can Ryanair claim cancellations were due to 'extraordinary circumstances'?

Ryanair has admitted it 'messed up' its staff holiday planning, so it is unlikely.

Airlines don't always have to pay out and can avoid doing so if the delay is caused by an extraordinary circumstances, such as bad weather or crew strikes.

Previously, airlines routinely refused to pay out for delays caused by technical faults, claiming they counted as extraordinary events.

But in 2014 two landmark Supreme Court rulings declared that carriers should pay out when a delay was caused by a technical fault.

Even if extraordinary circumstances do occur, airlines have a duty of care to look after stranded passengers.

If you have been left stuck and out of pocket by your airline, then you will need to keep a record of what you have spent, including receipts, and try to reclaim from airline using the EU rule.

The rules state that airlines must provide passengers with accommodation, meals and refreshments and transport between the airport and accommodation. Airlines are breaking the rules if they shirk this obligation.

If your airline turns down your claim under extraordinary circumstances you can challenge this if you do not believe it to be true. Write back explaining why this is not the case and say that you will take the matter up with the Civil Aviation Authority if it is not settled properly.

DID YOU BOOK BY CREDIT CARD OR DO YOU HAVE TRAVEL COVER? Most travel insurance policies should cover passengers for extra expenses incurred if they are stuck. Depending on the policy, this could cover the knock-on effects of not being able to fly. Cancelled hotels, trips and other expenses already paid out could be reclaimed under your travel insurance. It is important to check your policy carefully to see what is covered, any exclusions and the relevant excesses. Once again keep any extra spending to reasonable level, hold onto receipts and if in doubt, call your insurer before paying for anything. Travel insurance does not override airlines' duty of care, but you cannot claim for the same thing twice. If you booked with a credit card you could also have extra protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act that means you can reclaim expenses from your credit card provider if the airline won't cough up. To be able to do this you must have paid for at least part of the flight on your card and it must have cost more than 100 and less than 30,000.

Sample letter to send airlines if your flight is cancelled or delayed

Ryanair's online claims tool is here. However, we have provided a sample paragraph and letter for you to use when flights are cancelled or delayed in situations NOT classed as extraordinary circumstances, which might help you with the wording.

Copy and paste the text, as needed, adding in your details. For more advice visit the Civil Aviation Authority website.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing regarding flight [flight number] on [date] from [departure airport] to [arrival airport] with the scheduled departure time of [scheduled departure time].

My booking reference is [booking or reservation reference if available]. This flight arrived [number of hours] hours late at [airport] (or) This flight was cancelled and I arrived late on [time and date of arrival].

The passengers in the party were [names of party].

The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Tui & others v CAA confirmed the applicability of compensation for delay as set out in the Sturgeon case. As such, I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this delayed flight.

My scheduled flight length was [number of kilometres  see here if you need to check flight length http://gc.kls2.com/], therefore I am seeking [if less than 1500km: 250, if more than 1500km but less than 3500km: 400, if more than 3500km: 600) per delayed passenger in my party. The total compensation sought is ].

I look forward to hearing from you and would welcome a response in 14 days.

Yours faithfully,

[passenger name]

What can't you claim?

Your expenses should be reasonable such as a hotel similar to the standard of the one you were staying in or a simple meal.

Living it large and then trying to charge it to the airline is unlikely to work.

You are also unlikely to find airlines paying for the expense of you abandoning your flight and navigating your way home yourself.

Although, if you have taken the simplest and best-value route you may be covered and if you had been advised to get yourself home and that you would be reimbursed by the airline, then you should state this and claim.

In the past, This is Money has heard reports of airlines trying to fob off passengers, deny they are issuing reimbursements or claim that this is not the law. That is untrue and while you may need to be persistent, you should get your money.

If your airline does claim extraordinary circumstances, they need not pay the compensation amounts above but still have a duty of care to look after you and get you where you are meant to be going.

You should tell them that under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 Article 5 you are entitled to be reimbursed or re-routed under Article 8 and also offered assistance, including accommodation, meals and transport under Article 9.

You should also state that under Article 5, airlines are able to not pay compensation in accordance with article 7 in the case of 'extraordinary circumstances', but crucially that this extraordinary circumstances clause does not apply to the entitlement to assistance under Article 9.

What do Ryanair passengers say?

Customers hit by cancellations at short notice vented their anger at how their travel plans were ruined over the weekend.

Writing on the Ryanair's Facebook page, Maria Joanna Suquitana said guests travelling to Italy for her brother's wedding had their flights cancelled just hours before they were due to depart.

She wrote: 'We were forced to rent a van from Germany and drive 16 hours because we just can't trust to fly with you again. Most stressful days of our lives.'

Karen Naughton Brill said her daughter's 21st birthday present of flights to Amsterdam had been 'ruined' when they were cancelled with less than 12 hours' notice.

She wrote: 'She's gone to bed in tears, rang hotel, can't get refund too short notice, same with parking, Anne Frank house tickets etc etc all non-refundable.'

Olivia Poole said her flight on Sunday was cancelled 'with no explanation'.

She wrote: 'We've shelled out five times our original flight price for last minute, incredibly overpriced flights with another airline as your next available flights were on the day we're due to fly back. I will be going to any length required to receive the compensation as per EU legislation.'

Facebook user Harriet Kathryn Ross wrote: 'What they need to do is confirm and publish a schedule of which flights will be cancelled over the next six weeks. So customers have enough time to make alternative plans.

'Ryanair it's wrong to leave people in suspense at the last minute. It's not fair.'

What does Ryanair say?

Kenny Jacobs, chief marketing officer said: 'We apologise to all affected customers for these cancellations. We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we're working hard to fix that.'

The airline explained that a change in the company's holiday year, from April to March to a calendar year from January 1 2018, had seen an increase in holiday allocations as staff used their annual leave before the end of the year.

It said: 'We have operated a record schedule and traffic numbers during the peak summer months of July and August but must now allocate annual leave to pilots and cabin crew in September and October while still running the bulk of our summer schedule.

'This increased leave, at a time of ATC capacity delays and strikes, has severely reduced our on-time performance over the past two weeks to under 80 per cent.

'By cancelling less than 2 per cent of our flying programme over the next six weeks, until our winter schedule starts in early November, we can improve the operational resilience of our schedules and restore punctuality to our annualised target of 90 per cent.

'We apologise sincerely to the small number of customers affected by these cancellations and will be doing our utmost to arrange alternative flights and/or full refunds for them.'
Sign of the times: Michael Bruce has won over clients with technology

Property website Purplebricks has been back in the headlines after another complaint against its adverts was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Two people complained that its claim, Viewings  we take care of them all, made in its most recent campaign, was misleading as viewings are not included in the firms fixed fee.

In itself, it is not a major issue. Purplebricks agreed to amend the wording and the ASA says the matter is resolved.

But it is not the first time Purplebricks has come under the cosh. Just two months ago the ASA upheld complaints against the firm over exaggerated claims about how much customers could save by using its services rather than a high street estate agent.

That came less than a year after it received a slap on the wrist over similar claims, and it also sparked an investigation into the business by the BBCs Watchdog.

All that has made for something of a bumpy ride for the firms investors in recent weeks.

Shares peaked at 514p on August 8 and have since fallen back to 389p. On their worst day, they dropped 7 per cent after Radio 4s You And Yours accused the company of exaggeration. It is worth noting that one of the major casualties of that drop is star fund manager Neil Woodford, who has a 27 per cent stake through his funds in the business. He invested 7 million in 2014, before it listed on the stock exchange.

Back in June, he said the market had been behind the curve in appreciating the companys success and there was much more room to grow in the months and years ahead.

Despite the recent turmoil, shares in the firm are still worth three times as much as a year ago, when they were 130p. That is because, crucially, Purplebricks has tapped into that all-important trend of the consumer abandoning the high street and going digital. Launched in 2012 by Irish brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce, Purplebricks offers estate agency services for a set fee rather than a percentage of the sale price, typically 1.5 per cent.

The downside is that the flat fee is paid upfront rather than when a home sells, unless the seller chooses the slightly more expensive pay later option. More also has to be paid if the local property expert is called in to conduct viewings, but included in the cost is promotion across social media and the major property portals such as Zoopla and Rightmove, as well as use of the websites app.

Calling itself a next generation estate agent, the business has impressed customers with its technology, which sends sellers feedback from viewings and enables them to see via the app how many people are looking at their home.

Growth has been strong since Purplebricks floated in December 2015. In its first full-year results, for the 12 months to April 30, revenue climbed from 18.6 million to 46.7 million.

Purplebricks success lies in its ability to provide cutting-edge technology and innovation to its customers alongside the traditional services they expect from an estate agent. The group has more than doubled its bank of local property experts to 448.

Taking it on the chin: Purplebricks' adverts have drawn complaints

The company gets 2.5 million visits to its website every month and says a sale is agreed on its properties every nine minutes. It has more than 26,000 entries on reviews website Trustpilot, with an average rating of 9.5 out of 10.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the firm is rapidly snatching market share away from high street estate agents and has increased its share of the UK online market to 72 per cent.

Purplebricks has already expanded into Australia, where first-mover advantage has seen it gain traction quickly. Now it has set its sights on the US. The firm has raised just shy of 50 million from investors to fund its push across the Atlantic. It formally launched its business there on Friday and will roll it out state by state.

While it will not be the first of its kind in the US, the market there is huge. There are about 5.5 million property transactions in America every year and the commissions are high  around 5 or 6 per cent. Purplebricks needs to snag only a small portion of these sales to make this venture a success.

Midas verdict: If Purplebricks can avoid further run-ins with the advertising regulator, then its share price should easily recover. Ambitious expansion plans could mean losses in the short term but, if successful, should reap rewards in the future.

Traded on: AIM Ticker: PURP Contact: 020 7457 2020
A second Chinese firm has joined a growing list of foreign investors eyeing a stake in a troubled 15bn nuclear power plant planned for the Cumbrian coast.

China General Nuclear Power Corporation is reportedly considering taking control of NuGen, the Toshiba-owned firm planning a plant in Moorside to power up to 6m homes.

Forward thinking: A nuclear plant is planned for Moorside to power up to 6m homes

South Korean state-owned utility Kepco and Chinas State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation are also interested in the project - despite concerns in the UK about foreign investment in critical national infrastructure.

NuGen is urgently seeking new backers after French investors Engie pulled out when major financial problems at Toshiba earlier this year led to the bankruptcy of Toshibas subsidiary and reactor designer Westinghouse.

CGN already has stakes in the Hinkley Point power plant being built in Somerset, the Sizewell scheme in Sussex, and a plant in Bradwell, Essex.
A deal to merge the European arm of Tata Steel, which runs the giant refinery in Port Talbot, and Germanys ThyssenKrupp looks set to go ahead soon after the German elections on September 24  if unions agree to it.

ThyssenKrupp has a board meeting scheduled for that week where the merger is expected to be discussed. The German engineer and steelmaker said: An agreement could be possible before the end of this month.

But trade unions oppose the deal. They would prefer ThyssenKrupp to list key operations, including its lifts division, on the stock market.

Sign of the times: Trade unions and activist investor Cevian oppose the deal

Activist investor Cevian, the firms second biggest shareholder, also opposes the deal.

Employees and shareholders are represented equally on the 20-member board, so chairman Ulrich Lehner may have to use his casting vote. Tata said it was still in talks with the German firm.

The planned merger follows Tata Steels controversial move to shift 130,000 past and present staff into the Pension Protection Fund.

It persuaded regulators and trustees that the existing schemes deficit threatened the survival of the firm and agreed to put 550 million and a one third equity stake in Tata Steel UK into the lifeboat fund.
Jesse Walker feared the worst when heavily armed Egyptian military police led him blindly up a set of stairs for a 3am 'court hearing'.

The Australian photographer had just spent 12 hours locked up in an overcrowded, putrid cell with Belgian model Marisa Papen.

Furious security guards from the Muslim country had arrested the pair after catching them during a nude photoshoot at a royal temple in Luxor.

'The court building had no lights on, it was terrifying,' Walker told Daily Mail Australia.

'I started thinking: "Are they going to torture us? Are they going to rape Marisa?" We could just disappear in this place and no one would ever know what happened.'

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Australian photographer Jesse Walker and Belgian model Marisa Papen (pictured) risked their lives to carry out a nude photoshoot at some of the most famous landmarks of Ancient Egypt

Walker admitted he thought some 'dark thoughts' after he was led to a dark building at 3am for a court hearing with Papen

The pair had bribed young men patrolling temples in Giza (pictured outside pyramids), but ran into trouble at Luxor when a guard refused to accept their money

Walker said this photo, at the Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun Re, was taken just minutes before the pair were swooped on by Egyptian military police and arrested

Walker and Papen had travelled to North Africa for a risky shoot at some of the most famous landmarks of ancient Egypt.

The pair had bribed young men patrolling temples in Giza, but ran into trouble when they reached Luxor to visit the vast temple complex of Karnak.

When Karnak turned out to be even more guarded than the pyramids at Giza, Papen and Walker had to think of another plan for their shoot.

They decided to hide in the complex just before closing time and to start with the photoshoot 'making pirouettes in Cleopatra's footprints' after all the other people had left.

Papen said: 'But you can guess what happened next. Busted, once again. And yes, this time we were in some serious trouble.'

Four security guards caught the two and brought them 'like two beaten dogs' to the local police.

Walker said the guards assumed he was shooting pornographic material, when he was in fact creating a campaignproject for his company Enki Eyewear and Papen's blog.

'They thought we were shooting porn because they associate any nudity with porn. They said to Marisa 'why have you got dirt on your knees?' he said.

'These are photos that no one else has got, and no one else will get - at least in my life time,' Walker said

'No regrets': Walker (pictured) shot down suggestions he had disrespected Egyptian culture by following through with the shoot, despite knowing the uproar it would cause

Walker said Egyptian guards assumed he was shooting pornographic material, because they associate nudity with porn in the Muslim country

Speaking of her horrific night spent in a putrid, overcrowded jail cell, Papen said: 'I had never seen something like this before in real life'

After hours of interrogation, surrounded by men screaming in Arabic and attempting to force them to sign confessions they couldn't read, they were led to a prison cell.

He said a man 'covered in blood with a hole in his head' was wandering around the cell, which was infested with flies, shouting and in a total state of shock.

Authorities refused to tell him how long they would be kept in the cell, with one guard admitting it 'could be one day, could be one week'.

Papen said: 'I knew that a prison in Egypt looks slightly different then in Belgium or any Westernised country but I had no idea what to expect before actually going in.

'The first cell we encountered was packed with at least 20 men, some were passed out on the floor, some were squeezing their hands through the rails, some were bleeding and yelling.

'I had never seen something like this before in real life. Jesse kept telling me, 'Marisa don't look' but there was no way not to look.'

After several hours in horrendous conditions in jail Papen and Walker were brought in front of a judge.

Walker and Papen were taken to an Egyptian court at 3am after 12 hours behind bars

The pair were led through a dimly lit building up a set of stairs, and started thinking there was a possibility they might never make it out alive

'We just went in and did our art, and if Muslims dont like it, or other people dont like it, its just how it is,' Walker said

The Belgian nude model pictured on the back of a horse with two pyramids peering over the sand in the distance. Having bribed young men patrolling temples in Giza, she narrowly avoided trouble and was able to strip off and pose for photographs

Papen said: 'We kept playing the role of stupid tourists who had no idea dancing in skin-coloured underwear - on Egyptian ground it wasn't allowed.

'Our judge was browsing with his big thumbs through these books that looked as old as the pyramids did.

'Eventually, he gave us a warning and told us never to do something so foolishly shameful ever again. We nodded simultaneously.'

Back in their hotel room, Walker even managed to recover the deleted pictures off the SD card with special software.

Walker commended the bravery of Papen, but admitted the pair would likely never be able to travel back to Egypt after ignoring the directions of the judge to never publish the photos.

'Maybe I'll fly back one day ... but who knows if there's a red flag on me now,' he said.

'They are so brainwashed (in Luxor), they think everyone is a spy... I'm not sure if I'd every travel back... not soon at least. They have all our passport details.

He also shot down suggestions he had disrespected Egyptian culture by following through with the shoot, despite knowing the uproar it would cause.

'We just went in and did our art, and if Muslims dont like it, or other people dont like it, its just how it is,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Not everyone is going to like what you do. We meant no disrespect to the culture and to Egypt because its a country we both really love.'

'Ive got no regrets at all. I do it all for the love of art, the imagery speaks for itself. These are photos that no one else has got, and no one else will get - at least in my life time.'

The pair avoided prosecution by 'playing the role of stupid tourists who had no idea dancing in skin-coloured underwear'

Walker and Papen are pictured trying to negotiate with Egyptian police after their arrests. Walker said an interpreter tried to get them to sign papers he suspected would incriminate them

Walker tried to convince the Egyptian judge he meant no disrespect, showing off a number of Egyptian tattoos on his arms (pictured) to prove his
Angela Jay's scars are a painful, daily reminder she will never be her 'old self' again.

On November 3, 2016, a man the young doctor had met on Tinder just weeks earlier lay in wait at her home in Port Macquarie on the NSW North Coast.

When the 28-year-old arrived at her house, Paul Lambert, 36, attacked her - stabbing her 11 times before dousing her in petrol - all because she had broken up with him.

Dr Jay managed to escape, but the physical and mental scars from the brutal attack are a constant reminder of the night she almost died.

All it takes is a man to walk past her on the street wearing her attacker's cologne to send her spiralling into anxiety and bring on a crippling attack of PTSD.

'Even though my attacker is no longer here, the memory of him and what he did terrifies me every day,' Dr Jay told Daily Mail Australia.

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Dr Angela Jay is back at work, and on social media, pictured here in support of marriage equality, rebuilding her life after she was brutally attacked by her ex-partner

She has spoken out about the attack and now the extent of the PTSD it has left her with - the physical starts pictured here are a daily reminder of the night she was almost killed

On November 3, 2016, Dr Angela Jay's ex-partner Paul Lambert, 36, (both pictured) lay waiting in her Port Macquarie home  intent on killing her because she had broken up with him

The young woman can't look at photos of the man who hurt her, and is left shaken if she comes into contact with men who look like him.

The one salvation for Dr Jay is that she will never come face-to-face with Lambert. He was shot dead by police shortly after attacking her.

However, the traumatic incident has forever changed the way the once independent woman lives her life.

'I am definitely too afraid to live alone or with strangers, and I have a real issue with closets,' she said.

'My bed is on the floor, there is no closet in my room now, there is nowhere for anyone to hide.'

When the bubbly blonde first left hospital after the sickening attack she was staying with family. The room she was in had cupboards, and she couldn't get to sleep without checking to make sure nothing was lurking inside.

'The doors on the closets had to be fully closed  if I saw one was ajar my heart would race,' she said.

Dr Jay, pictured, has revealed how a brutal attack on her life has left her afraid of closets and sick at the smell of her ex-partner's cologne

And a nice walk-in-wardrobe in her bedroom is now a 'deal breaker' for the White Ribbon ambassador.

'I think the recovery of any major trauma takes time  I am coming to terms with the fact that I will never be the same person I was before,' she said.

'I think about the attack every day  sometimes it is brief, sometimes it's not.

'And of course I have the scars  every time I see them it brings me back. One of the scars on my arm is very painful and uncomfortable when touched, which also brings me back.'

Dr Jay only feels safe because her attacker is dead. She has the support of her friends, family, colleagues - and of course, professional help.

This has helped to give her the strength to assist other women with their domestic violence trauma.

Pictured right with a colleague, Dr Jay said she is lucky to have great support from her co-workers

She is raising money for White Ribbon the domestic violence charity and offering support to other victims

Working in obstetrics and gynaecology brings her face-to-face with the ugly truth of domestic violence.

'I think now I have more empathy and I am better able to understand the woman I see  so it has made me a better doctor,' she said.

And when it comes to love, the young doctor says she has never been 'less interested' in the dating world.

'I was telling a friend the other day that I was feeling very un-interested in dating for the first time ever.

The White Ribbon says, 'I will never be the same person I was before'

Lambert, pictured, was shot dead by police but the smell of his cologne still makes her sick to her stomach

'It isn't even a possibility for me right now  I think that part of me will take a long time to recover.'

This week she will hike through the Northern Territory with her dad Steve and her 19-year-old brother Zach.

She is raising money for domestic violence victims  and has already smashed her initial $7,000 goal. She is now aiming to raise $100,000 for the White Ribbon cause.

'I got the email about the trek when I was feeling lost  it was a time when I was trying to comprehend what had happened to me,' she said.

'I asked my dad if he would come with me for the adventure  we have trekked in Peru together  and he was keen to support the cause.

Dr Jay won't sleep in rooms with closets in them and has placed her bed on the floor so there are no hiding spots in her bedroom

'Then my brother Zach heard about it and asked if he could come as well. He was feeling pretty lost after the attack as well and didn't know what he could do to show me how he felt or to help support me.'

The 223-kilometre trek will take six days to complete and stretches from the old Alice Springs Telegraph Station through to Mount Sonder. Thirty people are taking part.

'People keep asking me how the training is going but I have been working so much and haven't had much.

'I am just hoping my body will be able get me through it,' she said.

Dr Jay wants people in a domestic violence situation to know there is help out there.

'When this was happening to me I was too ashamed to go to my colleagues about it,' she said.

'I told my neighbour about my concerns and I told friends but I could have done more and it is important people know that they can ask for help.'

The blonde once shaved her head for a cancer charity, and was known as being bubbly and independent

And despite meeting her attacker on Tinder she doesn't blame online dating for what happened to her.

'I couldn't believe when people were blaming Tinder for what happened, it felt like a kind of victim-blaming to me,' she said.

'Sure, we had met on the app  but it is a way people of our generation do meet.

'I met up with him in a public place, people knew about him  I didn't do anything else different to what I would have done if we had met in a more traditional way.

'It wasn't a stranger I had let into my home, it was a man who I had been dating for some time.

'I broke it off with him and he let himself into my house and tried to kill me.

'To say it is because we met on Tinder is victim-blaming.'

Dr Jay is also back on social media  using the online platform to promote her views on everything from marriage equality to domestic violence.

But getting back online was not without its challenges.

'I am very cautious about publicly saying where I am or doing anything that could hurt my safety,' she said.

'But it is such a powerful vehicle and I am able to put across the strongest version of myself  appear stronger than I might be,' she said.

On the night of the attack Dr Jay managed to escape her would-be-killer ex and get help from a neighbour. She talked him through what he needed to do to save her life in the moments before paramedics arrived.

Her attacker, originally from Brisbane, fled the scene and was shot dead by police hours later near Coffs Harbour, about 150 kilometres further north.

The young woman was stabbed 11 times in total - two of the once deep wounds can be seen here
Underpaid carers working at a retirement Melbourne left 16 elderly residents to fend for themselves when they walked off the job on Friday.

As a response to the mass exodus state health and consumer affairs officers are now looking into Berkeley Living village in Patterson Lakes as they attempt to help families with their loved ones.

Relatives of the vulnerable residents say the employees were outstanding however the staff allege it was common practice not to be paid or if they were - receive less than $10 an hour, 9 News reported.

Berkeley Living village in Patterson Lakes are accused by resident's relatives of underpaying their staff

On Friday they abandoned their responsibilities and walked out.

Relative Melissa Dillon said the living home needed to reassess their top level.

'The staff are terrific. We're very lucky to have the staff at the residence but unfortunately just the management needs to be sorted out.'

Families spoke with police on Saturday expressing their outrage, concerned for how the elderly residents had been treated.

'We're making sure the welfare of both the residents and families are our priority in terms of their safety,' Monash Health's Martin Keogh said.

The health officials investigation did not disclose how much longer they will be on the site.
(File photo)

A 15-megawatt photovoltaic power station, with investment from China-based Sirius Holding Group, has been put into operation in Astrakhan, Russia.

The station generates 15,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour.

Cui Zhiwei, deputy general manager of Sirius, said the company's investment was expected to be recouped in five years.

Power demand in Russia has seen sustainable growth thanks to its economic recovery in recent years.
Mother-of-two Robyn Mercer (pictured), 50, is believed to have been struck with an axe or machete from behind as she carried out her bins at night before being beaten to death

The brother of a woman who was bludgeoned to death outside her home has cast doubts on the police theory that it was a burglary gone wrong.

Mother-of-two Robyn Mercer, 50, is believed to have been struck with an axe or machete from behind as she carried out her bins at night before being beaten to death.

Her body was not found until the next morning, despite her children and ex-boyfriend being inside the home.

No-one has been charged with the murder - which took place in West Molesey, Surrey on March 14, 2016 - and the investigation continues.

Surrey Police have said they consider the savage killing to have been a burglary gone wrong, but Robyn's brother Quentin Spickernell has now told The Sun he finds it baffling that nothing was actually stolen.

He said: 'If it was a burglary, then after they had killed my sister why did they not carry out the burglary?'

The restaurant owner, who lives in Robyn's native South Africa, added: 'Robyn went out to put out the garbage and the police theory is there were at least two people who then proceeded to bludgeon her to death.'

Last month a suspect was detained on suspicion of murder and released under investigation. Pictured: Robyn

He said he finds it difficult to believe that could have happened without neighbours and the occupants of her house hearing it.

He added: 'If they had gone armed then they had a clear intention to use force but they made no attempt to get in the house.'

Robyn's ex-boyfriend, Robert Webb, 54, was originally arrested last March on suspicion of murder but was later released without charge  and is no longer considered a suspect.

Last month a suspect was detained on suspicion of murder and released under investigation.

A further two men  both aged 26 and from West Molesey in Surrey  were also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle and murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Paddy Mayers told MailOnline: 'A full police investigation into Robyn's murder is ongoing and the pace of our enquiries has recently intensified'

One of the 26-year-olds was also held on conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

They both remain under investigation.

Detective Chief Inspector Paddy Mayers told MailOnline: 'A full police investigation into Robyn's murder is ongoing and the pace of our enquiries has recently intensified.

Pictured: The 850,000 home that the former couple owned together in West Molesey in Surrey

Robyn's body was not found until the next morning, despite her children and ex-boyfriend being inside the home

'The team is committed to getting justice for Robyn and her family and will leave no stone unturned in doing so.'

Six people have been arrested and quizzed about the killing.

Robert Webb, 54, Robyn's former lover, who has pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to forging her signature on a will that left him the 65 per cent share she owned in their five-bedroom home

Meanwhile former BT engineer Webb, Robyn's former lover, is awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to forging her signature on a will that left him the 65 per cent share she owned in their five-bedroom 850,000 home.

His defence team said the will was 'intended to flush out the genuine will which he believed was in the possession of other family members' - but this explanation was rejected and he is expected to be sentenced next month.

Robert owns the other 35 per cent of the home, which is worth about 300,000.

He met Robyn - a keen rower who worked for silver specialists J.H. Bourdon-Smith for 25 years - in 2003 and the pair moved in together two years later.

Their relationship collapsed, however, and Robyn obtained a legal notice to have him evicted.

He would have been forced to leave the home on March 18, four days before she was killed.

Quentin said Robert will 'get what he deserves' when he is sentenced for forging his former girlfriend's signature.
Thousands of Houston firefighters were told to stay home at the height of Harvey's flooding even as calls for help overwhelmed 911 dispatchers, the president of the city's firefighters union said Friday.

Nearly three thousand firefighters were told to remain home while Harvey battered Houston, even as county officials were issuing pleas for volunteer rescuers, said union boss Marty Lancon.

'Firefighters who are not scheduled to work are asked to refrain from coming into the station unless otherwise notified by HFD command,' read an August 27 memo obtained by KHOU.

'That was the most unbelievable, confusing, mind-boggling thing in dealing with the catastrophic event,' Lancon told the CBS affiliate.

Questions are emerging about the decision to tell nearly 3,000 firefighters in Houston to stay home as Hurricane Harvey battered the city

City officials said the decision was based on the number of trucks and boats available, saying that additional crews would have had no equipment to use if they showed up.

'I don't want to hear about lack of resources,' Lancton said. 'Emergencies are something you prepare for. You don't have the answers, but you prepare. In this case, they weren't prepared.'

As fast-rushing water chased people onto their rooftops, about 3,000 firefighters were instructed not to report to work on August 27, according to Lancton, an agonizing order for many eager to assist with rescues.

'We're sorry,' Lancton said, fighting back tears. 'Every Houston firefighter would put their life on the line for anybody without question, with a moment's notice, and this is not different.'

Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena acknowledged that three-quarters of the force was asked not to report, but said that the department was fully staffed.

'Everything we had available, we deployed in anticipation of that,' Pena said.

Firefighters put out a fire during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The city says that its equipment was fully staffed, and that it didn't have the boats or trucks for more firefighters

The decision against a full recall, which Pena said was made based on staffing needs during past disasters, left a crew of 900 firefighters responsible for 650 square miles of Houston. Many worked two or three days without a break.

Pena said he hadn't seen the data yet for response times from that Sunday but that in hindsight, he would have brought in more firefighters to make sure crews could rotate out each day.

The decision to not deploy more fire responders struck a nerve in southeast Houston, where Debbie Martinez and her 3-month-old granddaughter had waited for help as her home filled with water.

'There could have been people here to help us get out of here,' she said. 'It doesn't make sense.'
The way Cuban president Raul Castro responded to grave concerns about a spate of US diplomats harmed in Havana surprised Washington, several U.S. officials say.

Castro seemed rattled and sent for the top American envoy in the country to address the concerns following talk of futuristic 'sonic attacks' and the subtle threat of repercussions by the United States, until recently Cuba's sworn enemy.

In a rare face-to-face conversation, Castro told U.S. diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis that he was equally baffled, and concerned. Predictably, Castro denied any responsibility.

But U.S. officials were caught off guard by the way he addressed the matter, devoid of the indignant, how-dare-you-accuse-us attitude the U.S. had come to expect from Cuba's leaders.

Cuba President Raul Castro appeared as alarmed as the Americans about a spate of U.S. diplomats harmed in Havana. He is pictured above during a rally in November 2016

The Cubans even offered to let the FBI come down to Havana to investigate. Though U.S.-Cuban cooperation has improved recently - there was a joint 'law enforcement dialogue' Friday in Washington - this level of access was extraordinary.

'Some countries don't want any more FBI agents in their country than they have to - and that number could be zero,' said Leo Taddeo, a retired FBI supervisor who served abroad. Cuba is in that group.

The list of confirmed American victims was much shorter on February 17, when the US first complained to Cuba. Today, the number of 'medically confirmed' cases stands at 21 - plus several Canadians. Some Americans have permanent hearing loss or mild brain injury. The developments have frightened Havana's tight-knit diplomatic community.

At least one other nation, France, has tested embassy staff for potential sonic-induced injuries.

But several U.S. officials say there are real reasons to question whether Cuba perpetrated a clandestine campaign of aggression. The officials weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and demanded anonymity.

When the U.S. has accused Cuba in the past of misbehavior, such as harassing diplomats or cracking down on local dissidents, Havana has often accused Washington of making it up. This time, although Castro denied involvement, his government didn't dispute that something troubling may have gone down on Cuban soil.

Perhaps the picture was more complex? Investigators considered whether a rogue faction of Cuba's security forces had acted, possibly in combination with another country like Russia or North Korea.

Nevertheless, anger is rising in Washington. On Friday, five Republican senators wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to kick all Cuban diplomats out of the United States and close America's newly re-established embassy in Havana.

Castro told U.S. diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis (above) that he was equally baffled and concerned. Predictably, Castro denied any responsibility

One incident occurred on an upper floor of the recently renovated Hotel Capri, a 60-year-old concrete tower steps from the Malecon, Havana's iconic, waterside promenade

'Cuba's neglect of its duty to protect our diplomats and their families cannot go unchallenged,' said the lawmakers, who included Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a prominent Cuban-American, and the No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas.

For decades, Cuba and the U.S. harassed each other's diplomats. The Cubans might break into homes to rearrange furniture or leave feces unflushed in a toilet. The Americans might conduct obvious break-ins and traffic stops, puncture tires or break headlights.

Yet those pranks were primarily to pester, not to harm.

What U.S. diplomats started reporting last November was altogether different.

Diplomats and their families were getting sick. Some described bizarre, unexplained sounds, including grinding and high-pitched ringing. Victims even recounted how they could walk in and out of what seemed like powerful beams of sound that hit only certain rooms or even only parts of rooms, the AP reported this week.

At the time, Washington and Havana were in cooperation mode, working feverishly to lock in progress on everything from internet access to immigration rules before Barack Obama's presidency ended. Donald Trump's surprise election win on Nov. 8 meant the U.S. would soon be led by a president who'd threatened to reverse the rapprochement.

As America awaited an unpredictable new administration, Cuba faced a pivotal moment, too.

Fidel Castro died on Nov. 25. The revolutionary had reigned for nearly a half-century before ceding power to his brother, Raul, in his ailing last years. It was no secret in Cuba that Fidel, along with some supporters in the government, were uneasy about Raul Castro's opening with the U.S.

'There is a struggle going on for the soul of their revolution,' said Michael Parmly, who headed the U.S. diplomatic post in Havana from 2005 to 2008. 'It's entirely possible there are rogue elements.'

In fall 2016, the US diplomats reportedly began suffering unexplained losses of hearing. After an investigation, officials concluded that the diplomats had been attacked with an advanced sonic weapon that operated outside the range of audible sound (Pictured, the US Embassy in Havana in December 2015)

When the first diplomats came forward with their inexplicable episodes and symptoms, the U.S. didn't connect the dots. It took weeks before embassy officials pieced together 'clusters' of incidents, and multiple victims with confirmed health damage.

By the time Obama left the White House on Jan. 20, talk of mysterious maladies had reached some officials in Washington. Word of sonic attacks hadn't reached the top echelons of the White House or U.S. State Department, three former U.S. officials told the AP.

As Trump took office, a clearer picture started to emerge. On February 17, the U.S. complained to Cuba's embassy in Washington and its foreign ministry in Havana.

Soon came Castro, seeking out DeLaurentis directly. The attacks halted for a time. But several U.S. officials said it wasn't clear why.

It wasn't long before the incidents started again, as mysteriously as they'd stopped.

Then the Canadians got hit. Between March and May, between five and 10 households were hit with symptoms including nausea, headaches and nosebleeds, said a Canadian official with knowledge of his country's investigation. Then those attacks, too, ended.

What culprit would want to attack both the U.S. and its northern neighbor? Cuba has no obvious grievances with Canada. The two countries have close ties. But perhaps Canadians were targeted to muddle the motive and throw investigators off the trail, another possibility U.S. authorities haven't eliminated.

The Canadians tested some of their staff in Havana and recalled others home temporarily, the Canadian official said.

Searching for its own answers, the U.S. Embassy conducted medical tests on staffers. Many were sent to the University of Miami for further examination. The State Department consulted with doctors at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. encouraged those institutions to keep what they knew private.

In Havana's diplomatic circles, anxiety spread. The French Embassy tested employees after a staff member raised health concerns, according to a French diplomat familiar with the matter. False alarm; the tests turned up no signs of damage consistent with a sonic attack.

An interior hall of the Capri is seen. New details about a string of mysterious sonic attacks in Cuba indicate the incidents were narrowly confined within specific rooms or parts of rooms

The Hotel Capri in Havana, Cuba. New details about a string of mysterious 'health attacks' on U.S. diplomats in Cuba indicate the incidents were narrowly confined within specific rooms or parts of rooms

The FBI traveled to Havana and swept some of the rooms where attacks were reported - a list that included homes and at least one hotel: the Spanish-run Hotel Capri, where visiting U.S. officials occasionally stay. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police flew down, too. Neither law enforcement agency found any sonic device, several officials told the AP.

By May 23, the U.S. still had no answers. But something had to be done. The Trump administration expelled two Cuban diplomats from Washington to protest the communist government's failure to protect the safety of American diplomats.

Neither country disclosed the expulsion at the time. Cuba didn't retaliate.

The next month, Trump imposed some barriers to travel between the former Cold War foes. But there was no hint it was to punish Castro's government for the attacks. Trump left much of Obama's broader detente intact, including the two nations' re-opened embassies.

The diplomats suffered in private, until August 9.

News reports finally prompted the State Department to publicly acknowledge 'incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms' and were still under investigation. The AP learned they included concentration problems and even trouble recalling commonplace words.

Two weeks later, the U.S. announced at least 16 Americans showed symptoms. At that point, the State Department said the incidents were 'not ongoing.'

Still, the tally continued to rise - first to 19 victims, and then this week to 21. In the meantime, the State Department had to withdraw its assurance the attacks had long ceased. There had been another incident, on August 21.

'The reality is, we don't know who or what has caused this,' State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday. 'And that's why the investigation is underway.'
They are the myths that have enthralled and educated generations throughout the ages.

But now one of Britains leading classics scholars has found himself under attack for including politically incorrect scenes of rape and nudity in a Latin textbook  in the latest instance of snowflake students being shielded from offence.

Peter Jones, former senior lecturer in classics at Newcastle University, was stunned when a Latin tutor at a US university branded him offensive and sexist for including scenes from the rape of Lucretia and the tale of three naked goddesses in the latest edition of his renowned textbook, Reading Latin.

Peter Jones (left) said he was stunned when he received a complaint for a Latin tutor at Ohio State University for including scenes from the rape of Lucretia. A statue of Aphrodite (right) with her clothes off, which Mr Jones is criticised for including in his book

He said: In order to understand the ancient world, you have to understand the way they thought about things, which is quite different from the way we think. It is hard to see why people who wish to understand the ancient world find material that the ancient world took for granted so unpalatable. Certain universities and students seem unwilling to get inside the head of cultures they dont understand, and take offence too easily at other cultures.

The Latin instructor from Ohio State University complained to Joness publisher about the inclusion of two stories about rape and one of the very few versions of the Judgement of Paris where Paris views Hera, Athena and Aphrodite with their clothes off.

The instructor added: Teaching Latin means encountering many uncomfortable topics with students but it doesnt help, or make the historically racist and classist discipline of classics any more accessible when the editors of reading texts make such offensive choices. Jones responded: It is beyond belief that someone committed to serious historical enquiry could find such an exercise offensive. He said his book features three goddesses, each confidently stripping off, determined to win the golden apple from Paris as well as two rapes, but insisted studying legends like these is crucial if historians are to be properly able to interrogate the past.

Jones said he received a complaint about the inclusion of two stories about rape and one of the very few versions of the Judgement of Paris where Paris views Hera, Athena (above) and Aphrodite with their clothes off

He said: Though deities seldom compete to win golden apples these days, it is not as if rape has vanished from the face of the earth, let alone racism and classism. One might have thought that historical takes on issues of such contemporary importance were the perfect medium to explore them safely.

Many UK and US universities have banned traditional texts that might trigger negative responses and have created safe spaces and controversy-free zones for students.

The Ohio lecturer declined to be interviewed when approached by The Mail on Sunday and asked not to be named.
A Muslim group wants taxpayer funds to set up a hotline for parents worried about their children being radicalised.

The Islamic Council of Victoria is asking the Turnbull Government for $3.5 million to establish a Muslim Crisis Support Service.

The 24-hour hotline would also cater to Muslim parents concerned about their children turning to violent or anti-social behaviour.

The Islamic Council of Victoria wants $3.5 million to fund a hotline for Muslim parents worried about their children turning to extremism (ISIS flag being removed at Raqqa City in Syria)

The proposal would also fund a crisis team to give emotional support to Islamic families, the Sunday Herald Sun reports.

The Islamic Council's spokesman Adel Salman says he would prefer to have trained counsellors and social workers from a Muslim background answer the hotline.

'Our preference would be Muslim and that is simply because we are targeting Muslim youth,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday.

'They typically respond better when people from a similar background are talking to them about issues they are experiencing.

Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Adel Salman says Muslims were need to identity youths at risk of turning to extremism

'A lot of Muslim youth feel disenfranchised: their identity as Muslims, their religion that they practise is often ridiculed, called into question, made to feel it doesn't belong in Australia.'

Mr Salman said the hotline counsellors would report any confessions of terror plots to police in a 'very small minority' of cases.

'If it gets to the stage where someone's calling up, maybe a parent, and is saying their child is involved in imminent terrorist activity, clearly that matter would have to be referred to the appropriate authorities.'

He added that migrant parents who knew of a terror plot would feel more comfortable talking to a Muslim counsellor than contacting the Australian Federal Police.

'Parents themselves are crying out for another option,' Mr Salman said.

The Muslim Crisis Support Service proposal would also include emotional support for families

The Australian National University in Canberra is backing the Islamic Council of Victoria's proposal.

The council has also separately met members of a parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Migration.

The inquiry into migrant settlement schemes, made up of politicians from the House of Representatives and the Senate, is accepting submissions until September 29.

The Islamic Council said migrant parents often struggled to understand why their teenage children were turning to extremist groups.

'Without adequate support structures, many marginalised and disengaged Muslim youth growing up in Australian society are becoming increasingly at risk of falling into negative social circles or being influenced by harmful social media or internet activity,' their submission for a hotline said.

The proposal comes as teenagers travel to Syria to join ISIS.
Have you ever run for your life? I have, writes Ben Felsenburg

Have you ever run for your life? I have. I didnt know what or who I was running from on Friday morning, but one glance at the wide-eyed horror on the faces of the well-heeled City workers fleeing the train at Parsons Green was enough to send me racing out the doors.

They were running for their lives and for that reason alone so was I. There was no adrenaline, just the sickening possibility that this might be it, the moment it all ends on an ordinary day out of the blue. This was terror, of some unknown event in the end carriage.

An entire packed commuter train had been suddenly transformed into a stampeding mini-tsunami of humanity surging along the platform.

Hardly anyone was screaming or shouting, but for one terrible moment it was each man for himself, and something awful and primal had kicked in that made me push forward mindlessly in the rush for the stairs that had become impassably crowded in seconds.

I didnt have a clue what had happened, but just 15 minutes after I had counted myself lucky to get on the train just before the doors had closed a few stops up the line, I was bracing myself for a marauding attacker armed with a knife or a gun, or a bomb blast.

My nostrils began to fill with an acrid, burning smell. Then one man had the presence of mind to cry out Calm down to all of us crammed on to a short, narrow platform leading to steps that were suddenly woefully inadequate as an escape exit.

I snapped out of my panic, collected myself and echoed his call in the hope of stopping the pushing and shoving down the steps that were so crammed it was all too easy to imagine people could soon be crushed to death. Around me terror had given way to shock.

There was no adrenaline, just the sickening possibility that this might be it, the moment it all ends on an ordinary day out of the blu

One young woman was in tears, shaking. Another woman repeatedly insisted Im fine, Im all right, and laughed over how she had lost her shoes in the rush.

By now the melee had calmed down into a very British well-behaved queue waiting to file down the steps and out of the station, and amid the chatter of the crowd, a few facts began to emerge.

There had been a bang  somehow not loud enough for me to hear halfway down the train  and there was talk of a flash of flames that had filled a section of the train.

Was it a terror attack or some kind of unlikely freak accident? Whatever we suspected it was impossible to know, but regardless of what had happened I began to wonder how bad the damage was for those left in the train.

I made my way down with everyone else to the ticket gates, where a young Eastern European mother with a toddler in a pushchair stood shaking with horror over the thought of what could so easily have happened to her child, mercifully unharmed.

Another woman  a smartly dressed office worker  stood alongside her, holding her arm in comfort.

There had been a bang  somehow not loud enough for me to hear halfway down the train  and there was talk of a flash of flames that had filled a section of the train

I was, to be honest, in a bit of a state. I wasnt alone. I got talking to a young man, Sam Flay, who was teary and shaky but bright and remarkably cogent.

His story came out: hed been right there, at the ground zero end of the train, and simultaneously heard the blast and saw the fire erupt from what he described as a bag for life. He felt the heat on his face from the flames that seemed to be everywhere.

He said: There was a kind of thudding noise and the lid of the bucket popped off. The next thing I knew a blinding ball of fire just filled the whole carriage.

The heat and light were so intense. There was some kind of thick yellow gel that filled the carriage and had squirted out of the bucket. Luckily I was sitting down and surrounded by people.

I turned my head away from the heat and only singed the back of my hair. But there were others whose faces were really badly burned and just looked dazed. People suddenly started screaming and trying to bundle out the train.

Some had been knocked to the floor by the force of the blast. One woman was just rocking back and forth, frozen to the spot, and had to be carried out.

Another collapsed on the platform stairs and was getting trampled underfoot. So many people were crying. I take that train every morning and always see the same people, so in a way you sort of get to know each other.

Sam went on: Everyone was fighting to get out the station but it was completely jammed. There was just panic and fear in the air. I saw around 50 police officers at the station who arrived within minutes, around half of them armed, and they really took control very quickly.

Id been involved in a terror response training day just the day before and had been in Barcelona not long before the attack there last month. Ive always wondered how I would respond to this kind of attack but you can never truly be prepared.

At 21, Sam is part of a generation for whom the constant possibility of a terrorist attack has been an ordinary fact of everyday life since as far back as he could remember.

Now on this fine late-summer morning in London, something had kicked in that enabled him to know just what to do in the seconds after the blast, to find the calm to get up and walk towards safety until he hit the crowd.

With the police cordoning off the danger area around the station and ushering the public away to safety, I wandered up with Sam, past the tidy patch of green that is Parsons Green and up towards the elegant little boutiques and chi-chi eateries on New Kings Road.

Seemingly oblivious to the mayhem of just a few hundred yards away, the yummy mummy brigade were congregating after the school drop-off in an inviting cafe, and leaving Sam there I went off to find out what I could about the blast.

A little media village thick with microphones and cameras had popped up almost instantly by the green, but no one there seemed to know anything much for sure.

Was there a second device? An armed man on the loose?

Someone stuck a mobile phone under my nose and showed me a photo of what was left of the device on the carriage that had caused the blast  little more than a white bucket in a plastic bag.

Inside the bomb blast tube... in Sam's own words Media analyst Sam Flay, 21, left, was on the Tube on his way to his office in Hammersmith when there was a blast and flames erupted from a bucket in a bag, right, a few feet away from him. Sam was sitting down, above, in the packed train when a blinding ball of light filled the whole carriage. He says the fire only singed the back of my hair, but he saw some whose faces were badly burned and people who were knocked to the floor by the force of the blast. Advertisement

My first reaction was to think how laughably pitiful it looked, but look at the results: for almost no cost and with little technical skill, an unknown bomber had injured dozens  thankfully none critically  and left many, many more badly rattled and traumatised.

I was shaken most of all by the memory of that panicked stampede on the platform: that was the moment of greatest danger, when the instinct to survive made us follow the terrorists bidding, until civilisation was restored after a few seconds.

It began to dawn on me that I had joined the ranks of all those people caught up in the kind of attacks that The Mail on Sunday and other newspapers have had to report on all too often these past few years.

This is what terror means: to be terrorised, to be reduced to sheer panic in an instant  one of hundreds of commuters who had nothing more to worry about than the business of the coming working day one moment, and the next were sick with fear for their very survival.

Id been down at the scene long enough to know it was doubtful Id find out much more there and started to walk to my office, but I was troubled, wondering how Sam was doing, and stopped at the cafe where Id left him.

I shouldnt have worried. I had misjudged the yummy mummies of Parsons Green: they had rallied round and taken this stranger to their hearts. Lindsay, a lovely mother of three, was insistent: Sam had to come back to her familys house nearby, have something proper to eat and stay as long as he liked until he felt OK.

As a bonus, if he wanted he was welcome to cuddle her childrens dog. Her invitation to Sam was a small but sweet setback for the bucket bombers hopes of undoing our way of life.
CRIMES: Bashar al-Assad

British diplomats are secretly plotting to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad escape justice for his alleged war crimes, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The shock move comes only months after Assads most recent chemical attacks  and follows Foreign Secretary Boris Johnsons declaration that he is an arch terrorist who should face a criminal probe for his part in the war which has killed half a million people.

The secret UK plan to ensure the dictator clings to power for the foreseeable future and avoids being put on trial is revealed in a letter written by a Foreign Office Minister.

The plan as set out by the Minister represents a huge climbdown by Mr Johnson and Theresa May. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister said Assad had no future in Syria and he should be removed from office.

In the leaked document, the Minister says that Britain will agree to Assad staying in office but he cannot continue to rule Syria indefinitely. He adds: There is a change afoot albeit with a clear retirement/exile plan for Assad to be agreed. Last night, security experts said Britains U-turn on Assad was regrettable but also inevitable given the political stalemate in Syria.

Former British Army officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, who has helped to expose the Syrian dictators use of banned chemical weapons, said: Without question Assad is a war criminal who should face justice. But the truth is we cant dictate terms to President Assad or his ally President Putin.

We need progress towards a peace settlement and if appeasing this brutal dictator is the price, then so be it.

The policy change brings Britain into line with the United States and France who have also accepted that President Assad will stay on.

A Foreign Office spokesman refused to comment on the Ministers letter last night, but reiterated the departments official line on Assad, saying: We believe there needs to be a transition away from Assad to a government that can protect the rights of all Syrians, unite the country and end the conflict.
A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for killing his neighbour over a door key and a $10 debt.

Brent Anthony Seymour, 43, threw John Howdle down the stairs of the pairs Brisbane unit complex during an argument over the key in September 2015.

Mr Howdle, aged in his 50s, underwent surgery but died from brain injuries the next day.

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Brent Anthony Seymour (pictured) threw John Howdle down the stars of the pairs Brisbane unit complex during an argument

Outside court Mr Howdles daughter Brianna (pictured) told reporters her fun-loving and gentle father had been preparing to move out at the time of his death

She said police had her fathers journal in which he had disclosed being in fear for his life

Seymour was charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter during a sentencing hearing at Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.

You decided to go up the stairs and engage in a physical altercation with the deceased, Justice David Boddice told the court.

As a consequence of that tragic decision, the deceased lost his life.

You have heard the devastating impact it has had upon his daughter and on his mother.

The impact is particularly devastating for both because he was the only person that they had.

At a previous hearing, it was revealed the incident began when Seymour found $10 on his kitchen bench he assumed was payment for items that had gone missing.

He confronted Mr Howdle and became suspicious when Mr Howdle refused to try his key in Seymours door to see if it would fit.

Insults were then hurled and punches thrown before Seymour lifted his neighbour and threw him down the concrete stairs.

Seymour immediately called for help and was found by police distraught and cradling Mr Howdles head in his hands.

Mr Howdle's stepfather Kevin Diskin was furious outside court after the sentencing

He was sentenced to seven years jail by Justice David Boddice, but with time already served he will be eligible for parole in January.

Seymour has a violent criminal history in both Queensland and Western Australia.

He apologised to his victims family in court.

For the last 725 days, not a single day has passed when I dont feel a heavy heart, he said.

Brianna Pidgeon posted a heartfelt tribute to her father on Facebook

I will forever feel responsible for the devastating effect my actions have had not only on John [but] his family.

Outside court Mr Howdles daughter Brianna told reporters her fun-loving and gentle father had been preparing to move out at the time of his death after receiving death threats from Seymour.

I wish it was for murder because I know he was threatening to kill my dad, she said.

The incident began when Seymour found $10 on his kitchen bench he assumed was payment for items that had gone missing

She said police had her fathers journal in which he had disclosed being in fear for his life.

Thats why my dad had boxes packed up in his apartment, ready to move.

She posted a heartfelt tribute to her father on Facebook, saying he was 'taken way too soon'.

John's stepfather Kevin Diskin was furious outside court.

'You can't go around killing my family and think I'm just going to let you walk out of jail on the 20th of January.'
Ryanair was yesterday accused of unleashing chaos after cancelling up to 2,100 flights  while telling passengers the move will help it to improve punctuality.

The decision has thrown the travel plans for as many as 285,000 people into disarray and caused a backlash among those affected.

The airline defended the move, blaming air traffic control delays, bad weather and a backlog of annual leave for pilots and cabin crew, which it said had combined to cause a sudden drop in the efficiency of its service.

It said flight punctuality had fallen below 80 per cent over the past two weeks.A spokesman said this figure was unacceptable and cutting 40 to 50 flights a day until the end of October would help improve performance and allow staff to take holidays.

The Ryanair decision has thrown the travel plans for as many as 285,000 people into disarray and caused a backlash among those affected (stock photo)

He apologised to the small number of people affected.

But customers reacted with fury on social media. Denis Mahon, from Dublin, branded the decision ridiculous and said his holiday plans had gone up in smoke.

He said on Twitter that the company had given him two days notice and had offered him a replacement flight three days after his original booking.

Natalie Kirby, from Brentwood in Essex, who was due to fly on Tuesday, said: Im very angry about my flight being cancelled. We have rebooked but have had to pay out more.

Thousands of other customers who have flights beyond Wednesday have been left in the dark with the company facing demands to provide details of all flights affected to allow customers to make alternative arrangements in advance.

The airline defended the move, blaming air traffic control delays, bad weather and a backlog of annual leave for pilots and cabin crew (stock photo)

One irate customer said on Twitter: Just received an email from Ryanair telling me to check in for a flight that they cancelled yesterday! Do they know what theyre doing?

Lea Maquin, from Cambridge, said: Thank you Ryanair for ruining our holiday by cancelling our return flight.

Under EU rules, customers should receive up to 400 compensation for flights cancelled within two weeks of departure.

The company said last night: We apologise sincerely to the small number of customers affected, and will be doing our utmost to arrange alternative flights and/or full refunds.
Hundreds of army veterans have marched in Westminster alongside a former soldier who is facing prosecution in connection with the death of a vulnerable man during the Troubles.

Dennis Hutchings, 76, is due to stand trial on charges linked to the shooting of John Pat Cunningham, a 27-year-old with learning difficulties who was killed in disputed circumstances in County Armagh in 1974.

Hutchings is accused of the attempted murder of unarmed Mr Cunningham.

A court has heard that when the victim was shot he was running away from an Army patrol because he had a fear of men in uniform.

Justice for Veterans protesters hold an I Am Dennis Hutchings protest in Central London. Hutching a former soldier, is currently facing prosecution for allegedly murdering John Pat Cunningham, who was considered a vulnerable adult in 1974

A counter protest and vigil was also held by supporters of John Pat Cunningham in London

Hutchings, of Cawsand, Cornwall, is also facing a charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Cunningham.

Campaign group Justice For Northern Ireland Veterans organised the solidarity march to protest at a number of recent investigations into the conduct of soldiers stationed in Northern Ireland during the conflict, which they say has been an unfair witch-hunt.

The march was met with a counter demonstration, by campaigners holding a silent vigil and carrying placards which read 'I am John Pat Cunningham'. At points, there were verbal clashes.

Ex soldier Dennis Hutchings (pictured in 1968, left, and now, right) has been charged at 75 over the fatal shooting of an IRA suspect more than 40 years ago

As the group of ex-soldiers marched past parliament, Mr Hutchings threw his military medals at the building.

One of the march organisers Alan Barry said: 'If you let terrorists go free from jail, you cannot then go and prosecute the very people who were sent in to fight that dirty war in the first place, and that was us.'

Mr Hutchings said: 'Today went very well. I hope it shows the Government they have to do something about this absolute travesty of justice'.

Many of the veterans wore their former military uniforms, decorated with medals they were awarded for their time in Northern Ireland and also carried Union and Northern Ireland flags.

After congregating in Horse Guards Parade, they marched to Buckingham Palace, where they sang a rendition of God Save the Queen, before marching to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square and then arriving at parliament.

The Justice for Veterans activists are calling for an end to the prosecutions of soldiers who served during the Troubles in Northern Island

Many of the veterans wore their former military uniforms, decorated with medals they were awarded for their time in Northern Ireland and also carried Union and Northern Ireland flags

They marched from Horse Guards Parade to Buckingham Palace, where they sang God Save the Queen, before marching to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square and then parliament

Paul O'Connor, from the Pat Finucane Centre which works with the Cunningham family, was among those counter-protesting.

He said: 'We're here today to remind people of who the victim was. It was John Pat Cunningham.

'I know that the British Army has had a culture of impunity over the years and they believe that they are not subject to the rule of law like anyone else, but they are - or they should be.'

Mr O'Connor claimed some of those involved in the rally were abusive toward the counter-protesters.

Other counter-protests took place at locations in Northern Ireland including Belfast, Londonderry, Strabane and County Armagh.

The director of public prosecutions Barra McGrory has previously denied any bias against soldiers in decisions on whether to prosecute over historical deaths.

In January, he said: 'The simple and clear reality is that we deal with cases as they are referred to us, in accordance with the Code for Prosecutors. There is no imbalance of approach within the PPS (Public Prosecution Service).'
The Egyptian president will meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the event

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in New York on Sunday for the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he will hold talks with US President Donald Trump, the Egyptian president's office said on Saturday.

Dignitaries from 193 nations will gather on Tuesday for a week of speeches and sideline meetings at the annual assembly in the UN headquarters in New York.

El-Sisi is set to address the gathering with comments on Middle East issues and counter-terrorism efforts, his spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement.

During his visit, El-Sisi is due to hold talks with Trump, who will be among the summit's leaders for the first time this year.

El-Sisi will also hold sideline meetings with top US business and financial executives and members of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) to discuss Egypt's economic reform program and the country's investment opportunities.

He will also address the UN Security Council about Egypt's contribution to UN peacekeeping operations.

Egypt has contributed to 37 UN missions, with over 30,000 peacekeepers deployed in 24 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Egypt is currently serving as the non-permanent member at the UN Security Council representing the Arab world in a two-year term that ends in October 2017.

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Donald Trump is still planning to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement unless the UN can offer 'better terms,' despite claims to the contrary, the White House has said.

Two members of a recent international meeting said that a White House representative had said the US would maintain the accord, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Saturday.

But the White House says that's nonsense - and that Trump is still planning his climate exit unless he gets the changes he wants.

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Despite claims that the US would try to make the existing climate change agreement work, the White House has said Trump (seen announcing the Paris agreement exit on June 1) still plans to either renegotiate the terms or pull America out

According to the Wall Street Journal, the initial remarks about Trump reversing his decision to pull out of the agreement were made at an international meeting in Montreal.

That meeting had seen ministers from 30 countries, including Canada and Britain, discussing US climate-change goals with White House senior adviser Everett Eissenstat.

European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Arias Canete (pictured left with then-Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016) made the swiftly denied claims that the US 'will not renegotiate the Paris accord' Sunday

Two people at the meeting said that they were told America would instead seek compromises within the existing framework rather than renegotiating it.

'They are seriously considering the terms on which the US could re-engage,' one of the officials at the meeting.

'They have also made clear that they have no intention to renegotiate or develop a parallel track to Paris.'

Those remarks were reiterated by Miguel Arias Canete, European commissioner for climate action and energy.

He said: 'The US has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement.'

He claimed that America 'has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord.'

That would contradict Trump's promise in June that he would pull out unless it was either renegotiated or scrapped and started again.

'The Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States,' Trump claimed on June 1.

Later Sunday, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said that 'There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement.

'As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.'

As Trump told it in June, he possibility of finding a new agreement seemed unlikely.

He said that 'we will start to renegotiate and we'll see if there's a better deal. If we can, great. If we can't, that's fine.'

Gary Cohn, head of the National Economic Council and who has previously said he is against a full withdrawal, is to meet with climate ministers from major countries in New York.

The climate agreement is expected to be on the agenda - and had been expected to repeat the claims made by the officials from the Montreal meeting until the White House's remarks to the contrary.

The Paris accord was signed in 2015 under the Obama administration, and set limits - determined by the then-government - on carbon emissions.
The female co-founder of Glassbreakers, a Silicon Valley-based software company, parted ways with her blonde locks and became brunette as a way to fend off sexism in the workplace.

Eileen Carey, an accomplished thirty-something CEO, told BBC she was informed by male clients of hers that they preferred to work in a professional environment with brunettes rather than blondes.

'I was told for this raise [of funds], that it would be to my benefit to dye my hair brown because there was a stronger pattern recognition of brunette women CEOs,' she revealed.

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Software company CEO Eileen Carey parted ways with her blonde locks and weekly blowouts and joined the brunette bandwagon which she suggests will help her be 'taken more seriously at work'

Carey (center) is the co-founder of Glassbreakers, a Silicon Valley-based software company

Carey said male clients informed her they were more comfortable working around brunette women

'I was told for this raise [of funds], that it would be to my benefit to dye my hair brown because there was a stronger pattern recognition of brunette women CEOs,' she revealed to BBC

Pattern recognition relates to the particular perception of groups of people based on past instances, according to technopedia.com.

Carey said her decision to go forward with the drastic new do comes with her ambition to be recognized as a strong 'business leader' rather than a 'sexual object' within the male-dominated industry.

'Being a brunette helps me to look a bit older and I needed that, I felt, in order to be taken seriously,' Carey said in the interview.

'For me to be successful in this [tech industry] space, I'd like to draw as little attention as possible, especially in any sort of sexual way.'

During her interviewing process for potential candidates, the entrepreneur encountered other ladies who admitted to feeling tired of their ties to the 'dumb blonde' persona.

Carey debuted her darker look to her Instagram page earlier this week

She also ditched her contact lenses and now wears glasses full-time at her job

'We discussed that there's the fetishization of blondes,' said Carey. 'People are more likely to hit on me in a bar if I'm blonde. There's just that issue in general.'

To further fend off advancements, Carey ditched her contact lenses and dulled down her appearance by sporting glasses and sans makeup.

The new brunette boss never wears makeup to the office and despises the idea of high heels.

She said she's proud to have grown more like her mother, who doesn't enjoy the beauty maintenance process like some other women. 'I just like being comfortable at work,' she added.

In a recent study conducted by the Perception Institute and Shea Moisture, African-American women were also proved singled out at work because of their hair.

'In collaboration with Shea Moisture, the Perception Institute created a digital hair IAT  an implicit association test comprised of rapidly-changing photos of black women with smooth and textured hair, with rotating word associations,' Teen Vogue reported of the test.

During her interview process for the company, the entrepreneur has encountered other women that said they were tired of their ties to the 'dumb blonde' persona

Carey said she doesn't dress up for work and hates high heels

The test, which was taken by thousands of people, revealed data that showed unconscious discriminatory attitudes on specific hair textures.

Latasha W., a marketing and communications professional, told the magazine that when she lived in Kentucky, she was once told to wear 'straight hair for the interview' and 'natural hair once you're in the door.'

Latasha revealed she even received comments from other black women who insulted her about the 'unkempt status' of her curly locks.

'I now live in New York, and natural hair is definitely more common, but I still work in a white-collar culture,' she added.

'It had become my norm to straighten my hair for interviews and basically anywhere I felt I could be impacted by natural hair bias.'
An Islamist extremist group leader told a university crowd ex-Muslims should be killed under Sharia law during a debate with an atheist who feared for his safety.

Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar clarified his position on apostates who leave Islam at the University of Sydney.

His atheist opponent Dr John Perkins, who is also Secular Party of Australia president, diverted from the debate topic about the existence of God to ask Mr Badar about his position on killing ex-Muslims.

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Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar says ex-Muslims should be killed in an Islamic state

'I would like to again ask Uthman about the killing of apostates and whether he does support it or whether he does renounce it?,' Dr Perkins said.

He had told Daily Mail Australia before the debate he feared for his safety and had needed security during a previous debate with Mr Badar.

Rather than renounce his support for killing ex-Muslims, Mr Badar used weasel words at the University of Sydney debate to confirm his view they should be given the death penalty where Sharia law applied.

'The idea that I have called for ex-Muslims in Australia to be killed is a fabrication of tabloid media,' he said.

'As a matter of principle or a penal code that is part of Islam, I'm not calling for it to be applied because it's not an Islamic state.'

Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar

Hizb ut-Tahrir wants a global Islamic caliphate based on Sharia law and has a draft constitution for the khilafah state which says ex-Muslims should be killed.

'Those who are guilty of apostasy from Islam are to be executed according to the rule of apostasy, provided they have by themselves renounced Islam,' Section 7c of this draft constitution says.

At Bankstown library in Sydney's west in March, Daily Mail Australia caught Mr Badar on camera confirming his support for giving ex-Muslims capital punishment.

'The ruling for apostates as such in Islam is clear, that apostates attract capital punishment and we don't shy away from that,' he said.

Pakistani-born extremist Uthman Badar wants capital punishment for ex-Muslims but only where Sharia law applied

Daily Mail Australia did not infer in March that Mr Badar wanted ex-Muslims killed in Australia.

Despite that, the Pakistani-born extremist accused Dr Perkins of relying on an inaccurate Daily Mail Australia story.

'On the question of apostates, the point here is John's information is from the Daily Mail,' Mr Badar said.

'I don't know why anyone reads the Daily Mail in the first place. It used to be The Daily Telegraph, and this was the worst of the worst.'

Secular Party of Australia president John Perkins asked Uthman Badar to answer him

After that Thursday night debate, organised by the Sydney University Muslim Students' Association, Dr Perkins called out Mr Badar for evading the question.

'He didn't really answer the question,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Dr Perkins, an economist, defended his decision to participate in the debate at the University of Sydney's Footbridge Theatre.

'I believe in freedom of speech, we should give them enough rope,' he said.

A range of Muslim-majority nations impose capital punishment for leaving Islam.

Atheist activist John Perkins said the Koran incited violence and asked about killing ex-Muslims

Secular Party of Australia president John Perkins said Uthman Badar evaded his question

They include Iran, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.

Dr Perkins said the Koran was an incitement to violence.

'You can argue that the Koran is an incitement to violence because it calls for violence and all Muslims are supposed to follow the words in the Koran,' he said.

Secular-minded Muslims, who accept the separation of religion and state, reject Sharia law and any fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is so extreme it is banned in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, along with other Islamic nations including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

It is also illegal in The Netherlands and Germany.

However, Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis has declined to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir on the grounds it hasn't committed any violent acts in Australia.
The cop whose acquittal on Friday over the 2011 shooting of a black man has led to massive protests in St Louis says he has nothing to apologize for.

Jason Stockley, now 36, shot Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, on December 20, 2011 after a drug deal bust spiraled into a car chase.

Despite concerns over Stockley taking his personal AK-47 on duty that night and remarking that he was 'going to kill this motherf**ker' during the chase, he was found not guilty of first-degree murder on Friday, leading to an outcry.

But he told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that their anger is misplaced, and said he was speaking out 'Because I did nothing wrong. If youre telling the truth and youve been wrongly accused, you should shout it from a mountaintop.'

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Jason Stockley (left), now 36, says he did nothing wrong in shooting dead Anthony Lamar Smith (right), 24, on December 20, 2011 after a drug deal bust spiraled into a car chase

Stockley (seen in shooting footage left) was acquitted by Judge Timothy Wilson (right) on Friday, leading to an outcry. Stockley had been accused of planting a gun after the shooting

Because I did nothing wrong. If youre telling the truth and youve been wrongly accused, you should shout it from a mountaintop.

Stockley's claim that he would 'kill' Smith during the pursuit - which was captured by his car's dashcam footage - had seemed to many like incriminating evidence.

I accept full responsibility for violating the rules. But it's not a moral crime Jason Stockley, on taking his AK-47 on duty the night of the shooting

But in Friday's ruling, St Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson said that because the other remarks made before and after that comment were inaudible, it lacked context.

Stockley himself told the Post-Dispatch that he didn't recall making the remark.

As for carrying an AK-47 - modified with a pistol grip and drum magazine - and 100 rounds of ammunition in his car, Stockley is unrepentant.

He says he started packing the powerful 'pistol' after the streets became too dangerous, and said that while he may have broken the rules, he didn't do anything wrong.

'I used it as a deterrent, and I believed it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,' he said.

'I accept full responsibility for violating the rules. But it's not a moral crime. It's a rule violation.'

Stockley denied planting the gun and Wilson agreed there was no evidence. The cop also came in for harsh criticism after it emerged he'd taken an AK-47 (pictured right) on duty

Stockley says the gun (pictured) was breaking the rules but not morally wrong. He also says he doesn't recall saying he'd 'kill this motherf**ker' despite dashcam footage of that remark

He also denies the claim made by prosecutors that his swift entry into Smith's car was to plant the weapon that would justify killing the young man.

Wilson said there was no evidence the gun had been planted, and that it was reasonable for Stockley to think Smith might fire on him.

Every resisting [arrest] looks bad, it never looks good. But you have to separate the optics from the facts Jason Stockley

Stockley said he already knew what the gun looked like and wanted to make sure Smith hadn't thrown it out of the window, and that the only thing he would do differently is 'take the day off.'

'I dont know how changing any number of my actions that day would have changed the outcome,' he said.

He does acknowledge that the video doesn't put the killing in an entirely favorable light, but says that's common to every piece of dashcam video.

'Every resisting [arrest] looks bad, it never looks good,' he said. 'But you have to separate the optics from the facts.'

Those optics have led to two nights of protests in St Louis - protests that led to 32 people being arrested on Friday, as well as several police officers being hurt.

And on Saturday a day-long peaceful protest was followed by violence late that night as demonstrators smashed windows and threw rocks at police officers.

At least six were arrested in that incident in University City, which also saw pepper spray being used on rioters.

Some 32 people were arrested on Friday (pictured) in protests at the acquittal. Wilson said the dashcam comment wasn't fair because the dialogue around it was inaudible

On Saturday night more violence broke out as protesters confronted cops. Stockley says he did nothing wrong in shooting Smith and that he doesn't deserve blame

Saturday night's ruckus saw windows smashed, pepper spray deployed and at least six demonstrators arrested. Organizers of the earlier, peaceful protest denounced the violence

Stockley - who had served a tour in Iraq before becoming a cop five years before the shooting, and is now working for an oil company in Houston - says anger against him from Smith's family, friends and supporters is misplaced.

'I can feel for and I understand what the family is going through, and I know everyone wants someone to blame, but I'm just not the guy,' he said.

I know everyone wants someone to blame, but I'm just not the guy Jason Stockley

He added that 'My main concern now is for the first responders, the people just trying to go to work and the protesters. I don't want anyone to be hurt in any way over this.'

On Friday at least 10 police were hurt, including one who had his jaw broken.

For Stockley, the shooting has had a profound effect on his day-to-day living.

'My life has been in turmoil for some time,' he said. 'I've been in a holding pattern. I haven't been able to be with my family.  I'm trying my best not to let this dictate my life.'

And while his six-year court case is finally done, he says he's still not free.

'It feels like a burden has been lifted, but the burden of having to kill someone never really lifts,' he said.

'The taking of someone's life is the most significant thing one can do, and it's not done lightly.'

He added: 'The decision to use force could be the most important decision you'll ever make because it could be your last. And regardless of what happens, nobody wins.'
The terrifying moment a great white shark stalked and nudged a fishing boat in Western Australia has been captured on video.

Nick Parkanyi, 24, and Wayne Miller, 24, were fishing on a small boat in Wyatt Bay, near Esperance, WA last weekend when a three-metre long great white shark started nudging them.

Mr Parkanyi told Daily Mail Australia the shark was 'bloody huge'.

'It's only a little boat, and it came up and bloody went under the boat.

'It was pretty cool. At first it was a bit alarming, we were like "oh s**t", but I wouldn't try to pat him that's for sure.'

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Nick Parkanyi (left) was fishing with his friend Wayne Miller in Western Australia

They were out in Wyatt Bay when a great white shark approached their boat

He said he regularly fishes in the area and has never had an experience like it.

'I've seen sharks out fishing before but not a big white pointer like that.

'He was having a good look at our burley bucket.'

Mr Parkanyi said the close encounter with the great white hasn't put him off boating in the area.

'Na, it hasn't, I wouldn't say I was scared about it happening again. If he wanted to hurt us then he would've, that's for sure.'

Locals are upset that surfers and fishermen were using the beach, which is a shark attack hot spot, according to the Sunday Times.

An electronic warning sign will be set up at the bay, warning beachgoers of the prevalence of sharks.

The shark began to nudge their boat, before disappearing out of view and going underneath it

Western Australia MP Colin de Grussa has paid for the sign and will be driving it to Wylie Bay on Sunday.

The sign can be changed in real time and can display up to five pages of information.

Teen surfer Laeticia Brouwer was killed at the bay in April, and Sean Pollard lost both his hands in an attack in 2014.
Police charged 45 people with drug offences at the Defqon.1 dance festival in Penrith on Saturday.

Two of the men charged were each allegedly in possession of hundreds of pills, believed to be MDMA.

The Defqon.1 dance festival was held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre with an estimated 24,000 people in attendance.

A major police operation was conducted to ensure public safety and target anti-social behaviour, drug and alcohol offences.

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Thousands of partygoers donned their wackiest outfits on Saturday for day one of Australia's wildest hardstyle music festival, Defqon1

Many partygoers opted for a bra and short ensemble to make sure they are comfortable to dance

These party-goers opted for comfortable shoes and outfits to get the most out of the clear Sydney weather

Some girls made the most of the balmy Sydney weather by wearing tiny shorts and bikini tops

Eight people were charged with drug supply during the police operation and 37 with drug possession.

One of those charged was a 22-year-old German national who was allegedly in possession of 396 capsules containing MDMA and amphetamine.

He is set to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday on charges of supply prohibited drug, greater than indictable quantity, and breach of bail.

Another man was also charged with allegedly possessing 200 pills, as well as a woman who allegedly had 87 pills.

One man decided to take things up a notch by picking up his female companion

Devoted dance music fans dressed in everything from swimwear to activewear

Cheeky skirts and shorts were a dime a dozen at the popular music event

Thousands of partygoers donned their wackiest outfits on Saturday for day one of Defqon1

Eleven people were issued with cannabis cautions and one man was charged with an assault offence.

Six random drug tests on drivers from traffic near the venue returned a positive result.

The drivers were suspended for 24 hours and the results were sent for further testing.

Two people were charged with drink driving and officers also issued 30 traffic infringement notices.

Speed racer! This Defqon darling dons a checkered and orange tube top and bikini bottoms

Some men opted for a more blended appearance in camouflaged army-styled ensembles

A group of men, all dressed in interesting fashion ensembles, rave to the hard techno music

The 45 drug offences are a decrease since last year's festival, where 77 people were charged.

The thousands of partygoers in attendance donned their wackiest outfits on Saturday for the hardstyle music festival.

Devoted dance music fans dressed in everything from swimwear, activewear to fantasy characters for the 'Victory Forever' themed event.

Some girls made the most of the balmy Sydney weather by wearing tiny shorts and bikini tops.

This trio made the most of the clear weather, going shirtless with brightly coloured shorts

Cooling down with an ice cream, this young woman makes her way to the Defqon.1 festival

Coloured hair was the order of the day with these two women matching their outfits to their manes

While some of the men opted for a more blended appearance in camouflaged army-styled ensembles.

One woman was spotted dressed for ultimate comfort in a bikini and flat sport shoes, making sure to flaunt the intricate ink artwork that covered her body.

Some revelers adopted a law enforcing role, donning policeman caps and one sporting a bullet-proof vest and mock gun.

Girls made the most of the balmy Sydney weather by wearing tiny shorts and bikini tops

Defqon1 was founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance and was introduced to Sydney in 2009

This man took his costume to the next level, choosing to dress in an armoured vest

Gas masks were also a popular accessory on the day, as well as bandannas to cover faces.

Defqon1 was founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance and was originally set up in the Netherlands before it was introduced to Sydney in 2009.

In 2013, the Sydney event attracted 18,000 attendees and was also plagued in tragedy after a young man died.

Two friends take a break from the festival to camp out in hammocks at Sydney's International Regatta Centre

Ketchup and mustard: Two friends take a break from the party in very saucy outfits

The festival, which began at 11am, has four separate stages and each hosts a bevy of performers of the hardcore techno, hard house and hard trance variety

Is that a baby? One man decided to come as a meme to the event

The medics are on site to assist with any partygoers who need a break or assistance

The hard dance event is held at Penriths Sydney International Regatta Centre

The final acts, Frequencerz and Gammer, took the Blue and Magenta stage respectively at 11pm

Defqon devotees embrace in the crowd, one with purple-coloured locks and the other wearing Quay sunglasses

Tutu's became a statement piece at the annual event with sneakers being the preferred shoe to dance in

Clearly a days worth of partying has led to this young man taking a quick nap

The festival, which began at 11am, has four separate stages and each hosts a bevy of performers of the hardcore techno, hard house and hard trance variety.

The hard dance event, held at Penriths Sydney International Regatta Centre features the likes of NCBM (Noisecontrollers & Bass Moderators), Brennan Heart, Evil Activities, Gammer, Firelite and Archetypez.

Many revellers dressed to impressed, with some going for the elaborate costumes they presumably planned for weeks ahead of the wild event.

The 2017 event had no shortage of bare chests and toned muscles as Instagram was flooded with thousands upon thousands of selfies and group shots.

These friends are still in high spirits as the Defqon.1 festival continued into Saturday night

Festival-goers were still partying hard into the night at Defqon.1 on Saturday

As the night wore on revellers began asking for more water

Bondage-type outfits were popular at this year's event

Fishnet stockings and leotards were high on the fashion agenda at Defqon.1
Campaigners against gay marriage have been slammed on social media for using skywriting to push their 'no' case.

Blue skies above Sydney, stretching from Balmain near the city to Parramatta in the west, were emblazoned with 'Vote No'.

The sunny air space above the harbour city became a billboard a day after the Coalition for Marriage's campaign launch at Darling Harbour.

The spring blue skies above sunny Sydney were emblazoned with 'Vote No' skywriting

However, one critic likened their traditional views on same-sex marriage to skywriting, which dates back to the 1930s.

'Their views on SSM are from the same era as their advertising strategy,' one Reddit post said. 'At least they're consistent.'

The 'No' campaign has ramped up its campaign as lesbian comedian Magda Szubanski spearheaded the 'Yes' campaign's Get Out The Vote rally in Melbourne.

'I encourage you, if you are going to vote yes, to do it as quickly as possible so it doesn't get buried underneath all the bills,' she said.

Comedian Magda Szubankski led a 'Yes' case rally in Melbourne to encourage voters

Comedian Magda Szubanski has joined other celebrities in posing next to a postal box

Preaching to the converted: Magda Szubanski wants pro-gay marriage voters to fill out their ballots

'If you are undecided, I hope with all my heart you vote that you will vote yes because I believe in the institution of marriage.

'I was raised in a family where my parents were married for 58 years and I would hope if I met the woman of my dreams, that I could have that same institution to support me.'

Celebrities, including gay Olympian Ian Thorpe, have posed for pictures next to red Australia Post boxes as ballots are sent out to Australian households.

Voters have until November 7 to return them, with a result expected to be announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics by mid-November.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is voting yes, has promised a clear 'yes' vote would clear the way for a private member's bill in parliament to redefine the Marriage Act.
Robert John Hall put a knife to the throat of a prostitute he hired, then blindfolded and raped her for half an hour without a condom.

For 23 years he evaded capture, starting a family and a business, until his past finally caught up with him when he drove away from a petrol station without paying.

His DNA matched samples taken from the woman's vagina after the 1990 rape in a Kiama, NSW, motel room and he was finally put on trial last year.

Hall argued the sex was consensual but a jury in November convicted him of two counts of threatening with a weapon to inflict bodily harm to coerce sex and two counts of rape.

Robert Hall raped a prostitute at knifepoint in a motel room in March 1990 and escaped justice for 23 years until he left a petrol station without paying and his DNA matched

However, the now-59-year-old will spend only a year behind bars after District Court Judge Peter Whitford sentenced him to a maximum five years jail.

He ruled Hall reformed himself before his arrest and led an upstanding life as a volunteer firefighter and family man.

'Mr Hall has already established that he can rehabilitate himself, and indeed has. 'He has become a fully participating, productive member of society,' he said.

'In addition to the demonstrable contribution he has made to the life of his family, through his voluntary work the offender has given back to society far more in the last 25 years than many ordinary citizens manage in a lifetime.'

This was despite the horrifying details of the crime, which Judge Whitford outlined in his judgement, Hall committed on March 25, 1990, when he was 32.

The prostitute from Wollongong, on her first day with her agency, walked to the motel room where Hall answered sporting a beer gut, greying brown hair and forearm tattoos.

The 23-year-old put his $200 payment in her makeup bag and told her taxi driver she was fine and would be back in an hour - then it all went wrong.

As the victim was watching TV, Hall put the large flick knife to her throat from behind and forced her on her knees facing the wall.

But he was jailed for only one year because the judge ruled he 'rehabilitated himself' into a family man and volunteer firefighter

When she tried to turn around he said 'if you do that again I'll f**king kill you' and stuck bandages over her eyes before forcing her to undress.

Hall then forced her to give him oral sex for up to 15 minutes, moving her head up and down when she refused to move.

'I paid the money now you just lay back there and I can do whatever I f**king want,' he told her.

Afterwards he raped her for another 15 minutes without a condom and ejaculated inside her, then threw tissues at her demanding she wipe herself down then have a shower while he fled the scene.

Judge Whitford described the case as 'highly exceptional' and 'most extraordinary' and raised serious questions about the purpose of sentencing.

He admitted Hall committed 'objectively quite terrible criminal conduct' for which he showed no remorse, and had inflicted psychological harm on the victim.

'I have no doubt Mr Hall would acknowledge that if any of his step-daughters, or indeed his wife, had ever been the victim of conduct of this character then he would expect that the law would give substantive recognition to their situation, even after so many years,' he said.

However, Judge Whitford said since the rape and earlier convictions for armed robbery, for which he was given a 12 year jail sentence, Hall turned his life around.

He extolled the virtues of Hall's reputation for integrity in his earthmoving business, and commendation for service in the 1994 NSW bushfires and 2011 southeast Queensland floods.

Judge Whitford observed Hall raised his wife's three daughters from a previous relationship as if they were his own, along with six grandchildren.

'The offender is close to his step-children and their children and has been an important positive influence in all their lives. He is idolised by them,' he said.

Judge Whitford described the case as 'highly exceptional' and 'most extraordinary' and raised serious questions about the purpose of sentencing

Hall showed 'exemplary devotion' to his family and worked to make sure they were supported not just financially but emotionally.

'The family has been shattered by these proceedings and the convictions and expects to suffer further in the event of the offenders incarceration,' he said.

Judge Whitford noted the family sold its home in Queensland to pay legal and travel fees, and Hall lost his job as a result of the stress.

He said defending himself caused a marked decline in Hall's mental state that to the point where he was a medium suicide risk.

'On account both of the state of his mental and physical health any period in custody will be more burdensome for Mr Hall than it would otherwise be, and this should be taken into account in his favour,' he said.

Judge Whitford also said Hall's sentence should be reduced because the penalty for rape was much lower in 1990 than today's standard non-parole period of seven years.

He also gave mitigation for the delay between police becoming aware of the DNA match in 2010 and pressing charges in 2013.

'The task is rarely, if ever, easy,' he said of sentencing.

Hall could be out on bail on August 31, 2018, but prosecutors launched an appeal against the sentence, along with Hall appealing the conviction.

The Court of Criminal Appeal will hear the case on September 28.
A Victorian man has been arrested for refusing to remove his face covering during a counter-protest to the 'Make Victoria Safe Again' rally in Melbourne on Sunday.

The 24-year-old was part of a crowd of people protesting against racism and facism in front of the State Library on Swanston Street.

He was asked by police to remove his face covering and, under new laws given to police recently, was arrested when he refused.

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A 24-year-old man was arrested after refusing to remove his face covering during a 'Make Victoria Safe Again' counter-protest in Melbourne

The man was part of a crowd of 'anti-racism anti-facism' protesters to march in front of the State Library on Swanston Street

He was asked by police to remove his face covering, and arrested when he refused, under new powers given to police

Dressed in all black with a close-shaved Mohawk, the man wore a scarf that covered his face up to his eyes.

He began yelling at the media for being unethical in photographing his arrest after his face was revealed by police.

'This is not ethical, it is not ethical journalism what you're doing you're invading my f***ing privacy and my right to f***ing be here and conceal my identity for my own private reasons,' he said.

Police are now allowed to conduct weapons searches and request protesters to remove any facial coverings if they are being used to conceal identities or protect from crowd control measures in a designated zone.

Several people were told to remove face coverings by police on the march and the two groups were separated by barricades and dozens of armed police.

Police unmasked the man themselves after he refused to

Dressed in all black with a close-shaved Mohawk, the man wore a scarf that covered his face up to his eyes

The man arrested was taking part in a rally to counter the one organised by former Israeli army officer Avi Yemini, which was protesting a series of home invasions and carjackings in Victoria.

A young woman was also arrested at the protest for yelling at photographers, hitting a photographer's camera and spitting on another.

Hundreds of anti-racism and anti-fascism protesters gathered at the State Library before marching up to parliament in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday to confront the small right-wing group rallying for what they called a safer Victoria.

He began yelling at the media for being unethical in photographing his arrest after his face was revealed by police

Several people were told to remove face coverings by police on the march and the two groups were separated

Police were in attendance to monitor the safer Victoria protest, which was met with a larger 400-strong crowd from the left's Campaign Against Racism and Fascism.

Many protesters who were part of the safer Victoria rally wore jackets emblazoned with 'True Blue Crew', 'Soldiers of Odin' and had the Southern Cross symbol on their clothing.

The anti-racism rally was dubbed 'From Charlottesville to Melbourne: Unite to Fight the Far Right'.
Advance forecasts have raised the possibility that Hurricane Jose could threaten New York City in the coming week.

The Category One hurricane's probable path revealed New York City may be in its path, leading to 80mph plus winds and storm surges battering the Eastern Seaboard.

According to the Washington Post, based off a European mode, there is a possibility of the extremely rare Fujiwara Effect where Hurricane Jose and Tropical Storm Maria could appear to 'dance.'

According to projections for the 24th and 25th of September the storms could pinwheel around each other and slam into New Jersey which was hit by Sandy in 2012.

Th e Fujiwara Dance or Effect is more commonly seen in the warmer Pacific, where cyclones bounces off each other like a pinball in a machine.

The animated gif below shows how forecasters believe this scenario could play out, with Hurricane Jose hovering in the Atlantic after coming into contact with the East Coast.

Tropical Storm Maria is seen arriving from the south and plowing into Jose, with the warmer weather of the Caribbean storm displacing causing the slingshot.

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Hurricane Jose is projected to hit the east coast this week and may cause heavy rain and wind in New York City

Hurricane Jose currently is a Category One storm. Even if it doesn't directly hit New York, the Big Apple could still be hit with heavy rains and wind

Satellite imagery of Hurricane Jose shows it on Saturday. The storm is moving morning moving northwest 480 miles off of Cape Hatteras with winds of 80mph

The cyclone stays inside the cone to projected trajectory 60-70 percent of the time. At this point the maximum sustained winds are at 80 mph. It is projected to remain a hurricane at least through Monday night.

By Tuesday as it approaches New York, winds are expected to be between 39-73 mph according to the National Hurricane Center.

An Air Force hurricane hunter plane investigated the storm earlier on Saturday.

If Jose does track towards the Atlantic seaboard, it could add on to an already devastating hurricane season, following Harvey's flooding in Texas and Irma's destruction in Florida.

Theres an 18 per cent chance of tropical storm-force winds hitting New York City between Tuesday and Wednesday, Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground, told Bloomberg.

No areas of the coast are currently under storm watches or warnings, and forecasters stressed vigilance as the storm could hit land or move back out to sea.

Jose is projected to remain a hurricane at least through Monday night

On Saturday, maps show there is less than a 30 percent chance that tropical storm-force winds will hit New York City, according to this forecast map

This map shows 20 different potential storm tracks for Jose. There is much disagreement between forecasters as to what direction the storm may ultimately take

'Interests from North Carolina northward to New England on the east coast of the United States should monitor the progress of this system,' the NHC said in a flash bulletin on Saturday.

'Tropical storm watches may be needed for portions of this area during the next day or two,' the agency said.

Up and down the coast from New York to Florida, there are already rip current advisories in effect, with officials warning that rough surf and waves generated by Jose could make beach activities hazardous.
The Egyptian foreign minister, who is in New York for the 72nd United Nations General Assembly, held meetings on improving humanitarian response and conflict resolution in the Middle East and Africa

Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry held talks on Saturday with senior figures from the United Nations and the International Crisis Group (ICG), discussing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Midle East and ways of reducing human suffering, ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said via Facebook.

Shoukry met in New York with the UN's top official on humanitarian assistance and aid coordination, Mark Lowcock, as well as Jean-Marie Guehenno, president of the ICG, a non-profit organization that seeks to prevent and resolve international crises.

The meetings took place at the start of Shoukry's visit to attend the 72nd UN General Assembly, where he will take part in the high-level debate starting on Tuesday. The debate will focus on the theme Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet.

The minister is also scheduled to attend a high-level meeting on combating online terrorism; a series of ministerial meetings on the Middle East, Syria, South Sudan and central Africa, as well as meetings of the Group of 77 (G-77) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Shoukry and Lowcock discussed living conditions in Gaza, and the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, highlighting the need to boost aid efforts for the Yemeni people, who are facing an unprecedented crisis.

More than 8,000 people have been killed, including at least 1,500 children, and millions displaced in the Yemeni conflict, which has pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine, according to AFP.

The UN official praised Egyptian efforts in the field of humanitarian aid, and his hopes of further cooperation in that field.

Shoukry expressed his sorrow at the inability of the international community to effectively combat the ongoing dangers of starvation and drought in Africa, the statement added.

Lowcock spoke of his vision for developing the international system of humanitarian work, highlighting the need to fill the gap between needs and the available resources, as well as pushing organizations in the field to fulfill their commitments, Abu Zeid said.

The meeting between Shoukry and Lowcock also addressed UN efforts to consolidate responses to armed conflicts and natural catastrophes.

Guehenno and Shoukry, meanwhile, focused on the Libyan crisis, with Shoukry pointing out that "the deteriorating security situation in Libya has a direct impact on Egypts stability, stressing the need to work on confronting the phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms in Libya."

Shoukry also emphasized the need for a political process to resolve the Libyan crisis, highlighting recent Egyptian efforts to bring the various Libyan parties together, the ministry statement said.

Egypt plays a significant role in negotiations to end the Libyan conflict within the framework of the 2015 Sakhirat agreement.

After the ousting of long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country slid into a civil war that divided the nation, with rival governments and parliaments now in the west and east.

The two men also addressed the situations in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, focusing on the need for a solution to the Yemen crisis. Among the key topics relating to Iraq and Syria was the outcome of the Kurdish referendum scheduled for September 25.

The council in Iraqi's Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed region under Baghdad's control, voted last week to take part in an Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum, a move the Iraqi central government denounced as illegal and unconstitutional.

Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in New York on Sunday to attend the 72nd session of the UNGA, where he is also expected to meet US president Donald Trump.

El-Sisi is set to address the gathering with comments on Middle East issues and counter-terrorism efforts, his spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement.

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A gay, conservative professor has joined the push to oppose same-sex marriage.

Professor David Flint, who is openly gay but discreet about his personal life, quoted another gay conservative, Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones, to argue why voters should vote 'no' in the federal government's postal vote survey.

'As Alan Jones said in 1999, if you don't know, vote no,' the 79-year-old academic told Sky News Australia.

'We just don't know what's going to happen.'

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Gay conservative Professor David Flint has joined the push to oppose same-sex marriage

Jones, a perennial top-rating broadcaster on radio 2GB, is actually in favour of gay marriage but shares former Liberal prime minister John Howard's concerns about religious freedom.

'I'll be voting 'Yes' for same sex marriage. But John Howard is right. We must protect parental & religious freedoms and freedom of speech,' Jones tweeted last week.

The phrase 'if you don't know, vote no' was used by opponents of Australia becoming a republic during the November 1999 referendum on whether to cut ties with the Queen.

That phrase actually belonged to future prime minister and Howard government minister Tony Abbott, who was the leader of the 'No' case 18 years ago as an ardent constitutional monarchist.

Mr Abbott is now a leading 'No' case campaigner, despite having a lesbian sister, Christine Forster, who supports gay marriage.

Wollongong couple Ben Rogers (left) and Mark Poidevin (right) oppose same-sex marriage

Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones is voting for gay marriage but worries about religious freedom

The Sydney breakfast radio king is concerned about freedom of speech if marriage is changed

Professor Flint, who is also a monarchist, has joined gay couple Ben Rogers and Mark Poidevin in publicly speaking out against gay marriage.

The men from Wollongong, south of Sydney, fell in love 15 years but don't want to tie the knot.

Mr Poidevin, a practising Catholic, opposes gay marriage on the grounds it could be a slippery slope that leads to polygamy.

'If we make one exception for one community - that being the same-sex couples - where does it stop?,' he told the ABC's 7.30 program earlier this month.

'Do we then see other cultures being allowed to have multiple marriages?

'Do we allow, see the age of consent being lowered for another group of minorities?

'That is my concern of where it would lead.'

Mr Poidevin hasn't always opposed the idea of same-sex marriage, having popped the question to his partner five years ago.

Professor Flint, a former head of the Press Council and the Australian Broadcasting Authority, is a former Labor Party member turned conservative with close ties to John Howard, who is spearheading the 'No' campaign.

Gay former High Court justice Michael Kirby is a monarchist who supports gay marriage and will be voting 'Yes'.

The Coalition for Marriage launched its 'Vote No' campaign at Sydney's Darling Harbour on Saturday night.

Ballots are being sent to Australian households and are due back by November 7.
Half of Australians believe North Korea is likely to use a nuclear weapon on its enemies, which could include their own country.

Sixteen per cent thought the doomsday scenario was very likely an another 33 per cent said it was fairly likely, according to a Roy Morgan poll of 1,797 people.

The terrifying survey was taken the night before the rogue state launched a missile 3,700km over Japan on Friday - far enough to hit the U.S. Pacific island of Guam.

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Kim celebrated his country's latest missile launch(pictured) and said he aims to reach an 'equilibrium' of military force with the United States

Kim was seen laughing as he watched the missile fly from a moving launcher in photos released by official agency KCNA, surrounded by several officials

Tasmanians, farthermost from North Korea, were the least worried with only 36 per cent thinking it likely, along with Greens voters on 34 per cent.

Australians seemed keen to avoid a mushroom cloud with 81 per cent favouring a diplomatic solution to the worsening crisis than a military one.

One Nation voters were the most hawkish with 36 per cent saying diplomacy was not working and we should go to war, and 26 per cent of Queenslanders felt the same.

'The consensus on these questions across political lines also extends across both genders and all age groups,' Roy Morgan executive chairman Gary Morgan said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (right) has again condemned North Korea's actions after it launched another missile over Japan. Pictured left, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under Kim's leadership as it pursues a program designed to give it the ability to target the US with a nuclear-tipped missile

North Korea's test was the second time it had fired a missile over its neighbour Japan and came after it claimed to have a working hydrogen bomb.

The launch came after the country's dictator Kim Jong-Un threatened to nuke Japan and reduce the U.S. 'to ashes and darkness'.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull issued a stern warning, declaring thousands of North Koreans would be killed if a war began.

'If Kim Jong-Un were to start a war, to attack the United States or one of its allies, he would be signing a suicide note,' he said.

'That would be the end for his government and thousands and thousands of people would die.'

Pyongyang fired an unidentified missile on Friday, just hours after the Kim Jong-un regime threatened to nuke Japan and reduce the US 'to ashes and darkness'

'If Kim Jong-Un were to start a war... he would be signing a suicide note,' Mr Turnbull said on Friday. Above, a photo released by the North Korean Central News Agency earlier this year

Mr Turnbull emphasised Australia's alliance with the US and how both nations would come to the other's aid in the result of an attack.

'This is another dangerous, reckless, criminal act by the North Korean regime, threatening the stability of the region and the world,' he said earlier on Sky News.

'This is a sign, I believe, of their frustration at the increased sanctions on North Korea recently imposed by the Security Council. It is a sign that the sanctions are working.

'What we need to do is maintain the united global pressure on this rogue regime to bring it to its senses. I'm pleased the UN Security Council voted for these additional sanctions.'

The North Korean leader is pictured at the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army

Friday's missile flew over Japan and the government warned citizens to avoid touching anything that looks like debris

North Korea is already under multiple UN sanctions but has still made rapid progress in its nuclear and missile programmes

The Security Council unanimously imposed an eighth set of sanctions on the rouge state on Monday, banning it from trading in textiles and restricting its oil imports.

It came just one month after the council banned exports of coal, lead and seafood in response to the launch of a previous missile.

'It is tightening the sanctions on North Korea is the best prospect to bring the regime to its senses,' Mr Turnbull added.

Last week, the Turnbull government was considering how to evacuate the 200,000 Australians in north Asia should tensions with North Korea escalate into war.

Mr Turnbull said the risk of war was the greatest since the end of the Korean War and the government was developing emergency plans for Australians in the area.

North Korea has shrugged off numerous sets of sanctions aimed at crimping its nuclear and missile programmes, and this month unveiled what it said was a working hydrogen bomb

South Korean warplanes recently conducted live-fire exercises in response to North Korea's sixth nuclear test

The Security Council unanimously imposed an eighth set of sanctions on the rouge state on Monday. Pictured, South Korea's Hyunmoo II ballistic missile is fired during an exercise earlier this month

Experts predict hundreds of thousands of people would be instantly killed if North Korea targeted one of Australia's capital cities with a nuclear missile.

Kim was seen laughing as he watched the missile fly from a moving launcher in photos released by official agency KCNA, surrounded by several officials.

'Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option,' he said in an official news release.

'The combat efficiency and reliability of Hwasong-12 were thoroughly verified.'

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under Kim's leadership as it pursues a program designed to give it the ability to target the US with a nuclear-tipped missile.

North Korea recently tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that appear to bring much of the US within their maximum 10,000 kilometre range

Last week, the Turnbull government was considering how to evacuate the 200,000 Australians in north Asia should tensions with North Korea escalate into war
Pictured: Shane Chartres-Abbott, accused of raping a woman who claimed he'd said he was a 'vampire that needed blood to survive'

There has been a revived effort to solve the 14-year-old mystery of the execution-style murder of an accused rapist in Melbourne known as the 'Vampire Gigolo'.

Male prostitute and self-proclaimed vampire Shane Chartres-Abbott, 28, was on trial for the vicious rape of another prostitute in 2003 when he was gunned down outside his home in front of his girlfriend Kathleen Price and her father Jerry.

A new podcast by journalist Adam Shand is attempting to get to the bottom of the infamous case, in a series called The Trials of The Vampire.

The woman was found in the bath of a room at the Hotel Saville in South Yarra, in August 2002. She had been raped and savagely assaulted.

She was dripping blood from her mouth after having her tongue almost ripped out.

During the trial the victim, known as Penny, claimed Mr Chartres-Abbott had told her he was a '200-year-old vampire that needed blood to survive'.

Chartres-Abbott's alleged victim was found in a hotel bath in South Yarra, Melbourne, with blood dripping from her mouth

The man was put on trial for rape, but was executed just hours before he was due to testify in court outside his home in Reservoir (pictured)

Just one day after Chartres-Abbot was shot dead, the rape case was shut down.

Mr Shand told News Corp he was unhappy with the narrative that was spouted as complete truth throughout Australia.

'We never asked the hard questions because it was all too convenient,' he said.

'He was dead now, he was the vampire gigolo.'

Mr Shand says he isn't convinced Chartres-Abbott had been executed as revenge for the rape of Penny, noting the man had promised to lift the lid on aspects of a violent gangland war raging throughout Melbourne.

He was due to testify in court about what he claimed was a plot against his own life just hours before he was executed in 2003.

Three years on, a jailed criminal confessed to his murder, adding salacious allegations against Victoria Police.

He claimed officers past and present had been involved in the execution-style murder and had given him both Chartres-Abbott's address, and an alibi for the time of the shooting.

Just one day after Chartres-Abbot was murdered, the rape case against him was shut down

Chartres-Abbott had promised to lift the lid on a bloody gangland war raging throughout Melbourne, and name people in positions of power who were involved

A new podcast seeks to find the truth behind the murder of Chartres-Abbott, after an investigation lasting more than a decade and costing $30million ended with no convictions

In a preview for the podcast, Mr Shand says the case 'ceased to be a murder investigation and turned into a purge of links between Victoria Police and the underworld'.

Despite more than a decade of investigations costing $30million, nothing was proven, and the Vampire Gigolo's death remains unresolved.

Mr Shand is skeptical his podcast investigation will solve the murder, but he told News Corp he is hoping to see the mysteries solved.

'I'm hoping someone might go, I want to cleanse myself, I did it, I need to be punished,' he said.

'That probably won't happen, but it'd be nice. We get all emotionally involved in these things but everyone involved has to move on. I hope that we can have some resolution ultimately.'
The married father-of-three children, son Rex, three, and two-year-old twins Rafa and Cormac, said he hoped sharing his diagnosis would inspire others to 'make the most of every day'. The 48-year-old, who presents the BBC 's Escape To The Country, has revealed he has been fighting lung cancer that had tragically spread to his brain. He told Hello magazine: 'I'm carrying a dirty secret - it's become a monkey on my back. I want to make plans. I want to make memories and capture these moments with my family because the reality is, my boys are going to grow up not knowing their dad and that breaks my heart.' Jonnie was diagnosed with cancer while filming Channel 4 's A Place In The Sun in Italy 2020. He had been driving when his vision became blurred and doctors discovered he was terminally ill. Leicestershire-born Jonnie is being supported by his wife Jessica, 40. He said: 'Within a week of flying back from filming, I was being given six months to live. I had to go home and tell my wife, who was looking after our babies, that she was on her own pretty much. That was devastating. All I could do was apologise to her. I felt so responsible.' The couple live with their three children in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Jonnie said he had chosen to keep his illness private until now. His case is reminiscent of Dame Deborah James' battle with bowel cancer, which she chose to make public to raise awareness and funds for research. He said: 'I might inspire people who are living with life-limiting prospects to make the most of every day, to help them see that you can live a positive life, even though you are dying'.
A woman who was denied entry to a packed British Airways flight from Paris to London on Sunday sparked a full-blown security alert after saying the plane was going to explode.

The unidentified would-be passenger, who is in her 50s, was arrested after making the threat at Charles de Gaulle airport, the busiest in France.

It led to the Airbus A320 having to be evacuated and then grounded, as police and emergency services vehicles surrounded it.

The had woman got to the airport before flight BA0303 was due to set off from Terminal 2A at 7.25am, but she was not allowed to board because she did not have a valid ticket.

Passengers were ordered off the British Airways Airbus A320 shortly before it was due to depart Paris Charles de Gaulle for London Heathrow Airport this morning

Armed police individually searched all the passengers while sniffer dogs checked the aircraft

Passenger James Anderson said 'a direct threat' had been made against the aircraft

According to an investigating source speaking to AFP, she was 'taken into custody on suspicion of claiming that the Heathrow-bound plane, with 130 passengers on board, was going to explode'.

All those involved had to be screened again, and their luggage was also re-inspected by security officials.

Pictures on social media show passengers being evacuated from flight BA303.

Sniffer dogs went on board the Airbus along with their handlers, and it was not until 11.10am that the flight finally left. It landed safely at Heathrow Terminal Four 45 minutes later at 11.55am.

Passenger James Anderson wrote on Twitter: 'On British Airways flight BA0303, currently being held on tarmac at Paris due to security threat, surrounded by police and fire vehicles.

'Apparently an individual has made a direct threat to this aircraft. We will all be led off the aircraft and baggage searched in due course.'

Mr Anderson claimed 'Everybody's been individually searched by armed officers and given the all clear. Now hold luggage being searched by dogs.

'Initially the pilot told us there were technical issues. We were waiting on the plane for around an hour. We were then told the aircraft had to move to another part of the airport.

Passengers on board a British Airways flight between Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow have been evacuated after a 'direct threat' was made against the Airbus A320

'That's when we noticed police and fire vehicles quickly surrounded the plane and dozens of armed officers and firefighters got out. The pilot then said there had been a direct security threat involving our flight specifically.'

Then Mr Anderson Tweeted: 'Aircraft has been deemed absolutely safe. Authorities are satisfied with the search. We will continue on to London Heathrow.

'Our pilot was an absolute credit to British Airways. Extremely calm and composed, handled the situation wonderfully.'

A British Airways spokesman said: 'The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority.

'Additional security checks are being carried out as a precaution. We would never operate a flight unless it is safe to do so.'

After the aircraft's departure, British Airways added: 'Following additional security checks this morning, the flight has now taken off.'

France remains under a State of Emergency following a series of terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS and al-Qaeda operatives.

This means that security checks are carried out regularly at transport hubs such as airports, and train stations, often without warning.
There are a number of unpleasant things you might find in a toilet, but a venomous snake is not one you would expect.

Gold Coast Snake Catchers were called to a property on Sunday morning to remove a brown tree snake hiding in a family's toilet.

The whole incident was filmed and uploaded to Facebook.

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Gold Coast Snake Catchers were called to a property on Sunday morning to remove a brown tree snake hiding in a family's toilet

'Imagine waking up in the morning, and going to do what you've got to do and there's a snake hiding under the rim of the toilet,' the snake catcher says in the video.

In the clip the snake catcher can be seen trying to flush the snake out from under the rim of toilet, where it is hiding.

The stubborn snake won't seem to budge, so the catcher reaches in to pull it out.

'I'm going to have to stick my hand in there and hope he doesn't bite,' the snake catcher says.

'Here's the sharp end, he's going to come out swinging.'

After about three minutes of tugging the snake is pulled free and placed into a bag.

It's not the first time a snake has been caught hiding in a Queensland toilet.

A python was found curled up in the bottom of a family's toilet in Charters Towers in January.

In the clip the snake catcher can be seen trying to flush the snake out from under the rim of toilet, where it is hiding
The headmistress of the Duchess of Cornwall's former school stands accused of a cover-up during an investigation into exam cheating.

Queen's Gate school in south Kensington, which celebrity chef Nigella Lawson also attended, was investigated last summer, when the AQA exam board found malpractice related to two French oral exams.

The AQA wrote to the London school - which costs 18,900 a year to attend - to say pupils were given homework revealing exam contents.

Queen's Gate school in south Kensington, London, whose headmistress is accused of covering up during an investigation into exam cheating

Headmistress Ros Kamaryc withheld the findings from parents for over four months, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

The paper reports that a pupil was given exam questions as home work in an email.

After sending her answers, mistakes were corrected with the instruction to learn them off by heart.

The results of all 18 French students were voided by the AQA, which offered an estimated mark and explained a teacher had offered improper assistance.

The teacher left Queen's Gate school voluntarily before the exam board's ruling.

The Duchess of Cornwall returns to her former school to visit pupils in west London

The Duchess of Cornwall attended the elite school in south Kensington, west London

It was only when a family grew concerned a school wasn't dealing with a remark request for their daughter's exam that the scandal surfaced.

The family in question spent more than 18,000 on legal costs after hiring lawyers to investigate.

Mrs Kamaryc eventually admitted to the family that the exam board had replaced their daughter's mark with an estimate after an investigation.

The mother told The Sunday Telegraph Mrs Kamaryc 'utterly betrayed" her daughter.

She accused the headmistress of seeking 'only to protect herself and the school'.

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson also attended Queen's Gate School, whose headmistress is accused of a cover-up

'We feel completely betrayed,' she said. 'There was no loyalty shown to my daughter, let alone the hypocrisy of the head teacher, who tells pupils day in day out to be honest and truthful.'

Ofqual interviewed the family last week and is thought to be considering the incident in the context its wider investigation into exam malpractice.

The school admitted being told of a 'breach of security and improper assistance' from a teacher in July 2016.

It was notified results for two A-level French oral exams would be replaced with estimated marks.

The school claims to have immediately asked for clarification from the AQA.

It also says it asked for 'the possibility of re-marks for some candidates' and claims 'once the Board's final response was received the school wrote to parents'.

Students at Eton College, whose head of economics and politics, leaked exam details to pupils

Queen's Gate school denied misleading parents in The Sunday Telegraph.

'At all times, the school acted in good faith and in what we believed to be the best interests of pupils,' it said.

'The parents of the pupils who sat these examinations were notified at the earliest opportunity, once the Board had made its decision and once the school had as much information about the decision as the Board was willing to give to us.'

A school spokesperson said: 'We are now using External Examiners for these examinations, in order to ensure that there can be no repetition.

'The Board is very satisfied with the steps that the school has taken.'

An AQA spokesman said a thorough investigation was underway, adding it is standard practice to explain any estimated grades that result from malpractice investigations.

'Malpractice involving teachers is rare and the consequences are serious,' he said.

'Investigations have to be handled confidentially so we can't give details of cases, but we investigate all allegations thoroughly. '

When we find malpractice, we take action to make sure no one has an unfair advantage or disadvantage.'

Ofqual is thought to be considering the incident in the context of a wider investigation after malpractice was linked to other elite schools.

Charterhouse School in Surrey was also investigated but Cambridge International Examinations said there was no evidence of wrongdoing

Eton College and Winchester College leaked exam details to pupils, leading two disgraced scholars to leave their positions.

Mo Tanweer, head of Economics and Politics at Eton, was also one of the school's principal examiners.

The Cambridge graduate left his job after an investigation revealed he emailed three colleagues practice questions which 'breached exam security'.

Winchester College's Laurence Wolff is alleged to have given information on questions to be included in two papers.

Cambridge International Examinations board investigated Charterhouse School in Surrey over concerns it gave students advance warning about exam questions but said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the school or its students.
A real-life dead body was found on set during filming of a new BBC drama about a serial killer.

BBC staff were force to halt filming of Rellik when the corpse was discovered, turning Cambridge Heath Park in east London into a genuine crime scene.

The cadaver was found by police in the east London park, just before the film crew arrived to shoot a scene featuring a body

A real-life dead body was found on set during filming of a new BBC serial killer drama. BBC staff were force to halt filming of Rellik when the corpse was discovered, in a park in east London

'The crew arrived to film their own dead body and the police told them they weren't able to, because they'd found a real dead body,' actor Paterson Joseph told the Mirror.

'It was bizarre, fact being stranger than fiction,' he added.

The filming has been blighted by many real-life events eerily echoing the Rellik plot.

Joseph, 53, said: 'There were a lot of strange coincidences. Richard [Dormer], who plays our main character, getting impetigo and his face being covered in blotches and blemishes.

'He got the same reaction as his actual character, who's been scarred in an acid attack. We found that odd.'

While a series of acid attacks across London mirrored the filming of scenes involving the same crime.

BBC staff were force to halt filming of Rellik when the corpse was discovered, turning Cambridge Heath Park in east London into a genuine crime scene

Rellik, which is killer spelled backwards, was written by the same team who created The Missing.

Joseph, who was in Casualty and Peep Show, described the show as: 'Fast paced, dark and quite bloody.

'It's a mind-bender it really does twist your thinking. Rellik is dark but with humour. It's graveyard humour but there's a light tone in there,' he added.
Boris Johnson was accused of 'back seat driving' the Brexit talks today as a Cabinet row exploded into public view.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd blasted 'I don't want him managing the Brexit process' and urged the Foreign Secretary to leave the talks to Theresa May.

Meanwhile, allies of Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Aid Secretary Priti Patel said the Vote Leave veterans were solidly behind Mr Johnson.

Mr Johnson stunned Westminster with a 4,000-world article setting out his personal vision for Brexit yesterday in what many saw as a brazen leadership bid.

No 10 has scrambled to insist the Government is united less than a week before Mrs May makes a major Brexit intervention with a speech in Florence.

Ms Rudd used a major TV interview today to give a glimpse into the fury at Mr Johnson's intervention.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured on the Andrew Marr show today) accused Boris Johnson of 'back seat driving' the Brexit talks today

Ms Rudd used a major TV interview today (pictured) to give a glimpse into the fury at Mr Johnson's intervention

She famously told a TV debate during the referendum campaign she would not want Mr Johnson 'driving her home at the end of the evening'.

Ms Rudd said she had not read Mr Johnson's piece as she had 'quite a lot to do' responding to the Parsons Green terror attack.

And today she told the BBC's Andrew Marr that Ruth Davidson 'had a point' in suggesting the timing of Mr Johnson's intervention was unhelpful.

She said: 'I had a very busy weekend dealing with what could have been a terrible attack on our transport system.'

Ms Rudd added: 'I have the great good fortune to work with Boris. I know what an irrepressible enthusiast he is about Brexit and what he has done is set it out there - I think it's fine and I would expect nothing less.

'I don't want him managing the Brexit process. What we have got is Theresa May managing that process, driving the car to continue the allegory.

'I am going to make sure that as far as I cam concerned and the rest of the Cabinet is concerned, we help her do that. This is difficult moment.'

The Foreign Secretary published a 4,000-word essay setting out his personal manifesto for Brexit

Prompted to agree Mr Johnson was back street driving, she said: 'You could call it back seat driving.'

Ms Rudd said 'time will tell' if Mr Johnson's article was a 'helpful intervention'.

Mr Johnson was backed by friends of Mr Gove and Ms Patel today.

A Whitehall source told the Sunday Telegaph: 'Boris and Michael have said to Downing Street that the 350million [NHS funding] promise was made to Leave voters and we've got to follow through with that when we leave the EU. Both of them are also of one mind when it comes to the Brexit bill.'

Mr Gove and Mr Johnson are said to be working together closely, more than a year after they fell out spectacularly over the Tory leadership contest.

A friend of Ms Patel added: 'The principle has to be that government policy is reclaiming control of our money and that gives us the freedom to spend it however we wish on our domestic priorities, which is what she said during the campaign.'

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable (pictured today on Andrew Marr) said the Prime Minister must fire her foreign secretary to maintain any sense of credibility

Allies of Mrs May last night accused Boris Johnson of treachery after he staged an open revolt over her plans for a 'soft' Brexit.

The Prime Minister was said to be furious after the Foreign Secretary said Britain should refuse to pay the EU a big divorce bill  and did not bother to tell her about his bombshell intervention in advance.

BREXIT SPLITS: HOW THE CABINET HEAVY WEIGHTS DIVIDE The Cabinet is split on how Brexit should be delivered and Boris Johnson's decision to go public on his own vision has exposed the divide. TEAM THERESA First Secretary of State Damian Green Chancellor Philip Hammond Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt Home Secretary Amber Rudd TEAM BORIS Justice Secretary Michael Gove Aid Secretary Priti Patel Trade Secretary Liam Fox Advertisement

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said the Prime Minister must fire her foreign secretary to maintain any sense of credibility.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr: 'It's a terrible situation and it puts Theresa May in an impossible position.

'I just don't understand why she hasn't fired him.'

'It is complete and absolute loss of authority and the Prime Minister on Monday morning should fire this guy, otherwise her own credibility is reduced to zero.

One of Johnson's most prominent 'hard Brexit' Conservative MP supporters boasted: 'He has just lobbed a hand grenade through Downing Street's window.'

Fellow Cabinet Ministers claimed Mr Johnson's Churchillian Brexit manifesto was a blatant attempt to oust Mrs May. And one former Minister said the PM should 'have the balls' to fire Mr Johnson for threatening to sabotage her own major Brexit speech in Florence this week.

Downing Street officials denied there was a rift between the two and said Mr Johnson's job was safe. But Cabinet Ministers loyal to Mrs May privately denounced his 'hostile' intervention. One said the PM was 'deeply disappointed'  politician's code for livid.

The move comes just days before Mrs May is due to make a pivotal speech on the issue and will be seen as an attempt to box her in

Another accused Johnson of 'attention seeking'. There were claims, denied by the Johnson camp, that he was preparing to resign in anticipation of a 'soft Brexit sell-out' by Mrs May.

Brexit Secretary David Davis was reportedly angry with Johnson for reviving his controversial claim from the EU referendum that Britain would be 350 million a week better off outside the EU.

'DD's view is that it was wrong for Boris to make the 350 million claim then and he is wrong to bring it up now,' said a well-placed source.'

A close ally of Johnson's biggest Cabinet foe, Chancellor Philip Hammond, said: 'This just confirms suspicions about Boris's ambitions.

'It is disloyal and damaging for the Party and for getting a deal with the EU because it suggests division and chaos. His 350 million claim is the most notorious and discredited statistic in modern British history. If his credibility depends on that figure, it doesn't say much for his credibility.'

One of Mrs May's close confidants described Johnson's conduct as 'extraordinary and hostile,' adding: 'It is just attention-seeking. I have given up trying to analyse what Boris says, he is infuriating and just desperate for headlines. If he resigned he would be finished.'

The row flared after Johnson set out his own vision for Brexit in a 4,000-word article in the Daily Telegraph. In an astonishingly open act of defiance, he refused to inform Mrs May until moments before it was published.

Johnson argued Britain should not carry on paying into EU coffers after Brexit in 2019 and said that staying in the single market would make a 'complete mockery' of the referendum.

His comments follow reports that Mrs May is preparing to pay up to 40 billion in a Brexit divorce bill to keep access to the single market over a two-year transition.

Johnson won praise from leading Brexiteer Tories. Jacob Rees-Mogg, seen by some as a leadership rival to Johnson, praised 'brilliant Boris' while Zac Goldsmith and Nadine Dorries also pledged support.

Most, but significantly not all, pro-Remain MPs savaged Johnson. A leading pro-EU ex-Minister said: 'Theresa should have the balls to sack Boris. It would be high risk but if she moved quickly  and squared off David Davis about it  she could and should do it.'

So brazen, divisive and Churchillian, the opus was pure Boris By GLEN OWEN Boris Johnson 's 4,000-word opus boils with frustration at Theresa May's direction of travel on Brexit  and is more notable for what it doesn't say than what it does. Boris flatly refuses to endorse a transition period. While even the most ardent Leavers in the Government now accept that the UK should remain in the single market and customs union for two to three years after March 2019, while new trade deals are struck, Boris stubbornly resists. To do so, he says, would 'make a complete mockery of Brexit and turn an opportunity into a national humiliation. It would be the worst of both worlds, with the UK turned into a vassal state'. He also rebels against the growing Whitehall consensus that the UK should make multibillion pound 'divorce' payments during the transition to unblock negotiations, saying: 'We would not expect to pay for access to their markets any more than they would expect to pay for access to ours'. This is not a minor distinction which can be easily finessed: it blows a clear hole in No 10's strategy just days before the most important speech of the Prime Minister's life, when she sets out her own Brexit plan in Florence on Friday. Boris's unembarrassed reference to his referendum pledge to return 350 million a week from Brussels to the NHS shows how determined he is to defend himself against claims of backsliding. He repeats the campaign mantra, saying: 'We will take back control of roughly 350 million per week. It would be a fine thing if a lot of that money went on the NHS'. The Foreign Secretary also issues a warning to Chancellor Phillip Hammond, the Cabinet's most powerful advocate for a transitionary 'soft' Brexit, by saying that the Treasury has not 'so far' sought to punish the British people for voting for Brexit by delivering an 'emergency Budget' of the sort so controversially threatened by former Chancellor George Osborne before the vote. Another giveaway that the article is designed to lay down a marker for a veiled leadership bid comes in the tone, which channels the rhetorical flourish of his great hero, Winston Churchill. In contrast to Theresa May's constipated verbal formulas, Boris strikes a consciously positive, optimistic note  pushing the patriotic button with lines such as: 'Of all the kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers in the world, one in seven was educated in this country'. He concludes by condemning the 'grievous error' of 'all those who wrote off this country, who think we don't have it in us, who think that we lack the nerve and the confidence to tackle the task ahead'. Advertisement

The senior figure argued that Johnson had 'panicked' because 'he knows most of the Cabinet realises the only sensible Brexit is a soft Brexit and that we will have to pay a sizeable sum.'

However, Mrs May's frail grip on power was reflected by the fact Johnson received emphatic backing from a distinguished Tory grandee known for his passionate pro-EU views. He said: 'Even though I am a strong Remainer I agree with much of what Boris says and don't believe he is being disloyal. We are crying out for leadership and at least Boris he has got off his a*** and given us some. Brexit is our biggest crisis since 1940 and we won't get far sitting around looking at our belly buttons.'

With Brexit talks close to breakdown and Mrs May under fire for her botched snap Election, Conservative Party managers fear Johnson's outburst could trigger a full-scale leadership crisis at the party conference in two weeks.

Davis, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Rees-Mogg and other Tories have been tipped to throw their hats into the ring if Mrs May resigns.

Some Cabinet Ministers believe Environment Secretary Michael Gove could be in cahoots with Johnson, despite their spectacular fallout last year when Gove sabotaged Johnson's bid to succeed David Cameron after they had led the Brexit campaign together.

Mr Gove denied any collusion. A spokesman said last night: 'The first Michael knew about Boris's article was when it was published on Friday night.'

After pleas from No 10 to make it clear he was not plotting against Mrs May, Johnson, apparently unconcerned by the furore he had started, tweeted jauntily: 'Looking forward to PM's Florence speech. All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit.'

Was he taking revenge for Election 'snub'?

By Brendan Carlin

OUTSPOKEN: Ruth Davidson is a long-time critic of Boris

The refusal by Boris Johnson to let Theresa May see his devastating 'Brexit manifesto' could have been revenge for a similar snub by her in the Election, it was claimed last night.

Mrs May's aides banned him from seeing the Tories' Election manifesto in advance because they were convinced he would leak it, according to a new book by political journalists Tim Ross and Tom McTague.

They say the Foreign Secretary was annoyed to be 'locked out of the manifesto-writing process' and that his repeated demands to see it were rejected because he was not deemed 'trustworthy'.

The book, being serialised in the MoS, quotes a May aide saying: 'No doubt Boris wanted to leak it so he wasn't going to see it.' Last night, one Tory MP privately suggested Mr Boris's surprise Brexit intervention could be 'Boris getting his own back on Theresa' for the manifesto snub.

The rebuff is one of a series of humiliations inflicted on Mr Johnson by Mrs May.

Two years ago as Home Secretary, she embarrassed Mr Johnson by thwarting the then London mayor's bid to use German-made water cannon in the capital  even though he had already bought them.

Mrs May insisted she would not lift the ban on police using water cannon because it was too dangerous and would damage public trust.

At the launch of her Tory leadership campaign in 2016, she mocked him for spending 200,000 on the second-hand cannons  that were never used  claiming it proved he was not fit to take charge of Brexit talks. 'The last time he did a deal with the Germans, he came back with three nearly-new water cannon,' she said.

Her most spectacular public put-down came at the Spectator magazine annual awards dinner last year.

Ruth leads the anti-Johnson backlash By Glen Owen Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson launched an outspoken attack on Boris Johnson for throwing down the gauntlet to Theresa May on the day that London was targeted by terrorists. Ms Davidson said: 'On the day of a terror attack where Britons were maimed, just hours after the threat level is raised, our only thoughts should be on service.' It is not the first time that the two Tories, both of whom have been tipped as future party leaders, have clashed. Friends say that Ms Davidson, a 38-year-old Army reservist 'cordially loathes' the 52-year-old Old Etonian, regarding him as 'toxic' to the party's prospects north of the border. A kickboxer who is engaged to her female partner, she has been openly mocking of his 'brazen chauvinistic style' and has even privately threatened to break from the UK Tories and form a new party if Boris became Prime Minister. Such a move would be devastating: Theresa May only clung on to power in the General Election thanks to the 12 seats Ms Davidson gained in Scotland. The enmity stems in large part from Boris's Brexit beliefs, which Remainer Ms Davidson strongly opposes. During the referendum she warned that leaving the EU would harm the poor most, while 'Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage would be OK' because of their wealth. In one TV debate, questioning the economic effect of a failure to strike post-Brexit trade deals, she taunted him: 'How many jobs will it be, Boris? How many?' She has also cracked near- the-knuckle jokes about 'the Tories enjoying a post-coital cigarette after withdrawing our massive Johnson.' Ms Davidson, whose down-to-earth style has been a hit with voters, has surged past Boris in internal Party popularity. After Mrs May's Election disaster, Ms Davidson won the highest net satisfaction rating among party members of any senior Tory  with an 84.5 per cent positive rating, well ahead of Boris at 38.8 per cent. Ms Davidson, who does not have a Westminster seat, has said that her first aim is to displace the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland. But her popularity means that other Tory leadership contenders have been courting her as the leadership 'kingmaker'. Advertisement

Seizing on a remark by Mr Johnson who had light-heartedly compared himself to Michael Heseltine's Alsatian dog, and with the Foreign Secretary in the audience, the Prime Minister quipped: 'Boris, the dog was put down when its master decided it wasn't needed any more.'

In her first speech to the Tory conference as leader last year, she jokingly questioned the Foreign Secretary's ability to stick to an agreed Government line, asking: 'Can Boris Johnson stay on message for a full four days?'

In a further humiliation, there were reports that, far from Mr Johnson pulling out of a trip to Moscow at the last minute to attend a summit on Syria in April this year, it was actually Mrs May who had stepped in and ordered the Foreign Secretary not to go.

Last night, allies of Mr Johnson denied that his Brexit article amounted to an attempt to take revenge on the Prime Minister over the Election manifesto snub.

They also dismissed the idea that he was considered untrustworthy by Mrs May's advisers.

One Johnson ally confirmed that the Foreign Secretary had made repeated requests to see the Election manifesto but insisted that almost every other Cabinet Minister had done so as well  and had also been turned down.
Amber Rudd appeared to hit out at Donald Trump after the US president claimed on Twitter that the Parsons Green bomber was known to police before the explosion.

The Home Secretary was referring to a tweet Mr Trump posted on Friday in the aftermath of the bombing, which injured 30 people.

The president wrote: 'Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!'

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show this morning, Ms Rudd said Mr Trumps controversial tweet was pure speculation and not based on specific UK intelligence passed to Washington.

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Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show this morning, Ms Rudd said Mr Trumps controversial tweet was pure speculation

Trump tweeted: 'Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!'

He later walked back on his controversial comments, tweeting: 'Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of London, who suffered a vicious terrorist attack'

She said: It is never helpful to have speculation about an on-going operation. I would include the President in that comment.

When asked if she would tell the president to stop tweeting, she replied: I dont think I would be the first person to say that, would I?

Ms Rudd's words come after it had emerged a second man, aged 21, had been apprehended by police in London in connection with the attack.

It follows the arrest of an 18-year-old man in Dover yesterday morning.

Yesterday the Home Secretary refused to say whether counter terror officials had had information on one of the attackers before the bombing.

When asked during an interview if it was concerning the suspect might have been already known to Scotland Yard, Mrs Rudd said: 'It's much too early to say that, we have one arrest and we have an going operation.'

But then she added: 'When we have more information, we will be sharing it.'





Mr Trump's tweet also angered the Prime Minister who said: 'I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.'

She later challenged the president in person when he called her to discuss the case.

Yesterday Mrs Rudd described the arrest of the 18-year-old man as 'very significant' but would not respond to journalists questions about if Scotland Yard held information about him beforehand.

Refusing to comment: Home Secretary Amber Rudd won't say if police were already aware of the 18-year-old suspect

Investigators - who it is understood are linking the attack to Islamist extremism - are continuing their probe and the threat level remains at critical, which means a further attack is feared to be imminent.

The country's top counter-terrorism officer indicated that a potential network of plotters could have been involved.

A Scotland Yard spokesman criticised Mr Trump, saying: 'The comments are unhelpful and pure speculation. If anyone has got any evidence or information, please contact the anti-terrorism hotline.'

Security Minister Ben Wallace said yesterday morning that although it was 'not helpful to have a running commentary on a live investigation' he said about Trump's later tweets: 'I saw his follow-up statements. I think his sentiment was that the international community stands together in facing this threat.

'I think we can take that as being a good thing.'

Met terror chief Mark Rowley updated the media on the investigation this morning (pictured) but has not given any details of any man hunt

Keith Simpson, a Tory member of the Intelligence and Security Committee ahead of the election, last night told MailOnline Mr Trump's tweets would alarm some in Britain who could fear the security services knew of the plot and let it go ahead.

He said: 'Frankly, I don't know if that's the case.

'There will now be some interesting conversations going on between senior people in the Cabinet Office and the Trump Administration.

'He's done this kind of thing before. I think Theresa May has come as near as possible to say don't be so stupid.

'This is part and parcel of the way he deals with politics.'

U.S. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster (right) told reporters at the White House on Friday that Trump wasn't speaking about any particular terror suspect when he claimed Scotland Yard had already had Friday's Tube bomber on its radar

President Donald Trump has claimed Scotland Yard knew ahead of time about a bomber or bombers who set off a crude incendiary bomb Friday morning on London's 'Tube' subway

Mrs May's former chief-of-staff Nick Timothy commented on Twitter, saying: 'True or not  and I'm sure he doesn't know  this is so unhelpful from leader of our ally and intelligence partner.'

HOW RELEASING INFORMATION HELPED CATCH BARCELONA ATTACKER Images of Barcelons suspects Moussa Oukabir and brother Drissa emerged within a few hours of the Las Ramblas attack More than seven hours after the terror attack in Parsons Green, police in London are still refusing to confirm whether they have a suspect. The approach taken contrasts sharply with the response to the last major terror attack in Europe, Barcelona in August. Just over an hour after the attack took place, Spanish police tweeted the public to say they were searching for the attacker and to avoid the area. Then, within three hours after the attack, a photo of a suspect, Driss Oukabir, was released and circulated online. The release of the image caused Oukabir to come forward to his local police and tell officers his documents had been stolen. This was again revealed to the media as Oukabir's younger brother Moussa became the prime suspect. Advertisement

Mr Trump appeared unconcerned about his diplomatic slip. Asked about the terror attack by reporters outside the White House, he said: 'It's a terrible thing.

'It just keeps going and going, and we have to be very smart, we have to be very, very tough. Perhaps we are not nearly tough enough. It's just an absolutely terrible thing. In fact, I'm going to call the Prime Minister right now.

'We have to be tougher and we have to be smarter.' He told reporters that he had been briefed on the explosion, but did not provide further details.

His national security adviser HR McMaster suggested later that Mr Trump was speaking generally.

Noting that law enforcement agencies have been working to combat terrorism for years, Mr McMaster said: 'I think if there was a terrorist attack here, God forbid, that we would say that they were in the sights of the FBI.'

He added: 'I think he means generally that this kind of activity is what we are trying to prevent.'

The controversy threatened to reopen the row between the UK and the US over the leaking of sensitive police information that led to the temporary suspension of security co-operation in the wake of the Manchester bombing.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty, a member of the home affairs select committee, said last night Mr Trump's intervention 'has the potential to not only undermine a vital relationship, but also to prejudice investigations into this and other incidents'.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said: 'It is insulting to the victims of this attack that Donald Trump is already using it to try and further his divisive political agenda. Once again, Trump has shown he is not fit for the office of US President.'

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who clashed with Mr Trump over his response to the London Bridge terror attack, would not be drawn on the president's comments. 'I've simply been too busy to look at my Twitter,' he said. 'My priority is making sure that we do what we can to keep Londoners safe.'

Trump added: 'Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner. The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!'

Theresa May's former adviser Nick Timothy reacted to Trump's intervention by saying the president 'doesn't know' anything: 'This is so unhelpful from leader of our ally and intelligence partner'

Metropolitan Police officers were continued detailed searches and investigations at the scene of the bombing yesterday (pictured)

Police in and around London are hunting for the 'bucket bomber' who tried blow up a rush hour Tube train amid claims that he is armed and may have left other devices
Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker headed on Sunday to Vienna as head of an Egyptian delegation attending the 61st International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Meeting, which will kick off on Monday.

Shaker will deliver an address that will discuss the country's plan to build its first-ever nuclear power plant in Dabaa and the procedures taken to secure the project, according to Ahram Arabic website.

The delegation will include representatives from a number of ministries and agencies including the foreign ministry and the Nuclear Energy Agency.

The Egyptian delegation will also stress Egypt's position on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, according to Al-Ahram Arabic website.

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Police are stepping in as 'clown patrollers' after a teenager was scratched on the neck by a group of clowns who chased her off a bus in Perth.

The 'clown purge' as it's known began last year with ordinary people dressing up as fearsome masked figures, some even with weapons, and terrorising the nation.

Facebook page called Cop Humour Australia has decided to tackle the menaces using their own tricks - masks.

The group uploaded a picture of five fearsome police officers wearing monster masks who are ready to tackle the growing clown epidemic

The group uploaded a picture of five fearsome police officers wearing monster masks who are ready to tackle the growing clown epidemic.

'Dear Clowns. There may be some of you, but there are more of us! We are also bigger, better and more scarier than you,' the caption read.

'There will be hundreds of clown hunting police out on the streets, coming to find you in the following suburbs: Balga, Midland, Mandurah, Rockingham every other suburb you can think of... Stay out at your own risk.'

A Facebook page called Clown Purge Australia had recently warned Perth residents that the strange dressed up characters would be popping up in neighbourhoods 'very soon'

The post has attracted 1,000 likes and numerous hilarious responses.

'Don't you already deal with clowns on a daily basis just not while they're in costume?' One funny commenter wrote.

'Good on you, if one of those clowns jumped out in front of me I would be close to having a heart attack - thank you for trying to keep the streets safe and the idiots at bay,' another mused.

The photo comes just a day after a young girl saw three people wearing clown masks and dark clothing coming towards her as she stepped off a bus in Baldivis on Saturday night.

According to moderators of the Facebook page, which has wracked up 30,000 likes, 'we do not mean any harm, all of it is just for a scare and some laughs'

Fearful of their presence she decided to run but one of the 'clowns' grabbed at her shoulder and scratched her neck.

A Facebook page called Clown Purge Australia had recently warned Perth residents that the strange dressed up characters would be popping up in neighbourhoods 'very soon.'

Their appearance comes just a week after the release of horror flick IT, which features an evil clown called Pennywise.

'Those who are dressing up and carrying out silly acts should think seriously about what they are doing - the distress caused to people is unnecessary and may lead to further harm,' WA police said

According to moderators of the Facebook page, which has wracked up 30,000 likes, 'we do not mean any harm, all of it is just for a scare and some laughs.'

But WA police aren't so sure the fun is so harmless after all.

'Those who are dressing up and carrying out silly acts should think seriously about what they are doing - the distress caused to people is unnecessary and may lead to further harm,' they said.

'By participating in this craze, people may be committing criminal offences and if so they will be charged by police.'
A swarm of police officers were seen dragging a man away in what would be the first arrest made under new face covering laws in Victoria.

The brutal arrest saw the young man, 24, screaming at officers and growing crowds as police struggled to restrain him outside the state library in Melbourne.

He refused to take the scarf covering his face off, forcing police to remove it themselves.

Dressed in all black with a close-shaved Mohawk, he wore a scarf that covered his face up to his eyes.

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A 24-year-old man was dramatically arrested in Melbourne on Sunday by a swarm of police

The man (pictured after his unmasking) had refused to remove his face covering

He was part of a large crowd protesting against a 'Make Victoria Safe Again' rally at the State Library

As surrounding media began filming and photographing his arrest and unmasking, he yelled: 'All I want to do is be anonymous at a protest'.

'This is not ethical, it is not ethical journalism what you're doing - you're invading my f***ing privacy and my right to f***ing be here and conceal my identity for my own private reasons,' he said.

A spokesman for Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia he will be charged on summons for wearing a face covering.

A woman, 27, was also arrested at the protest for yelling at photographers, hitting a photographer's camera and spitting on another. She has been charged with assault.

Police can conduct weapons searches and request protesters to remove any facial coverings if they are being used to conceal identities or protect from crowd control measures in a designated zone.

He began yelling at the media for being unethical in photographing his arrest after his face was revealed by police

He was one of two people arrested on Sunday, with a 27-year-old woman also being arrested and charged with assault

Police were recently given new powers to unmask and arrest people who were trying to conceal their identities

Dressed in all black with a close-shaved Mohawk, the man wore a scarf that covered his face up to his eyes

The man was among huge crowds in Melbourne on Sunday - some protesting racism and facism at a rally dubbed: 'From Charlottesville to Melbourne: Unite to Fight the Far Right', and others attending a 'Make Victoria Safe Again' rally.

A post on the protest's Facebook page claims the left-wing protesters 'outnumbered the facists five to one' on the day.

Avi Yemini was behind the initial rally, which was intended to protest against the series of car-jackings and home invasions throughout Melbourne.

In an address to followers, he said the group were demanding 'minimum sentencing for violent offenders, no bail for violent offenders, and no early release if you are a violent offender'.

'Time and time again we see violent offenders who get out with sob stories because somehow the criminal is the victim,' he said.

'Our world is upside down, political correct madness has taken over.'

Avi Yemini was behind the initial protest, aimed against a spate of violent car-jackings and home invasions in Melbourne

He said violent offenders from other countries should be deported, and there should be stronger sentencing and no bail given to those who were born in Australia

Mr Yemini also demanded the deportation of violent offenders who had moved to Australia from overseas.

'If you come to Australia and you are not grateful to be here, your thanks is robbing us and bashing us, you deserve to go back to where you came from,' he said.

Many protesters who were part of the safer Victoria rally wore jackets emblazoned with 'True Blue Crew', 'Soldiers of Odin' and had the Southern Cross symbol on their clothing.

The left wing rally met at the state library before marching up towards Parliament House on Spring Street, where Mr Yemini's rally was held.

When they arrived, the two groups were separated by barricades and dozens of armed police.
Sir Vince Cable today claimed he could be Britan's next Prime Minister despite vowing to reverse Brexit and the party's failure at the June election.

The newly elected Liberal Democrat chief said the succession of shock results at the ballot box in Britain, the US and France proved dramatic changes were possible.

Sir Vince played down the failure of his party to cut through to the country at the general election when the party went from eight to just 12 MPs.

The former Cabinet minister is using his first party conference to make the case for a new referendum choosing between the Brexit deal and staying in Europe.

Sir Vince Cable (pictured today on the Andrew Marr show) has claimed he could be Britan's next Prime Minister despite vowing to reverse Brexit and the party's failure at the June election

The newly elected Liberal Democrat chief said the succession of shock results at the ballot box in Britain, the US and France proved dramatic changes were possible

Sir Vince said today one of the key Lib Dem messages to voters would be 'projecting the idea that I'm an alternative prime minister'.

He told The Observer: 'You may blink, but that's the message I need to get across and want to get across. Given the alternatives, I think that's plausible.

'In these times of political upheaval all kinds of strange things can happen.'

Sir Vince said the Lib Dems needed to present themselves as a party of government, not just a voice of protest.

'We haven't been seen as even bidding for that ground,' he said.

'Being a plucky third party is not my view. It's got to be that we are a serious party with a serious leader who can run the country.'

Activists are promoting their belief in remaining in the EU at this week's conference in Bournemouth

10 EU flag berets are available for sale at the conference (pictured)

The Liberal Democrats are gathering in Bournemouth under tight security (pictured last night) in the aftermath of the fifth terrorist attack this year on Friday

Sir Vince denied today that his party was in a 'wretched' states despite the liberal vote declining to its lowest level since 1959.

SWINSON WARNS OF BULLY POLITICS Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson today claimed China had become a 'voice of reason' in the world and Putin's Russia was more measure than America. In her main speech to the party conference in Bournemouth, Ms Swinson warned activists the 'politics of the bully is back'. The deputy leader launched an angry attack on US President Donald Trump, branding him a 'misogynist and a racist'. Ms Swinson's remarks will anger those who believe the Special Relationship between the UK and USA is more important than any one President. Advertisement

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the country was looking for a 'common sense' middle ground in politics and claimed both the main parties being locked into a civil war.

Sir Vince, 74, dismissed talk that he had taken part in a deal placing him in the role of leader in a caretaker capacity until his deputy Jo Swinson took over after Brexit was triggered in March 2019.

He said: 'No, that wasn't the case. I'm not putting up a limit. I do it for as long as I need to do it.'

The Lib Dems gathering in Bournemouth are set to review why they failed to make major process at June's general election, going from eight to just 12 seats despite targeting the Remain vote.

Speaking at a rally to launch the conference, Sir Vince said: 'We are the party of Remain. We believe membership of the EU is in the interest of our country.

'Nobody has yet come up with a plausible explanation about how we will be better off leaving.

The Lib Dems gathering in Bournemouth are set to review why they failed to make major process at June's general election, going from eight to just 12 seats despite targeting the Remain vote

In his first intervention of the annual gathering, Sir Vince (pictured today at the conference) insisted 'we believe Britain should stay in the European Union - period'

'Divorce is messy and often nasty and I fear this will be. We are not looking for soft exit - we are the party of Remain.

'We want the public to have a choice. Once we know the outcome... we want people to have a vote.

LAMB SET TO 'STEP BACK' FROM LIB DEM POST Norman Lamb has said he wants to 'take a step back' from a leading role with the Liberal Democrats. The party's health spokesman suggested to the BBC he wanted to quit the role and focus on his new job as chairman of a Commons select committee. Mr Lamb has found himself at odds with the party over Brexit, saying Leave voters felt the Lib Dems were treating them like 'idiots'. He told Sunday Politics East: 'I've talked to Vince about my plans for the future. 'I've become chair of the Science and Technology select committee, that means that I want to take a step back from playing a leading role within the Lib Dems. 'I remain a loyal member and I will be absolutely loyal and supportive of Vince. 'But I want to really focus on doing this job well and elevating the profile of the committee that I think is absolutely central to the future of this country. Asked if he wanted to carry on as the party's health spokesman, Mr Lamb said: 'I will never depart from my total passion about fighting for justice for people with mental ill health, with learning disability, with autism, with all these things. 'You can do one job properly, it seems to me. 'I want to put everything into being science and technology chair and to making that committee a very respected committee, focusing on issues that are totally central to this country's prosperity and happiness.' Advertisement

'Do you want to go ahead with what the Government has negotiated or do you want an exit from Brexit.'

In other developments today, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson used her main conference speech to claim China had become a 'voice of reason' in the world and Putin's Russia was more measure than America.

Ms Swinson warned activists the 'politics of the bully is back'.

The deputy leader launched an angry attack on US President Donald Trump, branding him a 'misogynist and a racist'.

Ms Swinson's remarks will anger those who believe the Special Relationship between the UK and USA is more important than any one President.

In her rallying call to party activists, Ms Swinson warned 'politics is broken' and told them they could not take for granted that liberal people would win in the end.

And amid a growing international crisis in North Korea, she said: 'When calm heads and brave leaders are needed more than ever, global politics seems broken.

'A few years ago it would have seemed inconceivable that in such a crisis, China would be a voice of reason, and Russia more measured than America.

'The politics of the bully is back. Human rights are trampled. Climate change is denied. Hate and division are spread like poison into society.'

Ms Swinson's foreign policy intervention came after she told a meeting on the fringes of the conference that the transitional deal offered 'time' to those seeking to frustrate Brexit.

She said: 'They mean that it is not this mad rush and there is the opportunity there for the country to take stock and to think.

'The closer we are to our EU neighbours, the easier it is, at some future point, to reverse the decision.

'Because, if you haven't then hugely diverged from everything, if you have still got the same rules in place, if you have still got the same trading arrangements, then actually the coming back becomes much easier.

'So, I think, strategically, that is important for us to try to achieve working with others.'

Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson (pictured at conference today) told party activists yesterday they could use the time offered by a transition deal to frustrate Brexit

Company bosses whose firms rip off consumers by breaking competition law should be put in the dock, senior Lib Dem Ed Davey claims

Company bosses whose firms rip off consumers by breaking competition laws should be put in the dock and prosecuted, senior Lib Dem Ed Davey said today.

The home affairs spokesman said he had called for tougher laws on 'cartels' while a business minister in the coalition government.

He raised the prospect of jailing the worst offenders being sent to jail.

But Sir Ed said his ambitions had been frustrated by the Conservative wing of the coalition.

Company bosses whose firms rip off consumers by breaking competition laws should be put in the dock and prosecuted, senior Lib Dem Ed Davey (file image) said today

Speaking to reporters on the fringes of the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth, Sir Ed said: 'This is a policy I tried to get through in the coalition and David Cameron stopped it.

'I suggested when we are hunting down cartels, when businesses are cheating the public, we should not go go through the system we have where the competition authorities investigate and charge.

'That's an administrative process - we should actually put people in court and have a prosecutor model as they do in the United States.

'I think if big businesses are cheating consumers, we should put them in the dock and properly question them in a much tougher, robust way.'

Sir Ed said fines should still be levelled against law-breaking firms but individuals involved in a 'conspiracy against the public' should also face charges.

Now Farron can't even win at his own conference! Ex-Lib Dem chief LOSES bizarre dad-dancing disco battle

Tim Farron has fallen short in another political clash - after coming second in a bizarre competitive disco at the Liberal Democrat conference.

The ex-party leader was the highest profile contender at the strange annual tradition on the fringes of the Bournemouth conference.

But his set - which included The Strokes and Duran Duran - was not enough to beat party staffer Daisy Benson.

Mr Farron dad-danced his way through the late night party joined by hundreds of activists and several other Liberal Democrat 'celebrities'.

Tim Farron has fallen short in another political clash - after coming second in a bizarre competitive disco at the Liberal Democrat conference (pictured)

Mr Farron dad-danced his way through the late night party joined by hundreds of activists and several other Liberal Democrat 'celebrities'

Other contenders were candidate Kelly-Marie Blundell and Lib Dem peer Sarah Ludford.

Each of the four politicians play four songs at the high school-style disco before beer-fuelled crowd is invited to pick a winner.

After his defeat was confirmed, sources told the MailOnline: 'Tim is used to these kind of results as a Liberal Democrat where you can be the best and still end up coming third.'
An elderly man is fighting for life in hospital after he escaped from his burning western Sydney home.

Emergency services were called to the home of Graham Wells, 75, in Leumeah around 11pm Saturday.

Mr Wells was pulled from the blaze by neighbour Mitchell Delboux.

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An elderly man is fighting for life in hospital after he escaped from his burning western Sydney home (pictured)

Emergency services were called to the home of Graham Wells, 75, in Leumeah around 11pm Saturday

'He was really in shock, so we just picked him up and moved him to the edge of the road,' Mr Delboux told 7 News.

'I was happy I was able to get him out of the house I'm glad that he's still alive.'

The man collapsed outside his burning home, where emergency services performed CPR on him.

Mr Wells was rushed to Concord Hospital in a critical condition.

Images show the property completely gutted by the ferocious blaze.

Police on Sunday say the fire is not being treated as suspicious.

Mr Wells was pulled from the blaze by neighbour Mitchell Delboux
A Cold War radar base on the Shetland Islands is being re-opened by the RAF as the UK faces new threats from Putin's Russia.

Saxa Vord on the island of Unst used to house a radar station capable of scanning Atlantic waters from Iceland to Norway, but the Ministry of Defence shut it down in 2006 as Russian relations eased.

The MoD has now confirmed the site will re-open in October with a team of about 30 specialists soon set to arrive on the UK's most northerly island.

The news came in a letter from defence minister Harriett Baldwin to local MP Alistair Carmichael.

Saxa Vord (pictured)'s radar station on the Shetland isle of Unst was closed by the Ministry of Defence in 2006. But the RAF has now confirmed it will soon reopen

Saxa Vord (pictured) has been marketed as a tourist resort since the closure of the radar base in 2006

She wrote: 'I am pleased to confirm that work is due to begin next month to restore the radar capability there.'

The remote island, where the nearest station is in Norway, featured on a secret list of UK Soviet targets during the Cold War period.

The island has marketed Saxa Vord as a tourist resort since the closure of the radar station, which saw the island's population halve to just 600.

Ryan Thomson, a North Isles councillor, branded the announcement 'excellent news' for Unst.

Pam Mouat, who used to work at Saxa Vord told The Sunday Times: 'Everyone here was devastated when the RAF left.

'They had been here for half a century. At one time there were 250 RAF personnel here, many with their families. We had a power station, a fully manned fire station and a medical centre with a dentist.'

Mr Carmichael told the newspaper: 'They claim to be able to operate it remotely, but knowing the poor level of connectivity in the Northern Isles, I am sceptical.'

The news follows Vladimir Putin's invasion of Crimea in 2014 and this week's joint military operation with Belarus.
Staff members at a maximum-security psychiatric hospital put a diaper on a patient's head, poured water over him while sleeping, put salt in his coffee, kicked him and placed a mop on his head after cleaning a floor, according to a state report.

Thirty-one staff members at the Whiting Forensic Division hospital in Middletown, Connecticut have been suspended, and nine have been arrested on charges of cruelty to persons.

The arrests were in connection with the abuse of a 62-year-old male patient who was committed in 1995 after his acquittal for the murder of his father by reason of mental defect.

'It's like something out of a Stephen King novel,' said state Senator Heather Somers, a Republican from Groton.

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Thirty-one staff members at the Whiting Forensic Division hospital in Middletown, Connecticut have been suspended and nine have been arrested

'If you are put in the state's care, you should be cared for. You shouldn't be tormented,' she said. 'It's really incomprehensible that this could happen in this day and age.'

More arrests are expected, police say, and calls are pouring in with more allegations of misconduct and abuse at the state hospital, according to Somers.

Somers did not disclose the names of the people who have called her, but she did say some of their allegations include staff abusing patients, overriding of doctors' orders and forgery of doctors' signatures on documents.

Whiting is part of Connecticut Valley Hospital, a psychiatric care complex run by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The division includes 106 beds for patients in maximum security and another 141 beds for those in 'enhanced security.' The patients include people found not guilty of murder and other crimes by reason of insanity, and others committed voluntarily or involuntarily by civil courts.

The nine staff members arrested were charged with abuse of persons and disorderly conduct.

The alleged 62-year-old victim of staff abuse was found in a report by the state Department of Public Health to have been kicked, jabbed, poked and taunted by staff over several weeks this year.

Arrested (left to right): Staff members Carl Benjamin, Willie Bethea, and Lance Camby

Arrested: (left to right): Staff members Mark Cusson, Clayton Davis and Gregory Giatonio

Arrested (left to right): Staff members Bruce Holt, Robert Larned, and Seth Quider

The investigation came at the request of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates the hospital, following a whistleblower complaint.

The arrests followed the suspensions of 31 employees on claims they took part in the abuse or knew about the abuse and did not report it. Many incidents were recorded by surveillance cameras.

The patient at the center of the allegations was committed to Whiting in 1995 after being acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect in the killing of his father in Greenwich, according to his court-appointed co-conservator, Karen Kangas.

He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, autism spectrum disorder and other conditions, and has been combative with hospital staff, according to the Public Health Department report.

'He's been traumatized,' Kangas said. 'That's not how we should be treated when we have cancer, and it should not be how we're treated when we have mental illnesses. I just couldn't imagine that this all went on.'

Whiting Forensic Division includes 106 beds for patients in maximum security and another 141 beds for those in 'enhanced security'

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services called the allegations 'reprehensible' in a statement, saying it is cooperating with the police investigation and vowing to 'do whatever is necessary to prevent future incidents.'

The 31 employees possibly face further discipline including being fired, as well as the possible loss or suspension of their state licenses, officials said.

Officials with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services want to talk with Somers - co-chair of the legislature's Public Health Committee, which oversees the department - about the new abuse allegations, said department spokeswoman Mary Kate Mason.

The hospital workers' labor union, District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, said in a statement that patient abuse is unacceptable. The union is calling for new management, better training and more staff at the hospital.

Whiting is part of Connecticut Valley Hospital, a psychiatric care complex run by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services

Among the staff members arrested was a forensic head nurse, Mark Cusson, 49, of Southington. Cusson is in a 'state of shock' over his arrest and believes he will be found innocent, said his lawyer, Brian Woolf.

'We have information from a variety of sources that this patient was an extremely difficult patient and some of the actions they took were justified,' Woolf said.

Whiting and Connecticut Valley Hospital have come under fire for problems with patient care before.

In 2005, the US Justice Department notified the state that it was beginning a civil rights investigation of Connecticut Valley Hospital.

Department officials said the hospital had a history of failing to protect its patients from harm, noting three patients killed themselves over 15 months in 2003 and 2004. Investigators also said that staff used restraints too often and that psychiatric services were inadequate.

The Justice Department and state reached a settlement to resolve the problems in 2009, and federal officials said the hospital had achieved substantial compliance with the settlement terms by September 2013.

In 2002, a patient at Whiting, James Bell, died of a heart attack while be restrained by staff members. The state later settled a wrongful death lawsuit by Bell's family for $2.3million.
Two brothers of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim have been extradited from Dubai following their arrests nearly six weeks ago.

Michael and Fadi Ibrahim arrived back in Sydney on Sunday night to face charges relating to their roles in an alleged drug and tobacco smuggling syndicate.

The cuffed brothers were led into custody by Australian Federal Police officers with their wrists and waists heavily shackled.

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The Ibrahim brothers were extradited along with two other men in what an AFP official called the first successful extradition from the UAE to Australia

Fadi (left) and Michael (right) were extradited from Dubai on Saturday, and arrived in Sydney on Sunday night

The brothers (Fadi is pictured right) were led into custody by Australian Federal Police officers with their wrists and waists heavily shackled

In a statement, the AFP said four men were extradited.

The brothers were arrested on the street in Dubai on August 8 for their alleged roles in an $810 million drug ring spanning across Sydney, the Netherlands and Dubai.

The year-long operation also netted underworld figures Mustapha Dib, Ahmad 'Rock' Ahmad and Koder Jomaa.

The haul, which included 1.8 tonnes of MDMA, was seized by authorities in the Netherlands in July.

A police statement of facts obtained by The Daily Telegraph alleges Michael Ibrahim's drug syndicate were plotting to bring five tonnes of MDMA into the country.

Officers also believe the group had intended to smuggle 50 kilograms of cocaine in per month.

Their brother John Ibrahim (pictured) has not been arrested or charged for anything. Police raids on his house turned up no incriminating evidence

Michael (left) and Fadi (right) Ibrahim are pictured with their mother and John Ibrahim. Neither their mother or John are accused of any offences

Michael (pictured) and Fadi Ibrahim, 43, were arrested on August 8 for their alleged roles in an $810 million drug ring spanning across Sydney, the Netherlands and Dubai

WHAT ARE THE CHARGES? Fadi and Michael Ibrahim, along with two other men, will face a range of charges, including: Conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug - The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment. Dealing in proceeds of crime and money worth $1,000,000 or more - The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years imprisonment. Possession of imported tobacco products with the intent to defraud revenue - The maximum penalty for this offence is 10 years imprisonment. Supply a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug - The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment. Take part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug - The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment. Advertisement

According to the police statement of facts, members of the syndicate allegedly organised the stockpiles by sending messages on their Blackberry mobiles or through discussions in some of Dubai's most prestigious hotels.

Since their arrest, Michael and Fadi Ibrahim have been languishing in a Dubai prison, along with two other Australian nationals, believed to be Mustapha Dib and Koder Jomaa.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the return of the four men marked the first successful extradition from the United Arab Emirates on behalf of Australian Law enforcement.

'The Dubai authorities have offered an unprecedented level of support to help facilitate these operations and ensure these extraditions have run smoothly,' he said in a statement.

The Ibrahim brothers are reportedly being held at the Sydney Police Centre on Goulburn Street.

They were charged by police on Sunday night and will face Central Local Court on Monday.

Their brother John has not been arrested or charged for anything.

Police raids on his house turned up no incriminating evidence.

The brothers and the two other men were charged by police on Sunday night and will face Central Local Court on Monday

Fadi Ibrahim (pictured leaving Sydney for Dubai) was extradited back to Sydney on Sunday night with his brother Michael

Police searched the home of John Ibrahim (pictured) as part of their raids but he was not arrested or charged with anything
Police are desperate for a mother of a newborn baby to come forward after he was found abandoned in a park.

Officers received reports of a baby abandoned in Plaistow Park, east London at 8.20am today.

When they got there they found the little boy carefully wrapped in a white blanket.

He was rushed to hospital by the London Ambulance Service where he is still being treated.

Police are concerned for the safety of a newborn mother after her baby was found abandoned in Plaistow Park, east London (pictured) today

Staff looking after him are calling him Harry until his true identity comes to light.

Meanwhile officers and doctors are urging his mother to come forward and get her own medical support.

In a direct appeal to the child's mother, the officer leading the inquiry, DCI Jim Foley, said: 'We are growing increasingly concerned for your welfare and I would urge you to make contact with us or your local hospital or GP surgery.

'It is really important that we know you are safe.

'I would also ask that anyone who has information that could help us to reunite this baby with his mother to come forward.'

Anyone with any information as to the whereabouts of the mother is asked to call police on 020 8217 6498 or via 101.
Tim Farron has fallen short in another political clash - after coming second in a bizarre competitive disco at the Liberal Democrat conference.

The ex-party leader was the highest profile contender at the strange annual tradition on the fringes of the Bournemouth conference.

But his set - which included The Strokes and Duran Duran - was not enough to beat party staffer Daisy Benson.

Mr Farron dad-danced his way through the late night party joined by hundreds of activists and several other Liberal Democrat 'celebrities'.

Tim Farron has fallen short in another political clash - after coming second in a bizarre competitive disco at the Liberal Democrat conference (pictured)

Mr Farron dad-danced his way through the late night party joined by hundreds of activists and several other Liberal Democrat 'celebrities'

Other contenders were candidate Kelly-Marie Blundell and Lib Dem peer Sarah Ludford.

Each of the four politicians play four songs at the high school-style disco before beer-fuelled crowd is invited to pick a winner.

After his defeat was confirmed, sources told the MailOnline: 'Tim is used to these kind of results as a Liberal Democrat where you can be the best and still end up coming third.'

Two-time champion - and now party deputy leader Jo Swinson - did not take part this year.

Host and judge Julian Huppert - the former Cambridge MP - hailed the night as an 'amazing battle'.

In surreal scenes, Lib Dem peer Sarah Ludford selected Chris de Burgh's Getaway to assure party activists 'we're going to get away - away from Theresa May, Donald Trump, exit from Brexit.'

Ex MP Julian Huppert (left) announced the results of the strange annual conference shortly before midnight on Saturday

The traditional disco draws senior MPs (including education spokeswoman Layla Moran, left) despite claims from critics it is a strange event for a political conference

Hundreds of activists sang 'F*** you! I won't do what you tell me' when Rage Against the Machine was played between sets.

Extraordinarily last night's event, held in the main conference hotel, is not even the most bizarre musical intervention on the annual agenda.

Activists will gather again tomorrow night for the infamous Glee Club.

Hundreds of activists will spend hours singing adapted songs featuring offensive, abusive and satirical lyrics.
Prince Charles and Camilla are said to be 'very comfortable' at Clarence House and loathe to move to 'the big house'

Prince Charles does not want to live at Buckingham Palace after becoming King and wants to turn it into a museum instead, it is reported.

The prince and wife Camilla are said to be 'very comfortable' at their current lodgings in Clarence House and loathe to move to 'the big house'.

Charles believes upkeep costs mean the 775-room home is not fit for the modern era, it is claimed, despite the fact that it is currently undergoing a 370-million, decade-long renovation in order to keep it 'fit for purpose'.

Royal sources told The Sunday Times that Charles would like to make the palace more sustainable by opening it up to the ticket-buying public.

'What's to say Buckingham Palace can't be opened to the public for at least six months, while keeping the state rooms pristine for use during big occasions?,' one source told the paper.

The palace currently opens to the public between July and October while the Queen takes her annual holiday at Balmoral.

Last year it was announced that Buckingham Palace will undergo a 370million renovation job - the first major work to be done there since the 1950s.

The Queen's father, George VI, ordered the last set of repairs to fix the damage caused by bombing raids on London during the Second World War.

The latest works will see ten miles of water pipes, 6,500 plug sockets, 500 pieces of sanitary ware and 20 miles of skirting board replaced.

Experts warned there was serious risk of fire and water damage to the palace and the priceless works of art it contains due to its perilous state of repair.

The couple would like to remain at Clarence House after Charles becomes King, according to royal sources, arguing that Buckingham Palace is too expensive to run

Buckingham Palace is currently undergoing 370million of repair works to ensure it remains 'fit for purpose' into the future

News of the huge repair bill outraged some MPs, though the government argues it is the best way to avoid a much larger bill later on.

Buckingham Palace has been the official residence of the British monarchy since the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, when she moved there.

It was originally known as Buckingham House and was constructed on private land for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703. It was acquired by King George III in 1761.

Today it serves as a home for the Queen and Prince Philip, while the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex keep apartments there.

The rest of the palace is occupied by staff, while several members of the royal family also keep offices there.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: 'Buckingham Palace will remain the official London residence of the monarch.'

A senior royal aide categorically ruled out the prince staying at Clarence House in any capacity once he accedes to the throne.
Egypt has welcomed new steps taken by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement to build Palestinian unity, the result of Cairo's efforts to end the long-running feud, Egypt's state-run news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

Hamas said on Sunday that it had dissolved its administrative committee running Gaza, making way for the arrival of officials from the unity government, who would take control of the area. Hamas said it had also agreed to hold general elections in order to end the decade-long split.

The Hamas statement was issued from Gaza on Sunday following talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo last week.

Fatah, meanwhile, said on Sunday that it welcomed the pledge by its rival Hamas to accept key conditions for reconciliation.

"Egypt welcomes the position of the Fatah and Hamas movements ... in response to the Egyptian efforts ... towards unity between the Palestinian people and ending the split," MENA said, without attributing the statement to any particular government source.

"Egypt affirms its continued efforts and contact with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and all Palestinian forces in a way that serves the Palestinian public interest and the Palestinian issue," MENA added.

In 2014, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a national reconciliation government, but Hamas has continued to rule the Gaza Strip alone until now.

Repeated efforts since 2011 to resolve the dispute between the two movements and form a unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have come to nothing.



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The militant group Hamas has agreed to a series of key conditions with rival movement Fatah which could signal the end of a 10-year-long feud in Palestine.

Hamas, who are on the UN terrorist list, have controlled the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since 2007.

Led by Yahya Sinwar, Hamas last night agreed to conditions by rival President Abbas, including nationwide elections which could finally end a decade old territorial split.

The militant group Hamas has agreed to a series of key conditions with rival movement Fatah led by President Abbas (pictured) which could signal the end of a 10-year-long feud in Palestine

Conditions also include dissolving the contentious Gaza administrative committee - the de facto government in the region - and allowing an Abbas-led 'unity government,' who could take control within a matter of days.

The Gaza administrative committee is the de facto government in region after Hamas defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections in 2006.

A year later, Hamas drove forces loyal to Fatah from the Gaza Strip assuming near complete administrative control.

Hamas, led by Yahya Sinwar, last night agreed to conditions by rival President Abbas including nationwide elections which could finally end a decade old territorial split

The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas in charge of Gaza and President Abbas controlling autonomous pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The announcement came after separate talks by Hamas and Fatah delegations with Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo.

Egypt relayed Fatah demands to Hamas that as a first step, it must dissolve the administrative committee and allow their unity government - formed in 2014 - to take charge.

'We accepted that as a sign of our good will toward reconciliation,' Hamas official Hussam Badran said.

'The administrative committee is now dissolved and the government can come to Gaza today to assume its responsibilities and duties,' he added.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a Fatah participant in the talks, said Hamas and Fatah agreed to meet in Cairo within 10 days, during which time the national unity government should assume responsibility in Gaza.

Conditions also include dissolving the contentious Gaza administrative committee - the de facto government in the region - and allowing an Abbas-led 'unity government,' who could take control within a matter of days

Mahmoud Aloul, another Fatah official, told the Voice of Palestine radio that the news from Cairo is encouraging, but that: 'We want to see that happening on the ground before we move to the next step.'

Hamas - who remain on the United Nations terror list - has been greatly weakened by an Isaeli and Egyptian blockade, three wars and international isolation.

Residents of Gaza's have electricity for only a few hours a day.

In recent months, Abbas has stepped up financial pressure on Hamas, including by scaling back electricity payments to Gaza, to force his rivals to cede ground.

The Gaza administrative committee is the de facto government in region after Hamas defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections in 2006. A year later, Hamas drove forces loyal to Fatah from the Gaza Strip assuming near complete administrative control

A statement issues by Hamas set out four conditions they have agreed to following Egyptian intermediary talks

Still, there were no guarantees that this deal would succeed where others failed.

In previous deals, including one brokered by Egypt in 2011, both sides professed willingness to reconcile, but ultimately balked at giving up power in their respective territories.

A key sticking point in the past was Hamas' refusal to place its security forces in Gaza under the control of an Abbas-led unity government.
Inmates at a prison branded 'Jihadi Jail' have been passing mobiles between cells by flushing them through sewage pipes.

Prisoners of a segregation unit holding convicted terrorists used a 'linked system' of pipework to move the contraband devices from one cell to another at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.

More than 20 inmates of the category A prison's most dangerous were found to be involved.

Inspectors called for improvements in security after inmates were found to be passing phones between cells

Phones were encased in waterproof bags attached to a string before being flushed, sources told the Mirror Online.

One prison source said: 'This plot was absolutely bizarre. It shows how far inmates will go to get hold of banned items like mobiles.

Inmates of a special centre at HMP Whitemoor set up for convicted terrorists flushed phones down toilets to move them between cells

'With the terror background and connections many of them have, it is extremely concerning that they gained access to mobiles in this way.'

The plot was uncovered by governors at the category A prison, where at least four in 10 inmates are Muslim.

Pipes leading from one cells toilet to the next allowed convicts to fish phones out with coat hanger wire.

Phones were encased in plastic bags before being flushed through a network of pipes that ran between cells

If the phone failed to flush, prisoners pulled the device up by a string and tried again.

An inspection discovered the plot, which was exposed on a report by the Independent Monitoring Board last week.

Inspectors said 'Illicit mobile telephones can be passed from cell to cell via the toilet system.'

There are fears of radicalisation at the so-called Jihadi Jail, which holds convicted terrorists.

They called for security reviews and improvements at the unit, which holds more than 20 'unruly' prisoners.

The plot was uncovered during an inspection at the unit, which holds more than 20 'unruly' prisoners

The Ministry of Justice said: 'Progress remains to be made but HMP Whitemoor has already taken action to improve security.

'This includes intelligence-led searches for contraband and the introduction of new technology to find and detect mobile phones.'

This latest scandal at the jail follows a legal secretary and female warder falling in love with killer prisoners.

The pair then tried to smuggle drugs into prison for the inmates.

The jail has suffered past smuggling scandals  including a legal secretary and a female warder who both fell in love with killer inmates and tried to bring in drugs for them.

Left, Lee Rigby's killer Michael Adebolajo and, right, hate preacher Anjem Choudary are held in a similar unit

Lee Rigby's killer Michael Adebolajo and hate preacher Anjem Choudary were among the first inmates at three special 'jihadi jails', which have been dubbed prisons within prisons.

The pair were held in a special unit at HMP Frankland in Country Durham, with centres also expected to open at HMP Full Sutton near York and at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire in the coming months.

The centres were set up to isolate jihadists in the hope of stopping radicalisation among the wider prison population.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson today claimed China had become a 'voice of reason' in the world and Putin's Russia was more measure than America.

In her main speech to the party conference in Bournemouth, Ms Swinson warned activists the 'politics of the bully is back'.

The deputy leader launched an angry attack on US President Donald Trump, branding him a 'misogynist and a racist'.

Ms Swinson's remarks will anger those who believe the Special Relationship between the UK and USA is more important than any one President.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson (pictured today at conference) today claimed China had become a 'voice of reason' in the world and Putin's Russia was more measure than America

In her main speech to the party conference in Bournemouth (pictured), Ms Swinson warned activists the 'politics of the bully is back'

In her rallying call to party activists, Ms Swinson warned 'politics is broken' and told them they could not take for granted that liberal people would win in the end.

And amid a growing international crisis in North Korea, she said: 'When calm heads and brave leaders are needed more than ever, global politics seems broken.

'A few years ago it would have seemed inconceivable that in such a crisis, China would be a voice of reason, and Russia more measured than America.

'The politics of the bully is back. Human rights are trampled. Climate change is denied. Hate and division are spread like poison into society.'

Levelling her most serious attack on the US President yet, Ms Swinson slammed the Government for offering a state visit.

She said the offer was a 'sign of our weakness in a Brexit world'.

The deputy leader said: 'Trump is a bully, a misogynist and a racist. He boasts about sexually assaulting women. He cruelly mocked a reporter for his disability. He has rolled back trans rights.

'And for someone who makes much of being straight-talking, he won't call a Nazi a Nazi.'

The deputy leader launched an angry attack on US President Donald Trump, branding him a 'misogynist and a racist'

Ms Swinson added: 'How easily will our values be cast aside in our desperation to sign trade deals to avoid economic catastrophe.'

Senior Conservative MP Nigel Evans told MailOnline: 'Russia will be more measured when it stops occupying other people's countries and China will be a voice of reason when it stands up to North Korea.

'The Lib Dems really have totally lost their moral compass as evidence by their attack on the UK electorate for voting to leave the EU.'

Party leader Sir Vince Cable today claimed he could be Britan's next Prime Minister despite vowing to reverse Brexit and the party's failure at the June election.

The newly elected Liberal Democrat chief said the succession of shock results at the ballot box in Britain, the US and France proved dramatic changes were possible.

Sir Vince played down the failure of his party to cut through to the country at the general election when the party went from eight to just 12 MPs.

The former Cabinet minister is using his first party conference to make the case for a new referendum choosing between the Brexit deal and staying in Europe.
A Canadian has finally got his bong and stash back after protesting outside a courthouse in nothing more than his underwear.

Jeffrey Shaver has been demonstrating outside the Kitchener courthouse, in Ontario, for the past month after Waterloo Regional Police arrested him for possession of marijuana and seized his drugs and paraphernalia.

Cops were called to the Cambridge Memorial Hospital where Shaver was being treated for a panic attack.

Jeffrey Shaver has finally got his bong and stash back after protesting outside a courthouse in nothing more than his underwear

He's staged the bizarre protest outside the courthouse, wearing just his shoes and tight underwear with a sign which read 'return my bong.'

He said he had 'an issue' with the vending machine and officers charged him for trespassing and causing a disturbance. When they searched him, the found the bong and marijuana.

Shaver insists he has a medical marijuana card and presented it to police but was still arrested.

Since then, he's staged the bizarre protest outside the Kitchener courthouse, wearing just his shoes and tight underwear with a sign which read 'return my bong.'

On Friday, Shaver said the drugs possession charge has now been dropped and he will be getting his bong and pot back soon

Earlier this week, he was charged with public nudity for the protest. Despite that, the demonstration appears to have paid off.

On Friday, Shaver said the drugs possession charge has now been dropped and he will be getting his bong and pot back soon.

'The action of the Crown on this marijuana case has been completely unreasonable,' he told The Record. 'There should have been no need to continue (protesting) for such a long time.'
A man who stuck his penis in a dumbbell weight spent three hours surrounded by firefighters who sliced him free with power tools.

Angle grinders, a saw and a hydraulic rescue tool usually used to prize crash victims from vehicle wreckage were used to smash the 2.5kg disc on Friday.

This was after doctors were unable to remove the weight following the mishap at a gym in Worms, Germany.

The weight was removed from the man's penis in a three-hour procedure involving angle grinders, a saw and a hydraulic rescue tool

The victim had to be sedated as firefighters from the city of Worms smashed the weight to free his penis, according to Metro.

Firefighters shared a picture of the smashed weight on social media with some helpful advice for anybody tempted to squeeze their manhood into tight spots, saying: Please do not imitate such actions!

A man was taken to Bristol's Southmeads Hospital after his penis was cut off in a circular saw accident

The incident follows a man's penis being cut off by a circular saw in a Gloucestershire accident.

Surgeons were able to save his genitalia after he was rushed to Bristol Southmeads hospital on Monday, September 4.

The emergency surgery took eight hours to complete.
A woman with 'deep psychological problems' was in custody in the French city of Marseille on Sunday after spraying four American students with acid and burning two in the face.

The attack took place shortly after 11am on Sunday at the St Charles station, where the four women were preparing to board a train.

All were Boston College juniors in their early 20s  three of them on a study abroad program in the French capital, and the fourth based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

They were named by their university as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Kosten.

Charlotte Kaufman (left) and Kelsey Kosten (right) were two of the Boston College students attacked with acid in the French city of Marseille on Sunday

Courtney Siverling (left) and Michelle Krug (right) were also attacked in Marsielle on Sunday. The 41-year-old attacker used a cleaning substance containing hydrochloric acid that she is thought to have picked up from a local DIY store

The horrifying attack took place shortly after 11am at the Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles station (file image)

The 41-year-old attacker used a cleaning substance containing hydrochloric acid that she is thought to have picked up from a local DIY store.

Four emergency services vehicles arrived at the station, which was packed on a Sunday morning at the tail-end of the holiday season.

After carrying out the assault, the women displayed photos of her own burns, allegedly picked up in an earlier incident.

'She displayed clear signs of suffering from deep psychological problems,' said a source close to the case, who added that no slogans were shouted out during the attack, and it was not thought to be terrorism related.

The four students were treated at a Marseille hospital but released mid-afternoon. The worst injured had suffered impaired vision.

She was one of the two hit in the face, while the other two received splashes of the substance on their legs.

The women's parents and other family members were being kept in touch with developments by the US Embassy in Paris and French officials in Marseille.

Ms Kaufman, Ms Krug and Ms Siverling are all enrolled in Boston College's Paris programme, while Ms Kosten is a student at the Copenhagen Business School.

Siverling posted on Facebook Sunday that she and her friends are all safe and said she did not sustain any injuries.

She wrote: 'Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to see if I'm ok and/or has been praying for us. I did not receive any injuries from the attack in Marseille this morning and we are all safe. The French police and the U.S. Consulate have been wonderful and we are so thankful for that.

Four emergency services vehicles arrived at the station (file image), which was packed on a Sunday morning at the tail-end of the holiday season

Courtney Siverling posted on Facebook saying she was praying for the woman who attacked her and her friends

'I pray that the attacker would be healed from her mental illness in the name of Jesus and receive the forgiveness and salvation that can only come from Him.

'"This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him." Psalm 91:2.'

Her friend from church Savannah Freitas told DailyMail.com the three women are safe and have been helped by the U.S. consulate and the French police.

She said over Facebook messenger: 'Courtney did not receive any injuries but I did hear that the three others did but are expected to heal completely. However I am mostly struck by Courtney's incredible faith throughout this whole event.'

'As obviously traumatic as it must have been, she made it known to me personally as well as publicly on her Facebook that she is actively praying for the attacker to be healed of her mental illness.

'She so strongly believes that salvation and forgiveness comes from Jesus Christ alone and is praying that she would receive that. She is so very trusting in Lord to keep her safe and I know that everyone is so inspired by her faith in God and willingness to keep her attacker in her prayers.'

The director of the Boston College's Office of International Programs, Nick Gozik, said the women have been released from the hospital and 'it appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances'.

French prosecutors are not investigating the acid attack as an act of terror.

Paris remains under a State of Emergency following a string of terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic State and Al-Qaeda operatives over the past two years.

Security at transport hubs including rail stations has been massively stepped up because of threats by the groups to target them.

Corrosive substances are increasingly being used as weapons in Europe, including in Britain, where there were 450 such attacks in London alone in the last year.

Acid-based products are easy to purchase, and can be paid for in cash, so there is no trace of who bought them.
An inner city school in one of London's most deprived areas dubbed the 'East End Eton' has sent 21 pupils to university to train as doctors, dentists and vets.

The students all attended the London Academy of Excellence, (LAE) and are starting courses at some of the country's most prestigious colleges.

According to the school, LAE saw 59 per cent of pupils achieve A* and A grades with 18 achieving at least three A* grades.

Ashleigh Samuels, pictured is going to study medicine at Queen Mary University in London

Matthew Feyissa, pictured, came to the UK from Ethiopia and is now studying medicine

Sanilah Ali, pictured, is starting her dentistry course at King's College

The school boasts that 99 per cent of all its grades were in the A*-C range - compared with 77 per cent nationally.

Headmaster Scott Baker said: '99 per cent of all grades at A*-C is our best result to date, is significantly above the national average, but, most importantly, it simply means that every student who comes to LAE makes incredible progress and achieves the top grades required to study at a top university.'

The school said 148 of pupils are heading to Russell Group Universities with 15 going to Oxbridge.

According to the Sunday Times, one of those seeking to become a vet is Afsana Begum, 18, who is the youngest of six children of Bangladeshi origin. She told the paper: 'My dream is to work as a vet in a zoo.'

She has accepted a place at Nottingham University where the minimum requirements are an A in both Chemistry and Biology, with at least a B in another subject - not including General Studies.

Ashleigh Samuels, who is set to study medicine at Queen Mary University in London, is the youngest of four children. Her parents arrived in Britain from Jamaica.

The London Academy of Excellence boasts 99 per cent of its grades are in the A*-C range

Matthew Feyissa came to the UK from Ethiopia and is now studying medicine at King's College in London.

He will be joined there by Sanilah Ali who is starting her dentistry course.

Many of the students at LAE are from the London Borough of Newham, which is one of the most deprived in the city.

According to census data, 46.5 per cent of the 330,000 residents describe themselves as either Asian or Asian British.

Some 26.5 per cent say they are white, while 18.1 per cent are black or black British.

The figures show 40 per cent of residents are Christian, with 32 per cent of the population Muslim and 8.8 per cent are Hindu.

Some 9.5 per cent claim they are not religious.
On the back of Winx's 20th straight victory her owners have revealed how she got her name.

Appearing on 60 Minutes on Sunday night Richard Treweeke, 86, told Peter Stefanovic the champion horse's name derives from her mother, Vegas Showgirl.

'Well she's out of a mare called Vegas showgirl and if you've ever been to Vegas and go to see a couple of shows you realise there's some pretty good sorts up there you know cheeky bums and lovely t**s and that sort of thing,' Mr Treweeke told the program.

Champion racehorse Winx has taken out 20th straight win at Royal Randwick

On the back of Winx's 20th straight victory her owners have revealed how she got her name (Richard Treweeke, Debbie Kepitis and Peter Tighe pictured left to right)

Hugh Bowman waves to the crowd after winning race 6 the Colgate Optic White Stakes

Appearing on 60 Minutes on Sunday night Richard Treweeke, 86, told Peter Stefanovic the champion horse's name derives from her mother, Vegas Showgirl

'And if you like them you wink and if she likes you she winks back!'

The fabled mare took out her 20th straight win after beating Happy Clapper and Fox Player to the finish line on Saturday.

The winning mare cut a relaxed figure at Randwick before the George Main Stakes and won with a comfortable lead.

After giving away a sizable start and being put under pressure at the 800m, Winx surged in the straight to beat Happy Clapper in her 13th Group One win.

The six-year-old was ridden to victory by Hugh Bowman.

'She's done it again, she's such a delight to be a part of,' Bowman said.

The champion horse many consider to be working toward becoming the finest racehorse ever started the race at short odd with just 1.12 to take the win.

The six-year-old was ridden to victory by Hugh Bowman

After giving away a sizable start and being put under pressure at the 800m, Winx surged in the straight to beat Happy Clapper in her 13th Group One win

Winx ridden by Hugh Bowman wins Race 6 and Bowman hugs Debbie Kepitis

The champion horse many consider to be working toward becoming the finest racehorse ever
One man has died and another man has sustained multiple serious injuries after a car ran into a power pole.

Three men were found inside a vehicle in Sydney's north-west on Sunday night after emergency services were called to Carrington Road at Londonderry.

The driver has escaped any serious injuries and has also been taken to Westmead Hospital where he will be checked as a precaution and undergo mandatory testing.

Three men were found inside a vehicle in Sydney's north-west on Sunday night after emergency services were called to Carrington Road at Londonderry (pictured)

One man died in the crash while another was rushed to hospital in a serious condition

The driver escaped any serious injuries and has also been taken to Westmead Hospital

Authorities found the sedan they were in had left the road and struck a pole, bringing down the lines.

The man positioned in the back seat of the car sustained fatal injuries and tragically died at the scene.

A front seat passenger was rescued and taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition.

The splintered power pole was seen sticking out of the P-plate car

The man in the back seat of the car sustained fatal injuries and tragically died at the scene

All three men are understood to be aged in their 20s and from western Sydney

All three men are understood to be aged in their 20s and from western Sydney.

Officers from the Crash Investigation Unit have been at the scene since 8.50pm surveying the incident.

Police are urging anyone with information in relation to this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A property developer who appeared on TVs Secret Millionaire was jailed for the manslaughter of a carpenter working on one of his building projects.

Mr Clark, 55, went into a coma, was paralysed and died a month later after falling five metres through a void in a first-floor ceiling in September 2014 while Holland was holidaying in Spain.

Mr Clark's fiancee, Beverley, told the Lewes Crown Court at Hove Trial Centre her life ended when he died - just two days after they got engaged.

'He died too soon, his loss will be felt forever,' she said, adding she would be happier if she went to bed and did not wake up rather than continue to face life without him.

Property mogul Holland - dubbed the saviour of Brighton - appeared on TV's The Secret Millionaire and was jailed for the manslaughter of Dave Clark

Beverly Clark said she'd rather go to be and not wake up than go on living her life without her fiance

'Dave was real, he was my love, my rock.'

The 52-year-old, who got engaged to Mr Clark just two days before his 'unnecessary death', described the anguish she was still enduring.

She said she now leads a double existence in which her smiles are fake and her laughs are hollow as she tries to make sense of a world without him.

She spoke candidly and with dignity in court about the moment she learned the 'big, clever, funny man' would be paralysed if he survived.

Beverly, who changed her surname to Clark when he died, had been planning to renovate a house in Hove with her fiance.

The Health and Safety Executive warned Holland his Stanmer Park stables development was dangerous a year before.

Mike Holland and his site foreman Grant Oakes were handed nine-month prison sentences after a jury found them responsible for Dave Clark.

Dave Clark, who fell through a void on the site before slipping into a coma, becoming paralysed and eventually dying

Holland, of Kings Road, Brighton, and Oakes, of Elm Drive, Hove, were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Known as the saviour of Brighton for his developing in the seaside town, he appeared on the reality show in 2012 helping at a charity called FLAG (Family Links Around Grimsby).

Following his appearance on the show, he told Sussex Life about the emotional impact of meeting parents who'd named a charity after their dead daughter, after his own son, Brian, had died aged 13.

Cherrywood Investments, now known as Threadneedle Estates, which is owned by Holland, was fined 120,000.

He waved to his fifth wife Wendy, while Oakes blew a kiss to his crying partner as they were taken to the cells.

Holland was ordered to pay 35,000 in court costs while Oakes must pay 10,000.

In addition, Holland was handed a five-month concurrent sentence after admitting failing to discharge his duty under health and safety laws, for which his company also accepted culpability.

Inspectors warned Holland that his site wasn't safe one year before Mr Clark died falling through the first-floor void

Holland was jailed after being found guilty of manslaughter following the death of a carpenter working on his site

Oakes was also handed an eight month concurrent sentence after being found guilty of the same offence.

The court heard Mr Clarks family has launched a civil lawsuit.

Lifelong Glasgow Rangers fan - nicknamed Brighton Dave - was known as happy, generous and upbeat.

On emerging from the coma, doctors said he would have to learn basic life skills again.

Ms Clark described watching him slowly die as an experience she would not wish on her worst enemy.

She described a painful and lengthy wait for the criminal justice system to take its course, all the while knowing her beloved husband-to-bed had been buried 'incomplete' because his brain and spinal chord had to be preserved for evidence.

She said relatives of the defendants treated proceedings 'flippantly', even making jokes about health and safety in the court room with what had appeared to be an 'arrogant air and disregard for a mans life'.

Foreman Grant Oakes was also jailed after Mr Clark - known as Brighton Dave - was killed at the site in Hove

Mr Clark's relatives were inundated with messages of support during his four weeks of care in St George's Hospital, London.

He had a severe brain injury and slipped in and out of a coma while he was treated in a head injury specialist centre.

He was moved to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he died just under a month later.

Nearly a thousand people attended his funeral in Hove.

Holland, who was born in Bromley, London, leapt to the defence of his company and said the accident was Clarks own fault.

Holland and Oakes were charged in March last year and stood trial in May in a case brought by the police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after two years on bail.

The court heard the criminal lack of care had left staff to work in dangerous conditions.

Health and safety inspector Denis Bodger turned up unannounced in September 2013 and found 'extremely poor standards' for work being carried out at height in the west wing.

Holland was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after the carpenter fell to his death on one of his projects

He issued a warning notice specifically about the first floor of that stable block, which is similar to the east wing where Mr Clark fell a year later.

Following a re-trial the jury returned guilty verdicts in June.

Her Honour Judge Christine Laing said: 'This was not a mistake or an error of judgement, it was an inexplicable failure to address an issue you had been warned would cause serious injury or death.

'You both owed a duty of care to all those working on the site.'

She said the earlier warnings were a 'blueprint' for how to keep their staff safe but they left the site in a dangerous condition.

Judge Laing said: 'Had I seen evidence you both accepted and understood your responsibilities for what happened, I may have been able to suspend the sentences.'

Born in Bromley, London, Holland left school with no qualifications and joined the Merchant Navy before moving to Brighton aged 18.

His investments in Brighton included homes, a private school and a newspaper.
The flag-saluting ceremony is part of an official drive to boost patriotic sentiment in higher education institutions across the nation

Egypt's public universities started the 2017/18 academic year on Saturday and Sunday with a new tradition of saluting the Egyptian flag, aimed at boosting patriotic sentiment, following a recent decision by the Higher Coucil of Universities (HCU).

The decision was announced last Thursday by the minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, following a meeting of the HCU.

The universities of Cairo, Ain Shams were among those saluting the flag and singing the national anthem on Sunday.

Several universities in Upper Egypt also took part, including Beni Suef and Fayoum, along with the University of Zagazig and Kafr El-Sheikh in the Delta.

In a phone call to the private TV channel DMC on Saturday evening, Abdel Ghaffar said that "the new tradition is going to be implemented only on the first day of school at universities."

Saluting the flag is mandatory for all pupils in both public and private schools in Egypt, from primary through secondary levels.

Videos from several universities showed university officials, professors, military representatives, and groups of students and university scouts inagurating the new tradition.

In Zagazig University in the Delta governorate of Sharqiya, students lined up at the ceremony holding signs identifying their respective faculties.

Abdel Ghaffar said: "This is not the only activity to raise the sense of belonging to Egypt among the students, because there are many plans for religious, cultural, artistic and political activities, as well as field trips to visit the country's national projects."

The HCU's decision has sparked spirited discussion, with some skeptical that a salute-the-flag exercise can really boost patriotism, while others argue that such ceremonies fail to address more pressing problems in an embattled education system.

Abdel Ghaffar told Al-Ahram daily newspaper on Saturday that "there will be no space for partisan work at the universities."

There have been no active student unions in Egyptian public universities since their dissolution in 2015. In addition, in 2014, some university heads suspended the activities of societies linked to political parties.

Plans to boost security at university campuses have also been activated, with an increased security personnel presence, the minister said on Thursday.

In addition, Abdel Ghaffar discussed several further measures to enforce discipline at universities, such as drug tests for students.

He said the ministry is willing to offer financial assistance to those students of limited means as well as free medical tests and treatment to students, especially those who have the hepatitis C virus.

Egypt has one of the highest rates of hepatitis C infection in the world, and has adopted a national strategy to eliminate the virus. According to 2015 statistics, some 15 million Egyptians  out of a population of 91 million  carried the disease, or around 22 percent of the population. In 2016, the health ministry reported a 96 percent cure rate nationwide, resulting from an intensive treatment programme over two years. The ministry has vowed to completely eliminate the disease in Egypt by 2021.

The number of students enrolled in public universities and educational institutes for the new academic year is estimated at 2.5 million.

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Drone footage has captured the incredible moment two kayakers paddled mere inches away from a whale and its calf in Western Australia.

The perilous decision was caught on camera by Michael Mccormick, 28, who was on his way home from a surf at Hillarys when he spotted the duo.

From the footage the pair can be seen hovering a few metres away from an adult Southern right whale - staring at the water coming out of its blowhole.

From the footage the pair can be seen hovering a few metres away from an adult Southern right whale - staring at the water coming out of its blowhole

Instead of hastily moving away the couple allow the current to take them even closer to the whale which breaches slightly out of the water.

The whale's tail hits the woman in the pink kayak but she still makes no move to retreat, even though her friend in the blue kayak is now using her oar to scramble away.

Mr Mccormick told Perth Now that after the rare and extremely close encounter a group of policemen on a boat came past to reprimand the pair.

'The rules are stay 100 metres from whales. That's what the police were saying over loud speaker,' he explained.

'The rules are stay 100 metres from whales. That's what the police were saying over loud speaker,' he explained

It is believed these particular whales are the same ones Perth watchers have been revelling in over the past few weeks as they migrate south

Whales are extremely protective of their calves and stay with them for up to twelve months after the birth.

Mr Mccormick thought that the kayakers might be swatted by this particular marine animal for coming too close - and admits they're lucky they got away without a swipe.

It is believed these particular whales are the same ones Perth watchers have been revelling in over the past few weeks as they migrate south.

Mr Mccormick thought that the kayakers might be swatted by this particular marine animal for coming too close - and admits they're lucky they got away without a swipe

'The mother and calf appear to be in excellent physical condition and are displaying normal behaviours like spy hopping, logging and waving,' State government marine park coordinator Mel Evans said

'The mother and calf appear to be in excellent physical condition and are displaying normal behaviours like spy hopping, logging and waving,' State government marine park coordinator Mel Evans said.

In a statement written by Ms Evans about the whales she warns onlookers not to get too close or 'distress' them in any way.

Those that do can be looking at a fine of up to $10,000.

Southern right whales are currently listed as a threatened species in Western Australia and humans should not come within 100 metres of them.

While Mr Mccormick was not sure if authorities spoke to the duo about their misdemeanor, they were waved on after the incident.
Just two junior doctors were left in charge of a hospital full with 436 patients according to an official report.

Hospital bosses were told the situation was dangerous but there are so few staff they were unable to plug the gap.

A junior doctor revealed how he was pulled off doing breast surgery during the day to provide cover at night.

Just two junior doctors were responsible for 436 patients overnight on May 2 at Derriford hospital in Plymouth according to a recently newly published report

Derriford Hospital currently has 101 unfilled junior doctor positions, file photograph

When he arrived he found that there was only one other junior doctor caring for almost 500 patients.

The scandal is revealed in official board papers at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where the hospital has 101 unfilled junior doctor vacancies almost double the number it had a year ago.

It highlights in graphic detail a national crisis where the NHS has a shortage of thousands of junior doctors.

One junior doctor at Derriford said the pressure was so great they didn't have a break over a whole weekend - and that their only food was a 'couple of biscuits from the patient trolley'

According to the Plymouth Herald, Derriford Hospital insists that patient safety is of paramount importance to them as well as the safety of their staff - adding that staffing is being reviewed on a weekly basis and that additional support through temporary roles is being applied where necessary.

The report shows that on May 2 of this year, one junior doctor wrote: 'There are supposed to be a core number of three senior house officers (SHOs) on the rota, today there is only myself. The on-call full shift for neurosurgery (SHO) is under the empty slot on the rota and has not been filled.

'The other SHO due to be in work today is now off post-nights as she was moved to nights last week last minute to cover another gap in the rota.'

A diary of a junior surgeon reveals the depth of the crisis at the hospital. He said: 'Pulled from breast surgery day job at 11am and told I must come in and cover medical nights overnight for the rest of the week, despite being on surgery. Told on the phone that the deputy medical director had talked to my consultant and said I must do this, as there would otherwise only be a single SHO looking after all of the medical patients in the hospital.

'After discussion with my consultant we reluctantly agreed that the best measure from a patient safety perspective would be for me to attend this shift, despite it being unsafe and bad for my personal training/development.

'Unfortunately, I did not manage much sleep before coming in for the night due to the short notice.

'Between myself and the other SHO on ward cover we were responsible for the care of 436 patients between the two of us, while carrying the crash bleep which covers the whole hospital. Made a record of the unsafe environment and want it to be noted while having done our best, this was a very unsafe shift from the patient perspective.'

Trust board papers noted that the incident raised a number of complex issues in terms of rota planning, staff and patient safety and impact on education for the trainees.

The medical cover at night is being reduced to 'levels which may be unsafe' with only two doctors looking after 450 patients where previously there were three.

There has also been a reduction in doctors rostered to support weekend ward rounds.

Phil Hughes Medical Director for Derriford Hospital said: ' Like other trusts nationally, we do have difficulties recruiting to and filling our junior doctor posts and so, as our responsibility to ensure our junior doctors and the hours they work are safeguarded, we have had to explore other options, where we can.

The examples in the paper are what we call exception reporting - meaning experiences such as those included in the report are the exception, not happening all of the time, but it is imperative that they are raised, and actions taken, to ensure they do not continue to happen. We take the working lives of our junior doctors and the responsibilities we place upon them very seriously.

We do recognise that we have to do more to meet the challenges with doctor recruitment and that is why we have established a group, with an executive leadership, to look at how we can improve things with our rotas.'

Our staff work exceptionally hard and we would like to publicly acknowledge and thank them for this.
Passengers lurched in their seats when the airplane they were in crashed into a catering truck on the tarmac at Manchester Airport on Sunday.

The wing of the Aurigny flight GR673, bound for Guernsey, became lodged in the side of the truck as it was toed through Terminal 1 at around 9.50am.

All 60 passengers and crew on board the flight were uninjured.

Passengers lurched in their seats when the airplane they were in crashed into a catering truck on the tarmac at Manchester Airport on Sunday

Pictures taken of the crash shows crews attempting to release the tip of the planes wing embedded in the rear of the truck.

A replacemet aircraft took the holidaymakers to Guernsey after a delay where they waited in the terminal building.

Airport officials say engineers were sent to investigate the incident.

Passenger Scott Grayson, 49, snapped pictures of the stuck plane as he got off the plane.

Speaking to MEN, the propererty developer from Cheshire, said: 'We looked out and saw the wing embedded into the side of the truck. The captain came on and confirmed what had happened.

'The pilot and the two girls working on board were very switched on. There were quite a few old people on board and they were just putting their minds at rest.

The wing of the Aurigny flight GR673, bound for Guernsey, became lodged in the side of the truck as it was toed through Terminal 1 at around 9.50am

'It was nothing to do with the airline. It was just one of those things. It was just a bad day at the office for the guy who was pushing us back from the stand. He must have been holding his head his hands.'

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: 'We can confirm that an aircraft has come into contact with a vehicle on push back.

'The incident is minor with no injuries and we are investigating with our third party partners involved.

Aurigny commercial director Malcolm Coupar said: 'There is an investigation following an incident involving one of our aircraft and a catering truck'

All 60 passengers and crew on board the flight were uninjured

'The incident has caused no impact to flights, and anyone with specific queries should contact the airline directly.'

Aurigny commercial director Malcolm Coupar said: 'There is an investigation following an incident involving one of our aircraft and a catering truck.

'Whilst an investigation is under way, there's nothing to add. The main thing is that nobody was hurt.

'We are sending a team of engineers to look into the damage caused to the aircraft.'
A new national assessment will see students in the first grade undergo literacy and numeracy tests so they don't 'fall between the cracks.'

At present the NAPLAN system tests children from years three, seven and nine on their reading, writing and mathematics skills but there isn't a national standard for students younger than those year groups.

Minister for Education Simon Birmingham explained that Australia's results in primary and secondary academics had declined and was hoping a new system could prevent errors learned in the earlier years from carrying forward, the Herald Sun reports.

At present the NAPLAN system tests children from years three, seven and nine on their reading, writing and mathematics skills but there isn't a national standard for students younger than those year groups

At the moment the idea of a nationwide check hasn't been developed but there are reports it could be integrated into the syllabus by 2019.

A panel of researchers and experts advised the Minister that a 'light check' on school students that age could help bolster results in the long term.

'By identifying exactly where students are at in their development early at school, educators can intervene to give extra support to those who need it to stop them slipping behind the pack.'

'By identifying exactly where students are at in their development early at school, educators can intervene to give extra support to those who need it to stop them slipping behind the pack,' said Mr Birmingham (pictured)

Instead of being a test conducted in anxiety-inducing school halls the year one 'check' would be far more relaxed and be administered by teachers known to the students.

An online system would then tally up the child's score and release the information to the principal and parents alike.

Mr Birmingham said he would hold discussions with state and territory leaders and education authorities over a trial and implementation roll out.
Company bosses whose firms rip off consumers by breaking competition laws should be put in the dock and prosecuted, senior Lib Dem Ed Davey said today.

The home affairs spokesman said he had called for tougher laws on 'cartels' while a business minister in the coalition government.

He raised the prospect of jailing the worst offenders being sent to jail.

But Sir Ed said his ambitions had been frustrated by the Conservative wing of the coalition.

Company bosses whose firms rip off consumers by breaking competition laws should be put in the dock and prosecuted, senior Lib Dem Ed Davey (file image) said today

Speaking to reporters on the fringes of the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth, Sir Ed said: 'This is a policy I tried to get through in the coalition and David Cameron stopped it.

'I suggested when we are hunting down cartels, when businesses are cheating the public, we should not go go through the system we have where the competition authorities investigate and charge.

'That's an administrative process - we should actually put people in court and have a prosecutor model as they do in the United States.

'I think if big businesses are cheating consumers, we should put them in the dock and properly question them in a much tougher, robust way.'

Sir Ed said fines should still be levelled against law-breaking firms but individuals involved in a 'conspiracy against the public' should also face charges.

Sir Ed refused to name specific sectors he had in mind a target for thew new policy.

Speaking to reporters on the fringes of the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth (pictured) said he had called for tougher laws on 'cartels' while a business minister in the coalition government

But sectors such as household energy and broadband have been subject to competition probes in recent years.

Energy firms were referred to competition regulators in June 2014 by Ofgen.

Sir Ed said the incident was a 'classic example' of how a Lib Dem intervention was blocked by the coalition in power.

He said: 'Ripping customers off of tens of millions is outrageous. If they are in breach of competition law they should feel the uncomfortable position of being put in the dock.'
BMW could shift production of the new electric Mini to the Netherlands in the event of a hard Brexit.

The German motor giant announced in July it was planning to build the new all-electric Mini in Oxford despite the British government's decision to press ahead with Brexit.

However, the firm's chairman, Harald Kruger, warned the Bavarian motor giant could reverse this decision in the event of a hard Brexit.

BMW has warned it may pull production of the new electric Mini from its plant in Oxford if Britain crashes out of the EU without a trade deal in what is known as a 'hard Brexit'

BMW announced plans to build the new Mini, pictured, using parts manufactured in Germany

BMW boss Harald Kruger, pictured, said the absence of a trade deal will harm all sides

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Kruger said 'both sides would lose' in the event of Britain crashing out of the EU without any deal. He said the firm was 'flexible' where it may build cars in future.

He said: 'Today already there is a second location for Mini.'

BMW has a factory ready to produce the new car in the Netherlands. The new car's battery and motors will be imported from Germany - which could add significantly to the manufacturing costs if tariffs are introduced on car parts.

Mr Kruger stressed the need for a 'pragmatic solution that ensures business is competitive in the future . . . Both parties need to see the bigger picture'.

He warned BMW 'cant invest into the future if you dont have any free trade agreements'.

A hard Brexit could see a 4.5 per cent duty on parts crossing from the EU into Britain and 10 per cent on cars exported between the UK and the EU.

In July, the company said it had neither sought nor received assurances that it would not be hit with border taxes when it ships parts to Britain.

Currently Britain enjoys tariff-free trade with the other 27 members. Britain's future trade relationship with the EU is uncertain and will be the topic of complex negotiations over the coming months and possibly years. The two sides have until March, 2019 to reach a new agreement, unless an extension is agreed.

BMW is pushing to include more electric vehicles in its lineup by offering hybrid and battery-only models of existing diesel and gasoline cars, on top of its i8 and i3 models designed as electric from the ground up. The entire industry is under pressure to come up with low-emissions cars to meet tighter government pollution standards, including the effort to limit greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
President Trump continues to have 'total confidence' in his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

'I have known him for a very long time,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, as he returned to D.C. from surveying hurricane damage. 'He's a very straight shooter ... He's a very honorable man.'

Mnuchin has taken heat this week over a travel request he put in to take a government plane to Europe for a honeymoon with his new wife, Scottish actress Louise Linton  and for bringing her along with him on a work trip to Kentucky, where the new couple was able to watch the solar eclipse.

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President Trump expressed confidence in his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin when talking to reporters on Air Force On on Thursday

Mocchin' Mnuchin: Steve Mnuchin (above last month) denied that he used a government plane to travel to Kentucky on the day of the solar eclipse in order to view the celestial spectacle

Mona Louise-a: The Treasury Secretary, 54, brought along his third wife Louise Linton, 36, on the trip, which came just one week after they returned from their honeymoon

Tone deaf twosome: Linton became enmeshed in her own scandal when she lashed out at a working mother who questioned why she was flying on a government plane (above)

The thrice-married millionaire, 54, said that he and his twice-married wife, 36, inquired if they could use the plane not for their own self-interest or personal convenience, but rather as an issue of national security.

Mnuchin explained that as a member of the president's National Security Council he needed a secure communication link with Washington and his staff put in a request for use of an Air Force jet as a result.

If that request had been granted, the $25,000-and-hour jet would have been keeping the lines secure and Mnuchins safe as they stopped off in Scotland, Paris and later Lake Como.

The cabinet member was not quite done addressing his recent scandals involving government aircraft however, using his appearance to also speak about his now infamous trip to Kentucky that coincided with the solar eclipse.

Mnuchin later flat out denied claims that he and his Scottish-born wife had used the government-owned plane to travel to Louisville and later Fort Knox so they could view the solar eclipse during his speech.

He then went on to state that the trip had originally been scheduled for a different time, and that he was not even all that interested in the celestial spectacle because he is from New York.

'You know, people in Kentucky took this stuff very serious,' said Mnuchin.

'Being a New Yorker and (living for a time in) California, I was like, the eclipse? Really? I don't have any interest in watching the eclipse.'

Mnuchin did still manage to sit through the spectacle despite his disregard and disinterest for the sun and moon's movements.

And he was joined at the viewing party by one of those 'very serious' Kentucky residents, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Mnuchin said that he had scrapped a staff plan to view the eclipse from the roof of a building at Fort Knox, and instead looked at it briefly from the ground using a pair of eclipse glasses that someone handed him.

The princess and the Pence: Linton became Mnuchin's third wife in June

Asked by the moderator if it was an 'eclipse boondoggle,' Mnuchin said: 'We went to see Fort Knox... Fort Knox is a symbol of the economic might of our country.'

And on the topic of the honeymoon trip, Mnuchin said he ended up withdrawing his own request in the end.

Mnuchin said once it became clear to him that he could obtain secure communications links without a government plane he called off the inquiry into obtaining one from the administration.

'Let me just set the record straight. First of all, the government never paid for any of my personal travel,' stated Mnuchin at the press conference, sponsored by Politico.

'This had nothing to do with convenience. This was purely about national security.'

Linton posted a photo of herself in Paris on the trip, as well as a video of the couple boating off the coast of Italy which showed the Secret Service members who were also sent on the trip.

Since the requests became public, the Treasury's Office of Inspector General confirmed that it was looking into 'all requests for and use of government aircraft' at Treasury.

Peek-a-boo: The pair are also being criticized after it was revealed Mnuchin had initially submitted a request to have a government jet for their honeymoon last month (Linton above boating in Italy)

Money shot: Linton puckers up to Mnuchin as the two travel down the coast of Italy last month on their honeymoon (above)

Hanging on the telephone: Mnuchin (above in Italy) said that as a member of the president's National Security Council he needed a secure communication link with Washington and his staff

Protect and serve: Linton's video of the trip seemed to show at least one Secret Service agent (center) accompanying the two on their travels

On that trip down south in August, Linton and Mnuchin first stopped in Louisville for a luncheon on the day in question before moving on to Fort Knox.

Cabinet members generally travel on commercial flights to meetings and events, with government aircraft used only on official business.

If commercial flights are unavailable cabinet members will at times be permitted to travel on a government plane, which because of the eclipse could have been the case the day that Mnuchin took his wife with him to Kentucky.

Summer in Scotland : Linton and Mnuchin enjoy a day of gray in Edinburgh (baove)

The newlyweds have been inseparable ever since their June wedding, but it was still quite a surprise for some to see that Linton accompanied her husband on a government plane for his trip to Kentucky.

Linton outed herself as having joined Mnuchin by posting the Instagram photo, in which she tagged her designer outfit in the post as well, a mix of high-end brands that included Tom Ford, Valentino, Roland Mouret and Hermes.

'Great #daytrip to #Kentucky!' Linton wrote under the photograph.

She then added hashtags for various pieces of her expensive wardrobe, listing #rolandmouret, #hermesscarf, #tomford and #valentino,' wrote Linton.

Her subsequent outburst came after Jennifer Miller, a working mother with three children, called Linton 'deplorable' in the comment section.

Miller responded by writing in the comments: 'Glad we could pay for your little getaway. #deplorable.'

'Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband?' asked Linton in response to Miller's comment.

'Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country?'

Suicide squad: Mnuchin, who is also a Hollywood producer, was married in front of the Trumps and Karen pence, whose husband officiated the wedding

Tartan it up: Linton was married once before prior to walking down the aisle with Mnuchin

Hall on earth: 'He is a very straight shooter .... He's a very honorable man,' President Trump said of Mnuchin on Thursday (pair above in April)

A statement was later released by a spokesperson for Mnuchin, which said: 'The Mnuchins are reimbursing the government for [Linton's] travel, and she does not receive compensation for products she mentions.'

That was enough to satisfy Miller, who said of the White House's response: 'I'm actually glad. I'm glad that, you know, they are reimbursing all of us, the government, the taxpayers for this trip that she used to advertise for brands that, I don't know, if her friends own them or what.'

Linton released her own statement at the time, saying: 'I apologize for my post on social media yesterday as well as my response. It was inappropriate and highly insensitive.'

Miller meanwhile still seemed to be in disbelief that her comment had resulted in a this very public feud.

'Honestly, it was probably just a weak moment for me,' said an incredibly composed and well-spoken Miller in an interview with CNN one day after the social media spat.

'I was frustrated already by some stories I had just read about the Secret Service running out of overtime money because of the excesses of the administration's travel schedule, and then saw this woman who I didn't know who she was.'

Miller continued: 'I knew who the Treasury Secretary was, so I assumed it was his wife, getting off of a government plane for what I assumed was a government trip and basically advertising for all of these European, you know, high-end brands that your average person couldn't afford.

She went on to add that it was even worse because it had been done in Kentucky, which is 'one of the poorest states in our country.'
Mario Lopez has reportedly been assaulted by a man at his Las Vegas gym who threw the actor's cellphone at the wall.

The Extra host was working out at the Planet Hollywood Spa by Mandara on Friday when he accidentally bumped into someone, sources told TMZ.

The 43-year-old quickly apologized, saying 'excuse me', but the other gym goer quickly became aggressive, responding 'you got a problem?'

Mario Lopez, pictured with wife Courtney on Friday at Planet Hollywood) has reportedly been assaulted by a man at his Las Vegas gym who threw who the actor's cellphone

As tensions rose, an employee quickly intervened.

But as Lopez went to grab his phone from the locker room benches to leave, the other man reportedly snatched it and threw it against the wall, shattering it.

Security arrived and cops were called but the actor declined to press charges, although he agreed to have his phone replaced by the hotel.

The aggressor has been banned from the spa.

The Extra host was working out at the Planet Hollywood Spa by Mandara (pictured) on Friday when he accidentally bumped into someone, sources say

As tensions rose, an employee quickly intervened but the man reportedly snatched his phone and threw it at the wall, shattering it (Lopez on his cellphone, left, and working out, right)

The unfortunate incident did not appear to ruin Lopez's day and he was spotted at Jennifer Lopez's All I Have concert at the same hotel later that evening.

He shared photos from the event, including one Instagram shot, of himself and his wife, Courtney Lopez  with whom he shares kids Dominic, 4, and Gia, 7.

In another, he shared a photo of Lopez performing with the caption, 'My girl @JLo got down tonight.' before tagging Planet Hollywood.
The Wolf of Wall Street himself, Jordan Belfort, says he had to to teach Leo DiCaprio how to act on drugs because the Oscar winner has never taken any.

'Leo had never done drugs, so I showed him what it looks and feels like when you are high on Quaaludes,' Belfort, 55, told The New York Post.

'I... started crawling around. We were both on the floor, drooling. His father walked into the room and asked us what the f*** we were doing.'

The Wolf of Wall Street had to teach Leo DiCaprio (pictured in the movie) how to act on drugs because the Oscar winner has never taken any

DiCaprio played Belfort, the hard partying, corrupt banker in the Wolf of Wall Street

Belfort (pictured) says he has regrets from those hedonistic days on Wall Street - although the drugs were never one of them

DiCaprio said he got it all on tape.

'Or rather, the lost Jordan tapes,' the Oscar winner joked to the Daily Mail in 2014.

'He crawled around the floor to re-enact the stages of getting high. He wasn't the greatest actor, but he certainly gave me the inspiration,' he added.

The moment was captured in one of the most celebrated scenes of the movie, where Dicaprio's Belfort, as high as a kite on Quaalude tranquilizers, gets from the lobby of a country club, down some steps and into his Lamborghini - a moment celebrated as a master-class of physical comedy.

The movie showed DiCaprio's Belfort repeatedly getting high on drugs

In one of the most celebrated scenes of the movie, where Dicaprio's Belfort, as high as a kite on the Quaalude tranquilizers, gets from the lobby of a country club, down some steps and into his Lamborghini, is a mini Fellini movie in itself

The actor, who is known for his wild yacht parties with beautiful women, has spoken previously about how his poor upbringing had put him off drugs for life.

'Never done it,' DiCaprio said about drugs, US Weekly reported in 2014. 'That's because I saw this stuff literally every day when I was three or four years old. So Hollywood was a walk in the park for me... I'd go to parties and it was there and, yeah, there's that temptation,' he admitted.

'Hollywood is a very volatile place where artists come in and they essentially say they want to belong. It's incredibly vulnerable to be an actor and also get criticism at a young age when you're formulating who you are,' he added. 'We've seen a lot of people fall victim to that, and it's very unfortunate.'

The star was brought up by his mother Irmelin in an L.A. neighborhood near Hollywood Boulevard which had a 'major prostitution ring on my street corner, crime and violence everywhere.'

DiCaprio (pictured in a scene from the Wolf of Wall Street with Jonah Hill), who is known for his wild yacht parties with beautiful women, has spoken previously about how his poor upbringing had put him off drugs for life

Belfort is also off the hard stuff and has been sober for 20 years following a near-fatal overdose (pictured is DiCaprio as the banker in Wolf of Wall Street with Jonah Hill)

But seeing where drugs could lead, the actor made a conscious decision not to go down that path.

Belfort is also off the hard stuff and has been sober for 20 years following a near-fatal overdose.

He also served 22 months in prison after pleading guilty to stock fraud and money laundering in 1999.

Belfort, who was born in the Bronx, is still working to pay back the victims he defrauded, and his book, subsequent movie rights and public speaking go towards that. He still lives a luxurious life however, with a Manhattan Beach home in California, Mercedes, making speaking engagements, up to 150 a year, which can pay $100,000 per day.

He says he has regrets from those hedonistic days on Wall Street - although the drugs were never one of them.

'If I could change things so that I didn't lose people money, I would go back. But I'd keep all the hookers and drugs... That was my life.'
Alex Blum has spoken out about his transformation from soldier to bank robber

An Army Ranger who made a shocking turn to participate in an armed bank robbery has spoken out, blaming the elite force's notoriously tough training for his descent into crime.

In the new book Ranger Games: A Story Of Soldiers, Family And An Inexplicable Crime, author Ben Blum delves deeply into what prompted his own cousin Alex Blum to participate in the 2006 robbery in Tacoma, Washington.

'Before I joined the Army, I was vibrant, funny, easygoing, loving and independent,' Alex told his cousin.

'When I got my tan beret, I was a shell. I was an angry, testosterone-driven p****... I was unable to value human life.'

Alex was born in 1987 and grew up in Colorado. Ben remembers him as a 'squeaky-clean, patriotic, rule-respecting kid'.

Obsessed with the Army from an early age, Alex enlisted shortly after graduation from high school and set his sights on becoming an Army Ranger, the elite special forces unit.

Alex was the getaway driver in this 2006 robbery of a Bank of America branch in Tacoma, Washington. He now admits he had prior knowledge and helped plan the heist

Alex describes the brutal training regimen of the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) at length, recalling a time when a drill sergeant forced a recruit to eat a box of ice cream sandwiches and then run until he vomited.

Forced to stay awake for some 30 hours straight performing grueling physical tasks, Alex says he resorted to using hot sauce as eye drops and cutting himself to stay awake.

In April 2006, Alex reported to the 75th Ranger Regiment, 2nd Battalion, stationed at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, where he fell under the spell of Specialist Luke Elliot Sommer.

The older soldier with combat experience led Alex's fire team, obsessively drilling them on building infiltration tactics.

'At nights and on weekends, they ventured into Tacoma with new eyes,' Ben writes.

'Every door was a potential breach point, every bar counter a red zone concealing hidden gunmen, every Denny's dining room partitioned into lines of fire.'

Alex fell under the spell of Specialist Luke Elliot Sommer (left and right), who obsessively drilled his fire team on building infiltration tactics

Sommer also liked to play a sick game called 'suicide check' with the green privates.

The older soldier would toss a pistol to one of the junior soldiers. 'The requirement then was to point it at your head and pull the trigger. To examine the chamber first was an insult, forbidden,' Ben writes.

On August 3, 2006, Alex gave Sommer a ride to a Bank of America branch in Tacoma, and then thought of something to impress the older soldier.

'[Alex] charted out on a napkin how a Ranger team would hit the place, trying his best to impress the specialist with his tactical acuity,' Ben writes.

The next day, Sommer knocked on his door and told Alex he needed a ride to the bank with three other men: a private named Chad Palmer and two friends, Tigra Robinson and Nathan Dunmall.

They piled into Alex's Audi A4 and began strapping on body armor as he drove.

Though he later claimed he thought it was just a training exercise, Alex has now come clean about his role in what happened next.

'[The] truth is this. I had full knowledge of the robbery before it happened,' Alex said. 'I did help plan some of it, and I knew what we were doing.'

The robbery went off with military precision, with two men watching the door wielding AK-47s

Sommer, the ringleader, vaulted over the counter with a laser-sighted Glock 19 and barked commands at the tellers, demanding high denomination bills with no dye packs or bait money

The robbery went off with military precision, with two men watching the door wielding AK-47s.

Sommer, the ringleader, vaulted over the counter with a laser-sighted Glock 19 and barked commands at the tellers, demanding high denomination bills with no dye packs or bait money.

In just over two minutes, the robbers made off with over $54,000.

Alex had remained in the car, driving around the area and later claiming he planned to abandon the plan, but returned to pick up the four bank robbers.

It didn't take cops long to track down the would-be criminal masterminds.

Although they'd taken the rear license plate off of Alex's car, they forgot to remove the front plate, and a witness jotted down the number.

A police evidence photo shows the arsenal investigators discovered in Sommer's possession

Sommer fled to Canada, where he lived in his mother's basement while facing extradition, and claimed that he'd intended to get caught in order to draw attention to alleged war crimes by US troops he'd witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those claims were dismissed as unfounded by Pentagon investigators, and Sommer was extradited, convicted, and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Accomplices Palmer, Robinson and Dunmall all pleaded guilty and were sentenced to at least a decade in federal prison.

Alex served 16 months and was released on time served. Both soldiers were dishonorably discharged.

The new book has garnered critical praise as a novelistic, well-written true crime tale, but at least one reviewer has called Alex's description of the Rangers into question.

'The Ranger Indoctrination Program is undoubtedly brutal, desensitizing infantrymen to the realities of violence,' writes Jennifer Senior for the New York Times.

'But Blum also suggests, through extensive quotes from Alex, that it drains its graduates of their individuality and moral reasoning, and he never directly investigates the worst of Alexs claims.'
The US-led coalition said Saturday that Russian forces had bombed American-backed fighters battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, wounding several, despite denials from Moscow.

The unprecedented strike was initially reported by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters supported by Washington.

The SDF accused Russian warplanes of bombing its fighters for the first time in the complex war, though Russia's military spokesman denied targeting the group.

"This is not possible. Why would we bomb them?" military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told AFP at Hmeimim, Moscow's main base for its air operations in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

A statement later by the coalition dismissed the Russian denial.

"Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers. Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike," the coalition statement said.

No coalition troops were wounded in the early morning strike east of the Euphrates River near Syria's oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, the coalition added.

The SDF and Russian-backed Syrian government forces are conducting parallel but separate offensives against IS in Deir Ezzor.

Regime troops are engaged in an offensive against the provincial capital, Deir Ezzor city, while SDF fighters are battling the militants further east across the Euphrates.

The SDF earlier said six of its fighters were wounded in Russian and regime bombing of an industrial area northeast of the city, about seven kilometres (four miles) from the east bank of the Euphrates.

"At 3:30 am (0030 GMT) on September 16, 2017, our forces east of the Euphrates River were targeted by Russian and Syrian regime warplanes in the Al-Sinaaiya area," the SDF said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian forces had taken the village of Al-Jafra, to the southeast of Deir Ezzor, allowing it to block the IS forces in the city on three sides.

"The only escape left for the militants in the city is to cross the Euphrates river" towards the east, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the observatory's head.

"Russian and Syrian airplanes are targeting anyone who crosses the river," he said.

The SDF's assaults against IS in Deir Ezzor and in Raqa further up the Euphrates Valley are both backed by the US-led coalition, while Syrian regime troops are supported by air cover from Russian warplanes.

The coalition says there is a de-confliction line to prevent the two offensives from clashing, which has been agreed on between Russia, the regime, the SDF and the coalition.

The line runs from Raqa province southeast along the Euphrates River to Deir Ezzor.

The skies over Syria have become increasingly congested as the six-year conflict has dragged on, with warplanes from the coalition, the Syrian government and Russia all carrying out strikes.

Confrontations between the warplanes have been rare, but in June a US jet shot down a Syrian warplane accused of bombing SDF units in the north.

Earlier Saturday, the Syrian Observatory said that IS forces had shot down a plane believed to belong to the regime southeast of Deir Ezzor.

Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban has said it is up to Russia and the United States to see that the SDF and the Syrian army do not clash.

Syria's crisis erupted with anti-government protests in 2011 but has since evolved into a complex, multi-front war that has killed 330,000 people and displaced millions.

IS, which in 2014 overran swathes of territory across Syria, is seeing its zones of control dwindle even as it claims responsibility for bloody attacks abroad.

It once held most of Deir Ezzor province and its capital, encircling around 100,000 civilians who still lived in government-controlled neighbourhoods there.

But Russian-backed troops breached the IS sieges on the city earlier this month and are now working to shut off the militants' remaining escape routes.

Pro-regime forces have also begun fighting to reach the IS-held town of Albukamal, according to a statement published by a joint operations room of loyalists including Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese fighters from Hezbollah.

Albukamal lies on Syria's eastern border with Iraq and is regularly targeted by coalition air strikes.

IS has also been pushed out of two-thirds of its former bastion Raqa by the SDF.

Across the border in Iraqi desert territory, security forces backed by tribal fighters are manoeuvring to attack one of IS's last remaining bastions.

After driving IS out of Nineveh province earlier this year, the Iraqi government set its eyes on Hawija, north of Baghdad, as well as the towns of Al-Qaim, Rawa and Anna in the western desert.

On Saturday, Iraqi government forces captured the former mining town of Akashat some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Al-Qaim just hours after attacking the IS desert outpost.

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Residents of a sleepy Lake District village are at loggerheads after a clock which has chimed since 1890 is set to go silent.

The clock at St Andrew's Parish Church in Coniston will be between the hours of 11pm and 7am due to complaints from the owners of a pub opposite, who complained it kept them and their guests awake with its 'Big Ben' bongs.

Yet campaigners who want the tradition of the bell bongs to be continued have taken to Facebook to call for a boycott of the Yewdale Inn, causing divide among locals and those who have moved into the village.

Jeff and Susie Hart, who took over the pub in 2013 after moving from Lancaster, claim the hourly ringing of the bells keeps them awake.

Jeff and Susie Hart, who took over the Yewdale pub in 2013 after moving from Lancaster, claim the hourly ringing of the bells from the church just behind the trees keeps them awake

Ms Hart said: 'The only thing between us and the church clock bell tower is a fairly narrow road.

'Our bedroom and three other guest bedrooms have windows directly adjacent to the clock tower and sometimes it seems like Big Ben is chiming next door in the middle of the night when we are trying to sleep after a long day working.

'Even with the window closed the noise is disruptive to sleep.'

She added that due to the chimes, her business had received a number of negative reviews on TripAdvisor from customers.

One review read: 'The hotel is next to a church which rings the bells every hour even during night so this & it being very hot disturbed our sleep.'

Mrs Hart said she and her husband had been in talks with the church about the bells since 2013 and were willing to cover some of the costs, yet the quote was more than they anticipated.

The couple then got in contact with South Lakeland District Council's Environmental Health department and the parish council.

After the council monitored the bells, it was ruled they will fall silent overnight - with cost of fitting the silencer falling on the parish.

Many people in the village expressed their dismay, with local Penny Walker claiming it had not been a problem for 'hundreds of years'.

'They (the chimes) are part of Coniston's heritage and part of village life,' she wrote on a Facebook Page.

The chimes at St Andrew's Church have been going since 1890

Melanie Louise Atkinson's posted: 'I lived in Coniston for 25 years, and many of my ancestors lived there too, the clock striking never bothered any of us. Were the new owners of the Yewdale not aware of the clock before they moved in?'

Neil Sheppard added. 'This is what really annoys me about some "offcomers" to the lakes. They have no respect for the locals and a sense of entitlement that their view should prevail.'

Local councillor Anne Hall said there was a feeling of 'sadness' following the ruling, adding: 'Personally I live within 50 yards of the church and look right at it and sleep with my window open.

'It's like the river running past, you don't hear these things when you're there all the time.'

A spokesman for the council said: 'In the end we are duty bound to comply with the council's decision. We hope that installing a mechanism that works during the night is a reasonable compromise.'
Zoltan Hirsch, a 37-year-old double amputee from Brooklyn has since 2010 filed a shocking 195 lawsuits against establishments in the city that are not wheelchair accessible

A handful of handicapped New Yorkers have filed more than 400 lawsuits against local small businesses for failing to pass disability safety guidelines.

And these legal claims are more controversial than most people realize.

While the people behind the lawsuits claim to be helping enforce the American with Disabilities act - and making New York a safer and more accessible place for all people - some people say they are more conman than crusader.

These individuals have been criticized by some as being part of a 'cottage industry' of 'serial plaintiffs,' targeting mom-and-pop establishments for quick cash settlements, according to the New York Post.

Zoltan Hirsch, a 37-year-old double amputee from Brooklyn has since 2010 filed a shocking 195 lawsuits against establishments in the city that are not wheelchair accessible.

The businesses range from an eyeglasses shop in Soho, to Bodegas in Brooklyn to a restaurant in Hell's Kitchen.

And he's not the only one - four other individuals have filed a combined 200 suits over wheelchair access.

Luigi Girotto has filed 70 suits, Pedro Fontanes has filed 55, Jerry Cankat has filed 52, and Nauqone Taylor has filed 23.

Fontanes, a 69-year-old from Queens, has filed 13 alone against businesses on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.

At those establishments he claims to have suffered 'harm' and 'injury,' and at one restaurant complained that the mirror was too high.

The director of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District committee, Mark Caserta, blasted the suits.

Pedro Fontanes, a 69-year-old from Queens who is pictured with two family members, has filed 55 suits against companies he says aren't wheelchair accessible

At those establishments Fontanes (pictured right) claims to have suffered 'harm' and 'injury' and, at one place, complained the mirror was too high

He told the Post that going after such small establishments hurts them beyond repair - and can often cause them to go out of business.

'Small businesses are already struggling to stay afloat, and these lawsuits could put them over the edge,' Caserta explained.

And one of these businesses attorneys, Dennis Kearney, said that most of them end up settling to escape the cost of going to court.

'Why would someone pay $100,000 in legal fees to go to trial when they can pay a fraction of that and be done with it?' Kearney, who defended Uncle Barry's craft beer bar against Fontanes earlier this year, told the post.

He explained that while plaintiffs normally don't ask for much in damages, they do demand payment of attorney fees - which can gut small businesses.

Luigi Giotto, pictured, has filed lawsuits against 70 different establishments in New York city that he claims are not wheelchair friendly

Those fees, he said, can top $20,000, and Kearney said he believes plaintiffs and lawyers are splitting them.

Kenneth Shiotani, an attorney at the National Disability Rights network rebuked those claims.

He called private litigation the 'most effective enforcement mechanism' in making the city disability friendly, according to the Post.

And wheelchair ramps and bathroom doors only scrape the surface of the types of complaints that are most frequently filed.

Two blind individuals in New York took their fight online - filing a combined 23 lawsuits against websites that don't have screen-reading software.

One woman, Marion Kiler, sued eight websites for stores based in New York in May and June alone.

One of those sites was for the Muesum of Sex's online store. The 66-year-old said she made 'numerous' attempts to buy products.

Also becoming more common are individuals who sue businesses for not allowing in service dogs.

Cheryl Krist, a 62-year-old from Manhattan has filed seven suits against businesses who have not let her service dog inside with her.
Jack Camilleri, from Caversham, was killed in a tragic accident just over two weeks ago

A 20-year-old rower has died while travelling across the holiday resort of Bali.

Jack Camilleri, from Caversham near Reading, was killed in a tragic accident just over two weeks ago but news of his death has only just filtered back to the UK.

Friends and family of the university student have now raised more half of the 20,000 target to buy a commemorative boat in the name of the student, who attended Oxford Brookes University and the renowned Oratory School near Reading.

According to the Justgiving page set up in Mr Camilleri's honour, the student was a keen competitive rower who captained his school's boat team between 2014 and 2015.

He had carried on with his passion while on his gap year, continuing his training at Upper Thames Rowing Club in Henley-on-Thames and while at university with the Oxford Brookes Boat Club until his death on August 30.

No details about Mr Camilleri's have been released, but an inquest was opened on Friday after his body was brought back to the UK.

Commenting on the fundraiser page, Joseph Slattery said: 'Jack became my daughter Grace's first love and very quickly a family friend and I nicknamed him Jack Sparrow due to his boating connections.

'I found Jack to be a truly nice, humble and supportive person and I know his friends meant a lot to him. He did not forget his friends even though he met Grace.

The student was a keen competitive rower who captained his school's boat team between 2014 and 2015

A JustGiving page has been set up to buy a boat in Mr Camilleri's honour

'Jack spent lots of fun times at our home and on various holidays with Grace and with our family, the last being in Barbados where a good time was had by all.

'I often spoke to Jack about his ambitions and I hope he felt I gave him sound advice. Jack, you became an extension of our family, we miss and will miss you terribly. Rest well dear Jack. Lots of love.'

Another person, Mel Hoare said: 'Jack was both a friend and mentor to my lads, Harry and Toby, through Bisham Abbey Sailing School. My boys are devastated at the news.

'Jack was always so vibrant, full of fun, supportive and generous of his time. He has been taken from this world too soon, but he achieved more in those few years than some will do in a lifetime. All my sympathy to his family.'

There has been an outpour of emotion on a Justgiving page following the death of Mr Camilleri

So far, more than 10,000 of the 20,000 target for the boat in Mr Camilleri's honour has been raised

His friend, who created the Justgiving page under the username W Lord, wrote: 'It is with great sadness that we all found out the tragic passing of Jack Camilleri who was taken too young following an accident whilst travelling over the summer in Bali.

'Jack Camilleri was a great friend to all he met and he touched so many lives. In his memory we would like to raise funds to put towards purchasing a rowing boat in his name as a memorial funded by his friends, family and loved ones.

'It will be a memorial we can use to give back to the sport which gave Jack so much joy and drive, and a sport in which he created so many memories and friends through.'
A British scientist has emerged from a remote Hawaiian dome after spending the past eight months practising for life on Mars.

Samuel Payler, a doctoral candidate at the UK Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, was among five other researchers who entered the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation habitat on Mauna Loa in January.

The group gathered on the island to help Nasa determine the requirements for sending astronauts on long missions, including trips to Mars.

In a fifth such experiment of its kind, which was backed by Nasa, the conditions in the man-made dome aimed to test how humans would react to living in isolated and confined conditions for an extended period of time.

Samuel Payler (pictured) was one of the six researchers who took part in the assignment in Hawaii

The crew (pictured) have been helping Nasa determine the requirements for sending astronauts on long missions

The crew arrived in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, in January and they have been on the island ever since

Speaking of the possibility of sending humans to Mars, which Nasa hopes to do by the 2030s, HI-SEAS specialist Laura Lark said: 'Long-term space travel is absolutely possible.

'There are certainly technical challenges to be overcome. There are certainly human factors to be figured out, that's part of what HI-SEAS is for.

'But I think that overcoming those challenges is just a matter of effort. We are absolutely capable of it.'

The 1,200 sq ft site has very little variation in weather, meaning longer-duration missions can take place compared with other locations.

It includes small sleeping quarters for the crew members, a kitchen, laboratory, bathroom and simulated airlock area.

The crew's daily routine involved preparing food from shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, scientific research and tracking use of resources such as food, power and water.

The six researchers have been on the 1,200sq ft site which comes with a kitchen and living area

This six crew members (pictured) have been tested on how they would react to living in isolated and confined conditions

The crew were provided with food and drink (pictured) while they were working with Nasa

Communication with support crew on the outside world was allowed but a 20-minute delay was imposed on messages to imitate what the reception would be like between Earth and the red planet.

Mr Payler, 28, was the only Briton among the four men and two women who made the dome their home for most of this year.

His co-residents were Ansley Barnard, an engineer from Reno, Nevada; Laura Lark, a computer scientist who spent five years as a software engineer at Google; systems engineer Joshua Ehrlich; freelance researcher James Bevington; and Brian Ramos, a Portuguese-American who has a master's degree in international space studies.

Despite having to wear hazmat suits to explore the outside of the dome and cooking with dehydrated food, the crew appear to have enjoyed the experience.

At the halfway mark in May, crew member Mr Ramos said: 'In some sense, time has been flying by. It sounds a little crazy, but I think at the end of the mission I am not going to be ready to go.'

The project was run by the University of Hawaii.
Georgia Tech police shot dead a barefoot student carrying a knife late on Saturday night.

The student, 21-year-old Scout Schultz, who identified as gender non-binary, was seen walking toward police - who issued several warnings to drop what officers believed was a knife.

The tense encounter was caught on camera - in which the student can be seen walking closer and closer to the police officers and shouting 'shoot me.'

'Nobody wants to hurt you,' one of the officers can be heard saying.

Schultz was then shot once and immediately crumpled to the ground, screaming out in pain.

The student, who has been identified as 21-year-old Scout Schultz, was seen walking toward police - who issued several warnings to drop what they believed was a knife

None of the police officers involved have been identified, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is currently looking into the shooting.

According to a press release from the bureau, the Georgia Tech campus police received a 911 call of a 'person with a knife and a gun' at 11.17pm Saturday night.

The release says Schultz was 'not cooperative and would not comply with the officers commands.

'Schultz continued to advance on the officers with a knife... Subsequently, one officer fired striking Schultz.'

The tense encounter was caught on camera. The student can be seen walking close and closer to the police officers and shouting 'shoot me.' 'Nobody wants to hurt you,' one of the officers can be heard saying

The release says Schultz was 'not cooperative and would not comply with the officers commands. 'Schultz continued to advance on the officers with a knife.. Subsequently, one officer fired striking Schultz,' the release said

The victim's parents are questioning why police used deadly force.

Schultz's mother Lynn told the New York Daily News Schultz was a 'nonconformist and very, very bright.'

She said Schultz had a 'lot of empathy for other people.'

At Georgia Tech, Schultz was president of the school's Pride Alliance, which is a student organization for LGBTQ students and allies.

Schultz preferred 'they' and 'them' gender pronouns and identified as bisexual, non-binary and intersex, their mother Lynne said

The student from Lilburn, Georgia, was studying engineering and had plans to go to grad school and eventually have a career in making biomedical devices.

Schultz, born male, preferred 'they' and 'them' gender pronouns and identified as bisexual, non-binary and intersex, Lynne said.

Non-binary means the individual does not identify as male or female.

Their father, Bill, wrote about the shooting on Facebook and said Schultz had a 'tiny knife.'

'[Police] didn't have to shoot [Scout] in the heart, but that's what they did,' he wrote.

The distraught parents are now considering legal options.

The Pride Alliance released a statement Sunday, calling Schultz a 'driving force' in the organization.

'Scout always reminded us to think critically about the intersection of identities and how a multitude of factors play into one's experience on Tech's campus and beyond,' the group said.

Saturday night's incident caused an emergency alert from Georgia Tech's Office of Emergency Preparedness - and students were urged to seek shelter.
Depraved Stuart Hazell (pictured) is alleged to have stabbed another prisoner in the face at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire

Child killer Stuart Hazell allegedly rammed a sharpened object into the face of another prisoner during a frenzied attack behind bars.

Hazell was jailed for life after sexually assaulting and murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharpe, before stuffing her body into his girlfriend's loft in New Addington, London, in 2012.

Now he is said to have attacked fellow convicted killer Omar Benguit, 45, stabbing him twice inside high security Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire.

Benguit, who lost his right eye in a previous attack at another jail, was given urgent medical treatment at the prison after last month's attack, according to the Mirror.

His sister Amy, from Dorset, alleges Benguit was attacked because he continues to deny the 2002 murder of student Jong Ok Shin in Bournemouth.

She said: 'Omar didn't do anything provocative. Hazel just ran at him and jumped on him and started hitting him with something in his hand.

'Luckily he couldn't get hold of a knife. It was a very nasty attack.

Tia Sharp (pictured) was killed by Hazell. Tia, 12, was sexually assaulted before being murdered by the paedophile at her grandmother's house in London

'Some prisoners resent Omar because he absolutely maintains his innocence.'

A spokesman for the Prison Service confirmed two prisoners at HMP Wakefield were treated for minor injuries after an incident on August 31.

They also said an investigation into the incident was under way.

Hazell attacked Tia at her grandmother's house while her family were out and then concealed her body in the loft.

He was later arrested and admitted the murder at the Old Bailey, where he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 38 years behind bars.

The murdering paedophile, who was in a relationship with Tia's grandmother and who was obsessed with pictures of child abuse, will not be up for parole until he is 75.

Omar Benguit (left), 45, murdered South Korean language student Jong Ok Shin (right) in Bournemouth in 2002. He continues to protest his innocence

The house where Tia was murdered has since been demolished.

Her father, Steven Carter, has since said he 'massively' blames himself for his daughter's death after his relationship with Tia's mother turned sour.

Benguit who was jailed for the murder of Jong Ok Shin in Bournemouth in 2002.

It took two hung juries and three murder trials before Benguit was convicted in 2005.

The Court of Appeal has also dismissed two attempts to overturn the conviction.

Ms Shin, a South Korean language student, was stabbed three times while walking home after a night out.

Before she died, the 26-year-old told police in poor English her killer wore a mask and struck from behind.

Benguit was arrested more than a month after the murder but continues to deny involvement in the death.

Earlier this year a documentary re-examined the case and after looking at the evidence a TV jury decided Benguit was not guilty.
Eight people have been injured when a double-decker bus crashed into an overhead walkway at an Edinburgh hospital.

Emergency services were called to the scene at the Western General Hospital at around 3.30pm on Sunday.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said eight people were treated by paramedics but their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Eight people were injured when a double-decker bus crashed into an overhead walkway at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon

A bystander said at least three people were treated at the scene including a female thought to be aged around 14, while an adult male was said to have been treated on grass near the bus, and put on a spinal board by medics.

The woman added: 'The driver seemed to be young - he looked upset.'

The number 113 Lothian Country Bus is understood to have taken a wrong turn off Crewe Road South, en route to the Western General hospital around 3.25pm.

After travelling more than 100 metres along the 10mph Hospital Main Drive, it struck an overhead walkway separating the hospital's Cancer Centre and Ward one, the Macmillan Day Treatment Centre.

The bus is 14 feet high, while the walkway it hit is only 12 feet high.

The bridge is clearly marked 'headroom: 12'0'' at almost exactly the point of contact.

The entire roof of the bus was torn off as the vehicle passed three quarters of its length under the bridge before coming to a halt.

A bystander said at least three people were treated at the scene including a female thought to be aged around 14, while an adult male was said to have been treated on grass near the bus, and put on a spinal board by medics

One witness said there was glass covering the road and that the first few rows of seats on the bus's top deck were 'pushed back and smashed up'.

It is not known how many people were on board the bus at the time, or whether any of the passengers were on the top deck when the collision occurred.

The back row of upper seats were torn in half when the roof was ripped off. Seating and mangled handrails could clearly be seen from the road.

The upper deck windows were all shattered, with glass showered across the road, directly outside the Edinburgh Cancer Centre.

Police and ambulance services raced to the scene, along with fire appliances.

Police Scotland said several injured people were 'receiving treatment', adding 'at this moment none are serious or life threatening.'

A spokeswoman from The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: 'The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at 3.38pm on Sunday to reports of a road traffic collision involving a bus at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital, Crewe Road South.

It is not known how many people were on board the bus at the time, or whether any of the passengers were on the top deck when the collision occurred

'Three appliances were immediately mobilised to the scene by Operations Control alongside a heavy rescue unit.

'Firefighters discovered upon arrival that the double decker bus had collided with an overhead walkway.

'A total of eight casualties were transferred to the care of waiting ambulance crew.

'Firefighters are presently working to make the scene safe.'

A recovery vehicle was on hand on Sunday to remove the roofless double decker.

A spokesman for East Coast Buses said in a statement: 'Our first concern is with everyone involved in this incident and our thoughts are with those injured and their families.

'It is too early to know the full circumstances of what happened.

'We are cooperating fully with the police and will be carrying out our own investigation.'
A student at the University of Rochester in New York has gone on a hunger strike until a professor accused of sexual harassment is fired.

As of midnight on Saturday, Lindsay Wrobel had not eaten in three days in protest over university professor Dr Florian Jaeger's employment.

Eleven students and some staff members have accused Jaeger of stalking, using his power to have sex with students and creating a hostile environment. They also claim he has allegedly hosted hot tub parties involving drugs.

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Student Lindsay Wrobel has vowed to remain on a hunger strike until University of Rochester professor Dr Florian Jaeger is fired

An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint has been filed against the university in relation to the allegations against Jaeger after a previous investigation ruled he had not violated university policy.

'I fully intend to do this until I'm hospitalized,' Wrobel told 13WHAM of her hunger strike.

Eleven students and some staff members have accused Dr Florian Jaeger of stalking, using his power to have sex with students and creating a hostile environment

'I think what's of primary importance is the students on this campus feeling safe. As of right now, they don't, and they won't until Professor Jaeger is removed.'

An anonymous person called 911 on Saturday afternoon to report that Wrobel needed medical attention for her deteriorating condition.

She refused medical help.

'It is painful, it is scary thinking about what comes next,' Wrobel said.

'I've had nausea. I've had headaches, I've had muscle aches really bad. Even texting feels like work.'

Jaeger, who is a professor with the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, revealed last week he would not teach his classes this semester due to the backlash.

An online petition has been circulating calling for his resignation and 150 students protested at the university last week over the handling of the sexual harassment allegations.

An EEOC complaint has been filed against the university in relation to the allegations against Jaeger after a previous investigation ruled he had not violated university policy

An online petition (above) has been circulating calling for his resignation and 150 students protested at the university last week over the handling of the sexual harassment allegations

The first complaint about Jaeger's alleged behavior dates back to 2013. A senior faculty member made an official complaint in March 2016 after being made aware of the allegations.

An internal university investigation found no evidence that Jaeger had violated university policies.

University President Joel Seligman said some of the allegations in the EEOC complaint were new and were not part of the original investigation.

He said an outside investigator would be hired to look into the retaliation claims.

Seligman added that he had been in touch with Wrobel since her hunger strike.

'I have been in touch with Lindsay to tell her how concerned I am about her and to let her know that my primary concern is her health. She has every right to express herself as she chooses, but I urged her to put her well-being first. We are carefully monitoring the situation,' he said.
Eight assailants and one soldier have been killed in a clash that began with gunmen dressed in camouflage ambushing an army patrol in the Mexican state of Guerrero, security officials said.

The soldiers came under attack late Saturday near the community of Pachivia, in a zone where the Familia Michoacana drug gang is active, state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez Heredia said.

He says the attackers were using what looked like copies of Mexican army uniforms and vehicles.

One Mexican soldier and eight ambushers were killed in a gun battle Saturday as troops patrolled an area where drug cartels are active (file photo of a Mexican solider)

One soldier died and another was wounded before the troops returned fire, killing eight.

Troops secured two vehicles belonging to the attackers and turned them over to investigators, local newspapers reported.

Alvarez Heredia says troops are searching for the rest of the attackers.
Kenneth Gleason, 23, is a suspect in the murder of two men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Police have said they believe the slayings of two black men were likely racially motivated and are holding a white suspect in the case.

Suspect Kenneth James Gleason, 23, is being held on drug charges in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as police gather evidence in the shootings. Gleason has not yet been charged in the murders.

Gleason was linked to the two murders through shell casings from the shootings, and his car matches a description of the suspect vehicle, according to Baton Rouge Police Sergeant L'Jean McKneely.

'There is a strong possibility that it could be racially motivated,' he said.

The shootings happened about five miles from each other earlier this week.

The first occurred Tuesday when 59-year-old Bruce Cofield, who was homeless, was shot dead.

Donald Smart (left and right) was the second shooting victim this week. Police said on Friday that they believed the same gun was linked to both murders

The second happened Thursday when 49-year-old Donald Smart was gunned down walking to work as a dishwasher at a cafe popular with Louisiana State University students, McKneely said.

Police said on Friday that they believed the same gun was linked to both murders.

Mckneely said in both shootings the suspect fired from his car, then walked up to the victims as they were lying on the ground and fired again multiple times.

He says police haven't found any relationship between Gleason and the victims.

A police description of a possible suspect leaked to the press on Friday, describing a white male of medium build with a 'military' haircut and a tactical vest.

It's unclear what initially led investigators to suspect Gleason in the shootings.

Detectives searched Gleason's home on Saturday and found less than a gram of marijuana and vials of testosterone enanthate in his bedroom, according a police document.

After Gleason was read his Miranda rights, he claimed ownership of the drugs and said he did not have a prescription for the testosterone, the document said.

McKneely, the police spokesman, said police had collected other circumstantial evidence but he wouldn't say what it was.

It wasn't immediately clear if Gleason had an attorney or when his first court appearance would be.

Mary Smart, Donald Smart's aunt, said on Sunday that she could not understand what had happened to lead to his death.

She says her nephew was always smiling and hugging everybody, and had a son and two daughters.

She declined to comment on police allegations that her nephew might have been shot because of the color of his skin.

Police have not said what led them to believe the shootings were racially motivated.
Several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated in west Jerusalem on Sunday to protest against a court ruling that could require them to serve in the army like their secular counterparts.

The demonstration in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of the city was organised by a particularly hardline group known as Eda Haredit.

Rabbis gave speeches in Yiddish in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood, while a banner read: "We're Jews and therefore will not enlist in the Zionist army."

Last week's Israeli Supreme Court decision strikes down a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men engaged in religious study from military service, saying it undermines equality.

The decision raises the possibility that they could be forced into service, a highly contentious proposition with political implications.

However, the court suspended its decision for one year to allow for preparations for the new arrangement -- which also provides the government with the opportunity to pass a new law.

Ultra-Orthodox political parties and their allies in government are likely to draft new legislation that could seek to override the court ruling and keep the exemption in place.

The ultra-Orthodox parties form a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, and have often acted as kingmakers in Israeli politics.

The issue is part of a decades-old debate over whether young ultra-Orthodox men studying at seminaries should undergo compulsory military service like the rest of Israel's Jewish population.

After reaching the age of 18, men must serve two years and eight months, and women must serve for two.

The ultra-Orthodox oppose serving for a variety of reasons, with the most extreme believing a Jewish state is not allowed before the coming of the Messiah.

Others argue that seminary study is just as important to Israel as military service or that ultra-Orthodox soldiers would be confronted with salty language and other irreligious behaviour.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., addressed some of the criticism lobbed at him by Hillary Clinton, who suggested her Democratic primary opponent stayed in the race too long and helped set up President Trump's win.

'I worked as hard as I could to see that Hillary Clinton would be elected president,' the Vermont senator told NBC's Chuck Todd.

Sanders dropped a 'no kidding' as he mentioned how 'people,' namely Clinton, were pointing out the fact that not every one of his voters went on to support her.

'That's what happens in politics,' Sanders snipped.

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'No kidding!' said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday over the idea that all of his supporters would go on and vote for Hillary Clinton, his rival in last year's Democratic primary

NBC's Chuck Todd (left) asked Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. (right), about some of the criticism lobbed at him by Hillary Clinton, who released a book about the 2016 campaign last week

'If my memory is correct in 2008 something like 24 percent of the people who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries ended up voting for John McCain,' Sanders continued. 'That's the nature of politics.'

Sanders said he believed that most Americans are rigidly Republican or Democratic.

'They vote where they want,' he said.

In promoting her new book, What Happened, Clinton suggested that she had more gracefully bowed out, and paved the way for President Obama to win the White House in 2008, than how Sanders treated her eight years later.

'Once it was over, it was over and I quickly endorsed President Obama,' she said of her experience in 2008 during an interview for the Pod Save America podcast.

'I didn't get anything like that respect from Sanders and his supporters,' she noted. 'And it hurt, you know, to have basically captured the nomination, ending up with more than 4 million votes than he had  but he dragged it out,' she said.

Sanders' last best hope was to trounce Clinton in the California primary on June 7.

That didn't happen, however, with Clinton winning the state by 7 points.

Instead of dropping out then, Sanders soldiered on with his campaign until July 12.

In her book, Clinton also says Sanders' implication that she was corrupt because she took Wall Street and corporate campaign donations made it easier for Trump to label her 'Crooked Hillary' when they faced off in the general election.

'When I finally challenged Bernie during a debate to name a single time I changed a position or a vote because of a financial contribution he couldn't come up with anything,' Clinton recalled from her time in the Democratic primary against Sanders.

'Nonetheless, his attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump's "Crooked Hillary" campaign,' she said.
Despite scolding President Trump over tweets he made Friday in the aftermath of the most recent London terror attack, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she has a good relationship with the American leader.

'I do get on with him,' May said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, which aired on This Week today. 'And of course, as you know, President Trump actually as an affection for the United Kingdom. Like many Americans, he has family connections with the United Kingdom.'

'And we work very well together,' she added, touting the two countries historic 'special relationship.'

May was the first world leader to come to the US to meet the newly-minted President Trump, visiting exactly a week after the Republican's inauguration in January.

British Prime Minister Theresa May told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that she gets on with President Donald Trump

British Prime Minister Theresa May (left) sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos (right) on Friday, with the interview airing today on This Week

Trump has been invited to the UK, but he hasn't announced the dates for that trip yet.

'It's just a question of getting dates to  and sorting out the logistics,' May said.

Stephanopoulos wondered if Trump was dragging his feet on the visit because of British opposition to him.

'No, this is  this is about finding dates when  the invitation was issued and the invitation has been accepted,' May told the ABC News journalist.

But most Brits don't like Trump, Stephanopoulos pointed out, citing a poll in June that said only 22 percent of the British people had confidence that the American leader would do the right thing in the world.

Stephanopoulos asked May what she says to her fellow citizens.

'Well, what I say is that they should see what President Trump has done,' she replied. 'I mean let me give you one example, because I know a number of people were concerned before he became president about his statements about America's commitment to NATO.'

May pointed out that Trump gave 'an absolute 100 percent' commitment to NATO since being sworn into office.

'America continues to stand by us in supporting that security and ensuring that security of Europe,' she said.

Stephanopoulos pointed to a number of other issues where there are 'big differences,' including the travel ban, the Paris accord and his handling of the racial violence in Charlottesville.

'Well, I think the point about the special relationship between the UK and the U.S. is that when we do disagree, we're able to say so, and pretty bluntly,' May said.

She pointed to Paris in particular.

'I've made very clear I was dismayed when America decided to pull out of that,' she said of the historic climate change deal, ushered in by the Obama administration. 'And, as I've said to President Trump, I hope that they'll be able to find a way for America to come back into the agreement.'

On the travel ban, May's positions was more hazy.

Asking if she would reconsider supporting an action like that, May answered, 'I think what is important is that we're able to have the powers to look into people, to identify people who may be wanting to cause us harm and are plotting to cause us harm, and be able to take the necessary action when people do cause us harm.'

Stephanopoulos had landed on Friday morning in London just as another terror attack had been carried out, this time in the Underground.

It was with the ABC News anchor that May had first wagged a finger at Trump over his tweets suggesting the perpetrators, 'sick and demented people,' as the president called them, 'were in the sights of Scotland Yard.'

'Well, I don't think it's helpful for anyone to speculate what is an ongoing investigation,' May said.

Trump and May will both be in New York City this week, appearing before the UN General Assembly.

May told Stephanopoulos there are two messages she wanted to deliver to the Americans while she was there.

'One is this issue of ensuring that we can stop terrorists from plotting online, plotting on the internet and that we can stop the spread of the hateful extremist ideology which can inspire terrorism,' she said. 'I think that's really important for us.'

May also said she planned to discuss human trafficking.

'It's what I call modern slavery, which is when people are being effectively taken into servitude, into slavery, for sexual exploitation or labor exploitation,' she noted. 'It's happening under our noses.'
A little girl's playhouse is at the center of a neighborhood controversy - after the homeowners association asked the family to take it down.

EmmGoolsby has a pink playhouse in her backyard in Blue Springs, Missouri, that she has filled with flowers, books and crafts.

The six-year-old has a serious autoimmune disorder, and goes to her playhouse each day for breathing treatments, according to KSHB.

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A little girl's playhouse is at the center of a neighborhood controversy - after the homeowners association asked the family to take it down

Emma Goolsby has a pink playhouse in her backyard in Blue Springs, Missouri, that she has filled with flowers, books and crafts

But the neighborhood's homeowners association said the house violates a no-shed policy - and has told the family they have to take it down.

'Our HOA bylaws say you can't have a metal shed, but it doesn't say anything about a playhouse,' Emma's grandmother Bobbie Goolsby told KSHB.

She said both she and her realtor specifically asked before buying the house and were told the playhouse would be fine.

'It's sad they're picking on a child's playhouse,' she explained.

In an email on September 10 the HOA told the news station that the playhouse will have to be removed.

The association said it normally approves of wooden play-sets, but that this one in particular is in violation of its rules.

Other neighbors have said they don't have any problems with the playhouse.

Emma's family said they would be devastated if they had to remove the house - which serves as a safe space for the six-year-old. She is suffering from an autoimmune disorder and goes there for her breathing treatments. Emma is pictured with her mother

'Our HOA bylaws say you can't have a metal shed, but it doesn't say anything about a playhouse,' Emma's grandmother Bobbie Goolsby (pictured) told KSHB

'We would prefer not to take legal action, but will move forward if not resolved,' the email said.

The association said the family had these guidelines prior to buying their home.

But the Goolsbys aren't giving up so easily.

Emma said the playhouse is 'my world,' and her family has said they would all be 'devastated' if it had to be removed.

That is especially so because Emma's family nearly lost her earlier in life to a serious autoimmune disorder.

It is not clear what the autoimmune disorder is, but Goolsby said the playhouse is Emma's 'safe space' where she can go to feel better.
Armed special forces troops are being deployed on the London Underground and have been told to 'shoot to kill' terrorists.

Members of the SAS and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment have been told to target terrorists who are on trains, buses and planes.

It is believed some of the troops will patrol the busy tube network in the capital in pairs and will be disguised as couples.

They will be armed with Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistols so they can 'take down' potential gunmen and suicide bombers, reports the Daily Star Sunday.

Armed special forces troops (stock photo of SAS soldiers) have been told to 'shoot to kill' after being trained for months

Those in the special covert teams have been trained at the SAS base in Hereford for the past few months.

A source said they are trained in 'rapid-fire techniques' and told the newspaper: 'The task force is comprised of some of the most experienced special forces personnel in the Army.

'The unit is composed of some of both male and female personnel from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment who are trained killers and can pose as couples while travelling on public transport.'

The paper also reports that the trained staff have been given 'soft-nose' bullets to limit the risk of other passengers who are travelling on public transport.

A 'bucket bomb' (pictured) was found inside a shopping bag exploded and injured at least 30 people on Friday

It comes as two men were arrested in connection with the Parsons Green bucket bomb attack which left 30 people injured on Friday.

A teenage suspect, believed to be an Iraqi refugee, was detained in the Port of Dover after being tracked to its departures hall, but it emerged he had been arrested at Parsons Green a fortnight before the blast.

A second suspect, a 21-year-old man, was later arrested in Hounslow, with police also swooping on a house in Stanwell, Surrey, directly opposite Heathrow airport.
A free school in one of the most deprived areas of London is sending 21 pupils to train as doctors, dentists or vets.

These degrees are typically dominated by students from private schools, most of whom are white.

But the London Academy of Excellence in Stratford, dubbed the Eton of the East End, has attained a level of success far higher than many private schools. Pupils achieved a school record of 99 per cent of A-level grades in the A* to C range, compared with 77 per cent nationally.

Headmaster Scott Baker said: Every student who comes to LAE makes incredible progress and achieves the top grades required to study at a top university. The school said 148 pupils are heading to Russell Group universities, with 15 going to Oxbridge.

The London Academy of Excellence in Stratford, dubbed the Eton of the East End, has attained a level of success far higher than many private schools

The names of all the school's star pupils set to study medical degrees at some of the country's top Universities

Mr Baker added: The barriers to success can seem daunting. These children show that anything really is possible.

LAE was set up with the aim of getting bright children from poor families into top universities.

Many teachers are Oxford and Cambridge graduates and understand how to target top institutions. The success was partly down to teachers identifying hurdles to clear, such as work experience, taking the right A-levels, and sitting special medical school entrance tests.

The preparation of pupils extended to improving their confidence, interview skills and even how to give a proper handshake.

Waleed Sheikh achieved ABB, allowing him to read foundation medicine at Queen Mary University of London.

Sanilah Ali is the first in her family to go to university. She will study dentistry at Kings College London. Ashleigh Samuels, who will also study medicine at Queen Mary University of London, is one of only a few Caribbean-heritage students accepted to medical school this year.

Only 25 black Caribbean students started medicine or dentistry degrees in 2014-15  0.3 per cent of the total intake. And 95 per cent of students on veterinary science courses were white, according to official figures.

Matthew Feyissa, who will study medicine at Kings College, said his parents made great sacrifices by coming to the UK from Ethiopia. Viktoria Venkatess will study medicine at Southampton University. Raiyan Tahir will take dentistry at Kings College.

Monira Begum Miah, a debating champion, will study medicine at Queen Mary University.

Khanyisa Hoshe has a place to study medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

Kareena Talajia is to study medicine at Imperial College. Afsana Begum, who said she was inspired by her cat Timmy, will study veterinary medicine at Nottingham. She is one of only a handful of students of Bangladeshi origin to train in this field. Bethan Kelly, the daughter of a mechanic, will study veterinary science at Nottingham. Simran Mahmud will study medicine at Imperial College and Brojeswar Purkayastha will read medicine at Liverpool.

Aderonke Adesanoye is studying medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
The disgraced founder of the Kids Company charity has defended spending 55,000 on one troubled young man  including paying his massage bill at a luxury spa  saying material goods were important for 'self-esteem'.

Camila Batmanghelidjh also insisted the charity's controversial cash handouts to children were not used to buy drugs and instead were spent on utility bills.

The colourful character, who had the ear of three prime ministers and courted wealthy donors before the organisation collapsed in 2015, also revealed that at one point, the charity was paying for 48 advisers in a single Lambeth school.

She made the comments in an interview with The Sunday Times ahead of the publication of her autobiography, Kids: Child Protection in Britain: The Truth.

Camila Batmanghelidjh defended the Kids Company charity's controversial spending ahead of the publication of her autobiography, Kids: Child Protection in Britain: The Truth

Describing the case of Dave, a man in his 20s with a drug problem and a long criminal history, she said he was handed to her care when she persuaded a judge to give him a suspended sentence.

After rehab didn't work and a psychiatric hospital threw him out, she sent Dave to Champneys because he could be supervised there while on anti-psychotic medication and kept away from illegal drugs.

Batmanghelidjh claimed it was Dave who ordered the massage  which involves a chocolate exfoliation scrub and cocoa wrap  but said it was right to continue spending money on him.

'Dave cost us about 55,000. But the minute you give up on a difficult case, it's a slippery slope for that child and all the others who are watching you,' she said. 'Dave still needs support but he has been out of prison for four years, he has a partner and he is working.'

Describing the case of Dave, a man in his 20s with a drug problem and a long criminal history, she said she persuaded a judge to give him a suspended sentence. The charity spent 55,000 on Dave, including paying his massage bill at a luxury spa (file photo)

Batmanghelidjh added: 'I don't apologise for buying the kids nice things. You can't have a consumer society driven by brands and say that these children can't have it. In the ghetto they rely on material goods for self-esteem.'

Defending the cash handouts, she said: 'They didn't need the Kids Company living allowance to buy drugs. Our children are born into drug settings  80 per cent of our kids arrived addicted, 90 per cent of these were given the drugs by a parent or carer.

'The cash we gave our kids was for the electricity meter and the gas meter.'

The former psychotherapist admitted making 'lots of mistakes' while in charge of Kids Company but said she was not responsible for its demise.

She blamed a conspiracy of 'unethical journalists' and 'politicians who don't understand what's happening on the street'.
Rohan Oza is ramping up for his big TV debut.

The Indian-born and Africa-raised brand guru has just joined the cast of Shark Tank and admits that he is a bit 'nervous' but ready to fight it out.

The entrepreneur spoke with DailyMail.com about why he wanted to hit the small screen as he reveals what it's really like to work with Jennifer Aniston, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and 50 Cent.

New job: Rohan Oza is joining Shark Tank. He talked to DailyMail.com about the new gig

She's smart! The star worked with Jennifer Aniston on her partnership with SmartWater

Though one of his first deals was with 50 Cent and Vitamin water, the star said that he gets asked most about working with Aniston, the blonde bombshell who got her start on TV's Friends.

'She is a beautiful woman, just look at her!' he began.

The beauty has been the face of Smartwater for 12 years and he says she is one of the most likable people in the US, even today.

Tops: The beauty has been the face of Smartwater for 12 years and he says she is one of the most likable people in the US, even today

'We were sitting in a room and we listed the top 16 most famous people in America,' he said.

'We narrowed down the list over and over again until we all agreed Jennifer was our favorite.'

She was new to branding but agreed to work with Smartwater as she was a big fan of the product.

Thumb's up: when she got on set everyone was impressed because she was incredibly attractive and the camera loved her. She also was so professional and she really got into her shoot,' he said

'She had already been drinking Smartwater and liked it, she liked the message,' said Oza.

The brand guru is seen with a date at the GQ Gentlemen's Ball in New York in 2010

'And when she got on set everyone was impressed because she was incredibly attractive and the camera loved her. She also was so professional and she really got into her shoot.

'And Aniston also brought ideas to the shoot, she came with input.

'It was her idea to bring in a fitness angle. At first we just wanted her to look beautiful, we were going for beauty. But she said let's take pictures with workout clothes on in a gym setting. It was a good idea and I think added a lot to the brand.'

The shoots have also included photos of her walking her dog and standing by her swimming pool.

'She is one of those faces that everyone loves, she is a brand natural. Smartwater was very happy to work with her and they continue to this day, 12 years later, to have a partnership with her.'

He is also a fan of Timberlake, who he has worked with on Bai.

'He is very intelligent,' begins Rohan.

Another good one: As far as working with Rihanna on Vita Coco, he said she's 'creative' and 'smart,' and 'a lot more business minded than anyone would know'

'He had a huge impact on the product. He created the campaign for the Super Bowl. He believed in the brand and he really has a head for business.'

As far as working with Rihanna on Vita Coco, he said she's 'creative' and 'smart,' and 'a lot more business minded than anyone would know.'

He also noted that she is 'naturally brand savvy.'

Touchdown: He is also a fan of Timberlake, who he has worked with on Bai. 'He is very intelligent,' begins Rohan

'She's smart, I give full credit to her because she knows how to choose the right image,' he added.

Rohan got his start at Coca-Cola working on Sprite and Powerade. He worked with Missy Elliott and Kobe Bryant.

Talking the talk: Oza on stage during the Children Matter. NGO first annual gala in 2015

But when he went off on his own, he had a great idea.

Instead of paying the stars a fee, he made them part owner of the company.

His first big deal was with 50 Cent and Vitamin Water in 2004.

'It was an equity deal,' he said. 'It started a pop culture phenomenon. Everyone did well on that, 50, the employees, everyone got happy.'

Now that he's on Shark Tank, he said he's happy to be inspiring others.

'I'm thrilled to be on Shark Tank,' he said. 'What I love about the show is that it's inspirational. It taps into America's entrepreneurial spirit.'

Shark Tank has its two hour season premiere on ABC on Sunday, October 1.
Heidi and Spencer Pratt are getting close to the birth of their baby boy.

But on Friday, the reality duo was celebrating the soon-to-be mom's 31st birthday with a day at the beach.

The blonde glowed while cradling her full belly in a flowy blue frock, before her other-half smashed the pregnant beauty's face into her birthday cake, sparking an impromptu cake fight.

Birthday girl1! A very pregnant Heidi Pratt glowed as she celebrated her 31st birthday with husband Spencer Friday at a beach in LA

The birthday girl was radiant in an off the shoulder dress designed from gauzy baby blue fabric.

Spencer, 34, looked beachy keen in a hummingbird tee shirt, necklace, and rainbow Apple Watch while holding a beautiful cake covered in mossy green fondant.

The picture perfect moment suddenly descended into madness when Heidi's hubby shoved the baked good into loves face, covering her with red velvet and icing.

Aloha! The birthday girl was radiant in a gauzy off the shoulder dress while Spencer looked beachy keen in a hummingbird tee shirt and rainbow Apple Watch while holding the beautiful red velvet cake that would soon be smashed to smithereens

Sweet cheeks! The picture perfect moment suddenly descended into madness when Heidi's hubby shoved the baked good into loves face, covering her with red velvet and icing

Although shocked, Heidi was clearly amused as she laughed and threw a chunk of cake at her longtime love.

On Wednesday, the pair celebrated their incoming baby boy with a shower in Venice, California.

Among the guests was paparazzi princess Courtney Stodden, celeb blogger Perez Hilton and former Playmate Shauna Sand.

And it seems the celebration happened just in time.

A post shared by heidipratt (@heidipratt) on Sep 15, 2017 at 1:35pm PDT

Big news: Pregnant Heidi revealed that her baby could come much earlier than expected in a candid Instagram story she shared on Wednesday with fans

At a routine doctor's appointment on Wednesday, the couple were warned that Heidi was already beginning to dilate - a sign that the body is readying for labour.

With the mother-to-be two weeks from full term and five weeks from her original October due date, the couple were shocked at the news.

The Hills alum joked about her soon-to-be son on Twitter Friday, writing 'For my birthday I'm praying God will keep this baby in for a few more weeks!'
He's the entertaining adventure guide who stripped naked on TV earlier this year.

And as Locklan Gilbert becomes more and more accustomed to the attention he's received on Australian Survivor, rumours have surfaced claiming he could be the next Bachelor.

But in an interview with The Daily Telegraph's Confidential on Sunday, the 27-year-old denied speculation and revealed he already has a girlfriend Jordan.

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'I've heard that going around,': In an interview with The Daily Telegraph's Confidential on Sunday, the 27-year-old denied he will be the next Bachelor

'I've heard that going around a little bit, but I don't think my girlfriend would like me on that show too much,' he told the publication.

The Perth hunk has been relishing in the opportunity to be featured on the show.

'It's been amazing to watch,' he said.

'It's been amazing to watch': The Perth adventure guide has been relishing in the opportunity to be featured on the show

'People are like - that's just Lockie, this is how I am': Locklan has enjoyed appearing on the show

'People are like - that's just Lockie, this is how I am.'

Claiming that he thought it would be weird revealing so much of himself on national television, Locklan went on to say his individuality should be celebrated.

Discussing Sunday night's hotly anticipated tribe merge, where the Asaga and Samatau, Locklan tells of the euphoria the Asaga and Samatau tribes felt when they came together for the first time.

Knowing that the group was getting smaller, Locklan claims that everyone was overly emotional, hugging and getting very excited.

The tribe merge will air Sunday night on Channel Ten.
On Tuesday it was reported that the youngest Jenner had probably gotten her pout re-plumped.

And perhaps it was all in preparation for the launch of Kylie's new lip kit colors, pictures of which she posted to her Instagram on Saturday.

The 20-year-old beauty mogul peppered her feed with new extreme close-ups of her face and lips adorned with some new snappy shades.

Glossy: The 20-year-old beauty mogul peppered her feed with new extreme close-ups of her face and lips adorned with some new snappy shades

The first photo shows Kylie staring into the camera with white flowers placed in her platinum blonde locks.

The next depicts her lips painted a coral-type color, while a bright yellow shade surrounds her eye.

Another profile shot showcases an almost magenta color, while the remaining images provide super close-ups of the curvy girl's trademark lips.

Of course her lips are a major source of stress for Kylie, who has lamented about their look before.

Two-tone: The next depicts her lips painted a coral-type color, while a bright yellow shade surrounds her eye

She admitted recently that she 'took it hard' when a 15-year-old boy told her she had thin lips (but was still a good kisser).

And despite conquering this traumatic experience by 'getting them done', it looks as if Kylie Jenner has gone back for more.

Stepping out in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the former girlfriend of Tyga was sporting what looked like a freshly-plumped pair in the cold light of day.

Abstract? Another profile shot showcases an almost magenta color

Detail: The remaining images provide super close-ups of the curvy girl's trademark lips

In Sunday's episode of Life of Kylie the surgically enhanced teen sat down for a session with a therapist and revealed a boy she had kissed made an offhand remark that did damage to her psyche.

'It was like one of my first kisses and a guy was like, 'I didn't think you would be a good kisser because you have such small lips,'' she said, adding that she 'took that really hard.'

Kylie then she 'really wanted bigger lips' and was compelled to try and use makeup to compensate for what she felt she was lacking in: 'I would overline my lips with lip liner just to create the illusion of bigger lips.'

But eventually she nixed that fix, opting to undergo cosmetic surgery to enhance her lips. She said: 'Finally I was like, 'This lip liner isn't doing it,'' adding that she 'ended up getting [her] lips done.'
A Libyan militia led by a former people trafficker clashed Sunday with security forces at a checkpoint in the western city of Sabratha, leaving one dead, a security official said.

The violence pitted the militia of former smuggler Ahmad Dabbashi, who controls almost half of Sabratha, against the forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), the source said.

Four militiamen opened fire on the checkpoint, according to the official. "Our men retaliated, and one of the militiamen was killed and three others wounded."

The source, speaking to AFP by telephone against the background noise of gunfire and explosions, said Dabbashi's militiamen returned, sparking fresh clashes.

The militia was not immediately reachable for comment on the incident.

Libya has plunged into insecurity and political chaos since the ouster and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed 2011 revolution.

People smugglers have fed on the chaos, turning violence-wracked Libya into a key gateway for illegal migration to Europe.

Sabratha, 40 kilometres (45 miles) west of Tripoli, where the GNA is based, is Libya's main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

Dabbashi is reportedly among several people smugglers who have decided to halt their lucrative smuggling and cooperate with authorities.

In July, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti proposed a pact with Libya to combat human trafficking during a visit to Tripoli to meet mayors of cities affected by the scourge.

But he has denied making any direct or indirect contact with people smugglers.

The number of migrants who have reached Italy from Libya since mid-July has fallen dramatically to 6,500, just 15 percent of the average for the same period in the previous three years.

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She recently revealed that her husband John Easterling grows medicinal marijuana to aid her breast cancer battle.

And on the Today show on Sunday, Australian star Olivia Newton-John voiced her support for the 'healing' plant to be more widely accepted Down Under.

The 68-year-old said how wonderful marijuana is when used to aid people in their health battles.

'Parents are going to jail for trying to help their children!' Olivia Newton-John voices her support for medical marijuana

'I'm really hoping you will have it accessible to people, particularly for people who are in pain and it's not just cancer, it's many many illnesses,' Olivia said.

'And children with epilepsy. Parents are going to jail for trying to help their children by giving them medicinal cannabis, that has to change!'

Olivia said she thinks things will change in Australia as the benefits of medical cannabis can't be denied.

Her support: She's just revealed her husband John Easterling grows the plant to aid her breast cancer battle

'It's a healing plant with lots of wonderful properties that can help a lot of people,' she said.

'They're doing a lot of research into the healing properties of cannabis, not just for pain but to cure things.'

Olivia is battling breast cancer for the second time, and said she was 'feeling great' and walking again, ahead of doing the Wellness Walk and Research Run.

Health woes: Olivia is battling breast cancer for the second time, and said she was 'feeling great' and walking again, ahead of doing the Wellness Walk and Research Run

The Grease star previously told 60 Minutes how her husband John grows cannabis for her to use in her treatment.

'My husband's a plant medicine man so he grew cannabis for me and made tinctures for me to take for pain and inflammation and so many other things that cannabis can do,' Olivia said.

'It helped me a lot with pain, because, you know, I don't like taking prescription drugs, so it's kind of a no-brainer,' she said.

Earlier this month, she spoke for the first time about the importance of medical marijuana in her treatment and why Australia needs to take California's lead.

Opening up: The Grease star previously told 60 Minutes how her husband John grows cannabis for her to use in her treatment

'It's an important part of treatment, and it should be available,' the blonde star told The Daily Telegraph.

The actress, who learned in May that breast cancer had returned and metastasized to her lower back, insisted the natural remedy is working wonders.

Olivia also praised California's steps to legalise cannabis, making obtaining it far easier than in back home in Australia.

It also helps that her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, grows the divisive substance on a farm in Oregon.
She's the four-time Olympic swimming champion who announced her engagement to businessman Damon Martin earlier in the week.

And after a whirlwind proposal in New York, Leisel Jones shared her official engagement photo this week.

Gazing into the eyes of her beau, the 32-year-old looked smitten while posing alongside her man.

Engaged! Four time Olympian Leisel Jones revealed she's engaged to businessman partner Damon Martin during a proposal in New York earlier in the week

Wearing an elegant cream Camilla and Marc top and comfortable Uniqlo pants, the stunner couldn't take her eyes of her new fiance.

Donning a casual blue ensemble, Damon had his arm around his lady love and also gazed into her eyes.

The photo was taken in a New York alleyway outside Brooklyn's Ice Cream Factory by photographer Armando from Flytographer.

Loved up: Donning a casual blue ensemble, Damon had his arm around his lady love and also gazed into her eyes

Taking to Instagram to share the happy news earlier in the week, Leisel captioned 'WE'RE ENGAGED,' along with a ring emoji.

'Damo popped the question while we were in The States. I can't wait to annoy the hell out of you for the rest of our eternal lives. Love you @sunchayser.'

The post was met with a flurry of well wishes from friends and fans with House Rules star Johanna Griggs chiming in with: 'Huge congrats Leisel! Wonderful news..:)'

Officially taken! 'WE'RE ENGAGED,' she captioned along with a ring emoji

Congratulations! The post was met with a flurry of well wishes from friends and fans with House Rules star Johanna Griggs chiming in with: 'Huge congrats Leisel! Wonderful news..:)'

Man of her dreams: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2016, Leisel said that she was 'lucky'' to have met Damon, with the pair being introduced through mutual friends

Seven's Morning Show host Kylie Gillies also gushed at the announcement saying: 'Big love Leisel. Congrats. X.'

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2016, Leisel said that she was 'lucky'' to have met Damon, with the pair being introduced through mutual friends.

'It's hard to meet people in Sydney and it's hard to find friends and be casual and relaxed. We're pretty lucky,' she said.

'He's super fun, very smart,' she said. 'He's super duper smart which is really important to me. He's got a great brain.'
Earlier this week Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna reportedly settled their lengthy joint custody agreement over daughter Dream.

But it looks like the former exotic dancer isn't finished making the only Kardashian son pay for his misdeeds.

Sources close to the 29-year-old starlet told TMZ that she and lawyer Lisa Bloom are trying to negotiate for a 'seven figure' settlement from Rob over his vindictive revenge porn photo rant back in July.

The Instagram beauty is asking for damages after losing several jobs and endorsements following her ex's social media shenanigans.

Rake It Up! Cha-ching: Black Chyna (above in August) is reportedly negotiating for a 'seven figure' settlement from ex Rob Kardashian (2016) over his vindictive revenge porn photo rant back in July

Bloom and Blac contend that the Rake It Up video vixen lost gigs because both the pics and Kardashian's captions strongly suggested she'd had plastic surgery, not a great look for companies trying to shill tummy tea and waist trainers.

Yesterday news of the couple's custody agreement broke on TMZ.

According to the site, the 30-year-old businessman was been awarded slightly more than fifty percent custody of their ten-month-old daughter, amid reports he and his famous sisters are concerned about the video vixen's parenting.

Sources also claim Rob has agreed to pay his ex-partner, 29, $20,000 a month in child support - with Chyna dropping her abuse allegations against him.

Payback: The Instagram beauty and her lawyer Lisa Bloom (above) are said to be asking for more than a million in damages after losing several jobs and endorsements following her ex's social media shenanigans in July

Neutral ground: Yesterday, Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna were reported to have settled their lengthy joint custody agreement for daughter Dream (pictured together in May 2016)

Sources close to the family tell TMZ that Rob has been awarded slightly more custody time over Dream - but paid a price to dismiss his ex's abuse allegations.

It is believed that Rob wanted to 'draw the line' at $10,000 for child support, but Blac was after $50,000-plus to put towards nannies and care.

However, the pair are thought to have bartered the price down in exchange for the model dropping her abuse allegations - which led to her requesting a restraining order against Rob earlier this year.

In July, the only son of the Kardashian clan targeted Blac in a rambling foul-mouthed rant on social media and posted explicit photos of her online.

Agreement: TMZ reports that Rob has agreed to pay Chyna (above) $20,000 in child support, in exchange for her dropping her abuse allegations against him

Party girl: Much of this money is thought to go directly to their nannies however, with sources adding that Rob is 'concerned about Chyna's parenting' and her excessive partying

Chyna went on to obtain a restraining order against him, and claimed he had been physically abusive during their relationship, and threatened to kill himself.

However, the site now reports that the sock designer 'agreed to double his child support offer' and pay the model a whopping $20,000 a month - with Chyna agreeing to drop her domestic abuse allegations in return.

Much of this money is thought to go directly to their nannies however, with sources adding that Rob is 'concerned about Chyna's parenting' - and worried the beauty is prioritising partying and her social life over little Dream.

MailOnline has contacted representatives of both Rob and Chyna for comment.

Rob shared his cute snap of Dream on Saturday calling her his 'twin'

Mommy time: The reality TV star with her little girl, who was born in November

The seeming resolution comes after it was reported the pair were very close to finding an agreement - even though Chyna asked for a 'large amount of child support' and was allegedly being investigated by LA child welfare officials over claims of drug use.

There was also the problem of the Kardashian sisters - Kim, Khloe and Kourtney - not being comfortable with Chyna taking care of Dream.

Rob and Chyna split earlier this year after getting engaged and welcoming their first child in 2016. Their issues were explored on the reality TV series Rob & Chyna.

The child: It was added they 'are not far apart over the division of physical custody' as they seem to be fine with the other getting plenty of time with little Dream

It was claimed earlier this week that the exes 'have been hashing out a joint arrangement for months', but were 'not far apart over the division of physical custody.'

The pair were thought to be happy for each other to spend plenty of time with Dream - even though the Kardashian sisters reportedly wanted Chyna's access to be limited.

The sisters did not have any say in the agreement, however, and it was claimed Rob felt Chyna was perfectly fine as a parent.

Differences: Another issue is child support. 'Chyna wants a lot,' a source told TMZ. 'Way more than Rob thinks she deserves, but it appears there's been some movement toward a compromise'

However, plenty issues have been slowing down the process so far - one being that the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) have an open case over Chyna's alleged drug use.

In February 2016 Chyna - whose real name is Angela Renee White - was arrested in Texas for having Ecstasy on her when trying to fly to London on British Airways. She was also seen ordering alcohol at a pub.

'Whites behavior was unpredictable, going from extremely angry, cursing at everyone then to crying,' the affidavit read. 'White was being verbally aggressive to the bartender at Saxon Pub whom she claimed would not serve her the amount of alcohol that she requested.'

Complicated: The site added that because there's a 'open case' in Dependency Court, 'any custody agreement must be signed off by that judge.' Seen in July

Another issue is child support. 'Chyna wants a lot,' a source told TMZ. 'Way more than Rob thinks she deserves, but it appears there's been some movement toward a compromise.'

The site added that because there's a 'open case' in Dependency Court, 'any custody agreement must be signed off by that judge.'

The former couple, who starred on the E! reality show Rob & Chyna, confirmed their split in March after just over a year of dating and just four months after the birth of their child.

Broken home:The little girl seen here on Chyna's social media account this summer

Meanwhile, People went on to report on Monday that Rob 'very much resents' his former fiancee.

The sock entrepreneur thinks Chyna is 'evil,' but is remaining calm for the sake of their young daughter, according to the publication.

One source said: '[Rob was] basically told to shut up and lay low until he and Chyna come to an agreement. There have been concerns that he will lose custody.'

At work? Chyna shared an image by a microphone on Tuesday to her Instagram account

The next big thing? The cover girl has been trying to launch a music career

And a source insists the reclusive sock designer 'misses' his daughter when she's with her mother and 'really cares' about making sure the tot has the best life possible.

The insider told People magazine: 'Everyone wants him to be quiet and not get into any more trouble.'

'He isn't happy about going to court, but he also isn't agreeing with Chyna's demands. [Rob] isn't healthy, and isn't making huge efforts to get healthier, but he does really care about Dream. He loves spending time with her. He always misses Dream when she is with Chyna.'

Meanwhile, Chyna's attorney Lisa Bloom previously revealed both parties will be trying to come to an 'amicable resolution' when the case goes back to court on September 18.

She said: 'We are attempting to work out an amicable resolution of all issues. If that fails, we will go forward with the hearing on September 18 so that the court will impose long-term consequences on Mr. Kardashian for his vicious online attacks on Blac Chyna.'
They last toured Australia in 1977, and multiple multi-million deals haven't lured them back yet.

But in 2019 ABBA are set to return to Australia for the first time in 42 years, however, they won't be setting a foot Down Under.

Instead, Benny Andersson told The Daily Telegraph he and bandmates are currently being digitally recreated as holograms for an international tour, modelling them after how they looked in 1979 at the height of their popularity.

'We can be on stage while I'm home walking the dogs': Benny Andersson confirms ABBA will tour Australia in 2019 as digital HOLOGRAMS

Benny and his ABBA bandmates Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are currently being modelled into holograms.

Their digital alter-egos will tour internationally, performing with all the trimmings of a real music concert.

'It will be like you're in 1977, with a live band, live backing vocals, great set design with lights and sound, everything will be like a live concert. But we will be there in the form of holograms and digital avatars,' Benny said.

'I don't have to leave my house': 70-year-old Benny said the project was especially appealing because it meant he didn't have to go on a gruelling months-long tour,

'Our voices will be taken from the records, or maybe some of the live vocals from the Australian tour. If you're sitting up in the arena you'll see us up there. It's quite exciting.'

70-year-old Benny said the project was especially appealing because it meant he didn't have to go on a gruelling months-long tour, while still providing fans with ABBA in concert at the height of their 1970s success.

'We can be on stage while I'm home walking the dogs. I don't have to leave my house,' he explained.

'It will be like you're in 1977': Their digital alter-egos will tour internationally, performing with all the trimmings of a music concert

Haven't visited in decades: ABBA, who haven't released new music since 1981, last toured Australia all the way back in 1977

ABBA, who haven't released new music since 1981, last toured Australia all the way back in 1977.

The Swedish pop band haven't performed in public for more than 25 years and multiple multi-million tour offers have failed to tempt them out of retirement.

Popular across the globe, ABBA has long had a cult following in Australian pop culture.

Their songs feature prominently in 1990s cult film classics Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla: Queen of The Desert.
She has a 19-month-old toddler and a baby on the way.

And Rose Byrne looked in great spirits as she was spotted on a casual stroll with beau Bobby Cannavale and their son Rocco in Manhattan on Saturday.

The 38-year-old Bridesmaids actress cut a casual figure in a tank top and jeans as the fine looking family made their way through the park.

Family affair: Rose Byrne, 38, was spotted on a casual stroll with beau Bobby Cannavale, 47, and their son 19-month-old Rocco in Manhattan on Saturday

The Australian beauty rocked a comfortable look in a chic pink tank top and navy blue denim leggings.

She kept a low profile with a white wide brimmed hat pulled down over her trademark brunette tresses.

The X-Men Apocalypse star stomped the Big Apple streets in a pair of leather sandals and retro shades on her youthful face.

Her prolific actor beau, 47, was a vision in casual clothes as well as he rocked a graphic tee and orange shorts.

Casual: The Australian beauty rocked a comfortable look in a chic pink tank top and navy blue denim leggings

Low profile: She kept a low profile with a white wide brimmed hat pulled down over her trademark brunette tresses

Rose and longtime beau Bobby are counting down the days until baby number two arrives after having confirmed the pregnancy news to Jones magazine last month.

'I'm a little tired but feeling good,' she said during a shoot with her brother George.

'Everyone was very sweet on set today, and you always get a little bit more attention when you're pregnant, which is fabulous.'

Rose and actor Bobby began dating in 2012 and welcomed their first child four years later.

Footwear: The X-Men Apocalypse star stomped the Big Apple streets in a pair of leather sandals and retro shades on her youthful face

Cool dude: Her prolific actor beau, 47, was a vision in casual clothes as well as he rocked a graphic tee and orange shorts

Bobby was previously married to American actress Jenny Lumet and they share a 22-year-old son Jake.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks star Rose previously opened up about motherhood, telling Playboy magazine that she has adopted similar parenting methods to that of her parents.

'... It's funny how it manifests itself. My parents are very no-nonsense Australians: They don't like fanfare or fussiness,' she told the publication.

'They're incredibly self-sufficient and curious. I hope I'm like them in those ways. Australians are real wanderers; we're well traveled because we're so isolated. That's something I'm proud of in being an Australian.
Blac Chyna took a spin around town in her brand new Bentley Saturday.

The former stripper showed off her ample assets in skin tight sportswear and was also dressed to match her $229k ride while running errands in Studio City, California.

The social media starlet's luxe drive around town came as TMZ reported the 29-year-old is trying to reach a 'seven figure' settlement from ex Rob Kardashian over his revenge porn rant on Instagram in July.

Revving engines! Blac Chyna showed off her ample assets in skin tight sportswear while jetting around town in her new $229k Bentley on Saturday

The mother-of-two couldn't hide her grin while jetting around town in her Bentley Bentayga SUV, even flashing a peace sign at onlookers.

Chyna hopped from her ride with a grey hoodie over her head and tight-as-can-be leggings hugging her bountiful backside as she made a quick stop into her local mailbox shop.

She hit the pavement in grey Yeezy sneakers with neon orange stripes while glittering pink and gold shades by Gucci covered her eyes.

Peace and love! The mother-of-two couldn't hide her grin while jetting around town in her Bentley Bentayga SUV, even flashing a peace sign at onlookers

You've got mail! Chyna sported a grey hoodie over her head and tight-as-can-be leggings hugging her bountiful backside as she made a quick stop into her local mailbox shop

Last Sunday, the spon-con starlet was sure to show off her spanking new ride, posting a picture straight from the dealership.

The Washington DC native's automobile splurge came just days before the former dancer arrived at a custody arrangement over daughter Dream with ex Rob Kardashian.

According to TMZ, the agreement stipulates he pays $20k a month in child support while she was required to drop her abuse allegations suit against the sock designer.

Hey big spender! Last Sunday, the spon-con starlet was sure to show off her spanking new ride, posting a picture straight from the dealership

Helping hand! The Lashed makeup mogul spent Saturday with daughter Dream, 10 months, and son King Cairo, four, sharing a video of her little ones captioned 'With the help of King , Dream will be walking in no time for sure !!'

And on Saturday, the site also reported that she and lawyer Lisa Bloom are trying to negotiate for a 'seven figure' settlement from Rob over his vindictive revenge porn photo rant back in July.

The Instagram beauty is asking for damages after losing several jobs and endorsements following her ex's social media shenanigans.

Chyna didn't seem to be worried with the drama at hand, however.

Pretty kitty! She also posted a picture of her little lady sporting rainbow kitty ears on Snapchat

Settle down: Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna reportedly settled their lengthy joint custody agreement for daughter Dream on Friday

It appeared that the Lashed makeup mogul was enjoying Saturday with daughter Dream, 10 months, and son King Cairo, four.

She shared a darling snap of her little guy helping his half-sister around the house which both giggle and chirp.

Mom captioned the video 'With the help of King , Dream will be walking in no time for sure !!' on her Instagram page.

Best bro! Cairo, whose dad is rapper and Kylie Jenner ex Tyga, also helped his little sister at meal time, seen cheering on bib-wearing baby girl

Cairo, whose dad is rapper and Kylie Jenner ex Tyga, also helped his little sister at meal time, seen cheering on bib-wearing baby girl.

Chyna also posted a picture of her little lady sporting rainbow kitty ears on Snapchat.

Dream is quickly approaching her first birthday, which will be on November 10.
They've been inseparable since revealing their romance last week.

And Bachelor couple Matty Johnson and Laura Byrne are fast becoming a regular sight on the streets of Sydney, looking loved up as they stepped out together on Saturday carrying a bottle of red wine.

'Couldn't be happier,' Matty said as he and Laura walked hand-in-hand to Laura's sister's house in Paddington.

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Must love dogs! Bachelor couple Matty Johnson and Laura Byrne look loved-up as they head out accompanied by jewellery designer's three-legged pooch Buster

The reality TV stars were accompanied by Laura's beloved three-legged rescue dog Buster, with the jewellery designer confirming the pooch and Matty were getting along well.

'They're besties,' Laura said.

The couple cut a relaxed figure on Saturday as they made their way to Laura's sister's house in the inner Sydney suburb of Paddington.

Laura showed off her tanned legs in denim cut-offs, pairing them with a loose button down shirt and sneakers.

Loyal: Laura and Matty were trailed by the jewellery designer's beloved pooch Buster, who stole the show on The Bachelor

Can I come too? Laura and Matty were trailed by the jewellery designer's beloved pooch Buster, who stole the show on The Bachelor

Her beau looked handsome in rolled up jeans which showed off his ankle tattoos, pairing it with a grey jumper and blue suede shoes.

The reality TV couple looked happy and relaxed as they strolled hand-in-hand to Laura's sister's house.

Laura and Matty were trailed by the jewellery designer's beloved pooch Buster, who stole the show on The Bachelor.

The three-legged dog caused a social media meltdown when he featured during Matty's visit with Laura's family, with fans calling for the Bachelor hunk to choose Buster as the series winner.

Finally! Last week, the reality couple finally revealed they were an item after months of speculation

Smitten: In an emotional finale episode on Thursday night Matty revealed he was in love with Laura after spending seven weeks getting to know her and 20 other contestants

Last week, the reality couple finally revealed they were an item after months of speculation.

In an emotional finale episode on Thursday night Matty revealed he was in love with Laura after spending seven weeks getting to know her and 20 other contestants.

During an interview with The Project on Friday the couple revealed they had several 'sliding doors moments' where they nearly met prior to the show.

Laura and Matty had several mutual friends and previously locked eyes in the sauna at Bondi Icebergs.

Stylish: Matty looked handsome in rolled up jeans which showed off his ankle tattoos, pairing it with a grey jumper and blue shoes
She sent fans into overdrive with her famous 'vagina' Oscars gown last year.

And now Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew is preparing to hit the red carpet at the Emmys, on Sunday in the US.

The 34-year-old blonde has shared her excitement at covering the glamorous awards ceremony - and has taken to Instagram to share snaps with her fans.

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What will she wear this time? Sunrise's Edwina Bartholomew jets to Los Angeles to cover the Emmys... after THAT famous 'vagina' Oscars gown

In one shot posted, Edwina smiles as she holds an over-sized coffee cup, and beaming widely.

'Signs you are in LA: your coffee cup is the size of your head, your hotel looks like the set of Mad Men, your Uber driver is an actor/model,' Edwina wrote in the caption.

'See you from the Emmys red carpet on Weekend Sunrise soon,' she added.

Making headlines! She sent fans into overdrive with her famous 'vagina' Oscars gown, last year (pictured)

In the snap, Edwina wears a plunging white blouse and has her short locks back and off her face, with light makeup.

She also shared another snap from the Emmys red carpet set-up and posed with some fans who had signs of the names of famous celebrities around their necks.

'Emmys Extras,' Edwina's caption read.

At the Oscars last year, the blonde beauty wore a 'vajayjay dress' - which was a Rachel Gilbert ice blue creation.

Loving it: She also shared another snap from the Emmys red carpet set-up and posed with some fans who had signs of the names of famous celebrities around their necks

After posting images of her outfit to social media the Sunrise reporter left her followers bemused, thanks to the unusual detailing at the front of the outfit.

One Instagram user asked: 'Nice but why is there a uterus on your dress?'

And on Facebook one commentator wrote: 'Your face and body are to die for.... But, sorry, the thing on the dress looks like a part of a female anatomy. I know I am not the only person thinking this....'

Edwina's ensemble consisted of a crepe skirt with what is described on the designer's website as 'a silk gazar sculptured detail' - which caught the eye of social media users.

'Why is there a uterus on hyour dress?' At the Oscars last year, the blonde beauty wore a 'vajayjay dress' - which was a Rachel Gilbert ice blue creation

The Australian designer of the outfit, Rachel Gilbert, is known for creating intricate hand embellished designs for event wear as well as bridalwear.

Edwina shortly responded to what she has now coined 'Vajayjaygate'.

Speaking to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson on their KIIS FM radio show, she said: 'Hahaha I did know they might call it "the vagina dress" and I still wore it anyway!'

She also took to Twitter to make light of the situation.

'Vajayjaygate. Lucky I didn't put it in the middle,' she wrote to her fans.
She's been in celebration mode since marrying her husband Peter Stefanovic.

But Sylvia Jeffreys had another reason to party on Saturday, with the Today star sharing a sentimental Instagram post on her sister Claire Going's birthday.

Pictured on what appears to be a luxury yacht, the beaming pair looked to be having loads of fun in the sun.

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'It's my sister's birthday, she'll raise the roof if she wants to..': Sylvia Jeffreys embarked on a weekend getaway to celebrate her older sister Claire's birthday on Saturday

'It's my sister's birthday, she'll raise the roof if she wants to #sistersweekend,' Sylvia captioned.

The 31-year-old Channel Nine presenter pointed her fingers to the sky as she posed next to Claire.

Wearing a summer-ready outfit, Sylvia sported a white collared shirt and a navy blue short skirt.

Claire opted for a white maxi dress as she raised her hands in the air.

Her best year: Sylvia's stellar year was topped off with her marriage to husband Peter Stefanovic in April

Sylvia's stellar year was topped off with her marriage to husband Peter Stefanovic in April.

Last week, the blonde beauty enjoyed a sun-soaked weekend outing with husband Peter Stefanovic, as they took to Sydney Harbour for a ferry ride.

Taking to Instagram to document the experience, 31-year-old Sylvia shared a photo of the pair sitting on the deck of the vessel as they cruised towards the Opera House.

Fun day out! Last week Sylvia checked out the Sydney Opera House with her husband Peter Stefanovic

'Weekending with @peter_stefanovic,' she captioned the photo.

Sitting starboard side, the stunner looked all rugged up with Peter's arm around her.

Protecting her eyes from the warm Spring sun, Sylvia donned a pair of designer Celine shades.

Taking the ferry: Taking a selfie, Sylvia captured the Sydney Opera House in the background of her sunny shot

Taking to Instagram Stories, the TV journalist posted another shot captioning it; 'Ferry spam'.

And the afternoon didn't end there, heading to a pub with a friend to bet some money on some horse racing.

Later on in the day, Sylvia was seen warming up with a black jumper and a warm cup of coffee.
They're both gifted performers and up for Emmy nominations tomorrow.

The Americans stars and real-life couple Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys were among the stars in attendance Saturday night in Los Angeles as Vanity Fair and FX tossed a pre-Emmys celebration at the Century City eatery, Craft.

The Felicity beauty, 41, came in high fashion, wearing a long red gown with layers of ruffles and spaghetti straps, with her dark brown locks cascading around her face.

Look of love: The Americans stars and real-life couple Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys shared a cute moment at Vanity Fair and FX's pre-Emmys celebration at the Century City eatery, Craft, on Sunday

Rhys, 42, wore a dark navy blue jacket over a black shirt with dark blue jeans and white shoes. He had his dark, wavy hair parted on the side, and burst into affection as the couple posed for pictures, cupping his lover's face as she smiled.

On Sunday, she's up for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, while he's nominated for outstanding lead actor in a drama series.

Rhys, who hails from Wales, and the fetching Fountain Valley, California native opened up to People in June about how they keep their romance clicking as they spend considerable time working together on the FX spy drama set amid the Cold War.

So happy together: Keri gave her co-star and partner a loving look as the duo posed for pictures

Talented tandem: Both are up for acting honors at Sunday's Emmy awards

Scene-stealer: Keri's ruffled red gown commanded attention at the Hollywood get-together

Russell told the publication that time apart is 'absolutely' necessary, while Rhys hailed his love as having 'the patience of a saint.'

Rhys joked that a bit of booze helps keep things light as 'the great leveler' and 'the great equalizer.

'Everything is so much better after a good, solid half bottle of red wine!'

Classy: Susan Sarandon cut a chic figure in all-black

Family affair: Emmy-winner Michael Chiklis posed with his stunning daughter Autumn

Comely couple: Sterling K. Brown and wife Ryan Michelle Bathe looked amazing as they posed

Funnyman: Venerated comic Louis C.K. looked dapper in a pinstriped blue suit

Icons: Veteran entertainers Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci were nicely garbed for the festivities

Rising star: Donald Glover had a dashing presence as he posed at the party

Lovely: Mad Men star Kiernan Shipka wore a funky dress

The two first emerged as a couple for the first time in 2014, after Keri ended her seven-year marriage to Shane Deary, the father of her oldest two children, son River, 10, and daughter Willa, five.

In May of 2016, they welcomed their first child together, a boy named Sam.

Other notable names in attendance at the bash included Susan Sarandon, Donald Glover, Michael Chiklis, Alison Pill, Sterling K. Brown and Louis C.K.

Charming: Actress Alison Pill looked delightful in a striped top and red dress

Twosome: Kiernan and Alison couldn't help but smile as they posed awat

Looking good: Keri Russell, Alison Wright and Matthew Rhys all made a fashionable impact

Beauties: Adina Porter, Lou Eyrich and Kiernan put on a serious sartorial display for the evening

Talented: Tom Colicchio (L) and Stanley Tucci were immersed in serious conversation

Mingling: Susan Sarandon and Donald cosied up for a snap inside the venue
Iran would react strongly to any "wrong move" by the United States on Tehran's nuclear deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, after President Donald Trump accused Iran of violating the "spirit" of the agreement.

"The Iranian nation is standing firm and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the (nuclear accord) will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic," state television quoted Ayatollah Khamenei as saying on Sunday.

Washington extended some sanctions relief for Iran on Thursday under Tehran's 2015 deal with world powers but said it had yet to decide whether to maintain the agreement.

Trump, who must make a decision by mid-October, said Iran was violating "the spirit" of the deal under which it got sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear programme.

"Today, despite all the commitments and discussions in the negotiations, America's attitude towards these negotiations and their outcome is completely unjust and amounts to bullying," Khamenei said.

"The Americans should know that the Iranian people will stand firm on their honourable positions and on important issues related to national interests, there will be no retreat by the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said in a speech to Iranian military academy graduates.

Iran said last month it could abandon the nuclear agreement "within hours" if the United States imposes any new penalties, after Washington ordered sanctions over Tehran's ballistic missile tests.

The United States imposed unilateral sanctions after saying the missile tests violated a U.N. resolution, which endorsed the nuclear deal and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology.

It stopped short of explicitly barring such activity.

Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.l

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Since rekindling their romance last year, Ruby Rose and girlfriend Jessica Origliasso have been seemingly inseparable.

However, following their romantic trip to Shanghai, China, last month, Ruby has mysteriously deleted all photos of Jess that were taken over the last 10 months.

The last and only photo of Jessica that remains dates back to November 2016.

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The only photo left: Ruby Rose has mysteriously deleted all her photos with girlfriend Jessica Origlaisso from the last 10 months

And it seems fans have also caught onto Ruby's puzzling actions with an array of followers sending their love and raising concerns for the star.

'It seems that you've deleted your sweet posts of Jessica, whyyyyyyyy!!! No!!!,' wrote one devastated fan.

'This is bad. I do not want to imagine it until I hope they will continue together,' captioned another.

Is everything OK? The star's Instagram page was previously filled with photos of Jess, however on Sunday that was no the case

Trouble in paradise? 'It seems that you've deleted your sweet posts of Jessica, whyyyyyyyy!!! No!!!,' wrote one devastated fan

Staying quiet: And there hasn't seemed to be much social media activity from Jess either

And there hasn't been much social media activity from Jess lately either.

In her last post of Ruby dated back to late August, Jessica gushed over her partner.

'It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to visit the Buddhist temples in China. So Ruby took me away for the week, and I'm visiting them all with her by my side,' she captioned.

Jess' last post: 'It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to visit the Buddhist temples in China. So Ruby took me away for the week, and I'm visiting them all with her by my side'

Love: In her last post of Ruby dated back to late August, Jessica was seen gushing over her partner

Jess's only post since her trip has been a photo with her twin sister Lisa regarding their support for the marriage equality in Australia.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to representatives for both Ruby and Jess.

After first dating in 2008, the pair rekindled their romance last year after collaborating on The Veronicas' music video for On Your Side.
Ashley Judd looked chic-as-can-be at Paleyfest in Beverly Hills Saturday.

The actress dazzled in a strapless black jumpsuit while stopping by the The Paley Center For Media to chat about her latest project Berlin Station.

There, the 49-year-old stunner teamed up with castmates Keke Palmer and Richard Armitage to plug the Epix series.

Guten tag! Ashley Judd looked chic-as-can-be at Paleyfest in Beverly Hills Saturday where she dazzled in a strapless black jumpsuit while there to chat about her latest project Berlin Station

Ashley looking sophisticated and sexy in the dark one-piece which was perfectly tailored to her 5foot7 form.

The University Of Kentucky alum's red-brown tresses cascaded over one shoulder elegantly while glossy lips and glowing skin let the Emmy nominee's natural beauty shine.

The daughter of country mega-star Naomi Judd rounded out her look with drop earrings and subtle peep toe mules.

She's a natural! The University Of Kentucky alum's red-brown tresses cascaded over one shoulder while glossy lips and glowing skin let the Emmy nominee's natural beauty shine

Drop it like it's hot! The daughter of singer Naomi Judd finished her look with drop earrings and cute peep-toe mules

Well suited! The LA native teamed up with castmate Keke Palmer at the TV-centric event

The LA native teamed up with castmate Keke Palmer, 24, at the TV-centric event.

There, the former Nickelodeon starlet donned a tuxedo inspired top which dipped low to present her coquettish cleavage along with a dramatic train at back.

The Scream Queen paired her waistcoat-esque top with smart cigarette pants and skinny black stilettos while slicking her tresses into a sassy ponytail and adding sassy winged eyeliner.

Flying high! The Scream Queen slicked her tresses into a sassy ponytail while adding sassy winged eyeliner

Chic: Keke paired her waistcoat-like top with smart cigarette pants and skinny black stilettos

Star power! Series star Richard Armitage looked sharp in a charcoal suit and black polo with brown brogues

At the event Ashley and Keke were joined by Berlin Station castmates Richard Armitage and Leland Orser, as well as producer Bradford Winters.

The spy drama, which is in its second season, follows a CIA field agent (Armitage) who is tasked to find a mole in the agency's Berlin, Germany office.

Season two of Berlin Station will debut October 15 2017 on Epix.

Berlin bound! At the event Ashley and Keke were joined by Berlin Station castmates Richard Armitage and Leland Orser, as well as producer Bradford Winters
It's a jaw-dropping statement from one of the most enigmatic performers in show biz.

In his new book Innocent, French actor Gerard Depardieu says that he survived an attempt from his parents to abort him -- with a knitting needle.

The actor, 68, made the jarring revelation as he described the acrimonious relationship he had with his parents, and how it reshaped the way the way he looked at life.

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Shocker: French actor Gerard Depardieu, 68, says in his new book that he survived an attempt from his parents to abort him with a knitting needle

'Since I wasnt wanted by my parents, since they made sure I knew I was an accident in my mother's womb, that I had survived the knitting needles, I was always very happy to be there, I always lived as someone who wanted to be a gift to others,' he said, according to the New York Post.

The Cyrano de Bergerac actor delivered an interesting analogy in how he came to not just survive, but thrive, amid a troubled childhood.

'Im a bit like the cat that one wants to drown but which got out of the bag and found itself alone on a bank,' The Man in the Iron Mask star said. 'I couldve become a wild cat, but I took advantage of that infinite freedom to open my eyes wide and observe my surroundings.'

The Green Card star doesn't stop there in uncovering the over-the-top admissions about his family, including their on-goings in the bedroom.

Pals: Gerard said that he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is a fan of his moxie

Survivor: Gerard said that as a result of his difficult upbringing, he 'always lived as someone who wanted to be a gift to others'

He wrote, 'My mothers father slept with my fathers mother.'

He also revealed his common bonds with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who four years ago, gave him Russian citizenship.

'Like with me,' he said, 'nobody would have bet a penny on him when he was 15.'

Golden: The star was nominated for an Oscar in 1991 for best actor for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac

Outspoken: The performer, seen here earlier this month in Italy, is not one to hold back

Veteran: The actor, seen here last month at a French film festival, has been in around 170 films

Depardieu said that he felt the Russian leader 'immediately liked [his] hooligan side' and 'the fact that I had occasionally been picked up off the pavement dead drunk.'

It's not the actor's first time making surprising revelations in putting pen to page, as he said in his book It Happened Like That in 2014 that he'd past worked as a sex worker and car thief, and had even robbed people's graves.
She's one of Hollywood's most successful actresses who uses her star power for good.

But while Salma Hayek is not stranger to speaking about her activism for victims of domestic violence, there is one question which always baffles her.

Speaking to Fairfax Media, the 51-year-old actress revealed she is often wrongly assumed to have been a victim of domestic violence, calling the mistaken belief 'painful' and 'the most bizarre question'.

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'And no, I'm not': Salma Hayek reveals people have wrongly assumed she has been a victim of domestic violence due to her humanitarian work

An international star of film and television, since 2005 Salma has been a prominent voice in the fight against domestic violence both in the United States and overseas.

A UNICEF ambassador, the actress claims people often wrongly assume she has been a victim of domestic violence and that is why she is such a strong advocate.

'And no, I'm not. "But why then are you doing something for them?" And for me this is painful, the most bizarre question, because I want to say "well, why aren't you?" So that's probably [why] I ask you right now: isn't that the same for everybody, that you feel someone else's pain?' Salma told Fairfax Media.

Fighting force: An international star of film and television, since 2005 Salma has been a prominent voice in the fight against domestic violence both in the United States and overseas

Long term relationship: Salma married French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault in 2009 and the couple share 10-year-old daughter Valentina together

Salma, who uses her star power to raise awareness of conflicts overseas, said she will sometimes feel the after-effects of visits in the weeks or sometimes months afterwards.

'Because you can wake up in the middle of the night crying because the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not solved and probably never will be, something over which you have no say and no control,' she explained.

'But it makes me sad! My husband, at the beginning, would say: did you have a dream? I'd say no, no, I just woke up and then I remembered.'

Wakes up crying at night: Salma, who uses her star power to raise awareness of conflicts overseas, said she will sometimes feel the after-effects of visits in the weeks or sometimes months afterwards

Salma married French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault in 2009 and the couple share 10-year-old daughter Valentina together.

The actress began her career on Mexican soap operas before finding fame internationally with 2002 film Frida.

The brunette stunner can be most recently seen in 2017 comedy-drama Beatriz at Dinner.
Adrienne Maloof oozed glamour with platinum tresses and a studded silver cocktail dress Saturday in Beverly Hills.

The Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills, 55, was joined by former flame Jacob Busch, 27, who looked sharp in a dark suit and unbuttoned top.

Though reality starlet and her much younger friend ended their romance in 2014, the duo looked more than friendly during American Humane's Hero Dog Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

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Howl at the moon! Adrienne Maloof oozed glamour with platinum tresses and a studded silver cocktail dress at American Humane's Dog Hero Awards Saturday in Beverly Hills

The New Mexico native dazzled in a studded dress which featured flirt fringe and a formfitting silhouette.

Adrienne amped up the glamour with sleek blonde tresses, pink lips and a head-to-toe tan while she added nude stilettos as a finishing touch.

The mother-of-three was joined by ex-beau Jacob Busch, who is the heir to the Anheuser-Busch beer empire.

Holding a flame? The 55-year-old Real Housewife was joined by ex Jacob Busch, 27, even though the pair ended their romantic relationship back in 2014

Glam gal: At the event, the New Mexico native amped up the glamour with sleek blonde tresses, pink lips and a head-to-toe tan

The much younger gent made a dapper appearance in formal-wear worn without socks or a tie at the animal welfare event.

Jacob and Adrienne dated for about 18-months from 2012 to late 2014, but eventually parted ways after 'growing apart.'

Vivica A Fox also made a striking appearance in dramatic blue at the awards.

She's got the blues! Vivica A Fox draped herself in an indigo-hued frock with cape-like sleeves and silver embellishments along the neckline at the event

Short and sweet! Days Of Our Lives darling Allison Sweeney was simple and stylish in a bell-sleeved black mini-dress with leopard print heels

Turning the tables: Former MTV VJ Daisy Fuetes looked sharp in a sheer tuxedo-style blouse and well-tailored slacks while appearing besides dapper hubby Richard Marx

The Kill Bill beauty draped herself in an indigo-hued frock with cape-like sleeves and silver embellishments along the neckline.

Adding extra inches to her already statuesque 5foot7 form, the Indiana born beauty put on pointy metallic heels.

A glittering bracelet finished off her look along with azure rings and a stylish topknot.

Wonder-ful! Danica McKeller of Wonder Years fame wowed in gold sequins and romantic curl swept over one shoulder

All that glitters! The UCLA alum turned heads in a glittering frock and metallic heels

Days Of Our Lives darling Allison Sweeney was simple and stylish in a bell-sleeved black mini-dress with leopard print heels.

Former MTV VJ Daisy Fuetes looked sharp in a sheer tuxedo-style blouse and well-tailored slacks while appearing besides dapper hubby Richard Marx.

Danica McKeller of Wonder Years fame wowed in gold sequins and romantic curl swept over one shoulder.

Perfect equation! The math whiz joined forces with husband Scott Sveslosky, who was debonair in a classic tux and single buckle loafers

Compare and contrast! Beth Stern, the wife of radio host Howard, looked glam in a pink silk frock with contrasting lace bodice

The math whiz joined forces with husband Scott Sveslosky, who was debonair in a classic tux and single buckle loafers.

Alexa PenaVega was white hot in a spaghetti strap frock with lace skirt while her husband Carlos donned a puppy patterned shirt with sharp vest on top.

Beth Stern, the wife of radio host Howard, looked glam in a pink silk frock with contrasting lace bodice.

The longtime animal activist brought actor James Denton along as her date, who matched her gown with a silver tie.

Tying up the loose ends! The longtime animal activist brought actor James Denton along as her date, who matched her gown with a silver tie

Dynamic duo! Alexa PenaVega was white hot in a spaghetti strap frock with lace skirt while her husband Carlos donned a puppy patterned shirt with sharp vest on top

Terrifically Topanga! Boy Meets World favorite Danielle Fisher looked elegant in a cocktail length black dress she teamed with a bold pout, emerald earrings and animal print peep toes

Boy Meets World favorite Danielle Fisher looked elegant in a cocktail length black dress she teamed with a bold pout, emerald earrings and animal print peep toes.

Retired Mean Girl Lacey Chabet sported a flirty lace number which revealed a hint of skin with a sheer lace shell atop a sexy bandeau and formfitting pencil skirt.

Dancing With The Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba sported a silk gown with glittering belt and halter while carrying a red snakeskin clutch.

David Lynch muse Alicia Witt kept casual in a brown day dress adorned with blue florals while her crimson locks hung down in soft waves.

Lacey lady! Retired Mean Girl Lacey Chabet sported a flirty lace number which revealed a hint of skin with a sheer lace shell atop a sexy bandeau and formfitting pencil skirt

Taking a spin: Dancing With The Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba sported a silk gown with glittering belt and halter while carrying a red snakeskin clutch

Every rose has its Thorne! Courtney Thorne-Smith of Melrose Place turned heads in a sophisticated jumpsuit with ruffles travelling from shoulder to hemline

Courtney Thorne-Smith of Melrose Place turned heads in a sophisticated jumpsuit with ruffles travelling from shoulder to hemline.

The beautiful San Franciscan rounded out her look with a turquoise statement necklace.

Hostess and commentator Debbie Matenopoulos wowed in blue lace cut with a mermaid train and off-the-shoulder sleeves while journalist husband Mark Steines donned a grey three-piece suit and pink tie.

Cool couple: Hostess and commentator Debbie Matenopoulos wowed in blue lace cut with a mermaid train and off-the-shoulder sleeves while journalist husband Mark Steines donned a grey three-piece suit and pink tie

Candy Spelling adorned her simple black suit with layers of necklaces along with multi-carat studs, and more than a few precious rings.

The animal loving stars all gathered for American Humane's seventh annual Hero Dog Awards.

The annual event 'recognizes heroes on both ends of the leash' while awarding one lucky pup with $7500 for the charity of its choosing.
She's the successful PR maven known for her love of social media.

And on Sunday, Roxy Jacenko shared adorable family snaps of her mini fashionista children and her husband.

Heading to Sydney's Birkenhead Point, the 37-year-old was joined by husband Oliver Curtis, 32, and their two kids Pixie, six, and Hunter, three.

Family day! On Sunday, Roxy Jacenko headed out to Birkenhead Point by their new Shopper Hopper with husband Oliver Curtis, 32, and their children Pixie, six, and Hunter, three

'Experiencing the #shopperhopper today - got on at #circularquay and headed to @birkenheadpoint,' she wrote in the sponsored post.

Keeping it casual, Roxy donned a white Miu Miu shirt and jeans for the fun day out and accessorised with a blue Hermes bag.

Donning more upscale ensembles, Pixie and Hunter were both dressed in head-to-toe in designer - Givenchy, retailing at a combined total of nearly $850.

Sunday funday! 'Experiencing the #shopperhopper today - got on at #circularquay and headed to @birkenheadpoint'

Designer kids! Donning more upscale ensembles, Pixie and Hunter were both dressed head to toe in Givenchy, retailing at a combined total of nearly $850

Starting their day at Jackies Cafe in Paddington, Roxy took a picture with Hunter who posed with his headphones on while using his iPad.

After brunch, the brood headed into the city to catch their ride to the outlet centre.

And it seemed like the kids enjoyed the boat experience with Pixie looking very content with her sweet treat she was greeted with during the 20-minute journey.

Distracted: Starting their day at Jackies Cafe in Paddington, Roxy took a picture with Hunter who posed with his headphones on while using his iPad

Yummy! And it seemed like the kids enjoyed the boat experience with Pixie looking very content with her sweet treat she was greeted with during the 20-minute journey

Fun day out: After brunch, the brood headed into the city to catch their ride to the outlet centre

With Oliver in charge of taking most of the trio's shots, he managed to sneak into a happy family selfie.

'Spring days,' captioned Roxy that featured the full family.

And the brood didn't come home empty handed, enjoying some retail therapy at designer stores Harolds and Sunglass Hut.
She's the YouTube star that's become well known for sharing racy photos of herself to social media.

And in an Instagram post on Sunday, Skye Wheatley showed off her career-defining assets as she said a sentimental goodbye to the city of Los Angeles.

The 24-year-old former Big Brother star showcased her taut tummy and lean legs in a double denim ensemble as she stood in the middle of a palm tree-lined street.

'T'was a pleasure LA, G'night New York see you tomorrow': In a post to her Instagram on Sunday, Skye Wheatley showed off her best assets in a sentimental goodbye post to the city of Los Angeles

'Twas a pleasure LA... G'night New York see you tomorrow,' she captioned the image, punctuating her words with heart emojis.

Skye wore a denim jacket over a bright red crop top and a pair of cut-off denim shorts that hugged her curvy posterior.

Accessorising with a pair of clear lens glasses and blindingly white sneakers, she showcased her enviable figure by posing with one leg bent and one arm held aloft to her hair.

The Australian lingerie model has been living it up on America's west coast since Wednesday, and keeping her fans updated on her every move.

On holiday: The Australian lingerie model has been living it up on America's west coast since Wednesday, and keeping her fans updated on her every move

Much needed break: The blonde bombshell appears to be loving her American holiday, and was spotted enjoying some shopping at popular LA fashion district Rodeo Drive

The blonde bombshell appears to be loving her American holiday, and was spotted enjoying some shopping at popular LA fashion district Rodeo Drive.

The next holiday stop for the cosmetic surgery connoisseur will be New York.

Skye recently ended a feud with Sydney photographer Jaden Seyfarth, which started after he accused the star of staging papparazzi snaps for profit earlier this year.

The busty blonde was spotted rocking a 90s era Britney Spears-inspired outfit as she seemingly rekindled her friendship with the 20-year-old in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Channelling an icon: On Wednesday, Skye Wheatley (pictured) opted for a 90s-era Britney Spears-inspired outfit and was spotted rekindling her friendship with paparazzo Jayden Seyfarth as she shopped in Los Angeles

Confirming there are no longer any hard feelings between the duo, Jayden took to Instagram to share an image of the pair posing happily together, captioning it: 'We cool again! She's such a babe.'

Skye and Jayden were also snapped conversing in front of a YSL store in the Californian city.

The duo were embroiled in a feud after Jayden leaked private messages between the pair, which purportedly confirmed that Skye had set up 'candid' paparazzi shots.

Jayden had captioned the screengrab: 'Don't f**k me over lol'.

'We cool again!' Jayden Seyfarth (right) shared a photo of the pair on Instagram, confirming there are no hard feelings between them
Ben Affleck flashed a huge grin during his hot date in Hollywood Saturday night with his girlfriend Lindsay Shookus.

At 45, the two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker is eight years older than the Emmy-winning SNL producer, and neither of them are technically divorced from their respective spouses.

The 6ft4in Bostonian was still sporting his burly salt-and-pepper beard, and he looked sharp in his black suit sans necktie.

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Having a blast! Ben Affleck flashed a huge grin during his hot date in Hollywood Saturday night with his girlfriend Lindsay Shookus

They already look like a married couple! The stars walked arm in arm out of the event

And the UNC-Chapel Hill grad wore her blonde bob down and matched her man in a long-sleeved LBD, which she paired with sexy stilettos.

The New York Post reported Wednesday that the couple have been spotted shopping for Manhattan apartments together, including a three-bedroom unit at 15 Central Park West boasting heated floors and 11ft ceilings.

Ben and his estranged wife - Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Garner - filed legal documents in April following their 2015 separation after a decade-long marriage.

The Daredevil co-stars are seeking joint physical and legal custody of their three children - Seraphina, 8; Violet, 11; and Samuel, 5.

Coordinated: Ben wore black as did his lady love who carried her cell phone

Black-clad duo: At 45, the two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker is eight years older than the Emmy-winning SNL producer, and neither of them are technically divorced from their respective spouses

Dapper dude: The 6ft4in Bostonian was still sporting his burly salt-and-pepper beard, and he looked sharp in his black suit sans necktie

Leggy lady: And the UNC-Chapel Hill grad wore her blonde bob down and matched her man in a long-sleeved LBD, which she paired with sexy stilettos

And Lindsay separated from her estranged husband - Late Night with Seth Meyers supervising producer Kevin Miller - in 2014 after a four-year marriage and they have a four-year-old daughter.

Affleck will next showcase his seven years of philanthropic work with the Eastern Congo Initiative in the second season of ASPIREist, which premieres Saturday on HLN.

The Live By Night director will then reprise his role as Bruce 'Batman' Wayne in Justice League - hitting US/UK theaters November 17 - alongside Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, and Gal Gadot.

Pictured in 2013: The couple have reportedly been spotted shopping for Manhattan apartments together, including a three-bedroom unit at 15 Central Park West

Pictured Wednesday: Ben and his estranged wife - Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Garner - filed legal documents in April following their 2015 separation after a decade-long marriage and three children

Pictured in 2015: And Lindsay separated from her estranged husband - Late Night with Seth Meyers supervising producer Kevin Miller (L) - in 2014 after a four-year marriage and they have a four-year-old daughter

'In Batman v Superman, he was at the end of his rope. But in Justice League, he's finding hope again. He has to open up and play well with others. He knows he needs them,' the Accountant actor told Us Weekly on Thursday.

'He's sort of the ultimate loner, but he's really trying to make it work and develop a good relationship with all of them. He might be a mentor to The Flash.'

Meanwhile, Shookus will be hard at work on the 43rd season of the NBC sketch series, which premieres September 30 with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Jay-Z.

ASPIREist Season 2 is back, today at 12PM on HLN. Don't miss the new season full of inspiring stories empowering viewers to take action. pic.twitter.com/856Tw7mmWQ  ASPIREist (@ASPIREist) September 16, 2017

Do-gooder: Affleck will next showcase his seven years of philanthropic work with the Eastern Congo Initiative in the second season of ASPIREist, which premieres Saturday on HLN

'He's finding hope again': The Live By Night director will then reprise his role as Bruce 'Batman' Wayne in Justice League - hitting US/UK theaters November 17 - alongside (from L-R) Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, and Gal Gadot
She was announced as the winner of Matty J's heart on the Bachelor last week.

And just a few days on, Laura Byrne seems to be comfortable in her position as a victor on the show as she paid out former show contestants Snezana Markoski and Sam Wood.

Taking to Instagram to gush over the $22,000 ring Matty J gave her in the show finale, the 31-year-old jokingly said she was thankful her new piece of jewellery didn't look 'like a cheezel.'

Diss? On Sunday, Laura Byrne took to Instagram to gush over her new $22,000 ring and jokingly said she was thankful it didn't look like Snezana Markovski's 'cheezel' ring

Sam Wood was subjected to online ridicule two years ago after many viewers of his season of The Bachelor likened the ring he gave Snezana to the popular cheese-flavoured snack, Cheezels.

Laura also used her post to gush about boyfriend Matty J.

'The curse of being a jewellery designer is that no on ever gives me jewellery, which sucks because it's one of my favourite things in the whole world,' she wrote in the caption.

'@matthredavidjohnson is the first man brave enough to give this girl a taste of her own medicine and I'm so completely in love with my ring.'

'Thanks for making it so wonderful @larsenjewellery thank goodness it didn't end up looking like a cheezel **jokes**' continued Laura.

Feeling blessed: '@matthredavidjohnson is the first man brave enough to give this girl a taste of her own medicine and I'm so completely in love with my ring'

Not taking it to heart: Sam Wood joked about his choice of sparkler himself during The Bachelor finale on Thursday night

Laura's cheezel comment was nothing but a bit of lighthearted fun.

Sam Wood joked about his choice of sparkler himself during The Bachelor finale on Thursday night.

He uploaded a picture of his television screen, with the hit reality show on it, to Instagram story with a tongue-in-cheek caption that read: 'Not as nice as the ring I gave Snez at the finale.'

Sam also added the humorous hashtag '#BringBackTheCheezel.'

Laughing about it: Sam uploaded a picture of his television screen, with the hit reality show on it, to Instagram story with a tongue-in-cheek caption that read: 'Not as nice as the ring I gave Snez at the finale'

If you can't laugh at yourself: Sam also added the humorous hashtag '#BringBackTheCheezel'

The slew of online ridicule and memes aimed at him inspired Sam to opt for a more sophisticated sparkler when he proposed to his lady love late last year.

Ensuring not to follow in Sam's footsteps, Matty designed Laura's ring with an 18-carat white gold band and a stunning 1.30 carat oval centre diamond, which was GIA certified F colour and VS2 clarity.

There are also 32 diamonds set into the shoulders of the ring, totaling 0.32ct.

Speaking about the design process, Larsen senior jeweller Kate Reid told Daily Mail: 'Myself and the team of Larsen Jewellery jewellers worked closely with Matty to design and custom make the perfect ring.'

In the past: The slew of online ridicule and memes aimed at him inspired Sam to opt for a more sophisticated sparkler when he proposed to his lady love late last year

The masterpiece: 'Matty was extremely enthusiastic about the design process with our team and was an integral part of creating a ring that represents his newfound relationship'

'Matty was extremely enthusiastic about the design process with our team and was an integral part of creating a ring that represents his newfound relationship with the winner,' she added.

Kate also revealed that jewellers met with Matty for over an hour before getting to work on the masterpiece that same day.

'Matty wanted the ring to be feminine and elegant,' she said.
She endured an awkward run-in with ex Nick Knowles and a mystery brunette date at the TV Choice Awards last week.

But former Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten looked more loved up than ever as she cuddled up with film producer beau Scott Walker at London Fashion Week's Kolchagov Barba showcase on Saturday.

The pair, who went public at a film premiere in London in May, have been pictured together several times in recent months, showing their romance is well and truly blossoming.

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Cosying up: Former Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten looked more loved up than ever as she cuddled up with film producer beau Scott Walker at London Fashion Week's Kolchagov Barba showcase on Saturday

Gemma, 33, looked her usual stunning self at the showcase at the Melia White House Hotel - where a bevy of celebrities attended to check out the latest styles from the luxury designer.

The former soap star wore a stunning off the shoulder midi dress with a sultry low neckline displaying her ample cleavage.

The velvet number had an intricate monochrome pattern of silhouettes and clung to the blonde beauty's figure to show off her enviable curves.

Elegant: Gemma, 33, looked her usual stunning self at the showcase at the Melia White House Hotel - where a bevy of celebrities attended to check out the latest styles from the designer

PDA alert! The pair, who went public at a film premiere in London in May, have been pictured together several times in recent months, showing their romance is well and truly blossoming

Perfect match: The couple's monochrome outfits served to complement each other

Stunning: The former soap star wore an off the shoulder midi dress with a sultry low neckline displaying her ample cleavage

She let her golden locks flow around her shoulder in pretty curls, with her side fringe swept casually over her left ear.

The soap star opted for classy black pointed heels to complete the very sophisticated look, which she displayed at the fashion show as well as at the after party at Quaglino's in Mayfair.

Her hunky plus one, Scott, dressed down for the occasion, looking casually chic in a pair of faded jeans complete with a rockstar chain.

The handsome film producer wore a bright white shirt, with the top button casually undone, and complemented the understated look with a cosy scarf draped around his shoulders.

Chic: Sarah-Jane Crawford walked the Kolchagov Barba catwalk. She looked elegant in a pale pink, strapless dress with a daringly high slit exposing her toned legs

Dazzling: The stunning Kolchagov Barba dress turned heads on the catwalk on Saturday

Singer Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud fame accentuated her willowy frame in a two-piece suit with a jazzy design - while Chloe Paige left far less to the imagination in her sultry velvet top

That's Aloud jacket: Nicola rocked her zigzagged suit which had bold buttons to match her fiery red hair

Tearing up the floor: Chloe-Jasmine Whichello looked incredible in a silky, loose-fitting suit by designer Kolchagov Barba, complete with pink frayed detailing on the sleeves and ankles

A source recently told the Mirror: 'It's early days but she is happy. Scott is a lovely guy and very supportive. They make a good team.'

The blonde beauty seems to have truly moved on after she was left 'burned' by the surprise split with DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles.

They first met last September at the TV Choice Awards and the pair embarked on a short-lived romance, eight months after his split from his then-wife wife Jessica.

Glitzy: Sarah-Jane Crawford wore a cute sequinned mini dress while singer Sam Callahan looked dapper in a suit jacket and distressed jeans

Shining: Chloe-Jasmine Whichello rocked the catwalk in an amazing glossy purple dress

Making an appearance: Fashion and beauty television presenter Naomi Isted opted for a semi-sheer maxi dress, complete with train, which had a daringly plunging neckline and pretty floral detail

Nick whisked Gemma off for a romantic dinner after the glitzy award ceremony and they began dating. But when pictures emerged of the pair enjoying a romantic getaway in Edinburgh, the 54-year-old star abruptly broke up with Gemma.

Nick returned to Jessica and supported her as she battled cervical cancer.

By January they decided to separate but remained on good terms for the sake of their son, Eddie.

DJ Osayuki Omo-Uwamere, who has provided the soundtrack to some of this week's shows, looked effortlessly sexy in a black mini dress and open toed heels

Lithe in leather: TV presenter and journalist Kiri Bloore dazzled in a floral midi dress and leather jacket

Nick has been rumoured to be romancing former TOWIE star Pascal Craymer, and even joined her at Tito Jackson's album launch in early September.

Gemma was left heartbroken, telling the Daily Star: 'It was weird. It was very eggy and it did put me off dating. I've been a little bit burned and now is the time for me to be a little bit selfish and look after me.'

Other celebs at the showcase on Saturday included singer Nicola Roberts and former X Factor star Chloe Paige.

Blonde bombshell: X Factor star Chloe Paige opted for vibrant emerald trousers and a simple white T-shirt gathered to flaunt her flat stomach on arrival - but changed into another outfit
President Donald Trump says he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (jah-yihn) have discussed North Korea in their latest call.

And Trump tweets that he's asked Moon about "Rocket Man"  an apparent reference to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (kim jawng oon).

North Korea has launched a trio of missiles in recent weeks and tested a bomb that was its most powerful to date.

Trump also says long gas lines are forming in North Korea, calling it "too bad." New U.N. sanctions cut oil exports to North Korea.

The White House says Trump and Moon are committed to continuing to take steps to strengthen deterrence and defense capabilities, and maximize economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. They plan to meet this week at the U.N. General Asse

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It looks like there's no stopping the musical endeavours of former Beatle Ringo Starr as the legendary drummer has just released a new album.

The record, titled Give More Love, is his nineteenth solo record.

The 77-year-old said his wife, former Bond girl Barbara Bach, is his main collaborator and still inspires him to write love songs after 37 years of marriage.

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Legendary drummer Ringo Starr - who just released his 19th solo album Give More Love - has paid tribute to his wife of 37 years Barbara Bach (pictured)

'I am a hopeful romantic, I believe in peace and love': Ringo said while promoting his new album Give More Love

'I am a hopeful romantic, I believe in peace and love. I got a lot of help from Barbara on Show Me the Way,' Ringo told News.com.au.

'I have loved her since 1980. We've wiped each other's tears and we still have bad days but there is always love.'

Ringo also revealed that former band mate and rock legend Paul McCartney dropped around to his guesthouse to feature on the album.

The voice of Thomas the Tank Engine said the pair still meet twice a year, and have a genuine love for each other that's been built across more than half a century of friendship.

The man and his muse: The 77-year-old said his wife, former Bond girl Barbara Bach, is his main collaborator and still inspires him to write love songs after 37 years of marriage

Retirement remains off-the-cards for Ringo who will tour the US with his All Star Band this year

Speaking about Paul he told the website: 'We know each other really well, as human beings and as musicians... we have been through a lot together.'

But McCartney isn't the only former member of The Beatles to have input on Ringo's new record.

The rockstar also said he felt the presence of the late George Harrison during recording sessions.

Retirement remains off-the-cards for Ringo who will tour the US with his All Star Band later this year.

However, it is as yet undecided whether he will bring the tour to Australia, News.com.au reported.
She has seen a meteoric rise in fame thanks to her famous curves and her unapologetic stance on body positivity.

And Iskra Lawrence once again worked her flawless physique as she posed up a storm for the Jourdan Dunn's Londunn x Missguided SS18 sponsored by CIROC collection during London Fashion Week on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old British model absolutely sizzled in a skin-tight white dress and floral thigh-high boots as she worked her magic for the camera.

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Sensational: Iskra Lawrence worked her flawless physique as she posed up a storm for the Jourdan Dunn's Londunn x Missguided SS18 collection sponsored by CIROC during London Fashion Week on Saturday night

Iskra looked sensational in her saucy ensemble which showed off her enviable figure.

The clingy white dress, which fell off her shoulders thanks to a bardot neckline, hugged her jaw-dropping curves and showed off her flat stomach.

Proving to be a figure-hugging fit, the garment hugged her pert derriere to perfection before ending in an asymmetrical finish.

Keen on adding a statement touch to her ensemble, Iskra boosted her statuesque height in a pair of floral thigh-high boots of pink and purple hues.

Looking good! The British model, 27, absolutely sizzled in a skin-tight white dress and floral thigh-high boots as she worked her magic for the camera

Wow: Iskra looked sensational in her saucy ensemble which showed off her enviable figure

Figure-hugging: The clingy white dress, which fell off her shoulders thanks to a bardot neckline, hugged her jaw-dropping curves and showed off her flat stomach

Slicking her blonde locks into a high ponytail, the bombshell opted for autumnal shadow and bronzer to bring out her striking features.

The model of the moment harboured all of her essentials in a chic lilac clutch bag, which was effortlessly draped off her shoulder.

The size 14 model, who is originally from Worcestershire, had previously been in New York for fashion week, attending the Badgley Mischka and Marchesa shows.

Curvaceous: Proving to be a figure-hugging fit, the garment hugged her pert derriere to perfection before ending in an asymmetrical finish

Work it! Keen on adding a statement touch to her ensemble, Iskra boosted her statuesque height in a pair of floral thigh-high boots of pink and purple hues

The British beauty is a passionate advocate for body confidence and spoke out about unattainable beauty standards in the fashion world in an interview earlier this week.

'The whole concept of Photoshop is an illusion,' she said. 'They're not flaws. They're part of your body. We were just convinced by society and the media that there was something wrong with them.'

Iskra has forged a successful modelling career after coming to accept her natural body.

She described how she realised at 18 that instead of trying to change her body to fit into sample sizes, she 'would try to change the industry'.

Mane attraction: Slicking her blonde locks into a high ponytail, the bombshell opted for autumnal shadow and bronzer to bring out her striking features

Trendy: The model of the moment harboured all of her essentials in a chic lilac clutch bag, which was effortlessly draped off her shoulder

Speaking out: The British beauty is a passionate advocate for body confidence and spoke out about unattainable beauty standards in the fashion world in an interview earlier this week

Model: Iskra has forged a successful modelling career after coming to accept her natural body

Cool: Wrapping up on the way home, Iskra draped a PVC biker jacket off her shoulders

Iskra recently took to Instagram to talk about her body image and revealed in the accompanying caption how she learned to love the 'strong' legs she once hated.

'Grateful I don't hate my legs anymore,' she wrote. '[And I am] grateful I see their strength and appreciate my [body's] capabilities.'

The star added that she loves the opportunity to see un-Photoshopped paparazzi pictures of herself which capture every aspect of her natural appearance, from her curves to her stretch marks.

'Also I realise I'm highly privileged but damn I love seeing pap pics that aren't retouched and some of those [lines] and [tiger stripes],' she added.

'Grateful I don't hate my legs anymore': Iskra recently took to Instagram to talk about her body image and revealed in the accompanying caption how she learned to love the 'strong' legs she once hated
She is known for her style credentials.

And Victoria Beckham, 43, displayed her sartorial prowess as she wore an oversized powder blue blazer and chic wide leg jeans to run errands after her show during LFW on Saturday.

The icon slipped a pair of angular dark shades over her eyes, and swept her brunette tresses back into a chic up do.

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Fashionista: Victoria Beckham, 43, displayed her sartorial prowess as she wore an oversized powder blue blazer and chic wide leg jeans to run errands after her show during LFW on Saturday

She layered a plain white T-shirt underneath her blazer, and added some height to her petite frame with her signature towering court heels.

Victoria's husband David has just returned to the UK after attending the debut of Victoria's SS18 collection at Fashion Week - which focused on pastel colours with clean lines with pops of vibrant gingham print.

Met with rave reception from guests and critics, the runway presentation was also attended by her loving husband David and their children, who were quick to gush of their pride on social media.

Stylish: The icon slipped a pair of angular dark shades over her eyes, and swept her brunette tresses back into a chic up do

'Very proud': Meanwhile David, 42, also took to Instagram to post a selfie of him and his 18-year-old - and congratulated his wife in the caption (above)

Her eldest son Brooklyn, who has just started university in the Big Apple, shared a number of snaps from behind-the-scenes with his dad, including a handsome selfie of the pair.

Meanwhile David, 42, also took to Instagram to post a selfie of him and his 18-year-old - and congratulated his wife in the caption.

He wrote proudly: 'Great show today, very proud to be in NYC with this handsome young man @victoriabeckham'.

Chic: She layered a plain white T-shirt underneath her blazer, and added some height to her petite frame with her signature towering court heels

Pop of colour: Victoria's husband David has just returned to the UK after attending the debut of Victoria's SS18 collection at Fashion Week - which focused on pastel colours with clean lines with pops of vibrant gingham print

Earlier this month the mother-of-four gave an insight into how she juggles her working life with being 'the best wife and mum', admitted that she expects a lot of her body during busy times.

Speaking to The Times' LUXX Magazine last week, the former Spice Girl confessed: 'It's not easy. I'm a bit of a control freak.

'I love what I do, and I always want to be the best - whether that's designing an amazing collection, putting on the best fashion show, creating a make-up collection, being the best mum, the best wife.'
Most actors won't stop until they've reached the ultimate goal of making it in Hollywood.

But Neighbours star Scott McGregor says he is fine right where he is in Melbourne, as he prepares for the imminent arrival of his first child.

The 36-year-old actor and his stunning fiancee Bianka Voigt will welcome their bundle of joy in just a fortnight.

Family first! Neighbours star Scott McGregor says he won't move to Hollywood as he and his fiancee Bianka Voigt prepare for the birth of their baby

Blooming lovely: The 36-year-old actor and his stunning fiancee Bianka Voigt (pictured) will become new parents in just a fortnight

Doting dad: The hunky actor said a move to Hollywood is at the back of his mind and also said that he finds it insulting when people ask him what his plans are after Neighbours

'I can't wait to meet our little one... I can't wait to see what they look like. To see all their little nuances. It's really exciting,' Scott told The Sunday Telegraph TV Guide.

The hunky actor said a move to Hollywood is at the back of his mind and also said that he finds it insulting when people ask him what his plans are after Neighbours.

'I love Melbourne. My family and friends are here, we've just bought a house, I have met my fiancee and we are expecting our little one, so I feel pretty settled,' he said.

'I almost find it a little bit insulting when people ask me what I am planning to do next because I am not in a rush to leave Neighbours.'

The soap star also revealed that he and Bianka decided to delay their wedding date until January 2019 so they can focus on bonding with their newborn.

'Hot mumma': Scott shared the first photo of his glowing partner Bianka's baby bump in July

Baby on the way: The couple announced their pregnancy in March via Instagram, with Scott sharing a sweet snap of him cuddled up to Bianka while holding an ultrasound picture

He revealed he was expecting a baby with the blonde beauty in March, before sharing the first photo of his glowing partner's baby bump in July.

The hunk fawned over the beautiful picture, tagging Bianka as a '#hotmumma' and paying tribute to the woman carrying his first child.

'Seriously... how hot is my (soon to be) wifey!' he gushed, adding numerous flame emojis.

'Can't wait to meet our little one,' he added.

Seated on a couch surrounded by cushions and a throw blanket, Bianka smiled widely as she posed for the camera in a Calvin Klein crop top that flaunted her bump.
New Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, 57, has been accused by her ex-husband Corky of cheating on him throughout their marriage.

Her scorned former spouse spoke to The Sun on Sunday and claimed that the professional ballroom dancer would 'be at the studios and then disappear with the dancers' - as part of a revenge plan to hit back at him after finding out he had embarked on an affair.

Corky, 56, a retired competitive ballroom dancer, alleged: 'She was seeing whoever, whenever. Over 20 years Id say there were at least ten men who I thought she was involved with.'

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'She'd disappear with the dancers': New Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas' ex-husband Corky, 56, has claimed that she cheated on him throughout their marriage

Former flame: Shirley and Corky were together for 23 years before divorcing ten years ago, after meeting in 1982. They share a son Mark (now 31)

Shirley was first married to Sammy Stopford, who she fell for when she became a professional dancer at age 17; they then worked together until 1983, during which time they got married.

The star, who boasts a 40-year career as a Latin dancer, then met Corky and inevitably got divorced from Sammy. Shirley married Corky and they went on to win a string of international dancing titles.

The couple, who separated 14 years ago, share a son, Mark Ballas, who now performs on the US version of Strictly - Dancing With The Stars.

And speaking of the demise of their relationship, Corky continues emphasising his fragile position, adding: 'The only person she was cold to was me.'

Bitter: Corky continued, 'She was seeing whoever, whenever. Over 20 years Id say there were at least ten men who I thought she was involved with'

Speaking further to the publication, Corky admitted that it was his infidelity that led to the demise of the marriage, accusing Shirley of wanting to play tit for tat with him by seducing men for revenge.

Despite only knowing for certain about two of Shirley's lovers, Corky is convinced that she had more: 'There were two that I knew of, but there may have been more that I didnt. It was always the same thing. She would go off and teach with them first.'

Shirley, known as 'The Queen of Latin', revealed she was 'over the moon' in May after being chosen to take over from Len Goodman as head judge on Strictly when it returns to screens this September.

After hearing that she was selected as a judge, Shirley gushed: 'I am so excited and over the moon to have been given this wonderful opportunity. I can't wait to get in to the ballroom and be part of the incredible and respected judging panel!'

Despite only knowing for certain about two of Shirley's lovers, Corky is convinced that she had more: 'There were two that I knew of, but there may have been more that I didnt. It was always the same thing. She would go off and teach with them first'

Following in their footsteps: The couple, who separated 14 years ago, share a son, Mark Ballas, who now performs on the US version of Strictly - Dancing With The Stars

Clearly ecstatic at her casting as a devoted follower of the show, she added: 'Strictly Come Dancing is so loved by the British public, I have always been a massive fan. I just can't wait!' And she described it as a great tribute to the late Bruce Forsyth.

She has previously proven that she's a firecracker ahead of the show, after giving her very brash opinion on the infamous Strictly curse.

She told The Sun: 'If youre locked up in a room and youre coming out in your little sensual clothing and men are baring chests and youre there every week and you have to do romance, its difficult not to have chemistry. '

She also maintained that chemistry is crucial to the show and that there are most likely multiple factors involved when a relationship breaks down after taking part on the show.
She's the outspoken actress who has become known for her politically-charged Twitter rants and undying devotion to Hillary Clinton.

So it was no surprise to see Debra Messing swathed in a Democratic shade of blue on the cover of Australia's Stellar magazine this week.

The 49-year-old was quizzed about her now iconic feud with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, who chose Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein over Messing's beloved Clinton during the 2016 presidential race.

'It is what it is': Sitcom-star-turned-activist Debra Messing has addressed her famous political feud with Bernie Sanders supporter Susan Sarandon in Australia's Stellar magazine

'It is what it is,' the Will & Grace star said diplomatically.

The limousine liberal continued: 'It doesnt really deserve any more time spent on it, because of where we are now  every day there is something else that is infuriating or catastrophic in the news.

'I would much rather talk about how to keep [my] country unified,' she sniffed.

'I would much rather talk about how to keep my country unified,' said Messing, who started a Twitter feud with Sarandon last year because the 70-year-old wouldn't support Hillary Clinton

The hot-headed Hillary lover also admitted that she 'became a big mouth on Twitter' while passionately campaigning for Clinton last year.

Debra's beef with Susan started on social media after Debra became enraged when the Stepmom star said that she wouldn't vote for Clinton and that a Donald Trump presidency could bring about a 'revolution' in the country.

Despite Sarandon clarifying that she would never back Trump, the always articulate Messing tweeted back: 'Susan Sarandon muses tht Trump prezcy wud b better 4 the country thn Hillary.Wonder if she'd say that if she were poor,gay,Muslim or immgrnt to [sic].'

The pair then went back and forth on Twitter, with Susan accusing her rival of 'RT-ing personal attacks' against her before finally finishing the exchange by tweeting: 'Alright @DebraMessing report me to the homeroom teacher and let's STOP.'

'I became a big mouth on Twitter!' The self-aware Hillary Clinton supporter admitted that she became more outspoken whilst campaigning for the What Happened author on social media

Outspoken: The Will & Grace star didn't hold back when slamming Oscar winner Susan

Their feud was revisited this year when Andy Cohen asked socialist Susan about the incident during an appearance on his talk show in May.

'You know, I think she's not very well informed, so sometimes she gets in areas that she really hasnt thought through,' said Susan.

'Shes Trumpian a little bit like that, so I dont have anything against her personally.

'I just sometimes I have to say, But you dont have the information.''

'She's not very well informed and so sometimes she gets in areas that she really hasnt thought through': Sarandon slammed Messing on Watch What Happens Live earlier this year

A for effort! Debra and Katy Perry were two of Clinton's biggest celebrity supporters, but their support wasn't enough to get Bill's wife into the White House

Despite passionate support from celebrities like Messing and Katy Perry, Clinton lost the presidential race to former reality star Donald Trump.

The 69-year-old wife of former President Bill Clinton is now peddling a book about her defeat called What Happened, which lists the many factors she believes stopped her from her lifelong dream of reaching the White House.

Some of these include Russia, Wikileaks, the mainstream media, sexism, the DNC, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, James Comey, Facebook, and women who succumbed to pressure from men not to vote for her.
He's the hunky Bachelor star who always looked his best while appearing on the hot reality series.

But a photo shared by a make-up artist who worked on the TV show has raised questions about whether Matty 'J' Johnson wears fake eyelashes.

On Sunday, make-up artist and fake eyelash maker Helen Dowsley posted a black and white picture of Matty J looking off into the distance - the hunk sporting a flawless complexion and dark eyelashes.

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Au naturel? A photo (pictured) shared by a supplier of fake eyelashes has raised questions over whether Matty 'J' Johnson wears the beauty accessory

'Congratulations @matthewdavidjohnson it was a pleasure working with you day in and day out,' the caption on the post read.

'Always treating me with kindness and respect. I'm going to miss you.'

Helen Dowsley specialises in providing fake eyelashes and it is not known whether Matty wears the beauty accessory.

Slick: The Bachelor star always looked his best while appearing on the television reality series

She's the one! Last week Matty finally revealed he had chosen Laura, ending months-long intense media speculation

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Matty's representatives for comment.

Meanwhile, Matty admitted last month to getting his ears pinned back after old photos of himself looking almost unrecognisable surfaced.

The throwback snaps showed the hunk sporting long shaggy hair, with his ears noticeably more prominent.

My how you've changed! The throwback snaps showed the hunk sporting long shaggy hair, with his ears noticeably more prominent

'I used to have wingnut ears. I pinned them back': Matty admitted last month to getting his ears pinned back

'I used to have wingnut ears. I pinned them back,' Matty J told The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

'In high school I was pimply and pretty gangly,' he also added.

When quizzed about whether he had undergone any other cosmetic procedures since his teenage years, Matty simply responded: 'Just the Dumbo ears!'
She's been doing the rounds promoting her new film First They Killed My Father.

And Angelina Jolie was once again dressed to impress when she arrived at the Q&A for the upcoming documentary in Los Angeles on Saturday, looking elegant as ever.

The Hollywood veteran stunned in a cream silk ensemble, making a glamorous arrival at the event.

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Glamorous: Angelina Jolie was once again dressed to impress when she arrived at the Q&A for the upcoming documentary in Los Angeles on Saturday, looking elegant as ever

Angelina sported a loose white dress with a matching duster jacket featuring subtle fringing on the hemline.

The brunette beauty carried a smart designer handbag, coordinating her arm candy with her nude stilettos.

She flashed a big grin as she was met with a swarm of fans at the event, highlighting her pout with red lipstick.

In high spirits: She flashed a big grin as she was met with a swarm of fans at the event, highlighting her pout with red lipstick

Super chic: Angelina sported a loose white dress with a matching duster jacket featuring subtle fringing on the hemline

This comes after Angelina was joined by her father Jon Voight at the NYC premiere for her new film on Thursday night.

They were estranged for more than six and a half years, but have made amends.

The 42-year-old Tomb Raider star was typically striking in a strapless grey grown, which displayed her sprawling back tattoo, as she posed on the carpet in the Big Apple - alongside her father, 78.

Stunning: Last week, Angelina was typically striking in a strapless grown, which displayed her back tattoo, as she posed at the premiere of her new film in NYC

The stunning grey dress first cinched in at her famously slender waist, before falling into soft pleats all the way to the floor.

Pulling into a strapless design to leave the back open, the dress drew attention to her famously sprawling back tattoo, as well as a smaller inking on her arm, as she posed effortlessly for cameras.

She pulled her brunette locks into a loose half-up do, and elegantly tied her look together with glittering diamond earrings and matching necklace.

Classic: The stunning grey dress first cinched in at her famously slender waist, before falling into soft pleats all the way to the floor

Peek-a-boo: Pulling into a strapless design to leave the back open, the dress drew attention to her famously sprawling back tattoo, as well as a smaller inking on her arm

Elegant: She pulled her brunette locks into a loose half-up do, and accessorised with a glittering diamond necklace

Of course the Oscar-winner's make-up was perfectly applied, and accentuated her naturally striking features with a smokey eye and bright crimson lipstick.

Promoting a film she both directed and co-wrote, Angelina was also supported by her father Jon at the event - who lookeddapper in a classic midnight blue suit.

Keeping co-ordinated, he layered a light blue shirt and carbon crosshatch tie underneath, but casually finished his look with matching navy trainers.

Proving the event to be a family affair however, Angelina also brought all six of her children to the event.

Pals: Father Jon, 78, looked dapper in a classic midnight blue suit which he paired with a lighter blue shirt and carbon crosshatch tie (seen here with musician Chip Taylor

Kicks: Navy blue trainers with white soles rounded out his ensemble

While Angelina obviously turned heads thanks to her grey backless gown, she made sure to get several photos with her two eldest children, Maddox, 16 and Pax, 13, as they also worked on the movie.

Maddox, who was actually born in Cambodia, was invited by his mother to participate as an executive producer, and shined on the red carpet in a black suit paired with a simple white t-shirt.

Pax served as the set photographer, and looked equally dapper in a black on black ensemble.

Inclusive: Angelina Jolie, 42, brought all of her children to the New York City premiere of her new film First They Killed My Father (also pictured with cast and producers)

Elegant: Angelina obviously turned heads thanks to her grey backless gown

Collaborative: The Maleficent star not only directed the drama, but also co-wrote the informative film with writer Loung Ung

Proud mom: She made sure to get several photos with her two eldest children, Maddox, 16,(left) and Pax, 13, as they also worked on the movie

Meanwhile Zahara, 12, looked to be enjoying herself in a black lace top and black trouser combination, while Shiloh, 11, opted for a grey suit minus a tie.

Finally, twins Knox and Vivienne, aged nine, also looked to be having fun, with Knox donning a classic black suit and his sister choosing a black vest and trouser look.

All of the children also wore a yellow flower somewhere on their person, while their mother placed hers in her hair.

While the exact meaning of the flowers is not known, E! News reports them as plumerias, which are thought to symbolise positivity and are worn at special occasions.

Glam: Zahara, 12, looked to be enjoying herself in a black lace top and black trouser combination

Just like Brad? Knox donned a classic black suit sans tie for the event

All the kids wore the same yellow flower that their mom had in her hair

Simple: Vivienne opted for a black vest and trouser look

The premiere of the Netflix film comes after Angelina met with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the Manhattan headquarters on Thursday.

The Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees easily defied her 41 years in a white silk blouse, brown pencil skirt, and nude pumps selected by stylist Jen Rade.

Rather than taking vacuous selfies or developing clothing lines, Angelina has made over 60 trips to the field as part of her work with the do-gooding intergovernmental organization.
She's the iconic Australian entertainer who made the heartbreaking announcement in May that her breast cancer had returned and spread to her back.

But Olivia Newton-John looked the picture of health on Sunday when she turned out for a cancer fun run in Melbourne.

Raising money for her Olivia Newton John cancer Wellness and Research Centre, the Grease star was joined by a throng of supporters, including federal opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Looking good: Olivia Newton John looked the picture of health on Sunday when she turned out for her cancer fun run in Melbourne

Good cause: Raising money for her Olivia Newton John cancer Wellness and Research Centre, the Grease star was joined by a throng of supporters, including federal opposition leader Bill Shorten for the Wellness walk and research Run at La Trobe University

The 68-year-old looked vibrant at the event held at La Trobe University and beamed as she excitedly addressed the assembled crowd.

Dressed in a lime-coloured ONJ Cancer wellness and Research Centre track suit top over a matching T-shirt in a lighter shade of green, she seemed fit and happy.

Olivia also wore a pair of form-fitting blue tracksuit pants and grey trainers with lime green shoelaces.

Battler: The 68-year-old looked vibrant at the event held at La Trobe University and beamed as she excitedly addressed the assembled crowd

Bright: Dressed in a lime-coloured ONJ Cancer wellness and Research Centre track suit top over a matching T-shirt in a lighter shade of green, she seemed fit and happy

With her golden locks styled in a fetching bob that grazed her shoulders, Olivia accessorised with gold hoop earrings and a pair of dark sunglasses.

Olivia was joined on the walk by husband John Easterling and the pair looked smitten as they walked for the good cause.

The pair strolled hand-in-hand and were seen smiling broadly as they stared into each other's eyes.

Simple style: With her golden locks styled in a fetching bob that grazed her shoulders, Olivia accessorised with gold hoop earrings and a pair of dark sunglasses

Strong bond: Olivia was joined on the walk by husband John Easterling and the pair looked smitten as they walked for the good cause

Smitten: The pair strolled hand-in-hand and were seen smiling broadly as they stared into each other's eyes

While Olivia was all smiles at the event, she appeared was overcome with emotion when she was presented with a cheque for $250,000 from Curves Fitness founders Gary Heavin and his wife Diane.

An appreciative Olivia looked to be fighting back tears as she spoke into the microphone, leaning in close to Diane for a gentle hug.

Olivia was also joined onstage by iconic Channel Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener with the pair sharing a laugh as they addressed the crowd.

Thankful: While Olivia was all smiles at the event, she appeared was overcome with emotion when she was presented with a cheque for $250,000 from Curves Fitness founders Gary Heavin and his wife Diane

Having fun: Olivia was also joined onstage by iconic Channel Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener with the pair sharing a laugh as they addressed the crowd.

No politics: Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten also turned out for the event and took time to personally meet and greet runners

Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten also turned out for the event and shook hands with many of the runners.

Olivia posed for snaps with supporters and even stopped to chat with a playful pooch who wore a fetching bandanna in the charity's signature lime green colour.

Well done: Olivia also took time to get up close and personal with the throng of revelers, with the Xanadu star posing, hands in the air, with a group of supporters

Paw-fect: It wasn't just people that Olivia was eager to meet either as she stopped to chat with a playful pooch who wore a fetching bandanna in the charity's signature lime green colour

Let's get physical: Olivia looked elated as she walked with the crowd, beaming broadly as she held her hands aloft

She looked elated as she walked with the crowd, beaming broadly as she held her hands aloft.

Olivia was also spotted deep in conversation with a female cancer sufferer.

She also showered the crowd with confetti that she shot from a toy gun and was seen holding a hand-shaped noise maker.

Heart to heart: Olivia was also spotted deep in conversation with a female cancer sufferer

What a blast! She also showered the crowd with confetti that she shot from a toy gun and was seen holding a noise maker

Good fun: As she shot the colourful confetti into the air, Olivia also clapped a noisemaker
She's the glamorous Australian supermodel who has graced the covers of Vogue, Elle, Harper' s BAZAAR, and Maxim.

But these days Nicole Trunfio is seen more in mummy than model mode with her gorgeous toddler son, Zion.

On Friday, the 31-year-old treated the airport terminal like a runway as she strutted her stuff through LAX with her two-year-old in her arms.

Gorgeous: Nicole Trunfio treated the airport terminal like a runway as she strutted her stuff through LAX with her two-year-old in her arms

The stunner was dressed in a sheer black top, which revealed a glimpse of her asset-enhancing bra.

She also sported ripped skinny jeans and designer leather flats on her feet.

Nicole completed her look with a black Baker Boy cap and matching shades.

Earlier this year, the supermodel opened up about her breastfeeding cover of Elle Australia magazine.

Peek-a-boo! The stunner was dressed in a sheer black top, which revealed a glimpse of her asset-enhancing bra

'In Australia we breastfeed anywhere and everywhere, we are very open about it and there is no judgment. It is a very free country,' Nicole said at the Mammas Making It event, according to The Daily Telegraph.

'I'm married to a Texan and it is a very different world. Even my husband would get very uncomfortable with me breastfeeding in public. For me it was very challenging.'

After the Elle cover hit newsstands, Nicole took to Instagram to explain the message behind the shoot was to reduce any stigma about women breastfeeding in public.

'There is nothing more powerful and beautiful than motherhood,' she began.

'The last thing I want to do is be controversial, so please take this for what it is, let us normalise breastfeeding. There is nothing worse than a mother that is judged for feeding her hungry child in public.'
Egypt's Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil said on Sunday that most of the country's idle factories were closed for operational reasons that had nothing to do with the ministry.

Kabil made the comments during a press conference to announce Egypt's hosting of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Conference, which is to be held at the end of 2017.

In 2013, former minister of manpower Kamal Abu-Eita said an estimated 4,500 factories in Egypt were standing idle. The figures provided by Abu-Eita were based on a survey conducted by independent NGO the Centre for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS).

In recent years, particularly following the 25 January uprising in 2011, large numbers of factories closed due to a lack of financial resources, with the state launching several attempts at reopening them since 2013.

Last month, Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan said that 186 factories had been registered as part of a plan to reactivate closed factories, easing financial and administrative problems relating to government bodies.

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She suffered a public heartbreak when TOWIE star Chris Clark broke up with her to reunite with Amber Dowding.

But Jesy Nelson, 26, appeared to be firmly over the reality star, as she partied with her new flame Harry James at Tape nightclub in London on Saturday night.

The pair left with their group in the early hours of Sunday morning, but they appeared close as they sat next to each other in their taxi.

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Moving on: Jesy Nelson, 26, partied with her new flame Harry James at Tape nightclub in London on Saturday night

Jesy displayed her edgy style in a denim midi dress, which emphasised her hourglass shape in the form-fitting ensemble, which also featured a slit up the middle to give a glimpse of her toned legs.

She styled her red-tinged tresses into curls tumbling past her shoulders, and accentuated her stunning features with bronze smokey eye make up and false eyelashes.

Jesy slipped a Chanel pearl necklace over her decolletage, and slung a black leather handbag over her shoulder.

Cosy: The pair left with their group in the early hours of Sunday morning, but they appeared close as they sat next to each other in their taxi

Toned: Jesy displayed her edgy style in a denim midi dress, which emphasised her hourglass shape in the form-fitting ensemble, which also featured a slit up the middle to give a glimpse of her toned legs

Fresh beginning: The new couple made their relationship public after they were spotted holidaying in Mykonos in June, where they were seen holding hands and flirting

She was joined by fellow Little Mix band mate Leigh Anne Pinnock, who wore a raunchy pair of leather trousers with an interlacing middle, and a see-through black top.

The new couple made their relationship public after they were spotted holidaying in Mykonos in June, where they were seen holding hands and flirting.

The 26-year old Essex born musician used to go by the name of Fugative, and pursued a career in rap in 2008.

Racy: She was joined by fellow Little Mix band mate Leigh Anne Pinnock, who wore a raunchy pair of leather trousers with an interlacing middle, and a see-through black top

Accessorised: Jesy slipped a Chanel pearl necklace over her decolletage, and slung a black leather handbag over her shoulder

Glamorous: She styled her red-tinged tresses into curls tumbling past her shoulders, and accentuated her stunning features with bronze smokey eye make up and false eyelashes

Chilling out: Leigh-Anne was seen to relax in the back of her taxi with a friend

Racy: Leigh-Anne looked incredibly racy in her flesh-flashing ensemble

Busty: Leigh-Anne hinted at her ample cleavage in her see-through black top

The musician and producer sat at the number two spot for his track Its Summertime, and after a run of singles featuring Sway, Ed Sheeran and Wiley in 2011 and 2012, Harry returned as his namesake in 2014, replacing rapping with singing and songwriting.

Jesy hooked up with old flame, TOWIE's Chris Clark, 23, while he was on a six month break with Amber earlier this year.

They confirmed their romance in mid-March with a snap of the pair kissing but the fling quickly turned sour and they went through an acrimonious break-up.

Chris and Jesy first set tongues wagging when they were first spotted together hand-in-hand at the glamorous BRIT Awards in February.

Old flame: Jesy hooked up with old flame, TOWIE 's Chris Clark, 23, while he was on a six month break with Amber earlier this year
She's the Australian actress who was recently awarded a whopping $4.5 million after winning her defamation case against Bauer Media.

And now she has taken to Instagram to share a cute throwback photo that shows her receiving a gift of a karaoke machine.

In the photo, shared with her 4.5 million followers, the blonde bombshell can be seen smiling broadly as she holds up her gift of a tape recorder with a microphone.

Sing star: Rebel Wilson has taken to Instagram to share a cute throwback photo that showed her receiving a gift of a karaoke machine

With her cheeky smile instantly recognisable, Rebel Wilson proudly holds up the box that contains her present for the camera.

Her blonde locks flowed freely over her shoulders while she was also sporting a fringe that fell over her eyes.

The Pitch Perfect star captioned the photo: 'Mum just sent me this old photo with the caption: "Apparently you did like to sing as a child."'

Prodigious talent: Rebel captioned the photo: 'Mum just sent me this old photo with the caption: "Apparently you did like to sing as a child"

Fans of the actress were quick to point out how little she had changed in the ensuing years with comments including: 'Aww you look so cute and seriously haven't changed at all #Childhood #DefyingAge.'

While many more were drawn to comment on Rebel's cuteness some could not help but comment on the fetching couch that sat in the back of the frame.

'Oof, that couch,' one follower chimed in, punctuating the sentiment with the hashtag #straya, while another offered a similar: 'I'd love to give that as a prez to kid nowadays and watch them try to work out how to use it Cheers to cassettes and 80s floral sofas.'

Ageless: Fans of the Bridesmaids actress were quick to point out how little rebel hadn't changed in the ensuing years with the likes of: 'Aww you look so cute and seriously haven't changed at all #Childhood #DefyingAge'

Rebel was awarded $4.5 million by Bauer Media last week.

She proved to an all-female jury in June that the Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly, OK! and NW magazine publisher defamed her in eight articles published in May 2015.

The articles claimed she had repeatedly lied about her real name, age and childhood so she could make it in Hollywood.

Rebel has pledged, via Twitter, that the money will be donated to a charity, scholarship or invested into the Australian film industry.
She's playing a hysterical restaurant owner with a phobia of clowns and small holes on American Horror Story: Cult.

But Sarah Paulson was a far cry from her current AHS persona on the macabre anthology series as she oozed cool confidence at a CAA pre-Emmy party in Beverly Hills.

The sultry actress, 42, wore a plunging black leather top, with dramatically puffed shoulders.

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A flair for the dramatics: Sarah Paulson, 42, wore a plunging black leather top, with dramatically puffed shoulders

The daring top showcased the star's porcelain complexion, with a touch of make-up applied to her face.

Wearing her shortly-cropped brunette locks loosely she added a dash of mascara to her eyes, some rouge on her cheeks and a dark pink tone to her pout.

Finishing off the look, she added a pair of gold hoop earrings as accessories.

She was among the finest of Hollywood's stars, with Reese Witherspoon slipping into a halter-neck black dress with a layered zig-zag detailing to to the neckline.

Sultry: Wearing her shortly-cropped brunette locks loosely Sarah added a dash of mascara to her eyes, some rouge on her cheeks and a dark pink tone to her pout [pictured with Andy Garcia, Daniella Garcia-Lorido]

Hollywood trio: Reese Witherspoon, Maha Dakhil and Laura Dern were seen in eye-catching dresses

Buddies: Lauren Dern co-starred alongside Reese in Big Little Lies, as well as Shailene Woodley and Nicole Kidman

Big night: The cast of the popular mini-series are tipped to present an award at the 69th TV Emmy Awards, which take place in LA on Sunday night [pictured with Geoffrey Rush]

The tiny LBD showed off the petite actress' pins as she paired the ensemble with black strapped heels.

Reese lightly curled her blonde locks in waves and wore her mane loose, as she added a pink splash to her lips and a hint of blue shadowing around her eyes.

The party also saw the likes of Lauren Dern - the latter Reese co-starred alongside in Big Little Lies, as well as Shailene Woodley and Nicole Kidman.

The cast of the popular mini-series are tipped to present an award at the 69th TV Emmy Awards, which take place in LA on Sunday night.

Catch up: British stars Helen Mirren and Geoffrey Rush caught up at the party

Coupling up: Laura Dern posed for a snap with Kevin Bacon and his Kyra Sedgwick

Glammed up: Hilaria Baldwin and Alec Baldwin nipped in to the glitzy event

Fancy: Geoffrey Rush and Tracee Ellis Ross glammed themselves up for the party

High praise: Both Reese and Nicole are up for the Best Actress gong on the evening too. Big Little Lies, which is supposedly coming back for a second season by popular demand, is up for 13 awards and won another three at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month [Laura and Reese are pictured with David E. Kelley and Ava DuVernay]

Dapper: Tom Ford and Stanley Tucci were also in attendance

Both Reese and Nicole are up for the Best Actress gong on the evening too.

Big Little Lies, which is supposedly coming back for a second season by popular demand, is up for 13 awards and won another three at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month.

The series sees the actresses play a group of mothers living in a coastal California town, all of which embroiled in their own scandal, and brought together at the end when one of their dramatic secrets reaches a climax.

Nicole and Reese produced the series, based on the book by Liane Moriarty.

Hit show: Big Little Lies sees the actresses play a group of mothers living in a coastal California town, all of which embroiled in their own scandal, and brought together at the end when one of their dramatic secrets reaches a climax. Nicole and Reese produced the series, based on the book by Liane Moriarty
He's the legendary rocker who famously pushed on through a tour despite having a broken leg.

But now Dave Grohl has revealed the emotional strain the injury placed on him, which led to him eventually suffering a breakdown backstage.

The Foo Fighters frontman said he burst into tears after playing a show in Chicago while touring with the broken limb.

'I totally had a breakdown!': Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl reveals his dressing room tears while touring with a broken leg

The Foo Fighters front man said he burst into tears after playing a show in Chicago while touring with the broken limb

Appearing on 60 Minutes on Sunday he said: 'I walked off stage and fully broke down in the dressing room. It was whaling sobbing, it was really embarrassing.'

'I've got my head in a towel and the other guys are putting on their socks and changing their underwear - it's all quiet and they're like "are you okay Dave?"'

'I totally had a breakdown.'

The 48-year-old broke his leg after a horrific fall while on stage in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2015.

He then continued to play through the tour with his leg in a cast and appeared on stage while sitting on a throne.

'I told everyone I didn't want to do anything for a year': Dave said he became a recluse once the tour was over and didn't leave the house for weeks

Stage presence: The 48-year-old broke his leg after a horrific fall while on stage in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2015, he then continued to play through the tour with his leg in a cast and appeared on stage while sitting on a throne

Dave said he became a recluse once the tour was over and didn't leave the house for weeks.

'When we stopped touring and I got home I grew the beard, I had the weird robe, I didn't leave the house for weeks,' he said.

'I told everyone I didn't want to do anything for a year.'

The revelation came days after Dave also revealed that it was Sir Paul McCartney who came to his aid by organising his surgery, admitting the magnanimous gesture 'blows his mind.'

Beatle power! Dave revealed that it was Sir Paul McCartney who came to the rocker's aid after he broke his leg in Sweden

Thanks pal! 'He and his family basically set up my entire surgery in London after I broke my leg,' Dave said of Paul McCartney helping him through his injury

Speaking to the Herald Sun, he revealed that he owed the iconic Beatle a debt of gratitude.

'He and his family basically set up my entire surgery in London after I broke my leg,' he said. 'It still blows my mind.'

Dave added that he had always been in awe of the man behind such hits as Let It Be and Hey Jude - a fact that had only become more apparent after Paul's generous act.

'I wouldn't be playing music if it wasn't for Paul McCartney because I learned how to play guitar with Beatles songbooks and playing along to Beatles records,' Dave admitted.

He added: 'But I also would not be walking right now if it was not for Paul McCartney. He knows some good f**king doctors.'

Lifelong fan: Dave added that he had always been in awe of the man behind such hits as Let It Be and Hey Jude - a fact that had only become more apparent after Paul's generous act
She's the former child star who was labelled as 'one to watch' when she was just 16-years-old.

And now Danielle Catanzariti has opened up on landing a role on hit TV drama Love Child.

The 25-year-old stars in season four of the series, playing the role of Italian migrant Elena Capobianco.

Former child star Danielle Catanzariti (pictured) has spoken about her career breakthrough after landing a role on hit TV series Love Child

In the series, her character is ordered by her father to marry a man she hasn't met yet in Italy.

However, she risks upsetting her father when she falls pregnant by a young Australian man.

The role represents a career breakthrough for Danielle, who starred as a teenager in 2008 Australian film Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger.

'Esther was such an iconic role,' Danielle told The Daily Telegraph.

'I feel like I have grown up now and moved on from that.'

The role represents a career breakthrough for Danielle, who starred as a teenager in 2008 Australian film Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (pictured)

'I think that I am in a new chapter in my career.'

And it appears the work is now coming in thick and fast for the Sydney-based actress, who has recently extended her talents to the stage.

Danielle is starring in the popular West End and Broadway show The Nether, which is now running at Sydney's Seymour Centre.

The show is a futuristic and intricate crime drama which previously received rave reviews from The New York Times.
She represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2014.

And now Jessica Mauboy has hinted that she could return to the competition for a second time.

When asked by the Daily Telegraph if she'd like to perform at the show again, the 28-year-old said it was 'a big yes.'

'A big yes!' Jessica Mauboy has said she'd love to return to the Eurovision Song Contest for a second time if given the chance

SBS announced last month that Australia will compete in Eurovision 2018.

The free-to-air network also confirmed comedians Joel Creasey, 27, and Myf Warhurst, 44, will reprise their role as hosts for the second time.

'It's wonderful that we're back!' the Head of Delegation from Australia, Paul Clarke, said in an official statement at the time.

'It's wonderful that we're back!' SBS confirmed on Thursday that Australia will compete in Eurovision 2018, with Joel Creasey, 27, and Myf Warhurst, 44, returning as hosts

'It's wonderful that we're back! In the three years that we have competed in Eurovision we have achieved huge success, ranking second in the results overall behind Sweden,' Paul Clarke said in a statement.

'It's an exciting challenge for us to find a competitor who can fly the flag high for Australia, and we can't wait to begin that search,' the Head of Delegation from Australia went on to say.

Eurovision is a battle predominantly between European countries, with Australia only being introduced as an entrant in 2015.

Representing: Eurovision is a battle predominately between European countries, with Australia only being introduced as an entrant in 2015. Guy Sebastian, 35, took on the honour, performing Tonight Again in Vienna, Austria

Stellar performance: Fellow Australian Idol contestant Jessica, 28, performed the previous year in Copenhagen, Denmark, but was not considered as an entrant

Guy Sebastian, 35, took on the honour, performing Tonight Again in Vienna, Austria.

The former Australian Idol winner came in at fifth place.

Fellow Australian Idol contestant Jessica, 28, performed the previous year in Copenhagen, Denmark, but was not considered as an entrant.
She shot to fame as Anastasia Steele in the notoriously steamy Fifty Shades of Grey film franchise.

And Dakota Johnson set pulses racing once again on Sunday as she embarked on a very sexy cover shoot for Vogue Espana - giving the illusion she was naked.

The actress, 27, left almost nothing to the imagination in a semi-sheer bodysuit, embellished with glitter all over, as she seductively draped herself across a door, for the striking shot.

In the nude: Dakota Johnson set pulses racing once again on Sunday as she embarked on a very sexy cover shoot for Vogue Espana - giving the illusion she was naked

The brunette beauty looked worlds away from her famously shy Fifty Shades character as she smouldered for the camera - in nothing but a see-through catsuit.

The one-piece tightly clung to her svelte frame, and was patterned with only a smattering of silver glitter, to sexily tease at her naked body underneath.

Keeping all eyes on her titillating look, the model added barely-there heeled sandals to elongate her famously statuesque frame as she posed, with her bust concealed by the door.

Opening up: Not shy to show off her body on the cover, Dakota also embarked on a very honest interview with the magazine - discussing her future goals and life in the spotlight

She left her hair in big, tousled waves and accessorised with a slick of red lipstick, to glamorously tie the look together.

Not shy to show off her body on the cover, Dakota also embarked on a very honest interview with the magazine - discussing her future goals and life in the spotlight.

While she rocketed to fame after the Fifty Shades franchise, the Texas native admitted she is not a fan of being exposed to the public opinion.

Likening the constant attention she gets to an 'incessant mosquito noise', she confessed: 'People feeling the need not only to judge everyone all the time but also to pronounce themselves on it, it's extremely boring. A waste of energy and time.'

Leading lady: While she rocketed to fame after the Fifty Shades franchise (above), the Texas native admitted she is not a fan of being exposed to the public opinion

Honest: She confessed: 'People feeling the need not only to judge everyone all the time but also to pronounce themselves on it, it's extremely boring. A waste of energy and time'

The steamy trailer for the third film, Fifty Shades Freed, was unveiled earlier this month, ahead of the flick's February 8 release.

The final installment follows the lives of Mr Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Ana as a married couple - but she soon meets danger, when her ex boss Jack Hyde vows revenge for being fired.

Despite her starring role however, Dakota also admitted to the magazine that she loves producing movies - and has many books and articles in mind for future projects.

'My interests are very specific,' she said, 'and I want to see certain women acting on screen and drawing attention to some particular issues.'
She has never been afraid to show off her curves, as a devoted body confidence activist as well as a model.

And Iskra Lawrence was certainly the picture of confidence on Sunday, as she made a head-turning appearance alongside Olivia Palermo at the Malone Souliers SS18 presentation, during London Fashion Week.

The 27-year-old showed off her sensational figure in a slinky satin suit, as she playfully posed with her tongue out for cameras at the showcase.

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Suits you! Iskra Lawrence was the picture of confidence on Sunday, as she made a head-turning appearance alongside Olivia Palermo (R) at the Malone Souliers SS18 LFW show

Say cheese! The 27-year-old showed off her sensational figure in a slinky satin suit, as she playfully posed with her tongue out for cameras at the showcase

Iskra proved her trendy sense of style at the event, as she arrived in a daring trouser suit of navy satin.

The blazer remained classic in style with a traditional collar and lapels, while the strides accentuated her famous hourglass curves with their high-waisted fit.

Making the androgynous look saucier however, Iskra then layered a barely-there lace bralet, studded with sequins, underneath - which plunged daringly low at the neck to tease at her ample cleavage.

Daring: Iskra proved her trendy sense of style at the event, as she arrived in a daring trouser suit of navy satin, layered atop a saucy lace bralet

Keeping all eyes on her ensemble, the British beauty slicked her hair into a tight bun and opted for minimal make-up, to draw attention to her radiant complexion.

First posing fiercely for cameras, Iskra then joined a number of young models for a series of more playful shots - playfully sticking her tongue out at the cameras, to the delight of the little ones.

Iskra was attending the presentation of Malone Souliers' SS18 collection and minismalls, the brand's first ever range of luxury children's footwear.

Drawing in a star-studded crowd, fashionista Olivia Palermo also attended the big debut in an equally trendy look.

Glowing: Keeping all eyes on her ensemble, the British beauty slicked her hair into a tight bun and opted for minimal make-up, to draw attention to her radiant complexion

The 31-year-old slipped her slender frame into a checked maxi skirt, complete with stylish asymmetric hem but paired with a comfortable ribbed sweatshirt on top.

Jazzing up her look with striking metallic heels, the beauty was the picture of class and elegance as she posed alongside the blonde at the bash.

Iskra, who is originally from Worcestershire, has arrived back in London after New York's own fashion week, where she attended the Badgley Mischka and Marchesa shows.

It is no wonder the blonde, who is a size 14, has bagged so many high-profile invites, after forging a successful modelling career, with the aim to change the industry's perceptions on beauty and size.

Autumn chic: Drawing in a star-studded crowd, fashionista Olivia Palermo also attended the big debut in a striking checked shirt and ribbed jumper

Ditching her period garb: Victoria actress Nell Hudson swapped her character's 19th century ensemble for trendy boyfriend jeans at the event

Striking: Malone Souliers showcased their SS18 collection at the event (above), as well as debuting their first ever children's footwear range Minismalls

A passionate advocate for body confidence, the blonde spoke out about unattainable beauty standards in the fashion world in an interview earlier this week.

'The whole concept of Photoshop is an illusion,' she said. 'They're not flaws. They're part of your body. We were just convinced by society and the media that there was something wrong with them.'

She also described how she realised at 18 that instead of trying to change her body to fit into sample sizes, she 'would try to change the industry'.

In recent years she has become known for her empowerment movement, and often shares inspiring images and quotes about body confidence on her Instagram page.

VIPs: Nell later posed with Mary Alice Malone and Roy Luwolt, the brand's founders (L-R)
She was unveiled as the 13th Time Lord back in July, and is due to replace Peter Capaldi at Christmas.

And it has been claimed that Capaldi's Doctor Who will refuse to regenerate into Jodie Whittaker in the upcoming festive special Twice Upon A Time, in a leaked episode synopsis from BBC America.

According to The Express, the details of the Christmas episode were revealed on BBC America's website, with a Blu-ray edition already on pre-sale.

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Final outing: It has been claimed that Capaldi's Doctor Who will refuse to regenerate into Jodie Whittaker in the upcoming festive special Twice Upon A Time, in a leaked episode synopsis from BBC America

13th Time Lord: According to The Express , the details of the Christmas episode were revealed on BBC America's website, with a Blu-ray edition already on pre-sale and it revealed that Capaldi was 'refusing to face regeneration' which would turn him into first female Time Lord Jodie (above)

Although the episode details didn't shed any light on Jodie's entrance, it did give sci-fi fanatics a taste of what was to come before it was pulled from the website.

The website reports the episode will begin with Two Doctors stranded in snow, refusing to face regeneration.

The Doctors are Capaldi and David Bradley, who will portray the First Doctor, a part originally played by William Hartnell.

Tantalising: Although the episode details didn't shed any light on Jodie's entrance, it did give sci-fi fanatics a taste of what was to come

Revelation: The website reports the episode will begin with Two Doctors stranded in snow, refusing to face regeneration

Double act; The Doctors are Capaldi and David Bradley (left), who will portray the First Doctor, a part originally played by William Hartnell

The episode will also feature a First World War British Army Captain, played by Mark Gatiss, who reportedly will play a key role in the Doctor's story.

The synopsis continues that the 12th Doctor must 'face his past to decide his future' and will discover hope in his darkest hour.

It concluded by saying that although it marked the end of an era, the Doctor's journey is just beginning.

Representatives for Doctor Who declined to comment when approached by Mail Online.

Fans of the iconic show will be tuning in with bated breath to see Jodie take up the Tardis as the first female Doctor Who

Drama: The episode will also feature a First World War British Army Captain, played by Mark Gatiss, who reportedly will play a key role in the Doctor's story

Explosive: The synopsis continues that the 12th Doctor must 'face his past to decide his future' and will discover hope in his darkest hour

Iconic: It concluded by saying that although it marked the end of an era, the Doctor's journey is just beginning

Back together: Pearl Mackie, who plays Doctor Who's sidekick Bill Potts, was seen embracing the Time Lord

The decision to cast a female actress in the role, which has previously been played by only men, divided fans.

Jodie said: 'It feels completely overwhelming, as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you're told you can and can't be.

'It feels incredible.'

She also reassured fans to 'not be scared by my gender'.

'Because this is a really exciting time, and Doctor Who represents everything that's exciting about change,' she said, adding: 'The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one.'

While many praised the BBC and the show's writers for choosing a female actress, others slammed the decision as 'political correctness gone mad'.

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time will air on BBC on December 25.
They emerged on the television scene as trio - long before Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly became affectionately known as Ant & Dec, and Cat Deeley carved out an international hosting career.

But British television presenter Cat insists that she had no idea about old friend Ant's drug and alcohol battle, for which he has just spent two months in rehab recovering.

Speaking to Mail On Sunday, the 40-year-old shared her support for the well-loved TV star, and conceded, 'Everybody makes mistakes'.

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Speaking out: Cat Deeley broke her silence on the rehab stint of friend Ant McPartlin, as she sent a message of support

He is doing the right thing,' she said. 'If you need some help, get some help. Everybody has issues. Hes made the decision to do something about it, which should be applauded.

'Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody makes some silly choices at some time in their life. We all do it. I think hes going to just get better and everyones going to love him even more for it. Theyll love him as much as I do.

On whether she knew anything about his three-year decent into dangerous prescription drug use, Cat said: 'I didnt know anything.'

Old friends: Cat first worked with Ant (left) and Dec (right, in 2001) on SM:TV co-presenters between 1998 and 2002

Ongoing battle: Ant has just spent two months in rehab battling his dependence on painkillers

The last time I saw them was in Florida when we did the Missing Crown Jewels thing in Florida in April. Ant seemed absolutely fine,' she explained.

Ant's battle came after he damaged his knee in 2014, then had a botched operation on it the following year hampered his recovery further and he became reliant on painkillers.

Ant, Dec and Cat first worked together as a trio on children's breakfast show SM:TV in 1998, which wrapped in 2002.

The three are planning a one-off SM:TV reunion show for next year, and she insists they're still 'a massive part of [her] life.

Cat got her big break in the US when she took over for the host of So You Think You Can Dance? from its second series, in 2006.

I work super-intensely and I get on with it. Then the rest of the time I look after myself: I do yoga, I eat healthily, I spend time with my little boy and Paddy,' says Cat

The show is produced by Brits Simon Fuller (creator of Pop Idol) and Nigel Lythgoe (producer of Pop Idol).

Cat, who is reported to be earning $5 million a year, is about to return to British television for the first time in more than a decade.

Cat will present a new series for Sky called Sing, in which singing groups battle it out for the chance to make an album and a Christmas single.

Sing: Ultimate A Cappella is on Sky 1, October 6 at 9pm

Happy couple: Cat is happily married to fellow presenter Patrick Kielty
Egypts finance ministry has asked the cabinet to approve two new eurobond issuances, two ministry sources told Reuters.

The first issuance would range between 1-2 billion Euros before the end of 2017.

The second would range from $4-8 billion and would be in 2018.

The sources said the finance ministry is looking to diversify its bond portfolio to attract different types of investors.

In early 2017, Egypt sold $7 billion in five, 10 and 30-year bonds on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Egypt's foreign reserves registered $36.143 billion at the end of August 2017, continuing a rising streak over pre-2011 levels.

The reserves have been climbing since Egypt signed an agreement for a three-year $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2017.

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She's a hardworking actress, singer and mother.

And Hilary Duff enjoyed some down time with her family at the Studio City Farmers Market on Sunday morning.

The 29-year-old actress stopped by the outdoor market in the San Fernando Valley for organic food, treats and games with her five-year-old son Luca.

Blue jean baby: Hilary Duff enjoyed some down time with her family at the Studio City Farmers Market on Sunday morning

Smiles and selfies: The former child star took a snap as she held up her phone

Hilary sported a pair of light blude distressed denim jeans for her Sunday stroll through the eatery with her older sister Haylie's fiance Matt Rosenberg and their daughter Ryan.

She covered up in a white T-shirt with the word 'west' emblazoned across the front in big black block lettering.

The Lizzie McGuire actress carried food in her hands as she looked after little Luca running through the market.

Family time! The 29-year-old actress stopped by the outdoor market in the San Fernando Valley for organic food, treats and games with her five-year-old son Luca, older sister Haylie's fiance Matt Rosenberg and their daughter Ryan

Pit stop! Hilary and Luca stopped for snocones at the Studio City Farmers Market

Hilary added a pair of black Givenchy slippers to her casual outfit and carried a brown shoulder bag which featured large silver chainwork along the sides.

Her long blonde hair was worn in loose waves right around her shoulders and she shielded her eyes in a pair of mirrored lense sunglasses.

The Younger starlet accessorized with a silver watch, bracelets and large silver hoop earrings dangling from her ears.

Fancy footwork: Hilary added a pair of black Givenchy slippers to her casual outfit and carried a brown shoulder bag which featured large silver chainwork along the sides

Lots of fun: Her son seemed overjoyed with the day out as he took in a ride

The Houston native had a busy week as she took up for her home city at Tuesday's Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief in the wake of the damage done by Hurricane Harvey last month.

Duff described witnessing the hurricane coverage as 'crazy' as she watched her home state devastated by unprecedented conditions that dumped more than 50 inches of rain in southwest Texas, destroying more than 210,000 homes and leaving at least 82 people dead.

'Mother Nature seems pretty pi--ed off right now,' she told E! News, adding that she was emotionally distraught witnessing the damage where she grew up.
It's the US reality dating show that features past contestants from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

And an Australian spin-off of Bachelor In Paradise is said to be underway, with the cast reportedly set to include last year's Bachelor runner-up Nikki Gogan and former villain Keira Maguire.

Unlucky in love Nikki, 31, was reportedly seen filming a promotional campaign for the show in Sydney recently, however the show will likely be filmed in picturesque Fiji.

A second chance at love? An Australian spinoff of Bachelor in Paradise is said to be underway, with the cast reportedly set to include last year's runner-up Nikki Gogan

'They were filming on Palm Beach, the same place [Nikki] was taken by helicopter to have a beach date with Richie Strahan,' a source told New Idea on Monday.

'Producers are busy negotiating fees for the cast, as many of them believe they are worth a lot more than has been budgeted.'

Other potential stars include season three breakout star Zilda Williams, Sarah-Mae Louise Amey, Elora Murger, Leah Costa and Michael Turnbull.

Rumour mill: Former Bachelor villain Keira Maguire (L) and former Bachelorette winner Sasha Mielczarek (R) were also reportedly cast

'If Sarah-Mae and Sasha both agree to go on the show, that will create an interesting dynamic and possible sparks given the fallout between Sasha and [ex] Sam Frost, who remains good friends with Sarah-Mae,' the insider speculated.

The report went on to claim Bachelor star Osher Gunsberg will host the show.

However Channel Ten told Daily Mail Australia on Monday that the New Idea report is completely false.

'This is not true,' a spokesperson said.

Negotiations: 'Producers are busy negotiating fees for the cast, as many of them believe they are worth a lot more than has been budgeted,' a source said. Pictured: Elora Murger (L) and Alex Nation (R)

While the Aussie spin-off would no doubt be a ratings winner for Channel Ten, given the success of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the US version has not been without controversy.

In June, filming in Mexico for season four was temporarily suspended due to allegations of misconduct.

Production later resumed following an internal investigation involving Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson, which subsequently cleared the two.

Reality TV return? Other potential stars include season three breakout star Zilda Williams (L), Sarah-Mae Louise Amey, Elora Murger and Leah Costa (R)

Headed to paradise? Former Bachelorette star Michael Turnbull is also said to be a potential cnadidate

'Our internal investigation, conducted with the assistance of an outside law firm, has now been completed,' Warner Bros said in a statement.

'Out of respect for the privacy interests of those involved, we do not intend to release the videotape of the incident. We can say, however, that the tape does not support any charge of misconduct by a cast member.'

Prior to the scandal, Sydney socialite Keira was rumoured to be joining the US series however she later denied she would be joining the 'tacky' show.

Scandal: While the Aussie spin-off will no doubt be a ratings winner for Channel Ten, given the success of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the US version has not been without controversy. Production was halted and later resumed following an internal investigation involving Corinne Olympios (L) and DeMario Jackson (R), which subsequently cleared the two

Not interested: Prior to the scandal, Sydney socialite Keira was rumoured to be joining the US series however she later denied she would be joining the 'tacky' show

'I think with the whole situation, it just doesn't sound like something I want to be a part of,' Keira told Fairfax.

'When I got the phone call saying the show was cancelled, it felt a bit like a blessing in disguise.

She added: 'With the events that happened, it made me look at it from a different angle... I definitely won't be going on the show.'
Iraqi Kurds fly Kurdish flags as they urge people to vote in a September 25 independence referendum in Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq

The United States Friday urged Iraqi Kurdistan to call off plans for an independence referendum later this month, warning the vote was distracting from the fight against the Islamic State group.

Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers voted earlier Friday to hold the referendum on September 25, in the face of bitter opposition from Baghdad and protests from neighboring Iran and Turkey, which fear it will fan separatism among their own Kurdish minorities.

"The United States has repeatedly emphasized to the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government that the referendum is distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS and stabilize the liberated areas," the White House said a statement.

"Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilizing," it added.

"We therefore call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to call off the referendum and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad, which the United States has repeatedly indicated it is prepared to facilitate."

Regional president Massud Barzani, who set in motion the plans for a referendum, has kept open the option of postponing it under American pressure.

Washington opposes the referendum on the grounds that it would weaken Arab-Kurdish joint military operations, which have helped send the IS group into retreat in both Iraq and war-torn Syria.

The United States has proposed unspecified "alternatives" to the vote, to which Barzani has pledged to give a rapid response.
Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to the eastern DR Congo to escape a wave of violence that unfurled in 2015 after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term in office

Soldiers shot dead 36 Burundian refugees in clashes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Saturday, prompting shock, outrage and a demand for answers from the United Nations.

A Burundian refugee said that more than 30 had been killed and at least 100 wounded in the violence in Kamanyola, in the eastern province of South Kivu, on Friday.

Maman Sidikou, the head of MONUSCO, the UN's peacekeeping mission in the country, said in a statement Saturday that at least 36 refugees had been reported killed.

He also stressed that defence and security forces could resort to force "only as a last resort" and in accordance with international norms, and urged "the authorities to promptly open criminal investigations".

Interior ministry official Josue Boji said the clashes began after a group of refugees overran a jail run by the country's domestic intelligence agency to demand the release of four Burundians who had been arrested for expulsion on Wednesday night.

Boji, who had put the toll at 34 dead earlier -- including a Congolese soldier -- said troops tried to disperse the refugees by "firing in the air but were overwhelmed" when the group responded by throwing stones.

At least 124 refugees were also wounded.

The UN refugee agency also called for an investigation of "this tragic incident," saying in a statement that it was "in shock and saddened".

The agency said it had sent teams to Kamanyola, including medical staff to see to those injured.

A Burundian refugee told AFP: "I saw people falling down, men, women and children who were completely unarmed."

Burundi's foreign minister, Alain-Aime Nyamitwe, on Twitter described the incident as a "shooting" and said "explanations are needed."

Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to the eastern DR Congo to escape a wave of violence that unfurled in 2015 after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term in office.

Overall, the violence in Burundi has claimed between 500 and 2,000 lives, according to differing tolls provided by the UN or NGOs and more than 400,000 Burundians have fled abroad.

Around 36,000 are in DR Congo, mainly in the overcrowded camp of Lusenda in the east, or several transit camps.

Most of the refugees involved in Friday's incident are followers of a female prophet called Zebiya, who has attested to seeing visions of the Virgin Mary in northern Burundi, according to testimony to AFP from some of them.

They fear religious persecution if they are sent back home, they said.

On September 4, the UN released a report accusing Burundi's government of crimes against humanity, including executions and torture, and urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a case "as soon as possible".

Burundi's government firmly rejected the allegations, accusing the UN investigators of being "mercenaries" in a Western plot to "enslave African states".
With its extravagantly dressed participants, many adorned with tattoos and piercings, the "Juggalo March" was an unusual, slightly bemusing addition to the regular political rallies staged in the capital

Wearing piercings and horror makeup, a thousand fans of controversial US rap group "Insane Clown Posse" descended on Washington Saturday, alleging discrimination since the FBI labeled them gang members in a 2011 report.

With its extravagantly dressed participants, many adorned with tattoos and piercings, the "Juggalo March" was an offbeat addition to the regular political rallies staged in the capital.

Saturday also saw a rightwing demonstration by supporters of President Donald Trump, dubbed the "Mother of All Rallies," as well as a leftwing protest by a group called "Protect American Democracy" against alleged Russian interference in last year's election.

The introduction of the third event was seen as potentially adding fuel to an already combustible mix -- though apart from a brief interruption of the pro-Trump rally by Black Lives Matter activists all three demonstrations came off without major incident.

Assembling near the Lincoln Memorial, the "Juggalos," as they are known, spoke of the difficulties they have faced since the law enforcement agency's decision: losing jobs, custody of their children, and excessive police attention.

"We do our things. Live and let live man, I'm a regular citizen, I pay my taxes," said Scott Creel, an imposing figure with a long beard who was pierced from head to toe and who had traveled from the southern state of Arkansas.

Participants took to the stage in turns to denounce the FBI's decision, interrupted by chants of "family" and rap performances.

"Some juggalos may have been as individuals part of gangs, but they were not in a juggalo gang," said another protester, Rob Sinning from New Jersey, adding: "We work hard, we clown hard."

- Hatchets and soda -

Fans are known for their esoteric behavior, sometimes wearing clown makeup in homage to the band, as well as chains or tattoos featuring a silhouetted man running with a hatchet

The term "Juggalo" is derived from the lyrics of one of the band's songs. Founded in Detroit in 1989 by duo Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, Insane Clown Posse performs a brand of hip hop known as "horrorcore," which is influenced by supernatural themes and violent horror movie imagery.

The band has sold millions of records despite a lack of exposure on national TV or radio.

Fans are known for their esoteric behavior, sometimes wearing clown makeup in homage to the band, as well as chains or tattoos featuring a silhouetted man running with a hatchet. Many profess a love for Faygo, a little known soft drink that is also produced in Detroit.

In a 2011 report, the FBI classified Juggalos as a "loosely organized hybrid gang" -- which are defined as having a nebulous structure or being mixed-gender and multi-ethnic.

The group is said to have a strong presence in the Midwest but the report noted it was expanding in New Mexico "because they are attracted to the tribal and cultural traditions of the Native Americans."

Like Trump supporters, many come from lower-income families -- but being a follower of the group gives them a sense of belonging and purpose.

"These people come from broken homes, split families, drugs, poverty, discrimination and they found an outlet to come together," explained Scott Donihoo, who runs a website dedicated to the movement. "We identify with this music because it literally saved our lives in one form or another."

Logan Wolfe, an LGBT activist said he was bullied as a child but found acceptance with the group, since "Juggalos are more accepting than the rest of society." And, he proudly notes, a recent beauty pageant for "Juggalettes" -- female Juggalos -- featured a transgender contestant.
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North Korea's latest missile launch over Japan set sirens blaring and triggered alerts telling people to seek shelter -- yet neither Tokyo nor Washington tried to shoot the rocket down.

The test follows one in August that saw another rocket soar over Hokkaido. In that case too, much-vaunted Japanese and US missile-intercept capabilities were not used.

Now some in the United States are wondering why all this sophisticated weaponry isn't being used, especially as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un accelerates toward his goal of building a nuclear missile capable of striking the United States.

"The next time the North Koreans launch a rocket, especially one that will traverse over our ally Japan, I would hope that we shoot it down as a message to the North Koreans and to other people, like in Japan, who are counting on us," Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told lawmakers this week.

"Unless we demonstrate we're willing to use force, there's no reason for them to believe we will."

The US Pacific Command confirmed Friday's rocket was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), and Seoul's defense ministry said it probably traveled around 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles), hurtling to a maximum altitude of 770 kilometers.

The missile, which fell in the Pacific Ocean, represented North Korea's furthest-ever flight.

Evans Revere and Jonathan Pollack of the Brookings Institution wrote in a paper that Washington should declare that any future North Korean missiles toward or over US or allied territory would be deemed a direct threat that would "be addressed with the full range of US and allied defensive capabilities."

- Why no shoot down -

The United States and Japan together claim they can shoot incoming missiles, but officials say Friday's siren-sounding launch didn't meet that threshold.

If the US and its allies "would have determined that it was a direct threat, we would have shot it down," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning, noting the military's "deep arsenal of capabilities."

For Japan, these include advanced Patriot batteries, which can stop lower altitude missiles, and SM-3 missiles it is developing with the US that can take out high-flying short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

The technology is imperfect but the Pentagon has demonstrated it can hit ICBM and intermediate-range missile targets.

Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, noted that when North Korea flies a missile over Japan, it travels higher than the capabilities of any ballistic missile-defense system stationed nearby, including the SM-3.

Also, Japan is a pacifist country constitutionally limited to taking military action only in self defense.

Hideshi Takesada, a North Korea and defense expert who is a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo, told AFP that Japan plans to intercept a missile only when it enters its territorial air or objects fall onto Japanese territory.

Recent missiles have flown far above Japan and nothing fell to the ground.

"Therefore, the government did not issue a destruction order," Takesada said.

While Japan has decent anti-missile technology, it's difficult to cover the entire Japanese archipelago, experts noted.

"Also, it's technically hard to judge if a missile flying in an early stage can actually be a direct threat to the Japanese territory," Akira Kato, an international politics professor at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, told AFP.

Japan and the United States do not want to risk trying an intercept unless it is posing a certain threat. A failed attempt could cause wide alarm and tip off Kim about any limitations.

"A potential failure in intercepting a missile could only result in giving an unnecessary impression that Japan's capability of missile defense is insufficient," Kato said.

Japan also has a network of Aegis missile-defense destroyers, and President Donald Trump wants Tokyo and South Korea to increase buys of such US gear. In Japan's case, that could include the purchase of a land-based version of Aegis.

- Boost phase -

According to the New York Times, the US saw Friday's missile being fueled up a day earlier.

US, Japan conduct test of joint missile test

Current US missile-defense technologies focus on stopping a North Korean missile when it is in mid-flight or during the "terminal" stage of its ballistic arc as it plummets towards its target.

But the Pentagon also wants to develop technologies to take out missiles the moment they leave the launch pad, when they are in their so-called "boost phase."

The missiles at that point are laden with explosive fuel and traveling more slowly, so are more vulnerable and could be taken out with another missile launched from nearby.

The US military is also exploring launching cyber attacks and even the possibility of mounting lasers on drones, making them capable of shooting down ballistic missiles shortly after launch.
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's opposition leader, has been mobbed at shopping malls and earned comparisons to Canada's Justin Trudeau and France's Emmanuel Macron

New Zealand's charismatic opposition leader Jacinda Ardern rallied support Sunday for the final week of a rollercoaster election campaign that has her centre-left Labour Party within sight of an unlikely victory.

Labour had been heading for disaster at the September 23 polls until Ardern took over last month and sparked a surge in support that local media dubbed "Jacinda-mania".

The 37-year-old has been mobbed at shopping malls and earned comparisons to Canada's Justin Trudeau and France's Emmanuel Macron from pundits such as former prime minister Helen Clark.

Her rise has wrong-footed Prime Minister Bill English's conservative National Party, which had been cruising to a record-equalling fourth term.

English has dismissed Ardern's appeal as "stardust", focusing instead on National's strong record guiding New Zealand through the global financial crisis and a deadly Christchurch earthquake in 2011.

Ardern herself admits she is surprised at the public's response to a self-described "policy nerd" who never envisioned herself running for prime minister.

"This will go down as the most extraordinary period of my life," she said on the campaign trail last week.

- 'Worst job in politics' -

Ardern grew up in the North Island hinterland, where her father was a police officer. She credits the poverty she saw there with shaping her beliefs.

She was raised as a Mormon but left the faith in her 20s due to its stance against homosexuality.

After completing a communications degree, Ardern served her political apprenticeship in Clark's office before heading to Britain to work as a policy adviser in Tony Blair's government.

She was elected to parliament in 2008 and in March this year became Labour's deputy leader, confirming her status as a rising star.

At the time, Ardern was viewed as a talented, but still developing, future leadership prospect, unproven in a political dogfight.

Labour's support has surged to 44 percent since Jacinda Ardern, shown with with her deputy Kelvin Davis, became leader

But Labour's top job was thrust upon her on August 1, when her predecessor Andrew Little quit after his polling hit 20-year lows of 23 percent.

"Everyone knows I have just accepted, with short notice, the worst job in politics," Ardern said after becoming Labour's fifth leader in four years, and the youngest in its 101-year history.

The gamble on a rookie less than two months out from an election appears to have paid off, with some polls showing Labour's support surging to 44 percent.

Ardern puts that down to a shifting national mood.

"There's a movement for change and I think after nine years people are starting to believe that we're drifting," she said.

While acknowledging New Zealand has maintained a robust economy under National, Ardern has argued for a more progressive agenda that addresses social inequality.

Housing affordability, free tertiary education, environmental action and improved healthcare have been constant themes at the hustings.

She has also vowed to slash immigration numbers and bar foreigners from buying houses in New Zealand amid fears offshore money is fuelling the rise in property prices.

Ardern has also allowed glimpses of her personality to emerge, speaking of her liking for single-malt whisky and short-lived career as a music festival DJ.

- Generation next -

The former public relations student has a knack for pithy soundbites that cut through the political clamour and grab voters' attention.

It has proved particularly effective with young voters as Ardern argues for generational change in New Zealand politics.

"My generation has been sold down the river by your government" she admonished the 55-year-old English, going on to describe climate change as "my generation's nuclear-free moment".

New Zealand Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern held several feisty debates with National Party prime minister Bill English

Doubts about her temperament evaporated amid several feisty debates with English.

Voters also saw a steely side when a TV host told her that New Zealanders had a right to know her plans for parenthood before deciding whether to elect a young woman as prime minister.

"It is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace," she responded, wagging her finger at the male presenter.

Ardern's major blunder so far was her refusal to release a pre-election tax plan, instead saying she would consult a committee of experts after the ballot.

English seized upon this, saying Ardern wanted a blank cheque to introduce new taxes after years of fiscal restraint to achieve a budget surplus.

"Now the stardust has settled, you're starting to see the policy... as an alternative to a successful New Zealand, you're being asked to vote for a committee," he said.

Ardern relented last week and said there would be no tax changes in her first term, but the mistake halted her momentum and ensured she would not simply sweep to power on a wave of Jacinda-mania.

"I'm taking nothing for granted... it's down to the wire and it will be extraordinarily close," Ardern said.
A Syrian woman is attended to by a Russian medical worker at a pop-up facility outside Dar al Kabilah, in a humanitarian corridor of a de-escalation zone in central Syria's Homs province

At a mobile medical clinic in central Syria's Homs province, a Russian doctor takes an elderly woman's blood pressure. Nearby, his colleague examines a dazed teenager on a gurney.

"Take half a pill in the morning and the second half at night," the Russian doctor tells the woman through a translator.

The pop-up facility outside rebel-held Dar al-Kabira in central Syria is one of several medical units deployed by Moscow, which has remained a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the six-year conflict.

Russia began an air war in support of Assad in 2015, swinging the conflict in his favour, but it is now increasingly seeking to depict itself as a peacemaker and humanitarian donor in the war-devastated country.

The evidence is on clear display near Dar al-Kabira, where Russia is monitoring a "de-escalation zone" between regime and rebel forces agreed in August.

This week, civilians from both sides could be seen queueing in separate lines to get sacks of food bearing the slogan "Russia is with you!"

Russian army Colonel Alexander Sazonov, head of the Dar al-Kabira checkpoint, said the buffer zone had been set up two months ago and was already improving the situation for civilians.

"Before, there was no medical aid for five years, and people couldn't meet their loved ones," Sazonov said, during a tightly controlled press tour organised by the Russian military.

- 'Help from Russia' -

The zone in Homs province is part of a deal agreed in May by Russia, regime ally Iran, and rebel backer Turkey to create four "de-escalation" areas in Syria.

Syria's conflict has killed more than 330,000 people since it began in March 2011 with anti-government protests, and it has wrecked the country's economy.

Fighting, damage to infrastructure and the use of siege tactics have plunged parts of the population into poverty and created food and medical shortages.

Sazonov says about 10 tonnes of aid are distributed weekly at Dar al-Kabira, insisting that "we would like there to be more aid".

"But right now Russia is the only one doing any of this."

Russian trucks marked "Help to Syria from Russia" shuttled in aid packages containing sugar, grain and canned meat.

"From here it's about 500 metres (yards) to the fighters," Sazonov said.

"If you're not a fighter with blood on your hands, you can go in and out."

Residents crossing from the Syrian government side of the checkpoint -- adorned with portraits of Assad -- had their belongings and IDs checked before hurrying through.

Nawaf Ramadan, a local resident, had arrived from the government side to collect a sack of food.

"I always come here," he told AFP. "My house had some damage but I have repaired it. We don't have a lot of money to buy food."

- 'Only talk to the Russians' -

On the rebel side, Russian officers look for influential locals who can spread the word about humanitarian aid shipments, Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told AFP.

He touted a recent effort to target needs at the start of the school year, with Russia providing school supplies for residents living on both sides of the checkpoint, including desks, he said.

Aid convoys are protected by Russian military police.

"Our job is to guarantee security. There could be somebody armed, there could be instances of a crowd crush," said one officer, who gave his name only as Artyom.

"There is enough food but it's human nature (to push)."

Sazonov said hostilities have ceased since the zone was established and there have been "no violations", though the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, has reported sporadic infractions.

Chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army rebel force, Ahmed Beri (L), attends a session of peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana hosted by Russia, Iran and Turkey

Every day, about 10,000 people cross back and forth through the checkpoint, he said.

Three other de-escalation zones in Syria have been agreed as part of an accord reached earlier this year in the Kazakh capital Astana.

One lies near the capital Damascus, another is in the country's south, and the final one in the northwest Idlib province was agreed on Friday in Astana.

Konashenkov said the real goal of the de-escalation zones was to get the sides to reconcile, a process in which he insisted Russian participation was key.

"It starts off with them saying 'We won't talk to each other, we'll only talk to the Russians'," he said.

"Russians are perceived normally everywhere."
General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar's powerful army, has called for national unity in solving what he calls 'the Bengali issue' -- the Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine state, whom many Burmese believe are foreign interlopers

Myanmar's army chief has urged the country to unite over the "issue" of the Rohingya, a Muslim group he says has no roots in the country, and which his troops are accused of systematically purging.

The military says its "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine state are aimed at flushing out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25.

But the violence has engulfed the border region and triggered an exodus of more than 400,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh, where they have told of soldiers slaughtering civilians and burning down entire villages.

UN leaders have described the campaign as having all the hallmarks of "ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingya, a stateless group that has endured years of persecution and repression.

The status of the Muslim minority has long been a explosive topic in Myanmar.

Many in the Buddhist majority view the group as foreign interlopers from Bangladesh and deny the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, insisting they be called "Bengalis".

General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's globe-trotting army chief, trumpeted that view in comments posted on his official Facebook page Saturday.

"They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar. (The) Bengali issue is a national cause and we need to be united in establishing the truth," the post said.

- No return for refugees? -

The defence of his army's operations comes amid strident global condemnation of the violence, which has strapped Bangladesh with the overwhelming task of providing shelter and food to a rising tide of desperate refugees.

But inside Myanmar the army is riding a new wave of support from a public that has incubated hatred against the Rohingya for years.

On Sunday Myanmar's government hinted that it may not take back Rohingya who fled across the border, accusing those refugees of having links to the militants.

"Those who fled the villages made their way to the other country for fear of being arrested as they got involved in the violent attacks. Legal protection will be given to the villages whose residents did not flee," the government's Information Committee statement said.

Previous statements have said the country will set up relief shelters in northern Rakhine for Muslims "who can guarantee they are in no way connected to the terrorists".

Myanmar's civilian leader, former democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, has no power to control the army, which retains sweeping powers from its years of junta rule.

But she has been castigated for failing to voice sympathy for the Rohingya bolting out of the country in desperate scenes tha have shocked the globe.

All eyes will be on the Nobel laureate this Tuesday as she addresses the nation on the crisis for the first time, a speech that many outside the country hope will explain her near silence on the unfolding human tragedy.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has vowed to boycott a new presidential election if his demands for organising the new vote are not met

Doubts are growing over Kenya's ability to hold a rerun of its presidential election in just one month as key players remain unable to agree on how to conduct a credible vote, analysts say.

Bickering on all sides and confusion over the process have only increased as the clock ticks down to the October 17 vote, called after the Supreme Court annulled the initial August election, citing widespread irregularities.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has vowed to boycott the poll if a list of demands are not met and on Sunday he launched a nationwide campaign "against any election" run by the current electoral commission (IEBC), which he accuses of rigging the first poll.

"The challenges are pretty extraordinary," said John Githongo, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner in Kenya, who said he believed the election date "does not seem feasible because we are asking people who have failed calamitously to run an election after such a short time".

Kenyans have staged demonstrations to demand the removal and arrest of members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission accused of criminal interference with the process of Kenya's presidential election in August

A key hurdle is that the Supreme Court has yet to deliver its full judgement detailing why exactly it decided to annul President Uhuru Kenyatta's victory.

Chief Justice David Maraga mentioned only "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.

The court has until September 22 to deliver the full ruling, which would give the IEBC little time to make any necessary changes.

"It is very uncertain," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of African politics at the University of Birmingham in England.

"We don't know if the Supreme Court is going to say something about technology, we don't know if they are going to directly impugn any of the individuals in the IEBC. Will they have to be replaced? If so, how will that be done in the time frame?"

- 'Paralysis' and confusion -

In the absence of the judgement, the electoral commission has pushed forward with plans for a new election, dismissing opposition calls to sack its top officials.

"It was expected that the IEBC would move swiftly to undertake far-reaching reforms. So far this has yet to happen," the Daily Nation newspaper said in an editorial on Saturday, denouncing a "stalemate which has created paralysis and is confusing the public".

Fissures within the IEBC, meanwhile, were exposed when a leaked memo showed chairman Wafula Chebukati outlining a raft of irregularities in the election to the commission's chief executive Ezra Chiloba.

Kenyatta has insisted that the election go ahead as planned, accusing his longtime rival Odinga of seeking to block the vote as a way of forcing the president to accept a coalition government.

The National Super Alliance (NASA) of opposition parties has formulated a list of demands including the dismissal of certain officials, a change in the procurement of election materials and live media coverage of the declaration of results at tallying centres.

"IEBC as currently constituted... cannot conduct a free and fair election in October," Odinga said on Sunday.

- 'Worrying' rhetoric -

The opposition alleges that the August 8 election was rigged through the hacking of an electronic vote-tallying system.

It said many of the so-called 34A tallying forms, meant to back up electronic results, were delayed and often had not been signed or stamped, or were illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.

French biometrics firm OT-Morpho, which provided the results transmission system, has said that an audit of its system showed no hacking or manipulation of data.

But the IEBC has yet to comply with a Supreme Court order to allow independent access to its servers.

Cheeseman said that with the IEBC suffering from lost legitimacy, an ideal solution would be for rival parties to sit down and negotiate the path to an election which could be acceptable to all.

Increasingly bitter rhetoric, however, has driven them only further apart.

"A lot of the language has been really worrying," Cheeseman said.

He pointed in particular to comments by Kenyatta referring to Chief Justice Maraga as a "crook" and saying he would "fix" the Supreme Court if re-elected. He has also threatened to impeach Odinga if he wins.

Kenya's Supreme Court has yet to deliver its full judgement detailing why it decided to annul President Uhuru Kenyatta's election victory

Analysts say the main problem with a rushed election is that the Supreme Court has now set a precedent by overturning an election result based on shoddy procedures.

The losing party in another flawed vote could again argue that improper procedures had marred the outcome, which could lead the Supreme Court to again overturn the result.

According to Kenya's constitution, the IEBC has until October 31 to hold the new election.

"They do have a window. Even if it is late by a few weeks. However if they go beyond (that date) that is unprecedented and there is no guidance as to what happens there," said Kenyan writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola.
Egypt's garment exports reached $941 million in eight months in 2017, compared to $865 million in the same period last year, the readymade garments export council of Egypt announced in its monthly report on Sunday.

August saw an 8 percent rise in exports compared to the same month last year, reaching $132 million compared to $122 million the previous year.

The report said that exports to the United States -- which received the highest number of exports -- increased by 6 percent, reaching $461 million in the last eight months compared to $436 million in the same period in 2016.

Exports to European Union countries increased by 12 percent, reaching $312 million compared to $280 million.

Exports to Arab countries increased by 44 percent, reaching $53 million compared to $37 million in the same period last year, whereas exports to African countries increased by 36 percent, reaching $201 million compared to $105 million last year.

The Turkish market comes in second after the US at $78.8 million, a 4 percent decrease in exports compared to 2016.

Exports to Spain have seen a significant increase of 34 percent, reaching $91.4 million in the first eight month of 2017 compared to $68.3 million in the same period in 2016.

In fourth place is the UK with $71.5 million in exports, a 1 percent decrease from last year.

Germany is fifth at exports worth $41. 9 million, also a 1 percent decrease from last year.

Italy lands in sixth place with a 34 percent increase, with exports reaching $46.7 million.

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More than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have now arrived in southern Bangladesh seeking sanctuary from violence that the United Nations says likely amounts to ethnic cleansing

For three weeks Dil Mohammad and his family have been stranded on a thin sliver of land between Bangladesh and their native Myanmar with thousands of other Rohingya, after running for their lives when their village was torched.

More than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have now arrived in southern Bangladesh seeking sanctuary from violence that the United Nations says likely amounts to ethnic cleansing.

But unlike those arriving now, thousands of Rohingya who fled in the early days of the crisis that erupted last month were initially blocked from entering Bangladesh.

Too afraid to go back to Myanmar, they set up camp in a small area of no man's land where they have been ever since, waiting for the world to force the country they consider home to take them back.

"We have no intention of going to Bangladesh. We want to go back to our native land," Mohammad told AFP in the camp, waving an arm towards the lush green hills that separate the two countries.

"Myanmar is my home, my family has been there for generations."

The 51-year-old rice farmer said 150 families from his village of Mae Di in Rakhine state were now living in the makeshift settlement after fleeing an attack by the Myanmar army and Rakhine Buddhists.

His adult son, who was shot as they fled, is being treated in Bangladesh.

But although the Rohingya are now being freely admitted to Bangladesh, Mohammad does not intend to join him.

He and the thousands of others living in the camp, which lies just a few hundred metres from a barbed wire fence that marks Myanmar territory, have regular food deliveries and access to clean water, medicines and even a rudimentary washing area.

- 'Humanitarian crisis' -

A Bangladesh border guards police the frontier with Myanmar, where thousands of Rohingya have set up camp in no man's land

Much of that is down to Lieutenant Colonel Manzurul Hasan Khan, who as the local commander of Border Guard Bangladesh is responsible for policing the frontier with Myanmar.

He was one of the first in Bangladesh to become aware of the unfolding crisis when guards at the hilltop border post of Tombru heard gunshots and mortar fire coming from Myanmar in August.

Khan's first instinct was a military one -- he tried to call his counterpart in Myanmar for a flag meeting, whereby military commanders meet on the border to try to resolve tensions.

Before he could get through, he saw that women and children were flooding over the hills of Myanmar into the valley below.

He and his officers rushed down to the area, where they corralled the panicked crowd into a meadow, sat them down in the shade to explain that they could not come in and tried to establish what was going on.

Later that day, the Rohingya women and children went back over the hill of their own accord, Khan said.

But the next morning the firing resumed and they returned, this time in greater numbers.

"At that point I knew it was a humanitarian crisis," said Khan.

One woman gave birth in no man's land; another held up her seven-day-old baby and begged for Khan's help. So he decided to give it.

He allowed the sickest ones into Bangladesh and ensured those that stayed were given food and clean water.

In the days that followed, he would witness the devastating effects of the unfolding crisis in Myanmar at first hand as more and more people arrived, most from villages near the border.

One woman arrived with her leg blown off, apparently in a landmine explosion on the Myanmar side.

Aid groups and Bangladesh government officials say Myanmar has mined the border to deter fleeing members of the Rohingya community from returning.

- 'Hand of help' -

The camp, which lies just a few hundred metres from a barbed wire fence that marks Myanmar territory, has regular food deliveries and access to clean water

Myanmar does not recognise the Muslim minority as its citizens, and they have endured decades of persecution.

The situation has deteriorated dramatically since Rohingya militants ambushed security forces in Myanmar last month, and Amnesty International says there have been "systematic" clearances of Muslim settlements.

When AFP visited the Rohingya in Tombru this week, Myanmar soldiers could be seen patrolling on the edge of no man's land, near where another group of Rohingya had apparently settled.

Khan, who served in war zones in Africa and is no stranger to conflict, says the situation is the worst he has ever seen.

He is proud that his country is helping the Rohingya -- and happy to have played his own role.

"These people may stay for a long time. Bangladeshi is a poor country," he said. "But we have offered the hand of help, and that makes me proud."

Khan admits that the Rohingya will not be able to stay in no man's land forever. He believes they will move into Bangladesh once the government completes its plan of building shelters for thousands of refugees.

But for many of the Rohingya here, that represents an unappealing future.

"I like it here," said Mohammad Arif, 42.

"I can look across to the hills and feel the breeze from my country, and that makes me feel good."
Public support for Abe had fallen to the lowest level of his premiership in July, but since has recovered gradually as Pyongyang raised global tensions with repeated missile and nuclear tests including missile launches over Japan

Japanese premier Shinzo Abe is considering a snap election as early as next month, reports said Sunday, as he sees recovering public support with attention focused on tensions over North Korea.

Abe floated the idea of holding a vote on October 22 or October 29 in meetings with senior ruling party officials, Jiji Press and the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed government and ruling party sources.

Other media reported similar stories but with a wider range of options for the timing of the snap election, including in December.

The reports come as Abe has seen a recovery in public support after the figures plummeted in the past few months over an array of political troubles, including allegations of favouritism to a friend in a business deal that Abe strongly denies.

Public support for Abe had fallen to the lowest level of his premiership in July, but since has recovered gradually as Pyongyang raised global tensions with repeated missile and nuclear tests including missile launches over Japan.

His popularity is now hovering around 40 percent.

Experts say his resurgent popularity is thanks more to a weak and fragmented opposition than support for his policies.

Abe has called for a boost to the country's defences and worked to strengthen the key security alliance with the US and defence cooperation with other like-minded countries.

He has pushed a nationalist agenda since coming to office in December 2012, alongside a massive policy effort to end years of on-off deflation and rejuvenate the world's third-largest economy.

"All the lower house members are beginning to think that (general elections) would come in the not too distant future," the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)'s senior official Wataru Takeshita said Saturday in a speech in western Japanese city of Tokushima.

Some lawmakers, including ruling party members, however, have warned about a potential political paralysis during the election campaign period amid lingering worries over North Korea.

LDP officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports on Sunday.
Singapore cartoonist Sonny Liew swept the comic industry's "Oscars" and is a hit at home, but the city-state has struggled with how to respond to his surprise best seller that challenges its own carefully-scripted version of history

Singapore cartoonist Sonny Liew swept the comic industry's "Oscars" and is a hit at home, but the city-state has struggled with how to respond to his surprise best seller, which challenges its own carefully-scripted version of history.

With a cast of aliens and robots and a mish-mash of influences, Liew's graphic novel "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye" appears at first glance more of a paean to history's greatest comic book artists than a subversive tome.

But the story -- which retells Singapore's story from the 1950s to the present through the eyes of a fictional cartoonist -- questions the official narrative hammered into citizens of the tightly-controlled city-state from a young age.

A central character is a real-life figure, Lim Chin Siong, a popular left-wing trade union leader who was a rival to Singapore's authoritarian founding father Lee Kuan Yew in the '60s, and who was jailed during Lee's rule.

Lim plays little part in official histories of that tumultuous period when Singapore became independent from British rule, an era marked by protests and riots, but the book presents an alternative vision of the past in which the late politician becomes premier.

On the other hand, Lee -- the central figure in Singapore's official histories and revered by many for transforming the city-state into one of the world's richest societies -- is presented in an unflattering light, as a hardline ruler who brooked no criticism.

"I was trying to present history the way it really is: full of richness and complexities," Liew told AFP.

"I wanted to show that there are different versions of history. It's less about which is the most true or accurate, but rather for the reader to come away with an understanding that they need to approach all historical texts with a critical eye," the 42-year-old added.

- Causing alarm -

In Singapore, where media is tightly controlled and government critics have been hit with financially ruinous lawsuits, the book initially caused alarm.

Liew has been allowed to continue his work from his studio stuffed full of pop culture memorabilia -- he also writes and illustrates for DC Comics -- is still invited to government-funded talks, and gets the use of a subsidised workspace

On the eve of its launch, government agency the National Arts Council (NAC) withdrew an Sg$8,000 ($5,900) grant given to Liew for the book -- whose previous works did not touch on Singapore's history -- due to its "sensitive content".

An official from the agency said the work "potentially undermines the authority of legitimacy of the Government and its public institutions".

But the move backfired. The extra attention caused by withdrawing the grant helped turn the graphic novel into a hit, and it is now in its fifth print run and has been translated into four languages.

In July, Liew won three Eisner Awards, regarded as the Oscars of the comic industry, at Comic Con International in San Diego for the graphic novel, including one for Best Writer/Artist.

The arts council did issue a terse, congratulatory statement -- but did not go so far as to mention the name of the book.

"With the NAC, they've told me explicitly that they had to draw a line between me as an artist, which they support, and my book, which they said they can't get behind," Liew said.

Highlighting his awkward position, Liew last week said he will be returning a NAC grant of Sg$19,000 for a new book he is working on in a bid to avoid "the comprises" involved in a relationship with the authorities.

- Sensitive ground -

Overall, the official reaction has been relatively muted.

Liew has been allowed to continue his work from his studio stuffed full of pop culture memorabilia -- he also writes and illustrates for DC Comics -- is still invited to government-funded talks, and gets the use of a subsidised workspace.

Some observers see in the mild response a further sign that authorities may be relaxing their tight control over society.

Authorities had already lifted long-standing bans on 240 books and magazines in 2015. However others believe they may be simply accepting reality -- that it would be counterproductive to try to ban such a popular work.

Singapore has had the same ruling party, The People's Action Party, since 1959, a few years before it became independent from Britain, while Lee Kuan Yew was prime minister for over three decades, and his son is the current premier.

Lee, who died in 2015, was undoubtedly one of the commanding figures of Asia's post-war economic rise, but faced criticism for his iron-fisted rule, forcing several opposition politicians into bankruptcy or exile.

Liew is fully aware that he is treading on sensitive ground and said he had made sure to rigorously check all the facts in his work.

"I do realise this is Singapore so I'm very careful," he said, with a knowing smile.
Actors Shemar Moore (L) and Anna Chlumsky present Emmy nominees for Lead Actress In a Drama Series at the Television Academy, on July 13, 2017, in Los Angeles/ HBO's sci-fi western "Westworld" and NBC's "Saturday Night Live" led the field for TV's Primetime Emmy awards Thursday, with 22 nominations.

Television's biggest stars were dusting off their designer frocks and getting suited and booted Sunday for their chance to snag the biggest prizes for the small screen.

With awards juggernaut "Downton Abbey" finished and "Game of Thrones" ineligible, this year's Emmys are seen as the first in years in which any show could take home the most prestigious statuettes.

There will be fierce competition among a host of acclaimed first-timers, including HBO sci-fi Western show "Westworld," Hulu's dystopian "The Handmaid's Tale" and Netflix's 1980s-set horror series "Stranger Things."

The three series already have a huge 13 statuettes between them from last weekend's Creative Arts Emmys, which recognize behind-the-scenes talent as well as guest acting appearances.

"What's probably going to come out is that the awards will be spread across everybody. I think everyone's going to be happy," Debra Birnbaum, executive editor of television for Variety magazine, told AFP.

The glitzy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles -- the first under the administration of President Donald Trump -- is expected to have a distinctly political flavor, with host Stephen Colbert likely not to pull his punches.

NBC's long-running comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" received 22 nominations -- the joint-highest total alongside "Westworld" -- after a year of mercilessly spoofing the new commander-in-chief.

Its haul of five Creative Arts statuettes included outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Melissa McCarthy, whose "Unhinged Spicey" take on embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer came to embody early criticism of the administration.

The show is in the running for five more gongs at the main ceremony, with Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon nominated for their turns as Trump and campaign rival Hillary Clinton.

Gaten Matarazzo attends the Hollywood Reporter and SAG AFRA 2017 Emmy Nominees Night party at the Jean-Georges at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, on September 14, 2017.

HBO's fantasy epic about noble families vying for control of the Iron Throne raked in a record-breaking 12 awards last year, but is ineligible for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, having started its seventh season too late.

- 'Good writing' -

The outstanding drama category includes five debutants -- "Westworld," "The Handmaid's Tale," NBC's family drama "This Is Us," and two Netflix shows, "Stranger Things" and British royal drama "The Crown."

Birnbaum said that with such an open field this year almost no award would surprise her.

"The only thing I think is a sure thing would be Elisabeth Moss for 'The Handmaid's Tale.' I think she's beloved in the academy,'" she said.

Actors Shemar Moore (L) and Anna Chlumsky present Emmy nominees for Lead Actor In a Limited Series or Movie on July 13, 2017, in Los Angeles.

"Veep" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, vying for a sixth consecutive Emmy for best actress in a comedy, is the only other nominee who could be described as a shoo-in, according to Birnbaum.

"I like good writing, characters and relationships, and costume. I thought that 'The Crown' was marvelously done. The writing was great and the exploration of that particular period was beautifully done," Tobin Bell, who is best known for playing the iconic Jigsaw Killer in the "Saw" franchise, told AFP.

The 75-year-old actor's four-decade career has seen him appear in some of the biggest shows in TV history, including "NYPD Blue," "ER," "The X Files," "The Sopranos," "The West Wing" and "24."

"I loved how 'The Crown' explored John Lithgow's character, Winston Churchill, of course, how they explored his insecurities," he added.

The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards will be beamed live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles by CBS and starts roughly at 5 pm (0000 GMT Monday).
Masked youth cadets from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, march in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, on September 15, 2017

Hamas said on Sunday it would do away with a body seen as an alternative government in the Gaza Strip in a step towards reconciliation with rival Fatah following discussions with Egypt.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, also said it was ready for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah on forming a unity government and holding elections.

The announcement comes after talks in Cairo last week with Egyptian officials in which Hamas chief Ismail Haniya agreed to take such steps, a Hamas official has told AFP.

It was unclear however whether the steps would result in further concrete action toward ending the deep division with Fatah, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In Sunday's statement, Hamas spoke of the "dissolution" of what is known as the administrative committee, which was seen as a rival government to Abbas's administration.

Hamas formed the committee in March, and since then Abbas has sought to put further pressure on the Islamist movement, reducing electricity payments for the Gaza Strip among other measures.

Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, having seized it in a near civil war from Fatah following a dispute over parliamentary elections won by the Islamist movement.

The Gaza Strip has faced deteriorating humanitarian conditions, with a severe electricity crisis and a lack of clean water, among other issues.

It has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade, while its border with Egypt has also remained largely closed in recent years.

The coastal enclave of some two million people also has one of the world's highest unemployment rates.

Facing those conditions, Hamas has turned to Egypt for assistance, particularly involving fuel to produce power.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Hamas, have fought three wars since 2008.

UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, but Israel says it is necessary to stop Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to make them.

Last month, the Gaza head of Hamas, Yahya al-Sinwar, said the movement had increased its military capabilities thanks to newly improved relations with Iran, Israel's arch-enemy.
A Yemeni soldier stands on the debris of a house, hit in a Saudi-led coalition air strike in the capital Sanaa on August 26, 2017

Twelve Yemeni civilians including women and children have been killed in an air raid by the Saudi-led coalition northeast of the capital Sanaa, an official, residents and rebel media said Sunday.

A local official told AFP the coalition air raid hit a vehicle carrying the 12 civilians on Saturday in Hareeb Al-Qarameesh in Marib province, about 70 km (43 miles) northeast of Sanaa.

The area is held by Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have controlled the capital and northern parts of the country for three years.

The rebel news agency Saba also reported the attack, saying the vehicle was destroyed and all passengers killed.

Residents said four children and two women were among the victims.

The Saudi-led coalition, which has been waging a war against the Huthis since March 2015, has been repeatedly criticised for attacks on civilians.

More than 8,000 people have been killed, including at least 1,500 children, and millions displaced in the conflict which has pushed the impoverished country to the brink of famine.

A cholera outbreak has also claimed the lives of more than 1,800 people since April, with 400,000 suspected cases across the country, according to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The United Nations warned in July that 80 percent of Yemen's children desperately needed aid in what the organisation has called the "largest humanitarian crisis in the world".
More than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims had fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar. Now Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi is readying to address the nation on the crisis for the first time, looking to balance domestic and international pressures

As Rakhine state burns and Rohingya flee, Aung San Suu Kyi is preparing to address Myanmar on the crisis for the first time -- a high wire act seeking to soothe global outrage without baiting an army that is again showing its teeth.

Suu Kyi took office last year as Myanmar's first civilian leader after 50 years of junta rule.

She has since focused her energy on the delicate political dance between her civilian government and the generals who still hold many of the levers of power.

On Tuesday the Nobel laureate will give the biggest speech of her time in office.

The nationally-televised turn will break a near silence since the ulcerous ethnic and religious hatreds in western Rakhine state erupted into killings on August 25, sending 400,000 Muslim minority Rohingya fleeing into Bangladesh.

During long years of house arrest, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was feted by rights campaigners around the world, but her silence over what the UN has called "ethnic cleansing" in Rakhine has seen her reputation sour

Some 30,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have also been internally displaced.

In an interview with the BBC, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the stakes were high for Tuesday's speech, calling it a "last chance" to stop the unfolding humanitarian calamity.

"If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I don't see how this can be reversed in the future," he said.

- 'Ethnic cleansing' -

The latest violence was sparked by Rohingya militants' raids on 30 police posts in Rakhine state.

The UN calls the army fightback a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" with villages set ablaze to drive Rohingya civilians out.

Many abroad are puzzled as to how rights can be flagrantly denied to a specific group by a people who once nobly demanded their own in the face of a junta.

More than 400,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled violence in Myanmar, trudging in weak, hungry lines to Bangladesh where they live in squalid camps without sufficient food or shelter

Suu Kyi's televised address -- likely at least in part to be in English -- comes ahead of a meeting at the UN General Assembly in which Myanmar is expected to be hammered over the crisis.

But analysts say her power to stay the military is limited, and her response thus far indicates she is choosing the lesser of two evils.

"She's signalling that her chief priority is the relationship between the government and military and that the pogrom is secondary to that," Francis Wade, author of 'Myanmar's Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and the Making of the Muslim 'Other'' told AFP.

"This obviously raises questions about the quality of leadership she seeks to bring, but also that the political game in Myanmar is worth the sacrifice of entire communities."

- 'Bengalis' not Rohingya -

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) swept the board when the military permitted elections in 2015.

Before they loosened their chokehold on power, the generals wrote themselves into the constitution, embedding their political future with a bloc of legislative seats and total control over security.

Global opprobrium has been heaped on Aung San Suu Kyi over what many in the outside world say is a failure in her moral leadership for allowing a military-led crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that has sent 400,000 fleeing into Bangladesh

Over the last two years, Suu Kyi's gradualism, and her refusal to upset the organisation that kept her under house arrest for almost two decades, has seen the sprouting of the first green shoots of the rule of law in Myanmar.

But the eruption of violence in Rakhine and the pressure from the outside world for her to "do something about it" risks upsetting that balance.

All the more so in a country where the majority of the population shares the military's view that Rohingya Muslims -- whom it disparagingly calls "Bengalis" -- are interlopers bent on taking land and resources from Buddhists.

A leader who bends too far to international will could lose the support of the people she governs.

In these circumstances, observers say, it is not hard to imagine another coup by an army that always used national security concerns to justify its iron-fisted rule.

- The General -

From the ashes of Rakhine, commander-and-chief Min Aung Hlaing is emerging as an unexpectedly popular figure, defying deep mistrust of the military.

Through Facebook and Twitter he has successfully pitched his once reviled institution as the defender of Myanmar's territorial sovereignty and the Buddhist faith against "extremist Bengali terrorists".

On Saturday his Facebook feed repeated the widely-held domestic view that the Rohingya have "never been an ethnic group in Myanmar."

With the army flexing its muscles, Suu Kyi's next steps have become increasingly treacherous.

A complex swirl of ethnic and religious rivalries, incubated under five decades of military rule, has toxified all debate inside Myanmar around the Rohingya.

Aung San Suu Kyi, seen here in 2016, will skip this year's United Nations General Assembly, amid a growing tide of criticism for her perceived inaction in Rakhine

The militant attacks of August 25 are seen by many Buddhists as confirmation of long-held fears that overseas-based Islamists are intent on taking over Rakhine state -- the western gateway to wider Myanmar.

Fear has overridden empathy for the Rohingya, who still trudge in wretched, hungry lines to Bangladesh.

So far, and despite the global finger-pointing, Suu Kyi remains a galvanising force in Myanmar.

Her reticence to publically defend the Rohingya has been applauded across the political divide -- even by notorious Buddhist nationalist monks.

"She is not your leader. She is OUR leader," Mayzin Aye, a businesswoman renowned for supporting Suu Kyi, wrote on Facebook -- where much of Myanmar's discourse takes place.

"She is not an icon for us. She is not a Saint for us. She is our country's leader... She gives up everything for our freedom from military rulers."
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By donating one of her kidneys, Nawel gave her husband Boubaker Ziani a new lease on life after he had undergone 16 years of dialysis.

But in Algeria and across the entire Maghreb in North Africa, many people continue to suffer or die because of the lack of donors.

Part of the problem lies with laws restricting the harvesting of human organs, coupled with cultural or religious reticence, despite Muslim theologians' approval of organ donations.

Ziani's wife offered him a kidney after she saw that he had become too weak to play with or even to hold his children.

He had long rejected her willingness to help, but in the end as no other donor was available, he finally relented.

He had the operation at one of Algeria's two main centres for kidney transplants, the University Hospital in Batna, 435 kilometres (270 miles) east of Algiers.

"I'm like a newborn," Ziani told AFP, tears in his eyes.

In a consultation room, 47-year-old Abderahmane said he hoped an end to 24 years of dialysis was in sight thanks to a kidney from his mother.

"Dialysis has dominated my life. I want to take a break from this machine and live," he said.

He suffers from a hereditary condition that also affects two of his brothers. Lacking access to transplants, one of them has died and the other has now been on dialysis for two years.

More than 22,000 people in Algeria suffer from renal conditions and are forced to undergo dialysis, according to the ministry of health. A third are waiting for a transplant.

- Most families refuse -

Many others require liver donations, which can also be offered by live donors.

But under Algerian law, a living person can donate an organ only to a parent, child, sibling or spouse.

In the absence of a national database, the overall number of people awaiting transplants in Algeria is unknown.

Many patients are critically ill as they wait for organs such as a heart which can only be taken from deceased donors.

Algerian doctor Ahmed Bougroura (left), head of nephrology department at Batna's university hospital, 435 kms east of Algiers, talks to Nawel who is going to donated a kidney to her husband Ziani Boubaker, on July 26, 2017

But the law says organs may only be removed from a dead person if their family agrees.

The overwhelming majority refuse, for lack of information, fear of violating religious laws or mistrust of doctors.

Some also suspect that transplants benefit only the privileged.

"Some families had never heard of donations from corpses before the death of a relative," said Dr Ahmed Bougroura, head of the Batna hospital's kidney health department and coordinator of the transplant team.

Theologian Kamel Chekkat, a member of Algeria's association of Islamic scholars, stressed that the practice was not religiously outlawed.

"From a religious point of view, there is nothing to oppose organ donation and the taking of organs from corpses," he said.

He and other Muslim theologians have argued that organ donation after death is "ongoing charity" -- a pious act in Islam that outlives the person who performs it.

The gift of an organ fulfils "one of the major objectives of Islamic law, which is the preservation of life," Chekkat said.

As for the recipient, "whatever the religion of the patient... the law of God instructs us to preserve his life."

- Public education required -

In 2015, just two patients in Algeria -- which has a population of more than 40 million -- received donor kidneys, according to the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT).

The figures for Morocco and Tunisia were only marginally better, with fewer than 10 patients in each country receiving kidneys from the deceased.

"Organ donation... is struggling to gain a foothold in Morocco, even though there are no prohibitions: not medical, legal or religious," Moroccan organ registrar Said Sabri told AFP.

Laws restricting the harvesting of human organs, coupled with cultural or religious reticence, despite Muslim theologians' approval of organ donations

Dr Rafika Bardi, head of the Tunisian Centre for the Promotion of Organ Transplantation, said that "as in all the countries of the Maghreb... organ donations by the deceased are minimal".

She said the region lacked a "culture of donating organs" and that many people confuse organ donation with organ trafficking.

Algeria is considering changing the law to allow citizens to indicate in writing that they accept to have their organs removed in the event of their death, overriding refusals by their families.

However, specialists say that is not enough.

Campaigners in Algeria and Tunisia want to create registers of people who refuse to have their organs taken after their death -- and anyone not on the list would be considered a potential donor by default.

Farid Sekouf, 41, who is finally preparing to receive his wife's kidney after six years on dialysis, believes the public needs more information on the issue.

"When it comes to going to vote, the state does all it can so that even a person in a tent in the Sahara is informed," he said.
An Iraqi Airways airplane lands Baghdad airport following its arrival from the southern port city of Basra on October 21, 2014

Russia and Iraq restored scheduled commercial airline services on Sunday for the first time since 2004, in what officials hailed as a sign of stability returning to the war-torn country.

An Iraqi Airways plane left Baghdad at 10.31 am (0731 GMT) and was expected to arrive at Moscow's Vnukovo airport at 2.19 pm (1119 GMT), according to the Russian airport's online departure and arrival timetables.

"The first commercial flight arrives today," Sergei Izvolsky, spokesman for Russia's civil aviation authority, told AFP.

"It is a signal on the part of the Iraqi authorities that Russian nationals can safely visit Iraq."

The two countries may also later agree on air travel to the Iraqi city of Basra, Izvolsky said.

Russia suspended regular flights to Iraq in 2004 after the US-led invasion in 2003 plunged the Arab country into war.
"Buried Alive" is part of a Halloween-themed festival at Hong Kong's Ocean Park running from October 5 to 31

A man has died in a haunted house attraction called "Buried Alive", as Hong Kong's largest amusement park prepared to kick off its annual Halloween festival.

The 21-year-old man, surnamed Cheung, was hit by a coffin on Saturday, local media said.

Cheung was found unconscious five minutes after he entered the attraction, Ocean Park chief executive Matthias Li said Saturday, expressing "deep sorrow" over the tragedy.

He was confirmed dead in hospital, police said.

"Buried Alive" is part of a Halloween-themed festival at Ocean Park running from October 5 to 31.

The park's website said visitors would "experience being buried alive alone, before fighting their way out of their dark and eerie grave".

Visitors are supposed to get inside a coffin-turned-slide, local media said, and slip through into the haunted house where they would experience what the park's website described as "a rocky maze filled with dreadful ghouls".

Hong Kong's government said it believed Cheung entered the house safely but wandered off into a restricted area where he was struck by machinery.

The victim was "believed to have entered into an area for mechanical operations that was not open to visitors and was hit by a mechanical part", a statement said.

Police said an investigation was ongoing.

Cheung was friends with an employee of a Swire Group subsidiary and had visited Ocean Park as part of an annual staff event organised by the company, the South China Morning Post reported.

The government has ordered the closure of "Buried Alive" until further notice.
Organised by Cairo's D-CAF festival, Arab Arts Focus ran for a month, garnering positive reviews at the latest edition of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Arab Arts Focus (AAF) programme made waves at the 70th Edinburgh Festival Fringe last month, despite numerous challenges caused by visa rejections by UK.

The programme, that ran between 4 and 27 August, showcased stories on stage from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Morocco, through 10 theatre and dance performances curated by an esteemed international selection committee, in addition to a series of seven talks.

Most of the plays ran throughout the month-long festival, with some of the performances getting a half-run, across three of the renowned festivals most distinguished venues.

AAF was brought together through a collaboration between the Tamasi Collective, Scotlands Kenmure Productions, and Orient Productions and the D-CAF festival, both founded by Ahmed El-Attar.

While AAF has been a fixture of every edition of Cairos D-CAF festival, this is its first year to go international, finding the perfect place to launch under the auspices of the Fringe, one of the biggest arts festivals in the world.

Performances from the MENA region have made it to the Fringe's previous editions, yet this is the biggest collection of shows, offering a more intense presence of Arab art, revealing its diversity, catalyzing its development, and allowing for a wider understanding of the region.

We hope that this creates room for underrepresented narratives to facilitate the possibility of future exchanges and collaborations between artists and institutions from the Arab world and those from Scotland and the UK, El-Attar said in a press release.

Rolling with the punches

Perhaps Arab artists are no strangers to challenges, often performing under difficult economic and political circumstances.

It was still disheartening that the AAF programme suffered because of inexplicable visa rejections from the UK Home Office, despite being backed with institutional support and the proper paperwork.

A total of 25 got their visas. However, 22 people had theirs rejected. Seven of them applied twice and only two got it on the second attempt, Basma Hamed, Orient Productions marketing and PR manager told Ahram Online.



The biggest number of rejections were from Egypt, followed by Palestine and Syria.

Seven production team members were refused, including the technical director. One of them didnt even get a reason for the rejection, and with others there were claims that the documents were not there, even though we provided more than what was asked for, Hamed says, adding that they were troubleshooting until the last minute to make things work.

The issues cost them several changes in a programme theyd been working on since the start of 2017, and a lot of money between re-applying for visas or bringing new people on board at the last minute.

The performances were a means of sharing stories on whats happening in the Middle East, away from media depictions and stereotypes. It is ironic that the visa rejections issue is in itself a telling story, highlighting the background struggles Arab artists face in trying to have their voices heard and their art seen.

Performers weaved this into Chill Habibi, a laid back cabaret-inspired show staged every night with different sketches, mixing theatre, comedy, dance, and music from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Morocco, and Scotland. Among the sketches were people reading out visa rejection letters.

One of the highlights was when [award-winning British actress] Emma Thomson dropped in to watch Chill Habibi, after the local PR met her in Summer Hall at the festival and invited her. She even read one of the letters, Hamed said.

Thompsons presence added a brighter spotlight to the already hot topic of visa issues and attracted attention from the international press, all denouncing the Home Office for stifling opportunities for artistic exchange.

Resilience becomes relevant

One of the dance shows was particularly hit hard. The Dance Double Bill had three people's visas rejected: dancers Hamza Damra and Nagham Saleh, and choreographer Yazan Iwidat.

Egyptian choreographer and dancer Shaymaa Shoukry was in luck when dancer Mahmoud El-Haddad was already in Europe, and on such short notice cancelled his flight to Egypt to be the replacement for Saleh.

Together they created a new dance, The Resilience of the Body, in four days. An excerpt of the original dance Mayohkomsh was screened, as was the full performance of 'Running Away' by Iwidat and Damra.

The silver lining is that this show got nominated for the Total Theatre Award, chosen from among 3,500 shows and 200 dance performances, Hamed said.

For Shoukry, this whirlwind of events was even more surreal and serendipitous.

She was working on The Resilience of The Body at the Cairo Contemporary Dance Centre as a solo, and never planned for it to be performed internationally.

Thats because its very much related to Cairo and frustrations experienced there. But it turned out to be very artistically relevant to what happened; its also about an inability to express, what we do if we cant change, what is possible in this stage, post-dreams, Shoukry told Ahram Online.

This worked better than having El-Haddad perform Mayohkomsh instead of Saleh.

Naghams solo was like a portrait of who she is. If El-Haddad just copied it, it becomes a flat remake, which is not interesting to me. I like things to be coming from within, working with the dancer and having an artistic exchange, Shoukry says.



The two had previously worked together and knew that their styles were very different.

I had to share my artistic vision with a replacement in just four days. El-Haddad would never have been my first choice, but Im so glad we did this together because his energy, enthusiasm and openness to try new things, made this a very special and positive experience, she adds.

'The Resilience of The Body' also received the Summer Hall Award, which is granted from the board members of Summer Hall, whom Shoukry says were very attentive and supportive to the AAF throughout the Fringe.

According to Hamed, Fringe-goers could be heard talking about AAF at the other venues and shows, a testament to the impression the programme left.

All shows at the festival are reviewed and rated real time. Jogging [from Lebanon] took five stars, some shows took 3 to 4 stars, Chill Habibi took 4 stars, which are all very good ratings, says Hamed.

Other shows within AAF critics and media hailed include Taha, a monodrama interweaving the work of the revered Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali (1931-2011) with his compelling biography.

Some performers, emerged with new opportunities and contacts, fulfilling one of the AAFs aspirations.

I got invited to hold the performance at Dancing on The Edge Festival in Holland, so Ill be doing that in November. But I still wish do do it here [in Cairo] as intended, Shoukry says.

As sensitive to context as she is, the choreographer sees this frustration she had attached to Cairo is palpable everywhere.

What is holding us back here is holding us back everywhere, anywhere we go. They [at the Fringe] were very eager and curious to receive us, but faced censorship in some way. Because if you limit who comes in to you, eventually you are censoring on the inside too, adds Shoukry.

As for future plans for AAF, Hamed says the goal is to run it in alternating years between Egypt and abroad.

Despite encouragement from the Fringe to return again, it is hoped to hold it in a different country each time, to expand its outreach.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Eight members of an Iraqi paramilitary unit died in a booby-trap explosion in a school near the city of Mosul that was retaken from jihadists, a security official said

Eight members of an Iraqi paramilitary unit died Sunday in a booby-trap explosion in a school near the city of Mosul that was retaken from jihadists, a security official said.

In the latest example of the dangers left behind by retreating Islamic State group members, Jabbar al-Maamuri, a commander of the unit of tribal fighters, told AFP that 13 others were wounded in the blast at the school that was being used as a training centre.

He said the school in Majarine village 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Mosul had been mined by the jihadists, who were ousted from the city at the end of August by a coalition of pro-government forces.

The village itself was seized in early July as Iraqi forces advanced on Mosul.

In another such incident in newly recaptured areas, six members of the Hashem al-Shaabi paramilitary unit were killed in an explosion Saturday in Akashat in the western province of Anbar, security sources said.
Dozens of armed groups have vied for control in Libya in the power vacuum created by the 2011 fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi

The head of Libya's rival government in the east called Sunday on the international community to recognise his administration which he says controls most of the North African country.

Libya, which plunged into chaos after the ouster and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, has two rival governments and parliaments, as well as several militia groups battling to control its oil wealth.

The Government of National Unity, based in the capital Tripoli, is backed by the United Nations.

However, in a telephone interview with AFP on Sunday, Abdullah al-Thani said the provisional government based in the east "draws its legitimacy... from the ballot box".

Thani used to be Libya's internationally recognised prime minister until the formation of the GNA led by Fayez al-Sarraj, following an inter-Libyan political agreement signed in 2015 under the aegis of the UN.

The GNA has struggled to assert its authority over large parts of the troubled country and has also been plagued by political infighting -- including defections to its rival in the east.

"Our (provisional) government represents the three Libyan provinces -- Tripoli, Cyrenaica and Fezzan -- as well as all cities and regions... in total agreement," Thani said on Sunday.

In the political and security chaos that followed the collapse of Kadhafi's regime nearly six years ago, parliamentary elections were held in 2014.

But militias unhappy with the results of the elections grouped under the "Fajr Libya" (Libya Dawn) banner and stormed Tripoli.

They installed a "national salvation" government, forcing Thani's government and the newly elected parliament into exile in the east.

"With our valiant army, we control more than 90 percent of the country," Thani told AFP, referring to forces in the east dubbed the Libyan National Army and headed by strongman Khalifa Haftar.

The international community must "respect the will of the people and support the provisional government", Thani said.
A British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet is seen on the tarmac at the British airbase at Akrotiri in Cyprus on December 3, 2015

Qatar on Sunday signed an agreement to buy 24 Typhoon fighter jets from Britain, a second major defence deal signed by Doha during its lengthening diplomatic dispute with its neighbours.

Qatari defence secretary Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and his British counterpart Michael Fallon signed a "statement of intent" for the UK to sell the planes, according to statements released by London and on social media.

"This will be the first major defence contract with Qatar, one of the UK's strategic partners," Fallon said.

"This is an important moment in our defence relationship and the basis for even closer defence co-operation between our two countries," he said.

The British ambassador to Doha, Ajay Sharma, took to Twitter to announce the deal, which he called a "major step" in defence relations between the countries.

There was no immediate comment from Qatar.

The agreement to supply the planes brings to a close a lengthy negotiating period. Fallon said a deal was "on the table" back in March 2016.

It follows a separate major purchase from Washington.

In June this year it was announced that Qatar had agreed to buy F-15 jets from the US in a $12 billion (10 billion euros) deal.

And in 2016, Qatar agreed to buy 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France in a deal worth a reported 6.7 billion euros.

But the timing of the UK and US deals was particularly crucial for Doha.

On June 5 -- ten days before the US contract was announced -- regional kingpin Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing extremism and fostering ties with their Shiite rival Iran.

Qatar denies the charges, claiming the dispute is an attack on its sovereignty.

Analysts say the diplomatic crisis shows no sign of ending.

The deal also comes as Britain seeks to explore further trade deals outside Europe after voting to leave the European Union.

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2017 Toronto International Film Festival - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" Premiere

Martin McDonagh's darkly hilarious drama "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" won the Toronto film festival's audience prize for best picture on Sunday, giving it a leg up in the race for the Oscars.

The rage-fueled film stars Frances McDormand as a frustrated and grieving mother, Mildred, who antagonizes police (Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) while trying to call attention to a lack of progress in the hunt for her daughter's killer.

Months have passed without an arrest in the murder case, so she commissions three signs with controversial messages for police along a road leading into the fictional Missouri town.

But a backlash ensues. Mildred's friends and the freckle-faced and cocky young agent (Caleb Landry Jones) who rents her the billboard space are targeted by the chief's intellectually and emotionally stunted deputy, in violent reprisals that cost him his badge.

Australia's Abbie Cornish and "Game of Thrones" actor Peter Dinklage also star in the film, which is McDonagh's third after "In Bruges" and "Seven Psychopaths."

In a statement, McDonagh called the win "thrilling."

"You never really know if a story as heartfelt but also as outrageous and funny and unusual as ours is has really connected to, you know, real people," he said.

"So it's brilliant to hear that it has."

- 'The film wrote itself' -

Martin McDonagh, taking questions at the Toronto film festival

In Venice, where the film premiered, the British-Irish playwright said he wrote the script specifically for McDormand based on an idea that began to germinate 20 years ago when he was traveling across America by bus.

A decade later, as he pondered a hard-to-explain billboard that had stuck in his mind -- involving a mother whose daughter was raped and murdered -- he began to flesh out a back story.

"Once I had decided it was a mother, the film wrote itself," he said. "And picturing Frances in my mind helped me write it."

Runners-up for the festival's audience prize were Craig Gillespie's "I, Tonya" about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding, and the coming-of-age drama "Call Me By Your Name," directed by Luca Guadagnino.

More than 300 feature and short films from 74 countries were screened at the Toronto festival, the biggest in North America.

The event is often seen as a way for Oscar-conscious studios to generate buzz about their movies, with hundreds of filmmakers and actors walking the red carpet in Canada's largest city.

In past years, films such as "Spotlight," "12 Years a Slave," and "Slumdog Millionaire" have gone on from winning the audience prize in Toronto to taking top honors at the Oscars.

Last year, the musical "La La Land" won the Toronto prize and then took home six Oscars, including best actress and best director -- but not the top prize, despite the shocking mix-up with "Moonlight" at the end of the gala.

- More winners -

Other accolades at the Toronto festival on Sunday went to Wayne Wapeemukwa for "Luk' Luk'l" and Robin Aubert for "Les Affame," as well as to Huang Hsin-Yao for "The Great Buddha+" and Warwick Thornton for "Sweet Country."

The International Federation of Film Critics awarded prizes to Sadaf Foroughi for "Ava," about a rebellious girl in Iran who fights repression by her parents and society, and to Manuel Martin Cuenca for "The Motive" (El Autor).

Mahour Jabbari, who played the titular Ava and her co-star Shayesteh Sajadi had been denied entry into Canada to attend the festival.

Audiences also chose Joseph Kahn's satirical look at the brutal sport of battle rapping in "Bodied" over runners-up Craig Zahler's "Brawl in Cell Block 99" and James Franco's "The Disaster Artist" for a Midnight Madness prize.

Their pick for best documentary was "Faces Places" by Agnes Varda and street artist JR, which beat out Morgan Spurlock sequel's "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" and "Long Time Running," directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas De Pencier.
It would be the first public testimony on the Russia affair by a member of President Donald Trump's inner circle, and by no less a figure than his eldest son, the co-director of the family business

Donald Trump Jr. will testify publicly before a congressional committee probing Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign and possible collusion by his father's campaign, a Democratic senator said Sunday.

"Well, it will be this fall. I know that for sure," Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview with CNN.

It would be the first public testimony on the Russia affair by a member of President Donald Trump's inner circle, and by no less a figure than his eldest son, the co-director of the family business.

"Don Jr" already has testified behind closed doors, answering questions by Senate Judiciary Committee investigators for five hours on September 7.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, also testified behind closed doors before several congressional committees in July.

But the lawmakers want the various Trump insiders to publicly explain, under oath, their contacts with Russians before and after the November election.

All have vehemently denied any collusion with Moscow, defending the contacts as of no significance or unrelated to the campaign.

In Trump's son's case, investigators are interested in one particular meeting he had in June 2016 at New York's Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.

She had had been presented to Donald Jr as a Russian government lawyer who could provide compromising information about Hillary Clinton.

He says the meeting never led to anything. Regardless, investigators will want to know if his father was aware of what might amount to an attempt at collusion.

Donald Jr's testimony has not yet been scheduled by the Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Republicans.

If he refuses an invitation to testify, Congress can compel his testimony through its subpoena powers.
An Iraqi Kurdish woman takes a selfie as people gather in the street flying Kurdish flags to urge fellow Kurds to vote in the upcoming independence referendum

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged Iraqi Kurds to scrap plans to hold a referendum on independence later this month, arguing it would detract from the fight against Islamic State jihadists.

Guterres said in a statement that any dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan regional government should be resolved through dialogue and "constructive compromise."

The leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region are set to hold a referendum on independence on September 25.

Guterres said "any unilateral decision to hold a referendum at this time would detract from the need to defeat ISIL", the Islamic State group.

It would also undermine reconstruction efforts and the return of refugees, he added.

On Friday, the United States said the referendum should be called off, a stance also pushed by neighboring Turkey which fears another source of conflict in the region.

Iran warned on Sunday that independence for Iraqi Kurdistan would mean an end to all border and security arrangements with the regional government.

Guterres urged Iraqi leaders to "approach this matter with patience and restraint" and offered UN help to address the issue.

UN envoy to Iraq Jan Kubis told Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani last week that the United Nations was ready to broker negotiations to address "all the problems and outstanding issues" between the Kurds and Baghdad, according to a document obtained by AFP.

The negotiations would aim to reach a deal within two or three years on the "principles and arrangements" for future relations between Baghdad and the Kurdish region, the document said.

In return, Barzani's administration would agree to postpone the referendum at least until the end of negotiations.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the US wants to be "helpful" on climate issues and wants to work with partners in the Paris climate accord

After a succession of mixed messages on the US stance on climate change, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that the Trump administration was seeking "ways in which we can work with partners in the Paris climate accord."

"We want to be productive, we want to be helpful," Tillerson said on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

His comments did not amount to a reversal from US President Donald Trump's widely criticized decision in June to withdraw from the landmark pact, signed by nearly 200 countries.

But Tillerson did appear to signal a softening from Trump's earlier characterization of the deal as a "draconian" pact that impinged on American sovereignty and unfairly favored countries like China and India over the US.

When European environment officials suggested over the weekend that the United States might be ready to reengage with the pact, the White House said that its position was unchanged, and that it could stay only if more "favorable" terms were achieved.

But Tillerson said Trump's chief economics adviser, Gary Cohn, was studying ways the US could cooperate with other countries on what, he said, "is still a challenging issue."

- Trump 'left the door open' -

The remarks came days before Trump is to speak before world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, where climate change seems sure to be a major topic.

They also came after two devastating hurricanes struck the US mainland in recent weeks -- made more intense, some scientists said, by waters warmed by climate change.

Neither Tillerson nor Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, spoke of reopening negotiations over the Paris accord, an idea sharply rejected by other signatories. But the accord is voluntary, and it appeared the US might be able to find a way, within the pact, to recast its position.

McMaster noted on ABC's "This Week" that Trump had "left the door open to reentering (the pact) at some later time if there can be a better deal for the United States," adding, "Of course, he's open to any discussions that will help us improve the environment."

The process to withdraw from the Paris pact is lengthy. If Trump sticks to his plan, the United States would not formally pull out until Nov. 4, 2020 -- a day after the next US presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The fate of 800,000 young immigrants hung in the balance Thursday as top lawmakers, White House officials and President Donald Trump himself squabbled over whether an agreement had been struck to protect them - and if so, exactly what it was.

In the face of an intense backlash from conservatives inside the Capitol and out, Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP House members adamantly insisted that there was no agreement to enshrine protections for the immigrants brought to America as children and now here illegally.

John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, put it this way: There was "a deal to make a deal."

President Donald Trump responds to a reporters question as he boards Air Force One with first lady Melania Trump, not shown, for a trip to Florida to meet with first responders and people impacted by Hurricane Irma, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, in Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump himself said he was "fairly close" to an agreement that could protect the young "Dreamers" while also adding border security, as long as his long-promised wall with Mexico was also separately addressed. Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer - whose dinner with Trump Wednesday night was at the heart of the controversy - insisted there was discussion and even agreement on legislation that would offer eventual citizenship to the immigrants in question.

"We agreed it would be the DREAM Act," Schumer told reporters, referring to a bipartisan bill that would allow immigrants brought here as children and now in the U.S. illegally to work their way to citizenship in as little as five years if they meet certain requirements.

But one person familiar with the meeting said the president had agreed not to the DREAM Act, but to narrower legislation that would make permanent the protections offered by President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

What was clear was that the outcome for the "Dreamers" themselves was still unresolved and subject to much further debate and negotiation - and that the politics of immigration, which has defeated Congress for years, remained as tricky and explosive as ever. After winning the White House on a campaign that was remarkably harsh toward immigrants and revolved around construction of an enormous wall along the entire border with Mexico, Trump's sudden pivot infuriated some of his closest allies, and seemed to contain more potential to alienate his base than any of his other unconventional moves.

"He was so explicit during the campaign on the issue of the border wall and border security that if he were to backtrack on that promise I don't think he'd have a single friend left in the country. Democrats aren't going to support him and he would lose the entire Republican base," said GOP Rep. Tom McClintock of California. "This was a core explicit and graphically clear promise he made to the American people."

"At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached?" conservative commentator Ann Coulter remarked over Twitter.

Administration officials quickly recognized the danger in the backlash, and the White House shifted into damage control mode, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denying a deal had been struck or the wall excluded from it. Some also wondered aloud on Thursday whether the president was aware of the minutiae of the DREAM Act legislation discussed on Wednesday, including the fact that it includes an eventual path to citizenship.

"We're not looking at citizenship, we're not looking at amnesty. We're looking at allowing people to stay here," Trump told reporters as he traveled to view hurricane damage in Florida.

"But very importantly, what we want: We have to have a wall," Trump said. "If we don't have a wall, we're doing nothing."

Despite Trump's denial, two people briefed on Wednesday night's proceedings said that citizenship was explicitly mentioned when Democrats raised the DREAM Act. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, who was among the group dining on Chinese food (a Schumer favorite) in the White House Blue Room, spoke up to say that the bill does include a pathway to citizenship, according to the people briefed, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the private proceedings.

Another person familiar with the meeting said that as the president and Schumer were going back and forth, hashing out the confines of the agreement, the president kept referencing DACA, while Schumer kept talking about the DREAM Act. After Mulvaney piped in to make clear the distinction, the president signaled he understood the difference and was talking about DACA, the person said.

Exactly what Trump and Schumer agreed to is unclear. But the posture struck by Ryan and others on Capitol Hill seemed designed to protect the president from a backlash from his conservative base. Ryan energetically disputed the idea that any deal had been struck, though his argument seemed to turn largely on semantic distinctions.

"These were discussions not negotiations, there isn't an agreement," Ryan said. "The president wasn't negotiating a deal last night. The president was talking with Democratic leaders to get their perspective. I think the president understands that he's going to have to work with the congressional majorities to get any kind of legislative solution."

For their part, immigrant advocates and Latino lawmakers reacted cautiously, with several saying that any celebration would be premature. Many immigrants have been consumed by worry since Trump announced last week that he was ending DACA, which has granted temporary work permits and deportation relief to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought here as minors.

In New York, Martin Batalla Vidal, who came to the U.S. with his parents when he was 7, said he's taken college classes, does "meaningful" nursing home work and pays taxes. He spoke at a rally by civil rights groups.

Trump gave Congress six months to come up with a solution before the protections would end, although what he would actually do absent congressional action is uncertain. Despite promising to end DACA on Day One of his administration, Trump has struggled openly with the question of what to do about this sympathetic group of young immigrants.

Trump has appeared to enjoy his newfound luster as a bipartisan dealmaker since a disaster-and-debt deal he struck with Pelosi and Schumer last week stunned Washington and garnered a stack of positive headlines. Schumer, too, clearly relishes the dealmaking; he was caught on a live microphone on the Senate floor Thursday gleefully telling Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.: "He likes us! He likes me, anyway."

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey, Jonathan Lemire, Kevin Freking, Andrew Taylor, Alan Fram and Matthew Daly contributed.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters on the morning after she and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer met with President Donald Trump seeking a legislative solution tto the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday morning, Sept. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Martin Batalla Vidal, front left, listen as Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, front right, address a coalition rally of legal and civil rights groups going to court to challenge President Trump's planned phase out of a program shielding young immigrants from deportation, Thursday Sept. 14, 2017, in New York. The court will hold hearings on a lawsuit brought last year on behalf of Vidal, who came to the U.S. from Mexico with his parents when he was 7. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, where he said President Donald Trump is still seeking a legislative solution to replace to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., walks to the chamber before votes, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday morning, Sept. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - For at least two years before a South Carolina nuclear power construction project was abandoned, its owners had a report that they intended to keep secret showing the reactors couldn't be completed as planned, an attorney for a legislative panel investigating the debacle said Friday.

"The report is very, very troubling," said Scott Elliott, hired by the House for the hearings. "It was designed to never see the light of day."

State-owned Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas hired Bechtel Corp. in 2015 to assess construction on two new reactors at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station north of Columbia. The utilities were briefed on the findings later that year, though the official report is dated February 2016.

Essentially, the report says "this wasn't going to work. ... If things don't change dramatically, you'll never finish these projects," Elliott said. Its findings included a lack of proper oversight by SCE&G, the majority owner.

SCE&G should have disclosed the report's existence as it successfully sought approval in 2015 and 2016 to spend more on the project. Instead, executives told state regulators they were confident in the presented completion dates, said Elliott, also an attorney for South Carolina Energy Users Committee, a coalition of large industries that need a lot of energy.

Legislators accused SCE&G executives of intentionally hiding the report from regulators and lawmakers, withholding information that could have resulted in "no" votes.

Kevin Marsh, CEO of SCE&G's parent company SCANA, told legislators the report was confidential because it was intended to be used in a potential lawsuit against the site's main contractor, Westinghouse.

"It wasn't secret. It was confidential," Marsh said.

The utilities abandoned the project July 31 after jointly spending nearly $10 billion, leaving nearly 6,000 people jobless. A 2007 state law allows SCE&G to recoup its debt from customers if state regulators determine money was spent prudently.

Legislators who are seeking ways to fix the law want to stop that. Customers have already paid more than $2 billion on interest costs through a series of rate hikes since 2009. The project accounts for 18 percent of SCE&G customers' electric bills.

Elliott said the Bechtel report puts into question every decision made by the utilities over at least the last two years.

But Marsh continued Friday to blame the project's failure on Westinghouse's bankruptcy in March, which voided a fixed-price contract negotiated in 2015 in an attempt to control costs. And he insisted the utility did nothing wrong, and no one deserved to be fired.

"Did we make any mistakes? A project this large, you're going to make some mistakes," he said. "I don't think we made any material mistakes to change the outcome of where we are today."

He said the report's findings only highlighted what the utilities knew. SCANA chief operating officer Steve Byrne said the fixed-price contract addressed many of the budgeting concerns.

"It was mostly to validate our concerns rather than tell us something we didn't know," Marsh said. "I believe we acted appropriately and prudently."

The Bechtel report's existence became public as executives testified at a legislative hearing last month. Lawmakers threatened to subpoena it if the utilities refused to provide it. Gov. Henry McMaster released it to reporters earlier this month, over SCANA's written objections, after receiving a copy from Santee Cooper.

Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, told Marsh SCANA needs to acknowledge its share of the blame.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, said executives' testimony shows they "just don't get it."

"At what point does the person paying these bills get some relief? They can't opt out. Their only way out is to move," said Rep. Kirkman Finlay, R-Columbia. "How is this acceptable? I don't think there's anything you can say that makes sense. Spending $30 million a week is prudent?"
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's suggestion that London police could have done more to prevent Friday's homemade bomb explosion drew a quick rejoinder from British Prime Minister Theresa May, who said it's never helpful "to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

Trump turned the London subway bomb explosion into an opportunity to highlight his tough talk on terror and promote his travel ban.

The president's series of early-morning tweets about the still-unfolding investigation stood in contrast to his delay last month in firmly condemning Neo-Nazis and white supremacists after racial violence broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia, and left one person dead. At the time, he said: "When I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. ... I don't want to rush into a statement."

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to speak to military personnel and their families at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The London bomb exploded on a packed train during morning rush hour Friday, leaving at least 29 people injured but no one with life-threatening injuries. Police said the explosion was a terrorist attack, the fifth in Britain this year.

On Twitter, Trump called the explosion another attack "by a loser terrorist." He also offered implied criticism of law enforcement, saying "these are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"

Asked about Trump's comments, May said, "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

Trump told reporters Friday morning that he had been briefed on the explosion, but did not provide further details.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster suggested later that Trump was speaking generally. Noting that law enforcement has been working to combat terrorism for years, McMaster said, "If there was a terrorist attack here, God forbid, that we would say that they were in the sights of the FBI."

"I think he means generally that this kind of activity is what we are trying to prevent," McMaster said.

The White House said Trump and May spoke Friday. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump's tweet "may have come up" but gave no further detail.

At an event at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Trump said he offered prayers for London and said "radical Islamic terrorism it will be eradicated, believe me."

As a candidate, Trump routinely railed against President Barack Obama and Democratic campaign rival Hillary Clinton for failing to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism." He has used the phrase more sparingly since taking office, avoiding it during his remarks on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Trump also used the moment to argue on Twitter that his travel ban targeting six mostly Muslim nations should be "far larger, tougher and more specific - but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!"

And Trump promoted his handling of extremist militants, saying the government should cut off internet access for such groups.

"Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner. The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!" he wrote on Twitter. He argued that his administration has "made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than the Obama Administration has made in 8 years."

Trump concluded, "Must be proactive & nasty!"

The president has used attacks before to argue for his ban and to lob trans-Atlantic criticism.

After attacks in the London Bridge in June that claimed seven lives, he said on Twitter: "We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!"

The president also has had dust-ups with allies over the use of intelligence.

May protested to Trump after U.S. officials leaked information about a deadly bombing in Manchester in May. Photos showing crime scene evidence appeared in U.S. media; the bombing suspect's name was revealed while British officials were still withholding it. Trump said May was "very angry" over the leaks.

Around that time, the president himself came under fire for reportedly disclosing classified material gathered by close ally Israel. Trump shared the information with Russian officials in an Oval Office meeting.
London kicked off fashion week on Friday to pleas from the local fashion industry to protect the citys international outlook as uncertainty about Britains impending departure from the EU hung in the air for the second year in a row.

Five days of catwalk shows include a wide array of British talent with star turns by high-profile international brands Emporio Armani from Italy and U.S. designer Tommy Hilfiger.

Our industry, our businesses, our creatives and our talent are international  literally in citizenship, but also in outlook, said Caroline Rush, CEO of the local industry body, the British Fashion Council.

The fashion industry wanted tariff-free access to the EU, friction-less borders and government support for bringing international talent to Britain.

Our plan really is to champion the creative industries in London, Justine Simons, Londons deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, told Reuters.

We have a Brexit task force and were talking with the government about how we get the best deal for the creative industries.

Londons fashion event will feature around 90 shows and presentations, as well as a designer showcase for domestic and international trade buyers and media.

Hilfigers event - dubbed Tommynow - closes the festival on Tuesday and comes on the back of high-concept shows in New York and Los Angeles during which the label effectively built amusement parks, complete with a Ferris wheel in New York.

The event will also see the labels increasingly adopt the see now, buy now model, where clothes seen on the catwalk are available to consumers online immediately after the show.

Brands including TopShop, Tommy Hilfiger and Burberry will be doing see now, buy now shows in London.

Online retail giant Amazon is seeking to go a step further, teaming up with former Diesel creative director Nicola Formichettis Nicopanda label to offer delivery of items to some customers in London within an hour.

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FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - A soldier killed in an apparent demolition accident was training to become a Green Beret experienced in handling explosives.

Staff Sgt. Alexander Dalida of Dunstable, Massachusetts, died Thursday at Fort Bragg during training exercises involving demolitions.

Investigators haven't said whether an explosion caused his death, U.S. Army Special Operations Command Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt said Friday.

Staff Sgt. Alexander Dalida, 32, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, appears in this undated U.S. Army photograph. Dalida died during an apparent demolition training accident at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (U.S. Army Photo via AP)

A civilian and six other soldiers were injured. Four soldiers remained hospitalized Friday, while two soldiers and the civilian were treated and released, Bockholt said. The civilian was an observer from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who suffered minor injuries, Bockholt said.

Dalida, 32, was enrolled in an approximately yearlong course to become part of the U.S. Army Special Forces, also known as Green Berets, at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, which is based at Fort Bragg, Army officials said.

He was learning engineering skills as part of the course in which students are trained in occupational specialties. Special Forces engineers are specialists in demolitions, and also have skills necessary for building field fortifications and bridges, according to the Army's recruiting website.

His previous military training included working with MH-60 helicopters, airborne operations and learning how to survive while evading capture. Dalida was a crew chief aboard Blackhawk and other helicopters and deployed twice to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq with aviation units, Bockholt said.

"Staff Sgt. Dalida's death is a reminder that a Soldier's job is inherently dangerous," Maj. Gen. Kurt Sonntag, the school's commander, said in a statement.
WASHINGTON (AP) - They were hoping for extensive visitor logs from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Instead, government watchdog groups got a list of 22 Japanese officials who had joined their country's prime minister at the property during a February trip.

It's the latest setback for advocates trying to make public information on who has access to the president.

FILE - This April 15, 2017, file photo shows President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. They were expecting extensive visitor logs from President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Instead, a group of government watchdogs got a list of 22 Japanese officials who'd joined their country's prime minister at the property during a February trip. Justice Department officials say the remaining records are exempt from public records laws. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University had sued the administration for access to the logs, arguing that the public had a right to know who interacted with the president at the private property that Trump often refers to as "the winter White House." Trump made seven trips to Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.

The Department of Homeland Security agreed this summer to hand over records related to the property's visitors in September. Homeland Security oversees the Secret Service, the agency charged with protecting the president.

But Justice Department officials argued in a letter to CREW released Friday that any records beyond the 22 Japanese names were related to the president's schedule and were therefore exempt from public records laws.

"The remaining records that the Secret Service has processed in response to the Mar-a-Lago request contain, reflect, or otherwise relate to the President's schedules. The government believes that Presidential schedule information is not subject to" the Freedom of Information Act, they wrote.

CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder described the move as "spitting in the eye of transparency."

"After waiting months for a response to our request for comprehensive visitor logs from the President's multiple visits to Mar-a-Lago and having the government ask for a last minute extension, today we received 22 names from the Japanese Prime Minister's visit to Mar-a-Lago and nothing else. The government does not believe that they need to release any further Mar-a-Lago visitor records. We vehemently disagree," he said in a statement.

"The government seriously misrepresented their intentions to both us and the court," he said, adding that group would be fighting the decision in court.

The groups have also been seeking information about visitors to the White House and Trump Tower. DHS has said in response to the lawsuit that it has no records about Trump Tower.

The White House announced in April that it would not be making public the logs of visitors to the White House complex, breaking with the practice of Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

The Obama administration released White House visitor logs beginning in September 2009, after four lawsuits by CREW.

Seeing the names of people who come and go can help the public understand who has the ear of the administration on important policy matters. But senior White House officials cited privacy and national security concerns and said continuing to release the records could interfere with policy development, among other things.

Taxpayers were billed at least $1,092 for stays at Mar-a-Lago, the Washington Post first reported Friday. A receipt in that amount for a two-night stay in March, obtained by the advocacy group Property of the People through a public record request of the U.S. Coast Guard, is another example of how the president stands to profit from the presidency.

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Associated Press writer Bernard Condon contributed to this report from New York.
NEW YORK (AP) - President Donald Trump will use his debut speech to the U.N. General Assembly next week to offer warmth to the United States' allies and warnings to its adversaries.

"He slaps the right people, he hugs the right people and he comes out very strong in the end," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Friday as she previewed Trump's Tuesday speech.

Addressing the General Assembly is a milestone moment for any president, but one particularly significant for Trump, a relative newcomer to foreign policy who has at times rattled the international community with his unpredictability.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, to Marine One for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md.. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

"No one is going to grip and grin," Haley said at a White House briefing. "The United States is going to work."

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump "will urge all states to come together to address great dangers" facing the globe. Among topics certain to be on the agenda: North Korea, which has defied both sanctions and Trump's threats by continuing with its aggressive missile testing, and Iran, which the president has accused of violating an international nuclear deal.

Trump has been sharply critical of the United Nations in the past, denouncing its "utter weakness and incompetence." As president-elect, he derided it as "a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time." He also suggested deep cuts to U.S. funding for the U.N.

Haley and McMaster outlined a robust schedule for Trump, who will also be joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other top advisers. The meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations are often done in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team.

The General Assembly "is an incredibly sophisticated dance that doesn't really play to Tillerson's strengths or to the president's strengths," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies. "You often have one 15-minute meeting after another," with the goal of keeping focused on key points. "It's kind of like speed dating from hell," he said.

The president will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally, on Monday before holding a dinner with Latin American leaders. On Tuesday, in addition to his General Assembly speech, Trump will meet with the emir of Qatar, whose kingdom is embroiled in a dispute with other Middle East nations, including Saudi Arabia, over alleged funding of terror groups.

Trump on Wednesday holds a working lunch with African leaders and will meet with the heads of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. The White House has played down prospects for a major moment in the Middle East peace process. Trump also will sit down with British Prime Minster Theresa May, just days after she scolded him for choosing to publicly "speculate" about the nature of an explosion Friday that injured at least 22 people in the London subway.

Trump, who will stay in his Manhattan penthouse at Trump Tower, will conclude his stay Thursday with meetings with leaders from Turkey, Afghanistan and Ukraine before holding a lunch with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, largely to discuss the threats emanating from North Korea.

The presidents of China and Russia are not expected to attend the meetings.

Other topics on the agenda include the unstable situations in Venezuela and Syria and the fight against the Islamic State and al-Qaida terror groups. McMaster said that improving business ties between the United States and other nations will also be on the agenda.

"This administration's ironclad commitment to free, fair and reciprocal trade and access to markets will be the bedrock of our economic talks," he said.

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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by federal authority to regulate poultry products.

The ban was passed more than a decade ago after proponents said the process of fattening the livers of the birds was cruel and inhumane. The law took effect in 2011, but was blocked by a court in 2015, delighting chefs who wanted to serve the delicacy and leading to protests by animal rights groups.

While the unanimous decision by three judges won't immediately take effect, giving farmers and a restaurant time to seek further review, animal activists celebrated.

FILE - This July 17, 2012, file photo shows Karlene Bley of Los Angeles spread her torchon of foie gras onto bread during lunch at the Presidio Social Club restaurant in San Francisco. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

"The champagne corks are popping," said David Perle of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "PETA has protested against this practice for years, showing videos of geese being force-fed that no one but the most callous chefs could stomach and revealing that foie gras is torture on toast."

State lawmakers voted in 2004 to bar California farmers from force-feeding birds with a tube, which is how foie gras (fwah-GRAH'), is produced. That part of the law, phased in over seven years, was not challenged.

But foie gras farmers in Canada and New York and Hot's Kitchen in Hermosa Beach targeted a second part of the law that banned foie gras produced out of state from being served in restaurants or sold in markets.

They argued successfully in the lower court that state law was superseded by the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act. That law prevents states from imposing labeling, packaging or ingredient requirements different from federal standards.

The main question was whether the state was banning an ingredient or a process.

"It is not the livers that are force-fed, it is the birds," Judge Jacqueline Nguyen of the appeals court wrote. "The difference between foie gras produced with force-fed birds and foie gras produced with non-force-fed birds is not one of ingredient. Rather, the difference is in the treatment of the birds while alive."

A lawyer for the farmers and Hot's Kitchen said the fight was far from over.

"The ruling is disappointing, the reasoning is flawed," attorney Michael Tenenbaum said. "Federal law is supreme when it comes to poultry products, whether it's foie gras or frozen chicken breasts."

When he won in U.S. District Court two years ago, Tenenbaum sent a press release saying that chef Sean Chaney was shouting "let the foie gras start flowing" from the rooftop of Hot's.

Chaney said he plans to continue serving the rich treat until ordered to stop by a court and said the ruling was merely "a little speed bump."

While the popularity has waned since they were allowed to first serve it after the lower court ruling, there are still popular selections on a special menu customers must request, Chaney said.

Among the offerings are "Lego my foie," a waffle with a dollop of pate and maple syrup and a burger topped with the spread.

He plans to put foie gras back on his main menu this fall despite the ruling.

Tenenbaum said he would seek a review from a full panel of the 9th Circuit and press on to the Supreme Court if necessary.

If the appeals court rejects a review, the ruling will take effect after the case is returned to the lower court, where Tenenbaum can raise other issues.

David Levine, an expert in federal court procedure at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, said it's a longshot that the ban won't go into effect.

"It's probably the end of the road, but not tomorrow," Levine said.

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John Antczak in Los Angeles and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show that Hot's Kitchen still serves foie gras.

FILE - In this May 11, 2012, file photo, chef and owner Josiah Slone, right, prepares a foie gras dish at Sent Sovi restaurant in Saratoga, Calif. The Presidio Social Club restaurant is on federal land, so it's exempt from the restriction. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2003, file photo, Jorge Vargas uses a funneled pipe to force-feed a measured dose of corn mush to a Moulard duck in its pen at Sonoma Foie Gras in Farmington, Calif. Foie gras, the silky soft delicacy derived from the livers of force-fed geese and ducks, is stoking a battle of epicurean ethics in Northern Calif. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2003, file photo, Guillermo Gonzalez, owner of Sonoma Foie Gras, stands in the kitchen of his restaurant, Sonoma Saveurs in Sonoma, Calif. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

FILE - In this May 11, 2012, file photo, a foie gras-based menu is displayed at Sent Sovi restaurant in Saratoga, Calif. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

A Foie Gras Torchon sandwich is seen after being served at the Naked Lunch restaurant Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in San Francisco. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A Foie Gras Torchon sandwich is seen after being served at the Naked Lunch restaurant Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in San Francisco. A federal appeals court reinstated California's ban on foie gras Friday, finding that a state law preventing sales of the luxury liver pate made by force-feeding ducks and geese was not pre-empted by the federal government's authority to regulate poultry products. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
DENVER (AP) - The U.S. Department of Transportation said Friday it fined Frontier Airlines $1.5 million for keeping passengers stuck on a dozen aircraft on the Denver airport tarmac for more than three hours amid a snowstorm last December.

But the department said it will forgive $900,000 of that because of compensation the airline paid to the passengers.

The delays came after a storm dropped 8 inches of snow at Denver International Airport on Dec. 16-17.

In this Monday, May 15, 2017, photograph, Frontier Airlines jets sit at gates on the A Concourse at Denver International Airport in Denver. The U.S. government has fined Frontier $1.5 million for keeping passengers stuck on a dozen grounded aircraft for more than three hours during a snowstorm at the Denver airport in December 2016. But the federal Department of Transportation said Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, it will forgive $900,000 of that because of compensation the airline says it paid to passengers. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Passengers were held aboard 12 planes sitting on the tarmac for more than the three-hour limit set by law, the Transportation Department said.

The department said Frontier did not have enough staff and did not delay or divert enough flights to alleviate congestion at airport gates.

On one occasion, the airline used an open gate to load passengers on a departing flight instead of unloading a waiting plane that had already arrived, the department said.

Frontier spokesman Richard Oliver said the airline revised its winter weather procedures and worked with the Denver airport on a system to get passengers off planes more quickly.

"During last December's crippling storm, our operation in Denver was faced with a myriad of operational challenges," he said in a written statement.

The airline told the Transportation Department that the snowstorm was worse than predicted and that it had taken steps to relieve the delays. The airline said it was fully staffed and called in extra workers from its Denver headquarters to help at the airport.

Frontier told the department it spent nearly $1.2 million on compensation and flight vouchers to passengers.

The Transportation Department said the $1.5 million fine was the second-highest amount imposed on an airline for tarmac delays. Southwest was fined $1.6 million in 2015 and United the same amount in 2016.
PHOENIX (AP) - Republican lawmakers from 19 states completed a plan Friday that provides an outline on how to run a constitutional convention that would propose a federal balanced budget amendment.

The four-day planning session at the Arizona state Capitol involved 71 delegates adopting rules, procedures and other technical details of how such a convention would be run. No Democrats attended.

Attendees called the end product a historic effort that sets the stage for a convention of states to propose changes to the Constitution. They call Washington dysfunctional and a convention the only way to force the federal government to address the nation's $20 trillion deficit.

Oklahoma state Sen. Julie Daniels speaks with another Republican delegate to a balanced budget planning convention at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Sept. 12, 2017. Lawmakers from 19 states are trying to develop a plan in Arizona this week for carrying out a growing, but unlikely, national effort to amend the Constitution to require a balanced U.S. budget. The plan is to add an amendment through a convention, a long-shot effort that has never been successfully done. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)

Utah state Sen. Ken Ivory said the nation has deep structural issues, and the only way to fix them is to use the Constitution's own power to push changes through amendments proposed by states at a convention.

"We have a system in disrepair that operates to produce trillion-dollar deficits, to produce mountains of regulations and federal criminalization," Ivory said. "And until we restore that balance and that division in power, we're going to continue to see results that a system in disrepair produces."

A convention is a longshot. One has never successfully been used to propose an amendment, and all 27 amendments that have been adopted were proposed by Congress. But a balanced budget amendment is a core goal of conservative Republicans that have gained growing control of state Legislatures in recent years.

The goal of backers is to eliminate the federal deficit and drive down the national debt. The current federal budget includes spending of about $4 trillion and has a shortfall of nearly $700 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Arizona state Sen. Don Shooter said the deficit can't be eliminated overnight with the adoption of a balanced budget mandate.

"You do it in increments, the same way you eat an elephant, one bite at a time," he said.

A convention that successfully proposes a Constitutional amendment has always been seen as a longshot. To call one, 32 state Legislatures would have to petition Congress. If an amendment is proposed, it would need ratification by 38 states.

Shooter and others gathered in Phoenix said they believe the time is right.

"Washington is dysfunctional. Is it going to stop itself?" he said. "This is an intervention."

Republican state Sen. Tom Buford of Kentucky listens to opening remarks at a balanced budget planning convention at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Sept. 12, 2017. Lawmakers from 19 states are trying to develop a plan in Arizona this week for carrying out a growing, but unlikely, national effort to amend the Constitution to require a balanced U.S. budget. The plan is to add an amendment through a convention, a long-shot effort that has never been successfully done. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)

Indiana Rep. Jim Lucas listens to opening remarks at a balanced budget planning convention at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Sept. 12, 2017. Lawmakers from 19 states are trying to develop a plan in Arizona this week for carrying out a growing, but unlikely, national effort to amend the Constitution to require a balanced U.S. budget. The plan is to add an amendment through a convention, a long-shot effort that has never been successfully done. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)

State Rep. Sage Dixon, seated center, huddles with other members of the Idaho Legislature's delegation to a balanced budget planning convention at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Sept. 12, 2017. Lawmakers from 19 states are trying to develop a plan in Arizona this week for carrying out a growing, but unlikely, national effort to amend the Constitution to require a balanced U.S. budget. The plan is to add an amendment through a convention, a long-shot effort that has never been successfully done. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)

Arizona state Rep. Kelly Townsend addresses delegates to a balanced budget planning convention at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Sept. 12, 2017, shortly after being nominated to serve as president of the convention. Lawmakers from 19 states are trying to develop a plan in Arizona this week for carrying out a growing, but unlikely, national effort to amend the Constitution to require a balanced U.S. budget. The plan is to add an amendment through a convention, a long-shot effort that has never been successfully done. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) - A Detroit-area teacher is on leave after an 11-year-old boy said he was physically forced out of his chair during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Stone Chaney, a sixth-grader in the Farmington district, said he makes a pledge to God and family - not a flag - and has skipped participation since second grade.

He said he was doing homework during the pledge on Sept. 7 when a teacher at East Middle School "snatched" him out of his chair.

"I told the lady that I don't stand for the pledge and she just kind of glared at me. ... I was confused when it happened because I didn't know what was going on. And then I was irritated because that's not supposed to happen," Stone said.

He said another teacher the next day yelled at him to stand up.

Superintendent George Heitsch said one teacher has been placed on leave while the district investigates. He said students have the right to skip the Pledge of Allegiance.

The district expects every child and adult "to be treated with dignity and respect," Heitsch said.

Stone said he stopped participating in second grade after seeing his father, who works in the Pontiac school district, sit during the pledge. Brian Chaney praised his son's ability to walk to his "own beat."

"I'm looking at my son as a hero. He believes in what he believes in," Chaney said. "He's not worried about what other people think of him."
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A man accused of yelling racial slurs at a black man's young son and then shocking the father with a stun cane has been charged with a federal hate crime.

Federal prosecutors in Utah said Friday that 58-year-old Mark Porter faces up to 10 years in prison on the civil rights charge.

Authorities say on Nov. 3 in Draper, Porter yelled a racial slur at the 7-year-old boy and told him to "get out of here." When the father told Porter not to yell at his son, Porter hit the man in the neck with a stun cane.

Porter's attorney Daniel Garner says his client maintains his innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in case.

State assault charges filed against Porter last year were dismissed due to the federal prosecution.
MIAMI (AP) - It's been one week since Margherita Lopez has taken a shower. She's been shuffled to three different shelters since evacuating her home in Key West last week as Hurricane Irma approached. She's slept on a gymnasium floor without a cot, has struggled to find food and says she feels like emergency management officials have forgotten her.

"It's been a nightmare ... there should have been a better plan," said Lopez, a 43-year-old woman who fled an abusive relationship and entered a women's shelter and later a communal facility in Key West run by the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition.

Lopez isn't alone in her frustration. Across Florida, local, state and federal emergency officials are struggling to assist the flood of evacuees, many of whom are seeking temporary or permanent shelter from a storm that cast a wide swath across the state. Even Keys residents who have a home to return to have been left without power, water and sewage service.

Margarita Lopez, right, looks at her phone as she rests on her cot as RS Steidle naps at a special needs shelter, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, at Florida International University in Miami, Fla. About 30 people from Key West, Fla., including staff with the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless were sheltered in a storefront underneath a parking garage on campus. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

The state says about 7,500 people were in nearly 100 shelters as of Friday, and that the Red Cross planned to open four shelters in the Keys once the area was properly surveyed.

Wearing a donated Mickey Mouse T-shirt, Lopez sat in a room Thursday on Florida International University's campus that had air conditioning but smelled like a pet store. She shared the space with about 30 fellow evacuees from the same organization, their room lined with green cots with Red Cross blankets. Three shopping carts full of donated water, canned food and clothes sat in the entryway.

Everyone sleeping there had been housed together because they had been deemed to have "special needs." Lopez is bipolar and has panic attacks.

Michael Todd, 63, is part of the same group but is not considered special needs. He spent Thursday night with hundreds of other Keys residents at a pavilion on fairgrounds next to the university. Everyone there had a cot, blankets, hot meals, snacks, showers, toiletries and even a playground for children. Todd evacuated a week ago, but it took him and dozens of others who evacuated from the Keys several days to get settled at the fairgrounds.

When they first arrived at FIU's gymnasium last Thursday it was chaos, he said. "We were immediately told there were no cots, no blankets," he said.

They slept on the floor in a cold gym where the lights stayed on all night. They were moved to another nearby building and were again told there were no cots. A Red Cross worker offered him a piece of cardboard to lie on. Some people got squares of carpet, he said.

Monroe County, the Keys county government, has designated the gym in the Miami suburbs as its emergency shelter. Todd said he repeatedly asked where Monroe County emergency officials were and got no answers.

"Monroe County officials dropped the ball big time ... they weren't there, physically in body or in communication, and the Red Cross was throwing up their arms saying this isn't their baby," he said.

The county has been relying on bare-bones staff since Irma made landfall there Sunday, decimating parts of the area. Communication has been limited. A telephone message and emails left by staff were not immediately returned Friday.

Emails to Red Cross officials and FIU were not immediately returned. Students are slowly trickling onto campus as classes were slated to resume Monday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given few details about its plan for short-term and long-term housing, saying only that trailers like those used in Hurricane Katrina will be used only as a last resort. Instead, FEMA may help pay for hotels, apartments, temporary housing and quick-fixes to help people move back into their homes.

Liliana Caminero, a 54-year-old nurse, filled out her FEMA application Thursday, saying her Miami apartment is uninhabitable. She complained to her landlord for months to repair the roof, warning that bright orange spots showed up on her ceiling every time it rained. After Irma swept through, large chunks of drywall hung from the ceiling, leaving a soggy, moldy, dangerous mess.

She's staying with a family member but is only allowed until Sunday. She's tried to book a hotel but can't find one available for nearly two more weeks. She could stay with her son in New York, but that would mean quitting her job. She wants to break her lease, but says her landlord is threatening to fine her, and she worries that could be a strike against her if she tries rent a new place.

"I feel like I am alone in the world, like I'm on the border to being homeless," she said.

Cheyanne Spencer, 25, evacuated from her apartment in Key West to a hotel in Fort Myers, where she weathered the storm with family members. The hotel lost power and they traveled back south again, landing in Homestead, where they are bunking with Spencer's mother's boss.

Spencer doesn't know whether her home near the water in Key West survived, but she's not optimistic.

"It's depressing," said Spencer, a certified nursing assistant who helped evacuate patients from Key West to the mainland before Irma. "We worked hard for everything we have and it's all taken away. What do we do now?"

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Associated Press write Jay Reeves in Fort Myers, Florida, contributed to this report.

Shopping carts full of caned food and water are shown as evacuees chat or rest at a special needs shelter, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, at Florida International University in Miami, Fla. About 30 people, including staff with the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless from Key West, Fla., were sheltered in a storefront underneath a parking garage on campus. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Evacuees at a special needs shelter sit and chat or rest, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, at Florida International University in Miami, Fla. About 30 people, including staff with the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless from Key West, Fla., were sheltered in a storefront underneath a parking garage on campus. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Ashley Herman, second from right, 17, and her father John Herman, second from left, handout clothing the donated to people at a special needs shelter, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, at Florida International University in Miami, Fla. About 30 people, including staff with the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless from Key West, Fla., were sheltered in a storefront underneath a parking garage on campus. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Helen Haynes spends her time reading at a special needs shelter, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, at Florida International University in Miami, Fla. About 30 people, including staff with the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless from Key West, Fla., were sheltered in a storefront underneath a parking garage on campus. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Kudy Ann Bell spends her time coloring at a special needs shelter, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, at Florida International University in Miami, Fla. About 30 people, including staff with the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for the Homeless from Key West, Fla., were sheltered in a storefront underneath a parking garage on campus. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order on Friday to expand hunting and fishing on federal land, saying it would improve wildlife management and conservation.

Environmentalists dismissed it as "a do-nothing order."

The order directs the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies to produce a plan to expand access. It also calls for changes to management plans for national monuments to ensure the public's right to hunt, fish and target shoot.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks during the service of remembrance tribute to the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Fred Vuich)

Zinke called hunting and fishing "a cornerstone of the American tradition."

But the public already has the right to hunt and fish on federal lands, and states have primary authority to regulate hunting and fishing in those areas, said Matt Lee-Ashley, a former Interior official who is now a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

"Secretary Zinke is trying desperately to create a distraction from his proposal to dramatically reduce the size of America's national monuments, which would be the largest elimination of protections for wildlife habitat in U.S. history," Lee-Ashley said.

Zinke submitted a report to President Donald Trump last month recommending changes in nearly two-dozen national monuments created by previous presidents. Zinke told the AP that none of the monuments would be rescinded - as Trump had once threatened - but said he would push for boundary changes on a handful and left open the possibility of allowing drilling, mining or other industries on the sites.

The recommendations have not been made public, although Zinke said in a trickle of announcements this summer that no changes would be made at six of 27 monuments under review - in Montana, Colorado, Idaho, California, Arizona and Washington state. He also said that Utah's Bears Ears National Monument will be downsized.

Land Tawney, CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, hailed Zinke's order, saying lack of access to hunting and fishing sites was the No. 1 reason cited by sportsmen for giving up time spent on those activities.

"The importance of Secretary Zinke's commitment to sustaining and expanding public access opportunities to the outdoors cannot be overstated," Tawney said.

Dale Hall, a former Fish and Wildlife Service director who now is CEO of the hunting and conservation group Ducks Unlimited, said conserving wetlands and other wildlife habitats is vital to preserving the nation's hunting and angling heritage.

"At the end of the day it's all about ensuring that all Americans, and those generations to come, have access to the wildlife and wild places that we enjoy today," Hall said in a statement thanking Zinke.

"Don't be fooled by Zinke's secretarial order and his Teddy Roosevelt references," countered Randi Spivak, public lands program director with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

"What's best for those who hunt and fish on America's public lands is protecting and restoring wildlife habitat," Spivak said, calling Zinke's order "a PR stunt."
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - The Indian Health Service has set standards for patient wait times more than a year after being criticized by a government watchdog for doing a poor job tracking them.

American Indians and Alaska Natives seeking appointments for routine or preventative care will be scheduled within 28 days and be seen in urgent care within 48 hours, on average, the agency recently announced. The standards are part of an effort to improve health care and have consistency within the agency that's been labeled "high-risk" by the U.S. Government Accountability Office for inadequate oversight of its hospitals and clinics.

"Our aim is that patients receiving care in IHS direct-service facilities have access to timely, comprehensive and quality health care services to promote and maintain health, avoid preventable disease, manage disease, reduce unnecessary disability and premature death and achieve health equity," IHS Chief Medical Officer Capt. Michael Toedt wrote in an email.

FILE - In this file photo taken Oct. 14, 2008, people sit in the Indian Health Services waiting room on Standing Rock Reservation in Fort Yates. N.D. The Indian Health Service has set standards for patient wait times more than a year after being criticized by a government watchdog for doing a poor job tracking them. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid,File)

The standards in place since late August apply only to IHS facilities run by the federal government, and the IHS plans eventually to include emergency room visits and other services. Most Indian Health facilities are run by tribes or tribal entities under contract with IHS and can set their own standards.

The IHS said it worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, another federal health care agency, on a patient management system that's being phased out. But Toedt said the VA will support the system for several years while the IHS transitions to a new one.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported last year that patient wait times at IHS service areas were reviewed inconsistently or not at all, hindering the agency's ability to tell whether it's best serving its patients. Some Navajo Nation members, for example, waited four months to see a physician. Other tribal members in Billings, Montana, waited up to a month for a routine vision check, according to the report.

William Bear Shield, the tribal administrator for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said he understands the challenges IHS faces with recruitment and retention of providers but would like to see wait times in line with the private sector.

"If they're saying that's the norm, they're probably right," he said. "To me, it can be better."

The IHS said it wants all patients to be seen in a timely manner, but the standards aren't guaranteed. The wait times can change due to resources at hospitals and clinics, patient needs and emergency response without the patient being notified, the agency said.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico highlighted the Albuquerque, New Mexico, service area in a hearing Wednesday on high-risk programs that serve Indian Country. He said wait times there are tracked electronically and patients are asked to fill out surveys about their experience.

"When promising innovations like that are being done at the local facility level, I'd like to ensure they get recognized and shared across the Indian health system," Udall said in a statement.

Rear Adm. Michael Weahkee, acting director of IHS, said the agency will collect data on wait times to continually improve them and take action if they're not met. The ability to measure and report the standards should be implemented by the end of the year, the agency said.
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts town says it will consider changing the name of its governing body from the Board of Selectmen to the Board of Selectwomen.

Brookline Town Meeting member Michael Burstein tells NECN under his proposal all members of the board, whether male or female, would be referred to as selectwomen. A second proposal would create gender-neutral language for the board and its members.

Board members will take up the proposals at their November meeting.

Board member Heather Hamilton says she believes titles and symbols matter and she's looking forward to an "interesting hash out" on the proposals.

Town residents say the titles should be all-inclusive. They suggest using terms such as "selectpeople" and just "person" because that probably "would make everybody happy."
CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on a federal judge's ruling that the U.S. attorney general may not block public safety grants for cities over so-called sanctuary cities status. (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says a federal judge's ruling that Attorney General Jeff Sessions cannot withhold grant money to so-called sanctuary cities is a clear statement "that the Trump administration is wrong."

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber on Friday granted Chicago's request for a temporary "nationwide" injunction. It means that at least for now, the Justice Department can't deny requests for public-safety grants from cities that refuse to impose Sessions' tough immigration policies.

Emanuel says welcoming immigrants is in Chicago's DNA. He says the ruling "means essential resources for public safety will not come with unlawful strings attached."

Chicago refused to comply with the Justice Department's demand that it allow immigration agents access to local jails and notify agents when someone in the United States illegally is about to be released.

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3:40 p.m.

A federal judge has ruled Attorney General Jeff Sessions cannot follow through with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to Chicago and other so-called sanctuary cities for refusing his order to impose tough immigration policies.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber on Friday granted Chicago's request for a temporary "nationwide" injunction. That means the Justice Department can't deny requests for the grant money until Chicago's lawsuit against the agency is concluded. He wrote that Chicago has shown a "likelihood of success" in its arguments that Sessions overstepped his authority with the requirements.

Chicago refused to comply with the Justice Department's demand that it allow immigration agents access to local jails and notify agents when someone in the United States illegally is about to be released from custody.
NEW YORK (AP) - Equifax announced late Friday that its chief information officer and chief security officer would leave the company immediately, following the enormous breach of 143 million Americans' personal information.

The credit data company - under intense pressure since it disclosed last week that hackers accessed the Social Security numbers, birthdates and other information - also released a detailed, if still muddled, timeline of how it discovered and handled the breach.

Equifax said that Susan Mauldin, who had been the top security officer, and David Webb, the chief technology officer, are retiring. Mauldin, a college music major, had come under media scrutiny for her qualifications in security. Equifax did not say in its statement what retirement packages the executives would receive.

Mauldin is being replaced by Russ Ayers, an information technology executive inside Equifax. Webb is being replaced by Mark Rohrwasser, who most recently was in charge of Equifax's international technology operations.

Equifax also provided its most detailed timeline of the breach yet, although it raised as many questions as it answered.

The tale began on July 29, when the company's security team detected suspicious network traffic associated with the software that ran its U.S. online-dispute portal. After blocking that traffic, the company saw additional "suspicious activity" and took the portal's software offline.

At this point, Equifax's retelling grows cloudy. The company said an internal review then "discovered" a flaw in an open-source software package called Apache Struts used in the dispute portal, which it then fixed with a software patch. It subsequently brought the portal back online.

But that vulnerability had been known publicly since early March 2017, and a fix was available shortly thereafter - facts that Equifax acknowledged in its Friday statement. The company did not say why the software used in the online-dispute portal hadn't been patched earlier, although it claimed that its security organization was "aware" of the software flaw in March, and that it "took efforts" to locate and fix "any vulnerable systems in the company's IT infrastructure."

It apparently missed at least one vulnerable system. The closest Equifax gets to explaining that? "While Equifax fully understands the intense focus on patching efforts, the company's review of the facts is still ongoing," according to its statement.

After patching the dispute-portal's software, Equifax hired Mandiant, a computer-security firm, to do a forensic review. That effort determined that hackers had access to Equifax systems from May 13 through July 30.

Equifax has been castigated for how it has handled the breach, which it did not disclose publicly for weeks after discovering it.

Consumers calling the number Equifax set up initially complained of jammed phone lines and uninformed representatives, and initial responses from the website gave inconsistent responses. The company says it has addressed many of those problems. Equifax also said Friday it would continue to allow people to place credit freezes on their reports without a fee through Nov. 21. Originally the company offered fee-free credit freezes for 30 days after the incident.

Equifax is also facing several inquiries and class-action lawsuits, including Congressional investigations, queries by the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as several state attorneys general. The company's CEO Richard Smith is scheduled to testify in front of Congress in early October.

Three Equifax executives - not the ones who are departing - sold shares worth a combined $1.8 million just a few days after the company discovered the breach, according to documents filed with securities regulators.

Equifax shares have lost a third of their value since it announced the breach.

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AP Technology Editor David Hamilton in San Francisco contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a bill moving California's presidential primary to March (all times local):

1:20 a.m.

California lawmakers have voted to move the 2020 presidential primary to March to give the nation's most populous state more influence in choosing nominees.

The bill approved early Saturday will now go to Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration. He has not said if he will sign it.

California's 2016 primary fell in June after Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were already the presumptive nominees.

The new bill would move the contests to the Tuesday after the first Monday in March.

In the 2016 contest, that would have fallen on "Super Tuesday," the first major day of nominating contests following early primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

California awards more delegates in the Democratic and Republican primaries than any other state.

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10:15 p.m.

The California Assembly has voted to move the 2020 presidential primary to March to give the nation's most populous state more influence in choosing nominees.

The bill approved Friday will now go to the state Senate where it's expected to pass.

California's 2016 primary fell in June after Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were already the presumptive nominees.

The new bill would move the contests to the Tuesday after the first Monday in March.

In the 2016 contest, that would have fallen on "Super Tuesday," the first major day of nominating contests following early primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

California awards more delegates in the Democratic and Republican primaries than any other state.
MILAN (AP) - The Codacons consumer advocacy group said Ryanair's decision to cancel 2,000 flights over the next six weeks has put a poor light on its plans to bid for bankrupt Alitalia.

Budget carrier Ryanair has announced it would cancel up to 50 flights a day through October to improve punctuality. Codacons said Saturday the decision will have repercussions for "thousands and thousands of Italian travelers," and that passengers should be fully reimbursed or rebooked on other flights at no additional cost.

Codacons added that "in light of what happened, the air carrier does not seem the most adapted to take over Alitalia."

Ryanair's CEO has said the low-cost carrier would make a bid for the long-range assets of Alitalia, which filed for bankruptcy in May.
DONCASTER, England (AP) - Ryan Moore rode Capri to victory in the William Hill St Leger at Doncaster for trainer Aidan O'Brien to win the final British classic of the flat-racing season for a fifth time on Saturday.

The 3-1 favorite saw off a fierce challenge from the Michael Stoute-trained Crystal Ocean over the final furlong, while Stradivarius also challenged gamely before fading to a close third.

"He's a very good horse, he's an Irish Derby winner and a Group Two-winning two-year-old as well," Moore said. "He's run in a lot of good races this year, he's a very good horse and very honest.

"When Crystal Ocean came to him, he dug in. He's done very little wrong in his career."

The son of Galileo became the first horse since Triple Crown star Nijinsky in 1970 to win the Irish Derby and the St Leger, in his first race since his success at the Curragh 77 days ago.
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) - Bangladeshi authorities are taking steps to restrict the movement of Muslim Rohingya refugees living in crowded border camps after fleeing violence in Myanmar, whose military chief maintains that the chaos was the work of extremists seeking a stronghold in the country.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed with more than 400,000 Rohingya who fled their homes in the last three weeks amid a crisis the U.N. describes as ethnic cleansing. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who lambasted Myanmar for "atrocities" during a visit to border camps last week, left Dhaka to address the annual U.N. gathering in New York.

Refugee camps were already beyond capacity and new arrivals were staying in schools or huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields. On Sunday, police were checking vehicles to prevent Rohingya from spreading to nearby towns in an attempt to control the situation.

Rohingya Muslim women, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, stretch their arms out to collect sanitary products distributed by aid agencies near Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. Bangladeshi authorities on Sunday took steps to restrict the movement of Muslim Rohingya refugees living in crowded border camps after fleeing violence in Myanmar, while that nation's military chief maintained the chaos was the work of extremists seeking a stronghold in the country. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

"There is an instruction from the prime minister that we must treat Rohingya Muslims maintaining human rights," said A.K.M. Iqbal Hossain, a police superintendent. "As many private and social organizations are coming and distributing relief, sometimes chaos breaks out."

He said with the scale of the crisis "it's very difficult to keep order, but we are doing so."

The refugees began pouring from Myanmar's Rakhine state after a Rohingya insurgent group launched attacks on security posts Aug. 25, prompting Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" to root out the rebels. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs.

The Myanmar government describes most of the hundreds who have died as "terrorists," while saying 176 out of 471 Rohingya villages have been abandoned. Myanmar has insisted that Rohingya insurgents and fleeing villagers are destroying their own homes. It has offered no proof to back these charges.

Ethnic Rohingya have faced persecution and discrimination in majority-Buddhist Myanmar for decades and are denied citizenship. The government says they illegally migrated to Myanmar from Bangladesh, though many Rohingya families have lived there for generations.

"The violence was an organized attempt of extremist Bengalis in Rakhine state to build a stronghold," Myanmar's powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing said Saturday, according to a statement posted on his official Facebook page. "They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar."

He called on the nation to be "united in establishing the truth" and for all the country's citizens to "have unity with their love for the country," including members of the media.

With the U.N. saying there are some 240,000 children among the refugees living in dire conditions, Bangladeshi authorities have kicked off a massive immunization drive. Abdus Salam, the top government administrator in the Cox's Bazar district hospital, said that some 150,000 children would be immunized over seven days for measles, rubella and polio.

"There are a lot of weak and malnourished children among the new arrivals," UNICEF's representative in Bangladesh, Edouard Beigbeder, said in an email. "If proper preventive measures are not taken, highly infectious diseases, especially measles, could even cause an outbreak."

As the weather fluctuates in Cox's Bazar between rains and sunny and humid days, many children are suffering from flu and risk pneumonia, Salam said. Many are suffering from diarrhea, dehydration, skin diseases or worse.

In a state hospital, a Rohingya man who identified himself as Rahmatullah was looking over his 10-year-old son recovering from a bullet that left a deep wound as it pierced his right leg.

"Why did they shoot him? What's his crime? He is just a child," Rahmatullah said. "They came and started shooting indiscriminately."

Eric P. Schwartz, head of the U.S.-based charity Refugees International and a former assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said he couldn't recall seeing so much misery and called for international pressure on Myanmar to stop the violence.

"The stories that we are hearing. I visited a hospital yesterday, children ages 1, 5, 10 suffered burn wounds, gunshot wounds and with human beings essentially treated like animals," he said.

He said the U.S. should re-impose sanctions on Myanmar that were in place before it made transition from military to civilian rule.

Officials in Washington have been careful not to undermine the weak civilian government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which took office last year, ending five decades of ruinous army rule. The military remains politically powerful and the nation's constitution enshrines military authority over all security operations.

A Rohingya Muslim man Abdul Kareem walks towards a refugee camp carrying his mother Alima Khatoon after crossing over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, at Teknaf, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, walk towards the nearest refugee camp at Teknaf, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Rohingya Muslim children, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, swing on a tree with clothes handed out to them near Mushani refugee camp, in Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. The U.N. has described the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing, a term that describes an organized effort to rid an area of an ethnic group by displacement, deportation or killing. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, prepare a meal in the open at Taiy Khali refugee camp, in Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Rohingya Muslim children, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, follow a truck carrying people throwing chocolates at them near Mushani refugee camp in Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A Rohingya Muslim woman, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, cooks food by the roadside near Mushani refugee camp, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A Rohingya Muslim woman, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, serves dinner to her son inside their temporary shelter at Taiy Khali refugee camp, in Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Rohingya Muslim women, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, talk as they sit inside their temporary shelter at Taiy Khali refugee camp, in Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. The U.N. has described the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing, a term that describes an organized effort to rid an area of an ethnic group by displacement, deportation or killing. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A Rohingya Muslim boy Shahidul Alam, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh with his family, pauses for a photograph as he walks back after collecting water from a handpump near Mushani refugee camp, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. The U.N. has described the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing, a term that describes an organized effort to rid an area of an ethnic group by displacement, deportation or killing. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A Rohingya Muslim woman Mustafa Khatoon is given water by a passerby as her daughter Hazra Begum waits for help to take her to a doctor near Mushani refugee camp, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. The U.N. has described the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing, a term that describes an organized effort to rid an area of an ethnic group by displacement, deportation or killing. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A Rohingya Muslim, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, walks towards the nearest refugee camps carrying his belongings at Teknaf, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. United Nations agencies say an estimated 409,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when deadly attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on police posts prompted Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" in Rakhine state. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Newly arrived Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, rest on clothes that were earlier distributed to other refugees at Teknaf, Bangladesh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. The U.N. has described the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing, a term that describes an organized effort to rid an area of an ethnic group by displacement, deportation or killing. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's president says he is "inviting" the U.S. to dinner as he heads to New York for the U.N General Assembly.

President Hassan Rouhani used an analogy of a dinner party on Sunday to describe how countries are benefiting from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Rouhani described the Americans as "sitting in another room" at the party.

Rouhani said: "They can adopt a new path and come to the room where the dinner table is. That's alright in our opinion. If they change their bad temper they can enjoy the dinner table."

The nuclear deal under former President Barack Obama saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. President Donald Trump has said he wants to renegotiate it.
TOKYO (AP) - Zarina Diyas won her first WTA title on Sunday, beating home favorite Miyu Kato 6-2, 7-5 to take the Japan Women's Open title.

In a final made up of two qualifiers, the 23-year-old Diyas broke Kato in the first game before a double fault from the Japanese player at 4-2 allowed the Kazakhstani to serve out for the set.

Diyas broke again in the 11th game of the second set to go up 6-5 before serving out to secure the title.

"It was a tough match and I had to work for every point," Diyas said. "I have been trying to come in more at net to make points shorter and it worked."

On her way to Sunday's final, Diyas dispatched second-seeded Zhang Shuai and defending champion Christina McHale.

Her triumph avenged her disappointment in Japan three years ago, when she lost the final to Samantha Stosur.

The 22-year-old Kato had never reached the quarterfinals at a WTA event before this tournament.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan officials say two separate bombings have killed six civilians.

Habib Shah Ansari, the provincial health director in the eastern Khost province, says a bomb went off Sunday in a computer and mobile phone market, killing at least four civilians and wounding 15 others.

Another two civilians were killed in a separate bombing in the eastern Laghman province. Sarhadi Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, says two others were wounded in that attack.

No one claimed either attack, but the Taliban are active in both provinces.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Barcelona will be without Ousmane Dembele, the most expensive signing in the history of the Spanish club, for at least three months after he tore a tendon in his left thigh that will require surgery.

Barcelona said on Sunday that Dembele will be sidelined for three to four months after he injured his leg during the first half of Saturday's 2-1 win at Getafe in the Spanish league.

The club said that the 20-year-old Dembele will travel to Finland next week to undergo surgery by Dr. Sakari Orava.

The match in Madrid was the France forward's third appearance for Barcelona.

Last month, Barcelona paid Borussia Dortmund 105 million euros ($124 million) in a deal for Dembele that included possible add-ons that could add an additional 40 percent of the fee, meaning the final cost could reach 147 million euros (about $173 million).

Dembele was brought in to replace Neymar after the Brazil striker bolted for Paris Saint-Germain on a world-record move of 222 million euros ($262 million).

After losing the Spanish Super Cup to Real Madrid, Barcelona has made an excellent start to the season under new coach Ernesto Valverde. It has won its first four matches in the Spanish league and beat Juventus in its Champions League opener.
BOSTON (AP) - After watching his mother die from meningitis in a nationwide outbreak caused by contaminated steroids, Scott Shaw is determined to make sure something like that never happens again.

A stiff punishment for the Massachusetts pharmacist Shaw believes is partially responsible may help, he says.

"I believe as surely as I'm talking to you right now that if something isn't done, we will repeat this again," the North Carolina man said.

FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 19, 2014, file photo the former supervisory pharmacist for the New England Compounding Center, Glenn Chin, left, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston with his attorney Stephen Weymouth after a hearing to announce conditions of his bail and release. Chin who was the supervisory pharmacist at the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham is heading to trial with opening arguments in the case are expected on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of all counts of second-degree murder under federal racketeering law. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

Glenn Chin, the supervisory pharmacist at the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) west of Boston, is to go on trial Tuesday for his role in the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people and sickened hundreds of others.

Chin faces up to life in prison if convicted of all counts of second-degree murder under federal racketeering law.

Experts, and Chin's defense attorney, believe prosecutors have a stronger case against Chin than they did against the co-founder of the compounding pharmacy, Barry Cadden. Cadden was sentenced in June to nine years in prison after being acquitted of second-degree murder charges but convicted on conspiracy and fraud charges.

Chin ran the so-called clean rooms where steroid injections were made. He is accused of failing to properly sterilize the drugs, among other things. Chin also faces conspiracy, mail fraud and other charges.

"I'm just a little concerned that the judge and the jury might be a little more harsh on Glenn Chin because he was doing the work in the clean room," Chin's attorney, Stephen Weymouth, said.

Throughout Cadden's trial, the co-founder's lawyers tried to push the blame onto Chin. Chin intends to point the finger back at Cadden.

Weymouth said he will argue that Chin was essentially a "puppet" for Cadden, who made working in the clean rooms so difficult that "mistakes might have been made." Cadden was the one calling the shots and pushing the orders to line his own pockets, Weymouth said.

"I think the government would agree with me that the more culpable of these two parties was actually Barry Cadden," Weymouth said. Chin "did whatever Cadden told him to do."

Former prosecutor David Schumacher said that defense will only get Chin so far. Chin was ultimately responsible for making sure the drugs were safe enough to be put into people's bodies, Schumacher said.

"Glenn Chin has quite a bit of exposure here," said Schumacher, who was deputy chief of the health care fraud unit in the Massachusetts U.S. attorney's office before joining Hooper, Lundy & Bookman.

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on Chin's case.

More than 700 people in 20 states were sickened in what's considered the worst public health crisis in recent U.S. history. The CDC put the death toll at 64 in 2013. Federal officials identified additional victims in their investigation, raising the total number of deaths to 76.

Victims and their family members slammed Cadden's nine-year sentence as inadequate punishment. Cadden and Chin's attorneys have said prosecutors overreached with the murder charges and that the men never intended to hurt anyone.

Prosecutors say the pharmacy used expired ingredients, neglected to properly disinfect the clean rooms and failed to act when mold and bacteria was detected. After the outbreak, regulators found standing water and mold and bacteria in the air and on workers' gloved fingertips.

Chin is charged in the deaths of 25 people in Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. They include Elwina Shaw, who died at the age of 77 after receiving injections for a bulging disk.

Scott Shaw says he would like to see Chin spend the rest of his life in prison. But Shaw knows even that won't make his family whole again.

"We can't bring her back," he said. "We're never going to regain what we lost."

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Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Read more of her work at http://apne.ws/2hIhzDb
BOSTON (AP) - Boston University is paying tribute to the late Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel (EL'-ee vee-ZEHL').

Students and scholars were gathering Sunday to celebrate writings and teaching by Wiesel, who was a professor at the school for decades. He died last year at age 87.

The campus event will include panel discussions on Wiesel's writings and humanitarian work, along with guest speeches and tributes.

Among those speaking are Wiesel's son, Elisha, and Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP who studied with Wiesel at Boston University.

Wiesel was born in Romania in 1928 and survived imprisonment at the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

His classic book "Night" drew on his experiences and became a testament to Nazi crimes. He taught at Boston University from 1976 to 2013.
PARIS (AP) - The Latest on the acid attack on U.S. tourists in the French city of Marseille (all times local):

10:15 p.m.

The four American tourists who French authorities say were attacked with acid at a train station in the city of Marseille have been identified as students at Boston College in Massachusetts.

The private Jesuit university said in a statement Sunday that the four female students were treated for burns at a Marseille hospital after they were sprayed in the face with acid on Sunday morning. The statement said the four all were juniors studying abroad, three of them at the college's Paris program.

The director of the college's Office of International Programs, Nick Gozik, said the women have been released from the hospital and "it appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances."

The students were identified as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Kosten.

A 41-year-old female suspect has been arrested in the attack. Boston College says police described the suspect as "disturbed."

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This story has been corrected to show one of the victim's last names is Kosten, not Korsten.

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7:45 p.m.

French authorities are not investigating the acid attack on four American women in the southern city of Marseille as an act of terrorism for the time being.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that its counter-terrorism division had not assumed jurisdiction for the attack at Marseille's main train station on Sunday morning. The prosecutor's office has responsibility for all terror-related cases in France.

A spokeswoman for Marseille's prosecutor said earlier that the 41-year-old woman arrested as a suspect in the attack did not make any extremist declarations, but said officials couldn't rule out terror as a motive so early in the investigation.

Regional newspaper La Provence, quoting unidentified police officials, reported that the suspect had a history of mental health problems and didn't try to flee the site of the attack.

The Marseille fire department says two of the tourists were slightly injured.

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5:05 p.m.

The United States embassy in Paris says diplomatic staff in France is in contact with French authorities about the acid attack on four American women.

An embassy spokesman said Sunday that the U.S. consulate in the southern port city of Marseille is communicating with French officials about the attack at Marseille's main train station.

The spokesman says U.S. authorities in France are not immediately commenting further on what happened to protect the privacy of the American tourists, all women in their 20s.

French officials have arrested a 41-year-old female suspect in the attack.

___

4:25 p.m.

The spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor's office says the suspect who attacked four American women with acid in the Marseille train station did not yell any out any terror-linked threats.

The spokeswoman says there were no immediate indications that the attack was terror-related but adds that officials can't be 100 percent sure about ruling out terror links at such an early stage of the investigation.

She says French officials have arrested a suspect in Sunday's acid attack, a 41-year-old woman, and the four victims have been taken to the hospital. There was no immediate information on where the American tourists were from.

The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity, per the French judicial system, in a phone call to The Associated Press.

___

3:45 p.m.

The Marseille prosecutor's office says four young female U.S. tourists have been attacked with acid in Marseille's main train station by a woman who has been arrested.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor office told The Associated Press that two of the tourists have been injured in the face in the attack Sunday in the Saint Charles train station and one of them has a possible eye injury. She says all four of the tourists, who are in their 20s, have been hospitalized, two of them for shock.

She did not have any more details and spoke on condition of anonymity, per the French judicial system.

There was no immediate information on where the U.S. tourists were from.

Marseille is a port city in southern France that is closer to Barcelona than Paris.
MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian military denied claims on Sunday that it struck a U.S.-backed force in eastern Syria, wounding six fighters.

The Kurdish-led and U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces said Saturday that its fighters had been hit in the airstrike near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in an industrial area that recently had been liberated from the Islamic State group.

Western forces embedded with the SDF were not injured, the U.S. military said. The SDF is supported by a U.S.-led international coalition of forces to defeat IS militants in Syria and Iraq. An estimated 900 U.S. troops are embedded with partner forces in Syria. They provide artillery support and can command air support.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said: "Russian air forces carry out pinpoint strikes only on IS targets that have been observed and confirmed through several channels."

SDF fighters have been advancing against IS fighters on the east bank of the Euphrates while Syrian government forces and their allies are pushing on the western side against the jihadists.

The march by the SDF aims to prevent Syrian troops and their allies from expanding their presence along the border with Iraq.

Also Sunday, the U.N.'s World Food Program halted its air drops to Deir El Zour after its trucks were to reach the city with food relief, for the first time since May 2014.

A five truck convoy brought with it enough wheat to feed 70,000 people, the organization said in a statement. Monitoring groups reported that residents were receiving wheat distributions the same day.

With the city besieged by militants from the Islamic State group, the WFP began delivering aid through high-altitude air drops in April last year. It flew missions five times a week and completed 309 air drops before halting the program. Nearly 100,000 people were trapped under the siege.

Pro-government forces broke the siege on September 5 and secured the highway to the capital, Damascus, shortly after. It immediately began organizing its own aid deliveries to the city, replenishing empty store shelves with milk, pasta, canned foods, and other basic goods.

Prices for basic foodstuffs have fallen by 25 to 30 percent since the final days of the siege, according to Gaziantep-based Ali Rahbe, of the activist-run Justice For Life monitoring group.

The government now controls two-thirds of Deir el-Zour, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

But its campaign has come at a high cost to civilian life, says the Observatory and the activist-run monitoring group, DeirEzzor 24.

Both groups say aircraft have been bombing river crossings, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure along the Euphrates River Valley. The Observatory reported 34 civilian fatalities since Saturday, attributing four to coalition air strikes on the IS stronghold Mayadeen.

The claims could not be independently verified in real-time. The groups rely on local contacts to smuggle information out of IS-held territory.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Steve Ballmer says he started his new venture, USAFacts, as a way to "suck out all the data" collected by government agencies and shoot it back out to the public in a digestible form. The former Microsoft CEO, philanthropist and LA Clippers owner talked with The Associated Press about data -and the way people and machines collect it.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Microsoft is making a big push now on artificial intelligence. Do you think they're doing enough?

FILE - In this Saturday, July 15, 2017, file photo, Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, addresses a plenary session on the third day of the National Governors Association's meeting in Providence, R.I. Ballmer says he started his new venture, USAFacts, as a way to "suck out all the data" collected by government agencies and shoot it back out to the public in a digestible form. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

A: We made a huge investment. People love to change the name over time. If you go back, we were doing speech recognition. Speech recognition's a form of AI. We were doing computer vision. It's a form of AI. We've been doing machine learning. It's a form of AI.

Before all that, we were actually calling it AI and doing a bunch of AI. So I would say we've been working pretty coherently and consistently since the early '90s.

The thing that has really changed in AI is the amount of data you can collect to inform the machine so it can get smarter in its learning. Search engines were really the first big, high-popularity AI systems. Now we have digital assistants like Cortana, Alexa, Siri. Self-driving cars are basically machine-learning AI engines. They learn to recognize where other cars are and what actions to take.

So there are a variety of things now that are popping. But it's an investment Microsoft was making, certainly when I was there, and, by everything I read, as an external, third-party shareholder, the company continues to make good and important investments.

Q: What was your impetus for starting USAFacts?

A: I'm a numbers guy. I'm retired and my wife was talking with me about our philanthropic stuff and I highlighted that government has the most significant role. And that just got me interested in the broader issue of, where does our tax base come from? Where does it go to? Who's it benefiting? That wound up being a separate interest from the rest of our philanthropy.

Q: There's been concern that funding for the U.S. Census Bureau could be scaled back. How would that affect what you're doing?

A: We use Census Bureau data. We don't create any of our own data. We're mostly repackaging. It's fundamental for us that we continue to get the kind of data that the country gets, not only out of the every-10-year census, but there are a bunch of other surveys the Census Bureau runs that are very important.

Q: Is that something you plan to weigh in on?

A: I'm going to weigh in on the fact that we need the data. Sometimes you need better tools and better systems and sometimes you need more people, more budget. I don't know about that because I don't run the department. But I do know the outcome. The production of census data is super-important. I will certainly be an advocate for that.
CINCINNATI (AP) - A new gorilla is making himself at home at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The zoo recently added a 29-year-old western lowland silverback gorilla named Mshindi (muh-SHIN'-dee) from the Louisville Zoo.

He's the first gorilla added to the exhibit since the 2016 death of Harambe, who was killed by zoo officials after a 3-year-old boy climbed into his enclosure. Harambe's death inspired global mourning, criticism and satire.

A photo provided by The Cincinatti Zoo shows a 29-year-old western lowland silverback gorilla named Mshindi, who was recently added to the exhibit from the Louisville Zoo. Mshindi is the first gorilla to be added to the exhibit since the 2016 death of Harambe who was killed after a boy climbed into his enclosure. (Michele Curley/Cincinnati Zoo via AP)

Officials say Cincinnati zoo staffers spent time in Louisville learning about Mshindi's personality by studying his body presentations during learned behaviors and health exams to help ensure a smooth transition to his new home.

Mshindi will be introduced to the Cincinnati Zoo's two female gorillas, Chewie and Mara, after becoming acclimated to his new surroundings.

The exhibit will close Oct. 3 for renovations.
GAUHATI, India (AP) - Indian police have recovered at least nine bodies after three to four boats capsized in stormy conditions during a race on the Sabang river in the country's remote northeast.

Police officer Mukesh Sahay says the boats were caught in a sudden rainstorm on Sunday in the town of Tikkri Killa in Assam state.

Rescuers were searching for several people missing in the accident about 255 (155 miles) west of Gauhati, Assam state's capital.

Sahay said it was not clear whether the dead were all participants in the rowing boat race because some people were traveling on the same river stretch in motor boats when the accident happened.

Boating accidents in India are common.

Many ferries are poorly built and overcrowded. There is little regard for safety regulations and life jackets.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani minister says the wife of ousted Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif has won his parliament seat which fell vacant after the country's Supreme Court disqualified him for concealing assets, according to unofficial results.

Climate Change minister Mushahid Ullah Khan says Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League party won the crucial by-election Sunday by securing 61,254 votes for the seat for the eastern city of Lahore. She defeated key rival Tahreek-e-Insaf party's candidate Dr. Yasmin Rashid.

Rashid conceded defeat while talking to reporters and supporters.

Sharif's ailing wife secured the seat in absentia, as she is undergoing treatment in London for throat cancer.

In a televised address, Sharif's daughter Maryam, surrounded by jubilant supporters, said the win proved people's love for Sharif and rejected his disqualification.
Armed police and military personnel will be deployed over the weekend with the public asked to remain vigilant in the wake of the Parsons Green bomb attack.

Britain is on the highest terror alert after Prime Minister Theresa May raised the threat level to critical, meaning another attack is expected imminently.

As the manhunt continues, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley suggested there may have been more than one person involved stating that police were chasing down suspects.

Armed police officers at Euston Station, London, after a terrorist incident was declared following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train (Tim Ireland/PA)

On Friday night, he said: Military personnel have been drafted in to protect national infrastructure sites, allowing additional armed police officers to carry out patrols.

Communities across the UK can expect to see more officers, both armed and unarmed, on patrol by foot and in vehicles over the weekend. In particular, they will be patrolling at crowded places, iconic sites, transport hubs and ports.

This may mean disruption for those who are travelling. The public are asked to be patient and plan ahead, allowing time for delays.

Police are reviewing the security of events across the UK and working with businesses and organisers to make events as secure as possible.

Security checks at events will be enhanced, so people attending events should arrive early and allow extra time for these checks. If you dont need to take a bag, dont take it.

Mr Rowley, the UKs most senior anti-terror police officer, also urged communities around the UK to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to the police immediately.

UPDATE: Detectives appeal for information following terrorist attack at #ParsonsGreen https://t.co/dN1d0hXrjG  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) September 15, 2017

Please do not hesitate, no matter how insignificant you may think the information you have is - please let us decide. It could be crucial, he said.

Announcing the raised threat level, Mrs May said police had asked for authorisation to enact part of the first phase of Operation Temperer  a well-established plan to provide military support to the police.

Operation Temperer is being enacted after security experts warned another terrorist attack could be imminent.

The use of the military is believed to allow up to 5,000 troops to be deployed in support of the police.

The plan was activated for the first time on May 23 following the Manchester Arena bombing when the Prime Minister said the police had asked for military support and the request had been approved by Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon.

At the time, soldiers were stationed at sites including Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, allowing additional armed officers to attend events such as the FA Cup Final.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan also urged people to be vigilant, further confirming that additional officers, including armed officers, would be on the streets.

The national threat level has now been raised to 'critical' after the evil and cowardly terrorist attack at Parsons... Posted by Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan on Friday, September 15, 2017

He wrote on Facebook: There will also be some military personnel deployed to guard sensitive sites which are closed to the public. Meanwhile, on our transport network, extra staff will be on duty and visible.
The way British troops got stuck into the task of helping with relief efforts after Hurricane Irma unleashed devastation across the Caribbean is "extraordinary", a UK commander has said.

Brigadier John Ridge, who has been coordinating the Joint Task Force, said he predicts the military footprint in the region will begin to scale back once HMS Ocean arrives this weekend.

Talking to the Press Association he said the thing which has affected him most is the "staggering resilience" of those who have had their lives turned upside down by the hurricane, but have worked to repair their communities.

"But what has hugely impressed me is the British forces out here as well," he added.

"The way they have just got stuck in has been extraordinary and to go and see the Royal Marines and Royal Engineers out in some pretty unpleasant conditions  just digging out, cleaning stuff up, helping distribute aid and enjoying doing it.

Army Engineers have been working alongside the Royal Marines and RAF medics in Anguilla to restore critical services #HurricaneIrma pic.twitter.com/0NDKWW5Nzk  British Army  (@BritishArmy) September 14, 2017

"I think it is incredible to go and see young soldiers, young marines, young sailors, young airman, interacting and doing amazing stuff and not because theyre told to, because they want to.

"That for me gives me tremendous pride. For them it has been a hugely rewarding experience."

More than 1,100 British troops are currently deployed across the region, and the Joint Task Force is covering an operation area the size of around 1,000 miles  stretching from Barbados to Turks and Caicos.

(MoD/AP/PA)

HMS Ocean, which is carrying another 60 tonnes of aid to add to the 60 tonnes which has already arrived and been distributed, is set to arrive this weekend.

Brig Ridge said he thinks the arrival of HMS Ocean will be the "high water mark", and that the "largest military footprint" following the category five storm will begin to scale back from there.

HMS Ocean's chaplain, crew & members of @ColdstreamGds help to provide gifts for kids affected by Hurricane #Irma https://t.co/SmYU3GEsPe pic.twitter.com/B0a8YBfbVs  Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) September 16, 2017

"I suspect we will be gradually drawing down pretty much after she has arrived. I sense we will start talking about pulling back some of the military forces," he said.

"Because at that stage, first of all the UK civilian, FCO and DFID numbers will have grown considerably and also I think, most importantly, the local government structures will be back to normal.

"Dont forget these are people who were dragging themselves out of the rubble of their houses, so you shouldnt expect them to be up and running in seven days. That is why we have come in, in that intermediate, to beef up those structures.

An update on the UK Government's ongoing response to help those affected by Hurricane Irma in the Overseas Territories. pic.twitter.com/76WWAmSGZe  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) September 15, 2017

"But we are already seeing it. In Providenciales, already they are tweeting about getting the hotel open, so taking bookings for October. Theyre already thinking about the next step.

"That is why I think I can see, relatively quickly, the requirement for military to decline because all the normal structures will be in place."

Brig Ridge said the damage "varies tremendously" across the three overseas territories, adding that Tortola is particularly bad, but that on Anguilla and Turks and Caicos there is "a lot of destruction".

He said the scale of the damage "just makes the mechanics" of coordinating the first response in the days after the storm really complicated and long-winded".
Manchester Citys stars have hailed goal machine Sergio Aguero as vital to the Etihad Stadium outfits quest for glory this term.

The Argentina hitman claimed his sixth Premier League hat-trick on Saturday as City hammered Watford 6-0 at Vicarage Road. The 29-year-old needs just three more goals to break Citys all-time scoring record, held by Eric Brook with 177 strikes since 1939.

And now Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling have heaped the praise on Aguero, insisting the free-scoring forward remains central to Citys fight for silverware.

Sergio Aguero

Hes very special, just a goal machine, Gundogan told Citys official club website. His last goal was incredible, it showed all his talent and how powerful he is.

We need him and hopefully hell score a lot more goals.

Agueros sixth top-flight treble floored Watford, with Gabriel Jesus, Nicolas Otamendi and Sterling also on target. Now only Alan Shearer with 11, Robbie Fowler with nine and Michael Owen and Thierry Henry with eight have more Premier League hat-tricks.

Regular penalty taker Aguero allowed Sterling to take Citys late spot-kick, a gesture that drew praise from boss Pep Guardiola. Sterling himself attempted to return the compliment by adding to the acclaim for the high-scoring Aguero.

You can see every game that if you give Sergio a chance, nine times out of 10 its a goal, said Sterling.

Everyones buzzing. It was a great performance. We got the ball and we were really clinical, thats what the manager wants and thats what we were.

City have bagged 15 goals without response in three matches, with the 5-0 Liverpool win and 4-0 Champions League victory at Feyenoord completing an impressive weeks work.

Taskmaster boss Guardiolas evolution appears to be gathering pace, but City are refusing to accept their recent heights as any kind of peak.

I dont know if it was perfect  after a tough week with the Champions League and the travelling, the way we played was just amazing, said Gundogan. We just need to continue like that.

Watford started Saturday with the chance to reach the top-flights summit for the first time since September 1982, but wound up surrendering their unbeaten start to the new Premier League campaign in tame fashion.

Its a good match for our team to learn at this level, said Watford manager Marco Silva. We made mistakes. We need to keep our focus and organisation every time.

We need to look forward. We only lost three points and this is a good way to learn about playing with the same level and the same intensity every time.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall joined war veterans at Westminster Abbey for a moving service to mark the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Prime Minister Theresa May, her husband Philip and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were among more than 2,000 people who gathered on Sunday to remember the sacrifice of those involved in the 1940 air campaign.

Their Royal Highnesses have a photograph with the veterans of #BattleOfBritain.



A truly emotional and wonderful day! pic.twitter.com/1bi3q2NUjQ  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) September 17, 2017

Survivors of the Battle of Britain, dubbed The Few, were applauded by the congregation as they left and squadron leader Geoffrey Wellum admitted he had to fight for self-control during the emotional service.

The 96-year-old, who lives in Cornwall, said: It gets more emotional for me each year.

Im not normally an emotional chap but escorting the Roll of Honour with that slow march with a slow drum beat  I have to fight for self-control a bit.

The #BattleofBritain veteran Geoffrey Wellum tells us he finds the service "more and more emotional each year". pic.twitter.com/uqhO1LBJQa  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) September 17, 2017

The Duchess of Cornwall and Charles, who is patron of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association and marshal of the Royal Air Force (RAF), attended a reception at Church House near Westminster Abbey following the service.

They watched a Hurricane and Spitfire flypast from the balcony with four Battle of Britain veterans, before exchanging jokes and stories as the group had tea.

A Spitfire and a Hurricane fly over @wabbey as TRH and the #BattleOfBritain veterans watch from the @ChurchHouseConf balcony. pic.twitter.com/NRY0uFIjDc  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) September 17, 2017

Mr Wellum said Camilla and Charles, who wore full RAF ceremonial dress, were very moved by the service.

He said: Particularly Camilla, so she told me.

Mr Wellum added: There are four of us here today that are left. Its always lovely to meet them but when you go away and think about it, we cant do what we used to do.

TRH attend the 77th annual service @Wabbey to mark the remarkable victory and loss of life of the @RoyalAirForce at the #BattleOfBritain pic.twitter.com/UGeZDWNSKR  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) September 17, 2017

Wing Commander Tom Neil, 97, from Norfolk, said he had been introduced to the Prime Minister, who had called him a hero.

But he said afterwards: Im not a hero, Im just a survivor.

The Prince of Wales attends a service marking the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Britain at Westminster Abbey (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Charles and Camilla, who was wearing a Fiona Clare navy and white embroidered outfit, Philip Treacy hat and RAF brooch, also met wing commanders Paul Farnes and Tim Elkington.

The veterans are among those who fought in the Battle of Britain between July 10 and October 31 1940, and earned the nickname of The Few from Winston Churchills celebrated line: Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Hardik Pandya and Mahendra Singh Dhoni taught Australia a lesson about batting in India as the hosts sealed a 26-run victory in the first one-day international in Chennai.

Pandya hit a career-best 83 from number seven, dominating a century stand with Dhoni before the latters 79 ushered his side to 281 for seven with a trademark late flourish.

A lengthy rain delay saw the chase revised to 164 in 21 overs, with the tourists struggling to an underpowered 137 for nine.

Indian cricket player Mahendra Singh Dhoni bats during the first one-day international cricket match between India and Australia in Chennai

India take the series opener with Australia finishing their chase at 9-137 in the rain-affected match: https://t.co/fowxA5bskI #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/EINyXTZZVa  cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) September 17, 2017

India opted to bat first and soon found themselves in peril, Nathan Coulter-Nile excelling with the new ball to leave the home team 11 for three.

Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey were welcome wickets, but captain Virat Kohli  for a duck, no less  was the real prize.

Marcus Stoinis kept the ball rolling, removing Rohit Sharma (28) and Kedhar Jadhav (40) before the halfway mark but that brought Dhoni and Pandya together.

Hardik Pandya is named Player of the Match for his blistering innings and 2-28 with the ball. #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/gr2qpU1BLt  ICC (@ICC) September 17, 2017

The younger man took the lead in their 118-run stand, heavily outscoring his senior partner and slamming Adam Zampa for three consecutive sixes before the spinner eventually took his costly revenge.

Dhoni then sped up to marshall the death overs, with support from Bhuveneshar Kumars 32 not out.

After finally retaking the field, with a T20-style target, Australia buckled.

Congratulations, @msdhoni! He has become the fourth Indian player to hit 100 international fifties. #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/XuAGo5SGu5  ICC (@ICC) September 17, 2017

Five of their top seven were dismissed in single figures with David Warner, remarkably playing his first ODI in India, mustering 25 and Glenn Maxwell counter-punching with 39 from just 18 balls.

Pandya added two scalps to his earlier runs, captain Steve Smith and Travis Head, while Yuzvendra Chahal recorded three for 30 with his leg-breaks.

All-rounder James Faulkner struck a few late blows to spare Australian blushes but even his unbeaten 32 could not make it a close finish.
Belgium and France will contest the final of the Davis Cup after winning their respective semi-finals against Australia and Serbia on Sunday.

The Belgians, who were beaten by Great Britain in the 2015 final and have never lifted the trophy, were 2-1 down heading into the final day but David Goffins victory over Nick Kyrgios was followed by Steve Darcis straight-sets success over Jordan Thompson in the deciding singles tie.

Like the Aussies, the French held a 2-1 advantage overnight and they got the crucial third win at the first time of asking as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saw off Dusan Lajovic despite dropping the opening set.

French team, with from left, Nicolas Mahut, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Lucas Pouille, Wilfried Tsonga and Captain Yannick Noah, after winning the Davis Cup semi final against Serbia at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille

France last hosted the final in 2014, but were beaten by Switzerland and have lost their two other finals since they claimed the Davis Cup in 2001.

Australia were two sets away from reaching the final as Kyrgios claimed the first against Goffin in a tiebreak in Brussels but the 26-year-old rallied and claimed a 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 6-4 6-4 triumph.

Darcis, who like Goffin was involved in the 2015 final, then secured a 6-4 7-5 6-2 victory over Thompson, winning the match with a fortuitous overhead shot which clipped the top of the net.

He's helped them past ,  and  this year.



Now @stevedarcishark can't wait to go for the  against  in the #DavisCupFinal. pic.twitter.com/4RNzZjKRvh  Davis Cup (@DavisCup) September 17, 2017

Over in Lille Tsonga started in unconvincing fashion as he dropped his first service game en route to a 6-2 success for Lajovic, who is currently the world number 80.

However, Tsonga soon found his rhythm and won the final three sets 6-2 7-6 (7/5) 6-2, dropping just two points on his serve during the fourth set.
By Inna Lazareva

YAOUNDE, Sept 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Leaders of Cameroons indigenous forest peoples say their survival is at risk if they are further deprived of access to the lands that are the source of their livelihoods.

Speaking in Cameroons capital, Yaounde, indigenous representatives said they had experienced increasingly serious violations of their land rights by palm oil and other agro-industries, mining firms and timber concessions, as well as the process of creating protected areas on their ancestral lands.

"This disturbing situation foreshadows a future where we, as indigenous peoples, will no longer have land," said Helene Aye Mondo, president of Gbabandi, an organisation of more than 50 indigenous Baka and Bagyeli communities. "If we continue to lose our lands and forests, the very survival of our cultures and peoples is at risk."

At the meeting on Tuesday, forest community leaders signed a joint declaration calling for recognition and respect of their customary land rights, timed to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, of which Cameroon is a signatory.

The U.N. declaration says governments must consult indigenous peoples to gain their consent before approving any decisions that affect how their land and resources are used, and they are entitled to redress for any such activities.

Suzanne Ndjele, a member of the Baka ethnic group from the village of Assoumindele in south Cameroon, said in a written testimony handed out to journalists that her community no longer has access to the forest they depend on for food and medicine.

Ndjele used to work in the forest, hunting and gathering food and other resources with women from her community. But for the past four years she has not been able to enter it.

"Eco-guards came and told us `nobody can go into the forest anymore. If we continued to enter the forest we were threatened. I went in and was beaten," she said.

The forest in question was incorporated into the Ngoyla-Mintom Reserve, created in 2014. Access to parts of the forest was restricted and local people were instead given "community forests", smaller parcels of land which they say are not enough.

The community forest for Assoumindele is located 10 km (6.2 miles) away from the village, which inhabitants say is not practical for their everyday activities.

Lydie Essissima, an official with Cameroon's social affairs ministry who attended the meeting, said the government was aware of the problem, and stands by its commitments made in the 2007 U.N. declaration. Cameroon was one of 144 countries that voted in favour of its adoption in 2007. (Reporting by Inna Lazareva; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)
MEXICO CITY, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Hurricane Norma weakened to a tropical storm on Saturday afternoon as it approached the southernmost reaches of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

At 2100 GMT, Norma was 220 miles (355 km) south of Cabo San Lucas, a popular tourist destination, and moving north at 3 miles per hour (5 kph), the Miami-based NHC said. The storm, which was previously a Category 1 hurricane, was blowing maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (105 kph), the center said.

The storm is expected to continue to weaken over the next two days. As it heads north, the storm's center could draw closer to Baja California Sur or head west of the peninsula, the NHC said.

Norma could bring as much as 8 inches (20 cm) of rain to the southern part of Baja California Sur, potentially triggering flash floods, according to the NHC. (Reporting by Julia Love; Editing by Mary Milliken)
HAVANA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The United Nations' World Food Programme said on Saturday it was launching a $5.7 million operation in Cuba to help feed nearly 700,000 people in areas most affected by Hurricane Irma.

The monster storm ripped last weekend along the length of the northern coastline of the Caribbean's largest island, tearing off roofs, wrecking the power grid and damaging crops.

"This hurricane just went down the entire coastline, the volume of impact is just unprecedented," WFP Executive Director David Beasley said during a visit to Havana, after meeting with Cuban Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The WFP already had more than 1,600 tonnes of food pre-positioned around Cuba available to distribute and had funds to buy more. It would start by distributing for free rations of rice and beans in the most vulnerable areas.

Irma's impact on food availability in the a nation of 11 million inhabitants may be both short and medium-term, Beasley said.

"We are talking about 60,000 hectares of agricultural land that have been dramatically impacted, banana trees, citrus, rice maize, everything," Beasley said.

Cuba would need to assess the soil's salinity to ascertain how that would affect the next planting season, he said.

In the light of climate change, Irma could be a "sign off more things to come", Beasley warned.

"Fifty to forty years ago, the hurricanes were less frequent, and less severe," he said, adding that WFP was working with the Cuban leadership to prepare for such change.

At the height of its strength, Irma ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century and was the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in Cuba since 1932.

"It's times like this when we all lay aside our political differences and come together for the common good," said Beasley, former governor of South Carolina in the United States, Cuba's old Cold War foe. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Mary Milliken)
MOSCOW, Sept 17 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's top allies said on Sunday she saw no logic in deploying U.N. peacekeepers along the border between Russia and Ukraine, something Kiev and Washington favour.

Putin this month suggested armed U.N. peacekeepers be deployed to eastern Ukraine to help protect ceasefire monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to help end a conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the proposal "interesting," while Kurt Volker, the U.S. envoy to Ukraine peace talks, says the suggestion gives negotiators more ideas with which to seek a resolution to the conflict.

But differences about where the peacekeepers would operate risk sinking the plan.

Putin originally said the peacekeepers could be deployed along the line of contact between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists, but later said they could also be deployed in other areas where OSCE inspectors work.

Washington and Kiev also want peacekeepers to be deployed along those parts of Ukraine's border with Russia which Kiev does not control.

However, Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament and a close Putin ally, said on Sunday Moscow strongly objected to that idea.

"I don't see any logic in such a proposal," Matviyenko, visiting Turkmenistan, told reporters, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Those who would like to surround the residents of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass (Donetsk) and Luhansk with barbed wire or to simply destroy these people ... will not succeed." (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Louise Heavens)
Sept 17 (Reuters) - The Barbados government has issued a hurricane warning for the Caribbean island of Dominica as Tropical Storm Maria made its way west-northwest, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday.

The storm, which the forecaster expects to reach hurricane status later Sunday, also prompted the island of St. Lucia to issue a tropical storm warning.

Maria was about 450 miles (720 km) east-southeast of the Leeward Islands at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour. (Writing by Lisa Von Ahn; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino

BUENOS AIRES/LIMA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Peruvian center-right President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski plans to make Vice President Mercedes Araoz his new prime minister and replace five other ministers in a Cabinet shuffle aimed at placating the opposition-ruled Congress, three government sources said on Sunday.

Kuczynski has decided to name Deputy Economy Minister Claudia Cooper as his new finance minister and to replace his justice, education, health and housing ministers, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because an announcement had not been made.

Congress, which is controlled by the populist right-wing opposition party Popular Force, dismissed Kuczynski's Cabinet in a 77-22 vote of no-confidence on Friday. That deepened a political standoff that could lead to new legislative elections if lawmakers reject the incoming Cabinet.

Kuczynski, a 78-year-old former Wall Street banker who took office a year ago, cannot reappoint his outgoing prime minister, Fernando Zavala, but can do so for other ministers. Opposition lawmakers, however, have called for new faces.

Kuczynski had been considering appointing his other vice president, Martin Vizcarra, as his new prime minister but opted for Araoz following a meeting with lawmakers in his party who argued she would be better able to ease hostilities with the opposition, two of the sources said.

Araoz was finance minister in the 2006-2011 right-wing government of President Alan Garcia and has faced less criticism than Vizcarra from Popular Force, which often works with Garcia's party.

Popular Force has an absolute majority in Congress and is led by Kuczynski's defeated electoral rival Keiko Fujimori.

Some of Kuczynski's supporters had called for a cabinet that Congress would surely reject since another vote of no-confidence would allow the president to dissolve Congress. But with his popularity hitting new lows in recent opinion polls, new legislative elections might also weaken Kuczynski's hand further.

His approval rating dropped 7 points to 22 percent in Ipsos' monthly poll, which was taken September 13-15 and published on Sunday in local daily newspaper El Comercio. (Reporting By Mitra Taj in Buenos Aires and Marco Aquino in Lima; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The United States is considering closing its embassy in Havana in response to an alleged sonic attack on U.S. personnel in Cuba, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.

"We have it under evaluation," Tillerson said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program. "It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered."

Five Republican senators on Friday called for the Trump administration to retaliate against the Cuban government by expelling Cuban diplomats and possibly shuttering the U.S. embassy there over attacks that began in late 2016.

The State Department said in August that Americans linked to the U.S. embassy in Havana had experienced physical symptoms from "incidents" involving sound waves. Five Canadians were also affected.

Symptoms included nausea, dizziness and temporary loss of hearing or memory.

Cuba, the United States and Canada have investigated the attacks, but the probe has not yielded any answers about how they were carried out or who was responsible for them.

Cuba has denied involvement. The U.S. State Department has not blamed Havana for the attacks but asked two Cuban diplomats to leave Washington in May. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
ANKARA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Turkey sent 80 military vehicles including tanks to its southern border with Syria, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Sunday.

Citing a military source, Anadolu said the deployment was part of reinforcements for troops stationed along the border. The vehicles were sent to the Iskendurun district of the southeastern province of Hatay, Anadolu said.

Late on Saturday, Anadolu also reported that the army had dispatched first aid trucks and military vehicles to the same location, along with heavy equipment.

A third convoy of armoured vehicles was heading to Hatay's Reyhanli district, where Turkey's Cilvegozu border gate with Syria is located, Anadolu said.

On Friday, Turkey's foreign ministry said Russia, Iran and Turkey had agreed to deploy observers around a de-escalation zone in northern Syria's Idlib region, which is mostly controlled by militants linked to a former al Qaeda affiliate.

It said the observers would look to prevent clashes between forces of the Syrian regime and the opposition, and watch for ceasefire violations.

Last month, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey was taking necessary measures along its 150 km (90 mile) border with Idlib. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; editing by John Stonestreet)
WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will deliver his first speech before the United Nations on Tuesday, when he is expected to pitch his "America First" foreign policy vision.

Trump has been critical of the United Nations and complained about the cost to the United States of helping to fund the 193-nation body. Below are some comments he has made about it over the years.

Remarks at lunch with U.N. Security Council Ambassadors

April 24, 2017

"The United States, just one of 193 countries in the U.N., pays for 22 percent of the budget and almost 30 percent of the United Nations peacekeeping, which is unfair."

"I also want to say to you that I have long felt the United Nations is an underperformer but has tremendous potential. There are those people that think it's an underperformer and will never perform."

Twitter

Dec. 26, 2016

"The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!"

American Israel Public Affairs Committee speech

March 21, 2016

"Which brings me to my next point, the utter weakness and incompetence of the United Nations. The United Nations is not a friend of democracy, it's not a friend to freedom, it's not a friend even to the United States of America where, as you know, it has its home. And it surely is not a friend to Israel."

Twitter

Oct. 3, 2012

"The cheap 12 inch sq. marble tiles behind speaker at UN always bothered me. I will replace with beautiful large marble slabs if they ask me."

Twitter

Oct. 6, 2011

"Why is the UN condemning @Israel and doing nothing about Syria? What a disgrace."

Twitter

Sept. 8, 2011

"Why is the UN planning to attack @Israel's sovereignty and ignore Iran's nuclear program? The US should look at future funding."

Senate committee hearing on renovation of U.N. headquarters

July 21, 2005

"I am a big fan, a very big fan of the United Nations and all it stands for. I cannot speak as to what has been happening over the last number of years because it certainly has not been good, but the concept of the United Nations and the fact that the United Nations is in New York is very important to me and very important to the world as far as I am concerned." (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Clashes along the border of Ethiopia's Oromiya and Somali regions have displaced around 50,000 people, a senior regional official said on Sunday, in violence that has prompted the government to send the military in.

Spokesmen from the two regions told regional news outlets earlier this week that at least 50 people were killed. Each side blames the other.

Lema Megersa, president of Oromiya province, told local journalists on Sunday: "It is not just deaths that occurred. More than 50,000 people were displaced from their homes."

"Those responsible should also be held to account," he added. He did not give a death toll.

The area has been plagued by sporadic clashes for decades. A referendum held in 2004 to determine the status of disputed settlements failed to ease tensions.

Unrest in 2015 and 2016 in Oromiya - and to a lesser extent other regions - killed 669 people, according to a parliament-mandated investigation.

The clashes are likely to fuel further fears about security in Ethiopia, the region's biggest economy and a staunch Western ally.

Each side gave contradictory explanations about the cause of the clashes. Some officials in Oromiya said it was sparked by the killing of a local district head and raids by a paramilitary force from the Somali region.

Officials from the Somali region denied those claims. Fifty ethnic Somalis were killed in the town of Aweday in Oromiya on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Somali region told local media on Friday. International media were not permitted at the briefing.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said soldiers deployed to the region to quell the violence would disarm residents and safeguard highways straddling the regions. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Robin Pomeroy)
MEXICO CITY, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The Mexican military fought back against an armed attack in the violent southwestern state of Guerrero on Saturday night, leaving eight suspected gang members and one soldier dead, authorities said on Sunday.

At around 11 p.m., troops were making their rounds in the city of Teloloapan, about 155 miles (250 km) from Mexico City, when they came under gunfire from suspected gang members dressed in fake military uniforms, Roberto Alvarez Heredia, a spokesman for the Guerrero Coordinating Group, said in a statement.

The military secured two vans painted in camouflage, weapons and uniforms, authorities said.

A soldier was wounded in the confrontation and died afterward from his injuries.

The public prosecutor's office in Guerrero, home to the resort city of Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast, has begun an investigation into the attack, authorities said.

Violence has spiked in Guerrero over the past decade as a growing number of criminal gangs vie for control of crops of opium poppies and for drug-trafficking routes. (Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Julia Love; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in New York on Sunday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. State Department said in a brief statement.

The State Department did not provide any details on what the two men would discuss during the 9 p.m. (0100 GMT on Monday) meeting. Possible topics include the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the Syrian civil war and North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Peter Cooney)
A jealous Sri Lankan husband who beat his estranged wife's new boyfriend to death after kidnapping him in Milton Keynes was jailed for life with a minimum of sentence of 18 years.

Gnanachandran Balachandran, 38, was incensed when he discovered his wife Ragupathy Annalingham was seeing another man.

The Sri Lanken Tamil, who was granted asylum in 1999, organised the abduction of Suren Sivananthan, 32, from the Secklow Gate shopping area near Milton Keynes Theatre on the afternoon of Friday 20 January 2017.

For 12 hours, Suren was held captive, plied with alcohol and beaten in three different locations. He suffered 87 sites of injury. Two head injuries were the cause of his death.

The body of Suren, who normally lived in Canada, was left on the ground in sub-zero temperatures outside a parade of shops in Great Linford.

Last month a jury at Luton crown court found Balachandran, from The Fleet, Springfield in Milton Keynes, guilty of murder.

Judge Richard Foster jailed him for life ordering that he serve a minimum sentence of 18 years less 213 days spent on remand.

A 17-year-old accomplice, who is too young to be named for legal reasons, was also convicted of murder and was sentenced to custody for life with a minimum term of 11 years less 151 days spent on remand and qualifying curfew.

Prashanth Thevarasa, 24, of Farrier Place, Downs Barn, Milton Keynes, was acquitted of Mr Sivananthan's murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter, but found guilty of causing him grievous bodily harm with intent. He was sentenced to 10 years.

Judge Foster described Balachandran as a "strong and dominant personality" who one witness described as a bully.

He said he did not accept that Suren was 'just a friend.'

During the trial the jury heard the husband had been watching Ragupathy's every move.

She and Suren had been trying to keep their relationship a secret from the local Sri Lankan community in Milton Keynes, but on the day of the abduction they had gone to the shopping centre together. When he went to a shop on his own he was grabbed.

Hours later, Suren's body was discovered outside a parade of shops in Great Linford, Milton Keynes.

The wife told the court that at one point while Suren was being held captive by the group she spoke to him.

She said he sounded as if he was in pain, telling the jury: "He told me in Tamil 'Everyone's beating me up.' He didn't know where he was and the call ended."

Suren stayed with Ragupathy at her home in Milton Keynes from January 10 this year and was due to fly back to Canada on Saturday January 21, the day he died.

David Bentley QC, defending the husband, said: "There is no evidence it was pre-planned." He said his client came from a troubled background and had been granted asylum in this country in 1999.

Martin Rutherford QC for the 17-year-old said he had been in the UK for 5 years and had lived in foster care. He had no previous convictions.(ITV News)
The northern economy is mainly agricultural, and the challenges facing its revival after the war also relate to agriculture. If the war disrupted agricultural production in the north for decades, the post-war years have not provided much respite. The long drought over the last two years, has been devastating for the northern farmers. However, untimely rains, floods and crop diseases have also crippled the northern farmers in the preceding years. Significantly, these natural disasters also relate to policy failures, particularly flawed reconstruction of a war affected agricultural economy. The consequences are both disintegration of rural livelihoods and abject poverty with unaffordability of food.

Frequent droughts, ill-timed heavy rains can be devastating for agriculture

2007-2008 global food crises, leading to shortages and tremendous increase in food prices

Drought would result in an additional US$ 800 million in food imports - CB analysis

In 60s and 70s Jaffna went through a cash crop boom including in chillies and onions

Restriction of imports alone does not explain the cash crop boom in Jaffna

Blaming climate change for the plight of the farmers is a fickle argument. Irregular weather patterns due to climate change, is a known fact. Such frequent droughts and ill-timed heavy rains can be devastating for agriculture. Yet, agriculture is essential for human life and it is for the Govt to find solutions for such national problems caused by climate change and declines in agricultural production. Some free trade neo-liberal ideologues may propose easy solutions such as importing agricultural produce, but that does not address the millions of livelihoods dependent on agriculture nor the fluctuations in the world market for food. Indeed, the 2007-2008 global food crises, leading to shortages and tremendous increase in food prices, were a rude awakening for those who dismissed the importance of a certain level of self-sufficiency in national food procurement.

At the root of the agricultural problem I would argue is the lack of both a vision for agricultural development and the miniscule levels of state investment in agriculture. Without investment, agricultural growth is limited and little increase in productivity. The Central Bank Governor a few months ago stated that the drought would result in an additional US$ 800 million in food imports adding to the import bill and aggravating balance of payment problems. The problem with food, as opposed to many other commodities, is that, we cannot ask our population to starve. As the famous saying goes every country is only three meals away from anarchy!

Cash Crops in Jaffna

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jaffna went through a cash crop boom including in chillies and onions. Even today, many of the farmers in Jaffna remember those days, and claim that was when they first built their cement houses. Neoliberal economists today dismiss that agricultural boom as merely a consequence of protectionism in the 1970s.

In reality, the agricultural boom in Jaffna preceded the emergence of the United Front Government in 1970. Furthermore, the United Front Government by the 1970s had little choice but to restrict imports. The changing terms of trade for Sri Lankas major commodity exports and a virtual blockade of development aid by Western powers that sought to punish Sri Lanka for its turn to the left, created the conditions for restricting agricultural imports due to falling foreign exchange earnings.

The restriction of imports alone does not explain the cash crop boom in Jaffna. Why is it that the Jaffna farmers benefitted so much and not the farmers in other parts of the country? Questions like those were addressed in an important research initiative by leading Sri Lankan social scientists including Newton Gunasinghe between 1980 and 1982. Their work edited by Charles Abeysekera and titled Capital and Peasant Production: Studies in the continuity and discontinuity of Agrarian Structures in Sri Lanka was published in 1985. Gunasinghe in studying the Jaffna farmers analysed the levels of investment in agricultural equipment, the intensification of labour practices and the particular landed social relations as important factors contributing to the agricultural boom in Jaffna. In comparing four different agrarian systems around the country, Gunasinghe characterised the village he studied in Jaffna as one of an agrarian system with strong potentiality for growth.

Donor Pressures

The problem with our agricultural policy as with our economists today, is that there are few serious studies of agriculture relating them to broader social and economic processes, much less alternative visions for agricultural development. Sri Lankas agricultural outlook seems to be all too easily surrendering to the ideological pronouncements of the World Bank and its prescriptions of trade liberalisation in agriculture. The fact is neither from the macro-economic concerns of foreign currency expenditure nor from the necessities of our citizens, can agricultural production be abandoned.

Sri Lankas economic policies increasingly adhere to donor priorities and projects, and even state spending is now shaped by such donors. According to the Finance Ministry Annual Report 2016, out of a total Official Development Aid disbursements of US$ 1,640 million only US$ 15 million was disbursed for agriculture, which was less than 1%. Governmental expenditure is not very different, where total investment in agriculture, fisheries, plantations and livestock together amount to only 5% of total state capital investment budgeted for 2017.

This national outlook on agriculture has also determined investment in reconstructing agriculture in the war-torn north. According to Finance Ministry data, of state and donor investment in Northern Province between 2009 and 2013 amounting to a total of Rs. 221 billion, only 8% was for agriculture and fisheries, the economic mainstay in the region.

The 2007-2008 global food crises, leading to shortages and tremendous increase in food prices, were a rude awakening for those who dismissed the importance of a certain level of self-sufficiency in national food procurement.

Towards Alternatives

In Sri Lanka and in the Northern Province in particular, investment in agriculture and a far reaching agricultural policy vision is the most important priority from a sustainable development perspective. However, as with most progressive concepts, sustainable development is also increasingly appropriated by the neo-liberal agenda, with a push for tradification and connecting to export-value chains. While value addition linked to increasing exports in agriculture would benefit the countrys external finances, without self-sufficiency at the rural, regional and national levels, agriculture will repeatedly succumb to the whims of the profit-making agendas of the large corporate sector and the tremendous fluctuations in the global markets.

Increasing agricultural production and the livelihoods of farmers necessarily requires investment. There are for example Government supported pilot projects underway in both the north and the south in precision agriculture, particularly drip irrigation, to save water, reduce fertilizer use and increase production. Storage, cooling and processing facilities are necessary to ensure value addition at the local level and farmers get a decent price, as opposed to the small fraction they receive in farm gate prices compared to retail and even whole sale prices.

The state also needs to control the massive market fluctuations in agriculture through constraints on the market including imports as well as planning and extension services to farmers to diversify production. In short, the reconstruction of agriculture in the north as in the rest of country requires nothing less than a transformation in agriculture, and that is only possible with large increases in local investment along with a credible national vision and policy.
Contributions of colonial soldiers of the British and their allies have been largely neglected by fiction writers, film makers and even documentaries.

Writing about Christopher Nolans film Dunkirk, British writer Sunny Singh has made a very pertinent comment. Its an all-white British army (BEA or the British Expeditionary Force) against an all-white German army. Theres no trace of the Royal Indian Army Services Corp companies, who were responsible for transporting supplies over areas where the BEAs wheeled transport could not go. In other words, they did the coolie work, but you dont see any of them in the film.

The French army too, had large numbers of soldiers from its colonies. Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians and others were present at Dunkirk. They were among the last to be evacuated, facing greater danger of death or capture as the Nazis were more likely to deal with them summarily. But, apart from a few non-white faces seen in the crowd scenes, the narrative leaves them out altogether.

While Nolan may have had no intention of deliberately omitting the colonial part of this story, it is true that WW II histories give the impression that it was entirely a white mans war (except in Asia and the Pacific).

Even documentaries and written histories of the conflict have omitted the contribution made by Indian and other colonial soldiers on the Allied side. There are German propaganda photos of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel inspecting Indian soldiers of the Free India army in France, but their role seems to have been forgotten entirely.

The British India Army, formed in 1895, existed till 1947 and served in 16 wars and campaigns including both World Wars. These include the Second Opium War (China), the British Expedition to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and the Boxer Rebellion (China).

The BEA numbered 1,750,000 during World War I and 2,500,000 in World War II. It was the largest volunteer army in history. Considering that the total German forces for the invasion of Russia numbered only 3.8 million personnel (including Romanian, Spanish and Italian allies), this is a considerable number.

Sri Lankans too, served in British armies in Egypt and Italy, as Wimal Weerasinghes excellent and forgotten account of his time with the British Eighth Army reveals. While he served in a second-line company, his account suggests that some Sri Lankan soldiers actually experienced combat in Italy.

It was recently discovered by this writer that several batches of Sri Lankans served as fighter pilots for the Royal Air Force (RAF) starting from the Battle of Britain. But the only foreign pilots mentioned in all British histories of WWII of air warfare this writer has come across are the Poles.

As for the BEA, it saw considerable action during WWI. Indian soldiers carried out the wars first trench raid during Nov. 9-10, 1914. They fought in the first battle of Ypres and one Indian soldier won the Victoria Cross, the British armys highest award for bravery. The BEA took part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the bitter Gallipoli campaign, the failed Allied bid to invade Turkey. They fought in the Sinai and Palestine, and took part in the siege of Kut in Mesopotamia (Iraq). Altogether, the BIA lost 47,746 soldiers (dead, or missing in action) and suffered 65,126 wounded. Indian soldiers were awarded 13,000 medals including 12 Victoria Crosses.

During WWII, the BEA included two armoured and one airborne division. It saw considerable action in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and took part in both battles of El Alamein, the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, and the Italian campaign, including the bitter battle for the German stronghold of Monte Cassino.

Against the Japanese, Indian soldiers fought in Singapore, Malaya and Burma, including the Battle of Imphal.

About 87,000 Indian soldiers were killed in WWII and 30 Victoria Crosses were awarded to Indians. The Germans and the Japanese too, managed to convince many captured Indians to join their forces. These Indian units were known as the Tiger Legion and Indian National Army. Led by Subhas Chandra Bose, the latter had 40,000 soldiers.

But the contributions of these and other colonial soldiers of the British and their allies have been largely neglected by fiction writers, film makers and even documentaries. Its a glaring omission. But the fault can be traced to the Indian side, too, as neither Indian fiction nor Indian cinema have tackled this significant history with the care it deserves.
Its September 17. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is turning 67 today. And the nation is giving him a birthday to remember.

The theme of the day (sorry, fortnight) is cleanliness.

The PM has asked citizens to donate cleanliness, not money, because his flagship initiative, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is a peoples programme: Clean India is the responsibility of all 1.25 billion Indians.

A remarkable idea and initiative for sure. But theres much in unclean India that cannot be cleaned only by peoples good habits or good will.

A case in point: the PM is inaugurating the much-disputed, "world's second biggest dam" at Kevadiya, Gujarat  the Sardar Sarovar Setu on Narmada river  on his birthday. Narmada is often called India's cleanest river. But does the PM know that Narmada waters have turned green between Jabalpur and Omreswar, thanks to massive deforestation and untreated sewers from cities along its banks that empty into the river?

The green colour is from the deadly azolla weeds that grow in still or slow-moving water bodies, choking watercourses and killing aquatic wildlife.

Theres much in unclean India that cannot be cleaned only by peoples good habits or good will. Photo: PTI

Overrun by weeds, suffocated with silt and saturated with pollution, all the giant fish and turtles have vanished from the Narmada.

Not just the Periyar, the PMs favourite river, the Ganga is spectacularly red from pollution in Kanpur, a city where tanneries dump chemical-soaked buffalo hides into the river. Although the Clean Ganga project has not shown much result as yet, at least, the Ganga gets talked about.

What about the Periyar, the big river in Gods own country? The ancient Tamil Sangam poems paid many tributes to it: its might, its foamy blue waters, and the magnificent ships sailing on it  loaded with gold, wine and black pepper.

The river still flows. Its still the biggest river of Kerala, the lifeline for about 40 lakh people. But with 25 per cent of Keralas industries along its banks, ol' man river has become red and brown in some parts and jet black in others. It has changed colour more than 10 times this year.

In Delhis backyard, theres also the Hindon river that has turned red, thanks to stone-crushing units along its banks. Two rivers in Meghalaya  the Lukha and the Myntdu  have turned bright sky blue, indicating very high acid content, killing scores of fish. The Tungabhadra River in Karnataka has turned green  the colour of algal bloom that thrives in pollution caused by chemical fertilisers from farms.

The mighty Cauvery, a dumping ground for untreated sewage and industrial effluents in Karnataka, has become black in parts. Indias poetry in marble, the Taj Mahal, has been turning a sickly yellow for a while. And now its becoming green, all because insects are crawling up the Taj from stagnating Yamuna.

These are just a few names. In state after state, rivers are sick, changing colours, dying or becoming dangerously poisonous. The danger they pose to the environment and human life is just too great.

The sickness of our water system is the result of unmonitored greed by industries and mining bodies, deeply entwined with our political system.
Today is India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 67th birthday. His government is celebrating the day as "Seva Divas". Celebrities, brand ambassadors, and dignitaries have been roped in to spread the message of "swachh bharat" to contribute for the construction of toilets and the upkeep of public places.

On his birthday, besides the usual photo-op with his mother, Modi decided to dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam as his gift to the nation. It is another matter that this gift has brought immense misery to many ordinary citizens living in the Narmada Valley, who are being evacuated without being rehabilitated.

However, the most worrisome part of this celebration is taking place in Modi's home state Gujarat, where BJP youth wing workers are urging ordinary citizens to pledge that they will not criticise the government "that is formed of the people, by the people and for the people".

This clearly shows that dissent against Modi government has become dangerous in Indian democracy.

Modi's centralised style of leadership and his commitment to the ideals of "Hindu Rashtra" have reduced the scope of dissent and deliberation in the country. Indian democracy is using coercive powers to suppress any dissent at the grass-roots level under the pretext of national security.

Narendra Modi has carefully cultivated a "strong man" image by using the rhetoric of democracy and displaying closeness to the masses.

The world is currently experiencing a rise in the number of demagogues. Narendra Modi adds to the global list of so-called strong men: Vladimir Putin of Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Jarosaw Kaczynski in Poland, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Prayut Chan-o-Cha in Thailand and Donald Trump in the US. They are charming, charismatic and cunning and, at the same time, extremely self-absorbed and possess a huge lust for power. They play with people's fears, create scapegoats and offer easy solutions.

To sell himself as a messiah to Indian voters, Modi seized upon the growing despair among the people and their need to centralise powerful political authority to solve their problems. Photo: PTI

India under Narendra Modi, instead of focusing on internal peace and stability and economic development, is busy fostering and highlighting foreign enemies. There is no hesitation to curtail the political freedom and civil liberties of masses and to regularly project minority communities as internal enemies. India is presently witnessing unprecedented control of the media and blatant manipulation of public opinion. Those in the media who do not blindly toe the government line and dare to criticise it pay a heavy price, as seems to have been the case in Gauri Lankesh's murder.

Modi got a massive electoral mandate in 2014 at a time when ordinary citizens in India were fed up with endless political bickering and wanted an end to the coalition-era corruption under the Congress.

A large number of Indians had begun to believe that the basic fault lay with themselves, their lack of discipline, their selfishness and lack of commitment to the country's progress and development. To sell himself as a messiah to Indian voters, Modi seized upon the growing despair among the people and their need to centralise powerful political authority to solve their problems.

In a country that has grown weary of its corrupt partisan politicians, the cacophonic media and exploding protest movements, a substantial section of the society still appreciates the "strong man" approach to governance that the Modi regime seems to exemplify. But the consequences of silencing all dissent and criticism have proved too costly for India.

PM Modi's abrupt whimsical decision on November 8, 2016 to invalidate 86 percent of cash in circulation in the country caused immense hardship and terrible pain to millions of Indians, especially the poorer sections of the society. More than 100 people died while standing for days in front of banks to get their own money. This "strong man" decision has nowhere eradicated the country's corruption or terror problems, nor has it turned India to a cashless society.

Rather, it has eaten up two percent of the country's economic growth.

Similarly, at a time India's railways infrastructure is facing serious crisis and train accidents have become a routine affair, Modi has made a grand political spectacle of starting a short route bullet train project from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. This project is being undertaken with a massive loan of Rs 88,000 crore from Japan.

Indian Railways is almost bankrupt. Moreover, 800 people have died in around 450 accidents between 2013 and 2017 due to poor maintenance of rail lines. Unfortunately for the country, no one in Modi's Cabinet or party is bold enough to give him an honest and critical view of where the country is headed under his leadership.

At present, with massive majority in the Parliament and the total control of his party, there is almost no constraint on Narendra Modi's authoritarian style decision-making. No one in his party or government has the power to hold him accountable for his flawed policies. He has appointed friends and cronies to important offices and these handpicked, politically rootless insiders have strong incentives to remain loyal to and uncritical of him.

Like any country, India's history does not follow a straightforward path. Nowhere is there an easy road towards freedom. In spite of the odds, for seven decades, India has been hanging on to a fiercely democratic structure and liberal values. No doubt the threat of authoritarianism had remained persistent all along, but under Narendra Modi, it is resurging. To appropriate power, he has unabashedly promoted Hindu nationalism over secular democratic values, curtailing individual freedom in the name of state security and used majoritarian emotion to ignore reason.

India under Modi's regime is sliding further and further down from its path towards democratic consolidation. Modi is gradually eliminating opposing forces in the political system, the judiciary, the media and even the business houses. As this is a gradual process not a spectacular coup - much like the boiling frog - the civil society does not rise up to agitate and the international community does not forcefully oppose it.

How could a country celebrate the birthday of a leader who is ruining its democracy and trashing its liberal values?
RICHMOND  Justin G. Knight is back at his downtown Richmond office running one of the nations largest hotel businesses after suffering injuries in a plane crash on July 4.

Knight, president and CEO of Apple Hospitality REIT Inc., had suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Buckingham County.

Beginning this week, he has been back in the office on a full-time basis, said Kelly Clarke, vice president of investor relations at Apple Hospitality, which owns 237 hotels in 33 states.

Clarke said 10 days ago that Justin is making incredible strides towards his full recovery.

Starting a few weeks ago, Knight was in the office often but not on a full-time basis, she said. He did, for instance, participate in last months conference call with investors to discuss second-quarter earnings.

Justin has been actively engaged with the Apple Hospitality team and others that he would normally interact with that are part of the companys business since very shortly after the accident, Clarke said.

Knight declined to comment, she said.

At this time, Justins primary focus continues to be on his family, his full recovery and remaining actively engaged with his colleagues at Apple Hospitality. That being said, he is not available for an interview at this time, she said.

The Aviat A-1C-180 aircraft Knight was piloting had stalled out, causing it to crash-land in a cornfield, law enforcement officials previously said.

The 44-year-old Knight, who lives in Chesterfield County, was flown to the University of Virginia Medical Center after the crash. His 11-year-old son, the only passenger, was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

During Knights recovery, Krissy Gathright, the companys executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Bryan Peery, executive vice president and chief financial officer, shared in the responsibilities and oversight of Apple Hospitalitys day-to-day activities.

In 2014, Knight was named CEO of the company, which has one of the largest portfolios of upscale hotels in the United States. Knight has served on the board since 2015 and joined the company in 2000.
House

Deportation of illegal immigrant gang members. Voting 233 for and 175 against, the House on Sept. 14 passed a bill (HR 3697) that would empower federal immigration officials to deport illegal immigrants who belong to criminal gangs such as MS-13 or participate in gang activities. Burden of proof would lie with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and those ordered deported would retain rights of appeal in U.S. courts. The bill goes beyond present law, which requires people who are in the United States illegally to be convicted of a deportable offense before they can be sent back home. The bill defines criminal gangs in a way that critics said is so broad that it would violate constitutional rights, potentially ensnaring church groups that shelter undocumented immigrants.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Voting yes: Dave Brat, R-7th.

Not voting: Tom Garrett, R-5th.

Exemption for religious groups. Voting 184 for and 220 against, the House on Sept. 14 defeated a bid by Democrats to exempt members of religious organizations and groups whose primary purpose is humanitarian from criminal-gang deportation proceedings under HR 3697 (above).

A yes vote backed the exemption.

Voting no: Brat.

Not voting: Garrett.

$416.3 billion spending package. Voting 211 for and 198 against, the House on Sept. 14 approved a package including eight of the 12 appropriations bills that would fund federal departments and agencies in fiscal year 2018. The $416.3 billion measure (HR 3354) was then merged with the four previously passed appropriations bills for the budget year starting Oct. 1. The overall package would provide $1.13 trillion in discretionary spending for 2018, about half of which would be non-emergency military spending. The full House has yet to debate a congressional budget resolution for 2018 and later years. But its Budget Committee projects total federal spending of $4.02 trillion for 2018, a figure that includes outlays for entitlement programs such as Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and veterans benefits.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

Voting yes: Brat.

Not voting: Garrett.

Hurricane spending vs. border wall. Voting 186 for and 223 against, the House on Sept. 14 defeated a Democratic-sponsored bid to increase pre-disaster spending in HR 3354 (above) by $2.4 billion and cut the same amount from accounts that would fund President Donald Trumps proposed wall on the southern border and provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement with 10,000 more detention beds. The Federal Emergency Management Agency would allocate the $2.4 billion to programs aimed at preventing and restoring power outages and mitigating other types of future hurricane damage.

A yes vote was to transfer funding from the proposed border wall to FEMA storm-mitigation accounts.

Voting no: Brat.

Not voting: Garrett.

Senate

Repeal of 9/11 war resolution. Voting 61 for and 36 against, the Senate on Sept. 13 tabled (killed) an amendment to the 2018 military budget (HR 2810) that sought to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force enacted in September 2001 and the Iraq war resolution enacted in October 2002. Those measures have provided the legal basis of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa since 9/11. The amendment would give Congress six months to enact an updated authority that reflects the views of lawmakers now in office and gives them more responsibility for combat operations. Backers said that during the six-month interval, the president would have constitutional authority to act quickly to protect national security. But opponents said that repealing but not immediately replacing existing war authorities would undercut troops and allies and increase U.S. exposure to terrorist attacks. The underlying bill remained in debate.

A yes vote was to kill the amendment and retain existing war authorities.

Voting yes: Mark R. Warner (D).

Voting no: Tim Kaine (D).

Hassett confirmation. Voting 81 for and 16 against, the Senate on Sept. 12 confirmed Kevin Hassett as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, which provides presidents with economic advice based on empirical research. Hassett had been a resident scholar since 1997 at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and advised the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain. The nominee drew Democratic criticism over his advocacy of economic deregulation.

A yes vote was to confirm Hassett.

Voting yes: Warner, Kaine.

Thomas Voting Reports Inc.
The epidemic proportions child sexual abuse have reached in the country is a comment on where our society is heading. The sickening feeling in the pit of the stomach of every parent is about whether her child is safe from predators. Unless we change as a society we will keep on.

Child sexual abuse is an under-reported offence in India and has reached epidemic proportions, it is a universal problem with grave life-long upshots. Sexual violence amongst children is notoriously difficult to measure; there is no single source of data that provides a complete picture of this crime, but child sexual abuse is a now a widespread problem across the globe.

A survey by the United Nations International Children Educating Fund on demographic and health conducted in Indian between 2005- 2013, reported that 10% of Indian girls might have experienced sexual violence and when they are 10-14 years of age and 30% during 15-19 years of age. Overall, 42% of Indian girls have gone through the trauma of sexual violence before their teenage and it is reported that more school going children have been sexually abused in the school premises itself.

Study conducted by the Government of India reviled that over 17,220 children and adolescents are victims of sexual abuse. It further exposed that every second child in the country is sexually abused; among them, 52.94% were boys and 47.06% were girls. Highest sexual abuse was reported in Assam (57.27%) followed by Delhi (41%), Andhra Pradesh (33.87%) and Bihar (33.27%).

2015: 12-year-old girl raped at knife-point in a school at Budakheri village in Muzaffarnagar in;

12-year-old girl raped at knife-point in a school at Budakheri village in Muzaffarnagar in; 2016: Thane van driver raped 2 school girls for 6 months ;

Thane van driver raped 2 school girls for 6 months ; 2017: 57-year-old founder and trustee of Andheri School in Mumbai raped a 3-year-old student on the premises;

57-year-old founder and trustee of Andheri School in Mumbai raped a 3-year-old student on the premises; 2017: 7-year-old boy from Ryan International School in Gurugram, butchered by a van driver on campus;

7-year-old boy from Ryan International School in Gurugram, butchered by a van driver on campus; 2017: 40-year-old security guard of a public school in Shahdaras Gandhi Nagar raped a 5-year-old girl inside a classroom;

40-year-old security guard of a public school in Shahdaras Gandhi Nagar raped a 5-year-old girl inside a classroom; 2017: 4-year-old assaulted sexually in Bengaluru School; &

4-year-old assaulted sexually in Bengaluru School; & 2017: 5-year-old girl raped in classroom of Delhi's Tagore Public School by a peon.

It looks like India has learnt nothing whatsoever from the Nirbhaya verdict which was essentially meant to be a deterrent to rapists. Although the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, the Criminal Law (amendment) Act 2013, the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1972 were formulated to effectively address the heinous crimes of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, it appears that the magnitude of child sexual abuse is extraordinarily high (especially within school premises in the recent past) since the laws are not very stringent.

There is no magic wand to end this problem of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, however preventive measures can be taken to avoid this scourge especially when it happens within school a premise.

Educational institutions must be owned and run by good educationalists. Quality education is a fundamental right to every child guaranteed by the Indian Constitution; it is also upheld by the Supreme Law of the land. Quality education includes; efficient teaching faculty, excellent infrastructure and also non-teaching specialist staff (which comprises of drivers, peons, assistants, guards etc.)

It is an open fact that certain high criteria are fixed for employing teaching faculty. On the other hand, bare minimum standards are neither fixed nor expected from that of non-teaching staff. Rapes and murders of children by non-teaching staff members are more predominant in this time and age and therefore it is the prime responsibility of every educational institution to employ staff of proficient standards.

One of the focal reasons as to why child rapes and other assaults are comparatively less aboard is primarily because of the norms that are affixed in the employment process. An educational institution demands a Federal Check Certificate from prospective employees in the United States of America.

Obtaining an International Child Protection Certificate, which is nothing but a criminal record check for people looking to work with children is made mandatory in the United Kingdom. Such practices must also be adopted in India and the Government of India must take the sole responsibility of conducting such background checks on individuals and issue certificates which must characteristically certify such a prospective employee.

The educational institutions demanding such certificates will provide reassurance to parents that they dont employ unsuitable people with criminal record at the very least. It will indeed help to protect children from either habitual or convicted child sexual offenders looking to work with children.

Once employed, it is also the responsibility of the management to firstly train the employee and constantly monitor him/her so as to avoid any dim-witted contributions from their side. The employees must also make some pledge accordingly from committing or engaging in any untoward activities.

In this digital world, although privacy is made a fundamental right, CCVT must be fixed in every nook and corner of corridors in schools in the best interest of upholding safety and security of every school going child.

Sex education is probably the saviour of this scourge, from 2019, children will be taught about healthy adult relationships from the age of 4, and sex education will be compulsory in secondary schools in the Northern Ireland. However there are caveats, the age at which they should be taught about sex education is where perplexity arises.

Nonetheless, educational institutions must make sure that the teachers explain sex education in a way that every child understands. Enlightening a child about right touch and wrong touch can probably be the genesis. The management must also create awareness programmes for children in school, parents, faculty members as well as non-teaching staff, collectively and/or independently. A renowned educationist Prince Gajendra Babu added that when sex education is introduced it must also be sensitised, in addition to this gender equity and health education must be simultaneously introduced

A psychologist, preferably a child psychologist must be employed in every school who must solely identify potential problems in children, faculty and other staff. By doing this the psychologist can evaluate potential threats and help the institution in eradicating parasites who may perhaps engage in tampering with the life of young children. On the other hand, Prince Gajendra Babu believes that A child is not a patient; therefore the need for a psychologist within a campus is dim and redundant, a committed, trustworthy teacher with empathy towards students will have the capacity to build confidence in every child and solve potential problems that a child may apprehend on campus.

In this time and age, every parent is confined and focused in their respective jobs, much attention is not given to their own child very often. They either tend to worry about their past and/or their future and they never live their present as a result of which some face dreadful, but rather pitiful situations. It has to be the duty of every parent (especially the mother) to care for his or her child and to constantly watch over the childs activities and behaviour. In the alternative, the parent must approach the child with all tenderness, affection and patience and to identify the cause for such adverse behaviour and with due diligence help and educate the child in dealing with issues pertaining to sex - education, gender equity, right touch wrong touch, health education and so on.

The archaic law that governs child rape must be buried. It is outrageous to keep rape of an adult and rape of a child on equal footing. A separate legislation or the surviving legislation must firstly classify rape broadly, as such the definition of rape must be altered. Every child rapist must be considered as a serial killer and stringent punishment should be given, a second chance must never be a choice (regardless of any remorse shown) for those unruly child rapists. Furthermore, in the name of police investigation, magisterial inquiry and so on, justice must not be denied.

In addition to this, separate courts must be established primarily to dispose of child rape and murders, such courts must also marshal those cases within a short span of time (which must also be specified explicitly). In case of admitted liability of a child rapist/murdered, punishments must be given within a span of 48 hours bearing in mind that they are targeting the most vulnerable generation. In the words of late Legend V.R. Krishna Iyer, the judiciary in India is burdened with a lot of work and therefore judgment of rape cases comes very late, sometimes it comes so late that either party has died, so there should be speedy trials in rape cases (especially in child rape cases) so that the victim gets justice since delayed justice is denied justice. To reiterate late legend V.R. Krishna Iyers dictum there is a pressing need for socially sensitised Judges who can act as better statutory armours against such outrage.



(The author is an advocate practising at the Madras High Court; she holds a degree in law from London and a Legal Magister in Legal Practice from the City University, UK.)

More needs to be done in govt schools

Chennai: At a time when the cases of sexual assault on children are escalating in educational institutions, the subject of 'safety' seems to be a bigger question ahead. Even though the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act mandates schools to embrace strict safety measures, there are huge disparities in the private and government schools.

While majority of private schools are equipped with the CCTV network, such basic security measures seem to be a far cry in government schools. "There is staff on the rounds and a comprehensive CCTV network that ensure the safety of children on the school campus. Also, teachers give students a lot of comfort level that helps them to have a free discussion," said Dr K. Mohana, principal of Modern Senior Secondary School.

Government schools, on the other hand, are deprived of any facilities. A senior staffer of the Adi Dravidar Welfare Higher Secondary School in Moulivakkam said, "There are no CCTV cameras in our school. It has to be approved by the chief education officer office."

The concept of sex education is confined to students of high school, even though children around 4 years of age are being sexually assaulted in the country. Most of the schools, Deccan Chronicle spoke to, admitted that their counselling is mostly on suicide prevention and stress management.

"We counsel students of high school twice a year. Most of it relates to the measures to cope up with the exam tension. Sometimes, we also sensitise students about the good and bad touch, but not to students below 10 years of age," said senior staff from the government school.

Top court, CBSE step in

The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and states on a plea by two women lawyers seeking framing of safety conditions for protection of children in schools. A bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud sought replies in three weeks.

CBSE has issued notice to Ryan, saying death could have been averted. The board asked why the schools affiliation should not be withdrawn.

Need for communication most pressing now

Rohini (name changed) was sexually abused by her own brother in the absence of her mother Suneeta, who was working and a single parent to her two children. Even though Rohini informed her mother about the incident, she neither believed her nor took any action to check if it was true.

After two long years of abuse, Rohini committed suicide. Police interrogation revealed that Rohini was sexually abused and tortured for more than two years by her brother, who was later arrested. I thought Rohini wanted to move to a hostel and she was giving excuses for the same. Failing to spend enough time with children, I did not try to talk to them about it. I did not know that her own brother would kill her instead of protecting her, laments Suneeta.

In another instance, Ramani was shocked to learn that her driver assaulted her son Karthik quite often and he had informed his schoolteacher about it. Ramani saw no possibility of sexual assault of a boy and did not believe him when Karthik told her the same. Now, Ramani is leading a campaign to spread awareness against sexual harassment of men.

In spite of several such incidents of sexual harassment by men, our society still has not learnt to identify the problem early and save women. The same happens to children too because of our inability to communicate to them freely. The inhibitions of Indian society are such, say psychologists.

The scenario will change only if mothers try to talk to children early and teach them about what is good touch and what is bad touch. When this newspaper contacted a few parents, most mothers seemed positive about educating children on sexual abuse. However, fathers are still hesitant to talk about it to their children.

Though children may be uneasy in the beginning, they should be told to report such incidents to others including friends, peers, family members and teachers if they are abused. In case of men, fathers need to sensitise boys about sexual abuse by men to their sons such as it may be easier for boys to open up to their fathers on such matters. To attain this ideal of communication is a huge challenge facing Indian society.

Dont shy away from sex education

The large numbers of sexual offences against children recorded in the country brings forth the need of communicating about what needs to be done to better protect the children. Sex education in India is more restricted to sanitary napkins, a lesson on reproductive system in schools, a few medical terms and about pregnancy.

The idea of sex education to reach out to the children in our society as they grow up still remains a taboo in our country. In India, we get to know about sexual abuse of a child only if post-traumatic stress and behavioural changes are noticed, or the child is physically injured. Children fail to talk about it to their parents, said senior psychologist Dr Vivian Kapil.

In western countries, children are provided with sex education at the early age of six or less, whereas Indian parents and teachers are scared of talking about sex. We need to educate the child as soon as he/she is exposed to the outside world, but sex education remains a western concept for many, he said. Sexual abuse in childhood haunts children all their life and can lead to serious consequences such as depression, anxiety, addiction and suicide, he warns.

Children in India are provided access to the television and the internet at an early age where they are exposed to nudity and violence. The content children read or watch on Internet developing an anxiety about physical intimacy, sex, and physical changes, but parents and teachers, tending to link it to cultural and spiritual factors, hesitate to talk about it. This paves the way to miscommunication of information, says psychologist Dr Prabhu Das.

He says that misinformation on sex not only leads to experimentation, but can push children into contemplating suicide due to guilt later. Hence, developing conversation on sexual behaviour by parents and teachers is important for healthy physical and mental growth of the children.
Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan has issued a firm diktat to his son Hrithik Roshan to not talk at all about Kangana Ranaut or any other controversy after being instigated to do so.

A select portion of Bollywood is now supporting Kangana. So Rakesh, being oldschool, doesnt want to create any controversy by speaking out about anyone. In the last few decades, if stars or filmmakers had problems with each other, they hardly spoke about it openly. So much so that when journalists found out about those controversies, the people in question would vehemently deny it.

Today, stars and filmmakers have found a way to vent their frustrations or anger using social media as a tool as they are no more scared that their statements would be misinterpreted. But in these days of Twitter journalism, every tweet or post is taken, twisted and displayed by media the way they want to interpret it. That is why Rakesh has told Hrithik not to react in any way. Karan has also been tweeting some random messages. But Kanganas statements about Rakesh are too personal and hence he does not want Hrithiks name to be dragged into controversies every time, says a source from Rakesh Roshans camp.

Hrithiks lawyer too has told the actor earlier to stay from courting many more controversies. If you see Hrithik Roshan behave maturely at events, avoiding every Kangana or Karan Johar based questions; you know where it is coming from.

Sanskriti Media
No participants in the study suffered any side-effects, reported the American Journal of Mens Heath. (Photo: Pixabay)

Impotence is often associated with older men, but can affect the young too, and this therapy even helped those who were unable to perform with drugs like Viagra.

Researchers pumped 3,000 painless soundwaves into the privates of 52 men once a week for three months, the results showed that two of three men were then able to have sex.

Of those, 94 per cent could still maintain an erection three months after the therapy.

Experts at Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, believe that the shockwaves encouraged the formation of new vessels and boosted blood flow to the penis.

No participants in the study suffered any side-effects, reported the American Journal of Mens Heath.

The private treatment costs 3,000, but former president of the British Society of Sexual Medicine, Dr Geoff Hackett said that funding it could save long-term NHS cash.

He said to the Sun, "Around 30 per cent of patients do not respond to oral therapies such as Viagra.This novel, exciting treatment could help a large group of men and be cheaper than moving them on to injectable therapies that cost thousands each year.

The most discomfort that arises from this treatment is a gentle buzzing while the treatment is in process said Professor Raj Persad, of the North Bristol NHS Trust to the Sun.

He added, This is a harmless treatment with no toxic side effects. The fascinating thing is nobody really knows how it works  but it works.
Injuries to the penis can leave people in excruciating pain and while there are several situations where the risk is high, some people manage to end up in a position which can leave people puzzled. Cases of men ending up with their penis stuck in rings and bottles have shocked the internet, but it doesnt stop there.

In a shocking incident from Germany, fire-fighters had to rescue a man who ended up with his penis stuck in a 2.5 kg gym weight. The rescuers had to use power tools in order to get the mans member out of the weight plate after doctors at a local hospital failed to do so.

While it isnt known what exercise landed the man in such a bizarre situation, a Facebook post advised people to steer clear of such acts. It took the fire-fighters around 3 hours to break the weight plate and free the man from his misery.
19-year-old William Gould posted flyers of his cactus plant around his neighbourhood in Little Rock, Arkansas after it went missing.

TERRENCE (ANSWERS TO TERRY), the poster reads. LAST SEEN ON MY FRONT PORCH ON CENTER STREET.

I will find my son pic.twitter.com/5mceQzZpVi  William D. Gould (@WilliamOfGould) September 6, 2017

If that isn't bizarre enough, the owner has set up a Go Fund Me page to afford a private investigator to find his beloved Terrance. "It was a date that will live forever in infamy," he said in a post on Go Fund Me.

Someone cactus-naped my rescue cactus, Terrence, off of my front porch so yeah I'm extra emo today  William D. Gould (@WilliamOfGould) September 5, 2017

William reveals his story with Terrance when it was tiny. He rescued "him from an abusive household, a friends ex-stepfather was going to throw Terrence away meaning almost certain death."

Before he was "cactus-napped", Gould explains it wasn't easy being "a single father of a cactus" while working and studying. However, he managed to pull through.

During class, he would leave Terrence out on the porch to get sunlight and fresh air.

He told Huffpost that Terrence's brother cactus, Clarence, hasn't talked much since the incident.

Someone going through so much to find a plant definitely deserves to get it back. We wish him well.
About 50 grams of gold metal used to make a dental prosthesis, commonly known as gold teeth was stolen from a dental clinic on 100 feet road near Ashok Nagar.

Chennai: This is one gold heist which might have left patients of a dental clinic with a hole in their pockets had they paid an advance and for an extended while, their dental cavities. About 50 grams of gold metal used to make a dental prosthesis, commonly known as gold teeth was stolen from a dental clinic on 100 feet road near Ashok Nagar.

Police on Friday arrested a 22-year-old - staffer at the dental clinic for stealing the yellow metal worth Rs 2 lakh. Police sources said that the management found about the missing gold metal during an internal audit. Alarmed, the manager approached the Ashok Nagar police with a complaint.

Police personnel headed by inspector (crime) Sankar perused the CCTV footages in the clinic and after interrogating the staff zeroed in on the person who stole the gold. From the beginning, the suspicion was on one of the staff, as they know where the gold is kept.

"One of the office assistants had stolen the gold over a period of time. He claimed that he indulged in stealing to meet the financial requirements of his family and was under the assumption that his acts won't be found out," an investigating officer said.

The staffer, Ashok Kumar (22), who stole the gold is a resident of Madurasamy Mada Street in Thiru vi ka Nagar near Perambur. He has been working in the clinic for less than a year, police sources said. Police recovered the 50-gram gold metal worth Rs 2 lakh from him. Ashok Kumar was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.
Hyderabad: Aditya Papagari, owner of Sapta Spa in Hyderabad, was arrested by the Cyberabad police for his role in human trafficking and organising flesh trade.

Aditya along with his friends has been running this racket for the past one year by trafficking women from Thailand and different states in India. Earlier, the police raided the spas in different parts of the city and arrested 20 persons, including the kingpin Siddarth, and also rescued 43 women, including Thai nationals. Since then, Aditya has been at large. But based on the mobile location, a team of Madhapur police traced him in Chennai and nabbed him. His accountant Narsimha Raju was arrested a few days ago. Both were produced in the court.

According to an official release, Aditya owns a chain of seven spas named Sapta Spa in the city. He had employed women from Thailand and north-eastern states through Siddarth. They were forced into flesh trade.

Aditya is a resident of Tolichowki and runs spas at Raidurgam, Madhapur, Somajiguda, Banjara Hills, Dilsukhnagar and Kompally.
Hyderabad: A TRS Jubilee Hills division incharge and his associate were arrested by Central Zone Task Force team on Saturday with demonetised currency notes worth Rs 1.34 crore.

The arrested accused were identified as Allada Jaya Kumar, 34, who is a sari trader and a resident of Guntur, and Gundu Narasimha Mudiraj, 42, a TRS Jubilee Hills division incharge and a resident of Film Nagar.

Facing financial crisis, Jaya Kumar was looking for an agent to dispose of the demonetised currency. He came into contact with Narasimha Mudiraj and asked him to find a buyer in Hyderabad. Accordingly, Narasimha arranged a buyer at 30 per cent commission, said additional DCP, task force C. Shashidhar Raju. Three days ago, Narasimha called Jaya Kumar and asked him to bring the currency notes to Hyderabad.

On Saturday, Jaya Kumar came to Apollo Hospital in Jubilee Hills along with the currency and met Narasimha. While they were waiting for the buyer in a car, the task force personnel apprehended them and seized the demonetised notes, added DCP Mr Raju.

The accused were handed over to the Banjara Hills police for further investigation.
A few weeks later, the prime accused again sexually assaulted her and two of his friends, who are studying in 9th standard, joined him. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: Three juveniles, including two ninth standard students, who raped an eight standard girl in a corporate school in the Old City for 10 months, were arrested on Saturday, the Bhavaninagar police said. The prime accused is a scavenger.

According to the police, the prime accused forcibly took the girl to his house ten months ago while she was going to her friends place and raped her.

He threatened the victim saying that he will inform her parents about her relationship with other boys, said Mr Mohammed Tajuddin Ahmed, ACP.

A few weeks later, the prime accused again sexually assaulted her and two of his friends, who are studying in 9th standard, joined him. They exploited the girl for ten months. Recently, the girl complained about stomach ache to her mother and visited the family doctor who referred her to a gynaecologist.

The doctor informed the mother that her daughter was pregnant. The girl then informed her parents about the sexual assault, the official said.

The family approached the police and lodged a complaint against the three teenagers for sexual assault.
Singh was a fearless and exceptional pilot who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Air Force Marshal Arjan Singh, an icon of Indias military history, will always be remembered as a war hero who had successfully led a young IAF during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

Singh, known for his role in the 1965 Indo-Pak war, was admitted to the Army Hospital Research and Referral after he suffered a heart attack. He was the only officer to attain the highest post of Marshal, the Air Force equivalent to the Armys five star field marshal.

Singh was a fearless and exceptional pilot who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and IAF chief BS Dhanoa had visited Singh at the hospital earlier on Saturday.

In a series of tweets, Modi condoled the death of Singh and said, India will never forget the excellent leadership of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh in 1965, when the IAF saw substantial action.

An icon of the Indian military history, Singh had led a young IAF into the war in 1965 when he was hardly 44 years of age.

His contribution to the Indian Air Force is monumental to the least. The IAF grew with him. He was epitome of military leadership in classical sense and it is, therefore, not surprising that he was honoured with the rank of Air Force Marshal, former Vice Chief of IAF Kapil Kak said.

Singh was honoured with the rank of Marshal on the Republic Day in 2002. Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw and K M Cariappa were the only two army generals honoured with the rank of field marshal.

Known as a man of few words, Singh was not only a fearless pilot but had profound knowledge about air power and applied it in a wide spectrum of areas.

Singh had assiduously led the IAF during the 1965 war and denied success to Pakistani air force though it was better equipped with American support.

His most outstanding contribution was during that war, said Kak.

Commending his role in the war, Y B Chavan, the then Defence Minister had written: Air Marshal Arjan Singh is a jewel of a person, quiet efficient and firm; unexcitable but a very able leader.

In 1944, the Marshal had led a squadron against the Japanese during the Arakan Campaign, flying close air support missions during the crucial Imphal Campaign and later assisted the advance of the Allied Forces to Yangoon.

In recognition of his feat, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on the spot by the Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia, the first Indian pilot to receive it.

Singh was selected for the Empire Pilot training course at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cranwell in 1938 when he was 19 years old. He retired from service in 1969.

Singh was born on April 15, 1919, in Lyalpur (now Faislabad, Pakistan), and completed his education at Montgomery (now Sahiwal, Pakistan).

His first assignment on being commissioned was to fly Westland Wapiti biplanes in the North-Western Frontier Province as a member of the No.1 RIAF Squadron.

After a brief stint with the newly formed No. 2 RIAF Squadron where the Marshal flew against the tribal forces, he later moved back to No.1 Sqn as a Flying Officer to fly the Hawker Hurricane.

He was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944.

For his role in successfully leading the squadron in combat, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944.

On August 15, 1947, he achieved the unique honour of leading a fly-past of over a hundred IAF aircraft over the Red Fort in Delhi.

After his promotion to the rank of Wing Commander, he attended the Royal Staff College at the UK. Immediately after Indian independence, he commanded Ambala in the rank of Group Captain.

In 1949, he was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore and took over as Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of an operational command, which later came to be known as Western Air Command.

Singh had the distinction of having the longest tenure as AOC of an operational base, initially from 1949-1952 and then again from 1957-1961.

After his promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he was appointed as the AOC-in-C of an operational command.

Towards the end of the 1962 war, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and he became the Vice Chief of the Air Staff in 1963. He was the overall commander of the joint air training exercise Shiksha held between IAF, RAF (Royal Air Force) and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force).

On August 1, 1964, in the rank of Air Marshal, the Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh took over reins of IAF, at a time when it was still rebuilding itself and was gearing up to meet new challenges.

Singh was the first Air Chief to keep his flying currency till his CAS rank.

Having flown over 60 different types of aircraft from pre-World War II era biplanes to the more contemporary, Gnats and Vampires, he has also flown in transport aircraft like the Super Constellation.

In 1965, when Pakistan launched its Operation Grand Slam, with an armoured thrust targeted at the vital town of Akhnoor, Singh led IAF through the war with courage, determination and professional skill.

He inspired IAF to victory, despite the constraints imposed on the full-scale use of Air Force combat power.

Singh was awarded Padma Vibhushan for his astute leadership of the Air Force during the war.

Subsequently in recognition of the Air Forces contribution during the war, the rank of the CAS was upgraded and Arjan Singh became the first Air Chief Marshal of the Indian Air Force.

He remained a flyer to the end of his tenure in IAF, visiting forward bases and units and flying with the squadrons.

He retired in August 1969, there upon accepting Ambassadorship to Switzerland. He was Lieutenant Governor of Delhi from December 1989 to December 1990.

Having been a source of inspiration to all personnel of Armed Forces through the years, government conferred the rank of the Marshal of the Air Force upon Arjan Singh in January 2002 making him the first and the only Five Star rank officer with Indian Air Force.
Salesian father Tom Uzhunnalil speaks during a press conference on September 16, 2017 in Rome, after been released after being kidnapped in Yemen. (Photo: AFP)

Rome: A Catholic priest from India who was freed after being held 18 months in Yemen said on Saturday that he was never physically harmed, even if his captors feigned hitting him on videos released during his captivity.

Rev Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kerala, was kidnapped from a home for senior citizens in Aden, southern Yemen, established by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in March 2016. Four nuns were killed during the attack.

Uzhunnalil's voice broke as he publicly expressed his condolences. "I thank God almighty for this day. He saved me healthy enough. Clear mind. Emotions under control until now," the 59 -year-old Uzhunnalil said.

"God has been extremely kind to me. No gun was pointed at me."

Officials said they had no knowledge of a ransom having been paid.

Uzhunnalil said that when the home for senior citizens was attacked, he identified himself as an Indian and he was brought to another room "while they killed the others."

Indian officials announced his release on Tuesday, and images show a bearded, gaunt Uzhunnalil descending from an airplane in Muscat, Oman.

The priest said he had been transferred from Yemen by car to Oman, and then brought by air to the capital before continuing his journey to Rome. The priest said he didn't know his kidnappers' identities or affiliations and believed their motive was ransom, although the head of Uzhunnalil's Salesian order, Don A F Artime, said they had no knowledge of any ransom having been paid.

"No one ever told us that they asked for money. No one asked us for even a euro," Artime said. "We don't know anything about this. This is the whole truth. And I believe that Father Tom knows even less."

The mechanisms behind his release also were unclear, but the Vatican has thanked the Sultan of Oman in a statement and Uzhunnalil offered his gratitude to Indian leaders. The priest said that his captors never harmed him, even if in some videos they made it appear that way in an effort to get a speedy response in negotiations.

They provided tablets to treat his diabetes and took care of his basic needs. He was transferred several times during his captivity, but he doesn't know where he was held. His captors kept their faces covered in his presence, he said.

Artime said the priest lost about 30 kilogrammes during the ordeal, and described his health as "very delicate, very weak," adding "he is calm of spirit."

During his captivity, Uzhunnalil said he prayed and exercised his mind by reciting Mass by memory. When he was loaded into the trunk of a car when he was first kidnapped, Uzhunnalil said that the tabernacle from the altar inside the senior home was at his feet. His hands weren't tied, and he was able to reach under the velvet cloth and touch it, confirming that it contained four or five Eucharistic hosts that he had blessed the day before. "So I said to myself, without the knowledge of God, nothing will happen to me," he said.
Chennai: The Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra has asked judges and advocates to commence the trial on time as maintaining punctuality is a facet of Rule of Law, which a basic feature of the Constitution.

Delivering the presidential address in 125th-year celebrations of Madras high court heritage building on Saturday, Justice Dipak Misra said members of the Bench and assisting counsel should understand it is an obligation. Sitting on time and maintaining punctuality is a facet of Rule of Law, a basic feature of the Constitution. Any counsel should not suffer from the disease of adjournment. And develop a sense of anti-adjournments. He recommended the judges to read a book - 'Judges Disease', and not to suffer from judges disease.

He said the Madras high court heritage building stands as an embodiment of architectural monuments and a great tradition set by talented judges and lawyers.

He said modernisation and liberal economy pose new problems that challenge the acumen of the Bar and judiciary. There is a need to enhance the knowledge and skills in the ever-changing world of science and technology.

Union minister of law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Madras high court is known for its judicial history. Today, the court has laid a big foundation that the high court can also be known by its architectural history. The court buildings also instil assurance and command authority.

He pointed out that over 2.97 lakh cases were pending before the Madras high court and subordinate courts 10.99 lakh. Stating that the delivery of justice must become a mass movement he said the government and judiciary must launch mission mode initiate to dispose of all the cases, which are more than 10 years old. Disposal of these cases must be settled on a priority basis. The government and the judiciary must work together to achieve the target. He hoped with the judiciary and government would take steps to dispose of these cases soon.

Last year the Central government has appointed 126 HC judges, the highest ever in the history in a year. Since 1989, an average of 75 to 83 judges appointed per year. However, this year, so far, the government appointed 75 judges, and by September this number will cross 100 and by the end of the year, the number likely to cross 126.

Last year 22 judges were appointed to Madras high court and this year six have been appointed and 11 recommendations have come so far, he said.

Expressing his condolence to former CM, J. Jayalalithaa, he stated that she passed away rather early. "When I told her she had a perfect legal mind and in reply, Jaya informed me that 'I regret not being a lawyer and therefore I compensate for that when I prepare for my own case"

Pending cases

Of the 2.97 lakh pending cases in Tamil Nadu, a little over 77,000 cases are over 10 years, Union minister of law and justice, electronics and IT Ravishankar Prasad Prasad noted, and called for a mission-mode initiative for their disposal.
German-national Friederike take cares cows in Mathura Mathura: German-national Friederike, who takes care of about 1200 cows and calves, mostly injured, sick and abandoned, in Radha Kund, Mathura. (Photo: PTI)

Mathura: As many as 1,200 cows  mostly abandoned, sick and injured  have found a saviour in 59-year-old German woman Friederike Irina Bruning. When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of what destiny had in store for her.

"I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund," she said while narrating her journey in Mathura. She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

"I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk," she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as 'Surbhai Gauseva Niketan'.

Bruning landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of what destiny had in store for her. (Photo: PTI)

"They are like my children and I cannot leave them," she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

"Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leave a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in," she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows, needing special care, are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured cows needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure. When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs. 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, food grain and salaries of about 60 workers.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine. (Photo: PTI)

"I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work," she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, "I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children."

The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year.

"I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. It's the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala," she said.
The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961 by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. (Photo: Twitter/Narendra Modi)

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the world's second biggest dam, Sardar Sarovar Dam, and said citizens should leave no stone unturned in creating a 'New India' by 2022.

Addressing a gathering after the inauguration, Modi said, "Let us leave no stone unturned in creating a New India by 2022, when we mark 75 years of Indias freedom."

He further thanked the people for attending the event and extended his greetings on Vishwakarma Jayanti.

"I salute all those working hard to build the nation," he added.

Remembering Sardar Patel and Dr Ambedkar as ministers who gave great emphasis to irrigation and waterways, he said that for some reason, Sardar Patel was not given the credit he deserved after independence.

"He would be happy if he were alive. Imagine his vision that he envisioned this dam to help farmers and citizens," said Modi while addressing the people.

"The dam will not only change the fate of farmers in Gujarat, but also Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan," he added.

Stressing on the hurdles Sardar Sarovar project faced, he said that a lot of people came in the way of the project, but the determination to complete it kept them going.

"When I was the Gujarat Chief Minister, I had gone to border areas where I saw BSF Jawans do not have water. But I ensured they get clean drinking water from Narmada," he said.

"When the World Bank had refused to help build Sardar Sarovar dam, the saints and seers of Gujarat donated money to make it possible, he added.

Modi claimed that the Sardar Sarovar Dam will transform lives and help several citizens.

After performing a puja, he unveiled the plaque dedicating the dam to the nation on his 67th birthday.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961 by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. However, it took 56 years to complete its construction.

Modi's visit, which has added significance as assembly elections are due in Gujarat by the year-end, is the second in less than a week after he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the state and launched the bullet train project.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were present on the occasion.

Earlier, Modi had stressed that the dam will start a new chapter in the prosperity of the state.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had called the project as "Gujarats lifeline" noting that the agriculture income and production of farmers in the state more than doubled because of it.

The height of the dam was recently raised to 138.68 metres, which will allow maximum 'usable storage' of 4.73 million acre feet of water.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Congress has claimed that the project is not complete and canals of 43,000 km length were yet to be built despite the BJP ruling the state for 22 years.

(With inputs from PTI)
Hyderabad: For over seven decades, a 23,000 sq. yd parcel of land adjacent to the Macca Masjid has been the home of people displaced during Operation Polo, better known as the Police Action.

The Muhajireen (refugee) camp came up on what was then the parking lot of the Masjid, where the nobility used to park their horse-drawn carriages and proceed to offer prayers.

Forty-eight-year-old Ghani Miya says that his family migrated to the city and settled down in Muhajireen camp in the aftermath of the Indian Army entering Hyderabad State as it was known then.

As the years passed, the temporary camp became the permanent address for Mr Ghani Miyas family, an others like him.

The camp now has small tenements housing families of up to eight members who pay a monthly rent to the minorities welfare department.

My father fled the violence in Aurangabad and took shelter in the camp here. He used to tell us that his family was among the affluent ones, but lost everything during the riots and fled to save their life, Mr Ghani Miya recalls.

Congress leader Mohammed Ghouse says that around 200 families took shelter in the almost 23,000 sq. yd parking lot of the historic Masjid.

They have continued to live here for generations and eke out their livelihood by doing menial jobs. Seventy years have passed but their lives have not chan-ged. A handful of families have moved away to other localities and stay in rented premises, said Mr Ghouse.

The men here go and work in neighbouring markets as rickshaw-pullers or salesmen, while the women make bangles from lac.

Historian M.A. Qayyum says that several Muhajireen camps were set up in Hyderabad as there was no major riots in the city at that time. People from Auranga-bad, Parbhani, Osmanabad, Nanded, Gulbarga, Latur and other districts of what is now Maha-rashtra and Karnataka came in hordes to Hyderabad then. These areas were all part of the Nizams Dominions. They were accommodated in temporary camps where they continue to stay, he explained.

Over a period of time, the other camps were wound up and people moved over to new colonies while many returned to their native places.

It is the only place in the city that relates directly to the events of Police Action and every house here has a tragic tale to tell, says Mr Ghouse.

Masjid authorities seek return of land

The Macca Masjid authorities have written to the government to hand over the Muhajireen camp land to the mosque so that it can again be used as a parking lot.

The land measuring about 23,000 sq. yd. was bought and endowed to the Masjid by Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan in the 1930s. It served as a parking place till 1948 when families who were displaced during the Police Action were given temporary shelter. Of late, permanent buildings have come up on the land parcel, said Masjid superintendent Mohammed Abdul Qadeer Siddiqui.

During the 1940s, carriages of the Nizams family were parked on this land and they entered the mosque from the north gate. Later, the eastern gate was used as the main entrance and an additional gate was opened to allow vehicles inside the mosque.

Soon the entire area will be converted into pedestrian zone and we will need some parking space. So we have written to the government to relocate those staying in the Muhajireen camp and hand over the land back to the Masjid, said Mr Siddiqui.
Russian military aviation firm MiG on Sunday said it was not averse to the transfer of technology and joint development of MiG-29 K jets with Indian companies. (File photo)

New Delhi: Eyeing a multi-billion dollar contract from the Indian Navy for the supply of fighter aircraft, Russian military aviation firm MiG on Sunday said it was not averse to the transfer of technology and joint development of MiG-29 K jets with Indian companies.

MiG CEO Ilya Tarasenko said his company would submit a detailed proposal to the Indian government shortly, detailing its readiness for the joint development of aircraft for the Navy to deepen its already close engagement with India.

We are considering various options for long-term and perspective cooperation, including those within the framework of the Make in India programme, Tarasenko told PTI in a written interview.

In January, the Indian Navy had kick-started the process of procuring 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its carriers by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to leading military jet makers.

Currently, six planes are compatible for the aircraft carrier  Rafale (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MIG-29K (Russia), F-35B and F-35C (Lockheed Martin, US) and Gripen (Saab, Sweden). While F-18, Rafale and MIG-29K are twin-engine jets, the other three have a single engine.

Tarasenko said MiG had been working with Indian defence forces for more than 50 years, delivering planes and providing service.

He said the company was eager to further strengthen its relationship with India.

Russia has been one of Indias key suppliers of arms and ammunition. Then defence minister Arun Jaitley had visited Russia in June during which the issue of transfer of technology and joint development of high-end military platforms and weapons systems were discussed at length.

Hard-selling MiG-29K as the best option for the Indian Navy, Tarasenko said a fleet of the aircraft had operated from Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as part of its operations in Syria recently and showed excellent results, including in striking ground targets.

He said the MiG-29K was part of the recent Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, the US and Japan and it proved its operational prowess while operating from the Indian Navys aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Tarasenko claimed MiG-29K aircraft have serious tactical and technical advantages compared to Boeings F/A-18.

In addition, the MiG-29K aircraft were successfully tested in combat conditions as part of the Russian Navys military squadron in the Mediterranean in 2016 and have a unique experience of real combat use, he said.

The US defence major has offered to set up a manufacturing facility in India for the production of its F/A- 18 Super Hornet aircraft, if the company gets contracts for their supply.

At present, the Navy operates 45 MIG-29K jets.

The RFI by the Indian Navy says the aircraft required by it should be day-and-night capable, all-weather, multi-role, deck-based combat aircraft which can be used for air defence, air-to-surface operations, buddy refuelling, reconnaissance etc. from IN aircraft carriers.

The Indian side has sent an RFI to companies that produce aircraft, which is one of the procedures preceding the official tender. MiG corporation has received such a request, now we are preparing our proposal, Tarasenko said.

In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government had in May unveiled a strategic partnership model under which select private firms would be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms such as fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.
Singh was a fearless and exceptional pilot who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: A state funeral will be accorded to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and the national flag will fly at half mast in all government buildings in Delhi on Monday in his honour, the Home ministry said on Sunday.

The last rites of Singh, who passed away at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital on Saturday, would be performed at Brar Square in Delhi at 10:am on Monday.

"As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, a state funeral will be accorded and national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral (September 18) in Delhi on all buildings where it is flown regularly," a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

Singh was a fearless and exceptional pilot who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and IAF chief BS Dhanoa had visited Singh at the hospital earlier on Saturday.

In a series of tweets, Modi condoled the death of Singh and said, India will never forget the excellent leadership of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh in 1965, when the IAF saw substantial action.

An icon of the Indian military history, Singh had led a young IAF into the war in 1965 when he was hardly 44 years of age.

His contribution to the Indian Air Force is monumental to the least. The IAF grew with him. He was epitome of military leadership in classical sense and it is, therefore, not surprising that he was honoured with the rank of Air Force Marshal, former Vice Chief of IAF Kapil Kak said.

Singh was honoured with the rank of Marshal on the Republic Day in 2002. Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw and K M Cariappa were the only two army generals honoured with the rank of field marshal.

Known as a man of few words, Singh was not only a fearless pilot but had profound knowledge about air power and applied it in a wide spectrum of areas.

Singh had assiduously led the IAF during the 1965 war and denied success to Pakistani air force though it was better equipped with American support.

His most outstanding contribution was during that war, said Kak.

Commending his role in the war, Y B Chavan, the then Defence Minister had written: Air Marshal Arjan Singh is a jewel of a person, quiet efficient and firm; unexcitable but a very able leader.

In 1944, the Marshal had led a squadron against the Japanese during the Arakan Campaign, flying close air support missions during the crucial Imphal Campaign and later assisted the advance of the Allied Forces to Yangoon.

In recognition of his feat, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on the spot by the Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia, the first Indian pilot to receive it.

Singh was selected for the Empire Pilot training course at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cranwell in 1938 when he was 19 years old. He retired from service in 1969.

Singh was born on April 15, 1919, in Lyalpur (now Faislabad, Pakistan), and completed his education at Montgomery (now Sahiwal, Pakistan).

His first assignment on being commissioned was to fly Westland Wapiti biplanes in the North-Western Frontier Province as a member of the No.1 RIAF Squadron.

After a brief stint with the newly formed No. 2 RIAF Squadron where the Marshal flew against the tribal forces, he later moved back to No.1 Sqn as a Flying Officer to fly the Hawker Hurricane.

He was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944.

For his role in successfully leading the squadron in combat, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944.

On August 15, 1947, he achieved the unique honour of leading a fly-past of over a hundred IAF aircraft over the Red Fort in Delhi.

After his promotion to the rank of Wing Commander, he attended the Royal Staff College at the UK. Immediately after Indian independence, he commanded Ambala in the rank of Group Captain.

In 1949, he was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore and took over as Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of an operational command, which later came to be known as Western Air Command.

Singh had the distinction of having the longest tenure as AOC of an operational base, initially from 1949-1952 and then again from 1957-1961.

After his promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he was appointed as the AOC-in-C of an operational command.

Towards the end of the 1962 war, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and he became the Vice Chief of the Air Staff in 1963. He was the overall commander of the joint air training exercise Shiksha held between IAF, RAF (Royal Air Force) and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force).

On August 1, 1964, in the rank of Air Marshal, the Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh took over reins of IAF, at a time when it was still rebuilding itself and was gearing up to meet new challenges.

Singh was the first Air Chief to keep his flying currency till his CAS rank.

Having flown over 60 different types of aircraft from pre-World War II era biplanes to the more contemporary, Gnats and Vampires, he has also flown in transport aircraft like the Super Constellation.

In 1965, when Pakistan launched its Operation Grand Slam, with an armoured thrust targeted at the vital town of Akhnoor, Singh led IAF through the war with courage, determination and professional skill.

He inspired IAF to victory, despite the constraints imposed on the full-scale use of Air Force combat power.

Singh was awarded Padma Vibhushan for his astute leadership of the Air Force during the war.

Subsequently in recognition of the Air Forces contribution during the war, the rank of the CAS was upgraded and Arjan Singh became the first Air Chief Marshal of the Indian Air Force.

He remained a flyer to the end of his tenure in IAF, visiting forward bases and units and flying with the squadrons.

He retired in August 1969, there upon accepting Ambassadorship to Switzerland. He was Lieutenant Governor of Delhi from December 1989 to December 1990.

Having been a source of inspiration to all personnel of Armed Forces through the years, government conferred the rank of the Marshal of the Air Force upon Arjan Singh in January 2002 making him the first and the only Five Star rank officer with Indian Air Force.
Minister of State for Tourism (I/C) and Electronics & Information Technology, Alphons Kannanthanam participating in a cleanliness drive as part of Swachhta Hi Sewa campaign, organised by Ministry of Tourism, in New Delhi on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Union Minister KJ Alphons Kannanthanam on Sunday landed at the India Gate lawns in Delhi as part of the fortnight-long 'Swachhta Hi Seva' campaign only to find no garbage at the designated places.

To the surprise of ministry officials and volunteers, mostly college students, who frantically went about "arranging" some garbage for Kannanthanam, the newly appointed tourism minister began collecting litter, including empty water bottles, pan masala sachets, ice cream cups and dry leaves with his hands.

Many onlookers did not recognise the minister as he shook hands with them, patted some on the back, while asking people to keep the place clean.

He also chatted with those selling street food like golgappas, asking them questions about how much they earned and advising them to ask their customers to throw the leftover food and plates into the dustbin.

"How much do you earn per day? Do you tell customers to throw the waste plates and tissues in the dustbin kept with you? Help us in making India clean."

The Minister said though a place like India gate is cleaned everyday, there was a need to improve cleanliness. When asked whether he stands by what he had said yesterday over fuel price hike, the minister did not comment.

The India Gate is one of the 15 tourist sites selected by the Ministry of Tourism where the cleanliness campaign will be carried out and popularised by roping in celebrities during the 14-day period, the minister said.

"We are out here cleaning India Gate. Cleaning programmes are going on across the country. The message is we have to keep India clean. Everybody and not just government officials will have participate in this. And it has to be an everyday operation, not just once in a year and not just for the camera," the minister said.

The other tourist destinations where cleanliness and awareness activities will be conducted by the ministry include Rishikesh Ghats in Uttarakhand, Juhu Beach in Mumbai, Dakshineshwar Temple and Belur Math in Kolkata, Kovalam Beach in Kerala and Kamakhaya temple in Guwahati.

Apart from this, 30 additional sites would also be covered during the campaign, said a senior ministry official.
Nizamabad: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday categorically stated that unless Pakistan puts an end to the 'export' of terrorism to India, there will be no point in holding diplomatic talks between the two nations.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in Nizamabad, Rajnath claimed that India has always extended its cooperation to Pakistan in maintaining friendly relations with its neighbour, but no substantial response has been given. Rather, attempts have been made to further weaken India, he said.

"India aims to maintain friendly relations with all countries, and the same goes for Pakistan. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a meeting with their leaders, it was to build a better relation. But they do not seem to understand the point. Unless cross-border terrorism ends, there will be no point in holding talks," he said.

"When firing began from Pakistan side during the ceasefire violation, I was informed by the Director General of the Border Security Force ( BSF) that India had waved a white flag as a gesture of wanting to resolve the matter by holding talks. However, since no response was given, I ordered them that India will not begin any gun battle; but in retaliation, if firing is required then India will no longer hold back," he added.

Re-iterating Modi's vision of creating a 'New India' by 2022, Rajnath stated that India is no longer weak, and is emerging as a superpower that 'nobody would dare to challenge'. He also opined that if India can move from being colonized to gaining Independence in five years, even the mission of New India can be fulfilled.

With regards to the action taken against black money, benami property and shell companies, Rajnath stated that although waging a war against corruption was not easy, all necessary measures were taken to end the menace in the society, following which over two lakh shell companies and Rs 800 crore worth of benami property has been seized so far.

"During the previous government, corruption charges always existed. Many of them have even gone to jail. The Supreme Court demanded that an SIT be constituted, but this was not done. Under Prime Minister Modi, we made it to end corruption in the society. We have seized benami property worth Rs. 800 Crore along with a crackdown on nearly 2 lakh shell companies. We will continue to wage our war against corruption, and bring out a New India with no poverty, homelessness, terrorism or naxalism," assured Rajnath.

Re-iterating the emphasis of the government on uplifting the common man, Rajnath claimed that many medical subsidies have been brought in to ensure better medical facilities to the poor, such as that on stents, medicines and procedures like dialysis and so on.

Remembering those who fought for India's freedom, Rajnath urged that India should not be divided based on any caste, creed, language or religion, adding that anti-national forces opposing our unity will not be tolerated.
Overflowing drains, flooded homes and waterlogged roads - the monsoon is a difficult time for Bengaluru. Authorities, who make many promises, rarely see them through, opting instead for short-term, reactive measures that no doubt line the pockets of corrupt officials and contractors. The Chief Ministers inspection of the city, however, resulted in him waiting it out through a traffic jam, dealing with a broken down bus and walking, shawl over nose to keep out the stench, through some of the areas that were worst -hit by the recent flooding. Is this the push our authorities need to bring about a real change? Tara Krishnaswamy and Srinivas Alavilli, members of Citizens for Bengaluru, talk to Joyeeta Chakravorty about how patchwork solutions might be necessary but are not the ultimate answer to our citys woes.

Earlier this week, CM Siddaramaiah set out on an inspection of the city. He may, however, have got more than he bargained for! At Kumbara Gundi off J.C. Road, the first stop, the CM found the stench from overflowing stormwater drains so unbearable that he covered his nose. He ordered the demolition of three buildings. On the way to HSR Layout, (the CM decided to board a Volvo), he got a taste of Bengaluru's traffic jams. His bus broke down towards the end of the journey and the CM was forced to depart hurriedly in his car. As Bengaluru awoke to the news the next morning, it seemed as if hope had come at last. Is a single bad experience enough to make the government pull up its socks?

"I dont think this will bring about a long lasting solution. A single event cant contribute to a lasting change, or even create a lasting ripple effect, argues Tara Krishnaswamy, coordinator, Citizens for Bengaluru. Srinivas Alavilli, also a CfB member, agrees, however, that the experience is a rare one. He is known to be a grassroots person, not an A/C politician. I felt a sense of joy that he could finally feel, smell and hear the real problems dogging the city.

The CM may have made a sombre exit but not without ordering a host of remedies, including an allocation of `15 crore to the Shanthinagar MLA to fix problems in the area. This patchwork is necessary, emphasises Tara. However, the city needs far more than that. The issue is so much bigger than a single day! The CM has made promises and assurances, yes, but whether or not they are brought to fruition remains to be seen!

Nodding his agreement, Srinivas says, "The problem is not what a CM or the PM can do, but what the mayor or the local corporators can do. Mr Siddaramaiahs instructions to officials arent exactly long term. He has no real power or intervention in this effort. The real solution is to empower the city government, local corporators and Mayor and enable them to bring about the necessary changes. We may have seen a better solution emerge if the Mayor had been caught in traffic instead!"

Perhaps this attitude boils down to the remnants of a feudal mindset, one that the Indian bureaucracy simply hasnt been able to shrug off. Elected representatives think of themselves as monarchs who need to pay their subjects a visit, remarks Tara. This isnt true only of Karnataka, it happens in every state. Sadly, citizens are to blame too, for we treat our politicians like kings. We need to be more vigilant and act as one of the strong pillars of nation building. Unless we do this, we will continue to fail our city. Lets play our roles as vigilant citizens and demand what is rightfully ours.

Sums up Srinivas, We have to let go of this VIP attitude and give local corporators and government more power to change the city. Otherwise, the CMs plight in traffic will end up being just another incident.
Amar Singh said he would criticise Modi if he found any flaw in him. (Photo: File)

Indore: Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Saturday said that he was not averse to joining the BJP, but he hadn't got any invite from the party, nor had he applied to it.

"The BJP is a very big political party. I won't say that I will not join the BJP if I get the chance, but who is giving me the chance? I haven't sent them any request letter either," Singh said.

Singh said he would certainly criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he found any flaw in him.

However, who can deny Modi's mother and close relatives "are still living like commoners and go to government hospitals for treatment", Singh said.

"The Congress abstained from the special session of Parliament convened for the launch of Goods and Services Tax only because Modi was going to make the announcement of the new tax regime," he said.

Singh also took a potshot at rebel JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav's 'Save Composite Culture' campaign, asking whether Yadav didn't notice any communal atmosphere in the country when he was the convener of the NDA during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led regime.

Communalism and secularism have become a joke in today's politics, he said.
He was reportedly pro-mised a job of a helper. But his employer forced him to take care of camels. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Syed Sadeq, a resident of Tallabkatta in Old City, who was confined by his Saudi employer, returned to the city after his case was taken up by the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia and Golden Telangana Welfare Association (GTWA), a social organisation working in the Gulf countries.

Mr Sadeq went to Saudi Arabia last year after paying Rs 1 lakh to an agent in Attapur. He was reportedly pro-mised a job of a helper. But his employer forced him to take care of camels.

I was brutally beaten up twice by my employer. He did not provide me food and water. He was bothered only about the well being of camels, he said.

The picture of Mr Sadeq in inhumane condition, caught public attention following which his family took the matter with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who directed the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to look into the case immediately. After several rounds of talks, the employer released him.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said that the state government would provide buffaloes at subsided rates to two lakh dairy farmers to increase milk production in the state.

Mr Rao announced an incentive of Rs 4 per litre for farmers supplying milk to cooperative society dairies on par with the government-owned Vijaya Dairy.

Mr Rao said the state required one crore litres of milk a day, but the dairies were producing only seven lakh litres, making the state heavily dependent on imports from other states. He was speaking at a meeting with milk producers at Pragathi Bhavan.

Mr Rao said that the government would come out with a scheme for the development of the sector in which dairy farmers from Vijaya Dairy Development Society, Mu-lkanur Dairy Develop-ment Society, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy District Dairy Development Soci-eties will be given top priority.

He said the government through dairy development societies will provide 50 per cent subsidy for dairy farmers for buying a buffalo and 75 per cent subsidy for SC/STs within two months.

Karnataka is supplying 6 lakh litres, AP 4 lakh and Gujarat 2 lakh litres to Telangana state every day. This situation should change. There is a need to bring about milk revolution. I will personally formulate the scheme, Mr Rao said.

He said the government was committed to improving each and every sector in the state with innovative and practical schemes.

Though there are 35 lakh Yadav and Kuruma families, we are importing meat from other states. There are 40 lakh Mudiraj and Bestha families, but about 40 truckloads of fish are being imported daily. Hyderabad is importing 650 truckloads of sheep. This is the reason we launched the sheep distribution scheme at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore, Mr Rao said.

We are implementing the distribution of fingerlings to Mudiraj and Bestha families. The aim is to make the state self-sufficient in its demand for meat and fish besides exporting to other states and abroad, the CM said.
D. Arvind, son of TRS MP D. Srinivas, felicitates Union home minister Rajnath Singh at Nizamabad. Mr Arvind joined the BJP at the event. (Photo: DC)

NIZAMABAD: Union home minister Rajnath Singh said there would be no talks with Pakistan as long as it tries to destabilise India by pushing in terrorists.

Speaking at a public meeting at the Polytechnic College Ground here to mark Telangana Liberation Day, Mr Singh said some people were suggesting that India should engage in talks with Pakistan.

We are ready to talk to anyone. But Pakistan is unable to understand this. Till Pakistan does not stop its attempts to destabilise and weaken India by encouraging cross-border terrorism, holding talks with it has no meaning.

Rajnath: Black time till liberation

The government is determined to stop all sorts of destabilising activities in the country, he said, and alleged that Pakistan is violating ceasefire agreements.

Mr Singh said the Congress regime had witnessed huge scams but the Narendra Modi-led government had not faced a single corruption charge in the last three years.

Mr Singh appreciated the partys Telangana state leaders for celebrating Liberation Day for the last two decades.

He said the period between August 15, 1947, and September 17, 1948, was a black chapter in the Indian history as some parts had remained under the Nizams rule even after Independence.

While Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel achieved political unification, Dr B.R. Ambedkar achieved social and constitutional unity, he said. Today, we have to take a pledge that we will ensure that the country will not be divided on the lines of community, caste and language, he said.
Medical profession is quite fascinating and their case histories, still more interesting. As a literary editor, those raw manuscripts by medical practitioners are my favorite ones. I could enjoy a surgeons account of his dance on knifes edge as much as I did an Atul Gawande. As a reader, I delighted in the romantic and idealistic portrayals in The Citadel or movies like Anand Ashram, Tere Mere Sapne or moralistic ones like Munnabhai MBBS  they all show different facets of the man in white coat.

Despite all the adulation and admiration for the noble profession, one always has a feeling that it is an imperfect science  life or death depends on the kind of decisions these semi-gods take, based on conscious learning and unconscious knowledge. At the end of the day, questions will be: Are there always wiser decisions? Could choices have been better? There is always a chance of erring; for, human judgment, even from an expert, falls well short of certainty.

There have been attempts to overcome this. With advanced technology, it is believed that artificial neural networking can make sophisticated clinical decisions. The first to moot this idea was William Baxt in the 1990s, who suggested that expert systems learn from experience as much as humans do. He believed their guesswork could be improved by incorporating feedback from each success and each failure and that computer can outperform doctors in diagnosing heart attacks.

In a later study by Edenbrandt, Swedish cardiologist Ohlin was pitted against the machine in which out of 2,240 EKGs, the human doctor correctly picked up 620 whereas the computer could do 738 correctly. The machine beat man by 20 percent.

Diagnosis thus becomes the keyword. Exactly five years back, an eminent cardiologist lost his life to liver disease. An expert in the diagnostic and treatment methods of angiogram and angioplasty, he had the best facilities at arms length. Unfortunately, he had chosen to ignore his fathers  himself a well-known physician -diagnosis and follow his own.

Such fatal errors in judgment occur all the time. Luckily some of them have better endings.Thanks to a good physicians intervention, my husband escaped from acute renal failure, wrongly diagnosed as gastro. A well-meaning orthopaedic surgeon forced my friend to cancel her full knee replacement surgery. According to his diagnosis, there was a need only for a half replacement, which is less cumbersome and less risky. Though they had to get it done in another city, the result was positive.Another one was still better. A middle-aged aunt of mine, a mother of three, got her bloating stomach diagnosed as tumor and discoveredon the operation table that it was live - her fourth child. Imperfect science indeed

(Formerly Librarian, The British Library, Trivandrum & SCERT Kerala)
Electroshoe (left) can be used to electrocute molesters with a single kick. It also sends off an alert to the nearest police station.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based teenager Siddharth Mandala has designed a product to protect women from possible danger. His product, Electroshoe, can be used to electrocute molesters with a single kick.

Apart from transmitting a 0.1-ampere shock, the shoe also sends off an alert to the nearest police station. The shoe is run by power generated through the users footsteps. Mechanical energy from every step taken is harvested and stored in a rechargeable battery, says Siddharth, 18, of Himayatnagar, who is the only son of businessman Sreeram Mandala and Sashikala Mandala. In 2012, when he was only 12, Siddharth was deeply stirred by reports of the December 16, 2012, gangrape case. Even at that young age, he participated in protests against the culprits.

Siddharth Mandala

He later decided that he wanted to make a contribution to the safety of women.

The basic idea was that it had to be something that women would have with them all the time. Women might forget to carry tasers or other protective devices, but no one forgets to wear shoes before they step out. It was very challenging for me to think of a solution dealing with footwear. My product is basically a prototype. Im still figuring out ways to make the shoe water resistant and overcome other limitations, Siddharth said.

It took Siddharth two years to develop the Electroshoe. He took a gap year off his studies to explore his idea and his other interests before beginning college.

He said, Im not attending college as I am on a break to explore myself. I completed my high-school education at FIITJEE.
On July 18, 1948, home minister Vallabhbhai Patel wrote to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the Hindu Mahasabha leader who set up the BJPs ancestor Jan Sangh, on the RSS and the Mahasabhas role in Gandhis murder.

He made no charge but said: Our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of those two bodies, particularly the (RSS), an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible.

It was precisely in such an atmosphere that the brutal killing of Gauri Lankesh took place on September 5. She was respected for her fearlessness and commitment to values as editor of the journal Lankesh Patrike founded by her father P. Lankesh. Demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 made her a strong opponent of the Hindutva brand of politics.

A New York Times editorial accurately summed up the root cause of the crime which has all the hallmarks of a hit job. It was the vicious atmosphere of religious hate which was fostered with increasing intensity ever since the BJP and the RSS took up the issue of a Ram temple on the site on which stood Babri Masjid.

In this atmosphere, noted dissenters fell to targeted bullets. In 2013, it was the activist Narendra Dabholkar. In 2015, it was M.M. Kalburgi and Govind Pansare; all gunned down. All opposed Hindutva. Kalburgi was a former vice-chancellor of Kannada University. A journalist who wrote an expose of the Dabholkar murder case received death threats. Denounced also was the senior police officer investigating the case.

The pattern is unmistakable and its roots were noted by NYT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has let a climate of mob rule flourish in India, with his right-wing Hindu supporters vilifying secularists. The venom that reactionary social media trolls direct at journalists, or presstitutes as they call them, is specially vicious, but not entirely new Lankesh had voiced concern about the climate of menace against journalists who didnt toe the Hindu-nationalist line. If Modi doesnt condemn her murder forcefully and denounce the harassment and threats that critics of Hindu militancy face daily, more critics will live in fear of deadly reprisal and Indian democracy will see dark days.

The Press Council of India set up a fact-finding committee which visited 11 states and submitted a detailed Report on Safety of Journalists. It was set up in the wake of the murder of crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey, in broad daylight in Mumbai. It records that in Kashmir a senior journalist said that since 2008, the security forces were beating up journalists who went to cover incidents whenever the extremists targeted the security establishments.

Appended to the report is a list of 80 journalists killed in India since 1990. It makes useful recommendations. Intimi-dation of or attack on a journalist should be made a cognisable offence triable speedily by a special court. Novem-ber 2 may be proclaimed as the National Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The crux of the matter is investigation into the offences. The report recommends probes by CBI. This can be improved by providing for judicial surveillance.

A model to emulate is Clause 4 of the Karnataka Freedom of Press Bill, 1988. It provided deterrent punishment for violent attacks or intimidation with the intention of preventing any journalist or worker in a newspaper from performing his duties. Worker was added because in 1988, the Rajiv Gandhi regime had instigated strikes to prevent publication of a daily by resort to violence. Legislation alone cannot stem the tide of hate. It can be done only by members of civil society.

By arrangement with Dawn.
Telangana chief secretary S.P. Singh has come to the rescue of all busy IAS officials working in the districts. The bureaucrats were provided an online facility for official communication, an arrangement that does not require them to come all the way to Hyderabad to meet him personally for any official duties.

In tune with Mr Singhs initiative, the state government launched a special website in which the IAS officials posted anywhere in the state can upload their leave forms and encashment applications. The chief secretarys nod, or otherwise, is posted online immediately. This has brought in an overwhelming positive response from officials as it would ease their burden to huge levels.

The new system has not only helped officials to get rid of pending grievances instantly but also saved their time. As the Telangana government has introduced several schemes, the district officials now have more time to address them.

More power to joint secretaries

To speed-up projects, the home ministry has given financial powers to joint secretaries who can now spend up to Rs 50 crore for executing works and purchasing land. Joint secretaries have also been allowed to make procurement through open or limited tender of up to Rs 20 crore and procurement through negotiated or single tender or proprietary contract of up to Rs 5 crore.

This is for the first time that such financial powers have been given to joint secretaries to bring greater flexibility in operations, reduce delays and facilitate quick decision on matters involving financial expenditure, according to Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba.

There are around 20 joint secretaries in the home ministry handling different divisions, and the financial powers have been given to them for the first time. Besides the officers have been given full financial powers for hiring of accommodation, fund release under approved schemes, payment of spectrum charges under approved activities, all types of time-barred claims of leave travel concession, medical, transfer allowance and travelling allowance.

All approvals for going abroad for personal reasons, leave of any kind, tours and trainings of any kind in case of Group C and Group B employees will be approved at the level of joint secretary.

PM modi amends service rules

The Centre has changed the service rules to make it easy for married IAS and IPS officers to get the same cadre state. According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took special initiatives to get the existing rules amended.

The issue originated in a unique case that cropped up in February 2016 in which the government found it difficult to accord inter-cadre transfer of P. Parthiban, a 2011 batch AGMUT cadre IAS and his wife Nisha, 2011 batch IPS, to a common cadre on grounds of marriage. Usually, officers belonging to all India services manage inter-cadre transfers on grounds of marriage. But in case of the Parthiban couple, the problem arose because Mr Parthiban could not be placed in Tamil Nadu cadre where Nisha was working, as Tamil Nadu happened to be his home cadre. And similarly, Nisha could not be transferred to her husbands cadre AGMUT, as she belongs to Delhi, which is a part of the AGMUT cadre.

So, when this unique case came up before a panel headed by then DoPT secretary Sanjay Kothari, he did not take the final call. Instead, he decided to put up the proposal for seeking the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister.

Now the new policy says that if either of the officers cannot opt for the cadre of the spouse (because they are respective home cadres), they may choose the immediate next cadre opted by them. And in case of non-receipt of preference within the stipulated time from the officers concerned, they will be assigned the most deficit cadre.
A Rohingya Muslim man walks to the shore carrying two children after they arrived on a boat from Myanmar to Bangladesh in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh on Thursday. Nearly three weeks into a mass exodus of Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar, thousands are still flooding across the border in search of help in Bangladesh. (Photo: AP)

You can travel as an Indian tourist across all of Italy  Rome, Venice, Milan, Bologna  knowing to speak only a little bit of one language. I am not referring to Italian, but Bengali. The country is full of Bangladeshi immigrants, all of whom are a particular type. They are male, they are young (from their mid-20s to their early-30s), they usually have a similar physical type (they are small, thin and dark).

One other thing they have in common is that they are all very hardworking. The ones who have come recently and have no capital to do anything and little other support sell things on the street. To tourists they sell selfie-sticks, little plastic helicopter like toys, cold water, temporary raincoats and things like that. Others, who have been there for longer and perhaps have some paperwork, are waiters and chefs, and some manage stalls selling food and other items that are owned by Italians.

I usually speak to them in my broken Bangla to ask them about their lives, and I do not need to tell the reader that their life is hard. I have great respect for their courage and determination, but I also have sympathy for their plight.

To be away from your home and from your networks, to be in a foreign land is not easy for any of us, and all humans are essentially the same. It is the very rare Italian-Bangladeshi who does not want at some point to return to his homeland, and who is completely happy in Italy, even though it offers him a little more opportunity to make a living.

I come from a community of Gujaratis who have historically not been very educated, but have been enterprising and not afraid to take on hard work. This is why the world knows of the phrase Patel Motel. But most will not know that the majority of Patidars who come to the United States do not come with capital.

They come from towns and villages where there is a lack of local opportunity, and they have to do physical work in the US. My own parents and sister worked in motels in America that they did not own. This meant cleaning rooms and doing the sort of work that middle class Indians would never do. Ownership of places is something that only the minority of Patidars in America have.

This is usually the case with most immigrants. These days in India and the rest of the world we are dealing with another kind of immigrant, the refugee. Whether the Syrian or the Rohingya, this individual is fleeing violence of the most extreme sort. The war in the Middle East was begun by the United States and Britain and then joined in by other European nations like France. However, they have almost washed their hands of the consequences of their actions. America, which has always seen itself as a distant place protected on both sides by vast oceans, does not have to live with the consequences of its actions. It can wage wars in Korea and Vietnam without having to bring these wars back home.

I often see the global photo feed of news services to see what is happening around the world. It will shock most readers to see visuals of the extreme violence that Syrians are being forced to flee. Why do we have such little sympathy for such people? Is it because we view their religion in a particular light?

The coldness with which the Indian government has responded to the brutality against the Rohingya is disappointing to me.

Do we disbelieve the reports of crimes against them by the state of Myanmar? Do we believe that they are all leaving their homes to come to India because they enjoy living in refugee camps? We must be quite delusional to assume that.

Do we think, as our government seems to think, that these people are a terror threat only because they are Muslims? It is remarkable that we should have such a crude outlook towards the world and other human beings.

This government has already made a serious mistake because it does not properly think about such things. It announced a policy that it would only accept refugees from the minority communities from Pakistan and Bangladesh. In doing so, it announced more or less that Indians would only welcome non-Muslims. Myanmar is a Buddhist nation that is oppressing its Muslim minority. What happens to our policy now?

As a great democracy, we must be responsible and uphold the rights of those who come to us seeking shelter. Everything in the Hindu faith tells us that this is obligatory on us. We will be total hypocrites if we take pride in the immigrant Indian communities (many of whose individuals are illegal immigrants) but look on immigrants from other nations as being terrorists and those who are out to live off our resources.
Let me start off by saying that while all eyes are on the Chief Ministers sudden dash to Delhi on Saturday, the corridors of Vidhana Soudha buzzing over the unspoken feud that has erupted between Siddaramaiah and the KPCC president G. Parameshwar (and talk that the CM has been asked to explain himself to 10 Janpath), it was the PMs move to take all the hoopla of a state visit by the Japanese premier Shinzo Abe out of Delhi and shift the song and dance to Ahmedabad that dominated the news cycle last week.

And it was, wellunderwhelming.

Even Akie Abe in a dull, shapeless salwar kameez, new DefMin Nirmala Sitharaman style, didnt grab any eye-balls. Not as much as when she pretended she didnt know any English in a possible snub to the insufferable Donald during her U.S visit!

Abe the son of a former Japanese prime minister in dynastic Japan - has done Delhi before. And Ahmedabad. Incidentally, even Russian president Vladimir Putin is said to hate all the drama of the red carpet welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan and prefers to host his VVIP guests at St. Petersburgh, his home town over Moscow and its backdrop of the onion domes and the Kremlin. But theres not much to choose between these Czarist capitals, is there? Both, simply spectacular. But Ahmedabad? Gandhinagar? (That Gandhi word again!). The Sabarmati ashram? As opposed to the sheer grandeur, sweep and scale of Delhis India Gate and Raj Path?

Trolled as the prime minister of Gujarat for his ploy to impress his fellow Gujaratis, in a state he cannot afford to let slip out of his grasp, the grandstanding over the Ahmedabad- Mumbai bullet train would have gone down so much better if the circle had been squared, and all the other infrastructure connects that the nation needs urgently - such as an investment boost for the Mumbai-Delhi, the Delhi-Kolkata, Bengaluru-Chennai corridors, and the much needed farm to market air, road, rail and freight corridors, were all given due importance.

This was, in case youve forgotten, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayees pet project  the Golden Quadrilateral - tasked to a transport minister who became this governments Rail Mantri who saw one Duronto after another careen into one another and come to a screeching halt. I believe a Rajdhani ran off the tracks in Delhi on the day the two premiers signed off on the bullet train! Isnt it time, we look for investors who can overhaul the entire creaking railways that date back to the British Raj and kill more people than any friggin air crash?

As the Supreme Court rightly said, the PM is the prime minister of all of India, not just the states where the BJP rules. He heads a Union Government. He runs our country, our nation, one India, one Bharat. Give us a sense he speaks for all of us and it would make us all that much more proud to have an energetic, driven, never say die leader at the helm. Till 2022, if thats what he wants. As long as we can have an inclusive government that brings us all together and takes us on a path to a better India.

But heres the thing. The worry that an Anant Kumar Hegde has been picked for a cabinet berth over other candidates because of his vicious rant against the Muslims of his communally sensitive coastal constituency sends a frisson down my spine. Is that the ring of fire that the BJP leaders of Karnataka must jump through to prove they are committed to the cause, the greater good of the party? Is that why the state BJP leaders threw themselves at the police at some protest or the other because as the chief minister alleges, theyd been asked if they had been at the forefront of any agitation? One hopes thats not the litmus test of loyalty!

The hassle is that the Congress, without one single mass leader to its name and no shadow cabinet that can present an alternative blueprint for the future, is such easy pickings. Granted, Rahul Gandhis unexpectedly perceptive speech at Berkeley shows that hes picked a marginally better speech writer for once. Even if he hasnt quite got ahimsa, non-violence and Partition and the Congress less than stellar handling of the crises of the past quite right. Either way, his comments rattled the BJP, and in an over-reaction of extreme proportions, brought on our television screens an army of 17 or more functionaries to counter the man-boys comments on Indias dynasts  be they political and business  and Bollywood.

Rahul isnt his father or his grandmother, let alone his great-grandfather who epitomized their times. Will he ever be?.

Oh, for all those who blindly buy into the Gandhis perpetuating themselves story, no Gandhi has held the highest political office in the land since Rajiv Gandhi stepped down as prime minister in November 1989, after the Congress party he led, crashed to a mere 190 seats. And that was almost 30 years ago!

Dr. Manmohan Singhs government, may have had Sonia Gandhi pulling the strings from behind the scenes, perpetuating the socialistic clap-trap of another era instead of opening up the economy and helping India rise to its full potential. But in real terms, Sonia isnt a Gandhi either. And for Rahul, the Gandhi to take Raisina Hill, he must win an election. As must all the dynasts. Be they Vasundhara Raje, daughter of one of the BJPs outstanding women leaders. Or the multitude of others across parties - the Scindias and the Pilots, the Abdullahs and the Muftis, the Yadavs and the Paswans, the Karunanidhis and the Chandrababu Naidus.

So why did the BJP over-react in the way that they did? Nervous much? Over the slip-slide in the economy, the slowing job front, the general slowdown, the low blow from a former RBI Governor who did what he did?

The prime ministers biggest plus point has always been that he represents a new India. Thats what India wants to hear from him. Unfortunately, as in Delhi, so in Bengaluru, the raison detre of the political class is one thing alone nail down a re-election.

The KPCC chief and the CM are no longer on talking terms - they havent been seen at one single event together. Dr. G. did a solo inspection of the Indira canteen, while the chief minister on a long overdue tour of the citys stinking drains, pot-holed roads and derelict infrastructure and buses  he skipped the cesspool that are also known as our lakes - was accompanied by only his loyalists.

And while the attack on the BJP leader and Lingayat icon B.S. Yeddyurappa has been relentless, and the cleverly sown division among the Lingayats may or may not have the trickle effect of drawing in the younger Lingayats, hungry for jobs and entitlements, to boost Siddus canny caste census gaming, the political churn is still on.

No wonder, I can hear Anant Kumar Hegde laughing!
There are no instructions with the device so you need to follow the procedure given at www.kingston/dt2000 to secure it with your personal PIN.

Rating:

Most of us are used to carrying files on a USB flash drive or data stick. But how secure is the data? Many sticks offer a password, but what if the stick itself is lost? Professionals often carry sensitive data and losing the contents, would be a disaster.

Kingston has addressed this concern in the latest Data Traveler series of USB storage. The finger-sized DT 2000 comes with its own numeric keypad. You use the pad to enter a PIN  a combo up to 8 numbers or letters  and the stick is secured with AES 256-bit encryption. If anyone else attempts to open it, the device will be locked after 10 wrong attempts and the data will be wiped clean. You have nothing to worry  if you have retained a backup. There are no instructions with the device so you need to follow the procedure given at www.kingston/dt2000 to secure it with your personal PIN.

The DT 2000 comes in three capacities, 16GB (Rs 10,000), 32GB (Rs 14,000) and 64GB (Rs 18,000). Yes, they cost many times more than ordinary data sticks of similar size. consider: you are paying for security and peace of mind not storage capacity.

IndiaTechOnline

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When Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, it assured everyone that there would be no advertisements to degrade the experience. Since then, this free tool has grown to embrace 1.3 billion users, worldwide. India with over 200 million users is its biggest market. It is the app that most Indian mobile phone users promptly put on their phones  if it is not already there. For some reason we tend to call it WhatsUp  but that's another story.

An ad-free WhatsApp may turn out to be yet another case of promises, promises! Facebook already runs another messaging service  Facebook Messenger  where users encounter advertisements between conversations. WhatsApp may be next in the queue.

A WhatsApp blog suggests that so many corporates were using the tool that it had decided to get in on the act of connecting users to business. "We've heard stories of shopkeepers who use WhatsApp to stay in touch with hundreds of customers from a single smartphone...We'll be testing new features that ... make it easier for people to communicate with the businesses they want to reach on WhatsApp. "

Just some jugaad

WhatsApp for business seems to have been triggered by typical Indian jugaad: A Gurgaon-based healthcare enterprise called 1mg which sells medicines and health products online, uses Whatsapp to connect with customers. If it receives an order and needs to clarify something, it sends a Whatsapp message rather than an SMS.

So many other outfits are doing this that WhatsApp has launched a business pilot in India and BookMyShow has signed up as the first client. Henceforth users who book tickets on BookMyShow will receive a message on WhatsApp with the confirmation text or an M-ticket (mobile ticket) QR Code, along with an email.

Meanwhile new code has been added to Facebook's Ad Manager that now enables businesses to not only place ads in Facebook Messenger, but also to "Send WhatsApp Message". WhatsApp has clarified that such paid messages would only go to users who have agreed to receive them. Which means, we may soon have to scan the fine print of terms and conditions all over again  because there is where such 'permissions' traditionally lurk.

Will WhatsAp users be subjected to 'cold messaging'  receiving unsolicited commercial messages similar to the sponsored messages that pop up so irritatingly on so many web sites?

WhatsApp says no: business messages will be identified by a green tick mark. You can then block them. In other words, you must do the hard work in future to prevent commercials creeping into your WhatsApp traffic. This is the face of the new business-savvy WhatsApp. We do have a choice: accept  or opt out.

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Deaths of children, mostly newborn, continued at the infamous BRD Medical College hospital in Gorakhpur town of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Nearly 120 fatalities were recorded in the last 10 days.



According to hospital records, 14 babies died within a span of 24 hours on Thursday and Friday. Notwithstanding the nationwide outrage over the death of 30 kids owing to alleged shortage of oxygen and the assurances from the government to improve conditions at the hospital, the fresh deaths have occurred.



Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath virtually blamed the doctors for the deaths from Encephalitis, saying there was lack of sincerity in their efforts to find a cure. Many of the deceased included newborn babies, while some of the kids had been suffering from AES.



Medical College Principal, Dr P K Singh, said that a majority of the kids admitted to the hospital were already in a critical condition. We are providing the best possible treatment, Dr Singh claimed.



He said that currently around 121 patients of AES were admitted to the hospital.



Death run



As many as 300 kids died at the BRD hospital in the month of August. The toll included the 30 kids who died owing to shortage of oxygen.



The UP government had then promised to improve the situation by augmenting facilities not only at BRD Medical College Hospital but also at other hospitals across the state.



In the same month, 49 kids, many of them newborn, died at the district hospital at Farrukhabad, again due to shortage of oxygen and medicines.



In both the cases, the state government rejected the probe report of the district magistrates of Farrukhabad and Gorakhpur and gave a clean chit to the hospital administration. So far eight people, including the principal of BRD medical college, have been arrested.



The Opposition parties accused the Yogi Adityanath government of turning a blind eye to the recurring kids deaths and demanded resignation of the health minister.
The recent death of a lioness at Sanjay Gandhi Zoological Park in Patna has not only sent shock waves among animal lovers but also raised certain questions as to how seven cubs, a tigress, a tiger and a lioness have died here in the last six years.



Saraswati was just nine years old when she was found dead on July 25 this year. One of the prime attractions of Patna Zoo, the lioness was brought here in 2011 from Hyderabad under an animal exchange programme.



A team of veterinarians, consisting of eight doctors, conducted autopsy and concluded that cardiac arrest caused the death of the lioness. Normally, the life span of a lion or lioness is 12 to 13 years in the wild. But if kept in zoo, they survive till the age of 15 to 18 years. This is because when kept in captivity, they get proper food and care. While its not so when they roam around in the wild. In very rare case, a lions life is around 20 years, Patna Zoo Director Nand Kishore told DH.



The Zoo director had personally monitored the lioness a few hours before she passed away. He ruled out any nutritional deficiency as the cause for death. Now, Vishal, Saraswatis partner, needs a partner.



Two years after Saraswati was brought here, she mated with Vishal, younger to her. But under the special breeding programme, Saraswati gave birth to two cubs in August 2013.



However, the mother (lioness) refused to feed the cubs. As a consequence, the health of a cub, which was born weak, deteriorated and passed away next day. The other cub was then brought up with a lot of effort.



After Saraswati refused to feed the second cub too, the zoo employees had to hand-feed him. The cub, named Sheru, survived on goats milk for the first three months and thereafter started to consume meat. Sheru is now one of the main crowd-pullers here.



Since Asiatic lions are found only in Gir Forest in Gujarat, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) mandarins were quite enamoured over the report on how the Patna Zoo officials had helped Vishal and Saraswati mate and made every effort for survival of one of its cub. According to the established norms of the CZA, breeding of hybrid lions is prohibited in zoos. But we can go ahead with the breeding of Asiatic lioness, the official added.



The CZA officials mulled over a proposal on how to develop a lion conservation zone on the zoo premises spread over 152 acres. Developing lion conservation area was aimed at providing an off-display area to the lions, where they can enjoy their natural surroundings. However, the proposal could not make much headway, the zoo official rued.



Unfortunately, in the last six years, Saraswati was the 10th death reported in the big cat family of Patna Zoo. In 2011, Tejaswani, a white tigress, and the prime attraction at the zoo, died after days of illness. The post-mortem report said she had a blockage in intestine. Earlier, in 2011, male tiger Ram too had died after a prolonged illness. The 17-year-old tiger in Patna Zoo was suffering from posterior cirrhosis.



In August 2012, a Royal Bengal tigress at Patna Zoo had given birth to three cubs. Everyone was quite delighted as it was after a gap of 19 years that a big cat had delivered at the zoo here. But the enormous joy was short-lived. In the next 20 days, tigress Swarna lost all the three cubs.



It was believed that Swarna stopped feeding the cubs after she developed an intestinal infection. Eventually, the cubs too contracted the infection from their mother, and since then were put under the observation of zoo doctors.



Though the cubs were separated from the mother and bottle-fed, things turned for the worse when the cubs refused goat milk too. The then Patna zoo director sought the help of Dr Abhijit Bhaval, a reputed doctor from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), but to no avail.



The origin of the infection was not known but toxins must have entered the cubs body while they were in tiger enclosure. An infection cause toxins spread rapidly in the body of new-borns. The intensity of infection was so high in the cubs that none of the medicines worked, said another doctor, who did not wish to be identified.



In March 2017, two more cubs died. On July 20, 2017, yet another cub died. Reports suggest that the tiger cub died on July 20 due to hyper-parathyriodism. This is a condition where there is over production of parathyroid hormone which eventually weakens bones, said the zoo director.



Saraswati was the latest casualty, although for a different reason: cardiac arrest. Now only one lioness and three lions are left at the Sanjay Gandhi Zoological Park. Besides, we have three tigers and three tigresses, said Nand Kishore hoping that the number of big cat family members wont dwindle any more.






Recognition is famously a passage from ignorance to knowledge said Amitav Ghosh in The Great Derangement, his recent meditation on how literature has engaged with climate change and its effects. Ghosh laments the absence of substantive engagement by contemporary arts and literature on climate change.

One does not have to look too far to see parallels of this neglect. Quick on the heels of the cheer brought about by the announcement of average to normal monsoon this year, was the news of heavy rains lashing Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and other cities. Very soon, the news stories of the drought-like conditions and receding groundwater in and around Bengaluru were replaced with stories of waterlogging, overflowing waterbodies and mixing of sewerage water with rainwater. From smaller cities like Kalaburgi, there were stories of hospital wards knee-deep in sewage-mixed rainwater.



The monsoon system of rains is an ancient one; they have been observed and celebrated for thousands of years in our traditional knowledge, songs and literature, much before modern science discovered tools to predict them. Despite that, year after year, our cities reel under the effects of rains and the impending infectious diseases -- as if these are entirely unpredictable natural disasters. This begs the question if these are purely natural phenomena that we ought to cope with, or if mismanagement of city health and sanitation systems makes it a man-made crisis.



Rise of infectious diseases



Predictably, the heavy downpours tested the limits of drainage and solid waste management systems across Indias major cities. It is now routine to see heavy rain flush our solid waste into the streets and around our homes. Overlapping with the monsoons is the spike in the incidence of various vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya as well as diarrhoeal diseases, especially in children. Dengue cases in the cities are on the rise with over 3000 being reported in Bengaluru alone this season. Diarrhoea is the third most common cause of death of children under five in India.



According to an estimate by the Million Death Study group, up to 300,000 children die every year of diarrhoeal disease, a largely treatable and preventable health problem that most countries in our region have addressed better. In fact, a study assessing the Global Disease Burden, published earlier this month in the international medical journal Lancet, ranked India 126 out of 188 countries in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Among the important drivers of Indias poor score is, unsurprisingly, our drinking water and sanitation system.



Hygiene and safe water



The strong link between public health and access to safe water and sanitation is an old story in modern medical and public health literature. In a poll conducted by the British Medical Journal in 2007, the sanitary revolution was hailed as the biggest medical advance since the first publication of the reputed journal in 1840, bigger than the discovery of vaccines, antibiotics and new medical and surgical techniques. Even today, medical students learn about the English doctor John Snow who, in 1854, analysed Cholera deaths in London and rightly attributed them to polluted drinking water. In a society where the bacterial cause of Cholera was not yet known, John Snows work built the foundation for public health. Earlier still, evidence of a systematic use of sanitation several thousand years ago in cities of the Indus Valley civilisation tells us how important the management of drinking water and sanitation is at the city level.



Emerging disaster



Indias push for a global centre-stage has produced cities with aspirations toward becoming economic and industrial hubs. However, in our zeal to jump onto the economic bandwagon, the foundational aspects of healthy cities have been forgotten. Cities are literally sweeping their dirt under themselves. Overflowing drains, lakes spewing out toxic froth and foam, free-ranging dogs and rats fighting over unsegregated wet and dry waste in plastic bags are the new normal in our cities. And most of us have learned to cope by simply looking away. Global health experts have called urbanisation the emerging humanitarian disaster. Our cities are not able to manage basic amenities for their residents, thus pre-disposing many in the cities to various infectious and non-infectious diseases.



Worse, the ill-effects of urbanisation are not equal. There is an unfairness about who bears the brunt of the citys mismanagement. People living in poor neighbourhoods, the migrant workers from drought-prone areas coming in as cheap labour to build our metros and schools, and various other communities facing disadvantage either due to homelessness, disability, caste or gender are the most vulnerable to the effects of adverse weather and its resulting public health effects. With limited safeguards either in our health system or in our social security cover, the effects of dengue or chikungunya over migrant labourer families are very different from their effects on a software engineer or a doctor. Living in a health system where treatment for these illnesses are based on payments at the point of service delivery (in the private sector) or faced with poorer quality care in an under-resourced government health service, the poor are at a disadvantage. What is merely a bad traffic hour for one family is a house under water or a child faced with financially catastrophic hospital admission for another.



Protecting public health



Public health in cities cannot be wished away to doctors or health workers. Protecting public health involves an active engagement of the city municipal administration in disease surveillance, preventing disease and promoting health. And in doing so, we ought to strive for systems that work for all, not for only some. Posh neighbourhoods have regular cleaning and municipal workers in clean uniforms, whereas urban poor neighbourhoods are themselves dumping grounds for unsegregated garbage, further disadvantaging such neighbourhoods. Striving for reforms in municipal workforce so that sanitation workers have access to health, safety and a dignified working environment is still a far cry. Parks and public spaces are spick and span for evening walkers and yoga enthusiasts in some areas, as if these are merely middle-class pre-occupations.



We need city administrations to recognise the public health disaster on which cities are sitting. We need to recognise the problem at various levels. Firstly, at the level of city governance, wherein urban planning ought to incorporate the principle of equity in allocating resources and executing projects. Rather than pet projects in some neighbourhoods, city municipal corporations have to urgently fix our broken sewerage systems and invest in building up a capable municipal workforce. Secondly, greater consultation and participation of residents through ward-level engagement in tackling the garbage problem locally, and thirdly, a strengthening of urban health through greater engagement of public health professionals in urban planning, disease surveillance and strengthening urban primary healthcare systems is the need of the hour.



The history of natural disasters has shown that individual people and societies have resilience. Collective human history has often coped with disasters of global proportions. But for that, we have to act before we cross a threshold beyond which the situation may be irretrievable. And we are fast approaching that threshold in Indias cities. If we do not recognise the mismanagement of our cities as an important underlying cause driving poor public health and merely choose to deal with these as an act of nature, then our blindness is one that we have chosen.



(The writer is a public health researcher at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru)
A well-educated Jain couple from Madhya Pradesh has decided to leave behind their three-year-old daughter and property worth Rs 100 crore to embrace monkhood.



Sumit Rathore (35), who has worked in London before managing his family business in Neemuch, and his wife Anamika (34), an engineer who was employed with a mining major, decided to renounce the material world recently.



Earlier this year, a Jain teenage boy from Gujarat, who had scored 99.99 percentile in the class XII commerce examination, took the vow of monkhood. The couple will be initiated into Jain monasticism at a ceremony to be held in Surat on September 23.



Their family members said the couple has been married for four years and have a daughter. At present, they have taken a vow of silence till they take deeksha (vow) next Saturday. As per the monkhood tradition, their heads will be shaved and they will put on white robes for their entire life.



Anamikas father Ashok Chandaliya, a former Neemuch district president of the BJP, said he would take care of his granddaughter. I am not against my daughter Anamika becoming a nun, he said.



Sumits father Rajendra Singh, who runs a factory manufacturing gunny bags for packaging cement, also echoed a similar view. Sumit announced his decision to take deeksha at a function in Surat last month.



However, the pontiff asked him to seek Anamikas permission. She not only gave her consent but also expressed a desire to become a nun. Their families asked them to rethink, but the couple stood their ground, Sandip said.



He said Anamika was the first student in Neemuch district to win a gold medal in her Board examinations for class VIII. According to a family member, Anamika completed her BE from Modi Engineering College in Rajasthan. She had worked with Hindustan Zinc before her marriage.



Sandip said Sumit holds a diploma in import-export management from a college in London, where he worked for two years before returning to Neemuch to look after his family business.
Chetan Kumar, director of the movie 'Bharjari' which released on Friday, has approached the cyber crime police, seeking action against a student who live-streamed the movie on Facebook from a Hubballi theatre.



Santosh, the suspect, live-streamed the movie on the first day first show. Kumar said the link on Facebook has gone viral.



"With the help of my friends, I traced the number and contacted Santosh. He had live-streamed for about 20 minutes," he said. Santosh stopped the live-streaming after he received serious comments against it.



"We can complain about piracy, but what about live-streaming on Facebook. We won't be able to trace if people liveastream the movie on YouTube. This is an unhealthy development as far as the Kannada film industry is concerned," the director said.



According to the director, just in one day, Bharjari equalled one week's collection of big-budget movies in Kannada. Due to huge demand, an additional show has been facilitated in Urvashi theatre, Bengaluru.



Santosh told the police he had no intention of damaging the revenue prospects of the movie. Police said the student claimed he was a fan of Dhruv Sarja, the lead actor in the movie, and decided to livestream to popularise it.










Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said the changing political scenario in the country will help the state BJP romp home with more than 150 seats in the Assembly elections next year.



Javadekar, who, along with Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, was recently appointed election in-charge and co in-charge for the Karnataka unit of the BJP, held a meeting with party MPs, MLAs and MLCs in Bengaluru.



Javadekar sought to compare the political scene during the previous Assembly elections in Karnataka (2013) to the present scenario. In 2013, the UPA government ruled at the Centre. Today, the UPA government is nowhere in picture. The policies of the present NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have struck a chord with the people. Besides, people are angry with the Siddaramaiah government for its maladministration and misgovernance. These factors will prove to be a win-win situation for the BJP in the 2018 Assembly polls, Javadekar said.



He said crop loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 announced by the state government is an eyewash and is not even sufficient to purchase lollipops and chocolates.



Earlier, the state BJP set a deadline of September 26 for Bengaluru Development Minister K J George to tender his resignation failing which the party has threatened to launch an indefinite day-night dharna.



The BJP leaders, led by party state president B S Yeddyurappa, staged a demonstration in Bengaluru demanding the resignation of George in the wake of the Supreme Court ordering a CBI probe into the death of DySP M K Ganapathy.



Ganapathy, just hours prior to his death last year, had accused George and some senior IPS officers of harassing him. George should resign on his own or (Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah should drop him from his Cabinet by September 26, failing which we will launch an indefinite dharna, Yeddyurappa told reporters.



Yeddyurappa also said that he will release documents that will expose corruption at the highest level in the Siddaramaiah government soon.



Senior leaders, including K S Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar, R Ashoka among others, took part in the meeting.






AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal on Saturday clarified that there was no rift between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president G Parameshwara.



Parameshwara was said to be upset with Siddaramaiah and had even skipped the swearing-in ceremony of newly-inducted ministers earlier this month because the chief minister had not taken him into confidence before choosing the candidates. Parameshwara had also stayed away from the partys recent Belagavi unit convention. Their relationship is good and both of them will work together for the upcoming polls, Venugopal told reporters.



Later, Parameshwara also denied any rift and said he visited the chief ministers house a couple of days ago to discuss party and political affairs. He may not come to my house, but I reached out. Were working together to prepare the party for the election, he told reporters. Earlier in the day, Venugopal met the partys 76 BBMP councillors. He asked them to buck up by working towards improving the partys image, which may have taken a hit due to the recent flooding in the city. Venugopal also reviewed the functioning of the partys social media and information technology wings, directing them to intensify the partys online presence by highlighting the failure of the BJP-led Centre.



The chief minister is preparing his own version of Mann Ki Baat, a radio programme hosted by the prime minister. According to sources, Siddaramaiahs Mann Ki Baat will reach the masses through digital display boards being installed at KSRTC bus stands and taluk centres. These boards are being installed through the Department of Information and Public Relations at a cost of Rs 17 crore.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the state government will introduce a new bill in the winter session of Assembly in November on reservation in promotions to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in government jobs.



The government is committed to protecting the interests of SC/STs employees and we are confident of enacting a new law in the Assembly, the chief minister told reporters here on Saturday. The government had earlier promulgated the ordinance after the Supreme Court struck down reservation in promotions for SC/ST employees. However, Governor Vajubhai R Vala returned it seeking explanations on whether it was inevitable and urgent.



The state has had reservation in promotions for SC/ST employees since 1978  15% for SCs and 3% for STs. However, the apex court struck down reservation in promotions for SC/ST employees. The issue has serious political implications in Karnataka, which goes to polls next year, with SC/STs demanding that the government find ways to protect their interests.



Anti-superstition bill



The chief minister said that the government would bring the anti-superstition bill in the winter session of the Assembly. The Cabinet sub-committee is studying the draft bill and I have suggested the panel that it should be on the lines of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.




A high-level policy planning group of the Congress led by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, which arrived here on a two day visit on Saturday, asked the Central and J&K governments to keep the dialogue process with separatists open.



The Central as well as the state governments know who the stakeholders are and they should talk to them (separatists) and try to resolve the issue, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the groups arrival in Srinagar.



He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by raising the emotions of people, but has remained silent since taking over the reins of the country.



Modis election victory was 90% because of Kashmir. In our rule, one soldier was beheaded by Pakistani troops, but such instances have happened a number of times now in their rule and still the prime minister is silent. He had raised the emotions of the people across the country in the Lok Sabha elections by raking up Kashmir and militants versus the rest of the country, but since he took over, he has taken Kashmir to the end of destruction, he said.



The group led by Singh, besides Azad include, former Union home minister P Chidambaram, party general secretary Ambika Soni and and Rajya Sabha member Karan Singh. Immediately after their arrival in Srinagar, the group held an executive committee meeting of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee at Hari Niwas here.



Azad, also a former chief minister of J&K, said when the Congress was in power in alliance with the National Conference, they had a multi-pronged strategy to improve the political and economic situation in the militancy hit state.



The (cross-LoC) trade routes were opened between Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and J&K. Not only trade, but lots of people were coming. With this, people were expecting that there would be more improvement in situation. So whether it was tourism, employment, trade or militancy; in my tenure (as CM) in 2007, we had declared south Kashmir militancy free and today where is south Kashmir? It is boiling. Today no one is coming to Kashmir, the tourists are not coming, he rued.



On his partys stand on Article 35A of the Constitution, the senior Congress leader evaded direct answer. This committee of ours was formed much before the issue of 35A erupted, he said.



The Manmohan-led group has already visited Jammu and held discussions with dozens of delegations from different parts of the region.
Deposits of scrapped currency notes made by central government employees post demonetisation will be probed by anti-corruption watchdog Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), its chief K V Chowdary said today.



He said the commission has sought relevant data from income tax authorities in this regard. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 8 last year announced the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.



Citizens were provided with a limited time window to deposit such notes in their bank accounts. "We have already sought data (from the CBDT). We will get more refined data on which we will certainly proceed," Chowdary told PTI in an interview. The CBDT or Central Board of Direct Taxes is the apex policy-making body for the I-T department.



Chowdary said he had had discussions with tax authorities on how to conduct the exercise as the number of transactions involving cash deposits for the country as a whole is very huge. "So how do we see that whether the amount deposited by them (the employees) commensurate with their income or not. Because the CBDT is already doing this exercise for everybody, irrespective of (whether) somebody is an employee or nonemployee. We have taken the help of the CBDT. We are yet to get (data)," he said.



The CVC expects the CBDT to provide more specific data on the deposits. "We had a series of discussions with them as to what kind of analysis we would like them (to do). They are cooperating with us. In fact, they have given us a lot of ideas," Chowdary said. He said the tax authorities suggested that the CVC take data in the actionable form.



Chowdary said the exercise being carried out by the CBDT requires the writing of programmes, validating them and then generating right outcomes. He said the CVC will look into the cases of central government employees and the staff of central public sector undertakings who are within the jurisdiction of the commission.



The anti-corruption watchdog has select categories of employees, usually Group A and B officers, under its jurisdiction. "In respect of people who are not within the jurisdiction of the commission, if the amount involved is beyond a threshold, we will send it to our Chief Vigilance Officers (who act as a distant arm of the CVC) to take necessary action," Chowdary said.



Asked about the reasons behind the proposal to scrutinise the bank accounts of employees, he said there could have been some wrong deposits, but specific individuals and details of organisations they are working in may not be known now. The CBDT is looking into certain suspected deposits made by various individuals, especially during the demonetisation period, Chowdary said.



Asked whether it would not be a duplication of work, he said relevant data would be provided by the CBDT for the purpose. "We are not duplicating. That is why we are getting refined data from the CBDT. That's why we said that you are anyway working on it ... That is why you share data of these (employees) people with us," Chowdary said.



In respect of individuals under its jurisdiction, the CVC also gets Suspected Transaction Reports (STRs) from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The FIU is tasked with collecting, analysing and disseminating information related to financial transactions suspected to be involving black money or proceeds of crime.



A STR is a transaction of Rs 10 lakh and above believed to be involving proceeds of crime and black money. In its report for 2016-17 released on August 30, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had paid Rs 15.28 lakh crore or 99 percent of the demonetised notes, had returned to the banking system.



The central bank in the annual report had said that only Rs 16,050 crore out of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in the old, high-denomination notes had not returned.
One civilian was killed and five others injured after Pakistani troops pounded border outposts (BoPs) and civilian areas along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday night.



Reports said six civilians, including some women, were injured after mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops fell in the residential area in Arnia sector of Jammu during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. All the injured were admitted to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, where a 60-year-old woman succumbed to her injuries in the morning. One of the injured includes a 12-year-old boy.



Reports said the Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked shelling and firing from midnight which continued till 6:45 am. This was the third ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in the Arnia sector in the last two days. Apart from mortars, Pakistan Army was also resorting to firing with heavy machine guns (HMGs), a BSF official said and added Indian troops gave a befitting response to the ceasefire violation from the Pakistani side.



Eyewitnesses told Deccan Herald over the phone that heavy mortar shelling and firing caused devastation of property forcing the people to leave their houses and take shelter in religious places and government buildings already identified for them by the administration.



They said the direct targeting of the border villages prompted authorities to issue an advisory to the people to stay indoors especially during the evening hours. However, the frightened people were not venturing out of their houses even during the daytime though it was peak season for them to work in the fields, eyewitnesses added.



There have been continuous ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the IB for the past four days, in which one BSF jawan was killed and a few others were injured. On Saturday a BSF man was killed while several civilians were injured after Pakistani troops targeted forward areas in RS Pura sector of Jammu.



Earlier on September 15, one Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed in the ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir's RS Pura sector. There have been 285 violations of the border ceasefire agreement of 2003 by Pakistan in the first eight months of this year, according to figures by the Indian Army. In 2016, the number was significantly less at 228 for the entire year.
Championing the cause of fathers in the early days after a childs birth, a private members bill proposes that all workers, including those in the unorganised and private sector, get paternity leave extendable up to three months.



The Paternity Benefit Bill, 2017, which may be considered in the next session of Parliament, pushes for equal parental benefits for both the mother and the father.



Child care is the joint responsibility of both parents. They must devote time to the newborn to ensure its proper well-being, said Congress MP Rajeev Satav, the backer of the bill.



He said the bill would benefit more than 32 crore men in the private and unorganised sector, especially those doing blue collar jobs.



At present, the All India and Central Civil Services Rules allow Central government employees 15 days of paternity leave. Various corporate offices also give paternity benefits to their employees.



The bill hopes to not just extend the duration of the paternity leave but also extend it to all workers, across sectors.



"The maximum period for which any man with less than two surviving children shall be entitled to paternity benefit shall be fifteen days of which more than seven days shall precede the date of expected delivery

Provided that paternity benefit shall be availed up to three months from the date of delivery of child, it states.



The bill also talks about providing similar benefits to adoptive fathers and those who have had a child through surrogacy.



"The Central Government shall formulate a scheme to be known as the parental benefit scheme for providing paternity benefit to every man," it says.



The government, it adds, should constitute a Parental Benefit Scheme Fund in which all employees, employers and the Central government shall contribute.



Quoting a report of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Satav said fathers who take leave, especially those taking two weeks or more immediately after the birth of a child, are more likely to be involved with their young children.



This can have positive effects for gender equality in the home and at work and may indicate shifts in relationships and perceptions of parenting roles and prevailing stereotypes, he added.



The bill is based on the lines of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Earlier this year, the Lok Sabha passed an amendment increasing maternity leave for working women from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for their first two children.



During discussions on the Maternity Benefit Bill, MPs from across party lines had said they were lacuna in the bill as there was no provision for paternity leave in the legislation.



Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had said there could be more sophisticated legislation in the future to address the concerns of fathers-to-be.


Heavy monsoon rain heaped new misery Sunday on hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohinyga stuck in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar, as authorities started a drive to force them to a new site.



With food and water shortages already making life tough, torrential rain brought back swamp-like conditions to many parts of the border town of Cox's Bazar which has become a magnet for the Rohingya.



About 7.7 centimetres (three inches) of rain fell in 24 hours and more is predicted in the next two days, the Bangladesh Weather Department said.



Bangladesh authorities, who have already issued travel restrictions on the Rohingya, launched an operation late Saturday to get tens of thousands out of roadside camps and hillside shanties into a giant new camp.



The United Nations says 409,000 Rohingyas have now overwhelmed Cox's Bazar since August 25 when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar launched operations in Rakhine state.



As existing camps are already full with 300,000 Rohingya fleeing earlier violence, many of the Rohingya have been forced to live in the open air or under flimsy plastic sheets.



Police toured streets with loudspeakers ordering exhausted families to go to the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar, which is being cleared to build new shelters.



"We are shifting them from the roadsides where many of them have been staying," Khaled Mahmud, a government spokesman for Cox's Bazar district told AFP.



Mahmud said gradually all the new Rohingya would be taken to Balukhali to bring order to the chaotic aid operation.



On Saturday, Bangladesh police issued tough new orders banning the Rohingya from moving out of designated areas. The order even prevented them from taking shelter with friends and relatives.

Checkpoints have been set up at key transit points.



With thousands more Rohingya arriving each day, Bangladesh authorities fear the refugees could swamp other towns and cities across the country.



But the United Nations is already warning of intolerable conditions in the camps around Cox's Bazar.

The rain "has doubled their misery", said Mohammed Kai-Kislu, police chief at Ukhia near Cox's Bazar, the new home for many Rohingya.



Aid workers said thousands of Rohingya were drenched by the return of the monsoon after a respite of a few days.



Arfa Begum and seven of her family tried to hide under rubber trees near the Balukhali settlement where they arrived five days earlier.



"They evicted us from the rubber plantation," she said, referring to the police and border guards forcing the refugees out of makeshift shelters.



"It took hours to find a safe place. We were drenched," she told AFP.



Faced with a spreading mudbath, the Rohingya have started building bamboo carpets to get over flooded land.



A human rights expert in Cox's Bazar urged the government to shut local schools for three days to allow the Rohingya to camp in them.



"It is another disaster unfolding. Thousands of Rohingya had no place to hide when the rain came," Nur Khan Liton, who headed Bangladeshi rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, told AFP.



He said moving the Rohingya from roadsides and open spaces should be halted as it was compounding their troubles.



Conditions deteriorated for the Rohingya in what could be a key week in the crisis.



Myanmar's de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi is to give a nationally televised speech on the Rohingya case on Tuesday.



The Nobel peace laureate, much criticised around the world for not condemning the violence against the Rohingya, must address the global outrage while not angering the military, which maintains huge power.



General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's globe-trotting army chief, called for a "united" stance in handling the crisis but gave no sign of concessions.



Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York to press for greater help coping with the refugees and put more pressure on Myanmar over the case.



She is to address the UN assembly on Thursday.
BJP president Amit Shah has set an ambitious target of winning all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar during 2019 parliamentary elections. This was indicated when Shah held parleys with top Bihar BJP leaders and told them that party would get lions share when it comes to seat-sharing with its incumbent and new allies.



Though the seat-sharing formula has not been formalised yet, those who are in the know of things indicated that the BJP may contest 25 out of 40 LS seats in Bihar. Of the remaining 15 seats, Nitish Kumars JD (U) may get nine seats, LJP four and Upendra Kushwahas Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) two seats. The other ally Jitan Ram Manjhis Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) will have the option of merging his outfit with the BJP, the senior BJP leader said.



The plan, when implemented, will see Nitishs wings being clipped in the State where he has been at the helm for the last 12 years. In 2014 LS election, the BJP had won 22 seats, LJP six, RLSP three, thereby NDA winning 31 out of 40 seats. The JD (U), which contested alone, could scrape through in only two seats.



Nitish should realise that this is not the BJP of Vajpayee and Advani era where he often extracted his pound of flesh. Under the present leadership of Modi and Shah, Nitish will get what is due to him, said a BJP MP, who served as Union Minister in previous NDA regime.



Political observers feel this will be yet another attempt by the BJP to show Nitish his place. In recent embarrassment, Prime Minister Modi had reportedly cancelled a lunch at the CMs residence during his Bihar visit and left for New Delhi directly from Purnia. Secondly, Modi doled out Rs 500 crore only for the flood-hit people in 2017 while Manmohan Singh had granted more than 1000 crore for the Kosi flood victims in 2008.



Thirdly, no JD (U) member was inducted into Modi Cabinet despite brouhaha over the new ally joining the BJP-led Government at the Centre. Fourthly, Nitish, despite widely reported in a section of media, was not made the convenor of the NDA, a post earlier held by former JD (U) presidents George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav.



In 2000 and 2005, Nitish became CM despite the BJP winning more seats than the JD (U). Nitish will soon realise that the era of hard bargaining is over. Our party leadership has made it clear that the BJP has to expand and strengthen its base up to booth level, the BJP leader, who earlier was in the JD (U), told Deccan Herald.
Amid mounting pressure from the Opposition parties for conducting a floor test in the Assembly, Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao is expected to arrive on Monday.



Meanwhile, the unified AIADMK is in the process of taking action against 19 MLAs, supporting ousted leader T T V Dhinakaran.



The ruling AIADMK sources said Speaker P Dhanapal is likely to take action soon against the rebel legislators who failed to appear before him in connection with a show cause notice issued against them.



Though Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami got the breather from Madras High Court's decision to stay the floor test till Wednesday, the Dhinakaran faction is expected to meet the governor once again to put pressure for the vote of confidence.





Dhinakaran on Sunday also demanded the resignation of Palaniswami and asked him to convene the legislators' party meeting to elect a new chief minister.



"He (Palaniswami) should resign from the chief minister's post and should immediately organise MLAs meeting to elect a new head of the ruling party," Dhinakaran said.



Claiming that the Palaniswami government will be dissolved within next week, the sidelined leader said his supporting MLAs will never vote for the chief minister if the Assembly is convened for a floor test. "Unless the chief minister is changed, MLAs will not vote for his (Palaniswami) government," he added.



Dhinakaran also said after removing the remaining ministers from party posts, he could convene the party's general council and executive committee meeting after getting permission from the jailed "party general secretary" V K Sasikala.



With the governor yet to take a decision on the Opposition parties' demand for a trust vote in the House, the return of 19 MLAs, who were staying at a luxury resort in Coorg of Karnataka, to Tamil Nadu is not known.




Eyeing a multi-billion dollar contract from the Indian Navy for the supply of fighter aircraft, Russian military aviation firm MiG today said it was not averse to the transfer of technology and joint development of MiG-29 K jets with Indian companies.



MiG CEO Ilya Tarasenko said his company would submit a detailed proposal to the Indian government shortly, detailing its readiness for the joint development of aircraft for the Navy to deepen its already close engagement with India.



We are considering various options for long-term and perspective cooperation, including those within the framework of the Make in India programme, Tarasenko told PTI in a written interview.



In January, the Indian Navy had kick-started the process of procuring 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its carriers by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to leading military jet makers.



Currently, six planes are compatible for the aircraft carrier -- Rafale (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MIG-29K (Russia), F-35B and F-35C (Lockheed Martin, US) and Gripen (Saab, Sweden). While F-18, Rafale and MIG-29K are twin-engine jets, the other three have a single engine.



Tarasenko said MiG had been working with Indian defence forces for more than 50 years, delivering planes and providing service.



He said the company was eager to further strengthen its relationship with India.

Russia has been one of India's key suppliers of arms and ammunition. Then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had visited Russia in June during which the issue of transfer of technology and joint development of high-end military platforms and weapons systems were discussed at length.



Hard-selling MiG-29K as the best option for the Indian Navy, Tarasenko said a fleet of the aircraft had operated from Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as part of its operations in Syria recently and showed excellent results, including in striking ground targets.



He said the MiG-29K was part of the recent Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, the US and Japan and it proved its operational prowess while operating from the Indian Navys aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.



Tarasenko claimed MiG-29K aircraft have serious tactical and technical advantages compared to Boeings F/A-18.



In addition, the MiG-29K aircraft were successfully tested in combat conditions as part of the Russian Navy's military squadron in the Mediterranean in 2016 and have a unique experience of real combat use, he said.



The US defence major has offered to set up a manufacturing facility in India for the production of its F/A- 18 Super Hornet aircraft, if the company gets contracts for their supply.



At present, the Navy operates 45 MIG-29K jets. The RFI by the Indian Navy says the aircraft required by it should be day-and-night capable, all-weather, multi-role, deck-based combat aircraft which can be used for air defence, air-to-surface operations, buddy refuelling, reconnaissance etc. from IN aircraft carriers".



The Indian side has sent an RFI to companies that produce aircraft, which is one of the procedures preceding the official tender. MiG corporation has received such a request, now we are preparing our proposal, Tarasenko said.



In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government had in May unveiled a "strategic partnership" model under which select private firms would be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms such as fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.
The Academic Council of Mangalore University has approved massive open online courses (MOOCs) for second-semester postgraduate students.



Mangalore University Vice-Chancellor Prof K Byrappa said an orientation for first-semester students would be conducted in late October or early November to create awareness about the available MOOCs. About 350 courses are available online. The courses have already been uploaded on the UGC website.



This is a part of the Ministry of Human Resource Developments (MHRD) Swayam (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) initiative that envisages offering online courses to students by the faculty of centrally funded institutions.



As per the Swayam website, the courses hosted on Swayam will be in four quadrants  video lectures, especially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/printed, self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and an online discussion forum for clearing the doubts.



MOOCs will be offered as soft core courses and optional elective courses in second and third semesters at the postgraduate level.



If a student opts for the courses under MOOCs, there will not be any regular teachers for these courses. Students can take the course material on the Swayam platform. They will have to take the online examination conducted by the respective university/institution which offers MOOCs identified by the UGC.



The number of credits that a student who opts for MOOCs will be the same as the credit that a soft core or open elective course carries under Mangalore University regulations. The credits earned by the students under MOOCs will be adopted by the Mangalore University while declaring the result and awarding the degree. If a student takes more courses under MOOCs than the number of courses prescribed for the PG programme, Mangalore University regulations provide for extra credits.



These extra credits will be considered as additional credits and will be shown in the marks card under the heading additional Swayam/MOOCs.



According to Prof Byrappa, when a student opts for MOOCs, s/he has to register as per the regulations pertaining to the UGC (Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through Swayam) Regulations, 2016.
The Department of Sociology, Mangalore University, will organise a national conference on Understanding social change in contemporary India, on September 18 at the Department seminar hall in University at 10 am.



Prof G K Karanth, former faculty, ISEC, Bangalore, will inaugurate the programme and deliver the keynote address. The conference is organised to commemorate the birth centenary of Prof M N Srinivas, an eminent sociologist at Karnataka. vice chancellor Prof K Byrappa will preside.



Annappa Pai DSIA new president



M Annappa Pai, has been elected president of the District Small Industries Association, Mangaluru, during the 43rd annual general body meeting held recently.



The other office bearers are: Venkatesh Jeppu, K Dinakar and Kusuma H Devadiga  vice presidents, M Ramesh Bhat  secretary, M Nandan Sherlekar  treasurer, Raghuveer Nayak and Narasimha Shenoy  joint secretaries.



Swachhata Hi Seva programme launched



ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR) launched a campaign on Swachhata Hi Seva at its campus at Kemminje, Puttur, on Friday as part of the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission, stated a press release.



The banner of the programme was released on the occasion and a pledge was taken by the staff of DCR. director Dr M Gangadhar Nayak, scientists, technical, administrative and other staff took part in the campaign which included various activities like shramdaan, planting of trees, sanitation and hygiene related competitions.



Selected to state-level Prathibha Karanji



Angela Maria Binu, student of St Paul English Medium School has won the first place in the DK district-level Prathibha Karanji, in English memorisation competition. Vindya Hegde, another student from the same school, has bagged the first place in Tulu elocution.



Both the students have been selected for the state-level, stated a press release.
Politicians, activists, ideologues and a high court lawyer came together on Sunday to chalk out the future course of the protest against the "imposition" of Hindi and its ideological contours.



At an event entitled 'Towards Linguistic Equality" organised by Banavasi Balaga, high court lawyer Manu Kulkarni said though the Constitution emphasised equality and protection to oppressed people like the minorities, it had not dwelt on language equality.



"Lack of clarity on language has led to ruling governments interpreting the Constitution as per their whims. Articles 15 and 16 that prohibit discrimination on various grounds do not include language. Article 343 allows for removing English from official languages after 15 years and making Hindi the sole official language, and gives primacy to one language," he said.



Kulkarni said the best way forward for regional languages was to bring Constitutional amendments that uphold their status. "There is a need for a larger discussion among communities across the country before arriving at a consensus on the Constitutional amendment," he added.



Chandan Gowda, professor, Azim Premji University, said the erosion of rural culture and rapid urbanisation had a direct bearing on regional languages. "We not only need to protect the interests of Kannada in Bengaluru but also try to bolster the rural economy and culture if we want regional languages to survive," he added.



Noting that the primacy given to Hindi was tied to the idea of India as a nation state, Gowda said political leaders needed to learn from Europe where the experiment of 'one nation-one state' had failed.



JD(S) leader Ramesh Babu cited the example of Tamil Nadu to argue that only regional parties could protect Kannada. "Though we had movements based on Kannada ethos around the time when Tamil Nadu saw the Periyar movement, we lost out after embracing the national parties. We need to send more representatives of regional parties to Parliament to find support for the Constitutional amendment," he said.





KRV to storm metro stations



Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) state president T A Narayana Gowda said Hindi had not been removed from Namma Metro stations even after directions from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.



"We will meet the chief minister next week and urge him to ensure that his directions are obeyed. Otherwise, the Vedike will take matters into its own hands. Thousands of activists will go to metro stations and do what's necessary," he said.



Gowda further said the fight for regional languages would spread across the country in the coming days. "We are planning a campaign in Delhi where regional leaders from all states will protest against the imposition of Hindi," he added.
The state government plans to establish a Vishwakarma university to encourage the members of the community to continue their special art, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Sunday.



Speaking at an event to celebrate Vishwakarma birth anniversary, the chief minister said steps will be taken to provide additional financial support to the community, to meet the demands placed by the chairman of the Vishwakarma Development Corporation. The Vishwakarma community is made of special people who live by their art. They give shape to abstract concepts and bring them into reality. We will take necessary steps to nurture the art and support the community, he said.



The chief minister also said the Cabinet will soon discuss providing land in Bengaluru to 40 backward communities.




Repair dusty, muddy road



The road from Sahakaranagar railway gate to the railway overbridge and the Hanuman Temple and further to Big Market has become worse as huge pits have formed on it. It needs urgent attention.



Around 50 tractors have been carrying and dumping mud on a particular plot in Kodigehalli every day for several months now. We are having a dust problem. Roads have deposits of mud, too.



Mala Bhargava



Hoarding blocks footpath



A large hoarding has been put up on East End Main Road, after the Carmel Convent bus stop, condoling the death of someone in the neighbourhood. The hoarding has blocked the entire footpath and fully masked a government notification.



Can anyone put up such hoardings, causing inconvenience to the general public? The BBMP does have rules and regulations about putting up hoardings but it does not have the machinery to enforce them. All over the city, we come across hoardings that express good wishes, happiness and condolences. Since the BBMP is not able to take any action, the general public should recognise the inconvenience it causes to others.



R Sridhar

West Anjaneya Temple Street, Basavanagudi



Cut tree branches or else risk lives



On September 17, I posted a complaint on the BBMPs Sahaaya app about a dry tree belonging to the civic body being planted near my house. I received an acknowledgement (number 10661949) on September 27 on the app. I was informed that the complaint was forwarded to Shivappa of the BBMP and I spoke to him three times. I also tweeted to the BBMP commissioner but no action has been taken till date.



The Sahaaya app is not helpful at all as many tweets from citizens show. Even after several people died in tree falls in the city, the BBMP does not respond to complaints.



K A Ravishankar,

6th Cross,

Nagarabhavi 2nd Stage



BBMP official unresponsive



A large tree broke and fell on house number 619, 8th Main A Road, ISRO Layout, on the night of September 3. The tree continues to rest precariously on the roof. We alerted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike personnel on September 4 and also lodged a complaint on the BBMPs Sahaaya app (Docket number 10708009). When no action was taken even on September 11, we brought the matter to the attention of the BBMP commissioner who asked us to contact the divisional forest officer.



However, the DFO concerned has neither attended to the complaint nor is receiving our phone calls. Even after two weeks, the tree is dangerously leaning on the house.



The residents face an imminent risk to their lives and property if the tree is disturbed by wind or rain.



C S Prasad

ISRO Layout



Asphalt road in Sahakaranagar



The newly opened railway underpass in Sahakaranagar A Block is a big relief to those who used to get stuck at the level crossing. However, the railway parallel road (24th Cross) in A Block is in a bad shape as multiple agencies have dug it up at several places. Vehicles here move at high speed, throwing dust and polluting the whole area.



The road should have been asphalted before the underpass was opened. There is no proper stormwater drain or footpath towards B and C Blocks. Pedestrians are forced to make their way between speeding vehicles and risk their lives.A road divider and humps could prevent accidents caused by rash driving.



V S Bhat

A Block, Sahakaranagar



Very bad road in Jnanabharathi



The road from the National Law School of India University to the administrative office of Bangalore University is in a bad state. The entire stretch is riddled with potholes and in a big mess. Motorists struggle to navigate this road.



Improper maintenance and lack of inspection of this road have resulted in this situation. The civic authorities should have taken preventive measures. Moreover, streetlights here are not working and the road is too dark. I have complained about the issue several times but there has been no remedy.



Kiran M

Jnanabharathi Layout
BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday said that dragging Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the killings of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M M Kalburgi is foolishness as it is the duty of the state government to ensure security to every citizen in a democratic set-up.



Modi is being dragged into the killings in Karnataka. It is utter foolishness. Then, what is the responsibility of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah? Madhav questioned and said this is the best example of failure of the state government in maintaining law and order.



As per Article 21 of the Constitution, it is the primary duty of the state government to ensure the safety of people, he said.



Madhav was speaking after inaugurating a two-day state-level symposium on Integral Humanism advocated by the erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader the late Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya as part of his birth centenary celebrations here.



Madhav said people have been staging protests against Gauris murder only to seek political opportunities and not for anything else. Nobody including journalists, writers, scholars or activists deserve to be killed in society. At the same time, there is no point in staging protests condemning the killings of a few people. Those who are protesting the killing of Gauri should have done so when several Hindu activists were murdered in the state. This kind of selective protest is not fair, he said.



The BJP leader said that in the last two years, 12 people Hindu activists have been killed in the state. Those who are condemning the killings of Kalburgi and Gauri did not even condemn the murders of those who were killed for Hindutva, which is unfortunate, he added.



The death of IAS officer D K Ravi was twisted as suicide. But, DySPs M K Ganapathi and Kallappa Handibag ended their lives due to suffocating political environment. Sub-inspector Mallikarjun Bande was killed in a shootout. Were they not human beings in the eyes of those who are fighting for Gauri and Kalburgi,? he questioned.



DH News Service
The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) sees at least five to six youngsters between the ages of 15 years and 20 years addicted to pornography in a week.



According to a study conducted by the institute published in ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry last year, teenagers from the age of 13 are addicted to pornography.



Teenagers are exposed to the digital media. It is easy to access pornographic content through smart phones, laptops and desktops, said Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, who conducted a study along with Dr Shyam Hanumanapura Rajanna and Dr Thamil Selvan Palanichamy.



The study, which involved around 200 random subjects, found around 16% adolescents addicted to mobile phones and 18% addicted to the internet.



Dr Shobha Krishna, consultant psychiatrist, Apollo Hospital said, Hormonal changes happen during teenage. They will also have peer influence which exposes them to pornographic content.She said that the youngest of the cases that she has seen is a 12-year-old.



Dr Naveen Jayaram, consultant psychiatrist, Sakra World Hospital, said that parents or teachers usually turn to medical help when there is a behavioral change in them like mood swings, low or fluctuating performance in academics, depression etc.



He said, Children may lock them up in the room, especially with access to internet. To some extent, it is normal, but if it hampers their day-to-day activities like social interaction and academic performance, then it should be brought to the doctors' attention.



Dr Sharma said addiction can be identified through certain criteria, such as, continuous desire to access it.



According to the study, teenagers get addicted for various reasons. Some of them include loss of control in relation to porn, not coping to manage distress and habit formation. Such people will also undergo physical or psychological guilt after watching porn and get agitated if they fail to get access.



According to doctors, parents must keep a check on teenagers when giving them access to internet and mobile phones.



Parents should have a friendly relationship with children so that they can speak about such matters openly, said Dr Shobha.



She also said the communication between parents and children should be enhanced with offline activities.



CASE STUDY



A 1st year engineering student approached the doctor after failing in exams. It was unusual as he was good at studies. When his mother happened to use the desktop, she came across notifications from pornographic sites popping up on the screen. After she checked the internet data pack, she noticed that her son was using the internet for more than five hours a day. Although he was initially reluctant to admit it, he later admitted to have visited pornographic sites frequently.
India Meteorological Department on Sunday predicted heavy rainfall in coastal Karnataka and Goa in the next four-five days.



The downpour is also likely to pound Madhya Maharashtra and Konkon regions for the next 96 hours before it subsides. The quanta of rainfall could be anywhere between 60-200 mm.



The warning comes at a time when seven meteorological sub-divisions in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and coastal Karnataka reported deficient rainfall to the extent of 20-38%, raising concern over the summer crop output.



The current weather analysis and numerical model prediction suggests widespread rainfall activity most likely to occur over Konkan and Goa and Coastal Karnataka for next five days and over Madhya Maharashtra for next four days and decrease thereafter, IMD said in a statement.



Till September 13, the monsoon rainfall was 6% below average for the country as a whole. Region-wise, the maximum deficiency was recorded in the northwest and central India (9% deficiency) followed by southern peninsula (minus 3%) and eastern India (minus 1%). Nearly 37% districts are deficient in monsoon rains.



The government, however, was hoping for a late surge in monsoon to make up for the acreage and providing much needed boost towards crop output.



IMD in June had announced that south west monsoon would be better than expected in 2017 during which the country as a whole is likely to receive 98% of average rainfall between June and September.
Indias first case of quadruple malaria  presence of four types of Plasmodium parasite in a single patient  has been detected in a 12-year-old tribal kid in the Bastar forest of Chhattisgarh.



Its not known whether the boy survived the infection as he left the hospital, against medical advice, without completing the treatment. Follow-up was not possible because of the inaccessibility to the area from where he came.



Nevertheless, the discovery by medical researchers illustrates how the battle against malaria is far from being over as new challenges crop up.



The Bastar boy recently attended the Darbha community health centre with the history of repeated fever.



His blood sample was examined at the malaria clinic of the National Institute for Research in Tribal Health, Jabalpur  one of the constituent laboratories of the Indian Council of Medical Research  located in the clinic.



We found four species of Plasmodium parasites  P.falciparum, P.vivax, P.malariae and P.ovale  in his blood. The dominant one was P.falciparum. To the best of our knowledge, this is Indias first case of quadruple malaria, NIRTH scientist Praveen K Bharti, a member of the team that analysed the blood sample, told DH.



An examination of 160 blood samples collected in the NIRTH centre, led to the discovery of multiple cases of mixed infection with two or more species. Mixed infections of P. vivax and P. falciparum were the highest (19%), followed by P. falciparum, P. vivax, and P. malariae (2.5%) mixing up and P. falciparum and P. malariae (1.3%) combination in few samples.



There was only one case with all 4 species. Such rare cases of malaria are a diagnostic and clinical challenge, the researchers reported in a recent issue of the journal Public Library of Sciences.
The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has invited students and teachers to join Swachhata Hi Seva campaign rolled out by the Centre.



The 15-day long nationwide campaign was launched by President Ram Nath Kovind from Uttar Pradesh.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon the nation to start a Swachhata Hi Seva, (Cleanliness is Service) campaign from September 15 to Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 during his Mann Ki Baat radio address on August 27.



Come Join us. Be a Swachhata Shramik and support in building a cleaner nation as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi for his birth anniversary on October 2, HRD Ministry said in a notification.



The Prime Minister gave call for starting the campaign so that the coming October 2, the third anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission and Gandhi Jayanti, can be celebrated in a befitting manner, the Ministry said.



The Ministry has not made it mandatory for anyone to participate in the campaign. Those interested can join voluntarily join and contribute to the Prime Ministers call for making India free from filth by 2022, a Ministry official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in the past has come in for flak for stating that the income of farmers in the country could double by 2022, once again reiterated his belief at Amreli in Gujarat on Sunday.



If we work in an organised manner, the Indian farmer has the strength that the government, society and farmer can unitedly work to help him (the farmer) double his income in the coming five years. To achieve that, one needs to move from traditional norms to modern practices, Modi told a gathering after inaugurating a honey extraction unit.



If you use Narmada waters via drip irrigation, the water would last 100 years and benefit future generations, too. Many farmers have switched to solar pumps to save the cost of electricity. Imagine if a group of farmers install solar pumps on the periphery of the village or their farms it could bring down the cost of power generation, he said.



The prime minister also called upon farmers to begin sowing timber along the periphery of their farms, instead of putting up fences.



He said the Union government is working on a new law that would give them right over the trees along their farms, unlike currently where they can be prosecuted by forest officials.



Today, we import logs from the world. If our farmers decide to sow teak or timber at the periphery of their farms, we can save money, he said, adding that all this and other steps could help reduce production cost as well as improve earnings of farmers. Modi also called upon farmers to adopt bee-keeping and bring in a sweet revolution.



The government hopes that on the lines of White Revolution and Green Revolution, we must work towards sweet revolution by way of manufacture of honey. If a small farmer has 50 bees, he can earn Rs 2 lakh every year, he added.
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Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Friday, 15 September 2017

Source: Employsure

The Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 means there are harsher penalties for serious breaches of employment entitlements and record keeping failures, starting last Friday (15 September). If an employer fails to keep records and an employee claims they have been underpaid, the employer must also prove they did in fact meet their obligations and paid the employee correctly.

What are the changes?

The following changes apply from today:

increased penalties for serious violations of the Fair Work Act; where an employer is knowingly breaching their obligations and is doing so systematically

prohibits employers requiring cashback from current or prospective employees (ie unreasonably making an employee spend or pay money for the benefit of the employer)

increased penalties for employers that breach their record-keeping and pay slip obligations such as failing to keep accurate records or providing false or misleading information to their employees

stronger powers for the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) to investigate breaches of the Fair Work Act

Who do the changes impact?

The changes apply to all employers and employees covered by the Fair Work Act, but are particularly important for franchisors and holding companies.

Franchisor and holding company liability.

Franchisors and holding companies will be responsible if their franchisees and subsidiaries do not follow workplace laws about minimum entitlements, including the National Employment Standards, Awards, sham contracting, record-keeping and pay slips. These changes do not come into force until 27 October 2017.

What do I need to do?

The changes have not significantly affected the obligations of employers, but the increased penalties and regulatory powers means that it is more important than ever to ensure correct pay and record-keeping practices.

It is vital that employers keep accurate records for at least seven years (including details of the employees name, commencement date, employment status, pay, hours worked, leave, superannuation contributions) and pay slips must be provided to employees within one working day of payment.
The bad news is that Betsy DeVos and her corporate pals are spending incredible amounts of money to convince parents that public schools are failing. The good news is that its not working.

A new poll out this week shows that, despite efforts by corporatists like Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos and others to push for-profit charter schools under the guise of choice, what parents REALLY want in America is better support of public education. The poll was conducted by Hart Research Associates for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). It surveyed 1,200 public school parents  including oversampling of African American, Hispanic, and major city parents  and was conducted July 24th through August 3rd of this year.

Of all the findings, this was the one that stuck out at me most: Parents want quality neighborhood schools over charter schools by a more than two to one ratio.

Here are some other highlights:

79% of respondents were satisfied with their public schools. In major cities, the number was even higher at 82%.

73% of parents rate their local public schools as good or excellent.

73% of parents believe the key to better teaching is treating teachers like any other professionals, raising hiring standards, and giving new and struggling teachers more support and training rather than firing them.

86% of parents in the survey believe education dollars should be used to improve the quality of education in neighborhood public schools rather than to help parents pay the cost of sending their children to private or religious schools, at taxpayer expense.

61% of parents believe too much emphasis is put on testing of students.

Three quarters of parents have heard of Betsy DeVos and disapprove of her performance by a nearly two-to-one margin.

Only 20% of parents believe that an important aspect of improving education is opening more charter schools and voucher programs and reject shifting money from public schools to charter schools by a more than two-to-one margin.

Parents biggest concerns about education in America are NOT that they dont have enough choice:



These results fly directly in the face of the propaganda put out by so-called school reform proponents who want the world to believe that inner city parents are leaving public schools in droves in favor of for-profit charter schools because they believe their public schools are failing them. The truth is that these parents are seeing fewer and fewer choices as Republican education policy tilts the playing field in favor of charter schools, siphoning off precious education funding into the bank accounts of the corporations who run charter schools. These parents dont see a widespread problem of poorly performing teachers. What they see are teachers in need of support and training, professionals who deserve to be treated like any other professional in that way.

In the battle to save and improve our public schools, we are in a war of ideas. Those on the right fill the air with lies and distortions regarding public education, frequently trying to pit people in urban areas against their more affluent neighbors in the surrounding suburbs. Except, instead of making the wealthy surbanites fear those in the cities, they are using the opposite tactic: they want poor people living in big cities to believe that they are being denied choice by the current system and the answer to that is more charter schools that enrich the investors and corporations that operate the schools. If they can convince these parents to abandon public schools, their work is essentially done.

The good news that this poll reveals is that parents are not buying these lies and deceptions, the propaganda being spewed by DeVos and her corporate pals. The poll shows that parents KNOW how important local neighborhood public schools are and they KNOW how important investing in them and in the teachers who educate their children is to their kids ultimate success.

The key now is to make sure the rest of the country hears this message. This must become accepted wisdom and displace the propaganda that corporation are spending incredible amounts of money to spread.
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To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
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Get the latest on all the biggest court and crime news in Essex direct from our expert court reporter

A man has been charged with murder following the death of a man in South Ockendon.

Police received reports that a man had suffered serious knife injuries at a property in Eden Green at around 1pm on Monday, August 21.

The victim, Daniel Adger, 34, from South Ockendon, was taken to hospital but sadly died upon arrival.

Essex Police confirmed that Zakaria Lahrar, 19, of Dee Close, Upminster was taken into custody on September 15 and he has now been charged with murder and aggravated burglary.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear at Basildon Magistrates' Court on Monday, September 18.

Lee Dowman, 50 of Lytton Road, Grays, has already been charged with murder and is due to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday, October 31.

Officers also arrested a 42 year-old man from Tilbury, a 31 year-old woman from South Ockendon, a 32 year-old man of no fixed address and a 21 year-old from London, all on suspicion of murder, but they have been released on police bail until a date later this month.

One 30 year-old man, from Barking, was also arrested on suspicion of murder, but has now been released under investigation.
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An appeal has been launched after a newborn baby was found in a park.

The Met Police and the London Ambulance service were called to Plaistow Park near Balaam Street, in Newham, at 8.20am today (Sunday, September 17).

A boy was found wrapped in a blanket and has been taken to hospital where he can be cared for.

Police want to find the mother so she can receive the medical attention that she needs.

In a direct appeal to the child's mother, the officer leading the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Jim Foley, said: "We are growing increasingly concerned for your welfare and I would urge you to make contact with us or your local hospital or GP surgery.

"It is really important that we know you are safe."

He said: "I would also ask that anyone who has information that could help us to reunite this baby with his mother to come forward."

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the mother is asked to call police on 020 8217 6498 or via 101.
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The second man that was arrested in connection with the Parsons Green terror attack has been named.

It was 21 year-old Yahyah Farroukh that was arrested in connection with the Parsons Green attack at Aladdins Fried Chicken shop in Hounslow on Saturday (September 16) evening.

On Friday (September 15) morning, a bomb exploded inside a white bucket that was placed on the floor of a tube train located at Parsons Green stations, which sent a 'fireball' through the carriage - injuring around 30 people.

Later in the day after the attack, an 18 year-old was arrested near the Port of Dover in connection with the terror attack, before Yahyah Farroukh was arrested by Metropolitan Police officers the following day.

As reported by the Mirror, Yahyah Farroukh is a 21 year-old refugee from Syria that became a foster child to a British couple at an address in Stanwell, Surrey.

His Facebook claims that he gained access to Europe via a migrant boat from Egypt to Italy back in 2014 and he currently works as a nightclub promoter.

The 18 year-old, who is also currently being held by police, is believed to be an Iraqi refugee that came over to the UK at the age of 15 after his parents were killed.

He is understood to have spent months trying to smuggle himself into the UK whilst living in the notorious makeshift Calais refugee camp known as 'The Jungle'.

Penelope and Ronald Jones, aged 71 and 88, who received MBEs from the Queen for services to children and families, took the Iraqi teen into their home after a lifetime devoted to caring for vulnerable children.

But neighbours told yesterday how the couple  who have been foster parents for almost 40 years, taking in up to 300 children, including eight refugees  were at their wits end with the teenager who had only been living with them for weeks.
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The UK threat level from international terrorism has been lowered back to 'severe' which means an attack is still highly likely.

The level had been raised 'critical' following the terrorist attack last Friday at Parson's Green tube station in London.

As a result, there was an increased police presence here in Essex, as across the country, including more visible armed police officers.

Today (Sunday, September 17), a spokeswoman for Essex Police released a statement thanking the public for their co-operation but urged them to remain vigilant.

The force's Gold Commander Assistant Chief Constable Pippa Mills said: "Our Metropolitan Police and national security colleagues in London have been working extremely hard in the wake of Friday's incident which now means the threat level has been reduced.

"Essex Police, like our colleagues up and down the country, have well-rehearsed, robust plans in place for situations such as this."

She said: "Since Friday you will have seen our officers, including those with firearms, at key locations, transport hubs and public events over this weekend.

"They have been working tirelessly to keep you safe and they will continue to do so.

"On Monday morning, commuters can expect to see our armed and uniformed officers at key train stations across the county.

"Please take the time to speak to them and if you have any concerns do raise them."

Ms Mills said: "In addition to this our regular armed patrols of the county's ports, airports and Lakeside Shopping Centre will continue.

"Although the threat level has been reduced, we must all remain vigilant. If you see something suspicious report it.

"The key to the ongoing fight against terrorism lies within the communities of our county, it is your information which helps us keep you safe and could save lives."

If you are concerned call us on 101 or 999 in an emergency or alternatively call the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.

For more information on how to stay safe visit https://act.campaign.gov.uk/ and www.npcc.police.uk/staysafe
But he said a problem remains in the difference in commitments between the United States and China. "If you look at those targets in terms of the Paris climate accords, they were really out of balance for the world's two largest economies," he said.

Tillerson, the top U.S. diplomat, said, "We are willing to work with partners in the Paris climate accord, if we can construct a set of terms that we believe is fair and balanced [for] the American people and recognizes our economy and our economic interest."

He told the CBS news show "Face the Nation" that President Donald Trump "is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue."

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday the United States could remain in the Paris climate change agreement under the right conditions.

 Trump's Stance Unchanged

The White House on Saturday said Trump had not changed his mind on withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris accord unless it gets "pro-America terms."

The White House reiterated Trump's environmental stance Saturday after The Wall Street Journal published a report saying that Trump administration officials at a warming summit in Montreal had said the U.S. would not pull out of the Paris Agreement and had, instead, offered to re-engage in the international deal to fight climate change.

The newspaper wrote that "multiple officials" at the global warming summit had corroborated the seeming about-face by the U.S. officials attending the summit.

The account said the U.S. officials in Montreal, "led by White House senior adviser Everett Eissenstat, broached revising U.S. climate-change goals, two participants said, signaling a compromise that would keep the U.S. at the table even if it meant weakening the international effort."

The newspaper said "Multiple participants at the Montreal gathering said Mr. Eissenstat's approach, though it is likely to entail a significant reduction in the U.S.'s ambition to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, fueled optimism among proponents of the Paris deal."

After the summit, Miguel Arias Canete, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy said "The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement."

However, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a different message shortly after Canete's statement was released. "Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed.," she said. "@POTUS has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms."

Trump drew international criticism when he declared the U.S. would pull out of the Paris Agreement and seek a renegotiation.

The Paris Agreement is a UN-negotiated deal signed in 2015 by every nation except Syria and Nicaragua. A withdrawal by the United States is seen as a possible catalyst for withdrawals by other nations. The agreement seeks a global response to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

The United States produces the world's second-highest level of greenhouse gas emissions, next to China.
Good day, thanks for this wonderful forum that helped me prepared and lodged my sc190 application on the 4th of this month. I have few questions that I need some clarification: in my application I mentioned my first job as a trainee but I didn't claim points for it because I couldn't get as many proofs as possible. So I only submitted a reference letter and one payslip because the company closed down in 2012.my question is : does the department do the AHC checks for work that points are not claimed? I'm worried because if they do, they won't be able to find the company coz it's closed.

Secondly, has anyone who lodged the application in September been allocated a CO or had they status changed from received to assessment in progress?

Any answer will help me a lots.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Dear friends,

I have recently registered for CFA and Started preparing for it. Is any body persuing CFA in Dubai???
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Minutes of a July 5, 1908, meeting of the Albert Sydney Johnston Camp of the United Confederate Veterans show that (San Antonio) Mayor Bryan Callaghan accepted two field pieces from Army Lt. Col. Charles H. Clark, commanding officer of the San Antonio Arsenal. They were presented to the city by the U.S. Congress for the benefit of the Confederate Veterans, to be installed on either side of the Confederate monument in Travis Park. The minutes mentioned leaving the details of the acceptance ceremony of the two cannons to Mrs. J.D. Guinn of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, but the date of the upcoming event was not mentioned. In your previous research on the cannons, have you seen any mention of a ceremony at the monument accepting the gift?

 Martin Callahan

The cannons (covered here Jan. 22, 2006) already had been mentioned at a June 21, 1908, Confederate Veterans meeting, as reported by the San Antonio Gazette, June 22, 1908. At one of the most pleasant and enjoyable gatherings this camp has ever had, U.S. Rep. James L. Slayden was the speaker and announced that through his efforts, several old Confederate cannons have been donated to the camp to be mounted about the base of the Confederate monument in Travis Park.

The cannons at that time were at the Armys Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, to be shipped here as soon as the arrangements are made for transporting them and mounting them around the monument. Slayden also agreed to deliver the oration at the ceremonial of dedicating these cannons to the memory of the Confederate heroes. Like the July minutes, this account also states that Mrs. J.D. Guinn, president of the Barnard Bee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, would have charge of the dedication ceremonies.

Theres an interesting, if probably coincidental, connection between Slayden and the cannons location. The land for Travis Park was bequeathed to the city by Samuel Augustus Maverick. Slayden, who served in Congress from 1897 to 1919, was related to the Maverick family by his marriage to Ellen Maury Slayden, who had served as society editor of the San Antonio Express and was the aunt of Samuels grandson, Maury Maverick Sr., who would also serve in Congress and as San Antonios mayor.

When the Daughters met July 21, 1908, they discussed plans for the cannons, identifying them as two of the seven Confederate cannons buried by the late Maj. T. T. Teel at Las Cruces, N.M. This would have been early in the Civil War, during an incursion of Texas volunteers led in 1861 from San Antonio by Confederate Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley. Accounts vary, but some cannons were buried in the spring of 1862 after a series of engagements with Union troops in New Mexico that sent the Confederates into retreat.

The womens group  originally made up of daughters, sisters and wives or widows of former Confederate soldiers  decided at that meeting that dedication ceremonies for the cannons would be set for some day next week. The event took place July 27, 1908, when at the close of a long summers day, a few remaining men and women of the old South gathered with their sons and daughters to witness the installation of the two ancient brass cannonsfor the purpose of guarding the Confederate monument in Travis Park, according to the San Antonio Light, July 28, 1908.

The invocation was given by James S. Johnston, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, whose cathedral was then St. Marks Episcopal Church, right across Pecan Street from the park. A Confederate veteran, Johnston gave thanks for the land and the race of which we are the inheritors. Slayden made a presentation speech that paid high tribute to the bravery and noble deeds of the Confederacy  and speaking of the guns which (were) to take their silent vigil at the base of the gray granite shaft, said: Even though they be of enduring brass, they shall not outlive the memory of the men in whose honor this shaft was erected.

The gift of the artillery pieces was accepted by City Attorney J.F. Ryan on behalf of the mayor and city of San Antonio, paying the highest tribute to the bravery and honor of the Confederate soldier. A Confederate choir sang Dixie and, the newspaper reported, The exercises concluded with the Star Spangled Banner.

While Slayden was given credit at the ceremony for arranging the cannons donation, Maj. Teel himself may deserve to share in it.

A few decades after the ceremony, the cannons were moved out of the park for repairs. Protests followed, and Parks Commissioner Henry F. Hein explained that they had been removed because parts of their wooden carriages had rotted away, rending them dangerous to children who played on them. Leading the opposition was Mrs. Van T. Teel, Sixth District Chairman of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a descendant of the artilleryman who made these particular cannon famous, says the Light, June 21, 1940.

The cannons were said to have been part of the battery under command of (Confederate) Maj. Trevanion Teel, having figured heroically in the Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico. According to another UDC member, Mrs. Ed Haltom, Teel had ordered the artillery to be placed on a hill to open withering fire on federal troops. Later reverses, however, forced Teel to bury five of his famous cannon 12 miles south of Val Verde to prevent their falling into (the) hands of the federal army.

In Haltoms account, Teel returned in 1892 with officers from Fort Sam Houston to uncover the buried artillery. One of the guns was left to mark the burial ground, two were given to the city of El Paso, and Major Teel brought the remaining pair home to San Antonio. Teel is said to have given his famous cannon to the UDC chapter here shortly before his death in 1899  in some contradiction to all the contemporary accounts about the 1908 presentation.

The cannons were removed shortly after midnight earlier this month along with the Confederate monument on order of the San Antonio City Council.

TREE SERVICE: Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery will host a Saluting Branches National Day of Service on Wednesday. Volunteers and arborists are encouraged to help provide tree care at the cemetery, starting at 8 a.m. in the rostrum area at 1520 Harry Wurzbach Road. The event is part of a national program, Saluting Branches: Arborists United for Veteran Remembrance, an opportunity for tree-care professionals to provide their services to veterans cemeteries throughout the country.

historycolumn@yahoo.com

Twitter: @sahistorycolumn

Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn
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The feral hog with auburn fur hesitated as it watched another hog devour corn from a nearby wooden box. The cautious animal took one step toward the feed box, then two steps away.

Within seconds, a total of nine hogs swarmed the feed box that researchers had left in the woods of the Armys Camp Bullis.

The food they ate was harmless, but was part of an experiment to determine whether feral hogs will later eat bait laced with fatal doses of sodium nitrite.

Sodium nitrite is used in small amounts as a preservative in foods such as ham and bacon. But it is fatal in much higher doses and can kill a wild hog within two hours. Tests have shown a fatal dose wont affect the meat from a hog.

The feeding frenzy, videotaped by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was a trial run this summer to get wary feral hogs accustomed to the feed boxes.

The experiment comes after the failed debut of another poison, warfarin, earlier this year. Touted by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, warfarin came under fire from a coalition of hunters, environmentalists and foodies.

The trials at Camp Bullis highlight the challenges inherent to the Texas war on hogs. Poisoning an animal as large as a pig is unprecedented but could be cheaper and more effective than hunting and trapping them, experts said.

What sodium nitrite researchers have to solve is both the technical concerns of how to safely use poison, as well as a question more philosophical: does the public have the stomach for poisoning pigs?

On a recent summer morning, Rustin Tabor drove his pickup through the winding gravel roads of Camp Bullis. The camps 27,000 acres became home to a rapidly expanding population of hogs in the last decade, said Tabor, natural resources manager for the 502nd Civil Engineer Squadron.

The first hog was found on base in 2006, Tabor said.

Genetic sampling on a small number of 40 pigs at Camp Bullis showed the hogs had a fairly distinct genetic makeup from other hogs in Texas, which suggests someone may have introduced them from elsewhere. Once on base, the hogs reproduced, often at a rate of two litters a year, one to 12 piglets per litter.

Tabor drove to one of the bases shooting ranges, where rows of plastic pop-up targets waited to spring up for execution. Flea-infested hogs like to rub on these targets, Tabor said, requiring constant maintenance.

The hogs like to root around the concrete bunkers troops use when firing, tearing up the dirt, which in an alliance of invasive species, leads to fire ants.

Then Tabor walked past the green targets to a copse of trees in the middle of the firing range. He pointed to a metal plate marking a cave home to endangered species. The various endangered cave critters can withstand troops firing downrange, but not the digging of the feral hogs. Tabor later found a patch of turf that hogs had stripped to bare soil.

Introduced by Spanish explorers in the early 1500s, the hogs occupied small parts of the southern U.S. before a rapid northward expansion in recent decades. More than 6 million hogs now infest at least 38 states.

The spread of wild hogs is bad news for farmers. One study said the animals cost an estimated $1.5 billion in damage each year, mostly due to crop loss. A more recent USDA study found hogs ate more than 9 percent of Texass peanut crop.

Beginning in July, researchers tested the Camp Bullis feed boxes with a nontoxic bait. The goal was to check whether wary hogs would approach the feeders. If enough pigs took the bait, that would bode well for future trials when its mixed with sodium nitrite.

It's kinda a practice run, USDA researcher Kurt VerCauteren said. Well see what percentage of the population would have been killed if it were the real bait.

Hunting may seem the logical solution to the hog problem, but the 750,000 pigs killed by hunters each year arent enough to make a dent in the population. A bounty program at Fort Benning actually increased the hog population  due to hunters putting out bait  according to a recent survey by Auburn University.

There's quite a bit of evidence that hunting pigs perpetuates the problem, USDA researcher Nathan Snow said. In some cases, hunters are the ones moving pigs to new areas to have pigs to hunt.

Trapping pigs is labor intensive, and fencing can be expensive and often ineffective. Aerial hunting, including by balloon, can be effective but done at a high-cost.

Luring hogs to the bait

The toxic mix of sodium nitrite is produced by Animal Control Technologies of Australia and was first tested to kill feral hogs in 2005.

Justin Foster, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department researcher, has studied the poisons effects for almost a decade at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area.

The actual dose of poison has about the size and look of a salt crystal, Foster said. Sold under the name Hog-Gone, each of the crystals is encased inside a protective coating  like a Tootsie Roll pop  so hogs cannot detect the poison.

The sodium nitrite in Hog-Gone is 500 times more concentrated than what humans can consume, researchers said. Once it reaches the hogs stomach, the coating breaks down and the chemical begins to seep into the bloodstream.

Sodium nitrite kills in about two hours, Foster said. Pigs are particularly sensitive to the poison due to low levels of the enzyme methemoglobin reductase. After hogs eat even a small dose of poison, they succumb to hypoxia. They fall asleep and die from a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Now Playing: Hogs usually send a scout hog first before a pack feeds. Video: San Antonio Express-News

The risk of eating poisoned meat is low, Foster said. He fed vultures and other scavengers meat from poisoned pigs and the animals were not affected.

Hunters or wildlife would not be at risk from consuming poisoned pigs, Foster said. Theres less sodium nitrite in the tissues than in cured meat or jerky.

The problem with sodium nitrite is getting hogs  and only hogs  to eat it. Much of the research on the poison has dealt with how to convince wary pigs to take the bait.

Its a lot like eating salt. Its not very palatable once you consider it, Tracy Tomascik of the Texas Farm Bureau said.

Researchers began bait trials in July. They started by dumping 50 pound piles of corn within three areas of Camp Bullis.

They monitored each pile to see which ones attracted hogs. Then they replaced the piles with feeders. The doors of each feeder first were left open. Then as pigs got used to them, researchers angled the doors halfway closed, and then fully closed.

Each of these steps is needed to overcome the natural wariness of pigs, VerCauteran said.

We put this manmade feeder in there, its new, we got to get them used to that, VerCauteran said. Its a long training process.

Each of the feeders has doors kept shut by magnets that are designed to let only pigs access the feeder. Raccoons and deer, as well as black bears in some counties, may try to eat the bait.

In the trial, researchers watched via camera for these animals. Only one raccoon out of hundreds got into the feeder, Snow with the USDA said, while hundreds of pigs took the bait.

Pork politics

If the idea of poisoning feral hogs seems familiar to Texans, it is because of a failed push to kill hogs using the rat poison warfarin earlier this year.

In February, Miller announced the coming feral hog apocalypse. He had issued an emergency rule change allowing the use of warfarin on feral hogs, making Texas the first state to approve a poison for swine. Miller noted the poison had been approved federally and that his state rules would restrict its use to those with a license.

Millers comments led to complaints, lawsuits and legislation against the use of warfarin. A coalition of hunters, foodies and animal rights groups argued the poison could kill animals other than hogs. They questioned whether warfarin, which kills via internal hemorrhaging, offered a humane death.

Others noted the risk of unknowingly eating poisoned meat. Feral swine is sold commercially as wild game. David Haehn, founder of Belton-based Hogs for a Cause, said warfarin would have discouraged people from eating hog meat.

You have a market for exotic game, Haehn said. Those markets would disappear, and the people who consume hog now would stop consuming it.

Those who opposed warfarin tend to support sodium nitrite, calling the poison more modern and humane.

There is a world of difference, Reggie James of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club said. Sodium nitrite kills faster than warfarin, and James noted the poison is being tested by independent researchers as opposed to the company itself.

We support good testing, James said. "I wish this had been one of the approaches Sid Miller had done, not to shove this down people's throats, but to study it."

Richard Poche, president of the Colorado-based company Scimetrics that makes Kaput, the warfarin bait, said hunters would be be able to detect if an animal had eaten the bait, becuase it turns the fat of pigs blue.

Still, his company withdrew its bid for registration in Texas after a bill passed in the House prohibiting warfarins use. Scimetrics now is retesting Kaput in Texas, Georgia and Mississippi, Poche said.

Were kind of on hold right now, licking our wounds and trying to answer all the questions before they come out again, Poche said. The critics will be out again.

Hog-Gones future

A bright orange sun rose above Camp Bullis one Monday morning as Tabor and his coworker Thomas Gayer walked toward the carcass of a wild female hog. They determined the sow was maybe a year old, weighed around 100 pounds, and had recently given birth to a litter of piglets. On the dead pigs fur, someone had spray-painted an orange X.

The day before, Tabor and Gayer helped in a helicopter hog hunt that killed 64 hogs at Camp Bullis. Hunters in a chopper shot hogs with a 12-gauge shotgun. Below, an eight-person ground crew in a truck and on four ATVs rushed to find the dead pigs and collect their whiskers. Researchers then spray paint an X to prevent counting the carcass twice.

You could hear it on the radio, Gayer recalled. Five down. Eight down. Fourteen down. Then you hear it, Pop! Pop! Pop!

The hogs had not eaten toxic bait, but they still died as part of the final step of the USDAs recent bait trials. The researchers used special bait to track whether hogs ate from the feeders at Camp Bullis. The peanut and wheat paste inside the feeders was laced with a nontoxic biomarker. This biomarker shows up in the whiskers of pigs.

Nathan Snow, a USDA researcher, opened a container the size of a tackle box. Inside the box were clear plastic bags filled with thousands of thin, black hog whiskers. USDA researchers harvested eight to 10 whiskers from each dead hog. If a pig ate the bait, then its whiskers will glow when seen through a special microscope, Snow said.

Researchers killed more than 450 hogs during the latest trial at Camp Bullis. It was a significant percentage of hogs on base, Snow said, but theyll have a more accurate number after reviewing video footage of the feeders. Theyll also be able to see how many hogs on base ate the bait.

Snow said researchers want to pre-empt these issues that tripped up warfarin. Field trials replicating the Camp Bullis test, but with real sodium nitrite, are expected to begin in North Texas and Alabama next spring, with the hope for EPA registration in 2020.

Michael Sohocki, a chef who cooks wild boar at San Antonios Restaurant Gwendolyn, said he had opposed warfarin because poisoning hogs would scare people from eating their meat. He conceded sodium nitrite, a chemical he uses at work to preserve pork products, was probably a safer poison.

Still, the chef said debates over using one poison over another poison, or instead of using traps or hunting from hot air balloons, misses the point. He sees hogs as a man-made problem, but Sohocki wondered about the value of further human intervention in Texass ecosystem.

We have structured our societys survival problem-solving in such a way that nature is the enemy, and we must defeat nature, Sohocki said.

We are working fast and furious to wreak havoc on a natural animal that we actually go to great lengths to produce artificially, Sohocki said, referring to commercial pork farms. If ever there was a parable for our environmental blindness, this is it.

jlawrence@express-news.net
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NUEVO LAREDO  Nearly all of the Cubans have gone. Their absence is felt in the migrant shelters of this border city, and in its plazas where their rapid-fire speech is no longer heard.

There might be a few dozen of us Cubans left in town, said Lourdes de la Torre, a 49-year-old accountant from Camaguey. Little by little, theyve all gone.

More than 112,000 Cubans have coursed through Nuevo Laredo since 2012, the vast majority of them crossing a pedestrian bridge into Texas. A decades-old rule known as the wet-foot, dry-foot policy had allowed Cubans to become permanent residents a year after making landfall in the United States.

But on Jan. 12, amid thawing relations between Washington and Havana, President Barack Obama ended the policy devised in 1995 under the Cuban Adjustment Act, marooning thousands of Cubans still trying to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. In December 2016, there were 4,601 Cubans who crossed at the Laredo bridge. That plummeted to just 53 in February.

Within a few weeks, more than 1,000 Cubans were bottled up in Nuevo Laredo, unable to cross into the United States. At first, they lingered near the pedestrian bridge that connects downtown Laredo with downtown Nuevo Laredo, and in Nuevo Laredo city plazas, hoping for a policy reversal. As the weeks bled into months, the Cubans fanned out across the city, taking refuge in churches, migrant shelters, hotels and apartments. When the flow of humanitarian aid ran dry, some found work to survive.

De la Torre was sleeping on a crowded hotel room floor, pooling her money with others to buy food. She found a hole-in-the-wall location to open a restaurant, which she named Cubanito. The restaurant employed five, offering Cuban-style shredded beef, fried bananas, black beans and rice. It became a curiosity around town.

But by April, many Cubans had grown restless. A peaceful demonstration near the border quickly escalated when a group of Cubans moved their protest to the international bridge. Mexican soldiers armed with rifles turned back the protesters. A smaller group slipped past the soldiers, but were told by CBP officers that the bridge was closed to them.

It seemed to be a stalemate. But slowly, quietly, the Cubans began to move on. Some applied for political asylum in Mexico. Others moved to communities less under the influence of organized crime. And in the last four months, more than 1,000 have turned themselves over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and made their way into the United States after all.

De la Torre said her chef handed in his apron and crossed the bridge into Laredo. The rest of the staff left soon after, leaving her little choice but to close Cubanito. It was a bittersweet turning point.

Cubans can still request political asylum in the U.S. by expressing a credible fear of being returned to the communist island, only now theyre not granted automatic entry. They are detained by immigration officials while their request is processed, as is anyone else seeking asylum. Some will be sent to a detention facility; others could be released pending adjudication of their case. Some might even be sent back.

After Obamas decision, Lorenzo Ortiz, 50, a pastor from Emanuel Baptist Church in Laredo, began taking van loads of food to the desperate Cubans stuck here. Now he helps Cubans released from immigrant detention in Texas, providing them with temporary housing in Laredo.

There wasnt enough work for them in Nuevo Laredo, and the safety conditions werent very good, Ortiz said. About 90 percent decided go after the American dream, and take the risk of being deported.

Around 60 Cubans were in Nuevo Laredo last week. New arrivals head straight for the bridge and ask for asylum. A family of five who said they were fleeing religious persecution in Cuba are now staying with Ortiz temporarily, pending the continuation of their journey to Florida.

For her part, de la Torre decided not to move. Shes one of the Cubans who has applied for asylum in Mexico.

Im staying here, de la Torre said. With her daughter and granddaughter living in Houston, however, she still has dreams of a reunion. One day I will go, perhaps.

anelsen@express-news.net

Twitter: @amnelsen
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Hundreds of spectators lined Guadalupe Street on Saturday morning, some waving miniature Mexican flags and others holding umbrellas against the bright sun, enjoying the parade that kicked off the Avenida Guadalupe Associations 36th annual Dieciseis celebration.

In previous years, the parade has taken a straight mile-long route, traveling east on Guadalupe toward its intersection with Brazos Street, but this time out, organizers decided to take the festivities into the surrounding neighborhood. Headed by a police motorcade, the parade featuring civic and cultural organizations such as Grupo Azteca Teokalli and Asociacion de Charros de San Antonio, started at the intersection of Guadalupe and Brazos and made a made a loop that took it past the homes of area residents.

Turning down Navidad and coming down San Fernando was a beautiful experience, said Gabriel Velasquez, executive director of the community development corporation, who marched in the parade carrying a Virgen de Guadalupe banner. People were out in their yards. (It was) interesting to see the charros come through that neighborhood.

Also known as Fiestas Patrias, Dieciseis  or, alternately, Diez y Seis  marks the day in 1810 when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla launched the Mexican War of Independence from Spain with El Grito de Dolores.

Velasquez estimates about 3,000 people turned out for the parade, part of a daylong celebration with live music on two outdoor stages. This year Avenida Guadalupe partnered with Univision to put on the event. With popular acts such as Tejano bands Costumbre and Deszigual on the bill, a large turnout was expected.

Before the parade began, street vendors selling paletas and other snacks worked their way through the crowd. As motorcycle police began the procession, they were greeted by a smattering of applause and shouts of Thank you!

Melinda Trevino, 47, was among those who gathered to watch the parade. She was accompanied by her sons Michael, 17, and Aaron, 13.

When they were smaller, I used to bring them, so now, I want them to know more about their culture, their roots because we live way (out) in Bulverde, she said.

Cesar Hernandez brought his daughter Marysol to the parade for similar reasons. The 6-year-old was ready for the occasion, wearing a dress in the colors of the Mexican flag.

I try to teach her our traditions, said Hernandez, a Mexico native, speaking in Spanish, so she can feel proud of Mexico.

In spite of continuing debate about building a border wall between the United States and Mexico and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, there was little in the way of overt political displays at the event.

Esmereldo Pruneda, a member of the Carnalismo Brown Berets of San Antonio, said the event was more a celebration of our heritage than a political statement, but, he said, with recent events such as those in Charlottesville, Virginia, it is important to be out and show que aqui estamos y no nos vamos  were here and were not leaving.

Artist Ernesto Olivo was one of the participants. Wearing a sparkling gold pony costume, he carried the rainbow flag as part of Orgullo de San Antonio, an LGBTQ group within the League of United Latin American Citizens.

The event was great, always lots of positivity  family, youth, very multigenerational, which is awesome, he said. Being from Mexico, its always very nostalgic to me, so I get super sentimental just seeing the people waving and the kids.
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Kevin Hart has sent "many apologies" to his wife and children after he was allegedly targeted in an extortion attempt over a sexually-suggestive video.

Kevin Hart

The 'Central Intelligence' star - who has Heaven, 12, and Hendrix, nine, with ex-wife Torrei and is expecting a baby with spouse Eniko Parrish - posted an emotional video on Saturday (16.09.17), in which he discussed his "mistakes" and claimed there was someone trying to make "financial gain" from his past antics.

He said in the Instagram post: "I'm at a place in my life where I feel like I have a target on my back.

"And because of that I should make smart decisions. And recently, I didn't. You know, I'm not perfect. I'm not going to sit up here and say that I am or claim to be in any way shape or form.

"And I made a bad error in judgement and I put myself in a bad environment where only bad things can happen and they did. And in doing that I know that I'm going to hurt the people closest to me, who've I talked to and apologized to, that would be my wife and my kids.

"And I just, you know, it's a s***ty moment. It's a s***ty moment when you know you're wrong and there's no excuses for your wrong behaviour.

"At the end of the day man, I just simply have got to do better. But I'm also not going to allow a person to have financial gain off of my mistakes and in this particular situation that was what was attempted. I said I'd rather fess up to my mistakes."

The 38-year-old actor vowed to "do better" for the sake of his family.

He captioned the post: "Sending so many apologies to my wife & kids. I gotta do better and I will. I'm not perfect and have never claimed to be ...I love you all."

Kevin's spokesperson refused to reveal the details of what the actor was responding to.

They said in a statement: "Someone tried to set Kevin up in a failed extortion attempt. As law enforcement is involved, we cannot comment further as it could affect the investigation."

However, according to TMZ, a woman demanded money from the actor to stop her from releasing a video featuring "sexually suggestive" conduct, though it is not a sex tape.

Sources told the website there are several clips, with one showing Kevin and an unnamed woman "getting cosy" in a club, before it cuts to a bed, where sounds can be heard but no one is visible. The third clip shows two people in a room, where one of them looks "vaguely like Kevin".
Directed by Ridley Scott and starring the likes of Michelle Williams, Kevin Spacey, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris and Charlie Plummer, All The Money In The World is set to be one of the early breakout hits of 2018. Now, the first official trailer and a new poster for the film have been revealed, both of which you can check out below:

Inspired by historical events, with some scenes, characters and dialogues fictionalised for dramatic purposes, All The Money In The World takes place in Rome, 1973, and tells the story of a teenage boy named Paul (Plummer) whos kidnapped by a gang of masked men.

His grandfather J. Paul Getty (Spacey) is the richest man in the world thanks to his business in the oil industry, but even the abduction of his favourite grandson isnt reason enough for him to part with some of his wealth.

Unlike Getty, Pauls mother Gail (Williams) has always chosen her family over money, so with her childs life in the balance, she does her best to sway Getty who eventually moves to send his security man Fletcher Chace (Wahlberg) to look after his interests.

Becoming unlikely allies with Gail, Fletcher and those he works closely with begin to realise that a race against time reveals everybodys true spirit, and the lasting value of love over money.

All The Money In The World hits cinemas across the UK on January 5, 2018.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Seth Lakeman still isn't sure what his role will be in Robert Plant's band after his "right-hand man" left.

Seth Lakeman

The Mercury Prize-nominated multi-instrumentalist has been recruited by the former Led Zeppelin frontman to perform as part of his backing group The Sensational Shape Shifters on his upcoming tour, but he's still non-the-wiser as to what his exact position is, despite providing the three tracks on Plant's new solo LP 'Carry Fire' playing the viola and fiddle.

Asked how the nerves are, Seth exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "If something goes wrong on that ... the thing about that tour is there will be a lot of people.

"There will be technicians. There will be a lot of people if something does happen.

"Hopefully nothing will go wrong. It's difficult to know at this stage exactly what my role is.

"It's difficult to know, at this stage, exactly what my role is.

"There was an amazing Gambian artist, Juldeh Camara, who was almost Robert's right-hand man. He's left, so that has made way for another position.

"That's part of why I got the call.

But I can't play North African. I can dip into it. I've studied a lot of those videos of Robert's band from the last five or ten years, but it's not like learning lines. You have to come up with a lot. I've been writing a lot. Writing to try and input.

The tour kicks off at Plymouth Pavilions in Devon, South West England on November 16 and ends at Birmingham Symphony Hall in Northern England on December 12.

Robert and the Shape Shifters will return to London's Royal Albert Hall on December 8 for the first time since October 2013.

Tickets for the 15-date tour are on sale now from robertplant.com.
Textile exports from Latin American nation of Peru rose 12 per cent to $115 million in July 2017, compared to the same month last year, according to the data from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR). The rise in exports was driven by increase in imports by countries like China (280 per cent), Brazil (67 per cent), Ecuador (54 per cent) and the US (21 per cent).

While there was a 10 per cent increase in exports volume, price increase was 2 per cent, a Peruvian news agency report said quoting BCR statistics.

In terms of region, 41 per cent of al Peruvian textile exports were shipped to Asia, 27 per cent to South American trade bloc Mercosur, and 21.3 per cent to North America.

Textile exports from Latin American nation of Peru rose 12 per cent to $115 million in July 2017, compared to the same month last year, according to the data from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR). The rise in exports was driven by increase in imports by countries like China (280 per cent), Brazil (67 per cent), Ecuador (54 per cent) and the US (21 per cent).#

Peru produces one of the world's finest cotton varieties, Peruvian Pima. The country also produces 80 per cent of the worlds fine alpaca fibres.

The textile and apparel industry in Peru directly employs more than 250,000 persons, and caters to several global clothing brands such as Lacoste, Max Mara, Polo Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Ragman, Armani, and others.

Peru is currently the top t-shirt supplier to Brazil and is also the second largest knitted clothing supplier, after Mexico, among Pacific Alliance countries (which include Chile and Columbia). (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Rakuten Fits Me, a global provider of fit recommendation technology, has unveiled Fit Match, the first fashion and apparel search tool that enables retailers recommend fashion that directly matches a shoppers unique style and individual body size. With focus on the US market, the company is fundamentally changing how brands sell clothing online.The tool is the latest enhancement to Rakuten Fits Mes Fit Origin fit recommendation technology that arms consumers with sizing accuracy and confidence when shopping online.

Rakuten Fits Me, a global provider of fit recommendation technology, has unveiled Fit Match, the first fashion and apparel search tool that enables retailers recommend fashion that directly matches a shopper's unique style and individual body size. With focus on the US market, the company is fundamentally changing how brands sell clothing online.#

As rising consumer expectations reshape the online shopping experience retailers are under increased pressure to deliver personalised shopping capabilities. Rakuten Fits Mes Fit Match search capability enables merchants to drive greater personalisation in the way they engage, promote, and sell online. The tool is automatically accessible through the Fit Origin platform that delivers personalised and accurate shopper sizing through a proprietary algorithm that uses global consumer data from over 30 million profiles, garment type data, attribute mapping, and data science algorithms.Once a consumer establishes a Fit Origin profile with a retailer, the Fit Match search tool leverages Fit Origin technology to make garment recommendations. As shoppers search, they are shown in-stock products sized according to their unique Fit Origin profile. The tool allows users to toggle between product sizes to assess fit impact across different body areas, allowing for self-tailoring, and complete control over personal fit preferences. The tool also features refined search filters that narrow down recommended products by product type, brand and colour.Along with the benefits of highly personalised shopping capabilities, retailers, including Rhone, QVC, Taylrd and others, invest in Rakuten Fits Mes Fit Origin technology and the Fit Match search tool to increase sales conversion; lower transaction value; reduce product returns; and increase bottom line profits.Rakuten Fits Me CEO Vicky Zadeh said, As ecommerce continues to fuel global retail growth, it is critical for merchants to stay ahead of evolving consumer expectations. Shopping is the biggest performance driver for retailers, and specific to fashion and apparel, the ability to deliver products with accurate fit -- which reduces return costs  sits as the most critical revenue driver. Our goal with Fit Origin and Fit Match is to arm retailers with innovative and powerful technologies that exceed consumer demand and drive profitable business value. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
ORANGE COUNTY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 2, 2018 / US economic performance is consistently ranked #1 internationally by the IMD World Competitiveness report, and businesses situated within this highly-competitive marketplace should constantly adapt and evolve their sales and marketing strategy to ensure profitability. Veteran entrepreneur Nicholas Kohlschreiber advises small, medium and large-scale business operators to consistently assess emerging trends, communications channels and technologies and other industry player behaviors with an aim to convert this data knowledge into 'refreshed' and highly targeted marketing campaigns.

In 2017, small business technology spending in North America topped $658USD-an 18% increase from levels reported in 2010. A majority of this investment is diverted towards IT services which can vary from bespoke customer relationship management platforms or mobile apps to subcontracted specialist firms. Nicholas Kohlschreiber explains that innovative service-providers such as AdBoom.io can revitalize client business marketing solutions through the application of proprietary technologies and software infrastructure designed specifically for their defined task and relevant consumer base. Kohlschreiber urges forward-thinking companies to anticipate disruptive technologies (such as the introduction of smartphones) by engaging as much as possible with current trends and technologies, or by enlisting the services of professional marketing solution suppliers who have far-reaching industry perspective.

Business Insider reports that customer loyalty is a critical component of increased sales, with 95% of a retailer's future revenue being generated by as little as 5% of its existing customer base. This indicates that a highly important part of a company's strategy is to target marketing for repeat customers (and not only for new leads). Nicholas Kohlschreiber recommends a multichannel, personalized approach that suggests relevant purchases (according to demonstrated personal interests), rewards loyalty (through tiered or VIP programs) and engages clients with alternatives if they are not satisfied with initial transactions. An important part of this approach is to regularly test and research new methods in limited locations (to reduce cost) before expanding a wide scale strategy based on collected data. According to Market Force, 81% of U.S. online consumers are influenced by social media posts by their friends (even more than by those directly posted by followed brands). This statistic points to the undoubtable power of social media influencers and brand ambassadors-in other words, customer referrals. Nicholas Kohlschreiber sees this factor as a key to developing an effective marketing campaign and sales increases.

Nicholas Kohlschreiber is a California-based media company owner and serial entrepreneur, overseeing hundreds of employees and providing invaluable insight and guidance to thousands of clients. Having spent three years in the esteemed Martin Paul Executive Research Program prior to developing and expanding a consortium of lucrative businesses (including solar energy, customer logistics, and marketing solution agencies), Kohlschreiber is an avid businessman recognized for his ingenuity and ability to generate organic success. In his spare time, he is a dedicated philanthropist and mentor to those who can benefit from his knowledge and acumen.

Nick Kohlschreiber - Expert in Modern Marketing: http://www.nickkohlschreibernews.com

Nick Kohlschreiber - Business Entrepreneur & Founder of TeleTree: http://nickkohlschreiberreviews.com

Nick Kohlschreiber - Creative Marketing Solutions Expert: http://nickkohlschreibermarketing.com

Contact Information

NickKohlschreiberNews.com

www.NickKohlschreiberNews.com

contact@nickkohlschreibernews.com

SOURCE: Nick Kohlschreiber
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN--(Marketwired - September 17, 2017) - Credo Semiconductor, a global innovation leader in Serializer-Deserializer (SerDes) technology, today announced it will demonstrate single-lane 100G PAM-4 SerDes performance at this week's ECOC 2017 Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The HyperScale Data Center providers view 100G per lambda optical connectivity as a strategic priority. The demonstration hosted in the Keysight booth shows the complete transmit path from two 50G PAM-4 host-side interface lanes to a single-lane 100G PAM-4 optical Tx. Implementations that can be supported with this technology include 400G-DR4/FR4 in addition to 100G-DR/FR/LR.

WHERE: ECOC 2017 Conference

Gothenburg, Sweden

Keysight Booth (Hall 3, stand 239)

WHEN: September 18 - 20, 2017

9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

WHAT: ECOC is one of the premier international conferences in the field, with an exciting and comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge basic and applied research. Each year, ECOC offers unique insights into leading developments in optical communications and unparalleled networking with over 5,000 of your colleagues from all over the world.

About Credo Semiconductor

Credo is a leading provider of high performance, mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for the data center, enterprise networking and high performance computing markets. Credo's advanced Serializer-Deserializer (SerDes) technology delivers the bandwidth scalability and end-to-end signal integrity for next generation platforms requiring single-lane 25G, 50G, and 100G connectivity. The company makes its SerDes available in the form of Intellectual Property (IP) licensing on the most advanced process nodes and with complementary product families focused on extending reach and multiplexing to higher data rates. Credo is headquartered in Milpitas, California and has offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong. For more information: www.credosemi.com

Press Contact:

Jen Peckham

jen.peckham@credosemi.com
Shortly before its release, the movie Baadshaho ran into legal trouble over use of the song, Keh Doon Tumhe from the 1975 hit movie, Deewar. The producers of Baadshaho had remixed and incorporated the Deewar song without the permission of the copyright holder of the original song. This led the Bombay High Court to restrain the makers of Baadshaho from using the song in their movie on grounds of copyright infringement. In another instance, the producer of a Bengali film, Ranjana Ami ar Ashbo na, recently sought to restrain another producer from making a film with the same title, claiming copyright over the movie title. These two incidents highlight that filing of copyright infringement suits involving movie titles and songs has become a common trend in India. However, in cases where old Bollywood songs are remixed without the original music composers permission, or where movie titles are reproduced by other filmmakers, it is possible that there is in fact no copyright infringement.

Copyright protection for movie titles:

Under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, movie titles are not expressly provided copyright protection. Some argue that movie titles fall under the category of literary works which are specifically protected under the Copyright Act. Examples of literary works are poems, lyrics, scripts and computer programmes. Generally, an original work composed primarily of words can be protected as a literary work under the Copyright Act. However, it is difficult to conceive of copyright protection for movie titles because a movie title is too short a phrase to warrant copyright protection. In the US, copyright protection over titles of works is specifically prohibited. This is also clarified by Circular 34, Copyright Protection not Available for Names, Titles, or Short Phrases, issued by the US Copyright Office.

One can also argue that movie titles often comprise common phrases and are not original, therefore, not capable of copyright protection. For instance, Kai Po Che, a popular 2013 movie, is a common Gujarati phrase used to indicate victory in kite-flying. Since the title itself is a common phrase, it would be difficult for a film producer to claim copyright protection because copyright law protects original works. Similarly, movie titles like Deewar and Kal Ho Na Ho also fail to qualify for copyright protection because there is no originality in the movie titles as these are common words/phrases in Hindi.

Indian courts on copyrightability of movie titles

While the Indian Copyright Act is silent on the copyrightability of movie titles, the guidance offered by the Indian Copyright Office states, copyright does not ordinarily protect titles by themselves...

Indian courts too have been disinclined to allow copyright protection for movie titles. In Krishika Lulla v. Shyam Vithalrao Devkutta (Criminal Appeal No. 258 and 259 of 2013), the Supreme Court of India ruled that there is no copyright in the title of a literary work. In this case, the complainant had alleged that the defendant had used the title of his movie script, Desi Boys, without his permission. The court held, A title does not qualify for being described as work. The combination of the two words Desi and Boys cannot be said to have anything original in it. They are extremely commonplace words in India...

Similarly, in Kanungo Media (P) Ltd. v. Rgv Film Factory (138 (2007) DLT 312), the Delhi High Court ruled that film titles are not entitled to copyright protection, and that titles of literary works may instead be protected under trademark law especially where the titles form part of a series. Take for instance, the film Gangs of Wasseypur- the title of the film would not be protected under copyright law in India. However, the producer, Anurag Kashyap, would be able to restrain others from using the title under trademark law. He can do this on grounds that a series of films under the title Gangs of Wasseypur (namely Gangs of Wasseypur and Gangs of Wasseypur- Part 2) have been released, and that if any other producer is allowed to use the same title, the consumers may associate the other films with Anurag Kashyaps production house. This constitutes passing off under trademark law, where a person (trademark infringer) attempts to ride on the reputation of the proprietor (trademark owner) by wrongly associating his goods with those of the proprietor. To protect his reputation, Kashyap can restrain others from using the same title as that of his film, Gangs of Wasseypur, under trademark law.

The Delhi High Court also clarified that trademark protection over single films (those not released as part of series) may be claimed where the producer can show that the movie title has acquired secondary meaning. In trademark law, a mark acquires secondary meaning when the public (consumers of a good/service) starts associating the mark with a particular brand.

The title of the Bengali film, Ranjana Ami ar Ashbo Na, literally translates to Ranjana, I will not come back again. In this particular case, the producer of the original movie can argue that the title has acquired secondary meaning and the consumers associate the title with that particular production house. This is likely a strong argument because the phrase, Ranjana Ami ar Ashbo Na, is not a common phrase in Bengali like Shubho Bijoy etc. and the public probably associates the phrase with the film.

In order to protect their movie titles, producers can opt to register the movie titles as trademarks, especially where the movie title is a coined phrase and not a common phrase. A popular example is the title of the famous song, Why this Kolaveri Di? which is a unique phrase combining English and Tamil words; a trademark was filed for the title in December, 2011.

Remixed songs and the law of copyright

The right to remix a song is not explicitly stated as a copyright-holders right under the Copyright Act. While a copyright owner might argue that a remixed song violates his right to reproduce the original song, Indian courts have ruled that version recordings (fresh recordings of a song using a different set of musicians, artists, performers and facilities) do not amount to copyright infringement of the original song. In Gramophone Company of India Ltd. v. Super Cassette Industries Ltd., the Delhi High Court held that remixing songs does not amount to copying. Similarly, in Mars Recording Pvt. Ltd. v. Saregama India Ltd. the Karnataka High Court allowed cover versions (version recordings) without the consent of the copyright-owner. The High Court observed, It is to be emphasized that it, however, does not entitle the person to make a copy or a duplicate of the sound recording, but is entitled to produce a 'version recording,' which is a fresh recording using a different set of performers, musicians and artistes and facilities. It would be a 'sound alike' recording or a close imitation of the original sound recording and would not be an infringement of the copyright.

In Baadshaho, the contentious song, Socha Hai, which recreates Deewars song, Keh Doon Tumhe, appears to be a version recording of the Deewar song, and not a duplicate of the original song. While Baadshahos producers have dropped the song from the film (following the Bombay High Courts injunction order), the cover version is in fact legal and does not violate any copyright.

Intellectual property rights (IPR) awareness has rapidly increased in the last decade in India and the Bollywood fraternity has been quick to respond to any perceived infringement of their IPR. It is however important to understand that not every use of a copyrighted work necessarily amounts to infringement. This is especially true in case of movie titles and cover versions.

Devika Agarwal is an intellectual property rights lawyer.
Editor's note: In a prolific career spanning nearly four decades, Satyajit Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. His films have received worldwide critical acclaim and won him several awards, honours and recognition  both in India and elsewhere. In this column starting 25 June 2017, we discuss and dissect the films of Satyajit Ray (whose 96th birth anniversary was this May), in a bid to understand what really makes him one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century.

In 1968, Satyajit Ray made a childrens film titled Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, based on a short story written by his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. The film was about the adventures of two village idiots  Goopy, who loves to sing, and Bagha, who loves to play the dhol. Blessed with three magic boons by the King of Ghosts, Goopy and Bagha successfully stop a war between two kingdoms  Shundi and Halla. The film went on to become one of the biggest commercial successes of Bengali cinema, and the characters of Goopy and Bagha became so popular that the inevitable happened. Twelve years after the film was made, Ray decided to follow it up with a sequel  Hirak Rajar Deshe (The Kingdom of Diamonds).

In Hirak Rajar Deshe, Goopy and Bagha, who are now the sons-in-law of the kings of Shundi and Halla, are invited to the annual festival of the kingdom of diamonds to sing and play the dhol, and enthral the king and his guests with their music. When the duo reaches the kingdom, they learn a dark secret  that beneath the surface of apparent warmth and generosity, the king of Hirak is in fact an evil man, who exploits his subjects ruthlessly. Most of the poor subjects have no other option but to work day in and day out in the farms and the mines, only to hand over all their income to the king in taxes. The ones who protest are mercilessly subdued with the help of a brainwashing device that the royal scientist has invented. When a spirited and fearless teacher rises in rebellion against the king, Goopy and Bagha join forces with him, aiding him with the help of their magic to pull the evil king down from his throne.

As with his previous film with Goopy and Bagha, in Hirak Rajar Deshe too, not once does Ray artificially sweeten the message of the film to make it suitable for children. In fact, he makes the best use of the opportunity to pass on a very important message to children  that the only war worth fighting is the one against oppression  a war that is bloodless, and yet one that aims to dethrone the greatest enemy of the common man. The films biggest asset is that it does not treat its primary audience  the children  as any less intelligent than adults. It makes them understand the difference between right and wrong and urges them to rise in rebellion when the need arises.

Just like the first Goopy Bagha film, this one too relies heavily on music, and keeping his audience in mind, Rays compositions are simple, melodious and extremely pleasing to the ears. One of the most beautiful songs in the film is titled E je drishyo dekhi onnyo (These strange sights I see). It is sung when Goopy and Bagha venture into the forest, admiring the ancient trees towering over their heads with awe and wonder. In another song titled Paaye pori baagh mama (We bow to thee, o king of beasts), based purely on Indian classical ragas, Goopy and Bagha try to placate a full-grown and ferocious Bengal tiger guarding the keys to the palaces treasury, giving rise to a hilarious situation of confusion and tension. But perhaps the best song of the film comes right at the end, during the climax, when the evil king, along with his posse of ministers are rounded up by Goopy and Bagha in the royal laboratory, to be taught the lesson of their lives. Titled Nohi jontro (I am not a machine), it is an excellent protest song, and it denudes the king and lays bare his incapacity to look after the welfare of his people, before throwing him into the brainwashing machine that he had himself commissioned.

Another salient feature of the film is that almost all its characters speak in rhyme, with the exception of the rebellious teacher Udayan Pandit  perhaps symbolising that he is different from the rest of the lot. Despite all its charms though, the film is not without its flaws. The editing is sloppy on not one but several scenes, and some of the performances look too melodramatic for comfort. The humour  which was such a naturally integral part of the previous Goopy Bagha film  also comes across as slightly forced at times. But even with these minor glitches, it is virtually impossible to take ones eyes off the screen, even for a second  so strong is the message of the film. Ray highlights several important issues in the film  the tragic creation of a terrorist, the dangers of state-sponsored scientific advancements, the angst and frustration of talented people in the regime of tyrants, and the importance of education and enlightenment.

Tapen Chatterjee and Rabi Ghosh are once again effortlessly brilliant as the lovable duo of Goopy and Bagha, respectively. Veteran actor Utpal Dutt plays the king of Hirak with the right mix of humour, callousness towards his subjects plight and seething fury at being unable to quell the mutiny.

But despite being a film about the adventures of Goopy and Bagha, the real hero of the film is Udayan Pandit  the teacher who is forced to turn into a rebel. It is through him that Ray is speaking, throughout the film. In a brilliant scene right after his school is shut down and his home is destroyed, he goes on the run, only to stumble upon Goopy and Bagha and vow to them  The school will open again. I will open it. The strength and grit on his face when he utters those few words are perhaps the same emotions with which Ray himself had set out to write and direct such a powerful film against the ever-deteriorating condition of state administration and public welfare in the country. At its core, then, Hirak Rajar Deshe is much more than a childrens film. It is, by far, one of the best satires against state oppression that the Indian film industry has ever produced. It was relevant then, way back in 1980, and it is relevant even today, and will continue to be so, over the years  reminding us, again and again, that every time an evil king attempts to exploit the farmers, the labourers and the rest of the very people who make the kingdom a kingdom of diamonds, the common man will rise in rebellion, and pull him down.

Bhaskar Chattopadhyay is an author and translator. His translations include 14: Stories That Inspired Satyajit Ray, and his original works include the mystery novels Patang, Penumbra and Here Falls The Shadow.
What's more fun than passing off stalking celebrities on social media as work?

Very little, right?

And so, we scanned the Instagram and Twitter accounts of celebs from India and abroad, to bring to you weekly updates from the interwebz. Who tweeted to whom? Who re-posted last night's party pics? Who went on a rant about what. Whatever it is, don't worry, we've got you covered.

We stalk, you read. Deal?

Today's social media stalkers' guide will make you miss the weekend. Salman Khan's playtime with his little nephew, Alia Bhatt's best friend bonding and Shraddha Kapoor's pupper tales  everything to make you jealous and go 'aww' at the same time.

Salman Khan plays with his nephew

Ahil and me time  A post shared by Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) on Sep 16, 2017 at 11:36pm PDT

Salman Khan is currently spending some quality time with his sister Arpita Khan and her little on Ahil in London. After a video of the two eating breakfast surfaced on the internet, Khan treated his fans to another photo. Aditi Rao Hydari, Swara Bhasker and Sasha Chhetri bring in some girl power

Swara Bhasker, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sasha Chhetri posed together to create an extremely aesthetic cover for Femina. More power to you, girls!

Katrina Kaif goes glam

If only we could get ready this fast  .... but my bianca always makes it fun . Bts .... @biancahartkopf @nupurmehta18 @hedi.kalmar A post shared by Katrina Kaif (@katrinakaif) on Sep 16, 2017 at 8:10am PDT

In a time-lapse video on Instagram, Katrina Kaif proved that it's not easy to be an actor and look flawless all day long. Here she's helped by three more ladies to achieve her desired look. Alia Bhatt is chilling like a villain

forever kinda mood. A post shared by Alia  (@aliaabhatt) on Sep 16, 2017 at 8:18pm PDT

Alia Bhatt is the girl you would love to hang out with because she knows how to chill out after a hectic day. Look at the two girls laughing away, wrapped in their shawls. These are the kind of #bffgoals one should strive for.

Shraddha Kapoor and her pupper

Mornings with my little love  #ShylohBabu #ShylohBubu A post shared by Shraddha (@shraddhakapoor) on Sep 16, 2017 at 8:35pm PDT

The promotions of Haseena Parkar might be keeping Shraddha Kapoor busy but it looks like the actor always takes out some time to unwind with her little pupper by her side. Shyloh, her dog is definitely a pampered one.
Mumbai: Acclaimed actress and activist Shabana Azmi will be honoured as an 'Icon of Indian Cinema' at the closing ceremony of the Mumbai edition of the eighth Jagran Film Festival here next week.

The ceremony will be held on 24 September in the presence of members of the Indian film fraternity, said a statement.

Manoj Srivastava, the Festival's strategic consultant, said, "It's a matter of pride for the Festival that such a great actor who hasn't perhaps got her due as yet, is being honoured with the 'Icons of Indian Cinema Award'."

Azmi has featured in movies like Ankur, Nishant, Arth, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, and emerged as one of the icons of parallel cinema in India. She has done her fair share of mainstream films too.

Azmi holds the record of being the only actress to win five National Awards for Best Actress. She first won the coveted prize for her very first film, Ankur in 1974 and then continued the winning streak with her performance in films like Arth (1982), Khandhar (1983), Paar (1984) and Godmother (1998).

The Jagran Film Festival took off in Delhi before moving on with the journey to cities like Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Ranchi, Dehradun, Bhopal, Indore and Meerut. The journey will culminate in Mumbai between 18-24 September.

(With inputs from IANS)
The Sunburn festival is synonymous with weekends of EDM and parties, and over the years, people have attended its events and gigs in Goa and cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. The eleventh edition of Sunburn will be held in a newly created location in Pune, and tickets for it have recently gone live. It will kick off on 28 December and will go on till the night of 31 December.

Fans can look forward to one of the most exciting line-ups, with DJ Snake, the French DJ who blessed our playlists with songs like 'Lean On' and 'Turn Down For What', headlining and 'Animals' creator Martin Garrix closing the festival on New Year's Eve. It is said that Rockabye hitmakers Clean Bandit will also be part of the lineup this year.

DJ Snake is a Grammy-nominated artist who has worked with Diplo and has previously produced for Lady Gaga. He earned a name for himself with singles like 'Middle' and Let Me Love You'. All of 21, Martin Garrix has been playing since 2012 and has collaborated with several musicians like David Guetta and Ed Sheeran. He has played at more than one edition of Tomorrowland.

Previously, the musicians who have played at Sunburn include Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto, Avicii, Hardwell, Deadmau5, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Afrojack and Nicky Romero.

The festival will take place in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area, which is five minutes away from the express highway. The early bird Phase 1 tickets are priced at Rs 4,000 and up, and can be purchased on Book My Show. A special New Year's Eve performance, SFX technology, camp fires, adventure activities and discount packages also lie in store.
Toronto: Hansal Mehta's Omerta, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in the Canadian capital, captures the bloody trail of British-born terrorist Omar Sheikh who plotted the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Mehta was in Toronto for the premiere. Omerta is his second film to premiere at the Toronto festival after Shahid (2011).

Omerta also received a very good response at the TIFF premiere. Mehta has again teamed up with actor Rajkummar Rao to create this riveting story for the big screen.

Packed with violent episodes that marked Omar Sheikh's life as a terrorist, Omerta is a powerful insight into why Western-born and educated Muslim youths are taking to jihad.

Omar was the first British-born youth to start this trend. Today, hundreds of Western-born Muslim youths have joined extremist groups like the Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

In the film, Mehta does not take sides and linearly lays bare the life of one of the most dreaded terrorists of our times.

Omerta opens with Omar listening to the instructions of a cleric in Lahore about his mission in New Delhi.

Getting the new identity of Rohit Verma and Indian currency, Omar lands in the Indian capital on his mission to kidnap Western nationals.

He almost gets caught at police barricades when a police official suspects him and tells him: "You look like a Muslim." Omar shouts back: "So what?" and is allowed to go.

Three threads run through the film. Omar  just like today's IS recruits  is driven for revenge by real and perceived injustices done to Muslims across the globe.

"You kill our brothers and rape our sisters... So long as these policies continue, you won't be safe," are Omar's common words to all his captives.

Two, the film subtly highlights the role of imams  in Lahore, Karachi and London  in pushing the already angry Omar over the top.

When Omar's father tells the Maulana in London that "I am losing my son", the Maulana says: "He is now Allah's son".

Thirdly, there is the collusion of Pakistan's spy agency in terror plots. As in Shahid, Rajkummar stands out in the role of Omar Sheikh.
Arul is hunched over a smoking gun, in a railway station, after having just murdered his friend Michael. A brutally tortured prisoner of war, VC, in his 8x5 solitary cell, stares into space. A physically hurt Prabhunath watches a policeman point a gun to his wifes head, as she pulls the trigger to her death.

These are pivotal scenes in three similar and important films  Karthik Subbarajs Iraivi (2016), Mani Ratnams Kaatru Veliyidai (2017) and Rams Taramani (2017) respectively. As cinematic experiences, these are distinctly different films. These stories are set in different worlds, their characters speak different languages, have different jobs, eat, drink and be merry in very different ways. But, fundamentally, all these films are about mens journey towards the epiphany that they are sexist scum. The above are the exact points in the narrative  following brutal physical violence  where these epiphanies occur.

I cannot overstate that this epiphany is critical, even if horribly late and largely misinformed. In present-day Tamil cinema, it is perhaps brave to merely show alcoholism, physical and emotional violence, male chauvinism, stalking etc. as objectionable. Therefore, it is understandable  with effort  why Iraivi, Kaatru Veliyidai and Taramani are seen as a giant leap for womankind.

Much has been written about Iraivi and Kaatru Veliyidai. The latter polarised the audience more than the former appears to have done. Now, with his poster-revolution against the CBFC, Ram is being hailed for making a feminist film  one that is about an abusive relationship.

It is futile to debate whether a film is feminist or not  who sets the standards, anyway? But, as more films get written about violence against women within a relationship, it is important to critically engage with these stories and their truths.

Allow me to begin with: Who is this film about? We know what it is about  abuse that women endure at the hands of men. When so, who is central to the story, who drives it, who do we follow?

Iraivi begins with the rain-drenched marital dreams of Ponni and Yazhini, and the fatalistic inevitability of Meenakshis unhappy married life. Is the film their story? Well, hardly. These womens stories end when the writer-directors name appears. Then onward, we are nearly choked with Aruls struggle as a filmmaker, his alcoholism, paranoia, and violent swinging between hope and despair. We only see Yazhini as a passive victim of this.

It is uncanny how similar this is to Taramani. Ram begins his story with the rain-drenched introduction of Althea. In no time, Prabhunath is telling her and us his sad story. In Kaatru Veliyidai, Mani Ratnam straight up offers a first-person narrative of VC, the abuser  who gets to summarise, sermonise and surmise the story for us. He gets to tell us that his abuse is in fact his love in disguise.

It would be unfair to allege that the film mistakes VCs abuse for love. It is clear that the filmmaker knows the difference. He doesnt set up for VC to be a romantic hero. On the contrary, VC is distinctly a non-hero. So are all the men in these films. But these non-heroes are not villains, in spite of the apparent villainy. These filmmakers treat their non-heroes as unfortunate victims of circumstances, who need nothing but a second chance and a helpful woman to egg them on towards their pre-destined glory.

So, these films become the non-heros journey towards that glory  or the gruesome ending of it in the case of Iraivi  he himself being the driver of the narrative, and the person we follow. So, in spite of their awful behaviour, it is their (apparently possible) redemption arc that the audience is made to empathise with and root for.

In writing stories of redemption, it becomes important to tell the viewer that the protagonist is capable of such redemption in the first place. It is this role that the introductions and back stories play. We are told repeatedly that Arul is drinking only because of his film being stuck without release  I shudder to think whatll he do if the film fails or is panned by critics. By the time we, and Althea, are done being introduced to the hero, weve seen all the 'antagonists' in Prabhunaths life  several deaths including that of his father, MGR and even agriculture; betrayal by his lover; urbanisation; failure of governance; corrupt policemen, you name it, weve seen it.

The corollary to this is that the experiences of the women in these films stand erased. We dont know how Leela managed the slow and painful recovery from VCs relationship; we dont see her deliver her child and raise it all alone in remote parts of the country, while also being the heroic doctor. We dont see Yazhinis relief when Arul is gone and now she has just the one child to take care of. We see Altheas anger and her drinking, thank Ram, but we dont see her arc that explains why she decides to forgive and love a man who has been so gruesome to her. Where is her commentary? Where is her Barnabas?

These films treat the end of an abusive relationship like the high the writers need to deliver at an interval block  the story isnt over until status quo is restored. Even as the women in these films grind their teeth and go on in the background, the stories follow the journeys of the men. When Althea throws Prabhunath out, we follow him. Punctuated with other abuse and regret that Althea goes through, we see Prabhunaths journey. We see him blackmail his ex-girlfriend. We see him bond with a stranger over synonyms for the word shit. We see him harass various women, steal from them and cheat them. But, when he finds himself witnessing a womans suicide at the hands of her husband, we almost rejoice at his epiphany  his sacrifice and suffering can finally end because he has learned his lesson, voila!

Iraivi goes one up. Arul going to rehab for his alcoholism and Michael going to prison for murder is shown in such empathetic detail  with a melancholy song and montage of dance, food, violence and tears. Between their break up and his heroic return to Indian soil, we see VC endure great violence to escape prison.

In continuing to trace stories of abuse through the lives of the abuser, these filmmakers do gross injustice to the effect of that abuse on the women. Moreover, by showing men as never having to face the consequences of their actions, the abusive behaviour is presented as a natural part of a mans journey.

Prabhunath faces no consequences for the horrors he heaped upon all the women he harassed, in fact, the biggest impact of his harassment is shown to be on Barnabas, his brotherly mentor, and not on the women. He doesnt go to jail for his behaviour, but goes to bed with Althea eventually. VC struggling in Pakistani prison isnt a consequence of him being an abuser. Even his poetic recollection of his relationship with Leela in his prison cell is not one of remorse. Iraivi is clear that the consequences are for the women to bear. Like the group of old ladies tell Ponni in Iraivi, the films also tells people  albeit implicitly  that its the job of the woman to reform the man.

Therefore, when the abuser returns, he waltzes in with a sense of entitlement only men can imagine. They act like the mere acknowledgement of their own abusive behaviour automatically wipes off all the crimes of their past. They insist that we take their word as gospel truth when they tell us that theyll be better lovers now.

The moment hes out of rehab, Arul storms into Yazhinis maternal home to claim her as his reward! So does Prabhunath, after having yelled at her and called her a b*tch the last time they spoke. VC has the gall to ask Leela why she didnt look for him!

At each encounter, the women are shown to be ever so loving, understanding, melting at the amazing achievements of their lovers. They blame themselves, for they didnt know better. They doubt themselves, for it must be their fault that the men left them. They take the men back into their lives, because they are good people and are now reformed.

If Mani Ratnam dared to make a sequel about Leela and VC post their reunion, I bet itll be a horror story!
New Delhi: The AAP government has asked the UPSC to look into a decision of its cabinet giving nod for regularisation of Kashmiri migrant teachers, who fled their state and are working in municipal and government schools on contractual basis for about 13 years.

A letter was written to the UPSC following the Delhi High Court's order to the government to take an expeditious decision on regularising Kashmiri migrant teachers.

The Delhi government additional standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said that the copy of communication to the UPSC was to be placed before the court on 15 September.

But the bench did not assemble and it will be placed before the court on 13 October, the next date of hearing, he said.

The Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) on 21 August had sent a letter to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) seeking relaxation in the provisions on age limit and method of recruitment.

The Delhi government told UPSC that after the cabinet's 12 July decision, they have obtained the LG's approval and wants its concurrence.

An assistant director in the Education Department said in the letter that in compliance of cabinet's 12 July decision and approval of the LG, he was sending a proposal to UPSC for its concurrence for one time relaxation in recruitment rules for the posts of post graduate teachers, trained graduate teacher, librarian and music teacher for appointment of Kashmiri migrant teachers working on contract basis.

The letter said that the relaxation sought was in the provisions relating to age limit and method of recruitment.

A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Deepa Sharma had issued the direction after the Delhi government informed it that its Cabinet has approved regularisation of the migrant teachers, numbering around 180, and the assent of LG Anil Baijal was awaited.

The bench was hearing the government's appeal challenging a 2015 order of a single judge of the high court directing regularisation of the Kashmiri migrant teachers employed on contractual basis in government and municipal schools in the national capital since 1994.

The 2015 order of the high court had come on the plea of the migrant teachers who were seeking equal pay and work benefits as well as regularisation of jobs, after their representations to the Centre and the Delhi government had failed to get them any relief.

While issuing the direction, the single judge had said the difference in pay was substantial.

The court had noted that according to 2015 figures, regular PGT and TGTs in government schools were getting Rs 70,401 and Rs 60,496, respectively, while the migrant teachers in these categories were getting Rs 29,187 and Rs 28,773.

In municipal schools, while regular teachers were in 2015 getting Rs 49,900, the migrant teachers were being paid Rs 25,000, it had said.

The court had also noted that while regular teachers were also given allowances and benefits like 10 per cent of school fees for child education, medical benefit for the entire family, bonus of Rs 3,454 per year, LTC of Rs 1,50,000 above once every four years and two months summer vacation, the Kashmiri migrant teachers were allowed only eight days of casual leave.
With the passing away of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh on Saturday, India lost its last five-star officer.

The 1965 War hero enjoyed a distinguished career in the Indian Air Force and later also had a stint in diplomacy and public affairs. As we mourn the marshal's death, let us look back at his illustrious life.

Born on 15 April, 1919 in Lyallpur (now Faislabad) in Punjab in undivided India, his father, grandfather and great grandfather too had served in the cavalry.

Educated at Montgomery (now Sahiwal), now in Pakistan, he joined the RAF College, Cranwell in 1938 and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in December the following year.

As World War II began in Europe, Singh joined squadron 1 in Ambala. His first assignment on being commissioned was to fly Westland Wapiti biplanes in the North-Western Frontier Province.

After a brief stint with the newly formed squadron 2 where the Marshal flew against the tribal forces, he later moved back to Squadron 1 as a Flying Officer to fly the Hawker Hurricane. In 1943, he became the Commanding Officer of the squadron.

Singh came into limelight in 1944, when he led an IAF squadron into combat during the Arakan Campaign against the rampaging Japanese, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

Singh had the honour of leading the fly-past of over a hundred IAF aircraft over the Red Fort on 15 August, 1947.

Apart from being a competent officer, Singh was also considered a gentleman, as he served as a mentor to many of his juniors. Intrestingly, Singh once came very close to getting court-marshalled by the British authorities.

According to The Hindu, in the early days of World War II, Singh and a corporal flew at a low altitude over a house in Kerala, inviting the wrath of the authorities. But he escaped extreme scrutiny owing to the fact that there were not many trained pilots back then, the article noted.

After Independence

After his promotion to the rank of Wing Commander, he attended the Royal Staff College in the UK. Immediately after India's Independence, he commanded Ambala in the rank of Group Captain.

In 1949, he was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore and took over as Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of an operational command, which later came to be known as Western Air Command.

Singh had the distinction of having the longest tenure as AOC of an operational base, initially from 1949-1952 and then again from 1957-1961.

After his promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he was appointed as the AOC-in-C of an operational command.

Towards the end of the 1962 war, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and he became the Vice Chief of the Air Staff in 1963. He was the overall commander of the joint air training exercise "Shiksha" held between IAF, RAF (Royal Air Force) and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force).

As IAF chief

Perhaps, the high point of Singh's career came in 1964, when he was appointed the Air Chief Marshal at the age of 45. He is still the youngest-ever officer to head the air force.

Singh remained the IAF chief from 1 August, 1964 to 15 July, 1969.

In 1965, when Pakistan had launched Operation Grand Slam with an armoured thrust targeted at the vital Jammu and Kashmir town of Akhnoor, Singh led the air force through the war with courage, determination and professional skill. He inspired the Indian Air Force to victory, despite the constraints imposed on a full-scale use of air force combat power.

Notably, the Indian Air Force denied success to the Pakistanis though they were better equipped with American support.

"His most outstanding contribution was during that war," said former Vice Chief of IAF Kapil Kak.

Commending his role in the war, YB Chavan, the then Defence Minister wrote, "Air Marshal Arjan Singh is a jewel of a person, quiet efficient and firm; unexcitable but a very able leader."

For his leadership during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, Singh was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

Post-retirement

After retiring from the air force in August 1969, Singh was appointed as the India's ambassador to Switzerland in 1971 and concurrently served as the ambassador to the Vatican. Singh was also the High Commissioner to Kenya in 1974.

After returning to India, Singh served as a member of the National Commission for Minorities in the late 1970s and early 80s.

At the height of militancy in Punjab, he was part of a five-member committee that would go door to door in the state and try to bridge the differences between Hindus and Sikhs.

In 1989, the Janata Dal government appointed him the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, in an attempt to apply balm to the wounds of the Sikh community.

The crowning glory of his life came in January 2002, when Singh was made the Marshal of the Air Force. Ater the death of Sam Manekshaw in 2008, Singh remained the only five-star military officer.

On his birthday last year, the fighter aircraft base at Panagarh in West Bengal was named in his honour.

Singh's passion for the air force was such that he flew more than 60 aircraft and remained a pilot till his career with the air force ended.

His passing is surely the end of an era in India's military history.

With inputs from agencies
New Delhi: A legend, icon, philanthropist and flying chief who led from the front  that's how Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa described the late Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief paid his tributes to the Marshal of the Indian Air Force, along with president Ram Nath Kovind, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Army chief General Bipin Rawat and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba at Singh's residence, where his mortal remains are lying in-state.

Air chief Dhanoa said as a young boy he was inspired by the five-star officer.

"IAF yesterday lost a legend and icon. When I was a young boy I was inspired by the then chief of Air Force Arjan Singh."

He recalled Singh's immense contribution during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the first major air battle the IAF fought after Independence.

"It was to his credit that despite initial setbacks we were able to overcome and overwhelm the enemy and spoil their design to annex Jammu and Kashmir," Dhanoa told reporters after paying his respects to Singh on Sunday.

Singh kept his flying category even while he was the chief of Air Staff, a distinctive quality that Dhanoa also alluded to.

"He was a flying chief and at many times he used to fly aircraft. When he used to go for inspections to units he would fly in his own aircraft. He has flown multiple aircraft and the last one was MiG 21 when he was leaving the IAF," the Air chief said.

He also remembered Singh "a philanthropist to the core" who helped retired air warriors financially through his trust.

The trust named after the Marshal has so far disbursed Rs 2.7 crore, the IAF chief said.

Dhanoa also recalled that when the first three women fighter pilots of the IAF met Singh, it gave him immense joy that the glass ceiling was broken.
Till a fortnight ago, 18 doctors on 18 motorcycles were riding out to 132 flood-hit villages in Bainsa division of Purnia district to treat people taken ill with water-borne diseases.

The August floods affected more than 1.3 crore lives in 21 districts of Bihar, killing at least 514 people. Purnia was one of the worst-hit districts. The 132 villages in the 16 panchayats of Bainsa division remained cut off from the rest of the state for 18 days.

As water began to recede, the water-borne diseases struck, forcing the authorities to intervene. Purnia district collector Pradeep Kumar Jha and the superintendent of police took a motorcycle ride to some villages. "I and the district police chief went to take stock of the situation. We rode a motorcycle. It struck us that we should send doctors on motorbikes to provide health services to the flood-hit areas, Jha said.

So, a group of 18 doctors was formed. These 18 medical professionals divided the responsibility of 16 panchayats in the division among themselves and set out every morning in different directions. Dr Anwar Alam and his friend Dr Anjani Kumar were among the first motorcycle-borne doctors. So was Dr Srinand. The doctors carried medical kits, medicines, glucose biscuits and fresh water with them. Nurses and other paramedics rode pillion.

Operation Motorcycle Doctors started with 18 doctors but as the water receded more and more and the terrain became less and less difficult to navigate, the number of doctors was reduced in stages. Right now, four motorcycle-doctors remain on the job.

It was very noble of the doctors to agree to join in the effort, said Bainsa Primary Healthcare Centre health manager Varun Kumar.

He said every morning the motorcycle-borne doctors along with paramedics rode to the different panchayats to treat patients. Those who were too ill were ferried to hospital on the same motorbikes. On an average the doctors rode their motorbikes for up to 80 km daily. The motorcycles belonged to the staff of the district hospital and their relatives.

"Bainsa had turned into a water-world. It was impossible to send an ambulance. So we decided to send a team of doctors on motorcycles," said Varun.

Varun said the flood situation this year was particularly grim. That the doctors agreed to go on motorcycles to far-flung flooded villages was the saviour, he added.

A helping hand

The good Samaritans were not just among the doctors. Owners of petrol pumps also chipped in a big way. "There was no fuel available at the petrol pumps in Bainsa. The pump owners somehow got their hands on petrol for the motorcycles," Varun said. But for them, the initiative would have been nipped in the bud.

Dr Srinand said the team treated and provided medicines on the spot to more than 10,000 patients. "We were guided by senior civil surgeon and chief medical officer (CMO) Dr M Wasim. We faced many problems but at the end of the day, grit and determination won, he told Firstpost.

He said that the doctors brought many diarrhoea-hit children from Mangalpur village in Manjaukh panchayat to the healthcare centre. "Taking a child of 10 on a motorcycle is not much trouble but to bring elderly people on a motorbike is courting trouble," Dr Srinand said.

Dr Wasim said working in flood conditions was a huge challenge but that his team had pulled it off with aplomb. The district incurred an expense of Rs 200 to Rs 250 on every motorcycle per day.

"Initially, we had 18 teams working a radius of 80 km. Now we have four teams doing calls. The situation is returning to normal, thanks to our doctors who performed to their best," Dr Wasim said.

The villagers are grateful. Badruddin of Fakir Tola said he had seen doctors driving around in cars but this was the first time he saw them riding motorcycles to make patient calls. "Doctor babu toh car se chalte hain. Pahle bar dekha hamare logon ke illaj ke liye motorcycle chalate. Badi dua lagegi inhe," he said.

The senior citizen said the roads in Fakir Tola were bad and riding a motorbike on the bumpy terrain was difficult and painful, more so when the road was waterlogged.

A youth Nazeer Hasan said the ASHA Bahus (rural health worker) also did a good job in helping villagers hit by water-borne diseases. They complimented the doctors on motorbikes, he said. The government should honour the motorcycle-medicos and the ASHA Bahus.

Bainsa division had, according to Census 2011, a population of 1.93 lakh, out of which 1 lakh were male. The literacy rate is 34 percent. Bainsa division has 16 gram panchayats with 132 villages and just two police stations.

(Ganesh Prasad is an Aurangabad, Bihar based independent journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)
Chandigarh: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday visited headquarters of the Indian Army's Western Command at Chandimandir Military Station near Chandigarh.

She and also attended a function at Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli.

At the headquarters of Western Command, she was briefed on the operational preparedness, administrative issues and ex-Servicemen affairs by its chief, Lt Gen Surinder Singh, an official statement said.

Sitharaman appreciated the efforts of the Indian Army and Western Command and expressed her complete confidence in its immense operational might. She also lauded its contribution in all spheres including assistance to civilian administration especially during the recent past.

She also laid a wreath at Veer Smriti and also planted a sapling. The Defence minister spent some time interacting with Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and Other Ranks (ORs) of units billeted at Chandigarh.

Later, the minister attended an event at Kasauli where she granted eight out of 13 Cantonment Boards under the Western Command certificates of being open defacation free.

Sitharaman presented ODF certificates to the members of the Cantonment Boards including their (CEOs) and Presidents of Kasauli, Dagshai, Subathu, Jutogh, Dalhousie, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ferozepur.

During her speech, the Minister congratulated Defence Estates Department for achieving ODF in eight cantonments. She also expressed her satisfaction that all the Cantonment Boards will be ODF by 15 December.

She also announced an amount of Rs 15 crore towards a multi-level parking at Kasauli bus-stand. This was a long felt requirement and is expected to fetch positive result in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as well.

The ceremony was attended by the Member of Parliament Virender Kashyap, Director General Defence Estates Jojneshwar Sharma, Lt Gen Surinder Singh, Principal Director Defence Estate SC Kaushik, Directors of Defence Estates, Western Command and other officials of Indian Defence Estates Service.
The bandh is in protest of police action on its leaders during a march to the Secretariat on Monday.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre and other authorities to frame a policy within three months to curb the practice of celebratory firing.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar told authorities that the plea for stringent norms to curb the practice is certainly not adversarial and is in public interest.

"This is an important issue. The authorities shall treat the petition as a representation and notify effective policy on it. The same be done in three months," the bench said and disposed of the PILs.

The plea, moved by the father of a girl who died in April 2016 as a result of celebratory firing that took place during a marriage procession, had contended that the act at weddings and other functions, is an "obnoxious practice" which "causes terror in the general public".

The petitioners, Shyam Sunder Kausal and NGO Fight for Human Rights had sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to "frame stringent policy/ rules/ guidelines to curb obnoxious practice of celebratory firing".

Kausal's counsel Akash Vajpai had said that the practice is not under check and consequently the numbers of deaths are increasing.

It had said "carrying of a gun in a marriage procession is illegal under Arms Act, 1959 and Indian Penal Code, 1860 and terms of the licence also forbade the taking of the gun to public assemblage."

The petition had further sought direction for the home ministry to devolve a robust mechanism to ensure that these licences are not misused and cancel the licence of anyone who does.

It had also sought direction to the ministry to "impose heavy fine on the person who misused his licensed arms and pay compensation to the every injured person or person who dies because of the celebratory firing".
Mathura: As many as 1,200 cows mostly abandoned, sick and injured have found a saviour in 59-year-old German national Friederike Irina Bruning. When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

"I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund," she said while narrating her journey in Mathura. She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed. Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

"I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk," she said. Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as 'Surbhai Gauseva Niketan'.

"They are like my children and I cannot leave them," she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 square yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

"Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leave a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in," she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows needing special care are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure. When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, food grain and salaries of about 60 workers.

"I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work," she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, "I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children."

The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year. "I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. It's the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala," she said.
Chandigarh: Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator VP Singh Badnore on Sunday condoled the passing away of war hero Marshal Arjan Singh, saying the nation has lost a "highly decorated" soldier.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar also expressed grief over Singh's demise.

The hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank died in Delhi on Saturday. He was 98.

The Punjab governor said the officer's outstanding leadership in the 1965 war would always be remembered.

"In the death of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the nation has lost a highly decorated soldier, who was always ready to defend the borders," he said in his condolence message.

The Punjab chief minister also declared a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the officer.

There would be no official celebrations and the national flag would fly at half-mast atop all government buildings in Punjab during these three days, an official spokesperson said.

Expressing deep sorrow, Khattar said the country has lost a war hero who will always be remembered for his outstanding services to the nation.

As a mark of respect, the Haryana government has also decided that the national flag will fly half-mast tomorrow atop all buildings, where it the tricolour is hoisted regularly.

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal also condoled the passing away of the Marshal.

Badal has asked Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Kirpal Singh Badungar to place a picture of Singh in the Sikh museum in Amritsar.

A state funeral will be accorded to Singh and his last rites would be performed at Delhi on Monday.
New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation on Sunday in paying tributes to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and one of the country's legendary fighters.

Modi drove straight to Singh's residence in the national capital on his return from a day-long visit to Gujarat, and paid his respects to Singh, the only Air Force officer to have been accorded the five-star rank.

The prime minister also wrote a message of condolence at Singh's residence and interacted with his family members.

"My tributes to the brave soldier who had a fighter's qualities of valour and courtesy. His life was dedicated to Mother India," Modi wrote in Gujarati in his message in the condolence book at Singh's residence.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Singh will be accorded a state funeral, and if weather permits, a flypast by military aircraft will be given to him. She said he had played a pivotal role in transforming the IAF into one of the leading air forces in the world.

Sitharaman said the state funeral will be held from 9.30 am onward at Brar Square near Naraina in the national capital. All three service chiefs and many top functionaries of the government are expected to attend the funeral.

Earlier President Ram Nath Kovind, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, visited Singh's 7, Kautilya Marg residence.

The three service chiefs  Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Naval Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat  as well as Minister of State Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri were also present.

Among other dignitaries who were seen streaming in were Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, MoS for External Affairs and former army chief VK Singh, former defence minister AK Antony and Congress MP Karan Singh.

Former Indian Air Force (IAF) chiefs SP Tyagi, NC Suri and Anil Y Tipnis as also several decorated officers who served under Arjan Singh during the 1965 war were present.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat described the five-star ranking officer as "a legend, an icon, a pilot-chief who led from the front and a philanthropist to the core".

He recalled Singh's immense contribution as the Air Chief during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the first major air battle of the IAF after independence.

"It was to his credit that despite initial setbacks, we were able to overcome and overwhelm the enemy and spoil their design to annex Jammu and Kashmir," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa told reporters.

Arjan Singh's daughter, Asha Singh, and other members of the family, including his niece and actor Mandira Bedi, were present at the officer's residence, where his mortal remains lay in state. His son Arvind Singh is expected to arrive later on Sunday evening from Arizona, US.

The tricolour will fly at half mast at all government buildings in the national capital on Monday in the honour of the military legend.

The IAF patriarch will be given a state funeral at 9.30 am on Monday at Brar Square, Sitharaman told reporters.

The gun carriage with mortal remains of Singh will leave his residence at 8.30 am.

Arjan Singh's family has also planned a ritual for the funeral.

An icon of India's military history, 98-year-old Singh breathed his last at an army hospital in New Delhi on Saturday.
Mumbai: The weather department issued a warning of heavy rainfall in Mumbai and the coastal Konkan region in the three days from Sunday.

The districts in Konkan and Goa are likely to receive heavy rain at isolated places during the 72 hours commencing from Monday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

It also cautioned the authorities in South Konkan, including Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, of heavy rainfall Monday and on Tuesday. The IMD also warned of the likelihood of heavy rainfall at isolated places in North Konkan, consisting of Mumbai region, Palghar and Raigad districts.

Rains or thundershowers are likely to occur at many places in central Maharashtra. There would be showers at many places in Marathwada and at isolated places over neighbouring Gujarat, it said.

On 29 August, Mumbai received 331 mm rainfall in 24 hours, paralysing normal life in the metropolis.

Several people were stuck in their offices and on railway stations for more than 12 hours as suburban train services were suspended after tracks were submerged following heavy rains.
Nizamabad (Telangana): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that talks with Pakistan will have no meaning unless the neighbouring country stops exporting terrorists to India.

He alleged that Pakistan was continuing its attempts to destabilise India by sending terrorists and by violating ceasefire.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana's Nizamabad town to mark 'Telangana Liberation Day', the minister claimed that situation on the border had changed and that India is no longer a weak country.

Stating that India is giving a befitting reply to the terror, he said this had no parallel in the country's history.

Singh vowed to root out the problems of terrorism, extremism and Maoism.

He said India had emerged as a powerful country and no power can cast evil eye on it or threaten its sovereignty.

The home minister said the 13 month period from 15 August, 1947 to 17 September, 1948 was a dark chapter in India's history as the ruler of Hyderabad state committed repression on people, who wanted to merge with India.

He paid tributes to India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for launching 'police action' to force Nizam to merge Hyderabad state with the Indian Union.

He said the credit of political unification of India goes to Patel who ensured merger of all states with the Indian Union.
You can travel as an Indian tourist across all of Italy  Rome, Venice, Milan, Bologna  knowing to speak only little bit of one language. I am not referring to Italian, but Bengali. The country is full of Bangladeshi immigrants, all of whom are of a particular type. They are male. They are young (from their mid-20s to their early-30s). They usually have similar physical features. They are small, thin and dark.

One other thing they have in common is that they are all very hardworking. The ones who have come recently have no capital to do anything and sell things on the street. To tourists, they sell selfie-sticks, little plastic helicopter-like toys, cold water, temporary raincoats and things like that. Others, who have been there longer and have some paperwork, are waiters and chefs, while some manage the stalls selling food and other items that are owned by Italians.

I usually speak to them in broken Bengali to ask them about their lives, and I do not need to tell the reader that their life is hard. I have great respect for their courage and determination, but I also have sympathy for their plight. To be away from your home and from your networks is not easy for any of us.

I come from a community of Gujaratis, who have historically not been very educated, but are enterprising and not afraid to undertake hard work. This is why the world knows of the phrase "Patel Motel". But most will not know that the majority of Patidars come to the United States without capital. They come from towns and villages where there is a lack of local opportunity, and have to do physical work in the US. My own parents and sister worked in motels that they did not own. This meant cleaning rooms and doing the sort of work that middle class Indians would never do. Ownership of places is something that only few Patidars in the US enjoy.

This is usually the case with most immigrants. These days India and the rest of the world is dealing with another kind of immigrant: the refugee. Whether the Syrian or the Rohingya, this individual is fleeing violence of the most extreme sort. The war in West Asia was begun by the United States and Britain and then joined in by other European nations like France. However, they have almost washed their hands of the consequences of their actions.

The United States, which has always seen itself as a distant place protected on both sides by vast oceans, does not have to live with the consequences of its actions. It can wage wars in Korea and Vietnam without having to bring these wars back home.

I often see the global photo feed of news services to see what is happening around the world. It will shock most readers to see visuals of the extreme violence that is forcing Syrians to flee. Why do we have such little sympathy for such people? Is it because we view their religion in a particular light?

The coldness with which the Indian government has responded to the brutality against the Rohingya is disappointing. Do we disbelieve the reports of the crimes against them by the Myanmar government? Do we believe that they are all leaving fleeing to India because they enjoy living in refugee camps? We must be quite delusional to assume that.

Do we think, as our government seems to think, that these people are a terror threat only because they are Muslims? It is remarkable that we should have such a crude outlook towards the world and other human beings. This government has already made a serious mistake because it does not properly think about such things. It announced a policy that it would only accept refugees from the minority communities from Pakistan and Bangladesh. In doing so, it announced more or less that India would only welcome non-Muslims. Myanmar is a Buddhist nation that is oppressing its Muslim minority. What happens to our policy now?

As a great democracy, we must be responsible and uphold the rights of those who come to us seeking shelter. Everything in the Hindu faith tells us that this is obligatory upon us. We will be total hypocrites if we take pride in the immigrant Indian communities (many of whose individuals are illegal immigrants) but look at immigrants from other nations as terrorists and "aliens".
Neemuch: A well-educated Jain couple from Madhya Pradesh has decided to leave behind their three-year-old daughter and property "worth Rs 100 crore" to embrace monk-hood under the 'Shwetambar' (white clad) order of their religion, according to their families.

Sumit Rathore (35), who had worked in London before managing his family business in Neemuch, and his wife Anamika (34), an engineer who was employed with a mining major, decided to renounce the material world recently, they said.

The couple will be initiated in Jain monasticism at a ceremony to be held in Surat on 23 September by Sudhamargi Jain Acharya Ramlal Maharaj.

Their family members said the couple has been married for four years and has a daughter. Currently, they have taken a vow of silence till they take 'deeksha' (vow) next Saturday.

As per the monk-hood tradition, their heads will be shaved and they will put on white robes for their entire life, as per the practice of monks and nuns of the Shwetambar sect.

The couple will start wearing mouth-clothes as per the tradition after the deeksha ceremony. The mouth cloth is worn by Jain hermits so that they do not swallow any living creature like flies etc. even by an accident while they are talking.

Anamika's father Ashok Chandaliya, a former Neemuch district president of the BJP, said he would take care of his grand-daughter. "I am not against my daughter Anamika becoming a nun," he said. Sumit's father Rajendra Singh, who runs a factory manufacturing gunny bags for packaging cement, also echoed a similar view.

Sumit and Anamika decided to renounce the material world for spiritual pursuits when their daughter was just eightmonth old, said Sumit's cousin Sandip Rathore.

Sumit announced his decision to take 'deeksha' at a function attended by Acharya Ramlal at Surat last month. "However, the pontiff asked him to seek Anamika's permission. She not only gave her consent but also expressed desire to become a nun. Their families asked them to rethink, but the couple stood their ground," Sandip said.

He said Anamika was the first student in Neemuch district to win a gold medal in her Board examinations for class VIII.

According to a family member, she did her BE from Modi Engineering College at Laxmangarh in Sikar in Rajasthan. She had worked with Hindustan Zinc before her marriage. Sandip said Sumit holds a diploma in import-export management from a college in London, where he worked for two

years before returning to Neemuch to look after his family business.

He claimed Sumit owns properties "running into Rs 100 crore". Jainism emphasises on non-violence and vegetarianism and is followed by less than one per cent of the country's total population.
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmr's deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh on Sunday visited the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu to enquire about the condition of the people injured in shelling by Pakistani troops in Arnia sector of Jammu district Saturday night.

Six people, including three women, were injured in the cross-border shelling and admitted to the hospital, where one Ratno Devi succumbed to her injuries on Sunday, the police said.

The deputy chief minister expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul.

Accompanied by senior officials of the health department, Singh interacted with the doctors at the hospital and enquired about the treatment being provided to the victims.

He directed the hospital authorities to provide the best medical care to the patients, besides ensuring that they get medicines free-of-charge.

Pakistani Rangers used heavy mortars and targeted dozens of BoPs and scores of villages along the International Border in Arnia sector since Saturday night, a police officer said, adding, over 10 shells exploded at the Arnia bus stand.

This is the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistan in as many days.
Jammu: A woman was killed and five other civilians injured as Pakistani troops shelled border out posts along the International Border in Jammu district, a police officer said on Sunday.

This is the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistan in as many days.

Pakistani Rangers used heavy mortars and targeted dozens of BoPs and scores of villages along the IB in Arnia sector since Saturday night, the officer said.

Over 10 to 12 shells exploded at the Arnia bus stand, he said.

Six persons, including three women were injured and admitted to GMC Hospital, where one Ratno Devi later succumbed to injuries on Sunday, police said.

Over a dozen of structures including some houses suffered damages, he said, adding that four cattle were killed in shelling in Jorafarm village.

"From midnight till this morning, there were heavy exchanges of fire and shelling intermittently in Arnia Sector", a senior BSF officer said.

The firing stopped this morning, he said.

On Saturday, Pakistani troops had opened fire with small and heavy weapon at BoPs and border hamlets of Arnia Sector.

On 15 September, 32-year-old Constable Bijender Bahadur sustained a bullet injury in Pakistani firing and later died.

On 14 September, a woman was injured in Pakistani firing along the LoC in Noushera sector of Rajouri district.

On 13 September, Pakistan Rangers fired mortars on Brahman Bella and Raipur Border out Posts (BoPs) along the IB in Pargwal sector of Akhnoor belt in Jammu district resulting in exchange of fire in which a BSF jawan was injured.

In another ceasefire violation on 13 September, the Pakistan Army shelled Indian posts along the Line of Control in Mankote, Sabjian and Digwar forward areas in Poonch.

Two BSF jawans and three civilians suffered injuries in the heavy exchanges of fire.
Imphal: Suspected intragroup clash has claimed the lives of three militants at Muktahal village in Tamenglong district of Manipur in the early hours on Sunday, police said.

The incident occurred when suspected militants of a faction of United Tribal Liberation Front (UTLF), supported by its armed wing United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA), attacked the camp of another faction, the police said.

A police officer told PTI over phone that a faction of the UTLF and its armed wing UTLA has a camp at Muktakhal village and the same camp was suspected to have been targeted by the other faction.

The police recovered three bodies from the spot and sent them to Jiribam Hospital in Jiribam district for postmortem, the police officer said.
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tribute to Marshall of the Air Force Arjan Singh, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 98.

"He was a brave soldier of our country. He was a hero of the 1965 war," Modi said in Gujarat's Kevadia, where he dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation.

"Even at the age of 98, he would be dressed in uniform. He would come on a wheelchair but whenever he would see me, he would stand," he added.

"I requested him not to stand but he was a soldier, he never forgot his discipline."

Modi said that the Marshal's spirit was the same when he met him on Saturday at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital where he was admitted following a cardiac arrest.

"We have lost a brave soldier. I pay my tributes to him. The nation will always remember his bravery and generations to come will be inspired by him," he added.

In Delhi, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the late air warrior's body on behalf of the prime minister.
Dabhoi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river, saying no other project in the world has faced so many hurdles as this "engineering miracle" which many people had "conspired to stop".

"No other project in the world has faced such hurdles as the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river. But we were determined to complete the project," Modi said. Many conspired against Sardar Sarovar Dam project, World Bank refused funding: PM Modi

Addressing a rally some 55 kms from the dam site in Dabhoi town of Vadodara district, the prime minister said, "Sardar Sarovar will become a symbol of India's new and emerging power and propel growth in the region ... the project is an engineering miracle."

Modi, who had earlier dedicated the dam to the nation on his 67th birthday, said "many false allegations were hurled on us. Many people conspired to stop this project. But we were determined not to make it a political battle."

"I have knowledge ('kacha chittha') of everyone who tried to stall this project, but I will not name them as I do not want to go on that route," Modi said.

"A massive misinformation campaign was launched against the project. The World Bank which had earlier agreed to fund the project, refused to give loan for it raising environmental concerns. But, with or without the World Bank, we completed the massive project on our own," he said.

Modi said the construction of this dam was an engineering marvel and every engineering student should study it.

Noting that shortage of water was a major factor in slowing the pace of development, Modi said the project will also help take water from the dam to the India-Pakistan border in Gujarat to fulfil the water needs of BSF soldiers, besides benefitting states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

He said he was delighted to dedicate the dam to the nation on his birthday and thanked the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis and Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

Paying tributes to Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and BR Ambedkar, Modi said had the two leaders lived longer, the dam would have been completed in the 60s and 70s itself, boosting the economy and combating the problems of drought and floods.

Nearly 56 years after its foundation was laid, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which was mired in controversies and faced stiff opposition from affected villagers, became a reality after Modi unveiled the plaque to launch it.

Earlier, the prime minister had performed a puja at the site in Kevadia area of the Narmada district.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.

For more updates, see live blog.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Damthe second biggest dam in the world after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United Stateson the Narmada river in Gujarat.

It is said that the project has helped transport the waters of the Narmada river to the water-deficient areas of Gujarat through an elaborate canal and pipeline network.

Activist Medha Patkar has been on indefinite fast since 27 July seeking proper rehabilitation of Sardar Sarovar Project-oustees, from Chikhalda in Dhar district.

Thousands of families along the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani, Dhar, Alirajpur and Khargone districts are at risk of getting displaced with the closing of gates of Sardar Sarovar Dam in neighboring Gujarat and resultant rise in the water level in its catchment area.

The Centre recently gave its nod for closing the gates.

Here are all the key facts related to the project:

After closure of the gates, the height of the dam was increased to 138 metres, with storage capacity raised to 4.73 million cubic metres (MCM) from the existing 1.27 million cubic metres. Earlier, the height of the dam was 121.92 metres.

The foundation stone for the Sardar Sarovar Dam was laid by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Narmada district's Kevadia fifty-six years ago.

According to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, with the inauguration of the project, over 18 lakh hectares of land in the state would be benefitted with irrigation as Narmada water will flow to over 9,000 villages of Gujarat through a canal network.

Each gate of the dam weighs over 450 tonnes and it takes one hour to close them, according to a senior official associated with the work of Sardar Sarovar project (SSP). The dam is the biggest dam in terms of volume of concrete used in it.

The 1.2-km-long dam which is 163 metres deep has till date produced 4,141 crore units of electricity from its two power houses  river bed powerhouse and canal head powerhouse  with an installed capacity of 1,200 MW and 250 MW, respectively.

The power generated from the dam would be shared among three states  Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, say the officials.

Fifty-seven percent of the electricity produced from the dam goes to Maharashtra, while Madhya Pradesh gets 27 percent and 16 percent goes to Gujarat.

According to the SSP officials, the dam will irrigate 2,46,000 hectares of land in the strategically important desert districts of Barmer and Jalore in Rajasthan, and 37,500 hectares in the tribal hilly tract of Maharashtra. A special allocation of 0.86 million cubic feet (MAF) of water has been made to provide drinking water to 131 urban centres and 9,633 villages, which is 53 percent of the total 18,144 villages of Gujarat.

The construction work of the was suspended in 1996, after the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activists obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court, which highlighted environmental and rehabilitation issues.

It was only after the top court gave an order in October 2000 in favour of construction of the dam that work resumed.

With inputs from IANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged farmers to go beyond crops to explore new opportunities to increase their income while addressing the Sahakar Sammelan in Amreli, Gujarat on Friday. He suggested them to focus on lesser conventional ways and to invest in harvesting honey and planting timber.

Talking about Gujarat's White Revolution, the prime minister said that he believed it was time for a "madhu kranti" or a sweet revolution. Batting for the sweet revolution, he said that it had the potential to change the lives of farmers in all of Saurashtra, a peninsular region in western India which covers 11 districts of Gujarat.

The Blue Revolution and Sweet Revolution have the potential to transform lives of people in Saurashtra: PM Modi in Amreli pic.twitter.com/xwpl1SWpiv  ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

On 'blue revolution', Modi said Gujarat has the largest coastline in the country and the Saurashtra region can benefit heavily from water-based transport. He said sending goods through waterways can bring down transportation cost. Modi said goods from Saurashtra could be sent to ports in Visakhapatnam or Kolkata.

Modi, who arrived Amreli on a one-day visit, also inaugurated a new market yard of Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), Amar Dairy plant, and College of Diary Science.

The prime minister also laid the foundation stone of a honey production centre in the city. At the rally, he emphasised that the Centre was putting all its efforts to make sure that the income of farmers increases by 2022.

He also asked farmers to adopt drip irrigation and solar power for drawing underground water, saying it will reduce cost and yield more benefits. Modi also stressed on cattle rearing and increasing milk productivity in every milch animal.

"I urge farmers to move beyond traditional methods and go for innovation. They should explore opportunities related to timber farming," he added.

The prime minister also mentioned that the co-operative sector in the region was booming and should be brought forward. He appreciated the efforts of young leaders in the field with whose efforts the sector has risen.

Modi, who celebrated his 67th birthday on Sunday, also inaugurated the controversial Sardar Sarovar Dam and the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. Modi inaugurated the two projects amid rallies. After his Amreli visit, Modi is scheduled to fly back to New Delhi.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will operationalise the Sashastra Seema Bal's (SSB) first ever intelligence wing on Monday, a home ministry official said.

The paramilitary force guards India's borders with Bhutan and Nepal, which are often used by criminals and Kashmiri militants returning from Pakistan. The intelligence wing have 650 field and staff agents to gather actionable information.

Due to the visa-free regime India has with Nepal and Bhutan, there is a trans-border movement of criminals and anti-national elements which pose a major challenge, the home ministry official said.

As many as 230 former Kashmiri militants, based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, have returned home through the India-Nepal border since 2010. Also, their spouses and 88 children have come along with them.

The former militants, their spouses and children did not have travel documents while entering India. Security agencies detained them upon ascertaining their real identities, another official said requesting anonymity.

They were released only after a vigorous checking of their backgrounds, past activities and following judicial process.

The India-Bhutan border is known to be frequented by the Assam-based insurgent group NDFB, which has even attacked Bhutanese nationals in the past. India shares a 1,751 kilometre long border with Nepal and a 699 kilometre long border with Bhutan.

The SSB has also been declared as the lead intelligence agency for both the borders. Thus, the central government felt that a well-knit intelligence network of the highest capability that can function and deliver would be the prime requirement for comprehensive border management.

This was essential as the SSB's operations are based on intelligence to prevent criminals and smugglers from taking advantage of the friendly borders with Nepal and Bhutan, the official said.

The SSB has been mandated to guard the India-Nepal and India-Bhutan borders where there are no restrictions on the movement of people on either side. The border population on both the sides has strong regional, cultural and economic ties.

The SSB has 474 Border Out Posts (BOPs) on the Nepal border and 131 on the Bhutan border. The border with Nepal touches Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim and the border with Bhutan touches Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi: It was late one night in the summer of 2012 that Noorul Islam's life changed for ever, sealing his family's fate as refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Noorul was then just seven, but remembers in detail how militants attacked their home in Rakhine. He also remembers their escape from death and the early days of struggle in Bangladesh from where they were turned out and made their way to India.

"Our situation was really bad because my father didn't have enough money to support us. We went hungry for days until we arrived in India and my father started selling fish to earn a living, he said, tears welling up at the memory.

Noorul's family is one of the 70 staying in a camp in Shaheen Bagh, tucked away in a corner of south Delhi.

They are the nowhere people, the Rohingya Muslims, considered by the UN to be the most persecuted minority in the world.

There are about 1,200 Rohingyas in the national capital, some in Shaheen Bagh and the others in a camp in Madanpur Khadar.

With hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, mostly Muslims, being forced to flee from Rakhine this month and take refuge in Bangladesh, their plight has hit global headlines. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said the Rohingya Muslims are facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

But those in India face their own share of anxieties with the government threatening to deport them.

All of 12, Noorul talks with the wisdom of someone much older when he says he would never want to go back to his homeland.

For him, home is a small makeshift tent next to huge piles of garbage and school is the nearby government one in Jasola.

"I am happy here and I love going to school. I would never like to go back to my homeland because the military kills children there. I want to request the government not to send us back to Myanmar," he said.

The others in the camp are equally fearful at the thought of returning to the country that was once their home.

"I don't want to live as a refugee my whole life. But even if I think of going back to my village in Myanmar, those nightmarish memories of military attacks haunt me, said Sabikun Nahar.

"They burnt our house and forced us to follow Buddhism. We were even banned from going to the local mosque and we were so scared that we wouldn't sleep at night," she said.

The 21-year-old had left her village in 2012 and moved to Bangladesh with her relatives. She lived with her parents in the camp for a year but extreme poverty and no employment avenues drove her to India.

In 2013, Nahar found herself in the Shaheen Bagh camp.

She is now married to Mohammed Zubair, 30, a fellow refugee in the camp who works with an NGO in the city.

He earns about Rs 12,000 every month and the couple finds it difficult to make ends meet. But Nahar shudders at the thought of being sent back.

"The situation has worsened since 2012. I want the whole world to support us. I wanted to call my parents who are now in Bangladesh to Delhi but with the government here thinking of deporting us how will I call them," she asked.

Constant worry  about their present, their future and the well-being of their families in Myanmar or in Bangladesh  is the subtext of all their lives.

Abdul Rahim, 35, who runs a small grocery shop in the camp and earns about Rs 300 a day, has been desperately trying to get in touch with his brother back home.

"There are many relatives who are still stuck in the country. I am worried about my brother and his family because they haven't reached Bangladesh yet," said Abdul, who fled from Myanmar nine years ago.

He said he is shocked by the governments plan to deport them. "I would rather die here than go back to my country where people are facing atrocities and violence."

Hoping for some intervention, Shabeer, who works with the Rohingyas Human Rights Initiative (ROHRIngya), has written a letter to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

"We wrote a letter to the foreign minister on 23 August and are waiting for a reply. I want to ask the government here why they want to deport us," he said.

He speaks for thousands of other Rohingyas who dread the prospect of being sent back from India.

The government told Parliament on 9 August that more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, are at present staying in India.

However, activists estimate that around 40,000 Rohingyas are living in India illegally, mostly in Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Hyderabad and parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had earlier said the Rohingyas were illegal immigrants and stand to be deported.

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a plea challenging the government's decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar.

Their future might well take another decisive turn Monday.
Chandigarh: Haryana Police has made two fresh arrests in connection with incidents of violence which broke out on 25 August in Panchkula after sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in a rape case.

Efforts are also on to trace the Dera chief's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan and Dera spokesman Aditya Insan, against whom a lookout notice was issued earlier.

Pradeep Goyal Insan, a Dera functionary, was arrested on Sunday from Udaipur in Rajasthan by a Special Investigation Team of the Haryana Police, a senior police official said.

Prakash alias Vicky, who is brother-in-law of Aditya Insan, was also nabbed on Sunday from Mohali, Panchkula's deputy commissioner of police, Manbir Singh said.

Another person identified as Vijay was arrested from Pinjore on Saturday, he said.

"The role of all the three arrested persons Pradeep, Prakash and Vijay is under the scanner in connection with incidents of violence which broke out in Panchkula on 25 August. Further investigations are under progress," Singh said.

The police have also arrested one more person from Ambala in connection with incidents of arson in Panchkula.

Haryana Police said it was collecting videos from various sources pertaining to incidents of violence which broke out in Panchkula and was trying to identify the accused involved in inciting violence and indulging in acts of arson.

Asked to comment on media reports claiming that Pradeep Goyal has told SIT that Honeypreet had already fled to Nepal, DCP Manbir said, "There is no truth in these reports. These are baseless".

The Haryana Police made several arrests after violence broke out in Panchkula that includes Dera Sacha Sauda chief's top aide and spokesperson Dilawar Insan, who was arrested from Sonepat, on 15 September.

The police had earlier also arrested Dera's state body member Gobind Insan.

The Haryana Police had earlier sent a team to Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal in search of Honeypreet, a close confidant of the self-styled godman who is serving a 20-year-old jail term for raping two disciples.

Officials of the Uttar Pradesh police had earlier said that Honeypreet's photographs were pasted at police stations bordering Nepal.

The police had on 1 September issued a lookout notice for Honeypreet and Aditya, fearing that they could flee the country.

Police have intensified efforts to trace Honeypreet, who describes herself as "Papa's angel", after it arrested and questioned another sect functionary, Surinder Dhiman Insan, in connection with an alleged conspiracy to help Ram Rahim escape after his conviction by the special CBI court in Panchkula on 25 August.

Earlier, Panchkula police commissioner, AS Chawla had said that police needs to question Honeypreet regarding the disclosures made by Surinder Dhiman and some other arrested accused.

He said that an FIR was earlier lodged at the Panchkula police station following a statement by a newspaper reporter against Aditya and Surinder Dhiman. The duo have been booked for sedition.

Violence broke out in Panchkula after the Dera chief's conviction, leaving 35 dead, while six others were killed in incidents in Sirsa.

The 50-year-old Dera chief, who is lodged in the Sunaria Jail in Rohtak, had been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment by the CBI court for the 2002 rapes of two of his disciples.
A community that lives off the land, an annual migration of around 200 kilometres to the middle Himalayas and an everlasting bond with buffaloes that would put a dogs love to shame. It was enough of a draw for American photojournalist Michael Benanav to make his way to India in order to spend some time with the Van Gujjars.

The idea was to document the lifestyle of these forest-dwelling nomads, which is under constant threat of being swallowed by the developing world. For 44 days, Benanav followed the Van Gujjars on their spring migration from the jungles at the foothills of the Shivalik Hills to the lush pastures high up in the mountains. And en route, he had a fascinating insight into their life, which he has documented in the book, Himalaya Bound.

The Van Gujjars, who trace their origins back to Kashmir, first came to the Shivaliks some 1,500 years ago; today, they are distributed across the many northern states. Their lives essentially revolve around their buffaloes  their only real asset, given that the milk is their only source of income and is vital for their sustenance as well. As a result, their wellbeing is of prime importance to the Van Gujjars. As Benanav puts it, Van Gujjars were like doting servants to their buffalo masters.

Having traveled to countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Jordan, Turkey and Mongolia in the past, Benanav bumped into nomads on various occasions and was fascinated by their lifestyle and culture.

I think Im particularly drawn to these communities because I really like to walk and be out in the wilderness. So the places Ive gone to, Ive run into nomadic people, who lead a life that I happened to be naturally attuned to. They have a great tradition of hospitality, which makes the time spent with them really enjoyable. I always wanted to migrate with one of these tribes and I couldnt imagine a more beautiful place to do it than the Himalayas, Benanav says on a visit to the Mussoorie Mountain Festival recently.

Each spring, the jungles dry up down below while the snow melts high up in the mountains, revealing fresh grass that is scrumptious fodder for the buffaloes. Its when the Van Gujjars bundle their meagre belongings and begin their long march that takes them to an altitude of over 3,000 metres. Benanav first approached the Society for the Promotion of Himalayan Indigenous Activities, who work with the Van Gujjars, and soon found himself in the jungles outside of Dehradun, just as the entourage got moving. Its a massive undertaking that comprises men, pregnant women, children, toddlers and the elders  essentially anyone, who can make the arduous journey to their traditional grazing grounds. And of course, their beloved buffaloes.

Van Gujjars have never lived in a village. Typically speaking, each family will go to the same meadow in the summer and come to the same area in the Shivaliks every winter  this has been going on for generations. So even if they are nomadic, they have a deep sense of home that is attached to these places. I walked with them, herded buffaloes, ate with them, slept with them under their tents and essentially, lived their life thought those weeks, Benanav recalls.

A lot of things can go wrong during this migration, but they hardly get worked up since theyve been doing this for years. They are used to dealing with the normal risks that come with climbing a mountain, he says.

Quite by chance, Benanav also got a close look into what afflicts these nomads in what has been their home for centuries. Van Gujjars dont own the land they graze and live on, so each time they were migrating, they had to get permission from the forest department, which back in the day was just a formality. But once their traditional grazing grounds, such as the one at Gangar, became a part of the Govind National Park in 1990, the Van Gujjars were told to keep out of it. It was the same case with other families down below, whose homes in the jungles were now a part of Rajaji National Park, after it was established in 1983.

This idea of keeping indigenous, forest-dwelling people out of national parks is really just part of the way that conservation has been implemented for long. The idea is that human beings by definition are an invasive species in nature, and to protect it, they must be kept away. As a result, we have people who can be called conservation refugees affected by this green imperialism, Benanav explains.

The Van Gujjars, on the other hand, disagree with this idea, since they believe that they are a part of the environment there that keeps the ecosystem in balance.

If these areas are so special that theyve been declared national parks, obviously theyve done something right over all these years. They are attuned to the idea that they have to live in a sustainable balance with the environment, else it will not support them. So while they use the forest, they do not overuse it, he says.

Some of the Van Gujjar families were rehabilitated to villages such as Pathri and Gandikhatta, and these buffalo herders were now handed plots of land and asked to harvest wheat. It has had an incredible impact on their way of life. Yet, there are other families such as the one Benanav travelled with, who still attempt to follow their traditional lifestyle.

The more indigenous way of thinking has begun to catch on around the world. Here in India, there is the Forest Rights Act that allows tribes like the Van Gujjars to use their traditional land, even inside a national park. In this case, the forest department was just happy to ignore the law, which in turn has led to a lot of insecurity in their lives, he says.

Due to uncertainty over the permission that year, instead of visiting Gangar, Benanavs friends had to make their way to another pasture at Kanasar, which was not only higher up, but also farther away. The average three weeks of migration had now extended to a six-week slog, putting the physical abilities of the family and their animals to test. Yet, even in the most trying situations, Benanav found that the Van Gujjars never broke down.

On the toughest parts of the trail, the men would get the saddle off their pack animals and lug the load themselves. A camp away from their final destination, they were hit by a ferocious thunderstorm, where an uprooted tree landed on a few buffalo yearlings, breaking one of their legs.

The bone was out and there was no way it could walk the last 10 km over an incredibly steep and exposed pass. I wondered if they were going to euthanise it. What they did instead was patched up the leg, which I thought was an incredible feat of wilderness, veterinary medicine, and then physically carried the calf on a makeshift stretcher, all the way to the final destination, he says.

It totally blew my mind and I realised what these animals meant to them. They did it because of their love for these animals, not for some economic gain. If there was a way, no animal would be left behind. These are the Van Gujjars and this is just what they do, he adds.

Since that experience, Benanav has gone back to meet the family every few years and has noticed many changes in their lives. Some of them have considered the offer to settle in a village to secure their future, while oth ers still go through the administrative grind each year.

I think the most sensible approach is a collaborative one, where the conservationists, local communities and forest-dwelling people work together to protect a place. And thats the only way to protect the environment, human rights and cultural traditions all at the same time. It wont be possible in some places but it definitely should be the first answer, rather than the last, Benanav says.

The experience gathered over the years has resulted in Benanav starting the Traditional Cultures Project a few years ago, which documents these societies around the world before they disappear.

Things are changing really fast. The project was started to see whats threatening them, as well as to understand how they are adapting to modern challenges. Theres something valuable about these ancient ways of living and its important to document it, even so that you can just remember that people lived this way, he says.
Mumbai: Congress leader Narayan Rane on Sunday hit out at Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan and the party's state in-charge Mohan Prakash for the decision to dissolve the district committee in Sindhudurg.

Sindhudurg in coastal Maharashtra is Rane's home district, and most office-bearers of the local Congress organisation were believed to be close to him.

Chavan on Saturday decided to dissolve the district and block-level committees of the party in Sindhudurg.

Rane, who has been openly critical of the party's state leadership, said he would visit Sindhudurg on Monday.

"I will go to Sindhudurg on Monday and meet my party workers. There will be some decision during this Navratri festival," he said.

For quite some time there is speculation in political circles that Rane may join the ruling BJP.

He had conceded that he met BJP president Amit Shah in Ahmedabad a few months ago. During the Ganesh festival, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had visited Rane's residence, fuelling the speculation further.

Speaking to a news channel on Sunday, Rane said, "The Sindhudurg district Congress committee was dissolved only because of Mohan Prakash and Ashok Chavan, because they never liked me from the day one."

The party on Saturday appointed Vikas Sawant as the chief of Sindhudurg Congress. Targeting Sawant, Rane said, "He can not even win a single seat for the party. On what basis he has been appointed as the district chief?

"Those who took efforts to gain power for the party are being spurned. They are denied rewards, and insignificant people are given the responsibility," said Rane, a former Shiv Sena leader who was once chief minister and who joined the Congress in 2005.

About Ashok Chavan, Rane said, "He has been opposing me consistently within the Congress. The kind of presence Congress has in all power centres in Sindhudurg, Chavan has not been able to achieve it in his own Nanded district. More than 10 corporators of Nanded Waghala Municipal Corporation are likely to desert him.

"The assurances given to me at the time of joining Congress have not been fulfilled," Rane alleged.
Jammu: Expressing concern over repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Congress leader and former minister Raman Bhalla on Sunday said the time has come to silence the Pakistani guns along the LoC and international border.

He also criticised the Centre and state government over their response to ceasefire violations and said it was the responsibility of the BJP-led NDA dispensation to find a solution.

"The time has come to act and silence the Pakistani guns as the residents of border areas, since July last year, have suffered unimaginable losses due to unprovoked Pakistani firing and shelling," he said interacting with people in Gandhi Nagar in Jammu.

He said that ceasefire violations and militant attacks in the past few months have broken all records and "this government is dragging us into the 1990s as more youths, according to agencies, are joining militant ranks".

"It is NDA government's duty and responsibility to find a solution to the repeated violations," he said.

Lauding the role of BSF in safeguarding the borders, the Congress leader said "the force has done a good job and it has done what was required of it".
New Delhi: A woman candidate of the Congress party, accused of allegedly hurling casteist slur at a voter and threatening him during MCD elections in 2012, has been discharged by a court New Delhi.

Her comment "neechi jaati wala" did not specifically denote scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, but could be any lower caste, the court said, adding that the allegation of giving out a threat was also missing from the complainant's statement.

According to the FIR, complainant Jogender was walking back after casting his vote when the woman, who was contesting the municipal body election from Shahpur Jat ward New Delhi, allegedly shouted at him from her car.

The court, however, said it cannot be unambiguously inferred that the woman knew the caste of the complainant.

"The allegation is that the accused addressed the complainant as 'Neechi Jaati Wala'. From this allegation, it cannot be unambiguously inferred that the accused knew the caste of the complainant.

"The phrase could denote any lower caste, not necessarily the SC/ST caste. Criminal statutes require strict interpretation, therefore, clear allegations regarding the

caste of the complainant should have surfaced during investigation which are conspicuously absent in the present case," Additional Sessions Judge AK Jain said.

The court also noted that the allegation of threat was missing from the statement of the complainant.

The police had lodged an FIR on the complaint of Jogender for the alleged offence under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Denying the allegations, the counsel for the accused woman had claimed that 'Neech Jaat' does not mean the caste of the complainant as scheduled caste.
Chennai: Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran on Sunday asked Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswamy to resign from his post and convene a meeting of party MLAs and elect a new legislature party leader.

Dhinakaran, who is waging a running battle with Palaniswamy and Panneerselvam camp for supremacy in the party, said the chief minister should meet Governor Vidyasagar Rao and tender his resignation and then convene a meeting of party legislators.

"Let Palaniswamy say that the post of chief minister and the Cabinet which was given by 'Chinnamma' (VK Sasikala) is not necessary... let them choose anyone. We are not concerned," he told reporters in Chennai.

Dhinakaran who had said two days ago that the government would fall within a week, said he was ready to send his loyalist MLAs to the meeting of legislators he was proposing, and added that "I am not responsible if they do not vote for you (Palaniswamy)."

After the Palaniswami and Panneerselvam camps merged in August, Dhinakaran loyalist MLAs had petitioned the governor seeking Palaniswami's ouster.

Also, Opposition parties led by the DMK had urged Rao to order a floor test and ask Palaniswamy to prove his majority.

The matter later went to the Madras High Court, which has restrained the Assembly Speaker from holding a floor test till 20 September.

Dhinakaran alleged that MLAs were lured through inducements. He claimed that but for some legislators who were in the Palaniswamy camp out of "selfishness", the majority was with him.

He said all his loyalists were determined (to see the ouster of Palaniswamy regime), and he cannot "change" that.

He repeatedly asked why the chief minister and others in his Cabinet had given an affidavit endorsing Sasikala as party general secretary and him as deputy general secretary to the Election Commission.

Affidavits were filed by Palaniswamy and other leaders when Pannneerselvam rebelled and petitioned the Election Commission disputing the leadership of Sasikala.

Subsequently, Palaniswamy and other leaders of his faction sidelined both Sasikala and Dhinakaran and after merger of the Palaniswamy-Panneerselvam camps, the unified group also annulled the appointments of the jailed leader and her nephew.

To a question, Dhinakaran asserted that he had not indulged in any "corruption" and said the cases (of alleged FERA violation) against him pertained to 1996 when he was not even an MP.

He said he became an MP only in 1999.
tech2 News Staff

Switzerland's government says state cyberexperts detected and prevented an attempted cyberattack on the Swiss defense department, while another attack "disrupted" the systems of a contractor for the foreign affairs department.

The federal chancellery says in a statement that ill-intentioned hackers used the well-known Turla malware in the July attack against the servers of the defense department. It didn't elaborate.

The defense and foreign affairs departments each filed a legal complaint with federal prosecutors, who are investigating. The office of Attorney General Michael Lauber confirmed receipt of the complaints, but declined to comment further.

In an e-mail, foreign affairs department spokesman Jean-Marc Crevoisier said the attack against the contractor, which was not specified, had not been previously disclosed to allow authorities to secure the computer systems. He declined to comment further.

The Turla spyware was detected in 2014 and suspected of infecting hundreds of government computers and military targets across Europe and the Middle East.

Several security researchers and Western intelligence officers say they believe the malware, widely known as Turla, is the work of the Russian government and linked to the same software used to launch a massive breach on the U.S. military uncovered in 2008.

Meanwhile, in other news cybercriminals were trying to attack Windows, Linux, and Mac systems using Facebook Messenger. According to a report by FossBytes, criminals were trying to fool the users into visiting fake versions of popular websites so that they could push users into downloading an adware.
AP

Worries rippled through the consumer market for antivirus software after the U.S. government banned federal agencies from using Kaspersky Lab software on Wednesday. Best Buy and Office Depot said they will no longer sell software made by the Russian company, although one security researcher said most consumers don't need to be alarmed.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security cited concerns about possible ties between unnamed Kaspersky officials and the Kremlin and Russian intelligence services. The department also noted that Russian law might compel Kaspersky to assist the government in espionage.

Kaspersky has denied any unethical ties with Russia or any government. It said Thursday that it will continue to get its product to customers "through its website and other prominent retailers." Kaspersky software is used by consumers in both free and paid versions, available both online and in stores.

To Uninstall or not to uninstall

The U.S. government action raised the question of whether those users should follow the U.S. government's lead. Some companies sought to tread carefully, addressing questions from customers who asked about it without alarming those that didn't.

"We've had few customers raise concerns, but for those that have, we've offered advice on how to remove Kaspersky from their computers," said Craig VerColen, spokesman for Boston-based software provider LogMeIn, which offers Kaspersky as a complementary perk to small businesses buying its products.

Nicholas Weaver, a computer security researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, called the U.S. government decision "prudent;" he had argued for such a step in July . But he added by email that "for most everybody else, the software is fine."

The biggest risk to U.S. government computers is if Moscow-based Kaspersky is subject to "government-mandated malicious update," Weaver wrote this summer.

Kaspersky products accounted for about 5.5 percent of anti-malware software products worldwide, according to research firm Statista.

Minimizing risk

Other experts, however, suggested that consumers should also uninstall Kaspersky software to avoid any potential risks. Michael Sulmeyer, director of a cybersecurity program at Harvard, noted that antivirus software has deep access to one's computer and network.

"Voluntarily introducing this kind of Russian software in a geopolitical landscape where the U.S.-Russia relationship is not good at all, I think would be assuming too much risk," he said. "There are plenty of alternatives out there."

The government ban should alarm any company that has been relying on Kaspersky's software to protect its business, said Nate Fick, CEO of computer security specialist Endgame.

"I don't think this is political posturing here, but a sign that there is some real risk," Fick said. As a result, he expects most companies to find another alternative to Kaspersky. "It is all about risk mitigation in cybersecurity, and this is an easy risk mitigation to make," he said.

Best Buy was the first big retailer this month to announce it would stop selling the software. Office Depot Inc. followed Thursday. Amazon, which also sells Kaspersky software, declined to comment. Staples, another seller of the software, didn't return a message seeking comment.

A Russian company with ties to Russia

Various U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies and several congressional committees are investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Kaspersky said it is not subject to the Russian laws cited in the directive and said information received by the company is protected in accordance with legal requirements and stringent industry standards, including encryption.

Russia also came to its defense Thursday, with a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin criticizing the U.S. ban.

Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday the move "cast a shadow over the image of our American colleagues as reliable partners" and was designed to cripple Kaspersky's competitive advantage on the international market.

Company spokesman Anton Shingarov said Thursday in Moscow that the U.S. ban was "part of a geopolitical game" and "there is no proof provided of any improper ties to the Russian government."
PTI

An unseen planet on the edge of our solar system, probably formed closer to home around the Sun than previously thought, astronomers say.

Researchers led by the University of Sheffield in the UK found that Planet 9 is unlikely to have been captured from another planetary system, as has previously been suggested.

The outskirts of the solar system have always been something of an enigma, with astronomers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries searching for a giant planet that was not there, and the subsequent discovery of Pluto in 1930.

Pluto was downgraded in status to a dwarf planet because astronomers discovered many other small objects so-called Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt objects at similar distances from the Sun.

Last year, astronomers working in the US postulated the presence of Planet 9 to explain the strange orbital properties of some Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt objects. However, while it is not possible to directly observe Planet 9, it has not stopped theorists from trying to work out how it got there.

Planet 9 is at least ten times bigger than Earth, making it unlikely that it formed at such a large distance from the Sun. Instead, it has been suggested it either moved there from the inner regions of the Solar System, or it could have been captured when the Sun was still in its birth star cluster.

Richard Parker from the University of Sheffield along with colleagues from ETH Zurich in Switzerland showed that the capture scenario is extremely unlikely.

Researchers simulated the Suns stellar nursery where interactions are common and found that even in conditions optimised to capture free-floating planets, only five-to-10 out of 10,000 planets are captured onto an orbit like Planet 9s.

"We know that planetary systems form at the same time as stars, and when stars are very young they are usually found in groups where interactions between stellar siblings are common. "Therefore, the environment where stars form directly affects planetary systems like our own, and is usually so densely populated that stars can capture other stars or planets," said Parker.

"In this work, we have shown that, although capture is common, ensnaring planets onto the postulated orbit of Planet 9 is very improbable."We are not ruling out the idea of Planet 9, but instead we are saying that it must have formed around the Sun, rather than captured from another planetary system," he said.

The study was published in the journal Royal Astronomical Society.
IANS

Free-speech social media platform Gab.ai has sued Google, saying the technology giant has violated federal antitrust laws by rejecting its app from the Google Play Store.

In the lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania federal court, Gab alleged that "Google deprives competitors, on a discriminatory basis, of access to the App Store, which an essential facility or resource... Google is the biggest threat to the free flow of information", Andrew Torba, the Gab chief executive, told The Washington Post on Friday.

"Gab started to fight against the big tech companies in the marketplace, and their monopolistic conduct has forced us to bring the fight to the courtroom," Torba added. In August, Google had banned Gab from its Android Store, citing violations of Google's hate speech policies.

Gab had attracted a number of controversial "alt-right" figures such as Internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos and neo-Nazi Daily Stormer editor Andrew Anglin after they were kicked off from a succession of companies, including Twitter.

Google described the lawsuit as "baseless" and said it would defend its decision in court. "In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people.

"This developer is welcome to appeal the suspension if they've addressed the policy violations and are compliant with our Developer Program Policies," Google added. However, Gab has alleged that Google rejected its app to help its business partner Twitter.

In 2015, Google and Twitter had signed a data-sharing deal, which gave the technology giant a financial stake in Twitter's success, Gab argued, according to a report in the arstechnica.com. The deal "makes the Google search engine immeasurably more valuable... As a result of the deal, the two companies' user bases have essentially been merged", Gab wrote in the lawsuit.
tech2 News Staff

Infamous torrent website The Pirate Bay has added a cryptocurrency miner on its website. According to a report by TorrentFreak, the website confirmed that it is testing a miner for a short period. The miner that is being tested is likely to one of the new ways for the website to generate revenue. The report added that the miner could eventually replace the advertisements on the website.

The website added a miner to mine Monero coins, a form of cryptocurrency and as the report pointed out, users are not happy with the inclusion of the miner. According to the report, users started noticing that CPU usage of their system shot up dramatically when they were browsing certain pages on The Pirate Bay. After inspection, it was found that the website had embedded a Bitcoin miner of the website. The miner is provided by Coinhive where website owners can convert CPU power of users into coins.

The embedded miner is indeed throttled but at the same time, the increase in demand of resource is immediately noticeable. One thing to point here is that the website has not embedded the miner on all pages of the website. Instead, it had enabled the miner of Search results and category listings as pointed in the report. Supermoderator Sid issued a statement to TorrentFreak saying, hat really is serious, so hopefully, we can get some action on it quickly. And perhaps get some attention for the uploading and commenting bugs while theyre at it.

He added that users can disable and stop the miner if they block Javascript on their pages. Users can also block the miner by blocking the URL of the miner with the use of an ad-blocker. The interesting part to note here is that The Pirate Bay was one of the first popular torrent websites to adopt Bitcoin for donation as the donators could not be tracked from their donations.
Washington: US president Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-In vowed on Sunday to maximise economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea following the latest missile test by the reclusive nation.

Trump spoke over phone with Moon two days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

In a twitter post after the call, Trump referred to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un as "Rocket Man".

"I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad! Trump said in a tweet.

I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017

In a readout later, the White House said the two leaders discussed North Koreas launch of the latest ballistic missile, the second such launch over Japan in less than three weeks.

"The two leaders noted that North Korea continues to defy the international community, even after the United Nations strongly condemned North Koreas repeated provocations twice in the past week," the White House said.

Trump and Moon committed to continuing to take steps to strengthen deterrence and defence capabilities and to maximise economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea, it said.

The two leaders noted that they will continue their close consultations when they meet on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the White House.
Paris, France: The young French journalist Loup Bureau arrived back in Paris on Sunday, "tired but relieved", after being detained for more than seven weeks in a Turkish jail on terror charges.

The 27-year-old's case had heightened alarm in Europe over press freedoms under Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who launched a wide-ranging crackdown after 2016's failed coup against him.

Bureau, a journalism student who has worked with the television channels TV5 and Arte and the website Slate, was detained on 26 July on Turkey's border with Iraq. He was charged with membership of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurd militia, after he was found with photos that showed him with members of the group.

Ankara considers the YPG to be the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than three decades.

But the United States regards the YPG as the most effective force fighting the Islamic State group as it seeks to wipe out the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

Bureau's friends, family and girlfriend, along with French culture minister Francoise Nyssen, were at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport to greet him as he landed on a flight from Istanbul. French president Emmanuel Macron, who had appealed to Erdogan for Bureau's release, spoke to the journalist by telephone and told him to get some rest.

"I was not ill-treated physically, but there were threats and intimidations," Bureau told reporters at the airport.

"From the moment when Mr Macron announced he was demanding my release, there were changes  the guards started to understand that I wasn't a terrorist, that the things I had been accused of were not really true."

Bureau's arrest had spurred a high-profile campaign in France for his freedom, and foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian flew to Ankara last week to lobby on his behalf.

No change in Turkey

Turkish authorities have arrested tens of thousands since the failed coup of July 2016, targeting a variety of opponents as well as individuals accused of links to the alleged putschists.

Several European journalists have been caught up in the crackdown, with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker speaking out against the arrests in a country that remains a candidate for EU membership.

"Journalists belong in newsrooms not in prisons," he said this week. "I appeal to the powers that be in Turkey, let our journalists go."

In June, Ankara released and deported French photojournalist Mathias Depardon who was held for a month on charges of supporting terror groups. He was also detained in Turkey's restive southeast.

Germany's Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel was imprisoned in February and has been personally accused by Erdogan of working as a "terror agent".

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which campaigned for Bureau's release, hailed his return but estimated that 160 to 180 Turkish journalists are in detention.

"The liberation of Loup Bureau is welcome but the situation in Turkey has not changed," said RSF chief Pierre Haski, who was at the airport to greet the reporter.

Turkey ranks 155th on the latest world press freedom index compiled by RSF, falling below Belarus and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cairo: Palestinian Islamist Hamas group said on Sunday it has dissolved its administration that runs Gaza and agrees to hold general elections in order to end a long-running feud with president Mahmoud Abbass Fatah movement.

The last Palestinian legislative election was held in 2006 when Hamas scored a surprise victory, which laid the ground for a political rupture. Hamas and Fatah fought a short civil war in Gaza in 2007 and since then Hamas has governed the small coastal enclave.

Numerous attempts since 2011 to reconcile the two movements and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have so far failed. Hamas and Fatah agreed in 2014 to form a national reconciliation government, but despite that agreement, Hamass shadow government has continued to rule the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that it has dissolved its shadow government, that it will allow the reconciliation government to operate in Gaza and that it agrees to hold elections and enter talks with Fatah.

Mahmoud Aloul, a senior Fatah official welcomed cautiously Hamass position. If this is Hamas statement, then this is a positive sign, he told Reuters. We in Fatah movement are ready to implement reconciliation.

Hoping to pressure Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza, Abbas has cut payments to Israel for the electricity it supplies to Gaza. This means that electricity has often been provided for less than four hours a day, and never more than six.

Representatives for Abbas, who is in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly this week, could not be reached for comment, nor could Fatah representatives presently in Egypt, which has been hosting talks with Hamas.

Some polls show that if parliamentary elections were held now, Hamas would win them in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the seat of Abbass Palestinian Authority.

The Western-backed Abbas, 82, is now 12 years into what was to be a four-year term and is an unpopular leader according to opinion polls. He has no clear successor and there are no steps being taken toward a presidential election any time soon.
Beijing: India on Sunday said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) must contribute to the fight against terrorism and hoped there will be constructive and productive engagement at the forum.

India's Deputy National Security Adviser and Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat, RN Ravi attended the 31st meeting Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the SCO organised in Beijing.

"India looks forward to constructive and productive engagement in the framework of SCO-RATS to eradicate the common menace of terrorism and ensuring the security of the region and the world," the Indian government said in a statement.

"The meeting discussed topical issues of international and regional security as well as deepening of practical cooperation of SCO members in the fight against terrorism."

The meeting was chaired China's vice minister of Public Security Li Wei who handed over the rotating chairmanship to Rustam Mamasadykov of Kyrgyzstan.

In June, India and Pakistan became members of China-led SCO, which comprises Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
United Nations: Taking a jibe at Pakistan, a top Indian diplomat has said Islamabad's decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN, which has not been discussed at the world body for decades, is like Miyan ki daud masjid tak.

India on the other hand is focused on progressive, forward looking agenda during the UN General Assembly session beginning tomorrow, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in the UN on Saturday.

"I have outlined in our approach, that is progressive forward looking. We are visionary in our goals. If on the other hand there are other countries, who as you say, focus on yesterday's issues then they are yesterday's people," Akbaruddin said in response to a question on reports that Pakistan plans to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly this week.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would deliver her address on 23 September.

"If they (Pakistan) focus on an issue which has not been on the discussion table in the UN now for decades, not for years, for decades..., if this is what they want to focus on, so be it. To be his own...Miyan ki daud masjid tak," Akbaruddin said, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A day earlier, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry had said that Abbasi would be raising the Kashmir issue at the UN.
Tokyo: Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is considering calling a snap election as early as next month to take advantage of an uptick in approval ratings and disarray in the main opposition party, domestic media reported on Sunday.

Abes ratings have recovered to the 50 percent level in some polls, helped by public jitters over North Koreas missile and nuclear tests and chaos in the opposition Democratic Party, struggling with single-digit support and defections.

Abe told the head of his Liberal Democratic Partys junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, that he could not rule out dissolving parliaments lower house for a snap poll after the legislature convenes for an extra session from 28 September, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing unidentified sources.

"Until now, it appeared the election would be next autumn, but ... we must always be ready for battle," media quoted Komeito party chief Natsuo Yamaguchi as telling reporters on Saturday during a visit to Russia.

Speculation has mounted over a snap election on 22 October, when three by-elections are scheduled, although other possibilities are later in October or after US president Donald Trump makes a likely visit in early November, media said.

Abes ratings had sunk below 30 percent in some surveys in July, battered by suspected cronyism scandals and a perception that he had grown arrogant after more than four years in office.

His popularity rebounded a bit after an early August cabinet reshuffle and has since been helped by worries over a volatile North Korea, which on Friday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, its second such move in less than a month.

No general election need be held until late 2018, and calling a snap poll could spark criticism that he was creating a political vacuum amid rising regional security tensions.

But an early vote would not only take advantage of Democratic Party disarray but also dilute a challenge from an embryonic party that allies of popular Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, an ex-LDP lawmaker, are trying to form.

Abes coalition would likely lose its two-thirds super majority in the lower house, but keep a simple majority, political sources have said.

Loss of the two-thirds grip would dim prospects Abe can achieve his controversial goal of revising Japans pacifist constitution to clarify the militarys role. Any constitutional amendment requires approval by two-thirds of both chambers and a majority in a public referendum.

That risk could make Abe hesitate.

"I am skeptical about the consensus that Abe will call a snap election because doing so poses a risk, albeit small, to his agenda of constitutional revision," said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan.
London: Britain downgraded its terrorism threat level to severe from critical on Sunday, after police made a second arrest in their investigations over the bombing of a London underground train.

"The Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre, which reviews the threat level that the UK is under, have decided to lower that level from critical to severe," Home Secretary Amber Rudd said in a televised statement.

Police said earlier Sunday that a 21-year-old man, who has not been identified, was detained late Saturday in Hounslow, on the western rim of the capital.

A search was underway on Sunday in Stanwell, a few miles (kilometres) west of Hounslow, in connection with the arrest, police said.

Officers had arrested earlier Saturday an 18-year-old man over Friday's "bucket bomb" attack at the Parsons Green underground station, which injured 30 people, and said they were hunting for more suspects.

Rudd said the police were trying to find out how the man was "radicalised".

The bomb went off in a packed carriage and although the device is thought to have malfunctioned, it still caused a large explosion followed by what witnesses said was a fireball.

It was Britain's fifth terror attack in six months, a series that has claimed 35 lives.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday's explosion.

The first arrest on Saturday took place at the Dover ferry terminal, a main link to Europe. A "number of items" were recovered during the operation and the man is now in custody in London, officers said.

Police also raided a home in Sunbury, a town west of London on Saturday. Local residents quoted in British media said the owners of the house were elderly foster parents.

Terror threat 'critical'

Britain's terror threat, which was raised to critical on Friday evening, was brought back down to severe on Sunday.

"Severe still means that an attack is highly likely so I would urge everybody to continue to be vigilant but not alarmed," Rudd said.

Soldiers who had been deployed to guard key sites across the country in order to free up police officers on the streets "will return to their original positions" during the next few days, Rudd said.

The critical warning had last been used after the deadly suicide bombing at a pop concert in the northwestern city of Manchester in May, for which Islamic State also claimed responsibility.

But Rudd voiced doubt over the Islamic State claim that it was behind Friday's bombing.

"It is inevitable that so-called Islamic State or Daesh will try to claim responsibility but we have no evidence to suggest that yet," she told the BBC.

Rudd had earlier dismissed as "pure speculation" US president Donald Trump's claim, made Friday on Twitter, that a "loser terrorist" behind the attack was known to Scotland Yard.

The tweet had already drawn a terse rebuke from Prime Minister Theresa May, who said: "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

In another security scare on Sunday, a London-bound British Airways flight was evacuated at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport after a false bomb alert.

The improvised device at Parsons Green, a quiet and well-off residential district, failed to detonate fully.

But the blast inflicted flash burns on passengers, and prompted dozens of others to flee in panic.

'Fireball flew down carriage'

Twitter user @Rrigs posted pictures of a white bucket smouldering on the train and described how a "fireball flew down carriage and we just jumped out open door".

Explosion on Parsons Green district line train. Fireball flew down carriage and we just jumped out open door. pic.twitter.com/pGbfotbfsJ  Rigs (@RRigs) September 15, 2017



The bucket, which was inside a frozen food bag, looked like the type used by builders, and there appeared to be cables coming from it.

Louis Hather, 21, had been travelling to work and was three carriages down from where the explosion took place.

"I could smell the burning. Like when you burn plastic," he told AFP.

He was trampled on as panicking passengers stampeded out of the station, leaving him with a badly cut and bruised leg.

The bomb's remnants were examined by forensic scientists but no further details were released.

Several victims were taken to hospital, though health authorities said none were in a life-threatening condition.
London: A second man has been arrested over Fridays bomb attack on a London underground train that injured 30 people, police said.

The 21-year-old man was arrested in the west London suburb of Hounslow just before midnight on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police force said in a statement.

He was detained under Britains Terrorism Act and taken to a south London police station, the force added.

Earlier on Saturday, British police arrested an 18-year-old man in the port of Dover and raided a property in Sunbury, a small town outside London, as they hunted for whoever planted the device.

Hounslow is about four miles from Sunbury where police raided and searched a building on Saturday in connection with the bombing.

The home-made bomb shot flames through a packed train carriage at west Londons Parsons Green train station but apparently failed to detonate fully.
Lahore: Pakistanis began casting votes on Sunday for the parliamentary seat vacated by ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a by-election seen as a test of support for the Sharif dynasty ahead of the 2018 general election.

Sharifs ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party hopes a resounding victory in the eastern city of Lahore would show that support for the family was undiminished despite the Supreme Courts removal of Sharif in July.

Sharifs daughter Maryam has spearheaded the PML-N campaign for her mother Kulsoom - who is the PML-N candidate despite receiving cancer treatment in London with Nawaz at her side.

Maryam, who some PML-N leaders see as a future leader, has framed the poll as a chance for voters to give a bloody nose to the judiciary by handing the party a thumping victory.

Will you take revenge for your disrespected vote? Maryam asked supporters at a recent rally.

Opposition leader Imran Khan - whose threats of street protests pushed the Supreme Court to launch a probe into Nawazs wealth - is seeking to build on the success of his anti-graft crusade by making inroads into Sharifs power base in Punjab.

The Supreme Court in July disqualified Sharif because he did not declare a monthly salary, equivalent to $2,722, from a company owned by his son when the veteran leader, who had held power twice in the 1990s, became prime minister for the third time. Sharif denies receiving the salary.

Khan has turned the by-election into a plebiscite about corruption, and has accused the provincial Punjab government, which is run by Nawazs brother Shahbaz, of abusing state resources to help the PML-N campaign.

Your prime minister owns some of the most expensive real estate in the world - all in his daughters name. Meanwhile half the children of this country are malnourished, Khan told a rally on Saturday.

Analysts predict PML-N will win again but they say Khans party would build momentum ahead of the 2018 poll if PTI candidate Yasmin Rashid, a gynecologist from the area, substantially reduces the PML-Ns 40,000 vote-winning margin from 2013.

PTI would be very happy if the margin ended up being small. That would be a victory for them, said Hasan Askri a political analyst.

Many of the 321,633 registered voters in the central Lahore NA-120 consituency are conflicted.

My head goes towards PTI while my heart goes towards PML-N, said Ali Raza, 25, a bank employee.

Kulsoom and Rashid will be competing against about 40 other candidates, including religious parties. One candidate is backed by a new party that is led by an Islamist firebrand who is subject to a $10 million bounty offered by the United States.

Hafiz Saeed heads the Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD) charity, having founded and formerly led the Lashkhar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group that carried out the 2008 attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people. The United States has placed Saeed, the charity and LeT on a terrorist list.

Voting began at 9am (0400 GMT) and the polls are due to close at 5pm, with results likely to be announced after midnight.
Lahore: Pakistanis on Sunday voted for the parliamentary seat being contested by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's ailing wife in a test of support for the family after the Supreme Court dismissed Sharif from the office in the Panama Papers scandal.

The NA-120 seat in Lahore is said to be a stronghold of the Sharif family. It fell vacant after the apex court on 28 July dismissed Sharif on grounds that he was dishonest.

The latest results shared by the Election Commission with the media after counting of votes cast at 134 polling stations out of the total 220, showed that Sharif's wife Kulsoom Nawaz was edging ahead of her main rival Yasmin Rashid of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party.

Nawaz had managed 35,600 votes against Rashid's 28,000.

Sharif's wife was fielded by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party for the by-election against Rashid, and 42 other candidates, including one from the Milli Muslim League, a new party backed by Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ut-Dawa (JuD).

Nawaz recently underwent cancer treatment in London and has been recuperating in the British capital.

Her daughter Maryam Nawaz managed her campaign.

The Coalition for Election and Democracy (CED), an alliance of registered independent civil society organisations, in its exit-poll survey showed a slender lead for Nawaz.

The survey was conducted with a sample size of 1,433 voters and the responses were recorded at 55 sampled polling stations out of the total 220 such stations, the CED said.

"The survey results show that PML-N bagged 46 percent of the votes against the 40 percent by closest rival of the PTI," it said, adding that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) could capture only 1.9 percent votes.

The election to the parliamentary seat is seen as a test for the PML-N party also because it comes ahead of the 2018 general election in Pakistan.

Pakistan Army personnel were supervising the polling process.

Earlier on Sunday, the turnout at polling stations picked up in the afternoon after remaining low through the morning hours. Long queues of people waiting to cast their votes were witnessed at the polling stations.

Some voters complained about the delay they experienced before they were able to cast their votes and also that their names were missing from polling list, while others rued inadequate facilities, such as the lack of electricity at the stations.

Minor clashes were reported between PTI and ruling PML-N workers. However, no one was injured.

The activists of the JuD and its another front Falah-i-Insaniat (FIF), campaigned for their candidate Sheikh Yaqoob.

The Election Commission had prohibited Yaqoob from using Saeed's picture during the campaign.

Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and carries a USD 10 million bounty on his head. He remains under "preventative detention" in Pakistan.

Imran Khan had urged the residents of the constituency to give a verdict against "Godfather" Nawaz Sharif.

And Maryam Nawaz said the people of Lahore will elect her mother and "reject the court's decision against my father." She said the results would be an informal referendum on the disqualification of her father by the Supreme Court.

The constituency, with more than 3,20,000 registered voters, has thrice elected Sharif as Pakistan's prime minister since 1990. Sharif had won the National Assembly (NA) seat for the first time in 1985.
Cox's Bazaar: Bangladeshi authorities on Sunday took steps to restrict the movement of Muslim Rohingya refugees living in crowded border camps after fleeing violence in Myanmar, while that nation's military chief maintained the chaos was the work of extremists seeking a stronghold in the country.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed with more than 4,00,000 Rohingya who fled their homes in the last three weeks amid a crisis the UN describes as ethnic cleansing. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who lambasted Myanmar for "atrocities" during a visit to border camps last week, left Dhaka to address the annual UN gathering in New York.

Refugee camps were already beyond capacity and new arrivals were staying in schools or huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields. Police were checking vehicles to prevent the Rohingya from spreading to nearby towns in an attempt to control the situation.

"There is an instruction from the prime minister that we must treat Rohingya Muslims maintaining human rights," said AKM Iqbal Hossain, a police superintendent. "As many private and social organizations are coming and distributing relief, sometimes chaos breaks out."

He said with the scale of the crisis "it's very difficult to keep order, but we are doing so."

The refugees began pouring from Myanmar's Rakhine state after a Rohingya insurgent group launched attacks on security posts on 25 August, prompting Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" to root out the rebels. Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs.

The Myanmar government says hundreds have died, mostly "terrorists," and that 176 out of 471 Rohingya villages have been abandoned. Myanmar has insisted that Rohingya insurgents and fleeing villagers are destroying their own homes. It has offered no proof to back these charges.

Ethnic Rohingya have faced persecution and discrimination in majority-Buddhist Myanmar for decades and are denied citizenship, even though many families have lived there for generations. The government says there is no such ethnicity as Rohingya and says they are Bengalis who illegally migrated to Myanmar from Bangladesh.

"The violence was an organized attempt of extremist Bengalis in Rakhine state to build a stronghold," Myanmar's powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing said Saturday, according to a statement posted on his official Facebook page. "They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar."

He called on the nation to be "united in establishing the truth" and for all the country's citizens to "have unity with their love for the country," including members of the media.

With the UN saying there are some 2,40,000 children among the refugees living in dire conditions, Bangladeshi authorities have kicked off a massive immunization drive. Abdus Salam, the top government administrator in the Cox's Bazar district hospital, said that some 1,50,000 children would be immunized over seven days for measles, rubella and polio.

"There are a lot of weak and malnourished children among the new arrivals," UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, Edouard Beigbeder, said in an email. "If proper preventive measures are not taken, highly infectious diseases, especially measles, could even cause an outbreak."

As the weather fluctuates in Cox's Bazar between rains and sunny and humid days, many children are suffering from flu and risk pneumonia, Salam said. Many are suffering from diarrhea, dehydration, skin diseases or worse.

In a state hospital, a Rohingya man who identified himself as Rahmatullah was looking over his 10-year-old son recovering from a bullet that left a deep wound as it pierced his right leg.

"Why did they shoot him? What's his crime? He is just a child," Rahmatullah said. "They came and started shooting indiscriminately."

Eric P Schwartz, head of the US-based charity Refugees International and a former assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said he couldn't recall seeing so much misery in the camps and called for international pressure on Myanmar to stop the violence.

"The stories that we are hearing. I visited a hospital yesterday, children ages 1, 5, 10 suffered burn wounds, gunshot wounds and with human beings essentially treated like animals," he said.

He said the US should re-impose sanctions on Myanmar that were in place before it made transition from military to civilian rule.

Officials in Washington have been careful not to undermine the weak civilian government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which took office last year, ending five decades of ruinous army rule. The military remains politically powerful and the nation's constitution enshrines military authority over all security operations.
Cuba: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that Washington is considering the possibility of closing its embassy in Havana in the wake of a mysterious "sonic attack" that left several of its staff with brain injuries and hearing loss.

Washington says at least 16 employees at its Havana embassy  which fully reopened in 2015 after a half-century breakdown in diplomatic relations  were injured in a series of incidents that began last year.

The State Department has called the attacks "unprecedented" and has warned Havana it is responsible for the safety of envoys working on its soil  without saying who it believes was behind them.

Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" about a call by several US lawmakers to close down the embassy, Tillerson responded, "We have it under evaluation. It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered."

"We've brought some of those people home," he added. "It's under review."

US officials have told reporters they believe some kind of sonic device was used to covertly undermine the health of staff members at the mission, who began reporting sick last year.

Some of the 16 staff who were hurt were evacuated to Miami for treatment in US hospitals, while others were cared for by American doctors who traveled to Havana to work at the embassy.

The American Foreign Service Association  the labor union representing US diplomatic and international aid personnel  spoke to 10 of those who received treatment and said their diagnoses included mild traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss.

At least five Canadian diplomats and their families were also affected by "sonic attacks," though none suffered permanent injury, public broadcaster CBC reported Friday. Canadian authorities have said Cuban officials are not suspected.
Montreal: The White House pushed back at a European suggestion it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting Washington will withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms.

The remark came as environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal seeking headway on the Paris climate accord, which President Donald Trump had pulled out of in June.

At the summit, which was attended by a US observer, the US "stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris Accord, but they (will) try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement," the European Union's top climate official Miguel Arias Canete said.

Canete said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly with American representatives "to assess what is the real US position," noting "it's a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past."

The US observer was not immediately available for comment and the White House insisted the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favourable terms.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.

"As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," she said.

Called by Canada, China and the European Union, the summit took place 30 years to the day after the signing of the Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone layer  which Canada's environment minister hailed as a multilateral "success story" by governments, NGOs and ordinary citizens jointly tackling a major global threat.

We "committed to full implementation of the Paris Accord. Everyone agreed that the environment and the economy go together, they are linked. You cannot grow the economy without taking care of the environment," Catherine McKenna said at the end of the summit, attended by more than half the G20 members as well as some of the nations most vulnerable to climate change  from the low-lying Marshall Islands and Maldives to impoverished Mali and Ethiopia.

"Changes are real, extreme weather events are more frequent, more powerful and more distressful," she told the gathering, pointing at the devastation wrought by mega-storms such as Harvey and Irma which many climate scientists believe are boosted by global warming.

Nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to curb carbon dioxide emissions with the aim of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, compared to preindustrial levels.

When Trump decided in June to withdraw, Canada, China and the European Union immediately reaffirmed their respective commitments to the pact, which the Group of 20 declared "irreversible" the following month.

Time is ticking, Canete told AFP, as ministers work to narrow their differences and better understand how to implement the ambitious accord  with less than two months to go until the next UN Conference on Climate Change (COP23), in Bonn in November.

"We need a rule book to be able to monitor and verify and compare emissions of all the parties and see how far we are towards the targets," Canete said, with a goal of having those rules in place in time for the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland in late 2018.

Key player China  the world's largest car market brings to the table a potentially major advance in transportation after announcing its intention to ban gasoline and diesel-fueled cars, following decisions by France and Britain to outlaw their sale from 2040.

The European Union  which is targeting a 40 percent cut to its emissions by 2030  will also shortly put forward a proposal to member states on slashing carbon emissions in the transportation sector, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said this week.

And Canada  as the world's sixth-largest oil producer  insists it is "committed to its international climate obligations," which it hopes to reach by massively investing in "clean energy" technologies.

China's special representative to the talks, Xie Zhenhua, said Beijing considers the Montreal Protocol to be a "very effective and efficient" example of multilateral action on the environment  largely because it rested on a broad consensus.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported anemic overall sales growth in the first half of 2017. The big healthcare company even saw a decline in year-over-year earnings during the period. Perhaps the most surprising disappointment of all was that pharmaceutical segment revenue was flat compared with the first half of last year.

Does all of this portend dark days ahead for J&J? Not at all. In fact, the stock has risen faster than the S&P 500 so far this year. Why? Probably because smart investors recognize that the near-term future for Johnson & Johnson looks pretty bright. Here are 10 rock-solid reasons that's the case.

1. Easier year-over-year comparisons

Year-over-year comparisons in the first half of 2017 were weighed down in large part because of some one-time factors. Johnson & Johnson CFO Dominic Caruso explained at the Morgan Stanley healthcare conference Wednesday that adjustments to rebate reserves in the first two quarters of 2016 gave the company a bump that negatively affected year-over-year comparisons by 3%. This won't be an issue in the future.

2. Slower-than-expected erosion of Remicade sales

Caruso said J&J had initially projected that competition from biosimilars would reduce Remicade sales by 10% to 15%. So far, the actual impact has been closer to 5%. One reason is that the company has been able to effectively negotiate contracts in advance that boost Remicade sales. Another is that rivals Merck and Pfizer haven't slashed their prices for biosimilars enough to be a huge incentive for payers to switch. Also, Pfizer's data only showed clinical benefit in rheumatoid arthritis, but half of Remicade's revenue stems from gastrointestinal indications. All of this combined means more gradual and slower sales erosion than expected.

3. Fewer fears about radical drug-pricing changes

President Trump's public comments and tweets caused turmoil for pharmaceutical stocks earlier this year. However, Caruso noted in his comments at the Morgan Stanley conference that "the rhetoric has died down quite a bit." He said that there is now a greater understanding of the complexity of the pharmaceutical market. While Caruso acknowledged that "pressure is still there," fears about drastic actions by the White House are markedly lower than in the first half of 2017. That's good news for big pharma stocks like J&J.

4. Huge opportunity for Stelara in Crohn's disease

Stelara is on track to rake in $3.6 billion in 2017. Caruso thinks that the trajectory for the drug is going to get even better. He said clinical data for Stelara in treating Crohn's disease was "remarkable" and so good that J&J believes the drug will be an even bigger winner in Crohn's disease than Remicade has been.

5. Potential to double patients for Xarelto

Johnson & Johnson hopes to win FDA approval for an additional indication for Xarelto in treating coronary and peripheral artery disease in mid-2018. Caruso said the company thinks the patient population for Xarelto could be two to three times larger if the approval is obtained -- which seems likely. That could be huge for a drug that's already on pace to generate more than $2 billion this year.

6. Tremendous growth for Imbruvica

Sales for cancer drug Imbruvica soared nearly 55% in the first half of 2017. Caruso noted that continued growth for Imbruvica is a something investors should watch in the days ahead. Market research firm projects that Imbruvica will generate annual revenue of $7.5 billion by 2022, ranking it as the No. 4 top-selling cancer drug in the world. While J&J and partner AbbVie split the revenue, sustained momentum for Imbruvica looks to be a solid tailwind for both companies in the years to come.

7. Even greater growth for Darzalex

As great as sales growth for Imbruvica is, growth for Darzalex is even better. The multiple myeloma drug is well on its way to blockbuster sales status, with revenue of more than $550 million in the first half of this year, compared with a little over $209 million in the prior-year period.

8. Pruning lower-growth medical-device assets

What about J&J's medical-device business? Caruso acknowledged that uncertainty over the outcome of Obamacare, "consternation over the new healthcare bill," and the effect of patients postponing procedures until later in the year because of high-deductible plans contributed to some sluggishness for the company's medical-device segment earlier in 2017. However, those issues shouldn't be problematic in the second half of the year. More important, Caruso said that J&J was "pruning lower-growth assets" in the medical-devices unit, a move that bodes well for the future.

9. Only a temporary lull in the consumer business

Caruso also stated that there has been a "lull" for J&J's consumer business, but he said it would only be temporary. He noted that there were some significant headwinds for the consumer unit in China and India this year that wouldn't be factors in 2018. He also admitted that online shopping was taking a toll on many in the industry, including J&J. However, he said that the company is adapting and that "it's only a matter of time" before the outlook improves.

10. More acquisitions could be coming

Perhaps the easiest way for Johnson & Johnson to turbocharge its consumer business would be through an acquisition. Caruso said the consumer unit of a larger corporation could be "a logical choice" for J&J to buy. While he said there weren't too many of these units left, Germany-based Merck KGaA (not to be confused with the U.S.-based Merck) has publicly stated that it's considering selling its consumer healthcare business. Johnson & Johnson wouldn't wait for U.S. corporate tax reform to make a deal if a good one were to be found, Caruso said. While it's not a certainty that J&J will make a big acquisition soon, the company is in excellent financial position to do so.

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Former President Bill Clinton awarded $1 million in seed funding to four Pakistani-American students who created a ridesharing rickshaw startup service to help refugeesespecially womentravel to major points of interest in Pakistan.

The startup, called Roshini Rides, was developed by Rutgers University students who were participating in the 2017 Hult Prize Foundation competition that showcases more than 10,000 student volunteers in more than 500 on-campus university programs around the world. This years challenge, which was issued by Clinton himself, was to find a way to restore human dignity and rights to millions of displaced people by 2022.

"This years topic is particularly important because we have 65 million displaced people in the world, the largest number since World War II, Clinton said during a ceremony at the United Nations on Saturday.

Clinton added that climate change continues to displace millions of people a year since 2008, citing recent Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which slammed Texas and Florida respectively, and Hurricane Jose, which currently poses a threat to the East Coast of the U.S.

This total of involuntary migration is enormous, the former president said. It has destroyed communities and families and livelihoods and has caused enormous suffering. Thank God [it] only killed a small number of people, but there is a staggering amount of damage. Now we all have to rebuild. So all of you dealing with refugee issues are doing more than people with more money and more governmental power should be doing more of. I think its important to recognize that despite all the bad news, there is good news.

Roshni Rides, which uses solar-powered rickshaws to take passengers to major points of interest such as schools, hospitals and marketplaces using ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft, told FOX Business that while theyve already secured partnerships and created a brand and presence in Orangi Town, Pakistan, they plan to use the Hult capital to roll out their plan faster.

[Were looking] to scale fast to create high-impact in a short period of time, Gia Farooqi, one of the founders of Roshni Rides said. Hult Prize has shown us that we were born to do this and we will be pursuing social entrepreneurship no matter what.

Clinton, who served as a judge, said the business concept hit home with him because, they use routes and a card transaction platform inspired by New York Citys subway system. It guarantees that customers will pay a fixed-price instead of having to face haggling and price uncertainty. This is a private solution to a public problem.

Ahmad Ashlar, CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation told FOX Business that they chose the refugee crisis because it presents "one of the largest commercial opportunities for nations, private companies and others by leveraging the talents, passion and drive of those whom are forced to involuntary migrate.

We wanted to push the world to believe that if looked at through the lens of impact, that the refugee crisis may one day be remembered as one of the worlds greatest renaissance of entrepreneurship, he added.

The former president ended the ceremony by announcing that next years challenge will be focused on energy.

Its really important because if you look around the world and if you believe as I do that intelligence and hard work are evenly distributed, but opportunity isnt. The convergents of technologies and energy systems offers not only a way to fight climate change but [is] one of the most important things that we can do to close the gap, Clinton said.
Jamie Kern Lima, co-founder and CEO of IT Cosmetics, has a long list of accomplishments  starting her own business, selling her company to LOreal for $1.2 billion in 2016 and being honored at the annual Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Achiever Awards are just some.

But Limas success in the beauty industry almost didnt happen because of an investors concern over Limas size, which she recounts in her CEW awards ceremony.

IVANKA TRUMP ADMIRERS ARE SPENDING THOUSANDS TO LOOK LIKE HER

Im just not sure women will buy makeup from someone who looks like you, you know, with your body and your weight, the investor told Lima after she had pitched him her idea.

Rather than believe him, the once successful TV new anchor says she found a new mission  to prove the investor wrong.

Lima, a sufferer of rosacea and hyperpigmentation, needed products that would help her with her specific skin issues, which pushed her to create a line of accessible beauty products for all women.

But Lima wasnt only out to introduce her line of cosmetics in stores  she wanted to create more diversity in beauty. In her products launch on QVC, which sold out, she chose models that went against the grain  a 73-year-old woman and an African American model with acne.

You see now, seven years later, almost all makeup brands showing real women in before-and-afters, Lima says.

Other beauty brands are not the only ones taking note of Limas billion-dollar success. The original investor reached out to Lima after her LOreal acquisition.

Congratulations, the investor said in an email. I was wrong.

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Lima pointed out in her speech that It would have been the most successful investment in [the investors] companys history.

But shes not done lobbying for inclusivity in beauty and cosmetics. She ended her speech with a final call to action for those people who singlehandedly decide the images billions of women see around the world.

[Ask]: How will these images impact your mothers, and your sisters, and how will they impact your daughters?
One minute, Remington Williams was scrubbing dishes at a fast food restaurant in Austin, Texas.

The next, shes strutting down the catwalk at New York Fashion Week alongside the worlds top models.

A scout just happened to notice Williams at the Chipotle where she worked two weeks ago and whisked her off to New York to sign a modeling contract with DNA Models  following in the footsteps of Linda Evangelista and Natalia Vodianova.

After hanging up her kitchen gloves, the long-limbed redhead donned Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and Sies Marjan, walking in their Fashion Week shows alongside big names like Gigi Hadid and Cindy Crawfords daughter Kaia Gerber.

With little time to practice her walk before the shows, she turned to Calvin Klein designer Raf Simons.

During my callback, Raf Simons personally taught me how to walk, Williams told Vogue.

He could have picked any model, but he believed in me so much that he took the time to help me so that I could do his show.

Now the model is preparing for European shows by wearing heels to the grocery store near her apartment.

Models do not get enough credit for walking in those crazy shoes  they make it look so easy! she said.

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Williams is a graphic design student and longtime fashion fan who says she will never stop creating art, no matter what I am doing in my life.

News of her achievement sparked an outpouring of support on Facebook, where old friends congratulated Williams, saying: Stay sweet and enjoy this incredible new chapter of your life.

This has been your dream since we were in first grade! one friend wrote.

Youre amazing and totally deserve this. Have so much fun.

Another wrote: I knew it was just a matter of time!

Williams replied: Thank you so much for helping me in my journey. You along with many other people are a huge part of how I made it this far. I will be forever grateful.

This article originally appeared on News.com.au.
The terrorist bombing Friday of a train on the London Underground, which injured 30 people  including one of my very close friends  was yet more evidence of a painful truth: the Islamification of the United Kingdom and Europe is well under way, changing the very character of the continent that gave birth to Western Civilization.

To escape this disturbing transformation of Britain  a place I had come to love after spending much of my adult life there, even becoming a dual British-U.S. citizen in 2000  my English husband and I moved back to America at the end of 2006. I felt like a bit of a coward, but I did not want to live in an England changing dramatically for the worse before my eyes.

Yet now I fear that the United States will be next in line to see our wonderful traditions of freedom, tolerance, respect for human rights and the rule of law threatened by the regressive and oppressive ideology of Islamic fundamentalism.

Fridays terrorist attack in London brought these fears to the front of my mind, especially after my friend nearly lost her life when the bomb partially detonated in the train car she was riding in. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

My friend told me she heard the bomb go off 30 feet away, looked in the direction of the sound and saw a huge fireball coming towards her. Her skin is burned, she no longer has eyebrows and eyelashes, and her hair and clothes were singed as well. She will recover. But if the bomb had detonated properly, I would be preparing now to attend her funeral.

My husband and I saw Britain changing before our eyes. The final straw was during the 2006 Danish Embassy Muhammad cartoon protest, when hundreds of Islamists holding signs like Behead Infidels and Prepare for a New Holocaust, marched unopposed to the Danish Embassy in London.

The bombing was the fifth terrorist attack in Britain this year but the first on Londons mass transit system since bombings on three trains and a bus on July 7, 2005 that killed 52 people and wounded over 700. I remember the day clearly  people dazed, frightened and with blood on their shirts coming out of the tube.

Is this what awaits us in the U.S. five or 10 years from now? Rather than flee again, I feel the need to speak out before it is too late.

Let me be clear: In a free land, everyone should be free to follow the religion of his or her choice. But sadly, fundamentalist Islam does not allow other theologies to coexist.

Islamism, as the Brookings Institution describes it, is based on the belief that Islamic law or Islamic values should play a central role in public life. They (Islamists) feel Islam has things to say about how politics should be conducted, how the law should be applied, and how other people  not just themselves  should conduct themselves.

Islamification is the imposition of an Islamist social and political system onto a society  depriving individuals (particularly women) of their freedoms and making even nations where Muslims are in the minority change their way of life to be more aligned with Islamic fundamentalism.

This has nothing in common with the pluralistic and polytheist society I grew up in living in the U.S. or that I found in England years ago.

Tragically, things are only going to get worse  much worse  in Europe. The British and European Union governments are no longer looking after their people and are willfully allowing the destruction of their culture and free societies. They have utterly failed their citizens.

An English friend told me recently that her daughters Church of England village school was teaching what they call RE (Religious Education) to the children and spending an inordinate amount of time and positively favoring Islam over other religions. Children of all faiths are now being taught how to pray to Allah with prayer mats.

The Koran is the only book open on a stand at the back of the classroom. And at a school assembly when the prophet Muhammad was mentioned, 200 children chanted in unison: Peace be upon him.

I was speechless when I heard this. But I am continually shocked at the news coming out of Britain  a country that is my second home and one I love so very much.

My husband and I saw Britain changing before our eyes. The final straw for my husband and I was during the 2006 Danish Embassy Muhammad cartoon protest, when hundreds of Islamists holding signs like Behead Infidels and Prepare for a New Holocaust, marched unopposed to the Danish Embassy in London.

The only person arrested that day was an Englishman who jeered at the Islamists. Upon seeing that, my husband turned to me and painfully admitted with tears in his eyes, England is finished. I guess Id rather be a stranger in a strange land, than a stranger in my own land. We left England when his U.S. green card came through.

Since then, we have heard about many more incidents happening in the United Kingdom from friends who live there  not just in the news.

There was the nail bomb attack at a pop concert; Islamists shouting Allahu Akbar as they stabbed and drove into people on deadly rampages; and the beheading of a British soldier in the streets of London in broad daylight.

In addition, many churches are being converted to mosques with minarets and are now broadcasting calls to prayer; Muslim rapists have targeted underage English girls; and the insidious Islamist indoctrination of children in schools is becoming more common.

How do you irreparably change a country? By targeting and indoctrinating its children.

On top of this, the United Kingdoms flawed immigration policies and laws have enabling a rapid rise in the Muslim population to more than 3.5 million, equalling 5.5 percent of the nation in 2016, according to the Gatestone Institute International Policy Council.

The institute reports that a survey found that 23 percent of British Muslims advocate replacement of British law with Islamic law in areas with large Muslim populations. And the same survey estimates that more than 100,000 British Muslims sympathize with suicide bombers.

Many of us in the U.S. may hear of these incidences and are horrified. But we are relived that at least none of this is happening over here.

But what is going on in Britain and Europe is both a warning and a precursor to what could very well happen here if we dont take heed. Furthermore, allowing the Islamists in America to change our laws, ethics and customs to suit or cater to only their beliefs at the expense of others is a slippery slope.

I am glad I returned to the United States. At the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on our country my patriotism welled up in me like a tidal wave and only grew. And I became appalled by the anti-American and pro-Islamist rhetoric that was going on in the leftist British media and among friends and acquaintances there.

Everyone who lives in the United States is lucky and blessed to be here. While we will continue to welcome people here from around the world, we need to be careful to not change the very character of our nation by opening the floodgates to people determined to recast our country into the image of another culture.
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When this years United Nations General Assembly convenes this week, it is safe to assume that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will not address domestic human rights abuses.



Even as Tehran continues to portray criticism of its human rights record, including this years report by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Asma Jahangir, as a Western conspiracy to discredit the Islamic theocracy, Iranian citizens and human rights activists are increasingly calling for the perpetrators of past crimes to be brought to justice.

Last year, an audio recording surfaced of Hossein Ali Montazeri deriding senior officials for the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988. Poised to take over the countrys supreme leadership, Montazeri provided chilling details of the butchery. The leaked recording sparked unprecedented public dialogue and compelled some regime officials and direct participants to acknowledge and even defend the massacre.

Previous calls for international action, notably from the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its main constituent group, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), whose activists comprised the vast majority of the victims, had gone unheeded. Western powers tended to turn a blind eye, often in hopes of currying favor with supposed moderates in the Iranian regime.

Rouhani is a prime example of one such moderate. Optimistic Westerners described him thus before he was even sworn in as president in 2013. This goes a long way toward explaining why Rouhanis presence at the UN continues to be embraced year after year, even as accounts of Irans past and present human rights abuses continue to pour in.

That welcoming attitude is at odds with Ms. Jahangirs report, endorsed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The contradiction will be loudly decried by protestors planning their own welcome for Rouhani. Iranian expatriates, supporters of the PMOI, and other opponents of the Iranian regime will insist that he is personally responsible for the regimes abuses, both present and past, when Rouhanis role in the clerical establishment was already well-founded.

Rouhani was an official in 1988 and certainly aware of what was happening. Unlike Montazeri, who lost his rank as a result, neither Rouhani nor anyone who currently wields power alongside him spoke out. Meaning the legacy of that massacre is entwined with the current presidents person, and with his administration insofar as he has deliberately surrounded himself with cabinet ministers and advisors who are well-known participants in and defenders of the 1988 massacre and a range of subsequent abuses.

For his first term, Rouhani appointed Mostafa Pourmohammadi as Minister of Justice. In 1988, Pourmohammadi served as one of four individuals on the Tehran death commission that issued the death sentences. He was personally responsible for thousands of deaths. Twenty-five years later Rouhani named him personally responsible for the standards of justice throughout the Islamic Republic.

Rouhani removed Pourmohammadi, replacing him with someone less notorious, but no less guilty. Alireza Avayi held essentially the same position on a 1988 death commission, albeit in a different province. The two mens juridical origin stories are effectively the same, and the records of their subsequent activities are similarly brutal.

Which is why it makes no sense to condemn the 1988 massacre, while welcoming Rouhani year after year. The Islamic Republics appalling human rights record did not end with the 1988 massacre; it did not end in the following decades or with the death of Ruhollah Khomeini; and it certainly did not end with the election of the supposedly moderate Rouhani.

Irans current president oversaw one of the bloodiest periods since the summer of 1988. More than 3,100 people have been hanged since Rouhani took office, and the rate of killing shows no sign of slowing. Over 100 executions were carried out in July alone, several of them in public and at least one involving a minor at the time of his alleged crime.

The execution of minor offenders violates international human rights conventions, which the Islamic Republic plainly rejects. Tehran has seemingly increased death sentences for minors. Dozens are on death row today, along with 5,300 adults. Rouhani has contributed to the rhetoric that the Islamic Republic will accept no foreign imposition upon its domestic affairs.

If that is Rouhanis view of the international community, specifically those aspects of it tasked with defending human rights for all peoples, then why should the UN or its member states give him a public platform? Embracing a person who both expresses and embodies contempt for human rights sends the wrong message to his administration, the Iranian people, and human rights advocates throughout the world.
Recently, I spoke to a group of College Republicans at the University of Dayton. Their curiosity, eagerness to learn and intelligence impressed me. They asked hard questions and shared some remarkable insights of their own. One concern about what was going on at campuses around the country was Ohio States recent, unexplained decision to stifle students speech by banning them from decorating their dorm windows with messages made out of Stickynotes, a longstanding and beloved tradition. Another student at Auburn University was ordered to remove a Ron Paul sign, but no signs from other candidates received the same treatment.

Sadly, their concern is not without cause. College is supposed to be a unique time and place where students get to learn about themselves and others and develop the critical thinking skills necessary to participate in our constitutional republic. Increasingly, however, this opportunity is coming under attack. The only way this process of growth and self-discovery can work is if youre exposed to new ideas and can engage with them thoughtfully and rationally. And the only way you can encounter new ideas is if both you and others have freedom of speech  the right to say what you think without fear of legal repercussions or physical threat.

The First Amendment defends this right, or at least it was supposed to, but more and more were seeing universities ignore this basic human freedom in favor of their own restrictive policies and procedures. Safe spaces, free speech zones and speech codes  all of these ultimately undermine what a university is really about in the first place.

These young people have the potential to think, lead and, one day, govern well. We do them  and our country  no favors by shielding them from uncomfortable ideas.

Additionally, many of these policies and practices unfairly target conservative speakers and groups. After its much-publicized decision to rescind Ann Coulters invitation to speak, Berkeley has once again shown itself unwelcoming to anyone with provocative opinions. Allegedly for security reasons, the university cut the number of available seats at a Ben Shapiro lecture by nearly a thousand. They even offered counseling services to students who felt threatened by his ideas. Ridiculous!

Its a crying shame  Shapiro is a sharp, nuanced voice for constitutional conservatism, and just the kind of thinker students need to challenge them  but its not exactly surprising. This action is just one in a long line of actions taken by universities to stop free speech and stifle conservative voices. From the walk-outs at Betsy DeVos commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman, to protests at Claremont McKenna blocking Heather MacDonalds speech, to the vicious attempted attacks on Charles Murray at Middlebury, a sinister trend is growing, one in which the challenges conservative speakers pose to liberal orthodoxy are vehemently  and sometimes violently  suppressed.

But its not just on campus that were seeing this trend. Free speech is under attack in our political system as well. Since the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofits in 2012, attempts to limit our right to free speech and systematically enforce political correctness have only grown. We see it now in the current push to tear down Confederate monuments and rename schools and roads named for Confederate generals. Soon enough, we may see it in an attempt to block the rights of alt-right groups to assemble.

Let me be clear  the alt-night, Nazism and racism are reprehensible, repugnant ideas that go against everything we value as Americans. Ive been battling their kind in the war of ideas for years. But attacking the rights of groups like this to speak and to assemble only causes them to go underground and emerge years later in more extreme forms. And as soon as you take away the rights of one group to assemble, you pave the way for the removal of the rights of other, far more moderate groups further down the road. Provided that no harm is done to persons or property, everyone  from the alt-right to the far left  has the same constitutionally guaranteed rights.

So  what is the solution? How do we preserve this, our first and most precious of liberties? At the end of the day, it comes down to us, the people. Are we willing to take the risk of sharing our controversial opinions? Are we willing to challenge the status quo  whether on social media, in the classroom, or on the Congress floor? We have these liberties  are we willing to use them? Pundits and media groups make fortunes and are therefore incentivized financially to air their opinions, but they can afford the security to defend themselves legally, and personally. But the chilling effect on college students who cant afford the same defense must not be ignored.

Millennials are a much-maligned generation, frequently blasted for their inability to think, work or act for themselves. But what I saw at Dayton showed me otherwise. These young people have the potential to think, lead and, one day, govern well. We do them  and our country  no favors by shielding them from uncomfortable ideas. The university and democracy both are built on the idea that human beings find the best solutions when they are challenged, not when they are comfortable or complacent. If we want both institutions to flourish, we must have the courage to let them be free.
Hillary Clinton rejects the idea that a June 2016 meeting between her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch critically damaged her White House bid.

I just dont buy that, Clinton said in a PBS interview aired Friday evening to promote her new book, What Happened, about her loss last year to Donald Trump.

As Clinton has in several other, recent interviews promoting the book, she heaped much of the blame on then-FBI Director James Comey.

Comey led the Justice Department investigation into Clintons use of private email servers as secretary of state, after Lynch stepped back in the probe, as a result of her allowing Bill Clinton into her airplane to talk while on the tarmac of a Phoenix airport.

My husband and Loretta Lynch said they didnt say a word" about the probe, Clinton told PBS. I honestly reject that premise, partly because theres a chain of command in the Justice Department.

Clinton points out that Lynch had a deputy attorney, Sally Yates, whom she called a woman of experience and integrity. And she seemed to suggest that Yates could have run the email probe. However, Clinton never really made clear in the interview why Yates didnt take over the investigation.

She also argued that Comey, appointed by then-President Barack Obama, a fellow Democrat, was under political pressure from inside and outside of the FBI to make a case out of the criminal investigation into the matter of her emails and use of the private servers.

Comey in July 2016 said Clinton was extremely careless in handling classified and other emails on the servers but recommend no criminal charges -- a conclusion Lynch accepted.

However, Clinton argued in the PBS interview that Comey delivered an even bigger blow to her campaign in late-October 2016, days before voters went to the polls, when he effectively re-opened the case to review new information.

"OK, that was over on July 5. Right, Clinton said.

That, I thought, was a breach of professional ethics and responsibility and a rejection of the protocols within the Justice Department. It was over. And we were doing fine going forward. What really was costly, and what I believe was the proximate cause of my defeat, was his October 28 letter, which has never been adequately explained or defended, had nothing to do with what happened, you know, months before.
Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio is firing back at U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton for questioning whether President Trumps pardon of the controversial lawman will be enough to throw out his conviction.

In a filing last week, Bolton said she is not certain she can vacate Arpaios criminal contempt conviction because there has been no sentencing yet; therefore, she may only dismiss the case. A presidential pardon does not immediately undo or reverse a conviction.

Does she believe in the presidents pardon? I think the pardon said everything. So if she wants to do it, OK. And then well appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, Arpaio said.

Arpaio has requested the case be dismissed and the conviction thrown out, but Bolton may only be considering tossing the case -- leaving the guilty conviction on Arpaios record.

The case of the former sheriff of Arizonas Maricopa County goes back to 2011, when Arpaio was ordered to cease traffic stops that singled out illegal immigrants in Phoenix. In October 2016, charges were filed against Arpaio for contempt of court in relation to the racial profiling case. He was found guilty on July 31 of this year and was set to be sentenced on October 6 before the president pardoned him on August 25.

Throughout his time as sheriff, Arpaio continued his lifes work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now 85 years old, and after more than 50 years of admirable service to our nation, he is worthy candidate for a presidential pardon, the White House said in a statement when announcing the pardon.

On October 4, Bolton will be considering the request to vacate the conviction entirely.

This had nothing to do with racial profiling; the true story is gonna come out and Im gonna tell you why Im gonna fight this and get it out because if they can do this to me they can do this to you. I guarantee it, said Arpaio.

' . . . if they can do this to me they can do this to you. I guarantee it.'  Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Arpaio spoke to Fox News as he received the Courage Under Fire award from the Conservative Leadership Conference in Las Vegas Saturday night.

Arpaio says he is grateful for the presidential pardon and specified he never requested it, but attributes it to his relationship with Trump. He [Trump] knows Im not guilty, Arpaio said.

Even though Bolton was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, Arpaio places a lot of the blame on the Obama Justice Department for the witch hunt that was his conviction. This all happened under them when they started this prosecution.

Arpaio was never worried about possibly going to jail. He says and that if he does decide to run for office, he doesnt know which position hed put his hat in the ring for. He does want to help more Republicans get elected to fulfill the presidents agenda.

Im a little unpredictable like the president, he said.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday that President Trumps United Nations speech will focus on promoting and protecting American prosperity and suggested that the White Houses National Security Council is better after having removed adviser Steve Bannon and others who pushed their own narrow agendas.

The National Security Council, I think, has served the president well in bringing him multiple options. There were some who tried to operate outside of that process for their own narrow agendas. And that didnt serve the president well, McMaster told Fox News Sunday, in response to questions about his policy clashes with Bannon.

McMaster, shortly after becoming the White House national security adviser in February, removed Bannon as an official member of the council. And Bannon was ousted last month as the presidents top political adviser, after retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly became Trumps chief of staff.

Others removed from the council include intelligence expert Ezra Cohen-Watnick and retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

Flynn was forced to resign this winter as national security adviser amid investigations into whether he or others in the Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 White House race.

The administration is better off when we can serve the president by integrating and coordinating across all of our departments and agencies  and present the president with multiple options, McMaster also said Sunday. Whats important is to have an inclusive process  not to try to advance your own agenda.

He also tried to downplay the idea that Bannon, who apparently disagrees with the so-called globalists in Trumps inner circle, was the only concern.

I think this has been too hyped on one individual, he said. Reports of feuding, this didnt happen.

McMaster also said Trumps scheduled speech Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York will be a tremendous opportunity to reach world leaders.

He said the presidents speech will focus on the themes: protecting American people, promoting American prosperity and promoting accountability and sovereignty.

Those three themes will allow him to communicate his vision for Americas role in the world, McMaster said.

He also clarified his comment last week about the United States having run out of road in trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about him ending his pursuit of a nuclear arsenal.

We are out of road because in the past the approach taken to the problem of North Korea and the Kim regime over decades has been to enter into long drawn-out negotiations that then deliver an unsatisfactory agreement -- an agreement that then the North Korean regime breaks, he said.
Numbers are an immutable constant on Capitol Hill.

How many lawmakers vote yea or nay on an issue. How many can come together for an amendment. How many want to defund a certain program.

Numbers help explain President Trumps recent dalliances with Democrats on immigration policy -- along with a package to avoid a government shutdown, fund hurricane relief efforts and suspend the debt ceiling.

Here are the important digits:

217-213. 17. 90

The first cipher is the tally in May on the health care bill approved by the House. Flip two votes and the measure fails due to a tie. Twenty Republicans voted nay. Thats a narrow margin.

Seventeen represents the number of Senate Republicans who opposed the government funding/hurricane aid/debt ceiling bill. With a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate, the GOP clearly required Democratic assistance.

Ninety represents the number of Republicans who cast nay ballots against the same trio package in the House. Only 133 Republicans voted yea compared to 183 Democrats.

Numerous congressional Republicans simply wont vote for much of anything. The House GOP leadership and the Trump administration went to hell and back to finally craft an ObamaCare repeal-and-replacement package, which barely squeaked through the House.

Yet Trump and congressional Republicans have yet to ditch ObamaCare for something else. And so, if youre the president, what are you left with?

This president doesnt have any choice but to turn and listen to Democrats to get something done, said Rep. Lou Barletta. R-Pa., one of Trumps most ardent and earliest House supporters. Hes doing what everyone claims thats what they want him to do.

That is, work in a bipartisan fashion.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., says the presidents approach should surprise no one.

We all knew his dealings here (on Capitol Hill) would be somewhat unorthodox, said Corker, who huddled with Trump in a one-on-one meeting Friday. There are going to be more issues where Democrats can deliver the votes.

Plain and simple.

Trump may be thinking about 2020. Its closer than you think. Republican congressional allies have delivered very little for the president when it comes to big items, save the installation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. The president has also pistol-whipped House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on various occasions.

They have been strong partners with us, said White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short of Ryan and McConnell recently at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. They have been terrific allies on tax reform. The regulatory front. I dont know who could do it better than Mitch McConnell did.

Maybe so for McConnell when it came to altering Senate precedent to muscle Gorsuch to confirmation. But the health care debacle really exasperated the president.

Trump faced a government shutdown and a potential debt-ceiling crisis had it not been for Democrats.

So when it comes to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and a permanent solution for persons brought to the United States by their parents when they were young, the president sees one way to avoid a catastrophe.

I dont think this surprises anyone but (Iowa GOP Rep.) Steve King, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said about the presidents maneuver.

Simpson was referring to a tweet by King after Trump dined with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a few nights ago and supposedly crafted a bargain on DACA.

Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible, King declared on Twitter after word came there was a deal between the president and the Democratic brass.

Nobody is truly sure what the leaders agreed to other than to address DACA.

The president is still insisting on a border wall. Many Democrats want a straight, up-or-down vote on the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors). It would grant eligible persons residency and possible citizenship if they meet certain qualifications.

To placate the Republican base, Trump sent a flurry of tweets early Thursday morning trying to alter perceptions of the meeting. Then, the presidents newest sentries on Capitol Hill -- Pelosi and Schumer -- flew air cover for the president in a joint statement that defended Mr. Trumps tweets.

Hows that for irony?

Congressional Republicans are beyond freaked out.

Many were far from on board with Trump from the start. But they went along grudgingly. Now congressional Republicans will feel the ire of the right if conservative factions believe the president caved on amnesty.

To this point, congressional Republicans have few accomplishments on which to campaign in the 2018 midterm elections.

Many could face right-wing primary challenges. Substantive tax reform could be their only hope. But that enterprise is far from a fait accompli.

The GOP stumbled on health care. Now the president is cutting deals with Democrats. Republicans will sweat to justify their majorities to voters if they shamble through tax reform the way they did health care.

Aides to Ryan and McConnell took pains to remind reporters that their bosses are still the speaker and the Senate majority leader. They control the floors in both bodies.

The president understands that he's got to work with the congressional majorities to get any kind of legislative solution, Ryan opined.

Well, that hasnt worked too well so far.

John Kelly is now the White House chief of staff. Long gone is former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who used to chair the Republican National Committee.

Priebus is a Badger State cohort of Ryan. With Priebus and Ryan in his ear, of course the president would initially just work with Republicans. But now?

As speaker, Ryan is always mindful about buy-in from the GOP Conference. Ryan hastily assembled a working group of Republicans to craft a solution to the DACA conundrum and also beef up border security.

The group includes hardliners on immigration policy like Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and moderates like Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas.

Hurd represents a sprawling district that borders Mexico and opposes constructing a wall.

The informal gang is an effort by the speaker to make sure House Republicans get input from stakeholders.

Detractors argue the coalition creates an alibi for the speaker to slow down any action on legislation for DREAMers if they arent able to forge a solution palatable to their GOP colleagues.

Republicans arent the only ones perplexed about the presidents newfound alliances with Pelosi and Schumer. Democrats view the entete with just as much trepidation.

Trump is anathema to liberals and progressives.

Those constituencies now dominate the Democratic Party. Look at how many Democratic senators signed on to the Medicare for All initiative launched last week by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent.

The ability of Pelosi and Schumer to carve an agreement with Trump on the debt ceiling/government spending/hurricane relief bill impressed many Democrats. So theyre willing to grant their leaders some latitude. But Democrats are watching closely to see what happens to the DREAM Act.

I think they will be judged on what they do on DACA, said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.

But something else concerns Dingell and Democrats:

I dont trust Donald Trump on anything, she also said. It could all change in two to three hours.

At this stage, no one is really sure whats on the table.

Details are the most important thing, said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. Until we know what the president is thinking, everything is just talk.

There will certainly be a lot of talk about the DACA/DREAMer issue in the coming days. Thats to say nothing of future battles over the debt ceiling, government funding and even tax reform. Republicans may have a majority in Congress.

Trump only needs some of them. Democrats are in the minority. The President needs lots of them.

Words dont tell the story. Numbers do.
Oil plumes threaten to choke the oceans and methane gas explosions shoot sky high -- and those are hardly the biggest threats facing the Earth. From cosmic rays to asteroid impacts to the threat of general destruction, our planet may be less safe than you think.

Here are the top eight risks to life as we know it, detailed by scientists and science fiction writers -- and whether it's even possible to save ourselves.

1. A sudden gamma ray burst strikes

When a supernova explodes, it unleashes a massive gamma ray. Thankfully, most of these tremendous bursts of energy are so far away that theyre harmless. But if one were too close ...

"Were a supernova to explode within 30 light years from the sun -- which is just around the corner in terms of cosmic scale -- it would blow away a portion of the Earth's atmosphere, produce global fires, fry the atmosphere, and kill the majority of species alive on the planet within months, even for species that live underground and hundreds of meters under water," said Annie McQuade, who is working on a book about global calamities.

Gamma rays or other radiation could also cause damage to satellites orbiting the planet. But not to worry, said Chris DePree, a professor at Agnes Scott College and the director of the Bradley Observatory. He noted that the explosion would not only need to be close to Earth, but also pointed in our direction. And there are precious few high-mass stars that could explode, he said, so the probability of the event is quite low.

2. A deadly mind virus kills us all

In his book, Directive 51, sci-fi author John Barnes explained how a "mind virus" could destroy the world.

"In recent years, the Internet has made it possible for ideas to spread very fast and develop very quickly," Barnes said. "There is nothing that says humanity can't collectively come down with a truly bad idea -- something self-destructive, short-sighted, maybe just the equivalent of a mass tantrum."

Sci-fi author Walter Jon Williams detailed the idea in his 2008 novel Implied Spaces. Williams told FoxNews.com that it could be possible in the future to introduce what he called a nano-reconstructor (or some other mind-altering agent) to use a region of your brain for nefarious purposes -- to introduce some other agent that causes you to act violently, for example.

There is no obvious protective measure from a mind virus, but Barrett Caldwell, an aeronautics and astronautics professor at Purdue University, likened it to the known "mass psychogenic illnesses" that have infected people in the past and that were self-contained and isolated.

"The genocide in Rwanda is the closest example I can think of for this kind of behavior," elaborated Howard Davidson, a physicist and Stanford professor. "It required active measures by a large group of instigators, and quite a bit of time to get started." But not to worry, he said. "Even in these cases only part of the population is entrained," he told FoxNews.com.

3. The North and South Poles flip-flop

Every few hundred thousand years, the Earth's magnetic poles reverse. When that happens, they can swirl around for a while before finding their new home. Or they might pick multiple spots on the planet. "The problem is not the poles flipping, but that the Earth's magnetic field draws down solar radiation around its poles," Williams explained. "So if one of the poles parks itself over, say, Chicago, a lot of inhabitants could get burned."

"Magnetic poles do reverse and have done so in the past, but it does not happen suddenly," added Caldwell. "The energy involved makes this unlikely at a rate that would lead to a sudden cataclysm."

Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, told FoxNews.com the real danger is the period during the magnetic reversal when the Earth would be unshielded from atomic particles from space. He said wed need to protect ourselves using goggles and headgear -- or stay indoors at all times.

4. The universe keeps expanding  and expanding

Williams calls it the Big Rip. We already know that dark energy causes the universe to expand. As it expands faster and faster and stars move farther away from each other, a curious thing happens: The observable universe get smaller -- and atomic particles that can't see each other can't interract.

At that point, "none of the protons or electrons will be in the same universe as another, which means they can't interact via the strong, weak, or electromagnetic force. Which means all matter will fly apart," he said.

Howard Davidson, a noted physicist and Stanford professor, agreed that it could happen. "The atoms get very cold. If you wait long enough some versions of the Standard Model have protons decaying, so they go to neutrons and electrons, and we have some spare electrons left over. Very dull, cold, quiet, end of the universe."

Of course, this process takes eons -- and there is no proof that the expanding universe is in imminent danger. There's also no way to prevent this fateful event from occurring.

5. Extreme science experiments go too far

As past history has shown, the greatest danger to man is often man himself. McQuade explained that modern experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, where scientists are looking for signs of the Big Bang, could lead to strange anomalies. One such potential: creating "strangelets" from reassembling quarks, or elementary particles.

"Strangelets could grow by consuming ordinary nuclei, which would liberate energy, and since there is nothing to stop it, they would ultimately produce a catastrophic explosion," McQuade said. "Smashing particles could also trigger a series of reactions that would result in vacuum instability. Though vacuum instability sounds innocuous enough, it could tear the fabric of space itself."

McQuade said most scientists view these events as extremely unlikely, but as these experiments push the envelope, there is more chance of them going awry. DePree said a more likely doomsday scenario is not that the actual experiment unleashes peril on the world, but that we use the research in a world-ending way. "The most likely way for experiments to go awry is not the experiment itself, but in its later use by humans," he said.

6. Supervolcanoes wipe out the planet

73,000 years ago, a massive supervolcano in South East Asia turned India to cinders. The volcanic winter lasted another two decades and wiped out about 75% of the nascent human race. Of the six supervolcanoes in the world today, Williams said, three happen to be in the United States. One famously lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming; the others are in Long Valley, Calif., and Valles Caldera, N.M.

DePree said there is also a chance of "catastrophic volcanism," which can trigger major tectonic plate movement on the planet. Unfortunately, scientists have no counter-measure for supervolcanoes. If they erupt, there's no stopping them. However, DePree offers one small consolation: Its unlikely that more than one supervolcano would erupt at once.

7. Computers take over everything

One potential cataclysm could already be happening -- one we've created ourselves. As computer technology becomes more advanced, "thinking machines" could eventually emerge that control banks, stock markets, and airports. It sounds like something out of the Terminator movies, but the reality is that "self-aware" machines could become self-replicating.

Initially, this could mean just a bug that infects computer systems controlling transportation and finance, leading to mass pandemonium. Yet a more dangerous threat is from artificial intelligence (AI). McQuade suggests that AI could become more advanced than human intelligence. Once it does, the machines could develop their own programming routines -- or decide that humans aren't necessary. Or take over nuclear armaments and other stockpiles.

"AI is a field that seeks to engineer not just faster-than-human intelligence, but qualitatively better than human intelligence," McQuade said. "Because AI could learn extremely fast (through recursive self-improvement), it would have the capacity, in a short period of time, to make significant leaps in 'intelligence' until it demonstrates qualitatively better-than-human intelligence."

8. A cough goes round the world

One of the most dangerous threats to the world population is a simple cough -- that is, a deadly flu that spreads quickly around the world. Caldwell noted that H1N1 turned out to be very contagious but not very deadly, for which most experts think we were lucky. A more dangerous contagion could spread just as quickly but cause vastly more harm.

Fortunately, Shostak explained, most flu outbreaks tend to be "self-limiting"; usually pathogens kill some of the people all of the time, not all of the people some of the time. That "usually" part is not exactly reassuring, though.

"The flu or some other plague is always a threat, particularly considering how fast the disease could travel in airplanes, trains, and other modern forms of transportation," said Williams. "Another problem is that modern hospitals have become so reliant on antibiotics that they're very careless about sterilization procedures. You'd have to go back to methods practiced in the 1940s for strict sterilization and isolation, and no one remembers how to do that."

The main counter-attack to massive flu outbreaks is simple hygiene. The more we wash our hands, take precautions in public places, and cover our coughs the less likely that a pathogen will replicate quickly. Scientists are also quick to develop vaccines to dangerous flu viruses, so it's unlikely one could spread worldwide.

FoxNews.com's SciTech section is on Twitter! Follow us @fxnscitech.
A family of four died late Friday when a private plane crashed in western Colorado, authorities said.

The plane, with two adults and two children aboard, was traveling to Moab, Utah, from Fort Collins, Colo., the Garfield County Sheriffs Office said.

The exact time of the crash was unknown, sheriff's office spokesman Walt Stowe told the Aspen Times.

FOX31 in Denver reported the aircraft lost radar contact around 10 p.m. Friday, with its last reported location being north of Glenwood Springs near Baxter Peak. The area is a rugged and remote wilderness with peaks reaching more than 11,100 feet, the Daily Sentinel reported.

Searchers found debris from the plane Saturday morning, and determined there were no survivors.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration will investigate, as the sheriffs office works to recover the bodies and get to the crash site to begin its own investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ryanair cancelled 82 flights scheduled for Sunday after the airlines messed up planning their pilots holiday leaves.

The budget airline said late last week that it will continue to cancel flights  40-50 every day  for the next six weeks to accommodate the airline staffs scheduled vacations.

"We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we're working hard to fix that," marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said in a BBC report.

Jacobs also said that passengers with bookings up to September 20 had been informed via email of their flights cancellation status.

Ryanair has said that less than 2 percent of its flight would be cancelled, but that 2 percent can affect as many as 285,000 passengers.

This comes after the airline admitted that in the first half of this month, its punctuality had fallen below 80 percent.

Though these cuts are intended to fix the Irish-based airlines reliability, it has created a lot of social media backlash from passengers who have had their travel plans ruined by the airlines sudden widespread flight cancellations.

One tweeted out, Thanks so much @Ryanair for cancelling our flight for tomorrow morning. I really appreciate the 24 hours notice that I can't go on holiday!

And another said, So we are in Krakow & #Ryanair cancel our flight home on Monday - what??? How are we supposed to get home?

The passengers are entitled to refunds and rebooking, but that fact has done little assuage the affected passengers.
The newest lawyer to join Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into possible Trump campaign team collusion with Russia gained notoriety for her conduct in defending former President Obama's immigration orders, Politico reported Saturday.

Besides her work for Obama, Kyle Freeny, now the 16th member of Muellers legal team, Federal Election Commission records show she donated in each of the past three presidential elections to Democratic nominees, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Freeny and her colleagues came under judicial fire while defending a lawsuit in which Texas and 25 other states contested Obamas executive order in 2014 on immigration. The federal judge hearing the case, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, blasted Freeny and her colleagues for misleading him when the litigation began by indicating that none of the changes Obama had ordered had taken effect. In actuality, one major change, to issue longer work permits, had already begun.

Hanen said the government lawyers had engaged in misconduct that was intentional, serious and material, according to Politico

In fact, it is hard to imagine a more serious, more calculated plan of unethical conduct, wrote the judge, who eventually dropped plans to impose sanctions on the government lawyers.

Freeny is one of nine attorneys on Muellers team who has donated to Democrats a total of nearly $65,000, according to The Daily Caller.

She had been working in the Justice Departments money-laundering unit where she helped lead an effort to seize profits from the The Wolf of Wall Street film because it was allegedly financed with assets looted from Malaysias government.
A New York professor who tweeted that teaching future dead cops is a privilege  provoking outrage from the citys police leaders  was placed on administrative leave on Saturday by his employer.

Michael Isaacson, an adjunct professor at CUNYs John Jay College of Criminal Justice and self-proclaimed anti-fascist activist, was disciplined because of the three-week-old tweet that caught fire after Isaacsons Thursday appearance on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight. His Aug. 23 tweet said:

Some of y'all might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teaching at John Jay College but I think it's a privilege to teach future dead cops

Michael Issacson harbors total disdain for the active and future police officers that he teaches at John Jay College, Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmens Benevolent Association, said in a Friday press release.

John Jay College President Karol V. Mason called Isaacsons comments abhorrent and the antithesis of an academic institution that trains future law enforcement in a statement. Although she said that professors have a right to free speech and academic freedom, expressions of hate or intimidation are not welcome in that civil discourse.

WATCH: TUCKER TAKES ON ANTIFA PROFESSOR ABOUT FREE SPEECH

As Fox News previously reported, Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association, said the tweet is an abdication of the professors responsibility as a civilized human being and disgusting.

I am appalled that anyone associated with John Jay, with our proud history of supporting law enforcement authorities, would suggest that violence against police is ever acceptable, Mason said in her statement.

Mason also said that faculty members and students had been threatened as a result of Isaacsons tweet, and he was placed on leave for safety reasons.

In an email to The Washington Post, Isaacson said he unequivocally supports the colleges decision in the interest of public safety, and he apologizes to faculty members and his students for placing them at risk.

Isaacson will remain on administrative leave while school officials review the matter, Mason said.

Other law enforcement officials also weighed in.
Mitchell Flint, an American aviator who helped form the Israeli Air Force in 1948 and served in Israel's first fighter squadron has died. He was 94.

Flint, a former US Navy fighter pilot, died Saturday in Los Angeles of natural causes, said his son, Michael Flint.

Flint was one of the founding members of "Machal," a group of non-Israelis who fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was one of the original members of the Israeli Air Force's first fighter squadron and helped train Israel's first military pilots, his son said.

Flint and other members of the Machal had flown in German planes that were captured during World War II and covered the Nazi insignia with Stars of David. He flew in rebuilt Messerschmitts, Germany's main fighter plane during World War II, as well as Mustangs and Spitfires.

When he returned to the United States, Flint moved to Los Angeles and became a lawyer. He continued flying until last year, his son said.

"He was a humble man who did what he did and never looked for glory," Michael Flint said of his father. "He was proud of what he did until the very end."
A volunteer firefighter in Ohio has been suspended indefinitely after a Facebook post that stated he would save a dog from a burning building before a black person.

WHIO-TV reports that Tyler Roysdon, of Franklin Township in Warren County, said if he had to choose between saving a dog or a black man, the animal would come first.

The post, which contained multiple racial slurs, was ordered removed by the township. Officials issued a statement calling the content "unacceptable."

Officials said Fire Chief Steve Bishop, who suspended Roysdon, does not have termination powers. That decision will be made by the township board of trustees after a Sept. 27 disciplinary hearing.

A phone number could not be found for Roysdon. A message was left with Bishop.

___

Information from: WHIO-AM, http://www.whioam.com
Three people with assault rifles barged into an Illinois casino Sunday, shot a security guard and stole money from the cash cage, police said.

The three armed suspects entered Casino Queen in East St. Louis about 3 a.m. Sunday and shot an unarmed security guard, FOX2 St. Louis reported. Witnesses said they heard a gunshot that sent dozens of people running for the exits.

As Im looking for my keys, we heard a gunshot. Im like Oh my god is that a gunshot?pop, pop, pop, pop, Keona Edwards told FOX2.

We just started running, a billion people running. People got ran over by wheelchairs. Money got taken, people left their money. It was just ridiculous, she recalled.

The robbers headed for the cash cage on the first floor of the casino. They took an unspecified amount of cash before fleeing the scene.

The guard was taken to the hospital and is said to be in stable condition. No one else was hurt in the incident, according to FOX2. Witnesses said they heard several gunshots, though its unclear how many rounds were fired.

Police are still trying to identify the suspects in the robbery. The casino remained close after the incident.
The former St. Louis police officer whose acquittal in the December 2011 shooting death of a black man sparked violent protests this weekend said his life has been in turmoil for some time, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

It feels like a burden has been lifted, but the burden of having to kill someone never really lifts, Jason Stockley, an Iraq War veteran, told the newspaper on Friday. The taking of someones life is the most significant thing one can do, and its not done lightlyMy main concern now is for the first responders, the people just trying to go to work and the protesters. I dont want anyone to be hurt in any way over this.

Stockley, 36, had been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24.

St. Louis has been hit with daily protestswhich have exploded into assaults on officers, property damage and dozens of arrestssince Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson issued his ruling Friday. Stockley had waived his right to a jury trial in favor of a bench trial.

I can feel for and I understand what the family is going through, and I know everyone wants someone to blame, but Im just not the guy, Stockley told the Post-Dispatch.

Stockley and his partner said they saw what appeared to be a drug transaction on the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, and as they tried to corner Smith, he drove away and Stockley fired seven shots at his car.

A two-minute chase unfolded. Police dashcam video captured Stockley saying, going to kill this (expletive), don't you know it, in the midst of the chase. As Smith's car slowed, Stockley was heard telling Officer Brian Bianchi to hit him right now, and Bianchi slammed the police SUV into Smith's car.

Stockley emerged from the SUV and fired five shots into Smith's car, killing him. Neil Bruntrager, Stockley's attorney, said the officer fired only when Smith refused commands to put up his hands and reached along the seat toward an area where a gun was found.

But prosecutors said Stockley planted a gun. Testing found Stockley's DNA on the gun, but not Smith's.

Of his actions that day, Stockley told the Post-Dispatch: I dont know how changing any number of my actions that day would have changed the outcome.

Stockley had been a city police officer for five years when the shooting took place. Before that, he had a military career that included a tour in Iraq and is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He retired from the police department in 2013 after being suspended for carrying his own AK-47 pistol while on duty, a rules violation. He now lives in Houston and works at an oil company. Although he said he missed being a police officer, Stockley told the Post-Dispatch he had no plans to return to the force.

My life has been in turmoil for some time. Ive been in a holding pattern. I havent been able to be with my family.  Im trying my best not to let this dictate my life.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two Fort Bragg soldiers and a third man have been arrested and charged with murdering two men they allegedly were trying to rob in a North Carolina restaurant parking lot.

Fayetteville Police Department announced Satureday the arrests of 20-year-old Ferris Brown, 19-year-old Javier Rashad Johnson and 19-year-old Daivon Tahjai Chambers on charges of first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Brown and Johnson are active-duty soldiers at Fort Bragg. Brown is with the 1-17th Calvary Regiment; Johnson is with the 2-504th 82nd Airborne Division, according to police. Chambers is from Fayetteville.

All three men were jailed without bond and it's not known if they have attorneys.

They were accused of killing 18-year-old Dareon Tyrese Cook and 32-year-old Jonathan David Goodman who were found in a parked car on Sept. 5 as officers conducted security checks. Cook was pronounced dead at the scene. Goodman died at a hospital on Sept 7.

Their car was parked outside a Smokey Bones restaurant in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville police said robbery was the motive, WNCN-TV reported.

Part of me is sad over the fact that it was done because of something as simple as a robbery, Goodmans father told the station.

David Goodman said his son had seven children and an eighth on the way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Five New Yorkers in wheelchairs are behind nearly 400 lawsuits brought against small businesses for lacking handicap access.

Such legal claims have been criticized as part of a cottage industry of serial plaintiffs who target mom-and-pop establishments for quick cash settlements. But others see the suits as helping enforce the American with Disabilities Act.

Wheelchair ramps and bathroom doors are not the only battleground. Two blind New Yorkers have taken the fight online, filing a combined 23 suits against business Web sites that didnt have screen-reading software for the visually impaired. And a woman cited seven businesses for not allowing her service dog inside.

Zoltan Hirsch, 37, a double amputee from Brooklyn, is hell on wheels for those who fail to make their establishments wheelchair accessible. Since 2010, he has filed suit against 195 businesses ranging from a Soho eyeglass shop to Brooklyn bodegas to a Hells Kitchen restaurant.

Four other New Yorkers have filed 200 suits over wheelchair access: Luigi Girotto (70 suits), Pedro Fontanes (55), Jerry Cankat (52) and Nauqone Taylor (23).

Fontanes, 69, of Queens, has filed 13 suits against businesses along Fifth Avenue in Park Slope between Ninth and Bergen streets.

He claims to have suffered harm and injury at cafes including Le Pain Quotidien, Pizza Town, Uncle Barrys, SkyIce Sweet & Savory, Dizzys Diner and Konditori Swedish Espresso Bar.

At Konditori, he also griped that the bathroom mirror was too high.

Mark Caserta, director of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District committee, blasted the suits, saying: This shouldnt be happening. Small business are already struggling to stay afloat, and these lawsuits could put them over the edge.

Dennis Kearney, an attorney who defended Uncle Barrys craft beer bar against Fontanes this year, noted most defendants settle to escape the cost of litigation.

Why would somebody pay $100,000 in legal fees to go to trial when they can pay a fraction of that and be done with it? he said.

"Why would somebody pay $100,000 in legal fees to go to trial when they can pay a fraction of that and be done with it?  Dennis Kearney, attorney

Plaintiffs typically ask for modest damages but demand payment of their attorneys fees, which can top $20,000. Kearney believes the plaintiffs and lawyers split the fees.

Commercial Web sites are the newest lucrative legal target.

Blind Brooklyn resident Marion Kiler, 66, sued eight sites throughout the state during May and June.

Among them was the Museum of Sexs online store, where she claimed to have made numerous attempts to buy products. The sites wares range from nipple clamps to penis-shaped pasta.

Cheryl Krist, 62, of Manhattan, has brought seven suits against businesses, including an East Village McDonalds, for not allowing her service dog, Bocci, inside.

But Kenneth Shiotani, an attorney at the National Disability Rights Network, called private litigation the most effective enforcement mechanism to make the city disability friendly.
One week after Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida, a nursing home in Hollywood where eight people died continues to be a grim symbol of the storms devastating impact.

On Saturday, the first lawsuit was filed in connection with the nursing home tragedy.

The family of Rosa Cabrera, a 94-year-old double amputee who survived the ordeal at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, brought their case to Broward Circuit Court, seeking unspecified damages, the Miami Herald reported.

Family members told the newspaper that Cabrera  one of 141 residents evacuated from the sweltering nursing home Wednesday because a loss of electricity had left it without air conditioning -- suffered injury, pain and emotional distress as a result of the ordeal.

More lawsuits were expected, the Herald reported.

Legislation that would have required nursing homes to have generators on site for supplying electricity during emergencies failed in the state Senate in 2006, following Hurricane Wilma a year earlier, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

But Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Saturday that new rules give the state's nursing facilities 60 days to acquire a back-up generator and fuel to operate it for 96 hours, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Meanwhile, ABC News reported Saturday that officials at the nursing home had called the personal cell phone number of Gov. Scott, seeking assistance as the tragedy unfolded. The governors office had said Friday that calls were made to a number controlled by the governors office. The Washington Examiner reported that the nursing home contacted Scott 36 hours before the deaths occurred.

Scotts office has launched an investigation into the nursing home tragedy, which was compounded by the fact that the home is located directly across the street from Memorial Regional Hospital  one of the states largest  which had electricity and was fully functioning, state health officials said in a statement.

Conditions also were largely normal at Jacksonville-area hospitals, the Florida Times-Union reported.

But customers of Florida Power and Light continued to be frustrated. They learned Saturday that the utility has pushed back its deadline for having power restored to all of its customers.

FPL now says power will be fully restored in Broward County by Monday evening, not Sunday, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The utility plans to have its Palm Beach County customers back online by Sunday night and service to its Miami-Dade County customers restored by Tuesday, the newspaper reported.

The Palm Beach Post reported late Saturday that just 2 percent of FPL customers in Palm Beach County remained without power.
A fair worker who was trying to fix a broken Ferris wheel in North Carolina fell from the ride and suffered minor injuries Friday, officials said.

The incident happened as the worker was trying to stabilize the ride at the at the Central Carolina Fair at the Greensboro Coliseum, Public Relations Manager Andrew Brown told FOX 8.

Cellphone video showed the worker climbing up the Ferris wheel after one of the gondola cars began to tilt out of its normal position.

When the worker dislodged the car, he lost his balance and fell, banging his body on the ride.

The far said in a statement Saturday that the worker was taken to a hospital. He was later released and had a broken finger.

Two young boys were inside the stuck gondola car at the time of the incident, but neither were injured.

The ride was inspected by state officials and approved for future use. Nobody on the ride was hurt.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man has filed suit against a New York City hospital he says disclosed his HIV status to his employer.

Known as John Doe in the court documents, the man filed a $2.5 million negligence lawsuit against Mount Sinai-St. Lukes Hospital after one of its clinics faxed his medical records to his employers mailroom, reports the New York Daily News.

My most intimate and personal secrets were broadcast for anyone who happened to be walking by my office fax machine, the employee told the New York Daily News. For years now, I have been struggling to cope with how my life was changed by the unbelievably careless act of the people who I trusted with my care.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 9, reportedly claims he was being treated at the hospitals Spencer Cox Clinic in 2014 when he asked for his records so that he could send them to another clinic -- specifically instructing hospital staffers to mail the documents to a post office box.

GIRL'S HIV INFECTION SEEMS UNDER CONTROL WITHOUT DRUGS

He had been diagnosed with HIV only a few months earlier and the files, which indicated his HIV-positive status, made their way to his supervisor, reports the New York Daily News. The man ended up quitting his job and he was forced to tell family and friends about his illness, something he was not prepared to do.

I simply could not stay with that company, he told the New York Daily News. I was in a constant state of apprehension about whether or not a colleague or supervisor was looking at me differently because they knew about my diagnosis. The paranoia and anxiety was too much.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the stigma associated with a diagnosis of HIV -- which can lead to more fear and discrimination -- is a barrier that we must overcome in order to reach an AIDS-free generation.

MARYLAND SCHOOL AIDE WITH HIV ACCUSED OF SEX ASSAULT, FACES 119 COUNTS

Mount Sinai-St. Lukes Hospital called the mistake egregious and a breach of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law about the safeguarding medical information, according to court papers obtained by the New York Daily News.

The hospital paid a $387,000 fine to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which launched an investigation based on a complaint.

Its bad enough to be diagnosed with HIV, but to have his health records sent to his place of work for everyone to see compounds a very difficult situation, Lichtman told the New York Daily News. His family was not aware of his status and everyone at work was.
The University of Virginia is removing Confederate plaques from its Rotunda, strengthening its ban on open flames and giving funds from an old KKK pledge to the Charlottesville violence victims as it grapples with the Aug. 11 white nationalist rally on its campus.

The schools student council signed on to a list of demands from a diverse group of students -- including the recruitment of more African-American students and faculty, mandatory courses about white supremacy and the addition of plaques to add context to existing Civil War statues -- following the protests in Charlottesville that resulted in the killing of Heather Heyer, a counter-protester.

The colleges board of visitors voted Friday to take the bronze tablets, which have been in the Rotunda since 1903, and put them in a different location where they may be preserved as artifacts of the era in which they were erected, and utilized to provide context to the history of the University.

Open flames were a primary feature of the visuals coming out of Charlottesville on Aug. 11. That evening, a large group of white nationalists marched to protest the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

WHICH CONFEDERATE STATUES WERE REMOVED? A RUNNING LIST

Some in the group of protesters were chanting Jews will not replace us and the Nazi-era slogan blood and soil while holding tiki torches.

Any carrying of open flames or open flame devices will now be punishable under the universitys official regulatory code.

University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan addressed the board about the colleges efforts to address the Aug. 11 march, which she labeled as something darker and more depraved, disguised as a protest march.

Although the university is working to integrate the study and understanding of slavery into its curriculum and public programs, Sullivan told the board that she wanted to address a troublesome aspect of UVAs history.

In 1921, the college received a pledge of $1,000 from the Ku Klux Klan, which the school has documented. Even though it was never paid, UVA is going to donate the inflated amount of that pledge, $12,500, to the Charlottesville Patient Support Fund, which is managed by the schools Health Foundation.

What we absolutely cannot do, however, is allow the practice of free expression to cross the line into intimidation and violence and all-out attack on UVA and its people, as it did on August 11, Sullivan said. We must and will take all necessary steps to prevent that escalation.
The Western U.S. and rural areas have the highest rates of suicides among military veterans, according to data released Friday by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The findings examined veterans' suicides state-by-state, and determined New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Montana represent the highest rate at 60 per 100,000 individuals  nearly double the national rate of 38.4.

Many veterans in those states must drive 70 miles or more to find the nearest VA medical center.

Regions in the United Sates outside the West, which had an overall suicide rate of 45.5, were all below the national rate.

Kentucky, West Virginia and Oklahoma also had high veteran suicide rates, which can be attributed to greater prescription drug use, particularly opioids. Veterans who received higher doses of opioid painkillers were twice as likely to die by suicide, compared to those who received minimal doses, according to a VA study conducted last year.

Gender also played a key role in the most recent VA report. Women veterans had a suicide rate 2.5 times greater than their civilian counterpart, with the risk 19 percent higher among male veterans compared to civilians.

Older veterans at risk

The majority of military suicides are among elderly veterans, with roughly 65 percent of cases among those 50 or older.

Rajeev Ramchand, an epidemiologist who studies suicide for the Rand Corp., pointed out the significance of the report, which indicated no state is immune. He added that social isolation, limited health care access, gun ownership and opioids were likely contributing factors in suicide among veterans.

This requires closer investigation into why suicide rates by veteran status are higher, including the role that opiates play, Ramchand told the Associated Press.

The VAs latest report breaks down national figures released last year, which determined 20 veterans commit suicide each day, as the agency looks for ways to increase suicide prevention efforts.

These findings are deeply concerning, which is why I made suicide prevention my top clinical priority, said VA Secretary David Shulkin, reported AP. This is a national public health issue.

More care sought

The reports release follows a recent upswing in veterans seeking medical care upon returning from missions in the Middle East, and may impact the Trump administrations push for expanding private-sector care.

Veterans often have more complex injuries, Allison Jaslow, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told AP. She also noted the challenges civilian doctors might face when trying to determine a proper diagnosis without understanding the unique situation of veterans.

Improving the care of the nations veterans remains a priority for President Donald Trump, who in a statement this week said the U.S. must do more to help veterans struggling with mental issues.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Utah mother was killed and her two daughters were injured on Saturday after a 15-year-old driver veered out of his lane and crashed into the familys vehicle, officials said.

The 15-year-old boy, who had a learners permit, was driving near Smithfield when he veered out of his lane and into oncoming traffic about 3:40 p.m., FOX13 reported. The womans vehicle slammed into the teenagers Ford Fusion, crumpling the white car.

The woman, identified as Samantha Perkes, 28, was killed on impact. Her two daughters, ages 4 and 7, were sitting in the backseat of the car and suffered minor injuries. They were hospitalized and later released.

The teenage boy was also injured in the crash. He was airlifted to the hospital.

Its unclear how the boy lost control of his vehicle. The teenage boy was the only person in the vehicle. Utah law requires drivers with a learners permit to be accompanied by an adult, Utah Highway Patrol said.
The Hamas militant group says it has accepted key conditions demanded by its rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, to clear the way for a reconciliation deal after a 10-year rift.

In a statement issued overnight Sunday, Hamas said it was responding to "generous" Egyptian mediation efforts "to achieve national unity."

The Palestinians have been divided between two rival governments since 2007, when Hamas drove Abbas' forces out of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said it has dissolved an administrative committee that runs Gaza, invited Abbas' government to return to Gaza and is ready to hold elections in the West Bank and Gaza.

The deal was not clear whether Hamas is ready to place its security forces under Abbas' control  a key sticking point in past reconciliation attempts.
Four American tourists were hospitalized after a woman attacked them with acid in Marseilles main train station in France on Sunday, the city's prosecutor's office said.

The four American women, said to be in their 20s and identified as Boston College students, were in the Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles train station when the acid attack happened, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Two of the women had the corrosive liquid sprayed in their face, leaving one with a possible eye injury.

The Boston College students, identified by a student newspaper as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Kosten, were hospitalized after the attack. The women, two of which were treated for shock, have since been released.

It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns, Nick Gozik, director of the college's Office of International Programs, told the newspaper. We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the US Embassy regarding the incident.

Three of the women  Kaufman, Krug and Siverling  are reportedly enrolled in the school's "BC in Paris" program, while Kosten is a student at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.

A 41-year-old woman, who reportedly had a history of mental health problems, was arrested in the incident, regional newspaper La Provence reported. The prosecutor said she didn't make any extremist declarations during the attack. French officials confirmed to Fox News the incident was not terror-related.

Marseille is a port city in southern France that is closer to Barcelona than Paris. The city is just over three hours away from Paris by train.

French police said they thwarted an imminent "terror attack" in April. Two suspected radicals were arrested on suspicion of preparing to "carry out an imminent, violent action" on French territory.

Fox News' Cicely Medintzeff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Boston 25 News.
Chinese authorities have charged nine people from a waste treatment company with illegally dumping 35,000 tons of toxic waste, some of which contaminated a section of the Yangtze River near Shanghai.

The official Xinhua news agency says the charges were filed Friday in the city of Changshu. The nine people are accused of sending garbage from Haiyan county, near Shanghai, to "unqualified" individuals who then dumped the waste in the river or buried it. The dumping occurred between August and December of last year.

Authorities stopped the operation after spotting two boats dumping waste near the mouth of the Yangtze River.
Jose, once a hurricane threatening the Caribbean, is now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Jose will "meander" off the southern coast of New England for a few days as it slowly travels to the west.

Here's what you need to know.

Where is Jose now?

Jose is approximately 115 miles south-southeast of Nantucket, Mass., the National Hurricane Centers 8 a.m. ET advisory said Friday. It has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

FLORIDA SEES LOOTING, BVI PRISONERS ESCAPE IN IRMA AFTERMATH

Jose was downgraded to a tropical storm last week, earlier than initially expected by forecasters, but then became a Category 1 hurricane a day later. It has since been downgraded back to a tropical storm.

What else should I know about the hurricane?

Shortly after Irma ravaged the Caribbean, Jose formed, threatening already wrecked houses, businesses and shelters with a major loss of communication.

Jose passed north of the Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico last week as a Category 4 hurricane, a situation, the Netherlands navy said, that was better than expected.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for Block Island, R.I., as well as Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard, both in Massachusetts.

The warning also applies to a stretch of the state going from Woods Hole to Sagmore Beach that includes Cape Cod, according to forecasters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
As world leaders prepare for the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, the president of Iran on Sunday extended a metaphorical dinner invitation to the United States.

President Hassan Rouhani used an analogy of a dinner party to describe how countries are benefiting from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Rouhani said the Americans were "sitting in another room" at the party.

"They can adopt a new path and come to the room where the dinner table is, Rouhani said. That's alright in our opinion. If they change their bad temper they can enjoy the dinner table."

The nuclear deal, reached during the Obama administration, saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

But President Donald Trump has said he wants to renegotiate it.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently said Iran was clearly in defiance of its obligations under the nuclear deal.

Tillerson pointed to Irans support of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, cyber activity and testing of ballistic missiles.

Iran rejects that it has broken the agreement. And it can point to a recent U.N. report showing it was meeting the conditions on its nuclear program set out in the accord.

The July 2015 deal was reached by Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia.
Israeli police say they have arrested eight people during a protest by ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem.

Dozens of protesters blocked streets during Sunday's demonstration. Some threw rocks at police, who kicked and dragged some protesters. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the arrests were made for "disturbing the peace."

The protesters were demonstrating against the arrest of a community member for refusing to enlist in the military.

The protest comes after Israel's Supreme Court last week struck down a 2015 law that granted exemptions from military service to ultra-Orthodox men.

Most Jewish men are required to serve in Israel's military. But the ultra-Orthodox community has won exemptions, arguing that young men studying in Jewish seminaries serve the nation through study and prayer. Secular Israelis say the system is unfair.
A talented and dedicated journalist with the Financial Times is being mourned by friends and colleagues after he was pulled underwater and killed by a crocodile in Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Paul McClean, 24, had wandered away from his friends to locate a toilet and was reportedly seen waving his hands in the air when he was attacked at a lagoon called Crocodile Rock near Arugam Bay.

The owner of a surf school in the area told The Sun that a local fisherman had witnessed a man being dragged into the river by a crocodile.

The Sun reports that a tourist from Australia wrote on Facebook: A croc just took a tourist bloke in Sri Lanka. He was walking on a beach where a small river meets the sea, its named Crocodile Rock for that reason obviously.

Earlier this year, a teenage girl was attacked and dragged away by a crocodile in another part of Sri Lanka, according to the Sun.

McClean had covered Brexit for the salmon-colored newspaper and recently came back to London after a stint living in Brussels.

Paul was a natural, said Lionel Barber, FT editor. He had charm, curiosity and attention to detail  the essential ingredients for a top reporter.

McClean grew up just outside of London, graduated from Oxford with a degree in French, and spent a year abroad teaching English and translating for local police officers in Ardennes, France, according to the FT.

He made journalism look easy, Scheherazade Daneshkhu, the FTs consumer industries editor, told the FT.
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The Latest on the violence in Myanmar and the exodus of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh (all times local):

5:10 p.m.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has condemned the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and called on the country's government and its leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, to no longer remain silent.

Jolie on Sunday told weekly Welt am Sonntag: "It's absolutely clear that the violence by the army needs to stop and that the return of the refugees has to be permitted  and that the Rohingya should be given civil rights."

Jolie added: "We all wish that Aung San Suu Kyi will in this situation be the voice of human rights."

Suu Kyi has been harshly criticized for not condemning the violence.

Rohingya have faced decades of persecution by the majority Buddhist population in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship. The current crisis that has led more than 400,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh in the past three weeks.
A second suspect was arrested on Saturday in connection with the subway attack at Londons Parsons Green station that left 30 people injured, officials announced on Sunday as the citys terror threat level is downgraded to severe.

A 21-year-old man was arrested late Saturday night in Hounslow in west London under the Terrorism Act, authorities said. Another 18-year-old man was arrested earlier in the day at the port of Dover, where ferries leave for France, and is also being held under the Terrorism Act. The suspects' names have not been released and no charges have been filed.

The arrests indicate police and security services believe Fridays attack involved several people.

"We are still pursing numerous lines of inquiry and at a great pace," counter-terrorism coordinator Neil Basu of the London police said late Saturday.

Officials announced on Sunday the terror threat level was downgraded from critical to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely, Sky News reported. The terror threat was raised to "critical"  meaning an attack is imminent  on Friday after an improvised explosive device partially detonated on the train in southwest London during Friday morning rush hour when commuters  including children heading to school  were just starting out their day.

"Severe still means that an attack is highly likely, so I would urge everybody to be vigilant but not alarmed," Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.

British Prime Minister Teresa May initially said raising the threat level to its highest point was a "proportionate and sensible step." Police called on the public to be vigilant.

Little details are known about the suspects and whether they are suspected of planting or building the bomb. The 18-year-old, whom authorities tracked using facial recognition technology, was believed to be a foster child taken in by Ronald Jones, 88, and his wife, Penelope, 71, who were honored by Queen Elizabeth for taking care of 268 foster children, the Times of London reported.

Police searched the couples home on Saturday as they reportedly stayed with friends. Neighbors around the house was evacuated as a precaution on Saturday. Mojgan Jamali, who lives near the house being searched, said police gave her "one minute" to pack.

"I was in my house with my children and there was a knock at the door from the police. They told me to leave. They said, 'You have one minute to get out of the house and get away,'" she said. "I just got out. I got my three children and we left the house and the street."

A friend, Alison Griffiths, said the Jones are "great pillars of the community" who have taken in several hundred children in the last 40 years.

Police did not reveal details about the search, but the precautions suggested concern that there might be explosives or violent extremists on the property. Residents were able to return to their homes on Sunday, but Jones house remained cordoned off.

The number of people injured rose to 30 people on Sunday. Nineteen people were taken to the hospital from the subway station and 11 others came in for treatment on their own. Most of the people injured suffered from burns, though analysts said the injuries would have been far worse had the entire device exploded. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening.

Rudd said it was much too early to tell if the authorities knew of the suspect in the London subway bombing, but said authorities were making rapid progress in the investigation.

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Hundreds of officers were examining surveillance footage and conducting other investigations as the nation elevated its terrorism alert system to the highest level, the BBC reported. Authorities said the suspect carried a white bucket containing an explosive onto the rush-hour train. When it exploded, numerous train riders suffered burns, and others were injured as they rushed away from the area of the blast.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was carried out by an affiliated unit.

Meanwhile, President Trump took heat from British authorities for a tweet he posted in the wake of the attack that seemed to criticize Britains security forces.

Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive! the president tweeted.

Reuters reported that May responded: I never think its helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.

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The station was reopened Saturday, officials said, restoring some normalcy to London's transport network after a day of disruption. There was no sign of panic among Londoners and the weekend life of the city continued undeterred by the raised threat level.

Britain has endured four other attacks this year, which have killed a total of 36 people. The other attacks in London  near Parliament, on London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London  used vehicles and knives to kill and wound.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Organizers behind Swedens Statement Festival, which bills itself as man-free in response to sexual assaults at previous music festivals, are facing questions over how they will enforce their policy.

Statement Festival was created by comedian Emma Knyckare, who has previously said that men should be banned from music festivals until they learned to behave. Her idea comes in the wake of a renewed push from activists and sexual assault victims to force music festivals to take the issue more seriously.

However, the festival has recently come under fire on Instagram from people who feel the new policy discriminates against the transgender community.

The ban on men, it turns out, only applies to what Knyckare described as cisgender menwhich is a term for men whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth.

One user wondered if the events ban would extend to transgender men, who identify as men but were assigned female at birth, while the Telegraph reports that another wrote:

You have previously argued that transgender men know how it is to be vulnerable and oppressed, just like women, and should therefore be welcomed. What do you do with the rest of the men who are vulnerable and oppressed, then?

The festival replied to the users saying they will discuss the issue during an upcoming meeting to see if their decision should be reconsidered.

All men are not rapists, but almost all rapes are carried out by men," Knyckare told Swedish site TheLocal this week. "We want to create a free space, a cool festival where women can be without feeling worried.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Koreas President Moon Jae-in have agreed to toughen sanctions against North Korea in a bid to curb the North's nuclear ambitions.

"The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation, and exert stronger and practical sanctions on North Korea so that it realizes provocative actions leads to further diplomatic isolation and economic pressure," Blue House spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a televised briefing, Reuters reported.

The two leaders plan to work with the international community to implement U.N. Security Council resolution 2375, intended to put maximum economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea following recent missile and nuclear tests.

North Korea's most recent test of an intermediate range ballistic missile flew 2,300 miles, making it capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam.

But despite pressure from the U.S. and its Asian allies, Kim doesnt appeared to be backing down. North Korea state media quoted him as saying his country is going full speed and straight to the goal of completing its nuclear force, adding it is nearly there.

However, John DeLury of Seouls Yonsei University, a leading North Korea expert, believes Kim's tough talk might signal an opening to negotiations with the U.S. as he builds his nuclear arsenal -- talks that may be the only answer to the situation in Pyongyang.

We've got to talk, DeLury told Fox News. What has to happen is a senior American official or a trusted confidant of President Trump needs to get in the room with a senior North Korean official or confidant of Kim Jong Un. Until the talks start, this process were watching is just going to go on and on and on.

Perhaps Trump and Moon's most recent actions will finally bring Kim to the bargaining table.

Fox News' Greg Palkot contributed reporting to this story.
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Students in Turkey are returning to school Monday where they will be taught evolution for the last time in their biology classes. Next fall, evolution and Charles Darwin will be scrapped from their textbooks.

Turkey has announced an overhaul of more than 170 topics in the country's school curriculum, including removing all direct references to evolution from high school biology classes.

The upcoming changes have caused uproar, with critics calling them a reshaping of education along the conservative, Islam-oriented government's line. Opposition parties and unions have organized protests against the changes, demanding that Turkey provide a scientific, secular education for its students. Lawmakers have also opposed the new curriculum in parliament.

Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said the new "value-based" program had simplified topics in "harmonization with students' development." He said evolutionary biology, which his ministry deemed was too advanced for high school, would still be taught in universities.

Evolution has been taught in 12th-grade biology classes in a chapter called "The Beginning of Life and Evolution." The unit will be replaced by "Living Beings and the Environment" in September 2018 where evolutionary mechanisms like adaptation, mutation and natural and artificial selection will be taught without a mention of evolution or Darwin.

Yilmaz said students would learn the nature of being, including "evolution and other ontological opinions" in 11th-grade philosophy.

Other contentious changes include teaching about jihad or holy war in religion classes as the "love of homeland," and a lessened emphasis on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish republic who is revered by Turkey's secularists. Ataturk instituted the separation of state and religion, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party has challenged that strict split with a more religious approach.

Students will also learn about the groups that Turkey is fighting: the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, the Islamic State group and the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey's education system is already reeling from the trauma of the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt  and the new scholastic program highlights that government victory as "a legendary, heroic story."

More than 33,000 of the nation's teachers  about 4 percent  have been purged in a government crackdown after the coup, nearly 5,600 academics have been dismissed and some 880 schools shuttered for alleged links to terror groups.

Many who lost their jobs say the government is using the failed coup as a way to silence its critics.

Turkey blames Gulen for orchestrating the coup, which he denies.

The belief in creationism  that life originated and changed through divine creation  is widespread in Turkey. Many educators are worried because Turkish students are already globally ranked "below average" in science, mathematics and reading compared to their peers across the world, according the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Mehmet Somel, the head of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Society of Turkey, says Turkish students will be unable to understand even basic science if their studies make no direct reference to evolution.

"We won't be able to produce good doctors, good scientists, when students graduate from high school with this level of ignorance," Somel said.

Studying evolution allows future doctors to see the causal link between, for example, resistant strains of microbes and excessive antibiotic use, he said.

Cagri Mert Bakirci, a biologist who founded an online learning project called the "Tree of Evolution," calls the ministry's claim that evolution is too difficult for Turkish students an "insult" to them and their teachers. His volunteer project reaches nearly 8 million people each week over Facebook with videos and articles.

"I can explain evolution in 10 seconds," he said.

The two biologists say evolution was never adequately taught in Turkish public schools in the first place. But Somel says the mention of evolution in past programs at least meant that teachers could introduce the topic.

Orkide Kuleli, a retired pharmaceutical professional, said her 15-year-old daughter will now have to learn about Darwin by herself. She was worried, however, about a more insidious change that she says is taking place in Turkey's education system.

"The goal is to transform society politically and ideologically rather than develop it through science," she said. "A generation that does not question is one that blindly obeys."

Erdogan has repeatedly voiced his desire for a "devout generation." Previous changes to the education system have included an increase in public schools providing religious studies and more elective classes on Islam.

The new curriculum will be rolled out in steps and assessed. This year, students in first, fifth and ninth grades will use the updated program. Other classes, including the changed biology program, will be fully integrated next fall.

The education minister has called the uproar on evolution "partisan," arguing that the new curriculum had been open to input. The head of Turkey's education board, Alpaslan Durmus, insisted it was "utterly ignorant" to say evolution has been scrapped when its mechanisms are still being taught.

Latif Selvi of the pro-government Educators Trade Union, which was involved in drafting the changes, also called the widespread criticism of the plan "ideologically motivated."

"My opinion, based on an evaluation with evolutionary teachers, is that this change is positive," Selvi said.

Somel, the biologist, believes that self-censorship may be at work rather than a top-down decision to toss out evolution entirely.

"There is serious fear in universities and in the ministry of education that one may be pushed out, and evolution has become one of those scary themes," he said.

He said Turkish academics now avoid using the word evolution in project proposals even while studying evolutionary topics. This spring, the Museum of Natural History in the capital of Ankara put new stickers on posters changing the word "evolution" to "development."

Bakirci said hundreds of experts in Turkey would be willing to help the government improve the country's science education.

"It's not too late to take a step back from this mistake," he warned.
German and American flags will be flying along city streets this week to welcome visitors from Fredericksburgs sister city of Schwetzingen.

One of the activities planned is a discussion of the upcoming German election by Schwetzingen Lord Mayor Rene Poltl, a representative of the German Embassy, and a Georgetown University political scientist. Its open to the public and will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hurley Convergence Center at the University of Mary Washington. Panelists will consider the possible coalitions after the election and their effects on Germanys role in Europe and the world.

The 15-member Schwetzingen delegation includes Mayor Poltl, three members of the City Council, and the owners of a bakery and an asparagus farm, among others. The group will tour local historic sites, the A. Smith Bowman Distillery, Sneads Asparagus Farm and several bakeries. Theyll also take day trips to Charlottesville and Washington, D.C., and hike the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Fredericksburg and Schwetzingen became sister cities in 2010. This is the fourth delegation to visit here.

Schwetzingen, located near Heidelberg, has a lot in common with Fredericksburg. Both are small cities with civic pride, natural beauty and a sense of history.

The local group, the Schwetzingen-Fredericksburg Alliance, gets together on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at Capital Ale House. For membership information, email schwetzburg.treasurer@gmail.com.
THE ORGANIC movement is no longer an organic movement. Its become an anti-technology movement.

The organic industrys multibillion dollar revenues are driven entirely by negative marketing, stoking fear of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A handful of consumers might still buy organic groceries believing them to be purer, more nutritious and easier on the environment. But the majority buy organic out of fear of technologies that have proven completely safe and beneficial.

Fearmongering has now become a self-fulfilling prophecy in the food industry, the sine qua non of every organic advertising campaign, sanctioned and in many cases funded by the very regulatory bodies that are supposed to keep the organic industry honest.

Even if activists were to abandon their unfounded attacks on modern farming, they can no longer return to the positive messaging that launched their enterprise. Alas, the basis of that message no longer exists.

Imagine being so focused on destroying your competition that you fail to uphold the integrity of your own product line.

In America, the most lucrative organic market in the world, organic imports from countries like China and Turkey now dominate, leaving just 0.7 percent of American farmland registered as organic, a rise of only 2 percent over the last eight years.

Organic sales, meanwhile, account for 4 percent of food sales, meaning grocery retailers are selling imported organic food 80 percent of the time! This is an unprecedented shift considering American organic farmers enjoyed 100 percent market share just a decade ago.

Adding insult to injury, this shift coincides with an astonishing increase in organic food-borne illness outbreaks. While American organic sales account for 4 percent of grocery sales, theyre responsible for 7 percent of food recalls, almost double what one would expect, and 10 times Americas flat-lining organic acreage, strongly suggesting that imports are not being scrutinized.

How could this be? Simple. First, President Bush doubled budget and staffing at the USDAs National Organic Program (NOP), then President Obama tripled what Bush left him. But both failed to require field testing as outlined in NOP Standards, while turning a blind eye as Americas organic leadership attacked modern, science-based farming.

On top of Americas deplorable organic trade imbalance and the rise in organic food-borne illnesses, this lack of field testing has also resulted in more than 40 percent of all organic food testing positive for synthetic pesticides at the store shelf.

Some blame spray drift from neighboring conventional fields, but this is scientifically impossible, leaving fraud as the only possible explanation. Multibillion-dollar, tax-subsidized fraud.

And what has been the Trump administrations response? Thus far, nothing. Not one person has been retired, fired or reassigned at the NOP.

To be fair to President Trump and his Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Purdue, its got to be difficult to make sound agricultural policy when youre being accused of collusion with the Russians and war-mongering, to say nothing of the constant barrage of charges of racism. But whatever your politics, try seeing this from the perspective of those who feed us.

Whether were talking about a small-scale domestic organic farmer, or a large-scale conventional farmer, the promise to Drain the Swamp in Washington came as a welcome relief after 16 years of disinformation, wasteful spending and zero oversight and enforcement.

For anyone not blinded by conspiracy theories, the fundamental priority of feeding a nation is second only to defense and infrastructure. Yet Trump and Purdue find themselves distracted, and there seems no end in sight to the USDAs contradictory support for modern farming right alongside its well-funded organic office that stands opposed to science and technology, almost without exception.

If America provides any lesson to the rest of the world, it would be that this multibillion-dollar, global-organic ruse is guaranteed to continue for years to come.

Being organic used to mean something. But now, grocery retailers that profit from organic food sales do so thanks to a combination of ineptitude, ignorance and fraud, aided and abetted by the authority of governments throughout the developed world.

Farmers and consumers are trapped. Food production now stands alone as the only sector of a developed economy that rejects technology instead of embracing it.

And so far, theres no way out.
AMERICAS school-age population is more diverse than ever before, reflecting the demographic shift rapidly taking place in our country. Americas schools, however, are more segregated than they have been for decades.

Between 1970 and 1990, the nation made steady progress toward school desegregation, particularly in the South. At peak, 40 percent of black Southern students attended a formerly all-white school, while less than a third of all black students attended black schools.

Since the 1990s, that progress has been reversing in Southern public schools, while the largely intractable segregation of the Northern cities has intensified.

Nationwide, nearly 75 percent of black students attend so-called majority-minority schools, and 38 percent attend schools with a white population of 10 percent or less. Similar statistics apply to Latino students: 80 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Both black and Latino students are much more likely than white students to attend a school where 60 percent or more of their classmates are living in poverty, as measured by the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs.

Separate remains unequal as schools with concentrated poverty and racial segregation are more likely to have less-experienced teachers, high levels of teacher turnover, inadequate facilities and fewer classroom resources.

Legal constraints have much to do with this backward momentum. Some 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, a series of key Supreme Court decisions have dramatically reduced the number of implementation methods available to communities engaged in school desegregation such as cross-district busing, dismantled local court supervision of desegregation plans and limited use of race-based admissions to ensure diversity in magnet school programs.

According to an analysis by the UCLA Civil Rights Project, the number of intensely segregated schools with zero to 10 percent white enrollment has more than tripled as these options for desegregation have been curtailed.

Students are, once again, predominantly assigned to public schools based on where they liveand to the extent that neighborhoods are segregated, the schools remain so. The persistence of residential segregation now ensures continuing school segregation.

Is that a national concern? Apparently not for most people.

A 2017 poll found that while 70 percent of parents would like to have their child in a racially diverse school, 57 percent prefer proximity over diversity. That is, they would rather send their child to a less diverse school in the neighborhood than a more diverse school farther away. Only 25 percent think diversity would be worth a trip.

The obvious solution is to diversify neighborhoods, but thats elusive. Surveys of racial attitudes among whites indicate that the larger the hypothetical black population in an area, the more likely white respondents are to express discomfort about living there.

Sociologists Douglas Massey and Jonathan Tannen report that high levels of black-white segregation have remained relatively unchanged for the last 40 years. A similar pattern is visible among Latino families in the countrys two largest Latino communities, New York and Los Angeles, where nearly 20 percent live in extremely segregated, or what researchers call hyper-segregated, neighborhoods.

Such continuing segregation helps explain the 2013 American Values Survey finding that 75 percent of white adults have entirely white social networks, without the presence of any people of color.

The cost of school segregation and white racial isolation is immense. As long as children of color remain trapped in under-resourced schools, many wont have the opportunity to develop their talentsa loss not just for those children and their families, but the whole country.

Meanwhile, white children wont have sufficient opportunities to develop the skills needed to engage effectively in a multiracial society. Racial isolation means that experience of the other is too often rooted in well-worn stereotypes, rather than in knowledge nuanced by ongoing engagement. Fear and anxiety about the unfamiliar are the common result.

Colleges and universities have a role to play in changing the course. More and more young people are making the choice to pursue higher education; even Harvard University has reported that for the first time in its history, students of color make up more than 50 percent of the entering class.

For many students, regardless of racial background, the higher education environment will be the most racially diverse learning environment they have experienced in their lives. It is incumbent upon educators to provide the scaffolding needed to help students engage effectively across lines of difference.

Proximity alone will not be sufficient. Because of both lack of direct contact and repeated exposure to cultural stereotypes while growing up, cross-group interactions can be uncomfortable. Even genuine efforts at friendship can be derailed by awkward interactions and unconscious bias.

But institutions that create meaningful opportunities for structured interactions, such as cooperative learning and intergroup dialogue, have a chance to change our social trajectory.
LAWMAKERS in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives blasted credit reporting firms in the wake of the Equifax hack revealed last week, scheduling hearings and calling for an overhaul of the sector and its cybersecurity requirements.

Credit reporting agency Equifax suffered a cybersecurity breach in May that persisted until its discovery in July. By then, hackers stole Social Security numbers, birth dates, and home addresses for 143 million Americans  almost half the U.S. population  and other sensitive data belonging to British and Canadian nationals.

An unknown number of drivers license numbers, 209,000 credit card numbers, and 182,000 credit dispute documents were also taken, and a group claiming to be the hackers threaten to release the stolen data online unless they receive $2.6 million in ransom this week. Equifax neglected to alert the public to the hack until Thursday.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, co-founder of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, said Equifaxs response was slow and criticized the company for being very, very sloppy and not on guard with regard to cybersecurity.

This Equifax breach/hack is at least a category four, if not category five, cyber hack, Warner told CNBC Friday.

Warner, also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Equifaxs security was on the low end and that even a recovery website Equifax set up to interface with victims has known security vulnerabilities. According to the senator, the breach highlights the need for legislation codifying national standards for cybersecurity of sensitive consumer information and incident reporting.

The Virginia Democrat has been trying to get a national data breach standard in place for the last three years. His ideal bill would elevate minimum standards for security protocols and treatment of sensitive consumer data, transparency, and breach notification.

Often times you might have an entity, versus the telcos, versus the financial institutions, all, in effect, pointing at each other about whos responsible for reporting, whos responsible for notifying consumers, Warner said. And youve got really a total quilt work, with 49 different state laws all conflicting with each other. A national standard would bring about at least some better transparency.

Equifax is offering victims one year of free credit monitoring, but Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts noted a clause buried within the terms of service forcing those who accept the service to forfeit any ability to sue the company for the breach.

Thats right: Equifax fails to protect your data and then they demand you give up legal rights if you want to limit the damage they caused, Warren tweeted. The company has since rescinded the requirement.

Commonly known as forced arbitration clauses, Warren is using the Equifax case to defend a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule barring such clauses Republicans are working to repeal.

Equifax proves why we must protect your right to join class actions, Warren tweeted.

Those efforts are tame compared to California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters call to overhaul the U.S.s entire credit reporting system.

Given the important role credit scores play in the lives and financial futures of hardworking Americans, Congress must diligently examine the way our credit reporting agencies are operating and impose additional statutory and regulatory reforms to protect the integrity of the countrys credit reporting system, Waters said in a statement Friday.

Waters is the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, which has signaled it will hold a hearing on the breach sometime this fall. The House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary Committees are planning hearings of their own to examine the technology and legal implications of the hack.

This hack into sensitive information compiled and maintained by Equifax is one of the largest data breaches in our nations history and someone has to be held accountable, Waters said.

The congresswoman plans to reintroduce legislation that will enhance consumer protection tools available to minimize harm caused by identity theft, and called on Equifax to at the very least offer free credit freezes to all of those affected by this deeply troubling incident.

Democrats arent the only ones expressing concern. Texas Republican Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said such hacks are only growing in scale and frequency.

This latest breach, this hack, is very alarming to me, McCaul, who frequently works with Warner on cyber issues, told Bloomberg. Were in the investigation phase right now, but were taking it very seriously.
BLACKSBURGVirginia Tech student Justin Mays doesnt have his future lined up at the moment but hes sure of one thing.

The senior forest operations and business major is going to be able to find a job somewhere because of his education in the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

There are more jobs out there than there are students, Mays said with a smile.

Thats a theme many students, faculty and administrators stressed when talking about Techs small college that educates students in natural resources and the environment. The college is celebrating its 25th anniversary this weekend with a reunion of its alumni and faculty.

The college has 935 undergraduate and 190 graduate students, making it the smallest of Techs eight colleges that offer undergraduate degrees.

The college will likely have more than 1,000 students this spring when many students who are undeclared decide on a major, Dean Paul Winistorfer said, with a goal of 1,250 by 2022. That growth will coincide with overall university growth. Tech President Timothy Sands has set a goal of growing Techs undergraduate student population to 30,000 in the next several years.

The natural resources option offers programs such as meteorology, an interdisciplinary water degree unlike any in the country and global positioning systems education in its geography program. Thats on top of traditional degrees such as forestry, renewable products use and wildlife management that are critical to managing natural resources in the future, Winistorfer said.

The size also allows students to interact more, said Mason Leonard, a senior packaging design major who serves as student president of the colleges Student Advisory Council.

Leonard said small class size and familiarity with other students and faculty keep students from getting lost in the university.

The college punches above its weight in grant funding. In 2016, faculty from the college had $21.2 million in research grant awards. Two of the colleges four departmentsfish and wildlife conservation and forest resources and environmental conservationare among the top 10 academic departments for research funding at Tech, a school dominated by a massive engineering presence.

Those numbers, along with employable students and a wide variety of majors within the college has earned it national recognition: in the last three years its ranked No. 1 in a list of natural resources programs nationwide compiled by USA Today.

The college got its start in 1992 when what was previously the School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources split from its previous home in the College of Agriculture. That happened after a group of alumni and industry supporters went to the state legislature and leveraged support from lawmakers to make the change after university officials were originally hesitant, according to The Roanoke Times archives.

It was sometimes a difficult process, said Dave Smith who helped lead the transition from school to college. But, it laid the foundation for an academic unit that would become highly successful at the university and one that would grow.

Since then, the college has changed its name twice. Switching from the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources to the College of Natural Resources in 2000 and then tacking environment to the end of its name in 2010.

That was a natural move for branding and attracting students, said Winistorfer, who became dean shortly before the final name change.

Its a better reflection of who we are, Winistorfer said. Really, all colleges [at Virginia Tech] should consider putting environment at the end of their name. The environment is so important.

Beyond branding, much of the success can be attributed to Tech graduates who go out into the world and impress their peers, Smith said.

The growth and success is due to the students who graduated and went out and did things, Smith said.

Easton Loving, who graduated from Tech with a forestry degree and now lives in Fluvanna County, said when his company WestRock looks for interns or entry level workers they always look to Tech.

You always know youre going to get someone prepared to hit the ground running, he said.

Winistorfer said he isnt ready to rest on the laurels of a No. 1 program, a $21 million research portfolio and a crop of students snagging jobs. Hes hopeful the college will continue to expand and produce graduates.

Right now, the most pressing need for the college is more space and more faculty and staff to accommodate growth. But because of the moves of the last 25 years as a college, there likely will be more top rankings and accolades for Techs smallest college on the horizon.

Were on the launchpad getting ready to go to the moon, Winistorfer said.
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Matt Helget wore a khaki U.S. Army officers uniform Saturday during Adair History Day at Santiam Christian School.

The uniform is a reproduction of the summer service outfit worn by officers during World War II, said Helget, a Lebanon resident. The historian and anthropology student said he wore the uniform to honor his grandfather, Staff Sgt. Alfred Dennis Helget, who trained at Camp Adair in the 1940s as part of his service with the 96th Infantry Division.

The grandson displayed original and reproduced World War II artifacts from his personal collection. About 50 people attended the history day and asked Helget questions about the items, which included a M1 Garand rifle, a Thompson submachine gun, grenade launcher, bayonet, haversack, helmets, a soldiers handbook and more.

Helget said his passion for World War II and Camp Adair history came about when he started asking questions about his grandfathers service and found few answers. He started his own research. Helget is now studying anthropology at Oregon State University.

Dorothy Bush, who is 89, worked at the post exchange at Camp Adair in the 1940s. Bush, who lives east of Corvallis in Linn County, perused Helgets historical collection with her son, Bob.

The Bushes also listened to a presentation about work being done by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to restore habitat at the E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area, where Camp Adair once stood, while also preserving what remains of the military base.

Its just an interesting place, Bob Bush said. You see the remnants of the base but its hard to picture the base as it was.

Some of the concrete foundations and pillars of the more than 1,000 structures that made up Camp Adair remain in the wildlife area, which was established in 1950. Daniel Pettit, an Oregon Department of Transportation archaeologist on loan to ODFW, surveyed all of the structures to determine what condition they were in.

A department management plan calls for many of the structures to be preserved, as well as the original road network, Pettit said. The ruins of some of the buildings that are not in good condition will be cleared out, he said. This will allow for better habitat creation to support species native to the grassland.

Weve begun to look at how to preserve and more actively celebrate Camp Adair while also opening up more of the wildlife area for rehabilitation, he said.

Pettit said its not an either-or issue; he hopes to create an interpretive center in the wildlife area that visitors could use to learn about the military camp.

The goal is to build habitat that can support higher wildlife populations and is more consistent with the natural historic wood and grasslands of the Willamette Valley while preserving the history and the feel of that base, Pettit said.

McMinnville resident and veteran James E. Black, who also served in the 96th Infantry Division, attended the history day and listened to Pettits presentation.

Im interested in the history and want to keep it alive, Black said.

Marshall Anderson, a Corvallis resident who worked on the Adair Air Force Station in the 1960s, said its difficult for people to know what part of the military base theyre looking at when visiting the wildlife area. Its a good idea to provide more information about Camp Adair to visitors, he said.

Helget said hes happy with Pettits work.

For some of us (Camp Adair) is a very personal story, he said. Its what brought my family here to Oregon.

Helgets grandfather was originally from Kansas and moved to Oregon to train at the base. He met Helgets grandmother in Oregon.

(Camp Adair) made such an impact in peoples lives, Helget said.
The 9th: hub for start-ups : New network in Bonn

Bonn The new network The 9th supports start-up-entrepreneurs. In a former shoe district in the Stockenstrae, they can connect with others, ask questions, exchange experiences with people and benefit from others knowledge. The place works as a hub and incubator at the same time.

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To establish an enterprise it needs more than an idea. Much more. The first thoughts need to ripen, need to be developed, need to be cross-checked and have to grow into a stable concept. The required space for this process is now offered at the network The 9th, which has been established in Bonns city centre and is now open to all those who are interested. Eleven tenants are already on board, and the space of 250 square meters can support more than twice that number - and also provide essential support by networking with each other.

To be in touch with others is vital, when you want to start your own business and be self-employed, says Cedric Teichmann, who founded The 9th this year in the Viktoria quarter and who is working in this field for a few years already. In 2013 I first got in contact with this scene and noticed soon, that there is no network for young entrepreneurs in Bonn.

So together with other like-minded people he founded the local community Start-Up Bonn. But we needed an actual room for our meetings - without a physical place it is very hard to grow, says Teichmann. 2016, together with Jorg Hass, owner of the Camera hotel, he founded the Digital Hub, in which enterprises from the area can invest in new blood.

But the centre for the digital economy of the future was a mere starting point for Teichmann. He wrote to the Signa Holding, who owns most of the Viktoria quarter. I got a reply straight away. So I rented the former shoe district - knowing that the plans to turn at least a part of that block into a shopping centre were still on the agenda.

Not a problem, says Teichmann: ,The 9th is supposed to be an intermediate station for people anyway. At the moment, Teichmann supports several start-ups in the early phase of their foundation. Usually you differ between the incubation phase, during which the idea gets developed and checked for economical feasibility, and the acceleration phase, during which you approach investors and potential customers. We focus on the former.

The network helps to find legal and tax advisors, gets different players together and doesnt shy away from criticising constructively. In my experience, a start-up mostly fails if the required amount of flexibility isnt present. If I want to sell a wallet and potential customers dont buy it, I should ask myself why, any maybe try a different design, explains Teichmann.
kacylee at 17-09-2017 01:32 PM (5 years ago) (f)

President Muhammadu Buhari has left Nigeria for New York, United States, to attend the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

President Muhammadu Buhari has left Nigeria for New York, United States, to attend the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). At the General Assembly, the President would participate in the general debate, during which he will deliver the Nigeria's national statement.

According to Channels TV, the President departed Abuja this morning, September 17, 2017.

He was said to have been accompanied to the US by some ministers, whose names were not mentioned.

It was gathered that at the General Assembly, the President would participate in the general debate, during which he will deliver the country's national statement.

The theme for this year's debate is: "Focusing On People: Striving For Peace And A Decent Life For All On A Sustainable Planet." Buhari is also expected to discuss the repatriation of Nigeria's stolen funds when he takes the podium on Monday, September 18. At the General Assembly, the President would participate in the general debate, during which he will deliver the Nigeria's national statement.According to Channels TV, the President departed Abuja this morning, September 17, 2017.He was said to have been accompanied to the US by some ministers, whose names were not mentioned.It was gathered that at the General Assembly, the President would participate in the general debate, during which he will deliver the country's national statement.The theme for this year's debate is:Buhari is also expected to discuss the repatriation of Nigeria's stolen funds when he takes the podium on Monday, September 18.

Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 17-09-2017 01:32 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero
Piedmont Access to Health Services  better known as PATHS  has received a $175,701 grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to improve access to mental health and substance abuse services.

PATHS was one of 19 Virginia health centers to receive the grants, according to a news release from HRSA.

The main goal of the funding is to combat opioid addiction with improved access to treatment and recovery services, including use of overdose-reversing drugs, support of research on pain and addiction, and advancing better practices for pain management.

PATHS has four locations, in Danville, Chatham, Martinsville and Boydton.

For more information on healthcare services provided, call (434) 791-3630.
I could comment on any number of issues raised by this editorial by two 9/11 Commission members; seeMembers of Congress are putting party before nation, staying in office and getting re-elected over governing well.Previously I've shared that I'm running for port commissioner, Port of Tacoma. Yesterday while outdoor belling, I had several conversations with people who reflected the disenchantment of people with politicians in general and Congress in particular. One of my own campaign platforms is that I believe the Port of Tacoma commissioners should have term limits. As one gentleman pointed out, I've heard that from others running for office, then when they get in, their tune changes.Here in Pierce County where I live, the Pierce County council members have proposed changing the term limits for their members from the current two terms to three. What that means is that they will serve 12 years versus eight, since incumbents get re-elected at a 95 percent rate in this county. Here you have the local politics and politicians reflecting the priorities of our national governing body. The above will be on the ballot this November.
Pirelli has committed to supplying softer tyres to F1 teams and drivers in 2018.

Although the tyres are bigger this year to accommodate the much faster 2018 cars, there has been widespread criticism of the compounds -- especially the hardest ones.

"The hard tyre is so inappropriate for this generation of racing car that I don't know a single driver who wants it on the car," Force India technical boss Andy Green told Speed Week.

Pirelli F1 chief Mario Isola has now reacted, vowing to retract the hard tyre selection from intended forthcoming races including Sepang, Suzuka and Brazil.

And he has also promised that the 2018 tyres will be generally softer.

"Everything will change to an extent," he confirmed in Singapore.

"What was an ultra-soft will be a super-soft next year, super-soft will be the new soft, and soft the new medium. All of that means that we are of course developing an all new ultra-soft," Isola explained.

"We will have the tyres ready for the teams to drive (test) in Abu Dhabi," he added.

(GMM)
Dissidence in TDP over new Kakinada Mayor!

The surprising choice of Sunkara Pavani by the Telugu Desam Party leadership as the new Mayor of Kakinada Municipal Corporation on Saturday triggered unrest in the party.

Right from the beginning, everybody thought M Sesha Kumari, who got elected from division no. 38 would become the Mayor.

Reason: it was Sesha Kumari who had borne the expenditure of several corporators in the elections, following the assurance from TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu that she would be made the Mayor.

However, Naidu ditched her at the last moment and declared the name of Sunkara Pavani, who happens to be the wife of Kakinada TDP president Sunkara Tirumala Kumar.

Sources said there was a lot of negative feeling among the people towards Sesha Kumari, who had won the elections with the lowest margin of just 20 votes.

Yet, Sesha Kumari expected that she would become the Mayor. She openly attacked the party leadership for ditching her by making false promises.

It was a rude shock to her and soon after Pavanis name was announced, Sesha Kumari broke down. She said every time, the party had ditched her after taking substantial money from her in the name of party fund.

The party president has no confidence in me. But I will resign either from the party or from the corporator post. After all, I am loyal to people who elected me, she said.
His ministry spanned more than six decades, and his evangelical "crusades," as he called them for most of his career, touched every corner of the world.
In a world of shrinking personal space, overstuffed overhead bins and exorbitant airline baggage fees, travelers are rediscovering the convenience and savings of wearing their luggage. For many, the aha moment came this summer as they watched a crowd of in-the-know travelers breeze through the terminal unencumbered by extendible handles and the bulk of things they didnt really need.

That crowd is growing. The latest Travel Goods Association market report, released in 2016, found that unit sales had surged 22 percent as American travelers bought a record-breaking 176.1 million backpacks.

But the modern backpack is a far cry from that rucksack you strapped on when you were a kid  the one with everything inelegantly wedged into a single compartment. The most innovative wearable luggage allows technology, clothing and food to coexist without making a mess. At times, it stretches the very definition of backpack.

Theyre being discovered by travelers such as Robby Bearman, an operations manager for a transportation company in San Francisco. He was looking for something to use for short trips and for his daily commute, and a backpack made the most sense.

His choice: the Everyday Backpack by Peak Design ($259), a Kickstarter-funded pack with lots of clever features. The Everyday is filled with innovations, including its magnetic closing system, expandable external side pockets and a modern aesthetic that looks decidedly un-backpacky. (Okay, I just made up that word, but stay with me.) Bearman liked the easy access to the main compartment from both the top and sides, thanks to swiveling shoulder straps and dual weatherproof side zips.

The main compartment can be reconfigured with Velcro dividers, which is a handy feature, for example, to keep a banana from being squished, he says.

Some of the new backpacks are built around technology. Take the Razer Tactical Backpack ($119) which has ample room for Jean Paldans computer and enough space for a headset, a tablet computer, books, snacks and a change of clothes. It holds everything, says Paldan, a web designer from Oxford, England. Plus, its ridiculously comfortable to wear. The Razer is also cool  which is a bonus if youre traveling with your family.

Another trendy backpack is the STM Banks ($129), a new release from its Streets Collection, which is tech-friendly and looks good, too. Among its features: a quilted interior lining that protects your gadgets, side pockets with stretch mesh for water bottles and an ergonomic, curved fit to reduce shoulder strain. Its the backpack my 10-year-old daughter wanted, so if youre interested in impressing your kids, this is the one to buy.

The newest packs also cater to your power needs. Mobile charging company TYLT offers two backpacks that let you charge your devices while youre carrying them. The Energi Pro Power Backpack ($149) offers a full charge to your phone, tablet and laptop, thanks to a powerful battery in its front pouch. And the Energi Backpack ($99), billed as a next-gen briefcase, backpack and mobile charging station, can route the cables to any one of the five external pockets or two internal Pockets. The TYLT backpacks are a godsend for travelers who keep pushing their electronics to the limit, but they also take up more space than the other backpacks I evaluated.

For sheer coolness, its hard to match Travelpros Platinum Magna 2 Business Backpack ($161). Its sleek, black and constructed with the frequent flier in mind. A checkpoint friendly carry-on, its built to Transportation Security Administration specifications so that you can pass through security without removing your laptop. And it also comes with extra safety, including padded corduroy laptop and tablet sleeves and an RFID-blocking interior pocket to keep your ID and credit cards from prying eyes. If youre thinking of taking your backpack on a business trip, this is the one for it.

There are other backpacks for the security-conscious, too. Take Travelons Anti-Theft Urban Backpack ($130), which has a variety of features that will protect your personal property. Those include an interior locking compartment for your tablet, a locking front zip compartment with RFID-blocking card and passport slots and slash-resistant body construction to protect you from slash-and-grab thieves. Best of all, the Travelon backpack wasnt any heavier than the other luggage I tested.

But sometimes, the best backpack is no backpack. To call the Eagle Creek Converge Weekend Bag ($179) a backpack would be an understatement. It can be used as a traditional carry-on bag, thanks to side handles, but also has a pouch for a large laptop, a tablet computer, a phone and a storage area for your clothes. The best part of the Converge is the fabric, a PU-coated, water-resistant polyester. Spills are inevitable, but at least your gadgets wont get soaked.

If youre just interested in carrying a laptop, a charger and maybe a tablet, youll probably want to leave the clever compartments behind and go with a more minimalist solution, such as the Knomo James ($229), which does that one thing really well.

Oh, sure, you can strap it to your back if you want, but this bag is meant to be carried, as, indeed, most luggage is. But maybe Im just old-fashioned that way.
Sept. 17, 1978

In 1978, after meeting at Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a framework for a peace treaty. The documents were signed at the White House after 12 days of meeting under the guidance of President Jimmy Carter. Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. A state of war had existed between Egypt and the State of Israel since the establishment of Israel in 1948. According to History.com: When talks with Israel stalled, Sadat made a dramatic journey to Jerusalem in November 1977 and spoke before the Israeli Knesset (Parliament). In September 1978, President Jimmy Carter invited Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Begin to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., where dual peace accords were hammered out under the direction of Carter.
A Winston-Salem man has been charged with robbing two hotels this week at gunpoint, police said.

Police said they received an anonymous tip that led to the arrest of Jemmond Tremmal Washington, 27, of the 700 block of West 14th Street.

Winston-Salem Hotel and Spa at 3050 University Parkway was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday shortly before midnight by a man with a handgun, police said. The man demanded money from the clerk and fled the business on foot with an undisclosed amount of money.

Sunday, the same man robbed a Days Inn at 5218 Germanton Road and took an undisclosed amount of money, police said.

Washington is being held at the Forsyth County Detention Center under a $200,000 bond. His court date is set for Sept. 18.
GREENSBORO  Voters in District 1 have an array of options when they start casting ballots Thursday for their area representative on the Greensboro City Council.

They can vote for a 58-year-old woman with two terms of experience on the council, a 56-year-old woman who has never before sought elected office, or a 29-year-old man who is making his third foray as a political candidate after two unsuccessful tries.

The council elections are nonpartisan, but incumbent Councilwoman Sharon Hightower and challenger Paula Ritter-Lipscomb are registered Democrats, while challenger Devin King is a registered Republican.

Incumbent Hightower, who is employed as a paralegal, said that the council has made progress in the last two years, but that her district and the city around it face challenges we still need to work on.

Im concerned about making sure that our processes are more transparent, Hightower said, specifically citing police-community relations and the request for proposal process that the city uses when it wants to buy supplies or services from private contractors.

Minority businesses arent always sufficiently in the citys RFP loop, she said.

Challenger Ritter-Lipscomb points to no specific error or shortcoming on Hightowers part. But she said in a recent interview that city government must do a better job of communicating with residents so that they have more opportunities to get involved.

They really dont know what the City Council does and they dont really know how they can have a voice, said Ritter-Lipscomb, who works with the Guilford County school system as an intervention specialist.

Efforts to contact King, a certified nursing assistant, were unsuccessful Thursday and Friday. He did not return a questionnaire the News & Record sent to candidates.

King, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, ran unsuccessfully for mayor two years ago, garnering 11 percent of the vote.

Last year, he unsuccessfully challenged state Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Greensboro), a race in which he landed just over 16 percent of ballots cast.

District 1 extends on its northeastern perimeter from Ward Road to U.S. 29 partly along Burlington Road, then it encompasses part of downtown Greensboro and tracks West Gate City Boulevard past the Greensboro Coliseum and Four Seasons Mall.

One of two Greensboro districts with majorities of minority residents, the district faces many of the challenges that come with a heavily urbanized landscape that includes older, often less affluent neighborhoods.

Greensboro has a 5-3-1 electoral system with five geographic districts, which allows all voters to cast ballots for a majority of the council. Each voter helps select one council member from his or her specific geographic district, three at-large members chosen citywide, and the mayor who also is elected at large.

If elected, Ritter-Lipscomb said that among other things, she would focus on efforts to make housing more affordable and to improve public transportation for those with disabilities.

We have a lot of young people who may not be in a high-income bracket, but they still would like to be home owners, Ritter-Lipscomb said, noting that she found owning a home to be a rewarding experience.

I think others should have that same opportunity, she said.

Hightower said that if the voters give her a third term, she would focus on improving relations between police and District 1 residents, raising to $15 per hour the minimum wage that the city pays its employees, increasing the ethnic diversity of city governments work force, and continuing efforts to make east Greensboro more a part of the conversation than it has been.

She mentioned in particular the economic-development efforts linked to the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite near the county line and bordered by U.S. 421 that also bisects District 1.

Even without maybe finding an auto manufacturer for that site, it has the possibility of drawing in some major industries that could produce opportunities for offset businesses in east Greensboro, Hightower said, adding that District 1 residents also would be well situated to land jobs with any new megasite industry.

Although only three candidates are still vying for the office, District 1 voters will see the name of a fourth on the their ballot. Charles Patton Jr. filed to run this summer, but dropped out of the race.

His name will still appear on the ballot, however, because he alerted the Guilford County Board of Elections to his withdrawal after the name-removal deadline.

The primary is Oct. 10, with early voting beginning Thursday. The districts top, two primary vote-getters will advance to the general election Nov. 7.
GREENSBORO  Two new charter schools have the go-ahead to open in the city next year.

Ones a learning-by-doing school aiming for downtown. The other is literacy-focused, planning to rent space from a church farther south. And leaders of both plan to offer meals and bus rides for students  not a given among North Carolina charters.

Next Generation Academy and the Experiential School of Greensboro are the only charters that gained state board approval to open in Guilford County next school year, though not the only teams to try.

If both open successfully and no other local charters close, it will bring the total number of charter schools in Guilford County to 11. And theyll join a bit of a charter boom. While no new charter schools opened in Guilford this academic year, five have sprouted since 2012, the year North Carolina scrapped its 100-school cap on charter schools statewide.

Charter schools in North Carolina are tuition-free and publicly funded, but not controlled by local school districts. Instead, they are founded and created by nonprofit organizations with their own board of directors who receive a charter from the state to operate. They get flexibility on some typical major requirements for public schools, and in return some extra accountability from the state about meeting certain goals.

I liked the creativity and the lack of bureaucracy the charter schools allow, said Sam Misher, board chairman of Next Generation Academy. A retired Guilford County Schools principal, Misher served Northern Guilford Middle, Allen Middle and Smith High, among others.

He said he started going to charter school conferences and learning more about them shortly after he retired. Then, he said, he and others with similar interests came together to form the board for Next Generation. They got final confirmation in August that theyd been approved by the state to open in 2018-19.

They plan to rent a space that used to be a church school from World Victory Church at 1414 Cliffwood Drive. The space already has amenities like a cafeteria and a playground, he said.

While charter schools dont have attendance zones like regular public schools, Misher said they are especially targeting recruitment in the 27406 zip code, which includes much of eastern and southern Greensboro.

Misher said he will transition to the executive director role for the schools first couple of years and then transition out of a leadership role. They are looking to hire a principal to direct the schools day-to-day operations.

Theyll emphasize literacy and helping students learn and progress at their own pace he said. The first main push is to get students reading on grade level by third grade. Theyll start as a K-2 school, with 100 slots per grade, and add a new grade each year, with eventual plans to be a K-8 school.

Some other expected features include teacher assistants available in all kindergarten classes, art, PE, music, Spanish and a K-2 reading specialist, according to the schools brochure. They also plan to have a staff member, whose primary focus is to monitor all students by visiting homes to establish a strong connection between the home and the school.

Experiential School

Teaching students through direct experience is a long-time passion for teacher Melissa Bocci, currently employed at a private school. Now she and her fellow board members at the Experiential School of Greensboro see an opportunity to create a whole school built on that concept. Bocci is the schools initial director.

Where most traditional schools end a unit of instruction with a quiz or a test, Bocci said theirs will work differently.

Students will be doing projects directly applying their lessons and will be evaluated on how successfully they are applying concepts and skills in those projects, she said. In math, for example, if they are studying units of measurement, students will be literally measuring. The school may not have to give traditional grades, she said, depending on what they hear from the state.

They want to make downtown their classroom, partnering, for example, with the Elsewhere Museum on South Elm Street, and making use of downtown amenities like the childrens museum and LeBauer Park. And, she said, theyll look for service opportunities to give back to the community.

The plan is to open as a K-6 school and eventually be K-8.

Their planned, although not entirely finalized, location is a space in the former Dorothy Bardolph Human Services Center at the corner of Washington and Church streets. The building is now owned by developer Marty Kotis and has a giant lollipop painted on it.

Inside, they envision large open classrooms, where multiple grade levels can split up at times and recombine at others.

Outside, theres a space where they see putting in platforms of various heights, and bringing out moveable 1-foot square blocks and other materials. The idea is to allow students to re-shape the space each time they play.

Bocci said charter schools dont get money from the state until and unless the students come  the money follows the children. So right now, thats the scary part, she said, adding they are hoping to find sponsors to help them pay to do all the things they need to do to get ready.

The exciting part, she said, is seeing many years of hard work among team members pay off  with a vision that finally has state Board of Education approval to become a reality.
WASHINGTON  A day of competing protests in Washington unexpectedly included a group of Black Lives Matter activists who appeared near the stage of a rally intended to support President Donald Trump.

But the momentary tension was defused when a Trump rally organizer invited them onstage and offered one of them a microphone.

The pro-Trump organizer said, "It's your right to say whatever you believe, and it's their (the crowd's) right to let you know what they think about what you're saying."

Trump supporters had hoped to bring out thousands to pack the National Mall on Saturday. In the end, hundreds of flag-waving demonstrators did their best to make some noise in support of the president, who had skipped town for the weekend. That rally came after a small morning demonstration by anti-Trump activists near the White House.

Both sides were dwarfed by the juggalos, as supporters of the rap group Insane Clown Posse are known. At the Lincoln Memorial, about 1,500 juggalos staged an all-day rally and concert to protest what they say is class-based discrimination by law enforcement.

Insane Clown Posse is suing the Department of Justice to lift the FBI's designation of juggalos as a hybrid gang similar to the Crips.

The protesters listened to a series of speakers and musicians amid clouds of marijuana smoke. They chanted "family" and an obscenity about the FBI.
A very interesting idea came up as I was serving breakfast to the homeless on the sidewalk beside Center City Park last Monday. There was a new arrival in line named Jerry. As usual when someone is new, I asked him where he was from and how he got to Greensboro.

Jerry responded, Yeah, I just came from Raleigh, looking for work. Im originally from Charlotte.

I asked if he had been traveling and if he had been living outside in other places.

Jerry said, Yeah, off and on when theres no work.

Curious about how Greensboro compares, I asked how it is to be homeless in other places.

Jerry had a lot to say about this. There are homeless people everywhere, but its better in some places than others. A place you dont want to be is Columbia, South Carolina. You know what they do over there? The first time youre caught homeless inside the city limits, they lock you up overnight. The second time, they take you to the county line, drop you off and tell you never to come back. You should see Nashville. Its overrun with homeless people.

I said, How is it in Raleigh?

Jerry said, Not bad, but I couldnt find a job. Theyre doing something new, moving homeless services away from downtown. You know, because it affects business.

You think having homeless people downtown affects business?

Jerry said, Well, yeah. Of course it does. So Raleigh decided they would centralize everything a couple of miles from downtown.

I said, You think thats OK?

Nodding his head, Jerry said, Yeah, I think its a pretty good idea. I dont think things should be anything close to how they do it in Columbia, but I think Raleigh has a pretty good compromise. If it brings more jobs, yeah.

Several other people in the Monday breakfast line overheard and we had a long conversation. There was a lot of agreement  if moving homeless services away from downtown would make Greensboro better economically, they would be in favor.

I checked out Raleigh. They formed a partnership between the city, Wake County, the Raleigh/Wake Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness and Catholic Charities. We could do the same in Greensboro. Downtown developers will be on board for sure. One of the citys main focuses this year is downtown growth. With the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts on the horizon, we need to ask some very difficult questions.

For Greensboro, I envision a multi-purpose facility, housing everything the Interactive Resource Center does  Greensboro Urban Ministry, Alcohol and Drug Services, mental health, a community kitchen  so all the folks serving meals can serve them there  basically all homeless services. Folks say they walk eight-to-10 miles a day now chasing food, which is served in 13 locations.

Please keep in mind that Im in no way advocating that we keep folks away from downtown. They should come for the same reasons other people do  to enjoy music in the park, etc  not because basic services are there. Im not suggesting we move the services location out of striking distance of downtown, either. Lindy Perry-Garnette, CEO of the Greensboro YWCA, told me that when the Y, which includes the Family Shelter, was considering locations, it saved a million dollars by choosing East Wendover Avenue instead of downtown.

Why would we use prime real estate for homeless services? she said. It doesnt make sense. People dealing with homelessness need bathrooms, food and computers. Theyll go where the services are.

For too long, weve been short-sighted, focusing on Band-Aid solutions. Maybe its time we thought about the fact that the city has to work for every group, including folks who run businesses and folks who deal with homelessness. Maybe its time for Greensboro to compromise and focus on long-term, big-picture solutions.
I was brought to America as a baby. Since my parents had U.S. passports, they had no legal issues taking our family back and forth between Africa and America. But the thousands of children brought to America without benefit of U.S. passports are now caught in a cruel dilemma with the presidents flip-flop announcements that he is ending DACA: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

How can we protect their futures and their families?

When the program ends (the president waffles about when or what will happen), they wont have work permits or driver licenses and could be deported to places they hardly remember.

Called Dreamers, DACA participants are crucial to our communities and economy. Often their paychecks are the major source of family income. Usually completely fluent in English and the languages of their parents home countries, employers, family and friends rely on them to interpret in business transactions. Dreamers value education and study diligently to prepare to contribute their talents to their employers. Major corporations  and small businesses  want to leave DACA in place because they dont want to lose valuable employees.

Without work permits or school eligibility, Dreamers may have to resort to working under the table, throwing so many talented workers into the shadows. How will that help U.S.-born unemployed who complain that Dreamers took their jobs and businesses who try to comply with immigration laws?

What could be the reason for ending DACA? With an emphasis on family values, dividing parent and child doesnt make moral sense. With a shortage of qualified workers in essential industries, revoking the work permits for about 800,000 personnel doesnt make business sense. Dreamers are exactly the people that the current administration is promoting for immigration visas: educated, English-speaking, self-supporting, not criminals.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says that There is nothing compassionate about failure to enforce immigration laws, with no shred of either compassion or acknowledgment of the positive contributions of Dreamers. But this is mostly a continuation of his own insistence on keeping immigrants out and an effort to keep President Trumps campaign promises to his base, whether these make sense to our countrys well-being or not.

This not a good time for this administration to be talking about laws. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who flouted civil rights laws and racially profiled immigrants, bragged about being the toughest sheriff of all. He was voted out of office and found in contempt of court, but Trump pardoned him.

If we are talking laws: the DACA policy was scrutinized by Justice Department attorneys before President Obama issued the executive order and found to be constitutional. Now N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein and attorneys general in other states have filed suit, arguing that rescinding DACA is not constitutional.

As Congress considers immigration legislation to allow DACA-type protections, we need for our elected leaders to make wise decisions for the long-term, not short-sighted unfair choices to satisfy personal power and especially not impulsive decisions that disrupt for no reason.

We are standing with our Dreamer sisters and brothers persistently but nonviolently, asserting that they not be held hostage as bargaining chips for building border walls, punitive immigration practices or divisive political wrangling.
Never accuse Republicans of being uncreative. Once again, theyve found an innovative way to punish the poor and simultaneously increase budget deficits in one nifty trick!

To pull off this impressive twofer, they would put every American applying for the earned-income tax credit (EITC) through a sort of mini-audit before getting their refund. This would both place huge new burdens on the working poor and divert scarce Internal Revenue Service resources away from other audit targets, such as big corporations, that offer a much higher return on investment.

The EITC is basically a way to top up low- and moderate-income peoples pay through a tax refund, to give them a bigger payoff from working.

The EITC has an excellent track record both economically and politically. Lots of studies have found that it increases workforce participation, for example. Since its introduction in 1975, it has also received bipartisan support, given its dual purpose as both an anti-poverty and a pro-work program. Both Republican and Democratic presidents have overseen major EITC expansions.

Thanks to a mix of innocent mistakes and outright fraud, though, some EITC money is disbursed erroneously. And so in 2015 Congress passed a bipartisan law to improve the programs integrity. Changes include a several-week delay in issuing EITC refunds so the IRS can match basic documents such as W-2s and 1099s to tax filers reported income. The IRS hasnt yet analyzed the full effect of these changes, though early numbers look promising.

Before the full results are in, however, House Republicans have decided to do something far more drastic. Sometime in the next few weeks, the House is expected to vote on the fiscal 2018 budget resolution, a procedural step thats designed to pave the way for tax cuts. Thats gotten a fair amount of coverage, of course. Less publicized is troubling language in the budget resolution committee report, which proposes decreasing improper EITC payments by requiring verification of all income before benefits go out.

The language is vague but appears to refer to a Heritage Foundation proposal that would require the IRS to fully verify income through a review of Form W-2, Form 1099, business licensing or registration, and relevant invoices before dispensing any refunds. So, a mini-audit.

As noted in a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, conducting mini-audits of all 28 million EITC claimants would be an astonishingly laborious task, both for tax filers and for the IRS. It would impose huge administrative burdens on low-income workers, many of whom cobble together a living through multiple jobs and part-time gig economy positions, from which they may not earn enough money to require a 1099.

At a time when Republicans are flogging tax simplification, this would make tax preparation infinitely more complicated. Unless, of course, the goal is to discourage poor people from applying for the EITC in the first place.

Even for those who persisted in applying for the refund, EITC payments might be delayed for months, causing great hardship. The vast majority of recipients use refund checks for rent, utilities, mortgage payments and other necessities, as well as to pay down debt.

But the proposal is more than just cruel. Its also likely to cost the government a lot of money. Republicans have been steadily cutting the IRS budget, which is silly if youre truly a fiscal conservative who believes in law and order. The IRS brings in far more money than its appropriated, particularly in its work going after tax cheats.

And cutting the IRS budget is especially silly if youre also giving the agency an enormous new mandate likely to crowd out other enforcement activities  including those that bring in much bigger paydays.

The amounts at stake in EITC audits are relatively small. Overclaim errors are often just a few hundred dollars, compared with the hundreds of thousands or even millions that can be recovered from deep-pocketed corporations and individuals.

Arguably, the IRS already devotes too many resources to small-potatoes cases; EITC audits represent about 39 percent of all individual income-tax audits but account for just 7 percent of additional taxes found to be owed.

If Republicans actually cared about reducing EITC tax cheating, there are more effective and compassionate things they could pursue, such as regulating the fly-by-night unlicensed tax preparers responsible for a disproportionate share of EITC fraud.

President Trump said hed help America win again. He can start by persuading his fellow Republicans to ditch this lose-lose proposition.
GREENWICH  When Laura Budzelek was a toddler, her neighbor in Stamford waved and smiled from afar. He didnt speak much English, but part of her longed to be able to communicate with him, somehow.

Later, when her family moved to Greenwich before elementary school, a diplomat from Peru lived down the street. Growing up in town, she had a friend from Belgium, and another from Japan.

Surrounded by internationalism and difference, Budzelek said she quickly learned that what unites us carries far more weight than what divides us.

I think Ive always had that message since I was a little girl, she said.

In her first full musical album, Treasure the World Now, Budzelek has embraced the idea of worldwide solidarity and hope with songs that incorporate five different languages.

This academic year, she has taken time off from her day job as a language teacher to journey around Europe promoting her music and message.

Its something that I had to do, she said. Its so much in my soul.

For 16 years, Budzelek has worked for the Greenwich school system teaching language. She began at Central Middle School before helping to create elementary school Spanish programs in Cos Cob and Old Greenwich schools.

Almost every summer, Greenwich schools have sponsored Budzeleks travels abroad, where she has honed her skills in Italian, German, Spanish and French.

Though locally known primarily as an instructor, Budzelek has always held an affinity for the arts. In New York, where she lived for a year, she has acted in off-off-Broadway shows and sung in operas, she said.

Because of her Spanish knowledge, she is often tapped to play Latina parts, even though she is not of Hispanic heritage.

I think we should embrace all cultures, and if someone asks me to play a role that is a Latina role, to me I find that a compliment that I can play that role. And its not necessarily a stereotype, either, she said.

Five years ago, Budzelek decided to start recording her songs, which she dubbed a mix of baroque pop and world music, combining a pop-rock feel with reggae, salsa and traditional Celtic rhythms.

Given all of her international influences, Budzelek naturally felt drawn to a vast landscape of musical sounds, she said. But she was nervous about how they cohered -- until she saw a PBS special on the 50th anniversary of the Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band that emphasized the iconic albums diversity of form.

It inspired me as an artist that thats OK. You can have a conglomeration of styles on an album, Budzelek said.

When she would go through a lull period in her art, she said, her Spanish students would motivate her to keep writing and recording.

Budzelek has been working on Treasure the World Now, for more than two years and held a release party on Sept. 12 at Old Greenwich Social Club, where her music played all night.

With Treasure the World Now officially launched Sept. 15, Budzelek now heads to Germany and Austria with hopes of interviewing with the media in Italy, France and Spain.

She plans to use her linguistic skills to connect with people and has already sent online messages to fans in their native languages to seem more accessible, she said.

Though she said her works importance has only been heightened by the current political climate, she explained that her message has always been the same.

Its good to have your own patriotic spirit, but to also know that were all one, she said.

avillarreal@greenwichtime.com
Week 37 of 2017 was dominated by three important events. The first was Apple holding its annual iPhone refresh, which this time brought three new devices, including the X - the first major redesign since the iPhone 5 came around.

Xizomi introduced a couple of interesting devices too - the Mi Mix 2 and the Mi Note 3 are both premium offerings and understandably got plenty of attention.

Finally Samsung released the Galaxy Note8 in 42 markets, marking the official start of its sales. Early numbers are impressive, but we'll see how much of an impact the iPhone 8 release next week will have on the Samsung flagship.



Apple unveils iPhone X with bezel-less AMOLED screen A radical departure from the design of the iPhone that has changed little in the last decade.





iPhone X's A11 crushes top Android competition in Geekbench And for the first time the iPhone is the best at multi-core too.





Apple iPhone X display: how big is it, really? Does it have more surface area than the iPhone 8 Plus screen or less?





Apple iPhone X screen-to-body ratio compared How does Apple's new bezel-less phone compares to some of Android's best?





Samsung Galaxy Note8 officially released in 42 markets Some of the key regions that get the phone today include the US, Canada, Singapore, Korea and major European markets.





Xiaomi Mi Band HRX Edition launched The tracker has improved battery life and tracking algorithm and goes for just $20.





Qualcomm taunts Apple with a list of Android firsts The company released a long list of tech firsts on Android devices, mocking the lack of them in Apple phones.





Apple iPhone X production cost estimated at $412.75 The most expensive component is the OLED from Samsung that costs $80.





LG V30 undercuts the price of Galaxy Note8 in Canada and South Korea By launching its flagship at the same day and at a lower price, LG hopes to get an edge over its rival neighbour.





Understanding HDR: cameras and displays We demystify some of the confusion and clear the air around this technology everyone is talking about.





Quad-camera Huawei G10 (Maimang 6) gets official on September 22 It was certified by TENAA yesterday with dual cameras both on the front and on the back.





Apple iPhone X: the rumors that ended up wrong The rumor mill brought us fake fingerprint scanners, non-existent colors and wrong names for the phones.






Haiti - FLASH : Moise asserts his authority and publishes the budget





President Jovenel Moise does not intend to be dictated by the street what to do or not to do. Friday in a televised message to the Nation he announced with authority that he had published the finance law 2017-2018 voted in Parliament in the official newspaper "Le Moniteur" pointing out that the budget will come into effect as of October 1, 2017.



Attributing street reactions to a poor understanding of the budget due to a communication deficit on the issue [despite his 4 spokespersons]. To remedy this situation, he announced the launch of his own television program "Pawol chanjman" where he will meet personally twice a month with the population on specific topics.







Concerning the violent demonstrations, he appealed for calm to the population and invited the victims to file a lawsuit, saying "I will put order and discipline in disorder [...] While I am President, there will be no breakage..."



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Education : More than 200,000 books for school libraries and UPRs





This week, Pierre Josue Agenor Cadet, the Minister of National Education, launched the operation called "Book for all", an operation intended to strengthen documentary funds or to constitute library embryos in high schools.



During this operation, 208,000 books (composed of scientific books, school and academic textbooks and reading by Haitian and foreign authors) will be distributed in the 230 high schools f the Republic and the 10 Universities in Regions (UPR) in support to improve the quality of education, stressed the Minister Cadet who indicated that this operation was entrusted to the National Office of the Partnership in Education (ONAPE) which mobilized a large part of its staff for the success of this important activity.



The first department already affected concerns the West and its 45 high schools that have already been supplied. The operation will continue through the ten school departments of the country, said the Minister. Each school will receive a batch of 500 books for 452 different titles.



Pierre Delima, the Director General of ONAPE, said that, in addition to the provision of books for high schools, ONAPE will also provide support for the training of librarians and the setting up of a system for monitoring and maintenance of library space.



Next week, a team from ONAPE and the Ministry will travel to the South and the Great North to supply high schools and set up these libraries.



It should be noted that all these books come from two warehouses of the Ministry of Education, where these new books slept, some for some years already...



S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Environment : National Climate Change Adaptation Plan





Friday, at the Hotel Montana, was held the restitution session of the process of drafting of the National Adaptation Plan (PNA) to Climate Change with the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE), the Ministry of Environment and the support the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).



This workshop made it possible to sensitize in particular the actors evolving in the field of environment and spatial planning, on the need to integrate adaptation to climate change in all the programs to be implemented in Haiti from a perspective sustainable development.



On this occasion, Minister of the Environment Pierre Simon Georges recalled the importance of this process "With the PNA, it will be an opportunity to fully integrate the issue of adaptation to climate change in development planning at National level, to consolidate our economy and to adopt a coherent and strategic approach to the fight against climate change. The first step in the process is the formulation of the project document to help mobilize resources for the implementation of the PNA."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15387-haiti-environment-cop21-an-action-plan-of-over-25-billion-dollars-for-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/UNDP-HT-ProEnv-EtuEconoCC.pdf



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : Text contest for Haitian Students in DR





As part of the commemoration of the Battle of Vertieres (November 18, 1803), the Cultural Section and the Student Affairs Section of the Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic are organizing a text contest on the theme " the new battles ","Batay nou dwe menen jounen jodi a", such as : Immigration, Corruption, Education...



The Haitian Embassy in Santo Domingo invites Haitian students in the Dominican Republic to reflect on the new struggles we must face and the strategies and means to be used for the survival of a livable society.



Students must submit by October 29, 2017, at the reception desk of the Embassy of Haiti, a French or Creole text, from 1 to 3 pages in "Time New Roman # 12", on paper or by e-mail (to obtain the address call 809 686 7115 ext. 221)



The grand finale of this contest will take place on November 18, 2017, in a large hotel in the Dominican capital where winners will receive their prizes : Laptops, digital tablets, Ipad etc...



Conditions of participation :

- Be a Haitian, aged between 18 and 35;

- Be an active student in the Dominican Republic;

- 2 photos 2 X 2;

- Copy of valid student card;



The Cultural Section and the Student Affairs Section invite you to participate in large numbers and take the opportunity to present a warm greetings to everyone.



For more information call : 809 686 7115 ext. 221



See also

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14488-haiti-education-more-than-12-000-haitian-students-in-dominican-universities.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2017/09/17 | Source

A road is submerged due to a heavy downpour in Busan on Monday. /Yonhap

Torrential downpours drenched the southern port city of Busan on Monday with the heaviest rainfall in the morning hours causing flooding and submerging vehicles in low-lying roads.

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The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education ordered 1,047 elementary, junior and senior high schools in the city to close for the day. Many parents who were taking their children to school in the morning had to turn back either due to inundated roads or school closures.

A part of the ceiling on the first floor of Gimhae International Airport collapsed from the rain and inundated the concourse. Around dozen flights were suspended due to heavy rain and high winds.

Firefighters said they received 230 calls for rescue or drainage of inundated homes, stores and offices.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said Sunday that Busan and other southern regions would see some 150 mm of rainfall on Monday, but in fact it was twice as much.

Yeongdo district saw 358.5 mm at noon on Monday, accounting for nearly a quarter of the city's average annual precipitation.

Ban Ki-sung at meteorological information provider Kweather said, "Torrential downpours of more than 300 mm a day are quite rare and maybe happen once every three or four years, but we've had four times this year. Forecasters make errors because they have to rely on existing data".
Published on 2017/09/17 | Source

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hugs a victim of wartime sex slavery in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province on Monday. /Yonhap

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday visited the survivors of sexual enslavement by the Japanese military during World War II and expressed regret over Japan's refusal to apologize for its wartime atrocities.

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Schroeder, who is in Korea to promote his autobiography, set aside some time to visit the women at their shelter in Gwangju south of Seoul.

Schroeder laid a wreath in front of a memorial to victims and toured a museum that was built to tell the world about their suffering. He also spoke with four of the nine surviving victims, who are all in their 90s.

The women thanked Schroeder for his visit and held his hands.

"The undeserved violence inflicted on these ladies is irreversible. I am saddened to meet with such people. The world needs to know the painful history", Schroeder said. "It's regrettable Japan hasn't taken courage to speak of the violence [it committed] or talk to those who were sacrificed by the brutality of the war".

He called on Tokyo to admit its guilt and apologize, quoting victims who have said they are not seeking revenge but simply want Japan to acknowledge what it did in the past.

"I, too, earnestly want it to happen in my lifetime", he added.

Schroeder donated W10 million to the home (US$1=W1,133). The survivors presented Schroeder with a book about their plight as well as a small statue identical to one that has been set up in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

Schroeder said Japan "still does not appear to have the courage" to apologize to the women with a sense of responsibility for its past atrocities. He pledged to support efforts to nominate the women for the Nobel Peace Prize.
By William Schwartz | Published on 2017/09/16

Nonghyup Bank is a major bank in South Korea, and has had a large number of powerful political allies over the previous two conservative political administrations. It was from this reputation that they were able to spearhead a big investment deal in Canada. But then something went wrong. The deal imploded, taking all the local investor money with it. Nonghyup Bank lost all of its money too, and the man running the operation skipped town.

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That's where reporter Choo Chin-woo and director Choi Jin-seong come in. They go off to Canada to try and piece together what happened with the deal. And most of what they find is just a whole lot of suspicious circumstances. No one on the Canadian office payroll has any kind of traceable identity. They have names and ID numbers, and that's about it. The main lawyer Choo Chin-woo is able to find lives in a messy, cheap house with no air conditioning- almost as if she's expecting to move out of the country at a moment's notice.

And, well, I'll just have to level with you. "The Reservoir Game" is an insanely dense investigative documentary, the full specifics of which I can't really do justice to in this review. The main gist of it is that Choo Chin-woo has a source, his own deep throat, who explains in exact detail how the scam worked. The end goal was never any actual legitimate business dealing, but just a way to make a large amount of money disappear so as to set up a slush fund in the Cayman Islands for Lee Myung-bak and his allies.

Any attempt Choo Chin-woo makes to investigate deep throat's story either results in answers that are consistent with his explanations, or suspiciously obfuscatory on the most basic questions. At one point Choo Chin-woo gets on the phone with a cop who is supposed to be investigating the fraud. As it becomes clear that Choo Chin-woo has some information that the cop does not, Choo Chin-woo offers to come over and share what he knows. The offer is rebuffed- after all, how important can the case be if Nonghyup Bank itself is not interested in prosecuting?

Mind, the more complete interviews give away so much by accident it's easy to see why so many are tight-lipped. One Saenuri Party representative openly admits to facilitating huge money hand-offs for dubious projects, apparently not realizing that the behavior he is describing sounds shady at best and illegal at worst. Then there's the clips from one of Lee Myung-bak's television debates, where a fellow Saenuri Party leader openly challenges him to explain his participation in such pointless unprofitable deals.

The kicker? That Saenuri Party leader was Park Geun-hye. Lee Myung-bak was doing this stuff even before he became president- and upon gaining ultimate political power herself with the support of Lee Myung-bak's wing of the party, Park Geun-hye lost interest in investigating these deals. "The Reservoir Game" is a demand for better answers about just exactly what happened. Hopefully we get them.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Reservoir Game" is directed by Choi Jin-seong and features Choo Chin-woo.
Published on 2017/09/17 | Source

Smartphones have become an indispensable part of modern life, even when it comes to raising a child, but experts warn against children's first exposure to the device at too young an age.

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Ahn Dong-hyun, a professor at Hanyang University College of Medicine in Seoul, said, "In academia, it is recommended that children should not be exposed to video devices including smartphones before they reach 36 months. Unilateral stimulation of visual and auditory senses at this age can be harmful".

Until they reach the age of three, babies' brain neural circuits form rapidly, and they need to receive well balanced stimulation of all five senses. However, smartphones only stimulate the visual and auditory senses.

"Most video clips have sounds and images that change very quickly. If babies get used to such stimuli, their brains do not develop in a balanced way, and they don't react to smaller stimuli in reality that are slower and weaker", said Lee Eun-hye, a pediatrician at Kyunghee University Hospital. "Ultimately, they may struggle to gather and memorize information and have slower language development".

Babies may also suffer from short-sightedness from looking at the small screen at a close distance and have trouble getting enough sound sleep.

Kim Bung-nyun, a psychiatrist at Seoul National University Hospital, said, "Parents should try to find a reason when babies cry or scream, but some just try to sooth them by showing a smartphone to them. This may hinder them from developing a healthy relationship with their parents, which in turn could affect the development of social and communication skills.

According to the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education, the more time parents spend on a smartphone, the sooner and the longer a child is exposed to the device.

Kim explained, "If you must show a video clip on a smartphone to your child, then you should make him or her feel that they are not watching it alone. You should explain what is happening in the video clip to the child, and make eye contact regularly".

It is also important to control the length of exposure, anything longer than 10 minutes may be harmful.

Sohn Soo-yeon, professor at Seoul Women's University, said, "There is more risk of addiction if you show babies small bits of video clips every day rather than showing them a long piece occasionally. It's important to tell them in advance how long they are allowed to watch videos on the phone".
Published on 2017/09/17 | Source

Jobseekers wait in line for an interview at a banking job fair in Seoul on Wednesday. /Newsis

The number of employed people grew by only 212,000 in August to reach 26.74 million, the smallest on-year increase in six months, according to Statistics Korea on Wednesday.

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Youth unemployment meanwhile rose to 9.4 percent, the highest level for the month of August since 1999, when Korea was reeling from the impact of the Asian financial crisis.

The administration of President Moon Jae-in has made job creation a top priority, but so far to no effect.

On-year, jobs increased by about 400,000 a month until April and then dropped to 375,000 in May, when Moon took office. It has been falling since.

Seong Jae-min at the Korea Labor Institute said, "Considering the population and economic growth trend, we should see employment growth at more than 300,000. Anything less than that means trouble in the labor market".

Statistics Korea cited a slowdown in the construction industry due to bad weather as a main culprit. Jobs in the construction increased by 34,000 in August on-year, but that was only 20 to 30 percent of the increase from February to July (100,000 to 160,000).

A Statistics Korea official said, "There were 15.2 rainy days in August, almost double the number a year ago", which meant more days with no work at construction sites.

The hospitality sector is still in a slump, and jobs in restaurants and accommodation dwindled 38,000 in June, 18,000 in July and 40,000 in August.

There are fears that a minimum wage hike next year will depress the job market even further as small enterprises struggle to pay staff.
Published on 2017/09/17 | Source

Tuition fees at Korea's state-run universities are the sixth most expensive in the OECD and at private universities the fourth most expensive even though few feature prominently in global rankings.

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According to the latest OECD educational index published Tuesday, the U.S., Chile, Japan, Canada and Australia are the only other member nations of the club of rich countries where fees are higher. The U.S., Australia and Japan had the most expensive private university fees, but they also have vastly more prestigious schools.

The index was complied for 35 OECD member countries plus 11 non-member nations.

The average fees for state universities in Korea stand at W5.17 million, down from W5.4 million last year, and at private universities W9.27 million, down from W9.67 million.

Korea was the only OECD member country where tuition fees fell. An Education Ministry official said, "It appears that the fee burden has eased a little given that Korea ranked third for state-run university fees and second for private university fees last year. But it's true that Korea still ranks near the top of the world".

As the school-age population declines due to a persistently low birthrate, the teacher-to-student ratio fell to 1:16.8 for elementary schools, 1:15.7 for middle schools and 1:14.1 for high schools, down 0.1, 0.9 and 0.4.

Starting wages for teachers at public schools are relatively low, but salaries grow to surpass the OECD average with time. As of 2015, new teachers earned W32.02 million in elementary school, W32.08 million in middle school and W31.28 million for high school. The OECD average was W34.82 million, W36.36 million and W38.2 million.

But those with 15 years of teaching experience earned W56.01 million, W56.08 million and W55.28 million, compared to the OECD average of W48.41 million, W50.40 million and W52.67 million.

Read this article in Korean
Legislature with U R Missing

by Tom Yamachika, President Tax Foundation Hawaii

This week, I was inspired by a sign on the First Baptist Church on Pensacola Street here in Honolulu. Their sign read, "CH _ _ C H  what's missing? U R !"

If you take away "U R" from "CHURCH," you are left with "CHCH," which isn't even a word. Apparently, the point there is that the church isn't a church, and in fact has no meaning, without the people participating in it.

Now, what happens if we apply that same concept to "LEGISLATURE"?

"U R" missing from "LEGISLATURE" yields "LEGISLATE," which means "to make laws." This is quite different from the situation with CHURCH, because the remaining letters do have a meaning. And that meaning is significant. Why? You don't need the people's participation to legislate. Legislatures dont have a monopoly on legislating. Kings and tyrants do it too. The Law of the Splintered Paddle, a legacy of King Kamehameha the Great here in Hawaii, is a very famous law here, now enshrined in the Hawaii Constitution at Article IX, section 10. That law was not voted on by a house, or senate. It was decreed. By one person.

A legislature, which is one of the key components of our form of government, also legislates. But there is supposed to be ample opportunity for public participation, because those who framed our system of government believed that this participation was indispensable to the process of legislating. Lawmakers get input from those with many different viewpoints and backgrounds, including watchdog groups like the Tax Foundation of Hawaii. That input and those viewpoints can be used to craft better legislation.

I say that there is "supposed to be" opportunity for participation because legislation doesn't always happen that way. Public participation either can be squelched or cut off by those doing the governing, or it can wither and die because we in the public dont want to participate. If participation is limited or barred, those doing the governing become no different from the kings, dictators, and tyrants. Sometimes they do come up with good, wise, and enduring laws, as was the case with Kamehameha the Great. But sometimes those leaders have issues like unfairness and corruption, and occasionally come up with laws that serve themselves rather than their constituents.

If public participation isn't there because people don't want to participate, we get to the same result. The people who are doing the legislating have fewer effective checks and balances, and it's easy for them to get used to not being held accountable. That leads to the same issues of unfairness, corruption, or self-serving legislation.

What form of government would you rather have doing the legislating?

Shouldn't you care about participating in the process as opposed to just being aghast when you find out the results?
Why America's Missile Defenses Might Not Work Against North Korea

by Dave Majumdar, The National Interest, September 17, 2017

Late last week, the United States tracked a North Korean intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) test that once again overflew Japan before landing in the Pacific.

The IRBM is the latest in a series of North Korean provocations this year that has included the test of a hydrogen bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) among other events. There is little the United States and its allies can do in response except to deter Pyongyang. Suggestions that the United States and Japan shoot down North Korean missile testsan option often bandied about by certain political commentators are fanciful. Neither the United States or Japan likely has such a capabilityeven if they were so inclined.

U.S. Pacific Command detected and tracked what we assess was a single North Korean ballistic missile launch at 11:57 a.m. (Hawaii time) Sept. 14. Initial assessment indicates the launch of an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Cmdr. Dave Benham wrote in a Sept. 14 email.

The launch occurred in the vicinity of Sunan, North Korea and flew east. The ballistic missile overflew the territory of northern Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean east of Japan. We are working with our interagency partners on a more detailed assessment and we will provide a public update if warranted.

Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association told The National Interest last month that intercepting such tests would be extremely difficult. Other experts also agreed with Reifs assessment .

Shooting down a North Korean missile on a test trajectoryas was the case with the 8/29 HS-12 testis an entirely different and even more difficult challenge, Reif said.

Our BMD systems are not designed or postured to defend the open ocean. And we couldn't rely on THAAD, since there are no THAAD batteries in the Japan. Patriot is also a no go, since it is designed to defend against slower short-range missiles during their terminal phase.

In theory, it might be possible to shoot down North Korean ballistic missiles below the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) class using the U.S. Navys Aegis cruisers and destroyers. However, it would be extremely difficultand would compromise the defenses of populated areas.

Shooting down a North Korean non-ICBM test might theoretically be possible using SM-3 interceptors launched from Aegis ships in the region, Reif said.

But it would be a highly demanding task and entail a significant amount of guesswork, as the ships would have to be in the right place at the right time to stop a test at sea. Doing so also would mean taking them away from optimal positions to defend actual targets on land.
MOST wine drinkers know what type they like, red, white or even rose, and can probably name the grape too.

But many wont able to identify the wines country of origin or the year it was made.

Not so Alistair Cooper, who can claim to be an expert on the subject  and quite rightly.

The 39-year-old wine consultant and writer, of Albert Road, Henley, has just been named a Master of Wine, one of only 369 worldwide, after five years of study.

He had to prove his understanding of all aspects of wine by undertaking theory and practical exams. He then had to submit a research paper on a wine-related topic.

Alistair, who can now use the initials MW after his name, says: To say I am thrilled is an understatement. This is the culmination of years of sacrifice and hard work. I have joined a special group that I have looked up to and it is a privilege and an honour.

He first became interested in wine because he loved food.

My mother was a great cook and that made me very interested in tastes and flavours, says Alistair. Then when I was at university my friends and I would meet up for dinner and they would bring a 3 bottle of wine and I would bring a 5 one because I wanted it to be a bit different.

After being awarded a degree in modern languages from Newcastle University, he travelled to Chile to learn more about wine production. He planned to pick grapes for three months before moving to Argentina but ended up staying for three years.

Alistair recalls: I went there wanting to learn how to make wine from the roots up and went round knocking on doors asking for a job. They thought it was strange that a seemingly educated Englishman, who could speak fluent Spanish, wanted to work in a field rather than in sales with an office-based job.

I began work as an export manager and three months turned into three years and I would spend as much time as I could in the fields, talking to the wine makers and the owners to try to learn all aspects of wine making.

Then I moved on to Argentina and did the same thing while continuing to work in export management.

Alistair then came back to Britain and settled in Oxford, where he managed wine bars and shops and did consultancy work. He also worked in trade sales for a specialist importer.

At the same time, he gained a Wine and Spirit Education Trust diploma and was awarded the Derouet Jameson Scholarship which paid for the first stage of studying for the master of wine qualification.

Alistair says: I wanted to keep learning and improving my knowledge while at the same time achieving that qualification. The master of wine course is the pinnacle and I was pretty honoured to get the opportunity to study.

The students are largely left to their own devices in terms of what they study but are expected to gain a good knowledge of every aspect of wine.

Alistair says he would taste between 300 and 400 wines a month and would take part in study groups where wines would be served blind to help him prepare for the exams.

He says: There are three parts to pass: tasting, theory and a dissertation. The tasting is three days of blind tasting with 12 wines in each exam. You need to identify and analyse the wines correctly in order to pass.

The theory is five papers and covers everything from viticulture, vinification, the business of wine and contemporary issues such as understanding the commercial link of a wine and its place in the market.

The final part of the qualification was the research paper. Alistairs dissertation was about the Itata region of Chile, where he had worked.

Alistair celebrated passing with his partner Aspen Weatherburn over a meal and... a glass of wine. What else?
A FAMILY have told of their shock after their pet cat was shot and lost a leg.

Zeus, a one-year-old Burmese Red, is believed to have been attacked with a shotgun as pieces of shrapnel were found in his chest.

He was discovered badly injured by Simon Barnett and his daughter Zara, eight, at the back door of their home in Lower Assendon on Thursday last week.

It was a big shock, said Mr Barnett. He was pretty much covered in blood underneath his body and his leg was bent like you would expect to see if it was broken.

He could stand up but couldnt really walk and was in a huge amount of distress. Its not what you expect to find when your cats meowing at the back door. Zara was really, really upset.

Mr Barnett, 45, took Zeus immediately to the Henley Vets in Reading Road, where an X-ray confirmed his right foreleg was broken.

The staff initially thought he may have been hit by a car but while performing surgery to remove his leg they discovered the shrapnel.

Mr Barnett, who runs a marketing business, said: It was a complete shock. It changes your perspective on whats happened to how do I find out who has done this? Who would do it and why? It really makes me angry that someone decided they were going to do this. I cant believe it was an accident.

His wife Juliet Machan, 47, a marketing director, said: All the shrapnel was in Zeuss chest. The vet said it was a bloody mess. They gave us about four pieces.

He had been shot, they think, while he was on a wall or in a tree and as he has fallen he has broken his leg. It wasnt kids messing around  this was shotgun, so its highly likely that it was an adult who knew what they were doing.

Were in shock. Its one of those things you dont expect to happen anywhere, never mind in Henley.

Mrs Machan said Zeus was a gift for her daughters eighth birthday in November and they had formed a close bond. Zara is a pupil at Valley Road Primary School in Henley and the couple have another daughter Eva, 12, who attends Millfield School in Somerset.

Mrs Machan said: Hes definitely Zaras cat. He sleeps next to her usually on the bed so hes snuggled in with her.

Im more concerned about the affect its having on her. We have had to sleep with her every night because she wont go to bed on her own. Ive had to lie there until she goes to sleep and we have to promise well stay with her.

She wouldnt go riding at the weekend because shes too sad.

We only moved here in June and to live somewhere three months and have your cat shot makes you feel slightly uneasy, especially if you have got children.

Zara said to me, if somebody shot Zeus and hes such a nice cat, why wouldnt they shoot us?

Zeus was allowed home on Tuesday and the family are taking extra care of him as he recovers.

Mrs Machan said: He wants to be cuddled, hes a very affectionate cat. We were lucky that we had insurance. It has been about 4,000 in vet bills so far.

The family have also been giving Eva regular updates.

The shooting has been reported to Thames Valley Police.

An RSPCA spokeswoman called the attack heartless and urged anyone with any information to call the charity in confidence on 0300 123 8018.
Comings & goings: Health bar, candle shop, fishing charter website

A health bar and candle-making shop will cut their ribbons in the next few weeks while a charter fishing company launches its website.
Constable Vithal Patel, a water carrier with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was dismissed from service in 1997. His offence? He wrote a letter to the prime minister about the service conditions of CRPF personnel. He got relief only after battling in the Gujarat High Court for more than 18 years. The government was directed to reinstate him and pay him salary for the period he wasnt in service. After his reinstatement Patel was paid all the pending wages for no work done. The government incurred a heavy loss. Border Security Force (BSF) constable Umesh Prasad was sacked in 1999 for accepting a bribe from a smuggler on the Bangladesh border. The Delhi High Court, however, ordered his reinstatement in August 2012 with all consequential benefits. In another long-drawn battle, the Delhi High Court rejected CRPF constable Kumar Pal Singhs plea to reinstate him. He had been dismissed for being an active member of a mob that raised abusive anti-government slogans in 1979. The High Courts judgment was pronounced on January 14 last year.

Personnel of Indias paramilitary forces CRPF, BSF, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Assam Rifles  end up knocking on the doors of justice for years on end. Finally, when the verdict is pronounced in favour of the litigant, without any services rendered, the government ends up sustaining a huge loss by way of reinstating a person who has been out of service for too long to regain his past efficiency and arrears from the date of dismissal .

With an overall strength of nearly 10 lakh personnel in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) as the paramilitary forces are known, legal cases are mounting in the forces. The CRPF alone has more than 5120 cases pending in various High Courts of the country while the BSF and the CISF have nearly 2,700 cases each. The SSB has more than 700 cases and the ITBP 800 cases pending. With such large number of cases pending in various courts, the average number of years to settle cases is around five to six years, says a senior CRPF officer. Not infrequently, paramilitary officers approach the courts with matters concerning their promotions which again take a number of years and tend to demoralise them.

In 1990, the then Home Minister P Chidambaram changed the criteria for promotion of officers in the CAPFs resulting in mass supersession of officers. Many officers were ultimately forced to go in appeal to the Supreme Court where the matter was dismissed on grounds of delay. In a case of biased promotion policy, the Armed Forces Tribunal in Chandigarh recently directed the defence ministry, to review its two stream promotion orders before October 2017. Had there been such tribunals for our paramilitary forces, many superseded officers would have been saved the ignominy of supersession and having to serve under junior officers .

Immediate redressal of grievances is an important factor for man-management in the armed forces to keep up their morale. Frustrated and demoralised personnel can do more harm than good.

It would be in the fitness of things to establish tribunals exclusively for the paramilitary forces for quick redressal of grievances. Apart from a judge as presiding officer of each tribunal, two officers of the ranks of additional director generals or inspector general could be part of each of the tribunals. Since cadre officers of these forces can better understand the problems and are better placed to address their grievances, they alone should be appointed to these tribunals and not the IPS officers who serve for short durations on deputation to these forces and are not in sync with the personnel.

MP Nathanael is former inspector general of police, CRPF

The views expressed are personal
A case of abetment to suicide was registered on Saturday against a teacher, principal and a manager of a school in Madhya Pradeshs Chhindwara district after a class 5 student of the institute committed self immolation.

The 12-year-old boy allegedly set himself on fire on September 8 after a lady teacher scolded and caned him and took him to the school manager and the principal for picking up a fight earlier in the day with one of his classmates at Vanasthali Public School. The school authorities also asked the student to bring his parents to the school next day.

The boy, identified as Ayush Tiwari, succumbed to the burn injuries on Friday.

Chhindwara Kotwali police station in-charge Sumer Singh, quoting Ayushs father, told HT over phone that the boy after returning home from school took the extreme step by sprinkling kerosene over himself.

With nearly 50 % injuries, he was rushed to a hospital in Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra, where he succumbed to the injuries .

The school authorities had agreed to bear the cost of the boys treatment.

The police filed the FIR against the three based on the statement of the father of the deceased. They have been booked under section 305 of the IPC that deals with abetment to suicide of a child or an insane person.

Chhindwara police, however, said they were yet to arrest the three accused.

We are investigating the case after which follow up action will be taken, Singh added.

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By playing an unconventional part of an overweight girl in her debut film, she made people sit up and take notice of her talent in Dum Laga Ke Haisha (DLKH; 2015). Ever since, Bhumi Pednekar has starred in only two films  Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (TEPK) and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (SMS) but has maintained her spotless track record with two back-to-back successes. I am celebrating both the films but I am already thinking about whats next. Both the films released very close to each other, so, I am very happy [with the results], says Bhumi, as she talks about life, career and more.

Whats your state of mind right now?

I am extremely happy and overwhelmed. It feels good to know that your instincts have worked. Be it TEPK or SMS, I purely followed my gut while choosing those films. When TEPK and SMS came my way, I didnt know which actors are going to be a part of them. For an actor like me, I dont have any way to measure the film except the script and the vibe that I get from the director and the writer. I come from a non-filmy family, so I dont have any formulas about what is right and whats wrong. Be it as a casting assistant or an actor, Ive only trusted my sensibilities.

Bhumi Pednekar has tasted her third success with Shubh Mangal Saavdhan.

By now, do you feel at home, or are still finding your feet in the industry?

Since Ive always worked with Yash Raj Films, I already felt very secure and at home. Now, the dynamics are different but I was very lucky to be associated with so many good people (at the production house) at a very young age of 17-18 (as the casting assistant). I dont know a lot of people within the fraternity but with time, I am sure I will. Everything is a process. Even the kind of offers that Ive got has made me very secure. In the beginning of your career, you dont have a choice but god has been kind that Ive got such great offers because of that one film (DLKH). I know I had earned credibility as an actor due to that. With the kind of changes happening in the industry, I feel it is a very good time for an actor like me.

Its Toilet Day today.Our film Toilet Ek Prem Katha releases today and we are so thankful to everyone that made this journey special.A special shout out to @akshaykumar sir.You are truly amazing and special..More power to you  And team #toiletekpremkatha I love you guys #tepkon11thaugust A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Aug 10, 2017 at 9:51pm PDT

You have three back-to-back hits that also got you critical praise. Does that give you lots of confidence?

I think I am a little weird. Even after DLKH, I felt what if this is a fluke and what if I cant do it again because my performance was appreciated so much. Acting is my calling, but I dont feel I will ever be happy with my work. I get really nervous about whether I am doing the right thing or not and so, I also get very critical of my work. Then, people have to literally console me. But now, I feel I have confidence as I feel that there is a secure place for me in the industry.

Everything's super #ShubhMangalSaavdhan about this film.Crazy fun promoting SMS Managed by @hmehta75,styled by @aasthasharma612,assisted by @iammanisha,Makeup by @makeupwali,Hair by @nivatesurekha A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Aug 21, 2017 at 7:35am PDT

Many feel that you are a massy heroine. Do you love that tag?

I would love that. I represent 70% of Indian people and that is a responsibility. People ask me, do you want to do a commercial film? Whats a commercial film? A film, which earns money, right? All my three films have earned money. The concept of commercial films has changed, people love films with content and those films are earning money. I would love to be a masses heroine as these are the people watch your films again and again. I want to be a massy actor, like Akshay Kumar, who gets so much love. A lot of people feel that if you speak good Hindi then you are a massy actor. We have to break that. There is a stereotype that if you wear Indian attire then you must be regressive and not cool, that is wrong. My dress does not decide the kind of person I am.

Bhumi Pednekar starred opposite Akshay Kumar in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.

As mentioned in an interview, are you really obsessed with Ryan Gosling?

He is such a beautiful man (smiles). When I watched The Notebook, I was a teenager, so I immediately fell head over heels for Don. That film took the level of romance so high in my life that I wanted that similar drama should happen in my life too. I love Crazy, Stupid, Love. I think my crush is Ryan Gosling. I think har aurat ka crush is Ryan Gosling (laughs). He is a beautiful man. God has really spent time making everything on him (laughs).

Sometime I feel like Superwoman, Sometimes I am. Channeling my inner strength for #shubhmangalsaavdhan  Managed by @hmehta75,styled by @aasthasharma612,assisted by @aditiagrawal12 @iammanisha,Makeup by @makeupwali,Hair by @nivatesurekha A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Sep 5, 2017 at 8:24pm PDT

Youve played small town girls in all your three films, and theres a tendency in the industry to typecast actors. Do you fear that?

Honestly, the only time I feared being typecast was right after DLKH. I was scared as I thought all the roles featuring overweight girls will come to me. But surprisingly, they didnt. As long as I am able to differentiate between my characters, I dont think I can be typecast. I am representing 70% of Indians, so I have 70% of their stories to tell. But yes, as an actor you should keep reinventing yourself. Also, the security of not getting typecast comes from the fact that in my real life, I am an extremely urban girl. So, playing a village girl is challenging because I dont have a small town connect. I have to put on efforts to play that character in comparison to a city girl. That gives me thrill and excitement.

Stand tall and proud Promoting #ShubhMangalSaavdhan in Managed by @hmehta75,styled by @aasthasharma612,assisted by @iammanisha,Makeup by @makeupwali,Hair by @nivatesurekha A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Aug 24, 2017 at 8:06pm PDT

At the same time, do you feel typecasting is dying a slow death?

I also think that the concept of typecasting is slowly coming to an end. Actors like Alia (Bhatt) or Deepika (Padukone) have started switching. They are looking towards stories which have content. If that kind of thinking is slowly penetrating our industry, the typecasting concept will vanish. But yes, if I feel my performances are becoming repetitive then I will take a break and disconnect form the girl-next-door image, and maybe do something else.

Even after three hits, do you ever have those nervous pangs?

I am not insecure about my place. I was always very scared that one day, I will look at myself and say, you have done a very mediocre job. Maybe, I am being too tough on myself, but how else do I keep myself going, and motivate myself to do better. Now, with the kind of reviews I have got, I feel I have maintained my benchmark of DLKH. I dont know whether I have surpassed it or not. So what scares me is that one day, I will wake up and tell myself, you have not done enough hard work. Thats why I dont want that feeling of achievement. I feel happy that people will remember the film for our performances, but believe me; I am already onto my next project, and will always be like, its good, but now you will have to better yourself.

Promoting #ShubhMangalSaavdhan at Facebook India wearing @themerakiproject Managed by @hmehta75,styled by @aasthasharma612,assisted by @aditiagrawal12 @iammanisha,Makeup by @makeupwali,Hair by @nivatesurekha A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Aug 28, 2017 at 8:49pm PDT

But of late, female actors are getting to do some amazing work.

I feel being comfortable in this industry is the scariest thing. I want to work even after I am forty. Films such as Mom or a Lipstick Under My Burkha makes me very happy. Now, female characters are being written for every age group. When I look at Shabana Azmi maam, who is still a working actor, I feel great as that is the kind of place I want to be in.

Mudit and Sugandha are coming to you in 4 Days to spread all their Love and Laddoo  @ayushmannk #ShubhMangalSaavdhan #SMSIn4Days @cypplofficial @eros_now #RSprasanna #AanandRai A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Aug 28, 2017 at 2:45am PDT

Like many others, do you want to play ultra-glam roles?

I grew up listening to Tip tip barsa paani (from Mohra) and I used to dance to it every time it played (laughs). I want to do those kinds of films too. But I strongly feel that the audience has become smart  and thank god for that  because only then will we be able to make good cinema. So, I want to do glamorous but sensible films, which are being made. I am very glamorous in real life, but glamour does not mean skin show. Would I do it? Well, it depends on whether there is a reason for me to do it or not.

As you find a definite space for yourself in the industry, do you ever worry about competition?

From the start, I have always lived in my own world, and a major reason for that is that I didnt know many people in the industry. And whoever I knew such as Sharat Katariya and others at Yash Raj Films had similar sensibilities. Also, I have been born and brought up in Mumbai, so I have my friends and family here. So, I get very disconnected and thats great because I get to meet people.

Poser for life #ShubhMagalSaavdhan A post shared by Bhumi Pednekar (@psbhumi) on Sep 13, 2017 at 7:44am PDT

Do you look at other peoples work or what are they up to?

As an actor, you cannot isolate yourself. So, I get really happy seeing other actors work. For instance, I really like Alia as she is doing great work. I also feel that theres work for everyone in such a big industry. So, I believe in healthy competition. Also, I dont keep a tab on others because I dont read papers or gossip columns. I am happy in my own life  with my family and friends. So, lifes quite packed.

Bhumi Pednekar started her career with Dum Laga Ke Haisha alongside Ayushmann Khurrana.

Do you have any dream role on mind?

If I get a film like Pakeezah, that would be fantastic as I want to do a film that has a soul and thehraav, the way yesteryear actresses would have. I think those actresses were very womanly. Pure kapde dhake huye but itni sexuality hoti thi unme ki aankhon se hi maar deti thi. There is nothing more beautiful than talent. Also, a role like Mother India would be fabulous. I really want to play a freedom fighter in a film, which I feel is very important to be made as an entire generation is unaware [of it].

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Reformed criminals must be given a chance to start their lives afresh, says multi-talented Bollywood celebrity Farhan Akhtar, who essays the role of a prisoner in his latest film Lucknow Central. The movie, which released on Friday, is the tale of four prisoners who form a music band.

Farhan, who also sings in real life, is of the opinion that criminals, if reformed, must be accepted in society once they are out of the prison.

Asked if, as an individual, he would be open to employing a former prisoner in his company, Farhan said, Well, we have to look at the larger picture. Yes, tomorrow if you are introducing me to someone saying he is looking for a job and had a criminal record, for a moment I might sit back and the thought might cross my mind that he was a criminal; I think that is only human.

But we have to look at the larger picture for the betterment of our society. According to our laws, a person who commits a crime, goes to jail and, based on the severity and brutality of his crime, he serves a sentence -- and comes out as a reformed individual. We have to understand they are all normal people and that the crime (may have) happened in a moment of madness. So, accepting these people in the mainstream of society could inspire many not to attempt crime and we can build a better society.

There are prisons which give vocational training to prisoners, and Farhan feels what they learn must be put to better use. If we create a system where we give criminals a chance in jail to be trained in different vocational activities -- whether it is music, art, theatre or handicraft... then it makes complete sense that we should accept them back with their skill, as a reformed individual, added Farhan.

The film, helmed by Ranjit Tiwari, features actors like Diana Penty, Gippy Grewal, Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq, Ravi Kishen, Ronit Roy and Deepak Dobriyal.

Music is one of the common threads between Gippy and Farhan, but the rest of the actors have diverse backgrounds. Farhan said the creative collaboration was quite easy. The best part is that they came not just from different creative backgrounds but also from different parts of the country. While Rajesh Sharma is renowned in Kolkatas theatre world, Ravi Kishen stars in Bhojpuri films, Gippy is into Punjabi film and music, Deepak and Inaamulhaq are extremely good performers. So when you are performing with them, you also have to be on the top of your game. I think that is why the whole filming process was so exciting, shared Farhan.
Nor for nothing Aamir Khan is called perfectionist. The actor gives it all for every character he plays. After surprising everybody with his bulky figure in last years blockbuster Dangal, he is once again ready to amaze us with his lean look in Thugs Of Hindostan.

Directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, the first leg of the shooting has already been completed in Morocco where megastar Amitabh Bachchan also joined him.

The film, which also has Katrina Kaif and Sana Fatima Sheikh, has a tedious shooting schedule, which will take 4-5 months time.

Here we are, however, talking about the new Aamir Khan pictures from the sets of Thugs Of Hindostan in which he is sporting long, curly hair and a really thin body.

A post shared by Beingbollywood (@beingbollywood) on Sep 15, 2017 at 9:01am PDT

He is also having thick moustache in these photos, but the most striking feature about these pics is his clothes.

His make-up suggests that Aamir might be playing an imposter in the film that is said to have elaborated sword fights and daredevil actions.

A post shared by Aamir Khan  (@aamir.khan.fannn) on Sep 11, 2017 at 5:53am PDT

Interestingly, the makers have not yet disclosed Amitabh Bachchans look in the film. It seems like a marketing technique to keep all eyes on Aamir Khans get-up in the film while Amitabh Bachchans character could emerge as the surprise package of the film.

Whatever be the case, the audiences will have to wait till Diwali, 2018 to see them onscreen.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has agreed to cut the size of the stake it will buy in Indias Gland Pharma to 74 percent, the Chinese drugmaker said on Sunday.

It said Gland Pharmas founding family wanted to retain a higher stake in the Indian firm because of its good performance.

Fosun had previously been targetting an 86 percent stake valued at about $1.26 billion. It said in a statement to the stock exchange that the board had approved the new plan, which would involve investment of no more than $1.09 billion.

The deal had earlier faced some concerns in India, a source has told Reuters.

Under the new terms, Fosun Pharma said it would spend no more than $25 million for the Indian firms Enoxaparin prototype sales in the United States, when it gets approval there, cutting the previously proposed amount by half.

The firm has also delayed the closing date for the deal to Oct. 3 from Sept. 26.
An Indian startup has won a prestigious award and a cash prize of USD 42,000 in Israel for developing an affordable modular greenhouse that aims to give farmers a steady and dependable income.

Kheyti, a Hyderabad-based startup, was chosen among the ten finalists in the prestigious MassChallenge Israel contest that saw participation from over 500 companies in 40 different countries.

The top ten finalists also included another Indian start-up Sukriti which developed a smart toilet cabin employing hygiene maintenance systems to enhance user experience in sanitation.

Kheyti, the Indian startup, had to go through a rigorous three-month process before sharing the honour with an Israeli startup as the diamond winners of this years contest. Each one of them were awarded a cash prize of USD 42,850.

The startup with a team of young entrepreneurs provides technology solutions for small farmers. It has developed a greenhouse-in-a-box, an affordable, modular greenhouse bundled with full stack services that, as per claims, uses 90 per cent less water, grows seven times more food and gives farmers a steady dependable income.

We design, adapt and implement low-cost farming solutions that help small farmers increase yield and predictability of produce. We combine these technologies with end-to-end support to give these farmers a seamless path towards income increase, the team said in its presentation.

MassChallenge Israel, a startup-friendly accelerator, awarded USD 143,000 this week in zero-equity cash prizes to four of the highest-impact startups from its 2017 cohort.

The cash prize winners, along with the ten finalists, will take part in the first MassChallenge Israel US Trek, a curated business trip and introduction to the innovation ecosystems in Boston and New York in November.

Kheyti shared the top honour with Israeli startup, RenewSenses, which creates novel eyes-free perceptual experience for the visually impaired.

I am very happy that two Indian startups made it to the top ten for Masschalenge awards and one of them, Kheyti, bagged the honours, Indias Ambassador to Israel Pavan Kapoor told PTI.

This should motivate and encourage more Indian startups, especially in the social sector, and lead to further collaboration between India and Israel on this front too, Kapoor added.
State Bank of India (SBI) said it is reviewing charges for certain categories of accounts for non- maintenance of monthly average balance (MAB) after receiving feedback from customers.

In April this year, the countrys largest lender reintroduced charges on non-maintenance of monthly average balance (MAB) after a gap of five years.

We have received feedback from our customers on the issue and we are reviewing those. The bank will take into account those and make an informed decision, the banks managing director (national banking group) Rajnish Kumar told PTI.

We will internally debate whether any moderation for certain categories of customers like senior citizens and students needs to be done anywhere. The charges are never cast in iron.

Meanwhile, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of all banks unions, has sought finance minister Arun Jaitleys intervention to rollback the hike in charges imposed on customers.

Read more: Penalty from accounts to partly fund Aadhaar linkage costs: SBI

Besides, the representatives of UFBU, at a meeting with the finance minister on September 15, also requested him to stop the merger of public sector banks.

With regard to rising bad loans, unions have made suggestion of declaring wilful defaulters as criminals, said All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) Joint General Secretary Ravinder Gupta.

AIBOC is one of the bank officer unions of the UFBU.

He further said, on the one hand banks are writing off loans of big corporates, on the other hand they are increasing charges on their customers. This is unfair and unions have requested the finance minister for his intervention.

As per the list of revised charges of SBI, failure to maintain monthly average balance in accounts will attract penalty of up to Rs 100 plus goods and services tax (GST).

In metropolitan areas, there will be a charge of Rs 100 plus GST, if the balance falls below 75 per cent of the MAB of Rs 5,000. If the shortfall is 50 per cent or less of the MAB, then the bank will charge Rs 50 plus GST.

In rural areas, the monthly average balance requirement has been kept at Rs 1,000. Any shortfall in maintaining minimum balance in rural areas can attract penalty in the range of Rs 20 to Rs 50 plus GST.

Kumar said the bank has over 40 crore savings bank accounts, which includes 13 crore of Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) and Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts.

The bank has exempted BSBD and PMJDY accounts from maintaining the minimum balance requirement.

Out of the 27 crore normal savings bank accounts, nearly 15-20 per cent are those where customers are not maintaining monthly average balance.

The bank in April had given notices to all those account holders who did not have monthly average balance and asked them to keep the minimum balance in May.

When they did not maintained the monthly average balance in May then we recovered in June. We had recovered Rs 235 crore from such account holders as penalty, Kumar said.

He said there is huge cost in maintaining the savings accounts and banks should be allowed to recover some costs.

There are lots of operational costs. We also have to invest huge amount of money in technology. There are some costs which I think bank should recover, Kumar said, adding the charges which SBI is levying for non-maintenance of minimum balance is very competitive as compared to other lenders.

He said a normal savings account holder has an option to convert his account into BSBD account which will exempt him from maintaining monthly average balance.
The much-hyped Heritage Street project and multi-lingual high-tech multimedia interpretation centre outside the Golden Temple is in deep mess as no proper funding has been ensured by the state government.

The Rs 160-crore project was inaugurated by the then Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal amid much fanfare on October 25 last year. The project added to the beauty of the shrine and increased the footfall of tourists from across the world.

However, due to paucity of funds, the administration is now facing a tough time to manage the Heritage Street.

Same is the fate of the interpretation centre on which, the government spent Rs 50 crore. This too was formally inaugurated on the same date at the basement of the Golden Temple plaza. This was established to brief the visitors about the Sikh religion and its humanitarian philosophy through latest technological means such as laser images and 3-dimensional techniques. It has four galleries equipped with world-class interpretation appliances.

To run both the projects, the administration requires Rs 45 lakh per month, of which around Rs 15 lakh is spent of electricity charges. Now the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has also taken action against the non-payment of bills.

Amid such state of affairs, as many as 150 employees of the interpretation centre that is managed by the Amritsar Culture and Tourism Development authority, went on strike on Saturday and staged a dharna. They complained of not getting salaries for the past three months.

The strike left the centre non-operational and several devotees as well as tourists had to go back disappointed. Moreover, the protesters threatened to continue the stir if their demands were not met.

As per the data assessed by HT, so far, total 10 lakh visitors have taken a tour of the Sikh history and ethos in this centre and the footfall was seen increasing.

While speaking to HT, Tejinder Singh, project managing director, said the situation was not worse as being projected. He said salaries of the employees were delayed for few days only and the issue will be resolved soon.

Interestingly, this came after Sukhbir Badal, president of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), cornered Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in a press conference held on Friday by saying, It is shameful that Sidhu has ignored the Guru Nagari, which is also his home turf, and shattered all the projects executed by our government.

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We are living in a unique era when the hunter has become the hunted and the audience itself becomes a spectacle. In these days of ideological haze, Indian society needs to do some deep introspection because the mistakes of a few moments can lead to punishment for centuries.

Let me begin with discussing Gauri Lankesh.

If I so desired, I could have written on this subject last week but I consciously kept silent. I wanted to see the conspiracy theories that were being spun over the murder of an intellectual reach a logical conclusion, but that did not happen. Even now, bizarre discussions are being carried out on the idiot box ( as someone coined it so beautifully). The collective agony over the murder of a journalist was transformed into a battle for ideological supremacy. Not just journalists, even thinkers, writers and actors were dragged into this cesspool. Who said Indians need the battlefield of Kurukshetra to accomplish a Mahabharat?

At one time Charlie Chaplin had said: Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in a long shot. Today, when people have themselves shed their masks, the reality of their internal dilemmas has been revealed. Those who keep announcing the death of truth in the world must be guffawing loudly.

No matter what she wrote, ate or spoke, Gauri Lankesh shouldnt have been killed. If our journalists, writers and intellectuals are murdered, how will Indians stand out from other barbaric nationalities? Thats why lakhs of people like me, who hadnt heard of Gauri before the tragedy, are in anguish. But this doesnt mean that we begin acting like judges and delivering our own verdicts. In a healthy democracy, probe agencies should be given the time to investigate. Creating unnecessary noise puts them under enormous psychological pressure. Why dont those holding forth on TV and social media not realise this irony: The rationale behind their outrage is as antithetical to the spirit of the Constitution as the acts of violence themselves?

It is also important to know that Gauri Lankesh was associated with a certain ideology. Thats one of the reasons why so many people congregated to mourn her murder. How about other journalists who are silently doing their job with objectivity? They dont live in the safe environment of big cities. They can be killed but not intimidated. Our colleague Rajdev Ranjan was one of these. A little more than a year ago, he was murdered in a busy market while returning home from Hindustans Siwan office.

It was a tragic moment for us. The body of our young colleague was lying in the hospital. We had to pull his two minor children and his wife out of the whirlpool of misfortune they were caught in. The killers had to be brought to justice. Apart from all this, we had to bring out a newspaper the next day. We knew that the mafia that had killed Rajdev would attempt to deflect attention from the murder by trying to character assassinate him. So his colleagues at Hindustan decided that they wont let his death become a public spectacle.

That is the reason why his killers are in prison today. Rajdevs wife Ashadevi Ranjan teaches in a village and the responsibility of ensuring that his children are educated at a safe place is being carried out by Hindustan Media Ventures Limited. It is true that the Bihar Police didnt leave any stone unturned and the CBI filed a chargesheet. But if the government wanted, it could have made Ashadevs employment permanent. She could have been given monetary assistance. But that is the misfortune of regional journalism. Those shouting themselves hoarse on TV in Delhi and Mumbai fail to recognise their challenges. They keep silent on this even as more than 99% of journalists who become victims of such violence come from small towns.

Why are those of us who believe in raising our voices selective in our outrage?

The issue isnt just about journalists. When a child was killed in Gurgaons Ryan International School, the issue shook both Delhi and Mumbai. The very next day a five-year-old girl in east Delhi was raped by a security guard in a not-so-high-profile school and there was no similar outrage. Those creating noise are ensconced in their cocoons. The noise makers have forgotten that the victim was one of their own.

Most of these social media warriors belong to the same walk of life as the unfortunate victims. Why dont they understand that by beating these virtual drums, they are driving the prey towards danger in the human jungle?

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief Hindustan

letters@hindustantimes.com
After arresting Dr Amit Kumar, the mastermind of the interstate kidney racket, the Dehradun police nabbed two more accused on Sunday.

Eight people have been arrested so far in the kidney racket case that was busted by a joint team of Dehradun and Haridwar police at Gangotri Charitable Hospital, nearly 30 km from the state capital, on September 11.

Abhishek Sharma, who used to run a medical store in the hospital, was arrested from Jollygrant airport tri-junction, and Anupama Chaudhary, wife of middleman Rajiv Chaudhary, from Lachchiwala flyover. Rajiv arranged for the hospital premises for racket kingpin Amit Kumar.

The Dehradun police will now write to all the states and agencies where cases were lodged against Amit Kumar.

Gujarat police is likely to visit Uttarakhand, as Kumar had fled from its custody last year in connection with another kidney racket case reported in the western state.

It has emerged that several cases have been lodged against him in different places across the country, so we will now be sending letters to all states where cases are (registered) against him so that they can pursue their respective cases, said Dehradun senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti Kumar.

Amit Kumar was also the mastermind behind the Gurugram kidney racket busted in 2008. He was arrested many times, jumped bails and went absconding in various cases over the past two decades.

Last year, he was arrested in connection with a kidney racket case being run in Gujarat but slipped from police custody while being escorted from New Delhi to Anand by train. He was later declared an absconder there, the SSP said, adding that the Gujarat police was likely to visit Uttarakhand soon in that regard.

The police said cases were lodged against the kidney racket kingpin in Delhi, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Panchkula, Gurugram, Jaipur, Ajmer, Mumbai, Guntur, Hyderabad, Anand and Chandigarh.

Apart from illegal organ transplantations, cases against Amit Kumar include offences related to check bounce, corruption, drugs act, fake passport, disproportionate assets and cheating and fraud.

He was also booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the 2008 in the Gurugram kidney racket, besides being booked by the enforcement directorate under foreign exchange management act and foreign exchange regulation act, a police officer said.

At least five other accused, including Amit Kumars son Dr Akshay and middleman Rajiv Chaudhary, continue to be at large.

Accused arrested so far:

Dr Amit Kumar (racket kingpin, from Mumbai)

Dr Jeevan Kumar (Dr Amits brother and co-accused, from Gurugram)

Javed Khan (agent, from Mumbai)

Sarla (nurse, from Tehri)

Billu (driver, from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh)

Jagdish Bhai (agent, from Surat, Gujarat)

Abhishek Sharma (running a medical store at Gangotri Charitable Hospital)

Anupama Chaudhary (wife of middleman Rajiv Chaudhary)

Accused absconding:

Dr Akshay Kumar (Dr Amits son, from Mumbai)

Dr Sanjay Das (anesthetist from Bihar)

Sushma Kumari (agent, from Bihar)

Rajiv Chaudhary (middleman, from Baghpat, UP)

Chandna Gudia (agent, West Bengal)

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Rendered in fiery colours, it is quite a meditative painting: the figure of a man behind the bars up to the eyes, the bars ending where his forehead begins. The head is shown as a rising wave of colourful cloud that transcends the prison walls. One can imprison a body, but not mind. This is the idea behind my painting, says Mohammed Ayub, 28, his face reflective as he explains his work. Another painting by him shows a young couple having a candlelight dinner. The man in the painting is me; I always wanted to have a candlelight dinner with my wife. But just when I was about to get married, my life fell apart.

Ayub is an inmate at Delhis Tihar jail and faces murder charges. For him and many other inmates like him, art is a way to come to terms with confinement, and an opportunity to get a better insight into their lives and relationships.

Ayub does not want to talk about the murder charge he is facing. He points out that he became an artist in prison  and now wants to remain one all his life. The gallery where his work is on display is inside Tihar School of Art, situated within the high barbed walls of jail number four.

The art school inside the jail is quite a plush placeit has classrooms with projectors, workshop rooms, a sculpture studio, a gallery with track lighting, a foyer and a lawn in the front. Paintings and sculptures by inmates adorn the walls and the other spaces. Inside, young men facing charges from murder to attempt to murder to dacoity sit on the floor, hovering intensely over canvases and sheets of paper. Many of them are drawing figures of Gandhi.

Their paintings done in different mediumsoil, acrylic, water paintdeal with myriad themes: streetscapes, metro trains, portraits of women, the ghats of Banaras, landscapes.

And there are lots of Buddhas.

For Mohd Ayub art is a way to come to terms with confinement, and an opportunity to get a better insight into their lives and relationships. (Vipin KUmar /HT PHOTO)

Painting the Buddha gives me peace of mind, says Arun Kumar, an undertrial facing dacoity charges. Ever since I took up the paint and brush, I forgot the emptiness in my life here, the pain of living away from my dear and near ones.

The idea behind the art school, says Rajesh Chauhan, superintendent, jail number 4, is to help inmates use their time constructively. It is also, he points out, a part of their reformation and rehabilitation. Those who have joined art school are no more angry, no longer pick fights. Painting has a cathartic effect on them. Jail can be especially tough for those who know they are accused of a crime they did not commit, says Chauhan. Art helps them cope.

Most of the 2,800 prisoners in jail number 4 are undertrials with varied backgrounds and 100 of them attend the art school, spending six to eight hours every day. Many artworks of inmates stand out for technique, composition and originality, and a lot of them depict how a sudden turn of events can turn lives upside down, and what it means to be a victim of circumstances.

Chauhan, who is quite proud of his prison artists, says he wishes to tie up with an educational institute for issuing a diploma in art to inmates trained at the Tihar school.

Over the past few months, Tihar inmates have been trained first by a group of postgraduate students of the College of Art, Delhi, and then by well-known artists associated with the Lalit Kala Akademi at a five-day workshop. The Akademi donated to the Tihar school of Art a few digital reproductions of artworks by famous artists such as F.N. Souza, apart from reference books and films made on eminent artists to inspire the inmates. Recently, it organized an exhibition of artworks by prisoners at Rabindra Bhavan.

Arun Kumar. (Vipin KUmar /HT PHOTO)

Their current teacher, Sushma Yadav, an artist, says that the biggest challenge of teaching art to inmates is to get them interested in it. Some of them are very talented, disciplined and fast learners. Art gives them a sense of self-worth. The artworks the inmates have created also show their humane and creative side, says Yadav.

As we talk, Amit Kumar, an inmate facing attempt-to-murder charges, shows Yadav a landscape done in water colours. She asks him to bring in more colour contrast in the painting. Kumar clearly relishes working in water colours  in fact, the school walls have many watercolour paintings by him, including one depicting a metro station and a scene from a Paharganj street, where he was born and brought up. Kumar talks like a seasoned water colour artist. I love the texture of water colours and the effects they can create are amazing. Besides, water colours are pretty unpredictable and you have to learn to go with the flow, says Kumar, daubing a thin layer of dark green onto the leaves of a tree in a landscape he is currently painting.

Most of the inmates never held a brush before coming to jail, and now they want to take up art as a career. Ramesh Kumar, 23, who is facing murder charges, says he wants to earn his living as an artist. He proudly shows a painting of a ghat in Varanasi, which he frankly admits is part copy of a work he saw in a newspaper. Art has helped me forget memories that otherwise made me miserable every moment, says Ramesh, who has been in the prison for over four years and hopes to be out on bail soon. Rohit Parcha, an inmate who loves to paint landscape, also wishes to explore art as a career option. And why not? Art, he says, has altered him as an individual. Earlier, I was often angry and irritable, and would pick up fights every day. Now I try to make everyone laugh by cracking jokes all the time. Art has done this to me, says Parcha who, like many other inmates, is facing murder charges.

Amit Kumar with his water colour art work. (Vipin KUmar /HT PHOTO)

The Tihar School Of Art in Jail No. 4. (Vipin KUmar /HT PHOTO)

Most of the inmates never held a brush before coming to jail, and now they want to take up art as a career (Vipin KUmar /HT PHOTO)

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Residents of Ward 19 in Gurgaon want change at the helm of the citys civic administration, as they have been grappling with poor infrastructure, bad roads, water and power shortages for the last two decades.

Despite changes in government, politicians failed to deliver on promises made to residents and the failure of civic agencies to improve amenities in the area compounded the woes of residents.

Residents said they are even considering voting against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next assembly elections if the civic deficiencies arent addressed soon.

The ward extends from Sector 15 to the Mini Secretariat and covers prominent areas including, Sector 15, parts 1 and 2, sectors 30, 31, Vijay Vihar, Jalvayu Vihar, Sectors 32A, 32 and 40, Kirti Nagar, Friends Colony and Civil Lines.

Residents said they are not happy with the way the ward is divided, as one half lies on one side of the National Highway and the other half is on the other side. Across the ward, residents grapple with broken or poorly-maintained roads, lack of adequate transportation and sanitation issues.

However, residents of sectors 30, 31 and 40 have arguably suffered the most on account of bad roads and poor traffic management. Residents said there has been little or no development in the area for the last 10 years despite tall claims by the authorities and the lack of civic amenities testifies to the same.

While candidates visit us before elections and promise to build and repair roads and provide basic facilities, they dont care to show up once elected. The tall promises are only for votes, Kavita Chillar, a resident of Sector 30, said.

Ramesh Vasishta, a resident and member of the district grievance committee, said, Residents of Sector 15, parts 1 and 2, are often the worst-hit during peak summer time. The sector doesnt get adequate water supply in summer and residents have to depend on private tanker operators to meet their day-to-day needs. Garbage often piles up roadside for over a week and is removed only after repeated complaints tom authorities.

Residents said living in these sectors often becomes a challenge, as the local transportation system is sorely inadequate to cater to their needs. They said they have to cross over to the other side of the highway to catch a ride to Delhi.

This sector has not seen any development for the last 15 years. The condition of the roads is getting worse by the day and, during monsoon, they turn deadly as several accidents take place. Adding to our woes is the absence of streetlights and the majority of the ones that are there remain non-functional at night, Kavita Chillar, a resident of Sector 30, said.

Read I Gurgaon civic polls: 195 candidates file papers for MCG elections on last day

Residents of Vijay Vihar, on Silokhra Road in Sector 30, have lodged several complaints with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) regarding poor sanitation and open garbage pile in front of housing societies. They alleged that despite several complaints, no action has been taken.

Residents said they met the former councillor on several occasions and urged him to take action, but their pleas went unheard.

Monika Pal, a resident of Vijay Vihar, said, I have been living in this colony since 1991 and have rarely seen any sanitation work done here. Unauthorised taxi stands have come up on vacant plots and drivers are often seen bathing in the open. We feel unsafe stepping out at night.

The ward has two prominent markets, in sectors 31 and 15, that are known for eateries and grocery shopping. However, encroachments are a major hassle for shoppers in these markets. Residents said despite informing the authorities, no action has been taken to remove encroachments.

The congestion on the stretch leading to the market is a major issue, as we get stuck for more than 15 minutes whenever we visit the market. There is no police deployment in these areas and chain snatching is a regular affair, Purnima Singh, a resident of Sector 31, said.

The road leading towards the Mini Secretariat is a desolate stretch after sundown and these walking on it often feel unsafe. The main road from Rajeev Chowk towards Sadar is fast moving, but once one turns right towards the old Excise building, its akin to a haunted place.

During the day, we are not able move our vehicles from the stretch, as cab drivers and people visiting the court and Mini Secretariat park illegally and leave us no space to manoeuvre. At night, the area is isolated and dark, as the streetlights dont work, Gaurav Sharma, a resident of Sector 15, Part 2, said.

Residents now want the candidates to make a pledge for change before seeking their votes. While politicians and elections come and go, our problems remain the same. This needs to change, Abhinav Sharma, a resident of Sector 15, said.

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Actor Ali Fazal was intimidated by Hollywood legend Judi Dench when the two first started shooting for their international film, Victoria & Abdul. When Ali reached London for his screen test, he was starstruck at meeting the English actor. He also mentioned that he kissed her feet and still doesnt know why he did so.

But as the two spent more time together on the sets, Fazal increasingly grew more comfortable around her, and now, says that the two have become inseparable. The 30-year-old actor revealed that he adores Dench.Judi is such a flirt, its so hard not to flirt back. I love her! Our relationship is so legit. Shes hard not to love as shes probably the most loved thing on this planet! Ali says.

We both share a [similar] sense of humour that is the key to a friendship, and a certain comfort. My dame makes me look good  I am honoured to have been a part of her troupe and this film. And her reactions make me ecstatic, Fazal had told us before.

Dench, too, is fond of her co-star, and had previously admitted that she felt like a spring chicken around Fazal. Abdul was someone she [The Queen] could actually relax with, [with whom] all formal protocols were cancelled. A real proper relationship, being able to speak her mind with somebody, I think thats what it was. Its exactly what I have with Ali. In fact, if today, Ali walked in where I was, you wouldnt recognise me. I would be a spring chicken, all over the place. So beautiful, she had said.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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10,000 toilets were built in ten days in Abahanpur development block of Chhattisgarhs Raipur district under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Union minister of information and broadcasting Smriti Irani took part in Swachhta hi Sewa programmes in Kendri (Abhanpur development block) and Mandir Hasaud (Arang development block) villages of the district on Sunday.

Perhaps during my entire political life, I am seeing it for the first time that 10,000 toilets were constructed in only 10 days in a block, the minister said while addressing the people in Kendri, located around 25 kms from Raipur.

She also congratulated local public representatives, officials and people for the achievement.

The work to construct toilets in 10,000 households in villages of Abhanpur block began on September 7.

As per the officials, the entire block, which houses 91 gram panchayats, will be declared open defecation free (ODF) by next month.

The union minister further said that clean India would be the best tribute people could pay to Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhiji used to say Indias soul lives in villages. To keep the soul of the country clean and pure, I would like to thank chief minister Raman Singh today that this Swachhta campaign was held in Kendri village, she added.

Indeed this is a unique initiative this government (at the Centre) has undertaken that on one side we talk about technology and promoting Digital India while at the other end we appeal to people to pay attention towards cleanliness, she said.

The intention behind this is just to make aware people towards cleanliness. If we look towards health, diarrhoea has been killing around 1 lakh children every year in the country and to deal with the disease doctors primarily suggest to mothers to maintain sanitation to keep their kids and family healthy, she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed from the ramparts of Delhis Red Fort to provide toilets to every household in the country (by 2019) and so far 2.36 lakh villages have been declared open defecation free (ODF), she added.

Similarly, the PM had promised from Red Fort to ensure separate toilets for girls students in all government schools of the country in one year, she said.

Being a woman, today I feel proud that 4 lakh toilets were built for girls in government schools as a result of which their enrollment has increased by 15-20 per cent, she said.

On the occasion, Irani inaugurated smart gram panchayat, smart anganwadi centre and smart school in a same premise in the village.

There, the union minister also did shramdan (voluntary work) for the construction work of a toilet.

Later, the union minister took part in Swachhta hi Sewa programme in Mandir Hasaud village.

Hailing the contribution of women in sanitation drive, Irani said, I bow my head before all my sisters who wake up early at 4 in the morning and do patrolling in their villages while blowing whistle to stop open defecation and keep their surrounding clean.

I bow my head to those daughters who ask to check for toilets facility at in-law house before marriage. The dedication of women for Swachhta indicates that the day will soon come when the entire country will become ODF.

She further listed out achievements under various schemes of the Centre, including Jan Dhan yojna, Ujjwala yojna and swasthya bima.

India has witnessed a leader who from a public platform had said that for every rupee sent from Delhi, only 10 paise reached to villages...Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying from past three years that poor people of the country have first right on every single penny of the government treasury, she said.

Jan Dhan scheme was launched to help poor to open bank accounts so that benefits of various schemes could be directly transferred to their accounts. 30 crore jan dhan accounts were opened in the country, she added.

During the programme, chief minister Raman Singh said that Chhattisgarh would become an ODF state by October 2 next year.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has become a Jan Andolan receiving tremendous support from people. Over 14,000 villages and 8,000 gram panchayats have become ODF in the state, he said.

The state would become ODF completely by October 2, 2018 and the prime minister will be invited for the declaration, he added.

The union minister also laid the foundation stone of development works to the tune of Rs 102 crore at Mandir Hasaud and also dedicated some public projects completed at a cost of Rs 44 crore in the area.
With the new procedure for appointing judges stuck in the disagreement between the executive and the judiciary, as many as 413 judges positions are now lying vacant in the 24 high courts of the country, which are struggling to clear huge backlog of pending cases.

Four of these high courts are functioning with half or less than half their sanctioned strength.

There is a slowdown in appointments since July and no new appointment has been made since Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra took over from Justice JS Khehar on August 28, sources in the law ministry said.

The government had appointed 15 additional judges to the Allahabad (nine) and Punjab and Haryana (six) high courts on July 6 after which no new appointment was made, except naming Justice Surinder Singh Saron as the acting CJ of Punjab and Haryana HC in August and Justice Rakesh Tiwari of the Calcutta HC on September 15.

Six high courts are functioning under acting CJs, namely Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Calcutta, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Manipur. An official in the ministry said the SC collegium  a body of five top judges of the country headed by the CJI that selects judges for appointment  has to take a call on these.

Law ministry officials also said as many as 61 names for appointment as high court judges forwarded to SC collegium are pending. These were sent to the SC collegium during the previous CJIs term.

On the flip side, the government has not appointed candidates cleared by the collegium in some cases nearly six months ago, sources said.

The 61 recommendations include 36 names sent by eight high courts  including Calcutta, Jharkhand, Madras and Bombay -- for appointment as judges and 25 names sent by five high courts for elevation of additional judges to permanent judges.

The stand-off between the judiciary and the executive is pushing vacancies to an all-time high and adding to the number of pending cases.

According to reports more than 30 million cases are pending in various courts across the country.

After counting a record of 126 judges appointments in one year in 2016  the highest ever  as one of its key achievements in three years, the ministry now wants the collegium to act first on clearing the revised Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) that guides judges appointments.

Earlier this month, six high courts decided to constitute special benches to hear appeals in criminal cases on Saturdays.

The CJI wrote to all high court CJs last week asking them to extend the project to their HCs.

BOX/Graphic

High courts with vacancies at half or more of sanctioned strength:

HC  vacancy versus sanctioned strength

Telengana and AP 34/61

Calcutta 41/72

Karnataka 35/62

Tripura 2/4

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The Indian Army will soon be cleaning up various high-altitude tourists locations in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the Northeastern states, which face environmental threats as tourists dump their non-biodegradable refuses in the open.

Defence minster Nirmala Sitharaman said this during a programme in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, on Saturday. She was here to felicitate officers and civilians of eight cantonments under the Western Command for their efforts in maintaining cleanliness. The minister also awarded open defecation-free (ODF) certificates to officials from cantonments in Kasauli, Dagshai, Subathu, Jutogh, Dalhousie, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ferozepur.

She said, the remaining five cantonments under the Western Command, namely, Delhi, Ambala, Bakloh, Khasyol and Jammu, are also on their way of being declared ODF.

Following the declaration of the Swachh Bharat campaign on October 2, 2014, the director general of defence estates had directed all its six principal directorates to achieve the goals of the said campaign and declare each cantonment ODF.

In her speech, the minister categorically appreciated the role of children who worked as swachhta doot (ambassadors of cleanliness).

Speaking on the welfare of the defence personnel, Sitharaman said, We are alive to all of your concerns and we will ensure that all issues related to welfare of defence personnel, and their families, are taken care of. We are a listening government and responding government with a positive approach.

The programme was attended by director general of defence estates, Jojneswar Sharma; principal director of defence estates, SC Kaushaik, and Lt Gen Surinder Singh, general officer commanding in chief, Western Command, among others.

Rs 15 cr for parking lot in Kasauli

The defence minister also announced Rs 15 crore for the construction of a multi-storey parking space near Kasauli bus stand.

I have accepted the demand for a multi-storey parking facility, adjacent to the bus stand, and have released 15 crore for the project, Sitharaman said.

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Rapper Omprakash Mishras Aunty ki Ghanti, the internets current 15-second sensation had garnered a staggering 3 million views, but a counter-video by online news site Quint Neon, asking for the song to be removed from YouTube has created a furore.

Quint had to take down the video after fans of the song threatened to organise a raid at the Quint office, hack their Facebook page and sent their reporter abuse and death threats. The media company, however stuck to its stand and lodged a complaint in Sector 20, Noida police station under the IT act.

Speaking to HT, Quint journalist Deeksha Sharma who was targeted by online mobs said the abuse and tirades spilled over to her personal Facebook account and she even received threats on her personal number. Whatever we said, even if people disagreed, it is absolutely not justified for people to harass or threaten me over an article said Sharma.

If youre wondering how things reached a point where hundreds of people are willing to threaten a woman for asking a sexist song to be taken down, you are not alone.

But here is how events unfolded.

Aunty ki Ghanti goes viral

Aspiring rapper Omprakash Mishra shot to fame recently after his song Aunty ki Ghanti, which he uploaded to YouTube in 2015, became a thriving hit.

While connoisseurs of cringe-pop who glory in ironically liking Dhinchak Poojas Selfie Maine Le Li Aaj and Taher Shahs Angel had already discovered Mishras rap, it was an event created by Facebook page Shit Indians Say that brought it into the mainstream.

The event may have seemed like a joke, but on Monday, a bunch of people gathered in Delhis busy Connaught Place with only one aim: to loudly shout a few lines from the song. Within a matter of days, similar events were organised in other parts of the country, including Mumbais Marine Drive, Hyderabad and the IIT Kharagpur campus.

The song had notched up 3 million views on YouTube, making Mishra trend. But along with snarky pieces on millennial antics and cringe-pop songs, media coverage overwhelmingly called out the rancid misogyny of the lyrics.

Is Aunty Ki Ghanti misogynistic? Yes, it is.

Mishras song describes in detail the lurid fantasies of a young man hitting on an aunty or an older woman who is acting pricey, according to him. What follows is a long litany of things he wants to do to the aunty, with explicit descriptions of sexual acts.

A lot of media reportage emphasised the rank misogyny of the lyrics. ScoopWhoop translated the videos lyrics into English based on colloquial usage, to bring home the point. An article in HuffPost called it appalling that a song so unmistakably sexually aggressive in its intent, with every lyric objectifying and belittling women, has been elevated to the status of a youth anthem. An opinion piece in the DailyO dives deep into raps history of sexism and explores how elitist mock-enjoyment of the song makes people complicit in normalising misogyny.

Quint Neon put out a counter video to Mishras rap song, which featured its reporter Deeksha Sharma demanding YouTube take down the song for its absolutely derogatory lyrics.

If you havent heard the song, let me tell you how this Omprakash - The Rap King threatens to rape, Sharma says in the video, pointing, among other lyrics, to this line:

Teri to ghanti bajana aauntie meine thani hai, night me ye dekh meinu sot lagani hai.

A while later, Mishras video was taken down by YouTube  not because of Quints exhortation but because of a copyright claim by Smokedlime, another YouTuber.

This drove incensed fans of Mishra as well as meme-pages to launch a consolidated attack on Sharma and Quint. In a detailed report, Buzzfeed shows how the meme community banded together to raid the Quint office as well as circulating Sharmas profile and personal number on groups.

A page called Meme Mandir tagged me in comments, Sharma told HT. Her image was used to create sexist memes, while Quint Neons Facebook page faced mass downvoting. A page that appeared to be Omprakash Mishras personal Facebook account also encouraged the idea of a raid, but later asked his fans to desist.

The Quint took down their video, saying that while it stood by the content, it did not want its reporter to be targeted any further and lodged a complaint at Noidas Sector 20 police station.

Is it wrong to call for a takedown of derogatory songs?

Quint Neons detractors argued that it was wrong of the online site to call for censorship of the song, saying it amounted to a violation of free speech. They also took issue with the Quints video asking for a harassment suit against the rapper.

A section of those criticising Quint have defended the song as a young man having harmless fun, while others questioned why the media company does not call out established rappers such as Honey Singh or Eminem?

Screenshots of comments against the Quint video.

Sexism in any way is unacceptable. Who told these people that I listen to Eminem or Honey Singh or havent called them out?, asks Sharma.

A lot of the vitriol directed at Sharma and Quint Neon is a backlash against what the commentators see as elite, feminazis targeting a middle-class, upcoming artist like Mishra. But using class as a defence against charges of misogyny is not only a lame argument, but especially specious in this cases since most of the songs fan-base belongs to the same elite class. The enjoyment derived from cringe-pop is laughing at the artist, not with them.

The problem, says Sharma, is when people start shouting lyrics like these in streets without even understanding them.

If you can explain how the lyrics are funny and not sexist, then please do so, says Sharma. When you create events, shout it in the streets, youre crossing the line. Youre normalising this.

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Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa will contest from North Karnataka instead of Shikaripura in the 2018 assembly polls, his media adviser said on Sunday.

The former chief minister took this decision in the interest of the party after the central leadership suggested he contest from North Karnataka, the Lingayat leaders media advisor Anand Vijayender told PTI.

However, no decision has been taken about the assembly constituency from which he will contest, Vijayender said.

Yedduyurappa readily gave in to the central leaderships suggestion as his interests are in line with the BJPs, he said.

According to political observers, the decision of Yeddyurappa to contest from North Karnataka is to counter the Congress strategy to divide Lingayat votes by raising the issue of separate religion tag to Lingayats.

A majority of the Lingayat community resides in northern parts of Karnataka and mostly vote for the BJP in assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Shikaripura, which falls in Shimoga district of Central Karnataka, has been Yeddyurappas bastion for long.

He has won the Shikaripura seat since its conversion from reserve constituency to general category from 1983 for six times up to 2008, when he bagged the seat with a huge margin against political stalwart and former chief minister late S Bangarappa, except in 1999.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has suspended a leader of its Assam state executive committee belonging to the minority community for voicing support for Myanmars Rohingya refugees.

A few days ago Benazir Arfan had uploaded a post on Facebook requesting people to attend a fast in protest against the treatment meted out to the Rohingyas by the Myanmar government. .

The programme organised by the United Minority Peoples Forum, a Guwahati-based NGO, was to be held in the state capital on September 16 to show support to the thousands of Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar.

The post generated controversy in the BJP circles as the saffron partys governments in the Centre and in Assam are against allowing entry of the Rohingyas to India.

According to an UN estimate 409,000 Rohingya have fled violence-wracked Rakhine state since August 25 when Myanmar army launched a major crackdown to avenge an attack on security forces by Rohingya rebels.

On Thursday, BJPs state unit general secretary Dilip Saikia sent a letter to Arfan suspending her from the party with immediate effect and giving her three days time to explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against her.

Despite being an active BJP member, you posted in social media seeking support for a programme organised by another organisation in connection with a problem related to Myanmar, without initiating any discussion about it in party platforms, the letter said.

Considering your act as against the partys rules and ideology, the BJP state unit president has relieved you of all responsibilities and suspended you from the party, it added.

Arfan, who was the partys candidate from the Jania constituency in Barpeta district in last years assembly polls, terms the action as vindictive.

My only mistake was that I wrote a protest fast instead of a prayer meeting for Rohingyas, both Hindus and Muslims, who died while fleeing Myanmar. I apologised for the wrong use of words, but the party didnt listen, she said.

The 30-year-old victim of triple talaq, who had spoken against the practice from party platforms in the past, said she wasnt given a chance to explain her stance and suspended without any warning.

She shouldnt have raised such a sensitive issue on social media without first discussing about it with party leaders, said Muktar Hussain Khan, president of the BJPs minority unit in Assam.

Like the rest of the world, the current Rohingya crisis is generating lot of attention in Assam as well.

Last week, several opposition Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the assembly after Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami refused to allow an adjournment motion on the issue.

Congress legislator Abdul Khaleque urged the government to grant temporary shelter to the Rohingyas in Assam or other parts of the country as a humanitarian gesture.

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A 19-year-old medical student who is unable to see beyond a distance of 8cm has threatened suicide after the Medical Council of India cancelled his admission to college since his disability is regarded too severe for someone taking the MBBS course.

Sureshs tale highlights a problem of neglect and delays that plague almost every government office in the country: He was given admission in 2016 by authorities in Karnataka who should have taken note of his condition, only for it be cancelled almost a year later by the countrys medical regulator.

On August 28, Suresh wrote a five-page letter, and a separate two-page suicide note with a headline, Notice of Death in which he listed his struggle to land the college seat.

He said that despite his 70% visual disability, he scored 86% in his Class 12 examinations, studied hard to prepare for the medical college examination, and sold ancestral property to pay for his first year fees during a period in life that also coincided with the death of his parents.

Out of severe depression, I have written to MCI to solve my problem. I have no option but to end my life if I dont get a solution in my favour, he told HT over a phone call.

Officials of the Karnataka Examination Authority allotted him a seat in Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) under the quota for students with disability after he scored a rank of 20,000 out of 1.5 lakh in the states common entrance test (CET) last year. He joined RIMS, a government college, in July 2016.

On June 26, 2017, the MCI cancelled his admission because it violated a 2009 regulation. The rule says that the only disability allowed in medical colleges is of the lower limbs, and a candidate had to fall under the 50%-70% severity to be eligible for reserved seats. Someone with more than 70% disability is not eligible for admission at all.

In December 2016, parliament passed The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill  2016 which allows 5% reservation without any exception in all educational institutions. The legislation came into force in April 2017 but it does not apply in Sureshs case because he took admission last year.

Suresh challenged the MCIs cancellation order in the Kalaburagi Bench of Karnataka High Court, which, in an interim order on July 31, permitted him to appear in first year examination.

While other students results are out, mine has been withheld, he told HT from his village Byagwat in Raichur.

While the medical regulators decision was based on a rule backed by several medical reports and the views of the medical professionals, Suresh raised several questions regarding his case.

When regulations dont allow, why was I allowed to sit for examination? Why wasnt I informed during counselling by the Karnataka Examination Authority? Why didnt my college question that? asked the teenager who counts becoming a doctor as his only dream.

I can compete with any normal student and perform better than many of them, he said.

Kavita Patil, chairman, RIMS, said that she is not aware of Suresh suicide note to MCI but is trying to help him by taking up the issue with senior government authorities.

A case related to permitting candidates with colour blindness to pursue medical education is pending in Supreme Court. During hearings, the top court has questioned the policy to completely exclude colour blind candidates from the medical profession.

The MCI analyses all medical college entries and given the scale of the work, it often takes months to scrap admissions.

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India is looking towards the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party next month. State councillor and special representative for boundary-level talks Yang Jiechi is expected to give way to hardline foreign minister Wang Yi as his successor, while uncertainty looms over the future of PLA Western Theatre Commander General Zhao Zongqi after peaceful resolution of the Doklam standoff.

Diplomatic sources based in New Delhi and Beijing confirmed to Hindustan Times that councillor Yang will step down as special representative by March 2018, and perhaps the 20th round of boundary resolution dialogue will be held with his successor and current foreign minister Wang Yi.

It was a July 27 meeting between Yang and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, at the instructions of President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that gave preference to diplomacy over warmongering and led to the peaceful resolution of the 73-day standoff on the Doklam plateau. The area is claimed both by Bhutan and China.

New Delhi is apprehensive about Yangs likely successor Wang, as the latter adopted a hardline posture during the entire Doklam standoff. The Chinese ambassador to India too followed a similar approach. Wangs inflexible approach during the crisis could lead to hardening of positions during the next round of SR-level talks, said a senior official.

While India is watching whether Xi will be re-elected as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party or upgraded to the all-powerful post of chairman --- like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping --- significant changes are expected in the powerful PLA hierarchy as Beijings focus shifts from land to naval and air forces.

On watch is whether General Zhao, who commands the PLA guarding the borders from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, is going to be replaced. Observers feel that hardline generals put President Xi in an awkward position during Doklam standoff.

The question being asked is who misled Xi to believe that New Delhi would not intervene on behalf of Bhutan at Doklam, given the fact that any unilateral change in ground position directly impacts Indias strategic posture. The fact is that at Doklam the PLA was at a comparatively weaker position, with the Indian Army surrounding them from three sides.

Although retired Chinese experts in the previous UPA regime conveyed to the NDA government that Beijing would not back down at Doklam, national security and foreign policy advisors to PM were convinced that diplomacy would win the day.

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Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Sunday began a campaign in the national capital to collect 10 lakh signatures against the rise in the price of petrol and diesel.

He said the party will stage a protest on September 20 at Jantar Mantar to demand rollback of the excise and VAT (value added taxes) on petrol and diesel.

Maken arrived at a petrol pump near Zakir Hussain College, in central Delhi, along with scores of party workers to collect signatures -- the party proposes to collect signatures of 10 lakh people from the city.

Speaking to reporters, the former Union Minister said: The 10 lakh signatures thus collected will be presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to express the peoples anguish at the unchecked rise in the prices of petrol and diesel.

He said that if excise and VAT duties are reduced, petrol could be sold in Delhi at Rs 34 per litre while diesel price would come down to Rs 32 per litre.

Explaining his signature drive against the fuel price rise, Maken said a form is distributed to the customer at a petrol pump with a question whether the customer agrees to the suggestion that if the excise and VAT duties are cut down, then petrol and diesel could be sold in Delhi for Rs 34 and Rs 32, respectively.

Lashing out at the central and Delhi governments, Maken said: In the last three years, the Modi government increased the excise duty on petrol by 133 per cent and on diesel by 400 per cent while the Kejriwal government in Delhi increased VAT from 20 to 27 per cent on petrol per litre while VAT on diesel was increased from 12.5 per cent to 16.75 per cent.

Maken accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of hiking the excise duty on petrol and diesel by 11 times.

He also said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -led Delhi government increased VAT on petrol and diesel twice.

Due to these, the prices of petrol and diesel have soared sky-high, he said.

Hitting out at Kejriwal, Maken said: Before the assembly elections, Kejriwal had declared that was no need to collect taxes as the government can run without collecting taxes.

He noted that Kejriwal, immediately on assuming power in Delhi, changed the law to hike VAT on petrol and diesel twice.

The Congress leader then said the prices of petrol and diesel have risen so sharply that the lives of the common people in financial terms were considerably affected and the government was silent on it.

He also said that the rise in the prices of petrol and diesel has affected the transport sector leading to a cascading effect on the prices of all essential commodities.

Maken reminded the Prime Minister that he had assured the people before the 2014 General Elections that he would reduce the prices of petrol and diesel.

But ever since the BJP government came to power, the prices of petrol and diesel have only gone up, time and again, he alleged.
The CPI(M) on Sunday justified the expulsion of its leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee, saying instead of complying with the party discipline, he had resorted to publicly maligning it.

The CPI(M) politburo member and West Bengal state secretary Surya Kant Mishra issued a statement saying Banerjee was expelled for anti-party and anti-communist role.

Even after repeated cautioning by the state committee, Banerjee failed to rectify himself and persistently continued to malign the image of the party by various means, the statement said.

The state secretariat of the party had decided to expel him from the partys primary membership on September 13 and the decision was approved by the politburo two days later.

The statement said the West Bengal State Committee had earlier set up a three-member enquiry commission to investigate the serious allegations against him, following which he was suspended from the primary membership of the Party for three months pending the enquiry.

After being chargesheeted on the basis of findings of the enquiry commission, the state committee found his reply to it to be totally unfounded and it was decided to take penal measures against him, it said, adding that the state committee also informed the Central Committee about the matter.

Instead of complying with the party discipline, he resorted to malign the party publicly with the help of a section of a media, the statement alleged, adding that after this, it decided to expel him from the primary membership of the party for his anti-party and anti-communist role.
Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran on Sunday asked Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami to resign from his post and convene a meeting of party MLAs and elect a new legislature party leader.

Dhinakaran, who is waging a running battle with Palaniswami and Panneerselvam for supremacy in the party, said the chief minister should meet governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and tender his resignation and then convene a meeting of party legislators.

Let Palaniswami say that the post of Chief Minister and the Cabinet which was given by Chinnamma (VK Sasikala) is not necessary... let them choose anyone (as Legislature party leader)... we are not concerned, he said.

Dhinakaran who two days ago said the government would fall within a week, said he was ready to send his loyalist MLAs to the meeting of legislators he was proposing, and added that I am not responsible if they do not vote for you (Palaniswami).

After the Palaniswami and Panneerselvam camps merged last month, Dhinakaran loyalist MLAs had petitioned the governor seeking Palaniswamis ouster.

Opposition parties led by the DMK also urged Rao to order a floor test and ask Palaniswami to prove his majority.

The matter later went to the Madras high court, which has restrained the Assembly Speaker from holding a floor test till September 20.
Amid debate over dynastic politics, Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar on Saturday said money power and dynastic system negate political justice contemplated by the framers of Constitution.

Lamenting the lack of political justice in India, he said the role money and dynasty play in the electoral process undermines political justice as not everyone can effectively aspire to contest an election.

Coming to equality and justice in political sphere, while the elementary step is achieved -- we have abolished monarchy and rules of primogeniture -- how far we have secured political justice in the sense that all people of the country can aspire to effectively participate in the democratic electoral process? Justice Chelameswar said.

He was speaking on the topic- The Preamble Pledge of Social, Economic, and Political Justice: Are We Out of Order- organised here as part of the Justice P D Desai Memorial Lecture.

The kind of role which money plays in electoral process, itself is a negation of political justice contemplated by the Constitution in its Preamble, Justice Chelameswar said.

Ultimately it is the money power, which determines the eligibility of a man to becoming a member of the legislative body, he said, adding it is up to the next generation to handle the situation for a better society, for better governance and getting a better set of people.

Another facet of political injustice is the age-old problem of this country -- the syndrome of hierarchy, the seniority rule, the dynasties, Justice Chelameswar further said.

Invariably, when somebody becomes a member of the legislative body, his wife, children, everybody line up to occupy the slot.

This is another form of political injustice. Everybody is entitled, there is nothing wrong in that. But the only determining factor has come to be a persons relation to the existing member in the public life, he said.

Justice Chelameswar said the framers of the Constitution were aware of the problems our society faced and ensured that issues were resolved.

Soon after achieving freedom, India had to grapple with food crisis, but the situation has improved over the years. Untouchability and womens equal rights were also tackled in the Constitution, and the situation is now changing, he said.

When the Preamble of the Constitution speaks of social justice, each of these problems were in the mind of the framers.

It is in this background that Constitution makers demand from the society that Constitution governance will provide justice in all spheres of social, economic and political area, he said.

About the process of framing of the Constitution, Justice Chelameswar said the Constitution was required for a clear goal for a new India.

It is the knowledge of history and the knowledge of mistakes committed by our ancestors and consequences of the mistakes that bring wisdom to later generation to enable them to not commit the mistakes.

(The framers of the Constitution) realised, from the knowledge and history of this country and mankind, how power corrupts. Governments in future ought to be prevented from that kind of practice of abuse of power. Therefore, there was a need to create a Constitution, which limits the power of governments, he said.

In sum, the Constitution is a document which strictly prescribes the limit beyond which a government cannot function, because permitting anybody to exercise authority beyond a particular limit will be detrimental to human liberty and happiness, Justice Chelameswar said.
As the dusk sets in, families in Arnia town on the India-Pakistan border sit huddled as they hear the rattle of gun-fire and exploding mortars, night after night.

In the past four days, albeit nights, two persons, including a BSF jawan have died, a dozen injured and several animals including cattle were killed in the indiscriminate firing by Pakistan forces towards the residential areas in this town and its adjoining hamlets.

Each night is an encounter with death and devastation, say local residents.

A temple was among the several buildings damaged while three BSF jawans were among those injured in firing by Pakistan troops along the international border and LoC in Jammu and Poonch districts during the past four days.

According to officials, two Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory action by the BSF.

Since the past two to three days, we have been facing the worst type of shelling by Pakistan troops. Mortar bombs rain here. Every night is an encounter with death for us and every morning a new life, Arnia resident Yashpaul told PTI.

Since the shelling began on Friday midnight, we have been moving to the store in our house and stay huddled every night due to fear, he said.

Like Yashpaul, Sia resident Hari Singh said that nobody sleeps in the border hamlets now.

The fear is driving out the sleep. We face heavy shelling from 11 pm till the morning, Singh, a former sarpanch, said.

Dead cattle in pools of blood, torn off roof-tops and windows punctured by bullets and splinters of mortar bombs are a testimony to the intensity of the shelling in this area where smell of cordite and gunpowder lingers in the air.

A villager shows parts of a damaged shed after firing from the Pakistan side of the border, at a village in Arnia Sector. (PTI Photo)

An overnight attack by Pakistani forces left one woman dead and five persons injured triggering panic.

Windows rattle from the blasts of mortar bombs and rockets aimed at terrorising the population along IB to bring pressure on India and its security forces. The night long attack on Saturday triggered panic among the villagers, a police officer said.

But the villagers are steadfast in their support to the security forces, who they say should give a befitting response to Pakistan.

We are with our forces. They are giving them befitting reply. We demand the BSF should destroy their bunkers and posts which target us. We want that they should never dare to fire again, said Prem Chand of Arnia.

The border dwellers want that government should speed up the setting up of individual bunkers for their homes.

We urge the state and central government to speed up the plan of construction of individual bunkers. We donot need many community bunkers. The difficulty with community bunkers is how to reach them when the shelling and firing starts, Singh said.

The process of the constructions of bunkers started two years ago and just 60 bunkers as per government figures have been constructed in only few areas, the locals complain.

The Congress government made promises and now this government is in power for three years, but the plan has remained almost on papers. The government needs to do more, Surinder Choudhary said.

Residents say that Arnia town, which was considered a safe place, has also been hit by scores of mortar bombs that killed one person, Ratno Devi, and injured five.

Houses in Arnia as well as Sia, Nikowal, Budhwar, Buley Chak, S H Way, Treva Mahasha Kote, Pindi and Pawal villages were hit by the bullets and splinters of mortar shells, which tore roof tops and walls of several structures.
As many as 1,200 cows - mostly abandoned, sick and injured - have found a saviour in 59- year-old German national Friederike Irina Bruning.

When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund, she said while narrating her journey in Mathura.

She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk, she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as Surbhai Gauseva Niketan.

They are like my children and I cannot leave them, she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund here.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leave a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in, she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows needing special care are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure.

When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, foodgrain and salaries of about 60 workers.

I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work, she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children.

The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year.

I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. Its the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala, she said.
At a time when the BJP and the RSS were gearing up to take on West Bengals secular and liberal camp, a newly-formed saffron outfit has threatened to eat into the right-wing factions electoral gains.

Formed in 2008, the Hindu Samhati (HS) has started gaining prominence in the communally-charged politics of state by projecting itself as the real protector of Hindus. Be it the violence-hit Malda or Basirhat, HS members appeared to be more active in safeguarding Hindus interests as compared to their Sangh Parivar counterparts.

In West Bengal, the BJP and RSS are out to reap benefits of Hindus sentiments but are not ready to pay for it. All they do for the Hindus is lip-service. We are spoiling their plan of portraying BJP as the sole custodian of the rights of Hindus. That is why the RSS and BJP are our biggest critics, said former RSS pracharak and HS founder Tapan Ghosh.

He had served as the Bajrang Dals coordinator in different parts of the country but parted ways in 2007, accusing Bengal RSS of lacking courage.

Ghosh has in the past opined that the Hindus need to be more militant in order to resist what he called Islamic and Christian aggression in the country.

The police and intelligence agencies kept a close watch on HS members, claiming that the groups activists were involved in violent activities.

HS vice-president Devdutta Maji denied that the outfit was involved in any illegal activities but boasted that they had managed to instil courage in members of Hindu community, which is the need of the hour.

There are Hindus displeased with Mamata Banerjees Muslim appeasement but are happy with other aspects of her governance, or do not see BJP as an alternative. We provide a platform to Hindus from all political camps, he added.

Ghosh had been a strong critic of Banerjees politics of Muslim appeasement but softened his stand against her since 2014, when BJP and RSS started gaining ground in Bengal.

If Hindus can bargain more from Mamata , why should Hindus support BJP unconditionally? Our role is to bargain for Hindus from politicians, just like Muslims bargain for their community, Ghosh said.

Trinamool Congress denies having any link with HS but that hasnt stopped the CPI(M) from hinting towards an alleged tie-up between the two.

We found during spot visits that many of those involved in recent riots were TMC workers by day and Hindu Samhati activists by night, CPI(M) MP and politburo member Mohammad Salim told HT. He described HS as Trinamools Hindutva card which the party used to balance the backlash of supporting Muslim fundamentalists.

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India along with Pakistan, China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Sunday discussed plans to deepen practical cooperation on counter terrorism.

Deputy National Security Adviser and Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat, RN Ravi attended the 31st meeting of Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO-RATS) held in Beijing.

The meeting discussed topical issues of international and regional security as well as deepening of practical cooperation of SCO members in the fight against terrorism, a statement from the Indian Embassy said.

India looks forward to constructive and productive engagement in the framework of SCO-RATS to eradicate the common menace of terrorism and ensuring security of the region and the world, it said.

The SCO is comprised of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

India and Pakistan were admitted this year to the organisation.

For years the SCO-RATS has specialised in cooperation in counter terrorism operations with periodic exercises between the member countries.
Acknowledging the role played by yoga legend Bishnu Charan Ghosh and his family members in spreading Indian postural yoga in Japan, the Japanese postal department has released postage stamps on four of Bengals famous exponents of the ancient Indian practice.

The stamps on Bishnu Charan Ghosh, his son Biswanath Ghosh, daughter Karuna Ghosh and Karunas father in law Asutosh Ghosh, that were released recently in Japan, were official showcased here by the Japanese Consul General in Kolkata, Masayuki Taga.

This is the first time Japan has released postal stamps on any yoga experts. It is a result of the constant endeavour by the four yogis to create a close cultural linkage between the two countries by popularising the Indian form of yoga in Japan, Taga said during the event.

He welcomed the fruitful exchange between Indian postural yoga and Japanese martial art, stating that both have similar traits and extended good wishes to the Indian martial artists performing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A state funeral will be accorded to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and the national flag will fly at half mast in all government buildings in New Delhi on Monday in his honour, the home ministry has said.

Arjan Singh, the hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died at the Armys Research and Referral Hospital at the age of 98 on Saturday.

As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, a state funeral will be accorded and national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral (September 18) in Delhi on all buildings where it is flown regularly, a home ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.

Singhs funeral will be held at Brar Square at 10:am on Monday.

The war hero

Singh was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF when he was only 44 years old, a task he carried out with elan. He was the chief of the IAF when it found itself at the forefront of the 1965 conflict.

Singh, who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft, had played a major role in transforming the IAF into one of the most potent air forces globally and the fourth biggest in the world.

Known as a man of few words, he was not only a fearless fighter pilot but had profound knowledge about air power which he applied in a wide spectrum of air operations. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1965.

Promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944, Singh also flew close support missions during the crucial Imphal campaign and later assisted the advancing of the allied forces to Yangon, formerly called Rangoon.

Towards the end of the 1962 Sino-India war, he was appointed as the deputy chief of air staff and became the vice chief of air staff the next year.

On August 1, 1964, Singh took over as the chief of air staff (CAS) in the rank of Air Marshal. He was the first air chief who kept his flying category till his CAS rank.

A testing time came in September 1965 when Pakistan launched Operation Grand Slam, in which an armoured thrust targeted the vital town of Akhnur in Jammu and Kashmir, he was summoned into the defence ministers office with a request for air support.

When asked how quickly the IAF will be ready for operations, he replied with his characteristic nonchalance, ...in an hour. And true to his word, the Air Force struck the Pakistani offensive in an hour.

Leaders mourn demise

Condoling his death, Goa CM Manohar Parrikar called him the father of IAFs modernisation efforts.

His dedication to our nation and his exemplary leadership capabilities will continue to inspire our armed forces, Parrikar said in a tweet.

On Saturday, leaders across political spectrum hailed the contribution of Singh, the only officer of the IAF to be promoted to five-star rank, equivalent to a Field Marshal in the Army.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in mourning the demise of the war hero.

Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh was a WW II hero & won our nations gratitude for his military leadership in 1965 war, Kovind said on Twitter.

Modi said India would never forget his excellent leadership in the 1965 war when the Indian Air Force saw substantial action.

India mourns the unfortunate demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh. We remember his outstanding service to the nation, he tweeted.
Eyeing a multi-billion dollar contract from the Indian Navy for the supply of fighter aircraft, Russian military aviation firm MiG on Sunday said it was not averse to the transfer of technology and joint development of MiG-29 K jets with Indian companies.

MiG CEO Ilya Tarasenko said his company would submit a detailed proposal to the Indian government shortly, detailing its readiness for the joint development of aircraft for the Navy to deepen its already close engagement with India.

We are considering various options for long-term and perspective cooperation, including those within the framework of the Make in India programme, Tarasenko told PTI in a written interview.

In January, the Indian Navy had kick-started the process of procuring 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its carriers by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to leading military jet makers.

Currently, six planes are compatible for the aircraft carrier  Rafale (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MIG-29K (Russia), F-35B and F-35C (Lockheed Martin, US) and Gripen (Saab, Sweden). While F-18, Rafale and MIG-29K are twin-engine jets, the other three have a single engine.

Tarasenko said MiG had been working with Indian defence forces for more than 50 years, delivering planes and providing service.

He said the company was eager to further strengthen its relationship with India.

Russia has been one of Indias key suppliers of arms and ammunition. Then defence minister Arun Jaitley had visited Russia in June during which the issue of transfer of technology and joint development of high-end military platforms and weapons systems were discussed at length.

Hard-selling MiG-29K as the best option for the Indian Navy, Tarasenko said a fleet of the aircraft had operated from Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as part of its operations in Syria recently and showed excellent results, including in striking ground targets.

He said the MiG-29K was part of the recent Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, the US and Japan and it proved its operational prowess while operating from the Indian Navys aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Tarasenko claimed MiG-29K aircraft have serious tactical and technical advantages compared to Boeings F/A-18.

In addition, the MiG-29K aircraft were successfully tested in combat conditions as part of the Russian Navys military squadron in the Mediterranean in 2016 and have a unique experience of real combat use, he said.

The US defence major has offered to set up a manufacturing facility in India for the production of its F/A- 18 Super Hornet aircraft, if the company gets contracts for their supply.

At present, the Navy operates 45 MIG-29K jets.

The RFI by the Indian Navy says the aircraft required by it should be day-and-night capable, all-weather, multi-role, deck-based combat aircraft which can be used for air defence, air-to-surface operations, buddy refuelling, reconnaissance etc. from IN aircraft carriers.

The Indian side has sent an RFI to companies that produce aircraft, which is one of the procedures preceding the official tender. MiG corporation has received such a request, now we are preparing our proposal, Tarasenko said.

In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government had in May unveiled a strategic partnership model under which select private firms would be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms such as fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.
They have come out on the streets, not to protest, but to study.

The students of a government primary school in Bundelkhands Chhatarpur are forced to attend classes in the open due to the unavailability of a school building.

The school began functioning in January 2014 but never got a building, forcing officials to eventually hold classes in a lane. It currently has 41 students and two teachers, including headmaster Rajendra Goswami.

Goswami said in the beginning, they operated the school out of a temple complex, after which they took a room in a nearby house.

But the room was not good. It became hot when sunlight came in, making it difficult for students to study. We decided to hold classes in the lane as it was cooler, he said.

According to the headmaster, he had informed authorities concerned about their predicament but no one paid any heed.

Many a times, I informed senior officials and even approached the civic authority but I only got assurances. A nearby temple is famous and attracts visits from political leaders and senior administrative officials. They see children studying in the lane but no one seems to care, he said.

While the school continued to face difficulty in the absence of a building, the education department and the local civic body passed the buck.

HS Tripathi, district programme coordinator of education department, said they had sanctioned half the amount for the construction of school building but the civic body failed to act upon.

Nagar Palika is responsible for constructing the building as the school is in their area. We sent many reminders but were told that tender process was on for the construction, he said.

Chhatarpur collector Ramesh Bhandari said, I am instructing officials to take any private building on rent till the building is constructed. I will order the Nagar Palika to issue the tender and start construction at the earliest, he said.
Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has pledged to devote at least 100 hours in a year for cleanliness activities on Seva Diwas, being observed on Sunday to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modis 67th birthday.

Parrikar took oath to devote at least 100 hours every year towards cleanliness drive and programmes with maximum two hours per day.

I pledge today not to make use of plastic in my day to day activities. Let us start from self, he said at a programme here.

To mark Modis birthday today, the BJP is observing Seva Diwas across the country with party leaders attending medical camps, blood donation events, and taking part in cleanliness drives.

Read more: Narendra Modi punishing people by massive taxation on fuel: Rahul Gandhi

Parrikar said Goa would become garbage free by 2020 and the government has already started working towards it.

To achieve the goal, the prime focus should be on reduction of wastage created out of unnecessary consumption. Do not create waste at the starting point. As far as possible manage the waste at local level, he said.

Parrikar also appealed to people to shun the use of plastic at homes and outside.

He said all government departments have been directed to not use plastic items for any programme or functions.
Taking a jibe at Pakistan, a top Indian diplomat has said Islamabads decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the United Nations is like Miyan ki daud masjid tak.

India, on the other hand, is focused on a progressive, forward-looking agenda during the UN General Assembly session beginning on Monday, Indias permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on Saturday.

We are visionary in our goals. If on the other hand there are other countries, who as you say, focus on yesterdays issues then they are yesterdays people, Akbaruddin said in response to a question on reports that Pakistan plans to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Pakistans new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly this week. Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj would deliver her address on September 23.

If they (Pakistan) focus on an issue which has not been on the discussion table in the UN now for decades, not for years, for decades..., if this is what they want to focus on, so be it. To be his own...miyan ki daud masjid tak, Akbaruddin said, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A day earlier, Pakistans foreign ministry had said that Abbasi would be raising the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Hoping that the UN would soon designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist, Akbaruddin said that New will not sit idle till the Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammed leader is brought to justice.

If I were to use a term, the matter is what we would call in judicial terms sub-judice. Currently the matter is with a UN committee. We hope that the committee will be able to fulfil its role in designating Masood Azhar who we have tried for quite some time but have not succeeded yet.

However, we would like to make it very clear, we will pursue Masood Azhar so that the ends of justice are met, he said.
People from all walks of life, including Union ministers, political leaders, Bollywood actors and the public, greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 67th birthday on Sunday.

Modi was born to Hiraba and Damodardas Modi in Vadnagar in Gujarats Mehsana district on September 17, 1950.

Modi started his day by taking blessings of his 97-year-old mother Hiraba, who lives with his younger brother Pankaj at Raisan village near state capital Gandhinagar.

The Prime Minister, who arrived in Ahmedabad on Saturday night, drove to his younger brothers residence at Vrindavan Bungalows on the outskirts of Gandhinagar on Sunday morning and took blessings of his mother.

Modi spent around 20 minutes with his mother, and also interacted with children of the locality after coming out of his brothers home.

Wishing Modi a happy birthday, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the day would be spent as Seva Divas.

Home minister Rajnath Singh wished Modi on his birthday, and said his leadership has immensely benefitted the nation. I pray for his long and healthy life, he tweeted.

Birthday wishes to Shri @narendramodi ji. His leadership & tenacity has immensely benefitted the nation. I pray for his long & healthy life.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 17, 2017

Greeting Modi, BJP president Amit Shah said the Prime Minister has been constantly striving towards making India a world leader again. He wished Modi the best of health and a long life so that he could continue serving the nation.

Shah said people across India will be observing the day as Seva Divas, and that he would be on a visit to Jharkhand where he would take part in a number of programmes to help people.

Smriti Irani, the Union minister of textiles and information and broadcasting, greeted Modi, calling him a visionary leader and an able administrator She said the Prime Minister was an inspiration to millions.

Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu wished Modi and prayed for his long,healthy life so that he continues to serve the country and realise the dream of New India.

Piyush Goyal, the minister of railways and coal, also posted birthday greetings for Modi, calling him a visionary and a symbol of hope, aspiration, and optimism for 125 crore Indians.

The BJP also wished Modi on his birthday, and said people wanting to wish the Prime Minister could also create a birthday card.

Other people like science and technology and environment minister Harsh Vardhan, actor Anupam Kher, Puducherry Lt Gov Kiran Bedi, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje also wished the Prime Minister.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister will dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation, and also address public meetings at Dabhoi and Amreli.

To mark the day, the BJP will observe Seva Divas across the country with party leaders attending medical camps, blood donation events, and taking part in cleanliness drives.

(With agency inputs)
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi extended birthday greetings on Sunday to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turned 67.

Best wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modiji on his birthday. @narendramodi, Gandhi said on Twitter.

Best wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modiji on his birthday. @narendramodi  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 17, 2017

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh also wished the Prime Minister on his birthday, saying, My best wishes to Modi ji on his birthday. May Almighty give him wisdom to admit his mistakes and correct them.

A word of advice to Modiji

"It takes guts and humility to admit mistakes. Admitting "we are wrong is courage, not weakness."

-Roy T Bennet  digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) September 17, 2017

The BJP is celebrating the day as Sewa Divas.

Modi was born to Hiraba and Damodardas Modi in Vadnagar in Gujarats Mehsana district on September 17, 1950.

Modi started his day by taking blessings of his 97-year-old mother Hiraba, who lives with his younger brother Pankaj at Raisan village near state capital Gandhinagar.

The Prime Minister, who arrived in Ahmedabad on Saturday night, drove to his younger brothers residence at Vrindavan Bungalows on the outskirts of Gandhinagar on Sunday morning and took blessings of his mother.
It was late one night in the summer of 2012 that Noorul Islams life changed for ever, sealing his familys fate as refugees from Myanmars Rakhine state.

Noorul was then just seven, but remembers in detail how militants attacked their home in Rakhine. He also remembers their escape from death and the early days of struggle in Bangladesh from where they were turned out and made their way to India.

Our situation was really bad because my father didnt have enough money to support us. We went hungry for days until we arrived in India and my father started selling fish to earn a living, he said, tears welling up at the memory.

Nooruls family is one of the 70 staying in a camp in Shaheen Bagh, tucked away in a corner of south Delhi.

They are the nowhere people, the Rohingya Muslims, considered by the UN to be the most persecuted minority in the world.

There are about 1,200 Rohingyas in the national capital, some in Shaheen Bagh and the others in a camp in Madanpur Khadar.

With hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, mostly Muslims, being forced to flee from Rakhine this month and take refuge in Bangladesh, their plight has hit global headlines. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said the Rohingya Muslims are facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

But those in India face their own share of anxieties with the government threatening to deport them.

All of 12, Noorul talks with the wisdom of someone much older when he says he would never want to go back to his homeland.

For him, home is a small makeshift tent next to huge piles of garbage and school is the nearby government one in Jasola.

I am happy here and I love going to school. I would never like to go back to my homeland because the military kills children there. I want to request the government not to send us back to Myanmar, he said.

The others in the camp are equally fearful at the thought of returning to the country that was once their home.

I dont want to live as a refugee my whole life. But even if I think of going back to my village in Myanmar, those nightmarish memories of military attacks haunt me, said Sabikun Nahar.

They burnt our house and forced us to follow Buddhism. We were even banned from going to the local mosque and we were so scared that we wouldnt sleep at night, she said.

The 21-year-old had left her village in 2012 and moved to Bangladesh with her relatives. She lived with her parents in the camp for a year but extreme poverty and no employment avenues drove her to India.

In 2013, Nahar found herself in the Shaheen Bagh camp. She is now married to Mohammed Zubair, 30, a fellow refugee in the camp who works with an NGO in the city.

He earns about Rs 12,000 every month and the couple finds it difficult to make ends meet. But Nahar shudders at the thought of being sent back.

The situation has worsened since 2012. I want the whole world to support us. I wanted to call my parents who are now in Bangladesh to Delhi but with the government here thinking of deporting us how will I call them, she asked.

Constant worry -- about their present, their future and the well-being of their families in Myanmar or in Bangladesh-- is the subtext of all their lives.

Abdul Rahim, 35, who runs a small grocery shop in the camp and earns about Rs 300 a day, has been desperately trying to get in touch with his brother back home.

There are many relatives who are still stuck in the country. I am worried about my brother and his family because they havent reached Bangladesh yet, said Abdul, who fled from Myanmar nine years ago.

He said he is shocked by the governments plan to deport them. I would rather die here than go back to my country where people are facing atrocities and violence.

Hoping for some intervention, Shabeer, who works with the Rohingyas Human Rights Initiative (ROHRIngya), has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

We wrote a letter to the foreign minister on August 23 and are waiting for a reply. I want to ask the government here why they want to deport us, he said.

He speaks for thousands of other Rohingyas who dread the prospect of being sent back from India.

The government told Parliament on August 9 that more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, are at present staying in India.

However, activists estimate that around 40,000 Rohingyas are living in India illegally, mostly in Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Hyderabad and parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had earlier said the Rohingyas were illegal immigrants and stand to be deported.

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a plea challenging the governments decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar.

Their future might well take another decisive turn tomorrow.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj is likely to share stage with her Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Muhammad Asif next week on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Swaraj and Asif are slated to come face-to-face during a group meeting of foreign ministers belonging to SAARC nations.

This is the second time since the NDA formed the central government in 2014 that the 65-year-old leader will lead the Indian delegation at the United Nations.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader is likely to have a packed schedule involving meetings with an array of leaders on the sidelines of UNGA, which she will address on September 23.

Swaraj is also scheduled to take part in meetings of the leaders of Non-aligned Movement, G4 (India, Brazil, Germany and Japan), BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and G77 group of developing nations.

The external affairs minister is expected to hold about 20 bilateral and trilateral meetings with leaders attending the session, external affairs ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said.

Ahead of the session, India said UN reforms need to be broad-based and all-encompassing and the changes should not be restricted to the bodys secretariat only.

We feel that reforms need to be much more broad based. You cannot have reform only of the secretariat. Reforms cannot side step issues related to governance of UN bodies, Indias permanent representative to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin, told reporters.

For us, reform is broad based, its all encompassing. And we look to engage with all our friends and colleagues from other countries on this, Akbaruddin said.

India is among the 120 countries which have supported the reform efforts of the UN Secretary General.

Winds of change are blowing globally so therefore UN cannot be left aside. So, reform is a major issue in the United Nations, Akbaruddin said.

Akbaruddin said that issues of climate change, terrorism, people centric migration and peacekeeping are other key focus areas for India this year at the summit.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to meet her US counterpart Rex Tillerson for the first time this week on the sideline of the annual UN general assembly and will attend a multilateral meeting chaired by President Donald Trump on the issue of reforming the world body.

Trump, a long-time critic of the UN, has backed a proposal by the UN secretary general Antonio to streamline the secretariat. The changes are largely administrative and will not go into the larger reform of the UN Security Council.

India is supporting the effort as it is generally pro-reform. But it feels reform needs to be much more broad-based, Indian Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said on Saturday, previewing Indias agenda for the coming general assembly.

You cannot have reform only of the secretariat; reform cannot sidestep issue relating to governance of UN bodies.

In short, India, a leading claimant to a permanent seat, would like to see progress on the expansion of the UNSC to include more permanent members.

Asked about a possible move by Pakistan to raise Kashmir at the UN, as it has in the past, Akbaruddin said Pakistan will be predictable if it did so, but it might be noted that the issue has not been discussed in the world body for the past 40 years.

The more substantive interaction will be Swarajs meeting with Tillerson, but officials said they were working on the date and time. The two leaders have spoken on phone before but this will be their first meeting, to be followed soon enough by their second, as part of the 2-by-2 dialogue. India and the United States announced a new 2-by-2 talks format simultaneously involving the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries, replacing the earlier version that involved the foreign and commerce ministers.

The new dialogue is slated for later this month, to be hosted by India.

Swaraj has about 15-20 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA, external affairs ministry spokesperson Ravish Kumar told reporters in New York.

The minister is arriving on Sunday, and will attend the UN reforms meeting on Monday.

Swaraj will address the UN general assembly on September 23 and until then she will have a string of bilateral and multilateral meetings.

Though the minister has no structured bilateral meetings with counterparts from China and Pakistan, she will see them at meetings of multilateral bodies of which they are members, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS.

They are known to say hello to each other and exchange pleasantries at these multilateral forums, an official said on background, but no structured bilateral meetings have been lined up with China or Pakistan.

Both countries could by name or by reference figure in Swarajs speech. Specially Pakistans role in abetting cross-border terrorism.

Counter-terrorism will be one of five key elements of Indias agenda at the upcoming session of the UN, Akbaruddin said.

The main element will be a broad-based and all-encompassing reform of the UN, he said. Which is essentially the expansion of the Security Council to reflect the changing world situation.

UNSC expansion, which is progressing at snails pace, will be addressed specifically by Swaraj also when she meets her counterparts from the other so-called G4 countries  Germany, Japan and Brazil  that have come together in support of each others claim to membership of the UNs top decisionmaking body.

The other key elements of the Indian agenda for the session are peacekeeping operations and the questions of sustainable peace. India is a leading contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, tackling climate change and the need to focus on people-centric issues such as migration.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday that talks with Pakistan will have no meaning unless the neighbouring country stops exporting terrorists to India.

He said that Pakistan was continuing its attempts to destabilise India by sending terrorists and by violating ceasefire.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Nizamabad to mark Telangana Liberation Day, the minister claimed that situation on the border had changed and that India is no longer a weak country.

Stating that India is giving a befitting reply to the terror, he said this had no parallel in the countrys history.

Singh vowed to root out the problems of terrorism, extremism and Maoism.

He said India had emerged as a powerful country and no power can cast evil eye on it or threaten its sovereignty.

The home minister said the 13 month period from August 15, 1947 to September 17, 1948 was a dark chapter in Indias history as the ruler of Hyderabad State committed repression on people, who want to merge with India.

He paid tributes to Indias first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for launching police action to force Nizam to merge Hyderabad State with the Indian Union.

He said the credit of political unification of India goes to Patel who ensured merger of all states with the Indian Union.
He did everything possible to evade arrest  used aliases, continually changed places of work across states and burnt all incriminating documents  but law finally got the better of Dr Amit Kumar, who allegedly masterminded the kidney racket that was being run in Dehradun -- and years earlier, in Gurugram.

Amit and his brother Jeevan Kumar, also a doctor, were arrested by Dehradun police from Panchkula in Haryana late on Friday night: He was preparing to escape to Nepal. The police confiscated six mobile phones and Rs 33 lakh from his car. His son, also a doctor, is still absconding.

Amit Kumar was arrested many times, jumped bail and went absconding in several cases over the past two decades, but always began his business of illegal kidney extractions afresh each time, thanks to his strong network of touts and middlemen who lined up kidney donors and recipients from different parts of the country and even abroad.

Dehradun police, which arrested Amit, said he had been booked in many cases in places like Mumbai, Guntur and Anand apart from those registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the enforcement directorate.

Originally from Maharashtra and known by several aliases including Dr Amit Kumar, Dr Santosh Raut and Dr Amit Raut, the kidney racket kingpin had shot to national limelight with the Gurgaon kidney racket case in 2008.

He fled to Nepal, but was later extradited by the CBI. In 2013, a CBI special court had convicted Amit to seven years of rigorous imprisonment besides slapping a fine of Rs 60 lakh on him. He got bail a year later, but continued kidney extractions in Gurugram, even while he was on bail, through his agent Javed Khan from Mumbai (who was arrested by the Dehradun police on September 11).

He was again arrested in connection with another kidney racket case in Gujarat in March last year, wherein he escaped police custody while being escorted to Anand from New Delhi in August 2016. He was later declared an absconder and a reward of Rs 50,000 was announced against him by Gujarat Police.

In the past, too, a Faridabad court had in 2012 sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, convicting him for negligence in treatment that led to death of three Turkish nationals. He had also been arrested by Delhi Police in 2000 in another kidney racket in Delhi.

Shockingly, Dr Amit, who confessed to police to have performed around 50 renal surgeries in Dehradun in the past two months, is an ayurvedic practitioner and not even qualified to perform a kidney extraction/transplantation surgery.

He continually used to change names and was found carrying two separate driving licenses even when he was arrested. All the money he used to earn through his illegal activities used to get exhausted every time he got arrested, so he used to start all over again, changing his place of action, Dehradun senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti Kumar said.

After fleeing from Gujarat, he got in touch with one Rajiv Chaudhary, the middleman who brokered the deal for a hospital premises in Uttarakhand for Dr Amit.

In Dehradun, his modus operandi was to get poor people from far off states for extracting kidneys and later transplanted them on rich patients, including foreigners at a makeshift operation theater at building at a desolate location on Dehradun-Haridwar highway.

Police said he had an arrangement with a private hospital around 30 km from Dehradun, where the post operative care of the patients were taken. He started his racket in July this year.

They used to burn all documents related to the case to eliminate any evidence...he told us that around 50 kidney surgeries (including organ extraction and transplantation) had been performed in the Dehradun hospital since July this year, the SSP said.

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India has said that the UN reforms need to be broad-based and all-encompassing and the changes should not be restricted to its Secretariat only.

We feel that reforms need to be much more broad-based. You cannot have reform only of the Secretariat. Reforms cannot side step issues related to governance of UN bodies, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters at a news conference here yesterday.

His remarks came as US President Donald Trump was set to deliver his first speech to the UN General Assembly next week.

For us reform is broad based, its all encompassing. And we look to engage with all our friends and colleagues from other countries on this, Akbaruddin said adding that India is in touch with countries that are pro-reforms.

Trump is scheduled to chair a high-level meeting of the UN at its headquarters in New York on September 18 on UN reforms.

India, among the 120 countries who have supported the reform efforts of the UN Secretary General will participate in the meeting.

Winds of change are blowing globally so therefore UN cannot be left aside. So, reform is a major issue in the UN, Akbaruddin said.

Indias External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive in New York today. She is expected to address the UN General Assembly on September 23.

In addition to her address to the General Assembly, she is likely to have 15-20 bilateral meetings with world leaders and attend several multilateral meetings, during her week-long stay here.

In a preview of the Swarajs engagements at the UN and her meetings here, Akbaruddin said that issues of climate change, terrorism, people centric migration and peacekeeping are other key focus areas for India this year.

Swaraj will also participate in a special panel of selected countries by the UN Secretary General on climate action, he said.

Part of Swarajs interaction would be a focus on how India is working with other countries on global solar initiative.

Our goals are broad. They are global in nature. Some of them are inspirational. There are some of them where we are working for several years and there are some where we hope to have an outcome this year, Akbaruddin said.

Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said officials are working on a number of regional meetings including SAARC, BRICS, G-77 and G-4.

We are also working on several bilateral and tri-lateral meetings, he said.
Nine CBI courts hearing Vyapam scam-related cases have been closed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court at the request of the agency, which wanted the trials to be shifted to its other special courts for tighter scrutiny.

The HC had set up 22 special courts for hearing Vyapam scam-related cases. It had closed four of them earlier.

Of the remaining 18, nine were in Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore. The districts of Rewa, Damoh, Sagar, Balaghat, Morena, Chattarpur, Guna, Bhind and Khandwa have one court each.

The courts in these nine districts will now be closed at the request of the CBI. Their 38 cases will be brought to the special Vyapam courts in Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore, CBI sources said.

They said the agency had made the request in this regard to the Madhya Pradesh HC which allowed the plea through an order on September 11.

The sources said the special CBI courts in Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore have necessary infrastructure and human resource that can monitor the ongoing trials.

The Vyapam court in Bhopal has three special judges and one special magistrate, Gwalior has two special judges and one special magistrate, while one special judge each is there in Indore and Jabalpur.

It will not impact the ongoing trials. These nine courts were hearing 38 of the total 154 cases in which most of the witnesses do not belong to those districts. Hence, there will be no impact of moving these cases to the special courts in Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore and Gwalior, said an official.

He said these cities have full-fledged legal teams and officials like special prosecutors, pairavi officers among others can ensure better monitoring of the cases.

Voluminous records will be presented during the trials. The very nature of the cases requires examination and cross- examination by cyber crime and legal experts which will be easy in cities where the CBI has its own infrastructure, he said.

CBI sources said the special Vyapam courts were notified by the high court keeping in view that the state police will be probing the matter.

This was done before the CBI took over the investigation in the cases on the orders of the Supreme Court on July 24, 2015.

The scam is related to manipulation in the selection process for government colleges and jobs conducted by the Madhya Pradesh professional examination board or Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam). It involved the impersonation of candidates, rampant copying, blank answer sheets and fake marks.

The CBI has registered 154 regular cases in connection with the scam, and one regarding the death of a person allegedly linked to it, agency sources said.

It has filed final reports in 90 cases -- 84 charge sheets and six closure reports -- while the probe is underway in the remaining 64 and final reports will be filed in the coming months, they said.

Besides, 14 cases were directly taken to trial as the charge sheets were submitted by the local police.

In two cases, conviction has been pronounced by a special Vyapam court.

As on August 31, 2017, over 10,818 people were examined by the agency which includes 5,603 witnesses and 5,215 accused. 348 people have been charge sheeted so far, said the official.
Hoping that the UN would soon designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist, a top Indian diplomat has said that New Delhi will not sit idle till the Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammed leader is brought to justice.

India has identified Azhar as the mastermind of the Pathankot terror attack on January 1, 2016. It has also blamed his brother Rauf and five others for carrying out the attack in which seven Indian soldiers were killed along with all the six terrorists.

If I were to use a term, the matter is what we would call in judicial terms sub-judice. Currently the matter is with a UN committee. We hope that the committee will be able to fulfil its role in designating Masood Azhar who we have tried for quite some time but have not succeeded yet, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said in New York.

However, we would like to make it very clear, we will pursue Masood Azhar so that the ends of justice are met, he said on Saturday at a news conference in response to a question on Indias effort towards terrorist designation of Azhar, which has repeatedly been blocked by China.

China in August extended by three months its technical hold on the US, France and UK-backed proposal to designate the Pathankot attack mastermind as a global terrorist by the UN.

If China would not have extended the technical hold last month, Azhar would have automatically been designated under the UN as a terrorist.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, China has repeatedly blocked Indias move to put a ban on the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council. JeM has already been in the banned list.

Last year in March, China was the sole member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on Indias application with all other 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhis bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.

He (Azhar) may try to delay this, but the inevitable will happen. So be certain about it. The clock is ticking for him. He will be pursued until justice is met, Akbaruddin said.

When a reporter asked what are Chinas objections to British-backed proposal to list Azhar as a designated terrorist by the UN, he said, You should ask them.

The three-month validity of the current technical hold is expiring on November 2.
A class 11 student in West Bengals North 24 Parganas district was found hanging lifeless from the ceiling fan of her house after she was scolded by her elder brother for spending excessive time on Facebook, family members said on Saturday.

While the family said the girl - a resident of Mansabari area under Habra police station - had committed suicide on Friday night, police said they were looking at all angles.

According to the family members, the girl strangulated herself with a cloth from the ceiling fan in her bedroom.

Since the time she got a mobile, she had been totally absorbed with it. She even had no appetite for food, and had lost interest in studies. She also didnt want to go to school, the girls mother said.

Her brother used to scold her. He had rebuked her on Friday morning also, she said.

The girl was all alone in the house on Friday evening as all other family members went to visit an ailing relative in hospital.

When we came back around 8 p.m., we found her hanging from the ceiling fan, said a family member.

I cant understand how she could take the extreme step for a trivial reason, said the victims elder sister.

The family members said days before her death, the girl had changed her whatsap status to I am dead.

They said she had even posted on Facebook about losing all interest in life.

We are looking at all angles. We are speaking to the family members, said a police officer.
A 29-year-old mans attempts to secure justice for his raped wife ended with his murder at Hiranandapur-Nanditola village in Malda district last week.

Police have arrested two people, including the rape victims brother, but the prime suspect continues to be at large. The body of the deceased was recovered from a river on Sunday morning, two days after his abduction.

The woman was allegedly raped in 2011, after which she lodged a complaint against one Siddhartha Mondal. The deceased married her later, and took it upon himself to ensure that she received justice.

The rape victim had moved court soon after the wedding, alleging police inaction. Siddhartha threatened the couple with dire consequences several times over the last six years. He tried his best to make them withdraw the case, said Nabonil Mondal, the deceaseds cousin.

The accused allegedly carried out his threat on Friday evening, when the man went to a nearby market with his wifes brother. The latter returned a couple of hours later, panting. He said Siddhartha and his friend, Krishna Chowdhury, had attacked them en route and taken the deceased away by force.

According to the brother-in-law, Siddhartha and Krishna dragged the two to a local orchard and began beating them. Though he managed to flee, (the deceased) could not. But there are quite a few discrepancies in his story, said Nabonil, without elaborating.

The deceaseds family lodged a complaint with the police on Saturday, naming his brother in-law as a co-conspirator in the crime.

The relative was arrested on Sunday, after police found the stabbed body on Sunday. Both he and Krishna are being interrogated in connection with the murder. Siddhartha is still missing, but we hope to catch him soon, a senior officer with the Malda district police told HT.

(The names of the rape victim and her relatives have been omitted to prevent identification)
Its Sunday and you are in a mood to relax. What better time to reflect on how the world is a strange, strange place?

Just in the span of the last week, our fellow humans have left no stone unturned to be involved in bizarre things. From science to makeup to singing, heres your guide to this weeks six weirdest stories that will make you laugh or squirm or simply go, what the hell?

1) A bunch of people assembled to shout Bol na aunty aaun kya in the middle of Connaught Place

Monday started on a weird note when a bunch of people gathered in Delhis Connaught Place to loudly shout Bol na aunty aaun kya, a viral YouTube sensation by Indian Idol reject Omprakash Mishra. The song (if you can call it that), has some level A explicit, offensive lyrics about a young guys creepy obsession with an older woman.

Mishras obscure song slowly became a viral hit after the success of Dhinchak Poojas Selfie Maine Le Li Aaj pushed cringe pop into the mainstream. The song was taken down by YouTube due to a copyright complaint, but has sparked heated discussions over its lyrics, as well as the cringe-pop trend.

2) A sex robot appears as a guest on a morning talk show

British network ITVs This Morning show had an unusual guest this week. A walking, talking sex robot who talked philosophy and science.

Samathas creator Arran Lee Squire, a father of two, helped develop the hyper-realistic doll with artificial intelligence. The 4,000 doll (approximately Rs 3,44,360) is on sale at sex shops, according to a DailyPost report, and Squire said it can be used by couples to spice up their love lives.

3) Amateur interpreter uses pizza, monster, bear in sign language during Irma briefing

An American countys last-minute decision to rope in an amateur interpreter for a press briefing on Hurricane Irma did not go down as planned.

Manatee County leaders asked Marshall Greene to pitch in, but lifeguard who uses sign language to communicate with his brother, signed words such as pizza, monster and bear that were completely unrelated.

4) Liquid cats, crocodile bets and didgeridoos win Ig Nobel science prizes

The world of science did its best to honour weirdness this week at the Ig Nobel awards. Scientists debating whether cats were solid or liquid or how holding a crocodile can influence gambling or a very helpful study on how playing the didgeridoo can help cure snoring were the recipients of the awards that aim to highlight scientific research that makes people think in unusual ways.

Didgeridoo instructor Alex Suarez, center, demonstrates the Ig Nobel Peace prize-winning study, "Didgeridoo Playing as Alternative Treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome," during the 27th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony at Harvard University. (REUTERS)

5) Rabbit isnt a cute pet, its meat: Maduro govts plan to feed the hungry in Venezuela

Venezuelas government this week urged citizens to see rabbits as more than cute pets as it defended a plan to breed and eat them to tide over food shortage. The Rabbit Plan is an effort by the government of President Nicolas Maduro to boost food availability.

6) Hair nails: The new beauty trend we hope will die a quick death

The world of makeup and beauty is pretty consistent in introducing the world to new, why-would-you-want-do this trends. So after braided brows and squiggle lips, one creative beauty blogger decided that the world urgently needed hair nails.

Illusionist Dain Yoon has introduced the world to a new beauty trend: hair nails. (Twitter handle @designdain)
A picture may not always be worth a thousand words, say scientists who found that texts can have a greater influence in shaping political views in the long run. Whether it is through traditional or social media, print or television, most of us are exposed to powerful news images on a daily basis, researchers said.

Many of these arouse an emotional response and are believed to directly or indirectly frame how we view contemporary issues, they said. Recent prominent examples include the dramatic images of refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean or the horrors of the Syrian civil war. The graphic nature of such images often lead media commentators to suggest that they are an effective medium for shaping political perceptions.

Researchers from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in the Netherlands discovered that images are particularly good at evoking emotions, such as sympathy for refugees, and, in turn, triggering behaviours such as donating money or signing a petition. However, images do not appear to change opinions in the longer-term. Text is better at changing opinions, probably because it requires more engagement on the part of the reader, and in turn, gets them involved in the issue, researchers said.

We also discovered that viewing news about, say, the refugee crisis in a news article encouraged people to help refugees more than seeing it in video format, said Tom Powell, PhD candidate at UvA. Our findings suggest that when people read the news they become more involved in it than if they watch it, Powell said. For the study, researchers conducted several experiments in which news viewers were exposed to high-impact stories on emotive topics such as the European refugee crisis and military intervention in foreign conflicts.

Participants were shown various combinations of image and text in both article and video format and later asked to indicate their opinions and behaviours towards these topics. The findings go against the common view that images alone can sway political decision-making.

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The drinking has begun as wet weather and enhanced security did not dampen the spirits of beer enthusiasts at the 184th Oktoberfest which opened in Munich on September 16. Six million people from all over the world are expected to visit the worlds largest beer festival, which runs until October 3.

Visitors reach for the first mugs of beer during the opening day of the 184th Oktoberfest. (Michael Dalder/REUTERS)

This year, visitors will be able to download an app that shows nearby tents with available space. It will also help festival goers find lost friends -- which will be useful as the largest tent fits 10,000 people.

Visitors on the opening day of the Oktoberfest. The festival kicks off with the mayor tapping the first keg at noon. (Guenter Schiffmann/AFP)

Drinkers will face higher beer prices -- a litre of beer will cost up to 10.95 euros ($13 or Rs 833 approx), 25 cents higher than last year, when 6.6 million litres of beer were guzzled over the two weeks.

Visitors gather in a tent during the opening day of the 184th Oktoberfest. (Michaela Rehle/REUTERS)

Oktoberfest is hoping more people will come to the festival this year after attendance in 2016 dipped in part due to concern over terror attacks.

Visitors wearing funny clothes wait for the opening of the 184th Oktoberfest. (Matthias Schrader/AP)

Security has since been bolstered at the festival, with backpacks as well as large bags now being banned.

Traditional gingerbread hearts are displayed for sale during the opening day of the 184th Oktoberfest. (Michaela Rehle/REUTERS)

The entrances will be watched over by more than 650 security guards, up by 200 from last year, CCTV cameras have been added and a new loudspeaker system can now be used to alert visitors in three languages: German, English and Bavarian.

Visitor wait in the rain outside the Oktoberfest area on the opening day. (Michaela Rehle/REUTERS)

Germany was rocked by a number of attacks last summer. In Munich, an 18-year-old shot nine people dead at a shopping mall before turning the gun on himself.

Visitors ride a swing ride. (Michael Dalder/REUTERS)

In the southern region of Bavaria, where Munich is located, two other attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group: a failed Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up at a music festival, wounding 15, and a 17-year-old Afghan refugee injured five in an axe attack.

People celebrate at the opening day. (Matthias Schrader/AP)

On December 19, 2016, the country was traumatised when a man hijacked a truck and ploughed into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people.
Palm Beach Road, Nerul

History: The school is one of the 11 Delhi Public Schools (core) of DPS Society and was established in 1999. Spread over sprawling 7.5 acres, DPS Navi Mumbai is commended for its spending performance in academics and various extra-curricular activities at national as well as international level.

Unique features: DPS Navi Mumbai provides to students a holistic environment to face global challenges. It boasts a 5-acre playground with facilities including horse riding and swimming pool.

Highest ratings in: Academic rigour, value for money, cultural activities, infrastructure and facilities, educational philosophy and selection process

Board: CBSE

Annual fees: Rs72,000

Students: 3,655

Student-teacher ratio: 18:1

Website: www.dpsnavimumbai.edu.in

Quote: We impart quality and innovative education incorporating values to nurture our students, enabling them to contribute towards nation building.

J MOHANTY, principal
Jain Derasar Road, Santacruz (West)

History: While the Podar Group has been in the field since 1927, the RN Podar CBSE School was set up in 1998.

Unique features: It is among the first schools to have formally implemented the flipped classroom learning model. The school is also among the first to set up a Makers Lab encouraging children to be creative and hands-on problem solvers.

Highest ratings in: Breadth of vision, academic rigour, governance

Board: CBSE

Annual fees: Not disclosed

Students: 2,800

Student-teacher ratio: CBSE: 1: 40

Website: www.rnpodarschool.com

Quote: The school holds its own even in times of uncertain and unpredictable change and prepares its students to adopt, adapt, reinvent and remain relevant at all times.

AVNITA BIR, director-principal
Rains failed to damped the spirit of around 12,000 devotees, who visited Mount Mary Basilica from across the city on Sunday for the mass on the last day of the 10-day fair.

Though it was raining, everything went well, thanks to the efforts put in by traffic police and the support staff, said Fr Michael Govias, vice-rector, basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, Bandra.

This year, the organisers executed a new crowd management system, in which devotees could walk in a single file to the altar. Though, it was carried out on trial basis initially, they continued with the arrangement, which Govias said was well received by devotees.

Janice Pereira, a resident of Mahim, made it to the church with her elderly mother and waited in the premises for quite long because it was raining. She said since it was the last day of the feast (marking the birthday of Mother Mary), she wanted to come to the church. The biggest shrine is in Tamil Nadu, but not everyone can make it there. So, the next place people visit is this, said Pereira.

To revive the memories of 1761, when the statue of Mount Mary was carried to Bandra, the Mobai Gaothan Panchayat carried out a procession called Mot Mauli Purcessao on Saturday, wherein a decorated cart carried a statue from Mahim Church to St Peters Church.

Though the fair and festivity comes to an end, the residents who have been complaining about the inconvenience they underwent due to the hawkers may have to face problem for one more day. Govias, who had personally gone asking the hawkers to not put any stall before the festivity begins, said if the stalls are still there till Tuesday, he will ask the police to take action against them. We understand that the residents around have been complaining, but these stalls maybe there for a day, and we cant really do much about it. But, if they are still there on Tuesday, we will ask the police to clear them up, said Govias.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the state cabinet expansion will take place soon. While speaking with the media in Aurangabad, he said, Following the reshuffle and expansion of the Union cabinet, the state will also go for expansion soon. He was in Aurangabad for the anniversary celebration of Marathwadas freedom movement.

When asked if allies such as Shiv Sena and others will also be considered in the proposed rejig, the CM refused to divulge any more details.

Speculations of cabinet expansion are rife since long. BJP sources have hinted that a reshuffle in the state cabinet was on the cards after the reshuffle at the Centre took place.

If sources are to be believed, few ministers of state, including Madan Yerawar and Ranjit Patil, may get elevated to cabinet rank. The reshuffle is likely to be based on performance. However, junior ministers may get important posts owing to the significance of the community they represent, the sources said.

Also, Fadnavis recently sought information on the work done by each and every minister in the last three years. The move assumes significance as Fadnavis is likely to assess work of the ministers before taking the final call, sources added.

On the other hand, the Shiv Sena may also demand an additional berth in the cabinet as it was left out from reshuffle at the Centre held on September 3.
Following state Congress chief Ashok Chavans move to dissolve the district committee of Sindhudurg, senior Congress leader Narayan Rane on Sunday indicated a big move before Dussera, triggering speculations of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rane also lambasted Chavan for allegedly hatching a conspiracy against him.

I will end whatever has been initiated by the Congress. I will do it during Navratri itself, Rane said, reacting to the dissolving of the Sindhudurg district Congress committee.

On Saturday, the Congress party dissolved its district committee.

It replaced Ranes close confidante Datta Samant with Vikas Sawant as new district president. Rane said he will visit the district on Monday and will decide his future course of action after consulting his supporters.

Sources close to him said Rane is organising a huge rally as a show of strength in the district on Monday.

For more than five months, speculations have been rife that the former chief minister is leaving Congress after his demand for appointing him as Maharashtra Congress president was not fulfilled by the party high-command.

The talks over Rane defecting to the BJP gained momentum following media reports he met BJP chief Amit Shah and CM Devendra Fadnavis in Ahmedabad in April this year.

Rane had admitted getting an offer from the BJP sometimes back but denied any such meeting.

Slamming the state Congress chief, Rane said he (Chavan) is alone enough to wipe out Congress from Maharashtra. Since my inception in the Congress in 2005, Chavan and Mohan Prakash, in-charge general secretary, has been working against me. Now they want me out of the party. Its an old problem of the party that works against its own leader of the masses, Rane said in an interview to a Marathi news channel.

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Hours after a major fire at the iconic RK Studios in Chembur gutted a set for a TV reality show, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a letter to the studios to remove dangerous or damaged portion and take necessary precautions to avoid any further mishap on the site. The letter was issued by the building and factory department of the M/West ward (that includes Chembur) late on Saturday evening, officials confirmed.

The letter, a copy of which is with HT, stated, A major fire incident had occurred at studio 1 at RK films and studios in which the entire structure of studio 1 has been damaged badly leaving the walls in a dangerous condition. You are hereby directed to remove the dangerous and damaged portion of the structure immediately and take necessary precautionary and safety measures to prevent any further mishap on the site.

Harshad Kale, assistant commissioner of the M/West ward, said since it is a private property, the BMC cannot assess the damage the fire caused. There is no fear to adjacent structures but we have asked them to restore the damaged portions immediately, Kale said.

A major fire broke out at the studio, founded by late superstar Raj Kapoor, on Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, no one was shooting at the set at the time. Around 11 fire tenders were rushed to the studios and the fire was brought under control by 6.16 pm, officials said.

Kishor Darekar, a representative from the studio, said they are still assessing the damage caused by the fire. There are four stages in the studio, of which two have been damaged. We are still assessing the losses. The work to be undertaken is yet not clear, said Darekar.

Meanwhile, fire officials said the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. Prima facie, it seems like short circuit was teh reason the fire erupted and it spread rapidly owing to the presence of a huge number of combustible materials in the studio. PN Dudhale, divisional fire officer at Mankhurd, said, The studio was fire compliant and we also used the firefighting system. The officials have started the investigation and the report will be submitted in the next 15 days.

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Looks like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has found a solution to curb the ever-increasing dropout rate and revive defunct civic schools in the city. In a policy that is likely to be tabled before the education committee next week, the BMC has proposed partnering private entities to reopen defunct civic schools. The policy claims to promote quality education by enrolling private players.

According to the civic officials, 35 schools in the city were shutdown over the years. The BMC will provide this infrastructure to NGOs and CSR (corporate social responsibility) teams to run the schools as per their medium-of-instruction (MOI). The institutions will undergo a screening process and they will also be expected to submit a plan on running the school which needs civic approval. The MOI must meet the localitys popular choice.

These schools that will be run in partnership will also be called the model public schools, civic officials said. The concept was introduced in the civic budget 2017-18.

Officials said that even as the policy is in the final stages, the process of shortlisting schools that were shut continues. The policy was approved at the group leaders meeting in the BMC. Milind Sawant, deputy municipal commissioner (education), BMC, said, The policy will now to be tabled before the education committee and the corporation.

Despite massive budgetary provisions, number of children enroling in civic schools has fallen over the years. According to a 2016 report by NGO Praja foundation, the enrolment went down by 15% since 2008-09 while the dropout rates increase every year. Activists blame have blamed the poor quality of education at civic schools and the preference for private and English-medium schools in the city.

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Police in Mumbais Malad arrested a 28-year-old man on Friday for allegedly raping a 26-year-old woman after spiking her drink.

The accused also allegedly made a video of the act on his mobile phone and blackmailed her into a physical relationship with him. When she refused, he sent the video clip to her husband.

According to police, the accused, Sartaj Shaikh, is an autorickshaw driver by profession and resides in Gajdharbhandh area of Santacruz (West) with his family. The woman had known the accused for a long time as he used to drive an autorickshaw owned by her.

Around two months ago, he called her asking for money, claiming that his auto had a mechanical failure and he needed money to repair it.

When she met him, he offered her a spiked drink and sexually assaulted her. He also made a video clip of the incident. The victim was not aware, said a police officer.

When the woman woke up, she found herself sleeping in an auto, and suspected something was wrong with her, the official added.

After a few days, Shaikh allegedly started blackmailing her and threatened to send the video to her husband if she did not accept his proposal to continue the physical relationship.

When the victim refused, he sent the clip to her husband, the police official said.

The victim, along with her husband, approached the Malad police station on September 14. As per her statement, we registered a rape case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused, said senior inspector Sudhir Mhadik of the Malad police station.

The accused was arrested on Friday and is in police custody for further questioning, the official said.
A man, his brother and mother have been arrested for allegedly torturing his 23-year-old wife to the extent that she was forced to kill herself at their residence in Dharavi.

The Dharavi police said Puja Kamble and Tushar Kamble, 25, fell in love after meeting at a workplace four years ago and tied the knot on April 23. Pujas father, a videographer, also gave dowry to Tushars family.

Soon after their wedding, Puja saw Tushar celebrate a womans birthday in Borivli national park when he had told her that he was at work. When she confronted him, Tushar and the other women with him beat her up, said the police. Also, Tushars mother Pratiksha, 49, used to taunt her that her father gave them low quality materials in dowry.

READ: Shouldve saved for dowry instead of IIT, says father of PhD scholar found dead

On July 12, Puja filed a non-cognizable complaint under section 504 of IPC against her in-laws at Dharavi police station. A day before she committed suicide on September 10, her neighbour had called her father to inform him that she could hear Puja scream after being abused and assaulted by her in-laws. After her suicide, her father registered an FIR under section 306, 498 A and 34 of IPC against the trio.

Senior police inspector Suryakant Bangar of Dharavi police said, She did not leave a suicide note but based on other evidences and her fathers FIR, we have arrested the three. They are now sent to judicial custody. The claim Puja was mentally sick and had undergone treatment for it through an NGO.

READ: Delhi: 24-year-old woman set on fire by husband, in-laws, suspected dowry death
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday issued a heavy rainfall warning expected in the next 72 hours in the city. The civic body has also asked citizens to remain alert till September 21.

The release states that as per information received from the Colaba observatory, the north Konkan region of Maharashtra, including Mumbai and its neighbouring areas, will receive continuous rain. Some places are expected to receive heavy showers. A senior civic official said, According to messages received from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), all of Maharashtra is expected to get heavy rainfall.

Recently, BMC received flak for not alerting citizens a day before heavy rainfall that caused the city to come to a standstill. On August 29, the city received more than 300mm rainfall in a day, resulting in water-logging at several locations. With all three railway lines shut, lakhs of Mumbaikars remained stranded and had to spend the night away from home.

Citizens had then said that BMC should have declared a holiday for schools and colleges a day before. However, in the warning issued on Sunday, BMC has not given any specific advisory.

Meanwhile on Sunday, some slabs of a ground plus three building in Byculla collapsed in the afternoon. According to fire officials, families staying in the building and two jewelry shops have been vacated from the premises. The 100-year-old Khan building in NC Market is owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Development Corporation (MHADA). Officials confirmed that there no injuries reported in the incident.
Private bus operators in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) on Sunday deferred their proposed strike against traffic restriction imposed by the Mumbai traffic police to decongest city roads. This has come as a big relief to parents, tourists and office goers, as they wont have to face inconvenience.

Bus operators had threatened a 48-hour strike from Tuesday morning.

It would have kept about 33,000 buses off the road.

Operators are opposed to a circular by the traffic department, imposing a 17-hour ban on the entry of tourist buses in South Mumbai. The order was meant to decongest roads.

Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghtana, the association of the bus operators across the city, postponed the strike after a meeting of its members at Sion on Sunday. According to the association, more than 300 bus operators attended the meeting after Mumbai police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar has assured that no action would be taken against buses for next 10 days.

The Mumbai police commissioner has directed the traffic cops to take care of all our concerns and make necessary changes in the traffic plan. Therefore, we have decided to defer the strike to avoid trouble to commuters, said Harsh Kotak, a member the association.

Meanwhile, the traffic police have called meeting with bus operators on Monday, asking suggestions and objections before issuing final notification about traffic restrictions.

Bus operators also blamed that the parking mafia is behind the latest traffic restrictions as they want to extort money.

This would result in bus operators increasing their fares. It will eventually affect common man, said Kotak.

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Political circles were abuzz with rumours after the youth Congress leader and All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Rajiv Satav met the union minister of transport, shipping and water resources, Nitin Gadkari, at his Nagpur residence on Saturday evening.

The closed-door meeting between the leaders has fuelled speculation that the Congress member of parliament (MP) may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Congress leader and former chief minister Narayan Ranes likely induction into the saffron party.

The news of the meeting between Satav and Gadkari became the topic of discussion on social media since Saturday evening. Satav reportedly visited Gadkari around 1pm, when the union minister was home.

Satav waited for him to return, and the leaders then held a closed-door meeting for over an hour.

Satav is reportedly very close to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

However, Satav, who is also a Lok Sabha member from Hingoli, dismissed speculations of joining the BJP.

I cant think about of joining the BJP, he said, adding that he met the union minister to discuss the speedy completion of the Nanded-Akola National Highway.

Besides this, he also discussed the land acquisition issue of his constituency with the minister.

Satav said that he also raised other development issues of his constituency during the meeting.

I came here to meet Gadkari along with an all-party delegation, he said, adding that the meeting was very fruitful.

Gadkari was not available for comments.
Maharashtra has announced that it will ban plastic bags by Gudi Padwa, the states New Year. The proposal was made after the realisation that the bags, discarded recklessly by citizens, are clogging storm water drains, and are one of the reasons for the severe flooding in August.

Will banning plastic bags stop Mumbais drains from getting choked? Experts are sceptical. Almitra Patel, member, Supreme Court Committee for Solid Waste Management, said that a ban on plastic bags may reduce the problem but the effort involved in enforcing the ban will not be worth it. I do not want to say whether banning plastic bags is a good or a bad thing. It is a partial solution to the problem.

Patel said that there is no doubt plastic bags are a big problem. Plastic sleeves are used to cover almost everything, from wedding cards to books. Plastic carry bags can be recycled, though the effort in enforcing buybacks from customers could be challenging. The metalised polyester bags, which are used to pack crisps, tea and other food, is not recyclable and poses a bigger threat, said Patel.

The metalised polyester film, which comprises of a metal film sandwiched between recyclable plastic, is unwanted by recyclers. So what has to be done is to redesign packaging, or invent flexible packaging, said Patel who explained, Multifilm food packaging is non-recyclable because its easily recyclable thermoplastic outer and inner layers now enclose a middle layer which chars at the softening temperature used by recyclers, thus blocking their cleaning screens every few minutes.

Plastic may be convenient and one of the greatest discoveries of the twentieth century, but it is devastating natural environments. One study by US academicians says that we have produced more than eight billion tonnes of plastic in the last seven decades and most of that have ended up in landfills or in the seas. The discarded plastic will take thousands of years to disintegrate and the study said that the plastic waste in our water bodies and soil are a near permanent contamination of the natural environment.

The plastic does not remain there. As it breaks up, it creates microplastics  pieces that are smaller than five mm in size. It is killing marine life and choking land animals, but the microplastic is also getting into our drinking water. A study by Orb Media, a non-profit and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, says that microscopic plastic fibres are found in taps, from United States to India. More than 80 percent of the tap water samples the researchers collected from five continents had plastic. The fibres come not just from the plastic waste that is breaking down in the water bodies but also released in the effluents from washing machines used to wash clothes woven from artificial yarn. The impact of these contaminants on health is not known.

It is not just bags, now even fruits and vegetables and vegetables come wrapped in plastic. Can this material be switched with something that is bio-degradable? asked Avick Sil from the Environment Policy Research Institute. What about the packets used to sell gutkha? People are throwing them everywhere  what happens to them? What is the strategy to get them back?

Sil said that large stores and malls have stopped giving away free plastic carry bags but this has not stopped people from using them. People are ready to pay for the bags. This is because the bags are convenient. I am an environmentalist but there are times when I have bought a plastic bag because I forgot to carry one from home. If the government wants to ban plastic bags it needs to look at alternatives, said Sil. Bio-degradable alternatives to plastics are a good idea but packaging costs could go up. The government needs to have a proper vision, said Sil.

There is hope. The Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 says that manufacture and use of non-recyclable multilayered plastic shall be phased out in two years time from March 18, 2016. That is the deadline for the Maharashtra government to ban plastic bags.
A total of 30 shops of the 59 that were identified in the red zone, as per the Supreme Court order on liquor ban near highways, are yet to be relocated.

Officials said that the failure to relocate these shops has also dented the revenue, by around Rs6.3 crore, of the district excise department and has affected their target.

Initially, a total of 59 shops that fell under the ambit of apex court order were identified. A total of 29 shops could be relocated while premises was not identified for the rest, due to many reasons. Many of the shop owners have not been able to find suitable premises due to opposition from locals, said Gyanendra Tripathi, district excise officer, Ghaziabad.

Of the 30 remaining shops, licences for 16 are of countrymade liquor, five of beer, two of Indian made foreign liquor and seven, of model shops.

The Supreme Court, in its order issued on December 15, 2016, cited increasing incidents of drink driving and accidents on highways as reasons for the order. The court had directed all states and Union territories to stop issuing a licence for sale of liquor along national and state highways.

The court had directed that no liquor vends must be visible from a national/state highway or be directly accessible from a highway or situated within 500 metres of its outer edge. The court had also made it clear that hotels, pubs and restaurants in the vicinity that serve alcohol will have to take it off the menu.

Overall in six districts of western Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, nearly 619 shops were covered under the Supreme Court order.

Further, facing opposition from locals, two licensed liquor shops at Govindpuram and Daulatpura near GT Road, shut operations and have remained closed for four to five months.

There have been several meetings with residents of both localities but they have not accepted the proposal and have not allowed the shops to open or resume operations. The shops have been closed for months now and also leading to revenue loss for the department, Tripathi said.

According to officials, they are already lagging behind in terms of meeting their target. For the current financial year, the department has a target of Rs955 crore. However, the department has only been able to achieve around 28% of the assigned target in the first five months of the financial year.

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The Ghaziabad police on Sunday arrested three members of a vehicle lifting gang and recovered two cars and ten bikes from their possession. According to the police, the gang picked up bikes and cars and parked them in isolated plots or industrial areas before disposing them off to customers on fake registration documents.

The police arrested Rajesh, Gaurav Singh and Mohammad Sameer in connection with the vehicle thefts and recovered 10 bikes and two cars, a Wagon-R and Hyundai Accent, on their instance from isolated plots in industrial areas in Kavi Nagar.

The men stole bikes and cars. One of them used to unlock vehicles while the rest would follow the vehicle owners and kept an eye on him if he was to return soon back to his vehicle. Once stolen, they parked bikes in isolated areas and also sold them to different customers by preparing fake registration documents, said Akash Tomar, superintendent of police (city).

We will take the accused in remand and question them about their accomplices who prepared the fake registration numbers. They are yet to be arrested. During initial questioning, the gang members accepted of performing nearly 40-50 vehicle thefts within a span of a year, Tomar added.

Out of the dozen vehicles recovered by police on instance of the three accused, five of these were connected to different cases registered in Delhi, Indirapuram and Kavi Nagar police stations.

They lifted vehicles to earn money and to meet out their daily expenses. They have sold a number of stolen vehicles to people in Hapur, Ghaziabad and other nearby districts with the help of fake registration documents, a police officer said.

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In the absence of an advertising policy, the Noida authority is losing out opportunity to earn revenue.

As per a Noida authoritys internal report, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, the authority is losing out 9 crore revenue, because the authority is unable to recover adequate revenue from an advertising agency that has rights on DLF Mall of India in Sector 18, according to the authoritys internal report.

It has been alleged that engineers reduce the size of the hoarding, thereby causing a loss to the authority. It has also been alleged that the advertising agency, All About Outdoor Media Company Private Limited, is installing a giant hoarding on the mall rooftop without requisite approvals.

Engineers reduce the total size of advertising space given to an agency thereby, the authority does not get revenue. Earlier, Noida authority chief executive officer Amit Mohan Prasad had ordered probe into it but nothing happened, said OP Sharma, of Sector 19, who filed a complaint in this regard.

The owner of All About Outdoor Media Company Private limited, Ankur Rastogi, refused to comment on revenue and hoarding permission issue.

We cannot allow hoarding structure on our rooftop without the Noida authoritys permission due to safety reasons. We have stopped the structure work on Saturday. The agency has applied for hoarding but is yet to get permission. They claimed they are getting the approval soon, said a spokesperson of DLF Mall of India.

Shibli Khan, deputy general manager, mall operations, DLF Mall of India, said, Our out-of-home media partner  All About Outdoor  is working in tandem with the relevant authorities to ensure the implementation of necessary measures to comply with health and safety regulations. They have our cooperation.

For a wall wrap (advertising on Mall or any other building wall area) the authority charges 446.02 per square feet monthly, for hoarding it charges 216.63 per square foot monthly and for Unipole the fees is 283.30 square feet monthly, according to officials. A four-member committee headed by the chief engineer conducts site inspection before issuing permission for hoarding due to safety reasons. The committee members that include traffic official, legal expert and advertising department member also inspects the site to approve hoarding site. But All About Outdoor Media company Private Limited is building structure on DLF Mall of Indias rooftop without mandatory approvals jeopardizing the visitors life. The authority must stop this, said Sharma.

The Noida authority chief executive officer Alok Tandon will take action against officials responsible for the irregularities. I will order a probe into the issue of revenue loss and putting a hoarding without permission. I will take strict action against those, who are involved in this irregularity, said Tandon.

Sinha had set a target of 100 crore revenue annually from selling advertising rights. But the advertising department did not work on policy making in this regard till date. In the absence of a policy, the Noida is losing out on revenue and earning only around 12 crore annually.

In June, then Noida authority chairman Alok Sinha had directed officials to come up with the policy.

The government body is losing out opportunity to earn revenue because it has failed to put in place a policy of selling advertising rights on public space available across the city.

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#suitcase murder suspect Justice minister orders extradition of 'suitcase' murder suspect to New Zealand South Korea's justice minister on Monday ordered the extradition of a woman believed to be the mother of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases in New Zealand in August,...

#KBO KBO sets salary cap for 1st time In an unprecedented move designed to ensure a level playing field, the top South Korean baseball league announced Monday it has set a salary cap for the next three seasons. The ...
Police have arrested two persons, of whom, one man impersonated himself as a woman and shot dead a 28-year-old woman last month in Salarpur village, over latters alleged illicit relations with other men.

The accused have been identified as Ranjeet Kumar (38) and his accomplice Ashish (21), both natives of Kanpur. Ranjeet dressed as a woman wore a salwar-kameez and covered his face with a stole and shot dead his alleged estranged lover Kanchan (28) on August 16, a police official said.

Arun Kumar Singh, the superintendent of police (Noida city), said Kanchan was a native of Raebareli, and was married to a person named Shyama Singh of Lucknow in 2009. The couple lived together for two years and had a son. However, later they started living separately.

After the separation, the woman came in contact with Ranjeet, who worked as a cable operator, and started living with him in Kanpur. After some time she opted to exit from the relationship and moved to Noida.

Here she was living with another person named Kunal, whom she befriended in Kanpur. Kunal and Kanchan shifted to a rented accommodation in Salarpur village in May this year, Singh said.

Ranjeet had been pursuing Kanchan to return to him all this while, but she did not want to return and ignored his appeals, the official said.

On August 16, Ranjeet and his friend Ashish reached Kanchans rented accommodation on a Bajaj Avenger bike. Ranjeet was armed with a country-made pistol and masqueraded as a woman with his attire. He entered Kanchans one room flat on the first floor and shot her dead, while Ashish waited outside on the bike ready to flee from the spot.

The accused shot one bullet to her neck and quickly fled from the building. All the onlookers in the vicinity thought it was a woman who shot dead Kanchan, police said.

We checked call details of Kanchan and rounded in on Ranjeet. He was arrested with his accomplice from Salarpur village on Saturday night. On interrogation, the accused admitted to have murdered the woman over her relationships with other men, Singh said.

Police have recovered the motorcycle and the weapon used in the crime.
God doesnt make many like him anymore! Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh straddled the aviation scene in the country literally from its inception. Earning his spurs in the Arakan campaign in World War II, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was part of the pioneers who nurtured the fledgling Air Force of India through the turmoil of partition in 1947. As the IAF grew in stature so did its responsibilities, which unfortunately, were not tested in the 1962 war. But then came the redemption of our armed forces in the 1965 Indo-Pak conflict! Spearheading the aerial campaign under Arjan Singhs stewardship, the IAF came out with flying colours; then Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh was just 45 years of age but what he did was much more than victories and kills that his aviators scored  the Indian Air Force had been set on a path of professionalism, the results of which we are seeing today with modern aircraft and top notch professionals flying them.

This writer, who was a Class 5 kid during the 1965 war, remembers how Arjan Singh was a household name during those heady days. After retiring in 1969, Arjan Singh went on to serve India in more ways than one, from philanthropic acts to political and diplomatic assignments. Very few people outside the Air Force know that he started, with his own money, a special fund for the wards of non-combatants of the IAF. He was a senior colleague, patron and a father figure to all men and women in blue  and he was so ably supported by his wife Teji!

One always remembered the Marshal for his ramrod straight gait. The annual IAF Day parade on 08 October was graced by the sight of a ninety years old serving IAF officer walking smartly at Air Force Station Hindan and moving on to the dais to take the salute  not a stumble, not a waiver and woe betide anyone who tried to give him a helping hand, thinking he was old! After the parade, he was the cynosure of all eyes as he mixed with one and all and obliged everyone with a photograph. The last three-odd years saw time take its toll on his physical health, but his memory was as sharp as ever. Just a year back, despite medical issues, the Marshal came to release a book in which were listed all who had died in Air Force flying accidents. When asked how he had mustered the strength, he said that was the least he could do for those who had laid down their lives for India. That was the spirit of the Marshal that will live on for ever!

(The writer is a former Air Vice-Marshal)
Dont be afraid of failure. Put in everything you have and you will find the key to success, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, alumnus and Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said in his inspiring address to entrepreneurs at the Startup Master Class mega event here on Saturday.

Failures teach you a lot. It is only after you fail that you learn a lot of things. Startups should not fear failure, he said. Honouring his commitment to fellow IIT alumni to be present at the Pune event, the absence of a direct flight did not keep Parrikar away from the Startup Master Class (SMC) organised by IIT Kanpur Alumni Associations Pune chapter. Parrikar drove to Pune from Mumbai and at 9 am sharp pressed the digital button to inaugurate the SMC.

In his inaugural address, Parrikar said that India faces many challenges as a country with a population of 136 crores. And with the advent of social media, people have become very impatient; they want solutions immediately. I think it is the startups who can solve the problem of unemployment, he said.

Parrikar stressed that startups can be job creators for the country.

Organised in collaboration with FundHound and the NASSCOM initiative, 10,000 Startups, this mega event has been sponsored by none other than two IITians themselves- Sushil Agarwal, founder of Tejas Infrastructure and Vert Blue, and Sanjeev Sinha, president Research Institute of Next Generation (RingAI.jp). A large number of startups enrolled for the event with a number of panel discussions and interactive sessions with potential investors.

Parrikar in his speech regretted that the quality of education was extremely poor and 80% of the youth were unemployable. Indians lacked self-discipline and a sense of responsibility towards keeping their surroundings clean. If each one of us takes up the commitment not to litter then the problem of garbage every where can be solved overnight, he said.

The former defence minister spoke of his initiatives to encourage startups in Goa. He said Goa has launched CM Yojna to help startups. In this scheme, the government is your partner. We give 50% of the capital required by a startup. This is given interest-free and for a period of 10 years. We contribute up to 10 to 15 lakhs. All you need is a personal guarantee. So far we have spent 186 crores on this scheme and of this 98.3 per cent repayment on time or even before time. For those who pay on time we give a subsidy of 25%. India has a lot of potential for startups, its just that we need the ignition to light this up, he added.

Speaking on the Mumbai  Ahemdabad Bullet train, he said, People are criticising this but what they dont realise is that it will open up huge opportunities for startups. There will be a lot of technology, innovation and ideas that will come with this. This is what they are overlooking.
What is the current situation of the Indo-Japanese relations?

Right now, there exists a gap in terms of implementation in the relationship of India and Japan, which needs to be bridged and more extensive collaboration needs to be done in order to increase the bandwidth of the outcome. This can be understood from simple statistics, which show that there are almost 3 million Indians in the US, while less than 30,000 in Japan. Indian presence in the US is 100 times more than their presence in Japan. On the contrary, recently Japanese are taking a lot of interest in India, which this country should realise and step up to utilise.

And, why is that?

One reason is Indias colonial past which keeps it still attracted to the European or mostly English speaking nations. In addition to that, there exists a huge difference between India and Japan with respect to its culture, which now through various inter-cultural initiatives, both the countries should begin to bridge, because a greater future for both of them lies ahead through this alliance.

Please elaborate upon this mutual benefit that the two countries can have with the partnership?

My association with Japan began in 1996 with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which in contemporary times is omnipresent and ever-progressive. This now is being coupled with automation technology and IOT or internet of things, which has its great benefits but greater threats of cybersecurity. For instance, a case of autonomous driving being hacked could be fatal. In this, Japan and India should have a collaborative combat strategy. Apart from Israel, not many countries, especially India and Japan have looked into cybersecurity strongly enough. Although, the US is also lagging behind, it still probably has a strong cybersecurity development in its defence sector. Recently, the US embassy in Tokyo had contacted me to understand what India and Japan are doing in this respect, so there is a possibility of a trilateral dialogue between India, Japan and the US to tackle cybersecurity. While the US is the foundation of Internet of the world, Japan has the hardware technology, India has the software, and so we three can work together on this.

What are your concerns with controversies around the latest bullet train?

I feel most of the concerns suggesting this to be an expensive affair is unfounded. The net present value of the Indian burden is practically zero, making this a grant from Japan. So in a line, I would say India is getting an expensive grant from Japan with the safest technology and so we should not be complaining about it. Safe because Japan has been studying the Indian railways from a safety perspective, making the bullet train project run on secluded tracks where no other normal trains can run.
A joint team of Panchkula and Udaipur police on Sunday arrested Pardeep Goyal Insaan who headed Dera Sacha Saudas unit in Udaipur. Sources said he was in touch with Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahims adopted daughter Honeypreet who is absconding.

He reportedly told the police that Honeypreet came to Udaipur to meet him after the dera chiefs conviction and fled to Nepal thereafter.

But Haryanas director general of police BS Sandhu did not confirm these reports and said that his interrogation will shed on his involvement. The police had issued a lookout notice for Honeypreet on September 1.

Pardeep Goyal who also heads Shah Satnam Green Force unit in Udaipur, is also accused of inciting violence by sending huge number of dera followers from his town to Panchkula ahead Ram Rahims conviction on August 25.

Panchkula police commissioner told HT that a local SIT team brought him here from Udaipur Sunday morning. He will be produced before duty magistrate where police will seek his remand, he said.

Honeypreet, who is accused of inciting violence in Panchkula, was last seen on August 25 when he accompanied dera chief to Rohtak jail in a chopper after his conviction.

The police also arrested Prakash, alias Vicky, brother-in-law of dera chief spokesperson Aditya Insan, from Mohali. He is accused of inciting violence on August 25 in Panchkula along with Aditya, who is still at large.

Violence broke out in Panchkula after the dera chiefs conviction, leaving more than 35 dead, while six others were killed in incidents in Sirsa.
For the past six years, he has not heard the voice of his children who have settled abroad. Separated by his wife, 60-year-old Singh lives alone in his bungalow with servants, who often abuse him. Loneliness has led him to severe depression.

It has come to such a pass that Singh has tried committing suicide thrice and has undergone electric shock therapy. He says, Unfortunately I could not succeed in committing suicide.

Singh represents hundreds of elderly people residing in Chandigarh, who have been left fending for themselves by their children at an age when they need them the most.

They are lonely, dependent and vulnerable to abuse. Doctors say more number of elderly people are visiting city hospitals not only with physical injuries, but with depression, dementia and other mental health problems. Reason: they are either left alone or are not taken care of, with affection and care.

From 580 cases in 2008 to 1,488 in 2016

At the psychiatry department of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), their number has doubled in the last nine years. The number of new elderly patients registered at the PGIs psychiatry OPD was 580 in 2008 and more than doubled to 1,488 in 2016.

Elderly people constitute over 20% of the psychiatry OPD. We examine at least 25 elderly patients daily. More than 50% of them have depression while 20-30% have dementia, said Dr Sandeep Grover of PGIs psychiatry department.

He said the current trend is changing. Earlier, they were accompanied by their children but now the majority of the elderly people either visit the psychiatry OPD alone or are accompanied by servants, said Dr Grover.

Talking about the symptoms, Dr Sandeep said the initial symptoms are a sombre mood, sleep disorder and body aches.

The most common reason, which is causing depression among elderly people is their children settling abroad leaving their parents alone or at the mercy of servants and relatives. The elderly also face age-related medical complications and financial constraint, said the psychiatrist.

Dementia is the second most common mental health disorder faced by the elderly people. It starts with memory loss and affects their ability to concentrate. People have transferred the elderly peoples property in their names by taking advantage of their dementia, said Dr Grover.

Like any other parent, Singh blames only himself for his children leaving him alone. Maybe I could not change with the times, Singh says, adding that the children must know that they will also grow old one day.

Pursue activities, learn new things

Dr Ajit Avasthi, head, psychiatry department, PGIMER, shares how elderly can stay young forever. The elderly people must have a lot of physical activity and mental engagement. They must pursue things they could not do earlier. They must learn new things, use technology, memorise things and engage in the art of story-telling.

They must have social interactions and engage in social work. They should not live a retired life but they must pursue their hobbies, which will keep them young, Dr Avasthi added.

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Almost a decade back  in 2006  Captain Amarinder Singh, then Punjab CM, was seen walking with a stick after a slip just before elections. He had told reporters then that he had hurt his left ankle after slipping in the bathroom, but the injury was a minor one and his poll campaign schedule would not be affected.

Ahead of 2017 February polls, Amarinder was once again left with a bruised ankle after a whirlwind tour of Punjab during the election campaign. Advised rest, Captain had spent time before the poll verdict relishing his home-grown strawberries and was seen using a stick after once again becoming the CM on March 16.

He skipped the Baisakhi rally at Talwandi Sabo in April due to his swollen ankle and state finance minister Manpreet Badal was rushed to represent him. In doing so, Manpreet slipped on the promise he made while drafting the partys poll manifesto  of no chopper for ministers  by hopping on to one himself.

On September 6, the CM skipped the Chhapar Mela in Ludhiana too, again regretting that he would not be able to attend the event as he is indisposed. A government spokesman said the chief minister has been advised to restrict his movement by doctors due to a sprained ankle.

But he flew to London for release of his biography and book on the Battle of Saragarhi the next day.

The CM blames his bruised ankle for skipping state events and party functions, but went to London. He has not gone to Punjab even six times in the past six months of coming to power.

While there were rumblings within his own party leaders over the timing when the first state-event to mark 120 years of the Battle was observed in Punjab on September 12, the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could not resist taking an ankle-deep dig at the CM.

The CM blames his bruised ankle for skipping state events and party functions, but went to London. He has not gone to Punjab even six times in the past six months of coming to power. Whats even more strange is that he is going on foreign trips when Punjab is virtually bankrupt, is burning and needs strong governance, Punjab leader of Opposition, Sukhpal Khaira, told HT.

The ankle is not only rankling the Opposition. When advocate general Atul Nanda threw a high-profile bash early this month at his ministerial bungalow in Chandigarh, the CM gave it a miss.

The theories for the royal ignore ranged between Amarinder avoided a direct interaction with the judiciary when he is facing court cases to his avoiding being seen with one of the many power centres in the government. But the reason given by an official spokesman to the media for his absence was again the swollen ankle.

In May, when Nanda played host to the CM at his new Himachal abode to celebrate his elevation to the post, Amarinder and his entire coterie, from ministers to aides were in attendance. Is the ankle also a ruse?

And not just the Opposition in Punjab is amused.

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Prabhas starrer Mr Perfect and its producer Dil Raju have been dragged into a legal battle over plagiarism, six years after the film was released. The film was a major hit for the Telugu star. That was years before his another blockbuster Baahubali was made.

According to a report in Indian Express, writer Shyamala Rani has claimed that Mr Perfect that came out in 2011 is based on her novel Na Manasu Ninnu Kore published in 2010.

She said that makers have used her story without her permission.

Rani filed a case against Dil Raju, director of the movie K Dasarath, dialogue writer Abburi Ravi and co producers Sirish and Lakshman at Miyapur court accusing them of cheating.

Following this, the court has directed the Madhapur police to file a case of cheating and conspiracy against them. The case was filed under the Copy Rights Act.

Mr Perfect stars Prabhas, Taapsee Pannu and Kajal Aggarwal in the lead roles. The film centres around a self-centred guy who eventually comes around to understand and appreciate family values.

Rani, speaking to media, said that she tried hard to sell her story to filmmakers but nothing came of it. Then, in 2013, while watching Mr Perfect on television, she realised that many of the scenes depicted and dialogues were very similar to her novel.

While I was watching Mr Perfect in 2013 on television, I found several dialogues and scenes were copied from my novel, she told the Times of India.

It is indeed a big deal to drag Dil Raju into a legal battle, who is an influential producer in Tollywood and has a number of hits under his belt. Two of his recent films as producer -- DJ Duvvada Jagannadhamm and Fidaa -- were major hits in Telugu industry.

The popular producer has the theatrical rights of three upcoming projects -- Jai Lava Kusa, Spyder and Pawan Kalyans PSPK 2  and is currently producing Raja the Great starring Ravi Teja.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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For many, the best part of a vacation is to experience delicious meals and soak in the local flavours. However, all this gluttony can impact your health and show up on your waistline. Here are some easy tips to keep in mind while eating out during your vacation. We spoke to Dr Manoj Kuteri, wellness director at Atmantan Wellness Centre at Mulshi, near Pune, Maharashtra, and he says meal planning is the key.

1) Carry your own snacks. Avoid the temptation of snacking at airports as you are more likely to pick up unhealthy options such as pizza, burgers, cookies or chips. Carry trail mixes, home-made granola, popcorn, chopped raw vegetables with hummus and fruits like apple, plums and pears.

2) Find a supermarket or a farmers market as soon as you reach your destination. Pick up some fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds that can serve as snacks or a breakfast alternative during your stay.

3) Fill up on healthy foods at the breakfast or lunch buffet, especially if you are staying at a resort. Focus on getting plenty of fresh fruits, salads and greens, and whole grains such as oatmeal on your plate. Then, if you are forced to eat some lesser healthy meals throughout the day, you will have at least eaten plenty of produce and fibre at one or two meals.

4) Choose sit-down restaurants instead of fast food establishments during your travels. This might take extra time, but you will have a better opportunity to ask your server how food items are prepared and add special requests for healthier meals, such as dressings on the side, grilled or broiled instead of fried, and substituting vegetables and salads for fried side dishes.

5) Seek out local restaurants that use local produce. The less distance your food has travelled, the more nutrients it typically retains. For instance, head to the seafood market in Sydney for delicious fish or a sushi bar in Japan.

6) Select fatty fish such as salmon, grilled chicken, fresh salads, broth-based soups and wraps or sandwiches without sauces as your entrees, instead of deep-fried foods with heavy cream sauces.

7) Share your meals around the table. Serving sizes at standard restaurants can easily feed two people. If you have a party of four, consider selecting only two to three entrees and sharing them. Even if the food cant be classified as healthy, eating less is better than enjoying the whole thing yourself.

8) Choose your splurges wisely, but do allow for some splurges  it is, after all, a vacation. Consider your favourite things and enjoy them, but pass on the things you can easily find at home. For example, you can have a sauce-filled cheesy roll at home, but that gourmet tiramisu or top-shelf martini can be harder to come by.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.
Fixing weighing scales used to be good business on Vietnams floating Cai Rang market, but the last repairman on the river now makes just a few dollars a month as modernity pushes traders to land.

Surrounded by dusty old scales on his cluttered houseboat, Nguyen Van Ut says vendors are giving up their boats for better lives on terra firma where supermarkets draw the traders who once thronged the waterway.

I dont have many customers now. In the past, it was all right, but now many boats have left the floating market... people on vessels have switched to vehicles, the 71-year-old says.

Nguyen Kim Ngan (R) looks back at her seventy-one-year-old grandfather Nguyen Van Ut, a scales repairman, as they sit inside their house boat. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

He got into the repairs business 30 years ago on the Can Tho river to support his surviving children after his wife and two of his sons drowned in an accident. For a time life was good, but now he relies on handouts from his children  three of them work in nearby Can Tho city.

Once reportedly two kilometres long, the Cai Rang market is a shadow of its former self. There are about 300 boats on the water now, down from 550 in 2005, according to the local tourism office.

A resident of a house boat yawns as he swings on a hammock on the vessel. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

It has fallen victim to the economic rise of the Mekong Delta, which has rapidly developed over the last decade. Industrial and construction sectors have created nearly 5,70,000 jobs, hauling many from poverty. But people like Ut have been left behind, unable to afford a life on shore.

Even vendors making a decent wage from the tourists who flock to the market yearn for the perks of living on land: better housing, better jobs and modern amenities.

Nguyen Thi Hong Tuoi started working on the water when she was a child, just like her mother and grandmother before her. Though she earns decent money, she doesnt expect her daughter to carry on the family tradition.

A vendor (R) prepares vegetables that she just sold to a resident of a house boat. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

In the future, I will let my daughter live on land so she can study and have a proper job, the 34-year-old told AFP, as her elderly mother rested in a hammock surrounded by sacks of tapioca on their boat.

Its a common aspiration for young people in Vietnam, where more than half the countrys 93 million people are under the age of 30 and eager to move to fast-growing cities for work.

Supermarket squeeze

The origins of Cai Rang market reach back to when Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia and Laos were occupied by the French, who readily exploited the natural resources of the colony previously called Indochina.

A boat vendor offers her vegetables to a house boat resident. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

The Mekong Deltas web of canals -- both natural and man-made -- were used to transport goods and people in the absence of a reliable road network. There are about a dozen surviving markets in Vietnams Mekong Delta today, though like Cai Rang, many have shrivelled.

Boats lie anchored in a canal off the Song Hau river in the floating Cai Rang market. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

The local government is trying to keep the floating markets alive to (preserve) the culture and attract more tourists, said Nguyen Thi Huynh Phuong, a lecturer at nearby Can Tho University who has researched the markets history.

It still functions as a wholesale market, with vendors waking each day before dawn to load boats with watermelons or radishes and advertising their products by spearing them to a bamboo pole on the bow of the ship.

Nguyen Kim Truong, who makes a living by selling food and drinks in a canal off the Song Hau river in the floating Cai Rang market, prays to a shrine in the house boat as her daughter Nguyen Thi Kim Han (bottom R) and her son Nguyen Minh Tai (bottom L) use their electronic devices. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

But its charm also draws millions of visitors each year who buy noodles, fruit and coffee from water traders, making it a well-established pit-stop on the Mekong tourist trail. Recognising the market as a tourism hotspot, the government designated Cai Rang as a national heritage site last year.

An onion vendor stands on the roof of his boat as he waits for customers. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

For vendors like Ly Hung, who has lived on the water for 26 years, visitors have helped to maintain a traditional way of life. Without tourism this floating market would disappear, he said.
A woman threw acid at four female American tourists at a train station in the French city of Marseille on Sunday, an attack police said they did not believe was terrorism-related.

Two of the women, in their early twenties, were treated in hospital for burns to their faces, police said. The tourists were on their way from the southern city to Paris.

One of the two women was suffering from partial loss of vision.

The attacker, a woman in her 40s, was arrested at the scene. Investigators have for now ruled out a terrorist motive and said they believe the attacker may be mentally disturbed, a police official said

The police source said she had justified her actions by saying she herself had been the victim of an acid attack when she was younger.
Eight members of an Iraqi paramilitary unit died Sunday in a booby-trap explosion in a school near the city of Mosul that was retaken from jihadists, a security official said.

In the latest example of the dangers left behind by retreating Islamic State group members, Jabbar al-Maamuri, a commander of the unit of tribal fighters, told AFP that 13 others were wounded in the blast at the school that was being used as a training centre.

He said the school in Majarine village 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Mosul had been mined by the jihadists, who were ousted from the city at the end of August by a coalition of pro-government forces.

The village itself was seized in early July as Iraqi forces advanced on Mosul.

In another such incident in newly recaptured areas, six members of the Hashem al-Shaabi paramilitary unit were killed in an explosion Saturday in Akashat in the western province of Anbar, security sources said.
Britain downgraded its terrorism threat level to severe from critical on Sunday, after police made a second arrest in their investigations over the bombing of a London Underground train.

The Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre, which reviews the threat level that the UK is under, have decided to lower that level from critical to severe, home secretary Amber Rudd said in a televised statement.

Police said earlier Sunday that a 21-year-old man, who has not been identified, was detained late Saturday in Hounslow, on the western rim of the capital.

A search was underway on Sunday in Stanwell, a few miles (kilometres) west of Hounslow, in connection with the arrest, police said.

Officers had arrested earlier Saturday an 18-year-old man over Fridays bucket bomb attack at the Parsons Green Underground station, which injured 30 people, and said they were hunting for more suspects.

Rudd said the police were trying to find out how the man was radicalised.

The bomb went off in a packed carriage and although the device is thought to have malfunctioned, it still caused a large explosion followed by what witnesses said was a fireball.

It was Britains fifth terror attack in six months, a series that has claimed 35 lives.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Fridays explosion.

The first arrest on Saturday took place at the Dover ferry terminal, a main link to Europe. A number of items were recovered during the operation and the man is now in custody in London, officers said.

Police also raided a home in Sunbury, a town west of London on Saturday. Local residents quoted in British media said the owners of the house were elderly foster parents.

Terror threat critical

Britains terror threat, which was raised to critical on Friday evening, was brought back down to severe on Sunday.

Severe still means that an attack is highly likely so I would urge everybody to continue to be vigilant but not alarmed, Rudd said.

Soldiers who had been deployed to guard key sites across the country in order to free up police officers on the streets will return to their original positions during the next few days, Rudd said.

The critical warning had last been used after the deadly suicide bombing at a pop concert in the northwestern city of Manchester in May, for which IS also claimed responsibility.

But Rudd voiced doubt over the IS claim that it was behind Fridays bombing.

It is inevitable that so-called Islamic State or Daesh will try to claim responsibility but we have no evidence to suggest that yet, she told the BBC.

Rudd had earlier dismissed as pure speculation US President Donald Trumps claim, made Friday on Twitter, that a loser terrorist behind the attack was known to Scotland Yard.

The tweet had already drawn a terse rebuke from Prime Minister Theresa May, who said: I never think its helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.

In another security scare on Sunday, a London-bound British Airways flight was evacuated at Pariss Charles de Gaulle airport after a false bomb alert.

The improvised device at Parsons Green, a quiet and well-off residential district, failed to detonate fully.

But the blast inflicted flash burns on passengers, and prompted dozens of others to flee in panic.

Fireball flew down carriage

Twitter user @Rrigs posted pictures of a white bucket smouldering on the train and described how a fireball flew down carriage and we just jumped out open door.

The bucket, which was inside a frozen food bag, looked like the type used by builders, and there appeared to be cables coming from it.

Louis Hather, 21, had been travelling to work and was three carriages down from where the explosion took place.

I could smell the burning. Like when you burn plastic, he told AFP.

He was trampled on as panicking passengers stampeded out of the station, leaving him with a badly cut and bruised leg.

The bombs remnants were examined by forensic scientists but no further details were released.

Several victims were taken to hospital, though health authorities said none were in a life-threatening condition.
Passengers were evacuated from a British Airways plane at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on Sunday morning for a security reason, an airport official said.

Flight BA303 was due to take off and fly to Londons Heathrow airport when the plane was evacuated, the official said.

The incident is being dealt with, the official added, without going into further detail.
Hamas said Sunday it had agreed to steps toward resolving a decade-long split with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbass Fatah, announcing it would dissolve a body seen as a rival government and was ready to hold elections.

The statement comes after Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian officials last week, and with the Gaza Strip run by the Palestinian Islamist movement facing a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Hamas said it had agreed to key demands made by Fatah: dissolving the so-called administrative committee created in March, while saying it was ready for elections and negotiations toward a unity government.

It called on the Palestinian Authority government based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to come to Gaza to exercise its functions and carry out its duties immediately.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniya agreed to take such steps in talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo last week, a Hamas official has told AFP.

It was unclear, however, whether the steps would result in further concrete action toward ending the deep division with Fatah.

Hamas for now continues to run a de facto separate administration in the Gaza Strip and is in charge of the security forces there.

Previous attempts to resolve the split have repeatedly failed.

Abbass Fatah welcomed the announcement, saying it followed extensive meetings between its own representatives and Egyptian intelligence officials.

Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said a bilateral meeting with Hamas would be organised to begin working out a way forward.

There will be tangible practical steps in the next few days, starting with the Palestinian national unity government resuming its work according to law in Gaza as it does in the West Bank, in order to continue its efforts to relieve the suffering of our people in the strip and work towards lifting the unjust blockade, Ahmad told official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade, while its border with Egypt has also remained largely closed in recent years.

Abbas is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, where he is set to speak on Wednesday.

No elections since 2006

UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov said: I welcome the recent statement by Hamas announcing the dissolving of the administrative committee in Gaza and agreement to allow the government of national consensus to assume its responsibilities in Gaza.

It is critical that the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, most notably the crippling electricity crisis, be addressed as a priority.

In Sundays statement, Hamas spoke of the dissolution of the administrative committee, which was seen as a rival government to Abbass administration.

Hamas formed the committee in March, and since then Abbas has sought to put further pressure on the Islamist movement, reducing electricity payments for the Gaza Strip among other measures.

Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, having seized it in a near civil war from Fatah following a dispute over parliamentary elections won by the Islamist movement the previous year.

The West Bank and Gaza have not participated in an election together since 2006.

Abbas, whose term was meant to end in 2009, has remained in office with no election held.

The Gaza Strip has meanwhile faced deteriorating humanitarian conditions, including a severe electricity crisis and a lack of clean water.

The coastal enclave of some two million people also has one of the worlds highest unemployment rates.

Facing those conditions, Hamas has turned to Egypt for assistance, particularly for fuel to produce power -- and has faced pressure to take steps toward Palestinian reconciliation in return.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Hamas, have fought three wars since 2008.

The Jewish state says its blockade is necessary to stop Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to make them.

During a visit to the strip in August, UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the blockade to be lifted, saying Gaza was enduring one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises he had seen.

Hamas has sought to soften its image recently, though last month its Gaza head, Yahya al-Sinwar, said the movement had increased its military capabilities thanks to newly improved relations with Iran, Israels arch-enemy.
Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish regions planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Saturday.

If the Iraqi population is threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily, he said.

Iraqs Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on support for independence from Iraq on Sept. 25 in three governorates that make up their autonomous region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces but which are claimed by Baghdad.

If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation, al-Abadi said.

The leaders of Iraqs Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence. However, al-Abadi said such negotiations would likely be complicated by the referendum vote.

It will make it harder and more difficult, he said, but added, I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible.

Iraqs Kurds have come under increasing pressure to call off the vote from regional powers and the United States, a key ally, as well as Baghdad.

In a statement released late Friday night the White House called for the Kurdish region to abandon the referendum and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad.

Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilizing, the statement read.

Tensions between Irbil and Baghdad have flared in the lead-up to the Sept. 25 vote.

Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region, has repeatedly threatened violence if Iraqi troops or Shiite militias attempt to move into disputed territories that are now under the control of Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga, specifically the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Its chaotic there, Muhammad Mahdi al-Bayati, a senior leader of Iraqs mostly Shiite militiamen, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, said earlier this week, describing Kirkuk in the lead-up to the vote.

Al-Bayatis forces  sanctioned by Baghdad, but many with close ties to Iran  are deployed around Kirkuk as well as other disputed territories in Iraqs north.

Everyone is under pressure, he said, explaining that he feared a rogue group of fighters could trigger larger clashes. Anything could be the spark that burns it all down.

Al-Abadi said he is focused on legal responses to the Kurdish referendum on independence. Earlier this week Iraqs parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers.

Iraqs Kurds have long held a dream of statehood. They were brutally oppressed under Saddam Hussein, whose military in the 1980s killed at least 50,000 of them, many with chemical weapons. Iraqs Kurds established a regional government in 1992 after the U.S. enforced a no-fly zone across the north following the Gulf War.

After the 2003 US-led invasion ousted Saddam, the region secured constitutional recognition of its autonomy, but remained part of the Iraqi state.

When asked if he would ever accept an independent Kurdistan, Al-Abadi said, Its not up to me, this is a constitutional matter.

If (Iraqs Kurds) want to go along that road, they should work toward amending the constitution, al-Abadi said. In that case we have to go all the way through parliament and a referendum to the whole Iraqi people.

For them to call for only the Kurds to vote, I think this is a hostile move toward the whole of the Iraqi population, he said.

Al-Abadi began his term as prime minister after Mosul had fallen to IS, plunging Iraq into the deepest political and security crisis since the sectarian bloodshed that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Over the past three years, Iraqi forces have slowly clawed back territory from the extremist group and al-Abadi has used the battlefield victories to garner public support.

In July, Iraqi forces retook Mosul and effectively shattered ISs self-declared territorial caliphate.

However the military successes have come at great cost. In the fight for Mosul alone between 970 and 1,260 civilians were killed and more than twice as many members of Iraqs security forces lost their lives, al-Abadi told the AP Saturday.

Despite territorial losses, IS continues to carry out attacks in Iraq.

Thursday, an attack claimed by IS at a checkpoint and restaurant in southern Iraq left more than 80 killed and 93 wounded.

Years of war have displaced more than 3 million people. Cities, towns and villages retaken from IS lie in ruins and the forces made powerful by the arms and training that flooded Iraq to fight the extremists are now attempting to leverage that influence.

Despite the challenges ahead, al-Abadi repeated a call for Iraqis who fled the country over the past three years, to return home. Some 80,000 Iraqis made the treacherous journey to Europe by sea in 2015 alone, according to the United Nations.

Im not going to support forced repatriation into Iraq but I think all of Iraqis, they found it very tough to be in Europe as refugees, al-Abadi said, explaining he is in lengthy negotiations with his counterparts in Europe to aid the return of refugees.

These are Iraqi people. We dont want to lose our citizens, he said.
US ally Kuwait has given North Koreas ambassador a month to leave the Gulf state and will downgrade its diplomatic representation with Pyongyang, a senior Kuwaiti diplomat told AFP Sunday.

North Koreas diplomatic presence in the emirate will also be reduced to a charge daffaires and three diplomats, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The measures follow a visit less than two weeks ago by Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to Washington.

The source said Kuwait will not renew permits given to North Korean workers to re-enter the country after projects they are currently working on are completed within one or two years.

There are between 2,000 and 2,500 North Korean workers in Kuwait, and thousands more are believed to be working in other Gulf states.

Kuwait has also decided to stop issuing visas to North Koreans and suspend all trade relations and flight links with Pyongyang.

Asian diplomatic sources have told AFP that South Korea and Japan have been putting pressure on Gulf states to stop employing North Korean workers because money they sent home was benefiting the regime.

On Friday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific, responding to new UN sanctions with what appeared to be its furthest-ever missile flight amid high tensions over its weapons programme.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the missile test, and said talks on the crisis would be held on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting next week.

US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-In have pledged stronger pressure on Pyongyang, Seoul said Sunday, after North Korea defied tough new sanctions with the test and said it wanted to match American nuclear strength.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approved a proposal to increase the number of civilians in the senior hierarchy of the countrys powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Abbasi on September 15 approved the proposal to increase the number of directors general (DGs) -- the highest civilian post in the agency -- from one to four, Dawn reported on Sunday.

The post of a civilian DG in the ISI is a grade 21 position, equivalent to a serving major general of the armed forces. Previously, there was only one civilian DG post in the intelligence agency.

Abbasi approved the summary sent to the PMs office by the defence ministry, proposing four civilian DGs in the ISI.

In addition, the Prime Minister also enhanced the number of deputy directors general (DDGs) from eight to 15. The same summary recommended the creation of seven additional DDG posts for civilian officers in grade 20.

The Prime Minister has seen and is pleased to approve the proposal at para 5 read with the views of Establishment Division and of Finance Division, according to the office order issued by the PMs office on September 15.

Raja Javed Ikhlas, parliamentary secretary for the cabinet and establishment division, termed the order a routine matter.

An official of the militarys media wing -- Inter-Services Public Relations -- did not comment on the development, but said that since the Prime Minister was the competent authority, as the ISI worked under the PM Secretariat, it was his prerogative to increase the sanctioned posts in the agency.

Formed in 1948 as an independent unit to strengthen the countrys intelligence network, ISI was formerly part of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which handled intelligence-sharing between different branches of the military, as well as external intelligence gathering.

Its headquarters was initially located in Rawalpindi, but was later moved to Islamabad.

In 1950, ISI was officially given the task of safeguarding Pakistani interests and national security, inside and outside the country.

During the Soviet-Afghan war, ISI was strengthened and re-organised, with a handful of posts being created for civilians from the Defence Intelligence Services (DIS) cadre.

According to a former ISI official, it was in 2005 when Gen Pervez Musharraf approved the posting of a civilian as DG ISI in grade 21 for the first time. The process for the promotion of civilian ISI officers was slow, since there was only one DG slot, he said.

However, with the addition of seven grade 20 and three grade 21 posts, the official hoped that promotion of civilians, especially young DIS officers working in hard areas, would be accelerated.

In June 2013, some ISI officials had petitioned the Islamabad High Court against the slow pace of their promotions. The petition stated that there were over 300 officers in grade 17 to 21 in the five cadres of the ISI, including the surveillance (field intelligence) cadre, vetting cadre, joint intelligence miscellaneous cadre, ministerial cadre and DIS.

The petition was dismissed by IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi in September the same year, saying that the aggrieved officials should approach the Federal Services Tribunal, which was the relevant forum for such petitions.
Qatar on Sunday signed an agreement to buy 24 Typhoon fighter jets from Britain, a second major defence deal signed by Doha during its lengthening diplomatic dispute with its neighbours.

Qatari defence secretary Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and his British counterpart Michael Fallon signed a statement of intent for the UK to sell the planes, according to statements released by London and on social media.

This will be the first major defence contract with Qatar, one of the UKs strategic partners, Fallon said.

This is an important moment in our defence relationship and the basis for even closer defence co-operation between our two countries, he said.

The British ambassador to Doha, Ajay Sharma, took to Twitter to announce the deal, which he called a major step in defence relations between the countries.

There was no immediate comment from Qatar.

The agreement to supply the planes brings to a close a lengthy negotiating period. Fallon said a deal was on the table back in March 2016.

It follows a separate major purchase from Washington.

In June this year it was announced that Qatar had agreed to buy F-15 jets from the US in a 10 billion euros deal.

And in 2016, Qatar agreed to buy 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France in a deal worth a reported 6.7 billion euros.

But the timing of the UK and US deals was particularly crucial for Doha.

On June 5  10 days before the US contract was announced  regional kingpin Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing extremism and fostering ties with their Shiite rival Iran.

Qatar denies the charges, claiming the dispute is an attack on its sovereignty.

Analysts say the diplomatic crisis shows no sign of ending.

The deal also comes as Britain seeks to explore further trade deals outside Europe after voting to leave the European Union.
Russia and Iraq restored scheduled commercial airline services on Sunday for the first time since 2004, in what officials hailed as a sign of stability returning to the war-torn country.

An Iraqi Airways plane left Baghdad at 10.31 am (0731 GMT) and was expected to arrive at Moscows Vnukovo airport at 2.19 pm (1119 GMT), according to the Russian airports online departure and arrival timetables.

The first commercial flight arrives today, Sergei Izvolsky, spokesman for Russias civil aviation authority, told AFP.

It is a signal on the part of the Iraqi authorities that Russian nationals can safely visit Iraq.

The two countries may also later agree on air travel to the Iraqi city of Basra, Izvolsky said.

Russia suspended regular flights to Iraq in 2004 after the US-led invasion in 2003 plunged the Arab country into war.
Russian jets bombed a target east of the Euphrates River near Dayr Az Zawr in Syria where it knew US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers were located, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers, the Pentagon said in a statement. Several SDF fighters were wounded, it added.

The jets came from government territory and hit positions on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, said Khawla, who heads the Deir al-Zor military council fighting under the SDF.

Coalition troops advising and assisting the SDF were not wounded, the Pentagon added. The SDF is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition.
Serbias lesbian prime minister on Sunday joined hundreds of activists with rainbow flags for Belgrades annual gay march, an event held under heavy security in the conservative country.

Ana Brnabic, 41, became one of the first openly gay government leaders in the world when she came to power in June, but activists say homophobia remains a widespread problem in Serbia.

The Serbian government is there for all citizens, both majority and minority, to show that it respects diversity, Brnabic said before joining the Pride parade, Beta news agency reported.

In 2010, the parade descended into clashes between anti-gay protesters and police, injuring more than a hundred people and prompting the event to be banned for three years.

This is the fourth consecutive year the march has gone ahead under a large security presence, and the first time a prime minister has attended.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as marchers walked through the cordoned-off city centre.

About 2,000 police officers were deployed -- less than half the number on duty for last years peaceful parade, according to organisers.

You can see the borders of freedom are shifting and, in this respect, our society has made great progress in recent years, Brnabic said in an interview published Sunday in the newspaper Politika.

Brnabic was selected to be premier by her predecessor, Aleksandar Vucic, after he was elected president. She entered politics less than a year earlier as public administration minister.

The surprise move made international headlines, but sceptics suspected an attempt at pinkwashing, with Brnabic used as a puppet by Vucic to improve Serbias image as it campaigns to join the European Union.

Critics accuse Vucic, who remains the countrys most powerful politician, of being a populist authoritarian who has clamped down on media freedom.

Some also suspect that his SNS partys hard-right roots gives it leverage over some far-right organisations and the ability to deter them from disrupting Pride.

At a conference on hate speech on Friday, Brnabic dismissed as nonsense the accusation that she had been chosen merely because of her sexual orientation.

A technocrat with a business background, Brnabic has expressed hope in interviews that people will look beyond her sexual orientation, distancing herself from LGBT issues.

Activist groups are campaigning for the adoption of a law on same-sex partnerships, for which they hope to win the premiers support.

Ivana Mitrovic, a 35-year-old attending the parade from the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, was sceptical of the prime ministers involvement.

I dont like the government. Its all for show, she told AFP.

But others said Brnabics participation and visibility could inspire young gay and transgender people, even in small villages where conservativism is entrenched.

For me thats a good thing, said Nevena Pupic, 34, an activist and financial officer from Belgrade.
A roadside bomb today killed six security personnel in Pakistans restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, authorities said.

The incident occurred in Tangi area of Tehsil Mamond in Bajaur agency.

A senior official died in the blast along with five others. The driver was injured in the blast, the political administration said.

The levy personnel was on routine patrolling of the area when the militants detonated an improvised explosive device through remote control as their vehicle reached the spot, it said.

The security forces cordoned off the entire area and started search operation to nab the culprits, it added.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying it wanted to eliminate the black infidel democratic system in Pakistan and impose Islamic justice system.

Bajaur Agency has seen intense fighting between militants and security forces in the past. Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives. But several militant groups are still active in the country, particularly in the northwest.
South Koreas President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to exert stronger pressure through sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear and missile tests, South Koreas presidential office said following a telephone call between the two leaders on Sunday.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation, and exert stronger and practical sanctions on North Korea so that it realizes provocative actions leads to further diplomatic isolation and economic pressure, Blue House spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a televised briefing.

The Blue House said Moon and Trump had strongly condemned the latest missile launch by North Korea, and agreed that the two nations would work with the international community to implement the latest UN Security Councils resolution 2375, Park said.
Syrian troops seized a suburb of the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Sunday, tightening the noose around Islamic State, a Syrian military source said.

The army pushed into the city this month with the help of Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, breaking an Islamic State siege of an enclave there that had lasted three years.

On Sunday, the Syrian army and allied forces captured al-Jafra district on the western bank of the Euphrates river, the military source said.

They have no outlet except crossing the Euphrates towards the eastern bank and fleeing towards the desert, or (the towns) al-Bukamal and al-Mayadin, the source told Reuters.

Moscow and Washington are backing separate offensives in the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zor bordering Iraq. Both have advanced from opposite sides of the Euphrates which bisects the province, Islamic States last major foothold in Syria.

Russian- and US-backed offensives against Islamic State have mostly stayed out of each others way, with the Euphrates often acting as the dividing line.

But the Pentagon accused Russia this week of bombing US-backed forces on the rivers eastern bank.

Russias defence ministry rejected the allegations on Sunday. Moscow had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans and its jets only targeted Islamic State militants, it said.

River escape

Russias RIA news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the Syrian army had cut Islamic States main supply line in Deir al-Zor city.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces took al-Jafra near the citys air base overnight, though Islamic State militants still hold nearly a third of the city.

Russian jets pounded movements across the river as Islamic State fighters tried to escape in ferries, and many civilians, including families of the militants, had also tried to flee across the river in recent days, it said.

Separate air strikes by Russia and by the US-led coalition killed more than 34 people, including children, across Deir al-Zor province over the past day, the war monitor said.

Islamic State controls much of the desert region around Deir al-Zor city, where its fighters are also under attack from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.

With jets and special forces from the US-led coalition, the alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias is battling Islamic State in the northern parts of Deir al-Zor province.

The SDF said it had taken 14 villages and farms, two towns, and some factories on the eastern bank of the Euphrates since launching its assault last week.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the Trump administration is considering closing down the US Embassy in Havana following unexplained incidents harming the health of American diplomats.

Tillerson says we have it under evaluation and that shuttering the embassy is under review. He says the issue is very serious regarding the harm some individuals have suffered.

Tillerson, who spoke on CBS Face the Nation ahead of President Donald Trumps trip to the UN General Assembly this coming week, notes that the State Department has brought home some of the people affected.

At least 21 Americans have been medically confirmed to have suffered harm in Havana. Tillerson previously called it health attacks but the State Department now prefers to call them incidents. The cause and culprit havent been determined.

In the fall of 2016, a series of US diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of hearing. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Barack Obamas re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Iraqs prime minister says between 970 and 1,260 civilians were killed during the grueling nine- month battle against the Islamic State group in Mosul.

Haider Al-Abadi says: Weve tried our utmost to protect the civilians, thats why our security forces have paid a very high price, explaining that Iraqi security forces faced more than double the number of casualties than the citys civilians.

Unlike in past battles against IS, in Mosul, Iraqi officials called on the more than 1 million civilians living in the city to remain in their homes to avoid massive displacement.

The presence of civilians quickly complicated the fight with IS fighters who used them as human shields.

As Iraqi forces punched into Mosuls more densely populated neighborhoods, civilian casualties spiked and human rights groups warned of the dangers of using large munitions in the packed urban environment.

On March 17, more than 100 civilians were killed in a single US airstrike targeting two IS fighters in west Mosul, according to a Pentagon investigation.
The White House insisted Saturday the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favorable terms even though European diplomats sense a softening in the US position.

There has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.

As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country, she said.

In June, President Donald Trump had announced he was withdrawing the United States from the historic Paris Accord, saying it was bad for his country and its economy but kept the door open for a new transaction on terms that are fair to the US.

Trump named India and China among the reasons he called the Paris Accord unfair to the United States.

Were getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal thats fair. If we can, thats great, President Trump said in a speech at the White House, and went on to add, to cheers from aides and supporters in the audience, I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Americas prestigious Yale University has decided to replace terms such as freshman and upperclassman with gender-neutral terms like first year and upper-level students.

The new terminology will likely appear in all publications and communications by the start of the next academic year, Yale College Dean Marvin Chun told the Yale Daily News.

Yale College Deans Office staff members were told about the change in an email last week, according to Director of Strategic Communications for Yale College Paul McKinley.

Chun emphasised that the memo was distributed to notify faculty and staff how the administration now refers to its students, without attempting to dictate to recipients that they use any specific terminology.

Its really for public, formal correspondence and formal publications...were not trying to tell people what language to use in their everyday casual conversations, Chun was quoted as saying.

Were not trying to be language police, he said.

While Chun praised the new terminology as modern, he acknowledged that the terms such as freshman and upperclassman are deeply ingrained in everyday language and in Yales history.

In his email to faculty last Thursday, Chun said he expects that students, staff and faculty will continue to use these terms as they see fit, without feeling that anyone is out of compliance with an official policy.

Yale began to consider the language change last year amid growing calls for greater gender inclusivity on campus. By the spring, the informal practice of substituting the term freshman with first year was becoming increasingly widespread.

Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarribar, who led the campus conversation about the change, had said earlier that replacing the term freshman is something administrators had been thinking about for some time, adding that several peer institutions had already made the move.

The University of North Carolina struck the word freshman from its official documents in 2009, with the University of Emory following suit in 2015.

Dartmouth College, Cornell University and Columbia University also use the term first year in most official publications. There are 1,580 first-year students enrolled at Yale.
Most people paying attention to the cost of renting an apartment in the U.S. would tell you that prices have gotten out of hand.

That's certainly true at the extremes where, say, the typical two-bedroom in the Bay Area suburb of San Mateo, California., clocks in at $4,300 a month. More broadly, the supply of new housing isn't keeping up with demand, pushing rents up in cities across the country.

It stands to reason, then, that Americans are spending an ever larger share of their incomes on rent, limiting the amount they can spend on everything from health care to groceries to saving for retirement-or to buy a home.

Right?

Sure enough, 48 percent of renters spent at least 30 percent of their household income on rent in 2015, up from 41 percent of renters in 2001, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. But amid the avalanche of headlines warning of the growing affordability crisis, there's a corner of the real estate industry where the problem is seen as overstated, or at least misunderstood.

Data analyzed by Greg Willett, the chief economist at RealPage, which makes software to help landlords manage their properties, shows that the median rent-to-income ratio has held steady at around 23 percent since 2010 for about 5.7 million leases in the company's database.

It's not that the rents didn't increase-they did-but that landlords were able to find plenty of renters able to keep up. The median income for the renters in Willett's data was $45,000 in 2010 and $61,000 last year, a 36 percent increase. The data exclude student and senior housing complexes as well as apartments with fewer than five units.

Real household incomes increased by 9 percent over the same period, according to census data released on Sept. 12. In addition to wage increases, landlords probably also benefited by attracting increasingly affluent renters-empty nesters downsizing from homes they owned into rental apartments, or millennial workers advancing in their careers but not yet able to afford to buy a home.

Either way, the incomes in Willett's data set are growing faster than the typical U.S. household's and are substantially higher than the typical U.S. renter's. The median income for market-rate apartments in buildings with at least five units is about $32,000, according to an analysis of census data conducted by Andrew Jakabovics, vice president of policy development at Enterprise Community Partners, an affordable-housing nonprofit.

The census data, unlike Willett's, don't exclude student or senior housing, and they include more than 2 million units in buildings funded with low-income housing tax credits, a federal program that limits rents by subsidizing property owners.

Still, that income gap between $32,000 and $61,000 helps explain why Willett sees rent-to-income ratios remaining flat while others warn of a growing affordability crisis. Willett said he doesn't question that rising rents are straining plenty of households, adding that close to 1 in 3 U.S. households earns less than $30,000 a year.

"I don't want it to sound like those people aren't there. They really are," he said. "Where they're living I don't know."

There were 44 million renter households in the U.S. in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Housing Survey, and about 4.5 million of them received some form of rental assistance. Of the remaining market-rate renters, about 16 million had annual household incomes of less than $30,000. More than half of those households live in single-family homes or small rental buildings.

That leaves more than 7 million less affluent renters living in bigger apartment buildings without rental assistance, though the census data don't offer an apples-to-apples comparison to Willett's. Households spending at least 30 percent of their incomes on rent are concentrated in metro areas on the East and West coasts, according to a new geographical analysis of rent burdens published by the National Association of Home Builders.

While rising rents may not have changed the rent-to-income ratio in Willett's data, the pain from higher rents is likely being felt downmarket. Demand for higher-end rentals has provided new impetus to fix up older properties and reposition them for more affluent tenants. And as the apartments in Willett's data get more expensive, tenants are likely to seek cheaper housing, driving prices higher on lower-quality units.

"If they're pushing rents," Jakabovics said, "people struggling to pay will move out."
As Hurricane Harvey barreled into Houston, the state shut down 50 stationary air quality monitors that track pollution levels to protect the sensitive devices from the high winds and torrential rains that swamped the region.

The timing, while perhaps unavoidable, couldn't have been worse. Over the week - longer in some neighborhoods - that the air monitors were out of commission, record floods triggered spills from refineries, chemical plants, pipelines and storage tanks that released volatile chemicals into the air.

The extent of exposure to these pollutants, some known to cause cancer, may never be known, but since the skies cleared and floods receded, a small corps of private air monitors have spread out into the neighborhoods near the spills and found that emissions likely reached dangerous levels - in some cases more dangerous than environmental regulators initially acknowledged.

On Aug. 27, for example, Valero Energy said a collapsed roof at its East Houston refinery led to a small release of cancer-causing chemical benzene, a particularly dangerous and volatile component of oil and gasoline that evaporates quickly. Eight days later, air monitoring in the adjacent Manchester neighborhood by the San Francisco company Entanglement Technologies detected a plume of benzene with readings nearly double the state's allowable level for short-term exposure.

"We certainly didn't expect to see concentrations that are this high," said Tony Miller, Entanglement's CEO. "Extremely high measurements could've been here shortly after the accident."

Entanglement's work was part of an effort by the Environmental Defense Fund, a national advocacy group, and the nonprofit Air Alliance Houston to help the city of Houston assess environmental damage from Harvey, protect public health and hold companies accountable for their pollution. Refineries, petrochemical plants and other industrial operations spewed some 2.6 million pounds of pollutants into the air during Harvey-related shutdowns and accidents in the Houston area, according to self-reported emissions to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

That's equal to about half of the emissions reported for all of last year for emergency shutdowns, maintenance and accidents.

"We have one of the largest air monitoring networks of any area in the United States, but we still have areas where they can't monitor well," said Loren Raun, chief environmental science officer for the Houston Health Department. "We were scrambling to understand everything Harvey could have created in terms of environmental pollution."

Air monitoring first started in Houston and across the nation in the 1970s under the federal Clean Air Act, expanding from city centers into neighborhoods and industrial areas. When Hurricane Harvey threatened, the stationary monitors were disassembled and put into temporary storage, then reinstalled and recalibrated after the storm passed. Most were back online by Sept. 2, but the Milby Park monitor closest to the Manchester neighborhood didn't restart until Sept. 8.

Following the series of spills, the Environmental Defense Fund, which has actively pursued air emissions issues in the Houston area for years, hired Entanglement to do air quality monitoring, along with two other mobile monitoring units that EDF has available through a partnership with Google. They traveled through the Houston area, detecting elevated benzene levels in areas like Baytown, Pasadena and Port Arthur.

"The bottom line is these mobile units see things the stationary monitors can't pick up," said Elena Craft, an Environmental Defense Fund senior health scientist in Texas. "And that's incredibly concerning."

The findings in the Manchester neighborhood provide an example. Located in the shadow of the Valero refinery, some homes in the largely Hispanic, lower-to-middle-class neighborhood sit right next to the refinery, which can churn through more than 200,000 barrels of crude oil a day to produce a variety of fuels and petroleum products. A 2016 Union of Concerned Scientists report found that the cancer risk in Manchester is 22 percent higher than for all of Houston, and about 30 percent higher than in some more affluent West Houston neighborhoods.

Two days after Harvey struck the Texas coast, the weight of rainwaters buckled and partially collapsed the roof of a storage tank at Valero's refinery, while damaging the roof drain of another tank. The exposure of the petroleum to the air led to the release of benzene.

Valero said it quickly contained the oil after it leaked from the roof drain, spraying foam materials to prevent benzene and other volatile components from evaporating. Within 24 hours of the accident, when details often remain murky, Valero estimated the accident released just 6.7 pounds of benzene, as well more than 3,350 pounds of unspecified volatile organic compounds.

The U.S. Coast Guard inspected the cleanup, and Valero said it was working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and EPA "on monitoring for any potential emissions from the oil."

For several days after Harvey, both agencies frequently repeated that throughout the region "monitors are showing that air quality at this time is not concerning, and residents should not be concerned about air quality issues related to the effects of the storm."

The Environmental Defense Fund, however, was concerned. Miller, the Entanglement CEO, and his chief science officer, Mike Armen, drove more than halfway across the country in three days, settling in the Manchester neighborhood on Sept. 4.

The EPA said it had monitored the area but found no readings above emergency screening levels. Entanglement, however, came up with much more alarming findings, and then the city detected benzene concentrations of 324 parts per billion, nearly double the state's allowable amount of 180 parts per billion for short-term exposure.

"It's been quite some time, and we've still seen high concentrations," Miller said.

Ten days later, on Thursday, the EPA acknowledged that Valero "significantly underestimated" the size of the benzene leak and would file a new report showing a "substantial increase" in emissions. The agency, however, declined to release the revised data until the report is complete. Meanwhile, the EPA is demanding Valero turn over records and maintenance history related to the tank failures at the refinery, including detailed calculations of emissions and efforts taken to prevent and mitigate them before and after the incident.

Valero, which contends there was never a serious health risk to the community, acknowledged it will report elevated emissions from the incident, but added that it believes that the highest concentrations of benzene may have come from other refineries and chemical plants in the area. Some chemicals detected in the air with benzene plumes aren't present in the failed tank.

Edna Acosta lives across the street from the refinery. She grew up in the neighborhood and is accustomed to the smells of petroleum. She said the odors got much worse after Harvey, but she didn't know what she could do.

"You get too comfortable with it. That doesn't mean you're satisfied," Acosta said. "I do get concerned because I have my kids. Your front yard is literally the refinery."
As time begins its march away from the biggest storm in United States history, Houstonians are working hard to return to normalcy. Though the streets have cleared and the water has mostly receded, many are still without homes or a car.

The resource list from last week has been updated with updated FEMA numbers, new recovery centers and D-SNAP information, as well as the removal of obsolete information.

Government assistance

Go to DisasterAssistance.gov to fill out a questionnaire to begin the process of applying for federal aid from FEMA.

Apply for federal aid for recovery of storm-caused damages and loss at fema.gov, or call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. (TTY 800-462-7585. If you use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 800-621-3362.)

To register for recovery you will need:

Address of location where damage occurred.

Current mailing address.

Your Social Security number. If you don't have one you still may be eligible for aid if there is someone in your household with one.

For businesses, you will need the Social Security number of the party responsible for the business.

Insurance information.

Financial information.

Your family's gross total household income at the time of the disaster.

Contact information.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or direct deposit information (optional).

Banking information - bank name, type of account, routing and account number - if you are approved for assistance.

Description of damage.

FEMA Houston-area Disaster Recovery Centers: Representatives from FEMA, the U.S. Small Business Administration, state and other agencies will be on hand to discuss assistance and offer guidance on applications. If possible, homeowners, renters and businesses should register with FEMA before visiting a recovery center. Register at fema.gov. A FEMA app for Apple and Android devices also is available. Download at fema.gov/mobile-app.

Hours are 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily at:

Katy Mills Mall (Fort Bend County), 5000 Katy Mills Circle

Baytown Community Center (Harris County), 4407 Market, Baytown

Greenspoint Mall (Harris County), 263 Greenspoint Mall

Webster Civic Center (Harris County), 311 Pennsylvania, Webster

Netrality Building (Harris County), 1301 Fannin (formerly the recovery center at George R. Brown Convention Center)

Simonton Community Church, 9703 FM 1489, Simonton

Disaster survivors can visit any location for assistance. Locations of other recovery centers can be found at fema.gov/DRC.

HoustonRecovers.org is the central hub for information on Harvey recovery. The website has links to resources where you can volunteer, donate and register for assistance, as well as updates from City Hall and community updates. Call the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management for information at 713-884-4500.

IRS.gov offers information on tax relief available for those living in the disaster areas. Go to IRS.gov or call 800-829-1040, available 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Texas Vet Centers and Mobile Vet Centers offer readjustment services at the following locations:

NRG Arena (Main Entrance), 1 NRG Park (Blue Section)

Lone Star Veterans Association, 2929 McKinney

Beaumont VA Outpatient Clinic, 3420 Plaza Circle, Beaumont

American Legion Post 658, 14890 FM 2100, Crosby

Walmart, 23561 US-59, Porter

The Vet Center Call Center Counseling also is available at 877-927-8387.

Veterans from storm-affected areas who require immediate assistance may contact the Health Resource Center Disaster Hotline at 800-507-4571.

Housing

The Salvation Army of Greater Houston's Family Residence at 1603 McGowen is open to assist evacuees and those who have lost their homes.

FEMA's Transitional Shelter Assistance program helps eligible displaced people to stay at a participating hotel free of charge temporarily if they are unable to return home. For a list of participating hotels, go to femaevachotels.com, or contact FEMA to apply at 800-462-7585.

Harris County Housing and Community Resource Center helps with locating emergency shelters, rental properties and financial assistance. Call 713-696-1998.

Rebuildinghouston.org helps senior, disabled and veteran homeowners in Harris County with home rebuilding efforts. Call 713-659-2511.

Airbnb is helping find temporary housing for those displaced by the floods until Sept. 25. Call 855-424-7262 or visit airbnb.com/welcome/evacuees/hurricaneharveyevacuees to find available homes.

Legal

The State Bar of Texas' Disaster Hotline is answered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese and connects low-income people affected by a disaster with legal aid providers who can help with issues such as replacing lost documents, answering insurance questions, helping with landlord/tenant problems, and handling consumer protection concerns such as price-gouging and contractor scams during the rebuilding process. Callers can leave a message at any time at 800-504-7030.

The Houston Bar Association has expanded its LegalLine program. Volunteer attorneys will assist affected residents with legal advice on landlord/tenant matters, insurance, FEMA assistance, property, lost documents and other storm-related issues. Lines are open 3-5 p.m. Monday-Friday through Wednesday. Call 713-759-1133 or 866-959-1133.

Food

The Houston Food Bank offers a list of food pantries and other food assistance, Call 832-369-9390.

For disaster food stamp benefits, call the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at 877-541-7905.

The Houston Health Department opened four Women, Infants and Children (WIC) sites dedicated to help people affected by Harvey's unprecedented flooding. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., the sites will begin registering pregnant women, women who recently had a child, infants and children under the age 5 for WIC benefits. Sites are at the George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas, and Walmart stores at 111 Yale Street, 11210 W. Airport and 9460 W. Sam Houston Parkway. Call 832-393-5427.

Financial

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers low-interest, long-term disaster loans to small businesses, private non-profit organizations, homeowners and renters to repair or replace uninsured/underinsured disaster-damaged property. Apply at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela or call 800-659-2955.

The Texas Gulf Coast Small Business Development Center Network and the U.S. Small Business Administration have opened a business recovery center where business owners can access a variety of specialized services free of charge. The Harris County center is located at 2302 Fannin and is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday- Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

Property

The National Flood Insurance Program answers questions for policyholders about the claims process at 800-621-3362.

To find an abandoned car, go to findmytowedcar.com or call 832-394-4869.

The Texas Department of Insurance has advice on what to do if your home or auto was damaged by Harvey, the insurance claims process and contractor fraud prevention. It has extended its call center hours to 8 p.m. Call 800-252-3439 or go to tdi.texas.gov.

Harris County homeowners who have any type of property damage from Hurricane Harvey can now report it on the Harris County Appraisal District's phone app, where they will be given options to identify whether the damage was to the home or garage. The app also provides an event damage report that lists options for the amount of water, an estimate of damage caused by a tornado or roof leaks and a section for fire damage. When the homeowner is ready to submit the report, they take a photo of the front and back of their driver's license to verify the property owner's identity. Call 713-821-5805 or email help@hcad.org.

CrisisCleanup.org helps connect volunteers with those in need of help cleaning up. Call 844-965-1386.

Nonprofits

United Way of Greater Houston offers a 24-hour helpline to assist disaster victims get the resources they need. Call 211.

Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston provides help for those in need, focusing on homebound seniors, refugee families and other vulnerable populations who will need extra resources after the storm. Call 713-533-4900.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has a Flood Relief Hotline. Call 713-874-6664.

The Islamic Society of Greater Houston is providing food, shelter and other emergency assistance. Call 832-941-0766.

West Houston Assistance Ministries, 10501 Meadowglen Ln, is providing rent assistance, transportation assistance and car repairs, gas cards, bus passes, food and water, gift cards, clothes, cleaning supplies and motel accommodations for up to one week. Call them at 713-780-2727 or visit their website, whamministries.org.

Business assistance

The Texas Association of Business is offering assistance to business owners via a hotline during normal business hours. Call 512-637-7714 or email hurricane@txbiz.org.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers food, emergency housing, as well as farmer and rancher assistance to individuals and small businesses affected by severe storms and flooding. Call the Hurricane Harvey Information Line for Texas Producers at 866-680-6069.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's Disaster Distress helpline is available 24/7, 365 days a year, for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. This toll-free, multilingual and confidential crisis support service is available to all residents in the United States and its territories. Call 800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.

Missing persons

To report or locate a missing child, call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 866-908-9570.

To find family or friends or to register yourself as safe, go to safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/.

To report the location of a body, call 911. Do not attempt to move or disturb the body in any way.
Pull out your hippest comfortable shoes.

Fall brings a bevy of important exhibitions across Houston's museum landscape that will merit some trekking. Plenty more will be popping up come winter and spring, but as you look for ways to de-stress after Hurricane Harvey, here's where to get your art on.

The Oscars, please

The couture fashion crowd (and plenty of others who don't usually spend $3,000 on day dresses), are excited about "The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta," on view Oct. 8-Jan. 28 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The museum has yet to establish a costume institute, despite the urging of Houston Chronicle Best-Dressed Hall of Fame icons who've wanted to see that happen for years. With the huge popularity of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual fashion extravaganzas, however, and an MFAH director who launched his career there, hems may be rustling. The museum has shown signs of acquiescing in recent years. (Remember the glorious 19th-century gowns of 2015's Habsburg Dynasty blowout?)

The de la Renta show, presenting nearly 70 extraordinary creations by a legendary designer whose love of the tropics and superb craftsmanship have long made him a local favorite, is the museum's first fully fashion-themed show in recent memory.

Open arms

Everyone will be talking about art by Middle Eastern talent, too.

The Beirut-born, Palestinian contemporary master Mona Hatoum, who was a resident at Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts last spring, steps into a broader spotlight Oct. 13-Feb. 25 with "Terra Infirma," a major survey that will span all of the Menil Collection's temporary show galleries. (Permanent collection rooms will remain intact.)

This is as big as it sounds, for multiple reasons: Hatoum hasn't had a major solo exhibition in the U.S. in more than 20 years. "Terra Infirma" will explore her signature themes of placelessness and the fragility of home in a turbulent world. Among the 50 or so sculptures, installations and works on paper, don't miss "Homebound," an assemblage of ordinary household objects and furniture threaded together by a crackling wire of live electricity, and "La grande broyeuse (Mouli-Julienne x 17)," a steel sculpture that imagines a monstrously sized "vegetable slicer" as a menacing creature.

With the terrific summer show "Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians" up through Sept. 24, the MFAH will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Art of the Islamic Worlds initiative into the new season. The doors open first on "Bestowing Beauty: Masterpieces From Persian Lands," a show drawn from one of the most significant private collections of Islamic art in the world that will feature 150 works ranging from textiles and manuscripts to paintings and jeweled objects. Plan to catch it Nov. 19-Feb. 11.

Asia Society Texas Center contributes to the conversation Sept. 21-Feb. 25 with "Wondrous Worlds: Art & Islam Through Time & Place," a show of more than 100 works showcasing the history and diversity of Islamic art.

Local heroes

We're always happy to see Houston talents celebrated beyond the walls of commercial galleries.

Trenton Doyle Hancock has had plenty of that action lately, but you can still expect surprises with "Texas: 1997-2017," a survey organized by the Art League Houston, honoring Hancock as its 2017 Texas Artist of the Year. The league's Montrose building suffered roof damage during Hurricane Harvey that will keep it closed at least through October, but visual arts director Jennie Ash is negotiating a new venue TBD, tentatively Sept. 22-Nov. 11.

The Houston Museum of African American Culture will shine a light on an artist who deserves more attention than he's received in a while. Don't miss his survey, "The Telling and The Told: The Art of David McGee," Oct. 21-Dec. 16. McGee also has a solo show right now at Texas Gallery: "Urban Dread and The Complications of Water" is on view through Oct. 21.

Homeward bound

"HOME - So Different, So Appealing," a major collaboration between the MFAH and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will feature U.S. Latino and Latin American artists from the late 1950s to the present who focus on the simple, universal idea of home. We're all in, Nov. 19-Jan. 21.
BEIRUT - The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria said Saturday that its partner forces have been attacked by Russian warplanes, escalating tensions on one of the country's most complex battlefields.

The coalition said in a statement that an early morning airstrike targeted positions used by the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, a Kurdish-dominated militia backed by Washington, as well as the international advisers supporting them in a weeks-old offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from the eastern province of Deir al-Zour.

As the Islamic State loses territory across Syria and Iraq, oil-rich Deir al-Zour has become a hub for the group's senior leaders.

Stretching along the eastern border with Iraq, it has also emerged as a geopolitical battleground for forces trying to support or thwart Iranian attempts to secure supply routes stretching from Beirut to Tehran.

The U.S.-led coalition intervened in Syria and Iraq in 2014 to halt the Islamic State's conquest across swaths of both countries. Iran and Russia's involvement dates back to the early months of the civil war that followed Syria's 2011 anti-government uprising, bankrolling and later militarily supporting President Bashar al-Assad's forces as part of a broader attempt to maintain key allies across the region.

In Deir al-Zour, the two military groups now find themselves fighting a common enemy. SDF fighters have advanced against Islamic State positions on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in recent weeks, while forces allied with Assad's government have scythed through the extremist group's territory from the western side, entering Deir Ezzor city and bringing the rival coalitions to within several miles of each other.

Saturday's attack marks the first time that the U.S.- and Russian-backed forces have clashed directly, signaling what appeared to be a growing willingness for Russia to protect its pro-Assad allies as they consolidate control over strategic parts of the province.

Although the Pentagon, SDF, Russia and Syria have agreed a line of "physical separation" between their parallel offensives, rising tensions have raised the specter of open clashes.

"Coalition officials are available and the deconfliction line with Russia is open 24 hours per day," said coalition commander Lt. Gen. Paul Funk.
WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers shut out of governance for much of this year now find themselves at the center of high-stakes negotiations with President Donald Trump that could achieve a prize they have sought for nearly a decade: permanent legal status for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.

For a small but vocal contingent of Democrats, these talks are fraught with peril, largely because of their total distrust of a man who began his presidential campaign two years ago describing illegal immigrants from Mexico as rapists.

But for Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., there is little to lose. If the deal falls apart and Trump returns to his pattern of insult-hurling and name-calling, the Democratic leaders will be right where they began - no better and no worse. And a successful negotiation would achieve something they failed to pull off when their party controlled both Congress and the White House. It could also serve as a road map for more achievements to come.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Schumer said in an interview. "We thought we had an opportunity to get something good done, and let's see what happens. We're very hopeful that they will keep their word."

Schumer and Pelosi are pressing ahead with the president's top advisers, hoping to reach a deal in a matter of weeks to enshrine in law an Obama-era executive order called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It protects from deportation undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Trump has criticized DACA as executive overreach, but he has also expressed empathy for the young immigrants it protects.

There is one critical stumbling block to the whole effort to pass a Dream Act to replace DACA: how much additional border security and enforcement Trump will demand.

The deep fear among Democrats skeptical of the negotiations is that, in exchange for permanent protections for "dreamers," Trump will win broad new powers and resources to enforce immigration laws that go beyond adding more agents or technology along the border. The cost of a permanent Dream Act, they say, could be a new and emboldened deportation force across the nation that undermines civil liberties and terrorizes law-abiding immigrants.

"We're going to have to be very leery and very careful of the slippery slope," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

"There is no fresh start with Trump, and I don't trust him," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.

Washington heads are still spinning from a negotiating dynamic that no one expected - not Schumer and Pelosi, and not their Republican counterparts, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Trump spent his first seven months in an entirely partisan bubble, working only with Republicans trying, and failing, to pass conservative legislation - notably a replacement to the Affordable Care Act. And it was less than a month ago when Pelosi said Trump should be formally censured by Congress for how he responded to the violence surrounding the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville.

But Trump's frustration with GOP leaders reached a boiling point during the failed effort to repeal former president Barack Obama's signature health-care law, losing in the Senate by one vote when three Republicans opposed Trump. From the White House's perspective, that frustration - and Trump's pivot to working with Democrats - is justified.

"Republicans have shown they can't keep 50 out of 52 members in line, even after six years of promise to repeal and replace Obamacare when given the opportunity," said Marc Short, Trump's director of legislative affairs.

Congressional Republicans, for their part, worry that Pelosi and Schumer could outsmart Trump. The two are seasoned dealmakers with combined service of more than 65 years on Capitol Hill, while Trump is a newcomer who honed his negotiating skills in real estate. Republicans have noted in particular how Trump and Schumer - one raised in Queens, the other in Brooklyn - are bonding over their outer-borough roots, leaving the president, they fear, vulnerable to getting the short end of the deal.

Trump's closest advisers are enjoying the theater of how quickly allegiances are ebbing and flowing from week to week. "Washington will never keep pace with Trump speed," Kellyanne Conway, counselor to Trump, said in an interview. "A non-politician's measure of progress is fundamentally different than that of Washington. It's grounded in business, it's grounded in results, it's grounded in performance."

One senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to comment on internal discussions, said Trump sees Schumer as an exciting and energetic contrast to McConnell, whose default posture is intense silence. Trump sees McConnell's deep knowledge of pulling levers of powers as a perfectly fine skill but one that is at odds with Trump's stated goal of disrupting the traditional, establishment-driven ways of Washington.

The majority of rank-and-file Democrats, as well as liberal activists around the nation, are willing to give Schumer and Pelosi room to maneuver. Progressive organizers, who had scorched Democrats for voting to confirm Trump's Cabinet nominees, have generally held their fire so far on the bipartisan DACA talks eight months after some of them had surrounded Schumer's Brooklyn home chanting, "Chuck's a chicken."

"They're in this position because there's been a whole national movement, years in the making, on behalf of the dreamers," said Hector Figueroa, a New York labor organizer who is co-chairman of the progressive Working Families Party.

For now, Schumer and Pelosi have taken a page from Ronald Reagan's old "trust but verify" adage toward the Soviets. They say that they have convinced Trump that protecting immigrants currently covered by DACA is the right policy and the right political move for a president with poor approval ratings.

"Look, he said he would do this," Schumer said. "I take him at his word that he will."

Pelosi at first deflected a question about whether she trusts Trump.

"Is that a fair question?" she asked reporters last week, before finally saying that, on this issue, she does, indeed, trust him. "I believe that the president, [not only] because of conviction, but because of reality, is there for the dreamers."

Critical challenges ahead could hobble the emerging deal. One is the uncertainty surrounding an erratic president, whose engagement with Democrats - on immigration, and a week earlier on short-term fiscal policy and hurricane relief - was not expected and not part of a grand plan.

"I'm not sure there is a broader strategy," said Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., a lieutenant in Pelosi's leadership team. "I don't think we should be surprised if he comes back next week, and he's working with Republicans only. It's a case-by-case basis."

Regarding the scope of border-security measures, Schumer said he signaled support for four points of toughened security: electronic surveillance at the Mexican border, detection devices focused on drug smugglers, improved infrastructure along the border and more search helicopters.

But Ryan, trying to reassert the power of congressional Republicans, added something to the talks. "We need border security and enforcement as part of any agreement," he said Thursday, the morning after Trump's White House huddle with the two Democrats.

The "enforcement" portion of his remarks set off alarm bells in the Hispanic caucus. "Where is it going to lead, once the alt-right starts raising their voices, which they've already begun and will only become louder?" asked Gutierrez, referring to the white nationalist movement that has supported Trump and loudly advocated for tougher immigration enforcement.

These Democrats, for instance, will not support a deal to add thousands of agents nationwide to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a step they forecast would lead in turn to a surge in deportations.

Another potential dealbreaker is the question of whether dreamers would be given a path to citizenship or merely permanent legal status. Pelosi and Schumer said they were specific with Trump in explaining that he would support the Dream Act introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., which includes opportunities for full citizenship.

On Thursday, Trump went back and forth on this issue, at times seeming to endorse the Democratic version of events but then backing away from citizenship, which staunch conservatives vehemently oppose.

Ultimately, if the deal comes together, it is most likely to happen fast - in weeks and not months, Schumer said. "I'd like to see it within the next little while. Look, I don't want to set a date. Soon. Soon is the right word."

- - -

The Washington Post's Kelsey Snell and David Weigel contributed to this report.
It's been a long, hard slog for Bill Merrell since he first proposed the concept of an "Ike Dike" nine years ago. At times, the Texas A&M oceanographer probably could have used his own dike of sorts to keep all the dismissiveness at bay.

Merrell's fight isn't over just because political leaders in the weeks after Harvey are calling for action on his concept, but he says it's heartening to finally see progress. His plan, a "coastal spine" composed of a system of floating gates, is intended to protect Galveston Bay and much of the Houston region from a killer wall of water known as a surge that could accompany a direct-hit monster storm.

"The parade is forming," the 74-year-old professor said in an interview last week as he sat in a maroon swivel chair in his office overlooking the Galveston channel.

"I learned a long time ago," he said, referring to his time as a Reagan appointee to the National Science Foundation, "if you're going to be a hammer, you've got to be an anvil, too. People are going to hit back and you can't take anything personally. Just keep working."

Early skepticism is perhaps best summed up in a colorful rant by Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack reported by the Chronicle in 2010, when he suggested the closest we'd get to the Ike Dike in his lifetime might be people lining up their cars along the beach.

"Who knows what it's going to be? Train a bunch of dinosaurs to stand up at a given time?" Radack went on. "Do I believe that man can stop a category 4 or 5 hurricane? The answer is, 'I don't believe man can stop a (category) 4 or 5 hurricane unless they pray a lot.'"

Radack wasn't alone in his resignation about Houston's vulnerability. Merrell says he once held a similar view himself - that an engineering solution to prevent death and destruction might be well impossible for an area prone to powerful hurricanes. Then came Ike.

Merrell remembers hunkering down with his wife, daughter and grandson for the 2008 hurricane on the second floor of a sturdy 1870 brick-and-iron building he owns on The Strand in Galveston. He recalls the helpless feeling as he listened to the 100-mph winds howl, as he watched the streets turn into rivers. The next morning, as he surveyed the destruction around him, he heard about an old friend, a World War II veteran who had lost one hand in combat, who had tied himself to a signpost to avoid being swept out to sea during the storm. When rescuers got to him, he vowed never to weather another hurricane.

A policy 'of failure'

He was one of the many people Merrell knew, most elderly and poor, who would leave the island and never return. There had to be another way, Merrell thought. He questioned the wisdom of focusing all efforts on recovery and nearly none on prevention.

"Our national policy is one of failure," he says. "We don't prevent. We let them hit us in the nose, and we fix it. And we let them do it again. Think about it. If we were doing that for terrorism, we'd throw every damn politician out."

He says even if a storm is "equal opportunity" in its aim, the poor and elderly - the people lacking in money, insurance and energy - are always the hardest hit. They may escape with their breath, but their lives as they knew them are often wiped out.

"You're bused up to Dallas or Austin. Your possessions are bulldozed. You only have what you can carry in a sack," Merrell says. "That's not how you should treat people."

Merrell says Ike left him with an "epiphany" that an engineering solution was possible. He sat down and began sketching out an idea for a coastal barrier in Galveston Bay, similar to one he'd seen in the Netherlands.

"The Dutch wouldn't put up with this," Merrell says.

It's become a familiar refrain that poses a provocative question: Why do Texans?

Merrell, a native Texan raised in Bellaire who has lived in Galveston since the 1980s, knows part of the answer: our rugged, risk-taking culture.

"Texans are a pretty resilient lot, but we're kind of cowboys, too," he says. "I wish we'd accept the fact that we could reduce risk, rather than just live with risk."

That's at the heart of Merrell's argument - prevention is not only possible, it's smarter and more cost-effective than simply spending billions of dollars to rebuild things the way they were and expecting different results.

Last week, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner led a bipartisan group of local officials to demand a "coastal spine" project be federally funded as part of any Harvey recovery package. The estimated cost cited at Turner's press conference was up to $14 billion, but Merrell believes it's not more than $8 billion.

Regardless, he says, "it's going to be cost effective at any cost," if one accounts for lives and property saved, and the nation's largest petrochemical complex protected. "Prevention is expensive, but usually, you only do it once."

He acknowledges the millions of dollars in maintenance costs, which would likely be paid by local or state governments. And he knows there's plenty of skepticism about whether Congress, outside of the Texas delegation, has the political will to fund the massive project.

Fighting for his idea

Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation, wrote in an op-ed published in the Chronicle last week that leaders should consider a less expensive option. Others agree, including environmental lawyer Jim Blackburn, who is also concerned about the environmental impact of Merrell's concept.

"Bill's done some beautiful work. I think his initial conceptualization was great," said Blackburn, who is also co-director of the SSPEED Center at Rice University. It stands for the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disaster Center. "I just think we should have more detail on it than we do. And I don't think it's the best alternative for the money."

Merrell acknowledges his concept is just that, albeit a concept heavily studied and already tested in other places. He's not an engineer, and Merrell notes that neither the state nor the federal government has funded a design phase anyway.

He's simply an academic who, rather than publish an idea and let it wither in the literature, decided to fight for it. He spent years, and plenty of weekends, raising money for research, educating local government leaders over coffee, cheerleading to congressional members, and organizing trips to the Netherlands to observe a real gated barrier system that has worked more than two dozen times.

Merrell says he shares Blackburn's environmental concerns, but he believes engineering can address those, as well as aesthetics. "Nobody wants to go down and look at a concrete wall and somebody tells you the ocean is on the other side."

At this point, he and his colleagues have turned over everything they've learned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Merrell says. The agency, which would be tasked with building such a structure, has a broad study going on coastal resiliency.

Merrell credits any progress he has made on the Ike Dike to the colleagues who have helped him and to his own hard-headedness - a characteristic he shares with the man whose endowed chair he holds at A&M: George Mitchell, the late Texas billionaire shale pioneer known as "the father of fracking."

"He used to say it's OK to be stubborn if you think you're right," Merrell says.

'Hard decisions'

Of course, it's not enough to think you're right. You actually have to be right. Merrell is convinced that he is, and he has persuaded leaders across the region.

Now we need details and careful study to be sure. We need a member of Congress to call on the Corps of Engineers to draft a design.

As Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told me Friday, we need action.

Merrell points to Emmett's tone these days as proof of how far the Ike Dike has come. He says Emmett is among the elected leaders who initially laughed at the idea. Emmett says he didn't laugh, only cautioned that there was no way the Obama administration was going to foot the bill.

"I don't know anyone who ever thought it was a ridiculous idea," Emmett said. "But it's time to quit having press conferences and saying, 'Yeah, we want a coastal barrier,' and get on with designing it and making the hard decisions."

He's right. Merrell gave us a concept that could help protect our region from the monster storm we all know is coming. Now we need someone just as stubborn to make it a reality.
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There isn't much that motivates people to stand out in the blistering Houston summer heat. Fighting for the right to stay in the country you grew up in, though, is worth it, Carlos Portella said.

Portella, 18, a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. At age 6, his parents brought him from Cali, Colombia, to the United States to escape the violence that engulfed the city at the time.

As a DACA beneficiary now vulnerable after President Donald Trump's decision to rescind the Obama-era executive order, Portella said he wants to give a voice to voiceless, so the pre-medical student found himself marching in northeast Houston on Saturday to save DACA.

"The future is kind of dark when you're a DACA student," Portella said. "We can join voices. We can get Congress to listen."

Local activist groups Brown Berets de TejAztlan, Houston Socialist Movement, Mexicanos en Accion Patriotas, Organizacion Latino Americana Pro-Derecho Del Inmigrante and Refuse Fascism-Houston organized the protest, which marched from Irvington Park to Moody Park, to call on Trump to reverse his decision.

Born there, raised here

Though senior congressional and Senate Democratic leaders announced Wednesday that they had reached an agreement with Trump to formalize DACA, demonstrator and Houston Socialist Movement member Chris Schneider said, that is not enough.

"Deferred Action," Schneider said. "I don't think these people should be deferred any longer."

Schneider said the solution the group is looking for is not only a reinstatement of DACA, but the formation of a path to citizenship for the roughly 800,000 people in the program and future "Dreamers."

"There's no other way around it," Schneider said. "These people were not raised in any other country; they do not know any other culture. They live here, they've worked here, they've struggled here. We should fight to keep them here."

Tania Campos, a 16-year-old student at Davis High School in Aldine, found out she was living in the country illegally when Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raided a house in her neighborhood when she was 6.

"My parents were panicking, and I didn't understand why," Campos said. "That's when I started feeling like, yeah I guess people don't really want me here."

Campos and her family moved to the United States from Monterrey when she was an infant. She's never known another life.

Campos's DACA status expires in 2019, but support from groups like the ones that organized the march gives her hope to keep fighting for legal recognition as an American.

'People to fight for'

Leovardo Santillan was marching for his son, Jairo, a straight-A student with four presidential awards.

In 2011, his father said, he found out he was brought to the country illegally.

"He grew up thinking he was an American citizen," Leovardo Santillan said. "He was applying for colleges, and I had to tell him he didn't have a Social Security number."

The younger Santillan started rebelling. Angry at his father, he left his school in Willis. A native of Hidalgo, Mexico, and a vocal advocate of immigration rights, Leovardo Santillan said the wide opposition to DACA worries him.

He hasn't seen his mother in over 20 years, and life is difficult in Texas, but Santillan refuses to return to Michoacan. The Mexican community here needs him, he said.

"The American public has lost some of its humanity, I think," he said. "I still have people to fight for."

The march ended about a mile away at Moody Park.

Janie Torres is an activist for Hispanic-American rights and the sister of Joe Campos Torres, who was killed by police in 1977, sparking the Moody Park Riots the following year.

"I will never back down," Torres said at the rally. "There's nothing they can do to me; they already took my brother."

In 1977, Vietnam veteran Joe Campos Torres was arrested at a bar for disorderly conduct. Instead of being taken to jail, the arresting officers took Campos Torres to an isolated area behind a warehouse along Buffalo Bayou where they beat him twice and dumped his body into the bayou 20 feet below.

Only two of the officers were charged with murder; they were convicted of negligent homicide - a misdemeanor - and fined $1.

Historic undertones

A year later, with tensions still high from Campos Torres' death, members of the Chicano community celebrating Cinco de Mayo clashed with police at Moody Park, sparking riots that resulted in the arrests of 40 people and the creation of the Houston Police Department's internal affairs division.

Torres said the protest was not just aimed at opponents of DACA but at all in government working to undermine minority rights.

"Please people," Torres said to the crowd at the park. "Fight. Keep fighting."
The rising death toll from Tropical Storm Harvey has stressed the operations of the Harris County morgue, prompting officials to call for extra storage support.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences has capacity for 203 bodies. As of Friday afternoon, there were 134 bodies in storage, according to Tricia Rudisill Bentley, a spokeswoman for the agency.

In response, the state has provided a refrigerated truck for "extra storage capacity as ongoing search and recovery efforts continue over the next several weeks," Bentley said.

As of 9 p.m. Friday, the institute had confirmed 28 storm-related deaths in Harris County - all but one from drowning in floodwaters.

The demand for space has eased as the week has progressed and bodies have been released. On Thursday, the medical examiner's office sent 30 cases to funeral homes.

A week after the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on the night of Aug. 25, local officials had reported more than 50 people were confirmed dead or feared deceased in the state as a result of Harvey and the catastrophic flooding the storm unleashed.

Volunteers among dead

The medical examiner's office on Friday night confirmed the deaths of two missing volunteer rescuers who were tossed into Greens Bayou after their boat struck a power line on Monday, sending an electrical jolt through the vessel.

Officials said the bodies of Gustavo Rodriguez, 40, and a 33-year-old man were found on the banks of Greens Bayou on Thursday.

Relatives and friends had hoped that Rodriguez and Benjamin Vizuet, 33, had managed to survive the incident, which killed two other volunteer rescuers: Jorge Raul Perez, 33, and 45-year-old Yanir Rubio-Vizuet.

The four were part of a group of five, accompanied by two journalists with the London-based Daily Mail, who ventured out Monday afternoon to rescue neighbors in the Northshore area. The boat disappeared while headed toward a wheelchair-bound resident's home.

The journalists, senior reporter Alan Butterfield and photographer Ruaridh Connellan, were found alive with the fifth volunteer, Jose Vizuet. The trio were clinging to trees along the bayou until they were rescued Tuesday and transported to a hospital for treatment, the Daily Mail reported.

Meanwhile, deaths that appear to be the result of medical emergencies during the storm continued to add up.

Among the recently confirmed storm deaths was Wilma Ratliff Ellis, 73. The medical examiner's office reported that she was found floating Monday during a Coast Guard rescue operation.

Her story had appeared to be a joyous one after she was rescued earlier in the day. Family members put the elderly woman on a boat when rescuers arrived with only one seat left, the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune newspaper reported. She was taken to a local high school, but remained without relatives because the boat never returned for other stranded family members. Ellis apparently wandered from the school and was swept away in floodwaters.

She was discovered floating face-down and lifeless by Joshua Lincoln of Madisonville and two other rescuers, who resuscitated her, the newspaper reported Monday. She was wearing a hospital bracelet at the time of the second rescue, said Ellis, who gave details of the incident.

The men dropped Ellis at a gas station where a local businessman promised to look after her, then left to continue pulling people from flooded homes.

Lincoln said he had received frantic calls on Wednesday from family members asking him to help locate Ellis. The medical examiner's office confirmed Thursday that she was pronounced dead at LBJ Hospital at around 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Officials also removed the case of another elderly resident, Ronald Zaring, from the list of storm-related deaths. The 83-year-old, having been evacuated from a Friendswood nursing home, died Tuesday of a heart attack while aboard a charter bus taking patients to Huntsville. He also had pneumonia.

Nine outside Houston

Other drowning victims confirmed this week include Calvin Oran Montalbano, 54, found Tuesday in a grassy area near the Eastex Freeway; Benito Cavazos Juarez, 42, found face-down in a parking lot on Tuesday after waters receded at the East Freeway and Holland Avenue; Martin Salazar, 49, found Wednesday on Preston Avenue in Pasadena after evacuating his home; Michael Tucker, 66, who was found Tuesday in 4 feet of water after leaving his residence; Keisha Monique Williams, 32, found Wednesday on Woodforest Boulevard in Houston; and Colby Henry Osorno, 24, found Thursday in the Greens Bayou/Houston Ship Channel area. Victor Manuel Acevedo, 67, found Monday in an alley on Arkansas Street in East Houston.

The medical examiner's office late Friday confirmed one other additional victim: Efrain Angel, 26, who was found Tuesday in a drainage ditch near Harris County Katy Park.

At least nine people outside the Houston area have also perished, and details have emerged about some of those deaths.

On Monday night, Joshua Aedan Feuerstein, 33, of The Woodlands was caught in rapid floodwater on Fish Creek Thoroughfare near the Woodforest subdivision, according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Feuerstein became distressed and tried to get help, but rescuers and bystanders were unable to get to him before he drowned, authorities said. He is one three persons to die on Montgomery County. Two people were killed in Jasper County around late Tuesday when a tree fell on their truck as they travelled down FM 777. The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the deceased Wednesday as Russell Barnes, 51, and Ginger Barnes, 43, both of Alvin.

Jay R. Jordan and Margaret Kadifa contributed to this report.
As the water around Houston began to rise, so did the dread. Those long-ago first warnings had been right. Hurricane Harvey would be a killer, with its rains pummeling Texas' most populous region hour after hour, filling streets and then bayous and finally houses.

Sure enough, when skies cleared and the water receded, heartbreaking tales of loss emerged one upon another. A dozen became two, then three. A family of six lost in a van ... a couple carried away by the current ... a medical emergency that could not be tended to.

The statewide death toll from Harvey's march along coastal Texas is 75, with the Houston metro area accounting for two-thirds of that. Most of the other victims came from the southeast corner of the state, though a few were killed closer to where the hurricane made landfall near Rockport. Some remain unidentified. Others may yet be found.

HARVEY'S HUMAN TOLL: Each victim's tale carries its own tragic arc

The 50 local victims tell 50 different stories. Their circumstances varied. Some were poor, some not. Some were old and already in poor medical condition. Some were young and unlucky. At least six of the dead were would-be rescuers accidentally tossed into the roiling waters. Roughly a third died as a result of driving into high water.

In coming months, researchers and social scientists will parse the data of the dead for common threads. What does it mean, if anything, that 24 of the 35 storm victims at the Harris County Medical Examiners Office are minorities? What will our economic geography say about the degree of risk we face? What can we learn?

One thing we already know. As each passing day after Harvey's exit brought another few victims, it soon became obvious that something else had happened during and after the storm, something unpredicted and remarkable, something not about the dead but the living. The human catastrophe that could have unfolded over the course of several days did not.

The ultimate death toll easily could have been, and perhaps should have been, higher, some experts said.

Now Playing: A look at some of the lives claimed by Hurricane Harvey. Video: Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle

Rice University professor Phil Bedient, who oversees the school's severe storm research center, said it was nothing less than "astounding" that more did not die. A similar storm - a former hurricane transformed into a tropical storm - caused heavy flooding in Central Texas and killed 224 in 1921. Five years ago, Hurricane Sandy and its remnants were responsible for 117 fatalities. And just last year, a much smaller one-day storm in West Virginia killed half as many people as Harvey in a flash flood.

The acknowledgement of what might have been is no consolation to hundreds of grieving relatives. At the same time, the collective human damage tells a story of its own, of many things that went right when so much might have gone wrong.

"I don't think there's any question that more lives would have been lost," said Mayor Sylvester Turner of the citizen response. "We can't know how many, but the number definitely would be higher if people had not stepped in."

Staying off the roads

With floodwaters spreading across the county and first responders getting so many calls for help that dispatchers could not keep up, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett stood in front of TV cameras and asked people to help if they had any way to do so. By then, the ad hoc rescue effort was well underway.

"I didn't have to say it," Emmett said later. "I just wanted to give sanction to it. First and foremost, people here help their neighbors."

Of course, there were other factors that helped keep the death toll lower. There were ample and accurate warnings of when the storm would arrive. A number of roads and underpasses that flood during heavy storms were barricaded ahead of time. Most people paid heed to exhortations to stay home and off the roads.

Emmett also said he realized early that it was crucial for people not to try to leave the area en masse. Having seen the consequences of evacuating as Hurricane Rita approached in 2005, he envisioned roadways clogged with traffic as the storm arrived. He could imagine thousands of the trapped floating away hours later - the ultimate nightmare scenario.

Emmett is certain the death toll would have been much higher had evacuation been attempted.

"Evacuation was never a possibility," he said.

Yet with so much rain over such a wide area, and so many people in peril, there was no way for first responders to handle the load of needed rescues. Seeing it unfold on television, with residents of swamped neighborhoods calling for help or wading through waters toward high ground, thousands of ordinary folks walked out into the rain, some with just a scant idea of how they might be of assistance.

High and dry at home, Spring resident Jim Tactay saw pictures of the rising water and knew the dangerous areas near Interstate 45 where motorists might get into trouble. He didn't have a boat, but that didn't stop him. He drove close to the area, walked to the water's edge, and found a guy with a boat who wanted someone to help him help others.

"I guess people could sit comfortably at home and watch it on TV, but instead they woke up every day asking how they could help, where were they needed," said Tactay, a salesman for a building materials company. "That was Houston. We didn't have to be asked."

Chris Ginter used his brother's monster truck to ferry people and supplies into and out of neighborhoods, and as word spread, his phone kept ringing. William Kelsey used his boat to pick up fellow residents of Meyerland from their homes and get them to a nearby shelter. And so it continued everywhere the water had invaded.

Local officials may not be ready to endorse a less formal approach to crisis. Turner said the urgency of rescue needs showed him that the city of Houston still needs to acquire more physical assets to help in flood scenarios: more rafts and boats, more high-water trucks. Emmett said he prefers to have greater high-water capability integrated into the 274 Citizen Emergency Response Teams, which are composed of volunteers who have received special training.

Outdated thinking

Both suggestions may make sense, but if there's a single lesson to be learned from Harvey's inundation of the Houston area and why more people did not perish in it, it's the growing importance of an all-hands-on-deck approach. How the effort of citizen responders is directed is less important than the fact they respond.

"Agencies direct themselves, but an entire community - all its formal and informal systems, its neighborhoods and community groups - is not directed in normal times. It won't suddenly be directed in a disaster," said James Kendra, a director of the University of Delaware Disaster Research Center.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency under past administrator Craig Fugate began to encourage the move toward broad citizen involvement, recognizing that a "command-and-control" structure often will break down in bigger disasters. After Harvey, Fugate said the old way of looking at the public as either victim or potential hindrance - "a liability" - is outdated, especially in an event of such size. Instead, he said, they should be considered a resource.

Tricia Wachtendorf, the co-director of the Delaware center, said a diffuse, improvised response is the new model of success when a disaster overwhelms government's ability to deal with it.

"Rather than waiting for direction from authorities or waiting until one is on the ground, official and improvised resources begin deploying in the same sphere, using the same information, and relying on each other," Wachtendorf said. "This makes sense. All disasters are local, so a local community response is key."

A change in society

While a desire to help may be universal and human, some believe the willingness to not wait for "official response" in a crisis reflects a more fundamental change in society, a tectonic shift in how people relate to their world. Well-known author, blogger and law professor Glenn Reynolds pointed out how people are less beholden to and connected with large institutions than in years past, a trend he documented in his recent book "An Army of Davids."

"You used to need a big organization to do a lot of things that can now be done by small groups of people - or even large groups of people - who organize spontaneously," Reynolds said. "If you had this kind of citizen organizing a century ago, it would have to have gone through an institution: a church, the Elks Club, the VFW, whatever. Now people form their own temporary institution, it does the job, and goes away."

When Harvey reached Houston, it was inevitable that tragedy would ensue. Yet many more were saved. If there is one enduring something left in Harvey's wake, perhaps it is the notion that people no longer look to those with a title or those in a certain uniform or even those with official license to carry the day. They look in the mirror.

Yet the stark, tragic truth remains: Harvey was a killer storm and the fact that it could have claimed more lives than it did is meager balm to the pain of the victims. Each death carried its own tragic arc, often beginning in a moment of desperation and ending in a fateful decision - an elevator taken instead of stairs, a right turn instead of left.

The mysteries of chance accompanied all, including the young mother who drowned while the toddler clinging to her lived, or the retiree with multiple sclerosis who survived the storm's fury only to drown at her condominium days later when water released from a reservoir flooded the complex again.

Hurricane Harvey claimed at least 75 lives in Texas, including some 50 people in the Houston area. Click here to read the stories of those who died as a result of the storm or medical emergencies in which care may have been affected.




For the second time in 12 years, Alana Young worried a storm had destroyed her son's school.

The first was when Hurricane Katrina slammed into her native New Orleans, ravaging their home and the elementary school where then 5-year-old Cory had started kindergarten just a few days earlier.

Then, on Aug. 28, Young found herself asking whether Hurricane Harvey had wrecked Houston ISD's Bellaire High School, where Cory was set to begin his senior year.

"It feels like deja vu," Young said. "It was very surreal in kindergarten, and it feels like that again. You just kind of have this anxiety."

While more than 3,500 Bellaire High School students will return to their flood-damaged school to start the year on Monday, few, if any, have had their K-12 years bookended by record-shattering natural disasters.

The Youngs consider themselves lucky - they were able to evacuate before Katrina and did not lose their home in Harvey. But as floodwaters rose along Brays Bayou and crept throughout Bellaire in late August, both Young and Cory worried about the future. How badly was the school damaged? Would Cory be able to graduate with his friends?

Days ticked by before the family learned Bellaire had only been moderately damaged and would be able to reopen three weeks after its original first day.

Cory, a soft-spoken 17-year-old, sighed of relief.

"When I was younger, we had to just completely leave, and this time knew what to expect in a way," Cory said. "It's just a coincidence."

Aimed to go back

Cory said he still remembers his short stint in New Orleans.

There was a Mardi Gras parade at his preschool, where kids rode tricycles and tossed beads at their adoring parents lined the school's halls. He remembers going to the big Mardi Gras parade and his childhood friends, some of whom he never saw again after Katrina. He remembers going to kindergarten for one day before classes were cancelled ahead of the hurricane. He remembers his family packing up a few days' worth of clothes and heading to Houston to ride out the storm with his aunt and uncle.

Just a few days, Young told her son, then you'll be back to school.

The family ended up staying with Cory's aunt and uncle for a month before renting an apartment near Houston ISD's Roberts Elementary. Young said she was reluctant to enroll Cory in Texas schools, still clinging to hope they would soon return to Louisiana.

It took years for that hope to fade.

"For a long time we thought we'd be going back," Cory said. "I'd be telling teachers 'Oh, this might be my last year here,' and then show up again the next year. By fifth grade, it sort of became a joke."

Cory finished up elementary school at Roberts before moving onto Pin Oak Middle and Bellaire High.

It was at Bellaire he found a passion for working behind-the-scenes with the school's theater. He helps craft props and coordinates dramatic lighting to heighten the tension of his classmates' scenes. But during Hurricane Harvey, it was Cory's life that seemed to be ripped out of a sensational script.

Crossing the bayou

On Aug. 26, the day before Houstonians got their first glimpses of Harvey's power, Cory went over to a friend's nearby house for a sleepover.

He woke up on Sunday, his 17th birthday, to find about a foot of water on the streets surrounding his friends' home. There was no way to get out by car, but Cory said he needed to get home to his mom.

He and his friend waded through nearly chest-deep water to Cory's aunt's second-floor apartment, where he could see Brays Bayou sloshing over its banks.

Cory sat by the window and watched others try to cross the swollen bayou and the North Braeswood Boulevard Bridge near Kirby. He noticed the water was especially deep where the bridge began, estimating the water stood about 4 inches above his 5-foot 6-inch frame. But the bridge, which spans over Brays Bayou, remained relatively dry.

When the rains lulled Sunday, Cory saw his chance and left his aunt's despite her loud objections.

He walked into the waters, closed his eyes and began to swim.

Eager to start school

He ended up using the trees that dot North Braeswood Boulevard as braces, zig-zagging from a tree on the side of the road to a tree top above the submerged median, back to another tree on the side of the road.

Once he climbed onto the bridge, he was able to trudge home, shocked to see cars and people walking around on the higher south side of the bayou.

He didn't tell his mother he swam home for another two-and-a-half weeks.

Cory and his mom spent the rest of the week in their dry home, occasionally venturing out to check the bayou's level. As the days went by without word from Bellaire, Cory and Young began to worry.

"First I was kind of worried they would send us to different schools, and I'd end up spending my last school year at DeBakey or something," Cory said, referencing the HISD magnet high school. "When the first day got pushed back I was like, 'Oh yay, summer is a little longer.' But then it kept getting pushed back and back."

Cory said he's relieved to start school on Monday, eager to get back to his post as vice president of the theater tech club.

But Cory said he's more excited to leave for college. He dreams of going somewhere up north - a place where it actually gets cold in the winters. A place without hurricanes.
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The decision came late at night, when much of the city was already asleep.

With little warning and no evacuation orders, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began releasing water about midnight Aug. 27 from the struggling Barker and Addicks reservoirs, pushing floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey deeper into several west Houston neighborhoods.

Robert Arthur Haines and Cathy Harling Montgomery, both 71, could not escape. They drowned after their Memorial-area homes near Buffalo Bayou began to fill up with water after the dam releases began.

Now Playing: Aerial imagery from Addicks and Barker Dam and Reservoirs captured on Aug. 31 2017. The imagery shows the structures functioning as expected after receiving 32-35 inches of rainfall produced by Hurricane Harvey. (Video by Jay Townsend) Video: Houston Chronicle

"I just want the public to know that the government really screwed up  royally," said Emile Nassar, a flood survivor who is president of the homeowners association at the condominium complex where Montgomery died. "It's only when they opened up the dams that the water started coming."

Corps officials have said they released the water to prevent the reservoirs from overflowing amid heavy rains and runoff in the area. Harris County Flood Control District officials said Friday they did not have data showing how much the releases may have impacted flooding along Buffalo Bayou, but gauges measured more than 5 inches of rain late Sunday evening near the spot where the two spillways converge.

OFFICIALS CRITICIZED: Two elderly dead as Memorial-area residents ask why evacuations not ordered

Questions remain, however, about why evacuations were not ordered for the area and why residents weren't given a warning to leave before the releases started.

City officials  who could have ordered evacuations  said they were told by the Corps that the controlled releases would not cause life-threatening flooding, with only streets expected to be underwater.

Alan Bernstein, a spokesman for Mayor Sylvester Turner, said officials believe they made the right decision at the time in telling people to shelter in place, as the vast majority of flooding deaths occur when people try to move around in floodwaters.

"If you ask people to evacuate into an impenetrable situation, you could be dooming them," Bernstein said.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett  who could also have ordered evacuations  said the Corps told county officials the controlled releases were the safest option, because engineers "had no idea where it was going to go" if they let the water spill out around the edges of the rapidly filling reservoirs.

HARVEY'S HUMAN TOLL: Each victim's tale carries its own tragic arc

Corps officials declined to comment on the deaths but offered condolences.

"We at the Corps of Engineers offer our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of those who lost their lives during this tragic event," the agency said in an email. "We are not aware of the circumstances of these deaths and so it would not be appropriate for us to comment on them except to say that all of us regret any loss of life during Harvey."

"Life safety is paramount," spokesman Randy Cephus said in the statement.

Angry residents and family, however, said they deserved more notice.

Susan White's parents, Jim and Judy Poston, had only puddles of water at the curb of their two-story home on Langwood after the first bands of rains came through on Friday and Saturday. By midmorning Monday, the water was waist-high, White said.

"They went to bed dry and woke up to, 'Oh, my gosh'," she said.

She arranged for volunteers in a boat to pick them up and their elderly neighbors.

"There was no evacuation order until many days after the whole street was vacated by volunteers," White said.

Some officials acknowledged that more could be done in the future to alert residents.

"I do think we need to have an early warning system for any more releases from the dam," said District G Councilman Greg Travis, who represents many of the neighborhoods that were flooded along Buffalo Bayou.

'He shouldn't have died that way'

The bodies of Haines, a retired financial planner, and Montgomery, a retiree with multiple sclerosis, were pulled from their still-flooded homes days after the releases began.

Haines had left messages for his son during the night of Aug. 27 saying more than two feet of floodwaters had entered his home on Langwood; he was found in four feet of water.

On Thursday, a red X  a sign that someone inside had died  was still visible against the chalky-white brick on the one-story home where Haines settled about a decade ago.

Kirby Haines said he last talked with his father around 3 p.m. Aug. 27, the Sunday after the heaviest rains slammed Houston and sent waters rising in Buffalo Bayou.

Kirby Haines said his dad mentioned a problem with his cell phone charger and they agreed to talk later on the home phone. Overnight, however, the elder Haines left two voicemail messages, about a half-hour apart, that his son received the next morning.

The water was rising, he said, and had reached a couple of feet. But Kirby Haines said the messages were informational and the situation did not appear to be life-threatening.

He tried to reach his father all day Monday, however, and couldn't get through.

"He was supposed to have a caretaker with him," he said. "There was no one there to save him."

By Aug. 30, when Robert Haines' husband, Fredricks Haines, tried to return home, he was stopped by floodwaters a mile away. A man with a boat took Fredricks Haines' brother to the house, but they couldn't get into the flooded home.

At that point, Fredricks Haines reported Robert missing to the Houston Police Department. After repeated attempts, an HPD dive team recovered the body on Sept. 8. Four feet of water were still inside the home.

"The whole house was submerged and my husband was in the house," said Fredricks Haines, 34. "He shouldn't have died that way."

'I just heard water'

Five miles away at The Pines condominium complex along Memorial Drive, Montgomery was among hundreds of residents bracing for another deluge that Sunday night.

Nassar, 73, the association president, noticed Sunday evening that a few inches of water had seeped into his first-floor condo at the back of the 264-unit complex.

After sweeping the water out the door, he went to bed about 9 p.m. He had a flashlight handy because the power was out.

Nassar was awakened from a deep sleep about 2 a.m. Monday.

"I just heard gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. I just heard water," he said.

He turned on the flashlight and looked about the room.

"Oh my god, I've got over a foot of water in the condo," he recalled.

Water was rising into other condos, too, including the lower-level unit in the middle of the complex near Memorial City Mall where Montgomery lived alone.

Montgomery's family members could not be reached for comment, but her father, Thomas Jefferson Harling, worked closely with legendary Houston Mayor Roy Hofheinz in the 1950s. Harling later worked as a special education teacher in Galveston, according to his obituary.

Mongtomery's body was found Sept. 7 inside her flood-damaged residence. On Friday, while other units had been cleared, her unit remained full of furniture, with a large television in place and black mold coating the drywall.

Not expected to flood homes

The first public warning from the Corps about the releases came at 2 p.m. on Aug. 27, after a night of torrential rains across the Houston area. Capacity at both reservoirs was shrinking rapidly.

"These structures continue to perform as they were designed to do, which is to protect against flooding in downtown Houston and the Houston Ship Channel," Col. Lars Zetterstrom, the Galveston District commander for the Corps, said at the time.

The Corps is responsible for the dams and reservoirs, which are designed to reduce flood risks downstream.

Initially, the Corps planned to stagger the controlled releases, with the first set for 2 a.m. Aug. 28 from Addicks and 11 a.m. that day for Barker. Then, in a surprise move about 11 p.m. that Sunday, the Corps announced the releases would begin from both reservoirs at midnight, hours earlier than expected. The change was prompted by heavier-than-expected rainfall and runoff into the basins, they said.

The releases started relatively small, at 1,600 cubic feet per second from the dams combined, but increased to the expected 8,000 cfs released. The next day, the releases increased even more to 13,300 cfs from the two reservoirs by Wednesday, and were expected to increase further.

Days later, on Sept. 1, Turner issued a voluntary evacuation of the flooded residential areas downstream, followed by a mandatory evacuation order on Sept. 2. Those orders  aimed at people trying to remain in their homes  were issued because the city could not guarantee rescues could be conducted safely, Bernstein said.

Corps officials said engineers worked closely with the city, county and Texas Department of Public Safety to "provide data regarding the dams and reservoirs to help them make informed decisions for the communities they support."

Further questions sent to the Corps Friday about the decision to make controlled releases were directed to the U.S. Department of Justice, which declined comment.

Nine federal lawsuits, and one state suit, have been filed in the past two weeks seeking compensation from the government for property lost or damaged by the decision to release water downstream. The federal cases have been brought in a specialized U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., which could eventually handle hundreds of so-called "takings" cases for lost property. Injured parties have a six-year window to file.

The federal lawsuits assert that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Addicks and Barker dams knowing the releases would flood homes and businesses.

"It's the largest flood event resulting from a direct decision of a government arguably in our lifetimes," said Justin Hodge, who teaches about imminent domain at University of Houston Law Center and is representing clients in two of the federal cases. "Certainly, it is the largest flood event caused by a decision of the government in our lifetime and in the City of Houston."

No lawsuits have apparently yet been filed in state or federal court over wrongful deaths believed to have been caused by the dam releases. The statute of limitations for those is two years, said David W. Hodges, a personal injury attorney who has represented clients in dozens of wrongful death suits.

Federal officials have declined to comment about the lawsuits.

Brett Coomer/Staff

Looking ahead

As clean-up continues across the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, local officials now are looking for ways to improve the response the next time Houston endures catastrophic flooding.

Travis, the district's city council member, said public officials should develop an emergency system like the Amber Alert to notify residents that releases are imminent.

"We should have an alert that goes off to warn people," Travis said.

Both Emmett and Turner are pushing for upgraded dams and possibly more than two, which would diffuse the floodwaters downstream.

"The city has learned that all options should be considered to expand the capacity of the reservoir system to avoid water releases that are unilaterally scheduled by the [Army Corps of Engineers]," Bernstein said in a statement.

If officials had known of the potential flooding to homes, they could have positioned rescue teams in the area, he said. But shelter-in-place would still likely have been the message from city officials.

Residents, however, said this week they want a stronger warning next time.

Hank Bussa, 71, a semi-retired orthodontist who lives a few houses away from Haines' home on Langwood and a block from the Addicks spillway, said he and others deserved a chance to get out.

By 10 p.m. that Sunday, water was near the front door but not inside his home, and seemed to be receding, he said. A little after midnight, he and his wife, Cathy, noticed water coming inside.

"There was water coming in my front door," he said. "I turned around and looked across my family room and there was water coming in my back door. There was water coming into the utility room. The water was coming in from all directions. And it came in fast. We had maybe another 30 minutes and we were wading around downstairs trying to pick up chairs and whatever we could."

Bussa said they tried to salvage their belongings, but lost his grandparents' valuable antique furniture.

"We got no warning," he said. "I could have saved more stuff if I had had a little time."

He and his wife finally waded out of the house the next day when rescuers arrived by boat.

Gabrielle Banks and John D. Harden contributed to this report.

***

Hurricane Harvey claimed at least 75 lives in Texas, including some 50 people in the Houston area. Click here to read the stories of those who died as a result of the storm or medical emergencies in which care may have been affected.
Houston has a long relationship with hurricanes. The first occurred in October 1837, when the town was in its infancy. Racer's Storm, as it became known, formed off the Yucatan Peninsula, swept over Brownsville, then curved up the coast toward Galveston. Traveling more than 4,000 miles and lasting 16 days, the storm produced widespread flooding across the Houston area. Hurricanes would continue to strike the Texas coast for the next 180 years, with Harvey, our most recent visitor, dropping historic amounts of rainfall and causing massive flooding.

What can Houston do? Unfortunately, planning - for natural disasters or anything else - has never been our strong suit. Although the first map of Houston reveals an orderly grid of 62 blocks with designated land for schools, churches, and government buildings, the Allen brothers did not supply water or sewage systems, street paving, gas works, public schools, or garbage collection.

Within two years Houston had nevertheless grown to 270 blocks. Those blocks were filled with a jumble of tents, stables, a two-story Capitol building, warehouses, saloons, a hotel of questionable reputation and a smattering of frame houses. This helter-skelter pattern of development continued through the 19th century.

In the early 20th century, Houston began making its first tentative stabs at urban planning, in hopes of making the city slightly more livable. Studies were commissioned from outside experts and then largely ignored. In 1927, Mayor Oscar Holcombe created a City Planning Commission chaired by businessman and philanthropist Will Hogg. After two years of study, the group presented a comprehensive plan for making improvements in a city then approaching a population of 300,000.

Since a disastrous flood had occurred just five months earlier, the 136-page report recommended dredging the area's 18 major bayous and replanting their banks with hardy vegetation. It called for the city to acquire land along the bayous to create green parkways similar to today's Buffalo Bayou Park. It recommended the creation of new parks throughout the city and the preservation of native trees. The committee's final recommendation was to create a zoning ordinance to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality and prevent overcrowding.

When the report was made public, controversy quickly erupted. Although local newspapers strongly supported the plan, the zoning proposal provoked strong opposition. Small landholders argued that the government shouldn't interfere with private property rights. Real estate developers, who favored the existing mix of residential and commercial properties - with no restrictive covenants - vehemently opposed zoning laws they believed would put them at the mercy of City Council. Business leaders protested against being told where they could conduct business. The Houston Property Owners League collected 10,000 signatures to protest "elitist" zoning regulations. Meanwhile, the general public seemed indifferent to the issues raised by the commission.

The City Council voted to approve all elements of the report except the zoning provisions, but the fierce outcry from developers and business leaders resulted in few of the report's recommendations ever being implemented. The commission was disbanded and the City Planning Office was closed.

If Houston had taken the 1929 planning report seriously and followed its recommendations, would Harvey have been less devastating? Would more careful planning in the placement of new neighborhoods have reduced the loss of homes? Would more green space and less concrete have made a difference? Would the proposed treatment of the bayous have mitigated flooding?

Looking beyond 1929, would planning a mass transit system in the 1950s have improved mobility today?

We can only speculate on the answers to these questions. It is a given, however, that Houston will face future hurricanes. We know, too, that flooding has become a too-frequent problem in many areas. Can we step back and rethink our pattern of development? Planning must play an essential role in the life of our city if we are to continue to thrive.

In submitting the 1929 commission's report, Chairman Hogg told city leaders that they must decide whether they were building a great city or merely a great population. That remains the choice before us today.

Chapman is an independent historian. She chaired the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission under Mayor Bill White.
Jesse H. Jones was the original Mr. Houston. Born in Tennessee in 1874, Jones moved to Houston when he was 24 to manage his uncle's lumber empire. He started his own lumber company, then diversified into real estate, banking and construction, becoming the most important developer in early 20th century Houston. He even bought the Houston Chronicle.

Although he was a capitalist through and through, Jones didn't see government as the enemy.

He raised Houston's half of the money to build the Houston Ship Channel after a local delegation persuaded the U.S. Congress to provide matching funds. Jones then chaired the board that oversaw the development of the Houston Ship Channel - an early example of the kind of public-private partnerships he pursued throughout his career.

That's the kind of big thinking we need today as we rebuild after Hurricane Harvey. Our government can help people and even make money if we change our attitude toward it.

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Jones to lead the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which saved banks, homes, farms and businesses from bankruptcy. The RFC built major bridges, dams and aqueducts across the country, and developed high-speed trains. Most amazing of all, the RFC paid for itself, even returning a profit to the government in the middle of the country's worst economic disaster.

To understand how the RFC accomplished this, let's look at one of its most innovative programs, the Electric Home and Farm Authority. Under the program, the RFC reimbursed small town stores for selling appliances on credit to customers whose homes had been electrified by the Rural Electrification Administration. The customers paid for the appliances through monthly surcharges added onto their bill by the local utility company. Those payments reimbursed the RFC. The program brought people into the modern age, increased demand for durable goods, spurred employment, boosted sales in small town stores - and turned a profit.

A modern EHFA could help people restore and retrofit their homes to make them more storm resistant, or could help them install solar systems. Such a program would secure homes, reduce fossil fuel emissions, supercharge the green economy and help make the U.S. the world's renewable energy leader, all while returning money to the Treasury.

But anti-government fervor stands in the way of such innovative programs. Successful programs prove government opponents wrong, so they reflexively sabotage and denigrate constructive policies, regardless of their proven benefits and potential.

Besides, the RFC's massive projects were based not on big spending but on judicious lending. In 1937, after the Ohio and Mississippi rivers flooded in 11 states, the RFC's Disaster Loan Corporation sent hundreds of examiners and attorneys into the field and made thousands of loans to help people rebuild their homes and businesses. The federal government was the only institution willing and able to shoulder such a massive task. Today, the oft-criticized Small Business Administration - the modern-day successor to the RFC - is helping people recover from Harvey.

For another example of big government solving a big problem, look at the development of synthetic rubber. During World War II, Jones and the RFC brought synthetic rubber out of the chemistry lab and into industrial use, achieving mass production just as the Japanese captured the Pacific islands that supplied our natural rubber. Without the government's forward-thinking initiative, our trucks, tanks and fighter planes would have been stuck in place.

When the last synthetic rubber plant was sold to private industry in 1955, the New York Times reported that the program was "exceeded in magnitude only by the atomic energy program."

Only an entity as large and powerful as the federal government could have developed synthetic rubber so quickly, a point we should remember when we debate whether to support emerging green technologies. We should also remember that, like almost all of Jones' initiatives, the production of synthetic rubber made money for the government.

In the past, our government vigorously responded to the needs of its citizens by nurturing innovation and building vital infrastructure. Today we lurch from one catastrophe to the next, spending borrowed money to rebuild destroyed lives, rather than employing government power to proactively protect communities. But like Jones said about realizing economic recovery in 1937, "It cannot be achieved if we let ourselves believe that our government is our enemy."

If we want to rebuild and fortify the Texas Gulf Coast to withstand the next destructive storm, we must embrace the power of good government. The U.S. government helped build the Houston Ship Channel, preserved capitalism during the Great Depression and saved democracy during World War II. Our government can do monumental things again - and even make a little money in the process.

Fenberg is the author of "Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good," published by the Texas A&M University Press.
In his landmark 1985 book, "Distant Neighbors," Alan Riding, then the New York Times' Mexico City correspondent, wrote that the Mexican president, in the days of the one-party state, was all powerful except for two things he could never do: 1) reelect himself (there's a constitutional one-term limit for Mexican presidents) and 2) bring Mexico closer to the United States.

Mexico has a long, fraught history with the United States that is evident to Mexicans but seldom understood in Washington. For Mexicans, the United States is the country that invaded and stole half of our territory. Mexican children, to this day, are taught about the "Ninos Heroes," the young cadets who defended the Castillo de Chapultepec, the 19th-century castle in Mexico City; one even wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and jumped to his death rather than be captured by the invading yanquis. Whether this tale is true, Mexicans learn from an early age that it is better to die with honor than suffer humiliation from our northern neighbor.

Since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, this anti-U.S. sentiment has faded - gone dormant, even. Mexicans have grown used to trading with the U.S., and the Mexican government has managed to convince its people that cooperation with the U.S. is better than antagonism. Mexicans have gone along, reluctantly. Anyone who knows a Mexican national will see that, beyond all the niceties and friendship between neighbors, there's always a lingering suspicion of the United States.

Fast-forward to two thousand and Trump. Mexico now wakes up to his tweets and humiliations. He doesn't even offer the usual routine condolences after an earthquake kills nearly 100 Mexicans, even though we offered that and more after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston. All our old suspicions are confirmed: The United States is not a friend. The United States is out to get us, again. We're back to where we were before NAFTA.

In Washington, where I live, people tell me not to worry, not to pay attention to his tweets. "He's just pandering to his base," I am told. Perhaps. In Mexico, however, many believe Americans want to screw us, and Mexican politicians, like politicians everywhere, have to pander to voters if they want to win elections. No matter which of Mexico's three main political parties they support, the demand is the same: Don't submit us to humiliation from the United States. Not again. Not ever.

What U.S. observers see as a bargaining tactic for Trump, Mexicans see as a litmus test for our leaders. Any concession to him will be seen as cowering and politically unacceptable for any party, President Enrique Pena Nieto's included.

This dynamic paints the Mexican NAFTA negotiators into a corner. On the left, presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says negotiations should wait until after our 2018 elections because the current president is too weak to negotiate successfully. On the right, Senator Roberto Gil Zuarth of PAN, the rough equivalent of a Christian democratic party, calls for Mexico to leave the negotiating table unless we are shown respect by Trump, and PAN presidential contender Margarita Zavala demands our national dignity not be compromised. In the middle, the president's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) sits warily, hoping they can continue the negotiations without Trump blowing everything up. They know that if he continues to threaten and insult Mexico, they'd have no choice but to leave the negotiations and break the agreement. We would rather wrap ourselves in the flag and jump to our deaths than be humiliated.

So what would happen if Mexico were to break with the U.S. on NAFTA? I leave it to the economists to tally up the economic costs and to debate which country stands to lose more, though it seems clear there would be no winner in such a scenario. What is evident to me is that cooperation with the United States would become political poison in Mexico. Every candidate, from every party, would try to position him- or herself (a woman leads in the presidential polls) as the most anti-U.S. They would all try to prove to the electorate that they would not let Trump trample all over us.

How bad could it get? The first item off the table would likely be cooperation on issues of migration. In the past decade, Mexico has worked to stem the flow of Central American immigrants into the United States by stopping them at our southern border. This has pitted us against our Latin American neighbors, who resent us for doing the U.S.'s dirty work. With an adversarial northern neighbor, we would have to halt this cooperation immediately.

Next up would be cooperation on the drug war. Mexicans harbor long-standing suspicions of armed Americans in our territory, be they invading forces or U.S. law-enforcement agents. In a post-NAFTA cold war with the United States, the Mexican government would be pressured to expel all U.S. agents currently stationed in Mexico to help in the fight against drug trafficking.

And it wouldn't stop there. In Mexico, drug trafficking has always been seen as a U.S. problem. Ask any Mexican, and she will be quick to say that the U.S. creates the demand, supplies the guns and launders the money; we suffer the deaths. The fight against drug trafficking is unpopular in Mexico because it is seen as a fight we're waging on another country's behalf. Whether or not such a view is correct, it would be politically unviable for the Mexican government to be seen as cooperating with an unfriendly neighbor on such a contentious issue. This is not a threat Mexican officials are making at the moment; it is a simple political reality.

The fight against terrorism would suffer. Since 9/11, Mexico has arguably been the biggest obstacle to terrorists trying to reach U.S. soil. Through deep collaboration with their U.S. counterparts, Mexican authorities have helped capture more than 200 suspected terrorists trying to enter the U.S., including a pair of Iranians who were planning to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. With an unraveling of U.S.-Mexico relations, there would be no political appetite for this cooperation to continue, be it in the general population or among the police and armed forces involved.

The list goes on: health, environment, transportation, water, disease control. No two countries in the world cooperate in as many areas as Mexico and the United States. Like a clean room, this extensive day-to-day cooperation is not noticed; it is taken for granted until something breaks down and the mess starts to show.

Mexico and the United States are at a breaking point. The political pressures in Mexico pushing our president away from the U.S. are becoming impossible to control. Trump's tweets, which in Washington are fodder for a good laugh, are no joke in Mexico. We've been a strong ally and a good neighbor to the United States. With his utter recklessness and racism, Trump may be bringing an end to all that.

Jorge Guajardo was Mexico's ambassador to China from 2007-2013 and currently lives in Washington, D.C. This article first appeared in Politico Magazine.
In an announcement timed with this years MWC Americas, the city of Atlanta is receiving an Internet of Things (IoT) boost, in the form of a sensor-enabled data network that monitors traffic, parking, and pedestrian movement.

AT&T, Current by GE, and Georgia Power have collaborated to fit 200 LED streetlights in the North Ave. Corridor, Buckhead Loop, MLK and Northside Drive, Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard and the Atlanta City Government area with sensors that can monitor a whole range of activity.

The group says the collaboration will address congestion, parking, and will detect gunshots. All data will be relayed to a central system, which government officials can use to inform them on busy areas.

The city of tomorrow requires collaboration across every layer of the public and private sector, said Christine Primmer, Georgia Power Smart Cities Strategic Manager. By digitizing our lighting assets with cutting-edge technology like [Currents] CityIQ, Georgia Power is further evolving our commitment to provide safe, reliable and valuable services in Atlanta and across every community in Georgia.

Along with the collaboration, AT&T and Current are also sponsoring the Atlanta Civic Coding Competition. The final eight teams will show their innovative apps to a judging panel at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with a chance to win $40,000.

The type of civic engagement model that Atlanta is bringing to life will improve the way the city operates, communicates and meets the needs of citizens, said Austin Ashe, General Manager of Intelligent Cities for Current, powered by GE. In our work around the world, we see the critical role intelligent lighting plays in accelerating the digital era of urban development.

The race to the edge

A growing consensus among many market participants in smart city solutions, as well as IoT in general, is that three key utilities need to converge at the edge to allow deployment of new connected technologies to take off: compute capacity, connectivity, and energy.

Where the tech enabling those utilities will be deployed, who owns it and how they will be compensated is becoming a bigger and bigger issue.

The race to the edge is important, but its really a race to the pole, says Mike Zeto, executive director of AT&Ts smart cities initiatives, referring to the power poles found along city streets.

Source: https://readwrite.com/2017/09/15/att-current-atlanta-sl1/?
Apart from hosting and possible maintenance costs, there are not exactly downsides to having your own website. Even if its just a personal blog it can always become more useful down the line, if you utilize it in the right manner. In other words, more
Papua New Guinea Independence Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the Government of the United States, we offer our best wishes to you and the people of Papua New Guinea as you celebrate your nations 42nd Independence Day on September 16.

"The United States and Papua New Guinea share a fruitful relationship based on mutual interests such as economic development, stability, and building a freer and more democratic society.



"As a friend and partner, we look forward to working with the new government as it strives to fulfill the countrys regional aspirations by embracing good governance, increasing representation of women in the economy and politics, assuring greater access to quality healthcare and education, fostering resilience in communities facing environmental threats, and creating attractive conditions for foreign investors.



"We look forward to Papua New Guinea hosting, for the first time, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit forum in 2018.



"We appreciate your partnership with the United States and look forward to strengthening our friendship and cooperation in the years to come."
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Curvy women used to be banned from walking in catwalk shows, the worlds first plus-size supermodel recently revealed.

Emme Aronson, 54, walked in the bodywear label Chromat show at New York Fashion Week alongside fellow plus-size models, an event that never wouldve happened 20 years ago, the New Yorker explained at Curvy Con.

She praised the industry for embracing curvier girls and promoting body positivity.

But just how integrated are plus-size models when it comes to mainstream fashion?

Christian Siriano SS18 (Rex Features)

With regards to runway, the answer has typically been: not very.

In the past, curvy girls that have been cast in shows have been perpetuated as the token plus-size girl.

Though a valiant attempt at disrupting fashions concrete traditions of using exclusively rail-thin models, it can feel like an all-too-obvious and fundamentally feeble attempt at body positivity.

For example, when Michael Kors cast Ashley Graham, size 18, in their autumn/winter 2017 show last season, did she assimilate seemlessly? Or did walking alongside the Bella Hadids and Edie Campbells of the world only amplify the issue at hand: the idea that plus-size models dont fit into fashion.

The New York designers spring/summer 2018 show  which took place on Wednesday  saw Graham return to the runway alongside curve queen Kate Upton.

Progressive? Perhaps. But can we call employing two plus-size girls in a cast of 70 revolutionary? Probably not.

Ashley Graham walking for Michael Kors AW17 (Rex Features)

Were still seeing tokenism and were not yet seeing widespread acceptance of models across categories  models of various sizes, ages, races and gender identities, Model Alliance director Sara Ziff recently told The Fashion Spot.

Kors did far more than other houses, however, who have famously shooed models away from castings for appearing too bloated  remember the Danish model who was told she was too fat for Louis Vuitton?

This season, however, it looks like things may be progressing  even if it is at a glacial pace.

A whole range of bodies walked the Chromat SS18 show (Rex Features) (Rex)

First there was Chromat, then there was Christian Siriano, who arguably set the precedent for diversity this season, adorning his runway with women of all shapes and sizes, including 12 plus-size girls amid a roster of transgender and non-binary models  last season he cast five.

However, thats two designers casting plus size models amidst a line up of more than 60 shows and presentations.

Can we really call this progress?

Recommended This TV presenter made a heartwarming body positivity remark on air

With a lot of high fashion designers producing samples at a meagre size six or below  some dont even sell pieces above a size 10  you could argue it makes sense to have slim girls modelling the clothes, since these are the women who are able to wear them.

However, what about brands like Stella McCartney, who go up to a size 18, and Burberry, who make clothes for size 16 women? Surely, if anyones going to be putting plus-size girls on the runway, its these designers, who actually sell clothes that will fit them?

Not only would putting plus-size girls on the catwalk boost public perceptions of a brand, but it would generate a flurry of press, explained Anna Shillinglaw, an agent at Milk modelling agency.

The designers that do use curve girls will get more press than anyone else, she told The Independent.

It would literally be front page news, so someone needs to have the courage to do it. Remember when Mark Fast used curve girls in 2010? It was on the front page of every newspaper, Shillinglaw explained.

Indeed, when Fast sent size 12-14 women down the runway in figure-hugging dresses alongside run-of-the-mill rakish models, critics praised the Canadian designer.

According to Shillinglaw, whose agency manages size 26 model Tess Holliday, the plus-size movement is yet to be fully embraced by high fashion brands.

Its definitely a high street thing at the moment, she said. Brands are doing it now because they realise its a million dollar industry but I think that designers arent there yet, some of them only go up to a certain size.

Recommended Model brings back the unibrow in viral social media posts

River Island sells a range that goes up to size 28, whilst ASOSs popular Curve range goes up to a size 30.

Then theres Mangos take, Violeta, which even has its own lookbook and campaign imagery.

When it comes to shows, however, body positivity advocates are still waiting for a revolution that may or may not come.

New York seems to be much more ahead of us, Shillinglaw said. I would love to see Prada use a curve girl, or Burberry, wouldnt that just be incredible? I mean, Id cry!

She isnt throwing in the towel yet, as the model agent revealed that Milk has sent lots of their curve girls, who range from a size 12 to a size 26, to castings despite not being requested.

Were just throwing them in there so they can see how gorgeous they are, she said.

So, when it comes to plus-size, will the times finally be a changin?

London, were looking at you.
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There are fears of a chemical incident in south London after residents were rushed to hospital with nausea and vomiting.

Emergency services were called to Alwold Crescent in Lee amid fears locals may have suffered an allergic reaction.

Witnesses said a number of people suffered a reaction to an unknown substance.

Five fire engines, paramedics and police were all deployed to deal with the incident.

Residents in four houses on the crescent were asked to leave their homes at around 11.30am and a cordon was erected.

Wayne Higgins, 50, told the Press Association he and his neighbours had been feeling unwell for the last few days.

"The fire brigade have been here checking if there are chemicals or toxins. For the moment we don't know when we will be allowed back in - not until they find out the cause of the problem.

"We just assumed everyone had a cold or something was going round."

Mr Higgins said they didn't start thinking it was a gas leak until Saturday evening.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle 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fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA

Kevin Dobbins, 31, who was also asked to leave his home, said: "I haven't smelled anything or felt the effects myself. I know there were neighbours who were experiencing sickness and those who were smelling gas a few days ago.

"They did pull us all together and had a meeting with us saying you will have to leave the area and it could be throughout the night and in to tomorrow.

"They are still uncertain. They have done checks and they've ruled out a few different things.

"They believe it could be a small gas leak."

Taxi driver Ian Crouch, 39, told The Sun emergency services appeared to be investigating the sewage system.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the incident was not believed to be crime-related and the investigation is being led by the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

A spokeswoman for the London Fire Brigade said: "We were called to the smell of chemicals and we've swept the area to check for raised levels [of gas or chemicals].

"We haven't found any raised levels and we are handing over to the gas board."

Representatives for Thames Water were also on the scene, but the cause of the alleged chemical incident is still unknown.
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Amber Rudd has accused her Cabinet colleague Boris Johnson of backseat driving the Brexit process, and suggested his lengthy blueprint for it was insensitively timed.

Opening up fresh divisions at the heart of the Conservative Government, the Home Secretary said she would not want the Foreign Secretary managing the negotiations  just one week before Theresa Mays major Brexit speech in Florence.

It comes after Mr Johnson wrote a 4,000 word article for The Daily Telegraph, reaffirming his commitment to the widely discredited claim that leaving the bloc will save 350m a week, which could be spent on the NHS.

The article  setting out a significant divergence from the Prime Ministers Brexit strategy  was immediately seized upon as evidence of a forthcoming leadership bid, or a prelude to a resignation at the Conservative party conference in two weeks time.

While Ms Rudd told the BBCs Andrew Marr that she did not believe the intervention from her colleague was a leadership bid, she said she had been too busy dealing with the Parsons Green bomb attack to read the article.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson appeared to be referring to the Foreign Secretary when she posted on Twitter: On the day of a terror attack where Britons were maimed, just hours after the threat level is raised, our only thoughts should be on service.

Asked whether she agreed with the comment, Ms Rudd replied: I think she has a point, yes. I had a very busy weekend dealing with what could have been a terrible attack on our public transport.

When pressed on a comment made during last years EU referendum that Mr Johnson was not a man you would like to drive you home at the end of the evening, Ms Rudd replied: What I meant by that is I dont want him managing the Brexit process.

What weve got is Theresa May managing that process  and Im going to make sure, as far as Im concerned and the rest of the Cabinet is concerned, we help her do that.

You could call it backseat driving, absolutely. But Im very clear that the Cabinet and the Government supports Theresa May.

 Mark Steel: Brexit shows that we're finally getting our country back

But the Home Secretary played down speculation that Mr Johnson was about to launch a challenge to Ms Mays authority, adding: I think the Government is united behind the Prime Minister. I think that Boris has had his say and he shows that incredible enthusiasm and energy that he is famous for, but hes also said hes supporting the Prime Minister on Friday.

I have the great good fortune to work with Boris  I know what an irrepressible enthusiast he is about Brexit, and what hes done is set it out there. I think its absolutely fine; I would expect nothing less from Boris.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA

Will Tanner, a former adviser to the Prime Minister, tweeted on Friday that it was astonishing that Mr Johnson thought this self-serving posturing, disloyal at best of times, would reflect well in the hours after a terror attack.

The real PM just raised the threat level, he said. Meanwhile guy who wants to replace her issues a prelude to resignation, to save face over 350m. Hmm.
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Boris Johnson has been criticised by the head of the UK Statistics Authority for repeating the infamous claim that Britain pays 350m per week to the EU.

In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Sir David Norgrove accused Mr Johnson of a clear misuse of statistics after he once again claimed the amount could be investedin the NHS when Britain leaves the European Union.

The former London Mayor reiterated the widely refuted figure in a controversial 4000-word article for The Telegraph in which he outlined a vision for Britain after Brexit.

Mr Johnson and other Leave campaigners used it as a campaigning tool during last years referendum campaign, including memorably plastering it on the side of a campaign bus.

The claim was exhaustively debunked by statisticians and news outlets, and even top Brexiteer Nigel Farage was quick to distance himself from it immediately after the referendum.

In his letter, Sir David once again repeated the explanation that the 350m statistic relates only to what the UK currently pays to the EU, and does not include the money that Britain receives in return.

It also assumes that current EU investment in Britain will simply cease after Brexit, rather than being continued by the UK Government.

He told Mr Johnson: I am surprised and disappointed that you have chosen to repeat the figure of 350m per week, in connection with the amount that might be available for extra public spending when we leave the European Union.

This confuses gross and net contributions. It also assumes that payments currently made to the UK by the EU, including for example for the support of agriculture and scientific research, will not be paid by the UK government when we leave. It is a clear misuse of official statistics.

Sir Davids predecessor, Sir Andrew Dilnot, had previously called the use of the 350m figure misleading.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "Boris' 350m lie has been exposed yet again. He knows an extreme Brexit would damage the economy and mean less cash for the NHS.

"I'm glad to see the independent UK Statistics Authority has the courage to slap Boris down.It's a shame the same can't be said of Theresa May."

In his latest article, Mr Johnson laid out his vision for a glorious Brexit.

He wrote: Once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly 350m per week. It would be a fine thing, as many of us have pointed out, if a lot of that money went on the NHS.

He was widely criticised for the article, which was seen as signalling his continuous ambition to replace Ms May as Prime Minister. It was also published less than a day after a terrorist attack at Parsons Green Tube station injured 30 people, which was criticised as ill-timed and insensitive.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, also accused Mr Johnson of backseat driving.

She told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show: I dont want him managing the Brexit process. What weve got is Theresa May managing that process  and Im going to make sure, as far as Im concerned and the rest of the Cabinet is concerned, we help her do that.

You could call it backseat driving, absolutely. But Im very clear that the Cabinet and the Government supports Theresa May.

Other senior Conservatives have also criticised Mr Johnson.

In a thinly-veiled attack, Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, wrote on Twitter: On the day of a terror attack where Britons were maimed, just hours after the threat level is raised, our only thoughts should be on service.
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Iran has manufactured a 10-ton bomb comparable in scale to the United States "Mother of All Bombs", one the country's most senior general's has claimed.

"These bombs are at our disposal, can be launched from aircraft and they are highly destructive," said General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Airspace Commander of Irans Revolutionary Guards

Speaking to the country's state news agency FARS, Mr Hajizadeh described the bomb as the father of all bombs inviting comparison with the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) which the US Air Force dropped on tunnels in Afghanistans Nangarhar province from an MC-130 aircraft in April.

The MOAB is the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military, Its explosion is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and the blast radius is a mile wide

The announcement comes as tensions are escalating between the US and Iran over the development of its military program.

Earlier this month, Iranian state media claimed the countrys military had tested its first ever long-range missile defence system.

In 2015, crippling economic sanctions on Iran were lifted after the government agreed to restrict development of its nuclear weapons.

The United Nations (UN) resolution, signed by five members of the security council, called upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

Iran maintains it has complied with the UN accord. However, the Trump administration has repeatedly said it believes Iran is violating the terms of the agreement.

 Russia and Iran have threatened the US over Syria

In our view, Iran is clearly in default of these expectations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Mr Tillerson said this week at a press conference in London.

The countrys actions were threatening the security of those in the region as well as the United States itself, he continued.

Retaliating, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said: "The Iranian nation is standing firm and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the [nuclear accord] will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic."
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Rohingya refugees fleeing violent persecution in Burma could starve to death amid a growing humanitarian crisis, an aid agency has warned.

Nearly 410,000 members of the countrys Rohingya Muslim minority face shortages of food, water, and shelter after escaping from western Rakhine state into Bangladesh.

They have fled a Burmese military offensive that the United Nations has branded a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

"Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water," said Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director the Save the Children charity.

He added: "Im particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need. If families cant meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost."

For decades Bangladesh has received influxes of Rohingya fleeing from Buddhist-majority Burma, where they are reviled by many as illegal immigrants and suffer systematic discrimination.

Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya before the latest crisis erupted last month.

The country's government has committed to building thousands of shelters to house displaced people, with the United Nations Refugee Agency warning existing camps were "bursting at the seams".

Mr Pierce said the humanitarian response needed be urgently scaled up.

"That can only be done if the international community steps up funding, he added.

Rohingya refugees sit on the roadside as they take shelter during rain in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (Reuters) (REUTERS)

Save the Children said more than a million Rohingya refugees could be in Bangladesh by the end of the year. It estimated that figure would include 600,000 children, many "alone and in desperate need of help" and at risk of exploitation and trafficking.

Some child refugees were reported to have witnessed the murder of their parents, the charity added.

Human rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya have said Burmese security forces and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes launched campaign of violence and arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population.

The violence was said to be in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents on police posts and an army camp, which killed a dozen people on 25 August.

Burma has rejected allegations of ethnic cleansing, claiming its security forces were carrying out clearance operations to defend against the insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which claimed responsibility for the August attacks and similar, smaller raids in October last year.

The government has declared the group a terrorist organisation and accused it of lighting the fires itself and attacking civilians.

More than 430 people have been killed, most of them insurgents, and about 30,000 non-Muslim villagers have been displaced, according to the government.

Human Rights Watch said satellite imagery showed 62 Rohingya villages had been torched in an orchestrated campaign.

Amnesty International said there was evidence security forces were using scorched-earth tactics to drive out the minority.

Entire villages have been burned down by vigilante mobs and the military and people trying to flee have been shot, the organisation said.

Video footage that emerged from the country this week appeared to show the bodies of young Rohingya children washed up on the shores of the Naf river after reportedly being shot dead by police.

 Rohingya Muslims flee violence in Burma

Some 100 Rohingya are also said to have drowned trying to cross the river, which formers a natural border between Burma and Bangladesh.

Burmese government leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of criticism from abroad for not doing more to stop the violence or condemning it more forcefully.

The military is in full control of Burma's security policy and the offensive has wide support in a country where there is little public sympathy for the Rohingya.

Ms Suu Kyi is due to make her first address to the nation on the crisis this week.

Her foreign supporters and Western governments that backed her campaign against military rule will be hoping to see her make a new commitment to protect the rights of the Muslim minority.

At home, her supporters could be disappointed if she is perceived to be caving in to foreign pressure and taking the side of a Muslim minority blamed for initiating the violence.
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A British Airways flight was held on the ground at a Paris airport and surrounded by police and fire vehicles because of a suspected bomb threat.

The Airbus A320 was due to depart Paris Charles de Gaulle airport at 7.25am (local time) on Sunday, but passengers were informed shortly before takeoff that a direct threat had been made against the airport.

French police have since declared that the evacuation of the plane was triggered by a false alarm.

According to passenger James Anderson, armed police searched all passengers on the flight.

The plane was bound for London Heathrow and was due to land at 7.45am. It was given the all-clear and eventually took off over four hours late.

A British Airways spokesperson said: The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority.

Additional security checks are being carried out as a precaution. We would never operate a flight unless it is safe to do so.

Any such threat is taken seriously, especially at a time of heightened tension on both sides of the Channel.
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Hamas has agreed to hold general elections in Gaza in order to bring about an end to its long-running feud with its rival movement, Fatah.

The group said it has dissolved its administration to allow a unity government led by President Mahmoud Abbas to assume responsibility in Gaza, as it pledged to accept key conditions to end the decades-old political and territorial split.

The last Palestinian legislative election was held in 2006, when Hamas scored a surprise victory which laid the ground for a political rupture.

Hamas and Fatah fought a short civil war in Gaza in 2007 and since then Hamas has governed the small coastal enclave.

 Gaza marks 10 years of Israeli blockade

Numerous attempts since 2011 to reconcile the two movements and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have so far failed.

Hamas and Fatah agreed in 2014 to form a national reconciliation government, but despite the agreement, Hamass shadow government has continued to rule the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Hamas said it had dissolved its shadow government and will allow the reconciliation government to operate in Gaza and it agrees to hold elections and enter talks with Fatah.

Mahmoud Aloul, the second most senior official in Fatah, told the Voice of Palestine radio this is encouraging news.

However, he cautioned we want to see that happening on the ground before we move to the next step.

Gaza blackout Show all 10 1 /10 Gaza blackout Gaza blackout A Palestinian man works at his workshop as he fixes mobile power generators in Gaza City, July 9, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout Palestinians pray in a makeshift mosque lit by battery-powered lights during a power cut in Gaza City, July 18, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout A Palestinian vendor sells fruits and vegetables during a power cut in a makeshift shop lit by battery-powered light in Beit Lahiya town, in the northern Gaza Strip, July 13, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout A Palestinian woman is seen from the window of her kitchen as she uses a candle light to prepare food during a power cut in Beit Lahiya town, in the northern Gaza Strip, July 13, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout Buildings are seen at night in Gaza City, July 18, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout Buildings are seen at night during a power cut in Gaza City, July 18 REUTERS Gaza blackout A Palestinian woman washes dishes in her kitchen as she uses a candle light during a power cut in Beit Lahiya town, in the northern Gaza Strip, July 13, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout Members of a Palestinian family prepare food on a fire on a beach during a power cut in the northern Gaza Strip, July 12, 2017. REUTERS Gaza blackout Palestinians make food during a hot weather on a beach during a power cut in the northern Gaza Strip, July 12, 2017 REUTERS Gaza blackout A Palestinian woman holds her child as she walks out of her house lit by a torch during a power cut in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 3, 2017. REUTERS

Hoping to pressure Hamas into relinquishing control of Gaza, Mr Abbas cut payments to Israel for the electricity it supplies to Gaza. This meant electricity has often been provided for less than four hours a day, and never more than six.

Hamas has been greatly weakened by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade, three wars with Israel and international isolation.

However, there are no assurances the deal would succeed where others have failed.

In previous deals, including one brokered by Egypt in 2011, both sides professed willingness to reconcile, but ultimately baulked at giving up power in their respective territories.

A key sticking point in the past was Hamass refusal to place its security forces in Gaza under the control of the unity government led by Mr Abbas.

Additional reporting by agencies
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The Russians were carrying out massive war games across the border. International statesman had gathered for a conference in Kiev in which Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko warned of a possible attack by Moscow. And, at the same time, in the background, another somewhat extraordinary invasion of the country was under way.

Mikheil Saakashvili, a fugitive from corruption charges in his native Georgia, of which he was once President, is holed up in western Ukraine after forcing his way in from Poland, and threatening a march on Kiev.

His original plan was to arrive in the capital this week while Poroshenko was in New York at the opening of the UN general assembly. But today Saakashvili, who has aspiration to the Ukrainian presidency, changed strategy and declared that he would be drumming up support across the country before descending on the capital next month.

This came after he had received an unexpected boost from, of all places, the prosecutor-general, Yuriy Lutsenko, who announced that the former Georgian leader would not be arrested whatever the wishes of President Poroshenko and was free to go wherever he chose.

This is the latest twist in a tale which is quite remarkable even by the often chaotic standards of Ukraine politics in the aftermath of the revolution four years ago and the civil war that followed. And, unsurprisingly for this country, the issue of corruption is a common theme.

Saakashvili, once the Wests poster boy among the leaders of the former Soviet empire, was a valued ally of Poroshenko. The President gave him Ukrainian citizenship and appointed him governor of the Odessa region, lauding him as the man to lead the battle against the endemic corruption that continues to plague the country. He made enemies rapidly, among them the countrys powerful interior minister, Arsen Avakov, who, in keeping with the robust form of public debate here, threw a glass of water over the former leader of Georgia after calling him nothing but a circus act in a less than friendly encounter.

A Ukrainian serviceman in Shyrokyne, a resort town that has been reduced to rubble after two and half years of artillery fire between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces (Pierre Crom/Getty)

Saakashvili then fell out with his benefactor, Poroshenko, claiming that the friction began after he began to scrutinise people close to the President. He resigned as Odessa governor after a spate of bitter mutual abuse and Poroshenko stripped him off his Ukrainian citizenship, rendering him stateless.

Saakashvili left Ukraine, vowing to return. And, to general surprise, he did so, arriving from Poland with a phalanx of supporters, some of them former bodyguards from Georgia, who brushed aside border guards who has been reinforced to block entry. A few days later he appeared in the city of Lviv with Yulia Tymoshenko, the golden braided former Prime Minister who was once imprisoned for alleged corruption, to denounce Poroshenko.

Government officials had been repeatedly asserting that Saakashvili would get his comeuppance with arrest and deportation to Georgia. But speaking at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kiev on Saturday, Lutsenko announced that there will be no charges.

The prosecutor general, who had been himself jailed in the past on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office, said: Saakashvili will not be arrested in this case, Saakashvili cannot be extradited from this country while he has a residence permit or other document that he has filed. He refused to give details of these documents which apparently provide such immunity.

Poroshenko will rail against supposed Russian aggression while at the United Nations and press the Trump administration for offensive heavy weaponry. Saakashvilis demise in Georgia began with the ill-fated war with Russia nine years ago. Vladimir Putin, who is said to loathe both the men, will no doubt be viewing what is taking place in Ukraine with some satisfaction.
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Um, hello  can I tell you about the real world? Those were the words of a remarkably self-confident Scottish hedge fund manager, Hugh Hendry, on BBCs Newsnight in 2010. He was addressing the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz in a memorable debate about Greece.

The spicy and combative Hendry made for great television. He was invited back onto the show. Indeed, Hendry went on to appear on Question Time, where he airily cut off the then-deputy Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, with the words: I know what Im talking about, Nicola.

The loquacious Hendry became something of a media personality for a period; the face of the UK hedge fund industry. But now, seven years on, the real world has told Hugh Hendry something.

Last week he announced the closure of his hedge fund Eclectica, after haemorrhaging investors money. It may have something to do with the fact that last year Hendry was apparently betting on a break-up of the entire European Union.

Hedge funds are investment pots, which claim to deliver superior returns to ordinary managed funds due to the intellectual brilliance of their managers. Often  and certainly in the case of Hendrys fund  the strategy is to take large, counterintuitive bets on the direction of markets: bets that ordinary fund managers dont have the courage or the freedom to make.

Sometimes these bets pay off and the rewards are spectacular. Often they dont. And as a group, hedge funds have delivered miserable results in recent years, registering lower returns, on average, than funds that simply passively track the major stock markets. Not much evidence of brilliant minds there.

And those average returns for the sector have probably been upwardly biased by survivorship bias. This means closed-down funds like Hendrys simply fall out of the various indexes of the hedge fund sector, flattering its overall recorded performance.

This matters. In 2016, more hedge funds closed than in any year since the financial crisis. Some 260 hedge funds were shut in the first quarter of 2017 alone  almost 3 per cent of the 10,000 total.

But running a failing hedge fund can still be very profitable for the fund managers themselves. Their traditional two and 20 fee-charging formula (where they cream off 2 per cent of all assets under management every year, plus 20 per cent of any capital growth) means any investment success they achieve over an extended period ends up profiting the manager far more than the investor.

Of course, as weve seen, a great many funds never survive for an extended period. They simply shut up shop when they lose money after making a big bet that goes wrong. But 2 per cent of, say, a 50m seed investment is still 1m. Get a lucky run for only a few years, and a manager can accumulate an impressive fortune. No wonder hundreds of new funds open every year.

Will your degree make you a lot of money? Show all 16 1 /16 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Will your degree make you a lot of money? Medecine Women's salaries 45,400 Men's salaries: 55,300 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Economics Women's salaries 38,200 Men's salaries: 42,00 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Engineering and Technology Women's salaries 23,200 Men's salaries: 31,200 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Law Women's salaries 26,200 Men's salaries: 30,100 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Physical Science Women's salaries 24,800 Men's salaries: 29,800 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Education Women's salaries 24,400 Men's salaries: 29,600 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Architecture Women's salaries 22,500 Men's salaries: 28,600 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Maths and Computer Science Women's salaries 22,000 Men's salaries: 26,800 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Business Women's salaries 22,000 Men's salaries: 26,500 Will your degree make you a lot of money? History and Philosophy Women's salaries 23,200 Men's salaries: 26,500 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Social Science Women's salaries 20,500 Men's salaries: 26,200 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Biological science Women's salaries 23,800 Men's salaries: 25,200 Will your degree make you a lot of money? European languages and literature Women's salaries 26,400 Men's salaries: 25,000 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Linguistics and classics Women's salaries 23,200 Men's salaries: 24,100 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Mass Communication Women's salaries 18,100 Men's salaries: 19,300 Will your degree make you a lot of money? Creative arts Women's salaries 14,500 Men's salaries: 17,900

The media focus in relation to hedge funds tends to be on the potential risks they pose to financial stability. Could they blow up the system like banks did in 2008? Thats not entirely misplaced, given the size to which they could grow and the influence some of the larger ones can have on specific markets. Yet the greater risk from hedge funds is to the money of those who are naive enough to invest in them.

So given the obviously poor returns of hedge funds, are investors yanking their money out of the sector en masse? Not exactly. Today there is around $3 trillion (2.1) trillion of money worldwide invested in hedge funds  almost double the amount of seven years ago. Even when returns have been awful, the cash has continued to flow in.

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Some of that money will belong to naive rich people. But a large and increasing share, according to UK regulators, now comes from ordinary pension schemes, as their stewards seek to juice-up their overall results through an allocation of part of their money to alternative asset classes.

A report last year from SCM Direct estimated that 4.8 million people in the UK are invested in hedge funds through their pension schemes. The Tesco pension scheme has around 738m in hedge funds, while Lloyds Banks has a 1.9bn allocation. The West Midlands local authority pension scheme had 226m in such funds; West Yorkshire 259m. And so on. The vast majority of the ultimate beneficiaries of these schemes are likely to have no idea that they are exposed to hedge funds and their awful returns and rip-off fees.

A tiny number of hedge funds do deliver market-beating returns over a long period. But the vast majority dont. Investing in them is, generally, a terrible idea. Its an approach overwhelmingly likely to enrich the likes of Hendry and leave you personally worse off. But the folk who look after your retirement savings are doing it anyway.

Thats the real world of investment with other peoples money. And its certainly not the one Hugh Hendry was introducing us to seven years ago.
Survivors of mother and baby homes where children were forcibly put up for adoption have called for the establishment of an all-Ireland body to help reunite families.

A campaign group of mothers and adults born in the homes is seeking support from the authorities across the north and south of Ireland to help them find redress.

The group - Birth Mothers And Their Children for Justice NI - warned that mothers and children are continuing to die before getting the chance to meet.

Eunan Duffy, who was born in the Marian Vale mother and baby home in Newry before being taken from his mother against her will and placed for adoption, said the current system for family tracing needs to be overhauled.

"Only one part-time person currently exists that traces family for two charities and the health and social care trusts (in Northern Ireland).

"This has led to a six or seven months waiting list for those wishing to trace. This is soul-destroying and unhelpful as relatives race against time to find loved ones," said Mr Duffy.

The 49-year-old only discovered he was adopted last year and managed to trace his birth mother who he now has a close relationship with.

He said it is vital that a dedicated statutory body tasked with family tracing and reunion is established as a matter of urgency.

Mr Duffy said there must be a legal compulsion for all State, religious and related bodies to release all records, files and documents pertaining to the entrance and exit pathways.

As many children were adopted into families across the Irish border, the establishment of a North/South co-operational body is vital, he added.

"The abuses, ramifications and consequences of what happened are ongoing. The suffering is everlasting. Children and their mothers were cruelly separated and denied a relationship," said Mr Duffy.

"Women and adopted children have died and are dying, both physically and mentally, as backs are turned and heads buried in the sand.

"This has to change. There has to be an immediate, fully independent and comprehensive public inquiry or commission to fulfil the needs and demands of those affected."

The group has written to a number of local authorities across Northern Ireland seeking support for its campaign.

It would like to hear from anyone across Ireland and the UK who may have been affected by one of the mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland. The group can be contacted on borthmothersforjustice.n.i@hotmail.com or by calling Mr Duffy on 07718645924.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce is keen to highlight the benefits of Irish firms using Sydney and other cities Down Under as an Asia-Pacific base

From TV soaps to New World wines, Irish consumers have taken Australian exports to their hearts and into their homes with gusto.

But our love affair with Australia looks set to move to the next level following Britain's decision to leave the EU.

As Brexit looms, Ireland is a fast becoming a key gateway to Europe for Australian and New Zealand companies which have traditionally accessed the EU through the British market.

"Many Australian firms have accessed the EU via Britain. With the uncertainty surrounding what post-Brexit Britain will look like, Australian firms will look to Ireland to fulfil that role," said Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop during a recent visit to Ireland.

That message was repeated this week during a high-powered 'innovation trade mission' to Ireland by 20 firms.

Supported by the IDA and the Trans Tasman Business Circle, the trade mission marketed the region as a potential trading partner for Irish firms and as a gateway to the growing markets of Asia Pacific.

'Trans-Tasman' signifies collaboration between Australia and New Zealand. The name originates from the Tasman Sea which lies between the two countries.

Speaking about the mission, Johnny Weiss, chief executive of the Trans-Tasman Business Circle, said: "We come at an historic time, with a renewed focus on Ireland as a gateway to Europe post-Brexit.

" The group sees many emerging opportunities to work with Ireland's outstanding innovation ecosystem for growth and partnership, not only into Europe but also Asia."

Fergal Coleman, president of the Melbourne-headquartered Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce, said: "We share a vision, with our partners at Austrade and the Australian Embassy, of Ireland becoming Australian business's preferred gateway to Europe when the UK leaves the EU and that Irish companies should consider Australia as their base for the Asia Pacific region.

"In doing so, they will be taking advantage of the wide range of comprehensive Free Trade Agreements that Australia has in place with Asian economies."

Although Australia is not a major trading partner of Ireland there has been significant growth in recent years.

Ireland imported $103m worth of goods from Australia last year and exported a total of $2.7bn - a jump from just 724m five years ago.

To put these figures in perspective, Ireland's yearly exports to the US account for about 26bn, and the UK export market is worth about 15bn. So, there's a lot more room for trade growth.

In terms of 'soft power', our links are far greater, however. About 2.4 million people in Australia (around 10pc of the population) claim Irish ancestry. Add in the cultural, sporting and tourism links (about 55,000 Irish people travel there each year for holidays or on summer work visas) and 'soft power' can quickly translate into hard currency.

Our principal exports to Australia are veterinary products, pharmaceuticals and scientific hardware, and our main imports are veterinary medicine products and wine. Indeed, wine is probably Australia's most visible export success story.

Although Chilean wine is the favourite of Irish wine drinkers, accounting for 25.6pc of all wine sales, Australian wines are in second place at 17.7pc, ahead of France (12.9pc), Spain (12.3pc) and Italy (9.7pc). Ireland's services exports to Australia were valued at 740m last year, with services imports totalling 340m.

But official statistics probably underestimate Australia's trade with Ireland. Many goods imported into the Republic are exported via Britain and the subsequent journey to Ireland will be classified as within the EU.

The IDA has confirmed it has received significant interest from companies in Australia who are considering Ireland as an entry point into Europe following the UK's decision to leave the EU.

A total of 45 Australian companies have already invested in Ireland, creating a combined 3,000-plus jobs.

Three major investments were announced last year which saw Australian-based firms locate their European hubs here.

SiteMinder, a global travel tech firm, announced 100 jobs for Galway; animal medicine innovator Nexvet opened in Tullamore; and payroll and accounting company CXC Global set up its European headquarters in Dublin.

In the life sciences sector, ResMed Sensor Technologies - a subsidiary of multinational medical device company ResMed - is based in Clonskeagh in Dublin.

Australian investment bank Macquarie, which already has staff in Dublin, is seeking a full banking licence in Ireland as it seeks to retain access to EU passporting rights post-Brexit.

John Conlon, who heads up the IDA's Asia Pacific division, said Ireland has been successful in attracting established Australian Stock Exchange Top 100 firms as well as emerging tech companies.

Since 2009, the IDA has expanded its footprint in the Asia Pacific region - targeting the powerhouse economies of China, Japan and ASEAN markets.

The Asian market represents in excess of two billion consumers - roughly 500 times the population of Ireland and four times that of the EU. The region accounts for 40pc of global GDP and over 60pc of global consumers - with large and growing middle-class populations.

"IDA Ireland now has a team of approximately 30 people (10 in Ireland and 20 overseas) working on those 'Growth Markets'," said Conlon.

Another major factor contributing to improved Irish-Australian trade is the so-called Boomerang Effect whereby Irish expats living in Australia decide to return home and help to set up Irish operations for their Australian employers.

For example, former Irish investment banker Niall Conlon runs a successful tech firm Eclair Group in Sydney.

He is now in the process of setting up an Irish division, with plans to increase the workforce from 15 staff to 50 by next June.

He plans to hire about 20 software developers in Ireland in a bid to win local clients and expand into Europe.

"One of the trends we're noticing is that as the Irish diaspora return from Australia they are often presenting their Australian employers with the opportunity of opening a European operation here," said an IDA spokesman.

"It's a positive story for both Ireland and Australia, giving Irish natives an opportunity to return and Australian companies a chance to grow their international footprint."
'Better an honest enemy than a fake friend' is how the old saying goes. When it comes to the global reform of Corporate Taxes, it isn't at all clear who our enemies and friends are.

US President Donald Trump appears to be an enemy given that he wants to repatriate profits, jobs and taxes from US multinationals back to the US, in a way that could be damaging to Ireland's economic interests.

In reality, he is succeeding with very little in his presidency and this stated aim may not impact on Ireland much at all.

Meanwhile, closer to home, our EU friends are wrapping their arms all over us on the Brexit issue. Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier seems as familiar with the finer points of the Monaghan/Armagh border as your average fuel smuggler.

But will there be a price to pay for Ireland from all of this European solidarity? Just as Barnier is solidly in our camp on Brexit, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker wants to see greater tax harmonisation across Europe which using qualified majority voting (QMV), which would see an end to the member state veto on tax rules for multinational corporations like Facebook and Amazon.

Seamus Coffey, chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, said during the week corporation tax harmonisation plans across the Eurozone pose a bigger threat to Ireland than Brexit. It has been suggested that Ireland could lose around 4bn a year in Corporation Taxes. More significantly it would undermine our investment case for future Foreign Direct Investment which in turn could cost us a lot more in the long run.

Ireland has a veto, so in theory it can just keep saying No. Finance minister Paschal Donohoe said last week that he would not give up that right to a veto on such important matters as taxation.

We will not be alone in this stance, and will be backed up by EU 'heavyweights' like Luxembourg! The UK's exit from the EU could be a serious blow to Ireland's ability to avoid the bigger, more influential EU members simply ganging up on us, or deciding to press ahead with greater Eurozone integration on their own.

'More Europe' and not less of it, is the emerging tone in the aftermath of the British referendum and that means greater economic integration, Eurozone budgets and greater harmonisation. That might be all good stuff, but our EU friends have a serious eye on the corporate structures we have facilitated here.

These are very worrying developments for Ireland. And yet there is a genuine moral and social argument to be made about all of this. Global corporations are not paying enough tax and the tax avoidance industry, backed by governments, has allowed this to happen.

If Ireland wants to be to the forefront of developments in reforming that, well and good, but Ireland will not want to go it alone, or adopt a tax regime from which it can only lose taxes, investment and jobs without gain.

As the country with the most to lose from Brexit, we need as much help as we can get from Brussels on the British withdrawal. That's what friends are for. But sometimes they want a favour in return, one that might be very painful to deliver. Paschal Donohoe will need all of his diplomatic skills to navigate two storms - Brexit and a push for greater Eurozone tax harmonisation.

Time is ripe for new Eir investor

Former state telco Eir has come a long way since its examinership in 2012. The group of hedge funds, banks and equity investors who own the business have been eyeing an IPO for some time.

It would be a chance to cash in some shares, given that they took a bath on their debts in the restructuring of five years ago.

For others, who have come on board or built up their stakes more recently, such as Anchorage, it would be a chance to realise some of the gains from the painstaking work of rebuilding the business.

This week Eir reported its ninth successive quarter of growth and appears to be on the right course - trajectory might be putting it a bit too strongly.

However, reports that it could be the subject of a takeover bid from Xavier Niel, the French billionaire majority owner of Paris-listed telecoms company Iliad, might have been a little premature. Eir confirmed that it had an approach about a significant stake being taken, which would be held "alongside them" (existing shareholders). If indeed this is Niel it could be good news all round.

Eir has been owned by private equity investors, hedge funds and other institutions for 18 years now. Having an industry player on the share register would be no harm.

Niel has been described as the godfather of French tech. He has built up an extraordinary mobile phone business with 13m mobile subscribers, or 18.3pc of the French mobile market, in less than five and a half years.

Iliad represents the most successful launch of a fourth mobile player in a market anywhere in Europe.

Iliad has acquired assets which will give it a fourth-place market position in Italy where it hopes to launch shortly. The group has built its success on a low cost, low price model. Its arrival triggered price wars. It even launched free mobile in France before successfully migrating customers to more lucrative post-pay monthly plans.

Niel is clearly a great marketer.

However, Eir would be too big for him to take out at this stage given Eir's equity value of around 1.2bn and ebitda of 520m.

The puzzling thing about the takeover speculation has to do with growth. Niel clearly wants high-growth plays and while growth has returned for Eir in this market, it cannot be stellar in such a mature competitive market.

However, some institutional investors in Eir may be getting itchy feet and don't want to wait for an IPO, followed by another few years after that for a full exit.

Data centre opportunities stuck

The headlines about how Ireland could lose out on a $1bn Apple data centre planned for Co Galway don't look good. 'Shortage of judges, growing bureaucracy and power constraints could prove too much for iPhone maker' was how one publication put it.

Having a planning system that gives a strong voice to objectors is one thing, but holding up valuable investments because of a shortage of judges, or lack of investment in power capacity, is another.

Irrespective of the concerns of objectors who are worried about lots of things, including the impact the centre could have on badgers in the area, dragging out a process because of entirely fixable problems is much worse.

Apple announced plans for the data centre in 2015 and expected to have it built in 2017. That now looks like 2019, if it happens at all. Having made a good start on data centre location in Ireland, the Nordic countries are overtaking us.

Business is booming in Norway, Sweden and Denmark where they have garnered $3bn data centre investment in the last 18 months alone.

Data centres use enormous amounts of electricity, so they are looking for renewable energy sources nearby. Facebook has placed data centres more than 300,000 sq ft just inside the Arctic Circle in Sweden, powered entirely by renewable energy. There is a six-storey data centre in an abandoned mine in Norway. Yet, 40pc to 50pc of Europe's data centres are in the UK.

Super-sized data centre investment is set to double in the next two years. Ireland's role in that expansion isn't so much going down a mine, as stuck in a boghole.
I hadn't heard of Tullamore poet Edward Egan or his colourful cousin, Major Howard Egan until last week, when I met Gordon Cobbe of GVM on an 83ac residential farm at a place called the Meelaghans on the outskirts of the Offaly county town.

The farm will be auctioned next month and has a guide price of 600,000.

A cottage on the farm was home to Edward, a poet and author who died in 1940. It is also the ancestral home of Major Howard Egan, an Irish American Mormon adventurer who lived the quintessential life of the frontiersman until his death in 1878.

The Egan family emigrated to Canada in 1825. While his surviving siblings settled and married in Canada, Howard moved to the USA. He became a Mormon in 1842 and entered Salt Lake Valley with the first of the Mormon pioneers.

He was a messenger with the Mormon Battalion set up to defend the emerging religious group from attack and was one of the early explorers of Utah and California.

He was also a pioneer with the Pony Express and developed a notorious reputation for taking the law into his own hands when dealing with attacks from the Native Americans and outlaws.

Expand Close The birthplace of American frontiersman Major Howard Egan is located at Meelaghans on the outskirts of Tullamore / Facebook

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Instrumental in the establishment of the Mormon Church, he became a bodyguard to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Howard Egan died in 1878 at 63 years of age. A journal he kept detailing his extraordinary life, entitled Pioneering the West, was published by his estate in 1917.

At around the time Howard died Edward was born into the house where the adventuring Egan first saw the light of day. Edward's life may not have been quite as exciting as that of his colourful cousin but he left behind a body of poetry and writings about his locality.

Upon Edward's death in 1940 the house was bequeathed to a neighbouring family, the Dunnes.

The last surviving member of that family died some time ago and his relatives are bringing the property for sale.

Located at a crossroads on the Portarlington road within 1km of Tullamore the lands have extensive frontage on the main road and two by-roads. A small 3ac portion is separated from the rest by the railway line.

While the property will be offered for sale in lots and as an entirety, Gordon Cobbe expects it to sell in its various lots.

The first lot is made up of 21ac of fine, dry grazing ground surrounding the current farmhouse, which is a three-bedroom prefabricated bungalow built in 1975.

A cosy dwelling the house has three bedrooms, a shower-room, a sitting room and a kitchen/living room.

Laid out in a series of elevated fields that are dry and in great heart, the land with the house has road frontage on to a local road and the main road between Tullamore and Portarlington. This lot is guided at between 220,000 and 250,000.

A lovely, sheltered 3ac field accessed by a level crossing over the railway line is guided at 25,000 to 30,000.

At the far side of the main road with frontage on two sides is a 43.2ac parcel of lower lying summer grazing. This portion is in good heart and laid out in a number of manageable fields.

According to Gordon Cobbe, it would make for ideal out-farm grazing ground or zero grazing land. It is guided at 220,000 or around 5,000/ac.

Further out the main road and adjoining land belonging to the famous Annaharvey Farm is a 15ac parcel of ground laid out in three fine fields fronting the main road.

This is powerful ground and produced a very healthy silage crop earlier in the year. It comes to auction with a guide of 110,000 or over 7,000/ac.

The farm is attracting widespread interest says Gordon Cobbe. "Location is everything and this farm is located in great farming country within minutes of Tullamore."

The place will be sold at auction at The Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore at 3pm on Friday, October 6.
Farming families are losing their land as vulture funds swoop on indebted properties bought during the height of the Celtic Tiger.

Foreign vulture funds that bought up large swathes of distressed Irish loans have significantly ramped up their pursuit of borrowers.

It comes as various foreign-based funds and investors - often referred to as "vulture funds" - that bought distressed Irish loans during the crash, crank up their activities in the courts.

The number of debt enforcement cases being taken in the High Court by major funds has increased tenfold.

According to representatives of the farming community, those with loans acquired by vulture funds have come under mounting pressure in recent months.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, John Comer, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), said he knows of "hugely distressing" individual stories of farmers losing their land.

"In the vast majority of cases, the farm was in the family for generations. The reality is that it wasn't the farming business that brought them down. During the boom there were off-farm investments which didn't work out, and the collateral of the farm was caught up in it. But in many cases the farming business was still viable, and it would have made more sense for the State and the taxpayer, if a workable solution was found, to keep them in their business.

"Extreme pressure is being put on farmers now."
Smaller Irish horse racecourses are facing a serious threat to their businesses because of the impact of exchange rate volatility on the lucrative media deals that many of them have struck, according to the head of the sport in Ireland.

Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Brian Kavanagh told the Sunday Independent that racecourses around the country could lose as much as 5m if the exchange rate between euro and sterling were to hit parity.

In an in-depth interview, Kavanagh discussed a new report that outlines the importance of the industry to rural Ireland, the potential impact of Brexit on the sector, the ongoing issue over employment standards for stable staff, as well as the controversy that last year surrounded his own terms and conditions in the role.

"All of our media rights deals are done in sterling," said Kavanagh. Irish racecourses generate a combined total commercial revenue of 31m. A large percentage of this commercial revenue is made up of media rights, which is the amount paid to them for the right to show pictures of racing across various media platforms, primarily to support betting activity.

The two biggest players in the market are both British based - Satellite Information Services (SIS) and Sky-owned At the Races. Between them, they have the rights to live stream racing from throughout Ireland to about 10,000 bookmakers' shops around Ireland and the UK.

Kavanagh said that HRI had carried out an examination of the issue to see how big a hit individual racecourses are actually facing.

That exercise was carried out when sterling was worth 1.25 to the pound but has since dipped to 1.14, with some economists predicting it will weaken even further as Brexit unfolds.

"It is hard to put an exact figure on it but if it were to go to parity, the hit on media rights would be many multiples of millions, certainly 4m or 5m, for racecourses around the country," he said.

Asked if racecourses may close because of the problem, Kavanagh answered: "You would hope not. The ones where they are generating other commercial revenue, they won't."

Attendances at racecourses fell during the recession but are back to the 1.3million level they were at before the recession, he said. But much of that recovery has come from the bigger events at the bigger courses, meaning smaller rural racecourses remain under pressure, he indicated.
This is a very difficult market to get to number one, said Avolon boss Domhnal Slattery

Avolon boss Domhnal Slattery is looking to make another major acquisition as he seeks to make the aircraft lessor the largest player in its sector. The company - owned by China's HNA Group - recently bought rival CIT for $10bn and now follows only GECAS and Irish rival Aercap in the world market.

"This is a very difficult market to get to number one in because most of our bigger competitors are growing and have aspirations for growth," Slattery said.

"I think there'll be one other major acquisition, rather than a series of small acquisitions. And then we'll supplement that by organic growth.

"Now the question is when will that happen? The CIT transaction came at the perfect time from our perspective, in that it wasn't a distress play but you had a willing seller.

"We haven't seen a distress play in this industry really since the ILFC-AIG trade [ILFC was sold by AIG to Aercap in 2013].

"We work in a cyclical industry so if you're pragmatic and you're looking out over the next number of years, your experience will tell you there will be distress eventually. I can't actually see it at the moment, but it will come."

Slattery was speaking in an interview with the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading.

He said he was concerned about the lease rates being obtained in the industry.

"Currently the lease rates lessors are garnering for new equipment... are probably below where we expected them to be because of competition," Slattery said.

He added that one of the reasons he liked the idea of HNA owning the business he co-founded was because both entities wanted to make the combined business the biggest purchaser of aircraft in the world - meaning it would get the best rates on purchases. HNA has a number of airlines.

Slattery said the business wants to get to investment grade status via the ratings agencies. This would make borrowing on the capital markets easier.

"This business must fund itself in the capital markets. We've been a very successful participant in the bank market over the last seven years.

"However, given the scale of our needs, we have to diversify. We started that earlier this year with the $8.5bn of debt capital we issued for the [CIT] acquisition, which was a $5.5bn term loan and a $3bn inaugural bond."

He said he would operate the business on a debt-to-equity ratio of around 3:1. Speaking about the industry more generally, he said he has been concerned for some time that too many aircraft are being produced by the manufacturers.

"But at the same time I'm sort of dumbfounded every year that airlines still have the capacity to take them," he added.

He also said there may be potential stresses in the market for wide-body aircraft.
It's official. Cogs & Marvel is now Ireland's leading event-management company, having won the prestigious accolade at the recent Event Industry Awards. With 51 staff and an annual turnover of more than 17m, it has certainly been an exhilarating journey for founders Jane Gallagher and Roisin Callaghan, who set up the company in 2006.

"From the very beginning we focused on building a strong reputation among FDI and multinational companies. Today our customers are mostly the big US tech companies based in Dublin - such as Google, Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Dropbox and Linkedin," says Jane. It's a strategy that has clearly worked for the dynamic duo, who last year alone organised an astonishing 120 events in 22 countries around the world involving more than 20,000 attendees.

"Our USP and what makes us different from other companies, is that we act as a one-stop-shop solution where we look after all the key elements of our events in-house," adds Roisin. "This includes everything from arranging flights, airport connections and accommodation for attendees to providing name badges, audio visual and catering services. We also design and build the sets and backdrops for each event as well as looking after the public relations and sponsorship aspects."

Because of the number of flights and travel bookings the pair were handling, they even set up their own dedicated in-house travel agency.

While their events range in size from several hundreds to many thousands, last week saw them organise one of the largest events in the country and bring together 5,000 Google staff from around the world for the company's annual sales conference in Dublin. A massive undertaking, this involved arranging flights for more than 3,000 attendees, booking 26 hotels and three stadia including the 3 Arena, Convention Centre and the RDS. They even booked out nine separate pubs for the Tuesday night alone. In the middle of all of this, the company were separately organising an event for a different US tech company for 500 people in Krakow in Poland.

While organising such events would faze most people, Jane and Roisin, actually thrive on the challenge that comes with meeting the high expectations of their clients. But then both have considerable experience in the events industry.

Jane grew up in Greystones in Co Wicklow. Having studied hotel management in Cathal Brugha Street, she spent the next two years working in London before returning to Dublin where she joined the staff of Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge. Roisin is from Dalkey. She studied business and French in college and worked in France for three years before returning home where she worked in a number of companies, including American Airlines and an independent TV production company.

She later joined an event-management company and it was while organising an event for a client in Jury's hotel that she first met and worked with Jane. So impressed were they by her expertise and passion, that Roisin's bosses offered her a job in the same company.

"We spent the next four years working with some of the new tech giants that had come to Dublin. We got to see the type of events these companies were running in other countries which were different from anything that was being done in Ireland at the time," says Roisin. "For example, in America companies preferred to use bespoke-type venues rather than hotel conference suites. They were also big into technology and to creating experiences as much as events," she adds.

Jane and Roisin realised too there were few young people involved in the events industry in Ireland at the time and that there was an opening for something new and more creative and so they set up their own event management company.

"We started with little more than two laptops. And probably like everyone else who starts a business, we had the usual fears - were we doing the right thing? Were we mad leaving good jobs? Where was the work going to come from?" says Jane. "However, we loved the buzz of working for ourselves." Their first substantial opportunity came shortly afterwards, when they were invited to pitch for the job of organising an event for 600 staff for Google.

"We worked 14-hour days, seven days a week to pull it off. Often eating just vitamins for breakfast," says Jane. However, their hard work paid off and the event was such a success that they have been organising events for Google ever since.

"As the business grew we had to learn to delegate. We were working non-stop and verging on burnout," she says. "About four years ago, our business mentor, Kilian Whelan, sat us down and advised us that we needed to scale up and build a team around us - what he called the engine room. He said it would also free us up to think more strategically. It turned out to be our lightbulb moment and the most significant thing anyone has ever said to us. From that point on, we started to think of ourselves as a large company rather than a small business.

"Since then, we have increased our turnover 100pc annually and grown our team from 12 to 51. We have also made our mentor our chairman and hired a CEO, Dave Smyth, to help grow the business and we are continuing to build out our senior management team. Last year we opened an office in San Francisco to be closer to our US customers," says Roisin.

They say they are blessed with the talented team who work with them both here and in the US. Although Jane now lives in Co Clare with her partner Geoff and their five-year-old son, she spends three days a week working in Dublin. Roisin and her husband Damien also have a five-year-old son. While they live in Dublin, she now spends three out of every four weeks in San Francisco. "In the beginning our lives revolved around work and still do to a large extent. But with children you have to learn to adapt and prioritise," says Roisin. "There's definitely times when you feel guilty."

Dealing with different time zones and constantly being on-call means they often miss important family events or simply time to play with their children. "That can be really hard. But we simply couldn't do what we do were it not for the wonderful support from Geoff and Damien," says Jane. With business booming, the pair are showing no signs of slowing down. They are planning a second office in the US, this time on the east coast and possibly another in Asia. They are also concentrating on establishing their own events such as the Social Media Summit which they ran in March of this year and have others in the pipeline.

As they get ready to take part in the final of this year's Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, I wonder just how these two impressive entrepreneurs can possibly manage to do all they have to do. But they are the country's leading event-management company, after all.

cogsandmarvel.com
Is the new iPhone's facial recognition system inspired or creepy? Assuming it becomes a new industry standard (like other iPhone features), are we facing a Minority Report style future with facial scans becoming a new currency?

Will supermarkets recognise us at the door? Will companies replace smart cards with facial scans for employees? Will countries seek to incorporate it into future passports?

In case you missed it, the key feature of the new iPhone X (pronounced iPhone ten, according to Apple) is that it replaces the home button with a facial recognition system based on 3D cameras and infrared technology. Matched with a powerful new computer processor, the 'Face ID' system can detect 30,000 different points on a human user's face in light or darkness.

Once recorded, your face is used to unlock the phone or perform other functions previously done by the (now replaced) 'home' button. This includes downloading apps and making payments in shops: an Apple Pay transaction in a Centra or a Spar will now be completed by looking at your iPhone X instead of using the fingerprint Touch ID system.

Wearing a hat or growing a beard doesn't stop it, either. Nor does wearing glasses (unless they're very dark), gaining weight or ageing. And it can't be fooled by high definition photos of your face, because a photo is flat and Apple's cameras measure the depth of your facial features.

Indeed, Apple says that the chances of the system being fooled are a million to one. (It admits that an identical twin might get past its security.)

Some have already worried that a switchover to facial recognition as a phone's gatekeeper technology might make it easier for police or muggers to force access to a handset. This seems unlikely, as there is scarcely less intimidation in forcing someone to look straight a phone with eyes wide open (it doesn't work if your eyes are closed) than in just taking their finger and placing it against the Touch ID sensor.

But a bigger question arises out of what facial recognition might mean for how we are processed in our everyday lives.

If Apple's technology turns out to be as reliable as it promises, it would seem impossible that the system will stay limited to phones - or Apple's products - alone.

Public and private organisations have many potential uses for reliably accurate face recognition software. Some of them may be useful, some are undoubtedly dystopian.

The immediate issue is databases. Apple says that there will be no database of facial recognition scans, that all of the facial data will stay on the user's phone, fully encrypted and never uploaded to an internet server.

To be fair, the company has a decent record on this. It has waged high-profile, fractious battles against both its own country's security services (the FBI) and those abroad (UK prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May) on the subject of softening its iPhone encryption standards.

But that's one company. This technology won't stay siloed with Apple (or Samsung, which has also deployed its own version).

Do we really think that Google or Facebook, whose businesses are wholly dependent on gathering and using personal information as a basis to make money, won't try to make a super database of some sort from peoples faces? And who else will then get in on the act?

Biometric data identification systems for employees is already in increasing use by companies here in Ireland.

It has even been the subject of a complaint - and a subsequent ruling in favour of the company - with the Data Protection Commissioner here. In this year's annual report, Helen Dixon found that biometric information such as a fingerprint (or, presumably, a facial scan) can be requested by company security staff for entry into the building. The only qualifier, she said, was that the company must make clear what the biometric data is for and how long it will be retained.

Supermarket chains have long experimented with trials of 'gaze tracking' software that seek to know more about what products you look at and where you linger on the shop's premises. Being able to fully identify someone when they walk in could be valuable for deeper marketing purposes.

What's more, it's not clear how much people would object to it.

What if Tesco or SuperValu offered you 10pc off everything in your weekly shop in exchange for recognising you (and, possibly, what you buy) when you entered their premises?

I suspect many would take up that offer. Privacy campaigners talk about commercial facial recognition being a black and white issue, but the wider public may have a different view.

The reality is that most of us have already crossed a privacy threshold in our lives because of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and other online services that have become a cornerstone of our daily existence.

As for physical surveillance, widespread acceptance of CCTV cameras and phone-tracking software may have worn down the instinctive urge to recoil from such deployments.

Indeed, it seems inevitable that security forces, police and border control systems won't be able to resist the availability of new face detection tech to help them fight crime and terrorism. In doing so, they will expand on the general database of people's faces they already possess.

Proponents of this expansion will argue that upgrading to better cameras and systems may cut down on the alarming rate that police are wrongly misidentifying - and even arresting - suspects based on crude face-detection software they currently have.

But given how data breaches are now almost inevitable at practically every organisation, what will a mass breach of a facial recognition database look like?

Apple has a decent record on privacy. But popularising this technology may have unforeseen consequences.
'The company is looking to shore up its financial footing as it seeks to meet payments due on foot of a dispute with former partner Avobone.' (stock photo)

San Leon Energy is launching a review of its corporate governance procedures after the late filing resulted in its shares being suspended.

The oil and gas explorer, run by former Smart Telecom chief executive Oisin Fanning, said it is also looking to find a new independent non-executive director.

The company is looking to shore up its financial footing as it seeks to meet payments due on foot of a dispute with former partner Avobone.

It is awaiting payments from its stake in a Nigerian oil field - taken as part of a deal made last year, which was described by the company as transformational.

The project operator has run into difficulties making the payments.

San Leon has just under 1m in the bank and has to pay Avobone 8m by next month and a further 6,694,840 by November.

In San Leon's recently published annual report, its auditors KPMG said there were "material uncertainties, which may cast doubt" over San Leon's ability to continue in business. In a statement this week, the company said it "has well established loan relationships with various parties in addition to committed financing facilities in place, which may be required to help fulfil the Group's immediate cash flow requirement".

"The directors have assumed that additional loan facilities of 12m will be obtained in October 2017 and a further 7m will be obtained in November 2017 to meet the group's payment commitments," the company said.

Meanwhile, a formal offer from a Chinese company that expressed an interest in buying San Leon has not materialised.

San Leon had said the company, China Great United, had expected to be in a position to make a formal offer within 45 days at an indicative price of 67p-76p per share.

That time period has now passed and San Leon shares are currently trading around 20p.

"San Leon anticipates an update from China Great United in the near-term and will update shareholders in due course," the company added.
Over mugs of tea and mounds of biscuits, three generations of an Irish show business dynasty have gathered to laugh, cry and reminisce. Aonghus McAnally has worn many hats through a near 40-year career: children's television presenter, radio producer and DJ, musician. His son, Aonghus Og, is the comparative straight man. A successful stage actor (he has appeared in Abbey productions of The Plough and the Stars and Romeo and Juliet and in London with The Cuchulainn Cycle) is thoughtful where his father is outgoing, contained where Aonghus senior is a tall-haired jack-in-the-box.

The trio is completed by seven-year-old Cadhla, Aonghus Og's daughter and co-creator, with her dad, of a new fantasy saga debuting at the Dublin Fringe Festival. In the modest suburban kitchen of Aonghus Og's Portmarnock home (Aonghus senior lives around the corner) the topic of discussion is the McAnallys' passion for performance - a love affair that began with Aonghus' late father, Irish screen giant Ray McAnally (The Mission, My Left Foot).

"When I was about 15, I visited my father on the set of a film," says Aonghus. "They'd just completed shooting and were removing all the props. He turned to me and said, 'The magic is gone, I'm fired, now I'm on to my next job isn't that exciting?' I have the same philosophy. Some people can't bear not knowing what they are doing next. I love it. We had a great phrase in our family - 'We've never starved a winter yet.'"

As host of early '80s children's series Anything Goes, McAnally (62) has carved a place in the Irish broadcasting annals. But music was his first love. He started as a guitar player and largely stumbled into television. His son, by contrast, always knew he wanted to be on screen and, by his Junior Cert, was appearing alongside major Hollywood stars.

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"Growing up in the house, you are surrounded by show business. You just don't know any different," says Aonghus Og (36). "I'd go from acting opposite Pierce Brosnan to handing in my homework. As I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate what my dad does. You think it's an easy gig. But he's like a duck. He's floating on top. Underneath, he's kicking away madly."

Received wisdom cautions against working with family. However, the McAnallys ignored this advice and last year collaborated on a tribute to the late Christie Hennessy, with father performing the troubadour's songbook and son overseeing the tour through his Rise Productions company. They'll be doing it all over again this winter, with a nationwide trek starting in October at Cork Opera House and culminating in a date at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin in December.

"It was a very professional relationship," says Aonghus (whose other duties include producing Joe Duffy's Liveline). "When we stopped for a cup of tea we would chat as normal. But when we were working, we were working."

"If you are doing something properly, it's never about personalities," nods Aonghus Og. "If something's not quite happening, we try to find a way to fix it."

Aonghus Og in many ways takes after his grandfather rather than his dad. Despite having had roles in the likes of P.S. I Love You, Penny Dreadful, Ella Enchanted and The Clinic, alongside his plentiful stage and radio work, he is somewhat reserved compared to Aonghus senior - more comfortable performing from a script than being 'himself' on stage.

"You are naturally more of an extrovert," he tells his father. "I'm no shrinking violet but I am more comfortable putting on a mask."

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With a chuckle, McAnally senior recalls attending a play at which there was a last-minute hitch. "I told them, 'Let me go on - I'll do a few bits.' They were like, 'How long do you need to prepare?' And I was like, 'It's all right, I'll go on now.' I'd imagine that would be terrifying to an actor."

Ray McAnally supported Aonghus' show business ambitions - and Aonghus likewise approved of his own son's desire to act.

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"My dad would say, 'I don't care about what you want to do - but what I do care is that you are the best you can be at whatever you want. You owe it to yourself," he recalls. "'If you were really clever but didn't study, I would be disappointed. If you are incredibly stupid but study hard to be the best you can be, I'll admire you for it.' It's about making the most of your abilities at the end of the day, I always thought that if I ended up selling programmes for rock concerts outside the Aviva, I'd still be in show business. I remember in the early days giving out roses in a disco for a very small fee in order to have money.

"With Aonghus Og, I always had the same advice and the same caveat: just do it properly. My dad used to have a phrase, 'God protect me from enthusiastic amateurs.' Meaning don't mess about - do everything to the best of your abilityYou need luck and timing - but also a core ability of being good at what you doTo see your offspring carry the same gene, and to have the same work ethic, makes me inordinately proud."

The children of famous people often grow up in their parent's shadow. But because music rather than acting was his passion, Aonghus McAnally never felt in competition with Ray (his only screen role of note early in his career was playing a snake charmer on Wanderly Wagon). "I was a guitar player so I was in no way up against him." Still, he feels he learned a great deal from his father. Ray McAnally wasn't precious about acting. He regarded it as a calling - but also as a trade and a pay cheque. His believed in going on set, nailing his lines and then moving to the next scene.

"A few years ago I made a documentary talking to some of the people who had worked with him. One of them was Robert De Niro. My dad would do a take a few times to make sure they had it - and then he'd say, 'Are we done?' Whereas De Niro, the method actor, wanted to run through it maybe 28 times. My father's attitude was, 'Let's just act.'"

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At drama school Aonghus Og was a classmate of future Oscar nominee Ruth Negga. But he branched into podcasting several years ago with a popular series about Irish theatre (which duly topped the iTunes charts).

He now applies these skills to the realm of heroic fantasy with Cobra's Quest, a podcast based on a story by Cadhla, to be recorded live each day next week as part of the Fringe Festival (Cadhla plays the eponymous Cobra) and available for immediate download.

"It's been fun," says Cadhla, who skips around the kitchen as the grown-ups converse. "What's been the best bit of it? Everything!"

She's a bubbly seven-year-old, with a wide smile. "She's a bright kid - she loves stories," says her father (he and his wife, Louise, are also parents to one-year-old Emer). "She said to me, 'Dad, I really like doing Cobra's Quest with you." I asked why and she said it was because she liked spending time with me. For me, that meant we were striking the right balance between getting the work done and having fun."

Does he hope she will follow in the McAnallys' show business tradition? "I was never forced into it," says Aonghus Og. "People go, 'Oh, she's going to be the fourth generation.' And in sense, because we are doing this, she is the fourth generation. By the same token, my missus is a fifth-generation primary school teacher. If Cadhla goes down that route, she'll a sixth-generation primary school teacher. So I'm certainly not pressurising her."

"Cobra's Quest is The Wizard of Oz meets Harry Potter meets The Lord of the Rings, but in a radio-play format so you don't need Peter Jackson's budget," he continues "It's written by a seven-year-old; it stars a seven-year-old. It's very seldom you get female leads in these things.

"There's a reason Joanne Rowling had to go as 'JK Rowling'. And it's why Harry is the hero, not Hermione. So we thought, 'If there aren't role models there, let's make them.'"

The plot is 100pc the work of his daughter. Aonghus Og sees himself as a facilitator rather than a collaborator. "It is written by a seven-year-old. I need to keep it authentic - make sure it is her voice, while at the same time having a level of quality control. Every single line of it is hers."

Before we finish I have to ask McAnally senior what it's like to have been part of an entire generation's childhood? Anything Goes was one of RTE's first forays into programming for young people. In the early '80s, it had the field virtually to itself.

"It's fantastic," he says. "And coming home to roost now in a way that is really lovely. There was nothing else on television in that time slot back then so we were superstars. Every so often, I'll do an event and end up talking to a bank manager or some other middle-aged person in a suit.

"Afterwards, they'll turn to me and say, 'I used to tune into you every Saturday.' And it hits you that this person was once a kid who watched me for three-and-a-half hours each weekend. I find that lovely. It gave a lot of parents a break. In fact, we were probably responsible for a baby boom in the early '80s!"

'Cobra's Quest' will be broadcast from September 18-22 as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, see fringefest.com
APOLOGY: Robin Kiely said less than 2pc of flights would be hit

Ryanair faces the threat of a massive compensation bill following its shock decision to cancel up to 50 flights a day for the next six weeks.

The budget airline announced on Friday that it would cancel between 40 and 50 flights daily up until October, as it moves to reduce a backlog of holidays for staff.

Their website has detailed all the flights which are cancelled for today, with eight flights to and from Dublin included in the list.

Flights from Dublin to Amsterdam, Nantes, Frankfurt and Santander are among those cancelled.

The Dublin-based carrier insists it will offer refunds or alternative flight options to the "small number" of affected passengers. However, it is believed the move could affect up to 250,000 passengers.

Under EU law, thousands of passengers may be entitled to 250 compensation if the distance of their cancelled flight was 1,500km or less.

The Commission for Aviation Regulation stressed that affected passengers should be aware of their rights.

It said compensation in the event of a cancellation depended on the distance of the flight, and the reason for the cancellation.

It also depends on the 'notice period' given by the airline. If a carrier can prove that the cancellation was caused by an extraordinary circumstance, which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures were taken, no compensation is payable.

Examples of extraordinary circumstances may include weather conditions, air traffic control restrictions, security risks and industrial disputes that affect the operation of a schedule.

The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) said it was deeply concerned over the cancellations at such short notice.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, ITAA president Cormac Meehan said the compensation bill was likely to run into millions of euro.

He said that given the dominant position of Ryanair in the Irish aviation market, the move would cause "severe problems" for thousands of passengers.

"For many, holiday plans have been ruined by this action where the option to change accommodation is not possible, or can only be done at a significant cost," he said.

"Ryanair's actions will also have a considerable impact on route schedules internationally, where many travellers are dependent on their Ryanair flight to connect to onward international flights.

The airline insisted that less than 2pc of its flights would be cancelled and the move would help it hit its annual punctuality target of 90pc.

It is advising customers that their flights will operate as scheduled unless they receive a cancellation email.

Ryanair's Robin Kiely said: "By cancelling less than 2pc of our flying programme over the next six weeks - until our winter schedule starts in early November - we can improve the operational resilience of our schedules, and restore punctuality to our annualised target of 90pc.

"We apologise sincerely to the small number of customers affected by these cancellations, and will be doing our utmost to arrange alternative flights and/or full refunds."
A Cambridge PhD student has described how he was "shunned like a leper" at the university after his fiance falsely accused him of beating her up.

Matt Baron, 26, was banned from Christ's College and sent home in disgrace, when his girlfriend, fellow PhD student, Sophia Cooke, told police he had attacked her when she admitted to an affair.

She told university bosses that she was terrified Mr Baron would attack her again and he was shunned by many of his friends and fellow students.

But last week a court cleared Mr Baron of assault, with magistrates dismissing her allegations as "inconsistent and not credible".

He has now revealed the extent of his ordeal and has said he wished he had never agreed to marry her, claiming he did so in a "moment of weakness" after she proposed while they were on holiday.

Mr Baron, who has just completed his doctoral thesis on marine paleontology, said: "I was shunned like a leper. Women students shouted obscenities at me in the streets and one male friend, whose wedding I attended, emailed to say that I was a vile scumbag who should rot in jail.

"I found myself banned from my college and sent home to Derbyshire in disgrace.

"Then, after I managed to convince the college to let me finish my PhD work. I was treated like a pariah."

Just hours after the verdict, Miss Cooke, posted an inflammatory message on her Facebook Page, saying genuine abuse victims should not come forward.

She wrote: "Perhaps the victims of abuse or abuse or rape should avoid reporting anything to the police. The process can hurt far more than the abuse itself."

But despite his ordeal Mr Baron said he had no criticism of the criminal system when investigating claims of abuse.

He said: I think it is right to protect those who are victimised. If my suffering is the price to be paid for even one person being saved by intervention, then I accept it.

Even though Mr Baron was cleared of assault by battery, he must wait to find out if he will be allowed back into his college when officials meet later this month to discuss the case.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Patricia Ingle celebrating her birthday at home with her family after being released from hospital

A young woman who was left severely disabled as a result of contracting a rare disease from a parrot has revealed that she know hopes to take her dream holiday to Florida, despite her illness.

Patricia Ingle (29) from Co Limerick, suffered catastrophic injuries after contracting chlamydia psittacosis - an airborne infection which can be transferred from birds to humans - while working at the Petmania store, Ennis Road, Limerick, in 2008.

As a result of the brain virus, Patricia was left in a coma and was unable to talk, walk or eat. She spent three years bravely fighting for her life as her family prepared to turn off her life-support machines.

In a wide-ranging interview with Independent.ie yesterday, Patricia and her parents revealed the difficult reality of life now, her incredible strength and positivity in the face of incredible bad luck, why they felt forced to take a record personal injuries court case and Patricia's dreams for the future.

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The remarkably positive 29-year-old has revealed to Independent.ie that she now plans to go on her dream holiday to Florida.

Just days after she fell ill in 2008, Patricia was due to go on holidays with her family on the once in a lifetime trip.

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Patricia says she "forever feels 19" as her life was put on hold when she fell ill.

"I had my driving test the following week and I had planned a trip to Florida. But all that was forgotten about. I feel like I will be forever 19.

"I've missed a lot of birthdays and a lot of Christmases. I want to be able to do things like everyone else. I feel frozen in time. My dream is to go to Florida on the trip I had to forget," Patricia told Independent.ie.

Patricia's mum Annette said that she will do everything in her power to make her daughter's dream come true.

"She has been through so much. She deserves this. She watches all her friends and family go away on holidays and she dreams of doing the same thing too.

"She can't go away on holiday like you or me though. She needs to be able to plug in her equipment on the plane and we need to take a tonne of supplies. We can't trust taking her on a commercial plane.

"I will be terrified taking her anywhere foreign but I can't keep her trapped up in the house. She needs to be able to live her life like everyone else."

Annette added that the only way that Patricia will be able to fly is on a private jet.

"We need to know that she has space and can plug in her machines. She needs to be able to get her wheelchair onto the plane and have her nurses around her. The only way is a private jet but we don't know anyone who has access to one.

"One way or another, we will get Tricia to Florida. It's her only dream and I determined to make it happen."
RTE radio presenter Paul Herriott (56) believes he wouldnt be able to do his job if it werent for the help of doctors to bring his eczema under control.

Herriott now presents a live concert broadcast from the Dublins National Concert Hall featuring the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, on RTEs Lyric FM on Friday nights.

Before he started this role, he had a "major flare-up" of eczema, and required four days of intensive treatment to bring it under control.

Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis (AD), is a very common, non-contagious, chronic (long-term), inflammatory skin condition of varying severity. Although it can start at any time of life, it most frequently begins in infancy, affecting as many as one in five children and one in ten adults.

I ambled along with eczema as most people do, but I didnt really have a major flare up until my mid-40s. Herriot, an advocate for the Irish Skin Foundation, said today.

Like an awful lot of people who suffer from the condition, it was something that happened as a by-product of childhood asthma. The asthma cleared up on the whole completely but I was left with eczema as a part of that.

I was scratching behind the knees, or in the folds of the arm they would get itchy. As a child I was itching a lot. I was aware that I had very dry skin. In a way I developed thick skin ironically, because I was told not to scratch. That was the first indication that something was wrong.

As a child growing up in Belfast in the 70s this wasnt something you wanted to talk about. I was taken to the dermatologist who prescribed steroids and you got on with it.

But he said: About 10 years ago it began to kick in, I had a major flare up. Usually for me its a drop in temperature that causes it, which is about this time of year. It goes down from 18/19 degrees straight to 10 degrees - that could cause a flare up for me, or stress could cause a flare up.

Herriott underwent four days of wet wrapping, a treatment for eczema, at St Vincents Hospital before it was brought under control.

Like an awful lot of people, I had been on a waiting list and hadnt seen anyone. Then it got worse and it affected my work. On Lyric I was working late hours, I was doing The Blue of The Night, and I was referred to a consultant, Professor Sarah Rogers, and she was able to confirm pretty immediately that I was in a bad way. It was also the first time a consultant and nursing staff had said to me how did I feel?

I did that thing that everyone does with a condition. I said I feel fine, really Im fine, and they said, youre lying. Part of the road to doing something about it is to admit you have it.

Its probably best described as a burning up on the inside. You can feel its on its way, he said.

I was immediately taken in, I had lesions and scratch marks, and I was told 'were going to wet wrap you', so I was wrapped up in emollient bandages.

After four days of that, I emerged out with perfect skin, like the skin of a teenager. For the first time in my life, I was able to run my finger down my arm and not scratch it.

Eczema is recognisable by the presence of red, dry, itchy skin, which can sometimes weep, become blistered, crusted and thickened. However, an intense itch is the major symptom. Scratching only provides momentary relief, and leads to more itching and scratching, which is known as the itch-scratch cycle.

Herriott explains that communication and education are vital.

"Talk with your GP or dermatologist and dont be afraid to say how you feel. What works for one person may not work for another so it is important to have an open line of communication with your professional.

Eczema can be a very lonely condition but once you admit it to yourself, you can then start to seek the right treatment for you and your skin

He is an advocate for people with eczema to talk to others, and not to suffer in silence.

The skin is our last sort of vestige of protection against the world.

You go into denial, because its not your heart, lungs, and you think oh Ill just put something on it. I needed to be put back together, and I was.

Youre never cured but when youve had that level of improvement, you want to share that with people.

Its not something people want to talk about, and thats what made me realise how wonderful the Irish Skin Foundation is, he said.

Education is the big thing. Accepting the fact that you have eczema and educating yourself about the triggers and where to get help is part of it.

You can find more information on www.irishskin.ie/eczema/ . The ISF Helpline is free and can be contacted at (01) 486-6280 or online through www.irishskin.ie/helpline/

The ISF Eczema Expert Event takes place this Saturday in the Red Cow Hotel Dublin. Admission is free.
Most people, when queried, place honesty high on their list of core values, but few of us exercise it wholeheartedly. Admittedly, it comes in various guises. Who wants to tell their granny, after she's spent three days knitting your Christmas jumper, that you're only planning on wearing it while locked in the bathroom?

It is appropriate to tell your work colleague that their lunch is still between their teeth right before they give their presentation, but I still regret the moment I told a friend what I really thought of her new dress. "I'm not sure it's really you," I said. Cue stony silence and then she left the room.

I realised in that moment that I had misread the situation and how my friend was feeling up to that point. She is usually someone with whom I can be frank but in this instance, she needed me to champion her; she needed me to be her 'yes' woman. Whether or not that nurtures self- delusion, I could have been more tactful in that moment and avoided hurting her feelings. The old adage 'honesty is the best policy' doesn't always ring true.

It's not always easy or convenient to tell the unvarnished truth; people often don't want or expect it and many friendships survive because of diplomacy - we choose to maintain friendships and protect the self-esteem of others rather than say what we're really thinking.

But honesty has its merits when used in the right way and applied fairly with compassion and without agenda. In professional situations in particular, honest feedback is a constructive and necessary tool for learning and development. The problem is, in the age of technology, the very fabric of honesty - its values and boundaries - are being tested and abused. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook all offer people a platform to discuss, debate and vent. And now 'honesty apps' are going that bit further.

Sarahah, which means 'honesty' in Arabic, is an app created by a Saudi Arabian developer to improve communication in corporate organisations. The premise is that it helps people discover their strengths and weaknesses by giving employers and employees an opportunity to send and receive messages anonymously.

Since its launch in February, it has become one of Apple's most popular free apps - and has overtaken Twitter and Tinder in the Irish app charts - with over 20 million users. It seems people want validation, and the internet is one of the easiest ways to access it.

It is not the first of its kind - ASKfm, Yik Yak and Formspring all offer the same thing: a tantalising opportunity to find out what people think of you but, equally, a chance for someone to be brutally cruel. Subsequently, these apps have become a breeding ground for cyberbullying, the nature of anonymity giving them free reign to throw abuse without any accountability. Indeed, one city centre secondary school in Dublin has banned the Sarahah app and asked parents to delete it from their children's phones "to ensure the wellbeing of all the students"..

My own need for anonymous validation is low, but for the purpose of this article, I ventured into the Sarahah domain - tentatively, I may add. I was aware that I was welcoming anonymous feedback, good, bad and ugly. I checked it after several days and, much to my relief, there were no bites. I asked around.

Some had heard of it but weren't interested in "opening that can of worms". Others couldn't be bothered or didn't feel the need to find out what people thought of them. The majority of users are under-25s, a generation that is, perhaps, less assured and needs the validation more.

Once you sign up to the app it creates a username for you at sarahah.com. Anyone who knows your username can post an anonymous message to the site, which pop up as notifications on your smartphone. Many younger users are inviting comments by sharing their usernames with friends, and the wider public, on other social media platforms, such as Snapchat and Instagram.

"Anything that's anonymous is thrilling," says Edie MacNamara (20), who admits to becoming "addicted" to the app. "I had a secret admirer on it for a while, which was really intriguing. There were negative comments too, but I wanted the positive ones so much, I didn't care. I closed the account when the negative comments got too much. Someone told me I looked like a horse and that upset me so much, it really affected me."

Her mother, Laoise, had a similar experience with ASKfm. "I originally thought it was a funny message board; I had no idea it was an anonymous forum. The first message I got was brutal, calling me horrible names. I shut it down after that," says Laoise. "Constructive criticism is easy to get: if you ask a professional or a true friend, they will be able to look you in the eye when they give it. Honesty is too often used as a passive-aggressive weapon by non-friends, and anonymous forums are no way to look for ways to improve."

According to psychotherapist and behavioural change counsellor Siobhan Murray, negative comments can have a detrimental effect on an impressionable teenager whose self-esteem isn't well developed.

"There are a lot of keyboard warriors online, people who use the internet as a platform to vent, without any accountability. If you're not going to say something to someone's face, why say it anonymously? We are all entitled to an opinion, but we also have a responsibility on how we convey that to someone. I've yet to see how any of these apps can be positive." Murray notes that the millennial generation hasn't grown up with that 'Catholic' constraint. "We were brought up with the premise that it wasn't very Catholic to be rude. The Celtic Tiger generation hasn't had that," she says.

So, maybe it's our history of repression that has us tiptoeing around the truth, or are we too polite to say what we actually mean? An American friend once told me it took her a long time to overcome the disappointment of all those empty promises to "go for a pint or a coffee". She eventually realised it's part of the Irish vernacular: we're just being polite; it's not necessarily a concrete invitation.

"You could say the Swedes are more honest than Irish people," says Linnea Dunne, a Swedish writer living in Ireland and author of Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living. Dunne experienced quite a culture clash when she first moved here. In the context of a culture keen on superlatives, she explains that the Swedish way of communicating can leave Irish people feeling let down or misunderstood.

"Swedes are very direct and it takes a lot for us to call something 'absolutely brilliant'. There were many times my Irish friends were left hanging, waiting for me to enthusiastically praise their new purchase, with me simply responding 'nice'. It follows that all relationships must be understood in the context of some form of social contract, be it a long-standing relationship with a friend or just a cultural norm. Things can go terribly wrong if we don't consider where we are and how the people around us interpret us and how we talk."

Directly translated, lagom means 'just the right amount' and, in Dunne's terms, "an acceptance of life's full range of colours and feelings", knowing that something must be a bit mediocre and that the fact there's room for improvement is part of the journey of life. "Having said that, I think there's a lot to be said for honesty when it comes to trust," she continues, "especially in a professional capacity."

It's no surprise that Swedish businesses rank highly in terms of efficiency. According to Dunne, when we can provide constructive criticism without layering it with questionable compliments, we can work together to improve things more effectively.

I will always remember the advice a business mentor once gave to me when I was attempting to navigate difficult work territory: "Start with the positive and then move on to something more constructive, and be kind." I value honesty in people, but I also value fairness and compassion. It might be truthful to tell your friend she looks like a circus tent in that dress, but is it kind?

Real friends can gauge whether honesty is going to help or hurt someone. Friends are there to support you, not brutalise you. As Dunne and Murray point out, honesty is what helps us learn and develop and become better people, but our responsibility is in how we deliver and receive that information. According to Murray, it's about how we respond versus react. Not everyone is going to like you, or what you're wearing, so you have to bring it back to your own core values and beliefs.

"It's about understanding fact and fiction - someone else's opinion may not be your truth - and empowering yourself to understand your own self-esteem and take a step back and come from a place of responding rather than reacting," she says.

Somewhere between withholding honesty and using it as a hurtful weapon is a middle ground, somewhere you can express the inconvenient truths, the difficult ones that can often bring people closer together. The challenge is navigating our resistance to expressing our true feelings and respecting the other person's. I rely on some friends for that brutal honesty ("You probably shouldn't have worn the black underwear") and I know most of them appreciate my honesty and sensitivity when required ("Nobody saw you run into the side of the marquee").

Some things can be said, some things can't be, and by the time you get to the adult stage of friendship, you hope you have the wisdom to know the difference - and have no need for a webiste or app to gather honest opinion about yourself.

Honesty sometimes relies on trust. Only last week a friend asked me whether you could see her "moustache". You could (it was a full-blown Groucho Marx). There is great trust in our relationship and eventually I decided she could take it. "You should get that threaded," I offered. And you know what? She thanked me.
Is your car due its NCT? Give it a better chance of passing first time with our tips, writes Geraldine Herbert

The most common causes of failing the National Car Test are poor tyre condition and broken lights. So how can you prepare your car before a NCT? Just a few simple checks well in advance of your test date could save you time and money; if you do discover that you need to bring it to a mechanic, you will have some time to shop around rather than being under pressure due to a looming test date.

Clean your car

Cleaning your car inside and out will not only give the impression of a well cared for and maintained vehicle but also if it is really dirty then the tester can actually refuse to carry out the test; a test inspector refused to carry out a car test because there were dog hairs in the vehicle. Also ensure that you empty the boot, as this needs to be accessible, and pay particular attention to your lights, mirrors and registration plates - they should be clear and undamaged.

Lights

Nearly a fifth of all failures are due to lights. When your car is parked, walk around it and check all of the lights; the headlights, indicators, rear and parking lights, number plate lights and brake lights. The rear fog lamp, where fitted, will be checked to ensure that when in use it provides a red light which is clearly visible, and the reversing white light must function. Check that the lenses and/or casings are not cracked or damaged and make sure the hazard light function is working also. Either use a mirror placed behind the car, or get someone to stand behind it while you operate the lights. Inside the car, check all the warning lights on the dash including the indicator for airbags, electronic stability control systems and electronic braking systems and anti-lock brake system (ABS). You car will fail if a malfunction indicator is not working or indicates a defect in the system.

Water and fluids

Top up all the fluids and make sure you have enough fuel. Fluids include engine oil, engine coolant, power steering and brake fluid and windscreen wash. Most of these are clearly labelled under the bonnet and easy to top up. If you are unsure, check the manual.

Tyres

Make sure all tyres are inflated to the correct pressure. You can do this at most service stations and you can find the correct pressure in your vehicle's manual. There also needs to be at least 1.6mm of tread across three-quarters of the tyre. Use a torch to ensure there are no cuts, lumps or bulges on the tyre; not alone will you fail but you will have less grip and risk a blowout.

Remove hubcaps so that the wheel nuts are visible. Also an 'E' or 'e' mark indicating that the tyre is certified to comply with EU regulations must be present on your tyres, a vehicle will fail if the mark is not present.

A tyre that is six years old is a 'pass advisory' item at the NCT so you should consider changing them at this point and certainly do if they are any older. To determine the age of your tyre, check the sidewall where you will find a four-digit number - e.g. 2412 - where the first two digits of the code represent the week of production during the year (from 1 to 52) while the second two digits represent the year of manufacture, so 2412 will be week 24, 2012.

Windscreen and wipers

Make sure your wiper blades are working and are not damaged or worn, including the rear wiper if fitted. The windscreen should be free from large chips or cracks.

Seatbelts

All seatbelts must be in good condition and working, so ensure you can easily access them and that the belts and their clips are visible, all the clips are properly engaged and that the belt is not frayed or cut as that too could result in a failure. Also, if you have child seats fitted, the NCT is required to check that they are correctly attached.

Number plates

These must be securely fastened and clearly readable. No letters or numbers should be obscured and they should be the correct size and spacing.

Documents and fee

Bring all paperwork relating to your car such as the vehicle registration book, registration certificate, licensing certificate and also your personal identification. If you don't have the documentation, you may find you will be turned away. Remember the fee, the test costs 55 and a re-test where test equipment must be used to check the vehicle will cost 28. It is free when only a visual inspection is required.

Finally, don't leave your test until the last minute, you can book a test up to 90 days in advance on www.ncts.ie, so do yourself a favour and allow plenty of time to make any necessary repairs to your car.
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Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
Edged Out: OSullivan could sense that the writing was on the wall after the report on fake breathalyser statistics was published.

On the face of it, the sudden retirement of Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan seems like another coup for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his government.

Her political capital had waned considerably in recent months and it was becoming increasingly difficult for Varadkar's new administration to back a Commissioner when so many garda indiscretions seemed to continue under her watch.

The bind was that they could not be seen to force her from her position by suggesting a lack of confidence, or talking her down while she was still in the job. The Attorney General's office had warned the Cabinet that should they do so, O'Sullivan would have grounds for an unfair-dismissal case, which could have resulted in a messy High Court action and a substantial payout.

The Garda Commissioner of the day is entitled to the support of the Cabinet, and if that support diminishes in any form, it could be argued that the position of the person in place would be no longer tenable. But frustration was building within Government over the Commissioner's suitability for the job. In July, at the height of the Templemore Garda Training College controversy, it emerged that she was about to start a five-week holiday - a very generous break by anyone's standards.

Before leaving, O'Sullivan contacted Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to tell him she would be gone for the entirety of August. During the conversation, she indicated she was considering applying for a position with the European Union police force Europol.

A senior Government source said Mr Flanagan was "left in no doubt" after speaking to the Commissioner that she planned to put her name forward for the role.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent last week, he said: "I was informed that she was in the course of applying for a job."

However, in her statement last Sunday, O'Sullivan said she had been "encouraged" by international colleagues to apply for the job, but insisted she "did not proceed with the application". The Government, naturally, could not publicly criticise the Commissioner for applying for another job, or for taking annual leave.

But, privately, anger was building within Cabinet over the Commissioner's decision to leave the country while ministers were left to pick up the pieces from the Templemore slush-fund controversy. O'Sullivan's decision to express an interest in another position, which eventually became public knowledge, also did not suggest dedication to the job.

Around the same time, the Policing Authority completed a review of the implementation of reforms in An Garda Siochana. The report was published last week, but it was given to the Justice Minister in August.

It did not make good reading for her.

Senior gardai claimed that they had implemented 50 reforms set out by Garda Inspectorates, but when the authority inspected the matter, they found just nine had been completed. Most worryingly, gardai seemed to be grossly exaggerating, if not lying, about what reforms had been carried out.

"It is of concern to the authority that a recommendation with a very specific outcome [the production of a strategy document] was marked as complete, when there was not even a draft strategy in place," the report stated. Like the Government, the Policing Authority had become increasingly disillusioned with the senior ranks of the force and their ability to implement the changes need to restore confidence in An Garda Siochana.

A senior Justice source said the report was not the nail in the coffin for O'Sullivan, but it did not help her case.

On August 31, a senior civil servant informed Mr Flanagan that O'Sullivan was "reflecting" on her position and "maybe considering retiring" when she returned from her summer holidays. The minister then passed on the information to the Taoiseach.

Next up was the internal garda reports on fake breathalyser tests, and a separate report on the wrongful conviction of thousands of motorists following a legal blunder by gardai. Both reports, but especially the revelations surrounding the falsification of roadside breath tests, seriously damaged the reputation of the country's police force. Understandably, politicians and citizens were aghast at the idea that gardai were flagrantly making up breathalyser statistics and that the behaviour was so widespread it was almost part of the culture in the force.

Opposition parties predictably called for the Commissioner to stand aside. The Government insisted the malpractice was historical and that she could not be solely blamed for a culture that developed before she took up office. But patience was running out.

The reports were published on Wednesday, September 7. The following day, Flanagan sat down with the Sunday Independent to speak about the scandal and the Commissioner's future in the force.

The minister called for "zero tolerance" for those found to be responsible for the fake tests; a mammoth task, given that it could involve reviewing more than half-a-million roadside checkpoints.

But it was what the minister did not say which proved more interesting.

He said he had confidence in O'Sullivan but, despite being asked four times, would not say if he believed she would still be in her position in a year's time.

He also refused to say if he was disappointed, or not, by the Commissioner's decision to apply for a job with Europol while the force was still gripped by controversy.

A source close to the minister said he was not prepared to "put his neck on the line" for her given that he knew she was considering her position. The same source also noted that the minister's comments, or lack thereof, was the first notable "chink" in the Government's support of the Commissioner.

Flanagan has taken a noticeably tougher line on Garda scandals than his predecessor, Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald. He has dressed-down senior gardai in his office and called for heads over the breath-test scandal. He also clearly stated he would act on the recommendations of a forthcoming Policing Authority report on the breath tests, which is expected to call for an overhaul of senior Garda management.

Sources close to the minister believe that O'Sullivan "definitely" read between the lines of his comments in last Sunday's newspaper and realised the Government's confidence had dried up.

At around 5.45pm on Sunday evening, an official statement announcing her retirement was issued by the Garda press office. The Commissioner said support for her to remain in her position was "evident" but, nonetheless, she had notified the minister and Taoiseach of her decision to step down. The Government breathed a sigh of relief. The Opposition had called for her head for months, so there will be no backlash as there was when Martin Callinan "retired".

A late-night call to the Commissioner's home, as was the case the night before Mr Callinan's shock retirement, was not needed to convince O'Sullivan to hang up her badge.

However, a subtle repositioning of the Government's public stance on the Commissioner signalled the end of her short-lived career as the head of the country's police force.
Anne Doyle may have retired nearly six years ago, but she has admitted that she still dreams about work.

Doyle, who worked as a newsreader in RTE for over three decades, retired in December 2011, and told Independent.ie that she still has dreams about deadlines from time to time.

Im retired a lifetime now! I have to say, you know when you dream that you have exams coming up and you havent opened a book or youre going to miss the exam? I still dream about work, and its always about deadlines, she laughed.

Two nights ago I had a horrific one, where I was going somewhere or other and I suddenly realized that I was four hours away from where I was meant to be, and I hadnt phoned. And thats five and a half years later, so I presume these things last! Otherwise, no, I dont wake up in the morning thinking, Oh I wish I was going to work, but who would? In any job. 

Expand Close Anne Doyle at The Marker Hotel for the VIP Style Awards 2016 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Anne Doyle at The Marker Hotel for the VIP Style Awards 2016

Following the publication of RTEs top 10 highest earning presenters in August, which listed just three women, Doyle (65) said that her thoughts on the gender pay gap are simple.

My feelings about this are very straightforward. I believe, as I think that any right-minded person would, in equal pay for equal work. And I wouldnt necessarily limit that to a gap in terms of gender.

I mean it is evidently possible that you could have two men or two women doing the same job, and one might be conceivably earning a lot more than another. It could be for historic reasons, it could be for all sorts of reasons. So I think its a no-brainer that we get paid the same for the same job.

However, the station stalwart noted that there are different factors to consider when it comes to pay.

Expand Close Anne Doyle at the Yellow Tail Wine tasting event at Drury Buildings,Dublin. Pic :Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Anne Doyle at the Yellow Tail Wine tasting event at Drury Buildings,Dublin. Pic :Brian McEvoy

The complexity of it comes down to how you quantify the same job. Because not all jobs that look the same, are the same. Also, I would have thought that another interesting aspect, which I havent followed with baited breath, but there is also the issue of opportunities. Thats sometimes worth looking at. Sometimes opportunities come one persons way and not another.

The basic thing is, you do the same job, you get the same money.

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You cant just look at A and B. Who knows whether A and B are doing the same job or not, but if they are, they should be paid the same.

The former presenter, who just returned from a weeks holiday in Spain, originally missed George Hooks controversial comments on Newstalk regarding rape, but says she wasnt surprised by the reaction they received.

I missed them because I was away. I in fact read the Sunday papers without knowing for sure what it was that he had said. I wasnt surprised in the slightest at the reaction. I welcome the fact that he gave, it would appear, a very whole-hearted apology. What could anyone say about them? Theyre beyond unfortunate.

Anne Doyle was speaking at the Yellow Tail Wine Tasting Experience in Drury Buildings.
The women were attacked at a train station in Marseille

Four American tourists who were attacked with acid at a train station in Marseille have been identified as college students.

Boston College in Massachusetts said the female students were treated for burns at a Marseille hospital after they were sprayed in the face with acid on Sunday morning.

French authorities are not treating the incident as terror-related.

The four women were studying abroad, three of them at the college's Paris program.

The director of the college's Office of International Programs, Nick Gozik, said the women have been released from hospital and "it appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances".

The students were identified as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Korsten.

A 41-year-old female suspect has been arrested in connection with the attack.

Boston College said police described the suspect as "disturbed".

AP
Director and actress Angelina Jolie arrives for the screening of "First They Killed My Father" at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has condemned the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Burma and called on the country's government and its leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, to no longer remain silent.

Joliesaid: "It's absolutely clear that the violence by the army needs to stop and that the return of the refugees has to be permitted and that the Rohingya should be given civil rights."

Jolie added: "We all wish that Aung San Suu Kyi will in this situation be the voice of human rights," she told weekly Welt Am Sonntag.

Ms Suu Kyi has been harshly criticised for not condemning the violence.

Rohingya have faced decades of persecution by the majority Buddhist population in Burma, where they are denied citizenship.

The current crisis that has led more than 400,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh in the past three weeks.
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte taunted the head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Saturday, asking if he was a paedophile because of his focus on the killing of teenagers in the government's bloody war on drugs.

Duterte also suggested to lawmakers that the CHR's proposed 678 million Philippine peso ($13.2 million) budget could be used to equip police with body cameras if the legislators preferred not to restore funding for the agency, with which he has repeatedly clashed over his anti-drugs campaign.

The CHR requested a budget of 1.72 billion pesos for 2018, but the government proposed 678 million instead. Duterte's allies in the lower house of Congress then voted to allocate it just 1,000 pesos ($20), in what critics of the drugs war said was retaliation for its efforts to investigate thousands of killings in the past 15 months, including those of two teenagers in August.

"Why is this guy so pre...suffocated with the issue of young people, especially boys? Are you a paedophile?" Duterte asked, referring to CHR head Chito Gascon.

"Why are you smitten with teenagers? Are you? I'm having my doubts. Are you gay or a paedophile?" he asked.

CHR spokeswoman Jacqueline de Guia said the president's remarks deviated public attention away from a critical human rights issue in the country.

"These are remarks that do not show respect for the dignity of others. The public must understand that the death of children concerns us all as they are especially vulnerable and need state protection," De Guia told Reuters in a mobile phone message.

Duterte also accused Gascon of being a spokesman for the opposition and criticised his scrutiny of police anti-drug activities.

"Why can't you move on to other issues that are besetting this country?" Duterte said, citing the suffering of the people in the besieged southern city of Marawi.

Critics say police are executing suspects under what is effectively a government policy. Duterte has rejected that claim while the police say they only kill in self-defence.

The CHR has long said it lacks the manpower and resources to fully investigate the killings, the majority of which activists say are of drug users and small-time peddlers, with few high-profile arrests.

Vice President Leni Robredo, who was not Duterte's running mate and has locked horns with him numerous times, said the lawmakers' move regarding CHR's budget effectively abolishes the constitutional body.

Filipinos largely support the crackdown as a means to tackle rampant crime, which Duterte says stems from drug addiction.

Duterte reiterated there will be no let-up in the campaign, which he said was targeted at organised criminals trafficking in drugs and not at "teenagers without a sin".

The firebrand leader, who is also fighting communist rebels following a breakdown in peace talks with the government, said he remained open to resuming negotiations to end the conflict that has dragged on for nearly five decades
On patrol: Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick (centre) joins officers on Westminster Bridge in central London, as Operation Temperer is relaunched after security experts warned another terrorist attack could be imminent. Photo: PA Wire

A SECOND man has been arrested by detectives investigating the terrorist attack at Parsons Green station on Friday.

The 21-year-old was arrested in Hounslow at 11.50pm on Saturday, the Met's Counter Terrorism Command said.

He was taken to a south London police station and remains in custody.

The development comes after the arrest of an 18-year-old man in the departure area of Dover ferry port on Saturday morning. The suspect remains in custody at a London police station.

On Saturday, a search was carried out at a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey - home to foster care couple Penelope and Ronald Jones, aged 71 and 88 respectively, who previously received MBEs for services to children and families.

The couple are said to be staying with friends for at least the next five days following the police raids, during which surrounding houses were evacuated by counter-terror officers, with residents told they had "one minute" to flee their homes.

Friend Alison Griffiths said the couple - foster parents for almost 40 years who had taken in up to 300 children, including eight refugees - had an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old staying with them recently.

She described Mr and Mrs Jones as "great pillars of the community", adding: "They do a job that not many people do."

A key strand of the investigation has focused on CCTV as officers comb through footage to establish who planted the device, and when and where it was placed on the train.

The first suspect was arrested at around 7.50am, in the port which is the busiest ferry hub in Europe and serves as a commercial gateway to the French coast, including Calais and Dunkirk.

Tourist Daniel Vaselicu, 31, said he saw the "young and light-skinned" man being interrogated by two unarmed police officers moments before his arrest in Dover.

He told the Press Association: "He was white, not Arabic, but he wasn't English - there was only one person there.

"Then we went to the town centre, I wanted to smoke a cigarette and have some coffee, my opinion was that he was a homeless guy and that's why they were interrogating him.

"He was looking normal, not fighting or worried or concerned."

Thirty people were injured when the improvised device exploded during rush hour at Parsons Green station.

The terror threat remains at its highest level - critical - meaning another attack may be imminent.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu previously said police were "keeping an open mind" about the perpetrators.

He added: "If there are other people responsible it's our job to find them and that is part of the reason that we are remaining at critical threat."
It was a sentimental gift, bought at a charity auction with the blessing of The Beatles and legendary producer Sir George Martin.

But now a sought after piece of Beatles memorabilia - an original Eleanor Rigby score penned by "fifth Beatle" Sir George - is at the centre of an extraordinary dispute.

Colin Sanders, a renowned musical entrepreneur and founder of the mixing console manufacturer Solid State Logic (SSL), is understood to have won the auction several years after the song's release.

Now, however, the much cherished heirloom has become centre of a bizarre whodunit involving his widow, Dr Rosemary Sanders, and the couple's adopted daughter, Terri-Louise.

The controversy arose after the rare manuscript, signed by Sir George and Sir Paul McCartney, turned up for sale at a Warrington-based auction house.

After learning of its disappearance, Dr Sanders contacted Omega Auctions, a specialist in music memorabilia, and claimed ownership.

The auction house was forced to pull the lot.

The score is one of only two known to have been written by Sir George; the original was left to his daughter, Alexis Stratfold, when he died last year. It had been valued at 25,000.

Dr Sanders has also alerted Thames Valley Police, which is attempting to determine the manuscript's true ownership and how it appeared for sale.

When approached by newspapers, Dr Sanders said that the score had been won by her late husband at a charity auction and had been passed to her after his death in 1998.

"My late husband won it at a charity auction," she said. "He knew Sir George well, they used to move in the same circles. They - the Beatles - would come to parties occasionally. He went to Abbey Road as well, and of course some of the studio was fitted out by SSL."

A spokesman for Omega Auctions confirmed that the score was no longer for sale and said it had been consigned for sale by someone claiming to be Colin Sanders' daughter Terri-Louise, adding that the auction house had understood that that person had inherited it from her father and was entitled to sell it. When quizzed on the subject, Terri-Louise Sanders denied any knowledge of the incident, saying she had never approached the auction house about any potential sale.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said they were investigating the matter.

Telegraph

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A protester wears a badge with the slogal "Merkel muss weg!" ("Merkel must go!") during a demonstration in Hauptbahnhof last November

'I have the necessary strength and I am still curious - about people and about how life and the country are changing, and about the challenges that politics present. I think that is decisive, that you don't think you already know everything."

This was German Chancellor Angela Merkel's characteristically low-key response when asked recently by Spiegel magazine why she decided to seek the leadership in Germany's September 24 elections, having already been at the helm for 12 full years.

This tendency to underplay herself may well be why Merkel seems destined - according to all the latest polls - to prevail in her bid for a fourth term in office, a feat that would match the post-war record of her one-time mentor Helmut Kohl. The latest polls estimate support for Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance at 37 to 39pc, with biggest rival the SPD - whose leader Martin Schulz has failed to capitalise on a promising start - on just 21/22pc. Barring a major reversal, a CDU-led coalition of some kind is in sight, most realistically either with the SPD or with the FDP and the Greens.

Merkel is stoic, unchanging, reliable, consistent. She does not do drama, or extremes, or even charm, in the conventional sense. There are no personal tweets, or photo-opps of her fitness routine. She can be warm - she was overheard telling Enda Kenny on his arrival in Berlin earlier this year to "come in - I missed you" - but is not effusive. And her election slogan "For a Germany where we will live well, and happily" - really says nothing at all.

Expand Close German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his then-newly elected Minister for Women, Angela Merkel, at a CDU party meeting in 2001 / Facebook

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Whatsapp German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his then-newly elected Minister for Women, Angela Merkel, at a CDU party meeting in 2001

There's one weakness, however, that she struggles to hide - she is afraid of dogs. This fact became apparent in 2007 when she met Vladimir Putin, who duly brought his black labrador in to join them. Merkel was visibly terrified when the dog approached her.

"I'm sure it will behave itself," Putin said.

Later, Merkel is reported to have commented on Putin's behaviour. "I understand why he has to do this - to prove he's a man. He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this.'"

Really, in the end, the incident served to reinforce one indisputable fact: Angela Merkel is not easily intimidated. Nor does she have a whole lot of time for bringing the personal sphere into politics.

Indeed you could argue she often appears to have no private sphere whatsoever (although she does of course; she has a husband Joachim Sauer who is a scientist but who rarely shows up at public events).

Approval rating

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Whatsapp A protester wears a badge with the slogal "Merkel muss weg!" ("Merkel must go!") during a demonstration in Hauptbahnhof last November

It seems she has ever been averse to drama. The day the Berlin Wall fell, it has been widely reported, the then 35-year-old Angela Merkel went for her weekly sauna rather than join the crowds in the celebrations. Why? "It was Thursday and Thursday was my sauna day so that's where I went I figured if the Wall had opened, it was hardly going to close again."

Well, who can argue?

And in these days of hurricanes, Brexit and terrorism threats, when the US is ruled by an individual as comprehensively unpredictable as Donald Trump, it seems Germans have abandoned notions they may have entertained of breaking faith with Merkel as they head to the polls on September 24. True, her name has inspired a new German word "merkeln" (literally, to Merkel), meaning being indecisive, or just standing by and doing nothing.

But Merkel's personal approval rating is above 60pc; in fact it has never dipped below 46pc, even at the worst of the 2015/2016 crisis in Germany, when it seemed the country was seriously flagging in its efforts to cope with a massive influx of migrants.

Merkel was born Angela Kasner (her surname is that of her first husband, who she divorced in her 20s). Her first three decades were spent in the east, the German Democratic Republic, where her father was a pastor and her mother - who is still living and with whom she remains close, was a schoolteacher.

Originally she trained as a physicist. In her 30s she started helping out in the offices of the political party that would be subsumed into the CDU. She was appointed deputy press spokesperson for Lothar de Maiziere, the only democratically elected prime minister of East Germany. Under former Chancellor Helmut Kohl - whose rather patronising pet name for her was 'Maedchen' (girl) - she became first Minister for Women and then environment minister, where she also dealt with nuclear reactor safety. When Kohl lost the parliamentary election in 1998, Wolfgang Schauble, the new party chairman, made her general secretary. In 2000, Merkel was voted in as the new CDU leader, and in the parliamentary election in 2005 she was the main candidate for Chancellor. She has been forced into changing gear at times. After the nuclear accident at Fukushima in 2011, Merkel did a volte-face on the topic, as she went from being a fervent supporter of nuclear power to an opponent. "We can't just go back to normality," she said after the accident. "Our nuclear facilities may be secure, but we need to take time to reflect on these events."

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Then there's the whole car exhaust emissions scandal that's dragged in most of the large German car manufacturers - some of the most crucial employers in the country. This remains a headache for Merkel.

In 2015, Merkel encountered her greatest challenge - migrants. A humanitarian crisis threatened and tens of thousands of displaced people from Syria and other conflict zones began pressing for a way into the heart of Europe. And Merkel took a decision that nearly cost her career - she let them in.

Initially, it should not be forgotten, there was delight at this decision. Germans appreciate a chance to demonstrate how liberal and open they can be. Across Germany, people prepared for the influx with open arms - the scale of the volunteer effort was enormous. It all only started to go wrong when it became clear that Merkel was on her own in this welcome. The rest of the EU was not keen on a quota system for accepting asylum seekers. Germany's towns started to struggle to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of newcomers. Integration was slow. By the end of 2015, 890,000 asylum seekers had entered Germany, many without proper identity checks.

And Merkel's popularity started to fall, a fillip for anti-immigration parties like the Alternative fur Deutschland (currently expected to secure as much as 10pc of the vote later this month).

It came to a head when, on New Year's Eve in Cologne in 2015, hundreds of women were sexually assaulted by groups of men - mostly described as being of North African or Arab origin. Thousands marched on the streets defending women's rights to proceed unmolested through their lives. The blame landed firmly on Merkel.

In September 2016, regional elections in Merkel's home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania gifted 20.8pc to the AfD.

For a time it truly seemed as though the jig was up. There was talk of a new leader from the ranks of the CDU, speculation that Schauble, by then finance minister, would be brought in to serve as an interim chancellor. And yet slowly Merkel's popularity started to inch back up.

Political turmoil overseas boosted the draw of her solidity. The strength of the German economy was also part of the reason. Germany entered 2016 with a budget surplus of 12.1 bn and an AAA rating from credit rating agencies.

Also the floods of migrants slowed dramatically, partly due to a decision by Macedonia in early 2016 to shut its border with Greece.

Merkel herself negotiated a deal between the EU and Turkey to reduce the flow of migrants. In the end, about 280,000 arrived in Germany in 2016.

'Absolutely extraordinary'

Merkel still says that she did the morally correct thing in admitting so many refugees, while conceding matters got out of hand.

And so she stands, in 2017, with Britain negotiating its way out of the EU, as Europe's most powerful figure, and certainly its most experienced political leader. Unless the polls have made some cardinal error - a prospect that is hard to rule out given recent events in the US and Britain - she will remain in place for a few years more.

Canadian leader Justin Trudeau - nearly two decades younger than Merkel - is a fan. Asked in recent days about his view on the German leader he described her as "absolutely extraordinary".

Trudeau added that people used to joke about the thought of him sitting down with Merkel.

"Because, you know, she's thoughtful and serious and intellectual. And I've got a nice head of hair. Apparently."
US president Donald Trump's 'fire and fury' threat was not an empty threat, said the US ambassador to the UN (AP)

President Donald Trump mocked the leader of nuclear-armed North Korea as "Rocket Man" as the White House warned the isolated nation would face destruction unless it shelves its weapons programs and bellicose threats.

Mr Trump's chief diplomat held out hope the North would return to the bargaining table, though the president's envoy to the United Nations said the Security Council had "pretty much exhausted" all its options.

Kim Jong Un has pledged to continue the North's programs, saying his country is nearing its goal of "equilibrium" in military force with the United States.

North Korea will be high on the agenda for world leaders this week at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, Mr Trump's biggest moment on the world stage since his inauguration in January.

He is scheduled to address the world body, which he has criticised as weak and incompetent, on Tuesday.

The president, who spent the weekend at his New Jersey golf club, tweeted that he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed North Korea during their latest telephone conversation on Saturday.

Asked about Mr Trump's description of Kim, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said "Rocket Man" was "a new one and I think maybe for the president".

But, he said, "that's where the rockets are coming from. Rockets, though, we ought to probably not laugh too much about because they do represent a great threat to all".

Mr McMcaster said Kim is "going to have to give up his nuclear weapons because the president has said he's not going to tolerate this regime threatening the United States and our citizens with a nuclear weapon".

Asked if that meant Mr Trump would launch a military strike, he said: "He's been very clear about that, that all options are on the table."

Kim has threatened Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, and has fired missiles over Japan, a US ally. North Korea also recently tested its most powerful bomb.

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously twice in recent weeks to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea, including targeting shipments of oil and other fuel used in missile testing.

Mr Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, said North Korea was starting to "feel the pinch".

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was waiting for the North to express interest in "constructive, productive talks".

"All they need to do to let us know they're ready to talk is to just stop these tests, stop these provocative actions, and let's lower the threat level and the rhetoric," he said.

But Ms Haley warned of a tougher US response to future North Korean provocations, and said she would be happy to turn the matter over to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis "because he has plenty of military options".

Mr Mattis said after Kim tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this month that the US would answer any threat from the North with a "massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming".

Mr Trump has threatened to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea if the North continued with its threats.

Ms Haley added: "If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behaviour, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed and we all know that and none of us want that.

"None of us want war. But we also have to look at the fact that you are dealing with someone who is being reckless, irresponsible and is continuing to give threats not only to the United States, but to all their allies, so something is going to have to be done."

AP
The Russian military has denied claims that it struck a US-backed force in eastern Syria, wounding six fighters.

The Kurdish-led and US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces said its fighters were hit in the air strike near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour in an industrial area that was recently liberated from the Islamic State group.

Western forces with the SDF were not injured, the US military said.

The SDF is supported by a US-led international coalition of forces to defeat IS militants in Syria and Iraq.

An estimated 900 US troops are embedded with partner forces in Syria. They provide artillery support and can command air support.

The Russian defence ministry said: "Russian air forces carry out pinpoint strikes only on IS targets that have been observed and confirmed through several channels."

SDF fighters have been advancing against IS fighters on the east bank of the Euphrates while Syrian government forces and their allies are pushing on the western side against the jihadists.

The march by the SDF aims to prevent Syrian troops and their allies from expanding their presence along the border with Iraq.

Also on Sunday, the UN's World Food Program halted its air drops to Deir el-Zour after its trucks were to reach the city with food relief, for the first time since May 2014.

A five truck convoy brought with it enough wheat to feed 70,000 people, the organisation said in a statement. Monitoring groups reported that residents were receiving wheat distributions the same day.

With the city besieged by militants from the Islamic State group, the WFP began delivering aid through high-altitude air drops in April last year. It flew missions five times a week and completed 309 air drops before halting the program. Nearly 100,000 people were trapped under the siege.

Pro-government forces broke the siege on September 5 and secured the road to the capital, Damascus, shortly after. It immediately began organising its own aid deliveries to the city.

The government now controls two-thirds of Deir el-Zour, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

AP
Police have seized a huge haul of campaign literature promoting the vote

Spain's paramilitary national police force have confiscated more than 1.3 million posters, flyers and pamphlets promoting the planned independence referendum by Catalonia's regional government.

The Civil Guard said the campaign literature was seized on Sunday during raids of an unnamed business in Barcelona province that distributes advertising material.

The police force said the trove takes the number of items endorsing the independence referendum that have been confiscated to 1.5 million.

The Spanish government has vowed to stop the planned October 1 secession vote, saying it is illegal. But Catalonia's leaders have pushed ahead even though Spain's Constitutional Court suspended a regional law that paved the way for the referendum and has agreed to review the vote's constitutionality.

Polls show Catalonia's 7.5 million residents roughly split on independence.

AP
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Farhan Akhtar's latest film Lucknow Central has hit the silver screen. Inspired by his own film, Farhan Akhtar has said that reformed criminals must be given a chance to start their lives afresh. Farhan, who is playing the role of a prisoner has an opinion on reformed prisoners.

Asked if, as an individual, he would be open to employing a former prisoner in his company, Farhan told IANS,

Emmay Entertainment

Well, we have to look at the larger picture. Yes, tomorrow if you are introducing me to someone saying he is looking for a job and had a criminal record, for a moment I might sit back and the thought might cross my mind that he was a criminal; I think that is only human.

However, an undeniable fact here is, according to laws, a person who commits a crime, goes to jail and, based on the severity and brutality of his crime, he serves a sentence  and comes out as a reformed individual. Akhtar continues,

We have to understand they are all normal people and that the crime (may have) happened in a moment of madness. So, accepting these people in the mainstream of society could inspire many not to attempt crime and we can build a better society.

Farhan said that there are a lot of prisons in India, that provides vocational training to prisoners, and Farhan feels what they learn must be put to better use. He added,

Emmay Entertainment

If we create a system where we give criminals a chance in jail to be trained in different vocational activities  whether it is music, art, theatre or handicraft then it makes complete sense that we should accept them back with their skill, as a reformed individual."

Directed by Ranjit Tiwari, the film also stars Diana Penty, Gippy Grewal, Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq, Ravi Kishen, Ronit Roy and Deepak Dobriyal.
According to a Spanish Language daily newspaper, Carlos Munoz Portal, a location manager for the popular Netflix series Narcos Season 4 was shot to death in rural Mexico.

Reports claim that his vehicle was recovered on Monday in Cactuses, on a remote, unnamed dirt road in Temascalapa, a town in Mexico.

Munozs body, that was recovered from inside the car had multiple gunshot wounds. This report was first out by a Spanish newspaper that gave the headline, Violence in Mexico surpasses fiction.

eldiariodevictoria

One of Munoz's friends has been quoted in the newspaper reports claiming that he was out to study possible filming location of the show and he had been driving to the south-central part of the country.

En parajes #Edomex, Carlos Munoz Portal (37), buscaba locaciones para serie @NarcosNetflix . Fue encontrado muerto, por balas, en automovil pic.twitter.com/Dbn6brJp1w  Julio Astillero (@julioastillero) September 16, 2017

His friend doubts that the reason why he must have attracted unwanted attention was that of him being a foreigner with a camera.

Sopitas

The friend speculated Munoz might have drawn unwanted attention to himself as a foreigner with a camera. The region, that closely shares its border with the state of Hidalgo, has been in news for having a high homicide rate.

Netflix released a statement acknowledging Munozs death but didn't divulge in providing any additional details. In their statement to Deadline, they said,

We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate.
The brutal murder of a seven-year-old boy in a school in Gurgaon almost two weeks ago had raised some serious and disturbing questions about the safety of students in our schools.

But even before the country recovered from the shock of this gruesome incident, yet another shocker has now surfaced this time from Rajasthan.

BCCL/Representational Image

A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two cleaning staff at a prominent government school in Barmer district.

On the basis of complaint of sexual assault filed by the parents of the girl, a case has been registered against two sweepers of the school under IPC and sections of POCSO Act on Saturday Barmer SP Gagandeep Singla said.

BCCL/Representational Image

He said that medical examination of the girl has been done but it was inconclusive. CCTV footage of cameras in the school is being examined.

No arrest has been made so far and the matter is under investigation, he said.
Bengaluru Police have formed four teams to search for a 19-year-old boy from the city who has been missing since two days.

Sharath, a 19-year-old second year automobile engineering student, had left his house at Ullal on his new motorbike on September 12 to meet his friends and has been untraceable ever since.

BCCL

By the evening the family got a video of him on WhatsApp where Sharath claimed he was kidnapped by a gang and are demanding a ransom of Rs 50 lakh to be set free.

Hello father, the people who have gone through you has kidnapped me, they want Rs 50 lakh cash it seems, they will call you tomorrow. They are giving heavy torture to me, please do something and give the money. Please do somehow arrange the money at the earliest, these people have kidnapped me, I will be with them only, bring the cash to them at the earliest. (sic)

Further in the video, according to police, Sharath says: They are torturing me, if the plaint is made, they will trouble me and the family too. These people are also following my elder sister too. They have told some information about her to me and they are correct. Please save the family and me too. Today I am being kidnapped, they may do it tomorrow to sister. Let these problems end with me, so please arrange for money and give it to them. (sic)

BCCL

But according to Bangalore Mirror, police officers are not buying his version of the story entirely.

Sharaths body language suggests there is something fishy the way the video was recorded and sent. His appearance doesnt indicate that he was beaten up or tortured. But, we dont want to rule out his version either, an official was quoted saying in the Bangalore Mirror.
PIB

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 67 today and started his day by taking blessings from his mother. Modi was born on September 17, 1950, making him the first sitting PM to be born after India's Independence in 1947. Read more

Here are more top news of the day:

1) Cattle Smugglers Kill One BSF Guard Along India-Bangladesh Border, As Police Nab Sole Suspect

Representational Image

A Border Security Force (BSF) head constable was allegedly killed by cattle smugglers in the Angrail area of North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. Read more

2) Against Global Trends, Women's Unemployment On Rise In India As Per Worrying World Bank Report

Reuters/Representational Image

In a worrying new trend, Indian women are gradually falling off the job map, despite it being the best time in the world for women's employment. Read more

3) Meet Sudevi Mataji, A 59-Year-Old German Woman Caring For 1200 Sick & Abandoned Cows In Mathura

pti

As many as 1,200 abandoned, sick and injured cows have found a savior in 59-year-old German national, Friederike Irina Bruning. Read more

4) CBSE Blames Ryan International School's Lack Of Basic Security For 7-YO Boy's Unfortunate Death

BCCL

The Central Board of Secondary Education has indicted Ryan International School, Bhondsi (Gurgaon), where a Class II student was murdered on September 8, for failing to "observe the basic security measures as stipulated by the board", which could've prevented the tragedy. Read more

5) Amid Rising Cases Of Abuse, NCERT Books To Carry 'Good And Bad Touch' Guidelines For Students

representational image

Taking note of the rising number of sexual assault cases against children, the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) wants the students to recognise the difference between 'good touch' and 'bad touch'. Read more
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Turned 67-years old on Sunday. While the BJP is holding birthday celebrations across the country, the Indian Prime Minister was in his home state of Gujarat to inaugurate a key infrastructure project.

PMO/ Twitter

PM Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam in Kevadia colony in Narmada district on Sunday. Here are some interesting facts about the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam

World's second largest dam

The Sardar Sarovar Dam is the second largest in the world in terms of volume and size. It comes second to the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States, which is considered the largest going by its volume.

PMO/ Twitter

The foundation stone of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river was laid on April 5, 1961, by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gujarat's lifeline

The Sardar Sarovar Dam has been dubbed as Gujarat's lifeline as it is credited for increasing the agricultural output and revenue of the region.

PMO/ Twitter

The 1.2-km-long dam, which is 163 metres deep, will irrigate over 18 lakh hectares of land in the state, according to officials; the water from Narmada will flow into over 9,000 villages through a canal network.

Power generation

The Sardar Sarovar Dam has a capacity to produce 4,141 crore units of electricity from its two powerhouses -- the river bed powerhouse and canal head powerhouse -- with an installed capacity of 1,200 MW and 250 MW, respectively.

PMO/ Twitter

Fifty-seven percent of the electricity produced from the dam goes to Maharashtra, while Madhya Pradesh gets 27 per cent and 16 per cent goes to Gujarat.

Controversies

The Sardar Sarovar Dam has always been mired in controversies right from its inception. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), led by social activist Medha Patkar, has been protesting against the project, raising several environmental concerns. They allege that millions of people displaced due to the dam project were not adequately compensated.

BCCL

In 1996, construction on the dam was suspended following a stay by the Supreme Court later allowing work to resume, four years after, but with conditions.
Over the last 12 months, a record number of Indians have connected online -- a large number of them for the very first time, thanks in no small part to Jio which has completely disrupted the telecom market.

Reuters

More Indians are destined to come online in the coming months as well, as the country's Internet penetration rate is still low given its large population. The government wants to ensure there are no hurdles in India's connectivity roadmap.

To facilitate the same, India's new telecom policy, expected by March 2018, will focus on providing affordable internet access to 1.3 billion Indians and facilitate domestic manufacturing to curb dependence on imports, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said.

1) No more call drops

Telecom service providers have upgraded their network and there is a substantial improvement in call drops and service quality, Sinha said, adding that the government expects operators to continue to upgrade their infrastructure to ensure better quality.

2) Every Indian will have Internet access

Internet to all will be the basic principle [of the national telecom policy of 2018] and to give a boost to telecom manufacturing would be a key factor of the new telecom policy, Sinha said.

3) Will plan for 5G, IoT and AI services delivery

The new telecom policy will address sector issues and make them future-proof with the onset of disruptive technologies such as fifth-generation (5G) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The new policy will be forward-looking and current challenges of new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence will be taken care of, Sinha added.

4) Ensure top quality of service

Analysts and the industry estimate high-speed data services with cross-industry IoT applications and AI-driven services, could open up close to 20% of additional revenue opportunity. The quality of services has improved substantially with reduced call drops, according to Sinha.

5) Deployment of more mobile towers and base transceiver stations

In June, Sinha met top executives of Indias telcos who had prepared an action plan for 100 days and a full year, collectively committing to deploy 60,000 base transceiver stations and spend Rs 12,000 crore. Operators, according to the telecom department, have met the goal and have added 3.49 lakh base stations with the optimisation of 4.08 lakh mobile towers in a year.

6) Telco customer satisfaction target set to improve by 8% by December

A recent telecom department survey showed an 8% improvement in consumer satisfaction over call drops and an additional 8% improvement target has been set for telcos to be achieved by December.

7) Increase term for spectrum charges for telco for smoother operations

The Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body in the telecom department, has sought more clarity on the suggestion to allow telcos to pay spectrum charges over a 16-year period instead of 10 years at present.

8) Indian Railways to deploy more rural Wi-Fi access points

To improve the countrys digital profile, Sinha said the telecom department has allowed the communication arm of the Indian Railways to provide data connectivity across 200 rural railway stations initially via Wi-Fi using the Universal Service Obligation funds, which are derived from a 5% levy on adjusted gross revenue of telecom companies.

The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance governments ambitious Digital India umbrella programme, with an initial outlay of Rs 1.13 lakh crore, hinges on data connectivity and aims to bring 100% tele-density, high-speed internet highways and delivery of citizen-centric services electronically.

How the telecom ministry ensures the rapid and smooth deployment of wireless Internet services across the country will go a long way in deciding the fate of PM Modi's Digital India initiative. No pressure.

inputs from Economic Times
GOP Congressman Sought Trump Deal on WikiLeaks, Russia



Californias Dana Rohrabacher asks for pardon of Julian Assange in return for evidence Russia wasnt source of hacked emails



By Byron Tau, Peter Nicholas and Siobhan Hughes September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - WASHINGTONA U.S. congressman contacted the White House this week trying to broker a deal that would end WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges U.S. legal troubles in exchange for what he described as evidence that Russia wasnt the source of hacked emails published by the antisecrecy website during the 2016 presidential campaign. The proposal made by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R., Calif.), in a phone call Wednesday with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, was apparently aimed at resolving the probe of WikiLeaks prompted by Mr. Assanges publication of secret U.S. government documents in 2010 through a pardon or other act of clemency from President Donald Trump. The possible deala term used by Mr. Rohrabacher during the Wednesday phone callwould involve a pardon of Mr. Assange or something like that, Mr. Rohrabacher said. In exchange, Mr. Assange would probably present a computer drive or other data-storage device that Mr. Rohrabacher said would exonerate Russia in the long-running controversy about who was the source of hacked and stolen material aimed at embarrassing the Democratic Party during the 2016 election. He would get nothing, obviously, if what he gave us was not proof, Mr. Rohrabacher said. Mr. Rohrabacher confirmed he spoke to Mr. Kelly this week but declined to discuss the content of their conversation. I cant confirm or deny anything about a private conversation at that level, he said in a brief interview. He declined to elaborate further. A Trump administration official confirmed Friday that Mr. Rohrabacher spoke to Mr. Kelly about the plan involving Mr. Assange. Mr. Kelly told the congressman that the proposal was best directed to the intelligence community, the official said. Mr. Kelly didnt make the president aware of Mr. Rohrabachers message, and Mr. Trump doesnt know the details of the proposed deal, the official said. In the call with Mr. Kelly, Mr. Rohrabacher pushed for a meeting between Mr. Assange and a representative of Mr. Trump, preferably someone with direct communication with the president. I would be happy to go with somebody you trust whether it is somebody at the FBI; somebody on your staff, Mr. Rohrabacher said. The California congressman said he would be pleased to talk to CIA Director Mike Pompeo, but that the agency has its limitations and wanted to cover their butt by having gone along with this big lie. The CIA was one of the intelligence agencies that helped determine in January that emails from prominent Democrats were stolen by Russian intelligence and given to WikiLeaks. Mr. Pompeo has said that WikiLeaks is akin to a foreign hostile intelligence service and is an adversary of the U.S. WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service, Mr. Pompeo said in an April speech where he criticized the organization for stealing secrets from democratic governments all while receiving the backing of authoritarian states. The CIA declined to comment further. The U.S. has confirmed the existence of an investigation into the disclosure of classified material to WikiLeaks that was opened after the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. government documents in 2010. Mr. Assange or the organization have never been publicly accused of wrongdoing. He and the group have said their actions were important in bringing transparency to the powerful institutions and governments and is akin to journalism. Mr. Rohrabacher, who has long been a pro-Russia voice in Congress, traveled to London in August to meet with Mr. Assange, who has been living in Ecuadors embassy since 2012 to avoid arrest and extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault . Mr. Rohrabachers travel wasnt paid for by the U.S. House of Representatives and wasnt an official government trip, aides said. The Swedish investigation into Mr. Assange ended in May , but he remains in the embassy to avoid arrest and extradition by the U.S. The organization said in a statement that Mr. Assange didnt request a pardon at any time during his conversation with Mr. Rohrabacher. The organization didnt address whether Mr. Assange asked Mr. Rohrabacher to carry a message to the president. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Click Here For Your Free Daily Newsletter Mr. Assange explained that the ongoing attempts to bring a prosecution against WikiLeaks and its staff for its work documenting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are unconstitutional, widely condemned, should immediately cease and that the continuation is an abuse of process for improper purposes, WikiLeaks said in a statement about the August meeting between Mr. Assange and Mr. Rohrabacher. U.S. officials havent said whether they have formally requested Mr. Assanges extradition or whether he has been secretly indicted by a grand jury. After the visit to London, Mr. Rohrabacher said in a statement that Mr. Assange emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails. Mr. Rohrabacher has also publicly stated his desire to arrange some sort of meeting between Mr. Assange and Mr. Trump or his representatives in media interviews after the visit. He told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that he had talked to senior people at the White House about presenting Mr. Assanges evidence. But his contact with the White House chief of staff and the idea of a deal between the Trump administration and Mr. Assange that would end the legal jeopardy faced by WikiLeaks hasnt been previously reported. WikiLeaks came under U.S. scrutiny after the publication of more than 250,000 classified U.S. State Department diplomatic dispatches. During the 2016 campaign, the organization also published thousands of emails stolen from the servers of prominent Democrats and Democratic political organizations. The U.S. intelligence community later concluded that the Democratic emails were stolen and released at the direction of the Russian government, as part of a multipronged influence campaign aimed at boosting Mr. Trump at the expense of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. In a January report, the intelligence agencies said they had high confidence that Russian hackers stole emails from U.S. victims and released them publicly using WikiLeaks, another website called DCLeaks and a hacker persona known as Guccifer 2.0, among other channels. Other Russia tactics, directed from the highest levels of the Russian government, included efforts to hack state election systems and disseminate through social media and other outlets negative stories about Mrs. Clinton and positive ones about the Mr. Trump, the report said. Russia denies any interference, while Mr. Trump has called the investigations into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia a witch hunt. During the campaign, Mr. Trump praised WikiLeaks for releasing negative information about Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats. At an October 2016 rally, he told a cheering crowd: I love WikiLeaks. Since taking office, however, Mr. Trumps administration has signaled that it considers stemming the leaking and dissemination of classified information to be a priority. Attorney General Jeff Sessions described the case against Mr. Assange as a priority. Mr. Rohrabacher is known as an iconoclast within the Republican congressional caucus. In addition to holding views on U.S.-Russian diplomatic rapprochement that put him outside the mainstream of his party, he has used his perch in Congress to push issues like the legalization of marijuana. He serves as the chairman of the subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, which has jurisdiction over Russia-related issues within the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Shane Harris and Del Quentin Wilber contributed to this article. Write to Byron Tau at byron.tau@wsj.com , Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com and Siobhan Hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com Copyright 2017 Dow Jones & Company , Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article was first published by WSJ -
Rohrabacher: Someone Leaked 'Very Important' Call With John Kelly concerning WikiLeaks



By Steven Nelson September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said someone leaked information about his call this week with White House chief of staff John Kelly, possibly to undermine his ability to speak directly with President Trump about WikiLeaks. The Republican congressman from California spoke with Kelly on Wednesday regarding his recent meeting with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in London, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday evening, and broached a possible trade. Rohrabacher reportedly used the word "deal" in his conversation with Kelly and said Assange would get a pardon or "something like that" in exchange for information files on a data-storage device showing that Russia did not hack Democratic emails that WikiLeaks published last year during the 2016 campaign. "He would get nothing, obviously, if what he gave us was not proof," Rohrabacher told Kelly, according to the Journal. Rohrabacher said after his August meeting with Assange that WikiLeaks could disprove the conclusion of U.S. spy agencies that Russia was responsible for hacking Democratic emails, and that he would seek a meeting with Trump to discuss the information. Rohrabacher told the Washington Examiner on Friday evening that he would not confirm quotes attributed to him, and said nobody in his office was responsible for disclosing the call. "I have honored the confidentially of a very important business-related call," he said, speculating that someone inside the White House or within U.S. intelligence agencies leaked the call. "I don't know who it is, all I know is I'm up against an array of very powerful forces, including the intelligence services and major newspapers that are basically allied with the liberal Left who have every reason to undermine communication on this issue," he told the Washington Examiner. "Look, there are very powerful forces at work," he added. "We've got the NSA, the FBI and the CIA, all of whom confirmed a major lie that was being used for political purposes and a lie that was repeated and repeated in order to undercut our new president." Rohrabacher said White House leaks to the press are particularly bad during Republican presidencies, as staffers attempt to ingratiate themselves with reporters, and he's not ruling that out as an explanation. "You've got people who are obviously just trying to cover their ass for mistakes they have made," he added, referring to the intelligence agency theory. "They will probably do their best to keep Trump from knowing about this and knowing about his options to expose this." Rohrabacher has for years been skeptical of U.S. policy toward Russia, defending its annexation of Crimea while former President Barack Obama was in office before refusing to accept that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump. The congressman is celebrated by some groups for his maverick approach to politics, such as his leadership role pushing for marijuana reform legislation, but also is known for making sometimes head-turning remarks. Rohrabacher was quoted earlier this week as saying he believed Confederate war re-enactors had been tricked into rallying in Charlottesville, Va., last month . He said he stood by those remarks. "I don't think I was misquoted, [but] there should be no implication that I believe Civil War re-enactors are stupid," he said. Rohrabacher said he can't recall the source of that information, but that he believes he heard it in a news report. This article was first published by Washington Examiner - Copyright 2017. Washington Examiner
Israels Foreign Agents Dont Register, Why Should Russias?





Can Russia Use Israel Lobby Tactics To Skirt FARA Order?



By Grant Smith

September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The Department of Justice has ordered Russias U.S.-based RT news network to begin registering as Russian foreign agents under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act . The law requires US-based agents of foreign principals to disclose financial information and activities in regular public filings overseen by a designated DOJ office. Over the years FARA has been amended to exclude bona fide news organizations. The Department of Justice order breaks a long period of unfettered access to the U.S. by foreign press agencies, many directly and indirectly financed by foreign governments.

Although RTs viewership in the United States is minuscule compared to major domestic broadcast and cable news outlets, over the years RT has made many enemies in Washington. The networks slogan, "Question More," and financial resources allowed it to televise stories that US networks, under the perpetual threat of loss of "access" to newsmakers, boycotts and organized pressure campaigns, cannot. Nowhere was this more evident than RTs relentless coverage of Israel and its US lobby. RT covered Benjamin Netanyahus connection to the Arnon Milchan nuclear trigger smuggling ring , the diversion of weapons grade uranium from a toxic plant in Pennsylvania to Israel, and details of a massive Israeli-lobby orchestrated propaganda campaign in the United States . A FARA order could mean RTs departure from the American scene. This could reduce the number of news packages on topics prohibited in America  located in the triple-digit channel nether-region of the cable lineup, but archived and well-viewed online with 2.2 million YouTube subscribers  to zero.

With new scrutiny of Russian activities following allegations of meddling in the U.S. electoral process, the FARA order should come as no surprise. The Department of Justice can be expected to deploy resources far in excess of the meager 9-person team working in the FARA department in order to finally "get Russia." However, RT could attempt to use the tactics of another FARA target  the Israel lobby  to avoid registering.

Delay, delay, delay The American Zionist Council (and AIPAC, which was AZCs unincorporated lobbying committee) were ordered by the Kennedy administration to register in 1962 . This followed a massive propaganda campaign targeting congress and the American public funded with foreign money aimed at winning unconditional foreign aid and diplomatic support for Israel. AZC strung along the Department of Justice until 1965, long enough to orchestrate a paper "restructuring" of its operations that led to the incorporation of AIPAC as a separate entity. Politically pressure DOJ and political elites into a special exemption Whether trying to avoid an espionage prosecution (like the Anti-Defamation League ) or ignoring seven separate orders to register under FARA (like the Zionist Organization of America ), sometimes it takes a visit with the Attorney General himself (or in the case of Janet Reno , herself). ZOA was ordered to register in 1938 as a subsidiary and "subject to the direction" of the World Zionist Organization. Like AIPAC, it strung along the enforcement process, in its case until 1960. The registration effort was serious. An internal DOJ memo ten years into the lengthy effort noted, "if ZOA is to be exempted from registration, DOJ might as well forget its entire campaign" However, Justice Department employees began detecting political push-back , (PDF) ..the pressure was on somewhere in the government it would be unwise to do anything furtherunder the circumstances do not desire for the moment to write to the Zionist Organization of America Multiple Israel affinity organizations ordered to register simultaneously refused to comply with FARA orders, citing a "certain high official in the Department of Justice" had assured them that (PDF) "the Department would not require any Zionist group to register and need not fear prosecution." No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Click Here For Your Free Daily Newsletter Clarify that Russia is not the Soviet Union Early in the drive to register AZC/AIPAC as foreign agents, their lead lawyer made an appeal for "prosecutorial discretion." Maurice Boukstein argued that the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act had been crafted to target and expose Nazi and Soviet propaganda efforts in the United States. "While the language, of course, comprehends everybody," lobbying for Israel should not be treated the same, he argued. RT, like advocates coordinating with and on behalf of Israel, could similarly argue that the Soviet Union is dead and gone, and that Russia now only wants to be friends. Reconstitute The Jewish Agencys American Section, which had f unneled millions of foreign funds into AZC/AIPAC , faced a FARA order that seemed unbeatable. The Jewish Agencys direct ties to the Israeli government and Knesset were exposed in 1969 when the Jewish Agency was ordered by the DOJ to file its secret 1953 covenant agreement . After a 1970 Justice Department review, the American Section of the Jewish Agency filed its final FARA disclosure in 1971. It then "reemerged" three months later, claiming to be the American Section of the World Zionist Organization, an entity with no Israeli government covenant. The Department of Justice, noting that the physical address, leadership, staff, and functions of the "new" entity had not changed, labeled the reconstitution "sketchy," but did nothing. Meanwhile, overseas, the Jewish Agency continued to funnel support to its US agents. Dennis Ross served as Chairman of the Jewish Agencys "Jewish People Planning Institute" in Jerusalem until entering the Obama administration to head-up the fatally flawed "peace process" in 2009. Volunteer to spy for the CIA and FBI In the 1940s and 1950s the Jewish Telegraphic Agency came under heavy scrutiny to file as a foreign agent by the FBI and Department of Justice. An internal 1950s DOJ report found that, The Israeli Government, which is seriously short of dollar credits, is supposed to be underwriting the operations of JTA to the extent of $5,000 per month The JTA was never ordered to register, and it is unclear whether it was JTAs intense efforts to ingratiate itself with the FBI that finally provided the leniency it needed. In 1942 the head of JTA proposed the FBI pay $540 per month to leverage JTAs network of correspondents in Latin America as an intelligence gathering service. To bolster the appeal of the offer, the proposal noted that the OSS (predecessor of the CIA) was already paying $300 per month for similar services. In 1950 JTAs Milton Friedman volunteered to spy on the Soviet Union using his JTA press credential as non-official cover. JTA also offered to spy on Ukrainians residing in the United States.

Ultimately, RT may find it does not have the required number of sympathizers inside and outside the US government, the requisite moral character, or enough money to pull off such FARA avoidance shenanigans. However, the RT FARA order may reignite broader American interest in the selectivity with which FARA is enforced. The key question has long been, "if Israels foreign agents working tirelessly to influence the government and public opinion arent registering, why should anyone?"

Grant F. Smith is the author of the 2008 book, newly released on Kindle, " Americas Defense Line: The Justice Departments Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government " He is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.

This article was first published by Anti War -

The Israel Lobby's Impact on America
The Politics of Military Ascendancy By James Petras September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Clearly the US has escalated the pivotal role of the military in the making of foreign and, by extension, domestic policy. The rise of the Generals to strategic positions in the Trump regime is evident, deepening its role as a highly autonomous force determining US strategic policy agendas. In this paper we will discuss the advantages that the military elite accumulate from the war agenda and the reasons why the Generals have been able to impose their definition of international realities. We will discuss the militarys ascendancy over Trumps civilian regime as a result of the relentless degradation of his presidency by his political opposition. The Prelude to Militarization: Obamas Multi-War Strategy and Its Aftermath The central role of the military in deciding US foreign policy has its roots in the strategic decisions taken during the Obama-Clinton Presidency. Several policies were decisive in the rise of unprecedented military-political power. 1. The massive increase of US troops in Afghanistan and their subsequent failures and retreat weakened the Obama-Clinton regime and increased animosity between the military and the Obamas Administration. As a result of his failures, Obama downgraded the military and weakened Presidential authority. 2. The massive US-led bombing and destruction of Libya, the overthrow of the Gadhafi government and the failure of the Obama-Clinton administration to impose a puppet regime, underlined the limitations of US air power and the ineffectiveness of US political-military intervention. The Presidency blundered in its foreign policy in North Africa and demonstrated its military ineptness. 3. The invasion of Syria by US-funded mercenaries and terrorists committed the US to an unreliable ally in a losing war. This led to a reduction in the military budget and encouraged the Generals to view their direct control of overseas wars and foreign policy as the only guarantee of their positions. 4. The US military intervention in Iraq was only a secondary contributing factor in the defeat of ISIS; the major actors and beneficiaries were Iran and the allied Iraqi Shia militias. 5. The Obama-Clinton engineered coup and power grab in the Ukraine brought a corrupt incompetent military junta to power in Kiev and provoked the secession of the Crimea (to Russia) and Eastern Ukraine (allied with Russia). The Generals were sidelined and found that they had tied themselves to Ukrainian kleptocrats while dangerously increasing political tensions with Russia. The Obama regime dictated economic sanctions against Moscow, designed to compensate for their ignominious military-political failures. The Obama-Clinton legacy facing Trump was built around a three-legged stool: an international order based on military aggression and confrontation with Russia; a pivot to Asia defined as the military encirclement and economic isolation of China  via bellicose threats and economic sanctions against North Korea; and the use of the military as the praetorian guards of free trade agreements in Asia excluding China. The Obama legacy consists of an international order of globalized capital and multiple wars. The continuity of Obamas glorious legacy initially depended on the election of Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump s presidential campaign, for its part, promised to dismantle or drastically revise the Obama Doctrine of an international order based on multiple wars, neo-colonial nation building and free trade. A furious Obama informed (threatened) the newly-elected President Trump that he would face the combined hostility of the entire State apparatus, Wall Street and the mass media if he proceeded to fulfill his election promises of economic nationalism and thus undermine the US-centered global order. Trumps bid to shift from Obamas sanctions and military confrontation to economic reconciliation with Russia was countered by a hornets nest of accusations about a Trump-Russian electoral conspiracy, darkly hinting at treason and show trials against his close allies and even family members. The concoction of a Trump-Russia plot was only the first step toward a total war on the new president, but it succeeded in undermining Trumps economic nationalist agenda and his efforts to change Obamas global order. Trump Under Obamas International Order After only 8 months in office President Trump helplessly gave into the firings, resignations and humiliation of each and every one of his civilian appointees, especially those who were committed to reverse Obamas international order. Trump was elected to replace wars, sanctions and interventions with economic deals beneficial to the American working and middle class. This would include withdrawing the military from its long-term commitments to budget-busting nation-building (occupation) in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and other Obama-designated endless war zones. Trumps military priorities were supposed to focus on strengthening domestic frontiers and overseas markets. He started by demanding that NATO partners pay for their own military defense responsibilities. Obamas globalists in both political parties were aghast that the US might lose it overwhelming control of NATO; they united and moved immediately to strip Trump of his economic nationalist allies and their programs. Trump quickly capitulated and fell into line with Obamas international order, except for one proviso  he would select the Cabinet to implement the old/new international order. A hamstrung Trump chose a military cohort of Generals, led by General James Mattis (famously nicknamed Mad Dog) as Defense Secretary. The Generals effectively took over the Presidency. Trump abdicated his responsibilities as President. General Mattis: The Militarization of America General Mattis took up the Obama legacy of global militarization and added his own nuances, including the psychological-warfare embedded in Trumps emotional ejaculations on Twitter. The Mattis Doctrine combined high-risk threats with aggressive provocations, bringing the US (and the world) to the brink of nuclear war. General Mattis has adopted the targets and fields of operations, defined by the previous Obama administration as it has sought to re-enforce the existing imperialist international order. The juntas policies relied on provocations and threats against Russia, with expanded economic sanctions. Mattis threw more fuel on the US mass medias already hysterical anti-Russian bonfire. The General promoted a strategy of low intensity diplomatic thuggery, including the unprecedented seizure and invasion of Russian diplomatic offices and the short-notice expulsion of diplomats and consular staff. These military threats and acts of diplomatic intimidation signified that the Generals Administration under the Puppet President Trump was ready to sunder diplomatic relations with a major world nuclear power and indeed push the world to direct nuclear confrontation. What Mattis seeks in these mad fits of aggression is nothing less than capitulation on the part of the Russian government regarding long held US military objectives  namely the partition of Syria (which started under Obama), harsh starvation sanctions on North Korea (which began under Clinton) and the disarmament of Iran (Tel Avivs main goal) in preparation for its dismemberment. The Mattis junta occupying the Trump White House heightened its threats against a North Korea, which (in Vladimir Putins words) would rather eat grass than disarm. The US mass media-military megaphones portrayed the North Korean victims of US sanctions and provocations as an existential threat to the US mainland. Sanctions have intensified. The stationing of nuclear weapons on South Korea is being pushed. Massive joint military exercises are planned and ongoing in the air, sea and land around North Korea. Mattis twisted Chinese arms (mainly business comprador-linked bureaucrats) and secured their UN Security Council vote on increased sanctions. Russia joined the Mattis-led anti-Pyongyang chorus, even as Putin warned of sanctions ineffectiveness! (As if General Mad Dog Mattis would ever take Putins advice seriously, especially after Russia voted for the sanctions!) Mattis further militarized the Persian Gulf, following Obamas policy of partial sanctions and bellicose provocation against Iran. When he worked for Obama, Mattis increased US arms shipments to the USs Syrian terrorists and Ukrainian puppets, ensuring the US would be able to scuttle any negotiated settlements. Militarization: An Evaluation Trumps resort to his Generals is supposed to counter any attacks from members of his own party and Congressional Democrats about his foreign policy. Trumps appointment of Mad Dog Mattis, a notorious Russophobe and warmonger, has somewhat pacified the opposition in Congress and undercut any finding of an election conspiracy between Trump and Moscow dug up by the Special Investigator Robert Mueller. Trumps maintains a role as nominal President by adapting to what Obama warned him was their international order  now directed by an unelected military junta composed of Obama holdovers! The Generals provide a veneer of legitimacy to the Trump regime (especially for the warmongering Obama Democrats and the mass media). However, handing presidential powers over to Mad Dog Mattis and his cohort will come with a heavy price. While the military junta may protect Trumps foreign policy flank, it does not lessen the attacks on his domestic agenda. Moreover, Trumps proposed budget compromise with the Democrats has enraged his own Partys leaders. In sum, under a weakened President Trump, the militarization of the White House benefits the military junta and enlarges their power. The Mad Dog Mattis program has had mixed results, at least in its initial phase: The juntas threats to launch a pre-emptive (possibly nuclear) war against North Korea have strengthened Pyongyangs commitment to develop and refine its long and medium range ballistic missile capability and nuclear weapons. Brinksmanship failed to intimidate North Korea. Mattis cannot impose the Clinton-Bush-Obama doctrine of disarming countries (like Libya and Iraq) of their advanced defensive weapons systems as a prelude to a US regime change invasion. Any US attack against North Korea will lead to massive retaliatory strikes costing tens of thousands of US military lives and will kill and maim millions of civilians in South Korea and Japan. At most, Mad Dog managed to intimidate Chinese and Russian officials (and their export business billionaire buddies) to agree to more economic sanctions against North Korea. Mattis and his allies in the UN and White House, the loony Nikki Haley and a miniaturized President Trump, may bellow war  yet they cannot apply the so-called military option without threatening the US military forces stationed throughout the Asia Pacific region. The Mad Dog Mattis assault on the Russian embassy did not materially weaken Russia, but it has revealed the uselessness of Moscows conciliatory diplomacy toward their so-called partners in the Trump regime. The end-result might lead to a formal break in diplomatic ties, which would increase the danger of a military confrontation and a global nuclear holocaust. The military junta is pressuring China against North Korea with the goal of isolating the ruling regime in Pyongyang and increasing the US military encirclement of Beijing. Mad Dog has partially succeeded in turning China against North Korea while securing its advanced THAAD anti-missile installations in South Korea, which will be directed against Beijing. These are Mattis short-term gains over the excessively pliant Chinese bureaucrats. However, if Mad Dog intensifies direct military threats against China, Beijing can retaliate by dumping tens of billions of US Treasury notes, cutting trade ties, sowing chaos in the US economy and setting Wall Street against the Pentagon. Mad Dogs military build-up, especially in Afghanistan and in the Middle East, will not intimidate Iran nor add to any military successes. They entail high costs and low returns, as Obama realized after the better part of a decade of his defeats, fiascos and multi-billion dollar losses. Conclusion The militarization of US foreign policy, the establishment of a military junta within the Trump Administration, and the resort to nuclear brinksmanship has not changed the global balance of power. Domestically Trumps nominal Presidency relies on militarists, like General Mattis. Mattis has tightened the US control over NATO allies, and even rounded up stray European outliers, like Sweden, to join in a military crusade against Russia. Mattis has played on the medias passion for bellicose headlines and its adulation of Four Star Generals. But for all that  North Korea remains undaunted because it can retaliate. Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons and remains a counterweight to a US-dominated globe. China owns the US Treasury and its unimpressed, despite the presence of an increasingly collision-prone US Navy swarming throughout the South China Sea. Mad Dog laps up the media attention, with well dressed, scrupulously manicured journalists hanging on his every bloodthirsty pronouncement. War contractors flock to him, like flies to carrion. The Four Star General Mad Dog Mattis has attained Presidential status without winning any election victory (fake or otherwise). No doubt when he steps down, Mattis will be the most eagerly courted board member or senior consultant for giant military contractors in US history, receiving lucrative fees for half hour pep-talks and ensuring the fat perks of nepotism for his familys next three generations. Mad Dog may even run for office, as Senator or even President for whatever Party. The militarization of US foreign policy provides some important lessons: First of all, the escalation from threats to war does not succeed in disarming adversaries who possess the capacity to retaliate. Intimidation via sanctions can succeed in imposing significant economic pain on oil export-dependent regimes, but not on hardened, self-sufficient or highly diversified economies. Low intensity multi-lateral war maneuvers reinforce US-led alliances, but they also convince opponents to increase their military preparedness. Mid-level intense wars against non-nuclear adversaries can seize capital cities, as in Iraq, but the occupier faces long-term costly wars of attrition that can undermine military morale, provoke domestic unrest and heighten budget deficits. And they create millions of refugees. High intensity military brinksmanship carries major risk of massive losses in lives, allies, territory and piles of radiated ashes  a pyrrhic victory! In sum: Threats and intimidation succeed only against conciliatory adversaries. Undiplomatic verbal thuggery can arouse the spirit of the bully and some of its allies, but it has little chance of convincing its adversaries to capitulate. The US policy of worldwide militarization over-extends the US armed forces and has not led to any permanent military gains. Are there any voices among clear-thinking US military leaders, those not bedazzled by their stars and idiotic admirers in the US media, who could push for more global accommodation and mutual respect among nations? The US Congress and the corrupt media are demonstrably incapable of evaluating past disasters, let alone forging an effective response to new global realities. James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. http://petras.lahaine.org
Why Peace is Alien to the U.S.





By Finian Cunningham

September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - You'd have to laugh  if it were not so grave. The Trump administration says that it is running out of patience for a diplomatic solution to the Korea crisis.



This pseudo piousness comes from a US government that continually refuses to enter into direct negotiations with Kim Jong-un, the leader of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK).



So, how can the US say it is growing weary from diplomatic effort when it hasnt even bothered to breathe an earnest word of diplomacy  despite being urged to do so by Russia, China, and other world leaders?

French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call with Russias Vladimir Putin was the latest world leader to endorse Moscows appeal for negotiations over the Korea crisis.

As Russias ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, pointed out, the latest resolution concerning North Korea, voted on September 11, specifically calls on all parties, including the United States, to open negotiations and commit to finding a peaceful resolution.

Therefore, by not fulfilling diplomatic responsibility, the US is not complying with the UN resolution.

Following another ballistic missile test by North Korea on Friday in defiance of UN resolutions, President Trumps national security advisor, General HR McMaster claimed that the US was at the end of its tether in seeking diplomacy.

Weve been kicking the can down the road, and were out of the road, McMaster told reporters after North Korea launched a ballistic missile that overflew Japan. The distance traveled  3,700 km  would put the US territory of Guam within a target range.

Trumps top security advisor then added with familiar sinister intent: For those who have been commenting on a lack of a military option, there is a military option.

Meanwhile, the American president was touring the Anderson air force base near Washington where he again boasted of US overwhelming military power to wipe out North Korea.

Russia and China have repeatedly called on the US and North Korea to enter into talks to settle the security crisis  a crisis that could stumble into a global catastrophe from nuclear war, as President Putin recently warned.

Moscow and Beijing gave their support to the latest UN resolution (UNSC 2375) based on the obligation demanded by the text for multilateral negotiations.

The resolution also calls for cutting oil exports to North Korea by up to 30 percent (not the blanket ban the US was seeking).

However, if the US is not willing to implement the diplomatic measures called for in the resolution, then why should China or Russia enforce the sanctions on oil trade?

Typically, Washington wants to have its cake and eat it. The US is demanding Russia and China to take direct action on North Koreas economy, but Washington shows no sign of implementing its side of the bargain to enter into diplomatic communications.

Trump and his senior officials keep threatening that all options are on the table  meaning a pre-emptive military strike on North Korea, including with the use of nuclear weapons.

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It is important to note that North Koreas nuclear program and missile launches are all about deterrence. Kim Jong-un reiterated after the latest ballistic test that Pyongyang was seeking military equilibrium with the US in order to deter it from carrying out a pre-emptive attack.

Apart from Russia, China, Germany, and France, among others, calling for diplomatic talks, many reasonable voices within the US are also urging the same.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, who has visited North Korea on three occasions, has forthrightly stated that Washington must commit to peace and enter into talks with Pyongyang.

The US-based National Campaign to End the Korean War is also advocating direct negotiations for a peaceful resolution. The organization says the key to successful diplomacy is for the US to sign a formal peace treaty with North Korea.

Amazingly, 64 years after the end of the Korean War (1950-53), the US refuses to sign a peace treaty. Technically, the US is still at war with North Korea, having only ever observed a truce to the conflict. With continuous military maneuvers by the US around the Korean Peninsula, this observation of truce is thinly veiled.

From the North Korean point of view, the US could resume a full-scale war at any time. Military drills and gung-ho rhetoric about decapitation strikes and all options are cause for deep alarm in North Korea, especially given the enormous suffering that it was subjected to by the US during the 1950-53 war.

If Washington were serious about seeking a diplomatic solution in Korea then it would confirm that purported aspiration by signing a long-overdue peace treaty with North Korea. Then, as Russia and China have urged, the parties should engage in comprehensive talks on security concerns.

But this is the crux of the entire matter. Washington does not want peace in Korea.

Tensions, conflict and the shadow of war are essential to US presence in Asia-Pacific. That allows the US to project North Korea as a bogeyman threat to American allies in South Korea and Japan, which, in turn, facilitates the massive selling of weapons vital to the US economy.

Just last week, the US sold more of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missiles to South Korea, even though South Korean President Moon Jae-in previously said he was opposed to installing these weapons. Japan is also moving to purchase more US-made Aegis anti-missile systems.

Moreover, the escalation of US military forces in Asia-Pacific to allegedly counter the North Korea threat provides Washington a convenient cover to expand its strategic reach over China and Russia  the two nations which the Pentagon repeatedly labels as its main global adversaries.

China and Russia have expressed their objection to the US missile systems in Asia-Pacific, saying that they disturb the strategic balance.

Nevertheless, the US is proceeding to build up its forces because it is using the North Korea crisis as a politically acceptable stalking horse.

The stark reality is that the US rulers and their military-driven economy do not want peace in Korea. Hence, they refuse to sign a peace treaty or give diplomacy any chance. Conflict with North Korea is simply vital for US corporate capitalism, as well as allowing the US to project its military power over perceived rivals in Russia and China.

The truly abominable issue here is that world peace is being jeopardized in order to satisfy the selfish strategic interest of American rulers. International law, UN resolutions, appeals to reason and diplomacy are being outrageously snubbed by a rogue regime in Washington itching for war.

And then Washington has the audacity to claim its patience for diplomacy is running out. The only thing running out is the worlds tolerance for such American belligerence and arrogance.

This is not just about Korea and Asia-Pacific. The Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, NATOs expansion in Europe, Ukraine and the Balkans. Venezuela, Cuba and Latin America. Conflicts in every part of the globe, past, and present are correlated with Americas addiction to war. Because peace is anathema to US rulers.

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 first published by Sputnik -

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Russia urges US to take diplomatic steps if it seeks strict implementation of N. Korea sanctions : The US must deliver on its obligation to pursue diplomacy to defuse the crisis.

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A look at the relationship between the DPRK and China with Tong Zhao, a Fellow at The Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy; Brian Becker, a policy analyst on U.S.-DPRK relations; Zou Yue, a CGTN Anchor and Pepe Escobar, editor-at-large at Asia Times.

Part 2
The Russian Hacking Story Continues to Unravel



By Mike Whitney September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - A new report by a retired IT executive at IBM, debunks the claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign by hacking Democratic computers and circulating damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The report, which is titled  The Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge , provides a rigorous examination of the wobbly allegations upon which the hacking theory is based, as well as a point by point rejection of the primary claims which, in the final analysis, fail to pass the smell test. While the report is worth reading in full, our intention is to zero-in on the parts of the text that disprove the claims that Russia meddled in US elections or hacked the servers at the DNC. Lets start with the fact that there are at least two credible witnesses who claim to know who took the DNC emails and transferred them to WikiLeaks. Were talking about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and WikiLeaks ally, Craig Murray. No one is in a better position to know who actually took the emails than Assange, and yet, Assange has repeatedly said that Russia was not the source. Check out this clip from the report: Assange . has been adamant all along that the Russian government was not a source; it was a non-state player.  ASSANGE: Our source is not a state party HANNITY (Conservative talk show host): Can you say to the American people unequivocally that you did not get this information about the DNC, John Podestas emails  can you tell the American people 1,000 percent you did not get it from Russia ASSANGE: Yes. HANNITY:  or anybody associated with Russia? ASSANGE: We  we can say and we have said repeatedly over the last two months, that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party (The Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge, Skip Folden) Can you think of a more credible witness than Julian Assange? The man has devoted his entire adult life to exposing the truth about government despite the risks his actions pose to his own personal safety. In fact, he is currently holed up at the Ecuador embassy in London for defending the publics right to know what their government is up to. Does anyone seriously think that a man like that would deliberately lie just to protect Russias reputation? No, of course not, and the new report backs him up on this matter. It states: No where in the Intelligence Communitys Assessment (ICA) was there any evidence of any connection between Russia and WikiLeaks. The reason Assange keeps saying that Russia wasnt involved is because Russia wasnt involved. Theres nothing more to it than that. As for the other eyewitness, Craig Murray, he has also flatly denied that Russia provided WikiLeaks with the DNC emails. Check out this except from an article at The Daily Mail: (Murray) flew to Washington, D.C. for emails.He claims he had a clandestine hand-off  near American University with one of the email sources. Murray said the leakers motivation was disgust at the corruption of the Clinton Foundation and the tilting of the primary election playing field against Bernie Sanders Murray says: The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks, not hacks. Regardless of whether the Russians hacked into the DNC, the documents Wikileaks published did not come from that, Murray insists. . Murray said he was speaking out due to claims from intelligence officials that Wikileaks was given the documents by Russian hackers as part of an effort to help Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential election. I dont understand why the CIA would say the information came from Russian hackers when they must know that isnt true, he said. Regardless of whether the Russians hacked into the DNC, the documents Wikileaks published did not come from that. (EXCLUSIVE: Ex-British ambassador who is now a WikiLeaks operative claims Russia did NOT provide Clinton emails, Daily Mail) Is Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and human rights activist, a credible witness? Theres one way to find out, isnt there? The FBI should interview Murray so they can establish whether hes telling the truth or not. And, naturally, one would assume that the FBI has already done that since the Russia hacking story has been splashed across the headlines for more than a year now. But thats not the case at all. The FBI has never questioned Assange or Murray, in fact, the FBI has never even tried to get in touch with either of them. Never. Not even a lousy phone call. Its like they dont exist. Why? Why hasnt the FBI contacted or questioned the only two witnesses in the case? Could it be because Assange and Murrays knowledge of the facts doesnt coincide with the skewed political narrative the Intel agencies and their co-collaborators at the DNC what to propagate? Isnt that whats really going on? Isnt Russia-gate really just a stick for beating Russia and Trump? How else would one explain this stubborn unwillingness of the FBI to investigate what one senator called The crime of the century? Heres something else from the report thats worth mulling over: It is no secret that NSA has the technology to trace a web event, e.g., a cyber attack, back to its source. There has been no public claim, nor is it implied in either Grizzly Steppe or the ICA that the NSA has trace routing to Russia on any of these purported Russian hacks. (The Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge, Skip Folden) This is a crucial point, so lets rephrase that in simple English. What the author is saying is that: If Russia hacked the DNC computers, the NSA would know about it. Its that simple. But no one at the NSA has ever verified the claims or produced one scintilla of evidence that connects Russia to the emails. In fact, the NSA has never even suggested that such evidence exists. Nor has anyone in the media asked Director Michael Rogers point blank whether the NSA has hard evidence that Russia hacked the DNC servers? Why? Why this conspiracy of silence on a matter that is so fundamental to the case that the NSA and the other Intel agencies are trying to make? The only logical explanation is that theres no proof that Russia was actually involved. Why else would the NSA withhold evidence on a matter this serious? It makes no sense. According to the media, Intelligence agents familiar with the matter have high confidence that Russia was involved. Okay, but wheres the proof? You cant expect to build a case against a foreign government and a sitting president with just high confidence. You need facts, evidence, proof. Wheres the beef? We already mentioned how the FBI never bothered to question the only eyewitnesses in the case. Thats odd enough, but whats even stranger is the fact that the FBI never seized the DNCs servers so they could conduct a forensic examination of them. Whats that all about? Heres an excerpt from the report: The FBI, having asked multiple times at different levels, was refused access to the DNC server(s). It is not apparent that any law enforcement agency had access. The apparent single source of information on the purported DNC intrusion(s) was from Crowdstrike. 3. Crowdstrike is a cyber security firm hired by the Democratic Party. 4. Not the FBI, CIA, nor NSA organizations analyzed the information from Crowdstrike. Only picked analysts of these agencies were chosen to see this data and write the ICA. ( The Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge) Have you ever read anything more ridiculous in your life? The FBIs negligence in this case goes beyond anything Ive ever seen before. Imagine if a murder was committed in the apartment next to you and the FBI was called in to investigate. But when they arrive at the scene of the crime, theyre blocked at the door by the victims roommate who refuses to let them in. Speaking through the door, the roommate assures the agents that the victim was shot dead with a single bullet to the head, and that the smoking gun that was used in the murder is still on the floor. But dont worry, says the obstructing roommate, Ive already photographed the whole thing and Ill send you the pictures as soon as I get the chance. Do you really think the agents would put up with such nonsense? Never! Theyd kick down the door, slap the roommate in handcuffs, cordon-off the murder scene, and start digging-around for clues. Thats what theyd do. And yet we are supposed to believe that in the biggest case of the decade, a case that that allegedly involves foreign espionage and presidential treason, that the FBI has made no serious effort to secure the servers that were allegedly hacked by Russia? The DNC computers are Exhibit A. The FBI has to have those computers, and they are certainly within their rights to seize them by any means necessary. So why havent they? Does the FBI think they can trust the second-hand analysis from some flunkey organization whose dubious background casts serious doubt on their conclusions? Its a joke! The only rational explanation for the FBIs behavior, is that theyve been told to stand down so they dont unwittingly expose the truth about whats really going on, that the whole Russia hacking fiction is a complete and utter fraud, and that the DNC, the CIA and the media are all having a good laugh at the expense of the clueless American people. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Click Here For Your Free Daily Newsletter Heres another interesting clip from the report: Adam Carter: the FBI do not have disk images from any point during or following the alleged email hack.  CrowdStrikes failure to produce evidence.  With Falcon installed between April and May (early May), they should have had evidence on when files/emails/etc were copied or sent.  That information has never been disclosed. (The Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge, Skip Folden) Read that excerpt over again. Its mind boggling. What Carter is saying is that, they have nothing, no evidence, no proof, no nothing. If you dont have a disk image, then what do you have? You have nothing, thats what. Which means that everything weve read is 100 percent conjecture, not a shred of evidence anywhere. Which is why the focus has shifted to Manafort, Flynn, Trump Jr and the goofy Russian lawyer? Who gives a rip about Manafort? Seriously? The investigation started off with grave allegations of foreign espionage and presidential collusion (treason?) and quickly downshifted to the illicit financial dealings of someone the American people could care less about. Talk about mission creep! What people want is proof that Russia hacked the DNC servers or that Trump cozied up to Russia to win the election. Nothing else matters. All these diversions prove is that, after one full year of nonstop, headline sensationalism, the investigation has produced nothing; a big, fat goose-egg. A few words about the ICA Report Remember the January 6, Intelligence Community Assessment? The ICA report was supposed to provide iron-clad proof that Russia hacked Democratic emails and published them at WikiLeaks. The media endlessly reiterated the claim that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies took part in the assessment and that its conclusions represented the collective, objective analysis of Americas finest. Right. The whole thing was a fraud. As it happens, only four of the agencies participated in the project (the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.) and the agents who provided the analysis were hand-picked for the task. Naturally, when a director hand-picks particular analysts for a given assignment, one assumes that they want a particular outcome. Which they did. Clearly, in this case, the intelligence was tailored to fit the policy. The intention was to vilify Russia in order to further isolate a country that was gradually emerging as a global rival. And the report was moderately successful in that regard too, except for one paradoxical disclaimer that appeared on page 13. Here it is: Judgments are not intended to imply that we have proof that shows something to be a fact.  Assessments are based on collected information, which is often incomplete or fragmentary, as well as logic, argumentation, and precedents.  What the authors are saying is that, Everything you read in this report could be complete baloney because its all based on conjecture, speculation and guesswork. Isnt that what theyre saying? Why would anyone waste their time reading a report when the authors openly admit that their grasp of what happened is incomplete or fragmentary and they have no proof of anything? Gregory Copley, President, International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) summed it up best when he said: This is a highly politically motivated and a subjective report which was issued by the intelligence community.  does not present evidence of successful or even an attempt to actually actively manipulate the election process. Like we said, its all baloney. Lastly, Foldens report sheds light on the technical inconsistencies of the hacking allegations. Cyber-forensic experts have now shown that The alleged hack was effectively impossible in mid-2016. The required download speed of the hack precludes an internet transfer of any significant distance. In other words, the speed at which the emails were transferred could only have taken place if they were Downloaded onto external storage, e.g., 2.0 thumb drive. (The report also provides evidence that the transfers took place in the Eastern time zone, which refutes the theory that the servers were hacked from Romania.) The Nation summed it up perfectly in this brief paragraph: There was no hack of the Democratic National Committees system on July 5 last yearnot by the Russians, not by anyone else. Hard science now demonstrates it was a leaka download executed locally with a memory key or a similarly portable data-storage device. In short, it was an inside job by someone with access to the DNCs system. (A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Years DNC Hack, Patrick Lawrence, The Nation) Bingo. Bottom line: A dedicated group of independent researchers and former Intel agents joined forces and produced the first hard evidence that the official narrative implicating Russia is wrong. This is a stunning development that will, in time, cut through the fog of government propaganda and reveal the truth. Skip Foldens report is an important contribution to that same effort. Note: Skip Folden is a Private Intelligence analyst and a retired IBM Program Manager for Information Technology. His report has been submitted to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, the Office of Special Council (Robert Mueller), and the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. The report was released on September 13, 2017 Read the whole report here:  Non-Existent Foundation for Russian Hacking Charge , Skip Folden, Word Press. Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition . He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com . This article was first published by Counterpunch -
William Blum on the Korea War



Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II - Chapter 5



By William Blum To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true. - H L Mencken, 1919 September 16, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - How is it that the Korean War escaped the protests which surrounded the war in Vietnam? Everything we've come to love and cherish about Vietnam had its forerunner in Korea; the support of a corrupt tyranny, the atrocities, the napalm, the mass slaughter of civilians, the cities and villages laid to waste, the calculated management of the news, the sabotaging of peace talks. But the American people were convinced that the war in Korea was an unambiguous case of one country invading another without provocation. A case of the bad guys attacking the good guys who were being saved by the even better guys; none of the historical, political and moral uncertainty that was the dilemma of Vietnam. The Korean War was seen to have begun in a specific manner: North Korea attacked South Korea in the early morning of 25 June 1950; while Vietnam ... no one seemed to know how it all began, or when, or why.



And there was little in the way of accusations about American "imperialism" in Korea. The United States, after all, was fighting as part of a United Nations Army. What was there to protest about? And of course there was McCarthyism, so prevalent in the early 1950s, which further served to inhibit protest.



There were, in fact, rather different interpretations to be made of what the war was all about, how it was being conducted, even how it began, but these quickly succumbed to the heat of war fever.



Shortly after the close of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States occupied Korea in order to expel the defeated Japanese. A demarcation line between the Russian and American forces was set up along the 38th Parallel. The creation of this line in no way had the explicit or implicit intention of establishing two separate countries, but the cold war was soon to intrude.



Both powers insisted that unification of North and South was the principal and desired goal. However, they also desired to see this carried out in their own ideological image, and settled thereby into a routine of proposal and counter-proposal, accusation and counter-accusation, generously intermixed with deviousness, and produced nothing in the way of an agreement during the ensuing years. Although both Moscow and Washington and their hand-picked Korean leaders were not always displeased about the division of the country (on the grounds that half a country was better than none), officials and citizens of both sides continued to genuinely call for unification on a regular basis.



That Korea was still one country, with unification still the goal, at the time the war began, was underscored by the chief US delegate to the UN, Warren Austin, in a statement he made shortly afterwards:



"The artificial barrier which, has divided North and South Korea has no basis for existence either in law or in reason. Neither the United Nations, its Commission on Korea, nor the Republic of Korea [South Korea] recognize such a line. Now the North Koreans, by armed attack upon the Republic of Korea, have denied the reality of any such line." {1}





The two sides had been clashing across the Parallel far several years. What happened on that fateful day in June could thus be regarded as no more than the escalation of an ongoing civil war. The North Korean Government has claimed that in 1949 alone, the South Korean army or police perpetrated 2,617 armed incursions into the North to carry out murder, kidnapping, pillage and arson for the purpose of causing social disorder and unrest, as well as to increase the combat capabilities of the invaders. At times, stated the Pyongyang government, thousands of soldiers were involved in a single battle with many casualties resulting. {2}



A State Department official, Ambassador-at-large Philip C Jessup, speaking in April 1950, put it this way;



"There is constant fighting between the South Korean Army and bands that infiltrate the country from the North. There are very real battles, involving perhaps one or two thousand men. When you go to this boundary, as I did ... you see troop movements, fortifications, and prisoners of war." {3}





Seen in this context, the question of who fired the first shot on 25 June 1950 takes on a much reduced air of significance. As it is, the North Korean version of events is that their invasion was provoked by two days of bombardment by the South Koreans, on the 23rd and 24th, followed by a surprise South Korean attack across the border on the 25th against the western town of Haeju and other places. Announcement of the Southern attack was broadcast over the North's radio later in the morning of the 25th.



Contrary to general belief at the time, no United Nations group - neither the UN Military Observer Group in the field nor the UN Commission on Korea in Seoul-witnessed, or claimed to have witnessed, the outbreak of hostilities. The Observer Group's field trip along the Parallel ended on 23 June. Its statements about what took place afterward are either speculation or based on information received from the South Korean government or the US military.



Moreover, early in the morning of the 26th, the South Korean Office of Public Information announced that Southern forces had indeed captured the North Korean town of Haeju, The announcement stated that the attack had occurred that same morning, but an American military status report as of nightfall on the 25th notes that all Southern territory west of the Imjin River had been lost to a depth of at least three miles inside the border except in the area of the Haeju "counter attack".



In either case, such a military victory on the part of the Southern forces is extremely difficult to reconcile with the official Western account, maintained to this day, that has the North Korean army sweeping south in a devastating surprise attack, taking control of everything that lay before it, and forcing South Korean troops to evacuate further south.



Subsequently, the South Korean government denied that its capture of Haeju had actually taken place, blaming the original announcement, apparently, on an exaggerating military officer. One historian has ascribed the allegedly incorrect announcement to "an error due to poor communications, plus an attempt to stiffen South Korean resistance by claiming a victory". Whatever actually lay behind the announcement, it is evident that very little reliance, if any, can be placed upon statements made by the South Korean government concerning the start of the war {4}.



There were, in fact, reports in the Western press of the attack on Haeju which made no mention of the South Korean government's announcement, and which appear to be independent confirmations of the event. The London Daily Herald, in its issue of 26 June, stated that "American military observers said the Southern forces had made a successful relieving counter-attack near the west coast, penetrated five miles into Northern territory and seized the town of Haeju". This was echoed in The Guardian of London the same day: "American officials confirmed that the Southern troops had captured Haeju".



Similarly, the New York Herald Tribune reported, also on the 26th, that "South Korean troops drove across the 38th Parallel, which forms the frontier, to capture the manufacturing town of Haeju, just north of the line. The Republican troops captured quantities of equipment". None of the accounts specified just when the attack took place.



On the 25th, American writer John Gunther was in Japan preparing his biography of General Douglas MacArthur. As he recounts in the book, he was playing tourist in the town of Nikko with "two important members" of the American occupation, when "one of these was called unexpectedly to the telephone. He came back and whispered, 'A big story has just broken. The South Koreans have attacked North Korea!'" That evening, Gunther and his parry returned to Tokyo where "Several officers met us at the station to tell us correctly and with much amplification what had happened ... there was no doubt whatever that North Korea was the aggressor".



And the telephone call? Gunther explains: "The message may have been garbled in transmission. Nobody knew anything much at headquarters the first few hours, and probably people were taken in by the blatant, corrosive lies of the North Korean radio". {5}



There is something a little incongruous about the picture of American military and diplomatic personnel, practicing anti-communists each one, being taken in on so important a matter by communist lies-blatant ones no less.





The head of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, had often expressed his desire and readiness to compel the unification of Korea by force. On 26 June the New York Times reminded its readers that "on a number of occasions, Dr Rhee has indicated that his army would have taken the offensive if Washington had given the consent". The newspaper noted also that before the war began: "The warlike talk strangely [had] almost all come from South Korean leaders".



Rhee may have had good reason for provoking a full-scale war apart from the issue of unification. On 30 May, elections for the National Assembly were held in the South in which Rhee's party suffered a heavy setback and lost control of the assembly. Like countless statesmen before and after him, Rhee may have decided to play the war card to rally support for his shaky rule. A labor adviser attached to the American aid mission in South Korea, Stanley Earl, resigned in July, expressing the opinion that the South Korean government was "an oppressive regime" which "did very little to help the people" and that "an internal South Korean rebellion against the Rhee Government would have occurred if the forces of North Korea had nor invaded". {6}



Soviet Jeader Nikita Khrushchev, in his reminiscences, makes it plain that the North Koreans had contemplated an invasion of the South for some time and he reports their actual invasion without any mention of provocation on that day. This would seem to put that particular question to rest. However, Khrushchev's chapter on Korea is a wholly superficial account. It is not a serious work of history, nor was it intended to be. As he himself states:



'My memories of the Korean War are unavoidably sketchy". (He did not become Soviet leader until after the war was over.) His chapter contains no discussion of any of the previous fighting across the border, nothing of Rhee's belligerent statements, nothing at all even of the Soviet Union's crucial absence from the UN which, as we shall see, allowed the so-called United Nations Army to be formed and intervene in the conflict. Moreover, his reminiscences, as published, are an edited and condensed version of the tapes he made. A study based on a comparison between the Russian-language transcription of the tapes and the published English-language book reveals that some of Khrushchev's memories about Korea were indeed sketchy, but that the book fails to bring this out. For example, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung met with Stalin to discuss Kim's desire "to prod South Korea with the point of a bayonet". The book then states unambiguously: "Kim went home and then returned to Moscow when he had worked everything out". In the transcript, however, Khrushchev says: "In my opinion, either the date of his return was set, or he was to inform us as soon as he finished preparing all of his ideas. Then, I don't remember in which month or year, Kim Il-sung came and related his plan to Stalin" (emphasis added). {7}





On 26 June, the United States presented a resolution before the UN Security Council condemning North Korea for its "unprovoked aggression". The resolution was approved, although there were arguments that "this was a fight between Koreans" and should be treated as a civil war, and a suggestion from the Egyptian delegate that the word "unprovoked" should be dropped in view of the longstanding hostilities between the two Koreas. {8} Yugoslavia insisted as well that "there seemed to be lack of precise information that could enable the Council to pin responsibility", and proposed that North Korea be invited to present its side of the story. {9} This was not done. (Three months later, the Soviet foreign minister put forward a motion that the UN hear representatives from both sides. This, too, was voted down, by a margin of 46 to 6, because of North Korea's "aggression", and it was decided to extend an invitation to South Korea alone.) {10}



On the 27th, the Security Council recommended that members of the United Nations furnish assistance to South Korea "as may be necessary to repel the armed attack". President Truman had already ordered the US Navy and Air Force into combat by this time, thus presenting the Council with a fait accompli, {11} a tactic the US was to repeat several times before the war came to an end. The Council made its historic decision with the barest of information available to it, and all of it derived from and selected by only one side of the conflict. This was, as journalist I F Stone put it, "neither honorable nor wise".



It should be kept in mind that in 1950 the United Nations was in no way a neutral or balanced organization. The great majority of members were nations very dependent upon the United States for economic recovery or development. There was no Third World bloc which years later pursued a UN policy much more independent of the United States. And only four countries of the Soviet bloc were members at the time, none on the Security Council. {12}



Neither could UN Secretary-General Trygve Lie, of Norway, be regarded as neutral in the midst of cold war controversy. In his memoirs, he makes it remarkably clear that he was no objective outsider. His chapters on the Korean War are pure knee-reflex anti-communism and reveal his maneuvering on the issue. {13} In 1949, it was later disclosed, Lie had entered into a secret agreement with the US State Department to dismiss from UN employment individuals whom Washington regarded as having questionable political leanings. {14}



The adoption of these resolutions by the Security Council was possible only because the Soviet Union was absent from the proceedings due to its boycott of the United Nations over the refusal to seat Communist China in place of Taiwan. If the Russians had been present, they undoubtedly would have vetoed the resolutions. Their absence has always posed an awkward problem for those who insist that the Russians were behind the North Korean invasion. One of the most common explanations offered is that the Russians, as a CIA memorandum stated, wanted "to challenge the US specifically and test the firmness of US resistance to Communist expansion". {15} Inasmuch as, during the existence of the Soviet Union, the same analysis was put forth by American political pundits for virtually every encounter between the United States and leftists anywhere in the world, before and after Korea, it would appear that the test was going on for an inordinately long period and one can only wonder why the Soviets never came to a conclusion.



"The finishing touch", wrote I F Stone, "was to make the 'United Nations' forces subject to MacArthur without making MacArthur subject to the United Nations. This came on July 7 in a resolution introduced jointly by Britain and France. This is commonly supposed to have established a United Nations Command. Actually it did nothing of the sort." {16} The resolution recommended "that all members providing military forces and other assistance ... make such forces and other assistance available to a unified command under the United States" (emphasis added). It further requested "the United States to designate the commander of such forces". {17} This would be the redoubtable MacArthur.



It was to be an American show. Military personnel of some sixteen other countries took part in one way or another but, with the exception of the South Koreans, there could be little doubt as to their true status or function. Eisenhower later wrote in his memoirs that when he was considering US military intervention in Vietnam in 1954, also as part of a "coalition", he recognized that the burden of the operation would fall on the United States, but "the token forces supplied by these other nations, as in Korea, would lend real moral standing to a venture that otherwise could be made to appear as a brutal example of imperialism" (emphasis added). {18}





The war, and a brutal one it was indeed, was fought ostensibly in defense of the Syngman Rhee regime. Outside of books published by various South Korean governments, it is rather difficult to find a kind word for the man the United States brought back to Korea in 1945 after decades of exile in America during the Japanese occupation of his country. Flown into Korea in one of MacArthur's airplanes, Rhee was soon maneuvered into a position of prominence and authority by the US Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). In the process, American officials had to suppress a provisional government, the Korean People's Republic, that was the outgrowth of a number of regional governing committees set up by prominent Koreans and which had already begun to carry out administrative tasks, such as food distribution and keeping order. The KPR's offer of its services to the arriving Americans was dismissed out of hand.



Despite its communist-sounding name, the KPR included a number of conservatives; indeed, Rhee himself had been given the leading position of chairman. Rhee and the other conservatives, most of whom were still abroad when chosen, perhaps did not welcome the honor because the KPR, on balance, was probably too leftist for their tastes, as it was for the higher echelons of the USAMGIK. But after 35 years under the Japanese, any group or government set up to undo the effects of colonialism had to have a revolutionary tinge to it. It was the conservatives in Korea who had collaborated with the Japanese; leftists and other nationalists who had struggled against them; the make-up of the KPR necessarily reflected this, and it was reportedly more popular than any other political grouping. {19}



Whatever the political leanings or intentions of the KPR, by denying it any "authority, status or form", {20} the USAMGIK was regulating Korean political life as if the country were a defeated enemy and not a friendly state liberated from a common foe and with a right to independence and self-determination.



The significance of shunting aside the KPR went beyond this. John Gunther, hardly a radical, summed up the situation this way: "So the first-and best-chance for building a united Korea was tossed away". {21} And Alfred Crofts, a member of the American military government at the time, has written that "A potential unifying agency became thus one of the fifty-four splinter groups in South Korean political life". {22}



Syngman Rhee would be Washington's man: eminently pro-American, strongly anti-Communist, sufficiently controllable. His regime was one in which landlords, collaborators, the wealthy, and other conservative elements readily found a home. Crofts has pointed out that "Before the American landings, a political Right, associated in popular thought with colonial rule, could not exist; but shortly afterward we were to foster at least three conservative factions". {23}



Committed to establishing free enterprise, the USAMGIK sold off vast amounts of confiscated Japanese property, homes, businesses, industrial raw materials and other valuables. Those who could most afford to purchase these assets were collaborators who had grown rich under the Japanese, and other profiteers. "With half the wealth of the nation 'up for grabs', demoralization was rapid". {24}



While the Russians did a thorough house-cleaning of Koreans in the North who had collaborated with the Japanese, the American military government in the South allowed many collaborators, and at first even the Japanese themselves, to retain positions of administration and authority, much to the consternation of those Koreans who had fought against the Japanese occupation of their country. To some extent, these people may have been retained in office because they were the most experienced at keeping the country running. Another reason has been suggested: to prevent the Korean People's Republic from assuming a measure of power. {25}



And while the North soon implemented widespread and effective land reform and at least formal equality for women, the Rhee regime remained hostile to these ideals. Two years later, it enacted a land reform measure, but this applied only to former Japanese property. A 1949 law to cover other holdings was not enforced at all, and the abuse of land tenants continued in both old and new forms. {26}



Public resentment against the US/Rhee administration was aroused because of these policies as well as because of the suppression of the KPR and some very questionable elections. So reluctant was Rhee to allow an honest election, that by early 1950 he had become enough of an embarrassment to the United States for Washington officials to threaten to cut off aid if he failed to do so and also improve the state of civil liberties. Apparently because of this pressure, the elections held on May 30 were fair enough to allow "moderate" elements to participate, and, as mentioned earlier, the Rhee government was decisively repudiated. {27}



The resentment was manifested in the form of frequent rebellions, including some guerrilla warfare in the hills, from 1946 to the beginning of the war, and even during the war. The rebellions were dismissed by the government as "communist-inspired" and repressed accordingly, but, as John Gunther observed, "It can be safely said that in the eyes of Hodge [the commander of US forces in Korea] and Rhee, particularly at the beginning, almost any Korean not an extreme rightist was a communist and potential traitor". {28}



General Hodge evidently permitted US troops to take part in the repression. Mark Gayn, a correspondent in Korea for the Chicago Sun, wrote that American soldiers "fired on crowds, conducted mass arrests, combed the hills for suspects, and organized posses of Korean rightists, constabulary and police for mass raids". {29} Gayn related that one of Hodge's political advisers assured him (Gayn) that Rhee was not a fascist: "He is two centuries before fascism - a pure Bourbon". {30}



Describing the government's anti-guerrilla campaign in 1948, pro-Western political scientist John Kie-Chiang Oh of Marquette University has written: "In these campaigns, the civil liberties of countless persons were often ignored. Frequently, hapless villagers, suspected of aiding the guerrillas, were summarily executed." {31} A year later, when a committee of the National Assembly launched an investigation of collaborators, Rhee had his police raid the Assembly: 22 people were arrested, of whom sixteen were later found to have suffered either broken ribs, skull injuries or broken eardrums. {32}



At the time of the outbreak of war in June 1950, there were an estimated 14,000 political prisoners in South Korean jails. {33}



Even during the height of the war, in February 1951, reported Professor Oh, there was the "Koch'ang Incident", again involving suspicion of aiding guerrillas, "in which about six hundred men and women, young and old, were herded into a narrow valley and mowed down with machine guns by a South Korean army unit". {34}





Throughout the war, a continuous barrage of accusations was leveled by each side at the other, charging the enemy with engaging in all manner of barbarity and atrocity, against troops, prisoners of war, and civilians alike, in every part of the country (each side occupied the other's territory at times), trying to outdo each other in a verbal war of superlatives almost as heated as the combat. In the United States this produced a body of popular myths, not unlike those emerging from other wars which are widely supported at home. (By contrast, during the Vietnam War the inclination of myths to flourish was regularly countered by numerous educated protestors who carefully researched the origins of the war, monitored its conduct, and publicized studies sharply at variance with the official version(s), eventually influencing the mass media to do the same.)



There was, for example, the consensus that the brutality of the war in Korea must be laid overwhelmingly on the doorstep of the North Koreans. The Koch'ang Incident mentioned above may be relevant to providing some counterbalance to this belief. Referring to theincident, the British Korea scholar Jon Halliday observed:



"This account not only serves to indicate the level of political violence employed by the UN side, but also confers inherent plausibility on DPRK [North Korea] and Southern opposition accusations of atrocities and mass executions by the UN forces and Rhee officials during the occupation of the DPRK in late 1950. After all, if civilians could be mowed down in the South on suspicion of aiding (not even being) guerrillas - what about the North, where millions could reasonably be assumed to be Communists, or political militants? {35} (Emphasis in original.)



Oh's account is but one of a number of reports of slaughter carried out by the South Koreans against their own people during the war. The New York Times reported a "wave of [South Korean] Government executions in Seoul" in December 1950. {36} Rene Cut forth, a ncorrespondent for the BBC in Korea, later wrote of "the shooting without trial of civilians, designated by the police as 'communist'. These executions were done, usually at dawn, on any patch of waste ground where you could dig a trench and line up a row of prisoners in front of it". {37} And Gregory Henderson, a US diplomat who served seven years in Korea in the 1940s and 1950s, has stated that "probably over 100,000 were killed without any trial whatsoever" by Rhee's forces in the South during the war. {38} Following some of the massacres of civilians in the South, the Rhee government turned around and attributed them to Northern troops.



One way in which the United States contributed directly to the war's brutality was by introducing a weapon which, although used in the last stage of World War II, and in Greece, was new to almost all observers and participants in Korea. It was called napalm. Here is one description of its effect from the New York Times.



"A napalm raid hit the village three or four days ago when the Chinese were holding up the advance, and nowhere in the village have they buried the dead because there is nobody left to do so ... The inhabitants throughout the village and in the fields were caught and killed and kept the exact postures they had held when the napalm struck - a man about to get on his bicycle, fifty boys and girls playing in an orphanage, a housewife strangely unmarked, holding in her hand a page torn from a Sears-Roebuck catalogue crayoned at Mail Order No 3,811,294 for a $2.98 "bewitching bed jacket - coral". There must be almost two hundred dead in the tiny hamlet." {39}



The United States may also have waged germ warfare against North Korea and China, as was discussed earlier in the chapter on China.



At the same time, the CIA reportedly was targeting a single individual for termination - North Korean leader Kim II Sung. Washington sent a Cherokee Indian, code-named Buffalo, to Hans V Tofte, a CIA officer stationed in Japan, after Buffalo had agreed to serve as Kim II Sung's assassin. Buffalo was to receive a considerable amount of money if his mission succeeded. It obviously did not, and nothing further has been revealed about the incident. {40}





Another widely-held belief in the United States during the war was that American prisoners in North Korean camps were dying off like flies because of Communist neglect and cruelty. The flames of this very emotional issue were fanned by the tendency of US officials to exaggerate the numbers involved. During November 1951, for example - long before the end of the war - American military announcements put the count of POW deaths at between 5,000 and 8,000. {41} However, an extensive study completed by the US Army two years after the war revealed that the POW death toll for the entire war was 2,730 (out of 7,190 held in camps; an unknown number of other prisoners never made it to the camps, being shot in the field because of the inconvenience of dealing with them in the midst of combat, a practice engaged in by both sides).



The study concluded that "there was evidence that the high death rate was not due primarily to Communist maltreatment ... it could be accounted for largely by the ignorance or the callousness of the prisoners themselves". {42} "Callousness" refers here to the soldiers' lack of morale and collective spirit. Although not mentioned in the study, the North Koreans, on several occasions, claimed that many American POWs also died in the camps as a result of the heavy US bombing.



The study of course could never begin to catch up with all the scare headlines to which the Western world had been treated for three years. Obscured as well was the fact that several times as many Communist prisoners had died in US / South Korean camps - halfway through the war the official figure stood at 6,600 {43} - though these camps did hold many more prisoners than those in the North.



The American public was also convinced, and probably still is, that the North Koreans and Chinese had "brainwashed" US soldiers. This story arose to explain the fact that as many as thirty percent of American POWs had collaborated with the enemy in one way or another, and "one man in every seven, or more than thirteen per cent, was guilty of serious collaboration - writing disloyal tracts ... or agreeing to spy or organize for the Communists after the war". {44} Another reason the brainwashing theme was promoted by Washington was to increase the likelihood that statements made by returning prisoners which questioned the official version of the war would be discounted.



In the words of Yale psychiatrist Robert J Lifton, brainwashing was popularly held to be an "all-powerful, irresistible, unfathomable, and magical method of achieving total control over the human mind". {45} Although the CIA experimented, beginning in the 1950s, to develop just such a magic, neither they nor the North Koreans or Chinese ever possessed it. The Agency began its "behavior-control" or "mind-control" experiments on human subjects (probably suspected double agents), using drugs and hypnosis, in Japan in July 1950, shortly after the beginning of the Korean War. In October, they apparently used North Korean prisoners of war as subjects. {46} In 1975, a US Navy psychologist, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Narut, revealed that his naval work included establishing how to induce servicemen who may not be naturally inclined to kill, to do so under certain conditions. He referred to these men using the words "hitmen" and "assassin". Narut added that convicted murderers as well had been released from military prisons to become assassins. {47}



Brainwashing, said the Army study, "has become a catch phrase, used for so many things that it no longer has any precise meaning" and "a precise meaning is necessary in this case". {48}



"The prisoners, as far as Army psychiatrists have been able to discover, were not subjected to any thing that could properly be called brainwashing. Indeed, the Communist treatment of prisoners, while it came nowhere near fulfilling the requirements of the Geneva Convention, rarely involved outright cruelty, being instead a highly novel blend of leniency and pressure ... The Communists rarely used physical torture ... and the Army has not found a single verifiable case in which they used it for the specific purpose of forcing a man to collaborate or to accept their convictions." {49}



According to the study, however, some American airmen, of the ninety or so who were captured, were subjected to physical abuse in an attempt to extract confessions about germ warfare. This could reflect either a greater Communist resentment about the use of such a weapon, or a need to produce some kind of corroboration of a false or questionable claim.



American soldiers were instead subjected to political indoctrination by their jailers. Here is how the US Army saw it:



"In the indoctrination lectures, the Communists frequently displayed global charts dotted with our military bases, the names of which were of course known to many of the captives. "See those bases?" the instructor would say, tapping them on the chart with his pointer. 'They are American - full of war materiel. You know they are American. And you can see they are ringing Russia and China. Russia and China do not have one base outside their own territory. From this it's clear which side is the warmonger. Would America have these bases and spend millions to maintain them were it not preparing to war on Russia and China?' This argument seemed plausible to many of the prisoners. In general they had no idea that these bases showed not the United States' wish for war, but its wish for peace, that they had been established as part of a series of treaties aimed not at conquest, but at curbing Red aggression." {50}



The Chinese Communists, of course, did not invent this practice. During the American Civil War, prisoners of both the South and the North received indoctrination about the respective merits of the two sides. And in the Second World War, "democratization courses" were held in US and British POW camps for Germans, and reformed Germans were granted privileges. Moreover, the US Army was proud to state that Communist prisoners in American camps during the Korean War were taught "what democracy stands for". {51}





The predicted Chinese aggression manifested itself about four months after the war in Korea began. The Chinese entered the war after American planes had violated their air space on a number of occasions, had bombed and strafed Chinese territory several times (always "in error"), when hydro-electric plants on the Korean side of the border, vital to Chinese industry, stood in great danger, and US or South Korean forces had reached the Chinese border, the Yalu River, or come within a few miles of it in several places.



The question must be asked: How long would the United States refrain from entering a war being waged in Mexico by a Communist power from across the sea, which strafed and bombed Texas border towns, was mobilized along the Rio Grande, and was led by a general who threatened war against the United States itself?





American airpower in Korea was fearsome to behold. As would be the case in Vietnam, its use was celebrated in the wholesale dropping of napalm, the destruction of villages "suspected of aiding the enemy", bombing cities so as to leave no useful facilities standing, demolishing dams and dikes to cripple the irrigation system, wiping out rice crops ... and in those moving expressions like "scorched-earth policy", "saturation bombing", and "operation killer". {52}



"You can kiss that group of villages good-bye", exclaimed Captain Everett L Hundley of Kansas City, Kansas after a bombing raid. {53}



"I would say that the entire, almost the entire Korean Peninsula is just a terrible mess", testified Major General Emmett O'Donnell before the Senate when the war was one year old. "Everything is destroyed. There is nothing standing worthy of the name." {54}



And here, the words of the venerable British military guide, Brassey's Annual, in its 1951 yearbook:



"If is no exaggeration to state that South Korea no longer exists as a country. Its towns have been destroyed, much of its means of livelihood eradicated, and its people reduced to a sullen mass dependent upon charity and exposed to subversive influences. When the war ends no gratitude can be expected from the South Koreans, but it is to be hoped that the lesson will have been learned that it is worse than useless to destroy to liberate. Certainly, western Europe would never accept such a 'liberation'." {55}



The worst of the bombing was yet to come. That began in the summer of 1952 and was Washington's way of putting itself in a better bargaining position in the truce discussions with the Communists, which had been going on for a full year while the battles raged. The extended and bitter negotiations gave rise to another pervasive Western belief - that it was predominantly Communist intransigence, duplicity, and lack of peaceful intentions which frustrated the talks and prolonged the war.



This is a lengthy and entangled chapter of the Korean War story, but one does not have to probe too deeply to discover the unremarkable fact that the barriers were erected by the anti-Communist side as well. Syngman Rhee, for example, was so opposed to any outcome short of total victory that both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations drew up plans for overthrowing him; {56} which is not to suggest that the American negotiators were negotiating in the best of faith. The last thing they wanted to be accused of was having allowed the commies to make suckers of them. Thus it was that in November of 1951 we could read in the New York Times:



"The unadorned way that an apparently increasing number of them [American soldiers in Korea] see the situation right now is that the Communists have made important concessions, while the United Nations Command, as they view it, continues to make more and more demands ... The United Nations truce team has created the impression that it switches its stand whenever the Communists indicate that they might go along with it." {57}



At one point during this same period, when the Communists proposed chat a cease fire and a withdrawal of troops from the combat line should take place while negotiations were going on, the United Nations Command reacted almost as if this were a belligerent and devious act. "Today's stand by the Communists", said the UNC announcement, "was virtually a renunciation of their previously stated position that hostilities should continue during armistice talks". {58}



Once upon a time, the United States fought a great civil war in which the North attempted to reunite the divided country through military force. Did Korea or China or any other foreign power send in an army to slaughter Americans, charging Lincoln with aggression?



Why did the United States choose to wage full-scale war in Korea? Only a year earlier, in 1949, in the Arab-Israeli fighting in Palestine and in the India-Pakistani war over Kashmir, the United Nations, with American support, had intervened to mediate an armistice, not to send in an army to take sides and expand the fighting. And both these conflicts were less in the nature of a civil war than was the case in Korea. If the US/UN response had been the same in these earlier cases, Palestine and Kashmir might have wound up as the scorched-earth desert that was Korea's fate. What saved them, what kept the US armed forces out, was no more than the absence of a communist side to the conflict. William Blum is an American author, historian, and critic of United States foreign policy. https://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope Notes 1. New York Times, 1 October 1950, page 3.

2. The US Imperialists Started the Korean War is the subtle title of the book published in Pyongyang North Korea, 1977, pages 109-10.

3. Radio address of 13 April 1950, reprinted in The Department of State Bulletin, 24 April 1950, page 627.

4. For a discussion of the war's immediate origin, see:

a) Karunakar Gupta, "How Did the Korean War Begin?", The China Quarterly (London) October/ December 1972 No 52, pages 699-716.

b) "Comment; The Korean War", The China Quarterly, April/June 1973, No 54, pages 354-68. This consists of responses to Gupta's article in issue No, 52 and Gupta's counter-response.

c) New York Times, 26 June 1950. Page 1 - South Korea's announcement about Haeju. Page 3 - North Korea's announcement about Haeju.

d) Glenn D Paige, The Korean Decision (June 24-30, 1950) (New York, 1968) passim, particularly page 130.

e) I F Stone, The Hidden History of the Korean War (New York, 1952) chapter 7 and elsewhere.

5. John Gunther, The Riddle of MacArthur (London, 1951), pages 151-2.

6. New York Times, 25 July 1950, page 4; 30 July, page 2.

7. Khrushchev Remembers (London, 1971) chapter 11. Study of transcription vs book: John Merrill, Book Reviews, Journal of Korean Studies (University of Washington, Seattle) Vol 3, 1981, pages 181-91.

8. Joseph C Goulden, Korea: The Untold Story of the War (New York, 1982) page 64

9. New York Times, 26 June 1950.

10. Ibid, 1 October 1950, page 4.

11. Goulden, pages 87-8; Stone, pages 75, 77.

12. For further discussion of the UN's bias at this time see Jon Halliday, "The United Nations and Korea", in Frank Baldwin, editor , Without Parallel: The American-Korean Relationship Since 1945 (New York, 1974), pages 109-42.

13. Trygve Lie, In the Cause of Peace (New York, 1954) chapters 18 and 19.

14. Shirley Hazzard, Countenance of Truth: The United Nations and the Waldheim Case (New York, 1990), pages 13-22. In his book, page 389, He states that it was he who initiated this practice.

15. CIA memorandum, 28 June 1950, Declassified Documents Reference System (Arlington, Virginia) Retrospective Volume, Document 33C.

16. Stone, pages 77-8.

17. The full text of the Security Council Resolution of 7 July 1950 can be found in the New York Times, 8 July 1950, P. 4.

18. Dwight Eisenhower, The White House Years: Mandate for Change, 1953-1956 (New York, 1963) page 340.

19. For a discussion of post-war politics in South Korea see:

a) Bruce Cumings, The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes, 1945-1947 (Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1981) passim.

b) E. Grant Mcade, American Military Government in Korea (King's Crown Press, Columbia University, New York, 1951) chapters 3-5.

c) George M McCune, Korea Today (Institute of Pacific Relations, New York, 1950) passim, pages 46-50 (KPR). Professor McCune worked with the US Government on Korean problems during World War II.

d) D F Fleming, The Cold War and its Origins, 1917-1960 (Doubleday & Co, New York, 1961) pages 589-97.

e) Alfred Crofts, "The Case of Korea: Our Falling Ramparts", The Nation (New York) 25 June 1960, pages 544-8. Crofts was a member of the US Military Government in Korea beginning in 1945.

20. Crofts, page 545.

21. Gunther, page 165.

22. Crofts, page 545.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid, page 546.

25. Collaborators: Cumings, pages 152-6; Mcade, page 61; McCune, page 51; plus elsewhere in these

sources, as well asin Fleming and Crofts. Japanese and collaborators retaining positions to thwart the KPR: Cumings, pages 138-9.

26. McCune, pages 83-4, 129-39, 201-9.

27. 1946 election: Mark Gayn, Japan Diary (New York 1948) page 398; 1948 election: Crofts, page 546; Halliday, pages 117-22; 1950 election and US warning; Fleming, page 594. For a discussion of Rhee's thwarting of honest elections in 1952 and later, and his consistently tyrannical rule, see William J. Lederer, A Nation of Sheep (W W Norton & Co, New York, 1961), chapter 4.

28. Gunther, pages 166-7.

29. Gayn, page 388.

30. Ibid, page 352.

31. John Kie-Chiang Oh, Korea: Democracy on Trial (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1968) page 35.

32. The Nation (New York), 13 August 1949, page 152.

33. Gunther, page 171.

34. Oh, page 206; see also New York Times, 11 April 1951, page 4 for an account of a massacre of some 500 to 1000 people in March in the same place, which appears to refer to the same incident.

35. Jon Halliday, "The Political Background", in Gavan McCormack and Mark Selden, editors, Korea, North and South: The Deepening Crisis (New York, 1978) page 56.

36. New York Times, 11 April 1951, page 4.

37. Rene Cutforth, "On the Korean War", The Listener (BBC publication, London) 11 September 1969, page 343.

38. Gregory Henderson, Korea: The Politics of the Vortex (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1968 page 167.

39. New York Times, 9 February 1951, George Barrett.

40. Goulden, pages 471-2. This information derives from Goulden's interview of Tofte.

41. New York Times, 27 November 1951, page 4.

42. Eugene Kinkead, Why They Collaborated (London, 1960) page 17; published in the US in 1959 in slightly different form as In Every War But One, The Army study was not contained in any one volume, but was spread out over a number of separate reports. Kinkead's book, written with the full co-operation of the Army, is composed of a summary of some of these reports, and interviews with many government and military officials who were directly involved in or knowledgeable about the study or the subject. For the sake of simplicity, I have referred to the book as if it were the actual study. It is to the Army's credit that much of the results of the study were not kept secret; the study, nonetheles contains some anti-communist statements of the most bizarre sort: lying is often punished in China by death ... communists live like animals all their lives ... [pages 1903 193)

43. Keesings Contemporary Archives, 5-12 January 1952, page 11931, an announcement on 31 December 1951 from General Ridgeway's headquarters.

44. Kinkead, page 34.

45. Robert J Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism; A Study of brainwashing in China (London, 1961) page 4.

46. John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control (New York, paperback edition, 1988), page 25, based on CIA documents.

47. Sunday Times (London), 6 July 1975, page 1. Narut at the time was working at a US naval hospital in Naples, Italy, and made his remarks at a NATO-sponsored conference held in Oslo, Norway the week before.

48. Kinkead, page 31.

49. Ibid, pages 17, 34.

50. Ibid, pages 105-6.

51. Ibid, page 197.

52. For a concise description of the "terror bombing" of 1952-53, see John Gittings, "Talks, Bombs and Germs: Another Look at the Korean War", Journal of Contemporary Asia (London) Vol 5, No 2, 1975, pages 212-6.

53. Air Force Communique, 2 February 1951, cited by Stone, page 259

54. Military Situation in the Far East, Hearings Before the Senate Committees on Armed Services end Foreign Relations, 25 June 1951, page 3075.

55. Louis Heren, "The Korean Scene", in Rear-Admiral H G Thursfield, editor, Brassey's Annual: The Armed Forces Year-Book 1951 (London, 1951) page 110.

56. San Francisco Chronicle, 15 December 1977, page 11, based on documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

57. New York Times, 12 November 1951, page 3.

58. Ibid, 14 November 1951, page 1. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Click Here For Your Free Daily Newsletter
Update 7.40pm: The head of the UK statistics watchdog has refused to back down in the public spat with the British Foreign Secretary over his Brexit claims.

Boris Johnson accused David Norgrove of a "complete misrepresentation" of his views and called on him to withdraw the criticism.

But the UK Statistics Authority chairman "stands by" his accusation that Mr Johnson's decision to revive the controversial claim that up to 350m a week extra would be freed up for public spending after Brexit was a "clear misuse" of official figures.

A spokesman said the Foreign Secretary's response "doesn't alter his view", adding: "Sir David stands by his letter."

The row erupted after Norgrove published a letter to Mr Johnson saying he was "surprised and disappointed" the 350m figure had been revisited in his 4,000-word Brexit blueprint.

BREAKING: UK Stats Authority writes to Boris saying it's "surprised & disappointed" he's using 350m figure AGAIN. "Clear misuse of stats" pic.twitter.com/sen2BV4oFr  Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) September 17, 2017

He stood by the criticism when the Foreign Secretary's aides later claimed he was "absolutely fine" with the piece.

Mr Johnson then penned his own letter, which claimed the statistics boss had privately conceded he was "more concerned" by the headlines in the coverage" of the controversial article and "accepted that I was not responsible for those".

He wrote: "I must say that I was surprised and disappointed by your letter of today, since it was based on what appeared to be a wilful distortion of the text of my article.

"When we spoke you conceded that you were more concerned by the headline and the BBC coverage, though you accepted that I was not responsible for those. I suggest if the BBC coverage offends you that you write to the BBC.

"You say that I claim that there would be 350 million that 'might be available for extra public spending' when we leave the EU.

"This is a complete misrepresentation of what I said and I would like you to withdraw it. I in fact said: 'once we have settled our accounts we will take back control of roughly 350m per week. It would be a fine thing, as many of us have pointed out, if a lot of that money went on the NHS'.

"That is very different from claiming that there would be an extra 350m available for public spending and I am amazed that you should impute such a statement to me."

Earlier:

Boris Johnson's future in the British Cabinet has come under question after he set out a detailed vision of Britain's future outside the European Union that has been viewed as a challenge to Theresa May's leadership.

The British Foreign Secretary publicly declared he is "all behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit" after the 4,000-word assessment of Brexit fuelled speculation about his ambitions.

Mr Johnson revived the widely-criticised claim quitting the EU could boost NHS coffers by up to 350 million a week and warned against paying for access to European markets in the future.

But the in-depth article on life after March 2019 was released just six days before the Prime Minister sets out her Brexit blueprint in a speech in Florence.

It has prompted claims in the Mail on Sunday that allies of the PM believed the move was "hostile" and "attention seeking".

A senior minister who backed Remain told the Sunday Telegraph, meanwhile, Mr Johnson "needs to go and do something else" if he "can't settle" into his role as foreign secretary while a former minister said he was "sailing within an inch of being thrown out of the Government".

Craig Oliver, former director of communications at Downing Street for David Cameron, said even if the genuine intention was to support the British Prime Minister, it was obvious it would be seen in Westminster as a "direct challenge".

But as the furore raged, Mr Johnson insisted in a tweet he was "looking forward to PM's Florence speech".

"All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit," he added.

Looking forward to PM's Florence speech. All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit: https://t.co/5pe1pY2m13  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 16, 2017

In his plan for Brexit, Mr Johnson suggested continued membership of the single market and customs union would make a "complete mockery" of the referendum result.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, he said the Government should "seize the opportunity" of Brexit to reform the UK tax system to boost investment, he suggested.

Rules restricting foreign buyers from snapping up property could be imposed once Britain leaves the EU but the UK should not slam the door on immigration, he wrote.
Spain's paramilitary national police force have confiscated more than 1.3 million posters, flyers and pamphlets promoting the planned independence referendum by Catalonia's regional government.

The Civil Guard said the campaign literature was seized today during raids of an unnamed business in Barcelona province that distributes advertising material.
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What kind of world will 2017 kids inherit?

Advances in technology change lifestyles in a nanosecond, but numerous organizations continue to focus on providing necessities to local residents, working nearly around the clock to ensure that the citizens of the community have access to basics like food and shelter. Other organizations address needs of a different sort  legal and societal  and two of these groups were front and center on the events list this week.

Childrens Law Center Annual Birthday Blast

The Unbroken Circle, a multigenerational string band from Wake Forest University, provided music for the festivities and Millennium Center the picturesque backdrop at the 2017 Childrens Law Center Birthday Blast on Thursday. Food and libations were also part of the package, along with a shared vision for advocacy among guests.

Tonights event has raised over $76,000 for the Childrens Law Center, said Jessie Quick, who co-chaired the event with her husband, Robert. That is a huge chunk of our annual budget of $430,000, and its important to recognize how much of a community effort this night is.

Quick continued with thanks to key contributors including presenting sponsor Kilpatrick Townsend, several law firms and local businesses, as well as individual supporters. Quick then introduced CLCs Executive Director Iris Sunshine, who shared a CLC client story before recognizing the evenings honorees: Lorraine Mortis, David Sutton and the N.C. Bar Foundation.

Tiffany is 9 years old and she has grown up with violence, Sunshine said. She was beaten by her father, who also hit her mother, and when she was sick, her father forced her to take his homemade medicine for strep throat.

The medication landed the 9-year-old girl in the hospital where she finally received proper treatment, and the tragic experience prompted her mother to go to court for custody. A CLC staff member, Paige Gilliard, advocated for the mother and child, and the judge ruled that it was in Tiffanys best interest to not be in contact with her abusive father.

Tiffany attended our Camp Hope this summer and won the energetic trait award, Sunshine said. She said that at camp you feel accepted. This is what Childrens Law Center is about, fostering a sense of empowerment for children like Tiffany.

Gilliard wore a different hat for the Birthday Bash, welcoming guests along with Jennifer Lyday and Lynne Fuller-Andrews. Before dinner, the honorees talked about their role with Childrens Law Center and why it is important to them to support CLCs work.

Ive been volunteering since high school, Sutton said. My goal has always been to try to help the staff members consolidate the almost obscene amount of information that each case requires. I and others try to take chunks of the small tasks to make it easier for them to do what they need to do. Over the years, Ive become more involved and some of these kids are like my own.

Caryn McNeill represented the N.C. Bar Association for the night.

The North Carolina Bar Association does public and pro bono work through our foundation and in addition, the Childrens Law Center has been a recipient of our grants since 2005, McNeill said. Our grants support the provision of legal services to the most vulnerable members of North Carolina.

Over the past 13 years, Mortis has agreed to help in a least 20 referrals from CLC involving state mental health services, custody matters, domestic violence and child maltreatment, according to CLC representatives. Mortis said that her volunteer work reflects a commitment to the children represented by Childrens Law Center.

Everybody deserves to have a voice, she said. Everybody deserves to be heard, no matter how old they or whether or not they have money.

Day of Hope: The Kindergarten Project

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill joined Dr. Beverly Tatum for a discussion about race at Calvary Moravian Church on Sept. 9, part of the slate of events scheduled for the annual Bookmarks festival. Hill, host of BET News, political contributor for CNN, professor at Temple University and award-winning journalist, and Tatum, a renowned authority on racial identity and resegregation in America and author of Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, spoke to a packed sanctuary for the event, following a meet-and-greet session hosted by Imprints Cares.

An early childhood education nonprofit with a mission of helping families break the cycle of poverty, Imprints Cares supports children through education and health services. Nikki Byers, Imprints executive director, Cindy McManus and Anne Cannon joined the small group for the meet and greet.

The discussions today are a backdrop to the work we do with families, Byers said.

The meet-and-greet was an informal precursor to the panel discussion, and Hill provided insight into some of the issues he addressed in his book, Nobody.

We have to unlearn this idea, the narrative that some people are worth more than others, he said. That type of thinking shouldnt shape the outcome of anyones life, but it does and we have to work to change that.

Onstage, Tatum and Hill presented two viewpoints about race relations.

My book was originally published in 1997, 20 years ago, and when I told friends that I was going to do a 20th anniversary update, they asked me, Oh, are the black kids still sitting together, Tatum said. I would say that schools are more segregated today than they were 20 or 30 years ago.

I knew a world where the idea of a black president seemed impossible and I was in the Fox newsroom that night when everybody was sad except for me and three janitors, Hill said, prompting sympathetic laughter from the audience. I guess I am a prisoner of hope. Were here in a church, where people believe Jesus died, but his death didnt have the last word  the response to injustices and the emergence of a new generation of freedom fighters give me hope.
WASHINGTON  Heres a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

In addition to roll call votes this week, the Senate also passed a resolution (S.J. Res. 49), condemning the violence that took place during events on August 11 and August 12 in Charlottesville, Va.; passed the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act (S. 102), to direct the Federal Communications Commission to commence proceedings related to the resiliency of critical communications networks during times of emergency; and passed the Abolish Human Trafficking Act (S. 1311), to provide assistance in abolishing human trafficking in the United States.

The House also passed the Homeland Threat Assessment Act (H.R. 2470), to require an annual homeland threat assessment; and passed the Homeland Security Assessment of Terrorists Use of Virtual Currencies Act (H.R. 2433), to direct the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis to develop and disseminate a threat assessment regarding terrorist use of virtual currency.

House votes

DEBT CEILING, HURRICANE RELIEF: The House has agreed to the Senate amendment to the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act (H.R. 601), sponsored by Rep. Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y., that would provide government funding through Dec. 8, raise the debt ceiling until that same date, and provide $15 billion to fund Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts. Lowey said the amendment would give Congress time to develop a new budget agreement with realistic caps on defense and nondefense discretionary spending. An opponent, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, called the amendment a continuation of Congresss dysfunctional budgeting process, which is doing enormous, lasting damage to the American military. The vote, on Sept. 8, was 316 yeas to 90 nays.

NAYS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

WELL METHANE FLARING RULE: The House has approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 3354). The amendment would block funding for a Bureau of Land Management rule concerning the venting and flaring of natural gas from gas and oil wells on federal land. Pearce said the estimated $60,000 per well cost of complying with the rule could force many operators of stripper wells that produce small amounts of gas and oil to take those wells offline, creating an economic catastrophe. An amendment opponent, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said going forward with enforcement of the rule would prevent the waste of an estimated 65 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year and save taxpayers $330 million annually. The vote, on Sept. 8, was 216 yeas to 186 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

REGULATING METHANE EMISSIONS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 3354). The amendment would bar funding for implementation of the Environmental Protection Agencys 2016 rule restricting methane emissions from oil and natural gas production and transmission. Mullin said the rule duplicated other federal regulations and was estimated to cost the U.S. economy $530 million annually. An amendment opponent, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said methane emissions put public health at risk, including more heat waves and drought due to climate change. The vote, on Sept. 13, was 225 yeas to 186 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

REGULATING COASTAL AREAS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 3354). The amendment would block funding for implementation of a 2010 Obama administration executive order setting forth a National Ocean Policy on federal regulation of the nations coastal areas. Flores said the order usurped Congresss legislative powers, making the ban on funding necessary to uphold Congresss constitutional rights to authorize and appropriate funds for regulating coastal areas. An amendment opponent, Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., said the order merely sought to increase coordination by various government agencies to reduce inefficiency, waste, and redundancy and improve management of the coastal areas. The vote, on Sept. 13, was 216 yeas to 199 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

CRIMINAL ALIENS AND SANCTUARY CITIES: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 3354). The amendment would block funding under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program for municipalities that do not comply with federal immigration law by failing to apprehend aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions. Buck said such sanctuary cities must not continue using taxpayer money to flagrantly violate federal immigration law and put American citizens at risk. An opponent, Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., said the amendment would degrade trust between immigrant communities and local police, thereby undermining public safety in all communities and for all residents. The vote, on Sept. 13, was 226 yeas to 191 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

UNIONIZATION ELECTIONS: The House has passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 3354). The amendment would block funding for implementation of a National Labor Relations Boards rule allowing rapid unionization elections by a businesss workforce. Walberg said such so-called ambush elections gave workers too little time to decide whether unionization would be a good idea, and also greatly limited an employers ability to communicate with employees before an election. An opponent, Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said the election rule improves workers ability to hear from all sides prior to making a decision, and it reduces frivolous litigation around elections. The vote, on Sept. 13, was 221 yeas to 196 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

DEPORTING ALIEN GANG MEMBERS: The House has passed the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act (H.R. 3697), sponsored by Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va. The bill would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to proceed with the deportation of illegal aliens who are members of criminal gangs. Comstock called the new process an improvement over current law, which requires convictions before removal proceedings can begin, preserving the due process rights. A bill opponent, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said it would shred due process protections and would allow deportation of innocent immigrants based on the flimsiest of evidence. The vote, on Sept. 14, was 233 yeas to 175 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

2018 DISCRETIONARY BUDGET: The House has passed the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 3354), sponsored by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. The bill would provide $1.2 trillion of fiscal 2018 funding for the military and various discretionary government programs, including Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency. A supporter, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., said it prioritized safety by funding measures to combat opioid abuse, secure the border, fight terrorism, and stop trafficking in illegal drugs and goods. A bill opponent, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said it breaks our promises to women, to seniors, to students, and to our workforce by cutting funding for reproductive health, workforce development and education programs, and blocking funding for Affordable Care Act programs. The vote, on Sept. 14, was 211 yeas to 198 nays.

YEAS: Budd R-NC (13th), Foxx R-NC (5th), Walker R-NC (6th)

Senate votes

COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Kevin Allen Hassett to serve as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the president. A supporter, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cited Hassetts extensive experience as an adviser to several past presidents and as an economist at the Federal Reserve as making Hassett exceptionally qualified to chair the Council. An opponent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., claimed that Hassett wants an economy that keeps working great for those on top, and if it leaves working families further behind, that is just too bad. The vote, on Sept. 12, was 81 yeas to 16 nays.

YEAS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

AUTHORIZATION FOR IRAQ WAR: The Senate has tabled an amendment sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810). The amendment would have repealed Congresss 2002 resolution authorizing the war against Iraq and the Saddam Hussein regime. Paul said the repeal was needed to prompt Congress to fulfill its constitutional role of overseeing military actions and authorize them with geographical and time limits. An amendment opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said a repeal that did not involve simultaneously passing a new authorization would be premature, it would be irresponsible, it would threaten U.S. national security, and it would inhibit our democracy-building efforts abroad. The vote to table, on Sept. 13, was 61 yeas to 36 nays.

YEAS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

HOUSING DEPUTY SECRETARY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Pamela Hughes Patenaude to serve as Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. A supporter, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said Patenaude had substantial experience in housing policy at the local and federal level, nearly unanimous support from affordable housing advocates and public housing agencies, and experience in the Bush administration responding to housing needs created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. An opponent, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, cited Patenaudes support for what he called the Trump administrations terrible budget proposal for HUD, including the end of the agencys community development block grant programs. The vote, on Sept. 14, was 80 yeas to 17 nays.

YEAS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

2018 MILITARY BUDGET: The Senate has approved a cloture motion to end debate on the substitute amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810). The amendment would authorize a $700 billion military budget for fiscal 2018. A supporter, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said it gave soldiers a deserved pay raise and improved military readiness by increasing personnel levels. The vote to end debate, on Sept. 14, was 84 yeas to 9 nays.

NOT VOTING: Burr R-NC

YEAS: Tillis R-NC
Correspondent of the week

ABBIE CLAYTON, Winston-Salem

Shared principles

While reading the story about possible limitations on student protesting (Student concerned about new Wake code, Sept. 13), it occurred to me that Ive heard conservatives express the opinion that students in public schools should be punished for protesting. Conservatives in many state legislatures, including North Carolina, have also been pushing bills to defend drivers who accidentally run into protestors, which would discourage protesting.

How many of these conservatives have also defended the First Amendment rights of controversial conservative figures to speak on college campuses, or even the rights of Nazis to protest, like the writer of the Sept. 12 letter True Nazis? Doesnt it seem odd that Americans would try to limit free-speech rights for college students but defend them for Nazis?

I think this sort of thing happens on the left and on the right because people today base their political philosophies on what pleases them personally rather than on any sort of over-arching principle. I also think this is why theres so much political division today  because people are committed to gaining power for their side rather than being committed to a principle, like free speech or equal rights for all.

I think the only way were going to come together as a nation is by supporting shared guiding principles, even if it means our own side loses power.

Im sure thats more easily said than done. But being part of a great nation requires effort.

WILLIAM LOEFFLER, Winston-Salem

A responsibility

While Wake Forest University instructor Melissa Harris-Perry certainly has the right to free speech, I think she also has a responsibility as a leader of an esteemed private university (Student concerned about new Wake code, Sept. 13).

I believe her juvenile and somewhat vulgar response to be unfitting for a person who is charged with helping turn young adults into productive and responsible citizens, and I hope Wake Forest will take appropriate action.

***

JOE ESKRIDGE SR., Lewisville

Another bombshell

Hold your breath  no, wait, dont hold your breath! Hillary Clinton has released another bombshell book about  you guessed it  herself! And it will prove to be a bomb like earlier editions! But this time, her whining inner-self has risen to the occasion with a most appropriate title: What Happened.

Having heard numerous snippets read on several TV talk shows and radio stations, it simply highlights the Clinton/liberal agenda of keeping everyone a victim in need of deliverance from all the horrible things our laws have already addressed. But this time, Clinton is the victim of victims. Having thrown everybody in her own party plus some others under the bus, this book points to poor Clinton, who only slightly takes credit for her loss.

Now, Im no book critic, but I can critique her book in this regard. She picked a great title. Why? Because some people make things happen. Some people watch what happens. And some people dont know what happened. I vote for number three! And, by way of sales and ratings on the best-sellers lists, we already know what happened!

***

BUDDY OSBORNE, Winston-Salem

Condemning the hate groups

Reuters reported Wednesday that the U.S. Congress passed a resolution late on Tuesday calling on President Donald Trump to condemn hate groups after Trump was criticized for his response to the violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a month ago.

It was passed unanimously by the House after being approved by the Senate. Republicans and Democrats alike voted for it.

The resolution also calls on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate acts of violence and intimidation by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups.

How far has the United States fallen when Congress has to demand that the president of the United States condemn white supremacy and call on the attorney general to actually acknowledge that it is a danger to the United States?

Those protestors who had the courage to stand up to the white supremacists in Charlottesville are looking better all the time.

Please submit letters online to Letters@wsjournal.com or mail letters to: The Readers Forum, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Letters are subject to editing and are limited to 250 words. For more guidelines and advice on writing letters, go to journalnow.com/opinion/submit_a_letter.
Entries sought for state fiction contest

The NC State Fiction Contest is accepting entries for its 2017 competition. The deadline to enter is Oct. 10.

The contest is open to North Carolina residents and is one of the largest free-to-enter writing contests in the South. This years guest judge is Tania James, award-winning author of the novels Atlas of Unknowns and The Tusk That Did the Damage, and of the short-story collection Aerogrammes.

Contestants may enter one story in each of the two contest categories:

The James Hurst Prize for Fiction ($500) : An unp

: An unp ublished short story of no more than 5,000 words. In addition to the winner, several honorable mention awards will be presented.

The Shorter Fiction Prize ($250): An unpublished short story of no more than 1,200 words. One honorable mention award will be presented.

No email entries will be accepted. They must be mailed to Department of English, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8105, Raleigh, NC 27695-8105 or dropped off at the Department of English, 221 Tompkins Hall (2211 Hillsborough St., Raleigh) by the postmark deadline.

For complete rules and information, visit go.ncsu.edu/fictioncontest.

Blake wins lifetime achievement award

Norman Blake has been named the 2017 recipient of the Charlie Poole Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.

Organizers put the Charlie Poole Festival on hiatus this year to allow them to prepare for the festivals new location at Rockingham Community College in Wentworth and its new date of Memorial Day weekend 2018.

But they recognized Blake for his extraordinary contributions to Americas musical legacy, including his 2017 CD release Brushwood (Songs and Stories).

After leaving home at 16 to pursue a career as a professional musician, and after a stint in the Army, Blake, in his mid-20s, made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry and was hired by Johnny Cash to play in his band.

Albums on which Blake, a multi-instrumentalist known particularly for his pedal-steel playing, performed, include:

Bob Dylans Nashville Skyline (1968)

John Hartfords Aereo Plain (1971)

Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
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Sheril Kirshenbaum, Michigan State University and Douglas Buhler, Michigan State University

More than one-third of Americans do not know that foods with no genetically modified ingredients contain genes, according to the new nationally representative Food Literacy and Engagement Poll we recently conducted at Michigan State University. For the record, all foods contain genes, and so do all people.

The majority of respondents who answered this question incorrectly were young and affluent, and also more likely than their peers to describe themselves as having a higher-than-average understanding of the global food system. The full survey revealed that much of the U.S. public remains disengaged or misinformed about food. These findings are problematic because food shapes our lives on a personal level, while consumer choices and agricultural practices set the course for our collective future in a number of ways, from food production impacts to public health.

Informing food discussionsThe Food Literacy and Engagement Poll, which we plan to conduct annually, is part of Food@MSU, a new initiative based in Michigan State Universitys College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Food@MSUs mission is to listen to consumers, promote dialogue and help the public make more informed choices about food.

Many factors make those decisions challenging for todays consumers. Rapid scientific innovation has made it possible to engineer crops that can grow without fertilizer, survive flooding and supply vital nutrients to communities in the developing world. But further progress may be limited without public awareness and support for research on urgent food and agriculture challenges.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of online content with conflicting messages makes it hard for Americans to separate valid nutritional information from fads and fraud. Influential multinational corporations push ideas that arent always based in science, but rather intended to promote their own products.

Our inaugural poll reveals that the public lags far behind current scientific understanding when it comes to food. Equally troubling, Americans arent turning to scientists for answers.

Disconnected from farmsToday fewer than 2 percent of Americans live on farms. As the U.S. population continues to shift away from rural areas into cities and suburbs, we are ever more removed from the agricultural practices that sustain us.

We sampled over 1,000 Americans age 18 and over online. Results were weighted to reflect U.S. census demographics for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Our survey revealed that 48 percent of Americans say they never or rarely seek information about where their food was grown or how it was produced.

As we grapple with energy and resource conservation challenges in the United States and around the world, it is more important than ever to recognize how we use limited resources  and what we waste along the way. Agriculture is a major source of pollutants that produce algae blooms and dead zones in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico and other water bodies. Large livestock farms generate air pollution that can be hazardous to human health. More than half of respondents in our survey (51 percent) were willing to pay higher prices for foods with a less damaging impact on the environment, but consumers need to know how food is produced before they can take action.

Food safetyHalf of respondents in the poll (50 percent) expressed concern over the safety of food available for purchase in their community. This included 56 percent of those earning an annual household income of US$75,000 or more and 46 percent of those earning less than $75,000.

They are right to be worried. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million Americans become sick from food-borne illnesses every year. These events lead to 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths from viruses such as hepatitis A and norovirus, and bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter. The more we understand about how these bugs are transmitted, and how to store and handle food safely, the better we can protect our families and ourselves.

Global food securityThe United Nations currently projects that the worlds population will rise from 7.5 billion today to 9.7 billion people by 2050. If food production fails to keep pace with anticipated growth, billions of people will go hungry. The biggest 21st-century agricultural challenge we face will be to produce more grains, fruits and vegetables on less land with fewer resources in the face of climate change.

The vast majority of scientists agree that one tool for meeting growing global food demand will be developing genetically modified crops that can survive with less fertilizer or water, promote disease resistance, improve yield or add vitamins for malnourished communities in the developing world.

Unfortunately, the poll found that much of the public does not embrace the promise of transgenic agriculture. Although genetically modified organisms are currently found in over 75 percent of packaged food in the United States, and we encounter them daily in corn, sugar and soy, most Americans remain unaware of their potential. Forty-six percent of poll respondents either dont know whether they consume GMOs or believe they rarely or never do.

While the Food and Drug Administration has said that genetically modified foods are safe, large and vocal advocacy groups continue to stoke public fears and influence consumer choices away from their adoption. The result is widespread misinformation and mistrust, which ultimately sets back progress toward allowing the technology to meet its full potential domestically and internationally.

Mistrustful of expertsWhen it comes to food, many Americans do not trust experts. Just 59 percent of respondents in our survey said that they trusted information from academic scientists on nutrition and food safety. Less than half (49 percent) trusted government scientists, and only one-third (33 percent) trusted industry scientists.

Instead, consumers wade through conflicting recommendations from friends, relatives and celebrities that compete with fake news online for attention. Meanwhile, advertisements and talking heads argue over the health benefits of staples like chocolate and coffee. This may explain why a 2016 Morning Consult/New York Times survey found that nutritionists and Americans have vastly different ideas about what kinds of foods can be called healthy.

Consumers face the exhausting task of sifting through the noise for reliable and accurate information on food. Unfortunately, its often difficult to find objective experts to listen to their concerns and provide answers that are grounded in science and easy to understand and put into practice.

Food for thought, and conversationOur Food Literacy and Engagement Poll is intended to provide baseline data for what Americans know about a variety of food topics. A centerpiece of Food@MSU, called Our Table, will bring scientists, farmers, consumers and policy experts together to explore issues ranging from organic farming and health to GM crops and sustainability. Over time, the poll will track public attitudes to guide research, as well as allow us to listen to consumers in order to help them make informed decisions about food.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/americans-are-confused-about-food-and-unsure-where-to-turn-for-answers-survey-shows-82124.
BAYARD  Stepping inside the pen at the Hagels farm south of Bayard, one is almost immediately greeted by a handful of curious critters who will playfully nibble at your shirt tails if youre not paying close attention.

The farm was the first stop of the Nebraska Sheep and Goat Producers Associations Fall tour and meeting.

Around 1999, Diana and Virgil Hagel and began with raising Fainter goats north of Minatare, however after a few years they realized that Fainters were a novelty and not very profitable.

About eight years ago, the Hagels switched to Boer goats, and were one of the first families to bring the South African breed to Western Nebraska. Theyve since moved to their current farm, and run their business as Chimney Rock Boer Goats.

As we get older, we worry about how a cow or a bull might knock you over, Virgil said. With goats, theres not much worry about that except maybe with the bucks, but its not as bad.

Through the years, theyve stayed in close touch with the industry, with Virgil serving as a past president of the Nebraska Sheep and Goat Producers Association.

I can honestly say (Virgil) showed more leadership and worked harder on membership than anyone Ive ever been acquainted with, Ivan Rush, who led the associations tour, said. Hes always had a passion for the sheep and goat industry.

Rush said he would have never been involved in the association had it not been for Hagel.

There was a truck parked out in front of the house one day, and he came up to my door, Rush said. He said, I see youve got sheep. You need to become a member.

Today the Hagels operate a closed herd with about 50 breedable does at any time. From their foundation bloodline, they strive for hot genetics and try to introduce a new male each year, using the females as replacements.

When buying a new male, the Hagels scout for award-winners on the national level. In the herd are five mature bucks sired out of some top Boer pedigrees, such as Collateral Damage, AK-47, Captain America and Status Quo.

A lot of the times you cant buy those names this year, but maybe you can buy them a couple years down the line, Virgil said.

While there are similar traits among the bucks in his herd, most buyers are searching for the traditional South African look, especially with goats who carry dappled (spotted) genes.

One of the things in the Boer goat industry right now is not just the meat. Uts the color that will ring the cash register, he said. You dont think about it, but $50 or $100 when youre selling a goat is $50 or $100 in your billfold to buy corn or hay.

In the summers, the Hagels graze their goats on a seven acre pasture. Once that is grazed off, they purchase alfalfa hay and feed nutrient supplements.

The farms location on the Highway gives the quality goats in the herd high-visibility from passers by.

The younger ones here in the pen are a bit shinier, Virgil said. They get groceries every morning and every evening  I might even give them a hug now and then.

Feeds designed for goats can get expensive, especially in Western Nebraska where goats are not as common. However, the Hagels have adapted to what works, and use a mixture of calf creep and alfalfa sheep pellets from Platte Valley Ag Products. Copper is also added to the goats water. Beef mineral has also proven useful for feeding to the goats versus higher priced goat-specific mixes. Virgil said it takes experimentation to figure out what works best.

One aspect where the Hagels differ from other producers is that they do not vaccinate their herd.

We worm and thats it, Virgil said. We use a little penicillin if they have an injury or an eye problem, but thats about all.

Goats are pretty tough, and if you doubt that youve never been kicked by one.

A lot of the young animals are sold as 4-H projects, with demands for does increasing from previous buyers.

To me thats a pat on the back, because they see those genetics are going to make their herd a little bit better, Virgil said.

The rest of the goats are being marketed by word of mouth and private treaty sales. However, one wither (castrated male goat) out of their herd sold for $2,500 at the Morrill County Fair in 2016.

I think that was kind of a put-on deal, but its still bragging rights, Virgil said. Its all about what people see and what they perceive that they want.

Virgil hesitated to say that he culls bad traits from his herd, but he doesnt like to keep problem goats around.

When they get to where they dont look thrifty to us, or they dont fit into the herd, we get them out of there, he said. One bad apple can break down the whole herd. Its tough to sell that animal, but there are better ones in line behind them.

Virgil and Diana take pride in their inventory, and keep a simple philosophy.

If you start with good stuff at the beginning, youll get good stuff at the end, Virgil said.

And the cycle of raising the animals from kid to adult also provides nourishment for their souls.

I could pay $200 an hour for a psychiatrist or buy a ton of hay, Virgil said. The psychiatrist wont make me happy. The goats will.
LINCOLN  This summer season has brought multiple natural disasters that have been disrupting lands across the Nation. Raging fires in the northwest to the Hurricanes hitting the coast in the south/southeast. Nebraska Cattlemen has gathered information on a few ways members and others can donate to the already established relief efforts.

Hurricane Harvey Relief in Texas

To donate to the Texas Flood Relief Efforts contact Eldon White at ewhite@tscra.org. For more information visit: www.tscra.org/relieffund.

Donations may be made online here: http://tinyurl.com/relieffund, or checks may also be mailed to:

Cattle Raisers Relief Fund

TSCRF

1600 Gendy Street

Fort Worth, TX 76107

In other efforts, the All American Beef Battalion (AABB) has been grilling up thousands of protein-rich burgers for those in need. In a collaborative effort, the AABB is joining forces with the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) with support from three of the main Packers in the U.S., National Beef, Cargill and Tyson, all of whom have donated tens of thousands of pounds of meat. To support the efforts of the AABB and to make sure they dont run out of chips, buns, and drinks all contributions can be made payable to:

Kansas Livestock Foundation

6031 SW 37th Street

Topeka, KS 66614.

MEMO: Burger Feed.

(785) 273-5115

Also, the Animal Science Graduate Student Assoc. (ASGSA) of UNL is collecting monetary donations to be used to purchase livestock feed for livestock and horses affected by Hurricane Harvey. All donations will go directly to purchase of feed and supplies. Supplies will be transported to La Porte, TX by a member of ASGSA. Donations can be made at: www.gofundme.com/ASGSALivestockRelief

Wild Fire Relief in Montana

The Montana Stockgrowers Foundation has been sending donations on locally to organizations like the Garfield County Fire Foundation. If fires and drought continue to impact producers in other parts of the state the Montana Stockgrowers plans to direct donations to those locations.

Donations can be made directly to Garfield County Fire Foundation by sending a check to:

Garfield County Bank

PO Box 6

Jordan, MT 59337

(406) 557-2201

or send to:

Redwater Valley Bank

PO Box 60, Circle, MT 59215

(406) 485-4782

Make a general donation to the Montana Stockgrowers Foundation here: https://secure.mtbeef.org/np/clients/mtbeef/donation.jsp

As you are making donations to charities and disaster relief programs please be cautious of the possibility of scammers, we encourage you to know where your money and efforts are going. For more information on this please visit: https://tinyurl.com/yad2tuo3

Nebraska Cattlemen appreciates all of the efforts put forth by our members and citizens of Nebraska. We know and truly believe if disaster strikes our beloved State our friends and neighbors across the nation will be there to help put us back together.

As more information becomes available Nebraska Cattlemen will keep people updated via social and media outlets. We are truly grateful for any efforts put forth by NC members to help our friends during this troubled time.
MITCHELL  Brock Terrell didnt originally start out in the sheep industry.

And the Hay Springs farmer and 2002 South Dakota State University Graduate told Nebraska Sheep and Goat Proudcers Assocition members that he kind of got into it by accident.

The drought in 2012 caused significant losses to his familys farm, and almost nearly wiped out their entire field corn crop.

There were kernels of corn laying over the field, so I talked to a sheep producer from Colorado and asked what he thought about putting sheep on there, Terrell said.

A sheep producer in Vail, Colorado, took interest, due to the then-$400 per ton price for alfalfa hay and the four feet of snow that hit the Rockies during that winter.

Within a couple weeks, we had about 700 whiteface ewes out grazing the corn, Terrell said. We had an agreement to get the sheep out by March, but the snow was still too deep, so he asked to stay for a couple more weeks.

Terrell said that they then agreed on a new date of April 15. When that day rolled around, Terrell made a call and the producer said his trucks would be in Hay Springs on April 19 to pick up the ewes.

On April 17, his wife called and said he died of a heart attack the night before, Terrell said. She didnt want the sheep, and asked if there was any way we could get them to Ft. Collins to sell them.

However, when Terrell called down to the sale barn in Ft. Collins, there was no interested buyers.

We were in a drought, the sheep didnt lamb till June, and they told me they wouldnt bring anything, he said. I asked them, How much is not anything?

After the sale barn shot him a quote, he called back the producers widow and negotiated a price.

The sheep, the guard dogs, the horses and the sheep wagon  the whole nine yards came in one fell swoop, Terrell said. Without that accident, it would have been a lot more difficult for us to jump in on that scale.

Today with1,600 ewes the Terrells also run 1,300 head of mother cows, and 1,200 animal units a month of custom grazing, with a herd of dry cows and a herd of replacements. They have cows from about 14 different states, and sheep from about five. They tend to quickly de-stock and re-stock herds.

We kind of go wherever theres an opportunity, Terrell said.

They graze about 38,000 acres of native grasslands, and 5,500 acres of irrigated pasture and leased crop residue. Around Hay Springs, its mostly sandhills rangeland, but Terrell said they plant several cover crops from turnips to sorghum sudangrass in order to help enhance their grazing flexibility.

The benefits to cover crops is theyre nutrient scavengers, Terrell said. Turnips will dig down and get nitrogen and bring it back up to the soil surface, releasing it in the Spring.

While he wasnt sure if the cover crops regime has made drastic improvements tO soil quality, it certainly doesnt hurt.

Its not harmful to our soils to have plants growing and biodiversity, he said. They have a high feed value, and last long into the winter.

The economics of the cover crops are about a wash, with enough value to cover the grazing.

Were not going to get rich off cover crops, but were not going broke doing it, he said. You dont have to start a feed truck to go and deliver it. Its there in the natural environment.

Terrell said they will usually turn out rams on the ewes about shortly before Christmas, and usually begin lambing around May 20. He started out breeding the ewes with blackface bucks, at a ratio of 50 to 1 for about 90 days. He has had some issues with the original herd coming from the high elevation in Vail, to dealing with a lower elevation and higher humidity in Hay Springs. Since then, theyve tried to maintain their own replacements from the herd.

All of the ewes are ultra-sounded to ensure they are bred, a two-day process for about 1,600 head. Terrell estimated that they can get through about 65 to 80 ewes an hour.

When it comes to sheering, Terrells Merino ewes yielded 20 micron wool, with about a 15 to 16 pound fleece. Terrell said the sheerer will come down from Strugis, South Dakota, and that he markets his wool to Center of the Nation in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.

When lambing, the herders will lamb the ewes in the pasture, moving the heavies twice a day and sorting them into small groups of about 30. As the lambing progresses, the herd will be reunited into groups of 100, and then back to the full herd.

Its kind of a slow process, Terrell said. Well hit about 85 percent before we throw them back together in the full herd.

Troubled ewes are staked down or tied together to keep them from wandering off. Terrell said grafting orphan lambs to a ewe is a bit easier than grafting orphan calves to a cow.

Terrells herders are from Peru, and come to the United States on H-2A Visas. Mountain Plains Ag Service in Casper, Wyoming, recruits the herders, and oversees all of the Department of Labor regulations.

Its a little bit of a hassle with the government, Terrell said. They keep a pretty tight thumb on you. You have to dot your Is and cross your Ts.

Terrell said that versus Peru, where the average worker makes $5 a day, working as a herder in the United States is an advantage. Terrell said he feels the program is a great humanitarian aid to countries like Peru and Mexico, where workers often struggle to make a living wage.

We provide them with food, shelter, clothing  everything that they need, he said. All of their money pretty much goes back to their families.
LINGLE, Wyo.  Dates for one of the premiere production beef cattle symposiums in the country have been set.

This years XXV Range Beef Cow Symposium (RBCS) is Tuesday-Thursday, Nov. 28-30, at the Little America Resort and Convention Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Steve Paisley, University of Wyoming Extension beef cattle specialist, said.

More than 25 speakers will address beef production topics such as nutrition, marketing, health, reproduction, consumer demand and current industry issues.

The Range Beef Cow Symposium is a great opportunity to listen to nationally recognized speakers on a wide variety of topics, said Paisley, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science in UWs College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Started in 1969 at Chadron, and held every other year, the RBCS is organized by the animal science departments of Colorado State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, South Dakota State University and UW. The event rotates between Colorado, western Nebraska, western South Dakota and Wyoming.

The event focuses on beef production issues in the western states.

The symposium has continued to grow in popularity and is now recognized as one of the premiere production beef cattle symposiums in the country, Paisley said.

The RBCS regularly attracts attendees from across the region and more than 80 agribusiness booth vendors for the three-day event.

Paisley said nightly Bull Pen Sessions are one of the most popular aspects of the RBCS. The invited speakers are brought back as panelists and are available for informal question-and-answer sessions.

The symposium begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday and concludes Thursday with a half-day cattle-handling workshop. Additional information such as agenda, registration and lodging is available at Rangebeefcow.com.

For more information, contact Paisley at 307-837-2000 at the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center near Lingle or spaisley@uwyo.edu.
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Musician and writer Dave Bidini, centre, poses with staff members (left to right)Jalani Morgan, Janet Morassutti, Susan Grimbly, Melanie Morassutti and Robyn Colangelo in Toronto on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. Bidini is launching a monthly newspaper, the non-profit West End Phoenix, that is focussed on a downtown Toronto area.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives
A girl holds a sign calling for the removal of the honourary Canadian citizenship of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, during a rally calling on the Canadian government to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
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Rita McCracken, a family doctor in Vancouver, is seen in this handout photo from February 2015. McCracken and other physicians want Finance Minister Bill Morneau to press ahead with proposed tax reforms many other doctors oppose. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Andru McCracken
FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2015, file photo, a U.S. flag flies at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba. The Associated Press has obtained a recording of what some U.S. Embassy workers heard in Havana, part of the series of unnerving incidents later deemed to be deliberate attacks. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, File)
Hundreds of people gather outside a local theatre for an event to support the Catalonia independence referendum in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. Political tensions in Spain are increasing as the proposed independence voting date of Oct. 1 nears. The Catalan government has been scrambling to push forward the vote, despite the central government's warnings that local municipalities are not allowed to use public buildings for it and mayors can be legally prosecuted for it. (AP Photo/Paul White)
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A "troublemaker" teenager arrested at the Port of Dover following the Parsons Green attack was arrested earlier this month but freed by cops, neighbours have claimed.

Kent Police officers yesterday (September 16) arrested the 18-year-old on suspicion of a terrorist offence in a departure area at Dover port following the attack on Friday which left 30 people injured.

And now, The Mirror reports the suspect, who was believed to be taken in by elderly foster carers in Surrey, was arrested near Parsons Green earlier this month and "kept getting in trouble with the police."

The Met Police said it would not comment on reports the teenager, who has not yet been named, was arrested before Friday's incident.

Just hours after the teen was surrounded by several armed officers at the Port of Dover departure lounge , police raided the home of foster parents Ronald, 89, and Penelope Jones, 71.

The pair, who live around 100 miles away from the Kent town in Surrey, were awarded with MBEs in 2009 for caring for over 250 vulnerable children and have been branded 'amazing' by their neighbours.

Some of their foster children include refugees from war-torn countries Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan while they were believed to have been helping Surrey County Council with a scheme relocating Syrian nationals.

One resident told The Mirror : "One of the men living there was a real troublemaker.

(Image: Harvey Solomon-Brady)

"We heard he was arrested near Parsons Green earlier this month, I think he was from Syria, but never spoke to him so couldn't say for sure.

"They were such a lovely couple it often seemed that some of the people they took in were taking advantage of them, particularly this one.

"I imagine they will have been very shocked by the police today, Ronald in particular is nearly 90 - he's a frail man. You have to feel sorry for them."

Serena Barber, 47, who has known the couple all her life and lives in a property near the couples', added: "I know about two weeks ago he was arrested by police at Parsons Green, for what I don't know and returned back to Penny and Ron.

"After that Penny said she was going to have to stop caring for him, she couldn't handle him."

Former neighbour Nikki Nicholass said: "They took on troubled kids. They changed kids lifes for the better."

"They do not deserve this."

(Image: Harvey Solomon-Brady)

A woman, who lives opposite, added: ''I am so worried about Ron and Penny, they are a lovely couple.



''I hear they have been taken away for questioning. I don't understand."

A police chief earlier referred to the arrest in Dover as "significant" in the investigation into the terror attack - but said the public should "remain vigilant".

But when approached about yesterday's arrest, the Port of Dover said they 'could not comment'.

The terror threat has been lowered from "critical" to "severe" following the arrest of the teen and a 21-year-old in Hounslow, West London yesterday.
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Drivers using the Dartford Crossing are charged every time they pass between Kent and Essex.

This can amount to a lot if you use it regularly.

Any other reality is difficult to imagine but it wasn't always supposed to be this way.

So what was supposed to have happened?

Under the original agreement when the bridge was built, tolling was supposed to stop once it had paid for itself, which was almost 15 years ago.

In February 1999, the government announced the Dartford Crossing would be free of toll charges by the end of 2003.

Motoring organisations - and drivers themselves - welcomed the news.

But in 2001, it was revealed that the government had backtracked out of the initial agreement, and there was outrage from all angles.

When did the charge come in?

The powers to introduce a charge were agreed by Parliament in the Transport Act 2000, and the charge was introduced in 2003 following a consultation exercise.

At the time, the AA Motoring Trust told the BBC the government had broken its promise to scrap the toll.

The trust said the then government pledged to parliament and the AA that the fee would cease when the cost of the crossing had been paid for and a maintenance fund accumulated.

(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Paul Watters, from the trust, said: "It is no wonder motorists don't trust the way they are taxed and treated by governments.

"The 150,000 drivers who use the Dartford crossing each day have a right to be outraged that they will still have to pay."

The trust said money raised from the tolls would not necessary go to local transport improvements.

It said funds would be used to pay for the 10 years transport plan, which means it could be used for schemes across the country.

A Department for Transport spokesman, said: "Monies raised will only be spent on transport improvements, which will affect motorists."

And in a response to an Freedom of Information Request regarding the continuation of tolls in 2009, the Department for Transport said: "The original intention was to remove tolls when the costs of the Bridge had been recovered.

"However, traffic levels have risen far faster than projected and an earlier study has indicated that removal of toll charges would increase traffic levels by 17 per cent on 2003 levels."

Despite the fact over a decade has passed since the news broke, commuters and public figures alike have remained appalled that the tolls are still in place.

AA president Edmund King told the Evening Standard in 2012: "Long-distance travellers from the UK and Europe, freight, business and regional users have all been sold down the river by successive governments through the unnecessary perpetuation of tolls and lack of future capacity at Dartford.

"Tolling was supposed to pay for the Dartford Bridge and then end, which would have been in 2003. However, it became a nice little earner which raises around 70 million a year."

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He went on: "To keep charges here with the aim of deterring traffic is crazy as the crossing is on one of the most important motorways in Europe, keeping traffic away from London and communities in south east England.

"Ramping up the tolls when the majority of users have no alternative about the time and place they cross the Thames is simply impractical and a bridge too far in road charging."

How much did it cost and how much does it cost now?

After negotiations with the Ministry of Transport, Kent and Essex County Councils first obtained government approval to charge tolls in 1960, before opening.

The toll was originally two shillings and sixpence, equivalent to 12.5p.

The Dartford Tunnel Act 1967 gave Kent and Essex County Councils authority to change the tolls, and in December 1977, the toll was raised from 25p to 35p for cars, 40p to 55p for 2 axle goods vehicles, and 60p to 85p for HGVs.

By 1984, the toll for cars had risen to 60p.

Which all sounds like a small drop in ocean compared to the 2.50 a car is now charged to cross.
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Tunbridge Wells' tip will close tomorrow (Monday) leaving town residents with a 35-mile round trip to dispose of their rubbish.

The North Farm site will shut for 10 weeks at 4pm today. Its projected reopening date is Monday November 27.

The closure is to carry out repairs sustained during a fire last October which put the site out of action for four months.

Kent County Council, which runs the site, said upgrading work would also be carried out.

Residents are advised to travel 17 miles up the road to the Dunbrik depot in Sundridge on the outskirts of Sevenoaks.

Where is Dunbrik and how do I get there?

Getting to Dunbrik isn't too complicated - if a bit of a trek. Drive up the A21 towards London and take the A25 turn off for Westerham.

Once on the A25 it's about a minute away on the right hand side providing the road is clear. Be warned, however, traffic jams are common during peak times.

Alternatively - if there's trouble on the A21 - you can take a back route through Penshurst and Ide Hill. It's about the same distance - and a lot prettier - but will take a fair bit longer during normal conditions.
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Police have arrested a second man as part of the anti-terror operation which saw Dover Port evacuated yesterday.

The arrest follows Friday's terrorist attack on London Underground at Parsons Green station.

Yesterday an 18-year-old was arrested in the departure area of Dover Port. The port was subsequently evacuated and police last night revealed "a number of items" had been recovered .

This morning the Met confirmed another arrest has taken place.

A spokesman said: "The 21-year-old man [B] was arrested in Hounslow at around 23:50hrs on Saturday, 16 September.

"He was arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act and taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody.

"Anyone with footage or images from the incident at Parsons Green is asked to upload them at www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk where they will be looked at by investigators.

"Anyone with information is urged to call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321 or, in an emergency, always call 999."
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The teenage suspect reportedly behind the Parsons Green terror attack "didn't see" his arrest coming at the Port of Dover as armed police stopped him from fleeing the country.

Eyewitness reports state that the 18-year-old appeared shocked and "froze" on the spot as officers arrested him at the Dover port ticket office yesterday morning (September 16).

According to The Mirror , holidaymakers were sipping coffee and enjoying their breakfasts when seven officers, believed to be acting on a tip-off from port staff, captured the suspect and ushered him away in handcuffs.

The witness said: "He didn't see it coming.

"As the officers arrived behind him he froze and appeared stunned."

Heightened security saw armed police on the streets all over Britain following the District Line bomb attack at Parsons Green Tube station on Friday (September 15).

The teenage suspect had been trying to leave the UK as a foot passenger on a Dover ferry at 7.50am  almost 24 hours after the blast in London, which injured 30 people.

Police said potentially vital evidence found at the port had been seized during the arrest.

A statement from Met Police said: "Officers from Kent Police partially evacuated the Port of Dover at around 11.40am Saturday morning. This was to enable them to search the premises as a precautionary measure

"They recovered a number of items during this search."

The Sunday Mirror reports officers said these items could prove vital in helping detectives probing the attack.

A port worker said: "He was surrounded by about seven police officers after he came in to buy a ticket.

"It was all done very quickly and quietly. There was no sign of a struggle. It was difficult to see him or what he looked like because they moved towards him so fast."

Ghiocal Duculescu, from Romania, was sitting in the port terminal at the time of the arrest.

He said: "There was no fuss or drama. He must have walked right past us and then been taken away quickly into a back room."

It is understood the suspect had travelled from London Victoria by train then walked 30 minutes from Dover Priory to the port.

Around three hours later, police in black boiler suits evacuated the terminal, conducting a forensic search of the area and bins outside the port.

Three officers were seen taking a sniffer dog into toilets and unlocked rooms just after 6pm.

They were also spotted checking the insides of parked cars with torches. An officer told one concerned member of the public they were carrying out extended searches "just to be on the safe side".

Further police probes were also carried out at the Dover Priory station.

The suspect was questioned by anti-terror police at the port before being driven away in a convoy of cars with flashing blue lights at 12.30pm, and is being held at a secure South London police station.

Kevin Rodgers, 58, a retired Kent Police officer, was up a ladder decorating the outside of his house above the entrance to the port at the time of the drama.

He said: "We saw three unmarked cars with their blue lights flashing drive out of the port at speed towards the A2."

The Met Office's Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, Neil Basu, said: "At approximately 7.50am Saturday morning, local police officers in Kent arrested an 18-year-old man in the departure area of the Port of Dover.

"He was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. He has now been transferred to custody at a police station in London."
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The terror threat level has been reduced from "critical" to "severe" after a teenager arrested at the Port of Dover was among two taken into custody in conjunction with the Parsons Green Tube terror attack.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), which determines the terror threat level, had decided that "sufficient progress" has been made in the Parsons Green investigation to lower the threat.

She said: "The Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre which reviews the threat level that the UK is under have decided to lower than level from critical to severe."

"Severe" means a terrorist attack is thought to be highly likely, whereas "critical" suggests it is imminent.

Soldiers who had been drafted in to guard public sites in order to free up police resources will "return to their original positions" over the next few days, Ms Rudd said.

The downgrading comes after Theresa May upped the level on Friday and warned another attack could be "imminent" following the shocking bomb blast.

It also follows the arrest of an 18-year-old at the Port of Dover and a 21-year-old in Hounslow, West London.

Officers have also carried out a series of armed raids across the country as Scotland Yard continue to hunt for the suspect responsible for the attack.

In a statement Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said: "The high pace and rapid progress of this investigation is continuing.

"There was another arrest overnight and two men are in custody. There are now two searches continuing at addresses in Hounslow and Surrey and we are getting a greater understanding of the preparation of the device.

"There is still much more to do but this greater clarity and this progress has led JTAC  the independent body that assess threat  to come to the judgement that an attack is no longer imminent.

"And you will have heard consequently the Home Secretary's announcement that the threat level has reduced from Critical to Severe which of course means that an attack is highly likely."

He added: "Members of the public will be wondering what that means in terms of their travel into work tomorrow.

"For practical and precautionary reasons we made the decision that the increased resources will continue for the beginning of this week. So the public will still see that high level of policing presence; some armed, some unarmed.

"The military support we have had in place under Operation Temperer will start to phase out as we move through the coming week.

"There are detailed and well-rehearsed plans in place to ensure a smooth transition from Operation Temperer, and military personnel will remain at readiness to deploy in support of the police should future security situations require.

"I want to stress however, that specialist teams, well-rehearsed at dealing with major incidents, continue to provide a strong visible presence throughout the capital and across the UK."

If you see something you are worried about or know somebody you are worried call the Anti-Terrorism Hotline 0800 789 321 or report online by visiting www.gov.uk/ACT.
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A 600-year-old Kent tree is in the running to be crowned the nation's favourite.

To win, the hornbeam at Scotney Castle will have to beat off nine other trees shortlisted for the England Tree of the Year 2017.

Now in its fourth year, the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year contest will also see winners from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and one tree will represent the home nations in the 2018 European Tree of the Year contest.

Its entry on the Woodland Trust website says: "The hornbeam at the National Trust's Scotney Castle was planted as part of a wood pasture around the 1400s and it forms a major part in the historical, ecological, and cultural part of the Scotney Estate

"As the land around it was historically grazed by animals, and still is today, the tree has been managed as a pollard rather than a coppice.

"The hornbeam would have been harvested on an annual basis with the stems being removed at around 8ft, bundled up as faggots, and then used by the local community as household fuel.

"Once the stems had been removed the tree would be left to allow any new growth to develop and then it would be re-pollarded the following year for more firewood.

"Legend has it a tonic made from hornbeam was said to relieve tiredness and exhaustion, and its leaves were used to stop bleeding and heal wounds."

Expert panels have shortlisted 10 trees in England and six in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for voters to choose from.

Supported by players of People's Postcode Lottery, the shortlisted trees are also in with a chance of winning a 1,000 care award.

The award can be used to arrange a health check from an arboriculturist, provide interpretation or educational materials or simply hold a celebratory event in honour of the tree.

"Fantastic trees"

Beccy Speight, Woodland Trust chief executive, said: "Once again the public have nominated many fantastic trees with truly inspirational stories, which highlight how intrinsic trees are in peoples' lives.

"It's a reminder of why we need to care for individual trees and that they still need true protection in law from development or mismanagement."

Clara Govier, head of charities at People's Postcode Lottery added: "We are delighted that with our players' support, the Woodland Trust is able to provide this opportunity for communities all over Britain to celebrate and care for their fantastic trees."

The European Tree of the Year contest, run by the Environmental Partnership Association since 2011, looks for the best loved trees from nations across Europe. This year, Wales' Brimmon Oak was the runner-up in the competition, the best result so far for a UK entry.
The Queen had a secret speech prepared in case World War III broke out, startling papers from 1983 have revealed.



During one of the most fraught Cold War periods, the monarch was prepared to address the nation in the event of nuclear conflict.



In the script for the hypothetical broadcast, it is stated that Queen Elizabeth would describe the threat to our "brave country" as "greater" than any other in history...

'PRAY AND REMAIN UNITED 'The Queen had a secret speech prepared in case World War III happened and heres what it says



RevealedBy Hayley Richardson16th September 2017THE Queen had a secret speech prepared in case World War III broke out, startling papers from 1983 have revealed.During one of the most fraught Cold War periods, the monarch was prepared to address the nation in the event of nuclear conflict.In the script for the hypothetical broadcast, it is stated that Queen Elizabeth would describe the threat to our "brave country" as "greater" than any other in history.It also pays homage to the Queen's son, Prince Andrew , who was serving in the Royal Navy at the time.The speech, which was devised by Whitehall officials but never recorded, has recently been released by the government under the 30-year rule It was drawn up as part of a war-gaming exercise in the spring of 1983, which assessed and prepared for potential scenarios.The script was written with a mind to it being broadcast by The Queen at midday on Friday 4 March, 1983, to prepare the country for World War III.It begins by referring to her festive address the previous December, before going on to explain that "the horrors of war could not have seemed more remote as my family and I shared our Christmas joy with the growing family of the Commonwealth".The address continues: "Now, this madness of war is once more spreading through the world and our brave country must again prepare itself to survive against great odds."I have never forgotten the sorrow and the pride I felt as my sister and I huddled around the nursery wireless set listening to my father's [George VI's] inspiring words on that fateful day in 1939 [at the start of the World War II]."Not for a single moment did I imagine that this solemn and awful duty would one day fall to me."But whatever terrors lie in wait for us all, the qualities that have helped to keep our freedom intact twice already during this sad century will once more be our strength."My husband and I share with families up and down the land the fear we feel for sons and daughters, husbands and brothers who have left our side to serve their country."My beloved son Andrew is at this moment in action with his unit and we pray continually for his safety and for the safety of all servicemen and women at home and overseas."It is this close bond of family life that must be our greatest defence against the unknown."If families remain united and resolute, giving shelter to those living alone and unprotected, our country's will to survive cannot be broken."It concludes by saying the Queen's message to the nation was "simple", adding: "As we strive together to fight off the new evil, let us pray for our country and men of goodwill wherever they may be. God Bless you all."At this time, tensions were rife between the Soviet Union and the United States.On August 30, 1983 Soviet jet fighters intercepted a Korean Airlines passenger flight in Russian airspace and shot it down, killing all 269 on-board.A nuclear war with the Soviet Union was almost triggered two months later when an annual Nato military exercise - code-named Able Archer - was perceived to be a genuine attack.As the Cold War came to an end, the Soviet Union and the United States later negotiated a reduction in the number of nuclear weapons.In August we reported how World War III could happen in 2017 , with threats from North Korea, Syria, Putin and Isis "worse than during the Cold War".From a deadly computer glitch to the submarine crewman who persuaded his captain not to launch nukes, these are the chilling Cold War moments when we stared oblivion in the face
Martin Cody was born and raised in Kilkenny but his role as General Manager of the Four Seasons Safari Lodge in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania in eastern Africa is a world away from the Marble City.

Martin, 38, is the youngest of four brothers with his parents, Martin and Noreen, still living on the Callan Road.

The Kilkenny native says while he does miss his family, he is not pining for home. Martin says he enjoys his work and travelling the world. He spends his days surrounded by the big five in the animal world which includes: elephants, lions, leopards, buffaloes and rhinos.

Speaking to the Kilkenny People, he said: Tanzania is a very nice part of the world, its not for everybody. The nearest town is an eight-hour drive away.

There are lots of lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and giraffes. The hotel is right in the middle of the national park.

The attractions vary at different times of the year and many of the guests travel to the hotel to see the migration of two and a half million wildebeests from one end of the national park to the other.

While it might sound like Martin is living the dream, he works incredibly long days in a demanding hotel business.

On its website the hotel boasts a facility deep within Africas first game reserve...the Safari Lodge welcomes you to a sanctuary of Four Seasons comfort.

Martin said: Morning time I spend meeting guests then wed have a daily hotel meeting about guests, their needs and then maybe an office catch-up.

Id say its 50% office time and 50% walking the property and meeting guests.

Its hard work as anyone who works in hotels will know, Id work a minimum of a 12-hour day and on busy days youll do more. The hotel is busy, this is our busiest year since we opened.

Guests can get up close and intimate with lions, leopards and elephants, yet always feel safe and pampered.

Martin travelled to London in 2001 when he began working for the Four Seasons and he says the average length of service in the company before people become a General Manager is 18 years.

He came into the hotel chain at entry level because as Martin says himself, the company prefers to teach people themselves and if youre prepared to transfer to different locations there are always opportunities.

Martin worked in London for four years with the Four Seasons and decided to travel again  this time for the hotel company  and ended up working in the Maldives and Hawaii among other places.

He spent two years in the Maldives, as front office manager, along with two years in Hawaii overseeing the rooms division.

In 2010 he returned to Asia, spending six months in Langkawi near Malaysia before returning to the Maldives for four more years as director of rooms and resort manager.

From there he moved to his current location in Tanzania.

On his time in Hawaii, Martin said: It was very nice, an idyllic, beach paradise location.

He says Tanzania is a little different and when asked if the language and culture is difficult to come to terms with, he said: It can be. You pick-up the basics of the language (Swahili) while the hotel and front of house operates through English.

Martin has worked in most continents: Europe, America, Asia and Africa over the last 16 years.

He has very much caught the travelling bug since he left for London 16 years ago and from the sounds of it, he wont be stopping anytime soon.

The Four Seasons brand took over the Safari Lodge in December 2012 and Martin says they will celebrate their fifth anniversary at the end of this year.

There are up to 300 staff at the hotel all of whom live on site. Martin says the hotel produces its own water by boreholing down for it and they have their own generators too for electricity.

Facilities at the hotel include a gym, TV lounge, bar and games room for employees to enjoy during their down time. Martin has climbed Kilimanjaro twice in the last two years  even taking a Kilkenny t-shirt to the top.

The mountain in Tanzania is the highest peak on the African continent at 5,895 metres.

Martin also enjoys travelling the world and seeing other parts of Africa too. He says he gets home to Kilkenny once or twice a year and was last home at the end of April.

He added: I miss family. I miss going out to matches but I dont sit here pining to go back. If I was, then Id go but Im enjoying travelling too much.
On Friday, local residents had the opportunity to get outside and enjoy a lunch of grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, and assortment of other refreshments courtesy of First State Bank and Trust & Company.

The complimentary meal was part of the banks Fan of Free Tailgate event that took place at all four of locally owned branches across town.

The idea is just to celebrate, introduce ourselves to new customers and have some fun doing it, Nick Verba, Senior Vice President at FSB, said at the companys downtown branch.

Along with spending the day grilling up plenty of hotdogs and hamburgers for local residents, the goal of the annual event is to act as an icebreaker for customers interested in opening a free checking account with First State Bank & Trust Company.

We did this last year and had a goal of opening 60 accounts and actually opened 70, Verba said. So this year we upped our overall goal to 70 and we will probably blow that out of the water.

Right around noon the company had already helped 25 new customers open accounts, and Verba was confident that they would meet, if not exceed their goal for the day.

Lunchtime is obviously a big time for this event, and we usually finish really strong, he said.

Along with customers getting to enjoy a free meal and open a free account, they could also enter to win a number of prizes offered during the event, most of which also featured a tailgate theme.

There are a lot of free gifts inside as well, so if people open a free account they can register to win speakers, crockpots, and a bunch of other stuff, Verba said.

One grand prize awarded bank wide, included a Yeti Tundra 50 cooler and two Yeti 30 oz. Ramblers.

While opening 70 new accounts was the businesses main goal, they also wanted to let people know about the full variety of services offered at all First State Bank & Trust Company locations in Fremont.

We provide savings, checking, loans, mortgage loans, commercial loans all that stuff, Verba said. Think of it as concentric circles that centers on banking, deposits, and loans all the various types of loans and as you move out you move into investment planning and trust services, so its a one stop shop.

First State Bank & Trust Company started in Fremont in 1956 and has continued to expand, adding new branches in 1974, 1988, and 2000 to include the four branches it currently runs today.

We are the only wholly locally owned bank in Fremont, Verba said. That is what kinds of sets us apart, weve been here a long time.

Even though Friday was the only day for residents and potential customers to enjoy free food provided by the bank, opening a checking account is free all year long.

Its available any day of the year, Verba said.

First States four locations include their Main Branch at 1005 E. 23rd Street, Downtown Branch at 225 N Main Street, Parkview Branch at 1965 E Military Avenue, and their location in Walmart at 3010 E 23rd Avenue.
Five Green Up-And-ComersGreen Investing is the Next Big Thing

Meanwhile, the focus on global warming promises to lead to greater regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions. Already, the European Union has instituted a quota for carbon emissions in response to the Kyoto Protocol, a global treaty that went into effect in 2005. The U.S. did not sign the treaty, but a number of states are acting on their own to limit these pollutants. In addition, Congress passed an energy bill in 2005 that offers subsidies for various new energy technologies, and it is considering another bill this year.

Clearly, these trends will produce stock-market winners and losers, but not all of them are obvious. Makers of wind turbines and biofuels will surely benefit. But so will makers of rail cars and auto-emissions controls.

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We've sifted through the implications and put together the Kiplinger Green 25, a list of companies we believe will get a big boost from the growing focus on climate change and the move toward alternative fuels. Our picks vary widely in size, and four are based overseas. Some of the stocks may be expensive, and shares of some of the smaller companies may be volatile. But we think all will do well over the long term. In addition, check out our separate profiles of five up-and-comers -- small (with market values of less than $1 billion), more-speculative companies that someday could grow into green giants.

ABB

One obvious solution to the global energy crunch is simply to use less energy. Companies that can help us become more energy-efficient will find their products and services in great demand. Switzerland-based ABB (opens in new tab) is expected to produce annual earnings gains of 25% over the next few years, largely because of strong sales of power-transmission equipment that reduces energy losses between power plant and end-user, and industrial-automation equipment, such as high-efficiency motors and robotics. The power-transmission business, which accounts for half of ABB's sales, should be particularly strong as emerging countries add new infrastructure and as developed nations, such as the U.S., replace aging, outage-prone systems.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP

A dense thicket of environmental laws and regulations has grown to cover such obvious targets as producers of chemicals and hazardous wastes. The rules now also apply to businesses as varied as commercial real estate developers, biotechnology firms, utilities, railroads and even schools (which may store potentially hazardous materials on campus). AIG (opens in new tab), the giant insurer, has been writing policies that protect businesses against environmental claims since the early 1980s. Such policies represented about 3% of the $31 billion in premiums from AIG's U.S. property-and-casualty business last year. But as efforts to curb greenhouse gases grow, businesses will need protection against new types of liabilities that will surely arise. AIG is also a leader in writing insurance that protects participants in the nascent global market for trading carbon credits.

AMERICAN STANDARD

This 78-year-old company is getting a makeover. American Standard (opens in new tab) spun off its vehicle-control division this summer and will finalize the sale of its bath-and-kitchen business this fall. That will allow the Piscataway, N.J., company to focus on its most lucrative division, which makes heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Selling principally under the Trane brand, American Standard is a leader in energy-efficient air-conditioning and climate-control systems. This will be a hot industry because buildings account for one-third of global energy demand. Any solution to greenhouse-gas emissions must include drastic reductions in energy demand from office buildings, residential towers and other large structures. Warren Buffett appears to like what he sees in the new American Standard; his Berkshire Hathaway has become one of the company's biggest shareholders.

APPLIED MATERIALS

First, this important Silicon Valley technology company overcame stiff Japanese competition to emerge as the world's largest producer of capital equipment for makers of semiconductors, with $10 billion in annual revenues. Then it applied that prowess to make equipment used to manufacture LCD flat-panel displays, a process that requires similar technology. Now, Applied (opens in new tab), based in Santa Clara, Cal., is making a strong bid to be the leading manufacturer of equipment needed to produce photovoltaic cells and film -- another process technically akin to making semiconductors. With 85% of revenues generated outside the U.S., Applied, which also makes the tools to fabricate energy-efficient glass, has the world covered.[page break]

BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE

One double-stack train can haul as much freight as 280 trucks while emitting a fraction of the pollutants and burning a fraction of the diesel fuel. As railroads burnish their environmental credentials, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (opens in new tab) should benefit the most. The Fort Worth company hauls enough low-sulfur (and relatively clean-burning) coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin to light up 10% of the nation's homes. It also hauls more grain products than any other railroad, including both the corn used to make ethanol and the ethanol itself. In fact, Burlington Northern frequently runs 95-car ethanol trains from the Midwest to California to meet the demand created by the state's strict auto-emissions standards.

COVANTA

An alternative approach to power generation that is already commercially viable is to get it from garbage, and the leader in waste-to-energy facilities is Covanta (opens in new tab). The company operates 32 plants that burn trash and municipal waste to make steam and heat for power generation. Trash haulers pay the Fairfield, N.J., company to take the waste off their hands. This form of renewable energy is especially competitive in places such as New England, where landfill space comes at a premium. Besides, while there may be shortages of oil and natural gas, it's hard to imagine that there will ever be a shortage of a superabundant source of renewable energy such as trash.

EXELON

Nuclear power benefits in several ways from the emerging energy picture, says Robert Becker, co-manager of Cohen & Steers Utility fund. Surging fossil-fuel prices make nuclear energy highly competitive. Emissions are low compared with those from power plants that burn coal or oil. In the future, a system of carbon-emission credits and licenses is likely to develop in the U.S., as it has in Europe. "Under any scenario in cap and trade, the clear winners will be the nuclear generators," says Becker. His favorite utility is Exelon (opens in new tab), of Chicago, the largest operator of nuclear power plants in the U.S. Exelon generates more than 70% of its power from nuclear fuel.

FPL GROUP

More than just a big Florida utility, FPL (opens in new tab) produces about 40% of the wind-generated electricity in the U.S. It gets 19% of its power from nuclear plants, and it owns few coal-fired facilities. In the future, if government regulations further cap the amount of pollutants that power plants may emit, the Juno Beach, Fla., company will be sitting pretty. More important, as the government requires other utilities to add more power from renewable sources to their mix, FPL will have a lot of power-hungry customers for its wholesale business, which can charge whatever the market will bear.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

You can't discuss new energy technologies without mentioning General Electric (opens in new tab). The giant conglomerate is a major producer of wind turbines and clean-coal technology, not to mention energy-efficient locomotives, jet engines, home appliances and light bulbs. The Fairfield, Conn., company estimates that revenues from its clean-energy businesses were $12 billion last year (out of $163 billion total) and predicts that the figure will rise to $20 billion by 2010. And that doesn't include $1 billion in annual revenues from GE's nuclear-energy business. GE's stock is still one-third below its high mark in August 2000.

HONDA MOTOR

Any serious attempt to reduce greenhouse gases will need to zero in on the auto industry, which is responsible for at least one-third of carbon-dioxide emissions. That's why we like Honda Motor (opens in new tab), whose fleet of cars, including the Accord, Civic, Odyssey and Acura names, is the most fuel-efficient of any major carmaker. That means the Japanese firm will benefit from tighter U.S. fuel-economy standards. The Civic Hybrid, for example, gets up to 45 miles per gallon. (Toyota Motors is the leader in hybrid vehicles, but Honda's shares are priced more attractively.) When the U.S. government mandates tighter fuel-economy standards, Honda will be off to the races.

INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER

Lighting is an energy hog. The International Energy Agency estimates that lighting accounts for 19% of the world's electricity consumption. The best way to address this insatiable demand is to replace the venerable incandescent light bulb with newer, more energy-efficient technologies, such as compact fluorescent bulbs and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a technology that cuts electricity consumption by more than 80%. International Rectifier (opens in new tab) makes the semiconductor power-conversion devices, called ballast controllers, for both types of lighting. The El Segundo, Cal., company makes a broad range of energy-conserving power-management chips for cars, appliances, computers, aircraft and factories. Because so much manufacturing has moved abroad, International Rectifier books three-fourths of its sales overseas. (Note: IR is investigating accounting irregularities at one of its foreign units.)

ITRON

Variable rates for home electricity use are coming. A 2005 federal law requires utilities to look into ways to spread out electricity demand (and reduce the need for new generating stations) by charging more for power used during peak hours. A key player in this market is Itron (opens in new tab), the leading U.S. supplier of electricity meters (and a leader in gas and water meters as well). Its 50% market share for "smart" electric meters that can be read automatically puts it in a good position to help utilities put time-based pricing in place. Shares of the Liberty Lake, Wash., company have nearly doubled in the past year, but the opportunity is big. Just 5% of the world's electric, water and gas meters use smart meter-reading technology.

JOHNSON CONTROLS

It invented the room thermostat in the 19th century, and Johnson Controls (opens in new tab) is still going strong. As the leading worldwide supplier of temperature controls to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry, Johnson is still at work making buildings more energy-efficient. It's also a leading supplier of HVAC systems. But the Milwaukee company's largest business is making automotive products. It supplies long-life lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles, such as GM's Saturn Vue Green Line sport utility vehicle.

MCDERMOTT INTERNATIONAL

The U.S. leans on its plentiful but dirty coal reserves for half of its electricity generation. So coal's not going away anytime soon -- far from it. The solution is to clean up the coal. McDermott International (opens in new tab)'s Babcock & Wilcox division has cutting-edge technology for scrubbers that capture harmful coal emissions before they are released into the atmosphere. So McDermott stands to gain as environmental regulations mandate retrofits and upgrades to existing coal-fired plants. This Houston-based engineering-and-construction company is also a leading supplier to the nuclear industry.[page break]

MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

One factor restraining the growth of solar power has been the shortage (and soaring prices) of silicon wafers, the key material from which solar cells are fabricated. That's been a boon for MEMC Electronic Materials (opens in new tab), the leading U.S. maker of silicon wafers, which has almost tripled its earnings in two years. This hard-to-make substance is the same material used for making semiconductors. But while the chip industry seeks smaller and smaller products, the solar-power industry wants large panels that cover rooftops. Edward Guinness, co-manager of Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy fund, calculates that it costs MEMC $27 per kilogram to produce silicon wafers, which it sells for $180 to $300 per kilo. Not a bad business.

ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES

Geothermal power is a renewable energy technology that is not dependent on weather (as wind and solar are) and is thus more reliable. The technology uses hot water and steam from deep underground to turn a turbine and generate electricity. Ormat Technologies (opens in new tab) is the third-largest geothermal firm in the U.S. and the only one of the top three that focuses exclusively on geothermal power. Its shares are pricey, but the Reno, Nev., company stands to benefit from government mandates in California and Nevada (where most of its U.S. plants are located) that require utilities to buy more power from renewable sources.

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS

Philips Electronics (opens in new tab) of the Netherlands is such a sprawling consumer-electronics giant (2006 sales: $36 billion) that people forget it's the world's leading maker of incandescent light bulbs. But unlike most entrenched industry leaders, Philips isn't averse to jettisoning the old and adopting new technologies. Jens Peers, lead manager of Calvert Global Alternative Energy, says Philips is making an aggressive bid to capture the premier position in new, energy-efficient lighting, such as LED and compact fluorescent bulbs. In pursuit of this goal, Philips has been acquiring lighting companies with advanced technology, such as Color Kinetics, an LED fixture maker in Boston.

ROHM & HAAS

Air pollution can come from some surprising sources, such as house paints, which, years after their application, continue to release low levels of toxins into the air. Philadelphia-based Rohm & Haas (opens in new tab), a maker of coatings, sealants and other specialty materials, gets 70% of its revenues from environmentally friendly products, such as water-based paints, formaldehyde-free insulation and lead-free electronics products. "It's a green company in disguise," says Todd Ahlsten, manager of Parnassus Equity Income fund, who holds Rohm & Haas in his fund.

SHAW GROUP

A growing number of people in developing countries now have the means to heat and cool their homes and businesses. That portends a huge increase in spending on power-plant construction -- as much as $5.2 trillion through 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. Shaw Group (opens in new tab), an engineering-and-construction firm headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., has a 20% stake in Westinghouse Nuclear and is a major player in both building new coal plants and making older ones burn more cleanly. Bad accounting decisions have plagued the shares recently, but an $11-billion backlog of business, mostly from planned power plants, should lead to a brighter future.

SUNPOWER

The demand for solar cells and panels is booming. The question is whose technology will prevail in the youthful industry. Kevin Landis, manager of Firsthand Technology Value, thinks San Jose, Cal.-based SunPower (opens in new tab) will be a winner. SunPower makes the solar-power industry's most energy-efficient panels, measured by the conversion of sunlight into electricity (the efficiency of its solar cells is more than 20%, which is 50% higher than that of conventional cells). SunPower, which is 53%-owned by Cypress Semiconductor, derives all of its revenues from solar-related products.

SUNTECH POWER HOLDINGS

The enormous potential of solar energy is no secret, and that's why the stocks of so many firms in this field are expensive. One company that may nevertheless pay off is Suntech Power Holdings (opens in new tab). China's largest maker of photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight to energy, has the scale to produce low-cost, high-profit solar equipment for sale in the international market. The firm is profitable, and earnings should grow 25% to 30% annually over the next few years, says fund manager Guinness.

TENNECO

Over the next eight years, stricter auto-emissions standards will take effect in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and Western Europe. That's good news for auto-parts supplier Tenneco (opens in new tab), which gets nearly two-thirds of its revenues from emissions equipment (the rest comes from suspension gear). It is the leading supplier in China and Europe, and it is number two in the U.S. The Lake Forest, Ill., firm is especially well positioned to sell emissions equipment for diesel-powered cars and trucks, which offer better fuel efficiency than gasoline-powered models do.

TRINITY INDUSTRIES

Another way to play the boost in railroads' fortunes is via Trinity Industries (opens in new tab), the nation's largest manufacturer of railcars. Demand for covered hopper cars, which carry grain, as well as for coal cars and tank cars for hauling ethanol, contributed to a record order backlog of almost 34,000 cars at the end of the second quarter. The Dallas-based manufacturer is also a backdoor play on wind power, as it is a leading maker of towers for wind-powered turbines. Trinity's energy division, which includes the wind towers and other businesses, makes up only 11% of revenues. But wind-tower revenues, driven by federal tax breaks, could soar to as high as $250 million this year, up from $11 million in 2004.

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES

This splendidly run industrial conglomerate focuses on energy conservation both within the company and with the products it sells. Its Otis elevator and Carrier heating and air-conditioning units are developing more energy-efficient systems. The Hartford, Conn., company also makes fuel cells for buildings, transit buses and the U.S. space program. Also the maker of Pratt & Whitney engines and Sikorsky helicopters, United (opens in new tab) has been riding the global boom in infrastructure building.

ZOLTEK

These are boom times for makers of carbon fiber, a strong, lightweight material used to make aircraft parts as well as the 175- to 200-foot-long blades that turn wind turbines. Zoltek (opens in new tab) supplies both markets, and its stock has more than doubled in the past year as demand from both sources has soared. But this may be only the beginning. Zoltek chief executive Zsolt Rumy thinks carbon fiber will soon be used to make lightweight, fuel-efficient cars; precast-concrete structures; and ultra-deep-sea oil-drilling equipment. He expects worldwide carbon-fiber production to more than double by 2010, to $2 billion, and thinks his own company's sales can hit $500 million in 2011, more than five times higher than last year's total.
A guest post from a reader:

They say that in election campaigns you should keep families out of it, especially children.

Obviously both the NZEI and RNZ Checkpoint did not get the memo.

In an extraordinarily uncritical piece on Friday September 15, Checkpoint ran a piece detailing how primary school children in Porirua and Wainuiomata were encouraging their parents to enrol and vote.

The reporter, John Gerritson, even acknowledged the role the NZEI was playing in this piece of political treachery by saying the children were taking home resources provided by the union.

This soft piece on union and Labour Party promotion began with some vox pops from children. They were of primary school age. Theyd been asked why it was important to enrol to vote. The first three or four answers, out of the mouths of babes, said that it was because you could vote for change.

My goodness. I wonder whod told them that ?

Not one of them said anything like so you can vote to keep the country on a sound economic footing or so you can vote to keep unemployment at low levels.

We are constantly told that children of all ages need to be taught civics as part of the school curriculum. I couldnt agree more. They should be taught about democracy, about how its important to vote and about how all sides of a political argument should be explored before a vote is cast.

They should not be indoctrinated with resources supplied by a teachers union which is supporting the Labour Party.

The principal of one of the schools featured then had the temerity to say that it was important to get children to encourage their parents to enrol and vote ! Whats more they were holding parent evenings where parents could enrol on the night. Then they were opening an early voting booth next week so parents could cast their vote.

Am I being too cynical, but do you think the teacher/union member addressing the parents might have suggested a vote for Labour was the best way forward for the country ?

Dear me. If a parent does not know their duty and responsibility to enrol and vote by the time they have children of school age, then you wonder just what kind of education they had. At any rate, it is not the role of a primary school to be telling parents what to do politically.

Incidentally, Whaleoil has posted on this before and shown some of the brochures that children have been given to take home with them. The display of the political party symbols has Labour top left i.e. in the most prominent position.

So this piece went on, unabated on RNZ for about 4 minutes. Not once, did the journalist think about offering a critical or inquisitive line asking whether it was the NZEIs business to be enrolling voters through vulnerable children.

And at the end, all John Campbell could say was lovely, thank you John Gerritson, lovely piece.

No wonder the Labour Party want their RNZ comrades to run a TV station for them too. Just think of the propaganda Campbell et al could spout on their behalf.
While neonatal intensive care units are common in hospitals, level four NICUs  which provide the most complex care for the tiniest and sickest babies  are designated by region. (Children's Mercy Hospital)
Former Navy SEAL, Lone Survivor Marcus Luttrell speaking at Best of Blount Awards



Retired Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell and author of the New York Times best-selling book Lone Survivor, which recounts the heroic sacrifices of fellow SEAL team members assigned to Operation Red Wings, is the guest speaker for the Blount Partnerships Best of Blount Awards, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m., at the Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus.



Tickets go on sale Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. for $35 (plus taxes and fees) by calling the Clayton Center at 865-981-8590 or online at www.claytonartscenter.com.



Former Navy SEAL, Lone Survivor Marcus Luttrell.




Civil Air Patrol assists in Hurricane Irma relief missions

By Maj. Larry Stewart







Members of the Southeast Region team traveled to Puerto Rico aboard an Air Force C-40 from Scott Air Force Base in Illinois that made a previously scheduled stop at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida while enroute to San Juan.



Damage over the U.S. Virgin Islands ALCOA, TN - A member of Civil Air Patrol's Tennessee Wing recently returned Thursday after assisting the organization's Puerto Rico Wing with Hurricane Irma relief missions over the U.S. Virgin Islands.



Maj. Gary Fiser of Signal Mountain, who serves as Tennessee Wing's director of safety, participated as an aerial photographer for two days, capturing digital photographs of the storm damage on some of the islands of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Vieques and other less inhabited islands.



"The islands of St. Thomas and St. John were hard hit by the hurricane, and most of the buildings were severely damaged or destroyed," Fiser said. "The islands of St. Croix and Vieques also sustained damage, though not as extensively."



Fiser was part of a Southeast Region relief team that also included three officers from Alabama, two from Florida and an U.S. Air Force liaison officer.



CAP, the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the Air Force, was tasked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 1st Air Force to conduct aerial photography missions and other tasks.



Col. Barry Melton, the region commander, said the contributions by Fiser and others "demonstrates the spirit of unity and teamwork that the entire Civil Air Patrol organization embodies."



Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force. In this role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 aircraft, performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 80 lives annually. CAPs 57,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. CAP also plays a leading role in aerospace/STEM education, and its members serve as mentors to 24,000 young people participating in CAPs Cadet Programs. Visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information.



Published September 17, 2017










Florida Air Guardsmen assist elderly at Florida shelters

By Air Force Master Sgt. William Buchanan







Rymfire Elementary School special-needs shelter medical team members stand together in Palm Coast, Fla., Sept. 12, 2017. The shelter is the only shelter opened in Flagler County to protect citizens from Hurricane Irma. Florida Air National Guard photo by Air Force Master Sgt. William Buchanan

PALM COAST, Fl  When disaster strikes, first responders jump into action at a moment's notice. When Hurricane Irma sent hundreds of civilians into special-needs shelters here, moments weren't long enough.



"We had 15 [team members] and we needed 30," said Tech. Sgt. Shawnna Landeros, a respiratory therapist with the Florida Air National Guards 125th Medical Group.



"I started looking for other people that were medical and grabbing them to find 15 more," Landeros added.



Elderly civilians with heart transplants, feeding tubes and strokes continued to pour into the shelter. Every second counted.



"Within five minutes of me reporting in, Tech. Sgt. Landeros grabs me and says: This is what we are doing, and they tell us that we are going out to Flagler to a special-needs shelter," said Senior Airman Brooke Summy, a medical technician with the 125th Medical Detachment 1.



The team that headed to special-needs shelter at Rymfire Elementary School here in Flagler County, with luck, had seven airmen from the medical field, Summy said. The team assisted first responders, caring for the 502 Floridians sheltered there.





The National Guard is Here!



"When we arrived, one woman yelled, 'The National Guard is here! The National Guard is here!'" Summy recalled.



Several shelter occupants were dependent on oxygen, Landeros said. Even though Rymfire Elementary School had backup generators, Landeros knew that she needed a plan if the power went out.



"We identified where our oxygen tanks were and we realized that we had to get others that were at another location," she said.



Guests of the shelter not only had critical medical needs, some required assistance just for the basics.



"Every 15 minutes, we were lifting patients out and taking them to the restroom, Senior Airman Nelson Rolle said. We were doing that all night, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m."





Little Rest



While most of the airmen found at least a few hours to sleep, one medical officer, Maj. Andrew Kurklinsky, a medical provider with the 125th Medical Detachment 1, sacrificed rest in favor of solidifying a sustainable special-needs shelter. He took it upon himself to evaluate the needs of the shelter and come up with a solution to providing proper care of the Floridians as they rode out Hurricane Irma. The solution: run the shelter like a hospital.



"The key to the group was Major Kurklinsky," said Lt. Col. Matthew Sands, chief of dental service, 125th Group Medical Unit. "He was able to go in and make the assessments, such as, what was the need? What was the layout, and what type of patients?"



The first step for these guardsmen was to setup a process the volunteers could maintain if or when they were needed elsewhere.



"Major Kurklinsky came in and basically produced the infrastructure and we implemented it," Rolle said. "He was the director and we were the actors. We went in with a mindset of a mission, even though we were volunteers."





Helping People in Need



Although airmen train for these kinds of emergencies, the wind and rain pounding on the shelter walls provided real-world experience that only strengthened their skills.The Florida guardsmen worked long days in response to the destruction Hurricane Irma left behind. The airmen working in this special-needs shelter were no different.Medical expertise wasnt the only skill Kurklinsky brought to the special-needs shelter that night.



"There was a Russian mother from New York with a 6-month-old baby that had come on vacation and got caught in the storm," Sands said. "She had a hard time communicating because she spoke Russian. Major Kurklinsky speaks Russian, and he was able to communicate with her and get her some help."



"We asked for this mission, because I knew that this was going to be a need," Kurklinsky said. "My priority was to set up a system that was functional, successful and enduring. You have to run it like a hospital."



With the team giving Kurklinsky a lot of credit, he gives the credit back to all the volunteers involved.



"Everyone went beyond and everyone went out of their comforts of their particular jobs," Kurklinsky said. "I appreciate the reflections of my team for my leadership, but I couldn't have been successful without my team, their enthusiasm or dedication."



Published September 17, 2017










Expect gasoline prices to climb into the $2.80 range, the Oil Price Information Service warns, because Hurricane Harvey has knocked out 20 percent of the United States' crude oil refining capacity.

The bad news outside the hurricane zone is that transportation suddenly has become substantially more expensive. That doesn't just mean it's more expensive to get to work, it means it's more expensive to get food from the field to the processor and to the shelves of the supermarket.

We've seen it happen before when fuel shortages touched off price hikes in many kinds of merchandise, services and food.

The good news is that ethanol will likely soften the blow from Harvey because adding ethanol really stretches a gallon of gasoline. Even the federal Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that fact. Last week, EPA issued a waiver to relax the rules so E15 may be sold immediately in Nebraska and 37 other states.

According to the Nebraska Ethanol Board, under normal circumstances, reformulated gasoline and low volatility conventional gasoline (winter blends) can be sold only after Sept. 15. The short-term waiver issued on Thursday ensures an adequate fuel supply throughout the country and might even depress a bit of the price increases we're seeing at the pump.

By blending more ethanol, the fuel supply can go farther, especially if flex-fuel vehicle owners fill up with E85 and drivers with a vehicle 2001 or newer choose E15, said Jan tenBensel, vice chair of the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

"One of easiest things we can do to help with Hurricane Harvey recovery is use more ethanol," tenBensel said. "By using our homegrown, renewable fuel, we can allow petroleum to be diverted to areas that are in a greater need, which also helps mitigate price hikes."

If you'd like to boost the volume of ethanol in the fuel you're buying, you can locate higher blends of ethanol throughout the state by visiting www.AmericanEthanolNE.org or www.HuskerFuel.com. Drivers who have been sheepish about burning ethanol in their vehicles now have an opportunity to get better acquainted with the renewable fuel and its lower price compared to unblended fuel without ethanol. Until refineries are fired back up, you can save a few dollars while helping the nation stretch its fuel supply.
By Park Si-soo



North Korea and the United States held a "secret" meeting in Switzerland this week, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported Thursday. The meeting took place on the sidelines of an international security forum there from Monday to Wednesday.



Choe Kang-il, deputy director general for North American affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, and Evans Revere, a former principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department, held the talks, according to NHK.



It is unknown what they discussed, but it was very likely to have been about the heightened tensions after Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test.



Choe remained silent when he faced a barrage of questions from reporters while leaving the meeting venue, according to NHK.




By Rachel Lee



The Moon Jae-in administration's plan to offer $8 million in humanitarian assistance to North Korea is producing a frosty reaction at home and abroad due to its timing.



Criticism is mounting over the timing of the announcement, which came only two days after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted a new resolution on sanctions on Pyongyang for its sixth nuclear test, Sept. 3.



Kim Young-soo, a professor at Sogang University, said aid for humanitarian purposes, regardless of the political situation, could not be rejected, but the timing mattered.



Korea University professor Nam Young-soo said there was also doubt whether North Korea would welcome the aid from the South through international organizations.



The opposition parties criticized the government over the move.



"The government needs to contemplate if the move can be justified when our country is suffering the most due to the North's nuclear test," the People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo said.



Moon's plan for aid has garnered a similar response from outside the country.



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked Moon, a former human rights lawyer, to consider the timing of the proposed aid during a phone conversation last week, but Moon said the issue was one that should be dealt with regardless of the political situation.



The United States also expressed considerable discomfort on the matter.



However, Cheong Wa Dae claimed the timing was just a coincidence.



Lee Eugene, vice spokesman for the Ministry of Unification, said the UNSC's strongest resolution, which would further isolate North Korea's economy, would make children and mothers more vulnerable.



South Korea had therefore stuck to its plan to give the assistance to the North even after it launched what was presumed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan for the second time in a less than a month, Friday.



A Cheong Wa Dae official said Friday that the government's basic stance was to support North Korea through international organizations, adding that the government is "supposed" to make a contribution, not directly to the North, but through international organizations.



The official also said that the U.S. and Russia have given $1 million, $3million in humanitarian assistance to North Korea, respectively, through such groups as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) as of September this year.



The decision will be made next Thursday on whether to approve the aid to infants and pregnant women in North Korea. If approved, it would mark the first humanitarian aid in 21 months since the previous Park Geun-hye government sent $800,000 through the United Nations Population Fund, formerly the U.N. Fund for Population Activities, in December 2015.



Humanitarian aid to the North through international bodies was suspended following Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January 2016.



According to the unification ministry, the plan includes providing the WFP with $4.5 million to help infants and pregnant women, and $3.5 million to UNICEF.




By Kim Jae-kyoung





William Brown

President Moon Jae-in should thwart North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's attempt to sideline South Korea, according to William Brown, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

To that end, he called on Moon and his administration to reinforce ties with the U.S. and Japan, while beefing up missile capabilities to counter the North's provocations.

This advice came amid growing concerns that North Korea's continued provocations, particularly following its sixth and biggest nuclear test, have opened a rift in the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Brown believes that Kim is seeking to exclude South Korea from talks and deal directly with the U.S. to claim legitimacy over the entire Korean Peninsula.

"Seoul needs to recognize what outsiders count as being the obvious. Pyongyang sees Seoul as the target, the lunch so to speak, and the U.S. as a large but moveable obstacle," Brown said in an interview.

"So, to push it away, Pyongyang wants to deal with Washington, not Seoul. President Moon needs to show he will not tolerate this kind of arrogance and will bring to bear an entire governmental approach in dealing with the rapidly growing threat," he added.

"An entire government approach" in Brown's words is "close relations with the U.S. and Japan, tolerating significant tension with China and anyone else who deals with Pyongyang, and the full-scale development and purchase of high technology offensive and preemptive conventional weaponry."

But Brown, who previously worked for the CIA and the National Intelligence Council, said that he is against the idea of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea

"I don't like the idea and I doubt the U.S. government will go in that direction. It seems we have plenty of capability to hit the North from offshore," he said.

Given North Korea's growing nuclear threats, the Washington-based North Korea expert said that "dialogue" is the wrong word right now.

"A tough kind of engagement is needed that might include multiple levels of engagement but this should be focused on inducing radical changes in the North Korean regime," he said.

"My preference is one of active engagement designed to make Kim fear that his regime is like the old Romania, and that they are going to encourage internal opposition unless he makes a dramatic U-turn," he said.

The retired U.S. government official said that Pyongyang's frequent provocations illustrates the Kim Jong-un regime feeling a greater sense of urgency.

"Technological demands of the program combined with a need to strike fear in its enemies are causing Pyongyang to test at a very rapid rate," he said.

He pointed out that Kim has one goal right now  to convince Trump and Moon that he is willing to commit to a suicidal war should they attack his nuclear forces just before they are ready to provide a real deterrent.

"Pyongyang right now is in the most dangerous phase of the entire 30-year nuclear weapons program, almost complete, and thus an obvious growing threat, but not quite finished so extremely vulnerable to U.S. or South Korean preemption," he added.

According to Brown's observation, about a year ago Kim crossed the threshold of capability with two successful nuclear tests and entered this vulnerable period. Since then he has been working feverishly to complete the program in a way that will deter an attack.

"Deception is the other part of this dangerous and risky game, trying to show they have usable weapons, probably before they are ready. Clearly it is now getting close to the finish line and he is taking great risks," he said.

Brown, who served a senior research fellow in the U.S. Embassy in Seoul in the 1980's, said that it is important to make sure that any sanctions won't have direct impact on the daily lives of the North Korean people.

"We tend to sanction items that probably employ a lot of ordinary workers. If they are paid through the state system the sanction is well warranted since they are little better off than slaves but if they are paid in the new market economy, we are hitting the wrong horse," he said.

"Our sanctions should be leveled hard and fast on the state side of the economy, not the markets which are one of our few hopes for radical change in the North Korean regime," he added.
A soldier looks at a TV screen at Seoul Station, showing what was presumed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile launched by North Korea earlier in the day, Friday. North Korea fired the missile over Japan into the North Pacific Ocean for a second time in a less than a month, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Moon, Trump agree to press Pyongyang

By Yi Whan-woo

The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan may discuss possible military options against North Korea when they meet Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, analysts said Sunday.

The joint summit will take place as North Korea has ignored all international sanctions against its nuclear and missile provocations since July 6 when President Moon Jae-in last met U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Germany while attending the G20 summit.

They had vowed to put maximum pressure on the North to bring it back to dialogue for denuclearization, only to see Pyongyang carrying out its sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches afterwards.

Trump said that the U.S. options in addressing North Korea's threat are "both effective and overwhelming" during a speech, hours after Pyongyang's launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), Friday.





Trump reaffirms alliance

During a phone call with Moon, Sunday, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to the Seoul-Washington alliance and promised to give the "support and cooperation" that are needed to bolster their joint defense posture.

"The two leaders agreed to further strengthen close cooperation between South Korea and the United States, and put more practical pressure on North Korea based on this," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.

Abe apparently remained skeptical over Moon's dovish gestures to the Kim Jong-un regime and his approval of donating $8 million to the U.N. to help the impoverished state.

Abe asked Moon to consider the timing of the humanitarian aid, which was decided hours after the Hwasong-12 IRBM test.

This suggests Moon will be tasked with convincing Trump and Abe to use military action, if necessary, as minimal as possible, according to experts.












Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade Korea) Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Amanda Hodges, second from right, poses at the Australian Wine Grand Tasting 2017 at the JW Marriott Dongdaemun in Seoul on Sept. 7. / Courtesy of Austrade Korea



By Rachel Lee



The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade Korea) and Wine Australia hosted the Australian Wine Grand Tasting 2017 at the JW Marriott Dongdaemun in Seoul on Sept. 7.

More than 240 Australian wines from 39 wineries, including 14 looking to enter the Korean market, were on show.

Austrade Korea's Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Amanda Hodges said, "The tasting event is to raise the awareness of regional and iconic Australian wine in Korea.

"As a result of last year's event, there are three new Australian wine brands available to Korean consumers."

Korea's wine imports from Australia increased 14.2 percent in value in 2016 from a year earlier.

Austrade Korea said Australian wine grew strongly in the first half of this year, with a 30.9 percent increase in volume compared to a year earlier.

"The increase in Australian wine sales is a clear benefit of the Korea-Australia FTA," Hodges said. "It is also an outcome of the increased promotional efforts made in Korea by the Australian and Korean wine industry since 2014."

"The kind of excitement and level of interest found at this year's Australian Wine Grand Tasting was clearly a reflection of what is happening with the Australian wine category in this market.

Wine Australia Head of Market Asia Pacific Hiro Tejima said, "It was a thrill to see even more Korean importers exhibiting, a strong line-up of new-to-market wineries represented and a wide variety of regional and premium Australian wine being showcased, along with the stories behind the labels."

Alongside the tasting event, there were two master classes about wine.

In the morning master class, "Australia: Old School, New School, Good School," wine writer Mike Bennie discussed how Australian wine styles have evolved from traditional, modern and classic techniques.

"Australian wine has never been as exciting and interesting as it is now," he said. "Australian wine is so diverse, and this tasting is a snapshot of established, fine wines through to emerging styles."

"Smaller, artisan producers are reinventing the image of Australian wine, while traditional wine producers offer a historical perspective and support the idea that Australia is a nation of not only big, rich red wine, but a great many different styles."

After the highly acclaimed master class on rotundone, the compound responsible for the peppery flavor of Australian shiraz wines at last year's Australian wine grand tasting, Industry Development and Support from the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) Group Manager Con Simos was invited again this year for the afternoon master class.

The AWRI is a world-renowned research organization specialising in grapes and wine.

Simos presented the latest research on important flavor compounds found in red and white wine and their variation across the key Australian wine regions.

"It's a privilege to return to Seoul and have the opportunity to present this master class linking the understanding of regionality' with the latest research advances in wine flavor," he said.

"Research under way at the AWRI is providing fascinating new insights into what makes wines from different regions across Australia so unique."

Wine has been produced in Australia since the early 1800s and the country is the fifth-largest global exporter by volume.
By Rachel Lee



Cambodia is eager to attract Korean tourists with its cultural heritage.



The ASEAN-Korea Tourism Capacity Building Workshop, co-organized by the ASEAN-Korea Center and Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism in Battambang on Sept. 12, aimed to promote Cambodia's capital city as a representative cultural heritage destination and develop tailor-made tourism products and services to Korean travelers.



"With a wide range of tourism assets, Cambodia has attracted an increasing number of Korean tourists accounting for the fifth-largest tourist arrival to the country in 2016," said ASEAN-Korea Center Secretary General Kim Young-sun.



"Well-known as the rice bowl of Cambodia,' Battambang has a huge potential to develop its heritage assets and sustainable tourism with ancient temples built in the Angkor era, colonial heritage, and natural wonders."



Kim, Cambodia's Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Tourism Ok Darariddh and Battambang Province Governor Chan Sophal attended the opening ceremony.



Korean tourism experts were invited to the workshop to give talks about promoting sustainable tourism in Battambang as a cultural heritage destination; branding Battambang as a cultural heritage destination for Koreans; and Korean culture  insights about Korean tourists.



The organization also hosted a tourism capacity-building workshop with an aim to strengthen competitiveness of ASEAN tourism industries.



In line with the Visit ASEASN@50: Golden Celebration Campaign as well as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the workshop focusing on cultural heritage and sustainable tourism was held back-to-back in Cambodia and Vietnam on Sept. 12 and 15, respectively.



At the capacity-building workshop under the theme of "Free and Independent Travelers (FITs) for Cultural Heritage Destination" in Hoi An, Vietnam, Kim stressed that the city was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, and was a well-preserved ancient port city with more than 1,000 ancient houses, more than 50 pagodas and temples, and eco-tourism sites.



"Although Hoi An is already one of the most popular destinations for Korean tourists, it still has much potential to grow as a cultural heritage destination," the secretary general said.



Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Vietnam as well as the Quang Nam Tourism Department co-organized the event.



Starting this year, the ASEAN-Korea Center has been developing its capacity-building program, formerly the Product Development Workshop, into the Trade Facilitation Workshop, covering wider areas important for accelerating trade, such as utilizing the ASEAN-Korea free trade agreement.



The ASEAN-Korea Center is an intergovernmental organization established in 2009 to promote exchanges among Korea and the 10 ASEAN member states.








Danish Ambassador Thomas Lehmann, left, poses with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon at an opening event of the UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress in Seoul, Sept. 3. / Courtesy of Embassy of Denmark





By Rachel Lee

Denmark will host of the 29th UIA World Architects Congress, the Embassy of Denmark says.

The northern European country won 149 votes out of 247 at the UIA 2017 World Architects Congress in Seoul. The embassy said the congress in Copenhagen in 2023 would be under theme of "Sustainable Future" with the Danish capital aiming to invite more than 10,000 architects and key decision makers worldwide to discuss how architecture can contribute to the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"We are proud that the delegates chose Copenhagen, and are looking forward to welcoming the architects of the world to the Nordic countries in 2023," said Danish Association of Architects Chairman Natalie Mossin.

"As architects, we have a great deal to contribute to the implementation of the U.N.'s 17 SDGs, and we will work to show that at the congress with our partners."

"Nordic architecture, landscape, planning and design has a lot to offer, and we are looking forward to this opportunity to share knowledge and results with colleagues from all over the world."

The decision to work with sustainability goals was not only a victory for the Nordic countries, but also for the UIA, Mossin added.

Efforts included a summer school for architecture students from around the world in Seoul during the UIA period.

Also, the Danish Embassy hosted an architecture exhibition titled "Contemporary Danish Architecture" that ran from Sept. 2-17 in Seoul. The other Nordic embassies and architectural organizations also supported the Danish bid, and attended events in efforts to bring the UIA to Scandinavia for the first time.

The World Architecture Congress, the world's largest of its kind, is held every three years.

"One of the world's biggest tasks will be building more sustainable cities over the next decades," said Danish philanthropist Anne Skovbro.

"The challenges that arise from urbanization, resource shortages and climate change call for new solutions and new collaborative solutions and partnerships, which we are very good at."

"I hope the entire Danish construction industry will see the potential of the congress coming to the country, so we can make every effort to demonstrate the role that Danish solutions can play internationally."
Ambassador of Costa Rica Rodolfo Solano Quiros, third from left, attends an opening ceremony of the Korea-Costa Rica National Parks and Protected Areas Photo Exhibition at Seoul Station, Sept. 12. / Courtesy of Embassy of Costa Rica



By Rachel Lee

Costa Rica held a photography exhibition from Sept. 12-14 to mark the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Costa Rica at Seoul Station.

The "Korea-Costa Rica National Parks and Protected Areas Photo Exhibition," organized by the Costa Rican Embassy and Korea's Ministry of Environment, features 20 photos depicting the beautiful landscapes and rich natural and cultural assets of the two countries' national parks and protected areas.

The photos also aim to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Korea National Park Service and the 50th anniversary of Jirisan National Park. This year also marks 196 years of Coast Rica's independence.

In 2004, Costa Rica and Korea's park management agencies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for mutual exchange and cooperation, constituting the first MOU of this kind signed by KNPS with another country, according to the embassy.
By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo



Migrant workers are calling for a thorough investigation of immigration officials who allegedly used violence against undocumented foreigners.



A group of migrant workers staged a rally in front of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on Thursday, demanding that the prosecution launch an investigation into what happened during a crackdown on undocumented foreign workers by immigration officials on June 14.



"Although they are unregistered, they have the right to be treated safely, not violently," they chanted. "To be detained in the same place with attackers who are immigration office employees, is a violation of human rights,"



The immigration office's Suwon office led the controversial crackdown during which an undocumented Chinese worker was severely injured by violent officials, according to the Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea, a civic group dedicated to protecting migrant workers' human rights.



The Chinese worker at a construction site in Yongteong-gu, Suwon, is said to have been kicked, punched and battered with a police baton by four or five officials.



He was detained for days without medical treatment and left for his hometown "voluntarily" in July, according to the committee.



His co-worker filed a formal complaint with the prosecution the same month, demanding an investigation into the Suwon office for alleged physical abuse and violence.



"Abuse of migrants has gone unnoticed because the victims are unregistered," said the committee in a statement. "A victim who spent time in the foreigner's protection center could not stand the difficulty anymore and left for China last July."



The prosecution is analyzing video footage from the scene to find out who was responsible.








By Kim Se-jeong





Hong Seo-yoon

Hong Seo-yoon is the founder of Accessible Korea, a non-profit consulting group for disabled tourists.

Although wheelchair-bound, she's been an avid traveler for almost all her adult life. For eight years, she documented her trips and shared her knowhow with others on her travel blog.

Accessible Korea took off with the strong belief that helping the disabled travel eventually benefits all of society.

"Wheelchair accessibility in buildings is also good for mothers with strollers and the elderly population who have difficulty walking," Hong said during an interview with The Korea Times, Thursday. "That means services and infrastructure for the disabled are for all."

She is well-known in the tourism community in Seoul for her pioneering work to get people and the government to talk about tourism for the disabled.

With her help, the city unveiled a tourism policy targeting the disabled, Aug. 22.

Among proposed policy points were to make financial support and consultation to 100 hotels and restaurants so that they will have wheelchair-accessible rooms and more elevators; to devise tour packages catering them; to update city tour guidebooks with information that the disabled need; to train tour guides specialized in guiding people with hearing and vision problems; to increase charter buses for wheel-chair accessibility; and to open a tour information center in the city to accommodate disabled travelers' needs. The city said it will allocate 15.2 billion won over the next five years.

"It's a good start," Hong said. What she anticipates the most is a change in how people think about the issue. "Getting a travel opportunity is important, but what's more important is a change in people's perception. If the work over the next five years succeeds, the environment will improve a lot."

Asked about Seoul's friendliness, Hong praised its decent tourism infrastructure. "Seoul has adopted a universal design meaning that many new buildings are built considering the disabled."

The problem with the city is the failure to communicate what they have to people.

"I am looking forward to the new city tour guide with instructions for the disabled."

She also works with private companies. One of her ongoing projects is to disseminate tourism information on online travel and accommodation websites. She also worked with Lonely Planet to make a tour guidebook for PyeongChang where the Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games will take place early next year. Only available in English, the book will be published by the end of this year.
By Kim Hyo-jin



North Korea's continuous ballistic missile tests show the reclusive country's determination to improve its nuclear capability, analysts said Friday.



The Kim Jong-un regime thinks of it as the only leverage in possible negotiations in the future amid heightened sanctions by the international community, they said.



The North fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japanese territory into the Pacific Ocean earlier in the day, less than two weeks after it claimed "complete success" in a test of a hydrogen bomb for an intercontinental ballistic missile, Sept. 3.



It was the 10th missile test since the Moon Jae-in administration was launched in May.



Experts view the latest provocation as Pyongyang's intent to boast the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead. The missile travelled 3,700 kilometers, putting the U.S. territory of Guam within reach.



"Since the fourth nuclear test, stricter sanctions against the North have continued. It is clear that Pyongyang feels pressure from them, so is rushing to turn the tables," said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University.



North Korea is occupying itself with showing off the capability to attack the U.S. territory with a nuclear-warhead missile, knowing that it will give the country an advantage in negotiations with the U.S.













"The range of the IRBM reached some 3,700 kilometers this time that could reach the U.S. Air Force base on Guam. The regime is scrambling to position itself favorably in bilateral talks with Washington," said Nam Sung-wook, a unification and diplomacy professor at Korea University.



The continued missile provocations also intend to push the U.S. to prioritize dealing with the North Korea issue on its policy agenda, he added.



The missile launch came three days after the United Nations Security Council adopted tougher sanctions against the North, curtailing gas and oil imports and textile exports.



Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, stressed the provocation was a "direct response" to the international move, saying it has been a pattern of the reclusive country.



But Kim Dong-yub, a professor of Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, underlined that the North's act should be interpreted from the long-term perspective.



"The provocation following the UNSC resolution could be a mere pretext in its fast-moving process of nuclear and missile development," he said. "The country is only taking steps in accordance with its own roadmap for a full nuclear arsenal."



The Kim regime had offered various suggestions for negotiations with the U.S., but to no avail. Afterward, it turned to commit itself to complete nuclear armament, the scholars say, in a bid to secure a favorable position in negotiations.



The North proposed high-level talks with the U.S. through a statement by its National Defense Commission in June 2013. Stating that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was an instruction from Kim's predecessor, it suggested discussing easing military tension, shifting from an armistice to a peace treaty, and building a non-nuclear world.



In January 2015, it also delivered the position that it can suspend nuclear tests on the condition that the U.S. and South Korea suspend their joint military exercises. But the both countries rejected the offer, saying denuclearization should come first.



In response, Pyongyang announced "there is no intention to sit with the U.S. at a negotiating table" in a statement in February that year.
Prosecutors examine a blacklist of TV producers under Lee Myung-bak



By You Soo-sun



Prosecutors are examining evidence suggesting the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had systematic influence over the media industry under the Lee Myung-bak administration.



A spy agency inquiry found a host of documents including a blacklist of producers and executives who held critical views of the government then, according to local news agency Yonhap, Sunday.



This follows a similar list of celebrities it disclosed last Monday, allegedly used to cut them off from state subsidized programs. The latest revelation suggests the state agency's interference had been prevalent and systematic under Lee.



The blacklist included names of executives at broadcasters' headquarters in Seoul and at their local stations. Producers deemed critical of the government were also on the list.



The documents date back to 2009 when the NIS was under the leadership of Won Sei-hoon and include specific plans to control personnel matters in the media industry, primarily the two major public broadcasters MBC and KBS.



In March 2010, for example, the NIS requested that a producer be excluded from receiving a top award for a documentary. In April the same year, it allegedly pressured a broadcaster to transfer a radio producer to a local station in the countryside.



The prosecution plans to investigate whether such plans had actually been followed through on, and if there were inappropriate exchanges between top officials at the NIS and the broadcasters.



It will also look into the possibility of the NIS having kept a blacklist of producers as a way of influencing celebrities' television appearances.



During a press conference held Friday, the MBC union said the investigation was looking into "the ways in which the state agency's control over MBC had taken effect" and that its results "confirmed a prevalent and shocking interference." It also claimed the investigation results confirmed there were "specific attempts to control not just the news and current affairs programs, but also radio, television reality shows and dramas."



In the National Assembly, 15 members of the Democratic Party of Korea submitted a request for a thorough investigation into the conservative administrations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye on how they seized control of the media environment.



Meanwhile, Lee has been increasingly targeted by the prosecution for various corruption charges he allegedly committed during and prior to his presidency. This includes his involvement in the stock price manipulation of LKe Bank and the investment company BBK that reportedly caused 5,500 investors to lose money, and the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project suspected of causing detrimental environmental effects.








By Choi Ha-young



A group of lawmakers from the conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) returned home from Washington D.C., Saturday, where they had called for the U.S. to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons  only to get the cold shoulder.



The team, led by Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, left for the U.S. with a self-imposed mission to convey South Koreans' growing fears to politicians and officials there.



However, the team received a lukewarm reaction.



"U.S. government officials told us to trust the solid Korea-U.S. alliance and the American nuclear umbrella," said Lee, who chairs the National Assembly Intelligence Committee. "Instead, the officials said they would come up with measures to send more strategic assets.



"We will keep working (for the redeployment) by garnering more public support."



The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lashed out against them Sunday.



"The LKP's behavior is extremely irresponsible. They merely used a national security issue as a tool for political gain," DPK spokeswoman Rep. Je Youn-kyung said in a statement.



"The redeployment would provide a reason for North Korea's nuclear ambition. It would nullify the diplomatic leverage that international society can adopt to press the North."



Following the North's sixth and most powerful nuclear test, the LKP has brought hawkish security policies to the forefront to attract conservatives. The largest opposition party has lost the initiative in politics here, falling far behind the ruling camp.



During the four-day trip from Sept 12, the team met U.S. Department of State officials including Joseph Yun and Eliot Kang, Senators Cory Gardner and Dan Sullivan, as well as experts from Washington-based think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Wilson Center.



LKP members cited recent opinion polls in favor of a larger U.S. presence. According to a poll released by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, Sept. 10, 68.2 percent of respondents backed a redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons. A Gallup Korea poll Sept. 8 showed that 60 percent of respondents favored South Korea having nuclear weapons.



"If the U.S. is unlikely to accept redeployment, let's kick off our own nuclear program," LKP Chairman Hong Joon-pyo said Friday, at a rally in the conservatives' core support base, Daegu.



"Since South Korea has operated nuclear power plants for 30 years, we've collected an enormous amount of plutonium. Once this is reprocessed, it's possible to produce 100 nuclear bombs within 18 months."



Before this remark, the call for nuclear armament was only raised by individual LKP lawmakers. In addition, the party is aiming to collect 10 million signatures in support of the tactical weapons redeployment.




Fate of top court nominee at hands of Ahn Cheol-soo



By Choi Ha-young





People's Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo

The second-largest opposition People's Party is finding itself in a dilemma over whether to endorse Kim Meong-su, President Moon Jae-in's nominee for Supreme Court chief.

Since two conservative parties  the Liberty Korea Party and the Bareun Party  are steadfast in opposing the reformist judge as the Supreme Court chief, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) needs support from the People's Party to get parliamentary approval for Kim's nomination. The DPK and the People's Party hold 121 and 40 seats, respectively, in the 300-seat National Assembly.

The People's Party is being increasingly pressured to approve Kim. Last week, it played a crucial role in voting down President Moon's Constitutional Court chief nominee, Kim Yi-su. The minor liberal party's bid to reject Kim Yi-su drew enormous flak from liberal voters, particularly those from the Jeolla Provinces.

Most of the People's Party lawmakers are based in the area where Kim was born. Since the area has long been isolated from high-ranking posts, the residents largely supported the liberal judge's promotion. After Kim's nomination fell apart, 156 law professors and lawyers from South Jeolla Province and Gwangju issued a statement to express their disappointment.

Both posts  Supreme Court head and Constitutional Court chief  are crucial for President Moon's judicial reform drive. The nation's judiciary circle has been criticized for their "conservative leaning" and issuing rulings dismissive of the voice of social minorities.

Kim Yi-su has been famous for speaking up for bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster and making rulings respecting democratic values and workers' rights. Kim Meong-su also revealed his reform plans in a two-day Assembly hearing last week.

"If I assume the Supreme Court chief position, I will reinvestigate the alleged blacklist in the judiciary," Kim said. The Office of Court Administration under the Supreme Court allegedly created the so-called blacklist to punish those voicing opposition to Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae. Some judges have taken issue with the list saying it has disrupted independent rulings.

However, the People's Party, which aims to come to prominence in politics, is reluctant to endorse Kim Meong-su. The party said it will refuse the parliamentary processes ahead for the nominee, if the ruling DPK apologizes for its "rudeness."





Choo Mi-ae factor

On Friday, Chang Jin-young, a member of the People's Party Supreme Council, demanded an apology from the DPK chairwoman over critical comments she made. The outspoken Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae said the People's Party was "perversely stubborn," after it refused to support the nomination of Kim Yi-su.

"The chairwoman is calling for our support, after insulting the People's Party," Chang added.

Considering the political fallout in annulling Kim Meong-su's nomination, the People's Party has decided to give its lawmakers a free vote. The ruling camp therefore has to persuade each lawmaker of the People's Party to vote in favor of Kim.
With typhoon Talim approaching southern Korea, fishing vessels shelter at Seogwipo Harbor on Seogwipo, southern Jeju Island on Sep. 15. / Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan

The powerful typhoon Talim was approaching the southern part of Korea from the south Friday morning, worrying citizens in the region that strong gusts and heavy rainfall are on their way.

At 3 a.m., the Philippine-named typhoon passed a point 360 kilometers northwest of Okinawa and headed for Kyushu. After six hours, it approached 600 kilometers southwest of Seogwipo, Jeju Island, with its outermost influential zone scathing Chinese city of Taizhou in Zhejiang Province.

The Korea Meteorological Administration predicted that Talim's course is directly northeastern bound through Japanese land over the weekend and will weaken by Monday morning near Aomori Prefecture.





High waves hit coastal rocks near Yerae-dong in Seogwipo, southern Jeju Island on Sept. 15. / Yonhap



With a typhoon warning being issued across all of Jeju Island, the authorities there have halted commercial ships from sailing. The Busan weather watchdog issued a typhoon warning for southeastern waters at 10 a.m. Friday, locking down all fishing vessels inside wharves. Two Korean cruise ships travelling between Busan and the Japanese island of Tsushima also stopped regular services.

The weather agency also released typhoon warnings for regions near Busan and Ulsan in South Gyeongsang Province. At Gimhae International Airport in Busan, departures of four planes were delayed due to the typhoon.

Coastguards in the port city of Yeosu are looking to launch a 24-hour emergency shift to prepare for the possible impact of Talim on seaside neighborhoods in South Jeolla Province.

As of 9 a.m. Friday, Talim was moving at 8 kilometers per hour with pressure of 945 hectopascals and wind speeds at 162 kilometers per hour.
A KT employee tests the download speed of a GiGA Wire internet service, Friday, placed in Haynes House Apartments in Boston. Courtesy of KT



By Kang Seung-woo

KT has started supplying its key internet technology to Boston, the Seoul-based company said, Sunday.

The service, named "GiGA Wire" using copper lines instead of fiber-optic cables, allows internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) that is 10 times faster than before.

KT and Boston held a launch ceremony in the U.S. city, Friday (local time), which Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu and Boston Chief Information Officer Jascha Franklin-Hodge attended.

This is the first time for a Korean telecom company to establish its internet technology in the United States.

In June, the nation's leading telecommunications firm signed a three-way memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the city of Boston and internet service company netBlazr to participate in the U.S. city's Digital Equity Project for a better internet infrastructure.

Under the agreement, KT is now providing the high-speed internet to 130 households in downtown Boston. NetBlazr, designated by Boston, is responsible for operating and maintaining equipment and handling customer support.

Boston, one of America's oldest cities, has a large number of buildings which are over 60 years old, so it was not easy to upgrade the network infrastructure. However, KT's advanced technology can improve their internet environment without damaging old buildings and it has received rave responses.

Robin Jeffreys, who lives at Haynes House Apartments in Boston, was quoted as saying that a simple switch of an internet modem allows him to enjoy much faster internet speeds.

The American was also surprised at Korea's advanced information technology (IT), according to KT.

While making Boston the initial proving ground of GiGA Wire internet in the U.S., KT is seeking to expand its network and smart systems businesses in San Francisco and other American cities.

The internet made its start in the U.S. more than 50 years ago, but the country ranked 22nd in the world in terms of the fiber-optic internet coverage.

"KT hopes that the establishment of GiGA Wire in Boston will contribute to beefing up Korean-U.S. cooperation in the IT industry," Hwang said.

"On the back of its advanced ICT technology, KT will develop successful business models in other countries as well as the U.S."
Tech giant strives to revive past glory in world's top smartphone market

By Kang Seung-woo





Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 8

Samsung Electronics' latest flagship smartphone is scheduled to arrive in the lucrative Chinese market ahead of its biggest rival -- the anniversary iPhone.

The Korean tech powerhouse said Sunday that the Galaxy Note 8 will go on sale in China later this month.

Holding a launch event for the premium phone in Beijing last week, the world's largest smartphone maker announced its plan to begin selling the handset Sept. 29.

"China is the most important market," said Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile business chief. "Samsung Electronics will make a persistent effort to get more trust from Chinese customers based on the company's advanced technology."

The China launch plan comes as Samsung's archrival Apple unveiled its 10th anniversary iPhone X as well as the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

Just four years ago, Samsung and Apple were vying to become the No. 1 vendor in the world's largest smartphone market. But surging competition from local players such as Huawei, OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi is preventing them from revisiting past success.

However, Samsung and Apple are seeking to rebound there with the brand new phones, with the Note 8 taking a slight edge over the iPhone X.

Given that the iPhone X is scheduled to arrive in China Nov. 3, Samsung can preempt the market ahead of the Apple for more than a month.

"Samsung could take advantage of its earlier release to Chinese customers," said an official of the smartphone industry on condition of anonymity. "China, the United States and Korea have an advanced writing culture, so Samsung has seen high demand for the Note phones there."

The Note 8 features an enhanced stylus pen allowing users to take up to 100 pages of notes, while the screen is asleep. In addition, it is capable of translating languages, or converting numbers, such as currencies.

Price competitiveness is another advantage for the Note 8 against the iPhone X.

The Samsung phone will come in three storage options of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB and they will retail for 6,988 yuan (1.2 million won), 7,388 yuan 7,988 yuan, respectively.

In comparison, the Apple phone with 64GB of internal storage will be available for 8,388 yuan and the 256GB version sells even higher at 9,688 yuan -- the most expensive iPhone to date.

"Price competitiveness will be on Samsung's side," the official said, adding that the Note 8 could attract some converts from the iPhone's customer base.

Foreign media outlets have already been questioning whether the price tag will adversely affect Apple's already slumping sales in China, saying the iPhone X costs almost double the country's average monthly salary.

"The latest model is tipped to have a price tag upward of $1,000, compared with less than $800 for the top-end iPhone 7 Plus. That is unlikely to make a major dent in U.S. sales, analysts say, but could have a greater impact in China, where the cost is roughly double the average Chinese monthly salary," Reuters said.

Plus, the price tags for Chinese consumers are much higher than those for American users.

According to industry tracker Strategy Analytics, Samsung's second-quarter share in the Chinese smartphone market was 3 percent and Apple had 5.8 percent.

To create a competitive advantage, Samsung has also partnered with WeChat Pay, a mobile payment platform service, to expand into the fast-growing mobile payment market there.

The partnership would allow Samsung Pay users in China to make payments at almost all retail outlets that accept credit cards, debit cards and membership cards, the company said.

Last year, Samsung also teamed up with China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, which runs a similar service, Alipay.

Earlier this year, Samsung also replaced the Chinese office's chief in charge of its smartphone business and reshuffled its distribution network to turn things around.
After many years in development, Martin Scorsese is working on The Irishman, a star-studded adaptation of I Heard You Paint Houses, Charles Brandt's non-fiction book about Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran.

Sheeran was a mob hitman and worked for Jimmy Hoffa, who once said to him, "I heard you paint houses," a metaphor for killing. But Sheeran also claimed to have killed Hoffa. Robert De Niro is playing Sheeran while Al Pacino will play Hoffa, and the pair are going to be in Paterson, New Jersey to shoot scenes. NorthJersey.com reports, "[O]ne of the vice presidents of the film company, Villa Roma Productions, was captivated by the citys architecture when he watched the critically acclaimed Jim Jarmusch movie 'Paterson.'"

Marcia Sotorrio, Paterson's cultural affairs director, said, "He loved the old buildings," and The Irishman's location staff liked the city enough to commit to film there.

Local officials had been staying quiet about the filming, but word leaked out on Thursday. I guess the cover is blown now, said Bob Guarasci, executive director of the New Jersey Community Development Corp., whose headquarters is in the heart of the historic district. Sotorrio said they movies producers want to keep information about the filming hush hush. She said the Paterson scenes show Pacino and DeNiro driving on some sort of road trip and the movie people want authentic backgrounds - not throngs of film fans stretching their necks for a glimpse of their idols.

Guarasci added, "Im very excited about this. Weve had governors and senators come to our building. Even a Nigerian queen. But never two movie stars."

The film was also shooting on the Lower East Side last month.

Other stars include Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale and Joe Pesci, who had been a holdout. When Casino was honored as a "Guy Hall of Fame Movie" in 2016, De Niro appeared with Pesci and said, "Casino had Sharon Stone, Jimmy Woods, and Don Rickles, and it was the last time that Joe and I did a picture with Marty. But, hopefully that is gonna change, Joe... Marty and I are planning to get back together for a movie I think will be a future Guy Hall of Fame entry, that is if Joe has any more fs left in him. So far all he keeps saying is Go f yourself.'"

Netflix is reportedly paying $105 million for the global rights to The Irishman. And Paterson, Jarmusch's critically acclaimed film (96% fresh!), is pretty much as far removed from a gangster movie as possible: It's about a bus driver poet.




By Jhoo Dong-chan



The new head of Hyundai Motor's operations in the United States is facing the daunting task of propping up its slumping sales in the world's second-largest automobile market.



Hyundai Motor America (HMA) CEO Lee Kyung-soo, who will take the helm officially Sept. 18, is drawing keen attention from industry watchers as to whether he will be able to turn the struggling automaker around.



Lee will replace his predecessor Dave Zuchowski, who was dismissed last December for HMA's poor performance. Acting CEO Jerry Flannery has been leading the company for the past 9 months.



His appointment comes at a time when Hyundai needs to perform strongly to offset plunging sales in China, its largest market. Hyundai's sales have fallen sharply this year as the Chinese government has been carrying out economic retaliation against Korean companies over the nation's decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery here.



Lee will be in charge of the company's sales and marketing operations in the U.S. and Flannery will return to his original position as the company's executive vice president, and chief legal and safety officer.



"Mr. Lee has an in-depth understanding of Hyundai Motor's global operations, following nearly two decades in diverse markets around the world, including the U.S., Europe and Latin America," Hyundai Motor President and CEO Lee Won-hee said in a press release.



"I would like to personally thank Jerry Flannery for his leadership and the stability he brought the organization while serving as interim president and CEO."



Lee began his career with Hyundai Motor in 1982, and was most recently the president and CEO of Hyundai Translead, a manufacturer of dry and refrigerated van trailers, container chassis and converter dollies. The 61-year-old has played crucial roles in various positions in the U.S. for more than 10 years, adding to his expertise in overseas markets and ensuring that he is well qualified to lead the U.S. market, according to Hyundai Motor America.



"I'm honored and motivated to have been selected to lead Hyundai Motor America in one of the most interesting times in the automotive industry's history and to reinvigorate momentum in the strategically important U.S. market," Lee said.



"We have significant opportunities ahead of us. I'm looking forward to supporting our tremendous employee and dealership base and launching exciting new vehicles and technologies in the near future and beyond. I am confident we're heading to new levels of success."



The Korean carmaker's local affiliate in the U.S. sold 54,310 cars, including the Genesis brand, in the world's second-largest automobile market last month, down 24.6 percent from the same period last year of 75,003 cars. It also showed double-digit decreases in sales over the last four months since May.



Hyundai Motor's sister brand Kia Motors also sold 53,323 cars in the U.S. last month, down 1.7 percent from a year ago.








Dongwha employees from Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia and India make traditional Korean dolls with paper, wearing traditional Korean clothes at the Traditional Crafts Center at Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul last week. Dongwha invited the foreign workers here, so they could understand their company better. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Workers from four countries learn more about company

By Park Jae-hyuk

Dozens of foreign workers from Dongwha Group's overseas affiliates went to the Traditional Crafts Center, one of the traditional Korean-style houses at Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, Tuesday last week.

Wearing traditional Korean clothing, hanbok, the employees from Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia and India made traditional Korean paper dolls.

Although some of them felt awkward about wearing hanbok and sitting on the floor, all of them seemed to be satisfied with the dolls they made after the experience.

Dongwha International's (DWI) India Office sales manager Ashish Shah, who visited Korea for the first time, also expressed his satisfaction with the experience and his company.

"I am very happy to be here," he said. "I expect to understand the culture of Korea, as well as the company I work for, during this visit. I expect to get some more knowledge about the working culture and other systems that we follow in this company."

The event was a part of the One Dongwha Camp, Dongwha Group's cultural initiative aimed at better communication and as a reward for its hardworking overseas employees.

Since 2014, Korea's leading wood panel manufacturer has invited its employees from overseas affiliates to Korea every year so they can understand the company and the country better.

This year, 26 employees working for Dongwha Malaysia (DMY), VRG Dongwha (VRGDW) in Vietnam, Dongwha Timber (DWT) in Australia and DWI's offices in Vietnam and India came to Korea.

Starting from Tuesday and running through Saturday last week, they went on tours to Bukchon Hanok Village, Myeong-dong and Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, as well as China Town in Incheon.

They also visited Dongwha's medium-density fiberboard (MDF) factories at Incheon and Asan, South Chungcheong Province, and Dongwha MPARK, Korea's largest used car complex in Incheon.

The five-day visit also offered workshops and performances for the workers to foster better communication with each other living across different borders.





Dongwha's foreign employees pose at the company's medium-density fiberboard factory in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, last week. / Courtesy of Dongwha Group



Recommended company

Despite their diverse nationalities, Dongwha's foreign workers unanimously praised their company for its corporate culture.

Shah, who moved to Dongwha earlier this year from an Indian company where he served in the same position, said only one thing was changed after the transfer  the working culture.

"The way of working at Dongwha is very different than at Indian companies," he said. "Indian companies focus only on sales, nothing else. But Dongwha deals with more issues, such as sales, market information and the introduction of new products."

Saying he could develop his abilities at Dongwha, the sales manager said Dongwha is spending more for the well-being of its employees than his previous company did.

Luong Ke Luc, the sales manager at DWI's Hanoi office in Vietnam, said his life has totally been changed since the Forestry University graduate moved to Dongwha in 2012 from IKEA, the Swedish home furnishing company.

"I feel I have improved myself and my family," he said. "The work with Dongwha fostered my leadership, helping me to become more industrious."

DMY's production worker Mohd Soberi Bin Ahmad regards smarter working culture as Dongwha's advantage, compared to his previous workplace and companies in Malaysia.

Ahmad, who has worked for DMY for more than 20 years, said the company posted good performances as well.

By setting up a production base in Australia in 1996, Dongwha started its overseas moves earlier than its rivals and set up a series of production sites in Vietnam, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia.

It has now grown into Korea's leading building materials manufacturer and a global provider of wood panels, such as particle boards and MDF.

The company's Vietnamese affiliate posted 36 percent in its operating profit ratio in 2015, three years after the first line began operations. The second production line, which opened this year, is expected to help the company's sales for this year rise over 20 percent from 113.8 billion won ($100 million) last year.

The company's plants in Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand have also shown fast growth, leading the wood panel industry in each country.

Given the achievements, the foreign employees recommended their company to their countries' jobseekers, even to the members of their families.

"I hope more friends of mine interact with Dongwha," Luong said. "I have two sons, and I will recommend they consider becoming part of the Dongwha family when they grow up."

Michael Dyer, the engineer at DWT who joined the company in 2004, said his son actually works at one of the sections at Dongwha's plant which produces commercial board.

Feeling regretful about the fact that most Australians have yet to realize Dongwha's capacities as a global enterprise, Dyer said he has tried hard to promote his company to his friends and neighbors.

Dyer, who was in Korea for the second time, said he wants to contribute more to DWT, when he goes back to his country. Shah also said he expects the factory tours will allow him to understand the capacity and technologies of Dongwha better.

Established in 1948 as a wood producer, Dongwha Group has become one of the nation's leading players in building decorative materials, manufacturing wood boards, chemicals, construction and homebuilding materials and substances.

The Seoul-headquartered group extended its business horizon to secondhand automobiles by founding Dongwha MPARK in 2011 and to media via the acquisition of the Hankook Ilbo and The Korea Times.

It holds a total of five subsidiaries including Dongwha Enterprise, the leading floor material maker in Korea, and Daesung Wood, the top-tier player in the domestic timber industry.

Korea Times intern Rha Hae-sung contributed to this article.
From opium to cryptocurrency, North Korea maneuvers to earn hard cash for nuclear program
On Saturday, upwards of 700 people gathered under a cloudy September sky in the vicinity of Anchor Park, Pioneer Park and the Lewis and Clark Library for the seventh Annual Montana Clean Energy Fair. This annual event is put on by the Montana Renewable Energy Association (MREA), and this was the second year the free event was held in Helena.

According to Christopher Borton, fair coordinator and MREA board member, the initial idea for the Montana Clean Energy Fair was driven by a desire to educate the public on clean energy and the options available to them in Montana. Having the event be a fun, educational and family-friendly fair seemed like the best idea. The fair is a traveling event and has been held in Butte, Missoula and Helena so far.

The Montana Clean Energy Fair kicked off on Friday with a Battery Based Inverter Training Workshop presented by Lones Tuss of Outback Power. The workshop focused on Outback Power Systems battery-based inverter technology, along with balance of system components, web-based monitoring and its new grid-tied three phase inverter product.

The main fair event began Saturday morning with the third annual Helena Sun Run  an event that raises money for installing solar panels on nonprofits and public buildings in Helena. The 5K run, 1-mile walk or bicycle parade began at 9 a.m. at Anchor Park. This years run aimed at raising funds to install a solar system at Carroll College.

As runners finished their final leg of the race, people began milling about taking in the clean energy vendors and workshops. The 13 workshops featured throughout the day covered a variety of topics including solar, wind, alternative fuel vehicles, energy efficiency and other clean energy technologies.

There was a good balance between different perspectives, said Andrew Valainis, executive director for MREA.

One of the workshops that Valainis was most excited for was the Citizen Advocacy Training, which was new to the fair this year. The training, facilitated by Montana Conservation Voters, was designed to prepare citizens to engage in advocacy in different venues, including earned media, lobbying and engagement with decision makers in key venues like the Montana Legislature. The training discussed different options available for engagement and focused on best practices, messaging and presentation.

It was a unique opportunity for individuals to learn how they can personally get involved in renewable energy advocacy, said Valainis.

Besides the workshops, the fair also featured 20 clean energy vendors/exhibitors to engage with and ask questions to. Dan Brandborg, owner of SBS Solar out of Hamilton, is an annual participant in the fair. Brandborgs business is a solar electric systems integrator that has served western Montana for over 30 years.

Of all renewable energy, solar gets 90 percent of the attention because its so cost effective, said Brandborg.

He admitted that he enjoys attending the annual fair and getting to converse with people who have recently been turned onto solar.

Solar is going crazy around the world right now, said Brandborg. The U.S. is growing with its use but we still play a relatively small part.

Solar is part of the solution to our climate change woes, Brandborg went on to state. Were not going to change the world overnight but we can start making a difference.

Saturday afternoon Brandborg also led a workshop on batteries and energy storage. He discussed grid residential battery systems and their integration with solar systems.

Urban Electric Bikes was a new vendor to the fair this year and one that Valainis and Borton were especially excited to include. According to Borton, electric bikes are extremely popular in many other countries right now, but they have yet to take off in the United States. According to a 2016 report from Navigant Research, global e-bike sales are expected to reach $24.3 billion annually by 2025.

A similar bike to the one Urban Electric produces was raffled off as a grand prize at the end of the fair Saturday. Up for raffle was X-Tremes Trail Maker Elite Electric Bike. It was valued at $1,000 and is a lithium battery powered bicycle that runs on a 300 watt zero resistance rear hub motor. The bike can travel up to 20 miles per hour for up to 20 miles on a single charge.

Along with the vendors was an electric car show featuring the Nissan LEAF, Chevrolet Volt and the Chevrolet Spark. Childrens activities were also held throughout the day including solar cooking, recycled arts projects and model solar car assembly and racing.

Ultimately, MREAs hope with the annual Clean Energy Fair is to break down the knowledge barriers and provide a learning opportunity for the public.

Its a unique opportunity to have actual solar tech installers on site and for people to be able to come to understand how the industry works, said Valainis. Our goal is to engage as many Montanans as we can. The education piece is paramount to getting people more motivated about clean energy. You can come away with a roadmap on how to get solar installed on your home or business. We really try to connect all of the dots on that.

Those of us who promote clean energy will continue to do so, said Borton. There is no letup in sight on clean energy in the world. The technology is going full bore and were really excited about that.
A Missoula defense attorney says the comments she made about a 13-year-old sexual assault victim during a client's sentencing hearing last week came only after she felt the judge had opened the door to them.

Lisa Kauffman said a Missoulian story about the hearing painted her unfairly because it did not say that District Court Judge Robert Dusty Deschamps was the first person to use the word temptress in the courtroom  something she said led her to present additional information about the girl in hopes of securing a lesser punishment for her client.

On Monday, during sentencing for a man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old patient at the teen addiction recovery center where he worked, Kauffman told the judge he should see pictures of the victim, and that she looks and acts like shes 18 years old. And I think thats important.

I should bring a picture of her and makeup and her hair and her breasts, Kauffman said, according to the official transcript from the hearing.

Kauffman said Thursday those statements came only after she felt Deschamps opened the door to including other evidence about the victim and implied it might sway him into a lighter sentence. She said the comments were her doing her job.

I am comfortable saying things that are unpopular if its best for my client, she said. My point wasnt to re-victimize her, my point was to get him a lesser sentence.

Missoula attorney Peter Lacny, who heads the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the duty for zealous representation of a client is something all criminal defense attorneys take seriously.

If the mitigating factors are ones that could be calculated to change the judges mind you have to do it. You have a responsibility, he said.

What Kauffman said she saw as the judge opening the door started with a statement by Deschamps  who said he thought that the defendant had done more than he'd admitted to. Kauffman responded So what if he had sex with her? saying that didnt change whether the man could be eligible for a deferred sentence or treatment in the community instead of incarceration.

I tell you what,'' Deschamps said, according to the official court transcript. "I tell you what would make the difference here, would be if she was some temptress that raped him and now hes  hes, you know because he was a victim but the perpetrator happened to be underage, you know, that might make a difference.

"But short of that, I dont know that anything would make a difference, the judge said.

If I even (alluded) to the possibility that a 13-year-old could somehow be a seductive temptress Kauffman began to respond, before being cut off by the judge, who said, I think it could happen.

Well, of course you and I both know that, Kauffman replied. But every womens rights group in this country would be all over you and me. Were not allowed to talk like that anymore.

After an interjection by prosecutor Brian Lowney that he found the conversation between Kauffman and the judge offensive, Kauffman went on to make the remarks about the girls appearance, how old she acted, and that she told the defense team in an interview the encounter had been mutual.

Kauffman had argued earlier in the hearing that "I just think our attitude surrounding sex and sexuality often ends up with the guy going to prison when theres a lot of other contributing factors.

She also said the girls at the treatment center may have "acted out sexually" as a part of their trauma.

"And I'm not blaming the victim here. I'm just saying you have to put all that together in terms of the way they presented themselves," she said.

Deschamps said Friday that in rereading a copy of the court transcript, he can understand that Kauffman took his comment as an invitation to present information about the 13-year-old victim, but said that wasnt what he meant.

That wasnt my intention. I thought I was just saying I could see a situation. The only way I could see giving a deferred or even a suspended sentence was if this guy was raped by an underage person, but I didnt think that was the case here, the judge said. The Legislature wouldnt have even allowed judges to give deferred sentences unless there was some sort of fact pattern.

***

In sentencing hearings, attorneys present the aggravating or mitigating circumstances that can determine where in the range of available sentencing options a defendant will end up.

Kauffman said Thursday she was surprised when Deschamps used the term "temptress," but took the statement as him being willing to lean in her clients favor if presented with more information about the girl. She said she had a professional obligation to try to capitalize on that opening for her client, but said there were still limits to what she felt was fair game.

I had additional information that may have painted the 13-year-old in an unfavorable light and I deliberately did not out of respect for her healing, Kauffman said.

She also referenced a state law that allows a legitimate defense in sex crimes involving underage victims if a defendant believed the victim was older than 16, the age of consent. While that law does not apply to cases where a victim is 13 years old or younger  as in Mondays hearing  Kauffman said that doesnt entirely preclude bringing that defense up as an argument. Her client told the person conducting his psychosexual evaluation he thought the girl had been at least 16 at the time.

Kauffman said another exchange during a brief court recess, where she told Lowney How about victims as temptresses, what do you think about that? was meant as her expressing surprise that the judge had used the term and was allowing such a discussion to take place.

The teenagers mother, who was seated behind them, took umbrage with the comment, and Kauffman apologized to her, saying she was just making a little slam. Kauffman said she wasnt able to finish, but would have done so by saying it was a little slam against Deschamps, not the prosecutor or the girl.

***

Peter Lacny, president of the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said sometimes that duty of loyalty to defend a client can lead to members of the public questioning things defense attorneys say or do.

But he said views often change if a person is being charged and prosecuted for alleged criminal conduct.

Were the only person generally standing with the client, with the prosecution and the police generally against them, said Lacny, of the Missoula firm Datsopoulos, MacDonald and Lind. Our job is to mitigate and defend them.

***

Shantelle Gaynor, department manager for the Missoula City-County Relationship Violence Services, said comments like Kauffmans about a victims actions, dress or appearance can have a chilling effect on victims' willingness to report sexual violence.

The No. 1 factor in a victims recovery is if they were believed and how they were supported in the process, she said. By looking to the actions of the victim, you dont create innocence for the perpetrator.

To put it more plainly, she said, when a drunk driver hits another vehicle, we dont ask why the victim bought a red car to begin with.

The potential for considering a victims behavior as part of reducing a perpetrators responsibility is a microcosm that pushes against broader cultural questions, about sex and rape, Gaynor said.

As a society and a culture, when there is a rape, we would like the person to go to jail. When there is consensual sex, we want people to enjoy their experience. When we conflate sex and rape, were contributing to the gray area that lets perpetrators get away with what they do, she said.

***

In the days since the initial news story came out, Kauffman said she has received threats, including death threats, from around the country, some of which she played for the Missoulian.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself, one voicemail said.

I hope that you get whats coming to you, said another.

You are a horrible human being  theres a special place in hell for people like you, went a third.

That was my life yesterday and the day before, Kauffman said Thursday, saying the backlash has made her afraid. In 20 years (as a defense attorney) Ive never dealt with this level of hostility and anger.

Deschamps said the threats Kauffman has been receiving since the hearing were unacceptable.

Shes doing her job. She doesnt deserve this, he said. We should be able to, without fear of retribution, be able to have freewheeling discussion in sentencing hearings.

Since seeing the initial story of Kauffmans comments in court generate controversy, Deschamps said he reviewed a Montana Supreme Court decision in a case involving statements in a 2013 rape sentencing made by former District Court Judge G. Todd Baugh in Yellowstone County. The high court censured Baugh over the handling of the case and suspended him for a month.

The comments that landed Baugh in hot water were significantly different than Deschamps statements in Mondays court hearing. In 2013, Baugh sentenced a teacher who was convicted of raping one of his students to a sentence that had all but a month suspended, saying as part of his rationale for the sentence that the 14-year-old girl in the case had been older than her chronological age and had likely been in as much control of the situation as the defendant.

Days later, Baugh apologized for the comments, saying they were stupid and wrong.
Hello! Im Mark Olsen, welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

The Toronto International Film Festival is wrapping up another year of discoveries and unveilings. All of our coverage can be found here, including portraits from our photo studio and video interviews.

Among the films to genuinely premiere in Toronto, and not play as part of the circuit of festivals that includes Venice and Telluride, was Craig Gillespies high-wire serio-comic I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie in an unexpectedly sympathetic portrait of infamous figure skater Tonya Harding.

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Brie Larson unveiled her feature directing debut, Unicorn Store, in which she stars as a young woman who becomes convinced she is about to receive, indeed, a unicorn.

French Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Erguven made her English-language debut with Kings, set in Los Angeles in the buildup to and events of the 1992 riots and starring Halle Berry and Daniel Craig.

Steve Zeitchik spoke to Louis C.K. about his controversial film I Love You, Daddy.

And a special notice of the death this week of actor Harry Dean Stanton at the age of 91. He had come to take on a special meaning here in Los Angeles, representing a sense of struggle and perseverance and the unlikely grace that comes simply from surviving and sticking with it.

The movie Lucky, designed as an elegiac portrait in late repose starring Stanton, premiered earlier this year at South by Southwest and is opening soon. In a strange happenstance, I interviewed longtime Stanton collaborator and friend David Lynch just a few hours before the news of Stantons death broke. Noting what would be lost were the actor to leave us, Lynch called Stanton the most natural actor going.

We have begun booking upcoming events, including one very exciting movie and Q&A for later this month. Keep an eye on this space for updates on future events, or go to events.latimes.com.

mother!

Darren Aronofskys new mother! is somewhat hard to summarize, a wild psychological horror allegory for the environment (or some such) starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer.

In his review for The Times, Justin Chang noted, You dont need a notebook or a theology degree to understand, on a fundamental level, the deeper sense that this violently irrational movie is making. It comes together beautifully in your head even as everything else seems to be coming apart.

Steve Zeitchik caught up with Aronofsky in New York, and anyone looking to the filmmaker for guidance as to how to take the film may be somewhat disappointed by his response. Is this a horror movie or a psychological thriller or a home-invasion film? All of those are good, Aronofsky said. But Im not sure what it is.

At BuzzFeed, Alison Willmore tried to make sense of it all by calling it an art film getting a wide release, a fascinating (and maybe doomed), stylistically radical, thematically unfriendly, and admirably  gamble. It doesnt tell a story so much as it feels like it offers a warped self-portrait of someone admitting there are limits to what theyre willing to give, but not what theyre willing to take, and in the end they can just begin again with someone else.

At the Associated Press, Lindsey Bahr called the film an audacious, bold and fascinating fever dream of a film. Its allegory for, well, everything (the environment, marriage, art, spirituality, you name it!), that will challenge, distress and edify anyone who chooses to submit themselves to this creation for two hours.

First They Killed My Father

Based on the memoir by Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father is directed and co-written by Angelina Jolie and feels in some way like an extension of both her work as a filmmaker and the humanitarian work with which she has long been involved. An intense, emotional vision of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era, the film follows a young girl struggling to hold onto the solace of family, love and something like everyday life.

In his review for The Times, Kenneth Turan observed, Though this story couldnt mean more to Jolie, she hasnt been able to make it mean as much to us. Scrupulous and perhaps constrained at the thought of overdoing things, Jolie has allowed the enormity of the story to get the best of her, creating a film that is more disturbing than moving.

Amy Nicholson, reviewing for Uproxx, wrote, Jolie is choosing to use her megastar clout to insist audiences learn that one-quarter of the Cambodian population was slaughtered in her own lifetime. Raise your hand if youd use your fame to do the same. And First They Killed My Father is the best work shes done yet.

Brads Status

The new film directed by Mike White, who also wrote the screenplay, Brads Status stars Ben Stiller as a man beset by anxiety that his life hasnt added up in all the ways he would have liked. Taking his high school age son on a tour of potential colleges unleashes a torrent of anxiety and self-doubt.

In his review for The Times, Justin Chang noted, Mike White has a knack for telling stories about the chasm between what people really want and who they really are. His sweet-and-sour satires are minefields of personal disappointment, bitterness and despair, littered with the wreckage of broken promises and unmet expectations.

In his review for the New York Times, A.O. Scott called the film astute, cringy and ultimately kindhearted  while adding, Mr. White has honed a comic sensibility that avoids cruelty and minimizes exaggeration. He is attuned to the political implications of individual behavior and also to those aspects of experience that cant be politicized. His characters are bundles of contradictory impulses and qualities. They are admirable and awful, full of idealism and full of themselves, weird and entirely familiar.

I spoke to White about the movie for a story that will be publishing soon. As he said, For me, what I was hoping was that the movie would be kind of a sleight of hand, in that it seems like its this midlife crisis, existentialist comedy or whatever it is, and that just at some point, it reveals itself to be a father-son story.

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A mass of people with red noses and faces covered in white paint descended Saturday on Washington. They hoisted signs declaring Clown Lives Matter and posters decorated with doctored images of President Trump.

Also highly visible were numerous images of a wild-haired man wielding a hatchet. One was plastered on an American flag.

No, this wasnt a scene out of American Horror Story or a gathering of fans of the hit film It. The occasion was a march near the Lincoln Memorial as scores of fans of the Detroit-based rap group Insane Clown Posse known as Juggalos protested the FBI for labeling them as a gang.

The Juggalos  named after the 1992 song The Juggla  are the fiercely devoted fans of the rap duo and its brand of horrorcore, a sub-genre of hip-hop punctuated by macabre themes.

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Think Deadheads, Beliebers or Swifties, but far more rowdy.

ICP, as the group is commonly known, has sold about 7 million albums, and has had its name branded on items ranging from action figures to energy drinks. Since 2000, the group has anchored a raucous multi-day festival  the Gathering of the Juggalos  where revelry and unruliness are encouraged; the event even boasts its own drug bazaar called the Bridge. Fatal drug overdoses, fights and arrests have punctuated past festivals.

Ahead of Saturdays march, concerns were raised  largely through social media  that the Juggalos would clash with the Mother of All Rallies, a pro-Trump group. But protest leaders said the march was focused solely on showing strength in numbers and changing perception of ICPs fan base.

Over the past five years, our legal team has heard testimonies and reports from Juggalos all over the nation who have lost custody of their children, been fired from jobs, denied access into the armed forces, and the most common consequence  being officially labeled as a gang member by law enforcement agencies for wearing Juggalo-related clothing or brandishing one or more Juggalo tattoos, ICP wrote in a statement on the marchs site.

The notoriety of the Gatherings has driven most of the public perception surrounding ICP and its followers. Videos from the festivals have depicted attendees throwing rocks and beer bottles at performers, and featured naked fans with painted faces wrestling and dousing one another with Faygo, a brand of soft drink popular in the Midwest.

Wrote Wired senior writer Brian Raftery in a 2010 feature: ICPs following is made up mostly of young white men from working-class backgrounds. They tend to feel that theyve been misunderstood outsiders their whole lives, whether for being overweight, looking weird, being poor, or even for just liking ICP in the first place. For them, the Gathering is a place they can be accepted, a feeling reinforced by the constant chants of the Juggalo credo Fam-uh-LEE! Fam-uh-LEE!

However, a rise in criminal behavior has been connected to proud Juggalos, including a shooting that wounded a couple in King County, Wash., in 2011. The incident led the Justice Departments National Gang Intelligence Center to classify them as a loosely organized hybrid gang. Law enforcement officials in at least 21 states have identified criminal Juggalo subsets.

Most crimes committed by Juggalos are sporadic, disorganized, individualistic, and often involve simple assault, personal drug use and possession, petty theft, and vandalism, the report states. However, open source reporting suggests that a small number of Juggalos are forming more organized subsets and engaging in more gang-like criminal activity, such as felony assaults, thefts, robberies, and drug sales. Social networking websites are a popular conveyance for Juggalo subculture to communicate and expand.

Two Maryland Juggalos in 2014 were charged with attempted murder for trying to carve and burn an ICP tattoo off their roommates arm because they felt he was no longer loyal. Earlier this year, a Wisconsin Juggalo was sentenced to more than three years in prison for chopping off a womans pinky finger with a machete  even attempting to cauterize the wound with a blowtorch when a car cigarette lighter failed to work  and drinking her blood to honor another Juggalo who had passed away. The plan was to eat the finger later.

Insane Clown Posse has furiously denounced the gang classification; the duo sued the Justice Department and FBI, in a suit that has been dismissed.

The American Civil Liberties Union even stepped in, filing a suit on the groups behalf in 2014.

The Juggalos are fighting for the basic American right to freely express who they are, to gather and share their appreciation of music, and to discuss issues that are important to them without fear of being unfairly targeted and harassed by police, Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of the Michigan chapter of the ACLU, said in a statement.

A simple traffic stop for a broken taillight can  and has  resulted in an otherwise law-abiding, hard-working, taxpaying citizen being put on a local or state list of gang members simply for displaying their Juggalo pride, ICP wrote online. Being labeled a gang member can be a permanent stain on an individuals life, since it will come up in a simple background check every single time that person is applying for a job, trying to adopt a child, join the armed forces, or attempting to acquire housing  their name may pop up as being gang-affiliated, even if that person has never been charged with any kind of crime.

A concert from Insane Clown Posse was scheduled to cap the days protest.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com

For more music news follow me on Twitter:@GerrickKennedy

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A locations manager for Netflixs Narcos was found dead Monday in a rural area of Mexico known for gang-related gang violence, according to reports in Mexican media.

The manager, Carlos Munoz Portal, was last seen heading to the state of Mexico to take production photographs, the reports said. Hours later, the 37-year-old was found dead in his car. He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

The site where his vehicle was found is close to the border of Hidalgo, the Mexican state with the highest homicide rate, according to reports.

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Police told local media that the car appeared to have been involved in some kind of chase, but they were uncertain whether the chase began in Hidalgo or Mexico state, and no witnesses have been located.

Munoz , a Mexican native, had worked in location management for more than a decade. His first job was on the 2004 Denzel Washington thriller Man on Fire, which the late Tony Scott shot in Mexico City.

His credits also included work on Spectre, Sicario, Fast & Furious, Resident Evil: Extinction, and Mozart in the Jungle.

We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate, a statement from Netflix said.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com

For more music news follow me on Twitter:@GerrickKennedy

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Is this the Emmys or the Oscars? See which Emmy nominees already have Academy Awards

For those who arent annually immersed in the exhaustive awards cycle that dominates much of the entertainment industry, heres a helpful SAT-style analogy:

Oscars: film :: Emmys: television

(Grammys are for music and Tonys are for theater and dont even get us started on the Golden Globes, which are a veritable all of the above awards show.)

But things can get a bit confusing when TVs main event is peppered with a generous pinch of Oscar winners and even more Oscar-nominated talent. Especially when those Oscar winners are nominated for Emmys for playing other Oscar winners. (Were looking at you, Lange and Sarandon). For years, the premium cable networks and streaming services have attracted big-screen stars to the once-lowly ranks of the small screen, which further blurred the fading line between cinema and television.

Heres a rundown of some of the familiar faces -- several of whom are no strangers to the Emmys -- who already have Oscar gold on their mantels.

Common The rapper won a Creative Arts Emmy last weekend for his song Letter to the Free from Ava DuVernays 13th. He won the Academy Award for original song for another DuVernay collaboration film, 2014s Selma.

Viola Davis Davis is again nominated for a lead actress Emmy for How to Get Away With Murder. (She won for her role as law professor Annalise Keating back in 2015). Davis notched her Oscar earlier this year for her supporting role in Fences.

Robert De Niro The film veteran is up for his first Emmy this year for playing Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff in HBOs The Wizard of Lies, which he also executive produced. He famously won a supporting actor Oscar for 1974s The Godfather: Part II and a lead actor Oscar for 1980s Raging Bull.

Jane Fonda The two-time Oscar winner is again up for lead actress in a comedy with Netflixs Grace and Frankie. She already won Emmy gold for the 1984 TV movie The Dollmaker. Fonda won her first lead actress Oscar for 1971s Klute and the second for 1978s Coming Home.

Anthony Hopkins The Westworld star has two Primetime Emmys to his name: one for 1976s The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case and another for 1981s The Bunker. His Oscar accompanied his iconic lead role in 1991s Silence of the Lambs.

Ron Howard The Happy Days alum-turned-filmmaker is up for three awards this year: producing and directing NatGeos Einstein docudrama Genius and producing Hulus Beatles documentary Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years. (He lost to 13th in the doc category). Howards executive producer credits on From Earth to the Moon and Arrested Development have earned him two Primetime Emmys, and hes won two Oscars for directing and producing the 2001 drama A Beautiful Mind.

Tom Hanks The beloved actor was up for guest actor in a comedy this year for his hosting duties on Saturday Night Live, but he lost to Dave Chappelle at last weeks Creative Arts Emmys. He has previously won seven Primetime Emmy awards as a producer on various HBO projects including Band of Brothers and John Adams. The two-time Oscar winner was celebrated by the film academy for his work in the 90s films Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.

Nicole Kidman The Big Little Lies co-producer and lead actress is up for two Emmys this year. She won a lead actress Oscar for 2002s The Hours.

Jessica Lange A frequent collaborator with producer Ryan Murphy, Lange has won two Emmys while working on his American Horror Story anthology. She also won a lead actress Emmy for 2009s Grey Gardens. This year shes up for a lead actress award for her role as film star Joan Crawford in Murphys limited series Feud: Bette and Joan. Lange won a supporting actress Oscar for 1982s Tootsie and lead actress Oscar for 1994s Blue Sky.

Geoffrey Rush The British actors portrayal of famed scientist Albert Einstein in Genius earned him a nod this year. But hes already earned an Emmy for his take on the Pink Panther in the 2004 TV movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. If those two biopics werent enough, his 1996 film Shine notched a lead actor Oscar.

Susan Sarandon Like her Feud costar, Sarandon is up for two Emmys this year: the first for her portrayal of actress Bette Davis, the second for serving as an executive producer on the series. Shes been nominated four other times, but were pretty sure her Oscar for 1995s Dead Man Walking has made up for those losses.

Kevin Spacey The 12-time Emmy Award nominee has no wins yet, but the House of Cards star and executive producer does have two Oscars: One for 1995s The Usual Suspects and another for 1999s American Beauty.

Reese Witherspoon The first-time Emmy nominee, who produced Big Little Lies and played alliteration-friendly stay-at-home mom Madeline Martha Mackenzie, is up for two awards this year. She won a lead actress Oscar for playing the no-nonsense June Carter in 2005s Walk the Line.

Steven Zaillian The Oscar winner for best adapted screenplay for Schindlers List is up for three Emmys this year for writing, directing and producing HBOs crime drama The Night Of.
MANY GLACIER  Nan Anderson will tell you the 1950s werent kind to the interior of one of Glacier National Parks historic gems.

In the '50s, some pretty hideous things happened to this hotel, Anderson said, as she stood in the newly renovated interior of the Many Glacier Hotel during last week's grand reopening celebration.

By the 1950s, no one could have said for certain that the 211-room five-story architectural masterpiece built along the shoreline of the stunningly beautiful Swiftcurrent Lake had much of a chance of standing the test of time.

By then, its builder and greatest promoter, Louis Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway, was long gone.

With its short 100-day tourist season, it was hard for anyone to make a buck there. Even in its heyday when the railroad made a point of luring tourists from all over the world, its operations had to be subsidized by the industrial giant.

After a fire in 1936 threatened Many Glacier, hotel employees sent a telegram to Great Northern headquarters with the exciting news that they had saved the hotel from the flames. The reply was a single word. Why?

So when it came to any remodeling, finding ways to make an extra dollar or two was always a driving force.

It was probably an easy choice for the concessionaires back in 1957 to tear out the double-helical staircase that wrapped around a handmade waterfall in the hotels lobby to make room for the gift shop. And the Japanese lanterns that for generations had provided the great interior expanse an interesting ambience had to go, too. There certainly wasnt any need for guests to see the artistry of the huge logs that served as roof beams inside the dining room. Those were hidden for decades by a drop ceiling that eventually was buried in guano from the bats who made their home in the rafters.

For an architect with an eye for beauty of the past, the modifications made to this historic icon over the year were horrific.

Anderson would spend much of her professional architectural career working to return the buildings interior to its original grandeur.

She wasnt alone.

For close to 20 years, a public and private partnership spent about $42 million to first shore up the hotel to ensure that it wouldnt crumble into the lake, and then restore the hotels interior as close to possible to its historic roots while incorporating current building codes.

Last week, many of those people who have been involved in the restoration project gathered at Many Glacier to celebrate its completion.

Anderson of Anderson Hallas Architects can remember what she and others from the firm found when they first toured the building back in 2004.

We discovered all sorts of interesting issues, Anderson said. Wiring had charred some of the rafters. The structure was severely in distress. There were bats in the walls. It was a showroom on how not to do plumbing.

And when the staff charged up the fire sprinkler system, the entire space turned into a fountain.

A week after the companys architects and engineers returned to Colorado to begin drawing up reports, they received a call from the National Park Service with a request for a cost estimate  by the end of the week  for the repairs of the Many Glacier Hotel.

Anderson said they pulled out their dart boards and put together their best guess that it would cost about $21 million.

Little did anyone know that would have to stretch out for 13 years, Anderson said. That would have been a different calculation.

That number proved to be incredibly close.

Over the course of 13 years and two different phases, the cost of returning to the buildings interior to something more akin to what people first fell in love with when its Annex opened in 1917 came in at $22.5 million.

None of that would have been possible without the work that began back in the late 1990s and early 2000s that included stabilization projects that launched the process to save the historic hotel from an early demise.

At one point, the building was found to be leaning forward toward the lake and had been pulled back into place using massive cables and a good deal of engineering know-how.

One spring when the staff came here to open up the building, they found the balconies were all tipping off the building. They all had to be pinned back on to allow the hotel to open.

Its the teamwork that made this project possible, Anderson said. Not just our team. The park. The vendors. The Denver Service Center. Congress. It takes a village and it took a village.

The preservation of the Many Glacier Hotel can trace its roots back to human waste at a pair of Glaciers backcountry chalets.

When officials began to ponder closing the Sperry and Granite Park chalets because of the challenges the park service faced addressing the issue of human waste, a group of people came together to do whatever it took to save them. The Save the Chalet group reached out to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for help spreading the word.

The trust brought the nations attention to the two backcountry chalets and the other historic buildings constructed by the railroad by adding them to its list of most endangered historic places back in the mid 1990s.

Thats how Barb Pahl of the Trust first became involved in helping spread the word for the need to preserve these uniquely American pieces of history.

My experience working with the federal government  it starts off being a lack of will and then its a lack of funding, said Pahl. In this case, there were a lot of champions to help save this building, including the park superintendent.

The park superintendent back then was Dave Mihalic. Pahl said it was his idea to include all of the historic structures on the Trusts most endangered list after she inquired about the future of the chalets.

His support back then, just like the current superintendent Jeff Mows support today, is crucial in preserving the historic buildings that remain in the park, Pahl said.

In 1999, Congress appropriated $3 million to address waste management at Sperry and Granite Park chalets. More funding followed to begin the needed stabilization of the Many Glacier Hotel.

The Park Service has an immense collection of historic places and these are the family jewels of this nation, she said. They do deserve protection. Protection sometimes needs to come in the form of dollars.

Deferred maintenance in national parks is about $12 billion. (In Glacier, its about $184 million.) The 700 buildings, of which more than 400 are designated historic, have about $31 million in deferred maintenance.

While most of the funding to restore the Many Glacier Hotel came from the federal government, a number of private entities working through the Glacier National Park Conservancy stepped forward to fund specific projects like the new double helical staircase and the lighting that mimics the old Japanese lanterns.

Nearly $1.5 million in philanthropic funding has been spent so far on the project.

The private funding for the restoration doesnt stop there.

The concessionaire that operates the hotel, Xanterra Parks and Resorts, chipped in about $4 million for a variety of upgrades that run the gamut of new carpet to room restorations.

Its been really nice to see this public/private project come together as well as it has, said Marc Ducharme, the hotels general manager.

Visitors have noticed the difference.

Standing in the dining room with its impressive wooden trusses that soar high above the tables, with windows that offer views of mountains that seem to go on forever, Ducharme said returning guests are almost stunned at the difference that followed the removal of the drop ceiling.

They say, Wow, its a totally different space,  Durcharme said.

For generations, the Many Glacier Hotel has woven its way into peoples lives.

Glacier National Parks lead interpreter at Many Glacier, Diane Sine, first saw the place when she was a child while on a camping trip with her parents. Its scenic beauty, rich history and the young worker back then who put on nightly shows for the guests would draw her back after she graduated from high school.

I was a kid who had started playing cello, she said. I decided I was going to work at the Many Glacier Hotel. So my senior year in high school, I wrote to the park service and asked, 'How you get a job at the Many Glacier Hotel?' "

For four summers, she and her cello returned to the hotel where she worked as a singing waitress, playing her cello in the pit orchestra for the Broadway musicals and performing chamber music in the lobby at night.

It was quite an extensive musical calendar, she said. We would work hard and play hard. It was a very bonding experience.

Along the way she developed friendships that have lasted a lifetime and found a career that has placed her right smack in the middle of the place that she loves most.

Its been fun to see so many people come back this summer and be excited to see how it looks now, Sine said.

Sine has been there through it all. There were tough times as the construction stretched out over the years.

For years, I would show the public pictures of the historic circular staircase and tell them stories at how it was removed and really lament that, she said. It was this dream that it could come back someday, but no one really thought that could ever really happen.

And that wasnt all.

When Sine first started working at the hotel, there were doors that people could see from the outside that led to nothing. There were balconies that had fallen down and were gone. Other balconies were being held up by cables.

She remembers the years when people wondered if the building could survive. Everyone knew it was going to take a lot of money to restore it and people with a passion to make that all come together.

The whole place was just very tired and wearing, she said. And now to be able to look into the future and see that now its not just this old historic decrepit building, its vibrant and alive and it has a future. Its exciting to think about whats to come.
Justin Jackson jumped at the chance to move his photography studio from downtown L.A.s Arts District into a historic black community off Crenshaw Boulevard where he grew up.

Encouraged by the prospect of new development and increased foot traffic, he relocated last year and from his storefront he can hear the beats of the African drum circle that meets Sundays in the neighborhood square.

The area is due for an upgrade, and I think were seeing that upgrade come to fruition with the Metro going through and the shopping center, Jackson said, adding Im open to development, Im open to diversity.

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Over the past few years, the forces of gentrification have begun to move south, from downtown, Echo Park and Koreatown into the Crenshaw District, the heart of L.A.s black community, pushing up real estate values and grabbing the attention of new retailers and residents.

But ambitious plans to transform what many consider the heartbeat of the neighborhood has residents wrestling with Crenshaws evolving identity.

The 70-year-old Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza may soon be approved for a major redesign that would cost up to $700 million and include more than 900 housing units  most of them market rate  new retail shops, restaurants, office space and other amenities.

The mall was for decades a center of life in Southwest L.A. and a point of pride for blacks in the city who long decried the lack of chain business and restaurants willing to move into the neighborhood. At Martin Luther King Jr. and Crenshaw boulevards, the mall has offered suburban-style shopping with an African American twist and is famous for having a black Santa Claus on hand during the holidays to take photos with children.

Kelly Ross, left, and her mom, Tracy Price, share a big laugh with Santa at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on Dec. 7, 2013. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

But like many malls, the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is looking to remake itself in the face of downsizing by major retailers and increasing online sales. Its long been the case that more affluent communities of black professionals near the mall have tended to do their shopping elsewhere.

Many worry that the plan to revitalize it could price out long-term residents and small businesses while also erasing the areas legacy of black culture and history. Others, like Jackson, see new opportunity. Some question whether the impact is negative if its being driven by other African Americans.

Now Im confused about what the definition of gentrification means, said Misty Wilks, a bankruptcy attorney in Leimert Park. Because it used to mean white people running into black peoples neighborhoods and taking over. But our [mall] developer is black  and were in a neighborhood full of black people.

We keep yelling gentrification when black people are buying and selling property and making money and being successful, she said.

But Jackie Ryan, owner of Zambezi Bazaar in Leimert Park, said she sees something more troubling: now-vacant storefronts that used to house small, family-owned businesses until rents began spiraling.

Market rate rents would drive everyone out of here, Ryan said.

Tara Mason, a public school teacher who grew up in nearby View Park, said she sympathizes with both sides of the debate.

I used to take cabs and shuttles before, and now anyone in the community will be able to jump on the Metro and go to the airport, she said. Thats something everyone in the community wants to take advantage of.

Construction is continuing on the Crenshaw/LAX Line along Aviation Boulevard. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

But Mason said residents also feel that investment in the area has been a long time coming and may benefit newcomers rather than long-timers. Resentment has been stoked by an influx of white residents seeking character homes that are far more affordable than real estate on the Westside and other areas.

[They are] feeling like it was set up for somebody else to have, that it wasnt something that they could have because the money wasnt there for them, she said. It wasnt earmarked for that type of community.

Revitalizing the mall is a big piece of a larger transformation occurring in the area. The Crenshaw/LAX light-rail line with a Leimert Park station is set to open in 2019. Kaiser Permanente medical offices opened in early September. And other big developments are also planned.

Alexandra Mendoza-Graf, an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corp., said that a shortage of affordable housing makes it difficult for many residents to stay in their communities, and that the development of light-rail lines may contribute to gentrification.

Youre seeing younger, more educated families moving into neighborhoods around the Expo Line (running from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica) that have traditionally been neighborhoods that are lower income, she said. Its changing the demographics of those neighborhoods, and the values of homes and housing is rising in those areas.

While some neighborhoods  like Boyle Heights  have pushed back against gentrification, Mendoza-Graf said some lower-income communities have a harder time organizing resistance.

In L.A., youve seen communities that arent able to organize and protect themselves against the effects and communities that have a strong will or ability to organize, she said. I think those will see fewer effects of gentrification or find some ways of mitigating the effects.

African Americans began moving to the Crenshaw District and nearby Baldwin Hills in the 1950s after the Supreme Court nullified racially restrictive housing covenants. Leimert Park has long been occupied by black middle- and working-class residents. But the median housing price in Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park more than doubled in five years and reached about $670,000 in May, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic.

Carolyn Hull, vice president of Industry Cluster Development at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, said the Crenshaw area is seeing development  retail, housing, dining  that is typical in communities located near public transportation.

Once you put a billion dollars into an area and enhance the infrastructure, you see a lot of private investment following, she said. Clearly theres always been a misconception about the lack of buying power in the community that has held back some investment of areas such as retail.

But the complexion of the area is also changing. The number of African Americans living in the immediate vicinity of the Baldwin Hills mall has declined since 2000, while the populations of Latinos, non-Hispanic whites, Asians and homeowners have increased, according to Paul Ong, director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLAs Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The challenge facing this particular area is how to manage some of those changes so the benefits are generated in a way that it doesnt just displace people who cannot afford to remain there, Ong said.

A forum billed as a session to address gentrification attracted hundreds, including residents and community leaders who feared the impact of the mall plans, to a Hyde Park church in early August.

People gather for a town hall meeting to discuss gentrification and the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza redevelopment plan at Christ Temple Church Cathedral. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Standing in front of the packed room, Crenshaw Subway Coalition founder Damien Goodmon, one of the events organizers, told the audience, Repeat after me: Market rate means not for me.

The city should examine how the shopping malls redevelopment plan would affect low-income residents, demand more local hiring and push for more affordable units, he said.

Currently, 10 percent of units are designated for low- and median-income housing.

Khalil Edwards, organizing director of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, said that is not good enough.

Among this black community, you have different class statuses, Edwards said. You have folks who have higher income, [are] middle class and are homeowners that are able to stay, and then you have folks that are making a living wage and are worried if theyre going to be able to afford their rent in a few months.

Quintin Primo of Capri Investment Group, a minority-owned firm in Chicago that owns the mall, said calculations for lower-income housing were based on what is economically feasible and necessary to attract investors for the project.

We havent seen a long line of developers or investors that are willing to make this type of investment in South L.A. or the Crenshaw corridor, Primo said.

The developer has said that it already hires locally. Plans for the new mall include an on-site job-training center.

City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, whose district includes Crenshaw, said the mall development will improve residents access to goods and services.

I think itll be a breath of fresh air after a long period of disinvestment and redlining and a whole bunch of other measures that havent added up to serious investment in our area, even though the numbers have been there to support it for more than a decade, he said. The incomes have been there, the traffic has been there, the customer base has been there.

He acknowledged concerns about gentrification but said that displacement should be addressed with rapid rehousing and supportive programs to prevent evictions  not by resisting development.

Theres an unsettling amount of push-out already happening, [and] my expectation is even if a single stick or brick isnt put on the Baldwin Hills mall, it will continue because of the real estate situation in Southern California, he said.

Other community leaders are excited about redevelopment.

This is a wake-up call to African Americans to get your financial health in order and join this capitalist train and move forward, because the train is already coming down the boulevard, literally, said Carl Morgan, chairman of the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council.

Hes also satisfied with the housing plan.

Why should we [South L.A.] always be the dumping ground for affordable housing? We need more market-rate housing so we can get the types of services that our residents have been screaming for for decades.

Others, though, are still bitter that development comes after decades of inattention. Chas Taylor grew up in West Adams  hanging out in the Crenshaw area as a youth  but recently moved to Palm Desert after struggling to find affordable housing in Los Angeles.

They kept that neighborhood oppressed for all these years, wouldnt give people loans, the police services were crap, he said. They allowed drugs and gangs, and now all of a sudden, the train is coming down Crenshaw.

leila.miller@latimes.com

Follow @leilamillersays on Twitter

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A man was caught on camera shooting a young deer with a bow and arrow near homes in Monrovia last week, upsetting residents of the hillside community.

I couldnt believe it. Im like, Youve got to be kidding me, Chuck Tapert, who caught the incident on his home surveillance camera, told CBS Los Angeles. Somebody took a shot at a deer right in front of our house in a residential neighborhood?

The video shows an archer shooting a deer in a forested area next to Taperts house, followed by the deer running away down the street. The deer then died.

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Monrovia police said they were notified of the incident on Saturday morning, and that the suspect has since been identified and found. Police said its illegal to shoot deer within city limits.

Several media outlets identified the suspect as Michael Rodriguez.

Rodriguez told CBS L.A. that he first shot the animal in the forest, but the buck didnt die because he hit it near its spine. He followed the deer into the residential neighborhood so he could kill it.

I was following up a wounded animal and taking him out so he wasnt suffering anymore, Rodriguez said.

Officials from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife will determine whether Rodriguez will face charges, police said.

Rodriguez told CBS L.A. that the deer is now in his freezer and will be used to feed his family.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla

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Why didnt school board president Ref Rodriguez just write himself a big check?
When news broke that Los Angeles school board president Ref Rodriguez was caught up in a criminal case over his campaign contributions, friends and foes alike were baffled.

Rodriguez, who won his school board seat in 2015, legally could have poured as much of his own money as he liked into his upstart campaign. So why would he, as prosecutors claim, have arranged for others to donate and then use his funds to illegally pay them back?

That question looms large as Rodriguez faces three felony charges, including perjury and conspiracy, in what investigators call a campaign money-laundering scheme.

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Its one of the most unusual money-laundering cases Ive ever seen, maybe the most unusual, said Bob Stern, co-author of the landmark California Political Reform Act. There are no limits on how much he can contribute of his own money. So why would he do this?

Stern said he could not recall another case over the past 40 years of a sitting politician being accused of illegally paying back his own contributors. In campaigns, such violations are typically committed by donors or fundraisers, he said, not the politicians themselves.

Prosecutors have also charged Rodriguez with 25 misdemeanor counts of campaign finance violations and have raised the prospect of possible jail time. In a document filed Wednesday, Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey accused him of filing fraudulent paperwork in mid-January 2015, stating he had collected more than $51,000 from donors to his campaign.

About half that amount came from 25 contributors  friends and family members  whom Rodriguez had illegally reimbursed, according to prosecutors. Rodriguez obtained the money, the filing states, by cashing out a $26,000 business investment.

Rodriguez has not explicitly denied the allegations. In a statement the day he was charged, he said he has cooperated with authorities and is hoping to resolve the matter expeditiously and fairly.

His lawyer, Daniel Nixon, did not respond Friday to a Times request for an interview. Earlier in the week, Nixon downplayed the seriousness of the case, which has stunned L.A. education circles, as one focused on a relatively small amount of money.

City investigators say Rodriguez carried out the campaign money-laundering scheme in late December 2014, shortly after he filed to run.

Some political consultants and education insiders say there are logical reasons why Rodriguez, who would go on to defeat an incumbent school board member in the March 2015 election, might not have wanted to simply write a check to kick off his campaign.

At the time, Rodriguez and his two opponents  incumbent board member Bennett Kayser and educator Andrew Thomas  were facing a Dec. 31 fundraising deadline. Rodriguezs campaign was only a few weeks old and would soon have to go public with his first fundraising numbers. It was a critical period, according to some political experts.

Thomas had already reported that he had put $51,000 of his own money into his campaign. Political consultant Sue Burnside, who represented Kayser, said she believes Rodriguez was feeling pressure to show he, too, was financially competitive.

Had Rodriguez shown only $25,000 in his first fundraising report, he would have trailed his opponents significantly  and would not have been viewed as a viable candidate by donors, consultants and L.A.s education community, Burnside said.

The lower amount would have made him look weak, and not the star candidate everyone was touting him to be, she said. His campaign would have never launched the way it did without the $51,000 raised in the first period.

Harvey Englander, a lobbyist and longtime political consultant, said first-time candidates typically face pressure to show strong fundraising numbers early on. Although Rodriguez could have given himself the money, a report showing contributions from a significant number of donors would have made a much bigger splash, he said.

Those are people who will be willing to walk a precinct, willing to put a sign on their lawn, Englander said. So it always is better to show that you can raise money, not just give money.

Had Rodriguez donated a large sum to his own campaign, sophisticated donors also might have wondered whether he really intended to spend that money  or was simply looking to inflate his numbers, said Englander, who has worked on local, state and federal campaigns for 49 years. Candidates do not have to spend the money they give to their campaigns.

Rodriguezs victory in 2015 represented a major achievement for charter school advocates, who had been looking to unseat Kayser, a charter skeptic closely aligned with the teachers union.

In recent days, some Rodriguez supporters have argued he would have had little to gain by misrepresenting who his donors were. When Rodriguez entered the contest, he already had the wealth and might of the charter school advocates, who worked with their allies to spend more than $2 million on his bid.

Roger Lowenstein, a former criminal defense attorney who founded the Los Angeles Leadership Academy charter schools, said the Rodriguez case centers on a crime without a victim.

Its totally crazy, Lowenstein said, to think that Rodriguezs list of donors  relatives and friends  would have had an influence on whether others decided to support his campaign.

And its also totally crazy why he didnt just donate the $25,000 to his campaign, which hes legally allowed to do, and leave it at that, he added. So its kind of sad.

Criminal charges are rare for L.A.s local elected officials. In 2010, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley charged then-L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon with perjury and voter fraud in a case that centered on whether he lied about living in his council district. Alarcon remained in office until 2013, when he was forced out by term limits, and the case is still ongoing.

Four years earlier, former City Councilman Martin Ludlow pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiring to divert $36,492 from a school employee union to his 2003 campaign. But Ludlow had left office by the time charges were filed.

If Rodriguez is convicted, the felony charges would not automatically require him to leave office, according to district attorney spokesman Greg Risling.

Still, the Los Angeles City Charter does contain provisions that could put Rodriguezs future in doubt.

If a school board member is convicted of a misdemeanor campaign-finance violation, a judge must determine whether that violation had a material effect on the outcome of that election. If the judge determines it did indeed have a material effect, then the school board member must be removed from office.

L.A. Unified history teacher Brent Smiley, who has volunteered for a number of school board candidates, said he firmly believes that the activities uncovered by the Ethics Commission did play a pivotal role in the outcome of the race. The campaign donations in question gave Rodriguez instant legitimacy at a critical time, Smiley said.

In the first fundraising report of 2015, Rodriguez had $51,000 in donations. That put him in the same ballpark as Thomas, who had collected nearly $62,000, and Kayser, who had collected about $66,000. Of the three candidates, however, Rodriguez appeared at that moment to be the only candidate who did not have to rely on his own money.

Thats fraud. Thats misrepresenting himself to the voters, said Smiley, who favored Kayser in the 2015 race.

Still, the $24,250 in donations targeted by ethics investigators are a tiny fraction of the $2.5 million spent to support Rodriguezs 2015 bid. Campaign consultant Michael Trujillo, who has worked for charter-backed school board candidates, said that amount, even at that early point in the campaign, wasnt enough to change the dynamic.

Without those contested donations, Rodriguez would still have won by whatever amount he won by, Trujillo said.

According to investigators, some of the donors who were reimbursed worked at the charter school organization where Rodriguez served as an executive. During the 2015 campaign, a reporter from KPCC specifically asked Rodriguez about some of those workers larger donations.

At the time, Rodriguez reassured the reporter the donations were legitimate and that the donors had not been reimbursed. I know, for many of them, this is a tremendous sacrifice, he told the station.

anna.phillips@latimes.com

Twitter: @annamphillips

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It turns out that a suburban Maryland city did not have enough votes after all to grant voting rights to noncitizens, officials said Saturday.

The College Park City Council voted 4 to 3 with one member abstaining Tuesday night on an amendment to the citys charter that would allow noncitizens to vote in municipal elections. But charter amendments need six votes of the eight-member council, the city announced Saturday.

That rule was changed in June, and the mayor and council members said they neglected to note that they needed six votes. It is with considerable embarrassment and regret that we acknowledge our oversight regarding the vote on the proposed Charter Amendment to allow voting by non-U.S. citizens in College Park City elections, the mayor and council said in a statement.

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We each accept our responsibility for not realizing the impact of the June charter amendment on Council procedures and we apologize to our residents, the statement said.

It was not immediately clear whether the council would reconsider the idea of allowing noncitizens to vote. It plans to discuss the matter at its upcoming work session Tuesday.

The issue has spurred passionate debate since it was introduced in June, and Tuesdays vote occurred during a tense meeting.

Residents who supported the change said it was about civil rights. Those who opposed it said voting is a privilege that immigrants should earn with citizenship.

The mayor and council, in their statement, appeared to allude to the debate over the issue: We appreciate the considerable engagement of our community and the time that residents invested in this discussion. We acknowledge that all residents are an important part of the College Park community and we will continue to seek ways to make everyone feel welcome and included in our City.

Had the change been legally approved, College Park would have become the 10th and largest municipality in Maryland to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. College Park, with about 30,000 residents, is northeast of Washington, D.C.

One of the first to allow noncitizen voting was Takoma Park, a liberal Montgomery County community that approved the measure during a referendum vote in 1991. The neighboring community of Hyattsville approved a similar measure last year.

Had the measure been approved, the College Park city clerk would have created a supplemental voter list that would include noncitizens who meet other qualifications to vote in the city, such as being 18 years old and not being registered to vote elsewhere.

The changes would have gone into effect for the next round of city elections in 2019.

Federal law only prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, according to the city. It does not prohibit cities or states from allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.

This wasnt the first time the College Park City Council weighed in on immigration-related matters this year. After President Trump issued an executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries (later reduced to six) and halting refugee resettlement, the council passed a resolution condemning the presidents action.

The resolution, approved in February, called the executive order an affront to religious freedom and noted that the council passed a resolution in March 2016 welcoming refugees to College Park.

Wood writes for the Baltimore Sun.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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A European official said Saturday that the Trump administration has softened its opposition to the landmark Paris climate accord and may not completely withdraw after all.

If true, this would mark another reversal of one of President Trumps key campaign promises, one of the most controversial.

But the White House quickly sought to rebut the report, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

There has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement, said Lindsay Walters, a presidential spokeswoman. As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can reenter on terms that are more favorable to our country.

Later, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter, Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed. @POTUS has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms.

At a ministerial summit of 30 countries in Montreal, where the United States participated as an observer, the European Unions top climate official said the Trump administration had backed away from its declaration in June that it was abandoning the historic 2015 agreement.

The U.S. stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement, Miguel Arias Canete said, according to wire reports.

Arias said he and other officials involved with the Paris agreement would meet on the margins of this weeks United Nations General Assembly in New York to determine what the real U.S. position was.

But, he added, its a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past.

It was not immediately clear how much, if anything, had changed in the U.S. position.

Under the agreements terms, Trumps decision to withdraw cannot fully take effect for almost four years. In the interim, Trump has said he hopes to renegotiate an accord on terms that are fair to the United States.

Some experts have suggested that left Trump with a bit of wiggle room, where he could declare he had withdrawn, only to renegotiate terms that he would portray as being more favorable to the U.S.

The meeting in Montreal stood out for the lack of a high-level U.S. presence. Other countries asserted their commitments to fighting global warming.

The Paris agreement should not be renegotiated, said Xie Zhenhua, Chinas special representative for climate change affairs.

Washington has indicated it will continue to participate in these meetings, albeit at a lower level.

We continue to engage them, Canadas environment minister Catherine McKenna said. We continue to make the case that like the United States, we want to create jobs, we want to create economic growth.

When Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the accord, he was adamant that the U.S. would ignore voluntary goals on limiting greenhouse-gas emissions and other elements believed to contribute to global warming.

Trump argued the agreement was bad for U.S. businesses and that it made Washington pay too much for pollution caused by other countries.

Global warming has renewed political currency in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which caused epic floods in Houston, and Hurricane Irma, which devastated parts of the Caribbean and left millions of people in Florida without electricity. Scientists say warmer waters may have intensified the monster storms force.

Two more storms, Jose and Maria, are churning off the East Coast.

Environmental activists said they saw no sign that the storms would change Trumps claims that climate change is a hoax.

For anyone who had any hope that two historically devastating storms striking our nation would wake up the Trump administration to the reality of the climate crisis, think again, the Sierra Club said in a statement Saturday, noting that the White House had quickly denied claims out of Montreal.

Trump was criticized in environmental circles and European capitals when he announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord, a hard-fought agreement that brought together almost every country in the world to confront climate change.

It was a signature achievement of the Obama administration and rare diplomatic agreement for the United States and China, the worlds two largest economies and the two largest producers of carbon-gas emissions.

Other countries, and many U.S. states, including California, said they would forge ahead with meeting the goals of the climate agreement despite Trumps plan to withdraw.

In June, Trump argued that the deal would undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty ... and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world, he said. It is time to exit the Paris accord.
They carried signs that read Black Lives Matter, held fists in the air and marched together as one  blacks, whites, Latinos.

A day after a former St. Louis police officer was acquitted in the shooting death of a black man, tensions remained high in the city and surrounding suburbs on Saturday as protesters gathered in parks and shopping malls.

This is tiring, absolutely tiring, said state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr., who participated in the protests and whose district spans portions of St. Louis. Again, we see a police officer walk free after gunning down a black man. Whats our alternative other than to protest? Were going to disrupt the peace.

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On Saturday, several hundred protesters peacefully assembled in a suburban St. Louis park. The group then made its way to a mall, the West County Center. Many stores closed and police shuttered the mall briefly. The group then headed to a different mall a short drive away to stage more peaceful demonstrations.

In anticipation of additional protests, the band U2 canceled its Saturday night concert in St. Louis after police told concert organizers that they couldnt provide a standard level of security. The band said on its website it did not want to risk the safety of fans. Another concert in downtown St. Louis, which was scheduled for Sunday by the artist Ed Sheeran, was also canceled.

The protests come after a judge found former St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley, who is white, not guilty of first-degree murder in the December 2011 shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.

Smith, 24, fled from Stockley and led him on a high-speed chase that lasted three minutes, with speeds reaching nearly 90 mph. Once it ended, Stockley fired into Smiths car and killed him. Stockley said he believed Smith was armed. A gun was discovered in Smiths car, but prosecutors argued that the officers had put it there.

In his first public comments since the verdict, Stockley, 36, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saturday it felt as if a burden has been lifted, but the burden of having to kill someone never really lifts.

The taking of someones life is the most significant thing one can do, and its not done lightly.  My main concern now is for the first responders, the people just trying to go to work and the protesters. I dont want anyone to be hurt in any way over this, he said.

I can feel for and I understand what the family is going through, and I know everyone wants someone to blame, but Im just not the guy, Stockley said.

Stockleys acquittal sparked several hundred protesters to flood the streets of downtown Friday, leading to almost two dozen arrests, according to the St. Louis Police Department. Police said nine officers and one highway officer were injured. Some protesters broke windows at the home of Mayor Lyda Krewson.

In a statement, Krewson said she was appalled at what happened to Smith and called for peace among demonstrators.

I encourage St. Louisians to show each other compassion, to recognize that we all have different experiences and backgrounds and that we all come from this with real feelings and experiences, she said.

Last week, days before the ruling, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens held a news conference with Smiths fiancee, Christina Wilson, calling for peaceful demonstrations as the community waited for a ruling.

If you feel like you want to speak out, speak how you feel and whatever comes to you, Wilson said. Just do it in a peaceful way.

For many African Americans and activists, the not-guilty verdict is yet another injustice in a pattern of police brutality against blacks.

In May, an Oklahoma jury acquitted an officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher as he stood with his hands above his head. In June, a Minnesota jury found not guilty the officer who killed Philando Castile, who was unarmed and killed during a traffic stop livestreamed on Facebook by his girlfriend. That same month, an Ohio judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked, unable to agree on whether to convict a former University of Cincinnati police officer who killed Samuel DuBose in an incident captured on a body camera.

For Franks and many in the St. Louis area, memories of the riots in nearby Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014 remain fresh.

That was a travesty of justice and here we are yet again with this  another travesty of justice,  Franks said Saturday.

At that time, Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was unarmed when he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, a city in the suburbs northwest of St. Louis. The shooting led to violent protests and became a rallying point for social justice groups. A grand jury decided not to indict Wilson.

I was out there with the Ferguson protesters and Im still here, Franks said. And I will keep standing here with others and fight against injustice that is ongoing in this country either in St. Louis, Ferguson or wherever.

kurtis.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @kurtisalee

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Police believe the slayings of two black men in Baton Rouge, La., were likely racially motivated and said Sunday they have a person of interest  a 23-year-old white man  in custody.

The person of interest, Kenneth Gleason, was being held on drug charges. Authorities do not yet have enough evidence to charge him with murder, Baton Rouge Sgt. LJean McKneely told the Associated Press.

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McNeely said shell casings from the shootings linked the two slayings, and a car belonging to Gleason fit the description of the vehicle police were looking for. He said police had collected other circumstantial evidence but he would not be more specific.

There is a strong possibility that it could be racially motivated, he said.

The shootings happened about five miles from each other. The first occurred Tuesday when 59-year-old Bruce Cofield, who was homeless, was shot to death. The second happened Thursday when 49-year-old Donald Smart was gunned down walking to work at a cafe popular with Louisiana State University students, McKneely said.

It wasnt immediately clear if Gleason had an attorney or when his first court appearance would be.
As a young journalist in 1969, I was assigned to cover the highly sensational trial of the so-called Manson family. They were accused of the gruesome murders of, among others, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Almost 50 years after the killings here in Los Angeles, former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten is again eligible for parole, and a state panel recently recommended her release. But the ultimate decision rests with Gov. Jerry Brown, who in 2016 said Van Houten posed an unreasonable risk to society.

That wasnt true then, and its not true now. I believe that Van Houten, who was just 19 at the time of the killings and is now 68, has earned her freedom.

Never as a working journalist did I express my opinion on the trials I covered. Now, however, I feel compelled to speak out  not regarding Van Houtens culpability, which not even she denies, but on the fairness of keeping her behind bars this long. I believe she is being punished because she was associated with Manson, who at 82 remains in prison and whose toxic name clings like poison to those who followed him. Judged independently, she likely would have been released years ago.

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Though many link her to the slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others, Van Houten was not present on the night of those killings. There also was a question of whether Van Houten, prodded by others to join the mayhem, stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 14 times before or after she was dead. (Legally, it doesnt matter; clearly shes guilty of murder.)

Leslie Van Houten has spent decades in therapy to understand how she fell under Mansons control.

During her incarceration, Van Houten has demonstrated remorse and, in my first-hand assessment, she is living proof that redemption is possible even for those whose crimes are unforgivable.

Shortly after my 2015 retirement, Van Houten wrote to me to thank me for my fair coverage of her many proceedings, and I asked whether I could visit her at the California Institution for Women in Corona. I admit I was curious. Id sat across from this woman in courtrooms and parole rooms for nearly half a century  three trials and 19 parole hearings  but wed never spoken.

Ive now visited Van Houten four times. We sit outside at picnic tables with other inmates, and our conversations typically last three to four hours. And, yes, we talk about the crimes and the Manson family, though in shorthand since we both know the details by heart. I take notes.

Manson, Van Houten and two other female followers, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel, were convicted together and sentenced to death. Those sentences were commuted to life when the death penalty was temporarily outlawed in California in 1972. Atkins died of cancer in 2009.

In a strange twist, Van Houtens conviction was overturned because her lawyer disappeared toward the trials end and later was found dead. Her second trial lasted nine months, and the jury deadlocked. In a third trial, she was convicted of the LaBianca murders and sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after seven years. That was in 1978.

Over the course of my visits with Van Houten, Ive learned that she has spent decades in therapy to understand how she fell under Mansons control. She was an unlikely killer, a Monrovia High School homecoming princess from a good family who lost her way and joined Mansons cult. She once told me: I could not have lived without paying for what I did.

But she has paid. At issue is whether a person who earns her release through hard work over many years should be treated differently because her case was in the headlines.

The woman Ive gotten to know in recent months seems nothing like the girl once controlled by Mansons brainwashing and hallucinatory drugs. She told me that she had long ago decided that she could become either a sour old woman or someone useful, even in prison. She chose the latter, obtaining a bachelors degree and a masters with a scholarly thesis on women in prison.

I saw in my visits that she is respected not only by her fellow inmates but also by prison staff. She counsels other inmates and participates in numerous self-help groups. She has worked on the statewide Restorative Justice Program for prisons.

Manson trial co-prosecutor Stephen Kay once said that he believed Van Houten would be the first Manson family member released when she is an old lady. Take a look at the pictures from her latest parole hearing. She is wrinkled and gray-haired  an old lady.

It would be ridiculous for Brown to claim again that Van Houten remains a danger to society. Upon release, she will live in a setting where she can help other women transition out of custody. She also will stand as a symbol of hope for other inmates that if they obey the rules and work hard enough to transform themselves, anything is possible.

Linda Deutsch retired as a special correspondent for the Associated Press after covering high-profile national trials for nearly half a century. She is working on a memoir.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

MORE FROM OPINION

Does Bernie Sanders single-payer plan have a shot?

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Sen. Bernie Sanders Medicare for All plan, unveiled last week, is an ambitious and (to many) enticing idea: a single, government-run health plan with generous benefits for everyone  just like most industrialized countries have enjoyed for decades.

If only it were feasible in todays United States.

Alas, Sanders proposal is a pony without a price tag. The Vermont senator has offered only vague estimates of what his plan would cost and a generic menu of tax increases to pay for it. But the biggest problem is politics. As they purportedly say in New England, you cant get there from here.

His proposal, which would eliminate almost all private insurance, will run into a wall of skepticism from ordinary voters  and not just conservatives who hate expanding the federal government.

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Most Americans want better insurance, but they dont want taxes to go up to pay for it.

Granted, most Americans agree that the government should guarantee that everyone has adequate health insurance. And, according to Kaiser Family Foundation polls, a growing number support a government-run single-payer plan as the way to do that.

But when the details are introduced, public opinion turns contrary. According to the same Kaiser polls, most Americans want better insurance, but they dont want taxes to go up to pay for it. Most of them also dislike increasing government control over the healthcare system.

And most people with employer-provided private insurance say they like it  suggesting that theyd hesitate to see it scrapped for a government plan theyve never used before. Thats what doomed Bill Clintons healthcare bill in 1994; thats why Barack Obama left existing insurance plans pretty much alone. Its not irrational; its simple aversion to risk.

At least three states have tried to enact single-payer plans in recent years: California in 2017, Colorado in 2016 and Vermont in 2014. The proposals were stymied not only by lobbying from the healthcare industry, but also by genuine qualms about costs and practical effects.

I havent even mentioned the most immediate obstacle: A Republican-led Congress isnt going anywhere near Sanders idea. Instead, Republicans are still trying to repeal President Obamas healthcare law, which relies on private insurance companies. Their most recent bill, sponsored by GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, was teetering just short of a majority at the end of the week.

Thats why the most important health insurance bill to watch over the next few years may not be Sanders Big Bang approach, but a less ambitious proposal from Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. He calls it Medicare Buy-In.

Murphys plan wouldnt put everyone into a single government-run health plan. But it would give everyone access to Medicare, the enormously popular government-run plan mainly for those 65 or older. Everyone includes users of employer-provided health plans, who could buy into Medicare instead of whatever private plans their companies offered.

Whats the hitch? People would have to pay a premium, just as Medicare users do now.

Its only a part-way measure, but politically its far more palatable than Sanders plan. People already know Medicare, if only through their parents or grandparents. Offering it as an option wouldnt be a leap into the dark of a new and untried system.

If I were to design a healthcare system from scratch, it would be single payer, Murphy told me last week. The question is how we get there.

I think even Bernie would admit its going to be hard to get Congress to pass a bill that outlaws private insurance. Medicare buy-in is an easier lift, he said.

This doesnt take any options away from you. It just gives you better options, he added. My belief is that, over time, most people would choose Medicare. And that would have the effect of building a single-payer system bit by bit.

Like Sanders, Murphy hasnt offered detailed cost estimates, but he plans to get that done before he unveils a bill later this year.

Everything Ive seen suggests that a Medicare product will be cheaper than private insurance. The question is how much cheaper, he said.

One more potential benefit: The price of Medicare will likely go down if the pool gets younger.

Murphy isnt the only Democrat working on an alternative to the Sanders plan. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii has proposed allowing consumers to buy into Medicaid, the insurance program for the poor, which could be less costly but would rely on states to implement. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan has proposed a more modest bill opening Medicare to anyone 55 or older.

And, in the short run, Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington are working on a bipartisan bill to stabilize Obamacare  assuming Cassidy and Graham dont repeal it first.

Murphy is OK with the competition. This is a moment when we should hope for a lot of different options, he said.

Sanders should be OK with it, too.

If any of the options for expanding health insurance advance, the Vermont senator will deserve credit for making single payer part of the mainstream debate  and for making ideas that once seemed radical, like simply allowing everyone to buy in to Medicare, look downright conservative.

doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com

Twitter: @DoyleMcManus

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
To the editor: Four hundred years ago, young people landed on North American shores to establish colonies that might not last through the next winter. Three hundred years ago, young people pushed into the forests to establish farms to feed their families, forging into an unknown frontier. Two hundred years ago, young people were on covered wagons moving west as Manifest Destiny took hold. One hundred years ago, young people embarked on troop ships to go and fight in World War I.

Today, young people at UC Berkeley flee to mental health facilities for counseling. And what caused the stress and therefore the need for such counseling? The words of a young man who espouses conservative thought. (9 arrested as protesters gather at UC Berkeley for talk by conservative speaker Ben Shapiro, Sept. 15)

These are our future leaders? These people are the ones we are going to rely on to make tough decisions down the road? We are doomed.

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Joseph Schillmoeller, Gardena

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Is it possible that another dark chapter will be added in the U.S history books? There are many accounts of atrocious acts committed by those in power against people who could not defend themselves. (Enough DACA drama. Make a deal and stop letting Dreamers twist in the wind, editorial, Sept. 14)

In the 1830s, about 17,000 Cherokee Indians were removed from their ancestral lands in the southeast U.S. and relocated to what is now Oklahoma. Four thousand of them died.

In 1942, Japanese Americans were removed from the West Coast of the U.S. and placed in internment camps. They left behind businesses, jobs and homes. There were 120,000 of them, of whom 70,000 were American citizens. The purpose was for national security.

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President Trump has announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA). Nearly 800,000 Americans may be relocated to their country of origin, leaving behind the only country they knew growing up. The presidents purpose in ending DACA is to fulfill an election promise.

Shame on us. Now is the time to set aside the worn-out ideas that have paralyzed our country and instead seek to benefit all people.

Frank Himes, Woodland Hills

..

To the editor: Those who wonder why the DACA participants have not tried to become legal citizens need to understand immigration law. (Dreamers are Americans, and Trump has given them their best shot at staying in the U.S., Readers React, Sept. 14)

Most people who are undocumented have very little chance of ever becoming legal while living here. By law they have to return to the country of their birth and then wait years to try and get back to the only country they know.

Would you leave your family for years on the slim chance that you might be able to come back?

Alex Magdaleno, Camarillo

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: There is one fundamental reason obliging Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) to query federal judicial nominee Amy Comey Barrett about her Roman Catholic faith: the constitutional prohibition against applying any religious test as a qualification for public office. (Forget the critics, Feinstein did the right thing by questioning a judicial nominee on her faith and the law, Opinion, Sept. 15)

Compelling circumstances confront Feinstein here. Barretts nomination came from a president who notoriously pandered to devout conservatives to win an election. Plus, the religious right long has been unapologetic about seeking to pack the courts with justices who pass their faith-friendly litmus tests.

Good for Feinstein. Our Constitution demands that she and other senators spare no query that may reveal Barretts inclination to affirm the religious tests she passed to secure her nomination.

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Glenda Martel, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Progressives with political power are rapidly changing the traditional religious values that were once taken for granted by most citizens.

Jews and Christians know God does not change. He has let us know, through Moses and Jesus, what is on his mind on matters of family, marriage, sex, abortion and children. We have drifted far from the societal norms of 60 years ago, when William Brennan took his oath of office as a Supreme Court justice after promising fealty only to the law and not the doctrines of his Roman Catholic faith.

Lately, both Feinstein and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have challenged the beliefs of two Trump appointees who happen to be individuals of faith. They are ignoring the Article VI provision in the Constitution that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Elizabeth Norling, Long Beach

..

To the editor: Any judge who cites a subjective religious belief as the sole basis for her findings is neither objective nor offering debatable, deliberative opinion. Consequently, she reveals herself to be unfit to serve on the bench.

Every judges ruling, even those citing a religious belief, must be supported by an at least equally compelling secular argument.

Claiming a legal right or exemption based exclusively on sanctity is a nonstarter; sin and evil have no legal meaning. We do not live in a theocracy; our laws must pass secular muster.

Keep asking, Sen. Feinstein.

Arthur D. Wahl, Port Hueneme

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Democrats intent on taking back the House in 2018 have settled on a key strategy: focusing on the 23 districts nationwide where voters chose Republicans for Congress last year but favored Democrat Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump for the presidency. Seven of those seats are in California, and Democrats must win at least a few of them to have a shot at regaining power.

There are some reasons for Democrats to be optimistic. Theres been a surge of enthusiasm among the anti-Trump resistance at rallies and town halls, as well as a bumper crop of passionate Democratic challengers who have filed to run in California. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched a satellite office in Orange County, a former bastion of conservatism that last year voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in 80 years and is home to four of the districts theyre eyeing.

But it might be a mistake to assume that strategy will be a panacea in California. Republican turnout in midterm elections often dwarfs Democratic turnout, and the rise of multiple viable candidates in many of the targeted districts threatens to mire them all in costly, divisive primary fights. A sampling of the outcomes for other races suggest Clintons victories there are at risk of being overplayed. Meanwhile, fighting within the California Democratic Party between left-leaning activists and the more centrist stalwarts who have traditionally had more success in swing districts could further damage Democrats chances.

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If past is prologue, says Rob Pyers, research director for the nonpartisan election guide California Target Book, Democrats will have a hard time picking up more than a couple of seats in California.

Dozens of Democrats, many of them first-time candidates, have filed to run in closely watched races, raising money and further splitting the field. They run the gamut from more progressive Bernie Sanders supporters to business owners and veterans, and many have delicately toed the line on single-payer healthcare  an issue quickly becoming a potential litmus test for Democrats. Internal battles over the state party chairmanship and tension between more traditional liberals and business-aligned Democrats could threaten the unity needed to unseat GOP members.

While they fight, some Republican incumbents continue to build their campaign war chests. Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) have drawn more than a half dozen challengers each. Walters has $1.1 million, and Royce, a committee chairman, has $3.1 million.

The conditions tend to favor the incumbents right now. There are very few in danger of actually flipping, Pyers says.

Ignoring past voter behavior could put Democrats at risk of getting stuck in the same kind of bubble that led so many to believe Clinton would be elected president.

Even with the surge of Democratic turnout in last years presidential election, voters chose Republican incumbents despite less enthusiasm for Trump. Some Republican incumbents outperformed the president by double digits.

Democrats also cant count on a similar surge in midterm elections. In some California districts, the drop-off in participation by younger and minority voters during midterms has been known to boost the GOPs share of votes by as much as 9 percentage points, says Paul Mitchell, whose firm, Political Data Inc., provides voter data to campaigns.

Pyers and Target Book editor Darry Sragow recently published an analysis suggesting the 2016 presidential election results in some districts might have actually been flukes.

In the seven Republican-held districts in California that chose Clinton, results for ballot initiatives and statewide and presidential races going back to 2012 suggest voters there still lean much more conservative.

All seven districts supported a measure championed by anti-tax advocates that would have required voter approval of revenue bonds. The measure was defeated statewide thanks to large swaths of more liberal voters elsewhere. A ban on plastic bags that passed statewide was rejected by wide margins in six of the seven districts on the Democratic target list.

And in five of the seven districts, Clinton was the only Democratic candidate to carry the district in any statewide contest since 2012.

Republicans have also used their many wins in special elections across the country this year to point out that their core supporters can turn out in force when they perceive a threat.

And those races differ from 2018 in a major way: None of the candidates were running against incumbents, who are often better known, better funded and are reelected at least 90 percent of the time.

California Republicans running up and down the state have great individual brands and are hyper-focused on their districts, says Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. I dont take away from the Democrats that theres enthusiasm on their side. But I think whats been demonstrated this year in the four special elections is that our base can be activated and motivated as well.

Still, those who study elections point out that relying on past data has its limits, particularly after a presidential election that was standard-breaking in so many ways.

Every little bit of conventional wisdom was overturned in 2016, says Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a fellow at the USC Price School of Public Policy who has followed California politics for decades. This is a far different political landscape than we have ever seen, and [Republicans] cant take anything for granted.

While Republicans have identified four Democrats they want to unseat in California, it isnt clear theyll be able to play both defense and offense in a state where the GOP has struggled at multiple levels.

If Trumps job approval ratings in California remain in the gutter (a recent poll showed just 1 in 4 Californians approve of the job hes doing), Republicans could face depressed turnout that will put more seats in play, says Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at UC San Diego. That could worsen further if the California GOP fails to field a viable candidate for governor and other statewide offices open in 2018.

The glut of promising Democratic candidates  one district already has eight  could actually increase awareness and turnout among left-leaning voters. For months, voters in many GOP districts have been holding empty chair town halls organized by liberal activists, protesting weekly outside Republican members offices and walking neighborhoods to register new voters.

Its a stark contrast from this time two years ago, when the partys national campaign committee struggled to recruit candidates in many of those places.

We think that there is a perfect storm brewing for Republican incumbents, says Drew Godinich, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman.

He, of course, says hitting Republican members for their support of key parts of the Trump agenda, including votes on healthcare, immigration and the border wall, could be devastating.

This is not going to be a usual year. The energy and anger is on the Democrats side, Jacobson of UCSD says. If youre ever going to invest in a long shot, this is a good year to do it.

Get more information about the 13 congressional races that will make a difference in the midterms at latimes.com/CAHouserankings. Be the first to learn about changes to The Times rankings of the hottest races by signing up for the free Essential Politics email newsletter at latimes.com/essentialpoliticsemail.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc.

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Within a day of President Trump s election last November, California's top Democratic lawmakers responded with a joint statement that contained an audacious promise. It was their state, not Washington, D.C., that would be the "keeper of the nation's future."

An artistic rendering of that vow, with looping calligraphy and a roaring Grizzly, is now on display in the offices of Senate leader Kevin de Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. In the wake of Trump's win, the words seemed to be a sort of foundational document  California's declaration of resistance.

That pugilistic posture is often conveyed in shorthand: California versus Trump. But the ensuing legislative year, which ended Friday, revealed the messy reality of squaring up against the federal government.

Its been challenging, De Leon (D-Los Angeles) said, bleary-eyed as he took a break during the final days of the session. You have to debate, you have to negotiate, you have to make your case, and I think at the end of the day, well still have the most far-reaching policy in the nation.

The Capitols ruling Democrats introduced more than 35 bills to mount policy blockades against Trump. Four have since become law or part of the state budget, and eight more await the governors signature. Some have been scaled back from their original sweeping premise, and many early bills flamed out entirely. The most acid-tipped barbs came from more than two dozen resolutions, mainly regarding Trumps conduct, which do not carry the force of law.

But for some members, even those had value. As proceedings limped into Friday evening, the Assembly lobbed another salvo, a resolution calling for a congressional censure of Trumps reaction after a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

I would like to move on to another subject, too, said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), the daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers. But I keep getting pulled back to reality . Hatred and discrimination is a weed, and it grows best in neglect.

The very first day of the legislative session was marked by denunciations of Trump in both houses, when the president was weeks away from occupying the Oval Office. Hes been inescapable ever since, seeping into the political atmosphere of a state he has yet to visit as president.

Fears that Trump would create a federal registry of Muslims prompted a bill that would ban the state from sharing information for any database based on religion, ethnicity or national origin. The presidents break from precedent in deciding not to release his tax returns inspired a measure that would require such disclosure from presidential candidates to appear on the California ballot. Both measures now await a decision by the governor.

In a state thats home to more than 2.3 million people without legal residency, immigration policy drove a slew of actions. The centerpiece was De Leons sanctuary state bill, an effort to shield people from deportation by limiting communication between law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

The broad protections in his proposal quickly collided with opposition from law enforcement and unease from Brown. Just days before the close of session, the governor and De Leon agreed to scale back the bill, permitting communication with immigration authorities if the inmate was previously convicted with one of roughly 800 crimes.

The changes were meant to guard against backlash from the public, should the proposal be perceived as shielding violent criminals from immigration enforcement. Nancy McFadden, Browns top advisor, said they sought to balance the goals of aiding immigrants without going so far that we end up hurting ourselves and starting to sway public opinion against the very thing were trying to do.

We do not want more people to join the Trump train of hate, she added.

Other ambitious bills stalled entirely. De Leons proposal to enshrine large portions of federal environmental regulations, such as clean air and water protections, into state law  in anticipation of rollbacks from the Trump administration  withered without a vote Friday night. And two bills that would punish private companies that aided Trump in his as-yet unrealized bid to build a wall on the countrys southern border failed to advance.

Still, the California-versus-Trump narrative persisted, reliably attracting national attention when state leaders threw out jabs. But their feistiness belied a vulnerability to the mercy of a federal government that is tightly intertwined with the state.

The push by Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act underscored how exposed the state really is. A successful rollback threatened to financially cripple the state, which had fully embraced Obamacare.

But officials acknowledged the state has been spared, thanks to the presidents legislative fumbles.

We've been fortunate that he's politically impotent, Rendon said, adding that if Trump improved his success rate in enacting his agenda, theres not a whole heck of a lot that we can do."

The next venue for more assertive action from California officials is likely to be the courts, where the rights of states versus the federal government are tested. Just as conservative Texas used litigation in an attempt to stymie then- President Obama on immigration and environmental policy, California is looking to the judiciary to block Trumps goals.

In January, Rendon and De Leon hired former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to help plot the Legislatures legal strategy, although only the state Senate continued the relationship after several months.

State Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has sued the Trump administration six times since April and filed amicus briefs opposing a number of the presidents policies, including the travel ban on people from certain Muslim-majority countries. Among the lawsuits are challenges to the Department of Education for delaying protections for student borrowers and to the Justice Department for threatening to withhold money from jurisdictions with sanctuary policies that protect immigrants.

The exacting work of litigation does not always align with the urgency of politics. When Trump announced plans to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals , or DACA, an Obama-era program to shield from deportation around 800,000 young adults who were brought to the country illegally, 15 states quickly responded with a court challenge. California was not among them; Becerra filed his own lawsuit five days later.

When we filed our lawsuit to defend the DACA recipients, people said, How come you didnt do it last week when they did it in New York? Becerra recalled with a chuckle. I said, look, we have to do this the right way.

Texas was Obama's chief antagonist. In Trump's America, California is eager for the part 

Throughout the year, the desire to challenge Trump was an important component. We had to spend time on it, no doubt, McFadden said. But it hasnt been the sole focus. And it shouldnt be.

Trump had little to do with the years biggest legislative battles. The nail-biter votes were on hiking the states gas tax to repair roads and bridges, and securing a package of bills to promote affordable housing  issues that had eluded lawmakers for years. The push to extend the cap-and-trade program, California's signature tool to combat climate change, was colored by the president's rejection of action on the environment, but it would have been a top priority of Brown's no matter who occupied the White House.

"The president didn't create the water crisis, said Assembly GOP Leader Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley). He didn't create the housing crisis that we have. He didn't create the fact that we haven't built enough freeways and we're stuck in traffic. None of that was created by him."

Meanwhile, in resolutions, the Trump critiques could be most scathing  using his loss of the popular vote to prompt a call to abolish the electoral college or pointedly noting his fondness for Russia. But they also led legislative leaders to share their own backgrounds, stories they said painted the diverse picture of California families.

In one frank exchange over a resolution to condemn Trumps DACA decision, Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) said his experience as the son of Mexican immigrants without legal status was not much different than that of a Dreamer, save for where he was born.

I was born here, and yes, I became an anchor baby, he said, identifying with a derogatory term for the child of a mother without U.S. citizenship.

But the zeal to denounce Trump could also be alienating to Republicans, who felt Democrats were going out of their way to verbally kneecap the president.

"Its been so partisan, said Sen. Joel Anderson (R-Alpine). If you had a solid message going to Trump, wouldn't it be better if the Trump supporters were on board with the resolution, so it solved the problem?

The unease wasnt limited to Republicans. Rendon (D-Paramount) declared in February he was tired of talking about Trump and said last week he fretted at times that Democrats devolved into symbolism. He made a point of reminding his members multiple times of the need to keep focus on Californias business, and in conversations with reporters, he implied his Senate colleagues were not doing the same.

For De Leon, the appetite to take shots at Trump remains strong.

Donald Trump is a threat to everything that we stand for as a great state, he said. So, its not just as president of the Senate, or as a senator, but more importantly as an ordinary citizen and son of a single immigrant mother do I take these positions.

His partner in resistance, Rendon, has moved away from seeking direct confrontation with the president. Instead, his focus has turned inward, arguing a successful California is the best way to undermine Trump.

Rendon said hes not even too sure about the term resistance, which he says evokes France under Nazi rule in World War II. He wobbled on whether it is an apt metaphor for California today.

I think, yeah, to an extent it is, he said, before reversing himself. No, I don't actually.

There was a point early in the year at which I thought California was going to feel like it was an occupied state, he continued. I no longer feel that way . California's firmly in control of its own destiny.

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Follow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.

jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com

@jazmineulloa

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Updates from Sacramento
When it comes to politics, most people think in terms of red versus blue, with Republicans fighting Democrats.

But in Californias Statehouse, the battle line often is between red and green, the colors of the carpets in the Senate and Assembly chambers.

Over the years, the mood has ranged from friendly rivalry to open warfare between the two houses, which bookmark either side of the Capitols ornate rotunda.

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By the time the legislative session ended in the early morning hours on Saturday, some Capitol veterans said they felt the tension has worsened.

It seems significantly heightened, said Jennifer Fearing, a lobbyist whose clients include animal rights and nonprofit groups. The situation was exacerbated, she said, by a flood of controversial and consequential proposals that originated in the more-liberal Senate, an imbalance that left the more-moderate Assembly feeling like a dumping ground for political hot potatoes.

Lawmakers did approve major legislation this year, including funding for affordable housing, new protections for immigrants who are in the country illegally and an extension for the states cap-and-trade program. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) likes to say it was one of the most productive sessions in Californias history.

But reminders of the tension bubbled beneath the surface and sometimes broke into public view.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, center, and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, right, preside over the fractious relationship between their two chambers. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

After lawmakers finished their work, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) began his closing speech with a dig at the occasionally loquacious De Leon.

The pro tem began his goodnight speech about an hour and a half ago, he said, drawing chuckles from the chamber. I wont last that long.

Anthony Reyes, a spokesman for De Leon, didnt appreciate the jab.

I dont understand why he engenders this bitterness toward the pro tem in his house, Reyes posted on Twitter on Saturday morning. Results in serious petulance over there.

Catch up with our coverage from the Capitol on Essential Politics 

During Thursday nights debate on housing legislation, Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) initially refused to vote yes on a key measure that originated in the Senate.

I was frustrated with the way some things we being handled from the Senate leadership, he said. I had decided that I would, from time to time, abstain on several bills at a time indiscriminately just so there would be a certain level of discomfort.

After holding out for an hour, Nazarian eventually voted yes.

Assembly members debate proposals in their green-carpeted chamber on Friday, the last day of the legislative session. (David Butow / David Butow/Redux)

Relationships between the chambers frayed earlier this year when senators approved legislation for a single-payer, government-run healthcare system in California. The idea has been a goal of progressive advocates for years, but the proposal didnt include any details on how the state would pay for it.

Assembly members felt the Senate was tossing a controversial issue in their laps. Rendon halted the proposal and dismissed it as purely symbolic with no substance.

Sam Blakeslee, a former assemblyman and senator from the Central Coast, said there has always been a vast cultural divide between the Assembly and Senate.

The latter, the so-called upper body, often holds the former in quiet contempt, he said. Assembly members resent this elitism and often relish sabotaging Senate bills.

V. John White, a veteran energy advocate, shared a version of an adage that circulates around the Democrat-dominated Capitol: The Republicans are the opposition, but the other house is the enemy.

Times staff writers Liam Dillon and Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report.

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Twitter: @chrismegerian

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Sixteen years ago, Downey Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard helped file legislation that would have allowed people brought to the country illegally as children to stay in the United States.

That bill became the Dream Act. Its failure to pass Congress led to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Trump this month decided to end as he urged Congress to find a replacement.

If Democrats have their way, DACAs replacement will look a lot like what Roybal-Allard proposed in 2001. Democratic leaders emerged from a meeting with Trump on Wednesday night saying Roybal-Allards bill, which includes a path to citizenship for some immigrants in the country illegally, must be part of Congress plan to protect DACA recipients.

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Roybal-Allard said she started working on the legislation after a late-1990s conversation with a worker in her office who was worried about a college friend living in the country illegally.

She was telling me about her friend who had graduated from college and could not get a job, and that she was always living in fear of being deported, Roybal-Allard said.

Roybal-Allard teamed up with now-former Democratic Los Angeles Rep. Howard Berman and now-former Utah Republican Rep. Chris Cannon. They proposed a bill that would have given permanent legal status to some young immigrants and removed a ban on nonresidents using student aid. It died in committee without a hearing. The first Los Angeles Times article on the initiative focused on how the bill would make it easier for students in the country illegally to pay for college.

It was the bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who changed its drab title, the Student Adjustment Act, to the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or the Dream Act. The title became a rallying cry for people brought to the country illegally as children, and they began calling themselves Dreamers.

Durbins name change helped the bill catch fire because it spoke to much more than paying for college, Roybal-Allard said.

I think it represents what every young person has, their dreams for the future, their dreams to go to college or whatever their aspiration is, Roybal-Allard said. That one word encompasses all of that, and I think thats why its caught on.

The bill, which has evolved from emphasizing financial aid for higher education to focusing on a path for citizenship for children who were brought here illegally, has been filed again and again. In 2006 and 2007, the bills text was inserted into a bipartisan immigration policy overhaul that failed. In 2010, a version that outlined details such as application fees and work requirements for Dreamers passed the House, but a companion bill died in the Senate.

One of the things Ive learned since Ive been here [is] things move really slow even when they seem to me [to be] no-brainers, things that should be very, very simple, Roybal-Allard said.

Frustrated that Congress couldnt pass it, Roybal-Allard and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus pleaded with President Obama to do something. He created DACA in 2012, which protected some people brought into the country illegally as children if they passed a background check and were in school or employed.

About half of those estimated to be eligible, more than 800,000 people, gave the government personal information such as their fingerprints and home addresses to get a two-year reprieve from deportation and a work permit. A quarter of them were Californians.

Now Trump has halted new DACA applications and given Congress six months to pass legislation for Dreamers before he shutters the program. Recipients have until Oct. 5 to apply for a renewal, so Democratic leaders, and some Republicans, want Congress to pass legislation by then.

At least four bills are in the mix to address the millions of people thought to have been brought to the country illegally as children.

Most of the bills offer an eventual path to citizenship for Dreamers. One, The Bridge Act, does not and would simply enshrine Obamas DACA program into law for three years, giving Congress more time to come up with a solution.

Roybal-Allards newest Dream Act is similar to the 2010 version, but includes immediate protection from deportation for the Dreamers who signed up for DACA. Democrats say the bills age, work and education requirements would allow a broad group of Dreamers to qualify while maintaining some of the limitations Republicans want.

Rep. Linda T. Sanchez of Whittier, who is the vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Democrats want a permanent solution that protects as many people as possible who were brought to the country as children illegally. Almost 200 Democrats and four Republicans back Roybal-Allards bill. Democrats are trying to force a procedural move that would send the Dream Act to the House floor for a vote.

We want a clear legislative resolution so that we dont have to keep kicking the can down the road. Sustaining something that was always meant to be a temporary program doesnt resolve the issue, Sanchez said.

Any whiff of a path to citizenship for people who entered the country illegally has been a non-starter for many Republicans. With the GOP controlling both chambers, it will likely be a sticking point.

Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock, one of four Republican co-sponsors of Roybal-Allards bill, said hes trying to get bipartisan discussions started in order to make a deal by October. Hes co-sponsored some of the other bills as well, and isnt set on a particular plan.

Its important to send the right message that were looking for a path forward and that Republicans and Democrats should work together, he said.

Roybal-Allard said she hopes the presidents sympathy for Dreamers, and public support for them, will sway Republicans to seriously consider her bill this time.

This is an issue, really, that should have been done a long time ago, she said.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of Californias delegation at latimes.com/politics

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Democratic leaders say they have reached agreement with Trump to provide legal status for Dreamers

Trump defends immigration negotiations as some supporters fume

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Trump calls shutdown a present from Democrats By Associated Press President Trump is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown  tweeting that they wanted to give him a nice present to mark the one-year anniversary of his inauguration: This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present. #DemocratShutdown  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 That comes after Senate Democrats late Friday killed a GOP-written House-passed measure that would have kept agencies functioning for four weeks. Democrats were seeking a stopgap bill of just a few days in hopes that would build pressure on Republicans, and they were opposing a three-week alternative offered by GOP leaders. Democrats have insisted they would back legislation reopening the government once theres a bipartisan agreement to preserve protections against deporting about 700,000 immigrants  known as Dreamers  who arrived in the United States illegally as children. Trump on Saturday accused Democrats of holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration: Democrats are holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration. Cant let that happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Democrats are laying fault for the shutdown on Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House and have struggled with building internal consensus. In a series of tweets hours after the shutdown began, the president tried to make the case for Americans to elect more Republicans to Congress in November in order to power through this mess: Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 He noted that there are 51 Republicans in the 100-member Senate, and it often takes 60 votes to advance legislation: For those asking, the Republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate, and they need 60. That is why we need to win more Republicans in 2018 Election! We can then be even tougher on Crime (and Border), and even better to our Military & Veterans!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 #AMERICA FIRST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 The stopgap spending measure won 50 votes in the Senate, including five from Democrats. Although the House and Senate were in session Saturday, it was unclear whether lawmakers would take any votes of consequence. Trump had been set to leave Friday afternoon for a fundraiser at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where he intended to mark the inauguration anniversary. But he remained in Washington and ended up scrapping his plans to attend the Saturday fundraiser. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweet casts doubt on likelihood of averting shutdown President Trump appeared to cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching a deal to avert a government shutdown Friday night in a tweet. Trump also sought to blame Democrats for what would be the first shutdown since 2013. His message came just hours before the midnight deadline by which lawmakers must pass a measure to fund government agencies, or some operations will cease. Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018 Despite last-minute negotiations Friday between Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Congress remained deadlocked over a spending bill and the federal government was headed toward a shutdown at midnight. Senate Democrats  joined by some GOP deficit hawks and immigration allies  were set to filibuster a stopgap funding bill approved by the House on Thursday. A Senate vote was planned for 10 p.m. Eastern, and even White House officials predicted it would fail. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Lisa Mascaro. Facebook

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Trump touts report that seeks to link terrorism cases with immigration By Joseph Tanfani The Trump administration on Tuesday released a report attempting to link terrorism with migration, arguing that it was evidence of the need to dramatically reshape the nations immigration system. New report from DOJ & DHS shows that nearly 3 in 4 individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges are foreign-born. We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 ....we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based. https://t.co/7PtoSFK1n2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The report, ordered by President Trump in an executive order last year, said that 75% of the 549 people convicted of terrorism charges since 9/11 were born outside the U.S. Administration officials called that a sign that the U.S. needs to scrap its policy of family preferences for visas, which they call chain migration, and a diversity visa lottery program. But the report did not specify how many  if any  of the convicted terrorists entered the country through those means. It also did not detail how many of the convictions were related to attacks or plans in the U.S. versus overseas and how many involved people who went to fight overseas for the Islamic State or another terrorist group. Those details were not available, officials said. The report, due last year, is being released in a highly charged moment in the immigration debate, as Trump and some Republicans in Congress seek tough new border and immigration measures in return for a deal protecting the 690,000 people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump also fired off a pair of tweets on the topic earlier Tuesday: We must have Security at our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER, and we must have a great WALL to help protect us, and to help stop the massive inflow of drugs pouring into our country!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The focus of our immigration system should be assimilation, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition that his name not be used. He said the nation should give priority to potential immigrants who speak English, who have an education and those who are committed to supporting our values  not family members of people already here. The official said the timing of the report was coincidental. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets welcome to president of Kazakhstan By Associated Press President Trump said Tuesday that he and the president of Kazakhstan are united in a shared determination to prevent North Korea from threatening the world with nuclear devastation. Trump and President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed North Korea along with other issues during meetings at the White House. Today, it was my honor to welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to the @WhiteHouse! pic.twitter.com/TerYFZViax  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 Trump said Kazakhstan, once part of the Soviet Union, is a valued partner in our efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. Together we are determined to prevent the North Korean regime from threatening the world with nuclear devastation, he said, as both presidents addressed journalists between meetings. Nazarbayev noted that his country once had one of the worlds largest nuclear arsenals but voluntarily gave it up after the Soviet Union collapsed. He said his country is in talks with Iran, which was the focus of a global deal that lifted some economic sanctions in exchange for Irans curbing its nuclear program. Trump has sharply criticized the Iran nuclear deal and threatened last week to pull out soon unless other countries fix what he says are terrible flaws. Read More Facebook

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Trump falsely claims his approval rating among black Americans has doubled By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump lashed out at the news media Tuesday morning in a tweet denouncing the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion among members of his campaign team. Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, but rather talks about anything negative or that can be turned into the negative. The Russian Collusion Hoax is dead, except as it pertains to the Dems. Public gets it!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the presidents tweet, but it appeared as though he was watching Fox & Friends. A short time later, Trump tweeted a headline from a report that aired during that mornings episode: 90% of Trump 2017 news coverage was negative -and much of it contrived!@foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 The segment focused on the latest survey results from conservative watchdog Media Research Center, which purportedly analyzed the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC from Jan. 20 to Dec. 31 and found that 90% of the statements made about Trump were negative. Study: 90% of Trump media coverage in 2017 was negative pic.twitter.com/vbrwup4Drg  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 16, 2018 But believe it or not, through all this negative coverage, they did a survey of 600,000 people about how black America views this president, co-host Brian Kilmeade said. His numbers have actually doubled in approval. Trump highlighted the statement in another tweet: Unemployment for Black Americans is the lowest ever recorded. Trump approval ratings with Black Americans has doubled. Thank you, and it will get even (much) better! @FoxNews  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018 But its not true. The claim appears to have originated from a misreading of data from the online polling firm SurveyMonkey, according to factcheck.org. The firm polled 600,000 Americans in 2017 and found that Trumps approval rating among blacks actually dropped from 23% early in his presidency to about 17%, as of the week ending Jan. 3. Some conservative outlets, including Breitbart, produced an average from those and other SurveyMonkey figures and compared them to the scores Trump received from black voters in the 2016 exit polls. That methodology is not sound. And since the statistics measure different things, the comparison is misleading. Facebook

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Trump goes after senator who surfaced his immigration remark By Associated Press President Trump turned his Twitter torment Monday on the Democrat in the room where immigration talks with lawmakers took a famously coarse turn, saying Sen. Richard J. Durbin misrepresented what he had said about African nations and Haiti and, in the process, undermined the trust needed to make a deal. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting, Trump tweeted, using a nickname to needle the Illinois senator. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military. Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals cant get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 Trump was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects young people who came to the United States illegally as children. Members of Congress from both parties are trying to strike a deal that Trump would support to extend that protection. Trump also cast doubt on the likelihood of reaching an agreement in tweets sent earlier Monday: Statement by me last night in Florida: Honestly, I dont think the Democrats want to make a deal. They talk about DACA, but they dont want to help..We are ready, willing and able to make a deal but they dont want to. They dont want security at the border, they dont want.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 ...to stop drugs, they want to take money away from our military which we cannot do. My standard is very simple, AMERICA FIRST & MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2018 On a day of remembrance for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Trump spent time at his golf course with no public events, bypassing the acts of service that his predecessors staged in honor of the civil rights leader. Instead, Trump dedicated his weekly address to Kings memory, saying Kings dream and Americas are the same: A world where people are judged by who they are, not how they look or where they come from. That message was a distinct counterpoint to words attributed to Trump by Durbin and others at a meeting last week, when the question of where immigrants come from seemed at the forefront of Trumps concerns. Some participants and others familiar with the conversation said Trump challenged immigration from shithole countries of Africa and disparaged Haiti as well. Without explicitly denying using that word, Trump lashed out at the Democratic senator, who said Trump uttered it on several occasions. Read More Facebook

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Trump thanks pundit for laudatory Fox & Friends spot By Alex Wigglesworth President Trump thanked Fox News personality Stuart Varney after Varney praised Trump during an appearance on Fox & Friends. In a pair of tweets early Sunday, Trump quoted from Varneys commentary, in which he argued that Trump deserves more credit for the booming economy. The pundit, who also hosts a show on Fox Business Network, cited moves by some corporations to raise workers minimum wage or pay out one-time bonuses in response to the GOP tax cuts. President Trump is not getting the credit he deserves for the economy. Tax Cut bonuses to more than 2,000,000 workers. Most explosive Stock Market rally that weve seen in modern times. 18,000 to 26,000 from Election, and grounded in profitability and growth. All Trump, not 0...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 ...big unnecessary regulation cuts made it all possible (among many other things). President Trump reversed the policies of President Obama, and reversed our economic decline. Thank you Stuart Varney. @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018 Varney was reacting to a quote from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who on Thursday called the bonuses handed down to workers pathetic in comparison to the gains corporations are expected to see from the tax cuts. In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers to kind of put the schmooze on is so pathetic, Pelosi told reporters. Its pathetic. Varney shot back Sunday that the bonuses, along with explosive stock market growth, are enriching all Americans. This is a huge shot in the arm, its the result of this tax cut deal and I think President Trump should get the credit for it, he said. .@Varneyco Sets the economic record straight after Nancy Pelosi calls U.S. mass bonuses crumbs pic.twitter.com/BvjIHGm3HE  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 14, 2018 The sweeping tax plan passed last month lowers the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and cuts personal income taxes. Analysts say the benefits will largely flow to corporations and the wealthy, as theyre more likely to be in positions to share in corporate profits. For instance, Wells Fargo & Co., which responded to news of the tax overhaul by announcing it will raise workers pay to at least $15 an hour, also reported that it expects to pay an effective tax rate of 19% this year, down from about 31% in previous years. That should amount to tax savings of more than $3 billion annually. On average, middle-class Americans are expected to see a very small tax cut in the near term and a tax increase after 2025, when all of the tax cuts for individuals expire. The tax cuts for corporations, however, are permanent.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer James Rufus Koren. Facebook

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Trump touts MLK proclamation in tweet, but ceremony is overshadowed by reports of racist remarks By Associated Press President Trump signed a proclamation Friday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, noting the contributions of a great American hero. Today, it was my great honor to proclaim January 15, 2018, as Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service activities in honor of Dr. King's life and legacy. pic.twitter.com/samlJsz1Nt  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 Overshadowing the event was mounting backlash from Trumps comments during a private meeting with lawmakers the day before. A short time after the meeting, which was called to discuss a possible immigration deal, reports emerged that Trump had asked participants why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the Senates second-ranking Democrat, appeared to confirm those reports on Friday. Trump did not respond Friday to several questions about the incident, including whether he actually used vulgar language to describe African nations, or if he is racist. The president said at the White House that love was central to the slain civil rights leader. Trump said the nation celebrates King for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or place of our birth, we are all created equal by God.  This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump criticizes Democrats in tweet calling for stricter immigration rules President Trump hit out at Democrats on Thursday night in a tweet calling for stricter immigration rules. Trump wrote that members of the party seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the border with Mexico: The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process. It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018 It wasnt immediately clear exactly what prompted the tweet. Earlier Thursday, Trump rejected a bipartisan compromise to resolve the standoff over so-called Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children but have temporary permits to work, attend school or serve in the military. The president drew widespread condemnation after reports emerged that he had asked participants in an Oval Office meeting about the proposal why the United States should accept immigrants from shithole countries in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts bill aimed at improving border screening for fentanyl By Associated Press President Trump signed legislation Wednesday aimed at giving Customs and Border Protection agents additional screening devices and other tools to stop the flow of illicit drugs. Speaking at a surprise bill-signing ceremony while flanked by members of Congress from both parties in the Oval Office, Trump described the bill as a significant step forward in the fight against powerful opioids such as fentanyl, which he called our new big scourge. He echoed that language Thursday in a tweet: Yesterday, I signed the #INTERDICTAct (H.R. 2142) with bipartisan members of Congress to help end the flow of drugs into our country. Together, we are committed to doing everything we can to combat the deadly scourge of drug addiction and overdose in the United States! pic.twitter.com/ELZvFol5Lo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 The legislation will pay for new portable and fixed chemical screening devices to detect and intercept fentanyl at ports of entry and in the mail, along with other laboratory equipment and personnel, including scientists. Trump has made fighting the opioid epidemic a centerpiece of his administration, though critics say he hasnt dedicated nearly enough money or resources to make a difference. Trump suggested during his remarks on Wednesday that hed like to take a more aggressive approach to the drug crisis  but the countrys not ready for what he has in mind. So were going to sign this. And its a step. And it feels like a very giant step, but unfortunately, its not going to be a giant step, because no matter what you do, this is something that keeps pouring in, he said. And were going to find the answer. There is an answer. I think I actually know the answer, but Im not sure the countrys ready for it yet, he added. Does anybody know what I mean? I think so. Facebook

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Trump applauds news that Toyota-Mazda plant is slated for Alabama By Associated Press Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda on Wednesday announced plans to build a mammoth, $1.6-billion joint-venture plant in Alabama that will eventually employ about 4,000 people. President Trump lauded the news in a tweet: Cutting taxes and simplifying regulations makes America the place to invest! Great news as Toyota and Mazda announce they are bringing 4,000 JOBS and investing $1.6 BILLION in Alabama, helping to further grow our economy! pic.twitter.com/Kcg8IVH6iA  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Good news: Toyota and Mazda announce giant new Huntsville, Alabama, plant which will produce over 300,000 cars and SUVs a year and employ 4000 people. Companies are coming back to the U.S. in a very big way. Congratulations Alabama!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2018 Several states had competed for the project, which will be able to turn out 300,000 vehicles per year and produce the Toyota Corolla compact car for North America and a new small SUV from Mazda. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and company executives held a news conference to announce that the facility is coming to the Huntsville area not far from the Tennessee line. Production is expected to begin by 2021. The decision to pick Alabama is another example of foreign-based automakers building U.S. factories in the South. To entice manufacturers, Southern states have used a combination of lucrative incentive packages, low-cost labor and a pro-business labor environment, because the United Auto Workers union is stronger in Northern states. Read More Facebook

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Trump highlights call for border wall in tweets on visit with Norways prime minister By Associated Press President Trump praised Norways prime minister in a tweet on Wednesday after Erna Solberg became the first foreign leader to visit with the president in 2018. Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway to the @WhiteHouse - a great friend and ally of the United States! Joint press conference: https://t.co/qWR1BhfQZI pic.twitter.com/PJvwznjRCO  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Trump also shared via Twitter a video clip of a joint news conference he held with Solberg on Wednesday afternoon. In the clip, Trump responds to a question from a reporter by saying there can be no bipartisan immigration deal absent funding for his long-promised wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been seeking a solution for hundreds of thousands of so-called Dreamers, young people who were brought to the United States as children and are living here illegally. The United States needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval. The safety and security of our country is #1! pic.twitter.com/4CFzQXb5aS  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 We need the wall for security, we need the wall for safety, we need the wall for stopping the drugs from pouring in, Trump said Wednesday.  Any solution has to include the wall because without the wall, it all doesnt work. On Tuesday, Trump drew widespread attention when he said during a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers that he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. That contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill in subsequent tweets and public comments. Read More This post contains reporting from Los Angeles Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump praises Cabinet in tweet touting meeting By Associated Press President Trump promoted a meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday, sharing via Twitter a link to a video of the session posted on the White House YouTube account. In his tweet, Trump thanked his Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country and wrote that the last year has been one of monumental achievement. I want to thank my @Cabinet for working tirelessly on behalf of our country. 2017 was a year of monumental achievement and we look forward to the year ahead. Together, we are delivering results and MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/ptXa1hAPwW pic.twitter.com/yv6RALkQf3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The former reality television star continued to dispense accolades at the meeting Wednesday, greeting reporters in the Cabinet Room by saying: Welcome back to the studio. Then he proceeded to relive a Cabinet Room session from the prior day, when he had allowed reporters and TV cameras to stick around for much of his meeting with a bipartisan group of legislators on the thorny issue of immigration. It was a tremendous meeting. Actually, it was reported as incredibly good. And my performance  you know, some of them called it a performance  I consider it work, Trump said. Trump went on to say he had received letters from news anchors calling it one of the greatest meetings theyve ever witnessed. He added that the media will ultimately support Trump in the end, because theyre going to say, if Trump doesnt win in three years, theyre all out of business. Asked for examples of letters received from news anchors, the White House said it had received private communications. It also offered a series of positive on-air comments and tweets from journalists about the unusual access to the meeting. During his remarks, Trump swung from praising his own meeting coverage to telling journalists that they were dependent on his presidency for ratings to threatening a strong look at libel laws. Still, Trump thanked the journalists in front of him, joking: Youve gotten very familiar with this room. I appreciate your nice comments yesterday. Facebook

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Trump blasts DACA ruling in tweet calling courts broken and unfair By Lisa Mascaro President Trump denounced the federal courts Wednesday as broken and unfair after a district judge in San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction keeping protections in place for so-called Dreamers. Trump tweeted: It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 On Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco temporarily blocked the Trump administrations decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which has protected from deportation some 700,000 people who came to the country illegally as children. Alsup granted a request by the state of California, the University of California and other plaintiffs to stop Trump from ending DACA on March 5. The administrations decision to end DACA, which was announced in September, was based on a flawed legal analysis, Alsup wrote in his decision. Dreamers would be irreparably harmed if their DACA protections, which allow them to live and work legally in the U.S., were stripped away before the courts had a chance to fully consider their claims, he ruled. The action is the mirror image of a ruling in 2015 by a federal judge in Texas who ruled in favor of that state when it sought to block President Obama from expanding DACA to include the parents of Dreamers. Trump administration officials praised that judicial ruling. By contrast, they sharply criticized Alsups decision. Read More Facebook

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Trump thanks lawmakers for productive immigration meeting, says deal must include border wall President Trump thanked a bipartisan group of lawmakers for participating in a meeting on immigration legislation on Tuesday. Much of the discussion involved so-called Dreamers, an estimated 700,000 young people who were brought to the country illegally as children and are now facing deportation. In a tweet, Trump wrote that there was strong agreement to negotiate a bill to protect Dreamers, as well as put into place some of the reforms favored by Republicans. Thanks to all of the Republican and Democratic lawmakers for todays very productive meeting on immigration reform. There was strong agreement to negotiate a bill that deals with border security, chain migration, lottery and DACA. https://t.co/SdqAQ3aL3z pic.twitter.com/8DYHZHspAy  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 The most notable exchange of the meeting came when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco Democrat, asked Trump whether he would be agreeable to signing a stand-alone bill to protect the Dreamers, before moving on to a more comprehensive immigration bill. Yeah, I would like to do it, Trump responded. The statement drew widespread attention because it contradicted the Republican consensus that Dreamers fate needed to be part of a broader immigration bill that would include some version of Trumps promised border wall and other immigration reforms. Trump later backed away from a stand-alone Dreamer bill, tweeting that a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico must be part of any deal: As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 Pressure has been mounting for Congress to broker an immigration deal by Jan. 19 as part of a must-pass budget package to fund the government. This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Facebook

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Trump thanks officers and veterans in tweets President Trump doled out a slew of accolades Tuesday via Twitter. He thanked the nations law enforcement officers, including in his message a hashtag denoting a day of appreciation organized by a national support group for law enforcement families. On behalf of the American people, THANK YOU to our incredible law enforcement officers. As President of the United States - I will fight for you, and I will never, ever let you down. Now, more than ever, we must support the men and women in blue! #LawEnforcementAppreciationDay pic.twitter.com/Qb4uxB4JRm  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trump later expressed gratitude for federal immigration agents, in particular: .@ICEgov HSI agents and ERO officers, on behalf of an entire Nation, THANK YOU for what you are doing 24/7/365 to keep fellow Americans SAFE. Everyone is so grateful!#LawEnforcementAppreciationDay

President @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/HXCpTlruVo  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018 The president thanked veterans as he cited his administrations efforts to curb the number of veteran suicides by improving mental health treatment for the high-risk group: Today, it was my great honor to sign a new Executive Order to ensure Veterans have the resources they need as they transition back to civilian life. We must ensure that our HEROES are given the care and support they so richly deserve! https://t.co/0MdP9DDIAS pic.twitter.com/LP2a8KCBAp  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 Trumps tweet included photos of the president signing an executive order Tuesday directing the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to develop a plan to provide seamless access to mental health and suicide prevention resources for 12 months for members leaving the armed forces. Also on Tuesday, Trump touted a law he signed the day before designating the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a national historic park: It was my great honor to sign H.R. 267, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act, which redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the State of Georgia as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. https://t.co/Qe0b6HBFTY pic.twitter.com/QTgaqTawPT  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2018 And he thanked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) for sharing a video compilation comprised of clips of politicians and commentators praising the GOPs tax cut bill: Thank you @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy! Couldnt agree w/you more. TOGETHER, we are #MAGA https://t.co/QaxtqpyXTR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018  This post contains reporting from the Associated Press and Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump hails tax bill in tweets recapping speech to farmers By Associated Press Connecting with rural Americans, President Trump on Monday hailed his tax overhaul as a victory for family farmers. Farm country is Gods country, Trump told the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Trump became the first president in a quarter-century to address the federations convention. His Southern swing also included a stop in Atlanta for the national college football championship game. Cant wait to be back in the amazing state of Tennessee to address the 99th American @FarmBureau Federations Annual Convention in Nashville! #AFBF18



On my way now - join me LIVE at 4:00pmE: https://t.co/QaljAqekdD. pic.twitter.com/Wm7Io0hYT8  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Joined by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and a group of Tennessee lawmakers, Trump said most of the benefits of the tax legislation are going to working families, small businesses, and who  the family farmer. The package Trump signed into law last month provides generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest reductions for middle- and low-income individuals and families. In every decision we make, we are honoring Americas PROUD FARMING LEGACY. Years of crushing taxes, crippling regs, & corrupt politics left our communities hurting, our economy stagnant, & millions of hardworking Americans COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. But they are not forgotten ANYMORE! pic.twitter.com/MdYS7xnukQ  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The president vastly inflated the value of the package in his speech, citing a total of $5.5 trillion in tax cuts, with most of those benefits going to working families, small businesses and who? The family farmer. The estimated value of the tax cuts is actually $1.5 trillion for families and businesses because of cuts in deductions and the use of other steps to generate offsetting tax revenue. We have been working every day to DELIVER for Americas Farmers just as they work every day to deliver FOR US. #AFBF18 pic.twitter.com/QDH7fvFkZ7  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 From Nashville, Trump traveled to Atlanta to watch Alabamas Crimson Tide and Georgias Bulldogs face off Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship. We are fighting for our farmers, for our country, and for our GREAT AMERICAN FLAG. We want our flag respected - and we want our NATIONAL ANTHEM respected also! pic.twitter.com/16eOLXg6Fi  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Before departing for the game, Trump referenced his ongoing defense of the American flag and the national anthem, saying there was enough space for people to express their views. We love our flag and we love our anthem, and we want to keep it that way, he said. Facebook

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Trump tweet hails drop in unemployment rate for African Americans By Associated Press President Trump touted a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans on Monday in a tweet. African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote! #NeverForget @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 The rate fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Trump also hailed the development via Twitter on Saturday. His latest tweet on the topic came about an hour after it was discussed during an episode of Fox & Friends, according to Mediaite. Facebook

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Trump talks up the economy and dresses down the media in Sunday tweets With President Trump cheering from the sidelines, the White House on Sunday pressed its defense of the presidents fitness to govern, as fired former aide Stephen K. Bannon reversed course and apologized for his role in a new books explosive portrait of Trump. The presidents critics, meanwhile, said Trumps stream of taunts and insults in response to the book  Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, released last week  served only to underscore the authors unsettling portrayal of Trumps year-old presidency, depicting a leader whose own aides consider him childish, ignorant and dangerously erratic. Trump provided more ammunition Sunday morning, as he continued to attack the book via Twitter while preparing to depart Camp David for the White House: Leaving Camp David for the White House. Great meetings with the Cabinet and Military on many very important subjects including Border Security & the desperately needed Wall, the ever increasing Drug and Opioid Problem, Infrastructure, Military, Budget, Trade and DACA.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Ive had to put up with the Fake News from the first day I announced that I would be running for President. Now I have to put up with a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Ronald Reagan had the same problem and handled it well. So will I!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 The most vehement defense of Trump on Sunday came from senior advisor Stephen Miller, a onetime Bannon acolyte who distanced himself from his former mentor. In a combative appearance Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, Miller called the book grotesque and writer Michael Wolff the garbage author of a garbage book. Trump is known to closely monitor aides televised performances in putting forth his case, and he gleefully weighed in within moments of Millers televised clash with host Jake Tapper. CNN has long been a particular target of Trumps ire. Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trumps reaction, however, seemed to bolster Tappers on-air depiction of Miller as using his appearance on the show to play to the president rather than addressing questions put to him. I get it  theres one viewer that you care about, the host said exasperatedly after Miller turned the discussion repeatedly to negative news coverage of the president while deflecting specific queries. Later on Twitter, Trump took up two themes that have been prevalent on his social media feeds recently. The president again went after the news media, tweeting that the recipients of his self-proclaimed most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year, which he promised earlier in the week to announce on Monday, would actually be revealed the following Wednesday: The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 Trump later lauded a New York Post opinion piece that compared him favorably with his predecessor, President Obama, as well as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. In quoting the op-ed, Trump initally misspelled consequential as consensual, but he deleted those tweets and re-sent the messages. His is turning out to be an enormously consequential presidency. So much so that, despite my own frustration over his missteps, there has never been a day when I wished Hillary Clinton were president. Not one. Indeed, as Trumps accomplishments accumulate, the mere thought of...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 ...Clinton in the WH, doubling down on Barack Obamas failed policies, washes away any doubts that America made the right choice. This was truly a change election  and the changes Trump is bringing are far-reaching & necessary. Thank you Michael Goodwin! https://t.co/4fHNcx2Ydg  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2018 Trump also continued talking up the economy, which has been enjoying a period of strong gains. The Stock Market has been creating tremendous benefits for our country in the form of not only Record Setting Stock Prices, but present and future Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Seven TRILLION dollars of value created since our big election win!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018 In addition to Miller, other senior administration officials made the rounds of Sunday news talk shows to decry the claims made in Wolffs book. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Wolffs characterization of Trump as averse to digesting classified briefing material was ludicrous, and the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, insisted that that those around Trump love their country and respect their president. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Laura King. Facebook

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Responding to book that mocks his intelligence, Trump tweets hes like, really smart By Tracy Wilkinson President Trump declared himself a very stable genius on Twitter on Saturday and later in a televised news conference called the author of a book that questioned his mental fitness a fraud. His comments came on a bone-cold day at Camp David during a weekend retreat with top administration officials and Republican congressional leaders strategizing on the years legislative agenda, including matters such as infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and national security. Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 ....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Still, Trumps explosive rebuttal to author Michael Wolffs claims not only opened the day, but it also ensured the presidents capability to fill the highest office in the land was a topic that would not go away. In his early-morning tweets, Trump said two of his greatest assets have been mental stability, and being, like, really smart. He noted that his former Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, played these cards [about competence] very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try). Read More Facebook

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In morning tweets, Trump touts job numbers and takes digs at news media By Associated Press President Trump used Twitter on Saturday morning to tout a drop in the unemployment rate for African Americans. He also used the tweets as an opportunity to take digs at media outlets whose past coverage he has found to be critical. The African American unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest rate in 45 years. I am so happy about this News! And, in the Washington Post (of all places), headline states, Trumps first year jobs numbers were very, very good.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The unemployment rate for African Americans fell to 6.8% in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972. The reasons range from a greater number of black Americans with college degrees to a growing need for employers in a tight job market to widen the pool of people they hire from. Still, the rate for black workers remains well above those for whites and some other groups, something experts attribute in large part to decades of discrimination and disadvantages. Robust job creation has lowered unemployment for all Americans. U.S. employers added nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2017  the seventh straight year that hiring has topped 2 million. In his tweet, Trump praised a report that noted the numbers, touting the fact that it appeared in the Washington Post (of all places). Minutes later, Trump renewed his attack on an ABC News reporter who was suspended last month after filing an erroneous report on Michael Flynn, Trumps former national security advisor. Brian Ross, the reporter who made a fraudulent live newscast about me that drove the Stock Market down 350 points (billions of dollars), was suspended for a month but is now back at ABC NEWS in a lower capacity. He is no longer allowed to report on Trump. Should have been fired!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 The reporter, Brian Ross, was reportedly reassigned within ABC News upon returning from his unpaid suspension. But on Saturday, Trump wrote that he should have been fired. Trumps tweets came hours before he was set to host congressional Republicans and administration officials at Camp David. The meeting scheduled to begin at midmorning Saturday was expected to touch on the budget, infrastructure, immigration, welfare reform and the shape of the midterm election this fall. Facebook

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Trump commends Sen. Rand Paul after he proposes eliminating all U.S. aid to Pakistan President Trump commended Sen. Rand Paul after the Kentucky Republican announced plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate all U.S. aid to Pakistan. Trump tweeted Friday night: Good idea Rand! https://t.co/55sqUDiC0s  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was suspending security assistance to Islamabad until the country moves aggressively against local militants who have attacked U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration at the apparent inability of Pakistani authorities to rein in militants who cross out of the countrys rugged tribal areas to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson. Facebook

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Trump continues to lash out at Sloppy Steve Bannon in tweets on tell-all book By Associated Press President Trump is praising a major Republican donor family for distancing themselves from his former advisor Steve Bannon. Trump tweeted Friday: The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trump has continued to lash out at Bannon over an explosive new book that quoted his former aide as questioning Trumps competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower among Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as treasonous and unpatriotic. On Thursday, billionaire GOP donor Rebekah Mercer issued a statement distancing her family from Bannon. Mercer is a co-owner of Breitbart, the populist website Bannon helps run. I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected, Mercer said. My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements. The book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, quickly shot atop Amazons best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday. Trump took up the topic again on Twitter on Friday night, denouncing both Bannon and the books author, Michael Wolff, in starkly personal terms: Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018 Trumps message linked to a meme depicting a parody book cover titled, Liar and Phony, that featured a photo of Wolff and disparaging quotes about the author. In a tweet sent earlier Friday morning, Trump suggested the book was intended to serve as a distraction from the FBIs investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which Trump wrote is proving to be a total hoax. Well, now that collusion with Russia is proving to be a total hoax and the only collusion is with Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Russia, the Fake News Media (Mainstream) and this phony new book are hitting out at every new front imaginable. They should try winning an election. Sad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 That came amid reports that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself from the Justice Departments Russia investigation. Trumps effort to keep Sessions, a vocal and loyal supporter of his election bid, in charge of an investigation into his campaign offers special counsel Robert Mueller yet another avenue to explore as his prosecutors work to untangle potential evidence of obstruction. Read More Facebook

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Trump praises the economy ahead of meetings at Camp David By Associated Press President Trump is praising the strength of the U.S. economy ahead of meetings at Camp David with congressional Republicans. Trump tweeted early Friday: Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The president also told reporters on the South Lawn that the tax cuts are really kicking in after Congress passed a package of tax cuts at the end of 2017. And the president praised the December jobs report, which found U.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%, the lowest level since 2000. The modest but steady pace of hiring is a reassuring sign for investors who have been buoyed by the just-passed Republican tax plan and have been sending stock market indexes roaring to uncharted heights. The president is meeting with Republican congressional leaders and members of his Cabinet on Friday and Saturday to discuss the 2018 agenda. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets as Dow crashes through 25,000 By Associated Press President Trump dispatched a congratulatory tweet as the Dow Jones industrial average rose above the 25,000-point mark Thursday, just five weeks after its first close above 24,000. Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 After the Dow closed above 25,000, Trump shared a graphic depicting the stock indexs record-setting rise. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/iONbr1DkVk  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Later in the day, the president was back on Twitter, complaining that news outlets had barely covered the stock market milestone. He suggested that the strength of the economy would be the biggest story on earth, had it unfolded during the presidency of his predecessor. The Fake News Media barely mentions the fact that the Stock Market just hit another New Record and that business in the U.S. is booming...but the people know! Can you imagine if O was president and had these numbers - would be biggest story on earth! Dow now over 25,000.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 The Dow broke past 1,000-point barriers in 2017 on its way to a 25% gain for the year, as an eight-year rally since the Great Recession continued to confound skeptics. Strong global economic growth and good prospects for higher company earnings have analysts predicting more gains, although the market may not stay as calm as it has been recently. The Dow has made a rapid trip since it reached 24,000 points Nov. 30, partly on enthusiasm over passage of the Republican-backed tax package, which could boost company profits this year with across-the-board cuts to corporate taxes. Read More Facebook

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Trump reacts to Fire and Fury book in tweet lashing out at author and Sloppy Steve President Trump lashed out at the author of a soon-to-be-released book about the chaotic first year of his presidency Thursday night. In a tweet, Trump called Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a phony book and claimed that hed never spoken to its author, Michael Wolff. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve! Trump wrote. He appeared to be referring to former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, whose stunning criticisms of Trump and his circle figure prominently in the title. I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that dont exist. Look at this guys past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018 Trumps tweet came hours after he had his lawyer demand that Henry Holt & Co. and Wolff stop publication the book. Instead, the publisher expedited the books release to Friday, four days before it was slated to hit bookstore shelves, in response to unprecedented demand. Published excerpts on Wednesday and Thursday whetted that appetite and roiled Washington. Bannons comments, including that it was treasonous and unpatriotic for Trumps son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort to have met in 2016 with Russians said to have dirt on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, prompted Trump on Wednesday to rebuke his former advisor, saying Bannon had lost his mind. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump thanks senators who attended meeting on immigration President Trump tweeted thanks to Republican senators who attended a meeting about possible immigration legislation on Thursday. In his message, Trump also listed his top priorities when it comes to any type of overhaul of the nations immigration system. Thank you to the great Republican Senators who showed up to our mtg on immigration reform. We must BUILD THE WALL, stop illegal immigration, end chain migration & cancel the visa lottery. The current system is unsafe & unfair to the great people of our country - time for change!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Trumps tweet echoed his remarks at the beginning of Thursdays meeting, when he insisted again that constructing a border wall and overhauling two legal immigration programs must be part of any deal with Democrats to protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation. Two-year deportation protections and work permits given under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program begin to expire March 6 under an executive order. Trump announced in September that he was ending the Obama-era program, but told Congress to draft a law to continue protections for people brought to the country illegally as children  a group that has widespread public support. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writer Brian Bennett. Facebook

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Trump resumes Twitter war against kneeling NFL players President Trump has resumed his Twitter war against NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest social injustice and racial inequality. In a tweet early Thursday, Trump replied to a supporter who shared a meme that appears to depict family members lying on the grave of a fallen soldier with the caption: This is why we stand. Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! Trump wrote. So beautiful....Show this picture to the NFL players who still kneel! https://t.co/tJLM1tvbvb  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The president has denounced players who kneel during the anthem in previous tweets. Hes also called for the firing of players who do so. His latest message came amid news that the NFL finished the regular season with TV ratings that fell nearly 10% below the previous season. Analysts attribute the drop to controversies facing the league, as well as changing viewing habits and a possible saturation point in the number of games available. Read More This post contains reporting from Times staff writers Stephen Battaglio and Alex Wigglesworth. Facebook

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Trump credits himself with facilitating talks between North and South Korea By Associated Press President Trump says his tough stance on nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula is helping push North Korea and South Korea to talk. Trump tweeted early Thursday: With all of the failed experts weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasnt firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the North. Fools, but talks are a good thing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 That assertion is in conflict with some of the presidents own statements. Last year, he ridiculed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for talking about negotiations with the North. This week, Trump seemed open to the possibility of an inter-Korean dialogue after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare overture toward South Korea in a New Years Day address. But Trumps ambassador to the United Nations insisted that talks wont be meaningful unless the North is getting rid of its nuclear weapons. The overture about talks came after Trump and Kim traded more bellicose claims about their nuclear weapons. In his New Years Day address, Kim repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Kim said he has a nuclear button on his office desk and warned that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike. Trump mocked that assertion Tuesday evening in a tweet. Facebook

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After disbanding his vote fraud panel, Trump still says voting system is rigged By Brian Bennett One day after disbanding his troubled voter fraud commission without any findings of fraud, President Trump continued to call the U.S. voting system rigged and said states should require that Americans have voter-identification cards. In two tweets on Thursday morning, Trump blamed the commissions failure on the lack of cooperation from mostly Democrat States that refused to hand over voter rolls because they know that many people are voting illegally. However, voting supervisors in Republican-led states refused as well, objecting on privacy and other grounds. Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 As Americans, you need identification, sometimes in a very strong and accurate form, for almost everything you do.....except when it comes to the most important thing, VOTING for the people that run your country. Push hard for Voter Identification!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Despite Trumps assertions, analysts have not found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May after alleging, without proof, that millions of illegal votes were cast for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Trump was elected after winning a majority in the electoral college, but the nationwide count showed Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes. The commission sought personal data on voters across the country and faced mounting lawsuits in recent months over privacy concerns. Read More Facebook

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Trump touts another good day for stocks, credits tax cut By Associated Press President Trump touted another good day for the stock market Wednesday in a tweet. Stock Market had another good day but, now that the Tax Cut Bill has passed, we have tremendous upward potential. Dow just short of 25,000, a number that few thought would be possible this soon into my administration. Also, unemployment went down to 4.1%. Only getting better!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Big gains for technology and healthcare stocks helped U.S. indexes set records again Wednesday. Some analysts attributed the surge to investor enthusiasm for Trumps $1.5-trillion tax cut. All told, Wall Street analysts estimate the tax package should boost earnings for companies in the Standard & Poors 500 index by roughly 8% this year. Thats much more generous than the average tax cut of 1.6% that middle-class families will receive, according to the Tax Policy Center. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 The public has been less enthusiastic about the tax law. A Monmouth University poll last month found that nearly half of Americans disapproved of it, with only 26% in support. Still, as Trump also noted on Twitter, some workers have seen a benefit: So far, dozens of companies have announced bonuses and higher minimum wages as a result of the tax cut. AT&T, Comcast, Bank of America, and American Airlines have all pledged to pay $1,000 bonuses to their employees. Some 40 U.S. companies have responded to President Trumps tax cut and reform victory in Congress last year by handing out bonuses up to $2,000, increases in 401k matches and spending on charity, a much higher number than previously known. https://t.co/bmWrwWzxMR  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 Investors also appear less concerned than many politicians about how the additional profits will be used. The Trump administration says it expects companies will plow much of the extra profit back into their businesses, purchasing more software, machinery, and other equipment. Those investments will make workers more productive and provide a key boost to the economys long-run growth. They should also boost wages and salaries for employees. Opponents of the tax law respond that companies are more likely to pass the windfall on to shareholders in the form of higher dividend payments and share buybacks, which raise the price of those shares still in investors hands. Previous cuts in corporate tax rates, in the United States and overseas, havent always led to higher wages. For Wall Street, its all good, at least in the short run. Most analysts take the view that either way, companies and the economy will benefit. Facebook

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Trump reacts to death of Mormon Church president By Associated Press President Trump mourned the death of Mormon Church leader Thomas S. Monson on Wednesday evening. Trump tweeted a link to a statement in which he said that Monson demonstrated wisdom, inspired leadership, and great compassion and delivered a message of optimism, forgiveness, and faith. Melania and I are deeply saddened by the death of Thomas S. Monson, a beloved President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...https://t.co/ETD3fWtfU3  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2018 A church bishop at the age of 22, Monson became the youngest church apostle ever in 1963 at the age of 36. He served as a counselor for three church presidents before assuming the role of the top leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February 2008. After a life of church service, Monson died Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. He was 90. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets that Iranian protesters will see great U.S. support at the appropriate time By Associated Press President Trump continued to express support for Irans anti-government protesters on Wednesday. In a tweet, Trump commended the protesters and pledged that the United States will support them at the appropriate time. Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Trumps tweet Wednesday morning came as Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo sent a letter to United Nations officials complaining that Washington was intervening in a grotesque way in Irans internal affairs. The President and Vice-President of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts, the ambassador wrote to the U.N. Security Council president and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.S. didnt immediately respond to the letter, which maintains that Washington has crossed every limit in flouting rules and principles of international law governing the civilized conduct of international relations. At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested in Iran during a week of anti-government protests and unrest over economic woes and official corruption. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people took part in counter-demonstrations Wednesday backing the clerically overseen government, which has said enemies of Iran are fomenting the protests. Trump has unleashed a series of tweets in recent days backing the protesters, saying Iran is failing at every level and declaring that it is time for change in the Islamic Republic. Facebook

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Trump congratulates Sen. Orrin Hatch upon news of his retirement By Associated Press President Trump congratulated Sen. Orrin Hatch for an absolutely incredible career upon news of Hatchs impending retirement. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Trump called Hatch a tremendous supporter and wrote that he will be greatly missed in the Senate. Congratulations to Senator Orrin Hatch on an absolutely incredible career. He has been a tremendous supporter, and I will never forget the (beyond kind) statements he has made about me as President. He is my friend and he will be greatly missed in the U.S. Senate! pic.twitter.com/0VjzLEeHTl  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Hatchs decision to retire from the Senate after four decades lets the Utah Republican walk away at the height of his power after helping to push through an overhaul of the tax code and persuading Trump to downsize two national monuments. Retirement also preserves the 83-year-olds legacy by allowing him to avoid a bruising reelection battle that would have broken his promise not to seek an eighth term. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweet exaggerates progress in improving veterans care By Associated Press President Trump played up tremendous progress in improving care for veterans in his first year on Tuesday in a tweet. His message linked to an Instagram video describing eight accomplishments that show Trump is fighting for our veterans. But it overstates the impact of these steps. We will not rest until all of Americas GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time. Keep up the great work @SecShulkin @DeptVetAffairs! https://t.co/ir25vW15hx pic.twitter.com/OtuzIgxMn6  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Of the eight achievements cited, two are ceremonial proclamations recognizing National Veterans and Military Families Month and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Two are pieces of legislation that extended the troubled Veterans Choice program on a temporary basis. This became necessary because the Trump administration repeatedly miscalculated the amount of taxpayer dollars available to pay for care from private doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system when veterans had to endure long waits for treatment at VA medical centers. The departments poor budget planning caught lawmakers off guard. A fifth claim involves telehealth, a step letting doctors practice medicine across state lines using digital technology. Announced in August, it has yet to take full effect because a proposed VA regulation hasnt been completed. The VA wants authority to practice across state lines to come from legislation, not a regulation. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a telehealth measure that now goes to the House. A sixth claim refers to legislation that streamlines the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. This step has had limited effect so far because it applies to new disability claims, not the 470,000 pending claims. The last two initiatives make it easier for the VA to discipline employees. The department has pointed to more than 1,300 employees who have been fired under Trumps watch. Because their infractions are not detailed in public documents, the effect on veterans care is not fully known. Facebook

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Trump unleashes his first tweetstorm of 2018 By Noah Bierman President Trump clearly didnt resolve to change his Twitter habits this year. With nine disparate tweets over three hours on Tuesday morning, the first working day of 2018, Trump continued to exploit social media to be the most aggressive commentator in chief in American history. For any other president, his posts would have made for a monumental day of (mis-)statements. Yet for Trump, the series  attacks on political foes and media, provocations of foreign leaders and self-praise for events he had nothing to do with  was all but unremarkable. His Twitter barrage  sent between 7:09 a.m. and 10:16 a.m.  reflected a familiar gamut after nearly a year in office: Attacks on political foes: Nearly 14 months after his election, Trump called for the jailing of Huma Abedin, Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid (his misspelling, another occasional feature of Trump tweets). Crooked Hillary Clintons top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 In the same tweet, he disparaged the Deep State Justice Dept, headed of course by his appointees, calling on it to act against James B. Comey, the FBI director he fired for investigating the Russia thing. Diplomatic provocations: Trump again called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Rocket man, ridiculed the volatile nuclear-armed foe for recent military defections and openly speculated about potential talks between North and South Korea. Sanctions and other pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea. Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not - we will see!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not  we will see! Trump wrote. Later Tuesday, Trump tweeted: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Also later Tuesday, Trump tweeted an attack on Pakistan, his second in as many days, and added a new one against Palestinians: It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ...peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Undermining media: Trump offered Congratulations! to A.G. Sulzberger, who took over as publisher of the New York Times this week. The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations! Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved. Get...  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ....impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent sources, and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you wont have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the two-part post was really yet another slam against a perceived media foe: Trump said the paper had a last chance to fulfill its journalistic mission, and accused it of relying on phony sources and substandard reporters  just days after he granted another exclusive interview to the paper. As a bonus, the tweet contained a recycled falsehood, that the paper apologized after the election for reporting on him unfairly. It didnt. Trump later said on Twitter that he would soon announce the most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year. Stay tuned! I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 oclock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 The president also tweeted a quote from Fox Business Networks Lou Dobbs Tonight, which aired a segment praising Trumps first-year accomplishments. Dobbs reportedly joined Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday for a gala to celebrate New Years Eve. President Trump has something now he didnt have a year ago, that is a set of accomplishments that nobody can deny. The accomplishments are there, look at his record, he has had a very significant first year. @LouDobbs Show,David Asman & Ed Rollins  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018 Taking credit: Trump congratulated himself for policing the border with Mexico, an area where his policies and anti-immigration rhetoric are believed to have had some effect on reducing illegal crossings. Thank you to Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council for your kind words on how well we are doing at the Border. We will be bringing in more & more of your great folks and will build the desperately needed WALL! @foxandfriends  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 He took credit for employee bonuses by companies after he signed Republican tax cuts into law last month. Companies are giving big bonuses to their workers because of the Tax Cut Bill. Really great!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 But the jaw-dropper was Trump congratulating himself for planes not crashing. Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 It was the safest year on record worldwide, but the American streak without commercial jet passenger deaths goes back to 2009. Trump, who has promoted deregulation as one of his top accomplishments, has not signed off on any new airline safety regulations. The White House pointed to new security screening of passengers, to electronic devices to prevent terrorist attacks and to Trumps support for privatizing air traffic control  a proposal that has gotten nowhere in Congress. Falsehoods: Trump said President Obama, in brokering the 2015 nuclear arms limitation deal with Iran, foolishly gave money to the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. He didnt. The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 The nuclear deal, which included major U.S. allies as signators, released Irans own funds that had long been frozen. Trumps art of the deal: When Trump sees a big deal looming, he often blasts the other side  to gain leverage, as hes written. This week he resumes a showdown with Democratic lawmakers over funding the government and immigration protections for so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as children. Democrats are doing nothing for DACA - just interested in politics. DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start falling in love with Republicans and their President! We are about RESULTS.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 Trump, who in September ordered a gradual end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, sought to shift blame for the resulting controversy, saying Democrats are doing nothing for DACA and are just interested in politics. Trump has insisted that any help for Dreamers be paired with funding for a border wall and a crackdown on legal immigration. Democrats, and some Republicans, are opposed. Read More Facebook

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In tweet, Trump suggests U.S. will withdraw financial assistance to Pakistan By Shashank Bengali Pakistan lashed out Monday after President Trump accused its leaders of lies & deceit and suggested the United States would withdraw financial assistance to the nuclear-armed nation it once saw as a key ally against terrorism. It was the presidents latest broadside against Pakistan after a speech in August in which he demanded its leaders crack down on the safe havens enjoyed by Taliban militants fighting U.S.-backed forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018 U.S. Ambassador David Hale was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the presidents statement, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said. Pakistan lodged a strongly worded protest and asked for clarification about Trumps comments, according to two foreign office officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Pakistans prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, called a Cabinet meeting for Tuesday and a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday to discuss Trumps New Years Day tweet. Read More Facebook

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Trump continues to tweet in support of Iranian protesters By Laura King President Trump expressed renewed support Sunday for protesters in Iran, declaring that people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. In a tweet from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, the president said the nationwide economic protests that began on Thursday  and have taken on wider political overtones as they have grown in size  were a signal that Iranians will not take it any longer. Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Trump has tweeted about the protests for three days straight as Iranians took to the streets despite a heavy police presence, tear gas and scores of arrests. The defiance gained urgency after two people were reported shot to death in the city of Dorud, about 200 miles southwest of Tehran. As the conflict escalated, Iranian authorities on Sunday slapped a temporary ban on Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which were widely used to fan protest fervor. Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Irans leaders already are casting Trumps increasingly effusive expressions of support for the demonstrators as opportunistic meddling and are painting the demonstrators as foreign pawns, adopting a strategy that some analysts say could jeopardize the legitimacy of the nascent antigovernment protests. Read More Facebook

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Trump tweets condolences after Colorado deputies are shot in ambush, one fatally By Associated Press A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriffs deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured. President Trump expressed sorrow, writing on Twitter: My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @DCSheriff, and their families. We love our police and law enforcement - God Bless them all! #LESM  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017 Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost
Trump Jr. to speak privately to Senate staff on Thursday

(Richard Drew / Associated Press)

President Trumps oldest son is expected to meet privately with a Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, several senators said Wednesday.

Donald Trump Jr.'s appearance Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee would probably focus on a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer and others during the final stretches of last years campaign. Emails released in July show that Trump Jr. was told the session at Trump Tower in New York was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father, the Republican nominee.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating that meeting, also attended by Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. A grand jury has heard testimony about it.

Trump Jr. has also agreed to appear in the coming weeks before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own investigation.

Separately, President Obamas national security advisor, Susan Rice, was meeting on Wednesday with the House Intelligence Committee, according to a person familiar with the interview. This person wasnt authorized to discuss the committees confidential work and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

That committee has subpoenaed the Justice Department and the FBI for documents related to a dossier of salacious allegations involving Trump and possible ties to Russia.

As for Donald Trump Jr., some Democratic senators said they planned to attend his session though tradition dictates that senators cannot ask questions at such interviews conducted by committee staff.

Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said they would be there. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) was considering it.

I go in with an open mind, Durbin said. I want to hear his answers to questions  there are plenty of questions  about the involvement of the Trump corporation as well as the Trump campaign with the Russians and other foreigners, and I just want to hear what Mr. Trump has to say.

Durbin said he would be shocked if questions werent asked about whether Trump Sr. knew about the Trump Tower meeting.

The critical part of his testimony will be following the financial dealing, Blumenthal said. He said he also wants to find out what Trump Jr. may know about potential obstruction of justice, adding there may have been conversations between the two about the firing of FBI Director James Comey and other matters.

Blumenthal and Coons said the private interview is no substitute for a public hearing, which the committee chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), has promised will happen.

This meeting is far less important than his public testimony, under oath, before the American people, Blumenthal said.

Grassley would not say on Wednesday whether he would issue a subpoena for Trump Jr. if he refuses to testify publicly.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is reviewing subpoenas from the House intelligence committee.

In a letter Friday that was obtained by the AP, the committee wrote that it had served subpoenas on Aug. 24 to the department and the FBI for documents related to the committees investigation of Russian meddling. The Justice Department and FBI had missed the original Sept. 1 deadline, so the committee extended the deadline to Sept. 14.

The letter was signed by the committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who stepped back from the Russia investigation this year after he was criticized for being too close to the White House. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) took over the leading role, but his name does not appear on the letter.

As chairman, Nunes retains subpoena power in the committee.

According to the letter, the original subpoenas requested any documents related to the dossier and sought information about whether the department was involved in its production.

If the documents are not produced, the committee is seeking to compel Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, who has withdrawn from investigations examining connections between Trump and Russia, and newly installed FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify in an open hearing. The committee issued two additional subpoenas to Sessions and Wray on late Tuesday.

Resort to compulsory process was necessary because of DOJs and FBIs insufficient responsiveness to the committees numerous Russia-investigation related requests over the past several months, the letter said.

If the committee is unable to obtain documents or testimony, Nunes wrote, the committee expressly reserves its right to proceed with any and all available legal options, including a House vote to hold Sessions and Wray in contempt.

The Justice Department confirmed it was reviewing the subpoenas but declined further comment.

The dossier attracted public attention in January when it was revealed that then-FBI Director Comey had briefed Trump, soon before he was inaugurated as president, about claims from the documents that Russia had amassed compromising personal and financial allegations about him.

Its unclear to what extent the allegations in the dossier have been corroborated or verified by the FBI because the bureau has not publicly discussed it.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday evening on MSNBC that the subpoenas were issued over the objections of Democrats. Schiff said Republicans are working harder to discredit those who compiled the dossier than to find out if the allegations in it are true. He said Republicans should be more focused on getting documents from the White House.

The subpoenas were first reported by the Washington Examiner.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) hosted an end-of-the-year holiday luncheon at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point.

The luncheon, which was produced by Friends of CASA and included a holiday fashion presentation, exceeded all budget expectations, netting more than $302,000 for CASAs mission of recruiting, training and supervising community volunteers who mentor and advocate for children in the foster care system, said CASA spokesman Mathew Wadlinger.

Major sponsors of the event included Newports Lugano Diamonds, represented by president Stewart Winston, and the Harry Bronson and Edith Knapp Foundation.

A team of more than 60 members of the Friends of CASA auxiliary joined with luncheon co-chairs Tiffanie Foster and Colleen Masterson to create the afternoon program, which attracted more than 600 guests from all over Orange County. A major part of the success of the day was attributed to competitive bidding on 185 auction packages, which entertained the large crowd during the champagne reception before the luncheon.

Saks Fifth Avenue presented the runway fashion show, featuring its spring collection. Show designers created an urban inspired desert backdrop for the chic models to show off designers collections that incorporated vibrant colors, bold prints and creative details not seen in the fashion world in recent seasons. Part of the fashion theme was a return to day time dress-up, which invigorated the audience.

As the crowd entered the St. Regis dining room, committee members preformed a serious meet-and-greet, welcoming donors and supporters. CASA advocates included Elizabeth Carpino, Stephanie Finn, Debra Klein, Sara Guggenheim Jarrett, Lori Jackson, Sandi Marino and Stacie Capobianco.

Also front and center for CASA were Judy Chang, Kimberly Matties, Marisa Gallegos, Shawni Jackson, Patty Juarez, Janine Wald, Tracy Wiegand and Jaynine Warner. The highlight of the luncheon was an address by Lauren Mueller, a former foster youth and current state coordinator for CASA in Colorado.

Mueller was candid in sharing the story of her struggle to overcome a youth of neglect and abuse. She said, I know it is hard to imagine that children right here in Orange County are being abused. But I am telling you that these children are here. They are not just locked in basements.

You see these children when you walk through the grocery store, when you go to the park and when you drop your own children off at school. We are all here so that their voices can be heard.

The big prize of the day was a donation from Lugano Diamonds of five diamond-encrusted bangles valued at $19,500. The opportunity drawing was won by CASA supporter Amita Singh, who was so moved by Mueller that she donated the exquisite jewelry to CASAs guest speaker.

The Friends of CASA have dedicated themselves over many years to raising more than $1.75 million to help Orange Countys most vulnerable children. The annual holiday luncheon serves multiple purposes. First, it brings awareness in the community to the CASA program. Second, it is a recruitment tool for the much-needed volunteers. Finally, fundraising is a vital aspect of strengthening the organization.

Founded in 1985 with support from the Junior League of Orange County, CASA serves some 1,000 children yearly who move through the court system as a direct result of abuse and neglect. To learn more, visit www.casaoc.org.

B.W. COOK is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
MONGOLIA

Presentation

Join adventurer, author and photographer Pierre Odier for a journey of exploration through Mongolia.

When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena.

Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220.

HIKING

Workshop

Casey Schreiner will sign copies of his book Day Hiking: Los Angeles and answer questions about his favorite hiking spots in the Los Angeles area

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When, where: 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Adventure 16 store in Tarzana, 5425 Reseda Blvd.

Admission, info: Free. (818) 345-4266.

JOSHUA TREE

Workshop

Learn about venomous and nonvenomous snakes that inhabit the Southern California desert. Includes field work as well as classroom time.

When, where: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 24 at Black Rock Nature Center, 9800 Black Rock Canyon Road, Yucca Valley.

Admission, info: $70. (760) 367-5535

Please email announcements at least three weeks before the event to travel@latimes.com.
Flying across multiple time zones can wreak havoc on your bodys circadian rhythm and leave you with lingering jet lag.

Passengers traveling from Los Angeles to London might need a day or two to adjust to the eight-hour time difference. Those who endure the 16-hour, 35-minute fight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Hong Kong might need several days to acclimate to the 13-hour time difference.

But flight crews arent given that luxury. While our passengers are adjusting to a new time zone, were heading back to the airport to work a return flight to the previous time zone.

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At the airline I work for, crews on long-haul flights to Europe lay over for just 24 hours. Same goes for Sydney, Australia, and Tokyo.

For most of us, jet lag is a constant issue that keeps us up at night.

Consider my most recent trip to Barcelona, Spain.

Our outbound flight departed Miami about 6 p.m. Eastern time and landed nine hours later at 9 a.m. local time, which was 3 a.m. Miami time.

This trip sequence allowed a 24-hour layover that began 30 minutes after the last passenger exited the plane and ended the next day when we returned to the airport.

Like most of my colleagues, I was dog tired by the time our crew bus reached the Barcelona layover hotel.

Nevertheless, several of the flight attendants chose not to sleep. They immediately showered, dressed and fanned out across the city to shop, sightsee or stroll the streets until they dropped.

I refer to these sleep-deprived coworkers as Jet-Lagged Zombies.

Ignoring the bodys plea for much-needed shut-eye, Jet-Lagged Zombies exhaust themselves to the brink of collapse, then stagger back to the hotel.

Exhaustion can trick the body into thinking it hasnt changed time zones. Consequently, my weary colleagues sleep soundly through the night and wake up refreshed for the long trip home the next morning.

My body doesnt work that way.

After driving an hour to Miami International Airport, flying nine hours across six time zones and being bused to the Barcelona layover hotel, I long for my hotel bed.

So I dozed fitfully as I often do when trying to sleep in a distant time zone in the middle of the day. When I woke up four or five hours later that afternoon, fatigue clung to me like a soggy overcoat.

I wore it to the hotel gym and managed a lackluster workout. I wore it to an early dinner, where a single glass of wine made me feel as if Id downed a bottle.

Later that night, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting imaginary passengers leaping over an imaginary carry-on bag.

It was midnight Barcelona time, yet my body continued to operate on Miami time, where it was 6 p.m.

I tossed and turned and turned and tossed and tossed and turned some more. Thirty minutes after finally falling asleep, the hotel phone rang. It was my 8 a.m. (2 a.m. Miami time) wake-up call.

Sluggish and puffy-eyed, I showered and dressed before joining my crew on the 9 a.m. bus to the airport.

Woefully sleep deprived, I found my flight home exceptionally brutal.

On previous trips, Ive tried using Zolpidem, better known as Ambien, a prescription sedative. For me, it induced sleep but didnt stop me from waking up at 4 a.m. local time.

Besides, I dont want to rely on prescription meds, as many of my colleagues do. Its not healthy. And I dont want to become a Jet-Lagged Zombie.

So how can a flight attendant sleep at night in Europe when his body thinks its afternoon in the U.S.?

Simple. Instead of flying east and west across multiple time zones, I choose to work flights that operate south and north.

This time of year, flights from Miami to Rio de Janeiro cross a single time zone, so jet lag is not an issue.

And the layover lasts a generous 35 hours.

In Rio, theres no need to count imaginary passengers while trying to fall asleep, even if Im wide awake at sunrise.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
I liked the On the Spot column about phones [Smart About Phones Abroad, by Catharine Hamm, Sept. 3].

Readers should also be aware of several options: Googles Project Fi, as well as Wi-Fi Calling on my Verizon phone. When in airplane mode and on Wi-Fi, I can make calls to U.S. phone numbers and receive calls without a fee. I havent checked to see if other carriers offer the same thing.

The quality was better than Skype, but there is a limitation: You cant call non-U.S. phone numbers.

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Peter Nardi

Los Angeles

::

I like the Line message app much more that WhatsApp. If someone is traveling to Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, etc., they will find Line much more useful.

In Thailand I think it is used by about 90% or more of the people. Its more fun than WhatsApp and can make free video calls. Its so easy to use I can use it.

Gary Kazanjian

Hermosa Beach

Face to face with Big Ben

Regarding How to Fill Big Bens Long Silence, by Mary Forgione, Sept. 10: On a trip to London in 1995 my husband and I climbed the bell tower in Big Ben and stood in the clock face as the chimes sounded at 11 a.m.

The O.J. Simpson trial was happening in Los Angeles. My husband had on a Lakers cap, and one of the security guards at Westminster Abbey asked if we were from Los Angeles. Of course, we said.

He proceeded to ask us if we would like to go on a tour of the tower and the clock. He was the watch tower guard and was leading a group of German tourists through the tower.

We agreed, not knowing that you had to climb the winding switchback staircase to get to the top. It was amazing and very rewarding when we reached the clock face. As the clock chimed we saw through the face the whole city of London.

We have been to London many times, but Big Ben holds a special place in our hearts.

Sherry Davis

Playa Vista

Horse sense in the Sierra

A hiker wrote to complain about horses and mules in the Sierra [Letters, Horses, Hikers a Bad Mix in Sierra, Sept. 3]. Without those animals many people would be denied the experience of camping in the back country.

Due to a severe back condition, I am unable to hike and carry a backpack. Thanks to the horses and packers, I was able to take many wonderful trips far into the Sierra wilderness. The letter writer needs to think about those of us he would deny back country wonders.

Jo Wetton

La Verne

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
The only thing more amazing than the geographic breadth of our readers travels is the quality of their pictures in this years summer vacation photo edition.

The Travel section asked you to share pictures from your summer 2017 idylls, and you responded with about 1,000 shots. (Suggesting that youre all journalists at heart, more than 325 of those arrived in the three days before the deadline.) The photographs were taken in French Polynesia; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and Orange County; Washington state; Brazil; Myanmar and more.

It was not easy for The Times photo and travel editors to reduce this pool to a manageable size. You can see more great photos in our 2017 summer issue gallery.

The care with which many of these photos were shot suggests a dedication to photography that goes beyond capturing memories. It speaks to a visual intelligence that has grown more pronounced, in our estimation, as the world increasingly has access to high-quality photography through smartphones.

Well done, readers, and thank you for sharing a world view that reminds us why we love travel.

 Catharine Hamm , Travel editor

Maupiti, French Polynesia

Wong, a 20-year-old biology major at UCLA, spent much of her summer volunteering at a hospital in Samoa. But she also left time for French Polynesia and took a boatload of camera gear. When she reached the peak of Maupitis 1,250-foot Mt. Teurafaatiu, she was ready with her Canon EOS Rebel T5i, a remote trigger and a tripod, which she tied to a pole to resist the wind. It was one of those moments where you feel quite insignificant and humbled, blessed and exhilarated, amazed and appreciative, all at the same time, Wong wrote.

(Karen Share)

Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Who knew crocodiles and caimans secrete tears that contain minerals that butterflies need? Share knows now. She took this picture July 2, using a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 400mm lens and a 1.4 x extender as she sat in a bobbing boat. To keep the image sharp, she shot at 1/1600th of a second, ISO 1250.

(Rebecca Griffiths)

Havana, Cuba

Griffiths was walking in Havana on July 1 when she came across this foursome. My husband is Jamaican, so I'm familiar with how seriously Caribbean men take their games of domino, she wrote later in an email. She grabbed three shots with her iPhone 7 Plus . She didnt notice the three empty bottles of rum until later.

(Kenley Tiesmeyer)

Costa Mesa

Sometimes all you need to do is look up  especially if youre at the fair. Tiesmeyer saw this opportunity on July 15 on her first visit to the OC Fair. She shot it with her iPhone 6.

(Christine Pence)

Valdez, Alaska

Pence spent a week in and around Valdez and came home with a lot of bear pictures. The take on July 20 looked different from the others. These two yearling grizzly bears were playing with ocean junk near the waters edge, ignoring their mother's call to leave, Pence recalled. They were so absorbed in playing that they were unaware of Pence and others, snapping pictures from a nearby roadside. She used a Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 camera.

(Mary Kaye Ashkenaze)

Cuzco, Peru

Ashkenaze was in a church balcony on June 9 when she spotted this mother feeding her child. At the same time, the child was feeding greens to the alpaca. She got the shot with her Nikon Coolpix B700.

(Kevin Foley)

Cappadocia, Turkey

Foley rose before dawn on July 26 and boarded a basket under a big balloon with about 10 other thrill seekers. Soon they were dangling over Cappadocia, which looked like another planet. There were dozens of other balloons in the sky too, but Foley turned his Canon M5 Mirrorless camera away from most of the others and toward the sun. Thats when he got this shot. The ride lasted about an hour and cost about $100. And then they broke open some Champagne for us, said Foley. It wasnt bad to do that all before 6:30 in the morning.

(David Leroi)

Banff National Park, Canada

June 24 was a great day on Bow Lake in Banff National Park, with scattered clouds, calm water and snowy slopes. Leroi was there on his way to a hike with friends. But first he stopped to seize the windless moment  a classic mirror shot  with his phone, a Samsung Galaxy S5 . By the time his hike was done, Leroi recalled, the wind was up again and the mirror just a lake.

(Avery Walsh)

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Walsh was on her way to the Saturday market the morning of Aug. 12 when a man appeared down the block, his upper body buried beneath a load of colorful flowers. So she stalked him. Politely. And eventually he stepped into good light and away from cars and people. Thats when she snapped her iPhone 7.

(Matt Cohen) (Matthew E.Cohen /)

Provence, France

It was nearly sunset on June 29 when Cohen saw this opportunity in the lavender fields of Provence. Hed been shooting for about half an hour, thinking of Van Gogh and all the other Impressionist painters who had worked in settings like this, when the clouds opened and the low sun illuminated the side of the farmhouse. A visual feast, he wrote.

(Mike McDonnell)

Inle Lake, Myanmar

The morning showers had just stopped. McDonnell was making his way along a bridge over Inle Lake, shooting lily pads with his Canon and a long lens. Suddenly a farmer, steering his slender teak boat, appeared beneath me, he wrote in an email. McDonnell decided he didnt have time to dig a different lens out of his camera bag. He grabbed his iPhone and caught the boat and boatman just before they vanished under the bridge.

(Kevin Roland)

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Calif.

When the sky gets interesting, Roland and his wife, Ellen, like to hit the road and do night photography. On July 22 with the Milky Way on display, they headed for the Alabama Hills. To get this picture of the stars, Mobius Arch and a young couple, Roland made a 20-second exposure with his Nikon D500, using a 14-24mm lens.

(Connie Frank)

Okavango Delta, Botswana

Frank has been on four African safaris. But on June 2, tracking a cheetah, she saw something new. The animal jumped onto a termite mound, first facing away, then toward Frank. She snapped, hoping to catch the the serious look on [its] face searching for prey. She was using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25 pocket camera with a 20x zoom. Frank estimates she was 30 to 40 feet from the cheetah.

(Claudia Owens Shields)

Sonoma County

It was July 24. Shields and her daughter, Imani Sara, age 14, were enjoying the bluff-top views of Carmet Beach just north of Bodega Bay. Imani, a gymnast, handed her iPhone 5 to her mom, asked for a picture and executed a grand jete. Mom shot a burst of pictures, including this one.

(Julie Means) (Julie Means / Julie Means)

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Means spent 12 days in the Caribbean this summer, including a stay at Renaissances La Concha Resort on San Juans Condado Beach. She loved watching the morning ritual where staffers dragged lounge chairs out to the beach. On Aug. 28, Means pulled out her iPhone 6 and snapped an eerie shot  just one  of the chairs and the tracks in the sand, no workers or guests in sight.

We didnt receive too many videos, but here is one our photo editors enjoyed:

Santa Cruz, Oaxaca

Shot on Sept. 4 with an iPhone 7 Plus
A woman who attacked four women from the United States with acid in Marseille, France, on Sunday did not appear to have ties to terror organizations, authorities said.

The attacker, who sprayed acid at passersby near the citys Saint Charles rail station, seemed unbalanced and was not targeting anyone in particular, authorities said.

Police said the suspect, who was arrested, made no threats or declarations during the attack and there was no evidence it was terror-linked.

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Of the four women who were attacked and taken to the hospital, two were injured in the face, with one reportedly suffering an eye injury, and two were treated for shock. Their identities were not immediately available.

Marseille public prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux told reporters about the victims injuries.

One of the women has hazy vision but the injuries are superficial and not irreversible, Tarabeux told France 3 television.

The four victims were reportedly studying in Paris and were visiting Marseille for the weekend. They were at the station on their way back to the French capital when they were attacked at about 11 a.m.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutors office said the suspect was known for robberies and had received psychiatric treatment. Her name was not released Sunday.

The woman told arresting police: I just lost it and told law enforcement officers she had been the victim of an acid attack and wanted others to suffer as she had, according to France 3 television and La Provence newspaper.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Paris said French authorities were keeping its consulate in Marseille informed on the progress of the investigation and the condition of the victims.

The port city of Marseille is on Frances Mediterranean coast. Last month, a driver rammed into people waiting at two city bus stops, killing a woman; police said the driver was suffering psychological problems and had no terror links.

Sundays attack came as a second suspect was arrested in Britain following an explosion on the London subway during morning rush-hour Friday. British home secretary Amber Rudd said police had made good progress in their investigation into the attack and announced the U.K. threat level was reduced from critical to severe.

Severe still means that an attack is highly likely, so I would urge everybody to continue to be vigilant but not alarmed, Rudd said.

An explosive device went off partially in a subway car at a west London station on Friday morning, injuring 29 people. Police said the homemade bomb, placed in a plastic bucket and bag, had failed to explode properly.

An 18-year-old man was arrested in the departure area of the ferry port of Dover, where boats leave for France, on Saturday morning. A second suspect, 21, was arrested in London late Saturday.

On Sunday morning, a British Airways aircraft was evacuated at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris for security reasons. Passengers were told a direct threat had been made against the plane.

The aircraft took off several hours later for London after passengers and luggage were removed from the aircraft and checked.

Willsher is a special correspondent.

UPDATES:

12:55 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with Times reporting.

This article was originally published at 9:35 a.m.
Its been two years since the United Nations adopted 17 goals aimed at fighting poverty and inequality, protecting the environment and fostering peace.

The target year for achieving those goals is 2030, but thats little time, given the scope of the agenda, and experts note formidable obstacles stand in the way of achieving these sustainable development goals, or SDGs.

We had the SDG agreements in 2015. Everybody felt very good, said Homi Kharas, co-director in the global economy and development program at the Brookings Institution.

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But while there was progress in 2016 and 2017, there also was some regression, Kharas said. The pace is not fast enough to achieve the SDGs. I feel that we are coasting somewhat, he said.

Among other things, the 17 goals call for advances in education, wages, gender equality and human rights.

The SDGs are very ambitious, said Kal Raustiala, a law professor and director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. One of the criticisms is that there are so many goals  with everything being a priority and therefore arguably nothing being a priority. So implementing them in full is hard to imagine.

When the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday begins discussions known as the General Debate, the subjects contained in the 17 goals will be among the issues that take center stage. Indeed, the debate theme is Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet.

A man carries a bag of food delivered by the United States Agency for International Development to a refugee camp in Bossangoa in the Central African Republic in 2013. (Fred Dufour / AFP/Getty Images)

Addressing the opening of the General Assembly on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged the need to maintain momentum to achieve the goals.

People around the world are rightly demanding change and looking for governments and institutions to deliver, Guterres said. We all agree that the United Nations must do even more to adapt and deliver.

Some of the goals are more challenging than others.

Refugees on the move

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, there are more than 65.6 million displaced people worldwide and about 22.5 million refugees, far surpassing the numbers after World War II.

Migration is an enormously difficult issue because the source of migration is so different, Kharas said.

It can be driven by conflict, economic opportunity and environmental stress, among other factors, Kharas said.

When you look at all of that, its extremely daunting, Raustiala said. And then on top of it, at this particular political moment, there is so much antipathy toward immigration of any kind, let alone refugees in particular.

Iraqis line up behind a fence at the Hassan Sham camp for internally displaced people, 20 miles east of Mosul, in June 2017. (Mohamed El-Shahed / AFP/Getty Images)

The Trump administration wants reduce the number of permanent, legal migrants allowed into the U.S. each year and cap the number of refugees admitted each year to 50,000, down from a recent Obama administration level of 110,000. Migrants and refugees are also facing an increasingly hostile reception in Europe. In August, police used water cannons and batons against refugee squatters in Rome, and thousands of migrants have been languishing in an overcrowded camp in Greece for nearly two years.

Experts said many wealthy nations were not pulling their weight, leaving the burden of hosting most of the worlds refugees to just a few much poorer nations.

A Hungarian soldier patrols at the transit zone at Hungarys southern border with Serbia in September 2016. (Sandor Ujvari / Associated Press)

Millions go hungry

Global hunger is again on the rise, affecting about 815 million people  or 11% of the worlds population  in 2016, according to a U.N. report on food security released Friday. The statistic marks an increase of 38 million more hungry people on the planet since 2015.

The increase in hunger is largely due to a proliferation of violent conflicts and climate shocks, such as severe drought and flooding, the U.N. reported. This has led to mass displacement and the destruction of crops.

Experts said most hungry people dont have the resources to grow or buy food. According to a July report from the U.N. secretary-general, poverty has steadily declined but remains high and most pervasive in the least developed countries, with 51% of their total population, around 400 million people, still living in extreme poverty in 2016.

A doctor attends to a malnourished child in 2015 at a refugee camp in Yola, Nigeria. (Sunday Alamba / Associated Press)

Health and education out of reach

According to the U.N. secretary-generals report, despite progress in narrowing the gap between rich and poor countries, significant health inequities remain across countries and regions. For example, on average, people in high-income countries live to be 80 years old, compared with those in low-income countries who live to be 61.

The range of the mortality rate for children under 5 is staggering  from 150 deaths per 1,000 live births in the Central African Republic to 4 deaths per 1,000 in Luxembourg, according to the U.N.

Education, meanwhile, remains out of the reach for millions of children worldwide.

Despite impressive increases in the enrollment of girls in school and a closing of the gender gap in primary school enrollment, gender disparities in access to education  particularly in upper secondary school education  persist in some regions, according to U.N. The agency reported that about 28 million young and adolescent girls remain out of school in sub-Saharan Africa, for example.

Education is a sector where there is almost universal consensus that it is the key linchpin for achievement of almost all of the other goals, whether youre talking about peace, or jobs, or even health, or poverty, or livable cities, or environmental awareness, Kharas said. Even so, in the world of development assistance, education remains one of the least well-funded sectors, he said.

Advancements in education have also fallen victim to conflict. For example, in Syria an estimated 1.75 million children are out of school and most are up to six years behind in their reading and math skills, according to a report published in March by the International Rescue Committee.

To successfully implement the sustainable development agenda the U.N. needs money.

But one of the big question marks continues to be funding, both for the U.N. and for development investment more generally, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development and an expert in humanitarian response.

Youre seeing some of the U.N.s major donors, particularly the U.S. and the U.K., expressing a lot skepticism toward U.N. funding than weve seen in the past.

The Trump administrations initial aid budget put forward last spring would entail substantial cuts to U.N. aid programming and peacekeeping, among other areas.

President Trump was expected to host a meeting of global leaders on Monday to address the issue of U.N. reform and streamlining of funding for the organization, before formally addressing the world body on Tuesday.

Aid experts said the United States scaling back of its traditional support for U.N. funded programs, such as combating violence against women and ensuring access to reproductive health, could stymie progress.

As Konyndyk put it, When the U.S. refuses to support the U.N., that makes that goal harder to achieve.

ann.simmons@latimes.com

For more on global development news, see our Global Development Watch page, and follow me @AMSimmons1 on Twitter
A U.S.-backed force in Syria said a Russian airstrike wounded six of its fighters Saturday near the eastern city of Dair Alzour, while in southeastern Syria, government troops and their Iran-backed allies began a new offensive to capture areas along the Iraqi border under the cover of Russian airstrikes.

The command of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement that Saturdays air raid occurred on the eastern side of the Euphrates River in the industrial area that was recently liberated from the militant group Islamic State.

The U.S. military said in a statement that Russian forces struck a target east of the Euphrates River near Dair Alzour, causing injuries to U.S.-led coalition partner forces.

Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisors, the statement said, adding that the wounded fighters received medical care after the strike.

It said that multinational coalition troops advising and assisting the Syrian Democratic Forces were present but not wounded as a result of the Russian strike.

Coalition officials are available and the de-confliction line with Russia is open 24 hours per day, said coalition commander Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II.

We put our full efforts into preventing unnecessary escalation among forces that consider ISIS as our common enemy, he said, referring to Islamic State by an acronym.

The coalition and its partners remain committed to the defeat of ISIS and continued de-confliction with Russian officials, the statement said. Coalition forces and partners always retain the right of self-defense.

Syrian Democratic Forces fighters have been advancing against Islamic State militants on the east bank of the Euphrates while Syrian government forces and their allies are pushing on the western side against the extremists.

The march by the Syrian Democratic Forces aims to prevent Syrian troops and their allies from expanding their presence along the border with Iraq.

The air raid came as Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies began a new offensive dubbed Fajr 3", or Dawn 3, that aims to capture areas along the border with Iraq in southeastern Syria under the cover of Russian airstrikes, according to a statement by the commander of Iran-backed fighters.

The statement of the unnamed commander was released on media arms of Lebanons militant Hezbollah group that is a main force fighting alongside Syrian troops.

The commander said Syrian troops, along with fighters from Hezbollah, Afghanistans Fatemiyoun, Pakistans Zeinabiyoun and Iran will take part in the offensive that aims to reach the Syrian border town of Bukamal, a key stronghold of the extremists.

The aim is to clear this wide and strategic area from the filth of Daesh fighters, the commander said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The eventual capture of the area all the way to Bukamal would boost Irans influence in the region, which has succeeded in opening a narrow corridor linking areas controlled by its allies in Iraq and Syria all the way to the Mediterranean.

Washington has been determined to block the formation of an Iranian corridor  of Shiite-controlled land stretching from Tehran to Damascus  and has sped up the push by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Dair Alzour to try to block the road against Iran and its allies.

The announcement about the offensive in Syria came hours after an Iraqi military commander said troops have launched a multi-pronged operation to capture a town near the Syrian border from Islamic State.

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah said the operation to retake Akashat aims to secure part of the border and the area north of the vital highway that links Baghdad to neighboring Jordan and Syria.

Akashat is a small town west of Anbar province located south of the Islamic State-held, strategic Iraqi towns of Qaim, Rawah and Anah.
Sharon Coldren, standing on the balcony of the Coral Bay Community Council building, raised a megaphone to give a warning to about 100 of her fellow islanders.

There are tropical storms on the way that could become hurricanes, she said to a crowd gathered Saturday outside the town hall. Evacuate, she said. Their last chance to leave their island of St. John would probably be a free ferry the next day to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Even members of the military deployed to aid disaster relief were withdrawing from St. John ahead of the storm to avoid being stranded. The entire island was still largely without power, running water and phone service. Gasoline was being rationed by the National Park Service.

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We dont know what kind of help were getting from the government, Coldren said after the meeting, and acknowledged that many islanders wouldnt flee, even the elderly and infirm who had lost homes to Hurricane Irma.

Irma killed dozens of people in the Caribbean. Some are also still missing, including at least one captain in Coral Bay who attempted to ride out the storm on his boat. Yet many here feel their plight was ignored after the storm reached Florida, their experience as Americans forgotten, as if landfall here didnt count.

Among the three Virgin Islands that President Trump plans to visit, St. Croix was largely spared by Irma. Portions of St. Thomas and St. John were devastated. Then came Tropical Storm Jose, which was still dumping rain on the islands Friday.

The smallest of the islands, St. John is just 5 miles wide and 9 miles long, and its 5,000 residents have a reputation for friendliness, which explains the islands nickname of Love City.

After surviving Irma, the strongest storm to hit the region in their lifetimes, and living for a week without access to the outside world  including weather reports  many of the 3,000 who remained wondered where they could run that would feel safer than home.

Coldren couldnt give them any information about the latest marine weather forecasts  emergency managers were not providing them to her, and she didnt have cellphone or Internet access.

Our tarps are not up. I dont know whos going to put them up. I want it done before the storm. But how much more ruined can a ruin get? she said as residents vied for her attention, asking about weather reports, emergency generators and water pumps.

In the British Virgin Islands, a few miles away, officials had several cellphone networks running, and residents praised the government response. Here Federal Emergency Management Agency managers were absent, Coldren said, though they had contacted her.

Her own home had the roof peeled off. Her boat was destroyed. Shes president of the community council, and theres too much to do.

Coldren hoped the military withdrawal would not include military police, who had restored order after days of looting following the recent storm.

Elliot Hooper, 64, lost the mast on his boat, but he says he will stay in Coral Bay on St. John. ((Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) )

A group of looters confronted Coral Bay denizen Elliot Hooper, 64, when he tried to stop them from stealing T-shirts he had saved from the storm at his store, Tall Ship Trading.

Hooper said he brandished a machete and shouted, Ive been here 30 years, and youre going to take my T-shirts?

Then he stepped on a nail, and also realized there were about 10 men in the group, some probably with guns. So he retreated to his damaged black-and-white schooner, Silver Cloud, built in 1899.

He lost his business and home, neither of which were insured. He felt betrayed by the young men who stole from him. But he would not evacuate.

This is my island, Hooper said. He pointed to a couple of dozen boats Irma had cast into the shallows among a twist of mangrove roots, bashed and broken.

Each one of those is a friend, he said.

Captain Karl Pytlik, 42, hiked back across the island after evacuating with his wife and two sons, ages 4 and 2, before Irma. He wanted to check on his pets, home and business.

His house was destroyed. But what really moved him was seeing the snapped masts on Hoopers vintage sailboat.

I saw Silver Cloud, and I lost it, he said.

Pytliks charter boat survived, along with at least one of the familys three cats, Noah, who rode out the storm in a mattress box spring.

Pytlik had no plans to evacuate.

Neither did Sloop Jones, 69, a local artist who sheltered in a neighbors compound after his home and rental studio were ripped apart.

Sloop Jones, and his partner Charlotte Seashore, left, plan to stay and rebuild no matter what. ((Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) )

The studio roof and tile floor were wet but sound, he said as he inspected them Saturday. Three guests had already canceled, but he hoped to have the place repaired by December. He and his partner, Charlotte Seashore, had cleared the road themselves of downed power lines, telephone poles and other debris. The tamarind trees, banana palms and bamboo grove would grow back.

Then the sky unleashed a torrent of rain, and the roof began leaking. It was as if he were standing outside. He grabbed some pillows and stuck them in a dry corner of a closet, then spread his arms wide in frustration before exclaiming to the skies: Just stop!

It was a sentiment shared by those gathered at the emergency management office across the island near Cruz Bay, where a work crew was racing to replace the roof before the next storms. They still didnt have power or phone service either, said Abigail Hendricks, who was in charge of feeding and sheltering those displaced by the storm.

Her neighbors had considered evacuating, but worried about getting stranded in Puerto Rico. One-way ticket prices to the U.S. from there during the next few days had reached $1,500.

Hendricks had no plans to leave. If the island goes down, we are going down with it, she said.

Neighbor Adele Thomas wasnt leaving either. She already ran for her life once, during Irma.

Adele Thomas, right, is grateful that her family survived Hurricane Irma after it roared through her house ripping the roof off and destorying all the contents. ((Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) )

When Thomas and her children went outside to reach a windowless cellar under their house, they were confronted by a small white whirling tornado.

All I saw was light, this bright light, like those stories they tell about when you are about to die, she said.

They got inside the cellar, but the wind pushed in the door. Thomas barricaded it with a freezer. The wind tossed that aside. She propped a spare door against it. That held.

In the same hillside neighborhood known as Contant, educator Ditra Powell, 26, cradled her 3-year-old son, Nemoi Williams. She had given him his tablet computer, keyed up his favorite alphabet game, plugged in his earbuds and draped a towel over his head. She was determined that he survive untraumatized.

At first, it worked. Nemoi was calm, unaware of the storm raging outside. Then as he sat relaxed in her lap, she watched the storm rip their roof off.

All I could do was drop to the floor, she said.

She froze. She didnt think she had time to get to her Jeep outside, or even under the nearby coffee table. Then she heard a neighbor knocking, and fled with her son out the back door.

On an island with a long history, residents mourned the destruction of landmarks almost as much as their own homes  in some cases, more.

General contractor Dan Boyd, 59, lost his house in the storm, but he didnt get choked up until he saw that the roof had been ripped off the historic Governors Mansion, a whitewashed beacon at the mouth of Cruz Bay.

Walking past the building, he stopped to greet local Virgin Islands Sen. Brian Smith.

What got to Smith, 52, wasnt the damage to the mansion, but rather outside.

He pointed to what was once a row of 10 coconut palms that had withstood hurricanes during the past 50 years, bending in the wind like resilient islanders. Irma swept away all but two.

Military helicopters buzzed overhead, ferrying in supplies in from St. Croix. A local restaurant, the Longboard, was working with the American Red Cross to serve 1,000 meals a day. Police were enforcing a curfew from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m., the town largely dark and humming with generators.

The coming storms would delay further aid. The recovery would only be slowed if more military forces arrived now, said Clay Covel, a former Marine at the incident command center in Cruz Bay working with the Charleston-based nonprofit Global Dirt, who also responded in Houston after Hurricane Harvey last month and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. As much as we want the extra military and assets, if all their supplies get destroyed, you have more mouths to feed after the new storms, he said.

In Coral Bay, on St. John, many of the residents are semi-retired, some of them exhausted from the events surrounding Hurricane Irma. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

Order was being imposed on the chaos left in Irmas wake. But for islanders accustomed to a casual sort of disorder, that, too, was disconcerting.

We hate schedules but we love routines, and this is the opposite of that, said Boyds partner, Fiona Powell, 41, a freelance editor.

Former island residents have come back to help, some from as far as California.

Raised on St. John, Mia Dixon, 28, returned Friday from San Diego with donations gathered at the charter school where she works: everything from chainsaws to baby formula. Her father had lost his home, but he, too, was staying to help. All he asked her to bring him were clean socks and wet wipes.

As the volunteer boat ferrying Dixon and a former elementary school classmate reached Cruz Bay in the rain Friday, they spotted the ghostly outline of Governors Mansion and what was left of the waterfront: the skeletons of broken ships washed up on shore, others upended and floating like corpses.

But Boyd the contractor saw something else. Beyond the broken boats, past the mansion with its missing roof at the downtown park where 100-year-old mahogany trees had been stripped bare, a few West Indian almond trees had survived. And they were budding.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Twitter: @mollyhf

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Demanding that the government allow them to collect and sell wood from the nearby forest, some 500 Haghartzin resident closed the Ijevan-Yerevan highway for two and a half hours today before dispersing.

Residents also demanded that the government decrease the state fee to sell wood.

They told reporters that even though the government had decreased the fee from 10,800 AMD to 5,400 two days ago, the decision hadnt been implemented and that they have been banned from transferring wood from the forest.

Scuffles broke out between protesters and police who arrived on the scene led by Samvel Hovhannisyan, Armenias Deputy Chief of Police.

Hovhannisyan pleaded with protesters to leave on their own accord, noting that today was a religious holiday (Feast of the Holy Cross) and that tomorrow was a day when people visited the graves of their loved ones.

People will be visiting gravesites. Let them pass. I promise that on Tuesday, you can meet with anyone you wish, Hovhannisyan told the crowd.

After lengthy negotiations, the protesters dispersed.
People aged 50 and over in Leitrim are encouraged to participate in this years Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Awareness campaign by availing of a free AMD test in late September.

Now in its 10th year, AMD Awareness Week aims to raise awareness of the condition and encourage the public get their eyes tested for AMD regularly.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of sight loss in Ireland  almost 100,000 people throughout the country have AMD1, with 7,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the over 50 population.

The symptoms of AMD often go unrecognised so it is crucial that the public, especially those aged 50 and over, get their eyes tested regularly. AMD affects the macula at the back of the eye, which is responsible for central vision and allows you to see detail.

AMD Awareness Week is supported by the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), Fighting Blindness, the Irish College of Ophthalmologists (ICO) and the Association of Optometrists Ireland (AOI), together with Novartis.

Those who wish to avail of a free AMD test in Leitrim can visit one of the participating optometrist stores in Leitrim between September 25th  30th. Please call ahead to avoid disappointment.

Locally McPartlan Opticians, Castlequay House, Carrick-on-Shannon and McPartlan Opticians, New Line, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim are taking part.

Please visit www.AMD.ie for more information.
By Lawrence Marzouk and Ivan Angelovski

German authorities will launch an investigation into media reports claiming the US flew weapons for Syrian rebels through the Ramstein air base behind Germanys back.

The move came after the investigative journalists from the OCCRP, BIRN, and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung published fresh information linking the US air-base Ramstein in Germany to Pentagons huge operation to buy up vast quantities of Soviet-style weapons in Central and Eastern Europe and sending them to Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State in Syria.

The investgation revealed earlier this week how the Pentagon re-routed its weapons supply-line to Syria after officials in Berlin became concerned at the surge in arms being transferred through US bases in Germany.

The public prosecutor in Kaiserslautern - the closest city to the US Ramstein base - said Thursday, his office will check whether the US military failed to properly declare the movement of weapons from Central and Eastern Europe through Ramstein.

The prosecutor will determine if there is sufficient evidence of a criminal offence which would then call for a more extensive investigation.

The German government insists it had no knowledge of the movement of weapons to Syria.

German laws say that licences to transport weapons must be accompanied by end user certificates which state the final destination of the shipment as well as who will be using the equipment.

According to the German government, no licences have been issued for deliveries to Syria or neighbouring countries since 2010.

However, press reports in Serbia claimed already in December 2015 that a number of US air force C-17 cargo planes had delivered Serbian weapons to the Ramstein airbase.

A government spokesperson said at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday that he learned of this reading the Suddeutsche Zeitung.

However, there were ways to find out about this before.

A 2013 court case in California between the Pentagon and private sub-contractors who took part in the operation, revealed how Bulgarian weapons were due to be delivered by truck to Ramstein before their onward journey to an unnamed destination.

A Buzzfeed investigation linked the delivery to the CIAs burgeoning campaign to arm anti-Assad rebels at the time.

Germanys ignorance of deliveries to the Middle East is perhaps not a surprise as Pentagons end user certificates for weapons destined for Syria made no mention of the Middle Eastern country.

Reporters who inspected the certificates saw that they said the equipment would be used by the US government. They did, however, allow for the goods to be transferred to unspecified partner forces.

The Pentagon maintains it does not "store or transit" equipment bound for Syria through German bases but has repeatedly declined to say whether it did so before.

Ramstein air base in Germany (Photo: Kenny Holston, CC BY-SA 2.0)

occrp.org
The 30th MS Readathon has been launched with Felicity Dahl marking the milestone for the sponsored reading initiative, along with official proud sponsors, Heinz.

Felicitys late husband, Roald Dahl launched the first ever MS Readathon in 1988, beginning three decades of adventures in reading. More than 10,000 young readers in schools around the country took part last year, reading 87,000 books in total and raising funds for people with Multiple Sclerosis in their community.



Joining Felicity Dahl at the launch of the 30th MS Readathon was ambassador, Michelle Hanley, 27, from Cork who is living with MS, and her two children, Abbey and Alex. Multiple Sclerosis Ireland is inviting schools and home readers in County Leitrim to sign up for the 30th MS Readathon. The reading month will take place from October 13th to November 13th 2017. Please visit www.msreadathon.ie to find out more.



Felicity Dahl, speaking at the launch of the 30th MS Readathon: Roald once said, 'if you can learn to treat books as your friends when you are young, you will always be able to cope with the tougher [more serious] ones in later life.' Over the past 30 years, MS Readathon has encouraged children all across Ireland to make friends with books and the reading habit whilst raising funds for a highly worthwhile cause. Roald helped to launch the very first MS Readathon in Ireland and I am delighted to be following in his rather giant footsteps to help launch this years MS Readathon.



Some of Irelands leading authors and illustrators have also provided great support to the MS Readathon, including Sarah Webb, Cecelia Ahern, Nicola Pierce, Judi Curtin, Alan Early, Anna Carey, Roisin Meaney, Jon Berkeley, Oisin McGann, PJ Lynch, Matt Griffin, Sheila OFlanagan, Claudia Carroll, Marisa Mackle, and Pauline McLynn.



Cecelia Ahern, author, praised the initiative: MS Readathon has been so influential in encouraging children to read over the past thirty years. Reading is so important because it broadens our imaginations, and imagination is so important because it gives us the opportunity to envision new possibilities, charges our creativity, and enhances our life. It helps us to ask two very important words...what if? If were always asking then were always thinking in new ways.



The 30th MS Readathon encourages children to open a wonderful world of adventure and imagination through reading for a great cause.

Multiple Sclerosis Ireland is the only national services, information and advocacy organisation supporting people with MS and their families.

More than 9,000 people are living with MS in Ireland, with thousands more family members affected. Multiple Sclerosis, meaning many scars, is the most common neurological disease of young adults in Ireland. MS affects the motor, sensory and cognitive functioning of the body and is usually diagnosed between 20 and 40 years of age. There is currently no known cause or cure for the condition. MS symptoms include impaired mobility and vision, severe fatigue and cognitive difficulties. Three times more women than men are diagnosed with MS.



Funds raised by young readers around the country directly support vital services, for example the MS Ireland Information Line, enabling one-to-one support for those newly diagnosed, physiotherapy and exercise classes to help people with MS remain independent, and respite care.



To increase awareness about Multiple Sclerosis for young readers, MS Ireland introduced MS schools ambassadors. People living with MS visit their local schools and talk about the complexity of the condition and the nature of relapses, or attacks when MS symptoms flare up.



Young readers can get their reading lists ready by checking the 2017 lists on www.msreadathon.ie featuring great books for kids from the new to the classics.

For participating schools around the country, the 30th MS Readathon will provide:

-Information leaflets, stickers and posters for each class

- A reading certificate for each participant

- Many fantastic rewards and prize draws

- Up to 10% of funds raised by each participating school may go towards the individual school

To get involved with the 30th MS Readathon 2017: visit:www.msreadathon.ie or email:read@msreadathon.ie


Now is an important time to watch out for invasive alien plant species on farms. This was the message from the Teagasc Invasive Alien Species Working Group.

The purpose of this newly formed Group is to create awareness and promote relevant information to the agriculture industry.

The Group brings together expertise from Teagasc, the National Biodiversity Data Centre, government departments, farming representatives, Coillte and industry stakeholders.

While we do not have all the answers, there is a lot of information available about what to do, and more importantly, what not to do, according to Catherine Keena, Teagasc Countryside Management Specialist.

With the start of the hedge cutting season in September, Catherine calls on farmers and contractors to watch out for Japanese Knotweed, currently one of the most widespread invasive alien species in Ireland.

This is what a new shoot of Japanese Knotweed looks like.

The advice is not to cut, mow, strim or disturb this plant. The optimum time to control Japanese Knotweed with the herbicide glyphosate is when the plant has flowered.

It is vitally important to seek professional advice and always follow product label requirements before embarking on control as improper treatment can make the problem worse. Control leading to eradication is likely to take several years.

Colette OFlynn from the National Biodiversity Data Centre says Invasive Alien Plant Species are non-native species that have been introduced into Ireland by human intervention with serious consequences for our farms and wildlife as they can cause damage to our environment, economy and human health.

The annual cost to Ireland of invasive and non-native species is estimated at 261 million.
Here is Jo Swinsons speech to Conference.

Let me take you back to a rainy Saturday morning, 28 years ago. Im doing what many 9-year-olds do on a Saturday morning, watching TV. Its a childrens programme called Going Live, presented by Philip Schofield  some of you might even remember it, and depending on your age, nostalically feel it was no match for Swap Shop or Saturday Superstore.

That particular mornings show sticks in my mind because in amongst Gordon the Gopher, kids cartoons, and celebrities getting gunged, there was an amazing competition. The prize was to win a piece of the Berlin Wall, recently torn down in one of the most pivotal moments of 20th century history.

It was pretty obviously in an entirely different league to the usual phone-ins to win toys, or CDs, or tickets to concerts. I didnt win the competition, but later on my dad visited Berlin and brought me back a little piece of that history.

I think its fair to say that as a child, apart from one Christmas watching the animated film When the Wind Blows, I hadnt given much thought to nuclear war. But the cloud had hung threateningly over the world, at times perilously close to disaster on an unimaginable scale.

Thanks to the diplomacy, courage and political leadership which led to the end of the Cold War, we have enjoyed three decades with much reduced levels of nuclear threat, until now.

The provocative and aggressive actions of North Korea are stoking fear. This is a regime that is prepared to enslave, torture and starve its own people. The UN inquiry was harrowing.

One former prisoner told of being made to burn the bodies of fellow inmates who had starved to death, and then use their remains as fertiliser. Another spoke of seeing a mother forced by guards to drown her newborn baby. A dictatorship showing such unimaginable cruelty to own population, cannot be relied upon to act rationally and step back from nuclear confrontation to protect them.

Some of you are old enough to have survived the Blitz: the sirens, the air-raid shelters, hiding and huddling with family members until the danger passed. What do you tell your children as you run for cover? What were you told?

Now imagine being in Japan in recent weeks, as the news broke that North Korean missiles were on their way. A country where people can still remember the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A country that has endured decades of fallout from those deadly mushroom clouds. What did they tell their children as they prepared for the worst?

When calm heads and brave leaders are needed more than ever, global politics seems broken. A few years ago it would have seemed inconceivable that in such a crisis, China would be a voice of reason, and Russia more measured than America. The politics of the bully is back.

Human rights are trampled. Climate change is denied. Hate and division are spread like poison into society.

Just look at Turkey, until recently a democratic, reliable neighbour. A signed-up member of the European Convention on Human Rights, and in the process of becoming a member of the European Union. But now President Erdowan is cracking down on anyone who challenges him. More than 150 journalists have been imprisoned. The Chair and Director of Amnesty International have been rounded up and face trumped up charges.

In Venezuela, protestors against Maduros power-grabbing Executive have been attacked, imprisoned, and tortured. It reminds us that neither side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on undermining democracy and abusing human rights. And it beggars belief that Jeremy Corbyn would rather defend a tenuous link to socialism than condemn these atrocities.

In Myanmar, we are witnessing the appalling ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya by the military led by General Min Aung Hlaing. This religious and ethnic oppression serves as a recruiting sergeant for jihadi groups across the world.

And in Chechnya, back in 2010, I saw for myself the impact of Russias disregard for human rights, giving Kadyrov free rein to oppress the population. People told me about house burnings and how the state would make people disappear. Ill never forget the distraught mother who pressed a photograph of her missing son into my palm. Missing, presumed executed by the state.

In recent weeks, we have seen the terrible power of nature.Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have left a trail of flattened communities and broken lives.20 years ago, Harvey would have been a 1 in a 2000 year event.Yet Irma followed immediately after, wreaking destruction with record-breaking winds.

In South Asia, 41 million people are battling floods and displacement, which destroy lives and livelihoods.

Climate scientists predict that global warming will have reached over 2 degrees by 2050  far beyond the 1.5 degrees safe limit set in the global climate change deal, the Paris Agreement. 2 degrees of warming will ruin crop production in many parts of the world, leading to disease, malnutrition, and rising food prices.

It is hard to communicate the absolutely urgency of this situation. We must act now to prepare and adapt for the warming that is now inevitable.

And we must radically cut carbon emissions to have any hope of limiting the temperature rise to levels which humanity as we know it can survive.

Just two years ago, world leaders gathered in Paris and committed to an ambitious plan to tackle global warming. Now we face the withdrawal of the worlds largest economy from the agreement, while Brexit threatens to weaken action on climate change in the UK and across Europe.

Every time the world witnesses crimes against humanity, every time there is ethnic cleansing, or genocide, we solemnly say Never Again.

And we struggle to comprehend, how such horrors unfold. Not just how brutal megalomaniac dictators can order atrocities, but perhaps more how ordinary people in the population can comply. Violent threats are part of the reason, but planning such evil acts also requires another ingredient: hate.

The politics of the bully rely on hate and division.

And we should be very worried about the spread of hate in both our online and offline worlds.

We need to talk about racism and religious bigotry.

For people with brown skin, being abused in the street is a depressing reality.

Levels of anti-Semitic abuse are at a record high.

A tirade of bile is directed at migrants fleeing war-torn countries, the language of swarms and cockroaches dehumanising these desperate people with heart-breaking stories.

Some of this is fed by the elite cabal of media owners and their hate-filled newspapers. Online communities spreading lies and misinformation have flourished. Russia has a sinister army of social media bots spreading division, and it looks like theyve even branched out into paying people to be internet trolls.

The footage of Charlottesville was incomprehensible to watch. Just seventy years after the Second World War, white supremacists marching through streets carrying Swastika flags. And the US President draws some kind of moral equivalence between Nazis who kill a woman and people taking to the streets saying theres no place for that hate. Dont be fooled if you think this is only in America. Just look at the murder of Jo Cox.

The thing is, all of these hate groups, these extremists  they feed off each other. They seek to pervert

cultural, ethnic and religious identities and turn one against another. ISIS is no more representative of Islam than the KKK are of Christianity. They use each other as recruitment tools. We cannot end one without tackling them all.

I know you shared my despair on 24 June last year, as the news sank in that we had voted to leave the European Union. I was completely gutted. Dismayed to be leaving the EU institutions, yes, but distraught at what it said about our country, our values, our vision.

I was altogether more optimistic on the 8th November. The polls were looking good and, eagerly anticipating a momentous night, I popped into the shop to buy some prosecco on the way home. I settled down on the sofa to watch the US Presidential results with an excitement that will be familiar to fellow election geeks, and with a feminist hope that was shared right across the world. As the night wore on, no amount of prosecco could have helped.

President Trump is a product of the anti-liberal forces we face. He is also their poster child.

Faced with rising nuclear tensions, we have a President who picks up his phone not to talk, but to tweet inflammatory rhetoric in capital letters.

A man who has made clear his own support for torture, and wants to ban all Muslims from entering the US, is in no position to advance the cause of human rights.

He puts climate change deniers into powerful positions, defunds environmental programmes and even tells scientists to remove mention of our warming climate from their government websites.

His conflicts of interest are legion, treating the Presidency like a marketing campaign for the Trump brand. And still not a sign of that tax return.

The Trump regime unleashes daily despair, enough to keep liberal America into a state of constant shock.

Trump is a bully, a misogynist and a racist. He boasts about sexually assaulting women. He cruelly mocked a reporter for his disability. He has rolled back trans rights. And for someone who makes much of being straight-talking, he wont call a Nazi a Nazi.

Yet the Conservative Government thinks it is right to offer Trump the honour of a state visit to the UK.

They are wrong.

It is also a sign of our weakness in a Brexit world. How easily will our values be cast aside in our desperation to sign trade deals to avoid economic catastrophe.

Barack Obama had a rug made for the Oval Office, with his favourite Martin Luther King quote woven into it. It says The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

Im afraid I am less optimistic, or less patient

As far as I can see, there is nothing inevitable about the triumph of liberal values.

We need to understand what is going on, so we can work out what to do.

The most fascinating research I saw on the Brexit vote was by a Birkbeck Professor, Eric Kaufmann.

He analysed a simple question:

Do you think its more important that children are considerate, or well-behaved?

Considerate, or well-behaved?

I read it and my first thought was as the mother of a 3 year old, frankly Id settle for either.

But amazingly, how people answer this question better predicts whether they voted for Brexit, than their income does.

Lets try it out. Conference, lets have a vote. Dont worry stewards, Im not going to make you count it, but I do want you to all to vote. Hands up if you think it is more important for children to be considerate?

Hands up for well-behaved?

It holds true for the Trump v Clinton voting patterns too.

The question is used as a fairly neutral way of assessing whether people tend towards respect for authority, or a more liberal approach, do they prefer things to be in order, controlled, or do they openly embrace change?

This is the culture clash that is playing out, in the UK, in other parts of Europe, in the US and beyond.

Politics feels broken. To me, to many in this room, and to many far beyond this conference hall.

We are absolutely right to fight for an exit from Brexit. Brexit will make it harder to follow our values, to protect human rights, to tackle climate change, to solve global problems.

An exit from Brexit is necessary, but not sufficient.

Because this culture clash continues.

And the populists stoke this tension. They do it deliberately. They talk in simple soundbites that scapegoat different groups. Its all someone elses fault.

As liberals we know this is nonsense. The Faragey Trumpy angry arsey shouty slogans arent a solution to anything.

But we do need to offer our own alternative solutions. And conference, I think we need to have the humility to admit that we havent found all the answers yet. And its blindingly obvious the other parties havent either. We need to be much more radical, both in what we propose and in how we craft it.

The basic deal  you work hard, you get on  feels broken for so many people. How are you supposed to support your family on the minimum wage? How do profitable companies get away with paying tiny amounts of tax? Why are so many people stuck in overcrowded housing, with no hope for change?

We need new, 21st century, liberal solutions to all of these problems and more. We need to get out of our own echo chamber and start bridging the divides in our communities. We need to bring people together to create the answers, leaving no room for the populists to sow their seeds of division.

We can do this.

In the Netherlands and in France this year the populists were defeated. In Canada we cheered Trudeaus Liberal victory.

Creating the bold vision we need is bigger than any single political party. Indeed its bigger than party politics itself. We need to reach out and collaborate across society, with thinkers, activists, the young and the old, faith groups, trade unions, entrepreneurs  and with all of you who want to change the world.

A considerate one. A fairer one. A loving one.

A liberal one.

This is our challenge. And we must rise to it.
Here is todays shameless plug for the events LDV is putting on or helping to run.

At 1pm in the Bayview 2 at the BIC, well be looking at the effect of Brexit on the Irish border and on Gibraltar. We have an incredibly illustrious panel. David Ford was until last year leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland and is a former Justice Minister. The Hon Joseph Garcia MP is the Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar. Im old enough to remember when the border between Gibraltar and Spain was closed. Being part of the EU sorted that out and Brexit casts a huge shadow over the daily lives of people on both sides of that border. Alistair Carmichael will be putting the partys view. And if that wasnt enough, we have scones. Lots of them. When we were thinking about refreshments, we thought they would be a bit different, but I thought it would just be a rather unimpressive plateful of miniature scones with a scraping of jam and cream. At our fringe last night, we had the most amazing spread. Large, warm fruit scones with huge bowlfuls of clotted cream and jam to help yourself to. They were utterly delicious and I didnt need any dinner after eating one and a half of them  which is lucky because I didnt have time to eat before the disco anyway. I apologise to those I have offended by doing the jam and cream this way round. Im from Scotland. You have to make allowances for these things. David Ford gave his perspective on the Irish border situation here.

Although some nationalists are suggesting that Northern Ireland should remain within the Customs Union while GB leaves (citing our vote for Remain), this would be at least as destabilising from a unionist perspective as border posts would be to nationalists, and would also create major difficulties for trade between the constituent parts of the UK. While there may well be a need for a special deal for Northern Ireland, that is not the same as special status. Despite the constitutional position, recent years have seen increasing integration of business and public services across the island of Ireland. Justice agencies work in partnership to fight terrorism and organised crime. We have a single energy market, significant cross-border supply chains (especially in agri-food), shared provision of acute hospital services. Business regulation is different in Northern Ireland from that in England, Wales and Scotland. All of that leads to the possibility that Northern Ireland could remain in the Single Market, even if the rest of the UK left. It would be a unique arrangement, but might be a way of squaring the circle.

The second event I want to bring to your attention is the Lib Dems 4 Seekers of Sanctuary event in the Branksome Suite of the BIC between 19:45 and 21:00.Professor Brad Blitz of the Migration Observatory in Malta and Professor Ruvi Ziegler, Associate Professor in international refugee law consider failed and successful models for refugee protection. Professor Ziegler wrote here about some of the issues.

Why do refugees arrive in European countries illegally? First and foremost, because absent humanitarian visas, they cannot arrive legally. In X and X v. Belgium, the ECJ held that Member States are not required, under EU law, to grant humanitarian visas to persons who wish to enter their territory in order to apply for asylum (though they remain free to do so based on their national law). The Christian family from Aleppo that was refused a humanitarian visa by the Belgian embassy in Beirut will need to find an (illegal) way to reach safety. Regrettably, the ECJ did not follow Advocate General Mengozzis compassionate interpretation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, contending that the right to asylum under the Charter must be effective. Worse still, an international carrier failing to check that a traveller holds a valid visa is liable to sanctions under EU law, so an airline would not fly an Eritrean to Rome without one. Did you ever ask yourself why you and I can pay less than 100 to cross the Mediterranean safely, but refugees pay smugglers thousands of pounds for a precarious crossing on a rubber dinghy?

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Heres your rundown of whats on in the hall today.

You can watch it all on the Autumn Conference Live Stream here and follow the #ldconf tag on Twitter. Keep an eye on the Liberal Democrat Facebook page, too, for some real treats.

09:00-09:10 Report, Federal Appeals Panel

09:10-10:00 Report, Parliamentary Parties  your chance to question MPs, our MEP and Lords about their activities

10:00-10:45 Policy Motion: Armed Forces personnel  Recruitment, retention and welfare

10:45-12:30 Policy Motion on Europe after Conference voted overwhelmingly (377-97) to suspend standing orders to do so. Vince pretty much made his speech in favour of the amendment at the rally last night.

12:30-12:50 Speech: Jo Swinson MP

12:50-14:10 Lunch

14:10-15:10 Vinces Q & A  a chance for members to question the leader.

15:10-15:30 Speech: Kirsty Williams. Our only remaining parliamentarian in Government

15:30-16:45 Policy motion: Safe building standards for all homes  important after the Grenfell tragedy.

16:45-18:00 Policy motion: Centenary of Balfour Declaration

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
A TYRE sales agent in Limerick city has reached a settlement of 515,089 with the Revenue following an audit of its financial affairs.

KC Tyre Centre (Limerick) Ltd with a registered address on Quinlan Street which is now in voluntary liquidation, received the biggest bill in Limerick for under-declaration of PAYE/PRSI/USC, VAT and corporation tax.

The total bill of 515,089 included tax of 285,417.15, interest of 46,911.99 and 182,760.36, the latest tax defaulters list shows. As of June 30, 309,370.74 remained unpaid from the total bill.

Executive Hire Chauffeur Drive Ltd, with an address at Ormonde House, Caher Road, Camheen, Mungret, reached a settlement of 68,692 following a Revenue audit for under-declaration of PAYE/PRSI/USC.

A catering service provider, Four Court Event Catering Ltd, with an address at Garnalina, Galbally, reached a settlement of 39,608 for under-declaration of corporation tax.

The three Limerick cases were among 58 cases, with the total settlement amounting to over 11 million.

Company director Greg Clohessy of Castleconnell received a fine of 1,250 for failure to lodge income tax returns.

Derek Josephs, of Castletroy, who runs an internet cafe, was also fined 1,250 for the same offence, while Gerard McNamara of Prospect was fined 1,500 for three charges.

Winnie Connors, of Clondrinagh Park, Ennis Road, was fined 2,500 for one charge of misuse of marked mineral oil.

John Daly, of Newcastle West, has also fined the same amount in this category, as was Barry Heffernan of Knocklong. Michael Mulcahy of Dooradoyle was fined 2,500 for cigarette smuggling.

The published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue audits and investigations. In the three month period to June 30, a total of 1,387 Revenue audit and investigations, together with 23,877 Risk Management Interventions (Aspect Queries & Profile Interviews), were settled, resulting in yield of 115.13 million in tax, interest, and penalties.
COUNCILLORS have given only a lukewarm reaction to a new proposal which could see older homeowners move from their own home into a local authority dwelling.

At a housing committee meeting, members were shown proposals to introduce a downsizing scheme for private owners of homes.

The scheme  already adopted in Cork and Dublin  would see people over the age of 60 years whose home exceeds their needs have their property bought in exchange for lifelong tenancy in a senior citizens dwelling.

The council presented plans after lobbying from the Older Persons Council, and would be open to people who the council feel are living in unfit accommodation, who need supported accommodation, or people who are not able to financially meet the cost of the upkeep of their current dwelling.

However, Cllr Lisa Marie Sheehy said the plans in their current form simply do not make sense.

They are giving away a larger house and getting a smaller one in return. Its not attractive at all to be honest. Can we make this more attractive for older people?

Seamus Hanrahan admitted the plans in their current form could do with some tweaking.

But he added: If we come up with a workable solution, we should advertise it.

Cllr Sheehy urged the senior citizens parliament and the Older Persons Council to be involved in the discussion locally.

Separately, it emerged at the council meeting this week that the local authority is putting in place hubs to help families living in hotels and bed and breakfasts.

Director of Service for Social Development Carmel Kirby revealed there are currently 65 families staying in local hotels due to the fact there is no suitable housing for them.

In an effort to help them be ready to return to permanent accommodation, the local authority is opening two facilities next month  one to house 10 families, the other 30.

These families are our real priority at the moment, said Ms Kirby.

What we are preparing for those is two family hubs. While they are not the ideal solution for families, they certainly provide a better solution than bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation.

She also revealed a third building which will help a further four families  the council is in the process of refurbishing.

After that, any vacant stock which comes up, we will actively and pro-actively get these units back into use, and this will help with the remaining families in this emergency homeless situation, Ms Kirby stated.

The council official said she is not in a position to state where in the city these units will be located.

Ms Kirby also announced two other measures to get the housing waiting list down  proposed modular homes and rapid build facilities to tackle the housing problem in the city and county.
THE controversial issue of a new swimming pool in Newcastle West moved up a gear this week with the publication of a new report commissioned by Limerick City and County Council.

The report looked at the impact, if any, a new pool would have on existing pools in the area, at Killeline, Askeaton and Charleville, and concluded that yes, there would be an impact.

A new pool could adversely affect business at the existing ones, the report concluded, or it might not get the required numbers needed to meet its own running costs because there were other pool choices.

The local committee which has been campaigning for a new pool at the Desmond Complex for many years, has described the findings as very disappointing.

We are disappointed but we are not deterred, Kate Cussen, liaison officer, said on behalf of the committee . We are now going to consider the contents of the report more fully.

Almost five years ago, the committee commissioned its own study which came down in favour of the Desmond Complex as the preferred site for a new, indoor 25m pool on land donated to the rear of the complex. The estimated cost was 5m.

However, following presentations offering different scenarios and a number of heated public meetings last year, the Newcastle West Municipal District decided to commission the impact study which has now reported.

Meanwhile however, Vincent McCormack, a co-owner of Killeline Leisure Centre where there is an 18m pool, has a very different vision. Our plan is to provide an upgraded public pool for Newcastle West at Killeline, he said.

We bought a two acre site for that. We changed the governing structure and we are now operating as a community enterprise.

We want the council to support the building of a pool in Killeline. And the model for that will be whatever the council decides is appropriate, he continued.

It is about expanding facilities and moving the ownership or the control of it to the public domain. We have already changed to being a not-for-profit organisation.

He envisaged the development at Killeline as taking place in stages, with the first step being a feasibility study on the site. The first step is to make sure it is technically feasible. We believe it is, he said. We are already looking for funding for a feasibility study from West Limerick Resources.

Mr McCormack welcomed the impact study as being a very thorough job. I think it needed to be done, he said. I think people needed to have a clear understanding of what is involved in getting a pool into the town. We always felt another pool would impact badly on what we are doing here.

Mike Duane, the chairman of the Desmond Complex Pool Committee, said the committee would be meeting next week to discuss the impact study in detail. But, speaking in a personal capacity, he said: The 1812 children from five schools who could walk to a pool if it were in the Desmond Complex havent even been considered in the report.

Cllr Michael Collins, FF, who is chairman of the Newcastle West Municipal District, has publicly backed the Desmond Complex plan. Reacting to the impact study this week, he said: I am not happy with elements of the report. We need to give time to all the interested parties to read it and make their comments. We the councillors will be discussing the report at our October meeting.

There is nothing in it that surprises me, Cllr Jerome Scanlan FG said It was clear, he added, that others will struggle if another pool were to open. The council had been pouring money into the publicly owned pool in Askeaton, he said.

The impact study is available on the councils website.
UW-Madison played host to the inaugural Cap Times Idea Fest Sept. 16-17, 2017. There were 29 sessions about everything from politics to educat
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Location scout Carlos Munoz Portal was found shot to death in Mexico on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 while looking for new spots to film season four of Netflix's hit show "Narcos."

According to Business Insider, Portal's body and car were found in a violent, remote area near the border of Hidalgo state.

The region is "said to have the highest murder rate in Mexico. In July, 182 cases of homicide were reported in the densely populated state, a ratio of 12.2 for every 100,000 inhabitants."

LIVING LARGE: Ivan Guzman, son of 'El Chapo' Guzman shows off his luxurious life on Twitter

Authorities are having trouble figuring out the circumstances behind Portal's death since the area is so secluded.

Netflix released a statement saying, "We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate."

The crime has led the show's team to consider possibly moving the production back to Colombia  where it started  instead of keeping it in Mexico.

Portal was also well-known for his work with "Sicario," "Spectre," "Fast & Furious" and "Apocalypto."

Season 4 of "Narcos" will be exploring the origins of Mexico's Juarez cartel.

Take a look through the gallery above to see the cartels that run Mexico.
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The 636th Brigade Support Battalion  Minuteman Brigade has folded their flag and left Dayton. The once busy halls of the Dayton Community Center, buzzing with activity planning missions and soldiers completing tasks, have all emptied. But before their departure, command staff had a few words and awards for those who helped them accomplish their mission.

The wall was lined with community leaders who were to be recognized.

"All of you being honored here today are representative of the community that has made us feel so welcome," said Capt. Tre Ward, who emceed the informal gathering in the lobby of the Dayton Community Center.

The first awards were given by Sgt. 1st Class Orlando Ramirez to Phil Robertson, airport manager, and Mike Rawls, a tenant at the Liberty Municipal Airport.

"We want to thank them for their support. Without them we wouldn't have been able to bring in eight loads of Chinooks, Black Hawks, MRE's [meals ready to eat], water to support and sustain us while we were doing our mission here in this community," Ramirez said. "They worked extra hours and came in early. One time we were heading to Beaumont and we called them back. We had to refuel one of our birds."

"We greatly appreciate what you've done for us and for this community in support of this mission for Hurricane Harvey," Ramirez said.

The airport looked like it had been taken over with all the military traffic, but Robertson said he was glad they were there to support the rescue and recovery missions of the military.

"It made for an exciting day for us out at the ranch," Robertson joked. "We hope we don't have to have you back for something like this any time soon."

Ward turned his attention to Pct. 4 Commissioner Leon Wilson, Dayton Police Department Sgt. John Coleman, and Dayton city council member Alvin Burress.

"These three guys have been by this center every single day and asked he 'Is there anything else I can do for you,'" Ward said.

"It was relentless. They did it every day without fail. Most of the time we were fine, but on the one occasion I might need a forklift, they were on the phone trying to make it happen," the captain said.

Ward was complimentary of the city leadership.

"I had a wonderful tour of the town. Col. Prill and I with Theo and Officer Coleman helped us find alternative locations for our tactical vehicles, places to do maintenance. They gave us the keys to the town, saying the town is yours. I couldn't have felt more welcome," Ward said.

Also receiving awards was Ariel Thibodeaux, Evert Doucette and Sherry Sikes.

"Everyone knows who Ariel is," Ward said. "She was here at 5:30 a.m. making coffee and helping us being the perfect hostess."

The captain said his guys tried to take the trash out in the facility and Ariel wouldn't allow them saying it was her job to keep that place clean.

While the battalion was setting up, they found out they needed a piece of equipment. Evert was there to help.

"He stayed up to 3 a.m. trying to figure out a way for us to get our connections hooked up to the fire hydrant so that we could have showers in the trailers. We needed a small nipple to help make the connection and Evert said he could get it at the hardware store the next morning. Well, it never came," the captain said.

"He stayed up until he got it fixed. The next morning, I was ready to go to the hardware store and he told me it was already fixed and ready to hook up. It's that sticktoitiveness and everybody I've ever told that story to said that's the way Evert is, he won't let something go and till it's fixed," he said.

Ward was also complimentary of the librarian.

"Sherry Sikes, the librarian, opened up the library doors and her heart to us we appreciate so much too," Ward said. From providing books, and a printer to use, Ward said she couldn't have been more helpful.

Dayton ISD Superintendent Dr. Jessica Johnson and Paci Cantu, director of transportation, was also recognized for their cooperation.

"We were looking for a place to park and maintain our vehicles," he said. "Bob Maulden (lead mechanic for DISD) said just let us clean up this bay and the parking lot is yours. They were three blocks down from us which made it so convenient."

He thanked Chamber Executive Director Paula Moorhaj for the welcome.

"None of this would have been possible except the Chamber opened their doors to us," the captain said. "As I understand it, this building was built after Hurricane Katrina, was designed for this specific purpose whether it was for the Red Cross, other organizations or us to come in and help. Thank you for opening your doors so we could help the flood ravaged victims of this community and Beaumont."

The captain said they were looking for a place to service their small vehicles.

"Fire chief Murphy Green offered us the old fire department that wasn't being used that still had air and lights so we could take care of our vehicles. We appreciate again the open-door policy shown by Dayton and the volunteer fire department," Ward said.

The captain also thanked Mayor Jeff Lambright and City Manager Theo Melancon for their cooperation.

"On behalf of us here at the Texas Army National Guard, thank you for opening your hearts and your homes and kitchen doors to us. Everyone that has come through this place [Dayton Community Center] has never felt more welcomed and have commented this place is like the Taj Mahal. I've never in my Army experience stayed in something so nice," he said.

Major Michael Ford was also appreciative.

"This has been Texans serving Texans. On behalf of the 636, we appreciate you," the Major said.

A final award was reserved for the community center facilities director.

"You would think we would end the awards with the mayor and city manager, but there's one more we would like to say thank you to," he said. "The facility director here, Amanda Wilson, she let us know by her actions and her staff that this was our facility to be comfortable in and conduct our business in. We thank her for her commitment."

The 636th pulled out from the community center on Thursday, almost two weeks following landfall of Hurricane Harvey.

"We had a change of mission and will be doing something a little different and ordered back to the home station," Maj. Ford said. "We'll reset, relook and go from there."

While the 636th was on the campus of the community center, it was a beehive of activity with a convoy of trucks going in and out, loaded down with troops spreading out across the city of Dayton, Liberty and missions into the Beaumont area.

"Our mission here was two-fold," Maj. Ford said. "We went as far forward as we could and conduct some water rescue missions. We helped the locals facilitating any types of things because we had the high-profile vehicles and could help them with that."

When the rains ceased and the rescues were over, the mission changed.

"The second part of that was to provide life support with water, meals, just help facilitate or enable the local communities to do whatever they needed to get done," he said.

The major said they couldn't have landed in a much better situation.

"This is a very nice facility and we've been very graciously brought into the community and treated like family the whole time we've been here," he said.

"Meals, all kinds of things have been provided to us that we normally don't get on a mission. We're very appreciative of that and we've enjoyed our whole time here," he said.

The Major said it was Texans helping Texans.
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The call came just as he began his shift. He recognized the number as one from a ranking member above him and he knew he couldn't ignore the call.

He stepped outside away from his job to make the phone call.

"Have you seen your email yet?" the voice said.

"No," he answered.

"We've been alerted and you need to report to the armory as soon as possible," the voice on the other end said.

Sgt. Sean Golliday had just begun his shift and couldn't find a replacement and so he would have to leave as soon as his regular shift ended.

That night, after a long day of work, he left his job around 11 p.m. and hurried home to pack his bags. He kissed his worried wife goodbye and headed straight to the base.

While it was a couple of days before they pulled out, he knew it was important for him to get there as quickly as possible.

The sergeant, who worked security for the government at an undisclosed location in Dallas, didn't know where he was going and hadn't seen any orders but he knew he would be briefed eventually as to the scope of the mission.

Living in Mansfield, Texas, the 13-year veteran of the Texas Army National Guard and his wife had moved to Texas from Portland, Oregon to serve in another army - the Army of the Lord.

An itinerant minister, based out of a church in Bedford, Texas, Golliday spent his weekends preaching the gospel to anyone who would hear.

He ended up in Texas after following his senior pastor back in Oregon who had come to the Lone Star state to plant a church in Irving, Texas.

"Some of us who were part of the staff came down to help and that's how we got down here," he said. "And we have no plans of going back."

He's a part-time staff member at the church and works as a security contractor with the government.

"I signed up after 9/11 about a year after. I wanted to do more. I was just moved by what happened," he said. "I always wanted to join but never did and I went into ministry right after high school."

He told his wife he was going to join and she was supportive.

"We've always had a special place in our heart for the military," he said.

They had also lived in California where most of their friends were either in the Marines or Navy. We had a big influence there in San Diego.

He joined the Navy Reserves first and later switched to the Texas Army National Guard (TANG). The Navy accepted enlisted up until age 39, and he joined up at 36.

He has been promoted to sergeant and still enjoys serving after 13 years with the TANG.

"I served a tour in the Sinai, Egypt on a peacekeeping mission in 2006, a stint in Kirkuk, Northern Iraq in 2008 and 2009, and my last one was in 2012-2013 in western Afghanistan. In between, we trained with the Romanian and English armies," he said.

He felt blessed to be back stateside safe and was thankful that their infantry didn't lose anyone.

He's currently attached to the 156th Brigade Engineers Battalion in Grand Prairie, Texas.

When Golliday isn't playing Army, he's off speaking to congregations across the country.

"My boss is really flexible besides using my vacation time," he said with gratitude.

He was in a youth conference in Arizona recently before his call-up.

At the end of the month, he will be in Vista, California speaking for a friend who pastors a church there once deployment was over, wherever that was going to be.

"I had an inkling of where we might be headed, but this was my first time for a SAD (State Active Duty). I knew after some time they would brief us on where we were going," he said.

It wasn't until they loaded up and were heading south that he figured it was in response to the hurricane.

"It was a lot easier for my wife knowing we were headed there and not being activated to go overseas somewhere," he said.

"You still have that uncertainty."

His mind drifted to his two sons, one 29 and the other 28. At 51 now, he's now answering to his oldest son who is an intelligence officer and captain.

"We were in Afghanistan together at the same time," he said proudly.

"It was frightening. He was on a different FOB [forward operating base]. I actually got to spend some time with him while we were there," he said. They flew the sergeant over so he could see his son while they were in Afghanistan.

Golliday is the oldest in his unit which makes him the target of some harmless joking.

"I may not be the first and I definitely won't be the last, but I'll be in the middle," he laughed.

His decision to serve Uncle Sam has been an integral part of his ministry.

"It's been great for me. It's been a life-long dream to do it, and for the most part, it's been a very positive experience. Like anything, it has its challenges. It's added a lot to my life. It's made me more well-rounded. I've met people of all ages, from different countries, and races. I'm so proud to be able to serve," he said.

Serving in two armies, he finds opportunities to combine the two.

"It has so many similarities to both that I can apply," he said.

While at the Dayton Community Center, he hosted a Bible study.

"I'm a full squad leader and some of my own members have come to me for counseling and prayer. One of my soldiers had a family member that died during the hurricane. Along with the chaplain we've been able to give him some support, pray with him and just be there for him," he said.

The command gave the soldier an opportunity to go to the funeral.

"My wife and I pastored our first church in 1988 in Belleville, Ill. And a church in east San Diego in 1981."

He began traveling as an itinerant pastor in 1985.

"I was living in Oceanside, Calif., at the time and have been to Australia, Africa, Ukraine, and many states to youth camps and youth conferences," he said.

His message he says is positive and focuses on faith-building, with purpose and destiny.

"I see a gap or a lack of purpose, particularly with young people today," he said. "A lot of people want to know who they are and why are they here on this earth. If I can connect them with the God who created them who is full of purpose they can learn why they are here."

He said he's grateful that his command allows him the opportunity to minister to young men and women who are vulnerable and in a stressful situation.

"It's just fulfilling to see the lives that are changed through the gospel," he said.

While he was in Afghanistan, his command allowed him to hold services for the soldiers on the base on Sundays in a chaplain's tent. He held Bible studies during the week when his schedule allowed him.

Golliday helped with the Point of Distribution (POD) and several other missions in Dayton and Katy where they arrived first.

"I'm glad we came down to help the community. I wish we would have been here much sooner, but we went out to an elementary school and we got to escort the kids in to their class and read to them," he said.

It was a special time for him remembering his own days with his own two sons.

Now back home in Mansfield, he uses his Texas Army National Guard experiences to relate to those he is helping fight spiritual warfare.
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Every time Tim Heller from ABC-13 would flash the leader board showing the stats for the most rainfall in the Gulf Coast area, Dayton residents had to shudder.

Always atop the stat sheet, the community was shellacked with more than 50 inches of rain and there was no place for it to go.

Hundreds of Liberty County residents felt the ravages of Hurricane Harvey, and none more than school children who were traumatized by the losses felt by devastated parents who were powerless to save their belongings.

The thought of returning to school may have seemed a million miles away to students in Dayton ISD, but they weren't devoid of help coming their way.

A Dallas-area principal used social media, Google documents, and newsletter software to connect principals around the country with principals in affected schools in south Texas.

Ronny Snow, principal at Malakoff Elementary in Malakoff, just west of Athens, in the northern part of the state, saw something that caught his eye.

"Our assistant superintendent sent out the list from Google Docs and I began to scroll through it," he said.

He came across Richter Elementary in Dayton, Texas, and had some connections to the town.

"We had a little bit of tie-in knowing some people here," Snow said. "We wanted to help someone, but when you know someone personally, you wanted to help them."

The principal adopted Richter on the Principals Helping Principals document and then put the word out to his community, 'Hey we need stuff right now," he said.

The principal told them to gather basic cleaning supplies, clothes with the tags still on them - sized and boxed, shoes, water, Gatorade, non-perishable food, backpacks with school supplies in them and much more.

"We put it out on Thursday and everyone started dropping off items on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday," he said.

The principal waited until after Richter's first day of school to see if they could give them a better idea on Wednesday after they started.

"We got it all loaded up after school [on Wednesday] and I jumped in the Malakoff truck with the Malakoff band trailer and southeast I went," he said. "If we need to do anything else, we're ready to help."

Snow said as proud Texans and they can argue about Cowboys and Texans, Mavericks vs. Rockets or whatever, but when it comes down to it, "we're all Texans and being a fifth generation Texan, I have a lot of pride in my state," he said.

"I don't need anybody in the rest of the country taking care of my fellow Texans because we're going to do it," he said beaming.

Richter principal Lecia Eubanks couldn't have been more thankful.

"Our first thought was all of the families we knew were going to need to help," she said. "We didn't flood in the school, but the homes did and so we had children and families that lost almost everything."

The principal went to work creating the Richter Rebuild Center, a room in the school to serve as the center for all the donations.

Beginning the first day after school started, parents came in with their families if they had a child in Richter and scavenged through the desperately needed supplies.

Eubanks said every child that didn't have a backpack was provided one.

"We have families who have children all the way through high school, not just here at Richter, but all of their family members," she said.

They provided diapers, bottles, clothes, shoes, backpacks, supplies.

"You name it, they needed it," she said.

Eubanks used technology to spread the word through the school's Facebook and Twitter feed.

"We also sent home letters to parents and just word of mouth around the community so they're coming in," Eubanks said.

Part of that small town, hometown feel came through as each of the teachers made personal contact with their students and their families by phone before they came back to find out how they weathered the storm and what were their needs.

"We created a Google doc with all of the students on that list and parents began coming in to pick up their care packages," Eubanks said, "and we've had some who came in to register and needed supplies."

Eubanks said the concentration of affected students were along the river, but said there were pockets of students throughout the community who were affected.

"If they're in need, we're providing it," she said.

"I'm proud of all of our principals and administrative team," said Dayton ISD Superintendent Dr. Jessica Johnson. "Everyone has been working behind the scenes throughout this whole Hurricane Harvey mess in various ways."

Travis Young, spokesperson for the district, had just sent out a notice to the principals that would affect every student.

"We applied for a waiver for food during the month of September and it was approved," Young said. "That means that all our students in the district, through September 30, will eat breakfast and lunch for free. It's just another way for us to give relief to our families here in the community."

The Child Nutrition department applied for the waiver.

"We're pleased to be able to help our folks that way," Johnson said.

She was also proud to announce that every Dayton ISD school had been adopted by one, two, or even three schools now.

"Their other school is Virginia. We're closer," Snow laughed, glad to be first to the rescue.

Eubanks and her teachers were assisted by the Texas Army National Guard who came to help unload the trailer and store the supplies in the Richter Rebuild Center.

To donate or pick up supplies, contact Eubanks at the school at 936-258-7126.
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In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, local libraries including those in Friendswood, Seabrook and northern Brazoria County are offering resources to help storm victims.

"We can get people to the FEMA site and print out any forms they need," said Matthew Riley, assistant director at Friendswood Public Library, 416 S. Friendswood Drive in Friendswood.

In addition to the Hurricane Harvey Resources Recovery link available at the library's homepage at www.friendswood.lib.tx.us, the reference department is available for in-person help to those who need it.

He encouraged people to stop by for a book, for help or even just for a quiet spot away from ongoing stress caused by the storm.

"We're not charging any late fees on books due or that were damaged during the storm (and its immediate aftermath) and all of our programming is back up and running," he said.

Riley said the building made it through the storm well.

"We are at a very high point in the city so we sustained very minimal damage. We had a few spots of roof leaks, but overall we came through really well," he explained.

The Friendswood facility is open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 281-482-7135 for more information.

It's a similar story at Brazoria County Library System facilities in west Pearland, Alvin and Manvel.

"For the patrons, we will have a list of federal and local resources that every staff members will have and be able to print off as needed," said Martin Shupla, assistant director of library services. "People will be able to use our computers to apply for assistance online. For use of our computers, we don't have a residency requirement and we'll give guest passes to those who don't have a library card."

Shupla said his system's buildings, like several other libraries throughout the Greater Houston Area, largely escaped Harvey's wrath and emerged whole.

"None of the buildings have any significant damage, just some minor ceiling leaks and some carpets needing cleaning but nothing structural," Shupla said.

Pearland Westside Library, 2803 Business Center Drive. No. 101 in Pearland, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.

Call 713-436-0995 for more information.

The Pearland Library on the city's east side is undergoing renovations; so the library system is asking patrons to return books to a designated drop-off site at 2341 N. Galveston Ave. Unit 220. Shupla said the building is expected to be complete by January at the earliest.

The Alvin Library, 105 S. Gordon, is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday. Call 281-388-4300 for information.

The Manvel branch, 20514B Texas 6, has the same hours of operation as the Alvin facility. The Manvel library can be reached at 281-489-7596.

In Seabrook, the Evelyn Meador Branch Library at 2400 N. Meyer Ave. is open Monday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., Thursday from 1-7 p.m., Friday from 1-6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Contact Evelyn Meador Library at 281-474-9142.
More than three months after it began, the Persian Gulf dispute that has driven a deep wedge between America's closest allies in the region appears no closer to resolution.

The Trump administration, which depends on the gulf states as its main air and sea launchpad for the fight against the Islamic State, and as a bulwark against Iran, is starting to get worried.

"We have an awful lot of equities here," a U.S. official said. "Is it acceptable that American business starts reporting to us that contracts are getting canceled because of the climate in the gulf?" Or that the air base "from which we rain down holy hell" on militants in Syria and Iraq is endangered? Or a unified Arab bulwark against Iran is fraying?

"We're all starting to feel . . . that the Qatar crisis gets in the way of things we want to do," said the official.

The initial eruption came just days after President Donald Trump proclaimed the gulf allies united during a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in late May. Charging that Qatar was financing terrorists and trying to undermine their governments, four nations in the region - gulf monarchies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, joined by Egypt - broke relations and closed their air, land and sea borders to the tiny, energy-rich peninsula at the Straits of Hormuz.

Since then, the protagonists on both sides have waged a public war of insults and accusations, much of it through shrill, multimillion-dollar U.S. lobbying campaigns targeting political opinion in Washington.

The largest political ad buy of the summer came from an organization called the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee, SAPRAC, which spent $1.6 million on television spots on local news and Washington broadcasts of national programs, according to data provided to The Washington Post by CMAG-Kantar Media, which tracks television advertising.

"One country in the gulf region is a threat to global security," intones the narrator of the ad over doomsday music. "President Trump, Qatar cannot be trusted."

Home to a crucial air base and more than 10,000 U.S. service members, Qatar has been cited in the past by U.S. officials for lax control over terrorist financing. But officials have also noted recent progress, and few appear to believe Qatar's sins are much worse than others in the region. Instead, many chalk up the conflict to what one person involved in U.S. efforts to end it called "personal animosity" among the gulf's ruling families, and differing outlooks on how best to keep themselves in power.

U.S. and foreign officials who discussed the crisis spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid fueling an already inflamed dispute.

At the beginning, it was Trump who spread the fire, with his open support of the accusations against Qatar. While Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis avoided blame and called for negotiations, Trump hailed the "wisdom" of Saudi King Salman, reveled in Saudi purchases of U.S. arms, pointed a finger at Qatar's capital, Doha, and said the United States could launch its counterterrorism warplanes from somewhere else.

During the summer, Tillerson and Jared Kushner, Trump's White House adviser and son-in-law, traveled separately to the region. In August, Tillerson sent two U.S. envoys to the gulf, but no progress was reported.

It was not until early September, after months of cajoling from Tillerson and Mattis, that Trump apparently decided it was time to put an end to the spat. "What you're seeing now is the White House trying to push this, to say enough is enough, before it begins to affect military operations," an official said.

At a Sept. 7 news conference with the visiting emir of Kuwait, whose own mediation efforts have been unsuccessful, Trump said he might have to bring the parties to the White House and handle the negotiations himself.

"Very quickly, I think, we'll have something solved," he said.

In telephone talks the next day with leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Trump facilitated a call between them.

But any rapprochement was short-lived. Within hours, both governments had publicly claimed that the other had blinked first and sought the dialogue. The effort was officially suspended.

The failure of Trump's personal diplomacy has left the United States with few options. There is little reason to think that the president, who plans to meet with some leaders from the region during the U.N. General Assembly, will have much better luck in person.

Tillerson has gone out of his way to bolster Qatar, calling demands by the Saudi-led quartet unreasonable and signing a new memorandum of understanding on terrorism financing with Doha. But the administration has left itself little leverage with the other side, unless Trump is willing to sacrifice arms sales and other Saudi-U.S. business deals, or temper his own fulsome praise for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the principal Saudi partner in the fight against Qatar.

The Saudis and Emiratis have diligently courted the Trump White House. Even before the May presidential visit to Riyadh, according to U.S. intelligence, they were planning a new offensive in their long-running dispute with Qatar, correctly concluding that Trump would be sympathetic.

Small Qatar has long irked its neighbors by pursuing an impertinent foreign policy that they think contradicts their interests. A list of their 13 "nonnegotiable" demands includes an end to Qatari support for political Islamic movements; , including the Muslim Brotherhood; closing Al Jazeera; , the state-funded Qatari media company;reducing ties with Iran, with which Qatar shares the world's largest gas field; and ejecting political dissidents who come from quartet countries.

Qatar has said it will talk with its accusers, but will not agree to anything that impinges on its sovereignty.

As U.S. policymakers wring their hands, the main beneficiaries of the dispute so far are the lobbying firms each side has hired to influence Washington, as reflected in their filings under the Justice Department's Foreign Agents Registration Act.

In August, the Podesta Group retroactively registered for work it had done since June on behalf of SAPRAC, the Saudi purchaser of the television ads, at a monthly fee of $50,000, not including production and other expenses or marked-up media buys.

That fee is relatively small compared with the multiple other firms employed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some recently, and some on the payroll for years with monthly or quarterly fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Qatar has been a relative latecomer to the all-out influence war, but has gone on a hiring spree since early summer.

Rather than attacking its accusers, Qatar has focused on print and online ads emphasizing its close security ties with the United States and its own counterterrorism efforts. South Carolina-based Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough was hired at $100,000 a month in July to "build political capital" and relationships for Qatar, and to ensure "the right information is out there, and the right people know it," said Christopher Kushing, the firm's managing director for public strategies.

Avenue Strategies, a firm tied to Trump campaign officials, is being paid $150,000 a month for "strategic consulting services," and former Attorney General John Ashcroft's law firm received a $2.5 million retainer for "evaluating, verifying, and as necessary, strengthening [Qatar's] anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financial compliance programs," according to the filings.

As far as the administration is concerned, however, the question of who is right has faded when compared to the potential damage of the dispute itself. The message to the gulf leaders, an official said, is that the cacophony of paid voices "is ham-handed, and they're being taken to the cleaners by those guys."

"We're trying to tell them to knock it off."

- - -

The Washington Post's Tom Hamburger and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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STOCK ISLAND, Fla. - Lynn Hernandez is a "Conch," a fourth-generation native of the Florida Keys, and she knows from experience that the hard part isn't the hurricane; it's what happens now.

Four days after Irma dumped wrack and wreckage on this tiny island, its residents were deep into the blisteringly hot wait for food, electricity and water.

The wait for normal.

"People are a little crazy now. It's scary," Hernandez said, sitting on the porch of her uncle's semi-ruined frame house two blocks from the boatyard where most of her family make their living as fishermen. It was the same after Wilma, after Georges, after Andrew (she was pregnant for that one), after all seven of the hurricanes she has ridden out here on the Straits of Florida. Because that is what Conchs do.

She had her face in one hand and a warm Bud Light in the other, a little beery and a little teary recalling the post-Irma traumas: the two men she saw get into a knife fight near the marina, the old man they found dead in his apartment down the street, the boy who came around selling jewelry soon after reports of looting from the Zales store across the bridge.

And suddenly, trauma was upon her again. She looked up as the normal background barking of dogs reached a frenzy, then a shattering scream: "No, they're killing her!" she heard.

Hernandez ran from the porch and saw two big dogs that had been left behind by neighbors who heeded evacuation orders ahead of Irma's arrival. The dogs had been making a racket since the storm, and now they had gotten loose and were leaping around a young woman and the small white dog she was trying to protect. The little animal's blood was already staining the front of her Key West High School shirt.

"Oh, no; oh, no," the girl said after bystanders chased off the attackers. "She's dying."

Hernandez looked, saw that the girl was right and hugged her.

"It's not your fault," she said. "They're in survival mode."

Hernandez sat, cradling the fading animal.

"It's not the storm. It's the aftermath," she said, her voice still shaking. "Honestly, I don't mind the wind."

- - -

The Florida Keys, a bead string of causeway-connected islands dangling 113 miles into the ocean from the tip of the state, took the brunt of Irma's landfall when its eyewall rolled right over the archipelago. Between Islamorada and Stock Island - which abuts Key West - there are swaths of dramatic wreckage, mostly where the wind and water tossed around trailers, campers and boats.

But the construction codes in place since Hurricane Andrew's 1992 devastation of the state have hardened Florida's homes, even here in one of the most vulnerable environments. Most of the affected structures looked damaged but not destroyed. Once the tons of debris are gone, the power grid restrung and hundreds of bent-but-not-broken roofs repaired, the Keys will be up and waiting for the next tropical tempest.

Hernandez's turquoise block home on Stock Island is one that was bruised but livable; Irma twisted part of her metal roof into ribbons. That's fine, that's what she expected. Fixing a roof is better than leaving your home behind and being stuck in the angry line of cars at Mile Marker 74, where officers still won't let evacuees back in.

"Conchs don't leave," said Cassandra Greene, who was out front of her home three blocks away, grilling the last of the pork chops she packed in coolers before the storm.

"The Keys always come through," said her husband, Jimmy Greene, a water and sewer worker on Key West who grew up here. He was petting the emaciated stray dog that took up with them during the storm. "We stay, and then we help each other out."

In the wake of Irma, the Keys are like a ship that was nearly swamped by breaking waves, shedding the water, struggling to right itself.

It was getting busier. Hospital staff, utility workers, other "essential" personnel, were being let back in. Supply trucks loaded with generators, portable toilets and telephone poles filled southbound U.S. Route 1. With boats still on some side streets and most of the fallen trees still lying where Irma dropped them, the Lower Keys were crawling with residents, repair crews and relief groups.

One was giving away gasoline at the post office on Big Pine Key. National Guard members handed out emergency rations, water and ice at Sugarloaf Elementary on Sugarloaf Key. A line stretched around the Winn-Dixie, which was letting people in 10 at a time for five minutes of cash-only shopping.

On Stock Island, a uniquely Keys mix of working-class trailers and modest vacation homes, residents were tracking giveaways via the generator-powered FM station, 104.1. Cellphone coverage was limited to the reach of emergency towers; cable TV and Internet service were pre-Irma memories, along with air conditioning and fresh food.

"It's as bad as I've ever seen, but every day it feels a little more like normal," said Hernandez's neighbor, Kevin Edwards, 41, a military jet mechanic who was allowed to return Tuesday.

Edwards spent two days in 90-degree heat clearing a ficus tree off the front of his house and a Brazilian pepper tree off the back, going from 234 pounds to 219 in the process. When officials announced a two-hour window to flush toilets and bathe with water that still can't be consumed, he took a 45-minute shower, until the water backed up in his sink.

"The system's not there yet," he said.

A Monroe County sheriff's car pulled slowly down the street, forcing a rooster to scamper to the side. "If you need food or water, go to the Tom Thumb parking lot," the officer intoned through a loudspeaker.

"We've pretty much run out of food," Hernandez said when the car passed her house. An empty box labeled "Emergency Ration Meals" sat on a pile of reeking seaweed in her yard. "What I really want is ice, something cold to drink."

- - -

Down on the corner, with the sun starting to set, Ed Harris put a final pile of branches at the curb. At 83, he'd stuck through many a storm, but this was the first he went through without Phyllis. She died in July, just shy of their 60th anniversary.

His house, modern, built to code on eight-foot block piers, was undamaged. He had looked down at the water washing over his yard from the lonely safety of his porch.

"My wife hated all these stairs," he said softly. "I don't know. Everything has changed. Everything."

At that minute, Jimmy Greene walked by, his own dog Roxie on a leash. Harris called hello and thanked Greene for a favor he'd done him earlier in the day: taking his car to get filled up at the one station on the island with gas.

"That line was 60 cars long," Greene said, shaking his head.

Greene walked down Cross Street, past the fences crushed by the storm surge and the piles of rotting garbage, past the "Looters Will Be Shot" sign painted on the plywood still covering the window of a pink cottage.

"Some of these houses, where they didn't clear out the fridge before they evacuated," he said sniffing, "everything's starting to stink."

He stopped. "Now look at that."

It was a trailer with its front end blown off. In the now open-air kitchen stood a woman putting dishes neatly away, as though she had just finished a meal.

She was Jacqueline Rodriguez, a maid at the DoubleTree Hilton on Key West. She and her husband, who took refuge at another motel during the storm, were doing what they could to feel better about the fact that their home was a total loss.

"We're alive," she said in Spanish. It was all she could muster.

Across the street, a man came out of his low-slung, branch-covered house the only way he could: removing the warped front door from its hinges, stepping out and then putting it back.

He was Michael Knoles, a removal technician for the Key West mortuary. Without working phones, police had for days been coming to knock on his busted front door when they needed a body collected - from the hospital, from houses, from boats.

The official death toll from Irma has been remarkably low, a combination of people getting out of the way of the storm and a bit of luck as the storm weakened and went inland. But locals say the people dying since the storm could have been affected by the stress.

"A lot of heart attacks," Greene said. "Folks are running out of their medicine."

"It's been busy," Knoles said.

Greene, who was holding a can of Heineken, looked at Knoles, who was holding a can of Glory Foods collard greens.

"You got a can opener for that?" Greene asked.

"That's what I'm looking for," Knoles said.

"Got one at the house," Greene said, starting down the block in the last rays of the tropical sunset. "Come on."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that the United States is considering closing the U.S. Embassy in Havana in response to mysterious hearing problems that have left at least 21 employees with serious ailments.

"We have it under evaluation," Tillerson said on CBS's "Face the Nation" when asked about calls by some senators to shutter the diplomatic mission. "It's a very serious issue, with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered, and we've brought some of those people home. It's under review."

Closing the embassy would be a serious setback to relations between the United States and Cuba, two Cold War adversaries whose enmity stretched more than half a century before they restored diplomatic relations and upgraded their missions into embassies in 2015.

But at least 21 Americans who worked in the U.S. Embassy in Cuba have reported medical problems since late last year, when percussive attacks on their residences began. The incidents apparently continued into 2017. Two Cuban diplomats have been expelled from the embassy in Washington in response.

The State Department did not talk publicly about the incident until August, months after the problems were uncovered.

Some of the victims suffered mild traumatic brain injuries, hearing loss and other neurological and physical ailments, said the union representing Foreign Service officers. The FBI is investigating what the union calls "sonic harassment attacks" on the diplomats. A Canadian diplomat also reported similar problems.

Cuba has denied any responsibility for the attacks.

Cuban President Raul Castro called in the then-head of the U.S. mission, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, to express concern.

Five Republican senators wrote Tillerson last week asking him to close the embassy and expel Cuba's diplomats from the United States.

"We ask that you immediately declare all accredited Cuban diplomats in the United States persona non grata and, if Cuba does not take tangible action, close the U.S. Embassy in Havana," the senators wrote. "Cuba's neglect of its duty to protect our diplomats and their families cannot go unchallenged."
President Donald Trump is putting his political capital on the line in a big way in Alabama's closely contested Senate race.

The president, who has previously endorsed Sen. Luther Strange, R, said he will travel to Huntsville, Alabama, on Sept. 23 to campaign with him just days before a Republican primary runoff election for the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Iran and the United States on Sunday tore into each other's behavior regarding the 2015 nuclear deal as America's top diplomat and Iran's supreme leader traded accusations of backsliding on agreed-to commitments.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged Iran is in "technical compliance" with its obligations under the pact negotiated by the Obama administration and five other world powers. But he faulted Tehran for its non-nuclear activities in the Middle East -- backing militias in Yemen and Syria, support for terrorist groups and ballistic missile testing.

"We have a lot of issues with Iran," he said on CBS' Face the Nation. "They're a yard long. The nuclear issue is one foot of that yard. We have two feet of other issues that we must deal with. And it has to do with Iran's destabilizing actiivities."

For his part, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate power in Tehran's theoracy, took to his English-language Twitter account to label Washington as, in turn, domineering, bullying, oppressive, hounding and cruel - and corrupt and lying to boot.

"Every day US govt. exposes a new side of its viciousness & proves Imam Khomeini's words true: U.S. govt. is the great Satan," he tweeted.

The criticisms were lobbed at a critical moment for the Iran deal, which eased economic sanctions in return for Iran agreeing to restrictions on its nuclear program.

It is being kept alive for the time being, after President Donald Trump put aside his disdain for the deal on Thursday and waived U.S. sanctions that were suspended under the agreement and must be revisited every 120 days. If he hadn't, the United States would have been in breach of its promises.

But the administration is still reviewing its policy toward Iran and the nuclear deal, and Trump has said he is inclined to say next month that Iran is not complying with its commitments. If he does, Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions, in effect breaking the U.S. commitment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said eight times that Iran is complying with the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as Tillerson allowed on Sunday.

The administration contends Iran is violating the "spirit" of the deal, because in its preface it is stated that the nations negotiating it "anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security."

Tillerson said that sentence explains, in a nutshell, why sanctions were lifted.

"But since the nuclear deal has been concluded what we have witnessed is Iran has stepped up its destabilizing activities in Yemen, it stepped up its destabilizing activities in Syria, and exports arms to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and it continues to conduct a very active ballistic missile program," Tillerson said. "None of that I believe is consistent with that preamble commitment."

Supporters of the deal say it was never intended to solve every issue between the United States and Iran. The diplomats who negotiated said at the the time that the deal was narrowly focused on Iran's nuclear program because it was considered better to confront Tehran without the possibility of nuclear weapons.

Iran, which has always denied seeking to build nuclear weapons, has complained it has not received the economic benefits it expected from the deal because the United States has not done enough to convince the business community that it will remain in effect so long as Iran keeps its promises.

Iran's sense that it was shortchanged in the deal was behind a series of tweets by Khamenei Sunday, in between congratulating graduating police cadets and criticizing Ang Sun Suu Kyi's silence on the Rohingya.

Calling the U.S. approach to the nuclear deal "totally oppressive hounding & cruel" in one tweet, Khamenei accused "corrupt, lying U.S. officials" of hypocrisy.

"Enemies must know if bullying works elsewhere in world, it won't work for Iran," he said in another tweet. "Retreat has no place when it comes to our national interests."

And he suggested any move to decertify Iran's compliance or withdraw from the deal will not go unaswered.

"The Iran nation stands strong."
TIRANA, Albania - Even though President Donald Trump announced his strategy for the war in Afghanistan in August, the Pentagon and NATO are still trying to map their way forward in the nearly 16-year-old conflict, according to U.S. officials.

The delay is the byproduct of the U.S. commander's vision for the war and the alliance's ability to provide the troops required to make it a reality, according to a U.S. official who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations.

In recent weeks, the United States deployed additional forces into Afghanistan - a move that coincided with the announcement of Trump's strategy - to help bolster Afghan forces during the final months of this year's fighting season. The immediate surge was a short-term solution, requested by battlefield commanders, but the Pentagon is still assessing how U.S. troops will be deployed in the country in 2018, according to a U.S. official in Afghanistan.

Speaking to a small group of reporters, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of the U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, said that he expects to have a "full picture" on NATO commitments by October.

"There is still a lack of clarity which positions, which functions, to focus their contributions," said Czech Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of the NATO Military Committee. Speaking at a news conference here, Pavel added that the recently announced U.S. strategy provides a clearer picture of the way forward, but the alliance won't make final troop decisions until another conference in October.

With the military mission in Afghanistan primarily focused on training the Afghan military, the United States wants its NATO allies to take up the bulk of that role, freeing up U.S. forces to push closer to the front. The U.S. military in Afghanistan has the infrastructure, including fire support and medical evacuation capabilities, to move its troops forward, to not only train and advise but also assist - through airstrikes and artillery - their struggling Afghan counterparts, the official said.

The Pentagon's recent reluctance to discuss additional troop numbers is likely linked with the fact that NATO has yet to say if it will completely agree to Gen. John Nicholson's requests. U.S. officials, however, have repeatedly said that enough troops will deploy to Afghanistan in the coming months to bring the total number of U.S. troops in the country to around 14,000. Aside from the additional troops, the increase will likely bring more air support and artillery units to help push back the Taliban and protect U.S. forces on the ground.

In addition to advising the Afghan military, U.S. forces also conduct counterterrorism operations against groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida. Ten U.S. troops have been killed by hostile fire in Afghanistan in 2017, the majority of whom were fighting Islamic State militants in the country's east. On Friday, a Romanian soldier was killed in a suicide bombing in Kandahar. More than 2,000 Americans have died since the United States invaded in 2001, though Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of the violence, with more than 1,500 killed this year alone, according to the United Nations.
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Last month a Colehill woman received a Justice Award for her community work in the United States.

Eithne Keegan is an Administrative Nursing Supervisor at the Mission Hospital in California and she received the prestigious Values in Action award for her demonstrated enthusiasm in calling others to work together to understand and serve the needs of the vulnerable members of her community.

She has also been involved in overseas missionary work for several years now and has travelled to Africa and Asia to educate and care for those impacted by HIV and AIDS.

Speaking to the Leader this week, Eithne says it was her role at the hospital and the facility's core values that enabled her to achieve many things in her life.

She was also selected out of 600 nominations for the prestigious award which she received just last month.

Mission Hospital is described as a trauma hospital with service, excellence, justice and dignity at its core.

The Catholic Hospital system here is big into missionary work and encourages people around the world to volunteer to help each other out, she confides while chatting from her home in California.

One of the things I did was to initiate a colour change in uniform for our Registered Nurses (RN); I came up with the idea to select the one colour uniform for hospitals in several different countries around the world and we also issued them for women who were in battered shelters here.

The idea was that it would help them to get back on their feet through fundraising.

Meanwhile, staff at the hospital collected 1,700 sets of uniforms and distributed them around the world.

They went as far as the Congo, Thailand, India and China, smiles Eithne before pointing to the fact that many of those countries are places she visits regularly, providing education on AIDS to people residing there.

It was this type of work that the judges looked at when they were determining who was deserving of the award.

Some of Eithnes personal attributes include compassion and empathy, qualities she believes are sometimes lost on the millennials.

The millennials are big into technology and this has lead them to become self-centered, she says, before pointing to the fact that many young people now are not reaching out and volunteering to help others less fortunate than themselves.

What I really want them to do is to step out of their comfort zone and help others; I really feel that we are lacking compassion and empathy in our workplaces too.

As an Administrative Nursing Supervisor, Eithnes role includes staff management and patient support.

Im in charge of a whole hospital, she adds.

It is important that there is fairness and a non judgemental ethos.

I am noticing now, for example, that because of technology, we are not taking the time to sit and talk to each other, nor are we spending that one to one time with patients either. We are not in the present moment.

Eithne says that when mindful behaviour is practiced with conscientiousness, the outcome elevates conflict and results in a better work ethic in general.

I sit with people and help them to be present - that is to stay in the moment and just be, she continues.

Very often and because of this one small behaviour, you find that the problem or situation just sorts itself out and all it takes is two minutes.

Another very simple thing - just sitting down for one moment and holding a patients hand; that is all it takes to help that person feel better and it means you have been present in the moment and spent valuable time with them.

It is a win win situation for everyone.

Respect and dignity are also very much part and parcel of Eithne's day to day life.

These are also part of the hospitals mission statement and have been a huge contributory factor in determining the Longford womans suitability for the recent award that was bestowed upon her.

I feel it is important to show respect and dignity to everyone, she adds, before pointing out that she established the Nzoia College of Nursing in Kenya with all of this in mind.

The hospital provides training for local young people so that when they qualify they can go back into their poor communities and administer healthcare to those who need it via a clinic system.

It has been a highly successful venture and one that is contributing to life changing experiences for many of the people living there.

I wrote the curriculum for it; it took eight years to get off the ground but when we finally got there, it was worth the wait, smiles Eithne.

The area in which the hospital is based is very, very poor; people cant afford to send their children to school.

We offer scholarships and in some cases the community will rally together and raise a small amount of money so that a youngster can come to the hospital and train; they will then go back out into the community when they train and the effort comes full circle.

The first graduation at the hospital took place in 2012 and 16 young people emerged with a Diploma in Nursing.

Since then the graduations continue and the health of the people in the region gets better and better.

All we do is help them to break the cycle of poverty, says Eithne.

That is the key; if that cycle is not broken, the same things will keep happening and nothing changes for the community, so the fact that members of the community are able to go to the nursing school in the first place immediately breaks the cycle of poverty and enhances the growth and development of the community clinics.

It really is wonderful to see how it all works.

Eithne has also worked in palliative care for many years now and this is an area that has improved in recent times.

End of life care is as essential as any other service in health care and Eithne is proud of her contribution particular in the areas of AIDS and HIV.

I have worked mainly in Africa in relation to this and much of the work I do is about breaking the stigma that is there, she says.

We also take care of people who have become infected and teach members of the community to help each other.

Often an entire family might become infected and there is nobody in the home to take care of the members, so palliative care is a very important aspect of all this and something that everyone is the community needs to know.

It is for these reasons that Eithne Kelly received her justice award and one which her colleagues say she was most deserving of.

Eithne is the daughter of the late Michael and Nora Keegan, Colehill.

There were six siblings in the Keegan family - three girls and three boys.

Eithne has a sister in Donegal and another in Ashbourne, Co Meath.

She herself is based in California while her brothers reside in Tipperary, Spain and Arizona.

Many of the Keegans' cousins still reside in Co Longford and Eithne was back in her beloved Colehill as recently as earlier this summer where she met up with many of her relatives during a special family reunion.

My nephew also got married and we had such a lovely time at the wedding, she concludes.
We are subject yet again, to revelations about An Garda Siochana that, in another time, would be met with outrage, consternation, and would see the Government of the day taking action immediately.

Nobody would be affected by concern about the rights or otherwise of anyone in An Garda Siochana , let alone be constricted by any fear of legal action.

If any wrongdoing was proven to be the case, immediate action would be taken, and be seen to be taken. The first rule of justice is that it not only be done, but be seen to be done.

We are now in the clear knowledge of the behaviour of some members of the Gardai, in respect of driving offences, which suddenly have been escalated from a figure of one million false actions, to include another 500,000.

Are we living in the real world at all?

All of which begs the question:

On what basis are people given binding contracts which supersede any responsibility to behave in a way that is in line with normal, common sense, and legally safe, thinking?

Or is the Government bereft of any semblance of protocol or common sense, or recognition of wrong behaviour anymore?

Is it the case that anything goes?

The people in this republic should be able to walk the streets, or drive cars, or go about their daily business safe in the knowledge that at least we have some party or collective of politicians ensuring that responsibility is upheld in all public bodies.

It is what they are supposed to be doing, after all. They get well paid to ensure nothing wrong is allowed, and have hundreds of civil servants available to assist them in their responsibilities.

But no.

Instead we have the head people in the Gardai behaving abominably, without sanction.

When I recently heard that the Government was unable to remove anyone from the Garda higher authorities, the thought struck me very forcibly that this meant, in essence, that the rule of law in its plainest meaning, is now beyond that law, as we have understood it to be prosecuted or enforced.

This is a calamitous situation.

This week we had numerous people saying openly that the Garda Commissioner - who announced her decision to step down from her role on Sunday - had lied to the Public Accounts Committee, repeated at least once on television, without any contradiction.

This being said without contradiction about the Garda Commissioner??

Worse still, we had John Halligan saying that he retains confidence in the Commissioner until he sees proof otherwise.

A fire is not a fire until its burning out of control, it seems.

This is an example of the quality of people who run this country.

The insurance companies suffered raids by the European representatives recently, and insurance costs immediately dropped, this week by 14% - a huge drop.

The Government couldn't do anything at all about insurance costs until the Europeans stepped in.

Weve long heard about lame duck Governments.

It appears we have one right here in Ireland.

Finian McGrath completely reversed his view of the latest vaccine and said that he was completely wrong. How on earth could any Minister be completely wrong and change his mind just because he was told to by his boss - if he was a thinking person in the first place?

We are burdened with some scarily unqualified representatives.

Did you enjoy this column? Read more from Mattie here.
COLLINSVILLEThe only way for Henry County and the surrounding area to grow and develop is through better education and training. That was the main point in the 337-page economic development plan created by the GO Virginia Region 3 coalition, a group that includes business leaders from Martinsville and Danville, as well as Henry, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Halifax, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Nottoway, Prince Edward, Lunenberg, Buckingham, Cumberland, Charlotte and Amelia counties.

The plan, which was released at the beginning of September, states that better educated workers are needed to fill the positions available now, with training needed in manufacturing and other areas. Also, the report cautioned that local leaders across the region need to work better together on joint projects.

The plan states that this region has monumental potential for economic growth. However, regional leaders must ensure the workforce has modern skills that will help existing businesses and industries and attract new ones, the plan shows.

It recommends striving to further develop industries already in the region, although it indicates that efforts to attract any and all types of businesses should continue.

But in boosting the regional economy, there is a major problem to overcome  a population that is aging and shrinking.

We are losing our young and talented individuals to other areas, and our existing workforce is aging en masse toward retirement, the plan states.

GO Virginia, also known as the Virginia Initiative for Growth and Opportunity in Each Region, is a statewide coalition of business leaders emphasizing a need for regional cooperation in efforts to create jobs and encourage growth within the private sector, as well as to prepare workers for careers.

Each of nine GO Virginia regions statewide is preparing an economic improvement plan. Martinsville- Henry County is in Region 3 with Danville and Pittsylvania, Patrick, Halifax, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Nottoway, Prince Edward, Lunenburg, Buckingham, Cumberland, Charlotte and Amelia counties.

Region 3 is the largest of the GO Virginia regions, covering roughly 17 percent of the state, but it has the smallest population at about 372,000, roughly 4 percent of the states residents. Most of its jobs pay lower wages, and overall its workers are less educated and poorer than elsewhere, its plan shows.

The largest age group in Region 3, at 28.5 percent, comprises people 45 to 64, statistics referenced in the plan show. The second largest, at 21.7 percent, comprises those 25 to 44. The smallest group, at 12.3 percent, comprises people 15 to 24  those aiming to soon enter the workforce, if they have not done so already.

At 13.5 percent, Region 3 had the fewest adults ages 25 and older who have earned at least a bachelors degree in 2012, referenced statistics show. Southern Virginia, which makes up much of the region, is the only part of Virginia without a public four-year college or university.

Region 3s plan mentions that, based on interviews and surveys, employers most pressing concern is availability of workers with appropriate skills  despite the general perception of community college training efforts as high-quality and effective, and what appears to be a concerted focus on workforce development issues across the region.

A need for soft skills

Along with workers needing skills to do specific jobs at businesses, employers have cited a need for them to acquire soft skills, such as knowing how to dress properly for their jobs, having a good work ethic, being dependable and having good communication and interpersonal skills, the plan shows.

This is particularly true, it states, at lower-wage and high-turnover positions such as those in stores and restaurants.

The plan identifies three critical opportunities for the region.

One is focusing economic development efforts toward four target sectors  advanced manufacturing and materials supply, business services/information technology data centers (call centers), health care and natural resources products (such as those made of wood from trees in the regions forests and crops grown by the regions farmers). Firms in those sectors already operate in the region and have the largest potential for growth in terms of both employee numbers and wages, the plan shows.

Expanding cyber infrastructure  broadband Internet  in the region is another opportunity identified because many companies do much of their business and/or internal communications online.

Workforce development and recruitment is another opportunity. The plan suggests these strategies along that line:

 Developing sector partnerships in information technology, engineering and product design and health care. Partnerships would include major employers, educators and other key stakeholders. They would strive to identify opportunities for overcoming challenges and form collaborations to solve any problems that arise.

 Using those partnerships to develop career paths in each sector to more effectively guide our budding talent to in-demand, high-wage career opportunities and to attract private sector investment and economic development opportunities. High school programs could be redesigned to fit with the paths, the plan states.

 Developing work-based learning opportunities for high school students and starting to educate them about career opportunities in elementary school. This will help to ensure that our students are aware of and prepared for in-demand career opportunities available in the region and enable private-sector businesses to identify potential employees earlier, the plan continues.

 Working with local governments, economic developers and other regional stakeholders to create unique incentives to help recruit workers, entrepreneurs and small business owners. An example that the plan mentions is a program to help young adult workers pay off their college loans.

There already are resources in the region to help entrepreneurs and small business owners, the plan acknowledges. An example is small business incubators like the West Piedmont Business Development Center in uptown Martinsville.

But in general, the plan states, these initiatives operate locally rather than regionally. Regional initiatives are needed, it mentions, because businesses typically dont just do business within certain jurisdictions.

And, while such services are available, business people frequently have been confused about which agency to turn to for help due to duplication of services, or they have been frustrated that a program in one locality is not offered elsewhere, the plan states.

Economic developers frequently have touted that Southern Virginia has a high quality of life because of factors such as its low cost of living and many outdoor recreation opportunities.

Companies often take quality of life issues into consideration when deciding on places to locate, so the region should promote its amenities more assertively, the plan shows.

In improving regional cooperation, localities should pool their political influence and lobby as one for regional infrastructure improvements, such as more broadband installation and the construction of Interstate 73, according to the plan. That highway would stretch through Henry County on its way to North Carolina, where much of it already has been built.

Roughly 300 business people and government officials in the region have actively taken part in GO Virginia, and more participated through surveys or conversations with participants, the plan indicates.

A goal in developing the growth and diversification plan, officials have said, has been to encourage the state to help fund projects benefiting the region. The state is more apt to make contributions to regional projects than strictly local ones, they have said.

Looking forward

Martinsville-Henry County officials reached Friday afternoon said they have not yet had time to read much, if any, of the plan  being more than 300 pages, it takes a while to examine thoroughly.

Several officials said that much of what the plan apparently shows, such as the need to help K-12 students learn more about careers available in the region and help them acquire the necessary skills, seems to be things that regional officials and business leaders have known for quite a while.

Its not rocket science, said Lisa Fultz, president of the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce. Some of the initiatives that the plan puts forward are things that the chamber has been striving to help achieve, she said.

The plan is another opportunity to grow our resources  to grow our community and region, said Martinsville Mayor Gene Teague.

Will it actually be used?

Thats the $64,000 question, said Mark Heath, president and CEO of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp.

Debra Buchanan, vice chairman of the Henry County Board of Supervisors, indicated she is pleased that the plan includes educational initiatives.

She emphasized, though, it is important to provide opportunities to learn not just high-tech industrial skills but also trades such as electrical wiring, masonry and plumbing. Area business people have told her they are having problems finding people with such skills to hire, she said.

Teague, Heath and Martinsville Assistant City Manager/Community Development Director Wayne Knox all indicated that while they support regionalism, it could be hard for some Region 3 communities to work together on projects due to distances between them and differences in local economies.

But there are clusters in our region that can work on projects together, Heath said, such as the more urbanized Martinsville-Henry County and Danville-Pittsylvania County areas and the more agricultural and rural areas elsewhere. Its just a matter of determining the right partners for projects, he said.

Fultz envisions partnerships forming based on common needs.

We all have very similar issues in some respects, she said, such as the need to help workers develop soft skills.
U.S. Army recruiters have abruptly canceled enlistment contracts for hundreds of foreign-born military recruits since last week, upending their lives and potentially exposing many to deportation, according to several affected recruits and a retired Army officer and former Pentagon official familiar with their situation.

Many of these enlistees have waited years to join a troubled immigration recruitment program designed to attract highly skilled immigrants into the service in exchange for fast-track citizenship.

Now recruits and experts say that recruiters are shedding their contracts to free themselves from an onerous enlistment process, which includes extensive background investigations, to focus on individuals who can more quickly enlist and thus satisfy strict recruitment targets.

Margaret Stock, a retired Army officer who led creation of the immigration recruitment program, told The Washington Post that she has received dozens of frantic messages from recruits this week, with many more reporting similar action in Facebook groups. She said hundreds could be affected.

"It's a dumpster fire ruining people's lives. The magnitude of incompetence is beyond belief," she said. "We have a war going on. We need these people."

The nationwide disruption comes at a time when President Donald Trump navigates a political minefield, working with Democrats on the fate of "dreamers" while continuing to stoke his anti-immigrant base. It was not immediately clear if Pentagon officials have taken hard-line immigration stances from the White House as a signal to ramp down support for its foreign-born recruitment program.

Stock said a recruiter told her there was pressure from the recruiting command to release foreign-born recruits, with one directive suggesting they had until Sept. 14 to cut them loose without counting against their recruiting targets, an accounting quirk known as "loss forgiveness."

The recruiter told Stock the Army Reserve is struggling to meet its numbers before the fiscal year closes Sept. 30, and canceling on resource-intensive recruits is attractive to some recruiters.

On Friday, the Pentagon denied ordering a mass cancellation of immigrant recruit contracts and said there were no incentives to do so. Officials said that recent directives to recruiters were meant to reiterate immigrant recruits must be separated within two years of enlistment unless they "opt in" for an additional year.

But some recruits among half a dozen interviewed for this article said they were not approaching that two-year limit when their contracts were canceled, sowing confusion about the reason they were cut loose. The Pentagon declined to address whether messages to recruiters contained language that could have been misinterpreted.

Some anti-immigration sentiment has swirled in the Pentagon for years, former staffers have said, where personnel and security officials from the Barack Obama administration larded the immigrant recruiting process with additional security checks for visa holders already vetted by the Departments of State and Homeland Security.

"Immigrant recruits are already screened far more than any other recruits we have," Naomi Verdugo, a former senior recruiting official for the Army at the Pentagon, told The Post, including one American who fought with Russian-backed militants in Ukraine but enlisted in the U.S. Army without triggering suspicion.

"It seems like overkill, but there seems to be a sense that no matter what background check you do, it's never enough," she said.

Verdugo, along with Stock, helped implement the program. One Indian immigrant, a Harvard graduate and early recruit who is now a Special Forces soldier and served in Iraq, was called back to undertake the updated security checks, she said.

"Even though you're in the Army, even though you're naturalized, these policies say 'we're not going to treat you like any other soldier,'" Verdugo said of the concerns over immigrants held by some at the Pentagon.

Internal Pentagon documents obtained by The Post have said the immigrant recruitment program, formally known as the Military Accessions to Vital National Interest (MAVNI), was suspended last fall after the clearance process was paralyzed and officials voiced concern over foreign infiltrators, though it remains unclear if any actual threats have ever materialized.

Lola Mamadzhanova, who immigrated to the United States from Kyrgyzstan in 2009, said she heard that Army recruiters in Evanston, Illinois, texted immigrant recruits last week asking whether they still wanted to enlist, with an unusual condition: They had 10 minutes to respond. She never received the text message.

"The recruiters did some dirty trick just to get me out so I won't be trouble anymore," Mamadzhanova, 27, told The Post on Thursday. Her active-duty contract was canceled Sept. 7, according to a separation document obtained by The Post that said she "declined to enlist." She later learned the recruiters used a wrong number to text her.

The senior recruiter at the station contacted by The Post declined to comment and called Mamadzhanova seven minutes afterward to reverse previous guidance, saying her unlawful immigration status was the reason she was released. She enlisted in December 2015, which puts her three months outside the two-year limit.

Mamadzhanova was assured by other recruiters that her status would not be an issue and she would ship for training soon after her immigration status slipped around her enlistment date. Mamadzhanova, who is fluent in Russian, said the shifting and unclear rules have blindsided her.

"Joining the Army was a dream of mine since America has treated me so well," she said. She applied for asylum in April, joining other recruits who have either sought asylum or fled.

Experts say the relatively small number of recruits in the MAVNI program possess skills with outsize value, such as foreign languages highly sought by Special Operations Command. The program has rotated 10,400 troops into the military, mostly the Army, since its inception in 2009.

Although the military says it benefits from these recruits, they can generate a disproportionate amount of work for recruiters who must navigate an enormous amount of regulations and shifting policies. The layered security checks can add months or years to the enlistment process, which frustrate recruiters who must meet strictly enforced goals by quickly processing recruits.

In a summer memo, the Pentagon lists 2,400 foreign recruits with signed contracts who are drilling in reserve units but have not been naturalized and have not gone to basic training. About 1,800 others were waiting for their active-duty training to begin.

The document acknowledges 1,000 of those troops waited so long that they are no longer in legal status and could be exposed to deportation. That number probably has climbed since the memo was drafted in May or June. Lawmakers have asked Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to intervene on behalf of those recruits.

Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., filed an amendment in the defense authorization bill Tuesday to retain MAVNI recruits until their lengthy background investigations are finished.

"These brave men & women enlisted & the Administration turns its back on them," Harris tweeted Friday. "We must pass Sen. Durbin's & my bill to protect these recruits."

During July 19 testimony in a lawsuit filed by recruits who said the federal government unlawfully delayed their naturalizations, Justice Department attorney Colin Kisor assured the district court in Washington that recruits would only see their contracts canceled if "derogatory" information was found in extensive background investigations.

Mamadzhanova and others said their screenings, which take months to complete, have begun recently and could not have returned results.

Meanwhile, confusion reigned for recruits in multiple states.

At one office in Illinois, a senior recruiter restored a contract less than two hours after The Post inquired about a case. In Texas, a recruiter did the same 12 minutes after a call seeking to confirm whether a recruit's contract was canceled.

An immigrant recruit who came to the United States in 2006 and enlisted in Virginia said her contract was canceled Tuesday after waiting for two years, just as her legal immigration status expired. Recruiters had assured her, saying her contract was a shield from federal immigration authorities, she said. She spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

She now fears deportation to her native Indonesia, which strips native-born people of citizenship if they enlist in a foreign military or pledge loyalty to another country, as she has done.

"I feel devastated," she said. "The Army was my only hope."

Alex Horton reports for the Washington Post
The four women attacked with acid in France Sunday are all attending Boston College, according to a statement from the college.

The students were all sprayed in the face with acid outside of the Marseille-Saint Charles train station early Sunday morning. All four students were treated for burns in a hospital in Marseille and were released, the college said.

"It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns," said Nick Gozik, who directs BC's Office of International Programs. "We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the US Embassy regarding the incident."

The students were identified as juniors Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug, who are enrolled in Boston College's Paris program, and junior Kesley Korsten, who is a student at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.

The Associated Press reports two of the women had facial injuries.

A 41-year-old woman was arrested in connection with the attack. Investigators do not suspect terrorism. The woman was described as "disturbed" by police.
WESTFIELD - Two people were displaced in Westfield Saturday after their trailer caught fire.

Firefighters were called to a residence on Klondike Avenue to find the structure in flames, said Westfield Fire Deputy Mark Devine.

Devine said the fire was quickly put out but that it resulted in an estimated $6 thousand in damages to the structure.

The fire appears to have been caused by shorted electrical wiring on the underside of the trailer, Devine said.

Red Cross is assisting the two tenants with finding lodging.
EASTHAMPTON -- A former Muslim extremist will speak at Flywheel Arts Collective on Tuesday.

Mubin Shaikh, who once celebrated the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, will talk about his "cognitive shift" and decision to leave the jihadist world behind.

Born and raised in Toronto, and a product of the secular public schools, Shaikh adopted radical views at the age of 19 during an "identity crisis." He spent time with domestic extremists, interacted with the Taliban in Pakistan, and later traveled to Syria to join the "great jihad."

It was there that he had a change of heart.

By 2006, Shaikh had infiltrated the Toronto 18 terrorist group as an undercover agent for Canadian intelligence services. All 18 suspects were arrested that year and accused of plotting to bomb downtown Toronto during rush hour. By 2010, 11 of the group had been convicted of terrorism-related offenses.

Shaikh later became an advisor to U.S. national security agencies on issues of radicalization and violent extremism. Co-author of the book Undercover Jihadi, he lives with his wife and children in Toronto.

The free event is part of a series by Critical Connections and the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding. In April, a capacity crowd turned out to hear former white supremacist Christian Picciolini, founder of the group Life After Hate, speak of his own journey.

Tickets for the Sept. 19 event may be reserved by emailing Leif.maynard@gmail.com.



If you go:

What: From radicalization to reform: a conversation with former Muslim extremist Mubin Shaikh

When: Tues: Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m.

Where: Flywheel Arts Collective, 43 Main St.
SPRINGFIELD - Former state Rep. Ben Swan was honored with the Ubora Award at Springfield's 26th annual celebration Saturday night.

The award, established in 1992 to honor African American individuals who demonstrate a commitment to the Springfield community, seemed to be a natural fit for Swan, who has been a city resident for 67 years and has a long history of civil rights activism.

Swan, who, in addition to his work as a state representative, also participated in the historic 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom and served as the Greater Springfield branch of the NAACP, received praise from a number of city officials Saturday, including Mayor Domenic Sarno.

Sarno called Swan's award "well deserved" and complimented him--calling him "a gentleman and a man of his word."

Also present was State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, who expressed gratitude to Swan for his years of service. "Through adversity there has always been a beacon, there's always been that someone," Gonzalez said. "Springfield is blessed to say that Ben Swan came from the South, made his home here," and contributed, Gonzalez said, "not only to the success of the African American community" but to the wider community, as well.

As he was accepting the award, Swan made a call for economic justice, saying that it was something that people "still need to work on."

Swan characterized "economics" as the motivating factor behind most warfare and other forms of injustice.

To aid his point, the awardee told a harrowing story from his youth about the first time he had ever seen a "grown man frightened." The story involved a man who showed up at his family's Mississippi farm, "too frightened to even stand or walk." Swan said his father ultimately took the man into their home and then later took him to a train station so that he could leave Mississippi.

Swan said he later found out that the sole reason that the man had been so frightened was that he was a sharecropper and had asked his plantation owner about the price of the cotton he was harvesting.

"Think about that for a moment: he couldn't even ask how much the cotton was worth."

Swan said the incident stuck with him and eventually led him to the conclusion that most forms of injustice often "come back to economics."

That principle also applies to Springfield, Swan said, who argued that the city had not always been able to reach its full potential due to lack of development.

"Our government needs to protect the people that pay the taxes," Swan said, expressing hope that city government would come together in the future to provide better opportunity for the community of Springfield.

Also honored Saturday night was A'Shaela Chaires, who was presented with the Ahadi Youth Award.

The Ahadi Youth Award was established in 2009 to honor African American young adults who have excelled academically and who show "strong promise of continued excellence."

Chaires, a senior at Williston Northampton School, has been responsible for organizing a number of events at her school based around promoting diversity, and who was chosen last year to attend the Student Diversity Leadership Conference and People of Color Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

Chaires thanked her friends, family and mentors Saturday night, saying she couldn't achieved what she had without the support. "The work of social justice is never over," Chaires said. "There's a lot of work to do, which is actually really exciting because it means I have stuff to do," she said, to laughs and applause.

"Congratulations to you, I am honored to be here with you this evening," Swan said to Chaires.
Lincoln County trio intended on opening a bodyshop but found success building teardrop trailers instead

Four years ago, Adam Montgomery, Bruce Weatherby and Joan Oakland worked together at a grocery store in Troy. Montgomery was in produce, Weatherby was the grocer and Oakland was in the deli.

Little did they know, they were about to dive headfirst into the custom-build recreational trailer industry.

"This all happened by mistake," Montgomery said, standing in the middle of Sherpa Trailers http://sherpatrailers.com/ shop in Libby.

By Justin Franz
Event Connects Producers with Regional, National Wholesale Buyers

The Made in Montana program at the Department of Commerce is bringing five of its member businesses this weekend to the Billings Market, where they will sell their products to wholesale buyers from across the region and the country.

The businesses will be featured together as part of a Made in Montana pavilion. Commerce is covering most of the costs associated with exhibiting at the tradeshow, and Made in Montana program staff will be on hand to provide technical assistance.

Sponsored businesses applied for the opportunity to be part of the pavilion and were required to exhibit at the Made in Montana Tradeshow for Food and Gifts before advancing to the Billings Market.

"The Made in Montana Tradeshow is a great opportunity for member businesses to test the waters of exhibiting at a wholesale tradeshow before expanding to a larger show like the Billings Market," said Commerce Director Pam Haxby-Cote. "As we help to prepare them for success, its exciting to see our members mature and pursue new opportunities to get their authentic Montana products into stores and restaurants around the country."

http://commerce.mt.gov/News/PressReleases/made-in-montana-program-brings-small-businesses-to-billings-market
PFL Tech Inc. is a marketing technology company that provides sales enablement and marketing automation solutions, as well asprinting, mailing, and fulfillment services. They also provide some great Montana Jobs.
A deputy assistant administrator for the Food Safety and Inspection Service told Bart Riley in a letter more than two years after he filed an official complaint: "Regarding willful harassment  five allegations were substantiated."

DAVID McCUMBER [email protected]

http://mtstandard.com/news/local/feds-admit-harassing-small-butte-meat-plant-but-take-no/article_22db6b9c-a417-5d85-9c22-4e8424d6c9cf.html

***

Legg regs take their toll on plants throughout Montana

Editors note: Last of a two-part series. Sundays first installment detailed how Bart Riley, owner of Rileys Meats, received a long list of required changes to his plant when it was visited by Food Safety and Inspection Service front-line supervisor Jeffrey Legg and what happened after Riley found none of the changes were actually required by federal regulations.

DAVID McCUMBER [email protected]

http://ravallirepublic.com/news/state-and-regional/article_30ab08dd-6898-527b-8f88-c2ba8f1ed39e.html
Is there a more painful game of what if? that Americans could play than to wonder what the 1960s, and today, would look like if the United States had avoided military catastrophe in Vietnam?

The pivotal moment may have been in early 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson realized he was trapped in the early days of an escalating war the United States probably couldnt win. He knew the intensifying conflict would distract him from his prized agenda of creating the Great Society at home.

But he also felt he had no choice but to proceed, because hed won election in 1964 to a full term as president by promising to lick the North. I feel like a jackass caught in a Texas hailstorm. I cant run, I cant hide and I cant make it stop, hes quoted as saying in Ken Burns gripping new documentary series, The Vietnam War.

Oh, the power of hindsight, and the tragedy of hubris. Both are powerfully demonstrated in the 10-part, 18-hour PBS documentary series that began airing Sunday. Burns, co-director Lynn Novick and their team worked for 10 years to tell the story, interviewing dozens of witnesses, including combatants on both sides. It was worth the effort.

One of the most important points the series makes is that Johnson clearly understood the risk of beginning a major bombing campaign in the North and committing U.S. ground troops to the conflict. If only hed listened to his own taped telephone conversations, which Burns uses to strong effect. Ever eavesdrop on someone making a terrible decision? Thats what watching The Vietnam War feels like.

The background: In late 1964, the documentary explains, North Vietnam pulled off its first stunning battlefield victory of the war, sending Viet Cong troops deep into the South to Binh Gia, where they annihilated several companies of South Vietnamese army rangers, killing 200. Five American military advisers died. Soon after, the North Vietnamese blew up a hotel occupied by American military personnel, killing 23. If the Viet Cong troops could penetrate so deeply into the South, this said something important about the wars trajectory.

Johnson knew. In March 1965, he shared his concerns in a phone call with Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia, who told the president there appeared to be no way out of Vietnam. Johnson responded: A man can fight if he can see daylight down the road somewhere, but there aint no daylight in Vietnam, theres not a bit. Yet Johnson chose to fight, unleashing Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign, and ordering the first U.S. ground troops into the conflict. The war would last 10 more years. In all, more than 58,000 Americans would die, and several million Vietnamese.

Burns, who with Novick recently visited the Chicago Tribune editorial board, said the purpose of their documentary wasnt to pass judgment or play the What if? parlor game, but to put the passage of time to his advantage as a documentary-maker. After 40 years, the consequences are better understood, and once-hidden details have been uncovered and studied. Also, with the United States and Vietnam now friendly, the filmmakers could interview some of the victors  former Vietnamese soldiers who seemed comfortable telling their stories. Many Americans also participated.

The Vietnam era was polarizing and it was agonizing, spawning political upheaval and a cultural revolution in the U.S. Burns believes the war unleashed an era of partisanship the nation reckons with today. In all, the Vietnam War provides enduring lessons, but also puzzles. How is it that four decades after the morass of Vietnam, America is 16 years into another long-running, problematic war, this one in Afghanistan? What does that say about the significance of studying history?

War is revealing and human nature doesnt change are how Burns answers those questions. Human nature superimposes itself on the seemingly random chaos of events that take place. By having historical awareness, you can probably have a better perspective on the moment.

For that reason among others, Vietnam is worth watching.
Lets consider the evidence.

He was sued for systematically refusing to rent to African-Americans and settled out of court.

He demanded the death penalty for five black and Hispanic kids charged in the notorious Central Park jogger rape case  and refuses to recant to this day, though the young men were long ago exonerated and set free.

He had a disdain for African-Americans so pronounced that, according to an employee at one of his casinos, supervisors would remove black workers from the floor and ensconce them in a back room whenever he came through.

He was once quoted as saying of a black accountant: Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. I think that the guy is lazy. And its probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. Its not anything they can control.

He retweeted racist and anti-Semitic insults from Nazi sympathizers, called Mexican immigrants rapists and said a judge was unfit to preside over a case because of his Mexican heritage.

He led the inane birther movement that claimed President Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

He suggested moral equivalence between white supremacists and those who oppose them.

He is embraced by bigots, who recognize him as one of their own. Said former Klan leader David Duke, We are determined to take our country back. ... Thats what we believe in. Thats why we voted for Donald Trump ...

So what, pray tell, did Jemele Hill get wrong? Last week, the co-host of ESPNs SportsCenter issued tweets calling the so-called president, among other things, a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.

Youd have thought she advocated kindergarten classes in Satanism from the speed with which ESPN disavowed her for what it called inappropriate tweets. Hill would eventually apologize for putting the company in such an awkward position. But ESPNs response was mild compared to the White Houses rebuke. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders pronounced Hills tweets a fireable offense.

Really? Well, if Hill deserves firing for calling Trump a white supremacist, then what does he get for actually being one?

But we already know the answer, dont we? Donald John Trump is a man whose cognitive and moral deficits would, in a sane country, render him unfit to clean toilets at a reasonably respectable strip club. But he became president. And as Ta-Nehisi Coates argues in the new issue of The Atlantic, he was elected largely because of his racism  not despite it  having run on an implicit promise to restore white primacy after eight years of the black interloper Obama.

And here, someone will protest that she voted for Trump but doesnt consider herself a white supremacist. Yet that hypothetical voter and 63 million others did vote  knowingly  for white supremacy even if they disavow the ideology for themselves. So whats the material difference?

There is none. Thats a bitter truth some of us would prefer not to face, indicting as it does cherished myths about ourselves and our country and how we overcame.

For the record, the only fireable offense here is Trumps impersonation of a president. But even if he is held accountable in 2020, it wont fix, or even address, that frightened, primitive thing inside them that led so many to reach out to him in the first place.

So, the fact of the matter is, Jemele Hill got nothing wrong. No, shes in trouble because she did the opposite.

She told entirely too much truth.


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Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence may be receiving mixed reviews for her latest release Mother!' directed by Darren Aronofsky, but one can't help praise Lawrence's commendable performance as a woman whose tranquil life is turned upside down when a mysterious couple comes to stay at their house; in this psychological horror movie. Well, it seems that movie was just a glimpse of how versatile an actor Jennifer is and possibly a sneak peek into the various challenging roles she will be taking up in her upcoming movies. The trailer of Jennifer's next movie Red Sparrow' was recently released by 20th Century Fox and our jaws actually dropped on the floor when we realized how twisted and intense the movie is going to be.

 20th Century Fox

Fulfilling the fanciful wish (of playing James Bond's counterpart) of every fan out there, Lawrence will be seen as a dangerously seductive Russian ballerina-turned-assassin, who uses her body and mind as weapons to kill the enemies. She looks striking as a cold-blooded killer who does not think twice before seducing and manipulating anyone, only to kill them eventually. In fact, her straight face and gawking eyes are reasons enough for anyone to fall for her charm. However, things turn wary when she falls for a CIA officer, played by Joel Edgerton. With Red Sparrow', Lawrence is reuniting with director Francis Lawrence, who has earlier worked with her in The Hunger Games' series. The movie is slated to release on March 2, 2018 and also stars Jeremy Irons, Mary-Louise Parker, Charlotte Rampling, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

The Hunger Games' actress Jennifer Lawrence has been extremely busy and tied up with her work and we don't need any proof of her busy schedule, because the release of her last film Mother!' and the trailer of the upcoming movie Red Sparrow', speak volumes of the hard work she has been doing throughout the year. One might think that when does she take a break? Well, guess what she might be taking one now, of two years. Reportedly, the actress plans to take a long break from acting. According to a report in CBS News, when she was asked by Savannah Guthrie on the Today' show about whether she is taking any break, she said I'm taking one. I don't have anything set for two years. The actor is currently busy with the promotions of Darren Aronofsky's Mother!' and is gearing up for her upcoming releases  Red Sparrow', and X-Men: Dark Phoenix'.
The roadmap for the implementation of the Greek-German Bilateral Action Plan was drawn up jointly by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Greece and Germany at the first round of inter-ministerial consultations on the level of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which took place on Friday, 15 September 2017, in Berlin.

The Greek and German Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Economy, Energy, Culture and Youth recognized the good progress made in the framework of their bilateral cooperation since the signing of the Action Plan. The Action Plan for Bilateral Cooperation, which was signed in Athens on 4 December 2016, by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Kotzias, and his German counterpart at the time, current federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is a milestone in Greek-German relations, constituting the framework for new ideas and new activities, towards the intensification and qualitative enhancement of relations between the two countries.

Following the first round of consultations, the head of the Greek delegation, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Amanatidis, stated the following: Germany acknowledges the positive steps Greece has taken and will work to support the positive prospects of the Greek economy, adding that For our part, we support a european agenda that promotes policies and reforms that bolster growth, create new jobs and provide relief for the unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. We need to create opportunities for growth and job creation in Europe.

The roadmap for the implementation of the Greek-German Bilateral Action Plan consists of the following pillars:

1) Political cooperation: consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, cooperation between diplomatic academies, dialogue on migration

2) Economic and technological cooperation: promotion of exports, cooperation in the sectors of energy, tourism

3) Scientific, cultural and educational cooperation: research cooperation, professional training, cultural cooperation

4) Cooperation on the social level: Greek-German Youth Office

Meetings are scheduled to be held in the coming months  in Athens and Berlin  to monitor the implementation of the roadmap.

The second round of consultations on the level of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs will take place in Athens, by September 2018 at the latest.
Camp Lejeune Town Halls Aim to Help Those Exposed to Toxic Water. Heres How You Can Go.

Retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger made it his mission to tell the world that if they lived or served on Camp Lejeune...
ESCANABA, MI -- Upper Hand Brewery will switch from offering beer in 12-ounce bottles to 12-ounce cans starting in spring 2018.

The cans will be packaged in six-packs and specialty four-packs, and will include new labels that establish a stronger tie to the brewery's Upper Peninsula roots.

"Part of the allure of living in and visiting the U.P. is the amazing opportunities for outdoor recreation," Laura Bell, CEO of Bell's Brewery Inc. and Upper Hand Brewery, said in a press release. "Cans can go more places than bottles - whether exploring the trails, campgrounds, or beaches, we want our fans to feel comfortable bringing us along on their adventures."

The switch also allows Upper Hand to add more beers. Its flagship beers UPA, Yooper Ale and Escanaba Black Beer will remain. The brewery also will produce a light lager called Upper Hand Light and will release its first IPA in summer 2018. The IPA is yet to be named, but it will join the year-round lineup.

Upper Hand's seasonal and specialty beers Laughing Fish, 906 Ale and Double Ringer will be available in cans only when they are released in 2018 and 2019. Upper Hand will continue to offer its brands on draft.

Upper Hand beers are available in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota.
YPSILANTI, MI - As the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August put white nationalism center stage in national discussion, teachers in Washtenaw County and across the country wondered how they would talk to their students about what happened.

Lynne Settles, an art teacher at Ypsilanti Community High School, knew she would offer her students the same thing she had before in similar situations: the chance to process their feelings through art.

"They know that art is a form of communication and they can express their thoughts and ideas through that," said Settles. "So they are quick to come up and say, 'Hey, we need to do a piece on that,' or, 'We need to do a show on that.'"

Now in the second week of the school year, Settles said she's still establishing relationships with her students, and they haven't yet delved into a class discussion about the attacks in Charlottesville and President Donald Trump's controversial response that there was "blame on both sides" - the white nationalists and the counter-protesters - for the violence.

But Settles says she's prepared to broach the subject if students want to talk about it, and she said a couple of students have recently asked her about the implications of the potential repeal of the protections currently offered to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children.

This isn't the first time in U.S. history racial tensions have come to a head or the daily news cycle has sparked conversations about how minority groups are treated in America.

But teachers are increasingly expected to guide students through emotionally- and politically-charged discussions as they make sense of the world around them.

"In the beginning of my career, these conversations were kind of taboo, or these conversations were left for social studies classes to talk about," said Settles, who has been teaching for about two decades and is starting her fourth school year at YCHS. "Now, we talk about it if it comes up."

Why talk about race at school?

Lupe Bryan, a seventh-grade English teacher at Owosso Middle School, said she makes a point to facilitate a class discussion about current events that involve racial discrimination.

She said she's naturally interested in social justice issues, and as the only teacher of color in a school where 92 percent of students are white, Bryan said she feels an extra responsibility to talk about diversity with her students.

"If it's not talked about in my class, there's a chance it won't be talked about in another class in our school," said Bryan, who is Mexican-American and has been teaching for four years. "I want to give them that opportunity to explore it, ask questions about it and have authentic dialogue about how it affects them."

After the incident in Charlottesville, Bryan wrote a blog post compiling a list of resources shared by educators across the country via social media, using the #CharlottesvilleCurriculum hashtag. In that post, Bryan raised the question of whether Trump is a good role model for students - a question many educators have grappled with in the 10 months since Trump's election.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, DeWitt Junior High School responded to students forming a human wall to keep minority students from getting to their destination. An Ann Arbor elementary school principal had to explain to second graders that minorities would not be forced to leave the country when Trump became president.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Jeanice Swift issued multiple statements throughout the 2016-17 school year emphasizing the district's commitment to inclusivity, valuing diversity and protecting immigrants and people who identify as LGBTQ, in response to national rhetoric to the contrary.

"Last year was really hard with the types of conversations I had to have in my classroom and the things that were going on with the politics in our country and (students) thinking if the president says something, then it's got to be OK. And that's not true," Bryan said.

Settles said her students were visibly upset the day after the election, so she had them create collages of words and images explaining how they felt. She hung the pieces in her classroom - without the artists' names attached - and asked students to talk about the emotions they saw represented in each collage.

That project allowing students to work through their initial reactions to the election led to a larger undertaking that resulted in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day peace march and installation on Frederick Douglass.

Settles also teaches an art and social protest unit every year. Last school year, students' work was displayed at a local coffee shop, and students were invited to talk about what inspired the signs they created. Their posters included messages about how race, religion, politics and wealth have divided Americans and Martin Luther King Jr. quotes.

"It makes them feel important. It makes them confident that 'I do matter, my thoughts do matter,'" Settles said. "You want them to start to think for themselves and act for themselves and put that thought in."

Sarah Giddings, a social studies teacher at the Washtenaw Alliance for Virtual Education in Ypsilanti, agreed high schoolers are often looking for an outlet where their voices will be heard.

While high school seniors may be old enough to vote or enlist in the military, Giddings said teenagers often feel their opinions are not taken seriously by politicians or the broader community.

"They don't really feel like they're listened to in any other forum but school," she said. "Then there's a response on our part if this is the place where they feel safe enough to have these really adult conversations."

Giddings, who has been a teacher for 13 years and at WAVE for six years, recently attended a session on "courageous conversations" at a professional development conference prior to the start of the 2017-18 school year.

Topics for the conference were decided the day of the event based on input from attendees, so the fact that several Washtenaw County educators requested more resources on talking to students about social justice issues shows this is a pressing issue, Giddings said.

"I think people think they're in a post-racial society and that this generation isn't affected as much by everything," she said. "But we have students who are really, deeply affected by what's going on."

How to have a 'courageous conversation'

Teachers said they let students do most of the talking when it comes to conversations about difficult topics.

Bryan said she will have her students read an article or watch a news clip, and then the students will sit in a circle to talk about what they think about what happened. She encourages students to ask and answer each other's questions.

The discussion can get heated at times, she said, but she teaches her students to be respectful even when they disagree with someone.

"(I tell students), 'Don't go up to your friend and call them a racist if they don't agree with you. But try to have meaningful conversations where you help them see your side,'" Bryan said. "It's hard as a teacher because you're not really supposed to be political in a lot of ways with your students. You don't want to look like you're trying to sway them in different ways. ... It's hard to talk about it."

Giddings said she finds value in listening to students' perspectives, even when she does not agree with them. WAVE is a year-round virtual school that also offers face-to-face classes. The school enrolls students from across Washtenaw County, which has added a different dynamic to their class discussions, Giddings said.

"Because we draw from all the districts, there's a level of diversity of living situation and there's exposure in many ways to different students that they might not have known before," she said. "In some ways, I think that's been a really good function of how we can bring up these issues."

WAVE has a current events class where students are encouraged to share their opinions. Giddings said they establish a common set of expectations for how to participate in the conversation, expect students to use facts to back up their claims and talk about how to identify credible sources of information.

"So many of them are parroting things they've heard. ... The media literacy is something that, this year especially, has become even more of a role of social studies," Giddings said. "I think part of what our job is as high school teachers is to give base for a wide variety of viewpoints."
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Three people were shot outside The Orbit Room Sunday morning, Grand Rapids police said.

According to a release from the Grand Rapids Police Department, the incident occurred at 2:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the bar and concert venue, located at 2525 Lake Eastbrook Blvd. SE. Police said an investigation showed that a fight broke out prior to the shooting.

Police found a 28-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the leg, who declined medical treatment. Two other male victims, aged 38 and 28, arrived at Blodgett Hospital a short time later.

The 38-year-old man was treated for a gunshot wound in his foot, and the 28-year-old man was shot in the calf.

A suspect was identified, but not found by police. Officers described him as a black man between 35 and 40 years of old, standing 5 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds.

The suspect was last seen leaving the area in a dark, four-door sedan.

The GRPD's Major Case Team is investigating the incident. Anyone with additional information is asked to call (616) 456-3400 or (616) 774-2345.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Four juveniles were arrested for allegedly stealing weapons from a Grandville Cabela's.

Grand Rapids police executed a search warrant Sunday morning at a home occupied by a juvenile suspected of the stealing the guns. Police reported an arrest was made at 8 a.m. on Sept. 17 at a residence on Shangrai La Drive near Englewood Avenue in Grand Rapids.

According to a release from the Grand Rapids Police Department, officers were called after a report of shots fired near Diamond Avenue and Baxter Street at 5:10 p.m. on Saturday evening. Police stopped the vehicle in a parking lot near 28th Street and Englewood Avenue SE, and four juveniles fled on foot.

Police arrested three of the suspects, but a fourth escaped to the home on Shangrai La Drive.

Officers attempted to execute the search warrant at 3:12 a.m. on Sunday morning. After more than four hours of negotiations, the suspect surrendered.

The suspects are aged 13, 14, 15 and 16.

The Grandville Police Department will work with the Kent County Prosecutor's Office to determine how the juveniles will be charged.
JACKSON, MI - Two Jackson-area students are among those who received appointments from U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg this year and are attending U.S. military academies.

Zach Calderone, a Hanover-Horton High School graduate, and Faith Van Havel, a Hillsdale Academy graduate, received nominations from Walberg, R-Tipton, who represents Michigan's 7th District.

Calderone was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., while Van Havel was admitted to the U.S. Air Force Academy.

"These young men and women are shining stars in the classroom and in the community," Walberg said in a press release. "They have shown exceptional dedication, character, and scholarship, and I applaud these students for receiving an appointment to one of our nation's top military academies. Our country is forever grateful for their commitment to service and a cause greater than themselves."
MUSKEGON, MI - The Lakeshore Museum's will feature events for all ages this upcoming fall.

The museum is known for its exhibits and educational programs that highlight the history of Muskegon County. Here several events that will take place this fall.

September Events:

Friday Family Fun Night: Wild side of the Museum

The Blandford Nature Center will showcase live animal presentations during the Wild side of the Museum event from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, as a part of the museum's Family Friday Fun Nights.

Attendees will be able to see the animals and learn about their habits.

The Sensory Safari Mobile Wildlife Education Center from the Michigan Chapter of Safari Club International will also take part in the event. Attendees will be able to see and touch mounted animals from around the country and across the world. Wildlife themed stations will also be set up throughout the museum with skulls, furs and some museum specimens that aren't usually on display.

Admission for the event is $3 per person for out-of-county visitors, and free for Muskegon County residents and museum members.

Touring the Hackley Historic Site

All-access tours of the homes of Muskegon's lumber barons will take place from 5-6 p.m. and 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21. Visitors will be able to explore the attics, porches and basements of the Victorian Era homes at the Hackley & Hume historic site.

Attendees will get a first-hand look at what the homes looked like when Charles Hackley's and Thomas Hume's families lived there. The laundry area and work rooms in the basement of the Hackley home will also be available to view. The maintenance department will hold a workshop in the basement of the Hume home where visitors will learn about the work being done to preserve the 120-year-old homes.

Admission is $15 for museum members and $20 for non-members.

Lumber Baron's Ball 2017

The 24th installment of the Lakeshore Museum Center's Lumber Baron's Ball 2017 will feature a Steam-punk theme from 6-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Hackley Administration Building. Tickets are $85 per person.

There will be a food station, cash bar and live music during the ball. A silent auction will also take place. Guests will also be able to choose to support an entire museum project or part of a project during the ball. The projects include an augmented reality sandbox for the Science Center, a decorative hand-carved grill and a Makita Lithium drill set for use with exhibit construction and repair.

October Events:

Friday Family Fun Night: Smashing Pumpkins

Ahead of Halloween, visitors will be able to watch Lakeshore Museum Center staff members smash pumpkins using a museum-built trebuchet. Attendees will also learn about the science of smashing pumpkins and enjoy pumpkin-science demonstrations. The event takes place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, and is free for Muskegon County residents and $3 for non-residents. Children 2 and under are free.

Obituary Tour

Visitors will be able to explore the deaths, funerals and autopsies that occurred in the Hackley and Hume houses in the 1800s and early 1900s. Participants will also see a reenactment of Julia Hackley's funeral service and learn about the practices of death and dying during the Victorian Era.

Tours will be 7-8 p.m. and 8:30-9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25 and Thursday Oct. 26. Admission is $15 for Museum Members and $20 for non-members. To purchase tickets, call (231) 724-5535.

Haunted Trail

As Halloween gets closer, attendees will be able to experience a haunted trail at Michigan's Heritage Park in Whitehall.

Participants will be able to navigate through several myths, legends and stories while traveling through the park at night. A guide will take participants through dark paths, past monsters from Native American folklore, murderers from the 19th century and other creatures and ghouls. The trail will be open from 8-10:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27 and Saturday, Oct. 28. Admission is $15, and parents must accompany participants under 13.

Weekend Tours of Hackley and Hume Historic Site

There will be weekend tours of the Hackley and Hume Historic Site during the month of October from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $7 for adults and teens, $5 for 65 and older and free for children 12 and under.

November Events:

Friday Family Fun Night: Flashlight Night the Museum

The Lakeshore Museum Center will collaborate with Downtown Muskegon Now and the Downtown Muskegon Business Improvement District to offer flashlight-guided tours of the museum's lower level. The family-friendly event will include special activities on the main level before and after the tour. The tour will take place from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3. Admission is free for Muskegon County residents and $3 for non-residents.

Hackley and Hume homes holiday experience

Visitors will get a chance to take wagon rides from the historic homes to Hackley Park for the lighting of a Christmas tree, ornament decorating, cookies and hot chocolate. Caroling in the courtyard of the houses will also take place.

This event will feature multiple sessions, beginning Saturday, Nov. 25 from 1-p.m.- 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 26 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., as well as sessions on Dec. 2, 26 and 27. Admission is $7 for adults and teens, $5 for 65 and older and free for those 12 and under.
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CNBC Awaaz

The government has finally managed to resolve issues related to VSNL's surplus land, 15 years after the company was sold to Tatas. The government will file an application with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) next week for the demerger of the land.

The government had floated a special purpose vehicle, namely Hemisphere Properties India Ltd (HPIL), to take over VSNL's surplus land. Hemisphere Properties was formed in 2005-06 and the government had picked up 51.12 percent stake in the company in March 2014.

In 2002, Tata Communications had bought a 45 percent stake in VSNL for around Rs 1,500 crore. However, VSNLs land assets were not part of the transaction. The VSNL now owns 738 acres of land across Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.

Table: VSNL's surplus land

Last year, Hemisphere Properties had appointed DSK Legal as a consultant to assess the valuations and to suggest the methodology to dispose of the land. The consultant in its report has stated that the present value of this land at circle rate is around Rs 15,000 crores. DSK Legal has also suggested that if the government takes NBCC on board to develop property on the land, it can realize more value.

PMO's push behind the land sale

Sources at the Department of Telecom indicate that the Prime Minister's office (PMO) has put its weight behind the VSNL land sale and directed the department to fast track it. Last month, re-measurement of land was carried out and now the land measures 738 acres.

Originally in 2002, when the government divested its stake in VSNL the land bank was 773 acre. However, around 30 acres of land was taken over by societies in Tamil Nadu after Madras High Court order. Another 2.5 acre land in Delhi's posh area, Greater Kailash, was acquired by the Delhi Metro. In a letter written to the Telecom ministry last month, Tata Communications had raised an objection on the shrinking land bank but the department chucked its objections.

Gains for Tata Communications

Earlier, demerger of land could not take place because the Tata group had refused to pay the stamp duty as it was neither the owner of the land, nor it is going to be the beneficiary in any form. However, the government last year had passed the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, which helped VSNL to unlock the land value. The Bill aimed to exempt the land sale from capital gains tax (CGT) and help the government to transfer its land.

The major beneficiary by the sale of land now would be the government, which has 51% stake in HPIL. According to the agreement, minority shareholders and ADR holders will get around 25%, while around 4% will go to the Tata group.
The Nifty closed flat with a slight negative bias on Friday after North Korea test-fired another missile that flew over Japans northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean. The index closed flat as traders preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the weekend. The index made an indecisive pattern, Spinning Top kind of pattern for the third consecutive day in a row.

A Spinning Top candle is often regarded as a neutral pattern which suggests indecisiveness among both bulls as well as bears. When a Spinning Top is formed in an uptrend, the one we are in right now, it suggests that the bulls are losing conviction and a possible top could be in place, but it will still require confirmation.

The markets again rallied intraday to come in touching distance with all-time highs, the initial gap down was largely attributed to Geopolitical tensions around North Korea, Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder & Head of Trading, Zerodha told Moneycontrol.

News of Aircel bankruptcy around closing again drove the markets slightly lower. We continue to hold a short-term bearish and a long-term bullish strategy on the markets. We would advise refraining from taking big bets on the long side right now, he added.

The index witnessed selling pressure soon after it climbed its crucial resistance level of 10,100. The good part is that it closed above its 5-days exponential moving average (DEMA) placed at 10,059.

It looks like bulls are awaiting fresh signals but uncertainty around the global front is not giving enough conviction to bulls to take charge of D-Street, suggest experts. A decisive move above its previous record high of 10,138 is required for the index to breakout.

The Nifty opened at 10,062.35 and dipped slightly towards its intraday low of 10,043.65. It rose to 10,115.15 before closing the day at 10,085.40, down 1.2 points.

The Nifty continued its range bound move for the third trading day. Traders at this juncture need to be utmost cautious as this rally should perish going forward without adding much value addition to the previous top of 10,137 even if it breaks out, Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in told Moneycontrol.

We believe that it is in a topping formation and once the signs of reversal get confirmed the subsequent down leg shall drag down the indices towards 9,700 kind of levels, he said.

Mazhar advises traders to ride their long positions with a stop below 10,000 on a closing basis and make use of this rally if any to exit their long positions even on strength beyond 10,137 levels.

We have collated the top ten data points to help you spot profitable trade:

Key Support & Resistance Level for Nifty:

The Nifty closed at 10,085.4 on Monday amid volatile times in D-Street following North Koreas missile launch. According to Pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 10,047.67, followed by 10,009.93. If the index starts to move higher, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,119.17, followed by 10,152.93.

Nifty Bank:

The Nifty Bank closed at 24,844.3 on Friday. The important Pivot level which will act as crucial support for the index is placed at 24,785 followed by 24,725.7. On the upside, the key resistance level is 24,910.2 followed by 24,976.1.

Call Options Data:

Maximum Call open interest (OI) of 48.85 lakh contracts stands at strike price 10,200 which will act as a crucial resistance level for the index in September series, followed by 10,100 which now holds 43.38 lakh contracts in open interest and 10,000 which has accumulated 28.14 lakh contracts in OI.

Call Writing was seen at strike prices 10,200 (5.29 lakh contracts added), followed by 10,500 (2.18 lakh contracts were added) and 10,100, which saw the addition of 2.13 lakh contracts.

Meanwhile, Call unwinding was seen at strike prices 10,300 (3.53 lakh contracts shed), 10,000 (0.74 lakh contracts shed), and 9,900 (0.62 lakh contracts shed).

Put Options Data:

Maximum Put OI of 64.50 lakh contracts was seen at strike price 9,900 which will act as a crucial base for the index in September series followed by 10,000 which has accumulated 54.76 lakh contracts in open interest, and 9,800 which now holds 45.10 lakh contracts in open interest.

Put Writing was seen at the strike price of 9,900 (5.7 lakh contracts added), followed by 9,800, which saw an addition of 2.22 lakh contracts and 10,300 (1.45 lakh contracts added).

Meanwhile, Put unwinding was seen at strike prices 9,700, which shed 5.83 lakh contracts, followed by 9,500, which saw the shedding of 1.39 lakh contracts and 10,100, which shed 1.28 lakh contracts.

FII & DII Data:

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 418.86 crore, compared to domestic institutional investors (DIIs), who bought shares worth Rs 125.55 crore in the Indian equity market on Friday.

Stocks with high delivery percentage:

High delivery percentage suggests that investors are accepting the delivery of the stock, which means that investors are bullish on the stock.

41 stocks saw Long Buildup:

32 stocks saw Short Covering:

A decrease in open interest along with an increase in price mostly indicates short covering.

52 stocks saw Long Unwinding:

Long Unwinding happens when there is a decrease in OI as well as in price.

87 stocks saw Short Buildup

An increase in open interest along with a decrease in price mostly indicates short positions being built up.
Jay Purohit

After a gap down opening on the back of another missile test by North Korea, the Nifty continued the bearish momentum in the first half of Fridays session.

However, we witnessed a decent recovery in the latter half. The bulls showed some strength from the last few sessions but the Nifty wasn't able to cross its previous high of 10,138.

However, despite the ongoing geopolitical tensions, the Nifty managed to conclude the week at record highs on the weekly closing basis.

In the week gone by, many midcap counters have shown tremendous outperformance and as a result, the Nifty Midcap 50 index made a new all-time high.

On the sectoral front, the pharma index was the top weekly gainer, followed by decent gains in banking counters.

At the current juncture, Nifty is taking resistance around its previous highs of 10,138 from the last few sessions. The negative implication of a Bearish Harmonic Pattern called Bearish AB=CD and the Bearish Engulfing pattern formed on weekly chart in last month is still intact and the Bulls need to pull the index above its strong hurdle of 10,150 on a closing basis to negate the same.

In that case, the Nifty will resume its broader uptrend and we wont be surprised to see 10,30010,350 levels in the coming weeks.

From the last couple of weeks, we are witnessing a good amount of open interest additions in both Nifty and Bank Nifty. Positions in Nifty were mixed, while the Bank Nifty added a good amount of longs in recent up move, which certainly bodes well for the bulls.

The option activity suggests the highest put concentration at 9,900, which is likely to act as major support for the index. On the other hand, call writing was seen in 10,200 and 10,300 strikes.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who were a net seller in cash market segment worth around Rs 16,000 crore in August, continued to curb liquidity in a current month too as they already sold equities to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore in first ten trading sessions of September.

The market has absorbed the selling pressure from the stronger hands (FIIs) with an ease and is thus showing strength in the near term. Considering the positive placement of technical indicators on the daily chart, it will be a matter of time before the Nifty hits a new high.

Till the time the Nifty sustains above its support zone of 9,96510,028, traders are advised to trade with a positive bias as we may see 10,300 10,350 levels on Nifty in the coming weeks.

Going ahead, long positions can be taken in pharma, PSU banking and IT counters as they may continue their positive momentum.

The author is Technical & Derivatives Analyst at Centrum Broking Limited.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by the investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approved a proposal to increase the civilians' share in the senior hierarchy of the country's powerful spy agency - the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Abbasi on September 15 approved the proposal to increase the number of directors general (DGs)  the highest civilian post in the agency  from one to four, Dawn reported today.

The post of civilian DG in the ISI is a grade 21 position, equivalent to a serving major general of the armed forces. Previously, there was only one civilian DG post in the intelligence agency.

Abbasi approved the summary sent to the PM Office by the Defence Ministry, proposing four civilian DGs in the ISI.

In addition, the prime minister has also enhanced the number of deputy directors general (DDGs) from eight to 15. The same summary recommended the creation of seven additional DDG posts for civilian officers in grade 20.

"The prime minister has seen and is pleased to approve the proposal at para 5 read with the views of Establishment Division and of Finance Division," according to the office order issued by the PM Office on September 15.

When contacted, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet and Establishment Division Raja Javed Ikhlas termed the order "a routine matter".

An official of the military's media wing - Inter-Services Public Relations - did not comment on the development, but said that since the prime minister was the competent authority, as the ISI worked under the PM Secretariat, it was his prerogative to increase the sanctioned posts in the agency.

Formed in 1948 as an independent unit to strengthen the countrys intelligence network, ISI was formerly part of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which handled intelligence-sharing between different branches of the military, as well as external intelligence gathering.

Its headquarters was initially located in Rawalpindi, but was later moved to Islamabad.

In 1950, ISI was officially given the task of safeguarding Pakistani interests and national security, inside and outside the country.

During the Soviet-Afghan war, ISI was strengthened and re-organised, with a handful of posts being created for civilians from the Defence Intelligence Services (DIS) cadre.

According to a former ISI official, it was in 2005 when Gen Pervez Musharraf approved the posting of a civilian as DG ISI in grade 21 for the first time. The process for the promotion of civilian ISI officers was slow, since there was only one DG slot, he said.

However, with the addition of seven grade 20 and three grade 21 posts, the official hoped that promotion of civilians, especially young DIS officers working in "hard areas", would be accelerated.

In June 2013, some ISI officials had petitioned the Islamabad High Court against the slow pace of their promotions. The petition stated that there were over 300 officers in grade 17 to 21 in the five cadres of the ISI, including the Surveillance (field intelligence) cadre, Vetting cadre, Joint Intelligence Miscellaneous cadre, Ministerial cadre and DIS.

The petition was dismissed by IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi in September the same year, saying that the aggrieved officials should approach the Federal Services Tribunal, which was the relevant forum for such petitions. PTI SH .
Environmental activists are due to start a week of protests on Sunday against a major coal mining project they say will damage Australia's Great Barrier Reef and contribute to global warming.

The AUD 16.5 billion (USD 13.20 billion) project in Queensland, headed by Adani Group, has been delayed for more than five years by court challenges from environmentalists and indigenous groups. The protestors are concerned about reef damage, climate change, and the impact on native land and water supply.

The court challenges failed and a workers' camp was opened in August to begin building the project's $3.2 billion first stage.

The "Frontline Action on Coal" and the "Reef Defenders" groups are to start their protests at Bowen, in the Whitsunday region of Queensland where the reef is situated.

Paul Jukes, a Whitsunday farmer and tourism operator, told Reuters by telephone that the demonstrations would start with a march but could extend to direct action such as activists locking themselves to equipment to prevent it from being moved.

"It will be completely peaceful," he said.

The project is located in the remote Galilee Basin, a 247,000 square-kilometre (95,000 square miles) expanse in the central outback, that some believe, has the potential to become Australia's largest coal-producing region.

Gautam Adani has said the project would create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. Coal from the mine would be exported to India.

The mine is located 400 km (250 miles) from a Pacific Ocean shipping terminal. Adani is seeking an AUD 900 million ($720 million) concessional government loan to help build a rail line linked to a port.

The Australian government is assessing whether to grant Adani the loan through its Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility intended to promote economic development in rural regions.

($1 = 1.2498 Australian dollars)
Air India has launched its direct flight to the Danish capital from New Delhi, the 11th destination for the national carrier in Europe, describing it as connecting 'Maharaja with the Mermaid'.

The flight landed at the airport here after more than a seven-hour journey at around 1900 hours (local time) today.

In Air India's trademark style, the inaugural flight was operated by an all-woman crew.

The national carrier has been expanding its international operations and has started services to overseas destinations, including Washington and Stockholm so far this year.

To mark the launch of the Copenhagen flight, Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal lit the traditional lamp at Terminal 3 of the airport in New Delhi on September 16.

The flight was accorded a ceremonial water canon salute after landing at the Copenhagen airport and there was also a cake cutting function at the airport.

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is Air India's 44th international destination and 11th European non-stop destination.

This is the 11th destination in Europe for Air India and it is "connecting the Mermaid with the Maharaja", Bansal said today, adding that he was looking forward for a good passenger load.

The iconic "Little Mermaid" statue in Copenhagen is one of the city's most famous monuments. The bronze structure sits on a rock by waterside in the city and represents a famous character from a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

The Air India service to Copenhagen will be operated with a Dreamliner aircraft thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

"AI 157 will depart from Delhi at 1430 hours to reach Copenhagen at 1845 hours the same day. The return flight AI 158 will leave Copenhagen at 2045 hours and reach Delhi at 0735 hours the next day," the airline said in a statement.

To mark the launch of the flight to Copenhagen, Air India is offering return fares starting from Rs 42,700, inclusive of all taxes.

Apart from Copenhagen, the airline has direct flights to Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Paris, Birmingham and London.

The services to Moscow is temporarily suspended and would restart in October, an airline official said.

Air India group operates to 44 international destinations and over 70 domestic stations. It has an operating fleet of 142 aircraft, including A320, B777 and B737-800 planes.

To revive Air India, which has a huge debt burden, the government is working on the modalities for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its five subsidiaries.
narendra_Modi_PM

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, people took to Twitter to wish him but not only through words but also through their actions. As BJP will observe this day as 'Seva Diwas' across the country, people posted on social media pictures wielding brooms, cleaning their locality.

Joining the common man are the BJP leaders who will attend medical camps, blood donation events, and also take part in cleanliness drives.

BJP chief Amit Shah will be in Ranchi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Kirti Nagar in Delhi, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal in Chennai, and Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in Mumbai, as part of the party's plan to celebrate their top leader's birthday as a "day of service" (Seva Diwas) across the country, a party leader said.

All ministers and other party leaders will attend the events nationwide, he said.

The day also marked the launch of Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat which is the second largest in the world in terms of volume and size. It comes second to the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States.

Modi dedicated to the nation the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat on the river Narmada, at an event coinciding with his 67th birthday.

The event will take place at Kevadia in Narmada district.

After the inauguration at the dam site at Kevadia, Modi will go to Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada river where a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, billed as a 'Statue of Unity', and a memorial complex dedicated to the country's first home minister are coming up.

Thereafter, Modi will attend the closing ceremony of 'Narmada Mahotsav', and address a gathering at Dabhoi.

He will also lay the foundation stone for National Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum during the event.

Modi will then visit Amreli in Saurashtra where he will attend a host of programmes and address a public gathering.
Taking a jibe at Pakistan, a top Indian diplomat has said Islamabad's decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN, which has not been discussed at the world body for decades, is like 'Miyan ki daud masjid tak'.

India, on the other hand, is focused on progressive, forward-looking agenda during the UN General Assembly session beginning on Monday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on Saturday.

"I have outlined in our approach, that is progressive forward-looking. We are visionary in our goals. If on the other hand there are other countries, who as you say, focus on yesterday's issues then they are yesterday's people," Akbaruddin said in response to a question on reports that Pakistan plans to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly this week.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would deliver her address on September 23.

"If they (Pakistan) focus on an issue which has not been on the discussion table in the UN now for decades, not for years, for decades..., if this is what they want to focus on, so be it. To be his own...Miyan ki daud masjid tak," Akbaruddin said, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A day earlier, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry had said that Abbasi would be raising the Kashmir issue at the UN.
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Rabbis installation at Keneseth Israel will get a boost of student creativity
September 17, 2017

Syria Summary - Eliminating ISIS' Remains

The last Syria Summary was headlined A New Clash Looms in Syria's East. It stated:

Critical oil fields are north and east of Mayadin. The Omar oil field in the east is the biggest one in all Syria. The U.S. wants these under its control to finance its Kurdish and Arab proxies in north-east Syria. The Syrian government needs the oil to rebuild the country. Should the U.S. supported forces try to annex the area we will likely see a direct conflict between them and the Syrian government forces. Would the U.S. and Russia join that fight?



bigger

Yesterday a first clash of forces occurred. Syrian government and Russian special forces (red) have crossed the Euphrates at Deir Ezzor to reconnaissance the area for their next large operation. A crossing in force towards the north of Euphrates and east of Deir Ezzor is expected during the next few days. The Russian military had informed the U.S. of its area of operation. Despite that, formerly ISIS aligned tribal forces, now paid by the U.S. under the label SDF, tried to extend their areas north of Deir Ezzor (blue). A "warning shot" was delivered to them in form of a small air attack. Several "SDF" were wounded, the U.S. special forces accompanying and commanding them were not harmed.

The Russia military is asking who, really, those forces are:

Over the past few days, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, Russian control and reconnaissance facilities have not identified a single combat of Islamic State terrorists with armed representatives of any third force. Therefore, only representatives of the international coalition can answer the question as to how opposition members or military advisers of the international coalition managed to get to the IS-held areas in the eastern part of Deir ez-Zor without striking a blow.

Our last summary noted that these new U.S. proxies Brett McGurk had hired, the 'third force' in the Russian statement, allegedly progressed some 30 kilometers into ISIS country without firing a shot. These forces are evidently ISIS fighters now under a new banner and with U.S. special forces directing them.

South of the river the Syrian government forces consolidate their positions around the two-thirds of Deir Ezzor city now under their control. To avoid unnecessary casualties and damage they push the Islamic State fighters out of the up-build areas instead of immediately surrounding and besieging them. They will be easier to eliminate in the more rural areas still left to them. The campaign south of the Euphrates will continue along the river towards ISIS held areas in the west and east.

A second group of Syrian government forces is coming up from the Jordan-Iraq-Syria border triangle and is progressing along the Syrian Iraqi border towards al-Buqamal/Qaim at the Euphrates. An Iraqi force is working in parallel with them on the Iraqi side of the border.

During the next months three Syrian government forces are likely to meet where the Euphrates crosses into Iraq. One group is now moving north along the Syrian-Iraqi border, one coming from Deir Ezzor on the south side of the river and the one that will soon establish itself north of the Euphrates to move towards the oil-fields further east. Iraqi forces are expected to mirror those moves on their side of the border. In the end of the operations no area in Syria and Iraq will be left under control of the ISIS organization. (Isolated ISIS holdouts east of Homs as well as in Iraq are under siege and will soon be cleared.)

There is no more need for any U.S. intervention to achieve the total defeat of the Islamic State. While the U.S. president had declared that his country has no further interest in Syria but the defeat of ISIS, other forces within the U.S. ruling structure have likely different ideas. We can expect some operations, by "independent" U.S. proxy forces or by "accidental" bombing, to hinder the Syrian and Iraqi government plans.

In the north-west of Syria al-Qaeda is still in control of Idleb governate. Syria, Iran, Russia and Turkey agreed last week to pacify the area by force. Each of them will take control of a "deescalation zone" within Idelb. The announcement of the agreement lacked all details. It is yet unknown who's force will take what part of Idleb and how the coordination of the project will proceed. Leaks of various map outlining designated areas of control are of Turkish origin and unlikely to reflect the real agreed upon lines.

Posted by b on September 17, 2017 at 11:58 UTC | Permalink

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Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
A woman was shot by a Winter Park police officer Sunday after she pulled out a gun and "threatened officers," police said.

Woman shot by Winter Park officer

Police say woman pulled out firearm, threatened officers

Woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries

The shooting took place about 8:30 a.m. near the intersection of Harmon Avenue and Buckingham roads, according to Sgt. Garvin McComie.

Police initially responded to a call in reference to a subject in "distress/crisis."

Once officers were on the scene, they encountered a woman who had multiple firearms in her home, McComie said.

During the encounter, the woman pulled out a firearm.

Officers gave commands for the woman to put down the weapon. They tried to subdue her with a Taser. When that was unsuccessful, an officer shot her.



The woman, who has not be been identified, was taken to a hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating the incident.
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The student group seeking to hold a four-day series of conservative speakers and provocateurs at UC Berkeley has failed to pay required deposits, university officials said Saturday.

Although the Berkeley Patriot student organization turned in a contract late Friday afternoon, after missing two earlier deadlines, it did not include money to rent the facilities, according to a campus spokesman.

At the very last minute they signed the contract, but the contract made clear they would also provide payment, said Dan Mogulof, who heads UC Berkeleys communications office. That did not occur.

This doesnt necessarily scuttle the event.

Now Playing: Conservative Ben Shapiro's event drew as many as 1,000 protesters and ended in nine arrests, but few major problems last night. Now attention turns to 'Free Speech Week', where later this month, Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon have be Video: KTVU

To be clear, Berkeley Patriot may still continue with planning its Free Speech Week if it is able to confirm its speakers, confirm its schedules, and comply with ... security requirements, Mogulof said in a statement Saturday afternoon. At the same time, he wrote, The University cannot defend spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide security arrangements for events based on a press release and inconsistent schedules.

Whats billed as Berkeley Free Speech Week is scheduled for Sept. 24-27, with a reported roster of speakers that includes Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon.

The latter was instrumental in the election of President Trump and was a top adviser in the White House until last month, when he resigned to return to the conservative Breitbart website. Coulter is the author of such books as In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! As for Yiannopoulos, his planned appearance at UC Berkeley in February sparked a riot.

Yiannopoulos has since packaged himself as Milo Inc. His website touts him as a flamboyantly gay Brit ... hated by everyone from feminists to islamists, with a take-no-prisoners approach to the culture war.

In an interview with The Chronicle this month, Yiannopoulos boasted that one days focus would be feminism, where speakers will be telling women what theyve been doing wrong.

As for contract negotiations at that time, Theyre trying to make us pay $100,000 in security deposits, Yiannopoulos said. Well negotiate it down as best we can.

On Saturday, Mogulof said he did not know the amount of money being requested to rent  and help pay for security at  Zellerbach Hall and Wheeler Auditorium.

As for Yiannopoulos pronouncements about the events, We provide venues to student organizations, Mogulof said. Berkeley Patriots relation with Milo Inc. is their business.

John King is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
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WESTPORT  Firefighters from multiple towns joined together to battle a blaze at a Saugatuck Avenue residence Saturday afternoon. They also helped track down a missing cat, who was the only one at home at the time of the fire.

According to the Westport Fire Department, the department received a call at 2:23 p.m. from a passing motorist who reported a house fire at 298 Saugatuck Ave. Responding units included the shift commander, a ladder truck and fire engines from Westport and Norwalk.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Six men were arrested for allegedly posing as income tax officials and extorting Rs 20 lakh from a businessman in south Delhis Malviya Nagar today, the police said.

Before police arrived, locals caught hold of six of the accused, thrashed them and later handed them over to the police, though one other accused managed to escape.

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The six arrested accused were identified as Mitesh Kumar, Naunhyal, Yogesh Kumar, Govind Sharma, Amit Aggarwal, and Parvinder, police said.

One of them posed as assistant I-T commissioner, while others posed as various I-T officials.

Parvinder was the driver of one of the vehicles in which the gang had arrived.

They entered the house of one Ramesh Chand this afternoon posing as I-T officials on the pretext of conducting a raid.

They took Rs 20 lakh for not pursuing the case from Chand. However, when Chand demanded to see the search warrant, the accused started assaulting him and his family, police said.

Chands son managed to flee from the house and alerted local residents who caught hold of the accused and thrashed them.

However, one accused named Kailash fled from the spot in another car.

The gang with fake ID cards had arrived in an official vehicle bearing a Haryana registration number. PTI SLB KUN

--- ENDS ---
Following a contentious hearing on the budget, Liberty County commissioners conducted some business, crossing T's and dotting I's with mostly menial business before the court. Here's a brief wrap of some of the loose ends tied up on old business and some new business that was addressed.

CHURCH BOOK

Linda Jamison was in court to promote the new "Churches of Liberty County" book that was written and created by the Liberty County Historical Commission.

"Anybody from Liberty County knows that this area is steeped in a rich history back to colonial Spain and France," Jamison said. "As settlers came into the area, the first thing that they did was to establish churches."

Jamison said they sought the histories of the churches throughout the county, many of them more than 175 years old. "I think you'll find this little volume full of history of the pastors who have served the churches, as well as the history of the church and the people who helped build them." Jamison has an office in the Jack Hartel building at 318 San Jacinto in Liberty and keeps hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Drop by and visit her and the books are $8.

G.R.A.C.E.

Glennda Hardin of G.R.A.C.E. Initiative was in court to thank commissioners for their support and funds. She reported that the charity is now averaging approximately 1,000 meals per month in the Liberty area. All their clients were safe and sound following the storm.

"We now have enough volunteers to deliver to Ames," she told commissioners.

Hardin says they hope with additional funds to expand into Dayton as well.

HURRICANE RESPONSE

Thank yous were being spread around for the hard work done by everyone throughout Liberty. County Judge Jay Knight was in a discussion with county judge in a nearby county and he asked if Liberty County was saved by the Red Cross.

"I told him that we were saved by THE Cross because the churches stepped up and took over where we needed them," he said.

The judge said there were more than 20 shelters throughout the county at one time or another, many of them manned and served by the churches or the school districts.

"It was Liberty County people taking care of Liberty County people," he said. The judge also explained that the Hartel building was built to be used as a shelter by first responders. "We had about 34 DPS, 24 Texas Rangers, 24 fish and wildlife wardens, National Guard, and many others."

HURRICANE UPDATE

Tom Branch, Office of Emergency Management, asked the court to continue the disaster declaration until the next court session and commissioners approved.

Branch also briefed commissioners on a debris pickup.

"During Hurricane Ike we spent $18 million picking up debris," he said. "We have to be very careful because it's very expensive," he said.

This time it will cost the county. During Ike, FEMA paid 100 percent and did all the work, but on this occasion, it will be 90 percent FEMA and 10 percent by the county. That could mean $1.8 million if it was based off Hurricane Ike numbers. Branch said they have an estimate from the Army Corps of Engineers that there is approximately 200,000 cubic yards of debris. The hardest hit area of the county was Plum Grove.

"We have a debris contract in place since 2013 that expired in 2016. They had a renewal clause in the contract and we renewed them for another two years," Branch said. The county attorney recommended a conservative approach by executing a new contract that falls under all the guidelines of the federal government. "It's a long drawn out process and if we don't step right with FEMA, it could cost us a lot of money," Branch said. Commissioners decided to postpone action until a contract was secured and then they would consider it in a special session.

OTHER ITEMS

-- The budget was approved without any fireworks or additional controversy like that held during the hearing earlier.

-- A workshop will be planned to discuss security options for the courthouse. The action was tabled until the workshop has been held.

-- Commissioners approved payment of $106,456.26 to Garner Emergency Response Company for the oil remediation and cleanup of the Pct. 3 property left by the former commissioner. No word was given whether or not the county might seek damages.

-- Since Beaumont was hammered hard during the hurricane, LJA Engineers requested additional time to work with the county on the new book concerning rules and regulations regarding new subdivision applications. Several of their employees were still dealing with flooding issues and the county commissioners granted a new date of Oct. 30, 2017.

-- Commissioners also agreed to pay employees during the Hurricane Harvey event when the courthouse was closed and when they weren't able to come to work. "I can't punish because they can't drive in bumper deep water," the judge said.
An amazing thing happened this week.

News outlets that President Donald Trump has branded "fake news" reported Trump agreed in principle to grant long-term legal status to DACA recipients - a big item on Democrats' wish list - without securing funding for a Southern border wall in return. Trump said the media and the Democrats who say they negotiated with him were mischaracterizing the situation.

Given a choice of whom to believe, reliably pro-Trump commentators, such as Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter and Mike Cernovich chose the media, Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi over the president.

Mark it down: This is the week that Trump's "fake news" attack lost its power.

In the past, Trump's boosters would have rushed to assure his supporters that the president is totally committed to the wall and claimed that the media are trying to drive a wedge between Trump and his base by manufacturing a narrative about supposed flimsiness.

That was Breitbart News's contention last month, when The Washington Post published the transcript of a telephone conversation between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in which Trump said the wall is "the least important thing we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important."

"Very fake news: Trump didn't say the wall wasn't important," read a Breitbart headline. The accompanying article asserted that "instead, the new president of the United States (POTUS) shows an indefatigable commitment to his 'Make America Great Again' agenda - which included toughness on immigration, crime, trade and the border wall."

That was some astounding spin. Now, even Breitbart is echoing the mainstream media and reporting that Trump is, indeed, waffling on the wall.

About 4 p.m. Thursday, Trump's reelection campaign sent an email to supporters that was signed by the president.

"Let me set the record straight in the simplest language possible," he said in the email. "We will build a wall (not a fence) along the Southern border of the United States of America to help stop illegal immigration and keep America safe. Apparently, liberals in Congress and the mainstream media need one more reminder that building the wall is nonnegotiable."

On Friday afternoon, the Trump campaign sent this text message to supporters: We will BUILD A WALL to STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. To keep us safe. Dems & FAKE NEWS need a reminder! Contribute $2 if you want THE WALL.

Notice that Trump didn't deny that funding for the wall is not part of a tentative DACA deal in either message. He merely said that he will build the wall at some point; in fact, he told reporters on Thursday that "the wall will come later."

Breitbart was not assuaged by the president's words, and the site's homepage illustrated just that.

On Fox News, Carlson led off his Thursday night show with a stinging rejection of Trump's position that allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States does not amount to "amnesty."

"It would be a massive amnesty," Carlson said. "It would be the biggest ever granted in American history. This is thrilling news for Democrats and for open-borders advocates everywhere. In return for this concession, the president receives nothing - no reduction in overall immigration totals, no tightened restriction on foreign workers who take jobs from Americans, no E-Verify to prevent illegal immigrants from working under the table, no end to chain migration.

"The president isn't even getting a border wall, though he insisted he will somehow get one later, possibly. . . . Well, the president seems confident it will all work out in the end, but there's no reason to be optimistic. The fate of DACA recipients is, by far, the best piece of leverage he has or ever will have. If he gives it away for free, none of his other immigration priorities - the priorities he ran on and won the presidency with - will even be considered."

On Twitter, Coulter fumed that Trump was "easily rolled" by Democratic leaders. Cernovich, an Infowars host, tweeted that it was "insane" for Trump to let DACA recipients stay in the country without demanding money for the border wall.

In a truly head-spinning exchange, Cernovich fired back at a Trump supporter who dismissed a New York Times report by Maggie Haberman as "fake news."

"Pretty much any Haberman-Trump story is good to go," Cernovich tweeted. "That's reality."

You read that right: An Infowars host told a Trump supporter that the New York Times is not fake news.

The Infowars website also highlighted MAGA hat-burning on Friday and questioned Trump's dedication to his "America First" agenda.

None of this means the term "fake news" is dead or that every single Trump booster is calling BS on the president's claim that he is as determined as ever to build the wall.

"There hasn't been a cave yet," Rush Limbaugh told his radio audience on Thursday, urging patience, "but it looks like there might be."

The significance of this week is that Trump can no longer cry "fake news" when the media reports on a broken promise, and count on his boosters to help keep the faith. In a credibility war with the media, Trump's victory is not automatic, even in the eyes of his most ardent admirers.
Bonnie Angelo, a Time magazine reporter who covered the White House, chronicled the rise of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and wrote a well-received book about the impact of presidential mothers on their sons, died Sept. 17 at a nursing home in Bethesda, Md. She was 93.

The cause was complications from dementia, said her son, Christopher Levy.

Angelo cannonballed to the forefront of political journalism with a ferocious work ethic, a spitfire personality and a knack for winning the trust of the powerful. Journalist Nan Robertson of The New York Times once called the diminutive Angelo, with her Southern drawl, "ninety-eight pounds of pepper out of North Carolina."

She hopscotched among papers including Long Island's Newsday, where she covered the Kennedy White House and the U.S.-Soviet space race, before landing at Time in 1966. She once accompanied Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., to South America, where she watched him swim in the Amazon. She later joked about a journalist's mind, ever keen for a scoop: "Hey," she recalled thinking, "we have never had a U.S. senator eaten by piranhas."

Angelo was a visible member of the Washington press corps, appearing on the Metromedia talk show "Panorama" for more than a decade. She also served as president of the Women's National Press Club, a counterpart to the National Press Club. (The National Press Club began to admit women in 1971.)

The male-only club drew high-profile speakers, and Angelo related with rage decades later the indignities that female journalists faced to cover those visiting newsmakers. Women, she said, were shoehorned into the sweltering, standing-room ballroom balcony, while male journalists dined at tables and were permitted to ask questions.

"I remember being in that damned balcony crowded up against Pulitzer Prize-winners like Miriam Ottenberg . . . and Marguerite Higgins," she told Robertson for her book "The Girls in the Balcony." She recalled watching the men and their guests "sitting there on the ballroom floor and luxuriating over their crummy National Press Club apple pie."

"In professional terms, it couldn't have been meaner, it couldn't have been pettier," she continued. "You entered and left through a back door, and you'd be glowered at as you went through the club quarters. It was discrimination at its rawest."

In 1978 Angelo was tapped as Time's bureau chief in London. The election the next year of Thatcher as prime minister - the first woman to lead a major Western power - "kept me in cover stories," Angelo later said. She also wrote about the 1981 royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer as well as the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. She returned to the United States in 1985, first as New York bureau chief and later as a correspondent with a wide-ranging portfolio but an emphasis on politics.

In 2000 she wrote the book "First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents," a corrective to a widely held notion that first ladies were the dominant female influence on the nation's commanders in chief.

Angelo focused on the modern presidency, from Franklin D. Roosevelt and his domineering mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, to Bill Clinton and his flamboyant mother, Virginia "I was not one for the rules" Kelley. The matriarchs, she showed, often transferred their ambitions from their feckless husbands to their promising sons. Many also suffered harrowing setbacks early in life and emerged from tragedy with a fierce drive and resilience they passed on to their boys.

In her Washington Post review, journalist and Reagan White House chief of protocol Selwa Roosevelt (who married a grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt) called "First Mothers" "a fascinating book, gracefully written and thoroughly researched, which gives the reader fresh insights into how the characters and values of our recent presidents were shaped."

Angelo said the book was inspired by a conversation with Robert Kennedy as they traveled across California during the 1968 presidential primary.

"The family was deployed all over the state campaigning for him," she later told C-Span, "and I said, 'With all the tragedy that your family has suffered at the hands of politics, how do you account for the fact that they're out there again?' And he kind of looked at me under the eyebrows and said, 'Have you met my mother?' "

---

Veronica Estelle Angelo was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Jan. 29, 1924, the youngest of four children and the only girl. Her father ran a grocery store, and her mother was a teacher.

Bonnie, as she became known, graduated in 1944 from what was then the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro).

After working in the women's pages at the old Winston-Salem Sentinel and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, she arrived at the Washington bureau of Newsday in the mid-1950s. "The best thing that ever happened to me professionally was working for Alicia Patterson, a woman who believed that a woman reporter could do anything," Angelo said in a history of the paper that Patterson founded.

In 1960, she landed a scoop with national political ramifications. The Catholic faith of Sen. John Kennedy, D-Mass., the Democratic candidate for president that year, had become an undercurrent of the campaign. But what was called "the religion issue" burst into the open that September at a meeting of 150 prominent Protestant ministers - led by the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale - at Washington's Mayflower Hotel.

They barred journalists from attending. Secrecy, Angelo later said, "whetted my appetite." She sneaked in through a back entrance and sat in a small room near the meeting, where she could overhear the goings-on. Her story revealed what she called "very ugly and bigoted" remarks behind the ministers' politely worded public resolution raising concerns about Vatican influence in the White House.

When the story came out, Peale distanced himself from the resolution. Kennedy went on to address a group of ministers in Houston about religious prejudice and freedom in what is regarded as one of his most eloquent speeches.

In the early 1960s Angelo also distinguished herself writing about school desegregation conflicts in Prince Edward County, Va., and the space race at the time of astronaut and future U.S. senator John Glenn's orbit around the Earth. "I was there when John Glenn was a young Marine, and I'm here when he's the ancient mariner," she recalled in 1998 when she received the International Women's Media Foundation lifetime achievement award and Glenn returned to space aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Her husband, Harold Levy, died in 1998. Their son, Christopher Levy of Bethesda, is her only immediate survivor.

Angelo wrote a second book, "First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives" (2005), which received mixed reviews. Post book critic Jonathan Yardley called it a "relentlessly upbeat" and "sanitized" take on the challenges of living in the national fishbowl.

In a career spent with politicians and their retinue, Angelo often enjoyed a privileged front-line position. But sometimes she did not.

Covering presidential daughter Lynda Johnson's marriage in 1967 to future Virginia governor and senator Charles Robb, she was forced to view the nuptials from behind a drapery peephole. "They cut a little hole so I could see every magical moment," she later told The Post, adding that she spent the ceremony kneeling on the floor. "And for that I bought a new velvet dress."
This Saturday, Sept. 23, we hope you can join us in a festive environment to honor our first responders and volunteers who helped in the midst of the worst storm in the history of The Woodlands.

The Community Safety Expo: A Hometown Salute to Harvey Heroes and Volunteers will be held at our newly renovated Northshore Park on scenic Lake Woodlands from noon to 3 p.m. with an official thank-you and brief presentation from the main stage at 1:30 p.m.

Throughout Hurricane Harvey, first responders worked tirelessly to provide assistance and rescue services to residents of The Woodlands. There were over 800 people rescued and six from life-threatening situations. Our fire department, ranked No. 1 in the country, worked around the clock for rescues and provided assistance to residents and businesses.

Our public safety entities, in Montgomery County and Harris County, tirelessly helped our residents as did our commissioners of both county courts.

Volunteers and elected officials stepped up to serve their neighbors in need at local organizations such as Interfaith of The Woodlands and a variety of shelters within the community. We encourage our residents to take this opportunity to thank the many first responders and volunteers for their hard work throughout the storm. Interfaith will be on hand for the collection of "gift cards" for thousands of people who still need help.

In addition to honoring hometown heroes, the National Night Out Community Safety Expo, produced by The Woodlands Township Neighborhood Watch, will feature live music provided by the Texas Joe Bailey band and public safety demonstrations for the entire community. Grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and various refreshments will be provided free of charge. Numerous local agencies will participate including the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Crime Stoppers, the Texas Rangers, Harris County Constable's Office Precinct 4, Harris County Sheriff's Office, The Woodlands Fire Department and many more. Many state and federal public safety agencies will participate also.

Residents can meet public safety personnel, see equipment, tour mobile command units of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and Homeland Security, watch law enforcement K-9 demonstrations and more at this free event. New this year, the Expo will feature virtual reality goggles in addition to driving simulators. These goggles simulate a variety of scenarios such as distracted driving and texting while driving, along with motorcycle driving. Children can enjoy face painting, a bounce house, crafts and hanging out with McGruff the Crime Dog. Parking will be available in the Aon Hewitt parking lot across from Northshore Park.

We hope you can come on out and experience the sights and sounds of public safety lights and sirens, and enjoy a beautiful afternoon in Northshore Park with The Woodlands Township as we celebrate public safety in The Woodlands.

For more information, see The Woodlands Township's webpage at www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov and like the Township on Facebook.

Gordy Bunch is the chairman of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors.
OSLO, Norway -- The Pentagon is taking additional steps to ensure that U.S. and Russian battlefield commanders are able to directly communicate with one another after an airstrike on U.S. proxy forces near Deir al-Zour, Syria, that wounded several fighters Saturday, the United States' highest -ranking military officer said.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, told a small group of reporters Sunday that deconfliction between the United States and Russia "didn't work" when Syrian and Russian aircraft bombed U.S.-backed Syrian fighters battling the Islamic State east of the Euphrates River.

Russia has denied participating in the strike, despite a U.S. statement Saturday that specifically indicated that Russian aircraft took part in the bombing.

During a Saturday night phone call with his Russian counterpart, Chief of the General Staff of Russia's armed forces, Gen. Valery Geramisov, Dunford proposed that the countries' battlefield commanders in charge of forces in Syria could use the deconfliction line established in 2015 to "address the fact that the enemy moves freely back and forth across the Euphrates River," he said.

In the past, the deconfliction line was primarily staffed by a Russian and an American colonel responsible for alerting each other about their countries' air operations, but now with the commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Lt. Gen. Paul Funk, and Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin in communication, the two countries are likely to have a better understanding of where their forces are arrayed.

"It couldn't be more complex and crowded in that area," Dunford said of the Euphrates River Valley. "Deconfliction is more difficult in that area than it was a few months ago."

Traditionally the two countries have used the Euphrates as a dividing line, with Russian and Syrian government forces focused on attacking targets to the west while U.S.-backed forces and aircraft attacked to the east. In recent weeks, however, multiple offensive operations - launched by the United States and Russia - have nearly converged.

"We haven't resolved all the issues," Dunford cautioned, adding that conversations between the two countries are ongoing. After the errant strike, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Dunford said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to field Major General Retd. Suresh Khajuria as its candidate from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat which is due for polling on October 11.

By Pankaj Jain: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to field Major General Retd. Suresh Khajuria as its candidate from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat which is due for polling on October 11. The decision has been taken after due diligence with the Gurdaspur unit of the party and the Majha region leaders and volunteers.

Major General Suresh Khajuria (64) is an old party volunteer and is a local resident of Pathankot falling within the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency. AAP said that its candidate has a distinguished career in the armed forces by serving the country. Incidentally, candidates of both the traditional parties BJP and the Congress are likely to be outsiders.

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The party appealed the electorate of Gurdaspur to support AAP candidate in the ensuing election and particularly appeal to the ex-servicemen of the region to support him as neither the Congress nor the BJP has fulfilled the long pending demand of 'One Rank-One Pension' of the ex-servicemen community. Date of nomination will be announced shortly.

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A top Baltimore County government official has urged his staff's "full participation" on Monday in a "very important announcement" by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, D, who is expected to launch a run for governor this week.

"We have been invited to join County Executive Kamenetz on Monday, September 18th at 11:15 am as he has a very important announcement to make," says the email from county IT chief Robert Stradling to employees of his agency. "I am encouraging full participation to support our County Executive as he makes this very important announcement."

The email could violate state ethics rules that prohibit officials from using government time and resources to support political activity or using their positions to benefit individuals involved in political campaigns.

In response to questions about the message, Stradling said he had heard that Kamenetz would be making a major announcement, and wanted to encourage his staff to attend.

On Sunday, he sent another email to employees that said: "To clarify my email regarding Monday's announcement by the County Executive, if you choose to attend, you will need to use your personal leave time or attend on your lunch hour."

Sean Naron, a spokesman for Kamenetz's political operation, said the county executive "will be making an announcement about his future Monday." He declined to provide further details.

County spokeswoman Stacie Burgess said Kamenetz's announcement is not government-related.

Baltimore County Democratic Party chair Tara Ebersole said she expects Kamenetz to announce this week that he is running for governor but she does not know which day.

Kamenetz has been an outspoken critic of Gov. Larry Hogan, R, blasting his opposition to a 2017 bill that would have limited police cooperation with immigration-enforcement efforts and Hogan's veto of a measure to require businesses with at least 15 employees to provide paid sick leave.

The lifelong Baltimore County resident is finishing his second term as executive, after 16 years on the County Council - including four as its chairman. He was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for 12 years and serves as president of the Maryland Association of Counties.

He would join a crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge Hogan in the 2018 election, including Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker III, former NAACP president Ben Jealous, state Sen. Richard Madaleno Jr., Montgomery, entrepreneur Alec Ross, Baltimore attorney and former University System of Maryland Board of Regents chair James Shea, and Krishanti Vignarajah, a onetime policy director for former first lady Michelle Obama.
By PTI: By Manoj Rammohan

Copenhagen, Sep 17 (PTI) Air India starting direct flight to the Danish capital will help boost business and trade ties between the two countries, Indias Ambassador designate to Denmark Ajit Gupte said.

The national carriers inaugural flight from New Delhi to the city, carrying more than 200 people, landed yesterday. It was operated by an all-women crew, with commander Rupali Waghmare describing the flight as "very exciting".

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In the words of Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal, the flight -- which would be operated thrice a week -- is connecting the "Mermaid with the Maharaja".

"The bilateral ties between India and Denmark were affected to a large extent by the Kim Davy issue. There has not been much of progress in the last few years. So this (Air India flight) is a very important positive step towards normalising. It is a very important move," Gupte told reporters here on Saturday.

However, he quickly added: "See I dont want to link the flights with the ties. It is a very positive step which will encourage the movement of people."

In January this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Denmark to extend full support in the extradition of Purulia arms drop case accused Kim Davy, taking into account Indias "sensitivities".

India has sought extradition of Niels Holck aka Kim Davy, an accused in the 21-year-old Purulia arms drop case.

Gupte also said direct flight service would help with the economic and people to people ties between the two countries.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a function to mark the landing of the Air India flight at the airport here.

When asked whether he sees more growth in bilateral trade, Gupte replied in the affirmative.

"As the investments grow, as the two way flow of businessmen increases and there is a signal that is sent out that relations have normalised, we expect trade also to expand... It was around USD 2.8 billion (in 2016) now and lets see if we can cross USD 3 billion," he added.

Even though Denmark is a small country, it has a very high GDP of about USD 360 billion and it is almost 20 per cent of Indias GDP even though the population is only 5.6 million, Gupte said.

"They have also invested a lot in India. About 130 Danish companies have invested about USD 5 billion. If you take the Danish statistics, they have invested about USD 6.4 billion. Even a big country like Germany had invested about USD 10 billion. So if Denmark as a small neighbour has invested about USD 6.4 billion despite the political issues, that is a very positive sign," he said.

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Danish companies have presence in infrastructure and services, among other sectors, in India. Indian IT companies, including TCS and Tech Mahindra, have significant presence in Denmark.

On Saturday, Bansal said Copenhagen is the 11th destination in Europe for Air India and it is "connecting the Mermaid with the Maharaja", adding that he was looking forward for good passenger load.

The iconic Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is one of the citys most famous monuments. The bronze structure sits on a rock by waterside in the city and represents a famous character from a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

According to Air Indias Director (Commercial) Pankaj Srivastava, the inaugural flight had good cargo load. PTI RAM ABM

--- ENDS ---
After years of frustration with Houston ISD's response to the needs of their son, a fifth-grader with Asperger's syndrome, Robert and Bonney Wilkinson are a little more optimistic about the school system's willingness to help students with special needs.

The goodwill kept coming Saturday when administrators and volunteers hosted a special education summit, connecting parents with resources across the district and community. The timing alone - on a weekend, rather than mid-week during work hours - was enough to draw praise from the Wilkinsons.

"From what little we've seen, it seems to be changing for the better," said Robert Wilkinson, whose son attends River Oaks Academy, a private school focused on students with special needs, through an arrangement with Houston ISD. "We've got more people from the district showing up to our meetings and they're able to answer our questions. Normally, it was 'We'll have to look into that.' "

Several hundred parents and caregivers filled the district's headquarters Saturday for the summit, a well-received idea carried out after community feedback this spring. A survey found parents of children with special needs wanted more communication about individualized education plans, more information about camps and resources available to children and easier access to disability screenings, administrators said.

Office under fire

The district's special education office has been under fire after a Houston Chronicle investigation found Houston ISD cut hundreds of positions from the department, dissuaded evaluators from diagnosing disabilities until the second grade and created a list of factors that disqualified students from service, among other tactics that landed the district with one of the lowest percentages of special education students in the state. The department's director of special education resigned in March following backlash over the investigation, and an audit of the department is ongoing.

Administrators heralded the summit as one of several new special education services offerings under Superintendent Richard Carranza, who took over the district in August 2016. They pointed to new community liaisons who coordinate more with parents on special education issues, a reorganization of the district's special education office and the school board's commitment of $2.2 million in funding for staffing and an autism program at three high schools.

"For the most part, it's been very positive (with parents)," said Joan Anderson, Houston ISD's assistant superintendent of special education. "We do have some parents who are not as happy with us as we'd like them to be. We're working on those relationships and working on behalf of the school district, and I think they're beginning to change."

Houston ISD board trustee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, who serves on an ad hoc special education committee created after the Chronicle's investigation, said the district's work on improving special education services is "still at the beginning phase."

"Now we have to see how some of these things measure up," Flynn Vilaseca said. "It's important that we're on top of that and we're looking at it critically to make sure that we improve."

Summit works

The summit proved helpful for Shante Thorpe, whose brother, now in the second grade, has been diagnosed with autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. Thorpe said her brother hasn't received many special education services, but she wants to be prepared if her family seeks them.

"If you don't know exactly what's available for you, when you're at the crossroads of dealing with some kind of issue, you don't know which way to go," said Thorpe, 37. "If you find out what's going on and what's available, then when you see those signs, you know what to do."
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San Antonio police are searching for suspects in a shooting Saturday night that left residents of a West Side neighborhood shaken, but uninjured.

Officers responded to a call at a home in the 1300 block of W. Mulberry Ave. about 6 p.m. Saturday night after reports that an unidentified person fired 4-to-6 shots at the house and then speed off.
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San Antonio police are investigating a drive-by shooting at an East Side corner store that may be linked to a drive-by shooting across town earlier Sunday morning.

The shooting occurred outside of the Hayes Food Mart, 830 N. New Braunfels Ave., about 7 a.m. Sunday.

Three individuals were sitting inside a blue vehicle in the store's parking lot when another vehicle drove up and individuals inside that vehicle fired multiple shots, hitting all three people before fleeing, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.

RELATED: Two men wounded in drive-by shooting outside of Northeast Side residence

None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries, police said. Two were transported in critical, but stable conditions to Brooke Army Medical Center.

The third individual shot in the ankle was treated at the scene.

Police are trying to determine if this shooting was in retaliation for another drive-by shooting on the Northeast Side just before 4 a.m. in 4000 block of Sunrise Creek.

"Last night there was a shooting in the Sunrise community, some ways from here, we are not sure if it was retaliation for that, or if may have been narcotic related," McManus said.

However, McManus said there is not a lot of information from either shooting at this time because none of the victims are being cooperative.

"There was a blue car described in both shootings," McManus said. "The blue car is the possible link."

NBautista@express-news.net

@_NBautista
San Antonio police are investigating a shooting outside a Northeast Side residence that sent two men in their mid-20s to an area hospital with serious injuries.

The shooting occurred around 3:45 a.m., Sunday, outside a residence on the 4000 block of Sunrise Creek, according to police.
It was as predictable as the sun rising and setting.

Last month, President Trump said there was a military option on dealing with escalating repression and deprivation in Venezuela.

Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro promptly appropriated this talking point to deflect attention from his own mismanagement and authoritarianism, warning of an imminent yanqui invasion. This month, the Washington Post reports, this has translated into drills by civilians and soldiers and broadcasts of elderly women learning to shoot to repel the invasion. All an attempt to rally the nation to the wrong thing.

Trumps military option might as well have been written by Maduro.

There are problems with Trumps everythings-on-the-table stance  as many as there are with off-the-cuff remarks that are no substitute for diplomacy.

As is now being demonstrated, even mentioning the possibility of military intervention feeds into Maduros fictional narrative that U.S. imperialism is the root of his countrys woes. It is not. He, and before him Hugo Chavez, are the primary architects.

Second, Trumps threat followed a 17-nation condemnation of Maduros crackdown on his own citizens. Among the nations: Canada, Mexico, Argentine, Brazil and Colombia. This bloc of nations threatened Venezuela with even more international isolation, incentive for a return to democratic norms.

But Trumps utterance undercut this.

All foreign or domestic threats to resort to force undermine the goal of reinstating democratic governance in Venezuela, as well as the principles enshrined in the UN charter, said Perus foreign minister Ricardo Luna, even as that country expelled the Venezuelan ambassador. Mexico and Columbia also issued statements.

There are no easy options in Venezuela, but any strategy has to involve a multination response in the hemisphere. A unilateral U.S. military option just feeds into longtime grievances over U.S. interference in Latin America over the last couple of centuries.

Maduro called an election and formed a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution, a recipe for his regime to stay in power. There was already a popularly elected National Assembly. It, however, is dominated by the opposition, hence the Constituent Assembly to undercut it.

The opposition to Maduro  whose actions and mismanagement have left his people hungry and desperate  is widespread. Any hint of unilateral U.S. intervention could help undermine this.

Trump, so soon after widespread condemnation for saber rattling over North Korea, should have known better.

No military option in Venezuela.
Dhinakaran 's reaction comes a day after forest minister Sreenivasan alleged that Sasikala's family was responsible for late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's death.

By Pramod Madhav: The disputed Deputy General Secretary of AIADMK TTV Dhinakaran lashed out chief minister E Palaniswamy once again.

He accused the AIADMK leaders of going back on their words and said, "It was Dindigul C Sreenivasan who earlier said that only Sasikala can save AIADMK and now he is blaming her for Jayalalithaa's death."Dhinakaran 's reaction comes a day after forest minister Sreenivasan alleged that Sasikala's family was responsible for late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's death.

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He went ahead to say that he was not afraid of being called a thief, but wanted the chief minister to think about things he has said.

"When mining baron Shekar Reddy was arrested, EPS came to me and pleaded for help because his relatives were also caught in the scandal. Hope they don't want me to talk about it more," cautioned Dhinakaran.

Reddy was accused of paying Rs 400 crore to ministers and bureaucrats between 2015-2016. Palaniswamy had refused to investigate that matter.

"If chief minister EPS and his ministers feel that Sasikala's family was responsible for the death of Jayalalithaa, why should they hold the post given by Sasikala? We don't even want a floor test as the term itself is scaring them. Let them resign, face the election and get elected again," he said.

Madras High Court has stayed the floor test in Tamil Nadu Assembly till September 20.

--- ENDS ---
California lawmakers sent Gov. Jerry Brown a package of bills Friday aimed at easing the state's affordable housing crisis, but a boom in building won't happen immediately.

The three major pieces of the deal include a $4 billion housing bond, a new $75 fee on real estate transaction documents, and a bill to streamline building regulations that can hamper developers looking to construct low-cost apartments and homes. Brown plans to sign them.

California lacks an estimated 1.5 million affordable housing units compared to demand  a situation that is contributing to the growth of the homeless population.

It's also home to 21 of the nation's 30 most expensive rental housing markets. Efforts to spur building, enforce existing housing law and create a funding source for more affordable projects have struggled in the Legislature in recent years.

"We need to do our part and stop creating reasons why we can't fix things," Democratic Sen. Ben Hueso of San Diego said. "When you talk to the people of California they are concerned, and more and more concerned, that they have no affordable place to live."

Still, a flurry of new houses isn't likely to pop up for at least a few years. The primary source of money  the $4 billion bond  needs to win support from voters next year. If it does, backers say it can be released quickly because it will go toward already existing programs.

"We have to make a convincing case before the voters," Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon noted during a press conference celebrating the deal's passage.

Likewise, the $200 to $300 million expected to be raised annually through the real estate fee won't hit communities immediately.

Tyrone Buckley, policy director for Housing California, called the bills a "great first start" even though he doesn't expect to see dollars rolling out until 2019.

"All of the bills that passed today are long-term goals and things that seemed nearly impossible as early as last year," Buckley said.

Beyond the funding, a third key bill aims to add teeth to state housing laws that are rarely enforced. The state sets guidelines on how many housing units, and for what income levels, communities should have but often doesn't make sure those goals are followed.

A bill by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener will expedite the approval process for developers who want to build in communities that haven't been hitting those targets. The streamlined process would make it harder for local governments to put up environmental or other regulatory roadblocks on low-income housing projects that some residents might not want. His bill takes effect Jan. 1 and the state still has to decide which communities will be eligible for streamlining.

"We have to have basic standards and accountability so local communities don't just decide to opt out," Wiener said.

The funding bills passed largely along party lines in both the Senate and the Assembly. In the lower chamber, Republican Brian Maienschein of San Diego backed the new real estate transaction fee, while Democrat Sabrina Cervantes opposed it after a dramatic hour in which several other Democrats wavered on whether to support it.

In the Senate, meanwhile, every Democrat backed the real estate fee. Republican Sens. Anthony Cannella, Janet Nguyen and Scott Wilk joined all 27 Democrats in backing the $4 billion bond, which sets aside $1 billion for veterans housing.

Most Republicans argued against hitting voters with yet another fee after lawmakers passed a gas tax hike already this year.

The $75 fee will apply to real estate transaction documents, exempting sales but including things like refinancing a mortgage. It would cap the fee at $225 per transaction.

"I believe that we are shortchanging the middle income, the average, hardworking Californians with this imposed fee," Republican Sen. Jim Nielsen said.

The $200 to $300 million expected to come in annually from the fee is still far less than the $1 billion local communities used to get under a redevelopment program halted in 2012.

In the first year, half of that money will go toward efforts to reduce homelessness, while the remaining half will aid communities in updating their planning and zoning laws. After that, 70 percent of the money will go to local communities for housing projects.
NBC Connecticut Meteorologists are continuing to monitor the very latest on the track of Hurricane Jose.

A tropical storm watch was issued on Sunday for coastal Connecticut as Jose moves closer.

Jose is currently a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph located to the southeast of North Carolina.

The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center shows little change in the track of Jose. Our forecast remains unchanged with a period of rain and wind locally with minor to moderate impacts.

NHC cone wobbles west a bit. Close call for us with some wind and rain a definite possibility. #nbcct pic.twitter.com/Gjs55XyoAp  Ryan Hanrahan (@ryanhanrahan) September 17, 2017

When #JOSE makes its closest pass..that is our best chance of seeing a tropical storm force wind gust (SE CT) #NBCCT https://t.co/rHeSxOliNA pic.twitter.com/53XNBwQjKp  Darren Sweeney NBCCT (@DarrenSweeney) September 18, 2017

We are expecting rain to overspread the state on Tuesday with increasing wind. Winds may gust over 50 mph in southeastern Connecticut Tuesday night which will result in scattered tree and power line damage.

Rainfall totals in excess of 1 inch are possible in many towns and if Jose tracks a bit closer even higher totals are possible.

The storm will pull away later Wednesday with gradual clearing.

Odds of tropical storm force winds are increasing for CT and especially for the southeast corner. #nbcct #Jose pic.twitter.com/oE5vV08KGu  Josh Cingranelli (@WeatherJosh) September 17, 2017

Another impact we're starting to see occur is high surf for areas of Rhode Island and New York. High surf advisories are in effect for coastal Rhode Island and Long Island.

This will also lead to dangerous rip currents at Rhode Island beaches.

It's important to stay tuned to the forecast because the forecast track will continue to wobble.

[NATL]Photos: Long Road to Recovery Begins After Irma
More than 3,000 Texas prison inmates bused from Houston-area units to escape Hurricane Harvey-related flooding have been returned to their original lockups.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says inmates were returned to the Ramsey and Terrell (TEHR'-ehl) units, in Brazoria County, after relocating to other prisons. Clark says the repopulation of about 3,300 inmates was completed Saturday night.

Harvey made landfall Aug. 25 in South Texas. Prison officials the next day began evacuating the Ramsey, Terrell and Stringfellow units.

A judge on Thursday ruled that hundreds of Stringfellow inmates moved to the Pack Unit were put at risk due to a prior lawsuit challenging oppressive heat at the Pack facility.

Most of those relocated inmates have been added to the lawsuit and were not returned to Stringfellow.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the eye wall of Category 5 Maria is moving onshore over Dominica.

Forecasters say that the "potentially catastrophic" hurricane with 160 mph winds will likely travel over the Leeward Islands and the extreme northeast Caribbean through Monday night and Tuesday.

The storm was on a path that would take it near many of the islands already wrecked by Hurricane Irma and then on toward Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

The hurricane was expected to maintain a west-northwest motion for the next several days before a turn toward the north-northwest. The forecast track remained to the east of South Florida Monday.

Maria could hit Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Tuesday night and Wednesday.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration for the island and ordered Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist the commonwealth. The declaration authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the hurricane is "developing the dreaded pinhole eye."

That's a sign of an extremely strong hurricane likely to get even mightier, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy. Just like when a spinning ice skater brings in their arms and rotates faster, a smaller, tighter eye shows the same physics, he said.

Maria's eye shrank to a small 10 miles (16 kilometers) in diameter Monday evening.

"You just don't see those in weaker hurricanes," McNoldy said. "It's cranking up the angular momentum."

The U.S. territory on Monday imposed rationing of basic supplies including water, milk, baby formula, canned foods, batteries, flashlights and other items.

(For the latest information in Spanish from Telemundo Puerto Rico, click here.)

Puerto Rico was spared the full brunt of Irma although much of the island had its power knocked out. It hasn't had a direct hit from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane since 1928, NBC News reported.

Hurricane warnings were posted for Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Anguilla.

A hurricane watch was also in effect for Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, Anguilla, and Isla Saona to Puerto Plata.

(Click here for an interactive radar from Telemundo.)



On Wednesday, Maria was expected to be near or over Puerto Rico, which was spared the full brunt of Irma, although much of the island had its power knocked out. Nearly 70,000 people remain without power, and Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Monday warned of another widespread outage.

"We have an extremely weak infrastructure that has already been hit by one storm," he said. "This is going to be a catastrophic event."

Forecasters said the storm would dump up to 18 inches of rain across Puerto Rico and whip the U.S. territory with heavy winds for 12 to 24 hours.

Rossello said officials had prepared about 450 shelters with a capacity for nearly 68,000 people  or even 125,000 in an emergency. There are still nearly 200 people in shelters from Hurricane Irma. Schools were cancelled for Monday and government employees would work only a half day.

Officials in the Dominican Republic urged people to leave areas prone to flooding and said fishermen should remain in port.

Farther north, long-lived Hurricane Jose continued to head northward off the U.S. East Coast, causing dangerous surf and rip currents. It wasn't expected to make landfall but tropical storm watches were posted along the coast from Delaware to Massachusetts' Cape Cod.

Jose was centered about 230 miles east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and was in a stationary position. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.

The ocean washed over parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks as Hurricane Jose passed well to the east, and five people were knocked off a coastal jetty in Rhode Island by high surf caused by the storm. Officials said rescuers had to fight through rough surf to load the injured onto stretchers and get them to shore. All five were taken to a hospital with minor and major injuries.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lee weakened into a tropical depression far out in the Atlantic while Hurricane Otis weakened far out in the Pacific. Neither threatened land.

NBC 6 will continue to monitor this and will bring you new developments as we get them.
Surveillance video showing a man shooting a deer in a Monrovia neighborhood has angered people in the area and prompted an investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The home surveillance video recorded Thursday afternoon shows what appears to be a man armed with a bow and arrow who shoots the deer. The video doesn't show the deer being struck, but the animal is seen running by in the street.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the agency is conducting an investigation. Monrovia police confirmed to NBC4 that it is illegal to shoot a bow and arrow in the city without a permit.

"We have interviewed the suspect and (are) conducting an investigation," Andrew Hughan of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement. "We are planning on filing a case with the L.A. County District Attorney."

The man in the video has been identified and contacted by authorities.

The Tapert family found the footage on their home security cameras after finding blood in the streets. Resident told NBC4 they consider the deer part of the neighborhood in the foothill community.
What to Know One Long Island fire district is broiled in controversy amid allegations of excessive spending and improper vehicle use

I-Team recently found another commissioner stayed at Disney for 2 days, 15 miles from fire conventions he was attending; Disney is pricier

He said taxpayers can vote him out if they're unhappy, saying it's not like it's Vegas. "I'm in Florida. I'm not gambling."

An embattled Long Island fire district is defending its travel habits after the I-Team discovered a fire commissioner using taxpayer funds to pay for a pair of trips to the same Disney World resort in a span of just four months.



Records from the Uniondale Fire District show Commissioner Richard Harris traveled to Orlando to attend the Fire Department Safety Officers Association Apparatus & Vehicle Maintenance Symposium in January and the Metro Fire Chiefs Convention in April. But in both cases, Harris booked his stay at the Walt Disney World Contemporary Resort, a hotel about 15 miles away from where the conventions took place.

Credit card records obtained by the I-Team show Uniondale taxpayers shelled out between $350 and $500 a night for Harris' stay at the Disney resort. According to the fire conference websites, booking at the convention hotels would have cost much less -- between $145 and $180 a night.

Harris said the full Board of Fire Commissioners approved of his more expensive off-site hotel and in one case the convention hotel was fully booked so he had to sleep somewhere else. He defended staying at the Disney resort, saying he spent most of his days at the convention hotels, attending seminars related to firefighting and examining the latest firefighting equipment.

"There are classes down there, and I have a right to do that," Harris said. "We're taking trips to get education to protect this town."

Uniondale taxpayers had mixed reactions upon learning about the Disney trips.

"How are you going to go to a fire conference at Disney World?" said Uniondale resident Shantal Webb. "We pay our taxes for them to protect our community. Not to go on vacation."

Hayden Victor, another Uniondale taxpayer, suggested one trip to Disney World might be easier to swallow than two.

"I don't understand why they're going to Disney World -- twice," Victor said.

But Harris, who said he has been on disability and unable to respond to fire emergencies for about a year, bristled at the suggestion his convention schedule this year was excessive.

"If they don't like it they can vote me out," he said. "I'm allowed to go. If it was Vegas, it would be a problem. I'm in Florida. I'm not gambling."

Though Harris has not traveled to Las Vegas this year, some of his fellow fire commissioners have flown into Sin City on the taxpayer dime.

In just the first six months of 2017, Uniondale fire commissioners booked travel to six fire conferences, including trips to the Green Valley Ranch casino resort just outside Las Vegas, the Mohegan Sun casino resort in Connecticut and the Turning Stone casino resort near Syracuse, New York.

The commissioners issued a joint emailed statement defending the conference schedule as educational.

"In order to provide department members with the latest in training techniques, materials and resources, the district enrolls members and staff in a variety of educational seminars," the statement read.

It is not uncommon for fire departments across the nation to book multiple trips to fire conventions, but Uniondale has been cited in the past for particularly loose spending on travel and perks.

In 2011, an audit by the NY Comptroller found Uniondale fire commissioners made $44,000 in questionable credit card purchases and failed to properly monitor the use of official district vehicles.

Two years later, after an I-Team investigation found one commissioner, Noel Thomas, took six convention trips in 12 months, Thomas conceded the fire district had been guilty of excessive spending.

In my opinion, I feel that Im accused and being sentenced on things that didnt really happen," Thomas said at a 2013 public meeting. "I mean, yes, there was excessive spending but thats just how we ran the district.

Last month, the I-Team discovered Thomas appearing to use several district-owned SUVs to commute to his personal job in Suffolk County.

Thomas said he was using the vehicles to pick up fire equipment that happened to be on the way to his workplace.

But the I-Team found other, unexplained trips that took fire vehicles out of the community they were intended to protect.

E-ZPass records show Uniondale fire vehicles were used to make three weekend trips to southern New Jersey in February. On one of the trips, the driver leaves the New York City area in the afternoon and doesn't arrive back home until after 5 a.m. the following morning. E-ZPass records also show Uniondale fire vehicles making two trips to Massachusetts. Fire commissioners have so far declined to identify the purpose of those trips -- or the drivers of the vehicles.

"It is suspicious to see a Uniondale fire squad car going all the way to Massachusetts and New Jersey," said Uniondale taxpayer Chamka Destina. "I think that is where it is like crossing the line a little bit."

Still, some Uniondale taxpayers see no problem with multiple convention trips and unexplained vehicle travel.

Richard Palencia, who co-owns a seafood market in town, said he sees no real problem with allowing Uniondale fire commissioners to take generous travel perks. After all, he said, commissioners not only manage the fire department's assets, but most are also volunteer firefighters themselves.

"They do risk their lives, going out, you know," Palencia said. "So of course they might have to enjoy themselves."
By PTI: (Eds: Recasting overnight story)

By Manoj Rammohan

Copenhagen, Sep 17 (PTI) Air India has launched a direct flight to Copenhagen, the Danish capital, as part of the national carriers plan to expand its international operations with services to overseas destinations.

Copenhagen is Air Indias 44th international destination and 11th European non-stop destination. In Air Indias trademark style, the inaugural flight was operated by an all- woman crew.

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The flight was accorded a ceremonial water canon salute after the plane landed at the Copenhagen airport. There was also a cake cutting function at the airport.

The Air India flight AI 157 landed at the airport here after more than a seven-hour journey.

The national carrier has been expanding its international operations and has started services to overseas destinations, including Washington and Stockholm so far this year.

To mark the launch of the Copenhagen flight, Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal lit the traditional lamp at Terminal 3 of the airport in New Delhi on September 16.

This is the 11th destination in Europe for Air India and it is "connecting the Mermaid with the Maharaja", Bansal has said, adding that he was looking forward for a good passenger load.

The iconic "Little Mermaid" statue in Copenhagen is one of the citys most famous monuments. The bronze structure sits on a rock by waterside in the city and represents a famous character from a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.

The Air India service to Copenhagen will be operated with a Dreamliner aircraft thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

"AI 157 will depart from Delhi at 1430 hours to reach Copenhagen at 1845 hours the same day. The return flight AI 158 will leave Copenhagen at 2045 hours and reach Delhi at 0735 hours the next day," the airline said in a statement.

To mark the launch of the flight to Copenhagen, Air India is offering return fares starting from Rs 42,700, inclusive of all taxes.

Apart from Copenhagen, the airline has direct flights to Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Paris, Birmingham and London.

The services to Moscow is temporarily suspended and would restart in October, an airline official said.

Air India group operates to 44 international destinations and over 70 domestic stations. It has an operating fleet of 142 aircraft, including A320, B777 and B737-800 planes.

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To revive Air India, which has a huge debt burden, the government is working on the modalities for the strategic disinvestment of Air India and its five subsidiaries. PTI RAM CPS UZM

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The president of the union representing police officers demanded the firing of a professor at a New York City criminal justice college over a tweet that said: "its a privilege to teach future dead cops.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice adjunct economics professor Michael Isaacson has already been suspended, college president Karol Mason said.

Isaacson was put on administrative leave out of concern for the safety of students, faculty and staff. The college said he would remain on leave until it finishes an internal review.

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said Issacson "needs to be fired immediately."

The tweet, sent on Aug. 23 under the handle @vulgareconomics, stated "Some of yall might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teaching at John Jay College but I think its a privilege to teach future dead cops" and brought immediate condemnation from across the social network.

Some of y'all might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teaching at John Jay College but I think it's a privilege to teach future dead cops  Mike Isaacson (@VulgarEconomics) August 23, 2017

It even drew the ire of Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner James ONeill  a John Jay graduate.

As a 2x grad there, I know Michael Isaacson's reprehensible values don't represent @JohnJayCollege, #NYC, #NYPD or families of murdered cops, ONeill wrote.

As a 2x grad there, I know Michael Isaacson's reprehensible values don't represent @JohnJayCollege, #NYC, #NYPD or families of murdered cops pic.twitter.com/EdSEA0u525  Commissioner O'Neill (@NYPDONeill) September 15, 2017

Isaacson, using another Twitter account, wrote Friday morning that he doesnt believe in the institution of policing, saying it "operates at the behest of a state that increasingly represents the weapons and prison industry rather than the public theyre supposed to serve."

"I illuminate this fact in my classes in the hopes that my students are able to choose a career path that does not put them in the position of having to act as an agent of that institution," he said.

NBC reached out to Isaacson seeking comment after his suspension. In a statement to the Daily News on Friday, he said his biggest regret was "putting my sudents and the John Jay faculty at risk."
There are cracks in the curtains President Donald Trump tried to draw around the government early in his presidency, but the slivers of light aren't making it easier to hold federal officials accountable for their actions.

Trump still refuses to divest from his real estate and hotel empire or release virtually any of his tax returns. His administration is vigorously pursuing whistleblowers. Among scores of vacant senior jobs in the government is an inspector general for the Department of Energy  led by Secretary Rick Perry, former governor of Texas  as it helps drive the region's recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

Rebuilding from the deadly storm seems certain to be a $100 billion-plus endeavor involving multiple federal departments and an army of government contractors. If the ghosts of Katrina, Sandy and other big storms are guides, the bonanza of taxpayer dollars is a recipe for corruption. And that makes transparency and accountability all the more critical for a president who has bristled at the suggestion of either one.

"This is an administration that wants to do things their own way and a president that wants to do things his own way," said Rick Blum, director of News Media for Open Government, of which The Associated Press is a member. "(Trump) is frustrated by the institutions our founders established. And he's going to have to learn that the public deserves a free and independent press."

To be sure, Trump has not backed off his fury with the media or his branding of reporters as "enemies of the people" who want to harm the country. He still calls revelations he doesn't like "fake news." And he tweets untruths himself, including that he witnessed Harvey's devastation "first hand" during his first visit to Texas on the edges of the disaster zone.

Still, a new slate of top aides, including White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and presidential spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, seems to have opened pinpricks of light and lowered the temperature in the daily White House briefing.

Trump has let fade his threat to scrap the daily question-and-answer sessions in favor of written questions and responses since the dismissals of Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon from his inner circle. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gave the AP an interview about education policy.

"President Trump and his administration are committed to transparency and accountability throughout the government," the White House said in a statement issued Saturday to The Associated Press. "The administration is responsive to public records requests, instituted new lobbying standards for political appointees  including a five-year ban on lobbying and a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign countries  and expanded and elevated ethics within the White House Counsel's office."

Still, questions persist about how committed the administration will be in making its actions transparent. This past week, open government and First Amendment advocates criticized the administration's response to a lawsuit that sought the visitor logs for the president's Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. They said it's important for the public to know who has access there to the president, who has made seven trips to his property this year.

The watchdog groups received only a list of 22 Japanese officials who had joined their country's prime minister at the property during a February trip. In a letter, Justice Department officials said any records beyond those names were related to the president's schedule and were therefore exempt from public records laws.

"The government believes that Presidential schedule information is not subject to" the Freedom of Information Act, they wrote. Noah Bookbinder, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, described the move as "spitting in the eye of transparency."

The Trump administration also has served notice that the executive branch could ignore some information requests from Congress, with a few exceptions.

"Nonsense," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an outspoken advocate of open government. "Shutting down oversight requests doesn't drain the swamp, Mr. President. It floods the swamp."

Members of the administration have resisted being questioned. Some White House briefings were declared off-limits for video or audio. And in July, during the president's second overseas trip, the administration insisted that a briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin be off-camera. Trump also barred the U.S. media from his White House meeting with Russian officials, only to see photos of the Oval Office session surface in the Russian media.

The signs of struggle included the resignation in July of the government's ethics chief, Walter Shaub, after an extraordinary public fight with Trump's lawyers over potential conflicts of interest. Shaub, an Obama appointee leaving short of the end of his five-year term, had tried unsuccessfully to get Trump to fully divest from his business empire.

As with most new administrations, Trump's Justice Department has not issued its own its official policy on complying with one of the cornerstones of open government, the federal Freedom of Information Act.

"Trump and his closest aides appear to have little respect for the very processes of government, and therefore little appreciation of the public's need to know of them as part of our democratic process," said Daniel J. Metcalfe, the founding director of the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy who teaches secrecy law at American University.

Trump's core supporters seem to be OK with this, he said, "as if new degrees of federal government secrecy are actually better for the country."

It's not just the White House.

Proceedings of the House and Senate are televised live, as are many congressional hearings. But Senate leaders this year briefly tried to bar reporters from conducting televised hallway interviews without permission. And Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell opted to privately negotiate an ultimately unsuccessful bill to overhaul Obama's Affordable Care Act. Closing the beginning of the bill-writing process is unusual, though when the original bill was passed, negotiators closed it at the end, to get a final deal.

The Obama administration in its final year spent a record $36.2 million on legal costs defending its refusal to turn over federal records under FOIA, an Associated Press analysis showed earlier this year. The Obama administration also set records for outright denial of access to files, refusing to quickly consider requests described as especially newsworthy, for example.

But Obama signed two executive orders and a set of memoranda on his first day in office that directed the government to revert toward openness. One directive reversed policy by President George W. Bush that made it easier for government agencies to deny Freedom of Information Act requests for records. Another effectively repealed a Bush executive order that allowed former presidents or their heirs to keep records secret by claiming executive privilege.

Part of the current administration's resistance to openness may stem from Trump's background running a family business.

"If you come out of the private company background and you didn't have to report to anybody, you basically got to run your own shop and you can just fire people. That's been Donald Trump's life," said Richard Painter, who served as George W. Bush's White House ethics lawyer. "Then at age 70, suddenly he's in a job where he's accountable to other people; there's a Constitution and a set of rules here."
President Donald Trump lashed out at ESPN on Twitter Friday after "SportsCenter" host Jemele Hill tweeted earlier this week that Trump was a "white supremacist" and "bigot."

Hill later apologized for her tweets and ESPN said Thursday it has accepted the apology.

Trump on Friday tweeted: "ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!"

ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday also double downed on comments she made earlier calling Hill's comments outrageous and a fire-able offense based off of ESPN's previous history for suspending or terminating talent for making poltical commentary but adding Its not my decision to make for a private company.

ESPN said in a statement that Hill has a right to her personal beliefs, but not to share them on a public platform that implies she is speaking for the network. ESPN said she's acknowledged that her tweets crossed the line.

ESPN President John Skipper on Friday sent a company-wide email to staff about its social media policies and "issues of significant debate in our country," NBC News reported.

Skipper did not refer to Hill or Trump by name in the email sent Friday, but wrote that while "ESPN is not a political organization" its employees "are citizens and appropriately want to participate in the public discussion."

"At a minimum, comments should not be inflammatory or personal," Skipper wrote in the email. The email was not released by ESPN and was posted online, but an ESPN representative confirmed it was accurate.

So, to address the elephant in the room ... #Facts pic.twitter.com/RTrIDD87ut  Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 14, 2017

In her own tweet, Hill said she regretted that her comments painted her company in an unfair light.

Earlier the Democratic Coalition, an anti-Trump Super PAC, filed an ethics complaint against Sanders with the Office of Government Ethics for her comments regarding Hill's employment status with ESPN.
One of the four Boston College students who were attacked with acid in France on Sunday is from our area, according to authorities.

Courtney Siverling, 22, of Chester Springs, Chester County, along with Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Korsten were outside of a train station in Marseille around 11:00 a.m. when they were sprayed with the corrosive agent without warning.

French police arrested a 41-year-old woman whom they described as "disturbed" shortly after the incident. They said they do not think the attack was an act of terrorism.

All of the students are juniors at B.C. Siverling, Kaufman, and Krug are part of the school's Paris program and Korsten studies at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.

The students were hospitalized in Marseille and have since been released.



Nick Gozik, who directs B.C.'s Office of International Programs, said that "it appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns."

"We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the U.S. Embassy regarding the incident," said Gozik.
California could become the first state to ban the sale of animals from so-called puppy mills or mass breeding operations under legislation sent Thursday to Gov. Jerry Brown by lawmakers.

Animal rights groups are cheering the bill by Democratic Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell to require pet stores to work with animal shelters or rescue operations if they want to sell dogs, cats or rabbit.

Thirty-six cities in California, including Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco already have similar bans in place, but no statewide bans exist.

"We've actually seen a thriving pet industry based on the model of getting these from shelters," said Democratic Assemblyman Matt Dababneh of Encino.

Brown spokesman Brian Ferguson declined to comment on whether the governor plans to sign it.

Private breeders would still be allowed to sell dogs, cats and rabbits directly to individuals.

Supporters of the bill say it's aimed at encouraging families and individual buyers to work directly with breeders or to adopt pets in shelters. It also would ensure animals are bred and sold healthily and humanely, supporters said.

Few pet stores in California are still selling animals and many already team up with rescue organizations to facilitate adoptions, according to O'Donnell's office.

"Californians spend more than $250 million a year to house and euthanize animals in our shelters," O'Donnell said in a statement. "Protecting the pets that make our house a home is an effort that makes us all proud."

The bill would also require pet stores to maintain records showing where each dog, cat or rabbit it sells came from and to publicly display that information. A violation of the law would carry a $500 civil fine.

Meanwhile, a bill seeking to phase out fossil fuels in California's energy grid was struggling in the Assembly.

Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, said the bill lacks support and won't come up for a vote in the Utilities and Energy Committee that he leads. SB100 was written by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who is pressuring the Assembly to approve the bill by Friday.

Several celebrities, including actor Leonardo DiCaprio, have tweeted their support this week.

A bill to require presidential candidates to share their tax returns to be allowed on the California primary ballot cleared the Assembly, putting it one step closer to becoming law. It now needs final approval from the Senate before going to Brown. If he signs it, California would be the first state with such a requirement after a flurry of bills in other states stalled earlier this year.

Other legislation sent to Brown Thursday would:
A sleeping homeless man suffered serious head injuries Saturday when an unknown man attacked him in a North Park alley, brutally beating him with a skateboard.

The attack  which the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said was seemingly unprovoked  happened just after 4:30 a.m. in a south alley off El Cajon Boulevard, behind a Jack in the Box restaurant.

Police said a 55-year-old transient was sleeping when, suddenly, a man hit him several times on the head with a skateboard.

.@SanDiegoPD are investigating after a man was badly beaten with a skateboard in an alley in #NorthPark pic.twitter.com/xaaWVH0Kxp  Ramon Galindo (@RamonGalindoNBC) September 16, 2017

Witnesses told investigators the suspect fled in a white Honda, leaving the victim critically injured on the street.

NBC 7 spoke to one North Park resident, who asked to remain anonymous, who said she heard the attack outside her home. The incident left her shaken.

I heard like a Pop, pop, and then a car raced down the alley, and then I heard my husband screaming, Hes bleeding! she recounted.

She said the victim was lying on the ground, covered in so much blood that his face was no longer visible.

You could tell he was in a lot of pain. His beanie was covered in blood. His face was covered in blood. He was in shock, she explained. There was blood just going into his mouth, and he was kind of choking on it.

She said ambulance soon arrived, taking the man away. The police department said the victim was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries.

Police said the suspect was described as a man between 19 and 26 years old, with shoulder-length hair. The 6-foot-tall man was wearing gray shorts.

No one else was harmed in the violent attack.

As of 2:30 p.m., SDPD Officer Tony Martinez confirmed the victim was on life support and would likely not survive his injuries.

The crime is being investigated as a homicide, Martinez said.

Several North Park residents told NBC 7 they were saddened by the incident. Many said they've noticed an uptick in the homeless population in their community.

"More than anything, Im just sad for the homeless because Ive been noticing more of them coming through the area," said Hugo Angiano.

You have a lot of homeless people now that are living in the neighborhood without services to support them. The homeless problem is a bad thing out here, added resident Herbert Willis. I think they need more police patrols.

The anonymous witness who heard the crime said nobody deserves to be attacked on the streets -- homeless or not.

I understand we have a really bad homeless thing in San Diego; its everywhere. But the man wasnt bothering anybody. He was in his little cubby; he was sleeping, she said. Hes still a human being. No matter what the circumstances are, hes still a human being.
California Democrats approved a "sanctuary state" bill Saturday that would limit how local and state police can interact with federal immigration agents.

The bill is intended to bolster immigrant protections in the state that are already among the toughest in the nation.

It will now be considered by Gov. Jerry Brown, who announced his support after the top state Senate leader agreed to water down the bill and preserve authority for jail and prison officials to cooperate with immigration officers in many cases.

The legislation is the latest effort by Democratic lawmakers in California, home to an estimated 2.3 million immigrants without legal authorization, to create barriers to President Donald Trump's campaign pledge to step up deportation efforts. They've also approved money for legal assistance and college scholarships for people living illegally in the U.S., and made it harder for businesses and government agencies to disclose people's immigration status.

California lawmakers are debating the measure as the U.S. Congress considers offering legal status to young immigrants whose parents brought them into the country illegally or overstayed their visas.

"This comes as a relief that there are some legislators that are really listening," said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

The measure cleared the Legislature with support only from Democrats over the objection of Republicans who it will protect criminals and make it harder for law-enforcement to keep people safe.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, introduced SB54 shortly after Trump's election to cut off most interactions between federal immigration agents and local police and sheriff's officers. Following sharp dissent from law enforcement officials and Brown's intervention, it was scaled back significantly.

The final version prohibits law enforcement officials from asking about a person's immigration status or participating in immigration enforcement efforts. It also prohibits law enforcement officials from being deputized as immigration agents or arresting people on civil immigration warrants.

Police and sheriff's officials, including jail officers, will still be able to work with federal immigration authorities if a person has been convicted of one of some 800 crimes, mostly felonies and misdemeanors that can be charged as felonies. But they'll be barred from transferring immigrants to federal authorities if their rap sheet includes only minor offenses.

Immigration advocates generally applauded the latest version, even with de Leon's concessions. For them, the bill delivers a rare victory during Trump's presidency, preserving some protections for people in the country illegally and adding others.

The bill will prevent local police from becoming "cogs in the Trump deportation machine," de Leon said.

California police chiefs dropped their opposition but most sheriffs, who run jails where the biggest impacts will be felt, remain opposed.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell "strongly opposed" the measure initially, because he "viewed it as a threat to public safety," he said in a statement Saturday morning. "SB 54, as passed by the legislature, is a very different bill today."

"SB 54 clearly reflects what is working in Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department," he noted in the statement. "While not perfect, SB 54 kept intact our ability to maintain partnerships with federal law enforcement officials who help us in the fight against gangs, drugs and human trafficking. It also retains the controlled access that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has to our jails."



The Los Angeles Police Department said it "welcomes the passage," of the bill in a statement Saturday morning.

"SB 54 recognizes what has worked in Los Angeles for nearly four decades," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in the statement. "We have reduced crime by building strong partnerships with our communities, regardless of civil immigration status, so that we can apprehend the criminals who prey on all communities in Los Angeles."

The changes did not mollify others.

"In my view this bill's going to make us less safe," said Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, R-Templeton. "It's going to protect the criminal at the expense of the law abiding citizen."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan said the bill will deliberately destruct immigration laws and shelter criminals.

"If California politicians pass this bill, they will be prioritizing politics over the safety and security of their constituents," Homan said in a statement this week.

As lawmakers considered the bill Friday another high-profile killing in San Francisco spotlighted the sanctuary issue. Immigration and Customs Enforcement disclosed that two weeks ago, before 18-year-old Erick Garcia-Pineda was a murder suspect, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department denied a request to hold him until federal authorities could take him into custody for deportation proceedings.

California's Democratic political leaders have positioned the nation's largest state as a foil to Trump and his administration. They've passed legislation and filed lawsuits aimed at protecting immigrants, combating climate change and blocking any future attempt to build a registry of Muslims.

A federal judge in Chicago ruled Friday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions cannot follow through with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to so-called sanctuary cities for refusing his order to impose tough immigration policies.
Four Boston College students were attacked with acid in France on Sunday, according to authorities.

The students were outside of a train station in Marseille around 11:00 a.m. when they were sprayed with the corrosive agent without warning.

French police arrested a 41-year-old woman whom they described as "disturbed" shortly after the incident. They said they do not think the attack was an act of terrorism.

All of the students are juniors at B.C. Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, and Michelle Krug are part of the school's Paris program and Kelsey Korsten studies at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.

The students were briefly hospitalized in Marseille and have since been released.

Nick Gozik, who directs B.C.'s Office of International Programs, said that "it appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns."

"We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the U.S. Embassy regarding the incident," said Gozik.

"I was just online with one of them, having an email exchange," said Jack Dunn, a spokesperson for Boston College. "She said, 'we are doing well.' Exhausted, but doing well."

In a public Facebook post, Krug thanked those reaching out to her:

"Hello friends and family-- first, I want you all to know that my friends and I are doing okay. To fill in those who have not heard, three of my friends and I were attacked this morning at a Marseille train station by a woman suffering from a mental illness. She threw a weak solution of hydrochloric acid at us from a water bottle, which got in one of my eyes and one of my friend's eyes. We were all treated at a local hospital and are anticipating a quick recovery.

I ask that if you send thoughts and prayers our way, please consider thinking about/praying for our attacker so that she may receive the help she needs and deserves. Mental illness is not a choice and should not be villainized.

I'd like to thank the US Consulate, French police, and all of the wonderful people who helped us today and made us feel safe.

Looking forward to continuing this incredible opportunity to live and study in Frnace!"

Siverling also issued a statement on Facebook:

"Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to see if I'm OK and/or has been praying for us. I did not receive any injuries from the attack in Marseille this morning and we are all safe. The French police and the U.S. Consulate have been wonderful and we are so thankful for that.

I pray that the attacker would be healed from her mental illness in the name of James and receive the forgiveness and salvation that can only come from Him."
A Charlton, Massachusetts middle school teacher was killed in a bicycle accident on Route 20 westbound in Charlton on Friday.

State Police say John Paire, 40, was struck around 3:35 p.m. by a motorist driving a 1997 Audi A4 sedan. They say the 54-year-old driver from Wilbraham, who is not being identified at this time, immediately stopped at the scene and has cooperated with the investigation.

The crash occurred near South Sturbridge Road in Charlton, and a preliminary investigation indicates that Paire came out of a side street just prior to being struck.

The Dudley Superintendent emailed Charlton Regional Schoool District families saying in part, "By now, many of you are already aware of the tragic news that we have lost one of the truly great people our school district has ever known. John Paire, longtime administrator at Dudley Middle School, current teacher at Charlton Middle School and a dear friend to many of us, was killed in a tragic accident while riding his bicycle yesterday. John was one of the true champions of the 'students first' philosophy that permeates our district. Every decision he made was with the best interest of the kids in mind... I can tell you with 100% certainty that he loved our students, and that he would do anything to help them succeed. Additionally, any staff member who took good care of the students had Johns unconditional support. He was the rare leader who cared about people for more than their role within the school. He cared about them as people, he cared about their families, and he made decisions with compassion, sincerity and commitment to his core beliefs."

Dudley Middle School, Charlton Middle School and Shepherd Hill will all be open Sunday September 17 from 10:00 a.m.  2:00 p.m. for students, staff and community members to gather and grieve together.

The crash remains under investigation.
Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh's last rites will be performed at Delhi Cantonment at 10 am on Monday.

By India Today Web Desk: Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh, who died of cardiac arrest, on Saturday will be accorded with state funeral on Monday.

Arjan Singh's last rites will be performed at Delhi Cantonment at 10 am on Monday.

"As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, a state funeral will be accorded and national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral (September 18) in Delhi on all buildings where it is flown regularly," a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

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Arjan Singh, the hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died at the age of 98.

He was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF when he was only 44 years old, a task he carried out with elan. He was the chief of the IAF when it found itself at the forefront of the 1965 conflict.

Singh, who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft, had played a major role in transforming the IAF into one of the most potent air forces globally and the fourth biggest in the world.

Known as a man of few words, he was not only a fearless fighter pilot but had profound knowledge about air power which he applied in a wide spectrum of air operations. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1965.

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After just 10 days of collecting hurricane relief supplies, a filled tractor trailer will be heading down to Florida.

The members of the Wells-Hussey American Leagion post and many responded to the need, according to WCSH.

Bonnie Poland of the Legion Auxillary told WCSH that the donations included cleaning supplies, paper goods, water, canned food, pet food, and much more.

According to the driver, the full trailer-which was donated by Yankee Pride trucking of Damariscotta- weighed about 47,000 pounds.

The truck is expected to arrive in Florida on Wednesday.
A motorcyclist from New Hampshire was killed Saturday night in a head-on crash with a pickup truck in Hampton, according to state police.

Officers responded to the southbound ramp to Route 1 north at 11:50 p.m. and immediately called for state police assistance due to the seriousness of the crash.

Police said a preliminary investigation showed that a Dodge Dakota truck driven by Keith Rogers, 61, of Voluntown, Connecticut, had been traveling southbound on the northbound ramp to Route 1 when he crashed head-on into a Kawasaki EX 250 motorcycle.

The motorcycle was driven by Dawn Houston-Fields, 32, of Greenland. Houston-Fields sustained serious injuries and was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital where she later died from her injuries.

The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation by New Hampshire State Police. Anyone with information related to the crash is urged to contact Trooper First Class Thomas Conlon at 603-223-8614 or via email at thomas.conlon.@dos.nh.gov.
We're still days away from feeling any effects from Hurricane Jose, but some people aren't taking any chances.

People in Scituate, Massachusetts are preparing for the storm.

Right along the seawall is a place that gets battered time and time again by these storms, and it will be a place to watch next week.

The town of Scituate is one place that is taking this storm very seriously.

The town's Fire Chief sent out a letter Friday telling residents this is the time to start preparing.

He says that learning from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, he knows water, food, and gasoline go quickly.

He says neighbors should plan for a potential significant impact, and that it's not a bad idea to start securing homes and to make a plan just in case homes along the coast need to be evacuated.

With the storm a few days away, neighbors here have their eyes on Jose coming up the coast.

"I'm not really worried about the water part of it all. I'm worried about the wind and all the big trees I planted 50 years ago that are now in proximity to falling on my house, so I'm keeping track of the storm," Marshall Litchfield said.

Other neighbors say they are just going to wait a few more days before deciding what they will do.

The uncertainty of the storm's path is what's causing them to hesitate before boarding up, because they say, once they board up, they aren't taking them down.
Several residents had to be rescued Saturday morning during a fire at an apartment building in Lynn, Massachusetts. The fire is now under control and the investigation into what caused it is underway.

Officials said the fire at the building on Kinsley Avenue started just before 5 a.m. and quickly reached 3 alarms.

Panic is how Mary Callahan, her boyfriend, and children woke up Saturday morning.

"If we stayed there for two more minutes we would have burned to death," she said. "We could have died... my kids would have died."

Barricading themselves in a room in their apartment on the third floor, desperate to survive, they broke a window and luckily fire crews were right there in the nick of time.

Lynn District Chief Steve Archersaid that they "had to rescue quite a few people out of the building," because the fire conditions on the stairways were so bad that the residents were unable to use the stairwells to escape.

According to officials, 12 other units were damaged.

Callahan and her family said they are thankful they escaped the rising flames and smoke, but they can not help but worry about what is next.

"Where am I going to live? Everything in our apartment is burnt," she said. "I want to know if my stuff is OK."

The Red Cross is helping to place people in temporary housing. The exact number of those displaced is unknown.
A University of Vermont student was killed on Saturday in a rock climbing accident in Bolton, according to state police.

Troopers received a 911 call around 5:15 p.m. about the accident that took place at the Lower West Bolton Climbing area.

According to police, Rebecca Ryan, 20, had been with friends when she fell off the estimated 90 foot cliff as she was attempting to ascend, and then died at the scene from her injuries.

Ryan was a University of Vermont student from Knoxville, Tennessee, and was an experienced rock climber, according to officials.

UVM officials said Ryan was a junior in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and was studying to be an athletic trainer. She was actively involved on campus with the Rock Climbing Club and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

"We extend our deepest condolences to Rebeccas family. Our sincere thoughts of care and sympathy are also extended to Rebeccas friends, classmates, and to faculty and staff who were close to her," said school officials in a statement.



The investigation into Ryan's death is ongoing, however, police do not suspect foul play.
Trustees express disappointment over council's decision

PLANS to build a new village hall in Bradfield have this week been thrown out by West Berkshire Council.

Council planners were critical of the design, location and layout of the proposed 246 sq m development, which lies in an Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

A separate application, to build four new semi-detached homes as part of the scheme, was also rejected.

More than 148 letters of representation were sent to the council regarding the plans  with 101 of them recording objections.

The applicant, Bradfield Village Hall Trustees, has said it will be appealing the decision.

Plans to demolish the existing village hall in Southend Road and replace it with a new, state-of-the-art building, along with car parking, a new play area and multi-use games area (MUGA) were submitted in June.

The application was the third attempt at the scheme, with the first set of plans withdrawn after the trustees were given advice by West Berkshire Council planners. The second application was then swiftly withdrawn after Bradfield Parish Council decided it no longer wished to be listed as a co-applicant.

It is thought the overall scheme will cost in the region of 1.7m to complete, with 13,000 of that having now been spent on application fees.

The chairwoman of the Village Hall Trustees, Christine Evans, said she was disappointed that the council had chosen to refuse the application and strongly questioned why the decision was made by a council officer and not by the councils eastern area planning committee.

We have bent over backwards to do what the council has asked of us, she said. They have totally ignored all our efforts.

Every one of the consultees has no objection other than the parish council. Theres no reference in their report that this is a community building and a vital part of the community at that.

I need to speak to our ward councillor to find out why this was not called in in front of the committee. We will be pursuing this at a higher level.

The plans, which have divided the village, drew heavy criticism from opposition group Bradfield Planning Application Group (BPAG) who questioned the scale and cost of the development.

Members of BPAG were also unhappy over the loss of the green space which would be swallowed up by the significantly larger replacement village hall development. And it seems council officers agreed with the concerns of the objectors.

In the planning report, officers pointed out that the substantial building would be taller than any other nearby buildings  a claim denied by Mrs Evans.

The MUGA was deemed to be too close to the boundary raising questions over noise, while the council also had concerns regarding anti-social behaviour as a new play area and car park would, to an extent, be hidden from view behind the new building.

The council also reference the significant land take from the nearby field to accommodate the development.

The officer goes on: Any harm to the character and appearance of an area within the AONB attracts great weight in the overall planning balance due to the sensitivity of the area to change from urbanising development.

The councils report concludes: The development is not appropriate in terms of its location, scale and design in the context of the existing settlement form, pattern and character.

Giles Allen of BPAG said: Bradfield community expressed their views to WBC with over 70 per cent of the representation letters objecting to the two planning applications.

We are reassured by the councils decisions and their primary reasons for refusal; concerns about the loss of green infrastructure and impact within the ANOB to be caused by the housing development, and the size and location of the proposed hall.

We are further reassured that council has accepted in principle the need for a quality and sympathetic redevelopment of the hall which respects both the village character and ANOB.

Mr Allen added that BPAG had always championed the "redevelopment approach" over the large scale demolish-and-replace scheme put forward by the trustees, however, he said the group respected the right of the trustees to appeal the decision.
By PTI: (Eds: Adds details and quotes from hospital)

Jaipur/New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours today.

He was 61.

On September 13, he was brought to Apollo Hospital in a "very bad shape", a senior doctor said.

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"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

The BJP MP had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 parliamentary elections after defeating Congress candidate and former Union minister Jitendra Singh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

He will be remembered for his contribution for the developmental works, she said.

Nath was also the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Rohtak. His funeral services would be held today. PTI AG KND GVS

--- ENDS ---
By PTI

COPENHAGEN: Air India plans to rationalise some routes operated by the airline and its subsidiaries, including in the Gulf region, as part of cost saving efforts, according to the airline's chief Rajiv Bansal.

The disinvestment-bound national carrier is discussing the possible routes that can be rationalised starting from the winter schedule next month.

Two of the airline's subsidiaries -- low-cost arm Air India Express and Alliance Air -- have significant operations.

Air India Express mainly caters to the Gulf region while Alliance Air operates smaller aircraft for regional flights.

In an interview to PTI onboard the inaugural flight from New Delhi to Copenhagen on Saturday, Bansal said the airline would be rationalising some routes as part of "chipping at costs".

"There are some routes in which Air India and Air India Express are competing. We have to ensure that we don't compete which means that it is not that Air India or Air India Express withdraws but we can work with the timings. Wherever the passenger loads are not justified, either Air India or its subsidiaries can withdraw," he said.

In this regard, Bansal said he has already held a series of meetings with Air India Express and Alliance Air.

He noted that there are some overlaps with Air India Express in the Gulf region and it is also looking to rationalise operations in smaller routes where the journey is for less than an hour and "concede space to Alliance Air in the short haul space".

"I think we should be able to rationalise five flights. I am not saying that we are withdrawing the flights, we are rationalising. May be I was operating seven days a week, may be I will bring it down to three or four days for Air India Express to operate. In some cases, Alliance Air is adding capacity," he said.

Elaborating on the idea behind rationalising routes, the Chairman and Managing Director said the airline is looking at how much passenger load is likely in a particular route and what is the paying capacity of that passenger.

Then a decision would be taken on whether to operate full service carrier Air India, low-cost carrier Air India Express or Alliance Air's turbo prop aircraft, he added.

"We are an integrated company and that is my strength over my competitors. As a full service carrier with about 110 aircraft, I have a low cost carrier (Air India Express) with 23 aircraft and Alliance Air with 15 aircraft. It is around 150 total. There are four jumbos also. It is 152," Bansal said.

Amid the government working on the modalities for the strategic disinvestment of Air India, the airline is looking to trim costs. The loss-making airline has huge debt burden and there is a significant outgo towards servicing the loans.

On expected cost savings from route rationalisation, he said these are all "chipping" at costs.

"Not significant (cost savings) but as I said these are all chipping. If I can get each initiative bring in upwards of Rs 100 crore savings that is what is I am looking at. I have worked with my directors and said let's take one initiative a week to cut costs," he said.

When asked whether there could be the possibility of the airline surrendering some of its slots at various airports, he replied in the negative.

"Slots are our biggest assets. We don't want to surrender any slots," Bansal said.

Air India launched its first flight from New Delhi to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, on September 16, making it the airline's 11th destination in Europe.

COPENHAGEN: Air India plans to rationalise some routes operated by the airline and its subsidiaries, including in the Gulf region, as part of cost saving efforts, according to the airline's chief Rajiv Bansal. The disinvestment-bound national carrier is discussing the possible routes that can be rationalised starting from the winter schedule next month. Two of the airline's subsidiaries -- low-cost arm Air India Express and Alliance Air -- have significant operations. Air India Express mainly caters to the Gulf region while Alliance Air operates smaller aircraft for regional flights. In an interview to PTI onboard the inaugural flight from New Delhi to Copenhagen on Saturday, Bansal said the airline would be rationalising some routes as part of "chipping at costs". "There are some routes in which Air India and Air India Express are competing. We have to ensure that we don't compete which means that it is not that Air India or Air India Express withdraws but we can work with the timings. Wherever the passenger loads are not justified, either Air India or its subsidiaries can withdraw," he said. In this regard, Bansal said he has already held a series of meetings with Air India Express and Alliance Air. He noted that there are some overlaps with Air India Express in the Gulf region and it is also looking to rationalise operations in smaller routes where the journey is for less than an hour and "concede space to Alliance Air in the short haul space". "I think we should be able to rationalise five flights. I am not saying that we are withdrawing the flights, we are rationalising. May be I was operating seven days a week, may be I will bring it down to three or four days for Air India Express to operate. In some cases, Alliance Air is adding capacity," he said. Elaborating on the idea behind rationalising routes, the Chairman and Managing Director said the airline is looking at how much passenger load is likely in a particular route and what is the paying capacity of that passenger. Then a decision would be taken on whether to operate full service carrier Air India, low-cost carrier Air India Express or Alliance Air's turbo prop aircraft, he added. "We are an integrated company and that is my strength over my competitors. As a full service carrier with about 110 aircraft, I have a low cost carrier (Air India Express) with 23 aircraft and Alliance Air with 15 aircraft. It is around 150 total. There are four jumbos also. It is 152," Bansal said. Amid the government working on the modalities for the strategic disinvestment of Air India, the airline is looking to trim costs. The loss-making airline has huge debt burden and there is a significant outgo towards servicing the loans. On expected cost savings from route rationalisation, he said these are all "chipping" at costs. "Not significant (cost savings) but as I said these are all chipping. If I can get each initiative bring in upwards of Rs 100 crore savings that is what is I am looking at. I have worked with my directors and said let's take one initiative a week to cut costs," he said. When asked whether there could be the possibility of the airline surrendering some of its slots at various airports, he replied in the negative. "Slots are our biggest assets. We don't want to surrender any slots," Bansal said. Air India launched its first flight from New Delhi to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, on September 16, making it the airline's 11th destination in Europe.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: State-run gas utility GAIL India Ltd (Gas (India) Limited (GAIL) (formerly known as Gas Authority of India Limited)) has chartered an LNG tanker from French oil and gas super major Total S.A. for three years to haul gas from the US beginning early 2018.

"We are hiring the ship for three years with an option to extend the time-charter by another year," a senior company official said.

GAIL, India's biggest natural gas marketing company, had through the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) invited bids for hiring four LNG carrying tankers. Some 30 LNG ships were offered, with Total offering the lowest day rate of USD 44,900 for a ship with 165,000 cubic meters of storage capacity.

The official said the company is for the time being hiring only one ship as the other offers were higher than Total's bid.

Total has offered a ship it had chartered from Teekay LNG Partners LP, one of the world's top independent owners and operators of LNG carriers, for ferrying LNG from a project in Yemen.

Total S.A. is a French multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven 'Supermajor' oil companies in the world.

The French company had chartered the ship till 2029 but due to turmoil in the country, Yemen LNG (YLNG) project was temporarily shut in 2015.

GAIL had resorted to short-term chartering after its USD 7 billion tender for hiring newly build ships fell due to bidders not agreeing to 'Make in India' terms.

In the tender, GAIL had sought to time-charter nine newly built LNG ships of cargo capacity of 150,000-180,000 cubic metres to ferry LNG it has tied up from Sabine Pass and Cove Point LNG projects in US.

Bids were sought in lots of three, with the condition that one of the three ships will be built at an Indian shipyard.

Two Japanese bidders -- a consortium of Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)-Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) and Mitsui & Co and a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Corporation-Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K Line) and GasLog -- had sought several deviations from the tender conditions, which were not agreeable to GAIL.

The official said since Indian shipyards neither had technology or experience of building the highly specialised LNG ships, the bidder sought sovereign performance guarantee for the ones built in India.

The terms could not be agreed upon, leading to the cancellation of the tender in November last year, he said.

In the meanwhile, GAIL has either swapped or sold about 60 percent of the 5.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG it has tied up from the US. The reduced volumes, which are likely to flow from April next year, would need 2-3 ships.

SCI is being asked to float a fresh tender for 2-3 more ships, the official added.

NEW DELHI: State-run gas utility GAIL India Ltd (Gas (India) Limited (GAIL) (formerly known as Gas Authority of India Limited)) has chartered an LNG tanker from French oil and gas super major Total S.A. for three years to haul gas from the US beginning early 2018. "We are hiring the ship for three years with an option to extend the time-charter by another year," a senior company official said. GAIL, India's biggest natural gas marketing company, had through the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) invited bids for hiring four LNG carrying tankers. Some 30 LNG ships were offered, with Total offering the lowest day rate of USD 44,900 for a ship with 165,000 cubic meters of storage capacity. The official said the company is for the time being hiring only one ship as the other offers were higher than Total's bid. Total has offered a ship it had chartered from Teekay LNG Partners LP, one of the world's top independent owners and operators of LNG carriers, for ferrying LNG from a project in Yemen. Total S.A. is a French multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven 'Supermajor' oil companies in the world. The French company had chartered the ship till 2029 but due to turmoil in the country, Yemen LNG (YLNG) project was temporarily shut in 2015. GAIL had resorted to short-term chartering after its USD 7 billion tender for hiring newly build ships fell due to bidders not agreeing to 'Make in India' terms. In the tender, GAIL had sought to time-charter nine newly built LNG ships of cargo capacity of 150,000-180,000 cubic metres to ferry LNG it has tied up from Sabine Pass and Cove Point LNG projects in US. Bids were sought in lots of three, with the condition that one of the three ships will be built at an Indian shipyard. Two Japanese bidders -- a consortium of Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)-Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) and Mitsui & Co and a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Corporation-Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K Line) and GasLog -- had sought several deviations from the tender conditions, which were not agreeable to GAIL. The official said since Indian shipyards neither had technology or experience of building the highly specialised LNG ships, the bidder sought sovereign performance guarantee for the ones built in India. The terms could not be agreed upon, leading to the cancellation of the tender in November last year, he said. In the meanwhile, GAIL has either swapped or sold about 60 percent of the 5.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG it has tied up from the US. The reduced volumes, which are likely to flow from April next year, would need 2-3 ships. SCI is being asked to float a fresh tender for 2-3 more ships, the official added.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: In yet another incident of a foreign national being arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs this year, sleuths of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested a 40-year-old woman with Rs 1 crore worth Ephedrine at Central Railway Station on Saturday. Based on specific information, the bureau officers intercepted Dilliah Edina, a Malawian national and seized 22 kg of the contraband.

The seized controlled substance was factory sealed and concealed in 44 food tins, a press release said. During investigation it was found that Dilliah had come to India on August 8 and stayed in South West Delhi. From Delhi, she came to Chennai by train to board a flight to Zambia via Mumbai, the release said.

It may be noted that on July 9, a South Africa national was nabbed at Chennai airport with 15 kg of Pseudoephedrine when the passenger was heading to Johannesburg. The contraband is a controlled substance for which the manufacture and usage is restricted only to medicinal purpose.

CHENNAI: In yet another incident of a foreign national being arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs this year, sleuths of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested a 40-year-old woman with Rs 1 crore worth Ephedrine at Central Railway Station on Saturday. Based on specific information, the bureau officers intercepted Dilliah Edina, a Malawian national and seized 22 kg of the contraband. The seized controlled substance was factory sealed and concealed in 44 food tins, a press release said. During investigation it was found that Dilliah had come to India on August 8 and stayed in South West Delhi. From Delhi, she came to Chennai by train to board a flight to Zambia via Mumbai, the release said. It may be noted that on July 9, a South Africa national was nabbed at Chennai airport with 15 kg of Pseudoephedrine when the passenger was heading to Johannesburg. The contraband is a controlled substance for which the manufacture and usage is restricted only to medicinal purpose.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, has expressed interest in replicating the Kudumbashree model in that country.

Preliminary discussions have begun for a possible partnership between the Caucasian republic and the National Resource Organisation wing of Kudumbashree. A team from Kudumbashree will visit Azerbaijan in October for a preliminary study and will then prepare a blueprint for a possible tie up.

The Caucasian republic has evinced interest primarily in the management of micro enterprises and business ventures of women in non-agricultural sector, a release from Kudumbashree said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, has expressed interest in replicating the Kudumbashree model in that country. Preliminary discussions have begun for a possible partnership between the Caucasian republic and the National Resource Organisation wing of Kudumbashree. A team from Kudumbashree will visit Azerbaijan in October for a preliminary study and will then prepare a blueprint for a possible tie up. The Caucasian republic has evinced interest primarily in the management of micro enterprises and business ventures of women in non-agricultural sector, a release from Kudumbashree said.
By IANS

LONDON: Bollywood star Salman Khan received a Global Diversity Award at Britain's House of Commons.

Salman was at the House of Commons here on Friday, and received the award from Keith Vaz, British Parliament's longest-serving Asian MP.

"The Global Diversity Award is given to people of immense stature in terms of what they have done for diversity in the world, and he is certainly one of them," Vaz said here.

Vaz praised Salman for being "not just a megastar for Indian and world cinema, but also someone who has done so much for humanitarian causes".

Salman, who looked dapper at the event and runs the Being Human NGO, said: "Thank you for the respect and honour you have given me. My father would have never thought... But the amount of respect you guys have given me, thank you so much for it."

The actor is in Britain for his Da-Bangg Tour, and he is visiting the country after a decade.

The tour, which will take place in Birmingham on Saturday and in London's O2 Arena on Sunday, will also feature artistes like Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez, Prabhudheva, Sooraj Pancholi and Badshah.



LONDON: Bollywood star Salman Khan received a Global Diversity Award at Britain's House of Commons. Salman was at the House of Commons here on Friday, and received the award from Keith Vaz, British Parliament's longest-serving Asian MP. "The Global Diversity Award is given to people of immense stature in terms of what they have done for diversity in the world, and he is certainly one of them," Vaz said here. Vaz praised Salman for being "not just a megastar for Indian and world cinema, but also someone who has done so much for humanitarian causes". Salman, who looked dapper at the event and runs the Being Human NGO, said: "Thank you for the respect and honour you have given me. My father would have never thought... But the amount of respect you guys have given me, thank you so much for it." The actor is in Britain for his Da-Bangg Tour, and he is visiting the country after a decade. The tour, which will take place in Birmingham on Saturday and in London's O2 Arena on Sunday, will also feature artistes like Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez, Prabhudheva, Sooraj Pancholi and Badshah.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: National passenger carrier Air India on Saturday launched its non-stop flight service from New Delhi to Copenhagen its 44th international destination. Copenhagen will be the eleventh destination where the airline will operate non-stop flight service in Europe, describing it as connecting Maharaja with the Mermaid. In Air Indias trademark style, the inaugural flight was operated by an all-woman crew.

The national carrier has been expanding its international operations and has started services to overseas destinations, including Washington and Stockholm so far this year. The airline will operate thrice-a-week flight service -- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday -- on Boeing B-787 Dreamliner and is offering return fares starting from `42,700, inclusive of all taxes, to mark its inauguration. Apart from Copenhagen, the airline has direct flights to Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Paris, Birmingham and London.

The services to Moscow are temporarily suspended and would restart in October, an airline official said. It will offer 18 business and 238 economy class seats on Delhi-Copenhagen sector. AI 157 will depart from Delhi at 1430 hours to reach Copenhagen at 1845 hours the same day. The return flight AI 158 will leave Copenhagen at 2045 hours and reach Delhi at 0735 hours the next day, the airline said in a release. Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal said the national carrier will consider daily flight services on this sector depending upon the passenger traffic.

NEW DELHI: National passenger carrier Air India on Saturday launched its non-stop flight service from New Delhi to Copenhagen its 44th international destination. Copenhagen will be the eleventh destination where the airline will operate non-stop flight service in Europe, describing it as connecting Maharaja with the Mermaid. In Air Indias trademark style, the inaugural flight was operated by an all-woman crew. The national carrier has been expanding its international operations and has started services to overseas destinations, including Washington and Stockholm so far this year. The airline will operate thrice-a-week flight service -- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday -- on Boeing B-787 Dreamliner and is offering return fares starting from `42,700, inclusive of all taxes, to mark its inauguration. Apart from Copenhagen, the airline has direct flights to Stockholm, Madrid, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Paris, Birmingham and London. The services to Moscow are temporarily suspended and would restart in October, an airline official said. It will offer 18 business and 238 economy class seats on Delhi-Copenhagen sector. AI 157 will depart from Delhi at 1430 hours to reach Copenhagen at 1845 hours the same day. The return flight AI 158 will leave Copenhagen at 2045 hours and reach Delhi at 0735 hours the next day, the airline said in a release. Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal said the national carrier will consider daily flight services on this sector depending upon the passenger traffic.
Express News Service

GUWAHATI: A Muslim member of the BJP in Assam has been suspended and served a show-cause notice by her party for allegedly organising a prayer meet for the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

A notice sent by WhatsApp to Bharatiya Janata Mazdoor Morcha chief executive member Benazir Arfan alleged that she had used the BJPs social media forum to make an appeal to people to attend a demonstration being organised by another organisation. The notice said the Benazir Afra had not discussed the issue within the party.

Arfan, who was the BJPs Triple Talaq mascot in the state, defended her action, stating that it was a prayer meet and not a demonstration.

The event was organised by an NGO, United Minority Peoples Forum, to pray for the Rohingya Muslims who have lost their lives in Myanmar. But the BJP state leadership viewed it as an attempt to lobby for asylum for fleeing Rohingya Muslims in India, Benazir Arfan told New Indian Express.

She alleged that the BJP had been vindictive towards her all along and the action against her was taken a day ahead of the event on September 16.

Arfan had joined the BJP in 2012. She unsuccessfully contested last years Assam elections from Jania.

I sincerely served the BJP all these years. Is this how they pay back? a livid Arfan asked. She alleged that the male-dominated BJP state leadership denied delegating responsibilities to deserving women workers.

The BJP state president Ranjit Das is at the heart of the problem. Media reports suggest his involvement in corruption but he is not accountable to any. Hindus and Muslims in Assam shared a cordial relationship but it has been strained under the present state BJP leadership, she alleged.

Arfan has already sent her reply to the show-cause notice to the BJP leadership. She said she would not go back to the party even if the suspension was revoked.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced several schemes and programmes for womens empowerment. I want to ask him what action he will take against the BJP state leadership for this injustice done to me, Arfan added.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The split in the JD (U) seems imminent after the national executive meeting called by the dissident Sharad Yadav on Sunday appointed Gujarat legislature Chottubhai Vasava as party chief replacing Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. The Sunday meeting also nullified the decision of the party to join the NDA.

The supporters of Yadav held the meeting in the national capital in which Vasava, who is also the Gujarat unit party chief and a six-term MLA, was appointed the acting president of the party. Vasava had also defied the whip of the party to vote for the Congress nominee in the Rajya Sabha election Ahmed Patel recently. The meeting also saw decisions, including constitution of a disciplinary committee to take action against the Bihar chief minister for forging alliance with the BJP in the state.

Though the Bihar legislators and MPs barring Ali Anwar of the Rajya Sabha have remained loyal to Kumar, supporters of Yadav claimed that the Sunday meeting was attended by most of the state chiefs of the party.

The meeting called by the rebel group also nullified the decision of the JD (U) to appoint Anil Hegde as the returning officer for the organisational election of the party. The state unit chiefs of the party were earlier sacked at the whims and fancies of the Bihar chief minister. The national executive meeting on Sunday reinstated all of them, said Arun Kumar Srivasatava, who had earlier been removed as the general secretary of the party by Kumar for anti-party activities.

Sources in the JD (U) said that the actions would be taken against Yadav and his associates, which could include expulsion from the party also. Incidentally, Yadav and Anwar would not lose memberships of the Rajya Sabha if they are expelled by the JD (U). The Election Commission had also last week refused to take cognisance of the claims of the rebels on the issue of party symbol.

NEW DELHI: The split in the JD (U) seems imminent after the national executive meeting called by the dissident Sharad Yadav on Sunday appointed Gujarat legislature Chottubhai Vasava as party chief replacing Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. The Sunday meeting also nullified the decision of the party to join the NDA. The supporters of Yadav held the meeting in the national capital in which Vasava, who is also the Gujarat unit party chief and a six-term MLA, was appointed the acting president of the party. Vasava had also defied the whip of the party to vote for the Congress nominee in the Rajya Sabha election Ahmed Patel recently. The meeting also saw decisions, including constitution of a disciplinary committee to take action against the Bihar chief minister for forging alliance with the BJP in the state. Though the Bihar legislators and MPs barring Ali Anwar of the Rajya Sabha have remained loyal to Kumar, supporters of Yadav claimed that the Sunday meeting was attended by most of the state chiefs of the party. The meeting called by the rebel group also nullified the decision of the JD (U) to appoint Anil Hegde as the returning officer for the organisational election of the party. The state unit chiefs of the party were earlier sacked at the whims and fancies of the Bihar chief minister. The national executive meeting on Sunday reinstated all of them, said Arun Kumar Srivasatava, who had earlier been removed as the general secretary of the party by Kumar for anti-party activities. Sources in the JD (U) said that the actions would be taken against Yadav and his associates, which could include expulsion from the party also. Incidentally, Yadav and Anwar would not lose memberships of the Rajya Sabha if they are expelled by the JD (U). The Election Commission had also last week refused to take cognisance of the claims of the rebels on the issue of party symbol.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: A Congress delegation, led by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, concluded its two-day visit to Kashmir today, after holding discussions on the current situation in the valley with a large number of delegations representing a cross section of society.

The party's 'policy planning group on J-K affairs' returned to New Delhi this afternoon after two days of meetings and interactions with various groups, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president G A Mir told PTI.

Mir said over 54 delegations and groups, involving about 1,200 people, met the panel.

"It was a fruitful visit and the people in the valley responded because there was credibility as it was led by a former prime minister. The interactions...are the first indicator that people want peace and discussions," he said.

He said the delegations, groups and some individuals from different shades of the society of Kashmir met the group and apprised them of the ground situation and the reasons behind the prevailing unrest and alienation of the people arising out of the resentment of the mishandling of the situation by the present central and the state governments.

"They also gave them inputs of the feelings and aspirations of the people from different nook and corner of Kashmir Valley, especially the failures of the present dispensations and the betrayal of the mandate of the people by the ruling dispensation," he said.

The delegations also referred to the various working groups and interlocutors' recommendations, including the Justice Sagheer Committee report, and sought their implementation as a way forward to restore the confidence of the people, Mir said.

"They also mentioned about various confidence building measures and initiatives taken during the UPA regime. They regretted that the present dispensation at the Centre and in the state have failed to carry forward that process," he said.

"Almost all the delegations called for evolving a consensus at the national level and debate the issue in Parliament," he added.

The Congress state president said the policy planning group would visit Ladakh by the end of this month or early next month.

The panel will compile a report and submit to the party high command, which will then decide the party's future course of action, he said.

The panel was formed in April this year after the situation in the valley worsened because of widespread violence by agitators during the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypolls.

The group met various delegations from Kashmir, including opposition parties, bar association, LoC trade delegation, minority delegation, fruit growers association, women's delegation, hotel and houseboat associations, tour and travel delegation, and panchayat delegation.

Meeting separatist leaders was not part of the group's agenda.

SRINAGAR: A Congress delegation, led by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, concluded its two-day visit to Kashmir today, after holding discussions on the current situation in the valley with a large number of delegations representing a cross section of society. The party's 'policy planning group on J-K affairs' returned to New Delhi this afternoon after two days of meetings and interactions with various groups, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president G A Mir told PTI. Mir said over 54 delegations and groups, involving about 1,200 people, met the panel. "It was a fruitful visit and the people in the valley responded because there was credibility as it was led by a former prime minister. The interactions...are the first indicator that people want peace and discussions," he said. He said the delegations, groups and some individuals from different shades of the society of Kashmir met the group and apprised them of the ground situation and the reasons behind the prevailing unrest and alienation of the people arising out of the resentment of the mishandling of the situation by the present central and the state governments. "They also gave them inputs of the feelings and aspirations of the people from different nook and corner of Kashmir Valley, especially the failures of the present dispensations and the betrayal of the mandate of the people by the ruling dispensation," he said. The delegations also referred to the various working groups and interlocutors' recommendations, including the Justice Sagheer Committee report, and sought their implementation as a way forward to restore the confidence of the people, Mir said. "They also mentioned about various confidence building measures and initiatives taken during the UPA regime. They regretted that the present dispensation at the Centre and in the state have failed to carry forward that process," he said. "Almost all the delegations called for evolving a consensus at the national level and debate the issue in Parliament," he added. The Congress state president said the policy planning group would visit Ladakh by the end of this month or early next month. The panel will compile a report and submit to the party high command, which will then decide the party's future course of action, he said. The panel was formed in April this year after the situation in the valley worsened because of widespread violence by agitators during the Srinagar Lok Sabha bypolls. The group met various delegations from Kashmir, including opposition parties, bar association, LoC trade delegation, minority delegation, fruit growers association, women's delegation, hotel and houseboat associations, tour and travel delegation, and panchayat delegation. Meeting separatist leaders was not part of the group's agenda.
Harshil Ayyadurai By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Indias bid to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean region has gotten a boost from the strategic relationship established with Japan during Shinzo Abes recent visit. With China being an elephant in the room in almost all discussions involving countries in the Indo-Pacific region, New Delhi has deftly increased cooperation with the Japanese government in matters of defence and security. The annual Malabar exercise has become the signature of Indo-Japan ties apart from the various Japanese industries and industrial parks that operate in the country.

When China hosted its first Belt and Road Forum in May this year, India gave it a royal miss. It had its own plans. Barely a week after the Belt and Road Initiative meeting, India hosted the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat where Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a vision document on the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), which was prepared as a counter-weight to the BRI project. This ambitious initiative entails detailed consultations across Asia and Africa focused on people-centred sustainable growth strategy.

This is a clear departure from the BRI as China tends to create policies on its terms without much discussions with the countries that it gets involved in. The Vision Document released by the AfDB in May clearly spells out the strategy to maximise the potential for trade and investment in the Indian Ocean region in general and within the African continent in specific with Japan and India as the engines driving it forward as two large and responsible democracies. The document spells out four key target areas, 1) development and cooperation, 2) quality infrastructure and institutional connectivity, 3) skill enhancement, and 4) establishing people-to-people partnerships.

The AAGC synergises Indias Act East policy and combines it with Japans Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure to enable a stronger focus on investments in Africa. The spirit of the AAGC is furthermore based on a consultative character where Africa has a role to play in the decision-making process on projects, which is not so much the case with the BRI.

Japan enters the race for Africa

Japans outreach to Africa is nascent at best with little investment which is where China has filled in. With India having a lot of goodwill with many African countries, Japan could harness that trust to build on a fruitful economic relationship on the terms and conditions accepted by both the recipient country and the investing partner. Modi has stated that Indias diplomacy with Africa will be based on a model of cooperation that will, crucially, be demand-driven and free of conditions.

There are similarities with Japans views in this regard. The AAGC aims to advance India and Japans mutual outlook towards Africa on an entire continental level with emphasis on investment and robust infrastructure. Also, a broader connection with the Indian Ocean region is also envisaged with the cooperation of the African countries, especially the ones with littoral connectivity on the oceanfront. India can harness the cultural and traditional history that it shares with Africa with regards to the diaspora community that lives there. Many private players from India have established great trade links with many African countries that have turned out to be a boon for advancing the economic interests of India. Moreover, it has contributed to the development of Africas infrastructure landscape. Japan wants to put more focus on Africa to reach parity China, which maintains a towering presence in the continent. The Japanese have clearly spelt out their reservations on the economic packages and investments that China has been offering to many African countries. Japan has accused China of exploiting Africas resources to its gain.

Point of convergence

Shinzo Abe has stressed on the need for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region. This strategic convergence can lead to an enhanced partnership between the two countries. Since the main objective is to promote an open regional order, it will invite competition with BRI. With the focus specifically towards Africa, the AAGC is more continental in nature while BRI expands across to Asia and Europe. It will be interesting to see how the plan goes forward with the current visit of Abe to India.

CHENNAI: Indias bid to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean region has gotten a boost from the strategic relationship established with Japan during Shinzo Abes recent visit. With China being an elephant in the room in almost all discussions involving countries in the Indo-Pacific region, New Delhi has deftly increased cooperation with the Japanese government in matters of defence and security. The annual Malabar exercise has become the signature of Indo-Japan ties apart from the various Japanese industries and industrial parks that operate in the country. When China hosted its first Belt and Road Forum in May this year, India gave it a royal miss. It had its own plans. Barely a week after the Belt and Road Initiative meeting, India hosted the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat where Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a vision document on the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), which was prepared as a counter-weight to the BRI project. This ambitious initiative entails detailed consultations across Asia and Africa focused on people-centred sustainable growth strategy. This is a clear departure from the BRI as China tends to create policies on its terms without much discussions with the countries that it gets involved in. The Vision Document released by the AfDB in May clearly spells out the strategy to maximise the potential for trade and investment in the Indian Ocean region in general and within the African continent in specific with Japan and India as the engines driving it forward as two large and responsible democracies. The document spells out four key target areas, 1) development and cooperation, 2) quality infrastructure and institutional connectivity, 3) skill enhancement, and 4) establishing people-to-people partnerships. The AAGC synergises Indias Act East policy and combines it with Japans Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure to enable a stronger focus on investments in Africa. The spirit of the AAGC is furthermore based on a consultative character where Africa has a role to play in the decision-making process on projects, which is not so much the case with the BRI. Japan enters the race for Africa Japans outreach to Africa is nascent at best with little investment which is where China has filled in. With India having a lot of goodwill with many African countries, Japan could harness that trust to build on a fruitful economic relationship on the terms and conditions accepted by both the recipient country and the investing partner. Modi has stated that Indias diplomacy with Africa will be based on a model of cooperation that will, crucially, be demand-driven and free of conditions. There are similarities with Japans views in this regard. The AAGC aims to advance India and Japans mutual outlook towards Africa on an entire continental level with emphasis on investment and robust infrastructure. Also, a broader connection with the Indian Ocean region is also envisaged with the cooperation of the African countries, especially the ones with littoral connectivity on the oceanfront. India can harness the cultural and traditional history that it shares with Africa with regards to the diaspora community that lives there. Many private players from India have established great trade links with many African countries that have turned out to be a boon for advancing the economic interests of India. Moreover, it has contributed to the development of Africas infrastructure landscape. Japan wants to put more focus on Africa to reach parity China, which maintains a towering presence in the continent. The Japanese have clearly spelt out their reservations on the economic packages and investments that China has been offering to many African countries. Japan has accused China of exploiting Africas resources to its gain. Point of convergence Shinzo Abe has stressed on the need for peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region. This strategic convergence can lead to an enhanced partnership between the two countries. Since the main objective is to promote an open regional order, it will invite competition with BRI. With the focus specifically towards Africa, the AAGC is more continental in nature while BRI expands across to Asia and Europe. It will be interesting to see how the plan goes forward with the current visit of Abe to India.
By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Sep 17 (PTI) A senior BJP leader today alleged that the Congress shielded the Naveen Patnaik government during the just-concluded session of the Odisha Assembly as part of an alleged nexus with the ruling BJD.

Senior BJP leader and party MLA Pradeep Purohit told reporters here that because of the alleged Biju Janata Dal-Congress nexus, the issue of flyover collapse near Bomikhal here on September 10 could not be discussed on the last day of the monsoon session of the assembly yesterday.

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Alleging that there is a nexus between Congress and BJD since 2009, he claimed that Congress deliberately raised the issue of fuel price hike in the House to save Naveen Patnaik regime as a discussion on the flyover collapse, which left a man dead and 11 injured, would have put the BJD government in an embarrassing position.

Though the House was slated to discuss an adjournment motion on the flyover collapse, Congress members suddenly created uproar over the oil price hike issue as part of a "deal with the ruling BJD", Purohit alleged and said due to pandemonium the House was adjourned till 3 pm.

The BJP leader claimed that a discussion on the flyover collapse issue would have brought to the fore alleged irregularities in the Works department, of which the chief minister is in charge.

However, BJD spokesperson Amar Sathpathy dismissed the allegations as baseless and said the state government has taken all necessary steps after the flyover collapse incident.

Congress chief whip in the assembly, Tara Prasad Bahinipati rejected the charge and instead alleged that there is a secret understanding between BJD and BJP. PTI SKN RG

--- ENDS ---
By PTI

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmr's Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh today visited the Government Medical College and Hospital here to enquire about the condition of the people injured in shelling by Pakistani troops in Arnia sector of Jammu district last night.

Six people, including three women, were injured in the cross-border shelling and admitted to the hospital, where one Ratno Devi succumbed to her injuries today, the police said.

The deputy chief minister expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul.

Accompanied by senior officials of the health department, Singh interacted with the doctors at the hospital and enquired about the treatment being provided to the victims.

He directed the hospital authorities to provide the best medical care to the patients, besides ensuring that they get medicines free-of-charge.

Pakistani Rangers used heavy mortars and targeted dozens of BoPs and scores of villages along the IB in Arnia sector since last night, a police officer said, adding, over 10 shells exploded at the Arnia bus stand.

This is the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistan in as many days.

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmr's Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh today visited the Government Medical College and Hospital here to enquire about the condition of the people injured in shelling by Pakistani troops in Arnia sector of Jammu district last night. Six people, including three women, were injured in the cross-border shelling and admitted to the hospital, where one Ratno Devi succumbed to her injuries today, the police said. The deputy chief minister expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and prayed for peace to the departed soul. Accompanied by senior officials of the health department, Singh interacted with the doctors at the hospital and enquired about the treatment being provided to the victims. He directed the hospital authorities to provide the best medical care to the patients, besides ensuring that they get medicines free-of-charge. Pakistani Rangers used heavy mortars and targeted dozens of BoPs and scores of villages along the IB in Arnia sector since last night, a police officer said, adding, over 10 shells exploded at the Arnia bus stand. This is the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistan in as many days.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Sashastra Seema Bals first ever intelligence wing will be operationalised by Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday, a home ministry official said on Sunday. The SSB has been mandated to guard the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders where there are no restrictions on the movement of people on either side. The border population on both the sides has strong regional, cultural and economic ties. These borders are often used by criminals and Kashmiri militants returning from Pakistan. The intelligence wing will comprise 650 field and staff agents to gather actionable information.

The ministry official, while requesting anonymity, explained that due to the visa-free regime India has with Nepal and Bhutan, there is a trans-border movement of criminals and anti-national elements which pose a major challenge. As many as 230 former Kashmiri militants, based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, have returned home through the Indo-Nepal border since 2010. Also, their spouses and 88 children have come along with them, the official said.

The Indo-Bhutan border is known to be frequented by the Assam-based insurgent group NDFB, which has even attacked Bhutanese nationals in the past. India shares a 1,751-km-long border with Nepal and a 699 -km-long border with Bhutan. The SSB has also been declared as the lead intelligence agency for both the borders. Therefore, the central government felt that a well-knit intelligence network of the highest capability that can function and deliver would be the prime requirement for comprehensive border management. Another ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said the need for SSBs intelligence wing is much required as SSBs operations are based on intelligence to prevent criminals and smugglers from taking advantage of the friendly borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

The SSB has 474 Border Out Posts (BOPs) on the Nepal border and 131 on the Bhutan border. The border with Nepal touches Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim and the border with Bhutan touches Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

NEW DELHI: The Sashastra Seema Bals first ever intelligence wing will be operationalised by Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday, a home ministry official said on Sunday. The SSB has been mandated to guard the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders where there are no restrictions on the movement of people on either side. The border population on both the sides has strong regional, cultural and economic ties. These borders are often used by criminals and Kashmiri militants returning from Pakistan. The intelligence wing will comprise 650 field and staff agents to gather actionable information. The ministry official, while requesting anonymity, explained that due to the visa-free regime India has with Nepal and Bhutan, there is a trans-border movement of criminals and anti-national elements which pose a major challenge. As many as 230 former Kashmiri militants, based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, have returned home through the Indo-Nepal border since 2010. Also, their spouses and 88 children have come along with them, the official said. The Indo-Bhutan border is known to be frequented by the Assam-based insurgent group NDFB, which has even attacked Bhutanese nationals in the past. India shares a 1,751-km-long border with Nepal and a 699 -km-long border with Bhutan. The SSB has also been declared as the lead intelligence agency for both the borders. Therefore, the central government felt that a well-knit intelligence network of the highest capability that can function and deliver would be the prime requirement for comprehensive border management. Another ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said the need for SSBs intelligence wing is much required as SSBs operations are based on intelligence to prevent criminals and smugglers from taking advantage of the friendly borders with Nepal and Bhutan. The SSB has 474 Border Out Posts (BOPs) on the Nepal border and 131 on the Bhutan border. The border with Nepal touches Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim and the border with Bhutan touches Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
By PTI

BAREILLY: A school principal was allegedly beaten to death and his wife injured by around six people who barged in their rented accommodation and fled with cash and jewellery, the police said today.

SSP Bareily Jogendra Kumar said, "At 2.30 am, around six people entered the rented accommodation in Nava Nagla where Subhash Chandra (45), a principal of a primary school and his wife Shalini Gupta (40) were residing with their three-yearold daughter."

"They beat up the couple and fled the spot after looting Rs 50,000 in cash and jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh," the SSP said.

"Around 3.00 am, Shalini called up his brother, who informed the police. The couple was taken toa hospital where Subhash was declared brought dead," he said.

Investigation into the case is underway, the officer said.

BAREILLY: A school principal was allegedly beaten to death and his wife injured by around six people who barged in their rented accommodation and fled with cash and jewellery, the police said today. SSP Bareily Jogendra Kumar said, "At 2.30 am, around six people entered the rented accommodation in Nava Nagla where Subhash Chandra (45), a principal of a primary school and his wife Shalini Gupta (40) were residing with their three-yearold daughter." "They beat up the couple and fled the spot after looting Rs 50,000 in cash and jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh," the SSP said. "Around 3.00 am, Shalini called up his brother, who informed the police. The couple was taken toa hospital where Subhash was declared brought dead," he said. Investigation into the case is underway, the officer said.
By IANS

NIZAMABAD: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that talks with Pakistan will have no meaning unless the neighbouring country stops exporting terrorists to India.

He alleged that Pakistan was continuing its attempts to destabilise India by sending terrorists and by violating the ceasefire on the borders.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in this Telangana town to mark 'Telangana Liberation Day', the Minister claimed that situation on the border had changed and that India is no longer a weak country.

"Some people say talks should be held. We are saying we can have talks with anybody but unless Pakistan stops exporting terror and sending terrorists to destabilize India, talks with Pakistan will have no meaning," he said.

Stressing India wanted good relations with all its neighbours, he recalled that it was with this intention that heads of states of all neighbours were invited to the swearing in of the new government but one neighbour - Pakistan - never responded positively and continued its attempts to weaken India.

Stating that India is giving a befitting reply to the terror, he said this had no parallel in the country's history. He said after killing of five Indian civilians in the border by Pakistan in 2014, he had directed Border Security Force (BSF) to give a strong reply.

"I told Director General of BSF that India believes in non-violence and hence we will not fire the first bullet but if Pakistan starts firing, nobody should be able to even count the Indian bullets," he said.

Rajnath Singh vowed to root out the problems of terrorism, extremism and Maoism. He said India had emerged as a powerful country and no power can cast evil eye on it or threaten its sovereignty.

The Home Minister said the 13 month period from August 15, 1947 to September 17, 1948 was a dark chapter in India's history as the ruler of Hyderabad State committed repression on people, who want to merge with India.

He paid tributes to India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for launching 'police action' to force Nizam to merge Hyderabad State with the Indian Union.He said the credit of political unification of India goes to Patel who ensured merger of all states with the Indian Union, it was B. R. Ambedkar who brought social and constitutional unification.

Rajnath Singh also listed out the achievements of Modi government and said it was determined to build new India.

NIZAMABAD: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that talks with Pakistan will have no meaning unless the neighbouring country stops exporting terrorists to India. He alleged that Pakistan was continuing its attempts to destabilise India by sending terrorists and by violating the ceasefire on the borders. Addressing a public meeting organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in this Telangana town to mark 'Telangana Liberation Day', the Minister claimed that situation on the border had changed and that India is no longer a weak country. "Some people say talks should be held. We are saying we can have talks with anybody but unless Pakistan stops exporting terror and sending terrorists to destabilize India, talks with Pakistan will have no meaning," he said. Stressing India wanted good relations with all its neighbours, he recalled that it was with this intention that heads of states of all neighbours were invited to the swearing in of the new government but one neighbour - Pakistan - never responded positively and continued its attempts to weaken India. Stating that India is giving a befitting reply to the terror, he said this had no parallel in the country's history. He said after killing of five Indian civilians in the border by Pakistan in 2014, he had directed Border Security Force (BSF) to give a strong reply. "I told Director General of BSF that India believes in non-violence and hence we will not fire the first bullet but if Pakistan starts firing, nobody should be able to even count the Indian bullets," he said. Rajnath Singh vowed to root out the problems of terrorism, extremism and Maoism. He said India had emerged as a powerful country and no power can cast evil eye on it or threaten its sovereignty. The Home Minister said the 13 month period from August 15, 1947 to September 17, 1948 was a dark chapter in India's history as the ruler of Hyderabad State committed repression on people, who want to merge with India. He paid tributes to India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for launching 'police action' to force Nizam to merge Hyderabad State with the Indian Union.He said the credit of political unification of India goes to Patel who ensured merger of all states with the Indian Union, it was B. R. Ambedkar who brought social and constitutional unification. Rajnath Singh also listed out the achievements of Modi government and said it was determined to build new India.
By PTI

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government today extended the deadline for all madrassas of the state to register themselves on the state government's website by 15 days.

The last date for registration is September 30, Minority Welfare Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary told PTI.

He said there were some technical bottlenecks, which have been removed.

"The last date for all madrassas of the state to register themselves by submitting all the relevant information on the website has been extended by 15 days," Chaudhary said.

"Till now, as many as 2,500 madrassas have uploaded all their information," he said.

The UP government had on August 18 launched a website related to madrassas, and orders were issued to upload all the relevant information pertaining to the managing committee of the madrassa, teachers, students and other information by September 15.

The aim behind the move was to stop irregularities in the madrassas and bring a qualitative improvement in the madrassas.

At present, there are 19,000 recognised madrassas in the state. As many as 4,600 partially-funded madrassas are there in the state, while the number of 100 per cent funded madrassas in the state stand at 560.

Welcoming the decision, general secretary of Teachers Association of Madaris Arbia (an association of madarassa teachers) Deewan Sahab Zama said, "This is a good move. It will give some more time to the madrassas to share all the relevant information. However, during uploading the details, there are some technical glitches."

On September 12, Balendu Kumar Dwivedi, the district minority officer of Lucknow had written a letter to Rahul Gupta, the registrar of UP Madrassa Shiksha Parishad, highlighting some of the difficulties faced by the madrassas while uploading their relevant information.

In his letter, Dwivedi had said, "In the first phase of registration of madrassas, the website asks to submit the mobile number of the madrassa manager, and only then it will move ahead.

"There are many madrassas where management dispute is going on in various courts, hence there is a dilemma that whose number is to be given."

Another problem highlighted was the absence of 'edit' button on the website, which may be used to edit information pertaining to various appointments and other activities, Dwivedi said.

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government today extended the deadline for all madrassas of the state to register themselves on the state government's website by 15 days. The last date for registration is September 30, Minority Welfare Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary told PTI. He said there were some technical bottlenecks, which have been removed. "The last date for all madrassas of the state to register themselves by submitting all the relevant information on the website has been extended by 15 days," Chaudhary said. "Till now, as many as 2,500 madrassas have uploaded all their information," he said. The UP government had on August 18 launched a website related to madrassas, and orders were issued to upload all the relevant information pertaining to the managing committee of the madrassa, teachers, students and other information by September 15. The aim behind the move was to stop irregularities in the madrassas and bring a qualitative improvement in the madrassas. At present, there are 19,000 recognised madrassas in the state. As many as 4,600 partially-funded madrassas are there in the state, while the number of 100 per cent funded madrassas in the state stand at 560. Welcoming the decision, general secretary of Teachers Association of Madaris Arbia (an association of madarassa teachers) Deewan Sahab Zama said, "This is a good move. It will give some more time to the madrassas to share all the relevant information. However, during uploading the details, there are some technical glitches." On September 12, Balendu Kumar Dwivedi, the district minority officer of Lucknow had written a letter to Rahul Gupta, the registrar of UP Madrassa Shiksha Parishad, highlighting some of the difficulties faced by the madrassas while uploading their relevant information. In his letter, Dwivedi had said, "In the first phase of registration of madrassas, the website asks to submit the mobile number of the madrassa manager, and only then it will move ahead. "There are many madrassas where management dispute is going on in various courts, hence there is a dilemma that whose number is to be given." Another problem highlighted was the absence of 'edit' button on the website, which may be used to edit information pertaining to various appointments and other activities, Dwivedi said.
Prabhu Chawla By

No two letters tickle or titillate Indias bleeding heart elite than M for Muslim and K for Kashmir. Legitimate and well-documented criticism of extremists and stone-pelters and illegal immigrants such as Rohingya Muslims flooding the country throws them into a tailspin. They dismiss the harm to Indian soldiers in encounters and the threat to the Indian security system from religiously motivated terrorists as chalta hai. They take to the social media, television debates, columns and blogs to defend the so-called seekers of shelter in refugee garb.

Citing ethnic and religious affinities, they whip up organised frenzy against growing intolerance and persecution of minorities. Whataboutery is the excuse of the day. The secular intelligentsia use facile arguments such as if Hindu refugees from Pakistan are welcomed, why should India be hostile towards Rohingyas? They deliberately ignore the fact that Partition involved a traumatic exodus between two parts of undivided India, before Pakistan was even born.

Those who crossed into New India were Indians, though they were labelled refugees for official rehabilitation purposes. They didnt change their citizenship. They were Indians before 1947 and remain so. On the other hand, Muslims who crossed over from India were not called refugees in newborn Pakistan, which was created on the basis of religion. Hardly has any Muslim left their ancestral habitat to settle in Indialogical, considering Pakistan was carved out of India to create a Islamic nation. But India chose to be secular and supported Muslims who did not wish to move to Pakistan to stay on in the country.

Logically, oppressed and suppressed people, such as the Hindus during Partition, should migrate to a nation most suited to their lifestyle, faith and culture. But why do Muslim refugees invariably seek asylum in non-Islamic nations in Europe and Asia, instead of the Middle East or Pakistan? Why do Rohingyas settle in the sensitive Jammu and Kashmir state, instead of moving to Pakistan or Afghanistan? Its not that they dont try. They are simply not welcome. By 2013, Bangladesh had closed all the entry points to Rohingyas, burdened by the massive influx into refugee camps in their territory. The Malaysian Navy has stopped them from disembarking on the Malay coastline. The Indonesian government warned fishermen against rescuing and bringing Rohingyas into the country.

The large-scale illegal migration of Muslims to greener pastures is not confined to Rohingyas. Muslims fleeing dictatorship, terrorism and war in various Islamic countries have been denied refuge by rich Islamic nations. Ever since the rise of terror outfits such as Al Qaeda and IS, over half a million Muslim men, women and children have fled Syria, Yemen and other Middle Eastern nations to Europe, instead of the 50-odd Muslim-majority countries.

Of the estimated 15 million such immigrants, fewer than three million have been given shelter by rich Arab nations. It is evident that even the worse kind of persecuted Muslim refugees do not trust countries of similar faith as comfortable and secure destinations to spend the rest of their lives. Instead, they make for non-Islamic countries to spread their religion and gain wealth and good education. It is, therefore, understandable that host governments should consider them a threat to national integrity and security as well as an economic burden.

But logic and facts are alien to liberal lamenters hostile to the idea of nationhood based on cultural identity and religious, historical homogeneity. India is a singular example of unity and diversity derived from its 5,000-year-old heritage of inclusiveness and tolerance. But vested interests, which seek to divide it again along religious affiliations, have been exploiting its patience as its weakness. India is now a reluctant home for over four million illegal immigrants from the neighbourhood.

Now that stone-pelters in Kashmir have been silenced and tamed, professional secularists and their political icons have taken up the noble cause of allowing Rohingyas to live and flourish in India even at the cost of national security. Since consistency has never been a virtue, a few of them even sought the withdrawal of the Noble Peace Prize awarded to Myanmars State Counsellor and Leader of the National League for Democracy of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, for terming the Rohingya crisis as the biggest challenge we have had to face.

She defended her governments tough stand by saying, It is a little unreasonable to expect us to solve the issue in 18 months... as the situation in Rakhine has been such since many decades and goes back to pre-colonial times. We have to decide how to differentiate terrorists from innocents. You in India would be well-versed with this.

It is a chilling reminder of Islamic terror, which India has been battling for decades. Instead of protecting the anti-terror fraternity, the paragons of secular virtue argue that Rohingyas have the right to live in India permanently since a 1952 United Nations Convention states that a person or a group of persons are forced to move out owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, and membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

They argue that since Rohingyas are victims of Buddhist violence, they should be treated as refugees and not illegal immigrants. But when it comes to the plight of over a lakh Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), who fled pogroms from the Valley, loony liberals and their sponsors are conspicuous by their absence at pro-KP agitations, discussions and debates. However, they want India to begin a dialogue with death, and leave the traders of terror intact. In this context, it is bizarre that the welfare of 40,000 Rohingyas is more precious than the lives of over a billion Indians.

Unfortunately, some international agencies, which are infected by similar ideological bacteria, have criticised Indias plans to deport the Rohingyas. A statement attributed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees advised, India cannot carry out collective expulsions, or return people to a place where they risk torture or other serious violations. However, Rajiv K Chander, Permanent Representative of India to the UN in Geneva, retorted: Like many other nations, India is concerned about illegal migrants, in particular, with the possibility that they could pose security challenges. Enforcing the laws should not be mistaken for lack of compassion.

The proponents of selective invocation of laws must realise that national security is not negotiable. The government must prove its legal neutrality by bringing illegal Rohingya immigrants under Indian law as envisaged by the Constitution, which guarantees the safety of Socialist and Secular Republic of India.

Prabhu Chawla

prabhuchawla@ newindianexpress.com

Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

No two letters tickle or titillate Indias bleeding heart elite than M for Muslim and K for Kashmir. Legitimate and well-documented criticism of extremists and stone-pelters and illegal immigrants such as Rohingya Muslims flooding the country throws them into a tailspin. They dismiss the harm to Indian soldiers in encounters and the threat to the Indian security system from religiously motivated terrorists as chalta hai. They take to the social media, television debates, columns and blogs to defend the so-called seekers of shelter in refugee garb. Citing ethnic and religious affinities, they whip up organised frenzy against growing intolerance and persecution of minorities. Whataboutery is the excuse of the day. The secular intelligentsia use facile arguments such as if Hindu refugees from Pakistan are welcomed, why should India be hostile towards Rohingyas? They deliberately ignore the fact that Partition involved a traumatic exodus between two parts of undivided India, before Pakistan was even born. Those who crossed into New India were Indians, though they were labelled refugees for official rehabilitation purposes. They didnt change their citizenship. They were Indians before 1947 and remain so. On the other hand, Muslims who crossed over from India were not called refugees in newborn Pakistan, which was created on the basis of religion. Hardly has any Muslim left their ancestral habitat to settle in Indialogical, considering Pakistan was carved out of India to create a Islamic nation. But India chose to be secular and supported Muslims who did not wish to move to Pakistan to stay on in the country. Logically, oppressed and suppressed people, such as the Hindus during Partition, should migrate to a nation most suited to their lifestyle, faith and culture. But why do Muslim refugees invariably seek asylum in non-Islamic nations in Europe and Asia, instead of the Middle East or Pakistan? Why do Rohingyas settle in the sensitive Jammu and Kashmir state, instead of moving to Pakistan or Afghanistan? Its not that they dont try. They are simply not welcome. By 2013, Bangladesh had closed all the entry points to Rohingyas, burdened by the massive influx into refugee camps in their territory. The Malaysian Navy has stopped them from disembarking on the Malay coastline. The Indonesian government warned fishermen against rescuing and bringing Rohingyas into the country. The large-scale illegal migration of Muslims to greener pastures is not confined to Rohingyas. Muslims fleeing dictatorship, terrorism and war in various Islamic countries have been denied refuge by rich Islamic nations. Ever since the rise of terror outfits such as Al Qaeda and IS, over half a million Muslim men, women and children have fled Syria, Yemen and other Middle Eastern nations to Europe, instead of the 50-odd Muslim-majority countries. Of the estimated 15 million such immigrants, fewer than three million have been given shelter by rich Arab nations. It is evident that even the worse kind of persecuted Muslim refugees do not trust countries of similar faith as comfortable and secure destinations to spend the rest of their lives. Instead, they make for non-Islamic countries to spread their religion and gain wealth and good education. It is, therefore, understandable that host governments should consider them a threat to national integrity and security as well as an economic burden. But logic and facts are alien to liberal lamenters hostile to the idea of nationhood based on cultural identity and religious, historical homogeneity. India is a singular example of unity and diversity derived from its 5,000-year-old heritage of inclusiveness and tolerance. But vested interests, which seek to divide it again along religious affiliations, have been exploiting its patience as its weakness. India is now a reluctant home for over four million illegal immigrants from the neighbourhood. Now that stone-pelters in Kashmir have been silenced and tamed, professional secularists and their political icons have taken up the noble cause of allowing Rohingyas to live and flourish in India even at the cost of national security. Since consistency has never been a virtue, a few of them even sought the withdrawal of the Noble Peace Prize awarded to Myanmars State Counsellor and Leader of the National League for Democracy of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, for terming the Rohingya crisis as the biggest challenge we have had to face. She defended her governments tough stand by saying, It is a little unreasonable to expect us to solve the issue in 18 months... as the situation in Rakhine has been such since many decades and goes back to pre-colonial times. We have to decide how to differentiate terrorists from innocents. You in India would be well-versed with this. It is a chilling reminder of Islamic terror, which India has been battling for decades. Instead of protecting the anti-terror fraternity, the paragons of secular virtue argue that Rohingyas have the right to live in India permanently since a 1952 United Nations Convention states that a person or a group of persons are forced to move out owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, and membership of a particular social group or political opinion. They argue that since Rohingyas are victims of Buddhist violence, they should be treated as refugees and not illegal immigrants. But when it comes to the plight of over a lakh Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), who fled pogroms from the Valley, loony liberals and their sponsors are conspicuous by their absence at pro-KP agitations, discussions and debates. However, they want India to begin a dialogue with death, and leave the traders of terror intact. In this context, it is bizarre that the welfare of 40,000 Rohingyas is more precious than the lives of over a billion Indians. Unfortunately, some international agencies, which are infected by similar ideological bacteria, have criticised Indias plans to deport the Rohingyas. A statement attributed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees advised, India cannot carry out collective expulsions, or return people to a place where they risk torture or other serious violations. However, Rajiv K Chander, Permanent Representative of India to the UN in Geneva, retorted: Like many other nations, India is concerned about illegal migrants, in particular, with the possibility that they could pose security challenges. Enforcing the laws should not be mistaken for lack of compassion. The proponents of selective invocation of laws must realise that national security is not negotiable. The government must prove its legal neutrality by bringing illegal Rohingya immigrants under Indian law as envisaged by the Constitution, which guarantees the safety of Socialist and Secular Republic of India. Prabhu Chawla prabhuchawla@ newindianexpress.com Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The investigating team, probing the Regional Cancer Centre(RCC) issue in which a nine-year-old girl got infected with HIV while she was under treatment, has collected the blood samples of four persons who are suspected to be the donors when the girl had undergone a blood transfusion. According to A Pramod Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of police, who is leading the investigation, the four blood donors had been summoned to the hospital to verify their blood groups. However, he has not revealed whether any of them were infected with HIV.



As the girl underwent transfusion about 49 times, the blood groups of more donors are to be verified. So far, the blood samples have been collected and we will send the samples to a lab soon. The samples of more donors will be verified in the coming days, said Pramod Kumar.The police have started collecting the details of the donors from the time the girl was admitted to RCC for the treatment of blood cancer in March this year.



The probe team is also verifying the medical documents related to the girls treatment and they are weighing all possibilities to find the suspected donor. The police will also investigate the treatment details since her admission to Vandanam medical college in Alappuzha district. The police team is also planning to send the medical records of the girl to a lab at Hyderabad after collecting all the blood samples.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The investigating team, probing the Regional Cancer Centre(RCC) issue in which a nine-year-old girl got infected with HIV while she was under treatment, has collected the blood samples of four persons who are suspected to be the donors when the girl had undergone a blood transfusion. According to A Pramod Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of police, who is leading the investigation, the four blood donors had been summoned to the hospital to verify their blood groups. However, he has not revealed whether any of them were infected with HIV. As the girl underwent transfusion about 49 times, the blood groups of more donors are to be verified. So far, the blood samples have been collected and we will send the samples to a lab soon. The samples of more donors will be verified in the coming days, said Pramod Kumar.The police have started collecting the details of the donors from the time the girl was admitted to RCC for the treatment of blood cancer in March this year. The probe team is also verifying the medical documents related to the girls treatment and they are weighing all possibilities to find the suspected donor. The police will also investigate the treatment details since her admission to Vandanam medical college in Alappuzha district. The police team is also planning to send the medical records of the girl to a lab at Hyderabad after collecting all the blood samples.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Art and culture are supposed to lead humanity to goodness, but the attack against a woman actor and the subsequent incidents point to the degeneration of the sector in the state, CPM veteran and Administrative Reforms Commission chairman V S Achuthanandan has said. He was speaking after inaugurating a protest programme organised by women mediapersons in the capital to express solidarity with the actor. In this case, the actor did not get support and is also being subjected to mental torture, he said.

Caption

Achuthanandan said the Malayalees life has underwent a sea change with the passage of time. While the changes were supposed to do good for the society, it did not happen, he said. Congress leader V M Sudheeran said there were targeted attempts to mentally torture the actor and influence the law enforcers.

Unfortunately, they include peoples representatives who are supposed to stand with the victim, he said.

Sudheeran said the investigation into the case was a test for the police to prove its trustworthiness. Police investigation is progressing apparently fair. Now they should submit scientific evidence before the court and ensure maximum penalty for the accused, he said. Senior journalist Geetha Nazir said the womanhood in the state is anxious over the the change in stand of some prominent persons.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Art and culture are supposed to lead humanity to goodness, but the attack against a woman actor and the subsequent incidents point to the degeneration of the sector in the state, CPM veteran and Administrative Reforms Commission chairman V S Achuthanandan has said. He was speaking after inaugurating a protest programme organised by women mediapersons in the capital to express solidarity with the actor. In this case, the actor did not get support and is also being subjected to mental torture, he said. CaptionAchuthanandan said the Malayalees life has underwent a sea change with the passage of time. While the changes were supposed to do good for the society, it did not happen, he said. Congress leader V M Sudheeran said there were targeted attempts to mentally torture the actor and influence the law enforcers. Unfortunately, they include peoples representatives who are supposed to stand with the victim, he said. Sudheeran said the investigation into the case was a test for the police to prove its trustworthiness. Police investigation is progressing apparently fair. Now they should submit scientific evidence before the court and ensure maximum penalty for the accused, he said. Senior journalist Geetha Nazir said the womanhood in the state is anxious over the the change in stand of some prominent persons.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: As cultivation has been affected in 30 blocks of 14 districts due to deficient rainfall, the State Government on Saturday sought situation report from the collectors at the panchayat level. The collectors have been asked to submit report within a week.Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty, who reviewed the situation at a high level meeting, said measures are being taken to save the standing crop by utilising the irrigation facilities. He said decision has been taken to repair the defunct lift irrigation points. We will replace the defunct lift irrigation points and make arrangements to supply water to agricultural lands through various canals and uninterrupted power supply, he said.



Mohanty said he is not sure whether the situation will improve if there is a good rainfall in next fortnight. Stating that the Government is closely monitoring the situation, he said the States priority now is to protect the standing crop. He said a real picture will only emerge after collectors submit panchayat wise reports and added that the Government is fully prepared to tackle the situation.



Agriculture Department has also asked the District Agriculture Officers (DAOs) to submit report about the situation. Officials were asked to plan how to save the crop by providing water through different irrigation projects, Cooperation Minister Surya Narayan Patro said. Next meeting to review the situation will be held on October 10.Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout, Agriculture Production Commissioner Gagan Kumar Dhal, Principal Secretary in Water Resources Department Pradip Kumar Jena, Managing Director of Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, Secretary in Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Department Manoj Ahuja and senior officials were present.

BHUBANESWAR: As cultivation has been affected in 30 blocks of 14 districts due to deficient rainfall, the State Government on Saturday sought situation report from the collectors at the panchayat level. The collectors have been asked to submit report within a week.Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty, who reviewed the situation at a high level meeting, said measures are being taken to save the standing crop by utilising the irrigation facilities. He said decision has been taken to repair the defunct lift irrigation points. We will replace the defunct lift irrigation points and make arrangements to supply water to agricultural lands through various canals and uninterrupted power supply, he said. Mohanty said he is not sure whether the situation will improve if there is a good rainfall in next fortnight. Stating that the Government is closely monitoring the situation, he said the States priority now is to protect the standing crop. He said a real picture will only emerge after collectors submit panchayat wise reports and added that the Government is fully prepared to tackle the situation. Agriculture Department has also asked the District Agriculture Officers (DAOs) to submit report about the situation. Officials were asked to plan how to save the crop by providing water through different irrigation projects, Cooperation Minister Surya Narayan Patro said. Next meeting to review the situation will be held on October 10.Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout, Agriculture Production Commissioner Gagan Kumar Dhal, Principal Secretary in Water Resources Department Pradip Kumar Jena, Managing Director of Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, Secretary in Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Department Manoj Ahuja and senior officials were present.
By PTI

BHUBANESWAR: Security personnel engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Odisha do not get required equipment at some fortified police stations, said a CAG report placed in the Assembly today.

In some cases jawans stay in barracks without toilet, electricity and other basic facilities, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report said.

"At Koraput and Bhamini, security forces were staying in dilapidated and incomplete buildings for years without basic amenities. Anti-Naxal support equipment was neither supplied nor available in the test checked fortified police stations," the CAG in its General and Social Sector report said.

During February 2013 to September 2015, out of 341 sorties conducted by the Dauphin helicopter, only 53 sorties were security related purpose while remaining sorties were for surveillance and monitoring by various officers and ministers, the report said.

These were not admissible under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme and guideline, it said.

The CAG report also pointed out that instances of delay/non-payment of ex-gratia to the families of deceased security personnel and civilians.

It also said that despite sanction of Rs 6.50 crore in 2010-11 to construct Central Reserve Police Force hub at Muniguda, the work has not started as of August 2016.

Out of five security hubs sanctioned in 2007-08, four had not been completed as of March 2016, the report said.

The report also mentioned 20 barracks for security forces sanctioned during 2003-11 had remained incomplete after spending Rs 12.21 crore.

BHUBANESWAR: Security personnel engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Odisha do not get required equipment at some fortified police stations, said a CAG report placed in the Assembly today. In some cases jawans stay in barracks without toilet, electricity and other basic facilities, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report said. "At Koraput and Bhamini, security forces were staying in dilapidated and incomplete buildings for years without basic amenities. Anti-Naxal support equipment was neither supplied nor available in the test checked fortified police stations," the CAG in its General and Social Sector report said. During February 2013 to September 2015, out of 341 sorties conducted by the Dauphin helicopter, only 53 sorties were security related purpose while remaining sorties were for surveillance and monitoring by various officers and ministers, the report said. These were not admissible under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme and guideline, it said. The CAG report also pointed out that instances of delay/non-payment of ex-gratia to the families of deceased security personnel and civilians. It also said that despite sanction of Rs 6.50 crore in 2010-11 to construct Central Reserve Police Force hub at Muniguda, the work has not started as of August 2016. Out of five security hubs sanctioned in 2007-08, four had not been completed as of March 2016, the report said. The report also mentioned 20 barracks for security forces sanctioned during 2003-11 had remained incomplete after spending Rs 12.21 crore.
Chandnath, who was suffering from Cancer, breathed his last at the Apollo Hospital around 11.45 pm on Saturday.

BJP MP Mahant Chandnath breathed his last at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi on Saturday night. (Photo: ANI)

By India Today Web Desk: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Rajasthan's Alwar, Mahant Chandnath on Satuday night died at the age of 61 in Delhi's Apollo hospital after prolonged illness.

Chandnath, who was suffering from Cancer, breathed his last at the Apollo Hospital around 11.45 pm on Saturday. He headed the Nath sect of Hinduism and was the chancellor of the Mast Nath University in Rohtak, Haryana.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over his death and said that the MP will be remembered for his social work.

Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences: PM

&; PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 17, 2017

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje too expressed condolences saying it is an irreparable loss to her as well as the BJP family.

???? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ???? ???? ????? ???&; Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) September 17, 2017

Chandnath first won the by-elections in 2014 from Behror seat in Rajasthan and also defeated Congress' Jitendra Singh to become the Alwar MP in the same year.

In February 2017, a Haryana court sentenced him to one year rigorous imprisonment for criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

--- ENDS ---
Pradip R Sagar By

NEW DELHI: When Nirmala Sitharaman signed the visitors book of the countrys only underground airbase in Barmer district of Rajasthan in 2001, she did not know she would be the first defence minister to visit the critical IAF base. George Fernandez was the last defence minister who had visited the base, hardly a few kilometres from the Pakistan border.

When Sitharaman took over as the countrys first full-time woman defence minister, she made it loud and clear that she would be a 24x7 minister. Her first week in the Raksha Mantri office has already been full of action with visits to forward areas and military stations. Now, a visit to Srinagar and forward locations on the Line of Control is in the offing. An economist by education, Sitharaman has already started taking out of the box decisions.

Photo:Shekhar yadav

On Day One in her office on the first floor of South Block, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman decided to hold daily briefings from the three Service Chiefs to be more updated on the security situation on the borders. Besides, to expedite decision-making, she also asked for daily morning briefings by the Defence Secretary on ministerial matters.

She has made it clear that her priority will be the armed forces preparedness and to equip soldiers with the best of resources available. On her first day as Defence Minister, she called the Director-General (Acquisition) for first-hand information of new acquisitions and hurdles in procuring military hardware. A meeting followed with the Financial Adviser (Defence Services) to understand the budgetary constraints if any.

Sitharaman began her journey as Defence Minister with a visit to Indian naval station INS Hansa in Goa, where she took the Guard of Honour. Dressed in a silk cotton south Indian sari, she even impressed naval officers. She flagged off the Indian Navys all-women crew for circumnavigationINS Tariniin the presence of her predecessor and now Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Immediately after, she flew to Uttarlai airbase in Rajasthan, the countrys only underground airbase. She also interacted with air warriors to understand the circumstances they work in.

The next day, she visited Army base Sir Creek in Gujarat and went to forward locations. She was briefed by local commanders on operations and strategic issues at the border with Pakistan. Then came her visit to Naliya Air Base in Gujarat in an armed helicopter. Interaction with personnel was aimed at understanding ground level challenges. On her way back, she made a short visit to the Mirage fighter base in Gwalior.

A senior Army officials claimed that her back-to-back visits to military stations and airbases will make her popular in the armed forces.

Facing threat from Pakistan in the west and China in the east, the armed forces have to maintain vigil at all times, and for this, they need state-of-the-art weapons and other allied systems. Sitharaman is racing against time as the tenure of the NDA regime comes to an end in 2019 and it will like to showcase that the government believes in delivering. Keeping this in mind, she has decided to hold meetings of the Defence Acquisition Councilthe highest body to decide on acquisition mattersevery 15 days to address the issue of shortage of arms and ammunition.

The NDA government has cleared defence proposals worth over `2 lakh crore since it came to power in 2014. While some projects have taken off, othersincluding the manufacture of six submarines here as part of Make in India policyare lagging behind. This proposal worth over `60,000 crore was given the nod two years ago.

As the Prime Minister wants to make India a major hub for manufacturing world class hi-tech weapon systems, Sitharaman will have to clear the blockades to ensure smooth implementation of strategic partnership and other contracts. Incidentally, defence contracts have a long gestation period before the deals are inked, and the new minister will have to speed up the procurement processes.

On Steady Ground

Born in a Tamil family in the temple town of Madurai, Nirmala Sitharaman did her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Indo-European Textile Trade was the focus of her draft PhD thesis. She served as an assistant to economists in the Agricultural Engineers Association, London. She subsequently worked as senior manager (research and analysis) with Price WaterhouseCooper, London. During this time, she also briefly worked with BBC World Service.

NEW DELHI: When Nirmala Sitharaman signed the visitors book of the countrys only underground airbase in Barmer district of Rajasthan in 2001, she did not know she would be the first defence minister to visit the critical IAF base. George Fernandez was the last defence minister who had visited the base, hardly a few kilometres from the Pakistan border. When Sitharaman took over as the countrys first full-time woman defence minister, she made it loud and clear that she would be a 24x7 minister. Her first week in the Raksha Mantri office has already been full of action with visits to forward areas and military stations. Now, a visit to Srinagar and forward locations on the Line of Control is in the offing. An economist by education, Sitharaman has already started taking out of the box decisions. Photo:ShekharyadavOn Day One in her office on the first floor of South Block, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman decided to hold daily briefings from the three Service Chiefs to be more updated on the security situation on the borders. Besides, to expedite decision-making, she also asked for daily morning briefings by the Defence Secretary on ministerial matters. She has made it clear that her priority will be the armed forces preparedness and to equip soldiers with the best of resources available. On her first day as Defence Minister, she called the Director-General (Acquisition) for first-hand information of new acquisitions and hurdles in procuring military hardware. A meeting followed with the Financial Adviser (Defence Services) to understand the budgetary constraints if any. Sitharaman began her journey as Defence Minister with a visit to Indian naval station INS Hansa in Goa, where she took the Guard of Honour. Dressed in a silk cotton south Indian sari, she even impressed naval officers. She flagged off the Indian Navys all-women crew for circumnavigationINS Tariniin the presence of her predecessor and now Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Immediately after, she flew to Uttarlai airbase in Rajasthan, the countrys only underground airbase. She also interacted with air warriors to understand the circumstances they work in. The next day, she visited Army base Sir Creek in Gujarat and went to forward locations. She was briefed by local commanders on operations and strategic issues at the border with Pakistan. Then came her visit to Naliya Air Base in Gujarat in an armed helicopter. Interaction with personnel was aimed at understanding ground level challenges. On her way back, she made a short visit to the Mirage fighter base in Gwalior. A senior Army officials claimed that her back-to-back visits to military stations and airbases will make her popular in the armed forces. Facing threat from Pakistan in the west and China in the east, the armed forces have to maintain vigil at all times, and for this, they need state-of-the-art weapons and other allied systems. Sitharaman is racing against time as the tenure of the NDA regime comes to an end in 2019 and it will like to showcase that the government believes in delivering. Keeping this in mind, she has decided to hold meetings of the Defence Acquisition Councilthe highest body to decide on acquisition mattersevery 15 days to address the issue of shortage of arms and ammunition. The NDA government has cleared defence proposals worth over `2 lakh crore since it came to power in 2014. While some projects have taken off, othersincluding the manufacture of six submarines here as part of Make in India policyare lagging behind. This proposal worth over `60,000 crore was given the nod two years ago. As the Prime Minister wants to make India a major hub for manufacturing world class hi-tech weapon systems, Sitharaman will have to clear the blockades to ensure smooth implementation of strategic partnership and other contracts. Incidentally, defence contracts have a long gestation period before the deals are inked, and the new minister will have to speed up the procurement processes. On Steady Ground Born in a Tamil family in the temple town of Madurai, Nirmala Sitharaman did her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Indo-European Textile Trade was the focus of her draft PhD thesis. She served as an assistant to economists in the Agricultural Engineers Association, London. She subsequently worked as senior manager (research and analysis) with Price WaterhouseCooper, London. During this time, she also briefly worked with BBC World Service.
Sana Shakil By

NEW DELHI: In a major security overhaul of the countrys airports, the Ministry of Civil Aviation will prioritise installation of multi-layered technology system Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS) in them. The move comes in the wake of growing air traffic and increased attempts of intrusion at airports.

The ministry will conduct fortnightly high-level meetings on how to install PIDS. Top officials from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Airports Authority of India, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the ministry will attend these meetings.



Sources said the ministry wants to install PIDS in a phased manner, starting from 16 super-sensitive airports. Currently, the technology with physical and covert detection systems, including taut wire, underground cable, CCTV cameras and radarsis available at only Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad airports. A patrolling track along the perimeter wall raises an alarm whenever someone tries touches the boundary wall. The Israeli system also has a special night vision to detect movement. PIDS is heavily guarded by the CISF, who are also deployed at watchtowers along the periphery. While CISF ensures security of airports and operates PIDS, responsibility for maintenance of the security system is with the airport operators.



PIDS was installed at the three airports in pursuance of guidelines issued in 2007 by BCAS, which made it mandatory for all airports in the country to have the security system. There are 76 functioning airports in the country, whose number is likely to go up once the governments regional connectivity scheme (RCS) picks up pace. Earlier, CISF had raised concerns about PIDS false alarms draining its resources, especially at Delhis IGI Airport.



Delhi International Airport Authority (DIAL), the airport operator of IGI Airport, said the sensitivity of the PIDS security system has been toned down, which has brought a significant drop in the number of false alarms. A DIAL official said, There were an increase in intrusion attempts which failed because of PIDS. PIDS used to raise an alarm when even a leaf fell, but we have modified the devices sensitivity. PIDS was installed at IGI airport around four years ago.



The ministry has received a positive review of PIDS at Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, where it was installed in 2014. Regarding PIDS at Hyderabad airport, a senior BCAS official said, PIDS has been most successful at Hyderabad airport. However, a senior CISF official said, PIDS is a multi-crore rupees system, but it has a lot of issues. We want the system to be fixed before it is implemented at airports countrywide.

Landing Unsafe

Sept 5, 2017: A vagabond tried to climb the wall of IGI airport but was nabbed after PIDS raised an alarm

Sept 2016: Two days after the Uri attack, a man scaled the perimeter wall of IGI Airport and roamed around the runway area with a bag in hand, unnoticed for half-an-hour

Jan 2015: At Mumbai airport, PIDS detected a man who was trying to sneak into the airfield and raised an alarm

NEW DELHI: In a major security overhaul of the countrys airports, the Ministry of Civil Aviation will prioritise installation of multi-layered technology system Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS) in them. The move comes in the wake of growing air traffic and increased attempts of intrusion at airports. The ministry will conduct fortnightly high-level meetings on how to install PIDS. Top officials from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Airports Authority of India, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the ministry will attend these meetings. Sources said the ministry wants to install PIDS in a phased manner, starting from 16 super-sensitive airports. Currently, the technology with physical and covert detection systems, including taut wire, underground cable, CCTV cameras and radarsis available at only Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad airports. A patrolling track along the perimeter wall raises an alarm whenever someone tries touches the boundary wall. The Israeli system also has a special night vision to detect movement. PIDS is heavily guarded by the CISF, who are also deployed at watchtowers along the periphery. While CISF ensures security of airports and operates PIDS, responsibility for maintenance of the security system is with the airport operators. PIDS was installed at the three airports in pursuance of guidelines issued in 2007 by BCAS, which made it mandatory for all airports in the country to have the security system. There are 76 functioning airports in the country, whose number is likely to go up once the governments regional connectivity scheme (RCS) picks up pace. Earlier, CISF had raised concerns about PIDS false alarms draining its resources, especially at Delhis IGI Airport. Delhi International Airport Authority (DIAL), the airport operator of IGI Airport, said the sensitivity of the PIDS security system has been toned down, which has brought a significant drop in the number of false alarms. A DIAL official said, There were an increase in intrusion attempts which failed because of PIDS. PIDS used to raise an alarm when even a leaf fell, but we have modified the devices sensitivity. PIDS was installed at IGI airport around four years ago. The ministry has received a positive review of PIDS at Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, where it was installed in 2014. Regarding PIDS at Hyderabad airport, a senior BCAS official said, PIDS has been most successful at Hyderabad airport. However, a senior CISF official said, PIDS is a multi-crore rupees system, but it has a lot of issues. We want the system to be fixed before it is implemented at airports countrywide. Landing Unsafe Sept 5, 2017: A vagabond tried to climb the wall of IGI airport but was nabbed after PIDS raised an alarm Sept 2016: Two days after the Uri attack, a man scaled the perimeter wall of IGI Airport and roamed around the runway area with a bag in hand, unnoticed for half-an-hour Jan 2015: At Mumbai airport, PIDS detected a man who was trying to sneak into the airfield and raised an alarm
The seven-month-old government, headed by CM Edappadi K Palaniswamy, is faced with a crisis of survivalits short of at least five MLAs to prove the simple majority of 117 in the Assembly. The government is facing pressure from almost all opposition parties to step down on moral grounds.

The Main Players

TTV Dhinakaran

The sidelined AIADMK leader launched a fresh attack on his rival E Palaniswami and vowed to end this rule of betrayal within a week. He also ruled out his faction having any direct or indirect pact with DMK, saying that party is our primary rival. The faction is resorting to legal avenues to accord more pressure on the Governor to order a floor test.

Ch Vidyasagar Rao

Pressure is mounting on the governor to order for a floor test to prove that the ruling faction has majority. As of now, the Governor is likely to land in Chennai on September 22 or 23 and scenario is likely to hot up further.

DMK

The privileges committee of the State Assembly had recently issued notices to 21 DMK MLAs on the charges that they had brought gutkha packets to the House on July 19. Sensing something fishy, the principal Opposition DMK had moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the privileges committee not to take any action against the MLAs.

BJP

There are speculations that the party wishes that this government should last at least till 2019 Lok Sabha elections where it can align with the unified AIADMK.

E Palaniswami

The CM is putting up a brave face along with his colleagues that the issue would be resolved soon. Sources say the ruling faction is trying to gain the support of at least a few more MLAs from those now with Dhinakaran. You are keeping some MLAs promising them some allurements. Just let them off. They will straightaway come to us, said Palaniswami while addressing a public meeting at Kancheepuram last week.

OPS

The deputy CMs most important demand for a merger was the ouster of Sasikala. He said no one from the Sasikala family should interfere in the functioning of the AIADMK. Panneerselvam wants both Sasikala and Dhinakaran to resign from their respective party posts of general secretary and deputy general secretary. According to Panneerselvam, the war for justice would continue till the main goal is achieved.

What Lies Ahead

Scenario 1

Speaker may disqualify 18 MLAs behind TTV. This may help the government led by E Palaniswami in winning the trust vote in the State Assembly.

Scenario 2

The MLAs may move the court seeking a stay on their disqualification.

Scenario 3

More pressure will be mounted on the Governor to a take a decision as nearly one month is about to cross after the MLAs supporting TTV withdrew their support to Palaniswami.

Scenario 4

The DMK, which is keen on gaining political mileage in this issue, may move Supreme Court if it fails to get any direction from Madras High Court.

Scenario 5

If at least five MLAs from TTV faction shifts their loyalties to EPS in the next few days, the present government can prove its majority and for the next six months, lead the government without any problem.

political slugfests: day by day

Dec 5, 2016: Jayalalithaa dies after prolonged illness. O Panneerselvam is swiftly sworn in as chief minister.



Dec 29: Sasikala appointed AIADMK general secretary

Feb 5, 2017: OPS resigns as CM

Feb 7: OPS revolts against Sasikala

Feb 10: More than 120 AIADMK MLAs taken to a resort apparently to prevent any defections to OPS camp

Feb 14: Supreme Court convicts Sasikala in DA case. K Palaniswami appointed head of AIADMK legislature party; OPS expelled from AIADMK primary membership.

Feb 16: Palaniswami sworn in CM

Feb 17: OPS camp announces expulsion of Sasikala, TTV Dinakaran and S Venkatesh from the party

Feb 18: Palaniswami wins confidence vote by 122 to 11 votes

March 8: OPS-led AIADMK faction observes fast across demanding probe into the death of Jayalalithaa

March 15: AIADMK nominates TTV as partys candidate for the R K Nagar bypoll scheduled for April 12

March 22: EC issues an interim order freezing the two leaves symbol

March 23: EC allots Palaniswami camp hat as its symbol. The faction was named AIADMK (Amma). The O Panneerselvam camp was allotted electric pole as its symbol and named as AIADMK (Puratchithalaivi Amma)

Apr 17: Delhi Police books Dhinakaran for allegedly trying to bribe an EC official

Apr 18: Ruling AIADMK (Amma) faction announces team to hold talks with Panneerselvam camp on a possible patch-up

Apr 25: Delhi Police arrests Dhinakaran in the bribery case

Apr 26: Banners featuring Sasikala removed from AIADMK party headquarters

May 2: ED registers a money laundering case against Dhinakaran

Aug 17: Palaniswami announces a Commission of Inquiry to go into the death of J Jayalalithaa

Aug 19: Palaniswami and Panneerselvam express confidence merger will happen soon

Aug 21: The two factions merge

Any loyal AIADMK functionary will not commit this blunder of joining hands with the DMK. If Amma (Jayalalithaa) were alive today, just imagine what kind of action she would have taken against Dhinakaran.Chief Minister Palanisami on the indication that DMK and Dhinakaran are joining hands to bring down his government

The seven-month-old government, headed by CM Edappadi K Palaniswamy, is faced with a crisis of survivalits short of at least five MLAs to prove the simple majority of 117 in the Assembly. The government is facing pressure from almost all opposition parties to step down on moral grounds. The Main Players TTV Dhinakaran The sidelined AIADMK leader launched a fresh attack on his rival E Palaniswami and vowed to end this rule of betrayal within a week. He also ruled out his faction having any direct or indirect pact with DMK, saying that party is our primary rival. The faction is resorting to legal avenues to accord more pressure on the Governor to order a floor test. Ch Vidyasagar Rao Pressure is mounting on the governor to order for a floor test to prove that the ruling faction has majority. As of now, the Governor is likely to land in Chennai on September 22 or 23 and scenario is likely to hot up further. DMK The privileges committee of the State Assembly had recently issued notices to 21 DMK MLAs on the charges that they had brought gutkha packets to the House on July 19. Sensing something fishy, the principal Opposition DMK had moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the privileges committee not to take any action against the MLAs. BJP There are speculations that the party wishes that this government should last at least till 2019 Lok Sabha elections where it can align with the unified AIADMK. E Palaniswami The CM is putting up a brave face along with his colleagues that the issue would be resolved soon. Sources say the ruling faction is trying to gain the support of at least a few more MLAs from those now with Dhinakaran. You are keeping some MLAs promising them some allurements. Just let them off. They will straightaway come to us, said Palaniswami while addressing a public meeting at Kancheepuram last week. OPS The deputy CMs most important demand for a merger was the ouster of Sasikala. He said no one from the Sasikala family should interfere in the functioning of the AIADMK. Panneerselvam wants both Sasikala and Dhinakaran to resign from their respective party posts of general secretary and deputy general secretary. According to Panneerselvam, the war for justice would continue till the main goal is achieved. What Lies Ahead Scenario 1 Speaker may disqualify 18 MLAs behind TTV. This may help the government led by E Palaniswami in winning the trust vote in the State Assembly. Scenario 2 The MLAs may move the court seeking a stay on their disqualification. Scenario 3 More pressure will be mounted on the Governor to a take a decision as nearly one month is about to cross after the MLAs supporting TTV withdrew their support to Palaniswami. Scenario 4 The DMK, which is keen on gaining political mileage in this issue, may move Supreme Court if it fails to get any direction from Madras High Court. Scenario 5 If at least five MLAs from TTV faction shifts their loyalties to EPS in the next few days, the present government can prove its majority and for the next six months, lead the government without any problem. political slugfests: day by day Dec 5, 2016: Jayalalithaa dies after prolonged illness. O Panneerselvam is swiftly sworn in as chief minister.  Dec 29: Sasikala appointed AIADMK general secretary Feb 5, 2017: OPS resigns as CM Feb 7: OPS revolts against Sasikala Feb 10: More than 120 AIADMK MLAs taken to a resort apparently to prevent any defections to OPS camp Feb 14: Supreme Court convicts Sasikala in DA case. K Palaniswami appointed head of AIADMK legislature party; OPS expelled from AIADMK primary membership. Feb 16: Palaniswami sworn in CM Feb 17: OPS camp announces expulsion of Sasikala, TTV Dinakaran and S Venkatesh from the party Feb 18: Palaniswami wins confidence vote by 122 to 11 votes March 8: OPS-led AIADMK faction observes fast across demanding probe into the death of Jayalalithaa March 15: AIADMK nominates TTV as partys candidate for the R K Nagar bypoll scheduled for April 12 March 22: EC issues an interim order freezing the two leaves symbol March 23: EC allots Palaniswami camp hat as its symbol. The faction was named AIADMK (Amma). The O Panneerselvam camp was allotted electric pole as its symbol and named as AIADMK (Puratchithalaivi Amma) Apr 17: Delhi Police books Dhinakaran for allegedly trying to bribe an EC official Apr 18: Ruling AIADMK (Amma) faction announces team to hold talks with Panneerselvam camp on a possible patch-up Apr 25: Delhi Police arrests Dhinakaran in the bribery case Apr 26: Banners featuring Sasikala removed from AIADMK party headquarters May 2: ED registers a money laundering case against Dhinakaran Aug 17: Palaniswami announces a Commission of Inquiry to go into the death of J Jayalalithaa Aug 19: Palaniswami and Panneerselvam express confidence merger will happen soon Aug 21: The two factions merge Any loyal AIADMK functionary will not commit this blunder of joining hands with the DMK. If Amma (Jayalalithaa) were alive today, just imagine what kind of action she would have taken against Dhinakaran.Chief Minister Palanisami on the indication that DMK and Dhinakaran are joining hands to bring down his government
By Associated Press

LONDON: London police say a second man has been arrested in connection with the London subway attack.

Police said Sunday that a 21-year-old man was arrested late Saturday night in Hounslow in west London and is being held under the Terrorism Act. He is being questioned at a south London police station but has not been charged or identified.

Two men are now in custody for possible roles in the bombing attack on a rush-hour subway train Friday morning that injured 29 people in London. An 18-year-old man was arrested Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover, where ferries leave for France.

The two arrests indicate police and security services believe the attack at the Parsons Green station was part of a coordinated plot, not the act of a single person.

"We are still pursing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace," counter-terrorism coordinator Neil Basu of the London police said late Saturday.

Britain's terror threat level remains at "critical"  the highest level  meaning that authorities believe another attack is imminent. The official threat level is not likely to be lowered until police believe all of the plotters have been taken into custody.

Police on Saturday launched a massive armed search in the southwestern London suburb of Sunbury. Neighbors were evacuated in a rush from the area and kept away for nearly 10 hours before they were allowed to return to their homes.

The Islamic State says the attack Friday was carried out by one of its affiliated units. The improvised explosive device placed on the subway train only partially detonated, limiting the number of injuries.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the casualties would have been far higher if the bomb had fully detonated. Frustrated by the string of terrorist attacks in recent months, she said officials will have to work harder to make bomb components more difficult to obtain.

Britain has endured four other attacks this year, which have killed a total of 36 people. The other attacks in London  near Parliament, on London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London  used vehicles and knives to kill and wound.

LONDON: London police say a second man has been arrested in connection with the London subway attack. Police said Sunday that a 21-year-old man was arrested late Saturday night in Hounslow in west London and is being held under the Terrorism Act. He is being questioned at a south London police station but has not been charged or identified. Two men are now in custody for possible roles in the bombing attack on a rush-hour subway train Friday morning that injured 29 people in London. An 18-year-old man was arrested Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover, where ferries leave for France. The two arrests indicate police and security services believe the attack at the Parsons Green station was part of a coordinated plot, not the act of a single person. "We are still pursing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace," counter-terrorism coordinator Neil Basu of the London police said late Saturday. Britain's terror threat level remains at "critical"  the highest level  meaning that authorities believe another attack is imminent. The official threat level is not likely to be lowered until police believe all of the plotters have been taken into custody. Police on Saturday launched a massive armed search in the southwestern London suburb of Sunbury. Neighbors were evacuated in a rush from the area and kept away for nearly 10 hours before they were allowed to return to their homes. The Islamic State says the attack Friday was carried out by one of its affiliated units. The improvised explosive device placed on the subway train only partially detonated, limiting the number of injuries. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the casualties would have been far higher if the bomb had fully detonated. Frustrated by the string of terrorist attacks in recent months, she said officials will have to work harder to make bomb components more difficult to obtain. Britain has endured four other attacks this year, which have killed a total of 36 people. The other attacks in London  near Parliament, on London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London  used vehicles and knives to kill and wound.
By IANS

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi aircraft conducted dozens of airstrikes against targets of the Islamic State (IS) militants in western Iraq, leaving many of their posts destroyed and killing some 306 militants, the Iraqi military said.



The jet fighters carried out 42 airstrikes on Sunday based on intelligence reports during the period from September 11 to 16, against IS headquarters and hideouts, while six of the total airstrikes targeted IS posts in Mayadeen area in eastern Syria, the intelligence media office said in a statement.



In one area, the airstrikes bombarded 29 IS targets in Akashat area, leaving some 120 IS militants killed, including four terrorist leaders, Xinhua news agency cited the statement as saying.



The jet fighters also hit six targets in Mayadeen area, leaving dozens of IS militants killed and destroying three booby-trapped vehicles, the statement said.



Earlier, the Iraqi security forces dislodged IS militants from the key cities of Anbar province, including Ramadi and the nearby Fallujah, but the areas near the border with neighbouring Syria, including Aana, Rawa and al-Qaim as well as the vast rural areas across the province are still under the control of the extremist IS militants.

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi aircraft conducted dozens of airstrikes against targets of the Islamic State (IS) militants in western Iraq, leaving many of their posts destroyed and killing some 306 militants, the Iraqi military said. The jet fighters carried out 42 airstrikes on Sunday based on intelligence reports during the period from September 11 to 16, against IS headquarters and hideouts, while six of the total airstrikes targeted IS posts in Mayadeen area in eastern Syria, the intelligence media office said in a statement. In one area, the airstrikes bombarded 29 IS targets in Akashat area, leaving some 120 IS militants killed, including four terrorist leaders, Xinhua news agency cited the statement as saying. The jet fighters also hit six targets in Mayadeen area, leaving dozens of IS militants killed and destroying three booby-trapped vehicles, the statement said. Earlier, the Iraqi security forces dislodged IS militants from the key cities of Anbar province, including Ramadi and the nearby Fallujah, but the areas near the border with neighbouring Syria, including Aana, Rawa and al-Qaim as well as the vast rural areas across the province are still under the control of the extremist IS militants.
By PTI: (EDs: Adding details from Rohtak; chg dateline)

Jaipur/New Delhi/Rohtak, Sep 17 (PTI) BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours today.

Nath, head of the Baba Mastnath Math in Rohtak, was laid to rest in Samadhi at the Math premises with full state honours. He was 61.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and his Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan counterparts Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhra Raje, were present when Nath was laid to rest in Rohtak.

Thousands of Naths followers paid tributes to the departed soul. Earlier, his body was kept at the Math to enable people to pay their last respects.

On September 13, Nath was brought to the Apollo Hospital in New Delhi in a "very bad shape", according to a senior doctor.

"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said that Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

Nath had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls defeating former Union minister Jitendra Singh, who was the Congress candidate.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

Nath was the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Rohtak. PTI SUN/AG/KND ADS

--- ENDS ---
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 43F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. Snow showers developing late. Low around 30F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 70%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
By PTI: (EDs: Adding Speakers condolence message)

Jaipur/New Delhi/Rohtak, Sep 17 (PTI) BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours today.

Nath, head of the Baba Mastnath Mutt in Rohtak, was laid to rest in Samadhi at the mutt premises with full state honours. He was 61.

advertisement

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and his Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan counterparts Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhra Raje, were present when Nath was laid to rest in Rohtak.

Thousands of Naths followers paid tributes to the departed soul. Earlier, his body was kept at the Math to enable people to pay their last respects.

On September 13, Nath was brought to the Apollo Hospital in New Delhi in a "very bad shape", according to a senior doctor.

"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said that Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

Nath had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls defeating former Union minister Jitendra Singh, who was the Congress candidate.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan condoled Naths death.

Nath was a social and spiritual leader, who raised issues that affected the poor, besides representing Alwar in the Lok Sabha, she said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

Nath was the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Rohtak. PTI SUN/AG/KND/SKC ADS

--- ENDS ---
Harry Dean Stanton, whose grizzled looks and acclaimed acting talent earned him a prolific Hollywood career playing mainly supporting roles, died at a Los Angeles hospital on Friday.

He was 91 years old. He "passed away from natural causes" at Cedars-Sinai medical center, according to his agent John S Kelly.

Despite over 150 television and film appearances spanning six decades, including roles in the Alien, The Green Mile, Pretty in Pink and The Avengers, Stanton was not a household name -- though his weathered, drooping face is instantly recognizable. One of his rare leading roles came in the 1984 road movie Paris, Texas where his turn as a father suffering from amnesia helped director Wim Wenders win the 1984 Palme D'Or. A close friend of Hollywood luminaries Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn and Marlon Brando, the drinker and smoker worked with David Lynch on TV's Twin Peaks.

"The great Harry Dean Stanton has left us. There went the great one," the filmmaker Lynch wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. "Everyone loved him, and with good reason. He was a great actor -- actually beyond great. And a great human being," Lynch went on.

Stanton's more recent work includes playing polygamist patriarch Roman Grant in TV's Big Love and a voice role in animated feature Rango with Johnny Depp. One of his last appearances, Lucky, the spiritual journey of an atheist also working with David Lynch, will be released in late September in the United States. Late American film critic Roger Ebert raved that "No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad."

A passionate musician, he also founded the eclectic 'The Harry Dean Stanton Band' known for its mix of mariachi, jazz and other genres. A keen harmonica player, he liked to sing the blues with Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson, and the mariachi repertoire which he played until the end of his life in a warm, whimpering voice. Born July 14, 1926 in Kentucky, Stanton was the eldest of three children of a hairdressing mother and a tobacco-growing Baptist.

Stanton, whose roles were often strange mixes of tenderness and reserve, was the epitome of cool, actress Olivia Wilde said on Twitter.

The actor himself told The New York Times Magazine back in 1986 that, "I know I've got the ability to bring a sense of menace to the screen. I have that specific competence, and it's generally kept me working."
You can call for Jihad, ask people to take up guns, glorify militants, rouse people against India and no one will inform or object to your participation or your choice of words. - A young journalists who has been covering militant funeral.

Police doesnt turn up at the events to avoid further violent backlash.The gun salute, militants firing in the air at funerals, is a particular crowd pleaser.Though it doesnt really please the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the militants. One of them we had spoken to a day ago, complained about these gun salutes, they dont know how hard we work to get these bullets and then they just waste them all away for public.That aside, militant funerals are also events where most of the potential recruits get their first inspiration from.I met a family of a 14-year-old militant in a different part of the valley a few days later who had no idea why their child had abandoned his school and family to join militancy. His friends later said that the boy was a regular at militant funerals, and had attended funeral prayers of Burhan Wani and Dawood Sheikh. The same story, with some tweaks here and there, we heard from family members and friends of several other militants, we spoke to, who are right now on the run.While the public speakers keep turning tighter the screws, the emcee interrupts time and again asking people to make way and clear the entry to the ground. Each time he says this, the crowd goes quiet in anticipation of militants.Militant arrivals in funerals are usually preceded by public announcements in which people are told to make way, Mehmaan aane waale hain.No such announcement is made here and the militants never come. But that doesnt prevent people from spotting hidden militants here and there and running after them.Photojournalists like Shehriyar are often mobbed and have an especially hard time at funerals because of their long hair and high boots.Once at a funeral an old man asked me why didnt I have the 7 kilo, the Ak 47, in my hands instead of this camera. I told him bullets can be heard in just 1 km away, but photographs travel thousands of kilometers, Shehriyar says.Its about 9:15 am now, and there are not less than 7000 people in front of the stage. Theyve come despite severe restrictions, evading police pickets by climbing over hills and walking through farms to reach here.The sun is blazing now and Lelharis body is beginning to bloat. The organisers, basically a group of youth from Lelhari, are aware of this but wait as they see hundreds of people whove come from far to participate in his funeral prayers.Every visitor who comes pays his respects to the brother of Ayyub Lelhari. His brother, and the rest of his family, will now become first among the equals in Lelhari.A local resident of Lelhari says, Look what a funeral hes got. Not even 10 people wouldve come to the funeral had I died. This is what a send-off is. He took our tehreek [movement] forward. Everyone will offer salaam to his brother with respect now.
New Delhi: Indias ambassador to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale will now head the Indian mission in China, while envoy to Poland Ajay Bisaria will replace him in Islamabad.

The re-jig was effected in the wake of Vijay Gokhale, the then ambassador to China, being appointed as the Secretary of Economic Relations in the External Affairs Ministry.

Gautam Bambawale, a 1984 batch officer who is fluent in Mandarin, was earlier the Joint Secretary in-charge of East Asia the desk.

He is said to have developed a close working relationship with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar who is set to retire next year. Their association dates back to when the latter was Indias ambassador in Beijing and Bambawale was the joint secretary in the East Asia desk. Many crises, including the kidnapping of Indian traders in Yiwu, China and the Dersingham standoff in 2013, are said to have been resolved with keen coordination between the two men.

With his move to Beijing, Bambawale joins a short list of envoys who have served both in China and Pakistan. This puts him in a unique position where two or three years from now he gets to be in contention to be the Foreign Secretary.

The only other foreign services officer in recent times who has served in China and Pakistan  Indias toughest diplomatic assignments  is Shiv Shankar Menon who went on to become Foreign Secretary and later the National Security Advisor.

For now, in contention for the Foreign Secretarys post is Vijay Gokhale. If the government does not give Jaishankar another extension, Gokhale will most likely succeed him as the new Foreign Secretary after January.
Mathura: As many as 1,200 cows - mostly abandoned, sick and injured - have found a saviour in 59-year-old German national Friederike Irina Bruning. When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

"I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund," she said while narrating her journey in Mathura. She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi. "I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk," she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as 'Surbhai Gauseva Niketan'.

"They are like my children and I cannot leave them," she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund here.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine. "Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leave a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in," she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows needing special care are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure. When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, foodgrain and salaries of about 60 workers.

"I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work," she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, "I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children."

The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year.

"I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. It's the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala," she said.
Chandigarh: Even as Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim's adopted daughter Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet remains absconding, Haryana police sources say, they have information that indicate she might have escaped to Nepal.

A Haryana Police team had detained Udaipur in-charge of Dera Sacha Sauda, Pradeep Goyal in Rajasthan. Police sources claim he has shared some crucial information on Honeypreet's location and revealed that she has fled to Nepal.

Pradeep, who was picked up by Haryana Police from Sector 17 Nakoda Nagar in Udaipur on Saturday, has now been shifted to Panchkula.

Police sources added that Pradeep was instructed to gather crowd in Panchkula on the August 25, the day a CBI court convicted Ram Rahim in two rape cases. He further revealed that Gurmeet Ram Rahim had promised Rs 25,000 for every single person that he would bring to the gathering at Panchkula.

Meanwhile, Haryana Police DGP BS Sandhu told News18 that there is no credible information yet on the location and whereabouts of Honeypreet. "At this point in time, while investigations and efforts to find her are on, we do not know her exact location," said Sandhu.

A top Dera spokesperson, believed to be a close relative of Ram Rahims son Aditya Insaan, who was also on the run and had a lookout notice against him, has been detained by the Haryana police. A special investigation team from Panchkula arrested Prakash alias Vicky from Mohali.

Honeypreet is believed to be a crucial link that would help interpret the various intelligence inputs that police and investigating agencies have gathered from the Dera Sacha Sauda.

The second-most important Dera leader, Honeypreet, is believed to have been very close to Ram Rahim since 2009 and has been his constant companion. She has also acted in all of Ram Rahims films apart from participating in almost every social function that the Dera chief attended.
New Delhi: Eyeing a multi-billion dollar contract from the Indian Navy for the supply of fighter aircraft, Russian military aviation firm MiG on Sunday said it was not averse to the transfer of technology and joint development of MiG-29 K jets with Indian companies.

MiG CEO Ilya Tarasenko said his company would submit a detailed proposal to the Indian government shortly, detailing its readiness for the joint development of aircraft for the Navy to deepen its already close engagement with India.

We are considering various options for long-term and perspective cooperation, including those within the framework of the Make in India programme, Tarasenko told PTI.

In January, the Indian Navy had kick-started the process of procuring 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its carriers by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to leading military jet makers.

Currently, six planes are compatible for the aircraft carrier - Rafale (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MIG-29K (Russia), F-35B and F-35C (Lockheed Martin, US) and Gripen (Saab, Sweden). While F-18, Rafale and MIG-29K are twin-engine jets, the other three have a single engine.

Tarasenko said MiG had been working with Indian defence forces for more than 50 years, delivering planes and providing service.

He said the company was eager to further strengthen its relationship with India.

Russia has been one of India's key suppliers of arms and ammunition. Then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had visited Russia in June during which the issue of transfer of technology and joint development of high-end military platforms and weapons systems were discussed at length.

Hard-selling MiG-29K as the best option for the Indian Navy, Tarasenko said a fleet of the aircraft had operated from Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as part of its operations in Syria recently and showed excellent results, including in striking ground targets.

He said the MiG-29K was part of the recent Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, the US and Japan and it proved its operational prowess while operating from the Indian Navys aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. Tarasenko claimed MiG-29K aircraft have serious tactical and technical advantages compared to Boeings F/A-18.

In addition, the MiG-29K aircraft were successfully tested in combat conditions as part of the Russian Navy's military squadron in the Mediterranean in 2016 and have a unique experience of real combat use, he said.

The US defence major has offered to set up a manufacturing facility in India for the production of its F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft, if the company gets contracts for their supply.

At present, the Navy operates 45 MIG-29K jets. The RFI by the Indian Navy says the aircraft required by it should be day-and-night capable, all-weather, multi-role, deck-based combat aircraft which can be used for air defence, air-to-surface operations, buddy refuelling, reconnaissance etc. from IN aircraft carriers".

The Indian side has sent an RFI to companies that produce aircraft, which is one of the procedures preceding the official tender.

MiG Corporation has received such a request, now we are preparing our proposal, Tarasenko said. In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government had in May unveiled a "strategic partnership" model under which select private firms would be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms such as fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.
United Nation: Taking a jibe at Pakistan, a top Indian diplomat has said Islamabad's decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN, which has not been discussed at the world body for decades, is like 'Miyan ki daud masjid tak'.

India on the other hand is focused on progressive, forward looking agenda during the UN General Assembly session beginning on Monday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on Saturday.

"I have outlined in our approach, that is progressive forward looking. We are visionary in our goals. If on the other hand there are other countries, who as you say, focus on yesterday's issues then they are yesterday's people," Akbaruddin said in response to a question on reports that Pakistan plans to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly this week.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would deliver her address on September 23.

"If they (Pakistan) focus on an issue which has not been on the discussion table in the UN now for decades, not for years, for decades..., if this is what they want to focus on, so be it. To be his own...Miyan ki daud masjid tak," Akbaruddin said, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A day earlier, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry had said that Abbasi would be raising the Kashmir issue at the UN.
By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Sep 17 (PTI) The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up Odisha government for improper implementation of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and said the expenditure for this was less than the budgetary provision by Rs 1,239.23 crore.

Performance audit on implementation of ICDS scheme covering the period 2011-16 showed that the expenditure was less than the budgetary provision by Rs 1,239.23 crore, CAG said in its report on general and social sector for the year ended March 2016.

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The statement of expenditure and utilisation certificates (UCs) submitted to the Government of India were based on treasury drawals and not on actual expenditure, said the CAG report tabled in the state Assembly yesterday.

In the sampled seven districts, Rs 102.77 crore remained utilised with the District Social Welfare Officers as of March 2016, it said.

The report said funds were also not provided for supply of medicine kits and pre-school education (PSE) kits, due to which the department could not avail central assistance of Rs 81.75 crpre.

Out of 38.39 lakh children considered eligible, 3.58 lakh (9 per cent) in the state were not provided supplementary nutrition, while supply of foodstuff under the scheme was not managed properly, due to which instances of short/non-supply of eggs and rasi ladu were observed, it said.

Stating that quality control mechanism for take home ration was not effective, the report said stock management of wheat and rice under Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) was deficient, while misappropriation of rice was observed in 12 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) under Joda (T) Project.

Out of 82.03 lakh enrolled children, 5.56 lakh (7 per cent) did not attend pre-school education, while health check-up was provided to only 30 per cent of the eligible children, 56 per cent of the pregnant women and 50 per cent of the nursing mothers in the state during the period, it said.

Out of 71,306 Anganwadi Centres in the state, only 28,187 (40 per cent) had dedicated ICDS buildings. The pace of construction of ICDS buildings was slow, as only 14,059 (53 per cent) out of 26,690 buildings, sanctioned for construction during 2010-16, were completed, the report said.

Dur to non-submission of Utilisation Certificates to the Central government for the funds sanctioned during 2013-14 for construction of Anganwadi Centres, the department could not avail central assistance of Rs 93.76 crore, it said.

Stating that the department had not operationalised 1,281 Anganwadi Centres even after 18 months of sanction, it said 76 per cent of the centres had no toilet facilities and infrastructure facilities at the Anganwadis were not adequate even after four decades of implementation of the scheme.

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The CAG report said tht monitoring and supervision of implementation of the scheme was not adequate. PTI SKN PR PR

--- ENDS ---
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday on Sunday could be his most memorable one. He will formally dedicate the Narmada Dam project to the nation, ending a wait that has lasted more than five decades.

After paying a visit to his mother early on Sunday, the PM will head out to the site of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam in Narmada district of Gujarat. He will perform a brief puja at the dam site and then open the 30 gates installed on it. The gates were closed on the directions of the Narmada Control Authority on June 17 this year.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said there could not have been a better gift for PM Modi on his birthday, which also falls on September 17.

A sum of 47,000 crores has so far been spent on the multi-purpose dam project that was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961. The height of the dam on completion stands at 138.68 metres, including the 10 metre high doors that have been placed on top of the dam.

The dam, once functional, would irrigate 18 lakh hectares of land in Gujarat and 2.5 lakh hectares in Rajasthan. Around 10 lakh farmers are likely to benefit from it. The hydro power generated from the dam would provide electricity to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The chief ministers of the three states that would reap the benefits of the dam - Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia - will attend the event.

The Gujarat CM said that after the inauguration, the Prime Minister would attend a couple of rallies and public meetings.

Over 1 lakh people are expected to turn up for a huge rally in Dabhoi in Vadodara. In the second half of the day, Modi will head to Saurashtra's Amreli district, where a slew of public functions have been organised.
The Rohingya issue has become a massive humanitarian crisis with over 4 lakh people fleeing the areas along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. They started taking refuge in the neighbouring countries, mostly through illegal means.

The crisis has unfolded at a time when India and Myanmar are working towards building a strong relationship, especially after PM Narendra Modis three-day visit to the country last week, where he committed to help Myanmar in its nation-building process.

What had started off as an internal ethnic-cum-political problem has now started spreading its tentacles into the other South Asian countries, particularly Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India.

After the Rohingya Muslims started revolting against the Myanmar military, majorly due to excessive human rights violation, the government branded them as a militant outfit. Due to this stance of the Myanmar government, other countries in the region also started viewing them as a terror group that is fighting for a separate nation.

For India, its not about intruding into Myanmars private affairs, but to execute and make PM Modis Act East policy a success. India stands out from the rest of the countries in South Asia as one of the strongest and most stable (in terms of absence of any kind of uprising). At this time, all eyes are on how the Modi Government is planning to extend help or find a solution for the Rohingya issue.

Globally, India is seen as a benevolent nation that has a history of giving refuge to people since Jawaharlal Nehrus time. India has been providing assistance to the Tibetans as well as thousands of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even 50,000 Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar.

From geo-political, economic and strategic angles, Myanmar holds an important place in Indias blueprint for becoming the major power in Asia. Hence, its necessary for the present government to take any step with extreme caution.

The present situation in Myanmar has put India in a fix, and it has become very difficult for PM Modi to decide whether to interfere or not.

Notably, home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday indicated that some action will be taken with regard to deportation of Rohingya refugees, who the government considers to be a security threat, particularly in Jammu & Kashmir.

Rajnath, when asked about the government's stand on deportation of Rohingya Muslims from Jammu, said, We cannot rule out the possibility of a security threat and I have already cleared our stand with regard to illegal immigrants.

Additionally, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, had on September 5 said that Rohingya Muslims were illegal immigrants and stood to be deported.

Another reason why India cant ignore the Rohingya crisis is due to economic reasons. Stability in the region where Rohingya Muslims predominantly live  Rakhine state  is extremely important for Indias economic investment plans. During PM Modis recent visit to Myanmar, he stressed on the need to work toward socio-economic development in the state by taking up projects.

The turmoil in Rakhine state is adversely affecting the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project, which aims to build a transport corridor and connect Indias northeast with Myanmar. Hence, its very important for India to ensure that peace returns to the conflict-torn part of Myanmar so that it can execute its planned projects in time.

Apart from economic and humanitarian grounds, strategic reasons also cant be overlooked when it comes to India and Myanmar. India, at this juncture cant afford to have strained relations with Myanmar, especially when PM Modi is striving to grow Indias influence in South Asia.

In such a situation, it makes sense for the Indian government to support Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but it should also make her understand the importance of addressing the problems of Rohingya Muslims and Rohingya Buddhists and working towards resolving the present crisis.
New Delhi: Quite like Robin Hood, they take from the rich for the poor -- but unlike the legendary outlaw, they are not after money, and it's all above board.

A band of merry men and women called the Robin Hood Army (RHA) has been seeking to feed the poor by distributing surplus food from restaurants and weddings to the hungry in the subcontinent.

Its volunteers, mostly students and young working professionals, call themselves Robins. Dressed in green, they go out in the dark, pick up food and distribute it among the homeless and others.

Last month, when India and Pakistan celebrated 70 years of independence, the RHA from the two nations joined hands to fight against a common enemy -- hunger -- and fed over 1.32 million people across 48 cities.

"Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and terrorism combined. We are not short of food, but the distribution is not right," RHA co-founder Neel Ghose said.

The group was started in August 2014 with six Robins in Delhi who served about 150 people on their first night of food distribution. In three years, it now consists of 12,350 volunteers who have served over 34,36,531 people.

The RHA has some 50 chapters in as many cities in the Indian subcontinent. It started work in Pakistan in February 2015 with its first distribution in Karachi. It also has volunteers in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries, he said.

Picture courtesy: twitter.com/rha_india

Mr Ghose thought of starting RHA when he heard about an organisation in Portugal called 'Refood' - which picked up and distributed restaurant surplus.

He talked about the initiative with its founder Hunter Halder, and then decided to launch a similar programme in India with partner Anand Sinha, who works for an e-commerce site. The third partner, Aarushi Batra, is in business.

"A particular city chapter gets in touch with restaurants and wedding caterers in an area. Robins keep in touch with those who are ready to donate food and collect it at the end of the day or the time of distribution," Mr Ghose said.

The food is packed into meals and then distributed among the homeless and others who need food in or around that particular area, he said.

"There are some very helpful restaurants who don't just package and give away excess food, but also donate freshly cooked food," he added.

Mr Ghosh stressed surplus food could feed scores of people. "Once, we picked up excess food after getting a call from a wedding venue. With that, we were able to feed about 990 people," he said.

Ms Batra said all expenses, such as transportation costs, are met by the volunteers. "We pay for our own cabs or autos and some use their own vehicles for distribution," she said.

With the help of the social media, a large number of people have joined the army in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, apart from India and Pakistan.

"There are six chapters in Pakistan -- four in Karachi, one in Lahore and one in Islamabad. We are planning to expand it to other parts of the country," Pakistan RHA head Sameer Beg told PTI.

Though food is still its main area of concern, RHA takes up other initiatives and projects from time to time. It is now looking at ways to distribute clothes and help poor students.

RHA Chennai is crowd sourcing school bags from city schools for sending to a school in a remote village in Odisha, where a Robin is a teacher.

In Surat, classrooms are being built under a bridge from waste material for underprivileged children with the help of other organisations. In Hyderabad, they are building new toilets and renovating old one in schools.

"When northern Gujarat was hit by floods, two of our Robins travelled 1,100 kilometres after collecting 10,000 kilograms of food grains and 2,000 kilograms of clothes to help 39,000 people," Mr Ghose said. The team bars anybody from collecting money in the name of the organisation.

"If anyone wants to donate funds, we ask them to buy blankets, clothes, school bags and asked them to help us distribute them instead," Mr Ghose said.

RHA has also started Robin Hood Academy in 19 cities, where they teach slum children to help then join schools.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will operationalise the SSB's first ever intelligence wing on Monday, a home ministry official said.

The paramilitary force guards India's borders with Bhutan and Nepal, which are often used by criminals and Kashmiri militants returning from Pakistan.

The intelligence wing will have 650 field and staff agents to gather actionable information.

Due to the visa-free regime India has with Nepal and Bhutan, there is a trans-border movement of criminals and anti-national elements which pose a major challenge, the home ministry official said.

As many as 230 former Kashmiri militants, based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, have returned home through the Indo-Nepal border since 2010.

Also, their spouses and 88 children have come along with them.

The former militants, their spouses and children did not have travel documents while entering India. Security agencies detained them upon ascertaining their real identities, another official said requesting anonymity.

They were released only after a vigorous checking of their backgrounds, past activities and following judicial process.

The Indo-Bhutan border is known to be frequented by the Assam-based insurgent group NDFB, which has even attacked Bhutanese nationals in the past.

India shares a 1,751-km-long border with Nepal and a 699 -km-long border with Bhutan.

The SSB has also been declared as the lead intelligence agency for both the borders. Thus, the central government felt that a well-knit intelligence network of the highest capability that can function and deliver would be the prime requirement for comprehensive border management.

This was essential as the SSB's operations are based on intelligence to prevent criminals and smugglers from taking advantage of the friendly borders with Nepal and Bhutan, the official said.

The SSB has been mandated to guard the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders where there are no restrictions on the movement of people on either side.

The border population on both the sides has strong regional, cultural and economic ties.

The SSB has 474 Border Out Posts (BOPs) on the Nepal border and 131 on the Bhutan border.

The border with Nepal touches Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim and the border with Bhutan touches Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Its an action-packed birthday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who first inaugurated Sardar Sarovar  Indias tallest and worlds second largest dam  across the Narmada River in Kevadia, then addressed supporters at Narmada Mahotsav in Dabhoi, Gujarat. The PM also found time to visit Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada River where a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, called Statue of Unity, is coming up. He is now headed to Amreli in Saurashtra where he will address a public gathering. The BJP, too, is marking PM Modis 67th birthday, celebrating it as Seva Diwas across the country.

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Imagine you are at home, busy, working against a deadline; you dont have time for any s**t.

A bore rings you up and announces he is on his way to your home to spend the whole day with you. Poof! You are bombed! Is there anything in the world which would drive him away?

If you were a Hungarian, you would not be asking me. Instead, you would be rinsing the glass with an evil glee itching to serve him your national drink  Unicum Zwack, a bitter liqueur.

How could a drink deal a bore!

(Be patient. Before I tell you let us take a flashback to the 18th Century Budapest, Hungary).

Das est ein Unicum!

Cried Emperor Joseph II of Austro-Hungarian Emperor, soon after he was served with the potion. A few minutes ago he was crying on the same bed, not this excitedly as you just heard him now, but reeling under severe stomach cramps and he wanted some bloody drug that would allay his pain.

Remember. The year was 1790. The doctor was the court apothecary Joszef Zwack. The patient, the Emperor himself.

Zwack had only one medicine with him, untested yet  a soup of 40 different herbs steeped in alcohol. Undaunted, he ladled it into a glass. The Emperor had no other option but to quaff it in one go.

Das est ein Unicum! This is unique! cried the Emperor.

Zwack nodded as he saw his magic potion work and decided then and there what name he should call his new drink with  Unicum.

It got stuck.

In 1840 Jozsef Zwack founded the J. Zwack & Co., and went official; he became the first Hungarian liqueur manufacturer. By the turn of the century the company had become the leading distillery in central Europe producing more than 200 liqueurs and spirits other than Unicum.

All was sunshine for the Zwack family until the Second World War when Budapest came under siege. One of the first targets of the enemies as they barged into the town was the Zwack distillery and they razed it to the ground.

After the war Unicum struggled to rise from the ashes but its face fell as it caught at a distance on the long and dusty road, the Russian tanks rumbling in.

The new socialist regime in Hungary had little sympathy for private entrepreneurs like the Zwacks. At that time brothers Janos Zwack and Bela Zwack, grandchildren of Jozsef were running the Unicum business. Just before orders came to take over the distillery, Janos fled to the US with his son Peter.

He had one more thing with him  the secret recipe of Unicum.

But, Bela, who also knew the recipe, stayed behind and welcomed the Russians. Do you have the recipe? They asked. Yes.

Hungary continued to produce Unicum even without the help of a family who ran away to the US with the secret recipe. But few knew one thing  the recipe Bela gave the Russians was fake. Communist Hungary was taken for a ride for they were not making the real Unicum.

The original recipe was now safe in a bank locker in New York.

Who bothered!

If you think that the Zwack family had the last laugh over the matter you are mistaken. Soon they found themselves laughing with the other side of their mouth. Unicum , fake or original, was still a hit in Hungary!

People with weak memory of taste continued to associate the name with the old drink. When Peter Zwack came back from the US forty years later to claim back his old distillery at Budapest, he found to his shock that his country had already warmed itself to the fake drink. It took quite some effort to woo them back to the original Unicum, Peter later said.

Imagine the pain behind building a drink with forty different herbs! What a symphony at the end!

Unicum is like a castle of cards. You pull one ingredient off, the whole drink would collapse bringing down its unique taste. The drink is meticulously prepared under the supervision of the Zwack family. Some herbs and spices are distilled, some are macerated, then blended together and are aged in oak casks for six months.

Except for the immediate family only one other person holds the key to the recipe  the bishop of Esztergom. The world should not lose if something happens to the whole family

One of the unique selling points of Unicum is the shape of its bottles.

During the resistance movements, students used bottles of Unicum as molatov bombs to be fired at the Russian tanks. More. In countrysides people used to adorn the walls inside their homes with posters of Unicum which depict an almost drowned man finding his saviour in a bottle of his national drink floating towards him.

What a symbol for national resistance and freedom!

Unicum is usually enjoyed as a shot to be enjoyed at room temperature. Use ice you spoil it. Some use it as an aperitif and also as an accompaniment to beer. When you pay a visit to a Hungarian friends home he would ceremoniously pull out a bottle of Unicum to treat you.

And its time babe, to run!

Unikum has an acquired taste. Many swear that it tastes like battery-acid wedded to rusted iron. You need someone to put a gun to your head to get back to the drink for a second time. People usually drink it to show their grit and manliness.

Now you know how to deal a bore. Go Hungarian. Pull out a bottle of Unicum from the closet and welcome the guest with a smile.

A single shot of it would suddenly remind the guest of some other engagement he should be attending now.

If that fails think of those times when they used these bottles as molatov bombs.

(Manu Remakant is a freelance writer who also runs a video blog - A Cup of Kavitha - introducing world poetry to Malayalees. Views expressed here are personal)
Mumbai: Sridevi's thriller drama film Mom is set to release in Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Distributed by Zee Studios International, the film will release in 21 screens in Russia, 9 screens in Poland and 3 screens in the Czech Republic in mid October. To reach out to a wider audience in the Russian market, the film is also being dubbed in Russian, read a statement.

Directed by Ravi Udyawar, Mom also features Akshaye Khanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in pivotal roles. The film, which released in India on June 7, is Sridevi's 300th and is about how far a mother can go for the sake of her children.

The film was also released in countries like the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Mom has been well received by audiences and critics.

"With the kind of appreciation we have received for Mom across the world, we are pretty sure the audiences in Russia, Czech Republic and Poland will give us a positive response.

"The film has a very strong message applicable universally, coupled with Sridevi's acting has made the film what it is. We are looking forward to releasing the film there and expanding our audience base," said producer Boney Kapoor.

"Mom is a film that the audience of any region can relate to. It is encouraging to see such great response to Indian cinema worldwide", added Vibha Chopra, Head - Zee Studios International (Film Marketing, Distribution and Acquisition).
New Delhi: Assam BJP has suspended its state executive member Benazir Arfan for showing solidarity with Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar.

Arfan, associated with the party since 2012, claims she was served the suspension letter through WhatsApp on Thursday by BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Das.

"I have been insulted and will take this issue up at the highest level of the party," she told News 18.

Arfan had participated in a meeting organised in support of refugees displaced by ethnic violence in Myanamar's Rakhine province. Some of these refugees have entered India, and a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against government's decision to send back Rohingya refugees from India.

"I posted a message on Facebook asking people to join in. Inadvertently, I used the wrong word 'protests' for what was a prayer meeting," says Arfan.

The program was organised by the United Minority Peoples Forum, a Guwahati-based NGO. The post that she shared stirred controversy in the local BJP unit as it went against the Centres decision to block the entry of Rohingya refugees to India.

Her suspension letter reads: "As a BJP member you posted on social media seeking support for a program organised by another organisation in connection with a problem related to Myanmar, you did not initiate any discussion about it at any party platform."

The letter further said, "Since your act is against the party's rules and ideology, you have been relieved of all responsibilities and have been suspended from the party."

Countering the charge, Arfan said, "The whole exercise is driven by personal gains. The local BJP unit is driven with favouritism and anyone who questions the powers that be will be pulled up for small mistakes like I have been."

News 18 tried to get in touch with Ranjeet Kumar Das, head of Assam BJP, but there was no response.
Jaipur/New Delhi: BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours on Sunday.

He was 61.

On September 13, he was brought to Apollo Hospital in a "very bad shape", a senior doctor said.

"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

The BJP MP had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 parliamentary elections after defeating Congress candidate and former Union minister Jitendra Singh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

                           Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) September 17, 2017

He will be remembered for his contribution for the developmental works, she said.

Nath was also the Chancellor of Baba Mast Nath University in Rohtak. His funeral services would be held today.
During the Sree Krishna Jayanthi celebrations that are catching on in Kerala, a five-year-old kid made up as Krishna was tied to what looked like a huge plastic leaf and was taken in a procession through the streets of Payyannur in north Kerala on September 12. One onlooker was quoted as saying that he could see the small boy tied to the apparatus for over two hours trying to shield his eyes from the sun by moving his face this way and that. This incident of child abuse generated the normal dose of outrage in Kerala after a lady posted the picture on Facebook after which the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights registered a suo motu case.

Completely scandalous as the incident was, there is a deeper malaise beneath the rising Hindu assertion in Kerala to counter what is maybe wrongly perceived as the power of minorityism in the state. One part of it is the huge celebrations of days like Sree Krishna Jayanthi that never really happened in Kerala in a big way. The other surprisingly is that the ruling party the CPI(M) is making a serious effort to entrench itself within Hindu ritualism in Kerala which has a slew of temple festivals spread across the state which is also home to a leading pilgrimage centre in South India, Sabarimala.

The visit of state tourism and Devasom minister Kadakampally Surendran to the Guruvayoor temple on September 12 was also part of the undeclared CPM effort to endear itself to the Hindu population in Kerala. Surendran said that he went to the temple as Devasom Minister who is in charge of temples and he had to show courtesy to the gods. But earlier, CPM ministers of Devasom did not find it important to enter temples and worship. The CPM is asking the minister for an explanation but he is likely to be let off, for it is unimaginable these days that a minister will get sacked for worshipping at a temple.

The CPM is aware that it came to power in Kerala on the back of a Hindu backlash vote against what was seen as the rising minority politics of the Congress-led UDF where all major ministries were held by Christians and Muslims, till at one point the Congress was forced to bring in a Hindu home minister. So the CPM cannot afford to alienate the Hindu vote. Hence the huge success of various Hindu celebrations in the state.

Though there may not be a larger political intent, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has of late been seen with many Hindu spiritual leaders, the latest of which was him posing with the Isha foundation chief Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev who was in town to kick off his Rally for Rivers. Vijayan had also earlier announced a government feasibility study for an airport in Sabarimala, in a state which already has four international airports, a clear attempt to win the admiration of the Hindus.

The Kerala CPM has now informally allowed its local leaders to be part of temple committees though taking part in rituals or pujas is not allowed. This was the line which minister Surendran crossed. It is because of this active interest in temple-related functions that the Krishna Jayanti celebrations is becoming big in Kerala. The main thoroughfares of the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram was packed with men in uniform-saffron mundus and white shirt and young boys dressed as Krishna, during the Krishna processions. The Payannur function was held by the Sangh Parivar outfit Balagokulam but such functions cannot be held on a grand scale without the CPMs subtle support, especially in Malabar where its cadres have longfought the RSS. Once upon a time, the streets of the capital were often and usually packed with men holding red flags. The CPM cadre has now eased into a position where it can easily replace the red flag for variations of the saffron flag.

Ironically, this strategy is also aimed at preventing the RSS from taking complete control of temple festivals and important Hindu dates though the RSS can rightly claim ideological allegiance to such celebrations. Though in northern Kerala there is a history of clashes between the RSS and CPM, generally throughout the state the cadre of both the RSS and the CPM have a cosy working relationship. The temple festival committees also mean cash collection and some element of protection money, and in this art the CPM scores over all others.

The CPM this week started state wide meetings of its various committees. The party has a registered cadre of 4.63 lakh and 31,700 branches and 2093 local committees according to latest stats. This signifies a stranglehold over the state and its many winding streets. The CPM no doubt is still fully secular and Pinarayi Vijayan has time and again attacked the PM and BJPs divisive politics. The irony now is that the party with such large clout has to play a small degree of majority appeasement to maintain its grip. The Payannur celebration when the RSS outfit went overboard, the Marxist ministers worship at Guruvayoor are only outward indication of this subterrenean mollycoddling of Sangh Parivar outfits.

(The author is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal)
By PTI: Melbourne, Sep 17 (PTI) Scientists have for the first time found that carbohydrates on the surface of malaria parasites play a critical role in malarias ability to infect mosquito and human hosts.

The discovery may help improve the only vaccine approved to protect people against Plasmodium falciparum malaria - the most deadly form of the disease, researchers said.

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The study found that the malaria parasite tags its proteins with carbohydrates in order to stabilise and transport them, and this process was crucial to completing the parasites lifecycle.

"We found that the parasites ability to tag key proteins with carbohydrates is important for two stages of the malaria lifecycle," said Justin Boddey, from Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia.

"It is critical for the the earliest stages of human infection, when the parasite migrates through the body and invades in the liver, and later when it is transmitted back to the mosquito from an infected human, enabling the parasite to be spread between people," said Boddey, who led the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Interfering with the parasites ability to attach these carbohydrates to its proteins hinders liver infection and transmission to the mosquito, and weakens the parasite to the point that it cannot survive in the host, researchers said.

Malaria infects over 200 million people worldwide each year and kills around 650,000 people, predominantly pregnant women and children.

Efforts to eradicate malaria require the development of new therapeutics, particularly an effective malaria vaccine.

The first malaria vaccine approved for human use - RTS,S/AS01 - was approved by European regulators in July 2015 but has not been as successful as hoped, with marginal efficacy that wanes over time, researchers said.

"The protein used in the RTS,S vaccine mimics one of the proteins we have been studying on the surface of the malaria parasite that is readily recognised by the immune system," said Ethan Goddard-Borger from Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

"With this study, we have shown that the parasite protein is tagged with carbohydrates, making it slightly different to the vaccine, so the antibodies produced may not be optimal for recognising target parasites," Goddard-Borger said.

He said there were many documented cases where attaching carbohydrates to a protein improved its efficacy as a vaccine.

"It may be that a version of RTS,S with added carbohydrates will perform better than the current vaccine," Goddard-Borger said. PTI SAR MHN

--- ENDS ---
Kolkata: The CPI(M) on Sunday justified the expulsion of Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee, saying the decision was taken because of his grave anti-party activities, including moral degeneration in relation to women.

Ritabrata was expelled from the party on Friday after being accused of leaking internal matters and discussions to the media and of leading a lavish lifestyle incompatible with that of a member of the party. The party said there were serious inconsistencies between his income and expenditure.

Politburo member and CPI (M) state secretary, Surya Kanta Mishra, said Banerjee was expelled under clause 19(13) of its constitution. He was cautioned publicly on last February for breaking party discipline. He was asked to rectify his behaviour and refrain from misusing social media, he said.

Mishra said that considering his anti-party and anti-communist role, the state secretariat on September 13 had recommended his expulsion. This was later endorsed by the politburo.

During the state committee meeting on June 1 and 2, a three-member inquiry commission was formed to investigate four serious charges against him. The members found him outright guilty. We tried our best to help him rectify his issues, but he has continued to malign the image of the party, he said.

The state secretary further said that Banerjee had maligned the party publicly during an interview with a TV channel on September 11 where he had talked about the personal and political differences within the party.

Recently, in a television interview, Ritabrata had said that the central CPI (M) leadership was anti-Bengali. He alleged that politburo members Prakash and Brinda Karat blocked general secretary Sitaram Yechurys return to the Rajya Sabha.

He also slammed the central leadership by alleging that politburo member Mohammad Salim managed to get some space in partys highest body because the politburo has a quota for Muslims. He accused Salim and his son, who is also a party member, of spearheading a social media campaign to malign him.
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday used obnoxious language addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet. Tewari had earlier shared a video, purportedly showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi walking around, while a band played the national anthem.

A Twitter user, responding to Tewari, wrote that he better not teach Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lesson on "nationalism". It was then that Tewari used crass language to describe Modi's followers, hinting that the Prime Minister was hoodwinking them all.

Tewari's response ignited widespread condemnation on social media and from across the political spectrum. More than 10 hours after that tweet, Tewari once again took to Twitter, clarifying that his tweet was "deriding" the response and he didn't mean to offend the Prime Minister.

In a series of tweets, Tewari wrote that he had used a "Hindi colloquial" to expound the idiocy of the person who put "Modi over Mahatma".

The former UPA minister also expressed willingness to apologise for the "Hindi colloquial phrase", but asked if PM Modi will promise to unfollow those "who heap unmentionable abuse on women".

Through his last tweet, Tewari once again took a swipe at Prime Minister Modi for following people who were seen exhibiting happiness on social media after Kannada journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru.

On September 8, another senior leader of the grand old party, Digvijaya Singh, had also shared a meme in which abusive language was used against the Prime Minister. Singh had also said that Prime Minister was an expert in the "art of fooling".
Mumbai: The BJP and Shiv Sena were on Saturday engaged in a slanging match over the Maratha reservation issue with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party accusing its senior ally of doing "timepass" and the latter dubbing its recalcitrant partner as "Songaade" (clowns) vis-a-vis the quota issue.

In a stinging editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena termed a cabinet sub-committee, formed by the BJP-led Maharashtra government to look into the Maratha reservationissue, as a "timepass" and sought to know why justice had not been meted out to the community, despite several roadshows.

Mocking the Sena, which also took potshots at the BJP over the bullet train project, the city unit president of the BJP, Ashish Shelar, said those who could not maintain the roads of Mumbai should not bother about the bullet train.

On August 9, scores of members of the Maratha community staged their 58th and final "muk morcha" (silent protest) in the city, demanding reservation in government jobs and education.

The same day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in the Assembly that the government would extend the educational concessions for the OBCs to the Maratha community.

He had also said the government would form a cabinet sub-committee, which would review the implementation of various schemes for the community, and accordingly, a five- member sub-committee was announced subsequently.

In the editorial published Saturday, 'Saamana' said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe held a big roadshow in Ahmedabad. Such roadshows have their own benefits.

"However, several roadshows, morchas and protests held by the Maratha community yielded no results."

The Sena also said Fadnavis agreed to spend Rs 30,000 crore from the state's coffers to realise Modi's dream of a bullet train, but allegedly adopted the Congress' policy of forming a cabinet sub-committee over the Maratha reservation issue to "kill time".

It also sought to know from the government if there was any time limit for the sub-committee and what were its powers.

"It is being said that this committee will submit its report to the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission.

Also, it will hold discussions with Maratha organisations every three months. If talks take place every three months, how long will this committee's timepass last?" it asked.

The sub-committee is headed by Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and the other members are Diwakar Raote and Eknath Shinde of the Sena and Girish Mahajan and Sambhaji

Patil Nilangekar of the BJP.

However, Shelar said the formation of the sub-committee was the "first step" by the BJP government to ensure that the Maratha reservation issue stood legal scrutiny.

"The government is working on the Maratha reservation issue to ensure that it cannot get struck down due to legal loopholes. Formation of the cabinet sub-committee was the first step towards doing that (sic)," he wrote on Twitter.

The BJP leader said it was "ironical" that the "Songaade" (literally meaning clowns), "who criticised the Maratha morchas, are now asking the government what is happening under the carpet".

A cartoon alluding to the "muk" or silent morchas of the Marathas, published in 'Saamana' last year, had drawn flak from the community, the BJP and other political parties, besides senior leaders of the Sena.

"Remember how many elections you have lost in the recent past," Shelar said in another tweet.

"Those who cannot maintain the quality of roads and nullahs of the city, should not unnecessarily bother about a bullet train," the BJP leader wrote on the microblogging website, referring to the August 29 deluge which had paralysed Mumbai.

Sena, which is the ruling party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), was blamed for the waterlogging and pothole-ridden roads, following the deluge.
New Delhi: Exactly two months after she stormed out of Rajya Sabha, BSP president Mayawati will kick-off a massive campaign in an attempt to reclaim her core Dalit constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

In a marked departure from the past, BSP chief on Monday will travel to Meerut to meet thousands of party workers for Vishal Karyakarta Sammelan.

The former UP CM rarely ventures out of Lucknow and Delhi for organisational functions except elections rallies during poll season.

Zakhmi sher sabse ghatak hota hai (A wounded tiger is the most dangerous), said a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader when asked if their leader Mayawati will be able to revive a party in doldrums.

The massive outreach to the workers and party sympathisers by the BSP is being seen as a renewed attempt by Mayawati after a string of electoral debacles  both in Assembly and Rajya Sabha polls.

Munkad Ali, the Rajya Sabha MP who has now replaced Naseemuddin Siddiqui as the partys Muslim face, told News18, On Monday, Behenji (Mayawati) has scheduled a program in Meerut where she will meet party workers from Meerut, Saharanpur and Moradabad divisions. These three divisions have 14 of UPs 75 districts. They have thousands of BSP workers, who are all going to attend Behenjis event.

Similar events are being planned for other divisions of the state. Workers have been instructed to hold these function on the 18th of every month to remind cadre of the date Mayawati quit parliament to protest denial of permission to speak on atrocities against dailts in Saharanpur. After Meerut, we have five events planned in Azamgarh, Kanpur, Aligarh, Gorakhpur and finally in Lucknow.

Every party wants to do well and win elections. We are no different. It would be wrong to say we dont have polls in mind. There are less than two years to go before the General Election and we want to pull up our boots from now on.; says Ali.

Apart from the monthly outreach, all eyes are on Phulpur LS bye-polls to be held later this year. The seat near Allahabad has been vacated by UP deputy CM Keshav Maurya. And there have been speculations Mayawati may contest from here as a joint opposition candidate to enter parliament once again.

Mayawatis term in the RS would have ended early next year. And BSP in the current assembly does not have enough members to send even one MP to the upper house.


Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday asked the head of the countrys Commission on Human Rights (CHR) if he was a paedophile for focusing on the killing of teenagers in the governments bloody war on drugs.

Duterte also suggested to lawmakers using CHRs proposed 678 million pesos budget to buy the police body cameras if they dont want to restore funding for the agency, which he has clashed with repeatedly over his anti-drugs campaign.

The CHR requested a budget of 1.72 billion pesos for 2018, but the government proposed 678 million instead. Dutertes allies in the lower house of Congress then voted to allocate it just 1,000 pesos ($20), in what critics of the drugs war said was retaliation for its efforts to investigate thousands of killings in the past 15 months, including those of two teenagers in August.

Why is this guy so pre...suffocated with the issue of young people, especially boys? Are you a paedophile? Duterte asked, referring to CHR head Chito Gascon.

Why are you smitten with teenagers? Are you? Im having my doubts. Are you gay or a paedophile?, he said.

Gascon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Duterte also accused Gascon of being a spokesman for the opposition and criticised his scrutiny of police anti-drug activities.

Why cant you move on to other issues that are besetting this country? Duterte said, citing the suffering of the people in the besieged southern city of Marawi.

Critics say police are executing suspects, and say the government has what is effectively a kill policy. Duterte has rejected that, and police say they kill only in self-defence.

The CHR has long said it lacks the manpower and resources to fully investigate the killings, the majority of which activists say are of users and small-time peddlers, with few high-profile arrests.

Vice President Leni Robredo, who was not Dutertes running mate and has locked horns with him numerous times, said the lawmakers' move regarding CHR's budget effectively abolishes the constitutional body.

Filipinos are largely supportive of the crackdown as a solution to tackling rampant crime, which Duterte says stems from drug addiction.

Duterte reiterated there will be no let up in the campaign, which he said was targeted at organised criminals trafficking drugs and not at "teenagers without a sin."

The firebrand leader, who is also fighting communist rebels following a breakdown in peace talks with the government, said he remained open to resuming negotiations to end nearly five decades of that conflict.
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Sunday began constructing 14,000 new shelters for the more than 400,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar to ensure they remain confined to an area and do not fan out across the country.

The refugees have been fleeing to Bangladesh for three weeks to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state, which the UN has said amounts to ethnic cleansing. Myanmar says the crackdown is a response to last month's deadly attacks on police by militants in the northern state and denies it is targeting civilians.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by the exodus and struggling to house the refugees in the shelters being built with assistance from UN and other international organisations. "Work to construct the 14,000 temporary shelters began today at Kutupalang," a disaster management ministry spokesman told PTI, adding the army has been asked to build them in 10 days.

Kutupalang, near the southeastern Cox's Bazar city, is one of the areas where Bangladesh is setting up the shelters. "The prime objective of the initiative is to prevent the refugees from fanning out and handle the crisis properly," disaster management and relief ministry secretary Shah Kamal said.

Bangladesh authorities have restricted the Rohingya refugees from leaving the border areas, fearing it might get difficult for the authorities to identify them later.

The police headquarters in a directive to local administration asked them to monitor the movement of the refugees. Police last week detained 20 Rohingya refugees in central Manikganj district, about 450 kilometres from Cox's Bazar.

The police in a statement said the refugees have been told not to take shelter at their friends' or acquaintances' in Bangladesh, and neighbourhood residents have been asked not to rent houses to the refugees.

"They should stay in the designated camps until they return to their country... They cannot travel from one place to another by roads, railways or waterways," it said.
Tehran: A top commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed that the country possesses the "father of all bombs" which overshadows the most powerful non-nuclear ordnance of the US.

The bomb was developed under a special request of the IRGC, the corps' Aerospace Force commander, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said in an interview on Friday to Press TV.

"Following a proposal by the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), (Iran's) Defence Industries (Organisation) manufactured a 10-ton bomb. These bombs are at our disposal," Press TV cited the commander as saying.

"They can be launched from Ilyushin aircraft and they are highly destructive," he added, without providing any further details on the capabilities of the ordnance.

The commander called the device the "father of all bombs", comparing it to the US GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), commonly known as the "mother of all bombs". Since the American device weighs 9.8 tons and yields 11 tons in TNT equivalent, the IRGC commander presumably referred to the weight of the new Iranian ordnance rather than its destructive potential.

The MOAB was developed in 2003 and first used in combat this April, when the US dropped the device in Afghanistan on a mountain tunnel complex used by the Islamic State terrorists.

The new Iranian ordnance, however, might trigger a bomb paternity dispute, as Russia already possesses a non-nuclear ordnance known as the "daddy".

The Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power, known as the 'father of all bombs' (FOAB), was successfully tested by Russia in 2007, with impressive results for a non-nuclear device - a 44-ton yield when detonated. The bomb explodes midair, vaporizing its targets, collapsing structures, and leaving a moon-like scorched landscape.
Islamabad: Pakistan has requested the World Bank to fulfill its obligation to establish a court of arbitration to settle its water dispute with India in the light of the Indus Waters Treaty.

The request came after delegations of India and Pakistan met at the World Bank headquarters in Washington on September 14 and 15 for the second round of talks on Ratle and Kishanganga hydroelectric projects, over which Islamabad has raised objections.

Citing sources, the Express Tribune said that despite the passage of more than a year, the World Bank is not establishing the court of arbitration.

Pakistan has now requested the World Bank to fulfil its duties under the Treaty by empanelling the Court of Arbitration, the paper reported.

Earlier, the secretary-level talks between the two countries ended without any agreement.

"While an agreement has not been reached at the conclusion of the meetings, the World Bank will continue to work with both countries to resolve the issues in an amicable manner and in line with the Treaty provisions," the World Bank said in a statement after the talks.

"Both countries and the World Bank appreciated the discussions and reconfirmed their commitment to the preservation of the Treaty," it said.

The World Bank remains committed to act in good faith and with "complete impartiality and transparency" in fulfilling its responsibilities under the Treaty, while continuing to assist the countries, it said in its statement.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan with the help of the World Bank, which is also a signatory.

Pakistan had raised objections to India's plans at the Permanent Indus Commission more than a decade ago. When the objections were not addressed, Islamabad approached the World Bank on August 19, 2016 for the court of arbitration as provided in the Indus Waters Treaty, the paper said.

Subsequently, on October 4, 2016, India made a request for appointment of neutral expert to adjudicate in the dispute. The World Bank initially agreed to set up both the fora but later "paused" the two processes, fearing their separate rulings might conflict with each other.

In an effort to end the impasse, the World Bank invited the water resources secretaries of the two countries for consultations. In the first round in Washington on July 31 and August 1 this year, Pakistan proposed amendments to the designs to make the Indian project treaty compliant.

But in the latest round of the talks in September, India not only refused to accept any of the design amendments proposed by Pakistan but also refused to agree to any of the dispute settlement options suggested by the World Bank, the paper reported.
Washington: The White House has insisted the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favourable terms even though European diplomats sense a softening in the US position.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.

"As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," she said.
By PTI: monitoring

(Eds: With changes in intro)

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Nine CBI courts hearing Vyapam scam-related cases have been closed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court at the request of the agency, which wanted the trials to be shifted to its other special courts for tighter scrutiny.

The HC had set up 22 special courts for hearing Vyapam scam-related cases. It had closed four of them earlier.

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Of the remaining 18, nine were in Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore. The districts of Rewa, Damoh, Sagar, Balaghat, Morena, Chattarpur, Guna, Bhind and Khandwa have one court each.

The courts in these nine districts will now be closed at the request of the CBI. Their 38 cases will be brought to the special Vyapam courts in Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore, CBI sources said.

They said the agency had made the request in this regard to the Madhya Pradesh HC which allowed the plea through an order on September 11.

The sources said the special CBI courts in Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore have necessary infrastructure and human resource that can monitor the ongoing trials.

The Vyapam court in Bhopal has three special judges and one special magistrate, Gwalior has two special judges and one special magistrate, while one special judge each is there in Indore and Jabalpur.

"It will not impact the ongoing trials. These nine courts were hearing 38 of the total 154 cases in which most of the witnesses do not belong to those districts. Hence, there will be no impact of moving these cases to the special courts in Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore and Gwalior," said an official.

He said these cities have full-fledged legal teams and officials like special prosecutors, pairavi officers among others can ensure better monitoring of the cases.

"Voluminous records will be presented during the trials. The very nature of the cases requires examination and cross- examination by cyber crime and legal experts which will be easy in cities where the CBI has its own infrastructure," he said.

CBI sources said the special Vyapam courts were notified by the high court keeping in view that the state police will be probing the matter.

This was done before the CBI took over the investigation in the cases on the orders of the Supreme Court on July 24, 2015.

The scam is related to manipulation in the selection process for government colleges and jobs conducted by the Madhya Pradesh professional examination board or Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam). It involved the impersonation of candidates, rampant copying, blank answer sheets and fake marks.

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The CBI has registered 154 regular cases in connection with the scam, and one regarding the death of a person allegedly linked to it, agency sources said.

It has filed final reports in 90 cases -- 84 charge sheets and six closure reports -- while the probe is underway in the remaining 64 and final reports will be filed in the coming months, they said.

Besides, 14 cases were directly taken to trial as the charge sheets were submitted by the local police.

In two cases, conviction has been pronounced by a special Vyapam court.

"As on August 31, 2017, over 10,818 people were examined by the agency which includes 5,603 witnesses and 5,215 accused. 348 people have been charge sheeted so far," said the official. PTI ABS TIR GVS

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) The common mobility card scheme for Delhi metro trains, DTC and cluster buses will be delayed for some time as the SAM chips to be fitted with electronic ticketing machines in buses have not been procured, a senior Delhi government official has said.

As per the plan, the smart cards used for commuting in metro trains are to be used as common mobility cards for travelling in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster scheme buses.

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The common mobility will be facilitated through use of a Secured Access Modue (SAM) chip to be fitted with electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) given to the bus conductors.

The process of procuring 2,000 SAM chips to be fitted with ETMs to enable real time fare transactions was rolled out recently by inviting interested vendors for its supply.

"The chip is proprietary. We tried to get it through tender of authorised resellers of a South Korean company but may be due to small quantity they did not show interest. We will go for new tender again," the official said.

A SAM is a smartcard installed permanently in the equipment interacting with the cards or tickets used to enhance the security and cryptography performance in devices to perform secure transactions in paying terminals.

Meanwhile, the trial of common mobility card has been started in 100 each of DTC and cluster buses, a Transport Department official said.

"The difficulties encountered during the trial are being ironed out. With availability of more chips, the scheme will be announced for the public," he said.

At present ETMs are deployed on all cluster buses run by Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System. Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC) too owns over 8,000 such devices, the officials said.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) sources said that over 70 per cent of its daily commuters who number over 27 lakh, use Smart cards for travelling. PTI VIT MRJ

--- ENDS ---
Trini-born Vietnam vet to feature on PBS

What you may have overlooked, though, is that this Trinidadian-born writer, columnist, cultural aficionado and archivist is also a Vietnam war veteran, who has written extensively over the years about how the experience has impacted his life.

In their latest project, The Vietnam War, celebrated documentarians Ken Burns and Lynn Novick explore the effects of the war in an unapologetically gritty ten-part series, which begins today on the US-based Public Broadcasting Station (PBS).

And, as fate would have it, Narine has been invited to contribute a piece for the film.

I cannot wait to see it on PBS, Narine tells Sunday Newsday from his home in Kendall, Florida.

The War occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

An internet synopsis of the film states that the war ripped apart our (US) nations social and political fabric, creating divisions that exist to this day.

For 18 hours over ten nights, they (Burns and Novick) attempt to explain the war and its effects, offering as many perspectives as possible while trying to answer a question that still haunts so many who lived through the conflict: How could this have happened? Although Narine has conveyed his experiences of war in various fora, including publications such as the US-based Village Voices and Miami Herald, he is especially excited about this film.

He (Burns) is the only person who has ever tackled the Vietnam War, Narine said.

Narine recalled that Burns also produced provocative films about the history of jazz and the controversial Central Park Five case in which a female jogger, Trisha Meili, had accused five young black men of violent assault and rape in New York Citys Central Park, in 1989.

Narine, who wrote poetically about events that occurred in service for the film, suggested he was selected because of his stories about the Vietnam War over the years.

PBS sent some information where they were looking for Vietnam veterans to write something about their experiences, and I said this was something that was right up my alley because I have a whole lot to say.

They liked what I wrote and they have agreed to publish it in the project. Born in Gonzales, Belmont, Narines early years were spent in the communities of Laventille, Barataria and Port of Spain, experiences which cultivated his love for Carnival.

Later, while studying at Howard University in the US, Narine had to enroll in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), by law. The ROTC was a must for residents or citizens of the US.

I left Howard two years later to attend Brooklyn College and Hunter College and, upon my return from the war, New York University, he recalled.

Because I quit Howard, and by extension ROTC, my military file was automatically transferred to the draft board. And thats how I got drafted.

If youre not in school and/or ROTC, you become eligible for the draft. Because of Narines high test scores in basic training and his stint in the ROTC, the army sent him for further training as an air traffic controller at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Narine recalled he was the only black soldier at Keesler.

I graduated number one in the class and also passed the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) exam that qualified me for a job upon my discharge at a tower or radar unit anywhere in the US.

Later, the Army trained me as a combat controller  the finishing touch to my MOS (Military Occupation Speciality) in preparation for heliborne assault missions, a key component of Americas newwave warfare.

We were really at the top of our game, that is, until the North Vietnamese Army introduced booby traps. Narine told Sunday Newsday one of his best friends, whom he called Slick, got his face blown off by a booby trap.

Hes always in my heart, Narine said.

As a team member, Narine said he would often be inserted by helicopter into hostile areas to establish landing and pick-up zones for air assaults, long range reconnaissance patrols and medevac missions.

He also would be called upon to shuttle out the wounded during day and night operations.

It was high profile duty and I loved it. Asked what was his most memorable experience in the war, Narine recalled that at one time, the fire base in the middle of the jungle was surrounded one afternoon by Viet Cong forces.

Amid the battle, I had a beef with a grumpy Phantom jet pilot whose bombing run Id rerouted because he was heading into an artillery salvo.

Heres how it went: Pilot: Brooklyn niner one, this is Paula five zero, who are you? Whats your name and unit? Over! Me: Paula five zero, Brooklyn niner one, thats classified, Sir. I know it wasnt. But I had the power. Besides, artillery rounds would have cut up his jet in ribbons and hed be toast. Hes lucky I saved him. Narine said there also were some quirky moments.

There was one time I got bitten in the jungle by about 1,000 ants after my shoulder brushed against a six-foot termite mound and there were Vietnamese Scouts who could speak a little English, he said.

I swear that morning the guy went left and he suddenly went right and I decided to follow him and the next thing I knew was that I went smack into the mound.

They had to stop the operation for about 15 to 20 minutes. The guy was just beating everything off of my face, my back. But we fulfilled the mission in the end. In spite of his many heroic missions, Narine said he still experienced sleepless nights.

I get terrible nightmares, he said.

He would conjure images of the ghosts of 53 men, half of my company, bringing him out of a house to watch their cruel theatre of war. Theyd be wrapped in gauze flecked with dried blood, Narine said. The ghosts would ride two flatbed trucks in a tangle of broken limbs and Picasso faces.

Such hallucination jangles my nerves and rob me of sleep. Revealing he has spent ten years in group therapy, Narine said to this day, he still has sessions with a psychiatrist every six weeks plus a whole mess of meds. Narine said everyday, on average, at least 22 veterans commit suicide.

But group therapy has kept me alive. Its why I dont own a gun. Id use it, for real. Narine advises young people against joining the army.

They should get a degree and live a normal life, he said.

War movies arent the real deal. I lived it. I know. But, I served the country and Im proud of that, though I had reservations doing so. For example, Narine recalled he once balked at flying on a chopper with the Confederate flag painted on the aircrafts door and nose. Still, he admitted it had not been easy to sever ties, particularly in the years after he left the service.

He said, I became a true activist, and when I got back to the States I joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) organisation. Narine said, apart from being the first black individual in the group, he was one of its speakers at rallies all over New York City and other cities.

Thats how the Village Voice found me, He said.

I became one of its writers.

Its how I got to write a piece about racial warfare for Esquire magazine and how I was tabbed for a role in a documentary with a marine and another black Army vet.
Family wake for Melan tonight

The bodies of Salvary-Doyle the first Trinidadian confirmed dead in the wake of Hurricane Irmas onslaught on St Martin, more than one week agoand her three-year-old grandson, Oliver Robert-Gedio, are currently in Guadeloupe where autopsies where scheduled to be performed.

After the autopsy, her remains are expected to be flown to Trinidad for burial.

However, it is unclear as to whether her grandson, who was born in St Martin, will also be buried in this country.

Salvary-Doyle and her grandson were swept away in raging waters while trying to seek shelter from the storm which slammed into St Martin as a category five hurricane on September 6.

The mother of six was taking care of the toddler at the home of her daughter, Daphne, when the tragedy occured. Daphne was not at her Rue Round The Pond French Quarters at the time of the incident as she was reportedly taking care of a newborn grand-daughter some distance away.

Yesterday, Salvary-Doyles sister, Emily Pasqual, told Sunday Newsday the family still had not received any word from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about when her body would be returned to Trinidad.

We have not heard anything new but we were told that the autopsy would take about one week.

The body was only flown to Guadeloupe on Thursday, she said.

In the interim, Pasqual said a wake for Salvary-Doyle has been planned for tonight at her daughter, Jane Meyers home in Cunupia.

She said they were also planning a celebration of life for her on Friday but this will be dependent on confirmation of when her remains would arrive in Trinidad
Less garbage on Chacachacare

This, according to Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat after the 2017 International Coastal Cleanup on the island yesterday.

The clean up was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA), Environmental Management Authority (EMA), and the TT Coast Guard.

Last year, the Ministry of Planning and Development recorded 1,714 pounds of garbage collected on the island while the total amount collected across the country was 4,029 pounds. This year, 1,083 pounds were collected and divided into plastic, glass, and general waste in 108 bags.

Rambharat saidCompared to March 2017 when we came down to clean Chacachacare, I found there was about half the amount of trash this time around. Maybe people have reduced how much they leave on Chacachacare, maybe the CDA is doing more in terms of cleaning up or ensuring that the party boats do the clean up. It was a good sign. Despite the positive step, Rambharat said the organisations still had a long way to go to change the culture of the people visiting the island.

He said after the 2016 clean-up, the ministry decided to partner with EMA, CDA, and a number of other groups to keep Chacachacare clean. Therefore, he said the ministry would return in six months to check on the state of the island.

We have taken responsibility alongside the CDA and EMA for Chacachacare, and other parts of the country. But we want to make sure that the communities are there to participate and once the communities are engaged the ministry would make sure that it works with other partners to assist. Rambharat said as part of the International Coastal Clean-up, the ministry also had clean-up activities at the beach at Church Road, Mayaro with the TT Electricity Commission.

Approximately 100 volunteers participated in the event including Senator Avinash Singh and EMA director John Julien. Children and the elderly were also present, making a positive contribution to the environment.

Lisa Mitchell of Arima, an employee with the EMA, was present with her three children aged 9, 11 and 21. She said she had been attending the clean-up for years and was glad to do her part in the improvement of TT.

Her 11-year-old daughter, Samantha Wanliss, worked hard picking up plastic bottles, collecting more than five large garbage bags of the litter in less than an hour. She said she was part of the Environment Club at her school, Bishop Anstey East, which she joined because she heard about the amazing stuff the club did, such as participating in the Green Leaf competition.

Although she did not appreciate being woken up at 5 am on a Saturday, Wanliss said she cared about the environment and wanted to make a difference.
Media attacked covering fake oil story

The incidents occurred in the same location as the journalists sought to take pictures of the Penal premises of a lease operator who has been named in a major audit report that pointed to fraud in the delivery of oil to state-owned Petrotrin. The company, according to the report was billed some $100 million for oil it never received.

Newsdays photographer Jeff Mayers was warned on Tuesday by one man who pursued him in a vehicle that he would shoot him the next time he saw him in the area. On Friday, Guardian Media photographer Kristian De Silva sustained injuries to his face after being cursed and cuffed by several men, one of whom attempted to run over him in a black Toyota Hilux.

Two days before, TV6 cameraman Phil Britton and a female co-worker went to the same location to cover the story, and while filming from the roadway, someone pelted beer bottles at them from the direction of a nearby house, smashing the back window of his car. Britton and his co-worker shielded themselves behind the car.

De Silva was accused of being on private property. His camera was smashed against a security booth.

De Silva, who sought medical care at Siparia Health Facility, reported the matter to Sgt Taitt at the Penal Police Station.

Reporter Sascha Wilson, who was with De Silva, also gave statements to the police. As they made their reports, an acting sergeant who was recognised of one of the men who assaulted De Silva, arrived at the station. The officer, according to the journalists, instructed a constable who was taking their report to omit certain details.

The sergeant and two constables then returned with the TV6 team to where they were attacked and Britton pointed out where his car was parked, but the senior officer insisted the incident occurred in the driveway of a house.

According to the journalists, they (police) never called out to see if anyone was in the house, and the officers repeatedly tried to have the cameraman say he was in the driveway which was not true.

Sunday Newsday learnt police claimed the broken bottle retrieved from the wagon had no viable fingerprints.

Sources said Britton became even more traumatised at about 9.45 am yesterday when two policemen in plainclothes arrived at his home to question him about a traffic ticket, but they left when he produced a receipt as proof of payment.

Mayers reported to Newsday that the driver of a Toyota Land Cruiser accosted him after he took photographs of the compound from the road. After identifying himself to the unknown man who accused him of trespassing, Mayers went to his vehicle and drove off. But the man returned to his vehicle and followed Mayers, while taking pictures with his cellphone.

Eventually the man drove in front of Mayers vehicle blocking his pathway. He then said: Next time I see you on the street I will shoot you. A Penal sergeant in a marked vehicle subsequently intercepted Mayers to inform him that an all-points bulletin had been issued on his vehicle after residents reported that a Rasta man was stalking people on the street where the lease operators business is located.

Police allowed Mayers to drive off without taken further action a senior policeman said he was unaware of attacks on Britton and Mayers.

The incident on Friday is being investigated
MATT, Moonilal condemns assault

What makes the incident even more disgusting is that a senior police officer is alleged to have been a part of this assault. MATT takes this opportunity to remind citizens that freedom of the press is a right guaranteed in the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the release stated.

MATT added it was unacceptable for any member of the media to be attacked while doing his or her job.

MATT hopes that police thoroughly investigate the matter as well as the allegations that a senior police officer may have been involved.

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal yesterday roundly condemned the vicious attack on De Silva and called on the acting Commissioner of Police to launch an investigation. He said the incident was a frontal attack on freedom of the press.

He noted that the attack on reveals the dark side of the alleged use of the State police to oppress citizens and the free press.

The attack on the media practitioner likens Trinidad and Tobago to rogue dictatorial countries under authoritarian rule, in which journalists are routinely assaulted, and even murdered, while at work, Moonilal stated.

He also called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to denounce the attack on the free press.

The opposition MP urged journalists as well as MATT to stand in defence of a colleague who has been physically assaulted while pursuing a news story.

Media practitioners must assert that they will not be intimidated in the course of their professional duties, no matter how politically connected their assailants may be, Moonilal noted.
Great storms on the rise

Many were surprised by the recent, simultaneous appearance of three hurricanes along the North Atlantic Basin, especially so shortly after Hurricane Harvey.

Then there was the unexpected strength of Hurricane Irma which was among the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever observed.

Arlene Aaron-Morrison, climatologist with the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service (TTMS), explained to Sunday Newsday that many different factors, including ocean warming and rising sea levels (symptoms of climate change), contribute to the increase in the strength of some of the storms the Atlantic had been experiencing.

For years researchers have been speaking to changes such as extreme precipitation events over most of the mid-latitude land masses and over wet tropical regions will very likely become more intense and more frequent by the end of this century as global mean surface temperature increases. She also noted that Irma, Jose and Katia were not the first hurricanes to appear simultaneously, but that in September 2010, Igor, Julia and Karl followed similar paths although they were not as strong as the recent three.

TTMS climatologist Kenneth Kerr also told Sunday Newsday that Irma, Jose and Katia were not in the Atlantic Ocean at the same time but in the North Atlantic Basin, the hurricane developing region.

He stressed that one could not say climate change was the cause of Irmas strength as the evidence was not conclusive. We cant say for sure that Irma was a direct result of climate change because it was one event. But if we have this thing occurring for a number of years consecutively then we could argue it is climate change. However he said, in general, climate change had contributed to stronger storms since there was a direct relation between sea surface temperatures and the intensity of tropical cyclones.

When you look at other basins and the other side of the Caribbean Sea, then the argument holds because there is evidence that suggests that these intense systems have been more frequent in recent times. What the research and all the evidence is pointing to is that we expect the intense tropical cyclones to become more intense, and that there would be more frequent intense cyclones, not the general cyclones. Kerr explained that there were two main reasons why TT was usually spared from tropical storms. The first was because storms did not usually form very close to the equator and TT was approximately ten degrees north of the equator. That meant storms usually formed north of the country. For a storm to start you need some spin, and that increases the further away from the equator... It requires storms to form further south in order for us to be impacted. The second reason TT was so rarely disturbed by tropical storms was because of the direction in which they usually travel.

The direction of travel was dictated by a few forces  the spin or Coriolis force, the subtropical high pressure system, and weaknesses around the subtropical high pressure system.

He said the Coriolis force allowed weather systems moving in the atmosphere to deviate to the right. Therefore, if the weather system was flowing from east to west, it would curve to the right and away from TT.

Kerr said the subtropical high pressure system in the Atlantic, which generally steers the direction of tropical cyclones, also had a major part to play. One website explained these subtropical highs stating: As the air aloft moves poleward, it cools and bunches up. The bunching up, or convergence, is because the circumference of the Earth gets smaller at higher latitudes. Eventually, around 30 degrees latitude, the air sinks. The sinking air is dry and warm and results in a band of high surface pressure, called the subtropical highs.

If the system is particularly strong and located further south than usual during the wet season, and the winds in that system might just cause the storm to travel strictly on an east to west path. If the systems is further north then there is usually a turning just east of us. Depending on where the turning takes place, TT may get away from it, Kerr said. A weakness (a low pressure system) in or close to the edge of the subtropical highs could also weaken the cell of the subtropical highs and cause the system to turn earlier than usual.

However, that did not mean that the people of TT should be lax in their preparation for storms in terms of emergency plans, supplies, and even building codes. As the experts observes, tropical cyclones can be unpredictable.
A vision for life without a ferry

We feel as if our prospects for growth on the island have been set back a million years. The fact that this situation was inflicted on the island by a government headed by a son of Tobago depresses us even further.

What social and economic progress can Tobago look forward to now with the massive losses being incurred daily, by almost everyone on the island - from hoteliers, to vendors, to professionals to taxi drivers  everywhere things keep getting worse and worse. Our misery grows each passing day because we do not see a speedy solution in sight  no proper cargo and passenger ferry on the horizon, and moreso no compensation for all the losses that all of us are incurring.

Over the last five months we, Tobagonians have had to face the fact, for the first time in all our lifetime, that we cannot count on a daily ferry service bringing in goods and taking us to Trinidad to conduct our business. For as far back as the majority of us can remember a boat has always arrived in and taken off from Tobago, on a daily basis  even thrice per day in recent years.

We just took it for granted that a boat was available to us everyday just get a ticket and things are on track. Never did we foresee that a day such as this would ever come.

The question is what are we in Tobago to do now because we are all adversely affected in so many ways. The ferry fiasco and the lack of a solution changes things drastically for us as it goes to the very core of our existence as Tobagonians.

It is already impacting our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. The ferry is our lifeline in more ways than one.

Things are compounded by the fact that all our representatives who fought so hard to represent us in the THA and the Parliament are silent about the fiasco. Not a word to us, not a consultation to get our views, no leadership... not a nothing.

That is what bothers me most of all, their allegiance to a political party has completely trumped the interest of Tobago so for them, its stay quiet and hope that it goes away.

So we in Tobago have to grow up fast and make some far-reaching decisions on the way forward. It is not just about talking, quarrelling, protesting or swimming.

First of all, we in Tobago have to decide how mad are we about the ferry fiasco. Is it that we intend to stay silent and let a few carry the burden of speaking out? Is it only the dramatics like Watson swimming where we see ourselves as spectators - that we prepared to show up for? Like an exciting Carnival lime? Remember when Watson Duke called us out to march a few weeks ago only a handful was there.

Second, are we in Tobago satisfied to ride out this problem until the next due election date. Or a we going to demand that we go back to the polls in the hope that credible alternatives to the present representatives would emerge. In other words, are Tobagonians going to find their voices to say at last that enough is enough. Or will we continue to suffocate ourselves under the PNM til ah dead routine. Even PNM people no longer believe that the party can bring solutions to the problems any more. They just hanging on for  so.

Also, are Tobagonians at last going to demand of our opposition forces here on the island that they band us together in a dynamic united group and disassociate ourselves from all Trinidad-based political parties? You see I am arguing that the time is now for a serious vision to be mapped out for us in Tobago. None of the two existing national parties can or will do it.

For instance, I am saying that at the same time that this PNM government was dropping the ball on the Tobago ferry, if the opposition parties were concerned about us they would have been vocal in sounding the alarm about it. They should have been pointing out the problem and that there is trouble ahead for Tobago. It was an ideal subject for a motion of urgent public importance in the Parliament.

That is what happens when an opposition cares about people and what is happening to them.

So we have to accept that none of the two parties cares one hoot about us. I dont have to remind us that the THA itself has also failed us at our greatest hour of need. It was created to do exactly what it did not do in this ferry issue . Sound the alarm and demand a solution well in advance, not stay dumb! The recent refusal of our Chief Secretary and his Secretary for Agriculture to go before the JSC and the reasons advanced is so laughable and ridiculous that it fit for inclusion in my book of sweet jokes! They have all failed Tobago  failed badly.

So where do we go from here folks? For starters, the Port Authority has publicly invited tenders for the Supply of a Roll On/Roll Off Passenger Fast Ferry on a Two Year Time Charter. The deadline for submission of tenders is September 20. I am thinking that the Chamber of Commerce, the Truckers and the Tobago House of Assembly either together or individually ought to move swiftly to identify reputable suppliers in Europe and wherever and urge them to submit tenders. Do your research now and get a good operator or two to apply.

That is the first step to Tobagos maturity. We must play a role in this process.

If we truly love this piece of island and are concerned about our welfare and that of our children, we the people of Tobago and our Assembly have to intervene and not continue to stay on the sidelines, like if we are spectators. The time is now for our young leaders and older heads, too, to stand up and declare that Tobago needs a new vision for survival. A vision which reduces dependency on the ferry service from Trinidad. A vision which allows the island to continue to operate e f f i c i e nt - ly - ferry or no ferry. A vision for true and pr a c t i c a l self-dependence for a change.
Government is set to recruit over 100 specialist doctors from Cuba to be deployed at the countrys referral and provincial hospitals.



In a video posted on the Ministry of Health and Child Care Twitter account last Friday, Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said the country has a serious shortage of specialist doctors, hence the need to recruit Cuban doctors.



He said Government also wants to learn from Cuba on how to decentralise the health sector as it has a uniquely decentralised health system. Dr Parirenyatwa said the specialist doctors to be recruited would be deployed at provincial and referral hospitals countrywide.





Finally, we are hoping to recruit 102 specialists to go into mostly our provincial hospitals and of course, some will come to central hospitals. What we are trying to do is to say every provincial hospital should have at least five specialist doctors. At the moment, provincial hospitals have at least one or two specialists, said Dr Parirenyatwa.





He said the specialists would also assist in the training of student doctors, who are disadvantaged by shortage of specialists in the country.





Midlands State University has also started a medical school. If you have a medical school at MSU, you need the Gweru Provincial Hospital to have adequate specialists so that students are trained properly. So, if you have three specialists when you are supposed to have 15, how do you train the students to make them good doctors? National University of Science and Technology has got a medical school, but we need a lot of specialists at Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals. At the moment, they are completely inadequate. How do you train good doctors?





The Minister said his ministry wants to learn from Cuba how to eradicate mother-to-child HIV transmission.





Cuba has managed to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child while we still have a 5,4 percent which is a good figure. We want to go and learn how they did it, said Dr Parirenyatwa.

The Minister was not immediately available for comment, but an official in his Ministry said he was supposed to have left the country for Cuba over the weekend to discuss the recruitment of the doctors, among other health matters.





Dr Parirenyatwas announcement comes at a time when newly-appointed Prosecutor-General Advocate Ray Goba says his office also plans to recruit 102 young lawyers to work as prosecutors, a development that should end the secondment of members of the uniformed agencies to the prosecution.





The Government has already given its approval after a long period of recruitment freeze in the public service. herald
By PTI: Bengaluru, Sep 17 (PTI) The Special Investigating Team, probing the Gauri Lankesh case, has recorded the statement of writer Vikram Sampath in connection with the killing of the journalist-activist.

"After I came from London a couple of days back, an SIT official visited my house to record my statement in connection with Gauri Lankesh case," he told PTI here.

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Sampath said though he felt it was not a "constructive" approach by the SIT official, he cooperated with him as any law-abiding citizen would do.

He said the approach of the SIT would have made some sense if he had written a critical piece about the 55-year-old Gauri, but he neither responded nor did he react to her articles.

"If anything, it was Gauri who had defamed me publicly and I was the supposed wronged-party," he alleged.

Gauri had reportedly written a critical article on Sampath in her Kannada tabloid and some English newspapers for opposing the Award Wapsi campaign by writers in 2015.

The Bengaluru Literature Festival that year had run into rough weather following Sampaths decision to step down as the festival director after some Kannada writers refused to participate in the event because of his remarks over the writers returning their awards.

"Will the SIT also be questioning everyone whom Gauri has been critical of?.. because as a fearless journalist she has been critical of several individuals, including the Prime Minister of India. But, I and my aged parents needed to go through this ordeal and tension for what?" he asked.

"None of her (Gauri) articles against me have I ever read, or even responded to as it did not seem important to me to react to every opinion in that charged atmosphere, with a counter," he added.

Sampath, who was questioned on Friday, sought to know whether the SIT would reach its rightful and logical conclusion or go the same way as several other special teams that were constituted after the killing of writers, civil servants or police officials in Karnataka but went nowhere even after years of probing.

The writer also asked media, politicians and intellectuals not to put forth their theories on who might have killed Gauri.

"No one - media, intellectuals, politicians or anyone else - should jump the gun..They should allow SIT to investigate the matter.. Pressure would only create more confusion," he added.

The Karnataka government had on September 6 announced the formation of a 21-member SIT team to investigate the killing of Gauri that led to a wave of countrywide protests and condemnation across the political spectrum.

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Gauri Lankesh, known to be an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home here on the night of September 5.

A few other writers were also reportedly questioned by the SIT in connection with the murder. PTI BDN RA ROH MRJ

--- ENDS ---
A high-level Zanu-PF Elections Directorate, composed of senior Politburo members, is seized with the partys 2018 election roadmap which is targeting a robust winning strategy that encompasses voter registration, mobilisation, research and drafting a manifesto.



The directorate, led by the partys National Secretary for Administration, Dr Ignatius Chombo, last week began spearheading nationwide meetings which are adopting tactics on conducting educational campaigns on voter registration.



Yesterday, the directorate visited Bindura to educate party members on the new Biometric Voter Registration system that requires all Zimbabwean voters to register anew.





The exercise is expected to be conducetd in Mashonaland West with the team concluding with Midlands and Matabeleland North provinces during the course of the week. Last week, the team met party officials in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North, Harare, Mashonaland East, Manicaland and Masvingo.





The ruling party is targeting over five million votes during the next elections. Part of the strategy entails ensuring all current members in various structures register to vote, while a massive drive to lure first-time youth voters is also being rolled out.





The strategy targets, among others, students at higher and tertiary institutions, who constitute a large chunk of new voters.

Dr Chombo told The Sunday Mail that Zanu-PF would soon deploy the full might of its election campaign machinery and offer a robust message that will win the hearts of millions.





A Politburo committee made up of technocrats has already been established to draft an election campaign manifesto whose message will centre on economic revival, peace and stability, employment creation and development, among other things.





The manifesto will also focus on engineering economic success through homegrown solutions such as the successful Command Agriculture programme. The Sunday Mail understands that the committee met last Wednesday for a brainstorming session. Sources say the meeting was a resounding success.





Mobilisation of the partys supporters is expected to intensify in all provinces in the wake of the success of the Presidential Youth Interface Rallies that saw the party flexing its muscles as a mean mobilising machine.





In an interview last Thursday, Dr Chombo said: From now until next years elections, our party is not going to rest as we will work round the clock to put in place strategies that will make us win the elections.





In that regard, our focus at the moment is the voter registration exercise.

The Elections Directorate was appointed by the Politburo last week (a fortnight ago) and it is going to carry out a number of programmes until the elections next year.





What the team is seized with right now is to get our members to register to vote.

The eam comprises myself as the chair, the national commissar, the Womens League, Youth League and war veterans leadership, the party spokesperson will be with us.





We are in top gear, we are ready to move and we are moving.

We are going to go cell by cell to make sure that all our cell members are registered. A cell is an important unit of the party, so we want to make sure that everyone in every cell is registered and we move on.





We are asking all our people now, all our districts, to make sure that they have the relevant documents and to go and register to vote.





From cell, branch, district, provinces and national level; this is now a major campaign that we are going through, that is why we have visited several provinces already.

Dr Chombo said the education exercise is significant as it would lay the foundation to deliver the poll victory.





This is why we are going to win. We are going to make sure that all Zanu-PF members are registered to vote, thats our programme and plan.





Zanu-PF national spokesperson Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo told The Sunday Mail yesterday that the party would this week complete the exercise to acquaint its members with the new voter registration programme.





This is a key programme towards winning the election. We have visited seven provinces so far and we are just left with Mashonaland West where we are going tomorrow (today) and the Midlands and Matabeleland North, where we are going next week (this week), he said.





The main idea behind this programme is that we want our members to understand that voter registration is starting afresh and everybody needs to register again, regardless of the fact that you have been registered before.





We are meeting Provincial Coordinating Commitee members so that these leaders can send the message down to the cell.





Zanu-PF Youth League Secretary Cde Kudzanayi Chipanga said the youth are the mainly targeted new voters in next years poll.





He said as part of the Youth Leagues strategy to woo voters, the organ would conduct visits in all provinces to follow up on the success of the Presidential Youth Interface Rallies.





We are doing a lot to attract the youths to Zanu-PF. The most important thing at the moment is to encourage young people to register to vote and after the end of our interface rallies, we are going to do follow-up visits and interact further with the youths and encourage them to vote, he said.

Cde Chipanga said the Youth League is also targeting to lure tertiary students who constitute a good number of new voters.





There are many tertiary students who are going to be voting for the first time and we want to convince them that Zanu-PF is the only way to go, he said.





The interface we have planned for President Mugabe to meet with students from all higher and tertiary institutions in the country will also help the President to hear and address their concerns.

A record number of voters is expected to turn out for next years poll.





Figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency and the United Nations indicate the countrys population has leapt from 13 061 239 in 2012 to between 14 and 16 million.





About 5 874 115 people registered to vote in the 2013 plebiscite.

Of these, 3 480 047 cast ballots in the Presidential poll, while 3 377 276 participated in parliamentary elections.





The number of registered voters in 2008 was 5 934 768. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has already started the registration exercise with President Mugabe having officially launched it on Thursday. Sunday Mail
Econet Media Limited owned Kwese TV stopped operations in Zimbabwe yesterday after the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) successfully approached the Supreme Court challenging a High Court decision to overturn a ban it had earlier placed on the satellite broadcaster.



Last month, BAZ banned Kwese TV from operating, arguing that the licence of its content distribution partner  Dr Dish  was specific to the provision of My TV Africa services only.



The ban was later overturned by High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe after Dr Dish filed an urgent application arguing that it could suffer financial prejudice if the ban was effected.





Dissatisfied with the outcome, BAZ filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court seeking the overturning of the High Court decision.





Dr Dish has since approached the High Court with an urgent chamber application for permission to operate pending the Supreme Court determination.





However, sources inside Econet, the owners of Kwese TV, say the broadcaster has suspended operations and hundreds of workers recruited to drive the initiative have been sent home.





Econet yesterday released a statement confirming that it had suspended its services and is now offering refund to over 35 000 subscribers.





We would like to inform you that the broadcasting of the Kwese TV service has been temporarily suspended following an appeal to the Supreme Court by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, reads the statement.

We have approached the High Court on an urgent basis for permission to continue broadcasting pending determination of the appeal in the High Court.





In the meantime, we are happy to make a refund to you at any point in time, should you so wish. You can, however, keep your installed decoder and equipment until the ruling is issued.





Executive assistant to Econet Group chief executive officer Mr Lovemore Nyatsine declined to release more information on the matter.





In any case this is not an Econet issue, it is between Dr Dish and BAZ , thats all we can say for now, he said.

We simply have to wait for the courts.





In 2007, Dr Dish was issued a licence to provide MY TV channels to Zimbabwean viewers but it struggled to pay the required fees for years.





It failed to provide the service until BAZ issued a notice of intention to cancel the licence in October last year.





Last month, Dr Dish partnered Econet Media Limited (Mauritius) and paid all the outstanding fees before notifying BAZ of its intention to include Kwese TV channels on its content.

BAZ received the money but went on to terminate the licence through a letter in August. Sunday Mail
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"There are two sides to every story," Amber Tamblyn recalls a producer telling her when she complained about a crew member stalking her. "For women in America who come forward with stories of harassment, abuse and sexual assault, there are not two sides to every story," the actress writes in a New York Times op-ed that follows up on her public feud with actor James Woods, whom she accuses of trying to pick her up when she was 16. "Women do not get to have a side. They get to have an interrogation." Women, she writes, "consider the risks" on a daily basis. "That is our day job and our night shift. We have a diploma in risk consideration. Consider that skirt. Consider that dark alley. Consider questioning your boss."

Woods dismissed her accusation as a lie, which Tamblyn says "sent me back to that day in that producer's office." Tamblyn counters that "the emotional cost alone of bringing up such memories publicly or coming forward with such recollections is pure bankruptcy. It is spiritual foreclosure." And though women who speak up about harassment often stare down the disbelief of others, Tamblyn finds safety in numbers. "The women I know, myself included, are done, though, playing the credentials game," she concludes. "We are learning that the more we open our mouths, the more we become a choir. And the more we are a choir, the more the tune is forced to change." The full piece is here. (Read more Amber Tamblyn stories.)
Fact has outpaced fiction for the popular Netflix series Narcos, about the Colombian drug trade. On Monday, Carlos Munoz Portal, a location manager for the show, was shot to death while scouting filming sites in rural Mexico, Variety reports. Munoz's bullet-riddled body was found on a remote country road in the town of Temascalapa, near the state of Hidalgo, one of the most violent places in the country. 182 homicides were reported in the region last year. Due to a lack of witnesses, police are having difficulty finding leads in the case.

Narco's first three seasons were shot in Colombia, but producers have hinted that they would be shooting season four in Mexico to follow the evolution of the cocaine trade from Colombia to that country, the Washington Post reports. Munoz, 37, a Mexican native, worked on such films as Man on Fire and The Legend of Zorro during his more than 10-year career. He had gone to the town of Temascalapa to shoot photographs and a friend speculates his camera could have attracted unwanted attention. (Read more narcostate stories.)
Authorities say an Indiana man who robbed a gas station made off with food, drinks, and cigarettes. What he didn't steal was gas, the AP notes. The Northwest Indiana Times reports that a state trooper arrested 33-year-old Sean Harris on Wednesday after finding him stranded by the side of a two-lane highway with his vehicle out of fuel. Police say the South Bend-area man's blood alcohol level was above the legal limit. Authorities say Harris was arrested not long after he entered the LaCrosse gas station, implied he had a gun, and took the items. Records show Harris is being held in LaPorte County Jail. He made a preliminary appearance Friday in LaPorte County Circuit Court on a felony robbery charge. Attorney information for Harris wasn't available Saturday. (Read more weird crimes stories.)
The federal government auctioned off disaster-response trailers at fire-sale prices just before Harvey devastated southeast Texas, reducing an already diminished supply of mobile homes ahead of what could become the nation's largest-ever housing mission. More than 100 2017-model Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers were sold over the two days before the Category 4 hurricane landed in the Gulf Coast, an analysis of government data by AP found. Harvey was already projected to be a monster storm that would inflict unprecedented damage. The trailers were designated to be sold through Aug. 28, after floodwaters sent thousands of Texans onto rooftops and into shelters.

About 79,000 homes in the areas affected by the hurricane were flooded with 18 inches or more of water, Michael Byrne, FEMA's federal disaster recovery coordinator for Harvey, told AP. The auctions  about 300 since the beginning of the year  have left FEMA with a standing fleet of only 1,700 units. The agency has put out bids for another 4,500, but officials could not say when they would be ready to meet needs arising from Harvey, Irma, and potentially future storms. FEMA officials said that the units sold had all been used to house survivors of last year's floods in Southern Louisiana, who returned them with damages that made them unfit for redeployment. FEMA officials said the trailers it had recently ordered will cost the agency around $40,000 for a one-bedroom. (Read more FEMA stories.)
Comedian/actor Kevin Hart took to Instagram Saturday to apologize to his wife and children for his participation in a sexually suggestive tape that he says is being used to extort him. TMZ reports that Hart, the star of numerous Hollywood hits including Central Intelligence and Get Hard, can be seen "getting cozy" with an unidentified woman on the video and engaging in activity that "looks like it is a prelude to sex." TMZ sources claim the woman on the tape has demanded money from the comedian. A Hart rep says law enforcement has gotten involved in the investigation.

Rather than pay, however, Hart took to social media to come clean about his "mistakes" and publicly refuse the extortion attempt. At the end of the day, man, I just simply have got to do better," Hart says. "But Im also not going to allow a person to have financial gain off of my mistakes, and in this particular situation that was what was attempted. I said Id rather fess up to my mistakes. People reports that Hart has had to address rumors about his infidelity numerous times in the last several months, the most recent coming in August when his ex-wife, Torrei Hart, accused him of cheating on her with his now-wife, Eniko Parrish, to which the comedian, "All I do is laugh, man." Hart has two children with Torrei Hart, a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. (Read more Kevin Hart stories.)
No one knows what's injuring US diplomats in Havana, not even (ostensibly) Raul Castro. And so Rex Tillerson said on Sunday's Face the Nation that the US government is considering closing the US Embassy there in response to this "serious issue," per the AP. "We have it under evaluation," the secretary of state noted. There have been 21 US diplomats and relatives with confirmed health issues so far, including concussions, hearing loss, and headaches, and the US says more cases may emerge as the probe continues. Those affected have reported feeling vibrations or hearing sounds before their symptoms began, while others didn't notice anything at all initially. The AP notes closing the embassy would be a "devastating blow" to the "warming relationship" between the US and Cuba, jump-started in 2014 by then-President Obama and Castro after a 50-year deep freeze.

Reuters reports the US, Cuba, and Canada have all been trying to figure out exactly what the "incidents," as the US State Department calls them, are (Tillerson himself has used the term "health attacks") and who's behind them, but to no avail. Cuba has denied involvement and said it, too, wants answers. Other perpetrator possibilities the US is considering: a different state entity or members of Cuba's security forces acting on their own. Besides asking for the embassy to be shut down, some US lawmakers, including Sens. Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, want further repercussions, such as booting Cuban diplomats from the US completely; the Washington Post notes two Cuban diplomats have already been kicked out of the embassy in DC. "Cuba's neglect of its duty to protect our diplomats and their families cannot go unchallenged," Cotton said in a Friday letter to Tillerson from five GOP senators. (Read more Cuba stories.)
By PTI: By Rajesh Rai (Eds: Adding pics PTI9_17_2017_000003B, PTI9_17_2017_000004B, PTI9_17_2017_000005B, PTI9_17_2017_000006B)

Mathura, Sep 17 (PTI) As many as 1,200 cows - mostly abandoned, sick and injured - have found a saviour in 59- year-old German national Friederike Irina Bruning.

When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

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"I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund," she said while narrating her journey in Mathura.

She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

"I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk," she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as Surbhai Gauseva Niketan.

"They are like my children and I cannot leave them," she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund here.

Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

"Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leave a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in," she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows needing special care are kept at one place. Blind and badly injured needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure.

When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, foodgrain and salaries of about 60 workers.

"I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work," she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, "I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children."

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The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa. She has to renew the visa every year.

"I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. Its the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala," she said. PTI RR CS ZMN GVS

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More than 60 children, mostly infants, died within a week at the hospital last month. There were allegations that a disruption in oxygen supply - which occurred since the vendor hadn't been paid - had caused the deaths.

By India Today Web Desk: Manish Bhandari, the owner of a company (Pushpa Sales) that supplied oxygen to Gorakhpur's Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, has been arrested in Deoria, the news agency ANI reported.

More than 60 children, mostly infants, died within a week at the hospital last month. There were allegations that a disruption in oxygen supply - which occurred since the vendor hadn't been paid - had caused the deaths. The Yogi Adityanath administration has denied this.

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Bhandari was among the nine people named in an FIR.

The others - clerks Uday Pratap Sharma, Sanjay Tripathi, and Sudhir Pandey, Chief pharmacist Gajanan Jaiswal, anaesthesia department chief Dr Satish, encephalitis wing ex-chief Dr Kafeel Khan, ex-principal Rajiv Mishra , and his wife Purnima Shukla - have all been arrested.

(Inputs from agencies)

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Bengaluru:

The government on Saturday ruled out any further extension of timeline after December for filing GSTR-3B tax returns by businesses.

GSTR 3B is a simple return form introduced by the CBEC for the month of July and August, following the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1.

"We have already extended the period for GSTR-3B...People have to file their own self-assessed summary return till December, and there will not be any extension of time as far as GSTR-3B is concerned", Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said.

Adhia was speaking to reporters here after the first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GOM) formed to tackle the IT-related glitches in GST network.

He was asked whether the government intends to further extend time for filing returns under GST.

The GST Council had earlier allowed businesses to file GSTR-3B till December.

Adhia said the government had earlier decided to extend the time limit to have a proper learning period due to GSTN portal hiccups.

"It decided to extend the timeline of filing GSTR-1, from September 10 to October 10. The last dates of filing returns for GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 are October 31 and November 10, respectively", he added.

Read more: GST: Tax department scans Rs 65,000 crore credit claims of traders

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who heads the GoM, said it would be only by October 30 that the government would be able to iron out 70-80 per cent of the technical issues being faced by stakeholders in return filing.

To a query, Adhia said the meeting was very fruitful because it led to a better understanding among all stakeholders.

"Any new system will be afflicted with some initial hiccups, but the attempt today was to work around difficulties faced by stakeholders in filing returns on GSTN platform", he said.

Sushil Kumar Modi said only 3.3 lakh people had filed their GSTR-3B in August, while there are 85 lakh dealers registered under the new tax regime.

"Further, even for the previous month of July, only 46 lakh taxpayers have filed their 3B returns so far", Modi said.

India's GSTN is the biggest in the world with minimal human interface, he said, adding that as of now, 22 crore of invoices have been filed which shows the robustness of GST regime.

Modi also said that as many as 23.18 lakh new dealers have been registered, and another 11 lakh dealers were under 'composition scheme'.

GSTN, portal for real-time taxpayer registration, migration, and tax return filing under GST, faced problems, forcing government to extend the last date of filing returns.

Modi appealed to taxpayers not to wait for the last date to file returns.

He said the GoM would meet once every 15 days.

Asked if software major Infosys, the service provider, will be penalised for the glitches the stakeholders are facing, Adhia said the company has not failed and it is "the media presumption".

"There are always initial hicupps and issues, but there haven't been large-scale failures", he said.

Kerala Finance minister Thomas Isaac, Chhattisgarh minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal, Karnataka Agriculture minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Telangana Finance minister Etela Rajender are other members of the GoM.

Adhia, GSTN Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey and GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar also attended meeting.

GST was adopted to make it easier for businesses to move goods from one state to another, which was not the case under the earlier central and state tax regimes.

However, GSTN, the system supposed to handle the filing of returns, suffered glitches due to the rush of filing invoices as the deadline approached.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Bollywood heartthrob Salman has recently wrapped up the shooting for his upcoming movie 'Tiger Zinda Hai' in Abu Dhabi. The actor is currently in London where he performed live for the first time in 12 years.

The 'Wanted' star has been accompanied by his nephew Ahil on the 'Da-bangg' world tour. Ahil is Arpita's son, who is Salman's younger sister.A

The internet goes gaga whenever Salman shares any picture of him with Ahil.A They are too cute to handle when they are together.A

The megastar shared a very adorable picture of the little munchkin on social media, whereA he can be seen feeding him.

The picture has managed to get more than 5,40,000 in about eight hours, Fans simply can't stop gushing over how cute the picture is.A

Ahil and me time a A post shared by Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) on Sep 16, 2017 at 11:36pm PDT

The 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' actor posted a cute video from a show in London on Twitter. One can see Arpita carrying Ahil in her arms in the video.

a Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) September 17, 2017

A The Bigg Boss host has been recently awarded the Global Diversity Award at Britain's House of Commons. The 'Sultan' actor received the award from British Parliamentas longest-serving Asian MP, Keith Vaz.

Bigg Boss 11 is all set to be launched on Colors channel next month.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Sacked AIADMK party general secretary VK Sasikalas nephew TTV Dhinakaran on Sunday demanded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswamis resignation, saying that he is a chief minister because of Sasikala.

Of late, Sasikala has been expelled in the general council meeting of which Dhinakaran faction did not approve and approached the Election Commission.

While talking to ANI, Dhinakaran said,Palaniswami is a chief minister because of V K Sasikala. Will he resign as he wants Chinammas removal.

Dhinakaran who had said two days ago that the government would fall within a week, said he was ready to send his loyalist MLAs to the meeting of legislators he was proposing, and added that "I am not responsible if they do not vote for you (Palaniswami.)"

After the Palaniswami and Panneerselvam camps merged last month, Dhinakaran loyalist MLAs had petitioned the governor seeking Palaniswami's ouster.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Rajasthan's Alwar, Mahant Chandnath has breathed his last at the age of 61, news agency ANI reported on Sunday morning.

Latest media reports suggest that Chandnath's last rites will take place at his 'math' located in Haryana's Rohtak district at 4 PM on Sunday. The BJP MP was under observation at Delhi's Apollo Hospital and he passed away on Saturday at 11:45 PM.

"All the events of the day in the district have been canceled following Chandnath's death," BJP district head of Alwar was quoted while interacting with reporters.

Chandnath headed the Nath sect of Hinduism and was also the chancellor of the Mast Nath University. He won the by-election for the very first time in 2014 from Rajasthan's Behror seat.

Also Read | 'Don't play with fire', Mamata warns RSS ahead of Durga Puja festival

In 2014, he defeated incumbent Congress candidate Jitendra Singh and won the Alwar seat from Rajasthan in the parliamentary elections.

In February 2017, Chandnath was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) by a Haryana court for criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

BJP MP from Alwar, Mahant Chandnath passes away at the age of 61. (File Pic) pic.twitter.com/d1lBGp0IHx  ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

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New Delhi:

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said that the state government is considering of giving tablets to youths getting training under the program Skill Development Program on Sunday while addressing a program on Labour Welfare Day.

The state government is planning to give tablets to youths undertaking training under Skill Developmet Program, said Modi.

He added that the government is yet to take a decision if the Bihar government will provide these youths with tablets or cash to buy tablets.

The Bihar deputy chief minister while addressing the program while advocating the need to balance mental and physical work said that it is completely wrong to think that those engaged in mental work are more important than those involved in physical work.

Also read| Bihar floods: PM Modi announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for families of deceased, says Deputy CM



During the function Modi also said that Labour Day should be celebrated on Vishwakarma Puja.

Modi also emphasised on eradication of child labour from the society, and appealed to people to take the resolve not to employe any child as domestic help.

Also read: Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modis cavalcade attacked in Vaishali; leader alleges RJD's hand



Modi informed the people that in Bihar number of ITIs in the state has gone up to more than 1000 the last 55 years.

The deputy chief minister also added that private ITIs will be taken to task if proper education is not provided to the students.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) A high-powered group of ministers will meet every fortnight to resolve over two dozen technical glitches identified in the GST tax portal GSTN, the panels head and and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has said.

Over 25-odd glitches, which had led to the GST-Network portal crashing on at least two occasions in the very first month of filing, relate largely to payments and registration, he told PTI after the five-member GoM held its first meeting in Bengaluru yesterday.

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The grouping had extensive interaction with executives of Infosys, which is providing the IT support for the portal, and businesses will notice a "lot of difference" on the GSTN portal in the next 7-10 days, Modi said.

The GSTN website had faced glitches last month as taxpayers flogged to the portal on the last day of the deadline of filing returns for July.

"Over 25 issues have been identified which needs to be resolved and timelines have been set for each of them. Overall we are satisfied with the performance of GSTN and Infosys is doing its best to make it error free," said Modi.

The GSTN, the information technology (IT) backbone and portal for real-time taxpayer registration, migration, and tax return filing under the GST, had developed a snag last month when the first deadline for filing of returns approached, forcing the government to extend the last date. A five-member GoM was constituted on September 12 after the GST Council decided to sort out technical glitches. The first meeting of the GoM was held in Bengaluru on September 16.

Besides Modi, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender are part of the GoM.

Modi said the GoM noted that the tendency of taxpayers is to file returns on the last day, which is evident from the fact that only 3.5 lakh taxpayers have so far filed GSTR-3B for the month of August. The last date for filing is September 20.

Over 47 lakh returns in GSTR-3B was filed in July and the GST to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore was collected in the maiden month of roll-out.

On September 15, GSTN officials and state commercial tax officers also held meetings with bankers, large taxpayers and tax experts to decipher the procedural issues being faced by them on the portal.

"The GoM will meet every 15 days to review the functioning of GSTN. The GSTN system is robust and load is not an issue. We are looking into the procedural issues," Modi said. So far, over 22 crore invoices have been uploaded on the GSTN portal, which has a capacity of handling over 3 billion invoices. GSTR-3B is only a simple return which will ease compliance burden of businesses. Businesses will have to upload invoices and file final returns in form GSTR-1, 2 and 3 on a stipulated date.

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The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state counterparts, had last week decided to extend the last date for filing final returns for July by a month to October 10. GSTR-2 for July will have to be filed byOctober 31 and GSTR-3 byNovember 10.

Currently, there are over 85 lakh registered taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. This include 62 lakh assessees who have migrated from the excise, service tax and VAT system and another 23.18 lakh new registration. Among this, 10.96 lakh businesses have opted for composition scheme, under which they have to file returns quarterly. PTI JD MKJ ABM

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News:

Senior Congress Leader and former Union Minister Manish Tewari used unparliamentary words to attack the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 67th birthday.

The Congress leader was trolled after the tweet and had to face barrage of criticism from Modi followers and citizens of India irrespective of political party inclination.

Tewari after being trolled and receiving sharp reactions both from the BJP and twitteratis for his aBhakta tweet posted a series of tweets to explain his tweet. Tewarias tweet has led to a major row on the social media with the hashtag #CongLeaderAbusesPM.

The senior Congress leader after being criticized on Twitter showed his will to apologise for the tweet but on conditional basis.

He tweeted, aWilling to apologise for using a 'colloquial' Hindi phrase However will PM promise to unfollow those who heap unmentionable abuse on women???a

Willing to apologise for using a 'colloquial' Hindi phraseHowever will PM promise to unfollow those who heap unmentionable abuse on women??? a Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) September 17, 2017

Tewari is the second Congress leader after party general secretary Digvijaya Singh to come under fire for using foul language against Modi in the last few days.

Singh had retweeted a post which contained expletives against Modi. The party general secretary later had disowned the A tweet but till then he was trolled by twitterati.

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, reacting sharply on Tewarias tweet said, aThe desperate Congress and its leaders have lost their mental balance.a

Congress leaders are crossing the line, they must go to psychiatrist, govt will help them: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP on Manish Tewari's tweet pic.twitter.com/nsQjRV5Zmc a ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

The BJP leader on Twitter wrote, aCongress is crossing its limits. They need to visit Psychiatrist. The government will help them.a

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy alleged that someone else in aorchestratinga Congressa abusive attack as Tewari has the reputation of being sober and sensitive.

The BJP has also demanded an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi for the tweet.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :

Writer Vikram Sampath's statement was recorded by the Special Investigating Team which is probing the murder of journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh.

According to Sampath, the SIT lacked a constructive approach towards the probe since the official who came to record his statement did not respond to his article on Gauri Lankesh, but like any law abiding citizen he simply cooperated.

The writer expressed concern about the way SIT is going ahead with the probe and said whether SIT will question each and everyone that Gauri Lankesh have been critical about. As a fearless journalist Gauri has been critical about many individuals including the Prime Minster.

The writer also asked media, politicians and intellectuals not to put forth their theories on who might have killed Gauri. No one  media, intellectuals, politicians or anyone else  should jump the gun.They should allow SIT to investigate the matter. Pressure would only create more confusion, he added.

The Karnataka government had on September 6 announced the formation of a 21-member SIT team to investigate the killing of Gauri that led to a wave of countrywide protests and condemnation across the political spectrum.

Gauri Lankesh, known to be an anti-establishment voice with strident anti-right wing views, was shot dead at close range by unknown assailants at her home here on the night of September 5. A few other writers were also reportedly questioned by the SIT in connection with the murder.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

The 15th Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi's journey has been an awe-inspiring one. The man, who envisions a bright future for India, has faced a lot of hardships and struggles to reach the position which he is now.

The man who envisions a bright and digital India with his quotes such as IT+IT=IT means Indian Talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow, Desire+Stability=Resolution, and we do not need ACTS but Action. On the completion of the third year of the Modi government, here are PM Modi's TOP 10 inspiring quotes for incredible country called India.

# In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.



# The 21st century is an era of knowledge. If poverty is to be abolished in this century, it can be abolished only through knowledge.



# Never dream to become someone in Life, Dream to do something fruitful.

# A government is one that thinks and hears the voice of the poor. A government must live for the poor.



# In my life mission is everything... Even if I was a municipal chairman, I would have worked as hard as a CM.



# Hard work never brings fatigue. It brings satisfaction.



# It is important how we view the youth of our nation. To simply consider them as new age voters will be a big mistake. They are the new age power.



# I want to ask parents, when daughters turn 11 or 14, they keep a tab on their movements. Have these parents ever asked their sons where they have been going, who they have been meeting? Rapists are somebodys sons as well! Parents must take the responsibility to ensure that their sons dont go the wrong direction.



#I did not get an opportunity to die for the country, but I have got an opportunity to live for the country.



# People ask what is your vision; what is your big vision? I say bhai, I got here by way of selling tea. I am a simple (Chhota) man. I like focusing on simple and small tasks. I want to accomplish big things for the little guy.

In Pics: When PM Modi made style statements with his impeccable, suave attires

The 15th Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi's journey has been awe-inspiring. The man, who envisions a bright future for India, has faced a lot of hardships and struggles to reach to the position in which he is. The man who envisions a bright and digital India with his quotes such as IT+IT=IT means Indian Talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow, Desire+Stability=Resolution, and we do not need ACTS but Action. On the completion of the third year of the Modi government, here are PM Modi's TOP 10 inspiring quotes for incredible country called India. # In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. # The 21st century is an era of knowledge. If poverty is to be abolished in this century, it can be abolished only through knowledge. # Never dream to become someone in Life, Dream to do something fruitful. # A government is one that thinks and hears the voice of the poor. A government must live for the poor. # In my life mission is everything... Even if I was a municipal chairman, I would have worked as hard as a CM. # Hard work never brings fatigue. It brings satisfaction. # It is important how we view the youth of our nation. To simply consider them as new age voters will be a big mistake. They are the new age power. # I want to ask parents, when daughters turn 11 or 14, they keep a tab on their movements. Have these parents ever asked their sons where they have been going, who they have been meeting? Rapists are somebodys sons as well! Parents must take the responsibility to ensure that their sons dont go the wrong direction. #I did not get an opportunity to die for the country, but I have got an opportunity to live for the country. # People ask what is your vision; what is your big vision? I say bhai, I got here by way of selling tea. I am a simple (Chhota) man. I like focusing on simple and small tasks. I want to accomplish big things for the little guy.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

There will be no bilateral talks between India and Pakistan during the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session, MEA spokesperson Ravish Kumar said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj represent India at the annual UNGA session at United Nations. She will hold several bilateral talks with several world leaders.

However, India has not received any invitation from Pakistan so far. Kumar said, Pakistan foreign minister is going there for a regional meeting. So there could be a meeting between Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

India's permanent representative at the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin informed UN about Indias priorities which include reforms, terrorism, and the climate change.

Taking a dig at Pakistan, Akbaruddin said Islamabad's decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN is like 'Miyan ki daud masjid tak'.

He said, Pakistan has not formally raised Kashmir issue at UN in the last 40 years. If Pakistan raises Kashmir issue at UN, the country will be wasting its own time as it has not raised the issue in the last 40 years.

On the issue of Masood Azhar, Akbaruddin said, he is a terrorist and we will try to bring him within the ambit of the law.

It is to be noted that India along with 113 other countries has supported discussion on the issues of Responsibility to Protect and Prevent Massacre. Pakistan and 21 other nations have opposed the discussion.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the residence of Marshal of Indian Air force Arjan Singh to pay tributes. Arjan Singh passed away after cardiac attack at R&R hospital in Delhi on Saturday.

PM Modi wrote message in the condolence book at the residence of Marshal of Indian Air Force.

"Arjan Singh led effective, amazing and dedicated life. He was epitome of valour and bravery. He was a rare combination of heights and depths. He was totally dedicated to India through his post, prestige and values. I salute the warrior who always gave feeling of soldier's bravery and etiquette," wrote PM Modi in condolence book.

"India mourns unfortunate demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh. We remember his outstanding service to the nation. India will never forget the excellent leadership of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh in 1965, when the IAF saw substantial action," wrote PM Modi on Twitter after Arjan Singh's demise on Saturday.

Prior to death of Arjan Singh, PM Modi had also visited him at R&R hospital in Delhi. Then, Arjan Singh was fighting for life after heart attack.

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New Delhi :

Narendra Damodardas Modi, the 14th Prime Minister (PM) of India have been at the forefront of many life changing events both at the regional and national level. Started his life as a, 'sangh pracharak', at the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), became a cadre for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and from there rose to the level of party General Secretary (GS) and a chief strategist and thereafter the Chief Minister (CM) of one of India's moderately underdeveloped and communally charged state, Gujarat.

Authors have penned books, columnists have written columns in dailies and television anchors have debated his way of life, decisions he has taken and whther they are people friendly or not. Today as the PM enters his 67th birth anniversary let us take a brief look at five such incidents or decisions because of which he had to face criticism since he took oath of office.

Pakistan visit and Pathankot attack:

The earstwhile UPA government was often accused of lending soft hands to the Pakistani establishment which repeatedly harmed India therough state sponsored terrorism. During the run up to the 2014 general elections his speeches on how to tackle Pakistan and terrorism, infused a sense that he will be the right man to handle Pakistan.

On December 25, 2015 on his way back from Kabul the Prime Minister (PM) made a stopover at Pakistan's Lahore where the then PM Nawaz Sharif welcomed him with open arms as he was celebrating his daughter's engagement ceremony and also his own birthday.

Seven days later the Air Force station at Pathankot which is also a part of Western Command was attacked by four heavily armed terrorist which claimed the lives of at least eight people. Though all the attackers were killed but this incident of showing softness towards Paksitani establishment earned the PM a lot of criticism.

Dadri mob lynching:

In the night of September 2015 a mob of villagers attacked the house of Mohammed Ikhlaq on the perception that he and his family have kept beef in their home and consumed it as well.

52 year old Mohammed Ikhlaq succumed to the injuries on the spot. This incident triggered widespread agitation by the intellectual elite of India. Many artists returned their awards to the respective bodies as a sign of dissent and in solidarity with the family of Mohammed Ikhlaq.

PM Modi came under heavy criticism for not condemning the act of lynching since the Mohammed Ikhlaq belonged to a minority community.

Uri Attack 2016:

At September 18, 2016, members of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan based terrorist organisation attacked and killed 19 soldiers of the Indian army. This was retaliated by a surgical strike by the Indian army at the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The PM came under tremendous pressure from various corners to undertake a possible military strike against Pakistan. There was widespread criticism of the PM from the opposition about the credibility of the surgical strike.

Demonetisation slows down GDP:

On November 8, 2016 the PM in a televised address to the nation announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 will no longer be a legal tender. The step was taken as a measure to stop the inflow of counterfeit money into the monetary system of India.

This was followed by a significant dearth of cash in the hands of citizens. Many small businesses were forced to shut down and long queues followed at the banks and ATM counters.

India lost its status of fastest growing major economy when after six months of its implementation demonetisation had hit the GDP of the country and plummeted it to 6.1 per cent in the quarter that ended in June 2017 from earlier 7.1 per cent.

PM Modi was at the receiving end of criticism from economists like Amartya Sen, Manmohan Singh and many more for this drastic action.

Haryana violence 2017:

The state of Haryana suffered widespread violence on August 25 when the Panchkula court found Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, a self styled godman guilty of raping two devotees. The inefficiency of the Haryana police was at full display. Around 30 rioteers were killed in shoot at sight orders.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khatter faced a lot of criticism for not being able to control the violence. This also brought PM Narendra Modi at the centre of criticism since he did not take any action against the CM Manohar Lal Khatter.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday dedicate to the nation the Sardar Sarovar Dam on river Narmada, at an event coinciding with his 67th birthday. The river is also described as Gujarat's lifeline by BJP leaders.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961 by the countrys first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

However, it took 56 years to complete its construction.Modi will arrive here on Saturday night, and seek blessings of his mother Hiraba on Sunday morning. His visit, which has added significance as the Assembly elections are due in Gujarat by year-end, is the second in less than a week after he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe here and launched the Bullet train project.

Tomorrow Sardar Sarovar Dam will be dedicated to the nation. This project will benefit lakhs of farmers and help fulfil peoples aspirations, Modi tweeted today. Earlier, Modi had stressed that the project will start a new chapter of prosperity for Gujarat.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had called the project as Gujarat?s lifeline noting that the agriculture income and production of farmers in the state more than doubled because of it. The event will take place at Kevadia in Narmada district.

The delay in the completion of the dam was due to numerous reasons. Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan took the government to the Supreme Court over environmental and rehabilitation issues, and obtained a stay in 1996.

The court allowed resumption of work in October 2000. The height of the dam was recently raised to 138.68metres, which will allow maximum usable storage of 4.73 million acre-feet of water.

The Congress committed the sin of obstructing the project at every step. Within 20 days of becoming prime minister, Modi gave final approval to raise the height of the dam, Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said.

In Pics: When PM Modi made style statements with his impeccable, suave attires

After inaugurating the dam Modi will go to Sadhu Bet, where a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, called Statue of Unity is coming up. Further, a memorial complex dedicated to the countrys first home minister is also coming up in that area.

Thereafter, the PM will attend the closing ceremony of Narmada Mahotsav, and address a gathering at Dabhoi. He will also lay the foundation stone for National Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum during the event.

Modi will then visit Amreli in Saurashtra where he will attend a host of programmes and address a public gathering.

Looking forward to addressing a gathering of cooperatives, Sahakar Samemelan in Amreli tomorrow, the PM tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Congress has claimed that the project is not complete and canals of 43,000 km length were yet to be built. Moreover, the party claimed that the problems persisted despite the BJP ruling the state for 22 years.

With PTI inputs

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New Delhi:

Staring deportation after Centre made it stance clear on Rohingya Muslims, the refugees urged that they want to request the government not to deport them from the country.

One, Noorul Islams life changed forever in 2012 when militants had attacked their home in Rakhine. He recalled his and family members escape from death and the early days of struggle in Bangladesh from where they were turned out and made their way to India.

Our situation was really bad because my father didnt have enough money to support us. We went hungry for days until we arrived in India and my father started selling fish to earn a living, he said, tears welling up at the memory.

Nooruls family is one of the 70 staying in a camp in Shaheen Bagh, tucked away in a corner of south Delhi.

They are the nowhere people, the Rohingya Muslims, considered by the UN to be the most persecuted minority in the world.

There are about 1,200 Rohingyas in the national capital, some in Shaheen Bagh and the others in a camp in Madanpur Khadar.

With hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, mostly Muslims, being forced to flee from Rakhine this month and take refuge in Bangladesh, their plight has hit global headlines. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said the Rohingya Muslims are facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

But those in India face their own share of anxieties with the government threatening to deport them.

All of 12, Noorul talks with the wisdom of someone much older when he says he would never want to go back to his homeland.

For him, home is a small makeshift tent next to huge piles of garbage and school is the nearby government one in Jasola.

I am happy here and I love going to school. I would never like to go back to my homeland because the military kills children there. I want to request the government not to send us back to Myanmar, he said.

The others in the camp are equally fearful at the thought of returning to the country that was once their home.

I dont want to live as a refugee my whole life. But even if I think of going back to my village in Myanmar, those nightmarish memories of military attacks haunt me, said Sabikun Nahar.

They burnt our house and forced us to follow Buddhism. We were even banned from going to the local mosque and we were so scared that we wouldnt sleep at night, she said.

The 21-year-old had left her village in 2012 and moved to Bangladesh with her relatives. She lived with her parents in the camp for a year but extreme poverty and no employment avenues drove her to India.

In 2013, Nahar found herself in the Shaheen Bagh camp. She is now married to Mohammed Zubair, 30, a fellow refugee in the camp who works with an NGO in the city.

He earns about Rs 12,000 every month and the couple finds it difficult to make ends meet. But Nahar shudders at the thought of being sent back.

The situation has worsened since 2012. I want the whole world to support us. I wanted to call my parents who are now in Bangladesh to Delhi but with the government here thinking of deporting us how will I call them, she asked.

Constant worryabout their present, their future and the well-being of their families in Myanmar or in Bangladesh -- is the subtext of all their lives.

Abdul Rahim, 35, who runs a small grocery shop in the camp and earns about Rs 300 a day, has been desperately trying to get in touch with his brother back home.

There are many relatives who are still stuck in the country. I am worried about my brother and his family because they havent reached Bangladesh yet, said Abdul, who fled from Myanmar nine years ago.

He said he is shocked by the governments plan to deport them. I would rather die here than go back to my country where people are facing atrocities and violence.

Hoping for some intervention, Shabeer, who works with the Rohingyas Human Rights Initiative (ROHRIngya), has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

We wrote a letter to the foreign minister on August 23 and are waiting for a reply. I want to ask the government here why they want to deport us, he said.

He speaks for thousands of other Rohingyas who dread the prospect of being sent back from India.

The government told Parliament on August 9 that more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, are at present staying in India.

However, activists estimate that around 40,000 Rohingyas are living in India illegally, mostly in Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Hyderabad and parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had earlier said the Rohingyas were illegal immigrants and stand to be deported.

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a plea challenging the governments decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar. (With PTI Inputs)

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New Delhi:

The father of theA 7-yr-old boy, Pradyuman Thakur, who was murdered in the premises of Ryan International School, Gurugram on September 8, 2017, on Sunday said that the school should not be reopened as the CBI probe has not started yet.

Varun Thakur, the father, expressed his apprehensions that the evidence canA be tampered if the school reopens on Monday.

He said,"Reopening of school without addressing security lapses poses threat to other children as well."

The Haryana government had recommended a CBI probe into the murder and took over its management for three months.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had made the announcement after a half-an-hour meeting with the family members ofA Pradyuman Thakur who was found with his throat slit in the school washroom.

Pradyuman's father fears evidence tampering if school reopens tomorrow, says don't want it to reopen as CBI inquiry hasn't started yet #Ryan pic.twitter.com/dxueN6hI04 a ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

On any action against the school, he had said the government had decided to take over the management of the school for three months.

Reopening of school without addressing security lapses poses threat to other children as well: Varun Thakur, Father of #Pradyuman #Ryan pic.twitter.com/w01nteGVlZ a ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

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New Delhi:

All educational institutes including professional colleges and schools in Kerala will remain closed on Monday in view of the heavy rains, announced Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday.

According to reports one person was killed due to heavy rain lashing the state since Saturday morning. The victim was an 8-year-old girl from Palakkad. She died after falling into a waiter-filled pit near her house.

The Kerala Chief Minister has directed all district collectors and officials to be on high alert and take adequate steps to face any untoward situations during the heavy showers.

Also read| Typhoon Talim hits Japan: Hundreds of flights grounded, train services halted



The fire force, disaster management department and security forces have beend asked to be on high alert, especially those staying in landslide prone zones and river banks.

The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours. The department has has predicted very heavy rainfall between 12cm and 20 cm in the next 24 hours.

Also read: Mumbai rains: 3 killed including 2 minors in house collapse, landslide incidents, next 48 hours crucial for mega-city



According to MeT some places in the state may receive heavy rainfall between 7 cm and 11 cm in some places in the state till Monday morning.

Coastal administrations have issued warning to the fishermen. The railways have stopped normal train operations in some parts.

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On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday today, several Bollywood celebrities showered their wishes on Twitter.

By Indo-Asian News Service: A string of Bollywood personalities including actor-producer Anil Kapoor, actor Anupam Kher and filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar have greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi who turned 67 on Sunday.

Some celebrities termed Modi a dynamic, visionary and selfless personality.

Here is what they said:

Anupam Kher: Happy Birthday PM Narendra Modi! May you continue to lead our nation with great honesty, selflessness and hard work for years to come. Jai Ho.

#HappyBirthdayPM @narendramodi! May you continue to lead our nation with great honesty, selflessness & hard work for years to come. Jai Ho.???- Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) September 16, 2017

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Anil Kapoor: A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Here's celebrating the force driving India to greatness! PM Narendra Modi.

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way & shows the way" Here's celebrating the force driving India to greatness! @narendramodi ji- Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) September 17, 2017

Madhur Bhandarkar: Wishing a very Happy Birthday to the most dynamic, hard working and visionary PM Narendra Modiji. Happy birthday and stay blessed.

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to the most dynamic,hard working,& Visionary PM Shri @narendramodi ji #HappyBirthdayPM Stay blessed ???@PMOIndia- Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) September 17, 2017

Ekta Kapoor: Happy birthday, PM par excellence.

Bhumi Pednekar: Wishing our Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sir a very happy birthday.

A very happy birthday to the honourable Prime Minister of our proud nation @narendramodi ji may the force continue to be with you....

- Karan Johar (@karanjohar) September 17, 2017

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi:

The Home Ministry on Sunday informed that a state funeral will be accorded to Marshal of Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and the national flag will fly at half-mast at all government buildings in his honour on Monday.

The IAF Marshal passed away after suffering cardiac attack at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital on Saturday. President Ram Nath Kovind and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid tribute to IAF Marshal Arjan Singh.

The three Service Chiefs Sunil Lanba, Bipin Rawat and BS Dhanoa was present at wreath laying ceremony of Arjan Singh on Sunday.

The last rites of Arjan will be performed at Brar Square in New Delhi at 10 AM on Monday.

As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, a state funeral will be accorded and national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral (September 18) in Delhi at all buildings where it is flown regularly, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

The Defence Ministry said Singhs mortal remains will be taken to the funeral site from his residence in a gun carriage procession on Monday.

It said a gun salute will be given and a fly past will be organised before the final rites. Arjan Singh, the hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died in New Delhi on Saturday at the age of 98.

He was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF when he was only 44 years old, a task he carried out with elan. He was the chief of the IAF when it found itself at the forefront of the 1965 conflict.

Singh, who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft, had played a major role in transforming the IAF into one of the most potent air forces globally and the fourth biggest in the world.

Known as a man of few words, he was not only a fearless fighter pilot but had profound knowledge about air power which he applied in a wide spectrum of air operations. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1965.

With PTI inputs

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New Delhi:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami on Sunday accused ousted leader TTV Dhinakaran of trying to topple his government by colluding with the opposition DMK.

Without naming Dhinakaran, who has been demanding his ouster as chief minister, Palanisami said, Some are believing the DMK and making a miscalculation that they can bring down this regime and break the party (AIADMK).

The chief minister was addressing the gathering at the centenary celebrations of late chief minister and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, here in western Tamil Nadu.

Palanisami hit out at Dhinakaran, who claims the support of 21 of the 134 MLAs of the ruling AIADMK, alleging that he had joined hands with a party that was considered as an evil force by MGR.

They (the Dhinakaran camp) are not bothered about this party (AIADMK) and the government, he said and added that it was not even appropriate to expect that from the rival faction as Dhinakaran was expelled from the AIADMK by Amma (late chief minister J Jayalalithaa).

The almighty, which is Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, will punish them, he said. Stating that doubts about his governments stability were raised from day one by political rivals, Palanisami said they confused the people by raking up such suspicions.

On the contrary, the government was going ahead smoothly and all the schemes for the people were being implemented, he added. What are the deficiencies that you have found in this government?

Palanisami asked the gathering and listed out the welfare measures initiated by his regime, including the Kudimaramathu initiative (an ancient practice of desilting waterbodies with participation from the common people and farmers) and distribution of laptops among students for free.

Attacking the DMK, without naming it, for its refrain that his regime had become a slave of the BJP-led central government, he said his government enjoyed a cordial relationship with the Centre as only then the state could get the much-needed development schemes, new plans and fundings for the same.

The chief minister referred to the Japanese industrial township in the state, announced two days ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drive home his point. In a series of questions pointed at the DMK, he wanted to know what did it achieve on the lifeline issues of Tamil Nadu such as the Cauvery and Mullaperiyar during its over-a-decade-long stint at the Centre as part of various regimes.

He accused the main opposition party in the state of only taking care of its family interests. Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, in his address, likened the AIADMK faction, led by Palanisami and him, to a mountain.

The AIADMK is a mountain. If anyone bangs against it, his head will be shattered to pieces...this is a warning to the conspirators who are trying to topple this government, the former chief minister said.

Earlier in the day, Palanisami flagged off vehicles, marking the launch of Swachhta hi Sewa (Thooimaye Sevai Iyakkam), a cleanliness drive of the Centre, in seven districts of the state at a function in Salem, his native district.

He also inaugurated a Rotavirus vaccination scheme for infants. Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, speaking at the centenary fete, said the Navodaya schools were about the three-language formula, and asserted that the AIADMK would not waver from the two-language formula.

These comments of his came against the backdrop of opposition from various political parties to the opening of Navodaya schools in the state.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had recently directed the Tamil Nadu government to take a decision on issuing a no-objection certificate for opening the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the state within eight weeks.

Following this, there was opposition to it from various political parties in the state, including the DMK, which claimed that it would lead to an imposition of the Hindi language.

With PTI inputs

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New Delhi:

Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvis sister, Farhat Naqvi, alleged on Saturday that some people in Bareilly threatened to kill her, police said. In her complaint to police, Farhat said that trouble occurred when she was returning from a meeting at the Parivar Paramarsh Kendra in the Civil Lines area.

She alleged that a car drove near her rickshaw and stopped it near Chowki Chauraha. The people inside the car used vulgar language and threatened to kill her, the complainant said.

Police have registered a case against unidentified persons and launched a probe, SP (City) Rohit Singh Sajwan said. They are also examining the CCTV footage from the area. Farhat runs an NGO, Mera Haq Foundation, for divorced women. She is a member of the Parivar Paramarsh Kendra, and works to resolve family disputes.

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New Delhi:

Ahead of Durga Puja festival, The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on Saturday warned BJP-RSS of stern measures if they try to disrupt peace on the day of Muharram, which falls on October 1.

In a stern warning to RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP Mamata to advised them not to play with fire and don't disturb peace during Durga Puja.

"We have simply postponed the immersion ritual, which falls on October 1, since it is coinciding with Muharram this year, which is an occasion of mourning for Muslims. Idols can be immersed a day after on October 2 till October 4," she said while addressing the press at the state secretariat.

"The administration will take stern measures against those trying to disrupt peace," she said.

However, women will be allowed to observe usual customs and there is also no ban on the Durga Puja, Kali Puja and celebrations will go ahead as per the traditions.

"Women will observe the usual sindoor khela custom. There is also no ban on observing Vijaya Dashami, and Durga Puja and Kali Puja celebrations will also go ahead as has been the tradition for ages, where lakhs of people hit the streets to celebrate the festival with peace and harmony. Everything else is a rumour," she said.

The Chief Minister also said the people will not be allowed to carry arms or weapons during the immersion procession.

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New Delhi:

After spending eight months of isolation on a remote Hawaii volcano that mirrors a habitat like Mars, six NASA scientists will return to civilization on Sunday.

In January, the crew of four men and two women were quarantined on a vast plain below the summit of the giant volcano Mauna Loa, one of the world's largest. All of their communications with the outside world were subjected to a 20-minute delay - the time it takes for signals to get from Mars to Earth.

In order to acquire a better understanding of how astronauts would respond mentally, physically and psychologically a long-term manned mission to Mars, which the space agency hopes to launch by the 2030s.

Based on their data, NASA will select those who hold favorable chances of performing well during a two-to-three year Mars expedition.

Read more: Where did NASA's Cassini took its final plunge? Watch here

The project's lead investigator, University of Hawaii professor Kim Binsted, said, "This is our fifth mission, and we have learned a lot over those five missions. We've learned, for one thing, that conflict, even in the best of teams, is going to arise. So what's really important is to have a crew that, both as individuals and a group, is really resilient, is able to look at that conflict and come back from it."

The project is the fifth in a series of six NASA-funded studies at the University of Hawaii facility called the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS. NASA has dedicated about $2.5 million to the studies at the facility.

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New Delhi:

A London-bound British Airways flight was grounded and evacuated at Parisas Charles De Gaulle Airport on Sunday after a bomb scare. A 50-year-old woman has been taken into custody allegedly for making the bomb threat.

The British Airways flight was later cleared to take-off after a thorough check.

According to reports, 50-year-old woman has been taken into the custody on suspicion of claiming that the London-bound plane with 130 passengers was going to explode.

Officials not willing to be quoted told the media that she made the claims after she was not allowed an entry into the plane as she did not have a valid ticket.

On British Airways flight BA0303, currently being held on tarmac at Paris due to security threat, surrounded by police and fire vehicles. a James Anderson (@jsa) September 17, 2017

Airport officials told the media that the threat was made about 10 minutes before the London bound British Airport flight BA303 was due to take off.

Bomb disposal squad, sniffer dogs and fire tender were pushed in as soon as the threat was made.

James Anderson, a 20-year-old entrepreneur, after being deboarded wrote on Twitter, aEveryone onboard had been individually searched by armed officers, while police and fire vehicles surrounded the plane.a

British Airways said in a statement: "The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority. A We would never operate a flight unless it is safe to do so."

The scare came after Britain raised its terror threat level to "critical" after London Underground train bombing on Friday that left 30 people injured.

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New Delhi:

In yet another noteworthy development, police has arrested another man responsible for the terror attack on a packed London Tube train, which injured 30 people.

The 21-year-old was detained in Hounslow just before midnight on September 16, the Metropolitan Police force said in a statement. He was registered under Britain's Terrorism Act and taken to a south London police station, the force added.

British police arrested an 18-year-old man, earlier on September 16, in the port of Dover and raided a property in Sunbury, a small town outside London.

Read more: UN Security Council condemns North Korea missile launch

An improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated on a tube train at Parsons Green underground station during the morning rush hour on September 15.

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Washington:

The White House on Sunday insisted that the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms, denying reports that Washington was softening its stance on the landmark agreement.

The statement by the White House comes amid reports that the Trump administration would announce at the Montreal talks that it would not pull out of the Paris accord and was offering to re-engage with the deal.

There has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement, White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters said.

As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country, she said in a statement.

Ministers from 34 economies are meeting in Montreal to head off potential efforts by the US to weaken the accord at the November UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in an interview on CBSs Face The Nation suggested that President Trump would be open to remaining in the Paris climate deal under the right conditions.

I think if you recall, the president also said, look, we are willing to work with partners in the Paris climate accord, Tillerson said.

If we can construct a set of terms that we believe is fair and balanced for the American people and recognizes our economy, our economic interests, relative to others, in particular, the second-largest economy in the world, China.

ALSO READ | Paris agreement: Govt, business leaders to endorse climate accord despite Trumps withdrawal

Tillerson said the plan is to consider other ways the US can work with partners in the Paris climate agreement.

We want to be productive, we want to be helpful. I think under the right conditions, the president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue, Tillerson said when asked if there are chances when America can remain in the deal.

Tillerson on Sunday headed to New York to attend the annual General Assembly session of the United Nations during which he would hold a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings with world leaders.

He is also expected to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Early this year, President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change and renegotiate the deal that was agreed upon by over 190 countries during the previous Obama administration.

Arguing that countries like China and India are benefiting the most from the Paris Agreement, Trump had said that the agreement on climate change was unfair to the US, as it badly hit its businesses and jobs.

The Paris agreements central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise in this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The landmark agreement, which entered into force last November, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.

ALSO READ: Last 15 years experienced as warmest years in India due to climate change

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New Delhi:

North Korea on Thursday fired an intermediate range missile over Japan. The missile was launched from Pyongyang. It was latest outrageous action carried out by North Korea after an underground detonation of nuclear device.

Reacting to the reports of Pyongyang firing missile, Japan strongly condemned the action by saying that these repeated provocations on the part of North Korea are unpermissible and they protest in the strongest words.

According to Reuters, the missile reportedly reached an altitude of about 770 km and flew over a distance of about 3,700 km. The US military had announced that it had detected an intermediate range ballistic missile. The US said the projectile did not pose a threat to North America.

The UN Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned "highly provocative" launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea and demanded that the reclusive nation immediately halt such "outrageous" actions.

The members of the Security Council strongly condemned these launches, condemned further North Korea for its outrageous actions, and demanded that North Korea immediately cease all such actions, the Security Council said in a statement after an emergency meeting.

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under Kim Jong Uns leadership to accelerate a weapons programme designed to give it the ability to target the United States with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile.

With PTI inputs

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New Delhi:

Five security personnel were killed after a remote-controlled bomb went off at a roadside at Pakistans northwestern tribal region sharing borders with Afghanistan on Sunday.

A Pakistani officials told the media that the incident occurred in Bajaur Agency's Loye Mamond area.

He added that the blast place in the town of Mamoond, around 25 kilometres from Khar  one of the country's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts where the army has been battling Taliban.

The official further added that five Levies personnel were patrolling in Garigal area when the vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled explosive device. All five personnel sitting in the vehicle were killed in the incident site.

Also Read: Pakistan: Quetta blast kills 5, injures several other near IGP office



One of the five killed in the bomb blast has been identified as the local Tehsildar Fawad Ali.

Pakistani Army have launched a massive search operation in the area to nab the blast executors and have cordoned the area.

Also Read| Balochistan blast: Death toll rises to 25 in suicide attack, Senate deputy chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri escapes with injuries



The Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the explosion. The outfit in a statement said It wanted to eliminate the black infidel democratic system in Pakistan and impose Islamic justice system.

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Top Dera aide Pradeep Goyal alias Vicky, who was arrested from Udaipur on Saturday, has told the police that Honeypreet is not in India and that she had fled to Nepal.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Did Honeypreet flee to Nepal right under the nose of Haryana police? Top Dera aide Pradeep Goyal alias Vicky, who was arrested from Udaipur on Saturday, has told the police that Honeypreet is not in India and had fled to Nepal.

A team of SIT probing the Panchkula violence tracked down Pradeep Goyal to Udaipur after tracing him and Honeypreet's location to a shopping mall called Celebration Mall. However, the police team could only find Pradeep who is in-charge of Rajasthan Dera unit.

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A police official confirmed that the SIT arrested Pradeep who is yet to be produced before the court. The police will try to get his remand to extract leads.

"We have arrested Prakash and Vijay Sharma from Mohali and Pinjaur. They were produced in the court and have been remanded to police custody. Pradeep Goyal has been arrested by another SIT," DSP, SIT, Panchkula, Rahul Dev told Media after the accused were produced in the court on Sunday.

The police had earlier traced a mobile phone location of Honeypreet Insan in Barmer, Rajasthan. Another location was Udaipur which means she was roaming free in Rajasthan after August 25.

Arrested Dera aide Pradeep Goyal's alleged statement has added to the woes of Haryana police which was at the receiving end and faced allegations of supporting the Dera chief and his henchmen.

Meanwhile, another top Dera aide Vipassana Insan has also allegedly gone into hiding after the police had asked her to join the investigation. According to the Dera sources, she had left for Gursar Modia, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan to hand over some Dera papers to Jasmeet Singh Insan, son of Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

Vipassana has not return to Sirsa and has now switched off her mobile phones. Sources say she has gone into hiding fearing a police action. It is worth mentioning here that, Vipassana had provided a car to Honeypreet on August 25 when she was in Rohtak.

She had also allegedly received a phone call from Honeypreet. Police wanted to get Vipasana's help to trace the whereabouts of Honeypreet besides Dera Spokesperson Dr Aditya Insan. The trio are close confidants of jailed Dera chief and know many secrets about his life, earnings and wrongdoings.

According to a former Dera follower Gurdas Singh Toor, the Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is the brain behind the missing mystery of his aides as their arrest will expose him further.

There were reports that Honeypreet could flee the country after the Dera chief was arrested. Incidentally, the Haryana Police had also sent teams to Indo-Nepal border particularly, after it was alerted about a Punjab vehicle that was found abandoned in Lakhimpur Khiri. However, the police team returned empty handed after the Ludhiana-registered vehicle's owner surfaced.

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The police had also pasted posters of Honeypreet at airports, railway stations after it issued a look out notice for her on September 1. Her posters were also pasted in Maharajganj, Lakheempur Khiri , Sidharth Nagar and Bahraish police stations but she managed to flee.

The Haryana Police is under pressure to nab the missing Dera aides. It has so far made seven arrests in connection with the rioting in Panchkula on August 25. The leads being provided by the arrested aides has resulted in a crackdown and many arrests.

Though Aditya and Honeypreet besides Vipassana are still beyond their reach.

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi:

The Scotland Yards Counter-Terrorism Command arrested a second man on midnight Saturday in connection with the bombing at a London Underground train.

A 21-year-old was arrested by police just before midnight in Hounslow, West London.

Earlier, the police had arrested an 18-year-old man was arrested by Kent police in the port area of Dover on Saturday morning.

Both the suspects have been held under Section 41 of the UKs Terrorism Act and are being questioned at a south London police station.

The Metropolitan Police and its partners across the Counter Terrorism Policing Network have been working around the clock and through the night to identify, locate and arrest those responsible for this cowardly crime, Neil Basu, the Met Polices Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said.

At this stage we are keeping an open mind around whether more than one person is responsible for the attack and we are still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace, he said.

Thirty people are known to have been injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station at around 08:20hrs local time on Friday.

Following the first arrest yesterday, Met Police counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers had evacuated buildings as they began searches at a residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, south-east England.

The search remains ongoing as it emerged that the home belongs to an elderly British couple honoured with an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for their efforts at fostering hundreds of refugee children.

The 18-year-old arrested is believed to have been one of the children fostered by 88-year-old Ronald Jones, 88, and 71 -year-old Penelope Jones.

Meanwhile, the UK terror threat level remains critical, meaning an attack is expected imminently.

The Islamic State (ISIS) group has said it was behind the bomb but Met Polices Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was very routine for ISIS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

The blast, which is being described as a bucket bomb sent a fireball through the Tube causing burn injuries to many commuters.

The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury. (With PTI Inputs)

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New Delhi:

The Metropolitan police arrested an 18-year-old man on Saturday regarding the brutal terror attack on a packed London Tube train. Further, the police claimed that it was a significant development in the ongoing investigation.The man, who has not been named, was arrested by Kent Police in the port area of Dover under the UKs Terrorism Act.

He was taken into custody at a local police station and then transferred to a south London police station. He was arrested on suspicion of committing, preparing or instigating an act of terrorism. Hours later counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers began evacuating buildings to search at a particular residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, south-east England.

The home of two elderly foster carers was being raided by the police. The couple, awarded Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)s for their services to children and families, were said to have fostered hundreds of children.

They said the evacuation was a precautionary measure following the first arrest in the investigation into the bombing of the underground train a day earlier.We have made a significant arrest in our investigation this morning.

Although we are pleased with the progress made, this investigation continues and the threat level remains at critical, said Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu.

Nearly 29 people were injured during the attack in which on Londons Tube train at Parsons Green underground station during the morning rush hour on Friday.

Basu, also the UKs Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, seemed to indicate that the force was still on the hunt for further suspects.

This arrest will lead to more activity from our officers. For strong investigative reasons we will not give any more details on the man we arrested at this stage.

The public should remain vigilant as our staff, officers and partners continue to work through this complex investigation. We are not, at this time, changing our protective security measures and the steps taken to free up extra armed officers remain in place, he added.

UK security minister Ben Wallace said that there was potentially a very dangerous individual or individuals out there and we need to track them down.

The Met Police said so far detectives have spoken to 45 witnesses and continue to receive information from the public to the confidential anti-terrorist hotline. The ISIS has said it was behind the bomb but Met Polices Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was very routine for them to claim such attacks. However, it wasnt still proved whether the terrorist group was involved in the attack or not.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said that military would provide support to police and replace officers on guard duty at national infrastructure sites not accessible to the public.

It is part of the first phase of Operation Temperer, activated when the terror threat level reaches its highest possible. This is a proportionate and sensible step which will provide extra reassurance and protection while the investigation progresses, May said.

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd chaired a meeting of the emergency response COBRA committee today to confirm that the terror threat level would remain at critical.

This is the fourth time the UK national terror threat level has been raised to critical since the system was made public in 2006. The last time was in May 2017 following the Manchester Arena bombing. During that time it was feared that the bomb-maker was still at large and could strike again.

May took the decision after the independent Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre recommended raising the threat level to critical meaning another attack is expected.

The blast, which is being described as a bucket bomb, sent a fireball through the Tube causing burn injuries to many commuters. Anti-terror police are understood to be working on the theory that the bomb was detonated early by accident.

The theory also says that the intended target may have been the Tube station at Westminster, near Parliament in central. Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick described the attack as cowardly and indiscriminate as she joined her forces to patrol the streets on London.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said significant police activity would continue over the weekend and thanked police, adding: They are there to keep us safe.

With PTI inputs

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UK primary teachers during a workshop at CERN's IdeaSquare (Image: Sophia Bennett/CERN)By Amanda Poole & Angelos AlexopoulosPlaying with Protons UK seeks to develop participants subject knowledge and confidence in areas of physics, as well as to share the awe and wonder of current developments in particle physics, cosmology and engineering that make CERN one of the most exciting research infrastructures on the planet. It also seeks to inspire teachers to create amazing learning opportunities for children back in the UK that can be shared across partnerships of schools.In this years programme the participating teachers enjoyed interactive visits to the innovative exhibitions in the Globe and Microcosm; this gave a real insight into the story of CERN as well as a fantastic introduction to the operation of the LHC and the experiments that are currently in action. Participants were very fortunate to have expert guide Mick Storr, a fellow of the University of Birmingham who has spent his career at CERN as both an experimental particle physicist and software engineer. Storr had a wealth of stories to tell that really helped the participants appreciate the amazing work that has been done at CERN over the years, as well as the exciting innovations and developments that are going on today  a contribution that really helped make this a memorable experience for all involved."CERN has shown me that there is far more to our Universe than we speak of in our philosophies  now to inspire children to question more and discover more!" Raj Dharma, Daubeney Primary School"My mind has been stretched in every direction before radically new thoughts formed and started to make sense. I love walking around the facility, seeing the people and ideas at the cutting edge of the unknown. Awesome!" Maggie Boyd, Churchdown Village Junior SchoolParticipants were fortunate to have visits to the CMS experiment, the ATLAS experiment and the Synchrocyclotron as well as a very special evening tour of the, now retired, UA1 experiment where the W and Z bosons were discovered in 1983. In addition, they participated in a range of educational and creative workshops provided by Ogden Trust teacher fellows Jenny Watson, Jackie Flaherty and Amanda Poole, and Maria Pavlidou from the University of Birmingham. Visiting speakers came from all over the world: Amber Strunck Henry, education and outreach coordinator at LIGO-Hanford Observatory in the USA, Effrosyni Nomikou at the University College London's Institute of Education, and Tina Nantsou, primary physics school teacher at Hill Memorial School in Athens, Greece."Like the Universe is still expanding, so too is my knowledge and understanding of Physics! I feel it is so important to share all this new learning and excitement with my students." Gemma-Louise Blair, Hillmead Primary School"A memorable week with new concepts learnt. The CMS experiment was the real highlight and really helped bring all my new learning together." Emily Fryer, St. Alphege Church of England Junior School"What an incredible experience to be a part of! During my time at CERN my mind has been blown like particles colliding in the LHC. I cant wait to share all of my ideas with my colleagues and the children too!" Kelly Taylor, Kingswood Primary SchoolA highlight of the week was the talks given by experimental particle physicist Michael Doser and theoretical physicist John Ellis  the participants were honoured that these inspirational members of CERN took time out of their busy schedules to come and talk about their work and answer their questions.The next steps for this project are even more exciting  how to take this new learning and inspire the next generation and their families. As the participants prepared for their journey home they had already begun to discuss their innovative ideas for their schools and classrooms as well as how they could collaborate for even wider impact. The UK Playing with Protons team is ready for action and so grateful to the CMS experiment at CERN, the University of Birmingham, the STFC, the Ogden Trust and the CREATIONS project for the parts they have played in creating this once in a lifetime experience.UK primary teachers get hands-on to learn physics through simple experiments (Image: Sophia Bennett/CERN)"This week has been truly inspirational  it has sparked a new curiosity in me which will continue back in the UK. The practical activities and range of visits and speakers have given me endless ideas and I am excited to explore these with my school and cluster." Jodie Lea, Fairford Church of England Primary SchoolPlaying with Protons is an education initiative led by the CMS experiment at CERN, bringing together primary school teachers, science education specialists and CERN researchers to develop creative approaches to helping primary students engage effectively in physics, discovery and innovation.https://cms.cern/news/cms-and-cern-inspire-uk-primary-school-teachers-play-protons
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) From drug addiction to legal troubles Sanjay Dutt has seen a lot in his life and the actor hopes his son does not become like him.

Dutt, who is the son of veteran actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt, had a tough time getting over his drug addiction. He was arrested for illegal possession of arms in a case related to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

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Last year he was released from the Yerawada Jail where he served 42 months as a part of his five-year sentence.

At the India Today Mind Rocks Youth Summit, Dutt said he cannot afford to bear the pain his father went through because of his tumultuous life.

"My father raised us as normal children. I was sent to a boarding school, I went through the grind. And I am the same way with my children.

"I try to teach them the values of life, give them sanskaar, and teach them (that) respect for elders is very important even if they are your servants. And that you have got to value life. I only pray my son is not like me. Because what my dad went through, I dont want to go through that," Dutt said.

The actor has three-year-old son Shahraan and daughter Iqra with wife Maanayata Dutt. He also has a daughter, Trishala, from his first wife Richa Sharma.

Dutt, 58, also opened up about his struggle with drug addiction and said now when he is over it, he advises youngsters to stay way from it and get high "on life".

"I got into drugs in college. It used to be like if youre not into it, youre not in the scene. So, I started it, but I got so hooked on to it that it took me about 10 years to get out.

"But I was lucky that I had the means and the provisions to get out of it. I saw life differently without drugs and I want to tell the young guys that please stay high on your life, on your family, or your work. Theres no substance which can make you high."

The actor will be seen next in "Bhoomi". The movie marks his first after his release from prison last year. PTI SHD BK

--- ENDS ---


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By PTI: United Nations, Sep 17 (PTI) India, one of the top countries contributing to the peacekeeping mission of the UN, has welcomed the US decision to bring reforms to the practices of the peacekeeping missions of the world body.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikky Haley recently announced that America is changing the way peacekeeping is done by the country.

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"On peacekeeping, our views are very clear. Peacekeeping by itself is a tool that the UN uses until it resolves the issues. So, if the US would like to address some of the shortcomings of peacekeeping its a welcome development," said Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin yesterday.

"We are a major contributing country, but we are also beyond that. India is a major contributing country because we have 7,000 of our troops in the field but we are ready to look at other options that other countries may have," he said, responding to a question on the Americas move to carry out reforms in the practices of the peacekeeping missions of the world body.

Akbaruddin refuted any impression that there is any conflict of interest between India and the US on this.

"We do not see a conflict or relationship on that, We see a partnership. We are working with the US on a broad range of peacekeeping initiatives, including training of peacekeepers from Africa. Both India and US work together to train peacekeepers from Africa," he said.

The top Indian diplomat said that peacekeeping is a major major area of activity and India will certainly engage with the US on all fronts on that.

Akbaruddin said India engages with the US bilaterally, plurilaterally and multilaterally.

"You will see that engagement with the US during the course of this week in bilateral interactions, in plurilateral interactions and in multilateral interactions," said the Indian Permanent Representative to the UN.

India is the largest cumulative troop contributor, having provided almost 200,000 troops in nearly 50 of the 71 peacekeeping missions mandated over the past six decades, including 13 of the current 16 missions. PTI LKJ UZM

--- ENDS ---
Heres what war with North Korea would actually look like: 20,000 dead in the first 24 hours

To borrow a phrase that was used hundreds  if not thousands  of times by leftists in the months following the election of Barack Obama, President Trump was dealt a bad hand. This is not an excuse for inaction or strategic mistakes, however, sort of like how the liberals used it to cover up Obamas foolishness. Rather, the fact that Donald Trump was dealt a bad hand with regards to foreign policy is simply reality. Due largely to the fecklessness and the submissiveness of the prior administration on the global stage, America now faces several dangerous threats, not the least of which is North Korea.

For months now, President Trump and Kim Jong-Un have been engaged in a war of words, so to speak, with both leaders casting threats at one another without actually pulling the trigger. However, in addition to these threats, Kim Jong-Un has been repeatedly testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, almost as if he is trying to provoke the United States into making the first move. Many Americans and conservative commentators, such as nationally syndicated radio host The Great One Mark Levin, rightfully believe that the time has come for us to consider taking action against North Korea before they have a chance to strike.

He needs to be taken out, Levin said of Kim Jong-Un on his radio program back in April. This inbred is hell-bent on developing long-range ICBMs  which he doesnt need. Levin went on to explain that hes not a neocon, and that he just wants to protect America.

Indeed, the time to strike North Korea may have arrived. Waiting around while one of our greatest enemies continues to threaten us and produce powerful long-range weapons is not a strategy; it is surrender. But before the United States officially pulls the trigger, it is helpful to know what exactly we would be getting ourselves into.

Rob Givens, who was the deputy assistant chief of staff for operations of U.S. Forces Korea as well as special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently published an article on BreakingDefense.com to help shed some light on the matter. According to Givens, war with North Korea will look something like this: Thousands of aircraft will wage an epic battle across the entire Korean Peninsula. The two American Air Force fighter wings  100-plus fighter aircrafts permanently stationed there  accompanied by our South Korean partners would fight the opening minutes, striking against the Norths aged, but plentiful air forces while also bombing Kim Jong-Uns missiles and artillery.

Givens ultimately concludes, North Koreas casualties would be appalling. The estimates are that we would inflict 20,000 casualties on the North each day of combat. Sadly, this sort of violence and mayhem is expected when two nations go to war with each other. While 20,000 North Korean casualties per day is certainly unfortunate, it would be unwise for President Trump and his military advisors to let it dissuade them from taking action. There is simply too much on the line. (Related: Read about why preppers should expect a war between the U.S. and North Korea, and what they should do to prepare.)

What would happen if one day, North Koreas threats turned into action? What if they finally developed an effective ICBM that could carry a nuclear warhead over a long distance, and then used that ICBM to reduce one of Americas cities to rubble? And then what if instead of U.S. forces taking the battle to the other side of the world, the North Koreans infiltrated our country and began taking over? The amount of innocent American lives that would be taken would be innumerable, and as commander-in-chief, that is something that President Trump should do everything in his power to prevent. Because when it comes to war with North Korea, it really is a simple reality  its either them or us.

Sources Include:

ConservativeReview.com

BreakingDefense.com

Submit a correction >>
Monday

The Valley Shore Toastmasters: meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Madison Senior Center (cafe), 29 Bradley Road. Email valleyshoretm@yahoo.com or visit http://valleyshore.toastmastersclubs.org.

Tuesday

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Tuesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

The Rotary Club of Hamden: meets each Tuesday. For meeting time and location please visit the calendar section of their website at www.hamdenctrotary.org.

The Nutmeg Chapter of Toastmasters International: meets at 7 p.m. at The Willows Care and Rehab Center, 225 Amity Road, Woodbridge. Visit http://764.toastmastersclubs.org.

The Rotary Club of New Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at the Graduate Club, 155 Elm St. Call 203-624-3197.

The Rotary Club of North Haven: meets at 7:15 a.m. at the Breakfast Nook, 448 Washington Ave. Visit www.nhrotary.org.

Wednesday

The Rotary Club of Branford: meets from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. at the Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Call 203-315-2444, ext. 450.

The Devon Rotary: meets at 7:30 a.m. at the Bridge House Restaurant, 49 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. Visit www.devonrotary.org.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Wednesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

The Rotary Club of Guilford: meets at 12:15 p.m. at The Maritime Grille, 2548 Boston Post Road, Guilford. Call 203-453-0774.

The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association: meets at 11 a.m. at 192 Dixwell Ave. Call 203-562-2193.

The Rotary Club of Wallingford: meets at 12:10 p.m. at Il Monticello, 577 S. Broad St., Meriden. Call 203-235-3816.

North Branford Rotary: meets at 6 p.m. at Nataz, 2025 Foxon Road. Call 203-484-7707.

The Greater New Haven Breakfast Club: meets at 8 a.m. at Clarks Pizza & Restaurant, 68 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Email info@rosnerdoherty.com.

The Rotary Club of West Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Apps Ristorante, 283 Captain Thomas Blvd.

Thursday

The Seymour Oxford Rotary Club: meets at 7:15 a.m. at Route 67 Diner, Klarides Village, Route 67 in Seymour. Fellow Rotarians and all interested persons are invited to attend. Contact Nancy Valentine at nvbv@hotmail.com or 203 734 6945.

The New Haven Lions Club: meets at 7 p.m. at Brazis Italian Restaurant, 201 Food Terminal Plaza. Public is invited; for information, call Jim Traester at 203-562-9868.

The Madison Rotary Club: meets at 8 a.m. at the Madison Senior Center, 29 Bradley Road. Call Robert Anderson, 203-907-9032.

The Orange Chamber of Commerces Health & Wellness Council: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the chamber, 605 Orange Center Road. Call 203-795-3328 or email info@orangetchamber.com.

The Clinton Rotary Club: meets 6:30 p.m. at Clinton Country Club, Old Westbrook Road. Call Dee Tully at 860-388-7013.

The East Haven Rotary Club: meets at 5:45 p.m. at Twin Pines Diner Restaurant, 34 Main St., East Haven.

The Milford Rotary Club meets: from 12:15-1:15 p.m. at Gusto Restaurant, 255 Boston Post Road. Visit www.milfordrotary.org.

Friday

The Orange Rotary Club: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Racebrook Country Club, 246 Derby Ave. Call 203-799-2327.

The Woodbridge Rotary Club: meets at 12:15 p.m. for a luncheon meeting at Woodbridge Social, 12 Selden St., Woodbridge. For more information, call Mary Ellen LaRocca at 203-389-3429.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Friday Morning Leads Group: meets at 11 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

Send notices of business events to Business Datebook, New Haven Register, 100 Gando Drive, New Haven 06513 or email to business@nhregister.com, at least a week before the event.
Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

NORTH BRANFORD >> NASCAR officials say modified championship racer Ted Christopher was one of two people killed when a small plane crashed in Connecticut.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirms that two people were aboard a Mooney M20C plane that went down in the woods near the North Branford-Guilford border shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday. They didnt release names.
HARTFORD >> An attorney for the student pilot who died in a plane crash in Connecticut has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the flight school involved.

In the lawsuit, an attorney for Feras Freitekh accuses the American Flight Academy of carelessness and negligence. Attorney Michael Peck says he is claiming there were also maintenance issues with the plane.
At least were getting our money back.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals decision to leave the city and set up its world headquarters next door in Boston and take 400 jobs with it is shocking and surprising  and a bit dispiriting.

A big deal was made of the company moving its headquarters to New Haven from Cheshire less than two years ago.

Ludwig Hantson, the companys chief executive officer, said the relocation of its headquarters is part of a larger restructuring that includes laying off 20 percent of the companys worldwide workforce. Alexion will leave 450 workers at its College Street offices.

But even with that, Alexions relocating leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

It seems after the taxpayers of Connecticut gave the company $50 million under the states First Five economic development program in 2012 to shore up its business, as well as offer the company the tax breaks it needed not to relocate its company out of the state, the company has decided New Haven doesnt offer what it needs for it to remain a viable company.

It apparently forgot the statement its then-CEO made when first relocating to the city in 2016: We think New Haven represents the potential to be an ideal environment to be a vibrant life sciences city, said David L. Hallal.

The loan to the stock-traded company with a $34 billion market capitalization in 2016 didnt sit well with a lot of lawmakers, but Gov. Dannel P. Malloy argued that competition was fierce to retain companies in the biotech market.

Hantson said the restructuring is necessary to position the company for future growth, refocus spending and promote growth in shareholder value going forward.

Thats a nice sound bite to ride out of town with, but were not sure why the company couldnt achieve its goals here in the Elm City and the Constitution State.

New Haven was good enough when Alexion opened its $100 million, 14-story glass-encased office and lab research structure at 100 College St. amid TV coverage and front-page headlines. Connecticut was good enough for Alexion when it was shelling over millions and incentives for the company to stay put when it was considering relocating out of state.

So what changed?

There is some good news.

Catherine Smith, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development, said the states deal calls for Alexion to pay back $20 million in loans from the state, $6 million in grant money and $2.1 million in penalties and interest.

And Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said while Alexions decision is a setback for New Haven, it is unlikely to have a long-term negative impact on the citys economy.

We certainly hope not.

Alexions departure should be a lesson to Connecticut that handing wealthy companies millions in low-interest loans and tax breaks does not guarantee they will stay put.

Connecticut should rethink how it handles its deals with businesses.
By PTI: London, Sep 17 (PTI) An ancient Indian manuscript, dating back to the third century, has revealed the oldest recorded use of zero - pushing back one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics back by over 500 years, Oxford scientists say.

Bakhshali manuscript was found in 1881, buried in a field in what was then an Indian village called Bakhshali, now in Pakistan. It has been at the Bodleian Libraries in the UK since 1902.

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Researchers at University of Oxford in the UK used carbon dating to trace the origins of zero to the Bakhshali manuscript.

They found that the text contained hundreds of zeroes, putting the birth of zero or nought as it is also known, at 500 years earlier than scholars first thought.

The text dates back to the third or fourth century, making it the oldest recorded use of the symbol.

Previous studies asserted that the Bakhshali manuscript probably dated from between the 8th and the 12th century.

However, new carbon dating reveals that the reason why it was previously so difficult for scholars to pinpoint the Bakhshali manuscripts date is because the manuscript, which consists of 70 fragile leaves of birch bark, is in fact composed of material from at least three different periods.

"Determining the date of the Bakhshali manuscript is of vital importance to the history of mathematics and the study of early South Asian culture," said Richard Ovenden from Bodleian Libraries.

The concept of the symbol as we know and use today, began as a simple dot, which was widely used as a placeholder to represent orders of magnitude in the ancient Indian numbers system ? for example 10s, 100s and 1000s, researchers said.

It features prominently in the Bakhshali manuscript, which is widely acknowledged as the oldest Indian mathematical text, they said.

The earliest recorded example of the use of zero was previously believed to be a 9th century inscription of the symbol on the wall of a temple in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

Although a number of ancient cultures including the ancient Mayans and Babylonians also used the zero placeholder, the dots use in the Bakhshali manuscript is the one that ultimately evolved into the symbol that we use today, researchers said.

"The creation of zero as a number in its own right, which evolved from the placeholder dot symbol found in the Bakhshali manuscript, was one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics," said Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

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"We now know that it was as early as the 3rd century that mathematicians in India planted the seed of the idea that would later become so fundamental to the modern world. The findings show how vibrant mathematics have been in the Indian sub-continent for centuries," du Sautoy added. PTI APA MHN MHN

--- ENDS ---
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NEW HAVEN >> The life and work of Frederick Douglass, the famous African-American abolitionist who helped rally black soldiers to fight for the Union during the Civil War, was honored Saturday in recognition of how his work still resonates.

The event, New Havens Response to Charlottesville, was held in Criscuolo Park, where Douglass once spoke to the 29th Colored Regiment, an all-black volunteer regiment mustered in 1864 out of Fair Haven, according to connecticuthistory.org.

Kelly Mero, president of The Descendants of the Connecticut 29th Colored Voluntary Infantry, can trace her heritage back to a soldier from the 29th regiment through her father, Harrison Mero. She said that making a connection between Douglasss work and the nations racial climate is important because his work is still as relevant today as it was 200 years ago.

What makes it different is when Douglass was alive, few people not of color were among his crowds, she said. Today, so many people are coming together to agitate and speak out in favor of diversity.

The celebration was organized by the Amistad Committee to commemorate the upcoming 200th anniversary of Douglasss birth. The committee was formed in 1988 to educate about and honor the African captives aboard the schooner Amistad who attempted to revolt in 1839 and were brought to New Haven. After a trial held there, the Africans were freed by a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Nathan Richardson, who portrayed Douglass at the event, said he feels humbled by the opportunity to represent the historical figure. He is a poet, author and spoken word performer on The Frederick Douglass Speaking Tour. His performance was a creative portrayal taken from speeches and biographical material of Douglasss life.

Im fortunate for not only what Im representing but that Im doing it at a time where Im part of such a monumental shift, Richardson said. Speaking about the protests and counter protests of white supremacists in Charlottesville in August he added, Im hopeful that what we see is not a resurgence, but the beginning of the end, the last breath.

New Haven resident Don Richardson said he knows every word of Douglasss famed speech What to a slave is the Fourth of July? which was recited at the event. He said one of his favorite quotes by Douglass is men are whipped oftenest who are whipped easiest.

There are so many life lessons Ive learned from Douglass that I share with people, he said. The importance of Douglass is that he stood against it (racism) when it was more dangerous to the life of him and his family and friends.

The morning featured music by the Heritage Chorale and a keynote address by the Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Streets of Dixwell Congressional Church.

All the speakers talked about unity, equality, diversity and standing up for those values.

Being accepting, those were Douglasss words and thats what our words were today, recognizing our oneness, Mero said. And New Haven is rich in that.
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SHORELINE >> From the town green, to the shores of Long Island Sound, kindness is popping up all along the Shoreline in the form of artfully decorated rocks.

With unique designs and messages that include Peace, Be Happy and Stand Tall, these works of art that fit in the palm of your hand are an inspiration to many.

Madison resident Tammi Davis found her first Kindness Rock during the Touch A Truck event she attended this summer with her son, Caleb, 7 and her 4-year-old daughter, Reagan.

It was such a nice feeling to find the rock and it made my day, says Davis. Its something so small.

The two-toned blue rock, with a sun, a seagull and the words Gull Rock covering it, was left at the Academy School by a visitor from Erie, Penn. On the reverse side was written Facebook Rock Out Erie.

It was through the Facebook page that Davis connected with the artist. She told me the story on how she put them around town, hoping to spread the kindness around, she recalls.

Davis knew Madison needed to get involved, so she created the Facebook page, The MAD CT Rocks. It is through this site that the real impact of the Kindness Rock Project shines through.

I found this #kindnessrock in Madison yesterday! writes Liz Dunn, along with a photo of a rock painted with the word Play.

It was on the sign at the end of the driveway to Ryerson Elementary, she continues. Im soaking up the time with my two little ones this week before school starts back up, so this was a perfect little reminder. #kindnessrocksproject.

Megan Murphy started The Kindness Rocks Project in Cape Cod two and a half years ago. It start as started as a hobby and it really took off because as people from around the world visit, they find the rocks and then they go home and start the project in their communities, she explains.

In a phone call from her home in Massachusetts, Murphy says she is thrilled to hear the phenomenon is spreading across the Shoreline.

Its so wonderful how its spreading, says Murphy. I think the message is really needed.

Its not that the message is needed today, she emphasizes, its always needed and the fact that people are coming on board and recognizing that we can each make a big difference and have an impact no matter whats going on. It gives people hope.

Murphy is quick to add that she started Kindness Rocks, but it is others that are helping to propagate it.

I never planned on creating this movement, says Murphy. It was just something that naturally happened.

Libby Wittner-Heinz is amazed by how fast the concept has taken hold in Guilford. She estimates that upwards of 200 Kindness Rocks have been created since her first Kindness Rock post on social media at the beginning of August.

Many of the Kindness Rocks left in special spots throughout Guilford have the message Simply Guilford, CT on the flip side, encouraging those finding them to post a photo on the Facebook site. Photos are also posted on CT Shoreline ROCKS Facebook.

I put the pictures of the rocks that I did on Simply Guilford, or just on Facebook, and all of a sudden people would even request rocks from me, Wittner-Heinz says.

It just took off, likeI cant even explain how it took off, the 70-year-old says. Then I was getting all these requests and people were calling me The Rock Lady and then other people, who were much better artist than myself, started putting pictures of their work on Facebook.

Now its expanded so much, she adds. Its just unbelievable.

Terri Donarumo, who teaches art at Guilfords Calvin Leete School and Melissa Jones Elementary School, collected over 500 rocks during the summer. These rocks have been painted by her students and are being dispersed throughout town.

I thought it would be a great first day of art, ice breaker project, considering over the summer I saw how Kindness Rocks kind of really built up and became a big profound movement in Guilford, Donarumo says.

We went into an in depth discussion about what these Kindness Rocks are, she explains, what they mean, what happens when you find one and just how to promote being kind and doing something nice and inspiring others.

The creations are usually left around high traffic areas including E.C. Scranton Library, the Madison Senior Center and Rockland Preserve in Madison and in Guilford on the green, at Jacobs Beach and the Guilford Town Marina.

While Guilford resident Beth Freeborn enjoys planting her creations where people congregate, she also finds joy in leaving them in unique places.

I put them in places thats not high traffic for everybody, but its high traffic for me, like going to the bank, she says.

Jennifer Cruet has been fortunate to find five of these special treasures in her travels around Guilford.

Its like youre discovering a little treasure, she says. Youre discovering a little gem.

I think when people find them they never fail to bring a smile to peoples faces, the Guilford resident adds. Ive seen other people find them and they always bring a smile to their faces.

She believes people find rocks that are meant specifically for them. Case in point, her discovery of a rock bearing the New York Yankees logo. After posting it on Simply Guilford, CT she received a message.

A woman responded to my post by saying, My son painted that rock and hes so happy that you found it.

I told her, Tell your son Im keeping it because it might bring the Yankees luck and I love the Yankees, Im a big Yankee fan. She said her son was so happy.

Cruet added, laughing, They did win yesterday, after I found the rock.

It is interactions like this that make this growing phenomenon so positive.

Its a win-win, she says.

There is also a much bigger message with the Kindness Rocks, she believes.

In the world, in general, theres a lot of anger and hate out there right now, she says.

I think that it was a beautiful anecdote to the hate, she adds. People just got so caught up in the Kindness Rocks and it brightened peoples days.

The rock artists tools include Sharpie Permanent Markers, acrylic paint, shellac and Modge Podge. Many of the rocks are designed to withstand all types of weather.

I use dimension fabric paint that works really well because its waterproof, says Freeborn, and I use nail polish, (its) inexpensive and it comes in all kinds of colors and sparkles.

The smoother the rock, the easier it is to paint, but any type of small rock works for the project. They can be collected in nature or purchased at The Home Depot or Michaels Arts & Crafts.

Freeborn collects her rocks at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown, R.I.

They are nice and smooth, she comments. Ive seen other rocks on Simply Guilford where people obviously just grabbed rocks out of their yard, but thats fine, too, because it adds texture to the rock when you paint it.

She applauds the children who are involved with the project at a very young age. I can tell some rocks that Ive seen on Simply Guilford are made by kids that are little, little, which I think is very good because youre teaching them a nice lesson.

While each Kindness Rock is unique and different, they represent a universal message.

Without words theres still a meaning of kindness behind it and a message from somebody to pass onto a stranger, says Jeff Larsen, Jr., of Guilford, who discovered a Kindness Rock at the Guilford Savings Bank ATM machine.

Its definitely neat to see that it finally reached Guilford and people have taken advantage of it and keep it going, he adds.

Wittner-Heinz, a retired Baldwin Middle School special education paraprofessional, is finding great joy in the project.

Its like paying it forward, she says, making people happy, making people enjoy their day.

Its a wonderful inspiration for me, she adds, to do good for young people, old people and any people who are out there that need an uplift.

Facebook Kindness Rocks Project; Simply Guilford, CT; MAD CT Rocks and CT Shoreline ROCKS; thekindnessrocksproject.com
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BROOKFIELD  There hasnt been much to laugh about for Hillary Clinton.

Not when you win the popular vote, but lose the election to Donald Trump.

But nestled beneath pallets of paper towels and Poland Spring at the back of Costco warehouse in Brookfield, Clinton LOLd - laughed out loud  Saturday, as she signed copies of her memoir What Happened for about 1,000 diehards.

Many of them had camped out overnight, including Deserie Sargent, whose Im with nasty pin and covfefe #resist hat  a dig at Trumps Twitter typo  provided a moment of levity for Clinton.

It was worth it, Sargent said.

The Stratford resident arrived there at 2 a.m.  early by most shoppers standards but eight hours later than Eric Bosco-Schmidt and his husband, Tony Bosco-Schmidt, who with their son, Tyler, 9, and daughter, Maya, 16, were first in line to meet Clinton.

Wow, you were here yesterday, Clinton said, shaking hands with the Brookfield family, who pitched a tent outside the big box store.

In the first of two scheduled visits to Connecticut on Clintons national book tour, it was shades of Black Friday - minus the discounted electronics and door busters; not with the Secret Service calling the shots, as they did for the former secretary of state and former first lady.

I was just on the phone with my mother and she said, Are you crazy?  said Eric Bosco-Schmidt, 52, who arrived at Costco around 6:15 p.m. Friday.

Supporters and protesters

Huma Abedin, the longtime Clinton confidant who had been in line to be White House chief of staff, helped choreograph the steady stream of shoppers like a campaign rope line.

Right through the curtain, maam, Abedin, the estranged wife of disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, directed Clinton devotees, as they picked up their signed books.

Once the other side of the curtain, in the dairy section, the $30 memoir and copies of Clintons 2006 childrens book, It Takes a Village, were neatly arranged on tables.

When does the former first lady come to the town where you live Tony Bosco-Schmidt said.

It was a cathartic experience for many of Clintons supporters, including Michelle Greene, who on her night off from her job as a group home residential instructor settled into a camping chair outside the store.

I think she was totally robbed, said Greene, 52, of Redding.

A smattering of protesters with Hillary for Prison signs and Make American Great Again were relegated to a street corner across from the store, where they blamed Clinton for the deaths of the four Americans in the 2012 Benghazi attack.

Im sure she has armed security here, said Michael DelValle, 58, a semi-retired Ferrari technician from Brookfield.

A few yards away from him, Brookfield High School freshman Steven Cioffi held up a sign that said, Hillary drinks almond milk.

Frank Weller, 66, of Danbury, who met Clinton with his daughters in 2000 when she was first lady, didnt see the point of protesting.

I think theyve got better things to do, Weller said.

Unusual shopping day

Alexandra Prendergast, 19, a sophomore at Wesleyan University in Middletown, where Clinton is scheduled to sign books on Oct. 21, drove to Costco at 1 a.m. after pulling an all-nighter the previous night.

I did sleep in my car, said Prendergast, who is from Danbury and served as a page for U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., when she was in high school.

Prendergasts parents relieved her in the morning and saved her spot in line, so she could go home and shower.

Im interested in running for public office someday, she said.

Clinton did not disappoint, handing Prendergast a copy of her business card when the college student asked about volunteer opportunities.

That was absolutely incredible, she said. You can really tell how much she cares about the cause.

Out of sight from the front entrance of Costco, the line to meet Clinton extended from a rear storage area to the tire shop, which remained opened. Inside the garage bays, employees looked quizzically at the Clinton faithful.

Carlos Rogers  joined by sons Brian, 4, and Lucas, 9, who munched on Starburst candies handed out by Brookfield police  was dumbfounded when people started lining up Friday night.

I said, Nobodys gonna be there,  said Rogers, whose younger son was asleep in his arms by the time they finally met Clinton shorty after noon.

In contrast to the New York City launch of her tour, when she was an hour late, Clinton was punctual. She wore a blue tunic over slacks, escorted by a phalanx of Secret Service agents and handlers who had worked on her 2016 campaign.

Clintons diehards passed through an airport-style checkpoint with metal detectors once inside the store, where the front check-out area was uncharacteristically desolate on a busy Saturday afternoon.

This is where the toilet paper is, right here, Rogers said, pointing to a corner of the building.
cp091817pink

DERBY  The 8th Annual Valley Goes Pink invites the community to have a great night of dining for a good cause with its Annual Waiters Go Pink event on Sept. 25 at Wellingtons Restaurant, 51 Huntington St., Shelton.

Starting at 5:30 p.m., participants can enjoy Wellingtons diverse menu of upmarket American fare served by celebrity volunteer waiters. All tips will benefit Valley Goes Pink.
NEW HAVEN >> The bright yellow church with a dark red roof stands as a testament to a Greek Orthodox parishs commitment to the city that has welcomed Greek immigrants since the early 20th century.

St. Basils Greek Orthodox Church, which has worshiped for years in a building that was built as a community center, held a procession Sunday with the parishs icons to the new basilica-style church on Church Street South, modeled after St. Anns Church in Kifissia, Greece, a suburb of Athens.

For generations to come, people will come and be in a traditional Greek church, said Spyros Condos, president of the parish council and of the nonprofit New Haven Greek Community, which owns the property near Tower One/Tower East and which built the church.

The stucco and metal-roofed church represents the culmination of a journey that began in 1985, when St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, until then based on Dwight Street, split in an acrimonious drama that landed the two sides in court. Two-thirds of the congregation, about 300 families, moved to Race Brook Road in Orange. The rest remained in the city, renting space from Center Church on the Green until they settled into their current location off Route 34.

The members of St. Basils say they felt committed to New Haven.

Greeks came early and they were very successful in the city, said Nanne Tambis, who remembers when the cornerstone was laid for the Dwight Street church on Dec. 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

There were Greek restaurants all up and down Chapel Street, she said. I wanted a church in New Haven. That was my ulterior motive, Tambis said. We worked hard; we suffered a lot.

Tambis daughter, Penelope Tambis, said, For me to realize this journey has come about in due time is incredibly gratifying to me. In a time when churches are closing, it is pretty extraordinary that we are opening.

It hasnt been easy for St. Basils members, who announced that they would build their own church in 1994. Since then, the New Haven Greek Community has been raising money, through renting the parking lot on the site and fundraisers, and worshiping with a succession of temporary priests until the Rev. Donat Augusta arrived in 2005.

They were in makeshift quarters, rented facilities  people got discouraged and went elsewhere, said Augusta, who has been a priest for 47 years but for most of that time worked in the secular world as well. Hes a retired graphic artist for Middlesex Community College. Since he joined St. Basils as its pastor, membership has stabilized at about 80 families.

Father Don brings so much enthusiasm; that makes such a difference, Penelope Tambis said. A vision comes from the helm.

I think the struggles kind of purify things, Augusta said. When you struggle, you love more.  Troubles are the tools by which God fashions us for greater things.

Because of the support of the New Haven Greek Community, the parish will only have to pay for salaries, utilities and basic expenses. The nonprofit pays for things such as insurance and major maintenance. That enables us to put the financials together and build the church, and the city was very instrumental; Redevelopment, City Plan was very helpful all those 30 years, Condos said.

To me, I knew someday it would happen, but I never thought it would happen to this extent, downtown New Haven, centrally located and beyond my expectations, said Nanne Tambis.

St. Basils was able to take advantage of the fact that, 30 years ago, no one was very interested in this piece of land, said Arven Saunders of Hamden, who joined St. Basils in 2001. No one else saw the value and everyone was running for the exits, and that long-term vision paid off. He said it took a lot of strength and perseverance to get to where we are now.

Saunders said the new church is like a dream realized.  My interest in this parish is that we are in such a position for growth. Bright, huge, amazing future ahead of us  more diversity, more intellectual growth. Thats why we like being here, the intellectual center of Connecticut.

Besides local Greek-Americans and Greek immigrants, St. Basils attracts many members from Yale University, Condos said.

Thirty or so years ago, everybody was leaving the city and so the city [government] wanted to keep people in the city, Augusta said. The Greek community went to the city and said, We want to be committed also to New Haven and so they gave this property to this parish. St. Basils is committed to New Haven, to the revitalization of New Haven  and were happy to be here, he said.

Athena Condos, Spyros wife, is head of the St. Basil Greek School, which teaches the Greek language on Saturday mornings to children age 4 to 15. For me to have this new church, it means that whatever effort I put [in], my time, my commitment, my Greek school effort had their resolution. There was something at the end worthwhile for whatever I put in.

Sunday, the service began in the old building, then the congregation moved to the church for its conclusion. For now, the interior isnt finished. Rather than pews, the congregation will sit in folding chairs. Thats because everything, including the iconostasis, the wall of icons separating the congregation from the sanctuary, is being made in Greece.

Its been a 35-year journey and its an extraordinary edifice, but the icing on the cake is on a tanker from Greece, Penelope Tambis said.

St. Basils is also getting ready for its annual Greek Cultural Fair, which its held since 2003  for a couple of those years in the basement of Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green. This year, fairgoers will get to see the new church, designed by the firm of Kenneth Boroson Architects.

People are getting excited about this, Augusta said. Waiting all this time and overcoming all the doubts and everything, its more than a dream come true. Its a blessing come true.

Call Ed Stannard at 203-680-9382.
An open letter to President Lahey:

As you are aware, this past year Pomona College issued a statement in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA). This statement was described by its authors as a moral imperative and national necessity. As of today, 646 different university presidents have signed on in support. These presidents represent every single one of our 20 peer-institutes, every Ivy League, and 23 different Connecticut schools. This past spring, both a faculty petition and a Student Government declaration called for you to sign onto the Pomona statement. For understandable reasons, you decided not to; you wanted to keep Quinnipiac from appearing to take sides. I am writing this letter asking you to reconsider. I believe that now more than ever we have a moral obligation as a university to inform our representatives in government that we support the intentions and outcomes of the DACA program.

Publicly supporting DACA does not require any condemnation of President Trump. It does not require you to take a side on the left or the right. We simply ask that Quinnipiac reaffirms the fact that DACA recipients have been, and continue to be, exemplary members of our community who deserve the right to continue their education. Now more than ever, as Congress begins work on a replacement for DACA, the country needs to hear this message.

Under your leadership, this school has become the great institution that it is today. For this, I cannot thank you enough. However, I feel that by remaining silent, Quinnipiac is committing itself to the wrong side of history. Edmund Burke once said the only thing necessary for evil to exist is for good people to remain silent. You are a good man, President Lahey. I implore you not to remain silent. I once heard you say that you would take any Quinnipiac student as your son or daughter. I ask you now, if your child were facing deportation because of circumstances entirely outside of their control, what would you do?

 Jack Onofrio Hamden Quinnipiac University, class of 2019
If Nigerians living outside their states of origin need to be assured of their safety where they reside, it means all is not well.  Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) September 16, 2017

In Ekiti, we don't need to assure other tribes of their safety bcos as govt, our actions never threatened d peaceful co-existence of anyone  Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) September 16, 2017

In the wake of the current tensions in south eastern Nigeria and the recent threats by Arewa youth against the Igbos, Ekiti State governor and 2019 presidential aspirant,has spoken about his state.While other governors are issuing statements to assure people of safety in their various states, Fayose says, 'If Nigerians living outside their states of origin need to be assured of their safety where they reside, it means all is not well. In Ekiti, we don't need to assure other tribes of their safety bcos as govt, our actions never threatened d peaceful co-existence of anyone'.
New group "NDI IGBO PEACE MOVEMENT" set to meet AREWA YOUTHs, Canvasses for peace amidst the recent violence in the country.As part of efforts in ensuring that peace and unity prevail in the country, a group known as "Ndi IGBO Peace Movement" has embark on a peace Movement to leverage the recent violence going on in some of the eastern states and major igbo zones in the country."Over the past couple of weeks, citizens of our dear Igbo Ethnic Nationality have been erroneously labelled mischief makers and violent people by various interest groups and observers, all because of the unfortunate events that has enveloped our region of recent because of misguided behavior of certain individuals not supported by the larger majority of our people.It is important to state unequivocally here that this sad assumption cannot be farther from the truth. Igbos have always been a peace loving people and are arguably the most industrious ethnic group in Nigeria and Africa. Igbos play a major role in the economic and social development of Nigeria as their presence is very visible in virtually all sectors of the economy.This industrious nature has led to Igbos dwelling in virtually all towns and villages of the country. It is said that if you go to a town and you dont find an Igbo person there, dont dwell there, for the land is not favorable.This saying bears testament to the fact that we have always lived in peace with our neighbors, no matter where we reside, within the country or in diaspora.Igbos are arguably the most accommodating ethnic group in Nigeria as they welcome all people warmly and with open arms irrespective of their ethnicity or nationality. This is evidenced in the harmonious coexistence with various ethnic groups in Igbo land.It is therefore in the spirit of our heritage and peaceful demeanor that we are calling on all Igbo brethren across Nigeria to continue to refrain from violence as a means of agitation, and to continue to push for actualization of their demands in a peaceful manner.It should be noted that NOT ALL IGBOS ARE IPOB MEMBERS. A vast majority of Igbos believe in one Nigeria and have worked relentlessly to make our great nation occupy an enviable position in the comity of nations. This is evident in our presence in all communities in Nigeria. Despite our cultural and religious differences, Igbos believe that we can all live together in peace and harmony and create a better Nigeria for us and our children. We therefore welcome the activities of the Nigerian Army in the south east to clear our land of miscreants and we trust that they will be professional about it.We are living happily with our northern brothers and sisters from the north without any problems. We will grant a joint press conference in Awka on Monday 18th of September to show the world that we are better together. We hereby warn all trouble makers to repent and desist from causing further trouble in our zone (south east) and embrace peace. We will no longer tolerate any action capable of endangering the peace of Ndi Igbo living both at home and other parts of the country.We know we may have been hurt in one way or the other but that will not break our resolve to SAY NO TO VIOLENCE.We stand for NIGERIA, we stand for PEACE!Peace is our pride and watchword!We say NO TO VIOLENCEWe say YES TO PEACELONG LIVE IGBO PEACE MOVEMENT.LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIAAmb. Onyekachi Divine NgobidiCordinatorNdi Igbo Peace Movement
By PTI: Kathmandu, Sep 17 (PTI) Indo-Nepal joint military exercise focusing on counter-terrorism and disaster management techniques concluded today in western Nepal.

Indo-Nepal battalion-level combined training Surya Kiran XII were conducted in the Saljhandi area of Rupandehi district.

The concluding ceremony of the two week-long joint military exercise was attended by Indian Armys Lt Gen Jagdeep Kumar Sharma.

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Kumar, during his visit, also called on Nepal Army chief Gen Rajendra Chhetri, a Nepal Army statement said.

Issues related to bilateral relations and mutual cooperation figured during the meeting, it said.

The joint military exercise focused on counter-terrorism, forest fire fighting operations and disaster management techniques. PTI SBP ASK ASK

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Embassy AnnouncementPress Release , 17.09.2017The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey wishes to inform the Nigerian public about the following:Abdulkadir Erkahraman, a Turkish citizen, has been sharing videos for some time against the Nigerian Government and presents himself as a Turkish diplomat.Mr. Abdulkadir Erkahraman is neither a diplomat nor a civil servant or an official representative of the Government of Turkey.The Government of Turkey is committed to the territorial integrity and political unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Furthermore, Turkey never supports secessionist activities against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has urged military officers to defeat the ideologies that promote mindless killings and anarchy in the count...

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has urged military officers to defeat the ideologies that promote mindless killings and anarchy in the country.

He added that they should support the Federal Governments effort in the war emerging security challenges confronting the nation.





He said this yesterday during the passing out parade of military cadets of the 64 Regular Course and Direct Short Service Course 44 at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), in Kaduna.





Osinbajo, who was the reviewing officer of the parade, said: Nigeria is confronted by enemies whose identities and motivations are unknown.





Technology has advanced to the stage whereby people can now learn production of explosive devices on the internet.





The military must be more proactive in defeating ideologies that promote mindless killings and anarchy under the guise of Boko Haram or Biafra.





I urge you to be prepared to play your roles in tackling the prevailing security challenges confronting the nation.





I charge you to exhibit high sense of professionalism, patriotism, and loyalty which the Nigerian Defence Academy is known for, in the course of your military career.





Let me also warn you to always operate by the rule of engagement and in accordance with Nigerias constitution.





I must again emphasise the fact that the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria remain sacrosanct, in accordance with our constitution.





We therefore all have a responsibility to eschew hateful, divisive speech and conduct, and every other thing that might undermine our national unity and cohesiveness.





The subordination of the military to civil authority has been a cherished age-long practice that has promoted military professionalism in all parts of the world. It is a tradition that must be sustained and strengthened in our country.





To achieve this, all our men and women in uniform must continually re-dedicate themselves to the oath they have sworn to and subject themselves to democratic and constituted authority.





We must subsume personal interests to the overall national aspirations of peace, unity, and justice.



A total of 689 Cadets of 64 Regular Course comprising of the Army, Navy, Air Force was commissioned as officers at the ceremony with service chiefs, state governors and other dignitaries as guests.





While congratulating the graduating cadets on their enlistment as military officers, Osinbajo commended the NDA for churning out highly disciplined military officers in the past, who have contributed immensely to the security of the nation.
Palpable fear gripped residents of Sokoto State as some youths, on Saturday, attacked Igbo traders in the state.

Palpable fear gripped residents of Sokoto State as some youths, on Saturday, attacked Igbo traders in the state.The incident, which visibly shook Igbo merchants on Bello Way and Emir Yahaya areas of Sokoto metropolis, forced other Igbo traders at nearby Sahara street to close down their shops and run for safety.It was learnt that armed youths, in their hundreds, set ablaze a building along Bello Way, where Igbo traders have shops.One of the victims, identified as Chief Okafor, said, My house was razed by some suspected arsonists.I got a call from my wife that some youths had invaded my house and set it ablaze. My family narrowly escaped the attacks.Another victim, William Emmanuel Usoh, told journalists that his Honda Civic car was torched by some unidentified youths along Emir Yahaya Road.Usoh explained that the timely arrival of men of the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps, however, prevented the youths from destroying more property in the area.When contacted, the President-General of Igbo Community in Sokoto State, Charles Uwaga, confirmed the incident.He said reports reaching him indicated that some of his members were attacked within the state capital.A member just called me that his house was razed. There were also cases of vandalised shops, Uwaga said.Reacting to the development, the state government urged all residents to go about their activities without fear of molestation.The government stated that arrangements had been put in place to protect lives and property.The spokesman for Governor Aminu Tambuwal, in a statement, said the unrest in other parts of the country, especially the South-East, would have no negative effect on residents of Sokoto.He lauded the people of the state for being their brothers keeper and urged them to engage in acts that will promote unity and understanding at all times.
President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has advised Nigerians to stop playing politics influenced by tribal sentiments.

President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has advised Nigerians to stop playing politics influenced by tribal sentiments.

Museveni stressed that Nigeria can achieve necessary growth and development when its leaders avoid politics of tribal sentiment.





He gave the call while delivering a lecture at the National Defence College, Abuja.





The lecture, which was for the inauguration of Course 26 participants, was titled, Sub-regional cooperation and the stability of member states: Economic Community of East African States in perspective.





Museveni said progress will be made when various tribes work together peacefully.





He said, It is high time Nigerians stopped saying I am for the Yoruba; I am for the Hausa.





Where I come from, we have many cows and milk. But my kinsmen cant buy my cows because they also have their own cows. I have cows. They have milk. I have milk. The people who help me to make money are the people from other tribes.





Human resources are more important than natural resources. Look at Japan. The country has no oil, but it is one of the most prosperous nations in the world.





It has human resources driving development in the country.
The Police in Abia State said yesterday that soldiers recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs from the house of...

The Police in Abia State said yesterday that soldiers recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs from the house of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in the state.The items are now in the custody of the police, according to Police Commissioner Anthony Ogbizi.Ogbizi briefing the visiting Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Operations, Force Headquarters, Taiwo Lakanu, in Umuahia said the Station Officer of the Ariaria Police Divisional Headquarters in Aba that was attacked last week by suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) died yesterday.He had sustained serious injuries when the station was attacked by the arsonists and was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment.Ogbizi said the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) died early yesterday in an undisclosed hospital where he was receiving medical attention.The Police Commissioner also said 37 suspected members of IPOB were arrested in the state in connection with last weeks unrest.The suspects will be arraigned in court tomorrow.Thirty of them were arrested by soldiers in Isiala Ngwa area of the state, while the remaining seven are accused of having a hand in the Friday looting and burning of the Ariaria Police Divisional Headquarters.Police Commissioner Anthony Ogbizi told the visiting Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Operations, Force Headquarters Taiwo Lakanu that efforts were on to arrest more suspects in connection with the mayhem.He said soldiers recovered Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs from Nnamdi Kanus house.The items are now in police custody.He added that the Station Officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, who sustained serious injuries after he was attacked by the arsonists, died early hours of today in an undisclosed hospital where he was receiving medical attention.He recalled how arsonists forcefully broke the police stations entrance zone and destroyed almost everything.He said: They were armed with petrol bomb. They burnt police vehicles and carted away three pump actions and other police materials. Some officers were injured and in fact as Im talking to you, one of the injured police officer, an ASP is dead.The doctors tried their best to save him, but they couldnt. Now, we have lost a soul. And you know what it takes to train a police officer. And you know the vacuum created. Once a police officer is gone, it takes a minimum of one year to train anotherThe seven we arrested will be charged for murder, arson and conspiracy for breach of the law.Simultaneously, they carried other attacks on law abiding citizens of this nation. You could see along the road the destruction of vehicles belonging to citizens. Certainly you cannot say that that is a peaceful demonstration. I think this attack was orchestrated to get arms which they succeeded in doing. Thank God the police succeeded in securing other arms. They attacked a bank may be with the intention to get more money to buy arms.IPOB, going to that extent, cannot say that it is a non-violent movement. While this one was happening here, along the road in Isiala Ngwa, the same IPOB members in droves confronted the military and the military were able to arrest up to 30 of them.They will be prosecuted for rioting and unlawful assembly and other things. While that was going on, the same IPOB carried attack of various manner in Umuahia and even tried to collect a rifle from a female military officer. In the process, the military resisted and were able to arrest 19 of them.At the same time, along the road leading to Umuahia, they set up bonfire attacking the police and innocent citizens and pulled out traffic stands. The vicinity where the Attorney General of the State, Assistant Inspector General Zone 9, Commissioner of Police, and other residents live. They attacked the quarters of the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 9 and that of the Commissioner of Police.And the house of the self acclaimed leader of IPOB, Kanu was the house they usually come out from to carry out these attacks and information reaching us is that they have started gathering there. Many exhibits were recovered from there like petrol bomb and coat of arm of Biafra.I know that 90% of Abians are not in support of this, but a few hoodlums and some others from other states operating under the disguise of IPOB with the motive to cripple the economy of Abia. If this is not planned, how could they come in droves to carry out these attacks? At a time, a mobile patrol vehicle was moving and IPOB members poured petrol on the van with intent to burn it. Imagine if that was successful. Im glad that eastern governors have proscribed the organisation.On the allegation by IPOB that security agents whisked away Kanus father and some members of the IPOB leaders family, Ogbizi said We dont have Kanus father in police net.
Nigerian troops yesterday launched a manhunt for Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu , barely 24 hours after the grou...

Nothing has been heard about Kanu since the proscription.Some sources yesterday said he had gone underground.Kanu is on bail for the alleged treason charges preferred against him.It was learnt yesterday that his bail sureties might be asked by the security agencies to account for him.Besides, security agencies are probing IPOB leaders alleged foreign links.Investigators are said to be analysing a video clip of Kanu and a Turkish citizen as part of the probe.A source, while confirming the search for Kanu, said: Troops have been given a firm order to fish out and arrest the IPOB leader. As a prelude to it, the Defence Headquarters on Friday declared IPOB as a terrorist organisation.Intelligence has, however, revealed that Kanu might have gone underground. As I speak with you, troops have actually searched his house and he was not found there.Troops have a mandate to arrest him wherever he might be.Asked what if he is not found the source said:  We might follow legal process by holding his sureties responsible. These sureties will have to produce him.On the probe of Kanus alleged foreign links , another source said:We are looking into the allegations of foreign support for Kanu. We are doing a profiling of his foreign contacts. We have some clues but we need to dig deeper.NE can also confirm that government insisted on non-withdrawal of soldiers from Abia State to avoid a situation whereby the IPOB will take advantage and unleash mayhem on innocent citizens.Sources said the presidency overruled Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu on the withdrawal of troops because the police alone could not cope with the grave security situation.The governor wanted a political solution to a military matter. But the federal government cannot watch and allow the situation to degenerate, one of the sources said.Before Kanu was released on bail, these same governors in the Southeast, political leaders from the zone and others prevailed on the federal government to allow him home.Some of these governors and Igbo leaders made a commitment that they would ensure that Kanu did not abuse his bail conditions.The government bent backwards and ensured that Kanu was released on bail. But you can see what has happened. All those who gave the guarantee that Kanu would respect his bail bond have been made to look foolish.Intelligence on IPOB revealed that without troops on the streets, the situation would have been worse.The Embassy of the United States has asked Americans in Abia and Plateau states to review their security and maintain a high level of vigilance.The Embassys cautionary note was contained in its travel alert.It said: Curfews have been declared in Abia and Plateau states because of violent attacks accompanied by threats of reprisals.Exercise caution in these areas; review your personal security plans; remain aware of your surroundings, including local events; and monitor local news stations for updates.Maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security.The National Leader (Southsouth) of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Senator Roland Owie, yesterday faulted the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organisation.In a statement in Abuja, Owie said the declaration smacked of double standards.He said: Now that IPOB has been declared Terrorist group, the government should immediately declare Fulani herdsmen, Terrorist group.Owie added: I urge President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to walk the way of justice and equity in handling the affairs of Nigeria and stop pretending that all is well.The gravest mistake of non-equitable administrations all over the world is the denial of wrongdoings on their part. Unfortunately for such administrations, they forget that God cannot be mocked.Gravitation will help a person if he builds the side of his house straight and plumb; but gravitation will oppose him and make his house fall down if he builds it out of plumb.
Nigerians have no option than to return the All Progressives Congress (APC) to power in 2019, the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the...

Nigerians have no option than to return the All Progressives Congress (APC) to power in 2019, the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the party, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, has stated.He said Nigerians will massively vote for the party again based on the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buharis administration.Shuaibu spoke when he received the Deputy Director of the Research Office, International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) Dong Weihua at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.Weihua led a Chinese delegation on a working visit to the APC.He said the party has restored the confidence of Nigerians in governance through diligent implementation of its campaign promises.He said before the coming of the Buhari government, impunity was the order of the day while corruption was an accepted norm.The APC chieftain said: I make bold to say that there is no other option before Nigerians other than the APC.We inflicted a very big injury on the former ruling party in 2015. During the campaigns, we realised our own method benefitted us because our manner of campaign was devoid of any hate speech.Theirs was full of hate speech and Nigerians clearly saw the difference.After we took over as a government, we brought out to the open for Nigerians to see the amount of damage done to the economy to every fabric of the Nigerian society.Impunity became a culture. Corruption was an accepted norm. That was how we found this country. We promised Nigerians that we will fix the economy, ensure security of lives and property and fight corruption no matter who is involved.He maintained despite the rot APC met on ground, the current administration has quickly delivered on its electoral promises.The eyes of Nigerians are open. They know who is sincere about things. Nigerians know which party to choose when elections come in 2019.So I can assure you we are very confident in 2019 for a re-election, Shuaibu added.
The founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and top leaders of his group have gone into hiding following Fridays declar...

Investigations revealed that Kanu and his top lieutenants had disappeared from his country home in Afaraukwu near Umuahia and other places he frequently visited.His father, Eze Israel Kanu, is the traditional ruler of the town.Some IPOB members, who spoke on conditions of anonymity explained that Kanu and others were advised to go underground following the declaration by the Army and the decision of the South-East governors to proscribe activities of pro-Biafra agitators in the region.An IPOB member said, We have to apply wisdom to whatever we are doing. We have realised that there is a grand conspiracy against Kanu and other top leaders of our group.Just imagine barely few hours after the Nigerian military declared members of IPOB and other pro-Biafran groups as terrorists, our own governors came up with their own outright ban of our activities.This definitely will give the soldiers and other security agencies the opportunity to arrest our leader and mount a deadly clampdown on all IPOB members. So, it is better to operate from a hideout for now.When contacted on phone on Saturday, Kanus younger brother simply identified as Fine Boy, refused to reveal where his brother was, adding that only the IPOB leader could disclose his hiding place.He said, Only my brother can tell Nigerians where he is, I cant. I dont know why the Army should call IPOB a terrorist organisation, it is out of their desperation to arrest Nnamdi and frustrate the Biafran struggle. We have petitioned the United Nations and the European Union.The world knows that IPOB is a non-violent organisation, we dont carry arms, we dont kill, and we believe violence can never solve any problem.Nnamdi will soon disclose his current location and IPOB will also react to the proscription of the group by the South-East governors forum.Security agencies have started combing the South-East region in search of Kanu.Findings by our source in Abuja showed that the security agencies had been directed to arrest Kanu and other leaders of his group.The directive to arrest the IPOB leaders was said to have been communicated to the leaders of the security agencies deployed in the region.The security agencies that were given the directive, according to investigations, include the military, the police and the Department of State Services.It was gathered that the government felt that it could be dangerous to leave Kanu a free man till the next adjourned date when his case would come up at an Abuja Federal High Court.His case is said to be coming up later in October.A top security sources said, We are seriously looking for him. He has a lot of things to explain to the government concerning his statements, actions and activities.We cant sit by and allow the security situation in the country to be compromised to the extent that an individual will be challenging the Federal Government.Government has to do something about an individual that is recruiting young people, giving them uniforms, arming them and referring to them as a secret service.We have been seizing arms and ammunitions at the ports; we also need to know what they were meant for.This is someone who unilaterally said there would be no election in Anambra State and some people want us to allow him continue with his activities? No, we need to grow above our ethnic and tribal sentiments.IPOB on Saturday night condemned the South East Governors Forum over its proscription of IPOBs activities. Its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, said the speed with which the governors announced the proscription of IPOB activities showed that the governors were disloyal.IPOB said, We want to find out how the governors who do not know the foundations of IPOB, would make such a statement when they know that IPOB had staged 297 peaceful protests and rallies both at home and in Diaspora without a single record of violence or crime.With the record on ground, IPOB under Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is one of the most peaceful organised freedom fighting group in the world today. It is dangerous that the governors who are the chief security officers of their respective states in the zone would decide to hand over their people to the enemies who were out to kill, maim and destroy because of their selfish reasons. We are also aware that late Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and General Philip Effiong protected their people during the first pogrom and ethnic cleansing from 1966to 1970.These governors and their collaborators are in the forefront to eliminate our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and other peaceful members of IPOB. It is on record that IPOB activities are peaceful since the inception and nobody can prove where and how IPOB activities became violent over night.The solders brought in to eliminate or murder our leader and IPOB members, including the innocent civilians across Biafra land, are still going from house to house picking anyone suspected to be IPOB or seen with any Biafra insignia. IPOB under Kanu must remain a nonviolent group in the pursuit for Biafra freedom, despite the high handedness meted against IPOB members and our leader.Ohanaeze Ndigbo also faulted Nigeria armys declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organisation. Ohanaeze said, IPOB is not a terrorist organization going by extant national and international laws, especially the terrorist prevention Act 2011, as amended in 2015.It however praised the South-East Governors for stopping conflict in the region. In a communique read by the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, the group condemned the military operation in the zone and urged the army to terminate the exercise henceforth.
Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has said that no reasonable Igboman would support secession or division of the country.

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has said that no reasonable Igboman would support secession or division of the country.According to him, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) , Nnamdi Kanu should be treated as a single individual because reasonable Igbo people have condemned the group in all ramifications.Governor Okorocha spoke on Saturday, September in Owerri at the new Yam festival organized by the State Council of Traditional Rulers headed by HRM Eze Samuel Ohiri.Everyone has condemned IPOB in all ramifications and I say that whatever that young man is doing does not have the support of any of us. He should be picked up and treated as a single individual. No reasonable Igbo man is asking for secession. No reasonable Igbo man will support the division of this country.I want to remind all Nigerians that Igbos are the people that fought the last war and if there was anyone so badly affected by that war is the Igbos. After the war, the 1st group of people to run to different ethnic groups and all other tribes for purpose of economic development was the Igbos.The Igbos today in their thousands are in Kano, the Igbos today in their thousands are in Lagos, in Plateau and in all nooks and crannies of this country. And wherever you find them, they behave as if they are the owners of the land, even in most cases; they have Ezes in the communities where they find themselves, showing that they believe in the unity of this country.The Igbos business men have more real estates and more properties and assets outside Igbo land than in Igbo land. So, I want to dissociate Igbos from this very thing that Igbos want to go for secession. A man that wants to go for secession cannot build mansions in Lagos, Kano, Plateau and the rest of the States.I think we should single out this act of this young man from the rest of Nigerians. My worry again stands strongly on the fact that today, the issue of IPOB is being politicized. Today, most of them that never worked with the Buhari-led government are using this as an opportunity to fight the Federal Government. Call those people to order. Its not far-fetched who these people are. Some of them are busy visiting Kanus house and encouraging him. Those people should make a rethink, because they are not doing this nation any good.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) said yesterday that its declaration as a terrorist organisation by the Defence Headquarters was a...

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) said yesterday that its declaration as a terrorist organisation by the Defence Headquarters was a clear breach of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act of 2011.The DHQ, on Friday, pronounced IPOB a militant terrorist organisation in Nigeria for allegedly clandestinely and actively terrorizing the general public.Major-General John Enenche, Director, Defence Information (DDI), listed IPOBs acts of terrorism as: the formation of a Biafra Secret Service, claimed formation of Biafra National Guard, unauthorized blocking of public access roads and extortion of money from innocent civilians at illegal road blocks.But IPOB, in a statement yesterday, faulted the step taken by the DHQ, citing Section 2 of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act of 2011.It argued that the Section stipulates that only a judge can declare an organisation proscribed based on proven case of acts of terrorism and such case will be presented to the judge through an application made by the attorney-general or the National Security Adviser or the Inspector General of Police with the approval of the president. The judges declaration will thereafter be gazetted.It then posed the following questions: Which judge did the DDI make such application to and was it approved by the president prior to submitting the application?Where is the approval given to the DDI by the judge? When and where was the Judges declaration gazetted?It said: In particular, this deceitful act is a violation and interference into the judicial arm of government and it is an overreach. It is also a deliberate act in contempt of a subsisting ruling in a competent court of law.IPOB, whether led by Nnamdi Kanu or led by the DOS, is not a terrorist organisation because no court of competent jurisdiction has so declared it. The so-called declaration by Major-General Enenche is null and void and of no effect.Besides, IPOB said there is a subsisting court order which says IPOB is not an unlawful society/organisation.It said the order was made in a March 1, 2017 ruling by Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja.Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako gave her judgment having studied the conditions for an organisation to be deemed unlawful as stipulated in section-62 of CAP C38 L.F.N. 2004, Emma Nmezu and Clifford Iroanya, who identified themselves as spokespersons of IPOB said in the statement.They added: Up till this day, that ruling from Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako has not been upturned by any court.It asked the military authorities to fire Enenche for issuing the statement.The IPOB position is shared by the Second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Monday Ubani.He said, I advise that they take a critical look at the dictionary meaning of terrorism before they take the decision to declare IPOB as one.The second issue and most importantly is that declaring any organisation as a terrorist group must comply with legal and executive procedures absence of which makes a mockery of the declaration.I do not think that the present declaration complied strictly with known procedures for declaration. America declared Boko Haram a terrorist group after due compliance with processes and procedures.Is the President of the country really aware of this declaration? What of the Attorney General of the Federation? Are they all aware?Strenuous and conscious efforts must be made by all parties to stop this brewing conflagration to reduce tension in the polity and pursue peace to a logical conclusion. Development can only thrive in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity.
This is the third consecutive violation by the Pakistan Rangers in the last 36 hours and the ninth in six days.

By India Today Web Desk: One civilian was killed and four others injured after Pakistan violated ceasefire along the international border in Jammu and Kashmir's Arnia sector late on Saturday night.

This is the third consecutive violation by the Pakistan Rangers in the last 36 hours and the ninth in six days.

The deceased has been identified as 60-year-old Ratno Devi. She succumbed to her injuries this morning in a government medical college in Jammu where was undergoing treatment. One of the four includes a 12-year-old boy.

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The Indian troops retaliated with the same force and the exchange of fire continued till around 6 am.

Pakistan had on Saturday targeted Sai, Treva and Jabowal forward posts of the Border Security Force along the international border in Jammu's Arnia sector. However, no loss of life has been reported.

On Friday, a BSF soldier was killed when Pakistan violated ceasefire in the Arnia sub-sector of the international border. The martyred solider was identified as Ct Brijendra Bahadur Singh, a native of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh.

ALSO WATCH | Jammu and Kashmir: One terrorist killed in encounter with security forces in Kulgam

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Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, said the president directed r...

Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, said the president directed restructuring agitations to the legislature because of his belief in due process.

According to Enang, restructuring is a constitutional matter and the legislature deals with review of the Constitution and should therefore, handle any issue that calls for change of law.





Buhari had in his national broadcast on his return from medical leave in London said that the National Assembly and National Council of State were the legitimate and appropriate bodies to handle issues of restructuring.





The president directed all agitations to both bodies in line with statutory responsibilities they had.

Enang said at News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja that because restructuring meant different things to different people and groups, and may require constitutional amendment, only the National Assembly could deal with it.





He said that the legislature needed to receive the demands on different aspects of restructuring, debate on them and come out with the best recommendations.





That is why the president said `look, we are a government sworn in under the Constitution, anything you want done must necessarily be as required by the Constitution.





I cannot as chief executive, as head of government, do a thing that is different from what the Constitution says. I and have no power to amend the Constitution.





The person who has power to amend the Constitution is the legislature and they are handling the process.





Please whatever you want done I will do it so long as it will be done as approved by the legislature and it goes through the entire process that is needed by the Constitution to amend it.





That is why the president said that all agitations for restructuring should go to the legislature, he said.





The presidential aide said while some people saw restructuring as removing control over land from the governors and vesting it to the Federal Government, some saw it as demand for state police.





The man somewhere will say I want to have state police and that is restructuring, and another one will say you cannot have state police.





His thought is that if you have state police you will use it against your citizens and the interests of the Federal Government.





He believes that you may not have the interest of the entire people because you are run by a political party and you will only use it in one way or the other to suit you.





Enang added that some people also viewed restructuring as allowing states to exploit their resources and pay tax to the Federal Government.





According to him, the man in South-South will say that the restructuring I want is resource control. I want to control my petroleum resources.





The man in the North will say no, you cannot control it because it is federal resources taken from the ocean which belong to all of us.





Some will say they can control it because we have solid minerals in the North that they can also control.





But, some will say no, dont control because if you do, I will control the food I produced and I will use it to deal and bargain.





Enang, however, advised people with specific demand to forward it to the national assembly.





On why the legislature dropped restructuring in spite of the serious agitations, he said that nobody knew the type of restructuring demand that was presented.





To my knowledge, most of the people who are quarreling that the legislature did not approve restructuring may not know the level of restructuring that was presented to it.





However, any bill that was rejected can be represented. So, let any person who wants restructuring present what aspect of restructuring they want to the national assembly, Enang said
The Turkish Embassy in Nigeria has restated its commitment to the territorial integrity and political unity of the country.

The Turkish Embassy in Nigeria has restated its commitment to the territorial integrity and political unity of the country.

The Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Nigeria has said it was committed to the territorial integrity and political unity of the country.



It denied supporting the secessionist agitations in the country and further disowned a Turkish citizen, Abdulkadir Erkahraman, who has been drumming support for the Biafran agitation.



He has also posted videos online accusing President Buhari of committing genocide.



But the mission in a statement on Saturday said Erkahraman is not a Turkish diplomat or an official representative of the Turkish government.
The Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA, has stated that the South-East Governors proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOP, in order...

The Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA, has stated that the South-East Governors proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOP, in order to secure their second term in office.

It also described its classification as a terrorist group as as an attempt to kill the overwhelming clamour for restructuring of Nigeria.





The ECA made the claims in a statement by its secretary Evang. Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko.





The statement read:





The long expected attempt by the Nigerian State to embark on quenching the restructuring gale currently sweeping the land, through military might, has eventually begun. Everybody in Nigeria was expecting this, because the government has run out of arguments and also because it is the only strategy government knows. Nobody is surprised.





The gentle revolution to restructure Nigeria, brilliantly piloted by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has become very successful.



Restructuring Nigeria has become inevitable, thanks to Kanu and IPOB. The anger of the opponents of restructuring towards Kanu is understandable.





Kanu has driven Nigeria closer to restructuring more than anybody else, therefore, lovers and defenders of the status quo want to eat him raw.





The well coordinated attack on Kanu and IPOB, packaged and choreographed from Abuja, in cahoots with his own people and complete with media support complemented by politicians who love the status quo, was actually planned for last year, but was shelved. The criminalization and blackmail of the IPOB began with the allegation of killing and burying 50 people including 5 Fulanis in Aba, which was designed to justify the intended military action of crushing the agitations through force of arms.





The deliberate decision to roll in military equipment into the South East and provoke crisis is also designed towards scuttling the peace process between the IPOB and the government led by Prof Ben Nwabueze, some people are not comfortable with that, because they believe it could lead to restructuring Nigeria which they resent intensely.





Python Dance was aimed at scuttling the IPOB/government dialogue begun on 30th of August, 2017.

The pronouncement that the IPOB is a terrorist organization and thereby proscribed are all designed and choreographed to justify the discreetly agreed agenda to crush the agitation by military might in order to sustain the 1999 military constitution and the current unjust status quo, thereby postponing the restructuring of Nigeria for as long as they can.





Another reason for proscribing the IPOB and declaring them as terrorists is to reassure the South East Political Leaders that their re-election is no longer under threat, as the IPOB constituted a tsunami that had successfully mobilized the downtrodden masses against the inept political class that had compromised the future of their people through the format through which they climbed into political offices.





Because the leaders of the region got into power through questionable allegiances and subservience to external masters, they cannot publicly identify with the wishes of their people, who have been reduced to second class citizens, without offending their northern masters. They are also monitored, threatened, intimidated and seduced by the owners of Nigeria, to keep them loyal to the failed Nigeria unitary structure in order to keep their offices. Kanu remains popular by simply speaking the truth the political leaders are afraid to speak.





The unjust 1999 military constitution and unfair unitary structure it designed, is at the root of the crisis bedeviling Nigeria. Every bullet shot at Umuahia or Aba this week, was aimed at sustaining this status quo and resisting restructuring.





The ongoing military action is not targeted at Kanu and IPOB but, at the restructuring breeze blowing across Nigeria and put an end to it. They know it is impossible to proscribe a movement that lives in the hearts and souls of millions; they also know that the Fulani herdsmen are the real terrorists not the IPOB.





In all these, every effort has been made by the government to avoid discussing the issues that led to the agitation because discussing it will quickly lead to restructuring Nigeria which they dont want to happen. They rather chose to divert attention from the injustices that forced millions of citizens to lose faith in Nigeria and to desire another country, marching in their hundreds of thousands and enduring persecutions including cold blooded slaughter.





No amount of intimidation and accusations can restore peace in Nigeria, if the injustices and inequities that gave rise to the loss of faith in Nigeria is not addressed through an early restructuring of the polity in order to enthrone equity and justice. The IPOB are not armed and they are not violent. Some people are just scared of their huge crowd and want to stop them from gathering. Their popularity is continuously eroding the legitimacy of Eastern leaders.





Kanu remains the Hero of all the oppressed peoples of Nigeria in the Middle Belt, Southern Kaduna, Niger Delta, Christian minorities of the North East and North West and the long oppressed people of Eastern Nigeria (except the political leaders who live in opulence, and therefore do not really feel the pains and frustrations of the lopsided and unjust Nigerian unitary structure).
By PTI: Bhopal, Sep 16 (PTI) The Janata Dal (United) had not yet taken any decision on joining the Narendra Modi government, a senior leader said here today, days after the party found no representation in the third reshuffle of the Union cabinet.

The rejig had turned out to be an all-BJP affair, as against the speculation that the JD(U), the latest partner of the saffron party, would get representation in the central government.

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"Our party has not taken a decision on joining the Union cabinet. Our party president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will take a call on this," JD(U) national general secretary Akhilesh Katiyar told reporters.

Interestingly, after the reshuffle, JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi had said his party was not invited to join the government.

Katiyar also said JD(U) rebel and Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav would be stripped off all the responsibilities shortly.

Yadav had raised a banner of revolt after Nitish broke off the Bihar "mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance), also comprising the RJD and Congress, midway and joined hands with the BJP to form a new government in the state.

Yadav, a former JD(U) president, often terms the Nitish- led faction of the party as the "sarkari" JD(U).

However, Katiyar said the party under Nitish was the "real" JD(U).

"The Election Commission has already junked the plea of the Sharad Yadav camp in this regard," he said, referring to the poll panels recent decision to reject the claim of the Yadav faction over the JD(U)s poll symbol for lack of evidence.

However, the Yadav faction filed a fresh claim before the EC on September 14, staking claims over the partys symbol and sought four weeks time to submit the relevant documents.

Responding to a query on whether Yadav was enjoying a good support in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Katiyar said the JD(U) was not bothered about who joined hands with the rebel leader.

He also said Kumars decisions to quit the NDA ahead of the 2015 Bihar polls and join hands with the saffron camp again after a couple of years were "right, given the different political scenarios prevalent on the two separate occasions". PTI LAL MAS NSK RC

--- ENDS ---
Kerala government has declared holiday for all educational institutes in wake of torrential rainfall that has thrown the state out of gear.

By P S Gopikrishnan Unnithan: The Kerala government has declared a holiday for all educational institutes after the southwestern monsoon continued to unleash its fury across the state.

State Disaster Management Authority has issued an advisory for people travelling to high range areas.

Incessant rains triggered landslip in the tribal hamlet of Attappady and adjacent areas in Palakkad district this morning but no one was injured, officials said.

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Rail traffic was partially affected on the Kottayam-Thiruvananthapuram route as earth caved in and onto the track following heavy rains. The line was cleared and traffic was normalised after an hour of extensive effort by railway and fire force officials.

The road traffic was affected in many districts as rivers and canals spilled over. Strong winds knocked over few trees on the Kochi-Dhanushkodi highway, blocking it for several hours.

The heavy rains have also put people residing close to dams and reservoirs at risk. The irrigation department regulated the water level in Neyyar dam by opening the shutters in the evening.

Fishermen have been warned about strong winds blowing from southwesterly direction with an occasional speed of 45-55 kmph along the Kerala coast and over Lakshadweep area during the next 24 hours.

Taliparamba in Kannur district received 6 cm rain while Vythiri in Wayanad district recorded 5 cm rain, meteorological department sources said adding thunderstorm accompanied by gusty winds was likely to hit Thiruvananthapuram district.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also ordered the disaster rescue force to be on high alert.

According to reports, 77.8mm of rain poured down across the state over the last 24 hours. Central and northern parts of Kerala received the lion share of these rain.

With inputs from IANS

--- ENDS ---
The study looks at two smaller-scale projects that are in some ways predecessors to the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the $2 billion plan to slow land loss erasing Louisiana's coast. Construction on that project could begin as early as next year, while a similar one on the opposite side of the river known as the Mid-Breton Diversion could follow.
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A group of Council Bluffs citizens have formed a political action committee with the intent to provide support to select candidates in the mayoral and City Council races.

The Citizens for a Successful Council Bluffs PAC aims to build on the progress in the city, combat negative campaigning and encourage voter turnout, according to committee chairman Tom Whitson.

I think Council Bluffs has had a good era the last 10 to 15 years of development. Those of us involved in this want to see that trend continue, said Whitson, who is also chairman emeritus of American National Bank. I think Council Bluffs still has a lot of opportunities, maybe even more opportunities in the future than weve had in the past.

Among the victories for Council Bluffs Whitson mentioned was the continuing development of Tom Hanafan Rivers Edge Park and the 100 Block of West Broadway, along with the construction of the Iowa West Fieldhouse. He also mentioned the Mid-America Center and Council Bluffs Recreation Complex, along with the under-construction new Council Bluffs Police Department headquarters.

As you look at those things, you look at people who will keep those things going, or stop them, he said.

Whitson said the groups creation also came as a reaction to the last few elections  the negativity and half truths.

We hope we can be a voice for what the facts are, he said.

Whitson expressed concern about low voter turnout, which, he said, allows people to be elected that are perhaps not the best candidates for the job.

And thats no great pearl of wisdom, he said.

Citizens for a Successful Council Bluffs plans to endorse a mayoral candidate and two City Council candidates before the primary on Oct. 10. Both races are nonpartisan.

Mayor Matt Walsh is up for re-election against Pottawattamie County Supervisor Scott Belt and Shawn Burgstrom, who works for Regency Homes. Eight candidates have entered the fray in the City Council race, with two seats available: incumbents Melissa Head and Al Ringgenberg, former council member Lynne Branigan, 2015 candidate Al Ruby and newcomers Joe Disalvo, Peter Hutcheson, Vergarie Sanford and Mike Wolf.

Two mayoral candidates will move on to the general election on Nov. 7, while four council candidates will move on.

We hope that we can help to elect good, quality candidates to the job, Whitson said of the PACs mission.

During an interview, Whitson did not reveal who the committee plans to endorse. It should be noted that when Wolf met with The Nonpareil to discuss his candidacy, Whitson accompanied him.

Citizens for a Successful Council Bluffs finalized its paperwork with the state on Sept. 13, according to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Whitson noted the groundwork for the group started around November 2016.

There are 11 members who represent both sides of the traditional political divide and are involved in a variety of careers in the city, Whitson said. He declined to reveal the names of the committee members beyond himself and Treasurer Kathy Penkert.

When a PAC files paperwork with the state, the only names required are the chairman and treasurer, according to Jason Hacker with the ethics board.

Politics is a funny thing. People have opinions on politics, but sometimes they dont want those opinions to be public, Whitson said when asked why the committee hasnt released member names.

Whitson said he expects the committee will release the names of those involved in the future, after the elections. For now, Whitson and Penkert will serve as the PACs public face.

We want to make sure Council Bluffs continues to move in a positive direction, said Penkert, who runs a consulting company that works predominantly with nonprofits in privatizing government contracts. We want to support people who are most likely to support ideas in the city that would bring more positive things the community.

Whitson said the PAC would not give money directly to candidates nor raise money for candidate, but will instead offer advice, support and services. For example, that might include paying for an advisor or consultant to a candidate. The group is also compiling voter lists as part of its effort to both assist candidates and encourage voter turnout.

The PAC chair said the committee will likely run advertisements during the race, especially if it feels one is needed to respond to a negative ad.

As we see this unfold and ads start, we will review those ads; and if we feel there are factual inaccuracies, we would do things to promote (the truth), he said.

The group continues to raise money as well. Whitson declined to reveal how much money the committees raised thus far, saying, We have raised enough money to do what we think we need to do.

Per state law, Citizens for a Successful Council Bluffs will be required to file a report that includes the amount of money it spends, along with the name, address and amount of money or in-kind services contributed by each donor.

In odd-numbered years without a statewide election, reporting is required twice per year. Reports are required four times during even-numbered years.

The first filing from Citizens for a Successful Council Bluffs will be due on Jan. 19, 2018, and will cover activity from the groups inception through Dec. 31 of this year.

Whitson said the PAC would get to work right away as it works to help get candidates elected.

This is not about politics, he said. This is about getting good people to do the job.
While the rain kept changing its mind from a downpour to being nonexistent, the annual Fly-In & Drive-In breakfast at the CAF Hanger in Council Bluffs Airport took off without a hitch Saturday morning.

Children didnt seem to mind the wet weather as they danced in puddles around the World War II-era airplanes. Ephraim West, 2, took special interest in playing beneath the wing of the P-51D Gunfighter, one of 150 airworthy planes still around.

Inside the Commemorative Airforce Hanger, about 100 enjoyed pancakes and coffee while surrounded by aviation and World War II memorabilia and history. Ephraims father, David West, is part of the Great Plains Wing. He said he grew up inside the hangar, and the groups efforts to keep history alive are important.

Its a living history. There are not many options to work on planes from an era thats disappearing, the Bellevue, Nebraska man said.

George DeWitt, CAF Wing Leader, said the hangar is one of Council Bluffs best-kept secrets, carrying a different atmosphere because of its preservation of history.

The group has been hosting the event since the hangar was built  since about 1989, by his estimation at 16803 McCandless Road.

Our goal is to keep the Greatest Generation alive, to remind everyone of the sacrifice they made, DeWitt said. That era is mostly past.

Nearby, Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh spoke with CAF Safety Officer Jeff Hutcheson. Walsh said the CAF hangar is the backbone of the airport, a unique opportunity for the city to be part of the aviation community.

The enthusiasts here, their love of airplanes shows off what the CAF means and does. Were lucky to be a part of that, Walsh said.

Members of the Omaha Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol were also on hand, as were the University of Nebraska Omaha Flying Mavericks flight team, who were selling raffle tickets to raise funds for their next competition flight.

Cadet Elizabeth Nelson of Omaha, Cadet Captain Meredith Wichman of Omaha and Cadet 2nd Lt. Greg Matya of Gretna, Nebraska said they were happy to be at the event to help out.

As cadets, we learn about the history of aviation, especially since the CAP was founded during World War II, Wichman said.

Phillip Wier, of Wasta, South Dakota, is a member of the Flying Mavs currently studying for his masters degree in public administration at UNO. He joked that being on the flight team is like a sport for nerds, but being part of the aviation community is the real honor.

You learn from those who came before you, who were actually there, Wier said. You can see and recognize in the community that were all friends, trying to pass on our appreciation for what we do.
Omaha dentist Sol Kutler became known for his catchy advertising jingle, but his lifes work included many international trips to help the poor.

Sol, feted on his 90th birthday in May by his beloved Suburban Rotary Club, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a month ago and died Thursday.

He felt it was important that he not only give back to the community, but also to those around the world, said son Murray Kutler of Omaha. And he made the humanitarian trips at his own expense.

Sol performed volunteer dental work in Haiti, Africa, Belize, the Philippines, Hong Kong and elsewhere. He was honored in Rome by Rotary International and once made a professional visit to the Soviet Union.

A son of immigrants from czarist Russia, Sol was born in Council Bluffs and won metro oratory contests while at Abraham Lincoln High School.

He attended the University of Iowa and then Creighton University in an accelerated program that made him a dentist at 21. He enlisted in the Air Force and served during the Korean War era.

He and his wife, Cherie, whom he had met while in military service in Savannah, Georgia, married in 1951. She accompanied him in all but two of his mission trips.

They raised Murray as well as Mark Kutler, now of Dallas, and Dr. Stephanie Kutler, an Omaha psychiatrist. Cherie Kutler died two years ago.

Family and friends will remember Sol at a graveside service at 10 a.m. Monday at Beth El Cemetery, 84th and L Streets, followed by a memorial service at 11 at Beth El Synagogue, 14506 California St.

Many in Omaha remember the ad jingle for his dental health clinic, which ended with the telephone number. The last four digits were 2323, which was sung, toothy, toothy.

Sol himself loved to sing, and he wrote A Place Like Nebraska, designated the state ballad in 1997. (Beautiful Nebraska remains the state song.)

At his 90th birthday, ol Sol was all smiles with fellow Rotarians, who sang of Dr. Sol, who makes life a ball.

Years ago, when an Omaha archbishop spoke at a Rotary meeting, Sol said he wanted to lead the singing of Ave Maria, but didnt know the words. So with the archbishops permission, he led club members in a joyous Hava Nagila.

Known as the dapper dentist, Sol attended his final Rotary meeting in a wheelchair last week, wearing a sharp suit and tie.

Ward Peters, a fellow Rotarian and retired real estate executive, said Rotarians appreciated Sols humility, humor and leadership.

In anything he undertook, Peters said, he embodied the Rotary International motto: Service Above Self.
By PTI: Dehradun, Sept 17 (PTI) The Uttarakhand Police has made a major headway in its investigations into a kidney transplant racket unearthed recently in the district with the arrest of four more persons including the main accused Amit Kumar.

Amit Kumar was also the mastermind of the multi-crore Gurgaon kidney racket in 2008 and was believed to have conducted over 500 illegal operations. The CBI had registered a case and an Interpol notice had been issued then for his arrest. Kumar was arrested in Nepal in February 2008.

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The fresh racket was unearthed on September 11 in Gangotri charitable hospital in Lal Tappar area of rural Dehradun.

Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti told PTI that main accused Amit Kumar besides three others including Jeevan Kumar, who assisted him in kidney transplant surgeries, nurse Sarla and Billu, who worked as the driver of another main accused in the case Rajiv Chaudhry were arrested from different places in Haryana and Uttarakhand late last evening.

While Amit, Jeevan and Sarla were arrested from a parking lot in front of a hotel in sector 18, Panchkula in Haryana, Billu was arrested from Raiwala area in Dehradun, she said.

Rajiv Chaudhry is the man who ran the hospital after taking it on a lease.

Amit Kumar and Jeevan Kumar, who allegedly masqueraded as doctors and performed the surgeries on the kidney donors were quacks who had no valid medical degrees, she said.

With these arrests the number of people held in connection with the case has risen to five.

A middleman named Javed was arrested on September 11.

Six mobile phones, a Mercedes and a BMW besides Rs 33.73 lakh in cash have been recovered from those arrested from Panchkula.

A car has also been recovered from Rajiv Chaudhrys driver Billus possession, the SSP said.

It is being investigated whether transplant operations conducted illegally by Amit Kumar and Jeevan Kumar led to death of patients, the SSP said. PTI ALM DV

--- ENDS ---
LINCOLN, Neb.  Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller called Friday for Equifax Inc. to stop trying to sell credit monitoring services to victims of its massive security breach.

The two joined colleagues from 32 states and the District of Columbia in raising concerns about how the credit monitoring company has responded to the breach.

In a letter, the attorneys general objected to Equifax seemingly using its own data breach as an opportunity to sell services to breach victims.

Although Equifax is offering free credit monitoring services for one year, it also has been offering a fee-based service on the same website.

The attorneys general called the practice unfair and said the competing offers will serve only to confuse consumers who already are struggling to make decisions on how to best protect themselves.

The group requested that Equifax disable links to the fee-based service until the sign-up period for the free service has ended. They also asked that the sign-up period be extended through at least Jan. 31, 2018, rather than end on Nov. 21.

In addition, the attorneys general said Equifax should reimburse affected consumers who had to pay for a security freeze with other companies, such as Experian and TransUnion.

Equifax has agreed to waive fees for placing a security freeze through its own company.

Some 143 million Americans had their personal information exposed because of the data breach, including more than 700,000 Nebraskans and nearly 1.1 million Iowans.

The information at risk includes Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, drivers license and credit card numbers.

Equifax announced the breach to the public last week, although the company said it became aware of the breach on July 29.

The attorneys general of Connecticut, Illinois and Pennsylvania sent a letter to Equifax last week seeking information about the circumstances that led to the breach, the reasons for the months-long delay between the breach and the companys public disclosure, what protections the company had in place at the time of the breach and how the company intends to protect consumers affected by the breach.

The new letter said early indications are that Equifax had failed to apply a necessary patch to its software, allowing the breach to occur.

The letter noted that Equifax has responded to two earlier concerns.

The company no longer requires people to waive their right to sue in order to get the free credit monitoring. The company also made its offer of free credit monitoring more visible on its website.

Other states signing the letter are Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.

To see if your information was affected, go to equifaxsecurity2017.com, where you will be asked to enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number.

Equifax also has set up a dedicated call center at 866-447-7559, available from 6 a.m. to midnight.
According to a new study published in the Journal of Hepatology, 500 people are expected to die this year after taking over-the-counter drugs containing acetaminophen.

The study noted that the common pain reliever causes 46 percent of all cases of liver failure in the United States and 100,000 calls to U.S. Poison Control Center every year.

Iowa is not immune from the problems associated with acetaminophen.

Dr. Ed Bottei of the Iowa Poison Control Center in Sioux City said the center has received 600 calls so far this year concerning the various brands of over-the-counter acetaminophen. The number of calls regarding doctor-prescribed pain relievers that combine acetaminophen with opioids has topped the 1,100 mark.

About two-thirds of the calls involving the various brands of over-the-counter acetaminophen formulations are intentional use of the drug to hurt themselves, Bottei said. Most of the calls we get involving adults are attempts to commit suicide. When the potential overdose of acetaminophen is intentional, the patients are sent to an emergency room.

Bottei said that calls involving overdoses of acetaminophen in children are generally unintentional overdoses.

In some cases, the child is simply given more acetaminophen than is appropriate for their age, often the result of parents not reading the warning on the label of the bottle, he said. In other cases, both of the parents will give the child the appropriate amount, not realizing the other parent has given it.

Bottei said if the amount of acetaminophen that has been ingested is below the acceptable level, the center normally advises monitoring the patient for any adverse signs.

However, if the call includes references to nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain, the caller is advised that the patient should be evaluated by a doctor.

He said the number of calls about acetaminophen are fairly consistent  about 1,000  from year to year, and 2017 is on track to be near average in terms of the number of calls.

If people read and follow the directions on the bottle, acetaminophen is a safe product, Bottei said. At the same time, people need to understand there are a lot of products containing acetaminophen. People really need to read and follow the instructions for all drugs, whether they are over-the-counter or prescribed medications.

The FDA has approved over 600 acetaminophen products, everything from OTC sleep aids to prescription acetaminophen-opioid drugs.

According to 2015 data based on poison control centers reports, acetaminophen and other analgesics are the number one cause of poisoning overall and the number one cause of pediatric death.

Bottei said recommendations for the maximum amount of acetaminophen a person should take range from 3,000 to 4,000 milligrams daily. He said the amount of acetaminophen per tablet is listed on the boxes and labels of over-the-counter drugs, and those using the drugs should not exceed the 4,000 milligram recommendation.

Likewise, the amount of acetaminophen in prescribed drugs containing other pain relievers should be listed on the label.
An award-winning, bestselling author visited Abraham Lincoln High School on Wednesday. The school just happens to be her alma mater.

Gayle Lynds, called the reigning queen of espionage fiction by Library Journal, shared some writing tips with journalism students from Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson high schools.

An award-winning, bestselling author, Lynds has written 10 spy novels and created the Covert-One series with Robert Ludlum. One installment, The Hades Factor, was made into a CBS miniseries.

However, she warned the students, Writing is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. When I was growing up, I didnt realize how much work it took to do something well. I hope you uncover what your gifts are.

Lynds advised aspiring writers to take all the English and creative writing classes they can, attend lectures and workshops, join or form writing groups and learn to read analytically.

If you can learn to analyze other books, you can analyze your own, she said.

Writers should never be afraid of making mistakes, Lynds said.

People who dont make any mistakes, you dont do anything, she said. Books arent written, they are rewritten. I rewrite each chapter probably a dozen times before I move on. Our job is to make our book so easy to read that you cant imagine it being written any other way.

Born in Omaha and raised in Council Bluffs, Lynds became interested in narrative when she was a child.

I grew up loving stories, she said.

Lynds remembers listening to an uncle and other relatives tell stories at family gatherings.

That led to me reading everything I could get my hands on, she said.

Lynds was co-editor of The Echoes at A.L. and editor of The Daily Iowan at University of Iowa, where she used to sneak into lectures in the universitys internationally renowned Writers Workshop. She couldnt enroll in its classes, because they were only for graduate students.

I really yearned to write novels, she said. In those days, I never thought a kid from Iowa could reach such high aspirations.

Following her remarks, Lynds was given a tour of A.L.s journalism department.

Lynds began her writing career as a reporter at The Arizona Republic, but her destiny may have been shaped while working as an editor for a think tank in California.

That opened the door for me to a world I knew existed but knew almost nothing about, she said.

Lynds gained a top secret security clearance and learned about the activities of real spies.

It wasnt until she was divorced and trying to support her children that she learned to make money writing fiction. She started with short stories, then tried longer works. Her first spy novel, Masquerade, became a New York Times Best Seller.

While some people might ask why she chose that genre, millions of others are hooked on it. Lynds quoted J. Edgar Hoover, saying, Theres something about a secret thats addicting. She kept writing spy novels and is considered by many to be among the best espionage writers in the business. Her most recent book, The Assassins, was published in 2015 by St. Martins Press.

Lynds is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and cofounder (with David Morrell) and former copresident of International Thriller Writers Inc.
Soft and luxuriant, silk may not seem to share much in common with Auburn Correctional Facility. But the fabric is the subject of a short but significant period in the prison's history  one that will be discussed at a Sept. 21 program, "Silk Mania in Auburn Prison," at the Cayuga Museum of History & Art.

Presenting the program will be Denise Nicole Green, an assistant professor at Cornell University and director of its Costume & Textile Collection in the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design. The program takes its title from a paper Green authored with retired professor Nancy Breen, which they previously presented at the National Symposium of the Costume Society of America.

The professors also have a personal interest in the paper they authored: Green is from Auburn, and Breen currently lives in the city. Having grown up on Easterly and then Dunning avenues, walking past the Seward House Museum and the area's historical markers as a child, Green began looking for projects on local fashion history when she came to Cornell three years ago, she said.

She and Breen found their project in one of those historical markers. Located outside the prison, behind its barred gate, it says, "Convicts made sewing silk, 1841-1846. Here was principal cash market in U.S. for cocoons and raw silk." Green explained that the marker's date range is incorrect  silk production actually ceased at the prison in the summer of 1844. And that's precisely the type of information she and Breen sought to unweave about this little-known period in the history of Auburn Correctional Facility.

"It was hard to find a lot of primary documents from the prison itself from this era," she said Thursday. "It was an interesting challenge. We were able to piece together a lot of information."

Green said the roots of the prison's silk production lie in the shrubby mulberry tree, which was imported locally by a Flushing nursery in 1826. The leaves of the fast-growing, cold-hardy plant are the major food source of silkworms. So with sudden access to that food source, domestic silk cultivation surged. It was the "perfect cottage industry" for New England farm families, Green said.

The New York State Assembly took note in 1835, ordering prisons to start silk production as soon as it was convenient, Green said. And, four years later, it was Auburnian and Gov. William H. Seward who suggested his hometown prison start production in an effort to diffuse its tension with local manufacturers. Silk, he reasoned, wouldn't threaten any of them, Green said.

By 1841, the first throwing mill had been built at the Auburn prison. Its warden (then called an agent) was Henry Polhemus, who advocated strongly for the project, later showing spools of its finished product at the New York State Fair. Using a mill, Green said, Auburn prisoners would take raw silkworm cocoons and reel (unwind) their singular threads into sewing silk, also known as twist. The spools would then be sold to dressmakers, who still worked by hand  whether it was at a shop making someone else's gown or at home making their own.

By the end of 1842, Green said, the prison had 41 inmates working at 10 throwing mills and a dye house. At that point, she continued, it was indeed the country's principal cash market for raw silk.

But the project unraveled in almost equal time. In 1843, Polhemus was replaced by John Beardsley, who wrote to the Assembly that the prison's silk was "more or less imperfect, badly twisted, badly assorted, defective in color, and consequently unsaleable." The origins of the silk were also a problem for its buyers and wearers, Green said. As men, the producers' hands were less nimble than those of the women and children who often made sewing silk  and as prisoners, they threaded a social stigma into the material. Meanwhile, imported silk remained cheaper due to ineffective tariffs.

Additionally, Green said, silk production was a problem for prison discipline. Log books show prisoners were punished for wasting or stealing silk, and talking during work time. She and Breen theorize that prison officials disliked the project because the sound of the machinery made it difficult for guards to overhear inmate conversations, but they have not been able to substantiate the theory.

Despite acknowledging the damage it would do to local silk cultivators who sold cocoons to the prison, Beardsley shut down silk production there in the summer of 1844, Green said.

The professor finds the Auburn prison's short period of silk production part of a greater tapestry of local fabric history that she'll cover Sept. 21 at the Cayuga Museum. Along with current wool and alpaca concerns, she'll also talk about the Auburn Button Works and Logan Silk Mills, which in the late 1800s made the material in the inaugural ball gown worn by first lady Caroline Harrison.

"Who knows that the future holds in terms of what's possible around fiber production in this region," Green said. "I think it's important for us to know the history of the places where we live and what people have been able to make and do in the hundreds of years before us. It can provide us with an interesting perspective as we look forward into the future."
By Anvita Singh: Reality show Lip Sing Battle premiered last night on Star Plus, and it was pure torture. The show, based on the concept of the American show Lip Sync Battle, was a snooze fest. There was nothing of the madness or fun that its presenter Farah Khan had promised in the show's promo.

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The first episode featured Farhan Akhtar and Arjun Kapoor as guests, who fought the battle of entertaining the viewers through their performance, where they danced and lip-synced a few hit tracks.

The performances were forced, lacked energy, and the spunk of the original.

Former The Kapil Sharma Show comedian Ali Asgar was supposed to provide some comic relief, but only had his usual done-to-death slapstick humour to offer.

So much for a straight face with these 2.. @arjunkapoor @faroutakhtar n @avigowariker getting out the 200% pagalpan #lipsingbattle A post shared by Farah Khan Kunder (@farahkhankunder) on Sep 4, 2017 at 2:04am PDT

The first 10 minutes of Lip Sing Battle was an exhaustingly long introduction of the show where the audience was familiarised with the concept of the show through Ali Asgar's unfunny antics.

Farhan and Arjun 'fought' for the 'championship' for two rounds. In the first round, Farhan performed to Shankar Mahadevan's Breathless, while Arjun lip-synced RD Burman's Duniya Mein Logon Ko; lacklustre acts, if there ever was one.

Guess who arrived on #lipsingbattle today!! A post shared by Farah Khan Kunder (@farahkhankunder) on Sep 3, 2017 at 4:40am PDT

In the second round of the said battle, Farhan and Arjun changed their attires in order to channel their inner Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt, and failed.

Their performances were tired, and the actors looked like they had been coerced to put up a 'fun' act.

The entire show had torture written all over it in bold letters. What a waste of everyone's time, energy, and money.

A sad, sad imitation of the original show, this one.

--- ENDS ---
The incident took place near a dumping ground in Kamatghar locality.

By Divyesh Singh: In a tragic incident, an eight-year-old boy died in Bhiwandi in Thane district of Maharashtra today after being mauled by stray dogs.

The incident took place near a dumping ground in Kamatghar locality. Source said that about 12 dogs attacked the boy for around two hours.

The deceased has been identified as Niraj Yadav, who is a resident of Kene village near Bhiwandi.

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Following the incident, the boy was rushed to a private hospital from where he was referred to Thane civil hospital.

Niraj succumbed to his injuries on his way to the hospital.

--- ENDS ---
On Sept. 2, I received an email at my personal Gmail account from our long anticipated 2017-2018 foreign exchange student from Spain. The email from the young lady, which I viewed on my phone, said she would be flying in from Madrid on Labor Day. She also provided her flight information so we could pick her up at O'Hare.

Being an obsessive Dad, I needed to understand the challenges we could run into with this plan. How far was Madrid from our students small town? What was the weather expected to be, could she get delayed?

So I decided to do a little research. I typed Madrid into Google on our home computer. The first search result that came up was the flight status of our students flight. Gmail had monitored my email, and projected the information contained in her particular email onto my search results in Google, and it had done it across two different devices. Creepy.

My point? We now live in a highly monitored electronic world. While we all kind of intuitively know this, until we are confronted with something like my creepy Google search results, do we realize just how personal this reality can be.

Enter the Equifax data breach. On Sept. 8, the mega data broker company announced its databases had been hacked, and that between May and July of this year 143 million Americans had the most personal information such as Social Security number, date of birth, name, address, and in some cases drivers license numbers and even credit card numbers exposed to these hackers.

The first press releases on this breach seemed kind of benign. As more information has been released and clarified, however, it can only be concluded that this is a very serious potential disaster for many Americans.

Of course everyone should take Equifax up on its offer to provide free credit monitoring and identity protection insurance. The offer is good for a year, and is a solid first response.

Those who find this issue particularly stressful should also consider putting a credit freeze on their credit file. This process locks the credit file from being accessed, and prevents new accounts from being established with your social security number.

A word to the wise however, I, and many of my clients who have put a credit freeze in place have found the process itself very cumbersome. If you decided to take this more aggressive step it is extremely important that you not lose your PIN number.

More importantly however, let's use this data breach as a wake up call. Everything we do in both the online and real world is being watched and stored by companies that do not view us customers, but rather as what our personal information means to them. We are their products.

The best way to manage this new reality is through awareness. I personally pay for credit monitoring service I find very effective. It's pretty slick when Im at Macys and decide to open a credit card and the app on my phone alerts me in real time that my information is being pulled. If you shoot me an email, I can let you know more.

Beyond simply monitoring the system however, perhaps it's time to start managing the information that gets onto it and demanding accountability from the companies that aggregate it.

This Equifax breach has me steaming, Ive already signed up for their credit monitoring, and it wont be the last time we discuss it in this column.
You can call them "frenemies."

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) are friends when it comes to blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis. But the two big pharma companies are enemies in the oncology and immunology arenas.

How do these collaborators and competitors compare for investors? Here's how Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) stack up against each other.

Current products

Pfizer's top-selling products include Prevnar 13, Lyrica, Enbrel, Ibrance, and Eliquis. Three of these drugs are performing well, with growing sales. However, sales have been slipping for pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13 and autoimmune-disease drug Enbrel. Overall, though, Pfizer's innovative health segment, which includes its brand drugs still protected by patents, is growing revenue at a respectable 6% to 7% annually.

The real challenge for Pfizer's current lineup stems from its essentials health segment. Sales are falling for its legacy drugs that have either lost exclusivity or will soon do so. Pfizer's sterile injectables business, picked up from its 2015 acquisition of Hospira, has been somewhat sluggish also. Sales for its biosimilars are growing nicely, but revenue isn't enough to offset the other problem areas.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is enjoying exceptionally strong sales growth for cancer drug Opdivo and for Eliquis. Sales for several other products in the drugmaker's lineup are also increasing solidly, including rheumatoid arthritis drug Orencia, chemotherapy Sprycel, and cancer immunotherapy Yervoy.

However, like Pfizer, BMS faces headwinds with its older products. The company's hepatitis C franchise is especially struggling in the face of newer competition. It's the same story for BMS's hepatitis B and HIV drugs.

Which big pharma looks better when it comes to current products? BMS has the clear advantage. Total revenue is growing by nearly 9%, thanks largely to continued momentum for Opdivo.

Pipelines

Pfizer's pipeline includes 10 programs awaiting regulatory approval and 32 late-stage programs. The company also has another 17 phase 2 programs. Some of these are targeting additional indications for existing drugs like Bavencio, Ibrance, and Xeljanz. However, several are new drugs, including promising candidates talazoparib for treating breast cancer, and diabetes drug ertugliflozin, which Pfizer is co-developing with Merck.

Pfizer ranked third among all big pharma companies last year for investing in research and development. The company invests heavily in internal R&D, but it has also been busy on the acquisitions front, buying Anacor and Medivation in 2016. These acquisitions have added several solid candidates to Pfizer's pipeline.

Bristol-Myers Squibb's pipeline includes a total of 33 compounds in development, although several of those compounds are involved in multiple clinical trials. The company does have quite a few late-stage studies underway, but most of them focus on existing drugs, especially Opdivo and Yervoy. BMS only has one new drug not already on the market for another indication in late-stage development.

Although BMS's research with its immuno-oncology drugs is promising, Pfizer claims a much larger pipeline. As a result, Pfizer appears to be the winner in this category.

Dividends

Pfizer's dividend currently yields 3.62% -- one of the best yields in big pharma. The company uses roughly 90% of its earnings to fund the dividend program. That's higher than ideal, but Pfizer's strong cash flow should keep the dividends flowing for a long time to come.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has a lower dividend yield of 2.48%. On the other hand, the drugmaker's payout ratio is less than 57%, indicating flexibility to increase its dividend in the future.

Both of these companies have solid dividends, but I'd give Pfizer the nod as the better dividend stock. It doesn't seem likely that BMS will catch up to Pfizer's yield anytime soon.

Better buy

Which of these two drugmakers is the better pick for investors? It's a tough call. In fact, I'll cheat a little bit and select both of them.

Over a shorter period (the next one to five years), my view is that Bristol-Myers Squibb will probably be the better stock. Opdivo is a great drug and will be the key driver for the company's growth. Pfizer will continue to face challenges from its legacy products that will take time to overcome.

On the other hand, I think Pfizer is likely to be the better stock over the longer term. Don't overlook the power of reinvesting those great dividends that Pfizer pays. I also expect the company's deep pipeline to deliver some key wins down the road.

The nice thing about investing is that it's not always a binary decision. Both Pfizer and BMS appear to be solid stocks for investors. Of course, there are quite a few others that are just as good and perhaps even better.

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GARY  Standing on the dock at Marquette Park Lagoon, wearing a lifejacket, paddle in hand, Francoise McHerron said she wasn't nervous.

She hadn't kayaked since she was a kid in summer camp.

She's also blind.

"I'm excited," said the 25-year-old from Crown Point. "I love water. I like to swim. I was on the swimming team when I was little."

McHerron was participating in a recent event to teach kayaking to blind Northwest Indiana residents. She attends the Blind Social Center in Gary, which hosted the activity with Causes for Change, Miller Neighborhood Spotlight and the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association.

"Water is the great equalizer," said Zully JF Alvarado, founder and CEO of Causes for Change, a nonprofit that works to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. "No one knows I have a wheelchair when I'm in a kayak."

It's also about getting people with disabilities out of the house, into nature.

"Depression is a major issue for people with disabilities because of lack of transportation and access," Alvarado said. "People with disabilities become prisoners in our own minds and own homes. This is a battle we're going to combat."

McHerron got ready for her paddling excursion. She traded places in a orange, red and yellow kayak with Marilyn Wynn, of Gary, a volunteer with the Blind Social Center who is legally blind herself.

"I'm ready to go back. I'm ready to go again," Wynn exclaimed, stepping back onto the dock.

McHerron sat down in the kayak.

"How does it feel?" asked Connie Blair, co-director of the Blind Social Center.

"It feels good," said McHerron, characteristically understated.

Blair noted that most of the time her rookie kayakers aren't as cool and collected as McHerron.

"At first they're a little nervous," she said. "Once they see how calm the water is, it calms them and they focus on the ride."

Wynn said she was scared the first time she went kayaking. She's not anymore.

"I really like doing it solo because that's, like, control," she said, adding that her favorite parts are "the peace, the tranquility."

Moments later, Blair's husband and co-director of the Blind Social Center, Tony, paddled up to the dock in his kayak. He also is blind.

"This way?" he said, waving his left hand over the water, the dock to his right.

"The other way," someone said.

"Why don't I want to go this way?" the affable Blair joked, his hand still over the water.

He paddled in front of the kayak after riding in the back last time.

"We have a great navigator," he noted. "I'd be across to Chicago without her."

"This is beautiful," said Wynn, looking out over the lagoon.

The breeze rippled the water, bouncing the lily pads like kids in a wave pool. The wind made a hushing sound as it blew the vegetated trees. Clouds floated past, providing occasional cover from the blazing sun.

"It's really nice, isn't it?" Blair said.

Kenneth Nesbitt, a board member of the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association, said he volunteers for these types of events to witness the reaction from the kayakers.

"I had one person who was visually impaired tell me once that when she's out in the kayak, she feels the most in control she's felt since she gave away her driver's license," he said.

McHerron returned from her ride, all smiles.

"Get it, girl!" "Way to go, Fran!" people on the deck yelled out.

"That was fun," she said.

"Will you do it again, Fran?" asked Connie Blair.

"Yep," McHerron said. "Yeah, that was fun. I gotta do that again."

She said paddling was easier than she thought it would be; the breeze helped.

"I gotta do this again, though," she said.
The Valparaiso couple arrived at the hospital, the woman already in labor. A staff member wheeled her to the delivery unit, but it was too late. She gave birth in the wheelchair.

That was the first sign.

The newborn also had goosebumps. He shook violently. He let out a nonstop, high-pitched squeal.

He was addicted to heroin.

Nurses brought the baby to the neonatal intensive care unit, where he was put on morphine and phenobarbital to reduce his symptoms.

The medical staff told the parents they knew. The Department of Child Services later arrived to interview the new mom and dad.

Once the child's mother was ready to leave the hospital a few days later, the parents didn't get to take their baby with them. Instead, he went into the foster care system.

The mother and father only got to see their son periodically over the next three years. He was raised by his grandparents.

This story is all too common in Indiana, where babies are born dependent on opioids at a third more than the national average, according to data from the Indiana State Department of Health. Through the end of August, 15.7 percent of Indiana babies tested were addicted to opioids, compared to 10.7 percent nationwide.

In utero exposure to opioids puts infants at risk for social, emotional and intellectual delays, and can impair long-term immunity and protection against pathogens, medical experts say.

'Hidden consequence'

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called neonatal abstinence syndrome an "often hidden consequence of the opioid epidemic." The incidence of the condition tripled between 1999 and 2013.

Despite the alarming numbers in Indiana, the state is one of the hardest places for pregnant women, or anyone for that matter, to access drug rehabilitation.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Indiana ranks 16th worst for the percentage of residents who needed substance abuse treatment in the past year but did not receive it.

When help is available, pregnant women often are afraid of letting medical professionals know about their addiction, for fear of having their babies taken away by the state.

"Many women who come in late in their pregnancy tend to not have had any prenatal care at all," said Peggy Payonk, program supervisor of acute addiction services at Merrillville-based Regional Mental Health Center, which gives priority to pregnant women for its residential drug treatment.

"Because they're fearful of what would happen if their OB finds out they're addicted to drugs, they can be seven to eight months pregnant and have had no prenatal care."

Indiana has the eighth-highest infant death rate in the nation, according to the most recent federal data. The state health department has identified lack of prenatal care as one of the leading risk factors. In addition, babies born dependent on drugs often have a low birth weight and respiratory distress, two of the top causes of infant mortality.

While Indiana doesn't punish maternal drug use as a crime, the state does consider it child abuse, putting mothers at risk of losing their newborns to foster care. Though not required by law, hospitals that birth a baby dependent on drugs generally report the incident to the Department of Child Services.

In Indiana, the number of children removed from the home for reasons including substance use jumped to 52.7 percent last year from 31.7 percent in 2013. The number of children in need of DCS services increased to 21,374 on the last day of the 2016 fiscal year from 13,684 on the final day of the 2013 fiscal year.

Meanwhile, neonatal abstinence syndrome is likely costing the state of Indiana a lot of money. According to the most recent CDC data from 2012, a healthy infant spent an average of 2.1 days in the hospital for a total cost of $3,500. A child born dependent on drugs, however, stayed an average of 16.9 days for a cost of $66,700.

In 2012, hospitals spent $1.5 billion caring for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome; 80 percent of that was paid for by Medicaid, the state-based insurance program for the poor.

Since Oct. 1, 2015, Indiana Medicaid has spent $23.7 million to treat 1,616 babies born dependent on substances, according to the Family & Social Services Administration.

Effects go beyond infancy

Julie White, a clinical nurse educator at Porter Regional Hospital, described what it's like to witness newborns experiencing neonatal abstinence syndrome:

"The babies can have seizures. They get uncomfortable. They have tremors. Their bowel movements are loose and watery, so they have butt breakdowns.

"They get uncomfortable even when they eat. They have a tendency to throw up a lot, so they're hungry. It's kind of a vicious cycle getting them to eat, getting their food down. They're crying so hard they throw up.

"If you saw it, you would say, 'That baby, that's so sad, what's wrong?' "

The effects can be lasting.

Janice Wozniak, a Portage foster parent for more than four decades, has cared for numerous kids exposed to drugs in utero. She recalled one foster child she got as an infant whose mom used heroin during her pregnancy.

"By the time she was 15 months old, her behavior was so bizarre," Wozniak said. "We couldn't get her to stop laying in front of the dog dish and eating out of the dog dish and drinking out of the water. If she'd catch the bathroom door, she'd go in and dump her head in the toilet."

Wozniak knows of another local foster child born addicted to heroin who died in her sleep. She was 3 months old.

Nazareth Home in East Chicago was founded in the early 1990s to care for babies born with AIDS in Lake County. Now the foster home for medically challenged infants and toddlers mostly sees newborns dependent on drugs, mostly heroin.

"Babies being born drug-addicted is a huge problem and huge issue right now," said Jean Bowman, director of Nazareth Home. "I don't know what's going on that we have such a big crisis with the drugs."

Help could be on the way

Treatment does look to be expanding in Indiana. The federal government recently awarded the state $10.9 million to combat the opioid epidemic, 80 percent of which has to be spent on treatment.

The state Legislature also has allocated $5 million over each of the next two fiscal years for substance abuse treatment, prevention and enforcement, and passed more than a dozen bills during this year's session to fight the opioid crisis.

Two of them included pilot projects to expand treatment for pregnant women. One will test the best ways to pay for training for OB/GYN doctors to prescribe drugs such as buprenorphine for medication-assisted treatment, and to detect and treat neonatal-abstinence syndrome in babies and provide drug treatment to moms.

Another pilot project will set up residential drug treatment facilities for pregnant women and mothers of newborns in Indianapolis, Winchester and southern Indiana.

The latter program is modeled after the Fresh Start Recovery Center in the state capital, run by Volunteer Services of America Indiana. That center is believed to be the only in the state to treat pregnant women and new mothers, who are allowed to keep their newborns with them. The women also are taught parenting skills.

"If we can get pregnant women in, they can have babies while staying with us and can bring the babies after," said Shannon Schumacher, executive vice president of Volunteers of America Indiana. "Then we can have babies born without drugs in their system, avoiding all the NICU stays."

That program, however, has a waitlist of about nine to 10 months and roughly 140 women. The facility is expanding, though: It recently doubled its bed size, to 30 from 15, and is adding another 30 beds by the end of the year.

In addition, the managed care companies in charge of the state's Medicaid programs have joined with community mental health centers across the state on a pilot project, called MOMentum, to reduce neonatal abstinence syndrome. Eight facilities  including Valparaiso-based Porter-Starke Services and Swanson Center in LaPorte  have expanded their medication-assisted treatment offerings, including buprenorphine and methadone, and promised to get pregnant women and their partners into immediate treatment.

So far, though, all these programs are only being tested and available in certain parts of the state.

Data slow to come

The state Department of Health just recently started trying to determine the extent of the perinatal drug use in Indiana. The initial pilot project, in 2016, scored four hospitals, which had a neonatal abstinence syndrome rate of twice the national average. The screening initiative has since expanded to 26 hospitals across the state, including, in Northwest Indiana, the Franciscan health hospitals in Crown Point, Dyer, Hammond and Michigan City.

Only a handful of states mandate drug testing for new moms and infants; Indiana isn't one of them. That could change once the health department is done collecting its data.

"We will likely request universal screening based on the results," said Martha Allen, director of maternal and child health for the Indiana State Department of Health. "We want to increase our sample size first so we have confidence in the prevalence."

Hospitals now have to be equipped to treat neonatal abstinence syndrome. They first determine whether the baby is dependent on drugs and needs to be transferred to the NICU by using the Finnegan scoring system, which quantifies withdrawal symptoms.

Treatment is done by giving the baby opioids, such as morphine and methadone, eventually weaning them off, as well as fluids and high-calorie formula. NICU staff also provides comfort measures to the newborns.

"The aim is really to have a child be less stimulated," said Dr. Kemi Mascoll-Robertson, a neonatologist with Methodist Hospitals in Gary and Merrillville, which saw its cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome increase to 22 in 2016 from 14 the year before, with an average NICU stay of 31 days.

"You want to minimize light and sound: a quiet room, dim light. You also want to swaddle that infant, mimic how they feel inside the womb, gently rocking and cuddling them."

Community Health Network hospitals in Indianapolis has perhaps the most comprehensive approach to treating drug addiction in pregnant women. They are tested for drugs at their first prenatal appointment. Women who are addicted to opioids are prescribed Subutex, or buprenorphine, an opioid replacement medication (Suboxone generally isn't used because the ingredient naloxone is believed to be harmful to the fetus). A behavioral health specialist counsels the women on their addiction through their delivery. Care coordinators hook up the moms with social supports in the community.

Not all those services are reimbursable by insurance. "We're doing it because it's the right thing for the patient, who, in the long run, has better outcomes," said Donetta Gee-Weiler, vice president for women's and children's services for Community Health Network.

In the first year of the program, she said, the hospital system saw a $4 million savings and cut the number of pregnant women who tested positive for drugs at their first prenatal visit in half by the time of their delivery.

Child doing well

Five years later and having regained custody, the Valparaiso couple's child is healthy and entering kindergarten. He hasn't had any developmental delays as a result of his neonatal abstinence syndrome.

"I thank God," said his father, who would only speak to The Times if the newspaper didn't identify him. "He's advanced in every way. He's quick-witted, smart, asks questions."

The father said there simply aren't enough treatment options in Indiana for opioid-addicted people, pregnant or not. Even if there were, he said, the stigma surrounding addiction often prevents parents from telling their doctors the truth.

"We were guilty, ashamed, to reach out for help when she was pregnant," he said, "because of judgment, because we were afraid of getting our child taken away.

"It's a difficult thing to go into a doctor's office and say, 'I'm addicted to heroin.' For any rational person, that's what you should do to save the baby. But when there's that much guilt and shame, it makes it very hard.

"You're essentially asking somebody to say, 'You think I'm the biggest piece of s*** in the world, and you're going to talk about me when I get out of here and say what a horrible person I am  but can you help me?' "
MUNSTER  Firefighting is a naturally risky job. Men and women in the field have a greater chance than the general population of being diagnosed with an occupational-related cancer.

The risks come with the territory, but there are ways to reduce exposure and minimize harm, said Joe Martin, 32, a veteran Griffith firefighter and lead instructor for the Lake County Recruit Firefighter Academy.

Martin is one of two people leading a four-hour class on Tuesday night at the Munster Center For Visual & Performing Arts. The course, which runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., is designed to educate firefighters about the health risks they face on the job along with practical tips that can minimize exposure to cancer-causing contaminants.

"We're still going to fight fires. That's what we do and that's what we signed up for. But how can we better protect ourselves?" Martin said.

Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service is open to any fire personnel in Indiana District 1 Task Force, which includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties, he said.

The class will focus on education and changes that departments can make in terms of training, operations, and equipment to reduce exposures to cancer-causing chemicals and work hazards, he said.

Showering soon after responding to a call, cleaning equipment and wearing the appropriate apparatus should be the standard for all departments, but it doesn't always happen, Martin said.

The training course is held every few months throughout District 1. Often times, fire chiefs take what they learn back to their department and implement changes in operating procedures, he said.

"A lot of these changes cost money. But the chiefs seem to be open to all kinds of changes, whether it's monetary, philosophical or a change in culture," he said.

Firefighters will learn the risk factors associated with fire/smoke and how to protect ourselves during and post-fire, according to event details.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, will also be on hand to discuss the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2017, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week.

The bill, if it turns into law, will provide federal funding to help protect firefighters and require the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create and maintain a registry of firefighters diagnosed with cancer.

Martin will teach the course with Ryan Cusack, a lieutenant and paramedic with the Crown Point Fire Department, he said. The Munster Fire Department is hosting the event.

To RSVP, visit goo.gl/seShfZ
The Indiana Senate Republican Caucus is offering paid, spring-semester internships during the 2018 legislative session to college students, recent graduates, as well as graduate students and law school students, said state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso.

Internships with the Indiana Senate Republican Caucus relate to various fields of study including legislative, legal, policy, communications, multimedia and information technology. Benefits include a $750 bi-weekly stipend, scholarship and academic credit opportunities, professional development, community involvement and networking.

Qualified candidates must be at least a college sophomore. Positions are open to Indiana residents and nonresidents who attend a college or university within the state.

Senate internships are full-time positions at the Statehouse in downtown Indianapolis that begin with a mandatory orientation in late December and conclude at the end of the legislative session in March 2018.

Senate interns are exposed to many employment opportunities through a series of panels and events. In addition, over 80 percent of full-time Senate staff are former interns.

More information and applications for internships with the Indiana Senate Republican Caucus can be found online at www.IndianaSenateRepublicans.com/intern-program.

The deadline to apply is Oct. 31.
The Crown Point Community Foundation has ensured the continued safety of hundreds of Boys & Girls Clubs members with a grant in the amount of $6,195 that was used to replace the previous fire alarm system in the Cedar Lake Boys & Girls Club.

Overall safety is one of the key components when assessing the club members experience, said Lisa Patrick, vice president of operations. While our innovative programs are designed to empower youth to excel in school, become good citizens and lead healthy productive lives, the safety of our equipment and club facilities is just as important.

Support from individual donors, corporate sponsors and charitable organizations like The Crown Point Community Foundation are essential to the life-changing, life-saving work we do here at Boys & Girls Clubs of NWI, said Orlando Drummond, grants operations manager. We appreciate the generous support of the Crown Point Community Foundation and its overwhelming understanding of the impact our clubs have on thousands of club members and their families throughout Northwest Indiana.

The fire alarm system grant accompanies a First Responders Event to be held at the Cedar Lake Club from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday. First responders in Cedar Lake and Lake County are invited to meet the club members and community members and are encouraged to bring emergency equipment and vehicles. At 6 p.m. the club will provide dinner to the first responders and their immediate families, to honor and celebrate all who serve and sacrifice to make our community safe and secure.
CROWN POINT  The city has filed a lawsuit against a homeowner as part of a road improvement project on 109th Avenue.

The house owned by Vic Sayers sits precariously close to 109th between Interstate 65 and Broadway where the city is planning road improvements. According to a complaint filed in Lake Superior Court by city attorneys, Sayers was offered $256,000 for the property but turned it down.

The city is now seeking to exercise its power of eminent domain to gain the property.

The house came into question in 2015 when preparations were underway to improve and widen 109th to accommodate the now-stalled Galleria development that would have included retail, hotel, restaurant and other commercial development on both sides of 109th from Delaware Parkway to I-65.

However, commercial development is picking up just north of the home in the Beacon Hill area and plans call to eventually extend Delaware north toward a planned hospital at 10215 Broadway Ave. The city is still hoping to land a hotel in the area around 109th as well.

As previously reported in The Times, Sayers said the city made an offer for a portion of the frontage and then for his entire property, but the appraisal the city had done was based on residential use when all the property around is zoned for business use. He had an appraisal done that he said came in significantly higher than the city's.

In the same report from The Times, city attorney Alexander Kutanovski said the offer to purchase conformed with the statutory requirements and was based on two independent appraisals of the real estate, which were completed using standard appraisal practices taking into account the current use rather than a speculative future use.

"The property owner did not accept the offer to purchase," he said.

In January the city approved an agreement with Indianapolis-based civil engineering firm BF&S to complete the studies, design and management of the 109th Avenue improvement project. This followed the 2016 approval by the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission of a Highway Safety Improvement Project Grant on 109th from the Broadway intersection to Delaware. Officials said that section of 109th is one phase of the overall improvements that will be taking place from Broadway to I-65.
Beginning in January, Indiana University Northwests School of Business and Economics will offer its popular Weekend MBA for Professionals Program in Michigan City. On-site courses will take place at the Northern Indiana Education Foundation (NIEF), at 402 Franklin St.

The move to bring the Saturday in-class component to Michigan City opens doors for professionals in the LaPorte and Porter County areas, as well as southwest Michigan, who can now earn a prestigious IU Northwest MBA  a program accredited by AASCB International, the premier accreditation body for schools of business  without having to travel to the main campus in Gary.

According to Cynthia Roberts, dean of the School of Business and Economics, the programs extension strengthens the advanced degree options for the local business community and helps IU Northwest deliver on its commitment to creating a brighter future for all. We are excited to make our Weekend MBA program available to even more working professionals, including those in the LaPorte and Porter County areas, as well as Southwest Michigan, who are seeking a local option for advancing their careers.

The Weekend MBA for Professionals is a team-based hybrid program in which students take two courses every eight weeks: one online and the other in the classroom.

John Gibson, director of graduate and undergraduate programs, said the program is popular because the structure makes it easier for working professionals to complete their degree at the same time they are advancing their careers. Working and going to school can be challenging, Gibson said, but the Weekend MBA program combines the best features of web-based and face-to-face learning to make it more convenient for students.

Known for its focus on blending leadership and teamwork into the curriculum, the program affords students some additional benefits, including the chance to earn Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification as well as an international experience. In the past, Weekend MBA students have traveled to Thailand and China to study international business practices.

For more information about the Michigan City Weekend MBA or to apply, visit http://www.iun.edu/mba/. Or, call 219-980-6635 or email iunbiz@iun.edu.
By Adila Matra: This is the thing with disappearances. You don't know how long to wait, to fight and hope. For every person that disappeared along with Malaysian Airlines' MH-370 flight on that fateful day in March 2014, hundreds of loved ones waited, fought and hoped for days and months after.

KS Narendran was one of them. His wife of 25 years, Chandrika, was one of the 239 people aboard the flight that disappeared after take-off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. After months of trying to find out what happened, in late 2015, he was going over his e-mails of the nearly two-year period since March 8th 2014, when felt that something interesting might come out from collaborating with someone on the mass of emails Narendran had received from a wide range of people.

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After more deliberation, Narendran decided to pen down a book, Life After MH370: Journeying through a Void to cope with the loss, to explain how 'moving on' was misplaced in this inexplicable catastrophe or as an acceptance of what happened. The book chronicles the series of events that took place after the flight went off radar - the dilemma, conjectures, lack of information and the personal battles.

"That a large modern hi-tech commercial plane with claims to being the safest could disappear without a trace in an era of GPS, real time tracking, live streaming was hard to fathom, much less accept. Doubts cast on what were offered as 'facts' made it harder to trust authorities," says Narendran.

Narendran remembers how helpless the governments were - neither the Malaysian nor the Indian one would divulge information even to families of the missing. Or maybe they did not have any. He pens down those late nights when he and his 18-year-old daughter would break down, not knowing what to do and whom to turn to. He would go for long walks and have imaginary conversations with his college sweetheart-turned-wife. She wanted him to let go. But convincing her parents and siblings posed another problem.

"Perhaps among the more difficult things I had to deal with was the realisation that MH370 was fading away from the public consciousness after the initial months. I was certain that the investigation into the missing MH-370 would yield answers only if the public remained curious, involved and refused to give up," the author says.

In order to make sure this happened, Narendran held press conferences, wrote e-mails to the Malaysian Prime Minister, petitioned the Indian government and everything else that he could. In fact, the author refused to be cooped up in loss and saw things objectively. But at others, he lost his bearings as even the smallest of things reminded him of Chandrika.

Did acceptance provide some solace? Narendran says, "Acceptance is more than just knowing. I realise that it remains incomplete till I allow something anew to be emerge. I have still some way to go."

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LOWELL  While uncertain whether the town will be successful in getting a state grant like the $1 million grant received last year for funding road improvements, the Town Council is paving the way for more projects.

Town Manager Jeff Sheridan told the Town Council there's more competition for less money for the 2018 Community Crossings grants from the Indiana Department of Transportation. He said there were 1,000 applications for part of a $200 million pot when the town was awarded a grant last year. Now, he said, there are 2,000 applications vying for $150 million.

"It's much, much more competitive with less money to go around," he said.

Sheridan said the town will learn within 30 days whether Lowell will receive a second grant, and its value.

Given that, Town Council President Leann Angerman, R-2nd, said she doesn't want to waste time. "We should know by the time Belaire starts whether we get 2018 Community Crossing money. Then, we could do Meadowbrook," she said.

The Belaire project, the third and last phase of the 2017 Community Crossings grant projects, engineer Craig Hendrix of SEH, of Munster, said, is to be completed with it by the end of the year. He said he expects very competitive bids.

With the council's agreement, Hendrix said he will add an addendum to the bids so road work on Meadowbrook Drive can be included in the bids. "You can always pull it out," he said.
Birdwatchers in the know flock to Indianas northwest corner, a haven for numerous species of birds drawn by Lake Michigans open waters and a diverse landscape of dunes, beaches, wetlands and prairies. Leggy shore birds wade in rich marshes, songbirds flit through the forests, elusive owls stand guard, and in spring and fall, gigantic flocks of sandhill cranes cover the fields, resting during migratory journeys.

Lake Michigan has a funneling effect that allows birds to just pour in and follow the shoreline as they migrate through, said Brad Bumgardner, executive director of the Indiana Audubon Society. There are 400 species of birds found in all of Indiana and the majority can be found in our Region  120 are year-round residents and another 240 winter here or migrate through.

Residents of Porter and LaPorte counties can get involved in birding right in their own backyard through programs at Indiana Dunes State Park and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Visitors Center. In addition, a chance to see thousands of sandhill cranes as they migrate south for the winter is just around the corner.

This is the largest congregation of sandhill cranes east of the Mississippi, Bumgardner said, noting that the birds stopover occurs roughly between mid-October and Dec. 1, with a peak around Halloween. At sunrise and sunset, they come out into the fields to roost and socialize. They even jump and dance. The best place to see the birds, which number in the thousands, is Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area.

That area is just one of 13 different locations detailed by Indiana Dunes Tourism (http://www.indianadunes.com/beaches-and-beyond/birding/) as top birding spots, including Indiana Dunes State Park where Trails 2 and 10 are recommended year-round. For autumn viewing of migratory birds, experts recommend Miller Woods, Marquette Park and West Beach. The website lists the species of birds you might see.

Interest in birding has grown in recent years, according to Bumgardner, who noted that the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival, held here each spring, drew 750 people this year for hikes, tours and classes. Hes taught many classes himself and holds a degree in natural resources with specialization in ornithology and environmental education. His interest in bird watching started when he was a child camping in the woods with his family.

Bumgardner admits to having a favorite bird himself  the northern sow-whet owl. Its the smallest of the owls, about the size of a robin, he says. You can view the owls during the Department of Natural Resources banding program in October.

For residents who want to learn more about birding, Bumgardner recommends a crash course Oct. 21, sponsored by the state Audubon Society (Register online at https://indianaaudubon.org/event/indiana-birding-crash-course-2/). Youll be ready to spot some winged wonders yourself.
VALPARAISO  The Valparaiso Area Girl Scouts were awarded the Best Little Kernel Award for their float entry in the Popcorn Festival Parade on Sept. 9. With the theme Faces of Girl Scouting, the float depicted four life-sized Girl Scouts decorated in cornmeal, popcorn and other corn products. A Daisy, Brownie, Junior and Cadette Girl Scout circled round and round as they made their way through the parade route. The traditional Girl Scout trefoil showed the faces of many of our local girls and adults who live in Valparaiso and Washington Township
Over 23 years ago, our fire and police departments were called to a home that had a man who had barricaded himself in the attic. They were trying to get him out as he was a danger to himself and others. He was armed with knives and he began cutting himself in the hopes of who knows what. The medics couldnt get at him as he would try to stab them every time they tried to help him. The SWAT team in Michigan City was called but by the time they arrived to deal with the situation they were trained to do, the man was dead. This was a definite beginning of talks to create what Michigan City had and Portage didnt.

Yes, long before 9/11, our city officials had the forethought to organize the Portage SWAT team to maintain safety in our community under unique and many times, drastic circumstances. Weve all seen right before our eyes what evil people can do to the law- abiding citizens of our communities. I often wonder how many people realize how many others come in and out of our city every day via the international port, the tollway and expressway.

In 1996, the Portage SWAT Team was founded and was the first of its kind in Porter County. They are on call 24/7. Their main mission is to save lives in extreme circumstances, of which is not required of regular police officers. The team is made up of one commander, Capt. Rob Maynard, two snipers, 11 tactical officers, along with six tactical medics from the Portage Fire Department (which are also required to pass all requirements for police work). They possess one of the highest operational tempos in the Region.

The Portage SWAT team engages in monthly trainings and a one-week training about this time of year. They train in firearms, physical fitness and obstacle courses. Im told they also brushed up on their skills this last week that Chief Troy Williams brought back from a conference inWashington D.C. on dignitary protection.

They have trained with former Navy seals, British SAS, FBI SWAT, LA SWAT, Indiana State Police SWAT and most other region SWAT teams. They have trained on a 737 airplane at the Gary Airport in order to acquaint themselves with a scenario-based drill to handle a hijacked plane. They have also been granted access to a large freighter vessel at the Port of Indiana. Given the fact that Portage is at the doorstep of Lake Michigan, multiple marinas and the Port of Indiana; its imperative the team know how to maneuver around both large and small vessels, should the need arise.

The Portage SWAT team has gone to other areas to search for homicide and armed robbery subjects that have committed crimes in Portage and has served many major felony drug warrants to keep the drugs off the streets of our fair city.

Our society may always be threatened by all kinds of people and their evil acts, however we can be certain that after 22 years, our Portage SWAT team is there for us. We can never let our guard down and I want you to know that we have those in place that are committed to protecting us at any cost. Bravo Portage SWAT!
The largest threat to our prosperity is government spending that far exceeds the authority enumerated in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Federal spending in 2017 will top $4 trillion.

Social Security, at $1 trillion, will take up most of it. Medicare ($582 billion) and Medicaid ($404 billion) are the next-largest expenditures. Other federal social spending includes food stamps, unemployment compensation, child nutrition, child tax credits, supplemental security income and student loans, all of which total roughly $550 billion.

Social spending by Congress consumes about two-thirds of the federal budget.

Where do you think Congress gets the resources for such spending? It's not the tooth fairy or Santa Claus. The only way Congress can give one American a dollar is to use threats, intimidation and coercion to confiscate that dollar from another American.

Congress forcibly uses one American to serve the purposes of another American. We might ask ourselves, "What standard of morality justifies the forcible use of one American to serve the purposes of another American?"

Today's Americans have little appreciation for how their values reflect a contempt for those of our Founding Fathers.

In 1794, Congress appropriated $15,000 to help French refugees who had fled from insurrection in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution," stood on the floor of the House to object, saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article in the federal Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."

Most federal spending today is on "objects of benevolence." Madison also said, "Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."

No doubt some congressmen, academics, hustlers and ignorant people will argue the general welfare clause of the U.S. Constitution authorizes today's spending. That is simply unadulterated nonsense. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Congress (has) not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but (is) restrained to those specifically enumerated."

Madison wrote that "if Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one."

We cannot blame politicians for the spending that places our nation in peril. Politicians are doing precisely what the American people elect them to do  namely, use the power of their office to take the rightful property of other Americans and deliver it to them.

It would be political suicide for a president or a congressman to argue, as Madison did, that Congress has no right to expend "on objects of benevolence" the money of its constituents and that "charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."

It's unreasonable of us to expect any politician to sabotage his career by living up to his oath of office to uphold and defend our Constitution. That means if we are to save our nation from the economic and social chaos that awaits us, we the people must have a moral reawakening and eschew what is no less than legalized theft, the taking from one American for the benefit of another.
Indiana is still living in the Dark Ages when it comes to one aspect of education.

The Hoosier state is one of 16 that doesnt require school attendance until age 7. A kid could be lost by then.

There are 15 states that require its youngsters to attend kindergarten at age 5 or before enrolling in the first grade.

The bottom line is that there are 7,000 children in Indiana who arent enrolled in kindergarten but could be. No, make that should be.

Dont blame the lack of a law requiring kindergarten for all Hoosier children on a lack of money.

No, the Indiana treasury is pretty thick, with almost $2 billion sitting in the bank rather than being put to good use.

While Indiana doesnt have mandatory kindergarten, it does have pilot programs around the state  including one in Lake County  for pre-K programs for the most at-risk children.

Because kindergarten isnt mandatory, its possible a youngster may sit at home for a year after completing a pre-K program.

Go figure.

That potential lapse of continuity also bothers Republican state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick.

McCormick, you may recall, stunned the Indiana political and education communities last year when she defeated incumbent Glenda Ritz.

McCormick has to face the same Republican-controlled General Assembly that helped then-Gov. Mike Pence beat up on Ritz by taking away much of her power.

Fortunately for McCormick, Republicans generally treat those in their own party with a bit more respect.

Despite the setbacks state school chiefs have suffered in the past, McCormick will push for mandatory kindergarten for all when the Legislature convenes just after the first of the year.

Were going to go after that legislation. Were creating a lot of noise, McCormick said a week ago.

It could still be a tough sell in a conservative Legislature. Another problem for McCormick is that the parents of kindergarten-age children dont amount to much of a lobby force.

There is one factor that likely will come into play on this issue that has not been there in the past.

New Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who seems more progressive than recent Republican governors, is the guy who can make it happen.
A man is in police custody after his girlfriend was shot and killed in Queens on Sunday, according to police sources.

Officers said they had responded to a 911 call of an assault at a home on 147th St. near 133rd Ave. in Jamaica around 2:03 a.m.

Police said when they arrived they found Luz Cuza, 34, unconscious, with a gunshot wound to her head.

She was rushed to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Police sources said Cuza has an infant child, and the shooting may have been a domestic dispute between her and her 31-year-old boyfriend.

He has not yet been charged.
President Trump returned to his old home Sunday ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.

The president is slated to address the United Nations (U.N.) on Tuesday and discuss North Korea and Iran during his speech.



Over the next several days, he is staying at Trump Tower, where he plans to hold meetings with foreign leaders there.

Security is tight around Trump's Midtown home, with barricades and a heavy NYPD and Secret Service presence.

His visit, along with the General Assembly, means extensive street closings starting Sunday at 10 p.m. First Avenue will be closed between 42nd and 48th Streets.

44th through 47th Streets may need to be blocked off at times.

Sections of the FDR Drive will be shut down intermittently, between 63rd St. and South St. Those closures are scheduled to be in effect until Friday.

LIST OF STREET CLOSURES AND CHANGES FOR SUNDAY

Beginning at about 10 p.m. the following streets near the United Nations will be closed to vehicular traffic:

1st Avenue from 42nd Street to 48th Street. The tunnel underpass from 41st Street to 48 Street will remain open

44th Street from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue

45th Street from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue

46th Street from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue

The FDR Drive will be subject to intermittent closures:

Southbound at 63rd Street

Northbound at South Ferry

The following streets will have managed access and no vehicle parking permitted:
Sony entered the PC business with a consumer electronics mindset, adopting a purple-and-gray palette for its Vaio models. But the real innovator in computer design and the use of color has been Apple since Steven P. Jobs returned to the company in 1997. First came the one-piece iMac, introduced in 1998 in a translucent blue and white and released later in a selection of fruit colors. The rest of the industry derided the iMacs as ''Life-Savers,'' but then several companies ineptly tried to echo Apple's design, mostly by slapping colored panels onto conventional desktop machines.

That trend already seems spent. But this year Apple introduced another striking iMac desktop design: a flat-panel screen on a hinged silver strut connected to a white dome that houses the computer's processor and storage. Jonathan Ive, the company's director of design, minces no words in explaining why Macs look so different from other personal computers. ''This industry generally has been creatively bankrupt,'' he said.

For Mr. Ive and Mr. Jobs, that position is both a heartfelt belief and a marketing tactic. Not only design but also technology sets Apple apart from the rest of the industry, with its Macintosh operating system and Power PC microprocessor offering ramparts against the onslaught of Microsoft's Windows and Intel's microchip, known as Wintel. A recent Apple advertisement read: ''If you're an accountant, you're most likely surrounded by beige Wintel boxes. But if you work in nearly every creative field, you most likely use a Mac.''

Industrial designers at other computer companies admire Apple's work. Yet they insist that its rarefied approach is a luxury that Apple can afford only because it is a niche company accounting for less than 5 percent of worldwide PC sales.

In computing, the term ''standard'' is typically applied to a technology, in software or hardware. Those standards, particularly Intel's microchip, have become grist for economists and antitrust lawyers, who explain the dominance of such technologies with sophisticated language like ''network effects,'' ''path dependencies'' and ''increasing returns markets.''

Explaining an industrial design standard is more subjective. But the persistence of the beige-box PC standard, and its eventual decline, has its own logic of economics, habit and fashion. Beige PC's arrived in offices in the 1980's, when the management fashion was to scorn hierarchy and extol the virtues of teamwork and a more egalitarian workplace. Japan's teamlike corporate organizations appeared to be winning the economic footrace. Some Silicon Valley companies had abandoned private offices in favor of cubicles with shoulder-high beige partitions.

So beige PC's fit in. No matter that time and common sense would make such gestures toward democracy in the workplace the stuff of Dilbertesque satire. The beige-box PC was well entrenched and difficult to displace, if often bemoaned. Most PC's were used in business, and purchasing managers wanted office equipment to be standardized to reduce costs and limit employee complaints. ''In business, they don't want the new thing looking different than the old thing,'' said Mike Stinson, a Gateway vice president.
By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Sep 17 (PTI) Miscreants today hurled a crude bomb near a hostel in Utkal University campus here ahead of students union election but nobody was injured in the incident, police said.

The miscreants fled the spot after hurling the bomb, apparently after a scufle between two groups, police said.

As a precautionary measure, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed and security tightened in the area, a senior police officer said.

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"The situation is now under control and police personnel are maintaining a close vigil to prevent any further trouble," he said.

Senior police officers visited the area to take stock of the situation.

Following the incident, security was further tightened in and around the university campus and entry of outsiders into the premises was restricted, they said adding police personnel in strength were deployed.

Utkal Univsersity Students Union are slated to be held on September 23. PTI SKN RG

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A farm that Opelika High School and the city school system have been working on for three years for its agriculture students continues to moves forward at a steady pace.

Over the course of three years, land has been cleared, and a well has been dug, according to Kyle Pinckard, career tech coordinator for Opelika City Schools.

We had a guy come out and clear it, Pinckard said. The lower half, which is about six acres, we had clear-cut just last January. And then two weeks ago, we had a well dug, so things have been picking up.

Pinckard said power should be running down the well sometime soon.

Pinckard said the concept for the farm came from Opelika City Schools Superintendent Mark Neighbors, who had the idea of using the school systems 18 acres of land adjacent to the high school for agriculture purposes.

The farm is a chance for the high school to have a self-sustaining environment for its agriculture students, according to Pinckard.

For years, weve had two agriculture teachers, Pinckard said. Weve done turfgrass management and floralculture or greenhouse management. This is kind of moving us into more of a self-sustaining type of environment where we can have things in which kids can learn about growing their own food and taking care of small livestock.

Pinckard said an idea on how the farm should look was modeled off an agricultural school farm at Roanoke City Schools in Alabama.

They have fish ponds and chicken and honey bees and fruit trees and greenhouses, Pinckard said. We visited them to see what they had, and that kind of gave us a vision for what we want to do.

Pinckard said the goal for the farm is to eventually have fish ponds, fruit trees and honey bees.

These are things were looking at, Pinckard said. Were not there yet. Its all part of that sustainable farm or what we need to grow our own food to take care of the land and provide for ourselves.

Real world experience

Collin Adcock, an agri-science teacher at Opelika High School, explained how the farm would be beneficial for students.

Theyll actually get to see and experience how their food is grown and how they can utilize it, Adcock said. I just think it makes them better, more well-rounded individuals by seeing some of this stuff and understanding it. 

Ginny Gaberlavage, an agri-science teacher at Opelika High School, said the farm will be a way for students to have a hands-on experience with what they are learning in class.

I want them to realize that almost all of our needs as a human come from some form of agriculture, Gaberlavage said. Its just very important that they see this side of it and the responsibilities and the hard work that go along with taking care of this.

There are also plans for expansion in the high schools three greenhouses, according to Gaberlavage.

There are plans to do some hydroponics possibly and also aquaponics, where well combine the fish with the plants, Gaberlavage said. Thats a very easy thing to show the kids -- how you utilize the fish waste to feed the plants.

Adcock said there are 400 to 450 students who come through the agriculture program in a year.

Well utilize what were doing down there in every single class, Adcock said.

In the summer and on school holidays, the farm will be maintained by the agriculture teachers and any students who want to help.

I would like to see us have some volunteers in the future to help out, Adcock said. Were always up here on weekends and holidays with our greenhouses.

Gaberlavage said she wants the farm to flourish for years to come.

I hope it blossoms and that its something thats talked about for a long, long time, Gaberlavage said. We want the kids to take pride in what they did and take ownership of what theyve done.

For updates on the farm, visit https://opelikaschools.blogspot.com.
While many people confess having a difficult time finding their professional niche, usually turning back at a certain point, the case was different for Rebecca Namitala, aka Lady Bezo.

From the fourth floor of the Africell offices at Clement Hill road, the vivacious telecommunications companys brand media ambassador shares her story, chatting spontaneously yet courteously.

People always told me I was fit to be in the media because I talked too much, says Namitala, laughing.

It did not help matters that she was always watching Afro American movies and mimicking their quick and rather loud kind of speaking, which later gave her an edge in the broadcast media.

That aside, I come from a family of fast-talking people, she adds.

Fast-talker Lady Bezo

Her eloquence, coupled with a tinge of the much- sought-after American accent, has earned her numerous radio, television and emceeing jobs. She can hardly count the number of adverts she has voiced to date.



EDUCATION, MEDIA GIGS

Born to James Frank Ntambi and Aidah Ntambi, Namitala was raised in Kitante where she attended Kitante primary school before joining Mengo Senior School for six years.

Thereafter, she went for her dream course that she and everyone else knew she was cut out for. The Makerere University graduate of Mass Communication has indeed had a great media career. She has worked with various broadcasting houses such as Spirit FM, Hot 100 and Chanel 44, among others.

As a brand media ambassador for Africell, she continues to work with many more media houses across the country.

I have been to almost every local radio station in the country. I have met and worked with more people than I could have ever imagined, Namitala says.



ADVERTISING

Identifying an opportunity in the advertising world, Namitala has registered a company  Uganda Tulange  which is set to start at the end of this October.

We shall basically be working with companies, businesses and organizations to provide them with the right branding to boost their portfolio, says pushy Namitala.

Despite her busy schedule, she spares at least a free day every week to stay at home and have time for herself. Her typical day at home entails preparing and having a good organic home-made meal and watching a family movie. Later in the day, she prefers lounging by the poolside of Hotel Lavendar, which in a walking distance from her home in Lusaze.

On such days, I spend as much time as possible with my children, says the cheerful mother of two.

Given her Christian upbringing and church background, Namitala confesses that having two children before marriage was such a trying experience.

Some friends, who found it awkward, advised me to stop going to church and hide, recalls Namitala. But these are people who couldnt even send you devotion in case you missed church.

Sticking to her guns and knowing she needed God even more in her trying situation, Namitala bore the pain in faith and hope until her child was born.

Just when everyone thought it was over, there came baby number two. That was crazy, she adds.

When it rains, it pours, they say. But after the rain comes sunshine. Today, it is shining so bright on Namitala and her two children that she cannot trade for anything in this big wide loud world.

They are much loved children. Their father and I are good friends although we are not married. He deeply hurt me, but I found it in my heart to forgive him, says Namitala, whose mother takes care of the children whenever her daughter is away for work.

If there is anything my mother loves, it is her grandchildren. She wants to be with them even when I am around; but so do I, laughs Namitala.



FUTURE PROSPECTS

Motherhood has indeed had its own positive effects on Namitala. She dreams of starting a fully funded childrens hospital for free medical services.

While in hospital with my children, I have seen many who are not attended to because they are still making that call for someone to send money  which could not even be there, she says.

She hopes that her company will raise part of the required funds. The rest, she adds, will be through partnerships and donations. Much as the hospital will be providing free treatment, Namitala maintains that it will be ranked among the best hospitals in the country.



pbaike@yahoo.com
Every relationship has its trials and tribulations. But whatever the case  money, sex, cheating  there is always a hope for redemption, writes ALEX TAREMWA.



Sitting in his room watching prime time news, Shadrack Ochiis phone rang. It was his girlfriend Jackie calling. The duo hadnt spoken for over three days as she was neither receiving his calls nor responding to his numerous texts.

Upon seeing her signature smile on his phone as it rang, Ochiis heart lit as he cleared his throat to mumble a faint Hi love to the caller.

Dont call me that, she responded. I am here with my boyfriend and he saw your messages in my phone. He doesnt like us talking; so, please dont call me again. Its over!

Poor Ochii became confused. He neither knew what he did wrong nor what could have motivated such a cold, underserved response.

When I tried calling her back, her responses grew even colder and abusive. All I wanted to know was what happened, he said.

Over the next few days, the couple traded some unpleasant messages and retrieved each others property at either residence. It was then that it finally dawned on Ochii that his relationship with Jackie was indeed over.

He says he didnt sleep well for about a week, and some of his friends this writer has talked to, attest to the fact that Ochii has lost a lot of weight. He suffered severe depression and stress. Eventually, he was forced to see a counsellor.

Counselling did not do him much good as he was told things he already knew. His pursuit for knowledge in regard to what could have set his relationship on the wrong path kept him in contact with Jackie. Sooner, she accepted to meet him.



COMMUNICATION

When they met at Acacia mall, Jackie accused Ochii of being unthoughtful and inconsiderate of her feelings. Her argument was that other girls receive phone calls from their boyfriends almost hourly, but for her case, it was once a day or no call at all.

Communication is key to any relationship. Without it, nothing goes right. If I dont hear from you often, I get worried. It makes me feel less important to you, she told him.

And she is right, if we are to go by Emmanuel Yigas experience. The 29-year-old, who recently got married, remembers about three incidents when his relationship was on the verge of sinking but communication saved it.

Good communication, he argues, is an important part of all relationships and is an essential part of any healthy partnership. All relationships have ups and downs, but a healthy communication style can make it easier to deal with conflict, and build a stronger and healthier partnership.

In relationships, communication allows to you explain to someone else what you are experiencing and what your needs are. The act of communicating not only helps to meet your needs, but to also be connected in your relationship, he adds.

But communication and understanding go hand in hand. If you cannot communicate very often, your partner should be in position to understand the reasons surrounding your decision.

There are particular instances, however, when communication can be counterproductive. In his book If I Understood You; Would I Have This Look On My Face, Alan Alda explains that much as we have been told that communication is key to a great relationship, the problem arises from how we communicate.

Many of us, he argues, werent taught that great communication is more than just chatting each other up. Its about how we are delivering and receiving the message.

When we dont communicate clearly, it can seem like talking is not the answer, but not talking wont resolve anything, either. Instead, we need to look at the ways we are communicating, and see if we can clean up our words to be able to communicate our wants and needs effectively without creating a war zone, he writes.



QUIT THE BLAME GAME

Simply put, the blame game is the process of selectively shifting responsibility of an action to another party when consequences arise. In a relationship, no one wants to be wrong; and if someone is, they dont want to take responsibility for it.

Let us take Ochii and Jackie as the example. Jackie is angry at him for not calling her often. But she, too, owns a mobile phone and can call Ochii at her discretion. Why then should she be mad to the extent of breaking up when she could have done something he didnt?

According to Immaculate Birabi, a relationship counsellor who has been married to lawyer Ernest Birabi for 34 years, blame games not only hinder effective communication in a relationship, they also retard progress of the same.

In a relationship, she told The Observer, both parties need to accept the responsibility for the situation at hand and find ways to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Sometimes, it is about accepting that the others intention was not to hurt you, even if that was the consequence.

Blaming only keeps us powerless and unable to change the situation.

When we are pointing out whose fault something is, we are halting progress in our relationship. We arent resolving the situation; we are focused on the past, said Birabi. There may be really good information in past lessons, but when it comes to working out a problem, moving forward is the only way through.

However, this should not be interpreted to mean that if you wronged someone, you should not own it up and apologise.

Much as it is dangerous to play the blame card, it is equally wrong to hurt your spouses feelings and show no concern or remorse, whatsoever.



THE MONEY QUESTION

According to the 2014 American Psychological Association (APA)s stress survey, almost a third of adults with partners (31 per cent) reported that money was a major source of conflict in their relationship.

In this man-eat-man economy, love has seemingly lost its place. Couples suddenly want material wealth more than their spouses.

It has always been argued that when men get money, they get multiple girlfriends, wives or side dishes. For the womens case, however, the argument is that when they accumulate wealth, they treat their spouses with little or no respect at all and deserving of their love. This line of thinking, however, can be tested.

Thus, the belief is that for a man to afford love in todays world, he must afford a car, salon fees, chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken or breakfast at Cafe Javas and a weekend trip to Olduvai Gorge, among other flamboyant places.

There is also a recently popular saying that if your man cant sweat for you, he should not sweat on you.

The money question has been the biggest point of contention in most relationship, especially if couples begin to compare other couples romantic gestures with theirs.

There is no straight answer to this question except that if you are in a relationship for the money, your days are numbered. The solution goes back to communication; when a couple shares the same attitude toward money, their relationship tends to thrive.

When faced by this issue, the couple needs to have a serious conversation and try to establish their shared financial goals instead of allowing friction to build up over time. After realising how paramount communication is, Ochii and Jackie have since reunited.



alex.taremwa@yahoo.co.uk
By PTI: Mumbai, Sep 17 (PTI) National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is betting big on renewable energy resources to meet its rising power requirements.

Nalco has commissioned its wind power plants with 50 MW and 50.4 MW capacity in Rajasthan and Maharastra, respectively, at a cost of Rs 669 crore. The company plans to set up another wind power plant of 50 MW capacity and looking at suitable location in the country.

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Techno-commercial bids for selection of wind power developer were opened in last December and price bid is in the process of being opened, the company said in its annual report.

The company also plans to set up a 20 MW solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh. The project is registered with MPNRED (Madhya Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Department) and 55.62 Ha land has been transferred to the department in November, 2016.

Application for grid connectivity permission was also submitted to Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company. The company has issued notice inviting tender (NIT) for selection of developer for EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) for 50 MW solar power project at a suitable location in India.

It has placed an order to commission 50 KWp rooftop solar power plant at Nalco Research and Technology Centre in Bhubaneswar with a total project cost of Rs 37.30 lakh.

Nalco has also signed an MoU with NTPC to form a joint venture company, Gajamara Power Project for establishment of 3X800 MW coal based power plant at Gajamara at Dhenkanal in Odisha for supplying power to smelter expansion projects, the company said.

In FY17, the company has made the capital expenditure of Rs 876.09 crore, which includes Rs 38.47 crore towards equity contribution to joint venture companies.

Among the major expansion plans, the company is in the process of setting up 5th stream in its existing alumina refinery, which will add 1.0 million tonnes per year (MTPY) to its existing capacity of 2.275 MTPY, at a capital expenditure of Rs 5,540 crore in Odisha.

"We are adding 1.0 MTPY to its existing capacity of 2.275 MTPY, at a capital expenditure of Rs 5,540 crore based on improved medium pressure digestion technology of RTAIL (Rio Tinto Alcan International Ltd). The company has obtained major statutory clearances like environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment & Forests and Climate Change(MoEF and CC) and Consent to Establish (CTE) from Odisha State Pollution Control Board. Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (India) has been appointed as EPCM consultant for the project," the report said.

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The coal ministry has allotted Utkal D and E Coal blocks to the company, which is expected to help in raw material securitisation to the company.

The company also said that Pottangi Bauxite mines with 75 million tonnes capacity has been reserved by the government in favour of the company. The Odisha government had issued the terms and conditions for issuance of mining lease in favour of Nalco in July last year and activities are undertaken for complying with various conditions to obtain the mining lease, it said. PTI AP KRK ADI BAL JMF

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 67, here's a look back at some of the more unique birthday tributes he has received in recent years.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 67 today. He will meet his mother Heeraben in Gandhinagar, as he has done on every birthday he has celebrated since he became India's chief executive, save one.

In the hours to come, birthday greetings will pour in on social media - from world leaders, cabinet colleagues, political adversaries, and common citizens. Here's a look a back at some of the most unique birthday tributes Narendra Modi has received.

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ATUL BAKERY, SURAT: A PASTRY PYRAMID FOR THE RECORD BOOKS

Last year, Surat's Atul Bakery confectioned a mammoth 3,750 kilogram "pure vegetarian" cake to celebrate Narendra Modi's birthday, Daily News and Analysis reported. The pastry pyramid - rendered in rainbow hues and assembled using thousands of miniature cakes - was submitted to the Guinness Book of Records for consideration. The cake was also a shout out to Modi's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' drive. How? Click here to learn more.

SUDARSAN PATTNAIK: A SAND ARTIST'S TRIBUTES

Award-winning sand artist Sudarsan Pattanik uses his spectacular oeuvres to commemorate important events (the International Coastal Cleanup Day, for example) and spread awareness about key issues. But he has also fashioned beautiful tributes to Narendra Modi on his birthdays. Here's an example.

Sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik's sand sculpture in Puri (Odisha) on the occasion of PM Modi's birthday. pic.twitter.com/GvwJsnrKGv- ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2016

Just months after being sworn in as India's 14th prime minister, Modi headed to Gandhinagar to seek his mother's blessings on his birthday. Heeraben Modi gave her son Rs 5,001. The PM promptly donated the money to a Jammu and Kashmir flood relief fund.

Only days earlier, he'd asked his Twitter followers not to celebrate his birthday, and do relief work in Jammu and Kashmir instead.

My humble request- do not celebrate my birthday. Instead, dedicate yourselves towards relief work in J&K through your time & resources.- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 14, 2014

VARUN DHAWAN: SIGNING THINGS VERSUS SIGNING IN

At last year's India Today Mind Rocks, actor Varun Dhawan asked his audience to pull out their phones, turn on the lights, and wave to wish their Prime Minister a happy birthday. Think that sounds unoriginal? Wait till you read Dhawan's explanation.

"You know when I was in school, I would hear this term a lot angutha chaap...yeh angutha chaap hai. I think...that means someone who uses their thumb to sign for things. But I think today we are in a new India, and the new Indian uses his thumb not to sign things, but to sign in," he said.

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"Our Prime Minister is someone who has ushered in the digital age for this country, and I think we have to give respect to than man for that. So let's take our thumbs, let's put all our phones on...put on all your lights...and just wave them all round."

Click here to watch the video.

TIM COOK: 'VASUDEIVA KUTUMBAKAM'

It isn't every day that the CEO of Apple Computer tweets to you in Sanskrit.

A very happy birthday to @narendramodi. Vasudhaiva kutumbakam - the world is one family.- Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 17, 2016

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The University of Nebraska State Museums Sunday with a Scientist program will explore the jungle under our feet Sunday afternoon.

The program, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., will be at Morrill Hall, 645 N. 14th St. in Lincoln.

The topic will be plant roots, soil and microbes, particularly in agriculture.

Visitors will view displays and participate in activities in which soil microbes will be examined under a microscope and different root structures will be compared.

The activity is free for museum members, and non-members will pay regular admission.

Celebration of life at UNL to remember Juan Franco

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will celebrate the life of Juan Franco at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Wick Alumni Center at UNL.

Franco, UNLs vice chancellor for student affairs for more than a decade, died Aug. 1 in Houston at age 68.

The celebration is open to the public. At the end of the event, a balloon release will take place and ice cream from the Dairy Store will be served.

The Dairy Store was one of Francos favorite places at UNL.

Metro to host Minecraft camp for children

Metro Community College will hold a one-day Minecraft camp from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at Do Space, 72nd and Dodge Streets.

The camp is for children ages 7 and older. Registration is $80. To sign up, call 531-622-7234 or visit https://learncreatebuild.com/mcc-do-space.
Omaha residents can thank the citys police officers for their service through the Embrace Blue letter-writing program.

The Fraternal Order of Police program is in its second year. A press conference for the campaign was held Sunday at the northeast precinct stationhouse.

Embrace Blue is asking the Omaha metro community to write cards and letters to law enforcement during the month of September, thanking them for their service, project spokeswoman Kathleen McCallister said in a written statement. This year, (were) showing special thanks for their strength as they put their lives in harms way to protect all of us.

Starting in May, McCallister said, Embrace Blue helped provide 10,000 points of contact between officers and young people via wristbands the officers distributed, as they looked for opportunities to strengthen relationships with young people. There were four collectible wristbands in all.

Officers have told us the kids love the bands, and come back again, looking for the next one, McCallister said. One officer said he would put the band on his wrist, and when kids would see the band, continuously asked for his personal wristband, and he would gladly give it away.

Letters, cards and donations for the wristbands can be sent to Embrace Blue, P.O. Box 241361, Omaha, NE 68124. Anyone interested in joining Embrace Blue should email embraceblue.omahametro@gmail.com, or go to embraceblue.omahametro on Facebook.
Within minutes of taking the oath of allegiance to become an American citizen Sunday, Jacinta Mwita had a voter registration form in her hands.

Im looking forward to voting, said the single mother of four from Kenya. Thats a big one for me.

A member of the Sarpy County Election Commission was on hand to supply voter registration forms to Mwita and the 15 other people who swore allegiance to the United States during a naturalization ceremony outside the historic Portal School near downtown Papillion.

The citizens sat up straight and proud surrounded by family, friends and fellow countrymen during the 20-minute ceremony. It was orchestrated by the Papillion Area Historical Society as part of its Constitution Day and Citizenship Day celebration.

We wanted to do something to honor the 230th anniversary of the Constitution, said Ann Saarela of the historical society. Then we learned Sept. 17 is also Citizenship Day and we asked (federal officials) if we could have a naturalization ceremony. Now theyve asked if we would like to host it every year, but that will be up to the (historical society) board.

The 16 new citizens came from Burkina Faso, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hungary, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand. They are among more than 30,000 new citizens at over 200 naturalization ceremonies taking place this week.

Only four ceremonies were held on Sunday. The other three events were at Princeton University in New Jersey, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and Constitution Hall in Philadelphia.

Papillion is in pretty good company today, said Torri Pantaleon, the keynote speaker, who then quipped, Move over, Philly.

Pantaleon, a first-generation American, spoke of his fathers journey from the Philippines to the U.S. in 1929. One of his fathers proudest moments, Pantaleon said, came when his son enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War era.

I wish my dad was here, because without him, I wouldnt be here, Pantaleon said. Dad said I know this isnt about me, but you joining the Navy is kind of my way of giving back to this country I love. 

For Esperanza Origel-Lopez, 74, becoming an American citizen was a way of honoring her children and grandchildren. The mother of 10 from Mexico said she was nervous before the ceremony.

But I am very, very happy and I want to dedicate my accomplishment to my children, she said. I have four princesses and six kings. Now we will celebrate with dinner for the family.

For Wendepasde Sawago, 55, who came from Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa, becoming an American was a very emotional experience. He proudly waved a small U.S. flag when he stepped up to accept his certificate of citizenship.

This means a lot to me. It means so much because I come from a country where we dont have the freedom like here, Sawago said. Coming to America has opened up so many opportunities for me and my family. I know that I can accomplish whatever I want to here.
WASHINGTON  Americans can find lessons that apply today in filmmaker Ken Burns new project The Vietnam War, former Defense Secretary and Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel said after seeing much of it.

Were at a point in our country today, in a very dark place thats not unlike where we were in Vietnam, he said. Many similarities. In fact, I think its worse today in many ways.

Hagel served in Vietnam alongside his brother before going on to represent Nebraska for two terms in the U.S. Senate.

He praised what he has seen of the 18-hour documentary that Burns co-directed with Lynn Novick. It will air in 10 weekly installments on PBS starting tonight.

It is the most complete, compelling and honest telling of the Vietnam War story, Hagel said. It is really one of the most spectacular things Ive ever seen.

Hagel was among those at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last week for a preview and participated in a panel discussion afterward that included Burns, Novick and two fellow Vietnam veterans  former Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The panelists agreed that the film might start conversations that could begin to bridge rifts the war started, as well as offer cautionary lessons for now.

In an interview with The World-Herald, Hagel said the series examines many aspects of the war and those involved, including Americans who served in uniform, anti-war protesters back home and the North Vietnamese.

Hagel noted that he served on the PBS board and said he had some role in ensuring the project would move forward. Hes back on the PBS board today.

As the series concludes, a new book will be coming out that tells the story of Hagel and his brother and their time in Vietnam. Hagel also is set to speak at an event marking the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Hagel said that while Burns sought the counsel of high-profile veterans such as himself, he intentionally left most of them off the screen in order to focus on individuals whose stories have never been heard before.

Viewers should come away with a more complete understanding of what happened, why it happened and the consequences that followed, including the revelations of dishonesty about Vietnam from the White House on down, he said.

That changed the entire culture of our country, Hagel said. That changed every institution in our country.

The documentary includes unvarnished, gut-wrenching footage from the battlefield that can be tough to watch.

That aint movies, thats real stuff, Hagel said.

Hagel, who was an outspoken critic of President George W. Bushs handling of the Iraq War, said the country has continued to make some of the same mistakes in Iraq and even Afghanistan and that our political leaders can learn something from Burns project.

Leaders have to understand that there are consequences to war and, unfortunately, there are many unintended consequences to war, Hagel said. It never goes the way you think its going to go.

During the panel discussion, McCain said its the right time for the documentary, particularly since we are in such turmoil in the world today.

He said the takeaways from the documentary were making sure military and civilian leaders are honest with the public, and avoiding a draft that relies on the lowest-income people to serve.

McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, was greeted at the screening with a standing ovation, a tribute to his ongoing battle with brain cancer.

The Arizona Republican spoke of frequent visits to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall, a monument etched with the names of more than 58,000 dead soldiers. These young men died because of inadequate or corrupt leadership  we must have leaders who can lead and be able to give them a path to victory so we will not sacrifice them, ever again, to a lost cause, McCain said.

Kerry agreed, listing as the lessons applicable to today: Knowing what were doing, being honest with our people, making war a last resort, exhausting diplomacy  these are all relevant to every choice we face.

Bob Kerrey, former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator, also served in Vietnam, where he lost a leg.

As a senator, Kerrey worked on normalizing relations with Vietnam, including pushing legislation that laid the foundation for the first independent, private university in Vietnam.

He attended last weeks preview and praised the project for having the perspective of not just Americans but also the Vietnamese.

Its a very well-told story, Kerrey said. I think its going to be important for the people of America who get the chance to watch it.

He predicted that it will prompt a more emotional and potentially divided reaction than Burns much-heralded previous project about the Civil War.

Its not as pleasant as the Civil War because when they did the Civil War series all the participants were dead, Kerrey said. And now theres enough of us alive that the memories are still pretty fresh.

This report includes material from the Washington Post.
Here's everything you need to know about Modi's current visit to Gujarat, which comes just months ahead of the Assembly polls.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turns 67 today, dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Kevadia (in Gujarat's Narmada district) to his compatriots, during a second visit in a week to his home state.

An infrastructure project described as "Gujarat's lifeline," the Sardar Sarovar Dam took 56 years to build. Its foundation stone was laid in 1961 by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

PM @narendramodi embarks his journey from Gandhinagar to Kevadia where he will dedicate Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation. #HappyBirthdayPM pic.twitter.com/yxmMBLzDZM- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi177) September 17, 2017

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The dedication of the dam wasn't the only item on PM Modi's agenda. Here's everything you need to know about the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and about Modi's current visit to Gujarat, which comes just months ahead of the Assembly polls.

KEY POINTS The Sardar Sarovar Dam will "benefit lakhs of farmers and help fulfil people' s aspirations," Modi tweeted yesterday. It is the world's second biggest dam - the first being the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia river in the US state of Washington, NDTV reported. In 1996, the Narmada Bachao Andolan - a social movement - got the Supreme Court to stay its construction over environmental and rehabilitation issues. The court allowed construction to resume in October 2000. The dam's height was recently raised to 138.68 metres. That will allow a maximum usable storage of 4.73 million acre-feet of water. Next, PM Modi will travel to Sadhu Bet, where he'll assess the progress made in the 'Statue of Unity' project. Sadhu Bet is an island on the Narmada river that will soon be home to a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first home minister, and a memorial complex dedicated to him. Later, he'll attend the closing ceremony of Narmada Mahotsav, and address a gathering at Dabhoi. he'll also attend a several events and address a public gathering in Saurashtra's Amreli. Earlier today, he met his mother Heeraben, and sought her blessings. On the occasion of Modi's birthday, the BJP will observe Seva Diwas across the nation. Party leaders will attend medical camps, blood donation events, and cleanliness drives.

(Inputs from PTI)

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A 20-year-old Omaha man was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center late Saturday after being hit by gunfire near 35th and Franklin Streets.

Conor Sielers injuries were not thought to be life-threatening, a police spokesman said Sunday. Sieler was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle.

Officers arrived at the hospital at 11:18 p.m. Sieler and witnesses gave conflicting statements, but police were able to confirm the location of the shooting, the spokesman said.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact Omaha Crime Stoppers at 444-STOP, at omahacrimestoppers.org or on the P3 Tips mobile app.
Latest on arrears:

The government which will hike the minimum pay from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000 has however not decided to give arrears on the same. In June the Ministry had fixed the minimum pay at Rs 18,000. While the fitment factor considered at that time was 2.57, with the increase minimum pay it would have to be at 3. The Finance Ministry says that it is eager to hike the minimum pay. However the arrears would not be paid. Once hiked it would be effective from January 1 2018. Moreover the matter will be placed before the Cabinet in the month of January. The decision was taken after it was felt that the minimum pay was not good enough for CG employees. The employees have however been demanding that the minimum pay be raised to Rs 26,000 which means the fitment factor would have to be at 3.68.

Latest on minimum pay hike:

As per the ongoing process, sources say that the minimum pay hike will be effective from January 2018. There are still some processes remaining to be completed. This would take at least another two to three months, officials also said. Currently there is work on increasing the fitment factor. The fitment will have to be raised from 2.57 to 3 times. To look into these issues the National Anomaly Committee had been formed. The committee has been in touch with officials and is studying the issue from all angles. For the minimum pay hike to be raised, the NAC would have to approve the same. The NAC would have to vote in majority and sources say that this will surely take place. The NAC is likely to meet in October.

Latest on fitment factor:

While CG employees have been demanding for a minimum pay hike of Rs 25,000, the government is most likely to give Rs 21,000. Government officials say that the final minimum pay hike is set to be at Rs 21,000 and the NAC too is of a similar view. The government is planning on raising the fitment factor 3 times from 2.57 as a result of which the basic minimum pay would go up from 2.57 times to 3.

What 7th Pay Commission had said:

The government approved the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations of the minimum from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 per month while the maximum pay from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.25 lakh per month and Rs 2.5 lakh for the cabinet secretary-the senior-most civil servant and a fitment factor of 2.57 has been proposed to apply uniformly for all employees.
Assam: Boat capsizes in Brahmaputra, senior official among several missing

Bhagpat boat capsize: Absconding boatman arrested

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The absconding boatman, who was on the run after a boat capsized in river Yamuna on Thursday leaving 22 people dead, was on Sunday arrested by the police.

The mishap took place in Uttar Pradesh's Bhagpat area on September 14. A boat carrying 60 people had capsized in river Yamuna.

The boat was supposed to carry only 10-15, but because it was carrying more number of passengers than the limit, the boat turned turtle in the middle of the river.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for next of kin of those dead in the incident.

"The boat was ferrying passengers more than its capacity. Most of the passengers of the ill-fated boat were women. As soon as the boat reached mid-stream it capsized," the district magistrate had said.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 11:57 [IST]
BJP's Alwar MP Mahant Chand Nath dies of cancer

India

oi-PTI

BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chand Nath, who was battling an "aggressive thyroid cancer", passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours of Sunday.

Nath, head of the Baba Mastnath Mutt in Rohtak, was laid to rest in Samadhi at the mutt premises with full state honours. He was 61. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death.

"Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences," Modi said in a tweet.

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar and his Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan counterparts Yogi Adityanath and Vasundhra Raje, were present when Nath was laid to rest in Rohtak.

Thousands of Nath's followers paid tributes to the departed soul. Earlier, his body was kept at the Math to enable people to pay their last respects.

On September 13, Nath was brought to the Apollo Hospital in New Delhi in a "very bad shape", according to a senior doctor.

"He was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy," the doctor told PTI.

"We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12:40 am," he said.

The doctor said that Nath survived longer only because he was "mentally tough" and "very positive".

"His cancer was aggressive in 2015 only. It just tore through his body but his toughness made him battle it for much longer," he said.

Nath had won the Alwar seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls defeating former Union minister Jitendra Singh, who was the Congress candidate.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan condoled Nath's death.

Nath was a social and spiritual leader, who raised issues that affected the poor, besides representing Alwar in the Lok Sabha, she said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje also expressed condolences to the bereaved family members and said it was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

PTI
Ceasefire violation by Pakistan: One civilian dead, 5 injured in Arnia, J&K

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

One civilian died and 5 were injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Arnia sector on Sunday.

The unprovoked by the Pakistani troops began during the wee hours of Sunday morning. Initially, the 6 injured were rushed to a government hospital in Jammu where one of them succumbed to his injuries. As per latest reports, the firing has now stopped.

On Friday, one jawan was martyred in Pakistan firing at the Arnia sector. While Indian forces retaliated, one jawan of the Border Security Force sustained severe injuries. He however succumbed to injuries. The jawan was identified as Brijendra Bahadur. One civilian too was injured in the incident.

On Thursday, five persons, including two BSF jawans, were injured in firing and shelling by Pakistani troops in violation of ceasefire along the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian army too gave a befitting response.

Pakistan has been resorting to cease fire violations. Intelligence Bureau officials have warned there would be more such instances as the winter sets in. Most of these incidents take place to provide cover fire to terrorists so that they could infiltrate into the Valley.

OneIndia News
Court discharges Congress MCD poll candidate accused of casteist slur

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Sep 17: A Delhi court has discharged a Congress party's MCD poll candidate, who was accused of allegedly hurling casteist slur at a voter and threatening him during MCD elections in 2012.

Her comment "neechi jaati wala" did not specifically denote scheduled caste or scheduled tribe, but could be any lower caste, the court said, adding that the allegation of giving out a threat was also missing from the complainant's statement.

According to the FIR, complainant Jogender was walking back after casting his vote when the woman, who was contesting the municipal body election from Shahpur Jat ward in Delhi, allegedly shouted at him from her car.

The court, however, said it cannot be unambiguously inferred that the woman knew the caste of the complainant.

"The allegation is that the accused addressed the complainant as 'Neechi Jaati Wala'. From this allegation, it cannot be unambiguously inferred that the accused knew the caste of the complainant. The phrase could denote any lower caste, not necessarily the SC/ST caste. Criminal statutes require strict interpretation, therefore, clear allegations regarding the caste of the complainant should have surfaced during investigation which are conspicuously absent in the present case," Additional Sessions Judge A K Jain said.

The court also noted that the allegation of threat was missing from the statement of the complainant. The police had lodged an FIR on the complaint of Jogender for the alleged offence under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Denying the allegations, the counsel for the accused woman had claimed that 'Neech Jaat' does not mean the caste of the complainant as scheduled caste.

PTI
In Virbhadras home turf, Students protest shortage of teachers

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The shortage of teachers at Palzara High School in Shimla district sparked a protest while scores of students boycotted classes and hit to roads to attract the attention of the authorities.

The protesting students alleged that there are no teachers available who could teach Science and Mathematics to them.

The non availability of teachers is affecting our studies", said a student. One teacher is busy in office work, the other one teaches 10th class. I want to become a doctor but there is no one to teach us in the school, he said.

Our studies have been badly affected due to non availability of various subject teachers in our school. We come from distances as far as 5-6 kms, but we have only two teachers here, this is injustice, another student said.

Despite the repeated requests to the education department, no heed has been paid to their demands, they said.

Parents have also extended support to the protesting students and accuse the government of being insensitive towards the issue.

The decision was taken after the school management committee meet of students and parents, wherein it was decided that classes will be boycotted to pressurise the government to appoint teachers for the school.

We convened a meeting on Friday wherein parents decided that they will no longer send their children to the school till the government does not appoint teachers. I requested parents to send their children to school; I will try to cover all subjects but they just refused, a teacher said.

The school lies in chief minister Virbhadra Singh's home segment Rampur.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 19:51 [IST]
As the Prime Minister celebrates his birthday today by dedicating the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation and the BJP by observing Seva Diwas, here's a look at the highlights of 1950, when Narendra Modi was born.

By Prabhash K Dutta: Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 67 today. The BJP observed PM Narendra Modi's birthday today as Seva Diwas. To mark the Seva Diwas, the BJP leaders attended medical camps and blood donation events besides taking part in cleanliness drives across the country.

While Narendra Modi sought blessings of his 97-year-old mother Hiraba, who lives with Prime Minister's younger brother Pankaj at the Vrindavan Bungalows at Raisan village on the outskirts of Gandhinagar, other BJP leaders attended events in different cities.

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BJP president Amit Shah was in Ranchi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was at Kirti Nagar in Delhi, and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal was in Chennai while Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar attended a function in Mumbai to celebrate Narendra Modi's birthday as a "day of service".

The Prime Minister dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation on his birthday today. Narendra Modi was born on September 17 in 1950. The year has a special significance in the post-Independence history of the country.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 1950 When year 1950 began, India still had a king. Though India attained Independence from the United Kingdom in 1947 and also got its own Viceroy as the head of Indian state, it was part of the Kingdom. Officially, George VI, the King of United Kingdom was the King of India as well. George VI ceased to be the King of India on January 26, when the Constituent Assembly fully adopted the Constitution of India. Several key provisions of the Constitution had already come into force on November 26, 1949. But, January 26, 1950 had been chosen as the day for full implementation of the Constitution making India a Republic and officially snapping its ties from monarchy. Dr Rajendra Prasad was sworn in as the first President of the country on January 26, 1950. An Indian Express report said, "The birth of Indian sovereign democratic Republic was proclaimed at 1015 this morning (January 26) by the country's last Governor-General Mr. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari at the Darbar Hall at Government House in the capital and the Republic's first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office to the boom of a salute of 31 guns at a most brilliant ceremony." Just a day before the birth of the Republic of India, the Election Commission of India was born. It was established on January 5 as a single member body to hold elections in the country on the principles enunciated in the Constitution. The right to vote was given to every Indian citizen above 18 years of age. The first elections were held two years later in 1952 when 60 per cent of the eligible voters cast their votes to have their first elected government in place. India and Nepal officially became friends in 1950. Though, India and Nepal has been ancient civilisations and have always had deep (often imperceptible for distinction) cultural relations, they did not have a bilateral treaty to guide their relations in the modern world. The 1950-India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed. The new treaty allowed free movement of people and goods between the two countries. It was also the year when the Planning Commission was born. It had been established the main body to devise and revise plans for the progress of India. It put forth the concept of five-year-plan. The Planning Commission prepared 12 five-year-plans which saw India progress along the socialist principles for first four decades. After 1990, the focus of planning shifted to liberalisation and inclusive growth. In 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced with the NITI Aayog, which has been tasked with devising both short-term and long-term growth plans and strategy for the country. In April 1950, the Liaquat-Nehru Pact or Delhi Pact was signed between India and Pakistan. Under this pact the refugees were allowed to return to their native country unmolested to dispose of their property. The abducted women and looted property were also to be returned to the rightful owner. Forced conversions in both the countries were derecognized proclaiming protection of minority rights. More than 10 lakh people migrated from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to India. Andaman and Nicobar Island's was handed over to India by England and Burma (Myanmar). It becomes the part of India. On the Independence Day - 15 August - Assam and Tibet regions were shaken by massive earthquake measuring 8.6 on the scale. An estimated 1,500-3,000 people were killed due to the earthquake. A month later on September 17, Narendra Modi was born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Hiraben in a family of grocers in Mehsana district of the then Bombay State.

--- ENDS ---
PM Modi to have 20 engagements during 45-hr stay in Indonesia's Bali

Looking forward to review progress of India's bi-lateral relations: PM as he heads to G20 Summit

Modi's birthday today will be observed as 'Seva Divas'

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday today. Modi's 67th birthday will be observed as 'Seva Divas,' by the BJP.

BJP chief Amit Shah will be in Ranchi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would be at Kirti Nagar in Delhi, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal in Chennai, and Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in Mumbai, as part of the party's plan to celebrate their top leader's birthday as a 'day of service' (Seva Diwas) across the country, a party leader said.

Ministers and party leaders will attend the events nationwide, he said. On his 67th birthday, PM Modi will be at an event at the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat on the river Narmada's Kevadi. He will dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation.

After the inauguration at the dam site at Kevadia, PM Modi will go to Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada river where a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, billed as a 'Statue of Unity', and a memorial complex dedicated to the country's first home minister are coming up.

Thereafter, the prime minister will attend the closing ceremony of 'Narmada Mahotsav', and address a gathering at Dabhoi.

He will also lay the foundation stone for National Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum during the event.

PM Modi would then visit Amreli in Saurashtra where he will attend a host of programmes and address a public gathering.

OneIndia News
PM Modi to have 20 engagements during 45-hr stay in Indonesia's Bali

Looking forward to review progress of India's bi-lateral relations: PM as he heads to G20 Summit

Modi takes his mother's blessings on 67th birthday

India

pti-PTI

Ahmedabad, Sep 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turned 67 today, began his day by taking blessings of his mother Heeraben Modi.

Modi, who arrived in Ahmedabad late last night, drove to his younger brother's residence at Vrindavan Bungalows on the outskirts of Gandhinagar early this morning and took blessings of his mother.

Heeraben (97) lives with the PM's younger brother Pankaj at Raisan village near the state capital. Modi spent around 20 minutes with his mother.

The PM interacted with children of the locality after coming out of his brother's home. Modi was born on September 17, 1950.

Later in the day, the prime minister will dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation. He will also address public meetings at Dabhoi and Amreli. To mark the day, the BJP will observe 'Seva Diwas' across the country with party leaders attending medical camps, blood donation events, and taking part in cleanliness drives.

[Modi's birthday today will be observed as 'Seva Divas']

On his 67th birthday, PM Modi will be at an event at the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat on the river Narmada's Kevadi. He will dedicate the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation.

PTI
India will continue to rely on close cooperation of US to address global economic challenges: Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman Felicitates Eight Cantonment Boards of Western Command with ODF Certificate

India

oi-Oneindia

By Vijyender Sharma

SHIMLA: Eight Cantonment Boards out of 13 under Western Command have received Open Defecation Free (ODF) certificates, issued by the Quality Council of India, from the Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman during a felicitation ceremony organised at Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh.

Smt Sitharaman who was the Chief Guest, presented ODF certificates to the members of the Cantonment Boards including their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and President Cantonment Boards (PCBs). The eight Cantonment Boards are Kasauli, Dagshai, Subathu, Jutogh, Dalhousie, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ferozepur.

During her speech, the Defence Minister congratulated Defence Estates Department for achieving ODF in eight cantonments. She also expressed her satisfaction that all the Cantonment Boards shall be ODF by December 15, 2017 as per the deadline and promise.

Smt Nirmala Sitharaman also said, she will ensure that the borders are secured. She reiterated that the needs of each and every Jawan & their families are catered to. An amount of Rs 15 crore was announced by her towards making a multi-level parking at Kasauli bus-stand. This was a long felt requirement and shall fetch positive result in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan also.

The ceremony was attended by the Member of Parliament Shri Virender Kashyap, Director General Defence Estates Shri Jojneshwar Sharma, GOC-in-C Western Command Lt Gen Surinder Singh, Principal Director Defence Estate Shri SC Kaushik, Directors of Defence Estates, Western Command and other officials of Indian Defence Estates Service.

The objectives of Swachh Bharat are to reduce or eliminate open defecation through the construction of individual, cluster and community toilets. The government is aiming to achieve an ODF India by October 02, 2019, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 10:14 [IST]
Operation Clean Up: All out offensive in Valley before winter sets in

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

With the winter fast approaching and the Indian Army going all out to wipe out terrorists, it has been decided that the combat operations would be doubled. The Indian Army which launched Operation Clean up has decided adopt more aggression in a bid to wipe out terrorists.

This year alone over 148 terrorists have been killed. The Army has succeeded in wiping out the top leadership of the terror groups in a number of encounters carried out in the past six months.

During the recent visit made by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to the Valley, he ordered that the operations need to be doubled. He held a series of meetings with the officials of the Armed forces and told them to clean up the remaining terrorists.

The Armed forces are undertaking operations in a tactical manner. They are first looking for the top commanders before wiping out the foot soldiers. It is important that we take down the leaders before we go after their cronies, an official informed OneIndia. There are around 5 commanders remaining while the number of foot soldiers stands at around 60, the officer also noted.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 7:54 [IST]
Why Punjab farmers burn stubble at this scale when others do not

PM Modi calls upon farmers to usher in 'sweet' revolution

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called upon the farmers to launch 'sweet revolution' by taking up honey bee farming and optimising use of waterways for transportation.

The prime minister listed various initiatives which the farmers can take up to increase their income. "After green and white revolution, now it is time for 'blue revolution' and 'sweet revolution'," Modi said.

"These two revolutions have the potential to transform the lives of people of Saurashtra," he told the conference after inaugurating the new Amreli Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) building.

Sweet revolution can be an additional source of income for farmers, he said. The PM also urged various milk cooperative unions of the state to collect honey from farmers and sell it so the agruculturists get good returns.

Recalling his days as Gujarat chief minister Modi said "When I was serving as CM, I had the opportunity to facilitate the coming of dairies to Saurashtra. I have been to Amreli market a lot of times before. The cooperative sector here is seeing changes. I am happy to see younger people coming to the fore and taking leadership," he said.

He further said that "the e-NAM Yojana is helping farmers and giving them access to better markets. The government of India wishes to see sweet revolution, just like green revolution and blue revolution happened in India. The Blue Revolution and Sweet Revolution have the potential to transform lives of people in Saurashtra."

"In any other part of the country, when you go you will be welcomed by sweets. It is only in Gujarat that you are welcomed by ice-creams", he added.

In 2022, it will be 75 years of Indian independence. Amreli has played a huge role in the freedom struggle of India, he said concluding his speech.

Earlier, in the day PM Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada - this coincides with his 67th birthday.

OneIndia News
Ritabrata Banerjee expelled from CPI (M)

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday expelled Ritabrata Banerjee from the primary membership of the party citing 'anti-party' activities as the reason.

The CPI(M)'s West Bengal unit had earlier recommended the expulsion of Banerjee, who is a Rajya Sabha MP.

According to reports, Banerjee, in an interview with a television channel recently, pointed fingers at party leaders for conspiring against him. He reportedly said that since he is vocal in Parliament, a section of leaders were jealous of him.

In June, Banerjee was suspended from the party for three months for allegedly leading a 'lavish lifestyle'. The state committee of the CPI (M) had then summoned Bandyopadhyay seeking explanation on his lavish lifestyle.

Ritabrata is the former General Secretary of the Students' Federation of India. He was elected a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal in February 2014.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 14:26 [IST]
Sardar Sarovar Dam faced many obstacles, but we were determined: Modi

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Asserting that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would have been happy to see the Sardar Sarovar Dam being inaugurated, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the dam project faced many obstacles, but his government was committed that the project should go on.

Addressing a rally in Gujarat's Dabhoi soon after inaugrating the Sardar Sarovar Dam, Modi said both Sardar Patel and Dr. Ambedkar laid great emphasis on irrigation and waterways.

"Sardar Sarovar Dam faced so many obstacles. But, we were determined that the project will go on...Lack of water resources has been a major factor in slowing the pace of development," he said.

"I still remember, as the Gujarat CM when I went to border areas I saw BSF Jawans do not have water. We brought Narmada waters to borders for Jawans," he added.

He said that Sardar Sarovar Dam would change the fates of farmers in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

"The waters of Maa Narmada will help several citizens and transform several lives," he added.

He urged people to not leave any stone unturned to create a 'New India' by 2022' which marks 75 years of independence.

"The western part of India lacks adequate water supply, in the eastern part there is shortage of electricity and gas supply...We are working to overcome these shortages so that both parts of India development and India scales new heights of development," he said.

"The 'Statue of Unity' will be a fitting tribute to Sardar Patel and will draw tourists from all over...We remember our freedom fighters from the tribal communities who gave a strong fight to colonialism," he added.

[Modi inaugurates Sardar Sarovar Dam]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat's Narmada district. The dam is the second biggest dam in the world after Grand Coulee Dam in the US.

The 1.2-km-long dam, which is 163 metres deep, will irrigate over 18 lakh hectares of land in the state. The water from Narmada will flow into over 9,000 villages through a canal network.

OneIndia News
Sharad faction steps up fight against Nitish Kumar, reinstates sacked state chiefs

India

oi-PTI

Rebel leader Sharad Yadav-led JD(U) faction on Sunday appeared to be pushing for a split in the party as it unanimously elected Chhotubhai Amarsinh as the acting President and formed a disciplinary committee to decide on action against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The Yadav faction held a 'national executive' meeting and took a number of decisions targeting Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, a move seen largely symbolic due to the overwhelming support he has in the party.

Arun Kumar Srivastava, who was sacked as the party's general secretary due to his proximity to Yadav, claimed at a press conference that a majority of the party's state chiefs and workers were on their side.

Following today's decision, including a number of appointments to party posts, the Yadav faction will meet the EC soon to stake its claim over the party's election symbol.

The faction's meeting also decided to reinstate those JD(U) state presidents that were sacked by Kumar over a period of time.

Accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar, Srivastava also said their faction will be part of the grand alliance of the opposition parties against BJP.

"We have elected our party's Gujarat unit chief and six-time MLA Chhotubhai Vasava as the acting president. The national executive has unanimously decided that the party will work under his leadership till a new president is elected," Srivastava said.

He said that several decisions taken under Kumar's leadership were "unconstitutional" and the executive revoked them.

Srivastava said Kumar had appointed Aneel Hegde as the returning officer for organisational poll in violation of the party norm that only the national executive can take such a decision.

"Hence, the national executive (of today) has declared all the elections monitored by Hegde as null and void ... several party state presidents were sacked on whims and fancies, we have revoked that and reinstated those state presidents," Srivastava added.

Srivastava said he will head the disciplinary panel against Kumar.

Replying to a question on what will be the faction's strategy before the Election Commission, which had recently refused to take cognizance of its claim over the party's symbol, Srivastava said they have moved the EC again and sought time from the poll panel to submit fresh documents.

He also insisted that the EC has not rejected the rebel group's earlier plea in this connection and added it has only been "set aside".

"We had not given any paper in support first. We approached the EC again on Friday with signed affidavit. We have also demanded from them another month's time to submit all the documents. We will submit those in the next 10-15 days," he said.

Srivastava also said that the faction has not yet decided on whether to join the UPA. He, however, said a grand alliance of opposition parties is likely to take shape.

He said Sharad Yadav was touring various parts of the country under his 'Composite Culture' campaign which was being attended by leaders of other opposition parties.

PTI
Bihar: 4 injured after 13 coaches of Tapti Ganga Express train derail in Chappra

Train accident: When Railway Minister helped a man reunite with his family

Maharashtra: Two injured after passenger train coach derails in Gondia

WB: Three wagons of goods train derail near Dhupguri

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Three wagons of a goods train jumped off the track near Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district, disrupting rail traffic.

Three empty wagons of a goods train derailed near Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district at 3. 30 PM, North East Frontier Railway CPRO told ANI.

Crane at site,wagons will be re-railed shortly. Normal running of trains continuing unhampered: North East Frontier Railway CPRO #WestBengal  ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

He said traffic on down rail track, close to the railroad on which the train derailed, has resumed.

Efforts are on to restore traffic on the up rail track from which the goods train jumped off, he added.

Meanwhile, a passenger train crashed into an auto rickshaw at an unarmed rail crossing in Srikona, Assam on Sunday killing three people in the rickshaw, a news report said.

According to railway sources, a Guwahati to Silchar passenger train rammed the auto-rickshaw while it was passing the rail-crossing leaving two people dead on the spot.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 19:01 [IST]
In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi

In Yogi's UP, 400 encounters to bring down crime rate

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Taking an aggressive approach against crime control, the Yogi Adityanath administration in Uttar Pradesh has carried out over 400 encounters in the past 6 months.

15 criminals have been killed in these encounters, statistics reveal. The National Security Act had been invoked against 54 accused while properties of 69 gangsters have been booked under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters And Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act.

In these operations 1,106 people have been arrested while 84 were injured. Each of these encounters were followed by a magisterial inquiry and the National Human Rights Commission was informed about the same.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 6:02 [IST]
The Congress leader's tweet was a response to a Twitter user's suggestion that Narendra Modi had nothing to learn about desh bhakti from Mahatma Gandhi.

By Ganesh Radha-Udayakumar: Congress leader Manish Tewari today said even Mahatma Gandhi can't teach Narendra Modi desh bhakti, mocking a Twitter user who appeared to suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had nothing to learn about patriotism from the father of the nation.

"This is what it means to make ch*t*yas ('idiots') bhakts ('devotees' or 'followers') and make fools out of bhakts. Even Mahatma can not teach Modi deshbhakti ('patriotism')," Tewari wrote - just hours after he wished the PM a happy birthday!

Image (screenshot): Manish Tewari/Twitter

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And here's the tweet he was responding to.

Aap modi ko desbhakti Na sikhaye cha-cha? Unhe mahatma Gandhi v nhi sikha skate .Modi ke DNA may..Bus aap kitna niche gir sakte ho dekh lia???- Deepak Kumar Singh (@DeepakK71306265) September 17, 2017

This, in turn, was a reaction to a video Tewari shared. Take a look. The Congress leader seems to suggest here that Modi disrespected the national anthem - although he doesn't say so explicitly.

The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India & the National Anthem of India - Must watch pic.twitter.com/PMVgVw7CYY- Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) September 17, 2017

Tewari's tweet appeared to allude to an equally abusive message posted by his Congress colleague Digvijaya Singh. No prizes for guessing who Singh's target was.

"Mere do achievements - bhakton ko ch*t*ya banaya aur ch*t*y** ko bhakt banaya, (My two achievements - I've turned followers (or devotees) into idiots, and idiots into followers)," read the caption for a photograph of Modi that Singh tweeted.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister was widely criticised, just as Tewari was today.

"Wow, what a range of vocabulary at display by (a) lawyer and former minister," one Twitter user said.

"Look at the language of (a) former UPA cabinet minister. Disgusting," said another.

Later in the day, Tewari tweeted a clarification, saying that he had use a "colloquial" Hindi phrase that is "used to describe idiocity (and) nothing more". "No offence meant to PM or the Mahatma..." Tewari added.

BJP spokesperson Sambhit Patra said that ever since Rahul Gandhi uttered the "khoon ki dalali" remark last year, other Congress leaders seemed to be speaking in the same tone.

Later in the day, Tewari tweeted a clarification, saying that he had use a "colloquial" Hindi phrase that is "used to describe idiocity (and) nothing more". "No offence meant to PM or the Mahatma..." Tewari added.

--- ENDS ---
Afghanistan considering arming 20,000 civilians to defend from terrorists

International

pti-PTI

Kabul, Sep 17: Afghanistan is considering training and arming 20,000 civilians to defend territories where Islamic militants have been driven out. This has sparked fears that the local forces could become another thuggish militia.

The proposal for a government-backed armed group that would protect its own communities from the Taliban and the Islamic State group comes as Afghanistan's security forces, demoralised by killings and desertions, struggle to beat back a rampant insurgency.

But the proposal has raised concerns that the local forces could become unruly and turn into another abusive militia terrorising the people it is supposed to defend.

"The Afghan government's expansion of irregular forces could have enormously dangerous consequences for civilians," said Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based group said Western diplomats in Kabul familiar with the plan -- modelled on the Indian Territorial Army that supports the country's regular forces -- said Afghan officials had expressed concerns the militia could be used by "powerful strongmen" or become "dependent on local patronage networks". American and Afghan officials told AFP the fighters would come under the command of the Afghan army and be better trained than the Afghan Local Police -- a village-level force set up by the United States in 2010 and accused of human rights violations.

"Right now we rely on commandos and air strikes to retake the lost territories but after the commandos leave we don't have enough forces to hold onto the territories," said a senior defence ministry official who asked not to be named.

"The force will operate under an army corps and will be used to fill the gaps. They will be recruited from the locals and will be numbered around 20,000," Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed to AFP that a plan for "local forces" was being discussed.

"People will be recruited from their areas because they know their regions and how to keep them," Waziri said, but added there was no guarantee it would be implemented. A spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support train and assist mission also confirmed a proposal for an Afghan territorial army was on the table.

But another American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told AFP the idea was still in "the brainstorming phase". The Afghan government and its foreign backers have been cultivating militias to bolster the 330,000-strong Afghan National Security and Defense Forces as they battle to get the upper hand in the grinding conflict.

In Afghanistan, militias -- private armies and government-backed armed groups -- have a long and chequered history in the war-torn country and many Afghans are wary of them. Civilian casualties were at record highs in the first six months of 2017, a UN report showed, with forces loyal to the Afghan government accounting for nearly 20 percent of the deaths and injuries.

PTI
Four killed in a blast in Afghanistan's Khost region

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Four people were killed and 14 other injured in a blast in Afghanistan's Khost region on Sunday, said reports. The blast is said to have taken place at a market.

There are no reports of any group claiming the respomsibility of the blast so far.

On September 11, a suicide bomber struck a convoy of foreign troops in Bagram in Afghanistan. Around three civilians and unknown number of foreign troops were injured.

On August 29, at least one person was killed and eight others wounded in the explosion near US Embassy area in Kabul. The injured have been shifted to Wazir Akbar Khan hospital following the explosion.

In May a massive truck bomb ripped through Kabul's diplomatic quarter, killing about 150 and wounding around 400 people, mostly civilians.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 14:49 [IST]
UNSC's counter-terror meet in India to focus on use of internet, new payment mechanism by terrorists

UNSC meet in India to begin its deliberations in Mumbai is a message in itself: MEA

From being a victim of terrorism to exploring global solutions: India praised at UN's Counter Terrorism meet

Raising Kashmir issue in UN, a waste of time: India

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin spoke to the media on a range of issues on Saturday, including Kashmir, UNSC reforms and terror emanating from Pakistan, ahead of the UN General Assembly next week.

"Reforms, terrorism, climate change and peacekeeping will be our focus areas at UNGA," Akbaruddin tols news agency ANI in New York.

When asked about Kashmir issue, he said, "Since 40 years it was never discussed formally at UN. If someone raises it they're wasting time."

Assure you that this is an issue we'll never forget. he is a criminal & bringing him to justice is our goal: Syed Akbaruddin on Masood Azhar  ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

He also said that the UN reforms need to be "broad-based and all-encompassing" and the changes should not be restricted to its Secretariat only.

"We feel that reforms need to be much more broad-based. You cannot have reform only of the Secretariat. Reforms cannot side step issues related to governance of UN bodies," he added.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to chair a high-level meeting of the UN at its headquarters in New York on September 18 on UN reforms. India, among the 120 countries who have supported the reform efforts of the UN Secretary General will participate in the meeting.

"Winds of change are blowing globally so therefore UN cannot be left aside. So, reform is a major issue in the UN," Akbaruddin said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive in New York on Sunday. She is expected to address the UN General Assembly on September 23. In addition to her address to the General Assembly, she is likely to have 15-20 bilateral meetings with world leaders and attend several multilateral meetings, during her week-long stay.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

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Story first published: Sunday, September 17, 2017, 8:47 [IST]
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PM Modi said the Sardar Sarovar Dam is a way for India to to pay tribute to Sardar Vallabhai Patel, a freedom fighter and independent India's first home minister.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turns 67 today, addressed a public meeting in Gujarat's Dabhoi, hours after dedicating the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation.

In his address, the PM spoke about the importance of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, his vision for New India, and other issues. Here's your ten-point cheat sheet on what he said.

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To learn more about the Sardar Sarovar Dam, click here. To learn where Prime Minister Modi's tour of his home state will take him, click here.

TOP QUOTES Let us leave no stone unturned to create a 'New India' by 2022, when we mark 75 years of India's freedom. I don't think small. When the 125 crore people are with me, I cannot think small. We specially remember two people today - Sardar Patel and Dr. Ambedkar - who as ministers gave great emphasis to irrigation and waterways. Sardar Sarovar Dam faced so many obstacles. But we were determined that the project should go on Gujarat's temples gave funds for the Sardar Sarovar Dam when the World Bank refused. You all worked so hard to provide the Narmada's water to the drought-struck lands of the country. Your struggle is what makes India the country it is. The Sardar Sarovar Dam is our country's way to pay tribute to Sardar Patel. The western part of India lacks adequate water supply. In the eastern part, there is a shortage of electricity and gas supply. We're working to overcome these shortages so...India scales new heights of development. Sardar Sarovar Dam will become a hub for water sports, adventure sports and tourism. The Sardar Sarovar Dam and Sardar Patel statue will attract millions of tourists from across the world. It will revitalise tourism.

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We have become quite used to pronouncements of doom, from scientists predicting the sixth mass extinction due to the measurable effects of climate change, and from religionists declaring the apocalypse due to a surfeit of sin. Its almost impossible to imagine these two groups of people agreeing on anything other than the ominous portent of their respective messages. But in the early days of the scientific revolutionthe days of Shakespeare contemporary Francis Bacon, and later 17th century Descartesit was not at all unusual to find both kinds of reasoning, or unreasoning, in the same person, along with beliefs in magic, divination, astrology, etc.









Yet even in this maelstrom of heterodox thought and practices, Sir Isaac Newton stood out as a particularly odd co-existence of esoteric biblical prophecy, occult beliefs, and a rigid, formal mathematics that not only adhered to the inductive scientific method, but also expanded its potential by applying general axioms to specific cases. Yet many of Newtons general principles would seem totally inimical to the naturalism of most physicists today. As he was formulating the principles of gravity and three laws of motion, for example, Newton also sought the legendary Philosophers Stone and attempted to turn metal to gold. Moreover, the devoutly religious Newton wrote theological treatises interpreting Biblical prophecies and predicting the end of the world. The date he arrived at? 2060.

Newton seems, writes science blog Another Pale Blue Dot, as confident of his predictions in this realm as he was in the rational world of science. In a 1704 letter exhibited at Jerusalems Hebrew University, above, Newton describes his recconing:

So then the time times & half a time are 42 months or 1260 days or three years & an half, recconing twelve months to a yeare & 30 days to a month as was done in the Calendar of the primitive year. And the days of short lived Beasts being put for the years of lived [sic] kingdoms, the period of 1260 days, if dated from the complete conquest of the three kings A.C. 800, will end A.C. 2060. It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner.

Newton further demonstrates his confidence in the next sentence, writing that his intent, though not to assert an answer, should in any event put a stop the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently predicting the time of the end. Indeed. So how did he arrive at this number? Newton applied a rigorous method, that is to be sure.

If you have the patience for exhaustive description of how he worked out his prediction using the Book of Daniel, you may read one here by historian of science Stephen Snobelen, who also points out how widespread the interest in Newtons odd beliefs has become, reaching across every continent, though scholars have known about this side of the Enlightenment giant for a long time.

For a sense of the exacting, yet completely bizarre flavor of Newtons prophetic calculations, see another Newton letter at the of the post, transcribed below.

Prop. 1. The 2300 prophetick days did not commence before the rise of the little horn of the He Goat. 2 Those day [sic] did not commence a[f]ter the destruction of Jerusalem & ye Temple by the Romans A.[D.] 70. 3 The time times & half a time did not commence before the year 800 in wch the Popes supremacy commenced 4 They did not commence after the re[ig]ne of Gregory the 7th. 1084 5 The 1290 days did not commence b[e]fore the year 842. 6 They did not commence after the reigne of Pope Greg. 7th. 1084 7 The diffence [sic] between the 1290 & 1335 days are a parts of the seven weeks. Therefore the 2300 years do not end before ye year 2132 nor after 2370. The time times & half time do n[o]t end before 2060 nor after [2344] The 1290 days do not begin [this should read: end] before 2090 [Newton might mean: 2132] nor after 1374 [sic; Newton probably means 2374]

The editorial insertions are Professor Snobelens, who thinks the letter dates from after 1705, and that the shaky handwriting suggests a date of composition late in Newtons life. Whatever the exact date, we see him much less certain here; Newton pushes around some other dates2344, 2090 (or 2132), 2374. All of them seem arbitrary, but given the nice roundness of the number, writes Motherboard, and the fact that it appears in more than one letter, 2060 has become his most memorable dating for the apocalypse.

Its important to note that Newton didnt believe the world would end in the sense of cease to exist or burn up in holy flames. His end times philosophy resembles that of a surprising number of current day evangelicals: Christ would return and reign for a millennium, the Jewish diaspora would return to Israel and would, he wrote, set up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom. We hear such statements often from televangelists, school boards, governors, and presidential candidates.

As many people have argued, despite Newtons conception of his scientific work as a bulwark against other theologies, it ultimately became a foundation for Deism and Naturalism, and has allowed scientists to make accurate predictions for hundreds of years. 20th century physics may have shown us a much more radically unstable universe than Newton ever imagined, but his theories are, as Isaac Asimov would put it, not so much wrong as incomplete, and still essential to our understanding of certain fundamental phenomena. But as fascinating and curious as Newtons other interests may be, theres no more reason to credit his prophetic calculations than those of the Millerites, Harold Camping, or any other apocalyptic doomsday sect.

Related Content:

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Isaac Newton Creates a List of His 57 Sins (Circa 1662)

Sir Isaac Newtons Papers & Annotated Principia Go Digital

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness
MENTZ  Five people  four adults and one child  were displaced by a fire at a home on Nauvoo Road in the town of Mentz Saturday. Weedsport Fire Department Chief David James said he believes the house is not salvageable.

Fire trucks from various Cayuga County volunteer fire departments were lined up along the road as firefighters fought the blaze Saturday afternoon.

A call for a fire on the back deck at the home of Tom and Tracey Breese at 2006 Nauvoo Road came in a little after 11:30 a.m. Firefighters from Weedsport, Port Byron, Throop, Sennett, Montezuma, Jordan and Auburn assisted with the fire. The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office and county coordinators were present as well. Flames and a wall of smoke could be seen from the road.

Firefighters from the Throop Fire Department could be seen from the street filling a large vat full of water to use for the fire. People from the road, with packs of water from their cars, occasionally walked past the fire trucks to give the water to people closer to the fire.

James said the fire had spread beyond the back deck when firefighters arrived. He believes the fire got between the roof and the ceiling and then damaged other parts of the house from there. He said Saturday night that he hadn't yet been informed of any determined cause of the blaze from county fire investigators.

James said the fire had become manageable by about 1 p.m. and that firefighters spent around two hours extinguishing it.

County fire investigators arrived around 1:40 p.m.

No injuries were reported, but the American Red Cross said it was assisting the five people who were displaced because of the fire.

In a news release, the Red Cross said that assistance typically includes vouchers for temporary housing, food and clothing as needed, and Disaster Mental Health volunteers are available to help with the emotional aspect of a disaster. Caseworkers will be available in the coming days to work on a longer-term recovery plan.
Mexican location scout Carlos Munoz Portal was shot to death in a violent region in central Mexico.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Mexican location scout Carlos Munoz Portal was shot to death in a violent region in central Mexico while scouting for season four of Netflix's hit show Narcos.

The incident took place on Monday, reports variety.com.

Portal, who worked for Stacy Perskie's Mexico City-based production company Redrum, has a slew of high profile credits to his name, including, Sicario, Spectre, Fast & Furious and Apocalypto.

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Netflix issued a statement that read: "We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate."

Several Mexican journalists posted photos along with the news.

His bullet-riddled body and car were found in a remote area near San Bartolo Actopan in the state of Mexico near the borders of Hidalgo state.

According to local reports, authorities have had trouble piecing together the circumstances that led to his killing, given the dearth of witnesses.

Season 4 is said to be exploring the origins of Mexico's infamous Juarez cartel just as season 3 focused on the rise and fall of Colombia's Cali cartel and heralded the shift of the drug wars to Mexico.

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Silicon Metal Market Rapid Growth of Building and Construction Sector Boosts Silicon Metal Demand in APAC

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This report splits Silicon Metal Market By Material, By Price, which covers the history data information forecast from 2016 to 2020.Silicon metal is derived from quartz (silicon dioxide). It is purified elemental silicon alloyed with significant quantities of other elements such as aluminum and calcium. Key applications of silicon metal include aluminum alloys, silicones/silanes, semiconductors, solar panels, and others (laboratory reagents, etc.). Growth in the building & construction industry in Asia Pacific is projected to boost the consumption of silicones. This, in turn, is anticipated to drive the demand for silicon metal during the forecast period. High production cost of silicon metal in certain regions is estimated to hamper the global silicon metal market during the forecast period. However, rising demand for solar panels and in turn silicon metal in North America, Europe, and emerging economies of Asia Pacific is projected to offer immense opportunities for manufacturers during the forecast period.Get The Sample Copy of Report :This report analyzes and forecasts the market for silicon metal at the global and regional level. The market has been forecast based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) from 2016 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global silicon metal market. It also covers impact of these drivers and restraints on demand for silicon metal during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the silicon metal market at the global and regional level.The report includes detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global silicon metal market. Porters Five Forces model for the silicon metal market has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein applications are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.The study provides a decisive view of the global silicon metal market by segmenting it in terms of application such as aluminum alloys, silicones/silanes, semiconductors, solar panels, and others. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes current and forecast demand for silicon metal in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also covers demand for applications of silicon metal in all the regions.Send An enquiry :The report provides the estimated market size of silicon metal for 2016 and forecast for the next eight years. The global market size of silicon metal has been provided in terms of volume and revenue. Market volume has been defined in kilo tons, while market revenue is in US$ Mn. Market numbers have been estimated based on key applications of silicon metal. Market size and forecast for products and applications have been provided in terms of global and regional markets.In order to compile the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a number of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, Internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations, and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective, and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights, and recognizing business opportunities.Secondary research sources that are typically referred to include, but are not limited to company websites, annual reports, financial reports, broker reports, investor presentations, SEC filings, GUNTHER Portfolio, REN21, Forbes, internal and external proprietary databases, and relevant patent and regulatory databases such as ICIS, Hoovers, oneSOURCE, Factiva, Bloomberg, national government documents, statistical databases, trade journals, market reports, news articles, press releases, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market.Primary research involves e-mail interactions, telephonic interviews, and face-to-face interviews for each market, category, segment, and sub-segment across geographies. We conduct primary interviews on an ongoing basis with industry participants and commentators to validate data and analysis. Primary interviews provide firsthand information on market size, market trends, growth trends, competitive landscape, outlook, etc. This help validate and strengthen secondary research findings. This also helps develop the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Browse More Related Reports :The report comprises profiles of major companies operating in the global silicon metal market. Key players profiled in the report include China National Bluestar (Group) Co, Ltd., Dow Corning Corporation, MINASLIGAS, RW silicium GmbH, Simcoa Operations Pty Ltd, Wacker Chemie AG, Ferroglobe PLC, and Yunnan Yongchang Silicon Industry Co., Ltd. The companies have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments.The report segments the global silicon metal market as follows:Silicon Metal Market  Application AnalysisAluminum AlloysSilicones/SilanesSemiconductorsSolar PanelsOthers (Including Stainless Steel, Laboratory Reagents, etc.)Silicon Metal Market  Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeFranceU.K.SpainGermanyItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanASEANRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & Africa (MEA)GCCSouth AfricaRest of MEAMRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
High Performance Alloys Market Analysis for Aerospace, Industrial Gas Turbines, Industrial, Automotives, Oil & Gas, Electronic & Electrical and Other Applications

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This report mainly introduces volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in High Performance Alloys Market.High performance alloys exhibit excellent mechanical strength, good surface stability and superlative corrosion and oxidation resistance. High performance alloys exhibit excellent mechanical strength and high resistance to creep at high temperatures. In addition, they provide good surface stability and corrosion and oxidation resistance. These alloy operate in complicated combination of force and temperature under the influence of corrosive media, high pressures and radiation. Moreover, titanium and nickel increase the life of the components. High performance alloys market is heavily driven by aerospace and power industries. Typical applications of the high performance alloys include the aerospace industry and in the industrial gas turbines sector (IGTs). Other applications include automotive, oil & gas rail engineering, military, electronics, marine and other industrial applications. There are four main categories of high performance alloys: non-ferrous alloys, platinum group metals, refractory metals and superalloys. These alloys are used at high temperature applications. Thus, properties of these alloys are tailored to a certain extent through the addition of other elements, including metals, metalloids and non-metals viz chromium, iron, molybdenum, niobium, yttrium, vanadium, carbon, boron or hafnium are some examples of the alloying additions used.This report provides a detailed description of the high performance alloys market in terms of volume share (Kilo Tons) and revenue (USD Million) for the period from 2014 to 2020. It highlights the factors contributing to the growth of the market, and restraints that the market faces. Detailed forecast has been provided for the high performance alloys market from 2014 to 2020 for better understanding of the individual market scenario. The high performance alloys market is described with respect to various segments along with opportunities expected in the next six years.Request for sample copy of report :In terms of geography, the market has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Rest of the World (RoW). The market has been segmented on the basis of product types (non-ferrous alloys, platinum group metals, refractory metals and superalloys) and application types (aerospace, industrial gas turbines, industrial, automotives, oil & gas, electronics & electrical and others). The study segments the market in terms of products and applications and provides forecast and estimates for each application segment in terms of revenue and volume during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.For a comprehensive understanding of the market, we have given a thorough analysis of the value chain. Furthermore, we have included Porters five forces model, which provides a detailed understanding of the degree of competition in the market. Moreover, the study comprises a market attractiveness analysis, wherein the applications are benchmarked based on market scope, growth rate and general attractiveness.Profiles of certain leading companies have been covered in this report along with a detailed analysis of their market share. The study profiles companies such as Allegheny Technologies Inc, Carpenter Technologies, VSMPO, ThyssenKrupp, Haynes International Inc and Aperam. The company profiles include attributes such as company overview, financial overview, SWOT analysis, business strategies and recent developments. A detailed description of the company overview, financial overview and SWOT analysis in addition to recent developments provides a thorough idea about the competitive positioning of players in the market.Send An Enquiry :For the research report, we conducted in-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by an extensive secondary research. We reviewed key players product literature, annual reports, press releases and relevant documents for competitive analysis and market understanding. Secondary research also includes a search of recent trade, technical writing, internet sources, and statistical data from government websites, trade associations and agencies. This has proven to be the most reliable, effective and successful approach for obtaining precise market data, capturing industry participants insights and recognizing business opportunities.The report segments the global high performance alloys market as:High Performance Alloys Market - Product Segment AnalysisNon-ferrous alloysPlatinum group metalsRefractory metalsSuperalloysHigh Performance Alloys Market  Application AnalysisAerospaceIndustrial gas turbinesIndustrialAutomotivesOil & gasElectronics & electricalOthers (Medical, chemical etc)High Performance Alloys Market - Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the World (RoW)State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Potassium Chloride Market Analysis for Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Industrial and Other Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019

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This report mainly introduces volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Potassium chloride market.Potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of chlorine and potassium. It is also known as Muriate of Potash, a term which is primarily used in association with its use as a fertilizer. Potash is the most widely used potassium fertilizer and varies in color from red or pink to white depending upon the recovery and mining process used. Other uses of potassium chloride include pharmaceuticals, water treatment chemicals, animal feeds and consumer food products.The report on potassium chloride provides a detailed analysis and forecast of the market on a global as well as regional level for a time period ranging between 2013 and 2019. On a global level, the market has been segmented on the basis of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (USD million) for a period of time ranging from 2013 to 2019. For an in-depth understanding of the market on the regional level, the demand has been forecast-based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (USD million) for a time period ranging between 2013 and 2019. The report includes drivers and restraints and their impact on the growth of the market within the forecast period. Furthermore, the report encompasses opportunities available for the growth of the market, on a global as well as regional level.Get The Sample Copy Of Report :For a detailed understanding of the market, we have provided a thorough analysis of the value chain. In addition, we have covered the Porters five forces model, which provides a detailed understanding of the intensity of competition present in the market. Furthermore, the study includes a market attractiveness analysis, where the applications are benchmarked based on market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.The market has been segmented based on applications. The segment has been analyzed and forecast based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (USD million) from 2013 to 2019. Additionally, the segment has been analyzed and forecast based on current trends at a global as well as regional level, for the given time period. Geographically, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW), and the demand has been analyzed and forecast based on current trends for a period of six years.Profiles of certain leading companies have been covered in this report along with a detailed analysis of their market share. The study profiles companies such as Agrium Inc., Arab Potash Company, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), JSC Belaruskali, PotashCorp, The Mosaic Company, and Uralkali among others. The market has been segmented as below:Send An Enquiry :Potassium Chloride Market - Application AnalysisFertilizersPharmaceuticalsIndustrialOthers (Feed, food products, etc.)Potassium Chloride Market - Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the World (RoW)MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Rare Earth Metals Market by Application Segments Applications (Magnets, Catalysts, Metallurgy, Phosphors, Ceramics & Others) Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast 2018

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This report mainly introduces volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Rare Earth Metals Market.The rare earth metals market report by Transparency Market Research provides comprehensive analysis of the rare earth metals industry in the context of the global market. This study analyzes and interprets key market dynamics for rare earth metals including drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This report segments the market on regional, product and application level as well as provides the estimates and forecasts for each sub segment. The study provides in-depth analysis of rare earth metals market from demand perspective, along with market estimates and forecast from 2012 to 2018, in terms of both volumes and revenues.Key rare earth metal products analyzed in this study include lanthanum, praseodymium, cerium, neodymium, samarium, promethium, europium, dysprosium, holmium, gadolinium, terbium, thulium, scandium, yttrium erbium, ytterbium, and lutetium. Cerium dominates the global market, in terms of consumption; this domination is expected to continue over the next five years. Key cerium applications include rechargeable batteries, auto catalysts and in the fluid cracking catalyst industry. Other leading rare earth metals, in terms of consumption, include lanthanum and neodymium, primarily used in permanent magnets and rechargeable batteries.Request To Get The Sample Copy Of Report :Metallurgy, magnets, phosphors, and catalysts are major application markets for rare earth metals. Presently, magnets are the major application segment in terms of revenue and consumption. However metallurgy is the fastest growing application segment.North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Rest of the world (RoW) are the major regional markets covered in this study. Each of these regions have been further segmented on the basis of type of rare earth metals and thorough analysis of each type of metal in terms of revenue and volume in 2011 and forecast until 2018 has been included in the report. Comprehensive competitive landscape including company market share analysis and detailed profiles of key participants such as Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth Hi-Tech Co, Great Western Minerals Group, China Rare Earth Holdings, Indian Rare Earths, Lynas Corporation Ltd. and Molycorp have been included in this study.Send An Enquiry :The report provides a detailed value chain of rare earth metals, and Porters five forces analysis to pinpoint the pros and cons of various factors influencing the rare earth metal industry. This helps various market participants such as substitutes, suppliers of raw materials, potential new entrants and buyers in their strategy making process. The report also presents a comprehensive assessment of various drivers and restraints of the rare earth metal market. Segmentation of the market included in this study in detail is as follows;Rare earth metals market by type:LanthanumPraseodymiumCeriumNeodymiumSamariumPromethiumEuropiumDysprosiumHolmiumGadoliniumTerbiumThuliumScandiumYttriumErbiumYtterbiumLutetium.Rare earth metals market by application:MagnetsCatalystMetallurgyCeramicsPhosphorsGlassPolishingRare earth metals market by geography:North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the World (RoW)MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
BY DR. TOETU FAALEAVA and MARLEEN WALLINGFORD

In 1862, Oregon required all black, Chinese, Hawaiian and multiracial people in the state to pay an annual tax. Those who could not pay were forced to provide cheap labor to maintain roads as white settlers developed land, which had been gifted to them by the United States government after it was taken from Oregon tribes. In 1882, the U.S. enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, prohibiting Chinese immigration to the country. In 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, forcibly removing all individuals of Japanese ancestry. In 1996, Congress passed welfare reform that excluded Micronesian Islanders to Medicaid. In 2014, anti-immigrant organizers successfully led the attack on Measure 88, which would have provided undocumented immigrants driver cards that provided mobility and maintained their families' livelihoods. More recently, the Trump administration targeted Muslims with a travel ban, and just announced ending the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program.



Why the abbreviated history lesson? Because our communities have seen what happens when fear and prejudice take precedence over respect and compassion.

In the face of state and vigilante violence, racial and religious profiling, and policies designed to exclude, control and divide our families, we have resisted. We have said, "Never again." When groups such as Patriot Prayer hold marches along Southeast 82nd Avenue and rallies in downtown Portland we have seen white supremacist and neo-Nazi members in attendance. These gatherings have provided a platform for dangerous, bigoted rhetoric and intentionally bring violence directly to our door, traumatizing our children and dividing our communities.



At the Patriot Prayer march back in April, participants shouted "Go back to where you came from." Their June "rally" brought out armed militia and well-known hate groups. This past weekend's rally was no different, with the anti-immigrant Hell Shaking Street Preachers and the violent chauvinist group Proud Boys in attendance. And, a Patriot Prayer supporter allegedly attempted to hit counter-protesters with his vehicle in Vancouver. Media outlets have recently fixated on organizers within Patriot Prayer who identify as people of color, as if this somehow legitimizes the impacts of their actions.

Regardless of the messenger, we must remain clear on our opposition to the racist, anti-immigrant agenda these groups push. We must all actively condemn hate.

As Asians and Pacific Islanders, we have a responsibility to support those most at risk in this political climate who face increased levels of violence, targeting and policing. We cannot be silent as extremist groups demonize our families and neighbors, threaten our safety and work to strip our communities of the rights and resources we need to thrive. Let us remember our history and the legacy of resistance we have inherited. Let's continue the fight against injustice for all communities coming under increased threat from organized white supremacy and the complicit and antagonistic alt-right coalition, whether in the streets or in the halls of elected office.

We demand that our leaders and public institutions prioritize protecting communities of color, and to take a stance against the emboldened white supremacist movement in Oregon.

Marleen Wallingford is president of the Portland Japanese American Citizens League. Dr. Toeutu Faaleava is a Samoan elder and spiritual leader, and former APANO board member.
BY CATHERINE MATER

Once in a while, you'll hear reference to a black swan event, an episode that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact.

The fires raging through Oregon underscore such an event. Not the fires themselves, but the death and damage that occurs before lightning ever strikes. Up until this year, it was an accepted fact that the 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide that Oregon releases into the atmosphere annually comes primarily from transportation emissions (about 20 million metric tons a year) and emissions from power plants (about 9 million metric tons a year).

But this year Oregon Global Warming Commission vigorously revisited this issue. In the past, the commission had determined that Oregon's forests were 'carbon neutral,' meaning each year they acquired and stored as much carbon (via tree growth) as was released (via tree harvesting). Updated information from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University revolutionized our thinking on this matter.

Wildfires have historically produced soot, or black carbon, that are by no means beneficial. But these black carbon emissions last only a few days to two weeks in the atmosphere. Yet harmful "invisible" carbon dioxide emissions when trees die happen well before the fires begin and last 100-plus years in the atmosphere and produce global warming. Tree mortality is often due to insect and diseases resulting from changes in temperature influenced by global warming.

The black swan event happening in our forests is driven by the sheer annual volume - about 22 million metric tons a year -- of these long-term emissions released as Oregon's trees die. That's the equivalent of nearly all annual statewide emissions derived from the transportation and power generation sectors combined.

More alarming, while national forests comprise less than 50 percent of all forestlands statewide, they contribute 70 percent of Oregon's annual long-term emissions due to tree mortality. In contrast, family-owned and industrial forests comprise 33 percent of statewide forestland but contribute only 16 percent of emissions from tree death.

While the number of fires and acres burned have increased over time, we've learned that the release of the most harmful, long-term emissions from wildfires happen only in sporadic, high-severity fires. The last notable high-severity fire was the Biscuit Fire in 2002, when nearly 4 million metric tons of long-term carbon dioxide emissions were released. The bulk of high-severity hotspots in the Biscuit Fire appeared mostly from arid litter on the forest floor: Dead leaves, needles and bark resulting from tree mortality, not the standing dead or downed trees.

All told, more than 45 million metric tons of long-term emissions are released every year from Oregon forests. That's an annual emission level equivalent to 75 percent of long-term emissions produced statewide by all other reporting sectors (transportation, utilities, industrial, commercial, residential, etc.) Half of those emissions are due to tree mortality. The other half is from harvest activity predominately on private industrial forestlands.

These same forests each year also absorb a stunning 80 million metric tons of long-term emissions from the atmosphere through new tree growth. This means that Oregon's forests acquire a net 35 million metric tons of long-term carbon from the atmosphere every year.

In hindsight, as with all black swan events, acknowledging that our forests are the 'lungs' for our common home makes perfect sense. No longer 'carbon neutral,' Oregon forests must now be considered central to meeting our state's emission reduction goals. And that understanding leads to more questions: How do we best monetize the value of that carbon to help forest owners grow trees for carbon with the same passion they have for growing trees for lumber? How do we decrease devastating tree mortality, even though the bulk of it happens on federal lands outside of state jurisdiction? How do we grow more forests in Oregon, even though a net 320,000 acres of family forests have disappeared from our state base since 1977?

Pope Francis once commented that "a tree that falls makes more noise than a growing forest." Oregon's forests are roaring right now, but a black swan is emerging.

Catherine M. Mater is a member of the Oregon Global Warming Commission and chair of its Task Force on Forest Carbon. She lives in Corvallis.
Portland police say three people were shot early Sunday morning -- in what police believe were three unrelated instances of gunfire in or around the city.

One man died, while two others are expected to recover:

The

The

The third shooting happened sometime before 3:57 a.m., which is when police responded to a local emergency room based on a report that a man with a gunshot wound had been driven there.

Police dont know where that third shooting occurred, but say they found the victims car parked in the 5000 block of Northeast Columbia Boulevard.

The car was riddled with bullet holes. Police say they think the man drove to Columbia Boulevard and parked. From there, an acquaintance drove him to the hospital, police say.

Police described the third shooting victim as seriously wounded, but with non-life-threatening injuries.

The gang-enforcement team is investigating the third incident. Anyone with information about this third shooting is asked to call Detective Brent Christensen at 503-823-2087 or email him at Brent.Christensen@portlandoregon.gov.

Members of the public with tips about any of the shootings also can call the Portland Police Bureaus non-emergency line at 503-823-3333.

Police say in addition to other information, they are interested in posts from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Police haven't yet released the identities of the victims.

-- Aimee Green
By the end of the third grade, Lana McMichael's son was receiving just five hours a week of in-home tutoring as his public education.

Zack has autism and is quite bright. But he needs extra support in the classroom, and he needs consistency. He's still learning to calm himself down.

When an abrupt change in his routine became too much for Zack, he apparently became too much for David Douglas School District.

First, they reduced his school days; then they provided only tutoring at his Southeast Portland home. As a working single mom, McMichael couldn't care for him full time. She also believed isolation from school made his behavior worse.

Today, Zack lives in a group home an hour away from his mom  a move McMichael believes could have been prevented if he'd been allowed to attend school.

State Sen. Sara Gelser said in-home tutoring was meant as an option for a student, say, battling leukemia and physically unable to come to school.

"This is not meant for kids with autism, kids with mental illness, kids that have really significant needs," she said. "It's also not meant to be a long-term solution."

A new Oregon law, sponsored by Gelser, aims to make clear to school districts that limiting class hours or solely providing tutoring isn't enough.

"That child was basically deprived of his right to a free and appropriate education, and that is happening over and over again," she said. "A lot of time it's kids with disabilities and mental illness. These are kids who, more than anybody, need more supportive environments, not further isolation."

Joel Greenberg, attorney with the advocacy group Disability Right Oregon, estimated at least 15 percent of the calls he deals with are about students placed on reduced school hours.

"It often happens that a district will tell a parent, 'His behavior is really aggressive right now, let's reduce his school day for a short time, and then gradually return him to a full day,'" Greenberg said. "We'll then often find that that short time got longer and longer, at times up to two years."

The state doesn't track how frequently this happens, but over a four-month period last year, 68 families called an Oregon disability help hotline because of a child's shortened day due to behavior.

Of those callers, 27 percent had a child age 7 or younger.

"What's the prognosis for a child who needs a lot of support and probably more education and he's getting 1-2 hours (in class) a day at age 6?" Greenberg asked.

A free and appropriate education is a right, not a privilege. It's not contingent on a student's behavior, and certainly not behavior related to a disability. A school district should not determine which kids have earned a full school day and which have not.

"Imagine if a family decided they only wanted to send their kid to school two days a week," Gelser said. "We would fine them. You can't have it both ways."

Senate Bill 263, signed into law this summer, specifies that a district cannot place a student on an abbreviated day without a parent's consent. Districts must consider at least one option that includes supports to allow the student to attend a full school day.

McMichael said full school days would have allowed her to keep her son at home. In 2015, Zack began third grade at Cherry Park Elementary smoothly; it helped that he had the same well-liked teacher from the prior year.

But after school started, his growing special needs classroom was split into two and he was placed with a new teacher. This is when he started having trouble.

"He would run from the classroom and he gets aggressive," McMichael said. "He's never been aggressive toward another child but he was aggressive toward the other adults."

She said her request to place Zack with his old teacher was denied. His school hours were shortened. At one point, he ran outside of the school building and threw a rock that broke a window.

After that, he was limited to in-home tutoring.

"Being pulled out of school, he was completely out of his routine, and routine is huge for him," McMichael said. "Without the social interaction and having him engaged in something, it was very hard. He kind of spiraled."

David Douglas School District declined to comment on McMichael's experience, but Barbara Kienle, director of student services, said a student given reduced school hours "could be a student who is struggling behaviorally and we're trying to find ... a part of the day where he or she can experience success and then build up and step up to a full day."

McMichael works as an ambulance emergency medical technician in Clackamas County. She took unpaid leave to care for Zack at home.

It took months to get approval for state funds to help with Zack's in-home care, and when it finally happened, McMichael was unable to find qualified workers.

"I could no longer afford to continue being at home without any income and his issues had gotten worse without being in school," McMichael said. "After about a year of that, I had to make a very difficult decision to place him in a group home for autistic boys."

All this, she believes, was preventable.

If given proper supports in school, he could have attended full-time.

If attending full-time, he wouldn't have spiraled.

If he hadn't spiraled, McMichael could continue to find care for him in the afternoons when she was at work.

Most heartbreakingly, he could have stayed at home.

Zack is now entering fifth grade and living in Salem. It's the closest state-funded home available as McMichael waits for a placement closer to her. He's attending school two hours a day.

Zack tells his mom he wants to come home and go to school full time.

She tells him they'll get there. She knows their rights.

"I want so much for him," McMichael said. "I want him to be a fully functioning adult, like every other parent wants their child to be. I don't know why he couldn't be. He's verbal, he's very intelligent, he has people around him and support and resources."

McMichael says she's not an assertive person, and she appears somewhat uncomfortable in her role as parent advocate. But although her voice quivered, she did testify before a State Senate committee on Senate Bill 263. She did share her story.

"He's my baby," she said. "I will give up everything for him and I will continue to fight for him every step of the way."

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com
Syed Akbaruddin, India's permanent representative to the United Nations, also said New Delhi's won't sit idle till Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar is brought to book.

By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan would be wasting its time if it tried to bring up Kashmir at next week's United Nations General Assembly session (UNGA), since it hasn't been discussed formally by the world body for 40 years, India's permanent representative Syed Akbaruddin said today.

Akbaruddin also reiterated that Masood Azhar was a criminal, and said New Delhi's won't sit idle till the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader is brought to book. India's efforts to convince the UN to designate the Pathankot terror attack mastermind as a global terrorist have been repeatedly thwarted by China, Pakistan's 'all-weather' ally.

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Sushma Swaraj and Khawaja Asif, the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, are all set to "come face-to-face" next week on the sidelines of the UNGA's 72nd session, ANI reported.

The session begins in New York on Tuesday.

Swaraj and Asif "expected to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit and the SAARC group meetings," the news agency said.

Syed Akbaruddin has listed five major issues Sushma Swaraj will focus on during the upcoming UNGA session: UN reform, counter-terrorism, migration, climate change, and peacekeeping.

India outlines priorities for 72nd session of UN General Assembly. pic.twitter.com/lD6kujdwJ3- India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) September 17, 2017

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the highlight of Swaraj's trip to New York would be her speech at the UNGA.

In the speech she gave last year, Swaraj hit back at former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who'd accused India of perpetrating human rights violations in Kashmir.

Swaraj pointed to Pakistan's activity in Balochistan province. "I can only say that those accusing others of human rights violations would do well to introspect and see what egregious abuses they are perpetrating in their own country, including in Balochistan. The brutality against the Baloch people represents the worst form of state oppression," she said.

--- ENDS ---
The White House issued a statement saying it will stick with plans to pull out of the deal after the US attended a meeting of ministers from more than 30 of nations that signed the Paris climate-change agreement.

President Donald Trump announced in June that he would withdraw the nation from the 2015 global climate pact. (Photo: Reuters)

By Reuters: The United States attended a Saturday meeting of ministers from more than 30 of the nations that signed the Paris climate-change agreement, though the White House issued a statement saying it will stick with plans to pull out of the deal.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump administration officials said the United States would not pull out of the agreement and had offered to re-engage in the deal, citing the European Commission's Miguel Arias Canete.

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A Commission spokeswoman told Reuters at the Montreal gathering that Canete, commissioner for climate action and energy, had not said the United States had changed its position on withdrawing from the deal. The White House said that the report was inaccurate.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters. "As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country."

President Donald Trump announced in June that he would withdraw the nation from the 2015 global climate pact, arguing that it would undermine the US economy and national sovereignty. The decision drew anger and condemnation from world leaders.

Everett Eissenstat, the deputy director of the White House's National Economic Council who led the delegation in Montreal, declined comment.

Earlier in the day, Canete told Reuters that "They (the United States) have said they don't intend to renegotiate the Paris agreement , but they will try to work on how to re-engage."

The United States used similar language in August, when it submitted a letter to the United Nations formally stating it intended to withdraw from the pact, adding that it would be open to re-engaging if the terms were favorable.

Ministers from Canada, the European Union and other nations told reporters that they expect continued US participation in Paris Agreement talks. The withdrawal process will take until November 2020 to complete.

"While we understand that the US's position on the Paris Agreement has not changed, we are pleased that they continue to engage," said Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

Attendees also reaffirmed their strong commitment to the terms of the pact, which was signed by nearly 200 countries and seeks to limit further global warming to no more than 2 degrees.

China's representative Xie Zhenhua said "The Paris agreement should not be renegotiated ."

The Montreal gathering precedes larger United Nations climate talks in Bonn where devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean is expected to pit wealthy countries against small island nations who need help coping with damage attributable to climate change.

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Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in the last century, killed dozens of people and caused billions of dollars in damage across the Caribbean and Florida.

ALSO WATCH | US pulls out of Paris Climate Accord; Trump says deal not tough on India, China

--- ENDS ---
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In July, TLC's "The Little Couple" stars Bill Klein and Jennifer Arnold revealed that they were moving from Houston to St. Petersburg, Fla. to pursue a job opportunity and now they are selling their Houston home for $1.225 million.

While the flood waters of Hurricane Harvey damaged nearly 200,000 houses throughout the Houston area, the 3,655-square-foot home in the Braeswood neighborhood was undamaged in any way. In fact, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom property was just renovated.

THE FIGURES: These are the latest numbers that show the extent of Harvey damage

"We un-customized the home we made for us and re-customized it for the prospective new homeowners," Klein told Chron.com through email. "When we built the home 6 years ago, we made many cabinets, counters, and fixtures low in order for us to be comfortable in our space."

Now Playing: Bill Klein and Jennifer Arnold, known from TCL's "The Little Couple," open up about their move from Houston to Florida during the summer of 2017. Video: Houston Chronicle

Arnold, who is three-feet, two-inches tall, and Klein, who is four-feet tall, passed along the renovated photos of their home to Chron.com for an exclusive feature with all of the listings photos. (Go through the pictures above to see the beautiful home being sold by "The Little Couple" stars.)

Klein told Chron.com that during the renovations, they tried to keep the style of the home as similar as possible to how his wife created it, but upgraded some spaces, including giving the master bathroom a total remodel and expanding the kitchen's pantry space.

If interested in the home, contact Lisa Kornhauser with John Daugherty Realtors through the HAR listing site here.

The ninth season of "The Little Couple" premieres on TLC Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. CST and they give their fans an inside look to how their family adjusted to moving from Houston to Florida. Check out a preview of that transition in the video above.
WASHINGTON - In late September 2016, leaders in the House of Representatives met behind closed doors for briefings on a closely held investigation into a group of computer technicians working on Capitol Hill.

Investigators with the Inspector General's Office had been quietly tracking the five IT workers' digital footprints for months. They were alarmed by what they saw. The employees appeared to be accessing congressional servers without authorization, an indication that they "could be reading and/or removing information," according to documents distributed at the previously unreported private briefings.

For some who listened to the findings, the fact that the employees were born in Pakistan set off alarms about national security, according to two participants who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Others thought it more likely that the IT workers, naturalized U.S. citizens, were bending rules on network access to share job duties - violations of House protocol, perhaps, but not espionage.

The matter was soon referred to the Capitol Police, who have been assisted in their investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. In February, the IT workers were barred from accessing the House network, a development that quickly made headlines.

Since then, the story of the House IT workers - brothers Imran Awan, Abid Awan and Jamal Awan, as well as Imran Awan's wife, Hina Alvi, and friend Rao Abbas - has become a lightning rod charged by the convergence of politics, cybersecurity and fears of foreign intrusion.

It has attracted unfounded conspiracy theories and intrigue. Far-right news organizations seized on it as a potential coverup of an espionage ring that plundered national secrets and might have been responsible for the campaign hacking of the Democratic National Committee, a breach that intelligence agencies have linked to Russia. President Donald Trump has fanned its embers from his Twitter account, reposting a story that claimed the mainstream media was ignoring a scandal "engulfing" Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who was slow to fire Imran Awan after news of the investigation broke.

Yet, according to a senior congressional official familiar with the probe, criminal investigators have found no evidence that the IT workers had any connection to a foreign government. Investigators looking for clues about espionage instead found that the workers were using one congressional server as if it were their home computer, storing personal information such as children's homework and family photos, the official said.

Even so, the story - reconstructed here after The Washington Post reviewed confidential documents and interviewed more than a dozen people, including House officials, witnesses and others, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive investigation - highlights urgent and persistent questions about how well Congress safeguards computer equipment and data.

Lawyers for some of the IT workers told The Post that their clients had done nothing wrong.

Christopher Gowen, one of Imran Awan's lawyers, called the espionage claims "ludicrous."

"There's nothing that Imran did that wasn't requested by one of his clients on House staff," he said.

Jim Bacon, a lawyer representing Abid Awan, said "a very lax environment" surrounds security protocols in the House. "I can tell you what they were doing was not unusual," he said.

The nearly one-year-old investigation has thus far resulted in no charges related to the group's House IT work. It has burrowed deeply into their personal finances and outside business ventures.

In July, prosecutors in the U.S. District Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia charged Imran Awan and Alvi with bank fraud, alleging that the couple made misrepresentations on an application for a home-equity loan.

Imran Awan was arrested at the airport as he was preparing to board a flight to Pakistan, where his wife and three children - ages 4, 7, and 10 - have been since March. He has pleaded not guilty. Alvi is planning to return to the United States in the coming weeks to face bank-fraud charges, according to court records. None of the other IT workers has been accused of wrongdoing.

The investigation is ongoing. Both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

- - -

Imran Awan, now 38, was a 14-year-old living in Pakistan when he filled out an application for a U.S. program that provides limited green cards through a lottery system, his lawyers said. He and his family were chosen. He arrived at 17, got a job working at a fast-food restaurant and went to community college in Northern Virginia. He transferred to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and earned a degree in information technology.

Awan became a U.S. citizen in 2004, his lawyers said, the same year he was hired for a part-time job as an IT specialist in the office of Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. Awan had gotten to know some of Wexler's staffers as an intern for a company that provided services to the office.

As an IT specialist, Awan set up printers and work email accounts for new employees, and did technical troubleshooting. Charismatic and accommodating, he became a popular choice among House Democrats and soon cobbled together more than a dozen part-time jobs as what is known as a "shared employee" on the Hill, floating between offices on an as-needed basis.

Such arrangements came under scrutiny in 2008 when House Inspector General James Cornell testified that there was "inadequate oversight" over shared employees.

"In most instances, they have all the freedom of a vendor and all the benefits of an employee without the accountability one would expect with an employee," Cornell told lawmakers. IT specialists, he noted, "present an additional risk in that they often have access to multiple office's data outside of both the oversight of congressional office staff and the visibility of House security personnel."

As demand for Awan's services grew, he began recommending his family members, who had less formal training. His brother Abid, 33, started working on Capitol Hill in 2005. His wife, 33, joined in 2007. A friend, Rao Abbas, 37, who had most recently worked as a manager at a McDonald's, was hired in 2012. And Imran's youngest brother, Jamal, 24, started in 2014. Each held part-time jobs in multiple Democratic congressional offices.

"At the end of the day, whether they had formal training or not, they were trained on the job by Imran," said one of Imran Awan's lawyers, Aaron Marr Page.

By 2016, the five worked for a combined three dozen lawmakers under separate part-time contracts with each office. The Awan family members were each paid between $157,000 and $168,000 that year, making them among the highest-paid staffers on the Hill. The salary cap for a congressional staffer is $174,000.

Under House rules, employees in each congressional office are prohibited from sharing their job duties with others who are not directly employed by that office.

In his 2008 testimony, Cornell warned that a "growing number of shared employees are working in illegal teaming arrangements where they pass the work off to other shared employees not on the payroll of the congressional office they are serving."

Gowen, the other attorney representing Imran Awan, acknowledged that the group filled in for each other at times.

"He's working with family and friends, so there was some coverage by colleagues," Gowen said.

- - -

In March 2016, auditors in the House's Chief Administrative Office discovered strange invoices for computer equipment - purchases that were broken into multiple payments of less than $500. Any purchases over that amount require equipment to be placed on an inventory that helps to track it.

After a referral to the inspector general's office, investigators found that the IT workers had asked vendors "to split the cost of equipment among multiple items and charged these items as office supplies instead of equipment," according to the September briefing document.

As of Sept. 1, 2016, there had been 34 purchases totaling nearly $38,000 "where the costs of the item was manipulated to obtain a purchase price of $499.99," according to the document. There were $799 iPads and a $640 television on the list, records show.

Most of that equipment was left off the official House inventory, investigators found. And investigators found that some of it had been delivered to the homes of the Awan brothers, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

One vendor, CDW, received a subpoena from federal prosecutors in December, another person familiar with the procurement part of the probe said. The company said in a statement to The Post that it was cooperating with authorities and that prosecutors had assured the company it was not a target of the investigation.

Page, Imran Awan's lawyer, said that the home-equipment deliveries were rare and made when his client planned to be away from the Capitol during the delivery. He declined to comment on other aspects of the equipment purchases.

When asked if his client was authorized to split equipment purchases into increments less than $500, Bacon, Abid Awan's lawyer, said: "In a fluid situation you do what you're ordered to do." Any missing equipment, Bacon said, "disappeared after it was brought to the folks who were demanding it. . . . It sounds to me like there's a lot of scapegoating here."

The House is generally bad at keeping track of the millions of dollars worth of office equipment in its care, according to independent auditors. The past four annual audits have cited "ineffective controls over property and equipment" as a "significant deficiency" in the House, records show. "Inventory processes are not properly designed and are not operating effectively," an audit found in 2014.

A spokesman for the Chief Administrative Office, which is required to do regular audits of House equipment, declined to comment.

Patrick Sowers, a part-time systems administrator for two House Republicans, said that it is common for IT workers to have equipment delivered off campus because deliveries at the Capitol require a time-consuming security screening process that is not necessary if an employee brings the equipment into the building.

"It's possible that everything was done innocently," Sowers said. "But when you add it all together, it does give the appearance that something was done inappropriately."

- - -

By midsummer, with the approval of the House Administration Committee, the Inspector General's Office was tracking the five employees' logins. In October, they found "massive" amounts of data flowing from the networks they were accessing, raising the possibility that an automated program was vacuuming up information, according to a senior House official familiar with the probe.

Initially, investigators could not see precisely what kind of data was moving off the server due to legal protections afforded by the Constitution's "speech and debate" clause, which shields lawmakers' deliberations from investigators' eyes.

Investigators found that the five IT employees had logged on at one server for the Democratic Caucus more than 5,700 times over a seven-month period, according to documents reviewed by The Post. Alvi, the only one of the five who was authorized to access that server, accounted for fewer than 300 of those logins, documents show.

The congressional networks they were accessing do not contain any classified information, which is held on separate servers that have rigid protections and very limited access. The House network does contain lawmakers' email, but a senior House official said IT workers could not access it unless lawmakers provided their passwords.

The Inspector General's Office reported on its findings in a series of briefings in late September and early October in the offices of the House speaker, the Democratic leader, the House Administration Committee, the sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police. The leadership agreed to refer the probe to Capitol Police and the FBI, who had the tools to conduct more thorough background checks and to access their financial records. The criminal investigation began in October.

At the time, the presidential election was underway, and Hillary Clinton was under FBI investigation to determine if she had mishandled classified information by using a private email server in the basement of her house while she was secretary of state. About two weeks later, after Trump won the election, House leaders decided to take the highly unusual step of barring the five IT workers from the network.

The House sergeant at arms convened chiefs of staff in early February and told them that the IT workers were under investigation for suspicion of stealing equipment and potential security violations related to the House network. Most offices fired the IT staffers. But a few Democratic lawmakers defended the Awans, saying that they had not seen definitive evidence that the Awans did anything wrong.

"As of right now, I don't see a smoking gun," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., told Politico in March. "I have seen no evidence that they were doing anything that was nefarious."

Wasserman Schultz found a new consulting job for Imran Awan that did not require access to the House network and said publicly that she was concerned that the investigation was driven by ethnic and religious bias. The Awans are Muslims.

Her fierce defense of the Awans at times puzzled even some in her own party. In May, Wasserman Schultz chided the Capitol Police chief during a public hearing after officers confiscated a laptop that had been left in a Capitol Building hallway. It belonged to her office and had been issued to Imran Awan.

"I think you're violating the rules when you conduct your business that way and should suspect there will be consequences," Wasserman Schultz told the chief.

She has also suggested that data moving off her office's server might have been files the office routinely stored on Dropbox, an Internet-based document-sharing service. House rules prohibit moving data off the main server, but Wasserman Schultz has said in a public hearing that House administrators had not made those rules clear.

"My concern was they were being singled out," Wasserman Schultz told The Post.

Wasserman Schultz's office has said it is cooperating with the investigation. It has hired an outside lawyer, William Pittard, and for a time considered whether to shield any information sought by investigators by asserting "speech and debate" protections.

"Ultimately, the congresswoman chose not to retain a single document on speech or debate or any other grounds in this investigation," said David Damron, Wasserman Schultz's communications director. Pittard is being paid by the congresswoman's campaign for reelection.

Sowers, the systems administrator, said that while storing congressional data on Dropbox or other file-sharing services may be convenient, "anyone who is doing it is putting themselves at risk."

"Hackers are out there constantly," he said.

Page said he is confident the networking issues that helped kick off the criminal investigation will not result in charges.

"Everything we have heard, once stripped of any conspiratorial overtone, is consistent with how systems were set up and used in member offices," the lawyer said. "None of this was invented by Imran. We don't think that any of the systems were in violation of any rules or policies, and certainly Imran didn't think so at the time."

House staffers, meanwhile, have proposed a series of reforms in response to the controversy. They are under consideration by the House Administration Committee, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. Those recommendations have not been released publicly, and officials declined to provide them.

- - -

The disclosure of the investigation led to a torrent of news stories in the conservative press, led by the Daily Caller. The coverage has delved into the Awans' personal finances, side businesses and family disputes - producing an unflattering portrait.

Right-wing conspiracy theorists with large followings on the Internet have spun the revelations into intricate tales, trying to make the case that Imran Awan was the source of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee that were published by WikiLeaks during last year's presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the hacking.

The unfounded speculation has found its way into coverage by Fox News.

"What if he was the source to WikiLeaks?" Fox News' Geraldo Rivera said of Imran Awan during a July segment with host Sean Hannity after Awan's arrest on bank-fraud charges. "He has all the passwords, he has all of the information. This is a huge story."

According to charging documents, Imran Awan and Alvi took out two home-equity loans in December 2016, totaling $283,000, and wired the money to Pakistan on Jan. 18, about a week before they were banned from the House network.

On bank-loan applications to the Congressional Federal Credit Union, Alvi indicated that the couple lived in the two homes that were offered as collateral - but the homes were actually rental properties, according to the federal indictment. The bank does not offer home-equity loans on rental properties.

Imran Awan's lawyers said Awan and Alvi have repaid the loans by cashing out their retirement funds. Page, Awan's lawyer, would not address the wire transfers, but said that at the time Awan "was struggling to arrange an elaborate funeral for his father in Pakistan and fighting legal battles over inherited family property there."

They were charged with bank fraud on July 24. Wasserman Schultz fired Imran Awan the same week.

Alvi had already left the United States for Pakistan, in March. Imran Awan's lawyers said Alvi left to allow the family to rent out their home because they had lost their jobs and "to temporarily escape the media frenzy," which included "harassment" of her three children at home and at school.

Federal agents and Capitol Police tried to question her at Dulles International Airport, but ultimately let her and her children board the plane. An FBI agent wrote in a court document that he did not believe she intended to come back. Alvi has agreed to return to the United States in late September, according to court documents.

Imran Awan is living with a relative in Virginia and wearing a GPS tracking device. He has given up his passport and is restricted from traveling farther than 50 miles from the home where he is staying.

Appearing at Imran Awan's first court appearance on Sept. 1 was George Webb, a self-described citizen journalist from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who has cultivated 40,000 followers by posting hundreds of conspiratorial videos on YouTube.

He filed papers asking the judge if he could present evidence in the bank-fraud case that would reveal a host of other crimes, including money laundering to terrorist organizations. The judge denied the unusual request. Outside the courthouse, Webb said that he believed prosecutors were conspiring with Awan's lawyers to minimize the case.

"They're orchestrating this thing, making it look like there's a trial here," Webb said. "There's no trial here. They are trying to make this look like a small, simple bank fraud case. It's not. It's a spy ring in Congress."
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By PTI: production

Panaji, Sep 17 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought help from Cashew Export Promotion Council of India to increase its production in the coastal state, which has witnessed a dip in recent times.

He was speaking at a function organised by the council here.

"Goa has a cashew production of 650 kilograms per hectare which is less compared to the national average. We need to take this production to around 1,200-1,400 kilograms per hectare," Parrikar said addressing the event today.

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He said that Cashew Export Promotion Council of India should help the state government to increase the production which will also lead to rise in the exports.

"If you work out a plan for improving the production of cashew in Goa, the state government is ready to bear 80 per cent of the cost for it," the chief minister said.

He pointed out that the state produces 7.08 thousand tonnes of cashew nuts while the consumption in Goa is 15,000 tonnes.

"The demand in the state is fulfilled with the import from outside the country, which needs to be stopped," Parrikar said.

The chief minister said that attempts should be made to increase the production and considering the coverage of cashew plantation in the state, all the shortage will be covered up in next 10-years.

Referring to the modernisation in the cashew processing industry, Parrikar feared that such a move is resulting in loss of employment for many, mostly women, who were working from home for the units.

He said that the increase in production can be one of the solution for the problem of increasing unemployment from the labour intensive cashew industry sector.

"The technology is improving our lives but it is also reducing the employment opportunities," he said adding that "biggest strength of the country is its youth, but at the same time, it can also be a problem, if there are no employment opportunities available." PTI RPS RMT

--- ENDS ---
Our latest observations, as offered by the readers and your own resident Lite Boy:

Best business greeting

That highly anticipated Portillo's restaurant in Normal is open and, if you drive past, the lot is perpetually full.

But at least one other B-N restaurant  Bandana's, on IAA Drive in Bloomington  is riding out the "just-opened" fascination and displaying a sense of humor.

Reads the sign on the Bandana's front door:

"Thank you for not

going to Portillo's today"

Newest World Series development

Nine months after the Cubs ended that 108-year drought and won the World Series, it was and is maternity wards in Chicagoland and beyond seeing a celebratory post-win increase in business.

As one new mom in Bloomington listed the ingredients of this latest baby-producing breakthrough: "A great time, a big celebration ... and just the right amount of champagne."

Latest metaphor of the times

Recently at the Bloomington Public Library, using its HTC Vive "virtual reality" equipment, was a game for adult-aged patrons entitled "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes." One player was trapped in a virtual room with a hidden time bomb to defuse and the other players were "experts given instructions to find and defuse the bomb by deciphering information "before it is too late!"

As one player said later, "I don't know any more if this is just a 'virtual' reality."

Most eye-catching inadvertent sign pairing

Along Fort Jesse Road in Normal the other morning  coincidentally in front of ARC, a popular recreation center for senior citizens  was the sign: SALE TODAY, ANTIQUES.

Best Name Club

Kitty Kanko. Works at Peoria County Animal Control.

Jeremy Flood. Was a first-responder from Central Illinois in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Danielle Outlaw. Is the new chief of police in Portland, Ore.

Emily Skye. A meteorologist at WSAW-TV in Wausau, Wis.

Robert Stubblefield and John Weedman. According to an exhibit at the McLean County Museum of History, they were two of the areas first farmers who chose obviously to deal with a lot of stubble and weeds in their fields.

Pastor Dow Moses. At New Vision Church of God in Decatur.

Latest greatest license speak

As spotted along Veterans Parkway in Bloomington, on a bright yellow Corvette:

I WUNTD 1

Newest realization about Siri

She apparently likes to sleep in.

Koryn Fehr of Fairbury asked her phone to set an alarm for 6 a.m. That's when Siri responded: "Setting alarm for 6 a.m. Don't wake me up."

Most timely typo

In an age of Black Lives Matter, Pequods Pizza, a popular Chicago pizzeria near Lincoln Park, recently listed on its new menus, between such toppings as pepperoni, sausage and anchovies, another for black lives.

Were assuming that was supposed to be black olives.

Best new business name

Operating out of a home along Arrowhead Drive in Bloomington is a new dual business, listed on city records as a "woodworking and honeybee business."

Its name: "The Boards & the Bees."

Newest victim of monkeying around

At last month's McLean County Fair, a Capuchin monkey  "Bo Bo," listed as a professional canine jockey"  waited until the coast was clear, escaped his cage and wandered off on the fairgrounds.

Thats when Bloomington Police undertook one of its more novel search investigations. As a spokesman put it later: BPD's Street Crimes Unit was on scene within seconds; officers channeled their inner primate, and members put their fugitive tracking skills to the test to track down `Bo Bo and safely return him to his owner.

(A photo of the officers, along with Bo-Bo, appears at www.pantagraph.com/blogs/flick.)

Three More Fun Places To Visit, If Only For Their Names

(As offered by the readers:)

Wide Awake, S.C.

Kiester, Minn.

Chugwater, Wyoming.

Top church sign

As it appears out front of a church in Girard:

COME IN FOR A FREE FAITHLIFT 

Got an item for Lite? Send to: by e-mail (bflick@pantagraph.com); to Flick Lite, 301 W. Washington, Bloomington, 61702; or to the Bill Flick page on Facebook.

Our latest board of contributors: Harold Skillrud, Jeff Payne, Dean Baird, Joe Culpepper, Jerry Turley, Ruthie Cobb, Lee Templeton and Jane Pickering, Bloomington; Angela Proctor, Farmer City; Rob Lee, Danvers; Keith Palmer, Chicago; Dave Hawkinson, Girard; Sam Harrod, Eureka; Jerry Crabtree, Hazelhurst, Wis.; Eric Lantemaine, Minneapolis; Marc Lebovitz, Cathy Ferme and Roger Hughes, Normal.
The early morning fog, like poet Carl Sandburg once noted, arrived on cats feet and remains, napping, on the lake until a warming sun causes it to slip away the way it came, in silence.

Fifty years ago I watched the September fog while waiting for the morning school bus on the southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth. Back then, however, it rested on a chocolate-colored pond that never looked inviting to anything more than a thirsty Holstein heifer.

The bus ride home that afternoon, though, revealed that the morning magic, like Sandburgs cat, had disappeared and the pond was, again, just a wide trough for thirsty heifers and mud-loving catfish.

September brought other mysteries to our farm. For example, beyond the pond was a tall picket of closely planted cottonwood trees that, fog or no fog, just beckoned young boys like my brother David and me. Wed answer it whenever we could sneak away, usually with unsheathed corn knives tucked in our belts, like young Daniel Boones in search of a second Kentucky.

The farms grown-ups  my father, his Uncle Honey, and the hired-hand brothers Howard and Jackie  werent as enchanted by the shadowy cottonwoods or the quiet beauty of September mornings.

Dad and Howard had good reason to not moon over any dawn. Every sun-up found them in their windowless world of sleepy cows, clacking milking machines, and mugs of hot coffee. After decades of similar, uneventful mornings like that, Dad and Howard hardly noticed any difference between a June or January sunrise anymore.

September brought very different mornings to Uncle Honey and Jackie. Summers slow starting, dew-soaked days gave way to the falls more pressing, ripening pace and both spent much of September making corn silage: Honey ran the chopper while Jackie brought the silage wagons to the silo blower for unloading.

Oftentimes, while waiting for the bus, I could hear the throaty chopper chewing through silage corn somewhere on the farm as the always-more-throttle Honey pushed the machinery to its limit and the always-more-cautious Jackie shook his head in worried wonder while, at the same time, looking around for cover.

This ritual dance, like Dad and Howards in the dairy barn, went on for years with no change and little notice.

But one autumn, the year I went to college, I was startled to learn that I had indeed noticed. After a few weeks of wide-eyed wandering around campus that fall, I was so homesick by mid-September that early one Saturday morning I began to walk the two miles to the universitys dairy farm. There, I hoped, I would find something more tangible than political science and sociology.

When I arrived in the mornings brightening light, I discovered an entire platoon of Honeys, Jackies, Howards, and Dads milking cows, driving red tractors, and unloading blue silage wagons. Left, right, and center were paddocks of dairy cows and fields of ripening corn.

It was more than a sight for sore eyes; it was a sight seen through the salty fog of boyhood tears. (Two years later I was part of the student dairy crew. The pay was an unimaginable $2.50 per hour, or five times what my father paid. Even more unimaginable, after eight hours of work on Saturday and Sunday, we went home to, I suppose, do homework.)

Now all those people and most of those southern Illinois dairy farms, like Honeys one-row silage chopper and Jackies whiskered, worried smile, have slipped into the caressing warmth of memory. There, like many of my memories, they come and go on ageless Oliver tractors in ageless corn silage fields as ageless mourning doves dash and dart above.
BLOOMINGTON  The city of Bloomington uses a unique hybrid legal team that includes an in-house assistant city attorney and outsourcing its top attorney position and primary legal services to a Springfield-based law firm.

The city has reduced its dependence on outside legal firms with higher hourly rates because an arrangement with Sorling Northrup provides Bloomington with access to the firm's pool of 30-plus attorneys, as needed, at a pre-set discounted rate, said City Manager David Hales.

For the level and variety of expertise, contracting with Sorling Northrup provides the city and the taxpayer with great value versus hiring additional employees in-house and in turn paying for salaries and benefits, said Hales.

The change was made after the city's longtime in-house legal counsel, Todd Greenburg, retired in 2013.

But under the hybrid approach, the city's legal expenses increased about $261,700 last year from 2013.

In 2013, the city paid about $976,000 for legal services for 12 months. That included about $337,700 to attorneys at seven outside law firms at hourly rates between $195 and $365; and about $638,300 in annual salaries and benefits for Greenburg; two in-house assistant attorneys, Rosalee Dodson (who has since left) and George Boyle; and four support staff employees.

Last year, the city paid about $1.23 million for legal services, including $739,000 to Sorling Northrup; about $172,700 to 10 other law firms whose hourly fees ranged from $125 to $325; and about $326,000 in salaries and benefits for Boyle and several support staff.

"As a city, we have had to budget more for our legal services, but that is because we have asked more from our legal department," said Hales. "We have a much more active legal department when compared to 2013, including many more projects and initiatives that we rely on our attorneys to assist with."

That includes adding, in 2015, a city administrative court at City Hall that has jurisdiction over all city ordinance violations, including property, building code and offenses such as public intoxication.

The arrangement with Sorling Northrup also has allowed the city to address a backlog of legal work, including cleaning up some older annexation/development issues, said Hales.

Greenburg left after negotiating a severance agreement that included a bump in his annual salary to $119,500, and $112,000 in additional insurance, pension, unused sick leave payouts and other benefits in his final year of employment.

Sorling Northrup attorney Jeff Jurgens filled in for six months as the city's interim corporate counsel prior to the city contracting with his firm in June 2014. Jurgens was named the city's top attorney, while still being employed by Sorling Northrup, at a discounted rate of $175 an hour. The law firm's standard rate is $270 per hour, according to city documents.

The contract also included the $175 hourly rate for legal services provided by Sorling Northrup attorney Angela Fyans Jiminez, who oversees the city's administrative court.

In addition to Jurgens and Fyans Jiminez, there are other Sorling Northrup attorneys, who, based on their specialty, work on legal issues for the city every month, said Jurgens. Those attorneys' discounted hourly rates range from $175 to $200.

Because we discount a lot of time every month, our hourly rates are even lower than what is contractually required, said Jurgens. It's not uncommon for us to discount a large amount of money  anywhere from $5,000 to almost $20,000."

Sorling Northrup discounted for the city a total of $105,005 in fiscal 2017, $163,685 in fiscal 2016, and $166,972 in fiscal 2015, according to city records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Jurgens said that because of the amount of work the firm does, it was able to discount its hourly rates even further than what the contract required.

"Attorney services are usually at the pleasure of the client so ... if the city determines they want to go in a different direction, this contract does not require them to continue using our services," he said. "At the end of the day you've got to be providing value or they're not going to want your services anymore."

While the city's financial data includes payments for legal services provided by Sorling Northrup, it does not contain the amount the firm pays Jurgens in annual compensation as the city's corporate counsel.

Jurgens said his compensation is based on Sorling Northrup's internal compensation formula "and my individual compensation is not based directly on the amount our firm receives from the city."

However, when comparing the legal fees collected in 2016 for the services I performed to my actual compensation, a fair estimate of my 2016 compensation that resulted indirectly from my provision of legal services to the city is approximately $137,000."

The city has higher total legal fees in years when it has a lot of labor agreements up for renegotiation, noted Jurgens.

"The reality is that working with 11 different unions requires a substantial amount of work in terms of negotiating contracts and handling grievances and arbitration," he said.

The fees the city paid to other outside law firms included legal work related to former Bloomington police officer Brent VanHoveln's arbitration, hearing officers for administrative court and city human relations hearings, railroad safety, a legal dispute over repairs needed for the Pepsi Ice Center parking garage and Americans with Disabilities Act issues at the city-owned arena.
NORMAL  The League of Women Voters of McLean County has honored retired Illinois State University English Professor Robert Sutherland with its Florence Fifer Bohrer Award for community service.

The award carries a $100 honorarium that the recipient can give to the program or charity of his choice. The award is given annually in honor of Fifer Bohrer, the first woman elected to the Illinois Senate and a founder of the local League of Women Voters.

Sutherland's community service dates back decades: One of his first actions was to photograph police officers in 1966 who were attempting to prevent Merlin Kennedy, an African American man, from portraying a black Santa in the Twin Cities annual Christmas parade, according to a nomination statement provided by the League.

In 1967, he helped pass an open housing ordinance in Normal. The next year, he helped organize the Central Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

At ISU, Sutherland advocated for having student members on university boards and committees, and for opening the school's Milner Library to the public.

His other work included noise and air pollution from a factory then located near low income housing, and greater financial relief for the poor.

More recently, he has helped monitor conditions in the McLean County jail and participated in a League study on alternatives to incarceration.

He serves on the McLean County AIDS Task Force and gives monthly talks on HIV prevention to inmates aged 13 to 17 at the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center.
PARIS  The four American tourists who French authorities say were attacked with acid at a train station in the city of Marseille have been identified as students at Boston College in Massachusetts.

The private Jesuit university said in a statement Sunday that the four female students were treated for burns at a Marseille hospital after they were sprayed in the face with acid on Sunday morning. The statement said the four all were juniors studying abroad, three of them at the college's Paris program.

The director of the college's Office of International Programs, Nick Gozik, said the women have been released from the hospital and "it appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances."

The students were identified as Courtney Siverling, Charlotte Kaufman, Michelle Krug and Kelsey Kosten.

A 41-year-old female suspect has been arrested in the attack. Boston College says police described the suspect as "disturbed."

French authorities so far do not think extremist views motivated the 41-year-old woman who was arrested as the alleged assailant, the local prosecutor's office said.

Two of the female tourists suffered facial injuries during the late morning attack at Marseille's Saint Charles train station and one of the two also had a possible eye injury, a spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor's office told The Associated Press.

She said all four of the women, who are in their 20s, were hospitalized, two of them for shock. The suspect was taken into police custody.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that its counter-terrorism division has decided for the time being not to assume jurisdiction for investigating the attack. The prosecutor's office in the capital, which has responsibility for all terror-related cases in France, did not explain the reasoning behind the decision.

The spokeswoman for the Marseille prosecutor's office said the suspect did not make any extremist threats or declarations during the attack. She said there were no obvious indications that the woman's actions were terror-related.

The Marseille fire department was alerted just after 11 a.m. and dispatched four vehicles and 14 firefighters to the train station, a department spokeswoman said.

Two of the Americans were "slightly injured" with acid, but did not require emergency medical treatment from medics at the scene, the spokeswoman said. She requested anonymity in keeping with fire department protocol.

Regional newspaper La Provence, quoting unidentified police officials, reported that the suspect had a history of mental health problems and noted that she remained at the site of the attack without trying to flee.

A spokesman for the United States embassy in Paris said the U.S. consulate in Marseille was in contact with French authorities.

U.S. authorities in France are not immediately commenting on what happened to protect the privacy of the American tourists, embassy spokesman Alex Daniels said.

Marseille is a port city in southern France that is closer to Barcelona than Paris.

In previous incidents in Marseille, a driver deliberately rammed into two bus stops last month, killing a woman, but officials said it wasn't terror-related.

In April, French police said they thwarted an imminent "terror attack" and arrested two suspected radicals in Marseille just days before the first round of France's presidential election. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters the two suspects "were getting ready to carry out an imminent, violent action." In January 2016, a 15-year-old Turkish Kurd was arrested after attacking a Jewish teacher on a Marseille street. He told police he acted in the name of the Islamic State group.
Tragically, Donald Trump has managed to do that which eluded Barack Obama: Fulfill his campaign promises on immigration.

Last week, Trump announced that he would end the always-explicitly-temporary Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He also suggested that Congress act within the next six months to enact permanent legislation.

While it may be satisfying to proclaim, as many immigrant-rights leaders and their allies have, that Trump's move was "evil," "cruel" and "the worst decision Trump has made," doing so ignores the fact that the groundwork was laid by someone else.

For starters, a quick recap of how DACA came to be.

In 2010, President Obama failed to gather the five Democratic holdout votes that would have passed the full DREAM Act, which included a path to citizenship. Then, in late May 2012, Obama issued his executive action on DACA, overruling long-standing objections (on the grounds of constitutionality) by his Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano  who, ironically, is now suing the Trump administration for violating administrative procedures and due-process requirements by abruptly ending the program. When DACA was announced in the middle of Obama's re-election campaign, it was seen as a patronizing half-measure since the president had spent all of his limited political capital on passing the Affordable Care Act.

There was also widespread misunderstanding and misinformation within the Latino community. Many believed that the actual DREAM Act, or another type of amnesty, had become law with the stroke of Obama's pen.

By late October, news agencies were reporting that some Hispanics who might have considered voting for Mitt Romney based on their views about economic issues were turning toward Obama because of his support of the DREAM Act and immigrant rights in general.

Sure enough, Obama coasted into his second term with the help of Hispanic voters. He eventually left office with Latinos primarily remembering him as the "deporter in chief."

The truth is that although DACA's revocation is terribly upsetting for the hundreds of thousands of unlawfully present immigrants and their families, we all knew this day would come.

This doesn't necessarily make the situation any easier, but it does no one any good to push the myth that young people are suffering solely at the hands of Republicans and a president who was specifically elected to rid the country of as many immigrants  legal and not legal  as possible.

If we've learned anything in the last five years, it is that making angels or demons of political opponents isn't productive.

Interestingly, this idea of not vilifying or beatifying is being exemplified by the very people who have most benefited from being portrayed as saintly. DACA beneficiaries and other unlawfully present young immigrants are increasingly speaking out against their model minority status within the larger universe of the illegal immigrant population.

In a column for The Washington Post, Ph.D. student and undocumented immigrant Joel Sati wrote, "Though well intentioned, lauding the Dreamers has the unintended effect of juxtaposing these 'good,' 'deserving' immigrants with the 'bad' ones  those with, say, a drug charge from years back  who deserve nothing but deportation and marginalization. Narratives of childhood innocence and economic contribution constrict the movement at a time when it needs to include all 12 million (undocumented immigrants). And supporting DACA has allowed the liberal elite to feel good about ostensibly doing something pro-immigration when, in fact, it hurts our struggle."

In an op-ed for The New York Times, author Masha Gessen stated: "If immigration is debated only in terms of whether it benefits the economy, politicians begin to divide people into two categories: 'valuable' and 'illegal.' When countries make people illegal, the world comes apart. When we agree to talk about people as cogs, we lose our humanity."

We truly have lost our humanity when we give in to hyperbole and refer to an opposing party as "evil" and "monstrous"  even when leaders like Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, declare (falsely) that DACA recipients are by and large gang members and drug smugglers. But how different are those who idealize only certain members of a population of unauthorized immigrants?

This country will never reconcile its immigration issues, much less decide who gets to stay and who must go, if it can't acknowledge that immigrants are like all other Americans: varied, different and not easily lumped into categories that accurately quantify their worth to our community.
Here are five of Modi's awkward moments since he became the Prime Minister.

PM Narendra Modi during his visit to China | Photo: AP

By India Today Web Desk: It's PM Narendra Modi's birthday. While the country is celebrating wishing the Prime Minister and also celebrating the inauguratiuon of Sardar Patel's statue, let's have a look at some of the funny moments of Modi's tenure as a Prime Minister.

1. When PM Modi did not want to miss a photo op while meeting Mark Zuckerberg.

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2. When Angela Merkel missed the chance to shake hands with PM Modi

3. And when Prime Minister had some insightful insights about supercomputing.

Super computer will do super computing and will be the reason for super commitment: PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/EZqpLLCAeU- PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 7, 2015

4. Oh, and the moment when PM Modi went out to check Chennai floods.

5. How can we forget the Prime Minister's recent exchange with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and his wife?

6. And Modi's uber cool trip to China.

--- ENDS ---
In the flurry of negotiations last month about state education funding, an interesting piece of legislation sailed through the public policy and media ecosystem without much fanfare. And that may have not been coincidental.

The benign-sounding Invest in Kids Act is a five-year pilot program that provides $75 million in tax credits to those who donate to private high school and elementary school scholarship funds.

It works by giving people and companies a credit worth 75 percent of a donation, capped at $1 million. State-approved nonprofit organizations gather donations and provide the credits, then give private schools money for scholarships geared toward lower-income families.

On the surface, that might not seem like a big deal, but to teacher unions and critics of GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, who signed the legislation, the program essentially puts the state indirectly in the business of supporting private and parochial institutions instead of public schools.

For them, thats a red flag because Rauner is a longtime advocate of school choice  allowing public education funds to follow a student to a public, private or charter school regardless of location.

The idea of blowing up the district model, based on where someone lives, has been fiercely opposed by teachers' unions, so it makes sense they came out swinging when the scholarship plan got traction.

Unfortunately, Illinois legislators have voted to 'reform' the worst school funding system in the country with a ticking time bomb of a voucher scheme, and the Illinois Democratic Party has crossed a line which no spin or talk of 'compromise' can ever erase, the Chicago Teachers Union said in a statement.

Such rhetoric may be extreme, but it does raise the kind of fundamental questions we should be asking about school funding in Illinois.

In our view, it gives us pause that the state would get further into the business of providing taxpayer money, even indirectly, to private schools. We also worry that beefing up scholarship programs will mean public school districts will lose high-performing students to private institutions. Such a shift is fine when free market forces are play, but the state shouldnt play a part.

But our biggest issue is that this scholarship topic wasnt part of a bigger discussion about school choice, one that clearly has merit. Instead it was in a 550-page bill, and lawmakers from both parties have said it was there as a compromise to get the education funding formula change passed.

Thats fine  we support the efforts to apply a more equitable funding formula to Illinois school funding. It is long overdue.

However, we think a discussion about school choice should be considered, given it is done in a robust and transparent way with all voices heard. In our view, there should be a conversation about whether it is time to explore those options.

Thats where the scholarship discussion should have happened, not behind closed doors as a compromise.
Fans of Detroit hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse are perhaps the OG standom of all standom. Known as the Juggalos, they form their own, tight-knit subculture with customs (black-and-white clown makeup, drinking Faygo) that seem strange to outsiders but make perfect sense within the context of the crew.

In its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, the FBI labeled the group as a "loosely-organized hybrid gang," and today the Juggalos are marching on our nation's capital to protest this classification.

The protestors claim that the marker is an unfair label, and has resulted in discrimination against and harassment of Juggalos who are just trying to live in peace.

"This is the day that we are asking every single Juggalo to join us in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., to make a collective statement from the Juggalo Family to the world about what we are and what we are not," the march's website said. "Recently Psychopathic Records' court case in our lawsuit against the FBI and Department of Justice for listing Juggalos as a "loosely organized hybrid gang" in their 2011 Gang Task Force report was once again dismissed, meaning we are back to square one from a legal standpoint. We have tried to use the American judicial system to achieve justice and we failed [] We are taking our fight to the streets. Literally."

In 2014, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the FBI on behalf of ICP fans, claiming the gang classification violated their First Amendment rights, according to Bustle. According to the National Gang Threat Assessment, Juggalos are classified in four states as a gang because of two incidents involving "suspected Juggalos" that showed violent or gang-like behavior. (In 2010, two "suspected Juggalos" were charged with assault and robbery, and in 2011 a "suspected Juggalo" shot and wounded a couple).

"[Like] other musical fan bases, the vast majority of Juggalos have nothing to do with criminal activity, let alone organized crime," a recent legal brief read, according to Complex.



Though the Juggalos' goal is not to protest Trump explicitly, the fight for a group to not be generalized based on the actions of a few errant members is particularly relevant in today's political climate. There is also a pro-Trump "Mother of All Rallies" happening today in the same location in D.C., which the organizers of the Juggalo march expressed concerns about.

"We're concerned for the safety of the Juggalos. The last thing we want is any kind of clashes or violence. We're just here for a peaceful march," ICP attorney Farris Haddad told CBS News. "After Charlottesville, we were like, 'Holy shit, this could be a problem.'"



However, as of 3pm EST today, no arrests had been made related to the marches.

Insane Clown Posse is here. The Juggalos are defeaning. pic.twitter.com/9tCg99kE7L

 Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2017

Alright, the Juggalos have already won the Battle of the DC Rallies #JuggaloMarch pic.twitter.com/9KGk1JeVbS

 Roy Edroso (@edroso) September 16, 2017

Most of the signs at the #JuggaloMarch stick to their rallying call: FBI de-list them as a criminal gang pic.twitter.com/2YTMvM94Ol

 Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) September 16, 2017

Designation as a gang by the FBI means Juggalo's can be descriminated against in housing, employment etc. #JuggaloMarch protests it in DC pic.twitter.com/32rlusAJg9

 Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) September 16, 2017





[h/t Complex]

Image via Twitter
Approximately 3,000 Catholic leaders from the vast majority of dioceses in the United States gathered in Orlando for the past few days to explore ways in which the Holy Spirit is calling the faithful in the USA to be missionary disciples. The theme of the gathering, The Joy of the Gospel in America, was inspired by the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis The Joy of the Gospel.

Among the speakers were some of the most prominent figures in the contemporary Catholic world, including both clergy and lay people. Overall the convention was encouraging. I enjoyed running into many people I knew and made new friends.

I will need several days to unpack and process the many talks I attended during the convention, but I wish to share some key quotes I wrote down from a variety of speakers. Some of these quotes below are encouraging, others point to the challenges ahead when it comes to proclaiming the Gospel in todays society. Beside the three plenary sessions, I attended these three breakout sessions: The Rise of the Nones and Understanding Inactive and Disconnected Catholics, Reaching the Margins in Rural America, and Vocations, Formation, and Seminaries in the Work of Missionary Discipleship.

We must present the Gospel in a position of confidence and joy  Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Miami

In 1991, 3% of the US population declared no religious affiliation, today that number is up to 25%   Dr. Hoffman Ospino, Boston College

The Gospel is not an ideology to advance  it is a message of life and community  Dr. Hoffman Ospino

Of 75 million Catholics, 25 million never attend Church yet still identify as Catholic  Fr Thomas Gaunt, SJ, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University

Every 30 seconds, another latino in the USA turns 18  Fr Agustino Torres, CFR

Latinos want to be included in the Church, but often do not know how  Fr Agustino Torres, CFR

Fifty percent of millenials baptized Catholic no longer identify as Catholics. For every person welcomed into the Catholic Church, 6.45 leave it  Brandon Vogt, Word on Fire

The NONES (those religiously unaffiliated) are a group but need to be addressed as individuals Amy McEntee, Cincinnati

We are not asking enough of our young people  Curtis Martin, Fellowship of Catholic University Students

Encounter cannot be theoretical, but intimate and personal  Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT

There is someone out there waiting for what you have to give  Sherry Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples

Being with the poor will give credibility to the Church  Sister Constance Veit, Little Sisters of the Poor

The five characteristics of an evangelizing disciple are: boldness, connectedness to the Church, a sense of urgency, compassion, and joy Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Washington DC

Our joy is rooted in that God has looked upon us and looked at us with mercy Cardinal Wuerl

Mercy is the medicine that cures the sadness in the heart of the one who practices it, and the one who receives it Cardinal Sean OMalley, Boston

The works of mercy are not an extra, but an essential part of Christs mission Cardinal OMalley

We must stop fighting over the first place at the table and start fighting over the towel Cardinal OMalley

Where there is suffering, Jesus is there; and where Jesus is, I must be also. Jesus is already in the margins, will his disciples also be there? If Christ is already there, can it truly be a periphery? It is our own shortsightedness that keeps us away Supreme Knight Sir Carl Anderson, Knights of Columbus

The existential peripheries are new mission territory and places where we often as a Church do not like to go Archbishop Jose Gomez, Los Angeles

Sixty million people in the US live in rural areas and 12% of them are Catholic. Of 244 Catholic universities in the US, none has a school of agriculture  Jim Ennis, Catholic Rural Life

Young adults perceive the Church as distant and exclusive (judgemental). The presence of the NONES is the most pressing issue in the Church today

We need to pay attention to why people leave  research shows most leave because their spiritual needs are not met in the Church  due to issues of lack of access and alienation  Jonathan Lewis, Washington DC

Sixty percent of US Catholics under age 18 are Hispanic and the fastest growing group are Asians  Dr. Hoffman Ospino

Immigrants are neither the enemy nor a threat. Immigrants are the face of Christ and we are called to embrace them with Christian hospitality  Dr. Hoffman Ospino

To evangelize is to say your life is not about you, but about Jesus Christ. It is a theodrama not an egodrama  Bishop Robert Barron, Los Angeles

We are a smart religion; dumbed-down Catholicism is superficial and unintelligent so people fall away  Bishop Barron

We need to recover the radical form of Christian life  Bishop Barron

In evangelizing, it is often best to show people the beauty of Catholicism first and not how to act or what to believe. There is nothing more beautiful than the dying and rising of Jesus Christ  Bishop Barron
Abort the Iran Nuclear Deal and Increase the North Korean Nuclear Threat to the US

09/17/17

By Robert E. Hunter (Source: LobeLog)





US failure to implement fully the nuclear deal with Iran, perhaps even abrogating it while also continuing to isolate the country internationally, guarantees further erosion of Washington's already slim diplomatic opportunity to forestall North Korea's pursuit of a capacity to attack the United States with nuclear weapons. Even though Iran and North Korea are 4,000 miles apart and seem in Washington to be in different policy universes, they are in fact closely linked.

This is a high price for the US to pay to respond to the desire of some US Middle East allies and their supporters in this country to punish Iran, especially for behavior that does not directly affect US security.

The stakes are immense. For the first time since 1991, the United States faces a potential threat from a country with nuclear weapons that is openly hostile to the United States. North Korea has not only developed and tested nuclear weapons and claimed that it has some form of "hydrogen" weapon, but it has been developing and testing increasingly sophisticated and longer-range missiles that might be able to carry a nuclear warhead that could survive the rigors of reentry. How much of Pyongyang's claims for its weapons capabilities are fact and how much are fiction is beside the point: the United States must henceforth treat the DPRK as a country that in the relatively near future will be able to bring some portion of the US mainland under nuclear attack- unless it can somehow be convinced to change course.

Despite all the discussion about alternatives open to the United States, only two are realistic: convincing North Korea to abandon its bomb and delivery system capabilities and/or deterring an attack on the United States (and allied countries). A third option, intercepting North Korean missiles with anti-ballistic missiles, is problematic. A further alternative, a preemptive attack on North Korean nuclear and missile facilities, is possible, but would impose a prohibitive price: the almost certain destruction of a large part of South Korea, notably Seoul, by North Korean conventional weapons.

Unless there is decisive change in North Korean behavior, the United States needs to bring out of storage concepts and capabilities from the Cold War, for two purposes. The first is mutual deterrence, where the US and North Korea each tries to forestall the other from attacking, lest both suffer major destruction. The second was developed for Western Europe during the Cold War and entailed extending the US deterrent umbrella to cover its NATO allies.. It was difficult enough then to convince them that the United States had tied its very existence to deterring a Soviet military attack on Western Europe. It would be harder to convince Asian allies of a similar linking of the US destiny to theirs in the face of a potential North Korean attack on them but not on us. US strategic thinking about these twin deterrence problems has hardly begun, much less the embedding of the issues involved in US security and political culture.

The United States has repeatedly gone to the United Nations Security Council to ratchet up sanctions on North Korea. It has succeeded, as recently as this past week, with a unanimous decision that also included China and Russia-but after, at their insistence, watering down some of the strictures. But sanctions, certainly on their own, have little if any hope of working. Unfortunately, for many years too many people in the United States have convinced themselves that economic sanctions are a potent weapon. That is rarely the case, and there is no evidence that sanctions work against a country, like North Korea, that believes its security to be at risk, including its key interest in "regime survival.".

In recent months, the United States has asserted that it has no interest in changing the regime in Pyongyang or in pushing for reunification of the two Koreas except in circumstances to which the two countries agree. But the US has no credibility on this point. Indeed, regime change has been a US policy regarding the DPRK since the Korean War six decades ago (as it also is toward Iran). Further, from the North Korean perspective, US military activities around North Korea show hostile intent, or at least Pyongyang can exploit them for internal purposes. Washington believes that it needs such activities to reassure Japan, South Korea, and other East Asian allies (plus Taiwan), and also to make China and maybe Russia uneasy about what the United States might do militarily.

Yet assurances that the United States has abandoned any ambitions of North Korean regime change are further undermined by what the US has done in the Middle East in recent years. North Koreas' Kim Jong Un can't be oblivious to what happened to Libya's Qaddafi after he gave up his country's nuclear program or what happened to Saddam Hussein.

Even more important and more immediately relevant, Chairman Kim Jong Un must be aware of US behavior toward Iran since it accepted draconian limits on its nuclear program. Not just has the United States been slow to meet its obligations in lifting nuclear-deal-related sanctions but President Trump has said more than once that he might not next month recertify that Iran is in compliance with the agreement, despite testimony by the International Atomic Energy Agency to the contrary. Even though he seemed this week to back away from this threat, he did say that the Iranians "have violated so many different elements, but they've also violated the spirit of that [nuclear] deal. And you will see what we'll be doing in October. It will be very evident.".Further, Congress is imposing more sanctions, and senior US officials are stigmatizing Iran as being, the Islamic State aside, the worst "bad actor" in the Middle East.

For Kim Jung Un, there can be only one conclusion: he must get nuclear weapons and the ability to strike the United States.

Maybe a different approach to Iran would not convince Kim Jung Un that U.S. assurances on regime change can be trusted. However, without such a different approach, the chances are zero. The choices the United States has made regarding Iran have limited, even more than they would already be, Washington's options regarding North Korea. Further, given that the North Korean nuclear gun threatens the United States but the US is not directly threatened by Iran, a split has opened up between US strategic interests and those of some Middle East allies, notably Israel and Saudi Arabia. Over time, the implications could be profound.

The entire issue of diplomacy thus comes down to China (with a bit part for Russia). But it's not clear that Beijing has the needed leverage, and their willingness to make bringing North Korea to heel is in doubt. American Sinologists do tell us that Beijing would not want to see the North Korean regime collapse, lest many thousands of refugees would pour across the Yalu. Nor can China be indifferent to the possibility of a unified Korea, especially one with nuclear weapons that cleaves to the US as a counterweight to Chinese influence.

But China is unlikely to act against North Korea if the United States links the North Korean issue to other aspects of Sino-American relations. Economic interdependence between Washington and Beijing already limits each country's flexibility, and thus this instrument is not available to Washington. Nevertheless, China might anyway decide to do what it can regarding North Korea for two reasons. First, Beijing is generally cautious about events in its neighborhood that do not directly impinge on what it sees to be its national patrimony (notably Taiwan, Tibet, and the South China Sea). Second, China fears that either Japan or South Korea or both would opt for nuclear weapons. This may have become more likely given comments by candidate Donald Trump last year about the possibility of South Korea and Japan getting nuclear weapons, which raised doubts there about US security commitments.

This is not a pretty picture for the United States, but it is a realistic one. In the world in which the US now must live, in an increasing number of situations America's military superiority cannot guarantee outcomes that favor US. national security. For the first time, nuclear proliferation, beyond Russia and China, now has a direct impact on US security in the homeland. Iran and North Korea do not exist in separate boxes. Even if China were prepared to bring maximum pressure to bear on Kim Jong Un, by damaging or destroying the Iran nuclear deal the United States would only reinforce North Korea's current commitment to being able to strike the US with nuclear weapons.



About the Author



Robert E. Hunter served as US ambassador to NATO (1993-98) and on the National Security Council staff throughout the Carter administration, first as Director of West European Affairs and then as Director of Middle East Affairs. In the last-named role, he was the White House representative at the Autonomy Talks for the West Bank and Gaza and developer of the Carter Doctrine for the Persian Gulf. He was Senior Advisor to the RAND Corporation from 1998 to 2011, and Director of the Center for Transatlantic Security Studies at the National Defense University, 2011-2012. He served on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry Arrests Woman For Asking About Brother and Infant Niece's Disappearance

09/17/17

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Raheleh Rahemipour has been arrested by the Intelligence Ministry in Iran for refusing to give up her search for answers about her missing brother and infant niece, whom Rahemipour says disappeared after the baby was born in Evin Prison in 1984. Rahemipour was detained at her home in Tehran on September 10, 2017, and transferred to Evin Prison, a source close to the family told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).



Raheleh Rahemipour

"At sundown, two agents, a man and a woman, introduced themselves as agents of the Intelligence Ministry and entered the house with a judicial warrant and carried out a search," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They confiscated a stack of documents, two mobile phones and her laptop and took her away without answering why."

Rahemipour has long been advocating for justice for her niece and the thousands of political prisoners who were executed in the decade after the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.

In February 2017, she was sentenced to a year in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Abolqasem Salavati for attending protest gatherings and meeting the families of political prisoners. She was formally charged with "propaganda against the state."

Rahemipour was arrested while she was awaiting the outcome of her appeal.

"Raheleh made a short phone call from prison on Monday [September 11, 2017] to say she had been interrogated the previous day and would be again today," the source told CHRI. "She said she doesn't know what's going on."

Rahemipour's brother, Hossein, was executed in 1984 for his alleged membership in the Rah-e Karegar (Workers' Path) party, a militant Maoist organization. The authorities never returned his body or that of his infant daughter, Golrou.

"Based on reports we have received, a day or two after Golrou was born, Evin Prison authorities separated her from her mother and a week later they claimed she had died. Her mother has been in severe depression ever since and the Rahemipour family have not gotten any answers about where their loved ones were buried," Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer and the executive director of Justice for Iran, told CHRI.

In November 2016, a group of United Nations human rights experts called on Iran to drop the charges against Rahemipour and stop harassing her.

"Rather than investigating the alleged disappearance of Ms. Rahemipour's relatives, the government of Iran has decided to launch a campaign of harassment and intimidation against her," said the statement.

"We are concerned that the judicial process against Ms. Rahemipour may be a direct reprisal for her human rights activism in the search for her relatives, as well as the exercise of her rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression," added the experts.

In September 2016, Rahemipour told CHRI that the Iranian authorities had tried to pressure her to give up her search for justice.

"The authorities wanted me to promise that I wouldn't continue these activities, but I refused," she said. "I just want to know what happened to my niece and where she was buried. I won't stop until I get the answer."
No agreement on the Caspian Sea

09/17/17

By Bahman Aghai Diba, PhD International Law of the Sea



Caspian Sea Countries:

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan

Recently some of the high-ranking officials in the Caspian Sea littoral states (Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) have indicated that the draft convention on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea is finalized and it may be ready for approval by the concerned states during their next summit conference. The reality is that the draft prepared after 50 meetings of the littoral states in the level of deputy foreign ministers contains nothing about the most important in the Caspian Sea: the criteria for division of the seabed and waters of the Caspian Sea. Failure of the Caspian states to reach agreement on this issue will most probably open the way for referring the case to international judicial or arbitration forums.

The Caspian Sea states have not found a commonly agreed formula for the legal regime of the Caspian Sea. However, there is a dominant view for adopting the system of modified median line (MML) for division of the Caspian seabed (using the length of shorelines) and living the superjacent waters for common use except for a short national territory. Russia and Kazakhstan had agreed in 1998, and Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in 2001 and Russia and Azerbaijan in 2003 to use this method. Iran and Turkmenistan were opposed to it, however in 2014 Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan agreed on the same formula. Iran, according to this formula, will get the smallest portion of the Caspian Sea, meaning around 13 percent of the Caspian Sea. For the same reason Iran has been insisting on division of the Caspian on the basis of equity (as a principle of the international law) and it believes, this means giving 20 percent to each. Also, Iran wants to divide the entire Caspian (seabed and waters). At the moment, there are no signs of any change in these positions. At the same time, no other Caspian state has even taken the positions of Iran serious.

Referring the case to international forums needs agreement of the related states. However, some of the littoral states have indicated that they may ask the United Nations Security Council to look into the issue as matter that threatens peace in the region and therefore send the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Despite the fact that Iran and Russia were the only states in the Caspian shores for a very long period of time (having a kind of historical rights), if this happens (the case is referred to international judicial or arbitration forums through agreement or intervention of the UN) Iran will be is a bad situation for the following reasons:
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.
The founder of Light House Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, has urged the government to waive import duty on items meant for humanitarian services.



He expressed his disappointment over having to pay import duty on wheelchairs and other items meant for distribution to the needy and persons with disability (PWDs).



We paid duties on such items which I think is not fair. We should not pay for such things which are a gift to people in need. I am expecting the government to intervene and help us, the founder stated.



Event



Bishop Heward-Mills was speaking at a charity event dubbed; A day of help for persons with disabilities at the Black Star Square in Accra.

Hundreds of PWDs from across the country who attended the event received free health screening, medication and assorted items, including clothes, from about 2,000 volunteers, including medical personnel.



The programme was an initiative of the Charismatic Evangelistic Church Ministries, Church to the Rural World and the Centre for Persons With Disability with support from some corporate organisations.



Bishop Heward-Mills urged the less privileged and PWDs not to be let down by the difficult situations they found themselves in.



Access to public services and places



The President of the Centre for Employment of Persons with Disability, Mr Alex Tetteh, reiterated the need for the government to do more in ensuring that PWDs were well catered for.



According to him, the time frame for the full implementation of the Persons With Disability Act elapsed about a year ago without much change to the current conditions of PWDs in society who are unable to access public services and places in the country.



He observed that churches accused of amassing wealth to the detriment of the poor in society were the ones that came to the aid of the PWDs when it mattered most.

Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Following the demise of the commander, PM Modi had condoled his death and had said that he was an exemplary leader.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been attending a slew of events across Gujarat coinciding with his 67th birthday, visited the residence of Marshal of Indian Air Force Arjan Singh today evening.

Marshal died at the Army R and R Hospital in New Delhi on Saturday night.

Following the demise of the commander, PM Modi had condoled his death and had said that he was an exemplary leader.

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Singh, who died of cardiac arrest will be accorded with state funeral on Monday .

Singh's last rites will be performed at Delhi Cantonment at 10 am on Monday.

Singh, the hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died at the age of 98.

He was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF when he was only 44 years old, a task he carried out with elan. He was the chief of the IAF when it found itself at the forefront of the 1965 conflict.

Singh, who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft, had played a major role in transforming the IAF into one of the most potent air forces globally and the fourth biggest in the world.

Known as a man of few words, he was not only a fearless fighter pilot but had profound knowledge about air power which he applied in a wide spectrum of air operations.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1965.

ALSO WATCH: PM Modi visits Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh's residence, pays tributes

--- ENDS ---
A parent seeking a admission for his ward at the Accra Girls Senior High School has been denied because she had dreadlocks.



According to the father, his daughter is a Rastafarian and it is against their religion to cut off the locks.



The distraught father, name withheld, said efforts to explain issues to school authorities proved futile. He is convinced their decision to deny his daughter admission is borne out of ignorance.



I tried to see the headmistress. She was locked in her office. We want to see her to clarify things. We are Rastafarians as such our kids need to be educated...I dont see why she wont be able to keep her locks  the worried father told Adom FM.



He believes Rastafarians in Ghana are being disregarded and disrespected and as such called on the government to intervene.



Meanwhile, the National Secretary of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Samuel Gyebi Yeboah has urged head teachers at various Senior high Schools to offer Rastafarian students admission.



He also advised parents whose wards are being denied admission to forward their concerns to the Ghana Education Service for immediate action to be taken.

Source: Adom News









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.

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The Minister of Information Mustapha Hamid has disclosed that automobile company Mercedes has recommended that Ghana will be better of converting the substandard ambulances it imported under the NDC into 30-seater mini buses.



By the letter the Germans wrote us.it doesnt look like we can get them to become real functioning ambulances, he added.



He was speaking on Joy News file Saturday September 16, 2017.



The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu Friday revealed the Ministry of Health discovered that state funds were used to illegally pay for the 30 ambulances that were rejected by the National Ambulance Service (NAS).



The 30 ambulances, which formed part of 200 ambulances that were to be procured by the Ministry of Health to boost the healthcare delivery under a contract, cost 2.4 million Euros and were rejected because they did not meet specifications. A unit cost 79,000 euros.



Mr. Agyemang Manu therefore served notice that he was referring the matter to the national security and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for further investigations in order to retrieve the said amount and establish who made the payments and to whom it was made.



Meanwhile, the immediate past Minister of Health Alex Segbefia, said the ambulances were not secured under his tenure. According to him, no contract relating to the procurement of ambulances was signed when he was Minister at the time.





Source: starrfmonline.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.

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Heads of private schools have impressed upon the government to absorb them into the free SHS programme since the policy has directly affected their student in-take this year.



Government rolled out the implementation of the free SHS policy this September to ensure that new entrants into the Senior High Schools enjoy free education.



The policy is to reduce the burdens of parents and guardians as well as provide quality and affordable education to the beneficiaries, and further enhance Ghana's education system.



Following the implementation of the policy, private SHSs have recorded a lesser number of student admissions, hence registering their agitations over the programme and calling on the government to factor them into the programme.



Addressing the issue on Joy FM's "New File" on Saturday, seasoned journalist Kweku Baako said it's too late for the government to bring the private schools onboard the free SHS programme.



According to him, though the private schools have genuine concerns; there's absolutely nothing the government could do about their grievances.



He explained that government's intervention on their behalf will affect the "coherence and consistency" of the programme.



The agitation now is a bit belated. Its come too late. If government decides to a roundabout and do any revision and things, it will create more confusion. It will affect the coherence and consistency of the implementation. Perhaps we may have to look into the future, what can be done for them but right now; I sympathize with them but I am unable to support their call, he stated.

















Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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By PTI: Chandigarh, Sep 17 (PTI) Punjab Governor and Chandigarh administrator V P Singh Badnore today condoled the passing away of war hero Marshal Arjan Singh, saying the nation has lost a "highly decorated" soldier.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar also expressed grief over Singhs demise.

The hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank died in Delhi yesterday. He was 98.

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The Punjab governor said the officers outstanding leadership in the 1965 war would always be remembered.

"In the death of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the nation has lost a highly decorated soldier, who was always ready to defend the borders," he said in his condolence message. The Punjab chief minister also declared a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the officer. There would be no official celebrations and the national flag would fly at half-mast atop all government buildings in Punjab during these three days, an official spokesperson said.

Expressing deep sorrow, Khattar said the country has lost a war hero who will always be remembered for his outstanding services to the nation.

As a mark of respect, the Haryana government has also decided that the national flag will fly half-mast tomorrow atop all buildings, where it the tricolour is hoisted regularly.

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal also condoled the passing away of the Marshal.

Badal has asked Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Kirpal Singh Badungar to place a picture of Singh in the Sikh museum in Amritsar.

A state funeral will be accorded to Singh and his last rites would be performed at Delhi tomorrow. PTI SUN ANB

--- ENDS ---
A protester steps on a flag Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 in University City, Mo., in response to a not guilty verdict in the trial of former St. Louis Police officer Jason Stockley. On Friday, Stockley, a white man, was acquitted in the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man, following a high-speed chase. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The Gujarat Congress has divided entire Gujarat Assembly Poll into four segments.

By Supriya Bhardwaj: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will start Gujarat Congress' poll campaign from the holy city of Dwaraka after returning from the United States.

According to Gujarat Congress' senior leader Shakti Sinh Gohil, Gandhi scion will campaign in Saurashtra from September 25 to September 27.

"To defeat Kaurvas, Pandvas went to Lord Krishna for his blessing and guidance. That's why we are also starting our party's poll campaign after seeking Lord Krishna's blessings," Gohil told India Today.

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The Gujarat Congress has divided entire Gujarat Assembly Poll into four segments. In each segment, Congress Vice President will campaign for at least 3 days.

In his Saurashtra tour, Gandhi will start the campaign from Dwarka, will visit Jamnagar, Rajkot and Chotila. He is most likely to attend Dandiya function too.

"We have requested Rahul Gandhi ji to devote enough time in all four zones. He will hold Road shows, public meetings, nukad sabhas with farmers, traders, women and students," added Gohil.

According to strategy, Congress has divided Gujarat into four zones namely first zone Saurashtra and Kutch; second zone North Gujarat and third zone comprises of parts of Central Gujarat; South Gujarat and fourth zone Central Gujarat.

Congress' campaign slogan will be 'Navsarjan Gujarat.'

Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary of Gujarat Ashok Gehlot said that the tour route will be finalised in a high level meeting which will take place on September 18 in Ahmedabad.

--- ENDS ---
This image taken from video shows passengers inside Marseille-Saint-Charles railway station in Marseille, France on Sunday Sept. 17, 2017. Four young US tourists were attacked with acid Sunday at a train station in the French city of Marseille. (AP Photo)
A house rests on the beach after collapsing off a cliff from Hurricane Irma in Vilano Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. FloridaAos economy has long thrived on one major import: people. Irma raised concerns about just how sustainable the allure of FloridaAos year-round warmth and lifestyle are. The wind, rain and flooding inflicted an estimated $50 billion in damage. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
St. Mary's Ava Schultz wins GHT Player of the Week for Week 12

St. Mary's Ava Schultz is the final player of the week of the fall season after her effort in the regional semis for the Snowbirds' volleyball team.
This piece, titled, The New Plague, depicts life in Philadelphia in the age of COVID. Artist and educator Raphael Tiberino began painting at the age of four and has been in the spotlight as a professional creative for over 25 years.
The three locations that Philadelphia officials plan to feature in their headquarters-site proposal to Amazon.com. Read more

A week after Amazon sent cities across North America scrambling to compete for the e-commerce giants second headquarters, Philadelphia government leaders are beginning to settle on three locations to pitch most forcefully as the nucleus of a vast regional presence for the Seattle company: The Schuylkill Yards and uCity Square sites in West Philadelphia and South Philadelphias Navy Yard.

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. and Commerce Department officials devising the bid believe the three large tracts in central locations with single owners will be a draw as Amazon.com Inc. seeks a site that can smoothly accommodate an expanding corporate campus in a talent-rich locale, according to a person familiar with the city's approach to the bid but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The city also will present additional sites that could support satellite offices  such as those maintained throughout the area by Comcast Corp.  as well as uses complementary to Amazon's regional presence, including vendor-company offices and housing for an expected influx of employees.

These include areas along the Delaware River waterfront, in the Callowhill neighborhood north of Center City, and along North Broad Street, as well as ones outside Philadelphia's city limits in such places as King of Prussia, Camden, and Delaware.

Commerce Department spokeswoman Lauren Cox acknowledged in an e-mail that the large West and South Philadelphia sites are among those that "rise to the top" of the city's pitch to Amazon, but she stopped short of confirming them as the headliners. A PIDC spokeswoman referred questions to the Commerce Department.

"We believe the first step of this process is about Philadelphia advancing as a city that fits Amazon's needs, not about a specific site," Cox said.

Officials with the Schuylkill Yards developer Brandywine Realty Trust in Philadelphia; Baltimore-based Wexford Science & Technology LLC, which is developing the uCity Square project; and Malvern-based Liberty Property Trust, the Navy Yard's main developer, separately declined to discuss the Philadelphia's site-selection process but stressed support for the city's bid.

Matt Cabrey, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's business-retention affiliate, Select Greater Philadelphia, said Amazon's presence would be felt widely if it chose the region for its second headquarters, regardless of any particular locations.

"We are collectively acting and thinking as one large community," he said. "If this project ends up anywhere in Greater Philadelphia, we all benefit."

By highlighting Schuylkill Yards, uCity Square, and the Navy Yard, Philadelphia can demonstrate an edge over most other cities, which don't have similarly large, readily developable tracts, said Jay Biggins, executive managing director of the site-selection consultancy BLS & Co. in Princeton.

"It's hard to come up with sites of the scale required to handle this size development that are already under common ownership and are in densely populated major metros," said Biggins, whose firm has helped companies including Prudential Financial Inc. and Subaru of America Inc. select sites for new headquarters and other facilities.

But Philadelphia is also wise to make sure Amazon knows about other parts of the region that can support development accompanying the growth of a new headquarters campus, if not the campus itself, said Alan Greenberger, the city's former deputy mayor for economic development.

"There's a need for a broader range of office accommodation that comes with the growth of any large company like that," said Greenberger, now a fellow with the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University. "Not every business that may want to be here can afford the kinds of rents that Amazon can afford."

The biggest of the three large sites is the Navy Yard, a decommissioned military base that sprawls over some 1,200 city-owned acres along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. It already is home to Urban Outfitters Inc.'s own expanding corporate campus, among other businesses.

With the next-largest footprint is the uCity Square proposal for 6.5 million square feet of retail, residential, office, and lab space on 27 acres of existing buildings and vacant land owned by Wexford and the nonprofit University City Science Center along and north of Market Street between 34th and 39th Streets. Companies such as Eli Lilly and NRG Energy have subsidiaries in existing campus buildings, with the Cambridge Innovation Center tech incubator and others coming to the 3675 Market office tower being built at the site.

The most compact of the three is the Schuylkill Yards plan for 8 million square feet of offices and tech workshops, stores, and residential towers on 14 acres owned by Brandywine and Drexel near 30th Street. Brandywine is preparing to start the plan's first component, which includes renovating the former Bulletin office building at 3025 Market St.

Among those sites, all but the Navy Yard would likely have to grow to accommodate the company's eventual needs, which could exceed 8 million square feet  equal to about 6 Comcast Center towers  at full build out, according to the company's Sept. 7 request for proposals. The Navy Yard also could easily spare the 100 acres  greater than 20 full city blocks  that Amazon said it would need if its second campus were to be built on an undeveloped "greenfield."

"The Navy Yard is expansive," said former city commerce director James Cuorato, now president of the Independence Visitors Center. "You are dealing with more of a blank slate."

The West Philadelphia sites, on the other hand, are closer to the city amenities that Amazon plainly wants nearby  neighborhoods with varying housing stock, transit links, university campuses, cultural attractions  but also are crammed among them, said Bill Luff, founder of the commercial real estate consultancy CRE Visions. That places some limits on what can be built there but also offers greater convenience and connectivity, he said.

For example, Luff said, the city's airport is physically closer to the Navy Yard but accessible via train from 30th Street Station, as are points throughout the region and along the East Coast served by SEPTA and Amtrak.

As for being able to accommodate 8 million or more square feet, Luff said he could envision the planners of Schuylkill Yards and uCity Square adjusting their proposals to include more offices and less space for other uses, while potentially joining forces to share the Amazon campus.

Greenberger, the economic development director, said Amazon's need for space could even help advance Amtrak's plan to cap part of the railyard beside 30th Street Station to accommodate more growth.

"Sitting next to Schuylkill Yards are the tracks," he said. "If you have a bona fide tenant like Amazon around, you probably have the economic clout to start covering those tracks and adding capacity like that."

UPDATE: Philly one of 20 finalists for Amazon HQ2
Noorul was then just seven, but remembers in detail how militants attacked their home in Rakhine.

A Muslim man holds poster during a protest against the treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority by the Myanmar government (Photograph: Reuters)

By PTI: It was late one night in the summer of 2012 that Noorul Islam's life changed for ever, sealing his family's fate as refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Noorul was then just seven, but remembers in detail how militants attacked their home in Rakhine. He also remembers their escape from death and the early days of struggle in Bangladesh from where they were turned out and made their way to India.

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"Our situation was really bad because my father didn't have enough money to support us. We went hungry for days until we arrived in India and my father started selling fish to earn a living,? he said, tears welling up at the memory.

Noorul's family is one of the 70 staying in a camp in Shaheen Bagh, tucked away in a corner of south Delhi.

They are the nowhere people, the Rohingya Muslims, considered by the UN to be among the most persecuted minority in the world.

There are about 1,200 Rohingyas in the national capital, some in Shaheen Bagh and the others in a camp in Madanpur Khadar.

With hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, mostly Muslims, being forced to flee from Rakhine this month and take refuge in Bangladesh, their plight has hit global headlines.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said the Rohingya Muslims are facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

But those in India face their own share of anxieties with the government threatening to deport them.

All of 12, Noorul talks with the wisdom of someone much older when he says he would never want to go back to his homeland.

For him, home is a small makeshift tent next to huge piles of garbage and school is the nearby government one in Jasola.

"I am happy here and I love going to school. I would never like to go back to my homeland because the military kills children there. I want to request the government not to send us back to Myanmar," he said.

The others in the camp are equally fearful at the thought of returning to the country that was once their home.

"I dont want to live as a refugee my whole life. But even if I think of going back to my village in Myanmar, those nightmarish memories of military attacks haunt me,' said Sabikun Nahar.

"They burnt our house and forced us to follow Buddhism. We were even banned from going to the local mosque and we were so scared that we wouldn't sleep at night,' she said.

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The 21-year-old had left her village in 2012 and moved to Bangladesh with her relatives. She lived with her parents in the camp for a year but extreme poverty and no employment avenues drove her to India.

In 2013, Nahar found herself in the Shaheen Bagh camp. She is now married to Mohammed Zubair, 30, a fellow refugee in the camp who works with an NGO in the city.

He earns about Rs 12,000 every month and the couple finds it difficult to make ends meet. But Nahar shudders at the thought of being sent back.

"The situation has worsened since 2012. I want the whole world to support us. I wanted to call my parents who are now in Bangladesh to Delhi but with the government here thinking of deporting us how will I call them," she asked.

Constant worry -- about their present, their future and the well-being of their families in Myanmar or in Bangladesh -- is the subtext of all their lives.

Abdul Rahim, 35, who runs a small grocery shop in the camp and earns about Rs 300 a day, has been desperately trying to get in touch with his brother back home.

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"There are many relatives who are still stuck in the country. I am worried about my brother and his family because they havent reached Bangladesh yet," said Abdul, who fled from Myanmar nine years ago.

He said he is shocked by the government's plan to deport them. "I would rather die here than go back to my country where people are facing atrocities and violence."

Hoping for some intervention, Shabeer, who works with the Rohingyas Human Rights Initiative (ROHRIngya), has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"We wrote a letter to the foreign minister on August 23 and are waiting for a reply. I want to ask the government here why they want to deport us,' he said.

He speaks for thousands of other Rohingyas who dread the prospect of being sent back from India.

The government told Parliament on August 9 that more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, are at present staying in India.

However, activists estimate that around 40,000 Rohingyas are living in India illegally, mostly in Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Hyderabad and parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had earlier said the Rohingyas were illegal immigrants and stand to be deported.

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Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear a plea challenging the governments decision to deport illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants back to Myanmar.

Their future might well take another decisive turn tomorrow.

--- ENDS ---
Rick Felix, his fiancee Amber Verazin, and their 2-year-old Boston terrier, Scarlet, check out the backyard at the foreclosed split level they just purchased in Ambler. Read more

Rick Felix paid $200,000 for a four-bedroom, split-level foreclosed house in Ambler. He made the payment in cash without any option to inspect or even get a good look inside the place beforehand.

When he did get in, the roof was rotting, the septic tank was failing, the pool was green with algae, and the place needed to be gutted.

He couldn't believe his luck.

Beneath all that neglect, Felix, 34, saw a starter home for him and his fiancee.

"It's a desirable area, in a great school district, a great piece of land. As far as real estate goes, it was mind-boggling to everyone that this house hadn't been picked up yet," Felix said. "Honestly, when I saw it pop up when it did, it was a godsend."

The couple, who bought the house with the help of a Realtor once it hit the market, are looking at three months and upward of $100,000 in renovations. They count themselves among the savvy homeowners who have successfully navigated the complex and high-risk, high-reward world of buying a foreclosed house.

If home owners fail to pay their mortgage and can't pay off outstanding debt, or arrange with the bank to sell the property at a loss, the home goes into mortgage foreclosure. The process from unpaid mortgage to auction can take more than a year, during which owners often don't maintain the property. If a home doesn't sell at auction, the lender, usually a bank, assumes the property and puts it on the market.

In Philadelphia, about 528 foreclosures will go to sheriff's sale in September, and about 2,133 bank-owned houses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are on the multiple listing services database. Nationally, there were 933,000 foreclosures in 2016, a 10-year low.

Pennsylvania ranked 12th in foreclosures as of August 2017, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a firm that tracks foreclosures, with one of about every 2,000 homes foreclosed. New Jersey ranked first with one of every 663 homes foreclosed.

With a shortage of housing stock in the Philadelphia region, more people are looking into foreclosures, real estate agents say. But buyer beware: Sometimes a good deal is actually too good to be true. And a novice looking to buy can get beat out by investors who come with cash in hand and make a business out of buying and flipping distressed homes.

"When someone says, 'I want to buy a foreclosure,' I say, 'So does everyone else,' " said Orlando Martinez, a Philadelphia-based real estate agent who frequently sells foreclosed houses. "Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure because they assume it's the best deal. It's not necessarily the case."

Before turning to foreclosures, Martinez encourages his clients to look at auctions, properties that have been on the market for a while, or short sales, in which the bank agrees to accept less than what the homeowners owe on their mortgage. Foreclosures, he said, get a lot of exposure and can be very competitive.

Look to buy a foreclosed home, real estate agents interviewed said, only if you have cash on hand, construction know-how, or a contractor to work with, and a flexible timeline for moving in.

Mortgage companies typically want proof that someone buying a foreclosed house has the means not only to pay the mortgage but also to fix up the house, because the houses are rarely move-in ready.

Banks tend to accept the offer with the fewest contingencies and will often go with the bidder who waives a contingency period and home inspection. Cash offers are also preferred.

"I would say to anybody who's looking to purchase, don't rush anything, don't be impulsive, educate yourself, try to get as much history on the property as you can beforehand," Martinez said. "Always make sure the value is in the point of purchase, not what you plan on building into the property. Never purchase something off the expectations. Purchase it for what it is because what it is is what you get."

Before foreclosures go on the real estate market, they're put up for bid at sheriff's sale.

The number of people bidding at those sales has increased substantially in recent years, Inspector Marquet Parsons of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office said. Parsons didn't have exact numbers but said he's seen bigger crowds, and the office had to add a second monthly informational class for those interesting in buying at sheriff's sales.

While investors and developers come from all over the country, about 75 percent of those who bid at the sales are families looking for a cheap starter home, Parsons said.

The winning bidder needs a minimum of 10 percent of the sale price and has only 30 days to pay the balance or forfeit that deposit.

Parsons sees people with excellent credit make the mistake of bidding on a property and putting down a deposit, only to find out they can't get a bank loan because banks typically require inspections and appraisals.

Whether they are buying a foreclosed house at sheriff's sale or through a real estate agent, Parsons tells prospective buyers to find out as much as possible about the property without knocking on the door or trying to go inside. Look at licenses and inspections records, and check the zoning regulations if the property is going to be used for something other than a residence.

Realtor Michael Cohen, who represents banks during foreclosure sales and sells about 100 a year, doesn't recommend that novices go straight to sheriff's sales. Only a small number of homes sell each month, so buyers can usually get a shot at them once they go on the market.

"It's too high risk. It's like going to Atlantic City," Cohen said. "It's a hard gamble because you really can't see what you're buying. It's really for the advanced investor."

And if you're eager to move in, buying a foreclosure is probably not a wise move.

In addition to the time it takes to complete renovations, there is a small chance that the former tenants  or squatters  refuse to leave even after the deed has been transferred.

There's no "do-it-yourself" eviction in Philadelphia. In fact, an illegal lockout can cost a person $300 for every day the squatter is locked out of the property. Eviction proceedings in court can take four to six months  or longer if the tenant appeals.

Felix estimates that repairs of the Ambler house will cost around $100,000, but he owns a remodeling business and his fiancee, Amber Verazin, is an interior designer, so they will save a lot on labor costs.

If Felix can entirely upgrade the house, he thinks it will be worth about $425,000  $125,000 above what he paid and what he thinks he'll spend on repairs. The median home price in the neighborhood, located in the highly rated Upper Dublin School District, is $347,000.

The couple closed on the house earlier this month and hope to get renovations done ahead of their December wedding.

"As soon as I get the permits," Felix said, "the work starts."
Anthony Iero (left) cared for his partner of 34 years, Paul Meyers, before he died of Alzheimers in a Philadelphia nursing home. Now Iero is an activist against the disease. Read more

At first, it seemed that Paul Meyers was merely forgetful.

His longtime partner, Anthony Iero, would say, "We talked about that yesterday."

And Meyers would say, "No, we didn't."

Then things got worse.

Two years ago, Meyers died of Alzheimer's disease in a Philadelphia nursing home. But Iero has not given up on his personal battle against the disease that took his partner of 34 years. On Sept. 24, Iero will walk the "Memory Mile" as part of an Alzheimer's fund-raiser for the University of Pennsylvania's Institute on Aging. The event also includes a 5K run.

Iero spoke recently about the human toll of Alzheimer's and why he remains involved.

Tell us about Paul's disease and how it progressed.

Paul died when he was 71, two years ago. I tried to track back as to when [symptoms] first happened. The earliest I could detect when he was 62. We would have these conversations, and the next day he'd forget. I'd get angry with him. I didn't know he had memory problems.

He had some problem with financial functions. He'd get things mixed up. Directions were a problem for him. He would always take the long way home. Things like that. I didn't put two and two together until much later. It progressively got worse. Even ordering food at restaurants was difficult for him. So I started ordering for him. I still didn't think much about it.

But then I realized it was more serious. I knew long before he was diagnosed that he had Alzheimer's. I just didn't want to admit it. When he finally went to the doctor, it hit like a ton of bricks. I cried excessively. Paul didn't know what was going on.

After that, it got progressively worse. His temper got worse. He'd wake me up in the middle of the night and say we had to go for a ride. He always wanted to go home, even if we were in our house. You have to learn what to say just to please them. I'd say, "OK, Paul, let's finish dinner first, and then we'll go home."

He would walk out of the apartment and I wouldn't know it, and then I'd go try to find him. One day he got in the car and drove from Center City to St. Joseph's University. A student found him wandering the campus and called me. He stayed with Paul until I got there. Those were some of the tough challenges.

What's it like to see your partner fade away?

It was just horrible to live that way, for both of us. He wasn't really aware of what was going on with him. He denied the fact that he had a memory problem, whereas I knew it was going on. My job at that point was to make him as comfortable as possible. That was my job during his entire illness. We were together 24/7, which was difficult. But he was lost without me. I had to be there for him.

I've always said that Alzheimer's was worse than death. Death is final. It's over. Every day I would see him get worse and worse. There was no end to it. It just was horrible to see him, to deal with that, his fading away, deteriorating, not able to speak, not wanting to eat.

I would take him out and be embarrassed at times because he would talk to people and not make sense. Some people could deal with it better than others. At one time, I would shy away from seeing people. Then I decided we would go out and do the best we could. Before, we were always going out to dinner and having friends over.

Eventually, he had to go into a nursing home?

It got to a point where he was getting physical with my coworkers. I couldn't leave him alone, so he came to work with me. My sister finally said, "That's enough, let's take him to a crisis center." It was a Pennsylvania Hospital clinic, and they suggested putting him in a nursing home. At that point, it was probably best for me. I was able to live without having to worry about him 24/7. Even though I still did worry about him 24/7.

I made it a point to make him as comfortable as possible. That was my goal in life. That's why I put him in the nursing home. I spent a lot of time there  three to four times a week. The home gave me free range of the kitchen. I would make pasta, just like at home.

If you love someone as much as I did Paul, you do those kinds of things. We were together 34 years. I wasn't about to abandon him. I saw how this man went from being this terrific guy and loving guy to this shell. I needed to protect him as best I could. Even when he was well, he always depended on me. When he was sick, he knew when I was there, he was so much better.

He was there a year and a half. Then he caught pneumonia, and that's what did him in.

Two years after his death, you're still active in the cause. Why is it important to you?

I continue to go to Alzheimer's support group meetings. I like the people. I enjoyed the meetings when Paul was alive, although Paul hated them. I found good advice there that helped me to help Paul. Now, if I can help people in any way, I try to do that. Also, I want them to know I'm getting better, and that's what's going to happen to them, too.

On Nov. 11, there's the larger Walk to End Alzheimer's. We have what we call Paul's Team, and I'm the captain. My group gets larger and larger every year. For the Penn run, I get one or two people, maybe a family member or a friend, to walk with me. We walk through the campus on a fall day, which is absolutely beautiful. I always think of Paul when I do it.

I think of Paul every day. I have his ashes in the house. I walk in the door and say, "Paul, I'm home." I kiss him. I always told Paul I was going to take him home one day, and I did. The friends who walk with me are there for me, and I'm there for him. So I walk for Paul. And I do it to make people aware of the disease and to bring it out in the open and, hopefully, make the people above find an end to it.

What words of advice or encouragement do you have for anyone in a similar situation?

When a spouse has Alzheimer's, it's especially difficult because it's someone you love very deeply. Hang in there. There is life after Alzheimer's. There really is. I dealt with it for nine years. It was horrible from the beginning to end, especially the end. In many ways, I wanted it to end. I thought about killing/suicide  going into the nursing home and killing him and then killing myself.

But you can go on and remember the good things you had with your partner. My mind was clouded by the fact that he was sick. I sometimes can't get past that cloud and remember the good times. But I'm hoping that one day that cloud will clear and I'll be able to see Paul the way he was in the many years we were together.

There is life after Alzheimer's. I'm living proof. It's rough. And you think about how sad it is. But you move on.

sandybauers10@gmail.com
Mentor Jim Paradisi, left, and returning citizen James Jankins, right, talk before a meeting of the Lancaster-Reentry Program at the Ebenezer Baptist church. Read more

After nearly two decades in prison, Isaac Rivera was ready to remake himself.

The 41-year-old from Lancaster served time after a 1997 conviction on assault and rape charges, but he thought that his violent past could be behind him  if only he could find a way to jump-start his reinvention.

Then came a sign.

After he was released in January, he recalled, he was sitting in the waiting room at Lancaster's Probation and Parole Office.

"I saw a brochure, it said, 'Just got out?' And I pulled the brochure out, and lo and behold, it talked about a support group for those who are returning citizens," said Rivera, using a phrase for former inmates that is popular with advocacy groups.

At first, the pitch generated conflicting feelings.

"As much as I was anxious to be free, I was also nervous coming into a environment I wasn't aware of," said Rivera.

Pushing aside his discomfort, he attended the support group meeting in the quiet basement of a Lancaster church. He found community with a few dozen other people facing some of the struggles he was confronting in trying to start a new life from scratch.

"Over 20 years, a lot of stuff has been lost," Rivera said. "So here's the Catch-22: I need a state ID in order to get a birth certificate. I can't get a birth certificate without an ID."

Hearing of his quandary, those in the room who work with Lancaster's Re-entry Management Organization  which organized the gathering  realized that they needed to help Rivera sort this out.

Melanie Snyder, who leads the re-entry coalition in Lancaster, said these kinds of conversations, led by former inmates, help Rivera and others feel more connected with the community.

"There are so few places where people who have been caught up in the criminal justice system can feel like their voices matter," Snyder said. "So coming into that space every week, where they know they will be accepted and welcomed and respected and loved, is like this manna from heaven."

Life training for former inmates

These twice-weekly sessions are just a sliver of the services encompassed in an intensive program for ex-convicts in Lancaster that is stirring statewide conversation, and prompting criminal-justice advocates and county officials across the state to note the program's impressive results.

Cities across Pennsylvania have grappled with trying to keep those leaving prison out of trouble, with only mixed results.

More than four out of 10 inmates who are released from state custody end up reoffending or re-entering jail within a year of their release, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections' latest statistics.

The Lancaster model, called an intensive care-management program, has a recidivism rate of just 15 percent among former inmates who participate  although they number only about 1 percent of those released each year from the county prison.

It's kind of like life-training boot camp for former inmates. Those enrolled are set up with transitional housing. They have days full of job workshops on everything from personal finances to sprucing up a resume and learning how to talk about the offense that landed them behind bars. Each person is assigned a case manager, who monitors weekly goals. And probation and parole officials in Lancaster, usually on opposite sides, are partners in the program.

"If you address the things, the need areas, that are making a client's risk to recidivate higher, you reduce that individual's risk level. You by definition make that community safer," said Mark Wilson, who leads Lancaster County Adult Probation and Parole Services.

Top probation officials usually focus on law enforcement, not human services. Wilson said he believes in a balance. So much so that Lancaster's re-entry organization is housed in the same building as the probation intake unit. That's where a former inmate makes his first stop, once released from jail.

Returning to a private bathroom, other conveniences

From there, those who enter the intensive program might meet Doug Hopwood.

He helps the formerly incarcerated find living situations. Giving a tour of a downtown Lancaster housing site in a former hotel now called TLC, Hopwood notes a detail in the college-dorm-style rooms that most people would gloss over: a private bathroom.

"You're coming out of prison, and you have your own bathroom, it's a pretty big deal," Hopwood said. "Yeah, there's definitely some things we all take for granted."

There's a fair amount of supervision when living in one of the 52 spots at TLC. For instance, those staying there, once they find jobs, are charged a modest rent that rises over time. They have to keep their quarters spic and span. And they have to be civil neighbors. Hopwood said these goals help people transition smoothly.

"Landlords care about three things," Hopwood said. "They care about paying your rent on time, keeping your place clean, and being a good neighbor, which are the three things that we monitor here. So, when it comes to talking to that landlord and advocating for that person, we can do that with a clear conscience, because we've been doing that the whole time."

But before the former inmates can start paying rent, they need to find a job. For that, they'll walk to a program called Career Link. Brooklyn, N.Y., native Rolando Ponce is a supervisor there.

He said it is more than just learning how to put together a resume and helping connect former inmates with employers. They are sharpening their skills in those areas, but they're also learning what he calls soft skills.

"If you're currently out of prison, and you're going to an interview, don't go in anything that's ripped, stained or dirty. We want you to look presentable," Ponce said. "So we'll put you in slacks, dress shirt, or even a suit, if you want. We have all that here. We try to be a one-stop shop. And not offer every solution, but do as much as we can."

Ponce said not everybody gets it right away, yet there's a point he likes to emphasize with them: "Do you want to keep repeating the same cycle? Or do you want to break that cycle?"

Officials in Lancaster have learned that winding up back in a jail cell often is triggered by something little  like missing a court payment, which can cause a probation violation. So here's the solution they devised.

Once someone gets into the intensive program, the fines and fees former inmates usually must start paying right away are put on hold for six months. So, if someone owes $2,000 in fees once released, he doesn't have to start chipping away at it right away.

Top probation official Wilson agreed to this grace period after advocates pushed for it.

"They still owe that $2,000, whether they start paying it this month, and they struggle, and they fail, and they're back in jail in September," he said. "Or we give them six months to let them get back on their feet."

Snyder of the re-entry group agrees with having the grace period.

"When you have someone who has no income, they're struggling to find a job, they're struggling to even get food. And then you tell them, 'By the way, if you don't pay $50 a month toward fines and costs, you can be locked back up, or you can have your food stamps shut off,' that just creates enormous stress," she said.

But the program serves very few people; last year, just 52 former inmates participated. Most of them stayed out of trouble.

Still, it was expensive.

Snyder's re-entry group has an annual budget of about $175,000, but maintaining that level is now in question.

Lancaster looks for some outside help

For the first time, Lancaster County commissioners are putting out a request for proposals for some of the county's re-entry services. Florida-based GEO Group is expected to vie for the job.

"We would have to go to other avenues of funding and other partners to work with if the county commissioners end up working with a for-profit entity," Snyder said.

Snyder contends that her group is already saving taxpayers. The intensive program she oversees costs about $29 per person, per day, compared with the $71 a day that officials say it costs to keep an inmate behind bars in Lancaster.

"Just start multiplying," she said. "If they weren't in the intensive program, they could be committing new crimes and sitting in Lancaster County Prison."

Key to the intensive program's success is that it serves a select population of the formerly incarcerated. More than two-thirds of those who apply are accepted, but they have to know of the program's existence. And once they apply, usually while still serving a sentence, they are vetted.

Snyder said that when she interviews applicants, she listens to hear if the person has the right attitude to give the program a shot.

"It's someone at medium to high risk of recidivism, with lots of needs, little or nothing in the way of resources  but is wanting to make a change," she said.

Rivera, who served 20 years, has had a strong will to set his life straight for a while, but even still, he said, the programs as part of the Re-entry Management Organization (RMO) have helped him stay focused on hard days.

"Self-determination is just like a gas tank," he said. "It does run empty. So without the RMO, without career links, I would've folded a long time ago."

Could it work in Philadelphia?

Ceciley Bradford-Jones, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Re-entry program, said Philadelphia officials should study the Lancaster model because even if it's serving a limited group, the program has brought about meaningful behavior changes. And that's no small feat.

Julie Wertheimer, who is Philadelphia's chief of staff for criminal justice, said the fact that the city has dozens of service providers can be an obstacle in trying to get them all under one umbrella, as Lancaster has managed to do.

Philadelphia does have programs  including some supported by a MacArthur Foundation grant aimed at cutting the city's prison population  that have helped former inmates stay on the right track. Sometimes, however, the number of providers offering the same services can be daunting.

"There is a lot of conversation about how we can streamline the services and have people access them in an easier fashion," she said.

Being the poorest big city in America makes re-entry work in Philadelphia a singular task, said Wertheimer. "So many of the challenges that people trying to re-enter face stem from or relate to poverty and lack of economic opportunity."
NEW YORK  President Trump's first address to the United Nations, the world body he once said risked becoming an irrelevant salon, will be a test of his "America First" agenda on global engagement, climate change and North Korea, but one topic  Iran  looms largest.

Trump's speech on Tuesday, and a series of meetings he will hold this week with foreign leaders gathering here at the annual U.N. General Assembly, are freighted with expectations that the U.S. leader wants to pull away from the 2015 U.N.-backed nuclear deal with Iran.

Trump faces an Oct. 15 deadline to say whether Iran is complying with terms of the deal and whether he considers the agreement to be in the U.S. national interest. His administration has recently signaled that he is likely to say no, raising the specter of renewed U.S. sanctions and the possibility that the deal would fall apart.

"You'll see what I'm going to be doing very shortly in October," Trump told reporters Thursday when asked about his decision. "The Iran deal is one of the worst deals I've ever seen, certainly at a minimum the spirit of the deal is atrociously kept."

The president added that "the Iran deal is not a fair deal to this country. It's a deal that should not have ever been made. We are not going to stand what they are doing with our country. They've violated so many different elements, and they've also violated the spirit of that deal."

Most who will be in the audience for Trump's speech disagree. The European Union, one of the architects of the deal, hopes to hold a meeting of the signatories, including Iran, on the sidelines of the General Assembly session.

"This agreement is a very important agreement," U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday. "It contributed to an important de-escalation at the moment, and it is a factor of stability. And it's my opinion that all parties should do everything possible for this agreement to be preserved."

White House officials sketched out an ambitious series of events for Trump, including bilateral meetings Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump is expected to focus on "Iran's destabilizing behavior, including its violation of the sovereignty of nations across the Middle East," national security adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters Friday.

The president also will have lunch with Guterres, and he'll meet with leaders of Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. And Trump will hold a trilateral dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons threat.

While Trump's debut on Tuesday is perhaps the most highly anticipated moment, the U.N. gathering is also notable for who will not be there  Russian President Vladimir Putin or China's Xi Jinping, who are both skipping this year's meeting. Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto head of Myanmar, also will not attend amid a spate of government-backed ethnic violence in that country that has drawn international condemnation.

Trump has been a skeptic of international organizations such as the U.N. and NATO. He has pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement and an Asia-Pacific trade accord, promoting a foreign policy aimed at limiting U.S. interventionism abroad in favor of domestic priorities. Yet Trump administration officials said the president and his team are intent on having a strong presence and demonstrating leadership in New York on issues including terrorism, trade, and human rights. Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will join Trump in the U.S. delegation.

"No one is going to grip-and-grin," U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said of handshake photo-ops. "The United States is going to work.  This is a time to be serious, and it's a time for us to talk out these challenges and make sure there's action that follows it."

As he did with NATO, Trump has pressed the U.N. for reforms, and Haley emphasized that the administration has seen improvements. She said the world body has moved away from "focusing on the commas and the periods" of toothless resolutions and begun taking stronger actions. She cited recent decisions by the global body to enact sweeping economic sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and ballistic weapons program. Haley said the sanctions will hurt Pyongyang, but she added quickly that if Kim does not end his provocative missile and nuclear tests, the U.N. will run out of options.

"Having said that, I have no problem kicking it to [Defense Secretary James] Mattis because I think he has plenty of options," she said, alluding to military power.

The administration has options on Iran, too, which has colored Trump's engagement with U.S. allies and partners since his surprise victory in November. Champions of the Iran nuclear deal were reassured when Trump twice acted to certify Iranian compliance. Those notifications, required by Congress, were taken as a sign that Trump might complain about the deal but would not "rip it up" as he had pledged to do as a candidate.

Now administration officials are telling allies they want to strengthen the deal, at the least.

Haley recently said the deal cannot be "too big to fail," no matter the heavy investment of important U.S. allies in keeping it intact. And Tillerson said Thursday that Iran is "clearly in default" of expectations and responsibilities under the deal, an assertion that Iran and European allies dispute. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this month that Iran is playing by the rules.

Trump is expected to cite Iranian ballistic missile activity and alleged Iranian support for terrorism and other activities as evidence that Iran is violating the "spirit" of the deal.

"President Trump has made it clear to those of us who are helping him develop this policy that we must take into account the totality of Iranian threats, not just Iran's nuclear capabilities," Tillerson said Thursday. He quoted from the preface to the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. The preface says that signers "anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security." The Trump administration is arguing that those words convey obligations to Iran to curtail activities that would harm international peace and security.

"In our view, Iran is clearly in default of these expectations of the JCPOA through their actions to prop up the Assad regime, to engage in malicious activities in the region, including cyber activity, aggressively developing ballistic missiles," Tillerson said.

On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the deal is not renegotiable and said a "better" deal is "pure fantasy."
On Oct. 17, 1817, one of the world's champions of universal freedom and social justice died in the Swiss village of Soleure. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who was one of George Washington's most important military engineers in the Revolutionary War, was mourned around the world. For Poles today he is revered for his attempts to save Poland from occupying Russians, Austrians, and Prussians; for attempting to end serfdom; and as an architect of the Polish constitution of 1793, based on the Enlightenment principles that undergirded the U.S. Constitution.

Importantly, Kosciuszko had also hoped to trigger the end of slavery in the United States by persuading his friend Thomas Jefferson to free his slaves. Kosciuszko had planned to leave the heavily indebted Jefferson his wartime pay, finally conferred by Congress in 1797, as compensation for freeing his slaves. "What an all-conquering influence must have attended his illustrious example," if Jefferson had seized the moment, wrote abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison many years later.

In his cramped quarters at Third and Pine in Philadelphia in 1797-98, Kosciuszko communed frequently with Jefferson, then the vice president. They were soon so close that Jefferson was soon calling Kosciuszko "as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone." When Kosciuszko penned his extraordinary will on April 20, 1798, he named Jefferson as both executor and beneficiary: "I authorize my friend Thomas Jefferson to employ the whole [of the estate] thereof in purchasing Negroes from among his own or any others and giving them liberty in my name." It was the Pole's last act on American soil, for shortly after he abruptly left, escaping what he believed was his imminent seizure as an agent of the French revolutionary government.

Part of what inspired Kosciuszko's gesture was a free black man who had stood at the Polish hero's side as his attendant for more than four years during the war. Born in Northampton, Mass., Agrippa Hull had joined Washington's Continental Army in 1777 and then served as Kosciuszko's orderly. It was Hull's intelligence, diligence, and dedication to inalienable rights that convinced Kosciuszko of the falsity of the argument that innate black inferiority made African enslavement part of Nature's unalterable design. Moreover, Kosciuszko grew to admire the courage of black soldiers in battle. As his bond with Hull grew, the Polish general became increasingly dismayed that white Americans were fighting for universal principles that they denied to half a million enslaved blacks.

When he returned to the United States 14 years after the war ended, Kosciuszko hoped he might chip away at the new nation's continued commitment to slavery  a cancer eating away at the bedrock principles on which the new republic was founded.

The day of reckoning came when Kosciuszko died at the foot of the Alps in 1817. In his last letter to Jefferson, a month before his death, Kosciuszko reminded his friend of the solemn oath they had made in Philadelphia in 1798. Of his American assets, he wrote: "After my death you know their fixed destination."

Months after Kosciuszko's death was lamented across America, Jefferson rode his horse down the mountain at Monticello to the Albemarle County Courthouse in Charlottesville. He dismounted "stately and erect," as the court deputy clerk wrote, "pulled out of his pocket  the will of his friend, General Tadeusz Kosciuszko," and testified that he was unwilling to serve either as executor or beneficiary of the will.

In reneging on the pledge he made 19 years before, Jefferson surrendered the opportunity to free his own children, born of Sally Hemings, along with dozens of other slaves who toiled alongside her. All could have gone free while the author of the Declaration of Independence accepted full compensation for the loss of their labor.

Thus transpired a tragic betrayal of freedom in the new nation.

Gary B. Nash, a professor history at the University of California, Los Angeles, will discuss his book "Friends of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson, Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Agrippa Hull" at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Museum of the American Revolution. For tickets, visit www.amrevmuseum.org.
By PTI: (Eds: Adding a word in para 3)

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will operationalise the SSBs first ever intelligence wing tomorrow, a home ministry official said.

The paramilitary force guards Indias borders with Bhutan and Nepal, which are often used by criminals and Kashmiri militants returning from Pakistan.

The intelligence wing will have 650 field and staff agents to gather actionable information.

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Due to the visa-free regime India has with Nepal and Bhutan, there is a trans-border movement of criminals and anti-national elements which pose a major challenge, the home ministry official said.

As many as 230 former Kashmiri militants, based in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, have returned home through the Indo-Nepal border since 2010.

Also, their spouses and 88 children have come along with them.

The former militants, their spouses and children did not have travel documents while entering India. Security agencies detained them upon ascertaining their real identities, another official said requesting anonymity.

They were released only after a vigorous checking of their backgrounds, past activities and following judicial process.

The Indo-Bhutan border is known to be frequented by the Assam-based insurgent group NDFB, which has even attacked Bhutanese nationals in the past.

India shares a 1,751-km-long border with Nepal and a 699 -km-long border with Bhutan.

The SSB has also been declared as the lead intelligence agency for both the borders. Thus, the central government felt that a well-knit intelligence network of the highest capability that can function and deliver would be the prime requirement for comprehensive border management.

This was essential as the SSBs operations are based on intelligence to prevent criminals and smugglers from taking advantage of the friendly borders with Nepal and Bhutan, the official said.

The SSB has been mandated to guard the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders where there are no restrictions on the movement of people on either side.

The border population on both the sides has strong regional, cultural and economic ties.

The SSB has 474 Border Out Posts (BOPs) on the Nepal border and 131 on the Bhutan border.

The border with Nepal touches Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim and the border with Bhutan touches Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. PTI ACB TIR GVS

--- ENDS ---
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Every woman in American knows how it feels to have her family planning and reproductive healthcare choices vetoed by a bunch of privileged white men in Congress.

Anyone who is a permanent resident of the District of Columbia, knows the frustration that comes with every law and every budget passed by our elected City Council being subjected to the ideological preferences of Republicans from every state in the United States.

This week, women living in DC experienced both of these frustrations. This is part of the political reality if you live in the nations capital.

Our delegate to the House of Representatives doesnt get a vote on laws that affect all of us. Yet, every local issue is subject to scrutiny by members of congress from every state in the Union.

This week, the House of Representatives passed several measures effectively vetoing several laws voted on by DC City Council. They include a rider repealing our Death with Dignity Law, which made it legal for DC doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who request it. Also on the Republican controlled Houses chopping block: DC using city funds to finance abortions for women living in poverty and a DC law taxing and regulating the sale of marijuana.

Finally, the House passed a measure forbidding the DC City Council from using local DC tax dollars to enforce a law that prohibits employers from discriminating against workers and members of their families who use birth control, got an abortion or any other healthcare decision. It was passed in 2014 and those freedom- and local government-loving Republicans have been trying to defund it ever since.

The measure to block this law which affects residents and businesses of Washington, DC only was introduced by Rep. Gary Palmer  a Republican who lives in Alabama. It passed by a vote of 214-194  mostly along partisan lines. If youre wondering why Washington, DC is the most liberal and most Democratic city in America with an electorate that is 90% Democratic, much of it has to do with the fact that we know Republicans no more care about keeping politics local than Donald Trump cares about his bases concerns.

Its worth noting that because this is part of the Federal appropriations process, its possible these measures wont survive. Most of the time, however, they do. Republicans may not agree on how badly to screw people out of healthcare, but they can always get together to kill laws affecting people who live in DC and they can always agree on how we should spend our local tax dollars.

Imagine if every measure your city and town passed was subject to review by the House, the Senate and the President. While WAMU refers to the specific measure about the nondiscrimination law, this process applies to any law and any budget provision passed by DC City Council.

There are still a number of hoops that the amendment needs to pass through before it effectively blocks D.C.s non-discrimination law. House and Senate leaders would need to agree to include it in the final version of the appropriations bill, which must be passed by the Senate by Dec. 8. That bill would also need to be signed by President Donald Trump.

It doesnt end with Republicans from Alabama, or Utah or any other red state trying to impose Republican ideology on DC where the electorate is 90% Democrat.

Donald Trump hasnt bothered to consult with DC delegate Holmes-Norton Eleanor Holmes-Norton or local officials on Federal judicial appointments to the DC circuit. He does consult with Senators from red and blue states so this isnt about Trumps typical hyper-partisanship.

After the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday voted to advance Dabney Langhorne Friedrichs nomination to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to the full Senate, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she would continue to seek consultation on federal law enforcement nominees in D.C. Despite repeated requests, the Trump administration has continued to make nominations without consulting Norton. The Trump administration has not made any nominations for federal district courts in states with a Democratic senator, yet has made four nominations for the federal district court in D.C.

As explained by Delegate Holmes-Norton https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-says-trump-administration-has-nominated-four-judges-for-dc in her press release:

On behalf of D.C. residents, I must continue to seek some consultation or to call out the Trump administration for breaking with Republican precedent by making nominations for federal judges and other law enforcement officers in the District without consultation. We cannot let the Trump Administration disrespect D.C. residents on critical law enforcement positions without a fight.

This is what life is like when your voice is silenced, be it by virtue of living in DC at any time during the past 200+ years of the great American experiment or by virtue of vote suppression in any state. In this America, privileged white men are the only people with voices.
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Trumps North Korea policy was put on display on Sunday morning, as the Presidents plan to deal with the nuclear weapon pursuing regime is to mock them on Twitter.

Trump tweeted:

I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017

The President undercut any attempts being made to solve this crisis with a single tweet. Trumps social media statements are why the North Koreans dont take him seriously. The presidency is not reality television. Taunting and mocking arent the same as governance. The reason why the Kim regime has accelerated its nuclear program so quickly is that they tested Trump early in his presidency and realized that he is going to do nothing to stop them.

It is almost as if the President is trying to provoke an armed conflict in North Korea. Trump wants to be a wartime president, and his childish taunts are only pushing a crisis closer to the brink. While Trump tweets, the regime continues to launch missiles and develop their nuclear program, and when the crisis hits the breaking point, Trump will take no responsibility while claiming that the military was his only option.

Trump is embarrassing, but even worse, he is a danger to the safety of the entire world.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. High 62F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Thunder possible. Low 54F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Across the U.S., women veterans share some of the same experiences, including PTSD, sexual trauma and other inequities related to a culture of gender bias in the military. Women veterans in the Lowcountry are no different, which is why Brooke Jackson Kahn started her nonprofit, She's the Veteran. Read moreWomen veterans often feel overlooked, lack mental health treatment and other resources
By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi will update its board tomorrow on action being taken against suspected shell companies allegedly abetting routing of illicit funds through stock markets.

Those under scanner include over 300 listed companies as also hundreds of unlisted entities and individuals, suspected to be misusing the stock exchange platform for tax evasion, among other wrongdoings, a senior official said.

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Besides, the board would consider other proposals including expediting settlement proceedings and streamlining its internal mechanism to better decide on whether they need soft or hard enforcement actions.

To select cases for enforcement actions, the markets regulator will soon put in place internal guidelines, which would also be made applicable for pending cases.

The proposal assumes significance against the backdrop of various high profile cases, including those related to the NSE and PwC, where settlements are being sought.

The board is likely to have a detailed discussion on the developments related to suspected shell companies listed on the bourses and actions taken against them, sources said.

While a large number of listed companies are under the scanner for allegedly being conduits for illicit money, the regulator is also keeping a close watch on cases where entities are availing LTCG (Long Term Capital Gains) benefits through sham transactions in stocks.

A slew of issues, including protecting the interest of investors who have put their money in suspected shell companies and regulatory measures that can be initiated against officials of such firms, would be deliberated upon.

Post demonetisation, authorities have detected cases of same entities that have been using multiple PAN numbers to trade in shares. Such instances are also being probed by the Sebi, which has strict KYC norms in place for market participants, sources said.

On August 7, the watchdog directed exchanges to restrict trading in shares of 331 companies following government identifying these entities as suspected shell firms.

Following appeals, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) lifted the curbs imposed on some among the list of 331 companies. Last week , Sebi ordered a forensic audit of around half a dozen of the suspected shell firms.

These lists were shared with Sebi by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and are based on ongoing investigations by various agencies, including income tax department and SFIO.

The regulator found that the companies identified as shell companies were potentially involved in misrepresentation including of their financial and business in violation of listing regulations.

The regulator said it was of the view that they were possibly misusing the books of accounts and funds, including by facilitating "accommodation entries to the detriment of minority shareholders".

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Sebi is also considering relaxing REITs and InvITs to allow these trusts to raise funds through issuance of debt securities. Further, the regulator would discuss a proposal to hire a chief economist, whose position will be equivalent to that of an executive director in terms of pay and benefits.

These proposals would be discussed during the board meeting of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) tomorrow, the official said. PTI SP SA SBT

--- ENDS ---
LAS VEGAS  Control of the U.S. Senate may come down to Nevada, where a slow ballot count entered its final act Saturday in the nail-biter contest between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. Read moreSenate control may come down to Nevada as count nears end
President Trump may be disillusioned with Jeff Sessions, but the Attorney General is doing an outstanding job. Perhaps his most significant accomplishment is returning the DOJ to the rule of law by reinstituting guidelines that require prosecutors to charge the most serious offenses and ask for the lengthiest prison sentences.

One indication of the significance of this accomplishment is the howling from Team Leniency, including two former Obama-appointed prosecutors  Joyce Vance and Carter Stewart, formerly the United States attorneys for the Northern District of Alabama and the Southern District of Ohio, respectively. Their lament appears in this article for NRO.

Vance and Stewart contend that Sessions has reinstated a one-size-fits-all policy that doesnt work. They call it a return to the ineffective and damaging criminal-justice policies that were imposed in 2003, upsetting the bipartisan consensus for criminal-justice reform that, they claim, is sweeping todays America.

Andy McCarthy demolishes these arguments. He notes that what Vance and Stewart call a one-size-fits-all policy is actually faithful execution of the law. Sessions is simply telling prosecutors to seek the penalty Congress deemed appropriate for a particular offense. He is instructing them not to substitute their judgment for that of Congress.

Andy provides this example:

Congress has prescribed a minimum ten-year sentence for the offense of distributing at least five kilograms of cocaine (see section 841(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the federal narcotics laws). Lets say a prosecutor is presented with solid evidence that a defendant sold seven kilograms of cocaine. The crime is readily provable. Nevertheless, the prosecutor follows the Obama deviation from traditional Justice Department policy, charging a much less serious offense: a distribution that does not specify an amount of cocaine  as if we were talking about a one-vial street sale. The purpose of this sleight of hand is to evade the controlling statutes ten-year sentence, inviting the judge to impose little or no jail time. That is not prosecutorial discretion. It is the prosecutor substituting his own judgment for Congresss regarding the gravity of the offense. In effect, the prosecutor is decreeing law, not enforcing what is on the books. . . . Absent this Justice Department directive that prosecutors must charge the most serious, readily provable offense, the executive branch becomes a law unto itself. Bending congressional statutes to the executives policy preferences was the Obama approach to governance, so we should not be surprised that a pair of his appointed prosecutors see it as a model for criminal enforcement, too. But it is not enforcement of the law. It is executive imperialism. It is DACA all over again. . . .

As for the bipartisan consensus that Sessions supposedly has upset, the obvious answer is that this alleged consensus cant be much of one because it has not produced a change in sentencing law. As Andy puts it, in our system, bipartisan consensus is not a comparative handful of Democrats and Republicans clucking their tongues in unison. Rather, the only consensus that matters is one that drums up support sufficient to enact legislation into law.

Andy also takes on the Obama-era prosecutors claim that the policy Sessions has reinstated doesnt work. To the contrary, the policy, in effect with little variation from from the Carter presidency until the Obama years, is one of several factors that contributed to historic decreases in crime. When bad guys are prosecuted and incarcerated, they cant prey on our communities. The sooner they are let out, the sooner they commit crimes.

Vance and Stewart also make the familiar arguments about the racial impact of tough sentencing. They ignore the racial impact of the increased crime that results from early release.

Andy doesnt. He writes:

If you want to obsess over groups, maybe our sympathetic attention should shift to the prey rather than the predators  the racial minorities and poor people who by an outsize margin are victims of crime. Thats the disparate impact worth fretting over. And it is exacerbated when the laws are not enforced.

Theres plenty more straight talk in Andys piece. The whole thing is worth reading.
I have been following the ongoing cage match between Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Minnesotas majority-Republican House and Senate in this series. At the end of this years slightly extended legislative session Dayton signed all tax and budget bills. He could have vetoed any of them. Even though he professed extreme unhappiness with certain items, he signed the bills The package of budget, tax and state government bills that finally passed reflected compromises on the part of all participants including Dayton and his commissioners.

As a result of his unhappiness with certain items, however, Governor Dayton exercised his authority to veto budgetary line items to wipe out the funding of the legislative branch. Dayton explained himself in the letter posted here. Dayton demanded that Republicans revisit selected issues on his terms after they had already given ground elsewhere to arrive at the bills that were sent to him for his signature and adjourned. Unlike some other Republicans I can think of on the national scene, they werent inclined to make fools of themselves. In the letter Dayton described one provision of the special session state government finance bill as treachery. It reflects Daytons true voice.

The legislature thought that Governor Dayton just may have slightly overstepped his constitutional authority by wiping out its funding and took Governor Dayton to court. The legislatures current funding expired on July 1. In an interim ruling Ramsey County District Judge Guthmann required continued funding for the legislature through October 1. He drew on the Minnesota Constitution to support his ruling. If the legislative branch is not funded, it cannot carry out its core functions, which include those functions necessary to draft, debate, publish, vote on and enact legislation, Judge Guthmann wrote. The interim ruling foretold Judge Guthmann;s final decision in the case, ruling against Dayton on constitutional grounds. Judge Guthmanns order and supporting memorandum are posted here.

Governor Dayton appealed Judge Guthmanns ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court. On September 8 the Court issued a unanimous 6-page order under the signature of Chief Justice Lorie Gildea. The order is posted online here.

In its order the Court held that Dayton constitutionally exercised his line-item veto power, but ruled further that this conclusion does not end the matter. The circumstances, the Court observed, raise doubts about the continued functioning of the legislative branch as contemplated in the state constitution. Constitutional powers may not be used to accomplish an unconstitutional result, the order provides. Suffice it to say that the Supreme Court order failed to resolve the issues raised by what Governor Dayton has done.

The question of continued funding troubled the Court. It noted the constitutional requirement for the legislature to authorize appropriations. It hesitated to order funding unless absolutely necessary. It called for another round in the cage match to obtain additional input from the parties in order to assist the court in deciding this case.

The Court would like Dayton and the legislature to get it out of this fine mess. It ordered the parties to participate in good-faith efforts to resolve this dispute through mediation. Last week the parties agreed to the appointment of former Hennepin County District Judge Richard Solum as a mediator. MPRs Brian Bakst filled in the background on Solum here. My guess is that they arent going to work it out.

The parties were to file memoranda on the Courts authority to order funding for the legislature. On Friday the parties filed their memoranda. The Supreme Court has made them accessible along with the other filings in the case here. The Star Tribune briefly covers last weeks filings here. Our friend Howard Root gives them a pointed reading via Twitter.

Governor Dayton argues that the court can order funding necessary to the functioning of the legislature. The legislature argues that the court lacks such authority. The legislatures memorandum is a sophisticated piece of legal analysis that I wont attempt to recapitulate here. I will only say that I can see the careful hand of my friend David Herr in it and that it is worth reading; David co-authored the brief with Minneapolis attorney Doug Kelley.

Governor Dayton does not want to live with the consequences of what he has done, or he wants a higher authority to save him from them. The legislature, on the other hand, if it does not win outright, seeks to let Dayton stew in his juices while the tension implicit in the Courts order is heightened.

I think the story remains intensely interesting. It is indisputably developing
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By PTI: (Eds: Adds UK home secretarys statement)

By Aditi Khanna

London, Sep 17 (PTI) The British police arrested a second man in connection with the bombing on a London Underground train that wounded 30 people, with the UK home secretary saying the new arrest suggests the attacker was not a "lone wolf".

Scotland Yards Counter-Terrorism Command investigating the Friday attack claimed by the Islamic State group arrested the 21-year-old from Hounslow in west London late last night.

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Earlier yesterday, an 18-year-old man was arrested in the port area of Dover. None of the suspects have been named.

Both suspects were being held under the UKs Terrorism Act and being questioned at a south London police station.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the BBC that the second arrest suggests the attacker was not "a lone wolf".

"But as this unfolds and as we do our investigations, we will make sure we find out how he was radicalised if we can," she said.

The minister alsodenied US President Donald Trump had received any leaked security information when he tweeted about the terror attack.

Trumps tweet read: "Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"

Rudd added her voice to British Prime Minister Theresa Mays rebuke to Trump on the matter: "Its never helpful to have speculation about an ongoing operation, and I would include the President of the United States in that comment.

"It is pure speculation, absolutely."

She added that 24 million pounds of new government money was going to counter-terrorism operations across the country.

Thirty people were injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station during morning rush hour.

Neil Basu, the Met PolicesSenior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the Metropolitan Police and its partners were working to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly crime."

Basu said in a statement his department was "still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace."

Met Police counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers yesterday evacuated buildings as they began searches at a residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, southeast England.

The search remains ongoing as it emerged that the home belongs to an elderly British couple honoured with an Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for their efforts at fostering hundreds of refugee children.

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The 18-year-old arrested is believed to have been one of the children fostered by Ronald Jones, 88, and Penelope Jones, 71.

The UK terror threat level remains critical, meaning an attack is expected imminently.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the bombing but Met Polices Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was "very routine" for IS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

The explosion, described as a "bucket bomb", sent a "fireball" through the Tube causing burn injuries to several commuters.

The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury. PTI AK NSA ABH

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: (Eds: Adds fresh inputs)

By Aditi Khanna

London, Sep 16 (PTI) An 18-year-old man was arrested today in connection with the terror attack on a packed London Tube train, the Metropolitan Police said, calling it a "significant" development in the ongoing investigation.

The man, who has not been named, was arrested by Kent Police in the port area of Dover this morning under the UKs Terrorism Act. He was taken into custody at a local police station and then transferred to a south London police station.

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He was arrested on suspicion of committing, preparing or instigating an act of terrorism.

Hours later counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers began evacuating buildings to search at a particular residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, south-east England.

The home of two elderly foster carers was being raided by the police.

The couple, awarded Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)s for their services to children and families, were said to have fostered hundreds of children.

They said the evacuation was a "precautionary measure" following the first arrest in the investigation into the bombing of the underground train a day earlier.

"We have made a significant arrest in our investigation this morning. Although we are pleased with the progress made, this investigation continues and the threat level remains at critical," said Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu.

At least 30 people were injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station during the morning rush hour yesterday.

Basu, also the UKs Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, seemed to indicate that the force was still on the hunt for further suspects.

"This arrest will lead to more activity from our officers. For strong investigative reasons we will not give any more details on the man we arrested at this stage.

"The public should remain vigilant as our staff, officers and partners continue to work through this complex investigation. We are not, at this time, changing our protective security measures and the steps taken to free up extra armed officers remain in place," he added.

UK security minister Ben Wallace had said earlier today that there was "potentially a very dangerous individual or individuals out there and we need to track them down."

The Met Police said so far detectives have spoken to 45 witnesses and continue to receive information from the public to the confidential anti-terrorist hotline.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the bomb but Met Polices Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was "very routine" for ISIS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

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Announcing the change in the UK threat level last night, Prime Minister Theresa May said the military would provide support to police and would replace officers on guard duty at national infrastructure sites not accessible to the public.

It is part of the first phase of Operation Temperer, activated when the terror threat level reaches its highest possible. "This is a proportionate and sensible step which will provide extra reassurance and protection while the investigation progresses," May said.

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd chaired a meeting of the emergency response COBRA committee today to confirm that the terror threat level would remain at critical.

This is the fourth time the UK national terror threat level has been raised to "critical" since the system was made public in 2006. The last time was in May this year following the Manchester Arena bombing, when it was feared that the bomb-maker was still at large and could strike again.

May took the decision after the independent Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre recommended raising the threat level to critical ? meaning another attack is expected.

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The blast, which is being described as a "bucket bomb", sent a "fireball" through the Tube causing burn injuries to many commuters. The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury.

Anti-terror police are understood to be working on the theory that the bomb was detonated early by accident and that the intended target may have been the Tube station at Westminster, near Parliament in central.

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick described the attack as "cowardly and indiscriminate" as she joined her forces on the ground today to patrol the streets on London.

Dick travelled by Tube before joining Met officers patrolling the South Bank of the river Thames to highlight the very visible hike in police presence on the streets of the British capital. "London has not stopped after other terrible attacks and it will not stop after this one," she said.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said "significant" police activity would continue over the weekend and thanked police, adding: "They are there to keep us safe". PTI AK NSA ABH ZH AKJ CPS

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By PTI: border town night after night

By Anil Bhatt

Arnia border (Jammu), Sept 17 (PTI) As the dusk sets in, families in Arnia town on the India-Pakistan border sit huddled as they hear the rattle of gun-fire and exploding mortars, night after night.

In the past four days, albeit nights, two persons, including a BSF jawan have died, a dozen injured and several animals including cattle were killed in the indiscriminate firing by Pakistan forces towards the residential areas in this town and its adjoining hamlets.

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Each night is an "encounter with death and devastation", say the local residents.

A temple was among the several buildings damaged while three BSF jawans were among those injured in firing by Pakistan troops along the international border and LoC in Jammu and Poonch districts during past four days.

According to officials, two Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory action by the BSF.

"Since the past two to three days, we have been facing the worst type of shelling by Pakistan troops. Mortar bombs rain here. Every night is an encounter with death for us and every morning a new life", Arnia resident Yashpaul told PTI.

Since the shelling began on Friday midnight, we have been moving to the store in our house and stay huddled every night due to fear, he said.

Like Yashpaul, Sia resident Hari Singh said that nobody sleeps in the border hamlets now.

"The fear is driving out the sleep. We face heavy shelling from 11 pm till the morning," Singh, a former sarpanch, said.

Dead cattle in pools of bloods, torn off roof-tops and windows punctured by bullets and splinters of mortar bombs are a testimony to the intensity of the shelling in this area where smell of cordite and gunpowder lingers in the air.

An overnight attack by Pakistani forces left one woman dead and five persons injured triggering panic.

"Windows rattle from the blasts of mortar bombs and rockets aimed at terrorising the population along IB to bring pressure on India and its security forces. The night long attack on Saturday triggered panic among the villagers," a police officer said.

But the villagers are steadfast in their support to the security forces, who they say should give a befitting response to Pakistan.

"We are with our forces. They are giving them befitting reply. We demand the BSF should destroy their bunkers and posts which target us. We want that they should never dare to fire again," said Prem Chand of Arnia.

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The border dwellers want that government should speed up the setting up of "individual bunkers" for their homes.

"We urge the state and central government to speed up the plan of construction of individual bunkers. We donot need many community bunkers. The difficulty with community bunkers is how to reach them when the shelling and firing starts," Singh said.

The process of the constructions of bunkers started two years ago and just 60 bunkers as per government figures have been constructed in only few areas, the locals complain.

"The Congress government made promises and now this government is in power for three years, but the plan has remained almost on papers. The government needs to do more", Surinder Choudhary said.

Over a dozen houses and structures, including a temple were damaged, seven cattle died and over a dozen have been injured in Pakistan shelling during past four days.

Such was the intensity of the firing and shelling that 82 mm mortar shells landed in Mahasha Kote and Arnia town, which is around 5 kms away from the International Border in Jammu district.

Carcasses of animals killed due to splinter injuries are seen strewn in Jora farm and other areas.

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Residents say that Arnia town, which was considered a safe place, has also been hit by scores of mortar bombs that killed one person, Ratno Devi, and injured five.

Houses in Arnia as well as Sia, Nikowal, Budhwar, Buley Chak, S H Way, Treva Mahasha Kote, Pindi and Pawal villages were hit by the bullets and splinters of mortar shells, which tore roof tops and walls of several structures. PTI AB ADS

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No frills, no fuss  just fresh! Thats the motto at Outlaws Burger Barn & Creamery, a Vineland restaurant thats been making a name for itself as a killer burger spot.

Since its opening in May of last year, Outlaws has developed a menu of monster burgers that live up to its rough-and-tumble name. Piled high with beef and dripping with cheese and homemade sauces, these are the kind of burgers that you gape at for a moment, wondering how youre going to get your jaw around it, the kind that leaves juice dripping down your arms, the kind that will take a handful of napkins to recover from.

This good ol down-home Americana food is the result of Owner and Chef Ryan Briggs rather austere education.

Its been a dream of mine for years now, he says. I went to culinary school, and Ive been a cook at everything from fine dining to casual. I wanted to combine that fine dining experience with burgers. Burgers and ice cream have always been my two favorite foods.

Bay Atlantic Symphony and Classical Mystery Tour come together for a night of Beatlemania When The Beatles broke up in 1970, any hope of seeing them live in concert evaporated, much to the dismay of Beatles fans everywhere. Then, wi

Briggs fine dining background manifests in the ingredients he uses to craft his burgers.

We source everything that we can from within a couple of miles from here, and are very into organic. We have eggs that we top our burgers with that come from two miles down the road, he says.

When asked how he developed the menu, Briggs replies simply, Basically, we came up with a lot of unique toppings.

Those toppings include bacon, a farm fresh egg, white cheddar, crispy onion rings and roasted garlic mayo on the Farm Fresh burger ($10.25); house pickled jalapeno, avocado, red onion, pepper jack cheese and habanero creme fraiche on the En Fuego burger ($11.25); and dry rub seasoning, fire roasted cubanella peppers, balsamic reduction and provolone and ricotta cheese on the Aunt Milly burger ($10.25).

By far the most popular burger Outlaws serves is the Smokehouse, with crispy bacon, house picked jalapeno, white cheddar, fried onion rings and house-made barbeque sauce ($9.75).

We focus on making our customers happy, Briggs says. If someone asks for something special, we make it for them. We give them the best possible product we can find at an affordable price. Everything from our sauces down to the nitty gritty, everything is fresh.

True to his word, Outlaws accommodates vegetarian tastes, as well. Each 8-ounce black Angus burger can be substituted for a portabella mushroom, or a ground turkey burger or grilled chicken breast for those counting calories. An assortment of wedge salads ($6) is also available.

A few side dishes, including chicken tenders ($6.25), wings ($7.95 for 10) and mozzarella sticks ($4.95) diversify an otherwise burger-heavy menu. We would be remiss, however, if we didnt mention the Outlaw Fries. Smothered in white cheddar cheese sauce, bacon and roasted garlic mayo, these fries are the perfect sloppy counterpart to the burgers.

Moving to the latter half of Outlaws Burger Barn & Creamerys name, the restaurant also offers an assortment of ice cream treats. Using Hersheys ice cream as the base, Outlaws incorporates Jersey-fresh fruits and other toppings to create unique sundaes and shakes. Or, for special occasions, check out their ice cream cakes, in varieties like Nutella Crunch, Fruity Pebbles and Reeses Overload.

Tom Angello and the Budesa Bros. perform at the A.C. Weekly Fitness Expo This Saturday, at the Atlantic City Weekly Health & Wellness Expo, there will be vendors

With a year on the books, Outlaws is keeping busy with a healthy clientele. And though he has aspirations to open up a second location in the future, Briggs assures, Were very happy with where we are. Until then, Briggs and his team hope to continue being outlaws in faith and in food at their Vineland location.

When I think of an outlaw, its someone who is going against the grain and theyre doing something different, Briggs explains. First and foremost, were a Christian-owned business and we promote that a lot. A lot of small businesses back down from that. We give back to the community through God. Were outlaws in our food, too. Its a little bit different.
CAPE MAY  The Confederate soldiers who fought a battle with Union forces at Historic Cold Spring Villages annual Civil War Weekend came mostly from northern states, but they understood the soldiers they were portraying and felt a deep empathy for them.

Harry Sundstrom Jr., of Cape May, portrayed the leader of the 1st Maryland Artillery of the Confederate States of America, but sometimes his group turns to the Union side and portrays the 1st Maryland Light Artillery U.S.A.

I can sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic or Dixie with equal enthusiasm, Sundstrom said, quoting a line from the film The Outlaw Josie Wales.

But the ability to do justice to both sides comes from understanding both, and seeing the soldiers as a historian sees them, not judging them from todays perspective, he said.

We are all historians, whether we have degrees or not, Sundstrom said. We try to portray what the life and battle was like day to day in the Civil War period.

Clark Van Buskirk, of Phillipsburg in Warren County, portrays Major Beck of the 44th Regiment of Georgia Company C of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The Confederate soldiers, like the Union soldiers, both were led by the newspapers and politicians in their states, Van Buskirk said.

The average soldier of the time was under the impression his state was under attack from the North, said Van Buskirk, who has ancestors who fought on both sides. They defended their homeland, he said.

The questions of the day were not just about slavery, he said, but about constitutional issues such as, Should all power reside in Washington, D.C., or should the power the Constitution gave to the states go to the states?

After more than 20 years of studying the Civil War period and states rights issues, Van Buskirk said, he switched from portraying a Union soldier to portraying a Confederate major.

I decided Id rather be a Confederate, because they were right, he said  not about slavery but about refusing to give up their states power.

Carol Cappuccio, of Ventnor, said she was motivated to attend the weekend as a spectator because of the recent controversies over Confederate monuments to Gen. Robert E. Lee and others, and the demands by some that they be taken down.

They were all soldiers at the end of the day, Cappuccio said of Union and Confederate troops, and 620,000 died.

She disagrees with removing statues, she said, because they are part of our history.

Kenneth Doran, of Easton, Pennsylvania, portrayed Sgt. Bishop, a small farmer from Clark County, Georgia, who fought alongside other poor farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters and others who were far from wealthy.

Each member of his reenactment group portrays a real individual and learns about that persons life, he said.

Barbara Kosh, of Egg Harbor City, was in a period hoop dress she made, portraying a camp follower who had lost her farm and so traveled with the troops of the 19th Virginia Company K, helping to feed and nurse them. She was there with granddaughters Aniela DeMarco, 7, of Little Egg Harbor Township, and Rylie Kosh, 11, of Pemberton Township, both also in handmade period dresses.

Kids were always sitting on pins and needles worried about what was happening to their fathers, uncles and granddads, Rylie said of Civil War-era children.

Sundstrom doubted Civil War soldiers would have ever thought about how they would be portrayed or memorialized in statutes long after they were dead. But he doesnt like the attacks on the memorials today.

Im hurt  that groups want to destroy history, wipe it out and eliminate it, Sundstrom said. If you forget history you are doomed to repeat it, and I dont want to repeat any part of this war.
Piping plovers are making a modest comeback in New Jersey after hitting a low of 92 pairs in 2014, but now scientists are nervously awaiting word of how they survived Hurricane Irma at their wintering grounds in the Caribbean and Florida.

About 40 percent of the East Coast population winters in the Bahamas, with the rest going to other Caribbean islands and to the southeast United States from the Carolinas to Florida, said Christina Kashi Davis, 40, an environmental specialist with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife in its Endangered and Nongame Species Program.

Were definitely nervous for this year. We know (Hurricane) Irma didnt directly hit the Bahamas, and thats good news. But it sure hit in Cuba, Davis said. And south Florida birds, we are very worried about.

In 2016, 115 pairs of the tiny beach nesters were counted from Sandy Hook to Cape May, and the number fell to 105 this year.

The species is particularly affected by human activity, often abandoning nests if there is too much foot or other traffic.

And because they lay their eggs on top of the sand, predation by foxes, raccoons, feral cats and even other birds is a huge problem. They are so small, they cannot even dig their eggs out after a storm blows too much sand over them, said Davis.

About half of the pairs this year were in northern Monmouth County, with fewer and fewer in the southernmost part of the state, she said.

Im extremely concerned about Cape May County, Davis said. It feels like a death spiral (there).

The county hosted about 40 pairs in the early 2000s, she said.

But by 2017, there were just four pairs in the entire county, from Ocean City to Cape May  three in Stone Harbor and one in Avalon, Davis said.

Only one chick fledged  out of the Avalon nest. The pairs in Stone Harbor didnt even hatch any eggs, she said.

Researchers dont fully understand why the birds have disappeared from so much of the county, failing to find their way to good beach habitat there. There are plenty of theories, though.

They come back to areas where they hatched. So if the areas not hatching chicks, there are none to come back, said Davis. Piping plovers dont live very long. They breed in the first to second year, so we need to constantly replace chicks.

Vegetation may need to be removed from the beach at the Nature Conservancys South Cape May Meadows, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers biologist Beth Brandreth, who helped design the beach for piping plovers in a restoration project there years ago.

The statewide numbers are considerably lower than the high of 144 pairs in 2003, and lower than the long-term average of 119 to 120 pairs, said Davis.

Endangered in New Jersey and threatened in the United States, piping plovers are monogamous within a season, but sometimes switch partners in subsequent seasons, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

They are counted in pairs because its the best way to assess the population, Davis said.

We also do count by individual, but since we are on the breeding grounds and are concerned with recovery of the species, the number of birds paired up actively trying to reproduce is a better indicator of where we stand, she said.

There are always some bachelor birds that do not find a mate, as well as pairs that never manage to breed, Davis said, so the total is greater than the number of pairs doubled. Individual numbers for this season are not yet fully tallied.

This summer the species returned to Island Beach State Park in Ocean County for the second year in a row. A single pair fledged two chicks there last year and one chick this year, after more than a decade of no successful nests there, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

In Atlantic and southern Ocean counties, the Holgate and Little Beach sections of Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge had mixed results, and the state-owned North Brigantine Natural Area improved.

Holgate, at the southern tip of Long Beach Island, went from six pairs in 2011 to 25 pairs in 2016 and fell to 22 this season, while the numbers in Little Beach, a small island north of Brigantine, fell from 17 in 2011 to 12 in 2016, then rebounded to 15 this year.

The Holgate site in particular benefited from a huge overwash of sand from Hurricane Sandy and a northeaster, creating a wider sandy beach for the birds, said Davis.

Thats perfect conditions for piping plovers, she said.

North Brigantine Natural Area turned out many chicks this year, said Davis. But it still doesnt approach the high numbers there in the early 2000s, she said, when 17 pairs bred there.

This summer, of four pairs there, three nested successfully and fledged nine chicks, she said.

That population is a little unusual, Davis said. They nest closely together and oversee each others chicks.

In general they are territorial and dont like sharing, said Davis. But the North Brigantine birds seem to trust one another.

It was communal this year, she said.

Northern Monmouth County, which runs from Sandy Hook National Refuge to Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch, is a bright spot, generating about half of the states pairs and young.

In 2017, the municipality of Sea Bright was off the charts amazing, Davis said, with 10 pairs nesting and fledging a whopping 26 chicks, she said.

Thats 2.6 chicks per pair. You need about one chick per pair to maintain the population, and the federal recovery goal is 1.5 per pair, said Davis.

The birds live in a dynamic system, she said, adapting to changes on the coast. More recently, it may be more than they can handle, especially with sea-level rise.

But living in a system that fluctuates, you cant get yourself too wrapped up in one years story, said Davis. Still, there is no denying we are in a decline, and Cape May County in particular is a tough nut to crack.

Many people are working on the problem, she stressed.

There is a lot of brainpower behind it to try to keep these guys here as long as we can, said Davis.

Davis, of Cape May Point, is a Stockton University graduate and works out of the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area.
By PTI: (Eds: Adds details)

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) A state funeral will be accorded to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and the national flag will fly at half mast at all government buildings here tomorrow in his honour, the Home ministry said today.

The last rites of Singh, who passed away at the Armys Research and Referral Hospital yesterday, would be performed at Brar Square here at 10 am tomorrow.

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"As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, a state funeral will be accorded and national flag will fly half-mast on the day of the funeral (September 18) in Delhi at all buildings where it is flown regularly," a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

The Defence Ministry said Singhs mortal remains will be taken to the funeral site from his residence in a gun carriage procession tomorrow.

It said a gun salute will be given and a fly past will be organised before the final rites.

Arjan Singh, the hero of the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died here yesterday at the age of 98.

He was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF when he was only 44 years old, a task he carried out with elan. He was the chief of the IAF when it found itself at the forefront of the 1965 conflict.

Singh, who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft, had played a major role in transforming the IAF into one of the most potent air forces globally and the fourth biggest in the world.

Known as a man of few words, he was not only a fearless fighter pilot but had profound knowledge about air power which he applied in a wide spectrum of air operations. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1965. PTI ACB MPB ENM DV GVS

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Should believe scientists

Scientists predicted an eclipse on Aug. 21 with specific times and specific locations of the total eclipse, and issued warnings of viewing without proper protection. No one questioned it, protested it, wrote articles disclaiming it, or claimed they were not scientists and thus could not believe in it.

So why is it when scientists claim that some global warming is manmade and that evolution is more than a theory, they are questioned, protested, articles are written disputing it and claims that they are not scientists and thus cannot believe in it?

Gene Mulligan

Wildwood Crest

Gender transition poses danger to young children

Were witnessing an unreasonable, rampant, gender-identity phenomenon and the terrible psychological effect its having on some young and vulnerable children. Comparatively few legitimate cases aside, theyre being encouraged to go against their biological gender before theyre old enough to intelligently evaluate the consequences. There should be a law forbidding the manipulation of a youths immature reasoning.

Writing in The Weekly Standard, Katherine Kersten said, If your boy declares he thinks hes a girl in Minnesota, his parents better support his gender transition or run the risk of being accused of child neglect or harm and possibly punished, an outrageous violation of parental rights. This in spite of whats done to supposedly change a childs sex: administer puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones estrogen for boys, testosterone for girls, amputation of certain body parts, all with threatening side effects to the child both physically and psychologically.

A childs confusion about his or her sex was previously diagnosed as gender dysphoria, an abnormal feeling of discontent treated with counseling by parents and/or a psychiatrist. This made sense because the vast majority of young people outgrow this condition by adolescence. But activists with ulterior motives, in my opinion, have been allowed to reframe this issue as revolving around civil rights. It does not. To claim so, activists conveniently ignore facts and reality that undermine their position.

Some young adults already regret the road they took as youths and are attempting to de-transition, usually not possible.

This is what happens when we go against nature.

Donald R. Ackermann

Barnegat

Democratic chair urges changes in Barnegat

The Barnegat Township Committee meeting of Sept. 5 was a complete farce  just like a campaign-style rally, a la President Trump, each committee member giving a stump speech promoting their greatness.

However, Ill give credit on two issues which people in the township strongly and vociferously advocated over the last 10 to 15 years. They finally listened and renovated public parks and, after all these years, committee members will no longer take health care benefits.

On health care, I will highlight two relevant and misplaced comments made by committee members that evening. John Novak had the audacity to state he is a true public servant because he is generously refusing to take these health benefits. Why didnt he refuse them the last three years and when he was on the committee several years ago? Mayor Albert Bille inappropriately thanked his partys two candidates for refusing to take health care benefits. This ploy is purely a campaign strategy and should be seen as such. Campaign matters have no place at Township Committee meetings.

Lastly, from 2015-2016, the municipal budgt increased by $2.2 million; over the last 10 to 15 years  years where Al Cirulli and Novak served as mayor/committee members  the same increases/irresponsible spending occurred. Every year residents ask for answers to these unacceptable spending patterns and the committee continues to dance around the issue.

Barnegat needs new voices and voters need to make that happen. The township has had one party governing in Barnegat far too long and its time to make changes.

Marianne P. Clemente

Chair, Barnegat Democratic Municipal Committee

Barnegat Township
EDISON, N.J., Sept. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AGI HoldCo, Inc., a multi-channel leading women's footwear brand doing business as Aerosoles, announced today that it, along with certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, " Aerosoles " or the " Company "), have voluntarily filed petitions to reorganize under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Company will continue to manage its stores and operate its businesses as "debtors in possession" under the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and the orders of the Bankruptcy Court.

Denise Incandela, the Company's Interim Chief Executive Officer, commented, "For nearly 30 years, Aerosoles has proudly offered consumers stylish and comfortable footwear at a great value. This restructuring will enable Aerosoles to become a stronger, more vibrant brand, and position the Company for future growth."

A critical portion of the Company's restructuring is a significant reduction in the number of retail stores it operates in an effort to realign the business with the changing marketplace environment. The Company already had begun store closing sales and is seeking approval from the Bankruptcy Court to proceed with those sales. The Company plans to maintain four flagship stores in New York and New Jersey. Customers may also continue to shop online, as the company continues to enhance its strong digital platform, and at leading retailers throughout North America.

"Incandela added, "by improving our financial structure and right-sizing our retail footprint, we will be able to refocus our business efforts on the execution of our turnaround strategy. We will continue to create product that leads the market in comfort and fashion, grow our ecommerce, wholesale and international businesses, and promote innovative new marketing campaigns that will drive our business forward."

In connection with the bankruptcy filing, Aerosoles has filed with the Bankruptcy Court, and expects to obtain approval for, various customary motions for immediate relief. This immediate relief will allow the Company to make certain necessary payments to employees and suppliers that will permit it to continue operating without interruption during the restructuring. The requested approvals include authority to make wage and salary payments, continue various benefits for employees, as well as honor certain customer programs, including gift cards and customer loyalty programs.

The Company expects to complete the restructuring within approximately four months. The reorganized business will focus its efforts on the ecommerce, wholesale and international businesses that have continued to gain strength in recent years.

"We sincerely appreciate the tremendous efforts of our employees and our partners as we work through the restructuring. We recognize that our success is dependent on the ongoing support of our employees and value the collective efforts of our field and corporate team members. We also appreciate the loyalty and support of our customers. This process will allow us to emerge as a stronger brand and company and reinforces our commitment to providing a superior shopping experience in stores and online," said Incandela.

Aerosoles' legal advisor in connection with the restructuring is Ropes & Gray LLP. Berkeley Research Group, LLC serves as its restructuring advisor and Piper Jaffray & Co. serves as its investment banker for the restructuring. Hilco Merchant Resources is assisting on store closings.

Aerosoles has set up a toll-free reorganization hotline, accessible to U.S. callers at: +1-844-858-8887 and international callers at +1-646-757-8472. Customers, employees, or other interested parties who may have questions related to the reorganization may call this hotline for more information. In addition, court filings and other documents related to the restructuring are available on a separate website administered by the Company's claims agent, Prime Clerk at https://cases.primeclerk.com/aerosoles.

About Aerosoles

Aerosoles is a leading global footwear company delivering high quality products with both fashion and performance to consumers in over 40 countries around the world. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Edison New Jersey. Aerosoles is the lead brand of Aerogroup International, which also includes A2, Aerology, and WhatsWhat.

Contact: Brenden J. Kennedy, VP, Consumer Experience & Creative Services, (732) 645-4508



SOURCE Aerosoles
At this three-day event, AmCham South China's CIFIT delegation will meet with government leaders from Provinces of Hebei and Fujian, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, aiming to explore business opportunities and potential for cooperation. The Delegation will also visit major investment projects in Fujian.

"CIFIT represents one of the largest and best platforms for investment and trade in the world, which has become a window of cross-investment to the world. Our Chamber and the members have been here for the past fourteen years and we owe the success of our delegation each and every year to the excellent organization and the high quality of arrangement and service provided by the CIFIT Organizing Committee. I want to offer my congratulations to the MOFCOM, Xiamen and Fujian leaders, and the CIFIT Organizing Committee for undertaking and delivering this highest level of professional excellence, which draws us to the beautiful city of Xiamen every year." said President Harley.

About The American Chamber of Commerce in South China

The American Chamber of Commerce in South China (AmCham South China) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating bilateral trade between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Certified in 1995 by its parent organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., AmCham South China represents more than 2,300 corporate and individual members, is governed by a fully-independent Board of Governors elected from its membership, and provides dynamic, on-the-ground support for American and International companies doing business in South China. In 2016, AmCham South China hosted nearly 10,000 business executives, government leaders and journalists from around the world at its briefings, seminars, committee meetings and social gatherings.

For Additional Information, please contact:

Ms. Rachel Chen

Communication Manager

The American Chamber of Commerce in South China

Tel: 86-20-8335-1476 ext. 39 / 86-136 3219 9935

Fax: 86-20-8332-1642

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE AmCham South China
"This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it's also a new beginning," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Cassini's discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential life beyond Earth."

Telemetry received during the plunge indicates that, as expected, Cassini entered Saturn's atmosphere with its thrusters firing to maintain stability, as it sent back a unique final set of science observations. Loss of contact with the Cassini spacecraft occurred at 7:55 a.m. EDT (4:55 a.m. PDT), with the signal received by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna complex in Canberra, Australia.

"It's a bittersweet, but fond, farewell to a mission that leaves behind an incredible wealth of discoveries that have changed our view of Saturn and our solar system, and will continue to shape future missions and research," said Michael Watkins, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which manages the Cassini mission for the agency. JPL also designed, developed and assembled the spacecraft.

Cassini's plunge brings to a close a series of 22 weekly "Grand Finale" dives between Saturn and its rings, a feat never before attempted by any spacecraft.

"The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that scripted a fitting end to a great mission. What a way to go. Truly a blaze of glory."

As planned, data from eight of Cassini's science instruments was beamed back to Earth. Mission scientists will examine the spacecraft's final observations in the coming weeks for new insights about Saturn, including hints about the planet's formation and evolution, and processes occurring in its atmosphere.

"Things never will be quite the same for those of us on the Cassini team now that the spacecraft is no longer flying," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at JPL. "But, we take comfort knowing that every time we look up at Saturn in the night sky, part of Cassini will be there, too."

Cassini launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and arrived at Saturn in 2004. NASA extended its mission twice  first for two years, and then for seven more. The second mission extension provided dozens of flybys of the planet's icy moons, using the spacecraft's remaining rocket propellant along the way. Cassini finished its tour of the Saturn system with its Grand Finale, capped by Friday's intentional plunge into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons  particularly Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity  remain pristine for future exploration.

While the Cassini spacecraft is gone, its enormous collection of data about Saturn  the giant planet, its magnetosphere, rings and moons  will continue to yield new discoveries for decades to come.

"Cassini may be gone, but its scientific bounty will keep us occupied for many years," Spilker said. "We've only scratched the surface of what we can learn from the mountain of data it has sent back over its lifetime."

An online toolkit with information and resources for Cassini's Grand Finale is available at:

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/grandfinale

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


By PTI: Rampur (UP), Sep 17 (PTI) Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today Swachhta Hi Sewa (Cleanliness is Service) is a "historic step" and that the sanitation drive is becoming a peoples movement.

The minority affairs minister told reporters here that the Narendra Modi government had pledged to construct toilets in almost all madrassas and minority institutions.

Naqvi said his ministry was observing Swachhta Hi Sewa, a fortnight-long cleanliness campaign, in its all offices.

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Cleanliness is no more just a matter of habit, it has become a passion and the people, particularly the youth, are getting attracted to the campaign, initiated by the prime minister, he said.

"It is a historic step and turning into a peoples movement," he added.

Scores of BJP workers welcomed the minister to his native Rampur. PTI CORR SMN

--- ENDS ---
Toronto, Sep 13 : Filmmaker Hansal Mehta had a fan moment with French star Denis Menochet at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival 2017 (TIFF) here.

The director, whose film "Omerta" was premiered at the festival and received an overwhelming response by the audience, on Tuesday shared a photograph of himself along with Menochet.

"Fan moment at TIFF 17. With the amazing Denis Menochet," Mehta captioned the image.

Menochet is known for his performance in films like "Inglourious Basterds" by Quentin Tarantino, "Robin Hood" and "The Adopted" among many others.

"Omerta", which stars Rajkummar Rao in the titular role, tells the story of infamous British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, also popularly known as the man responsible for the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Kuala Lumpur, Sep 14 : At least 25 persons, including students and teachers, were killed in a fire at a religious school in the Malaysian capital here on Thursday, officials said.

The fire at the Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah broke out in the early hours, BBC reported.

A victim list released by the authorities showed 22 of the deceased were students while three others were religious teachers, Xinhua news agency reported.

Prime Minister Najib Razak tweeted his condolences. A Minister said the incident should be quickly investigated, the BBC report said.

Officials said fire engines were at the site within minutes, and the blaze was put out within an hour.

In Islamic tahfiz schools -- where children study the Quran -- students often live in the schools.

Images and videos circulating online showed the upper floor of the school, where students would have been sleeping, ablaze.

A number of students were also taken to the hospital, some suffering from smoke inhalation.

Videos posted on Twitter showed the three-story building was engulfed in raging fire before the fire fighters arrived, Xinhua reported.

The caused of the blaze is not yet clear.
Gandhinagar, Sep 14 : With India and Japan declaring that the key to global economic progress lies in the development of both the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday invited more Japanese investments in India even as agreements were announced for setting up four Japanese industrial townships in India.

"I invite more and more Japanese to come live and work in India," Modi said in his address at the India-Japan Business Plenary here in the presence of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is on a two-day official visit to India.

"Today, four locations have been announced... Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu... for setting up Japanese industrial townships," he said while also noting that the number of Japanese companies working in India had grown substantially over the years.

Modi referred to the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail project, the ground-breaking ceremony for which earlier in the day in Ahmedabad was attended by both Prime Ministers Following delegation-level talks between the Prime Ministers on Thursday morning, an agreement was signed between the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to accelerate and facilitate Japanese investments in India.

In his address at the business plenary earlier, Abe said the "key to global economic development in the future is the development of the two seas... Indian Ocean and the Pacific, which would touch a wide region extending from Asia to Africa."

Abe said that Japan's state-of-the-art technology combined with "India's vast talent pool" would enable both to have the competitive edge in the global marketplace.

Abe also said that carmaker Suzuki, which has a 2.5 lakh annual capacity in Gujarat, will increase its overall production capacity in the state to 7.5 lakh units annually.

Maruti's Japanese partner Suzuki will also set up lithium-ion battery unit at Hansalpur in Gujarat in partnership with Denso and Toshiba, which will start production by 2020. The partners will invest $180 million in the plant to produce batteries for electric vehicles.

At the business plenary, it was announced that 15 Japanese companies had entered into agreements to invest in Gujarat.

Modi announced that India was the highest recipient of Japanese official development assistance (ODI) last year
Kuala Lumpur, Sep 14 : At least 23 people were killed in a fire at a religious school in the Malaysian capital on Thursday, officials said.

A police official said 21 students and two teachers were killed in the fire. The Fire Department said earlier that at least 25 were killed in the fire which broke out at around 5.41 a.m, BBC reported.

Ten people were taken to hospital, and four were reported to have serious injuries.

"Based on our initial investigations, the position the victims were found in indicated that they tried to escape through the windows but were prevented due to the fixed grills on the windows," Fire and Rescue Department Operations Deputy Director Soiman Jahid said.

He said police were still investigating what caused the fire but that it likely was caused by an electrical short circuit or a lit mosquito repellent coil.

Videos posted on social media showed that the three-storey building of the religious school was engulfed in raging fire before the firefighters' arrival.

Ahmad Tarmizi, a 46-year-old local resident who lives across the school, said he was going to a nearby mosque to pray when he saw the raging fire on the third floor of the school.

"I saw four boys in the third floor screaming 'too hot, too hot,'" said Ahmad, adding he later helped a boy who managed to get out of the window and fell on the ground.

"Before 6 o'clock, the firemen came but I think many of the people already died inside because of the smoke," Ahmad said.

He said the students mainly came from the neighbourhood to read Quran in the school.

According to Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh, a total of 36 students aged 13 to 17 and six teachers were in the building when the fire broke out.

The fire was put out some one hour after the firefighters arrived.

Local media reports said the school could have been operating against government regulations, because its fire safety permit application was allegedly still pending.

Malaysia's Health Minister S. Subramaniam said that among the survivors, some broke their legs, some had lung or liver injuries.

"We will do our best to treat the patients here. Some specialists are taking care of them," he said.
Gurugram/Chandigarh, Sep 15 : Yielding to the demand of the family of seven-year-old Pradhuman Thakur, who was found murdered in Gurugram's Ryan International School, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said the CBI will probe the brutal murder.

He also announced the government was taking over the administration of Ryan International School in Gurugram where Pradhuman studied.

Briefing the media after visiting Pradhuman's distraught family in Gurugram, Khattar, who himself turned emotional at the meeting, said: "The investigation into the murder, being done by the Haryana Police, will now be done by the CBI. The case is being handed over to the CBI for investigation."

He said that a formal letter for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe will be sent on Friday itself or Saturday and the agency asked to complete the probe as soon as possible.

Khattar said that the school will be taken over by the district administration of Gurugram for three months and the Deputy Commissioner will be in-charge of running the affairs of the school.

Pradhuman was murdered on September 8 inside the Ryan International School in Bhondsi area on the Sohna Road in Gurugram district. He was found dead with his throat slit inside the school's washroom within an hour after his father dropped him at school on Friday morning.

Police alleged that school bus conductor, Ashok Kumar, 42, killed him with a knife after the boy resisted an attempt to sodomise him.

While Kumar has been arrested, his parents and two other staffers claim he was being a scapegoat.

Police have also arrested two officials of the school and are seeking to question the trustees of the Ryan Trust, which manages the school.

The case snowballed into a major national issue of safety and security of children in schools, with vociferous protests held by parents and activists outside Ryan schools in several states.
Washington, Sep 16 : A US judge found former police officer Jason Stockley not guilty of first-degree murder of an African-American man, the media reported.

After the verdict on Friday, protesters and activists gathered outside the courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri, and marched through the city for hours, reports CNN.

Some could be seen locking arms and praying together, while others held signs, chanting, "No justice, no peace".

While for the most part the protests started peacefully, St. Louis police said on Friday evening that demonstrators threw rocks at the mayor's home -- breaking windows and smashing the windshield of a police vehicle.

They also hit officers with water bottles and other items leading to the arrest of at least 13 protesters.

"I will protect people's constitutional right to peacefully protest, but violence will not be tolerated. We will protect people's lives, homes, and communities," Missouri Governor Eric Greitens said.

In December 2011, Stockley, then a St. Louis officer, fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, after a police chase over a suspected drug deal, CNN reported.

After he pleaded not guilty to a murder charge, Stockley waived his right to a jury trial, meaning the ruling was left to the judge.

Stockley had said he acted in self-defence and believed Smith was reaching for a gun in his car, but prosecutors accused the officer of planting a silver revolver to justify the shooting.

In Friday's ruling, St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson said the state failed to prove that Stockley did not act in self-defence.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Marshal of Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, who led the air operations in the 1965 war with Pakistan and was the nation's oldest serving warrior in his five star rank, died here on Saturday after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 98.

Arjan Singh, the first and the only five star rank officer with the Indian Air Force, was admitted in a critical condition on Saturday to Army Hospital (R&R) after a heart attack. The end came at 7.47 p.m.

Tributes poured in for the legendary air warrior, who was a role model and an inspiration to generations of servicemen. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and several former servicemen were among those who recalled his long and distinguished service to the nation.

Modi, Sitharaman and the three service chiefs had earlier visited the Army hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where he was undergoing treatment.

Appointed Chief of Air Staff on August 1, 1964, Arjan Singh, then 45, led the Indian Air Force effectively in the 1965 war with Pakistan, leading the air operations that pushed back the enemy offensive.

That was the pinnacle of the career of a pilot, who grew up in the annals of the Air Force as the first Indian chief to lead the force into a war.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his astute leadership of the Air Force during the war and was conferred the rank of Marshal of the Air Force in January 2002.

In his many firsts, one was leading the fly-past of over 100 aircraft over the Red Fort on August 15, 1947 -- on the morning of the day India got Independence.

Arjan Singh had flown over 60 different types of aircraft from pre-WW-II era biplanes to the more contemporary Gnats and Vampires besides transport aircraft like the Super Constellation and was the first Air Chief to keep flying even when heading the force.

After his retirement in 1969, he was appointed ambassador to Switzerland. He was Lt Governor of New Delhi from December 1989 to December 1990.

President Ram Nath Kovind, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said the late Marshal was a WW II hero and "won our nation's gratitude for his military leadership in 1965 war".

Modi, in his tributes, said India will never forget Arjan Singh's "excellent leadership" in the 1965 war.

"India mourns the unfortunate demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh. We remember his outstanding service to the nation."

Modi also lauded his "determined focus on capacity building" in the IAF which "added great strength to our defence capabilities"

Sonia Gandhi described Arjan Singh as an outstanding soldier and a diplomat who led from the front.

"He will be particularly remembered for his successful operation tenure on the Burma Front during World War II. He was a jewel in the throne of our Armed Forces and his extraordinary contribution to as an Air warrior would always be a source of inspiration to us."

Sitharaman said it is very rare for any country to have a warrior of this potential and his demise was "great loss for the country".

"He was active, was present at most public functions...He never thought he was a retired soldier. He was mentally and physically all around. Generations have seen him and that was the kind of energy that he carried with him."

She said he took his achievements very lightly.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee, former Defence Minister A. K. Antony, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee and several Union Mministers were among those who paid tributes to Arjan Singh.

Born in Lyallpur (now Pakistan's Faislabad) on April 15, 1919, Arjan Singh hailed from a family where three generations before him had served the Army.

He was selected to the Empire Pilot training course at RAF Cranwell when he was 19. Promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944, he led the squadron against the Japanese during the Arakan Campaign and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944.

Immediately after Independence, he commanded Ambala Air Force Station in the rank of Group Captain. Towards the end of the 1962 war, he was appointed as IAF's Deputy Chief and Vice Chief in 1963, before rising to head the force.
Baghdad, Sep 17 : Iraqi security forces liberated Akashat town area and cleared the surrounding desert land from Islamic State (IS) militants near the border with Syria, the Iraqi military said.

The Iraqi army, paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces and the border guards on Saturday completely recaptured Akashat and reopened a nearby strategic road, Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah from the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a brief statement.

The operation is still underway to clear more areas from IS militants in Iraq's western province of Anbar, Yarallah said.

The latest advance is part of an operation launched in the early morning aimed at driving out IS militants from vast desert area to free the industrial village of Akashat and to clear the road to the village and the nearby border areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a separate statement, the Hashd Shaabi said the troops liberated Akashat area after they destroyed IS defensive lines there, which was used by IS militants as a corridor to move between Syria and Iraq, leaving many IS militants killed and wounded in the area.

The Iraqi forces announced a radio frequency to broadcast the news and instructions to the residents of the towns and villages in the area, JOC said in another statement.

The Iraqi aircraft also dropped thousands of leaflets in Akashat and the nearby cities of Aana, Rawa and al-Qaim near the border with Syria to inform the people that the liberation is soon and to tell IS militants to choose either to surrender and get a fair trial, or to get killed by the security forces.
Kabul, Sep 17 : At least five Afghan policemen were killed and five others wounded after Taliban militants attacked a checkpoint in the western Badghis province in Afghanistan, a senior police official said.

"A group of Taliban rebels attacked a security checkpoint in Kandalan area, in the north edge of provincial capital Qala-i-Now city on Friday night. As a result, five policemen were killed and five others injured," provincial police officer Ghulam Sarwar Haidary said.

The militants also took weapons of security personnel at the checkpoint and fled the area, Xinhua news agency reported.

Taliban militants have intensified their attacks on security checkpoints as government forces have increased military operations against the insurgents in the war-plagued country.
London, Sep 17 : British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that the government will suggest new security treaty to keep level of counterterrorism cooperation with the European Union (EU) after Britain leaves the 28-member bloc.

Rudd, who did not give further information on the proposed treaty, made the statement on Saturday, a day after an explosion took place Friday morning on a packed rush-hour carriage at Parsons Green subway station in west London, XInhua news agency reported.

An 18-year-old man was arrested earlier Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover in connection with attack on the London tube bombing, which left at least 29 people injured.

The arrest is "very significant" and the terror threat level remains "critical", Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said.

British authorities raised the country's terror threat level from "severe" to "critical", the highest possible, meaning they think another attack may be imminent The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the fifth terrorist attack in Britain this year.

The Friday blast was caused by an improvised explosive device, which failed to properly detonate, police said. London transport authorities said Saturday that they have re-opened Parsons Green subway station.

Previous attacks in Britain this year at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park as well as a blast at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester killed dozens of people and injured more than 150 others.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has demanded a ban on the comedy show for blasphemous content.

By India Today Web Desk: SAB TV's comedy show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah has attracted some unwarranted attention from the Sikh community. The religious community wants the show to be banned for portraying the tenth guru of the community Sri Guru Gobind Singh on the show, according to a report in the Firstpost.

"No actor or any character can equate himself with the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. Such an act is unpardonable," The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Kirpal Singh Badungar said in a statement to the media.

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The chief of SGPC further added that the group has been deeply hurt by the acts that features the tenth guru, and has demanded an immediate ban on the show .

The religious group has warned the director and the channel (SAB TV) from showing any more blasphemous content on their show.

--- ENDS ---
Washington, Sep 17 : The US government has not changed its position on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the White House said.

"As the President (Donald Trump) has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," Xinhua news agency citedted the White House statement as saying on on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete said at a meeting in Canada that the US wouldn't pull out of the Paris Agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The EU official said the US has said it "will not renegotiate the Paris accord", but will instead "review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement," the report said.

Trump, who once called climate change a "hoax", announced in June that his country will leave the the Paris Agreement. His decision fulfilled a campaign promise, but was met with widespread criticism both at home and abroad.
New Delhi, Sep 17 : Three states abutting the national capital had last year promised to stop burning agricultural waste in the wake of public uproar and a severe rap from the green court. That promise appears set to go up in smoke and Delhi's citizens are once again likely to choke on severe air pollution this Diwali.

Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are claiming to have taken several measures to discourage straw and stubble burning, but farmers say they have not received any assistance from their respective governments on an alternate method to clear the fields after the harvest.

The farmers IANS spoke to said the government's suggestions for the removal of straw stubble that remains after harvesting of crops -- mainly wheat and rice -- involve convoluted and costly processes and they have been left with no option but to set it on fire.

"It is almost impossible to remove straw manually. The government officials are asking us to stop burning it and use machines. However, we have not received any kind of financial help. Also, we cannot buy costly machines," said Pavitra Singh, a farmer from Mansa district of Punjab.

Given the very small window that exists between the rice harvesting season and the wheat sowing season, farmers are expected to burn the crop residue from early October.

This burning contributes significantly to increasing the concentration of particulate matter (PM) in the air in Delhi as the winds blow the smoke south. Adding to this, emissions from motor vehicles and smoke from the bursting of fire-crackers on Diwali (October 19) worsens the situation and leaves the capital choked and blanketed by smog.

Harpal Singh, President of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), said the farmers were already in financial distress due to poor returns for their agriculture produce and were hence in no position to do anything but burn the stubble.

"Removing the straw is a very tiresome process. Farmers do not have money to hire labourers, leave alone buying machines. How does the government expect farmers to spend additional money for removing the straw when they do not have funds for the basic preparations for farming? The government should come up with a viable alternative for disposal of crop residue," Harpal Singh said.

The Haryana government said it had collected Rs 19.38 lakh last winter as fines from farmers caught burning straw in their fields. However, this did not have any impact as the burning of stubble continued after the wheat crop was harvested this summer.

While the three states claimed they were making efforts to prevent the burning of stubble, the pace of work appears to be sluggish.

Haryana Agriculture Minister O.P. Dhankar said holding the state responsible for pollution in Delhi was "not logical" and yet the government had started creating awareness among farmers and working on a plan of biomass-fired power plants for effective disposal of agricultural waste.

"It is not logical to say that we are responsible for the air pollution in Delhi. It is a creation of its own. However, we are holding agriculture fairs across the state to dissuade farmers from burning straw," Dhankar told IANS.

"We are in talks with Indian Oil Company for the production of ethanol using agriculture waste. We are also preparing a policy to set up biomass plants that run on agriculture waste that will be bought from the farmers. If farmers get money, then they will stop burning the stubble," he said.

All these efforts will take four to five years to transform into reality, Dhankar added.

Unlike the stubble that remains after harvesting the wheat crop, rice straw cannot be used as fodder since it contains a huge amount of silica.

In November 2015, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned the burning of crop residue in five states -- Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Punjab, where paddy is grown on over three million hectares, sees a significant amount of straw being burnt in October, causing people in Delhi to bear the brunt.

Punjab Agriculture Secretary M.P. Singh said the government had taken "a large number" of measures but did not spell these out.

Meanwhile, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) appeared to be clueless about the progress of work undertaken by the state governments.

"We have sent an advisory to the states. We have heard that they are taking necessary action. Pollution during this Diwali is expected to go down," said Prashant Gargava, head of air quality management at the CPCB.

Gargava, however, refused to reveal the status of the action being taken by the states to control the burning of stubble.

(Saurabh Katkurwar can be contacted at saurabh.k@ians.in)
Toronto, Sep 17 : Hansal Mehta's "Omerta", which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) here, captures the bloody trail of British-born terrorist Omar Sheikh who plotted the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Mehta was here for the premiere. "Omerta" is his second film to premiere at the Toronto festival after "Shahid" (2011).

"Omerta" also received a very good response at the TIFF premiere. Mehta has again teamed up with actor Rajkummar Rao to create this riveting story for the big screen.

Packed with violent episodes that marked Omar Sheikh's life as a terrorist, "Omerta" is a powerful insight into why Western-born and educated Muslim youths are taking to jihad.

Omar was the first British-born youth to start this trend. Today, hundreds of Western-born Muslim youths have joined extremist groups like the Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

In the film, Mehta does not take sides and linearly lays bare the life of one of the most dreaded terrorists of our times.

"Omerta" opens with Omar listening to the instructions of a cleric in Lahore about his mission in New Delhi.

Getting the new identity of Rohit Verma and Indian currency, Omar lands in the Indian capital on his mission to kidnap Western nationals.

He almost gets caught at police barricades when a police official suspects him and tells him: "You look like a Muslim." Omar shouts back: "So what?" and is allowed to go.

Three threads run through the film. Omar - just like today's IS recruits - is driven for revenge by real and perceived injustices done to Muslims across the globe.

"You kill our brothers and rape our sisters... So long as these policies continue, you won't be safe," are Omar's common words to all his captives.

Two, the film subtly highlights the role of imams - in Lahore, Karachi and London - in pushing the already angry Omar over the top.

When Omar's father tells the Maulana in London that "I am losing my son", the Maulana says: "He is now Allah's son".

Thirdly, there is the collusion of Pakistan's spy agency in terror plots. As in "Shahid", Rajkummar stands out in the role of Omar Sheikh.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in and gurmukh100@gmail.com)
New Delhi, Sep 17 : State Bank of India (SBI) expects to collect Rs 2,000 crore as penalty on savings bank accounts which have failed to maintain a minimum balance, a sum which may be used to partly cover the costs incurred on the linking of accounts with Aadhaar.

The recent directive of the government to link all savings bank accounts with Aadhaar by December 31 was a "very costly affair" as lenders were already facing high costs in maintaining such accounts and complying with the KYC (know your customer) requirement, says SBI Managing Director Rajnish Kumar.

To recover such costs, including the lender's costs on ATMs and business correspondents, the bank expects to realise over Rs 2,000 crore in the current fiscal from account holders as penalty for failing to maintain minimum balance in their savings accounts, he said.

"Maintaining savings bank accounts and complying with KYC requirement is not an easy task. Now the government has said that you have to link Aadhaar to each and every account by December 31. So I have to look at (SBI's) 40 crore (savings bank) accounts and it is a very costly affair," he told IANS.

According to the government's mandate, all existing bank account holders will have to submit Aadhaar card numbers to banks by December 31 this year, failing which the accounts will become invalid.

Kumar said that the process would add to the costs of banks as it involves a process and making changes in the IT-backend as well.

"It (Aadhaar linking) is a costly affair because you have to contact the customer, you have to do the process, you have to make changes in IT. There are costs associated with savings bank accounts," he said.

The largest public lender said it also invests heavily in technology requirement to take care of the transactions made in the savings bank accounts.

"For maintaining savings bank accounts, there are certain costs. We have to invest heavily in technology. Our cost on technology every year is very high and that is more to take care of the transactions in (savings) accounts," he said.

"The penalty realised, we will use it to recover our outgo on ATMs. On business correspondents (BCs) channel, SBI incurs a loss of more than Rs 400 crore. We are incurring a cost of almost Rs 2,000 crore on business correspondents channel and ATMs per year. At least we should be able to recover that (from the penalty)," he said.

From April 1, SBI made it mandatory for savings bank accounts in metropolitan cities to maintain Rs 5,000 as minimum balance, Rs 3,000 in urban areas, Rs 2,000 in semi-urban areas and Rs 1,000 in rural areas, failing which a penalty is levied.

He said that the rest of the penalty realised would go to recover the bank's other costs, including Aadhaar linking.

According to an RTI query, SBI realised Rs 235.06 crore as penalty till June-end from more than 60 million savings bank accounts.

"Out of 27 crore (270 million) savings bank accounts which are required to comply with the minimum balance requirement, there may be about 20 per cent accounts that have not maintained the balance. We have given them enough time and notice. These charges were applicable from April 1. Those who couldn't comply, we recovered penalty in June," he said.

Kumar said that the bank is, however, thinking of exempting senior citizens' and students' accounts from such penalty.

"There is some feedback from senior citizens and students but by and large customers have accepted this. Whether we do make exemption relating to income group, or senior citizens or students, is under deliberation. We are now doing some analysis and we will take a call," he said.

In the normal course, review on such charges happens once in a year and is effective from April 1, but based on customer feedback, the review is expected earlier, the SBI MD said.

"Review is expected earlier than 2018. Nothing is cast in iron. We will also take into account the competitive situation in the market," he said.

SBI has a total of 400 million savings bank accounts, out of which 130 million are Jan Dhan accounts and Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts which are exempt from minimum balance requirement and no charges are recovered from these accounts.

(Meghna Mittal can be reached at meghna.m@ians.in)
Ahmedabad, Sep 17 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tribute to Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 98.

"He was a brave soldier of our country. He was a hero of the 1965 war," Modi said in Gujarat's Kevadia, where he dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation.

"Even at the age of 98, he would be dressed in uniform. He would come on a wheelchair but whenever he would see me, he would stand," he added.

"I requested him not to stand but he was a soldier, he never forgot his discipline."

Modi said that the Marshal's spirit was the same when he met him on Saturday at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital where he was admitted following a cardiac arrest.

"We have lost a brave soldier. I pay my tributes to him. The nation will always remember his bravery and generations to come will be inspired by him," he added.

In Delhi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the late air warrior's body on behalf of the Prime Minister.
New Delhi, Sep 17 : President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday mourned the death of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh who passed away on Saturday at the age of 98.

In his message to Arjan Singh's son Arvind Singh, the President said: "I am extremely saddened to learn about the passing of our great and cherished air warrior and Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh."

"The Marshal of the Indian Air Force was a hero of World War II and won our nation's gratitude for his military leadership in the 1965 War," he added.

Kovind said Arjan Singh served the nation with distinction and was the "first and only officer of the Indian Air Force who was honoured with the five-star rank as Marshal of the Air Force".

He said Arjan Singh has remained a living legend for generations of our fellow citizens.

"His service to the nation continued even out of uniform, as Lt. Governor of Delhi, Ambassador of India to Switzerland and the Vatican, High Commissioner to Kenya and Member of the National Commission for Minorities. For his services and achievements, he was honoured with numerous awards including the Padma Vibhushan," the President recalled.

Naidu also condoled Singh's death and said the Air Force Marshal "was famous for his role in the 1965 India-Pakistan war".

"An icon of the Indian military history, the then Chief of Air Staff Arjan Singh had led a young Air Force into the war in 1965 when he was hardly 44 years of age," Naidu said.

He also said that in 2016, the Indian Air Force named its Panagarh (West Bengal) air base after Arjan Singh on the occasion of his 97th birth anniversary.

Naidu said the Panagarh base would be called Air Force Station Arjan Singh.

"I convey my deepest condolences to the bereaved members of the family and join the nation in praying for eternal peace for the departed soul," Naidu added.

On Sunday, the government said a state funeral will be accorded to Singh on Monday and the national flag will fly at half-mast.

Arjan Singh was the first five-star officer of the IAF and was for a long time the only living five-star officer.

A Home Ministry statement said the last rites of Arjan Singh would be performed at Brar Square in Delhi Cantonment area at 10 a.m. on Monday.

Arjan Singh, who led the air operations in the 1965 war with Pakistan, died at the Army Research and Referral Hospital here on Saturday. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Nizamabad (Telangana), Sep 17 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that talks with Pakistan will have no meaning unless the neighbouring country stops exporting terrorists to India.

He alleged that Pakistan was continuing its attempts to destabilise India by sending terrorists and by violating the ceasefire on the borders.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in this Telangana town to mark 'Telangana Liberation Day', the Minister claimed that situation on the border had changed and that India is no longer a weak country.

"Some people say talks should be held. We are saying we can have talks with anybody but unless Pakistan stops exporting terror and sending terrorists to destabilize India, talks with Pakistan will have no meaning," he said.

Stressing India wanted good relations with all its neighbours, he recalled that it was with this intention that heads of states of all neighbours were invited to the swearing in of the new government but one neighbour - Pakistan - never responded positively and continued its attempts to weaken India.

Stating that India is giving a befitting reply to the terror, he said this had no parallel in the country's history. He said after killing of five Indian civilians in the border by Pakistan in 2014, he had directed Border Security Force (BSF) to give a strong reply.

"I told Director General of BSF that India believes in non-violence and hence we will not fire the first bullet but if Pakistan starts firing, nobody should be able to even count the Indian bullets," he said.

Rajnath Singh vowed to root out the problems of terrorism, extremism and Maoism. He said India had emerged as a powerful country and no power can cast evil eye on it or threaten its sovereignty.

The Home Minister said the 13 month period from August 15, 1947 to September 17, 1948 was a dark chapter in India's history as the ruler of Hyderabad State committed repression on people, who want to merge with India.

He paid tributes to India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for launching 'police action' to force Nizam to merge Hyderabad State with the Indian Union.He said the credit of political unification of India goes to Patel who ensured merger of all states with the Indian Union, it was B. R. Ambedkar who brought social and constitutional unification.

Rajnath Singh also listed out the achievements of Modi government and said it was determined to build new India.
New Delhi, Sep 17 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday evening visited the house of Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh, who passed away on Saturday, to pay his tributes.

Soon after returning from his tour to Gujarat where he dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam to the nation, Modi reached Arjan Singh's 7A Kautilya Marg residence, where he laid a wreath, and paid tributes to the legend.A

He also met his family members and wrote a condolence message.

Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh passed away at the age of 98 on Saturday. He will be given a state funeral on Monday morning.
Los Angeles, Sep 18 : Actress and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson has slammed reality TV personality Kim Kardashian by writing an open letter to her criticising her style choices.

Anderson wrote a letter to Kim -- after the two met at New York Fashion week earlier this month.

The "Baywatch" star, 50, branded the act of wearing fur "beyond cruel" and urged Kim to "do the right thing" and ditch her animal-wear for good, reports mirror.co.uk.

Kim, 36, is often photographed stepping out in over-sized fluffy coats, despite repeated criticism from campaigners.

In the open letter posted on Anderson's own website she writes: "Dear Kim, It was lovely seeing you at New York Fashion Week. I've had the pleasure of getting to know you over the years, and I can tell you're a good person with a big, beautiful heart.

"I'm writing to ask you to extend your compassion to real fashion victims - the animals who are violently killed in the fur trade - by swearing off fur this winter. I think you'd be horrified to learn that every single fur farm that PETA has exposed has been beyond cruel."

Anderson then told Kim that supermodel Gisele Bundchen and first lady Melania Trump have publicly sworn off fur.

Kim has frequently been criticised by animal rights groups by continuing to wear fur clothing.
American IRA CEO, Jim Hitt You should not be using a standard HO-3 homeowners insurance policy. You dont live in the home yourself (IRA rules prohibit you from doing so), and youre probably renting it out. So the insurance policy you need is a landlords insurance policy, not a straight homeowners insurance policy. Past News Releases RSS American IRA Responds to Increases...

American IRA Responds to The Best...

Self-Directed IRA Administrator...

Owning a real estate property within a Real Estate IRA is not only a great way to build wealth, but it can be a tremendous boon to an investors retirement nest egg. Jim Hitt of American IRA recently took to the American IRA blog to explain how investors can further protect this nest egg by insuring their Real Estate IRA property in the proper manner.

According to Jim Hitt, investors should consider insuring their Real Estate IRA property as they would their own homethe difference is in the way an investor might go about it. Like any property, an investor wants some assurance that theyll have what they need for long-term protection, which in turn boosts the feeling of financial security.

But Jim Hitt also explains that there are certain rules and regulations that Real Estate IRA investors will need to comply with to avoid taxes and penalties.

First, said Jim Hitt in the blog, you should not be using a standard HO-3 homeowners insurance policy. You dont live in the home yourself (IRA rules prohibit you from doing so), and youre probably renting it out. So the insurance policy you need is a landlords insurance policy, not a straight homeowners insurance policy.

This demonstrate a critical difference between holding property in an IRA and not in a general wayinvestors have to separate themselves from the IRA to a large degree.

Jim Hitt also made the point that the insurance policy should not personally benefit the investor as the beneficiarythe account itself should be the beneficiary of the insurance policy.

Insurance premiums, too, will be separated from investors usual finances and will be paid by the IRA itself. Jim Hitt explains that a Self-Directed IRA administration firm like American IRA can be contacted to figure out how to make the logistics of such a transaction take place.

With this article, I wanted to show people what its like to protect yourself with a Real Estate IRA, said Jim Hitt. Many people dont know just how separate you have to be from the real estate within your retirement account. But if you do it right and work with a reputable Self-Directed IRA administration firm, the paperwork becomes much easier to handle.

About:

American IRA, LLC was established in 2004 by James C. Hitt in Asheville, NC.

The mission of American IRA is to provide the highest level of customer service in the self-directed retirement industry. Mr. Hitt and his team have grown the company to over $250 million in assets under administration by educating the public that their self-directed IRA account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more.

As a self-directed IRA administrator they are a neutral third party. They do not make any recommendations to any person or entity associated with investments of any type (including financial representatives, investment promoters or companies, or employees, agents or representatives associated with these firms). They are not responsible for and are not bound by any statements, representations, warranties or agreements made by any such person or entity and do not provide any recommendation on the quality profitability or reputability of any investment, individual or company. The term "they" refers to American IRA, located in Asheville, NC.
A number of American diplomats in Cuba have reported experiencing symptoms that have baffled US investigative agencies as well as Cuban president Raul Castro.

By Dev Goswami: For decades, the United States of America and the South American communist nation of Cuba engaged in covert warfare that went on to become the stuff of legends.

There were the multiple failed attempts to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro (the most famous plot of which involved exploding cigars) and a botched CIA-led military invasion that almost triggered a nuclear war between the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

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All this seemingly ended with the recent thaw in ties between the US and Cuba. However, what has been happening with the American diplomatic community in Havana, the capital of Cuba, could bring back memories of those Cold War years.

American diplomats in Cuba have become targets of what the United States's top diplomat termed "health attacks." The attacks have left diplomats with mysterious symptoms that range from permanent hearing loss to mild brain trauma.

According to a recent report in the Associated Press, at least 21 American diplomats have been affected in these "incidents," a term the US State Department has chosen to describe the episodes.

The AP also reported that the attacks so concerned the Cuban government that the country's president, Raul Castro, offered to allow the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation to come down to Cuba and investigate the baffling episodes.

Confronted with mystery attacks on US diplomats, Cuban president seemed alarmed and personally swore it wasn't Cuba. https://t.co/n5TBmGLSM0 pic.twitter.com/at73RoDsBV- The Associated Press (@AP) September 15, 2017

Notably, some Canadian diplomats too have reported exhibiting similar symptoms. However, their number is reported to be much lower and, according to Canadian media, all those diplomats have recovered, unlike their US counterparts.

'WEIRD SOUNDS'

The incidents began late last year when, according to an AP report, American diplomats in Cuba reported hearing strange sounds. Some diplomats heard "loud ringing" while others heard "grinding" noises.

Strangely enough, most of the diplomats experienced these sounds in specific sections of their rooms, which were either in their homes in Havana or at a hotel used by the American diplomatic community.

Following the sounds, the diplomats started experiencing unusual symptoms that, according to the AP, included concussions, nausea, hearing loss and difficulty in recalling common words.

News of the incidents took a while to reach the top levels in Washington, presumably because of sheer strangeness of entire matter.

In fact, the United States publicly confirmed the episodes only in August this year. During a press conference on August 9, a US State Department spokesperson said, "So some US Government personnel who were working at our embassy in Havana... they've reported some incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms."

But, the US was aware of the instances at least since February this year. The Cuban Foreign Ministry, in a statement released on August 10, said, "On 17 February this year, the United States Embassy in Havana and the Department of State informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the occurrence of some alleged incidents affecting some officials of that diplomatic mission and their families."

US flag raised at the American embassy in Havana, Cuba on August 14, 2015 following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two Cold War-era foes. (Reuters) Click here to Enlarge US flag raised at the American embassy in Havana, Cuba on August 14, 2015 following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two Cold War-era foes. (Reuters)

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CONCERNED CUBA

The mysterious attacks have seemingly rattled the Cuban government. According to an AP report, soon after Washington informed Havana about the incidents, the country's president, Raul Castro called the US envoy to Cuba for a face-to-face meeting.

During the meeting, the Cuban president not only sought to distance himself and his regime from the attacks, but also made a surprising offer. Raul Castro, the brother of the late Fidel Castro, offered to let the Federal Bureau of Investigation to come to Cuba and probe the mystery.

The probe, however, has seemingly made little headway even as more and more diplomats fall prey to the mysterious sickness.

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Just last week, American media reported that the number of diplomats affected was now 21. 16 of these officials were affected late last year while a few more similar incidents were reported as recently as August this year.

Officially, the US has not yet said whether its agencies have been able to identify what has resulted in American diplomats experience these strange symptoms. The US government has also not confirmed which agencies are leading the probe, but the FBI and the CIA are both reported to be involved.

'SONIC ATTACK'

According to an AP report that dug out details of the 'attacks', initial suspicion was that the US diplomats had been targeted by 'sonic weapons' - devices that may have struck the American officials with targeted sound waves.

However, the AP report says, no evidence has been found to back the suspicion. What has complicated the probe is that the symptoms reported are wide-ranging and seemingly unconnected to each other.

Inconsistent symptoms from US diplomats in Cuba "is why this is such a difficult puzzle for investigators to crack," says @joshledermanAP pic.twitter.com/zIIwmfQvs5- PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) September 14, 2017

The US's investigation is also yet to identify any possible culprit. Was a third country like Russia or North Korea involved? Was it some rogue section of the Cuban intelligence? Is the Cuban regime entirely blameless? Or are the symptoms a result of something entire innocuous?

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These are all questions that remain up in the air but to which there are no sure answers.

That Canadian diplomats and their families too have been affected (the number of those affected is between five and ten, Canadian media has reported) is another perplexing issue. Unlike the US, Canada has always shared warm ties with Cuba.

DIPLOMATIC EFFECT

Will these developments have an effect on US-Cuba ties? They already have. The US State Department, during its August 9 press conference, said it had expelled two Cuban diplomats in connection with this mystery down in Havana.

The US refused to call the expulsions, which were effected in May this year, an act of reciprocity or anything along those lines. The US simply said that two Cuban diplomats in Washington were asked to go home.

However, the American Secretary of State (the American equivalent of the minister of foreign affairs) Rex Tillerson said just this weekend that shutting down the US embassy in Havana was something that the US government was currently 'reviewing.'

Rex Tillerson says closing down the Cuba embassy after mysterious attacks on Americans is "under review," adds, "it's a very serious issue." pic.twitter.com/LCQvsrJvgG- Tom Namako (@TomNamako) September 17, 2017

A shutdown of the US embassy in Cuba would mark a reversal of the historic 'Cuban Thaw', which saw Washington and Havana warm their ties after decades of hostility.

Notably, the US has been cautious not to lay the blame at Cuba's feet. For now, all eyes remain on American intelligence and investigative agencies.

--- ENDS ---
National Wholesale Liquidators, a division of NSC Wholesale Holdings, is pleased to sponsor Records & Burpee Traveling Childrens Zoo at its store located at 111 Hempstead Turnpike, West Hempstead, NY. The event starts Thursday, September 21 and ends Sunday, September 24, 2017. The Zoo will be open Thursday through Saturday from 11:00am to 7:00pm and on Sunday from 11:00am to 5:00pm. The Zoo will be located in the main parking lot.

National Wholesale prides itself on becoming part of the community it serves. It is our pleasure to sponsor this zoo and give back to the community that supports us in business. We thank all our customers new and old for their patronage. In addition to the zoo, we wanted to promote child safety and asked our Town of Hempstead Town Clerk, Nasrin Ahmad to join us and give out child safety kits, said Scott Rosen, CEO.

Records and Burpee is Americas largest traveling zoo that has over 60 exotic animals. Husband and wife team, Larry Records and Alexandra Burpee have brought their childrens zoo to communities for over 25 years. Their colorful, comfortable petting zoo under the big top is always a big attraction. Admission is free.

Children will get to feed and pet llamas, goats and sheep. They will also get to see animals such as alpacas, kangaroos, lemurs, yak, zebu, parrots, coatis, giant African porcupine and more. In addition, children can ride on a cute pony of a big friendly camel, or go in a giant moon bounce. So come spend the afternoon for some affordable, educational, family fun.

About National Wholesale Liquidators

Founded in 1984, National Wholesale Liquidators (NWL) is a family-owned and operated value retailer headquartered in West Hempstead, New York. For more than 30 years, NWL provides customers a treasure hunt experience by offering name brand merchandise and closeouts at deeply discount prices. A one-stop shop for super savings, NWL offers a broad selection of merchandise including gourmet foods, health and beauty, apparel for the entire family, electronics, home decor, housewares, appliances, furniture, bedding, flooring, cleaning products, pet care, seasonal merchandise and more. Today, NWL operates 13 big box retail stores throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. To find the NWL store nearest you, please visit http://www.nwlshop.com.

Vita Zorbo

National Wholesale Liquidators

516.489.3300 ext. 1026 (office)

Phil DeGorter

National Wholesale Liquidators
Gubagoo.com Gubagoo Parts Directory is a great way for dealerships to acquire new leads and boost parts revenue. It saves time for dealerships  who no longer need to field cold calls from parts-seeking customers  and for consumers who dont want to wait while someone flips through a catalogue.

Gubagoo, the leading provider of dealer communications solutions, today unveiled Parts Directory, a new and instant way to provide auto parts information to consumers, expanding the power of its best-in-class communication platform to better serve auto dealerships. Through Gubagoos seamless integration with an extensive auto parts directory, consumers can now request vehicle part details via live chat or text message and, in just moments, see the part and get a description with pricing.

Gubagoo Parts Directory is a great way for dealerships to acquire new leads and boost parts revenue. It also saves time for dealerships  who no longer need to field cold calls from parts-seeking customers  and for consumers who, in todays fast-moving world, dont want to wait while someone flips through a catalogue, said Brad Title, CEO and Founder of Gubagoo.

The technology is as simple as it is powerful: Gubagoo operators can search a database of vehicle parts using parameters such as VIN, year, make, model, part name, and push the part information to the consumer during a live chat. Visit Gubagoos booth #505 at the Digital Dealer Conference (#DD23) on September 18-20 to see a live demonstration of Parts Directory.

About Gubagoo

Based in Boca Raton, Florida, Gubagoo is the leading provider of 24/7 auto dealer live chat, text, video, and call monitoring solutions. With a mission to provide a smarter, more cost-effective alternative to the old lead generation model, Gubagoo is the first dealership website solution that successfully makes anonymous traffic identifiable, and converts the 95% of dealer site traffic that traditionally defects. More than 2,800 dealerships, including some of the nations largest dealer groups, as well as OEM-certified programs, are using Gubagoos omni-channel communication platform to take their customer experience to the next level. For more information about Gubagoo, visit http://www.gubagoo.com, e-mail hello(at)gubagoo(dot)com or call 855.359.2573.

Gubagoo Media Relations

mWEBB Communications, Melanie Webber, (949) 307-1723, melanie(at)mwebbcom(dot)com
For the autonomous car to become a reality, a number of challenges are still to be solved. Obtaining a real-time high-definition perception of the environment, a precise localization of the vehicle and real-time sensor fusion are three of the main challenges.

Among the key sensors allowing for advanced 3D perception, the LiDAR sensors are becoming key.

To solve these issues and more, Dibotics and Intempora are announcing the start of a technical partnership agreement to deliver a common solution to the engineers working in solving these challenges and that are using LiDAR and more precisely SLAM techniques (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping).

Dibotics algorithms have been implemented in the RTMaps framework as a library module and will be showcased during AutoSens (September 18th, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium), both in the Intemporas and Dibotics booths.

A video showing the first results of the integration can be found here: https://youtu.be/sy5j69lzkvk.

Dibotics specializes in innovative, real-time LiDAR processing software. Dibotics has created an embedded LiDAR software to provide fast (real-time) and advanced LiDAR data processing, called Augmented LiDARTM.

The Augmented LiDARTM software solves the majority of the perception challenges facing any mobile robotespecially self-driving cars. It does this through precise localization/Ego-Motion, 3D mapping, obstacles detection and tracking, calibration-less sensor fusion and point wise classification (drivable road, road markings, traffic signs, as well as moving & moveable objects).

Unlike traditional approaches, the Augmented LiDARTM only requires data from the LiDAR sensor itself. It does not require additional input from Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), GPS or wheel encoders. All calculations used in the software are deterministic, requiring no AI or learning.

RTMaps allows us and our customers to deploy our 3D SLAM and Classification software in a matter of seconds, allowing for a seamless integration with different sensors, multiple software stacks and hardware platforms. The first customers feedback of both solutions working together is highly positive.  - Raul Bravo, CEO and Co-Founder of Dibotics

The Augmented LiDARTM allows us to fill the most demanding expectations of our customers and partners. Available as an off-the shelf RTMaps building block, this 3D SLAM algorithm solves key challenges like perception and real-time object classification. With Dibotics, we are proud to keep our commitments in providing the best autonomous vehicle technologies on the market



Nicolas du Lac, CEO of Intempora

Dibotics and Intempora agree that the Autonomous Driving industry needs new insights and perspectives to move forward and make a difference in safer and better solutions. The Dibotics module embedded in RTMaps will allow engineers working on Autonomous Driving and ADAS application to accelerate time to market and simplify the development of specific applications.

About Dibotics

Dibotics is a Paris-based company offering innovation in real-time LiDAR processing. Founded in 2015 by Raul Bravo and Olivier Garcia, two serial entrepreneurs with extensive experience of 15 years in LiDAR processing for mobile robotics applications, Dibotics has an original approach that differs from the traditional model. Its sensor-agnostic 3D SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology and Augmented LiDARTM created the first solution allowing advanced features like point-wise classification, objects detection & tracking and calibration-less Sensor Fusion to be performed only based on the sensor data itself. All of this performs without requiring any learning (deterministic) and can be embedded in a small and low-power integrated circuit (SLAM on ChipTM).

For more information about the Augmented LiDARTM solution, please visit http://www.augmentedlidar.com. For sensors other than LiDAR (Radar, 3D ToF Camera, Sonar), please visit http://www.dibotics.com.

About Intempora

Intempora S.A. is a software editor founded in 2000 and based on the works performed and developed from 1998 at the Center of Robotics of Mines-ParisTech. Intempora has now over 15 years of knowledge and expertise in providing advanced software solutions for the automotive industry, especially with real-time multisensor applications which play an essential role in robotics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and highly automated driving (HAD). http://www.intempora.com
Build-A-Bike  Team Building Activity Im glad we could put this behind us and get back to what both of us do really well  helping kids. Past News Releases RSS

After almost a year of negotiations, Golden State Foods Foundation (GSFF), a California non-profit, settled a pending trademark lawsuit with The Leaders Institute , a Texas-based charity team building company last week. Although GSFF admitted no wrong-doing, they agreed to stop using the disputed trade name, Build-A-Bike  to avoid a costly lawsuit.

The Leaders Institute  has offered a bicycle building team activity that they call Build-A-Bike  since 2005, and the company owner, Doug Staneart applied for and received a Federal Trademark for the name in 2006. The Build-A-Bike  team activity is a workshop where corporate teams work together to build bicycles for underprivileged kids in their local area. Its been the most popular team building activity that we offer for almost a decade, because it is so much fun, and it also helps kids in the community, said Staneart. For most training opportunities, we look for a win-win scenario, but with Build-A-Bike , its a Win-Win-Win, because we as a company can help teams become more effective, the participants are learning valuable team skills, and a number of local kids get a brand-new bike.

Because GSFF had also begun to use the trade name Build-A-Bike to describe their bicycle building activity, The Leader's Institute filed a lawsuit in The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, styled The Leaders Institute, LLC v. Golden State Foods Foundation, Civ. A. No. 3:16-cv-03258.

According to court documents, The Leader's Institute  sent a cease and desist letter to GSFF in May of 2016, and received a response from attorneys representing GSFF saying that although GSFF didnt agree that The Leaders Institute  owned the exclusive trademark, they would comply and change the name of their activity to avoid a dispute. Three months later, GSFF was still using the mark. However, in September of 2016, GSFF changed the name of their event to Build-ur-Bike in an effort to comply with the cease and desist request.

Negotiations between the two parties have continued since the lawsuit was filed. Last week, both parties agreed to settle the dispute but the terms were not disclosed. All instances of the Build-A-Bike and Build-ur-Bike trade names have since been removed from GSFFs official website and social media sites.

Im glad we could put this behind us and get back to what both of us do really well  helping kids, said Staneart. The Leaders Institute, LLC donates over a half-million dollars-worth of bicycles and helmets to charities each year. According to Staneart, since 2005, the company has donated over $5,000,000 in bicycles to children all over the world.

Doug Staneart is CEO of The Leaders Institute based in Dallas, Texas. His company specializes in charity team building activities for companies who want to improve teamwork while giving back to their communities.
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US officials in Congress and the White House over the past week have expressed deep concern about developments in Colombia, where efforts to demobilize the country's oldest rebel group are proceeding alongside a boom in cocaine production.

On Tuesday, during a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein pressed a panel of US law-enforcement and military officials over the rise in cocaine production, zeroing in on the role played by Colombia's pursuit of peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Grassley said the peace accord has had a "staggering" impact on the country's cocaine trade, and Feinstein criticized the government of President Juan Manuel Santos over its promise not to extradite FARC members, suggesting US aid to Colombia be "conditioned on extradition when the US requests it."

William Brownfield, the State Department's assistant secretary of international narcotics and law-enforcement affairs, stressed that Colombia's military and national police had been "terrific partners" but echoed the idea the Colombian government had dropped the ball on counternarcotics efforts for the sake of peace negotiations.

"It is my personal belief that the government of Colombia and its president [were] overwhelmingly focused on the peace negotiations and the peace accord. I believe that by so focusing their attention, they by definition focused less on the issue of drugs and drug trafficking," Brownfield said. "I believe in addition they concluded that in order to reach a successful peace accord, they had to cede to the FARC on issues related to drugs."

Brownfield also criticized the Santos government's efforts to combine manual eradication of coca crops with voluntary crop-substitution program. The US has pushed to restart aerial fumigation with glyphosate, which Colombia discontinued in 2015.

Feinstein also cast doubt on the prospects of the peace process, saying she didn't believe "for one second" that the FARC would become "a peaceful, law-abiding institution."

Dissident FARC rebels do appear to be asserting themselves in Colombia's criminal underworld, but the cocaine boom  production rose 134% between 2013 and 2016  has been driven by a variety of factors, not all related to the FARC.

Later on Tuesday, Colombian Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said the country had reached 62% of its goal to eradicate 50,000 hectares of coca crops this year, and the country continues to work closely with the US to seize cocaine as well.

While the Santos government has been criticized for the slow pace with which it is implementing elements of the peace accord, the hardline measures mentioned during the Senate hearing, if adopted, could exacerbate issues like public resistance to Colombia's crop-eradication efforts as well as recidivism among demobilized FARC rebels.

The hearing made scant mention of Colombian criminal groups other than the FARC, even though Colombia itself considers groups like Los Urabenos the most significant threats to the country. Little was said about drug trafficking in Ecuador, whose proximity to Colombia has made it prime territory for traffickers who take advantage of its long coastline.

Moreover, the tone of the hearing suggested to some that an outdated mindset persisted among US officials.

A slap in the face

The concerns expressed during hearing on Tuesday may not necessarily become official US policy, but a memo released by the White House on Wednesday signaled the potential for a much more drastic shift in US dealings with Colombia.

The threat to decertify Colombia and put it on the same "blacklist" as Venezuela and Bolivia  which the memo said Trump would keep as "an option"  elicited dismay in the US and Colombia.
Before joining Mueller's team, attorney Kyle Freeny was leading the Department of Justice's charge to seize profits from the movie, "The Wolf of Wall Street," amidst allegations that Riza Aziz, a co-founder of the film's production company, Red Granite Pictures, used $64 million worth of stolen funds from the Malaysian government to bankroll the movie. Aziz is the stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to Law360.

The dispute is currently the DOJ's most high-profile money-laundering case, and Freeny was one of four attorneys representing the US government before she left the case in June.

Politico noted in its report that there appear to be some similarities between Freeny's work on the Malaysian money-laundering case and certain aspects of Mueller's investigation.

The "Wolf of Wall Street" case is being investigated as part of the DOJ's Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, a program created in 2010 to address public corruption. The initiative is led by seasoned DOJ prosecutors as well as members of the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies.

In addition to the Malaysian money-laundering case, the program is also looking into overseas asset transfers made by Ukrainian officials, including former President Viktor Yanukovych.

Yanukovych is a prominent member of Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions and is closely tied to the Kremlin. Yanukovych also used to be allied with former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, when Manafort served as his consultant. Manafort is widely credited with helping Yanukovych win the presidency in 2010. After being ousted in 2014 following widespread protests against his Russia-friendly positions, Yanukovych fled to Russia and is now living under the protection of the Kremlin.

Mueller's investigation into Manafort's work focuses primarily on his ties to the Party of Regions, which reportedlydesignated Manafort $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments

Mueller has so far given several signs that he's homing in on Manafort as part of the Russia investigation. In addition to probing the former Trump campaign chairman's relationship with the Party of Regions, Mueller has also teamed up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as he examines Manafort's business dealings in the state of New York.

Freeny's expertise in prosecuting money-laundering cases could prove handy for the Mueller-Schneiderman investigation into Manafort's murky finances.

He has previously used shell companies to make cash purchases of real estate, then taken out loans against them. Though the practice is not illegal in itself, it represents a pattern that the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) believes indicates possible money laundering.
By PTI: (Eds: With additional inputs)

Patna, Sep 17 (PTI) Veteran Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and MP from Araria, Mohammad Taslimuddin died at a hospital in Chennai today.

He was 74. The RJD leader is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.

The MPs son Sarfaraz Alam, who is an MLA, said Taslimuddin died due to breathing problem.

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The RJD MP had gone to Chennai in connection with a parliamentary committee meeting. On August 24, he was admitted to the hospital after he complained of breathing problem, Alam said.

The burial may take place the day after tomorrow at his native Sisauna village in Araria district, he said.

Taslimuddin, who was a prominent Muslim leader hailing from Seemanchal area in Bihar, was an eight-time MLA and a five-time MP. He had also served as the Union Minister of State for Home.

He began his political career as a sarpanch and was elected to Bihar Assembly for the first time in 1969.

Expressing grief over the death of the MP, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Taslimuddin was a renowned politician and social worker.

"His death has caused a void in politics," he said.

Kumar, who spoke to Alam over phone and consoled him, also announced that Taslimuddins burial will be performed with full state honours.

The state government would bring the mortal remains of the departed leader to Patna from Chennai, the chief minister said.

RJD president Lalu Prasad and other senior party leaders Rabri Devi, former deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Bhai Virendra and others expressed grief over Taslimuddins death.

"Taslimuddins death has caused an irreparable loss to the party," they said.

Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said he was saddened by the demise of Taslimuddin who was known for his "frank" and "candid remarks".

JD(U) spokesperson Ajay Alok described Taslimuddin as an efficient and intrepid leader and said his death is a big loss.

RJDs Bihar unit president Ramchandra Purve said, "The party held a condolence meeting here to pay homage to the departed leader who had been a big leader of social justice movement. Taslimuddin was a big leader in Seemanchal area and it will be difficult to fill the void caused by his death." PTI AR RG NSD

--- ENDS ---
However, the council has warned that students who are unable to pay should not be sent home because of their parent's inability to pay the dues.

Chairman of the GES governing council, Michael Nsowah, who made the disclosure in a broadcast interview said children do not work and have no source of money and therefore they could not be held liable if their parents were unable to pay the PTA dues.

The PTA is an association of matured people. They have come together to support the running of schools, which is a good thing and nobody has said they cannot collect fees, he said on Citi FM.

He continued: All that the ministry is saying is that, when you want to collect PTA fees, make sure that the collection does not result in a student being sent out of school because of the parents inability to pay the fees,

children dont work and by international convention, they are not supposed to contribute to any fund. It is the parent who made the pledge to contribute and if the parent is unable to contribute, why do you send the child home?
The District Chief Executive of the area, Christian Baah confirmed this to Adom News.

This incident comes after the Ghana Education Service Council sanctioned 11 SHS heads for similar conduct.

The headmasters for Pentecost Senior High School in Koforidua and that of the Duffor Senior High School were sacked while eight of their counterparts have been demoted.

However, the Mr. Baah said the Maths teacher succeeded in selling the items to about five parents seeking admission for their wards in the school.

He noted that the teacher at the centre of the alleged extortion saga claims he is innocent
READ MORE: KATH suspends new admissions over shortage of doctors

"As a developing nation, it will be difficult for us to get all that we need because of the limited resources that we have as a nation, Mr. Cudjoe said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM.

If for example, they want a complement of 800 doctors to handle their services, but because of the limited resources, they are given more than half, they should make do with that in the interim as we work around the clock to ensure that, in subsequent years, more will be added.

The government on Friday gave financial clearance for 130 doctors to be posted to KATH from October this year.

The said doctors will replace some 150 doctors who left the facility after completing their housemanship.

Facing acute shortage of doctors, management of KATH conveyed an emergency meeting following which it was agreed to suspended new emergency admissions.

An internal memo issued by the directorate of surgery to the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital however said that inpatient care for over 250 patients who were currently on admission would continue.

Considering our current staff strength, we are of the opinion that further admissions will endanger the lives of patients and impede the provision of quality care. We would like to put on record that this problem was anticipated by all residents in the hospital and management was notified in writing two weeks ago. Unfortunately, management is yet to communicate a response.
Called by Canada, China and the European Union, the summit was taking place 30 years to the day after the signature of the Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone layer -- which Canada's environment minister hailed as a multilateral "success story" by governments, NGOs and ordinary citizens jointly tackling a major global threat.

"We have an opportunity to accomplish even more with the Paris agreement,"Catherine McKenna said as she opened the summit, attended by more than half the G20 members as well as some of the nations most vulnerable to climate change -- from the low-lying Marshall Islands and Maldives to impoverished Mali and Ethiopia.

"Changes are real, extreme weather events are more frequent, more powerful and more distressful," she told the gathering, pointing at the devastation wrought by mega-storms such as Harvey and Irma which many climate scientists believe are boosted by global warming.

"We are here together and we need to act together," the Canadian minister said.

Nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to curb carbon dioxide emissions with the aim of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, compared to preindustrial levels.

When Trump decided in June to withdraw the United States from the climate accord, Canada, China and the European Union immediately reaffirmed their respective commitments to the pact, which the Group of 20 declared "irreversible" the following month.

But time is ticking, the EU's top climate official Miguel Arias Canete told AFP, as ministers work to narrow their differences and better understand how to implement the ambitious accord -- with less than two months to go until the next UN Conference on Climate Change (COP23), in Bonn in November.

Fossil fuel bans

"This is not a bureaucratic discussion," Canete said ahead of the Montreal gathering. "This is a political discussion with people who have in mind the target of the agreement."

"We need a rule book to be able to monitor and verify and compare emissions of all the parties and see how far we are towards the targets," he said, with a goal of having those rules in place in time for the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland in late 2018.

Key player China -- the world's largest car market -- brings to the table a potentially major advancement in transportation after announcing its intention to ban petrol and diesel cars, following decisions by France and Britain to outlaw their sale from 2040.

The European Union -- which is targeting a 40 percent cut to its emissions by 2030 -- will also shortly put forward a proposal to member states on slashing carbon emissions in the transportation sector, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said this week.

And Canada -- as the world's sixth-largest oil producer -- insists it is "committed to its international climate obligations" which it hopes to reach by massively investing in "clean energy" technologies.

China's special representative to the talks, Xie Zhenhua, said Beijing considers the Montreal Protocol to be a "very effective and efficient" example of multilateral action on the environment -- largely because it rested on a broad consensus.

"We should take actions now," Xie said, "to ensure that we can realize the goals that we have set."

"The key issue is how we should combine climate actions with economic growth, the protection of people and job creation," he added.
Police said they have now issued an order banning the Rohingya refugees from leaving the areas and camps the government has designated for them in the border district.

"They should stay in the designated camps until they return to their country,"Sahely Ferdous, a police spokeswoman, said in a statement.

She said Rohingya were also asked not to take shelter in the homes of their friends or acquaintances and locals have been asked not to rent houses to the refugees.

"They cannot travel from one place to another by roads, railways or waterways," the order said, adding bus and lorry drivers and workers have been asked not to carry the Rohingya.

Police said they have set up check posts and surveillance in key transit points to make sure the refugees don't travel to the other parts of the country.

The restrictions are announced as Bangladesh authorities said they faced an "unprecedented crisis" due to the influx of 409,000 refugees since last month, according to UN figures.

Conditions are already worsening in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar where the majority of refugees are living in squalid conditions after fleeing Myanmar's violence-wracked Rakhine state.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed by the arrivals Rohingya Muslims -- the highest number of refugees to have entered the country in decades -- since violence erupted in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar's Rakhine state on August 25.

Rohingya camps in the border town of Cox's Bazar were already overwhelmed with 300,000 people from earlier waves of refugees before the latest influx.

Most Rohingya, who spent more than a week trekking cross-country from Rakhine to reach the Bangladesh border, have found existing camps overflowing and have instead settled on muddy roadsides.
The law passed on Wednesday evening after a rowdy parliamentary debate following a cabinet reshuffle that saw Ben Ali-era officials join the cabinet as ministers of finance and education.

The reshuffle was seen as strengthening President Beji Caid Essebsi's grip on power, months ahead of Tunisia's first post-revolution municipal polls.

"We do not forgive!" and "We refuse to launder the corrupt!", protesters shouted at the demonstration which was organised by the opposition and the "I will not forgive" collective.

They also branded Prime Minister Youssef Chahed's Nidaa Tounes party and the Islamist movement Ennahdha which supported the bill "enemies of the revolution, enemies of the martyrs".

The protest by mostly young people took place under tight security along Habib Bourguiba Avenue in central Tunis, the hub of the 2011 revolution that brought about Ben Ali's downfall.

"This is a shameful law for Tunisia! It recognises corruption and forgives the corrupt," said opposition parliamentarian Samia Abbou.

Proposed by Essebsi in mid-2015, the bill grants an amnesty to businesspeople and Ben Ali officials on trial for corruption, in exchange for returning ill-gotten money plus paying a fine.

In the face of growing public anger, the text was revised to cover only officials accused of involvement in administrative corruption, not those who received bribes.

Hamma Hammami, leader of the Popular Front party, accused Essebsi of seeking to exonerate Ben Ali-era officials.

"Beji Caid Essebsi is today at the head of the counter-revolution with Rached Ghannouchi," the head of Ennahdha, Hammami said.

He added that he feared "a return to a despotic and authoritarian regime".
The pair met at Tillerson's hotel in New York ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, where officials are to debate US demands for reform to the world body's budget -- including cuts to Washington's contributions.

The United States, which makes large voluntary contributions to some UN missions alongside its formal dues to the organization, is seeking savings, but Grandi warned that this is not the time to cut refugee money.

At a photo opportunity with Tillerson, he was asked whether the UNHCR could continue to meet its current workload without US funding, he said: "I would say no."

"US aid is vital to what we do to support refugees around the world and to find solutions to their situations," he added, before reporters were ushered out and the pair began their meeting.

The UN refugee agency relies almost entirely on voluntary contributions to fund its programs worldwide.

Last year, the United States was the number one contributor, providing $1.5 billion to the $4 billion annual budget.
Jan Kubis, the top UN envoy in Iraq, offered international backing for immediate negotiations between the country's federal government and the autonomous Kurdish region.

In a document he delivered to Barzani on Thursday, Kubis proposed "structured, sustained, intensive and result-oriented partnership negotiations... on how to resolve all the problems and outstanding issues" between Baghdad and Arbil.

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) based in the northern city of Arbil is embroiled in long-standing disputes with the federal government over oil exports, budget payments and control of ethnically divided areas.

Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers on Friday approved holding the referendum in the face of fierce opposition both from Baghdad and the Kurds' international backers.

In the document seen by AFP, Kubis called for talks, overseen by the UN Security Council, that would aim to reach a deal within "two to three years" defining "principles and arrangements" for future relations between Baghdad and the KRG.

In return, Barzani's administration would agree to postpone the referendum at least until the end of negotiations.

"Here is this offer, if they accept this alternative, there will be negotiations," Kubis told AFP.

He hoped to hear from Barzani "in the next two or three days", the UN envoy said. "I hope they will consider the options and I am waiting for their answer."

After several rounds of negotiations in the past, Arbil has repeatedly accused the central government in Baghdad of failing to deliver on its promises.

Despite assurances of Security Council involvement in implementing any future accord, Barzani on Saturday reiterated at a meeting in Dohuk, in the west of Iraqi Kurdistan, that the referendum would be "neither called off nor postponed".

But he also said that "any real alternative" was welcome and the door was not closed to a negotiated settlement.

On Friday, the United States, despite its longstanding support for the Kurds and its alliance in fighting Islamic State group jihadists, sternly urged Arbil to call off its independence referendum.

"The United States has repeatedly emphasised to the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government that the referendum is distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS (IS) and stabilise the liberated areas," the White House said.

"Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilising," it warned.

Washington has repeatedly offered to help negotiate a long-term settlement between Arbil and Baghdad, but regional leaders -- including Barzani -- have been increasingly frustrated that warm words have not led to a precise diplomatic timetable.

This week, top US envoy Brett McGurk was again in Arbil and attempted to persuade the Kurdish leader to call off the vote in exchange for a new diplomatic initiative.

Turkey and Iran fear referendum

Analysts say the referendum plan, which has stirred Arab-Kurdish ethnic tensions, could mark the end of an era of cooperation during which Baghdad and Arbil battled IS together after it seized swathes of northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.

In the region, Turkey and Iran fear the referendum could stoke separatist aspirations among their own sizeable Kurdish minorities.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the vote could prove "a very, very bad thing" for the Iraqi Kurds, whose economy is heavily dependent on oil exports via a pipeline running through Turkey.

On Thursday, the Baghdad parliament fired the governor of the northern province of Kirkuk, Najm Eddine Karim, over his provincial council's decision to take part in the non-binding Kurdish referendum.

The oil-rich province is disputed by Baghdad and Arbil and home to diverse communities including Arabs and Turkmens who oppose the vote.
Improvising during the live show is considered highly inappropriate, as "SNL" alum Jon Rudnitsky told People this weekend.

"By the way, nobody riffs on 'SNL.' Not Will Ferrell, not anybody in the history of 'SNL' has ever riffed. There are cue cards there for a reason, it's live. And he went off on the show, and you can kind of tell when hes trying to do a thing. Youre like, 'Eh, youre not a comedian.'"

NBC sparked controversy when it announced that Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate, was hosting the November 15 episode of the long-running sketch comedy show. Latino advocacy groups, as well as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, protested Trump's selection in light of his comments on Mexican immigration.

The episode itself earned mostly negative reviews from critics. Ahead of the episode, Trump said he rejected a number of sketches he deemed "too risque" because he felt they could jeopardize his rising poll numbers.

But according to Rudnitsky, Trump also vetoed any sketch he felt didn't compliment him enough.

"He had trouble with the sketches, and if a sketch wasn't complimentary about him  mainly physically  he wasnt into it," Rudnitsky told People. "He'd go, 'It's cute, but no  next.'"
"Order on uberEATS and let your wife take a day off from the kitchen," the promo said.

Customers have reacted angrily, accusing Uber of perpetuating gender stereotypes.

"Sorry @uber but why do you think that only the "wife" needs to be at the kitchen!" wrote one Twitter user.

"Thank you @Uber for defining gender roles in India," said Rashi Kakkar sarcastically. "Of course women are meant to slog it out in the kitchen & the men need to BUY us freedom."

Uber has since apologised, writing in a tweet: "This was totally inappropriate. We've removed it and we apologize." A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The promo comes at an awkward time for Uber. The company is reeling from numerous scandals that began with a former employee accusing the company of sexism and discrimination, and culminated in the firing of founder and CEO Travis Kalanick.
Many observers criticized the choice of the Bodega name  which traditionally refers to mom-and-pop convenience stores in large American cities  and the notion that two former Google employees could put the beloved local shops out of business. In the Fast Company profile that ignited the storm, cofounder Paul McDonald laid out his vision for the automated kiosks. "Eventually, centralized shopping locations won't be necessary," he said, "because there will be 100,000 Bodegas spread out, with one always 100 feet away from you."

Others were quick to label the Bodega boxes as the latest internet folly (See: Juicero), dismissing the kiosks as nothing more than a glorified vending machine for the millennial tech set.

With so much hubbub we decided we needed to find a Bodega in the wild and see what it was like to actually use one. It turned out that finding a Bodega was not as simple as we expected it to be, but we eventually tracked one down. Here's what we found:

Bodega listed 30 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area on its website, a few of which are in easy walking distance of the Business Insider office in San Francisco's financial district.

I started at the infamous Millennium Tower, a modern-day San Francisco landmark because of the unfortunate fact that it has sunk 17 inches into the ground and tilted 14 inches to the side.

The sinking 58-story tower is a private residence, and I couldn't make it past the receptionist, who made it clear there were no Bodegas in the building, despite what the Bodega website said.

Next, I walked to JLL Real Estate. The commercial real-estate firm's office was on an upper floor of the building, and I couldn't make it past the lobby without an appointment. After calling JLL I was told: 1) The company didn't have time for me to come up; and 2) It had no Bodega in the office.

Undeterred, I pressed on with the mission.

After hearing from Bodega cofounder Paul McDonald that the majority of the boxes weren't shipping until next week, I trekked over to Managed by Q, a local startup that is one of three San Francisco locations that already have a Bodega box on the premises. Managed by Q employees were kind enough to let me in, and in the back of the office I finally stood face-to-face with my prize.

Behold, the wild Bodega in its natural habitat: the office "break room"!

Look closely and you'll notice this box is well furnished with all the staples of a quality office break room. The selection includes Red Bull, Kind Bars, and pretzels paired with handy items like Advil and Emergen-C packs.

The employees at this particular office were very enthused about their Bodega machine and said it was used all the time. They told me they really appreciated having it since there were practically no other options for food or retail near their office. A cursory stroll around the neighborhood confirmed their claims of deprivation.

There is no credit-card swiper or coin slot on the Bodega. Instead, you use the Bodega smartphone app and type in the number of the Bodega store box at your location.

Sadly, because the Bodega that I finally found was in a private company's location, I was unable to actually purchase any of the goodies within. In theory, the Bodega app should work with any box you find. But the startup I visited told me I needed to be signed in with its company to use it. Maybe it just wanted to get rid of me.

The way it works is pretty simple.

Once you type the box number in the app, the doors to the Bodega store unlock and it's Open Sesame. As you can see from this image from a promotional video the company made, you just grab whatever you want and go on your way. Special cameras in the kiosk, which the company boasts use "computer vision and machine learning," automatically figure out what you took and charge you accordingly.

After checking out the prices for items in the box, we went to a local CVS to do some price comparisons.

We found that most of the items in the Bodega were cheaper or the same price as the ones at CVS. A Kind Bar went for $2.00 in the machine versus $2.49 at CVS, and a pack of Jalapeno Kettle chips was priced at $1.29 in the Bodega and $1.49 at CVS.

So will the Bodega change the way you shop?

The boxes are well-designed and make for a handy office amenity  a nicer version of the vending machine, stocked with a better selection.

Nice as they are, the bodega boxes don't look as if they'll be putting traditional corner stores out of business anytime soon. The selection of sundries is limited to nonperishable items. And the alcohol and tobacco products that comprise the bulk of many a corner store's business were nowhere to be found.
It was also a spot for the religious, white garment prophets praying for people seeking one thing or the other.

The famous Beach (now Eko Atlantic) served another purpose- the public execution of criminals. After the civil war, the military government wanted to deal with the rise of armed robbery in the country.

The government came up with an answer- public executions at the Bar Beach. It was a PR answer to discourage people from turning into a life of crime.

One of the first people to be executed was Mr Babatunde Folorunsho, a fashionable high way robber. Folorunsho had been a pain in the neck of the police for years. His time came to an end in 1971 after he was arrested.

He was charged to court for robbing a man called Mr Alfred Marshall and taking his car. Along with others, Folorunsho was sentenced to death in April 1971.

On a bright sunny day in July 1971, Folorunsho stepped out of the truck wearing an expensive lace material (the choice for rich people back then) to be killed.

He wasn't the only one to step on the sand that day. There were two others- Joseph Ilobo and Williams Alders Oyazimo, a sub-lieutenant in the Nigerian Navy.

When Ilobo came out from the truck and saw the huge crowd who came to see him die he reportedly said "Are all these people here to see me die? Ah! This is a wicked world.I have not committed any crime."

The story of how Williams Alders Oyazimo ended up in front of the firing squad is still unclear till today. Some said his death was a set-up and he was framed. What Oyazimo said moments before he died that day adds more gasoline to the fiery conspiracy theory.

ALSO READ: The rise and fall of Ishola Oyenusi

"Father, I am innocent. My blood will cleanse my family and my children will prosper" he cried out on the fateful day.

Folorunsho was handcuffed both on his hands and legs. He was silent and did not say a word at the Lagos Bar Beach show.

After they were tied up, the soldiers blasted bullets into their bodies and on that day with thousands of people at the beach dark history was made.
The state police commissioner, Anthony Ogbizi, disclosed this on Sunday, September 17, at a media briefing where he paraded seven of the suspected members of IPOB at Ariaria police station in Aba.

He also said an officer was killed by the group Biafra agitators.

Ogbizi added that the arrested IPOB members will be prosecuted for murder, arson and other related crimes.

Following the recent clash with the Nigerian Army, the Defense Headquarter had declared the IPOB a terrorist organisation, while the south-east governors also banned the group in the region.

In light of these, the police said anyone found with Biafra materials will be arrested and prosecuted.

According to Ogbizi, the suspects will be prosecuted under the anti-terrorism act.

He said between September 10 and September 14, the Ariaria police station was attacked by suspected members of IPOB who destroyed everything at the station.

"Even some policemen were seriously injured. In fact as I am talking to you, one of the injured police officer is dead. Doctors tried in vain to save his life," he said.

"Now we have lost a soul and you know what it takes to train a police officer. You know the vacuum that creates. It takes a minimum of one year to train a police officer."

He said the Biafra agitators also destroyed property of lawful citizens, adding that their demonstration was not peaceful.

ALSO READ: 7 reasons army declared Biafra group a terrorist organisation

Meanwhile, the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu's whereabouts is said to be unknown.

IPOB members had alleged that he was kidnapped by soldiers alongside his father and other relatives.
He said the meeting would address the tension in the South-East and Plateau State.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, September 17, Saraki said that security agencies, political and religious leaders must work for the promotion of dialogue as means for tackling agitations, to ensure peace in the country.

The Senate President urged all Nigerians to maintain peace and avoid statements or actions capable of aggravating the tension in the country.

Saraki said that the crises in the country are not unconnected to the economic challenges being faced by citizens.

He said: "The tension in some parts of the country has its roots substantially in the economic situation.

"The nation should be assured that some of the legislative and executive actions taken to address the economic problems are beginning to yield fruits.

"This is why we recently witnessed the rebound of the economy and the exit of the country from recession."

He called for calm among the people, especially in the South-East and Plateau, saying that the government requires the cooperation of everyone in solving all problems.

ALSO READ: Turkish govt disowns citizen supporting Biafra agitation

The Senate President added, "I want to appeal to our people to avoid stoking ethnic or religious fires. We should not deepen the fault lines of our nation and place citizens in danger of violence and sustained crises.

"The government requires the support of all Nigerians and we should please give peace a chance. No real development or genuine economic activity can take place in the midst of crisis or tension.

"Investments and development thrive only where there is peace."
According to Channels TV, the President departs Abuja this morning, September 17, 2017.

He was said to have been accompanied to the US by some ministers, whose names were not mentioned.

It was gathered that at the General Assembly, the President would participate in the general debate, during which he will deliver the country's national statement.

The theme for this year's debate is: "Focusing On People: Striving For Peace And A Decent Life For All On A Sustainable Planet."
The defense headquarters (DHQ) had on Friday, September 15, declared IPOB a "militant terrorist" organisation following the group's clash with soldiers in Abia State last week.

The DHQ said members of the IPOB had at different times attacked soldiers with sticks and stones in the state.

Hours after the Army declaration, south-east governors also banned IPOB in the region.

But the Ohanaeze in a statement opposed the DHQ, saying the IPOB is not a terrorist group.

It said that there are legal processes used to determine if a group is a terrorist organisation or not.

ALSO READ: Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo accuses FG of encouraging Arewa youths

The Ohanaeze also asked the army to stop its 'invasive' operation in the south-east immediately.

"That the decision of the Nigeria army to commence Operation Python Dance in the south-east at this point in time is regrettable and called for immediate termination of the exercise. The military option is never the solution to problem of nation building. We refer for instance to goings on in Spain, Scotland and other parts of the world to reaffirm that only through dialogue can the national question be resolved. Consequently we condemned all acts of violence in pursuance to freedom of expression," the nine-point statement signed by John Nwodo, said.

"That Imeobi resolved that IPOB is not a terrorist organisation. There are processes under extant national and international laws, especially the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011, as Amended in 2015 to determine whether a group is or not a terrorist organisation."

Ohanaeze regretted the loss of lives during the recent military intervention, describing it as "unfortunate and deplorable."

"It is the sole responsibility of the police in every democracy to maintain law and order and protection of lives and property of its citizens.

"A united Nigeria under a restructured federal system of government that guarantees justice, equity and fairness is the best system for this country.

"Accordingly, Ohanaeze is mandated to organise a special summit soonest of Igbo nation in support of the restructuring agenda", it said.
He said Kanu supported Nigeria's unity under former president Goodluck Jonathan's administration but "suddenly turned into a monster" after President Muhammadu Buhari took power.

A statement issued on Sunday, September 17, by the minister's media aide, Segun Adeyemi, said "treasury looters and certain disgruntled elements" are sponsoring Kanu and his group.

Mohammed said the group's agenda is to sabotage the Buhari administration, by pretending to be fighting for the rights of the people of the south-east.

"Nigerians must understand that IPOB was not set up to fight for the right of anyone or group, but as a tool to destabilise the nation, divert attention from the efforts of the Buhari administration and obliterate the laudable achievements of the government," the minister was quoted as saying.

"IPOB is being sponsored by those I will call the coalition of the politically disgruntled and the treasury looters. They believe that by sponsoring this group to destabilise the country and trigger chaos, they will realise their ambition of escaping justice and then be free to dip their hands into the nations treasury again.

"If this is coincidental, then that coincidence is uncanny, at the least. Remember that Nnamdi Kanu, who led a protest at the Nigeria house in London against Boko Haram insurgency and in support of Nigerias unity, under the Jonathan administration, has suddenly metamorphosed into an IPOB monster who will rather set the nation ablaze."

Mohammed said IPOB planned "to trigger conflagration nationwide through attacks and reprisals."

"Thankfully, IPOB has failed in its evil machinations. The good people of Nigeria have seen beyond those cheap tactics and have avoided being incited against one another. We must remain vigilant and resolute. We must all say no to the incendiary and divisive tendencies of IPOB and its cohorts."

ALSO READ: Lai Mohammed says FG must respect privacy of looters
More than 3,000 jobs in the city owe their existence to money generated by nonprofit arts organizations, according to a study conducted by Americans for the Arts to determine the economic impact of the arts in cities.

According to the study, nonprofit arts organizations bring in about $90 million to the citys economy and generate about $4.6 million in local tax revenue. Of the $90 million, about $20.6 million comes from tourists who visit Flagstaff to attend arts and science events. The average amount spent per tourist per event is $86.87.

The amount spent per audience member does not include the ticket for the event itself, which is instead included in the organizations expenditure total.

Of the $90 million in economic impact, $51 million came from organizational expenditures from nonprofit arts, science and culture organizations. At the unveiling of the study Wednesday afternoon, Flagstaff Arts Council Executive Director John Tannous said the study assumed that the money generated from ticket prices would then be used to cover the organizations expenditures, which is why it was counted there.

Audience spending outside of their ticket cost, like going out to dinner or staying at a hotel added up to $38 million.

In the Flagstaff portion of the study, 50 nonprofit arts and science organizations provided their financial records in order to calculate organizational expenses. Organizations that participated include The Arboretum, the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, Flagstaff Youth Chorale, Lowell Observatory, the Museum of Northern Arizona, Theatrikos Theatre Company, Northern Arizona University College of Arts and Letters and the Flagstaff Festival of Science.

For-profit art venues and individual artists were not included in the study, so Tannous said the entire impact of all arts and sciences in Flagstaff is actually bigger than the study shows.

Tannous said the 3,000 jobs supported by the $90 million are not necessarily art or science related, but across all business types. In a worst-case scenario if there were no arts or science events in the city, the city would lose the $90 million in economic impact and therefore would not be able to support those 3,000 jobs, he said.

The study surveyed 2,748 audience members at various cultural events in the city. Of those surveyed, nearly 27 percent were from outside of Flagstaff.

Cultural tourists are affluent tourists, Tannous said. They tend to stay longer and spend more.

Of the tourists surveyed, about 36 percent said their primary reason for visiting Flagstaff was to attend a specific arts or cultural event, and 28 percent of the tourists surveyed said if the event was not taking place in Flagstaff, they would have traveled to another city to attend a similar event. Of the local attendees surveyed, about 9 percent said they would have traveled to another community to attend a similar arts event if it were not available in Flagstaff.

In 2012, Americans for the Arts administered a similar study that included Flagstaff, so Tannous said arts leaders in Flagstaff can compare the economic impact from the arts and sciences over time.

In 2012, the total annual economic impact from the nonprofit arts and sciences was $73 million, and the amount spent per tourist per event was $54.78.

This is modest growth, Tannous said, adding that the growth shows a need for increasing investment in infrastructure to support the arts and to bring more high quality arts and culture events to Flagstaff.
Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament from the Malay Muslim minority, was sworn in Thursday without a vote after two potential rivals were disqualified from running.

The protest followed outrage on social media over what critics say was the engineered victory of an establishment figure.

While the role is largely ceremonial, the president has veto powers on key government appointments and safeguards the country's substantial financial reserves.

Social activist Gilbert Goh, who organised the protest, said it was to highlight the "sense of betrayal" Singaporeans felt after being robbed of a chance to vote in their head of state.

"We are not against (the president)... We are against the system. We are against the process against the right to exercise our democratic vote," Goh told media after the protest.

Scores of Singaporeans dressed in black milled around the park, some holding up signs calling the presidency a "(S)election", while others wore T-shirts emblazoned with the hashtag "not my president", which first gained popularity among Americans unhappy with the victory of Donald Trump.

Organisers said about 2,000 people showed up to the protest but an AFP reporter counted about 800.

Goh said an earlier rally was cancelled because a special police permit was needed since the event would have touched on race.

Sedition laws in Singapore make it an offence to promote hostility between different races or classes in the multiracial society, which is mainly ethnic Chinese with large Malay and Indian minorities, but critics say this stifles free speech.

Authorities decided to allow only candidates from the Malay community in the presidential election to foster harmony in the city-state of 5.5 million people which is dominated by ethnic Chinese, and give more opportunities to minorities.
Washington says at least 16 employees at its Havana embassy -- which fully reopened in 2015 after a half-century breakdown in diplomatic relations -- were injured in a series of incidents that began last year.

The State Department has called the attacks "unprecedented" and has warned Havana it is responsible for the safety of envoys working on its soil -- without saying who it believes was behind them.

Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" about a call by several US lawmakers to close down the embassy, Tillerson responded:

"We have it under evaluation. It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered."

"We've brought some of those people home," he added. "It's under review."

US officials have told reporters they believe some kind of sonic device was used to covertly undermine the health of staff members at the mission, who began reporting sick last year.

Some of the 16 staff who were hurt were evacuated to Miami for treatment in US hospitals, while others were cared for by American doctors who traveled to Havana to work at the embassy.

The American Foreign Service Association -- the labor union representing US diplomatic and international aid personnel -- spoke to 10 of those who received treatment and said their diagnoses included mild traumatic brain injury and permanent hearing loss.
According to Tillerson's schedule, the top US envoy was to meet Lavrov at the Russian UN delegation at 9.00 pm, as senior international officials gathered in the city.

Ties between Washington and Moscow are at what Tillerson has called a "historic" post-Cold War low, amid tit-for-tat cuts to each other's diplomatic missions.

But Washington wants to work with Russia to help resolve the crisis in Syria, where both have military forces deployed, and the rivals are trying to work through their differences.
His comments did not amount to a reversal from US President Donald Trump's widely criticized decision in June to withdraw from the landmark pact, signed by nearly 200 countries.

But Tillerson did appear to signal a softening from Trump's earlier characterization of the deal as a "draconian" pact that impinged on American sovereignty and unfairly favored countries like China and India over the US.

When European environment officials suggested over the weekend that the United States might be ready to reengage with the pact, the White House said that its position was unchanged, and that it could stay only if more "favorable" terms were achieved.

But Tillerson said Trump's chief economics adviser, Gary Cohn, was studying ways the US could cooperate with other countries on what, he said, "is still a challenging issue."

Trump 'left the door open'

The remarks came days before Trump is to speak before world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, where climate change seems sure to be a major topic.

They also came after two devastating hurricanes struck the US mainland in recent weeks -- made more intense, some scientists said, by waters warmed by climate change.

Neither Tillerson nor Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, spoke of reopening negotiations over the Paris accord, an idea sharply rejected by other signatories. But the accord is voluntary, and it appeared the US might be able to find a way, within the pact, to recast its position.

McMaster noted on ABC's "This Week" that Trump had "left the door open to reentering (the pact) at some later time if there can be a better deal for the United States," adding, "Of course, he's open to any discussions that will help us improve the environment."
A Russian military spokesman denied targeting the group, though the coalition claimed that the Russians knew the zone contained SDF fighters.

General Joe Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had spoken to his Russian counterpart General Valery Gerasimov and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had also addressed the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"I spoke with Gerasimov, Secretary Tillerson has spoken to foreign minister Lavrov. We have had communications at three different levels," Dunford told reporters as he flew back from a NATO Military Committee meeting in Tirana.

He said Russian forces were pursuing IS fighters who had fled across the Euphrates when their jets struck close enough to injure SDF troops in the area.

"We have been engaged at every level to re-establish deconfliction at the Euphrates river. It couldn't be more complex and crowded in that area, and so deconfliction is more difficult right now than it was a few months ago," Dunford said.

"We haven't resolved all the issues right now. We'll get through that," he added.

Regime troops are engaged in an offensive against the provincial capital, Deir Ezzor city, while SDF fighters are battling the jihadists further east across the Euphrates.

The SDF and Russian-backed Syrian government forces are conducting parallel but separate offensives against IS in Deir Ezzor, the last Syrian province still largely held by the jihadists.
The past three weeks have been brutal. Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas, destroying homes and other buildings and leaving millions without electricity. A few days later, Hurricane Irma, not to be outdone, did the same to Florida. And if all of that is not bad enough, Hurricane Jose is meandering around out in the Atlantic and might end up making landfall on American soil.

While Texas and Florida have been dealing with flooding and destruction resulting from hurricane-induced torrential rains, hundreds of thousands of acres in Montana, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California and Utah are being consumed by fire. In these states, more than 24,000 firefighters have been fighting 137 blazes, some for as long as six months.

In my old home state of Montana, 12 counties are battling intense fires, which have claimed the lives of two firefighters. While Texas and Florida have been getting too much rain, Montana and other western states have been getting too little, leaving wooded areas and grasslands tinder dry.

The Rice Ridge fire in the Seeley Lake area near Missoula has scorched more than 135,000 acres in an area 60 miles from our cabin. Our insurance company, by the way, increased the premium for our cabin because of the threat of wildfires. The company happens to be based in Houston.

The Sprague Creek fire in Glacier National Park is even closer. It is now within 50 miles of our cabin. While writing this, I talked with my brother, who is at the home place in Montana He reports that the smoke is so thick that it is not possible to see the mountains. The sun is a red disc that is barely visible through the smoke.

The Sprague Creek fire destroyed Sperry Chalet, a rustic chalet which was more than 100 years old. Several years ago, Ruth and I stayed there. It doesnt look as if we will be doing that again.

Rain is in the forecast for this coming week. Whether there will be enough precipitation to do any good remains to be seen. Just because the forecast says there is a 70 percent chance of rain doesn't necessarily mean it is going to rain. There is, after all, a 30 percent chance that there will be no rain.

With so much terrible news, we were in desperate need of some good news. Happily, Rock Island native Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens provided that for us in the women's singles final of the U.S. Open, where the two close friends competed for the womens title.

As everyone knows by now, Stephens ended up winning the match in straight sets. That, however, was not the most important news of the day. The real news of the day was the classy way in which Keys and Stephens conducted themselves, a welcome reprieve from the terrible news about hurricanes and fires and the ugliness of what is happening in Washington.

While waiting for the awards ceremony, Stephens walked over to where Keys was seated and sat down beside here. The two friends, who have known each other for years, shared this very special time together as they were waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Keys commented, Sloane is truly one of my favorite people and to get to play her was really special. She added that while she was disappointed that she didnt win, if she was to lose, she was happy that it was to her friend.

These two young women brightened the lives of all of us. Since Keys is 22 and Stephens is 24, there is every reason to believe they will continue to do so for years to come.

And that is exactly what we need amidst all of the terrible news about hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters.
ALEDO -- This time next week, Aledo resident Amy Hess plans to be clambering toward a 13,300-foot peak in Colorado's Rocky Mountains with 11 other veterans in an outing organized by No Barriers Warriors, a Colorado-based organization working to transform the lives of people with service-related injuries or illnesses.

Ms. Hess, a mother of three who served 22 years in the U.S. Army and Air Force before being medically discharged in 2012, is looking forward to the adventure, though she was originally reluctant to participate.

"It took me about three months to accept the nomination. Veterans typically -- we don't want to be in the spotlight. One of the requirements was to have a service-related injury or illness, and most veterans don't want that kind of coverage of all our stuff out there," Ms. Hess said.

However, after accepting and beginning her training, Ms. Hess began to get excited about forming connections with other veterans.

"I think this trip is all about coming together with other veterans. I've been out for five years, but it's still important to have that camaraderie. No matter where we come from, we've got a common thread: We all served. No matter what illness -- physical or mental -- or injury, this is going to be a time of healing. It's going to be life significant for all of us," she said.

Since her retirement from the forces, Ms. Hess has founded Adonai Community Support Services, an organization that aims to offer support for homeless veterans, those suffering PTSD and those having issues dealing with the Veterans Administration. The nonprofit organization operates mostly from donations and is based in Mercer County but has connections in the Quad-Cities area.

It was her work with veterans that led to her nomination for No Barriers Warriors' third annual Rocky Mountain Expedition.

Gold Star FS, an agricultural cooperative, partnered with CoBank, an agricultural credit bank, to nominate Ms. Hess.

FS business unit manager Bill Stropes said, "A disproportionate number of veterans come from rural areas. CoBank asked us to recommend someone, and we thought of Amy."

"I'm from Aledo and I knew that Amy worked with Adonai Community Support, but I didn't know she was a woman of war. I asked her if she knew anyone who would qualify and she said, 'I would.' She's done a lot for veterans, so I think she deserves this."

Ms. Hess said the upcoming trip has "given me a sense of purpose and something to look forward to, so I've been training to keep myself healthy both physically and mentally. It's important for veterans. It's important for us to have a mission we can work on together. When I reach the summit, that's when all the glory is going to culminate," Ms. Hess said.

"We're not just going to go out, spend time together, and then say 'Goodbye, good luck with everything.' It's Army-connected, but we're not just going to climb a mountain. We're going to set goals and a plan of action to be more active in the community and embrace our disabilities -- whether they be physical or mental."

The group includes veterans with varied military experience, ranging from Special Forces to combat photojournalism. The expedition is an eight-day trip. The group will climb the summit on the third day and conclude the adventure on the seventh day with a discussion of community service.
The Florida nun who became an internet sensation when video emerged of her  dressed in full habit  wielding a chain saw to clear downed trees after Hurricane Irma says she had to look up instructions on how to start the tool.

"I actually had to Google it to find out how to start it because I'd forgotten how ... ," Sister Margaret Ann said. "The students have told me everything is online, sister; just ask the question online."

The nun, principal of Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School in Miami, said her mechanical education didn't stop with the Google search.

"Some people have sent me videos on how to use a chain saw because apparently I wasn't using it correctly or as safe as I should've been, so I'm learning, too," she told The Associated Press in a Skype interview. Many people posted warnings online that the nun's loose habit could get caught in the saw.

An off-duty Miami-Dade police officer posted the video of Sister Margaret Ann on social media Monday. The Miami-Dade Police Department praised her effort, saying: "Thank you Sister and all of our neighbors that are working together to get through this!"

The video was picked up by media outlets, including the AP, and quickly became a global sensation.

Sister Margaret Ann laughed off the attention, saying her students are enjoying watching her on social media. Some have even asked for her autograph.

"People are driving by and saying, 'Thank you, sister, thank you,'" she said. "So I think it has been really good for our community, and I understand that the video has really gone worldwide, so that's kinda funny."

She also said she was glad the video gave the public a different view of nuns.

"The students are telling me, they are saying, 'Sister, you're no wimp. You'll get out there and work with us.' And that is really the way it should be, and that's the way sisters really are. We are not just sitting back praying, or asking other people, or begging for money or anything like that."

She said she didn't even mind the fact that she had become known worldwide as the "chain saw sister," but the new moniker did make her laugh.

"If it's going bring back good memories for people, and we all learn and grow, it's good," she said.
Jeff Bezos cant leap tall buildings in a single bound.

But Illinoisans are styling the Amazon CEO as a man from Krypton who -- with a little luck -- might find his spacecraft landing in our backyard.

Whats left unsaid is Illinois destiny lies in its own hands. It will not be determined by one business, one investment or one individual.

But its true one of the globes corporate crown jewels wants to build its second headquarters. And residents downplay the significance of that investment at their own risk.

Amazon has issued a call for proposals from cities across the country. And the criteria the company has laid out so far match pretty well with what Chicago has to offer.

Major population center: check. Proximity to an international airport: check. Access to major highways and arterial roads: check. Access to mass transit: check. An enormous amount of office space at a decent price: check. Strong tech workforce: check.

Chicago is also a logistics hub  fitting nicely with Amazons core business -- and is home to a media ecosystem capable of handling the companys foray into film and television production.

Amazons plans to hire 50,000 workers at the new headquarters would singlehandedly shift the city and states economic landscape. The largest employer in the Chicago area -- the U.S. government -- reported more than 42,000 full-time local employees last year.

Illinois population loss between July 2015 and July 2016 was 37,500 people. That was the worst decline in the nation.

In short, Amazon would bring a historic number of paychecks to a state with too few.

And downstate Illinoisans would be unwise to think that wont affect their neck of the woods. The Amazon move has the potential to be a boon not just for Chicagoans but for families from Crystal Lake to Kankakee to Carbondale.

Payroll tax revenue alone could net the state hundreds of millions of dollars per year, even if one assumes sweeteners from Springfield. And serving as home to an innovation giant can have serious benefits down the line.

Why not service the nations largest fleet of self-driving trucks in Effingham? Who says Belleville cant be the drone capital of the Midwest? And could a south suburban Chicago airport - discussed for years - finally make fiscal sense to a private developer?

An investment such as Amazons starts to make big dreams seem like real opportunities.

But theres a problem. And it points to a much deeper issue with how Illinois treats businesses.

A stable and business-friendly environment and tax structure will be high-priority considerations for the project, Amazons request reads. Illinois business climate is neither stable nor friendly. Its unstable and confiscatory, and it doesnt appear to be getting better.

Illinois ranked No. 48 in the country for its lawsuit environment in a report released Sept. 12 by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. Chicago or Cook County ranked as the worst local jurisdiction in the nation.

And dont forget, lawmakers in July passed the largest permanent income tax hike in Illinois history. Notably, Bezos contributed $100,000 in 2010 to help defeat an initiative in Amazons home state of Washington that would have created a state income tax.

That doesnt mean Amazon wont take all the goodies it can get. Its request for proposals is clearly courting cities for massive incentives. But Illinois already has given millions in tax breaks to Amazon in connection with its distribution centers, which have popped up across the state.

With so many small businesses struggling to get by, its not fair to give special tax favors to ease the burden of a global behemoth.

Instead of throwing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of special subsidies and tax incentives to land one megadeal, structural reforms to how the state treats businesses large and small would go a long way toward creating opportunities for Illinoisans from the ground up  headquarters or not.

To compete for Amazons new hub, Illinois is better off pursuing innovative, unique partnerships with the resources it already has at its disposal.

Might the company bite at a long sought-after deal for the Thompson Center? In its place, Amazon could build a 21st century Sears tower  fit for the new king of American retail. Policymakers also should work aggressively to develop a package of partnerships with local universities, leveraging private donations and endowments.

Clearly, Illinois and Chicago have a lot to sweep under the rug should Amazon come knocking.

But lawmakers should know this: Efforts to reform the states business climate would be a win for residents regardless of whether the dot-com giant comes to town.
Id like to address the elephant in the room. That elephant being the Republican Party and their refusal to represent the majority of their constituents. Lets begin with stricter gun control (something that would help lessen the fears parents have when sending their children off to school), 53% of Americans favor this (Pew Research) yet the elephant in the room refuses to consider any such thing. Over 70% of Americans want stricter background checks yet again; the elephant in the room refuses to represent them. 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal. Again, the elephant in the room pushes laws that do the opposite. 74% of Americans do not want social security reduced in any way. But the elephant in the room pushes to do just the opposite, cut social security. 63% of Americans now prefer Medicare for all, but the elephant in the room fights it with all its might. 67% of Americans feel more needs to be done to reduce climate change, but not the elephant in the room. The elephant sides with the fossil fuel industry claiming its not a big concern. Given these few statistics (there are more like them) its obvious that the Republican Party is the party of minority rule, quite the opposite of what our founding fathers envisioned. The Republican Party has become a power cult, not a party that represents the majority of Americans. Remember this while you mark your ballot in this midterm election. Save Democracy! Vote Democratic!
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Cine Athens, Northeast Georgia's only art-house cinema, currently rents the space it occupies on West Hancock Avenue. The Buy Cine campaign, launched in April as part of the theater's 10th anniversary celebrations, aims to buy the building and make this Athens fixture even more permanent.
The British police arrested a second man in connection with the bombing on a London Underground train that wounded 30 people, with the United Kingdom home secretary saying the new arrest suggests the attacker was not a "lone wolf".

Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command investigating the Friday attack claimed by the Islamic State group arrested the 21-year-old from Hounslow in west London on Saturday night.

Earlier, an 18-year-old man was arrested in the port area of Dover. None of the suspects have been named.

Both suspects were being held under the UK's Terrorism Act and being questioned at a south London police station.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the BBC that the second arrest suggests the attacker was not "a lone wolf".

"But as this unfolds and as we do our investigations, we will make sure we find out how he was radicalised if we can," she said.

The minister also denied US President Donald Trump had received any leaked security information when he tweeted about the terror attack.

Trump's tweet read: "Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"

Rudd added her voice to British Prime Minister Theresa May's rebuke to Trump on the matter: "It's never helpful to have speculation about an ongoing operation, and I would include the President of the United States in that comment.

"It is pure speculation, absolutely."

She added that 24 million pounds of new government money was going to counter-terrorism operations across the country.

Thirty people were injured during the attack in which an improvised explosive device was detonated on a Tube train at Parsons Green underground station during morning rush hour.

Neil Basu, the Met Police's Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the Metropolitan Police and its partners were working to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly crime."

Basu said in a statement his department was "still pursuing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace."

Met Police counter-terrorism specialist firearms officers yesterday evacuated buildings as they began searches at a residential address in Sunbury, Surrey, southeast England.

The search remains ongoing as it emerged that the home belongs to an elderly British couple honoured with an Member of the Order of the British Empire medal by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for their efforts at fostering hundreds of refugee children.

The 18-year-old arrested is believed to have been one of the children fostered by Ronald Jones, 88, and Penelope Jones, 71.

The UK terror threat level remains 'critical', meaning an attack is expected 'imminently'.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind the bombing but Met Police's Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said it was "very routine" for IS to claim the attack, whether in contact with those involved or not.

The explosion, described as a "bucket bomb", sent a "fireball" through the Tube causing burn injuries to several commuters.

The main device, which had been fitted with a crude timer using shop-bought fairy lights, failed to detonate, meaning hundreds of people were spared death and serious injury.

IMAGE: Passengers leave Parson's Green Underground station after it reopened following an explosion on a rush hour train on Friday morning. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
Taking a jibe at Pakistan, a top Indian diplomat has said Islamabad's decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the United Nations, which has not been discussed at the world body for decades, is like 'Miyan ki daud masjid tak'.

India on the other hand is focused on progressive, forward looking agenda during the UN General Assembly session beginning on Monday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in New York.

"I have outlined in our approach, that is progressive forward looking. We are visionary in our goals. If on the other hand there are other countries, who as you say, focus on yesterday's issues then they are yesterday's people," Akbaruddin said in response to a question on reports that Pakistan plans to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly this week.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would deliver her address on September 23.

"If they (Pakistan) focus on an issue which has not been on the discussion table in the UN now for decades, not for years, for decades..., if this is what they want to focus on, so be it. To be his own...Miyan ki daud masjid tak," Akbaruddin said, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A day earlier, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry had said that Abbasi would be raising the Kashmir issue at the UN.
The recruitment of babus during the Akhilesh government's tenure allegedly favoured applicants from one community -- the Yadavs.

Virendra Singh Rawat reports from Lucknow.

In July, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into allegations of rigging in the appointments made by the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Service Commission since 2012.

The chief minister took to the floor of the assembly during the budget session to make the announcement.

Allegations of widespread wrongdoing in the UPPSC recruitment process, he said, have hurt the state service commission's credibility, and the only way to clear things up was to hold an impartial CBI inquiry.

Since 2012, few appointments in the state's provincial services have been without controversy.

The person in the thick of the quagmire is Anil Yadav, the UPPSC chairman from 2013 to 2015.

Yadav has been accused of politicising the recruitment process during the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government's tenure in the state to favour applicants from one community -- the Yadavs.

One estimate puts the number of allegedly falsified appointments at 3,000 during Anil Yadav's tenure.

Some say as many as 20,000 appointments, including those in the judicial and medical services, could be investigated by the CBI.

For now, the state government has put all controversial appointments made in the past on hold.

Discontent among the applicants started to brew in 2015 when the Akhilesh government was in power.

In March, violent protests erupted in Allahabad, and spread to other cities, after question papers for the UPPSC examination were leaked on the messaging service WhatsApp barely a few hours before the tests were to start.

Angry students set ablaze government transport vehicles and demanded Anil Yadav's removal while the Opposition picked up the issue to target the Akhilesh government.

The episode brought enough embarrassment for the Akhilesh government; the paper leak not only pointed to irregularities in recruitment, but also undermined confidence in the government.

Later, in July 2015, a group of unsuccessful UPPSC aspirants approached the Allahabad high court seeking revaluation of their answer sheets.

The applicants claimed more than 50 per cent of the candidates selected as sub-divisional magistrates in the preceding three examinations held by the UPPSC were from the Yadav community.

In their public interest litigation filed before the Allahabad high court in 2015, the petitioners claimed of the 86 sub-divisional magistrates selected in the previous three exams during Anil Yadav's tenure, 56 belonged to one community.

In other appointments, too, they said, over 50 per cent of the selected candidates were from the same caste.

The petitioners also urged the high court to remove Anil Yadav as the UPPSC chairman and institute a CBI investigation into the matter.

According to the PIL, 72 of the 389 provincial civil services officers selected in 2011 were Yadavs.

Of them, 45 candidates were in the list for the other backward castes and 27 belonged to the general category.

Yadav had taken over as UPPSC chairman in April 2013, and three provincial civil services examinations -- for 2011, 2012 and 2013 -- were conducted during his tenure, when the alleged discrepancies are said to have crept in.

The petitioners said the UPPSC examination process was mired in discrepancies and smacked of a well-connected racket involving highly placed people; beyond the vested interest of appointing candidates from a particular caste, money had also exchanged hands, they alleged.

It was also alleged that Anil Yadav had facilitated the implementation of a scaling system that enabled a candidate securing even zero marks in certain subjects to qualify the exam, as the selection list was prepared after including the marks obtained in the interview.

This apparently defective system, the petitioners alleged, marred the chances of many a candidate, who had secured good marks in the written exam, but could not do well enough in the interviews.

This was not the only controversial change to the UPPSC examination process made during Anil Yadav's term.

He had also implemented a three-tier reservation system that introduced caste-based quotas at the written test stage itself.

However, the UPPSC was forced to retract this decision following widespread protests.

Nonetheless, the spectre of irregularities had started to haunt the provincial examination process even before the 2015 case was filed in the high court.

In February 2014, the Allahabad high court had sought a reply from the Akhilesh Yadav government on a PIL alleging irregularities in the exam conducted by the UPPSC.

However, the court rejected the petitioner's plea for a CBI inquiry observing that only the Supreme Court was vested with the power to order such an inquiry against a member of a public service commission.

Anil Yadav, who was earlier the principal of Sri Chitragupta PG College in Mainpuri district, a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, is believed to be close to the party patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In 2006, he was appointed a member of the UPPSC, and his tenure was a rocky one.

He was accused of brazenly supporting and patronising applicants from the Yadav community. There were violent agitations over his autocratic work style too.

Grave concerns were also raised over his educational credentials.

A Right to Information query seeking details of his qualifications was blocked by the state government -- until the Allahabad high court intervened.

In October 2015, in a big jolt to the Akhilesh government, the high court ordered his removal as UPPSC chairman.

A two-judge bench hearing a PIL filed by the Bhrashtachar Mukti Morcha, an umbrella body of unsuccessful provincial civil services candidates, said there were several doubts over Yadav's bona fides and as such, he was untenable to hold on to the post.

Now, it is the appointments during his tenure that face scrutiny.

Photograph: PTI Photo
Richmond officials proclaimed a return to normalcy a day after dueling protests at the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue, but promised vigilance after the largely peaceful confrontation.

We are not letting our guard down, Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham said in a statement on Sunday morning.

Durham and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney expressed thanks to people who stayed home from the protest by a pro-Confederate group and counterprotests by their opponents, while praising law enforcements handling of the volatile situation.

The people of our city showed this weekend that we can rise above hate and violence, Stoney said in a noon statement. And while we may have difficult days and conversations ahead of us, I am confident that we can come together as a community to build a better city for all.

Stoney has appointed a commission to consider whether to remove or reframe the context of monuments erected to the former Confederacy and its leaders, especially on Monument Avenue, where they were erected as homage to a cause that many see as offensive, especially to the descendants of black slaves in the South.

The protest at the Lee statue in Richmond ended far differently than a white nationalist rally at the Confederate generals monument in Charlottesville last month. That rally, organized locally but attended by a wide range of white nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations from across the country, turned violent, with one counterprotester killed after a rally participant drove a car into a crowd.

Two Virginia State Police helicopter pilots who had been monitoring the protest from above also died after their aircraft plummeted into the woods because of an apparent mechanical failure.

In contrast, the rally in Richmond ended with no injuries or accidents, and just seven arrests, including one charge police believe was not directly related to the protest itself.

Barricades were taken down, no-parking restrictions lifted and all streets were reopened hours earlier than anticipated so as not to further inconvenience the residents, police said in a statement. Crowds at any given time throughout the day never exceeded more than a few hundred participants.

Just seven people, representing a Tennessee group called the New Confederate States of America, stood in protest on the west side of the Lee monument for about an hour and a half, while a group of several hundred counterprotesters confronted them after marching peacefully from the Maggie L. Walker statue downtown.

The pro-Confederate group blamed counterprotesters for allegedly slashing tires on the organizers truck and vowed on its Facebook page to take legal action against all individuals involved, up to and including the city of Richmond and the state of Virginia.

Richmond police said they had no further information about the incident.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia monitored the rally and counterprotest to ensure police respected peoples rights.

Im not aware that there were any major concerns about the policing of the event, ACLU spokesman Bill Farrar said.

However, observers challenged the arrest of one counterprotester, Brittany D. Bush, 29, of Petersburg, who was charged with disorderly conduct after a verbal confrontation with a pro-Confederate protester.

It was intense; it was a very heated argument, said Jason Taylor, a Museum District resident who stood a few feet away. However, it wasnt physical in any way.

Taylor said the confrontation began after the Confederate supporter, who was African-American, loudly denounced protesters for Black Lives Matter. Bush, who also is African-American, confronted him. Police swooped in when she moved toward him and pointed her finger, but Taylor said the Confederate sympathizer told police he had not felt threatened and asked them not to arrest her.

It happened extremely quickly, Taylor said of the arrest.

Police declined to comment beyond a statement on Saturday that said Bush had been arrested after she was observed loudly threatening a bystander with whom she had become combative.

Richmond Commonwealths Attorney Michael N. Herring said Sunday that his office will review any charges made in arrests related to the rally.

I told police I wanted them to exercise an appropriate but low tolerance, Herring said, and we would decide whether we would go forward after the individuals. And Im good with that.

Four counterprotesters  two from Northern Virginia, one from Georgia and another from New York  were arrested on charges of wearing masks in public during a march that circled through the Fan District later in the afternoon. Herring said the charges are based on a state law that requires proof that the person fully concealed his or her face, and intended to do so.

Police said they made two arrests related to firearms, but emphasized that both involved unlawful possession.

Jabari A. Robinson, 21, of Roanoke was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after police said they observed him with a long-barreled firearm with an oversized ammunition magazine prohibited by state law.

The only Richmond resident arrested was Deante L. Watkins, 18, who was charged with two counts each of possessing a stolen weapon and possessing a concealed weapon. They said they made the arrest after observing Watkins walking in the 2100 block of West Broad Street with a rolling garbage can containing two long-barreled weapons.

We dont believe he was heading to the demonstration, police spokesman Gene Lepley said.

Durham and Stoney praised Richmond police officers, as well as state and federal law enforcement, for their handling of the assemblies, which the city said it could not legally prevent.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order last month to withhold state permits for demonstrations at the Lee monument, which is controlled by the state, until after a full review of law enforcements handling of the Charlottesville protests.

The Virginia Division of Capitol Police is responsible for security at the state-owned Lee Monument. I told our men and women last night I was extremely proud of them, both for their professionalism and the fact that no one was injured, Chief Anthony S. Steve Pike said. Countless hours went into the planning, preparation and execution, and I think its fair to say the outcome was a success.

The Richmond police chief reserved a special measure of thanks for Richmond residents and those who showed up to peacefully demonstrate.

I think many people heeded our advice and stayed home, Durham said. And those who did show up were provided with safe spaces to express their opinions thanks to the skill and professionalism of the officers who were on-post. ... It was an A+ effort.
Three men with cameras who documented an anti-Confederate march through Richmond on Saturday all described being harassed by marchers for filming.

Daniel Ledon of Henrico County, Logan Hinson of Roanoke and Vincent Cannizzaro of Richmond described themselves as freelance videographers and independent journalists who didnt know one another before the march.

The afternoon march happened after many who gathered in the morning for a rally and counterprotest near the Robert E. Lee monument had left.

One person spit at me, said Cannizzaro, a store manager who does wedding videography. They were trying to run me over with bicycles. They were just yelling at me, calling me a fascist, they were saying that Im on the wrong side of history. ... Im an independent journalist, aspiring journalist. I work for no one, Im just trying to document whats going on.

The march went along Broad and Main streets, and ended near the Gen. J.E.B. Stuart monument.

Hinson said the anti-Confederate protesters accused him of being with the media while he filmed, saying that the media is fascist.

When were out here with cameras, were not trying to harm anybodys reputation or trying to ruin anybodys life, were just trying to document whats going on, he said.

Ledon said he was harassed by numerous marchers.

They started walking up with their bikes, putting tires up in our faces, making threats at certain points, just using very vulgar language, he said. At the moment, I was a little worried. Thankfully, they never did anything, but I mean, it was a bit of a scary situation.

Some members of the march carried banners that read Sanctuary for all! and These f------ kill fascists. An antifa flag was visible in the crowd. Antifa is short for anti-fascists, a description for far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

The harassment came after a photojournalist from WTVR CBS6 was assaulted in Richmond while filming a similar march with his phone the night of Aug. 13, a day after violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Someone hit him on the head with a blunt object, and he needed four staples to close the wound.

A journalist from political news outlet The Hill was punched in the face while filming in Charlottesville on Aug. 12.

Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, said people need to remember that theres no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place, and photography in public is protected expression.

If you dont want to be photographed or recorded, you should just stay home, he said. If youre in the street expressing yourself and wanting to be able to march and protest and say and do things as long as theyre legal, youre allowed to do that. And the same thing is true of the people who are photographing and recording them. Its a public event. Its a matter of public concern.
Perhaps youve noticed the recent tomfoolery regarding the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

President Donald Trump created it after claiming, with no evidence whatsoever, that 3 million to 5 million fraudulent votes were cast for Hillary Clinton in last years presidential election.

Vice President Mike Pence is the titular chairman. But the commission is run by Vice-Chairman Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state. Last week, Kobach was forced to publicly walk back a cockamamie claim hed published that Democrats in New Hampshire had stolen a U.S. Senate seat through voter fraud last November. Its utter hogwash.

Such sentiments also seem to be thriving on state, local and grassroots levels. And normally those garner far less attention. For an example, we need look no further than a sedate country-club luncheon Sept. 6 by the Winchester-Frederick-Clarke Republican Womens Club.

These kinds of gatherings happen regularly all over the country. Most of them arent covered by newspapers. But this one was, by Onofrio Castiglia, politics and business reporter for The Winchester Star. His Sept. 7 story is creating waves in Richmond and beyond.

The guest speaker was Dr. Clara Belle Wheeler, vice chair of the three-member state board of elections. The longtime Republican is a retired surgeon and Albemarle County farmer. Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed her to the board after the Virginia General Assembly rejected an earlier GOP nominee by the governor.

In the big-picture, the board ostensibly exists to assure voters that Virginia elections are fair, free, transparent, and that theyre run smoothly. For that reason, even though they often have partisan backgrounds, the boards members typically take pains to adopt at least a veneer of nonpartisanship. Even Wheeler seems to agree with that sentiment, as you can read later.

But in the story, Castiglia quotes Wheeler as taking a diametrically opposite tack in her luncheon speech. (Wheeler disputes some quotes Castiglia attributed to her; well get into that below).

Heres the second paragraph of his article:

 Massive, well-organized, well-orchestrated voter fraud  happens every day, Wheeler, a real estate developer in the Charlottesville area, told the group. She said it is a tactic of the Democratic Party.

There was more. The article quotes Wheeler as saying Novembers general election is important because  if [Republicans] dont win this election we will never win another election in Virginia because [the Democrats] will tear up the election process. 

As of Friday morning, Castiglia told me, nobody had contacted him demanding a retraction, or a correction, or to otherwise dispute the newspapers account. He didnt tape the meeting, he said, adding that his notes back up what he wrote.

He also reported that Wheeler stumped heavily for Republican candidates, and gave the women at the luncheon tips on how to display Republican-candidate bumper stickers on their leather purses without getting sticky residue on them.

Wheeler even held up an Ed Gillespie bumper sticker to demonstrate, Castiglia told me.

All of this has raised a number of eyebrows.

Thursday  the same day I sent his article to the state Department of Elections  Nancy Rodrigues, Virginias secretary of administration, sent a letter to Wheeler, asking her if she had been quoted accurately.

It was asking [Wheeler] to explain herself, and asking whether she views it as appropriate for a member of the state Board of Elections, said Brian Coy, a spokesman for Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Theres no evidence to support the claim that theres widespread voter fraud in our elections, or that Democrats are orchestrating it, Coy added. Obviously, if shes aware of a massive criminal conspiracy happening in Virginia, we hope shell make us aware of that.

Friday, the Virginia Democratic Party called upon Wheeler to resign from the board.

Undermining the very electoral system with which she is entrusted is a dereliction of duty, and actively advocating for the election of Republicans while overseeing the election system is a conflict of interest, party chair Susan Swecker said in a news release.

Another elections official who expressed alarm was Robin Lind, secretary of the Goochland County Electoral Board. Hes president of the Virginia Electoral Board Association.

In a telephone interview, Lind told me hes known Wheeler for years, and worked with her when she chaired the Albemarle County Board of Elections. Lind read the story early last week. He said he was shocked. He immediately sent Wheeler an email, asking her if she had been misquoted.

If she had been, Lind advised her, she needed to contact the newspaper immediately.

Some people are not aware of the importance of getting it out immediately if theyve been misquoted or taken out of context, Lind told me. Its a pretty inflammatory statement.

He added: We know, absolutely, that massive voter fraud doesnt exist in Virginia. Period.

Heres Wheelers reply to Linds email, which he sent me, and she confirmed:

Yes, I was misquoted, taken out-of-context, and generally jumbled-up what I said. As much as anybody I know, I take off a party hat when I do the duties of election process. I hope that all of us in our positions as Electoral Board members do the same. That said, we all have opinions.

Friday afternoon, Wheeler and I had a long conversation on the phone. It veered deep into the weeds of potential absentee voter fraud; voter registration fraud; a voter registration application sent to her deceased mother more than 10 years after her mothers death; and all sort of other what ifs.

She didnt dispute that shed uttered the phrase massive, well-organized, well-orchestrated voter fraud. But she said she wasnt talking about Virginia. And she wasnt ascribing it to Democrats, she added.

Wheeler acknowledged that shed talked at the luncheon about the importance of the upcoming election. She would say that for any election, she said. And I may have said if we dont win now, we may never win again, Wheeler said.

She denied she said that [Democrats] will tear up the election process if they triumph in November.

Wheeler told me, The article misquoted me, took what I said out of context, cut-and-pasted some of my sentences to misconstrue what I was saying.

I think I was misquoted multiple times, and sentences were deconstructed, reconstructed, maybe [Castiglia] couldnt read his own notes; I dont know.

Sandy Montgomery-Aker, first vice president of the Winchester-Frederick-Clarke Republican Womens Club, said in an email that she invited Wheeler to speak at the luncheon.

I felt a member of the State Board of Elections was the best person to speak on voter fraud period, Montgomery wrote. I felt she did just that and from the reviews that I received, others in the audience felt the same way. Regarding the article that appeared in The Winchester Star on Sept. 7th, I did not agree on some of the comments and feel things were left out thus, some remarks were taken out of context.

Castiglia said he stands by the story 100 percent.

I dont think she was in any way misquoted, he said. It was an accurate and succinct portrayal of her speech.

Wheeler acknowledged that, as of Friday afternoon, she had not asked The Winchester Star for a retraction, correction or otherwise contacted the paper about the article. During our conversation, she said that she now wishes she had.

At the luncheon, If I voiced opinions, they were my own opinions, she said.

I was invited to speak at a ladies GOP function because Im a female, and Im a Republican, Wheeler said. I was not there representing the state board of elections in any way, shape or form.

And she added: I did not know there was a reporter in the room. He did not introduce himself before; he did not introduce himself after; he did not check to make sure he got his quotes right.

Ive been watching politics closely for 48 years. Ive never heard the kind of hue and cry about so-called voter and election fraud as were hearing today. Its reached epidemic proportions.

Much of it is chicken-little rubbish egged on by Trump, whos still stung that he lost the popular vote last November, and spun by minions like Kobach. Their pattern is to raise isolated, inconsequential cases to the level of nefarious conspiracy, with little to no evidence. Occasionally, they get called on it.

Some do it because theyre playing a game; others, out of ignorance. Either way, it weakens the publics faith in our election systems.

Id like to give Clara Belle Wheeler the benefit of the doubt here. But neither game playing nor ignorance is a decent excuse for a sitting member of the state board of elections.
RADFORD  Backups at the state lab that handles evidence-testing are nothing new  but they are causing long delays in criminal cases across the region, prosecutors say.

Where once it took six weeks or less to confirm that a seized substance was an illegal drug or to get blood-test results for a suspected drunk driver, it now can take six months.

The holdups play out in different ways, including the release of a suspect who otherwise would be jailed until trial. That happened this month in Radford General District Court where Commonwealths Attorney Chris Rehak asked a judge to release a man charged in a felony drug case until evidence comes in.

Im going to ask the court to do something extraordinarily unusual, Rehak said to Judge Erin Dehart at a Sept. 8 hearing. Rehak asked for James Elwood Long, who faces a charge of manufacturing a controlled substance, to be released without bail, and for his case to be delayed until test results came back from the Virginia Department of Forensic Sciences Western Laboratory in Roanoke.

It was the fifth continuance in a case that hasnt yet reached a preliminary hearing  typically an early step in the path toward a trial. Long had been jailed since his arrest in March. After Rehak asked for Longs release, Dehart agreed to reschedule a preliminary hearing to Nov. 2, and released Long to the supervision of the probation office.

Longs attorney, Jimmy Turk of Radford, said delays in test results have made continuances increasingly common. For defendants whose test results come back positive for illegal substances, the longer timeline for trial  and a pretrial release  could be helpful if they use it demonstrate a productive and sober life before trial, which in turn sometimes leads to a shorter sentence, Turk said.

Stay away from drugs, Turk called to Long as sheriffs deputies took him to process his release.

Linda Jackson, Virginias forensic science director, on Thursday called the long turnaround times for drug tests an issue that keeps coming back.

The Western Lab is hiring three analysts and training a fourth to join the dozen who now handle controlled substances testing there, Jackson said. The Western Lab also is shifting some cases to other state labs with more capacity.

Its an attempt to deal with persistent delays and growing backlogs.

Last month, Jackson sent a memo to prosecutors and judges across Virginia acknowledging numerous communications about the longer times needed for controlled substance tests.

The four state testing labs  in Richmond, Norfolk and Manassas, as well as Roanoke  have seen higher numbers of drug test submissions, Jackson wrote  from 16,188 submissions logged from January to July in 2015 to 19,216 during the same time period this year. The 19 percent jump in submissions across the two years was accompanied by an almost 89 percent increase in the statewide backlog in test cases, Jackson wrote.

There was a drug test backlog of 9,588 cases at the end of July, Jackson wrote. The average lab turnaround time in controlled substance cases was 99 days, according to Jacksons memo.

Pulaski County Commonwealths Attorney Mike Fleenor traced lengthening test times to a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision. In Melendez-Diaz v Massachusetts, the court ruled that defendants Constitutional right to confront accusers required laboratory personnel to personally testify about tests done in many cases where previously, it had been enough to just send a certificate of results.

The decision meant that lab personnel must frequently leave the lab to travel to courts.

The number of court appearances that Virginia state lab personnel have made in controlled substance cases has risen from 133 in 2008, the year before Melendez-Diaz, to 555 last year, Jackson wrote in an email. In toxicology cases, such as those involving blood tests, the number of court appearances by state lab workers rose from 604 in 2008 to 2,257 in 2016.

Other factors contributing to delays and backlogs are a rising number of drug cases and increasing complexity of tests to be done  especially in synthetic opioid cases, where rigorous safety measures are needed to protect lab personnel, Jackson said.

In 2014, in an effort to reduce its backlog, the state labs stopped performing tests for misdemeanor marijuana cases. The backlog did go down but has risen again, Jackson said.

Montgomery County Commonwealths Attorney Mary Pettitt wrote in an email that her staff tries to coordinate schedules with the Western Lab and keep analysts court appearances to one day each month.

We do appreciate that every minute an analyst is out of the lab and in court is a minute they dont have to actually analyze evidence, Pettitt wrote.

Montgomery County also often waits to arrest suspects until tests are completed  usually about five months, Pettitt wrote. Then her staff seeks direct indictments and moves cases straight to Circuit Court. That eliminates any speedy trial issues because we are ready to go at the time we bring the charges, she wrote.

Other prosecutors said they also find themselves asking for continuances for preliminary hearings or delaying charges until results come back.

It is often not appropriate to bring charges regarding drug distribution until the lab can verify what the controlled substance is in the first place, Giles County Commonwealths Attorney Robert Lilly wrote in an email.

Salem Commonwealths Attorney Tom Bowers noted that safety issues connected with handling drugs like fentanyl have stopped many law enforcement agencies from conducting the field tests that yielded results that could be used at the beginning of a prosecution.

Now we have to wait to get it back from the lab. It may be three, four, five months and then you have your case starting there. So that does delay that, for safety reasons, Bowers said.

Another wrinkle of the longer timeline for drug cases is the storage of other evidence. Video from body-cams and dash-cams can quickly fill digital storage, prompting new protocols in prosecutors offices.

If we have a drug case where were not charging til the results come back from the lab, were tagging or saving the video that goes with it, Bowers said.

Floyd County Commonwealths Attorney Eric Branscom wrote in an email that his office has been able to manage delays in part because of a relatively lighter caseload.

The main impact for us has been on DUIs involving blood analysis (drug- rather than alcohol-related). A number of those cases get badly delayed because of staffing issues at the lab, Branscom wrote.

The turnaround time seems to be getting longer and the lab seems to be trying to address the issue administratively by decreasing the automatic testing that they would do on an evidence sample. In other words, we often have to specifically ask for certain tests to be done that had been done as a matter of course in the past. That can and has caused delays in cases, Branscom wrote.

Roanoke County Commonwealths Attorney Randy Leach said that the Western Lab has long grappled with a heavy workload and could use more support.

Theyre busy, Leach said. We have just had to be patient.

Staff writers Neil Harvey and Alicia Petska contributed to this report.
CHRISTIANSBURG  Montgomery Countys governing body will soon learn about the possibility of ending the commissioner of revenue and treasurer as publicly elected jobs.

During a meeting last week, board of supervisors Chairman Chris Tuck said hes curious about how the county could absorb those jobs into its finance department and end their elections as state-mandated constitutional officers. It could save money and perhaps provide better protection to employees of both current offices, he said.

Tuck requested and received supportive gestures from each board member to ask county staff to research the pros and cons and exact legality of ending the election of both offices.

The commissioner of revenue and treasurer are among the five elected constitutional officer jobs in Virginia that serve localities. The other constitutional officers are sheriff, commonwealths attorney and the clerk of the circuit court.

The commissioners office assesses the value of properties in a locality and  with the tax rates set by local governing bodies  helps determine taxpayer bills. The treasurer collects those bills.

Other functions of the treasurer include the safekeeping of a localitys bank accounts, investment of the public funds and accounting and disbursements of funds to cover a municipalitys operations.

County senior staff couldnt immediately say this past week all the steps needed to eliminate the two offices as elected jobs. But Tuck, Commissioner of Revenue Helen Royal and Treasurer Richard Shelton each said in separate interviews that the process would eventually involve a referendum.

Tuck is a Republican. Royal and Shelton are Democrats. Tuck said his reasoning for exploring the change has nothing to do with party politics.

Tuck said hes looking at those two offices because they appear to replicate functions in the countys finance department. He said the three other constitutional offices appear more unique in their functions than any other county administrative departments.

I think theres potential for savings and efficiencies that can be addressed, he said.

Tuck said he believes bringing the two officers under administrative control could also afford those offices employees the same protection as other county employees. He said constitutional officers have the discretion to arbitrarily fire its employees.

In fact, a constitutional officers relationship with their employees is at the heart of the ongoing legal attempt to remove Clerk of the Circuit Court Erica Williams. The board of supervisors cited Williams previous firing of some deputy clerks when the government decided last year to cut some of the local funding for her salary. The case of her removal from office is being pushed by a separate group of citizens.

Tuck said during his comments last week that he expects some push back from the statewide organizations that support Royals and Sheltons jobs. The board chairmans expectation wasnt off as Royal, Shelton and members of Virginias commissioner of revenue and treasurer groups each voiced staunch opposition this past week to the idea of eliminating the two elected offices in Montgomery County.

Royal, Shelton and officers with the two representative associations each argued that keeping the offices elected prompts greater accountability to taxpayers and perhaps most importantly upholds a system of checks and balances between those offices and local governing bodies.

Im against it for the reason that our offices were created by the [Virginia] constitution, and it had to be for a reason, Royal said. Its a separation of duties.

While insisting that her office does a good job, Royal said she thinks her department wouldnt be as responsive if it was run under the administration.

Were the people who see the taxpayers every day, she said. You have a problem, you can come to us. We listen because we are elected officials. If we dont do our jobs right, we wont be here next time. Weve been told [before], Ill remember next election.

Shelton echoed much of Royals points, and he added that consolidating the offices can create a conflict such as an officer adjusting an assessment to collect more taxes.

Shelton and Royal each said job losses would also be inevitable if the two offices are fused by the finance department.

It would be no reason to do that, if not to eliminate positions, he said. Why try to fix it, if its not broke?

Officers with the two jobs statewide representative groups emphasized the separation of powers.

Elected constitutional offices follow the basic premise of our democracys separation of powers, said Stauntons Commissioner of Revenue Maggie Ragon, whos also president of the Commissioners of Revenue Association of Virginia.

Separation that doesnt allow any one body to control revenue source for the locality. It protects not only taxpayers but the locality itself ... to create space between taxpayers and the elected body, so taxpayers can be comfortable that their assessment is equitable.

Roanoke Treasurer Evelyn Powers, whos president-elect of the Treasurers Association of Virginia, echoed Ragons point.

Having an elected treasurer is a good check and balance for internal control so you dont have one department that has control ... over taxes being assessed and billed to our taxpayers, Powers said.

Sheltons and Royals current terms end in 2019. Each have told The Roanoke Times that they currently do not plan to run again.

Royals office employs a total of 14 employees and runs off a $983,307 budget, according to county figures. The county pays $781,599 of that budget, while the Commonwealth covers the rest. Her individual salary is $104,160.

Sheltons office employs a total of 12 employees and runs off a $997,644 budget. The county pays $799,584 of that budget and the state covers the rest. His individual salary is $111,243.
A new contract for Roanokes controversial sale of the circa 1820 Fishburn Park caretakers cottage significantly cuts the amount of land involved, allows the buyer to use the park entrance and protects historic elements of the structure.

The revised contract between the city and Roanoke architect Lora Katz comes before the Roanoke City Council Monday, a month after a majority of council voted to delay action on the sale to gather more information and impose more restrictions on Katz.

Neighbors of the park and the Grandin Court Neighborhood Association have vehemently opposed the sale. One nearby homeowner recently erected a banner reading STOP LORA KATZ. Theyve also accused her of conflict of interest because she sits on the city council-appointed planning commission.

Freeda Cathcart, president of the neighborhood association and neighbor of the park, said Friday the changes in the contract do little to assuage neighbors concerns. Her group has asked the city to hold off on selling the cottage until they could raise money to buy and restore it for community use.

The 1,000-square-foot white clapboard house was once home to the Blackwell family, whose patriarch, George Blackwell, was the longtime caretaker of Fishburn Park. It has been vacant for about 30 years, and the city had offered it for sale along with 1.4 acres of surrounding land because it has no plans for its use.

Katz proposed to buy the house and restore it to use as her private residence.

Under her original agreement with the city, she would get the house and land for $10 but would be required to invest $135,000 in renovations and occupy the house within a year. If she were to sell the house within four years of occupying it, she would have to pay the city $75,000. She would be permitted to build one accessory structure, and her deed would restrict use of the property as a single-family home.

She would have built a driveway onto the site from Clifford Avenue, to which neighbors objected. Others wanted more stringent protections for the historic elements of the house.

Under the contract the council will consider Monday, Katz would get no more than three-quarters of an acre. She said last week that when the surveying is complete, she suspects it will be closer to a half acre. She never wanted all that land to maintain anyway, she said.

Assistant City Manager Brian Townsend said the large lot was intended to avoid a buyer using the park entrance on Brambleton Avenue to get to the house.

Under the new contract, Katz will receive easements to bring utilities across city land if necessary, and will also allow Katz to reach her private drive via the park entrance.

If it accommodates getting the house in private hands, then thats what weve got to do, Townsend said.

A deed restriction will also require Katz to preserve in place or repurpose numerous historical elements of the house, such as the long structure on which the house rests, the chimneys, parts of the timber frame, the siding, and interior elements such as trim, baseboards, flooring and a mantel.

Katz said she opted against a preservation easement to protect the structure because it was costly and too complicated for a private homeowner, and the deed restrictions achieve the same effect.

Cathcart said she remains concerned about the deal, and noted that the sale would cut off entry to an access road to the interior of the park. Townsend said the city will create a new access to the road, which is primarily used by park workers.

Cathcart also faulted the city and Katz for their lack of contact with interested parties like the Roanoke Neighborhood Advocates. The Roanoke Neighborhood Presidents Council has voted to oppose the sale, she said.

Theres been no due diligence on the part of Lora Katz or the city to reach out to the neighborhoods, she said.

Cathcart and others have also decried Katzs conflict of interest because of her position on the planning commission.

City Attorney Dan Callaghan, however, said provided she takes appropriate steps, Katz can contract with the city to buy the land without violating state laws on conflict of interest.

As a planning commission member, shes an employee, Callaghan said, but state law bars employees from doing business only with their agency, in this case the commission. Her sales contract is not with the commission, but the city, so theres no violation, Callaghan said.

If the sale is approved, a rezoning of the land and release of it as park land will come before the planning commission, and Katz must recuse herself from that discussion and vote and any related closed meetings, Callaghan said. He noted that Katz has someone to speak for her in any event.

Katz has been quiet throughout the process, and said since the council delayed its vote on the sale she considered backing out.

I actually even wrote a letter that I didnt send, she said. I dont want to be the bad guy. I went into this to be the good guy.

Katz said her only desire was to restore a derelict structure so when you came to the park you would see this beautiful little cottage.

She grew up in Roanoke and has specific memories of the cottage.

I can still remember driving past it with my parents. I told my dad, Those people are just so lucky, they get to live in a park,  Katz said. Her father responded, If you work hard and you study, you can live wherever you want.

But she confessed that shes a bit scared about living among neighbors who have so vociferously opposed her effort to buy and restore the cottage.

The STOP LORA KATZ sign took things to another level, she said.

Now its, like, really personal, she said. I get texts probably every hour saying, Whats going on, what did you do? 

Council approval on Monday, however, will hardly be the end of the process.

Katz will have a due diligence period during which she could halt the sale  for example, if she finds costly problems she didnt plan on.

And if she goes forward, theres more public hearings on the rezoning and removing the land from the park. The council must also approve any specific utility easements, Townsend said.

This is just the first step as we march toward actually conveying the property to her, he said.
CLEVELAND  Debra Hornes boyfriend asked her two questions.

No. 1: Would she ever move from Tennessee to Southwest Virginia so they could settle down on the Clinch River winding through the mountains?

No. 2: Would she marry him?

Horne said yes to both. Now, Debra and Darrell Horne own 290 feet of riverbank.

Two decades ago, Hornes heart led her to the Clinch River Valley. But now, as mayor of small town Dungannon in Scott County, her home is proud to call itself the heart of the Clinch as part of a widespread campaign for Southwest Virginia localities to embrace and market their natural assets.

An initiative years in the making, the towns along the river have banded together to diversify the economy of Southwest Virginia. But the crown jewel of their efforts  turning a portion of the river into a state park  is still on the horizon.

Seeking alternatives to jobs lost

The Clinch River spans 135 miles in Virginia, stretching from Tazewell County to the Virginia-Tennessee border.

Seven towns and counting along the river have come together to protect and market the region as an outdoor recreation destination. Added together, the towns populations are dwarfed by the number of residents in Bristol, Virginia, but these little localities discovered their power is greater when they work together.

Thats how the Clinch River Valley Initiative was born. In 2009, when coalfields localities saw coal jobs disappearing and locals moving away, residents in these towns began discussing how to reinvent the area, said Frank Dukes, a distinguished fellow at the Institute for Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia.

Coal mining is certainly going to continue, Dukes said. The idea was not to replace coal mining, but to replace the jobs lost as coal mining has become less of a driver for the economy.

Dukes department helped facilitate discussions about the future of Southwest Virginia coinciding with the start of the Great Recession. Early on, discussions included talk of reclaimed mine lands and local agriculture, but it was the idea of using the Clinch as an economic driver that came up time and again.

The river initiative officially launched after a 2010 forum on building local economies. Dozens of stakeholders involved developed an action plan with goals of improving the marketability of local economies, enhancing the rivers water quality and adding more river access points and camping spots.

At the top of the list: Create the Clinch River State Park. But even with state funding for the park on the table, theres still work to be done, Dukes said.

Nobodys saying were done, he said.

Dungannon, under Hornes leadership, joined the Clinch River Valley Initiative as a Hometown of the Clinch last year. The "hometowns" present a united front for change, serve as environmental stewards of the river and work with their neighbor localities to market the river and the region. They also distribute and sell Clinch River paraphernalia.

Horne calls the group her information highway because anytime she has a question about something she can call representatives from another hometown to find the answer.

As far as small towns go, Dungannon is one of Virginias smallest with fewer than 400 residents. But the small town has big projects in the works.

In 2015, the town received a $700,000 grant for a downtown revitalization. Town leaders hired Roanokes Hill Studio to revive downtown Dungannon by updating building facades and adding a performance stage, farmers market area and more.

The river initiative started with marketing the river, but marketing the towns along the river plays just as big a role, Horne said.

Everybodys mindset was that coal was the only asset they had to use and that commodity has always kept Virginia people with a decent amount of money, she said. Now that coals going out, it made us realize and it made us also look to other resources that we could have that we might could bring our towns back to life again.

Planning a park

The Clinch River State Park is moving forward, and locals and outside observers hope it will be a boon to Southwest Virginias economy.

Last year, Virginias General Assembly approved $2.5 million for the first phase of the project. The money is designated for planning and land acquisition to launch the more than 600-acre park.

The park will not be like a traditional state park with one, large plot of land. Instead, portions of the state park will be scattered along the river, and will include restrooms, camping areas, river access points and trails.

Quote 1 I think theres huge, untapped potential here in that our natural beauty is not just something thats a joy for us, but it is an underutilized economic asset."  Ed Gillespie, Virginia gubernatorial candidate

Virginias Department of Conservation and Recreation is working with The Nature Conservancy to identify possible park locations and landowners who might be willing to sell some of their riverfront property, said Shannon Johnson, department spokeswoman.

The term string of pearls has been used to date to describe a system of pieces of land along the Clinch River corridor through Tazewell, Russell, Wise, and Scott Counties, she said. We anticipate that initial purchases of land for the park will be done over the next two years.

The state park is just one piece of the whole economic development puzzle, said Brad Kreps, director of The Nature Conservancys Clinch Valley Program.

Ideally, the groups hope to purchase three or four plots of land in the 200- to 400-acre range to anchor the state park. The park will also include smaller plots of land in the 1- to 2-acre range to serve as public river access points, Kreps said.

While the state park is years away from completion, The Nature Conservancy and some towns on the Clinch are working to add more boat launch points so the public has additional river access.

Gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie pledged to complete the state park within his four-year term should he be elected in November. Gillespie, a Republican, calls Virginias outdoor economy an essential asset to driving up state and local tax revenue.

I think theres huge, untapped potential here in that our natural beauty is not just something thats a joy for us, but it is an underutilized economic asset, he said.

Part of that joy is lost on people from Northern Virginia because they dont know about the natural beauty in Southwest Virginia and often spend their tourism dollars in other states, Gillespie said. Its a matter of raising awareness of outdoor recreation destinations in Southwest Virginia and across the state he said.

Virginia tourism was a $24 billion industry in 2016, and visitor spending supported 230,000 jobs in the commonwealth.

Gillespies convinced the commonwealth can do better  ideally, better than North Carolina, which brings in $28 billion per year in tourism revenue.

That means driving up recreation and tourism across the commonwealth, but especially in Southwest Virginia, which has been hit hard by the decline in the coal industry.

Enter Clinch River State Park.

An economic analysis predicts the state park will attract 100,000 annual visitors by its third year and have a $2.53 million annual impact on Virginias economy.

Virginias governor could help push forward completion of the state park, Gillespie said. While the state has allocated initial funds for the project, the department of conservation will need additional dollars down the line to add park infrastructure and amenities.

Its the kind of thing that would take a governors attention, Gillespie said. It wont happen with only the support of the General Assembly members.

Conservation to build up mussels

The Clinch River Valley is a hotbed for biodiversity, particularly for its numerous species of rare, freshwater mussels.

The Clinch is home to more than 40 species of mussels, 20 of which are federally listed as endangered species.

Bearing humorously descriptive names like shiny pig toe, fluted kidney shell and Appalachian monkey-face, the mussels burrow into the gravel and sand mixture lining the rivers bottom.

The Nature Conservancy is using a 20-mile stretch of the Clinch in Cleveland in Russell County as a focus group to grow the mollusc population. The stretch of river contains about four mussels per square meter, but can support about three times that number, said Braven Beaty, an ecologist with the conservancy.

Like a sharpshooter, Beaty can easily locate the obscured mussels hiding beneath the surface. In the winter, Beaty will don a wetsuit to tend to the creatures.

Growing the mussel population is imperative to improving the rivers water quality, Beaty said. Mussels filter water almost constantly and at peak times, can filter up to a gallon of water per hour  filtering out dirt, bacteria, algae and sediment.

Mussels are also an early indicator of poor water quality, Beaty said.

They seem to be relatively a canary in the coal mine, he said. They take it on the chin a little bit whenever habitat or water degradation happens, earlier than many of the river fauna thats out here.

The Nature Conservancy has protected 345,000 acres of commonwealth, including nearly 1,000 acres in the Cleveland area. The group's conservation efforts include educating locals on how to respect the nature around them  a mission that has translated over to the Clinch River initiative.

Part of the initiative includes educating locals and tourists about the biodiversity of the river, something Kreps hopes will factor into the state park. Kreps, who can list fact after fact about various plants and animals in the Clinch River Valley, highly encourages people to recreate on the Clinch, but wants them to recognize their actions on land and in the water can affect the natural habitat.

Its that sweet spot between human enjoyment and conservation," he said.

Tourism on the rise

During summer weekends, Donna Johnson works out of a train caboose alongside the rivers edge in St. Paul.

Johnson, the owner of Clinch River Adventures, rents tubes, kayaks and canoes for float trips on the Clinch. Johnson bought the business last year from another local after she saw business was booming. The number of customers has doubled and tripled at the outfitter since the previous owner opened the riverfront business in 2013.

During the average summer weekend, Johnson launches about 150 people on the river, and attracts local customers as well as tourists from other states and countries.

I think its something different that this area had never offered before. Johnson said. Its just not something in somebodys backyard, necessarily that they can just go out and try.

Locals have long known about Southwest Virginia's beauty, but out-of-state folks are starting to discover the region is an outdoor destination, said Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott.

At a conference this summer, a man from Maryland rushed up to Kilgore. Excited to have found someone from Virginia, the man asked Kilgore if he had ever heard of Devil's Bathtub  a swimming hole in Duffield. Kilgore was happy to report the bathtub-shaped water feature is located in his House of Delegates district.

"I think the word is getting out," he said. "Its a beautiful area. Weve got a lot of trails, a lot of hiking, a lot of river."

As outdoor recreation booms in Southwest Virginia, so too, does the craft beer scene. Local officials recently announced the creation of a craft beer trail that stretches from near Smith Mountain Lake southwest to Bristol, Tennessee.

The Southwest Virginia Mountain Brew Trail, which is designed to attract tourists to local craft breweries to brewpubs, includes 16 breweries. Just like Southwest Virginia, the brewery trail is expansive and a traveler could spend more than 10 hours driving to all of the stops.

At Sugar Hill Brewing Company in St. Paul, visitors sip beer from pint glasses that proudly proclaim everything on tap is BREWED WITH WATER FROM VIRGINIAS HIDDEN RIVER.

Quote 2 The reason its called the Hidden River is because people just took it for granted.  Greg Bailey, Sugar Hill owner

The beer at Sugar Hill, the only brewpub in a seven-county-region, is created with water from the Clinch.

The reason its called the Hidden River is because people just took it for granted, said Sugar Hill owner Greg Bailey.

Greg Bailey and his wife Jennifer Bailey opened Sugar Hill last year, after noticing their sons home-brewed beers were a hit among the locals. While their son has since moved to Alaska for a job, the Baileys took a chance and opened the brewpub.

Now, most of their customers visit from beyond a 30-mile radius and in the summer, many of them drop by for food and beer before or after spending the afternoon on the Clinch.

When the Baileys moved to the area a decade ago, they rarely saw people on the river, and they certainly never thought of the Clinch an outdoor recreation hub. They, too, had never been on the river.

Now the couple owns a canoe and kayaks. After St. Paul, passed an ordinance allowing people to ride ATVs through town, the Baileys purchased an ATV so they could ride the nearby Spearhead and Mountain View trails.

We have to re-imagine our future, Greg Bailey said. We cant just rely on coal so we try to do everything that were trying to get other people to do here.
Learning Mandarin at the MTC in Taipei, part 1: answers to a bunch of random questions you may or may not have By Robyn Lee

Sep 17, 2017

Comments

This blob dude could be you!

Do you have Chinese ancestry? Is your knowledge of Mandarin and its dialects as rich as Dickensian gruel? Do you wake up every morning trapped in a prison of shame fortified by your inability to understand the language of your forebears? Do you feel like a complete failure for learning nothing from your Mandarin-speaking parents and relatives, barely worthy of the first half of your hyphenated ethnic-national identity?

If so, then 1) there, there, simmer down (I suggest poking this therapeutic jello mold repeatedly), and 2) you're not hopeless! As a previously hopeless Mandarin learner, I'm here to overconfidently tell you that it's never too late to learn Mandarin and douse those flames of shame with [cue magical twinkly sound] knowledge!

And if the previous paragraph's characteristics do not apply to you, that's coolyou too can learn Mandarin. The lifelong struggle over the fulfillment of one's Chinese identity is not required.

Me posing with the flags of Taiwan and the US at the MTC. [Photograph: Shota Kikuta]

After 29 years of knowing less Mandarin than a fish in a Chinese restaurant's seafood tank, I moved to my parents' birthplace of Taiwan in the summer of 2014 to attend the Mandarin Training Center (aka the MTC, ), a non-degree program at Taipei's National Taiwan Normal University (aka Shida, ). I saw it as my last chance before getting married to pick up some Mandarin for feeling less like a half-assed person of Chinese descent self-improvement and to learn more about the culture my parents grew up with. Nine months of classes may not have left me anywhere near fluent, but it did crack through my long-held belief that I was immune to learning Mandarin. And the experience showed me that, hell, maybejust maybeI could learn other skills if I put my mind to it and didn't waste my life away dicking around on the internet but I have yet to test that theory.

Bo-ai Building, location of the MTC and other departments at Shida.

I'm writing this two-part series of posts to document my nine-month experience at the MTC as a monolingual Chinese-American starting from the beginner level. If you're a prospective student who isn't a beginner, parts of my experience won't apply to you. If you're looking for knowledgeable advice from someone who's tried different kinds of Mandarin courses (say, in the US or China) or someone who has a lot of experience learning second languages, get ready to find the opposite of that. But despite my limited experience, I hope my posts can be of some use to prospective Mandarin learners.

Some of the questions in the following FAQ are real questions that people have asked me about my time at the MTC. Some of the questions are ones I made up for the purpose of cramming more info into this post. Which is which? NO ONE SHALL EVER KNOW nor care. What I won't do is go into detail about administrative aspects of the school, like how to apply, descriptions of different courses and facilities, how to do visa-related stuff, or other information you can find on the MTC's website.

Other former MTC students have written detailed accounts of their experiences as well. Here are a few that I think are worth pointing out. They contain a wealth of information that I won't be touching upon in my post:

Mandarin Training Center at NTNU for Dummies (lostpig.blogspot.com): It does what it says on the tin. This blog is from 2009 but much of the information applied to my experience in 2014-2015 and may still apply today.

Mandarin Training Center, National Taiwan Normal University (chinese-forums.com): This write-up from 2011 describes different levels at the school, different courses, and a general overview of life in Taipei.

Review of my Chinese course and some simple hacks (memyselfandmandarin.wordpress.com): Out of all the reviews I read about the MTC, this blogger's experience best mirrored mine. We even had one of the same teachers!

If you have more questions about the MTC that I haven't covered in this post, ask me in the comments below or email me (roboppy@gmail.com) and I'll try to answer here. For more information about class structure and teaching styles at the MTC, head to part two.

Here's a list of the questions I'll be covering:

Why did you choose the MTC?

My route to school.

I'm not sure I should admit this, but...uh...I chose the MTC largely because it was really close to my dad's apartment where I was living. I wasn't purely driven by lazinessother deciding factors included the school's decades of Mandarin education for foreigners and its mostly good reputationbut there are few perks more enticing than being able to roll out of bed 15 minutes before the start of class and still get to class on time, even after walking up seven or more flights of stairs. (I'm not sure if the stairs were actually faster than taking the elevator, but the building's elevators were often so slow and crowded that the stairs felt faster.)

Should I choose the regular class or intensive class?

First off, for those who don't know the difference between regular and intensive, check out this post from lostpig.blogspot.com that gives a rundown of the two types of classes. The main difference is that intensive classes are 15 hours a week, while regular classes are 10 hours a week plus five hours of MTC-approved supplementary classes and studying. As the name implies, the intensive classes get through the material more quickly than the regular classes. Intensive classes complete one textbook each term at a rate of one chapter every three or four days. I'm not sure how much the regular classes cover, but I'd guess it's more like one chapter a week.

I wanted to take intensive classes as soon as I found out they were an option. Knowing that I'd only be at the MTC for nine months as a full-time student without any other responsibilities, I figured the intensive classes would help me squeeze the most out of my time at the MTC. If you're a beginner with limited time in Taiwan, I'd recommend choosing intensive.

Having said that, intensive is not for everyone, especially if you have an inflexible schedule due to work, other classes, or other responsibilities. The regular class may be better suited to your learning style, besides that it would allow you to have a more leisurely lifestyle while living in Taiwan (although I'd say I had a pretty leisurely life with the intensive classes). You may have to try both types of classes to see which one you prefer. I had friends who switched from intensive to regular or vice versa after finding that their first pick wasn't suited for them.

How much homework do you get in intensive? Will the course load mash my brain into an oatmeal-like consistency?

These guidelines were given to us on the first day of class. Each student had to sign their paper and hand it back in.

According to the guidelines I was given when I started at the MTC, students in the intensive class need to study at least four hours a day to keep up with the schedule of getting through one textbook each term. This is pretty accurate from my experience, although for me four hours was the high end. I rarely studied more than four hours. Sometimes I'd study closer to three hours. And there were a handful of occasions where I had unknowingly entered a wormhole into a parallel universe where language acquisition was way easier, meaning I didn't receive any homework nor have a test the next day to prepare for. On those days, I usually studied somewhere between zero and zero hours. Of course, not having homework nor tests to prepare for doesn't translate to "no studying required", but to me (and most of my classmates, probably), no homework translated to "AW YEAAAH LET'S DO ABOSLUTELY ANYTHING THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE STUDYING."

As for what those four-ish hours consisted of, it was a mix of memorizing new vocabulary, practicing writing each new character until the cartilage in my right hand rubbed down into a fine dust, doing exercises in the workbook, reviewing the latest lesson in the textbook to prepare for a quiz or test (which teachers gave almost every dayI talk more about this in part two), and doing other homework the teacher may have assigned. The time is easy to fill, but it passes with the speed and comfort of a large kidney stoneat least in the beginning. That's why I developed a crippling dependence on lattes and cute cafes to keep me lucid. Otherwise I probably would've drooled myself to sleep at least twice a day while doing my homework and studying.

Is learning traditional characters as impossible as it seems?

Animated stroke order of the character biang, used in the name of biangbiang noodles. It's known for being one of the most complex Chinese characters to write. But if this ~57-stroke character intimidates you, don't worryyou'll probably never have to write it, unless you're a student in Sichuan facing punishment for tardiness. According to Wikipedia, this character is not found in modern dictionaries and it has yet to be encoded into unicode. But it looks cool, so I'm using it here. And even though it's complex if you judge it by the sheer number of strokes, it's not actually difficult to write (well, if you have enough space to write it). It's stuffed with radicals that you'll have memorized by the end of your first term. [Image: Kc kennylau (GFDL or CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.]

Nope! (But you knew that already. Otherwise traditional characters would've died out a long time ago.) I'm not saying it's easy, because it's not, but the perception of its insane difficulty probably makes some people think it's not even worth trying to learn, myself being one of these people before I tried to learn it.

Whether it's worth learning traditional characters is up to you. Before I started at the MTC, I wasn't that interested in being able to read and write characters, traditional or simplified, but the more time I put into learning characters (...a lot of time), the more I grew to appreciate them. The program at the MTC emphasized reading and writing, and I'm grateful for that.

If you're intimidated by characters, let me assure you that after you get over the hurdle of internally wailing "WHY, CHARACTERS, WAAAAIII" with every seemingly excessive, soul-depleting stroke (my wailing period lasted at least one term), learning characters gets easier as time goes on. Besides that muscle memory will eventually kick in, allowing you to semi-automatically write common characters that months before looked like webs of nonsensical scratches, you'll more quickly see links between characters and their meanings as you build your knowledge of radicals.

For Level 1 (and maybe Level 2), your textbook will come with a character workbook that gives you stroke orders and space to practice writing in, but from my experience the MTC doesn't teach you much in the ways of how to learn characters. You'll be assigned which characters to learn, but you need to figure out what works best for you in terms of actually memorizing them. There are a bluhjillion tips online for how to memorize characters.

Some whiteboard doodles a few weeks into class. Please don't judge my handwriting/grammar too harshly. ;_;

My method was pretty simple. I practiced writing each character over and over and over again on a small whiteboard, and I tested myself using flashcards in Pleco (the best Chinese dictionary app, as far as I know) until I felt that I had memorized the characters well enough for the next day's character quiz. This may have taken me hours a night in the beginning. Over time, I used the meanings of radicals more and more to memorize characters, and when the radicals alone didn't help me, making up dumb stories about a character usually would. I'm not saying this is the best way to learn characters, but it's one way that worked for me.

You should also consider the Pleco add-on Outlier Chinese Dictionary, a dictionary that better explains the components of common characters than Pleco's other dictionaries. I didn't get to use this dictionary during school because it came out after I left the MTC, but I bought it as soon as I heard about it.

Should I bother learning zhuyin in addition to pinyin?

I remember watching a bopomofo tutorial video like this as a kid. The memories still haunt me. [Video: sizuka116 on YouTube]

For the purpose of learning at the MTC, you don't need zhuyin fuhao/bopomofo (), the phonetic symbols used in Taiwan to represent Mandarin pronunciation. The MTC's textbooks featured pinyin and only supplemented the pinyin with zhuyin for new vocabulary. (And after the Level 1 book, the textbooks don't use much pinyin.) My Level 1 teacher gave us a crash course in zhuyin on our first day of class to help introduce Mandarin pronunciation, but after that first day we rarely used zhuyin again.

Personally though, I wanted to get familiar with zhuyin because 1) I think it looks cute (an important factor to consider in any life decision) 2) most Taiwanese people only know zhuyin and not pinyin, and 3) before I got used to pinyin, I thought zhuyin would help me figure out the pronunciations of characters. I found that using pinyin in conjunction with zhuyin in the beginning improved my pronunciation. Additionally, trying to learn zhuyin and pinyin at the same time helped me learn both more quickly than if I had tried to learn each one on its own. This may not work for everyone, but if you're having trouble with pinyin, maybe learning zhuyin will help.

Zhuyin keyboard on my phone, plus a snippet of my very important serious chat with Charlotte.

Having said that, today I am pretty bad at zhuyin. I quickly got used to reading pinyin, after which I decreased my zhuyin-learning efforts. The extent of my zhuyin practice these days is using a zhuyin keyboard on my phone to type Mandarin (I recommend Swiftkey), even though I tap the keyboard at the speed of a tranquilized slug. I use pinyin on my computer because I'm not familiar with the zhuyin keyboard and typing pinyin is roughly a billion times faster.

What was your favorite thing about the MTC?

My schoolmate Matt and our teacher Guan Laoshi in the middle of a battle during our fieldtrip to Juming Museum.

My teachers and classmates! One of the biggest complaints I read about the MTC before I applied was that the teacher quality was inconsistent, ranging from "satisfactory babysitter" to "please adopt me because I love you more than my mother". Luckily, I didn't experience inconsistent teachers, just different teaching styles (which I explain in part two). I liked my three teachers in different ways and I never felt any desire to switch classes. However, some of my friends were less lucky and switched to different classes as soon as they could find an open spot in another class. So a subpar teacher may lie in your future, but it's more likely you'll get a good one.

Some of my classmates and other MTC friends at an arcade during our trip to Tainan. Lying down in front of CKS Memorial with classmates and other MTC friends. Subway surfing with Charlotte, Mayu, and Xiangtai on the way home after dinner.

After teachers, the next most important part of my learning experience was my classmates. It's better to have a great teacher than to have great classmates, but having classmates you can't talk to or feel any desire to hang out with isn't going to boost your morale. As someone who went through most of her secondary and tertiary education with few friends in the same school, I didn't think "cool classmates" would be that important to me until I experienced what it's like to have them. You're going to be stuck in a small room with five to seven other people for three hours, five days a week. If you don't feel vibes of compatibility from day one, that could be a worthwhile reason to switch classes.

The "thank you" card I drew for my class's Level 1 teacher, with every classmate in blob form carrying his/her flag.

Most of my classmates were friendly, hard-working, generous, and surely more amazing than I'd ever get to know in the short time we had together. They also made for the most diverse classes I had ever been in, hailing from Guatemala, India, Germany, Honduras, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Mexico. Over my three terms, I only had two classmates from the US. I count diversity as a huge plus to my MTC experience.

LINE chat room with my Term 2 classmates, plus out-of-context stickers.

An easy way to connect with your classmates is to create a Facebook group for your class and/or a LINE chat group early in the term. (This is assuming that LINE is still the king of chat apps in Taiwan like it was in 2015.) If you're shy like me and you hate taking charge of anything social, too badyou might have to take charge if you don't want to fetal-position your way into a dark corner of loneliness. Sure, not every classmate is going to want to do this (and maybe that classmate is you), but this tactic worked pretty well in my first two terms as far as helping me keep in touch with my classmates in case we had questions about homework or wanted to get together to eat or go sightseeing.

(If right now you're thinking, "Robyn, I've already gone through puberty and I know how socializing works," I'm one of the clueless ones who doesn't have the best track record when it comes to making friends in real life. For those of you who are in the same boat and prone to crashing such a boat, my tips are for you.)

What was the worst thing about the MTC?

I used this picture as the header for my class's Facebook group. I think we all felt pretty buhhhh about the book.

I wasn't a fan of the MTC's textbook series, A Course in Contemporary Chinese. I happened to enroll around the same time as when the school switched to trial versions of this new, updated series of textbooks. On the plus side, I got a book with more up-to-date information than the previously used book (I assumeI hadn't seen the previous book). On the downside, my classmates are I were guinea pigs for their new series of books that was still in the embryonic stage, with features such as bare-bones formatting, all the colors of the black and white rainbow, illustrations that hinted at an anemic art budget, a smattering of spelling errors, and explanations of grammar that increasingly confused more than explained. (On retrospect, I should've read this Chinese Grammar Wiki instead of trying to decipher the book's explanations.) The further I got into Book 1, the more it appeared to be slowly succumbing to a stroke. Books 2 and 3 didn't fare much better.

Having given that less than glowing review, I did like most of the material the books covered and the way the levels progressed. It's just that getting the trial version of each textbook instead of the final polished version diminished the learning experience a bit. Most teachers didn't seem to be fans of the book either.

But my complains are irrelevant now. Anyone starting at the MTC today would be getting the new version of the textbook series. So assuming the latest version doesn't suck, new students shouldn't have a problem with the textbooks. If the books are still sub-par, I'd assume they're at least better than what I used. For those who are curious, you can view sample pages of the textbooks at books.com.tw: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4.

Another part of the course that was lacking was getting enough practice speaking (although this has been a problem in pretty much every secondary language class I've ever taken). If you want to get more speaking practice, you need to find local people to talk toTaiwanese friends, language exchange partners, the old grandpa dude who lives down the street, etc. I didn't try hard enough to practice Mandarin with native speakers when I lived in Taiwan, and that's my fault.

MTC bulletin board.

If you want a language exchange partner but don't know where to begin, check out the bulletin board on the 7th floor in the MTC. It'll probably be covered in flyers from people requesting partners. Personally, I found some of my partners through totally unexpected waysone through Instagram, another through my hairdresser, another through one of my dad's English students. There's no shortage of Taiwanese people who want to practice English or other languages.

Taking supplementary culture classes at the MTC [PDF] might also give you more opportunities to practice speaking and listening in a more relaxed setting depending on what class you choose. I can tell you from experience that the Chinese brush painting class is the completely wrong class to choose for such a purpose (it was, perhaps, the quietest class I had ever taken). However, I heard good things about the cooking class in terms of getting delicious foodstuffs (I got to eat my friend's leftovers, score!), learning cooking vocabulary, and having fun.

One last little thing I'm going to mention here because I don't know where else to put it is that Chinese uses an extra type of comma called the enumeration comma. It took me way too long to figure out that the enumeration comma is used differently from a regular comma and is not, as I had called it for months, "a weird-ass comma".

How long should I enroll for? What level will I be at after three/six/nine months?

From my experience, if you're a beginner and you want to set the groundwork for learning Mandarin, I'd recommend you take classes for at least six months (two terms), but ideally more. I took classes for nine months (three terms), but I wish I had had the time to take classes for a year. Of course, if you only have the time or funds to attend for three months (one term), that's better than nothingit just won't get you that far. Although some people might be able to crush Mandarin in three months, I was certainly not driven enough to do that.

This PDF from the MTC's school bulletin breaks down the MTC's terms and what learning objectives you'll fulfill each term if you're starting as a beginner. If I use CEFR levels as a guide and apply the pace of intensive classes, you'll get through A1 after three months, A2 after sixth months, and part of B1 after nine months, learning about 500 characters each term. This means, in theory, you'll learn about 1500 characters after nine months. In reality, you'll forget a good deal of them if you don't continue your studies, just like meeeee ugh .

I was satisfied with my reading and writing abilities after nine months of classes, less satisfied with my listening and speaking abilities. As I mentioned in my previous section, you need to find outside sources to practice speaking in real-life situations. I'm not saying my listening and speaking abilities were complete trash, but they should've been better. This was evident when I went to the post office to buy a bunch of stamps shortly before I moved back to the US. I was more confident than usual, thinking, "I PREPARED FOR THIS. I DID SCHOOL. I CAN DO WORDS." Then I tried words. They mostly failed. The clerk and I resorted to writing numbers on post-its and using hand gestures to figure out what I wanted to buy. It was not a proud moment to end my third term with.

I really want to go to the MTC, but I'm broke. Are there scholarships available?

Yup! There are a few scholarships listed on MTC's website. I didn't apply for any scholarships, but as some of my friends at the MTC were on the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship (HES), I'd recommend starting with that one. You can check out the scholarship's details here (note that the 2017 application period is over). The scholarship grants a stipend of NT$25,000 per month and is open to US citizens who have graduated high school.

I'm not required to take the TOCFL for school or work, but should I take it anyway?

You too can barely make it!

If you want an official piece of paper that reinforces that your time at the MTC wasn't a complete waste or you're curious to see how you stack up against other students, you should take the TOCFL (Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language). The program at the MTC doesn't give you any sort of official certificate or diploma that say what standardized level of Mandarin you have reached. (What they do provide are certificates of enrollment and transcripts, which you need for extending your visa.) I hadn't originally planned on taking the TOCFL since I didn't need proof of competency, but I ended up taking the test twice for reasons I'll explain below.

When I took the test in 2015, the fee to take the test was between NT$1600 and NT$2000. My first test cost NT$1440, including a school discount. My second test was NT$2000no discount was offered. I only did the listening and reading test, not the speaking or writing test.

Check the schedule on TOCFL's website and make note of the registration dates. You should register as soon as possible to get the best spot. I took my tests at the University of Education, which isn't that far from Shida. Seats at Shida fill up quicklyI'd assume they're the first to go when it comes to picking a test spot in Taipei. If you wait too long to register, you might have to travel to another city to take the test.

After you finish Book 2, you should have no problem passing Band A, Level 2, as I did after the first time I took the TOCFL. I had only planned on taking the test once, but that changed when I found out that the committee that administers the test had added another official TOCFL session a few weeks later. By that point, I would have been finished with book three. (This extra test was not available in 2016, nor is it available this year; I don't know what happened back in 2015 that led to the extra test.) I decided to try for the next TOCFL level and potentially waste NT$2000 in the process. Thanks to fortuitous guessing (so much guessing), I managed to squeeze out a passing grade at Band B, Level 3. By the time you finish Book 3 you should be able to pass Level 3 without much problemmost of my classmates didbut my Mandarin-learning stamina was so shot by the end of my third term that I'm sure I only passed Level 3 because of dumb luck.

Do you get off from school for Christmas?

Unless Christmas lands on the weekend, nope. It's just any regular ol' day, except with a greater-than-average percentage of students feeling homesick. Knowing this, the MTC tries to bring some Christmas joy into the mix. A few days before Christmas in 2014, they gave out cookies and held some sort of contest involving posting a photo to Facebook with one of the MTC's holiday-themed backgrounds.

Ho ho huh?

There was also someone wearing an alternate-dimension Sulley costume to spread Christmas joy or something.

My class celebrated Christmas by sharing gifts Secret Santa-style and bringing in snacks for everyone to share. (I brought my favorite pineapple cakes, of course.) If you and your classmates are particularly close, your class might do this too.

What holidays DO you get off?

Visiting the Lantern Festival in Taipei Expo Park during my Chinese New Year vacation.

The Chinese and Taiwanese ones! :D Besides the biggest holiday, Chinese New Year, you also get days off for Mid-Autumn Festival (), Double Ten Day (Taiwan's National Day, ), and Tomb Sweeping Day (). View the full academic calendar at the MTC's website.

Due to the way certain holidays fall, you may end up with a few days of classes stuck between two periods of vacation days. If this happens, your teacher may suggest a way to redistribute those in-between days to other days so you can have an uninterrupted vacation. If your teacher doesn't suggest it, then you should suggest it. (It's not like your teacher would say no to a longer vacation.) If it works for everyone's schedules and there's classroom space, then you should be good to go. My Term 2 and Term 3 classes did this. I think the work-around was having a few four-hour classes and six-hour classes (with a lunch break in between) instead of the regular three-hour classes.

That's the end of this FAQ! Head to part two for more info. If anyone has more questions, please ask in the comment section below!
What if they gave a forum seeking the views of political independents in Flagstaff and, by a show of hands, only a half-dozen showed up  along with 20 presumed Democrats?

That was the dilemma faced by the Flagstaff chapter of the American Association of University Women Saturday morning, but the show went on anyway.

First came a rousing introductory call to level the electoral field by county Supervisor Art Babbott, one of just three independents holding partisan elected office in Arizona.

We are treated like second-class citizens when it comes to ballot access and voting rights, said Babbott. Meanwhile, he said, the two major parties are beholden to moneyed interests backing extremist candidates in low-turnout primaries that result in partisan gridlock in Congress.

The wheels have come off and the train is crashing into the mountain, said Babbott.

Then came a moderated exercise that had the five or six independents in the room expand on the list of Babbotts grievances, egged on by an audience that, although still party members, clearly were disaffected by the current status of electoral politics. Some items were:

--absence of moderate candidate choices in general elections

--narrow, binary policy choices offered by politicians and the news media beholden to special interests

--obstructionism for the sake of re-election and maintaining party power, not compromise based on the merits of an argument or the common good

--disappearance of trust in politicians more beholden to a party than to voters

--dumbing down the political discourse for the sake of rigid adherence to a platform

Its as if we have lost the basis for a civil society, said Norman Lowe.

While some said it might just be the pendulum of politics reaching one extreme end before heading back for the middle, Robert Vane wasnt buying it.

If were always moving side to side, its really hard to move forward.

The next exercise had the group tick off and prioritize issues they were concerned the two-party system was not addressing. In a roomful of Democrats, it was a familiar list more than 20 items long: climate change, public education, money in politics, human rights, nuclear disarmament and the social safety net, among others. Missing were traditional Republican themes, such as border security, entitlement reform and a balanced budget.

Moderator Christina Barsky, a former political consultant now doing graduate work and teaching at NAU, said she would tally up the rankings as well as the results of a questionnaire on political attitudes that all  not just independents -- were asked to fill out.

Some in the group, however, wanted to know from Babbott where the independent movement was heading in Arizona and whether he was willing to lead it. A statewide ballot initiative touting open primaries failed in 2014, and a similar effort lost its major financial backer last year before a ballot push could get underway.

Babbott pointed out that Flagstaff and most other Arizona cities already have model, nonpartisan electoral systems that citizens should work to promote through engagement and voting, especially with an eye on unaffiliated Millennials. Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans, in opening remarks, echoed that point, saying independents should be allowed into the political arena in a direct and meaningful way.

As for the next election, Babbott said he has put plans to run for the Legislature as an independent on pause for now. But he is forming a group, IndependentAZ, that will vet candidates on issues like equal treatment and ballot access for independents as well as open primaries that lead to a top two general election, not a guaranteed spot on the ballot for each party.

We are on the right side of the curve, he said. There are very strong forces pushing against us, but we are on the right side.
New Zealand will on Monday see August results for its Performance of Services Index, headlining a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In July, the index score was 56.0.

Australia will release August numbers for new motor vehicle sales; in July, sales were down 2.0 percent on month and up 1.8 percent on year.

Hong Kong will provide unemployment figures for August; in July, the jobless rate was 3.1 percent.

Malaysia will see July numbers for unemployment; in June, the jobless rate was 3.4 percent and the participation rate was 67.8 percent.

Singapore will release August data for imports, exports and trade balance. In July, imports were worth 36.96 SGD and exports were at 42.89 SGD for a trade surplus of 5.93 billion SGD.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Some Midwest entrepreneurs may dream of one day moving to Silicon Valley. Others might have their eyes on New York or even Boston.

But Australia?

That's where Mark Zmarzly and his family will be headed later this month. The founder of Hip Pocket, a Lincoln-based financial services software company, was one of 28 entrepreneurs chosen to participate in the second round of a new program sponsored by the Australian government.

Zmarzly, his wife and three kids will leave for Brisbane on Thursday, where they'll spend the next six months working, living and going to school.

The trip is being funded by the government of the Australian state of Queensland, which is paying Zmarzly a stipend of $100,000 Australian (about $80,000 U.S.) as well as providing free co-working space. The only requirement: help mentor at least two Australian startup companies.

"It's a good opportunity for our business," he said. "It obviously gives us cash without having to give up equity."

The grants are part of an $8 million initiative called Hot DesQ that aims to accelerate the growth of the Australian startup ecosystem.

On its website, the Queensland government said the program is meant to "provide an injection of startup talent to bring in new skills and experience, broaden our connections and open up access to global market."

Hip Pocket is one of six U.S. companies chosen for the program, and the only one from outside California or New York.

Zmarzly said found out about the program when he was at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, last spring.

He won't be spending all his time working as a mentor. The government also expects grant recipients to grow their business while in the country, and he's looking forward to the opportunity.

Zmarzly said financial technology is one of the fastest-growing industries in Australia, so he expects to find fertile grounds.

In a sort of ironic twist, he said the name of his company, Hip Pocket, is actually a common Australian saying relating to finances, as in, "That's going to hit you in the hip pocket."

Though one of the program's aims is to get entrepreneurs and companies to move there permanently, Zmarzly said that's not in the cards.

If he finds enough clients, he said, he might set up an Australian office, but he and the family definitely will be heading back to Lincoln at the end of March.
The Commission for the National Public Inquiry into Family Violence has held its first briefing.

The Commission formed for the National Public Inquiry into family violence which begins next week has met for the first time to discuss matters in preparation for their hard task ahead.

The Commissioners are the internal drivers of the inquiry.

Their different individual expertise and experiences will contribute importantly to this task. The Commissioners were taken through the do no harm principle when engaging with survivors of family violence especially those that are still in a violent relationship. A fundamental principle which to be upheld throughout this inquiry is to ensure that no harm is caused to anyone who comes forward to share their stories.

The Commission acknowledges its role and responsibility to hear from individuals who have been affected but also from individuals and organisations who may have valuable input in regards to practical solutions to the ugly issue of Family Violence in Samoa. According to the Inquiry Chairman Maiava Iulai Toma, I recognize that attempts to obtain stories from survivors of family violence can be traumatizing and can even put them at greater risk in their homes or community.

Therefore, it is imperative for the Commissioners to formulate questions and discussions sensitively. He further added re-telling your lived experience particularly if it was a dark one can bring back memories that we only want to throw away but the importance of these stories can allow for someone else who is going through the same experience to realise that its not normal, it may even help save one life or help one man to reflect on their violent behaviour.

We all know very well that violence in Samoa is spiralling and becoming embedded as part of our daily lives. As evidenced in the recent Family Safety Study by the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development, prevalence rates of violence has increased to 60% from 40% since 2000.

With the findings of this Inquiry and the mentioned Study, Samoa will have firm evidence on the status of violence in our families and on how critical it is for us to fully engage with this issue before it gets further out of control.

About 1500 people participated in village consultations held in various parts of the country in the first stage of the National Inquiry; the majority of these participants living in rural villages. Focussed group discussions revealed something of a disconnect between a strong desire to change and seeming comfort with rationalization advanced for violence that is occurring.

While people are now well aware of the need to stop violence, understanding the root causes and the need to change embedded attitudes sustaining violence is emerging to be the major challenge.

It emerged in discussions also that women (regardless of age group) see themselves as part of the cause of family violence not only between themselves and their intimate partners but violence which happen to their female children. They see negligence on their part as contributing to a domino effect flow on from failure to perform their conjugal responsibilities including sexually satisfying their husbands.

A parallel questionnaire supported the majority of the views expressed across all village consultations on the types of violence commonly experienced and witnessed in Samoan families.

In focus groups discussions, the majority of violence commonly discussed as experienced were physical, verbal and emotional violence. We hear koekiki ou alu aku kalepe lou guku/kikiga lou ua/kipi oe le sapelu some common examples of phrases that were thrown around which have become normal in our everyday life. These freely flung words and expressions fuel not only violent attitudes but violence itself.

Commissioners will embark on the second phase of the inquiry next week with close and public dialogues around the country hopefully to further unpack findings from village consultations and to hear from knowledgeable individuals and those who volunteer to share their stories and experiences to assist with the overall goal of the inquiry.
Yes youre right.

This is one more story about another family who are dreaming about a steady supply of running water.

Feleti Laufiso has been struggling for a long time, having no water access.

The 38-year-old is from Nofoalii. He is married and have four kids.

Everything is going well except our water situation, Feleti told the Village Voice.

We literally have no access to water besides the rain. The governments water cannot reach our residing area so everyone that stays there, do not have any proper access to water.

He went on: Growing up; this has always been the case and I know that my ancestors had faced such difficulties during their time as well. So having no water access is definitely not a new issue in our village.

And you know; if theres no more rain, we walk to the inner village to fetch water because we all know how the weather is; most of the days are sunny days and thats why we are looking for more water tanks so we can store more than enough but sometimes its frustrating because when it rains; it only rains for a little while that it doesnt even fill up the small water tank that we have.

We have received water tanks from the government but they were too small and you know; its not easy getting water everyday but we have to because we need it to survive.

Thats a need for all the people in our village; water tanks.

According to Feleti, the village council has already made a plea on this matter to the government.

Its been three weeks since that; so now we just wait and see if something is going to change. We dont really know where to get water from so this is why we need help; if there is no other way for the governments water to reach us then best to request for bigger water tanks for all the families within our village so we can store water from the rain and from anywhere else for that matter.

Water is the problem here and we deserve to be helped.
The Samoa Returnees Charitable Trust will be conducting its Act Right, Do Right Programme for secondary schools in Savaii, on Monday 18 September, 2017.

Act Right, Do Right (AmioLelei), is a crime prevention programme coordinated by S.R.C.T together with Samoan returnees, using experiential knowledge to encourage students to stay in school, and to prioritise responsible decision making.

Act Right, Do Right began in 2013 as a partnership with M.E.S.C, and was initially designed to counter repeated interschool school brawls and confrontations that were common at the time.

To date the programme has been delivered in up to 10 Upolu based colleges, including Leifiifi, Samoa College, Pesega, Saint Joseph, Avele, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Aana district.

This will be the first time that the programme has been delivered in Savaii.

The move has been due partly to expressions of interest from principals of several Savaii based colleges, after having seen the program on TV. They anticipate that the programme will have a stabilising influence on their students, in the lead up to end-of-year exams.

S.R.C.T. will continue to deliver the program throughout the remainder of 2017, with several other Savaii colleges having already booked the first week of October, including Tuasivi, Don Bosco, Amoa and Asau district. Lepa and Anoamaa colleges have also expressed interest.

The program will be conducted by the following facilitators:

Papaliitele Siva Afi Max Taogaga

Since returning to Samoa, Papalii has dedicated himself to diverting troubled youth from at-risk situations.

A world renowned former wrestler, author of Reign of Fire and a certified Christian minister, Papalii was involved in the past with the Coral Reef Academy and Goshen Mental Health Services, before committing to voluntary work with the Samoa Returnees Charitable Trust in 2016. Papalii conducts weekly rehabilitation sessions for local young offenders in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, and has recorded growing attendance rates on account of his charismatic and personalised approach to counselling.

Veni Wayne Fonoti

Veni is a certified paralegal (Blackstone Law School, Dallas), and also a certified trainer with Alternatives to Violence, an internationally recognised self-help program that help people deal with stress and conflict productively and without violence.

He is also a keen advocate for womens rights, and has received training in domestic violence prevention. Coming back to Samoa, he feels it is his duty to work with those already in the field, to use his experience and training to help youth make informed decisions and adopt responsible lifestyles.

The Monday schedule:

11:15am  12.00pm Mata-ae-vave College (Iva)

1.00pm  1.45pm Palauli College (Vailoa)

2.00pm  3.00pm Uesiliana College (VaegaSatupaitea)
Its not that often I agree with the opinion of Salega East Member of Parliament, Olo Fiti Vaai and Im sure he could care less about me saying so.

And while I am not convinced we should just go ahead and can the Green Lane List system, like many others now that there is obviously a problem, I would like to know more about why it was set up.

And further, how do you qualify to get on it and who monitors it overall?

Is it a lifelong membership?

Do you need to belong to a certain political party or does your business need to be a certain size?

Is it based on the volume of containers you bring in?

And why should some individuals/companies be trusted and others not? It seems that the system is being abused and may well have been fore ages.

Whats the criteria?

Do other countries practice this youre ok but youre not?

Obviously this latest example of falsified documents and products which dont match the manifest, have shown that trust is a relative thing.

Given there have been previous and quite recent examples of drugs and firearms coming into the country, how serious are we really about the matter of border control?

Or are we just serious about it for some companies?

And why do we rely on a front line of Customs Officers, who are able to receive tips for good service to hold the line?

And since when do we just keep practices and systems because it has been around for a long time?

How ridiculous is that?

Bearing in mind that there may well have been other goods that have not been checked, or detected on our borders, but which have simply passed through, lets have a level playing field and check everyones goods.

If it takes a little longer to be fair in the business community, we say too bad.

It is no secret in Apia that several high profile companies reward their clients at Christmas and on other significant occasions with extravagant gifts.

Would it be too much of a stretch of the imagination to believe that a hard working Customs Officer could be persuaded to look the other way when particular shipments come in?

We are all human so to ensure that temptation doesnt become a significant factor in everybody being treated fairly, lets review the Green Lane List system and replace it with a Fair Lane List system where everyone is treated equally.

And to stifle speculation, publish the names of the companies on your Green Lane List system in the interests of those long-forgotten words, transparency and accountability.

Because Mr Minister, it is simply not good enough to tell us that the offender on this occasion will be taken off the list.

The cynics amongst us will probably believe that the company caught is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Ministry of Revenue is moving to implement the new law, which requires church ministers and the Head of State to pay taxes.

It is collecting the personal details of church pastors in preparation for a seminar to discuss the next stage of how the law will be implemented.

The information is being collected through forms distributed to pastors throughout the country.The form is labeled as Form for collecting information for a special seminar for church ministers Samoa 2017

In July, the former Head of State signed into law, the bill which legalised the taxing of church ministers and the Head of State.

This is the first time this has been done since Samoa became independent 55 years ago.

The bill was signed on 30 June 2017 three days after it was approved by Parliament.

Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt told Samoa Observer that only a few did not support the bill.

The biggest challenge was facing the church ministers, said Tialavea.

I had to face them. After all the move to levy taxes against the church ministers and Head of State was my idea, not the governments, he said.

The General Secretary of the N.C.C.C., Rev Maauga Motu in a previous interview with the Samoa Observer said that they hadnt received any guiding principles on how to tax pastors in the country.

Theres nothing much to say. Rev. Maauga said.

As you all know the government is going on with their plan to tax pastors. We have had a meeting and its now up to each denomination (on how to deduct taxes from their pastors) according to the bill that has just been passed.

For now, the C.C.C.S. has rejected the plan. We havent heard from the Methodist Church and I think the majority of churches in Samoa rejected it (tax) as well, except for the Catholic church.

Even though the Methodist Church declared it had rejected the proposal to tax pastors, they are now resigned to the fact that there is little that can be done about the new law.

This confirmation came from the President of the Methodist Church. Rev Apineru Lafai durig the church conference this year.

All employees of the Methodist Church are paying taxes except for those who are called to serve in the church congregations (pastors). Rev. Lafai said.

As of today, we havent heard from anyone (government) of whats happening now, and when we will be affected."

Weve already talked with the government in relation to the plan that our church rejected the plan but who can go beyond government?"

We follow what the government has planned."
In a tiny hotel bathroom, a Lincoln couple huddled near a candle as Hurricane Irma howled and crashed outside.

For 10 hours, they stayed as calm as they could, even when the pressure of the storm became intense enough to cause their ears to pop.

It was a scene Tonya and Wayne Chandler couldn't have imagined when they arrived on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Aug. 30.

Irma was a mere low-pressure system brewing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean when they left Lincoln.

"We never would've left if we knew," said Wayne Chandler, who with his wife finally made it back to Nebraska on Friday. "But it was hurricane season. There was that risk."

They planned to stay a week at a bed and breakfast overlooking the islands turquoise waters and golden beaches, the sky a perfect mirror of the ocean below.

It was a rare vacation for Tonya, who runs a day care, and Wayne, who works for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Their trip lasted longer than planned.

With Irma bearing down on the Caribbean, Wayne tried to book a flight out on Sept. 2, but all planes were full.

Two days later, hurricane warnings were issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

With nowhere else to go, the Chandlers checked into the Emerald Beach Resort, a 90-room concrete hotel overlooking the ocean.

Along with nearly 60 other tourists, staff and islanders, they waited for Irma, then a Category 5 hurricane, to make landfall.

They stayed in a room on the third floor they felt would be safer, with a balcony overlooking the ocean  only 50 yards away.

When the hurricane arrived with 185 mph winds on the morning of Sept. 6, the Chandlers barricaded themselves in the bathroom.

Tonya sat in the bathtub and Wayne on the toilet, his feet against the door.

"It was just frightening," Tonya said. "You could hear things bouncing off the side of the hotel and you didn't know what they were."

Their screen door began to buckle as the wind blew sheets of rain through the cracks in the door.

They stayed relatively calm in the bathroom, Wayne said, despite having no power, food or water.

The eye wall of the storm  where the winds are more intense  brushed the island that afternoon as it slowly moved north and west.

After 10 hours, the worst of the storm passed.

"We're from Nebraska, we have tornadoes," Wayne said. "This was a 10-hour tornado."

Since the hotel was built to withstand hurricanes, only a few windows shattered during the storm, Wayne said.

Irma's devastation became apparent days after the storm passed the island and headed toward Florida.

"It was completely surreal," said Wayne.

The island, fabled for its verdant resorts and beaches, was decimated.

Buildings flattened, palm trees uprooted.

"What was once a lush, green island just turned to brown," Wayne said. "Anything that wasn't concrete was blown away."

Nearly 90 percent of the island's power grid was destroyed.

The roof of a nearby hotel was blown off as the strongest of the storm drifted over the approximately 32-square-mile island of 50,000 people.

The local newspaper  the St. Thomas Source  reported at least four people died.

Despite the destruction, the Chandlers said islanders made sure tourists had food and water.

"These people are strong and amazing," Tonya said. "The humanity we saw supersedes everything else that we saw."

Villagers, emergency relief crews and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked to cut up and move branches and other debris.

"They constantly looked out for us," Wayne said. "We got to see the very best in people."

Leaving the tattered island proved difficult. Roads were impassable, and the island's airport heavily damaged.

Hurricane Jose intensifying in the Atlantic Ocean prevented rescue ships from coming to the island.

Cell phone towers were down, making communication with family and friends, including the couple's six children, scarce, Wayne said.

The Chandlers stayed in the hotel as they waited to leave, eating meals scrounged up by hotel staff.

"You start to prize ordinary things," Tonya said. "A little bit of a soap, being able to flush a toilet, hugging people you never knew before. They became family."

Crews from the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived in St. Thomas, creating lists of people trying to leave  including the Chandlers.

"We had to go through so many lines, trying to leave," Tonya said. "It was just so overwhelming."

The couple was able to contact family and friends using a satellite phone FEMA provided.

Last Tuesday, a cruise ship carried the Chandlers back to Miami. They spent three days on the ship, then flew to Omaha on Friday.

Loved ones were relieved to see the couple after the longer-than-intended vacation.

But the Lincoln couple was still saddened by the aftermath of the hurricane that turned the tiny Caribbean island into a barren wasteland.

"We both feel very blessed, but it's sad to see an island so beautiful like that just destroyed," Wayne said.

Now that they're back in Lincoln, Tonya said Saturday she wants to return to running her day care.

"I'm still acclimating," she said. "We're going to go back to our lives, going through the normal tasks of the day. I'm looking forward to that."
A Member of Parliament, Olo Fiti Vaai, is calling on the Ministry of Revenue to stop the Green Lane List system.

He said it is irresponsible for them to continue it when they dont know what else is entering the country through the containers that are immediately released without proper supervision.

The call follows the confiscation of a container two weeks ago, allegedly smuggled into the country using falsified documents.

According to Olo, this is a serious issue of security for Samoas borders.

Who knows what other stuff is being smuggled into our country that has not been intercepted by the Customs Officers because of their system? Olo asked during an interview with the Samoa Observer.

I understand that this process is allowed based on trust but this does not guarantee all the businesses are trustworthy.

This trust, between the Ministry of Revenue and the business community is a gamble, to be quite honest, I dont see why this should continue when its quite clear that it is being abused.

Who knows how many businesses are using it to smuggle in illegal stuff knowing they may not be caught.

For instance this company that has now been caught, they did it knowing that they may get away with it. and yet the government stands by their system when its crystal clear that it is an unsafe procedure.

The M.P. said he understands the Green Lane List system has been in place for a long time.

But he sees it as a threat to the country.

We are never sure as to whats inside those containers because the Customs officers do not always check and again this is literally gambling with border control, he said.

According to Olo, it takes up to 10 minutes to inspect the containers to determine whether the manifest matches whats inside the shipment.

Border control is very important and yet it appears that Samoa is not concerned about protecting what enters their borders.

The Customs should do their job mandated by law and inspect the containers and not rely on a system that is not in accordance with local laws.

This way, they will discover things that have been mis-declared and under-declared for the safety of our country.

Olo also questioned why is it the Ministry of Revenue has yet to invest in a scanner.

I know it is expensive but we are talking about the safety of our country in terms of border control. It has been approved by the Cabinet and Parliament, what is the delay?

The M.P. pointed out this latest incident should be an eye opener for the government in general.

We should be more vigilant, with what enters our borders. What if, the confiscated items were not sodaswhat then?

Is it really worth it for our government to take this risk, because they want to keep their Green Lane List system alive, and at what cost?

The Member of Parliament told the Samoa Observer that last year the Customs intercepted and confiscated illegal firearms smuggled through various containers and parcels sent to Samoa.

I know the items confiscated were done through inspection and again it goes back to my point that this is a risk our government should not continue taking, said Olo.

As reported earlier, Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt confirmed that an internal investigation has been launched into the release of the five containers.

The red flag arose with the increasing number of containers that had been imported, he said. Usually this company brings in two containers but this time, it had increased to five.

The manifest indicated the items in the container were furniture but we found out they were not. All five containers were released under the Customs Green Lane List.

When the Ministry became suspicious, they demanded further information.

That was never provided by the local business and then we had to step in and to confiscate the containers.

By the time we got to the containers, there was only one left and we took 2,300 soda cases. We confiscated the shipment from a Chinese Store.

I dont know what the connection is between the Chinese store and the businessman, but we will find out as the Customs are doing an investigation.

According to Tialavea, the internal investigation will determine if there was collusion in the matter. He said the government has zero tolerance for this type of activity.

One of the containers should have been opened, he said. I am not saying we are at fault, but the Customs Officers should have opened at least one.

I dont understand why that was not done, but I am certain that we will get to the bottom of this.

The Minister also pointed out the matter is a clear breach of trust between the business and the Ministry.

And this businessman has abused the system that was created for the operation to run smoothly.

I know we will be highly criticized for this incident for our Green Lane list, but this does not mean we will suspend this system.

Its working as the businesses prepay their shipment and the companies get their containers right away.

This practice is the result of our mutual, working relationship with the private sector and this system had been in place long before and we will not change it, due to the actions of one business.

This means the Customs Officers need to more vigilant and more judgmental and they will now conduct more spot checks.

One things for sure is that this company will be taken off the list and their shipments will be checked all the time.
Indonesia is offering help to Samoa through the Indonesia Technical Cooperation Programme. Director for Technical Cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, M. Syarif Alatas, told the Samoa Observer that the programme has been in place since the 1970s.

He said Indonesia has been actively involved in providing technical assistance and capacity building programmes in the framework of South-South Cooperation and Samoa can benefit from the assistance offered in this program.

A delegate at the recent Pacific Islands Forum, Alatas told the Samoa Observer that Indonesia is committed to help Samoa and other Pacific Island countries.

Indonesia is committed to contributing and taking an active role in the development cooperation among southern countries, he said.

Indonesias active participation in South-South Cooperation is also one of the concrete steps in fulfilling its commitment to contribute to the world peace and prosperity as stipulated in the Preamble of 1945 Indonesian Constitution.

According to the Director, Indonesias technical cooperation within the framework of South-South Cooperation has become one of the national priorities.

And this technical assistance is made available to Samoa, he said.

During the period of 1999 to 2016, Indonesia has provided at least 501 capacity building programmes involving 6,244 participants from 124 entities consisting of 118 countries, 5 international organizations, and one economic entity.

Indonesia provides technical assistance based on several principles, such as equality, solidarity, demand driven, mutual respect, mutual benefit and opportunity, and no conditionality.

He said they have covered various fields of cooperation by which Indonesias technical assistance were conducted are agriculture, fisheries, disaster risk management, forestry, health, education, climate change, community and women empowerment, SMEs, trade, finance, industry, good governance, public order management, information and communication technology, infrastructure, energy and mineral resources, tourism, art and culture.

The implementation of the technical assistances are usually in the form of training, workshop, dispatch of experts, apprenticeship, and scholarship and again Samoa can be a part of these programs, he said.

Indonesia has several centers of excellence as the implementing agencies of technical assistance, such as Bogor Agricultural University, Multimedia Training Center (MMTC), Electronic Engineering Polytechnic Institute of Surabaya, Singosari National Artificial Insemination Center, and Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDRMC) in Syiah Kuala University.

According to the Director, Indonesia has been long involved in sharing capacity building programs to countries in Pacific region.

Countries in the Pacific region including Samoa have become one of the priorities of Indonesias technical assistance.

In bilateral and triangular cooperation, Indonesia has conducted various capacity building programmes.

During 1999 to 2016, Indonesia at least has conducted 182 programmes followed by 1457 participants from countries in the Pacific region.

The area of programmes among other are fisheries, agriculture, democracy and good governance, disaster risk management, seaweed processing technique and entrepreneurship.

Every year, Indonesia conduct several capacity building programmes for participants from the region.

The purposes of those capacity building programmes are to encourage the economic development, connectivity and people-to-people contact between Indonesia and countries in Pacific region, said the Director for Technical Cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said in the second half of the 2017, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia will organize capacity building programmes in coconut development and ecotourism; and, participants from P.I.F. member countries are invited to come to Indonesia to follow the programmes and the invitation is extended to Samoa.

In 2018, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia has planned to organize capacity buildings programmes for Asia Pacific countries on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and aquaculture.

He said that since 2003, their government has also been annually granting Indonesian Art and Culture Scholarships (BSBI) to foreign students to study Indonesian art and culture and this programme is also available to Samoan students.

B.S.B.I. is a three-month programme consisted of various activities in art and culture studio to learn Indonesian language, cultural arts diversity, local wisdom, and religion through.

The scholarship programme has 238 alumni from 16 countries in the pacific region. Indonesian Government also provides Darmasiswa Scholarship at the University in various cities in Indonesia.

Darmasiswa Scholarship is a non-degree scholarship programme (usually for 1 until 2 years) that offers opportunities to learn Indonesian language, as well as Indonesian arts, music, and crafts; and, it has produced 356 alumni from 5 countries in the Pacific region since 1974.

The main goal of the Darmasiswa programme is to promote and to increase the interest of foreign youths towards Indonesian language and culture as well as to enhance mutual understanding between cultures of each participating country, he said. He further told the Samoa Observer that other scholarships given by the Indonesian government is the Developing Countries Partnership Scholarship (DCPS) officially launched in 2006.

This scholarship is offered to prospective students from developing countries to earn their Master's degree in various universities in Indonesia and this is also available for Samoan students, he said. This scholarship has been given to 55 students from three countries in the Pacific region.

This scholarship is awarded for three years under which the first year will be programmed to learn Indonesian language and preparation for the Graduate Degree.

The objectives of this Scholarship programme are (1) to contribute to the development of human resources in developing countries; (2) to promote a deeper cultural understanding between developing countries; and (3) to strengthen relations and cooperation between developing countries, said the Director.
Some notable Fall book events in San Diego County:

Ann Leckie

Her Ancillary Justice trilogy won a slew of science-fiction writing prizes and now the St. Louis-based writer is back with Provenance, a new novel about a power-hungry young woman, lost artifacts, and interstellar conflict. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27. Mysterious Galaxy, 5943 Balboa Ave., Clairemont. Free; the book signing is ticketed. (858) 268-4747 or mystgalaxy.com

Patrick Rothfuss

Published in 2007, The Name of the Wind by the Wisconsin-born author shows up often on best of lists for epic fantasy. A new 10th anniversary edition includes 50 pages of extras  illustrations, maps, an authors note  likely to thrill his legion of fans. 7 p.m. Oct. 4. Mysterious Galaxy, 5943 Balboa Ave., Clairemont. Free; the book signing is ticketed. (858) 268-4747 or mystgalaxy.com

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Garry Wills

Hes written deeply and provocatively about Christianity, and now the Pulitzer Prize-wining historian dives into What the Quran Meant and Why It Matters, an exploration of an often-misunderstood text that is sacred to 1.6 billion people around the globe. 4 p.m. Oct. 8. University of San Diego, Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego. This is a ticketed event  $26.94, which includes a copy of the book  through Warwicks. (858) 454-0347 or warwicks.com

Alice Hoffman

The author of more than 30 novels returns to one of her most popular, Practical Magic, with a prequel: The Rules of Magic. Its the 1960s, in New York, and the Owens family is dealing with a history of witchery and a curse that dates back centuries. 7 p.m. Oct. 16. University of San Diego, Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego. Tickets are $30.15, which includes a copy of the new book. Via Warwicks: (858) 454-0347 or warwicks.com

Loren Rhoads

Just in time for Halloween: 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die, by the Bay Area horror and science fiction author. Its a look at the history and features of places like Pere Lachaise in Paris, which opened in the early 1800s and now draws 3.5 million visitors every year. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20. Mysterious Galaxy, 5943 Balboa Ave., Clairemont. Free. (858) 268-4747 or mystgalaxy.com

Michael Giorgione

Camp David is a name known to many Americans, but what happens there isnt. The Coronado author, a retired Navy rear admiral, pulls back the curtain on his time at the presidential retreat under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. 6 p.m. Oct. 24, 6 p.m. Coronado Library, 640 Orange Ave. Free. Via Bay Books: (619) 435-0070 or baybookscoronado.com. Also, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Warwicks.

Dr. Edith Eger

In The Choice, the La Jolla psychologist talks about how she survived the trauma of the Holocaust at Auschwitz, melding her story with those of her patients for a memoir about resiliency, hope and forgiveness. 2 p.m. Nov. 12. Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane. Free. Via Adventures by the Book: (619) 300-2532 or adventuresbythebook.com

Dan Brown

The author of The Da Vinci Code and other mega-sellers featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon talks about his new thriller, Origin, in what is being billed as his only California appearance. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., San Diego. Tickets start at $38.50, which includes a copy of the new book. No author signing. Via Warwicks: (858) 454-0347 or warwicks.com

Matt Coyle

Blood Truth is the San Diego writers fourth book featuring Rick Cahill, a former cop living in La Jolla whose career and life derailed when he was accused of killing his wife. The blood in the title is a hereditary nod to the protagonists father, whose own police career came to a troubling end. 2 p.m. Nov. 18. Mysterious Galaxy, 5943 Balboa Ave., Clairemont, (858) 268-4747 or mystgalaxy.com, and Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m., at Warwicks, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla, (858) 454-0347 or warwicks.com

Isabel Allende

Three lives intertwine in novelist Isabel Allendes new book, In the Midst of Winter. Theres a blizzard, a fender-bender and an undocumented migrant with something horrible in the trunk of her car. 7 p.m. Nov. 30. University of San Diegos Shiley Theatre, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego.. Tickets are $30.17, which includes a copy of the book. Via Warwicks and USDs College of Arts & Sciences.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-2236
KAABOO Del Mar is a multi-generational affair for its performers as well as its audience. That point was vividly demonstrated Saturday near the conclusion of the second night of the three-day festivals third annual edition at the Del Mar racetrack and adjacent fairgrounds.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Eric Burdon was 36 when Matt Bellamy and Dominic Howard of Muse were born in 1978. On Saturday, Burdon and fellow Brits Muse appeared on adjoining KAABOO stages and their performances offered a fascinating study, not only in contrasts, but in similarities.

Of course, no one would expect Muses ultra high-tech, impeccably polished brand of rock to sound much like Burdons raw, rootsy blues and soul.

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His his bare-bones stage presentation was a world away from Muses eye-popping production, which featured more lights than most Broadway shows, integrated video images worthy of a blockbuster film, and  during the slow, moody Madness, which was the eleventh of Muses 19 selections  Bellamys digital sunglasses, which flashed the songs lyrics in its lenses.

But the rock-a-boogie beat that anchored Muses second song, Psycho, can be traced to the same musical wellspring as the 1962 Sam Cooke classic, Bring It On Home To Me, which was given a rollicking treatment by Burdon and his brassy band.

Likewise, Bellamys tart solos  while at times employing the tapping style and fleet legato lines pioneered by Allan Holdsworth and Eddie Van Halen  employed some of the same bluesy bends that Burdons guitarist Johnzo West played.

Muses fondness for  and debt to  American music was perhaps most pronounced during the bands reverently rip-roaring version of New Kind of Kick by The Cramps, the sadly defunct Sacramento band that fused rockabilly, garage rock and punk. (As the song ended, one of the video screens behind the band showed a large portrait of Cramps guitarist and periodic vocalist Poison Ivy).

Both Muse and Burdon performed with skill, crowd-pleasing verve and unmistakable commitment. Muse performed on the enormous Grandview Stage, while Burdon and his band appeared on the smaller  but still sizable  Trestles Stage.

Their respective performances had their respective audiences singing and dancing along, as Muse played such fan favorites as the explosive Stockholm Syndrome and Uprising, their first encore, and Burdon tore through We Gotta Get Out of This Place, a 1965 hit for him and The Animals.

Muse, whose music is both anchored and propelled by Howards fierce but rock-steady drumming, delivers it music with a rare unity of purpose.

The outdoor setting at KAABOO prevented the band from employing some of the more extravagant production touches Muse utilizes at its arena shows  no flying metallic orbs this time around! But it was still an eye-popping fantasia whose visual flair enhanced, rather than distracted from the music.

Burdon, now 76, is the sole original member of The Animals still in the band. Its current members, nearly all of them American, are young enough to be his children or even grandchildren. But the seven-man group played with infectious spirit, whether vamping through the Sam & Dave soul classic, Hold On Im Coming, or elevating House of the Rising Sun, the ageless American blues lament that remains Burdons signature song.

He wryly introduced it by telling the enthusiastic audience: I think youve heard this one before. But youre going to hear it again, whether you like it or not.

The hearty cheer from the audience  whose members ranged in age from toddlers to grandparents  left no doubt about their approval.

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george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga
Good things come in pairs! This season, San Diegos dance community serves up two milestone anniversaries, two chances to see the iconic Swan Lake, and two intriguing premieres from San Diego Ballet.

California Ballet and San Diego Musical Theatre: Billy Elliot the Musical

The California Ballet Company and San Diego Musical Theatre will co-produce the Tony Award-winning show about a British working-class boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. Music by Elton John and Lee Hall. Adult language. 8 p.m. Sept. 22-23, Sept. 29-30, Oct. 6-7; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 and Oct. 5; 2 p.m. Sept. 24, Sept. 28, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8. Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway, downtown. $16 to $72. (858) 560-5740 or sdmt.org

International Dance Association of San Diego County: International Harvest Festival

The two-day dance event is hosted by the five international folk dance clubs belonging to the International Dance Association of San Diego County. Take free lessons, with or without a partner, watch dance performances and enjoy folk craft vendors. 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 23-24. Balboa Park Club, 2150 Pan American Road W., San Diego. Free. (619) 287-5014 or idasdc.org

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San Diego Dance Theater: Trolley Dances

San Diego Dance Theaters Trolley Dances program returns with unique site-specific works by six contemporary choreographers staged along the trolley line. Two-hour guided tours start in Chula Vista, travel through National City and end downtown at the Central Library. Sept. 30, Oct. 1, Oct. 7 and Oct. 8. $40 general; $15 to $25 students, seniors, military. (619) 225-1803 or sandiegodancetheater.org

ArtPower: In Plain Site

In celebration of the late postmodern dance pioneer Trisha Brown, ArtPower will present a site-specific work created by Trisha Brown Dance Company. The performance is staged near the Stuart Collections La Jolla Project, the public art piece by Richard Fleischner on the UC San Diego campus. 2 and 5 p.m. Oct. 21-22. $35 general; $9 UC San Diego students. (858) 534-8497 or artpower.ucsd.edu

California Center for the Arts, Escondido: After the Curtain

Travis Wall (So You Think You Can Dance) and Shaping Sound perform a new show that tells the story of a man fighting to find his creative voice after the death of his one true love. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21. California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. $35-$70. (800) 988-4253 or artcenter.org

Poway Center for the Performing Arts: Swan Lake

The Russian Grand Ballet returns to San Diego to present the iconic, full-length production featuring the Waltz of the Black Swans at three venues. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24, Jacobs Music Center, 750 B St., downtown, $30-$105, (619) 235-0804 or ticketmaster.com; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido, $35-$85, (800) 988-42537 or artcenter.org; 7 p.m. Oct. 31, Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Road, Poway, $65-$85, (858) 748-0505 or powaycenter.com

California Ballet: Swan Lake

California Ballet celebrates its 50th anniversary season with the iconic Swan Lake. Four acts of romance, tragedy and magic portray the tale of Odette, the beautiful Swan Queen who is imprisoned under the spell of an evil sorcerer. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28; 1 and 5:30 p.m. Oct. 29. San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown. $25-$125. (858) 560-6741 or californiaballet.org

San Diego Ballet: Homegrown and My Blue Heaven and Other Songs From Grandmas Player Piano

San Diego Ballet artistic director Javier Velasco interprets local radio station 101 KGBs classic album Homegrown with a new dance and choreographer Matt Carney introduces a romantic work. 8 p.m. Nov. 3-4 and Nov. 10-11; 6 p.m. Nov. 6 and Nov. 12. White Box Live Arts, 2590 Truxtun Road (upstairs), Building 176, Liberty Station, Point Loma. $25. (619) 294-7378 or sandiegoballet.org

City Ballet of San Diego: The Firebird

City Ballet of San Diego commemorates its 25th anniversary with a presentation of The Firebird, a Russian folk tale about a mystical creature who comes to the aid of a prince. The program also includes George Balanchines Serenade, the San Diego premiere of Ash and Samuel Barber Adagio, a contemporary pas de deux. 8 p.m. Nov. 3-4; 2 p.m. Nov. 5. Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway, downtown. $30-$85. (858) 272-8663 or cityballet.org

ArtPower: Indomitable Waltz, Why You Follow and Ocaso

ArtPower introduces the Cuban contemporary dance company Malpaso, a group that blends ballet with modern dance and Afro-Cuban traditions, with a program that includes Indomitable Waltz, choreographed for the company by ArtPower alumna Aszure Barton; Ocaso by Osnel Delgado; and Why You Follow by Ron K. Brown. 8 p.m. Nov. 17. Mandeville Auditorium, 9500 Gilman Drive, UC San Diego, La Jolla. $23-$43 general; $9 students. (858) 534-8497 or artpower.ucsd.edu

Manna is a freelance writer.
Wendy Maruyama is an artist, furniture maker, educator  and animal lover. She brings all her roles together in the upcoming exhibit The WildLIFE Project at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Maruyama hopes to raise awareness about endangered African wildlife through sculptural pieces that take on the shapes of elephants.

The unprincipled poaching of wildlife by trophy hunters, insatiable greed by humans, is horrific  and yet until recently most people were unaware of the magnitude of the slaughter of such majestic animals, she said. I went to Kenya to do some research, and to see for myself, these very same animals in the wild, and under that majestic African sky.

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The pieces in the exhibit are created with wood, glass and metal. Maruyama holds a masters degree in furniture making and is a professor of woodworking and design at San Diego State University. Her three-dimensional work, which has been shown nationally and internationally, often comes with a social message.

What do you love most about your craft?

The role that materials play in artwork is even more important as we move into the dematerialization of the digital age. The tactility of wood and fiber, the coldness of steel and glass, all play an important part in the narrative of my work. Since I was trained as a furniture maker and woodworker, I do love my ability to manipulate and assemble  or disassemble  wood, and found that I have been able to apply principles of construction to other materials as well.

There are different emotive qualities that I can tap into with glass, for example, that cannot be replicated in wood. The transparency of glass, coupled with its fragility, entombs a small video monitor (in the exhibit) that depicts the rhinoceros, a critically endangered species, and at the end, shows its ultimate demise with its horns chopped off.

Name an artistic or cultural endeavor that inspires you here in San Diego.

I just lost the very most important aspect of my artistic endeavor here in San Diego, with the closure of the artist studio building Glashaus, which was located in the Barrio Logan. There were about 20 of us working in individual studios within the building, and it was a thriving community. We had wonderful exhibitions there, events that included music and performances. We celebrated birthdays together, and more importantly, we worked together creatively and shared a wonderful space.

In other arts, interesting set designs can be inspiring, as I do appreciate large installation works.

Is there an artistic or cultural event that youre looking forward to this fall?

One wonderful activity that I discovered fairly recently is taking the Amtrak to Los Angeles to get a weekend fix of museums and gallery-hopping. Bypassing the drive hours to L.A. saves more energy for looking at artwork. My favorite places are the Hammer Museum, Hauser & Wirth gallery, Gemini G.E.L., The Landing and The Broad. I am also looking forward to Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. Initiated by the Getty Museum in 2011, this years Pacific Standard Time will focus on an ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino Art. Several San Diego museums will be participating.

Wendy Maruyama: The WildLIFE Project: Oct. 7-Feb. 18. Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. $8; $5 for visitors 65 and older; free for those under 18, students, military and their families. (760) 435-3720 or oma-online.org

Schimitschek is a freelance writer.
Among exhibits opening this fall will be numerous focusing on Hispanic art and photography as local museums are participating in the Getty-led initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, an exploration of Latin American and Latino art.

San Diego Art Institute: BC to BC

Contemporary West Coast artists from Baja California to British Columbia will offer an inventive twist on ceramics. Sept. 16 to Oct. 20. San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. $3-$5. (619) 236-0011 or sandiego-art.org

Mingei International Museum: Art of the Americas  Mesoamerican, Pre-Columbian Art

Ceremonial and everyday objects from the ancient cultures of Mexico, Central and South America will include a rare display of Mayan textile fragments. Part of Pacific Standard Time, the show is curated from the Mingeis permanent collection. Sept. 16 to Feb 18. Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. $7-$10. (619) 239-0003 or mingei.org

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Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: Memories of Underdevelopment

A look at how artists from the 1960s to the 80s responded to the failed promise of modernization after World War II in Latin American countries. The exhibit, also part of Pacific Standard Time, is in collaboration with Museo Jumex in Mexico City and the Museo de Arte de Lima. Sept. 17 to Jan. 7. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 1100 Kettner Blvd., downtown. $5-10. (858) 454-3541 or mcasd.org

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library: Awaken to Zero

My favorite sound is the subtle crunching of words forming and breaking apart, notes artist Mark Licari, whose drawings are inspired by his fascination with letters and words. Nov. 11-Dec. 30. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, Rotunda Gallery, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Free. (858) 454-5872 or ljathenaeum.org

La Jolla Historical Society: Judith Dolan: On Broadway

Judith Dolans costume designs have earned her a Tony Award for Candide and have been seen in playhouses throughout the United States and Europe. This exhibit examines her creative process and includes storyboards and hand-drawn sketches. Sept. 23 to Jan. 21. La Jolla Historical Society Wisteria Cottage Gallery, 780 Prospect St., La Jolla. Free. (858) 459-5335 or lajollahistory.org

Oceanside Museum of Art: unDocumenta

Works from San Diego and Tijuana artists will be on display in this timely exhibition that focuses on the physical and cultural border and what it means to live in this region. The exhibit is part of Pacific Standard Time. Sept. 23 to Jan. 28. Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. $5-$8. (760) 435-3720 or oma-online.org

Museum of Photographic Arts: Point/Counterpoint: Contemporary Mexican Photography 2000-2015

Mexicos political, economic and social changes are captured through photographs by 19 Mexican artists in this Pacific Standard Time exhibit. Sept. 30 to Feb. 11. Museum of Photographic Arts, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. Pay what you wish. (619) 238-7559 or mopa.org

San Diego Museum of Art: Modern Masters From Latin America: The Perez Simon Collection

Latin American modernism will be showcased in this Pacific Standard Time exhibition drawn from one of the worlds foremost private collections. Artists include Fernando Botero, Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. Oct. 21 to March 11. San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. $8-$15. (619) 232-7931 or sdmart.org

Lux Art Institute: Andy Harper

British artist Harper will be at Lux Art Institute to create a series of large-scale paintings. His fluid patterns and shapes are made by manipulating paint in its liquid state. In residence Nov. 18 through Dec. 16, on exhibit through Jan. 13. Lux Art Institute, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas. $5. (760) 436-6611 or luxartinstitute.org

Womens Museum of California: Extreme Beauty

A look at the lengths women have gone to throughout history to conform to beauty standards of their time. Nov. 3 to Jan. 28. Womens Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Liberty Station. $3-$5. (619) 233-7963 or womensmuseumca.org

Schimitschek is a freelance writer.
Police in the Northern California town of Arcata are looking for a man who set a sleeping homeless man on fire, causing severe burns to his head and hands.

Police said the 28-year-old victim was sleeping on the steps of a church Saturday night when the suspect ignited a flammable substance nearby.

The victim woke up and ran into the street, where witnesses helped put out the fire.

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He was later taken to the hospital, where he is listed in serious but stable condition.
UC Berkeley officials said Saturday that organizers of a far-right speakers series scheduled for later this month have missed the deadline to reserve two of the largest indoor venues on campus for the event, but that they will continue to work with organizers on planning for the festival.

The University cannot defend spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide security arrangements for events based on the press releases of organizers, Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of the universitys Office of Communications and Public Affairs, said in a statement.

Mogulof said the Berkeley Patriot student group that is working with right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos on the Free Speech Week festival had failed to meet the universitys requirements to reserve Wheeler Auditorium on Sept. 24  the first day of the festival  and Zellerbach Auditorium on Sept. 27. He said organizers failed to submit the necessary payments to reserve the halls by 5 p.m. Friday.

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Berkeley Patriot also failed to provide the university with evidence that speakers are actually confirmed, such as e-mails, evidence of travel arrangements, or contracts, Mogulof said. In both instances, the student organization missed three previous deadlines set by the university, he said.

This failure to confirm, combined with the refusal to provide unqualified speaker lists and schedules has led the campus to question whether Berkeley Patriot actually intends to, and/or is able to, carry out the proposed events, Mogulof said in his statement.

Yiannopoulos dismissed the universitys claims as a total lie and part of a misinformation campaign. He said organizers were in the middle of negotiating the terms of the $100,000 reservation fee when things broke down.

They asked for the money after the cutoff for wire transfer on Friday, he told a Times reporter on Saturday. They will have it Monday. The event will proceed. Classic attempt to force cancellation with impossible demands at the last minute. It will not succeed.

But Mogulof disputed Yiannopoulos version of events and said he was not part of the negotiations. He said the university was dealing solely with Berkeley Patriot.

The fee payment requirement was in the contract first provided to the Berkeley Patriot five weeks ago, he said Saturday, noting that the group was sent a reminder in writing Wednesday.

Berkeley Patriot representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

But Bryce Kasamoto, a 20-year-old senior and a spokesman for the group, said Wednesday that the group expected to meet the campus deadline, which he said was approaching within the next week.

It is all going to be ready and finalized pretty soon, he said. This event is going to go forward and its going to be very exciting.

Free Speech Week is slated to include Pamela Geller, Mike Cernovich, Erik Prince, Ann Coulter, Yiannopoulos and former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon. But the full list of speakers is not yet confirmed and some who have been listed said they do not plan to attend.

Three of the speakers listed by Milo Inc.  Charles Murray, Heather MacDonald and Michael Malice  have said they are not coming to Berkeley.

Murray and Malice confirmed through emails to The Times that they wont be attending the series.

I was never contacted by the organizers of this event, Murray wrote in an email. The inclusion of my name in the list of speakers was done without my knowledge or permission. I will add that I would never under any circumstances appear at an event that included Milo Yiannopoulos.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan Institute, where MacDonald is a fellow, said neither we nor Heather know anything about the event.

benjamin.oreskes@latimes.com

javier.panzar@latimes.com

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UPDATES:

5:35 p.m. This article was updated with an additional comment from Murray.

This article was originally published at 4 p.m.
When Point Loma philanthropist Conrad Prebys died last year from cancer, he left behind legal papers detailing who should receive gifts from his $1 billion estate.

And who should not.

Over and over, in typewritten clauses that were underlined, he excluded his only child, Eric Prebys, a physicist who at one time had been in line for $40 million.

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That disinheritance is at the heart of a court fight that is brewing in San Diego Superior Court between directors of the Conrad Prebys Foundation, which is due to receive the bulk of the estate and distribute it to charities.

Late last year, after Eric Prebys threatened legal action, the directors voted 4-1 in favor of a settlement: $9 million, plus the estate taxes, for a total gift estimated at $15 million.

The lone dissent came from Debra Turner, Conrad Prebys longtime partner. She said Prebys was adamant that his son receive nothing after a falling-out in 2014, and that it would be wrong to disregard his wishes.

In May, she filed suit against the other directors, alleging malfeasance and breach of their duty to protect the foundations assets. She wants the directors to reimburse the money that went to Prebys son and pay damages for the diversion. And she wants the directors removed.

Some things you do because you have to sleep at night, she said.

In response, attorneys for director Laurie Anne Victoria, a longtime executive with Conrad Prebys real estate development company and the trustee of his estate, called the settlement with Eric Prebys the only reasonable decision and said Turner is using it as a pre-text to take control of the board. They said Turner is angry about suggestions that she may have unduly influenced Conrad Prebys financial decisions.

Victorias attorneys have asked that the suit be dismissed, arguing that every minute it is pending causes real harm to the charities of San Diego that Conrad championed.

The first court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

The falling out

Born in Indiana, Conrad Prebys came to San Diego in 1965, when he was 32, looking for a fresh start. Hed worked in a steel mill, owned a pizzeria. Freshly divorced, he left his ex-wife and 2-year-old son in South Bend and headed west.

I had $500, no job, no prospects, he told the Union-Tribune in 2015. I looked out at the ocean and said, If I could just make a buck.

He bought a vacant lot and built a starter home, then another, and over 40 years guided Progress Construction into a company that owned some 90 properties and more than 9,000 rental units. He became very wealthy, and later in his life he started giving money away, a little at first and then a lot.

By the time he died on July 24, 2016 at age 82, he had donated more than $300 million to charities, most of them in San Diego County. He gave $100 million to the Sanford-Burnham institute, $45 million to Scripps Health, $20 million to the La Jolla Music Society, $20 million to San Diego State, $15 million to the San Diego Zoo.

He was guided in his giving by personal experience. A childhood bout with blood poisoning led to a curiosity about hospitals. Piano-playing in his youth fueled a passion for the arts. Watching the polar bears swim at the zoo soothed him when things werent going well.

His rule for donating: If a proposal makes me want to jump up and down, Im all in.

The trust he created for his estate left the lions share of the money to the foundation and also named more than a dozen people and institutions as beneficiaries. One of the gifts was set up for his son. They had reconnected when Eric was 16. Raised in Phoenix by his mother, he drove to San Diego in the summer of 1979 to find the father hed never known.

Over the years, they built up a relationship, Eric Prebys said  never particularly close, but we got along. He came out to visit for the winter holidays. One summer during college, he spent a month with his father. As he grew up  a career as a physicist in Illinois, married, two sons of his own  he and his father saw each other a few times each year and talked on the phone.

In 2014, according to the lawsuit filed by Turner, father and son had a significant falling out. Conrad Prebys, hurt and angry, reduced his sons inheritance, first to $20 million and then to zero. In an interview, Turner declined to say what had happened to cause the falling out.

Eric Prebys, who works now at U.C. Davis, said he had absolutely no idea there was bad blood, and that his father never mentioned being angry at him. He said hes learned since his fathers death that he supposedly said something when the two were having coffee one day.

As far as I know, we never had an argument, he said. It hurts to realize he harbored ill-will toward me while he was outwardly friendly. He said in hindsight he realizes their contacts had fallen off in recent years, but he attributed it at the time to his fathers cancer battle or to one or the other of them being busy, not to animosity.

After his fathers death, Eric Prebys received a copy of the will, which gave each of the two grandsons $1 million. But nothing for him.

At first, he had no plans to contest it, he said. But he now believes his father was suffering from dementia and not thinking clearly.

If I believed my father was in his right mind when he made those decisions, I would have thought he was a complete (SOB), but I would not have challenged it, Eric Prebys said. But I dont believe he was in his right mind. This is not what he would have wanted.

He was adamant

Debbie Turner met Conrad Prebys in 1997, when she went to work for him as a property manager.

As they started dating, she said, he told her they werent joined at the hip, that they didnt have to go everywhere together. That lasted about six months, she said.

Although they werent married, they lived together as a couple for almost 17 years, sharing a home in Point Loma. You know people say someone is larger than life? she said. That was Conrad. When he was in a room, you knew it.

He was also someone who prized loyalty, she said, which is why she got upset when she learned that Eric Prebys was challenging the estate and that Laurie Anne Victoria, the trustee, and James Lauth, the attorney who had drafted the trust, were talking about a settlement.

When Conrad made a decision, it was done, and he was adamant about revoking Erics gift, Turner said. He told a lot of people he was doing this.

Asked about the suggestions that Conrad Prebys was mentally incompetent, she said, You cant print my response in a family newspaper. And then she settled on a one-word answer: Ridiculous.

Turner is president of the Conrad Prebys Foundation board. All five members are volunteers, handpicked by Conrad Prebys, and they meet monthly. They first talked about settling with Eric Prebys in September 2016. Turner said directors were warned that Eric Prebys could get it all if he prevailed in a lawsuit. Turner said she told the directors that his claims of mental incompetence and undue influence were unfounded.

In December, on a 4-1 vote, the board authorized giving Eric Prebys up to $12 million, plus payment of the estate taxes. Turner voted against it, and five months later filed suit in probate court to undo the gift.

In the suit, Turners attorneys, Michael Brophy and Steven Chidester, accuse Victoria and two of the other directors of self-dealing and conflict of interest, noting that their own gifts from Conrad Prebys could have been reduced if Eric Prebys sued and portions of the trust were undone.

Turner is also a beneficiary of the trust  $40 million, according to court papers, plus the Point Loma house and other belongings. In an interview, she disagreed with suggestions that she was motivated by her own financial interests to influence the actions Conrad Prebys took to disinherit his son.

This is not a situation where if he gets less money, I get more, she said. The money he got was supposed to go to the foundation, which was set up to benefit charities. Thats what Im fighting for.

Turner said she wishes Eric Prebys had realized his father wasnt talking to him in the final years and had reached out for a reconciliation. And she said Conrad Prebys knew there might be a fight over the trust after he cut his son off.

I wish he hadnt done it, she said. It would have made things a lot easier.

Only reasonable decision

Scott Edelman is one of the lawyers representing Laurie Ann Victoria, the trustee of Conrad Prebys estate and the executor of his will.

For us, its a pretty simple little story, Edelman said. Debbie Turner was the subject of allegations of undue influence by Conrads sole heir, who threatened to bring a lawsuit, which she was very upset about. And now shes suing the board.

According to Edelman, Victoria had the sole responsibility and authority to resolve claims against the estate, and she only brought it to the foundation directors as an advisory matter, not for its approval.

She decided to settle with Eric Prebys to avoid the uncertainty, cost and publicity of litigation, according to court papers filed by her lawyers, which note that the amount paid to him is less than a quarter of what he would have received if he hadnt been disinherited and less than 1 percent of the overall estate.

Settling was not only a reasonable decision, the papers say, it was the only reasonable decision.

The lawyers dispute the conflict of interest claims. They said Turners suit fails to provide any evidence that Victoria or the other directors knew when Conrad Prebys had first included gifts for them in the trust, or how he might have amended them in later years.

They said Turners real goal in the dispute is to displace the rest of the board and take control of the estate, but they said she lacks standing to seek that remedy in court Theyve asked that the suit be dismissed.

Tuesdays hearing is expected to be largely procedural, according to the attorneys involved. More court dates may be set then. A final resolution could be months if not years away.

In the meantime, the foundation board still meets every month. It is, Turner said, pretty uncomfortable. The money from Conrad Prebys is frozen by the litigation, so charities lined up to receive some of his legendary largesse are instead being given IOUs.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
Many Americans' moral vanity is expressed nowadays in their rage to disparage. They are incapable of measured judgments about past politics -- about flawed historical figures who were forced by cascading circumstances to make difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect information.

So, the nation now needs an example of how to calmly assess episodes fraught with passion and sorrow. An example arrives Sunday night.

For 10 nights on PBS, Ken Burns' and Lynn Novick's "The Vietnam War," 10 years in the making and 18 hours in length, tells the story of a war "begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings," and "prolonged because it seemed easier to muddle through than admit that it had been caused by tragic decisions" during five presidencies. The combat films are extraordinary; the recollections and reflections of combatants and others on both sides are even more so, featuring photos of them then and interviews with many of them now.

A 1951 photo shows a congressman named John Kennedy dining in Saigon. There is an interview with Le Quan Cong, who became a guerilla fighter in 1951, at age 12. Viewers will meet Madame Le Minh Khue, who was 16 when she joined the "Youth Shock Brigade for National Salvation": "I love Hemingway. I learned from 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Like the resourcefulness of the man who destroys the bridge. I saw how he coped with war, and I learned from that character." As did another combatant who loves that novel, John McCain.

Eleven years after his Saigon dinner, President Kennedy said, "We have not sent combat troops in the generally understood sense of the word." Obliqueness and evasions greased the slide into a ground war of attrition. Kennedy, his successor (who said, "Foreigners are not like the folks I'm used to") and their advisers were determined not to make the Munich mistake of confronting an enemy tardily.

Tapes of Lyndon Johnson's telephone conversations with advisers are haunting and horrifying: To national security adviser McGeorge Bundy: "What the hell am I ordering [those kids] out there for?"

In 1966 alone, eighteen large-scale U.S. offensives left more than 3 million South Vietnamese -- approximately one-fifth of the country's population -- homeless. Just on the Laos portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, more tons of bombs -- 3 million tons -- were dropped than fell on Germany and Japan during World War II.

By body counts, America was winning. As an Army adviser says in episode 4, "If you can't count what's important, you make what you can count important."

Vincent Okamoto earned in Vietnam the Army's second-highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross. He recalls the platoon he led:

"Nineteen-, 20-year-old high school dropouts ... they looked upon military service as like the weather: you had to go in, and you'd do it. But to see these kids, who had the least to gain, there wasn't anything to look forward to. ... And yet, their infinite patience, their loyalty to each other, their courage under fire. ... You would ask yourself, 'How does America produce young men like this?'"

Or like Okamoto. He was born during World War II in Arizona in a Japanese-American internment camp.

Karl Marlantes, a Rhodes Scholar from Yale who voluntarily left Oxford for Marine service in Vietnam, recalls a fellow lieutenant radioing to battalion headquarters over 20 kilometers away the fact that he had spotted a convoy of trucks. The battalion commander replied that this was impossible because intelligence operatives reported no trucks near there. In a Texas drawl, the lieutenant replied: "Be advised. I am where I am, and you are where you are. Where I am, I see goddamned trucks."

Weary of hearing the prudence that was so painfully learned in Indochina derided as the "Vietnam syndrome," Marlantes says (in his Wall Street Journal review of Mark Bowden's book "Hue 1968"): "If by Vietnam syndrome we mean the belief that the U.S. should never again engage in (a) military interventions in foreign civil wars without clear objectives and a clear exit strategy, (b) 'nation building' in countries about whose history and culture we are ignorant, and (c) sacrificing our children when our lives, way of life, or 'government of, by, and for the people' are not directly threatened, then we should never get over Vietnam syndrome. It's not an illness; it's a vaccination."

The Burns-Novick masterpiece is, in Marlantes' words about Bowden's book, "a powerful booster shot."
The Trump Administration has named 42 U.S. attorney nominees so far, but the lead federal prosecutor job in San Diego remains up for grabs as interested candidates navigate an opaque vetting process.

The selection of U.S. attorney finalists has traditionally been left to the states senators. But what happens when, as in Californias case, both legislators are Democrats and the president is a Republican? Historically, the senior Republican congressman has then taken the reins.

But this time, the process has been anything but clear, and many potential nominees have submitted their resumes to Democrats, Republicans, the Department of Justice and the White House to make sure their bases are covered.

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I think were all trying to figure out how the process is supposed to work, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano, who is among a handful of local lawyers who have applied for the job overseeing the Southern District of California, which prosecutes federal crimes in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Mark Conover (Hayne Palmour IV/U-T)

A short list of applicants has emerged, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Bettwy, Adam Braverman, Mark Conover, Paul Starita and Michael Wheat, as well as former Los Angeles Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Brewer, now in private practice, and Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador.

Trump has already made picks in several states, from Wyoming to Tennessee to Illinois to Iowa, and recently Texas  his first nomination for a state that borders Mexico. The 42 nominations represent almost half of the 94 total U.S. attorney positions. Only one nominee so far is a woman.

In California, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both Democrats, are expected to vet U.S. attorney candidates through their own separate committees. Harris will select finalists for San Diego and San Francisco, while Feinstein will take on Los Angeles and Sacramento, according to Feinsteins office. But details beyond that have been hard to come by. Harris office did not elaborate.

And Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, as the states ranking GOP congressman, is also involved in the selection process, although his office declined also to elaborate.

Hes involved in the process and has met with candidates seeking to fill the vacancy, Issa spokesman Calvin Moore said.

While traditionally U.S. attorney finalists trickle up from the local committees to the White House for vetting, sources say the Trump Administration has been proactively reviewing candidates on its own.

But finding agreement from both parties could be especially difficult given the divisiveness of Trumps border agenda. Both home state senators have so-called blue slip power by which they approve of a Trump nominee during the confirmation process. Feinstein is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

They want to find sweet spot, said Starita, an assistant U.S. attorney interested in the job. You want to find someone who appeals to both.

The legislators have already voiced different priorities when it comes to the border.

Theres no question the Administration will have their choice of any number of highly qualified candidates to fill the role, Issa said in a statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune. What were focused on finding here is someone whos demonstrated an utmost respect for the rule of law, someone with a steady track record of dealing with border crimes and other critical issues for us here in communities along our southern border, and someone who is professionally qualified and capable of doing the job. This is an incredibly important role to fill and its my hope we can get this filled quickly without any further delay.

Feinsteins office pointed to comments she made earlier this year, which criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions for directing prosecutors to divert more resources to cracking down on immigration offenses.

Im also concerned that Attorney General Sessions is hindering the ability of U.S. attorneys offices to focus their resources on the needs of their communities. U.S. attorneys should not be forced to divert their resources from important cases already underway, including financial fraud, cybercrime and sex trafficking, Feinstein said in April.

But the ultimate decider will be Trump. I cant imagine someone being selected who says I dont believe in the border wall or interior enforcement, said Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego under President Ronald Reagan who now works for the Center for Immigration Studies. Whoever applies is going to have to demonstrate their commitment to the agenda.

Past presidents have not been quick to nominate their U.S. attorney picks for San Diego.

Most recently, President Barack Obama took just over a year from taking office to select federal prosecutor Laura Duffy, and it took another five months to confirm her nomination.

And President George W. Bush, with Rancho Santa Fe venture capitalist and well-connected Republican Gerald Parsky leading a local bipartisan committee, took more than a year to nominate Carol Lam.

The longer the process takes, the longer the presidents agenda is delayed, said Nunez. Offices also generally have hiring freezes until a new leader is appointed, he added.

In the meantime, San Diegos office is being run by Acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson, who was second in charge under Duffy.

Nunez said that over the years, the U.S. attorney role has shifted from lawyers who had political connections to those with more specific prosecutorial experience.

That certainly rings true with the names of those whove expressed interest in the job:

Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador, arguing a case in 2013. (John Gibbins/U-T)

Mark Amador: A San Diego County deputy district attorney for 22 years and current chief of the appellate and training division, Amador has spent much of his career prosecuting gangs and Mexican drug cartel-related crime. Perhaps his biggest case  and the longest criminal trial in county history  was against Los Palillos, a violent cartel offshoot with 18 people indicted in nine killings. Amador was 2012 San Diego Prosecutor of the Year and 2015 California Prosecutor of the Year.

Sam Bettwy: A federal prosecutor in San Diego since 1989, Bettwy has spent a good part of his career on immigration and homeland security cases, as a prosecutor and on the civil side defending government agencies. He attended Trumps inauguration.

We need to do a better job fighting transnational criminal organizations that run alien smuggling, Bettwy said. He also sees areas to make law enforcements actions less predictable and the need more effectively send messages of deterrence.

Adam Braverman: Winner of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys 2016 J. Michael Bradford Memorial Award for his significant prosecutions into the highest levels of the Sinaloa Cartel. Braverman, who has worked in the San Diego U.S. Attorneys Office since 2008, has focused on international criminal organizations. He also tried a murder-for-hire case out of Orange County targeting a federal judge, FBI agents and prosecutors. (And if he sounds familiar, he shares a name with the straight-edged family-man played by actor Peter Krause on the TV drama Parenthood.)

Bob Brewer (Howard Lipin/U-T)

Bob Brewer: The Army Ranger veteran spent the first seven years of his career as a state and federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, then moved to San Diego where he has had a long career in private practice, both in criminal and civil litigation. He was a candidate for U.S. attorney in 2002, although officials may have seen a conflict with his wife being a San Diego federal judge; she has since retired. He also ran for district attorney in 2014. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Mark Conover: At the local U.S. Attorney Office for 10 years, he is currently the second-in-command and, besides overseeing all divisions of the office, is the offices border security coordinator and works with other agencies to fight the emerging fentanyl crisis. He has prosecuted major white-collar and violent crimes, including the killing of a woman by retired Marine Brian Brimager in Panama.

Alessandra Serano: A federal prosecutor in San Diego for 14 years, she has worked human trafficking and child exploitation cases, as well as immigration, terrorism, drugs and gangs. Among her awards is the 2013 Federal Bar Associations Hon. Sarah T. Hughes Civil Rights Award.

Paul Starita: While admittedly not politically connected, he has spent much of his 17 years in the San Diego U.S. Attorneys Office prosecuting border-related crimes. He is now in the civil division, defending U.S. agencies in lawsuits. He is also a Marine reservist, a military judge and the reserve officer in charge of legal support services on the West Coast.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat (John Gastaldo/U-T)

Michael Wheat: With more than 30 years as a prosecutor with the DOJ, he has handled every kind of case, with an emphasis on immigration and border-related crimes. He was a lead prosecutor in the 2005 City Hall public corruption case involving bribes to a strip club owner. Lately, he has been working as a special prosecutor on corruption allegations against officials in Hawaii.

Wheat said the Trump administrations emphasis on border-related cases can be done with reorganization and redeployment of resources. We have a lot of idle assets that could be redirected to the core work of the office: immigration and drug prosecutions, Wheat said. He said white-collar and other types of crimes would not need to be sacrificed. We have a lot of ability and are a lot more nimble than that.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
Equipped with bags, buckets, gloves, trash grabbers and a desire to protect and beautify, hundreds of volunteers spread out around Golden Hill Park Saturday morning.

They picked up bits of paper and plastic litter, planted trees, stenciled storm drains with messages to avoid disposing hazardous chemicals, processed mulch, and painted murals.

Many brought their children to help out, and to learn.

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The volunteers were among an environmental army of more than 7,500 in San Diego County and parts of Tijuana taking part in California Coastal Cleanup Day.

I just want to make a difference, said volunteer Cassandra Stern, who came with her husband and three young children.

That simple and to-the-point answer was typical of other volunteers, many from large corporations such as San Diego Gas & Electric and Wells Fargo.

We just wanted to do our part to help clean up the community, said Helen Gao, an SDG&E communications manager. I brought my daughter Jasmine with me today so she can learn about the importance of taking care of the environment.

Ariana Abbruscato picks up trash at Golden Hill Park during the annual Coastal Cleanup Day, sponsored by I Love A Clean San Diego. (Nancee E. Lewis/Nancee Lewis Photography)

At Golden Hill Recreation Center, Gao and Jasmine, 7, drew a polka-dotted wolf on a mural. Jasmine colored its green dots, and Gao filled in the blue.

In all, volunteers across the region, including some on kayaks, picked up more than 150,000 pounds of trash and recyclables, a bit less than the 185,000 pounds last year. Among the stranger finds: a Chargers jersey, a baby car seat and vampire teeth.

Coastal Cleanup Day also got professional assistance from Caltrans, which cleaned up litter around bridges and roadways. Last year, Caltrans estimated its maintenance crews collected 3,200 cubic yards of litter, plus the more than 24,000 pounds of trash picked up by Adopt-A-Highway volunteers.

Despite the events name, three-quarters of the 110 cleanup locations were located inland, said Pauline Martinson, executive director of I Love a Clean San Diego, the organization that oversees the local cleanup day.

Coastal environmental health cant be separated from that of inland areas, Martinson said in an interview.

The trash that we find inland, if its not removed, will make its way down through our watersheds, she said. San Diego has 11 watersheds, and trash moves from higher elevations to the lower.

To the estimated 300 volunteers at Golden Hill Park, Martinson gave thanks and a pep talk about the larger mission of I Love A Clean San Diego.

Our vision is a litter-free, zero-waste and environmentally engaged San Diego region, she said.

To reach that vision, even small actions add up.

A bottle cap or a cigarette butt that is left can be swallowed by a turtle in the ocean, by a bird out here, or even by a child, Martinson said.

Before setting out, volunteers were cautioned about potential dangers. They were told to avoid homeless encampments and not to handle hazardous items such as razor blades, needles and syringes. Those items were to be reported to I Love A Clean San Diego staff for removal.

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bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
A day after news that San Diegos deadly hepatitis A outbreak may have infiltrated the food service industry, more than 200 people lined up for vaccinations, restaurants reinforced their health safety measures and the city opened a new set of portable public restrooms downtown in an effort to gain some control over the diseases spread.

All eyes are on San Diego, Steve Zolezzi, president of the Food & Beverage Association of San Diego, said of the outbreak, one of the nations largest in decades which prompted county officials to declare a local public health emergency earlier this month.

Miguel Valle, a 65-year-old resident of East San Diego, was one of dozens who lined up early to get a free vaccine at the countys North Central Public Health Center Saturday, many of them fearful they may have been exposed at a Pacific Beach restaurant.

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Ive got things to do this morning but I wanted to get this taken care of, get some peace of mind, said Valle.

On Friday, San Diego County health officials advised the public that anyone who ate or drank at the oceanfront World Famous restaurant on seven specific dates and times may have been exposed to a person with the hepatitis A virus.

Valle and nine of his friends ate appetizers at the restaurant on Aug. 28, one of the dates on the list.

Im a little angry because I have to go through this, but Im not faulting the restaurant, said Valle. Its better to be safe than sorry.

Keith Knight, 52, of Pacific Beach agreed: Its easier to be vaccinated than to be treated.

By the time the health center closed at 2 p.m., 225 people had received inoculations.

Were in the midst of an outbreak and anybody who comes here who wants to get the shot, even if they didnt eat at the restaurant, were going ahead and giving them the shot, said Dr. Eric McDonald, director of the countys Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch.

Erik Berkley, general manager at World Famous, said Saturday it has not been confirmed if the person connected to the restaurant does in fact have hepatitis A. He would not say if the person is an employee, because I want to protect that person as much as I can.

What we do know is, the individual in question, that persons spouse was confirmed to have the virus, Berkley said.

World Famous shut its doors last Tuesday after being notified of possible exposure. Berkley said county health inspections found no evidence of hepatitis contamination, but the restaurant, in an abundance of caution, hired a private hazardous materials company to perform a deep cleaning.

World Famous reopened Wednesday and a slow but steady of stream of customers showed up Saturday.

Business has been off a little bit, which is natural I think in this scenario, but the communitys been wonderful and theres been a lot of support for us, Berkley said.

The latest development added another level of anxiety in a health crisis that has put an increasing number of San Diego-area residents on edge.

The outbreak of hepatitis A, a liver infection caused by a virus that is highly contagious, has killed at least 16 people in the area and at least 421 cases have been detected, leading to 292 people being hospitalized.

The homeless population has been hit especially hard. The use of sidewalks and public rights of way as toilets has created unsanitary conditions that health officials believe have contributed to the spread of the disease.

On Saturday morning, the city announced new public restrooms have been opened downtown and more are on the way.

Security guard David Lamar stands watch at four newly installed public restrooms at First Avenue and C Street on Saturday in San Diego. The city is installing these restrooms as their latest effort to turn the tide against the growing hepatitis A outbreak. (Eduardo Contreras/U-T)

Four new portable restrooms have been placed near City Hall at First Avenue and C Street. The city says they will be maintained at least twice a day and will be monitored by 24-hour security. A hand-washing station is nearby.

The city said it also plans to identify additional sites for restrooms in the coming weeks on top of the 20 public restroom facilities currently downtown.

To that end, the city is asking downtown property owners to contact the city if they have space for a portable restroom, particularly if their land is near at-risk populations.

The installation of more public restrooms is important to stop the spread of hepatitis A, Jonathan Herrera, the citys senior adviser on homelessness coordination, said in a statement. This is one of the many steps the city is taking to assist the County of San Diego in addressing this public health emergency.

The warning regarding the restaurant in Pacific Beach has raised concern about the outbreak possibly spilling over into the food service world.

The more cases you have in the community, the more spillover youre going to have to people who are not homeless, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

But he said that its quite difficult for the virus to move from food workers to diners.

Transmission is not a given. Its a very rare event, Osterholm said in an interview. Work weve done here has found that transmission occurs in probably less than 1 percent of cases.

Its important to remember, he added, there is no chance of transmission if workers have clean hands when they handle food. As long as theyve done a good job of washing up after using the bathroom and any microscopic bit of fecal matter is removed from their hands, transmission is impossible even if theyre in the infectious stage of their illness, which starts about two weeks before symptoms appear.

The restaurant industry has to assume that every worker could transmit hepatitis A. Thats why good hygiene is especially important. If someone has hepatitis A but also good hygiene, theyre not going to transmit the virus, Osterholm said.

Reinforcing such practices was foremost in the mind of Krystal Linnabery, the manager of Truckstop, a restaurant located just a few yards from World Famous.

Were taking every precaution we can, Linnabery said. We see people coming in off the beach and were not allowing them to come in with no shoes. She said her company is telling employees to get vaccinated.

Zolezzi of the food and beverage association said restaurants have to be extra careful because they come in contact with the general public.

We serve a lot of different people, Zolezzi said, and not everyone has the kind of hygiene practices they should. So that requires us to be as vigilant as we can be in operating our businesses  wiping down menus, thoroughly cleaning all of those contact points on a regular basis.

While Linaberry said she sympathized with the management at World Famous, Arthur Karyakos, who owns three small food businesses in Pacific Beach, was less forgiving.

We live here, we eat here, he said at Big Kahunas, a shop he owns that sells ice cream and smoothies. Im unhappy about what happened.

But Daniel Adams, 26, from Crown Point has lived in the Pacific Beach area his entire life and said he will remain a regular customer.

Ive gone there forever, I know the people that work there, I love World Famous, Adams said. I could go have a cocktail right now and I wouldnt worry.

Though considered less lethal than hepatitis B or C, hepatitis A infection can be fatal for those with pre-existing liver damage and other health conditions.

Most people, however, recover with little or no treatment. Infection can be prevented through vaccination.

Symptoms, which do not appear in all cases, include: fever, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, yellowing of the eyes (jaundice), stomach pain, vomiting, dark urine, pale stools and diarrhea.

The incubation period for hepatitis A ranges from 15 to 50 days.

Staff writer Paul Sisson and editor Michael Smolens contributed to this report.

Dates and times of concern for those who ate or drank at World Famous:

Aug. 28, 29 and 30 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Sept. 3 and 4 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sept. 10 and 11 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.

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rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski
Heres one way to look at San Diegos homeless crisis: Thank goodness for business folks, or the critical mass of pressure to get something done might never have arrived.

Mayor Kevin Faulconers move to erect large, industrial tents as temporary homeless shelters in downtown San Diego was prompted by two prominent businessmen, who proposed the idea months ago.

Even before then, concern about the growing homeless problem was pushed to center stage, in part, by the business community as much of the regions political focus was on keeping the Chargers in town  along with offering $350 million in taxpayer funds for a stadium  along with the never-ending effort to expand the convention center.

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Granted, whatever the degree of social conscience, there certainly was motivation because this was bad for business, with customers and tourists potentially being scared away after walking around people sleeping on sidewalks.

Nothing wrong with that. If self-interest helps the greater good in addition to ones bottom line, everybody wins.

But there havent been many wins for the homeless lately. Even Faulconers announcement of temporary shelters left many wanting. It took months to get to that point, and he says it will take three months to get the first tent up and ready for business. FEMA knows how to put up serious shelters in a fraction of the time in a disaster, which is what you might call San Diegos homeless situation and related hepatitis A outbreak.

The mayor and his business allies did have a plan hatched early last year to bolster homeless services with $10 million annually through a proposed tax increase. But that was grafted  along with a provision for road repairs  onto a plan to expand the convention center, which was the main purpose of the proposed ballot measure and would have received the lions share of the money.

The City Council didnt go for it. Councilman David Alvarez has been perhaps Faulconers harshest critic for the pace in doing something about the homeless, and the mayors aides have begun regularly pointing out that he opposed a special election for the tax increase.

Putting up big tents as temporary shelter is nothing new in San Diego. It was just no longer the practice. The city created some more indoor shelter at Father Joes Villages and, more significantly, made complete policy shift toward a focus on permanent shelter under what has become the popular housing first philosophy nationwide.

The problem is the tents were scrapped  literally recycled  before enough permanent housing could be created.

Eventually, restaurant chain owner Dan Shea and Padres Managing Partner Peter Seidler came back to the idea of tents, but couldnt seem to get anyone interested at City Hall at the outset. Eventually, they committed $1.5 million to buy some. But it wasnt until the hepatitis outbreak started looking like it could mushroom into an epidemic that the tent plan gained steam.

It may be just coincidence, but the intensified response by the city and county  which just the other week installed dozens of hand-washing stations around San Diego  came as more details were getting attention, like who was contracting hepatitis. Much of the focus rightly has been on the homeless  more than 70 percent of the afflicted are either homeless, hard-core drug users, or both  but interest is rising about the rest.

You know, people like us  and like the decision makers and their constituents. Things tend to happen faster when trouble starts spreading beyond a demographic of the politically impotent downtrodden. That goes for once it spreads to restaurants as well.

Perhaps the final embarrassment of reverting to tents is this: That was the approach advocated by disgraced ex-Mayor Bob Filner, a serial sexual harasser and all around difficult person.

But nobody said he was stupid.

Another way to look at it: Did business interests get us into this mess?

County Supervisor Ron Roberts last week did not shy away from whom to blame for the severe shortage in affordable housing.

In some respects, its a crisis of our own making, he said as the supervisors created a $25 million housing fund.

Government has largely got into the way, government has largely said no. Government has largely come up with concepts and theories that has made building housing difficult.

Business interests also played a role in creating the current homeless predicament and, actually, it was government saying yes.

Yes to approving more upscale developments downtown and tearing down sometimes sketchy  but affordable  units that were never replaced. Yes to letting developers off the hook for not including enough affordable housing, or not making them pay what they should have into an affordable housing fund.

Yes to looking the other way while influential developers remade much of downtown and other areas in the region without making provisions for the poor.

Those old units, about 10,000 of them, were the last rung of the ladder to keep many people from being homeless. Take away that rung, and they fall into the abyss.

San Diegos misery has company

San Diego can be an insular place and to hear the critics, our homeless problem makes us a national disgrace like none other.

Well, disgrace, maybe, but were certainly not alone. The Anaheim City Council last week declared a homeless emergency.

Los Angeles continues to be in a horrible predicament with its homeless population surging by big double digits. However, theyve taken decisive action, with voters approving billions in bonds and tax increases to provide housing and other services for the homeless.

So far, those areas havent suffered a hepatitis outbreak like we have here thats killed 16 and afflicted some 400.

But if Faulconer and local leaders feel like theyve been unfairly taking it on the jaw lately, they can take some solace in this:

At least theyre not dead.

Tweet of the Week (honorary)

Goes to a guy I shared a downtown street corner with while waiting for the lights to change. He had a lot of belongings with him, but a cellphone or computer didnt appear to be among them. If they were, Im saying he would have tweeted what he said.

Me: Hows it going?

Him, glancing at me then looking straight ahead: Another day above ground.
A woman was struck by a vehicle and killed on westbound Interstate 8 in Mission Valley Saturday night.

The California Highway Patrol received a report about 8 p.m. that a woman in a black blouse was on the right shoulder near Waring Road.

Minutes later, someone else reported that a man wearing black was trying to flag down vehicles east of Interstate 15, according to the CHP website. Five vehicles were stopped along the freeway.

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CHP officers later requested a trauma counselor to assist a motorist who hit the woman, according to the website.

Caltrans helped close three left freeway lanes during the investigation.

No other information was immediately available.
In todays back story, feature writer John Wilkens discusses the narrative he wrote about Lucas, a critically endangered Rodrigues fruit bat at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Q: How did you first hear about Lucas?

A: A colleague, Karla Peterson, wrote about him when he was born in January. I thought it raised a lot of interesting issues and might be an opportunity for us to peek behind the curtain of conservation, which is a big part of what the zoo does these days.

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Q: Why a bat?

A: I got asked that question a lot in the months that we followed Lucas. Part of it was because bats are not wildly popular, and peoples first instincts might be to recoil in disgust. Bats are creepy. But they play key roles in ecosystems in almost every one of the worlds countries. And I thought it would be a writing challenge to make readers care. Well see if I succeeded.

Q: What was involved in the reporting?

A: Photographer Howard Lipin and I visited Lucas every few weeks, starting in February. We tried to be there when he was approaching various milestones: getting hand-fed by the keepers, learning to fly, moving into the colony. We usually stayed about an hour each time, getting to know the animal-care staff and watching Lucas.

We worked on other stories while the reporting for this one was going on. We didnt know how long it would take for him to move in with the other bats, or if that would even happen. In the beginning, we thought the whole process might take about a month. Thats how long it had taken Patty, Lucas mother, to acclimate after she was hand-raised. But Lucas turned out to have a rockier journey.

Q: What did you learn that was particularly surprising?

A: I didnt know how much effort the keepers would put into raising him. It was round-the-clock in the beginning, in a cramped closet, with the added stress of worrying about whether what they were doing would work. They have animals to help all the time in the nursery  thats why its there  but they havent had much experience being bat moms. Even after he was moved next to the colony, the nursery workers came back regularly to check on him.

I also didnt know that the keepers would try to help Lucas learn how to fly by tossing him to each other. Because he was hand-raised, he couldnt learn by watching other bats. He naturally flapped his wings as he was holding onto the top of his enclosure, but the decision to let go took some coaxing. So they would hold him by his legs, swing him back and forth, and then let throw him gently from one keeper to the other.

Thats a sound that will stay with me for a while: the thwap-thwap of his leathery wings in flight.

And it was surprising to me to see how the bats eat. I heard fruit bat and assumed that meant they ate fruit. Which they do, but only to a point. They crush the fruit against their palates and then spit the skin out. Its pretty messy on the ground.

And speaking of messy, one important thing we learned early on: The only time a male bat hangs right-side up is when he goes to the bathroom. Good to know when to get out of the way.

Q: So were you creeped out by Lucas?

A: Not at all. I never thought I would call a bat cute, but he is, and was especially so as a pup. Rodrigues fruit bats are brown, with golden patches on their heads, necks and shoulders. On the Indian Ocean island where they live in the wild  the only place where they live  their name translates as golden bat.

Its the shape of the face that won me over  the bats look like miniature foxes or schipperke dogs. Almost made me want to reach out and pet Lucas.

Almost.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
Near the entrance to the Safari Park is a world map with markers showing where San Diego Zoo Globals conservation projects are under way. There are more than 140 in 80 countries on six continents.

Some involve well-known and much-loved species  giant pandas, African elephants, Sumatran tigers, polar bears  but many are for animals and plants that, even though they arent the publics darlings, still play important roles in the ecosystems. Among them:

California Condor: The largest flying birds in North America (wingspan: 10 feet), condors almost disappeared in the 1980s, when fewer than two-dozen existed. Captive breeding and re-introduction programs have brought the population to more than 400, over half of them flying free at release sites in California and Mexico.

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Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog: Once down to fewer than 200, this amphibian is tricky to breed in captivity, which is why scientists use in vitro fertilization and hormone therapies. Hundreds of tadpoles have been put into mountain streams to boost the population in the wild.

Black-footed Ferret: Thought to be extinct in nature, they were rediscovered in 1981 in a ghastly way: A ranch dog in Wyoming came home with one in its mouth. Captive breeding has produced more than 8,000 kits, with hundreds re-introduced at 18 different sites. Because all the offspring descend from just seven wild-caught ferrets, in-breeding concerns cloud the animals long-term sustainability.

San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike: About 20 years ago, only 14 of the birds were alive in the wild, their habitat destroyed by sheep, cattle and goat ranching on the island. All the livestock is gone now, and after some early failures, shrikes are being re-introduced in greater numbers. A captive breeding population is maintained as insurance against future threats.

Aye-aye: The largest of nocturnal lemurs on Madagascar, the aye-aye has unusual middle fingers designed to search out and remove grubs from under tree bark. It is endangered because of poaching and habitat loss, and little is known about its natural behavior. Work with rangers and schoolchildren is aimed at monitoring the lemurs population and cultivating an appreciation for its role in nature.

john.wilkens@sduniontribune.com
Regarding San Diego City Council approaching marijuana sensibly (Sept. 14): It was shocking to read in your editorial that San Diegos 1.4 million residents are safeguarded by the City Councils action to permit all aspects of the commercial pot industry. Are you serious?

The 11 dispensaries in San Diego have already resulted in 272 radio calls to police for burglaries, robberies, thefts, assaults and shootings. There have been 15 robberies of delivery drivers.

The City Council members and your editorial board should have listened when Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the negative consequences of more commercial marijuana businesses would be enormous. If Colorados experience is any indication, well be facing more DUI fatalities, more emergency hospitalizations of children, more burglaries, robberies and assaults, and an additional increase in the homeless population. Where is the benefit in that?

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Kelly McCormick

Carlsbad

The City Council is chasing dollars, not protecting our communities from the dangers from people under the influence of proven, mind-altering substances. Stupid, greedy politicians endanger all of us, especially children, our most valuable and most vulnerable population.

The experts gave prudent advice. Our community must stop indemnifying politicians bad decisions. Speak up San Diegans against political greed.

J. Sciarra

Fallbrook

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The worst enemy of good is better.

Nebraskas new state science standards, approved last week by the Nebraska Board of Education, are certainly an improvement over their predecessors. For one, theyre the first to mention climate change by name  though they only ask students to evaluate the validity and reliability of climate change.

Is that better? Yes.

But simply being better is not good enough, because of what we know about climate change and threats it poses if its allowed to worsen unchecked.

Those two words, climate change, have become a political litmus test in recent years  for no good reason. Rather than accepting the scientific consensus that human activity is contributing to rising temperatures and their associated ills, too many people have dug their heels in against the facts.

Such a counterargument sank the original version of the standards, which  correctly  called for students to draw on evidence to determine patterns in climate change and predict future trends.

Nebraska students must be armed with facts to better educate themselves about the world that surrounds them. The policies, as originally drafted, would do that. Yet the states schoolchildren are being artificially hamstrung because a certain portion of the population treats facts as inconvenient.

And for what purpose? Scientists and climatologists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and elsewhere have researched the topic to find storms are getting more severe, with both droughts and extreme precipitation events increasing in frequency, as the global temperature inches upward. Sea levels have risen, too, threatening the very existence of many islands and coastal communities.

There is no reason  zero  that denying climate change needs to be affiliated with politics. Facts should be as apolitical as science, and students must be taught the critical reasoning skills and facts that will allow them to become educated, contributing and productive adults.

The small but vocal minority that plays partisan, political games with science  and, now, education  acts as if their version of reality is the only that can be taught, facts be damned.

Because state officials  under misguided political pressure from these few Nebraskans  didnt fully accept and integrate the existence of climate change and incorporate it into state science standards, it essentially serves as a denial.

Those who arent acknowledging and actively seeking to slam the brakes on this threat are permitting it to continue. This is one of those rare cases where black and white are the only options: If youre not for combating climate change, youre standing against addressing a major global concern.

Nebraska students will have to take it upon themselves to derive the validity and reliability on their own, rather than having this particular scientific nugget baked into their curricula.

Better  but not good enough.
CALEDONIA  Brad Olson and his wife, Natra Tabit, have a 2-year-old daughter whos suffered indescribably since last fall, likely a basket of medical bills and, currently, a meager household income.

But, as of Friday, they have a new roof, thanks to the generosity of others. They can truly say they have a roof over their heads.

The ongoing nightmare involving Olsons and Tabits toddler, Nora Olson, began last Oct. 27, her mother said. She was not herself that day and went to Ascension All Saints Hospital, where she was diagnosed with leukemia.

And things got much worse from there. That same day Nora, then 20 months old, had a brain bleed and a stroke that took over her entire left hemisphere, Tabit continued. At Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin, doctors operated on the little girls brain. She spent six weeks in the intensive-care unit and then went to the oncology unit.

Shes been getting chemotherapy for the past 10 months, Tabit said. In mid-July she underwent a bone marrow transplant and recently spent another two to three weeks in ICU.

And thats just the tip of the iceberg of Noras medical story, which also has included two eye surgeries because of her stroke.

Help arrives

When Noras horror story began, Brad had been planning to replace the roof on their Caledonia home. But the girls ills pushed that out of the realm of possibility.

Ever since Noras bone marrow transplant in July, Brad, 24, a mechanic, has only been working one day a week, Natra said, so they can take turns spending all day at Childrens Hospital with her.

Asked how they get by, Natra, 23, replied, We have a lot of help from family and friends.

And now theyve gotten some more, starting with their friend Angela LaRue, whose son also has cancer. Natra and Brads roof wouldnt have lasted for another winter, LaRue said.

And, knowing they have nearly no income, LaRue called Dale Decker, owner of D&D Roofing and General Contracting. He said he could have a crew do the job for Natra and Brad. D&D also calculated what materials would be required.

LaRue also contacted the charity Kisses From Keegan and Friends, which provided all the roofing materials except for the plywood, and Bliffert Lumber in Sturtevant donated that.

Angela got everything organized, which is so amazing, Natra said.  Im so grateful for that.

New roof

On Thursday D&D started the roofing work and completed the job Friday. Even when it turned out that all of the decking needed replacing, which extended the job, Decker still provided all the labor at no charge.

You dont run across a situation like this very often, a (2)-year-old with cancer, Decker said.

He said he does about three or four charity roofing jobs each year. Ive been fortunate, and I carry that good fortune over to other people, Decker said.

The store managers are all involved in the local community, as all local businesses should be, said Eli Bliffert, majority owner of Bliffert Lumber.

Local managers all have control over how they can use their donations, Bliffert continued. It sounds like they picked a good one.

Nora now has 100 percent donor blood cells, which is a good thing, Natra said.

Shes making a remarkable recovery, the soft-spoken Tabit said.

But Natra said, Theres a long road ahead of us still with Nora which will include physical, occupational and speech therapy and another surgery on her skull.

But Natra is thankful for at least one thing: The community is amazing, she said.
A breakthrough by a Swiss chocolate maker expands the industry's hues beyond just dark, milk and white.

Barry Callebaut AG, the world's largest cocoa processor, has come up with the first new natural color for chocolate since Nestle started making bars of white chocolate more than 80 years ago. The Zurich-based company refers to the product with a pinkish hue and a fruity flavor as "ruby chocolate."

The new product may help boost sales in a struggling global chocolate market that producers hope has touched bottom. As Hershey cuts 15 percent of its staff and Nestle tries to sell its U.S. chocolate business, ruby chocolate raises the possibility that next Valentine's Day may arrive with store shelves full of naturally pink chocolate hearts.

The innovation, based on a special type of cocoa bean, comes after about a decade of development, Chief Executive Officer Antoine de Saint-Affrique said. Unveiled Tuesday in Shanghai, the chocolate has a natural berry flavor that's sour yet sweet, according to the company, which works behind the scenes to produce chocolate sold by all the major producers including Hershey and Cadbury.

"It's natural, it's colorful, it's hedonistic, there's an indulgence aspect to it, but it keeps the authenticity of chocolate," the CEO said in a telephone interview. "It has a nice balance that speaks a lot to millennials."

The new product may also appeal to Chinese consumers, a nascent market for chocolate, De Saint-Affrique said. The company has tested the product in Britain, the U.S., China and Japan through independent consumer research carried out by Haystack and Ipsos.

"We had very good response in the key countries where we tested, but we've also had very good response in China, which for chocolate is quite unusual," he said, noting the color is attractive in that market.

Innovations in chocolate often take years because of the complex structures and the challenge of maintaining texture and taste. Nestle scientists have found a way to reduce the amount of sugar in chocolate by as much as 40 percent, though it won't be available in confectionery products until next year. Barry Callebaut also sells chocolate that withstands higher temperatures, a goal chocolate companies had sought to achieve for decades.

Barry Callebaut's research department came across the possibility of ruby chocolate by chance about 13 years ago as it studied cocoa beans, and Germany's Jacobs University in Bremen cooperated in the development.

"It could be excellent news if the taste works for consumers, as it offers a new branch of manufacturers to explore," Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Duncan Fox said. "If they can use less sugar to make a nice bar, then it will an addition to the current market."

The beans used to make ruby chocolate come from Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Brazil and the unusual color comes from the powder extracted during processing, De Saint-Affrique said. No berries or colors are added. While other companies including Cargill already produce red cocoa powder, this is the first time natural reddish chocolate is produced.

"You could try and copy the color and try to copy the flavor, but making a real chocolate, which is just made out of your normal chocolate ingredients, with that taste and with that color would be extraordinarily difficult," De Saint-Affrique said.

The development comes at time when a large global surplus has sent cocoa futures traded in London more than 30 percent in the past year, resulting in a crisis in Ivory Coast. The top grower earlier this year cut the price paid to farmers by 36 percent for the smaller of two annual crops that started in April.

"If Africa is going to extract more value from cocoa, it has to move away from being a bulk supplier of generic beans and instead focus on enhancing its speciality production," said Edward George, head of soft commodities research at Lome, Togo-based lender Ecobank Transnational Inc. "This has much higher margins."
Maybe its time to start being more proactive fiscally with the natural disasters that seem to be more frequent in the Palmetto State.

Regardless of the cause  Mother Nature, climate change or the wrath of God  the flooding in the Midlands and Pee Dee in 2015, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Irma this year have been expensive propositions.

While state and local officials already get specialized training ahead of disasters to be prepared, state government doesnt budget for storm costs in advance. Instead, it pays the bill long after the storm or disaster has passed.

After the 2015 flooding, the General Assembly appropriated just shy of $180 million to cover various costs  $72 million for a state share of federal funds sent through the Federal Emergency Management Agency; $37.3 million for flood-related road repairs; $30 million for beach renourishment; and $40 million for farm aid after farmers experienced major crop losses.

Hurricane Matthew didnt have as much of a financial impact, but still caused the legislature to appropriate $68 million to match FEMA funds and $5 million for beach renourishment.

Theres no telling what Irma will cost the state for its high winds, heavy rain and storm surge. But you can bet covering the states share of damages, overtime and other costs will run in the millions.

With these events seeming to be more frequent, it makes sense for the state to create a special disaster contingency fund that can be tapped, when necessary, to pay for whatever is needed to help people and protect property.

Currently, the state is fiscally flat-footed because of the process to access money to pay for storm coasts. It has to apply to the federal government to get an emergency disaster declaration and, if that is granted, it can spend with the assurance that FEMA will cover necessary costs. When it is all done with, the state has to match FEMA spending by covering a quarter to a third of the costs.

With Hurricane Irma, Gov. Henry McMaster requested a disaster declaration on Sept. 6 and received approval within 24 hours.

We got it in record time the authorization from the administration, he told Statehouse Report. We knew in advance that we would have access to those [federal] funds if we met various thresholds.

But what if the disaster authorization had taken longer? What if the state could have had the flexibility to start spending earlier to pre-position food, water, gas, personnel, relief supplies and more when the paperwork was, shall we say, in the mail?

A $100 million new disaster relief contingency fund could provide flexibility as the state prepared for an oncoming storm or disaster that could end up costing less over time. And if federal authorization continues to come quickly? The state would have money pre-positioned to pay for its share of FEMA aid, instead of having to do special authorizations months later.

It would be nice to have a fund, but it would be difficult to take money away from other things to create it, McMaster said, noting South Carolinas needs for education, health care and other areas.

But having an advance fund with proper controls on it so that it didnt become a slush fund makes sense because it would relieve future big cuts in just those areas when the state may be able to afford them least. Furthermore, it wouldnt require the state to dig as deeply after a disaster, which would take off some pressure.

South Carolina already has two reserve funds created years ago to show fiscal stability to bond rating agencies. The General Reserve Fund has about $350 million in it now. But its only tapped to balance the books when the states spending exceeds revenues after a fiscal year ends. The Capital Reserve Fund, 2 percent of the annual budget, is used to retire debt or pay for legislatively authorized capital projects -- after a fiscal year ends. If the money is not spent, the General Assembly can spend it annually on other things, only to replenish it the following year.

Now is the time for a third fund  a future fund  to allow us to be ready fiscally before disaster strikes.
Criminal complaints Monday, Sept. 11 through Friday, Sept. 15:

This list is not comprehensive. Municipalities are listed as they appear on the criminal complaint. Suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. To see mugshots of the accused, visit www.journaltimes.com/gallery. Additional information about the complaints can be found at: journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts.

Marcell D. Adams, 1900 block of Chatham St., Racine, battery by prisoners, and disorderly conduct.

Mohammad T. Alnabulsi, 3200 block of Packer Drive, Racine, battery, domestic abuse, and disorderly conduct.

Joshua L. Christianson, 1400 block of 11th Ave., Union Grove, manufacture/deliver marijuana, manufacture/deliver cocaine, and maintaining a drug trafficking place.

Brian S. Coey, 2300 block of Superior St., Racine, failure to report to jail.

Corey Coronado, 50 block of Ohio St., Racine, possession of narcotic drugs.

Jameel A. Cunningham, 1600 block of Edgewood Ave., Racine, manufacture/deliver marijuana.

Angel M. Cruz, 2400 block of Shoop St., Racine, disorderly conduct, and obstructing an officer.

Miguel A. Cruz, 8200 block of N. Ogontz Ave., Tampa, Fla., first degree intentional homicide, and use of a dangerous weapon.

Renay L. Davis, 5300 block of 16th St., Mount Pleasant, recklessly endangering safety, domestic abuse assessments, disorderly conduct, and use of a dangerous weapon.

Ambrra J. Day, 1200 block of Schiller St., Racine, obstructing an officer.

Daniel R. Deburgh, 1000 block of Fairway Drive, Racine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana.

Selena Deleon, 1900 block of State St., Racine, recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct.

Mark Eliopulos, 500 block of Oak Lodge Road, Waterford, theft.

Charnele L. Evans, 800 block of Yout St., Racine, retail theft, and bail jumping.

Jason M. Fisher, 1300 block of Prospect St., Racine, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Racquel Y. Fritz, 1800 block of Roosevelt Ave., Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, and disorderly conduct.

Tevin T. Gallien, 1600 block of Quincy Ave., Racine, uttering a forgery.

Daniel J. Garcia, 1600 block of Liberty St., Racine, manufacture/deliver cocaine.

Rickey L. Gates, 1600 block of S. Memorial Drive, Racine, false imprisonment, domestic abuse assessments, battery, and disorderly conduct.

Nathan F. Henry, 8900 block of S. Woodcreek Drive, Oak Creek, second degree sexual assault of a child under 16 years of age.

Julio C. Herrera, 3800 block of Green St., Racine, criminal trespass.

Brytton D. Hurd, 3000 block of Erie St., Racine, battery by prisoners, and disorderly conduct.

Tameika Jemison, 2200 block of 66th St., Kenosha, operating a motor vehicle while revoked, and operating with prohibited alcohol concentration.

Antonia N.R. Jenkins, 1600 block of Packard Ave., Racine, theft, bail jumping, and uttering a forgery.

Sylvester D. Johnson, address unknown, Racine, criminal damage to property.

Tyler J. Kauzlarich, 1400 block of Plainfield Ave., Racine, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, operate motor vehicle while revoked, and bail jumping.

Jonnie R. Lampkin, 1400 block of Johnston Place, Racine, burglary of a building or dwelling, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Devonta D. Lewis, 2500 block of S. Ninth St., Milwaukee, obstructing an officer, and criminal trespass.

Bennie M.C. Liggins, 2800 block of Washington Ave., Racine, obstructing an officer.

Andrew P. Malacara, 600 block of West Blvd., Racine, battery, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping.

Joshua M. Manriquez, 7100 block of Ashwood Lane, Wind Lake, battery, domestic abuse assessments, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping.

Stacy L. Marsh-Law, 200 block of Ohio St., Racine, retail theft.

Brian C. Matthews, 3800 block of Colorado Court, Racine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and child neglect.

Gary Miller, 1400 block of S. Canel, Chicago, Ill., attempt to obtain a controlled substance by fraud.

Sammie Miller, 6500 block of N. 43rd St., Milwaukee, first degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon, hiding a corpse, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Giovanni Morrow, 4000 block of Olive St., Racine, retail theft.

Anthony Neely, Kenosha Correctional Center, Kenosha, manufacture/deliver cocaine, and possession with intent to deliver/distribute a controlled substance on or near a school.

Cameron M. Owens, 1300 block of Grand Ave., Racine, bail jumping, and obstructing an officer.

Michael A. Ozier, 1300 block of Oakes Road, Mount Pleasant, possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana, maintaining a drug trafficking place, theft of movable property, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Tieshia L. Patterson, 900 block of Hamilton St., Racine, operating without a license.

Rudy M. Peterson, 200 block of Luedtke Ave., Racine, recklessly endangering safety, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct.

Tatum M. Pulera, 3400 block of N. Maryland Ave., Milwaukee, theft of movable property.

Justin M. Renner, 1100 block of Brooker St., Racine, bail jumping, domestic abuse assessments, battery, and disorderly conduct.

Nicole E. Schwartz, 2000 block of DeKoven Ave., Racine, theft, and bail jumping.

Xavier R. Scott, 1900 block of Prospect St., Racine, burglary of a building or dwelling, possession of a firearm by a felon, and obstructing an officer.

Derek W. Shaw, 200 block of Echo Lane, Racine, possession of cocaine, and bail jumping.

Vincent L. Simms, 1900 block of Village Court, Snellville, Ga., lewd and lascivious behavior, and bail jumping.

Ryan J. Spencer, 900 block of William St., Racine, manufacture/deliver heroin, possession with intent to deliver/distribute a controlled substance on or near a school, possession with intent to deliver/distribute a controlled substance on or near a park, delivery of schedule I, II or III non-narcotics, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and bail jumping.

Diaz L. Stacy, 1500 block of Park Ave., Racine, possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana.

Jason D. Stilling, 400 block of Charlotte Ave., Crystal Lake, Ill., possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and disorderly conduct.

Billy R. Summers Jr., 500 block of S. Green Bay Road, Racine, obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping.

Melinda L. Taulbee, 2000 block of Hayes Ave., Racine, operating while intoxicated causing injury, hit and run causing injury, and operate motor vehicle while revoked.

Julian T. Thomas, 5000 block of Graceland Blvd., Racine, battery, domestic abuse assessments, disorderly conduct, and obstructing an officer.

Calbert Turner, 2000 block of DeKoven Ave., Racine, battery, and disorderly conduct.

Joseph J. Vollmer, 1500 block of Whitetail Run, Mukwonago, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Marcus L. Webb, 2200 block of Romayne Ave., Racine, manufacture/deliver cocaine.

Keyonta T. Williams, 1400 block of Marquette St., Racine, obstructing an officer, and disorderly conduct.

Isaiah D. Williams-Goss, 1400 block of West St., Racine, discharging a firearm from a vehicle towards a person, recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm by a adjudicated delinquent.

Scott M. Wilson, 3800 block of 16th St., Racine, retail theft.

Devaughnte T. Woods, 1800 block of Chatham St., Racine, recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon, violent crime in a school zone, and discharging a firearm from a vehicle towards a person.

Taylor M. Wrenger, 3700 block of Debby Lane, Franksville, obstructing an officer.

Amarion M. Young-Coleman, 1700 block of Blake Ave., Racine, attempt first degree intentional homicide, criminal damage to property, and recklessly endangering safety.
RACINE  Bright and early Saturday morning, hundreds of runners took to the streets of Downtown Racine to get some exercise and have colored powder thrown at them by volunteers.

Some two dozen of the volunteers at Saturdays Color Run were students with the American Field Service, an international nonprofit exchange program. Six of the students tasked with throwing yellow powder at runners near the Racine County Courthouse attend Racine Unified high schools while a seventh, Hong Kongs Marco Lam, is finishing his diploma at The Prairie School this year.

The idea to bring the students, who hail from all over the world and attend school across southeastern Wisconsin, together for the Color Run was conceived by Scott Jung, who hosts students in the program. Jungs son, Trevor, works for Real Racine and helped coordinate the students volunteer efforts.

I thought this would be a great way to bring the kids together as a group, Scott Jung said. A lot of these kids are just meeting each other for the first time.

One of those kids was Cem Behrs, 15, from Moers, Germany. Behrs goes to Case High School and Jung is his host father.

I really like the city and the school, Behrs said. Everything is really different, but I think its a good different. The people are way nicer here.

Lam, 17, stayed with Jung last year and decided to stay in the States to finish high school at Prairie. He has wanted to attend college in the United States for a long time.

I like this community and I like the people here, he said. Im going to finish high school and then Ill (also) go to college in America.

Lea Reus, 15, from Lannion, France, said she joined the program because she loves to travel. She was looking forward to throwing powder at the runners Saturday.

I think its funny to throw the stuff at them, she said.

The elder statesman of the group, Lam, hung back while some of the more raucous students whipped the yellow powder at each other while chasing each other around the checkpoint. Lam said he enjoyed his experience in the exchange program and hopes to mentor the current students, some of whom he had just met at Saturdays event.

I think it helped me a lot as a person, becoming more involved and more talkative, he said. I just want to help out the people and make sure they have a good experience.
RACINE  On Tuesday, Racinians will head to the polls to cast their votes in the special mayoral primary election.

The six candidates have answered dozens of questions in Journal Times articles, two NAACP-hosted forums and in their own interactions with the citys residents on the campaign trail. For this story, The Journal Times asked each candidate to submit a statement on a topic of their choosing.

The topic could be one they felt was vital to the campaign or an issue they didnt get the chance to talk enough about. The only two instructions were that they were encouraged to narrow the response to one topic as much as possible and limit the response to 150 words.

Heres how they responded, in alphabetical order:

Pastor Melvin Hargrove on the job skills gap

I believe the skills gap is an issue we should be covering more. As I talk with business owners, they continue to express concern about the skills gap when it comes to the employability of potential hires. The skills gap can and does include technical, academic and soft skills. We must remember even though Foxconn is possibly on its way here, there are already jobs available in Racine that could be filled. As mayor, I will collaborate with our educational and business community to help address concerns and provide solutions to the academic and technical skills gap. I will collaborate with our non-profit and faith community to help build the soft skills necessary for productive employment. I believe if we become intentional in addressing these areas, we will see Racine rise and become resilient.

Green Party leader Fabi Maldonado on solving problems

As your mayor, I promise to not just support solving the issues but to actively address them. Were all tired of hearing the same old empty promises. Our local elected officials have plagued the City of Racine with stagnation for decades due to the fact that they refuse to stand up for us. We have a club in City Hall that thinks that just because they have the resources to run for office that they can do as they please. We need to break up this club and remind them that they work for the people. Racine has been unable to move forward due to our terrible leadership. We all know the adage in Racine, when I turn 18, Im leaving. I promise you, as mayor, I will be fighting to turn this city around. No more stagnation. We will be moving forward. Now is the time to rise up.

State Rep. Cory Mason on good, middle-class jobs

As I knock on doors across our city, one topic keeps coming up: When are the good-paying jobs coming back? People are tired of seeing their children and grandchildren leave Racine for other places because of a lack of opportunity. They want to see the Racine they remember, with a thriving middle class. A strong middle class gives us better schools for our kids, better healthcare outcomes, and less poverty. Foxconn represents one of the biggest employment opportunities in our states history. As your next mayor, I will work every day with Gateway and First Choice Pre-Apprenticeship so that our residents have a shot at those jobs, both in construction of the factory and at the plant once its open. I have always fought for good jobs. I am the candidate who is best prepared and will work the hardest to seize this opportunity for Racine.

Community organizer Wally Rendon on listening to people

The one pressing topic for me is the fact that the city officials have to be more responsive to the citizens of our community. As of now, we are still grappling with failed Machinery Row Project, and yet we are now talking about building the arena and convention center which if you were to poll the average city of Racine resident, you would see that they are dead set against this project. As elected officials, we are elected to represent our citizens whether as aldermen or mayor. So lets stop wasting our hard tax dollars on major projects without listening to our citizens.

Small business owner Austin Rodriguez on Racine

Theres something special about Racine. As a life-long resident growing up here, I have always had love for this city. I have deep passion for the city of Racine, and I hope for the best to born and raised from here. As a result, I want to ensure the safety of our children, and I want to contribute the rest of my working career serving for the people and bring in nothing but the best talent into this community. It seems this place has always been the central point of change, but Racine has not had actual changes other than faces. Its time for new blood.

There is no doubt that this community is full of love and acceptance, as long as everyone is on the same page. In Racine, we are going to give you a chance. I need for you to help me, help you.

Alderman Sandy Weidner on leadership
On ex-BOC commissioner Faeldon's plan to file an ethics complaint

https://pinglacson.net/2017/09/15/on-ex-commissioner-faeldons-plan-to-file-an-ethics-complaint/

It is the right of anybody to file an ethics complaint against any senator. In fact, that was the advice to him by Sen. Gordon when he visited him in his detention place.

The Constitution, however, is clear on the matter. Thus, Article VI states:

SECTION 11. A Senator or Member of the House of Representatives shall, in all offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment, be privileged from arrest while the Congress is in session. NO MEMBER SHALL BE QUESTIONED NOR BE HELD LIABLE IN ANY OTHER PLACE FOR ANY SPEECH OR DEBATE IN THE CONGRESS OR IN ANY COMMITTEE THEREOF. (emphasis supplied)

Therefore, it is his right to waste bond paper and ink. Anyway, he has the money to pay his lawyers even if it's tantamount to an exercise in futility and stupidity.
The face of Route 66 in Flagstaff is changing again, with the landmarks Museum Club and Grannys Closet closing their doors this year and demolition of the Saga Motel and the Snow Peak Inn to make way for The Standard, an apartment complex designed for college students.

Route 66 has been one of the main streets of Flagstaff since the downtown was founded in 1883. As the city has grown and the economy has changed, business along the Mother Road has changed from saloons, hotels and shops in the early days to motels, motor courts, diners and gas stations during the 1950s and 1960s, the addition of the Flagstaff Mall in the 1980s, to the more recent resurgence of business downtown and the return of the bars. At the same time, some landmarks like Grand Canyon Cafe, the El Pueblo Motel, Starlite Lanes, have stood the test of time.

Martin Zanzucchi, who owns The Museum Club and Grannys Closet properties, is hoping that the Museum Club will only be closed for a brief time and that someone will soon lease the building either to reopen the bar and country music venue or for another purpose. The current owners closed the doors and put the business up for sale over Labor Day weekend. The building and property is owned by the Zanzucchi family, so the property isnt up for sale.

The quirky building started life as a taxidermy shop and museum in the early 1930s by Dean Eldredge, said Zanzucchi. Eldredge had the building made from local timber, including the unique tree that frames the doorway to house his collection of more than 30,000 taxidermied animals of all kinds. He charged 25 cents for admission. Locals started calling it the Zoo. Eldredge was something of a curiosity himself, Zanzucchi said -- the man was covered in tattoos. People would come just to see him, the museum was almost a bonus.

The building later became a night club and then a country western bar and dance club. Zanzucchi said the heyday of the club started in the early 1960s when Don and Thorna Scott leased the building and turned it into a country western bar and dance club.

Zanzucchi said he bought the club in 1987 in order to buy out the competition. He already had several bars downtown, such as the one at Grannys Closet. Zanzucchi said he didnt have the skill or connections that Don had in drawing in music acts. He sold the bar and dance hall business in 2005 to Brandyn Tullis, but kept the property.

Tullis kept the business going until March of this year, when the business was sold to Mary Butwinick and Bret Rios. A number of things caused the two business partners to close the Zoo, Butwinick said. They werent able to keep up with new building and health codes and the small size of the venue made ticket prices to live music events expensive. Raising the prices in order to help cover some of the costs was met with great resistance, she said.

Zanzucchi said even though the Museum Club sits nearly three miles from downtown Flagstaff, itll draw a crowd again, once someone takes over the business.

Its one of the most unique buildings in East Flagstaff, he said.

Zanzucchi is also hoping to find someone to lease the property that Grannys Closet sits on. Its unknown what will happen with the building. Grannys was originally known as the Lumberjack Cafe. The Zanzucchis purchased the restaurant in 1974. The cafe used to have three lumberjack statues outside its doors. The family donated two of the larger 20-foot lumberjacks to Northern Arizona University. Those lumberjacks are currently located at NAUs Walkup Skydome -- one inside and the other just outside the door. The third still stands outside the closed restaurant. The plan is to move it to the Museum Club.

The family renamed the restaurant Grannys Closet after their grandmother Ermalinda, who moved with Ferdinando to Flagstaff in 1929 and owned the Flagstaff Dairy. Ermalinda had a special closet that her grandchildren would stash their toys.

The Grand Canyon Cafe is another Flagstaff Route 66 staple that has recently changed hands and reopened. The cafe is a throwback to the 1950s with its oval front windows, mini jukeboxes on each table and green countertops. The booths have been re-stuffed and upholstered but the bones are original.

The cafe opened its doors in the 1940s and was purchased by Fred Wongs family in 1945. Fred and his wife, Tina Wong, started managing the restaurant in 1980 and sold the business to Paul and Laura Moir and Michael and Alissa Marquess last year. Paul Thomas is minority business partner in the business.

Wong told the Arizona Daily Sun last year that in the 1950s people would line up around the block to get a table because there were so few restaurants at the time on Route 66.

The cafe also represents a bit of sad World War II history in Flagstaff. According to a 2015 story in the Arizona Daily Sun by local historian John Westerlund, five black soldiers stationed at Camp Elden came into town in 1942. At the time, some Flagstaff residents were not pleased and refused to serve them at local businesses.

The group hit some of the bars and restaurants that did serve black soldiers and when they attempted to break into a home, one of the soldiers, heavily intoxicated, was arrested and put in jail. The others returned to base, grabbed three guns and returned to town, where they forced officers to free their friend and then barricaded themselves inside the Grand Canyon Cafe. Sheriff deputies surrounded the cafe and when one solider pointed a gun out the cafes door at deputies he was shot and killed by a deputized, off-duty Arizona motor vehicle division officer. The other soldiers surrendered.

The El Pueblo Motel on East Route 66 represents another piece of World War II history. Philip Johnston had the hotel built in 1936. He was the man who convinced the U.S. military to use the Navajo language as a code during World War II.

The building that Crystal Magic currently resides in has had many lives. It started life as Blacks Bar, became Club 66, B& M Coffee, a shoe store and The Sweet Life.

Other landmarks have been lost to history. The Commercial Hotel used to stand in the courtyard between what is now Flagstaff Brewing Company and Rainbows End boutique. The hotel was built in 1888, then destroyed by fire many times and was a favorite of western author Zane Grey. The hotel burned for the last time a few days after it was condemned in 1975.

Flagstaff Brewing Company was once the El Patio Cafe. The Steak House, also known as the Pharaoh Restaurant, once stood where Norvel Owens Mortuary is now. Barnes and Noble now sits where the Flamingo Motel once stood and Eddies Drive In was replaced by Jack in the Box.

The Standard and The Hub, two new apartment complexes geared toward college students, are continuing the redevelopment of Route 66 away from travel-related business. A quick oil change place was torn down to make way for The Hub, and the Aamco transmission repair shot along with adjacent Saga Motel and Snow Peak Inn are slated for demolition to make way for The Standard. The last two were built by Steve Brothers as the Saga Motel and the French Quarters Motor Hotel in the 1960s.
RACINE  The Racine Police Department is continuing initiatives to be proactive rather than reactive  and that includes proper training.

The department is planning to train its entire law enforcement force in de-escalation training by June 2018.

The training will begin in October and includes multiple sessions. The sessions will teach law enforcement officers how to use communication skills to slow down possible violent situations with civilians.

Along with the mandatory de-escalation training, the department will also continue to train officers to join its Crisis Intervention Team, which includes training that teaches officers how to respond to situations that involve individuals with mental illnesses.

First session

The first de-escalation training will be offered on Oct. 25 by John Bostain, the President of Command Presence, a law enforcement training and consulting company based in Georgia. Bostain has been with Command Presence since 2015, but he has been training law enforcement individuals for the past 20 years.

I dont see de-escalation training as a type of training, but rather as an outcome, said Bostain. Our main outcome is to try to find out how we keep police officers safe, all while helping them to have quality interactions with citizens.

Bostain uses a five-step approach to educate law enforcement officers on how to achieve this outcome. This approach is the Think Clear approach, and includes information on how officers can communicate better with civilians, understand their legal authority and use adaptive decision-making.

Bostain also said that officers need to know how to properly manage their emotions when they are presented with a difficult situation.

Every officer has certain emotional triggers, said Bostain. As an officer you need to understand what your triggers are. Once officers understand that, we teach them strategies on how to manage their emotions.

Although communication is a key component to Bostains course, he also believes that law enforcement officers need to understand what the scope of their authority is.

When officers are able to understand how much authority they have in certain situations they are able to be more effective, Bostain said.

CIT Training

Crisis Intervention Team Training uses similar training strategies as de-escalation training in its approach.

Racine Deputy Chief of Police William Macemon will teach this five-day course, designed for law enforcement officers, in October.

We teach people how to de-escalate a situation so that the individual involved can calm down without violence, said Macemon. The idea is to recognize a situation with an individual with a mental illness as a mental health emergency, and to get that person into the proper level of treatment or care that they actually need.

According to Macemon, the Racine Police Departments goal was to train at least 25 percent of the force in CIT Training, but that goal has been surpassed, with 43 percent of the force trained as of this month. That number is expected to rise with the next course being taught.

The techniques we teach in CIT Training do not need to be used only in a mental health crisis, said Macemon. Many of these techniques can be used in situations that involved intoxicated or angry individuals, or individuals who show signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance.

The main component to both CIT and de-escalation training is using communication skills to properly achieve both officer and civilian safety.

Sgt. Adam Malacara of the Racine Police Department has been trained in both CIT training and elements of de-escalation training.

You get to a point in a situation when you are either going to escalate a situation, or de-escalate a situation, said Malacara. We are taught to use our mouth as the first weapon in any situation.

Regardless of how these types of training are used, Bostain did express that in some situations, use of force is unavoidable.

I believe that police departments need to do a better job of speaking with civilians about the use of force, said Bostain. I think we would all be better off if both civilians and law enforcement officers just sat down and talked about the use of force.
Press Release

September 16, 2017 OWWA to get funding from national budget for first time

IMPROVED EMPLOYMENT, LIVELIHOOD ASSISTANCE AWAIT RETURNING OFWS -ANGARA The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the lead government agency tasked to promote the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families, will be getting for the first time government allocation for its operating requirements, thanks to the new OWWA law. "Sa halos apat na dekada mula nang naitatag ang OWWA, ito ang unang pagkakataon na makatatanggap ito ng pondo mula sa gobyerno. Dahil dito, mas mapapalakas nito ang mga programa at proyekto na layong tiyakin ang kaligtasan at kapakanan ng ating mga OFW at kanilang mga pamilya," said Angara, author of Republic Act 10801 or the OWWA law of 2016. Under the law, OWWA is declared as a national government agency and an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and would be receiving government funding instead of relying solely from the contributions of its OFW members called the OWWA Fund. For 2018, the OWWA has a total budget of P2.876 billion--P1.96 billion from the OWWA Fund and P916 million from the national budget. The P916 million will cover the personnel services requirement of the entire agency, and the maintenance and other operating expenses for general administration and support. It also includes the P50-million allocation for the implementation of the emergency repatriation program. Hence, the OWWA Fund would entirely go to programs and services for the welfare of member OFWs and their families such as insurance coverage, legal, placement and remittance assistance, social benefits, educational assistance for OFW dependents, repatriation and reintegration programs. RA 10801 boosts the government's capacity to assist OFWs who lost their jobs or those who decided to return by making reintegration one of the core programs of OWWA. This include employment and livelihood training, access to credit, and grant money to start their own business. During DOLE's budget hearing, presided by Angara, OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said the agency has increased the grant awarded to beneficiaries of their Balik Pilipinas, Balik Hanapbuhay Program from P10,000 to P20,000. OWWA, together with Landbank, also provides P100,000 to P2 million loan with collateral requirement for those who want to establish businesses. Cacdac said they are looking at creating a micro-lending program for a minimum amount of P50,000 to as much as P300,000 minus the collateral requirement. "The OWWA is now more empowered to provide prompt and appropriate response to global emergencies or crisis situations affecting OFWs and their families," said Angara, sponsor of the DOLE budget. As of February this year, there are approximately 7 million OFWs who are members of OWWA. Under the new OWWA law, the US$25 membership contribution is valid for two years regardless of contract duration, change of employer or principal, job site, or recruitment or manning agency to improve equity between land-based and sea-based members. "Before the passage of the law, our Filipino seafarers--who generally have shorter employment contracts--were forced to pay more membership fees than the other members of OWWA because the collection was based on the renewal of their contract. Making the payment of membership contribution fixed for every two years, instead of contract-bound, would largely benefit our seafarers," Angara said.
Pimentel backs businessmen call to modernize Mindanao ports

Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III today said it's high time for government to modernize the local ports in Mindanao to international standards to encourage healthy competition in the domestic shipping industry.

In a statement, Pimentel issued the call as he expressed full support on the move of businessmen, who met recently in Davao City, urging the administration to rehabilitate, expand and upgrade the local ports in the island.

The 26th Mindanao Business Conference, conducted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), has approved 20 resolutions that would be brought up in the upcoming Philippine Business Conference.

"We should fully implement the law that allows foreign ships' co-loading for domestic transhipment to encourage healthy competition. But our ports have to be upgraded to meet the berthing and mooring needs of foreign ships," he said.

Citing the observations of Mindanao businessmen, Pimentel said foreign ships could only dock in international ports because of berthing depth requirements and inadequate mooring facilities that domestic ports could not provide.

Pimentel also backed the proposal of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the full industrialization of the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental to improve local manufacturing production.

He also backed their call to declare the Mindanao Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental as a Freeport for cost efficiency and to hasten the implementation of the proposed Mindanao railway project for easy connectivity in the island's six regions.
Trevor McNeil and Sarah Montoya, both 35, would love to buy a home in San Francisco, but like many young couples, they make too much money to qualify for a below-market-rate unit and too little to afford a market-rate one.

So for now, they are stuck in their one-bedroom, third-floor walk-up apartment in the Sunset District, with twin boys who were born in January and a 2-year old girl. When one is crying, its hard to get the others to sleep, but the hardest part is taking the kids out. Their landlady wont allow strollers in the lobby, so they have to lug a double and a single up and down two flights of stairs or put their daughter on a leash  something Montoya thought shed never do.

Housing is expensive for everyone in the Bay Area, but its especially challenging for middle-income buyers. Most new supply is at the high or low end. The gap in between is often called the missing middle.

Between 2007 and 2015 in the nine Bay Area counties, permits were issued for a total of 27,451 units (rental and for sale) for low- and very-low income people making up to 80 percent of each areas median income, according to data from the Association of Bay Area Governments. These are generally deed-restricted units with income limits.

By comparison, the region permitted 13,164 units that people making 80 to 120 percent of area median income theoretically could afford. And 110,159 units for people making more than 120 percent of median income received permits.

In San Francisco, lower-income people who have not owned a home in the past three years, attend a home buyers workshop and get counseling at an approved agency can enter a lottery to purchase a below-market rate unit through the mayors inclusionary ownership program. The income limit varies by unit, but buyers generally cant earn more than 100 percent of the areas median income for their household size. The San Francisco median is $103,750 for three people or $124,500 for five.

McNeil and Montoya didnt qualify for a below-market-rate unit in the past because both were working. McNeil earns a little under $100,000 a year teaching middle school in Menlo Park.

They thought theyd qualify this year because Montoya quit her job as a hospital chaplain to watch the kids. But when the couple went for counseling, they were told they still wouldnt qualify because the city would average Montoyas past earnings and include it in this years income.

The Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development said it calculates income three ways and uses whichever is highest. One is to add the households gross income from the two most recent income tax returns and divide by two. This would put the couple over the limit, because Montoyas income for the past two years averaged $60,000.

The couple looked into getting a Poppyloan, which offers up to 100 percent financing, from San Francisco Federal Credit Union. But they both have student debt, and the most they could borrow with their current income was $600,000, and that would have required them to cash in their retirement accounts for a $50,000 down payment, McNeil said.

In San Francisco, where the median list price is around $1,000 per square foot, that might buy a 650-square-foot house  no bigger than what they have now. McNeils father offered to co-sign a loan, but the credit union wont allow co-signers who dont live in the house.

If Montoya was working, they could buy a larger house, she said, but then they couldnt afford day care, which runs around $1,500 per child per month at the center her daughter attended.

The couple has not considered moving outside of San Francisco. My wifes world is her community, McNeil said. Living in their one-bedroom unit is frustrating and unsustainable, but we know how lucky we are to even have a home, not to mention a good-paying job, he added.

Maria Benjamin, who runs the citys inclusionary ownership program, said applicants should provide as much information as possible about their individual circumstances. Exceptional life occurrences happen and when they do they are considered by staff on a case-by-case basis, she said in an email.

Most Bay Area cities have inclusionary housing programs that require developers to set aside a certain percentage of units for lower-income buyers  or pay a fee that cities can use for affordable housing elsewhere. For rental housing, they can charge an impact fee, based on the projects size, to be used for subsidized housing elsewhere.

Local, state and federal funds are also available for housing development, although state funding was cut way back when California dissolved its redevelopment agencies, said Gillian Adams, principal planner with the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The cost of building an inclusionary unit is the same as building a market-rate unit. But if you sell them at a lower rate, in order for the building to make economic sense, those costs have to be passed onto the market-rate units, which make those further out of reach for middle-income buyers, said Matt Regan, a senior vice president with the Bay Area Council, which represents business.

In most eras, in most cities, middle-class housing is created through a process economists call filtering.

Take a place like Dallas; its growing rapidly, said Christopher Thornberg, founder of Beacon Economics. What do Texas home builders build? They build high-end apartments, high-end homes. All these high-income people move into the high-end housing. Upper-middle-class people move into the housing they moved out of, and middle-income people move into the housing upper-middle-income people moved out of.

But filtering only works if you have lots of new construction. Nowhere in California is there lots of new construction, said Richard Green, chairman of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. Thats why you are not getting the filtering effect.

Californias failure to create enough housing to keep up with population growth has been well documented. The Legislative Analysts office, in a 2015 report, blamed the shortage in coastal cities on community resistance to housing, environmental policies, lack of fiscal incentives for local governments to approve housing and high land and construction costs.

In the Bay Area, We have created 540,000 jobs and approved 123,000 (new housing) units since 2011. For prices to be stable, we should have created one new housing unit for every 1.5 new jobs, or a total of 360,000 units, said Paul Nieto, chairman of the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area.

One-fourth to one-third of the cost of housing construction in the Bay Area is the result of discretionary decisions of government, Regan said. This includes stringent earthquake, health and safety, disability access, energy-efficiency and other building code requirements. All, on their individual merits, are admirable things society should aspire to. But we put all those costs onto the construction of new units.

It also includes impact fees developers must pay for fire, police, water, sewer, schools, transportation, parks, libraries and other services. These fees can add an average of $100,000 per unit, Regan said.

These fees are partly a result of Proposition 13, which generally limits property tax increases to 2 percent a year until a property is sold and can be reasssesed. The legacy of Prop. 13 is that existing homeowners do not pay their fair share for the needs of their communities, Regan said. So it tends to be the last person in the door, the new renter or purchaser, who pays for most of the needs of the communities.

Prop. 13 has also encouraged some cities to favor commercial development over housing, because new stores and office buildings generate taxes without having to provide for the needs of new residents, said Cynthia Kroll, ABAGs chief economist.

Thornberg said the way to provide more middle-class housing is to provide incentives for the private sector to build way more housing than they are now. Even if its all high-end, thats OK, because it will trickle down to the middle class.

Abolishing Prop. 13, easing environmental and other regulations, reducing impact fees and union-labor requirements could encourage new housing, but none of those steps would be easy.

In San Francisco, where only 12 percent of households can afford a median-price home, supervisors recently passed Home-SF, a voluntary program that will let developers build taller, denser buildings if they make 30 percent of units available to low- and middle-income households. The city also has a down-payment assistance program for buyers earning up to 175 percent of the median income, although funds are limited and this years application deadline has passed.

A pair of state laws that took effect in January are designed to encourage homeowners to add a second unit to their property, which is another way to add lower-cost housing.

What can middle-income buyers do now? One thing is to look outside the high-price cities. San Leandro is supposed to be a really nice family community. There are many other communities that are not San Francisco but have more community character than the newer developments, Kroll said. Another is to buy a bigger place and take in tenants.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender

Income limits for

below-market-rate units

This is how the San Francisco Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development calculates household income to determine eligibility for its Inclusionary Housing Below Market Rate Ownership Program. For each household, the office will calculate income three ways and use the method that yields the highest annual household income.

Method 1: Use the most current pay stub, divide the year-to-date gross income by the current pay period number to get the pay period average. Multiply the pay period average by the total number of pay periods in a year.

Method 2: Use the most current pay stub (or the last pay stub received if the applicant currently receives no income) to determine the applicants year-to-date gross earnings. Add the year-to-date earnings to the households gross income from the most recent years income tax return. Divide this number by 12 (to account for last years earnings) plus the number of months the applicants year-to-date income encompasses. This is the average monthly income. Multiply this number by 12.

Method 3: Add the households gross income from the two most recent income tax returns. Divide this number by two.
KENOSHA  WGTD (91.1 FM) is owned and operated as a public service of Gateway Technical College and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. For an updated schedule, visit its website at www.wgtd.org.

The Morning Show airs every weekday between 8:10 and 9 a.m. Following is a schedule of show topics for the coming week:

Monday  Novelist and historian Ralph Peters, author of Judgment at Appomattox. The novel is a riveting account of the final days of our countrys Civil War.

Tuesday  Part One: James Gleick, author of Time Travel. Gleick examines the various ways that human beings have understood and talked about time- and the future. Part Two: Steve Rogstad talks about Preservation of Racines annual tour of historic places, which is Sunday, Sept. 24.

Wednesday  Carthage College professor Art Cyr pays his monthly visit to the program.

Thursday  The Kenosha Writers Guild. The group has just published a collection of 27 short pieces by 16 of its members. The book is titled Undertow.

Friday  The Racine Theater Guilds production of the comedy Boeing, Boeing.

Saturday  Programming includes Financial Overview at 9 a.m., Breakfast Bytes at 9:45 a.m., Education Matters at 10:30 a.m. and Community Matters at 11:15 a.m.
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ST. LOUIS  Noisy demonstrators disrupted shopping at upscale suburban malls on Saturday and later marched through a popular district of bars and restaurants to protest a white St. Louis police officers acquittal in the killing of a black man, but the second day of protests was peaceful following sporadic vandalism and violence a night earlier.

A few hundred people shouted black lives matter and it is our duty to fight for our freedom as they marched through West County Center in Des Peres to decry the judges verdict Friday clearing ex-Officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith. A short time later, a group demonstrated at Chesterfield Mall and a regional food festival. No arrests were reported.
National Geographic Channel will air the two-part fictionalized film The State, at 9 p.m. Directed by Wolf Halls Peter Kosminsky, the film is about a young man named Jalal (Sam Otto) who goes to Raqqa, Syria, to fight for the Islamic State; his brother has already joined. The film also follows the stories of a physician and single mother named Shakira (Ony Uhiara) who supports the Islamic State, and a teenager (Shavani Seth) who has been radicalized online. The concluding half of the miniseries will air on Tuesday, Sept. 19.

Dancing With the Stars premieres season 25 at 8 p.m on ABC.
At this point, who DOESNT want Trump impeached?

Ann Coulter tweet, 7:05 a.m., Sept. 14, 2017

If reports true 100%. I blame Rs. They caused this. They wanted him

to fail and now pushed him into arms of political suicide  IF TRUE.

Sean Hannity tweet, 12:11 a.m., Sept. 14, 2017

Flounder, you cant spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes!

You (fouled) up ... you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it!

Eric Otter Stratton, Animal House, 1978

Before I continue, let me answer Ann Coulters question: Me. I dont want Trump impeached, at least not until he does something clearly impeachable. Impeaching him for policies you dont like or even for political malpractice would simply be a time-wasting tantrum. And I say that as a consistent critic of Donald Trump, going back to his flirtation with running on the Reform Party ticket in 2000.

That said, Coulters reaction is understandable and even a little praiseworthy. After all, she wrote a book  a whole book!  in 2016 called In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! But unlike a lot of her compatriots in the Trump Army, Coulter was driven by a policy position, not an infatuation. Or perhaps she was infatuated, but her commitment to the policy was greater than her commitment to the man.

The policy in question: immigration. To wit, Coulter thinks weve had enough of it. That goes for the children brought here without legal documentation, commonly referred to as Dreamers. President Barack Obama created a program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that unconstitutionally (according to most conservatives, including the attorney general) granted a kind of de facto amnesty to the Dreamers, giving them work permits and legal residence.

On Wednesday night, Trump had dinner with the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer. These two famously partisan Democrats came out of the dinner announcing that they had struck a deal with the president to make DACA permanent without providing any funding for Trumps cherished border wall.

Trump, witnessing the blowback, which included the new nickname Amnesty Don in a headline at Breitbart News (which until recently had been the Pravda of MAGAland), insisted in a tweet that no deal had yet been made. But then he went on to sing the praises of DACA in a series of tweets, making it clear to all that he wants the Dreamers to be legalized and the DACA program made permanent.

In other words, he threw his biggest supporters under the Trump train.

Now I should say, I think Trump is right on the policy. It would be stupid and cruel to deport a bunch of people who came here as little kids and have since assimilated into the only country theyve ever known. A large majority of Americans, including a majority of Trump voters, agree with Trump (and Schumer and Pelosi) on the policy. A poll this week found that only 12 percent of registered voters want these people deported. Coulter and former Trump adviser (and current Breitbart publisher) Steve Bannon speak for that 12 percent.

The majority of immigration hawks, however, considered DACA to be the presidents most valuable negotiating chip. He could have gotten funding for the wall  or perhaps E-Verify, or portions of Sen. Tom Cottons immigration reform legislation, the RAISE Act  passed in exchange for making DACA permanent. Instead, the author of The Art of the Deal essentially tossed his best chip into the pot as if it were the ante.

This poses a crisis for two different kinds of Trump true believers. The nationalists honestly believed he was one of them. Meanwhile, the super-fans honestly believed Trump was the greatest negotiator and strategist the world had ever seen. Both of these notions were delusions. Oh, Im sure Trump believes much of his America First talk, but thats talk. What really matters to him is praise. It was only a matter of time before the moth flew to the glow of public opinion.

The sad thing is that both delusions were obvious from the moment he descended his golden escalator at Trump Tower. It will be interesting to see how the true believers follow Otters advice and make the best of their foul-up.

 2017 Tribune Content Agency LLC

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. Email: goldbergcolumn@gmail.com Twitter: @JonahNRO To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.
Tony Sparks first display of superhuman comedy hustle happened when he was 16 years old.

After deciding he wanted to be a comic, Sparks opened up the phone book and started cold-calling random rooms near his home in Little Rock, Ark.

Anything that said club, Sparks remembers. Night clubs, the Kiwanis Club  I called them up and said, Im a comic in your town, and I want to do a show at your place.

His career passed through New York, before Sparks moved to San Francisco in 1991. He stayed in the city, hustled some more, and has firmly established himself as the king of open-mike night, an Obi-Wan Kenobi figure for a generation of local comics.

Comedians Al Madrigal and Ali Wong got their starts at a Sparks show. Moshe Kasher once called Sparks the fairy godfather of San Francisco open mikes.

But the magic of Sparks shows is the lack of a star system. The 56-year-old comic has a hearty laugh for almost everyone  often the only laugh in the room  and plenty of advice for first-timers.

When I got here, people were nasty, Sparks says of his early years in San Francisco. One big group (of comedians) had everything, and they blocked people from getting stage time. I said to myself, You know what, I never want to do that.

Sparks typically hosts five comedy nights a week, most at the Brainwash Cafe and Laundromat on Folsom Street, where he has been the ringmaster for entry-level comedy for more than 18 years.

Hes one of the most essential figures to the comedy scene right now, says Anthony Medina, a comic who co-produces shows with Sparks. I remember meeting him for the first time. He had a fedora and this laugh. His laugh is so recognizable. I thought, This guy is a comedian.

Madrigal remembers meeting Sparks his first time performing at the Luggage Store, the art gallery where Sparks hosted his late 1990s shows.

I shook his hand, and said, My name is Al Madrigal, Im a stand-up comedian, Madrigal told The Chronicle during an interview this year. I bombed the first time. The second time I did great. And then all the comedians took me under their wing.

Thats the vibe Sparks is going for. When a first-time comic takes the stage, Sparks announces the fact, then leads every comic in the room in a camp counselor-like Lets give her a lot of love! cheer.

Humans, listen! Sparks says, pumping up the crowd for the next comic. This guy has been doing great work lately. Reminds me of myself when I was 23.

Sparks remains deadpan as he mentions the possibility of retiring after the Brainwash comedy scenes 20th anniversary show in 2019  then breaks into another hearty laugh.

Im not retiring, Sparks says. I dont know how to do anything else.

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicles pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

For a full calendar of Brainwash Cafe comedy: www.brainwash.com
A luxury matchmaking service has landed in San Francisco with hopes of finding wives and girlfriends for men who have the means  but not the time  to vet suitable mates.

The Bevy, started in New York in 2014, compares its services to an executive search. It pre-screens and interviews potential candidates before setting up its male clients with a handful of curated contenders. (Women can join the companys database for free for an unlimited amount of time.)

The services clients are looking for a relationship with a woman who can play the part with aplomb  albeit with a bit of regional nuance. They are too busy to babysit or hand-hold, said co-founder Nikki Lewis. So the biggest want in New York, a city of such driven people, is for women as successful as the men.

In L.A., she said, there are a lot of Hollywood film types, so she expects a degree of superficiality. Still, clients might say something like: Dont set me up with a struggling actress, but someone of substance whos looking for a relationship, she said.

A bevy is a large group of people or things of a particular kind, according to Google Dictionary  and that is what the company is hoping to cultivate in San Francisco: Women who are college-educated (or at least gainfully employed) and who have a healthy lifestyle and take care of themselves.

(Clients) are meeting plenty of women, but their time is important  they are building a career and a nest egg  so they want to be efficient and proactive with their time, said Bevys other co-founder, Greta Tufvesson.

The cost of outsourcing Cupids bow in San Francisco? It begins at $25,000 for a one-year membership. The tab increases as the project of finding a future plus-one becomes more challenging, as is typical for older men who have more inherent baggage (such as children or a divorce), according to Lewis and Tufvesson.

At a time when gender and wage imbalances are in the spotlight, the comparison to an executive search might be all too poignant. By delegating the decision-making to men, is culture fit simply being replaced with chemistry?

And it does beg the question: For the man who can buy everything, are a wife and kids the ultimate acquisition?

Lewis and Tufvesson say this business model has been successful in other cities, and is what the market demands. (The price of privacy is so high, in fact, the Bevy declined to provide examples of past clients or matches for this article.) The company reports a 95 percent success rate, defined as a meaningful relationship of at least four months.

Lewis emphasized the personal attention provided to members. Its not Three Day Rule; there are no wasted dates, she said. Greta and I dont like to delegate personal meetings to our 20-year-old interns.

Three Day Rule, a national matchmaking service, has 8,000 members and five Bay Area matchmakers in the Bay Area, including one dedicated to the South Bay. Services for paying clients start at $4,500, but the service also has a free database.

Three Day Rule senior matchmaker Carla Swiryn considers the Bevys approach a traditional model where the men are in power and control.

When a service is designed for just the men to pay, its only catering to the men. It is essentially saying that women are not worthwhile enough to focus on  and the women are just at the whim of both them and the matchmakers, Swiryn says.

Our approach is very different  we treat everyone the same. (The company says that clients and prospective matches meet only with professional matchmakers.)

Three Day Rules chief executive officer Talia Goldstein has a slightly more tempered approach to the gender imbalance. Most matchmaking companies only work with male clients and have men pay, and I think its because men are easier to match, Goldstein said. A lot of men only want a few things that they are looking for, so it is a smart business decision.

She said that 60 percent of Three Day Rules clients are female.

Both companies report that clients are seeking relief from dating apps. You never get feedback, and people are ghosting left and right, and you dont understand why, Goldstein said.

Apps also have a pervasive hookup reputation. I was speaking to a potential client in San Francisco who is 29 and he said all of his friends are starting to get married, and his other friends are using apps for sport, but not to meet anyone, Lewis said.

Still, free dating apps can be an equalizer. Matches are by and large based on initial attraction, rather than the success of ones startup.

The newest such offering to San Francisco is the Inner Circle, an app founded in Amsterdam in 2012, whose founder, David Vermeulen, is looking for inspiring and ambitious members who are 25 to 45 and live in the worlds major cities. He said that people who are accepted, primarily through social media evaluation, tend to be open-minded, enjoy travel and be more serious about looking for a relationship. And those with bathroom-mirror selfies and duck face? Maybe this is not the platform for you, Vermeulen said with a chuckle. The cost to join once accepted is free, but members can pay up to $10 a week to access extra features.

We really believe that if you have a community of like-minded people, that will work in the end much better, Vermeulen said. Exclusivity creates more of a community feeling. Its more safe and trustworthy.

Theres also the League, an invite-only app founded by Amanda Bradford in San Francisco in 2015 with an approach modeled after private, members-only clubs. Both apps host in-person events for members, and both try to balance out membership between men and women. However, the Inner Circle has more women than men in every city other than Milan, he said.

The Bevys Lewis and Tufvesson spend most of their days with women who fill out an online bio and submit photos, followed by a personal one-on-one meeting in hopes of joining the Bevy database. The men provide the same type of information, but answer a more in-depth questionnaire.

The Bevy makes it a point to provide women with details about each clients personality, rather than how that $25,000 was earned. Then, the women set up the first date and the client must only show up  and have realistic expectations.

We never really have a bad date, Tufvesson said, but the chemistry part we cant predict  we offer quality women  

But we dont manufacture them, Lewis added.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

She said that San Francisco clients have been excited because the two bring a New York sophistication and finesse.

The two met while honing the matchmaking craft at an unnamed New York introduction firm in 2010, whose growth and influence, Tufvesson said, inspired her to pursue her vision. She had a background in marketing and lifestyle brands, having worked with the likes of Elie Tahari and Donna Karan, while Lewis had worked in luxury branding and celebrity public relations after studying theater at New York University.

The transition into matchmaking from my career in branding was fluid, Tufvesson said. It was always my job to build strong emotional connections with my consumers, whether I was selling a handbag, a hotel experience or people. Listening, exchanging stories and demonstrating empathy formed lasting connections.

In San Francisco, the Bevy relies on word of mouth and media coverage to attract clients. The partners are already seeing a lot of tech geeks, who are younger and looking to break out of their social circle or industry. It could potentially be our biggest market, Tufvesson said. We dont know that yet because we are new, but we have a ton of potentials lined up and a lot of momentum.

As the company builds its database in the Bay Area, they have a wish list of San Francisco clients: 4-Hour-Workweek author Tim Ferriss, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky; (newly divorced) One Kings Lane founder Ali Pincus; and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg  if the Bevy ever expands to women.

Maghan McDowell is a Peninsula freelance writer. Email: style@sfchronicle.com.

By women, for women who like women

The market for finding true love is perpetually ripe for disruption, and another company in San Francisco is gaining ground  but not with tech guys, well off or otherwise.

Her is a female-only dating app founded by Londons Robyn Exton, who relocated to San Francisco in 2015 to court investors after creating the lesbian dating app called Dattch.

The San Francisco mating call was strong. We were gaining huge ground with our previous app in the U.S., and knew it was going to be our main market so wed most likely end up there, Exton said, in addition to allowing her to be closer to the companys investors.

She said that the citys lifestyle plays a major role in the local dating scene, and although there are only 800,000 residents, which offers a smaller dating pool, S.F. is among the apps top 25 cities. People arent out in bars as much; they meet with groups of friends for activities so youre more likely to meet friends of friends for a potential date than you are going to approach a stranger in a bar.

She also saw a need in the market, which is now 2 million users strong. There wasnt anything in existence that was clearly built for a queer female audience that focused on the unique ways women date, as well as how we use technology, she said. But its not all limited to screen time  Exton reports that Her hosts events in 24 cities across the world, with a recent expansion into Oakland.

 M.M.

Dating resources

The Bevy http://the-bevy.com/

Three Day Rule https://www.threedayrule.com/

Her https://weareher.com.

The Inner Circle https://www.theinnercircle.co/
At UC Berkeley, 177 professors and graduate students have signed an open letter urging thousands of colleagues and classmates to boycott campus for four days this month to ensure their physical and mental safety.

The strongly worded letter, titled Boycott the Alt-Right @UCBerkeley, asks that students, instructors and employees cancel classes, close buildings and not penalize students who are afraid to come to campus from Sept. 24 to 27.

TRENDING: Millions of Californians on the hook for $16 billion water plan

Thats when Milo Yiannopoulos has said he, Steve Bannon, Ann Coulter and other couriers of the far-right agenda are supposed to descend onto campus for four days of rallies and speeches theyre calling Free Speech Week.

ALSO: Student group must pay needed fees for 'Free Speech Week,' UC officials say

But as of Sunday, the event remained in doubt after university officials said organizers failed to pay the required fees and rent for the facilities when they turned in a contract for the event late Friday, after missing two earlier deadlines.

The boycott letter, nonetheless, warns that the city of Berkeley will be the site of explicitly violent alt-right, militia and pro-Fascist events prompted by the expected arrival of the odious trifecta, as one student described the three.

Campus administrators say Free Speech Week is no sure thing, because the students who invited the speakers havent made the security arrangements needed to reserve rooms for them to speak in. Even so, administrators expect to meet or exceed the extraordinary measures they took Thursday when a far less provocative conservative, Ben Shapiro, spoke at UC Berkeleys Zellerbach Hall. At an estimated cost of $600,000, the extensive police presence kept hundreds of protesters at bay.

In February, a far smaller police presence failed to protect the campus from masked rioters who smashed windows, set equipment on fire and stopped a scheduled speech by Yiannopoulos.

Now he says hes coming back with cohorts. And many faculty and students want nothing to do with it.

As faculty we cannot ask students and staff to choose between risking their physical and mental safety in order to attend class or come to work in an environment of harassment, intimidation, violence, and militarized policing, says the letter, adding that some students and employees are particularly at risk: non-white, gender queer, Muslims, disabled, feminists and others routinely singled out by the right.

Yiannopoulos is a right-wing showman who delights in mocking such groups. Bannon is an ex-adviser to President Trump who edits the right-wing opinion site Breitbart News. And Coulter, an author, has said that illegal aliens have killed, raped and maimed thousands of Americans.

The letter also cites the left-right violence that has escalated around the country since Trump became president, including the death of a peaceful protester in Charlottesville, Va., and stabbing deaths in Portland, Ore., and Maryland. Since the inauguration, the East Bay has also seen five violent clashes that have cost taxpayers at least $1.5 million.

Theres no way UC Berkeley can provide safety and security for four days. This is some sort of fantasy, said Deborah Blocker, an associate professor of French who signed the letter and intends to teach her two small classes off campus.

But beyond personal safety, Blocker said, we will do it massively  as a symbol. If they (the right-wing) are going to be handed the keys to this campus ... then academics will go elsewhere.

Peter Glazer, an associate professor of theater, dance and performance studies who also signed, said the value of boycotting campus is also to deny the invited speakers the audience, the trouble, and the kind of press they crave.

UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said faculty members are free to decide where and when they teach their classes.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
STURTEVANT  Sturtevant Neighborhood Watch, the social media version, will hold its first meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Village Hall, 2801 89th St.

This village has had Neighborhood Watch efforts in the past, but they have apparently lost steam over time. This new approach is to use a Facebook page for all reporting and communication, Sturtevant Police Chief Sean Marschke said.

This is the first social media Neighborhood Watch, which we think will help with the reporting of vandalism, theft, graffiti, etc., because residents can private-message the Facebook page, Village Trustee Carrie Harbach said.

She and resident Rob Amos came up with the new concept, Marschke said. Organizers are looking for resident volunteers who are willing to communicate with their neighbors, post up-to-the-minute information on the groups Facebook page, share and discuss concerns of safety in their area and discuss the best way to resolve those concerns.

The Facebook page will be managed by Neighborhood Watch, not the police, Marschke said.

The plan is for those involved to meet once a year, Harbach said.
As drug addiction soars in the United States, a booming business of rehab centers has sprung up to treat the problem. And when drug addicts and their families search for help, they often turn to Google.

But prosecutors and health advocates have warned that many online searches are leading addicts to click on ads for rehab centers that are unfit to help them or, in some cases, endangering their lives.

Now Google is acknowledging the problem  and has started restricting ads that come up when someone searches for addiction treatment. We found a number of misleading experiences among rehabilitation treatment centers that led to our decision, Google spokeswoman Elisa Greene said Thursday.

Google has taken similar steps to restrict advertisements only a few times before. Last year it limited ads for payday lenders, and in the past it created a verification system for locksmiths to prevent fraud.

In this case, the restrictions will limit a popular marketing tool in the $35 billion addiction treatment business, affecting thousands of small-time operators.

This is a bold move by one of the worlds biggest companies, saying peoples lives are more important than profit, said Greg Williams, co-founder of Facing Addiction, a nonprofit that is an advocate for people struggling with addiction.

Many rehab centers, a large number of which are clustered in warm climates like Florida, Arizona and California, rely on Google searches to attract patients from across the country. Their strategy often included buying an ad that would come up when someone searched for phrases like drug rehab or alcohol treatment centers.

Google stopped selling ads related to those searches, although it may lift the restriction if it can find a way to weed out misleading advertisements.

Search ads for addiction treatment are lucrative. Treatment providers, in some cases, have been willing to pay $70 per ad click, according to an analysis that Williams group conducted and presented to Google executives.

But the payoff can be significant. Addicts who sign up for 30 days of residential treatment can bring in tens of thousands of dollars from private insurance.

The crucial, if unwitting, role that Google has played in the treatment industry exposes the deep flaws in how drug addicts are cared for in America. Despite the rapid growth in the number of addiction cases  and the Trump Administrations declaration that the opioid crisis is a national emergency  the treatment industry remains a hodgepodge of upstart businesses, with only a few well-known providers.

What constitutes treatment is also all over the map, from yoga and equine therapy  riding programs for those struggling with addiction  to daily doses of medication. And unlike other serious illnesses, like cancer or heart disease, where a physician typically refers the patient for treatment, many addicts and their families look for help on the Internet.

That has made Google one of the largest referral sources for treating a disease that affects millions of Americans. And the companies willing to pay the most for ads are the one that addicts are most likely to see on their search.

But ad-driven searches, according to advocates and law enforcement officials, have not always led patients to the best care. In some cases, they have found that patients are being duped, a phenomenon Google acknowledged last week.

In December, a Florida grand jury released a report detailing abuses in the states addiction treatment industry, which is centered around Palm Beach County. Among the findings, the grand jury zeroed in on the problems with how some of the shoddy programs were being marketed online.

One witness, according to the grand jury report, described how online marketers use Google search terms to essentially hijack the good name and reputation of notable treatment providers only to route the caller to the highest bidder.

Another common trap: Addicts search Google for a rehab program close to their home, but they will click on an ad for a referral service pitching treatment in another state. The referral service then collects a fee if they signed up.

Googles restrictions were cheered by health officials, who have called for more medically based treatment.

People dont always know what good treatment is, said Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was a surgeon general in the Obama administration and published an oft-cited report last year that warned of the nations addiction crisis. I am glad Google took steps to prevent the spread of these false ads.

In reviewing the ads for addiction treatment, Google consulted with experts including Williams, who himself has been in recovery for many years. He said he began discussions with Google executives around the time that Murthy released his report.

Williams said that he had explained to Google that his own experience trying to buy ads from the company had illustrated how the process of finding information about addiction treatment online was providing people with unreliable information. Williams said he discovered this when his group received a grant from Google that would help him buy ads promoting a website providing information about community-based treatment  and found he could not compete.

Buying ads on Google involves bidding to place your ad at the top of the search results when a user types in words relevant to your product or service. But Williams found that the bid prices for words related to treatment had gotten so expensive that his group could not pay as much as the for-profit treatment providers. Some of those treatment providers, Williams told Google, were not only misleading, they had been charged with crimes.

In a series of phone calls and a meeting in Washington, Williams presented the company his research. He highlighted that some of the biggest buyers of ad words related to treatment had been accused of misdeeds related to insurance fraud and sexual assault.

We stumbled upon this issue organically, Williams said. And they heard us out.

Michael Corkery is a New York Times writer.
NEW YORK  In the two years since bursting onto the national scene, Martin Shkreli has often appeared to be his own worst enemy.

When the public lashed out at the former hedge fund manager for raising the price of a critical drug 5,000 percent, he heckled them as uninformed. Hauled before Congress, Shkreli smirked and refused to answer questions. Then he called the lawmakers imbeciles.

Even after a Brooklyn jury convicted him of defrauding his investors last month, Shkreli continued to use social media to interact with fans  and detractors. He needed a strand of Hillary Clintons hair, he told his 70,000 Facebook followers recently, and was willing to pay $5,000 for it.

Now, it appears Shkrelis loquaciousness could be the biggest hurdle to his legal prospects.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto revoked his $5 million bail and said he would spend the next four months awaiting his sentencing in a federal prison. Shkrelis post on Clinton and other online commentary about female reporters show that he is a threat to the community, Matsumoto said. This is a solicitation of assault. That is not protected by the First Amendment, she said of the Clinton post, which also caught the attention of the Secret Service.

By early Thursday, Shkreli had been assigned an inmate number at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a prison housing nearly 2,000 male and female inmates that has been the subject of criticism from judges and attorneys for its poor conditions.

Shkreli and his attorneys have said they would appeal his conviction on three counts of securities fraud, which carry a potential sentence of 20 years. But even if the convictions stood, Shkreli has said he was likely to be sentenced to little or no jail time in a minimum security facility.

That now appears much less likely, legal experts say.

Shkreli has again proven hes his own worst enemy (and) ... doesnt have the impulse control needed to keep him out of jail, said James Goodnow, an attorney with Fennemore Craig, a corporate defense firm. Shkrelis conduct is a textbook case of everything you shouldnt do as a defendant in a criminal case.

Matsumotos willingness to revoke Shkrelis bail may indicate that she is open to giving Shkreli a longer prison sentence, and decided that given his bad behavior he should start his time behind bars immediately, legal experts said. This is not a good sign of what the judge might be thinking in terms of sentencing, said Ira Matetsky, a partner at New York law firm Ganfer & Shore.

Shkreli, 34, is best known for raising the price of Daraprim  a 62-year-old drug primarily used to treat newborns and HIV patients  from $13.50 to $750 a pill, but he was convicted by a Brooklyn jury of defrauding the investors in his hedge funds. Shkreli lied to obtain investors money, then didnt tell them when he made a bad stock buy that led to huge losses, prosecutors argued. Instead, they said, he raised more money to pay off other investors or took money and stock from a pharmaceutical company, Retrophin, he was running.

In white collar cases such as Shkrelis, the sentence is usually meted out in proportion to the losses faced by their victims. Shkrelis hedge fund investors actually made a hefty profit, which would typically work in his favor, legal experts say. But his out-of-court antics may have crushed those prospects. Matsumoto appeared at times angry and confused by Shkrelis conduct, and the judge ignored repeated pleas by his attorneys to give him another chance.

I got the strong sense that for the judge this was the straw that broke the camels back, said David Chase, a former prosecutor for the Securities and Exchange Commission. The judge still retains some element of discretion. This post-trial conduct will not help him.

Shkreli has also inadvertently inserted himself into a larger debate about when a persons online persona deserves real-world consequences. His attorneys argued that while stupid and unfortunate, his comments on Facebook did not amount to a threat. He has never been violent and did not expect anyone to take him seriously, they said.

But prosecutors noted that the Secret Service took his comments seriously enough to increase Clintons security and they said Shkreli could not guarantee that one of his followers, seeking the $5,000 payoff, fame or just Shkrelis approval, might not act on his behalf.

The same comments made by someone other than Shkreli probably would not have attracted the same level of attention or legal consequences, experts said. But the context here is different. This comes on the heels of a lot of other (questionable) conduct, said Matetsky.

Renae Merle is a Washington Post writer.
Julie Dragland said her rule during a robbery is to hand over the goods and protect her safety.

But the quick-thinking, 32-year-old Oakland resident thought otherwise Saturday when a would-be mugger behind her on a BART train handed her a frightening note that said there were two guns pointed at her.

Instead of coughing up her wallet and phone to the faceless crook, Dragland faked a seizure, attracting the attention of people on the train and sending her mugger scurrying for the nearest exit in San Francisco.

When I read the note, I started freaking out, she said in an interview Sunday, detailing her experience. I did not want to give up my stuff, but I had no idea who was behind me.

Dragland posted a picture of the note on social media shortly after the confrontation ended. BART police said theyre searching for a suspect and reviewing security camera footage from the train.

The episode happened as Dragland rode the Dublin-bound train through San Francisco from Daly City to the East Bay. Around 4:50 p.m., a person behind her handed her a note written in red ink on a torn sheet of lined paper.

There are 2 guns pointed at you now, the note read. If you want to live hand back your wallet + phone NOW + do not turn around and be descreet. Do not turn around until after you have left civic center + you will live.

At first she didnt know what to do. Dragland  who does public relations work for a San Francisco video game company  said she mouthed help me to a man standing nearby.

When he got off the train, she realized she would have to improvise.

I probably looked very ridiculous, she said. I slumped sideways and started shaking and crying. I closed my eyes and increased the vigor so people would pay attention.

A couple nearby came over and asked if she was OK, and Dragland handed them the note. She suspects the culprit got off at the next stop  Civic Center Station. She also thinks her robber was an older woman with a suitcase.

BART police confirmed as much in a log sheet that tracks crimes on its system.

The victim was not sure who handed her the note, and did not see anyone with a weapon, police wrote in a summary of the incident.

Officers checked the station but did not find a person matching the description.

Dragland told police she will not press charges if the person is located and said she wants the whole incident behind her.

But regardless of whether she participates in prosecuting the nefarious note-passer, BART officials said they are reviewing the security video on the train, hoping to get footage of a suspect.

Asked how she came up with the idea to fake a seizure, Dragland said, I think it had something to do with watching a lot of Law & Order. I think I saw that in an episode. I was very impressed with myself.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
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Considering the host is CBS Late Shows topical pundit Stephen Colbert, whose audience has multiplied in both San Antonio and across the nation since Donald Trump took office, expect this years Emmy Awards telecast to be rife with humorous pokes at our volatile president.

Also lending provocative support are some of the nominees, including Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon, who are up for supporting actor and actress in a comedy for their hilarious turns as election rivals Trump and Hillary Clinton on Saturday Night Live.

In short, its shaping up to be the most political TV awards show in history.

Colbert certainly isnt trying to convince anyone otherwise. Asked by the Associated Press how political the show could get, he said the Emmys are about honoring television, and the biggest television star of the last year was Donald Trump.

The fact that he's not nominated, it's a crime, he added. It's a high crime and a misdemeanor that you are not nominated, sir. Where's the investigation of that? Where was James Comey on that?

But thats it for predictions about the tone of the awards show, which airs at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS. Lets move on to Emmys main focus, the nominees  which shows and actors will get the statuette, and which ones actually should win.

My biggest beef this year? Michael McKean  whose performance as Jimmys afflicted, maddeningly holier-than-thou sibling Chuck in Better Call Saul pushed all the emotional buttons  wasnt nominated for supporting actor-drama. That said, on to those that were:

Best Drama

Nominees: Better Call Saul, The Crown, The Handmaids Tale, House of Cards, Stranger Things, This Is Us, Westworld

Will win: This Is Us (NBC). Despite being surrounded by so many cable and streaming heavyweights, the family drama will shine for being the one broadcast network show that not only resonated with the masses and critics but also delivered a much-needed gift of sweet solidarity in a world so full of angst.

Should win: Handmaids Tale (Hulu). Its cautionary tale sadly is scarily familiar today. That relevance, coupled with stunning visuals, engaging character studies and suspense that kept viewers on edge hour after hour should get rewarded. However, I wouldnt be opposed to the highly entertaining horror-sci-fi throwback Stranger Things (Netflix), reminiscent of such 80s maestros as Stephen King, Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter.

Best Actor-Drama

Nominees: Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us; Anthony Hopkins,Westworld; Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul; Matthew Rhys, The Americans; Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan; Kevin Spacey, House of Cards; Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us.

Will win: Sterling K. Browns performance was too engaging, not to mention moving, for Emmy to ignore, particularly in the standout father-son road trip episode with supporting actor nominee Ron Cephas Jones.

Should win: Bob Odenkirk delivered his most powerful season yet as Sauls conflicted lawyer/con man, making every scene memorable, whether with McKean as his insufferable lawyer brother or Rhea Seehorn as fellow attorney and love interest Kim Wexler.

Best Actress-Drama

Nominees: Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder; Claire Foy, The Crown; Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale; Keri Russell, The Americans; Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld; Robin Wright, House of Cards.

Will win: Claire Foy. She already took home the Golden Globe for her nuanced portrait of young Queen Elizabeth II, and will repeat here for showing how excruciatingly torn the currently reigning English monarch must have been between her royal duty and her oft-slighted husband, Prince Philip (Matt Smith).

Should win: Elisabeth Moss, Elisabeth Moss, Elisabeth Moss! Her multifaceted portrayal of Offred  whose ferocious determination to survive overrode the all-consuming fear and pain she felt as captive sex partner and procreational prisoner  has no equal in this contest.

Best Comedy

Nominees: Atlanta, Black-ish, Master of None, Modern Family, Silicon Valley, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Veep

Will win: Veep (HBO). No one can dispute that this comedy dominates the entries in terms of laugh-out-loud humor, timely parody and an ensemble with no comic rival  but the fact that its won so many years in a row makes the choice a yawner.

Should win: Master of None (Netflix). The sophomore outing of Aziz Ansaris comical drama was a beginning-to-end masterpiece, with its captivating character nuggets, heartbreaking central love story and astonishing visuals that often resembled a vintage Vittorio De Sica film. However, I wouldnt be unhappy if FXs fiercely fresh Atlanta  about three very different guys bent on making a sizable dent in the titular citys rap scene  bagged the prize. Woe to my TV set if tired ABC sitcomModern Family takes the statuette.

Best Actor-Comedy

Nominees: Anthony Anderson, Black-ish; Aziz Ansari, Master of None; Zach Galifianakis, Baskets; Donald Glover, Atlanta; William H. Macy, Shameless; Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Will win: Donald Glover, whose portrayal of wild-haired, uphill-climbing, visionary Earn was flawlessly genuine.

Should win: Glover. However, if Ansaris name were called out, my smile certainly wouldnt fade.

Best Actress-Comedy

Nominees: Pamela Adlon, Better Things; Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie; Allison Janney, Mom; Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep; Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish; Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie.

Will win: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a TV comedy treasure who maintains her satiric sparkle year after year.

Should win: Pamela Adlon, if only for the sake of shaking up the category a bit. She brings major attitude to the role of a harried single mom of three daughters on this distinctly different FX series.

Best Limited Series

Nominees: Big Little Lies (HBO), Fargo (FX), Feud: Bette and Joan (FX), Genius (National Geographic Channel), The Night Of  (HBO)

Will Win: Its a toss-up between Big Little Lies and Feud for delightful drama, addictive storylines and sheer star power. Fargo and The Night Of, however, were far from slouches in terms of sly suspense and colorful characterization.

Should win: Big Little Lies for never disappointing and delivering unnerving twists in every episode.

Best Actor-Limited Series/Movie

Nominees: Riz Ahmed, The Night Of; Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: The Lying Detective; Robert DeNiro, The Wizard of Lies; Ewan McGregor, Fargo; Geoffrey Rush, Genius; John Turturro, The Night Of

Will win: Robert DeNiro, just because hes, well, DeNiro, and was able to add needed heft to the role of swindling sleazebag Bernie Madoff.

Should win: Riz Ahmed, whose expressive performance as the accused in a grisly murder of a young woman kept the viewer transfixed throughout this racially charged thriller. Almost as good was Ewan McGregor in the dual role of two warring siblings in Fargo.

Best Actress-Limited Series/Movie

Nominees: Carrie Coon, Fargo; Felicity Huffman, American Crime; Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies; Jessica Lange, Feud: Bette and Joan; Susan Sarandon, Feud: Bette and Joan; Reese Witherspoon, Big Little Lies

Will win: Nicole Kidman, whose Lies portrayal of an abused wife and mother whos stubbornly in denial is mesmerizing.

Should win: Its a coin toss between Kidman and Jessica Lange, who, as Joan Crawford, delivered the more complicated and ultimately heartrending portrayal of the two Feud divas. However, this category brims with so much female talent that it would be anything but tragic if Sarandon, Witherspoon or Coon were to take the actress honors instead.

Jeanne Jakles column appears Thursdays and Sundays in mySA.

jjakle@express-news.net
BAGHDAD  Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish regions planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the Associated Press in an interview Saturday.

If the Iraqi population is threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily, he said.

Iraqs Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on support for independence from Iraq on Sept. 25 in three governorates that make up their autonomous region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces but which are claimed by Baghdad.

If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation, al-Abadi said.

The leaders of Iraqs Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence. However, al-Abadi said such negotiations would likely be complicated by the referendum vote.

It will make it harder and more difficult, he said, but added, I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible.

Iraqs Kurds have come under increasing pressure to call off the vote from regional powers and the United States, a key ally, as well as Baghdad. In a statement released late Friday, the White House called for the Kurdish region to abandon the referendum and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad.

Tensions between Irbil and Baghdad have flared in the lead-up to the Sept. 25 vote. Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region, has threatened violence if Iraqi military or Shiite militias attempt to move into disputed territories that are now under the control of Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga, specifically the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Its chaotic there, Muhammad Mahdi al-Bayati, a senior leader of Iraqs mostly Shiite fighters known as the popular mobilization forces, said last week, describing Kirkuk.

Al-Bayatis forces  sanctioned by Baghdad, but many with close ties to Iran  are deployed around Kirkuk as well as other disputed territories in Iraqs north.

Everyone is under pressure, he said, explaining that he feared a rogue group of fighters could trigger larger clashes. Anything could be the spark that burns it all down.

Al-Abadi said he is focused on legal responses to the Kurdish referendum on independence. Last week Iraqs parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers.

Iraqs Kurds have long held a dream of statehood. Brutally oppressed under Saddam Hussein, whose military in the 1980s killed at least 50,000 of them, many with chemical weapons, Iraqs Kurds established a regional government in 1992 after the U.S. enforced a no-fly zone across the north following the Gulf War.

After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam, the region secured constitutional recognition of its autonomy, but remained part of the Iraqi state.

Susannah George and Qassim Abdul-Zahra are Associated Press writers.
BATON ROUGE, La.  The slayings of two black men in Baton Rouge last week were probably racially motivated, police said Sunday, and a suspect  a 23-year-old white man  was in custody. In both shootings the gunman fired from his car, then walked up to the victims as they were lying on the ground and fired again multiple times.

The suspect, Kenneth Gleason, was being held on drug charges. Authorities didnt immediately have enough evidence to arrest him on charges related to the killings, but the investigation is ongoing, said police Sgt. LJean Mckneely.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  After a painful flight across several states to escape unpredictable Hurricane Irma, Suzanne Pallot says its unlikely she would evacuate south Florida again  an attitude echoed by other evacuees that experts say could put them in danger when the next storm hits.

It is a very emotionally draining thing to go through ... the anticipation of what is next and not having control of what is next, Pallot, 73, said in an interview from her cousins home in Memphis, where her family ended up after first stopping in Atlanta. This is the first time I even agreed to think about leaving. I probably would not do it again.

About 7 million people were asked to evacuate as Irma threatened Florida and the Southeast with strong winds and storm surge that in some places was forecast to push water as high as the rooftops of single-story homes. Neither wind nor water was quite as fierce as predicted. But the forecast was ominous enough that government officials decided they couldnt take any chances, and they repeatedly pleaded with people in vulnerable areas to leave.

Some of the tens of thousands who heeded the warnings got stuck in massive traffic jams, waited in hours-long lines at a dwindling number of gas stations still equipped with fuel, and were forced to bounce from city to city as the storm kept changing its path.

Craig Fugate, a former chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who lives in Gainesville, and lost power during Irma, said he understands such experiences may lead some to stay home next time in hopes of riding out the storm.

People start rationalizing, Its not that bad to stay here, Fugate said. If people in the evacuation zones start drawing this conclusion, that is not a good thing.

Psychologist Nora Baladerian, who specializes in anxiety and depression among trauma victims, said an event such as a mass evacuation can put mental stress on people that impairs their decision-making ability during the next crisis.

Obviously there are some who would say, Lets do all we can to survive, and since the experts are saying it is best to evacuate, that is what we will do, she said. However, some will not be able to make the effort, and may remain in harms way, saying, Come what may, Ive made my decision.

JennyLee Molina says her evacuation put a strain on her familys finances.

Were spending money we really didnt plan to spend, said Molina, who with her husband, 7-year-old son and seven other family members first evacuated from Miami to Cartersville, Ga. When it appeared Irma would head that way, they left for Asheville, N.C., eventually ending up in St. Augustine, Fla., on the states northeastern coast.

With a child, I would never stay with a storm at Category 3 or up, she said.

But Pallot said shes likely to stick it out next time, maybe buy a power generator and reinforce her home to withstand strong storms. Still, she said she does understand why authorities urged her and others to evacuate for Irma, which was so unpredictable.

Its a really hard call, Pallot said. This was such an unknown ... it could gain strength, and it was breaking all records.

Curt Anderson is an Associated Press writer.
NEW YORK  President Trump will use his debut speech to the U.N. General Assembly this week to offer warmth to the United States allies and warnings to its adversaries.

He slaps the right people, he hugs the right people and he comes out very strong in the end, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a preview of Trumps Tuesday speech.

Addressing the General Assembly is a milestone moment for any president, but one particularly significant for Trump, a relative newcomer to foreign policy who has at times rattled the international community with his unpredictability.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump will urge all states to come together to address great dangers facing the globe. Among topics certain to be on the agenda: North Korea, which has defied both sanctions and Trumps threats by continuing with its aggressive missile testing, and Iran, which the president has accused of violating an international nuclear deal.

Trump has been sharply critical of the United Nations in the past, denouncing its utter weakness and incompetence. As president-elect, he derided it as a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. He also suggested deep cuts to U.S. funding for the U.N.

Haley and McMaster outlined a robust schedule for Trump, who will also be joined by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other top advisers. The meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations are often done in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team.

The General Assembly is an incredibly sophisticated dance that doesnt really play to Tillersons strengths or to the presidents strengths, said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies. You often have one 15-minute meeting after another, with the goal of keeping focused on key points.

The president will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday before holding a dinner with Latin American leaders. On Wednesday, Trump holds a working lunch with African leaders and will meet with the heads of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Trump also will sit down with British Prime Minster Theresa May.

Jonathan Lemire is an Associated Press writer.
NEW YORK (AP)  Want to live like a Trump? Now's your chance: The president's New York City boyhood home is on Airbnb.

The 1940 Tudor-style house in Queens is being offered for $725 a night. The listing says the house has five bedrooms and sleeps up to 20.
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LONDON  British police made progress Sunday in their frantic pursuit of suspects and evidence connected to the bomb that partially exploded on a packed London subway, leading counterterrorism officials to lower the countrys threat level.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced the downgraded terror level after London police said a second suspect was in custody and a second property was being searched in connection with Fridays attack that injured 30 people.

Rudd cautioned that the investigation was ongoing and that Britain still faced a substantial threat even though the terror level had been reset to severe from critical. Critical means an attack is believed to be imminent.

Severe still means that an attack is highly likely, so I would urge everybody to be vigilant but not alarmed, she said.

The Islamic State extremist group has said the subway attack was carried out by one of its affiliated units.

The advancing investigation was good news for London commuters who had anticipated heading to work Monday while police were in a frantic bid to round up suspects before they could hit the city again.

Mark Rowley, who heads the police counterterrorism operation, said the traveling public still would see an increased police and military presence in the coming days.

For practical and precautionary reasons, we made the decision that the increased resources will continue for the beginning of this week, Rowley said.

He said two properties were being searched and that police had much more to do.

The fact that a second person  a 21-year-old man  was arrested under the Terrorism Act offered the clearest proof yet that police and security services believe the subway bombing was not just the work of one person.

The first suspect, an 18-year-old man, was arrested early Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover, where ferries leave for France. The second was arrested in Hounslow in west London shortly before midnight Saturday.

Both were questioned Sunday at a south London police station. They have not been charged or identified.

The subway bomb caused limited casualties because it failed to completely explode. Officials say 30 people were injured, including some hurt in the panic that ensued, and all but one have been released from the hospital. Most of the injured suffered burns.

The two searches were taking place at a suburban home in Sunbury, southwest of London, and in Stanwell, another suburb close to London Heathrow Airport.

The first search, linked to the first subject, started in Sunbury on Saturday afternoon at a house that belongs to an elderly couple who have for years taken in foster children, including refugees from conflict zones in Syria and Iraq.

The pair  Ronald Jones, 88, and his wife, Penelope Jones, 71  have been honored by Queen Elizabeth II for their work with children in need of a stable home.

Neighbors said two young men had been staying with them recently.

Gregory Katz is an Associated Press writer.
RAMALLAH, West Bank  President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah movement on Sunday welcomed a pledge by its Hamas rival to accept key conditions for ending a decade-old Palestinian political and territorial split, but said it wants to see vows implemented before making the next move.

Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed since the militant Hamas drove forces loyal to Abbas from the Gaza Strip in 2007, a year after defeating Fatah in parliamentary elections. The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Earlier Sunday, Hamas announced that it has accepted key Abbas demands for ending the split. These include holding general elections in the West Bank and Gaza, dissolving a contentious Gaza administrative committee and allowing an Abbas-led unity government, formed in 2014 but until now unable to start operating in Gaza, to finally assume responsibility there.

The announcement came after separate talks by Hamas and Fatah delegations with Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo in recent days.

Egypt relayed Fatah demands to Hamas that as a first step, it must dissolve the administrative committee, its de facto government in Gaza, and allow the unity government to take charge.

We accepted that as a sign of our good will toward reconciliation, said Hamas official Hussam Badran. The administrative committee is now dissolved and the government can come to Gaza today to assume its responsibilities and duties.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a Fatah participant in the talks, said Hamas and Fatah agreed to meet in Cairo within 10 days, during which time the national unity government should assume its responsibility in Gaza.

Mahmoud Aloul, another Fatah official, told the Voice of Palestine radio that the news from Cairo is encouraging, but that we want to see that happening on the ground before we move to the next step.

Hamas has been greatly weakened by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade, three wars with Israel and international isolation. Gazas economy is in tatters and residents of the territory have electricity for only a few hours a day. In recent months, Abbas has stepped up financial pressure on Hamas to force his rivals to cede ground.

Still, there were no guarantees that the deal would succeed where others failed. In previous pacts, including one brokered by Egypt in 2011, both sides professed willingness to reconcile, but ultimately balked at giving up power in their respective territories.

Mohammed Daraghmeh is an Associated Press writer.
OG Oil & Gas, the oil and gas arm of the Ofer Global Group, has formalised its partial takeover offer for New Zealand Oil & Gas after the New Zealand energy explorer rejected an "inadequate" partial offer from ASX-listed Zeta Resources.

OGOG is offering 77 cents a share for a maximum 70 percent of NZOG, above Zeta's 72 cent offer but still below the 78 cent-to-93 cent range in a valuation NZOG's independent directors commissioned from Northington Partners ahead of rejecting Zeta's proposal.

Alastair McGregor, chief executive of OG Oil & Gas (Singapore), said his company doesn't agree with Zeta's assessment that NZOG is essentially a cashbox that is at a "strategic crossroad". While Zeta wanted NZOG to return $50 million to shareholders while slashing costs, OGOG sees NZOG as being "in an enviable position, with the right leadership and sufficient capital to take advantage of this attractive point in the exploration and development cycle."

"We are faced with two starkly divergent opinions on NZOGs future," McGregor said in his covering letter for the offer. "Now is the right time in the exploration and development cycle to invest in the oil and gas sector. After many years of lean investment, we feel there is a unique opportunity for companies that are willing and able to prudently deploy resources toward new exploration."

The Northington Partners report, released last week, said Zeta's offer "appears to take no account of exploration upside, which while risky, could be significant."

NZOG's target company report said the company's current strategy is to seek further investment in exploration and development opportunities over the next 12-to-18 months, which it believes is a superior plan to returning cash to shareholders and wouldn't be viable if the capital return was made.

OGOG currently holds 6.8 million shares or about 4.3 percent. Parent Ofer Global is chaired by Eyal Ofer and has a portfolio of international investments including shipping, real estate and banking.

NZOG shares last traded at 72.5 cents, valuing the company at $115.7 million, and have gained 15 percent this year. NZOG has 159.5 million ordinary shares along with 8.3 million partly paid shares which aren't listed on the NZX main board.

(BusinessDesk)

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Border sealed for tomorrows election

The Ministry of Home Affairs has shut the Nepal-India border from Friday night until September 18 in view of the third phase of local level elections that takes place in Province 2 on Monday.
New Zealand lamb exporters are eschewing the weak UK market in favour of other more lucrative trading destinations, pushing the volume of meat sent to what was once the nation's biggest export market to a record low last month, AgriHQ says.

"The UK lamb market is slowly becoming less pivotal to NZ exporters," AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick said in his monthly Sheep & Beef report. "A steady decline in lamb consumption combined with a loss of economic confidence following Brexit has resulted in a challenging market environment. Exporters have largely chosen to divert their product to higher-paying markets, and this will be a strategy that increases over time."

Just 1,274 tonnes of frozen lamb made its way to the UK from New Zealand in August, the lowest monthly volume since AgriHQ records began in December 2006. Across the months of July and August NZ frozen lamb exports to the UK were down 32 percent on a year ago and were 38 percent behind the five-year average, AgriHQ said.

Similarly, NZ lamb exports to continental Europe fell 11 percent to 2,946 tonnes in August, the lowest level for the month since AgriHQ records began in 2006, and 22 percent behind the five-year average.

New Zealand exporters have focused on the chilled trade to the UK, which is still achieving very solid prices, Brick said. Prices for chilled lamb for the Christmas trade is expected to be ahead of last year as customers seek to secure product following scarcity of supply last year, he said.

Brick said prices in the UK and continental Europe are likely to adjust as supply from New Zealand increases and production reverts to frozen, but will still remain at historically high levels.

(BusinessDesk)

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Colleges told to follow govt-set fee structure

The Institute of Medicine (IoM) on Saturday warned all the private medical colleges affiliated to it not to charge fee more than what has been set by the government.
SHAKESPEARE AT THE FORT

Staten Island Shakespearean Theatre continues its ambitious mission to present live theater in non-traditional spaces around the borough with "King Lear."

Showtimes: 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 16-17, 23-24, at Battery Weed/Fort Wadsworth in Gateway National Recreation Center.

Admission is free but seating is limited in the historic Battery Weed  so a ticket is required. Free passes can be obtained at the door before each performance (while supplies last),

or you get them in advance at ShowClix.com/events/1247 or SIShakespeare.org/.

Not familiar with this classic? Here's the plot boiled down by SIST:

"King Lear has three daughters, but no sons. Boldly he makes a decision to divide his kingdom among his children, but fails to anticipate the consequences of his actions. His generosity is cruelly repaid and Lear finds himself adrift, wandering homeless and destitute. As he comes to realize the false values by which he has lived, he finally encounters his own humanity."

The featured cast: Geoffrey Besser, Gary Bradley, Memet Canka, Jack Dabdoub, Frank Duffy, Jake Geary, Armand Lane, Sophie Max, Mitch Maglio, Ritty Mahoney, Patrick Nolin, Patrick OConnor, Melanie Randall, Justin Schiedel, Stephen Scott, Rina Sklar, Rachel Sternlicht and Robert Yuzuk.

Behind the scenes: Director, Cara S. Liander; Assistant Director, Frank Williams; Stage Manager/Technical Director, Keith Gregory Taylor; Production Designer, Joseph Barral; Costume Designer, Toni-Ann Fischetti; Sound Engineering, Alan Lubiner; Assistant Stage Manager, Amy Puleo' and Production Assistant, Chelsea Smith.

Don't Edit

Rob Bailey | bailey@siadvance.com

THE 41ST ANNUAL CAR SHOW AND FLEA MARKET IN BLOOMFIELD

The Staten Island Region Antique Automobile Club of America revs up its 41st annual car show and flea market from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, in the parking lot of COMMONS Cafe, 2 Teleport Drive in Bloomfield.

Cars 15 years and older are eligible for judging and hundreds of trophies, including four best-in-show awards (stock and modified). A 1996 Camaro convertible will be raffled off; tickets are 8 for $5. Plus: A 50/50, music, food and a flea market.

Vehicle admission is $20; spectator admission is $5. Flea market spaces are still available for $40  but there will be no food vendors, for a good reason: COMMONS Cafe donates 100 percent of its profits to charity so any eating needs to happen there.

Don't Edit

Rob Bailey | bailey@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND WALK LIKE MADD

Step it up for Mothers Against Drunk Driving from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, at Clove Lakes Park, 1150 Clove Road in Sunnyside.

"Walk Like MADD" is your chance to join the "thousands of people in over 60 cities around the nation will participate in 5k events to eliminate drunk driving from our roadways. You can help MADD eliminate drunk driving by signing up for a Walk Like MADD event near you as a walker, team captain, or volunteer. You can even be involved without attending the event by signing up as a virtual walker or making a donation to another walker or team."

Sign up or learn more here: WalkLikeMADD.org/statenisland.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

TUNE INTO RICHMOND CITY MEDIA'S TELETHON

Richmond City Media, a local creative collective, hosts a telethon on Sunday, Sept. 17 to raise money for their upcoming project. The live stream starts at around 3:30 p.m.

Manny Rondon and Joon Chung of Super Secret Show are set to perform as well as Raina Bee, Universe Ignore Her and Matthew Pelli. Local art will be auctioned off during the telethon.

More updates will be available closer to event-date on their Facebook page.

(Courtesy of Richmond City Media)

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Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

HALF-WAY TO ST. PADDY'S DAY AT LIBERTY TAVERN

Liberty Tavern in West Brighton is gearing up for St. Patrick's Day in September -- It's never too early for a party, no? -- and they want you to come out and celebrate with them this weekend.

On Sunday, Sept. 17, the bar welcomes Staten Islanders to their "Halfway to St. Paddy's Day" bash. There will be live Irish music by West Brighton's own "WHISKEY ON A SUNDAY" starting at 4 p.m.

Of course, they'll have great food and drink specials: $4 corn beef sandwiches, $5 Guinness pints, $4 Jameson shots and $2 green Bud Lite drafts.

Come out for games, food, music & dance this Sunday. Liberty Tavern is located at 382 Forest Ave. Reach the bar at 718-442-8121.

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Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

LAST CHANCE: 'THE CRUCIBLE' AT SEA VIEW

Sea View Playwright's Theatre is wrapping up their production of "The Crucible" this weekend from Sept. 15-17, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.

The legendary plot: A Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials in Arthur Millers haunting allegory inspired by the McCarthyism era, in which the United States government ostracized Americans on suspicion of being communists.

Tickets are $22; $20 for students/seniors at svpt.brownpapertickets.com. Advance reservations are recommended due to limited seating at the Chapel Theater at 460 Brielle Ave. in Sea View.



Directed by Joe Gheraldi. Set design by Ken Tirado. Production stage managed by Andrew Monteleone and Don Manzo. The cast:

Betty Parris: Gwendolyn Williams

Rev Parris: Ken Tirado

Tituba: Victoria Gullo

Abigail Williams: Amanda Rose Benjamin

Susanna Walcott: Alexis Paolino

Mrs.Ann Putnam: Alexis Leary

Thomas Putnam: George Tsalikis

Mercy Lewis: Kristiana Longinotti

Mary Warren: Ariana Nicoletta

John Proctor: Michael Robert Anderson

Rebecca Nurse: Regina Paleau

Giles Corey: Frank Manzi

Rev. John Hale: Robert Juliano

Elizabeth Proctor: Tina Barone

Ezekiel Cheever: Phillip Cosentino

Judge Hathorne: Charles Sullivan

Deputy Governor Danforth: Richard DeSena

Sarah Good: Risa Anderson

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Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

NOBLE MARITIME'S SEA SHANTY SESSIONS

This Sunday, Staten Islanders are welcome to attend the Noble Maritime Collection's Sea Shanty Session. Try saying that five times fast.

Led by the Folk Music Society of New York, The Noble Maritime Collection in Livingston holds a jam session where Staten Islanders can experience authentic, time-honored maritime songs in an appropriately historic setting.

The Noble Maritime Collection, located on at the Snug Harbor Culture Center campus at 1000 Richmond Terrace, holds a session on the third Sunday of every month. The session is from 2 to 5 p.m. The event is in Building D. For more information, visit Snug-Harbor.org.

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SUNDAY CLEAN UP AT FORT WADSWORTH

A Sunday morning clean-up and exploration of Fort Wadsworth takes place this weekend from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Participants will clean, weed and maintain some of the beautiful but lesser known trail spaces in Fort Wadsworth -- leading to the interior of Battery Weed.

While weeding, those in attendance will learn more about the history of Fort Wadsworth, how it was run and the programs available at Fort Wadsworth today.



BTW: Those who organized the clean-up want you to be safe. Poison ivy is a risk but gloves will be available as will white suits. All are encouraged to wear long pants and sleeves.

The clean-up is free and open to the public. Those looking to participate should meet at 1598 Bay Street at 10 a.m.

Don't Edit

Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

MICHAEL PACKER FUNDRAISER AT KILLMEYER'S

Noted jazz musician Michael Packer passed away May of this year and was buried at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park in Oakwood.

A fundraiser for Packer's final resting place takes place at Killmeyer's Old Bavaria Inn this Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m.

Killmeyer's Barvaria Inn is located at 4254 Arthur Kill Road.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- A decade after Robert Pelicone died in a drunk driving-related crash in West Brighton, his mother can't help but cry at the thought of EMTs wheeling her son's lifeless body into the emergency room.

"The family and his girlfriend stayed with him until 7:30 a.m.," said Mary Beth Aquino. "I didn't think I was living it. It was like I was watching it on TV."

Aquino was among dozens who walked with banners and photographs at Clove Lake Park on Sunday for the annual Walk Like MADD, a fundraiser she helped organize four years ago on Staten Island for families effected by drunk driving.

It only takes a moment

Pelicone, 20, entered the backseat of a friend's car in the early morning hours of Sept. 30, 2007. A few minutes later, the driver crashed into a telephone pole at the intersection of Henderson Avenue and Elm Street, according to Advance records.

Pelicone was pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver -- who was without a license -- fled the scene.

The driver, 17-year-old Michael Cummings, was sentenced to six years in prison. He was released in 2010, according to state prison records.

About a year after the incident and a verbal outburst aimed at Cummings in Richmond County Criminal Court, Aquino was able to forgive the man held responsible for her son's death.

"It's ugly to hold onto ill feelings," she said. "Jesus forgives sinners. It's God's will."

MANAGING DEATH



For the first five years after the death, Aquino couldn't say the word "dead."

"I would have bouts of crying, and would call people and say 'Robert needs a ride home,'" she said.

But eventually, with help from the priest at her parish and others who have gone through the same thing, she said she's managed to now, "talk about it in a calm manner."

Every year, as "Walk Like MADD" approaches, Aquino is reluctant to go. But every year, she realizes it'd be hard to cope without it.

"I feel like (Rob) is happy I'm participating and not in a corner in a ball," she said. "I think he's happy I'm living this, and talking to people about it."

A few years after his death, Aquino moved into her current apartment, located on the same block where he died.

"I just felt like I needed to be closer to him."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island is taking action to keep its sidewalks safe and clean.

In response to an Advance article referencing dangerous overgrowth and cracked sidewalks on the South Shore, Councilman Joseph Borelli released a statement demanding the Department of Transportation (DOT) take action.

Crumbling sidewalks, large logs and poison ivy have turned a heavily used area into a hazard for pedestrians.

Borelli has asked that the DOT not issue any additional residential sidewalk summons for a hairline crack until the sidewalks at Huguenot Avenue, Veterans Road East and Arthur Kill Road are repaired.

"I dare them to try to justify writing a single residential homeowner's sidewalk violation for a hairline crack when this is the state in which they maintain their own sidewalks," said Borelli.

In the meantime, Borelli has deployed the Where to Turn Clean Team to trim the weeds, cut down and remove the poison ivy and pick up litter at the affected location.

The Where to Turn Clean Team is a volunteer group that has completed 301 cleanups, removing 1,605 bags of trash since Jan. 1, according to its Facebook group.

Borelli has advocated for repairs at this intersection numerous times over the years; first on Nov. 4, 2015, as part of a comprehensive traffic and pedestrian improvement plan, again on Jan. 11, 2016, and most recently on June 9, 2017.

"With safety at the core of our mission, DOT has increased sidewalk repair efforts citywide, including along Veterans Road West, Hylan Boulevard near Gateway Park and Arthur Kill Road in Staten Island," said a DOT spokesperson in response to Borelli's statements.

The properties referenced are Block 6110, Lots 625 & 32 and Block 6169, Lot 37, in addition to the New York City sidewalks beneath the 440 overpass on Arthur Kill Road.
Curse of the Jackal

Online scammers are now selling jackal 'horns' to superstitious people
Paul DiGiso, of Great Kills, shared his mother's mental illness story on Facebook to raise awareness. From left to right: Stephen Cooper, Paul and Joseph DiGiso with their mother Linda Raimondi-Cooper. (Photo courtesy of Paul DiGiso)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Paul DiGiso never knew how severe mental illness could be until it took his mother away from him.

At 62 years old, DiGiso's mother Linda Raimondi-Cooper took her own life on Sept. 9 after suffering for many years from depression and bipolar disorder.

At a service at the funeral home, DiGiso, of Great Kills, spoke about his mother's suffering in the hopes he can raise awareness and battle the stigma of mental illnesses. The mental illnesses not only affected Paul, but also his brothers Stephen Cooper and Joseph DiGiso.

"I felt like my words were powerful enough to make them hear me, and I hope people understand now that mental health awareness is a big deal," DiGiso said. "Mental illness took my mother from me. She was a loving mother who suffered from a mental illness."

FACEBOOK LIVE

His speech was streamed live on Facebook on Friday. DiGiso said he felt it needed to be placed on social media because it would provide a larger platform for awareness.

Since it was posted, DiGiso said many people have reached out to him sharing their stories about themselves or family members suffering from mental illnesses.

"I'm not a mental health expert, but I feel like I'm noticing situations where people are blinded by mental illness," he said. "It needs to be dealt with as such. Everyone turns a blind eye because you don't see the illness killing the person. This issue has been stigmatized for years."

His biggest regret, he said, was not having enough knowledge about mental illness, and that he was not able to help his mother. It was not until after his mother died that DiGiso became educated about the effects of mental illnesses.

43.4 MILLION SUFFERERS

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 43.4 million adults, or 17.9 percent of adults, suffered from a mental illness in 2015. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the 10th leading cause of death among Americans was intentional self-harm or suicide in 2016.

"We need to talk about this subject like we talk about cancer, like we talk about AIDS," he said. "I feel like if I have that strength with what happened to me, maybe some son out there can realize that he needs to really be educated before something happens."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For some families it has been five, 10 or 20 years since they have lost a loved one to alleged drunk driving incidents and the pain hasn't gone away.

For Patti Goff, the loss of her 22-year-old son Dean Goff Jr. has been something she and her family have had to conquer the last five years.

"It's really hard to do these things, and it's really hard to not do these things," said Goff. "When you do it, you relive it, and when you don't do something you feel you should be doing something."

Goff Jr. died from his injuries as a back-seat passenger in an alleged drunken-driving incident in New Dorp in 2012. Goff has since looked for ways to make sure a mother does not have to go through what she did.

REMEMBERING LOVED ONES LOST

Goff is just one of many who joined together to remember their loved ones on Sunday at Clove Lakes Park in Sunnyside.

The fourth annual Staten Island Walk Like MADD event drew more than 150 participants to raise money for the efforts of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The non-profit organization provides legal, medical and counseling services for victims of drunk and drugged drivers.

"Everyone here does band together and the families have really connected with each other," said Tara Spohrer, walk manager for MADD New York.

Families solemnly walked around the park and placed white and red carnations near their loved ones' shoes that were arranged on a path of remembrance.

There were 311 lives lost and more than 6,000 injured in drunk driving related incidents in New York state in 2015, according to Rich Mallow, state director of MADD New York.

REMEMBERING CARY CANDELLA

Jacqueline Candella of Tottenville never met her uncle Cary Candella. In 1997, Candella was forced out his vehicle on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and was struck and killed by a third-party driver.

Before 2014, the nearest MADD walk was in Long Island and Candella believed that the Staten Island community needed to participate in the event.

"I was tired of seeing unnecessary deaths, and I wanted to make a change and bring it here," said Candella. "It's been a success and it's spreading the word to the community."

For Cary Candella's siblings bringing awareness about drinking and driving to the community is important. The family's team, in memory of Cary, raised just under $7,000 for MADD, said Candella.

"This walk can save one family from what we went through," said Cary's sister Jennifer Visconti.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On the heels of an August and early September that saw gas prices soar because of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Senator Charles Schumer is asking the federal government to establish a "gouge watch" effort.

"In terms of this nation's supply and demand for gasoline, hurricanes Harvey and Irma were short-term disruptions that really shouldn't have a long-term impact on prices at the pump," said Schumer.

"Gas prices should come back down to earth just as fast as they went up, but right now my worry is they will not fall as fast as they should. That is why I am asking the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] to launch a 'gouge watch' with oil producers, transporters and refiners alike," he added.

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price of gas in New York City is currently $2.95 and the average price of gas on Long Island is $2.84--a 13 percent increase from before the storms, says Schumer's office.

The senator is calling on the FTC to take a close look into whether big oil companies are taking advantage of consumers.

Schumer also noted that while the Federal Trade Commission has limited powers to gas price gouging, he said there is precedent for the agency to put pressure on the petroleum industry.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A car led police on a chase through Travis and onto the West Shore Expressway after fleeing a traffic stop Saturday evening, according to police transmissions.

At approximately 6:40 p.m., NYPD highway patrol units performed a traffic stop on a grey Volkswagen sedan traveling northbound on the West Shore Expressway, according to police transmissions.

According to police transmissions, the vehicle then fled authorities toward the Goethals bridge.

The vehicle then exited the expressway near Western Avenue and was lost on the streets, where the pursuit was broken off, according to police transmissions.

Transmissions went on to say the vehicle was last seen by witnesses entering New York Container Terminal, exited and proceeded towards Gulf Avenue.

As of 6:50 p.m., police were canvasing the area in search of the vehicle.

Police transmissions said the vehicle contained two male occupants.

A spokeswoman for the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information could not immediately confirm if an arrest was made following the pursuit.

The Advance received video from a commuter's dash cam that shows a grey Volkswagen sedan being pursued by police while traveling northbound on Victory Boulevard.

Both the sedan on police enter the West Shore Expressway on the video.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- A Stapleton mom accused of child abuse and possession of a loaded handgun was released on her own recognizance Sunday from Richmond County Criminal Court.

Yoclyn Rodriguez, 33, was arrested Friday after her six-year-old son allegedly told school officials he had been beaten after finding a gun inside the home.

Randolph Greene, 40, who reportedly lives at the same address on Osgood Avenue, also was arrested Friday.

Both face charges that include criminal possession of a firearm and endangering the welfare of a child.

Greene was hospitalized hours prior to the arraignment for unknown reasons, and was listed in stable condition at Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton as of Sunday afternoon.

Depending on the length of his stay, the court might have to arraign Greene via computer monitor from his hospital bed, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Rodriguez is due back in court Nov. 29.

Authorities were alerted about a potential danger inside of the home after the six-year-old told school officials, "I found the gun in the house and got a beating for it," authorities allege.

Ohene said the Administration for Children's Services removed the boy, though it's uncertain whether they were able to place him with extended family members-- which always is the first option for officials.

Rodriguez stood sobbing in the lobby of the Richmond County Courthouse, moments after a judge ordered she be released per the recommendation of prosecutors.

Ohene said his client consented to a search of her home Friday, and wasn't aware there was a loaded Ekol Botan 9mm gun in the bedroom closet.

The city Administration for Child Services (ACS) is

the incident.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - District Attorney Michael McMahon's office is partnering with Staten Island's three colleges to combat college sexual assaults.

As reported in the Advance, the Staten Island Comprehensive College Sexual Assault Initiative, or the Staten Island Plan, makes the district attorney's investigative resources and survivor support services available to students at St. John's University, Wagner College and the College of Staten Island (CSI).

Here's how McMahon put it: "Together, we will help survivors of sexual assault to explore a variety of options available to them, including counseling, medical resources, discussion of legal options, and providing them with a dedicated support person so guide them through the criminal justice system should the survivor wish to report the incident. This allows survivors to get a comprehensive idea of all their options before needing to make a decision on how they wish to continue."

It's a good idea, and McMahon's office and the schools are to be commended. Hopefully the program will be a help to victims of sexual assault on campus. A college campus should be a place where everybody feels safe. Nobody should be the victim of any crime.

But we know that that's not reality, so crime victims of all kinds need resources, perhaps none more than those who have suffered that most horrific of violations: Someone who is the victim of a sexual assault.

But if you are the victim of a sexual assault on campus, there's only one place you should go: To the police. The people in law enforcement are the ones who are best trained to handle it. Hard as it may be for the victim to come forward, let the criminal justice system do its job.

Of course, that's not the way it's currently designed. Under Title IX, colleges have the power to handle cases of assault and rape through campus tribunals.

But the system has been riddled with controversy, particularly when it comes to the accused, who do not get the same due process protections that they would in a court of law.

Too often, there is no presumption of innocence. The accused doesn't have the right to confront and cross-examine their accuser in court. Sometimes they are not permitted to have a lawyer with them, or if they are, the lawyer is not permitted to speak. The accused is not always privy to all the charges and evidence against them. There isn't always opportunity for appeal.

It's nothing less than a complete usurpation of every criminal justice protection that Americans enjoy as among their most precious rights. What makes a group of college administrators qualified to mete out justice like this? Would you want your fate in those hands if your freedom and your reputation depended on it?

Even worse, if there is an actual sexual predator out there and the only thing that happens is that they're bounced out of school by a tribunal, that perpetrator isn't on law enforcement's radar. They're free to just go to another school and commit more assaults, if that's their proclivity.

How is that keeping anybody safe?

And as much as any of us may love our local institutions of higher learning, the fact remains that many college and universities would of course like to handle assault and rape cases in-house, lest the school get a reputation as a place where sexual assaults occur. They have a vested interest in tamping down the volume on such accusations.

While it's true that schools that receive federal funding must report campus safety and security statistics each year, and those reports are available on the Internet, that's a far cry from police reports or court records detailing sex assaults being made available in real time to news outlets and other sources as a matter of course.

In the interest of true justice being served to everyone involved, the entire system needs to be re-examined.
Page Content

On Friday, September 15, the French authorities, represented by the Prefet Madame Anne Laubies and President Daniel Gibbs met with the Governor, drs. Eugene Holiday, and the Council of Ministers of Sint Maarten to discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The meeting continued with the Governor and a delegation of the Council of Ministers consisting of the Prime Minister, Mr. William Marlin, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Rafael Boasman, on Saturday afternoon, September 16.





The curfew between Sint Maarten and Saint Martin, which was the source of misunderstandings was synchronized. Authorities agreed that effective Sunday, September 17, 2017, non-emergency pass holders are prohibited from being on the streets between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. until further notice. Emergency pass holders are defined as follows:





- Persons holding valid disaster team passes from Sint Maarten;





- Persons holding valid passes with permission to circulate from Saint Martin.





Though checkpoints will be at all borders, this does not prohibit the free movement between each side of the island, but it will enhance the protection of the citizens on the island. Further evaluation of the adjusted curfew hours, will take place during a meeting to be continued on Wednesday, September 20.





Protocols on the communication procedures before and after a disaster between each side of the islands were also established, which includes a backup system in the event all means of telecommunication fall out.





Both parties were satisfied with the outcome of the meetings and will continue to meet on a regular basis to ensure the rebuilding and overall redevelopment of the island Sint Maarten / Saint Martin will be as quick as possible.




Page Content

The government of Sint Maarten is extremely grateful for the support of the people of the Netherlands. Yesterday, a total of 13,3 million was raised in the Netherlands during the day-long national event Nederland helpt Sint Maarten telethon. The funding will go towards those that were impacted by the disastrous Hurricane Irma. Prime Minister, William Marlin endorses the response of Red Cross director Mr. Gijs de Vries: What a great day and great return. The Netherlands is now shoulder to shoulder for the victims of this devastating hurricane. Prime Minister reacts that he was immensely touched and moved when he heard that Dutch children had emptied their piggy bank to be able to donate to the hurricane victims on Sint Maarten. It is an unprecedented outpouring of support in the face of disaster.





This funding will allow us to serve our community with the reconstruction and rebuilding that our country needs, the Prime Minister declared. With it, we can get the people of Sint Maarten back into their homes and back to work. The support will provide essential materials, supplies and services to our community. It will aid our disaster relief efforts and support the good work of our relief organizations in helping to rebuild our nation. We are proud of their tireless dedication and work they are putting in to help those affected.





Together with the Red Cross and other expert organizations priorities will be set on how to spend to-be-received funds. We are focused on getting our country back on its feet. We thank the generous citizens in the Netherlands and will never forget their generosity and their continuous support to our community in our time of need. It is testimony of the bond we have.




Page Content

Prime Minister The Honorable William Marlin of Sint Maarten releases the following briefing on the infrastructure, along with words of thanks.

Please note that all was current at press time and is subject to change as work and talks progress.





ROADS

Main roads are cleared and work continues on inner roads to the districts.





ELECTRICITY / WATER

Several districts have received electricity and water thus far. Emphasis and priority is being placed

in this regard also for the schools to receive the same.





TELEPHONE / INTERNET SERVICE

Major telecommunication services including TELEM and UTS is functioning, however with some

sporadic service. It is recommended to download WhatsApp on your smart phone if at all possible

for quick communication, as SMS is taking much longer to go through.





TELEVISION

Cable television provider is not operational, however streaming via Internet is up and running.





RADIO

Two major radio stations are operational: PJD2 (102.7 FM) and Laser (101.1 FM). Indications from

the regulatory body, Bureau Telecommunication is that early next week other radio stations will

soon be broadcasting.





SUPERMARKETS

Several grocery stores are open within the curfew, and more are opening on an ongoing basis to

service the community. Please report price gauging to NOCC@sintmaartengov.org.





GASOLINE

Gasoline stations were allowed to be open within the curfew, providing service to emergency

vehicles and the general population.





CURFEW

The curfew between Sint Maarten and Saint Martin has been synchronized. Authorities from both

governments have agreed that effective Sunday, September 17, 2017, non-emergency pass holders

are prohibited from being on the streets between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time until further

notice. Emergency pass holders are defined persons holding valid disaster team passes from Sint

Maarten or Saint Martin. Though checkpoints will be at all borders, this does not prohibit the free

movement between each side of the island, but it will enhance the protection of the citizens on the

island and of course, provide ease of transportation for residents and family and friends during this

difficult time to both sides of the island.





DROP-OFF POINTS FOR CHARITY CONTRIBUTIONS

Efforts are being made in each district of the island on a daily basis to provide food and supplies to

the population. As indicated by the Police Force of Sint Maarten, this is progressing well without

incident.





FOREIGN AID

In support of coordination, USAR.NL collects requests from local disaster management and donor

offerings in the Coordination Center of the Government of Sint Maarten. In this Coordination

Center, USAR.NL and local volunteers work together with government employees and

communication staff. In cooperation with the local government, priorities are set and the offer is

tailored to the demand. To provide or receive aid, persons or organizations can use the email

address: NOCC@sintmaartengov.org





AIRPORT

The Princess Juliana International Airport is receiving cargo flights and humanitarian flights.

Commercial flights are not being authorized at this time, however we realize that many individuals

do need to come to the island to assess property and see family. We will be updating on this soon.





PORT

The Port Facilities of Sint Maarten received some damage but cruise ships and cargo vessels

conducting humanitarian efforts are docking at the port and assisting in taking persons to other

destinations.





HOSPITAL/ MEDICAL

Sint Maarten Medical Center received damage during the storm but is operational. The Lab services

(SLS) are also up and running. General practitioners and pharmacies are open daily to the public on

a rotating schedule.





WORDS OF THANKS

The government of Sint Maarten is extremely grateful for the support of the people of The

Netherlands. On 15 th September 2017, a total of 13,3 million was raised in The Netherlands during

a day-long national event, Nederland helpt Sint Maarten telethon. Prime Minister The

Honorable William Marlin commented that he was immensely moved when he heard that Dutch

children had emptied their piggy bank to be able to donate to the hurricane victims on Sint

Maarten. It is an unprecedented outpouring of support in the face of disaster. This funding will

allow us to serve our community with the reconstruction and rebuilding that our country needs,

the Prime Minister said. With it, we can get the people of Sint Maarten back into their homes and

back to work. The support will provide essential materials, supplies and services to our community.

It will aid our disaster relief efforts and support the good work of our relief organizations in helping

to rebuild our nation. We are proud of their tireless dedication and work they are putting in to help

those affected.
Around 35,000 adventurers attempt to reach the 19,341-foot peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa each year, and yet almost half end up turning around. The trails take hikers through five different climate zones as the air gets thinner and thinner. In 2012, a world record was set when mountaineer Kyle Maynard crawled to the top.

Maynard was born with congenital amputation, a rare occurrence that caused his arms to end at the elbow and his legs end near the knee. His first serious climbing experience was with a 100-foot peak in Atlanta, near his hometown of Suwanee, and he protected his limbs with just bath towels and heavy-duty tape as he crawled over the rocks and dirt.

It was really hard and painful, but also breathtakingly beautiful at the top, he said. I just wanted to know what it looked like.

Through connections with the Scottsdale nonprofit K2 Adventures Foundation and co-founder Kevin Cherilla, he met Barb and Brett Boutin at Orthotics Specialists in Phoenix who crafted special carbon fiber orthotics to cover and protect his limbs in anticipation of his Kilimanjaro summit. Then Flagstaff outdoor company Kahtoola was brought onboard by Cherilla to create crampons to help him grip the icy terrain near the peak.

We love being able to take on a special project and do something different, said Kahtoola founder Danny Giovale. It was a great design challenge for us.

Giovale came up with a model that, instead of attaching to shoes, was able to be strapped onto Maynards orthotics. With his custom-made crampons, Maynard became the first quadruple amputee to climb Kilimanjaro sans prosthetics and he made it to the top with a team in 10 days. Several years later, he also conquered Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America at 22,841 feet.

Without (the crampons) I would still be sitting halfway up Kilimanjaro right now, he said with a laugh.

Adversity proved a small mountain to conquer in his case.

The theme for this years Flagstaff Festival of Science is Engineering Solutions and explores innovations that are improving our quality of life and advancing science. Maynard, who has taken a sabbatical from climbing to travel as a motivational speaker, will give the keynote presentation to kick off the 28th annual festival Friday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. in Ardrey Auditorium on the Northern Arizona University campus.

We are so fortunate to have such amazing keynote presenters and it is important to us to have these world class innovators have a Flagstaff connection, said Bonnie Stevens, who has been the festival coordinator for the past two decades.

As usual, each of the over 100 events that are planned for the jam-packed 10-day celebration are free to attend. Stevens estimated that 17,000 people take advantage of the opportunity each year to attend the workshops and activities.

You cant possibly go to everything, Stevens said. But that just means attendees will have to pick different activities to check out the following year.

The list of events includes guided nature hikes, a workshop with hands-on dissecting, open houses with organizations across town, a teen science cafe, archaeology digs and so much more.

Flagstaff is a natural area to study different sciences due to the extensive forest, geological features and dark skies that the city is known for.

This community values our scientists and you can tell by the numbers who show up to these events, Stevens said. It makes us all so proud of what we have in this region, and to be nationally known as a place that values science and science education.
EC calls on voters to participate in election without fear

Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has called on the voters of Province No. 2 to confidently take part in the third phase of local level election taking place tomorrow, as full security has been arranged towards that end.
Election code breach rampant

The third phase of local level elections has seen more cases of code of conduct violation than the earlier two phases.
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Election fever grips NRNs

The signs of election fever gripping non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) have become palpable, as Bhaban Bhatta has announced his candidacy for the post of president of the International Coordination Council (ICC) of the NRN Association (NRNA), the apex umbrella body of NRNs.
Three dogs declared "dangerous dogs" have been returned to an Amaroo home, after they were seized following the death of Daisy, a Cavalier King Charles, in July.

Cody Hill said she had put Daisy in the backyard as she normally would when she left home for half an hour, and returned to find her backyard trashed and Daisy dead.

Cody Hill with her dog Daisy, who was killed by neighbouring dogs.

"I was in hysterics, I was screaming, nearly sick and couldn't stop shaking," Ms Hill said. "I just went to pick up some flowers for a friend, it was her birthday the following day, and I came home and [Daisy] was dead."

Ms Hill said her partner Robert had arrived home five minutes earlier and found five neighbouring dogs, two of which were puppies, in their backyard, throwing Daisy's body in the air.
Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore has thrown her weight behind ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr's bid for a faster train to Canberra, saying it could become a "premium" service if private sector investment was secured.

Mr Barr secured Cr Moore's support to speed up the train trip between Canberra and Sydney during the latest meeting of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr at Canberra railway station in May. Mr Barr caught a train to Sydney to meet with NSW Minister for Infrastructure Andrew Constance to discuss the Federal Budget announcement of funding for business case development on rail upgrades. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Canberra region councils, including Queanbeyan-Palerang and the Yass Valley Council, have also indicated their support, Mr Barr said.

The current service runs three times a day and takes at least four hours. Mr Barr wants to shave about an hour off the trip to make it a viable alternative to flying or driving.
A father and son duo, who are allegedly part of a ring running an international binary option scheme that has misappropriated millions from Australians, and their lawyer have been accused of contempt of court.

Tony Senese, a convicted finance criminal, and his son Cameron Senese are alleged by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to have flouted Federal Court orders freezing his assets that were in place in 2016.

One of Belize's beautiful beaches. A website based in the country, TitanTrade, is accused of siphoning off millions of dollars from Australian investors. Credit:Shutterstock

The law firm representing the Seneses at the time, Kalus Kenny Intelex, has also been accused of contempt of court. The contempt of court action has been brought by ASIC.

KKI principal Jonathan Kenny said there had not been any contempt and the matter had been opposed. He added he was no longer representing the Senese family or the family businesses allegedly linked to the TitanTrade website.
A shortage of rail capacity in NSW prompted partly by rising coal exports has led three of the country's biggest power stations to run down stockpiles to "historic lows".

AGL Energy's twin Bayswater and Liddell power stations near Muswellbrook saw stockpiles dwindle to about three weeks' supplies during winter despite rationing since October, the company said.

Rio Tinto's involvement with the Minerals Council of Australia is under scrutiny. Credit:Nic Walker

Those stocks, which dipped below 1 million tonnes, have since been increased but "remain well below normal", the energy giant said. Together the two plants have about 4300 megawatts of capacity, and burn about 12 million tonnes of coal a year.

Origin Energy, which operates Australia's biggest coal plant  the 2880-MW Eraring station near Newcastle  also used up "substantial coal supplies" during winter, Greg Jarvis, executive general manager, said.
Rare is the gifted teenager who is not bored in high school. Yet few have signalled their boredom as extravagantly as Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical company founder who was sent to jail in the US on Wednesday to await sentencing for a fraud conviction.

Shkreli was a chronic class-skipper who, friends have said, preferred to spend his time on chess and playing guitar in a band. His highly selective Manhattan school asked him to stop attending.

Former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli. Credit:AP

Entrepreneurs, it turns out, do not just move fast and break things, as Facebook's longtime credo put it. They are also more likely than others to cross the line.

According to research by economists Ross Levine and Yona Rubinstein, people who become entrepreneurs are not only apt to have had high self-esteem while growing up (and to have been white, male and financially secure). They are also more likely than others to have been intelligent people who engaged in illicit activities in their teenage years and early 20s.
Bitcoin's meteoric summertime surge risks coming to a painful end as Chinese policy makers move to restrict trading amid growing warnings of a market bubble.

The biggest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 40 per cent since reaching a record high of $US4921 on September 1, cutting about $US20 billion in market value. The collapse extended to as much as 30 per cent this week since China began sending stronger signals of a clampdown on September 8, making this the biggest five-day decline since January 2015, when it traded at around $US200.

Bitcoin captivated the attention of financial markets this summer as the developer community embraced a new mechanism to improve usage and avoided what was labelled as a potential civil war, raising the profile of the digital ledger and fuelling the speculative price rise.

After the price of bitcoin reached a record high, China moved to rein in the exuberance, announcing on September 4 that it was outlawing initial coin offerings. While the motivations behind the move and the trading restrictions are unclear, such a ban could affect an estimated one-quarter of all bitcoin transactions.
Private contractors building the Sydney Metro Northwest have been accused of trying to slash the pay and conditions of skilled tradespeople using a controversial pay agreement like the one Carlton United Breweries used to slash worker salaries.

A union investigation has found three electricians employed on the $8.3 billion NSW government-funded project were offered a minimum base wage with UGL plus a $3360 monthly "bonus" from a second business. The workers said they were then asked to vote on a workplace agreement that would cover hundreds of electricians in three states.

The Electrical Trades Union said the company had tried to use the same legal loophole that led to the Carlton and United Breweries dispute last year, in which a handful of workers were forced to rubber-stamp a workplace agreement used to slash the wages of hundreds of other employees.

Electrical Trades Union secretary Dave McKinley said UGL through a wholly-owned subsidiary had used a similar tactic to try to pay lower wages to hundreds of electricians working on the construction of the Sydney Metro Northwest.
Wage fraud, wage freezes, cuts to penalty rates and companies scrapping enterprise agreements will reduce the retirement savings of millions of workers by $100 billion by the time they retire, a report has found.

The report, the Consequences of Wage Suppression for Australia's Superannuation System by the Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work, says the government will pick up more than one third of the cost, equivalent to $37 billion in lost taxes due to lower super contributions and higher age pension payouts.

It estimates that three million people, or one in four workers, have experienced some form of wage suppression, which will adversely impact their super payout.

The author of the report, Jim Stanford, describes wage suppression as an economic "time bomb". He says while individual families are grappling with the immediate impact of wage cuts, the long-term impact when they retire is yet to play out.
Five years ago I stood in the Mural Hall of Parliament House to speak at a bipartisan event hosted by MPs pushing for a national system of marine parks. Most of those present believed it was an idea whose time had finally come. Polling supported it. But with Julia Gillard's minority government just barely clinging to power, it was a tough time to be asking parliamentarians for an act of courage.

Yet that was basically my line. Because back when the nation was younger and poorer, it took great vision and mettle for our forebears to reserve country for the first national parks. It was that sort of gumption I sought to foster. I believed we still had it in us. Australians have always loved the ocean, but now, more importantly, we understand how vital the sea's health is to the future of our island home.

In the corridors of Parliament House that day, as I met MPs of every stripe, I felt a great sense of promise, even pride. And it seemed for a while such hope was not misplaced. In 2012, after an exhaustive scientific process and wide community consultation, Tony Burke declared a system of marine national parks, one of the biggest and best in the world, the most significant conservation gain in Australian history.

That took courage. Because it put science before politics, prudence ahead of expediency. And it was popular. But as soon as he came to power in 2013 Tony Abbott announced an immediate moratorium on these parks and instigated a review. The purpose was purely political. To delay implementation, corrode consensus and deny the science. A move straight out of the culture warrior's playbook.
Having read Peter FitzSimons' "gentle" response to Israel Folau's tweet concerning same-sex marriage in which he describes Folau and his fellow Christian believers as "nutters", harangues him on Australian marriage law, shows no appreciation of his difficult situation following his team's endorsement of the "yes" position, and suggests that being reluctant to employ the term "marriage" to same-sex relationships is the equivalent of the most appalling instances of racism, I feel thankful that he did not engage in a harsh response. Gary Ireland Elderslie To all those worried about churches being unable to refuse to marry people they don't agree with: it's nothing new. In the olden days churches refused to marry my parents because they were of differing Catholic and Protestant faiths. My parents simply looked around until they found someone else who would marry them. Judith Morgan Upper Coomera Should the boxes on the same-sex marriage survey paper be marked with a tick or a cross? The information accompanying the voting form neglects this vital piece of information. If vote counting is done by a computer programmed to recognise a cross or a tick, this must be clarified, otherwise many votes will be invalid.

Jill Phillips Ettalong Beach Last Friday the Herald reported how a church refused to marry a couple where the bride-to-be apparently said on Facebook that she supported the "yes" case. Could someone please enlighten me as to why the church even looked at her Facebook page in the first place? Merilyn McClung Forestville I vote that the phrase "religious freedom" be replaced with "religious and non-religious freedom". Robyn Bernstein Annandale

When will the time arrive in common speech and print when marriage, couple and partnership are not preceded by the term same-sex? Michael Wheeler Avoca Beach Just got back from posting the family's "yes" votes in town. As I got to the farm gate, the dogs as usual ran to greet the vehicle. Neither of them asked to marry me. I put the kettle on for a cuppa. Just reporting from the front lines. Will Douglas Burra Creek Archdiocese's church sale a loss on so many levels

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has entered into a contract to sell the 1868 church at 420 Kent Street, the home since 1954 of the Genesian Theatre. As a believing Catholic I nearly despair of the institutional church. Now more than ever it needs friends, especially in the wider community. For 63 years, with its blessings and its peppercorn rent, the church has been able to wear the Genesians as a badge of honour. Quite literally the Genesians have played within the shelter of a church. With their heterogenous productions, their workshops, their schools' drama festivals and their roll of greats of theatre and film whose fledgling careers were nursed there  John Bell, Bryan Brown, Peter Carroll, Nick Enright, Judi Farr, Baz Luhrmann  the archdiocese should feel chuffed at this low-key, local example of Christianity's patronage of the human artistic enterprise. No longer. The value of real estate in the CBD is just too seductive. Is that where the church's values lie? Does it really need that money? There seems no element of anything spiritual in this calculation. Archbishop Anthony Fisher attends the opera. Cardinal Gilroy, who housed the Genesians in their church, was certainly no opera-goer. Can Fisher not keep extending the hand of patronage on this so symbolic a site? Gerard Windsor Petersham

So the archdiocese has sold the heritage-listed and culturally important Genesian Theatre to some developers. I suppose they got more that 30 pieces of silver for it.



Gabrielle Merten Hurstville Immigration nation: we're standing in it So only 38 per cent of "Australians" think immigration has had a positive impact on the country ("A nation still on a journey" September 16-17). The other 62 per cent (I'm assuming Indigenous Australians are in the 38 per cent) who are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants, obviously either have pretty low self-esteem, and a poor opinion of their own families, or a low opinion of most of the rest of us. Or do they think that they fell from a gumtree?

Jim Pearce Rushcutters Bay

Who are the protagonists and lobbyists who are controlling immigration policy? Who benefits most? Who suffers most? Does this mean we are on some mad roller-coaster that must never be challenged? When, if ever, will the existing population have any effective say? Norman Carter Roseville Chase Murphy's lore: the great deeds of a flawed man Suzanne Russell (Letters, September 16-17) says Lionel Murphy was a very decent human being and should be left alone. Unfortunately his actions don't quite support this view. There is no doubt he was a great contributor to the legal system, the establishment of the Family Court probably being his greatest achievement, but there was obviously a dark side.

Frank Adshead Mona Vale It's suddenly come back to me  the 1976 Sydney University Law School Revue: Lionel Murphy here he comes / Just arrived from the Redfern slums / He's classy, he's arsy, knows how to score / Who said he was such a bore? / Lionel Murphy he's OK / Not a drop since past midday / See how far that he can sway / Lionel Murphy here he comes. Lucinda Aboud Sydney Award-winning journalist and crime writer Evan Whitton hits the nail on the head when he reveals how the original intent of the 1936 Tax Act was interpreted by some judicial decisions (Letters, September 16-17). What is appalling to me is how many prime ministers, treasurers and finance ministers there have been since these regretful 1957 and 1974 decisions. Not one of them has amended the law to ensure that all forms of artificial tax evasion are made illegal. Only the smaller parties have pushed for changes; it is time we all supported them.

Paula Gard Marrickville Rewarded enough It comes as no surprise to read that investment analysts support Alan Joyce's remuneration package of $24.6 million for overseeing a turnaround of Qantas' financial performance over the past three years ("Qantas CEO's pay skyrockets", September 16-17). The financial industry likes big profits.



Joyce has a base pay of $2.1 million. Surely we need to be asking whether he, or any CEO, should be given a bonus for doing what they are already well paid to do. And if so, how much. Why not $50 million? Many workers do their jobs competently and most probably consider they are paid appropriately. But I can't imagine any worker, be they a firefighter, nurse or bus driver, would expect to be paid a bonus more than 10 times their salary because their colleagues thought they deserved it. Executive remuneration is out of control.



Richard Tainsh Woollahra Health insurance fact

It's about time the real problem of health insurance costs are addressed ("Libs plan to rein in health insurance premiums", September 16-17). Premiums, especially those of the smaller not-for-profit insurers, reflect the cost of medical services, and the expectations of patients. People want the latest medical diagnoses and treatments, which come at a high price, a price that needs to be justified. But on the other side of the fence, consumers need to remember this is insurance, not an investment. Unlike with house or car insurance people will expect to, and will, claim medical expenses every year. Look at the cost of medical equipment, specialists to interpret and accurately treat you, time in hospital. If you think they're ripping you off, put your cash under the bed and see how you go when you get cancer or have a heart attack. Andrew Scott Pymble Aged need proper care A pilot scheme for 250 low-skilled workers from the Pacific Islands has been extended to 2000 people who can access a new three-year visa ("Fears visa will be open to abuse", September 16-17). These workers will do "low-skilled" work including cleaning, "aged-care" and "hospitality". Furthermore, the article states: "This is 2000 jobs that could go to young Australians who don't need any skill levels to fill these jobs." Imagine the outrage if the low-skilled work referred to childcare. Looking after our aged should require the same level of qualifications as looking after our young  they are just as vulnerable.



Ina Blasche Glebe Unwelcome visitor

The arrival of summer is usually heralded by the mention of "tinderbox" in the media or by the sighting of the first blowfly or the plaintive call of the koel. In Balmain, we know summer has arrived by the appearance of clouds of PM 2.5. To the non-cognoscenti this is the lung-destroying particulate matter that is pumped into the atmosphere by the cruise liner industry burning high sulphur content bunker fuel. Summer arrived on Sunday!



Cornelius van der Weyden Balmain East Love these lawyers And who said we can't trust lawyers? How about James Thornton, "the American rock-star eco-lawyer" and our very own star, Sue Higginson of the NSW Environmental Office ("How the law could save the planet", September 16-17). They are fighting for our planet, using the law for the right reasons. It is just a shame there are not more of them, given the emergency that is climate change.

Anne Wagstaff Oatley Uniform approach keeps schoolboys on their toes I believe that school uniforms are a good thing (Letters, September 16-17). When I attended Marist Brothers, Kogarah (last century), every couple of months Brother Bede would tell the assembly that "Marist boys were seen boarding the train before adults". Think that may have been a ploy to keep us on our toes.



Ron Field Bermagui In the early 1970s I was teaching at a school where the girls complained about freezing in tunics in winter while the boys were cosy in slacks. After long deliberation, the uniform committee offered a choice to everyone. On implementation, many girls turned up in slacks. Two boys turned up in tunics. They were suspended. John Pritchett Minnamurra

Fertiliser for "a" thought When I first arrived in Australia in 1973, I became aware that Australians failed to enunciate the "r" sound at the ends of words. The letter "a" seemed to be the replacement. I once saw a sign painted on an old farm shed that said " Free Manua". I wonder if the new Aussie Scrabble game will take this trait into consideration. William Bielefeldt Kembla Grange Pride comes before fall Alexander Gauland suggests Germans should be proud of what their soldiers achieved during World War I and II ("Candidate argues for war pride", September 16-17). As my old German sailing mate used to say, "Germany did very well in two world wars. They were first to finish and second on handicap."
Govt allocates Rs 6.5 million to build differently-abled friendly school

Minister of State for Education, Shesh Nath Adhikari, has informed that the government has allocated Rs 6.5 million to build a disabled- friendly school building. Under this scheme, students with disabilities will be provided with scholarship.
Mental health groups are in urgent talks about how to deal with a dramatic spike in demand they are attributing to the same-sex marriage postal survey, with fears the situation will worsen further as the campaign goes on.

Digital youth service ReachOut said it has seen a 20 per cent surge in people accessing its online advice relating to LGBTIQ issues since August, when the postal survey became Turnbull government policy.

ReachOut  a frontline group that has about 1.5 million unique visitors to its website every year  said its online forums have also recorded a sharp increase in activity, with young gay people reporting feeling scared and tired of personal attacks.

One of the country's top mental health experts  former Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry  is in no doubt the spike is linked to the divisive debate unleashed by the postal survey campaign.
All year one students would undergo national tests in reading and maths under a federal government proposal.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham wants to see students screened in a "light touch" test to better detect kids with learning difficulties.

The federal government first flagged checks for year one students in 2016, before commissioning an expert panel to provide advice on implementation.

The report, headed by Centre for Independent Studies senior research fellow Jennifer Buckingham, was presented to states and territories last Friday and publicly released on Monday. Education ministers will meet in December to further discuss the plan, which could be fully implemented as early as 2019.
Even among those of us who want to improve, the self-help movement has taken on a bit of a bad taste; tarnished by an overly-earnest, saccharine-sweet Ned Flanders affliction.

It is little wonder then that a counter-culture has emerged within the self-help genre. One of the leaders of the rebellion is 34-year-old Texan, Mark Manson, whose book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F--- has now sold more than 100,000 copies in Australia, making it the number one selling self-help and number two selling overall non-fiction title for 2017.

Mark Manson is ambivalent about his anti-self-help guru status. Credit:Maria Midoes

Manson, who is in Australia for a series of talks at the School of Life, says he was "really into conventional self-help stuff" in his late teens and early 20s.

"I read a ton of books and went to a couple of seminars. I definitely benefited from it but, by my late 20s, I also felt a little bit disillusioned by it, it stunk of bs to me," he says.
In Australia, three children die from cancer each week. But doctors and researchers say they have a "game-changing" plan to drive the death rate down to zero.

The Children's Cancer Institute and the Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children's Hospital announced on Monday the launch of a national clinical trial, in which scientists and doctors will work together to personalise treatments for children with the highest risk of treatment failure or relapse.

They're expecting to enrol more than 400 children with cancers such as brain tumours, sarcomas and neuroblastomas in the Zero Childhood Cancer program over the next three years.

"I truly believe the Zero Childhood Cancer program is a potential game-changer," said Professor Tracey O'Brien, director of the Kids Cancer Centre in Randwick.
Dick Bagnato still remembers the day his fishing boat nearly crashed into Sydney Heads. He believes he survived that day thanks to the Madonna, which watches over his shoulder every time he heads out to sea.

Mr Bagnato was one of many fishermen to take part in the annual Blessing of the Fleet at Sydney Fish Market on Sunday, a centuries-old tradition in which fishermen look to the Madonna for a safe and bountiful fishing season.

Fishermen carry a statue of the Madonna as part of the Blessing of the Fleet at The Sydney Fish Market. Credit:James Alcock

"Two years ago my deckhand fell asleep and we were heading towards the Heads. I was just laying down and I got up, the steering wheel got jammed, I couldn't take the autopilot off, so I broke it off. I don't know how I had the strength to break a chain that thick. I broke the chain, turned the wheel and we were that close I could have jumped on the Heads," Mr Bagnato said.

"A big swell, three or four-metre swell, I think it was, when the wave came up, she washed us close and then she comes back, the surge of the wave, and she pushed us away."
Two brothers of Kings Cross nightclub figure John Ibrahim have been mentioned in court for their alleged role in an international drug-smuggling conspiracy nearly six weeks after a series of police raids across Sydney and Dubai.

Michael and Fadi Ibrahim, who were arrested in Dubai in August, arrived in Sydney on Sunday night after being extradited.

Australian Federal Police and their state counterparts arrested 18 people early last month during raids in Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

Police are expected to allege Michael, 39, headed an international drugs and tobacco syndicate.
A rapist recently sentenced to one year jail non-parole for twice sexually assaulting a sex worker at knife-point in 1990 had allegedly attacked another woman in the same distinctive way, taping bandages across her eyes.

But this second woman died before the cold case was brought to trial, leaving prosecutors unable to pursue a conviction without her testimony.

Robert John Hall was convicted of raping one sex worker and suspected of raping another. He pleaded not guilty to the charges he faced, claiming the sex was consensual. Credit:Facebook

Robert John Hall assaulted a 23-year-old escort twice in a Kiama motel room on the NSW south coast on March 25, 1990. The then 32-year-old threatened to stab her with a long knife if she did not obey him, at one point warning her "I'll f---ing kill you if you do that again."

Hall was only caught because he drove away from a Queensland petrol station in 2007 without paying, which led police to swab his DNA and link him to the 1990 offences through National Criminal Investigation DNA Database records.
Even when he was a boy of 5, the internationally acclaimed birdman and artist William T Cooper  who British naturalist Sir David Attenborough described as the "world's greatest living wildlife illustrator"  loved animals.

Growing up in the industrial town of Newcastle in the 1930s and 1940s, Cooper's father had the foresight to realise that a "kid who loved butterflies was going to be tortured when he went to school", said Cooper's widow Wendy, a botanist.

Curator Elise Edmonds inspects some of the art by Bill Cooper. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

His father taught the young Bill (as he was known) to box, which gave him self-confidence. Later he would "rock up at the pub with a snake down the shirt", said Mrs Cooper. That shut up those who may have otherwise laughed at his teetotalism.

As a teenager of 16, Cooper showed signs of the career that would give him international recognition - when he drew birds in their natural environment, Cooper took care to add the name of the species, the location and the date. A sweet watercolour of a little grebe from that time is among thousands of Cooper's drawings that were given to the State Library of NSW this year by Mrs Cooper.
Brisbanes first Queenslander homes were created with cheap timber cut and prepared by a famous sawmill and timber yards on a site that now rests in the shadow of 1 William Street.

The sawmill stretched along the river to where the Queensland University of Technology is today and the home of its owner, William Pettigrew, was where the state government's "Tower of Power" stands.

Wiliam Pettigrew's sawmills at Queens Wharf in Brisbane. Credit:John Oxley Library Brisbane.

Some historians say the mill was where the Neville Bonner Building once stood.

Pettigrew, a Scotsman who arrived in Brisbane in 1849, was recruited by controversial religious figure John Dunmore Lang, who was also promoting the separation of the new Queensland colony.
Patients taking a commonly prescribed immunosuppressant are being urged to consult their doctor after two people using it died during a clinical study.

Methylprednisolone, first used in the 1950s, is a commonly prescribed drug for a wide range of conditions including arthritis, allergies and cancer. But it also has potentially dangerous side-effects.

Methylprednisolone was first used in the 1950s.

Experts say anyone using it should continue, as it is dangerous to stop using the drug suddenly.

But Professor Vlado Perkovic, one of the authors of the study, which was released last month, advised users to see their doctor to "ask if the benefits of this treatment outweigh the risk".
Kidnapped Thawang chief freed

Cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal have released kidnapped Thawang Rural Municipality Chief Bir Bahadur Ghartimagar after three days.
A 24-year-old man has been charged under Victoria's new laws aimed to prevent violence from masked offenders for refusing to remove a face covering at a rally in Melbourne on Sunday. A 27-year-old female protester has also been charged with assault after a scuffle with police and journalists.

The man will be charged on summons for wearing the black mask, which covered part of his face, Victoria Police said on Monday. Police moved on three other men under the new laws, enacted on Wednesday, which give authorities more powers to crack down on violent protests and rioters with facial coverings.

17.09.17 The Age Melbourne Booking 144512 Photo shows protesters at an anti Fascists rally in the city. The group is protesting against the far rights "Make Victoria Safe Again' rally. Photo: Scott McNaughton Credit:Scott McNaughton

However, despite the arrests, Victoria Police say they were "generally pleased with the behaviour" at Sunday's two separate rallies  which saw parts of the CBD shut down as for a right-wing demonstration calling for a crackdown on crime and a left-wing counter-protest against racism.
An Australind man has died in a car crash near Dardanup on Sunday morning.

Sergeant Andrew Maher said the crash happened on Boyanup-Picton Road near the intersection of Dillon Road around 6am, when a red Holden ute and a Lexus four-wheel-drive smashed into each other.

An Australind man died at the scene of the crash. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The driver of the ute, a man in his 50s, died at the scene. The driver of the Lexus, a man in in his 40s also from Australind, suffered head injuries and was flown to Royal Perth Hospital by the rescue helicopter.

He is in a serous but stable condition.
Showing a candid and honest insight into the life and love of same-sex couples drove Jacqueline van Grootel to create her photo series, a project the Fremantle artist thought of doing "for a very long time".

From This Day Forward is a photo exhibition featuring Perth couples and their personal stories, which opens for one night at the Old Faithful Bar in Perth on Sunday.

"It's an honest representation of love and live," Ms van Grootel told WAtoday from Wellington Square in Perth, where she attended a rally supporting marriage equality on Sunday morning.

"This is about every-day people, with every day normal lives," she said.

Her body of work includes couples of both genders and from all walks of life, including Fremantle music star Abbe May.
There is perhaps some strange irony that a homophobic article published in the Sunday Times in 1901 has led a historian to believe that he has found Western Australia's oldest gay bar.

It was the billiards room in the Newcastle Club Hotel, now known as the Newport Hotel in Fremantle.

The hotel as it appeared last century. Credit:City of Fremantle

History Now heritage consultant and former conservation officer with the State Heritage Office Eddie Marcus said court convictions and outraged news articles such as this were "unfortunately" the only way of documenting LGBTI+ community's far-back history in WA.

"If you pick through the court cases you can just about find enough to flesh out what it was like to be gay over 100 years ago," he said.
Sacramento: California lawmakers on Saturday passed a "sanctuary state" bill to protect immigrants without legal residency in the US, part of a broader push by Democrats to counter expanded deportation orders under the Trump administration.

The legislation by Democratic Senator Kevin de Leon, the most far-reaching of its kind in the country, would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations.

California lawmakers Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Ash Kalra celebrate the "sanctuary state" bill being approved. Credit:AP

After passionate debate in both houses of the California legislature, staunch opposition from Republican sheriffs and threats from Trump administration officials against sanctuary cities, Senate Bill 54 was approved Saturday by a 27-11 vote along party lines. But the bill sent to Democrat Governor Jerry Brown was drastically scaled back compared to the version first introduced, the result of tough negotiations between Mr Brown and Mr De Leon in the final weeks of the legislative session.

The decision came hours after a federal judge in Chicago blocked the Trump administration's move to withhold Justice Department grant funds to discourage so-called sanctuary city policies.
Addis Ababa: Clashes along the border of Ethiopia's Oromiya and Somali regions have displaced around 50,000 people, a senior regional official said on Sunday, in violence that has prompted the government to send the military in.

Spokesmen from the two regions told regional news outlets earlier this week that at least 50 people were killed. Each side blames the other.

Some blamed raids in the Somali region of Ethiopia, pictured here, for the violence. Credit:AP

Lema Megersa, president of Oromiya province, told local journalists on Sunday: "It is not just deaths that occurred. More than 50,000 people were displaced from their homes."

"Those responsible should also be held to account," he added. He did not give a death toll.
A Catholic priest held hostage for almost four months in the besieged southern city of Marawi has been rescued hours after a deadly battle between Philippine soldiers and Islamic State-allied militants.

Father Teresito "Chito" Soganub was found abandoned with another hostage near a mosque early Sunday, one of three militant strongholds that have fallen to government forces over the past several days.

Father Soganub had been held captive since militants attacked his Saint Mary's Parish during the siege of Marawi on May 23.

On May 30 he appeared in a propaganda video pleading for his life and asking the military to cease aerial bombardments.
Depressingly, her silence about the Rohingya makes her far more popular at home. There is little or no sympathy for them among ethnic Bamar, mostly Buddhists, who form the great majority of the country's population. The Rohingya, predominantly Muslims, are seen as outsiders, squatters, aliens, criminals; and when Suu Kyi rejects criticism of the Myanmar army's behaviour as "a huge iceberg of misinformation" from "terrorists", her people like her all the more for it. Anyone in the West who tweets or writes or broadcasts about the Rohingya is liable to be bombarded by Myanmarese or their sympathisers with pictures of atrocities committed by Rohingya militants in recent attacks.

Up to now, Aung San Suu Kyi has either stayed silent about the cruelty of the country's army, or made quiet excuses for it. That makes her complicit; but is she a prisoner of the military or their willing fellow-traveller? Those who admired her during her days of struggle have been hoping it's the former. As the weeks have gone by, though, that has seemed harder and harder to believe. Next Tuesday, when she might have been in New York for the UN General Assembly , she will make a televised speech in Yangon, clarifying her position. On that speech will depend her entire reputation.

On the posters at demonstrations worldwide, her fangs drip blood. The woman who dedicated her life to liberating the people of Myanmar has morphed into a monster, and the slight figure in pastel silks, admired around the world for her gentleness and bravery, seems to have vanished altogether.

This charming, gentle country is showing a disturbing degree of cruelty. A number of Buddhist organisations have worked hard to block any outside humanitarian aid to the Rohingya. A delightful man I knew, who stuck with Aung San Suu Kyi through everything, was quoted the other day as saying: "These people have nothing to do with us. They don't even look like us."

Bangladeshi activists burn the national flag of Myanmar during a protest rally against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Credit:AP

A Myanmarese officer told a colleague of mine that the dozens of villages destroyed by the army in Rakhine state had been burned by militant Rohingyas themselves. And when someone asked the officer about the accusations of rape, he answered, "Where is the proof? Look at those women who are making these claims" - pointing to a group of Rohingya women - "would anyone want to rape them?" It was the kind of thing that you used to hear Bosnian Serbs saying about Muslim refugees outside Sarajevo: the same brutal joshing, the same cynical racism.

The Bamar people, constitute two thirds of the population. The remaining third is made up of dozens of relatively small groups like the Rohingya and the Karen. Like the Karen, the Rohingya stayed loyal to the British during the Second World War, and fought the Japanese. They have migrated from Bengal, now Bangladesh, for centuries, yet they are still regarded as illegal immigrants; and in 1982 the then military dictatorship decided to bar them from becoming Myanmarese citizens. To this day the government of Myanmar [its alternative name], does not officially use the term "Rohingya", and usually refers to them as "Bengalis".

For seven years now, Aung San Suu Kyi, known as The Lady or Daw ("Aunt") Suu, has had to dirty her hands with all the compromises that power had brought her. Under Myanmar's distinctly nationalistic constitution, the husbands, wives or parents of foreigners cannot become president; so because Daw Suu, who studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, married an Englishman, Dr Michael Aris, and had two sons by him, she was only allowed to be the country's de facto leader with the title "State Counsellor". It was in this capacity that she decided not to grant citizenship to the Rohingya, but simply to give them residency cards instead. That, and the violent resistance of a small group of mostly young Rohingya, laid the entire group open to the current wave of repression.
The Ministry of Education Culture Youth & Sport hereby makes it known that the Public Schools' Management has not been able to get in touch with all staff members via regular communication routes. All teachers and staff are asked to get in touch with their school managers as soon as possible.

All are asked to report to their schools on Monday September 18th at 10:00 am to be informed about their schools' status and to inform management of their status, availability etc.

This message applies only for Public Schools.

DCOMM Public Announcement
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher has asked residents to be vigilant and report all instances of price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

The Minister had already received reports of price gouging before the hurricane impacted the area and now wants to send a clear message to businesses that this will not be tolerated. Heavy fines will be issued to any supermarket, lumber company ect caught charging exorbitant prices.

The public is also being asked to save their receipts and report suspected price gouging. This will assist the Economic Inspection Department is controlling and fining the respective business if necessary.

The Minister has asked all businesses not to take advantage of the situation and/or the people. The issuing of fines are regulated by law under the Prijzenverordering (prices regulation).

Press Release from Ministry of TEATT
Kulekhani 3 hydro project likely to get new deadline

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned power utility, is mulling a six-month deadline extension to one of the contractors of the Kulekhani 3 Hydropower Project to complete all the construction works.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Friday, September 15, the French authorities, represented by the Prefet Madame Anne Laubies and President Daniel Gibbs met with the Governor, drs. Eugene Holiday, and the Council of Ministers of Sint Maarten to discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The meeting continued with the Governor and a delegation of the Council of Ministers consisting of the Prime Minister, Mr. William Marlin, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Rafael Boasman, on Saturday afternoon, September 16.

The curfew between Sint Maarten and Saint Martin, which was the source of misunderstandings was synchronized. Authorities agreed that effective Sunday, September 17, 2017, non-emergency pass holders are prohibited from being on the streets between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. until further notice. Emergency pass holders are defined as follows:

- Persons holding valid disaster team passes from Sint Maarten;

- Persons holding valid passes with permission to circulate from Saint Martin.

Though checkpoints will be at all borders, this does not prohibit the free movement between each side of the island, but it will enhance the protection of the citizens on the island. Further evaluation of the adjusted curfew hours, will take place during a meeting to be continued on Wednesday, September 20.

Protocols on the communication procedures before and after a disaster between each side of the islands were also established, which includes a backup system in the event all means of telecommunication fall out.

Both parties were satisfied with the outcome of the meetings and will continue to meet on a regular basis to ensure the rebuilding and overall redevelopment of the island Sint Maarten / Saint Martin will be as quick as possible.

DCOMM Press Release

French and Dutch Authorities meet to discuss Blocked Borders.

The President of the Collectivite of Saint-Martin, Mr. Daniel Gibbs and the Prefete Anne Laubies, met yesterday, Friday, September 15th, with the Dutch side authorities at the Governors Eugene Holiday office in Philipsburg. Were present around the table, the Prime Minister William Marlin and his ministers. The objective of this meeting initiated by President Gibbs was to solve the issue of the closed borders between both sides of the island, which penalizes the French citizens residing on Dutch Side and verso versa. A second meeting is scheduled today to coordinate the actions and finalize the agreement.

French and Dutch authorities resolve issues that caused border closing.

The authorities of Saint Martin, represented by the President of the Collectivite, Daniel Gibbs, and the Prefete Anne Laubies, and the authorities of Sint Maarten, represented by Governor Eugene Holiday, Prime Minister William Marlin and the Minister of Justice, Raphael Boasman, met on Friday, 15 September and Saturday 16 September 2017, to optimize cross-border cooperation after Hurricane IRMA.

Thus, following a 60-minute discussion, which was particularly constructive, it was agreed to synchronize the curfew of the Dutch side with the ban on circulation of the French side, which constituted a source of misunderstanding. starting on Sunday, 17 September, from 7 pm to 6 am until Wednesday, 20 September, when a new meeting will take place to re-evaluate the needs.

Only persons with a "Priority vehicle - driving permission" authorization from the French side or a "Disaster Team pass" from the Dutch side may cross the border during the curfew. The rest will have to make sure they get home before 7 pm.

During the period of restriction (7 pm - 6 am), common border controls will be organized, which will in no case prevent movement throughout the territory. The will of both sides is to allow citizens on both sides of the island to move freely while ensuring their protection during the night; it is in no way disrupting the free movement of persons between the North and the South and vice versa.

It was also decided to set up a common protocol for both pre-cyclone and post-cyclone management, as well as joint means of communication, in order to optimize the organization between the two parts of the island.

President Gibbs welcomed the listening to the authorities in Sint-Maarten and the scope of the discussions. Cooperation meetings on post-Irma management will be organized regularly between the two parties.

Press Releases from the Collectivity of St. Martin
'This will be the one of the most appreciated outdoor art pieces in Macomb County," said Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 58F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low 49F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
No end to Rasuwas tent treatment

Authorities concerned are yet to reconstruct the quake-damaged Rasuwa District Hospital even more than two years after the disaster.
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Singha Durbar Restoration: NRA invites EoI for structural assessment, retrofitting

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has invited expressions of interest (EoI) from Nepali consulting firms for assessing structural condition and retrofitting the west lounge of Singha Durbar.
Al-Arjat Prison (Morocco), Sep 16, 2017 (SPS) - The Moroccan forces on Saturday carried out the abusive transfer of Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik from Al-Arjat prison to other Moroccan prisons, according to a Saharawi media source.

The families of the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group confirmed that Al-Arjat prison guards attacked the prisoners' cells and forcibly transferred them to other prisons.

The political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group are probably transferred to the Moroccan prisons of Knetra and Ait Melloul, where the Moroccan authorities have just completed some works in these prisons, added the source.

This abusive transfer is part of retaliation against the group, condemned to heavy sentences of imprisonment ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment, for their successive demands to be transferred to the prison occupied of El Aaiun. (SPS)

062/090/TRA
New York, Sep 17, 2017 (SPS) -A delegation of the Polisario Front, led by the Sahrawi coordinator with the MINURSO Mhamed Khdead held talks Thursday in New York with the United Nations Envoy for Western Sahara Horst Kohler.

The talks, attended by Representative of the Polisario Front at the UN Ahmed Boukhari, allowed an exchange of viewpoints and information on the UN process in Western Sahara.

This first official meeting also focused on the prospects of this process as part of the mission entrusted to Kohler by the UN Security Council and Secretary General to find a fair and sustainable solution guaranteeing the Sahrawi people's inalienable right to self-determination and independence.

The Polisario Front reiterated its willingness to cooperate with the UN Secretary General's envoy, with a view to resolving the Sahrawi issue.

The new UN envoy, which succeeds to Christopher Ross, is expected to present his first report on Western Sahara within six months.

In last April, the UN SG promised to reopen negotiations, which stopped in 2012, "with a new impetus."

The SC also urged the General Secretariat to facilitate direct negotiations between the two parties, which should lead to the self-determination of the Sahrawi people. (SPS)

062/090/APS




NEW YORK (AP)  Amazon, bursting out of its Seattle headquarters, is hunting for a second home. Must haves: A prime location, close to transit, with plenty of space to grow.

The company said Thursday it will spend more than $5 billion to build another headquarters in North America to house as many as 50,000 employees. It plans to also stay in its sprawling Seattle headquarters, with the new space "a full equal" to that, said founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

Amazon's announcement highlights how fast the e-commerce giant is expanding, and its need to find fresh talent to fuel that growth. With the lure of so many new jobs, city and state leaders were already lining up Thursday to say they planned to apply. Among them: Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto. They have a little more than a month to do so through a special website , and Amazon said it will make a decision next year.

Its requirements could rule out some places: Amazon wants to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people; be able to attract top technical talent; be within 45 minutes of an international airport; have direct access to mass transit; and be able to expand that headquarters to as much as 8 million square feet in the next decade. That's about the same size as its current home in Seattle, which has 33 buildings, 23 restaurants and houses 40,000 employees.

"They're so big in Seattle, they're running out of room," said Kevin Sharer, a corporate strategy professor at Harvard Business School.

Amazon said it will hire up to 50,000 new full-time employees at the second headquarters over the next 15 years, and they would make an average pay of more than $100,000 a year.

The company is hoping for something else from its second hometown: tax breaks, grants and other incentives. A section of the proposal that outlines those says "the initial cost and the ongoing cost of doing business are critical decision drivers."

Brad Badertscher, an accounting professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the public search appeared to be a way to start a bidding war among cities.

"This was like an open letter to city leaders saying, 'Who wants Amazon and all our jobs?'" Badertscher said. "This is Jeff Bezos doing what he does best: adding shareholder value and getting the most bang for the buck."

Amazon gets tax breaks when cities compete for its massive warehouses, where it packs and ships orders. The company received at least $241 million in subsidies from local and state government after opening facilities in 29 different U.S. cities in 2015 and 2016, according to an analysis by Good Jobs First, a group that tracks economic development deals.

In explaining why it was holding a public process, Amazon said on its site that it wanted "to find a city that is excited to work with us and where our customers, employees, and the community can all benefit."

Bezos has crowdsourced major decisions before - in June, just before Amazon announced its plan to buy organic grocer Whole Foods, the billionaire took to Twitter seeking ideas for a philanthropic strategy to give away some of his fortune. And tech companies have been known to set places in competition with each other: In vying to land Google's ultra-fast broadband network, many cities used stunts and gimmickry to get the company's attention. Topeka even informally renamed itself "Google, Kansas."

Amazon.com Inc. said its search is open to any metropolitan area in North America, but declined to say how open it was to going outside the United States. Jed Kolko, the chief economist at job site Indeed, noted that the company's request for proposals mentions "provinces" several times  a clear sign it would consider a Canadian metro area.

Kolko also said an East Coast locale could bring it closer to the company's offices in Europe.

Amazon's arrival might transform an area: Until 10 years ago, the neighborhood near Seattle's campus just north of downtown was dotted with auto parts stores and low-rent apartments. Now it's a booming pocket of high-rise office complexes, sleek apartment buildings and tony restaurants.

And the company keeps growing. Amazon has said it will hire 100,000 people by the middle of next year, adding to its current worldwide staff of more than 380,000. It announced plans to build three new warehouses that pack and ship packages in New York, Ohio and Oregon. And it recently paid close to $14 billion for Whole Foods and its more than 465 stores.

The Whole Foods headquarters in Austin is far smaller than what Amazon said it's looking for  the flagship hub is also a full-service grocery store with shoppers who compete for parking spaces. Even its larger corporate campus that stretches down the surrounding blocks may be too small for the space Amazon would want for a second headquarters.

In Seattle, its rise has not been without critics, who say the influx of mostly well-heeled tech workers has caused housing prices to skyrocket, clogged the streets with traffic and changed the city for the worse. The Seattle Times reported Thursday that the median price for a house in August in Seattle was $730,000, up almost 17 percent in a year.

That itself may be a factor. Amazon may be looking for a spot where it's not as expensive for its employees to live, said Rita McGrath, a professor at the Columbia Business School in New York.

"It's hard to attract people if they can't afford the housing available locally," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Chapman in Newark, New Jersey; Chris Grygiel in Seattle; Will Weissert in Austin, Texas; and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.
HARTFORD  Opportunistic Republicans rallied at the Capitol Sunday in an attempt to pressure Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to put away his veto pen when their budget package  the first from the party out of power to win legislative approval in two decades  reaches the Democrats desk.

The two-year $40.7 billion GOP plan emerged from the Senate and House with cross-over support from a group of moderate Democrats, a stunning setback for the party in control of the General Assembly and all six constitutional offices.

When we have Democrats supporting a Republican budget, I think we are going in the right direction, said John Slater, who is the state GOP vice chairman and is from Bridgeport. Its ultra important to get this message out to as many people as possible.

Republicans say that their budget avoids onerous tax increases that have hurt Connecticuts competitiveness and solves a protracted stalemate over how best to close a $3.6 billion deficit. If the state goes without a budget after Oct. 1, they say, cities and towns will suffer the consequences of draconian cuts to their state education funds under an executive order of Malloy.

Their package relies on a controversial $300 million cut to the University of Connecticut over the next two years, as well as the elimination of public subsides for candidates for state office such as governor under the clean-elections program. It also calls for state employees to contribute more to their pensions starting in 2027, when their current labor deal expires.

Malloy has vowed to veto the budget, which could reach his desk this week but hasnt been submitted to the governors office yet by Republicans. On the opposite side of the Capitol, Malloys parking space and those of both parties legislative leaders were empty Sunday.

More Information Budget breakdown GOP two-year $40.7 billion budget package highlights: General Fund increase of 3.5 percent in first year; 0.6 percent in second year Saves cities and towns $280 million in teacher pension costs currently borne by the state Eliminates public campaign financing Cuts $500 million from public higher education, including $300 million from UConn Saves $270 million in pension costs over the next two years See More Collapse

Rally on the fly

About 50 Republicans flocked to the north steps of the Capitol at noon as part of a hastily-arranged rally, emboldened by Friday night and Saturday mornings budget vote. The legislative victory compounds GOP gains in the Legislature, where Democrats hold a 79 to 72 advantage in the House and the tie-breaker of the lieutenant governor in the Senate.

Connecticut could be the only state without budget if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs a fiscal package approved by lawmakers in his state.

I think (Malloy) is likely to put the ball back in the court of the state Legislature, said Dave Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general and Republican gubernatorial candidate from Bridgeport. Look, I think the last thing we need right now is to increase taxes.

Walker acknowledged that Malloy is obviously in a strong position, because of the looming executive order, which keeps state government running but imposes austerity measures across the board.

Malloys spokeswoman Kelly Donnelly on Sunday referred back to the governors comments from Saturday, in which he called the GOP budget package unbalanced and unrealistic.

If the responsible solution I negotiated with Democrats isnt going to pass, then it is incumbent on the legislature to reach a new agreement soon  one that is realistic and, ideally, bipartisan, Malloy said then.

Democrats respond

Democrats spent the weekend doing damage control and sounding the alarm about the 1,000-page GOP plan.

This is a budget that completely destroys higher public education in this state, Brookfields Jennifer Schneider, a spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union 1199 New England, said on the WTNH Sunday political talk show, Capitol Report. It ends our clean-election program. It lets Hartford go bankrupt. So this was nothing courageous or moral about this. This is something thats actually going to be hurting a lot of people in the state and is a terrible budget.

State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-Fairfield, who was one of six House Democrats to break ranks, called for a bipartisan fix to the states fiscal woes.

We all await the Governors next steps and will go forward from there, she said. The challenges confronting us were a long time in the making. We need to figure out a solution working together as leaders. I support every effort that will bring us closer to the kind of compromise we need to successfully adopt a state budget.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said Malloy has given his assurances that he will immediately veto what is a short-sighted budget that undercuts collective bargaining and public education.

So much for allegedly responsible and realistic budgeting, Looney said.

Looney said theres a substantial danger that no budget gets passed by Oct. 1, defaulting to the governors cuts. He declined to say whether Democrats who joined Republicans will face punishment.

I think we have to look forward rather than backward and keep our focus on getting a budget, Looney said.

Both Republican gubernatorial hopefuls who spoke at Sundays rally could ironically become casualties of the proposed elimination of the decade-old Citizens Election Program, which was adopted after the resignation and imprisonment of Gov. John Rowland for corruptions.

Candidates for governor are eligible for $1.4 million in public funds for the primary and $6.5 million for the general election if win their partys nomination under the program. They must raise $250,000 in increments of $100 or less to qualify.

State Rep. Prasad Srinivasan, R-Glastonbury, has already raised the $250,000.

Its going to be a different ballgame for all of us, said Srinivasan, who voted for the budget. Is this a perfect budget? The answer is, no. Is it a good budget? Yes. We have lived in excess all of these years.

Walker said if publicly-funded elections, which could cost more than $40 million in 2018, ar eliminated, hell more than be able to make up for it. But to be fair to those gubernatorial candidates who are far along in qualifying, he said, the subsidy should be kept for the states highest office.

Thats actually a competitive advantage for me, Walker said.

Requests for comment were left Sunday for House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin.

Republicans sent a fundraising email blast Sunday morning to try to capitalize on their unexpected legislative victory.

Mark Greenberg, a Litchfield businessman running for state comptroller after multiple unsuccessful bids for Congress in the 5th District, said better days are ahead for Connecticut with GOP ideas.

Its always darkest before the dawn, he said.

http://twitter.com/gettinviggy; nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436
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The National Hurricane Center on Friday morning put Connecticut in the possible path of Tropical Storm Jose.

Jose's maximum sustained winds early Friday were near 70 mph and it's forecast to become a hurricane again later in the day.

Connecticut could see some effects from Jose on Tuesday or Wednesday when the storm is off the New Jersey coast.

Jose could produce direct impacts next week along portions of the East Coast of the United States from North Carolina northward to New England, but it is too soon to determine what those impacts might be or where they could occur. Interests along East Coast from North Carolina northward to New England should monitor the progress of Jose during the next several days, the NHC says.

Jose is centered about 360 miles northeast of the southeastern Bahamas and is moving west-northwest near 8 mph. Swells generated by Jose are already affecting Bermuda, the Bahamas, the northern coasts of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and the U.S. southeast coast.

Jose is showing signs of becoming better organized, the NHC said Friday morning. It has maximum sustained winds of 70 mph.

Its too early to say how strong the winds could be from Jose or how much rain could fall.

The National Weather Service says the south shore of Long Island has an increasing threat from Jose.

 Although there is still considerable uncertainty with the forecast track at this time, we are expecting beach hazards in advance of the storm as long period swells increase the risk of rip currents and allow surf to build. for high surf, dune erosion, localized wash overs and dangerous rip currents along the ocean beachfront this weekend through early next week.

A new tropical depression has formed far out over the Atlantic and is expected to become a tropical storm. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the depression's maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph and it's forecast to strengthen to a tropical storm later in the day or on Saturday.

For now, the weather is looking good for the weekend.

The forecast

Today: Isolated showers and thunderstorms after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.

Tonight: Patchy fog after 11 p.m. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. South wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable after midnight.

Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. Light and variable wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the morning.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph in the afternoon.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63.

Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 76.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64.

Tuesday: Tropical storm conditions possible. A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.
PAC to quiz PM over delay in action on NOC land deals

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is preparing to summon Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to discuss the delay on the part of the state mechanism(s) to act on various issues, including the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)s land purchase deals that have run into controversy.
Pitiful healthcare system

I had gone to meet a consultant psychiatrist at a reputed hospital for advice for a family member who suffers from anxiety and depression. What I encountered there made me question the state of our healthcare system.
Educational Service Unit 13 is partnering up with several groups to host a Parent and Community Night for Transition Services Monday, Sept. 18, from 3-8:15 p.m. The event will be in the ESU #13 section of the Harms Center.

Pam Brezenski, ESU #13 transition coordinator, spoke about the upcoming event and how it is possible.

So this event is one of the activities that is part of what they call the yearly transition regional grant, so they fund it fully, Brezenski said. We have a speaker coming in and we collaborated with the DD planning council (Nebraska Developmental Disabilities Planning Council) because they have the speaker the next day for a youth conference.

Brezenski said the grant used for this event is a specific grant for supporting the education of parents, communities and students and to enhance transition abilities in ESU #13.

ESU #16 will also benefit due to a special broadcast from the event.

This event is going to be broadcast through distance learning to ESU #16 parents and community members as well, Brezenski said. The keynote speaker has agreed to do distance learning so that ESU #16, thats part of our region, can take part in that, too.

Brezenski said she is always trying to include others in the region in activities. She said she hopes to share the gaining of knowledge from these types of events across the whole Panhandle.

Brezenski also talked about the keynote speakers background and experience.

We have a keynote speaker coming in and her name is Katherine McGloughlin, she said. And she speaks about talking to your youth and teaching youth about intimacy and boundary setting.

She said McGloughlin is well suited for this event because of her years of experience in studying, teaching, writing and speaking about these difficult topics.

She basically has been brought in because of the topic that people dont like to discuss and its a hard topic to discuss, Brezenski said. She actually provides a lot of information for professionals for academia, for everybody across the country because she is kind of the specialist on talking about intimacy and boundary settings.

Brezenski spoke about the difficulties of talking to youth about these topics as an educator and a parent.

We felt that if we had a professional who speaks across the nation and teaches about it and writes about it, come in and talk to them, that is a much better resource than if we tried to educate them on it, she said.

Along with McGloughlin, several other individuals and organizations will present at the event.

We have the Nebraska Disability Rights helping us present on guardianship and guardianship alternatives, Brezenski said. We have the Nebraska PTI presenting on applications for services and then self-advocacy for youth.

Several other organizations will have booths and will present helpful materials. United Healthcare, Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation and Nebraska Autism Network will all be present with readily available resources for parents and communities.

Brezenski said she will accept a few last-minute registrations until noon on Monday, Sept. 18. Anyone who wants to register for the event can call Pam Brezenski at 308-630-6506.
The list of the Muslim Brotherhoods hatreds is extensive. Darrags organization notoriously incites against Egypts Christian community , with Muslim Brothers frequently offering justifications for terrorist attacks on churches and other Christian targets. The Muslim Brotherhood also promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories , mourned arch-terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdelrahman , and developed sharia interpretations to justify terrorist attacks on a wide array of targets

These bigotries reflect the Brotherhoods long-term political agenda: It seeks to achieve power in countries across the Middle East, after which it will unify those countries under its control and declare a global Islamic state, or neo-caliphate. In reality, this is a very far-fetched vision. The Brotherhood was unable to control Egypt for more than a year, and has little shot of dominating the region.

But this isnt how Muslim Brothers see it  they are indoctrinated to believe that their organization will achieve regional control, which they equate with the victory of Islam. And the Brotherhood, therefore, regards anyone who isnt on board  Christians, Jews, the West, Muslims who oppose it  as enemies who must either submit or be defeated.

To be sure, Darrag strikes a different image from many Islamist figures. Far from being a long-bearded firebrand, he is a soft-spoken engineer who earned his Ph.D. at Purdue University, and he briefly served as Minister of International Cooperation under Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, who was elected Egypts president in June 2012. But Darrags tame demeanor belies his central role in one of the Brotherhoods most power-hungry  and ultimately costly  decisions during Morsis yearlong presidency.

Darrag served as secretary-general of Egypts Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly, which rammed its constitution through to ratification in December 2012. The exclusivist manner in which Darrag oversaw the drafting of the constitution, and the constitutions restrictive language pertaining to the interpretation of sharia, reinforced widespread fears that the Brotherhood would impose theocracy in Egypt and contributed to the mass mobilization against Morsi that preceded his toppling in July 2013.

After Morsis ouster, Darrag fled to Qatar, and later to Turkey, where he established the Egyptian Institute for Political and Strategic Studies (EIPSS). The institute presents itself as a scholarly think tank, but it often promotes violent interpretations of Islamic texts. In one EIPSS article, for example, a Salafist writer argues that jihad is obligatory to end the sedition of the existence of polytheism and disbelief in the land, and writes that non-Muslims can either convert to Islam or live under Islamic rule and pay a special tax known as "jizya."

In another EIPSS article, an Islamist youth compiles excerpts from writings of cleric Muhammad al-Ghazali, in which al-Ghazali argues for the sacred duty of the struggling Islamic nation to wage jihad to reform every regime whose foundation is not in accordance with the teachings of Islam, and warns against the supposed threat of secularists.

In a third piece, a Muslim Brother interprets jihad as a broadly inclusive but violent struggle against tyranny  implying a struggle against the current Egyptian government. (Revolts against murderers and thugs can only be militant, he writes.)

U.S. officials and members of Congress should keep this extremism in mind when Darrag requests meetings with them during his visit to Washington. While Darrag has a clear interest in lobbying against an Egyptian government that is brutally repressing the Brotherhood, American officials should have no interest in giving Darrag a propaganda victory by welcoming him into their offices. And that is precisely what Darrag will be seeking.

In recent years, Brotherhood delegations have publicized meetings with administration officials that were meant to be off-the-record and exaggerated their outreach to Congress, including the posting of photos and videos of their meetings with Hill staffers.

Indeed, the Brotherhood wants to appear accepted in Washingtons corridors of power, even as it otherwise promotes a hostile political vision. Washington should respond by demonstrating its awareness of Darrags violent advocacy and sending him back to Istanbul with a blank schedule.

Eric Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is the author of "Arab Fall: How the Muslim Brotherhood Won and Lost Egypt in 891 Days."
Political stimulants

Suzanne Moore, a brilliant columnist with admirable candour and humanity in her take in the Guardian of October 20, 2016, comments, Fear of foreigners is political Viagra for our limp leaders.
After recent problems, first with Great Lakes Aviation and then with PenAir, the Western Nebraska Regional Airport sought bids for a new carrier to service the area. Six bids were placed with the U.S. Department of Transportation. The bids were more than expected and officials around the region have said that is a good sign for Scottsbluff.

The Star-Herald will examine the companies submitting bids in stories this week. In this edition, the Star-Herald looks at SkyWest Airlines and Great Lakes Aviation.

Utah airline bids to fly Scottsbluff to Denver route

SCOTTSBLUFF  SkyWest Airlines, headquartered in St. George, Utah, has proposed to serve the Scottsbluff to Denver Essential Air Service route with 12 roundtrip flights per week for a two-year term.

The airline has codeshare partnerships with the worlds largest network carriers, including United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

In its $3.1 million bid proposal, SkyWest will be associated with United Airlines and will be marketed as United Express. The agreement allows travelers to take advantage of Uniteds frequent flyer program for seamless booking and baggage transfers to their entire network. SkyWest has a long history in many EAS communities in the United States.

For the Scottsbluff to Denver run, the airline will fly the 50-seat Canadair CRJ200 twin engine jet. Since 2007, theyve been named five times as the most reliable CJR200 operator in North America.

SkyWest has replaced its prop plane service in several markets and the transition has stimulated a strong jump in passenger traffic. They expect to see similar increases in the western Nebraska market.

The flight schedule features both morning and afternoon departure times from Western Nebraska Regional Airport. The flights are coordinated to facilitate seamless connections to Uniteds large and diverse flight schedule from the Denver market. That includes more than 5,400 daily flights to more than 370 airports.

SkyWest has a fleet of 415 aircraft and recently placed and order for 25 additional larger planes for use in its partnerships with Delta and Alaska Airlines. SkyWest currently operates more than 2,000 flights per day to 229 destinations throughout North America.

The proposal states that kind of conductivity makes it simple for passengers to plan their travel and is a key factor in the areas continued economic development.

Greg Atkin, managing director for market development for SkyWest, said there are more than 400 United and United Express daily departures from Denver International Airport.

Because of these attributes, as well as the local demand to visit Denver, we expect to see a significant increase in passenger traffic in the community, he said.

On June 19, 1972, SkyWest Airlines made its first flight from St. George to Salt Lake City, Utah, with a stop in Cedar City along the way. Its grown into an air service provider offering global access to millions of travelers each month.

Along the way, Professional Pilots magazine named SkyWest the Top Regional Airline for 2000 and Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine chose them as the Best Managed Regional Airline of the Year for both 2000 and 2001. Air Transport World magazine picked SkyWest as its Top Regional Airline of the Year for 2003.

Cheyenne-based airline bids to return to Scottsbluff

SCOTTSBLUFF  Great Lakes Aviation, one of six companies that have put in bids for the Western Nebraska Regional Airport, announced its bid to be $2,767,187.

Based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Great Lakes has provided Essential Air Service for over 32 years throughout Midwest and Western regions of the United States. Great Lakes formerly served the Scottsbluff area until November 2016 when it was replaced by PenAir due to pilot issues and unreliability.

The Great Lakes proposal would offer three round-trip flights on Beechcraft 1900D 28 aircraft, which typically seats 19 passengers. Great Lakes would also offer two round-trip flights on EMB-120 Brasilia 6 aircraft, which seats 30 passengers as an alternative. Both bids would be for the same annual subsidy.

If Great Lakes Aviation were chosen as the carrier in Scottsbluff, passengers would have the ability to fly on other major airlines. Great Lakes has a codeshare with United Airlines, which allows passengers easy transfer to United flights as well as baggage transfer to final destinations. Interline ticketing with American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines is also offered in the proposal.

Scottsbluff airport sees impact of holiday travel Passengers wait to board a Great Lakes Airline Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia airliner on Dec. 29. The passengers had a delay which might be typical

Great Lakes Aviation submitted the proposal to provide essential air transportation at Scottsbluff, Kearney and North Platte, as well as Dodge City and Liberal, Kansas, and Crescent City, California. According to their bid, Great Lakes said each market should be considered as a stand-alone proposal.

Doug Voss, CEO of Great Lakes, said fares began at $39, but the average would be at $50 each way between Scottsbluff and Denver.

The airline has several planes available to serve its needs. Voss said there are 28 1900s  14 are in storage and 14 are flying. Great Lakes has a maintenance base in Denver and Cheyenne.

The airline was founded by Voss and Ivan Simpson on April 5, 1977, and began flying in Oct. 12, 1981, on flights between Spencer and Des Moines, Iowa. From 1992 to 2002, the airline was a large United Express feeder carrier, with operations in more than 100 cities. By Dec. 17, 2016, that number had reduced to 11 cities, with all flights operating under its own brand. At one time, Great Lakes was the largest EAS provider in America. Today, only four of its 11 destinations is through the EAS program.

Government restrictions in 2013 on pilots and crew caused the airline to suffer along with many other commuter airlines. Services to many airports, including Scottsbluff, were lost as cancellations mounted.

Scottsbluff was among several airlines who sought new carriers in 2016 in an attempt to rectify the situation. Voss said the situation today is still all about the pilots.

PenAir clearly had the same issues, he said.

Everyone is in recruitment mode, Voss said.

We have the unique ability to hire retirees, he said. In Denver, there is a large number of pilots retiring from United and Frontier who will continue to live in Denver.

Great Lakes is operating as a smaller carrier than it was five years ago and has worked on several ways to alleviate the pilot shortage. The airline will compensate pilots if they make themselves available for 15 days per month. If they assure the airline they can fly for 10, they will be provided with seniority.

The fundamental issue for all small communities right now is pilot supply, he said.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and staffers in his consumer protection division were out in communities, working to prevent scams and identity theft this week.

And, they went directly to the most common, and vulnerable, victims  senior citizens. On Friday, the Attorney Generals Office hosted a mobile office at the Scottsbluff Senior Citizens Center. Similar mobile offices were held in Ogallala and North Platte earlier in the week.

When elected to office, Peterson said, he toured the state, visiting with law enforcement and students at schools. However, he said, he came to realize that mobile offices could offer a better way to educate people to prevent scams.

Once the money is taken, it likely cant be recovered because the scammers are in another jurisdiction, another state, another country, he explained to seniors eating lunch at the center.

Scammers intentionally target senior citizens and the elderly. He shared the story of one couple who had saved $450,000. Each week, the husband had been filling out lottery slips to various sources when he was suddenly contacted and told that he had won an Illinois lottery  he just needed to pay an Illinois tax stamp to collect his winnings. Just send in $6,000  and six months later, the couple had written 23 different checks, totaling more than $230,000, to collect the false winnings. The scammers were so persuasive that even as the couple sat in his office, they remained convinced that the scammers would show to present them their winnings.

It shows you how persuasive these people can be, he told the audience.

During the mobile office, staffers were offering seniors advice on protecting their Social Security numbers and medical information, signing up for Do Not Call and Do Not Mail lists and other strategies to protect themselves.

Peterson also touched on the data breach that is currently estimated to affect 720,000 Nebraskans and as many as 143 million people in the United States  the Equifax data breach that has come to light in recent weeks.

Unfortunately, Peterson said, consumers are unable to protect themselves against data breaches, like the Equifax breach announced last week. Consumers are applying for loans and other products that require the collection of our personal information. Companies themselves are responsible for protecting against the breaches.

However, what is most concerning for consumers is that key personal information that can be used in stealing an identity  Social Security numbers and date of birth  have been compromised.

Also on Friday, Peterson joined attorney generals calling for Equifax to stop selling credit monitoring services in the wake of the breach and to expand the sign up period for the free credit monitoring that the company was offering in the wake of the breach.

Peterson told seniors Friday that he expected all 50 attorney generals would be asking Equifax to provide further details about how the breach occurred. The FCC has become involved and he said he expects further investigation on the federal level. According to a letter to Equifax issued by Peterson and colleagues from 32 states and the District of Columbia, early indications are that Equifax had failed to apply a necessary patch to its software, allowing the breach to occur.

In the meantime, he urged seniors to protect themselves and to monitor their credit, such as through free credit reports each year.

As individuals, you have to be as diligent as possible, he told the seniors.

While in Scottsbluff, Peterson met with law enforcement from the area and also visited schools to speak about the choices young people make.
A white University of Kentucky student accused of physically assaulting a Black student worker while repeatedly using racial slurs says she will withdraw from the school. The decision announced Tuesday by a lawyer for 22-year-old Sophia Rosing came after hundreds of students rallied on campus the night before. News outlets report the students called for unity and for the university to quickly address the situation. Officials say Rosing has been charged with assault, public intoxication and disorderly conduct. She pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday afternoon. The altercation at Boyd Hall was captured on video and posted to multiple social media platforms.
President Klaus Iohannis is attending in 18-22 September in New York the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, an opportunity to have a series of bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary General, the General Assembly's President, alongside counterparts from other states, a release by the Presidential Administration sent to AGERPRES on Sunday informs.

The President's schedule will include, among other things, a national discourse delivered at the general debates' session of the UN GA, the participation in high-level reunions, organised by Romania together with other states, as well as by the UN Secretariat, the participation in the reception offered by the U. S. President, Donald Trump to the delegations' heads taking part at the highest level segment in the General Assembly.In his speech in the plenum of the General Assembly, president Klaus Iohannis will put an accent on the importance of an international order based on principles and rules, on the rule of law at international level, on the need to strengthen the UN and to adjust it to the current challenges, and will stress the necessity of an efficient response to the main challenges to peace and international security and from our region, the release sent to AGERPRES reads.At the event on Education for Peace, organised by Romania, attended by other high officials, president Iohannis will underline the role the inclusive, quality education has in preventing the conflicts, the radicalisation of the youth and violence, in promoting the young as peace essential actors, and also the importance of ensuring the access to education, respectively, as a human being's fundamental right, and of education as a progress factor in society, the kind that leads to the achievement of the UN objectives.President Klaus Iohannis will also participate in an event organised by the UN Secretariat dedicated to the launch of the HeForShe10x10x10 Impact Champions joint Report that is promoting the equal opportunities for women and men. On this occasion, the president will have an intervention alongside other 9 heads of states and governments, as a member of the first high-level group founded in 2015 that is pleading for the equal opportunities for women and men.In the context of the recent launch of the campaign for Romania to win a seat of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, in the 2020-2021 mandate, president Klaus Iohannis will sustain within the bilateral, multilateral reunions he will take part in, the importance to achieving this goal of the Romanian state and the main arguments that recommend our country in this competition.Romania's President will also meet with representatives of main Jewish organisations in the United States, as well as representatives of the Romanian community with the Philadelphia area, the source adds.
Prez appeals for making phase III local polls successful

President Bidya Devi Bhandari called on everyone to make the third phase of local level election being held in Province 2 on Monday successful.
Ross Douthat, a columnist for the New York Times, has called on Amazon to "offer its presence as an engine of revitalization" to a struggling city in its search for a second headquarters.

Amazon has set off a frenzy among cities nationwide with the announcement of its plan to select a place for 50,000 or so employees at a site outside its main headquarters in Seattle.

"A particularly compelling pick, according to my extremely nonscientific 'what's good for America' metric," Douthat wrote in a column published Saturday, "might be St. Louis  a once-great metropolis fallen on hard times, the major urban center for a large spread of Trump country, the geographic center of the country and the historic bridge between East and West."

It could benefit Amazon, Douthat wrote, to be "seen as a company that renews cities and doesn't just put brick and mortar out of business."
Saving history

Making the historical monuments of the Kathmandu Valley seismically safe
UNIVERSITY CITY  For the second consecutive night, peaceful daytime protests descended into late-night violence with broken windows and thrown rocks, water bottles and garbage can lids following Friday's acquittal of a white former police officer in the shooting death of a black suspect.

Shortly before 11 p.m. at Leland and Delmar, a small group of protesters threw chunks of concrete at police and broke windows at numerous Delmar Loop businesses. A chair was thrown through the window of a Starbucks. One protester was seen hitting a police SUV with a hammer. Police made more than a half-dozen arrests witnessed by reporters, including a protester who was carried away by officers by his arms and legs.

As the chaos escalated, scores of police officers in riot gear pushed forward against the demonstrators just after 11 p.m.  about two hours after daytime protest organizers had congratulated their followers on keeping their demonstrations peaceful.

By 11:30, about 200 police officers had pushed most of the protesters out of the area and the violence and vandalism appeared to be dissipating. The sidewalks along the vibrant area of restaurants and shops were strewn with glass from broken windows.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters marched through the Delmar Loop near nightfall Saturday, as Mayor Lyda Krewson appealed to residents for calm and normalcy going into the second night of protests.

"These are not the images we want to see of our city," Krewson told reporters at an early evening news conference, referring to violence in the Central West End the night before that included damage to her house. "We have some work to do here."

She implored residents to "go about their lives" amid canceled events and uncertainty about how long the unrest would continue. "I know our small-business owners would appreciate seeing you again," she said. "Of course, go to work, of course go out to eat. We shouldn't be so fearful here."

U2, Ed Sheeran cancel St. Louis concerts; other events also called off Other events postponed Saturday included Science Uncorked at the St. Louis Science Center and PeaceFest 2017 at Harris Stowe State University.

In fact, even as protests continued elsewhere, things were already beginning to look normal again Saturday night in the Central West End, after Friday's violence there. People crowded into restaurants, some sitting outside. Some restaurants had boards over their windows with "we're open" written on them.

Protests during the day Saturday were generally peaceful, though the injuries to 11 police officers and dozens of arrests from Friday night loomed as warnings of how quickly a crowd can become "a mob," as Acting Police Chief Lawrence O'Toole put it at the same news conference.

"We will not tolerate violence," warned O'Toole, whose officers ended up using pepper spray and tear gas on protesters late Friday.

By shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, more than a thousand protesters carrying "Black Lives Matter" signs and chanting things like "No Justice, No Profits" were blocking the major intersection at Skinker and Forest Park Parkway near Washington University.

Police later closed Delmar for the marchers, who were relatively peaceful going into the evening. Some yelled "F--- the police!" while others shook officers' hands.

Cori Bush, a social worker and activist who is running for Congress in Missouri's St. Louis-based 1st District, helped lead the marchers early Saturday evening. At the intersection of Skinker and Delmar boulevards, she called for a six-minute "die-in" for the six years since the fatal police shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.

Bush said city officials and media focused too much on the vandalism in the Central West End late Friday night.

"None of it could've happened at all, had there not been a dead body, had there not been a police officer who did something absolutely horrendous," she said on loud speaker to the crowd.

"The message is simple: stop killing us," she said. "Black folks say, stop killing us."

One brush with violence came on Forest Park Parkway, when a car pulled up to the marchers and stopped just short of them. Some protesters responded by surrounding and banging on the car, until protest organizers got them to let the driver leave.

At one point, Annie Smith, mother of shooting victim Anthony Lamar Smith, joined the marchers.

Protest organizers announced just before 9 p.m. that they were ending the demonstration for the night, and asked people to return home.

"They expected us to do things, but we needed to do things differently," one of the speakers told the crowd of more than 1,000 gathered near the former Cicero's restaurant in University City, referring to the generally peaceful day.

In previous protests, both this weekend and during the unrest in Ferguson in 2014, generally peaceful, organized marches during the day were often followed by violent impromptu demonstrations and property damage late at night.

Organizers Saturday night said they planned a "die in" on Sunday at 3 p.m. near St. Louis Police headquarters on Olive Street.

Officials earlier Saturday released a list of 33 people who were charged with crimes from Friday night's events. Charges included assault, destruction of property, resisting arrest and failure to disperse. One of those arrested had a home address in Iowa, another was listed as "homeless," and the rest were from St. Louis or the surrounding area.

Editorial: Making sense of senseless protest violence The understandable sense of outrage over Fridays not-guilty verdict in the Jason Stockley trial has culminated in a frenzy of nighttime violence that defies logic. Particularly confusing was the decision of protesters to attack Mayor Lyda Krewsons home and a public library.

Officials also released a list of injuries to the 11 unnamed officers. They included one officer with a broken jaw and another with a dislocated shoulder, both from thrown bricks, and various lesser injuries caused primarily by thrown objects.

Among property damage Friday night, police said in a statement, were broken windows and thrown red paint at Krewson's home near Lake and Waterman; shattered windows at various locations in the area including a Subway sandwich shop, a Walgreen's, the St. Louis Public Library's Schlafly Branch, and several local businesses; broken vehicle windows including those on two police vehicles; and 18 fires.

Among numerous canceled St. Louis events for the weekend were planned concerts by U2 and Ed Sheeran, because police couldn't guarantee security.

Former St. Louis Patrolman Jason Stockley, who is white, was found not guilty of first-degree murder Friday after an August bench trial in the 2011 shooting of drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith, who was black. Prosecutors alleged Stockley executed Smith following a car chase and then planted a gun in his car. Stockley maintained that Smith reached for the gun and that he shot Smith in self defense.

Kevin McDermott, Nassim Benchaabane, Jacob Barker, Lisa Brown and Joe Holleman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Department of Justice concluded a year ago that there was insufficient evidence to pursue a separate federal civil rights prosecution of St. Louis police Officer Jason Stockley, who was declared not guilty Friday by a St. Louis judge on state criminal charges in the 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith.

The DOJ withheld disclosing its conclusion while Stockley's murder trial was underway in St. Louis, a spokeswoman told the Post-Dispatch in an email.

The Justice Department's decision came four months after local prosecutors arrested and charged the officer, and a year before St. Louis District Court Judge Timothy Wilson declared Stockley not guilty in that state criminal case.

"The United States Attorney's Office declined prosecution of this matter in November 2012, and notified Mr. Smith's family of their decision at that time," Department of Justice spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam said in a statement issued to the newspaper. "The Civil Rights Division concluded its own internal review and analysis in September 2016, and agreed that the evidence did not support a prosecution under federal criminal civil rights statutes.

"Consistent with department practice, the department made no formal statement at that time to avoid having any impact on the state criminal case pending at the time."

Justice revealed that year-old decision after being asked for a comment on the Stockley verdict, which has prompted three days of protests.

Stockley, 36, was charged in May 2016 with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of Smith, 24.

Former Police Chief Dan Isom asked in 2011 for an FBI criminal investigation. Former U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan said his office and the FBI concluded its investigation without bringing charges in 2012, but Callahan said that he forwarded the case to Justice's Civil Rights Division.

The Justice Department, which was then run by Loretta Lynch, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, decided last September that it would not pursue civil rights charges against Stockley.

The city in 2013 paid $900,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Smith's daughter, but admitted no wrongdoing.

In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, Stockley said that he feels for and understands what Smith's family is going through. Now living in Houston, Stockley said that "I know everyone wants someone to blame, but I'm just not the guy."
ST. LOUIS  Police made more than 80 arrests downtown Sunday night after violence erupted following hours of peaceful protesting.

It marked the third night of violence following the Friday acquittal of former St. Louis Police officer Jason Stockley, charged with murdering a black drug suspect.

Around 1 a.m. Monday, Mayor Lyda Krewson and Interim Police Chief Lawrence O'Toole held a brief press conference.

"For the third day in a row, the days have been calm and the nights have been destructive," Krewson said. "This is unacceptable. Destruction cannot be tolerated."

O'Toole said "criminals" set out to break and destroy property and, as a result, landed in jail.

"I'm proud to tell you the city of St. Louis is safe and the police owned tonight," O'Toole said.

Shortly after the arrests, at Tucker Boulevard and Washington Avenue, police officers were heard by reporters chanting "Whose streets? Our streets," commandeering a common refrain used by protesters.

O'Toole said some officers were assaulted with chemicals and rocks, listing the injuries of the officers as minor and moderate.

"We're in control. This is our city and we're going to protect it," O'Toole said.

Police recovered at least five weapons during the arrests, the chief said.

The mayor and chief did not take questions from the media.

"I'm now leaving to assess the damaged area," O'Toole said.

Earlier, before nightfall, about 1,000 people gathered outside the St. Louis Police Department in the Downtown West neighborhood and marched into Midtown before circling back to police headquarters at 19th and Olive streets.

The protests started peacefully but by 8 p.m., a small group had marched downtown, breaking several windows in the Marriott hotel on Washington Avenue and at other nearby businesses, including at Olive and 10th streets. A sushi restaurant, a nail salon and an optician's shop were among those hit. Concrete planters were knocked over and trash cans tossed into the street.

Police made at least a half dozen arrests after that, but the majority came about 11:30 p.m., after police said people ignored several warnings over about an hour's time to leave.

Officers, many of them armed in riot gear, forced dozens of protesters into the intersection of Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard. "Move back!" the police yelled in unison, as they corralled the lingering protesters and media.

Among those caught in the sweep was Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk, who had been covering the protest and its aftermath all evening. Also taken into custody was Jon Ziegler, who goes by the Twitter name Rebelutionary Z and has been live streaming the protests.

A bicycle officer suffered a leg injury during the earlier police response. There were no details on how he was hurt, but he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital. Police said they were non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said several St. Louis County officers had some unknown chemical thrown on them, as police have reported during previous days of protest.

For a time, a line of police in riot gear stood across Tucker at Washington, facing small groups of protesters to the north. Things stayed calm there and police eventually reopened the roads, though there was later another face-off a block or two south at Tucker and Locust Street. Police pushed groups of protesters who wouldn't disperse to the corner of Washington and Tucker, where they made arrests.

There was a car crash about 10 p.m. at Olive and Seventh streets, though it was not immediately clear whether it was connected to the mayhem downtown. Police said a speeding car hit an innocent motorist; officers found guns, drugs and a mask inside the first car, they said.

The vandalism began about 90 minutes after a leader of the protesters said the group had met its objective of bringing a large, diverse group of people out to peacefully assemble.

"We met our goal. We are dispersing," said Pastor Doug Hollis about 6:30 p.m. "This was a great, peaceful protest. That's what we want."

But many protesters remained in the area as night fell. There was a tense period after a car  an unmarked police vehicle  backed quickly through part of the crowd. No one appeared to be hit or injured, but protesters were angry about it. Police said some bottles were thrown at officers after that incident.

Police said officers had stopped a car near police headquarters and arrested the driver for assault and the passenger for making a terrorist threat. A third person began throwing rocks at officers, police said. He was arrested and put in the unmarked police car, a Chevrolet Impala. They released a video that shows part of the encounter.

"The crowd started moving in a threatening manner toward the Impala and because of road closures, the car could not go forward," police said in a statement. "The officer driving the blue Impala backed down the street to safety."

'Die-in' outside police headquarters

Protesters of all ages and races formed lines in front of the barricaded police headquarters at 1915 Olive Street beginning about 3 p.m. Demonstrators banged drums, held up "Black Lives Matter" signs and chanted "stop killing us" and "no justice, no peace."

By 4:30 p.m., protesters staged a "die-in," lying on the street in front of the police station as if dead and then marched west on Olive Street into Midtown and through St. Louis University's campus as students watched from their dormitory balconies.

Hollis, one of the protest leaders, apologized to the stores vandalized in the Delmar Loop Saturday night and the Central West End on Friday, blaming the damage on "stragglers."

"We're not apologizing for protesting, but we are apologizing for the people that were not part of the peaceful protest," Hollis said.

Stockley, who is white, was found not guilty of first-degree murder Friday after an August bench trial in the 2011 shooting of drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith, who was black. Prosecutors alleged Stockley executed Smith following a car chase and then planted a gun in his car. Stockley maintained that Smith reached for the gun and that he shot Smith in self defense.

Anthony Lamar Smith's mother, Annie Smith, was also among the protesters Sunday.

State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr., who was a frequent protester in Ferguson in 2014 before he was elected to office last year, said the protest's message was simple: "Yall gon' stop killing us: Thats the only message.

Ashley Jost, Bryce Gray, Robert Patrick, Mike Faulk, Jesse Bogan, Erin Heffernan and Doug Moore of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Stage all set for local elections in Province 2

The stage has been set for local elections in Province 2, which will conclude the local level polls, the first in the country in two decades. Though there were concerns about possible clashes in the run-up to the polls, no violent incident was reported during campaigns, which officials and polls observers said is good news.
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The 3,592 residents of Pine Lawn shouldnt have hurt feelings over a national think tanks recent speculation about whether their community should continue to exist. The Manhattan Institute and a local group, Better Together, are questioning the continued existence of many small, inner-ring suburbs that have neither the tax base nor population needed for their economic survival.

The nation learned of the plight of many St. Louis-area municipalities  and the people who live and travel through them  after the police-shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. In examining the case, the U.S. Justice Department found that too many tax-stressed communities relied on municipal courts and cops to generate operating revenue.

The Missouri Legislature tried to fix the problem with a bill that capped the revenue municipal courts can collect from traffic fees and fines. Several north St. Louis County municipalities challenged the law, saying it imposed restrictions on them that werent applied to other communities. They won and the cap was lifted.

One of the challengers, Vinita Park, merged this year with Vinita Terrace . Eliminating any of St. Louis 89 surrounding municipalities helps eliminate absurdly redundant services and overlapping management expenses. Residents would be wise to support unification to stop the drain on the regions economic power and social vitality.

Pine Lawn Mayor Terry Epps objected to the Manhattan Institutes conclusions about his community, which has a high poverty rate of 37.6 percent. That just doesnt make any sense at all, Epps told the Post-Dispatchs Kevin McDermott. Were proud of our city. Were working hard to get the city where it should be.

Community allegiance too often clouds the vision of what the St. Louis region could achieve. On Tuesday, Sunset Hills and Olivette urged opposition to a statewide vote that could force a merger of city, county and municipality functions. Wildwood and Ellisville have also opposed merging, and many municipal leaders and residents have weighed in with objections.

The Manhattan Institutes study was aimed at encouraging declining suburban communities to unite with their central cities to take advantage of the many resources that only central cities can provide. In addition to St. Louis, the report also examined Kansas City, Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, New York and Pittsburgh.

The study says central cities are often viewed as too big or too important to fail. But St. Louis has seen its population migrate to the suburbs, its homicide rate rise and its significance diminished as the increasingly conservative state leadership grows hostile to its urban areas.

Consolidation has worked well in places like Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn. Communities that no longer pay for redundant services can capitalize on economies of scale. Community identity isnt under threat. The greater efficiency and lower taxes are what residents should really be striving for.
FOLLOWING assessment this afternoon (Sunday), the Home Secretary has announced that the UK threat level from international terrorism has been reduced from critical to severe.

Speaking this afternoon, Warwickshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable Richard Moore said: "Following notification of the reduction of the UK threat level, I'd like to thank every member of our communities for their ongoing support and vigilance. We continue to remind people to remain alert."

All weekend, Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police have provided visible patrols across the area, including in Stratford-upon-Avon town centre, whilst the UK threat level was critical.

Earlier today (Sunday), ACC Moore said: "We continue today to work with all of our local and national partners to ensure the safety of our communities and public spaces.

"There remains no specific threat to our policing area and our response continues to be focused on reassuring people through visible police patrols.

"People will see more officers out and about in our communities but we are keen for people not to be alarmed by this but to be reassured and if they do have any concerns to speak to us."

ACC Moore had said: "We will continue to deploy an increased number of Armed Response Vehicles to give us additional capacity to respond to any incident. There continues to be no intention for the military to deploy at this time in our area.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for their ongoing support."

Anyone who sees any suspicious activity should report it to police by calling the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321 or in an emergency call 999.

Suspicious activity is anything that seems out of place, unusual or just doesn't seem to fit in with day-to-day life.

It may be nothing, but if you see or hear anything that could be terrorist-related trust your instincts and call.
Sub-Committee passes Bill relating to facilities of former office-bearers

The meeting of the Sub-Committee under the parliamentary State Affairs Committee endorsed its report on the Bill relating to facilities of former office-bearers -2074 on Sunday.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif never knew how to govern, and still does not know.

Mian Shahab (Nawaz Sharif) neither knew how to govern before, nor does he still know now, said the former president while speaking to mediapersons in Peshawar.

He said that PPP had always done politics of the people, and there is a lot of work still to be done in Khyber Pakhthunkhwa.

He said the KP has abundant resources including oil and gas, and cheap electricity can be provided from here, but the bureaucrats are in deep slumber to reconsider it.

However, he expressed hope that a country is not a public limited company, and seeks ups and down including wars, droughts, and other disasters, but manages to rise up on its feet.

We will make the country stand on its own feet, he said adding that many works couldnt be done during their tenure.

Even the brass turns to gold when we touch it, he said. And then it stays gold as it is with the PPP.

He said that he was the president when the Awami National Party (ANP) had formed their government in KP, but he never interferred with the provincial government.
Kuwait downgraded its diplomatic ties with North Korea, and asked the Korean ambassador to leave the country, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported Sunday.

Kuwait asked the Korean Ambassador Sochang Sik to leave the country and kept only four diplomats and the charge daffaires.

Kuwait's decision coincides with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) No. 2123, which was issued in response to North Korea's procedure of its fifth nuclear test; Kuna reported from sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

North Korean Ambassador Sochang Sik said that he will leave the country this month with other diplomats that Kuwaiti authorities asked to leave.

It revealed that Kuwait is the third country after Mexico and Peru to send back an ambassador of Pyongyang based on a UN resolution, according to the Voice of America (VOC).

Despite new UN sanctions, Pyongyang fired a new missile last Friday.
US Prez Trump extends best wishes on Nepals Constitution Day, hails local polls

US President Donald J. Trump has congratulated Nepali people and expressed best wishes on the occasion of Nepals Constitution Day that is marked on September 19.
Its not often you get to dress up in full Victorian garb, but Papamoa author Angela Curtis has had several occasions to do it recently.

Her green and gold Victorian dress was originally purchased from eBay to wear to a family reunion, but has since been worn to the opening parade of the Thames 150th anniversary commemorations and at the recent launch of her non-fiction book The Shotover.

Angelas great-great-grandfather William Cobley was one of four men involved in the first gold strike on the Coromandel in 1867. The Shotover tells their story.

I had no idea how famous our family was until I saw a photo of him and his wife on a wall at the Thames School of Mines. I knew he had found gold but I didnt know it was the first strike which led to Thames being formed, so that was pretty exciting.

When the Thames School of Mines curator suggested she write a book about William Cobley, she liked the idea but didnt know where to start.

I really had no idea how to write but I took up the challenge and its turned into a huge hobby for me. Ive studied a lot on how to write, edit and publish because I wanted to be an indie author where you self-publish.

Im really passionate about it because I guess its family, but Ive learned so much from it. After a few generations our history disappears and I didnt want that to happen. I wanted to leave a legacy so my family knew where Id come from, but after I learned of their part in New Zealands history I thought this needs to go bigger.

The Shotover was hastily written in four weeks. A lot of research had gone into it prior to that but I didnt get a lot of sleep during that time.

Angela did a small print run of pre-ordered books and is now tweaking the book a little before publishing on Amazon.

The Shotover is Angelas second book, with her first, a novel called Ashmore due to be published shortly.

Ashmore is also based on a true family story, sourced from a ship doctors diary she discovered at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

My great granddad was born on the ship Ashmore coming out from England in 1882. I snapped a pic of each page of the diary on my iPad and spent the next three years trying to figure out what it all meant.

The book is aimed at young adults and she hopes to get it into New Zealand high schools.

Its fairly basic  its not a Stephen King with lots of complicated twists. I wanted people to experience the journey themselves  what it was like to be battened down in a hurricane, especially if you were claustrophobic.

Angela is on the committee for the Thames 150th anniversary commemorations, which will include 150 events over the next 12 months, so the dress is certain to get another outing.

The reason I bought that one was because it had a lot of gold on it, which was very appropriate.

Its a lot of fun to wear. I think every little girl growing up dreams of wearing a big dress at some stage. And as a result of having it Im going to be involved in a production at the end of the year so it will get some more use.
Voter education ineffective in Bara district

A majority of residents in 16 local units of Bara district have complained that volunteers did not reach out to them to share information on the voting procedure in the third phase of local elections.
drugs.jpg

John Linen Jr.

(Provided photo)

NEW HARTFORD, NY - A 30-year-old New Hartford man faces numerous felony charges after a routine traffic stop led to a search by a New York state police dog, police said.

John Linen Jr. of New Hartford was pulled over and found to be driving on a revoked New York state driver's license Friday, according to New Hartford police. While he was stopped, officers smelled a strong odor of burnt marijuana, and called for the New York State Police K9 unit, according to police.

C.T., the state police dog, alerted police to the driver side door and rear driver side quarter panel, so the car was seized and towed to the police station. A search revealed a hidden compartment filled with a large quantity of narcotics, police said.

Police said more than seven ounces of cocaine, along with heroin, marijuana, cell phones, cash and a digital scale were found.

Linen was charged two felonies - second and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance _ and misdemeanor seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He also was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation.

He was remanded to the Oneida County jail on no bail.
Old fish are rare in today's heavily fished oceans







Washington (UPI) Sep 14, 2017





Catching an old fish has become an increasingly rare and difficult task in today's oceans. New research suggests fishing pressure around the globe has depleted stocks of older fish. The findings - detailed this week in the journal Current Biology - are worrisome, as the longer fish live, the more chances they have to reproduce and replenish a species' stock. "From our perspective, having a broad age structure provides more chances at getting that right combination of when and where to ... read more
ST. FRANCISVILLE  State Police are investigating the shooting death Friday of an Angola inmate who charged at a corrections officer and didn't stop after several verbal commands and a warning shot, the state Department of Corrections said.

The inmate, Brandon Lizotte, 35, was serving a life sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for second-degree murder, after stabbing a man 26 times in 2006.

At close to 6:30 a.m. on Friday, corrections officers were escorting inmates from one of the housing units, called Camp C, to their work area, when Lizotte began running toward an officer, said Ken Pastorick, communications director for the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

The officer gave Lizotte several direct verbal commands to stop and then fired a warning shot, but the inmate continued to "aggressively charge toward the officer," Pastorick said in a news release.

The officer fired his service weapon at Lizotte, who was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 8 a.m., Pastorick said.

In November 2006, a state court jury found Lizotte, then 23, guilty of second-degree murder for the 2005 stabbing death of a man.

Lizotte also wounded the man's girlfriend in the incident. The stabbing victims had advised Lizotte's girlfriend to end her relationship with him, according to The Advocate.

In July 2005, Lizotte broke into the couple's Hammond apartment, stabbed the woman, Sabah Ahmed, in her face and the back of her head, before stabbing her boyfriend, Jignesh Patel, 26 times. Patel died of his wounds two days later at a hospital.

Lizotte told the jury he was too drunk to know what he was doing. The jury at the 21st Judicial District Courthouse in Amite returned three hours after he testified to give a verdict of guilty of second-degree murder.

Lizotte had been housed at the Angola state penitentiary since December 2006.

The fatal shooting of Lizotte Friday has been classified as an attempted escape and the State Police along with the West Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office and the Louisiana State Penitentiary Investigative Unit are conducting the investigations in the incident, the Department of Corrections said in a news release.

The officer involved in the shooting was not named.
Lillian Reyad, a teacher at Catholic High School of Pointe Coupee, was named a 2017 Voya Unsung Hero which comes with a $2,000 grant prize. The Voya Unsung Heroes program annually awarded K-12 teachers who create innovative teaching methods that positively influence their students. Here, Reyad is shown in her classroom in New Roads.
The ongoing probe into the possible alcohol-related hazing death of an 18-year-old LSU freshman could focus on crimes ranging from the illegal sale of alcohol to homicide, depending on how the facts shake out, members of Baton Rouge's legal community said Friday.

However, East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said it's too soon to know whether charges could be filed against LSU students or others who might have contributed to Maxwell Gruver's death.

Whether or not felony charges are filed would likely depend on whether there is evidence of hazing, attorneys said. But they also noted misdemeanor charges could follow if hazing is ruled out, and civil litigation is sure to flow against LSU, Phi Delta Theta, and officers and members of the now-suspended local chapter of the fraternity.

Their comments came as East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark reported that Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, had a highly elevated blood-alcohol level and signs of THC, the chemical present in marijuana, in his system at the time of his death. The official cause of death may not be known for several weeks, Clark said.

Moore said he's hopeful more people will come forward to tell authorities what happened.

"Right now I think it's premature to guess whether there would be charges at this point because we're too early in the process," Moore said. Authorities have interviewed many members of the fraternity, he said, but some have declined to give statements.

The last hazing prosecution by the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's office involved the Southern University marching band and a 2008 off-campus incident in which members were struck by boards as part of an unsanctioned initiation into the band's unofficial French horn fraternity, Mellow Phi Fellow.

In that case, seven band members pleaded no contest in 2009 to criminal conspiracy to commit second-degree battery and misdemeanor hazing and were put on probation and ordered to perform community service. A lawsuit filed against Southern and a former student band leader, Jeremy Dixon, was settled in 2015.

Two of the defense lawyers involved in the Southern criminal case said Friday the potential charges, and penalties, could be much stiffer in the LSU incident.

Kris Perret, who represented Dixon in the Southern hazing case, said he believes negligent homicide or manslaughter charges could be filed in the LSU case.

"I don't think it would get to second-degree murder," he said.

Perret said a key question is whether Gruver's intoxication was voluntary or forced.

"It's definitely going to depend on the facts," he said. "How did we get to the point of no return?"

Perret and several other lawyers The Advocate spoke with Friday said they foresee Moore's office taking the case to a grand jury at some point.

Negligent homicide, which carries up to five years in prison, is defined in Louisiana as the killing of a human being by criminal negligence.

Criminal negligence exists when, although neither specific nor general criminal intent is present, "there is such disregard of the interest of others that the offender's conduct amounts to a gross deviation below the standard of care expected to be maintained by a reasonably careful man under like circumstances," according to state law.

Manslaughter is typically defined as a killing done in sudden passion or heat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of his self-control and cool reflection. But it also is defined as a homicide committed, without any intent to cause death or great bodily harm, when the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of certain felonies "or of any intentional misdemeanor directly affecting the person."

Manslaughter carries up to 40 years in prison.

Second-degree murder is the killing of a human being when the offender has a specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm. It carries a sentence of life in prison.

Aiden Reynolds, who also represented a criminal defendant in the Southern hazing case, predicted that Phi Delta Theta "is done at LSU based on what I know."

Reynolds said negligent homicide would be the most likely charge to be filed in the case, but if the investigation reveals physical force was used against Gruver to make him drink alcohol, then manslaughter and even second-degree murder could be brought into the equation.

Tony Clayton, an 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office prosecutor, agrees that negligent homicide could be the likely charge filed in the case, but he said second-degree murder would come into play if it is determined that the pledge was held down and force-fed alcohol.

On the civil side, Clayton added, "I think LSU has problems with this."

Lawyer Fred Crifasi, who said the choices made by various individuals must be examined, believes it's not a slam-dunk that the matter will be presented to a grand jury.

"No question it needs to be investigated," he stressed. "It's a terrible tragedy."

Whether the death was due to an individual's choice or the intent of others, Crifasi said, "Either scenario is not good. It's terribly sad."

The last student death at LSU involving alcohol and a fraternity was in 1997 when Benjamin Wynne died of alcohol poisoning. The banned Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity pleaded no contest in that case in 1998 to 86 misdemeanor counts of illegal purchase of alcohol on behalf of underage people and agreed to pay more than $23,000 that was split among the LSU Campus Coalition to Reduce High Risk Drinking, and the Baton Rouge and LSU police departments.

Depending on the circumstances in the Gruver case, Crifasi said, misdemeanor counts of illegal purchase of alcohol on behalf of underage people could result if hazing is not found.

Lawyer Tommy Damico, who represented several fraternity leaders who were not indicted in the Wynne case, called negligent homicide the most "rational charge" that could come from Gruver's death. If it is found that he was forced to ingest alcohol, he said, then the charge "could reach a higher level."

"It would depend on the level of hazing if they were forcing him to drink against his will," Damico said.

Damico said there was no hazing found in the Wynne case.
The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana's Robert Travis Scott began wading into the groups analysis of this elections constitutional amendments thinking all three were the most boring ever placed on a Louisiana ballot.

But he admits being wrong.

PAR soon discovered that, for instance, the first amendment voters are being asked to sort out is a thorny tax issue that could recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes lost to exemptions but could lead to years of court battles.

It sounded like it was going to be real simple. But once we started talking to people, we learned it was more complex, said Scott, head of the 67-year-old Baton Rouge-based government policy group.

It turns out that Amendment No. 1 on the ballot addresses a long-held practice that appears to be at odds with equally old laws and regulations.

Although the results of major races in the low-key Oct. 14 election  state treasurer, New Orleans mayor, public service commissioner  likely wont be decided until the Nov. 18 runoff, voters will know by the end of election night which of the three amendments will be added to a state constitution that has been amended 186 times since 1974. (The U.S. Constitution, by way of comparison, has been amended only 17 times since 1791.)

Amendment No. 1: Clarify how to tax projects while construction is in progress

Amendment No. 1 would exempt property taxes until construction is completed and used for its intended purpose.

Though not in the Louisiana Constitution, exemption during construction has been the practice for years, with a few exceptions during the 1930s. But state law and regulations require assessors to levy tax appraisals uniformly and fairly, which, in the case of drawn-out construction, means to some taxing authorities that they need to start collecting while the work is in progress.

State Sen. Mike Walsworth, the West Monroe Republican who sponsored the amendment, gave variations on the same quote when selling the legislation that became the ballot measure.

Even though it has been our practice for 60 years, theres nothing in the constitution that says you cant assess (taxes during construction), and thats become a big issue, especially with the big industrial projects, Walsworth said during legislative hearings.

Usually, assessments are made at the beginning of the year, and because most construction takes less than a year to complete, that practice worked out well.

Many of the new mega-plants along the Mississippi River and in southwest Louisiana are taking much longer to build, which put some parish officials in a legal quandary.

In 2016, Cameron Parish authorities began an audit seeking to assess property taxes on construction materials used in a portion of Cheniere Energys $20 billion liquified natural gas export facility at Sabine Pass.

Brian Eddington, a Baton Rouge lawyer representing the Louisiana Assessors Association, told lawmakers that part of the facility had been completed and was liquefying natural gas for export, while the rest of the plant was still under construction and would be for years.

Other states handle taxing construction work in different ways, with some waiting until completion and others assessing the full value of the project from the get-go. A few states  including Louisiana, if this amendment passes  tax thoseparts of the plant as they become useful.

Walsworth argued that forcing companies to pay taxes before the new plant produces revenue is unfair, given the longtime practice, and would become another obstacle to attracting investment. Also, although the issue right now is focused on the mega-projects, future decisions by the Tax Commission and the courts could lead to taxation during construction for other activities, such as homebuilding.

Opponents contend that businesses already receive a lot of largesse in the form of tax exemptions. Dragging out construction deprives local governments of the funds needed to improve roads, law enforcement and schools that handle the increased populations and loads generated by the new facilities.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Economic Development agency support the measure, as do special-interest groups for the housing and energy industry. Both the Louisiana Municipal Association and the Louisiana Police Jury Association, which represent local governments, also back the plan.

The Louisiana Assessors' Association has not taken a position.

One thing thats very clear is that this is not a small issue, writes Council for A Better Louisiana in support of the amendment. Baton Rouge-based CABL is a policy advocacy group whose board includes business, law firm and government executives.

Amendment No. 2: Property tax exemption for surviving spouses of more first responders killed while on duty

Amendment No. 2 would exempt the surviving spouses of first responders who died while on duty from property taxes on the home of the deceased. It closes a hole in the law that was approved overwhelmingly by the Legislature and by voters last fall.

The amendment adds emergency medical responders, technicians, paramedics and volunteer firefighters.

The whole idea is to help them get back on their feet after their spouse died in the line of duty, Rep. Ray Garofalo Jr., R-Chalmette, told his colleagues during debate. Its a very noble idea.

Legislators agreed and nobody voted against putting the measure on the Oct. 14 ballot.

The effect on the homestead property tax base may be relatively small, but the bill can only result in a reduction of that tax base, the Legislative Fiscal Office wrote.

What happens when property taxes are forgiven for some is that local governments redistribute the burden on the remaining taxpayers.

CABL raised that issue in deciding not to take a position on this amendment. While first responders deserve special consideration, this exemption, like all tax breaks, leads to higher rates for those who do not qualify. It should be noted that as we continue to add more exemptions to our tax laws, the costs to other taxpayers do begin to add up, CABL wrote.

Amendment No. 3: Establish a Construction Subfund of the Transportation Trust Fund.

Voters are being asked to decide a measure that links any future hike in the state gas tax to a fund dedicated to nothing but construction of road and bridge projects.

Amendment No. 3 was part of efforts to increase the states tax on gas at the pump. Supporters, including the business community, said more money was needed to maintain roads and chop away at a $12 billion backlog of projects that have been deferred over the years because of a lack of money.

But the tax hike proposal ran into a buzz saw of opposition because, in recent years, close to $100 million was being diverted annually from construction projects to instead fund the Louisiana State Police and the administration of the state Department of Transportation and Development. Under current rules, road and bridge money is kept in the Transportation Trust Fund, which is used for road and bridge building, and which also can finance salaries and benefits.

Hopes were those criticisms could be answered by creating a new sub-fund repository for any new gas taxes that would be used only for construction and maintenance of road and bridge projects.

Louisiana Spotlight: Waste perception influences transportation debate The number reappears in Louisiana's transportation debate over and over: 11 percent.

That change, aimed at boosting voter confidence, passed. The higher gas tax failed.

But the sponsor of the ballot measure, state Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads, said he decided to push ahead with the plan despite the failure of the drive for a gas tax boost.

Thibaut said crippling state road and bridge problems mean some kind of revenue-raising measure is inevitable.

Everybody knows we have an infrastructure problem, he said. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that if we are going to keep up, then we are going to have to fund it.

Critics counter that the change is largely symbolic.

It creates a fund with no funds, the Public Affairs Research Council said in its review of the amendment.

DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson said he likes the concept spelled out in the amendment. I would like it more if we had money to put into it, he said.

Will Sentell of The Advocate Capitol news bureau contributed to this report.
For years, Ron Henson was the one left behind at the Treasury Department when John N. Kennedy went politicking.

Henson became state treasurer  at least until the outcome of this falls elections  in January after Kennedy was elected on his third try to the U.S. Senate.

Forty-three years a technocrat  the last 17 of which was tending to the nuts and bolts as Kennedys number two  Henson is undeniably the most qualified to run Louisianas Treasury Department.

But his vision of public service doesnt include running for office. Hensons bathroom-mirror musings were fogged with the heavy dose of reality honed over nearly three decades of getting things done at the side of a departments political face, he said last week. I realized Im not a politician.

Hes more comfortable talking cash flow tactics and investment strategies, while the main candidates vying in the Oct. 14 election have talked about everything but how they would run the Treasury Department. A Nov. 18 runoff is scheduled, if needed  and it probably will be  if no one candidate gets more than half the votes.

I do know from being an observer of political races since 1974 that youve got to get the voters attention somehow. A lot of things we do in the Treasurers department are not attention-getters, Henson said.

The treasurer collects the money that comes in from taxes and fees set by lawmakers; then writes checks to pay the bills when told to by agency heads. If a few days lapse between when the money arrives and when the bills need to be paid, the treasurer invests it, often overnight, to pick up a few million here and there. Though not much in the scheme of things, those extra bucks mean taxpayers have to come out of pocket a little less.

+2 State Treasurer candidates tout pro-gun, pro-life views While they are running for state Treasurer, Republicans Neil Riser and Angele Davis stressed

"In order for each of the candidates to separate themselves from the other or at least compare themselves favorably to the other, they have to talk about a large variety of subjects, Henson said. And some of them really dont have too much linkage to Treasury.

Thats why candidate Angele Daviss television commercial talks about supporting President Donald Trump against what the Baton Rouge resident calls the onslaught by the media and liberals. A former commissioner of administration under Gov. Bobby Jindal, Davis is banking on Trumps popularity in Republican-dominated Louisiana.

Northeast Louisiana Republican Sen. Neil Risers commercial zeroed in on Lake Charles drainage issues. Drainage is a pressing problem to the voters of an area in play for candidates whose bases of support are not in that region, but its an issue for local officials and legislators.

Covingtons Republican former state Rep. John Schroder has released a Facebook video telling of the difficulties he and his wife had building a business that develops residences on the booming north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

And while Democrat Derrick Edwards, a New Orleans lawyer, isnt campaigning in the traditional sense, hes telling all who listen about overcoming daunting disabilities to earn advanced academic degrees.

Democrats don't endorse Democratic candidate for state treasurer New Orleans lawyer Derrick Edwards may be leading the polls in the treasurers race, but the

Republican Terry Hughes, of Lafayette, and Libertarian Joseph D. Little, of Ponchatoula, are also in the race but have raised little money and done little campaigning.

When talking on point, the major candidates say they want to be Kennedy 2.0  providing running commentary on how legislators and the administration handle taxpayer dollars even though the treasurer has no input in how those policies are enacted.

It is true that the three main GOP candidates opposed the hocus-pocus economics practiced by Jindal that Republicans and Democrats now deride for building a state fiscal structure that cant raise enough money to pay its bills. But Davis, Riser and Schroder were intimately involved in the drafting of those budgets and its only now that they give their reservations full throat.

Past administration looms over current state treasurers race As candidates for state treasurer campaign, the main topic of conversation is one not in the

Theyre not unlike the staffers who contended in congressional hearings years later that they thought White Star Line owner Bruce Ismay should have toned down all that unsinkable Titanic rhetoric.

In that, Kennedy, as treasurer, was alone. He loudly harped on the structural problems being engineered into the states finances. It is a role Henson would like to see the next treasurer continue.

Because the treasurer has eyes on all the little levers of how fiscal philosophies actually operate in the real world, Henson said whoever is holding that post would be an invaluable resource for the states budget architects.

+5 Political Horizons: How state treasurers finesse rules for power in Louisiana When the century was new and U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy was still state treasurer, he used on

I would like see the treasurer involved more  if not statutorily, then voluntarily  in the fiscal decisions that are made in this state, Henson said.
When it comes to being high on the bad lists, and low on the good lists, we have an all-purpose reply in Louisiana: Thank God for Mississippi!

As is obvious, Louisiana continues to struggle in public education. Were still not very high on the good list.

But peoples perceptions might change a bit if they look at some new rankings that have come out recently.

How about a state that ranks above Mississippi and Alabama, yes, but also Nevada and North Carolina? And that is not by subjective measures, but by a respected and nationally administered test?

A new report from the ACT organization in Iowa said Louisiana is 43rd among the states for its college-readiness score. But that data includes states where only the best students take the test, which is voluntary in most of the country. Obviously, those are a self-selected category of college-bound students. In many states, too, students might opt for the SAT, another college readiness exam.

All that said, here is the good news: Among the 17 states where all students take the ACT, Louisiana ranked 10th and ahead of a number of states. Those include Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi and Nevada.

Not as bad as might be expected, and the result of a slow but steady progression in ACT scores by Louisiana students.

State officials announced that public high school students had a composite score of 19.6, up from 19.5 last year. The ACT rankings list Louisiana's composite as 19.5 because it includes both public and private school students, and relies on the last score.

State officials use only public student results and the best score, which is why the scores differ slightly.

Small score gains add up.

Manifestly, the report is not a cause for a parade. The U.S. average is 21 among the states, including the District of Columbia. In Minnesota, all students take the test and their average is 21.5.

So there is a great deal of work to do.

But as Superintendent John White said, Louisiana is among the top three in the South among the states where the ACT is a universal requirement.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education passed the 100 percent policy in 2012. While it is a specific college-readiness measurement, the mandate was intended to encourage more students to look beyond high school, toward post-secondary education in a community college, or in technical job training.

Scores may fluctuate, but the day-in and day-out work of students and their teachers is showing progress in Louisiana public education.
To hear Gov. John Bel Edwards and House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, tell it, negotiations over the looming loss of more than $1 billion in expiring taxes are going to be different from the dysfunction that has marked previous attempts to right the state budget.

Because lawmakers can't raise revenue during next year's regular legislative session, the Democratic governor will need to call a special session to replace the income that will disappear once a temporary sales tax increase adopted in 2016 expires July 1. But he says he won't do that unless the shape of a deal with the Republicans who dominate the House is in place. (The Senate is also majority Republican but has been much friendlier to the governor).

And in an interview with The Associated Press, Barras suggested an agreement is in the works on his end. While he didn't get into specifics, he said his side hopes to reach a consensus by January. Based on his conversations, Barras explained, members seem to be taking the budget challenges more seriously than in the past.

"I think people are a little more willing to generally understand because the deadline's a little closer. They're a little bit more engaged, and I'm encouraged by that," he said.

That all sounds great, but there are reasons for skepticism.

One is that, until now, the Republicans who dominate the House delegation have been much more focused on forcing Edwards to make deep cuts in government programs than on finding money to avert them.

A second is some hard and fast evidence that, Barras' conciliatory tone notwithstanding, certain major players are still spoiling for a fight.

That evidence came via a blistering new online video by state Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, that paints the governor as a scaremongering tax-and-spender and throws cold water on the thought of tough tax votes.

"The governor has now started fear season," Henry argues in the three-minute video. "He's going to start out sending a little bit of information of things that are going to be cut if he doesn't get all the money he wants."

Henry goes on to claim that the governor is threatening to cut vital programs while not looking at big contracts such as a deal for Bayou Health, which actually pays for health care for poor people under a privatization arrangement launched by Republican Bobby Jindal.

He bashes the idea of extending the sales tax increase, even though that approach is likely to be less onerous than some alternatives to Republicans. In fact, while he makes it clear that he thinks the governor wants to raise too much money, he leaves unclear whether he's willing to support any tax measures at all.

He even gratuitously quips that the governor dislikes TOPS, the popular college tuition scholarships. Edwards actually professes to be a big fan of the program but has been willing to short it in order to avoid drastic cuts elsewhere.

Louisiana House speaker hopes to have tax plan by January With the ever-nearing expiration of more than $1 billion in temporary taxes, the leader of t

Henry's not just any House member, of course. He's a leader of the chamber's more ideologically hard-line Republicans, and he chairs the Appropriations Committee, which has blocked idea after idea by Edwards to raise revenue. His powerful post was something of a consolation prize after he couldn't amass enough votes to be elected speaker himself. Barras was the compromise choice who was more acceptable to moderate Republicans, so Henry wound up backing him instead, but he retains plenty of political stroke.

In fact, throughout the nearly two years since that speaker vote, there's been considerable discussion over whether Barras is fully in charge, or whether Henry and his more conservative colleagues are really pulling the GOP's strings.

Some Republicans I speak to hate it when the press raises that question and insist that Barras is as strong a speaker as any of his predecessors.

If they want people to believe they're on the same page, though, at some point they're going to need to do a better job of acting like it.

Correction: Tuesday's column misstated the Louisiana congressional delegation's votes on Harvey aid. U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins missed the initial vote but supported the bill's final passage. U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond voted "yes" in the first round but missed the second vote.
For some, the theme inspires messages around bullying; for others, it's the urgency around climate change. For the the students of Burgmann Anglican School, it evokes a message around identity, and how to stay true to yourself in a world that "just wants you to conform". Year 12 students Alex Blazevski and Georgie Leayr have helped choreograph Burgmann's performance, describing the process as an "awesome creative relief" from the stresses of everyday school life. "I've been doing Dance Fest since Year 7 and the good thing is when you break it down to its bare foundations, the whole festival is driven from fun," Blazevski, 17, says. "Essentially you just go in and you're enjoying what you're doing, you're having fun and dancing and you're with your friends which is a huge thing because you're more confident and you perform even better.

"When I started Dance Fest, I didn't dance - I didn't even know how to dance - and it's really good because I went on to do breakdance and hip-hop classes, so it encourages kids to dance outside of school. "And Dance Fest gives you a realistic taste of what it's going to be like, especially wth the performances and the rehearsals and the commitment you need, in an actual dancing scenario." Fellow Burgmann student Leayr, 18, says she wants the school's performance to help students understand "they're not alone". "We want other students to know there's a lot of people struggling to find their own sense of self, that they're not the only people that it's happening to," she says. "And also that it's not going to be easy to find your individuality - it's going to be a struggle, but it is possible to do it, you just need to make sure you can fight through the adversity."

Creative director Winbank says the beauty of Dance Fest lies in the fact it unites students from Years 7 to 12 around a specific creative challenge. "The best thing about Dance Fest is that it's the most inclusive festival of dance - I'm going to claim it - in Australia," Winbank says. "It's an opportunity for people to step out of their comfort zone, to be brave, to be bold. "The creativity, analysis and discussion within the process of creating the work is just as important as the performance itself  for me it empowers young people to engage more deeply with the world, to think about things differently and to further think about how the arts, and dance in particular, can be a vital medium or self expression. "The best thing about my role is seeing and visiting every school in the rehearsal process, then watching them grow into incredible performances across the three nights."

Ausdance ACT's Youth Dance Festival started in Canberra as a project for the International Year of Youth in 1985. The original festival featured 20 high schools and colleges, including Campbell High School, who still performs in the festival today. In 1986, the festival had its first creative theme to inspire the students' choreography. The first theme was Peace, to align with the International Year of Peace, and themes since have included Live it, Love it, Move it (1997) and Be Loud. Be Heard (2016). Some of Canberra's most prolific dance and acting talent once appeared on stage in Dance Fest, including Pia Miranda (from Looking for Alibrandi fame), Sibylla Budd (The Secret Life of Us), Paul Zivkovich (ex-Australian Dance Theatre, now working for Punchdrunk Theatre NYC) and Annabel Bronner-Reid (currently performing with The Australian Ballet). Past creative directors have included Trish Brown, Jackie Hallahan, Cadi McCarthy and Adelina Larsson. "Dance Fest is definitely an institution in Canberra," Winbank says.
Geelong defender Tom Stewart and Adelaide forward Mitch McGovern were both set for tests this week to determine their availability for Friday night's preliminary final at Adelaide Oval.

The Cats said on Sunday that scans showed Stewart hadn't suffered a major injury after he was sidelined with hamstring tightness during the final quarter of Friday night's semi-final win over Sydney at the MCG. However the mature-age recruit faces a fitness test later in the week ahead of the clash with the Crows.

Geelong look likely to make at least one change to the team that beat the Swans though, with veteran defender Tom Lonergan poised to return from a bout of food poisoning. He was replaced in the side by Rhys Stanley, who played forward after swingman Harry Taylor was sent back to defence to handle Lance Franklin in Lonergan's absence.

Exciting youngster Nakia Cockatoo is also firming to return to the side despite playing just one game since round 13, having been plagued by persistent hamstring issues this year. The fit Cats who didn't play on Friday night trained on Saturday, with Cockatoo understood to have pulled up well following the session.
Ryanair scrapped 82 flights on Sunday, the start of a six-week program of cancellations it's making as it seeks to reduce a backlog of crew vacation required by Irish regulators before the end of the year.

"We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we're working hard to fix that," Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's chief marketing officer, said in a statement Saturday.

Ryanair will offer refunds or alternative flights to affected customers. Credit:Bloomberg

In the statement, the Dublin-based carrier said it expected to cancel 40 to 50 flights daily, "with a slightly higher number this weekend."

Ryanair will offer refunds or alternative flights to affected customers over the period, it said in a statement on Friday, adding that the cancellations, which amount to about 2 percent of its network, won't have an impact on earnings in September and October.Between 308,000 and 385,000 passengers could be impacted over the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on the airline's passenger statistics.
Of the many stuff-ups during the now-finished era of economic reform, one of the worst is the unending backdoor privatisation of Australia's universities, which began under the Hawke-Keating government and continues in the Senate as we speak.

This is not so much "neoliberalism" as a folly of the smaller-government brigade, since the ultimate goal for the past 30 years has been no more profound than to push university funding off the federal budget.

The first of the budget-relieving measures was the least objectionable: introducing the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, requiring students  who gain significant private benefits from their degrees  to bear just some of the cost of those degrees, under a deferred loan-repayment scheme carefully designed to ensure it did nothing to deter students from poor families.

Likewise, allowing unis to admit suitably qualified overseas students provided they paid full freight was unobjectionable in principle.
Cars should run on petrol for a little while longer, argued Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, in cautioning against the growing trend of officials in China and numerous other countries making plans to phase out sales of petrol and diesel-powered cars.

Speaking in Shanghai, Barra said her company was making a big push to develop electric cars but that consumers, not government dictates, should decide how cars are powered.

A worker assembles an engine at the General Motors plant in Wuhan, central China. Credit:AP

"I think it works best when, instead of mandating, customers are choosing the technology that meets their needs," she said.

China this month joined other countries, including Britain and France, to say they will eventually ban sales of petrol and diesel-powered cars. Unlike those two countries, which said that they hope to halt sales in 2040, China has not set a date.
``This debate is about changing marriage, not extending it. And if you change marriage, you change society; because marriage is the basis of family; and family is the foundation of community." (Humanity is the foundation of community.)

"So far, it's the supporters of change, not the opponents, who've been responsible for bullying and hate speech." (An insulting perversion of reality. The children of same-sex couples have been denigrated as a "stolen generation" at heightened risk of sexual abuse. These families are being told they are dangerous, abnormal and inferior to those of heterosexual couples, the only category worthy of marriage. Further, you are in effect saying a victim who stands up to a bully is actually the guilty party.)

``No one is saying that one type of loving relationship is better than another, just that they can be different. By all means, let's find a way to solemnise what is intended to be a sacrificial love between two people of the same sex; but it remains a different love even though it's not a lesser one." (Once again the "but" doesn't make sense.)

``When big businesses from Uber, to Subway, to the makers of Magnum ice cream are virtue signalling on same-sex marriage, it's time to say that political correctness has got completely out of hand and to vote `no' to stop it in its tracks." (This is not about freedom of religion or speech, nor about political correctness. It is about human liberty; the only thing that will happen when we join most of the rest of the industrialised world, is people in love will get married.)
Law enforcement officers gather outside the scene of the shooting in Plano, Texas. Credit:AP But the country, for its staggering flaws, maintains an irresistible pull for many young Australians. More of us than ever before are flocking here  "non-immigrant" visas granted to Australians have risen from about 27,000 in 1997 to more than 47,000 last year, aided by the more accessible working visa scheme secured by John Howard. For many people of my generation, a stint in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles is increasingly as appealing as a stint in London was for our parents. The US maintains an irresistible pull for many young Australians Credit:SHUTTERSTOCK In this, my last column, indulge me in an attempt to explain some of this allure, and to take a rare, positive look at what the Americans do best  even better than us.

Most Australians are drawn to the US by education, or job opportunities that abound in industries that feel limited in Australia  technology, the arts, media  and which are powered by the country's cliched, but nonetheless palpable spirit of optimism, innovation and dynamism. There is not a whiff of tall poppy syndrome here and far less reflexive cynicism. Revelers march during the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in New York. Credit:AP The culture is louder, more expressive, more infused with dazzling pageantry. Extroversion is a way of life, from my Brooklyn neighbours who spend all of October crafting elaborate Halloween costumes (adults and children alike) to the gospel music pouring out of church doors on a Sunday morning. This exuberance spills into politics too. The explosion of protest movements in the Trump era is a reminder of how strong civil society can be in this country  it has had to be. Few can trust the government to look after them, so they have become good at looking after each other. The explosion of protest movements is a remainder of how strong civil society can be in the US.

Back in January, I spent two days on the National Mall in Washington. On day one I heard the new President sworn in, and deliver a demagogic speech about "American carnage". I stood in the same spot the next day, surrounded by a (much larger) sea of protesters at the Women's March. Defiant, loud, joyful, diverse. They sang Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land as they walked their way past grand monuments and all the way to the White House. This was America too. President-elect Donald Trump arrives on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington for his inauguration in January. Credit:AP Though many basic social reforms elude them, there are rights secured by the US constitution to envy, and more recent progress to admire. Big changes have happened even in the small time I have lived here, at a time when Australian politics feels maddeningly inert. I recall the day in 2015 when the US Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage. I celebrated on the street outside New York's iconic gay bar Stonewall with my sister and her soon-to-be wife, and had this overpowering feeling of being in a moment of progress, an exhilarating rush forwards. It has been a long time since I'd had that feeling at home.

The day the Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage felt like a moment of progress. The power of local and state governments in the US means change is uneven. But consider the proliferation of sanctuary cities  offering protection to undocumented immigrants  or that a reckoning with the failures of the war on drugs has led to many states decriminalising and even legalising marijuana, or the deep commitment to multiculturalism that has led some public school systems to recognise Jewish and Muslim holidays alongside Christian ones. Can you imagine a NSW or Victorian education minister proposing giving all children the day off for Eid al-Fitr? Gloria Steinem and protesters at the Women's March in Washington. Credit:AP Some of this change feels possible thanks to a bigger, more diverse, more competitive media landscape. It feels depressingly routine to see innovative ideas (or outspoken young people like Yassmin Abdel-Magied) squished under the thumb of a reactive segment of the mainstream media in Australia, which frequently speaks with one voice.
The kneecapping of a Nomads-linked man in Kambah this week has marked another escalation in bikie-related violence in the capital.

For the past year, Canberrans have woken to reports of outlaw motorcycle gang-related shootings and arsons linked to the Comanchero, Nomads and Rebels.

At first, tattoo parlours were targeted in firebombings, before the tit-for-tat violence spread to residential areas, where homes were shot up and vehicles torched.

Then, in July, an assault rifle  similar to an AK-47  was used to unload 27 bullets into a Waramanga property.
Clarifying baseload Peter Martin criticised the Prime Minister's use of the term "baseload power" as equivalent to "dispatchable capacity" ("Electric lies hide facts", September 14, p14). The difference depends on the claim, "Baseload power (usually provided by coal) isn't particularly dispatchable. It's always on, whatever the need." Technically, that's true. Any power generator, including coal, can be "baseload", operating at maximum output or "peaking", operation only at peak demand or "load following", that is producing variable output. The problem is that in the public arena "baseload" refers to the cyclic demand which cannot be met by the vagaries of wind and solar generation.

Obviously the "baseload" generators would be of variable output and their maximum "dispatchable capacity" of importance. This terminological quibble aside, it's nice to know that the PM is addressing the problematic capacity and reliability of our electricity grid. One can but hope that the pricing study that Mr Martin wrote was being developed at the University of Tasmania discloses whether the spot price paid to peaking generators to meet demand surges still flows on to all suppliers during the period. Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor Two children enough

Greg Cornwall (Letters, September 12) seems to be pointing out what he sees as inconsistency because of the royal Cambridges having received from environmentalists criticism for having their third child and a refugee who has seven children receiving none. This can be partly explained as a result of nobody having praised the refugee for having seven children, whereas the Cambridges were congratulated for their efforts. Greg should also note that the critics of the Cambridges have condemned ALL persons who have more than two children, which obviously includes the said refugee. Greg however, is correct in saying that overpopulation is everyone's concern, and for the survival and wellbeing of future generations, and to set an example to the rest of the world, we need to reduce Australia's population. This means stopping immigration, discouraging Australians from having more than two children and exiting a failed economic system that encourages continual "growth." Nancy Tidfy, Chisholm

Keep utilities public J. Collet (Letters, September 11) criticised my comments (Letters, September 4) about the privatisation of utility assets by the current LNP government. Yes, J. Collet, I am aware that it was the Hawke/Keating government that privatised Qantas and the CBA as I was in Treasury at the time. I have no issue with these sales as there was and still is significant competition. With the sale of Qantas there were many competing international airlines (Air NZ, BA, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, to name just a few) and domestically there was Ansett, regional airlines, bus, rail and private cars; the latter a very popular mode of travel. Also, with the sale of CBA, there were several regional and nationally competing banks (NAB, Westpac, ANZ, St George etc), any number of building societies and other financial institutions. Since then there has been major growth in these services providing even more competition (some 37 Australian banks, seven-plus foreign owned banks, 88 credit unions, 14 friendly societies).

Where there is significant and effective competition, the sale of public assets can be beneficial. However, this is not the case with the sale of essential public utilities where there is only a handful of dominating suppliers who can dictate services and prices. No, J. Collet, there is no real benefit, if any, in selling public utilities (power, water, sewerage etc) without real and effective competition. Jack Wiles, Gilmore Colonial reality The seemingly inexorable push to demonise the British settlement of Australia begs an obvious question.

What is the alternative narrative? The inhabitants of Australia back in the eighteenth century had unfortunately missed out on several millennia of development and were ill-equipped to withstand the tide of history. Had the British not settled then the realistic alternatives would seem to be colonisation by some other maritime power, probably European but possibly from south-east Asia or China, or a continuing hunter-gatherer existence like the Lost Tribes of the Amazon. Would either alternative be preferable? The debate badly needs an injection of reality and the utopian fantasists who see British settlement as a tragedy need to think it through rather more objectively.

Michael Warrington, Garran All change for the worse Here we go again. More "improvements" in October 17 to the bus network. I have suffered through three such "improvements" in as many years. My only available route, the 251/51 has been adjusted each time with services to Casey in Gungahlin always eroded. Working from 8am to 4pm, my travel from Barton to Casey takes about an hour and a quarter in the afternoon. With the "improvement", this will now increase by half an hour due to the discontinuing of the 251 departing the city at 4.22pm.

I will have to wait in the city for the next service 20  30 minutes later. The 4.22pm service is highly patronised, including numerous schoolchildren, often with standing room only. I suggest it is one of the more popular and profitable services in the network. My travel time has increased where it now is a choice between public transport and driving. Contrary to Mr Stanhope's, and latterly My Barr's, assertions, this Canberran cannot afford to pay more for fuel, parking, high rates and energy costs. I avidly support public transport and whilst I do not support light rail for Canberra I hope the huge investment in light rail succeeds.

Unfortunately, I can't help feeling that planning behind the "improved" timetable, which Transport Canberra informs me is designed to assist with transition to light rail, is flawed. By discontinuing highly patronised services and continually altering departure times and frequency, the public is required to serve the transport network instead of it serving us. Mick Armour, Casey Not a magic bus Valerie Baxter (Letters, September 12) highlights the appalling treatment of lower Narrabundah residents with the latest bus changes.

It's a similar story on the west side of Captain Cook Crescent. In 2014 the long-running Caley Crescent route servicing Narrabundah and part of Griffith was removed, with residents having to walk much longer distances to catch a bus. As with lower Narrabundah, many of the locals are elderly and/or in public housing. The new route will now completely remove buses from running through the area. Instead of servicing residents, the buses will give priority to green space. These latest changes a mockery of the policy of having people able to catch a local bus within 500 metres as the crow flies, let alone the good practice of 400 metres on foot. For many people, the nearest bus will now be about twice that distance. To add insult to injury, the area is steeply hilly. And if you work in Barton, you'll have fewer buses to get to and from work  and you'll have a long walk from Kingston or the National Gallery as well.

Is this any way to treat our less advantaged people in the Inner South and encourage people to use public transport? Gillian King, Narrabundah Some spine called for Unions ACT secretary Alex White appears to attribute Canberra households' debt burden to decades of outsourcing, trickle-down economics and employers using tax avoidance and wage-theft as business models ("Beyond our means", September 14, p1). At least some of this is true.

However, there is no mention of other factors, for example, the union-controlled ACT government's restriction of land supply that raises land prices and forces home buyers into more debt. Of course, Unions ACT is not the only lobby group peddling one part of the story with the expectation of getting favourable treatment from ACT and/or federal politicians. The lobby groups do this because many of the politicians we have elected are weak-kneed and legislate and spend money to favour particular groups (who often then make donations to the aforementioned politicians) rather than focusing on the community as a whole. Voters should not try to hold their breath waiting for the lobby groups and/or careerist politicians to stop feathering their own nests. However, if enough voters support independent candidates and the like who have spine and are willing to stand up for what is good for the general community we should get better decisions from the parliaments.

Bruce Paine, Red Hill Who OKs travesty? Last Tuesday night (September 12) Ben Ponton, the chief planning executive of the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, told an audience of some 96 concerned residents that the Territory Plan was complex and not easy to navigate. The overwhelming audience response was that compliance of government, developers and builders was what was required. So Canberra now has an open mountain of rubbish popped up at Hume with covert night-time deliveries.

Within 300 metres of the proposed East Lake six storeys of residential/commercial development there is an incinerator planned for Fyshwick. The Sydney-based proponents aim to import household waste from NSW because we don't make enough waste for it to burn. The zoning in the Territory Plan says it is a prohibited development at that site. How then do these projects get past the chief planner and all his employees, and indeed the Greens? B. Moore, Kingston

Young need discipline Old people are being forced to go back to work because young people don't want to. They would rather the dole. You're leaving the young ones to be slack and picking on the retired and those over 60 still working. Work will kill us. Where is the discipline?

Young people have to learn and get into the workforce. Lynette Baxter, Spence To the point NO HOLDS BARRED The vendetta against workers is no holds barred with this government.

It is prepared to get into the gutter by engaging in concealing and condoning illegality, sanctioned by Minister Cash's very own conspiratorial imprimatur ("Backlash for Cash as watchdog boss resigns", September 14, p.4). Adieu, Westminster ministerial responsibility. Albert M. White, Queanbeyan, NSW 'TEAR DOWN WALL' I will know that Canberra is ready to become the capital city of the Republic of Australia when a million people descend upon Parliament House demanding "tear down this wall". Ronald Elliott, Sandringham, Victoria

HALF THE EQUATION Did Don Sephton (Letters, September 15), who has no issues with Australia Post's standards because he received his marriage law postal survey just one day after it was posted, not notice there was no provision for him to track the return postage of his survey? Receiving the survey is only half of the equation. Col Shephard, Yamba, NSW FENCE QUERY I'm curious as to the purpose of this new fence being constructed around Parliament House. Is it to protect the politicians from the public, or the public from the politicians? Are the politicians inside it just cowards, or are they too dangerous to be trusted?

Paul Wayper, Cook JOHN WHO? One positive of John Howard's awakening to fight a rear guard action on same-sex marriage is that many won't even know who he is. And many of those who are old enough to remember him would do everything in their power to neutralise his call for a "No" vote. D. J. Fraser, Currumbin QLD COURT THINKING

I'm wondering what the court was thinking in awarding Rebel Wilson over $4.5 million. One possibility is that it divined there is some correlation in Australia between the remuneration of a movie star and that of a poorly paid CEO. M. F. Horton, Adelaide, S.A LIKE SCHOOL BOYS I'd be embarrassed to take my grandchildren to Parliament House to hear the politicians hurling invective against each other like undergrown, debating, school boys. What sort of role model are politicians for our next generation? Is this all about money, power and winning at any cost, regardless of reason and scientifically-based facts, especially when we're facing more frequent, more extreme weather conditions worldwide? Susan MacDougall, Scullin
If I were Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump was president, I think I would want a hefty nuclear arsenal as well. Why does America get to dictate which states are allowed nuclear capabilities? We should be aiming for global disarmament, not simply a disarmed North Korea. Orania Theoharidis, East Melbourne Hasn't anyone learnt anything? It's ironic that the nations most at risk from North Korea (Japan, China and South Korea) are sensibly taking the softly-softly approach. Meanwhile, the US who has the least at risk, is screaming the loudest and putting the entire region at risk, including Australia. We don't have to cop a bomb from North Korea. Wars get messy very quickly. If we have American forces here, we will soon find ourselves under crisis government or worse. Is this the definition of an "ally"?

We have to ask what their real agenda is. Do they want to drive China and Japan out of the market? It is now widely accepted that corporations are running governments, not the people. Where have we seen this before? Pretext for a war, invasion, resources grab, pipelines, suitable government installed and massive civilian casualties and suffering, followed by masses of unwanted refugees. Hasn't anybody learnt anything? Naomi Klein said it all in her book The Shock Doctrine. Here we sit stunned, stupefied, dazed, beaten senseless and depressed in front of all our big and little screens; the planet itself is at the brink of collapse and we no longer respond to crises like civilised human beings. Maggie Morgan, Northcote FORUM

Making sense Watching Q&A last week I was interested to hear the philosopher A.C. Grayling's perspective on marriage. Grayling said philosophy drew distinctions and that when it came to marriage there were two quite different senses of the word. One was the institutionalised legal sense and the other was the sense of commitment that people in relationships made to each other, pooling their resources, sharing their lives, being mutually supportive of each other. Changing the law to allow same-sex couples to marry will not affect anybody else's way of life. Rather, it will have a significant positive effect on the lives of same-sex couples and their extended families, who would like to be considered equal in our society. Kim McDonald, Sandy Point Another way

I intended to vote "yes". After all, this is only a question of a person's fitness to enter into a legal contract we are arguing about. Marriage is not legally "sacred". The constitution forbids pollies to get into defining sacred. If of an age and sound in mind then sexual preference has nothing to do with politicians or the law. Then the argument heated up, forsaking logic and empathy, and I didn't want to give comfort to the extremists of either side so I decided to abstain. That was until the Benjamin Law moment and the threat to "hate f---" "no" voters. The "yes" campaign had reached the low point to which it had been trending for months. I don't want to reward a bunch of whining, petulant, foul-mouthed malicious children whingeing that if we don't give them what they demand then we don't love them. I decided to vote "no". Then I had a better idea. Anyone can have my plebiscite paper in return for proof of a $100 donation to Oxfam. Some good could then come from this ridiculous, dispiriting fiasco. It might not be legal but I won't tell if you don't. Terry Lane, Blackburn

Straws in the wind The possible responses to the poll are not limited to "yes" and "no" ('The wild card in the same-sex postal vote', The Age, 16/9). Despite my disagreement with same-sex marriage, I was initially inclined to vote "yes" on the grounds that it should be just as permissible as many other beliefs and practices that I am prepared to tolerate as the price of living in a pluralist democracy. For this reason, I cannot bring myself to vote "no". However, straws in the wind, such as the fake news about objectionable "no" posters "plastering" Melbourne; Benjamin Law's venomous comments; and the bigoted determination to close down meetings explaining the "no" case, suggest an illiberal ideological agenda accompanying the "yes" case, with plans that go beyond merely legislating same-sex marriage. Under these circumstances, I am now reluctant to vote "yes", either. For better or worse, I will probably join the "Hamlet vote"  those who do not return their forms because they cannot decide which is the lesser of two evils. Bill James, Frankston

If the cap fits Paul Byrnes, in his review of the film I am not your Negro (The Age, 14/9) quotes the words of James Baldwin: "You cannot lynch me and keep me in ghettos without becoming something monstrous yourselves  and furthermore you give me a terrifying advantage  you never had to look at me. I had to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me. Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it is faced." Another country and a different culture but Australia, if the cap fits . . . Anne Heath Mennell, Tenby Point Discipline please

It is interesting to note that just as Malcolm Turnbull offers $1billion of taxpayers' money to the moribund coal industry, Daniel Andrews donates up to $50 million to the Heyfield timber mill, now threatened by a dwindling supply of native timber in state forests ('Big public wallet saves Heyfield timber mill', The Age, 16/9). Whatever happened to economic rationalism and market discipline? The Rubicon forest near Marysville, which contained magnificent mountain ash and alpine ash forests of extremely high conservation value and was spared the worst of the Black Saturday fires, has now been gutted by over-logging, with devastating impact on biodiversity and wildlife. At current rates of logging, there will very soon be nothing but fragments left  and nothing left for a viable ecotourism industry, potentially the only industry that could provide employment once the loggers are gone. Jill Sanguinetti, East Brunswick Trouble at mill The Heyfield mill was short of timber supply because the technology to fell and mill timber has vastly outstripped the capacity of native forest to regenerate, so accessible native forests were becoming denuded. Plantation timber is not any solution, it is unsuitable for anything but pulping.

Now the state government purchase of this mill ensures that supply will be done at the expense of old growth trees from a much wider catchment than previously. Vic Forests, the government arm of the logging industry, will be seeking supply in places like Lyrebird Walk near Mirboo North, and in other areas that should be left alone. It seems so short-sighted that new jobs that are not destructive and have long-term prospects cannot be found for rural workers. Old and obsolete industries die all the time  why is this different? Owen Rye, Boolarra South Sky rail positives Distress? What distress Aaron Lenzing? (Letters, 16/9) I do live near the sky rail. It's two metres from my back fence. The sky rail when finished will be nothing but positive. Instead of traffic backed up and blocking entrance to my street, traffic will be able to move. Instead of train horns screaming out as they pass our house every five minutes, there will be the hum of the trains as they pass. Instead of freight trains rattling every window in the house, the raised line will dissipate the vibrations.

Yes, I will be face to face with train passengers when I'm sitting in my study on the second floor, but they will be zooming past, rather than crawling through due to another impatient pedestrian crossing the tracks when the boom gates are down. I can't wait for the sky rail to be finished. Elizabeth Young, Murrumbeena Gawking forever Aaron Lenzing, many prying eyes have been gawking into the backyards of residents along the Hurstbridge line for years, without sky rail. And these people bought properties when the train line was already there. Jen Gladstones, Heidelberg

Roads to ruin Randy Hammond's idea of turning Melbourne into a green metropolis (Letters, 16/9) is an excellent idea but unfortunately not about to happen any time soon. With proposed North East Link option A to go through Banyule Flats, Warringal Park, Bolin Bolin Billabong, Heide and school ovals along Bulleen Road, disgorging 120,000 cars a day onto the Eastern Freeway is a recipe for the latter. A very ordinary and disappointing city like every other, with roads everywhere, not the vibrant, liveable city he envisages. Melbourne did have the foresight, as noted, of keeping its trams. The opportunity to supplement this with light rail or a busway down the middle of the freeway to Doncaster will be lost, as will land identified for stations at East Kew and Bulleen. These will be taken up with widening of the freeway by four lanes to make option A work. Dennis O'Connell, Ivanhoe Malcolm, call Canada

Malcolm, why don't you phone that nice Mr Trudeau in Canada and ask him to send you a copy of their gas policy? They have ensured that the local market has access to fairly priced gas in sustainable quantities before any can be exported. But I guess this would really upset your sponsors from the mineral and energy companies. Ian Gray, Benalla A graphic result Thank you for the graphic on state parliamentarians' voting intentions (Euthanasia voting intentions', The Age, 16/9). I'm glad my rep is voting as I would prefer. How many others are voting as their electorate wishes? There is no place for being "undeclared". Either a rep knows what their electorate wants or not. Hopefully those voters who see their rep is voting opposite to them will make their preference known. David Marshall, West Brunswick

Man and boy In the article "A View From Hiroshima" (The Age, 15/9), it is stated that the atomic bomb "Fat Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. That is wrong. "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima and "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki. "Fat Boy" never existed. Nick Carroll, North Melbourne AND ANOTHER THING

Marriage Malcolm: "Will no one rid me of this troublesome Abbott?" Christopher Trotter, Sandringham It will be wonderful when we can all stick up a ringed finger, in an "up yours" gesture, and say: "I'm married". Michaela Pratt, Somers

Furthermore If the energy crisis is Labor's fault, is the government admitting it's done nothing for four years? (Rhetorical question.) Denny Meadows, Hawthorn Now surely the time has come for all people of goodwill to come to the aid of the ABC. Manfred Frese, Heathmont

No need to fear any magpies this September! David Seal, Balwyn North Since when does the Liberal Party tell a company (AGL) how to run its business? Garry Meller, Bentleigh Why didn't the PM go to extraordinary efforts to save coal-powered generators in SA and Victoria? Oh, they're Labor states.

Ken Marriott, Williamstown How will a buyer of a decrepit coal-powered station, that needs millions of dollars to make it work, reduce power prices? Kevin Ward, Preston If you don't like Malcolm Turnbull's view on climate change, energy policy or anything else for that matter, wait five minutes. John Uren, Blackburn
For the next two weeks, Phillip Alcorn will have his eyes glued to the sky, and the weather forecast.

If there is no rain in the next two weeks, the Harden farmer's canola crop will be a write-off.

Phillip Alcorn in a field of canola on his property near Harden. Credit:Andrew Meares

"It's very serious," says Mr Alcorn, who has been farming for 25 years in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales.

"This is up in the top couple of years for toughness," he says. "That is a direct impact of the dry," he says.
The number of protected turtles hooked by commercial fishers along Australia's east coast has jumped tenfold over the past five years, sparking fears for the fate of vulnerable ocean life as the Turnbull government moves to tear up marine sanctuary protections.

An analysis of government data has also revealed an increase in the number of dolphins and whales, as well as seabirds such as albatrosses, ensnared by commercial fishers since 2012.

However the latest data was not included in a report to government on the wind-back of marine protections, which relied on evidence gathered before the spike was recorded.

The Turnbull government in July released draft changes to the 3.3 million square kilometres of Australia's protected offshore regions, which were expanded in 2012 by the former Labor government.
Campaigners against marriage equality have upped the ante and are now reaching for the stars after apparently employing a skywriter.

The words "Vote No" appeared in Sydney's skies on Sunday, a day after the launch of Coalition for Marriage where high-profile Turnbull government MPs including Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said they fear it will become illegal to oppose same-sex marriage in word or even thought, if gay marriage is legalised.

"The 'yes' side want to make it illegal to just express a different view about marriage, that is their agenda," Matthew Canavan, a member of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's cabinet until he resigned over his dual citizenship, told the 1500-strong Sydney audience.

Speaking to Fairfax Media he said he feared "a strong push to effectively eradicate the view that marriage should be between a man and a woman, to make it illegal".
"We didn't have any gay role models. We had no one to talk to and no one to tell us, 'Don't worry, it will all be OK'."

The road to happiness has not been an easy one for Luke Nixon and Eddie Sahovic. And while the Brisbane couple aren't ready to marry just yet, they've joined the fight to have their love recognised.

Credit:Toby Crockford - Fairfax Media

They were two of the supporters who gathered on Queen Street in Brisbane for the launch of the nationwide #PostYourYES campaign.

The pair were born on opposite sides of the world - Mr Nixon, 28, grew up in Grafton in northern New South Wales and Mr Sahovic, 27, was born in Bosnia.
When former premier Steve Bracks was poised to sign off on the Commonwealth Games Village in Parkville in 2003, protesters fought bitterly to ensure it was largely low-rise housing.

They mostly won, with the majority of the 900 homes built on the site next to Royal Park kept to two or three levels, or within medium-rise apartment blocks bordering CityLink.

The tallest building was 11 levels.

But 14 years later, the developers have gone back to the government and successfully persuaded its planning advisers to recommend towers rising to 22 levels in the project's final stage.
A transport expert whose views Daniel Andrews used in opposition to berate the former Napthine government over the East West Link is the latest traffic engineer to cast doubt on Labor's West Gate Tunnel project.

As opposition leader, Mr Andrews in 2013 attacked former premier Denis Napthine in Parliament after it was revealed that VicRoads traffic manager Douglas Harley had said the benefits of the proposed East West Link were inflated.

The proposed West Gate Tunnel as it cross the Maribyrnong River. Credit: Victorian government

"How does the premier justify ignoring completely this damning criticism from a senior VicRoads expert, Mr Doug Harley?" Mr Andrews demanded of Dr Napthine.

Current Treasurer Tim Pallas and Roads Minister Luke Donnellan also used Mr Harley's criticisms of the East West Link to attack the former government.
A man will face charges for wearing a face covering, under tough protest laws introduced in Victoria last week.

His arrest was one of two as hundreds of anti-racism, anti-fascism protesters gathered at the State Library before marching to confront a right-wing group rallying at Parliament House on Sunday.

The 24-year-old man  dressed all in black and sporting a close-cropped mohawk  silently stood among the left-wing protesters before police swooped in and asked him to remove his face covering, which was in breach of the new laws.

He refused and was dragged from the crowd to a side street, where he was handcuffed and searched.
WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt has dismissed opposition claims the state-owned energy retailer's 2016/17 revenue dip will lead to a repeat of the days when Perth experienced severe blackouts, labelling his comments "scaremongering".

Synergy has reported a net loss of $12.6 million compared to a net profit of $32.3 million for the previous financial year.

The result was most significantly affected by depreciation and impairment associated with the previously announced closure of 380 megawatts of generating capacity by September next year.

Total electricity sales fell by 398 gigawatt hours.
A teenage girl claimed she fled in fear after a group of people wearing clown masks tried to grab her in Kwinana on Saturday evening.

The news come just days after several Perth southern suburbs were earmarked as locations for a 'clown purge' stunt scheduled to take place on Saturday night.

Sergeant Andrew Maher said the girl had gotten off a bus on Eighty Road, near Fifty Road, when a car stopped behind her.

"Three persons exited the vehicle wearing clown masks and dark clothing and began walking towards her," Sergeant Maher said.
PARIS - A security alert on a British Airways plane in Paris was a false alarm, police say.

Passengers were evacuated from Flight BA303 at Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday before it was due to fly to London for what officials said was a security reason.

A British Airways flight has been held on the tarmac of a Paris airport because of a security threat Credit:AP

Sniffer dogs checked the plane and found no threat, police said as they lifted the alert.

Flight number BA0303 was stopped at Charles de Gaulle and surrounded by police and fire vehicles at around 9am Paris time on Sunday.
Gaza City: The Hamas movement announced early Sunday that it is ready to hand over the Gaza Strip to the consensus government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The group said in an emailed official statement that it has agreed to dissolve "the Administrative Committee, hand over the Gaza Strip to the consensus government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and (to) holding the general elections.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Credit:AP

"Hamas invites the consensus government to come to Gaza to practice its mission and carry out its duties in the Gaza Strip immediately, and it accepts holding the general elections," the statement said.

It added that it had decided to make the announcement in response to Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation and end the internal Palestinian division.
'It's one of those things that are absorbed by society': A wedding supplier's shop in Dublin. Credit:Nick Miller "What happens? Two people get married and the world continues." We chat over a coffee in the parliament building in Dublin. Buttimer is good company and a classic Irish talker: words flow from him in an earnest stream. He's busy now with another huge challenge: the prospect of a referendum to repeal Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion. County Tipperary, November 17, 2015: Richard Dowling, left, and Cormac Gollogly become the first same-sex couple to tie the knot under Ireland's new law. Credit:PA Compared to this, our chat about marriage equality is a relief. He can rehearse his old lines from the 2015 referendum, he can reflect on the joy of that day, he can proudly recount how they met every challenge, red herring and falsehood from their opponents and won.

He gets a little teary remembering it all. "The outpouring of celebration and emotion and pure joy in Dublin Castle and across the country on results day illustrated the importance of what it meant to people," he says. "This wasn't a political campaign and a rally, this was about how people 20, 30, 40 years in committed loving relationships can be able to get married. This is about how we can live our life, being able to look at the person we love and say 'will you marry me?' 'Yes'." In Australia, opponents of marriage equality campaigning for a 'no' vote in the postal survey are, somewhat paradoxically, trying to harness Ireland's experience to their cause. One of their key, oft-repeated messages - put by Tony Abbott among others - is that same sex marriage leads to new restrictions on religious freedom. The Coalition For Marriage put out a press release this month asking: "If a change in marriage law has no consequences for religious freedom, how do you explain the Irish government overturning religious freedom protections just months after the referendum?"

It's a reference to a change to Ireland's Employment Equality Act, which passed the country's parliament soon after the marriage equality referendum. The act allowed church-run schools and hospitals to discriminate against employees on the grounds of their sexuality - teachers, nurses and doctors could be fired for being gay. As a result, gay and lesbian teachers in the country's many (around 90 per cent of the total) church-run schools had to hide their sexuality. They felt the law's "chilling effect" on their lives. The 2015 amendment did not remove the exemption. But it watered it down, in the case of schools and hospitals which received public funding, requiring that the discrimination was "objectively justified". "It's still in the statute books but it's been changed so it can't happen," Buttimer says. He doesn't agree this amounts to a loss of religious freedom. "We can't condone prejudicial behaviour in the workplace," he says.

But more than this, he says it's a red herring. To link this change in the law to the marriage referendum is to confuse correlation with causation. It's a lesson for Australia, he says. "Referendums are notorious for going down tangential routes, side alleys and end[ing] up in a cul de sac where you are debating nothing that's of importance," he warns. A voter in Ireland's gay marriage referendum. "The referendum was about one question only, can all of us be able to get married to the person we love. It's not about anything else, there's no side-effect, there's no consequence. I just don't buy the argument, we didn't buy it here and I hope the Australian people won't buy it.

"It suits the 'No' argument to be able to go down a different route ... [to put] the proposition that the world would be a lesser place." The change to the discrimination law and the change to the marriage law are parts of a bigger Irish story: a modernising, liberalising population losing confidence in a scandal-wracked church. Homosexuality was illegal in Ireland until the early '90s, and stigma has remained until very recently. The marriage equality referendum, for many, was not just a vote on marriage, it was an affirmation of acceptance and equality. Only after the vote could many gay couples feel confident in public displays of affection, having heard the country's voice in support. Buttimer says the biggest change after the referendum has been "below the radar". "People can walk home from a nightclub hand in hand, or down the street of a local town. They can live in a neighbourhood where no one bats an eye any more."

Many people came out to their neighbours and friends during the referendum campaign, as they went door to door pushing for a 'Yes' vote. Top politicians and a prime time TV journalist revealed their sexuality for the first time. The country had stopped taking orders from its bishops. Ireland is still one of Europe's most religious countries. One pamphlet distributed during the 2015 campaign noted that if 80 per cent of Ireland's weekly churchgoers had voted 'No', the referendum would have been defeated. It has the second highest level of Christian religious affiliation after Poland  and 34 per cent of the Irish went to church every week, again second only to the Poles, and far ahead of the UK (13 per cent) or France (8 per cent). Almost 60 per cent of the Irish pray at least once a week. But these numbers are in decline.

Dr Jane Suiter is associate professor at Dublin City University in the school of communications. She says the influence of the church has "dramatically" decreased in Ireland in recent years. "The impact of the child sex abuse revelations, the Tuam Mother and Baby Home where the mass graves of babies were found  the Magdalene laundries [where women were exploited and abused by nuns] - they've all served to undermine the authority of the church," Suiter says. A lot of the working class communities that often don't vote - and with a high rate of Mass attendance - came out to vote and very strongly for marriage equality, Suiter says. They preferred the testimony of the 'Yes' ground campaign, the mothers knocking on their door and saying "my son is gay, can you please vote for his right to marry", to the lectures they were getting from the pulpit. "The 'Yes' side was far more mobilised, it had a clearer strategy and a central headquarters, whereas the 'No' side relied on tried-and-trusted routines of mostly trying to get on the mainstream media," Suiter says.

"And there was a big difference also in the type of campaign. The 'No' guys went for a much more Project Fear, this is the end of families as we know it and those kind of messages. 'It became about equality': A mural by artist Joe Caslin on the Mercantile building in Dublin. Credit:New York Times "Whereas the 'Yes' side went much more for people at the centre of it. And we know that people respond to people  it became about equality rather than fear, and they very deliberately stayed away from negative campaigning of any sort." The 'Yes' campaign successfully framed it as an "equality" campaign, she says. "It became reasonably difficult for the 'No' side to make an anti-equality argument. They railed against that framing, of even calling it marriage equality as opposed to same-sex marriage or whatever."

All the same, there was a moment when the 'No' campaign hit its stride. In the second week of the campaign they focused on a message about children  that they "deserve a mum and a dad", Suiter says. "A lot of people respond to this, especially older generations. There was a moment among the 'Yes' campaigners on the streets - they were worried this was having an impact, they were hearing it a bit back from the [front] doors." But the 'Yes' campaign responded with a secret weapon: Colm O'Gorman, head of Amnesty International in Ireland, who hit the airwaves with his personal story about his loving family. "[The Yes campaign] probably knew this line was coming and they were reasonably well prepared for it," Suiter says. Secret weapon: Colm O'Gorman outside St Andrew's Church in Dublin. Credit:New York Times

Fierce fights have the potential to cause deep divisions. But after the Irish referendum, says Suiter, the strength of the result and the joyousness of the celebration kickstarted the healing process. "Afterwards there were people who'd voted against it on the radio saying 'oh if I'd only thought about that I would have voted yes too'. The pure joy [they saw] and the realisation that actually nothing had happened to weaken their own marriage because there were now other people allowed to get married too  I think if it were to run again tomorrow it would pass by a far greater majority." But it won't run again, she says. It is simply no longer a live issue. "It's absolutely gone. It's vanished. It's a done thing. Those who were against it have moved on to abortion - that group who are against most social change referendums, that's where their focus is. As for the ordinary person, you don't even hear it on late-night phone-ins." The 'No' campaigners of 2015 have mostly gone to ground. Fairfax attempted to contact three of the most vocal and none wanted to talk. A Dublin diocese spokeswoman said it was a "pretty bad week" and she couldn't find someone to talk about the impact of the 'Yes' vote on Irish society or the church.

The 'No' campaigners of 2015 have mostly gone to ground. Credit:New York Times Senator Buttimer, of course, is more than willing to speak on their behalf. "As somebody who spent five years in the seminary, who has a degree in theology, I would put to the religious people in Australia that  God wants us to be the most complete person we can be, that means being able to marry the person we love. "I don't think the Catholic church lost its ability to teach or lost its magisterium, but it lost the respect of many people who felt their stance was wrong." Brian Sheehan, general secretary of Ireland's Social Democrats, was executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network in Dublin and co-director of the Yes Equality campaign for the marriage referendum.

He says the 'No' campaign's Apocalypse Now version of a future with gay marriage never materialised "because there was no truth in it". "There was a lot of fear-mongering that marriage would be destroyed, in fact marriage has been improved," he says. "It has lifted the value that society places on marriage." Since the vote "all that has happened is that wedding suppliers include same-sex products in their catalogues", he says. "It's one of those things that are absorbed by society without tumultuous conflict." Adds Buttimer: "I really hope the people of Australia won't fall for bogus arguments. This is not changing the world from round to square.
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
The influx of New Zealand companies dual-listing on the Australian Securities Exchange has been a good development in recent years. Having more NZ companies on ASX adds to stock diversity and several Kiwi companies have delivered excellent returns.

Dozens of NZ companies have joined ASX in the past four years through the Initial Public Offering  a trend that has been a little quieter this year because of a weaker IPO market.

Nine of the top 10 NZ-listed companies by capitalisation and more than half of the top 50 have a primary listing on the NZ stock exchange (NZX) and a secondary listing on ASX.

More NZ companies are dual listing on ASX to attract capital from Australian fund managers and benefit from higher share liquidity and market profile. A dual listing can help NZ companies potentially achieve higher valuations because there is a larger number of similar stocks for comparison. Some dual listings attract Australian stockbroking research coverage.

As investors focus on emerging NZ companies that dual list on ASX, particularly from technology sectors, its been a few NZ veterans that have caught my eye this year. Auckland International Airport and Air New Zealand especially stand out, after share-price rallies this year.

This columns readers know I have was bullish on Sydney Airport for many years, principally because of the megatrend of in-bound Asian tourism into this country. However, Sydney Airport, a terrific stock, is fully valued after gains in the past few months in a weak market.

I became bullish on Qantas Airways for The Bull in June 2016 in my article, Qantas approaching radar for value investors. I suggested Qantas was one of the worlds cheapest large-cap airlines at the time; it has rallied from $3.08 in mid-2016 to $5.73 and still looks modestly undervalued.

Some key themes driving Sydney Airport and Qantas are apparent in their NZ peers, Auckland International Airport and Qantas. Like Sydney Airport, Auckland International Airport is benefitting from in-bound Asian tourism and greater aviation activity.

Air New Zealand, like Qantas, is benefitting from efficiency gains, better route expansion and optimisation, lower fuel prices and good management. Air New Zealand, too, has rediscovered its mojo and is shattering the myth that large-cap airline stocks are terrible investments.

Auckland International has an annualised total return (including dividends) of 22 per cent over three years, Morningstar data shows. The stock is down 15 per cent over one year. Air New Zealand has a 37 per cent annual return over three years, making it among the best performing Trans-Tasman large-cap stocks.

Auckland International shares have fallen about 8 per cent from their recent $7.50 high, despite the airport reporting a better-than-expected FY17 result. Adjusted after-tax net profit rose 16.5 per cent to NZ$248 million thanks to strong domestic and international passenger growth.

Perhaps the market sees FY18 as a year of consolidation, in part due to Auckland International guiding for modest top-line sales growth. Then, stronger growth in FY19 and beyond as airport redevelops drives a step-change in retail sales revenue due to much greater floorspace.

Macquarie Equities has an outperform recommendation and 12-month price target of A$6.97 (Auckland International traded just below $6 this week on ASX). That suggests reasonable upside from a high-quality asset that is benefitting from continued strong passenger growth and has the upcoming redevelopments as potential re-rating catalyst for the share price.

Charts will want confirmation that Auckland International holds price support on its chart around $5.80. A decisive break through that level could see further short-term price fall.

Chart 1: Auckland International Airport Source: The Bull

Meanwhle, Air New Zealand delivered a solid FY17 result that led to some broking firms upgrading price targets. Profit before tax of NZ$527 million was slightly ahead of market expectation and a final 11 cent per share dividend was 10 per cent up on the same period last year.

It was a good result given rising competition in international aviation, Air New Zealand said it is optimistic about overall market dynamics and expects to improve on 2017 earnings. Air New Zealand costs are well managed and its aircraft utilisation and yield are solid.

Like Qantas, Air New Zealand has an excellent market position, prominent brand and improving customer experience. It also has rising return on invested capital. Both trans-Tasman airlines have come through their transformation program better than the market expected.

At NZ$3.55, Air New Zealand trades on a forecast FY18 PE of around 10 times, according to consensus analyst forecasts. Like Qantas, Air New Zealand is valued below the global airline PE average, despite its improving operational performance.

The consensus price target of NZ$3.55, based on the average of six broking firms, suggests Air New Zealand is fully valued at the current price. The stock can do better than the market expects as it uses gains in FY17 as a platform for stronger growth in the next few years.

Chart 2: Air New Zealand Source: The Bull

>> BACK TO THE NEWSLETTER: Click here to read other articles from this weeks newsletter

 Tony Featherstone is a former managing editor of BRW and Shares magazines. The information in this article should not be considered personal advice. The article has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the information in this article you should consider its appropriateness, regarding your objectives, financial situation and needs. Do further research of your own or seek personal financial advice from a licensed adviser before making any financial or investment decisions based on this article. All prices and analysis at September 14, 2017.


Michael Gable, Fairmont Equities

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Galaxy Resources (GXY)



Chart: Share price over the year

A few weeks ago, this lithium focused resources company finally broke this years downtrend. We now expect GXY to rally higher. Despite some short term resistance near $2.50, GXY should re-test its January 2017 high near $3.50 as it finally resumes the longer term uptrend. The shares were trading at $2.62 on September 14.

Santos (STO)



Chart: Share price over the year



This energy giant finally broke a downtrend a few weeks ago on high volume. I expect STO to rally higher. In terms of a target, its likely to make a move of equal size to the rally from early 2016. That is, we could see it trade towards $5.50. Traders should look to exit if the stock moves back below the downtrend line. The shares were trading at $3.955 on September 14.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Alumina (AWC)



Chart: Share price over the year



AWC spent the last year forming a large ascending triangle, but we have now seen a clear break above this pattern. This means that AWC should continue to move higher. There will be some minor resistance near $2.30, but we would be targeting levels above $2.60. We would take a negative view if AWC trades below $2. The shares were trading at $2.185 on September 14.

Westfield Corporation (WFD)



Chart: Share price over the year



It now looks like the stock is reversing a year long downtrend. Weve seen a couple of bullish candles appear on the weekly chart, with volume also picking up. We expect the shopping centre giant to trade higher from here. We have an initial target of about $8.75. The stock was trading at $7.725 on September 14.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Macquarie Group (MQG)



Chart: Share price over the year



We were negative on MQG a few weeks ago and recent price action further confirms our view. Its been breaking down on high volume and despite any short term bounces in future, we see it retreating towards the low $70 levels. The shares were trading at $88.32 on September 14.

DWS Limited (DWS)



Chart: Share price over the year



The bears have finally taken control. The stock has gone on to make a head and shoulders formation, a sign of a top. This implies the IT solutions provider could fall to about $1.10 in the next few months. The shares were trading at $1.40 on September 14.



Simon Herrmann, wise-owl.com

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Monadelphous Group (MND)



Chart: Share price over the year



This engineering group was recently trading near three year highs despite a soft full year result. Revenue was down 7.3 per cent to $1.264 billion and net profit after tax declined 14.1 per cent to $57.6 million. Conditions in the mining and energy sectors have stabilised after a cyclical contraction. We remain attracted to the companys turnaround capacity and retain our buy advice.

Crowd Mobile (CM8)



Chart: Share price over the year



Supported by a new institutional investor and stronger balance sheet, Crowd Mobile has met our fiscal year 2017 forecasts. With June its strongest quarter, the company has momentum to deliver further growth in fiscal year 2018. Initiatives since acquiring mobile payments provider Track Holdings are yet to flow through to the financials. Utilising various valuation methodologies, the average target price for this software company is 30 cents based on conservative forecasts. The shares were trading at 18.5 cents on September 13.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Trade Me Group (TME)



Chart: Share price over the year



New Zealands largest online market place operator has a strong track record and management has flagged continuing growth for the year ahead, albeit at a slower pace. Recent share price weakness stems from concerns about stiffer competition. Amazon is set to launch in Australia this year, but Trade Me has successfully staved off another US giant ebay for years.

Platinum Asset Management (PTM)



Chart: Share price over the year



This hedge fund manager received a warm reception to its full year results given fund flows had stabilised. Its contrarian positioning is also attracting attention. The second half of the year witnessed a major turnaround in fund flow momentum and the company has the potential to return to strong growth.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Peninsular Energy (PEN)



Chart: Share price over the year



Despite the companys attractive production profile and strong capital structure, uranium companies have failed to perform. Thats a bearish sign. Uranium prices have continued to soften despite supply cuts by major producer Kazatomprom. While demand for uranium is projected to increase in coming years  particularly from China  industry risks remain elevated. We downgrade from a hold to sell.

Sienna Cancer Diagnostics (SDX)



Chart: Share price over the year



An Australian biotechnology company focusing on cancer diagnostic technology. While early revenues, patents and existing channel partnerships are attractive qualities, risks remain. Theres no guarantee its intellectual property can be commercialised or, in future, raise more funding if needed. The shares closed at 13 cents on September 13.



Jonathon Howe, Red Leaf Securities

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Olivers Real Food (OLI)



Chart: Share price over the year



Owns and operates more than 20 healthy fast food stores along Australias east coast. The company aims to ramp up store openings to almost 50 by 2019. Soon after listing in June, the company announced its 2017 loss would be more than anticipated in its prospectus due to individual events. The companys objective is to be profitable in 2018. I own shares in OLI.

McGrath (MEA)



Chart: Share price over the year



We believe the property market is starting to show signs of a slowdown in capital growth. As a result, we believe listings will slowly start increasing as property investors look to reduce exposure in a flat market. McGrath is well equipped to handle more listings and is a key player in the real estate market with about a 3 per cent market share. I own shares in MEA.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA)



Chart: Share price over the year



The stock has been punished on allegations it breached money laundering laws. But it recently delivered a bumper full year profit of $9.88 billion and a higher than expected final dividend of $2.30 a share. In our view, this is the best bank to own and we have been accumulating at lower levels.

Telstra (TLS)



Chart: Share price over the year



Although the dividend cut was untimely, it means Telstra now has a bigger war chest for acquisitions going forward. Once 5G wireless becomes available, I expect to see a big re-rating not only in Telstra, but across the telco sector.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Myer Holdings (MYR)



Chart: Share price over the year



Sales for the year to July 29 were down 1.4 per cent to $3.201 billion. Net profit after tax, post implementation costs and significant items, was down 80 per cent to $11.9 million. We believe it could get worse before it gets better. Look elsewhere for better investments.

Northern Star Resources (NST)



Chart: Share price over the year



This has been one of the better performing gold stocks across the sector. Were looking at reducing client exposure at these levels and taking profits. The shares were priced at $2.99 on December 19, 2016. The shares were trading at $5.26 on September 13, 2017.

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Please note that TheBull.com.au simply publishes broker recommendations on this page. The publication of these recommendations does not in any way constitute a recommendation on the part of TheBull.com.au. You should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.
The slump in wage growth is not just an Australian phenomenon  wage growth in most advanced economies has been lower than expected in recent years. This is because globalisation has put us all in the same boat when it comes to international competition.

Earnings per hour.

There are two ways that international competition can reduce wages  imported goods and migrant workers.

In Australia, import prices of both items purchased by households and goods used in manufacturing, purchased by businesses, have fallen over the past two years. This means businesses in Australia are increasingly competing with imports. As a result these businesses are less able to afford wage increases and their workers are less likely to ask for them, in fear that they may lose their jobs.

Low import prices are usually due to the goods we import (think t-shirts from Bangladesh, hardware products from China). Our imports, particularly of manufactured goods, are coming increasingly from countries where labour is plentiful and cheap, according to research.

In fact about half of our manufactured imports come from low-wage countries, which is an increase from less than 10%, 40 years ago. This is important when we consider that 80% of the value of Australias imports comes from manufactured goods.

When we import cheap products we are effectively importing cheap labour. This effective boost to the supply of cheap labour drives down import prices and wages in Australia. A similar effect happens when businesses outsource products or services to another country.

Again this is a global phenomenon affecting all industrialised countries including the US and Australia. The most common primary motivation for global outsourcing cited by companies is cost cutting. Business functions that are typically outsourced are manufacturing procurement and services such as information technology, legal, facilities management, finance and human resources.

International competition can also reduce wages through migration of labour to Australia, although here the empirical evidence is less clear. The effect of migration on wages depends whether it creates enough jobs to absorb the extra workers, but teasing this out is not straightforward.

Net overseas migration has increased as a share of the population from 47% in 2000 to 54% in 2015. And the skilled migrant share of permanent migrants has increased from 55% in 2000 to 68% in 2015. Not only are migrants increasing as a share of the population, but a higher share of them are skilled.

And their labour participation rates are high. In November 2016 the labour force participation rate for recent migrants and temporary residents combined was at 70%, which is higher than the overall participation rate for Australia of 66%. The effect is to boost the overall Australian labour participation rate.

Importantly, recent migrants have higher skill levels than others in the labour force. Unless sufficient extra jobs are created to absorb these extra workers, wages could go down, and more so in skilled wages relative to unskilled wages.

However this effect on job creation is hard to pin down and so research shows the effect on wages could go either way.

One US study argues that the additional jobs created are not enough to absorb the extra workforce, creating slack in the labour market and a drop in wages. However, another study using Australian data shows an increase in wages with increased immigrant worker numbers but its small and statistically insignificant. Another Australian study found no net impact at all.

The question turns mainly on the net effect of migration on the quantity and quality of nations investment in things like buildings, equipment and the like that are used by businesses. If this is sufficiently strong, then the workforce will be more productive and wages will tend to rise, otherwise they will fall.

So while its easy to calculate the extra workers from migration, it is much harder to calculate the effect they will have on business investment and therefore on wages.

Globalisation has increased international competition through imports of both goods and labour. Imports of goods have tend to depress wage growth in Australia. The effect of labour imports through migration on wage growth depends on whether the boost to the workforce dominates any boost to job creation and thats unclear in theory and evidence.

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Ross Guest, Professor of Economics and National Senior Teaching Fellow, Griffith University
1. Yes. The ordinance goes against state law and is not in the best interest of the cities.

2. Yes. At the very least, it should be amended to give police officers some discretion.

3. No. Voters approved the ordinance by large majorities; the councils cant ignore that fact.

4. No. The petition process has to be given a chance to work. Leave the ordinance alone.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the cities should move forward regarding the ordinance.

Vote

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UPDATE: 6:48 p.m.: Bryan police say they have arrested William Thomas Currie III without incident on Spring Loop in College Station

UPDATE 3:20 P.M.: Bryan Police have obtained an arrest warrant on and are searching for William Thomas Currie III. Officials say that he is considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts are asked to call the Bryan Police Department at 361-3888 or Crime Stoppers at 775-8477.

UPDATE 12:20 p.m.: The man found dead in a Bryan parking lot Thursday morning has been identified as Carlos DeJesus Mar, 30 of Bryan.

The Bryan Police Department was investigating early Thursday after a man's body was found in a parking lot off Texas Avenue.

Police said officers found the man in the Citi Trends parking lot at 2300 S. Texas Ave. around 4:45 a.m. He died from a possible gunshot wound, police said.

The man's identity had not been released.

Post Office Street from Texas Avenue to Cavitt Street and adjacent parking lots were closed Thursday morning while officers investigated. Residents were asked to avoid the area.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police at 209-5300 or Crime Stoppers at 775-TIPS.

Thursday's discovery was the second homicide case within a week in Bryan. On Friday, police arrested a 16-year-old in connection with a fatal shooting in Williamson Park earlier that day.
Golden retriever Bretagne saw a lot in her life.

The Texas-based dog who died in 2016 performed search and rescue missions in the rubble of the 9/11 terror attacks and several major natural disasters. While she died in 2016, her legacy will carry on with a new bronze statue that was erected amid the destruction from Hurricane Harvey in Cypress recently.

On the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, hundreds gathered at the intersection of Mason Road and Cypresswood Drive in Cypress, which was the hometown of Bretagne (pronounced Brittany), for a ceremony honoring the dog's efforts.

"Bretagne was the last surviving 9/11 search and rescue dog," said Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joe Davis. "She lived for 16 years. If you go and search her name on YouTube, you can see that New York City threw a party for her years ago."

The golden retriever's first job as a young animal was to search for survivors amongst the rubble of the World Trade Center. Through the years she worked with various agencies, including FEMA and College Station-based Texas Task Force-1, putting her nose to work in finding victims of hurricanes Rita, Katrina and Ivan. Eventually, the Cy-Fair VFD accepted her as a part of their agency as an official rescue animal. She was used in searches for missing persons and lost children and often deployed to work with police officers. Once Bretagne became gray in the muzzle, she spent her last years of life as a therapy dog at a Cypress elementary school.

Her handler was current Cypress firefighter Denise Corliss, who has privately trained several search and rescue dogs over the years.

"Over the years Bretagne has done hurricane rescue and rescued quite a few people," Davis said.

At one point in Bretagne's career, she made a trip to College Station and the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum to meet former president George H.W. Bush.

"Most people who meet the president spend only five or 10 minutes with him, but Bretagne kept President Bush there for about 45 minutes," Davis said.

The former president petted Bretagne during the visit and asked Corliss questions about the dog.

After Bretagne died in 2016, Cypress firefighters and other Bretagne lovers knew they wanted to do something special to honor her memory. A sculptor from Utah was called upon and a bronze statue was commissioned. The creation of the artwork was paid for by charitable donations from the community. Despite the city of Cypress having experienced damage in Harvey's wake, Bretagne's likeness now stands proudly at the entrance of town.

"My wife and I feel strongly about the job that Bretagne and [Corliss] did," Davis said. "Not just for what they did for the state of Texas, but all over the nation."

Corliss declined to comment, just stating that she has refrained from giving interviews since her partner's death, and that it's good to let others tell the story of Bretagne.
In an increasingly complex era of public school finance, and with no end in sight to the troubles in our states school funding system, districts across Texas are faced with looking to their taxpayers for support as state funding dwindles.

This convoluted funding system seems to have shifted the burden of school finance away from the states constitutional mandate to support public schools. The state has laid the majority of school funding costs heavy on the checkbooks of our community members.

Since 2008, the school funding formula in Texas has dwindled state support for public schools from 48.8 percent to 42.7 percent. Those grim numbers are expected to sink even further as local property values continue to increase. Rather than school districts benefiting from increasing property values, the state simply decreases its percentage of support for public education, meaning state support shrinks as local property values rise.

Its a difficult, cumbersome and unnecessarily complex system of school finance that defies logic, is challenging to explain and forces districts to consider every means possible of generating revenue to maintain educational excellence for students and retain the talented teachers who lead the learning effort in our classrooms.

Lets face it, teachers have bills and obligations just as everyone else. If other districts can pay them more, particularly in the Houston or Dallas area, its reasonable to see why a fair number of teachers move on to financially greener pastures if we cant stay competitive with teacher compensation. Keeping a consistent workforce of experienced teachers in Bryan can contribute greatly to student success.

The state is tying our hands economically, and the situation shows little sign of improving any time soon. So what options does the Bryan school district have to generate additional revenue? With enrollment steady over the past several years, the district is tightening its belt and looking for efficiencies across the board.

We do not want to let our equipment and facilities go unmaintained. We know we need to keep wages competitive to keep talent here in Bryan, and we want to continue to offer the high quality programs of choice that are signatures of our District.

We also must consider the limited number of tools the Legislature makes available to us  including increasing taxes, a prospect no one wants to undertake, especially a newly hired superintendent such as I.

But buried within state law is an opportunity to generate the revenue we need. What if I told you we could modestly lower your taxes and still generate $4.4 million in new operating revenue for Bryan schools? Thats a sounds-too-good-to-be true scenario, but school finance laws allow our board of trustees to set our debt tax rate (known as Interest and Sinking, or I&S) and then ask the voters to increase our other tax rate (the Maintenance & Operations rate, or M&O).

Working closely with our administrative team, the Bryans Board of Trustees adopted an I&S tax rate in August that actually lowers the debt tax by three cents per $100 assessed value (from $0.31 to $0.28). On Oct. 10, the day of a special Tax Ratification Election we have scheduled, the board will ask voters to consider approving a 2-cent increase in the M&O tax rate (from $1.04 to $1.06), for an overall tax rate reduction of 1 cent per hundred dollars of property value.

Despite the 3-cent-lower I&S tax rate, which provides a bit of relief to all property owners, the 2-cent increase voters can approve for the M&O tax rate takes advantage of golden pennies. These golden pennies are the first six cents of the M&O tax rate, from $1 to $1.06, that will generate revenue from the state and from taxes. The Bryan school district is currently at $1.04 on the maintenance and operation tax rate, and we are seeking voter approval to increase that rate to $1.06.

Doing so triggers specialized funding from the state estimated at $3 million in new operating revenue annually. The rate also generates $1.4 million in additional local revenue on the M&O side. Overall, however, the total tax rate drops by 1 cent, from $1.35 to $1.34.

I agree with others who have said it seems odd to call a special election in order to lower the tax rate. As I mentioned, our state has a number of peculiar quirks in the public school funding system and in election law. Simply put, Bryan trustees have called for a special election to lower the total rate and generate more operating revenue for Bryan schools.

In the face of a $3.5 million deficit budget for the year ahead, its imperative that voters understand the facts and the options available to us. Our choices are to reduce the districts fund balance (essentially our savings account) by $3.5 million or, in the event of a successful election outcome, generate $4.4 million in new revenue to plug the hole.

Early voting runs Sept. 25-29 and Oct. 2-6 at Arena Hall on Tabor Road. Polling locations on Oct. 10 include Arena Hall, the Brazos Center and the Brazos County Administration Building.

To help our community more fully understand the facts about the upcoming Tax Ratification Election, the district has published an extensive informational website (tre.bryanisd.org) complete with frequently asked questions, explanatory graphics, a Tax Ratification Election presentation, a brief informational video, news clips, ballot language, board actions, timelines, voting information and more.

We hope voters will consider carefully the information presented there. We also hope that our efforts to explain this seemingly complex issue will assist our community in casting an informed vote. In summary, a yes vote would allow us to utilize the golden pennies for more than $4 million in new operating revenue and would create an overall decrease in taxes by 1 cent. A no vote would keep our funding the same, and the district would search for other ways to cut the budget  with no benefit from additional operating revenue.

I sincerely appreciate your continued support of both Bryan schools and me. Its an honor to live in Bryan and to lead this great district. God bless your family, and thank you for sending us your precious children every day.

Christie L. Whitbeck is superintendent of Bryan schools.
Ballot wording

On Oct. 10, voters in the Bryan school district will be asked to approve a special Tax Ratification Election that involves so-called golden pennies. By increasing the maintenance and operations tax rate from $1.04 to $1.06, the school district would generate a badly needed additions $4.4 million in revenue  $3 million of that from the state. By coupling that 2-cent increase with a 3-cent decrease in the debt portion of the school tax, property owners would see a new 1-cent per $100 in assessed valuation drop in school taxes.

The state-mandated wording of the ballot for the Tax Ratification Election can be confusing. By voting yes, Bryan school district taxpayers are approving the 2-cent increase in maintenance and operation taxes, which would give property owners in the Bryan district a net decrease of 1-cent per $100 assessed value.

Bryan Independent School District Proposition A

Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $1.34 Per $100 valuation in the Bryan Independent School District for the current year, a rate that is $0.013869 Higher per $100 valuation than the school district rollback tax rate, for the purpose of generating additional local and state revenue for district maintenance and operations resulting in a decrease of the overall tax rate by $0.01.

Distrito escolar independiente de Bryan, Proposicion A

Que aprueba la tasa de impuestos de acuerdo a su valor de $1.34 por $100 de valuacion en el distrito escolar independiente de bryan para el ano actual, tasa que es $0.013869 mas alta por $100 de valuacion que la tasa reducida de impuestos del distrito escolar, con el proposito de generar ingresos locales y estatales adicionales para el mantenimiento y las operaciones del distrito, resultando en una disminucion de la tasa de impuestos totales de $0.01.
By dawns very early light on Friday morning, Jefferson Elementary students, some holding the hands of their parents, approached Broadwell Park and the Jefferson Elementary construction site to wait for buses to take them to school.

Other Jefferson students gathered at various churches near the construction area, where they waited to board their bus on the south side of town.

Those rides are necessary for this school year and the next because the school that had been at 1314 W. Seventh St. is now a construction site for the new Jefferson Elementary scheduled to open in two years, just in time for the start of the 2019-20 academic year.

Everyone has the timing down for the new routine, with many kids and their parents showing up between 6:40 and 6:45 a.m. for a bus they expect to arrive at Broadwell Park and then promptly depart at 6:50. Billy and Mikayla Olinger showed up to see their son, Jax, climb aboard. Billy said getting on the bus requires everyone in the family to get up earlier in the morning, but he said nobody really minds.

He said he grew up in Denver, where he always had to ride the bus to school, so he feels as though he is passing down a bit of legacy when he helps his son take the bus to school.

Other students who got on the bus at Broadwell Park, including brothers Isaiah Sterling, who is a fourth-grader, and Matthew Roberson, who is a fifth-grader, said they like taking the bus to school. Isaiah said taking the bus gives him the opportunity to make new friends, while Matthew said he likes being able to ride the bus for free.

Another student, Brandon Myers, said he likes the bus because the driver doesnt talk to any students while he is driving the bus to school.

Principal Sheree Stockwell said one ironclad decision was quickly made, which is to call their new school Jefferson Elementary. She pointed out that every child attending the school is a Jefferson Elementary student, while all the instructors, paraeducators and other adults are part of the Jefferson Elementary staff. Stockwell is the Jefferson Elementary principal. Consequently, the only name that makes sense for the building is Jefferson Elementary.

But Stockwell acknowledged that whenever she is out in the community and talking to a local resident about where she works, she must describe the school as the old Starr Elementary, just so that person will know the exact location of the building, which is 315 Wyandotte.

Stockwell said implementing the new transportation system has gone fairly smoothly.

About 25 students ride the bus that starts out from Broadwell Park; about 80 students ride the two buses that start out from Seventh Street at the Jefferson Elementary construction site; and about 45 students ride a bus that makes a round of churches in the Jefferson Elementary area. It goes from one church to the other, but all the kids are on the same bus. The church bus gets here a little later, so the students eat breakfast around 7:40 (a.m.), Stockwell said.

Students who board the Broadwell Park and the construction site buses run on an earlier schedule that gets them to the school breakfast table sooner. Breakfast is ready at 7:10 (a.m.), Stockwell noted.

The principal said a total of 150 students are riding the bus this year. With an enrollment of 260, that leaves about 110 young people who are getting rides to school with their parents. Stockwell said that makes the school parking lot relatively quiet in both the morning and afternoon. In fact, Jefferson Elementary is likely the only school in the district that does not have traffic jams at the beginning and end of the school day.

The afternoon bus routes are not simply a reversal of the routes run by the four buses in the morning.

Stockwell said for afternoon dismissal, the two construction site buses come and the kids leave on them. Those buses drop the kids off and thats where we need the crossing guard because those buses come right back to school to pick up the other kids. On that second run, one bus will drop students off at Broadwell Park and the second bus will drop the remaining students off at the various churches where they had been picked up in the morning. That gives the students who ride the later buses some time to participate in a brief after-school club.

Stockwell noted that to get ready for the 2017-18 school year, all Jefferson teachers had to pack their classroom materials in labeled boxes, which were moved by other members of the GIPS staff to the gymnasium at the new Jefferson on Wyandotte Street. Jeffersons custodians then moved the boxes from the gym to individual classrooms.

Our custodial staff, Paul (Galles) and Ken (Ruff), put all the boxes in the right rooms. They were amazing, she said.

Returning Jefferson students registered for 2017-18 by going online last spring, but Stockwell said students who moved into the Jefferson attendance area on the north side of Grand Island during the summer months had to come to Jefferson Elementary on the south side of town to get registered.

To help the transition for students who ride the Jefferson buses, members of the GIPS central office staff rode on the buses with them for the first three days of the school year. Those people included Robin Dexter, Toni Palmer, Virgil Harden and Shanna Gannon.

And we had (Jefferson) teachers ride the buses the first couple of days, Stockwell added.

While student and parent schedules may be altered this year on the way to school, everything falls back into a familiar routine after students reach Jefferson Elementary. The kids first order of business is to put their backpacks and coats on the gym floor to form a straight line with the backpacks and coats of their classmates. The next order of business is eating breakfast.

After that, students walk around the gym to get some morning exercise before classes begin.

Stockwell said each day of the week has a special theme for students, with the final school day called Fancy Feet Friday. That means students line up with their classmates to do a peppy little dance. Immediately after the dance ends, they turn to the American flag on the wall and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Jefferson School on the south side of town does share one big thing in common with the north side Jefferson Elementary. Both are open-design schools with many classrooms that do not have doors. Each school was designed with a library in the center of the building, so there is often student traffic moving through when other students are trying to have classes in that space.

Stockwell said it will be really nice when everyone moves back to their permanent Jefferson Elementary home.
As Nebraska celebrates its 150th anniversary of statehood, that celebration was witnessed with the technological innovations that define modern agriculture and its future at Husker Harvest Days (HHD).

But the past wasnt forgotten, either, as area farmers brought their older farm equipment to display at the event.

Another reminder of Nebraskas 150 years could be found at HHD: Melody Dobson and Jody L. Lamp of the American Door Stop Project were present to sell and sign their new book, A History of Nebraska Agriculture: A Life Worth Living.

The book celebrates the states forgotten and untold agricultural history, including a chapter about Grand Island, when the community had the reputation of being the Worlds Largest Horse and Mule Market at the old Bradstreet Livestock Commission on Fourth Street.

Dobson said she and Lamp met in 2012 and began a collaboration as the national coordinators of a documentary called, The Great American Wheat Harvest.

We were able to put our skills and talents together to realize that we enjoyed being agriculture advocates and to be ambassadors for agriculture, Dobson said. We wanted to continue our work together in doing something that means a lot to us  preserving our ag history, our own homesteading roots.

Dobson and Lamp were asked by The History Press, publishers of their new book, to do a series of books about agriculture that talked about the states they were related to  Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota.

In the meantime, we were also working on a national book through a program we created called the American Door Stop Project that puts a spotlight to history, Dobson said.

She said Americas legacy is defined by its agrarian roots and those farmers and ranchers were the first advocates of helping make America the breadbasket of the world. We wanted to share these national stories that had impact that we have maybe forgotten, Dobson said.

A History of Nebraska Agriculture: A Life Worth Living is an overview of many of these forgotten stories that helped define Nebraska as one of the worlds leading agricultural centers in crop and livestock production.

So much happened in Nebraska, Dobson said. With the transition of the country from East to West and as we got to Omaha, we had the railroad, which created a new way for distribution. The book describes some of these forgotten but very, very important significant events. Had they not happened, maybe we would be a little bit different.

Dobson said it would be impossible to tell every family story about the pioneers and builders of Nebraskas agricultural history. But we tell stories that every family can relate too, she said.

Along with the story of Grand Islands reputation of being the worlds leading horse and mule market, there are stories about water development in Nebraska.

It was an education process, Dobson said. Some people dont know those days when Grand Island was the worlds largest horse and mule market.

In 2009, Dobson said Lamp was working for the Billings Livestock Commission in Montana and wanted to learn about the history of that company. Lamp was encouraged to visit with one of the founders of the business and was told that the companys founder was from Grand Island.

In 2013 we started traveling here (Grand Island) and we found out that the original creators of the markets here was from Billings, she said. That was the connection. From there, it propelled into learning this grand story of how Grand Island was, once upon a time, the worlds largest horse and mule market.

The last vestige of that historic legacy ended in 2004 when the Bradstreet Livestock Commission closed.

Both Dobson and Lamp said they are delighted to have their book published during Nebraskas 150th birthday.

It is an important time as it brings all of us back to a conversation that we never want to forget, Dobson said. That is why we have these celebrations  to remember where we came from so we know where to go.

The book can be found at the Stuhr Museum gift shop, online at popular book sellers such as Amazon.com, at www.historypress.net or at www.americandoorstopproject.com.
By Jeff Bahr

Grand Island employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are expected to move into an existing building at 703 S. Webb Road on or around Nov. 15, according to the General Services Administration.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The building will also house employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Tanya Roman, a public affairs officer for the GSA in Kansas City.

The Department of Agriculture is expected to move into the building in or around January of next year, Roman said.

ICE employees in Grand Island have long worked at the former Sears building at 401 W. Third St. Their offices occupy about 7,000 square feet on the buildings main floor, said Realtor Don Mehring.

The building on Webb Road, owned by Ted Robb, is being remodeled to suit the needs of ICE and the Department of Agriculture.

This past week, Hall County Corrections Director Todd Bahensky said there were 78 ICE prisoners in Hall County Jail.

They tend to bring people in and out in large groups, so the numbers tend to fluctuate, Bahensky said.

One day the jail might have 90 ICE inmates, and the next day it might be 70, he said.

Bahensky has told ICE hed like to cap the number at 90, to make sure theres room for local inmates. But the number is not a firm ceiling.

Weve had as many as 100 in the last couple of months, he said.

When Bahensky became interim corrections director in September 2015, the jail sometimes held five or six ICE prisoners. The number dropped to zero for a while. The tally then increased to 20 or 30. The number has risen this year.

If Hall County desired, the jail could take in even more ICE and U.S. Marshals Service inmates. But the jails first obligation is to local law enforcement, Bahensky said.
WASHINGTON  The man in charge of the nations environmental policy has a remarkable outlook on preventing a repeat of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

It boils down to: Oh, for heavens sake, lets move on.

Scott Pruitt is the fox in charge of the hen house. Really. In Oklahoma, as attorney general, he spent years suing the Environmental Protection Agency. The man hated the EPA. Now he is head of the EPA. Really.

Scientists have figured out that hurricanes are stronger, bigger and more dangerous because warming ocean temperatures spawn monster storms. Climate change, worsened by burning fossil fuels, is warming oceans. Storms will get worse.

Harvey dumped as much as 52 inches of rain on parts of Texas and caused billions of dollars in damage that will take years to remedy. Irma was one of the mightiest Category 5 hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. More are coming.

Pruitt does not believe climate change is a real, scientific, preventable phenomenon. He will not push businesses to take steps to prevent it, such burning less coal and oil. Neither will his boss. President Donald Trump dismisses climate change as a hoax. The storm-ravaged, exhausted, heartsick people of Florida, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana probably wonder who is playing this nasty hoax on them.

Pruitt will go down in history as saying this about the links between climate change and Irmas ferocity: To use time and effort to address it at this point is very, very insensitive to ... people in Florida, he snapped. He made a similar statement about Harveys victims. So apparently, talking about climate change in hurricane season is just a misplaced waste of time.

Denying climate change is now official U.S. policy. References to it have been removed from government websites. Vital climate change research is being ended or curtailed. New projects are not being funded. Shortly after taking office, Trump famously diminished U.S. stature in the world by taking us out of a climate pact all developed nations had signed. White House officials wont even take questions about climate change. Voila! It has disappeared as a problem to be solved.

According to the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies and NASA, rising global temperatures and more extreme, frequent rainstorms are linked. Not just in theory. In fact.

You may say, I dont believe it. But, friends, this is not a matter of religious-like belief. Facts are facts or they wouldnt be facts. An intellectually honest person cannot, in good conscience, say, I choose not to believe climate change is real.

Climate change deniers are the modern-day equivalent of those who said, I dont care what the facts are, the world is flat, or, Earth is the center of the universe. Deniers say the increasing destruction caused by natural events is just cyclical, not a permanent condition. Their motto: I dont care what science says.

Yes, weather and climate are different entities. Yes, hurricanes happen annually. But in the last 40 years, mans destruction of the ozone layer has contributed to making hurricanes more catastrophic and deadlier. Climate is changing weather patterns, making them more extreme. Floods are worse; droughts are worse.

Future generations will incredulously wonder how we managed to stick our heads in such hot sand.

But we know, of course, that denying reality is required in the Trump administration. Despite an overwhelming mountain of facts, this administration refuses to admit the Russians went to outrageous lengths to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

Nah. Just another hoax, says Trump.

Wouldnt it be great if this whole Trump being president thing were just a hoax? If only we could pick and choose our hoaxes instead of being boxed in by those pesky things once known as facts.

In Scott Pruitts world, carbon dioxide doesnt cause climate change because he doesnt want it to. In Pruitts world, which is also Trumps, choosing which hoaxes to believe in is business as usual and good for business. But only in the short term.
After eight frustrating months in office, President Trump seems to be confronting a long-overdue question: Does he want to govern the country? Or does he want to sink deeper into a feckless cycle of tweets and tantrums that capture cable news ratings but make little impact on how people live?

One small sign that Trump actually wants to be more than a glorified circus performer: his decision to work with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on a hurricane relief bill that also raised the debt limit and funded the government for three months.

I think we will have a different relationship than weve been watching over the last number of years. I hope so, exulted the president, who then invited the two Democrats to dinner. I think thats a great thing for our country. And I think thats what the people of the United States want to see ... They want to see coming together to an extent.

Yes, that is what many Americans want to see, but extreme caution is necessary here. So far, Trump has done precisely the opposite, using incendiary issues  illegal immigrants, transgender soldiers, ultra-right marchers  to drive wedges through the electorate, energize his supporters and demonize his opponents. Coming together is absolutely the last idea to animate Trumps White House.

Moreover, the president has repeatedly proven to be an impulsive and even reckless leader, with no compass to guide him beyond the gorging of his gargantuan ego. In eight months, he has totally squandered the most valuable commodity in public life: goodwill. Few politicians trust Trump. And why should they?

He is a politician driven by the latest expression of approval, given to abrupt shifts in approach and tone, writes Peter Baker in the New York Times. He is a man of the moment, and the moment often does not last.

Still, if Trump actually sees his deal with the Democrats as a model for future bargains, perhaps some hard truths about life in the capital are starting to get through.

Republicans formally control both houses of Congress, but their leaders dont command a clear governing majority in either body. With only 52 Senators, the GOP cannot break most Democratic filibusters, and some of their more pragmatic members are quite willing to act independently  as they did in rejecting the repeal of Obamacare.

In the House, Republicans have a 46-vote majority, but 40 or so members of the hardline Freedom Caucus have for years now thwarted any leaders who try to engage in the negotiations and compromises that governing requires.

Outside Capitol Hill, Trump has failed to expand his political base. His favorable ratings hover below 40 percent  38 percent in the latest Gallup poll  and on many other questions, his reputation is even more damaged. Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson reviewed a batch of surveys and concluded that only about 1 in 4 voters is with him no matter what.

Thats the number who strongly support him, trust all or most of what he says, approve his use of Twitter and think he acts in a way that is fitting and proper for a president, she wrote in the Washington Examiner.

Their backing was enough, barely, to defeat a deeply flawed Democratic campaign. Its not enough, not nearly enough, to govern the country. So what happens now?

The hurricane funding bill was an easy lift, but if Trump is serious  a huge if  several other problems could lend themselves to bipartisan solutions. Responsible legislators, encouraged by Republican governors, are drafting legislation to shore up the insurance marketplaces created by Obamacare. Promoting that rescue effort, which Trump derides as a bailout for insurance companies, would be a good start toward coming together.

Then there are the Dreamers, about 800,000 young people brought here as children who are now job-holding, tax-paying patriots. Trump could facilitate legislation that protects them from deportation, a move that would truly be, in his words, a great thing for the country. Another great thing would be for the president to embrace a consensus effort on Capitol Hill to expand federal funding for biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health.

None of this will be easy. Left-wing Democrats are deeply committed to resisting Trump at every turn. The presidents base could be outraged by some of his deals, like protecting the Dreamers.

But Trump should at least try coming together. Pulling the nation apart, his operating philosophy for the last eight months, has been a complete disaster.
Some people believe men occupy more space than they really need.

When my wife comes to bed each night, she says theres no room for her to sleep.

You take up the whole darn bed, she says.

During the night, she says Im constantly flopping around, leaving the blankets and sheets all torn up.

You sleep corner to corner with your arms spread out. Theres no room for me, she says.

Throughout my turbulent night of sleeping, she says, she clings to the edge of the bed.

She occupies the same three inches of space, whether Im in bed or not, she says. Unlike me, my wife does not toss and turn.

Because she occupies such a small area, she can make her side of the bed in seconds. But when it comes to my side of the bed, which looks like a scene of civil unrest, she has to start almost from scratch.

A king-size bed, she says, cannot contain me.

Maybe I do sleep diagonally from time to time. But I maintain that I move over when she comes to bed. I think she just gets tired of telling me to shove over.

When we stay in a motel, Kenna always asks for twin beds. She always claims the bed closest to the bathroom.

Ive talked to other women who are squeezed for space. A co-worker said that between her husband and the dogs, theres not much room left for her.

I mentioned to my wife that Fergie and Josh Duhamel separated this week. Maybe Fergie was tired of Josh being a bed hog.

Some couples have separate bedrooms. I bet its always the wifes idea.

My wife hasnt asked for separate bedrooms. But she says adjustable beds with split mattresses, advertised on TV, look more appealing by the day.

Women have coined a term for mans tendency to sprawl. Its called manspread. In airports and waiting rooms, women say, the average man can take up two or three chairs while lounging or doing work.

Maybe its just part of our warrior instinct. Men like to conquer adjoining spaces.

This week, on a flight, my daughter found a man sitting in her seat, which was on the aisle. She asked him to move.

Atta girl! Dont let him manspread onto your aisle seat, a friend wrote online.

Kenna is very happy because she has her own bathroom, which was one of her primary goals in life.

But women are also good at filling up available space. Kennas collection of health products is spread out all over her bathroom.

Kennas territorial concerns involve more than sleeping arrangements and bathrooms.

She says my papers and precious belongings expand to cover every flat surface in the home. I simply dont agree. I have plans to pick up all that stuff. I just havent gotten around to it.

Its clear to me why men toss and turn during the night. We fight such tremendous battles each day that its silly to expect a fitful sleep.

I was proud to learn that my first grandson likes to sleep all sprawled out. I hope his new brother also learns its against our nature to be constrained.

When men finally get a chance to relax, we should never feel limited by time or space.

Jeff Bahr is a reporter for The Independent. He may be reached at (308) 381-9408.
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Linkedin KEMENKO PMK (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Mon, September 18, 2017

Indonesia is proud to be the organizer of the upcoming Europalia arts and cultural festival, which will be kick-started on Oct. 10 in Brussels, Belgium, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani announced recently.

The minister said the festival would feature the countrys 316 artists who will light up 40 cities across Belgium with their performances.

The festival will feature an array of events that will last until January 2018, Puan said on the sidelines of a coordination meeting for the festival at her office on Sept. 14.

She added that high officials from both countries, comprising Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Belgium King Philippe, would also attend the festivals opening ceremony.

According to Puan, Indonesia is eager to organize the international festival due to its prestige. The government allocated around Rp 160 billion to support the upcoming festival, she added.

- (-/-)

Aside from being an opportunity for us to showcase our arts and culture, this festival could also help us promote our tourism, in both its economic and cultural aspects, Puan said, accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy.

Indonesian arts and cultural delegates will organize 360 events during the festival. They will also visit France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, the United Kingdom UK and Poland to perform in these countries. The events will also be complemented by public relations campaigns in various media outlets as well as display advertisements on Wonderful Indonesia tourism promotions featured on 150 taxis across London.

Besides performing arts, the festival will also showcase other attractions: artwork, artifacts, presentations of Indonesias top tourist destinations, literary corners as well as film screenings. The festival will also present a business talk hosted by Kalla and will be attended by not only Belgian businesspeople but also those from the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Puan also hoped the organizing committee would work hard to prepare the festival in a meticulous manner.

Pay attention to the delegates food, health as well as travel insurance and allowances so they can fully concentrate on their performance, she added.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 12:10 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f1a30 4 Lifestyle LEKAT,LEKAT-Amanda-Indah-Lestari,Tenun-Baduy,Paris-Fashion-Week,fashion,#fashion Free

After previously showcasing at the 2017 London Fashion Week in February, local brand LEKAT is set to bring tenun (woven textile) Baduy to the Paris Fashion Week.

Designed by Amanda Indah Lestari, LEKAT is said to be the only brand from Indonesia at the event.

LEKAT will reportedly showcase its latest 24 collections on the runway of the Oxford Fashion Studio in Hotel dEvreux on Sept. 28 under the theme "Bringing the Beauty of Baduy to Paris Fashion Week."

Read also: London Fashion Week opens with boost from big brands

A post shared by LEKAT (@lekatdihati) on Nov 3, 2016 at 10:23pm PDT

It will also make an appearance in Tranoi in Carrousel du Louvre and the Palais de la Bourse from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2.

Tranoi is a platform that connects designers and buyers, including Galeries Lafayette, Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstorm.

I want to combine the current trend of denim with Baduy traditional woven art to create a new and different look, Amanda told tempo.co, adding that she wanted to give a modern touch to the woven textile with a unique cut and embroidery.

The designer also said she sought to tell the story of the women making the garments in Baduy village through her works. (wir/kes)
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Linkedin Ellen Huet (Bloomberg) San Francisco, United States  Sun, September 17, 2017 20:46 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2100da6 2 Science & Tech technology,social-media,productivity,Slack Free

Workplace chat service Slack Technologies is used in more than 100 countries, but until now, its only been available in English.

The San Francisco-based startup said Tuesday that its software, which lets teams send messages and collaborate on projects, will now be available in French, German and Spanish, with Japanese coming later this year.

The highest number of Slacks users are in the US, followed by the UK, Japan and Germany, Chief Executive Officer Stewart Butterfield said. Fifty-five percent of its weekly active users are outside of the US, mostly in Europe and Asia.

Microsoft offers support for Teams, the product it built to compete with Slack, in 20 languages. Atlassian Corp.s HipChat service is designed primarily for English, but offers users the option to communicate in a language of choice. Slack said its language support covers every part of the user experience from customer help to emoji names.

Slack also debuted shared channels, which allow users in two different paid Slack teams to create a specific channel for collaborating with people outside the company such as vendors and consultants.

Slack now has more than 9 million weekly active users and 6 million daily active users. More than 2 million people pay to use the service on more than 50,000 paid teams, and the company said in June it had US$200 million in revenue from subscriptions.

About a year ago, the company had 4 million daily active users and had more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 13:11 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f2339 4 Science & Tech WeChat,victoria-and-albert-museum,exhibition Free

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London has just added China-based app WeChat into its collection, making the museum the first to collect social media application.

WeChat becomes the part of the museums Design, Architecture and Digital (DAD) collections that aim to represent the most influential and relevant design objects of the time. Located in Gallery 76 of the museum, the app is displayed on a mobile phone alongside digital stickers and sketches.

WeChat becomes the part of the museums Design, Architecture and Digital (DAD) collections that aim to represent the most influential and relevant design objects of the time. (Victoria & Albert Museum/File)

V&As decision to feature WeChat came from the museums ongoing work and research in Shenzen, China, as part of its curatorial work there leading up to the opening of the V&A Gallery at design hub Design Society in December this year.

Both Luisa Mengoni, head of the V&A Gallery, and Brendan Cormier, lead curator of the V&A Gallery, downloaded the app when they were in Shenzen. They realized that WeChat has influenced the daily life and working habits in China.

We were surprised to hear from architects running large practices who claimed that their entire office ran on WeChat, wrote Cormier on V&As official website, adding that the app is also able to hail a taxi. WeChat Pay has also skyrocketed, and each time I visit Shenzen, I see more and more phones being scanned at the cash register instead of cash being exchanged.

Read also: Three local artists to look out for at the Indonesia-Singapore 'Rising 50' exhibition

However, the question that lingered was how the museum will exhibit the app, especially because all social media apps require connection to a server in order to function well. We couldnt, for example, simply download their [WeChat] APK [Android Package Kit] file, store it somewhere and then fire it up in one hundred years on an emulator, wrote Cormier. If the server didnt exist in one hundred years, then the app wouldnt work.

As the result, the display in the V&A Museum uses a demo version of the APK from 2017 and it was specially made for the museum by the Tencent Technology (Shenzen) Company Limited, the developer of the app. It enables the software running without having to access the server, thus ensuring functionality and engagement for visitors.

The WeChat display in the V&A Museum uses a demo version of the APK from 2017 and it was specially made for the museum by the Tencent Technology (Shenzen) Company Limited, the developer of the app. (Victoria & Albert Museum/File)

This acquisition represents a snapshot of a globally consumed social media platform. Its a fantastically important addition to our collection of digital design, reflecting the ever-changing way we communicate and consume information, said Tim Reeve, the deputy director of the V&A, in a press release.

Developed by Zhang Xiaolong and was launched in 2011, WeChat is one of the most popular platforms and it has connected more than 963 million monthly active users worldwide. (wir/asw)
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Linkedin Rachmadea Aisyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, September 16 2017

The company that now owns the licence to sell Nokia smartphones is upbeat about the brands comeback to the smartphone market as it launches its three first Android-powered devices  the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 - in Indonesia this week.

Finnish startup HMD Global would rely on the well-known brand name as well as high quality devices to regain a place for Nokia as one of the top brands in Indonesias mobile phone industry, HMD Globals country manager for Indonesia, Mark Trundle, said on Thursday.

Nokias strength was amplified by its latest collaboration with Google to implement the new Android Nougat operating system and with Taiwan-based manufacturer Foxconn to produce desirable products at competitive prices, Trundle said.

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh  Sun, September 17, 2017 15:42 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f6c68 2 World refugee-children,Myanmar,Bangladesh,Rohingya-Muslims,UnitedNations Free

Some 600,000 Rohingya children could flee to Bangladesh by the end of the year, a relief group said Sunday, highlighting the scale of the humanitarian crisis triggered by violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

More than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have now arrived in Bangladesh from their Buddhist dominated homeland to escape violence that the United Nations says could be ethnic cleansing.

According to the UN, more than half of the refugees are children, and more than 1,100 have arrived alone after trekking mud roads and hills for days.

"That number could rise beyond one million by the end of the year if the influx continues, including about 600,000 children, according to UN agencies," Mark Pierce, the Bangladesh chief of Save the Children charity, said.

The UN has also said it was possible that all the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya could flee Rakhine.

Bangladesh and relief agencies are struggling to cope with new arrivals sheltering on roadsides, hills and open spaces close to existing camps around Cox's Bazar, which borders Myanmar.

Aid agencies have said thousands of Rohingya were half-starving and a major health emergency could break out.

Bangladesh has announced it will build 14,000 shelters for some 400,000 refugees but has said it was also readying a desolate island where many could be relocated.

Pierce said his group was particularly worried about the traumatised children and orphans who have arrived alone in Bangladesh.

"This is a real concern as these children are in an especially vulnerable position, being at increased risk of exploitation and abuse, as well as things like child trafficking, he said.

"Some children have witnessed violence and killing. Some have been shot at, others have seen their homes set on fire. Some have reportedly watched their parents being killed," he said.
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Linkedin Rachel O'Brien (Agence France-Presse) Belgrade, Serbia  Sun, September 17, 2017 19:56 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20ff8cb 2 World gay-parade,Serbia,Prime-Minister,lesbian Free

Serbia's lesbian prime minister on Sunday joined hundreds of activists with rainbow flags for Belgrade's annual gay march, an event held under heavy security in the conservative country.

Ana Brnabic, 41, became one of the first openly gay government leaders in the world when she came to power in June, but activists say homophobia remains a widespread problem in Serbia.

"The Serbian government is there for all citizens, both majority and minority, to show that it respects diversity," Brnabic said before joining the Pride parade, Beta news agency reported.

In 2010, the parade descended into clashes between anti-gay protesters and police, injuring more than a hundred people and prompting the event to be banned for three years.

This is the fourth consecutive year the march has gone ahead under a large security presence, and the first time a prime minister has attended.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as marchers walked through the cordoned-off city centre.

About 2,000 police officers were deployed -- less than half the number on duty for last year's peaceful parade, according to organisers.

"You can see the borders of freedom are shifting and, in this respect, our society has made great progress in recent years," Brnabic said in an interview published Sunday in the newspaper Politika.

Brnabic was selected to be premier by her predecessor, Aleksandar Vucic, after he was elected president. She entered politics less than a year earlier as public administration minister.

The surprise move made international headlines, but sceptics suspected an attempt at "pinkwashing," with Brnabic used as a puppet by Vucic to improve Serbia's image as it campaigns to join the European Union.

Critics accuse Vucic, who remains the country's most powerful politician, of being a populist authoritarian who has clamped down on media freedom.

Some also suspect that his SNS party's hard-right roots gives it leverage over some far-right organizations and the ability to deter them from disrupting Pride.

At a conference on hate speech on Friday, Brnabic dismissed as "nonsense" the accusation that she had been chosen merely because of her sexual orientation.

A technocrat with a business background, Brnabic has expressed hope in interviews that people will look beyond her sexual orientation, distancing herself from LGBT issues.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 16:33 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f98e4 1 Politics PKI,film,army,propaganda Free

The Army has instructed its personnel to hold screenings of the propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (Betrayal of the Communists) on Sept. 30.

An internal message carrying the instruction has recently been circulating on social media, prompting the Army to confirm it.

Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Wuryanto said that such a mandatory screening would be crucial to get across the "correct" version of history.

"Thirty September is an important date for our country. These days, we deal with so many efforts to twist facts about the historical events of Sept. 30, 1965," he said as quoted by tempo.co.

He said the film could provide key information regarding what happened on the fateful date, especially for the young generation, who was not given enough education on civic matters and Pancasila since the start of the Reform Era.

Pengkhianatan G30SPKI, which is directed by acclaimed director Arifin C. Noer, tells the story of Gen. Soeharto in quashing a coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). In the big-budget film, communists are depicted as godless savages who mutilated military officers in a frenzy.

Under the New Order regime, the movie was made mandatory viewing and was broadcast on public television annually on the night of Sept. 30.

Topics : PKI film army propaganda
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 17:45 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20fd81a 1 City Airport,soekarno-hatta-airport,Transportation,skytrain Free

The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's skytrain, which commenced operations on Sunday, is expected to connect with the Dukuh Atas railway station near downtown Jakarta by December this year.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said that once the connection was made, travelers only needed to board a train from Dukuh Atas to reach the international airport.

"In December, the entire network for this skytrain will be complete and will be in operation simultaneously," Budi Karya said as quoted by tempo.co.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno kicked off the skytrain operations in a ceremony on Sunday.

The train will launch on a limited section of the track to connect Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 in the first phase of operations, before connecting all three terminals in November.

Spokesperson for airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II Yado Yarismano said once the entire network was complete, passengers bound for Soekarno-Hatta could catch a train from all stations in Greater Jakarta and would alight at the airport railway station before taking the skytrain to their intended terminal.

A brief power outage affected the ceremony on Sunday. No disruption of service was reported, tempo.co said.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, September 18 2017

Bekasi Health Agency head Kusnanto Saidi has urged residents to protect themselves against infections that could lead to pneumonia amid hot temperatures over the last month.

Children were often more susceptible to catching pneumonia owing to their weak metabolism, however that did not mean adults were safe, he said.

Were entering a transition period, so were prone to getting sick. Pneumonia can be transmitted through air and bad habits such as smoking, he said on Sunday, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com.

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Linkedin Ferdinandh Cabrera (Agence France-Presse) Marawi, Philippines  Sun, September 17, 2017 17:15 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20fcd6e 2 SE Asia IS,Philippines,Marawi,military Free

The Philippine military said Sunday it had captured the command centre of Islamic State group supporters who have besieged a southern city for nearly four months.

Security forces have engaged in ferocious street-to-street combat and launched airstrikes in their efforts to expel the fighters from Marawi, in a battle that has left 800 dead and raised fears that IS is looking to establish a Southeast Asian base in the Philippines.

The military said it had captured the militants' control centre in a deadly operation that began Saturday against a mosque and another building.

"This enormous (military) gain further weakened the terrorist group by denying them their erstwhile command and control hub," military chief General Eduardo Ano said in a statement.

"As follow up and clearing operations continue, we expect the enemy to yield more previously occupied positions, but not without a fight," he said. "We are ready for that."

Colonel Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the task force battling the militants, said the military had encountered some of the heaviest resistance in recovering the mosque.

Its capture may be a sign that the prolonged fighting with the Maute militant group, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to IS, may be nearing a conclusion, he said.

"We believe we are close to the end. The area where the Maute terrorist group can move is shrinking. We noticed that their resistance is weakening," Brawner told AFP.

"They are retreating while we are assaulting but in the process of doing so, we are encountering many improvised explosive devices so we cannot just advance. We have to be very careful," he said.

One soldier was killed and seven others were wounded in the battle, he said.

Brawner said they had hoped to rescue numerous civilian hostages when they captured the mosque but they found no one.

In the once-bustling city, gunfire could still be heard ringing out in the distance as troops backed by armoured vehicles, pressed towards militant positions.

The rubble-strewn streets of Marawi were practically empty except for scores of heavily armed soldiers securing the area. Philippine aircraft and an American P-3 Orion spyplane flew above the city.

Topics : IS Philippines Marawi military
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 17:16 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20fd3e8 4 News Banyuwangi,nature-tourism-park,travel,destination,#destination,tourism,De-Djawatan-Benculuk Free

Visitors to Banyuwangi in East Java may want to stop by De Djawatan Benculuk, a sprawling green area with unique, towering trees.

Located 45 kilometers from the Banyuwangi city center, the area measures some 6 hectares in size.

"This area is owned by [state-owned forestry firm] Perhutani. The locals call it the forest in the city. The trees here are trembesi trees," Puji Widodo, the Perhutani's local forest ranger told kompas.com recently.

Puji added that the De Djawatan Benculuk area had been developed [for recreational purposes] over the past three months and was now maintained in cooperation with the Banyuwangi Tourism Agency. Puji said it previously served as a teak wood area.

Read also: Banyuwangi's must-visit tourist attractions

A post shared by Traveling Banyuwangi (@traveling_banyuwangi) on Sep 13, 2017 at 9:40pm PDT

"The trembesi trees are more than 100 years old," he said.

The De Djawatan Benculuk area management has prepared several photo spots for visitors. Two of the spots are elevated to afford a good view of the trees as well as on old trucks on the ground for photographs.

Footpaths are also set out for visitors who want to walks around the woods. The area is already popular for pre-wedding pictures and as a picnic destination.

Celin, 26, a visitor from Jember, said she had found out about the park on Instagram. She had come to visit it with some friends from university.

"I had originally thought it would be just average. When I came here, it turned out to be even better than on Instagram. It's like [being in] the Lord of the Rings," Celin said, referring to the fantasy movie. (liz/kes)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 16:05 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f87c3 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Mount-Bromo Free

If you're looking for the best spot to catch a sunrise view from Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, then head over to Kingkong Hill and Love Hill in Wonokitri village, East Java.

Kingkong and Love hills are two interesting spots to catch the sunrise and view of Bromo and Batok mountains, explained the head of the reporting evaluation data and public relations subdivision at the park, Sarif Hidayat.

Both hills are located side by side, the Kingkong hill, however, has an uphill route.

The hill was named Kingkong because one protruding cliff in this hill resembles the face of a King Kong. The cliff was formed naturally and located right behind the safety fence.

King Kong hill is 2,600 meters above sea level and its lower than Penanjakan 1 Bromo area. Both Penanjakan 1 and 2 Bromo are the most-visited spots to catch the sunrise view.

Read also: Why American tourists don't come to Indonesia

From Kingkong Hill, visitors can also see the view of Bromo caldera, Mount Semeru and city views of Probolinggo and Pasuruan, said Sarif.

As for the Love Hill, legend has it that in the past two people met at Mount Bromo, the two eventually got married and went back to the spot where they first met and named it the Love Hill.

Recently, Bromo Tengger Semeru National park made an announcement that Penanjakan Hill is closed for tourists for three months from September 11 to December 10.

During this three-month period, the hill is undergoing renovations that include stairs, pavilions and tribune areas. The management is also creating new entry and exit paths for visitors, as well as repairing the fences.

Apart from Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, other national tourist destinations that are also being improved include Lake Toba, Belitung, Tanjung Lesung, Thousand Islands, Borobudur Temple, Mandalika Lombok, Komodo Island, Wakatobi National Park and Morotai. (asw)
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Linkedin (Pesona Indonesia) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 15:02 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f59d1 2 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Sail-Sabang Free

The upcoming Sail Sabang 2017 event that will be held in November 2017 is planned to welcome the new Indonesian ship called KRI Bima Suci.

Indonesian ambassador for Spain Yuli Mumpuni said the ship that has replaced KRI Dewa Suci will arrive in Surabaya on November 24, This is the biggest and most advanced training barquentine ship in the world, said Yuli.

The Indonesian embassy in Madrid has conducted the launching ceremony of KRI Bima Suci at the Port of Vigo on September 12.

The launch was officiated by Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Ade Supandi. With the launching ceremony, KRI Bima Suci is now officially a navy academy training ship.

Read also: Penglipuran: Cleanliness through conservation

Ade also officiated navy lieutenant colonel Widyatmoko Baruno Aji as the first commander of KRI Bima Suci who will also lead the Voyage Task Force and KJK 2017. Widyatmoko is in charge of bringing the ship to Indonesia.

The ship has the total length of 111.20 meters, a width of 13.65 meters and depth of 5.95 meters. The maximum height of its mast is 49 meters from the top deck level. It is also equipped with 26 sails that has the total area of 3,352-meter square. Moreover, the height of its main dock is 9.20 meters above sea level.

Sail Sabang 2017 will be held in Weh Island, Aceh from November 28 to December 5. The event will highlight on four places such as Sabang Bay, Sabang Fair, Gapang Resort and the 0 Point. The events finale will be held in Pasiran, Sabang Bay with President Joko Widodo is expected to attend. (asw)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 17, 2017 14:23 1884 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a20f4cdf 4 Tips Cirebon,#Cirebon,food,#food,snacks,travel,#travel,traveling,#traveling Free

Located three-hour drive from Jakarta, Cirebon in West Java is an ideal destination for those looking for a weekend getaway.

Here, visitors can do several activities, varying from batik shopping, culinary excursion to visiting historical places.

In addition to those activities, the port city also offers a plethora of food souvenirs that worth to try.

Kompas.com has compiled six must-buy food souvenirs from the Jewel of West Java.

Tjampolay syrup

Tjampolay syrup has become sort of an iconic beverage of Cirebon. The flavored-drink can be easily found in restaurant and hotels across the city.

Those wanting to bring a taste of Cirebon home can get a bottle of Tjampolay syrup. Priced at Rp 27,500 (US$2.07) per bottle, the syrup comes in various flavors, such as banana milk, strawberry, mocha, honeydew, lychee and more.

Read also: Cirebon to host festival of palaces across Indonesia

Tempeh and oncom crackers

Those looking for savory snacks may have a look at tempeh and oncom (fermented soy beans) crackers.

Unlike Bandung-style tempeh cracker, the former is battered in sago flour, resulting in a crunchy texture.

Both crackers are priced at Rp 25,000 per pack.

Shrimp-based snacks

Shrimp-based food is among popular local delicacies in Cirebon. Some of the most popular shrimp-based food souvenirs are shrimp crackers, shrimp floss and fried shrimp.

These shrimp snacks can last for quite a while, making it convenient to be given to friends and family back home.

The price starts from Rp 50,000 for 175 grams fried shrimp.

Read also: Independence Day recipe: Raffles Jakarta's 'tahu gejrot' salad

Empal gentong spice mix

Empal gentong (beef served from a clay barrel) is a trademark dish of Cirebon.

Those wanting to cook it at home may buy empal gentong spice mix. Priced at Rp 25,000 per package, it can be used to cook up to one kilogram beef meat.

Petis udang

In addition to the aforementioned shrimp-paste snacks, petis (shrimp paste) is another must have food souvenir from Cirebon.

Priced at Rp 25,000 per package, the Cirebon version is said to be less sweet compared with petis from Central Java, making it suitable to be used in sambal.

Cirebon sambal

Visitors to Cirebons souvenir center will find sambal goreng nasi jamblang (fried sambal for rice wrapped in teak leaves) and sambal goreng ikan jambal roti (fried sambal mixed with salted fish). Both sambals are accompaniment to the local dishes.

The former displays roughly chopped chilies. Meanwhile, the latter uses shrimp paste and tastes spicier compared with sambal goreng nasi jamblang. (jes/kes)
State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh has received a big boost in securing the Democratic nomination for Daniel Squadrons former State Senate seat. Party bosses are signaling they have settled on the Albany insider  just hours before party activists convene in Lower Manhattan to vote.

Last night, Brooklyn Democratic Leader Frank Seddio announced that Kings County Democratic leaders were throwing their support behind Kavanagh for the 26th Senate District seat. In a press release, Seddio said:

Brian Kavanagh has impressed his Brooklyn Assembly colleagues with his commitment to making government work for those who need it, whether mass transit riders, those who come in contact with our criminal justice system or tenants struggling to remain in their homes and their neighborhoods When Democrats finally get together to take control of the chamber, we are confident he will serve his Brooklyn constituents effectively and progressively with honor and dignity.

Kavanagh is one of five candidates vying for the nomination. The district includes most of Lower Manhattan and sections of the Brooklyn waterfront. In recent weeks, another candidate, Paul Newell, had won endorsements from Manhattan political clubs, including Downtown Independent Democrats, Lower East Side Democrats and a new organization, Grand Street Democrats. He was expected to be in a strong position if members of the local county committee were allowed to vote at todays meeting and to control the process.

Yesterday, however, we began to hear rumblings that Manhattan Democratic Party boss Keith Wright intended to influence the selection of a nominee for the Nov. 7 general election, and that he had settled on Kavanagh. Then leaders of several local political organizations made public a letter sent to Wright:

We write to you regarding the upcoming special election to fill the vacancy in the 26th State Senate District. We ask you to commit to fully supporting the candidate who receives a majority of the weighted vote of all voting Democratic County Committee members for the 26th Senate District. The Manhattan Democratic Party is a shining beacon of reform; we hope you will continue to honor our proud tradition of openness as you lead our nomination process in the 26th State Senate District.

Among those signing the letter were district leaders in the 65th. 66th and 76th Assembly districts.

Meanwhile, the press release from the Brooklyn Democratic Party included endorsements from U.S. Congressman Hakim Jeffries, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Assembly members Joe Lentol, Maritza Davila and Walter Mosley. Locally, Kavanagh received the backing of CoDA, an East Village-based political club. He currently represents the 74th Assembly District.

Other candidates for the nomination include former City Council member Alan Gerson, LMCC executive Diego Segalini and former Brooklyn prosecutor Eileen Naples.

Well have more following this afternoons meeting.

UPDATE 9:23 a.m. This morning, Paul Newell announced another endorsement, that of the Brooklyn reform organization, New Kings Democrats. In an email blast, he encouraged supporters to show up at todays meeting. It takes place at 2 p.m. at the offices of the United Federation of Teachers, 52 Broadway.
From Saturn and Venus to stunning nebulae, photographers from all over the world have captured some of the most breathtaking astrological phenomena for this years Astronomy Photographer of the Year award.

Now in its ninth year, the competition  run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky At Night Magazine  received nearly 4,000 entries from photographers across 91 countries.

The winners were announced at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, with Artem Mironov winning over the judges with his stunning photo of vibrant blues and pinks of the swirling dust and gas clouds in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, which is 400 light years away from our planet.

The Rho Ophiuchi Clouds

Overall winner and winner of the Stars & Nebulae category (Artem Mironov/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Hakos Farm, Windhoek, Namibia

Description: Taken over three nights at a farm in Namibia near Gamsberg Mountain, this image shows the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, sometimes known as Rho Oph for short or the Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud.

It is a dark emission and reflection nebula about 14 light years across and is situated approximately 460 light years away from our planet, in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer). It is one of the closest star-forming regions to the solar system.

M63: Star Streams and the Sunflower Galaxy

Winner of the Galaxies category (Oleg Bryzgalov/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Rozhen Observatory, Smolyan Province, Bulgaria

Description: A bright, spiral galaxy, Messier 63 looks like a star necklace in which the stars have crashed outwards from the galaxys centre, producing this fantastic long train.

The ghostly star arcs of the Sunflower galaxy had long been an elusive target, but after deciding to take the image in one of the darkest places in Europe  the Rozhen Observatory in the Rhodopes Mountains  the photographer successfully captured the astronomical wonder.

Blue Tycho

Winner of the Our Moon category (Blue Tycho/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Budapest, Hungary

Description: This hyper-saturated picture depicts the face of the lunar surface in a new light.

On the brownish terra of our natural satellite, the Moon, the impact crater and its ray system appear as blue-white structures that extend over a thousand miles.

The Tycho Crater, named after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, has a bluish shade that is characteristic of the youngest craters on the Moon, with this particular feature estimated to be 108 million years old.

Ghost World

Winner of the Aurorae category (Mikkel Beiter/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Stokksnes, Iceland

Description: The photographer stood and observed the waves from the sea slowly rolling up on the long beach making the sand wet, resulting in great conditions for catching some reflections.

Suddenly, clouds emerged from the nearby mountains and floated across the sea allowing him to capture this other-worldly scene of a powerful, teal aurora sweeping across the night sky in Stokksnes, Iceland.

Mercury Rising

Winner of the Our Sun category (Mercury Rising/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Description: On May 9, 2016, the transit of Mercury occurred, with the smallest planet in the solar system passing directly between the Earth and the Sun over the course of 7.5 hours  the longest transit of the century.

Mercury can be seen towards the centre of our star in the image as a tiny black dot.

Wanderer in Patagonia

Winner of the People & Space category (Yuri Zvezdny/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: El Chalten, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina

Description: The photo shows a lone stargazer staring up at the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as they stretch across the night sky over the glacier called White Stones (Piedras Blancas) in the Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina.

Venus Phase Evolution

Winner of the Planets, Comets & Asteroids category (Roger Hutchinson/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: London, UK

Description: The photographer captured the changing face of our neighbouring planet, Venus, as it grew from 86.6% illuminated and 11.9 inches in diameter on September 25, 2016, to 1% illuminated and 59.3 inches in diameter six months later, as seen from London.

All the images were taken with the same setup, so the changing size of Venus, as it approached the point between us and the Sun, is really apparent.

Infrared and ultraviolet filters were used to capture cloud features during the larger crescent phases, and those where the apparent diameter is small or the crescent is thin, were taken using only an infrared pass filter.

Passage to the Milky Way

Winner of the Skyscapes category (Haitong Yu//The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Xinglong, Hebei Province, China

Description: The serene sight of the dusky, Milky Way was viewed through the minimalist outdoor passageway of LAMOST (the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope) at the National Astronomical Observatory of China.

Shot with an 85mm lens, the image is a composite of a three-panel panorama, each one with a single exposure.

Saturn

Winner of the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year award (Olivia Williamson/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Description: The photo is an incredibly detailed image of the ringed planet, Saturn, which the 13-year-old photographer captured on a trip to the desert near Al Khanzna, with her father.

Using her new ZWO 244 colour camera for the first time, coupled with favourable weather conditions, the photographer even managed to capture the beauty of the Cassini division (the gaps produced by the gravitational pull of one or more of Saturns many moons on the tiny particles in the rings).

The Cone Nebula

Winner of the Best Newcomer award (Jason Green/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Frenegal de la Sierra, Badajoz, Spain

Description: The image shows a vivid deep-red Cone Nebula, which lies about 2,700 light years away from us in the constellation of Monoceros.

The image is made up of 20 x 10-minute exposures per filter and uses a combination of LRGB (luminance, red, green and blue) and H-Alpha (hydrogen-alpha) filters to produce one integrated full colour image.

Encounter of Comet and Planetary Nebula

Winner of the Robotic Scope category (Gerald Rhemann/The National Maritime Museum)

Where the photo was taken: Tivoli Farm, Khomas, Namibia

Description: The vibrant image shows the glowing green, comet C/2013 X1 PanSTARRS whizzing past the luminous pink and blue Helix Planetary Nebula, on June 5 2016.

This photograph was taken at an observatory on Tivoli Farm in Namibia, where the photographer installed a mount and telescope with a friend of his.
A group of lawyers working to free innocent prisoners has covered Bob Dylans I Shall Be Released in dedication to its clients, and the results are pretty moving.

The California Innocence Project, which has freed 27 people with a total of 300 prison years between them, offers pro bono services to clients it believes have been wrongly convicted.

The group took to the stage at this years Innocence Network Conference to perform the 1968 hit in front of hundreds of other Innocence Network lawyers from around the US.

The stirring performance is enhanced with the images of its exonerated clients, and the length of time spent in jail for each case  from five years to as many as 36 years behind bars.

Since its birth in 1999, the organisation has also exonerated 157 people from death row.

It is part of the Innocence Network and is one of several Innocence organisations around the US which work to free innocent people from jail.
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This slim volume of 113 pages featuring ten well-researched essays focusing on Rabindranath Tagores five visits to the US. The essays by distinguished critics refer in detail to Tagores lecture tours, the content of his lectures, the exhibition of his paintings at New York during his final visit in 1930 and the successful performance of his play, The King of the Dark Chamber in New York in 1961, 20 years after the poets demise.

In her introductory essay the editor Indrani Halder cites Tagores address to the American people, published as Nationalism in India wherein he had observed, America is destined to justify the Western civilization to the East. (sic) Initially however, when Tagore was in Illinois, between October 1912 and April 1913, visiting his son Rathindranath, then a student of agriculture in the University of Urbana Champaign, Tagore had expressed rather hastily perhaps his lack of interest about America. On 30 December 1912, Tagore had written to his friend Rothenstein, I have several invitations to go there (Chicago) but I have succeeded in warding them off. I have not come to discover America or to be discovered by Americans (Quoted in Rabijibani Prasant Kumar Pal, vol 6 page 351).

Soon after, he changed his mind, visited Chicago among many other places in the midwest and re-visited America four more times  September1916-January 1917, October 1920-January 1921, April 1929 and October-November 1930.

Tagores visits can be primarily described as lecture tours and were specifically intended to raise money for the maintenance of Santiniketan. Tagore was always very candid about the reason for his tireless tours and he stated in letters to his friends that he had to submit to a funds chase in order to sustain Santiniketan.

In 1920, on his second visit Tagore felt slighted and hurt by the behaviour of those he had considered to be his friends. In a letter to CF Andrews written on 17 December 1920 Tagore had written, I try to say something about money, but it sounds so ludicrous I despise your millions such should be my farewell greeting to this country (Pal vol 8 49). In 1916, the Minneapolis Tribune called Tagore, the best business man who ever came to us out of India and made a sarcastic assertion that Tagore managed to scold Americans at $700 per scold and pleaded with them at $700 per plead (Rabindranath Tagore The Myriad-Minded Man, Dutta & Robinson; page 204).

But that Tagore did impress Americans during his visits and thereafter is a proven fact. In this volume under review, Nikhiles Guhas essay describes the affinity between the Brahmo faith and the liberal American Unitarianism and how Tagore was deeply impressed by this Christian school of thought.

However, with the advent of the World War I, the interest in cross-cultural religious faith and Tagores involvement petered out, though Tagore was not forgotten by the Unitarian group with which he interacted.

Raikamal Das Gupta explores the poets deeply subjective understanding of religious faith as she discovers the links between the American thinkers Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Dewey. It is a well-known fact that Tagore unfailingly allied the divine spirit with the boundlessness of the human mind and unlimited creativity.

Many of the essayists have cited Americas gradual indifference towards Tagore, despite the initial warmth and enthusiasm. There were exceptions too but the two essays by Shobha Chattopadhyay and Abhijit Sen describe in some detail how the American cultural milieu, even Tagores staunch admirer Ezra Pound, became estranged if not bitter towards Tagore as a person and also criticised his writing. It is noticeable that this freezing of interest happened after Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, the first Asian to have received such an internationally celebrated award.

Tagores lectures about nationalism, his anti-war diatribe, his candid criticism of Western imperialism and the agenda of gaining power and profit through engagements in global politics and World Wars met with disapproval by cultural communities on both sides of the Atlantic, though exceptions were noticed as well. Americas closeness to Britain and parts of Europe led to the American people becoming more sceptical about Tagores intentions, as after all Tagore was a British subject of colonial India.

Tagores return of the British knighthood conferred on him, in response to the horrendous massacre of people at the Jalianwala Bagh, further strengthened the aversion towards the non-conformist and intrepid poet from the East.

Amrit Sen, Madhurima Neogi and Dipendu Chakrabarti refer to the letters, print media responses and the disconnect between Tagores understanding of internationalism and American globalisation, respectively. Ananda Lal and Sukla Basu discuss in their essays the positive reception of Tagores plays in America long after his demise and refer to the impact created by the experiments that Tagore had made in his plays by breaking free from tradition and weaving together fairy tale, metaphor and philosophy.

The editors may have considered the inclusion of an essay that focused on Tagores meeting with Helen Keller and her great reverence for Tagores writing. In an interesting essay, Indrani Halder records the reception and rejection of Tagores paintings in America. The appendices include Tagores own foreword to the exhibition of his paintings in New York in 1930 along with an annotated list of Tagores plays produced in the US.

Many of the essays interestingly cite Sujit Mukherjees Passage to America: The Reception of Rabindranath Tagore in the United States(1912-1941), but perhaps the essayists could have also considered including references from relevant volumes of Prasant Kumar Pals Rabijibani. This book will be of immense use to those who are engaged in cross-cultural studies and Tagore studies as the essays address cultural reception and cultural alienation often influenced by world politics, race, location and cultural arrogance.

For, despite all the ambivalence in the reception of the man and his work, it was The New York Times that felicitated Rabindranath Tagore in these timeless words, If he is not the greatest secular figure in the world, he is the one that is most worthy of our attention and our reverence today.

At a time when man and man, nation and nation, ideal and ideal is (sic) so tragically divided he comes forward to tell us that not in power but in comprehension is the fulfilment of mans existence. (Dutta and Robinson, 207).

These lines could have been the inspiration of the editors in producing this valuable book on Tagores ambivalent reception in America.

(The reviewer is former professor, department of English, Calcutta University)
In 2015, 162 rapes were reported to the police in Singapore. While low numbers of sexual crimes may seem like a good thing, in reality, that can mask the fact that many survivors simply do not report their assault. The Sexual Assault Care Centre, Singapores only specialised centre for sexual assault survivors, found that approximately seven in 10 clients who reached out for help last year did not make police reports.

Recently, the state has taken welcome steps to improve the process of reporting sexual crimes to address this problem of under-reporting. The recent proposed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act would ensure protection from publicity the moment a sexual offence is reported, with a gag order on the survivors name  putting to bed a common concern many survivors have about exposure of their case through the media.

But so much more can be done to address the major concerns many survivors have about reporting, including fear that they lack evidence of the assault, and unsupportive reactions from friends and family. Because most survivors know their perpetrators, evidence in sexual assault is not just about proving injury or weapon use, or bringing forward eyewitnesses of the assault.

They would also have to rely heavily on their memory, which adds to the fears many may have about reporting. For example, many survivors freeze during the ordeal and are not able to fight or seek help immediately.

Questions like Why didnt you fight back or scream? or If you didnt want sex, why didnt you leave? are common, and when survivors are put through such inquiries, it can add to the confusion and guilt they may already be feeling. Moreover, no two people respond to assault in the same way  some may visibly show that they are upset or angry, and some may not  but all reactions are valid.

Survivors may grapple with their own memory of the experience, knowledge of the details, self-doubt, or feel immense guilt or shame. All of this adds to the distress of making a decision to report. Jo (not her real name), a client of SACC, shared how she was in a dilemma about reporting, that she lost clarity of her experience after months of struggling to accept the assault, and managed to break through the fog in her memory only with the support of a friend.

She said, Those images and thoughts that I pushed away were popping up all over the place in my head, disorganised and unwanted. It was a struggle. All I wanted was to organise them so that I could somehow detach emotions and work things out logically, so that I could be clear and prepare a report.

Another difficulty is when the criminal justice system  and wider society expect sexual assault survivors to report their cases immediately. Sometimes, when they do step forward, their delays in reporting are used against them. Take for example a recent court case where a man was acquitted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

The court, in acquitting the accused, found that the victim was not prompt in her complaints and there were no reasons for her not to confide in members of her family. Such assumptions ignore the reality of what survivors struggle with and the psychological impact of trauma. When we question the validity of what survivors can recall or invalidate their experience because of when they chose to speak up, we risk discouraging and disempowering them further.

By taking into account the wellestablished realities of sexual assault, first responders such as police officers, doctors, counsellors, friends and family can ensure that survivors receive the help they need when they do choose to speak out. Many survivors worry how family and friends would react. Some may even fear how others would be emotionally affected by the knowledge of their assault. SACC clients have shared how their own families have responded with disbelief, judgment, resentment or discouraging comments.

To encourage reporting, we all need to better recognise how social attitudes and fear of victim-blaming can affect survivors willingness to report. Concerned friends and loved ones can effectively support survivors with a simple Its not your fault, offer resources for counselling or accompany them to make a report or seek medical help.

The authorities have a responsibility to proactively provide referrals to counsellors and agencies such as SACC to support the survivor mentally and emotionally as well. The problem of under-reporting is not one that can be solved with a few changes to court procedures.

At the crux of it, we need to tackle our social attitudes and understanding of sexual assault and how survivors are affected. Our words and actions can create a culture where survivors receive the compassion and protection they deserve.

(The writer is communications senior executive, Association of Women for Action and Research The Straits Times/ANN)
For several years now I have been studying gaur in various Southern areas where they probably attain their best development in India-the Nilgiris and Wynaad forests and the Sungam and Periyar areas of Kerala. I have been specially lucky in that for the past five years (with a break last year) I was able to watch large composite herds in the Theppakadu forest of the Mudumalai sanctuary in September-October, and elsewhere in that sanctuary again in March-April I have been able to secure conclusive photographic evidence of the same herd bulls running with individual herds in summer and staying together in a large composite herd in September-October.

In short, my observation records go to show that the social life of gaur herds is much less rigid than what other naturalists have pronounced it to be, and that on occasions, as when breaking new ground, several fully adult herd bulls may stay more or less peacefully in one large composite herd, even though several cows in the herd might be simultaneously in season.

I hope to publish a monograph of the social and sexual life of gaur shortly, after devoting two more seasons to complete observations, but I may briefly record here what I have noticed about newborn calves.

All authorities agree that there is no regular breeding season in gaur (with a rut confined to one or two months of the year) and that gaur are born during many months of the year. However, speaking of South India, it is true to say that the greatest number of calves are born in April.

Presuming a period of gestation of 10 months, this would suggest marked breeding activity about June, and it is true that in June composite herds are not to be seen and that several cows in the individual herds do come into season.

In gaur, the birth of an infant does not limit the movement of the entire herd for two or three days as it does in elephants. I once had the good fortune to actually watch the birth of a gaur calf (from a considerable distance and through binoculars). The young mother, who seemed to be in some discomfort, walked away from the herd into tall grass and finally lay down in a thick patch of grass. After about three hours, she emerged from that patch followed on wobbly feet by the newborn calf.

The herd had moved on about three miles by then and it took that gaur cow till evening to rejoin the herd. In April one notices, in addition to the golden brown newborn calves, older calves of about six months of age. In my photograph taken at the Periyar sanctuary, three newborn calves and two older calves can be seen clearly.

The horn-buds are clearly visible in the newborn infants which may vary in colour from a rich beautiful golden sienna to a shade approaching beige. The darker calves, so far as I know, usually belong to comparatively small-sized cows which have much black hair on the throat and forequarters.

The golden brown calves on the other hand belong to larger-sized cows which are brown in colour, varying from a rich burnt umber, to raw umber with golden glints in the highlight. I believe I am correct in saying that this point has not been recorded before.

New born calves are very wobbly on their feet for the first few hours and are literally licked into shape by their mothers. The strong steady application of the maternal tongue obviously serves to stimulate blood circulation as well as to soothe the infant and encourage it to suckle.

During the first few days of their lives gaur calves are, I think, singularly prone to attacks by leopards and possibly also lesser carnivores. After the third day, they are well able to run with the herd and are assured of the massive protection of the adult members of the herd.

(This was published on 9 May 1966)
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit Jammu and Kashmir on 20 September to review the security situation. Civilian areas near the international border are witnessing escalated shelling incidents by Pakistan Army.

On her maiden visit to the state, Defence Minister will take stock of the situation on the borders and also on the progress of Operation All Out that has been launched by Army in the Kashmir valley to eliminate active terrorist in the state.

More than 150 militants, including top commanders of various terror outfits, have been killed by the security forces in the past few months.

She will be accompanied by the Army chief General Bipin Rawat. Sitharaman will visit Srinagar, Bhimber Gali (BG) sector in Poonch and Sunderbani in Rajouri, which are among the worst affected due to Pakistan shelling.

About 3000 civilians have migrated to safe places in the Rajouri district and have taken shelter in government schools.

Some soldiers of the Army and BSF have been killed in the forward posts due to sniper firing from Pakistan. The Indian troops were befittingly retaliating.

The Defence Minister is also expected to take stock of continuous shelling of civilian areas by Pakistan Rangers in the Jammu district. Arnia village in the district has been badly affected due to shelling.

Meanwhile, two women were among the six persons injured on Sunday as Pakistan Rangers indiscriminately fired mortars in the Arnia sector.

Police said that all injured persons have been shifted to hospital for treatment.

Pakistan Rangers resorted to shelling the civilian areas in Treva Arnia on Saturday evening and the192 Batallion of BSF was retailing effectively.

Pakistan is targeting the Arnia sector for the past three-days. A BSF jawan was killed and a civilian was injured last week. Three cattle heads perished on Saturday due to shelling by Pakistan.
A female civilian who was injured in Pakistani shelling on the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, died at a hospital on Sunday, police said.

Deceased woman was among three persons injured as Pakistan Rangers indiscriminately fired mortars in the Arnia sector of Jammu district on Sunday.

Earlier, police had shifted the injured to a hospital for treatment.

Pakistan Rangers resorted to shelling the civilian areas in Treva Arnia on Saturday evening and the192 Batallion of BSF was retaliating effectively.

Pakistan is targeting the Arnia sector for the past three days. A BSF jawan was killed and a civilian injured last week. Three cattle heads perished on Saturday due to shelling by Pakistan.
China must take more measures to choke off North Koreas resources and force it to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, US National Security Adviser Lt Gen HR McMaster said on Sunday, conceding that the new sanctions imposed on Pyongyang may not be enough.

China is North Koreas largest trading partner and the US has urged Beijing to use diplomatic and economic pressure  such as limiting its role as the main exporter of oil  to dissuade Kim Jong Uns regime from pursuing nuclear weapons.

They (Chinese) have to take some steps, though, that restrict trade in any way that we can with this regime, to choke off the resources that allowed this regime to continue to prioritise their military efforts, their missile efforts, their nuclear efforts over the well-being of their own people, Lt Gen McMaster told Fox News.

North Korea launched an inter-continental ballistic missile in July, another of medium range in August, and this month tested what is increasingly believed to be a hydrogen bomb. It has launched two missiles over the Japanese territory in less a month.

McMaster said it really depends on how China sees the threat from North Korea continue to manifest itself and in their judgement about how much time they have.

He said the US was out of road because negotiations held in the past with the North delivered an unsatisfactory agreement, an agreement that the North Korean regime breaks.

The top US official said America has to move with a great deal of urgency on sanctions, on diplomacy and even military front if required to deter the Kim Jong-Un regime.

In another interview to ABC News, McMaster said sanctions imposed against North Korea were not going to be enough.

We all have our doubts about whether or not thats going to be enough. So we have to prepare all options. We have to make sure all options are under development to ensure that this regime cannot threaten the world with a nuclear weapon, he said.

So the critical thing is going to be to get all countries, everyone to do all they can to enforce those sanctions, to do everything they can, short of a military conflict, to resolve this problem, he said.

About a tweet US President Donald Trump sent out this morning apparently mocking Kim as Rocket Man, McMaster said the tweet reminded him of a cover of The Economist magazine a few years ago.

But, of course, thats where the rockets are coming from. Rockets, though, we ought to probably not laugh too much about because they do represent a great threat to everyone, he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US strategy against North Korea involves a peaceful pressure campaign on Pyongyang.

All of that (international pressure is) designed to bring North Korea to the table for constructive, productive dialogue. If our diplomatic efforts fail though, our military option will be the only one left, he said.
With just less than a month left for the Gurdaspur bypoll, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday announced Major General (Retd) Suresh Khajuria as their candidate for the parliamentary seat.

The polls are scheduled on 11 October 2017. Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) are yet to declare their candidates for the seat.

The decision to field Khajuria was taken after consultations with the Gurdaspur unit of the party and the Majha region leaders and volunteers.

Major General Suresh Khajuria is a resident of Pathankot, which falls under the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency.

Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira also appealed to voters to support Khajuria. We appeal to the electorate of Gurdaspur to support AAP candidate in the ensuing election, and we particularly appeal to the ex-servicemen of the region to support him as neither the Congress nor the BJP has fulfilled the long pending demand of One Rank-One Pension of the ex-servicemen community, Khaira said.

Khajuria, a graduate of SD College in Pathankot, joined the Indian Army in 1973. After passing out from the officers training academy, Madras, in 1974, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant for the 5 Gorkha Rifles, an Infantry unit.

He retired in 2011. Khajuria is the state president of AAP ex-service men wing.

Meanwhile, Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday met Congress in-charge of Punjab affairs Asha Kumari along with Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar in New Delhi to discuss the forthcoming Gurdaspur parliamentary bypolls.

The meeting discussed the political scenario in the constituency and also mulled the various options with respect to the selection of the party candidate. It was decided that similar to February Assembly poll strategy, the Congress would stick to its policy of going with merit-based selection, with the final decision on candidature to vest with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

According to an official spokesperson, the three leaders were unanimous in their opinion that only popular candidates with a clean track record should be considered for nomination to the seat.

Gurdaspur parliamentary seat was vacated in April, 2017, after the death of sitting BJP candidate and actor Vinod Khanna.
Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has a last chance to halt an Army offensive that has forced thousands of the Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

Guterres told the BBC on Saturday night that Suu Kyi had a last chance to stop the offensive.

If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I dont see how this can be reversed in the future.

The Secretary General reiterated that the Rohingya should be allowed to return home.

He also said it was clear that Myanmars military still have the upper hand in the country, putting pressure to do what is being done on the ground in Rakhine state where the crisis broke out on August 25 when Rohingya rebels attacked police checkposts and killed 12 security personnel.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is facing growing criticism over the Rohingya issue.

She will not be attending the UN General Assembly in New York which will begin from Monday and has claimed that the crisis was being distorted by a huge iceberg of misinformation.

She said tensions were being fanned by fake news promoting the interests of terrorists.

Guterres warning comes after Bangladesh said it was now limiting the movement of more than 400,000 Rohingya who have fled from Myanmar.

The Rohingya, a stateless mostly Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Rakhine, have long experienced persecution in Myanmar, which says they are illegal immigrants.
The US Air Force staged an aerial show at a military base to commemorate its 70th anniversary.

The two-day show, which started Saturday in Joint Base Andrews in Camp Springs, Maryland, featured the Thunderbirds, an aerial demonstration team that performed fast-paced aerobatic manoeuvres of two, four and six planes flying in formation, reports Xinhua news agency.

Aerial demonstrations also included the US Special Operations Command Para-Commandos Parachute Team, US Army Golden Knights and the Air Force F-22 Demonstration Team.

Over 30 aircraft were on static display, including B-2 stealth bomber, F-16 Fighting Falcon, aerial refuelling aircraft KC-135, transport aircraft C-17 Globemaster III, jet turbofan-engined aircraft A-10 and US Army Guardrail.

The air show attracted over tens of thousands of people to the Joint Base Andrews that houses the presidential plane Air Force One as the facility is responsible for transporting government and military leaders.

President Donald Trump visited the base on Friday to address military personnel where he urged Congress to end mandatory budget cuts that have brought down defence spending while promising more resources to the military despite a skyrocketing US debt.

Formed in 1947, the US Air Force operates over 5,000 military aircraft, with over 300,000 active duty personnel as of 2017.
The White House pushed back at a European suggestion it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting Washington will withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favourable terms.

The remark came as environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal seeking headway on the Paris climate accord, which President Donald Trump had pulled out of in June.

At the summit, which was attended by a US observer, the US stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris Accord, but they (will) try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement, the European Unions top climate official Miguel Arias Canete said.

Canete said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next weeks UN General Assembly with American representatives to assess what is the real US position, noting its a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past.

The US observer was not immediately available for comment and the White House insisted the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favourable terms.


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The last days of the Newfie Pride

There were many nights he didnt sleep. The numbers and scenarios turned over and over in his mind, making rest impossible. Id get up two, three oclock in the morning, night after night, come out to the kitchen table and work the numbers every ...
Calling the demise of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh as an end to a big chapter of a history, defence experts on Sunday said very few can equal him in stature and his contribution to the cause of the defence force as well as the country.

Speaking to ANI, defence expert Lieutenant General (Retd.) Raj Kadyan said it is a very sad loss not only to the air and defence force but to the whole country.

"He may have been a member of the Air Force by his uniform but he was otherwise a role model for all of in the defence forces. He lived as a very glorious and illustrious soul. One can only recall his contribution. He was a model not only of physical fitness; he was a model of dignity, character and of poise. With his passing away, a big chapter of the history has closed. I think very few people can equal him in stature and his contribution to the cause of the defence force as well as the country. We pray for heavenly peace for his departed soul," he added.

Another defence expert P.K. Sehgal said officers like Arjan Singh are a great motivational force. "He was a very capable and a very high rank officer...In 2002, the country honoured him as a five star marshal of the IAF. In 1938, he was commissioned and retied on 1969. After retirement, he became the ambassador in Switzerland; became a representative in Vatican City and became a lieutenant governor of Delhi. Whatever he did in his life, he only got appreciation from everywhere. He was a sensitive, and humane person."

"When I was given a task to write a book on role of the air defence on 1965 and 1971 wars, I got a lot of opportunity to meet him. I was shocked to see how he helped me with all source of material. I would like to pay my homage to him...this kind of officers are a great motivational force," he added.

India's pride Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh passed away on Saturday.

He was admitted to Army's research and referral hospital on Saturday morning after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the Defence Ministry said.

Arjan Singh was a respectable figure of the Indian military history.

Marshal of IAF, Arjan Singh had led a young air force into the 1965 Indo-Pak war when he was about 44-year-old.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his leadership during the war. He flew over 60 aircrafts and remained a flyer until the end of his career with the IAF.

Five-star Marshal Arjan Singh retired in August 1969. In 2016, the crucial air base at Panagarh Air Force Station was renamed after him. Panagarh is also the headquarters of the newly raised 17 Crops Mountain Strike Corps.
In a first (sort of) and quite unlike him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday refrained from criticising the Congress for the alleged delay in the Sardar Sarovar Dam project. He dedicated the multi-crore, multi-state project to the nation, on his 67th birthday, at the Kevadia Colony dam site.

Before heading for Kevadia Colony dam site, near Vadodara and later on Dabhoi for the massive public meeting, Modi took blessings of his mother Hiraba, who stays with Modi's younger brother, near Gandhinagar.

The inter-state irrigation and drinking water project has taken 56 years for completion. Envisaged by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the foundation stone for the project was laid by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961.

The project has seen many hurdles on the grounds or environmental clearance and at one point in time, the World Bank also backed out from funding the project. A bete noire of both the Congress and the BJP, Medha Patkar, spearheading the anti-dam agitation through Narmada Bachao Andolan, has still maintained that the rehabilitation of the people affected by the project is not complete.

Many within the BJP's rank and file in Gujarat had expected the prime minister to do Congress bashing. However, it appears that the prime minister took the stand of not making a political statement as the ruling BJP's efforts of taking out Narmada yatras in the state and dubbing the project as completed has received flak from experts and the Congress. In fact, it is alleged that very little work has been done during the last 22 years during the BJP's rule.

The dam may well have attained a full height, but the canal network in Gujarat remains incomplete and there has not been an increase in land irrigated through the Narmada Project in the last three years. As the canal network is incomplete, farmers draw water from a distance with the aid of motor pumps and the government has laid pipelines at some places to fill the rivers and ponds.

So Modi limited himself in saying, We had decided not to play politics over Narmada. I know who have created hurdles and I have a long list. But I am not going to say anything. Modi also did not make a single reference to Patkar and the NBA.

The prime minister said that no other project in the world would have faced problems like mother Narmada river did. World Bank decided not to give money. But we had decided to take the project forward, regardless of the World Bank's support, he said.

Modi said that the very World Bank gave an award to Gujarat Government for its rehabilitation post-earthquake in Kutch in 2001.

Describing the dam as an engineering miracle, Modi said that it would have been completed much earlier if Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar lived a little longer. While Patel's contribution is known, Modi reminded about Ambedkar's contribution in the field of water and irrigation.

Apart from irrigation and drinking water, the beneficiary states will also get electricity. While Maharashtra will get 29 per cent share of power generated, Madhya Pradesh will get 57 per cent and Gujarat around 14 per cent. Rajasthan also benefits from the project.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam site, he said, would become a tourist destination and would be an attraction for adventure and motor sports. Patel's statue, considered to be world's tallest, is also coming up near Kevadia Colony.

We show Taj Mahal of Agra to people, but every place in India has a lot to show, Modi said, adding that the we had forgotten the contribution of the tribals in the freedom movement.

Thanking people for the birthday wishes, Modi said that he would live for their dreams. The prime minister said that Patel's soul would be showering blessings because to the project.

Modi connected with the people of Dabhoi saying that in the past he has visited the place on many occasions by bus or on scooter, but had not seen such a massive gathering. This is due to mother Narmada, he said.
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday today, the BJP will observe 'Seva Diwas' across the country with party leaders attending medical camps, blood donation events, and taking part in cleanliness drives.

BJP chief Amit Shah will be in Ranchi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Kirti Nagar in Delhi, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal in Chennai and Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar in Mumbai, as part of the party's plan to celebrate their top leader's birthday as a "day of service" (Seva Diwas) across the country, a party leader said.

All ministers and other party leaders will attend the events nationwide, he said.

On his birthday, the PM will dedicate to the nation the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat on the river Narmada, at an event coinciding with his 67th birthday.

The event will take place at Kevadia in Narmada district.

After the inauguration at the dam site at Kevadia, Modi will go to Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada river where a 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, billed as a 'Statue of Unity', and a memorial complex dedicated to the country's first home minister are coming up.

Thereafter, Modi will attend the closing ceremony of 'Narmada Mahotsav', and address a gathering at Dabhoi.

He will also lay the foundation stone for National Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum during the event.

Modi will then visit Amreli in Saurashtra where he will attend a host of programmes and address a public gathering.
Days before the Iranian nuclear deal was to reach a solution, the Saudi Arabians have carried out air strikes against the Zaidi Shia Muslim rebels in Yemen called the Houthis. Tussle for power between the forces of the President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthis in Yemen has almost pushed the state to the a crisis since February 2015 when Hadi was forced to flee from Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, though the international community still recognises Hadi as the leader.

As Yemen slipped to hopelessly crisis prone zone, on Hadis request, Saudi Arabia intervened by launching air-strikes in Yemen against the Houthi rebels with assistance from Gulf countries and Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan. The Houthi rebels were being assisted by Iran. Surprisingly, the crisis blew out of proportion only days before the nuclear deal and even more surprising is the fact that the Shia dominated Iran and the Sunni Saudi Arabia shared long border with Yemen.

Yemens strategic location being located on the Bab-al Mandab Strait which links Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden is noteworthy. This is because majority of the worlds oil shipments pass through this Strait. A powerful Houthi group could have resulted in Houthi rebel dominance of the Strait, a threat to Arabian security.

As Saudi Arabia continued its tussle against the Houthis by conducting air-strikes in Yemen, they sought for help from their old Sunni friend in South Asia, Pakistan. This was not a surprise since Islamabad had sent its troops during the First Gulf War to Saudi Arabia to be stationed under US coalition forces to fight the Iraqis led by Saddam Hussein. The decision then was taken under the then Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which earned him a lot of criticism back home. Two decades later, it was again Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015 and the decision to send Pakistani forces to Saudi Arabias aid depended on him.

However, Pakistan refused to send ground troops to Yemen on grounds that the country was committed Saudi Arabias security, but not committed to providing it with any forces for ventures outside Saudi Arabian territory.

Not only this, Pakistan also maintained neutrality to the Yemen crisis considering that Iran was fighting Saudi Arabia on the other side. In fact, lawmakers in Pakistan insisted that Pakistan should maintain neutrality in Yemen in order to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis. Moreover, Pakistans army argued that with a counter terrorism campaign against the Taliban and with the troops deployed against India, it was impossible for Pakistan to send troops to Yemen.

Post the nuclear deal, Pakistan has sought to develop relations with Iran. Moreover, Iran and Pakistan share international border and Pakistan would not have wanted to annoy Iran. It must be noted that during the four days of intense debate in Pakistans parliament over sending troops to Yemen, the Iranian foreign minister visited Pakistan and met Prime Minister and the then Chief of Army Staff, Raheel Sharif.

This move by Pakistan has earned it criticism from the Arabian countries. This is more so because Saudi Arabia has been a major donor to Pakistan and has also reportedly funded its nuclear weapons program. Saudi Arabia was also once a rescuer for Nawaz Sharif, who was saved from an execution during the coup by Parvez Musharraf. Thus, it is natural that Saudi Arabia would be upset with Pakistans stand on the Yemen crisis. However, not only Saudi Arabia, but other Arabian countries such as the UAE warned Pakistan in 2015 of paying a heavy price for maintaining neutrality in Yemen.

The neutrality has continued even in the present scenario. In 2017, Pakistan agreed to send troops to Saudi Arabia, but on the condition that the troops would not be sent to Yemen and be stationed only in Saudi Arabian territory to protect its territorial integrity. In 2017, Pakistan has also remained neutral to Saudi-Qatar crisis and has not taken any stand. This has further caused annoyance to Saudi Arabia.

However, with Pakistans neutrality in both the situations, it is clear that while Islamabad wishes to play an important role in Middle East and continue to garner goodwill from the Middle Eastern countries, it has probably realised that maintaining neutrality in the bilateral issues between Middle Eastern states is the best way to deal with the issue. Pakistan seeks to enhance its relations bilaterally with the Middle Eastern states and does not wish to entangle itself in any geopolitical rift between two countries.

Debalina Ghoshal is a research associate at the thinktank Delhi Policy Group
Smoking isnt fashionable, nor is unprotected sex. When the government was busy making tobacco kills warning bigger and more gruesome on your cigarette pack and teaching you safe sex methods to control HIV/AIDS over the last one decade, was its health care programme driven by a foreign agenda? Were the Union health ministrys national tobacco and AIDS control programmes, impacting millions of people, falling prey to certain lobbies that were making money?

That is what the Union home ministry has alleged. It said that Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), launched in 2006 as a public-private enterprise and an official partner of the health ministry, was using foreign contributions to lobby media, parliamentarians and government on tobacco control policy issues. The home ministry alleged that PHFI made remittances to foreign countries and international media houses for unknown purposes, besides stashing Rs 223 crore in excess of what was declared to the home ministry. In April, the ministry cancelled its order, issued in August 2016, granting Foreign Contribution (regulation) Act clearance to PHFI till 2021.

Inaugurated by former prime minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, PHFI was officially associated with all major national health care programmes, and drove missions such as Indradhanush (immunisation) and elimination of kala-azar disease. The Union health secretary and secretaries of health research and biotechnology departments are on its governing board. It has multiple wings across the country, and runs Indian Institutes of Public Health, which have secretaries of state governments as advisory council members. Till recently, it was part of the Modi governments Swasth Bharat programme.

But today, the organisation is virtually in the ICU, battling strong allegations. The chairman of its governing body, Infosys cofounder N.R. Narayana Murthy, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi in July, saying the arbitrary clampdown would undo years of hard work besides drain precious talent accumulated to advance Indias health agenda. Murthy wanted the matter to be handled at the highest level so that the clampdown could be set aside and work can restart towards realising the dream of bringing public health care to the poor and disenfranchised citizens of India. THE WEEK has a copy of the letter.

I have sought the prime ministers intervention to protect an organisation which is making valuable contributions to building public health capacity and strengthening health systems in India, Murthy told THE WEEK. PHFI is a national asset and an acclaimed global health resource. The issues raised with relation to its FCRA reporting have been clarified. I hope a fresh review will result in early resolution and restoration of the FCRA registration.

Health care professionals of international repute from other countries have also written to Modi, expressing disappointment and cautioning against the tobacco industrys attempts to entrap the youth in a deadly addiction. The new home secretary, Rajiv Gauba, is likely to undertake a review to examine whether the home ministrys charges are true.

N.R. Narayana Murthy | AFP

The Union health ministry is also said to have taken up the matter with Gauba. His predecessor, Rajiv Mehrishi, who was part of the decision to crack down on PHFI, had refused a review after both the Intelligence Bureau and the foreigners division of the home ministry said they had made a watertight case against PHFI. Intelligence Bureau officers said they would not buckle under pressure, for the charges hold ground.

Incidentally, PHFIs Gujarat foray was steered by Modi in 2007. With the generous support extended by you as the chief minister of Gujarat in 2007, PHFI established the Indian Institute of Public Health-Gandhinagar, aided by the land and financial assistance provided by the Gujarat government, wrote Murthy in his letter to Modi. With your blessings, we have now set up a permanent campus at Gandhinagar next to IIT-Gandhinagar. This beautiful campus on the banks of Sabarmati was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijaybhai Rupani in 2016 at the site chosen by you for the bhoomi pooja.

The first diploma programme of PHFI postgraduate diploma in public health managementwas started in IIPH-Gandhinagar in 2008, and it grew into a capacity-building programme for the National Rural Health Mission. The Gujarat government granted university status to IIPH-G in 2014.

But, after the Intelligence Bureaus report, the home ministry on April 10, 2017, said it was summarily annulling the organisations FCRA registration. It cited seven main violations, including holding bank accounts having an excess credit of Rs 223 croremore than what was declared to the home ministry. It alleged PHFI also held transit accounts for unknown reasons, in violation of the law. Bank accounts of PHFI were frozen following the order. Furthermore, it said PHFI diverted foreign funds to the tune of Rs 43 crore during 2009- 2013 for anti-tobacco lobbying. The funds were meant for research. It also remitted Rs 22 crore to foreign countries from its FCRA account and Rs 10.75 crore to an international media house for unknown purpose.

PHFI, on its part, clarified where the money was coming from and where it was spent. It argued that raising awareness about tobacco control or engaging with parliamentarians and media was not lobbying. The sum of Rs 43 crore was not diverted, it said, explaining the same was received for a project on strengthening capacities of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to scale up the National AIDS Control Programme. As far as the Rs 22 crore remittance to foreign countries was concerned, PHFI said the Reserve Bank of India had permitted it to remit payments required to procure services from its foreign contribution receipts, which were actually for roping in global experts and organisations.

The two sets of arguments have been presented to the Prime Ministers Office. However, the questions raised by Murthy may require deeper investigation. Murthy wondered whether the ministries of home and health were working at cross purposes since the home ministry did not consult the nodal health ministry before cancelling the FCRA registration.

So, did an alleged arbitrary crackdown cause damage to government health care initiatives? Prof K. Srinath Reddy, president of PHFI, told THE WEEK the revocation of the five-year FCRA renewal (granted in 2016) had seriously disrupted PHFIs work. Though the home ministry did not seek any clarifications prior to this abrupt annulment, it later posed several issues, which PHFI has clarified in great detail, he said. We hope that this review will result in early resolution as many projects of public interest are held up. Financial constraints are severe and educational programmes involving several hundred students are under threat.

Reddy had also written to Modi on June 30, calling himself a foot solider who was appealing to his commander in chief to save him from the friendly fire which is misdirected. We request you to protect PHFI as it is gravely endangered, and guide it in its future journey with your clear directions, he wrote. We were hoping the matter will be resolved soon, especially since the Union health minister and health secretary conveyed their trust and support for the relevance and values of PHFIs work in public health.

At a time when PHFI was busy raising a storm over government crackdown impacting health initiatives, the death of 70 children in a Gorakhpur hospital last month laid bare the horrors of Indias failing health care system.

Fund dead

As per a fresh list put up on the home ministrys website, PHFI stands at 167 among 832 organisations and NGOs whose FCRA registration has been cancelled.

Other organisations like Indian Council of Medical Research, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Savethe Children Fund, Oxfam Trust and University of Delhi also figure on the list.

Home ministry sources say the fresh list was prepared on the basis of non filing of five-year annual returns despite repeated reminders.
We round up the Sunday newspaper share tips. This week, Midas analyses the bumpy fortunes of 'next generation' estate agent Purplebricks, the Times looks at the future prospects of power firm Drax, and the Telegraph assesses healthcare operator NMC.

MAIL ON SUNDAY

Property website Purplebricks has been back in the headlines after another complaint against its adverts was upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Two people complained that its claim, Viewings  we take care of them all, made in its most recent campaign, was misleading as viewings are not included in the firms fixed fee.

In itself, it is not a major issue. Purplebricks agreed to amend the wording and the ASA says the matter is resolved.

But it is not the first time Purplebricks has come under the cosh.

Just two months ago the ASA upheld complaints against the firm over exaggerated claims about how much customers could save by using its services rather than a high street estate agent.

That came less than a year after it received a slap on the wrist over similar claims, and it also sparked an investigation into the business by the BBCs Watchdog. All that has made for something of a bumpy ride for the firms investors in recent weeks.

Shares peaked at 514p on August 8 and have since fallen back to 389p. On their worst day, they dropped 7 per cent after Radio 4s You And Yours accused the company of exaggeration.

Despite the recent turmoil, shares in the firm are still worth three times as much as a year ago, when they were 130p. That is because, crucially, Purplebricks has tapped into that all-important trend of the consumer abandoning the high street and going digital.

Launched in 2012 by Irish brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce, Purplebricks offers estate agency services for a set fee rather than a percentage of the sale price, typically 1.5 per cent.

The downside is that the flat fee is paid upfront rather than when a home sells, unless the seller chooses the slightly more expensive pay later option.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the firm is rapidly snatching market share away from high street estate agents and has increased its share of the UK online market to 72 per cent.

Purplebricks has already expanded into Australia, where first-mover advantage has seen it gain traction quickly. Now it has set its sights on the US. The firm has raised just shy of 50 million from investors to fund its push across the Atlantic. It formally launched its business there on Friday and will roll it out state by state.

While it will not be the first of its kind in the US, the market there is huge. There are about 5.5 million property transactions in America every year and the commissions are high  around 5 or 6 per cent. Purplebricks needs to snag only a small portion of these sales to make this venture a success.

Midas verdict: If Purplebricks can avoid further run-ins with the advertising regulator, then its share price should easily recover. Ambitious expansion plans could mean losses in the short term but, if successful, should reap rewards in the future.

>>>Read the full Midas column here

THE TELEGRAPH

The battle over Saudi Aramco illustrates just how far London is prepared to go to secure the biggest share listings from all over the world.

But the last decade has seen all manner of international firms sell shares here, each with their own interpretation of best practice. In truth, governance is only part of the picture. Shareholders focused on performance can be sold a growth story from a far-flung territory but only really discover what they have bought over time.

Take the case of NMC Health, a hospitals operator and the first Abu Dhabi-based company to list in London. Anyone buying the shares in 2012 when NMC  which stands for National Medical Centre  floated to raise 117m did not realise at the time they were jumping on board one of the issues of the decade.

Priced at 210p, the stock has been hotter than the United Arab Emirates desolate Rub al Khali desert, multiplying in value more than 13 times.

This week the company takes its place as a member of the FTSE 100. Its sharp appreciation gives NMC a market capitalisation of 5.7bn.

That is some performance given NMCs humble beginnings. Founder Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty arrived in the oil-rich UAE from India in 1973 with $8 in his pocket and the debt from his sisters wedding to pay off. Having qualified in pharmacy, he set up as a drugs salesman, selling stock to doctors, door-to-door.

Inspired by a proclamation from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAEs first president, for affordable healthcare for all, he opened a pharmacy shop and clinic employing his wife, Chandrakumari, as the sole practitioner. The operation was so basic that in the early days he even used to carry patients in on his shoulders in lieu of an ambulance.

Today it has eight hospitals, two day care patient centres, nine medical centres and 15 pharmacies, plus fertility clinics in Europe and beyond that it is looking to expand.

NMC treated close to 4.3m patients in 2016. The company has done what it said it would on listing: added bed capacity in the UAE, expanded across the region including into Saudi Arabia and Oman, and focused on higher margin treatments such as IVF.

Shetty retired as chief executive in March and now serves as joint non-executive chairman.

The Shetty family retain a 24pc stake. Together with other large shareholders, the free float is only 40pc. NMC Health shares are trading on a heady 28 times next years forecast earnings. So high are expectations, it would not take much disappointment to put them in the sick bay.

However, growth shows no sign of waning with earnings per share on track to increase by 20pc per annum for several years to come. Much of the upside appears to have been captured, but FTSE membership could win NMC new fans including tracker funds. Worth holding.

THE SUNDAY TIMES

Few companies have reinvented themselves as many times as Drax, owner of Britains biggest power station.

The plants notorious status as the countrys largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions ought to mean it faces certain extinction. Yet it has been able to dodge the fate that has befallen so many coal-fuelled power stations.

Drax was one of the first on the biomass bandwagon, burning wood chips alongside coal as early as 2004. Sensing coals demise, the company got into the alternative energy source in a big way, converting half the 4 gigawatt plant into a giant wood-chip furnace.

On top of this it has added a supply operation that sells power to businesses, creating a valuable stream of service revenues. When the government promised to end coal generation by 2025, Drax played its next hand.

It wants to build four small gas power stations around the country, convert most of the rest of the Drax plant in North Yorkshire to gas, and build the worlds biggest battery beside it.

Driving this remarkable reincarnation is its chief executive, Dorothy Thompson. She has run Drax since its market float in 2005, overseeing a share price that has bounced about along with the governments energy policy. The shares closed on Friday at 310.1p, valuing the company at 1.3bn.

Thompsons latest gas and battery plan is bold but has its merits. As wind turbines and solar panels generate an increasing slice of Britains power, National Grid is crying out for dependable power to plug the gaps when the sun doesnt shine and the wind doesnt blow.

As secure and predictable sources of power such as coal and nuclear dwindle, the government will be forced to pay a premium for this flexibility. And, as ever, Drax wants the certainty of a 15-year government assurance before it takes the plunge.

This is gutsy stuff. As analysts at HSBC put it, Drax is not yet an income stock and its strategy is as yet unproven. Still, if anyone can do it, Thompson can.
Leading architect Lord Foster has joined the Brexit debate by calling for the country to look outwards, not inwards, adding that London is under threat due to the vote to leave the EU.

Foster, who founded his London-based Foster + Partners practice 50 years ago, said in his chairmans statement to the latest set of company accounts that there were serious concerns that will affect our future and that of others.

He added: We thrive and contribute to the wealth of London by virtue of our ability to attract the best graduates from beyond our island nation. That is a strength and should be recognised as such.

Diverse: Foster + Partners has been behind projects as diverse as Londons City Hall, the Reichstag redevelopment in Berlin, Hong Kong airport and Apples US campus (pictured)

'London, wonderfully, is a melting pot for international expertise and needs to maintain that edge. It is already under threat.

'Politics and morality aside, we owe it to future generations to look outwards, not inwards and to positively encourage the influx of talent.

Foster + Partners firm has employees from 77 nationalities, speaking 68 languages.

It has offices around the world in the Middle East, the US, China and Spain, and overseas work accounts for 90 per cent of turnover.

The firm has been behind projects as diverse as Londons City Hall, the Reichstag redevelopment in Berlin, Hong Kong airport and Apples Californian campus.

During its financial year, the company gave out its first ever annual payment to its 145 partners, a year earlier than planned.

The payment, 7 million between them, is on top of any annual bonuses, and was set up after the companys restructuring in 2014, when it bought out venture capitalist 3is shareholding. The firm is now wholly-owned by its 145 partners.

Group accounts just filed for the year ending April 30, 2017, show sales fell from 257 million to 245 million and pre-tax profits dipped slightly from 28 million to 25.2 million due in part to restructuring costs.
The Bank of England is set to launch a crackdown this week on interest-free credit cards amid fears that they could trigger a new consumer debt crisis.

So-called teaser deals have proliferated in recent years.

They allow Britons to move thousands of pounds of debts built up elsewhere on to the cards at zero interest for periods up to 43 months.

The Bank of England is set to launch a crackdown this week on interest-free credit cards amid fears that they could trigger a new consumer debt crisis (file photo)

But Bank chiefs claim the offers encourage borrowers to take on debt they may not be able to repay if the economy slumps.

That could leave card providers shouldering huge losses  and exacerbate a downturn.

The Banks Financial Policy Committee meets on Wednesday to decide a course of action.

Britons have been borrowing heavily recently, with the total amount lent on credit cards, loans and overdrafts growing at nearly ten per cent a year.
Doctors from around the Capital Region gathered at Siena College on Saturday to attend a panel presentation on the lower vaccination rates of teenagers across the state and nationwide, part of an all-day conference organized by the New York State Academy of Family Physicians.

Discussion centered around why certain vaccines, such as the one that limits the spread of HPV, are administered at significantly lower rates than others like the shots to prevent against tetanus or meningitis.

Panel members Dr. Phil Kaplan, a physician and board member of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, Dina Hoefer, New York state Immunization Information System and Vaccine Program manager for the New York State Department of Health, and Scott Coley, research scientist at the NYSDOHs Bureau of Immunization, discussed current vaccination records of teenagers in New York, potential causes of the low numbers of vaccinated teens, and strategies to improve vaccination rates.

CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has defined a shortfall of teen vaccines; the national data is pretty dismal, said panel member Dr. Phil Kaplan, a board member of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians. We should learn how to measure ourselves better, and once knowing how poorly were doing, strive to do better and seek tools to accomplish that.

According to CDCs 2016 National Immunization Survey, in New York State (excluding New York City), nearly 93% of teens aged 13 to 17 have received their Tdap vaccination, 89% have received the first dose of the meningococcal vaccine, and almost 52% are up-to-date with their HPV vaccination.

I think theres an under-appreciation of the value of particular vaccines, Coley said.

One of those under-appreciated vaccinations is HPV, and panelists credited the significant difference in number of HPV vaccinations to public discourse and perception.

The risk of HPV is delayed, the event that produces the infection is delayed, there is not a public perception of risk and there is the public distress of harm, Kaplan said. And the state is telling me how I should deal with my teen about sexuality.

The panelists stressed the important role of physicians to improve the numbers found in CDCs survey.

One of the truths in healthcare is we know were doing a good job with people we see, Kaplan said. But assessing my practice, I didnt realize I wasnt doing a good job with patients I wasnt seeing.

Scott Coley, research scientist at the state Health Department's Bureau of Immunization added, When you look into your patient directory, then you start to investigate why you have patients falling through the cracks.

Practices are attempting to solve this problem by reaching out to patients more through text messages, emails and post cards, said Dina Hoefer, New York state Immunization Information System and Vaccine Program manager for the state DOH.

This is continuing medical education for me, Gene Merecki, a physician practicing in Malta,who attended the panel presentation. I can bring whats going on here to my practice and implement changes right away.
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SCHENECTADY  Last week, a nearly 200 year-old home successfully moved out of the flood plain in the city's historic Stockade.

And while raising the dozens of homes in the neighborhood bordering the Mohawk River is not realistic, an $8.6 million FEMA grant the city applied for to study the issue has been temporarily suspended because of the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, according to Mayor Gary McCarthy and other city officials.

Schenectady's development office said in a statement Friday that they city was notified by the state Department of Homeland Security that "all FEMA funding for this type of application had been put on hold" because of the two Category 4 Atlantic storms to lash Texas and Florida in the last two weeks.

The statement goes on to say that it's unclear how long the funding application for the grant through FEMA's hazard mitigation program will be shelved, but that the city will be periodically checking in with the state to find out the status.

A spokeswoman with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services in Albany on Friday referred questions to FEMA's regional office. Don Caetano, an agency spokesman, did not return a call seeking comment.

If Schenectady is awarded the grant, the initial phase of the study would include an engineering assessment to identify correct measures to help prevent future flooding and explore options for the design of such a project.

The assessment is necessary because physically lifting other structures and moving them may not be feasible in the archaeologically sensitive historic district that has been inhabited for 300 years.

The Stockade contains a variety of Dutch and English 17th- and 18th-century buildings and construction styles and is home to 40 buildings that are more than 200 years old.
Tipperary TD Jackie Cahill has said that changes are required in order to ensure that there is equality and fair play between those homes connected to rural water schemes and those who receive their water from Irish Water.

Deputy Cahill was commenting after submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy asking him to consider a number of changes to the water charging system to make it fairer to those on group water schemes and business owners with multiple connections to the water network.

The decision earlier this year to end water charging for those connected to public water schemes is a welcome one, and one in which Fianna Fail is proud to have led the campaign on.

My request is firmly based on the all-party Oireachtas Committee report which recommends that there should be equity between the group water and public water users.

Its now time to ensure that those who have been paying for their own water for years via group and rural water schemes are treated fairly and equally.

Considerable investment is rightly being made in the public water system via Irish Water, and I feel that the same level of investment should be provided to those who operate their own group water schemes.

These families and communities should be treated in the same way as those families and communities who get their water from Irish Water.

Other changes are needed to streamline how farmers, in particular, with multiple connections to the water network are charged. At present, every new metre is treated as a new connection with a resulting standing charge applied.

I believe that farmers, who in many cases have multiple water supplies on their land, should only be charged one standing charge.

These are changes that would make the system fairer for everyone, and should be considered by the Minister, said Deputy Cahill.
[September 16, 2017] 365 Connect Joins Forces With Habitat for Humanity in Supporting Hurricane Recovery Efforts

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 365 Connect, a leading provider of award-winning marketing, leasing, and resident technology platforms for the multifamily housing industry, announced today that the company joined forces with Habitat for Humanity to support the Habitat Hammers Back initiative in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The catastrophic rampages of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have devastated entire communities, destroying homes and leaving many people displaced and in need. Harvey dumped 19 trillion gallons of water on Southeast Texas alone, and Hurricane Irma was a 650-mile-wide storm that made landfall in Florida with unprecedented force. The combined damage from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma could cost as much as $290 billion, according to forecasts. Working through its various local offices, Habitat for Humanity is assisting families in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and the Caribbean through their Habitat Hammers Back initiative. The global housing nonprofit has been responding to natural disasters since 1997, and to date has helped more than 230,000 families in 52 countries through its disaster response work. 365 Connect, founder and CEO, Kerry W. Kirby explained, "As a New Orleans based company, we know a few things about hurricanes. Following Hurricane Katrina, Habitat for Humanity built mre than 6,000 homes and gutted more than 2,500 homes in preparation for rehabilitation along the Gulf Coast. Today is our turn to give back, and we stand ready to help with our hearts, hands, and donations for the victims affected by these devastating storms."



In response to the disaster,365 Connect is launching an internal project called "Stepping Up and Stepping Out." In addition to a generous monetary donation by the company, 365 Connect is offering fully paid employee volunteer days to work on Habitat projects, employee donation matching, and an awareness campaign on multiple websites operated by the company. Kirby added, "We are all in this together, and rebuilding these communities is dependent upon the level of support that donors, volunteers, corporations, and community organizations can provide. As this is a long-term recovery project, we are encouraging our industry partners to join us in helping Habitat Hammer Back. We hope our involvement will encourage others to take part in this very important initiative, and provide aid to the same citizens who offered us assistance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

Donation to Habitat's Hurricane Recovery: https://www.habitat.org/hammersback ABOUT 365 CONNECT: 365 Connect was founded in 2003 with an unwavering commitment to transforming how apartment communities market, lease, and retain residents. As a leading provider of award-winning technology platforms for the multifamily housing industry, 365 Connect delivers a fully-integrated suite of comprehensive solutions that automate marketing, simplify transactions, and serve residents after the lease is signed. The 365 Connect Resident Lifecycle Platform allows its clients infinite expansion, robust integrations, and the ability to revolutionize user experiences. Explore: www.365connect.com MEDIA CONTACTS 365 CONNECT T: 504.299.3444 E: [email protected] Related Links Like Us On Facebook Follow Us On Twitter View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/365-connect-joins-forces-with-habitat-for-humanity-in-supporting-hurricane-recovery-efforts-300520849.html SOURCE 365 CONNECT

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[September 17, 2017] Artprice: Guache Inaugurates a Series of Collective Works Created at the Organe Contemporary Art Museum, Artprice's HQ

PARIS, September 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Guache - a major star in South America, particularly in his home country Colombia - has enjoyed exhibitions in many cities around the world, including Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Stockholm and Paris. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160228/338238LOGO )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/557189/Artprice_Guache_HQ.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/557190/Artprice_Guache.jpg )

Photo: Guache, "Agricultura Celeste" at the Organe Contemporary Art Museum, https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999/photos/a.419850215978.219880.62396175978/10155693685320979/?type=3 Photo: The Organe Contemporary Art Museum, https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999/photos/a.419850215978.219880.62396175978/10155693765400979/?type=3 His work is a superb combination of political, sociological and Andean mystical. His approach to life and death with his Vanities has found a perfect echo in the collective works created with thierry Ehrmann, the author of the Abode of Chaos (Demeure du Chaos) since 1999 and Artprice's founder/CEO. thierry Ehrmann: "Guache, who worked on the history of the Abode of Chaos for several weeks, has brought a chromatic explosion from South America and our collaboration has allowed us to address the subject of Alchemy, the fundamental theme underpinning the Demeure du Chaos since 1999. Measuring 36 m, "Agricultura Celeste" resembles a large-format advertising spot that suggests a variety of intellectual and esoteric links by marrying Andean rituals with those of medieval European alchemy. This collective work has brought one of the world's most famous (Artprice Ranking) muralist / street-artists to the Organe Contemporary Art Museum. Artprice and the Organe Contemporary Art Museum are the main sponsors of the TrubLyon Street Art Festival in Lyon which hosts five Colombian street-artists and five European street-artists. For Artprice, Street art is one of the most dynamic segments of the OTC Market Art, a market in which Artprice has recently decided to take a lead position. Guache is the first in a long list of world-renowned artists who will create and perform collective works at the Organe Contemporary Art Museum, as indicated in Artprice's press release $PRC of 10 September 2017, which read as follows: " Artprice moves into top gear with its world-famous Contemporary Art Museum headquarters, "L'Organe" In 1997, Artprice installed its HQ in the middle of a Contemporary Art Museum, "L'Organe" (9000 m). Among its activities, the Museum runs the world-famous Demeure du Chaos / "The Abode of Chaos" according to The New York Times. (See Artprice's Reference Documentation submitted each year to France's Financial Markets Authority, the AMF). The 2017 attendance figures for Artprice's Museum HQ speak for themselves: The Demeure du Chaos / Musee L'organe is the most visited Contemporary Art Museum in France's Rhone Alpes Region, with 140,000 visitors per year, including to its Borderline Biennale event. Google ranks L'Organe Museum of Contemporary Art as the highest-rated Art Museum in Lyon (data from 28 August 2017). Likewise, Facebook's ranking of the Top-25 cultural destinations in the City of Lyon has placed the Demeure du Chaos / Musee L'Organe in pole position for the last five years running - confirmed again this year in its N48 September ranking. The Demeure du Chaos / Musee L'organe is closely followed by 475,000 subscribers with an average weekly publication audience reach of 4.5 million and by far the highest engagement rate. (full and certified Facebook data). Source: certified Google and Facebook data: https://artpressagency.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/thierry-ehrmann-en-avant-premiere-le-classement-n48-exclusif-de-septembre-2017-des-principaux-acteurs-culturels-du-grand-lyon-la-metropole/ Since it opened in 2006, the Demeure du Chaos / Musee L'organe (unde French Law a "registered visitable establishment with museum characteristics" has welcomed 1.34 million of whom 25% from outside France.



Its global popularity is beyond any doubt, as confirmed by the following statistic: since the publication in 2013 of its bilingual book "Opus IX of the Demeure du Chaos/ Abode of Chaos " (504 pages, digital and paper format (30x30) and free online at the world-leading issuu.com), the work has been the subject of 37.4 million 'online impressions' (a fact legally certified by MAMET PONS solicitors in 2016). This volume of 'online impressions' is rivalled by very few French cultural institutions or publishers. Source : http://issuu.com/demeureduchaos/docs/demeureduchaos-abodeofchaos-opus-ix-1999-2013

The Museum's circuit covers a territory of 9,000 m with 5,400 artworks in various disciplines. It includes 1,200 monumental sculptures created by thierry Ehrmann, Artprice's founder and CEO and a visual artist for 35 years. In 2014 the Abode of Chaos organised a retrospective show entitled Thirty years of Sculpture by thierry Ehrmann which alone attracted 180,000 visitors. Artprice's Contemporary Art HQ is a world-renowned phenomenon which for the last 18 years (1999/2017) has inspired more than 3,708 written and audio-visual articles in the world's most prestigious media channels. According to the Anglo-American press, although very different, Artprice's HQ rivals some of the emblematic, ambitious and futuristic head offices in Silicon Valley, which in themselves represent a superb vector of mass communication. The latest example of this media enthusiasm was two months of filming by Arte France / Germany (July and August 2017) at the Abode of Chaos in the framework of two full-length feature films for prime-time diffusion. Following Artprice's collaboration with Arte France / Germany on 9 episodes entitled the "History of Art" in 2016, Artprice will again be working with Arte France / Germany to create 9 episodes on Forbidden Art ("Art interdit"). A recent meeting of Artprice's Board of Directors voted to upgrade the exploitation of the Abode of Chaos / Musee L'Organe by organising regularly quarterly meetings with world-famous artists, one-off artistic events and symposiums focused primarily on Art and Law as of September 2017 (Artprice has been publishing legal and sociological studies that have become references for the Art Market for 20 years) Artprice has long been preparing exhibitions of the most recent artistic disciplines in which science, technology and art underpin a dynamic OTC Art Market. It is precisely to this OTC Art Market - emerging on all 5 continents with remarkable speed and flooding the traditional Market - that Artprice has recently turned its full attention. See Actusnews press release: Artprice takes a major stake in the OTC Art Market which generates a volume of transactions roughly 7 to 9 times higher than the traditional art market: https://www.actusnews.com/fr/ARTPRICE/cp/2017/06/30/artprice-takes-a-major-stake-in-the-otc-art-market-which-generates-a-volume-of-transactions-roughly-7-to-9-times-higher-than-the This year Artprice will launch its famous Global Contemporary Art Market Report at its Abode of Chaos / Contemporary Art Museum HQ in early October 2017, with its standard preview of the key data via its exclusive partner, AFP. Among other initiatives, the Contemporary Art Museum and Artprice HQ will welcome artists showing at the 2017 Lyon Contemporary Art Biennial which begins shortly. Artprice was the principal sponsor of this event when Lyon was bidding to host France's only biennial art fair (founded by Andre Malraux). At the same time as London's Frieze, Paris's FIAC and the Paris Photo art fairs, the Contemporary Art Museum at Artprice's Abode of Chaos HQ will be hosting a number of artistic events, notably in its famous Bunker (720 m3) that was exhibited in front of the Grand Palais (in Paris) as a monumental sculpture for the Triennial Art Fair, La Force de l'art, in 2006. Since 1999, Serveur Group - Artprice's parent company - has provided the Organe Contemporary Art Museum with all the requisite avant-gardist museum facilities as well as all the Internet infrastructures (including a clean-room dedicated to the Museum) to host artistic events and receive world-famous artists in a variety of different workshops. These artists will be able to create and perform in situ with live transmission on social networks and Network TV. Over the years Artprice has become a dominant player through these channels both as the world leader in Art Market information and as a Contemporary Art Museum at the Demeure du Chaos / Abode of Chaos. Artprice's staff, art historians, editors and researchers will all be involved in these international events. With its unique role as world leader in Art Market information and as a Museum of Contemporary Art, Artprice clearly represents a cutting edge art institution in Europe. By receiving artists in residency and hosting exceptional events, Artprice is moving into another dimension in which the art world's projectors will be focused on its HQ at the world famous Demeure du Chaos / Abode of Chaos Contemporary Art Museum. Artprice will inevitably benefit from the resulting international media exposure, but also from the individual communication strategies of the artists it hosts, via all media channels, including of course the social networks with their 'viral' diffusion potential. Therefore, without any further industrial or property investments, Artprice is creating an unprecedented physical / digital publicity platform for Contemporary Art that will gain permanent exposure all over the planet. Copyright thierry Ehrmann 1987/2017 About Artprice: Artprice is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF. Artprice is the global leader in art price and art index databanks. It has over 30 million indices and auction results covering more than 657,000 artists. Artprice Images(R) gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in the world: a library of 126 million images or prints of artworks from the year 1700 to the present day, along with comments by Artprice's art historians. Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 6,300 auctioneers and it publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the world's principal news agencies and approximately 7,200 international press publications. For its 4,500,000 members, Artprice gives access to the world's leading Standardised Marketplace for buying and selling art. Artprice is preparing its blockchain for the Art Market. It is BPI-labelled (scientific national French label). Artprice's Global Art Market Annual Report for 2016 published last March 2017: http://imgpublic.artprice.com/pdf/rama2016_en.pdf Artprice's Contemporary Art Market Annual Report for 2016 - free access at https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2016 The text presented hereafter is a translation of Arte Creative's online presentation: ARTE: A gigantic Christmas tree in the guise of a butt plug, a machine that defecates five-star meals, an icon immersed in urine and staged corpses - subversive, trash, provocative or insulting? Thierry Ehrmann, the man behind The Abode of Chaos dixit "The New York Times", an artist and the founder of Artprice, is the mouthpiece for scandal and discloses the workings of the most striking controversies in contemporary art. And scandal sells. 9 episodes are online: http://www.arte.tv/guide/en/weekly-highlight Artprice's press releases: http://serveur.serveur.com/press_release/pressreleaseEN.htm and https://twitter.com/artpricedotcom News Artmarket: http://twitter.com/artpricedotcom https://www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom https://www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom https://plus.google.com/+Artpricedotcom/posts http://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/ Discover the Alchemy and the universe of Artprice http://web.artprice.com/video, which headquarters are the famous Museum of Contemporary Art, the Abode of Chaos http://goo.gl/zJssd https://vimeo.com/124643720 The Contemporary Art Museum The Abode of Chaos on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999 The Abode of Chaos/Demeure du Chaos Contemporary Art Museum by thierry Ehrmann,author, sculptor, artist, photograph https://www.flickr.com/photos/home_of_chaos/sets/72157676803169034 thierry Ehrmann - e-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Artprice.com

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[September 17, 2017] Kevin McCann and Mark Nelson Appointed to the Board of Directors of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (Telix, the Company) is pleased to announce that Mr. Kevin McCann AM and Dr. Mark Nelson have been appointed to the Board of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited as Non-Executive Directors. Mr. McCann will also serve in the capacity of Chairman.

Telix Co-Founder and CEO Christian Behrenbruch stated, We are very pleased to have Kevin and Mark join the Telix board at this important time in the Companys development. They bring a tremendous amount of experience and perspective in capital markets, corporate governance and commercial strategy. Founding Directors Mr. Michael Cawley (Taylor Collison Limited) and Dr. Richard Zimmermann (Chrysalium Consulting) will concurrently step down from their role as Non-Executive Directors. Dr. Zimmermann remains an adviser to the Company. Mr. Kevin McCann AM : Biography AM BA LLB (Hons) LLM (Harvard) Life Fellow AICD Mr Kevin McCann is Chairman of Citadel Group Limited, Dixon Hospitality Limited and the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. He is a member of the Male Champions of Change, a Pro Chancellor and Fellow of the Senate of the Universityof Sydney, Co-Vice Chair of the New Colombo Plan Reference Group, a Director of the US Studies Centre, Director and member of the Advisory Board of Evans and Partners and Chair of the National Library of Australia Foundation. Kevin is a former Chairman of Macquarie Group Limited and Macquarie Bank Limited, Origin Energy Limited, Healthscope Limited and ING Management Limited. Kevin practiced as a Commercial Lawyer as a Partner of Allens Arthur Robinson from 1970 to 2004 and was Chairman of Partners from 1995 to 2004.



Kevin has a Bachelor of Arts and Law (Honours) from Sydney University and a Master of Law from Harvard University. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the Law, Business and the Community in 2005 and is a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Dr. Mark Nelson : Biography

B.Sc (Hons) (Melb), M.Phil (Cantab), Ph.D (Melb) Dr Mark Nelson is Chairman and Co-Founder of the Caledonia Investments Group, and a Director of The Caledonia Foundation. He is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Deputy Chairman of Art Exhibitions Australia, a Director of Kaldor Public Art Projects and serves as a Governor of the Florey Neurosciences Institute. Previously Mark was a Director of The Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, and served on the Commercialisation Committee of the Florey Institute. Mark was educated at the University of Melbourne and University of Cambridge (UK). About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited Telix is an Australian biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products based on targeted radiopharmaceuticals or molecularly-targeted radiation (MTR). The Company is developing an advanced portfolio of oncology products that address significant unmet medical need in renal, prostate and brain (glioblastoma) cancer. Telix is an unlisted public company. For more information visit www.telixpharma.com. Investor Relations Contact Kyahn Williamson Head of Investor Communication WE Buchan @: [email protected]

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[September 17, 2017] Aflac Serves as Diamond Sponsor at CureFest for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

COLUMBUS, Ga., Sept. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the U.S. and a longtime champion of the childhood cancer cause, today participated as a Diamond Sponsor of CureFest for Childhood Cancer. A grassroots event held at the National Mall in Washington D.C., CureFest aims to make childhood cancer research a national priority by uniting the childhood cancer community, the general public, the brightest medical minds and elected leaders as one voice against childhood cancer. This is the second year that Aflac has sponsored CureFest after becoming the event's first national sponsor in 2016. Since 1995, Aflac has contributed more than $118 million to the cause of childhood cancer. Each month the company's independent agents contribute more than $500,000 to this cause. Whenever someone posts or shares on social media using the hashtag #Duckprints Aflac contributes $2, up to $1.5 million, to the Aflac Foundation, which supports the company's childhood cancer initiatives. o download photos from CureFest please click or cut and paste http://bit.ly/Aflac_Wire_091717 and use the password "aflac".



For more information about the Aflac Children's Cancer Campaign, please go to www.AflacChildhoodCancer.org About Aflac

When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For more than six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance, and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 11 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2017, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 19th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 16th time. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.

Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York. Media contacts  Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or [email protected] Aflac analyst and investor contact  David A. Young, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX 706.324.6330, or [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aflac-serves-as-diamond-sponsor-at-curefest-for-childhood-cancer-awareness-month-300520904.html SOURCE Aflac

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Signs Of Kansas City Urban Core Gentrification Frustration

Owl Season Of Terror Cont'd

Some Brookside residents concerned about aggressive owl Some people in Brookside are concerned about an owl that's attacked people and small animals.

Local Blaze Aftermath

Arson leaves metro area non-profit scrambling to transport medical equipment KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- An arsonist has destroyed a vital tool used to provide medical equipment to the disabled. Someone set fire to a truck used by Mid America Alliance for Access on Thursday. The non-profit accepts donations of gently used medical equipment, repairs them then sells them at a fraction of retail costs.

Dead Tree Public Safety Talk

How Kansas City can improve its fire department Kansas City has an important opportunity to re-think and re-make its fire service in the coming weeks. City Hall should seize it. Current Fire Chief Paul Berardi is retiring in November after 32 years with the Kansas City Fire Department. By all accounts, Berardi has served his community with courage and hard work.

Goodbye Kara

Kara Kopetsky laid to rest 10 years after disappearing Kara Kopetsky, who was missing for 10 years, was laid to rest Saturday. Hundreds of people turned out for her funeral; it was standing-room only. "We know that this is not the end. Kara's in heaven and we're going to see her again," Kara's mother, Rhonda Beckford said.

Sunday morning angelicand some local links worth a look right now. Checkit:is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . .
Celebrating its eleventh year, the eagerly anticipated festival will last through October 15 at various locations across the NYC area

The New York City Greek Film Festival 2017 will start Thursday, September 28 at the Directors Guild Theater on West 57 Street with PERFECT STRANGERS, a morality play for the digital age. When seven friends at a dinner party put their phones on the table to share messages and calls, they discover how dangerous truth games can be. Thodoris Atheridis, director and lead actor, and co-star Smaragda Karidi will attend the screening as well as the gala that follows at Kellari Taverna.

Celebrating its eleventh year, the eagerly anticipated festival will last through October 15 at various locations across the NYC area and will offer a wide range of films. Says director Jimmy DeMetro: Selecting films is always a challenging process, but this year was even more difficult. We made the decision to feature fewer selections than usual and try to come up with the absolute best of what was available to us. I think we have done that. This years films are exceptionally strong and varied in their subject matter. Weve even managed to find a comedy or two, a very difficult thing to do since Greek filmmakers, still suffering from the economic crisis, are not necessarily in a laughing mood.

Romantic dramas, mysteries and documentaries explore contemporary Greece and pay homage to its past. A forbidden love inspires ROZA OF SMYRNA. In THE OTHER ME, a professor utilizes Pythagorean theory to track down a serial killer. One of Melina Mercouris rarely seen films, PHAEDRA, will screen at the Museum of the Moving Image. In THE BOY ON THE BRIDGE., a youngster finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation. In AFTERLOV, a spurned lover finds it hard to let go of the woman he loves. Greeces current dilemmas inspired several of the films.

AMERIKA SQUARE

AMERIKA SQUARE, for example, zeros in on a hipster, a refugee and a xenophobic nationalist in a troubled Athens neighborhood. In SON OF SOFIA, a Tribeca Film Festival winner, a young Russian boy has trouble adjusting to life in Greece.

Film-goers can count on artful surprises, such as the documentaries BORDER SOULS, about a Halkidiki monastery feeding refugees, and DOGS OF DEMOCRACY, focusing on Athenians who care for the citys stray dogs. THE PATRIARCHS ROOM reopens the case of the first patriarch of Jerusalem in 2000 years of Church history to be relieved of his duties. IN THE MOUNTAIN PASTURES captures the beauty of the Greek outdoors and listens as nomadic shepherds talk about their lives and flocks.

DOGS OF DEMOCRACY

As an extra bonus to film aficionados, the festival will offer four nights of free screenings at the Wells Fargo Center, 150 East 42 Street, in Manhattan. October 2 will feature ISTORIA, a documentary about an expatriate with Alzheimers returning to Greece. On October 3, Christos Godas presents the world premiere of his debut film, APOCALYPSE AGAIN, about the island of Paros. On October 4, LIFE OF SIGNIFICANT SOIL starring Alexis Mouyiaris, will have an encore presentation. On October 5, a program of short subjects, BREAD AND OLIVES AND OTHER DELECTABLES, promises to be a special treat.

In addition to the Wells Fargo screenings, the festival has programmed two Manhattan Weekends: September 30  October 1 at the Directors Guild Theater; and October 13-15, at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway. The Museum of the Moving Image hosts the Astoria Weekend, October 6  8. The Long Island engagement will be at the Bow Tie Manhasset Cinema on October 9, 10, and 11.

The New York City Greek Film Festival is held by the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce, the Greek National Tourism Organization, and the Hellenic American Cultural Foundation. It is made possible by a generous grant from the Onassis Foundation USA.

For more information on this years festival, visit: www.nycgreekfilmfestival.com

Read more here.

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: Hromoslav License: CC-BY-SA

Source: greekreporter.com
Tsakalotos noted that after the third program review and at the start of 2018 there will be a discussion with the institutions on the nature of Greece's exit from the program

Greece and its creditors believe that the country will not need a precautionary credit line after its aid program is completed in August 2018, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos announced on Friday after a meeting of euro zone ministers in Tallinn.

"It is pretty clear that the Greek government, the European institutions and the IMF are not thinking of a precautionary credit line," he told journalists. "There is no reason for such a credit line. In reality, Eurogroup?s decision in June clearly states that money must be collected for state arrears and for a buffer of funds so that Greeks can have a 'clean' exit," he said.

Tsakalotos noted that after the third program review and at the start of 2018 there will be a discussion with the institutions on the nature of Greece's exit from the program. Between February and May there will be talks on the country?s debt and remaining issues concerning the program.

Asked whether Greece expects to receive before the end of the program the 26 billion euros that remain from the 86-billion-euro loan it received from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the minister clarified it will probably not be spent and its use will be part of the debate on how Greece will exit the program. Part of the amount will be used to pay for state arrears and create the buffer.

He noted he was also confident Greece will achieve the primary surplus target of 3.5 percent of GDP in 2018 and that no new measures will be required, as the over-performance and under-performance in the various budget areas will cancel each other out.

"I am very certain that we will not need new measures in 2018," he reassured.

Concerning the IMF's request to conduct an asset quality review (AQR) at Greek banks before the end of the program, he stressed that Greek lenders are part of the European system and that European authorities such as the European Central Bank and the Single Supervisory Mechanism have not requested this action. Tsakalotos said that European banks will also be submitted to stress tests in 2018 and expressed confidence that the position of Greek lenders will have significantly improved next year.

The minister underlined the Eurogroup expressed concern on the introduction of electronic auctions which has been delayed more than other measures on how to tackle non-performing loans.

The Eurogroup also raised the issue of the legal problems former ELSTAT chief Andreas Georgiou has faced, Tsakalotos revealed, adding that he told them his only conviction concerned a "procedural issue on whether he convened or not the board."

Read more here.

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: Sinn Fein License: CC-BY-SA

Source: ANA-MPA
According to information so far, 22 people were injured when an improvised explosive device exploded on the train during rush hour

Greece's foreign ministry strongly condemned the terrorist attack at Parsons Green underground station in London on Friday and expressed solidarity with UK in a post on Twitter.

"We strongly condemn today's attack in London underground & express our solidarity to British people and UK government," the ministry announced.

According to information so far, 22 people were injured when an improvised explosive device exploded on the train during rush hour.

Read more here.

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:A.Savin License: CC-BY-SA

Source: ANA-MPA
Welcome dinner organized by Kathimerini and its Gastronomos food magazine for the guests of the 5th Athens Democracy Forum

Wow! What is this? a young American woman asked Greek chef Lefteris Lazarou after taking her first bite of velvety mashed Naxos potatoes with smoked eel and truffle oil.

Hers were not the only exclamations of delight to be heard around the atrium of the Zappeion Mansion on Wednesday night, at the welcome dinner organized by Kathimerini and its Gastronomos food magazine for the guests of the 5th Athens Democracy Forum.

Praise was bestowed on the six distinguished Greek chefs, some of them boasting Michelin stars, who had prepared three dishes each that earned the approval of some very demanding palates. They were Lazarou, of Varoulko fame, Nena Ismyrnoglou, Christoforos Peskias, Asterios Koustoudis, Evdokia Fylakouri and pastry chef Stelios Parliaros.

The Athens Democracy Forum, held jointly by The New York Times, the United Nations Democracy Fund and Kathimerini, has brought influential personalities from the fields of global politics, economy and the media to the cradle of democracy. It was imperative, therefore, that these eminent guests be welcomed with a gesture of authentic Greek hospitality, or filoxenia as the ancients would have it.

Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, president, international of the The New York Times Company, thanked Kathimerinis publisher, Themistoklis Alafouzos, and executive editor, Alexis Papachelas, for the outstanding cooperation that has made the Athens Democracy Forum such a success, and expressed his appreciation for the fact that award-winning Greek chefs had prepared the welcome dinner.

He also encouraged the participants to visit the adjacent hall to view an exhibition of newspaper cartoons titled A Year in the Democratic World, Through the Eyes of Visual Artists, running through September 17. The show features a selection of work by The International New York Times Patrick Chappatte, and Kathimerinis Ilias Makris, Andreas Petroulakis and Dimitris Hantzopoulos, as well as Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese cartoonists whose work is published in a number of regional newspapers. There is also a show of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs by Yannis Behrakis, acclaimed Greek photographer, photojournalist and senior editor with Reuters, at the same venue.

Responding to Dunbar-Johnsons words of thanks, Papachelas addressed the issue of freedom of the press, and satirists in particular, at a time when even humor is being persecuted.

Speeches were also delivered by the NYTs CEO and president, Mark Thompson, and its vice president of international conferences, Achilles Tsaltas.

Read more here.

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: visitgreece

Source: ekathimerini.com
Protothema.gr reports in the following article that the trend of Greek property owners leasing their houses to tourists for the short holiday periods in an effort to cover rising property taxes (ENFIA), with the subsequent hike in rent, has had a domino effect on other professional and social groups in Greece:

University students looking to ensure accommodation for the new season were faced with higher rent rates of up to 20%, according to market experts. Now public school teachers, who would be transferred to touristy locations, such as islands will also have to fork out more cash to cover their rental costs, while property owners compel them to agree to contractual stipulations that they (teachers) would leave their properties in the summer period to make way for the more lucrative foreign tourist-occupants.

The new trend had resulted in a spike in ads by house owners who might accept leasing their property to educators, but require them to depart during holiday periods to accommodate the increased demand by tourists.

Indicative of the trend is the fact that there is an increase in property owners, who despite having signed long-term leasing contracts with educators, are simply reneging on their agreements and evicting the teachers.

Real estate agents have noticed a rise, after a long time in property investment, with purchases of houses (between 30,000-35,000 euros), by families in Athens and Thessaloniki for their children studying outside their home cities.

According to data from popular home side ads spitogatos,gr, the town of Chania in Crete is the most expensive in Greece regarding university student rents, with rates approaching 7 euros per square metre, with the average size of apartments being leased standing at 61 square metres.

The problem of excessive rent prices recently led the local authorities of the island of Santorini to urge locals to put up teachers in their own homes in order to deal with the problem.

Read more here.

Report: Stefania Souki

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Tilemahos Efthimiadis License: CC-BY-SA

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

Source: protothema.gr
Malaysia has officially recognised the 'UAE Halal Products Control System', national certificates and the national Halal mark, which will facilitate the trade of UAE halal products and ensure acceptance in Malaysian markets, as well as markets that accept Malaysian halal systems certification, which contains 60 markets globally.



Malaysia's recognition of the UAE Halal System will support the facilitation of the trade and exchange of products with the national brand of Halal, Abdullah Abdul Qader Al Maeeni, director-general of the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (Esma), was quoted as saying by Wam news agency.



"This UAE-led initiative, a first-of-its-kind in the Arab and Middle East, will open up export horizons to producers in the country, as well as export and re-export support to dozens of new markets, which is positively reflected on the support and encouragement of international industries, especially in the markets of East and South East Asia and the Australian continent, and also contributes to food security in the country," he added.



The Malaysian Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) sent Esma with the official recognition certificate after the UAE hosted a Malaysian delegation that reviewed the UAE Halal Control System Global Practices.



According to official reports, bilateral trade between the UAE and Malaysia amounted to $6.1 billion last year. Malaysia's total exports to the UAE amounted to about $3.04 billion, and the value of imports reached $3.59 billion, representing a growth in intra-trade.
AirAsia continues to widen the Asean connectivity with the inaugural flight of its 54th unique route to Nha Trang, Vietnam that flies daily directly from Kuala Lumpur.



The maiden flight also marked another milestone for the carrier as AirAsia is the first airline to operate direct flights to Nha Trang from Malaysia.



The inaugural flight recorded a positive flight load of 93 per cent. A grand receiving ceremony was held at the Cam Ranh International Airport to celebrate the arrival of flight AK204 in Nha Trang. The aircraft arrived at 11.35AM yesterday and was greeted with a water cannon salute. Guests on board the inaugural flight included Dato Fam Lee Ee, board of directors for AirAsia Berhad; Spencer Lee, head of commercial for AirAsia Berhad; as well as a group of Malaysian, Australian and Singaporean media who will participate in a familiarisation trip to explore the Asean treasure of Nha Trang.



In conjunction with the momentous celebration, a press conference was held in Nha Trang with the attendance of Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, vice director of Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism; Dato Fam Lee Ee, board of directors for AirAsia Berhad; and Spencer Lee, Head of Commercial for AirAsia Berhad.



Spencer Lee, head of Commercial for AirAsia Berhad said: This year is a big year for Asean as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Asean formation with many key activities happening in the region. As a truly Asean airline, we are proud to continue our commitment towards growing Asean and connecting the region further with direct route to Nha Trang. We look forward to sharing the beauty of this Asean treasure with our passengers through our daily flights operating directly from Kuala Lumpur.



Vietnam is a key market for us and we are humbled to be able to continue to provide more connectivity between Vietnam and Malaysia. Nha Trang is a great addition to our network and we see a good potential in the destination which was why we have decided to increase our Fly-Thru routes benefitting travellers from the region and beyond to visit the coastal city. We also hope the people from the Khanh Hoa Province will take the opportunity to discover Malaysia, Asean and the world with our extensive connectivity of over 120 destinations across 27 countries, he added.



Guests can make use of the optional Fly-Thru service connecting to other flights with their baggage checked-through to the final destination without the hassle of immigration clearance at the transit hub. With this optional service, guests can now travel to Nha Trang seamlessly from eight countries with 23 cities including Johor Bahru, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Langkawi, Singapore, Jakarta, Bali, Bandung, Surabaya, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Changsha, Xian, Wuhan, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Sydney, Perth, Maldives, Colombo, and Tiruchirappalli.



AirAsia also connects guests from Kuala Lumpur to other cities in Vietnam including Ho Chi Minh City with 42 times weekly flights; Da Nang with 10 times weekly flights; and Hanoi with 11 times weekly flights.



As the coastal city and capital of the Khanh Hoa Province, Nha Trang brings about a marvellous picture where old meets new with heritage attractions set in a modern city. Travellers can expect an unforgettable getaway discovering the beautiful bays with white sandy coastlines and blue waters; appreciate the remaining Cham ethnic minority ruins on a hill overlooking the Nha Trang fishing villages at Po Nagar Cham Towers; have a fun day out at the Vinpearl Land Amusement Park that holds a Guinness World Record of a 3,320-metre long cable car system with spectacular sea views; marvel at the Nha Trang Cathedral with French Catholicism influence; take a dip in natural hot springs or mud bath; and enjoy the delectable street food such as can cake snack, jellyfish noodles and birds nest soup. - TradeArabia News Service


The Embassy of Italy in Kuwait has signed a contract with VFS Global to launch a proficiently managed and modern Italy Visa Application Centre in Kuwait City.



VFS Global recently won the four-year contract after participating in an official tender published by the Embassy of Italy, Kuwait earlier this year. The contract was officially signed by Giuseppe Scognamiglio, ambassador of Italy to Kuwait, and Vinay Malhotra, chief operating officer, Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global, at a signing ceremony held at the Embassy of Italy in Kuwait, on September 6.



Also present at the signing was Patrizio Dell'Arte, head of the Consular Office of Italy in Kuwait and Marita Bachhav, head of operations - GCC, Lebanon, Jordan & Iraq, VFS Global.



The new centre, scheduled to launch in November will be located at Level 54, Arraya Tower, Al Shuhada Street, Sharq, Kuwait, and will allow travellers to Italy from Kuwait submit visa applications and enroll biometrics in a comfortable, convenient and professionally managed environment.



At the centre, in addition to their visa application process, applicants will also have access to a dedicated tourism space, which will offer tourism information on a range of hand-picked tours in Italy.



Commenting on the signing, Malhotra said: We are privileged to further extend our services on behalf of the client government of Italy in the State of Kuwait. With the steady increase in travel to Italy by the residents of Kuwait, we are confident the new centre will efficiently meet the demand for Italy visas in a seamless and professional manner.



Kuwait is the fifth country in the Middle East from where VFS Global will serve the Embassy of Italy. Worldwide, VFS Global has served the Government of Italy since 2004, and currently manages visa processing operations for the client government in 29 countries from 67 visa well-appointed application centres. - TradeArabia News Service


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Tribune Reporters

Amritsar, September 16

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists staged a protest against the Congress government for its failure to deliver on its poll promises outside Hall Gate today. The protest led to traffic bottlenecks.

They even burnt the governments effigy and raised slogans against it. BJP district president Rajesh Honey said during the six-month tenure of the government, it failed to deliver on its promises. He said the loan waiver for farmers remained a cosmetic exercise and the government failed to provide electricity at Rs 5 per unit to industrialists. Even the government is struggling to pay salaries to its employees, they said.

BJP senior leader and state executive member Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said the peoples faith in the government vanished in a short time. He blamed Capt Amarinder Singh for remaining inaccessible.

He said farmers were committing suicides and the Congress promises of waiving their loans had fallen flat.

He reminded the government of providing unemployment allowance and smartphones to the youth besides the pension to widows and old persons.

Dharna at Tarn Taran

Tarn Taran: The district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party organised a dharna at the office of the Deputy Commissioner against the failure of the state government in implementing its election manifesto.

Jaswant Singh Padda, district president of the party, led the workers. Padda condemned the state government for stopping welfare schemes launched by the previous SAD-BJP Government. He added that farmers loan had not been waived and lakhs of youngsters were still unemployed.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 17

A snatching attempt was reported in Sector 39 here. According to the police, the victim, a resident of Mohali, was going on foot when the miscreant, riding an Activa scooter, tried to snatch her mobile phone near the Kisan Mandi chowk.

A case has been registered at the Sector 39 police station and an investigation has been initiated in the matter.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 16

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid a maiden visit to the Headquarters of the Western Command at the Chandimandir Military Station today.

She was briefed about the operational preparedness, administrative issues and ex-servicemens affairs by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Lt Gen Surinder Singh.

Expressing complete confidence in the immense operational might of the Western Command, she lauded its contribution to all spheres, including assistance to the civilian administration, especially in the recent past.

She also laid a wreath at the Veer Smriti war memorial to pay tributes to martyrs and planted a sapling in the complex. She also interacted with the troops. Sitharaman attended a function at Kasauli and later proceeded back to New Delhi.

All praise

The minister lauded the Western Command's contribution to all spheres, including assistance to the civilian administration.
MK Bhadrakumar

MK Bhadrakumar

HISTORY is full of paradoxes. The visiting Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, recalled nostalgically before a public gathering at Ahmedabad that the mainspring of his abundant goodwill and empathy with Indian people lies in his familys decades-old legacy of warm personal friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru. Abe said, My grandfather, Prime Minister [Nobusuke] Kishi loved India. He was introduced personally by Prime Minister Nehru to the Indian people. Like my grandfather, I also hope to have strong ties with the Indian people. Abe was recalling Kishis famous visit to India in 1957.

Simply put, while launching the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, Abe reminded us also that 2017 happens to be the 60th anniversary year of his familys cherished friendship with Nehru. Whether the irony of the situation occurred to Abe we will never know. Nehru is a non-person for Indias present ruling elite. Of course, Nehrus scientific temper would still have saluted Modis bullet train project. The project symbolises a leap of faith  of the kind Nehru himself often took such as when he ordered our scientists to split atom and explore its mysteries. Perhaps, Nehru would have preferred Indias first bullet train to run from Delhi to Kolkata through the vast expanse of the Gangetic plains, our poverty-stricken heartland steeped in backwardness, rather than prioritise the diamond merchants shuttling between Surat and Mumbai. But that is a minor detail.

What matters is that for building 468 km of rail track 18 metres above ground level, huge numbers of migrant labour will be employed, apart from the economic spin-off. To be sure, Rs 1.1 lakh crore is a lot of money. Abe has made the loan available at a nominal interest of 0.1 per cent. Abes words that he is willing to do all that he possibly can for India resonate as a sincere articulation of friendship. But then, we wouldnt know how much the project would have cost if Japanese companies were competing against Siemens AG, Bombardier Inc, Alstom  or, Chinas CRRC. Shouldnt the Modi government resort to competitive bidding? Transparency is important to prevent public corruption. In a comparable situation, Indonesias President Joko Widodo is insisting on transparent, competing bids from foreign countries to build the proposed 750 km high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Surabaya.

The bottom line is that one swallow doesnt a summer make. Japan is a great trading nation. Despite the troubled relationship between Japan and China, the latter remains as Japans number one trading partner. But India failed to convince the Japanese business that its rise is an opportunity for them to trade and invest in our country. From a peak level of $18.61 billion during UPA rule in 2012-2013, bilateral trade with Japan slumped to $13.48 billion in 2016-2017. Under the business-friendly Modi government, the decline has been -5.36 per cent (2014-2015), -6.4 per cent (2015-2016) and -7.0 per cent (2016-2017). The economic partnership detailed in the Modi-Abe joint statement is mostly devoted to technical cooperation  Japanese help for Indias capacity-building. It remains to be seen if the decision to finalise four new locations as special industrial zones for Japanese companies is going to make a difference. Make in India ventures in the defence sector or nuclear industry look nice on paper but futuristic ideas of such complexity are hard to realise, and Japan may not even make Indias optimal partner in these fields.

We get at the end of the day a load of geopolitical stuff in the Modi-Abe joint statement. The Sinophobes in our midst are fired up that Modi and Abe are gearing up to fight the Chinese dragon on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the field, in the streets, and in the hills. The joint statement says India and Japan propose to strategically align their respective Act East policy and Open Pacific initiative and fashion out of it an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor to provide alternative vision to Chinas One Belt, One Road. Apparently, they will also promote ASEANs unity and centrality to regional architecture. Succinctly put, this brave new world is impossible to realise on practical plane. An India-Japan strategic axis to challenge Chinas global expansion is a non-starter. Chinas rise can and must be addressed rationally and realistically.

From the Chinese viewpoint, perhaps, the only red line in the joint statement would be about the proposed India-Japan Act East Forum. China will monitor closely whether Japanese investments in Indias Northeast region also involve Arunachal Pradesh. But as things stand, Japan is unlikely to wade into the India-China border dispute. Unlike previous Modi-Abe summits, the Ahmedabad statement dropped any reference to the South China Sea, implicitly acknowledging the shift in the geopolitics in a direction that makes a containment strategy no longer feasible. China and ASEAN are finalising a code of conduct to manage their territorial disputes. China has established itself as the ASEANs principal driver of growth. India should not overlook that China and ASEAN (and Japan) are beneficiaries of a free and open trading system and are pressing ahead to achieve a comprehensive RCEP as the pathway leading to a future Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. (Whereas, India continues to be the lone ranger resisting integration.) Above all, the Trump administration is tiptoeing toward renewed engagement with China with a long-term perspective.

On the other hand, Abe has chosen as Japans new foreign minister someone who is known to favour normalisation with China. Surely, the spectre that haunts the Abe government today is North Koreas ICBMs carrying nuclear warheads flying frequently over Japan. India may offer help, but make no mistake it is Chinas cooperation that is vital for Japan to contain the threat. The only regional flashpoint mentioned in the joint statement is the situation around North Korea. Neither Afghanistan nor Myanmar figured in the joint statement. Unsurprisingly, Japan has not voiced support for India over the Doklam standoff, either.

Finally, although India and Japan hope to intensify military cooperation in various specialised areas of mutual interest, including anti-submarine aspects, it was disclosed last week that Russia is willing to lease to India a third nuclear-powered attack submarine. (Japan, on the contrary, is disinterested in sharing submarine technology with India.) However, a Chinese naval task force also docked at Vladivostok last week for holding manoeuvres with Russias Pacific Fleet in the waters of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk on antisubmarine warfare (which was by the way also the focus of Indias recent Malabar 2017 with US and Japan.) Clearly, India can do without bloc mentality when regional alignments are in great flux.

The writer is a former ambassador
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17

The 1st India International Down Syndrome Conference aimed at creating awareness and support for people with Down syndrome saw an encouraging participation from affected families, caretakers, doctors, researchers and special educators from all over the country in the national Capital.

Down syndrome, the most common autosomal chromosome abnormality in humans, happens to be a condition in which the child sees growth delays, physical as well as cognitive. Such kids have varying degree of intellectual disability and distinct facial features, among things that need to be diagnosed in the early years of life if missed during prenatal screening.

The convention was convened under the aegis of Down Syndrome Federation of India and supported by the National Trust, a body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment with Ekam  Born to belong signifying the integration of the persons with the disability a constant demand for them as its theme.

More than 450 delegates, including 80 persons with Down syndrome from across the country, gathered at the conference wherein issues surrounding early intervention, rehabilitative education, social rights, education and employment needs, and the need for the increase in support systems available for people with Down syndrome apart from social awareness were discussed.

Dr. Surekha Ramachandran, founder of DSFI and DSAT, said, IIDSC 2017 was a great opportunity in creating awareness, acceptance, education, visibility, and medical facilities for people with intellectual challenges. It will definitely help to raise the profile of people with Down syndrome in India and Asia. We hope that our government will help us in creating an inclusive society for persons with Down syndrome and bring in laws to protect their interests.
New Delhi, September 16

The CBSE today issued a show-cause notice to Ryan International School, Gurugram, asking why its affiliation should not be withdrawn and said it had failed to observe basic security measures.

A two-member fact-finding committee set up by the CBSE following the murder of seven-year-old Pradyuman Kumar last week said it appeared from the sequence of events that Ryan was guilty of gross negligence.

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The unfortunate death could have been averted had the school authorities discharged their duty with responsibility. The school failed to observe the basic security measures as stipulated by the board. From the sequence of events, it appears the school is guilty of gross negligence and failed to ensure security of students.

The school authorities have been asked to respond within 15 days on why its provisional affiliation should not be withdrawn for wilful violation of provisions of CBSE bylaws. The probe panel said the school had no provision of toilets for drivers, conductors and cleaners and they were using the facilities meant for students and staff.

The CBSE notice also pointed out a safety breach in the schools boundary wall (covered with barbed wires).  PTI
Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Charkhi Dadri, September 17

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender on Sunday held a kisan panchayat at the anaj mandi here.

BSP leader Inderjit Singh, who contested the last assembly poll from here, joined the Congress.

Deepender Hooda said the turnout indicated the downfall of the BJP government in the state.

The elections are round the corner and the Congress Kisan panchayats are giving sleepless nights to the government. We asked questions to the government about conditions of farmers.

In response to our panchayats, why the Swaminathan report promises not fulfilled, he asked.

Haryana is under huge debt. Rs 1 lakh crore of corporate loan was written off, he alleged.

We demand similar schemes and benefits for farmers.

Demonetisation and GST ruined the economy.

The state has gone off the development track.

Power plants set up to improve conditions of state but no 24x7 power supply has been provided even within the 20 km radius of the power plant.

He opposed the auction of farmers land.

We will not let auction of any farmers land, he said.

The Congress government had started a scheme to give 100 square yard plots to BPL families but this government stopped it, he alleged.

Still around 4 lakh eligible beneficiaries waiting for plots, he claimed.

Around 12,000 to 14,000 people are in attendance at the rally according to CID reports.

Hooda said Dadri has been centre of farmers agitation.

Bansi Lal has been my inspiration for development. Farmers, employees traders are feeling harassed. I cant keep quiet.

Farmers have been getting below MSP prices of their produce. After mustard and paddy, now low prices of bajra and cotton being offered to farmers, he said.

Will continue to struggle for farmers. Farmer is silent but not helpless, the former CM said.
Satish Seth

Kaithal, September 17

To protest against the vandalism in Sherdha village on September 14 when tents pitched for the proposed public meeting of BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini were uprooted and chairs and sound system damaged, members of some backward communities took out a candlelight march here on Saturday night.

The march, which started from Pehowa chowk, culminated at the Mini-Secretariat where a memorandum addressed to the Governor was submitted to Naib Tehsildar Parkash Sharma.

In the memorandum, it was stated that the voice of the depressed class was being suppressed and their liberty curtailed, said Rajesh Kashyap, the main organiser of the MPs disrupted programme.

He said the September 14 incident proved the point as shamianas for the proposed meeting of Lok Sabha MP Raj Kumar Saini, which had been organised by Kashyaps, Valmikis, Dalits and Jangra samaj, were removed before the leader arrived.

He said they have sought steps for their safety and strong action against the miscreants and the officials in whose presence the system was taken to ransom. They also demanded Z plus security for Saini and permission for holding the meeting they were forced to cancel on September 14.

Besides Kashyap, Rajiv Rana, Sham Maandi, president, Lok Tantra Suraksha Manch, Hari Chand, Budh Ram Jangra and hundreds of others, including women, took part in the march.

Meanwhile Roshan Lal Arya, a former MLA facing charges for his alleged role in the Jat agitation, today lambasted the state government for allegedly going soft on those indulging in violence. He said the government should invoke the National security Act against such elements, who challenge the state authority. Arya said Jat leader Yashpal Malik, who visited the state recently, was again trying to foment trouble and instigate people. The government must keep a watch on his activities before it was too late.
BS Malik

Sonepat, September 17

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today announced increase in minimum wages from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000 per month and increase in the death compensation from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. He was addressing a state-level Labour Day function organised here.

The Chief Minister announced that September 17 would now be celebrated as Rajkiya Shram Divas along with Vishwakarma Jayanti. He said sewing machines would be given to 60,000 women workers in the state.

He said under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan the government had released Rs 138 crore to municipal bodies. Soil waste collection facilities had been started in a large number of the total 1,485 municipal wards, he added.

He said the government had sanctioned 1,330 solid and liquid waste management projects to make rural and urban areas in the state neat and clean.

The Chief Minister gave away prizes amounting to Rs 32.12 crore to 40,566 labourers under various schemes.

Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain, Transport Minister Krishan Lal Pawar, Minister of State for Labour Nayab Singh Saini. Minister of State for Cooperation Manish Grover, Minister of state for Labour and Employment Krishan Kumar, MPs Ramesh Kaushik and Ratan Lal Kataria, Chairperson of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board Krishna Gahlawat and Chairman of the Haryana Backward Classes Nigam also spoke on the occasion.

Khattar launched 15 development projects involving an investment of over Rs 68 crore. These included five 33 KV power substations at Gannaur, Shekhpura, Rukhi, Khandrai and Jakholi village, an e-disha Kendra in the mini-secretariat at Gohana and sewage treatment plants near Rathdhana and Kakroi villages near Sonepat town.

The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stones of seven new projects, namely the building of a government senior secondary school at Karewri village, SC/ST wing in the Industrial Training Institute at Murlana village, a facility centre in the local Subhash Stadium, an e-disha Kendra at the local mini-secretariat and link roads from Niyat village to Garhi Sarai Namdar Khan and from Sikanderpur Majra village to Lath village.

More women cops to be recruited

The Chief Minister later addressing a press conference said the number of women in the Haryana Police has increased from 6 per cent to 8.5 per cent in the last three years and it would be further increased to 10 per cent. "Around 5,000 police personnel will be recruited within a year," he added. The gender ratio in Haryana has crossed over 950 girls to 1,000 boys, he claimed.
Berlin

Stimulating the brain with magnetic fields can help people overcome anxiety disorder and irrational phobias such as fear of heights or spiders, a study has found.

Anxiety disorders and fears can sometimes affect people to a point that they are unable to follow a normal daily routine.

"Cognitive behavioural therapy is an excellent treatment option," said Martin J Herrmann, from the Wurzburg University Hospital in Germany.

This form of therapy deliberately exposes anxiety patients to the situations they feel threatened by  under the individual psychological supervision of an expert.

However, current studies have shown that this type of intervention does not benefit all persons in equal measure.

Researchers from University of Wurzburg have been looking for ways to improve the patients' response to cognitive behavioural therapy  by using the transcranial magnetic stimulation.

In fact, a positive effect was found on the study participants treated with this method.

"We knew from previous studies that a specific region in the frontal lobe of the human brain is important for unlearning anxiety," said Herrmann.

Initial studies have shown that magnetically stimulating this brain region can improve the effectiveness of unlearning anxiety responses in the laboratory.

The team investigated whether the method works for treating a fear of heights.

For the study, 39 participants with a pronounced fear of heights were taken to dizzying heights during two sessions  however not in real life but using virtual reality.

The scientists stimulated the frontal lobe of some of the anxiety patients for about 20 minutes before entering the virtual world; the other group was only administered a pseudo stimulation.

"The findings demonstrate that all participants benefit considerably from the therapy in virtual reality and the positive effects of the intervention are still clearly visible even after three months," Herrmann said.

By stimulating the frontal lobe, the therapy response is accelerated, researchers said. PTI
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 17

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today laid foundation stones of roads and opened development projects worth Rs 116 crore in the remote Dodra Kwar, Chirgoan and other areas of Rohru ahead of the polls.

As the Chief Minister could not land at Kwar helipad due to bad weather, he telephonically laid the foundation stone of Rs 6.40 crore vocational training centre, Rs 3.60 crore Gosango bridge and opened a hospital at Kwar.

Addressing a gathering at Chirgaon, Virbhadra said as the elections were nearing, people should not fall prey to false promises and propaganda of the Opposition. Many seasonal leaders will come to lure and divide people on the basis of region and religion, but they should not go by them, he cautioned the public in Rohru, a constituency he represented several times before it was reserved.

He denied any rift between the party and organisation while talking to the local media at Rohru.

He said that Chanshal was known for its ski slopes and the government was keen to tie up with a few agencies to take up the project.

He directed the HPSEBL to maintain power lines and replace these with steel poles before winter set in.

Taking a dig at BJP leader PK Dhumal, Virbhadra Singh said even the Mewa- Bamsan water supply scheme was sanctioned and commissioned by the Congress government in Hamirpur, catering to water needs of 214 villages in 44 panchayats.

He also announced postgraduate classes in commerce, masters in Hindi and Economics in Seema degree college. He upgraded the CHC Sandasu to Civil Hospital and also announced a Kisan Bhawan.

He inaugurated bus stand, Rohru and the Lift Water Supply Scheme (LWSS) Karchhari and Katlah.

He inaugurated Rs 2.34 crore bus stand at Chirgoan and laid foundation stone of additional block of GSSS-Gaonsari, performed opening ceremony of Sub-Tehsil at Jangla.

He also laid foundation stone of Jhalwari to Bhamwari, Bhamwari to Manghara, Gadsari to Kharshali Sandasu to Telga Andhara-Dogli-Gaonsari, Chirgaon-Gushali-Rohal, Sondali to Sindashli and other links roads in Rohru an a multipurpose hall of PG College, Seema.
Vikas Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 17

There seems to be no end to the woes of thousands of the students hailing from J&K pursuing various undergraduate courses in different streams from colleges across the country under the Prime Ministers Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) due to the delay in release of scholarships by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

The aggrieved students are now up in arms against the AICTE claiming that due to the non-release of scholarships the colleges were mulling the option to cancel the admissions.

We are facing a lot of problems. What to talk of this years scholarship amount, the AICTE has not even paid our last year scholarship. The college authorities are humiliating us time and again only because the AICTE has not released the funds. We called up the AICTE officials, but they replied in a rude manner, Abhijot Magotra, a student from Jammu pursuing Bachelor in Mass Media (BMM) from Wilson College, Mumbai, told The Tribune.

In fact, some students are yet to receive the scholarships for the academic session 2014-15 and 2015-16. Even this year is almost over and we are yet to receive the funds, Abhijot claimed.

Another aspirant, Aman Atri, pursuing BTech from Chaggan Lal Gehlot Institute of Engineering and Technology in Pali district in Rajasthan, said: Now the colleges are mulling the option to cancel admissions. If this happens, it will ruin our career. At present, we are completely frustrated with the prevailing chaos in the system. Students have not received the scholarship amount for the last year too and the way things are going at the moment, clouds of uncertainty looms large over the non-release of scholarship for this year too.

We have sent e-mails a number of times to know the actual status, but there is absolutely no response. The AICTE officials have now stopped picking our calls even, Rohit Raina, a student of Keshav Mahavidyalaya in Delhi, claimed.

Sources claimed that some students, who had approached the AICTE authorities as well as the state government representatives, were informed that their admission did not fall under the norms framed by the UGC for the PMSSS and they had sought admission through agents and NGOs.

As per the data available, a total of 3,330 students were selected for the Central scholarship scheme for the academic session 2017-18. For professional courses, there were 2,830 seats, including 1,585 for Open category, 226 for Scheduled Caste (SC), 311 for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 708 for Social and Economically Backward Class (SEBC). For general courses, there were 280 seats in Open category, 40 in SC category, 55 in ST category and 125 in SEBC category.

Scheme covers tuition, hostel fee

An expert group was constituted by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 18, 2010, to enhance employment opportunities among the state youth and to formulate a job plan involving public and private sectors

The scheme, which is also known as AICTE J&K Scholarship, covers tuition fee, hostel fee, cost of books and other miscellaneous charges

The scheme provides Rs 30,000 tuition fee for general courses, Rs 1.25 lakh for engineering courses and Rs 3 lakh for medical courses along with hostel fee up to Rs 1 lakh

Eligibility criteria

Students having domicile of J&K and should have passed 10+2 examination from the state board or the CBSE located in the state. Only those students who are willing to study outside J&K and whose family income is Rs 6 lakh or below per annum are eligible to get this scholarship.
Arnia border (Jammu), September 17

As dusk sets in, families in Arnia town on the India-Pakistan border sit huddled night after night, listening to the rattle of gunfire and exploding mortars.

In the past four days  rather nights  two people, including a BSF jawan have died, a dozen injured and several animals, including cattle, killed in the indiscriminate firing by Pakistan forces at this town and adjoining hamlets.

Houses in Arnia, Sia, Nikowal, Budhwar, Buley Chak, SH Way, Treva Mahasha Kote, Pindi and Pawal villages bear evidence of sprayed bullets and splinters of mortar shells.

Each night is an "encounter with death and devastation", say residents.

Three BSF guards have been injured and a temple, among other buildings, has been left damaged in the firing in Jammu and Poonch districts in the last four days.

Indian officials said two Pakistani soldiers have been killed in BSFs retaliatory firing.

"Since the past 23 days, we have faced the worst kind of shelling. Mortar bombs rain here. Every night is an encounter with death for us and every morning, a new life", Arnia resident Yashpaul said. Since shelling began on Friday, his family has moved to the store in his house.

Sia resident Hari Singh said that nobody slept in the border hamlets anymore.

"Fear is driving out our sleep. We face heavy shelling from 11 pm till the morning," Singh, a former sarpanch, said.

Dead cattle in pools of bloods, torn off rooftops and windows punctured by bullets and splinters of mortar bombs testify to the intensity of the shelling in this area where smell of cordite and gunpowder lingers in the air.

An overnight attack by Pakistani forces left one woman dead and five people injured in Aria town, largely considered a safe town.

"Windows rattle from the blasts of mortar bombs and rockets aimed at terrorising population along IB to bring pressure on India and its security forces. The night long attack on Saturday triggered panic among the villagers," a police officer said.

But villagers remain unwavering in their support to security forces.

Such was the intensity of the firing and shelling that 82 mm mortar shells landed in Mahasha Kote and Arnia town, some 5 km away from the International Border in Jammu district.

Carcasses of animals killed due to splinter injuries are seen strewn in Jora farm and other

"We are with our forces. They are giving them befitting reply. We demand the BSF should destroy their bunkers and posts that target us. They should never dare to fire again," said Prem Chand of Arnia.

Villagers near the borders want bunkers in their homes.

"We urge the state and central government to speed up the plan of construction of individual bunkers. We dont need many community bunkers. It is difficult to reach community bunkers when the shelling and firing begin," Singh said.

Although the construction of bunkers began two years ago, villagers say the pace is tardy: only 60 bunkers have so far been built so far, that too in some areas.

"The Congress Government made promises and now this government is in power for three years, but the plan has remained almost on papers. The government needs to do more", Surinder Choudhary said.
Jammu, September 17

A woman was killed and five other civilians injured as Pakistani troops shelled border outposts along the International Border in Jammu district, a police officer said on Sunday.

Ratno Devi of Arnia area succumbed to her injuries in GMC Hospital, Jammu, after she was critically injured in ceasefire violation in Arnia sector of Jammu on the IB.

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This is the fifth ceasefire violation by Pakistan in as many days.

Pakistani Rangers used heavy mortars and targeted dozens of BoPs and scores of villages along the IB in Arnia sector since last night, the officer said.

Over 10 to 12 shells exploded at the Arnia bus stand, he said.

Six persons, including three women were injured and admitted to GMC Hospital, police said.

Over a dozen of structures, including some houses suffered damages, he said, adding that four cattle were killed in shelling in Jorafarm village.

From midnight till this morning, there were heavy exchanges of fire and shelling intermittently in Arnia Sector, a senior BSF officer said.

The firing stopped this morning, he said.

Yesterday, Pakistani troops had opened fire with small and heavy weapon at BoPs and border hamlets of Arnia Sector.

On September 15, 32-year-old Constable Bijender Bahadur sustained a bullet injury in Pakistani firing and later died.

On September 14, a woman was injured in Pakistani firing along the LoC in Noushera sector of Rajouri district.

On September 13, Pakistan Rangers fired mortars on Brahman Bella and Raipur Border out Posts (BoPs) along the IB in Pargwal sector of Akhnoor belt in Jammu district resulting in exchange of fire in which a BSF jawan was injured.

In another ceasefire violation on September 13, the Pakistan Army shelled Indian posts along the Line of Control in Mankote, Sabjian and Digwar forward areas in Poonch.

Two BSF jawans and three civilians suffered injuries in the heavy exchanges of fire.  TNS/ PTI
Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 17

Often under fire for depriving displaced Kashmiri Pandits the opportunity to cast their votes in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections due to a complex registration process, the Relief Organisation (Migrants) is collecting fresh electoral data of the community.

The organisation, which specifically looks after issues of militancy-affected people from the Valley, will launch a major drive for the revision of electoral rolls targeting the displaced Hindus. The data gathered will be submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) which has received several petitions seeking changes in the complex process to file M-Form, mandatory for every migrant voter ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Officials said the drive would be held from October 3 to November 1. Despite 92,000 voters in official records, only 9,000 migrant voters had cast their votes during the Assembly elections in 2014.

There are also allegations that the successive governments had deliberately asked the Relief Department not to submit M-Forms with the Election Commission for political consideration.

Since the BJP government took over the reins of Jammu and Kashmir, several petitions have been filed before the Election Commission to do away with the complex process which each displaced Pandit voter has to go through before casting his vote. This can allow more people to exercise their franchise, said a senior official in the Relief Department.

The Relief Department has appointed 20 Booth Level Officials (BLO) for different segments of the Valley who will function from different camps inhabited by Pandits in Jammu. People who want inclusion of their wards, deletion and updation have to file a (D-Form-6-Number) giving documentary proof about his current residence and address of his original place of residence in the Valley, which they left in 1990 following the eruption of armed insurgency in Kashmir.

There are 92,103 migrant voters in Kashmir with 38,278 Pandit voters in Srinagar parliamentary constituency and Anantnag segments comprising 33,957 voters.

If all the Pandits are able to cast their votes in two segments, it can change the dynamics in view of boycott politics. Though major elections are still far away, the by-poll for the Anantnag Parliamentary seat is still pending after Mehbooba Mufti took over as Chief Minister of J&K, said a political activist.

However, Relief Commissioner (M) ML Raina said the revision of electoral rolls was a routine process. It is a routine procedure to allow migrant voters to clear mistakes or update basic data. We are trying to include all people even those who have not updated their info during the past two decades due to various reasons. The issuance of M-Form has been taken up by various organsiations with the ECI and they are examining it, said Raina.

Displaced Pandits are perhaps the only community in the Indian Union who vote to choose their representatives while staying away from their constituency and have no direct link with their elected MLAs and MPs after their exodus from the Valley in 1990. Under J&K Representation of the People Act, 1957, there is a special provision in Section 36-A that people can vote in polling stations outside the territorial limits of their constituency.
Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 17

A woman was killed and five others were injured in Pakistani shelling across the International Border that erupted on Saturday night and continued till Sunday morning.

Ratno Devi (65) of Alla village in the Arnia sector received multiple injuries when a mortar shell landed on her house around 3 am on Sunday while she was sleeping. She was taken to Government Medical College, Jammu, where she succumbed to her injuries. Her husband Chuni Lal and daughter-in-law Rajni Devi also received injuries in the incident.

The border town of Arnia was also hit by mortars, leaving three persons injured. While Maya Devi was critically wounded in in the ward number 4, Rajni Kumari and her son Shubham received splinter injuries in other areas.

Since September 13, the Pakistan Rangers have become aggressive on the border. The BSF is retaliating to the fire strongly. On Friday, Constable Bijender Bahadur of the BSF was killed in Pakistani shelling in the Arnia sector and a civilian was injured.

Shelling and firing that started on Saturday night stopped around 7 am on Sunday. Since then there was a calm on border, claimed a BSF official.

The shelling comes days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh claimed there was peace on the International Border because of the governments tough stance against Pakistani aggression.

During his visit to a relief camp in Nowshera town of Rajouri district on September 11, Rajnath Singh had claimed that peace had prevailed on the border as the Centre had given a free hand to the BSF to respond to any Pakistani misadventure. He had also claimed that like the International Border, peace would soon prevail on the Line of Control as well and Pakistan would be taught a lesson.

Dy CM meets victims

Jammu: Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Sunday visited Government Medical College, Jammu, to enquire about the condition of people injured in cross-border firing on Saturday night in the Arnia sector of Jammu district. Accompanied by senior officials of the Health Department, he interacted with doctors and enquired about the treatment being provided to the shelling victims. TNS
Quite like Robin Hood, they take from the rich for the poor  but unlike the legendary outlaw, they are not after money, and its all above board.

A band of merry men and women called the Robin Hood Army (RHA) has been seeking to feed the poor by distributing surplus food from restaurants and weddings to the hungry in the subcontinent. Its volunteers, mostly students and young working professionals, call themselves Robins. Dressed in green, they go out in the dark, pick up food and distribute it among the homeless and others.

Last month, when India and Pakistan celebrated 70 years of independence, the RHA from the two nations joined hands to fight against a common enemy  hunger  and fed over 1.32 million people across 48 cities. Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and terrorism combined. We are not short of food, but the distribution is not right, RHA co-founder Neel Ghose said.

The group was started in August 2014 with six Robins in Delhi who served about 150 people on their first night of food distribution. In three years, it now consists of 12,350 volunteers who have served over 34,36,531 people. The RHA has some 50 chapters in as many cities in the Indian subcontinent. It started work in Pakistan in February 2015 with its first distribution in Karachi. It also has volunteers in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries, he said.

Ghose thought of starting RHA when he heard about an organisation in Portugal called Refood - which picked up and distributed restaurant surplus. PTI
Jasmine Singh

Fine, youve checked into the lounge of your choice as per availability and now you want to party all night, dance and burn the floor as the terminology goes. Well, if this is the mood, then it is time to call out the House DJs of Chandigarh, and request them to play music of your choice. But hang on, what is it that you want to listen to and what is it that they are offering.

Know your music

Sameers been a DJ for more than 14 years now. Having played at almost all the lounges and clubs of Chandigarh, he is currently with F Bar. We begin with one Punjabi track that he vouches on to lift the mood of the party, Mundeyan to bach ke rahin by Punjabi MC, even after 11-12 years it is a favourite with the crowd and me as well.

Well, this is Punjabi what is burn on the table. The kind of music I play depends, one, on what the crowd wants, what theyve been listening to and lastly, on the profile of the place where I am playing. And for sure these days everyone wants to listen to Chain Smokers. Underground, EDM, dubstep, house, and commercial, are no longer terms reserved for the DJs or the music aficionados, a regular party hopper has a fair amount of exposure to music. Anyone wants to disagree?

Hip hop for girls

Surya, resident with Almas, Zirakpur would but on the grounds that Almas comes in Punjab and not Chandigarh. Which means different music and by different we mean Punjabi. Surya, who has been in the industry for almost 17 years now laughs, Of course, Punjabi all the way, Diljit Dosanjh, Navv Inder, Sukh E. But this isnt all, since hip hop music has come back on the turn tables, I am playing a lot of it, girls especially like hip hop. A few years back, it would be easy for a DJ to categorise the party crowd into commercial and the non-commercial one. But now with most party goers carrying an air of we know our music, it has become slightly difficult to differentiate. Even though the DJs find most people sending requests for the songs they listen on TV and radio, there is only a cross-section of people who understand all genres of music and are open to experimentation.

More than Punjabi

Harsh, a resident DJ with Tamzaara, has seen the deejaying scene in Chandigarh change in the last 16-17 years. It is going down the drain, he candidly puts across. Those who have money and are slightly mature would be involved with their house parties, while it is the youngsters whove come to the Tricity for studies or work who like clubbing.

Harsh would personally like to play House music, but since his work involves keeping the dance floor steady too, he has to bring in a little bit of Hindi and commercial music. And Punjabi, I avoid as much as I can. In the end, Punjabi music is about drugs, guns, power and this makes the crowd rude, which the club doesnt want.

The party scene could be running steady in Chandigarh, but when it comes to understanding the music played in the clubs, DJs see a complete lack of knowledge on music.

Desi vibes

DJ Goldy from Amloh, Khanna, Punjab is one of the sought after DJs from North India. He has been around for almost 14-15 years now. Goldy is known to fuse Punjabi music with commercial hits and pack them in an electronic format. The music scene at lounges and bars in Punjab hasnt changed a bit, youngsters still listen to Diljit Dosanjh, Gippy Grewal, Chamkila, Sukh E and Jasmine Sandlas and all the old and new Punjabi songs. As a DJ however, I have started packing these songs in a electronic format.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 16

Members of the Communist Party of India (CPI) protested the inordinate increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, despite fall in crude oil prices in the international market.

They organised a rally outside the Punjabi Bhawan and Ferozepur Road and raised slogans against the Central Government.

Party member Dr Arun Mitra said it was crude joke for the country that despite the fall in the crude oil prices in the international market, the government continued to fleece the citizens. The prices of petrol and diesel have come down in Pakistan, the US and other countries, but they continue to increase in India, he said.

Other members of the party said during the past three years, the price of petrol had increased from Rs 60 to Rs 80 per litre. The diesel prices had also increased likewise  making big holes in the pockets of common people.

Mitra said the Central Government was doing this to favour the Ambanis, completely ignoring the government-owned companies. Such big corporate houses are being given huge economic benefits.

The Modi-led government has failed completely. The PM is busy inaugurating the bullet train which will serve only the elite and lying that it is a gift from Japan, he said.

Another party member DP Maur said the government must roll back the hike in the petrol and diesel prices. The BJP had created a hue and cry and blocked the functioning of the Parliament when they in the Opposition at the slight increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, he said.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 17

The Directorate of Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary And Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, has organised two weeks dairy training programme in collaboration with Society for Action in Community Health (SACH) to benefit the dairy entrepreneurs.

A total of 31 trainees were attending the crisp training on dairy farming including four women entrepreneurs. They have been empowered with basic to technical knowledge and skills required to start a new beginning. The dairy farming is an inevitable part, contributing as a major source of income in livestock farming.

Dr HK Verma, Director Extension Education, GADVASU, Ludhiana, interacted with the trainees and explained the various other services delivered by the university for the benefit of the livestock farmers. He also invited the other livestock entrepreneurs to attend various scheduled training programmes in the university.

He also suggested the trainees to join the respective associations for their better linkage and communication with the university through monthly meetings in the campus itself.

Dr SK Kansal, Professor and Head, Department of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry Extension Education, has briefed the dairy farming course and said it is the best designed course covering all the aspects related to dairy farming like breeds, selection of animals, housing management, reproduction management, nutritional management, breeding, health, economic, record keeping and zoonosis.

PAU Kisan Club chief talks about agri-vision 2050

Academia, researchers, policy makers and farmers shall hitherto sit together in meetings of Food and Agricultural Organization that shall be taking place at the regional level to decide the agri-vision 2050. These words were expressed by Pavittar Pal Singh Pangli, president of Borlaug Farmers Association for South Asia, Chairman of United Farmer Empowerment Initiative and

President Emeritus, PAU Kisan Club, who was invited by the United Nations in the regional meeting on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition held recently in the Asia-Pacific.

The meeting took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was hosted and co-organised by the Government of Malaysia. Pangli is the first among the 15 former presidents of 51-year-old PAU Kisan Club to attend this meeting of the UN.

Pangli said: FAO intends to bring the debate to a regional perspective. They wish to hear from governments, farmers and researchers of all regions about their needs and concerns regarding biotechnology. OC
Maharashtras notorious onion cartel has for long been known to play the role of kingmaker, bringing down governments simply by hoarding the bulb and causing prices of this culinary essential to soar.

So far no government has had the will power to take on the bunch of traders who operate from the countrys main onion-growing areas of Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon near Nashik. The wily bunch always purchased the bulb at a few paise per kilogram from helpless farmers after a bumper harvest and sold it at huge premiums to urban consumers after hoarding it for a few months.

Leaders from the Congress could never bring the onion mafia to heel and Sharad Pawars NCP simply co-opted the main players into his party apparatus. Today, Pawars henchmen control most of the Agricultural

Produce Marketing Committees and those in and around Nashik are seen as the NCPs main strongholds. The BJP, which has been yapping at the heels of the two Congress parties over the control of grassroots level organisations in Maharashtra, has found its big opportunity after Intelligence agencies reported that the onion cartel was quietly hoarding the bulb in order to create a shortage in the forthcoming festival season. The Income Tax Department swung into action last week and sealed more than 26 premises across Nashik district, some of which were used as giant warehouses to store onions. According to leaks from the department, incriminating documents have linked the seven biggest onion traders in the country with huge hawala deals originating from Dubai.

According to sources, the objects of the taxmans attention are big political contributors as well as control of the APMCs in the region.

Caste aside

A superstitious scientist from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) unexpectedly stirred Maharashtras caste cauldron earlier this month when she filed a complaint of cheating against her former cook.

Dr Medha Vinayak Khole, Deputy Director General (Weather Forecasting) from Pune, accused her former cook Nirmala Yadav of posing as a married Brahmin woman to cook at her house during religious festivals. Khole said Yadav, a widow, claimed to hail from a Brahmin family and cooked at the scientists house during festivals. It was only after enjoying Yadavs fare on several occasions that Khole discovered her cooks caste and marital status.

Following the scientists complaint, the police booked the cook, kicking up a huge row. The Maratha community, to which the cook belongs to, has raked up issues of old Brahmin-Maratha conflicts.

With Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a Brahmin, at the helm in the state, there are allegations that the police are taking the side of the uppermost caste in society against the dominant middle.

Checkmated!

A somnolent Congress party stirred from its slumber somewhat last week amidst talk of senior party leader Narayan Ranes coming defection to the BJP. Rather than lose its entire party organisation in the Konkan to the saffron outfit, Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan dissolved all the party committees in the region. Loyal Congressmen who were sidelined for the imports who came with Rane from the Shiv Sena are back in the limelight.
Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17

Air Force fighter jets will fly-past over the Delhi Cantonment in what will be the final military salute before the last rites of the Marshal of the IAF, Arjan Singh, are performed here tomorrow.

Editorial: Arjan Singh, MIAF

Punjab: Sikh museum in Amritsar to have Arjan Singhs photo

The Marshal, equal in rank to Field Marshal, died yesterday. Arjan Singh will be accorded a state funeral and the national flag will fly at half-mast in New Delhi. The entire political machinery and the three Service Chiefs are expected to be present at the cremation at Brar Square in Delhi Cantonment.

This will be unlike the July 2008 funeral of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw conducted in Ooty, Tamil Nadu. Though it was a state funeral, then Defence Minister AK Antony and the three Service Chiefs had not attended it and had faced a barrage of criticism.

The mortal remains of the Marshal will be carried in a gun carriage procession at 8.15 am on Monday. The state funeral will commence at 9.30 am. Gun salute will be given and a fly-past will be organised before the final rites, a statement said.

The IAF official said Sukhoi-30MKI, the twin-engine front fighter jet of the IAF, will be fly-past in salute to the Marshal. The fighter-jet salute will be unique especially for the man who took an on-the-spur decision on September 1, 1965, in the office of then Defence Minister YB Chavan to use the fighter jets in the war with Pakistan. He was accompanied by the then Army Chief, General JN Chaudhari, and Defence Secretary PVR Rao to Chavans chamber.

Within hours, the impact showed. The IAF destroyed 10 tanks, two automatic guns and 30 to 40 vehicles of the invading column, recounted SN Prasad in his book The India-Pakistan War of 1965, an authorised account from the Ministry of Defence archives.

On September 3, Sqn Ldr Trevor Keelor, flying from Pathankot, downed a Pakistani F-86 Sabre jet and etched his name in IAF folklore as the first Indian pilot to have shot down an enemy plane mid-air. Shooting down of an F-86 by the small Gnat had a stimulating effect on the morale of the Indian pilots, wrote Prasad in his book.

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The decision was significant as the Air Force till then was lagging behind the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in terms of technology of that era.

It had greater number of planes than the PAF but lacked air-to-air missiles and night-flying abilities. The F-104 Starfighter of the PAF was among the first planes in the world to fly at Mach-2 speed. It had heat-seeking missiles, radar for interception and fire control.

The Indian fleet of a 12-strong MiG 21s was not fully operational or integrated in the Indian Air Force.

The Pakistan Air Force relied on superior early warning radars installed at Peshawar, Multan, Sargodha and Badin while the IAF was dependant on single-radar unit at Amritsar for its western operations.
Mathura, September 17

As many as 1,200 cows  mostly abandoned, sick and injured  have found a saviour in 59-year-old German national Friederike Irina Bruning.

When she landed in India from Berlin in 1978 as a tourist, she had no inkling of the life destiny had in store for her.

I came as a tourist and understood that to progress in life, you need a guru. I went in search of a guru in Radha Kund, she said while narrating her journey in Mathura.

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She then bought a cow at the request of a neighbour and since then everything in her life changed.

Bruning purchased books on cows and learnt Hindi.

I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk, she said.

Fondly called Sudevi Mataji, she started her cowshed known as Surbhai Gauseva Niketan.

They are like my children and I cannot leave them, she says while referring to the large family of cows and calves in the sleepy town of Radha Kund here. Once a cow reaches her 3,300 sq yard gaushala, she would take full care of the animals by providing food and medicine.

Today, I have 1,200 cows and calves. I do not have sufficient place to accommodate more as the place is getting smaller. But still I cannot refuse, when somebody leaves a sick or injured cow outside my ashram, I have to take her in, she said.

Bruning has divided her place in such a manner that cows needing special care are kept at one place. Blind and badly-injured needing attention are kept in a separate enclosure.

When asked about the finances, she said as much as Rs 22 lakh per month is required for medicines, foodgrain and salaries of about 60 workers.

I have some property in Berlin. I get rent from that. Initially my father used to send some money but now he is a senior citizen. Every year, I visit Berlin to see him. He is not well. I am not getting any help from the local authorities, but somehow managing my work, she said.

Observing that things are increasingly getting difficult, she said, I cannot close this. I have 60 people working here and they all need money to support their children and family and I have to take care of my cows, who are my children.

The other major issue was about visa, she said, adding that the Indian government has not given her a long-term visa.

She has to renew the visa every year.

I cannot take Indian nationality as I would lose rental income from Berlin. My father was working in German Embassy in India. Its the money of my parents that I have put into this gaushala, she said.  PTI
New Delhi, September 17

President Ram Nath Kovind led the nation today in paying final tributes to Marshal Arjan Singh, hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Gujarat for the inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Dam.

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The three service chiefs  Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba  as well as Minister of State Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri were also present.

Among those seen streaming in were Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, MoS for External Affairs and former Army chief VK Singh, former defence minister AK Antony and Congress MP Karan Singh. Former IAF chiefs SP Tyagi, NC Suri and Anil Y Tipnis as well as several decorated officers who served under Arjan Singh during the 1965 war were also present.

General Rawat described Singh as a legend, an icon, a pilot-chief who led from the front and a philanthropist to the core. He recalled Singhs immense contribution as the Air Chief during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the first major air battle of the IAF after Independence.

It was to his credit that despite initial setbacks, we were able to overcome and overwhelm the enemy and spoil their design to annex Jammu and Kashmir, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa told reporters. Arjan Singhs daughter Asha Singh and other members of the family, including his niece and actor Mandira Bedi, were present at the officers residence, where his mortal remains lie in state. His son Arvind Singh is expected to arrive later this evening from the US.  PTI
United Nations, September 17

Taking a jibe at Pakistan, a top Indian diplomat has said Islamabads decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN, which has not been discussed at the world body for decades, is like Miyan ki daud masjid tak.

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India on the other hand is focused on progressive, forward looking agenda during the UN General Assembly session beginning tomorrow, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here on Saturday.

I have outlined in our approach, that is progressive forward looking. We are visionary in our goals. If on the other hand there are other countries, who as you say, focus on yesterdays issues then they are yesterdays people, Akbaruddin said in response to a question on reports that Pakistan plans to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN.

Pakistans new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly this week.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would deliver her address on September 23.

If they (Pakistan) focus on an issue which has not been on the discussion table in the UN now for decades, not for years, for decades..., if this is what they want to focus on, so be it. To be his own...Miyan ki daud masjid tak, Akbaruddin said, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A day earlier, Pakistans Foreign Ministry had said that Abbasi would be raising the Kashmir issue at the UN. PTI
Shahira Naim

The six-month-old BJP government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will soon have to face the electorate. Both Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath and Phulpur MP Keshav Prasad Maurya, now ensconced as members of the Vidhan Parishad, are yet to quit their Lok Sabha seats. Once they resign, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh would have to face its first bypoll.

Playing its cards judiciously, the BJP set a record of sorts when it managed to accommodate five ministers, including the Chief Minister and his two deputies, in the Upper House of the state legislature, taking advantage of a coup by Samajwadi Party MLCs once close to displaced patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

These MLAs conveniently quit their seats. Some still had five years to go for their term to end. All the Samajwadi Party MLCs then joined the BJP. The bolt wasnt out of the blue. Many would remember Mulayam whispering into Prime Minister Narendra Modis ears from the dais at the swearing in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath on March 19. Again Mulayam was the only Opposition leader to attend the dinner in honour of the PM at Yogis residence on June 20. His faction within the Samajwadi Party made no bones about supporting the BJP presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

All this clearly indicates a tacit understanding between Mulayam and the BJP. Which ever party wins the two Lok Sabha seats ahead of the 2019 General Election will definitely win the perception battle. But the litmus test for the BJP is retaining its edge in the urban body elections. Postponed for the last several months, it is now speculated these will be held in November.

The term of all municipal corporations, known as Nagar Nigam and municipal boards (called Nagar Palika Parishad) ended in the second week of July and in some cases in August.

The elections were postponed as the state government had ordered a caste survey for the reservation of wards for different categories like SC, OBCs and women. The report is expected any time. The electoral rolls are being revised too. Now with Mahendra Nath Singh taking over as the new BJP state president, it seems the state government is ready to face the challenge. Sources claim the state government is expected to issue a notification for the elections in October.

In the 2012 civic poll for the post of Mayor in 12 cities or Municipal Corporations, the BJP had registered wins at 10 places. Two Samajwadi Party-supported Independents had won in Allahabad and Bareilly.

This time the elections will be larger. With growing urbanisation, Saharanpur and Firozabad have been added to the list of Municipal Corporations. Now the Yogi government has added two more municipal corporations  Faizabad-Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan.

Last week BJPs key strategist Sunil Bansal held a string of meetings with party leaders. Urban bodies elections have been the forte of the saffron party even when it had a negligible presence in the Assembly.

Now with an unprecedented presence in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha, the results are not too difficult to predict.
S.C. Vasudeva

Q. I am a senior citizen and a retired government employee of Punjab Government with my pension income above tax exemption slab of Rs 2,50,000 for the current financial year besides income from other sources such as interest on my fixed deposits in nationalised bank. I need your guidance on the following issues:

1. In order to save tax to the maximum extent, can I gift some amount to my married daughter instead of going for a tax-saver fixed deposit for a lock-in period of five years? My daughter is a housewife.

In that case, can I claim rebate in my total income for the amount so gifted under Section 80C of the Income-tax Act or not?

2. Is there any maximum limit for the gift amount?

 Anil Kumar

A. (i) You would not be entitled to claim any deduction under Section 80C of the Income-tax Act 1961 (the Act). There is no provision in the Act for allowing such a deduction. (ii) The Gift Tax Act 1958 is currently not in force and therefore a gift can be made to a relative defined under Section 56 of the Act without any limit. The word relative for this purpose covers son and daughter. However, gift received from a person who is not covered under the aforesaid section, is exempt to the extent of Rs 50,000 only. If the gift received is more than the said amount from any of those persons who are not covered under the exempted category, the total amount so received would be treated as income from other sources in the hands of the recipient.

Q. My father died during the Bangladesh war. The Rajasthan Government allotted around 15 acres of agriculture land in the name of my mother in Rajasthan. My mother died on February 28, 2016. She made a registered will in favour of my elder brother for the entire land in July, 2010. Later, in 2015, she cancelled this will and made another will in favour of two brothers and two sisters. Before she died, she made a third will on an inland letter issued by post office mentioning the previous two wills are cancelled and that this is her last will in favour of both the sons. The will written on such a letter was sent to me at Chandigarh by registered post by the executor of the will. It was witnessed by two other persons after the death of my mother as they had put their signature with date. My mother was living with my sister in Haryana at the time of her death. My query is whether the third will shall supersede the other two wills and eligible for getting probate from the court of law and in any case whether my eldest sister who was married and not dependent on my father is eligible to contest the will?

 Ravinder Sharma

A. The facts given in the query indicate that the third will executed by your mother was not attested by two witnesses who have seen the testator sign the will. The provisions of Indian Succession Act, 1925 deal with the execution of will by a testator, not being a soldier employed in an expedition or engaged in actual warfare, or an airman so employed or engaged, or a mariner at sea. The testator in accordance with provisions of the said Act is required to follow the rules given below while executing a will:

(a) The testator should sign or should affix his mark to the will, or it should be signed by some other person in his presence and by his direction.

(b) The signature or mark of the testator, or the signature of the person signing for him, should be so placed that it would appear that it was intended thereby to give effect to the writing as a will.

(c ) The will should be attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom has seen the testator sign or affix his mark to the will or has seen some other person sign the will, in the presence and by the direction of the testator, or has received from the testator a personal acknowledgement of his signature or mark, or of the signature of such other person; and each of the witnesses should sign the will in the presence of the testator, but it would not be necessary that more than one witness be present at the same time, and no particular form of attestation shall be necessary.

The third will executed on an inland letter does not seem to be in accordance with the aforesaid rules. It may, therefore, be difficult to get the same probated. In case the second will was executed in accordance with the above rules, your sister would be entitled to her share in the property of the deceased and she would be entitled to contest the latest will made on an inland letter.

Note: Readers can send their queries at info@scvasudeva.com
Tribune Reporters

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Sept 17

The names of PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and other Congress probables for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll were discussed during a meeting at Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singhs official residence in New Delhi today.

The discussions were held between Congress incharge for Punjab Asha Kumari, Capt Amarinder and Jakhar. Later, a party statement said it was decided that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi would take a call on the candidate. Asha Kumari said, We met and discussed the situation in the constituency. The high command will take the final decision. Capt Amarinder and Asha Kumari will meet Sonia tomorrow.

Jakhar is said to have been named as an acceptable candidate by a majority of the partys seven legislators from Assembly segments under Gurdaspur parliamentary seat. He also has the CMs backing.

It is learnt that the names of former Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa and his wife, former Qadian MLA Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, also figured in the talks.

Speculation is rife that the party may field a Hindi candidate. Apart from Jakhar, the options include former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar and former Batala MLA Ashwani Sekhri.

The Congress is expected to formally announce the name on September 21, the first day of the Navratras.

Since its virtually a mid-term poll, the party might prefer a low-profile candidate acceptable to Capt Amarinder and Partap Bajwa camps, a senior party leader said on the condition of anonymity.

We are not short of choices, be it a Hindu candidate or a Jat Sikh face, the leader added.
Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 17

Thousands of farmers are expected to converge on the home town of the Chief Minister for a five-day protest against the Congress government for its failure to handle the farm crisis and announce a complete farm debt waiver.

The state intelligence has alerted all police districts in the Malwa belt. The police have decided not to allow the farm union activists to enter the royal city.

The farmer outfits  BKU (Ekta), BKU (Dakaunda), Kirti Kisan Union, Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Krantikari Kisan Union, BKU (Krantikari) and the Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Azaad)  have decided to camp for five days outside New Moti Bagh Palace, the official residence of Capt Amarinder Singh, from September 22 to 27.

Their leaders are already holding meetings to ensure that maximum farmers reach the venue where the unions plan to erect tents, cook langar and block roads.

A senior police official said DGP (law and order) Hardeep Dhillon had recently visited Patiala and held a meeting with SSPs of various districts to take stock of the situation. The farmers will not be allowed to enter Patiala and create any law and order situation, he said.

The unions are disappointed with the state government for not announcing a complete farm debt waiver as was promised before the Assembly elections. The Amarinder government has failed to fulfil its promise. It should implement a complete debt waiver at the earliest so that farmers stop committing suicide, union leaders said.

Patiala IG AS Rai said they would not allow the unions to hold such a protest and trouble city residents. We are mobilising police force from across the state. Besides the state police, the Punjab Armed Police, commandos, IRB battalions and security wing personnel will also be stationed in Patiala starting Tuesday. No one will be allowed to hold any such protest where thousands of farmers converge on the city, he said.
Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 17

The Supreme Court has allowed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to encash the bank guarantee of Rs10 crore furnished by Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot, for its failure to meet the MCI norms and rectify deficiencies.

The Supreme Court had allowed the college to fill 150 MBBS seats in September 2014, after it gave an undertaking that there were no shortcomings in the college.

The college had also given an undertaking that Rs10 crore, which the college had deposited with the MCI, might be forfeited by way of penalty if it failed to meet the MCI norms.

Now when the High Court issued an order in Aakansha Mahajan and others versus the Union of India and others on September 8, allowing the shifting of all MBBS students of 2014 batch of Chintpurni college to other colleges due to lack of facilities, the MCI has the liberty to encash the bank guarantee, reads the Supreme Court order passed this week. The order has been received by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences here.

For lapses in infrastructure or faculty requirement in the college, the MCI and the Union Government had denied the renewal of permission for admission to this college in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15.

But the permission was given on SC orders in September 2014.
The British police on Sunday arrested a second man from Sunbury-on-Thames for the bombing of a London train on Friday that left 30 persons injured. The threat level for another attack has been lowered.

The 21-year-old man was detained under Britains terrorism laws in the suburb of Hounslow before midnight on Saturday. Police earlier arrested an 18-year-old youth in the departure lounge of Dover port. Reuters
Paris, September 17

A young French journalist held on terror charges in Turkey for more than seven weeks was headed to Paris today after being freed, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Loup Bureau is on board flight AF1391, which took off from Istanbul at 6:13 am (0313 GMT) and arrives in Paris at 8:40 am according to Air France, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of the media freedom group, wrote on Twitter.

Bureau, 27, a journalism student who has worked with the television channels TV5 and Arte as well as the website Slate, was detained in late July at the Habur border post in southeastern Sirnak province on the Iraqi-Turkish border.

He was charged with membership of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), a group which Turkey says is a terrorist organisation.

Washington, however, sees the group as the main force leading the fight against Islamic State jihadists on the ground in Syria.

Bureauwho had been held for 51 dayswas taken directly to the departing plane in Turkey to avoid contact with the media, Deloire said.

Bureaus release followed a visit to Ankara by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week, where he pressed Turkish leaders over the detention.

The journalists arrest had further heightened alarm over press freedom in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with local and foreign reporters caught up in a huge crackdown following a failed coup against his rule in July 2016.

Turkey ranks 155th on the latest world press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, falling below Belarus and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In June, Ankara released and deported French photojournalist Mathias Depardon who was held for a month on charges of supporting terror groups. He was also detained in Turkeys restive southeast.  AFP
Tokyo, September 17

Japanese premier Shinzo Abe is considering a snap election as early as next month, reports said on Sunday, as he sees recovering public support with attention focused on tensions over North Korea.

Abe floated the idea of holding a vote on October 22 or October 29 in meetings with senior ruling party officials, Jiji Press and the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed government and ruling party sources. Other media reported similar stories but with a wider range of options for the timing of the snap election, including in December.

The reports come as Abe has seen a recovery in public support after the figures plummeted in the past few months over an array of political troubles, including allegations of favouritism to a friend in a business deal that Abe strongly denies.

Public support for Abe had fallen to the lowest level of his premiership in July, but since has recovered gradually as Pyongyang raised global tensions with repeated missile and nuclear tests, including missile launches over Japan. His popularity is now hovering around 40 per cent.

Experts say his resurgent popularity is thanks more to a weak and fragmented opposition than support for his policies.

Abe has called for a boost to the countrys defences and worked to strengthen the key security alliance with the US and defence cooperation with other like-minded countries.

He has pushed a nationalist agenda since coming to office in December 2012, alongside a massive policy effort to end years of on-off deflation and rejuvenate the worlds third- largest economy. All the lower House members are beginning to think that (general elections) would come in the not too distant future, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)s senior official Wataru Takeshita said on Saturday in a speech in western Japanese city of Tokushima.  AFP
Lahore, September 17

Pakistanis today voted for the parliamentary seat being contested by ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs ailing wife in a test of support for the family after the Supreme Court dismissed Sharif from the office in the Panama Papers scandal.

The NA-120 seat in Lahore is said to be a stronghold of the Sharif family. It fell vacant after the apex court on July 28 disqualified Sharif on grounds that he was dishonest.

The latest results shared by the Election Commission with the media after counting of votes cast at 134 polling stations out of the total 220, showed that Sharifs wife Kulsoom Nawaz was edging ahead of her main rival Yasmin Rashid of Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Nawaz had managed 35,600 votes against Rashids 28,000.

Sharifs wife was fielded by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for the by-election against Rashid and 42 other candidates, including one from the Milli Muslim League, a new party backed by Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ut-Dawa (JuD).

Nawaz recently underwent cancer treatment in London and has been recuperating in the British capital. Her daughter Maryam Nawaz managed her campaign in her absence.

The Coalition for Election and Democracy (CED), an alliance of registered independent civil society organisations, in its exit-poll survey showed a slender lead for Nawaz. The survey was conducted with a sample size of 1,433 voters and the responses were recorded at 55 sampled polling stations, the CED said.

The survey results show that PML-N may bag 46 per cent of votes against the 40 per cent by closest rival of the PTI, it said, adding that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) could manage only 1.9 per cent votes.

The election to the parliamentary seat is seen as a test for the PML-N party also because it comes ahead of the general election in Pakistan next year.

Pakistan Army personnel were supervising the polling process.

Earlier today, the turnout at polling stations picked up in the afternoon after remaining low through the morning hours. Long queues of people waiting to cast their votes were witnessed at the polling stations.

Some voters complained about the delay they had to endure before they could cast their votes and also that their names were missing from the polling list, while others rued inadequate facilities, such as the lack of electricity at the stations.

Minor clashes were reported between PTI and ruling PML-N workers. No one was injured.

The activists of the JuD and its another front Falah-i-Insaniat (FIF) campaigned for their candidate Sheikh Yaqoob.

The Election Commission had prohibited Yaqoob from using Saeeds photographs during the campaign. Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and carries a $10-million bounty on his head. He remains under preventative detention in Pakistan.

Ahead of the election, Imran Khan had urged the residents of the constituency to give a verdict against Godfather Sharif.

And Maryam Nawaz said the people of Lahore will elect her mother and reject the courts decision against Sharif. She said the results would be an informal referendum on the disqualification of her father by the Supreme Court. The constituency, with more than 320,000 registered voters, has thrice elected Sharif as Pakistans prime minister since 1990. Sharif had won the National Assembly (NA) seat for the first time in 1985.  PTI
Lahore, September 17

Pakistanis on Sunday voted for the parliamentary seat being contested by ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's ailing wife in a test of support for the family after the Supreme Court dismissed Sharif from the office in the Panama Papers scandal.

The NA-120 seat in Lahore is said to be a stronghold of the Sharif family. It fell vacant after the apex court on July 28 dismissed Sharif on grounds that he was dishonest.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The latest results shared by the Election Commission with the media after counting of votes cast at 134 polling stations out of the total 220, showed that Sharif's wife Kulsoom Nawaz was edging ahead of her main rival Yasmin Rashid of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party.

Nawaz had managed 35,600 votes against Rashid's 28,000.

Sharif's wife was fielded by the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) party for the byelection against Rashid, and 42 other candidates, including one from the Milli Muslim League, a new party backed by Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ut-Dawa (JuD).

Nawaz recently underwent cancer treatment in London and has been recuperating in the British capital.

Her daughter Maryam Nawaz managed her campaign.

The Coalition for Election and Democracy (CED), an alliance of registered independent civil society organisations, in its exit-poll survey showed a slender lead for Nawaz.

The survey was conducted with a sample size of 1,433 voters and the responses were recorded at 55 sampled polling stations out of the total 220 such stations, the CED said.

"The survey results show that PML-N bagged 46 per cent of the votes against the 40 per cent by closest rival of the PTI," it said, adding that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) could capture only 1.9 per cent votes.

The election to the parliamentary seat is seen as a test for the PML-N party also because it comes ahead of the 2018 general election in Pakistan.

Pakistan Army personnel were supervising the polling process.

Earlier today, the turnout at polling stations picked up in the afternoon after remaining low through the morning hours. Long queues of people waiting to cast their votes were witnessed at the polling stations.

Some voters complained about the delay they experienced before they were able to cast their votes and also that their names were missing from polling list, while others rued inadequate facilities, such as the lack of electricity at the stations.

Minor clashes were reported between PTI and ruling PML-N workers. However, no one was injured.

The activists of the JuD and its another front Falah-i- Insaniat (FIF), campaigned for their candidate Sheikh Yaqoob.

The Election Commission had prohibited Yaqoob from using Saeed's picture during the campaign.

Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and carries a $10 million bounty on his head. He remains under "preventative detention" in Pakistan.

Imran Khan had urged the residents of the constituency to give a verdict against "Godfather" Nawaz Sharif.

And Maryam Nawaz said the people of Lahore will elect her mother and "reject the court's decision against my father." She said the results would be an informal referendum on the disqualification of her father by the Supreme Court.

The constituency, with more than 320,000 registered voters, has thrice elected Sharif as Pakistan's prime minister since 1990. Sharif had won the National Assembly (NA) seat for the first time in 1985.  PTI
United Nations, September 17

Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has a last chance to halt an Army offensive that has forced thousands of the Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. Guterres told the BBC on Saturday night that Suu Kyi had a last chance to stop the offensive.

If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I dont see how this can be reversed in the future. The Secretary General reiterated that the Rohingya should be allowed to return home.

He also said it was clear that Myanmars military still have the upper hand in the country, putting pressure to do what is being done on the ground in Rakhine state where the crisis broke out on August 25 when Rohingya rebels attacked police checkposts and killed 12 security personnel.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is facing growing criticism over the Rohingya issue. She will not be attending the UN General Assembly in New York which will begin from Monday and has claimed that the crisis was being distorted by a huge iceberg of misinformation.

14,000 shelters for migrants

Bangladesh today began constructing 14,000 shelters for the more than 4,00,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees to ensure they remain confined to an area and do not fan out across the country. It has started immunising tens of thousands of children against diseases. Abdus Salam, a doctor in a state-run hospital in Cox's Bazar district, says that some 1,50,000 children will be immunised over seven days for measles, rubella and polio.  Agencies
New York, September 17

America's prestigious Yale University has decided to replace terms such as "freshman" and "upperclassman" with gender-neutral terms like "first year" and "upper-level students".

The new terminology will likely appear in all publications and communications by the start of the next academic year, Yale College Dean Marvin Chun told the Yale Daily News.

Yale College Dean's Office staff members were told about the change in an email last week, according to Director of Strategic Communications for Yale College Paul McKinley.

Chun emphasised that the memo was distributed to notify faculty and staff how the administration now refers to its students, without attempting to dictate to recipients that they use any specific terminology.

"It's really for public, formal correspondence and formal publications...we're not trying to tell people what language to use in their everyday casual conversations," Chun was quoted as saying.

"We're not trying to be language police," he said.

While Chun praised the new terminology as "modern", he acknowledged that the terms such as "freshman" and "upperclassman" are deeply ingrained in everyday language and in Yale's history.

In his email to faculty last Thursday, Chun said he expects that students, staff and faculty will continue to use these terms as they see fit, "without feeling that anyone is out of compliance with an official policy".

Yale began to consider the language change last year amid growing calls for greater gender inclusivity on campus. By the spring, the informal practice of substituting the term "freshman" with "first year" was becoming increasingly widespread.

Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarribar, who led the campus conversation about the change, had said earlier that replacing the term "freshman" is something administrators had been thinking about for some time, adding that several peer institutions had already made the move.

The University of North Carolina struck the word "freshman" from its official documents in 2009, with the University of Emory following suit in 2015.

Dartmouth College, Cornell University and Columbia University also use the term "first year" in most official publications. There are 1,580 first-year students enrolled at Yale.  PTI
City and military officials on Saturday broke ground on an Air National Guard Mission Training Center at the Tulsa Air National Guard Base, 9100 E. 46th St. North.

It was the first groundbreaking held for a Vision Tulsa economic development project.

The City of Tulsa and the 138th Fighter Wing have an important relationship, and you see that reflected in these Vision Tulsa funds which were approved by voters to improve upon the Oklahoma Air National Guards facility, Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a news release.

We are proud the men and women of the 138th Fighter Wing call Tulsa home, and we want to do our part to ensure they have all the tools they need to defend our country.

The 20,000-square-foot Mission Training Center will house four state-of-the-art flight simulators to provide realistic combat training for fighter pilots, the release said.

The 138th Fighter Wing in Tulsa will be the first Air National Guard unit in the country to receive this cutting edge technology.

Only installed at a select few Air Force bases, the Mission Training Center will be a regional training facility  the only one of its kind in the area, with the closest similar facility being in Las Vegas.

In addition to Bynum, Adjutant General of Oklahoma Brig. Gen. Louis Wilham, and 138th Fighter Wing commander Col. Raymond H. Siegfried III attended Saturdays event.

The City of Tulsa has provided us a tremendous opportunity to expand our combat capabilities, Siegfried said. Our relationship with our community is like none other. Their patriotism and support will allow us to maintain air superiority for years to come.

The project has been made possible through a federal, state and city partnership. The building will be constructed using $9.4 million in Vision Tulsa funds; road improvements for the Mission Training Center will be provided with $608,000 from the State of Oklahoma, and federal funding will provide the $25 million F-16 Combat Air Force Simulators.

Cockpits for the simulators, worth $5 million, will be manufactured locally in Broken Arrow at L3 Technologies.

Oklahoma architecture firm LWPB of Norman was chosen to lead the design for the Mission Training Center, and Crossland Construction Co. of Tulsa was chosen as the construction manager. The training center is scheduled for completion in December 2018.

The Mission Training Center is good news for Oklahoma, Gov. Mary Fallin said. Once its in operation, the overall payroll and benefits will be between $2 million and $3 million annually for 11 to 15 full-time employees. An added benefit is that the Mission Training Center will not only train the 138th Fighter Wings pilots, but will be used by F-16 pilots throughout the Air Force, bringing in pilots from across the country.


Sunrise Childrens Foundation hosted its annual Health and Nutrition Fair on Friday, September 15. The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was on hand to provide information on nutritious foods, education and breastfeeding to participants at no charge, for ages 0 to 5 years of age (Pictured: Just Add Water Street Founder Chef Antonio Nunez).

More than 300 parents and families attended the informative fair, which included community resource vendors focusing on health, dental, counseling, shelter and immunizations.

Each of the three classes included a healthy cooking demonstration by Just Add Water Street Founder, Chef Antonio Nunez, and included presentations in both English and Spanish by University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, East Valley Family Services, UNLV  School of Dental Medicine and Culinary Management. WIC participants enjoyed a step-by-step cooking demonstration by Chef Nunez, on creating simple, full balanced healthy meals at home, and with a limited budget using approved WIC ingredients.

Prizes and give-a-ways, such as cooking preparedness utensils and items, goodie bags and cookbooks were donated to the families.

Additional community partners and vendors sharing information and resources to the families included: Amerigroup of Nevada, East Valley Family Services, Immunize Nevada, Safe Nest, and United Healthcare Company.
Experts fear the mounds of trash and pools of stagnant water left in Hurricane Irma's wake could prompt disease outbreaks on the French Caribbean island of St Martin. (Photo: AFP/Helene Valenzuela)

Experts fear the mounds of trash and pools of stagnant water left in Hurricane Irma's wake could prompt disease outbreaks on the French Caribbean island of St Martin. (Photo: AFP/Helene Valenzuela)

Just over a week after Hurricane Irma devastated the island and neighbouring St Barthelemy, killing 15 people, pools of stagnant water and mounds of trash seem to be the new normal.

Add to that the absence of fresh running water, and the situation is ripe for a health epidemic.

"Yes, there are risks of outbreaks," said Annick Girardin, the French minister for overseas affairs, who spent a week on St Martin following the Category five storm. "There is an existing problem on the issue of contaminated water, the issue of trash, basically the issue of hygiene."

In poorer neighbourhoods where many families were not able to evacuate, residents fear the spread of mosquitoes - which can carry diseases ranging from Zika and dengue fever to chikungunya.

"My son has a fever maybe due to a mosquito," said Natacha, a resident in the Sandy Ground neighbourhood near Marigot. "We will have to clean to prevent too many mosquitoes, or else there will be outbreaks. But it's difficult without water."

"If we get sick, we'll have to go to Guadeloupe".

According to an AFP journalist, in some neighbourhoods like Concordia, control programs had begun on Wednesday.

BOILING WATER

The island, which is still struggling to get its electricity and telecommunications systems back up and running, has found it difficult to reach residents and warn them about the potential health risks.

To get the word out, the French government has distributed notices and posters in French, Spanish, English and Creole.

Still, French health minister Agnes Buzyn said, "We realise there are people on the island, in certain neighbourhoods, who are not following health instructions".

One of the most important notices reminds people that only bottled water is safe to consume, and that if it is unavailable, boiling water before use is paramount.

"We hand out fresh water all over the territory, but it remains difficult," Buzyn said. "There are zones not easily accessed, people that maybe we haven't been able to reach."

According to the government, 150,000 bottles of water are being distributed to residents every day.

But some people have still been fetching water directly from a reservoir.

A desalination plant destined for St Martin arrived Friday on Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French island of Guadeloupe, about 300 kilometres (185 miles) away.

It will continue its journey to the hurricane-hit island by barge and is expected to be operational by Sep 25, the authorities said.

Meanwhile drinking water has returned to St Barts, which is now able to produce about 800 cubic metres (176,000 gallons) a day.

"We are not yet at a level of signalling an outbreak, far from it," Buzyn said. "Today, it's mostly an individual risk, which means it is essential that people who live on St Martin drink the bottled water that is distributed".

Buzyn had said last Wednesday that there had been some cases of children with diarrhoea, but did not mention any signs of an outbreak.

RACING THE CLOCK

Medical epidemiologists are aware of and on the lookout for any sign of outbreaks, and will regularly track patients using health surveys, said Guadeloupe's public health director Patrice Richard.

On Saturday, St Martin's health services coordinator Sergio Albarello said there had been no cases of outbreak on the island.

"As of now, there have been no reported cases" of outbreak, he told reporters, adding that as far as mosquitoes, "we are not talking about carriers of genes that are epidemiologically relevant".

And while many buildings were flattened by the storm, the St Martin hospital is still able to treat people "in excellent conditions", even though one of its buildings was partially destroyed.

Philippe Gustin, the French envoy in charge of the islands' reconstruction, said the immediate plan was to fix the damaged buildings.

According to Gustin, about 30 per cent of the buildings on the French side of the island were completely destroyed, but he cautioned that teams were still putting together a final estimate of damages - which has been put at 1 billion (US$1.2 billion) or more for roads and buildings.

But repairing them before the high season, which usually starts in November and runs until April, seems nearly impossible.

Cleaning up also remains a priority for St Martin, particularly in areas where rats could proliferate.

Home to some 35,000 people, St Martin - whose livelihood rests almost entirely on tourists - attracts around two million visitors a year, most of them American cruise ship passengers.

While visiting St Barts this past week, French President Emmanuel Macron promised emergency financial aid for those "who have lost everything".

As for the Dutch side of the island, the Dutch Red Cross said Saturday that it had collected 13.3 millions following a weeklong donation drive.
Viet Nam is taking urgent measures to prevent Vietnamese fishing vessels from illegally fishing in the waters of the Pacific islands. - Photo baotintuc.vn

This is an important step to stop Vietnamese seafood from being warned or prohibited from importing to key markets such as the European Union and the United States.

According to VASEP, Viet Nam could be fined by the EU with a "yellow card" if it does not promptly and fully adhere to EUs requirements on fighting IUU fishing, which are related to the five recommendations made by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE)s working group during the reviewed period of May 15-19, 2017, in Viet Nam.

If a country is subject to a yellow card (an official EU warning), it will create nervousness among EU retailers in connection with seafood imported from that country, and they may substitute the seafood from that particular country. If the country is fined with a red card, its seafood products will be prohibited from import into the EU.

The IUU regulation applies to all vessels of EU or the third country at EU ports and all seafood products imported to or exported from EU countries. This regulation is to ensure that no illegally harvested fishery products enter the EU market.

VASEP said its members were aware of the importance of the IUU regulations and relevance for seafood businesses, and realised that the fight against IUU would be a long-term process that needed active and regular participation of seafood businesses.

VASEP members said it is necessary to set up a management board for seafood businesses to fight against IUU fishing.

EU played a leading role in the global fight against IUU fishing. The IUU regulation came into effect of October 1, 2010, aiming to ensure that only seafood products certified by the national authorised body or exporting country are imported to or exported from EU.

The list of IUU fishing vessels will be regularly updated, which are defined by the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs).

Deputy Head of the Directorate of Fisheries Technology Science and International Co-operation Department Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung told nonnghiep.vn newspaper that 24 countries and territories had received penalty cards under the IUU regulation, including countries and territories with modern fishing fleets, of which 13 nations had their penalty cards withdrawn thanks to improved management systems, including Ghana, Guinea, Panama and Papua New Guinea, as well as the Philippines, South Korea and Sri Lanka.

Of the remainder, three nations were given red cards -- Cambodia, Conmoros, and Saint Vincent and Grenadines -- and eight nations and territories were given yellow cards, including Siera Leone, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tuvalu.

As for the role of State management, Nhung said relevant agencies were taking urgent measures to prevent Vietnamese fishing vessels from illegally fishing in the waters of the Pacific islands. It would focus on strengthening controlling measures at ports in localities, increasing inspection and expanding the network of Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for large vessels.

The Vietnamese agencies will strengthen co-operation on fighting IUU fishing with countries in the region and the Pacific islands and join the Food and Agriculture Organisations Agreement on Port State Measures and the UN Fish Stocks Agreement," she said.
Hobbies and Work  How to Make Time for the Things We Love

As technology advances, our minds grow increasingly complicated. With task after task being added to an already long to-do list, making time for things like hobbies seems nearly impossible. How many of us long to make time for a hobby or project, but feel too busy dealing with daily demands?


Designer Jonathan Saunders is moving the brand forward  integrating the Warhol era and his own 1990s experience



Diane von Furstenberg spring/summer 2018

InDigital

Can you believe that he would be inspired by someone I myself knew from Studio 54! said Diane von Furstenberg, referring to the British designer Jonathan Saunders and the muse he had chosen: Jane Forth, an It-girl figure from Andy Warhol's Factory who was a glamorous fixture of Manhattans art and fashion scenes in the early 1970s.

Saunders independently selected Forth as his style inspiration for spring/summer 2018 and she just happened to have modelled the first line of dresses ever created by von Furstenberg, whom he met in 2010 at an event at 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Ministers residence.





Diane von Furstenberg spring/summer 2018

InDigital

The meld of the designer, who is Scottish, and the international vibe attached to the von Furstenberg name, came into its own in this, his third, season of collaboration.

And it all happened on a swing down a street created as a metallic runway. The models walked fast and furious, displaying outfits mostly to a mid-calf length, but with a liquidity in the way they floated across the body. That fluid movement displayed prints, but also the signature block patterns from Saunders. A dress might have askew squares in turquoise, pink and orange on a swing-along floor-sweeping skirt; others had swishy fringing, diagonal stripes or bold floral prints.





Diane von Furstenberg spring/summer 2018

InDigital

So was this a re-run of the hippie-deluxe era of DVFs heyday?

My sense of colour is much more kind of synthetic, Im from the 90s  Im kind of a different guy, said Saunders, as the music blasted and the models continued their parade.

The combination of those three things makes it a little less literal, but whats great is the brand has optimism at its core, he continued. Colour and prints work so well in terms of the brands DNA, so its easy for me to work with that.

In his former British, own-label collections, Saunders had a certain rigidity both in stripes and in angular shapes. But working with DVF seems to have softened his style  if not his striking palette of orange, royal blue, pine green  and so much more.





Diane von Furstenberg spring/summer 2018

InDigital

The most effective work was a modern mingling of masculine and feminine pieces, throwing in a denim top or slightly mannish tailoring.

Diane von Furstenberg spring/summer 2018

InDigital

In an era where so many houses in New York are being handed over to new designers, Saunders expressed enthusiasm for looking back at the company  and the original designer's past.

The brand was founded in such an incredible decade, in such an incredible city, at that moment where all of these creatives were creating so many wonderful things  how could you not have all these references to go from? he said. Its been a wonderful collection to work on. The brands ethos is so great: prints, colours. Im always going to have a synergy with that.
The Ministry for Heritage has announced that three new interpretation panels have been placed within our Old Town in order to provide information on our Medieval History, namely our Islamic and Spanish Periods.
Photo: D Dipasupil/Getty Images

Last week, Amber Tamblyn rattled James Woods on social media after he commented on the age-gap between two romantic partners in the upcoming film Call Me by Your Name. Woods believed that a romance between a 24-year-old and a 17-year-old showed the last barriers of decency  despite Woods frequently dating women significantly younger than him in the public eye  prompting Tamblyn to respond with: James Woods tried to pick me and my friend up at a restaurant once. He wanted to take us to Vegas. Im 16 I said. Even better he said. Woods denied that this troll story ever occurred, which encouraged Tamblyn to pen an open letter about Woods and misogyny in Teen Vogue. The saddest part of this story doesnt even concern me but concerns the universal womans story, she wrote at the time.

Since I know people love to question the intengrity and honesty of women when they come forward with stories like this, here you go. pic.twitter.com/rchYilrjuZ  Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) September 12, 2017

Now, Tamblyn has taken her words to the New York Times to speak out about her first-hand experiences of objectification in Hollywood. When she was starring in the series Joan of Arcadia as a 21-year-old, Tamblyn said she faced an on-set harassment problem with one of the shows crew members. When she tried to explain how she felt unsafe to a male producer, he didnt believe her. I was nervous about facing the firing squad of Emmys that sat behind him, she wrote. It was all caught in my throat  my embarrassment that it had gotten to this point. The producer listened. Then he said, Well, there are two sides to every story.

This clear disregard for believing the womans side, Tamblyn said, ties into her current situation with Woods. Mr. Woodss accusation that I was lying sent me back to that day in that producers office, and back to all the days Ive spent in the offices of men; of feeling unsure, uneasy, questioned and disbelieved, no matter the conversation, she wrote. I have been afraid of speaking out or asking things of men in positions of power for years. What I have experienced as an actress working in a business whose business is to objectify women is frightening. It is the deep end of a pool where I cannot swim. It is a famous man telling you that you are a liar for what you have remembered. For what you must have misremembered, unless you have proof. You can read her entire open letter in the Times here.
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Korean companies have reduced their investments in China by nearly half this year as it has become difficult to do business there amid Beijing's growing economic retaliation against Korea's deployment of a U.S. missile defense system.



Suffering a prolonged sales slump in China, a number of major Korean companies, including Lotte Mart and Orion, are reportedly not only downsizing their direct investments but also considering restructuring their business operations there or even a withdrawal from the market.



According to the Bank of Korea, Sunday, foreign direct investment (FDI) in China marked a 5.6 percent growth in 2015 compared to the previous year, but decreased by 0.2 percent last year. Between January and July this year, FDI in China was down by 6.5 percent from a year ago.



Korea's direct investment in China, in the meantime, marked $1.75 billion in the period, down 43.7 percent from the $3.11 billion in the same period last year, the largest drop in major economies' FDI in the world's most populous country.



U.S. direct investment in China also declined by 37.5 percent while Japan's investment was down by 3.7 percent in the January-to-July period. The European Union reduced its direct investment by 1.2 percent.



"Diplomatic tension between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the U.S. missile defense system is the reason behind Korean companies' nosedive in investment into China," the Bank of Korea said in a research report.



Sustaining snowballing losses in the market, Lotte Group decided to withdraw its supermarket franchise Lotte Mart from China. Currently, a total of 22 affiliates of the nation's largest retailer are doing business there.



Lotte Group said it won't withdraw any other affiliates from China but is considering a certain level of restructuring, including layoffs, to improve their profitability.



Lotte Chilsung Beverage, the group's beverage making affiliate, is reportedly pushing a plan to dispose of some of its production plants while Lotte Home shopping is carrying out a restructuring process.



Korea's largest supermarket chain E-Mart, which entered China in 1997, once had nearly 30 branches there, but has also recently decided to withdraw from the market by the end of this year.



E-Mart, now with only six supermarket chains there, is discussing with Thai CP Group over a possible sale of five chains. CP Group is also a possible candidate to take over Lotte Mart's operation in China.



Orion, one of Korea's three largest food companies that managed to successfully land into the Chinese market, also suffered a 64 percent decline in operating profit this year. It recently downsized its sales forces by 20 percent to reduce labor costs.



The nation's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor and its sister brand Kia Motors also sold only 82,025 cars in China last month, down 39 percent from the same period last year.



A Chinese newspaper reported last week BAIC Group is allegedly considering possible dissolution of its partnership with Hyundai Motor, but Hyundai Motor dismissed the claim.



FDI is a form of investment controlling business ownership in one country by a company based in another country. It includes mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations and intra-company loans. Hyundai Motor entered into China under a joint venture with Chinese BAIC Motor in 2002.












With new development focused on the outskirts of Waco and a handful of underperforming schools in the city, enrollment in Waco ISD has remained flat for the past six years, while other districts and charter schools have seen significant growth.

Superintendent A. Marcus Nelson has been vocal since he started this summer about his desire to keep children in the district and to attract new ones, despite challenges. More than 80 percent of Waco ISD students are economically disadvantaged, and six schools in the district failed the most recent state academic accountability standards.

School competition is significant, Nelson said. Residential growth is feeding new students, and new state and local money, to surrounding districts, and charter schools are actively recruiting Waco ISD students, he said.

If you look at my background, Ive worked in places like McKinney and Pflugerville. These are the model of suburban areas attracting people away from the city to this quieter life, to this family-friendly environment, Nelson said. I cant really compete with the fact that people can buy 1- and 2-acre lots and build a beautiful home on it and the schools in those districts are good.

Thats not something I can compete with. The problem is, not everybody can go buy 2 acres out in Hewitt. In my opinion, the future of our city is not tied to student achievement by students who have two parents at home, two college educated parents.

Waco enrollment has plateaued at a little less than 15,000 in recent years, according to Texas Education Agency data. An average of 2,109 students living in Waco ISD boundaries have attended another district or charter school each year as a transfer since 2012, according to a recent demographic study the district commissioned. The top schools students transfer to include Midway ISD, Bosqueville ISD, Robinson ISD, Harmony Science Academy and Rapoport Academy.

Connally ISD is the only other district in the county with a school that failed the most recent state accountability standards.

Midway ISD has grown from 7,189 students six years ago to almost 7,900 last year. China Spring ISD has grown from 2,387 students to 2,700 in that time. China Spring Superintendent Marc Faulkner, who has been there 14 years, said he expects the district will need to pass a bond in the next two to three years.

When I first came, pretty much from the airport to here, there was nothing, Faulkner said. Now, its built up and all of its the city of Waco. It has changed tremendously, and I think thats a big factor.

Part of Midway and China Spring ISDs growth can be attributed to the availability of land that is easy to develop with housing attractive to families with young children, Waco planning services director Clint Peters said.

In Wacos core, most new residents are young professionals, empty-nesters or those who have latched onto the popularity of Fixer Upper, and Magnolia, he said.

Some of our issue, historically, is were growing at 1 percent, but some of it is just being shifted from the core into other parts of the county, Peters said. Were still getting more people coming into the county than leaving.  I really want to see whats happened since Magnolia, because I think its going to bear out that were having this huge growth spurt, but we dont have the data yet because its so new. 

Bringing more students into the center of Waco is difficult to address from the city perspective, he said.

From a city standpoint, you want it to be balanced, but its not like were out recruiting housing thats going to be for families over housing for empty-nesters, Peters said.

Waco ISD gets a new student for about every three new homes built and about every four apartment units built in the district, according to its demographic study. It expects to see average growth of 0.3 percent annually for the next five years, or a net growth of 235 students, according to the study.

Waco ISD saw a significant demographic shift starting in 1974 with reactions to court-ordered busing intended to integrate schools that remained effectively segregated because of segregated attendance zones. Mostly white Waco ISD students filled private schools and surrounding areas.

Wacos enrollment dropped from 18,300 to 13,200 by 1985. In the same decade, Midway grew by more than 2,200 students.

By 2004, Waco ISD was 17 percent white in a county that is 65 percent white. Today the district is a little less than 9 percent white, but Nelson said poverty is the biggest issue, not race.

When you look all the way back to the desegregation order, which Ive studied here in Waco, there were larger numbers of Anglo students, Nelson said. Im not even refuting the fact that has steadily declined. Having said that, this office talks about all kids, and when I get to 15,000, I dont go back and say, How many of those are white? How many of those are black? Its about every kid weve got.  Poverty is the issue. Its not race.

In addition to the pull from surrounding public schools, private schools and public charter schools in the city also represent competition for Waco ISD, Nelson said.

Though official numbers arent in for enrollment this school year, Cesar Chavez Middle School is down 50 to 60 students, and a Harmony campus has seen an increase of about 200 students, Nelson said.

Ray Charles could tell you where those kids came from, he said. Thats from them working those neighborhoods, and weve got a lot to do in that area because our kids are being recruited.

Harmony Public Schools doesnt keep track of where students come in from, Harmony spokesperson Timothy Lankford said.

Harmony opened a second Waco school this year because its first campus was busting at the seams. Enrollment at harmony grew from 663 students in 2011 to 765 last school year, according to TEA data.

With the second campus, the charter school system can accommodate more than 1,000 students in the area, Lankford said.

Rapoport Academy, a public charter that focuses heavily on serving economically disadvantaged students, has almost doubled its enrollment in the past six years. It added a second elementary school in 2013, and its growth has been planned strategically, Superintendent Alexis Neumann said.

It had 460 students in the 2011-12 school year and 818 students last school year. The school caps each grade level at 68 students, which doesnt leave much room for further growth, Neumann said. It receives students from all over, but mostly from the northeast side of town, she said.

Were very rigorous in our academics, very vigorous in our behavior expectations. Were a college prep school for pre-k through 12, make no mistake about it, Nuemann said. We have a wide variety of students we serve, and were a public school to the truest sense of the word and were open enrollment to the truest sense of the word. Wherever students are, we bring them in and work with them to get them college ready as quickly as possible.

Official enrollment numbers wont be available until the end of October, but initial enrollment numbers for the new school year at Waco ISD are close to 15,000, Nelson said.

Nelson acknowledged any parent truly interested in the academic success of their child is going to see challenges when it comes to Waco ISD. And he knows that means parents will evaluate all their options to find the best place for their child, he said.

The district has plans in place to tip the scales back in its favor.

Officials have been working to increase dual credit and advanced placement opportunities and have a renewed push to recognize academic accomplishments and drive a focus on academics in the classroom. The district is also expanding its vocational schools, the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy and the Greater Waco Advanced Health Care Academy, and has applied for a $9 million grant for an arts and humanities magnet school.

Im just trying to keep it real. There are two sides to it, and weve got to do a better job of making our schools attractive because yeah, were competing, Nelson said. And everybodys wanting inner-city Waco kids for whatever reason, whether its because of the housing market or growth. Were landlocked, so were not going to be growing like we may have been in the 50s and the 60s. Its just not going to happen. It may happen in Robinson and Midway, and God bless those kids, but were going to work with who shows up.
As Congress continues to struggle with health-insurance reform, members should be ruminating on the scenes of recovery beaming in from Texas and Florida, where the majority of households  many now severely damaged or destroyed  had not purchased flood insurance. As after Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012, many of those now waiting to see if federal aid and charity will help rebuild homes, of course, wish they had.

Flood insurance in storm-prone areas and health insurance have a lot in common, especially when it comes to the mental calculus that goes into the purchase. You are paying money to insure against a personal calamity you hope wont happen, even though you know that its a real possibility.

Texas and Florida will experience hurricanes and floods. Just as surely, you are likely at some point to face an expensive medical condition. Weather disasters will probably grow more common thanks to climate change. And more people will face bank-account-draining illnesses thanks to longer lifespans, better treatments and high medical prices.

Yet theres been a 9 percent drop in flood-insurance coverage in the Houston area over the past five years and a drop of 15 percent in Florida, Associated Press investigations recently found. In some of the most severely affected counties, the drop was more than 20 percent.

Why would Floridians (who regularly face hurricanes) or Texans (whove experienced five major floods since 2010) make this unwise choice? The current head of the federal flood insurance program, Roy Wright, thinks he knows the answer: a decision by Congress in 2012 to raise premiums for the troubled National Flood Insurance Program that covers what private insurers wont. Flood insurance now doesnt fit into stretched family budgets.

Though federal flood insurance is required to get a federally backed mortgage in high-risk zones, maps of those zones have been redrawn in some areas to ease the financial burden of homeowners. Also, it turns out that some people who buy insurance to get a loan later let it lapse, since there is limited enforcement. In Floridas hazard zones, only 41 percent of households have flood insurance.

The fact the majority of Floridians and Houstonians didnt buy flood insurance underlines why, as a matter of practicality, not politics, every person needs to have health insurance. And whether government-provided or purchased in the market, it has to be comprehensive and affordable. Thats not the case now.

Many Republicans want to do away with the Obamacare requirement that everyone purchase some kind of health insurance, the politically unpopular individual mandate. They want to allow people to buy bare-bones plans that, for example, dont cover items such as cancer or medicines. They say Americans who want cheap, minimal coverage or no health insurance at all should be allowed to choose that option  to play the odds and use their money elsewhere.

You know what, Americans have choices  and theyve got to make a choice, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CNN. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own health care.

Well, for most middle-income families, thats not the kind of choice people are making. In explaining why she decided to forgo flood insurance in Houston, Kris Ford-Amofa told a New York Times reporter that she had always tried to stick to a budget, down to choosing the pancake syrup that gives her the best value.

Likewise, when Americans choose not to have health insurance, its because theyre (unwisely) playing the odds and triaging the finite dollars in the family budget. If youre a family struggling to pay for daily necessities like rent, food and college, you may decide to do without.

This week, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that median household income in 2016 rose to $59,039, a 3.2 per cent increase since 2015. But for many families, health-insurance premiums and medical expenses have risen more.

Insurance plans for a family of four in some parts of Florida went from $550 to $1,600 a month in the last several years and some are poised to go 10 to 20 percent higher in 2018, Margot Kast, an insurance agent, told me. She calculated similar price rises in some other states. Those prices have been overwhelming for many who earn too much to qualify for government subsidies. Most people want insurance; they just cant afford it, she said.

In hurricanes, as in health, when the unwelcome cataclysm happens the costs are even more unaffordable. Meanwhile, the pain and suffering are so enormous that government cannot turn its back.

Now we will all pay to rebuild those homes in Texas and Florida  a cost that is likely to run into the tens or hundreds of billions.

As a society, emotionally we have to pitch in to rebuild wrecked homes. Likewise, when a pregnant woman turns up at a hospital in labor or a 60-year-old man develops crushing chest pain, we cant turn away.

Flood insurance  whether federally provided or privately offered  needs to be required if you live in a flood plain. Likewise  Congress, pay attention here  comprehensive health insurance needs to be mandated or provided for every American.
The Gulf Coast has been badly battered by hurricanes in recent weeks. Harvey submerged much of Houston, causing destruction that will take years and billions of dollars to undo; Irma roared north through Florida and, with the power still out across much of the state, the damage is yet being tallied. The storms elicited a nation of nervous weather-watchers and exposed several myths.

Myth No. 1: A busy year of named storms is more dangerous and costly.

This seems intuitive. The Weather Company has raised the number of named storms that it expects to develop in its latest 2017 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, warning of higher-than-normal landfall risks in the northeast U.S. Colorado State Universitys seasonal outlook said that the probability of major hurricanes making landfall in the United States was above normal this year due to the forecast for an above-average season.

Actually, there is only some correlation between the total number of storms in a season and the number of storms making landfall. In 2004, there were 15 named storms, and eight struck the United States. In 2010, there were 19 named storms but only two U.S. landfalls. (The total in both years was well above the long-term average for the Atlantic.) It only takes one roaring storm for an inactive season to be considered awful: 1992 saw just seven storms, well below the average, but one of them was Hurricane Andrew, at the time the nations costliest hurricane.

How many storms make landfall depends on tropical currents, such as the trade winds, that steer hurricanes. These systems shift around and can strengthen or weaken. For instance, if the Bermuda High current moves closer to the U.S. mainland, as it did in 2004 and 2005, more storms land on our shores. If the Bermuda High moves closer to Africa, more tend to curve over the ocean instead of striking the United States.

Myth No. 2: A Category 4 hurricane will cause more damage than a Category 2.

The well-known Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale defines five categories of storms. These levels are based on the maximum sustained wind, which seems like the most meaningful metric. The lower the pressure, the more intense the hurricane, especially in terms of wind speed and damage, the ABC affiliate in Chicago reported this month. And before Harvey, news outlets suggested that, as a Category 4 storm, it would be stronger than Katrina.

But size matters, too. Both the size of a storms wind footprint and the strength of its winds control the height of the storm surge. Compare Hurricanes Charley (2004) and Ike (2008). Charley packed 120 mph sustained winds and was very small. Ike was about 10 times larger but considerably weaker, with 95 mph winds. Charleys surge along Floridas west coast was in the six-to-seven-foot range, while Ike devastated the Texas-Louisiana coast with a very broad surge reaching 12 to 17 feet in height. The difference in surge heights largely reflected Ikes much larger size.

Storm rainfall, which can be catastrophic, also has little to do with wind intensity. Some of our worst coastal flooding disasters from tropical cyclones have come from humble tropical storms: Allison, for example, brought inland Texas about 40 inches of rain in 2001.

Myth No. 3: Inland cities dont need to worry about hurricanes.

When hurricanes strike the United States, attention focuses on the coastline, where watches and warnings are issued. According to LiveScience, the big cities at greatest risk are coastal ones: Houston; New Orleans; Mobile, Ala.; Tampa; Miami; Boston; New York and others. If you live hundreds of miles inland, the automobile site Jalopnik put it in an article on how to escape a storms path, . . . you dont need to worry.

Its true that storms lose 50 percent of their wind intensity within 12 to 18 hours of landfall. But hurricane remnants have surprisingly long reach. Many storms throughout U.S. history have projected formidable hazards hundreds of miles inland, sometimes days after landfall. And tropical remnants that join with preexisting weather systems, such as fronts and jet stream disturbances, have new sources source of energy to sustain them. Inland hazards have been particularly devastating over the mountainous regions of the East Coast, where steep terrain lifts tropical moisture.

Infamous examples include Camille (1969), which made landfall over Louisiana but killed half its victims days later in a horrific flood in Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains. Agnes (1972) made landfall in the Florida Panhandle but unleashed its worst flooding in central Pennsylvania. And Ivan (2004) first struck Alabama but spun up a record-breaking swarm of damaging tornadoes across Northern Virginia and central Maryland.

Myth No. 4: The biggest threat from a hurricane is the wind.

Hurricanes are huge, atmospheric vortices and they are properly feared for their widespread, high-energy onslaughts of wind. The Weather Channel holds that wind is responsible for much of the structural damage caused by hurricanes. Floridians understandably see wind as their enemy: Hurricane Andrew (1992) was a landmark storm, killing 65, to the tune of $27 billion, most of this because of winds exceeding 175 mph.

But wind is only one of a deadly triad of impacts that hurricanes deliver. The storm surge  a sudden rise in sea level along the coast, where ocean water is pushed inland by the hurricanes strongest winds  causes far more fatalities. The maximum surge is confined to the eyewall of the storm, but its effects can be broad: In 1876, a storm surge killed as many as 400,000 people in a single cyclone along coastal Bangladesh. A recent study shows that, in the United States, the majority of hurricane-related deaths come from water.

Sometimes this means storm surge, but more often people drown in freshwater. Torrential rains often dump six to 12 inches or more, leading to flash flooding. Hurricane Katrina (2005) produced the highest death toll of any hurricane  at least 1,000  since the Okeechobee hurricane in Florida in 1928. Most of the fatalities were drownings.

Myth No. 5: Forecasters hype the threat to advance the climate change agenda.

Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge have both said since last year that the media and the National Hurricane Center overhype hurricanes to play up global warming.

But the mission of the National Weather Service, which raised urgent warnings about the latest hurricanes, is to protect property and save lives. And it only makes sense for local news outlets and private forecasters to follow their lead; it is a standard, and responsible, practice for these organizations to post every official watch and warning issued by the hurricane center.

Furthermore, many scientists are cautious about the connection between hurricane activity and climate change. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for instance, has said a detectable human influence has not yet been discovered, though it also projects increases in hurricane intensity during the coming decades.
Today marks the 230th anniversary of an event of global significance. On Sept. 17, 1787, many of Americas greatest thinkers put their stamp on a founding document as misunderstood and misquoted nowadays as the Bible. Presidents, preachers, legislators and jurists on both the left and right have sought to twist and confuse its meaning. Political movements have cherry-picked what provisions they will abide by  while ignoring or even defying the rest.

Many when speaking of the Constitution more specifically mean the Bill of Rights, which was passed later to calm those who feared the Constitution didnt state clearly rights worthy of protection. The Constitution, after all, is more concerned with the workings of governance, the powers and limits of each branch and the cherished concept of checks and balances. Its an owners manual to help facilitate the passage and enforcement of laws.

So what does the Constitution mean in the Age of Trump? Its quite obvious the president is somewhat unfamiliar with the document. As a candidate, he famously vowed devotion to all 12 of the Constitutions articles. (It has only seven.) And early on the president expressed deep reservations with such legislative customs as the Senate filibuster. He also has failed to grasp the purpose of an independent judiciary beholden to no one but the Constitution and its amendments.

Yet the past two weeks suggest Trump may well be gaining his footing as a chief executive, particularly after months of failure and stalemate. The Republican president hammered out a deal with Democratic Senate and House leaders to approve vital hurricane relief for our hard-hit Texas coast while also raising the debt limit. Now hes talking with Democrats about a pact to protect young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation in return for Democrats agreeing to massive border-security measures, albeit minus the infamous wall.

Right-wing pundits and Republican extremists are outraged over such deal-making, though the art of the deal is what Trump promised in his unconventional campaign. (For the record, Democratic activists are venting angrily against Democratic leadership for condescending to deal with Trump.) It remains to be seen whether Trumps fiercely loyal followers will condemn Trumps efforts to craft deals and negotiate solutions. Quite possibly, this is what they have long sought from Washington leadership. Imagine the possibilities if lawmakers of both major parties could actually manage this more regularly on their own.

In the 2016 campaign, many Trump voters expressed frustration with how Washington did business. If they referred to all the gridlock and dysfunction, if they meant how Republicans and Democrats are unwilling to work together and craft deals that they could then sell to their constituencies, then perhaps this president truly can deliver something unique where supposedly better-schooled politicians have failed. In that sense, Trump might even prove that, yes, the Constitution can work if one is careful to embrace George Washingtons wise warning about the perils of partisanship and work deals benefiting everybody, at least to a degree. And to do that, Trump doesnt even need to know how many articles are in the Constitution.
Surveys & stereotypes

I write in regard to Baylor research eyes Trump voters values, published Sept. 5. This article is not to be taken as anti-Trump rhetoric alone. One of the more offensive terms used is Trump voter rather than Trump supporter.

I personally have never missed an election in more than 50 years of voting. For the first time in my life I voted against someone rather than for a candidate. I strongly considered not voting. I have many friends and acquaintances who felt the same way. I suspect many thousands of Trump voters found themselves in the same conundrum.

Most likely, all of the Baylor survey authors here were actual Clinton supporters  hardly a scientific perspective from which to write this piece. Their incivility label may to some degree be true of the president in how he managed his campaign but it was matched by the arrogant and absolutely inappropriate ways in which Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton handled the security measures entrusted to her as secretary of state. This conclusion can be found in her own words and the conclusion of then-FBI director James Comey. Other concerns about her trustworthiness abound as well.

The overall implication is that voters for Trump have personality and character traits that should be unwelcome in this country. It reflects poorly on the attitudes and mind-set of many voters who felt presented with the worst options ever placed before a voter. A review of 1,500 random adults is hardly scientific evidence of the American voter personality, at least as I understand the term science. And as a person who was faced with such a limited choice of candidates, I am insulted to be considered an uncivil hater  even by Baylor professors.

Keith E. Dowell, MD, Waco

* * *

Now Baylor researchers have interviewed and analyzed Trump voters and are telling us why we voted for him. Thats all well and good. We now know how we feel  how, because we are against same-sex marriage and embrace Christian values, we obviously hate gays. We must hate all Muslims because for some reason we are worried about an Islamic movement out to destroy us.

I am looking forward to seeing an analysis of people who voted for Hillary Clinton. Do the majority of voters believe its OK to destroy property? To loot and jump on people who believe differently than them? What is the percentage who are OK with someone representing them wanting to blow up the White House? Who thinks its OK to march in the streets wanting dead cops? How many are OK with sitting down when the National Anthem is played? How about burning the flag? Ill bet the percentage of Trump voters would be against most of these things.

Ill be waiting to see this survey come out, but I wont hold my breath.

Jerry Willett, Lorena
"One of the reasons for the anti-globalisation movement is that people realise that the system of globalisation has worked very well for very rich people and for the corporations, but not for individuals," he says in an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media. A worsening divide Trump and Brexit were a rebellious response, he says, from people who feel they have been left out. But he worries their fates will now worsen. The general shift to right-wing leaders globally is already resulting in protectionist, anti-globalisation policies. And those policies, he says, unfortunately, are most damaging to the poor. Anti-Globalization protesters. Credit:CESAR RANGEL

This is a key topic explored in Professor Stiglitz' book: Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Era of Trump. The first tax reform we need is to get a global agreement to end the tax competition race to the bottom and make sure that there isn't massive tax avoidance Joseph Stiglitz But making the Trump-loving population understand their deteriorating plight is a hard feat. "There's a view that they don't really look at the policies," he says. "They only look at; 'does he seem to care about us'? As a great actor, he has persuaded them he cares about them, even as he picks their pockets." According to Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, which maps inequality across the US, between 1979 and 2007, the average income of the bottom 99 per cent of US families grew by 18.9 per cent, while the average income of the top 1 per cent grew over 10 times as much  by 200.5 per cent. It's at levels not seen since the late 1920s.

"You have a lot of inequality and inequality affects the politics; then they [Trump's administration] pass laws that reinforce inequality," Professor Stiglitz says. President Donald Trump portrays himself as a man of the people. He gives the example of the Republicans push to get rid of inheritance taxes. Known in the US as the estate tax, it taxes the right of an individual to transfer property at their death, which according to the IRS, now only falls only on those with assets worth more than $5.49 million and double that for couples. "We're talking about a few thousand families with lots and lots of money," he says. "The Republican party is coming out on the side of the very, very wealthy." 'Fiscal paradises'

Tax rates and incentives can also exacerbate divides. Trump has proposed to cut America's company tax rate from 35 per cent to 15 per cent. In a world of greater tax competition where countries like Ireland and Singapore offer 12.5 per cent and 17 per cent rates respectively, companies say if the US doesn't cut taxes, they will move offshore. "I think it's largely a hollow threat, but not completely," Professor Stiglitz says. "The first tax reform we need is to get a global agreement to end the tax competition race to the bottom and make sure that there isn't massive tax avoidance. But obviously this isn't the corporate agenda- they like this race to the bottom."

Panama remains a tax sanctuary. Credit:AP Despite the OECD/G20 global plan against profit shifting, known as Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), he says multinational tax avoidance still occurs. "We haven't eliminated the tax havens," says Professor Stiglitz who two years ago help set up the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, ICRICT, to fight for changes that reduce inequality and strengthen human rights. "The fiscal paradises are still there. Panama is still there. Money laundering is still going on." Abuses continue

While BEPS eliminated some of the absolutely worst abuses, it did not eliminate many of the other bad abuses, he says. It put an end to no-tax jurisdictions, but it didn't end very-low tax jurisdictions. He notes companies including Starbucks and Apple are still engaging in the legal practice of profit shifting to lower-tax nations. Starbucks has been under fire for the level of taxes it pays on income. Credit:Adrian Brown The less revenue we raise from corporate income tax the more revenue we have to raise from individual income tax. "So, in a way you're shifting taxes [the burden] from corporations to individuals," he says. Aside from BEPS, there's also been unilateral moves by governments  including Australia's  to try tax multinationals.

Tax experts are warning that once there's a share of the pie to tax, there will be more disputes between governments about who gets what share of that pie. Apple's spat with the European Commission is a case in point, and US Treasury appears to be backing Apple boss Tim Cook's position that its US income. Could this result in tax revenue wars? "That could happen if we don't get more cooperation," Professor Stiglitz says. His solution is a global minimum corporate income tax of 20 per cent and limiting tax breaks to rare exceptions. "I would not want to say there would be no exceptions  for example, the global community could get together and say, 'it's very important for us to encourage research in infectious diseases and give encouragement through the tax system  but basically there would be a framework that says, 'no you can't engage in tax competition through the patent box or anything'."

GFC Mark II? The same system that has allowed zero tax rates for decades also enabled the Global Financial Crisis. Professor Stiglitz says the financial sector never paid for the economic damage  which he estimates amounts to $US5 to $US10 trillion, and that's before the human toll is taken into account. Could another GFC happen? A pedestrian walks along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange. Credit:Michael Nagle "They paid fines but those fines were minuscule compared to the damage that they [the financial wrongdoers] have done to our economy. [On top of that], there's he damage to peoples' lives, the loss of homes, the loss of families and the loss of jobs. It's just been a disaster.

And while there should be individual culpability, those in the big end of town escaped prosecution. "Nobody at Goldman Sachs did the misdeeds even though misdeeds were done," he says. "Nobody at Lehman Brothers did the misdeeds even though misdeeds were done. The financial sector behaved badly but nobody did it." The economy is "far from repaired. We don't have a robust financial system. The system is betting that we won't have another big shock. It's betting it can manage small-and-medium-sized shocks. But we know that on occasion, there's big shocks. And when the big shocks come, they know we will bail them out again." The economy is also at risk from the impacts of climate change. Australia is a nation that went down the path of considering a carbon tax, but then retreated following a massive campaign from big business. And in the aftermath of Trump's withdrawal of the US from the Paris accord, Professor Stiglitz, can only hope this is a "passing phenomena".
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. High 38F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 28F. Winds light and variable.
Hip fracture patients face glaring gaps and huge variations in care that seriously impact their ability to recover and reclaim their independence, a major audit has found.

Five per cent of patients who break a hip will die in hospital, and up to 25 per cent will die within the year as a direct result of their injury, a major audit of the Australian and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry (ANZHFR) found.

More than one in 10 patients will be discharged from hospital only to be admitted to an aged care facility as a result of their hip fracture, according to the report released Friday by Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).

Half of hip fracture patients never fully regain their mobility, found the audit of 5178 hip fracture patients over 50 years old at 34 hospitals.
Two mothers who bonded over their Chinese backgrounds and sons at Knox Grammar are now suing each other for defamation following a string of instant messages which one woman says made her out to be a "savage person" and they other says painted her as disloyal.

Ava Wei Wu, who wrote a reference for Michelle Li Chen's son to attend the Wahroonga boys' school in 2014, allegedly used a WeChat forum for non-English speaking Knox parents last year to denounce her erstwhile friend as a "green tea prostitute" who thought she was high class because she sent her children to a private school and bought fake handbags, according to Ms Chen's statement of claim.

A spat between two Knox Grammar mothers on WeChat has reached the Supreme Court. Credit:Ben Rushton

Ms Chen allegedly responded by claiming to a group of more than 1000 WeChat friends that Ms Wu was a "barking dog" who had "amnesia" when it came to paying her debts, nearly ran down a policeman who stopped her for a roadside breath test and was deluded in thinking that she was helping Ms Chen to make friends since she didn't understand English, according to Ms Wu's statement of claim.

"After all, such a person who was a mistress and destroyed the families of others is bad in essence," Ms Chen allegedly wrote.
Vulnerabilities in Bluetooth could allow airborne computer viruses to spread silently, potentially infecting billions of devices around the world, a team of cyber security experts has warned.

Collectively dubbed "BlueBorne", they exposes Bluetooth-enabled devices to security breaches.

Cyber security experts warn that BlueBorne has the potential to cause havoc for Bluetooth-enabled devices. Credit:Louie Douvis

Infection via BlueBorne would not require a user to click on a link or download a file as it spreads silently via Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Tech giants - including Google, Apple and Microsoft - have been made aware of the flaws and have responded.
A six-year-old autistic boy who went missing fromhis home in Morley on Sunday afternoon has been found.

Inspector Matt Ray said Mangapi Mupenda, who has severe autism and does not speak, was found near his home address on Compton Way in the northern Perth suburb just after 4pm.

Mangapi has severe autism and does not speak. Credit:Louise Kennerley

He was missing for about two hours.

It is believed he let himself out of the house.
A bushfire is threatening lives and homes in a remote Aboriginal community in Western Australia.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services issued an emergency warning for the Egret community in Kununurra in the shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley.

People in the Egret Aboriginal community are urged to leave their homes.

"You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. There is a threat to lives and homes," Emergency WA has advised residents.

Homes in the Aboriginal community are under imminent threat, DFES said, with strong westerly winds fanning the flames.
Claret is the British name for a red blend of classic French Bordeaux varietals that is used to describe this California Sonoma County wine.

There are six permitted varietals in true Bordeaux and this vintage is primarily merlot (45 percent) and malbec (31 percent), with smaller portions of cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. (The other two permitted varietals are cabernet franc and carmenere.) The grapes were fermented and aged 16 months in French oak before being blended.

The result is an elegant and bold wine with red fruit flavors and prominent but smooth tannins.

Sherry: Strong clover overtones with black cherry, cassis and strawberry. (3.5 stars out of 5)

Chris: A leathery and cigar box bouquet with flavors of plum, black currant and vanilla. (3.75 stars out of 5)

Available for $17 to $20.

Coming next week: Thomas Schmitt Private Collection Estate Bottled Riesling
Between 2,000 and 4,000 people are expected to flock to La Crosses St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral on Wednesday to see and venerate relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, a noted 20th century mystic and healer better known as Padre Pio.

The relics, including a lock of Pios hair, a glove and a handkerchief soaked with his sweat hours before his death, among other things, will be available for viewing and veneration from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the cathedral at 530 Main St., where Masses will be celebrated at 12:10 and 7 p.m., with Bishop William Callahan presiding at 7, in honor of the occasion.

The La Crosse event is part of a 12-diocese U.S. tour that the Saint Pio Foundation is sponsoring to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Padre Pios birth and the 15th anniversary of his canonization as a saint.

Callahan encouraged worshipers who make the pilgrimage to venerate the relics to learn more about the saint, who endured wounds symbolizing those that Christ suffered on the Cross and known as the stigmata, and follow his example.

St. Pio, who was born May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy, and baptized Francesco Forgione, first expressed his desire to become a priest at age 10. His father, Grazio Forgione, emigrated in 1899 to the U.S., where he worked for several years to pay for the education Francesco needed to study for the priesthood.

He entered the Capuchin order at age 15, taking the name Pio, and was ordained a priest in 1910 at the age of 23.

Pio became known as a mystic with miraculous powers of healing and knowledge. He also bore the stigmata, the term the Catholic Church uses to describe wounds corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. The wounds can appear on the forehead, hands, wrists and feet.

Pios stigmata emerged during World War I, after Pope Benedict XV asked Christians to pray for an end to the conflict. Pio had a vision in which Christ pierced his side. A few weeks later, on Sept. 20, 1918, Jesus appeared to him again, and he received the full stigmata.

Pope John Paul II canonized Pio in 2002.

The event has a connection to many other important milestones in the La Crosse Diocese, according to diocesan officials. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who remain headquartered in La Crosse, and the Third Order of St. Francis, ministered extensively in the area during the early days of the diocese.

Capuchin Friars, the same community that Pio belonged to, also served in the diocese for many years, according to diocesan records.

Relics are physical objects associated with a saint or candidate for sainthood  part of the persons body or something the person contacted, according to Catholic Church tradition.

Relics are not to be worshiped but rather treated with religious respect, according to the church. Touching or praying in the presence of such an object is said to help a faithful individual focus on the saints life and virtues so the saints prayers or intercession with God will draw the individual closer to the deity, the church maintains.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 17, 2017 | 10:30 AM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A motorcycle crash early Sunday morning in McCracken County left two people injured and one facing charges.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, the wreck happened just after 3 am in the 4700 block of Clarks River Road. Upon arrival, deputies found the apparent signs of a crash and 31-year-old Marissa Ledbetter of Tiline, standing on the side of the road.

Deputies said Ronald Ledbetter of Tiline was outbound on Clarks River Road, near the intersection of Pugh Road, when he lost control in a curve and crashed. After the crash, Ronald Ledbetter reportedly righted the motorcycle and drove approximately one mile away from the scene, where deputies later found him.

According to police, Ronald Ledbetter was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. Both Ledbetters were transported to a local hospital by Mercy Regional Ambulance for treatment of their injuries. Ronald Ledbetter was later flown to an out of state hospital for further treatment.

He faces charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, leaving the scene of an accident, wanton endangerment and two counts of failure to comply with the helmet law.
Alec Baldwin sues to 'clear his name' in movie set death
By The Associated Press

By The Associated Press Sep. 17, 2017 | 01:52 PM | ST. LOUIS, MO

Authorities say four of the nine people arrested overnight during protests in the St. Louis suburb of University City will face felony destruction of property charges.

The St. Louis County Police Department said Sunday that among those arrested were two male minors. The other seven ranged in age from 22 to 37 years old.

The other charges protesters face include misdemeanor rioting charges, and one person was charged with assaulting a police officer. Two of those arrested were charged only with failing to disperse.

Protesters destroyed shop windows Saturday night in the Delmar Loop area of University City.

The protests follow Friday's acquittal of a white former St. Louis police officer in the 2011 killing of a black man following a high-speed chase.

More demonstrations are expected on Sunday.
New Ross mourns tragic death of Anthony Rochford (47): We will remember him for all the great times
EAU CLAIRE  From the fourth-floor community room at software developer Jamf, employees can grab a local craft beer from the fridge, teleconference with mentors at Fortune 500 companies and take in postcard-perfect views of a revitalized downtown riverfront.

It's all part of company founder Zach Halmstad's strategy to create a vibrant work and living environment in Wisconsin's eighth-largest city  and a model state officials say should be replicated to draw the workforce of the future and to help address a growing worker shortage right now.

"It's not just hanging out a 'Help Wanted' sign and paying a competitive wage, it's the whole holistic environment," University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross said of attracting workers. "It's creating the whole environment where these people want to live and hang out."

On a tranquil August day, Jamf employees in shorts and flip-flops walk their dogs through the office. Work notes are scrawled on glossy walls in meeting rooms decorated with local artwork. There are ping pong and bumper pool tables set out where software developers might hash out the next big idea.

"People work really hard," said Halmstad, 39, explaining in a manner as casual as his charcoal T-shirt and jeans how the work environment fosters stress relief, creativity and community.

The company has grown from 150 employees four years ago to 700 today, with 219 in Eau Claire, another 273 in Minneapolis and the rest spread around the world. The retention rate hovers at 98 percent, said talent acquisition manager Natalie Johnson.

Yet, the secret to Jamf's success in attracting young talent to a city of 68,000 an hour-and-a-half east of the Twin Cities isn't just the trendy environs.

Johnson said the company decided in 2013 to build its talent development internally, reaching out to the local technical college and university systems and even local high schools to recruit interns, 80 percent of whom have become full-time employees.

Jamf  which produces device management software for schools, businesses and government organizations  offers opportunities for career development, management training and peer mentoring opportunities with companies in much larger cities that have much longer commute times than Eau Claire. Those big city companies also don't have an air hose and river tubing launch within a stone's throw of the front entrance.

"You can work in Silicon Valley without having to work in Silicon Valley," Johnson said of the Jamf experience.

Still  perhaps in a sign that Eau Claire and Wisconsin still have hurdles to overcome  the company's official headquarters and mailing address are in Minneapolis because of its size, access to other companies and proximity to an international airport.

Laid-back atmosphere

The laid-back, millennial-friendly atmosphere extends beyond Jamf's luminous windows into the biweekly summertime music performances in adjacent Phoenix Park and across the Eau Claire River to the Confluence Arts Center under construction in what was once a blighted downtown.

"It's just a place full of opportunities," said Zac Scherr, 27, a Marshfield native who first came to Eau Claire in 2011 and has moved back twice.

Scherr works as an account representative at Royal Credit Union, which kicked off the downtown revitalization in 2003 when it used tax increment financing to build its headquarters in an area once known for crime and open-air drug dealing.

The city hosts half a dozen music festivals a year drawing a national audience. Railroad bridges that once serviced the shuttered Uniroyal Tire plant have been converted into pedestrian trails. The plant itself, after closing in 1992, became Banbury Place with repurposed office space, art studios and apartments.

Visitors and people who grew up in Eau Claire but left for places like California, Colorado and Texas are returning to open shops and restaurants downtown, said Scott Rogers, workforce director for the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce.

"If you talk to people you hear more stories about somebody moved back because they heard of what's going on," Rogers said. "We're probably just on the edge of that starting to happen."

Halmstad has emerged as a major booster of the city's renaissance.

The Eau Claire native studied music and computer science at UW-Eau Claire hoping to become a teacher, like his parents. Instead he turned the administrative software he developed while working for the university's IT department into Jamf in 2002. Within a few years he hired his first employees, working on a blue couch in an 1,800 square-foot storefront across the street from a rundown motel.

He has since taken a lead role in rallying the financial and political capital to revitalize the area.

When opponents of the Confluence project pointed to the rundown motel across the street saying no one wanted to locate downtown, Halmstad and other investors, including Eau Claire native and Bon Iver front man Justin Vernon, bought it and turned it into an upscale Hilton named The Lismore, after Eau Claire's Australian sister city.

The investment in downtown is part of a broader philosophical approach about building the workforce of the future, specifically the importance of "placemaking."

The nature of the workforce has changed, Halmstad said in an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal. In the past people were looking for jobs and moving to where the jobs were located. Now they are moving to places where they want to live.

"We have a moral and financial responsibility to be giving the best quality of life," Halmstad said. "This is a healthy and happy kind of place for them to exist."

Addressing the shortage

The state is experiencing a worker shortage caused largely by near-record low unemployment and the accelerating retirement of baby boomers.

There are other companies around the state like Jamf that are successfully navigating the tight labor market by offering good wages and benefits, creating nurturing work environments and developing a pipeline with the local K-12, university and technical colleges.

At Plymouth-based food producer Sargento the starting salary for entry-level workers with a high school diploma is $18.45 an hour  about $38,000 a year  with pay rising to $21.45 after 18 months.

The company offers full health benefits, bonuses and profit-sharing, and tuition reimbursement so workers can get a degree while working and later move on to other ventures.

Applicants have to demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, math and work skills.

"We are keeping our standards high and we're not seeing a decrease in the number of applicants," Sargento human resources director Marilyn Morrissey said. "Part of that is word of mouth in the area about our culture and how we treat people and how Sargento is a good place to work."

Morrissey said Wisconsin has always struggled with attracting workers because of its proximity to Chicago and Minneapolis  major urban centers that draw young people.

"Once we are able to tell the story of Wisconsin  cost of living is great and there's great companies here  then we'll be better," she said.

Matt Guse, president and owner of MRS Machining in Augusta, has found success building a talent pipeline through a training program at Eleva-Strum High School. The program has about 70 participants in grades 7 through 12, or roughly a fifth of the total student population.

Students learn metalworking skills and eventually work in teams on actual repair projects. The program charges customers $30 an hour, with a third of that going back to the program, a third going to the school and a third going to the students, who last year each made $1,700.

"This program could save the schools money," Guse said.

Students who graduate out of the program work summer internships then get their engineering degree at a technical college or UW-Stout. After graduation they can make $17 an hour at the factory, with experienced workers making in the mid- to upper-$20s. Guse is able to hire one or two program graduates a year.

Retaining workers is a matter of creating a family atmosphere, Guse said.

"You have to cater to your employees," Guse said. "You can't be really rude, mean and discipline them. That's what people are looking for, they're looking for a comfort. If you're looking to be a number, you're not going to find that here."

Workers first

State officials and business leaders point to Jamf's example and other companies and efforts to attract and retain workers as important in addressing the growing worker shortage.

Economic development organizations around the state that have focused for years on business attraction are now turning more of their attention to retaining and attracting workers.
NEW AT PARK RIDGE HEALTH

Park Ridge Health Cancer Services Welcomes New Hematologist/Medical Oncologist

Hendersonville, NC (September 14, 2017)  Park Ridge Health is excited to welcome Louay Hanna, MD to its comprehensive Cancer Services program. Dr. Hanna is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Medical Oncology. He brings a diverse experience base in cancer services that includes inpatient and outpatient clinical care, clinical research and educational leadership.

Dr. Hanna earned his medical degree from Damascus University. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Winthrop University in Mineola, NY where he was named an Outstanding Third Year Resident. He completed his Medical Oncology Fellowship at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, NY. Most recently, Dr. Hanna has been practicing in Anderson, South Carolina.

Dr. Hanna is also involved in colorectal cancer research and has developed an expertise in the performance of bone marrow biopsy and aspiration.

We are here to improve patient lives and to care for them with dignity and respect. I make it a priority to help my patients become well informed as we work together to make critical decisions about their care, said Dr. Hanna. I do whatever is necessary to help my patients understand their disease and available treatment choices. My openness and willingness to share that knowledge with them brings about a strong human bond and a warmth between my patients and myself, especially in the sensitive setting of cancer care.

Park Ridge Health is excited to have Dr. Hanna join our Cancer Services team as we expand our commitment to offering a wholisitic approach to care for our patients, said Jimm Bunch, Park Ridge Health President and CEO. He delivers the leading cancer care options through his compassionate partnering with his patients on their cancer journey, as he helps them develop treatment possibilities through vital cancer research.

Park Ridge Health Cancer Services is accredited by The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer with a team of multi-disciplinary Medical and Radiation Oncologists and board-certified surgeons, as well as, hospital-based specialists and subspecialists caring for patients throughout Western North Carolina. This specialized teams focus on prevention and early detection continues to increase survival rates and improve quality of life for our patients.

Park Ridge Health Cancer Services provides care at four infusion centers conveniently located in Asheville, Clyde, Hendersonville and Weaverville.

Dr. Hanna and his family are excited to be making the mountains of Western North Carolina their new home. When he is not seeing patients, he enjoys spending time traveling and exploring the natural beauty of this region with his family.

Dr. Hanna is caring for patients at Asheville Hematology and Oncology, a Service of Park Ridge Health, located at 20 Medical Park Drive, Asheville, NC 28803. To schedule an appointment, call 828.254.8232.

To learn more about Dr. Hanna, visit myPRH.com or call 855-PRH-LIFE (855.774.5433).
CELL PHONE SERVICE NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN SOME REMOTE AREAS

MILLS RIVER TOWN COUNCIL MET THURSDAY NIGHT

Mills River Town Council heard an appeal Thursday night from Mrs. Lynn Bryson, the widow of kidnap and homicide victim Tommy Bryson, who says that cell phone service is needed where she and some others live on the remote ends of North and South Mills River Roads. Mrs. Bryson, and some others who live in the area, pointed out there is no cell tower in that area so cell service is not available. She says she has a land-line, but if that line should be down for some reason, they have no access to emergency communications.

Mrs. Bryson says she has no idea if cell service would have helped this summer when he husband was kidnapped close to their home and later killed in the alleged crime spree of defendant Phillip Michael Stroup II who is now facing capital charges of kidnapping and homicide and a host of other crimes. But she said that cell phone service might help prevent some other serious crime from happening in that area in the future.

Mrs. Bryson appealed to local cell phone companies like Verizon and US Cellular to consider the area for a possible cell tower.

Mills River Town Council and Town Manager Jeff Wells said they would contact the cell phone companies and other providers and encourage them to somehow provide that needed cell phone service in that remote area of Mills River.

Mills River Council also Thursday night introduced Michael Ring...he is the Executive Director of the new assisted living facility now under construction on Highway 191 near Banner Farm Road. He said they hope to be accepting applications from prospective patients soon and should be open and in operation within a couple of months. Theyll be hiring staff as well, as their offices are temporarily located in the former Mills River Hardware building across the road from the construction site.

And during public comment time, Mills River Council also heard from citizens who are concerned about speeding along Highway 280 and in the vicinity of Highway 191. The speed limit along a portion of Highway 280 from the new Ingles to Turnpike Road was recently lowered to 45 miles per hour, but the citizens point out that speed limit is frequently violated, especially during rush hour periods, and more enforcement is needed. By Larry Freeman.

9
Cheese. Cold winters. Packers.

When people in other parts of the country think of Wisconsin, those are some of the main ideas that come to mind, according to a survey conducted last year by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

Or, as one survey respondent from a neighboring state put it: "I thought it was just farms and bars."

State officials counter that Wisconsin has developed far beyond its reputation as an agricultural rust belt state.

"It's not only beer and cows," said Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in an interview. "We're biomedical. We're aviation and aerospace. And now (with the pending arrival of Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn) we're LCD and software and the cutting edge of information and internet and high-end technology."

But the state remains challenged by a historically slow-growing economy, an industry mix still heavily rooted in manufacturing and spread across several small- to mid-size cities, and the limited appeal of its largest city to young professionals compared with the work and cultural offerings in Minneapolis and Chicago.

And Wisconsin doesn't have a major employer on the scale of Dell in Austin, Texas, or Boeing and Microsoft in Seattle to draw talent from across the country.

Meanwhile, the reputation of some of Wisconsin's drawing cards  stellar university and K-12 education systems and abundant natural resources  has suffered in recent years due to state budget cuts and highly charged political debates.

As employers in Wisconsin and across the country grapple with a worker shortage brought on by low unemployment and retiring baby boomers, some see a need to address Wisconsin's historic difficulty retaining college graduates and attracting people to the state.

Later this year WEDC plans to deploy one new strategy: A $1 million advertising campaign targeting Wisconsin alumni, millennials on social media and commuters in Chicago and northern Illinois.

"It really needs to be addressed," said Kelly Lietz, WEDC vice president for marketing and brand management. "We have people coming here to study who  have no idea beyond stereotypical perceptions about Wisconsin."

Wisconsin has long suffered from an inability to attract people from other states, according to IRS data compiled by Matthew Kures, a UW-Extension community development specialist. In 2015 it had the 47th lowest rate of residents migrating into the state. That's consistent with its rank as far back as 1990.

Conversely, it has also ranked well over that period in retaining its population. In 2015 it ranked fourth lowest in terms of residents migrating out of the state.

Since 2000, most of Wisconsin's population growth has occurred in Dane County, while the population in Wisconsin's rural areas has tumbled since the Great Recession. In the seven years before the recession began in December 2007, Wisconsin's slowest-growing 57 counties added 48,979 people. In the seven years after the recession began, those counties lost 1,377 people.

The population loss is not just a cold weather Midwestern problem. Since the 2010 Census, Wisconsin has added only 90,000 people. Minnesota, with a slightly smaller population and its concentration of corporate headquarters in the Twin Cities, has added almost 210,000.

"If we're thinking about attracting new people to the state, it's a challenge and it's always been a challenge," Kures said. "Places able to attract college graduates are large metropolitan areas, but also high natural amenity areas. In our state we use our natural amenities to promote tourism and promote hunting and fishing and other opportunities, but I don't think we promote them to entice people to come live here."

Brain drain vs. brain gain

Others who have researched the issue say Wisconsin must also focus on addressing its "brain drain"  the loss of University of Wisconsin System graduates to other states.

"The workforce numbers are not going to improve unless we keep out-migration down and we attract more people," said Tom Hefty, a former Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Wisconsin CEO and economic adviser to both Republican and Democratic governors.

Hefty pointed to a 2016 UW-Madison report showing 56 percent of the university's bachelor's degree alumni from the previous decade still living in Wisconsin. Of those who were originally from Wisconsin, 78 percent lived in Wisconsin in 2015, while 9 percent of those from other places stayed in Wisconsin.

The report also mentioned a College of Engineering graduate survey that found 42 percent of respondents took jobs in Wisconsin. Hefty noted other surveys have ranked UW-Madison and the state poorly in business-sponsored research, university spin-offs and start-up activity.

"That shows the UW does not emphasize connecting graduates to local businesses," Hefty said.

Some residents boomerang

Some Wisconsin residents who leave also boomerang back to the state as they get older. From 2011 to 2015, there was a net negative migration of college graduates among 18- to 34-year-olds, but among 35- to 49-year-olds there was a slight positive migration.

Jessica Bingham, 33, an accountant at Jump River Electric Cooperative in Ladysmith, left the city of 3,400 in northwestern Wisconsin to go to school in Minnesota, but unlike many of her high school classmates she eventually came back.

"It seems like not a lot of people are coming back to their home towns in rural America," Bingham said. "It's kind of depleting the younger people."

Bingham attended Winona State University across the border, and Western Technical College in La Crosse, before completing her bachelor's degree in business administration at UW-Stout. When she left for college she always thought she would work for some huge company, but she came to realize that she wanted to live closer to family. Many other young people are departing northern parts of Wisconsin, leaving a much larger senior population. In 2015, Rusk County's over-65 population made up 22.5 percent of the county. By 2025 it's expected to grow to 30.6 percent of the population, a sign that young workers will be in even shorter supply.

"We can't get the businesses unless we have the people, and we can't get the people unless we have business," said Mari Kay-Nabozny, CEO of the Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board. "Any business that comes in wants to know the demographics. If we can't bring new professionals in it's really a double-edged problem."

There are efforts underway to get into local middle and high schools and promote local businesses, Kay-Nabozny said.

Bingham said those efforts could have made a difference when she was in high school.

"I always got the feeling, people say, 'Go to school and go make something of yourself,' " Bingham said. "It's like you couldn't make something of yourself here."

'Think, Make, Happen'

To attract more visitors and residents, other states have spent tens of millions of dollars on branding campaigns. The Pure Michigan branding campaign, with an annual $34 million budget, estimates it drew 4 million visitors to the state with an economic impact of $1.2 billion in 2013. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. also uses the brand to attract business and talent to the state.

Last December, after months of surveys and testing of different concepts, WEDC first introduced its "Think, Make, Happen" brand. The roll out was intentionally done with little fanfare so as not to elicit the kind of social media mockery that greeted Rhode Island's "Cooler & Warmer" brand, explained WEDC deputy secretary Tricia Braun.

Lietz said the brand is meant to convey a certain idea: "While Wisconsin is known for its natural beauty and abundant resources, it is perhaps best defined by the people who call it home. People with a restless drive to invent, create and achieve. Who combine passion and pride and turn ideas into industries, and whose intellectual curiosity and commitment to collaboration propel groundbreaking discoveries to meet global challenges."

In April the concept was floated at a young professionals event and in the coming months an ad campaign will focus on images and ideas contrasting shorter commute times and lower rental costs in Wisconsin compared with Chicago.

The campaign also includes a website that will help connect people interested in moving to Wisconsin with resources for finding jobs and places to live.

Braun said the campaign marks a shift in the agency's focus from attracting businesses to attracting people. The goal is to reach out to people who aren't looking at Wisconsin for their career because they don't realize there are opportunities suited to them here.
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LA CROSSE  Between 2,000 and 4,000 people are expected to flock to La Crosses St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral on Wednesday to see and venerate relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, a noted 20th century mystic and healer better known as Padre Pio.

The relics, including a lock of Pios hair, a glove and a handkerchief soaked with his sweat hours before his death, among other things, will be available for viewing and veneration from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the cathedral at 530 Main St. in La Crosse, where Masses will be celebrated at 12:10 and 7 p.m., with Bishop William Callahan presiding at 7, in honor of the occasion.

The La Crosse event is part of a 12-diocese U.S. tour that the Saint Pio Foundation (saintpiofoundation.org) is sponsoring to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Padre Pios birth and the 15th anniversary of his canonization as a saint.

Callahan encouraged worshipers who make the pilgrimage to venerate the relics to learn more about the saint, who endured wounds symbolizing those that Christ suffered on the Cross and known as the stigmata, and follow his example.

St. Pio, who was born on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy, and baptized Francesco Forgione, first expressed his desire to become a priest at age 10. His father, Grazio Forgione, emigrated in 1899 to the United States, where he worked for several years to pay for the education Francesco needed to study for the priesthood.

He entered the Capuchin order at age 15, taking the name Pio, and was ordained a priest in 1910 at the age of 23.

Pio became known as a mystic with miraculous powers of healing and knowledge. He also bore the stigmata, the term the Catholic Church uses to describe wounds corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. The wounds can appear on the forehead, hands, wrists and feet.

Pios stigmata emerged during World War I, after Pope Benedict XV asked Christians to pray for an end to the conflict. Pio had a vision in which Christ pierced his side. A few weeks later, on Sept. 20, 1918, Jesus appeared to him again, and he received the full stigmata.

Pope John Paul II canonized Pio in 2002.

The event has a connection to many other important milestones in the La Crosse Diocese, according to diocesan officials. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, who remain headquartered in La Crosse, and the Third Order of St. Francis, ministered extensively in the area during the early days of the diocese.

Capuchin Friars, the same community that Pio belonged to, also served in the diocese for many years, according to diocesan records.

Relics are physical objects associated with a saint or candidate for sainthood  part of the persons body or something the person contacted, according to Catholic Church tradition.

Relics are not to be worshiped but rather treated with religious respect, according to the church. Touching or praying in the presence of such an object is said to help a faithful individual focus on the saints life and virtues so the saints prayers or intercession with God will draw the individual closer to the deity, the church maintains.




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I was flying home to Wisconsin from Reno, Nevada, where the 99th National Convention of the American Legion was held with the sights and sounds of it all still echoing in my mind, especially the closing remarks of Commander Charles Schmidt.

He drove home his thoughts by sharing a song with us by country music legend George Jones entitled, Whos Going to Fill Their Shoes. The commander had just told of the founding fathers of the legion and what they said and did when they laid the foundation in 1918 of the American Legion we see today. All in attendance felt the commander was spot on as to how many eligible veterans are out there right now that could fill those shoes.

In the coming months, we will be encouraging those non-members to be a part of this 100-year celebration. And we will be reaching out to those who had signed on one year and then chose not to renew the next year to reconsider getting back on board. I, as Seventh District Commander, will be focusing my efforts on that area. I will be providing prospect lists to the post and county commanders at the Seventh District Fall Conference at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Stoddard American Legion.

Remember, through its first century, the American Legion built a legacy on such accomplishments as leading the way to create the U.S. Flag code, helping start the Veterans Administration, drafting and getting passed the G.I. Bill in 1944, which transformed America in the second half of the 20th century, and helping veterans receive benefits for health-care conditions based on their honorable service, including acceptance of Agent Orange exposure as service-connected.

Throughout the next two years, I will be sharing noteworthy facts and events leading up to and through the American Legions Centennial using the newspapers of Clark, Jackson, Adams, Monroe, La Crosse, Juneau, Sauk and Vernon counties of District 7 in the Wisconsin American Legion, with periodic entries.

In the meantime, I once again encourage you to join up with us or renew those memberships and be a part of the exciting times that are coming. Remember, no matter if your local post has 10 members or 100, youre all important.

The national commander also shared this: The blue cap legionnaires at the local post is where the rubber meets the road.

You are all important.

The Legion has done a lot of good and intends to keep doing it for a second century.
Assembly Member urges landlords and agents to avoid prosecution

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Sep 17th, 2017

Wrexhams Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths, is urging local landlords and agents to ensure theyre registered or licensed following a change to the law.

The warning comes after two recent convictions resulted in landlords being fined thousands of pounds for non-compliance with Rent Smart Wales.

With enforcement powers now active, those still refusing to comply are being warned they run the risk of a criminal conviction if they do not contact Rent Smart Wales as a matter of urgency and take immediate steps to operate legally.

Under the Housing Act (Wales) 2014, all landlords must be registered whilst self-managing landlords and agents must undertake training in order to gain a licence.

The Rent Smart Wales website offers a check register service which allows tenants and the wider public to check if landlords and agents are breaking the law. Latest figures show nearly 7,000 properties in Wrexham have successfully completed the registration process.

Lesley Griffiths AM said: The overriding aim of this Welsh Government legislation is to raise standards in the private rented sector, ultimately benefiting landlords, agents and tenants in Wrexham and across Wales.

Fixed penalty notices are being issues to unregistered or unlicensed landlords or agents so I would encourage those affected to contact Rent Smart Wales as soon as possible.
It is important to me that all seniors are aware of their option Medicare Advantage, especially those with chronic conditions like myself.

Under Medicare Advantage, beneficiaries who have certain chronic conditions, are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, or require long-term care can enroll in a Special Needs Plan. SNPs are designed to address complex conditions by providing better access to coordinated care for seniors like me who need it most.

I joined Better Medicare Alliance's Chronic Disease Task Force to encourage members of Congress to permanently reauthorize Special Needs Plans for the 2.3 million people who rely on this personalized care. The current legislation on SNPs has received bipartisan support in Congress, but we all need to encourage our representatives to support the permanent reauthorization of SNPs.

SNPs tailor benefits, providers and prescription drug coverage to best meet the needs of the beneficiaries they serve. I hope we can all agree that high-need, high-cost patients deserve the level of care that SNPs provide.

As senior advocate for Medicare Advantage, I urge Congress to establish long-term stability for SNPs through permanent authorization. I encourage all seniors and the disabled to contact your representatives to show your support for SNPs.

Jean Amunrud, La Crosse
The Iranian threat will be at the top of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's agenda in his meeting with US President Donald Trump in New York on Monday.

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American officials said the meeting, set for 1pm local time (8pm Israel time), will focus mainly on Iran and not on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu will present Israel's position to Trump, according to which the US must work to cancel the nuclear deal with Iran or alternatively make significant changes to it.

Trump and Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem

Among the changes Israel demands are: harsher sanctions against Tehran; increased supervision on Iran's nuclear program; extending the period of time in which the Islamic republic is barred from enriching weapons-grade uranium beyond the 10 years set in the agreement; demanding Iran to destroy the advanced centrifuges it currently has; demanding Tehran to stop its long-range missile program; and demanding the Islamic republic to commit to stopping its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, both funding and providing arms.

Netanyahu will also present these demands in his speech at the UN General Assembly meeting on Tuesday at 1pm local time (8pm Israel time).

"Israel will not accept Iranian entrenchment on our northern border, which endangers not only us but also our Arab neighbors, and we are committed to acting against it. Today, Israel's words are being taken seriously, and so they should be," Netanyahu said during Friday night dinner with his close entourage in New York.

Netanyahu spent Saturday morning preparing for his speech at the UN. He is expected to continue making changes and corrections to the speech until the last minute, including while at the podium, as he has done in previous years.

The prime minister, who will speak on the opening day of the General Assembly meeting, wants to give a significant speech that would make waves and leave an impression.

He is expected to speak out against the Iran deal and stress how dangerous it is. He will also make plain his position on Iran's entrenchment in Syria and note the Islamic republic has been quick to fill any void created following ISIS's departure.

Netanyahu will also refer to the Palestinian issue, saying Israel is reaching out to the Palestinians and is ready and willing to negotiate without preconditions.

Trump will also speak on Monday and try to recruit the UN's member states to US efforts against North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and the Iranian nuclear threat.

North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests will headline Trump's speech at the UN (Photo: AP, AFP)

In addition to Trump, Netanyahu is expected to hold a series of meetings with other world leaders while in New York, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and Brazilian President Michel Temer.

Netanyahu is said to have rejected the invitation of Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to meet, due to Sweden's longstanding support of the Palestinians, namely in UNESCO's most recent decision on the status of Jerusalem.

Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Yoav Mordechai at the organization's General Assembly (Photo: AFP)

A conference of the countries financially assisting the Palestinian Authority will also be held Monday in New York, with Israel represented by the Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai.

At the behest of Trump's envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt, Israel has acquiesced to prepare a number of financial relief moves for the Palestinians, including creating an industrial zone and desalination plant in Gaza, an industrial area in Area C of the West Bank and more.

Trump speaks briefly with Jewish leaders

President Trump held Friday the traditional White House conference call with US Jewish leaders before Rosh Hashanah. This year, it was unclear whether the conversation would take place following Trump's failure to unequivocally denounce the white nationalist movement after events taking place in Charlottesville.

The conference call did end up taking place, but no Reform rabbis were invited by the White House to participate. The call lasted only eight minutes, as opposed to 45 during the Obama administration, and no questions were allowed to be asked by the Jewish leaders.

"We forcefully condemn those who seek to incite anti-Semitism, or to spread any form of slander and hateand I will ensure we protect Jewish communities, and all communities, that face threats to their safety," Trump said regarding recent anti-Semitic flare-ups in the US.

Trump also spoke about American Israeli relations. "The United States will always support Israel not only because of the vital security partnership between our two nations, but because of the shared values between our two peoples. That is why my administration has successfully pressured the United Nations to withdraw the unfair and biased report against Israelthat was a horrible thing that they didand to instead focus on real threats to our security, such as Iran, Hezbollah, and ISIS," he said.

Trump stressed his commitment to Israel in his call with American Jewish leaders (Photo: Getty Images)

The president also noted his UN ambassador Nikki Haley has made it a top priority to ensure international bodies to single out Israel for criticism. "I can tell you on a personal basis, I love Israel," he added.

"This next New Year also offers a new opportunity to seek peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, and I am very hopeful that we will see significant progress before the end of the year. Ambassador David Friedman, Jared (Kushner), Jason (Greenblatt), and the rest of my team are working very hard to achieve a peace agreement. I think its something that actually could happen."

At the call's conclusion, Trump wished the Jewish community's leaders "Shana tova" in Hebrew and added, "Melania and I wish everyone a sweet, healthy, and peaceful New Year."

Abbas not expected to meet Netanyahu

President Trump is expected to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting to discuss the peace process. The Americans are also exerting pressure on the Palestinian chief to soften the rhetoric of his upcoming speech.

Abbas is expected to speak Wednesday, Rosh Hashanah eve, a day following Netanyahu's own speech. While both are expected to meet President Trump, no joint Israeli-Palestinian meeting will take place, either with the American president or without him.

Abbas's speech will likely outline the current status of the Palestinian people, and attack Israel for its actions in the West Bank and Gazaas it does every yearhighlighting the future aspirations Palestinians wish to realize.

President Abbas will meet with Trump during his stay in New York for the General Assembly (Photo: EPA)

The chief reason for the speech's subdued tones is ongoing American efforts to jumpstart negotiations, also contributing to Trump's meeting with the Palestinian president.

Parties within the Palestinian Authority's leadership, however, were less than thrilled with the White House's continued refusal to express American support for the two-state solution and failure to unequivocally announce support for the creation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state.
Vang Lutheran Church is hosting a special Cemetery Sunday event on Sept. 24. The gathering will be twofold as they remember those who have gone before us, plus showing appreciation to those who have contributed funds for new interior flooring inside the church.

The event is being referred to as Cemetery Sunday is because there are several people buried at Vang who for whatever reason were never given a grave marker. This year WELCA and Krause Monument have joined together to give a gift of a beautiful monument to Ole and Sissel Role who were buried 80 years ago. The stone that Krause Monument is donating is a granite bevel marker. WELCA is paying for the foundation for this stone.

Tosten and Anne Vangen (donated land for the Vang church and cemetery) had two children, Sigrid and Sissel. This family departed Norway on May 28, 1869 for America. Sissel was four years old when they left Norway. Later in life she married Ole Role. They lived near the Nerison School on Pumpkin Ridge. Ole and Sissel are buried on the right side as you are facing the church.

The congregation is also deeply appreciative that Madeline Anderson (who passed away in April) for her foresight to write information on Sissel and Ole, which will be read during the special service. In addition parishioners can enjoy a re-enactment of Mrs. Olga Nerison, plus other parishioners will share stories.

The church is located at S1721 Vang Road, Westby, between Westby and Coon Valley. The church service is at 10:45 a.m. A pot luck lunch will follow the service and special acknowledgements.

Please join us as we are United to Serve God.
The Jewish billionaire who deposited more than half a million shekels into the bank account of former PMO chief of staff Ari Harow's newly founded company was Nathan Jacobson, a Canadian who made his fortune in online credit payment services, Channel 10 News reported on Saturday night.

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Mere days after retiring as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief of staff, Ari Harow received the sum from the Canadian-Jewish mogul, deposited into the bank account of 3H Global, a company Harow founded only two days prior. An invoice for the payment claimed it was for "consulting."

Jewish Canadian billionaire Nathan Jacobson paid Harow's firm upwards of half a million dollars for "consulting".

Jacobson is something of a controversial figure. About five years ago, he was extradited to the United States on suspicions of money laundering and two years later was surprisingly acquitted of all charges and released.

The businessman is a self-styled close associate of Netanyahu.

Contact with the billionaire was established back when Harow still served in an official capacity at the Prime Minister's Office and before 3H Global was founded, sources close to the investigation said.

Harrow is alleged to have received the funds to act on Jacobson's behalf with PM Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

"Their relationship was aimed at promoting the businessman's affairs at the Prime Minister's Office," the sources said. They added that Harow asked Jacobson to forward him the money only after leaving the PMO, requesting the funds to be deposited to the company's bank account.

Account of this affair wasn't initially known to the police, who now intend to question Harow about the matter.
A representative of the state pledged Sunday the government will issue a memorandum to the Adoption Law by mid-2018 providing equal treatment to same-sex couples.

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The pledge was made in response to a petition to the High Court of Justice protesting adoption discrimination, which was submitted by LGBT families belonging to the Reform Center for Religion and State and the Gay Dads NGO.

The state's representative, attorney Yonatan Berman, stressed that Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked and Minister of Welfare Haim Katz were both committed to promoting this legislative process.

Photo: Shutterstock

Pursuant to the state's obligation, the High Court justices recommended the petitioners to withdraw their petition. "In light of the change in the state's position that now allows same-sex couples to adopt, we're of the mind the petition has run its course," wrote incoming Chief Justice Esther Hayut.

In addition, the justices decreed the state will pay NIS 5,000 to the petitioners in legal expenses.

"The court recognized the revolution the petition has brought about regarding a fundamental change in Israel's adoption policy, and that starting now same-sex families are as worthy of adopting as any family," said attorney Ricki Shapira Rosenberg, representing the Reform Center.

"We'll continue to closely monitor legislation following this petition in order to ensure this wrong is righted, and quickly," she added.

This past July, the state notified the High Court it will not be permitting same-sex couples to adopt, claiming it would harm the children involved.

A demonstration calling for same-sex adoption rights (Photo: AP)

This position was exceedingly controversial, and immediately following it Katz notified he will ask the High Court for "a stay in order to reexamine the same-sex adoption issue, so professionals may look into the matter again and take all considerations into account."

The adoption issue aroused widespread public controversy and a wave of protests from public figures and social activists.

The Israeli Psychological Association also weighed in with its position on the state's assertions of possible harm coming to children adopted into same-sex families.

"The Association sees fit to note claims made by the state and Ministry of Welfare are contradicted by significant and rich findings gleaned from a multitude of studies, as well as cumulative and years' long experience of psychotherapy for both children and parents from a wide range of family types," the organization said.

"Raising children in LGBT families does not adversely affect mental health among children, nor does it harm their psychological or emotional development," the Psychology Associated stated. "This position is accepted by several of the world's psychological associations. Parenthood, it's widely agreed, is measured by the ability to provide unconditional love, emotional stability, discipline and security for the child. It is therefore necessary to continue examining the 'parental suitability' of those seeking adoption, emphasizing their personal characteristics and personality, and omitting any 'binding' reference to gender, sexual orientation and so on."
LONDON  London police say a second man has been arrested in connection with the London subway attack.

Police said Sunday that a 21-year-old man was arrested late Saturday night in Hounslow in west London and is being held under the Terrorism Act. He is being questioned at a south London police station but has not been charged or identified.

Two men are now in custody for possible roles in the bombing attack on a rush-hour subway train Friday morning that injured 29 people in London. An 18-year-old man was arrested Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover, where ferries leave for France.

The two arrests indicate police and security services believe the attack at the Parsons Green station was part of a coordinated plot, not the act of a single person.
A 39-year-old foreign worker from Moldova was indicted in the Petah Tikva Magistrates' Court Sunday for stealing tens of thousands of shekels from an elderly 86-year-old woman she was caring for.

The caretaker got hold of the senior's bank account details and withdrew funds from her account dozens of times, sending them to her family in Moldova.

The thefts were discovered after the bank notified the elderly woman her account's balance was now negative.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Kuwait says it will expel North Korea's ambassador and four other diplomats.

The decision by Kuwait came as its ruling emir took a recent trip to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.

The US has been putting increased pressure on its allies to cut all ties to North Korea in response to Pyongyang's efforts to develop long-range nuclear weapons capable of hitting American cities.
PARIS  Passengers were evacuated from a British Airways airplane at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on Sunday morning "for a security reason", an airport official said.

Flight BA303 was due to take off and fly to London's Heathrow airport when the plane was evacuated, the official said.

"The incident is being dealt with," the official added, without going into further detail.
The Haifa District Court convicted Hurfeish residents Kamal Aamer and Yosef Sharif for purposely endangering lives in traffic, after they were indict for obstructing the passage of a military ambulance taking injured Syrians to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya in June 2015.

Aamer was convicted after participating in a chase after the ambulance and of parking a car near a checkpoint to block its path. Sharif was convicted of his part in the checkpoint blockage.

The two were acquitted of other offenses.
Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot has approved new measures to combat smoking in the IDF ranks, to enter into force early November.

Among the measures are the banning of cigarette sales in 56 basesincluding the Kirya and Tel Hashomer bases in Tel Aviva prohibition on smoking in public areas in the bases and a prohibition on commanders smoking near their soldiers.

The IDF's Medical Corps recommended these changes to the Manpower Directorate following data showing the prevalence of smoking during army service rose by 40%.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot has approved new measures to combat smoking in the military after new data revealed smoking during army service rose by 40 percent.

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Among the measures, which will come into effect in November, are the banning of cigarette sales in 56 basesincluding the large Kirya and Tel Hashomer bases in Tel Aviva prohibition on smoking in public areas in the bases and a prohibition on commanders smoking near their soldiers.

Smoking areas in bases will also be limited, well-defined and minimized, while it will be prohibited anywhere else.

25% of male recruits and 15% of females have stated they smoked (Photo: Shutterstock)

Tobacco companies will be forbidden to "adopt" army units and cigarettes will no longer be accepted as donations for soldiers. Smoking will be prohibited in "brown" training or operational vehicles, and later on possibly in "white" company cars as well.

The IDF also announced its intention to medically monitor smoking, with every new conscript asked whether they smoke in the induction center.

A new article in the army disciplinary code will enable the enforcement of these new protocols, and a soldier caught smoking will face disciplinary action and punished with a warning, detention or possibly more severe measures, based on the circumstances.

The army will also ramp up preventative measures to combat the phenomenon. For instance, every soldier, either a conscript or career soldier, will be able to partake in smoking rehab activities such as support groups. Anti-smoking instruction videos and classes will be given to soldiers in basic training and command courses, and extensive signage against smoking will be posted in bases.

Photo: Shutterstock

Th new measures will be reevaluated during the coming quarter, after which the prohibition may be expanded to other major bases, such as the southern region's Tze'elim base.

Following prolonged administrative review, the army's Manpower Directorate decided to adopt recommendations made by the Medical Corps to significantly curtail smoking in the army, citing data showing the prevalence of smoking during army service rose by 40 percent, while more than 80 percent of soldiers reported being exposed to smoking during their service.

The IDF's study shows that 2.5 million different smoking paraphernalia products are sold in military canteens, from cigarette packs to lighters.

"We wouldn't want to see soldiers leaving a class and seeing their commander smoke any more than we would teachers in school. The chief of staff considers smoking to adversely affect soldiers' fitness and capabilities. Soldiers who smoke use up more sick days. According to our data, in 2016, 25 percent of male recruits and 15 percent of female ones stated they smoked. These statistics reflect Ministry of Education ones regarding high school graduates," explained head of the Manpower Directorate's planning division, Brig. Gen. Meirav Kirshner.
The police announced that they would review the conduct of the policemen during the a demonstration, during which a policeman was captured on film approaching one Haredi man and violently pushing him to the ground

Thousands of enraged Haredim protested the arrest of the grandson of the spiritual leader of Toldot Avraham Yitzchak Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Kohn for draft dodging.

"Anything suspected as exceeding authority or employing disproportionate force will be examined to the Police Investigations Unit."

The police added that the ultra-Orthodox protest was particularly violent, and that hundreds of ultra-Orthodox rioted and attacked police officers.

It was also reported that some of the demonstrators threw stones and other objects at the police, and that seven policemen were injured and needed medical treatment.
Kuwait has ordered North Korea's ambassador to leave within a month as the Gulf country downgraded diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, a North Korean diplomat in the Gulf region said on Sunday.

The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions after North Korea's sixth and largest nuclear test this month, and the United States called on countries to sever diplomatic and financial ties with it.

The diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the ambassador, So Chang Sik, will leave following Kuwait's decision to downgrade the North Korean diplomatic representation to charge d'affaires level.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday mocked the leader of nuclear-armed North Korea as "Rocket Man" while White House advisers said the isolated nation would face destruction unless it shelves its weapons programs and bellicose threats.

The warnings came a day after Kim Jong Un pledged to continue those programs, saying North Korea is nearing its goal of "equilibrium" in military force with the United States.

North Korea will be high on the agenda for world leaders this coming week at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, Trump's biggest moment on the world stage since his inauguration in January.

Trump is scheduled to address the world body, which he has criticized as weak and incompetent, on Tuesday.
Israel believes that a 19-year-old Israeli from the Bedouin community of Tel Sheva in the southern region, who was on a family trip in Istanbul and has been missing since Wednesday, may have joined ISIS.

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The family of Ahmad al-Aasem, who went missing, denies the possibility that their son joined the Islamic terror group, insisting that Israels efforts to locate him would be conducted with more vigor if he was Jewish.

Al-Aasems father Abdullah and close family relatives traveled to Turkey to participate in the search efforts and filed a missing persons report with local police.

Asked whether there was any chance that al-Aasem had crossed into Syria in order to join one of the rebel movements, his father rejected the possibility out of hand.

We have already checked this. We traveled to the borders and asked there and we arrived at the conclusion that (he didnt). My son wasnt prepared to cross into Syria. He always let us know every step he intended to take and absolutely respects us, Abdullah responded.

Ahmad al-Aasem

He wouldnt move a meter without informing us which is why we are so worried. We are afraid of hearing bad news.

The Istanbul consulate is in contact with both his family and local authorities, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My son traveled last Sunday to Turkey with two close family relatives. On Wednesday they decided to go out and my son told them he wasnt interested in going anywhere because he wanted to rest at the hotel, Abdullah claimed.

After a few hours he left and bought presents for his siblings and returned to the hotel. The same day he left again and since then has been missing and no contact has been established with him since.

We are now in Istanbul. We have gone around many places here in order to find him but we havent had any success. We dont know where he is and we are waiting for him to speak to us, at least to tell us he is safe and healthy so we can relax.

The father went on to express his disappointment in Israel from what he claimed to be an indifference to the familys plight.

I am surprised that the State of Israel is almost not interested in what we are going through, he lamented. If the missing person was Jewish they would make efforts until they discovered where he was, but because he is an Arab, they are all being quiet about it and there is no one who is putting in efforts to help us."

Hoping that his son was listening, Abdullah made a desperate plea that he establish contact with his family.

Our mental state is extremely difficult. We cant relax as long as there is no progress.
Hidden land costs, red tape, and regulatory creep are driving up house prices and the cost of living, as well as exacerbating mortgage stress, according to new economic modelling commissioned by Master Builders Australia and conducted by Cadence Economics.

Surging house prices are stretching household budgets and placing more families under mortgage stress, said Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia. It means that new home buyers are actually paying more for land than they are spending on building their new home. The same constraints have prevented the supply of new homes keeping up with demand over the past decade.

Previous analysis by Master Builders has shown that increased infrastructure investment outlined in the federal budget could result in an additional 93,000 new homes by 2021, which would go a long way to closing the gap with the governments estimated housing shortfall of 100,000 dwellings, Wawn said. Now this new report shows that removing regulatory constraints at the state and territory level will be essential to unlocking this new supply.

The report acknowledges that housing shortage issues exist in all states and territories, despite the different market conditions that prevail in each jurisdiction. Master Builders Australias report supports the federal governments intentions to place conditions on housing-related funding to the state and territory governments. The report also backs calls to set benchmarks in terms of additional housing supply, specifically for affordable housing.

Master Builders is calling for reforms to unlock the supply of more new homes. We want action to be taken now to preserve home ownership as a mainstay of Australian life, Wawn said.

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New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) expects to collect Rs 2,000 crore as penalty on savings bank accounts which have failed to maintain a minimum balance, a sum which may be used to partly cover the costs incurred on the linking of accounts with Aadhaar.



The recent directive of the government to link all savings bank accounts with Aadhaar by December 31 was a "very costly affair" as lenders were already facing high costs in maintaining such accounts and complying with the KYC (know your customer) requirement, says SBI Managing Director Rajnish Kumar.



To recover such costs, including the lender`s costs on ATMs and business correspondents, the bank expects to realise over Rs 2,000 crore in the current fiscal from account holders as penalty for failing to maintain minimum balance in their savings accounts, he said.



"Maintaining savings bank accounts and complying with KYC requirement is not an easy task. Now the government has said that you have to link Aadhaar to each and every account by December 31. So I have to look at (SBI`s) 40 crore (savings bank) accounts and it is a very costly affair," he told IANS.



According to the government`s mandate, all existing bank account holders will have to submit Aadhaar card numbers to banks by December 31 this year, failing which the accounts will become invalid.



Kumar said that the process would add to the costs of banks as it involves a process and making changes in the IT-backend as well.



"It (Aadhaar linking) is a costly affair because you have to contact the customer, you have to do the process, you have to make changes in IT. There are costs associated with savings bank accounts," he said.



The largest public lender said it also invests heavily in technology requirement to take care of the transactions made in the savings bank accounts.



"For maintaining savings bank accounts, there are certain costs. We have to invest heavily in technology. Our cost on technology every year is very high and that is more to take care of the transactions in (savings) accounts," he said.



"The penalty realised, we will use it to recover our outgo on ATMs. On business correspondents (BCs) channel, SBI incurs a loss of more than Rs 400 crore. We are incurring a cost of almost Rs 2,000 crore on business correspondents channel and ATMs per year. At least we should be able to recover that (from the penalty)," he said.



From April 1, SBI made it mandatory for savings bank accounts in metropolitan cities to maintain Rs 5,000 as minimum balance, Rs 3,000 in urban areas, Rs 2,000 in semi-urban areas and Rs 1,000 in rural areas, failing which a penalty is levied.



He said that the rest of the penalty realised would go to recover the bank`s other costs, including Aadhaar linking.



According to an RTI query, SBI realised Rs 235.06 crore as penalty till June-end from more than 60 million savings bank accounts.



"Out of 27 crore (270 million) savings bank accounts which are required to comply with the minimum balance requirement, there may be about 20 per cent accounts that have not maintained the balance. We have given them enough time and notice. These charges were applicable from April 1. Those who couldn`t comply, we recovered penalty in June," he said.



Kumar said that the bank is, however, thinking of exempting senior citizens` and students` accounts from such penalty.



"There is some feedback from senior citizens and students but by and large customers have accepted this. Whether we do make exemption relating to income group, or senior citizens or students, is under deliberation. We are now doing some analysis and we will take a call," he said.



In the normal course, review on such charges happens once in a year and is effective from April 1, but based on customer feedback, the review is expected earlier, the SBI MD said.



"Review is expected earlier than 2018. Nothing is cast in iron. We will also take into account the competitive situation in the market," he said.



SBI has a total of 400 million savings bank accounts, out of which 130 million are Jan Dhan accounts and Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts which are exempt from minimum balance requirement and no charges are recovered from these accounts.


New Delhi: State-owned SAIL on Sunday said it has supplied 80 per cent steel required for the construction of Sardar Sarovar Project, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Once again partnering in one of the most prestigious and important national projects, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has supplied 80 per cent steel required for construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today," the public sector firm said in a statement.

SAIL supplied around 85,000 tonnes of steel (TMT) for the entire Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) project which comprises all the canals throughout Gujarat which are connected to Narmada River and Dam, the statement said.

The Sardar Sarovar project is the second largest concrete gravity dam (by volume) and has the world's third largest spillway discharging capacity.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a gravity dam built on Narmada river near Navagam, Gujarat, which will benefit four states -- Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the company said.

A part of the Narmada Valley Project, it will help in irrigation and electrical power supply.

The company said it is a part of a large hydraulic engineering project, involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada river.

One of the 30 dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is the largest structure to be built.

"The project will irrigate more than 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft), most of it in drought prone areas of Kutch and Saurashtra. The total installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW," the steel major said.
New Delhi: A high-powered group of ministers will meet every fortnight to resolve over two dozen technical glitches identified in the GST tax portal GSTN, the panel's head and and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has said.

Over 25-odd glitches, which had led to the GST-Network portal crashing on at least two occasions in the very first month of filing, relate largely to payments and registration, he told PTI after the five-member GoM held its first meeting in Bengaluru yesterday.

The grouping had extensive interaction with executives of Infosys, which is providing the IT support for the portal, and businesses will notice a "lot of difference" on the GSTN portal in the next 7-10 days, Modi said.

The GSTN website had faced glitches last month as taxpayers flogged to the portal on the last day of the deadline of filing returns for July.

"Over 25 issues have been identified which needs to be resolved and timelines have been set for each of them. Overall we are satisfied with the performance of GSTN and Infosys is doing its best to make it error free," said Modi.

The GSTN, the information technology (IT) backbone and portal for real-time taxpayer registration, migration, and tax return filing under the GST, had developed a snag last month when the first deadline for filing of returns approached, forcing the government to extend the last date.

A five-member GoM was constituted on September 12 after the GST Council decided to sort out technical glitches. The first meeting of the GoM was held in Bengaluru on September 16.

Besides Modi, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender are part of the GoM.

Modi said the GoM noted that the tendency of taxpayers is to file returns on the last day, which is evident from the fact that only 3.5 lakh taxpayers have so far filed GSTR-3B for the month of August. The last date for filing is September 20.

Over 47 lakh returns in GSTR-3B was filed in July and the GST to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore was collected in the maiden month of roll-out.

On September 15, GSTN officials and state commercial tax officers also held meetings with bankers, large taxpayers and tax experts to decipher the procedural issues being faced by them on the portal.

"The GoM will meet every 15 days to review the functioning of GSTN. The GSTN system is robust and load is not an issue. We are looking into the procedural issues," Modi said.

So far, over 22 crore invoices have been uploaded on the GSTN portal, which has a capacity of handling over 3 billion invoices.

GSTR-3B is only a simple return which will ease compliance burden of businesses. Businesses will have to upload invoices and file final returns in form GSTR-1, 2 and 3 on a stipulated date.

The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state counterparts, had last week decided to extend the last date for filing final returns for July by a month to October 10. GSTR-2 for July will have to be filed by October 31 and GSTR-3 by November 10.

Currently, there are over 85 lakh registered taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. This include 62 lakh assessees who have migrated from the excise, service tax and VAT system and another 23.18 lakh new registration.

Among this, 10.96 lakh businesses have opted for composition scheme, under which they have to file returns quarterly.
New Delhi: After the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, established the country's contribution and staunch support in the Paris climate deal, current POTUS Donald Trump chose the opposing path and pulled out of the pact in June this year.

Climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration.

Calling climate change a hoax created by China, Trump had recently said that, "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive".

Moreover, Trump turned the tables on India claiming that the latter signed the Paris climate agreement to get billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid, which earned him criticisms.

Trump's reasoning for backing out of the climate deal was that it undermined the country's economy, cost US jobs, and put it at a disadvantage to other nations.

At a summit held in Canada, a European official said that a US envoy has signalled that President Donald Trump may be ready to soften his stance on the Paris climate pact.

The United States "stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris Accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement," said the European Union's top climate official Miguel Arias Canete.

However, the White House has insisted that the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favourable terms.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.

"As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country," she said.

The White House pushed back at a European suggestion it was softening its stance on the Paris climate accord, insisting Washington will withdraw from the agreement unless it can re-enter on more favorable terms.

The remark came as environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal seeking headway on the Paris climate accord, which President Donald Trump had pulled out of.

The EU official said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly with American representatives "to assess what is the real US position," noting "it's a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past."

The US observer was not immediately available for comment and the White House insisted the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord without more favorable terms.

"There has been no change in the United States' position on the Paris agreement," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an email.

"As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country," she said.

Called by Canada, China and the European Union, the summit took place 30 years to the day after the signing of the Montreal Protocol on protecting the ozone layer  which Canada's environment minister hailed as a multilateral "success story" by governments, NGOs and ordinary citizens jointly tackling a major global threat.

We "committed to full implementation of the Paris Accord. Everyone agreed that the environment and the economy go together, they are linked. You cannot grow the economy without taking care of the environment," Catherine McKenna said at the end of the summit, attended by more than half the G20 members as well as some of the nations most vulnerable to climate change  from the low-lying Marshall Islands and Maldives to impoverished Mali and Ethiopia.

"Changes are real, extreme weather events are more frequent, more powerful and more distressful," she told the gathering, pointing at the devastation wrought by mega-storms such as Harvey and Irma which many climate scientists believe are boosted by global warming.

Nearly 200 countries agreed in Paris in December 2015 to curb carbon dioxide emissions with the aim of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, compared to preindustrial levels.

When Trump decided in June to withdraw, Canada, China and the European Union immediately reaffirmed their respective commitments to the pact, which the Group of 20 declared "irreversible" the following month.

Time is ticking, Canete told AFP, as ministers work to narrow their differences and better understand how to implement the ambitious accord  with less than two months to go until the next UN Conference on Climate Change (COP23), in Bonn in November.

"We need a rule book to be able to monitor and verify and compare emissions of all the parties and see how far we are towards the targets," Canete said, with a goal of having those rules in place in time for the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland in late 2018.

Key player China  the world's largest car market  brings to the table a potentially major advance in transportation after announcing its intention to ban gasoline and diesel-fueled cars, following decisions by France and Britain to outlaw their sale from 2040.

The European Union  which is targeting a 40 per cent cut to its emissions by 2030  will also shortly put forward a proposal to member states on slashing carbon emissions in the transportation sector, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said this week.

And Canada  as the world's sixth-largest oil producer  insists it is "committed to its international climate obligations," which it hopes to reach by massively investing in "clean energy" technologies.

China's special representative to the talks, Xie Zhenhua, said Beijing considers the Montreal Protocol to be a "very effective and efficient" example of multilateral action on the environment  largely because it rested on a broad consensus.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: British Police on Sunday have nabbed a second man in connection with the London Tube bombing that injured nearly 30 passengers on Friday.

The explosion - Britain's fifth terror attack in six months - sparked a 'wall of fire' that left passengers with burns and caused a stampede of panicking people in which some were trampled.

Later on Friday, Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the explosion on the packed London Underground train which was about to depart Parsons Green underground station at 8.20 am (0720 GMT).

On Saturday, Kent Police arrested another 18-year-old man in the port of Dover, suspecting his involvement in plotting the train attack.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated world's second biggest dam Sardar Sarovar, 56 years after its foundation stone was laid by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi had yesterday tweeted,"Tomorrow, Sardar Sarovar Dam will be dedicated to the nation. This project will benefit lakhs of farmers & help fulfil peoples aspirations."

Tomorrow, Sardar Sarovar Dam will be dedicated to the nation. This project will benefit lakhs of farmers & help fulfil peoples aspirations.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 16, 2017

Here are 10 amazing facts you should know about the Sardar Sarvovar Dam:

- It is the second biggest dam in the world after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States.

- As per the reports of NDTV, each gate of the sardar Sarovar Dam weighs over 450 tonnes and it takes nearly one hour to close them.

- The 1.2-km-long dam which is 163 metres deep has till date produced 4,141 crore units of electricity from its two powerhouses -- river bed powerhouse and canal head powerhouse -- with an installed capacity of 1,200 MW and 250 MW, respectively.

- All the villages and urban centres of the arid region of Saurashtra and Kachchh and all no source villages and the villages affected by salinity and fluoride in North Gujarat will be benefited.

- The power generated from the dam would be shared among three states -- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

- Fifty-seven percent of the electricity produced from the dam goes to Maharashtra, while Madhya Pradesh gets 27 per cent and 16 per cent goes to Gujarat.

- As per SSP officials, the dam will irrigate 2,46,000 hectares of land in the strategically important desert districts of Barmer and Jalore in Rajasthan, and 37,500 hectares in the tribal hilly tract of Maharashtra.

-The dam has earned over Rs. 16,000 crore, more than double the cost of its construction,

- A special allocation of 0.86 million cubic feet (MAF) of water has been made to provide drinking water to 131 urban centres and 9,633 villages, which is 53 per cent of the total 18,144 villages of Gujarat.

- According to Gujarat CM Rupani, over 18 lakh hectares of land in the state would be benefitted with irrigation as Narmada water will flow to over 9,000 villages of Gujarat through a canal network.

(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: On the 67th birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has urged everybody to organise and join cleanliness initiatives, and devote the day to the ' Swachh Bharat Mission', adding that the mission is very special to the former.

"I urge you all to organise or join any cleanliness initiative and share your photos on the Narendra Modi Mobile App," wrote Shah, in his blog.

The BJP president also wished "a long as well as healthy life in service of the nation" to Prime Minister Modi, and praised him for working for the nation on his birthday too.

With the BJP celebrating ' Sewa Diwas' on the occasion, Shah said that several organisations and NGOs, particularly the youth-driven groups are undertaking a wide range of social service initiatives.

"Service or 'Seva' indeed is the best way to celebrate Narendra Bhai's birthday," Shah added.

In praise of the prime minister, Shah claimed that 'India First' is a belief that he lives by.

"They (People of India) see him as their own, a person working round the clock for their and the nation's welfare, without any self interest," Shah wrote.

He also claimed that Prime Minister Modi has worked extensively towards poverty alleviation, and under his supervision, the government has undertaken "historic poverty alleviation initiatives (that are) taking shape at a scale unheard of in the history of India."

"With the Jan Dhan Yojana's unprecedented success, the banking system was opened to millions who were isolated from the financial mainstream," he said, in reference to the above claim.

He also mentioned the MUDRA Yojna in Prime Minister Modi's repertoire. The scheme aims to create an inclusive, sustainable and value based entrepreneurial culture.

"Majority of MUDRA's beneficiaries are from poor households, small towns or rural India," he added.

Adding to the string of praises, Shah credited the "historic crackdown against black money and corruption through various measures" to the prime minister.

He also reminisced his first meeting with the prime minister "as a young BJP Karyakarta", and recalled working closely with him later on, during the 1995 Gujarat elections, 1998 Gujarat elections and other party forums.

Recounting his term as the home minister for over seven years under Prime Minister Modi's office as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shah said, "I witnessed first-hand his grip on administration and how he transformed Gujarat into a model state of development and good governance."

He concluded by conveying his message of 'Swachhata Hi Seva' movement.

"Let us strengthen the ' Swachhata Hi Seva' movement with our active and continuous participation so that we can fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a clean India," he said.

As Prime Minister Modi turns 67 today, major political entities sent in their wishes to him.

Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Modi has hit headlines for having made major policies for the country, which have received varied responses, with few sections welcoming the decisions, while others opposing them.
New Delhi: In yet another shocking incident, a class 11 student in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan after elder brother scolded her for spending excessive time on Facebook.

According to the family members, the girl strangulated herself with a cloth from the ceiling fan in her bedroom on Friday night.

"Since the time she got a mobile, she had been totally absorbed with it. She even had no appetite for food and had lost interest in studies. She also didn't want to go to school," the girl's mother said.

"Her brother used to scold her. He had rebuked her on Friday morning also," she said.

The girl was all alone in the house on Friday evening as all other family members went to visit an ailing relative in hospital.

"When we came back around 8 p.m., we found her hanging from the ceiling fan," said a family member.

"I can't understand how she could take the extreme step for a trivial reason," said the victim's elder sister.

The family members said days before her death, the girl had changed her WhatsApp status to "I am dead."

They said she had even posted on Facebook about losing all interest in life.

Meanwhile, police said that they are investigating the matter and looking at all angles.
New Delhi: One person was killed and five others were left injured after Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Arnia sector.

#UPDATE on ceasefire violation in J&K's Arnia Sector: Firing stopped this morning; number of civilians injured rises to 6.  ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2017

Initially, all the six injured were admitted to a government hospital in Jammu but unfortunately, one of them succumbed to his injuries.

Talking to ANI, a senior BSF officer said,"From midnight till this morning, there were exchanges of fire and shelling in Arnia sector in the area of 6-8 BOPs of BSF. The firing stopped at 0645 hours this morning."

Meanwhile, this was the third violation by Pakistani forces in the Arnia sector in last 2 days.

There have been continuous ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the IB for the past four days, in which one BSF jawan was killed and a few others were injured.

Earlier on September 15, one Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed in the ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir's RS Pura sector.

The jawan, identified as Captain Brijendra Bahadur Singh, later succumbed to his injuries.

Two Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory action by the BSF on Thursday, while three Indian jawans were injured in unprovoked firing and shelling by Pakistani troops along the IB and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Poonch districts on Wednesday.

Incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops have increased sharply this year. Till August 1, there have been 285 such actions by the Pakistan army, while in 2016, the number was significantly less at 228 for the entire year, according to figures by the Indian Army.

(With inputs from agencies)
New York: India on Sunday hit out at Pakistan and said that the neighbouring country will waste its time by raising an old Kashmir issue at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Syed Akbaruddin, India's permanent representative to the United Nation, said that Pakistan is planning to raise Kashmir issue which has not been discussed in UNGA for around last 40 years.

"In UNGA there has been no formal debate on Kashmir since 40 years. So, if such issues are raised on which no debate has been done ever then they (Pakistan) are wasting their time," he told in an exclusive interview to ANI.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is set to attend the UN General Assembly on Monday and will raise Kashmir issue in the United Nations General Assembly.

The Pakistan Foreign Minister said that they will continue its engagement at the UN to protect national interests, including on core issues such as Jammu and Kashmir, reform of the Security Council, counter-terrorism, human rights, peacekeeping.

He further said that India's main issues are global and future-centric unlike Pakistan's. India has three important agendas including terrorism, climate changes and UN reforms to discuss on the international platform.

"India considers UN as an international platform. So, our issues are of international nature. There should be reform in the United Nation and this is our first big issue. The second issue is the terror, as you all know that terrorism is an important and serious issue not only in Asia or India but in every country. Every country is facing problems because of it. The third issue is climate change," Akbaruddin informed ANI.

(With inputs from ANI)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Kevadia, Gujarat on the occasion of his 67th birthday on Sunday.

The inauguration was attended by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and several other religious and spiritual heads of the state.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid on April 5, 1961, by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru. However, it took 56 years to complete its construction.

An official release said the increase in the dam height will facilitate a usable storage of 4.73 Million Acre Feet (MAF) and will greatly benefit the participating states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.



It said that the project has helped transport the waters of the Narmada river to the water-deficient areas of Gujarat through an elaborate canal and pipeline network.



"Irrigation from the project is expected to benefit about 10 lakh farmers and drinking water to be supplied to various villages and towns is likely to benefit up to 4 crore people," the release said.



The project has been described as one of the biggest human endeavours for water transport. Up to a billion units of hydropower are also expected to be generated annually. After inaugurating the dam, the Prime Minister is expected to visit Sadhu Bet to take stock of the work on the 'Statue of Unity' project.

He will then proceed to Dabhoi, where he is to take part in the closing ceremony of the Narmada Mahotsav and address a public meeting.

He will also lay the foundation stone for the National Tribal Freedom Fighters' Museum.

In Amreli, he will address a gathering of cooperatives, Sahakar Sammelan, inaugurate the market yard of APMC and plant of Amar Dairy, and lay the foundation stone of a honey production centre.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is observing 'Sewa Diwas' to mark the birthday of PM Modi.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has mocked the Prime Minister dedicating to the nation something, a major part of which was completed by the party during its rule before 1995. State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and a national spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil asserted that "90 percent of the main canal of the dam and 88 metres were completed by the Congress between 1987 and 1995".



"In as many as 22 years of the BJP's rule, not even half of the work on creating minor and sub-minor canal network has been completed. You can see the water in the dam but it does not reach most of the farmers in the absence of a canal network. And the Prime Minister is dedicating it to the nation," IANS quoted Gohil as saying.

(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the residence of Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh and paid respects to the war hero.

He drove straight to Singh's residence in the national capital on his return from a day-long visit to Gujarat.

The PM also wrote a message of condolence and interacted with Singh's family members.

"My tributes to the brave soldier who had a fighter's qualities of valour and courtesy. His life was dedicated to Mother India," he wrote in Gujarati.

Meanwhile, earlier President Ram Nath Kovind led the nation in paying final tributes to the hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on behalf of herself and PM Modi, who was in Gujarat earlier today for the inauguration of Sardar Sarovar Dam.

The three service chiefs - Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat - as well as Minister of State Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri were also present.

Among other dignitaries who were seen streaming in were Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, MoS for External Affairs and former Army chief VK Singh, former defence minister AK Antony and Congress MP Karan Singh.

Former Indian Air Force (IAF) chiefs SP Tyagi, NC Suri and Anil Y Tipnis, as well as several decorated officers who served under Arjan Singh during the 1965 war, were also present.

98-year-old Singh breathed his last at an Army hospital on Saturday.

Visited the residence of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh to pay tributes to him & extended condolences to his family members. pic.twitter.com/rpzbavzj5z  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 17, 2017

PM @narendramodi visited the residence of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh to pay tributes to him & extended condolences to his family members pic.twitter.com/AN05hRl580  BJP LIVE (@BJPLive) September 17, 2017

PM @narendramodi talks to the family members of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh and expresses his condolences pic.twitter.com/SAd2XUg3GU  PIB India (@PIB_India) September 17, 2017

At the residence of Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh, PM @narendramodi wrote a few lines in the condolence book. pic.twitter.com/X28kNZ8hfm September 17, 2017

A rough Hindi translation of what PM @narendramodi wrote for Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh can be seen here. pic.twitter.com/wdNLASXqnc  PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 17, 2017

(With PTI inputs)
Moscow: The Russian Defence Ministry on Sunday denied it had bombed U.S.-backed militias in Syria, saying its planes only targeted Islamic State militants and that it had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans.

U.S.-backed militias said they came under attack on Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zor province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, said six of its fighters had been wounded in the strike.

But Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, dismissed the allegations in a statement on Sunday.

Konashenkov said Russian planes had only carried out carefully targeted strikes in the area based upon information that had been confirmed from multiple sources.

The strikes had only hit targets in areas under the control of Islamic State, he said.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The exports and imports of Armenia have increased in the first half of against the same period of the previous year, ARMENPRESS reports citing the data published by the National Statistical Service of Armenia.

The exports in January-July of 2017 amounted to 1 billion 185 million and 110.8 thousand USD against the 947 million and 339 thousand USD of the same period of the previous year. Imports amounted to 2 billion 161 million and 663.9 million USD in the first half of 2017 against the 1 billion 682 million and 640.5 thousand USD of the same period of 2016.

Russia remains Armenias leading partner for both imports and exports. Armenias exports to Russia amounted to 260 million and 735 thousand USD, while imports from Russia amounted to 457 million and 339.7 thousand USD.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. New interesting revelations over Azerbaijani-linked corruption deals come to the surface. This time CNN employee (already former employee) appeared in the center of the corruption, ARMENPRESS reports Azerbaijani azdaliq.info news agency informs.

The report called Azerbaijani Laundromat by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) mentions the name of former CNN producer Escort Sager as one who received bribe from Azerbaijan.

According to the OCCRPs revelation, in 2014 Hilux Services organization transferred 1 million and 975 thousand Euros (2.6 million USD) to Escort Sagers bank account registered in the UAE.

The revelation notes that Escort Sager, receiving money from Azerbaijan, published articles propagating the Azerbaijani visions on various issues or defended pro-Azerbaijani figures.

One of the articles defends Italian parliamentarian Luca Volonte accused of receiving money from Azerbaijan and reviewing the report by the PACE on human rights violations in Azerbaijan, reads the article that exposes Azerbaijani corruption deals.

Banking records revealing some 2.5 billion euro (US$ 2.9 billion) in transactions were leaked to the Danish newspaper Berlingske, which shared them with OCCRP. The two outlets then organized a collaborative investigation to track down where the money went. According to the Project, the money was spent on bribing European politicians, decision-makers, journalists and other figures to make pro-Azerbaijani decisions or depict Azerbaijan under favorable light.
Peer-reviewed report by Mercatus Center concludes CON repeal also would reduce mortality rates

North Carolina would have 187 hospitals instead of 132, and 99 ambulatory surgery centers instead of 85.

The state could support 80 rural hospitals instead of 56, and 13 rural ambulatory surgery centers instead of 11.

Mortality rates would drop from 15.1 percent to 14.7 percent for heart attack patients; 11.7 percent to 11.4 percent for heart failure; and 12.5 percent to 12 percent for pneumonia.

Overall death rates from post-surgery complications would fall by 5.3 percent.

Hospital readmission rates would be 18 percent for heart attack patients instead of 18.4 percent, and 22.9 percent instead of 23.2 percent for heart failure.

The number of non-hospital medical imaging providers would rise to 131,925 from 96,760.

Non-hospital PET (positron emission tomography) scanning devices would increase from 20 to 36.

The percentage of patients who would need to leave their home counties to get diagnostic scans would go down as well - by 5.5 percent for an MRI; 3.6 percent for a CT scan; and 3.7 percent for a PET scan.

Mitchell said the findings overall were statistically significant and most likely not random.

A typical North Carolina medical patient would save nearly $300 a year and have more competitive options for lower-cost treatment if outdated regulations didn't exist, research shows.Matt Mitchell, a senior research fellow and director of the Project for the Study of American Capitalism at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said North Carolina would have more hospitals, even in rural areas, if the state repealed certificate-of-need laws.That finding contradicts objections the North Carolina Hospital Association routinely raises whenever the General Assembly debates proposals to repeal or roll back CON rules.Mitchell said of the hospital association, while CON opponents are generally less well organized or funded.Mitchell said.Those standing to gain the most from an end to CON laws are patients and taxpayers who would find more treatment options at lower cost, along with health-care entrepreneurs who want to open new facilities.Mitchell said a Mercatus Center research team combined the results of several previous studies to come up with peer-reviewed findings . The studies compared the impact of North Carolina's CON laws with outcomes in 15 states without those laws.North Carolina imposes 25 CON restrictions. It's one of 32 states with four or more CON regulations. Health-care providers cannot open or expand facilities, or buy certain equipment unless they undergo a time-consuming, rigorous application process. Existing health-care providers get to decide whether they need competition.If the state did not impose CON regulations, health-care spending per capita would be $213 lower annually relative to states without CON, and savings on physician spending would be $73, the North Carolina study determined.Among study conclusions:CON advocates say the regulations lead to better health outcomes, lower costs, and more options for poor and rural patients.hospital association spokeswoman Julie Henry said in an email.Mitchell cautioned that repealing all CON laws would not immediately deliver the benefits suggested in the study. Time to build and staff new facilities would be needed, for example.Still, he said, lawmakers should read the study, and not just listen to the market insiders seeking to protect their turf.
Best for: People or couples who are looking to explore and experiment sexually with like-minded individuals

7.7/10 Overall Rating

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cons

The Review

If you were to imagine all the worlds dating sites on a spectrum from those most focused on relationships to those most focused on sex, AdultFriendFinder might just be at the very end of the sex spectrum.

You might not have heard about it before, but the sites been around for a long time, and it knows what its about. AFF makes no pretense towards pandering to people seeking long-term romantic commitment  its all about fulfilling sexual fantasies first (and everything else, well, not at all).

However, as pleasant as that might sound, when it comes to online dating, concept is one thing, and execution is another entirely. Many sites and apps have great ideas but cant back them up, whether it's lacking functionality or struggling to maintain a strong user base. So whats the deal with AdultFriendFinder? Let's take a deep dive.

Key Features

AdultFriendFinder Points

Video live streaming & nude models

Kink search

Community discussion forums

Blogging options

Video, photo and album uploads

Adult chat rooms

Messages & IMs

VIP Members

Adult Friend Finder Review

On most sites and apps, profiles without any photos at all are pretty much persona non grata. Not only will they often not get replies from people they message, theyll almost certainly not get messaged themselves, and hell, they might even be prevented from using the site generally until they provide a real photo.

On AdultFriendFinder, however, its another story entirely.

Within a day, we (meaning the couples account used for the sake of this review) had received three separate messages from couples nearby, without the profile featuring almost anything but age.

RELATED: The Best Hookup Sites and Apps, Revealed

If a dating site or app is only as strong as its user base, AFF users are anything but shy. The site itself may look like it was designed in the early 2000s and barely updated since then, but you probably wont care about that if and when you start getting in touch with someone who shares your personal kinks.

Signing Up

The AdultFriendFinder signup process is relatively smooth and not over-long. After providing your birthdate, zipcode, gender (you can register as a man, a woman, a couple, or a transsexual/transgender/transvestite person) and what youre looking for (same options), you enter your email address and select a password.

Then youre given the opportunity to enter birthdate for the other member of the couple (if thats what you signed up as), as well as a brief bio/description, and the option to describe who or what it is that youre looking for. After clicking on a confirmation email, youre through!

What it costs: Like many sites, you can sign up for free, and unlike many sites, you can actually use a decent number of site features without paying  and even earn points toward a membership using a free account.

If youre willing to take the hit on your pocketbook, membership costs $39.95 for one month, $26.95 for three months, and $19.95 for a full year. These fees can be paid by Visa, Mastercard, Discover Card, Diners Club, and other credit card options, although they dont accept PayPal or American Express.

Sign up for AdultFriendFinder here

Adult Friend Finder

How Does AdultFriendFinder Work - Searching for Matches

Unlike many sites and apps that will only show you one member at a time, AFF prioritizes a more-is-more approach.

This can feel visually cluttered, but it also enhances one of the sites best features: a sense of genuine community, and the understanding that sex can be hot without needing to occur in person.

From its homepage, the site will show you members near you, new matches that it thinks youll be into, and people who are online, as well as VIPs (members with high ranking on the site).

Adult Friend Finder

How to Start a Conversation on AdultFriendFinder

In order to access the messaging functionality, you'll need to upgrade to a paid membership or stockpile enough AFF points to qualify for one. As for how many points will get you anywhere, 4,400 of 'em will unlock a free month of gold membership.

Apart from that, figuring out how to message on AdultFriendFinder isnt particularly complicated.

There are both messages and IM options, depending on whether youre talking to someone whos online at the same time as you or you prefer sending less immediate, conversation-style messages. You can also send icebreakers in addition to coming up with your own opening messages.

Adult Friend Finder

Safety & Security

One noteworthy though informal safety feature of the site is that many users opt not to show their faces in their pictures. This is a basic best practice when it comes to the overlap between sex and digital safety  keeping your face out of your profile pics will make it hard for anyone to positively identify you.

However, as with other dating sites, many people do opt to show their faces, and even if they didnt, that alone is far from enough to ensure protection. AFF itself uses an encryption certificate to protect your data, and vows not to collect your data. Additionally, the site shows you tips on how to detect and avoid catfishing in the messages section.

You can read more about their privacy and security measures here.
Outfits You Can Wear With Sneakers

Here Are Five Pro Tips For Dressing Up Your Sneakers Like A Boss

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

Gone are the days when sneakers were confined to sportswear. Todays variety show up everywhere, from the red carpet, on men like Pharrell, to museums as works of art. While we cant imagine dressing without them, there is room for error (after all, were not all as with-it as Pharrell). To make sure youre getting it right  for the right occasion  we put together five outfits you can wear with sneakers.

Work/Casual Fridays

Whether you work in a laid-back office or are restricted to casual Fridays, you can wear sneakers, but the key is to keep them clean. And by clean we dont just mean free from dirt and marks, but from excessive design details  in other words, save your neon, Nintendo-print, limited-editions for downtime. Instead, look for a classic sneaker with slim lines and a leather upper in a sophisticated color, like this suede pair by 1901. Wear them with office essentials like Theorys straight-leg pants in black and J.Crews short-sleeve oxford shirt in white. Note: Leave the socks at home and cuff your pants to reveal a bit of ankle. Finally, a sleek black backpack, like the Expo by Frank And Oak, is the answer to the modern-day man bag. Bonus (remember those?): its water resistant.

The Weekend

When the weekend rolls in, you want to dress comfortably but you dont want to look like a couch potato. Fortunately, the words casual and style can coexist in one look, and the foundation is in the footwear. Start with a pair of tried-and-true sneakers, like these Vans Authentics, but get em in leather. Not only is it an easy way to elevate your look, but theyll last longer than canvas. Next, choose a jean you could live in all weekend. Were really excited about the Levis 501 Skinny jean, because it combines all of the details of the classic 501s with a much-needed slimmer fit. The Hillman wash pairs well with this simple gray pocket tee from J.Crew. Adding a belt, like this one by leathersmith Maximum Henry Cohen, who sews and constructs his belts by hand in New York City, grows the entire look up.

Date Night

Guys often get lost when dressing to impress, because theres more to think about: shirts, ties, belts, etc. Less is more, and less can look a lot cooler. These black leather low-tops by Frank And Oak almost evoke the sophistication of a dress shoe. French brand A.P.C. has a cult following, and its easy to understand why: it gets that less-is-more thing very right. For nighttime, go dark. Try its Petit Standard slim-fit selvedge jean in indigo with this basic white tee by UNIQLO and top with a well-tailored blazer. When you reach into your back pocket to pick up the check, pull out a slick-looking wallet. We like this one by Perry Ellis, which happens to cost less than dinner (but your date doesnt need to know that).

The Beach

You know what you dont need to spend a lot of time thinking about at the beach? What youre wearing. Keep things light with a pair of sneakers that come off as easily as they go on. We like Vans Classic slip-ons in pale pink; theyre a nice contrast to UNIQLOs active shorts in navy that double as swimwear. When day turns into night, throw on this henley by one of our favorite Los Angeles-based brands, Matiere. This shade of blue is flattering on everyone, and looks even better against a tan. Heres more good news about dressing for the beach: dont waste your big faces on sunglasses, because they tend to get dirty or forgotten at the beach. Opt for the fast-fashion variety, like these round, tortoiseshell ones by Topman that come in at $20.

The Gym/Gym-Inspired

Whats an article about outfits to wear with sneakers without including the gym? Todays sportswear is so good-looking that it takes you from the gym to the streets in style. Start with Nikes Flyknit running shoe  theyre unbelievably lightweight. If your sweats make you look like youve given up on yourself, nows the time to update them with a narrower fit. Try UNIQLOs sweatpants that are only $30, and pair with a basic tank. When you break into a sweat, keep the funk under control by wearing no-show socks; theyll help keep your cool.

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CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted president Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood to 25 years in prison in a final ruling over a case accusing him of spying for Qatar, judicial sources said. Mursi, democratically elected after Egypt's 2011 revolution, was overthrown in mid-2013 by then-general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, now the president, following mass protests against his rule. He was immediately arrested. Egypt's Court of Cassation reduced Mursi's sentence in the Qatar case to 25 years in its final ruling, from an original 40 years. Mursi is already serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted for the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012. Since toppling Mursi, Sisi has clamped down on dissent. Mass trials have been held for thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, and hundreds have received death sentences or lengthy prison terms. In 2014, Egypt charged Mursi and nine others with endangering national security by leaking state secrets and sensitive documents to Qatar. Egypt's relations with Doha were already troubled by Qatar's backing of Mursi. Egypt is one of four Arab nations in a Saudi-led bloc that cut relations with the Gulf state on June 5, accusing it of backing militant groups and cooperating with their arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies. (Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; writing by Patrick Markey; editing by Clelia Oziel)
Reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) -The sister of Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah said on Monday the family had received a letter from prison that served as "proof of life" from the hunger striker. Abd el-Fattah, who has been on hunger strike against his detention and prison conditions for more than 220 days, had said he was escalating his protest by ceasing to drink water on Nov. 6, the opening day of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. Since then his family and his lawyer had made repeated trips to the prison where he is detained northwest of Cairo, but had received no news on his condition.
View the "An Indian Morning" Website

An Indian Morning first went on the air on Diwali day October 20,1973 on radio station CHCH, 91.4FM in Hull, Quebec. It was thefirst radio program in the Ottawa area and it was enthusiastically received. After a few months on this French station it shifted to CJET 101.1 FM in Smiths Falls, and when Radio Carleton CKCU FM went on air in 1975, An Indian Morning was the first specialty program on that station and it has stayed there since then.



Our first sponsor was Mr. Hari Dilawari and were not for his encouragement we could not have surfaced. Another person who stood behind us was George Kallumkal, who led us through the maze of wires and tape recorders and ensured that we had a good sound.



An Indian Morning celebrates not only the music of India but equally its various arts and artisans, poets and potters, kings and patriots. The first half of the program features classical and religious music as well as regional and popular music. The second half features community announcements and ear pleasing music from old,new & popular Indian films.



The ethos of the program is summarized by its signature closing line, "Seeking the spirit of India, Jai Hind".



The producer of the program is Dr. Harsha Dehejia who hosts the first half. The compere for the second half is Kishore "Kish" Sampat
SATURDAY, Sept. 16, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Home blood pressure monitoring is on the upswing in the United States. But some adults are less likely to do so than others, a new study finds.

Lower rates of home monitoring were found among those who did not have at least a high school diploma and those with no partner, according to the study.

The American Heart Association advises anyone with high blood pressure, also called hypertension, to monitor it at home.

"Home monitoring allows hypertensive individuals to take ownership of their treatment and helps health care providers determine whether treatments are working," the association says in a news release. Home monitoring also may point to differences between readings at the doctor's office and at home.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,100 adults who took part in a 2013-14 federal government health survey. They found that more than 25 percent of respondents checked their blood pressure at home at least once a month, compared with about 22 percent in 2009-10.

Higher rates of home monitoring were found among adults who had high blood pressure, were aware of high blood pressure, or were being treated for high blood pressure.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure damages arteries, leading to stroke.

The study results were scheduled for presentation Saturday at an American Heart Association meeting in San Francisco. Until the research is published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, it should be considered preliminary.

More information

The American Heart Association has tips for monitoring blood pressure at home.
A jury recommended a Moreno Valley woman be put to death for fatally shooting her husband in 2009 after evidence was presented suggesting he was not the first husband she had killed, officials said Friday.





Lorraine Alison Hunter, 62, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death her truck driver husband, Albert Thomas, on Aug. 21, according to a statement from the Riverside County District Attorneys Office.





At that time, the jury also found that she had killed Thomas for financial gain and committed the crime while lying in wait.





Though she was prevented from collecting the money, prosecutors alleged that Hunter was aware of more than $1 million available in life insurance policies in Thomas name in the event he was murdered.





In determining whether the 62-year-old should be given the death penalty, jurors were shown evidence that another husband of hers was murdered in 1996 in Inglewood. That time, it appears she collected around $312,000 in life insurance funds, officials said.





No one was ever charged in that case.





Thomas was found shot to death in the sleeper section of the semitruck he drove for work on Nov. 4, 2009. The vehicle was parked in a dirt lot near the intersection of Eucalyptus and Edgemont avenues in Moreno Valley at the time, officials said.





Though law enforcement interviewed Hunter in the immediate aftermath of the discovery, she was not arrested until 2011.





Hunter originally testified she was not aware of any life insurance policies in her husbands name, but investigators later determined she had already spoke to the trucking company that employed him and learned of two policies totaling $225,000 that would double if he were murdered.





The administrator at the trucking company told detectives that Hunter, prior to Thomas being found dead, had personally been told about the policies and that they doubled in the case of a murder, DAs officials said in the press release.





A relative also provided further information that led to her arrest and helped authorities bring charges in the killing, according to prosecutors.





Briuana Hunter, the defendants daughter, testified under a plea deal that she and her mother spent months plotting Thomas death, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.





She told me, `We need to figure something out, the 23-year-old told the court, the newspaper reported. She said that we needed the money. At first, I didnt know what she meant, but later on, it became clear.





Detectives also learned that, in addition to the $450,000 available through Thomas job if he were murdered, Hunter forged her husbands signature in attempt to secure another life insurance policy in the amount of $750,000 six months before his killing.





However, her inability to obtain a certified copy of the death certificate prevented her from collecting any of the money.





Hunter is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 8. The DAs office said it seeks to sentence her to death in the case.

Death recommended for Moreno Valley woman who killed her husband for $1 million in life insurance

A Riverside jury on Thursday recommended the death penalty for a Moreno Valley woman who fatally shot her 56-year-old husband to collect more than $1 million in life insurance proceeds.





Jurors deliberated two days before reaching a unanimous decision as to the fate of Lorraine Alison Hunter, 61.





The same panel last month convicted her of first-degree murder and found true special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing for financial gain in the 2009 execution-style slaying of Albert Thomas.





Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mac Fisher is expected to follow the jurys recommendation when he sentences Hunter on Dec. 8 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Shes being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center.





The penalty phase of the defendants trial lasted roughly two weeks and was preceded by the evidentiary phase, which culminated in guilty verdicts on Aug. 21.





The prosecutions key witness was Hunters now-23-year-old daughter, Briuana Lashanae Hunter, who confessed to plotting with her mother to kill Thomas.





Briauana Hunter pleaded guilty last year to three counts of attempted murder and one count of voluntary manslaughter. Shes slated to be sentenced to 18 years in state prison on Sept. 25.





The young woman, whos being held without bail at the Indio Jail, testified that her stepfather was a calm, quiet person, who was never overly aggressive in the seven years that she and her mother lived with him in Moreno Valley.





Briauana Hunter stated that he held down two jobs  one as a short-haul trucker and another as a clerk at a Moreno Valley Auto Zone.





The witness said her mother frequently argued with Thomas about not having enough money to spend. According to Deputy District Attorney Will Robinsons trial brief, the elder Hunter was money hungry and not interested in holding down a job to contribute to the household.





Briauana Hunter said she aided her mother in filling out at least three life insurance applications, naming her stepfather as the insured party and Lorraine Hunter as the principal beneficiary. The woman forged Thomas name on each application.





Hunter took out a $750,000 policy, as well as a $10,000 policy, Robinson said. Thomas additionally had a $450,000 policy through the trucking company for which he worked, according to court papers.





In the two months before he was gunned down, Lorraine Hunter attempted to shoot Thomas three times  twice on walks through their neighborhood in the area of Day Street and Eucalyptus Avenue, and another time outside the victims workplace. Briuana Hunter admitted being present on each occasion.





On the evening of Nov. 3, 2009, Thomas and the defendants left their apartment and strolled to his big rig, where he wanted to grab a sweatshirt that he had bought for his then-15-year-old stepdaughter, according to trial testimony.





The three of them climbed into his truck, and Thomas ducked into the rear sleeper compartment to find the shirt, while Hunter and her daughter sat in the front seat.





Robinson said Lorraine Hunter pulled a small-caliber handgun shed stolen from a member of her church and shot the victim point-blank in the back of the head twice, then shot him twice in the upper back as he knelt in the compartment. He died in a kneeling position.





Hunter and her daughter fled the scene with the help of a relative, and the case went cold for two years, until the same relative confessed everything she knew to investigators after being arrested herself for an unrelated offense.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
In a massive and long-awaited order, an Arapahoe County District Court judge has denied the death penalty appeal of Sir Mario Owens  even though he found that prosecutors withheld some evidence that could have been favorable to Owens side.





Senior Judge Christopher Munch ruled on Thursday that Owens, who was convicted of killing three people in two separate incidents, ultimately received a fair trial and was represented well enough by his attorneys. The ruling took nearly a decade to reach, and it means that Owens death sentence now likely moves to the next step of the appeals process. It could still be years more before Owens state and federal appeals are exhausted and a possible execution is scheduled.





The court concludes that Owens received a fair trial  one whose result is reliable, Munch wrote on the last of his orders 1,343 pages. He also received a fair sentencing hearing  one whose result was constitutionally obtained, justified in law, and is rationally based upon the evidence.





Owens was first convicted of murder in 2007, in connection with the 2004 shooting death of 20-year-old Gregory Vann at a party in Auroras Lowry Park. The following year, in 2008, a different jury convicted Owens in the 2005 killings of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe, both 22. He was sentenced to death.





At the time of his murder, Marshall-Fields had been scheduled to testify against another suspect in Vanns death, and prosecutors argued that Marshall-Fields and Wolfe, his fiancee, were killed to silence them. That other suspect, Robert Ray, was also convicted of killing Marshall-Fields and Wolfe and was also sentenced to death. As with Owens, his appeals are still pending.





Defense attorneys raised numerous concerns about Owens convictions, including an allegation of juror misconduct during the Lowry Park trial that Munch denied earlier this year. Munch ruled in his Thursday order, though, that prosecutors improperly withheld evidence during the case  by not disclosing numerous instances in which they provided witnesses money or other benefits.





For instance, prosecutors did not tell Owens attorneys that they had promised and later given a car to one key witness. Other witnesses received undisclosed lenience in separate criminal cases facing them. In at least one instance, prosecutors did not reveal that a witness had been present at another shooting while in the witness protection program and preparing to testify in Owens case. Prosecutors also withheld information about money that witnesses were paid as informants or in the witness protection program.





Defense attorneys said the evidence could have been used at trial to question the credibility of the witnesses. But, in each instance, Munch concluded that the evidence wasnt significant enough to overturn the trial. At best, Munch said, the evidence would have been considered helpful but not outcome-changing.





He must establish more than helpfulness to sustain a claim of constitutional error, Munch wrote.





Chief Deputy District Attorney John Hower, one of the prosecutors on the case, said some of the evidence was not disclosed due to oversight. In other instances, Hower said prosecutors believed it wasnt the kind of information that was required to be shared. There was no deliberate attempt to hide evidence, Hower said.





We certainly are very pleased with his ruling, Hower said of Munchs order. It is clear he gave great consideration to all the evidence and the claims presented, and we believe he came up with the correct ruling.





In a written statement, Jonathan Reppucci, one of Owens appellate attorneys, said: We disagree with the courts conclusion that none of this matters and can be tolerated in Colorado in any case, never mind a capital one. This is a sad day for Mr. Owens, his family and the Colorado criminal justice system.





Defense attorneys have seven days to decide whether to appeal Munchs order. The next step would be directly to the Colorado Supreme Court, a relatively faster track created by a state law designed to speed up death penalty appeals. Owens case would be the first test of the new track at the states highest court. Defense attorneys and prosecutors would have to file their respective briefs in the appeal by next summer.





This is new ground, said Ann Tomsic, a chief deputy district attorney in Arapahoe County who was a prosecutor on Owens case.





Timeline in the Sir Mario Owens murder cases





July 4, 2004: Gregory Vann, 20, is shot and killed in Auroras Lowry Park. Vanns friend Javad Marshall-Fields is wounded in the shooting.

July 13, 2004: Robert Ray is arrested and charged as an accessory in the Lowry Park shooting. He later posts bond.

June 19, 2005: Marshall-Fields is threatened and warned not to testify against Ray.

June 20, 2005: Marshall-Fields, 22, and his fiancee, 22-year-old Vivian Wolfe, are shot to death while driving on Dayton Street in Aurora. An intensive police investigation follows.

Aug. 12, 2005: Rays charges in Vanns killing are upgraded to first-degree murder.

Sept. 29, 2005: An arrest warrant is issued for Sir Mario Owens on charges of first-degree murder in connection with Vanns killing.

March 8, 2006: A grand jury indicts Ray and Owens on charges of first-degree murder in Marshall-Fields and Wolfes killings.

Nov. 3, 2006: A jury finds Ray guilty of attempted murder and of being an accessory to murder in the Lowry Park shooting. It does not find him guilty of first-degree murder.

Jan 30, 2007: A separate jury convicts Owens of first-degree murder in Vanns killing.

June 16, 2008: Owens is convicted of first-degree murder in Marshall-Fields and Wolfes killings. He is sentenced to death. Prosecutors used Owens conviction in the Lowry Park shooting as evidence in arguing for the death penalty.

June 8, 2009: Ray is convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for Marshall-Fields and Wolfes killings.

July 30, 2012: New attorneys for Owens file a major appeal, arguing that Owens received an unfair trial because of withheld evidence and mistakes by his attorneys.

April 13, 2016: Judge Gerald Rafferty, who presided over the case from the beginning, is fired. Court administrators say Rafferty violated the conditions of his short-term contract.

Sept. 14, 2017: Judge Christopher Munch, who took over the case after Rafferty, finds that prosecutors withheld some evidence but denies Owens appeal.





Source: The Denver Post , John Ingold, Sept. 14, 2017. John Ingold has been a Denver Post reporter since 2000 and has covered crime, courts, local government, the state legislature, marijuana legalization and, now, health and medicine.

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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
A death-row inmate convicted of killing four people in 2002 has died of illness at a Tokyo detention center, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.





Tetsuo Odajima, 74, was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Saturday after losing consciousness. He had suffered esophageal cancer and been treated at the detention facility, the ministry said.





Odajima and an accomplice strangled the wife and daughter of Takaichi Mabuchi, who at the time was president of Mabuchi Motors, after breaking into their home in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, in August 2002.





After stealing hundreds of thousands of yen in cash and jewelry items, Odajima set fire to the house.





Odajima and Katsumi Morita also killed a 71-year-old dentist in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, in September 2002, and the wife of a discount ticket shop operator in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture, in November of that year in murder-robbery cases.





According to the ministry, Odajima was diagnosed with esophageal cancer around January this year. As he refused medical treatment, he had been receiving nutritional support and administered pain relief medication.





The Chiba District Court handed down the death penalty to Odajima in March 2007. Although he once appealed to a high court, he dropped the motion in November that year and the ruling was finalized.





The district court also sentenced Morita to death in December 2006, and the decision was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in March 2008.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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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


Cameroon health officials are using new and upgraded tools to detect disease outbreaks at the earliest possible moment in order to respond effectively in a sophisticated exercise designed to test Cameroons public health emergency management preparedness.

The exercise began September 7th and ended September 15th. All of the tools and mechanisms that Cameroon, with U.S. assistance, has developed the last two years  such as improved laboratories, real time surveillance, point of entry, medical countermeasures, risk communications, a new cadre of disease detectives, and an Emergency Operations Center - were tested in responding to a simulated cholera outbreak originating in a small parish near Douala. Representatives from Cameroons Ministry of Health, regional health centers, and laboratories along with experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, as well as other partners participated.

This 11-day exercise allows participants and monitors to assess health officials proficiency in tasks ranging from the collection of samples and the use of rapid diagnostic tests to the activation of Cameroons Public Health Emergency Operations Center in Yaounde (a new facility currently under construction). Senior public health officials decision making processes were also observed. This exercise, rooted in Cameroons participation in the Global Health Security Agenda, or GHSA, is an important milestone that will test, document, and verify Cameroons progress in meeting GHSAs important goals.

GHSA was globally launched in February 2014 to improve the capabilities and reliability of nations worldwide to close gaps that allow disease outbreaks to emerge and spread.Cameroon was one of the earliest and most active members, which today counts more than 60 nations. Through GHSA, CDC Cameroon will receive more than $11 million dollars during the next three years in addition to the current ongoing investments of over $15 million through various activities from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Agency for International Development, and CDC.

Cameroon joined the United States and 28 other nations as founding members of GHSA, a broad initiative to make the world safer and more secure from global health threats posed by infectious diseases. The United States is proud to work with Cameroon and other nations to help protect those most vulnerable to deadly disease.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Chile Michelle Bachelet Jeria.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and the people of your country on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of Chile  Independence Day, Ilham Aliyev said in his letter.

I hope that we will make joint efforts towards ensuring continuous development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Chile, he added. On this remarkable day, let me extend my best wishes to you, and wish the friendly people of Chile peace and prosperity.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 17

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend

Serdarmammet Garadjayev has been appointed Turkmenistan's Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi city), the Turkmen presidential decree said.

Earlier, Garadjayev served as Consul General of Turkmenistan in Iran (Mashhad city).

Diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and the UAE were established in October 1995.

The UAE companies are prominently represented in the local energy market. Dragon Oil has been operating in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea since 1999 as part of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). This company is one of the biggest foreign investors in Turkmenistan.

Petrofac company took part in the implementation of a big service project for the development of the Galkynysh gas field in the Mary province of Turkmenistan, the second biggest field in the world.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 17

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain paid a three-day official visit to Turkmenistan, the Pakistan Observer newspaper wrote.

President Hussain is accompanied by the countrys Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan.

Pakistans high-ranking delegation is expected to take part in the opening ceremony of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat Sept. 17.

At present, Turkmenistan and Pakistan are expanding the fuel and energy cooperation. In particular, the construction of the Turkmen section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI) was launched in December 2015.

The pipeline will run from Galkynysh  the largest gas field in Turkmenistan  through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally reach the Fazilka settlement located near the India-Pakistan border.

Annual capacity of the gas pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. Total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. The project's preliminary cost is estimated at $10 billion.

Pakistan also expects to buy Turkmen electricity in the future.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

It is planned until September 2017 to hold an international tender for the purchase of pipes and other equipment necessary for the TAPI pipeline construction in 2018 and its launch in 2019, the Vatan newspaper reported.

Preparations are also being made for the projects of the gas compressor station and other associated facilities that will be built on the pipeline route.

The report said Vice-premier Maksat Babaev informed about the ongoing realization of the project at the meeting of the cabinet of ministers.

Currently, in accordance with the schedule, the Turkmen section of the gas pipeline is being laid.

Babayev, who oversees the Turkmen oil and gas complex, previously said that the Turkmen section of TAPI pipeline is being laid in accordance with the approved plans.

TAPI will make it possible to deliver gas from Turkmenistan, which ranks fourth in the world for its gas reserves, to large and promising markets of South and Southeast Asia.

The pipeline will run from Galkynysh  the largest gas field in Turkmenistan  through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally reach the Fazilka settlement located near the India-Pakistan border.

Annual capacity of the gas pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. Total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. The project's preliminary cost is estimated at $10 billion.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 17

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend

The bilateral relations between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are dynamically developing, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

President Berdimuhamedov made the remarks at the meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Ashgabat Sept. 17, the Turkmen government said.

The Kazakh president arrived in Turkmenistan to participate in large-scale celebrations in honor of the opening of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

The dynamically developing relations are a good basis for close cooperation within authoritative international organizations, primarily the UN, as well as for mutual understanding over major global and regional issues, in which Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have common or similar positions, President Berdimuhamedov said.

During the meeting, the presidents discussed the prospects for interstate cooperation and concretized its priority areas.

The sides called for intensifying the mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation, expanding business, humanitarian, scientific and educational contacts.

As for the existing potential of the partnership in such strategic areas as energy and transport, the sides stressed the importance of the construction of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway as part of the North-South transport corridor project.

The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway becomes the most important link in the modern transport infrastructure, which will bring the economic and trade partnership between Central Asia and neighboring regions to a new level.

Ashgabat and Astana are actively cooperating in the energy sector. After a common gas pipeline was commissioned in 2009, Turkmen gas is supplied to China through Kazakhstan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 17



By Farhad Daneshvar  Trend:



Iran Khodro (IKCO), the largest car producer of the Middle Eastern nation, is planning to launch the production of hybrid and electric cars in the near future, an official with the company told Trend.



"Iran Khodro has concluded a multilateral deal with several domestic universities and government bodies as well as foreign partners, including Italys Pininfarina, to pave the ground for manufacturing hybrid and electric cars," Morteza Aghaei, the head of public relations office at the IKCO, told Trend.



The company is hopeful to launch the production of the hybrid and electric cars within the next three years.



The key players of the automotive industry have recently voiced interest in putting an end to the production of diesel and petrol cars.



Earlier this month, China signaled that it might soon join the UK and France in prohibiting combustion engine cars.



Irans passenger car output registered a rise by 20 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Aug. 21), standing at 496,833 units.



According to the industry ministry, Iran Khodro accounted for 273,441 units of the total number manufactured during the five-month period, 16.8 percent more year-on-year.



Meanwhile Saipa, the second largest Iranian auto-maker manufactured 134,684 units, 21 percent up compared to the same period of the preceding year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17

By Fatih Karimov Trend:

India and Pakistan remain as top rice exporters to Iran amid concerns over the arsenic contamination of the imported rice.

Rice worth $963 million topped the list of Iran's imported goods during the first five months of the current fiscal year (started March 20), according to the latest statistics of the Iranian Customs Administration. The figure is 102 percent more compared to the preceding year.

The value of imported rice surpassed 1 million tons or 79 percent from year to year.

According to the customs administration report, India and Pakistan were the top rice exporters to Iran in the period, followed by the UAE and Thailand.

Some Iranian officials have expressed concerns about the safety of the rice varieties imported from India and Pakistan.

Seyyed Ahsan Alavi, an Iranian MP told Tasnim news agency Sept. 17 that the rice which is imported from India and Pakistan into Iran is contaminated with arsenic.

He said that import of the contaminated rice has recently continued despite the warnings.

Alavi urged Institute of Standards & Industrial Research of Iran to clarify the issue, provide a detailed report and submit it to the parliament.

It is not the first time that the Iranian MPs warn about import of rice from Pakistan and India, which has high levels of arsenic.

Food security is a serious matter for Iran given its population, which has grown to over 80 million, while the countrys food basket is shrinking.

Irans rice production stood at 1.8 million tons in 2015. The figure is expected to hit 2.6 million tons this year. According to the officials, however the country still depends on rice imports for its domestic consumption.

Irans total consumption stands at over 3.2 million tons per year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17

By Fatih Karimov Trend:

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran will react to any "wrong move" of the US on nuclear deal between Tehran and the six world powers, which came into force last year.

Khamanei made the remarks Sept. 17 while addressing the graduation ceremony at Police Academy in Tehran, the official website of the Iranian leader reported.

Khameneis remarks come after the recent statement of US President Donald Trump, who accused the Islamic Republic of violating the nuclear deal's "spirit".

He said that the US officials are liars, who allow fulfillment of illegitimate interests at any cost.

Khamenei criticized the US officials, saying that corrupt and lying US officials blatantly accuse Iran of lying.

As we see despite all deals and multiple talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US attitude towards talks and their outcomes are totally oppressive, hounding and cruel," Khamenei added.

Enemies must know if bullying works elsewhere in the world, it won't work regarding Iran, the Iranian leader said.

Retreat has no place when it comes to our national interests, Khamenei underlined.
Tehran, Iran, September 17

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

In the case of the nuclear deal, Iran is given the upper hand against the United States, for it can use a possible US violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to put the world face to face with Washington, a senior Iranian political professor believes.

The suspension of sanctions against Iran comes as a weak point with the US. Because the agreement was not sealed between Iran and the US alone, but with five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the political representative of the European Union, and Germany, Davud Hermidas Bavand told Trend September 17.

The deal was sealed as a support and guarantee for the benefit of the international community. It was approved by the Security Council, and the International Atomic Energy Agency also regularly admits Irans commitment to it.

The University of Tehran international relations professor then said that according to the UN Security Council regulations, all members should be committed to the councils resolutions, therefore the US cannot walk out of the JCPOA.

Also, according to the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties, all governments should stay bound by the commitments of the government they replace, Bavand noted.

Therefore, Iran would be able to use this and bring the [possible] non-commitment of the US to the nuclear deal before the UN Security Council. Iran can even bring the case before the International Court of Justice.

Regarding recent US sanctions against Iran, Bavand said, The case is different with other, that is, non-nuclear sanctions. The sanctions imposed under (allegations of) support for international terrorism, missile program, human rights, Irans foreign policy, or the role of the Revolution Guards is founded on different ground.

This week, while President Donald Trump extended a sanctions relief on Iran in a move preserve the 2015 nuclear deal, the House of Representatives voted to pose new sanctions on Iranian entities.

The moves come in advance of President Donald Trump's first appearance at the United Nations General Assembly next week.

Trump plans to sign off on a new Iran policy in advance of the gathering of world leaders, but officials said he is delaying a final decision on pulling out of the 2015 deal to curtail Iran's nuclear program.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 17

By Farhad Daneshvar, Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

Senior officials from more than 100 countries including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are attending the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

In the meantime, the signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/ nuclear deal) are expected to attend a meeting to discuss the latest developments regarding the implementation of the nuclear accord.

Mostafa Derayati, an Iranian pro-reform activist and commentator told Trend that Rouhanis trip to New York can be of high value to help safeguard the nuclear deal.

Iran should make attempt to preserve the trust that it has built over its nuclear program. One way to do that is to stay committed to its obligations under the JCPOA. The other is for Iran to enhance its level of relations with other countries, especially countries with a role in the deal.

This is while the US President Donald Trump continues to make threating remarks against the nuclear deal which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the world powers including the US.

"You'll see what I'm going to be doing very shortly in October," Trump told reporters on September 15. "The Iran deal is one of the worst deals I've ever seen.

In the meantime, there are unconfirmed reports suggesting that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart Rex Tillerson may meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

While many describe a possible meeting between Iranian and American diplomats as an opportunity for de-escalation between the two nations, a group of commentators believe that such a meeting would leave no impact on the disturbed ties as the new US policy towards Iran sounds too hostile.

Earlier in June Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the House Foreign Relations Committee that the Trump administrations Iran policy included the intention to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government.

Coming to the nuclear deal and the question whether the US will walk away from the deal, many suggest that such a decision would harm the US itself.

These groups of commentators say that the US is very likely to keep the deal but it will step up pressure on Iran in order to prevent Iran from benefiting from the nuclear accord.

In accordance with the law, the Trump administration has declared Iran compliant of the nuclear deal, twice, so far.

Nonetheless, President Trump has threatened with the declaration of Irans non-compliancy, for the next review in October.

I believe that the US will continue to declare Iran compliant, but it will couple this with more non-nuclear sanctions and angry rhetoric, Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, earlier told Trend.

In this case most Western companies and banks will be discouraged from doing business in Iran.

However, Europeans, so far, have shown interest in cooperation with Iran as they consider the Middle Eastern nation as an untapped market and that is why they have voiced their interest in protecting the deal.

Derayati believes that the US administration is doing whatever it can to find a way to declare Iran in breach of the deal and then withdraw from the accord on account of Irans non-commitment.

Iran should engage in stronger and stronger relations with the world in order to prevent the US from achieving that, or at least to make it costly for the US, he noted, adding that by reaching out to the world, Rouhani can undermine the grounds on which Trump plans to stage his anti-Iran claims.
The Syrian government troops and their allies liberated two southeastern districts of the city of Deir ez-Zor from Daesh terror group and reached the Euphrates river, a source in the operation headquarters told Sputnik on Sunday.

"The army reached the Euphrates, having liberated [two] districts On the east side, the militants were forced to retreat from the airbase at a distance of more than five kilometers [over three miles]," the source said.

According to the source, the terrorists retreated to the city of Al Mayadin while some of them crossed the Euphrates and sheltered in the northern part of Deir ez-Zor.

Although last week the three-year Daesh siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor was broken the fighting to fully liberate the area is still underway.

The successful Deir ez-Zor operation was the biggest breakthrough against Daesh since the terrorist group first launched an offensive in the province. The terrorists had been blockading Deir ez-Zor since 2014, with food and other supplies only being airlifted into the city. The group also took control over a large swath of the province of Deir ez-Zor and cut off roads to government-held districts.
Greek police fired tear gas at protesters who hurled petrol bombs in Athens on Saturday during a rally marking four years since the killing of an anti-fascism rapper by an ultranationalist Golden Dawn supporter, Reuters reported.

The killing of Pavlos Fyssas, who performed under the stage name Killah P, had sparked protests across Greece and led to an investigation into Golden Dawn for evidence linking it to violent attacks. A trial of party members is continuing.

Clashes broke out on Saturday after dozens of hooded demonstrators broke off from a march of about 2,000 people, including activists and migrants, towards the Golden Dawn offices in central Athens.

Protesters shouted Pavlos is alive! Crush the Nazis! and held up banners demanding the partys offices are shut down and its members are jailed.

Police buses and officers in riot gear blocked the column from reaching the building.

A second rally to mark Fyssass death anniversary on Sept. 18 has been called for Monday in the working-class neighborhood of Keratsini where he was stabbed to death.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a phone conversation on Saturday to discuss the situation in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its official Facebook page, TASS reported.

The two top diplomats discussed "the current situation in the Syrian settlement, including tasks of anti-terrorism struggle "on the ground," implementation of decisions made during the international meeting on Syria in Astana on September 14-15 and preparations for another round of political process in Geneva," the ministry said.

Lavrov and Tillerson also discussed the situation in Ukraine, including "the need to step up effort in implementing the Minsk Agreements on settling the crisis in southeastern Ukraine."

The conversation was held at the US sides initiative.

During the previous phone talk that took place on Friday, the Russian and US top diplomats discussed the de-escalation zones in Syria, which became the focus of the sixth round of Syrian reconciliation talks in the Kazakh capital Astana on September 14-15.

The seventh round of consultations in scheduled for late October. It will focus on the efficiency of de-escalation zones.
The UN Security Council will hold a ministerial meeting to discuss the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on September 21, a spokesman for Russias UN mission told TASS on Saturday, TASS reported.

"The US put forward an initiative before the UN Security Council to hold the councils meeting on September 21, during the high-level segment of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly devoted to fight against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," the Russian missions press secretary, Fyodor Strzhizhovsky, said.

"The UNSC is expected to consider the implementation of relevant resolutions of the Council, measures to improve it, as well as practical measures to influence the states that violate those decisions," he continued.

The session was tentatively scheduled for 15:30 New York time on September 21.

Earlier on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reported that the UN Security Council will gather on a meeting to discuss North Koreas missile and nuclear programs on a request from the United States.

On September 15, the UN Security Council hold an emergency meeting over another missile launch by North Korea, which took place four days after the adoption of Resolution 2375, which toughens sanctions against Pyongyang. The participants of the meeting adopted a joint statement that condemned the North Korean leaderships provocative steps and stressed the need to fully comply with all sanctions imposed on the country.
After Brexit, the United Kingdom will propose to the European Union a new security agreement that will focus on the fight against terrorism, a high-ranking source in the UK government told Sputnik.

According to the source, the official proposal would be made on Monday with the agreement seeking to lay the foundation for the continuation of cooperation in the spheres of security, criminal procedure and law enforcement after Brexit.

The new security agreement must be based on the principles shared by both London and Brussels including high standards of data protection and protection of human rights, the source said. The deal must also include the mechanism of settlement of disputes, the source added.
UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Sunday that the terror threat level in the United Kingdom has been lowered from "critical" to "severe", Sputnik reported.

"The Joint Terrorist Analysis Center, which reviews the threat level that the UK is under has decided to lower that level from 'critical' to 'severe', Rudd said in an interview with the BBC broadcaster.

Earlier in the day, the Metropolitan police said it had arrested a second suspect believed to be linked to the blast that went off in a carriage at Parsons Green on Friday. The 21-year old man was detained in west London late on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, police arrested the first suspect in the port area of Dover in the Kent County in the southeast of England. The 18-year-old man was placed in custody and was expected to be transferred to a south London police station.

The both men are deemed to be linked to the Parsons Green explosion that left 29 people wounded. Shortly after the blast, the threat level in the UK was raised to "critical."

London police said they regarded the blast as a terrorist attack. Daesh reportedly claimed responsibility for the blast.

The London bombing is the third attack in the British capital thus far in 2017. In June, a trio of Daesh-associated Islamic extremists conducted a van-ramming attack on London bridge, killing eight before being shot dead by police.
Popular Nigerian comedian Ajebo finally proposes to his long time sweetheart, Uchechi Kamalu on her birthday in Dubai.

The comedian was said to have taken his girlfriend for a vacation in Dubai, when he decided to pop the question and immediately she said yes. Ajebo was on a boat cruise with is lover when he proposed to her.

He took to his Instagram handle on Saturday, September 16, to post several pictures with his bae and the caption:

Comedian Ajebo with his sweetheart in Dubai

READ ALSO: Singer Muma Gee opens a can of worms, says ex-hubby proposed to 4 ladies while they were still married

I always wanted to have a best friend for a wife.. God gave me more.. SHE SAID YES!! I love you @uchae_kalu My wife, My friend.

See his post below:

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

Congratulations!

Watch Legit.ng video below:

Source: Legit.ng
People can intuitively recognise small numbers up to four; however, when calculating they depend on the assistance of language. In this respect, the fascinating research question ensues: how do multilingual people solve arithmetical tasks presented to them in different languages of which they have a very good command? The question will gain in importance in the future, as an increasingly globalised job market and accelerated migration will mean that ever more people seek work and study outside of the linguistic area of their home countries.

This question was investigated by a research team led by Dr Amandine Van Rinsveld and Professor Dr Christine Schiltz from the Cognitive Science and Assessment Institute (COSA) at the University of Luxembourg. For the purpose of the study, the researchers recruited subjects with Luxembourgish as their mother tongue, who successfully completed their schooling in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and continued their academic studies in francophone universities in Belgium. Thus, the study subjects mastered both the German and French languages perfectly. As Luxembourger students, they took maths classes in primary schools in German and then in secondary schools in French.

In two separate test situations, the study participants had to solve very simple and a bit more complex addition tasks, both in German and French. In the tests it became evident that the subjects were able to solve simple addition tasks equally well in both languages. However, for complex addition in French, they required more time than with an identical task in German. Moreover, they made more errors when attempting to solve tasks in French.

During the tests, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure the brain activity of the subjects. This demonstrated that, depending on the language used, different brain regions were activated. With addition tasks in German, a small speech region in the left temporal lobe was activated. When solving complex calculatory tasks in French, additional parts of the subjects' brains responsible for processing visual information, were involved. However, during the complex calculations in French, the subjects additionally fell back on figurative thinking. The experiments do not provide any evidence that the subjects translated the tasks they were confronted with from French into German, in order to solve the problem. While the test subjects were able to solve German tasks on the basis of the classic, familiar numerical-verbal brain areas, this system proved not to be sufficiently viable in the second language of instruction, in this case French. To solve the arithmetic tasks in French, the test subjects had to systematically fall back on other thought processes, not observed so far in monolingual persons.

The study documents for the first time, with the help of brain activity measurements and imaging techniques, the demonstrable cognitive "extra effort" required for solving arithmetic tasks in the second language of instruction. The research results clearly show that calculatory processes are directly affected by language.

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BancorpSouth (BXS) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

The Obama-Trump bull market on Wall Street is the second-longest in history, spanning more than eight years. In fact, the broader market performed exceptionally well since Donald Trump was elected as the President driven by expectations of tax reforms and deregulation. The post-election rally was also supported by steady economic recovery and corporate earnings.

Wall Street, in the meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief after hurricane Irma changed its course and eased fears of widespread devastation in Florida. Investors were also relieved as tensions between the United States and North Korea didn't escalate following a national holiday in the rogue nation (read more: Obama-Trump Bull Run is the Second Best Ever: Top 5 Gainers).

Banking on such bullish trends, the equity market is poised to gain traction in the long term. Thus, investing in Vanguard Large-Cap Growth mutual funds seems to be judicious. Investors can click here to see the complete list of Vanguard funds, their Zacks Rank and past performance.

Why Invest in Vanguard Large-Cap Growth Mutual Funds?

Funds having significant exposure to growth securities are believed to provide higher returns. This is because growth stocks are high quality stocks with the potential for revenue and earnings growth at a rate faster than the industry average.

Large-cap growth mutual funds, in the meanwhile, provide excellent opportunities to investors who choose long-term capital appreciation and steady returns over dividend payouts. Large-cap funds are ideal for investors seeking high returns that come with lower risk than small-cap and mid-cap funds.

But, why Vanguard? This is because some of the oldest and best large-cap growth mutual funds belong to this prestigious fund house. Apart from being one of the leading investment management companies in the world, Vanguard is also popular among investors for its low-cost funds. The company offers nearly 300 low-cost funds, which attract a significant portion of investor assets (read more: Vanguard vs Fidelity: Fee War Heats Up).

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Vanguard is also distinctively different from the other mutual fund companies because it is owned by the funds. The company believes that this structure helps management focus better on shareholder interests. Typical investment management companies are owned by outside stockholders. These companies have to charge fees to pay their owners, which can dent investors returns.

And, why mutual funds rather than stocks? Reduced transaction costs and diversification of portfolios without the several commission charges that are associated with stock purchases are the primary reasons why investors should park their money in mutual funds (read more: Mutual Funds: Advantages, Disadvantages, and How They Make Investors Money).

4 Solid Choices

We have, thus, suggested four Vanguard Large-Cap Growth mutual funds for enticing returns in the long run, while they are also low cost.

Incepted in December 1968,Vanguard Morgan Growth Investor VMRGX, with a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy), seeks long-term growth of capital. VMRGX invests mainly in the stocks of large U.S. companies whose revenues or earnings are expected to grow faster than those of the average company in the market. The fund distributes dividends and capital gains in December.

The Vanguard Morgan Growth Investor fund, managed by Vanguard Group, carries an expense ratio of 0.38%, way lower than the category average of 1.13% (read more: Mutual Fund Pitfalls, Mind the Expense Ratio).

Moreover, VMRGX requires a minimal initial investment of $3,000. VMRGX has three-month and YTD returns of 11.8% and nearly 22%, respectively. VMRGXs performance, as of the last filing, when compared to funds in its category was in the top 18.9% in a year, top 12.3% over the past three years, and in the 15.5% over the past five years.

Incepted in November 1992,Vanguard Growth Index Investor VIGRX, with a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1, seeks long-term growth of capital. VIGRX holds all of the stocks in the unmanaged Standard and Poor's Growth Index in approximately the same proportions as those stocks represent in the index. The fund distributes dividends quarterly in March, June, September and December. Capital gains are distributed annually in December.

The Vanguard Growth Index Investor fund, managed by Vanguard Group, carries an expense ratio of 0.18%, way lower than the category average of 1.13%.

Furthermore, VIGRX requires a minimal initial investment of $3,000. VIGRX has three-month and YTD returns of 4% and 20.2%, respectively. VIGRXs performance, as of the last filing, when compared to funds in its category was in the top 17.4% in a year, top 11.5% over the past three years, and in the 14.9% over the past five years.

Incepted in November 1984,Vanguard PRIMECAP Investor VPMCX, with a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2 (Buy), seeks long-term capital appreciation. VPMCX invests in stocks considered to have above-average earnings growth and its portfolio consists predominantly of large capitalization stocks. Dividends and capital gains, if any, are distributed annually in December.

The Vanguard PRIMECAP Investor fund, managed by Vanguard Group, carries an expense ratio of 0.39%, way lower than the category average of 1.13%.

Additionally, VPMCX requires a minimal initial investment of $3,000. VPMCX has three-month and YTD returns of 3.4% and 18.4%, respectively. VPMCXs performance, as of the last filing, when compared to funds in its category was in the top 17.7% in a year, top 9.6% over the past three years, and in the 16.1% over the past five years.

Incepted in January 1959,Vanguard US Growth Investor VWUSX, with a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2, seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation. VWUSX invests mainly in large-capitalization stocks of U.S. companies considered to have above-average earnings growth potential and reasonable stock prices in comparison with expected earnings. The fund distributes dividends and capital gains in December.

The Vanguard US Growth Investor fund, managed by Vanguard Group, carries an expense ratio of 0.46%, lower than the category average of 1.13%.

Moreover, VWUSX requires a minimal initial investment of $3,000. VWUSX has three-month and YTD returns of 6.2% and 23.6%, respectively. VWUSXs performance, as of the last filing, when compared to funds in its category was in the top 15.9% in a year, top 12% over the past three years, and in the 16.1% over the past five years.

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WASHINGTON  One of the congressional committees probing whether President Donald Trumps campaign colluded with Russia in last years election expects public testimony from Trumps eldest son and may subpoena the presidents former campaign chairman, two key figures in the ongoing investigations, according to the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Donald Trump Jr. is expected to testify some time this fall, Feinstein said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union. I know that for sure.

Feinstein is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of several congressional committees investigating ties between Trumps team and Russia last year, in addition to an independent investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Staffers on the committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), conducted a private interview with Trump Jr. earlier this month about his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer.

Trump Jr. arranged the meeting, which was also attended by then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, after being promised dirt on his fathers opponent, Hillary Clinton. According to emails released by Trump Jr., he was told that the information was connected to a Russian government effort to help his father.

I think its Sen. Grassleys intent, and certainly my intent, to have him before the committee in the open, and be able to ask some questions under oath, Feinstein said Sunday.

She also affirmed that the committee is likely to subpoena Manafort if he refuses to come before the committee.

Manafort has shown a reluctance to cooperate with the committee, which previously issued a subpoena in July but dropped it after Manafort agreed to hand over documents related to the investigation, while continuing to work out an agreement to have him testify at a later date.

His foreign business dealings, as well as lobbying work for pro-Russia groups, have made him a prominent figure in the multiple investigations.

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Last month, Muellers probe reportedly issued subpoenas for two of Manaforts former aides.

Muellers team is also looking into Trump Jr.s meeting and the extent of the presidents knowledge of and involvement in it.

Feinstein stressed on Sunday that while the investigations are moving forward, they could take a long time to complete.

This could take a year, a year and a half, if not more, so I think people have to be patient, she said.

Also on HuffPost

Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump's eldest son

Donald Trump Jr. arrives at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 06: (AFP OUT) White House senior adviser Jared Kushner smiles during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on June 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty Images)

Paul Manafort, Trump's then-campaign chairman

UNITED STATES - JULY 19: Paul Manafort, advisor to Donald Trump, is seen on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian lawyer

A picture taken on November 8, 2016 shows Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya posing during an interview in Moscow. The bombshell revelation that President Donald Trump's oldest son Don Jr. met with a Kremlin-tied Russian lawyer hawking damaging material on Hillary Clinton has taken suspicions of election collusion with Moscow to a new level. / AFP PHOTO / Kommersant Photo / Yury MARTYANOV / Russia OUT (Photo credit should read YURY MARTYANOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Rob Goldstone, music publicist

MIAMI BEACH, FL - DECEMBER 31: Rob Goldstone (center), with his client, Russian singer Emin Agalarov (left), and Sheila Agalarova (right), attends New Years Eve And Birthday Party For Irina Agalarova at Barton G on December 31, 2014 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for Irina Agalarov)

Anatoli Samochornov, Russian-American interpreter

Anatoli Samochornov (right) interprets at a New York Public Library event with journalists Masha Gessen and Svetlana Alexievich in 2016.

Ike Kaveladze, Russian businessman

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
It may only be a matter of time before the board of Equifax Inc. (EFX) fires its long-time chair and chief executive, Rick Smith. However, the move cannot come too soon to satisfy investors, regulators and customers. All the problems that built up to the hacking of 143 million Equifax accounts happened on his watch.

Smith threw two Equifax executives under the bus. Chief Information Officer Susan Maulin and Chief Security Officer David Webb have retired. However, neither is among Equifax's most senior management. The executives at the top of Equifax have been protected, for now.

ALSO READ: 10 Ways to Build $1 Million by Retirement

As it announced the retirements, the company released minute details of the history of the hack. Equifax first learned about "suspicious network traffic" on July 29. On August 2, Equifax hired cybersecurity firm Mandiant. It took weeks until Equifax told its customers that much of their personal data was at great risk. As part of the company's timeline of the debacle, management said:

The incident potentially impacts personal information relating to 143 million U.S. consumers  primarily names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver's license numbers.

The hack trouble will trigger, at the very least, class action suits by customers against the company; congressional investigations, which have already begun; and probes and legal actions by state attorneys general. New York State has started an investigation.

ALSO READ: 10 Reasons Berkshire Hathaway Is a Screaming Buy

Smith is to blame on at least two counts: the fact that the hack could happen at all, and the fact that the company took so long to disclose it. Equifax, given the sensitivity of the data its gathers and holds, should have data protection provisions that are among the best in the world. Customers should have been warned about the problem early in the investigation, even if only to flag what might or might not be coming.

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Smith likely will be protected because he has been entrenched so long as CEO, since 2005. He runs an undistinguished board made up primarily of retired CEOs, second-tier executives at large companies, and small financial firm leaders and entrepreneurs. The pressure on them to "retire" Smith will grow by the day.

ALSO READ: 6 Top Contrarian Calls With Markets at Record Highs

Another reason Smith needs to go is that the board has to do what it can to arrest the drop in the Equifax share price. The stock trades near a 52-week low of about $93, down from a 52-week high around $147. With each new revelation about the cause of the problem, the lack of preventive measures and the company's potential liabilities, the shares have much further to skid. Morgan Stanley analysts speculated more bad news could push shares down to $50.

Taken together, all the bad news means that Smith probably will be gone soon. It cannot happen too fast if the company wants to build even a small measure of confidence in its present and its future.

Related Articles
By Dustin Volz and Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Equifax said on Friday that it made changes in its top management as part of its review of a massive data breach, with two technology and security executives leaving the company "effective immediately." The credit-monitoring company announced the changes in a press release that gave its most detailed public response to date of the discovery of the data breach on July 29 and the actions it has since taken. The statement came on a day when Equifax's share price continued to slide following a week of relentless criticism over its response to the data breach, Lawmakers, regulators and consumers have complained that Equifax's response to the breach, which exposed sensitive data like Social Security numbers of up to 143 million people, had been slow, inadequate and confusing. Equifax on Friday said that Susan Mauldin, chief security officer, and David Webb, chief information officer, were retiring. The company named Mark Rohrwasser as interim chief information office and Russ Ayres as interim chief security officer, saying in its statement, "The personnel changes are effective immediately." Rohrwasser has led the company's international IT operations, and Ayres was a vice president in the IT organization. The company also confirmed that Mandiant, the threat intelligence arm of the cyber firm FireEye, has been brought on to help investigate the breach. It said Mandiant was brought in on Aug. 2 after Equifax's security team initially observed "suspicious network traffic" on July 29. The company has hired public relations companies DJE Holdings and McGinn and Company to manage its response to the hack, PR Week reported. Equifax and the two PR firms declined to comment on the report. Equifax's share prices has fallen by more than a third since the company disclosed the hack on Sept. 7. Shares shed 3.8 percent on Friday to close at $92.98. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has built a reputation as a fierce consumer champion, kicked off a new round of attacks on Equifax on Friday by introducing a bill along with 11 other senators to allow consumers to freeze their credit for free. A credit freeze prevents thieves from applying for a loan using another person's information. Warren also signaled in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency she helped create in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, that it may require extra powers to ensure closer federal oversight of credit reporting agencies. Warren also wrote letters to Equifax and rival credit monitoring agencies TransUnion and Experian, federal regulators and the Government Accountability Office to see if new federal legislation was needed to protect consumers. Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and more than 30 others in a state group investigating the breach acknowledged that Equifax has agreed to give free credit monitoring to hack victims but pressed the company to stop collecting any money to monitor or freeze credit. "Selling a fee-based product that competes with Equifax's own free offer of credit monitoring services to victims of Equifax's own data breach is unfair," Jepsen said. Also on Friday, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate subcommittee on Social Security urged Social Security Administration to consider nullifying its contract with Equifax and consider making the company ineligible for future government contracts. The two senators, Republican Bill Cassidy and Democrat Sherrod Brown, said they were concerned that personal information maintained by the Social Security Administration may also be at risk because the agency worked with Equifax to build its E-Authentication security platform. Equifax has reported that for 2016, state and federal governments accounted for 5 percent of its total revenue of $3.1 billion. 400,000 BRITONS AFFECTED Equifax, which disclosed the breach more than a month after it learned of it on July 29, said at the time that thieves may have stolen the personal information of 143 million Americans in one of the largest hacks ever. The problem is not restricted to the United States. Equifax said on Friday that data on up to 400,000 Britons was stolen in the hack because it was stored in the United States. The data included names, email addresses and telephone numbers but not street addresses or financial data, Equifax said. Canada's privacy commissioner said on Friday that it has launched an investigation into the data breach. Equifax is still working to determine the number of Canadians affected, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said in a statement. (Reporting by Dustin Volz and Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by Chris Sanders, Michelle Price and Jim Finkle; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
Alphabets GOOGL Google is set to become the latest company to dive into the fast-growing digital payments market in India. An Indian publication called The Ken has reported that the company has set Sep 18 as the date for its launch event in New Delhi. The app will reportedly be called Tez meaning fast in Hindi.

Google has built the app with the Indian context in mind although there are plans for later expansion to other Southeast Asian markets. So it will support the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for peer-to-peer mobile transactions launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI is a payments system that allows money transfer between any two bank accounts with registered mobile numbers and doesnt require you to enter credit/debit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords.

Available for desktops, as a Chrome widget, as an app on Google Play Store, or a part of its new OS (and part of future updates thereon), it will also support other consumer facing payment services like Paytm and MobiKwik.

But its a crowded market Google is entering where Paytm is the leader (50%+ market share, 100 million odd users) with many other smaller players like Tencent-backed Hike Messenger, MobiKwik, Flipkarts PhonePe, FreeCharge, Oxigen, Citrus Pay, PayU, ItzCash, Reliances Jio Money and Ola Money.

There are also international players like Truecaller, Uber and Amazon AMZN Pay. Additionally, Facebook FB and WhatsApp are working with the NPCI for a UPI-enabled payments platform.

But Why Is Everyone Flocking to the Market?

Huge growth potential: According to the trade body GSMA and the Boston Consulting Group (some sites say the study was done not by GSMA but Google), the digital payment market in India will grow rapidly over the next few years to touch $500 billion and constitute 15% of Indias GDP by 2020. By then, non-cash payment methods (cheques, demand drafts, net-banking, credit/debit cards, mobile wallets and UPI) will double to 40% of total consumer payments.

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With 81% of Indian digital payment users preferring it to other payment methods, its currently expected that 90% of Indian consumers will likely use digital payments for both online as well as offline transactions. So it isnt surprising that not just technology companies with their mobile wallets, but also telecoms, banks and e-commerce companies are jumping in.

A KPMG survey of over 320 Indians across a wide cross section of people showed that 26-35 year-olds were the most likely to go for digital transactions with men more comfortable with them than women. The firm found that while 88% people preferred digital transactions a lack of awareness and security concerns weighed on peoples minds. Around 78% of respondents felt that a strong cashless ecosystem was essential for adoption of digital payments.

Government initiatives: Government initiatives is perhaps the biggest reason for the expected growth because there are a number of infrastructure, security and other considerations that need to be implemented by the government to facilitate adoption of a digital payments system.

Moreover, since India is basically a cash-based economy, it will take a time to change this habit and the government is actually the best positioned to award incentives. The current leadership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm has taken a number of steps to realize his Digital India dream.

The first of these was bringing more of the unbanked population into the banking system (200 million people were brought into the banking system) and dispensing government benefits through these accounts.

The second was launching a digital payments app called BHIM (Bharat Interface For Money) linking Aadhar card details (includes biometrics for identification), which was downloaded more than 17 million times in the first two months after launch (KPMG). The government is launching two schemes to incentivize individuals with a referral bonus and merchants with a cash back facility that should spur further adoption.

The third was bringing Aadhar Pay, which is an Aadhar-enabled payment terminals for merchants helping customers to buy things using biometrics identification through these terminals even when they have no debit cards, mobile wallets, and mobile phones. The current target is to install 2 million terminals supporting UPI, USSD, Aadhaar Pay, IMPS and debit cards in the fiscal year ending March 2018.

Fourth, government bodies are building the infrastructure that could enable them to accept digital payments.

Fifth, the government is considering making it mandatory for operations likepetrol pumps, fertiliser depots, municipalities, block offices, road transport offices, universities, colleges, hospitals and other institutions to have facilities for digital payments, especially beyond a certain limit.

Sixth, the government advised the SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) to extend unsecured credit to small and tiny enterprises based on their digital transaction history.

Demonetization: The Indian government sprung a demonetization surprise in November last year, wherein 86% of the cash in the economy was withdrawn. The paucity of cash led to increased digital transactions and introduced the concept to many. This is expected to have a lasting effect on the move to digital transactions.

Favorable Demographics: India is home to around 1.25 billion people, or 18% of the global population. With only 26% of the Indian population accessing the Internet in 2016, the country was one of the biggest online markets with over 348 million Internet users, second only to China. By 2021, the Indian Internet user base is forecasted to reach 555.3 million, or a 44% penetration. (Euromonitor estimates)

Last Words

Suramya Gupta, manager of the SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Fund is very upbeat about the digital payments market in India. While his fund is focused on startups in back-end operations, he says, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the front-end or the customer-facing end of the payments engine in India will be owned by very large, very deep-pocketed players. The companies he mentions include Reliance Jio; Paytm, now supported by Softbank and Alibaba BABA; Amazon; WhatsApp; Facebook and Google.

Googles greatest strength is in the fact that 97% of the Indian smartphone market uses its Android OS. So it can easily preload the payments software or push it out as an update on stock Android phones. The company recently tied up with Xiaomi, the number two smartphone vendor in the country to launch an Android One phone. Motorola also sells a stock Android device, but has a much smaller user base.

Worldwide, Google hasnt done that well in payments, given that the 2015 launch of Android Pay reportedly has just a quarter of the users as Apple Pay, according to a 2017 study by Juniper. The research firm estimates that Apple Pay will hit 86 million users in 2017 globally, up from 45 million in 2016

It simply wont do for Google to lose significant share to either Apple AAPL, or one of the local Indian players.

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Didgeridoo players get together for a jam in Bellbird Park in Australia. (Study Queensland Photo)

Now heres news you can use: To stop snoring, try playing the Australian didgeridoo.

The scientists who demonstrated that regular playing of the elongated wind instrument could serve as an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea and snoring were among the honorees at this weeks Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University.

The 27th first annual ceremony also paid tribute to research studies that looked into whether cats are best classified as a solid or a liquid (with inconclusive results) and why old men have big ears (its complicated).

The Ig Nobels are presented annually by the Annals of Improbable Research and its improbably ingenious editor, Marc Abrahams, who serves as master of ceremonies. They recognize achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. They also serve as a humorous riff on the much more serious Nobel Prizes.

About 1,100 spectators attended Thursday nights awards ceremony at Harvards Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. The prize announcements were punctuated by paper airplane fly-offs, presentations by genuine Nobel laureates, and pleas from an 8-year-old girl to please stop when the acceptance speeches went over 60 seconds.

The recognition for the big-ear research was a long time coming  22 years, to be precise. To scratch a scientific itch, British physician James Heathcote and his colleagues measured the ears of more than 200 patients and found that their average length grew about 2 millimeters per decade after age 30.

Although mens and womens ears all grow with age, womens ears are smaller to begin with and tend not to be as noticeable beneath the longer hair typically sported by the female sex.

Heathcote flew in from London for the ceremony. Its a strange honor, but Im thrilled, he told The Associated Press.

The cat study was even stranger: French physicist Marc-Antoine Fardin applied the principles of fluid dynamics to see whether supple felines can conform to their containers so well that theyd fit the scientific metrics for liquids rather than solids. Fardin found that the question was hard to answer, in part because cats are active rather than passive materials.

Story continues

Much more work remains ahead, he wrote in a paper published by Rheology Bulletin.

Ig Noble winner: "On the rheology of cats is a real research paper about the apparent fluidity of cats sitting inside things << Brilliant! pic.twitter.com/qaPHrk6gdN  Mark Riedl (@mark_riedl) September 15, 2017

The sleep study, conducted by researchers in Switzerland, found that patients with moderate sleep apnea improved their condition after playing the didgeridoo at least five days a week. Its thought that the therapeutic effect comes from learning a playing technique known as circular breathing.

A follow-up study suggested that playing a double-reed wind instrument such as the oboe can have a similar effect. However, experts caution that the findings are highly preliminary, and that patients with significant sleep problems shouldnt depend solely on the didgeridoo.

No one should discontinue CPAP on the basis of these studies, medical researcher Vicki Thon said in an advisory from the American Sleep Apnea Association.

Heres the full list of 2017 Ig Nobel Prizes and citations:

The Ig Nobel Prizes are typically handed out just before the real Nobels are announced. For what its worth, therell be a gap of more than two weeks this time around: 2017s Nobel laureates will be revealed starting Oct. 2.

More from GeekWire:
* Trump had accused Iran of violating "spirit" of deal

* President Rouhani urges U.S. to abandon hostile policies (Adds comments from Tillerson, paragraphs 10-11)

DUBAI, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Iran will not be bullied by the United States and will react strongly to any "wrong move" by Washington on Tehran's nuclear deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran was violating "the spirit" of the 2015 deal under which it got sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear programme.

State television quoted Khamenei as saying Iran was standing firm "and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the (nuclear accord) will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic."

Washington extended some sanctions relief for Iran on Thursday under the nuclear deal with world powers, but said it had yet to decide whether to maintain the agreement.

Trump must make a decision by mid-October whether to certify that Iran is complying with the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). If he does not, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions.

"Today, despite all the commitments and discussions in the negotiations, America's attitude towards these negotiations and their outcome is completely unjust and amounts to bullying," Khamenei said in a speech to Iranian police academy graduates.

"The Americans should know ...there will be no retreat by the Islamic Republic."

The Foreign Ministry in Tehran condemned as "continued Iranophobia" Washington's move on Thursday to impose sanctions on 11 individuals and firms, including two based in Ukraine, state news agency IRNA reported.

The U.S. Treasury accused the 11 of supporting Iran's ballistic missile programme or its Revolutionary Guards, or engaging in cyber attacks against the U.S. financial system.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday he believed Iran was in technical compliance with the nuclear deal but had stepped up destabilizing activities in Yemen and Syria and continued to have an active ballistic missile program.

Story continues

"None of that, I believe, is consistent with that preamble commitment that was made by everyone" in the nuclear deal, he told CBS' "Face the Nation."

ROUHANI INVITATION

Iran said last month it could abandon the nuclear agreement "within hours" if the United States imposed any new penalties, after Washington ordered unilateral sanctions over Tehran's ballistic missile tests.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, speaking on Sunday before leaving to attend a U.N General Assembly meeting in New York, said Washington should join the countries that continued to support the nuclear deal, which he compared to a dinner party.

"They can choose the right path and also enter the room where the food is served. We would not have a problem with that," IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying.

The United States imposed unilateral sanctions, saying Tehran's ballistic missile tests violated a U.N. resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal and called on Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying the missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.

(Reporting By Dubai newsroom; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Susan Fenton and Peter Cooney)
A New Jersey man has been awarded $750,000 after a surviving a sip of beer tainted with caustic chemicals that severely burned his esophagus and stomach and nearly left him for dead.

Richard Washart was awarded $650,000 for pain and suffering and $100,000 for emotional distress by a jury Friday, his attorney Paul DAmato said, according to the Associated Press.

The incident happened at a McCormick & Schmicks restaurant in Harrahs casino in Atlantic City. Washart sued the restaurant, who in turn blamed a company it uses to clean its beer tap lines, Kramer Beverage Co. Harrahs was not involved in the lawsuit.

Kramer Beverage denied being at the restaurant when Washart drank the beer on Nov. 6, 2012, but was still ordered to pay half the award along with McCormick & Schmicks.

The restaurants parent company, Landrys Inc., said it had done nothing wrong and will appeal the ruling.

Landry insists that Kramer Beverage obviously made a mistake, which resulted in Mr. Washarts claims, according to the companys general counsel, Steve Scheinthal, the AP reported.

There is a problem in America today when you can do nothing wrong but still be found liable for the action of another, he said.

The trial evidence simply does not support the verdict against McCormick & Schmicks, Scheinthal added. We will of course appeal the verdict and expect to be absolved of any liability in this matter.

Washart claimed to have taken one gulp of the beer he was served and immediately began to feel burning pain, according to the AP.

After running to the bathroom he projectile vomited six times and could not drink water from the faucet because of the severe pain in his mouth and throat, according to the report.

Washart eventually began to vomit blood and went to the hospital where a doctor said he had never seen a patient survive with such severe burns to the esophagus and stomach, the AP reported.

Story continues

Washart, a former Ocean City police lieutenant who resides in Seaville, was hospitalized for six days.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
Pakistani cellphone users read a text message circulated by telecoms authorities reminding them that sharing blasphemous content is an offence and asking them to report such messages (AFP Photo/AAMIR QURESHI) (AFP/File)

A Pakistani Christian man has been sentenced to death for blasphemy after he sent a Muslim friend a poem on WhatsApp that insulted Islam, a lawyer said Friday.

Nadeem James was charged in July last year after his Muslim friend Yasir Bashir complained to police that he received a poem on the messaging app that was derogatory toward the Prophet Mohammed and other holy figures.

"James was handed a death sentence by the court on Thursday on blasphemy charges," defence lawyer Anjum Wakeel told AFP.

"My client will appeal the sentence in the high court as he has been framed by his friend who was annoyed over James' affair with a Muslim girl," Wakeel said.

He said the trial was held inside a prison due to security reasons after local Muslim clerics had threatened James and his family.

Court officials confirmed the sentence.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where even unproven allegations can stir beatings and mob violence.

In 2014 a Christian couple were lynched then burnt in a kiln in Punjab province after being falsely accused of desecrating the Koran.

Rights groups have said the laws are routinely abused to seek vengeance.
In this undated photo released by 22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson is seen. Wilson acquitted Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man who was fatally shot following a high-speed chase in 2011. (22nd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri via AP)

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A judge's decision to acquit an officer of murder in the death of a black suspect came down to two major questions: Did the officer plant a gun, and did his outburst about killing the man seconds before the shooting signal premeditation?

St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson determined Friday that prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jason Stockley's use of deadly force was not justifiable self-defense. Anthony Lamar Smith was killed in the 2011 encounter.

"Ultimately when people argue about this case, they are going to be arguing whether the judge drew the right conclusion from the evidence and probably less about the law," said Ben Trachtenberg, an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri.

Here's a look at how the judge parsed those arguments in his ruling :

___

DID THE OFFICER PLANT THE GUN?

The officers were investigating what appeared to be a drug transaction in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. The car sped away and a high-speed chase ensued. Police slammed their SUV into Smith's car. Stockley then got out and fired five shots into Smith's car, killing him. A handgun was found in the car after the shooting.

Prosecutors argued the presence of Stockley's DNA  and absence of Smith's DNA  on the gun proved the gun must have been planted by the officer. They also noted curious details after the shooting, including Stockley digging into a bag in the back seat of the police SUV before returning to Smith's car.

Related:

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

But the defense countered that Stockley heard his partner yell "gun" and saw the driver's hand on a gun as the car sped by him. Stockley testified he did not draw his service weapon and fire until he saw Smith reaching around inside the vehicle after it was stopped. He said Smith changed his demeanor, suggesting he found the gun.

Story continues

Stockley testified that after the shooting he found the gun tucked down between the seat and the center console, and he rendered the gun safe by unloading cartridges from the cylinder and then left the gun and cartridges on the passenger seat.

In his ruling, Wilson wrote that "a fact issue that is central" to the case is whether Smith had the gun when he was shot. He found the state's contention that the officer planted the gun is not supported by evidence.

As for Stockley digging around in a bag in the police SUV, Stockley testified that he retrieved a "quick clot" pack, a medical item designed to stop serious bleeding, and put it in his shirt pocket. In the police video showing Stockley looking in the bag, a viewer can't see what he's doing or what he might have taken out of the bag.

The judge found the idea that Stockley took a gun from the police SUV to Smith's car not credible. A full-sized revolver was too large for the officer to hide in his pants pockets and he was not wearing a jacket, the judge said. If the gun had been tucked into his belt, it would have been visible on a bystander's video that showed Stockley walking between the police car and Smith's car, he found.

Wilson also noted none of the officers standing next to the vehicle were called to testify that Stockley planted a gun. And he recounted witness testimony that the absence of a person's DNA on a gun does not mean that person did not touch the gun.

"Finally, the Court observes, based on its nearly thirty years on the bench, that an urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly," the judge wrote.

___

DID THE OFFICER'S OUTBURST INDICATE PREMEDITATION?

Smith drove at speeds of up to 87 miles per hour on wet roads, endangering other drivers and pedestrians. About 45 seconds before the chase ended, police dashcam video captured Stockley saying, "going to kill this (expletive), don't you know it."

Prosecutors argued that statement proved the officer deliberated about killing Smith even before the pursuit ended.

When questioned about his statement at trial, Stockley said he could not remember saying those words. The ruling noted Stockley testified he had not made a decision to kill Smith and could not recall the context in which the statement was made.

The judge said in his decision that it was apparent from the dashcam audio and video that the pursuit was stressful, both because of its high speed and the confusion caused by multiple radios and communications with the dispatcher.

"People say all kinds of things in the heat of the moment or while in stressful situations, and whether Stockley's statement ... constituted a real threat of action or was a means of releasing tension has to be judged by his subsequent conduct," the judge wrote.

The court does not believe the officer's conduct following the end of the pursuit is consistent with the conduct of a person intentionally killing another person unlawfully, Wilson wrote. He noted testimony by the state's witnesses that Stockley ordered Smith to open the door and show his hands.

It was not until 15 seconds after Stockley arrived the driver's side door that he took his service weapon out of its holster and fired several shots.

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Ben Trachtenberg's last name, which had been misspelled Trachtenbert.

___

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Ryanair has been plagued by a pilot shortage that has led it to axe thousands of flights in Europe (AFP Photo/PASCAL PAVANI) (AFP/File)

London (AFP) - Ryanair announced Friday it was cancelling between 1,680 and 2,100 flights over the next six weeks in a bid to "improve punctuality", sparking outrage from passengers who suddenly have to make new travel plans.

The Irish low-cost airline said it would scrap 40 to 50 flights daily -- "less than two percent" of its flying programme -- to address problems caused by air traffic control (ATC) delays and strikes, weather disruption and a change in the holiday schedules of pilots and cabin crews.

Throughout the day on Friday, the Ryanair Twitter feed was filled with complaints from passengers who had their flights cancelled, with one describing the lack of notice an "absolute disgrace" and another saying it was "shocking".

"We apologise sincerely to the small number of customers affected by these cancellations, and will be doing our utmost to arrange alternative flights and/or full refunds for them," the airline's head of communications, Robin Kiely, said in a statement.

He explained: "We have operated a record schedule and traffic numbers during the peak summer months of July and August but must now allocate annual leave to pilots and cabin crew in September and October while still running the bulk of our summer schedule.

"This increased leave at a time of ATC capacity delays and strikes (in France), has severely reduced our on-time performance over the past two weeks to under 80 percent.

"By cancelling less than two percent of our flying programme over the next six weeks, until our winter schedule starts in early November, we can improve the operational resilience of our schedules and restore punctuality to our annualised target of 90 percent."
(Adds nationalist rally in Istanbul)

ANKARA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi this week to discuss their concerns about an independence referendum in Iraq's Kurdish region.

Turkey, the United States and other Western powers have advised authorities in the semi-autonomous region to cancel the vote, worrying that tensions it would generate might act as an unwelcome distraction from the war on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

With the largest Kurdish population in the region, Turkey also fears that a "Yes" vote would fuel separatism in its southeast, where militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have waged an insurgency for three decades.

Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said on Friday the referendum would go ahead as planned on Sept. 25.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday before departing for New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, Erdogan said Ankara and Baghdad had the same view regarding the referendum.

"We will have a meeting with Mr Abadi in the United States, and from what we can see our goal is the same. Our goal is not dividing Iraq," said Erdogan, who earlier said that Barzani's decision to not postpone the vote was "very wrong".

Late on Saturday Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the referendum was an issue of national security and Turkey would take any necessary steps in response.

In Istanbul, close to a thousand people gathered to protest the inclusion of Kirkuk in the referendum, at an event organised by the nationalist opposition MHP party.

Kirkuk, an oil-rich province claimed by authorities in both Baghdad and the Kurdish region, was included after its governor, Najmaddin Kareem, voted in favour of taking part.

Iraq's parliament voted on Thursday to remove the governor from office following a request from Abadi, according to several lawmakers present, a move Barzani condemned.

Last month, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said the referendum should be viewed by Ankara as a reason for war "if necessary", but the prime minister dismissed the comments.

Story continues

Bahceli's ideas reflect those of a segment of Turkish society fiercely opposed to the idea of an independent Kurdistan and supportive of Iraq's Turkmen ethnic minority, which has historical and cultural ties to Turkey.

With Barzani pressing on with the referendum, Erdogan said the Turkish government had brought forward planned national security council and cabinet meetings to Sept. 22 and that Turkey would announce its position on the referendum afterwards.

Turkey has, however, built good relations with Barzani's administration, founded on strong economic links and shared suspicions of other Kurdish groups and Iraq's central government.

The Kurdish Regional Government, led by Barzani's KDP party, exports hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil every day to world markets via Turkey.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Sunday called on the country's leading politicians to start urgent dialogue to defuse tensions linked to the referendum plans.

Masum, a Kurd, holds a largely ceremonial position under the Iraqi federal power-sharing regime, which concentrates executive powers in the hands of the prime minister, a Shi'ite. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Omer Berberoglu; Editing by David Goodman and John Stonestreet)
Without a doubt, investors are eagerly awaiting an Uber IPO, and this particular debut would be massive for both the company and Wall Street. But when the ride hailing giant finally does go public, will it ever live up to the hype?

By now, I think we all know what Uber is, what it does, and how it makes our lives easier. Have too many groceries? Get an Uber. Too drunk? Get an Uber. Stressful day at work? Uber. Like magicnow, its really an expectationany transportation woes vanish with the digital sight of a car heading your way.

Launched only seven years ago, Uber Technologies Inc. is an app-based transportation company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It operates in about 270 cities and more than 60 countries worldwide, and as of this June, Uber completed 5 billion total trips. Using the app is easy: just type in your current location, where you want to go, and hit request Uber. From there, Uber uses its app to receive its ride requests, sending them out to drivers who transport customers to their final destination.

Increased Competition

The emergence of on-demand rides has become a popular business venture all over the world, but it has proved difficult for companies to break away from the congested pack. At the end of 2015, Sidecar, another on-demand car service, officially stopped offering rides and deliveries.

Companies like Lyft, Curb, Southeast Asia-based Grab, Indias Ola, and especially Chinas Didi Chuxing have all started to eat into the ride-hailing market share, becoming huge competitors for Uber. Didi was arguably Ubers biggest threat overseas, and the ride-sharing giant conceded defeat last August, selling its UberChina operations to Didi and ending an expensive, bruising battle between the two companies.

Even Alphabet Inc. GOOGL is becoming a threat to Uber, with plans to make its self-driving cars unit a stand-alone business. This initiative could put the company in direct competition with Uber, as the lack of a driver could keep costs down in the long-term. The companys Google division also recently began a pilot program with Waze, a company they acquired in 2013, that enables thousands of San Francisco commuters to join carpools; Waze also offers real-time driving directions based on information from other drivers.

Story continues

Self-Driving, Uber Style

But Uber is right on Googles heels, and as self-driving car technology becomes more commercially available, Uber has been constantly beefing up its business strategies focused on autonomous driving. Back in September, it began testing its self-driving Ford F Fusions in Pittsburgh; engineers rode in the drivers seat, ready to take over whenever things got tricky.

Uber then introduced self-driving Volvo XC90s to San Francisco in December, and riders who requested an uberX were matched with one of these vehicles if one was available. Just days later, however, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registrations for its self-driving cars, as the company didnt have the proper permits.

But Uber being Uber, the fleet of Volvos were on their way to Arizona within days. Uber already operates a self-driving car program in the state, and back in 2015, partnered with the University of Arizona to research mapping technology.

Uber also recently acquired car start-up Otto, which specializes in self-driving trucks. Otto is a 90-person company, and its co-founder, Anthony Levandowski, will now lead Uber into the self-driving car market. Impressively, Otto engineers have worked at Tesla Motors TSLA, Apple AAPL, and Google, and with this knowledge and expertise, Uber is bound to be a top player in the self-driving car industry.

Controversy

While Uber has seen great success, its journey has been a bumpy one. The company has been in and out of the news thanks to a number of recent legal (Alphabet is currently suing them for theft of its self-driving car technology), publicity (note the companys sexual harassment scandal and resignation of former CEO Travis Kalanick), and many other headlines in a number of countries. From noncompliance issues in New York City to regulatory concerns and lack of driver background checks, Uber has drawn scrutiny and criticism, and has even been banned in The Netherlands and in parts of Thailand, India, and China.

It's no secret that traditional taxi services are not happy with the rise of Uber and other ride-hailing companies, and many argue that Uber should be subject to the same regulations that they face. In dozens of cities it has moved in to, Uber has faced intense opposition, lobbying, and legal challenges against it from these taxi companies.

Uber has also been embroiled in a long-standing battle with its drivers. A group of drivers first sued the company back in 2013, claiming they should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. As a result, Uber had been set to pay up to $100 million in reimbursement damages to almost 400,000 drivers, but recently, a federal judge in California ruled that the settlement was unfair.

While the saying goes any publicity is good publicity, Ubers misfortunes may have finally caught up to them. Its safe to say that the company invokes strong feelings and opinions, many of which arent too positive. Uber is still losing a ton of money, too. The company lost over $1 billion in the first half of 2016, with losses totaling $2.8 billion last year. And in the first three months of this year, it lost $708 million.

However, Uber gained as much revenue as it lost during the first half of last year, and total revenues for 2016 came in at $6.5 billion. Gross bookings hit $20 billion, more than doubling from the year prior. Despite constant negative press, Ubers ability to grow sales and raise exorbitant amounts of cash is incredibly impressive for a company who is less than a decade old, and this skill makes Uber that much more attractive to venture capital investors.

IPO Potential

Without a doubt, investors are eagerly awaiting an Uber IPO. New CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently said that the company should go public in the next 18 to 36 months, and one of his priories as Ubers chief executive is to pay the bills.

If and when Uber finally decides to go public, its potential would depend on the broader IPO market and economic environment. According to Renaissance Capital, IPOs only raised a paltry $18.9 billion in 2016, with annual proceeds falling to the lowest level since 2003. Just four companies filed public offerings that grossed over $1 billion.

Looking ahead, its difficult to pinpoint how busy the IPO market will be this year. Snap Inc. SNAP, the parent company of Snapchat, finally made that giant step in March, and meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron APRN just went public at the end of June to an underwhelming start. Its hard to say what, and if any, other high-profile unicornsi.e. Spotify, Pinterest, Airbnbwill follow. And recent high-growth IPOs like Twilio Inc. TWLO and Nutanix NTNX have traded strongly since their debut, a good sign for tech companies everywhere looking to IPO.

An IPO for Uber could be massive for both the company and Wall Street. Its currently valued at around $68 billion after a total of 16 rounds of funding worth $11.56 billion since its launch. And thanks to Ubers structurea unique combination of transportation company, mobile Internet company, and real world engineeringthe company has been touted as one of the best future IPOs.

Its IPO, then, could go either way, but let one number stay in your mind: $68 billion. Let me write that again: $68 billion. This number is a hard one to forget, and a figure that will be on the forefront of many investors minds come the time of its public offering, as it impressively showcases just how far this startup has come in a few short years.

Zacks' 2017 IPO Watch List

Before looking into the stocks mentioned above, you may want to get a head start on potential tech IPOs that are popping up on Zacks' radar. Imagine being in the first wave of investors to jump on a company with almost unlimited growth potential? This Special Report gives you the current scoop on 5 that may go public at any time.

One has driven from 0 to a $68 billion valuation in 8 years. Four others are a little less obvious but already show jaw-dropping growth. Download this IPO Watch List today for free >>



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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
Sunday, September 17, 2017

Kristine Phillips for the Washington Post reports that the California Senate yesterday passed Senate Bill 54, the Values Act, legislation that would limit local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments, from cooperating with federal immigration officials. It also forbids law enforcement from inquiring about a persons immigration status.

The California Values Act provides an expansive protection to the states undocumented population, estimated to be about 2.7 million, at a time when the Trump administration continues to aggressively enforce the immigration laws and challenge so-called "sanctuary cities"  communities that limit local law enforcements cooperation with federal immigration agents.

The California State Sheriffs Association opposed the Values Act, claiming that limiting public safety agencies ability to cooperate with federal immigration agents places communities at risk.

he Sacramento Bee provides further information about the Values Act. Senate Bill 54 will place limitations on how state and local law enforcement officials can communicate and coordinate with federal immigration authorities. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said the measure is needed now more than ever in light of President Donald Trumps decision to step up immigration enforcement and end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Californians will not squander precious public safety dollars to tear families apart, take Dreamers or deport people who have helped California become the sixth largest economy in the world, de Leon said. This is a message, no doubt, to Washington, D.C., that we will protect the hardworking people of our communities.



Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article173695386.html#storylink=cpy

KJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2017/09/in-message-of-defiance-to-trump-lawmakers-vote-to-make-california-a-sanctuary-state.html
According to the reports from various parts of Iran, the regime has been eliminating the signs of this MEK genocide in several cities including Ahvaz (southwestern Iran), Mashhad (northeast), Isfahan (center of Iran), Tabriz and Ardabil (northwestern), etc. They seek to destroy the mass graves of MEK members so that the families could not pay tribute to their loved ones the way they have been doing for years in various ways such as cementing the graves or removing the garbage and so on.

The Iranian regime also destroyed the mass graves of MEK martyrs in Vadi-e Rahmat Cemetery of Tabriz under the pretext of carrying out construction projects. Moreover, the supporters of the MEK distributed the pictures and videos of grave destruction on the internet on June 23 2018. The news of such crime has been also posted in forms of pictures on Vadi-e Rahmat Cemetery Telegram Channel on September 11, 2017.

As the Iran regime admitted, the construction project includes a total area of 4500 square meters. The procedures consist of excavating operations, rolling, leveling and fitting, pouring concrete, building walls, gridding, installing light pylons. Three companies and the Supervision of Tabriz Civil Engineering Department launched this project and the Cemetery Organization of Tabriz Municipality is the employer.

As the satellite TV of the Iranian resistance, Simay Azadi Channel released photos and videos on the destruction of graves, the Iranian regime also destroyed a MEK mass grave in Sowmeeh Sara, Gilan Province. One of the supporters of the MEK who visited this location, reports:

I went to the cemetery in which the MEK martyrs of the massacre of 1988 are buried. I took photos of the graves of townspeople but I could not find the graves of MEK martyrs. Nevertheless, I saw a mechanical excavator behind the cemetery amidst the tall trees where the MEK martyrs are buried. As the people said, this excavator is operating to make roads.

He added, The cemetery of MEK martyrs is exactly located behind these tall trees, as the supporters of the MEK released pictures of this area. They are currently destroying the cemetery. While a Justice Seeking movement is formed to try the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of MEK and non MEK affiliates, the Iranian regime intends to eliminate the signs of such brutal crime.

Iran Regime Destroys the Graves of the Martyrs Killed in the Massacre of 1988

Watch this video on YouTube

The Justice Seeking movement calls for the disclosure of secrets about the 1988 massacre, therefore, the perpetrators have to answer the following questions:

1. The full name of MEK and non MEK affiliates who were executed.

2. How many MEK and non MEK affiliates were killed in each city and province?

3. The mothers of those executed shall know where their loved ones are buried and where the address of mass graves is.

4. At the end, if these criminals are proud of such crime against the humanity, then why do not they reveal the names of the members of death committees in different provinces?

It is noteworthy that in June this year a Call for urgent action to prevent destruction of 1988 massacre (mainly MEK members and sympathizers) evidence was made by Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in which it stated:

During the past few days the mullahs regime in the city of Tabriz, northwest Iran, has begun a campaign of vandalizing graves of members of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) executed back in the 1980s, especially those massacred during the summer of 1988. These now destroyed graves were in the Rahmat Valley Cemetery. To this point the graves of 75 MEK martyrs, including Akbar Choopani and Soraya Abolfathi, who was executed while pregnant, have been vandalized.

Iranian intelligence has supervised measures placing 10 centimeters of cement and leveling the grounds in the cemetery to destroy all evidence of such a martyrs cemetery. They have also placed a sign reading, Leveling the childrens block and installed a number of gravestones in the area where the cement has been poured, to prevent any sign of the gravesite destruction. Attached images provide signs of the machinery used, the vandalized gravestone, and various phases of cement pouring and the placing of new gravestones.

Last month in Mashhad, northeast Iran, mass graves of PMOI/MEK martyrs in the Beheshte Reza cemetery were also vandalized.

In the city of Ahvaz, southwest Iran, city authorities have been widening a road near a cemetery in order to vandalize martyrs graves. Signs of tumbled bodies in a mass grave previously covered with cement were seen as the digging began in the area of phase 2 of Padadshahr and the Bankdar Boulevard in this city. Authorities quickly covered the mass grave with dirt and continued to widen the road.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Situation in Iran to condemn this inhumane act and take urgent action to prevent the destruction of such evidence of previous mass executions and massacre of political prisoners mainly MEK members, especially those of 1988. Irans ruling dictators must face justice for their crimes against humanity and 120,000 political executions.
The Asian American population is growing faster than any other major ethnic or racial group.

From 2010 to 2016, 42 percent of the 8.1 million people who came to the United States from a foreign country were from Asia. Thirty-eight percent came from Latin America, 8.6 percent from Europe, and 8 percent from Africa.

This information comes from a new U.S. Census Bureau report.

Asian Americans lead in income and education

For 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau said Asian Americans had the highest median annual income of all ethnic and racial groups. The median income for Asians was $81,431, about the same as 2015.

That compared to a median income of $59,039 for all Americans.

Pew said the U.S. Asian population is also better educated.

About half of Asians 25 and older have a college degree. That compares to 30 percent among all Americans over age 25, Pew said.

Along with education, the Pew study also noted a high level of English language skill among Asians.

Seven of 10 Asians in the United States, ages 5 and up, speak English proficiently, the study said. U.S.-born Asian Americans are more likely to speak English well than foreign-born Asians.

Stephanie Wong is chapter and membership associate with OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates.

She said the information from the Census Bureau is somewhat misleading because it puts Asian Americans from many different backgrounds into one group.

The Asian American population is very diverse, Wong said. She suspects some Asian Americans do not receive public or private assistance because of the mistaken belief all Asian Americans are doing well economically.

To point out the diverse economic backgrounds of Asian Americans, the Pew Research Center looked at income levels for people from different Asian countries.

In 2015, it said that Indian American households had a median income of $100,000, the highest among Asian Americans. For Filipino-Americans, the median household income was $80,000.

But the Pew report said eight of the 19 Asian groups it examined had higher poverty rates than the U.S. average. They included the Hmong, Bhutanese and Burmese.

Twenty-one million and growing

The Asian American population now stands just short of 21 million people, the Census Bureau reported. That represents just over 6 percent of the American population.

In a recent report, the Pew Research Center said Asian Americans likely will become the largest immigrant group in the United States.

In 50 years, Asians should make up 38 percent of all U.S. immigrants, overtaking the current largest immigrant group, Hispanics, the Pew Center said.

William Frey researches urban populations, immigration and other issues for the Brookings Institution, a research center based in Washington D.C. He said immigration policies that support educated immigrants are likely to help Asians.

But he said changes in American immigration policy could affect immigration from Asia, as well as other parts of the world.

President Donald Trump and some Republicans in Congress have proposed a bill calling on America to reduce the number of legal immigrants admitted into the U.S. each year. They also want to give a preference to well-educated immigrants and/or those with job offers.

Asian Americans come from 20 nations

Asian American people come from more than 20 countries in East and Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Each has its own history, language and culture.

Some of the biggest growth came from Bhutan, Nepal and Burma, the Pew center reported.

But China continues to be the largest country of origin for Asian Americans. Chinese Americans numbered 4.9 million in 2015, or 24 percent of Asian Americans, Pew reported.

Pew said that India is number two, with nearly 4 million people listing it as their country of origin. The other leading countries of origin for Asian Americans are the Philippines, 3.9 million; Vietnam, nearly 2 million; Korea, 1.8 million; Japan, 1.4 million; and Pakistan, 519,000.

Im Bruce Alpert.

And I'm Jill Robbins.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

census - n. the official process of counting the number of people in a country, city, or town and collecting information about them

median annual income - n. the middle value from a series of yearly earnings from smallest to largest over one year

misleading - adj. not necessarily true

diverse -- adj. including many different groups

preference - n. having an advantage

origin - n. where someone came from

proficiently  adv. good at doing something

chapter - n. the people in a certain area who make up one section of a large organization

associate - n. a member of a group or organization who is at a level that is below the highest level
Most people do not have a high opinion of bats.

Bats often appear in movies and literature as terrifying creatures to be avoided.

The animals have even been linked in popular culture to vampires, seeking to attack and drink the blood of human victims.

In reality, bats are usually not a threat to people. Like other wild animals, some bats can carry the dangerous virus rabies. But bats can do good things for people and the environment.

For example, bats eat a lot of different insects that can harm our environment. They can also pollinate plants and spread seeds.

But a serious disease is currently threatening the bat population in many parts of the United States. The disease is a fungus called white-nose syndrome. It has killed more than 6 million bats across North America since 2007.

Bats catch the fungus through their skin while resting on the walls of mountain caves. Biologist Lindsay Rohrbaugh says the disease spreads quickly and can lead to strange behavior in bats.

Bats are arousing more often than they are supposed to be during hibernation. And when they do that, they are unable to find food, and they unfortunately die.

In Washington D.C., researchers are studying how white-nose syndrome is affecting the areas nine species of bats. Some scientists are trapping bats on an island in the middle of the Anacostia River to test for the disease. The group is receiving federal money to help carry out their studies.

Marco Carvello is with the D.C. governments Department of Energy and Environment. He says scientists are concerned that the disease is continuing to greatly reduce the bat population.

They typically have one pup a year when they reproduce. So, thats another reason that white-nose has been so detrimental. They don't have a lot of babies.

The bat deaths are affecting the quality of human life in many ways, according to Lindsay Rohrbaugh.

Without bats, we are seeing an increase of mosquitoes and other pests that are decimating food sources for us. And I think thats only going to get worse over time if we dont find some way to protect the species that we have left.

One theory is that some bats are no longer returning to caves to avoid getting sick. This means more of them are now making their way into cities, where contact with humans is more likely.

Experts advise people to keep away from bats in case they are infected with rabies. Instead, they say animal control officers should be called to come and safely remove the animals.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Veronica Balderas Iglesias and Erika Celeste reported on this story for VOA News. Bryan Lynn adapted their report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

vampire  n. dead person who leaves the grave at night to bite and suck the blood of living people

pollinate  v. to carry pollen from a male part of a flower to the female part of another flower

fungus  n. type of plant that gets its food from other living or decaying things

hibernate  v. to spend the winter sleeping or resting

cave  n. large hole naturally formed in the side of a mountain or under the ground

rouse  v. to wake up from sleep

pup  n. a young dog

detrimental  n. causing damage or injury

pest  animal or insect that causes damage to plants or food

decimate  v. to destroy large numbers of things
Sixteen years after the United States launched its war on terrorism, there are concerns that parts of the war have not succeeded.

Some experts and U.S. government officials believe the country may be losing what they call the battle of ideas.

Michael McCaul is a member of the House of Representatives and head of its Homeland Security Committee.

McCaul notes that the U.S. military has used drone aircraft to kill jihadists and others sharply opposed to the West.

We have been able to stop and prevent a lot of (terror) plots from happening in the United States, he says. But he adds that drone strikes alone cant win a war of ideology.

Current and former U.S. officials say the country has tried hard to fight propaganda that fuels groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. But they admit the results of the efforts have not been good.

White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert says he is alarmed at the spreading of the ideology. He spoke at a security conference earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

Weve got upwards of 17 or 18 nation states that might be failed, or viewed as close to failing, and they have a strong presence of either ISIS or al-Qaida or other groups, Bossert said. That is a troubling development.

Some U.S. officials once believed the problems would end with a military victory against Islamic State fighters in the Middle East. They believed that after the groups self-declared caliphate collapsed, so would the appeal of the group.

But experts say the Islamic States continuing losses on the battlefield have failed to end the appeal of jihadist teachings.

In July, Dan Coats, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, told a group that were putting a stake in the heart of ISIS. He compared the effort to killing an octopus, with all the tentacles moving out to different places.

Other American efforts to directly attack Islamic State communications and ideology quickly failed. Some critics say the State Departments Think Again, Turn Away Twitter account feed was not effective or meaningful.

Since then, the government has been empowering partner organizations to help beat back the Islamic State message. Progress has been slow, but some former officials say President Donald Trump needs to give these efforts more time.

Joshua Geltzer is a former counterterrorism expert at the National Security Council. He said it seems to me theres actually been a stepping back, in particular, from some of the structures that were built to fight terrorist ideology.

Geltzer and other former officials have said they are worried about the Trump administrations plans to cut money for such programs.

But some current and former officials say there may be limits to what the U.S. government can do.

Truly altering the environment that gives rise to the terrorist threat we face, thats a much more formidable task, says Nicholas Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He added More resources are required, more time is required and more patience is required.

Some observers say there are signs that the U.S. may not even know what it wants to do.

Jasmine El-Gamal was a cultural adviser for the U.S. Armys 82nd Airborne Division in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She now works for the Atlantic Council research center in Washington.

She notes we have a very militarized view of what this battle is. When we say countering violent extremism its really counterterrorism. Its really that we use bombs, we use drones, we use armies.

A report by New Americas International Security program noted that there seems to be some conceptual confusion in the U.S. government about what countering violent extremism programs are attempting to do.

(Jihadist Terrorism 16 Years After 9/11: A Threat Assessment

https://na-production.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Terrorism_9-11_2017.pdf)

The report says turning many millions of Muslims around the world away from radical ideas  seems both a nebulous mission and one that may not be achievable.

Some experts believe American allies in the Middle East could be doing much more to help fight extremists ideology.

New America Fellow Nadia Oweidat said most Arab states are not interested in uprooting the tree, but just taking the poisonous fruits when convenient.

Many Arab states have laws against blasphemy  the act of insulting God or religion.

Oweidat notes, As long as there are blasphemy laws, you dont even dream about countering terrorism, because the very people who can take on these ideas from within -- who know the Quran by heart, people who went to school all their lives in the Middle East -- are those who would be identified as blasphemous.

Im Pete Musto. And I'm Jill Robbins.

VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

caliphate  n. the government of a caliph, a Muslim political and religious leader

stake  n. a sharp, pointed stick

octopus  n. a sea creature with eight arms

tentacle  n. one of the long arms that stick out from an octopus

alter  v. to change

formidable  adj. causing fear; creating serious difficulties

confusion  n. the feeling you have when you do not understand what is happening

nebulous  adj. not clear; difficult to understand

achievable  adj. doing something successfully

convenient  adj. letting you do something easily or without trouble

Quran  n. Islams holy book
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AbbVie Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals in the worldwide. The company offers HUMIRA, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behcet's diseases; SKYRIZI to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults; RINVOQ, a JAK inhibitor for the treatment of moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients; IMBRUVICA to treat adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and VENCLEXTA, a BCL-2 inhibitor used to treat adults with CLL or SLL; and MAVYRET to treat patients with chronic HCV genotype 1-6 infection. It also provides CREON, a pancreatic enzyme therapy for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency; Synthroid used in the treatment of hypothyroidism; Linzess/Constella to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and chronic idiopathic constipation; Lupron for the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, and patients with anemia caused by uterine fibroids; and Botox therapeutic. In addition, the company offers ORILISSA, a nonpeptide small molecule gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist for women with moderate to severe endometriosis pain; Duopa and Duodopa, a levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel to treat Parkinson's disease; Lumigan/Ganfort, a bimatoprost ophthalmic solution for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension; Ubrelvy to treat migraine with or without aura in adults; Alphagan/ Combigan, an alpha-adrenergic receptor agonist for the reduction of IOP in patients with OAG; and Restasis, a calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant to increase tear production, as well as other eye care products. AbbVie Inc. has a research collaboration with Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois.
BP, plc, once known as British Petroleum, is one of the worlds 7 oil & gas supermajors with operations spanning the globe. In terms of revenue, it ranks 4th on the list and the company is vertically integrated as well with operations in all segments of the oil and gas sector. Operations are currently underway in 80 countries around the world, the company can produce 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalents per day, and it lays claim to nearly 20 billion barrels in proven reserves. On the retail end of the business, the company operates more than 18,700 fuel stations and its largest segment is in the US.

The company was founded in 1908 with the purpose of exploring for and producing oil in the middle east. The company expanded into Alaska in 1959 and then accelerated its expansion when it merged with Amoco in 1998. Another merger with Burhman Castrol in 2000 created the company that is traded today.

BP, plc rebranded itself in 2000 giving new meaning to its name. The once British Petroleum is now Beyond Petroleum and focused on a major shift in its business. The company is working hard to move away from non-renewable carbon-based energy and into biofuels, solar, and wind. The company hopes to be net-zero in regard to carbon emissions and production by 2050 or earlier and is well on the way to doing so. Among the many avenues of advance are the build-out of solar and wind farms as well as the expansion of a major EV charging network. The network totaled more than 9,000 stations around the middle of 2022 and expansion was ramping in order to meet the goal of 100,000 EV stations before 2050.

BP p.l.c. currently operates through 4 segments including Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, Customers & Products, and Rosneft segments. The company produces and trades in natural gas and oil liquids, offers biofuels, and operates wind and solar power generating facilities. The company also provides de-carbonization solutions and services, such as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as part of its green agenda.

In addition, it produces and refines oil and gas for its downstream operations as well as invests in upstream, downstream, and alternative energy companies including advanced mobility. Advanced mobility is the future of transportation and includes technologies like EV, hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cells. To that end, the company is building 7 hydrogen production and storage hubs in key locations around the world. The company aims to produce blue and green hydrogen for the global transportation industry with production beginning in 2027. Blue hydrogen is hydrogen captured from the companys natural gas deposits using a process that captures the waste carbon.
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.
The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 13125882 Canada Inc., 211 E. Russell Road LLC, 4458664 Canada Inc., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES ASIA PTE. LTD., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES BORROWER S.C.A., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES LLC, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES MIDDLE EAST FZE, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES SERVICES LIMITED, ASTRUM IT GmbH, Accudyne Industries Acquisition S.A r.l, Accudyne Industries Canada Inc., Accudyne Industries S.A r.l., Air Dimensions, Air Dimensions Inc., Albin Pump SAS, BOC Edwards Global Low pressure Air business, CISA S.p.A., Cameron-Centrifugal Compression, Comercial Ingersoll-Rand (Chile) Limitada, Comingersoll-Comercio E Industria De Equipamentos S.A., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. 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Ltd., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oy, 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 s.r.o., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH (f/k/a ILMVAC GmbH), Gardner Denver Thomas Inc., Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Ghh-Rand Schraubenkompressoren Gmbh, HASKEL EUROPE LTD., HASKEL HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, HASKEL INTERNATIONAL LLC, Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, Haskel France SAS, Haskel Sistemas de Fluidos Espana S.R.L., Hibon Inc., Highspeed Newco LLC, Hingerose Limited, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, INGERSOLL RAND ITS JAPAN LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHANG ZHOU) TOOLS CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND (CHINA) INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., INGERSOLL-RAND CHINA LLC, INGERSOLL-RAND COMERCIO E SERVICOS DE MAQUINAS E EQUIPAMENTOS INDUSTRIAIS LTDA., INGERSOLL-RAND DE PUERTO RICO INC., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY B.V., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL SP. Z O.O., INGERSOLL-RAND INDUSTRIAL U.S. INC., INGERSOLL-RAND PHILIPPINES INC., INGERSOLL-RAND SPAIN S.A., INGERSOLL-RAND U.S. HOLDCO INC., IR HPS Holdco. 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De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Equipements De Production S.A.S., Ingersoll-Rand Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Industrial Ireland Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International (India) Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand International Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Italia S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Italiana Manufacturing S.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Korea Holding Llc, Ingersoll-Rand Korea Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments II S.A R.I., Ingersoll-Rand Lux Investments S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Luxembourg Industrial Company S.A R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Machinery (Shanghai) Company Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Malaysia Co. Sdn. Bhd., Ingersoll-Rand S.A. De C.V., Ingersoll-Rand Services And Trading Limited Liability Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Company, Ingersoll-Rand Services Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Singapore Enterprises Pte. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand South East Asia (Pte.) Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Superay Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technical And Services S.A.R.L., Ingersoll-Rand Technologies And Services Private Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Technology R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ingersoll-Rand Tool Holdings Limited, Ingersoll-Rand Trading Gmbh, Ingersoll-Rand Vietnam Company Limited, Instrum Rand JSC, Interflex Datensysteme, Ir Canada Holdings Ulc, Ir Canada Sales & Service Ulc, Ir France Sas, Kryptonite corp, Lawrence Factor Inc., LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MILTON ROY (HONG KONG) LIMITED, MILTON ROY (UK) LIMITED, MILTON ROY EUROPA B.V., MILTON ROY EUROPE SAS, MILTON ROY INDUSTRIAL (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., MILTON ROY LLC, MILTON ROY US PURCHASER INC., MP Pumps Inc., Maximum AG Technologies Inc., Maximus Solutions, Mb Air Systems Limited, Nash Elmo, Officina Meccaniche Industriali Srl, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Plurifilter D.O.O., Pt Ingersoll-Rand Indonesia, Robuschi, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, SEEPEX, Seepex (M) SDN, Seepex Australia Pty Ltd, Seepex Beteiligungs-Gesellschaft mit Beschrankter Haftung, Seepex France S.a.r.l., Seepex GmbH, Seepex Inc., Seepex India Private Ltd., Seepex Italia SRL, Seepex Japan Co. Ltd., Seepex Nordic A/S, Seepex OOO, Seepex Pumps (Shanghia) Co. Ltd., Seepex UK Ltd., Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Shanghai Ingersoll-Rand Compressor Limited, Shenzhen Bocom System Engineering Co., Superay, Syltone, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Tamrotor Marine Comp AS Norway, Tecno Matic Europe s.r.o., Thomas Industries Inc., Trane Technologies, Tri-Continent Scientific Inc., Vacuum and Blower Systems division, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zaxe Technologies Inc., Zeks Compressed Air Solutions Llc, Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, Zinsser NA Inc., and crayon interface.

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The following companies are subsidiares of PepsiCo: Alimentos Quaker Oats y Compania Limitada, Alimentos del Istmo S.A., Amavale Agricola Ltda., Anderson Hill Insurance Limited, Asia Bottlers Limited, BAESA Capital Corporation Ltd., BFY Brands, BFY Brands LLC, BFY Brands Limited, BUG de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Balmoral Industries LLC, Bare Foods Co., Barrhead LLC, Be & Cheery, Beaman Bottling Company, Bebidas Sudamerica S.A., Beech Limited, Bell Taco Funding Syndicate, Bendler Investments II Ltd, Bendler Investments S.a r.l, Beverage Services Limited, Beverages Foods & Service Industries Inc., Bishkeksut OJSC, Blaue NC S. de R.L. de C.V., Blue Cloud Distribution Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Arizona Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Arkansas Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Colorado Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Florida Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Georgia Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Illinois Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Indiana Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Iowa Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Kentucky Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Louisiana Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Minnesota Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Mississippi Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Missouri Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Nebraska Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Nevada Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of North Carolina Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Ohio Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Oklahoma Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Pennsylvania Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of South Carolina Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Tennessee Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Texas Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Virginia Inc., Blue Cloud Distribution of Wisconsin Inc., Blue Ridge Sales LLC, Bluebird Foods Limited, Bluecan Holdings Unlimited Company, Bokomo Zambia Limited, Bolsherechensky Molkombinat JSC, Boquitas Fiestas LLC, Boquitas Fiestas S.R.L., Bottling Group Financing LLC, Bottling Group Holdings LLC, Bottling Group LLC, Bronte Industries Ltd, C & I Leasing Inc., CB Manufacturing Company Inc., CEME Holdings LLC, CMC Investment Company, Caroni Investments LLC, Centro-Mediterranea de Bebidas Carbonicas PepsiCo S.L., Ceres Fruit Juices Pty Ltd, ChampBev Inc., China Concentrate Holdings Hong Kong Limited, Chipsy International for Food Industries S.A.E., Chipsy for Food Industries S.A.E., Chitos Internacional y Cia Ltda, Cipa Industrial de Produtos Alimentares Ltda., Cipa Nordeste Industrial de Produtos Alimentares Ltda., Cocina Autentica Inc., Comercializadora CMC Investment y Compania Limitada, Comercializadora Nacional SAS Ltda., Comercializadora PepsiCo Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., Compania de Bebidas PepsiCo S.L., Concentrate Holding Uruguay Pte. Ltd., Concentrate Manufacturing Singapore Pte. Ltd., Confiteria Alegro S. de R.L. de C.V., Copella Fruit Juices Limited, Copper Beech International LLC, Corina Snacks Limited, Corporativo Internacional Mexicano S. de R.L. de C.V., CytoSport Holdings Inc., CytoSport Inc., Davlyn Realty Corporation, Defosto Holdings Limited, Desarrollo Inmobiliario Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Dilexis S.A., Donon Holdings Limited, Drinkfinity USA Inc., Drinkstation Inc., Drinkstation Innovation Co. Ltd., Drinkstation Limited, Dutch Snacks Holding S.A. de C.V., Duyvis Production B.V., EPIC Enterprises Inc., Echo Bay Holdings Inc., Elaboradora Argentina de Cereales S.R.L., Enter Logistica LLC, Environ at Inverrary Partnership, Environ of Inverrary Inc., Eridanus Investments S.a r.l, Evercrisp Snack Productos de Chile S.A., FL Transportation Inc., FLI Andean LLC, FLI Colombia LLC, FLI Snacks Andean GP LLC, Fabrica PepsiCo Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Fabrica de Productos Alimenticios Rene y Cia S.C.A., Fairlight International SRL, Far East Bottlers Hong Kong Limited, Food Concepts Pioneer Ltd., Forest Akers Nederland B.V., Forty-Six Peaks Holding Inc., Fovarosi Asvanyviz es Uditoipari Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Freshwater International B.V., Frito Lay Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Frito Lay Poland Sp. z o.o., Frito Lay Sp. z o.o., Frito Lay de Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Frito-Lay Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Frito-Lay Dip Company Inc., Frito-Lay Dominicana S.A., Frito-Lay Global Investments B.V., Frito-Lay Inc., Frito-Lay Investments B.V., Frito-Lay Manufacturing LLC, Frito-Lay Netherlands Holding B.V., Frito-Lay North America Inc., Frito-Lay Sales Inc., Frito-Lay Trading Company Europe GmbH, Frito-Lay Trading Company GmbH, Frito-Lay Trading Company Poland GmbH, Frito-Lay Trinidad Unlimited, Fruko Mesrubat Sanayi Limited Sirketi, GB Czech LLC, GB International Inc., GB Russia LLC, GB Slovak LLC, GMP Manufacturing Inc., Gambrinus Investments Limited, Gamesa LLC, Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Gas Natural de Merida S. A. de C. V., Gatorade Puerto Rico Company, General Bottlers of Hungary Inc., Golden Grain Company, Goveh S.R.L., Grayhawk Leasing LLC, Green Hemlock International LLC, Grupo Frito Lay y Compania Limitada, Grupo Gamesa S. de R.L. de C.V., Grupo Mabel, Grupo Sabritas S. de R.L. de C.V., Gulkevichskiy Maslozavod JSC, Hangzhou Baicaowei Corporate Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co, Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Tao Dao Technology Co. Ltd., Health Warrior, Health Warrior Inc., Heathland LP, Helioscope Limited, Hillbrook Inc., Hillgrove Inc., Hillwood Bottling LLC, Hogganfield Limited Partnership, Holding Company "Opolie" JSC, Homefinding Company of Texas, Hudson Valley Insurance Company, IC Equities Inc., IZZE Beverage Co., Inmobiliaria Interamericana S.A. De C.V., Integrated Beverage Services Bangladesh Limited, Integrated Foods & Beverages Pvt. Ltd., International Bottlers Management Co. LLC, International KAS Aktiengesellschaft, Inversiones Borneo S.R.L., Inversiones PFI Chile Limitada, Inviting Foods Holdings Inc., Inviting Foods LLC, KAS Anorthosis S.a r.l, KAS S.L., KFC, Kevita Inc., Kinvara LLC, Kungursky Molkombinat JSC, Larragana S.L., Latin American Holdings Ltd., Latin American Snack Foods ApS, Latin Foods International LLC, Lebedyansky, Lebedyansky Holdings LLC, Lebedyansky LLC, Limited Liability Company "Sandora", Linkbay Limited, Lithuanian Snacks UAB, Mabel, Marbo Product d.o.o. Beograd, Marbo d.o.o. Laktasi, Matudis - Comercio de Produtos Alimentares Limitada, Matutano - Sociedade de Produtos Alimentares Lda., Mid-America Improvement Corporation, Mountainview Insurance Company Inc., Muscle Milk, NCJV LLC, New Bern Transport Corporation, New Century Beverage Company LLC, Noble Leasing LLC, Northeast Hot-Fill Co-op Inc., Office at Solyanka LLC, Onbiso Inversiones S.L., One World Enterprises LLC, One World Investors Inc., P-A Barbados Bottling Company LLC, P-A Bottlers Barbados SRL, P-Americas LLC, PAS Luxembourg S.a r.l, PAS Netherlands B.V., PBG Canada Holdings II LLC, PBG Canada Holdings Inc., PBG Cyprus Holdings Limited, PBG Investment Partnership, PBG Midwest Holdings S.a r.l, PBG Soda Can Holdings S.a r.l, PCBL LLC, PCNA Manufacturing Inc., PR Beverages Cyprus Holding Limited, PR Beverages Cyprus Russia Holding Limited, PRB Luxembourg S.a r.l, PRS Inc., PSAS Inversiones LLC, PSE Logistica S.R.L., PT Quaker Indonesia, Papas Chips S.A., Pei N.V., Pep Trade LLC, Pepsi B.V., Pepsi Beverages Holdings Inc., Pepsi Bottling Group Global Finance LLC, Pepsi Bottling Group GmbH, Pepsi Bottling Group Hoosiers B.V., Pepsi Bottling Holdings Inc., Pepsi Bugshan Investments S.A.E., Pepsi Cola Colombia Ltda, Pepsi Cola Egypt S.A.E., Pepsi Cola Panamericana S.R.L., Pepsi Cola Servis Ve Dagitim Limited Sirketi, Pepsi Cola Trading Ireland, Pepsi Logistics Company Inc., Pepsi Northwest Beverages LLC, Pepsi Overseas Investments Partnership, Pepsi Promotions Inc., Pepsi-Cola Advertising and Marketing Inc., Pepsi-Cola Bermuda Limited, Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Holding C.V., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company Of St. Louis Inc., Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Ft. Lauderdale-Palm Beach LLC, Pepsi-Cola Company, Pepsi-Cola Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Pepsi-Cola Far East Trade Development Co. Inc., Pepsi-Cola Finance LLC, Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers Poland Sp. z o.o., Pepsi-Cola Industrial da Amazonia Ltda., Pepsi-Cola International Cork, Pepsi-Cola International LLC, Pepsi-Cola International Limited, Pepsi-Cola International Limited U.S.A., Pepsi-Cola International Private Limited, Pepsi-Cola Korea Co. Ltd., Pepsi-Cola Management and Administrative Services Inc., Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing Company Of Uruguay S.R.L., Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing International Limited, Pepsi-Cola Manufacturing Mediterranean Limited, Pepsi-Cola Marketing Corp. Of P.R. Inc., Pepsi-Cola Mediterranean Ltd., Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Company Inc., Pepsi-Cola Mexicana Holdings LLC, Pepsi-Cola Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Pepsi-Cola National Marketing LLC, Pepsi-Cola Operating Company Of Chesapeake And Indianapolis, Pepsi-Cola Sales and Distribution Inc., Pepsi-Cola Technical Operations Inc., Pepsi-Cola Thai Trading Co. Ltd., Pepsi-Cola de Honduras S.R.L., Pepsi-Cola of Corvallis Inc., PepsiAmericas Nemzetkozi Szolgaltato Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, PepsiCo ANZ Holdings Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Alimentos Antioquia Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Colombia Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Ecuador Cia. Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos Z.F. Ltda., PepsiCo Alimentos de Bolivia S.R.L., PepsiCo Amacoco Bebidas Do Brasil Ltda., PepsiCo Asia Research & Development Center Company Limited, PepsiCo Australia Financing Cyprus Limited, PepsiCo Australia Financing Limited Partnership, PepsiCo Australia Financing Partner 1 LLC, PepsiCo Australia Financing Partner 2 LLC, PepsiCo Australia Financing Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Australia Holdings Pty Limited, PepsiCo Australia International, PepsiCo Austria Services GmbH, PepsiCo Azerbaijan Limited Liability Company, PepsiCo BeLux BV, PepsiCo Beverage Sales LLC, PepsiCo Beverage Singapore Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Beverages Bermuda Limited, PepsiCo Beverages Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo Beverages International Limited, PepsiCo Beverages Italia Societa' A Responsabilita' Limitata, PepsiCo Canada Finance LLC, PepsiCo Canada Holdings ULC, PepsiCo Canada Investment ULC, PepsiCo Canada ULC, PepsiCo Captive Holdings Inc., PepsiCo Caribbean Inc., PepsiCo China Limited, PepsiCo Consulting Polska Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo De Bolivia S.R.L., PepsiCo Del Paraguay S.R.L., PepsiCo Deutschland GmbH, PepsiCo Eesti AS, PepsiCo Euro Bermuda Limited, PepsiCo Euro Finance Antilles B.V., PepsiCo Europe Support Center S.L., PepsiCo Finance Americas Company, PepsiCo Finance Antilles A N.V., PepsiCo Finance Antilles B N.V., PepsiCo Finance South Africa Proprietary Limited, PepsiCo Financial Shared Services Inc., PepsiCo Food & Beverage Holdings Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo Foods A.I.E., PepsiCo Foods China Company Limited, PepsiCo Foods Group Pty Ltd, PepsiCo Foods Guangdong Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Nigeria Limited, PepsiCo Foods Private Limited, PepsiCo Foods Sichuan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Taiwan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Foods Vietnam Company, PepsiCo France SAS, PepsiCo Global Business Services India LLP, PepsiCo Global Business Services Poland Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo Global Holdings Limited, PepsiCo Global Investments B.V., PepsiCo Global Investments S.a r.l, PepsiCo Global Mobility LLC, PepsiCo Global Real Estate Inc., PepsiCo Global Trading Solutions Unlimited Company, PepsiCo Golden Holdings Inc., PepsiCo Group Finance International B.V., PepsiCo Group Holdings International B.V., PepsiCo Group Spotswood Holdings S.a r.l, PepsiCo Gulf International FZE, PepsiCo Hellas Single Member Industrial and Commercial Societe Anonyme, PepsiCo Holding de Espana S.L., PepsiCo Holdings, PepsiCo Holdings LLC, PepsiCo Holdings Toshkent LLC, PepsiCo Hong Kong LLC, PepsiCo Iberia Servicios Centrales S.L., PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited, PepsiCo India Sales Private Limited, PepsiCo Internacional Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V., PepsiCo International Hong Kong Limited, PepsiCo International Limited, PepsiCo International Pte Ltd., PepsiCo Investments Europe I B.V., PepsiCo Investments Ltd., PepsiCo Ireland Food & Beverages Unlimited Company, PepsiCo Japan Co. Ltd., PepsiCo Light B.V., PepsiCo Logistyka Sp. z o.o., PepsiCo Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., PepsiCo Management Services SAS, PepsiCo Manufacturing A.I.E., PepsiCo Max B.V., PepsiCo Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., PepsiCo Nederland B.V., PepsiCo Nordic Denmark ApS, PepsiCo Nordic Finland Oy, PepsiCo Nordic Norway AS, PepsiCo Nutrition Trading DMCC, PepsiCo One B.V., PepsiCo Overseas Corporation, PepsiCo Overseas Financing Partnership, PepsiCo Panimex Inc, PepsiCo Products B.V., PepsiCo Products FLLC, PepsiCo Puerto Rico Inc., PepsiCo Sales Inc., PepsiCo Sales LLC, PepsiCo Services Asia Ltd., PepsiCo Services CZ s.r.o., PepsiCo Services LLC, PepsiCo Twist B.V., PepsiCo UK Pension Plan Trustee Limited, PepsiCo Ventures B.V., PepsiCo Wave Holdings LLC, PepsiCo World Trading Company Inc., PepsiCo Y LLC, PepsiCo de Argentina S.R.L., PepsiCo de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., PepsiCo do Brasil Industria e Comercio de Alimentos Ltda., PepsiCo do Brasil Ltda., PepsiCola Interamericana de Guatemala S.A., Pet Iberia S.L., Pete & Johnny Limited, Pine International LLC, Pine International Limited, Pinstripe Leasing LLC, Pioneer Food Group Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Groceries Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Group Ltd., Pioneer Foods Holdings Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods Pty Ltd, Pioneer Foods UK Ltd, Pioneer Foods Wellingtons Pty Ltd, Pipers Crisps Limited, PlayCo Inc., Pop corners, PopCorners Holdings Inc., Portfolio Concentrate Solutions Unlimited Company, Premier Nutrition Trading L.L.C., Prestwick LLC, Prev PepsiCo Sociedade Previdenciaria, Productos Alimenticios Rene LLC, Productos S.A.S. C.V., Productos SAS Management B.V., Punch N.V., Punica Getranke GmbH, Q O Puerto Rico Inc., QFL OHQ Sdn. Bhd., QTG Development Inc., QTG Services Inc., Quadrant - Amroq Beverages S.R.L., Quaker Development B.V., Quaker European Beverages LLC, Quaker European Investments B.V., Quaker Foods, Quaker Global Investments B.V., Quaker Holdings UK Limited, Quaker Manufacturing LLC, Quaker Oats Asia Inc., Quaker Oats Australia Pty Ltd, Quaker Oats B.V., Quaker Oats Capital Corporation, Quaker Oats Europe Inc., Quaker Oats Europe LLC, Quaker Oats Limited, Quaker Sales & Distribution Inc, Raptas Finance S.a r.l., Rare Fare Foods LLC, Rare Fare Holdings Inc., Reading Industries Ltd, Real Estate Holdings LLC, Rockstar Energy Drink, Rolling Frito-Lay Sales LP, S & T of Mississippi Inc., SIH International LLC, SVC Logistics Inc., SVC Manufacturing Inc., SVE Russia Holdings GmbH, Sabritas LLC, Sabritas S. de R.L. de C.V., Sabritas Snacks America Latina de Nicaragua y Cia Ltda, Sabritas de Costa Rica S. de R.L., Sabritas y Cia. S en C de C.V., Sakata Rice Snacks Australia Pty Ltd, Sandora Holdings B.V., Saudi Snack Foods Company Limited, Sea Eagle International SRL, Seepoint Holdings Ltd., Senselet Food Processing PLC, Senselet Holding B.V., Servicios GBF Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Servicios GFLG y Compania Limitada, Servicios Gamesa Puerto Rico L.L.C., Servicios SYC S. de R.L. de C.V., Seven-Up Asia Inc., Seven-Up Light B.V., Seven-Up Nederland B.V., Shanghai PepsiCo Snack Company Limited, Shanghai YuHo Agricultural Development Co. Ltd, Shoebill LLC, Simba (Proprietary) Limited, Simba Proprietary Limited, Sitka Spruce, Smartfoods Inc., Smiles and Bites Holdings S.de R.L. de C.V., Smiths Crisps Limited, Snack Food Investments GmbH, Snack Food Investments II GmbH, Snack Food Investments Limited, Snack Food-Beverage Asia Products Limited, Snacks America Latina S.R.L., Snacks Guatemala Ltd., So Spark Ltd., Soda-Club CO2 Atlantic GmbH, Soda-Club CO2 GmbH, Soda-Club CO2 Ltd., Soda-Club Switzerland GmbH, Soda-Club Worldwide B.V., SodaStream, SodaStream Australia Pty Ltd, SodaStream CO2 SA, SodaStream Canada Ltd., SodaStream Enterprises N.V., SodaStream France SAS, SodaStream GmbH, SodaStream Iberia S.L., SodaStream Industries Ltd., SodaStream International B.V., SodaStream International Ltd., SodaStream Israel Ltd., SodaStream K.K., SodaStream New Zealand Ltd., SodaStream Nordics AB, SodaStream Poland Sp. z o.o., SodaStream SA Pty Ltd., SodaStream Switzerland GmbH, SodaStream USA Inc., SodaStream Osterreich GmbH, South Beach Beverage Company Inc., South Properties Inc., Spitz International Inc., Sportmex Internacional S.A. de C.V., Springboig Industries Ltd, Spruce Limited, Stacy's Pita Chip Company Incorporated, Star Foods E.M. S.R.L., Stokely-Van Camp Inc., Stratosphere Communications Pty Ltd, Stratosphere Holdings 2018 Limited, Streamfoods Ltd, TFL Holdings LLC, Tasman Finance S.a r.l, The Gatorade Company, The Good Carb Food Company Ltd., The Pepsi Bottling Group Canada ULC, The Quaker Oats Company, The Smith's Snackfood Company Pty Limited, Thomond Group Holdings Limited, Tobago Snack Holdings LLC, Tropicana Alvalle S.L., Tropicana Beverages Limited, Tropicana Europe N.V., Tropicana United Kingdom Limited, Troya-Ultra LLC, United Foods Companies Restaurantes S.A., V-Water, VentureCo Israel Ltd, Veurne Snack Foods BV, Vitamin Brands Ltd., Walkers Crisps Limited, Walkers Group Limited, Walkers Snack Foods Limited, Walkers Snacks Distribution Limited, Walkers Snacks Limited, Whitman Corporation, Whitman Insurance Co. Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann Beverages JSC, Wimm-Bill-Dann Brands Co. Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann Central Asia-Almaty LLP, Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods LLC, Wimm-Bill-Dann Georgia Ltd., Wimm-Bill-Dann JSC, and Wimm-Bill-Dann Ukraine PJSC.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Marsh & McLennan Companies: 8WORKS INC., 8WORKS LTD, A. Constantinidi & CIA. S.C., A.C.N. 000 951 146 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 001 572 961 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 076 935 683 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 102 322 574 Pty Limited, ACE Insurance Agents Limited, ACE Insurance Consultants Limited, ACE Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Limited, AD Corretora de Seguros, AFCO Premium Acceptance Inc., AFCO Premium Credit LLC, Access Equity Enhanced Fund GP LLC, Admiral Holdings Limited, Agnew Higgins Pickering & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd, Aldgate Investments Limited, Aldgate Trustees Ltd, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited, Alpha Consultants Limited, Alta SA, Altius Real Assets (GP) LLC, Amal Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Anda Insurance Agencies Pte Ltd, AssetVal Pty Ltd, Assur Conseils Marsh S.A., Assurance Capital Corporation, Assurance Services Corporation, Australian Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Australian World Underwriters Pty Ltd., BBPS Limited, Barney & Barney Orange County LLC, Beaumonts (Leeds) Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Services Limited, Beneficios Integrales Oportunos SA, Benefitfocus Inc., Blue Marble Micro Limited, Blue Marble Microinsurance Inc., Bluefin, Bluefin Insurance Group Limited, Bluefin Insurance Services Limited, Boulder Claims LLC, Bowring (Bermuda) Investments Ltd., Bowring Marine Limited, Bowring Marsh (Bermuda) Ltd., Bowring Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Bowring Marsh Asia Pte. Ltd., Bowring Marsh Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Bowring Marsh Limited, Broderick Piller Pty Ltd, Broker 2 Broker Limited, BuildPay LLC, Burke Ford Trustees (Leicester) Limited, C.T. Bowring Limited, CMC-Belgibo NV, CPRM Limited, CPSG Partners LLC, Carpenter Marsh Fac Chile Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Carpenter Marsh Fac Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Carpenter Marsh Fac Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.C., Carpenter Marsh Fac Re LLC, Carpenter Turner Cyprus Ltd, Carpenter Turner S.A., Cascade International Holdings C.V., Cascade Regional Holdings Limited, Central Insurance Services Limited, Charter Risk Management Services LLC, Chartwell Healthcare Limited, Chronos Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Claims and Recovery Management (Australia) Pty Limited, Clark Thomson Insurance Brokers Limited, Client Provide Limited, Colombian Insurance Broking Wholesale Limited, Consultores 2020 C.A., Cronin & Co Insurance Services Limited, DVA - Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs GmbH, Dawson Insurance, DeLima Marsh S.A. - Los Corredores de Seguros S.A., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Managing General Agency Corporation, Dovetail Technology Service India Private Limited, Draw Connect Limited, Draw Create Limited, Draw Group London Limited, Eagle & Crown Limited, Echelon Australia Pty Limited, Echelon Claims Consultants Sdn Bhd, Echelon New Zealand Limited, EnBW Versicherungs Vermittlung GmbH, Encompass Insurance Agency Pty Ltd., English Pension Trustees Limited, Epsilon (US) Insurance Company, Epsilon Insurance Company Ltd., Eustis Insurance & Benefits, Evolution Management Ltd, Exchange Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Exmoor Management Company Limited, Faulkner & Flynn LLC, Freedom Trust Services Limited, GC Genesis LLC, GCube Insurance Services Inc, GCube Underwriting Limited, Gama Consultores Associados Ltda., Gem Insurance Company Limited, Global Premium Finance Company, GrECo International Holding AG, Gracechurch Trustees Limited, Gresham Pension Trustees Limited, Group Promoters Pty Limited, Guy Carpenter & Cia (Mexico) S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter & Cia. S.A., Guy Carpenter & Co. Labuan Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company AB, Guy Carpenter & Company Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Guy Carpenter & Company Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company GmbH, Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd./Guy Carpenter & Compagnie Ltee, Guy Carpenter & Company Participacoes Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company Private Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Proprietary Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Pty. Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A. (Uruguay), Guy Carpenter & Company S.A.S., Guy Carpenter & Company S.r.l., Guy Carpenter (Middle East) Limited, Guy Carpenter Bermuda Ltd., Guy Carpenter Broking Inc., Guy Carpenter Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Guy Carpenter Japan Inc., Guy Carpenter Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, HAPIP GP 2009 LLC, HAPIP GP LLC, HSBC Insurance Brokers International (Abu Dhabi) LLC (in liquidation), Hamilton Bond Limited, Hansen International Limited, Hayward Aviation Limited, INSIA Europe SE, INSIA SK s.r.o., INSIA a.s., INSURANCE BROKERS OF NIGERIA LIMITED, IRC Asia Insurance Brokers Limited, InSolutions Limited, Industrial Risks Protection Consultants, Ingeseg S. A., Ingeseg S.A., Insbrokers Ltda., InsurTech Alliance LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC [BAHRAIN BRANCH], Insure Direct - Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC, International Loss Control Services Limited, International Risk Consultants (Asia) Limited, Invercol Limited, Irish Pensions Trust Limited, Isosceles Insurance (Barbados) Limited, Isosceles Insurance Company Limited, Isosceles Insurance Ltd, Isosceles PCC Limited, J&H Marsh & McLennan Limited, J.W. Terrill Benefit Administrators Inc., JI Holdings Limited, JIB Group Holdings Limited, JIB Group Limited, JIB Holdings (Pacific) Limited, JIB Overseas Holdings Limited, JIB UK Holdings Limited, JL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co. KG, JLM Verwaltungs GmbH, JLT (Insurance Brokers) Limited, JLT Actuaries and Consultants Limited, JLT Advisory Limited, JLT Affinity Colombia Solutions SAS, JLT Agencies Limited, JLT Asesorias Ltda, JLT Asia Holdings BV, JLT Asia Shared Services Sdn Bhd, JLT Belgibo, JLT Benefit Consultants Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Bermuda Ltd, JLT Brasil Holdings Participacoes Ltd, JLT Chile Holdings SpA, JLT Colombia Retail Limited, JLT Colombia Wholesale Limited, JLT Consultants & Actuaries Limited, JLT EB Holdings Limited, JLT EB Services Limited, JLT Employee Benefits Holding Company (PTY) LTD, JLT Employee Benefits SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Financial Planning Limited, JLT France Holdings, JLT Group Services Pty Limited, JLT Holdings (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Holdings (NZ) Limited, JLT Independent Insurance Brokers Private Limited, JLT Insurance Agencies Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited ( Shanghai Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Beijing Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Guangzhou Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers SA, JLT Insurance Group Holdings Ltd, JLT Insurance Management Malta Limited, JLT Intellectual Property Limited, JLT Intellectual Property [UK Branch], JLT Interactive Pte. Ltd., JLT Investment Management Limited, JLT LATAM (Southern Cone) Wholesale Limited, JLT Latin American Holdings Limited, JLT Life Assurance Brokers Limited, JLT Management Services Limited, JLT Marine (Pty) Ltd, JLT Mexico Holdings Limited, JLT Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., JLT Netherlands BV, JLT Norway AS, JLT PLA, JLT Pension Trustees Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Holdings Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Limited, JLT Peru Reinsurance Solutions Limited, JLT Peru Retail Limited, JLT Peru Wholesale Limited, JLT QFM Services Limited, JLT RE Brasil Administracao e Corretagem de Resseguros Ltda, JLT Re (French Branch), JLT Re (Northern Europe) AB, JLT Re Argentina Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.U., JLT Re Labuan Limited, JLT Re Limited, JLT Re Pty Ltd, JLT Reinsurance Brokers GmbH, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited [French Branch], JLT Risk Management Limited, JLT Risk Solutions AB, JLT Risk Solutions AB Branch - Germany, JLT SA IB Holdings Company (Pty) Limited, JLT SCK Affinity Administracao e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., JLT SCK Corretora e Administradora de Seguros, JLT Secretaries Limited, JLT Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerlii A.., JLT Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., JLT Specialty France, JLT Specialty Insurance Broker A/S, JLT Specialty Limited, JLT Specialty Limited [DUBAI BRANCH], JLT Specialty Pte. Ltd., JLT Towner Insurance Management (Anguilla) Limited, JLT Trust Services (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Trustees (Southern) Limited, JLT Trustees Limited, JLT UK Investment Holdings Limited, JLT Vantage Risk and Benefit Consulting Private Limited, JLT Wealth Management Limited, JLT do Brasil Corretagem de Seguros Ltda, JLTPCS Holdings Pte. Ltd., JMIB Holdings BV, JSL Securities Inc., Japan Affinity Marketing Inc., Jardine IBR Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson (Proprietary) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Asia Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Australia Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada Inc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited (UK Branch Office), Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance Consultants Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Inc., Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Holdings Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Unlimited Company, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Korea Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited [Macao Branch], Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS (Dubai) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS SA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Sdn Bhd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Valencia y Iragorri Corredores de Seguros SA, Jardine Pension Trustees Ireland Limited, Jardine Risk Consulting Co. Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited [Macao Branch], Jardines PF- Consultoria Em Gestao De Risco Limitada, Jelf, Jelf Commercial Finance Limited, Jelf Financial Planning Limited, Jelf Insurance Brokers Limited, Jelf Limited, Jelf Risk Management Limited, Jelf Wellbeing Limited, John Lampier & Son Ltd, Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Limited, Johnson & Higgins Limited, KESSLER & CO AG, Kepler Associates Limited, Kessler & Co Inc., Kessler Consulting Inc., Kessler Prevoyance Inc., Key Underwriting Pty Limited, Kroll, Lambert Brothers Holdings Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Employee Benefits) Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Hong Kong) Ltd, Laterlife.com Limited (in liquidation), Lavaretus Underwriting AB, Lavaretus Underwriting AB (BRANCH - Denmark), Libra Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Lloyd & Partners Limited, Local Government Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Lomond Macdonald Limited, Lynch Insurance Brokers Limited, M&M Vehicle L.P., M.P. Bolshaw and Company Limited, MAG JLT SpA, MERCER ALTERNATIVES LIMITED, MM Risk Services Pty Ltd (for dissolution), MMA Mid-Atlantic Employee LLC, MMA Securities LLC, MMB Consultores S.A., MMC (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd., MMC 28 State Street Holdings Inc., MMC Borrower LLC, MMC Brazilian Holdings B.V., MMC Capital Inc., MMC Cascade Regional Holdings LLC, MMC FINANCE (EUROPE) LIMITED, MMC FINANCE HOLDINGS LTD, MMC Finance (Australia) Limited, MMC Finance (Singapore) Limited, MMC France Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., MMC GP III Inc., MMC Group Services sp. z o.o., MMC Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, MMC Holdings (New Zealand) ULC, MMC Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC International Finance (Barbados) SRL, MMC International Holdings LLC, MMC International Limited, MMC International Treasury Centre Limited, MMC Middle East Holdings Limited, MMC Poland Holdings B.V., MMC Realty Inc., MMC Regional Asia Holdings B.V., MMC Regional Caribbean Holdings Ltd., MMC Regional Europe Holdings B.V., MMC Regional LATAM Holdings B.V., MMC Securities (Europe) Limited, MMC Securities LLC, MMC Treasury Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC UK Group Limited, MMC UK Pension Fund Trustee Limited, MMOW Limited, MMRC LLC, MOW Holding LLC, MPIP III GP LLC, MPIP IV GP LLC, MPIP V GP LLC, MPIP VI GP LLC, Mangrove Insurance Europe PCC Limited, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC Limited, Manoel Management Services Ltd, Marchant McKechnie Insurance Brokers Limited, Marine Aviation & General (London) Limited, Marsh & McLennan (PNG) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agencies AS, Marsh & McLennan Agencies Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency A/S, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Marsh & McLennan Agency Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency Pty Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Argentina SA Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh & McLennan Colombia S.A., Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Funding Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Asia Pacific Treasury Center Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies BVBA/SPRL, Marsh & McLennan Companies Finance Center (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies France S.A.S., Marsh & McLennan Companies Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., Marsh & McLennan Companies Regional Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Services B.V., Marsh & McLennan Companies UK Limited, Marsh & McLennan Europe S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan GP I Inc., Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Holding GmbH, Marsh & McLennan Holdings (Canada) ULC, Marsh & McLennan Holdings Inc., Marsh & McLennan Incorporated (for dissolution), Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings II, Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Limited, Marsh & McLennan Insurance Services Limited, Marsh & McLennan Ireland Limited, Marsh & McLennan Management Services (Bermuda) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Servicios S.A. De C.V., Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Canada Limited, Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Corporation, Marsh (Bahrain) Company SPC, Marsh (Beijing) Risk Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Marsh (China) Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd., Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh (Insurance Brokers) LLP, Marsh (Insurance Services) Limited, Marsh (Malawi) Limited, Marsh (Middle East) Limited, Marsh (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh (Pty) Ltd, Marsh (Risk Consulting) LLP, Marsh (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Marsh A/S, Marsh AB, Marsh AG, Marsh AS, Marsh Advantage Insurance Holdings Pty Ltd, Marsh Advantage Insurance Pty Ltd., Marsh Africa (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Argentina S.R.L., Marsh Associates (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Austria G.m.b.H., Marsh Aviation Insurance Broking Pty Ltd (for dissolution), Marsh B.V., Marsh Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh Brockman y Schuh Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Marsh Broker Japan Inc., Marsh Broker de Asigurare-Reasigurare S.R.L., Marsh Brokers (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh Brokers Limited, Marsh Canada Limited/Marsh Canada Limitee, Marsh Company Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Compensation Technologies Administration (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Isle of Man Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Malta Limited, Marsh Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Marsh EOOD, Marsh Egypt LLC, Marsh Emirates Consultancy LLC, Marsh Emirates Insurance Brokerage LLC, Marsh Employee Benefits Limited, Marsh Employee Benefits Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Marsh Eurofinance B.V., Marsh Europe S.A., Marsh FJC International Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh For Insurance Services S.A.E., Marsh Franco Acra S.A., Marsh GSC Servicos e Administracao de Seguros Ltda., Marsh GmbH, Marsh Holding AB, Marsh Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Marsh India Insurance Brokers Private Limited, Marsh Insurance & Investments LLC, Marsh Insurance Brokers, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Macao) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers AO, Marsh Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh Insurance Consulting Saudi Arabia (in liquidation), Marsh Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers LLC, Marsh Intermediaries Inc., Marsh International Broking Holdings Limited, Marsh International Holdings II Inc., Marsh International Holdings Inc., Marsh Investment B.V., Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited, Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited (UK Branch), Marsh Ireland Holdings Limited, Marsh Israel (1999) Ltd., Marsh Israel (Holdings) Ltd., Marsh Israel Consultants Ltd., Marsh Israel Insurance Agency Ltd., Marsh Israel International Brokers Ltd. (in liquidation), Marsh JCS Inc., Marsh Japan Inc., Marsh Kft., Marsh Kindlustusmaakler AS, Marsh Korea Inc., Marsh LLC, Marsh LLC Insurance Brokers, Marsh LLC [Ukraine], Marsh Lda., Marsh Limited, Marsh Limited [Fiji], Marsh Limited [New Zealand], Marsh Limited [PNG], Marsh Ltd. [Wisconsin], Marsh Management Services (Bahamas) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Dublin) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Labuan) Limited, Marsh Management Services (MENA) Limited, Marsh Management Services (USVI) Ltd., Marsh Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Management Services Guernsey Limited, Marsh Management Services Inc., Marsh Management Services Isle of Man Limited, Marsh Management Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Marsh Management Services Malta Limited, Marsh Management Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., Marsh Management Services Sweden AB, Marsh Marine & Energy AB, Marsh Marine Nederland B.V., Marsh Medical Consulting GmbH, Marsh Mercer Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Marsh Nest Inc., Marsh Oman LLC, Marsh Oy, Marsh PB Co. Ltd., Marsh Philippines Inc., Marsh Privat A.I.E., Marsh Private Client Life Insurance Services, Marsh Pty. Ltd., Marsh Qatar LLC, Marsh RE S.A.C. Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh Rehder Consultoria S.A. (MRC), Marsh Rehder S.A. Corredores de Seguros, Marsh Resolutions Pty Limited, Marsh Risk Consulting B.V., Marsh Risk Consulting Limitada, Marsh Risk Consulting Ltda., Marsh Risk Consulting S.L., Marsh Risk Consulting Services S.r.L., Marsh Risk and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd, Marsh S.A. Corredores De Seguros, Marsh S.A. Mediadores de Seguros, Marsh S.A.S., Marsh S.p.A., Marsh SA [Argentina], Marsh SA [Belgium], Marsh SA [Luxembourg], Marsh SA [Uruguay], Marsh SIA, Marsh Saldana Inc., Marsh Saudi Arabia Insurance & Reinsurance Brokers, Marsh Secretarial Services Limited, Marsh Semusa S.A., Marsh Services Limited, Marsh Services Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Marsh Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Szolgaltato Kft., Marsh Takaful Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Treasury Services (Dublin) Limited (in liquidation), Marsh Treasury Services Limited, Marsh Tunisia S.a.r.l., Marsh UK Limited, Marsh USA (India) Inc., Marsh USA Borrower LLC, Marsh USA Inc., Marsh Uganda Limited, Marsh Venezuela C.A. Sociedad de Corretaje de Seguros, Marsh Vietnam Insurance Broking Company Ltd, Marsh Zambia Limited, Marsh Zimbabwe Holdings (Private) Limited, Marsh d.o.o. Beograd, Marsh d.o.o. za posredovanje u osiguranju, Marsh for Insurance Services - Jordan, Marsh i-Connect (Pty) Ltd, Marsh s.r.o., Matthiessen Assurans AB, Mercer (Argentina) S.A., Mercer (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer (Austria) GmbH, Mercer (Belgium) SA-NV, Mercer (Canada) Limited/Mercer (Canada) Limitee, Mercer (China) Limited, Mercer (Colombia) Ltda., Mercer (Danmark) A/S, Mercer (Finland) OY, Mercer (France) SAS, Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer (Ireland) Limited, Mercer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Mercer (N.Z.) Limited, Mercer (Nederland) B.V., Mercer (Norge) AS, Mercer (Polska) Sp.z o.o., Mercer (Portugal) Lda, Mercer (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer (Sweden) AB, Mercer (Taiwan) Ltd., Mercer (Thailand) Ltd., Mercer (US) Inc., Mercer Administration Services (Australia) Pty Limited, Mercer Africa Limited, Mercer Agente de Seguros S.A. de C.V., Mercer Asesores de Seguros S.A., Mercer Asesores es Inversion Independientes S.A. de C.V., Mercer Broking Ltd., Mercer Career Unipessoal Lda, Mercer Consultation (Quebec) Ltee., Mercer Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Consulting (Chile) Limitada, Mercer Consulting (France) SAS, Mercer Consulting (India) Private Limited, Mercer Consulting B.V., Mercer Consulting Group Inc., Mercer Consulting Holdings Sdn. Bhd., Mercer Consulting Limited, Mercer Consulting Middle East Limited, Mercer Consulting S.L.U., Mercer Consulting Venezuela C.A., Mercer Corredores de Seguros Limitada, Mercer Corretora de Seguros Ltda, Mercer Danismanlik Anonim Sirketi, Mercer Deutschland GmbH, Mercer Employee Benefits - Medicacao de Seguros Unipessoal Lda., Mercer Employee Benefits Limited, Mercer Financial Advice (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Financial Services Limited, Mercer Financial Services Limited liability company, Mercer Financial Services Middle East Limited, Mercer Global Investments Europe Limited, Mercer Global Investments Management Limited, Mercer HR Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer HR Services LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, Mercer Holdings Inc., Mercer Holdings Inc. [Philippines], Mercer Human Resource Consulting Ltda, Mercer Human Resource Consulting S.A. de C.V., Mercer ICC Limited, Mercer Investment Consulting Limited, Mercer Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mercer Investment Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Investments (Australia) Limited, Mercer Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer Investments (Japan) Ltd, Mercer Investments (New Zealand) Limited, Mercer Investments LLC, Mercer Ireland Holdings Limited, Mercer Italia Srl Socio Unico, Mercer Japan Ltd., Mercer Korea Co. Ltd., Mercer LLC, Mercer Limited, Mercer MC Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer Master Trustees Limited, Mercer Mauritius Ltd., Mercer Oliver Wyman Holding B.V., Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Outsourcing S.L.U., Mercer Pensionsfonds AG, Mercer Pensionsraadgivning A/S, Mercer Philippines Inc., Mercer Private Investment Partners IV General Partner S.a.r.l., Mercer Private Markets AG, Mercer Private Markets Advisers (US) AG, Mercer Services Poland Sp. z.o.o., Mercer Sigorta Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Mercer South Africa (Pty) Limited, Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Limited, Mercer Switzerland Inc., Mercer System Services LLC, Mercer Technology Acquisitions Limited, Mercer Treuhand GmbH, Mercer Trust Company LLC, Mercer Trustees Limited, Mercer WorkforcePro LLC, Mercury Insurance Services Pty Ltd, Moola Systems Limited, Mountlodge Limited, Muir Beddal (Zimbabwe) Limited, NERA Australia Pty. Ltd., NERA Economic Consulting GmbH, NERA Economic Consulting Limited, NERA S.R.L., NERA SAS, NERA UK Limited, NERA do Brasil Ltda. (for dissolution), National Economic Research Associates Inc., NetComp Insurance Corp., Neuburger Noble Lowndes GmbH, Normandy Reinsurance Company Limited, Northern Alliance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), OWL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co.KG, OWL Marine Verwaltungs GmbH, Oliver Wyman (Bermuda) Limited, Oliver Wyman (Hong Kong) Limited, Oliver Wyman AB, Oliver Wyman AG, Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting Inc., Oliver Wyman B.V., Oliver Wyman Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Oliver Wyman Consultoria em Estrategia de Negocios Ltda., Oliver Wyman Energy Consulting Limited, Oliver Wyman FZ-LLC, Oliver Wyman Group KK, Oliver Wyman Inc., Oliver Wyman LLC, Oliver Wyman Limited, Oliver Wyman Limited Liability Company, Oliver Wyman Limited/Oliver Wyman limitee, Oliver Wyman Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pte. Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pty. Ltd., Oliver Wyman S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman S.A.S., Oliver Wyman S.L., Oliver Wyman S.r.l., Oliver Wyman SNC, Oliver Wyman SPRL/BVBA, Oliver Wyman Sdn. Bhd., Oliver Wyman Services Limited, Oliver Wyman Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman sp. z o.o., Omega Indemnity (Bermuda) Limited, Organizacion Brockman y Schuh S.A. de C.V., Osbornes Insurances Oxford Limited (in liquidation), PFT Limited, PI Indemnity Company Designated Activity Company, PT JLT Reinsurance Brokers, PT Jardine Lloyd Thompson, PT Marsh Indonesia, PT Marsh Reinsurance Brokers Indonesia, PT Mercer Indonesia, PT Nexus Asia Pacific, PT Oliver Wyman Indonesia, PT Quantum Computing Services, PT Quantum Investments, PT Quantum Support Services, Pallas Marsh Servicos Ltda., Pavilion Alternatives Group (Singapore) PTE. Ltd, Pavilion Financial Corporation Holdings UK Limited, Pavilion U.S. Investments Holdco LLC, Pension Trustees Limited, Pensionsservice Benefit Network Sverige AB, Perils AG, Personal Pension Trustees Limited, Pet Animal Welfare Scheme Limited, Portsoken Trustees (No. 2) Limited, Portsoken Trustees Limited, Potomac Insurance Managers Inc., Premier Pension Trustees Limited, Premium Services Australia Pty Limited, Professional Claims Handling Limited (in liquidation), Profund Solutions Limited, Promerit AG, Promerit Hungary Kft, Promerit Schweiz AG, Pymetrics Inc., R G Ford Brokers Limited, R R B Beratungsgesellschaft fuer Altersversorgung mbh, R. Mees & Zoonen Holdings B.V., Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters LLC, Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters Limited, Resource Benefit Associates, Rightpath Reinsurance SPC Ltd., Risk Management Australia Pty Limited, Rivers Group Limited, Rockefeller Risk Advisors Inc., Rutherfoord International Inc., SAFCAR-Marsh, SBJ Holdings Limited, SCIB (Bermuda) Limited, SCM Global Real Estate Select GP LLC, SCM Infrastructure General Partner S.a r.l., SCM International Private Equity Select III GP LLC, SCM LT General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE II GP Ltd., SCM PE II Scotland GP Ltd, SCM Strategic Capital Management (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., SICAR Marsh S.a.r.l., SME Insurance Services Limited, Sail Insurance Company Limited, Scalene Re Ltd, Seabury & Smith Borrower LLC, Seabury & Smith LLC, Secure Limited, Sedgwick (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Consulting Group Limited, Sedgwick Dineen Group Limited, Sedgwick Financial Services Limited, Sedgwick Forbes Middle East Limited, Sedgwick Group, Sedgwick Group (Australia) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Group (Bermuda) Limited, Sedgwick Group (Zimbabwe) Limited, Sedgwick Group Limited, Sedgwick Internationaal B.V., Sedgwick Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (UK) Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Group Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Limited, Sedgwick Overseas Investments Limited, Sedgwick Private Limited, Sedgwick Re Asia Pacific (Consultants) Pte Ltd (for dissolution), Sedgwick Trustees Limited, Sedgwick UK Risk Services Limited, Sedgwick Ulster Pension Trustees Limited, Settlement Trustees Limited, Shanghai Mercer Insurance Brokers Company Ltd., Shorewest Insurance Associates LLC, Sirota Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Sirota Consulting UK Limited, Smith Long Term Disability Management Group Inc., Societe d'Assurances et de Participation Guian SA, Software Underwriting Systems Limited (in liquidation), Southern Marine & Aviation Inc., Southern Marine & Aviation Underwriters Inc., Sudzucker Versicherungs-Vermittlungs GmbH, Sumitomo Life Insurance Agency America Inc., Sylvite Financial Services, TBX Solutions Limited, Talent Tech Labs LLC, The Benefit Express Holdings Limited, The Benefit Express Limited, The Carpenter Management Corporation, The Insurance Partnership Holdings Limited, The Insurance Partnership Services Limited, The Positive Ageing Company Limited, The Purple Partnership Limited, The Recovre Group Pty Ltd, Thomsons Online Benefits (HK) Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits Inc., Thomsons Online Benefits Limited, Thomsons Online Benefits Pte Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits S.R.L, Torrent Government Contracting Services LLC, Torrent Insurance Services LLC, Torrent Technologies, Torrent Technologies Inc., Tower Hill Limited, Tower Place Developments (West) Limited, Tower Place Developments Limited, U.T.E. AMG, U.T.E. Marsh - Caja Castilla La Mancha Junta de Comunidades, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus (in liquidation), U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus 2012, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Vila-Seca 2010, UAD BB Marsh Lietuva, Vezina & Associes Inc., Vezina Assurances Inc., Victor Insurance Europe B.V., Victor Insurance Holdings Inc., Victor Insurance Italia S.r.l., Victor Insurance Managers Inc., Victor Insurance Managers Inc./Gestionnaires d'assurance Victor inc., Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., Victor O. Schinnerer & Company Limited, Victoria Hall Company Limited, Wellnz Limited, William M. Mercer (Canada) Limited/William M. Mercer (Canada) Limitee, William M. Mercer AB, William M. Mercer Comercio Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., Wortham Insurance & Risk Management, everBe SAS, and realright GmbH.

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The Sunday Times has reported that former convicts Kenny Kunene and Gayton McKenzie are linked to a R5-billion BEE deal involving Russian company Rosgeo.

According to the report, Kunene and McKenzie have an increasingly cozy relationship with President Jacob Zuma and have a strong influence on him.

Kunene and McKenzie allegedly travelled to Russia recently, at the same time as security minister David Mahlobo, to discuss a R5-billion gas deal with Rosgeo.

Earlier this month, state-owned PetroSA announced it had signed a $400-million (R5.3-billion) agreement with Rosgeo to drill for gas off the southern coast of South Africa.

The project envisages extraction of up to 4 million cubic metres of gas daily. This will subsequently be delivered to the gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay, said the company.

The signed agreement is aimed at developing bilateral relations and will strengthen Rosgeos presence in the African market, said Rosgeo CEO Roman Panov.

The Daily Maverick reported that the announcement of the deal came shortly after allegations of political meddling within PetroSA.

According to The Sunday Times, Kunene and McKenzie were introduced to Rosgeo CEO Panov as potential BEE partners by Mahlobo in August.

The report stated that Mahlobo has been running around and organising deals for Kunene and McKenzie.

ANC insiders told the newspaper that Kunene and McKenzie have access to the big house  Zumas official residence.

Update  I am not a Gupta

Gayton McKenzie will fight allegations that he is a new Gupta with every legal means at [his] disposal.

I am not a Gupta, new or old, McKenzie declared in a statement released on Sunday after the Sunday Times for the second week running carried stories that McKenzie, a controversial businessman and leader of the Patriotic Alliance, and his friend Kenny Kunene stand to benefit from a cosy relationship with President Jacob Zuma in a way similar to that of the Guptas.

This week the Sunday Times reported that McKenzie and Kunene stood to benefit as BEE partners to a Russian company in a multibillion-rand gas deal.

McKenzie denies these, and other allegations levelled against him and pointed out that he does not do business with the state or any SOEs.

Being labelled a Gupta is possibly the most defamatory label that can currently be attached to a person in South Africa, but that goes 100-fold for anyone who is in business or politics, and I am in both, read McKenzies statement.

The reality is that the name Gupta has become a swearword and a curse in South Africa. The Guptas are not even able to hold a bank account. They lost their JSE sponsor. They have been forced to sell their businesses simply because of the profound hostility towards them in the South African context. Which sane human being would want to be a Gupta in South Africa? You may as well shoot yourself in the head, it would be less painful, said McKenzie.

I therefore take huge exception to Kenny and I being called the new Guptas. The danger of this to my reputation is so profound it risks my entire livelihood and the thousands of people who rely on the success of my businesses. I will not leave the label unchallenged.

Smear campaign

McKenzie believes he is the victim of a smear campaign by those who want Cyril Ramaphosa to be the next president of South Africa [and] are very upset by the leaks that emerged of all the deputy presidents many extramarital affairs.

They have blamed Kenny and me for this, but I had nothing to do with those leaks, and as far as I know Kenny only published the videos of one of Cyrils girlfriends after he was sent that footage, which was also sent to many other people in the media, said McKenzie.

I refuse to be turned into a weapon in the ANCs factional wars. People think I am an easy target because of my criminal past, which Ive never tried to hide from.

I obviously dont fit the acceptable mould of the black businessman in South Africa. Not only do I not criticise Zuma, I admire the man openly. That doesnt make me his pal, it merely means I hold a contrary view to the mainstream media, reads McKenzies statement.

My trouble with the media clearly started the moment I wrote an opinion piece questioning the agenda of the anti-Zuma cabal. But I will not change my political opinions simply because of bad press.

They have a fight on their hands, warned McKenzie. I shall fight these groundless attacks with every legal means at my disposal.

Additional reporting by News24
Netflix has revealed its ISP Speed Index for August, with Cool Ideas holding on to the top spot.

South Africas ISPs achieved an overall average speed of 2.39Mbps, improving the countrys rank from 54 to 52 out of 59 countries.

The Netflix ISP Speed Index is a measure of prime-time Netflix performance on particular Internet service providers, and not a measure of overall performance for services and data that may travel across their networks.

Netflix said it calculates the average bitrate of Netflix content in megabits per second streamed by its members per ISP.

We measure the speed via all available end user devices. For a small number of devices, we cannot calculate the exact bitrates and streaming via cellular networks is exempted from our measurements.

Netflix recommends a 5Mbps connection for HD streaming, which explains why the average speeds are all below the 5Mbps mark.

The top 10 ISPs for prime-time streaming, as per Netflixs methodology, are detailed below.

SA ISP Leaderboard  August 2017 Rank ISP Speed Previous Speed Change 1 Cool Ideas 3.68 Mbps 3.73 Mbps  2 Vodacom 3.10 Mbps 3.10 Mbps +1 3 Vox 3.09 Mbps 3.09 Mbps +1 4 MTN 3.05 Mbps 3.05 Mbps -2 5 Cell C 2.63 Mbps 2.63 Mbps  6 Afrihost 2.27 Mbps 2.27 Mbps  7 Telkom 2.27 Mbps 2.27 Mbps  8 Cybersmart 2.23 Mbps 2.23 Mbps  9 MWEB 2.03 Mbps 2.03 Mbps  10 Neotel 1.57 Mbps 1.57 Mbps 

Now read: Free Netflix streaming on Telkom FreeMe contracts
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Head of U.S. Treasury Department says sanctions against Russia should remain in force even after war in Ukraine

Natasa Pirc Musar to become Slovenia's first woman president

IMF: World economic outlook even bleaker than predicted

Pashinyan: Azerbaijan calls Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh 'our citizens' and at the same time shoots at them

Turkish Interior Minister announces arrest of suspect in attack on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul

Alpine to make 3 electric crossovers

Number of injured in Istanbul blast rises to 81

Paul McCartney sells guitar for $77,000 to support Ukraine

Erdogan says preliminary findings after Istanbul bombing point to terrorist attack

Erdogan says number of victims of Istanbul bombing rises to six

Authorities forbid TV channels to broadcast from Istanbul bombing site

Istanbul blast: Governor reports 4 dead and 38 wounded

Media: Terrorist attack considered as one of versions of bombing in Istanbul

Blast in Istanbul: victims reported

Reuters: National Bank of Ukraine prepares banking system for power outages

Explosion hits pedestrian street in Istanbul

Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin calls for Turkey to be recognized as sponsor of terrorism

Bloomberg columnist says Japan may be preparing for war with China

Reuters: U.S. to demand EU colleagues to continue aid to Kyiv at G20

Washington Post: U.S. intelligence believes UAE tried to interfere in U.S. politics

Yeni Safak: Turkey increases sales of winter products, blankets in EU by almost third since beginning of year

Fox News: Trump has been silent on social media for over 24 hours amid Republican failures

Lebanon extradites to Iraq relative of Saddam Hussein

Financial Times: Kyiv plans to nationalize more private companies

U.S. Senate declares 'death' of Republican Party after congressional elections

Head of U.S. Customs resigned

President of Georgia Zourabichvili says about 100 thousand Russians settled in country

CNN: Democrats to retain control of Senate after congressional elections

Alen Simonyan: We are truly and sincerely committed to the peace agenda

Artak Beglaryan: Genocidal purpose is apparent

French maritime services rescue more than 140 migrants trying to swim across English Channel

Biden says he is satisfied with results of midterm elections in U.S.

Slovenia holds second round of presidential elections

'Witch' burned alive in India, 14 arrested

COVID-19 cases are expected to surge in Germany this winter

Dollar makes worst showing in week since early days of COVID-19 pandemic

Macron confirms France's readiness to support normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku

Germany withdraws from Energy Charter Treaty

Is Jordan country that has not supplied arms to Armenia?: 'The press usually has reliable information'

European Commission approves nationalization of Russian Gazprom's German subsidiary

Pashinyan: If the state interferes with the exchange rate unnecessarily, the economy will only suffer

U.S. to work with strategic coalition of Southeast Asian countries

Armenian PM: To reform army, it is necessary to make military service more attractive

Defense Ministry: Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire at Armenian positions

Putin and Raisi discuss topical issues of the bilateral agenda

Blinken: Ukraine must decide on timing and content of any talks with Russia

Catholicos expresses hope that Russia efforts will contribute to ensuring free, safe life of Artsakh Armenians

More than 50 of poorest developing countries are on brink of bankruptcy, says UN official

Armenia ex-ombudsman: We are facing serious national security issues (PHOTOS)

Biden has no plans to meet with Saudi crown prince at G20 summit

EU offers natural gas price cap assurances amid disagreements with member countries

Scholz is against establishment of ceasefire in Ukraine on Kremlin's terms

Turkologist: Turkey does not support agenda of achieving peace with Armenians

Sweden to not permit deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory after joining NATO

Erdogan signs decree on appointing Turkey ambassador to Israel

Information security expert: Some Armenia officials received letter that they were victims of national hackers attack

Armenia FM meets with France minister of foreign trade

Foreign Policy: US to resume nuclear arms control talks with Russia

Armenia opposition MP: Artsakh army reduction is impermissible

Biden to warn Chinas Xi that North Korea path could lead to increase in US military presence

US Treasury chief: India can buy as much Russian oil as it wants

Newspaper: Armenia authorities trying to find legal grounds for signing peace treaty

Newspaper: People of Karabakh not going to tolerate final destruction of their army

Texas woman sentenced to death for killing pregnant woman, removing fetus from victim

Van Gogh's painting sold for a record $117 million

Gentiloni: EU countries have accumulated enough gas to get through the coming winter

Several dozen activists detained at protest rally in Baku: They chant slogans 'Freedom!', 'Resign!'

Princess Haya seeks asylum in Wales

Pashinyan: Iran is concerned about the presence of other actors in our region, which are not in the territory of Armenia
The 10 books in the running for the YA National Book Award are all must-reads. Pick them up stat: https://t.co/BWPtkO2SSJ pic.twitter.com/EEHsC6yzVb  Barnes & Noble (@BNBuzz) September 16, 2017

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder

The National Book Awards recently released its longlist of 10 titles for its Young Adult category:On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle viea good life.But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiolas mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroits west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?Taras family has just immigrated to New York from India via London. Her beauty draws everyones eyes, but she doesnt let anyone truly see her.Her younger sister, Sonia, is falling in love with a boy her mother cant accept, cutting a deep wound in the Das family.The daughter of a Bollywood star, Anna is both brilliant and shy, like the Bengal tigers she fights to protect.Chantal is as fierce a dancer as she is a friend, student, and athlete. But will her wealthy new boyfriend be able to thrive in her shadow?And Ranee, the center that binds them all together, is beginning to unravel.As each Das woman decides which Bengali traditions to uphold in America and which to leave behind, one hard truth remains: some scars take generations to heal.You can call it a gun. Thats what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. Thats where Wills now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brothers gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who hes after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. BUCK IS DEAD. But Bucks in the elevator? Just as Wills trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens.And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END if WILL gets off that elevator.Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olgas role.Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.But its not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sisters story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?On the island, everything is perfect. The sun rises in a sky filled with dancing shapes; the wind, water, and trees shelter and protect those who live there; when the nine children go to sleep in their cabins, it is with full stomachs and joy in their hearts. And only one thing ever changes: on that day, each year, when a boat appears from the mist upon the ocean carrying one young child to join themand taking the eldest one away, never to be seen again.Todays Changing is no different. The boat arrives, taking away Jinnys best friend, Deen, replacing him with a new little girl named Ess, and leaving Jinny as the new Elder. Jinny knows her responsibility nowto teach Ess everything she needs to know about the island, to keep things as theyve always been. But will she be ready for the inevitable day when the boat will come backand take her away forever from the only home shes known?
Kevin Powell grew up in a family that for generations had struggled in poverty, but it didnt have to be that way.

In the early 1900s, Powells great-grandparents came into possession of 400 acres of land in South Carolina. Things were looking up for a family with five children who previously lived out of a tool shack and sometimes only had syrup to eat.

But the family couldnt hold on to that land for long. White locals tried pressuring Powells great-grandfather, who was black, into handing the land over, until one day he died under suspicious circumstances and all but three acres of land were taken from them.

The Powells plunged back into poverty, and it took decades for any of them to escape it again. Powell, a well-known activist and author who grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, in the 70s and 80s in "horrific" poverty, relayed this story last week during the Social Development Commissions Summit on Poverty, which aims to change the way poor people are seen and understood in the United States.

About 500 people  mostly local nonprofit and public employees  attended the two-day event, which featured Powell and author Kathryn Edin as keynote speakers. One of the most consistent messages that Powell, Edin and other speakers tried to get across is simply that people do not get stuck in poverty because they are lazy or immoral. Often they are tossed or born into it, and there are no easy paths out.

"We cannot have an honest conversation about poverty in America if were not going to explore how people have been intentionally impoverished," Powell said.

Although there are many different policies, systems and societal phenomena that help keep people in poverty, a huge target of blame during the summit rested squarely on welfare reform in the 1990s.

Edin, who is also the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, chronicled the demise of welfare and how it contributes to a growing low-income class.

In 1994, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program served 14.2 million people, about 68 percent of poor families. President Bill Clinton replaced that in 1997 with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which, in 2015, served 750,000 people, about 24 percent of poor families, according to Edin.

Edin said welfare reform is one reason why there has been a rise in poor families who live on $2 a day per person, a measure of poverty more commonly reserved for developing nations. In 1992, there were 600,000 people in the U.S. surviving on that kind of cash. Today, there are 1.2 million families, she said.

Welfare reform also gave states the chance to "innovate," and divert federal welfare funds toward other things. Today, Edin said, three-quarters of that money is diverted and only four states  California, Oregon, Minnesota and New York  have a "shell of a cash system left." In Michigan, for example, a lot of welfare money is instead used to fund scholarships that typically go to children of the middle class.

"This is like giving crack to governors and state legislators," Edin said.

A 10 percent decline in welfare coverage is associated with a 2.2 percent increase in food insecurity among single mothers, according to Edin. And a reduction of 100 recipients is associated with an increase of 14 homeless students.

In some areas of the country, such as the Mississippi Delta, even those who are receiving welfare live on $2 a day, since the benefits are so measly.

"When Bill Clinton, the president, signed that welfare reform bill in 1996, that was a death knell for a lot of folks," said Powell. He described his mother, who finished school after the eighth grade, as his only support system growing up. He eventually went on to earn a scholarship to attend Rutgers University.

Poverty can force people to share housing and accept dangerous jobs, which create more problems that can snowball and make their situations worse. Without a more robust safety net for the poor, Edin said, families face a steep climb out of poverty.

She related a story of a low-income, single mother in Cleveland who shared a house and car with others. She won "employee of the month" multiple times at the Wal-Mart where she worked. But one morning, she woke and found the car without any gas, thanks to her roommates. She had no other way of getting to work and was fired immediately.

"There are times when things are too unstable," Edin said. "(Low-income people) are caring for elderly relatives, theyre struggling with emotional stress. Theyre not going to be able to work full time. We really do need a functioning safety net so that families dont spiral into a poverty trap from which it is so difficult to escape."
The young French journalist Loup Bureau arrived back in Paris on Sunday, "tired but relieved", after being detained for more than seven weeks in a Turkish jail on terror charges. The 27-year-old's case had heightened alarm in Europe over press freedoms under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who launched a wide-ranging crackdown after last year's failed coup against him. Bureau, a journalism student who has worked with the television channels TV5 and Arte and the website Slate, was detained on July 26 on Turkey's border with Iraq. He was charged with membership of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurd militia, after he was found with photos that showed him with members of the group. Ankara considers the YPG to be the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than three decades. But the United States regards the YPG as the most effective force fighting the Islamic State group as it seeks to wipe out the jihadists in Syria and Iraq. Bureau's friends, family and girlfriend, along with French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen, were at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport to greet him as he landed on a flight from Istanbul. French President Emmanuel Macron, who had appealed to Erdogan for Bureau's release, spoke to the journalist by telephone and told him to get some rest. "I was not ill-treated physically but there were threats and intimidations," Bureau told reporters at the airport. "From the moment when Mr Macron announced he was demanding my release, there were changes -- the guards started to understand that I wasn't a terrorist, that the things I had been accused of were not really true." Bureau's arrest had spurred a high-profile campaign in France for his freedom, and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian flew to Ankara last week to lobby on his behalf. - 'No change in Turkey' - Turkish authorities have arrested tens of thousands since the failed coup of July 2016, targeting a variety of opponents as well as individuals accused of links to the alleged putschists. Several European journalists have been caught up in the crackdown, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker speaking out against the arrests in a country that remains a candidate for EU membership. "Journalists belong in newsrooms not in prisons," he said this week. "I appeal to the powers that be in Turkey, let our journalists go." In June, Ankara released and deported French photojournalist Mathias Depardon who was held for a month on charges of supporting terror groups. He was also detained in Turkey's restive southeast. Germany's Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel was imprisoned in February and has been personally accused by Erdogan of working as a "terror agent". Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which campaigned for Bureau's release, hailed his return but estimated that 160 to 180 Turkish journalists are in detention. "The liberation of Loup Bureau is welcome but the situation in Turkey has not changed," said RSF chief Pierre Haski, who was at the airport to greet the reporter. Turkey ranks 155th on the latest world press freedom index compiled by RSF, falling below Belarus and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Serbia's lesbian prime minister said Sunday that she was working "one step at a time" towards a more tolerant society, as she joined Belgrade's annual gay march held under heavy security. Ana Brnabic, 41, became one of the few openly gay government leaders in the world when she came to power in June, but activists say homophobia remains a widespread problem in the conservative Balkan country. Setting off on the Pride parade with hundreds of activists waving rainbow flags and balloons, Brnabic was keen to give a more positive message, saying Serbia was "finally showing what I believe is its true face". "We do have a very loud minority, an aggressive minority of people who are against this, but most of the people in Serbia, I think, are people who think in terms of 'live and let live'," she told AFP. She encouraged gay youths to be "full of understanding for people who are very traditional and who do not yet truly understand what this is about". In 2010, Belgrade's Pride parade descended into clashes between anti-gay protesters and police, injuring more than 100 people and prompting a three-year ban on the event. This is the fourth consecutive year the march has gone ahead under a huge security presence, and the first time a prime minister has attended. Brnabic, who wore jeans and a dark jacket and posed for selfies with marchers, said the parade was "more relaxed" than in previous years, with a sharp reduction in police numbers. Around 2,000 armed officers guarded the cordoned-off streets as activists marched through the city, accompanied by a soundtrack of pop music and a police helicopter buzzing overhead. - 'Pinkwashing' suspicions - Brnabic was chosen for the top job by her predecessor, Aleksandar Vucic, after he was elected president. She had entered politics less than a year earlier as public administration minister. Her appointment, endorsed by parliament, made international headlines. But sceptics suspected an attempt at "pinkwashing", with Brnabic used as a puppet by Vucic to improve Serbia's image as it campaigns to join the European Union. Critics allege that Vucic -- still the country's most powerful politician -- is a populist authoritarian who styles himself as the only one capable of maintaining Serbian stability. Brnabic, a technocrat with a business background, has dismissed allegations that she was chosen merely because of her sexual orientation. "I'm proud to be living in a country with a president who has actually, out of all the people, said 'I do not care whether she's gay or straight, I care whether I think she's capable'," she said at the march. - 'A pragmatic person' - In a survey conducted in 2015 by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, only 12 percent of Serbian respondents said they would completely support their child if he or she were homosexual. Although the country has various legal acts addressing gender identity and anti-gay discrimination, rights activists say that implementation is poor. They are now campaigning for the adoption of a law on same-sex partnerships, for which they hope to win the premier's support. Asked whether she would like to see the law pass, Brnabic said: "I can't give you my personal opinion right now because I'm here as the prime minister representing the Serbian government." She said she would discuss the issue with ministers and civil society groups to "see what is it that we need to do to enable civil liberties in Serbia". "I'm a very pragmatic person, for me it's one step at a time, and I think if we go one step at a time, that is how we build a more tolerant society." The premier's attendance at the march drew a largely positive response from participants who spoke to AFP, though Ivana Mitrovic, a 35-year-old from the northern city of Novi Sad, was sceptical. "I don't like the government. It's all for show," she said. Others thought Brnabic's visibility could inspire young gay and transgender people even in traditionally minded villages. "For me that's a good thing," said Nevena Pupic, 34, a rights activist and financial officer from Belgrade.
By Joseph Ax and Yeganeh Torbati PRINCETON, N.J. (Reuters) - When Xiyue Wang sleeps in his cell in Iran's Evin Prison, he sometimes dreams he is back at Princeton University, working in the school's main library on his dissertation comparing governance systems in Central Asia. When he wakes, Wang often does not immediately remember where he is, his wife, Hua Qu, said in her first extensive interview since his arrest in Iran about 13 months ago while doing doctoral research. The 36-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, who was born in China, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years in prison. "Sometimes I can't even remember what he looks like," she said on Saturday in the Princeton, New Jersey, apartment that she shares with their 4-year-old son, whose drawings adorn the walls. "It has been too long for me." The interview, along with a candlelight vigil on Friday night organized by Princeton students, marks a shift in strategy for those closest to Wang, whom colleagues described as a dedicated scholar, a selfless friend and a caring father with a gift for cooking. For nearly a year Qu, Princeton and the Obama and Trump administrations kept Wang's detention confidential in hopes of brokering a release on humanitarian grounds. The case became public when the Iran judiciary announced his sentence in July, three months after he was convicted at trial. But Qu, 35, is speaking out to encourage Iran and the United States to resolve her husband's case diplomatically. Wang lost his appeal in August. Qu said the United States should engage with Iran beyond quarterly meetings dedicated to a 2015 nuclear deal between the Middle East country and world powers. She pointed to the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York as a prime opportunity for the two countries to discuss the fate of American prisoners in Iran. "STAND UP FOR HIM" At the vigil, Qu called on the U.S. government to "help defend the values" of academic freedom that drew Wang to study here. "Will his country stand up for him the same way he stood up for American values?" she asked. "I hope the answer is a resounding yes." Asked about Wang's case, a State Department spokeswoman said: "This administration is redoubling efforts to bring home all Americans unjustly detained abroad." Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. Wang is one of three American citizens known to be imprisoned in Evin. The others are Iranian-Americans Baquer and Siamak Namazi, an elderly father and his businessman son, on spying charges. A fourth American, Robin Reza Shahini, was released on bail in April after undertaking a hunger strike but still faces 18 years' imprisonment on charges of threatening national security, according to human rights activists. In July, U.S. President Donald Trump promised "new and serious consequences" unless Iran released the Americans but did not offer details. The Obama administration resolved several previous detentions through a January 2016 prisoner swap that Republicans criticized as setting a precedent that would encourage Iran to imprison more Americans. Wang was in Iran between January and March 2016 and returned in May of that year. Two months later, Iranian police seized his passport and eventually arrested him. He was charged with espionage in February and convicted in April, according to a timeline released by Princeton, which hired a lawyer for him in Iran. When Wang was first arrested, his son would talk about him frequently but now shows less interest in even speaking with him when he is able to call from prison, Qu said. "Now he mentions him less and less," she said. "He's just not very interested in talking to his dad." (Reporting by Joseph Ax and Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #37

Posted on 17 September 2017 by John Hartz

Story of the Week... El Nino/La Nina Update... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

Story of the Week...

The Window Is Closing to Avoid Dangerous Global Warming

Credit: David McNew Getty Images

Deadly climate change could threaten most of the world's human population by the end of this century without efforts well beyond those captured in the Paris Agreement.

That's the finding of a pair of related reports released yesterday by an international group of climate science and policy luminaries who warned that the window is closing to avert dangerous warming. They say carbon dioxide might have to be removed from the atmosphere.

Scientists Yangyang Xu and Veerabhadran Ramanathan found in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that there already exists a 1 in 20 chance that the 2.2 trillion tons of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere could cause an existential warming threat. This "fat tail" scenario would mean the world experiences "existential/unknown" warming by 2100  defined in the report as more than 5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

The Window Is Closing to Avoid Dangerous Global Warming by Jean Chemnick, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Sep 15, 2017

El Nino/La Nina Update

La Nina is now increasingly possible in the next few months, according to a new reportreleased by NOAA, and may have some impacts on weather in the United States in the fall and winter.

La Nina May Develop By Fall or Winter, NOAA Says; Here's What That Could Mean by Jonathan Erdman, Sep 13, 2017

Toon of the Week...

Quote of the Week...

That is one reason many scientists maintain it is critical to use the megaphone that the dual devastation of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma has provided. People, they note, are finally paying attention.

We know that as humans, we are all too good at pretending like a risk, even one we know is real, doesnt matter to us, Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, wrote in an email as Harvey lashed the Texas coast.

When we try to warn people about the risks, theres no news hook. No one wants to listen. Thats why the time to talk about it is now, Dr. Hayhoe said. The most pernicious and dangerous myth weve bought into when it comes to climate change is not the myth that it isnt real or humans arent responsible. Its the myth that it doesnt matter to me. And that is exactly the myth that Harvey shatters.

Hurricane Irma Linked to Climate Change? For Some, a Very Insensitive Question. by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Sep 11, 2017

SkS in the News...

In her Washington Post Right Turn Op-ed, Will Harvey and Irma be a wake-up call?, Jennifer Rubin wrote:

And yet Republicans from Texas (both U.S. senators and a slew of congressmen), Florida (most especially Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio), Alabama and Louisiana, among other locales, refuse to acknowledge the clear cause of rising sea levels and temperatures that add to the destructiveness of hurricanes that devastate their states. The GOP pols like to dodge the question by saying they are not climate scientists  and then refuse to accept the findings of 97 percent of the scientific community. Bluntly put, theyd rather cling to their know-nothingism than take steps to abate a known danger to their states. How is that any different from refusing to build levees and pumps or update building standards? (Of course, the climate-change denier in chief did cancel a flood regulation that took account of global warming, something he should be asked about when he goes for his next photo op.)

Coming Soon on SkS...

Scientific models saved lives from Harvey and Irma. They can from climate change too (Dana)

(Dana) Australia's Transition to Renewable Energy (Agnostic)

(Agnostic) New research, September 4-10, 2017 (Ari Jokimaki)

(Ari Jokimaki) Guest Post (John Abraham)

(John Abraham) Why the 97% climate consensus is important (Dana, John Cook, Sander van der Linden, Ed Maibach, Tony Lieserowitz)

(Dana, John Cook, Sander van der Linden, Ed Maibach, Tony Lieserowitz) 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #38 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Waming Digest #38 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week...

Climate Feedback Reviews...

Climate Feedback asked its network of scientists to review the article, Has Climate Change Intensified 2017s Western Wildfires? by Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, Sep 7, 2017.

Three scientists analyzed the article and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be very high.

A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Accurate, Insightful, Sound reasoning

Review Summary

This story in The Atlantic describes the conditions that have contributed to this years widespread wildfires in the western United States, including the influence of a changing climate.

Scientists who reviewed the story found that it was an accurate summary of the factors involved in this fire seasonwarm temperatures as well as past fire-suppression practices that have increased the density of fuel available for fires to burn.

SkS Week in Review...

97 Hours of Consensus...

Julienne Stroeve's bio page & Quote source

High resolution JPEG (1024 pixels wide)
No matter how many times you see a 3-D printer in operation, its a sight to behold. They make for great YouTube videos, no doubt.

Starting a 3-D printing business? Theres a steeper learning curve than in some other businesses.

With a 3-D printing business, not only do you have to run the business, you have to learn the technology, says Liza Wallach Kloski, co-founder and president of HoneyPoint3D, based in Concord, California.

At roughly $13.2 billion in 2016, the worldwide market in 3-D printing products and services is small but growing, according to IDC Research Inc., a market research firm. The sophistication and capabilities of the technology have increased since its infancy in the 1990s. People and companies are printing a seemingly endless array of products in materials such as plastic, metal, concrete and even food. Meanwhile, many consumer 3-D printers cost less than $1,000.

3D-Printing Business Ideas

Most 3-D printing businesses fall into five categories, and many offer more than one service. As you craft your entry into the industry, consider which would be right for you.

1. Service Bureaus

These 3-D printing businesses own or lease printing equipment and offer printing as a service to their customers. They compete on the efficiency with which they turn around orders, the variety of materials they print with and the quality and sophistication of designs they can print. Sculpteo, a French company, is a big player here.

Its a crowded, competitive field, and it can be hard to differentiate your company. One way, Wallach Kloski suggests, is starting a service bureau that serves a niche clientele. For example, she says, no big service bureaus currently serve schools.

2. File Creation

Some 3-D printing businesses combine engineering and design know-how with computer-aided design tools to turn their clients back-of-envelope ideas into 3-D-printable files.

Business that create 3-D-printable files compete on their brainpower and expertise. Even if youre designing simple objects, you need to have a design background and be versed in CAD software, Wallach Kloski says.

3. Equipment or Software Makers

Some of these companies make printers, which can range from small consumer models to those used in industrial settings for prototyping or mass production. As with any manufacturing, these 3-D printing businesses have high fixed costs, meaning business owners must invest large amounts of capital before the first machine rolls off the line. Most proprietors also have a background in manufacturing, engineering or a related discipline, like the founders of Desktop Metal of Burlington, Massachusetts, which recently secured $115 million in venture funding.

Similarly, no one just wakes up one morning and starts a CAD software company. That typically requires some experience at a company that makes design software.

4. Supplying or Supporting the Industry

These 3-D printing businesses provide supplies, materials and equipment to the people and companies doing printing. This includes businesses that sell the printing equipment to end users and other businesses that supply filament, the spools of plastic that are a raw material for 3-D printing.

Then there are services such as maintenance, repairs and education. HoneyPoint3D, for example, offers online courses in design and printing.

5. Selling Finished Products

These 3-D printing businesses sell products that can be made only with a 3-D printer. Perhaps fast turnaround is important to the customer, or a degree of customization that would make mass production unfeasible.

For example, Barcelona-based Crayon Creatures uses childrens drawings to produce a three-dimensional version. In 2014, Hasbro partnered with 3-D printing company Shapeways to produce customized My Little Pony toys on demand from the designs of adult fans known as bronies.

Republished by permission. Original here.
Eighty percent of franchisors, 64 percent of franchisees, and 76 percent of suppliers expect their business to do better in the next 12 months. This is according to the Franchise Business Economic Outlook Report released by the International Franchise Association.

Franchise Business Economic Outlook for 2017

Prepared by IHS Markit Economics for the International Franchise Associations Franchise Education and Research Foundation, the report goes on to say franchise businesses are expected to grow faster than the economy in 2017.

Why the Positive Outlook?

In assessing the indicators driving the positive outlook for franchises, IHS highlighted several points. It is basing the growth on solid gains in consumer spending, residential investment, business fixed investment and exports.

Consumer spending, which franchises rely on, is projected to increase by 2.6 to 2.7 percent annual rates during the final two quarters of 2017. This is based on increases in household finances with gains in employment, real incomes, stock prices and home values.

The public sector is also going to play a role with the release of federal funds for surface transportation projects as well as defense and security.

Challenges

The biggest concerns for franchisees are joint employer, tax reform, minimum wage, and health care costs.

A joint employer ruling was enacted during the Obama administration, and the ruling was particularly burdensome for small businesses. But the Labor Department rescinded the ruling under the Trump administration, and the Save Local Business Act is gaining traction with bipartisan support.

Robert Cresanti, International Franchise Association President and CEO, is positive about the Trump administration as it applies to businesses. Cresanti said in a release, Weve seen positive steps toward a more business friendly environment, such as rolling back unnecessary regulations, but there is still much work to be done. With a burdensome tax code and a confusing joint employer standard, franchise businesses are still competing with one arm tied behind our back.

Additional Data Points from the Report

The number of franchises is set to increase to 745,000 in 2017, an increase of 1.6 percent or close to 12,000 new establishments. This of course will increase the employment rate, growing the sector by 3.1 percent, which is much better than the 1.7 percent of total private nonfarm employment.

In terms of monetary output, franchises will generate $711 billion in nominal dollars, an increase of 5.3 percent in 2017.

Franchise businesses across 10 broad business lines were surveyed. Commercial and Residential Services is expected to grow at 3.0 percent, while personal businesses will experience even higher at 6.1 percent.

Franchise growth also varies according to region, but the top five States in the survey were, Utah, Florida, South Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin with growth of 7.6, 7.0, 7.0, 6.7, and 6.5 percent respectively.
The city of Springfield, Massachusetts is putting an emphasis on supporting its small business community with a new executive training program called RiseUp Springfield.

Riseup Springfield Small Business Training Program

The program, which is a collaboration between the City of Springfield, the Association of Black Business and Professionals and the citys Chamber of Commerce, consists of courses held at the University of Massachusetts center in Springfield. The training program will offer knowledge, tools and networking opportunities to help small business owners support and grow their businesses.

Business owners dont need a degree to participate in the program. But there are some basic eligibility requirements. For example, businesses must be located within the city of Springfield, must have an annual revenue of between $150,000 and $10 million, must be in at least the third year of business ownership and have at least one other full-time employee besides the owner or owners.

The city and its organizations take the growth of small businesses so seriously because of the huge impact these businesses can have on the local economy.

Chairman of the Association of Black Business and Professionals, Robert Jones, explained to 22News, They tend to hire locally, and if youre hiring somebody locally, and if youre giving them an opportunity to earn an income to support their family, everybody benefits from that. The business, the families, thus, the communities.

The program offers a great example of a city supporting its small business community. Training and education can provide small business owners with a major boost. But its not always easily attainable.

So if successful, RiseUp Springfield should increase the chances of its local small businesses growing enough to hire more employees, spend more capital locally and grow and sustain the local economy.
Navigant Consulting, Inc. provides professional services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Healthcare, Energy, and Financial Services Advisory and Compliance. The Healthcare segment offers consulting and business process management services to healthcare providers, payers, and life sciences companies. This segment helps clients respond to market legislative changes, such as the shift to an outcome and value-based reimbursements model, ongoing industry consolidation and reorganization, Medicaid expansion, the implementation of a electronic health records system, and product planning and commercialization expertise. The Energy segment provides life-cycle solutions that help clients businesses in changing energy environment, manage complexity, accelerate operational performance, and meet compliance requirements, as well as transform its organizations and systems; and various benchmarking, and data and market research services. This segment serves utility and energy companies, government and nongovernmental organizations, large corporations, product manufacturers, and investors. The Financial Services Advisory and Compliance segment provides strategic, operational, valuation, risk management, investigative, and compliance advisory services to financial services industry, including financial and insurance institutions. This segment also offers anti-corruption solutions and anti-money laundering consulting, litigation support, and tax compliance services. Navigant Consulting, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
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Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) Pty Ltd, Accenture (UK) Limited, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Agencia Interativa Ltda, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture B.V., Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BPS Services S.p. z o.o., 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 Canada Holdings Inc, Accenture Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Limited, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co. 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Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions S.p. z o.o, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc, Accenture Sub III Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. 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Ltd., Cimation, Cirrus Connect Australia Pty Ltd, Cirrus Connect Limited, Cirruseo, Clarity Insights, ClearEdge Partners, Clearhead, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas Japan G.K., Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Limited, Cloudeasier SAS, Cloudpoint Limited, Cloudsherpas Inc, Cloudworks, Cloudworks Consulting Services Inc, Cloudworks Technology LLC, Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda, Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda, Context Information Security, Context Information Security LLC, Context Information Security Limited, CoreCompete LLC, CoreCompete Limited, CoreCompete Private Limited, Corliant Inc., Creative Drive LLC, Creative Drive US LLC, CreativeDrive, CreativeDrive Digital Content Services (Shenzhen) Co Ltd., CreativeDrive EMEA Limited, CreativeDrive Singapore Pte Ltd, CreativeDrive UK Group Limited, Cutting Edge Solutions Limited, Cygni AB, Cygni Norrsken AB, Cygni Stockholm AB, Cygni Syd AB, Cygni Vast AB, Cygni Ost AB, Cygni Ostersund AB, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Limited, DI Futures Corporation, Data Essential SARL, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings LLC, Decora Marketplace LLC, Decorado Marketplace Ltda-EPP, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digital Results Group LLC, Double Digit Limitada, Double Digit Pty SA, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Limited, Duck Creek Technologies, ESR Labs, ESR Labs AG, EdenOne Solutions Limited, Edenhouse ERP Holdings Limited, Edenhouse Solutions Limited, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting LP, End to End Analytics LLC, End-to-End Analytics, Endorphin Medici (M) Sdn Bhd, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Limited, EnergyQuote JHA, Enimbos, Enimbos Global Services S.L., Enkitec, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions LLC, 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, Enthusian Pty Ltd, Entropia, Entropia (M) Sdn Bhd, Entropia Holdings Pte Ltd, Entropia Intercraft Sdn Bhd, Epylon, Ergo, Espedia S.r.l., Ethica Consulting Group, Ethica Consulting S.p.A., Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Experity, Exton Consulting, Exton Consulting Spain Strategy&Management S.L., Exton Germany GmbH, Exton International SAS, Exton Italia S.r.l., Exton SAS, FGM LLC, Fairway Technologies Inc, Farah BidCo Limited, Farah MidCo Limited, Farah Topco Limited, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Formicary, Founders Intelligence, Fruendo S.r.l., FusionX, Future State Consulting LLC, FutureMove (Beijing) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd., FutureMove Automotive, FutureMove Automotive Co. Ltd., GRA Supply Chain Pty Ltd, Gagel Group S de R.L. de C.V., Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gevity, Gren utvikling AS, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hahntel Ltda, Halo Partners LLC, Hamilton Holding Company S.A, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Happen GP Limited, Happen Limited, Headspring, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl A/S, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn Bhd, IBB Consulting, ICM.S S.r.l., IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INSITUM, IQSP Consulting LLC, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Icon Integration (NZ) Limited, Icon Integration Pty Ltd, Imagine Broadband (USA) Limited, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Imaginea Technologies LLC, Industrie IT (Hong Kong) Ltd, Industrie IT (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Industrie IT Group Pty Ltd, Industrie IT Pty Ltd, Industrie&Co, Infinity Works Consulting Limited, Infinity Works Holdings Limited, Infinity Works Management Limited, Infinity Works Midco Limited, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Innotec International EAD, Innotec International S.p. z.o.o., Innotec Marketing GmbH, Innotec Marketing International Ireland Limited, Innotec- Marketing Spain S.L, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., International Biometric Group LLC, International Biometric Group UK Limited, Intrepid, Intrepid Futureworks Sdn Bhd, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Technology Ltd, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, ItSafer Continuity Services S.L., JKD Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, K Comms Group Limited, KSC Studio LLC, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, King James Group, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Limited, Kogentix Singapore Pte Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LINKBYNET Indian Ocean (L.I.O) Ltd, LabAnswer, Lexta GmbH, Lexta UK Limited, Lien par le reseau Inc, Lien par le reseau infrastructures Inc, Lin Bo (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd., Link By Net SAS, Link By Net SRL, Link By Net Vietnam Company Limited, Linkbynet East Asia Ltd, Linkbynet Singapore Pte Ltd., Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, Lumenup S.A., MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision LLC, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte Ltd, Mackevision UK Limited, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd, Maihiro, Matter, Maud Corp Pty Ltd, Maxamine International, Measuretek LLC, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing LLC, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mistral Wind Operations  Servicos Empresariais Unipessoal Lda., MobGen, Mortgage Cadence LLC, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, Mudano Limited, Myrtle Consulting Group LLC, N3, N3 (Dalian) Business Consulting Co. Ltd., N3 Brazil Consultoria em Marketing Ltda, N3 Germany GmbH, N3 LLC, N3 North America LLC, N3 Results Australia Pty Ltd, N3 Results Ireland Limited, N3 Results Japan G.K., N3 Results Limited, N3 Results Malaysia Sdn Bhd, N3 Results Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., N3 Results S.A.S., N3 Results Singapore Pte Ltd, N3 Results Unipessoal Lda, NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Nell'Armonia Israel Ltd, Nell'Armonia SAS, Nell'Participation SAS, NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda, New Energy Group, News Imaging LLC, NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage Pte Ltd, Northstream, Novetta Holdings LLC, Novetta LLC, Novetta Solutions LLC, Novetta Topco LLC, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Olikka Pty Ltd, Olympus Systems Corporation, Openmind, Openmind S.r..l., Openminded, Openminded SAS, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium AG, Orbium Consulting Limited, Orbium Inc., Orbium Ltd, Orbium Pte Ltd, Orbium Pty Ltd, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PLM Systems S.r.l, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, PacificLink Group, Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production A/S, Pegasus Production K/S, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pollux Automation Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pollux Canada Inc, Pollux S.A.S., Pollux USA LLC, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Limited, Pramati Technologies Europe Limited, Pramati Technologies Private Limited, Presence of IT Workforce Management North America LLC, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Limited, Procurian Inc., Prof. Homburg GmbH, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co. Ltd., RBCP Fund 1-A Vapor Blocker LLC, RBCP Platform Vapor Blocker I LLC, REPL Consulting LLC, REPL Consulting Limited, REPL Digital Limited, REPL Group K.K., REPL Group Pty Ltd, REPL Group Worldwide Limited, REPL Pte Ltd, REPL Software Limited, REPL Technology Limited, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Root LLC, Rothco, Rothco Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Salt Solutions, Sandbox Studio LLC, Sapling Bidco Limited, Sapling Midco Limited, Sapling Topco Limited, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Search Technologies BPO Inc, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Securiview SAS, Sentelis, Sentor Managed Secuirty Services AB, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Seven Seas Business Ventures LLC, Shackleton, Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton S.L.U., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., SigInt Technologies LLC, Silveo, Silveo Consulting India Private Limited, Simian Pty Ltd, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., Sirvart S.A., Sistemes Consulting S.L., Skylink SAS, Soltians Limited, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Somers Ventures Ireland Limited, Somers Ventures LLC, Spacelink SAS, Storm Digital, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Synership LLC, Systor AG, T.A. Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, 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, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut.

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After the success of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, the company has launched its three variants of Redmi Note 5A smartphone in Beijing, are now available for sale in the country.

The Redmi Note 5A was launched in two variants. The standard variant offers 2GB of RAM with 32GB of internal storage and comes powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 Chipset. With the other one with Snapdragon 435 Chipset and a fingerprint sensor further comes in two options: one with 3GB RAM and 32GB Storage and 4GB RAM with 64GB of storage. All of the three versions feature dual SIM slot with a dedicated microSD card slot.

The basic budget variant of the Redmi Note 5A was made available for sale with its launch at a price of 699 Yuan (around 106 USD or 6842 INR). But, Xiaomi on Friday has launched its upper model of 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and Snapdragon 435 chipset; made available at 1199 Yuan (around 183 USD or 11736 INR).

Chinese sources revealed that the handset was available through a flash sale only on Friday. And it is still not known that when the next sale will happen. Also, previous speculations suggested that the company will be launching the handset in other vast markets like India. But later it was announced that it was a spontaneous flash sale.

Xiaomi hasnt disclosed that how many units it has managed to sell in the last sale. Also, while asking about its future plans to make the handset available for sale at Mi Mall, the company isnt uttering a word.

Tech Specs of Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A

Falling some lights on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A handset, the smartphone flaunts a 5.5-inch HD display and comes with a metal-clad cover at its back. The smartphone is fueled with a powerful 3,080 mAh of battery with Type-C charging.

On the front, a 16-megapixel of selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash. While its back boasts a 13-megapixel of primary image snapper with f/2.2 aperture with Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF). The company claims that both of the cameras come with a capability of recording HD quality videos with a good image stabilisation. But how much good it is? We can judge after using the handset.

Seeing on paper specs, it can be touted that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A is a good smartphone under the 10K subcategory. Now we have to see, whether the company will launch the phone in India or not. If it launches what will be its price.

Please let me know in the comment section below that will you buy the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A top variant for 14000 INR? Or you will go with some other handset.

See Also: Xiaomi launches Redmi Note 4 Lake Blue variant for Swach Bharat and Wake the Lake Campaign
Thousands rallied in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Saturday, in solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims fleeing what the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Indonesia has the worlds largest Muslim population, and its leaders are under pressure to do more to help the Rohingyas persecuted in mainly Buddhist Myanmar. Waving Indonesian flags and holding up placards, people clad in white vowed to stand by their Muslim brothers and sisters in Myanmar in a rock-concert style event at Jakartas landmark, National Monument. The demonstration was also attended by the leaders of various religious communities, including Christians and Buddhists. Protesters held banners reading Stop the genocide of Rohingya and Stop crimes against humanity. We encourage the Indonesian government to provide more assistance to the Rohingya Muslims who are currently in refugee camps. They still need a lot of help from Muslims in Indonesia, said demonstrator Ayub Bahruddin. Yusma Niar, another protester, suggested the Indonesian government could send troops and equipment to the Muslim fighters who want to go to Myanmar to help the Rohingyas. The Indonesian government sent four aircraft containing humanitarian aid to Rohingya Muslims last week. Villages torched Since last month, nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh following a military crackdown in Myanmars Rakhine state. Myanmar authorities reject the accusations of ethnic cleansing and say theyre targeting insurgents in response to attacks against police and paramilitary posts. But NGOs say Muslims civilians are suffering a campaign of violence and arson aimed at driving them out of the country, where they are regarded as illegal migrants. More than 430 people have been killed, most of them insurgents, and about 30,000 non-Muslim villagers have been displaced, Myanmar has said. Human Rights Watch said satellite imagery showed 62 Rohingya villages had been torched. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the U.N. Security Council have urged Myanmar to end the violence, which Guterres said could best be described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar under pressure Meanwhile, Bangladesh accused Myanmar of repeatedly violating its airspace and warned that any more provocative acts could have unwarranted consequences, raising the risk of a deterioration in relations already strained by the Rohingya refugee crisis. Bangladesh said Myanmar drones and helicopters had violated its airspace three times  on Sept. 10, 12 and 14  and that it had called in a top Myanmar embassy official in Dhaka to complain. A Myanmar government spokesman said he did not have information about the incidents Bangladesh had complained about, but Myanmar had denied an earlier accusation. Our two countries are facing the refugee crisis. We need to collaborate with good understanding, he told Reuters. Bangladesh has said all refugees must go home. Myanmar has said it will take back those who can verify their citizenship, but most Rohingyas are stateless. The conflict has led to a humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border and raised questions about Myanmars path under the leadership of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi after nearly 50 years of strict military rule. The generals still control national security policy but Suu Kyi has been widely criticised abroad for not stopping or condemning the violence.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's top allies said on Sunday she saw no logic in deploying U.N. peacekeepers along the border between Russia and Ukraine, something Kiev and Washington favour. Putin this month suggested armed U.N. peacekeepers be deployed to eastern Ukraine to help protect ceasefire monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to help end a conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the proposal "interesting," while Kurt Volker, the U.S. envoy to Ukraine peace talks, says the suggestion gives negotiators more ideas with which to seek a resolution to the conflict. But differences about where the peacekeepers would operate risk sinking the plan. Putin originally said the peacekeepers could be deployed along the line of contact between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists, but later said they could also be deployed in other areas where OSCE inspectors work. Washington and Kiev also want peacekeepers to be deployed along those parts of Ukraine's border with Russia which Kiev does not control. However, Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament and a close Putin ally, said on Sunday Moscow strongly objected to that idea. "I don't see any logic in such a proposal," Matviyenko, visiting Turkmenistan, told reporters, the Interfax news agency reported. "Those who would like to surround the residents of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass (Donetsk) and Luhansk with barbed wire or to simply destroy these people ... will not succeed." (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Louise Heavens)
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A strong storm killed eight people and injured at least 67 in western Romania on Sunday as winds of up to 100 kph (over 60 mph) also brought destruction to parts of Serbia and Croatia, officials said. Road and rail traffic in parts of Romania was halted by fallen trees. Several hospitals, schools and apartment buildings had roofs damaged and dozens of towns and villages were left without electricity. Some of the casualties were people strolling outside or coming out of supermarkets, the emergency services said. A group of tourists was stranded for an hour in a chairlift in the northern county of Maramures. In Serbia, a man went missing on his boat on the Danube river near Belgrade and six people, including a five-year-old child, were injured by falling trees. Arcing from power lines, caused by the high winds, triggered several wildfires. In Croatia, flooding brought traffic to a standstill in several coastal towns. "We can't fight the weather," Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose told Antena3 TV. "The entire medical sector is focussed on the injured." He said the government would help support the communities hit by the storm. Nicolae Robu, mayor of the Romanian city of Timisoara spoke to local TV station Digi24 as he was surveying the scene outside. "There are dozens of trees on the ground, roads blocked, we are out of electricity and water. There are roofs torn off houses, apartment buildings. There are overturned trucks. I've never seen anything like this." Romania's national weather agency has issued warnings of strong winds and rainstorms for western areas. Emergency responders have urged people to take shelter indoors, unplug household appliances and park in areas not close to trees or power lines. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the U.N. Security Council has run out of options on containing North Korea's nuclear programme and the United States may have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon. "We have pretty much exhausted all the things that we can do at the Security Council at this point," Haley told CNN's "State of the Union," adding that she was perfectly happy to hand the North Korea problem over to Defense Secretary James Mattis. As world leaders head to the United Nations headquarters in New York for the annual General Assembly meeting this week, Haley's comments indicated the United States was not backing down from its threat of military action against North Korea. North Korea launched a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday in defiance of new U.N. Security Council sanctions banning its textile exports and capping imports of crude oil. China has urged the United States to refrain from making threats to North Korea. Asked about President Donald Trump's warning last month that the North Korean threat to the United States will be met with "fire and fury," Haley said, "It was not an empty threat." "If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behaviour, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed. And we all know that. And none of us want that. None of us want war," she said on CNN. "We're trying every other possibility that we have, but there's a whole lot of military options on the table," she said. Pyongyang has launched dozens of missiles as it accelerates a weapons programme designed to provide the ability to target the United States with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile. North Korea said on Saturday it aimed to reach an "equilibrium" of military force with the United States. 'ROCKET MAN' Trump plans to meet with South Korean President Jae-in Moon on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. "I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!" Trump said in a Twitter post on Sunday morning. White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said on Friday, after the latest North Korean missile launch, that the United States was running out of patience: "We've been kicking the can down the road, and we're out of road." On Sunday, he warned of imminent danger from Pyongyang. "This regime is so close now to threatening the United States and others with a nuclear weapon, that we really have to move with a great sense of urgency on sanctions, on diplomacy and preparing, if necessary, a military option, McMaster told the "Fox News Sunday" programme. Military options available to Trump range from a sea blockade aimed at enforcing sanctions to cruise missile strikes on nuclear and missile facilities to a broader campaign aimed at overthrowing leader Kim Jong Un. Mattis has warned the consequences of any military action would be tragic on an unbelievable scale and bring severe risk to U.S. ally South Korea. Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein said on Sunday that Trump should not rule out talks with North Korea before it agrees to end its nuclear programme. "I think that North Korea is not going to give up its programme with nothing on the table," she said on CNN. Feinstein said that a freeze of both its nuclear programme and missile arsenal, rather than ending them, would be more palatable to North Korea and to China, who fears the U.S. goal is toppling Kim. The United States still wants a peaceful solution and has been waiting for the North Koreans to indicate they are ready to talk, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We have tried a couple of times to signal to them that we're ready, when they're ready," he said. "And they have responded with more missile launches and a nuclear test." (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
National Grid plc transmits and distributes electricity and gas. The company operates through UK Electricity Transmission, UK Electricity Distribution, UK Electricity System Operator, New England, and New York segments. The UK Electricity Transmission segment provides electricity transmission and construction work services in England and Wales. The UK Electricity Distribution segment offers electricity distribution services in Midlands, and South West of England and South Wales. The UK Electricity System Operator segment provides balancing services for supply and demand of electricity on Great Britain's electricity transmission system; and acts as an agent on behalf of transmission operators. The New England segment offers electricity and gas distribution, and electricity transmission services in New England. The New York segment provides electricity and gas distribution, and electricity transmission services in New York. It also engages in the provision of transmission services through electricity interconnectors and LNG importation at the Isle of Grain; sale of renewables projects; and leasing and sale of commercial property, as well as insurance activities in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Dominion Energy, Inc. produces and distributes energy in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Dominion Energy Virginia, Gas Distribution, Dominion Energy South Carolina, and Contracted Assets. The Dominion Energy Virginia segment generates, transmits, and distributes regulated electricity to approximately 2.7 million residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and North Carolina. The Gas Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas sales, transportation, gathering, storage, and distribution operations in Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Utah, southwestern Wyoming, and southeastern Idaho that serve approximately 3.1 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. It also has nonregulated renewable natural gas facilities in operation. The Dominion Energy South Carolina segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 772,000 customers in the central, southern, and southwestern portions of South Carolina; and distributes natural gas to approximately 419,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in South Carolina. The Contracted Assets segment is involved in the nonregulated long-term contracted renewable electric generation and solar generation facility development operations; and gas transportation, LNG import, and storage operations, as well as in the liquefaction facility. As of December 31, 2021, the company's portfolio of assets included approximately 30.2 gigawatt of electric generating capacity; 10,700 miles of electric transmission lines; 78,000 miles of electric distribution lines; and 95,700 miles of gas distribution mains and related service facilities. The company was formerly known as Dominion Resources, Inc. Dominion Energy, Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and distributes fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Fresh and Value-Added Products, Banana, and Other Products and Services. It offers pineapples, fresh-cut fruit, fresh-cut vegetables, melons, and vegetables; non-tropical fruits, such as grapes, apples, citrus, blueberries, strawberries, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, and kiwis; other fruit and vegetables, and avocados; and prepared fruit and vegetables, juices, other beverages, and meals and snacks. The company also engages in the sale of poultry and meat products; and third-party freight services business. In addition, it manufactures and sells plastic and box products, such as bins, trays, bags, and boxes. The company offers its products under the Del Monte brand, as well as under other brands, such as UTC, Rosy, Fruit Express, Just Juice, Fruitini, Mann's Logo, Arcadian Harvest, Nourish Bowls, Broccolini, Caulilini, Better Burger Leaf, RomaLeaf, and other regional brands. It markets and distributes its products to retail stores, club stores, convenience stores, wholesalers, distributors, and foodservice operators. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. was founded in 1886 and is based in George Town, Cayman Islands.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of firewall appliances and software deployed on a customer's network, as well as their instances in public or private cloud environments, as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, and firewall; and DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company offers cloud security, secure access, security operations, and threat intelligence and cyber security consulting; professional services, including architecture design and planning, implementation, configuration, and firewall migration; education services, such as certifications, as well as online and in-classroom training; and support services. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
A new Lockwood High School sells itself to voters, supporters say. It could help that the first vote  an issue on the Nov. 7 ballot  doesnt come with a price tag.

The Lockwood Community Education Committee held a kick-off event at ACE Hardware in Lockwood on Saturday, distributing yard signs and giving their pitch for why Lockwood's K-8 school district should expand to include high school. Lockwood students attend high school in School District 2.

A smaller-school atmosphere is a big selling point for new district supporters, compared to Billings' three high schools with 1,500 students or more.

I think School District 2 does a good job, but you look at what they manage  its just a different environment, said Chad Hansen, who heads the education committee. They have to treat all 17,000 kids equal. (Lockwood kids) are our only priority.

Elementary-only school districts in Montana werent allowed to create a high school until a new law passed this spring, letting elementary districts with more than 1,000 students vote to break away from the high school district their students funnel into.

The law requires two votes; the first is merely conceptual, asking voters to approve the creation of a new high school district without getting into the costs. Thats whats on the mail ballot in November.

The second vote must be held within two years of the first vote, and it needs to have a price tag for the bond required to build a new high school and levies required to operate it. If the first vote fails, or the second doesnt pass within two years, the district has to wait for a new five-year window for another push.

School District 2 opposed the bill, in part because Billings voters didn't get a vote on the new district. The departure of Lockwood students would likely create a small increase in year-to-year school taxes in Billings.

The prospect of a split could complicate district planning. Billings aims to update a facilities master plan and demographic study and enrollment forecast this school year, evaluating how best to use staff and buildings. SD2 Superintendent Terry Bouck previously said that the upcoming election hasnt affected current district planning, but that could change.

It depends on whether it passes or not, he said.

If the vote passes on Nov. 7, supporters aim to vote well within the two year window. The school district needs to complete architectural and financial work to project costs for the new district. It could pass an automatic transitional levy to pay for the work, but Lockwood plans to pay out of already existing school funds, Hansen said.

If it passes, we cant just say, oh, great, sit back and wait, he said. We need to push the momentum.

Hanson tends to say when more than if talking about the November vote. Supporters have already been going door-to-door in Lockwood and distributing yard signs. In addition to educational benefits, he believes the school could give the area an economic boost, and reduced transportation of students would address complaints that were inflamed by a recent redrawing of SD2 boundaries, which shifted most Lockwood students to Skyview High school. Lockwood students previously picked Skyview or Senior High. Most attended Senior.

A significant body of research supports the idea that small schools in tight-knit communities are good for students. But there are still trade-offs. Its generally more expensive to run smaller schools in Montana, and adding diverse courses and activities is often more expensive in a smaller school.

Projections from the Gazette in 2016 show that a new high school would likely increase year-to-year school taxes in Lockwood as compared to SD2, depending on locally voted levies. Those projections estimated that building costs for a new school could be around $40 million  a figure based on local and national school construction costs and estimates from Lockwood Superintendent Tobin Novasio  which would cost taxpayers about $110 per year on a $100,000 home.

Opponents of lifting the ban on new high school districts also fear that the law could be a foot in the door for wide-scale district expansion, which could have ramifications for Montanas state school funding system.

School district splits have become a national issue recently, especially in southern states where school district had been required to racially integrate schools by court orders. Several new districts are significantly more wealthy and more white than existing districts, raising concerns about educational equity. A Lockwood split wouldn't fall into that category; more Lockwood elementary students than Billings elementary students are considered "economically disadvantaged" by the state, and the districts have similar proportions of American Indian students, Montana's largest minority group.

But the Nov. 7 vote doesnt get into financial details, and the pro-high school campaign isnt going there either, for now. Yard signs implore voters, referencing Lockwoods lion mascot, to bring our pride home.

Theres a lot of pride in Lockwood, Hansen said.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  An endangered Mexican gray wolf has been killed by federal employees after a Native American tribe requested the animal be removed from the wild in the wake of a string of cattle deaths near the Arizona-New Mexico border.

The death of the female wolf marks the first time in a decade that efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to curb livestock attacks by wolves has had lethal consequences for one of the predators.

The decision to remove the member of the Diamond Pack was first made in June after three calves were killed over several days, sparking concern among wildlife managers about what they described as an unacceptable pattern of predation.

An investigation determined the female wolf was likely the culprit based on GPS and radio telemetry tracking, according to documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

Another calf was killed in July, prompting the White Mountain Apache Tribe to call for the removal. That was followed by one confirmed kill and another probable kill by members of the pack on national forest land adjacent to the reservation.

Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle issued another order in August calling for the wolfs removal by the most expeditious means possible.

I am concerned with the numerous depredations in this area over the past year and the toll these depredations have caused the areas livestock producers, Tuggle wrote.

Environmentalists decried the move, saying they are concerned about the possibility of managers reverting to a rigid three-strikes rule that called for wolves to be removed from the wild or killed if they preyed on livestock. Following years of legal wrangling, federal officials revised that policy in 2015 to allow for more options when dealing with nuisance wolves.

Michael Robinson with the Center for Biological Diversity argued that killing wolves does nothing in the long run to reduce livestock losses.

The recovery of endangered Mexican gray wolves has taken an unnecessary step backward, he said.

Fish and Wildlife officials said current rules allow for the control of problem wolves and that the agency will continue to manage wolves in Arizona and New Mexico under those provisions. They also said they will continue to work with ranchers to limit conflicts.

The wolf recovery team earlier this year set up a diversionary cache of food for the Diamond Pack, which roams parts of tribal land and the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Two other pack members were also removed and placed in captivity at the beginning of the year due to predation concerns.

There are now more Mexican gray wolves roaming the American Southwest than at any time since the federal government began trying to reintroduce the animals nearly two decades ago. The most recent annual survey shows at least 113 wolves spread between southwestern New Mexico and southeast Arizona.

Efforts to return the predators to the region have been hampered over the years by everything from politics to illegal killings and genetics.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has been criticized for its management of the wolves by ranchers, who say the animals are a threat to their livelihoods, and environmentalists who want more captive-bred wolves to be released.
Beneath Earths surface, evidence of the past and potential solutions for the future reside in thousands of caves across the planet.

But little is known about the caves, as the science of studying and researching the hidden land forms, known as speleology, is young.

And even less is known about karst, a geological formation created when rock such as limestone dissolves, creating underground aquifers, caves and sinkholes.

Experts estimate karst covers about 25 percent of land in America, and most people have no idea.

George Veni, executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute located in Carlsbad, is hoping to fight ignorance of cave science on a global scale.

For the past eight years Veni served as vice president for the International Union of Speleology (UIS), headquartered in Slovenia.

Through the organization, Veni meets with experts from about 60-member countries at conferences.

At the most recent gathering of the union in Sydney, Australia, he was named president, the first American to lead the organization in its 52-year history.

Veni said he views the organization, and his election as president, as an opportunity to better educate the public on the importance and power of cave science, both at home and abroad.

By lobbying UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, he hopes to establish an international year of speleology, which would lead to educational activities and meetings to be held throughout the world.

Ive spent much of my 40-year career underground, Veni said. I see the value most dont. What we want to do is educate people about karst. Why cant we define karst? It shows a true lack of education.

Were not as far as Id like to be, but things are changing. If we can get the international year, it will raise awareness throughout the world.

But his new position isnt only about making an impact on a global scale, Veni said.

By becoming president of UIS, Veni said the profile of Carlsbads scientific community could be raised through the institute.

And the heightened attention could bring more funding to the institute.

Veni said he has a vision to move all the records and office space at the institute to another location, converting the building into a museum that could drive up tourism and public awareness.

Cave science could unlock knowledge and strategies for dealing with climate change, Veni said, as the evidence of the changes to Earths climate can be extracted from ancient caves and karst.

Changes in karst aquifers can tell scientists how climate change affects water supplies, he said, while studying past conditions in ancient caves could help predict environmental shifts.

Lets deal with it. Its here, Veni said. Cave science can teach us a huge amount.

A better understanding of the science could lead to even more discoveries and catalytic research, he said.

What we need to do as an international cause is make people aware of what cave and karst are, Veni said. Were not trying to get people to go caving. What were trying to do is teach people that these things are important. They affect people.
Honor the solder, hate the war.

These are words that come to mind when Peter J. Comstock gives presentations on the Vietnam War.

The New Mexico resident is a Vietnam veteran who works with the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

The organization provides assistance to all veterans, their dependents, widows and orphans; processes veterans claims for compensation, pension, medical care, education, job training, employment, veterans preference, housing, death, and burial benefits; serves on the Presidents Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities and assists in identifying and helping homeless veterans.

You can bet Comstock will be glued to his TV for the documentary The Vietnam War: A Landmark Documentary Event by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick beginning at 8 tonight on New Mexico PBS.

Of course Ill watch it, Comstock says. I made it a point and part of my healing process to see every Vietnam film that was made. Some of them, it was very hard for me to sit through. When you go to Angel Fire, at the Vietnam Memorial, there is a continuous loop that is actual footage. It got me at first. There are still triggers and thoughts, but it doesnt put me under the table.

Comstock served in Vietnam as a second lieutenant in 1968. He commanded a mortar platoon with the Armys 199th Light Infantry Brigade, based at Long Binh. He received a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel from a Viet Cong grenade, and he received a Silver Star, the militarys third-highest award for combat.

I was there in 1968 and 1969 at the height of the war, he says. Surely, the documentary will deal with that. I believe in April of 68 there were over 3,000 killed in that month. It was pretty heavy action in those two years.

Comstock is also heavily involved in speaking about the war at schools in Albuquerque.

For a few years, hes worked with Amy Biehl High School on developing a 10-week curriculum on the Vietnam War.

About 10 years ago, none of the schools in Albuquerque were covering Vietnam, he says. Their students and some teachers didnt know about it. I convinced them to develop a course, and to this day, its still in place.

Comstock wants to keep the Vietnam War at the forefront of the discussion because there is much to be learned.

You can learn from the war not to make the same mistakes again, he says. There were some good soldiers, and we lost a lot of them. I want to educate students on how important (it was) and the impact the war had on the world. A lot of these men were drafted and didnt have a choice. Yet they fought.
Ken Burns has built a successful career in documentary filmmaking.

In the past two decades, he has helmed some poignant films that take a different look at subjects.

In his latest project with Lynn Novick, he takes on the Vietnam War.

The conflict began in 1954 and became a long, costly quagmire pitting the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

The divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later.

More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans, died.

The 10-part, 18-hour documentary, The Vietnam War: A Landmark Documentary Event by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, will premiere at 7 tonight on New Mexico PBS. The first five episodes will air through Thursday, Sept. 21. The final five episodes will air Sept. 24-28.

When Burns started the project more than 10 years ago, he envisioned telling the story from three perspectives  that of the Americans, that of the North Vietnamese and that of the South Vietnamese.

It was really important for us to take on the different perspectives, Burns says. When most Americans talk about Vietnam, they talk about themselves.

It was obvious that these multiple perspectives were ignored in the past. There are plenty of differences in all the cultures. We asked the same questions for everyone.

Burns says there are 50 American perspectives, as well as 30 Vietnamese.

With the war ending just over 40 years ago, Burns understood going into the project that its still very fresh in Americans minds.

This war seems to dehumanize everything, he says. In order to understand it, you have to see everyone as human beings.

During the process, there were many challenges.

What part of the project wasnt challenging? Novick asks. Because its fairly recent, it was interesting to take a period of history that we lived through. Then trying to unpack what we thought we knew and what we didnt know.

The filmmaking team organized all the information, and the process became emotionally challenging.

Every war is tragic, and every time humans kill each other, its deeply tragic, Novick says. It felt more visceral. And for us, it was gut-wrenching. And for people who lost family members or friends, we saw how it tore the family and the country apart at the same time.

Novick says she and Burns came into the project thinking they knew a fair amount about the war.

We had to start with a blank slate, she says. As we were working, new articles and new material and new tapes would surface. We were keeping up with the news and new revelations, which changed the film. The more things were revealed, the more the story rounded out. Twenty years from now, we will probably have new information. Its a difficult aspect to think about.

Burns and Novick are grateful for the opportunity to tell the story.

The Vietnam War was a decade of agony that took the lives of more than 58,000 Americans, Burns says. Not since the Civil War have we as a country been so torn apart. There wasnt an American alive then who wasnt affected in some way  from those who fought and sacrificed in the war, to families of service members and POWs, to those who protested the war in open conflict with their government and fellow citizens. More than 40 years after it ended, we cant forget Vietnam, and we are still arguing about why it went wrong, who was to blame and whether it was all worth it.

Novick says the country is still searching for some meaning in this tragedy.

Ken and I have tried to shed new light on the war by looking at it from the bottom up, the top down and from all sides, Novick says. In addition to dozens of Americans who shared their stories, we interviewed many Vietnamese, on both the winning and losing sides, and were surprised to learn that the war remains as painful and unresolved for them as it is for us. Within this almost incomprehensibly destructive event, we discovered profound, universal human truths, as well as uncanny resonances with recent events.

The documentary is scored by Oscar-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Faith and bejabbers! A staggering 100 million years ago, most of New Mexico was covered by a 3,000-foot-deep inland sea that stretched from northern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Fast forward to this year and visit the Quench: Water in the Desert group exhibition at the New Mexico Art League celebrating fresh water in its many forms in our modern high desert country.

Among many well-known neo-impressionists like perennial favorite J. Wade Griffin, neo-expressionist Mary Sweet and postmodernist realist Dennis Liberty are several outstanding artists who also are doing excellent work.

I am particularly impressed with several pastels by Janice St. Marie, who is not only a consummate draftsman but also fully uses the virtually unlimited palette available to pastel artists.

In works like Sing to Me, Autumn, St. Marie focuses on details, with thousands of tiny strokes of color that add up to a stunning overall capture of land, water, atmosphere and foliage. Her sense of detail borders on the paint-every-leaf 19th century landscapes by several Barbizon painters and the leader of the realism movement, Gustave Courbet.

From the early 20th centurys first brush with modernism springs inspiration for work by Jacqueline Hertel, who paints on top of predominantly red grounds to produce radiant, slightly abstracted landscapes. Hertel offers the kind of painterly vibrancy found in post-impressionist Maurice Prendergasts landscapes, like his Central Park, 1901, filled with densely packed brush strokes that layer the scene into visibility.

It is Hertels brushwork, bold color and stylization that enliven her paintings and set them apart from more conventional landscapes in much of the show. One of my favorites is Placitas Spring. Hertels work is not necessarily superior but just different enough to attract the eye.

Speaking of excellent conventional painting, Roger Gathmans Spring Runoff and Rains Coming offer strong brushwork and a broad palette.

Though not as tightly rendered as St. Maries pastels, Gathmans oils are richly and skillfully applied to manifest water, trees, land and sky in a relaxed but believable style that is both charming and true to life.

Photography is part of the water-themed installation, with several prints on canvas by Theodor Greer that are so softly focused they look just like well-executed paintings. Greers best is Chama River which has to be the most painterly photograph Ive seen.

In stark contrast is the high-tech and high-gloss super-real Cathedral Rock, by Herman Tafoya, that is a truly stunning photograph printed on aluminum. The image of a mesa with its reflection on still water is a knockout. The colors are clear, and the focus is razor-sharp.

To isolate Cathedral Rock from its surroundings and the wall itself, Tafoya might want to try presenting this beautiful print in a black shadowbox instead of free-floating sans frame.

Another stunner is Dry Wash Tracery a drop-dead-gorgeous pastel by Melody Sears, who sets the benchmark for the absolute lusciousness of the pastel medium as well as brilliant implementation.

Valerie Cordaro offers two contrasting pieces with the highly successful albeit redundant Rio Chama River, in beautifully juicy Southwestern earthen hues, and Treasure, an overworked and washed-out composition featuring a large cottonwood.

In Treasure, Cordaro whitewashed the composition by mixing too much white into every important color. Every artist needs someone to whisk away the painting at its best before the artist is able to have second thoughts.

My advanced-painting instructor had us remove our tubes of white from our paint boxes and hide then in a locked drawer until class was over.

There are many more noteworthy works in Quench: Water in the Desert, but weve run out of space.

This entire exhibition is a knock-down, drag-out success that should quench most realist art lovers thirst for excellent landscapes.

If you go Art review

WHAT: Quench: Water in the Desert, contains 87 works by 45 artists

WHEN: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday through Oct. 7. Information, 293-5034.

WHERE: New Mexico Art League Gallery, 3409 Juan Tabo NE behind the Juan Tabo Public Library

HOW MUCH: Free
Warning! A nearly 2,000-word proposal on the back of this years election ballot claims to be pro-worker, but it will lead to Albuquerque workers losing their jobs and losing key benefits, like paid time off. There is no question that the passage of this confusing, poorly crafted ballot initiative will lead to local small businesses in Albuquerque shutting their doors for good.

Lets follow the lead of cities like Denver in voting down this so-called sick leave ordinance, which is littered with onerous regulations and red tape that would strangle our small businesses, make lawyers rich off of frivolous lawsuits, and hurt Albuquerque families as workers are laid off and lose their benefits.

First, the meandering ballot initiative applies to small businesses with as few as one employee. These businesses barely make ends meet, and additional regulations will surely impact their survival in our community.

Second, the proposal doesnt allow a small business to ask for documentation, like a doctors note, from an employee who takes sick leave unless that employee is gone from work for three or more consecutive days. If a small business does ask for documentation, it must pay for the employees doctors visit.

Third, and perhaps worst, a provision in the ballot initiative called rebuttable presumption says that if an employer terminates an employee within 90 days of that employee using sick leave, it is assumed that the termination was in retaliation for the employees using their sick leave. This is an absurd determination designed to make trial lawyers rich. The way its drafted could lead to some ridiculous arguments against employers. For example, a worker who takes a single day of sick leave could be completely immune from termination, even if they fail a drug test while on the job. That makes no sense, but its a sloppily written provision thats buried within the nearly 2,000 words on the back side of the ballot.

When local small businesses are forced to bear the increased cost of this shady ordinance, they will have no choice but to cut costs. Businesses will lay off workers, cut workers hours, or pass the increased costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices at restaurants and stores across town. In other words, this proposal is a bait-and-switch that would hurt the very people it purports to help.

Many employees across Albuquerque currently enjoy some sort of paid time off benefits, or PTO as it is more commonly known. Under this ballot initiative, PTO is likely to disappear altogether. Its hard to argue that obliterating paid time off is pro-worker in any sense.

If this ordinance is enacted, trial lawyers will be encouraged to file lawsuit after lawsuit against Albuquerque small businesses, most of which dont have the money to defend themselves against aggressive attorneys.

Why are trial lawyers so attracted to this proposal? Because if a lawyer sues a small business, he or she can receive damages up to three times the amount of actual damages they allege to have occurred. But if the small business wins the lawsuit, it receives nothing but a bill for the cost of having to defend itself against frivolous claims. This sneaky ballot proposal even offers incentives to city government attorneys to target small businesses with audits and investigations in an effort to collect fines whenever a small business hasnt dotted the is or crossed the ts in the mountain of paperwork required.

We believe that enacting a citywide policy to encourage businesses to provide their employees with sick leave is a laudable goal. But its wrong to have an out-of-state special interest group draft a so-called sick leave policy in secret and try to enact it through a confusing ballot initiative. Instead, we should bring everyone to the table  including the public and job-creating small businesses  to draft a reasonable ordinance not riddled with unintended consequences. Unfortunately, the nearly 2,000 words on the back of your ballot will do nothing but push jobs out of our city and put small businesses out of business, all while raising costs on Albuquerque families.
Imagine that you are a concrete contractor working on a large job site. Today is your first concrete pour. You have done the site work; you have set your forms. Now it is time to place the concrete. It is a large site, so you are using a concrete pump to pour the wet concrete. While the wet concrete is being poured, construction workers will be using shovels, rakes and come alongs to move the concrete to make sure there are no voids or air pockets. Once the wet concrete has been placed into the forms, it is screeded, which helps consolidate and compact it. Then the concrete is smoothed and leveled to further compact it and create a smooth finish. Finally, the concrete is floated to even out any depressions or high areas. As you can see, this is a complicated, detailed process that requires good prior planning with many employees and every employee knowing their individual contribution to a successful pour.

Now imagine that half of your employees do not show up to work on the day of the pour. They did not have to notify you, so you did not have the ability to schedule other employees to take their place. Possibly expensive concrete is lost, and the job is not done. Both the concrete contractor and the general contractor are liable. They lose money, the job falls behind and everyone loses  especially the employees that did show up ready to work but got sent home because the pour did not happen.

This scenario could really take place if the sick leave mandate in the Healthy Workforce Ordinance is voted for on Oct. 3. Under this mandate there is no requirement that an employee notify an employer if they are sick. You as an employer will no longer have control of your work conditions. And employees  you will also have no control over your daily schedules, because you could be asked to cover for anyone who is out, since your employer would have no prior knowledge of the absence of another employee. There are rules that govern sick leave for a reason. Employers must know of and plan if there are absences, so that scenarios like the above are averted and a business can continue to function.

It is apparent that the sick leave mandate will drive up costs for businesses. This will especially be hard for small businesses, which in turn will harm employees and endanger a businesss existence. Business growth is the best way to improve employees pay and benefits. As businesses grow, so does their bottom line and their profit margins. In fact, as soon as small businesses can afford to offer benefits like paid sick leave the vast majority do so  especially in the construction industry.

The sick leave mandate will force small businesses to lay off employees or cut hours. Some may cut pay or other benefits. Some may put off hiring employees. There will virtually be no business growth in Albuquerque.

This mandate is local in name only. The crafters of this egregious law are New York lawyers and anti-business groups such as Ole, which is an offshoot of the now defunct ACORN. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now famously came under fire a few years ago because its political affiliates engaged in electioneering and lobbying. There was also an embezzlement scandal and allegations of facilitating voter fraud. The organization officially announced the closure of its offices in 2010 after losing government funding due to the controversies.

Ask yourself if you want out-of-state groups like Ole to create our local business policies. Ask yourself as an employer if you want to lose control of your business. And most importantly, ask yourself as an employee if you want an out-of-state group to dictate the fate of your employer, the fate of your work schedule and ultimately the fate of your future employment. If you want a stable work environment, both employers and employees must vote against the sick leave mandate on Oct. 3.
WASHINGTON  Many Americans moral vanity is expressed nowadays in their rage to disparage. They are incapable of measured judgments about past politics  about flawed historical figures who were forced by cascading circumstances to make difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect information. So, the nation now needs an example of how to calmly assess episodes fraught with passion and sorrow. An example arrives tonight.

For 10 nights on PBS, Ken Burns and Lynn Novicks The Vietnam War, 10 years in the making and 18 hours in length, tells the story of a war begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings, and prolonged because it seemed easier to muddle through than admit that it had been caused by tragic decisions during five presidencies. The combat films are extraordinary; the recollections and reflections of combatants and others on both sides are even more so, featuring photos of them then and interviews with many of them now.

A 1951 photo shows a congressman named John Kennedy dining in Saigon. There is an interview with Le Quan Cong, who became a guerilla fighter in 1951, at age 12. Viewers will meet Madame Le Minh Khue, who was 16 when she joined the Youth Shock Brigade for National Salvation: I love Hemingway. I learned from For Whom the Bell Tolls. Like the resourcefulness of the man who destroys the bridge. I saw how he coped with war, and I learned from that character. As did another combatant who loves that novel, John McCain.

Eleven years after his Saigon dinner, President Kennedy said, We have not sent combat troops in the generally understood sense of the word. Obliqueness and evasions greased the slide into a ground war of attrition. Kennedy, his successor  who said, Foreigners are not like the folks Im used to  and their advisers were determined not to make the Munich mistake of confronting an enemy tardily. Tapes of Lyndon Johnsons telephone conversations with advisers are haunting and horrifying: To national security adviser McGeorge Bundy: What the hell am I ordering (those kids) out there for?

In 1966 alone, 18 large-scale U.S. offensives left more than 3 million South Vietnamese  approximately one-fifth of the countrys population  homeless. Just on the Laos portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, more tons of bombs  3 million  were dropped than fell on Germany and Japan during World War II. By body counts, America was winning. As an Army adviser says in episode four, If you cant count whats important, you make what you can count important.

Vincent Okamoto earned in Vietnam the Armys second-highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross. He recalls the platoon he led:

Nineteen-, 20-year-old high school dropouts  they looked upon military service as like the weather: you had to go in, and youd do it. But to see these kids, who had the least to gain, there wasnt anything to look forward to.  And yet, their infinite patience, their loyalty to each other, their courage under fire.  You would ask yourself, How does America produce young men like this?'

Or like Okamoto. He was born during World War II in Arizona, in a Japanese-American internment camp. Karl Marlantes, a Rhodes Scholar from Yale who voluntarily left Oxford for Marine service in Vietnam, recalls a fellow lieutenant radioing to battalion headquarters over 20 kilometers away the fact that he had spotted a convoy of trucks. The battalion commander replied that this was impossible because intelligence operatives reported no trucks near there. In a Texas drawl, the lieutenant replied: Be advised. I am where I am and you are where you are. Where I am, I see goddamned trucks.

Weary of hearing the prudence that was so painfully learned in Indochina derided as the Vietnam syndrome, Marlantes says in his Wall Street Journal review of Mark Bowdens book Hue 1968: If by Vietnam syndrome we mean the belief that the U.S. should never again engage in (a) military interventions in foreign civil wars without clear objectives and a clear exit strategy, (b) nation building in countries about whose history and culture we are ignorant, and (c) sacrificing our children when our lives, way of life, or government of, by, and for the people are not directly threatened, then we should never get over Vietnam syndrome. Its not an illness; its a vaccination. The Burns/Novick masterpiece is, in Marlantes words about Bowdens book, a powerful booster shot.

Wills columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion  look for the syndicated columnist link. Email: georgewill@washpost.com; copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.
The state of New Mexico boasts a unique mix of cultures, industries and ways of life.

Nearly all of them were proudly on display at this years New Mexico State Fair, which wraps up today.

From a lowrider show to a Dairy Discovery Zone to a green-chile-on-everything policy for many of the fairs food options, this State Fair is certainly its own.

In some cases, this mixing of cultures has led to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the cultures of others.

Take the Keims.

The seven-member family from Placitas is mostly of German descent, said Dana Keim.

On Saturday afternoon, Dana, her husband, Robert, and their children  Dominic, 11, Gemma, 8, Bernadette, 6, Isidore, 4 and Josemaria, 5 months  could be found onstage at the Villa Hispana area of the fair.

Robert, Dominic, Gemma and Bernadette, blond-haired and blue-eyed, performed about 45 minutes of traditional Mexican dances with Los Ninos de Santa Fe dance company.

Its really inclusive, said Dana, watching the performance (and keeping an eye on her two youngest). All my kids are totally comfortable there.

The whole family has become interested in Mexican and Spanish cultures; Robert recently returned from a trip to Spain.

Its one of those cultures thats still so alive, she said. Theres such a special joy in doing this.

It certainly appears joyful; all the children involved in the production had bright, toothy smiles.

At the nearby Indian Village, the fairs designated Native American Day was being celebrated with pottery and Navajo rug weaving demonstrations, tribal dances and the New Mexico State Fair Pow Wow.

Apart from being a vibrant display of the New Mexican cultural melting pot, the fair is also known for serving up a variety of delicious, greasy, fried foods.

Eleven-year-old Noah Lujan of Albuquerque sat by himself at a table with a pile of ribbon fries about as big as his head Saturday afternoon.

He tilted his head back happily and slowly lowered each ribbon into his open mouth.

Asked what his favorite part of the fair was, Noah answered with two words: The food.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

The New Mexico Public Education Department has launched its second year of the Secretarys Teacher Advisory Committee, a group of educators from across the state who work directly with top officials.

Former PED Secretary Hanna Skandera created the advisory and several other groups to connect more directly with teachers after being criticized for not doing so earlier. The first group provided input on a variety of initiatives, including community meetings, teacher resources and an annual New Mexico Teacher Summit.

But some are questioning whether the committee is truly representative.

Sen. Mimi Stewart, Legislative Education Study Committee chairwoman, said she does not believe the advisory committee is a real grassroots group because PED is picking and choosing who can join.

The Albuquerque Democrat, and outspoken critic of PED, said she has also heard that the department is asking advisory members to attend school board and legislative meetings to advocate for the states education policies.

Im hoping that I can hear more from them other than promoting the PED reforms, Stewart said. Im really looking forward to that. I hope it happens.

She has been joined in her criticism by union leaders, who have also claimed PED only selected teachers who support state initiatives.

Thats a position blasted by PED Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski, who questions why union leaders are choosing to besmirch teachers who serve on the committee.

Patricia Martinez, a special education K-5 head teacher at Kirtland Elementary in Albuquerque, is a member of this years committee.

She disagreed with the characterization that PED is pushing the advisory members to become spokespeople for the state and said PED is promoting open communication between department officials and the teacher community.

The PED knows it needs to do a better job communicating with teachers, she said.

Martinez wanted to join the committee to be proactive and help improve education across the state.

Im excited, she said. Its easy to complain. Im tired of that. I was one of those people  I could tell you everything I didnt like.

Rigorous selection process

PED chose 26 teachers for the current cohort  roughly 10 percent of the applicant pool  after a rigorous selection process, including a survey and video interview. The teachers overall evaluation scores were also a factor.

PED is spending $18,000 to organize the current cohort.

The group held its first meeting with Ruszkowski in mid-August.

Before resigning in June, Skandera told the Journal that she regrets not communicating directly with teachers sooner.

Skandera said she used to think she could talk to superintendents and expect them to pass on her messages to teachers, who would then speak to parents.

It was the worst game of telephone, Skandera said.

PED created a number of groups to reach teachers directly, including the Secretarys Teacher Advisory Committee, the New Mexico Teacher Leader Network, New Mexico Literacy Dream Team and teacher liaisons.

Last year, the New Mexico Teach Plus Fellows, a group of 15 educators from around the state, made suggestions that led to significant changes in the teacher evaluation system, including a reduction in the weight of student test scores.

PED said it did not select teachers based on their support for state programs and did not know how many were members of a union.

Ken Strawn, a Las Cruces fourth-grade teacher, serves on the National Education Association of New Mexico board of directors and was selected to be on the Teacher Advisory Committees first cohort.

He said he felt the meetings became political over time.

Still, Strawn said it was worthwhile to participate because he got to know top PED officials on a first-name basis.

Strawn recommended that PED ask superintendents to select the advisory group members to demonstrate the groups independence.

Ruszkowski said PED coordinates with superintendents on many programs, and he is happy with the selection process.

Open to dissent

NEA of New Mexico spokesman Charles Goodmacher said he believes advisory group members are well-intentioned, but he said PED is highlighting them to create a false sense of support for its policies.

It is the pressure brought by our unions, legislators and community allies which, according to PED Secretary Skandera herself, gave rise to these groups as a counterweight to the majority of educators, he said.

Ruszkowski said Goodmachers statement doesnt deserve the ink on the paper its printed on and called for him to apologize to the advisory members.

I am honestly sitting here wondering what has it come to that there is opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to come to the table with ideas and solutions about how to improve student outcomes and student achievement, he said. Instead, they (NEA) are choosing to besmirch a group of 26 classroom teachers from across the state.

Goodmacher, in turn, said PED is discounting the unions, which provide a platform for many teachers to express their opinions. Roughly half of the states teachers belong to a union.

The other Albuquerque member of the Secretarys Teachers Advisory Committee, Jacob Kolander, who teaches English at South Valley Academy, said PED was open to dissent during the first 2017-2018 cohort meeting last month.

We have been able to express contradictory viewpoints, he said.
LAS CRUCES  A lawsuit alleges that Dona Ana Countys top prosecutor offered to dismiss criminal charges against a defendant in exchange for money.

The complaint filed by former office manager Marylou Bonacci also alleges that District Attorney Mark DAntonio retained incompetent employees as political favors, improperly used funds and discriminated against women in his office.

The complaint was filed last week in district court, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.

DAntonio said in a statement to The Associated Press that the claims were absurd. He described them as a poorly-veiled political attack.

As a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor with an unblemished record, I am offended by these vague accusations of corruption  coming years after they are alleged to have occurred, he said. This is not only a calculated attack on me and my family, but it undermines the exceptional work my office does every single day.

The lawsuit accuses DAntonio, the district attorneys office and the state of New Mexico of retaliating against Bonacci after she claimed to have raised concerns about alleged improper acts within the office. Bonacci worked at the district attorneys office from January 2013 to September 2015.

The allegations date back to 2013, DAntonios first year in office. He was re-elected in November.

Bonaccis lawsuit claims the district attorney would meet with defendants in his office without attorneys present. In one case, Bonacci claims DAntonio asked her to secure a loan from a defendants family in exchange for charges being dropped.

The complaint also alleges that the FBI began to investigate after Bonacci told a third party about DAntonios request. FBI spokesman Frank Fisher cited agency policy, saying he would never confirm nor deny a report of an investigation.

According to the complaint, DAntonio learned about the alleged FBI investigation in August 2015, about a month before Bonacci was fired for being late to work by about nine minutes.

By April 2015, the complaint states Bonacci had been demoted on pretext that her job performance was unsatisfactory. She claims she was not given further explanation. She also alleges she was subjected to a hostile work environment following her demotion.

About a month before her termination, Bonacci accused the defendants of mishandling a child sex case, including refusal to produce evidence material to the defendant, according to the complaint.

DAntonio urged the public to withhold judgment until the facts of the case are brought to light.

Bonacci and her attorneys are seeking a jury trial as well as damages that include lost wages and compensation for emotional pain and suffering.

No trial date has been scheduled.
SANTA FE  Public statues and tributes to early Spanish conquerors are facing mounting criticism tied to the brutal treatment of American Indians centuries ago by Spanish soldiers and missionaries, with activists drawing ethical parallels to the national controversy over Confederate monuments.

From California to Florida, historical markers and commonplace names trace the path of the 16th century Spanish conquistadors and missionaries who explored and settled land inhabited by American Indians. Few, if any, of the monuments honoring them have come down.

The Spanish presence is particularly noticeable in parts of the Southwest, which Spaniards controlled for about 300 years. In northern New Mexico, statues and annual re-enactments recognize two colonizers who quelled armed uprisings by American Indians and meted out reprisals that included slavery and executions.

Earlier this month, police arrested at least 12 people in Santa Fe as protesters chanted slogans opposing an annual pageant that marks the return of Spanish conquistador Don Diego de Vargas to New Mexico following a 17th century Indian revolt.

Pageantry supporters say they are honoring their Spanish heritage, paying homage to the Roman Catholic faith and highlighting reconciliation. For Native American tribes, the monuments and events often are reminders of forced religious conversions and violence against resisters of Spanish rule.

Heres a look at Spanish historical figures whose legacies are stirring protest and debate:

Don Diego de Vargas

Police thronged downtown Santa Fe streets on Sept. 8 to contain protests of an annual costumed pageant that re-enacts de Vargas 1692 arrival in Santa Fe, some 12 years after Pueblo Indians from small, scattered tribes rebelled against Spain.

There were no signs of violence among the roughly 100 protesters. But police Sgt. Gardner Finney said a dozen people were arrested on charges including trespassing and disorderly conduct.

They included protest organizer Jennifer Marley, a tribal member of San Ildefonso Pueblo and leader of the activist group Red Nation. Led away in hand restraints, she said she hoped images of her arrest would stoke opposition to the re-enactment.

Organizers of the entrada  or arrival  of de Vargas say the event on Santa Fes downtown plaza portrays a peaceful reconciliation between the conquistador and American Indians in shared reverence for a wood-carved Virgin Mary known as La Conquistadora.

New Mexico Deputy State Historian Rob Martinez says the dramatization wrongfully gives the impression that Native Americans welcomed back the Spanish, and activists say it obscures the cruelty de Vargas inflicted as he stamped out resistance to Spanish rule.

Santa Fe schoolchildren have been visited by a dancing troupe portraying Spanish royalty for at least 50 years, led annually by an actor playing de Vargas who wears a shiny, feather-plumed helmet.

School district officials let children skip the presentations this year for the first time in deference to hundreds of students who might feel uncomfortable.

Conchita Lucero of Albuquerque says the Fiesta entrada recognizes perseverance of hardscrabble Spanish settlers.

Its a way to honor our ancestors, she says. The idea of the entrada is that we came back and we dedicated our lives to the city.  The gates of hell did not open when we came.

Juan de Onate

Juan de Onates arrival in present-day New Mexico in 1598 is re-enacted at an annual fiesta in Espanola, which is set amid several Indian Pueblos.

To American Indians, Onate is known for having ordered the right feet cut off 24 captive tribal warriors after his soldiers stormed Acoma Pueblos mesa-top sky city, an attack precipitated by the killing of Onates nephew.

Four hundred years later, in 1998, someone sawed off the foot of an Onate statue at a visitor center near Espanola named for him.

The former Onate Monument and Visitor Center reopened in August as the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Center. Board member Patricia Trujillo said some people avoided the building for its focus on Onate, although a statue of him still stands on the path to the front entrance.

Organizers posted questions on public bulletin boards about Onate at the reopening and asked people to respond in writing, but someone crossed out messages that asked to remove the Onate statue and stop the glorification, Trujillo said.

Onate has staying power as a cultural icon, she said.

When you ask people, its kind of a blind patriotism to this pristine moment, the fact he was the first colonizer to come into New Mexico and start this settlement that persisted, she said. People find a lot of pride in that.

Maurus Chino, of Acoma Pueblo, says Onate should no longer be honored.

These monuments really mean something obscene and evil to the indigenous people here and all decent people, he said.

Junipero Serra

A Franciscan friar who founded the Spanish mission system in California, Junipero Serra believed that American Indians needed to be baptized and taught to farm. Once converted, they were prohibited from leaving the missions and became largely dependent on the Spanish, said Robert Senkewicz, a history professor at Santa Clara University.

In August, a statue of Serra in Southern California was splashed with red paint and defaced with the word murderer in white. Other Serra statues were vandalized  one beheaded  surrounding his elevation to sainthood two years ago.

The popular picture in colonial California was one of heroic Spanish missionaries and content American Indians, Senkewicz said. Recently, the California school system said children no longer would have to build replica missions in their classrooms.

The problem isnt Serra himself, Senkewicz said.

The problem is hes been allowed to symbolize everything.

Juan Ponce de Leon

Juan Ponce de Leon is credited for naming Florida in 1513. Though he did not establish a permanent settlement, statues of him are found throughout the state.

He was among Spanish explorers who forged alliances with American Indians and also fought against them. Known for his search for the mythical fountain of youth, Ponce de Leon died from an arrow wound in 1521, said J. Michael Francis, who heads the Department of History and Politics at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.

Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who founded St. Augustine in 1565, are less controversial than explorers in the Southwest and the Spanish never gained a stronghold over the peninsula, Francis said.

Protesters say the period of ethnic genocide and environmental degradation is nothing to celebrate.

Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney and activist from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, recognized an extinct Florida tribe on the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leons landing.

If people want to do re-enactments, people want to be proud of their heritage, they want to celebrate these people who are heroes, thats their right, he said in an interview Wednesday. But its also a right that the truth be told.
The Sky News 13 helicopter crashed in rural central New Mexico on Saturday, killing veteran KRQE pilot and reporter Bob Martin.

Martin, who worked for KRQE-TV for nearly 30 years, was pronounced dead at the site of the crash in Lincoln County, according to New Mexico State Police. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Martins colleagues struggled to keep it together Saturday night as they reported on the crash during their 10 p.m. broadcast.

We start tonight with heavy hearts here at KRQE, anchor Madeline Schmitt said, her voice breaking. She said a helicopter had gone down in rugged terrain north of Carrizozo, and the wreckage was found close to the last known location of the stations helicopter.

Its all but certain that its our news helicopter, and our pilot and friend Bob Martin, she told viewers.

Confirmation would come from State Police on Sunday morning.

Its about as tough as you can imagine, KRQE vice president and general manager Bill Anderson said Sunday. Hes a central character here.

Anderson said Martin, 64, was not only Channel 13s pilot, but one of its best reporters, writers, editors, photographers. He was a mentor who taught new employees how to be a good person on top of being a good reporter.

Martin stayed the night in Roswell after covering Friday night football getting sports highlights from the air, Anderson said. On his way back to Albuquerque on Saturday, he was gathering a few more shots, before the helicopter crashed as it passed through Lincoln County.

Police said they were notified of a downed aircraft near Corona at 5:14 p.m. Saturday.

His co-workers gathered in the newsroom Saturday night to grieve the loss and to share their favorite stories. Anderson said Martin is survived by his wife, Marilyn Painter, a national sales manager for The CW.

News of Martins death circulated on social media late Saturday and into Sunday. Current and former Albuquerque-area reporters lamented the loss of a man who many considered both a dear friend and colleague.

Although many of us work as competitors, all journalists in New Mexico are part of our journalism family and we hope our friends at KRQE will reach out if they need support, the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande Chapter wrote on Facebook.

According to his biography on KRQEs website, Martin graduated from Socorro High School before studying journalism at Eastern New Mexico University. He went on to work for KBIM in Roswell and joined KRQE in 1989, where he tackled stories here and overseas.

Martin, who had been flying helicopters for KRQE for at least 27 years, was also an airplane pilot and balloonist, Anderson said. He was also a licensed drone pilot and had an expert sport skydivers license, according to KRQEs website.

At KRQE he often covered wildfires, and took emails and texts from people whose homes were in danger. He would fly over the area, the website reported, and provide them with detailed information about the condition of their property.

Well remember him by going back to work, Anderson said. Well remember him by doing our jobs well. Well remember him by loving the communities of New Mexico.
Australian and Chinese officials held talks in Beijing this weekend aimed at tightening trade and economic ties between the two countries, just as the Trump administration increases scrutiny on the trading practices of the worlds biggest exporter.

The two nations worked across a whole range of issues, starting off first and foremost with our combined commitments to grow our economies but also resisting against protectionism, Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison told reporters after the meeting. The officials also discussed investment, competition and income policies. Chinas capital curbs are not badly affecting Chinese investment in Australia, Morrison said.

Australia is the most China-dependent economy in the developed world and two-way trade between the two countries is worth more than AUD155 billion (USD124 billion). A large chunk of that is Australian raw materials including iron ore and coal that helped build and fuel the plants at the center of Chinas industrialization.

China is now trying to transition from a heavy-industry driven economy to one led by internal consumption and this is showing up in tourism Down Under: some 1.2 million Chinese visitors came to Australia in 2016, compared to just 500 people 40 years earlier.

Yet China has faced a backlash over investment in Australia. Polls show Australians think too much Chinese property buying is allowed Down Under, where buoyant house prices have become a political issue. The government tightened scrutiny of farmland sales to Chinese buyers in 2015, with purchases of at least AUD15 million needing to be screened for approval. When it comes to investment in China, Australia is behind, putting more cash into the tiny nation of Papua New Guinea than the worlds second-largest economy.

In a statement ahead of the meeting, Morrison and Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said that Australia and China share an interest in open global trade and investment. The two nations signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2014.

The closeness of the two nations when it comes to trade stands in contrast to the growing tension between the U.S. and China. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month announced an investigation into Chinas practices on intellectual property, technology transfer and innovation.
XIAMEN, China, Sept. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The award-winning American Chamber of Commerce in South China (AmCham South China) delegation, led by the Chamber's President Dr. Harley Seyedin, arrived in Xiamen yesterday to attend the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT). The group, which continues to be a large delegation in its fifteenth year, is comprised of more than 50 senior leaders from multinational enterprises.

At this three-day event, AmCham South China's CIFIT delegation will meet with government leaders from Provinces of Hebei and Fujian, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, aiming to explore business opportunities and potential for cooperation. The Delegation will also visit major investment projects in Fujian.

"CIFIT represents one of the largest and best platforms for investment and trade in the world, which has become a window of cross-investment to the world. Our Chamber and the members have been here for the past fourteen years and we owe the success of our delegation each and every year to the excellent organization and the high quality of arrangement and service provided by the CIFIT Organizing Committee. I want to offer my congratulations to the MOFCOM, Xiamen and Fujian leaders, and the CIFIT Organizing Committee for undertaking and delivering this highest level of professional excellence, which draws us to the beautiful city of Xiamen every year." said President Harley.

About The American Chamber of Commerce in South China

The American Chamber of Commerce in South China (AmCham South China) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating bilateral trade between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Certified in 1995 by its parent organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., AmCham South China represents more than 2,300 corporate and individual members, is governed by a fully-independent Board of Governors elected from its membership, and provides dynamic, on-the-ground support for American and International companies doing business in South China. In 2016, AmCham South China hosted nearly 10,000 business executives, government leaders and journalists from around the world at its briefings, seminars, committee meetings and social gatherings.

For Additional Information, please contact:

Ms. Rachel Chen

Communication Manager

The American Chamber of Commerce in South China

Tel: 86-20-8335-1476 ext. 39 / 86-136 3219 9935

Fax: 86-20-8332-1642

E-mail: rchen@amcham-southchina.org

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amcham-south-china-delegation-returns-for-more-success-at-its-fifteenth-cifit-in-xiamen-300520870.html

SOURCE AmCham South China
At the core of every small business is a grit-filled risk-taker who isnt afraid to test new ideas and work hard at making their dreams become a reality. If you dig a little deeper, youll discover that these entrepreneurs are also incredibly optimistic, despite the many roadblocks they face along the way.

The 2017 American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor revealed that nearly three quarters (72%) of business owners have a positive outlook towards their businesses and the economy over the next six months. Its an outlook that can only continue to trend upward should the current administration move forward with the proposed corporate tax reform plan.

For anyone unfamiliar with the components of this plan, heres a quick briefing. Proposed in late April, corporate tax reform would completely overhaul the existing tax code. One of the its biggest highlights includes reducing the top individual income tax rate to 15% on pass-through businesses and S-Corporations. This would be a tremendous decrease from 35% under the current system, which currently is the third highest federal corporate tax rate in the world.

Many details of this plan are still in the works, and the official timing for when, and if, it may go into effect has not yet been determined. However, influential small business leaders are already praising the plan and how they anticipate it will reshape the nations small businesses.

Linda McMahon, Administrator for the Small Business Administration (SBA), has noted that a simplified tax code will allow small business owners to reinvest in their own businesses again. Karen Kerrigan, CEO and president of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, also sees the positives of the proposed reform, stating that people working with a supportive tax system will be even more inclined to start businesses and it will encourage entrepreneurship.

Tax reform in the Golden State

You may have noticed that when I titled this post, I mentioned entrepreneurs specifically in California. The benefits that this kind of reform can offer is certainly not limited to small businesses in the Golden State alone. According to a CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey, taxes are the number one concern of small business owners; 42% polled believe that tax policy changes will have a positive effect on their companies.

RELATED: 5 Questions New Business Owners Need to Ask About Estimated Taxes

From the major tech corporations headquartered in Silicon Valley and Santa Monica to the mom-and-pop stores scattered throughout the San Fernando Valley, and even farms and ranches across the north and south coasts, a simplified tax code can do so much to ensure the survival and continued growth of these businesses. Despite its high rental and leasing costs, California has the largest population in the United States with nine businesses for every 100 residentsa particularly high number of businesses per capita.

In 2016 the SBA approved more than $5 billion in small business loans for California companies. Continued economic development is promised throughout 2017, including testing new lending initiatives like Partnerships for Lending in Underserved Markets (PLUM) which works to increase lending and capital access to minority-owned small businesses and underserved markets.

However, should this proposed reform be shelved for any reason by Congress, Californians may simply find themselves stagnating and struggling under an outdated tax code. Federal income taxes will continue to burden entrepreneurs with pass-through entities, and there will be less money for entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses. In some cases, this may lead to the shuttering of many storefronts and could even negatively affect the overall optimism levels of entrepreneurs.

How entrepreneurs will benefit

At the core of every business is a person who has grit, is willing to take risks and work hard, and maintains a great attitude about the future. But if you dig a little deeper, youll find that it is passion that brings us to entrepreneurship.

Creating this kind of tax reform would be a big change, and changes can understandably be difficult to adjust to and embrace. A simpler tax code will make it easier for entrepreneurs to reinvest in their businesses, communities, and overall economy. Opportunities to hire and pay talent will increase, there will be money to set aside for the growth of a business, and the focus can remain on giving customers exactly what they want and need.

Perhaps Don Draper said it best in the series Mad Men, I have a life and it only goes in one directionforward. As a small business owner myself, I have found that moving forward tends to reap nothing but benefits.

RELATED: 6 Ways to Invest in Your Business and Slash Your Taxes This Year
OnePlus is the highest recommended brand in India, according to the latest iteration of the Mobile Industry Consumer Insight (MICI) report compiled by CyberMedia Research. Based on the data collected by the company in September, OnePlus managed to surpass both Apple and Vivo as the phone brand consumers are most likely to suggest to their friends, family, and acquaintances, with the Chinese original equipment manufacturer seemingly earning its title by placing highly in a wide variety of smaller, more specific categories defined by CyberMedia Research.

The BBK Electronics-owned company hence managed to be proclaimed as a brand whose devices have the highest resale value in the country, in addition to placing second in the Trust and Desirability category, being surpassed only by HTC. OnePlus is also leading the local industry in regards to general brand satisfaction and ease of repair, with 96 percent of customers being pleased with the availability of spare parts for the companys devices, the survey suggests. Problem resolution speeds form another category in which OnePlus beat its competitors in India, as 90 percent of its customers are satisfied with its after-sales services. According to the same study, Indian consumers see Google as the most innovative company in the country, whereas OnePluss sister firm OPPO has the highest brand visibility, having its advertising rated as the most memorable across all platforms. The most common smartphone activity in India is social networking, CyberMedia Research says, with its study suggesting that 98 percent of smartphone users in the country have a habit of accessing social networks on their handsets and less than a third of them use their pocket companions for online shopping.

OnePlus launched its latest flagship offering in the form of the OnePlus 5 earlier this summer, earning a largely positive response from both critics and consumers alike even when faced with some setbacks related the so-called jelly scrolling effect and other minor performance issues associated with the device. The companys performance in India is believed to be a large contributor to its overall success, with the South Asian country being not only the second largest smartphone market on the planet but also one of the only major ones which still arent showing signs of saturation.
Verizon will launch an exclusive smartphone offering in the final quarter of the year, with the largest mobile service provider in the United States commissioning ASUS for the ASUS Ontario, known industry insider Evan Blass said earlier this week. The Ontario part of the phones moniker is supposed to be just its codename and there are currently no indications of how the device will actually be marketed as. Still, with the traditionally lucrative holiday season being just around the corner, it would make sense for Verizon to debut yet another device exclusive to its network, especially if its made by ASUS; the New Jersey-based wireless carrier has a long history of collaborating with the Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer, having already exclusively launched two of its offerings in the U.S. in 2017 alone.

The first 2017 ASUS-made device available stateside exclusively through Verizon was the ZenFone AR, an unconventional smartphone designed specifically for Googles augmented and virtual reality platforms Tango and Daydream. Being a niche offering with a relatively premium price tag, the ZenFone AR reportedly didnt sell too well in the country, though that didnt stop Verizon from introducing yet another exclusive device from ASUS shortly after that summer launch, with the company opting to bring the ZenPad Z8s to the U.S. in early August. Even though Android tablets arent in a particularly high demand these days, the ZenPad Z8s may still do reasonably well considering its affordable price tag and mid-range specs, with Verizon offering it for as little as $250.

The third and presumably final ASUS device that the wireless carrier is looking to launch this year may be a new member of the ZenFone series which the Taiwanese OEM just refreshed earlier this summer, having introduced half a dozen ZenFone 4 models. The possibility of the ASUS Ontario being a high-end smartphone is relatively low seeing how this years U.S. holiday period is almost certainly going to be dominated by Apple and  to a lesser degree  Samsung. Committing resources to promoting a direct competitor to new flagship offerings from by far the most popular brands in the country would generally be seen as a poor business decision and is hence unlikely to be made by Verizon.
Chinese authorities have charged nine people from a waste treatment facility with the dumping tens of thousands of tons of toxic waste into a section of the Yangtze River near Shanghai.

The charges were filed last week in the city of Changshu, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The nine are accused of sending garbage from Haiyan County, near Shanghai, to unqualified individuals who then dumped the waste in the river or buried it, Xinhua said. The dumping occurred between August and December of last year.

Pollution has become a major issue for Chinas growing middle class, frustrated with years of grey skies and polluted rivers, and the government is anxious to show it is addressing the problem.

Authorities stopped the dumping operation after spotting two boats dumping waste upstream from two drinking water sources, near the mouth of the Yangtze River close to Shanghai.
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Minter Ellison is to help startups in Australias agriculture technology space to grow their businesses.As a partner of the SparkLabs Cultiv8 project, the law firm will mentor AgTech firms alongside other industry mentors including KPMG and NSW Department of Primary Industries.Its a unique opportunity for us to witness innovation up close, and play a key role in the next step in technology driven value for the sector, commented MinterEllison partner Matthew Cunningham.The hub will launch in the second quarter of 2018 and run for 8 months, based outside of Sydney at the Orange Agricultural Institute in the Global AgTech Ecosystem or GATE Innovation Hub.After five years of litigation spending falling, its set to soar in 2018.Thats one of the key findings of the BTI Consulting Litigation Outlook which reveals that large US companies are adding U$1 billion of litigation spending to their legal budgets.Thats because a higher volume of litigation matters is expected by chief legal officers, around a 10% increase. For 2017, there was a similar percentage rise in the number of firms involved in litigation (68.7% in 2017 compared to 57.5% in 2016).For the first time this year, the outlook includes five firms that top the most feared by general counsel, up from four in the previous 6 years.The Fearsome Five that no GC wants to face are: Dentons , Gibson Dunn, Jones Day , Kirkland & Ellis, and Skadden. Overall, 83 firms were named by clients as Most Feared.Clyde & Co has added new strength to its global arbitration group with the appointment of Alejandro Garcia as a partner.He joins from Winston & Strawn in London having previously been with Herbert Smith Freehills , and has more than a decade of experience which includes major arbitral seats in Asia, Latin America and Europe.One of his particular specialisms is advising on treaty disputes in the renewable energy sector within the European Union (EU).
Commercial law firm Johnson Winter & Slattery has worked with key agencies of the South Australia government on a number of elements of the states $520m energy plan.The firm collaborated with the SA Crown Solicitor's Office, under the leadership of Chief Commercial Counsel Chris Gray and the SA Department of Premier and Cabinet to implement key aspects of the initiative, including:JWS Partners Jee-Seon Lee (Energy & Resources/Projects) and John Keeves (Head of Transactional and Advisory) led the legal team in advising a 100 MW / 129 MW-hour battery energy storage system awarded to French renewables company Neoen and US energy company Tesla. The system will be built near Jamestown, in the Mid-North of South Australia.They were assisted by partners Anthony Groom, Stephen Byrne and Craig Wappett, Special Counsel Andrew Wilton and other members of the JWS transactional and advisory team.According to JWS there was a high level of international industry interest in the project, with over 90 expressions of interest being received. In order to achieve delivery in time for the summer of 2017/2018, the project team was required to work within a compressed timeframe to develop and execute tailored project documentation for a first battery project of this scale in Australia to be connected to the National Grid.JWS also supported the power procurement process that awarded US firm Solar Reserve with the contract to build a $650m 150 MW solar thermal plant North of Port Augusta. The solar thermal plant will be the largest of its kind in the world when completed.JWS energy & resources partners Peter Rose and Amanda Seaton led the team, with assistance from special counsel Man Loi and other members of the JWS transactional and advisory team.The third project involved the procurement of 276 MW capacity of emergency generation equipment to supplement generation capacity in times of peak demand or supply constraints to avoid load shedding in SA.Partners Paul Turner (Projects) and Martin Kudnig (Energy & Resources) led the JWS team for this project. They were assisted by Craig Wappett, Andrew Wilton and Special Counsel Deborah Overstead, and other members of the JWS lawyers.This procurement involved the acquisition of generation capacity from mobile modular aero-derivative generation units to be located at Lonsdale and the former Holden site. The government also acquired an option to acquire the equipment so that it could be relocated to a permanent site to provide the longer term generation facility announced in the Energy Plan.Keeves and Rose had overall legal transaction management responsibility of the JWS teams across the projects. Other senior JWS lawyers involved in the projects generally included partners Marcus Clark (Corporate) and Reynah Tang (Tax)."We are delighted to have assisted Crown Solicitors Office and the State of South Australia with these key electricity infrastructure projects, and have enjoyed working closely with our colleagues from the SA Crown Solicitor's Office on such an important set of transactions," said Keeves.
17 September 2017 14:15 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Romania offers Azerbaijan new projects on energy cooperation and expects expansion of the activities of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR in Romania, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Romania Farid Abdinbayov said in an interview with Trend.

"The government of Romania believes that the activities of SOCAR in this country shouldnt be limited to gas filling stations and offers Azerbaijan to consider participation in other projects as well, in particular in the spheres of oil refining, petrochemistry, energy resources exploration, creation of stations for refueling with liquefied natural gas, etc."

According to the diplomat, at present, SOCAR Petroleum SA is carrying out large-scale projects in Romania.

"As a result of the companys activity, energy cooperation between our countries has changed significantly," Abdinbayov said. "Today, there are 37 gas filling stations under the SOCAR brand in Romania, and they employ about 500 people."

"Today, implementation of concrete measures is underway within the framework of bilateral documents signed between Azerbaijan and Romania in the field of energy, in particular, on the transportation of Azerbaijani energy sources to Romania," the diplomat noted. "We are closely following the energy policy pursued by Romania in the Black Sea region, and we regularly send analytical information to the relevant structures of Azerbaijan."

"In general, the processes taking place in the Eastern European region and the tensions observed between the EU and Russia, led to a crisis in the energy sector," he added. "In this context, Romania seeks to use alternative sources of energy to fully meet the needs of the country. According to the information as of late 2016, Romania is able to fully meet its demand for natural gas."

The ambassador went on to add that as a result of the activities of SOCAR Petroleum SA in Romania, energy cooperation between the two countries is expanding, at the same time, the Romanian companies are actively participating in the implementation of energy projects in Azerbaijan.

"Romanias Transgaz company engaged in gas production and transportation, and Azerbaijans SOCAR agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of energy," the diplomat said. "We hope that in the future, these relations will be continued on the basis of concrete projects."

It should be noted that earlier, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the two companies.

The MOU between SOCAR and Transgaz envisages strengthening cooperation in the gas transportation, studying opportunities to use Romanias potential in the gas transit and distribution at the expense of gas supplies from Azerbaijan, the Caspian region and other promising directions, jointly studying the possibilities of cooperation in the supply and trading of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Romanian market on the basis of long-term contracts and spot trading as part of the AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) project.

The MOU will also give an opportunity to deepen cooperation between the two countries companies and to expand their activities in the gas market of Southeast Europe and the Balkan region.

According to the diplomat, efforts are also being made to determine the future fate of the project for the creation of the AGRI gas pipeline system and its financing.

He recalled that in June 2015, Bucharest hosted a meeting of the energy ministers of the AGRI projects member countries. The ministers discussed the position of the participating countries, the final results of the projects feasibility study and the possibility of financing, and proposed to include it in the list of the EU Projects of Common Interests for financing. The ministers also adopted a joint declaration, in which they supported the development of the AGRI project as an additional component of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and this will largely contribute to the energy security of Europe.

AGRI project envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Black Sea coast of Georgia via gas pipelines. Azerbaijani gas delivered to Georgia's Black Sea coast will be liquefied at a special terminal and following this, it will be delivered in tankers to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta.

Further, it will be brought to the gaseous state and sent via Romanian gas infrastructure for meeting the demands of Romania and other European countries.

The participants of the AGRI project are SOCAR, Georgia's Oil and Gas Corporation, as well as MVM (Hungary) and Romgaz (Romania).

The parties established the SC AGRI LNG Project Company SRL in February 2011 for the implementation of the project.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
17 September 2017 10:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

More than 50 militants, with six field commanders among them, have defected to the Syrian government side in the past 24 hours and stopped fighting, the Russian center for reconciliation of rival sides in Syria said on Saturday, TASS reported.

"Militants are continuing to lay down arms and to defect to the government forces. Over the past 24 hours, 54 fighters, including six field commanders of illegal armed groups, have laid down arms and defected to the government forces," a spokesperson said.

In line with its commitments, Russia continues to support the ceasefire in Syria, he said. The presence of Russian military police and observation outposts has stabilized the region and helped to lower the number of ceasefire violations.

The Russian reconciliation center daily provides humanitarian aid and medical assistance to Syrians, largely foodstuffs, necessities, medicines and hot meals.

The center and the Syrian National Reconciliation Committees join efforts to get the situation back to normal and to create favorable conditions in the areas liberated from terrorists, restoring infrastructure and helping refugees return to their homes.

In the liberated populated localities, roads are rebuilt, vital facilities, damaged in fighting, are reconstructed, and water and energy supplies are restored. Thus, all conditions for peaceful life have been created.

The Russian Defense Ministry declared the establishment of the reconciliation center on February 23, 2016. It is headquartered at the Hmeimim air base, Latakia province. The center was set up in line with agreements reached by Russia and the United States to facilitate the negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition and to organize deliveries of humanitarian aid.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
17 September 2017 12:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend



Iran Khodro (IKCO), the largest car producer of the Middle Eastern nation, is planning to launch the production of hybrid and electric cars in the near future, an official with the company told Trend.



"Iran Khodro has concluded a multilateral deal with several domestic universities and government bodies as well as foreign partners, including Italys Pininfarina, to pave the ground for manufacturing hybrid and electric cars," Morteza Aghaei, the head of public relations office at the IKCO, told Trend.



The company is hopeful to launch the production of the hybrid and electric cars within the next three years.



The key players of the automotive industry have recently voiced interest in putting an end to the production of diesel and petrol cars.



Earlier this month, China signaled that it might soon join the UK and France in prohibiting combustion engine cars.



Irans passenger car output registered a rise by 20 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Aug. 21), standing at 496,833 units.



According to the industry ministry, Iran Khodro accounted for 273,441 units of the total number manufactured during the five-month period, 16.8 percent more year-on-year.



Meanwhile Saipa, the second largest Iranian auto-maker manufactured 134,684 units, 21 percent up compared to the same period of the preceding year.
17 September 2017 16:10 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Turkmenistan attaches special importance to the development of a fruitful dialogue with neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

President Berdimuhamedov made the remarks at the meeting with his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Ashgabat Sept. 17, the Turkmen government said.

The Afghan president arrived in Turkmenistan to participate in the opening ceremony of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

During the meeting, the presidents exchanged views on relevant issues of the Turkmen-Afghan cooperation.

The Afghan president said that the large-scale projects such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and the Asian International Railway Transport Corridor initiated by Ashgabat will be an invaluable contribution to the peaceful settlement of the situation in Afghanistan and the sustainable social and economic development of the entire Central Asian region.

"Afghanistan, as well as the whole world, appreciate and fully support the peaceful policy pursued by President Berdimuhamedov, as well as his international initiatives, aimed at strengthening the stability and general well-being in the region," the Afghan president added.

President Berdimuhamedov confirmed Turkmenistan's commitment to the traditionally friendly, constructive dialogue with Afghanistan and the readiness to continue to render all possible assistance in the economic and cultural revival of the neighboring country.

The Turkmen people are in solidarity with the Afghan people in their quest for a peaceful and stable life, President Berdimuhamedov said.

The construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI pipeline was launched in December 2015. Currently, exploration work is underway to construct the Afghan section of the pipeline. Ashgabat expects that the gas pipeline, with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas, will be launched in 2019. The project is promoted by the Asian Development Bank.
1. Keep yourself hydrated Indigestion or dyspepsia often causes bloating, nausea and discomfort. According to a study, water (mineral water or tap water) can help improve lots of gastric symptoms and may also help flush out toxins from the body, thus relieving the stomach of any problems. [1] You can also opt for coconut water, soups, fresh fruit juices or herbal teas. Not to forget, that drinking water before, during or even after the meals do not interfere with digestion, and in fact, helps in the process and keeps acid reflux at bay. 2. Plan your meals beforehand A study has shown that meal planning is linked to improved diet quality and a lower risk of obesity. It also ensures a healthy body. During festivals like Durga Puja, our dietary routines often get disturbed, so planning meals beforehand can help reduce the risk of indigestion in some ways. For example, if you are aware that you may consume lots lot of sweets during lunch, have a low-calorie breakfast and dinner. [2] diabetes Can Cinnamon Help Prevent And Manage Diabetes? 3. Eat a healthy breakfast every day Breakfast is the essential meal of the day, no matter a festival or a normal day. Durga Puja may call for savouring on festive delicacies, it's important to balance the diet during the festival and eat a healthy breakfast such as vegetables, sandwiches, oats, wholegrain cereals and fruit juices. Remember, that even if you are having a small breakfast, it may impact your overall nutrient intake of the day and help keep your digestive system healthy. [3] 4. Avoid fasting without food and water Durga puja is a festival of both fasting and feasting. Many people in India observe a fast during the nine days of Durga Puja. however, the types of fasting may differ as some stay on only water fast for the entire nine days, some just on fruits and some on just one meal a day. No matter what fasting type you choose, avoid fasting without food and water intake. This is because staying empty stomach for too long increases the acid in the system that causes problems like indigestion and gastritis. [4]

5. Avoid high-fat, spicy and fried foods According to a study, foods like high-fat foods, spicy foods, pickled foods and fried foods can cause indigestion or aggravate the condition in patients already with the condition. It can also sometimes lead people to seek medical help. Try to avoid these foods in excess and go for healthy alternatives as the latter may help go a long way in preventing indigestion. For example, replace fried potatoes with boiled ones and fried sabudana vadas with sabudana khichadi. [5] 6. Avoid sugar-coated sweets Sweet delights drenched in ghee are more likely to cause indigestion. These sweets increase the levels of glucose in the body, and if consumed in higher amounts, there are very lower chances that the pancreas will be able to digest these sugars efficiently, thus resulting in stomach problems like indigestion. Also, it may increase the risk of diabetes and obesity. A good alternative to these heavily sugar-coated sweets is fruit yoghurt and natural sugars like honey and jaggery in the preparation of the various sweet delicacies. disorders-cure Yami Gautam Opens Up About Her Skin Condition Keratosis Pilaris: Causes, Symptoms And Treatments 7. Avoid heavy late-night meals The timings of food consumption highly impact intragastric acidity. A study says that early dinner (between 6 or 9 pm) can help reduce intragastric acidity and prevent stomach-related issues like indigestion. Going to bed after a heavy late-night meal can cause severe acid reflux and then, indigestion. Therefore, try to have meals about or before 7 pm as it may provide a lot of time for the stomach to digest the food properly. [6] 8. Avoid eating lots of foods at once Overeating behaviours or eating lots of food at once can cause indigestion as the body is unable to break down the excess of foods at once and thus, releases extra enzymes to digest them, which result in acid reflux and then, indigestion. The best way is to keep a gap between food items. Also, if you are planning to eat maximum foods for lunch and avoid eating anything for dinner, rethink, as this is not a healthy way of eating and may also lead to digestive issues. [7]
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/09/2017 (1885 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mary Ellen Clark beat breast cancer twice, but her worries havent entirely dissipated with time.

We still have the same fears, even though our diagnosis is a bit ago, we have that fear it could reoccur, said the Neepawa woman, who learned she had breast cancer in 1995 and again in 2009.

Every year when you have your physical, its a reminder that weve been there.

File Mary Ellen Clark of Neepawa, seen n a 2008 photo, is committed to helping others fighting cancer. Her Neepawa Cancer Support Group will again participate in the CIBC Run for the Cure next month in Brandon.

Clark understands this mindset better than most, not solely because of her own experience but the counselling she does as chair of the Neepawa Cancer Support Group, two decades and counting.

In that gathering every month, Clark is an example to emulate.

They look to you with respect, and know that if she battled that hard, I can do this, too.

Cancer-free, Clark is committed to helping others fight the devastating disease, and is again gathering cancer fighters to participate in the CIBC Run for the Cure happening Oct. 1 in Brandon, beginning at Assiniboine Community Colleges Victoria Avenue campus.

When you battle, she said. Its in your heart. You want to make a difference for those who follow us.

Before Clark worried about the women who came next, she cared for those fighting alongside.

She started a support group the same year she was first diagnosed with breast cancer.

The women discuss their diagnoses, treatments and how theyre doing, but its never about poor me, why me, Clark said. I always try to end it on a positive note.

For survivors, the group is beneficial, too. Its a place to share ones anxieties, even in the months and years after remission.

Your battle is really never done, she said. You hope its always done, but its not always.

Cancer has changed Clark.

Once a banker, she now organizes the volunteers who provide palliative care in the Neepawa region.

I think you realize that not all people have successful stories, that we do die, and I think that when were able to live and survive and be classified as a survivor, I think we appreciate life that much more.

Registration for the run or walk starts at 9 a.m. on Oct. 1, with participants beginning the route at 10:30 a.m.

For more information on the CIBC Run for the Cure, contact 1-800-268-8874, ext. 1949, or email brandon@cbcfcloud.org.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
John Leary, who was jailed for kidnapping and holding his own child for ransom, has lost his inheritance from his mother after he was exposed lying about his circumstances to get a larger slice of her estate.

A NSW Supreme court heard that Leary, 49, was to have received $285,000 from his mother Colleen Pidcock, a renowned bridge player, who died in August, 2014.

John Leary and his mother Colleen Pidcock in 2007. Credit:Bob Pearce

Not content with an equal share of his late mother's estate, Leary sued the NSW Trustee and Guardian demanding his share be increased to $400,000.

John Justin Goyen Leary, the youngest of four children Mrs Pidcock had with her first husband, Andrew Leary, the long-time barrister to crime kingpin Lennie McPherson, argued that he was entitled to a larger share on the grounds that he was homeless, penniless and dependent on a disability pension.
A rat expert has said its likely youre never more than 10 metres away from a rat in Brisbane, and residents are definitely seeing plenty of rats with Brisbane City Council revealing they received more than 3500 rat complaints in the past four financial years.

Dr Luke Leung, an associate professor at University of Queenslands School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, said Brisbanes subtropical climate was wonderful for rats.

Council monitors more than 1000 sites for rodent activity Credit:Clare Barry

They are everywhere in Brisbane. Sometimes people see them crossing the road but they dont usually like to come down to the ground, they like to climb trees, he said.

I dont think people like to live with rats, maybe on average people in Brisbane might be no more than 10 metres from a rat, they have rats living in roof spaces, sometimes you can hear them."
A vital new link has been secured between Queensland and China, with direct flights between Brisbane and Beijing set to take off in December.

Brisbane Airport Corporation announced on Sunday that a deal had been struck between the airport and Air China - the national carrier of The Peoples Republic of China and the home airline of Chinas mega-hub, Beijing Capital Airport.

Air China aircraft will soon ferry passengers directly from Brisbane to the Chinese capital. Credit:Facebook/Air China

The partnership is the second for Brisbane as a result of the state government's Connecting with Asia initiative, following the launch of daily China Eastern services between Brisbane and Shanghai in December.

Air China becomes Brisbane Airport's 32nd airline partner.
Almost 7000 Queenslanders will have to wait for another two months until December 4 for their day in court in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Queensland government.

The trial to settle the Queensland floods class action  now one of Australias largest class actions  was to begin in the New South Wales Supreme Court on October 3.

However, it will now begin on December 4.

The 2011 floods wreaked havoc on Brisbane and Queensland. Credit:Queensland Fire and Emergency Service

There will be two weeks of hearings and then the trial will recommence in February 2018.
The number of people hooked on the drug ice and seeking help through a Brisbane service has more than doubled in just five years.

Ice was the primary drug of choice for 25 per cent of the 296 people seeking help from The Salvation Army's Brisbane Moonyah rehabilitation centre in 2012.

That soared to 57 per cent of the 344 people seeking help in 2016.

The number of people seeking help for ice use has increased at the Salvos' Brisbane Recovery Services. Credit:Kimberley District- WA Police

Drug and Alcohol Services operation manager Gerard Byrne said many clients also had significant mental and physical health problems as a result of ice use.
As if the Australian Tax Office  plagued by the Plutus payroll and Michael and Adam Cranston saga  didn't have enough bad press at the moment. But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Deputy Chair Delia Rickard estimates around $2 million has been shelled out so far this year by unwitting victims to scammers claiming to be from the ATO.

"That's around 40,000 people," she said. "It's really huge  and that is only the people who are reporting the calls. Most people are too embarrassed to complain or do anything about it when they are conned.

"It's outrageous ... these people are operating from overseas call centres they have a script, they are threatening. They are big organised crime and they make a fortune," she said.

The ATO scam  where some one calls claiming to be from the ATO and that you owe them money  usually has a huge spike in calls from scammers at the end of the tax year. The Scamwatch website records there was a fourfold increase in the money lost in the ATO scam, known as upfront and advanced fee fraud, at the end of this financial year. The 2017 figures for June, show consumers lost nearly $1.4 million ($1,399,334) in fraud scams, which is almost four times the 2017 monthly average the scammers are bagging in cash. Last month (August) innocent tax payers were conned into giving $283,213 over to fraudsters  which has been around the usual 2017 monthly average.
TWIN FALLS  The CSI Community Education Center will be offering Very Beginning Birdwatching on September 29-30. The class will meet from 6  8 p.m. on Friday, September 29 in Shields 201 and 8 a.m.  2 p.m. on Saturday, September 30 in the South Hills. Cost of the class is $60.

The Community Education Center is also offering a class on Mindfulness and Meditation at the end of September through November.

The birdwatching class will teach students about the migrants and seasonal visitors, as well as year-round residents in the Magic Valley. Instructor Sarah Harris, with help from local Audubon members, will familiarize participants with the tools of the trade  binoculars, field guides, scopes, and the best local places to watch birds. In the Friday evening classroom session, shell introduce students to different kinds of birds. Participants will learn about the observation skills necessary to identify a bird by size and shape, color patterns, behavior and habitat. Then on the following Saturday, shell help students spot them in the field. No prior birding experience required. Note: Attendees will need to bring their own or borrowed binoculars to the first class and to the Saturday field trip.

Sarah Harris grew up birding in Idaho. An ornithology class at the College of Idaho, that required a bird list sparked her interest in birds, bird watching and conserving bird habitat. She currently works at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls as the Biology Department lab manager. Each spring she co-leads a CSI student trip to destinations such as Costa Rica, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, and Colorado Plateau. She is the president of the local Prairie Falcon Audubon Chapter, has been participating in Christmas Bird Counts since 1982, and is the organizer/compiler of the Hagerman CBC. Sarah is passionate about birds and in sharing her knowledge with others.

Students can register or learn more about this and other classes at csi.edu/communityed, by going to the CSI Community Education Center, or by calling 108-732-6442. Class size is limited so early registration is suggested.
Labor is calling for an independent inquiry into the government's decision to appoint Nigel Hadgkiss to head the building industry watchdog, despite legal concerns.

Mr Hadgkiss resigned from his $426,000 job at the Australian Building and Construction Commission last week after he admitted to breaching workplace laws during his earlier tenure as head of the Fair Work Commission's building industry office.

Australian Building and Construction Commission boss Nigel Hadgkiss resigned last week. Credit:Simon Schluter

Mr Hadgkiss contravened the Fair Work Act by instructing staff to not publish legal changes to right-of-entry rules for unions. He made the admission as a result of legal action brought by his chief target, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

It was an embarrassing development for the Turnbull government, which used the ABCC as the catalyst for last year's double dissolution election.
Bangladesh says it will accuse Myanmar's security forces of ethnic cleansing and call for international intervention in the Rohingya crisis at the United National General Assembly this week.

On Wednesday Aung San Suu Kyi's office announced she had cancelled a visit to New York for the meeting.

The cancellation will stoke further criticism of the Myanmar State Counsellor, Nobel laureate and one-time democracy icon who has strongly defended the military's crackdown on Rohingya that survivors say includes extrajudicial killings, the widespread torching of villages, gang rape and slaughter of children.

In her first address to the assembly last year, after being swept into office at historic elections, Ms Suu Kyi defended her government's treatment of Rohingya.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will try to persuade US President Donald Trump when they meet next week to endorse a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel and get more assertive about bringing both sides to the peace table, his envoy to Washington said.

"We want to see him intervening, we want to see him successful and we want to see an ultimate deal," Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the US, said in a phone interview. "We just have to know where we're going, what's the final destination."

President Donald Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a joint press conference in May. Credit:Evan Vucci

That's an ambitious goal considering Trump has broken with more than a decade of US policy and resisted declaring support for Palestinian statehood. Abbas and his advisers have increasingly expressed their frustration over Trump's insistence that he will leave it to the two parties to agree on whether there will be two states or one state in a final peace deal.

On the streets of Ramallah, Palestinian protesters have burned Israeli flags and brandished signs painting Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and Mideast policy chief, as a dog.
Experts examining photographs of the bomb posted on social media said it showed several signs of having been assembled using a 'terrorist handbook' from the internet  for example the use of Christmas lights as detonator wiring.

Forensic officers enter the home in southwest London for clues, following the arrest on an 18-year-old man on Saturday. Credit:PA

Friday's improvised bomb was left on a packed morning commuter train. It partially detonated at 8.20am. It was the fifth terror attack this year in Britain.

A thousand military police were deployed as extra guards at nuclear power stations and other vulnerable public infrastructure and transport hubs. Armed police were patrolling London streets.

The device appears to have included a timer, meaning the attacker may not have been on the train when it went off. However London's Telegraph reported the bomber was thought to have still been on the train and escaped it after their device went off prematurely.

The bomb was on a train line that connects to central London, and one branch of the line goes under Westminster. The Telegraph said anti-terror police were "working on the theory" that the intended target may have been the Tube station at Westminster.

Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said "there is no doubt in my mind that those responsible intended to cause great harm and injury".

At least 29 people were injured during the attack, including a 10-year-old boy. The injuries were mostly flash burns from the bomb, which was inside a plastic builder's bucket held in a Lidl shopping bag. None of the injuries were serious or life threatening.

Some more injuries came in the panic that followed the explosion, as hundreds of commuters fled the train onto the small platform at the Parsons Green station, and down the single narrow exit staircase.
Photo: CTV

The body of Twyla Roscovich, an environmental documentary filmmaker, has been found near Fisherman's Wharf in Campbell River, according to her family.

Roscovich had been reported missing on Sept. 12th, and was last seen in Campbell River days earlier.

"We are deeply saddened to inform everyone that our dear Twyla's body has been found," her family stated on her Facebook page, Friday.

The family said her death is not suspicious, and they are asking for privacy during this time.

Rascovich had worked in filmmaking since 1996, and had worked previously on BBC Natural History Unit, A&E and the Discovery Channel.

A GoFundMe page was set up online on Saturday morning to support Roscovich's four-year-old daughter, Ruby Lynn. As of 10:45 a.m., more than $2,600 dollars had been raised.

- with files from CTV Vancouver Island
Evangelist and best-selling author Nabeel Qureshi dies of cancer at the age of just 34

Nabeel Qureshi, the best-selling author and Christian apologist who was a convert from Islam, has died of cancer. He was just 34 years old.

He was diagnosed a year ago when he was given a very low chance of survival. His faith remained steadfast throughout the ordeal that followed.

'Today, September 16, our dear brother in Christ Nabeel Qureshi went to be with the Lord following a year-long battle with cancer. We received this news with deep sadness and yet profound hope, confident that he is finally and fully healed in the presence of his Savior,' Ravi Zacharias International Ministries posted.

'Please join the RZIM team in praying for Nabeel's wife, Michelle, and his daughter, Ayah, as well as for his parents and extended family. We know this is Nabeel's gain, but a tremendous loss for all those who loved him and were impacted by his life and testimony on earth.'

After seeing Nabeel back in May for the last time, Ravi Zacharias wrote:

You will be freed to the joy of life where there are no more fears, no more tears, no more hate, no more bloodshed, because you will be with the One who has already shed his blood for you, where love is supreme, grace abounds, and the consummate joy is of the soul. The smile of God awaits you: 'Well done.'

The Gospel Coalition carried a tribute, explaining how Nabeel was born in California as a U.S. citizen to Pakistani immigrants who fled religious persecution at the hands of fellow Muslims. His parents were devout members of the peaceful Ahmadi sect of Islam, which differs from orthodox Islam on some minor doctrines but shares with it a belief in the six articles of faith.

The author of No God But One: Allah or Jesus? explained his decision to convert to Christianity at the age of 22 in a pinned tweet from April 2014: 'I left Islam because I studied Muhammad's life. I accepted the Gospel because I studied Jesus' life. #MyStory #SeekingAllahFindingJesus'

His latest tweet was a vlog from his hospital bed, on 9 September:

Vlog 43 - Love and Peace are our Motivationhttps://t.co/LvqXGYCiXi  Nabeel Qureshi (@NAQureshi) September 9, 2017

He also posted videos on YouTube and other updates on social media as his illness progressed. 'The results aren't good,' he said on YouTube recently. 'The radiation apparently didn't work too well.'

In an interview withChristian Today before he was diagnosed, Nabeel described how he believes the world is in the midst of an Islamic reformation. This means a return to the religion's fundamentals, he told Christian Today, and there is no doubt that these fundamentals are explicitly violent.

He said: 'There is a basis to believe in Jesus. He rose from the dead. You can check that historically. You don't have to believe it on blind faith. The Koran says if you believe Jesus is God, you will go to hell. (ch 5:72) whereas Romans (10:9) tells us we need to believe that to be saved. So they are exactly contrary. Therefore you cannot be both Christian and Muslim.'

In his short life, Nabeel had qualified as a doctor, gained a degree in Christian apologetics, a masters in religion and an MPhil in Judaism and Christianity at Christ Church, Oxford. He had hoped to progress onto a PhD.

He received death threats after his conversion.

'Within a month of becoming a Christian, someone left a note on my car. The vast majority of death threats are from people online, they are just people letting off steam. I've been told now to let people know when it happens. Before I just blocked and moved on.'

He had seen too much to have doubts. 'The only people that truly doubt a supernatural reality are people born and raised in the sheltered West.'
Ravi Zacharias Asks Christians to Keep on Praying for Muslim-Turned-Christian Apologist Nabeel Qureshi Who's Still Fighting Cancer

Renowned Christian apologist Dr. Ravi Zacharias is asking Christians to pray for his dear friend and fellow Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi who continues to wage a valiant fight against cancer.

In his blog, Zacharias said he recently visited Qureshi in his Houston, Texas residence and was delighted to see a "man of immense courage" who has kept his focus on God, fully convinced that no matter what happens, God is in charge of his situation, The Gospel Herald reported.

Zacharias added that Qureshi's "smile, his conversation, and his discipline" all show his deep commitment to Jesus Christ.

"His mind is stayed on our Lord. Nothing waveringas sure as ever that he is in the hands of His Savior, come what may," he said.

Zacharias urged members of the Christian community to also include Qureshi's family in their prayers.

"Please continue to pray for them," he wrote. "We love you, Nabeel, and stand with you all the way. Stay strong. Will come by and visit again, friend."

Qureshi is a Pakistani American who converted from Islam to Christianity. He joined the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) as a speaker a few years ago and fondly calls Zacharias his "uncle."

However, Qureshi has given up most of his speaking engagements since he was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer in August 2016. The following month, he confirmed that his condition had worsened, stating in a video update that his cancer had reached stage four, with doctors telling him that he only had a 4 percent chance of surviving five more years, The Christian Post reported.

Last November, he came out to personally attest to the miraculous healing power of Jesus. After four rounds of chemotherapy, he posted a video update on his Facebook page, saying he had made "remarkable" progress in his battle against cancer.

Qureshi said the cancerous lymph nodes near his stomach no longer pose problems although there is still one lymph node away from his stomach that is still considered "actively cancerous." But even that lymph node has decreased in size and glucose uptake.

"To make a long story short, some things have been totally healed and the rest has been partially healed," Qureshi explained. "There is no new tumor."

Qureshi underwent his eighth chemotherapy session last week.
BOISE  Idahos strict marijuana laws may be out of step with the path most other states are taking now, but when it banned pot originally, Idaho was following the trend of other states.

Idaho is one of at least a dozen states that banned marihuana, as it was more commonly spelled then, in the 1920s. Passed in 1927, Idahos original law banned growing, possessing or selling Cannabis Sativa, otherwise known as Cannabis Indica, Indian Hemp, American Hemp, or Marihuana, or any preparation thereof in a form capable of internal administration, under penalty of a fine of $100 to $250 and/or up to six months in jail.

Unlike todays law, the original didnt include gradations of penalty based on the amount or distinguish between use and sale, but it did contain an exemption letting medical professionals possess it and dispense preparations that were in a form unfit for smoking or eating.

While the minutes of the debate have been lost to history, the legislative journals from 1927 show it passed both the House and Senate unanimously, which is usually a sign something wasnt too controversial.

Marijuana use does not appear to have been anywhere near as common in the U.S. at the time as it is today. Newspapers published in Twin Falls in the late 1920s  the Twin Falls Daily Times, the Idaho Citizen, the Twin Falls Daily News and the Twin Falls Weekly News  didnt even run anything on the Legislatures action as it was happening. The Idaho Daily Statesman did run a few brief mentions as the bill worked its way through the legislative process and a short article with more detail when it passed the Senate in late February.

Senators had some fun, both with the clerk when he stumbled through its Latinity, and with each other when it was found the measure forbids growing of the hemp, which in fact is a rather common weed, they were told, the anonymous Capitol correspondent wrote.

Senator Baker, chairman of the health committee, confessed that he had known little about the drug until police of Boise told him that its use was prevalent among the young people of Boise, with deplorable results, the article continues. He told some of the tales of horror which he had unfolded in his researches, and cited others he had learned from the indefatigable police, who, it seems, are unable to prosecute anyone for selling the weed, in spite of its narcotic effects.

According to the Statesmans clips, Rep. L.W. Hatch, a Republican from Preston in southeastern Idaho, introduced the bill in early February to add to the list of prohibited narcotics the drug known as Indian hemp. He withdrew it a week later in favor of a substitute bill which became law and added the above-mentioned exemption for doctors and pharmacists.

Before the law passed, cannabis appears to have been an ingredient in cough medicines sold in Idaho, judging by the Pertussin ads that ran frequently in the Statesman in the late 1920s bragging of how the cough mixture was entirely free from the usual dope (such as narcotics, chloroform, cannabis or other injurious drugs) and can therefore be freely given to delicate children as well as adults. The paper also contains many references to the use of hemp as a material for cloth and rope during the period.

The first mention of it as a drug in the Twin Falls press appears to have been a four-paragraph article Marihuana lands Mexican in court that ran in the June 14, 1927, edition of the Idaho Citizen.

The Twin Falls country is gaining a reputation for a new agricultural crop that threatens to gain unmerited popularity, the article starts. It is marihuana, or hemp, and was responsible for the arrest Friday evening of Frank Kutch, native of Mexico, who was found by R.E. Leighton, chief of police, on a downtown street.

Marihuana is a narcotic herb, said to be raised in small quantities in this vicinity, it continues. A law passed at the last session of the state legislature makes it unlawful to have it in ones possession. It can be smoked, chewed, snuffed, or made into a drink, and many who have used it are said to have become crazed.

Judge C.A. Bailey sentenced Kutch to 60 days in jail, but he was paroled to Frank Pico, Mexican interpreter, pending Kutchs good behavior.
When the first Cristo Rey high school opened in Chicagos low-income, Latino neighborhood of Pilsen, in 1996, it included a work-study program designed to help students cover part of their tuition. Soon, however, the school discovered that providing work experience brought benefits beyond money: test scores rose, as did the percentage of students applying to college. More than 20 years later, with 32 schools nationwide enrolling 11,000 students, Cristo Rey is Americas largest school network exclusively serving the economically disadvantaged. (Students can attend only if their families earn less than 75 percent of the national median income, roughly $38,000, though schools in expensive cities like New York and San Francisco apply local median income as the criterion.) The majority of the Catholic institutions enrollees graduate, and 90 percent of those go on to college.

Cristo Rey is part of a new breed of Catholic school organizations working to emulate the successes of strong charter school networks, including sharing best practices and using data to hold schools accountable for results. I was given a 147-page document that detailed everything from student retention to college placement to work-study revenue for each of the networks schools. The network conducts a Mission Effectiveness Review of each school every year, and school leaders meet to discuss the results and ways to improve. Lately, the network has focused on building a common curriculum and improving teacher development.

As the United States debates how to improve education and economic mobility, Cristo Reys success offers a promising and instructive model.

Most Cristo Rey schools are located in minority communities, and about 90 percent of the networks 11,000 students are black or Latino. Students dont have to be Catholic, and more than 40 percent are not. Cristo Rey requires no admission tests, but students provide academic transcripts and at least one standardized test score.

Admissions officers are more interested in prospective students potential and attitude. Cristo Rey Brooklyns principal Joe Dugan told me of an eighth-grader he recently admitted. When the student arrived for his interview, he slumped into a chair, his eyes wandering. Dugan gently instructed him on the importance of first impressions and how to exhibit good posture and eye contact. He instructed the young man to walk outside and start the interview over. By the end of the interview, he had mastered it, Dugan says. Thats the kind of kid we want here. The kid who can take constructive advice . . . who is willing to work hard and get better.

Lately, educational scholars have emphasized the importance of character development and grit in student success. Cristo Rey schools emphasize a variant: ganas, a Spanish term that comes from the verb to win but that Cristo Rey defines as fulfilling ones God-given potential. Students work to achieve ganasdoing their best academically and otherwise. While many schools emphasize achievements like graduating high school and getting into college, Cristo Rey puts more value on internal goals that encourage students to think about the why behind their hard work.

This focus still delivers real-world results. At Cristo Rey New York, located on 106th Street in East Harlem, 92 of the 93 students who graduated in 2016 went on to college (one joined the army); three are attending Georgetown University. Other 2016 graduates are matriculating at Williams, Vassar, the University of Virginia, Middlebury College, Bates College, the University of Rochester, the College of the Holy Cross, NYU, Colgate, Fordham, and Lehigh, among others. Like all the schools in the network, Cristo Rey New York combines a rigorous college-prep curriculum, a culture of high expectations, the support of a nurturing school community, and a unique work-study experience, in which students spend one day a week laboring in corporate settings.

Not only do most Cristo Rey graduates enroll in college; they also graduate college at more than double the expected rate for low-income students. Thirty-four percent of Cristo Reys class of 2010 received a bachelors degree within six years, according to National Student Clearinghouse records. (Another 10 percent received but associates degrees.) That figure may seem low, but according to data from the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, only 16 percent of 2010 high school graduates from the lowest-income quartile received bachelors degrees within six years. Some of Cristo Reys highest-performing schools are relatively new and just starting to see alumni complete college, so the network expects these graduation figures to rise. In addition, Cristo Rey is building a college-support and mentoring system that it hopes will boost its graduates college-completion rate in the next few years. Cristo Reys success reflects findings by economists Raj Chetty and Caroline Hoxby that many low-income students, if given the right guidance and backing, can succeed at the nations most selective collegeswhere, currently, less than 1 percent of students come from the lowest income quintile.

The schools religious curriculum helps students think about the greater purpose of their lives. While only 54 percent of Cristo Rey students are Catholic, all students take four years of religious education, getting exposed to the philosophical underpinnings of the major faiths. Religion is taught both in the Catholic and catholic sense, notes Cristo Rey New Yorks president, Father Joseph Parkes. Between religion classes and the work-study program, not much time is left for electives. Course offerings are fairly standard: four years of English, math, and science. Students also take Spanish and history. The network has developed a curriculum closely aligned with the Common Core and the ACTs College and Career Readiness Standards. Schools offer theater programs, sports, and other extracurricular activities.

All juniors must take the ACT, and students have to take at least one advanced-placement course and the related exam. Juniors start their school year with a Marking the Midpoint interview, an opportunity to reflect on their personal, academic, and professional goals. Cristo Rey Newarks principal, Father Gregory Gebbia, notes that these conversations help students think about the big picture. Its not just, What score do I need on the ACT to get into Princeton? Its Who do I want to be as a person? What kind of life do I want to lead? After all, isnt that the whole point of school, to put kids on the right path for living a happy, fulfilling life?

In their junior and senior years, students write at least two college-level research papers. All seniors apply to at least five colleges, with guidance counselors helping them through the process from start to finish. Even after a student gets accepted at a college, counselors call admissions officers to advocate for every available dime of financial aid. Explaining that the network doesnt want students coming out of school deep in debt, Gebbia explains: Our goal is to end intergenerational poverty. . . . Were the only schools in the nation that dont want their alumni to send their kids to our schools.

The heart of Cristo Reys uniqueness is its work-study programwhich operates, in essence, like a small employment agency. Firms pay the school a flat fee (about $30,000, depending on the locale) and contract with Cristo Rey to staff entry-level jobs. Each job gets split between four student workers. A freshman works on one day, a sophomore the next, and so on, with the four students taking turns to cover the fifth day, so that students work five full days in a month. No classes are held on designated work days for a particular class. Longer school days make up for lost classroom time.

The academics-and-work regimen seems to build students self-confidence and expand their horizons. Its the perfect tool kit for college, notes New York senior Elba Obregon, a young woman so poised that I mistook her for a teacher. The daughter of a Nicaraguan immigrant, shell be attending Williams College in the fall. Her supervisor at Morgan Stanley, Kari Califano, a vice president in the institutional equity division, tells me: Elbas outstanding. Shes been a real help. The company has offered Obregon a paid internship this summer.

At work, students perform entry-level assignments, such as filing and data entry. Freshmen participate in a three-week summer training program, learning the basics of computer software like Word and Excel, as well as soft skills, such as how to take a phone message, make small talk, and give a strong handshake.

Aissatu Bah, whose parents emigrated from Senegal and Guinea, felt uncomfortable at first in her corporate work assignments, which were typically dominated by white men. But she came to see how the program works to break down barriers of all kinds. As much as we dont think about it, we have our own stereotype, she observed. [Cristo Reys work-study program] kind of breaks both our stereotypes. Im definitely more open. I used to be more closed-in and more shy. I talk to people now, not just about the weather. Im not afraid to bring my own perspective to the table. And Im willing to take in other peoples perspectives, too. In her current work assignment, she travels the world on the Internet for a high-end travel agency.

The work-study program is integral to future plans at Cristo Rey Brooklyn, which launched in 2008, just as the financial crisis hit, leading to a rocky beginning. Bill Henson, a former managing director at Citicorp Securities, took over as the schools president in 2011 and has led it to firmer ground. The school currently enrolls 325 students and has room for more in its spacious old school building in East Flatbush. We can grow as fast as we can bring in [work-study] sponsors, notes principal Dugan.

Henson hopes that this will be the third year in a row that all Cristo Rey Brooklyn graduates will have at least one acceptance to a four-year college with full financial need met. The three seniors I talked with were still deciding which offer to accept. Kenneth Fernandez, who works at the wealth-management firm BBR Partners, was deciding between Fairfield University and SUNY Binghamton. Briana Laurenceau works at an animal hospital and plans to pursue a veterinary degree, possibly at Cornell, where she has been accepted. And Bah rattled off a half-dozen colleges she had been accepted to, including Duke, Cornell, Swarthmore, Boston College, Spelman, and Howard.

The work-study program clearly gives students a jump start. Sometimes students will apply for a summer job at Kings Plaza mall, and Ill get a call from a skeptical store manager who doesnt believe that a teenager in Brooklyn has experience working at JPMorgan Chase, notes Dugan. Its a great feeling when I tell them that the student is not lying: Yes, he worked in Morgans asset-management department last semester. 

Revenue from the work-study program goes to the school and helps defray student tuition costs. Cristo Rey hopes that work-study will eventually cover 50 percent of its operating expenses, with fund-raising and tuition making up the remaining half. (The school tries to keep tuition below $1,500 per semester for families, and it handles all taxes, workers compensation, and liability coverage.) For students in states with school-choice programs, other options exist: vouchers and tax credits. In Cristo Reys three Ohio schools, for example, many students qualify for vouchers worth up to $6,000.

Cristo Rey can be a daunting challenge for many freshmen, who, often arriving academically behind, are suddenly expected to do college-preparatory-level work while working one day a week. At Cristo Rey Newark, I met five freshmen who admitted that the school was a big adjustment, yet they didnt seem intimidated, thanks to the support they receive from their teachers and school officials. Jovan Roberts told me, with unabashed pride, about his work at TD Ameritrade. Nicole Arreola, who files forms and delivers mail in Newark City Hall, mentioned that Mayor Ras Baraka has become something of a mentor. Jayla Campbell told me about her interesting work for PVH Apparel and her dreams of pursuing a career in the fashion industry. Jaslie Garcia works for the nonprofit 4-H, where she is helping upgrade its social-media presencethe perfect job for a teenager.

The network builds students confidence and self-worth and places them on the path to productive futures.

Grace Owusu, a freshman at Cristo Rey Newark, noted the sense of community that pushes you up. Sometimes, when the combination of academics and work seems too much, she tells herself, Dont back out now. Youre going to do this. . . . Look at all these people who are helping you. You have the support. So dont let them down. Dont let yourself down. Owusus work placement is with the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission. Though she enjoys rubbing shoulders with celebrities on shoots for How to Get Away with Murder and other shows, she hopes next year to work in a hospital, as her dream is to become an orthopedic surgeon.

When assigning internships, the school takes students long-term career goals into account, especially in their junior and senior years. Unlike traditional career and technical education programs, Cristo Reys is more about opening students eyes to the world of work than providing training in specific fields: the goal is not to produce, say, a technician or skilled tradesperson but to inspire poor kids to expand their horizons.

The schools board members make the work-study partnerships possible. Robert Catell is chairman of the board of Cristo Rey Brooklyn. He is a Brooklyn native raised by a single mother and attended public schools, including the City College of New York. Catell took a job at Brooklyn Union Gas in the meter-repair shop and rose to become CEO of National Grid. He sees parallels between his story and those of todays students, and he cherishes the annual graduation ceremony. You want to cry, he says. You see the families and their joy over their children going to the best schools in the country. . . . Its a labor of love for me.

Though the network currently enjoys an 87 percent renewal rate with its corporate partners, finding internships is becoming more of a challenge as technology and outsourcing reduce entry-level, clerical-work positions. But the school is committed to keeping its work-placement program going. When I asked if he would give up Cristo Rey New Yorks work component if, say, Michael Bloomberg offered a $1 billion donation, Father Parkes answered, No. Id take the money and use it to pay our teachers more. . . . But the work component is too valuable.

Cristo Rey isnt for everyone. While the school is justifiably proud of the college-enrollment (and completion) rate of its graduates, it has more work to do on its own completion rates: across the network, schools retained only 60 percent of students from ninth grade through graduation. Of the students who left, about half exited for family reasons or relocation, 27 percent were dismissed for academic reasons, and 19 percent were expelled for disciplinary problems or because they were twice dismissed by employers from the work-study program. The network wants to increase its student retention rate to 70 percent in the coming years.

But for thousands of low-income strivers, Cristo Rey is proving the right fit. By providing students with a solid college-preparatory education and invaluable work experience, the network helps students build impressive credentials and contacts. Just as important, the network builds students confidence and self-worth and places them on the path to productive futures. Policymakers and philanthropists concerned about Americas lack of economic and social mobility would do well to look to Cristo Rey as a model for providing low-income students with a helping hand into the middle class.

Photo: Cristo Rey administrators place high value on students who display character and grit. (MICHAEL BRYANT/ THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/AP PHOTO)
Pilot models of the Uber self-driving car are displayed at the Uber Advanced Technologies Center on September 13, 2016, in Pittsburgh.

There's a war for talent in Pittsburgh's booming autonomous car market.

It started with Uber and now includes Argo AI, which is majority owned by Ford , and a start-up called Aurora Innovation. With so much hiring, it's a good time to be at the city's prized academic institution, Carnegie Mellon University.

Andrew Moore, the dean of Carnegie Mellon's computer science school, said that computer vision graduates right out of college are commanding pay packages of $200,000, which he described as "unheard of for any role until recently."

In addition to Uber, Argo and Aurora, Moore said there's a fourth self-driving car company in Pittsburgh that's not yet talking publicly.

"One of the effects is this dramatic salary rise for anyone with robotics engineering skills," said Moore, whose background is in artificial intelligence and robotics. "It does feel very much like a gold rush town at the moment."

Moore, who previously spent eight years at Google and ran the company's Pittsburgh office, estimates that there are 1,000 to 2,000 people in the city working on autonomous driving. Pittsburgh has become the de facto capital for self-driving car development, thanks to Carnegie Mellon's top-ranked robotics program and the city's openness to partnering with tech companies on risky endeavors.

Despite all of Uber's legal, cultural and management troubles, the ride-hailing company is aggressively hiring in Pittsburgh. Uber currently has 60 job openings there in its advanced technologies group, which houses the self-driving engineering team.
The German lender has done business with the current U.S. president for decades, and there have been hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of loans made to Trump businesses through a Deutsche Bank unit, according to multiple reports.

But, speaking on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit, the CEO declined to comment on whether the bank has received a subpoena for the federal investigation into Trump and his campaign.

"I think we've agreed we wouldn't comment on that matter other than to say that if we do receive a request  potentially in the form of a subpoena, but there are other forms of formal request  by which we're bound, then of course we will cooperate fully with any official investigation," Cryan said.

"But we cannot just share with the public information about any client, whoever that client is, because it's ... illegal but it's also incredibly bad practice," he added. "So we will always follow the rules, we will always follow the law, but we can't just compromise our clients' confidential data."

Cryan declined to comment on whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller or anyone from his team had been in touch with the bank.
Although markets did not react much to North Korea's latest missile launch  which rocketed over Japan Friday morning  the chairman of the largest Japanese bank had a warning for his fellow citizens.

"We need to worry about this," Nobuyuki Hirano, chairman of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and CEO of parent company Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group , told CNBC on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit.

"Japanese citizens and public have been accustomed to a long-lasting peace, and they believe peace is always there, but this is not necessarily the case," he added.
A passenger sits on an underground train leaving Parson's Green station after it reopened following an explosion on a rush hour train yesterday morning, in London, Britain, September 16, 2017.

A second man was arrested in the U.K. by detectives from the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command investigating the terrorist attack at the Parsons Green underground station.

The 21-year-old man was arrested in Hounslow, a borough in west London, late on Saturday local time, under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, the police said. He was taken to a south London police station and remains in custody.

Section 41 gives police the power to arrest and detain someone for up to 48 hours on suspicion of being a terrorist, with the potential for the period to be extended to as many as 28 days if a judge agrees.

Reuters reported that Hounslow was about four miles from Sunbury, where police raided a building on Saturday as part of the investigation.

The first arrest earlier on Saturday was of an 18-year-old man, who was detained by Kent Police in the port area of Dover and who remains in custody.

Authorities are treating the bombing of the underground train station as a terrorist attack.

Police did not identify the man.

Late on Friday, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa may put her country on the highest security level, "critical," which means authorities believe another attack could be imminent, Reuters reported.

At least 29 people were injured in Friday's attack, which was carried out with an improvised explosive device that exploded on a crowded commuter train at London's Parsons Green Underground Station during morning rush hour. No one was killed in the incident.

The Metropolitan Police said it was an improvised explosive device and most of those injured had "flash burns."

Police have collected images and videos through a website, the UK Police Image Appeal.

Police asked that anyone with information on the attack call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline at 0800 789 321.

CNBC's Ted Kemp contributed to this article.
TWIN FALLS  The Twin Falls School District has a steady number of unlicensed educators heading into classrooms this year  and a significant number more arent going through traditional university teaching programs.

School trustees approved 34 alternate authorizations Monday for those who dont have a teaching license, or if a current teacher or school administrator needs a different endorsement.

South-central Idaho districts are seeing fewer certified applicants to choose from. Its means theyre forced to be creative with finding teachers  some of whom dont have any classroom experience.

Some education officials say its not necessarily a bad thing to hire someone who has experience working in a different career, but gaining a teaching license is important.

Theres no question that theres value in having a certificate, said Debbie Critchfield of Oakley, vice president of the Idaho State Board of Education. Its important that all roads lead to a license.

Unlicensed teachers have three years to work toward a state certificate. Plus, they receive training and mentoring to help them adapt to working in a school and managing a classroom.

One common option is to take online classes through the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence. The nonprofit, established by a U.S. Department of Education grant, helps people who already have a bachelors degree and want to change careers.

Students complete the self-paced online program, and they must pass tests in classroom pedagogy and content before earning an interim license.

The Twin Falls School District hired 34 educators on alternate routes this school year  about the same as last year. Of those, 20 were unlicensed.

The big change: Of the unlicensed teachers, 13  or 65 percent  are going through ABCTE instead of a traditional university teacher preparation program. Thats up significantly from 36 percent last school year.

And four of the unlicensed educators are actually student teachers who havent graduated from college yet.

With the teacher shortage, I think this year was real for all of us, said Shannon Swafford, human resources director for the Twin Falls School District.

Because of the large number of ABCTE participants, the school district is trying something new this year: specialized training.

That will include help with classroom management and how to deal with the student-teacher relationship  topics the new teachers may lack since they havent done student teaching.

An ABCTE official will also provide guidance for how to stay on track with completing online licensing requirements.

The Kimberly School District has a similar trend with alternate authorizations: 13 this school year  up from just four during the 2015-16 school year.

Most are at Kimberly Elementary School. And of the 13, eight dont have a teaching license.

In Cassia County, many of the teachers on alternate certifications are high school teachers. They often have experience working in an industry related to the classes theyre teaching.

Over the years, the number of Cassia County teachers on alternate certification has increased, especially in outlying schools like Oakley.

That also fits in line with what were seeing statewide, said Critchfield, whos spokeswoman for the Cassia County School District.

The number of certified teachers graduating from Idaho universities has actually held steady for the last couple of years, she said. The problem: many graduates choosing to seek jobs in urban areas such the Treasure Valley, including Boise.

Its almost more of a distribution problem, Critchfield said. Were not getting our certified teachers into our more rural areas around the state.

And thats problematic because 70 percent of Idahos public schools are rural, she said.

Critchfield is a member of the states teacher pipeline work group, which is looking into ways to recruit and retain teachers, and make it easier for people who dont go through university teaching programs to gain certification.

For people who have an interest in teaching  and knowledge and background thats valuable for students  the current system seems to be creating unnecessary hurdles, she said.

The states work group is looking to present a plan to state legislators during the upcoming session, Critchfield said.

In Jerome, the school district saw a big jump in the number of alternate authorizations starting in the 2015-16 school year, Superintendent Dale Layne said. Since then, numbers have remained fairly steady.

This school year, 18 teachers are an alternate routes. But of those, eight of them have already been teaching and are still working toward earning their license.

Two of the teachers on alternate routes havent graduated from college yet.

That group is the easiest because as soon as theyre done with their student teaching, they can get their certificate, Layne said.

But the problem with hiring student teachers is it drains the future applicant pool, he said. Were just borrowing from next year.

Another concern about an uptick in alternate authorizations: If bigger school districts such as Twin Falls are struggling, Layne said, it probably means the statewide applicant pool is getting smaller.

And he doesnt expect the situation will improve in the next couple of years.
Hello !

I'm using MVC , C# and Entity Framework.

The object on my model are:

State-------- Id , Name

City ------- Id , Name , StateId

TheObject----Id,Name,StateId,CityId

I want to create an edit form for TheObject.

The Edit form has 2 dropdownlist State and City that are created dynamically , and the City list depend on selection made on State List.

The problem is that the dropdown list are filled correctly , but when the edit form is open these 2 dropdownlist are in empty state and does not have selected the real values for the object that is edited .

The partial code for Edit view is this :

<div class = " form-group" > @Html.LabelFor(u => u.State, new { @class = " control-label col-md-2" }) <div class = " col-md-10" > @Html.DropDownListFor(u => u.State, new SelectList(ViewBag.State, " Id" , " Name" ), " Choose State" , new { @class = " form-control" , @onchange = " selectCities()" }) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(u => u.State, " " , new { @class = " text-danger" }) </ div > </ div > <div class = " form-group" > @Html.LabelFor(u => u.City, new { @class = " control-label col-md-2" }) <div class = " col-md-10" > @Html.DropDownListFor(u => u.City, new SelectList(Enumerable.Empty<SelectListItem>(), " Id" , " Name" ), " Choose City" , new { @class = " form-control" }) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(u => u.City, " " , new { @class = " text-danger" }) </ div > </ div > <script> function selectCities() { debugger; var stateId = $( " #State" ).val(); $.ajax({ url: ' /Home/selectCities' , type: ' POST' , datatype: ' application/json' , contentType: ' application/json' , data: JSON.stringify({ stateId: +stateId }), success: function (result) { $( " #City" ).html( " " ); $( " #City" ).append ($( ' <option></option>' ).val( null ).html( " ---choose City---" )); $.each($.parseJSON(result), function (i, cty) { $( " #City" ).append($( ' <option></option>' ).val(cty.Id).html(cty.Name)) }) }, error: function () { alert( " Error !" ) }, }); } </script>



The partial code of the controller is this :

private void Fill_StateDropDownList() { var st = from d in db.States orderby d.Name select d; ViewBag.State = st.ToList(); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult selectCities( string stId) { List < City > lstcity = new List < City > (); int stateiD = Convert.ToInt32(stId); lstgrupet = ( from d in db.Citys where d.StateID==stateiD select d).ToList(); string result= JsonConvert.SerializeObject(lstgrupet, Formatting.Indented, new JsonSerializerSettings { ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore}); return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet); } public ActionResult Edit( int ? id) { if (id == null ) { return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest); } TheObject obj = db.TheObjects.Find(id); if (user == null ) { return HttpNotFound(); } Fill_StateDropDownList() return View(obj); } [HttpPost, ActionName( " Edit" )] [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] public ActionResult EditPost( int ? id) { if (id == null ) { return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest); } var theobjectToUpdate = db.TheObjects.Find(id); if (TryUpdateModel(theobjectToUpdate, " " , new string[] { " Name" , " StateId" , " CityId" })) { try { db.SaveChanges(); return RedirectToAction( " Index" ); } catch (Exception) { ModelState.AddModelError( " " , " Error." ); } } Fill_StateDropDownList() return View(theobjectToUpdate); }



modified 23-Sep-17 15:02pm.



Controller:

C# private void Fill_StateDropDownList() { var st = from d in db.States orderby d.Name select d; ViewBag.State = st.ToList(); } private void Fill_CityDropDownList( int ? stateId) { var cities = from d in db.Citys where d.StateID == stateId select d; ViewBag.City = cities.ToList(); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult selectCities( int ? stateId) { var cities = from d in db.Citys where d.StateID == stateId select new { d.Id, d.Name }; return Json(cities, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet); } public ActionResult Edit( int ? id) { if (id == null ) { return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest); } TheObject obj = db.TheObjects.Find(id); if (obj == null ) { return HttpNotFound(); } Fill_StateDropDownList(); Fill_CityDropDownList(obj.StateId); return View(obj); } [HttpPost, ActionName( " Edit" )] [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] public ActionResult EditPost( int ? id) { if (id == null ) { return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest); } var theobjectToUpdate = db.TheObjects.Find(id); if (TryUpdateModel(theobjectToUpdate, " " , new string[] { " Name" , " StateId" , " CityId" })) { try { db.SaveChanges(); return RedirectToAction( " Index" ); } catch (Exception ex) { ModelState.AddModelError( " " , ex); } } Fill_StateDropDownList(); Fill_CityDropDownList(theobjectToUpdate.StateId); return View(theobjectToUpdate); }

View:

<div class = " form-group" > @Html.LabelFor(u => u.State, new { @class = " control-label col-md-2" }) <div class = " col-md-10" > @Html.DropDownListFor(u => u.State, new SelectList(ViewBag.State, " Id" , " Name" ), " Choose State" , new { @class = " form-control" }) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(u => u.State, " " , new { @class = " text-danger" }) </ div > </ div > <div class = " form-group" > @Html.LabelFor(u => u.City, new { @class = " control-label col-md-2" }) <div class = " col-md-10" > @Html.DropDownListFor(u => u.City, new SelectList(ViewBag.City, " Id" , " Name" ), " Choose City" , new { @class = " form-control" }) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(u => u.City, " " , new { @class = " text-danger" }) </ div > </ div >

Javascript:

JavaScript $( function (){ $( " #State" ).change( function (){ debugger ; var stateId = $( this ).val(); $.post( ' /Home/selectCities' , { stateId: +stateId }) .done( function (result){ var $city = $( " #City" ); $city.html( " " ); $city.append($( ' <option/>' ).val( null ).html( " ---choose City---" )); $.each(result, function (i, cty) { $city.append($( ' <option/>' ).val(cty.Id).html(cty.Name)); }); }) .fail( function (){ alert( " Error !" ); }); }); });





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







Hello !

i'm new to design Website using MVC.

I'm using entity Framework and C#.

On my Login controller , I get the currently logged user as an entity . ( Users LogUser

But I want to use the variable LogUser in other controllers.

How can I do that , how can can I save as global variable ? ( I have declared LogUser as public but does not work )

Thank you !



desanti wrote: how can can I save as global variable

You can't.



"Global" variables (aka static fields) are shared across all threads in your process. That means there would only ever be a single value of that variable across all requests from all users.



Instead, you store an authentication ticket in a cookie, which only applies to requests from the current user. You then use that ticket to authenticate the user.



But you shouldn't be writing that code yourself. You should be using ASP.NET Identity[^] to handle authentication for your application.





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer









string cookieName = FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName; HttpCookie authCookie = HttpContext.Request.Cookies[cookieName]; FormsAuthenticationTicket ticket = FormsAuthentication.Decrypt(authCookie.Value); string UserName = ticket.Name;



So I'm engaging in my semi-annual technology roundup to determine if there's finally some integration in the standards that will allow me to use certificates on a hardware token to digitally sign a document without going through the process of downloading, signing, and uploading.



I'm not going to write a browser plugin due to the organization security posture.



I'm not terribly interested in using Java for this purpose, in a good part due to the above.



I've been watching the Web Cryptography API with something akin to hope for a few years now. Is anyone aware of any additional projects or WebCrypto integrations that I might have missed?

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli



I want to create a login page for my site.This is my html code.

HTML < form class =" modal-content animate" action =" inori.php" > < div class =" imgcontainer" > < span onclick =" document.getElementById('id01').style.display='none'" class =" close" title =" Close Modal" >  < /span > < h1 > Member Login < /h1 > < /div > < div class =" container" > < label > Username < /label > < input type =" text" placeholder =" Enter Username" name =" uname" required > < label > Password < /label > < input type =" password" placeholder =" Enter Password" name =" psw" required > < button type =" submit" > Login < /button > < button type =" button" onclick =" document.getElementById('id01').style.display='none'" class =" cancelbtn" > Cancel < /button > < input type =" checkbox" checked =" checked" > Remember me Forgot < a href =" #" > password? < /a > < /div > < div class =" container" style =" background-color:#f1f1f1" > < /div > < /form >

I want to create php and ajax code to complete the form. could someone give me a tutorial to do this. I dont have any idea where to start.



modified 17-Sep-17 2:58am.



PHP 5 Tutorial[^] This worked for me as a getting started in php. They also have AJAX.



Ravings en masse^ "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010



I am wondering if you can tell me if there is anything wrong with the html listed below that is near the 14px listed below?



<p> </ p > <p>&CUR_DATE.EVAL </ p > <p>To the &PAR_NAME.EVAL of &STU_FNAME.EVAL &STU_LNAME.EVAL<br /> <span id= " ADDR_BEG" > </ span > &PAR_ADDR.EVAL<br /><span id= " ADDR_NEXT" > </ span > &PAR_CITY.EVAL, &PAR_STATE.EVAL &PAR_ZIP.EVAL<br /><span id= " ADDR_END" > </ span > <br /> Dear &PAR_NAME.EVAL and &STU_FNAME.EVAL &STU_LNAME.EVAL:<br /> <br /> This letter is to inform you that &STU_FNAME.EVAL has the equivalent of 5 or more unexcused absences this school year. <span style= " font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial,sans-serif; color: black;" ><span style= " font-size: 14px; font-family: arial;" >We believe student attendance in school is a key component to school success, so it is very important for all children to develop habits of good attendance. Poor attendance contributes to failing grades, decreased learning opportunities, lower academic achievement and may limit your child ' s opportunities to be involved with school activities.</span><br /> <br /> </span><br />



I am asking this question since the value listed above is stored in a varchar(max) column in a sql server 2012 database. When an

ssrs 2012 report is executed, the following error message is displayed:

"Warning 1 [rsParseErrorInvalidSize] Near character position 646 in the input string, the value of the font-size property for the textrun stringtemplate3.Paragraphs[0].TextRuns[0] is 14px, which is not a valid size. Valid sizes may not exceed 455 inches (1155.7 centimeters). ".







Loading what you have in my editor and the following occurs:

1) No error messages when rendering (FireFox v55)

2) A number of your values begin with '&' - and that is generally reserved for things such as special characters. Hence my comment about lacking auxiliary files (or even if page is html, php, asp, etc.)

3) within one of your span's, you have id="ADDR_BEG" which appears to paste in my editor (Expressions IV) as a link, but his is an embedded link which you are using as an ID - doesn't seem like a good idea at all! Ditto for "ADDR_NEXT" and "ADDR_END".



Simplify your string by eliminating above items one by one until the error goes away - then fix the cause.

Ravings en masse^ "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010







The second possibly have you tried a different px size? If it is not accepting a larger size try decreasing the amount.



Hello everyone, Can someone help me with code to add scroll bar inside the popup window (Note: not to the popup window ,i need inside the popup window) so that all the contents in the Popup Window Should be visible or Aceessed.

Here is my code :



Quote:









searchApiOptions = {

store: "7xhosting",

containerId: "divID",

submitURL: "",

selectedTld: "com",

popupBox: true,

floatingBox: false

};













I want to configure dropzone for removing images, I've done `addRemoveLinks: true` i want the php code to delete that file? How can I get the id of the file to delete? And my second question is how can I upload videos through dropzone? And the third question is how can I restrict size of the files in dropzone?





I've tried this:

Dropzone.autoDiscover = false ; var myDropzone = new Dropzone( " #myDropzone" , { url: " delete.php" , maxFileSize: 50 , acceptedFiles: " .pdf" , addRemoveLinks: true ,



I want the code for delete.php, along with the query..



How do I configure dropzone.js?[^]





"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."

- Homer







I was unable to find a comment on this topic anywhere on the entire Internet, so I shall write this up here, in the hope it helps someone else.



I inherited a web application that runs reports. The web application was composed back in 2004 and sporadically, not to say passive-aggressively, upgraded to .NET 3.5.



When I got it, it was using Crystal Reports (some of us here call it "Meth Reports", or less printable names). The DLLs tell us they are version 14; the file structure tells us they are "SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0". Crystal Reports 2011 is another term I've seen.



In production, on IIS 7.5 / Windows Server 2008R2 / 6.1, it worked about as well as Crystal always worked. Until I tried running it on my machine which is Windows 10.



The offending codeblock:

C# using ( var rasService = iStore.EnterpriseSession.GetService( " RASReportFactory" )) { var rtpAppFactory = (ReportAppFactory)rasService.Interface; try { ReportClientDoc = rtpAppFactory.OpenDocument(reportID, Convert.ToInt32(CdReportClientDocumentOpenOptionsEnum.cdReportClientDocumentRefreshRepositoryObjects)); } catch (Exception ex) { errorMessage = " ERROR: " + ex.Message.ToString(); } }



.OpenDocument here just bombed without telling us why. I went into the Windows 10 eventvwr, and it told me that IIS 10 had crashed with an "access exception" - that is, 0xC0000005 segmentation-fault. The culprit was ATL80.dll. This is the Active Template Library: involved in interop, in its VS 2005 / C++ form. Which is, I take it, what Crystal Reports "2011" was compiled in.



I think what happened to us here is that IIS 10 no longer allows unmanaged code. ATL80 is of course the very definition of unmanaged.



Given that, if you have a Crystal Reports 2011 application running the .OpenDocument method on Report Application Server, you are locked into not upgrading your web server. You will have to set this up on a VM running legacy IIS or else you will have to, I dunno, not use Crystal.



Unless there are better ideas...







Have you tried wrapping the crystal reports interface in a managed class? Or better still, setting up the crystal endpoint as a completely separate service (assuming you're using an SoA)?

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli



From time to time, my firefox session will get nailed by what I presume to be a script attack from an ad. I'll get an angry large page popup demanding I call an 877 number immediately or else. What it says isn't relevant to my question. What I would like to know is how these bozos generate what I assume to be some client side script that causes the application modal.



I can't close the window, the tab is stuck, the only way to recover is to completely kill off the browsing session with task manager. Setting aside the issue of why in God's name mozilla would even allow this, is there a way to override this?

Charlie Gilley

<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...



"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. BF, 1759





So you should scan both installed softwares (Control Panel) and Firefox add-on list...

Look for anything you do not recognize, find suspicious and remove/disable it...



Have you tried AdBlock or similar?



As for the technical side - an add-on has access to your OS (almost non-restricted) and can do a lot of damage if choose to...



(This is the kind of message you got? Firefox image[^])

Skipper: We'll fix it.

Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?

Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.







General consensus is that this is some JavaScript pulling an application modal stunt. I'm so glad our new HMI will be all in JavaScript.

Charlie Gilley

<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...



"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. BF, 1759



Debugging JavaScript - Mozilla | MDN[^], specially "Enable chrome and add-on debugging"...

Skipper: We'll fix it.

Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?

Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.







And they might have done something asinine like put an infinite loop into onbeforeunload.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli





Charlie Gilley

<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...



"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. BF, 1759


For once, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) might have been tickled by the famous piracy site The Pirate Bay after the site ticked off some pirates by hijacking their CPU cycles to secretly mine cryptocurrency.

Apparently ads to generate revenue and bitcoin donations werent cutting it, so The Pirate Bay decided to run a test without any warning to users. JavaScript code was added that borrowed visitors CPU cycles in order to mine for the cryptocurrency Monero.

While the code for the miner was not embedded on every page, visitors browsing categories or search results experienced huge spikes in CPU usage. A user on Reddit claimed all CPU threads jumped to 100 percent, later modifying that claim to 80 to 85 percent.

It didnt take long for users to spot the code in the sites footer. The Pirate Bay added JavaScript from Coinhive, which is described as a crypto miner for your website.

Torrent Freak reported, The miner does indeed appear to increase CPU usage quite a bit. It is throttled at different rates (weve seen both 0.6 and 0.8) but the increase in resources is immediately noticeable.

Even the Coinhive JavaScript Miner documentation notes, While its possible to run the miner without informing your users, we strongly advise against it. You know this. Long-term goodwill of your users is much more important than any short-term profits.

Blocking the JavaScript code running on The Pirate Bay

The nasty backlash about The Pirate Bay trying this without any warning was not limited to unhappy users. As Sid, a PirateBay forum administrator and supermod, noted, That really is serious, so hopefully we can get some action on it quickly.

About an hour later, Sid suggested using NoScript to block the JavaScript-based crypto-miner from running until the code was removed from The Pirate Bay. Other users in social media added that add-ons like ScriptBlock or ScriptSafe also blocked the code, or JavaScript could be disabled in browser settings.

While there were several variations of the following amusing Reddit comment, How dare they steal my CPU resources to pay for stolen movies!  its not necessarily true. For anyone thinking The Pirate Bay is only used by people trying to bypass paying for copyrighted material, keep in mind that not all visitors are pirates. Torrents, or magnets, are often used as a way to distribute legitimate free software.

Eventually, The Pirate Bay told Torrent Freak that the miner was being tested for about 24 hours as a new way to generate revenue and could eventually replace the ads on the site.

If The Pirate Bay or any other site were to replace ads with an automatic miner, users should definitely be notified beforehand. Eighty to 100 percent spikes when sitting idle on a page would make a computer pretty sluggish. Some people might be cool with ditching ads in exchange for some CPU resources, but that's doubtful if it comes at a cost of a computer being turned into molasses.
American Midstream Partners, LP provides midstream infrastructure that links the producers of natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), condensate, and specialty chemicals to various intermediate and end-use markets in the United States and Mexico. Its Gas Gathering and Processing Services segment offers services to producers of natural gas and crude oil, including transporting raw natural gas and crude oil from various receipt points through gathering systems, treating the raw natural gas, processing raw natural gas to separate the NGLs from the natural gas, fractionating NGLs, and selling or delivering pipeline-quality natural gas and NGLs. The company's Liquid Pipelines and Services segment transports, purchases, and sells crude oil. Its Natural Gas Transportation Services segment transports and delivers natural gas from producing wells, receipt points, or pipeline interconnects for shippers, local distribution companies, and utilities, as well as industrial, commercial, and power generation customers. The company's Offshore Pipelines and Services segment gathers and transports natural gas from receipt points to other pipeline interconnects, onshore facilities, and other delivery points. Its Terminalling Services segment provides petroleum products, distillates, chemicals, and agricultural products storage services at its marine terminals for commodity brokers, refiners, and chemical manufacturers. As of May 10, 2018, the company owned approximately 5,100 miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines; gas processing plants and fractionation facilities; an offshore semisubmersible floating production system with nameplate processing capacity of 90 thousand barrels per day of crude oil and 220 million cubic feet per day of natural gas; and terminal sites with approximately 6.7 million barrels of storage capacity. American Midstream GP, LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Xylem Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions for the water and wastewater applications in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, and Measurement & Control Solutions. The Water Infrastructure segment offers various products, including water, storm water, and wastewater pumps; controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment; and mobile dewatering equipment under the Flygt, Godwin, Wedeco, Sanitaire, Leopold, Wedeco, and Xylem Vue brand names for the transportation and treatment of water. The Applied Water segment provides pumps, valves, heat exchangers, controls, and dispensing equipment systems under the Goulds Water Technology, Bell & Gossett, A-C Fire Pump, Standard Xchange, Lowara, Jabsco, Xylem Vue and Flojet brand names for residential and commercial building services, and industrial water applications. The Measurement & Control Solutions segment provides smart meters, networked communication devices, and measurement and control technologies, as well as critical infrastructure technologies. It also offers software and services, including cloud-based analytics, remote monitoring and data management, leak detection, condition assessment, asset management, and pressure monitoring solutions, as well as testing equipment and managed services. This segment sells its products under the Pure, Sensus, Smith Blair, WTW, Xylem Vue, and YSI brand names. The company markets and sells its products through a network of direct sales force, resellers, distributors, and value-added solution providers. Xylem Inc. was formerly known as ITT WCO, Inc. and changed its name to Xylem Inc. in May 2011. The company. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Rye Brook, New York.
ONEOK, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in gathering, processing, storage, and transportation of natural gas in the United States. It operates through Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids, and Natural Gas Pipelines segments. The company owns natural gas gathering pipelines and processing plants in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions. It also gathers, treats, fractionates, and transports natural gas liquids (NGL), as well as stores, markets, and distributes NGL products. The company owns NGL gathering and distribution pipelines in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado; terminal and storage facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois; and NGL distribution and refined petroleum products pipelines in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, as well as owns and operates truck- and rail-loading, and -unloading facilities connected to NGL fractionation, storage, and pipeline assets. In addition, it operates regulated interstate and intrastate natural gas transmission pipelines and natural gas storage facilities. Further, the company owns and operates a parking garage in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma; and leases excess office space. It operates 17,500 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines; 1,500 miles of FERC-regulated interstate natural gas pipelines; 5,100 miles of state-regulated intrastate transmission pipeline; six NGL storage facilities; and eight NGL product terminals. It serves integrated and independent exploration and production companies; NGL and natural gas gathering and processing companies; crude oil and natural gas production companies; propane distributors; municipalities; ethanol producers; and petrochemical, refining, and NGL marketing companies, as well as natural gas distribution and electric generation companies, producers, processors, and marketing companies. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1915: Utah makes marijuana illegal. It's the second state in the nation (California was first) and the first one bordering Idaho to do so.

1923: Nevada, Oregon and Washington pass laws making marijuana illegal.

1927: Idaho passes a law making marijuana illegal. Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado ban marijuana the same year.

1929: Wyoming bans marijuana, making it now illegal in every state bordering Idaho.

1996: California becomes the first state to legalize medical marijuana.

November 2007: Voters in Hailey approve initiatives to legalize medical marijuana, make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest police priority and legalize industrial hemp. They rejected one that would have legalized marijuana use and required the city to regulate sales.

Early 2008: Believing the voter initiatives to be illegal, several Hailey officials sue their city.

May 2008: Hailey voters re-pass the same three pro-marijuana initiatives.

2009: Fifth District Judge Robert Elgee guts Hailey's marijuana initiatives.

2009-2012: Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, unsuccessfully pushes medical marijuana legislation in Idaho.

2010: Hailey adopts a policy saying marijuana use on private property will be the police department's lowest priority.

2012: A proposed initiative to allow medical marijuana in Idaho fails to get enough signatures to make the ballot.

November 2012: Voters in Colorado and Washington become the first to legalize recreational marijuana use.

2013: The Idaho Legislature passes a resolution declaring its opposition to legalizing marijuana in any form. The resolution condemns marijuana legalization in neighboring states and a proposed medical marijuana ballot initiative. A joint memorial calling on the federal government to enforce drug laws in all states fails, though.

November 2014: Voters in Oregon approve legal recreational marijuana, bringing legal marijuana even closer to southern Idaho.

2015: The Idaho Legislature passes a law to allow use of cannabidiol oil, a non-psychoactive extract, to treat severe seizure disorders, not by legalizing it outright but by creating a legal defense for possessing it under some limited circumstances. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter vetoes the measure, instead issuing an executive order creating a CBD oil experiment in which a limited number of children can take part.

2015: New Approach Idaho starts to gather signatures for a petition to create a medical marijuana program in Idaho and to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults. Also in 2015, residents of Huntington, Ore., debate whether to allow legal marijuana sales in the city.

March 2016: New Approach withdraws its petition, citing issues with its wording.

2016: Two dispensaries open in Huntington, putting legal marijuana a little more than an hour's drive from the Treasure Valley. Most other cities in eastern Oregon opted not to allow dispensaries. Marijuana is still illegal in Idaho.

Fall 2016: Signature gathering begins for another petition to allow medical marijuana in Idaho.

November 2016: Voters in Nevada approve legal recreational marijuana.

2017: Eight states have legalized recreational marijuana, while a further 10 have "decriminalized" possession of small amounts for recreational use (generally speaking this means it's treated like a traffic ticket rather than a misdemeanor) while also legalizing medical marijuana. Thirteen states have kept recreational marijuana possession as a crime while allowing medical marijuana. Most of the remaining states also allow medical use of cannabidiol oil, even if marijuana is still illegal in other circumstances. Idaho, Kansas and South Dakota are the only states left where possession of marijuana or cannabidiol oil is always illegal. (With the limited exception of the CBD oil experiment authorized by Otter's executive order.)

November 2018: The earliest date when people will be able to apply for licenses to open dispensaries selling recreational marijuana in Elko County, Nev. Up to two dispensaries will be allowed in the county under state law, but municipalities will also be able to decide whether or not to zone to allow marijuana businesses.

SOURCES: Books on the history of drug laws; Idaho legislative records; newspaper and media reports from the Times-News and others; Nevada Department of Taxation.
CoreLogic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property information, insight, analytics, and data-enabled solutions in North America, Western Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Property Intelligence & Risk Management Solutions (PIRM) and Underwriting & Workflow Solutions (UWS). The PIRM segment combines property information, mortgage information, and consumer information to deliver housing market and property-level insights, predictive analytics, and risk management capabilities. It also offers proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with decision-making and compliance tools in the real estate and insurance industries. This segment primarily serves commercial banks, mortgage lenders and brokers, investment banks, fixed-income investors, real estate agents, MLS companies, property and casualty insurance companies, title insurance companies, government agencies, and government-sponsored enterprises. The UWS segment combines property, mortgage, and consumer information to provide comprehensive mortgage origination and monitoring solutions, including underwriting-related solutions, and data-enabled valuations and appraisals. This segment also provides proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with vetting and onboarding prospects, and meeting compliance regulations, as well as understanding, evaluating, monitoring property values. It primarily serves mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, commercial banks, fixed-income investors, government agencies, and property and casualty insurance companies. The company was formerly known as The First American Corporation and changed its name to CoreLogic, Inc. in June 2010. CoreLogic, Inc. was incorporated in 1894 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.
TWIN FALLS  Last fall, Nevada legalized recreational marijuana, becoming the third state bordering Idaho to do so and opening the possibility that pot will soon be sold legally a short drive from Twin Falls.

So far, Idaho has stood fast against the trend of liberalizing marijuana laws sweeping statehouses and ballots across the country. Neither recreational nor medical marijuana use is legal in Idaho. Possession is a misdemeanor up to 3 ounces, and a felony for possession of more. In 2015, Gov. C.L. Butch Otter vetoed a bill that would have made it easier to use non-psychoactive cannabidiol oil to treat seizures, but created state-controlled CBD oil experiment treating three dozen children with severe seizures. The state Department of Health and Welfare is asking lawmakers to approve $26,800 during next years legislative session to fund the tests for another year, as the drug is taking longer than expected to be approved for wider use federally.

Attempts in Idaho to get ballot initiatives to liberalize marijuana laws, which have worked in many states to legalize both medical and recreational marijuana, have so far fizzled. There have been three attempts in recent years to gather signatures to put medical marijuana on the ballot  two didnt get enough signatures and the organizers withdrew one early over problems with its wording.

In 2013, as Colorado and Washington were becoming the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, Idaho legislators voted to go on record opposing marijuana legalization in any form.

Now five years later, some on both the left and right in Idaho support relaxing penalties for possession and expanding limited medical use of cannabis-containing products, but there isnt much reason to think the larger dynamic has changed.

Recreational marijuana, the sentiment has not changed whatsoever, said Assistant House Majority Leader Brent Crane, R-Nampa.

Legislators arent as hard-nosed about medical uses of cannabis products, but recreational marijuana is still a non-starter.

For cannabidiol oil, I think that program is working well, Crane said. If you were to take a vote on cannabidiol oil, I think it probably would pass. Medical marijuana, I dont know, but recreational, absolutely not. The states that have expanded the use to recreational marijuana have seen significant issues with respect to the enforcement of it. Fatalities are up. The societal cost has been significant.

Meanwhile, Democrats are working on legislation for 2018 to reduce possession of smaller amounts of marijuana to an infraction rather than charging it as a misdemeanor. About a dozen states have similar laws to treat possession of small amounts more like a traffic ticket than a crime. House Minority Leader Mat. Erpelding, D-Boise, said he is especially concerned about how convictions under the current law could lead to young people being ineligible for federal aid, giving the example of a student who lives in Moscow or Lewiston and gets arrested after crossing the border to Washington, a state which has legalized marijuana.

The last thing I want to do is have somebody who makes a mistake and goes across the state line and gets pinched and loses access to student loans, he said. I believe that as long as Idaho has marijuana illegal and does not legalize it, it should be an infraction. It should not be so detrimental as to ruin somebodys college career.

Erpelding is working with some of the Legislatures more conservative Republican members to bring a vote on CBD oil legalization, but he admits our path on that bill is really difficult because we have the same governor in place.

Erpelding would like to see a larger conversation about marijuana laws, although, again, he knows the Legislatures thinking hasnt changed that much from the one in 2013 that opposed any form of marijuana legalization, a vote he blasted as classic electoral politics, just playing to the fears of their constituents. Currently, he said, Idaho is criminalizing something that is more similar to alcohol while we ignore this opioid epidemic.

There are a lot of us that support finding a way to effectively utilize marijuana as a medicine and Idaho should be learning from the other states and moving in a direction that helps people stay off of opioids, he said, because marijuana has a similar effect, but it doesnt have all of the downsides.

The Boise-based Idaho Medical Marijuana Association filed a petition in August 2016 saying it would gather signatures to get another initiative legalizing medical marijuana onto the ballot in 2018. Idaho sets a high bar for this. Organizers need signatures equaling 6 percent of the states registered voters, or a little more than 56,000, to get on the ballot, and there is a distribution requirement that was added a few years ago  they must have signatures representing 6 percent of the voters in at least 18 of the states 35 legislative districts. It remains to be seen if this effort will fare better than previous ones; the IMMA didnt return calls and messages for this story.

Otter made some comments supporting marijuana legalization early in his political career, but as governor he has strongly opposed the idea, saying states that have legalized even medical marijuana have seen unintended negative consequences. In 2019, Idaho will have a new governor. While its possible this could lead to legalizing wider use of CBD oil for medicinal purposes, all three of the major Republican candidates to succeed Otter oppose legalizing smokeable marijuana for either medical or recreational purposes. Troy Minton, a homeless man from Boise, is the only Democrat who has filed or declared.

Tommy Ahlquist and Raul Labrador both support medical use of CBD oil; Labrador, the current 1st District congressman, co-sponsored legislation to allow it in states where it is legal under state law. While the federal government hasnt been interfering with states that allow it, it is still illegal under federal law.

Im all for using extract, Labrador said. I dont understand why the governor vetoed that bill.

However, both oppose wider marijuana legalization. Labrador wants to change sentencing laws and generally opposes putting people in jail for marijuana. Ahlquist said his experience seeing drug addiction as a doctor informed his views, and told a story about sitting near a couple of businessmen from Colorado on an airplane who had supported legalization but said they were moving because of the effect it had on the quality of life in their town.

Theyre leaving because of it, because they have young kids, he said.

Brad Little, the current lieutenant governor, is a fan of the states Epidiolex experiment, saying other states are hoping to model similar experiments to Idahos. He opposes legalization otherwise, pointing to the number of dispensaries in Colorado cities like Boulder back when the state allowed medical marijuana but recreational was still illegal.

Those college students had all kinds of pain problems, he said.

The Idaho Freedom Foundation, a libertarian group that scores legislation and lawmakers on their voting records, has joined efforts to legalize medical use of cannabis products. The foundation released a film last year, Hope Vetoed, about a young man in Salmon who used CBD oil to treat his seizures after other medications failed.

People who many of us know and interact with (use cannabis medically), said IFF President Wayne Hoffman. Theyre our grandparents, theyre our friends, neighbors, theyre people we go to church with. I think many people tend to be surprised when they learn that somebody close to them, perhaps a senior, perhaps a veteran, uses some kind of marijuana product. These are good people. They have jobs, they have careers, they have families. Theyre law-abiding citizens, apart from this.

Hoffman expects the issue to come up next year, in the form of legislation addressing possession but not sale of such products.

I think for the time being were just talking about possession, Hoffman said. Right now, the discussion is, its a crime to have it. If your doctor says this is good for you and nothing else works, are you still committing a crime against the state by possessing a marijuana product of some kind?

Thirty-six kids with intractable seizures that havent responded well to other forms of treatment are part of the states test of Epidiolex, a drug made by GW Pharmaceuticals.

There were 40 spots in the Expanded Access Program, said Health and Welfare spokesman Chris Smith, but one family dropped out because they had troubles with the screening process, and three lived in remote areas and the burden of travel to get to the screenings was too much. While the state pays for the treatment, the families pay for the travel costs.

Out of the remaining participants, some parents have reported dramatic reductions in seizures while others have seen more moderate improvements.

It is serving a benefit, Smith said.

GW has filed for federal Food and Drug Administration approval for Epidiolex and is trying to get it fast-tracked. But even if the drug is approved soon, Smith said, the FDA needs to move it off of Schedule I status  the governments category of drugs that arent approved for any medical use, including marijuana. In the meantime, as the DHS request shows, money is needed to keep the program going another year.

We feel theres definitely been demonstrated benefit to the Expanded Access Program, he said. The families that are participating in it generally seem to say theyre noticing a benefit.
McEwen Mining Inc. engages in the exploration, development, production, and sale of gold and silver. It also explores for copper deposits. The company owns 100% interests in the El Gallo and Fenix projects located in Mexico; and the Black Fox Mine and Stock Mill, Grey Fox, and Froome and Tamarack properties in Canada. It also owns interests in the Fuller, Davidson-Tisdale, Buffalo Ankerite, and Paymaster exploration properties located in Canada; and a 49% interest in the San Jose mine located in Argentina. In addition, the company owns 100% interests in the Gold Bar and Tonkin properties located in Eureka County, Nevada; and interests in the Los Azules copper project located in the cordilleran region in the province of San Juan, Argentina. The company was formerly known as US Gold Corporation and changed its name to McEwen Mining Inc. in January 2012. McEwen Mining Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Micro Focus International plc operates in the enterprise software business in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Canada, France, Japan, and internationally. It offers infrastructure software products that are managed on a portfolio. The company's product portfolio includes sector-agnostic products, such as application modernization and connectivity solutions that help customers to unlock the value from core business applications for modernization, which enable a transformational journey to deliver ongoing value and flexibility from IT investments, on or off the mainframe; application delivery management solutions that helps customers to increase velocity, remove bottlenecks, and deliver high-performing applications to support their digital business; and IT operations management solutions for service assurance, automate the service fulfilment life cycle, and strengthen IT service governance. It also offers CyberRes, a security solution that helps enterprises to create cyber resilience through detecting threats, securing data and applications, and protecting identities, which enables customers to adapt and evolve for the future; and information management and governance solutions that helps customers to analyze, understand, and control data to derive value and manage enterprise risk. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Newbury, the United Kingdom.
ELKO, Nev.  Marijuana may be legal in Nevada, but dont expect dispensaries to join casinos among Jackpots illegal-in-Idaho tourist draws.

A majority of voters in Elko County, as in most of the states more Republican counties, voted against the legalization initiative that passed with 54 percent of the statewide vote last November. And county commissioners decided in early September to ban marijuana dispensaries outside of the countys four incorporated cities.

The incorporated cities can have a dispensary, but Elko County was awarded two licenses by the state and Elko County voted not to utilize those two in rural areas, Commissioner Cliff Elkund told the Times-News. The incorporated cities, thats their decision.

State law limits Elko and other counties with fewer than 55,000 people to two dispensaries each. Jackpot is not incorporated; the countys four incorporated cities are Elko, Carlin, West Wendover and Wells. West Wendover, near the border with pot-unfriendly Utah, is attempting to approve an ordinance to allow a dispensary.

The other cities havent made any decisions yet, Elkund said. The closest of those cities to the Idaho border, Wells, is about an hour and 45 minutes drive from Twin Falls but an hour-and a half closer than Huntington, Ore., the nearest place where recreational marijuana is currently sold legally. Twin Falls County has not yet seen a noticeable increase in marijuana arrests due to the change in Nevadas law, sheriffs office spokeswoman Lori Stewart said.

And even those cities wont have recreational dispensaries until November 2018 at the earliest, said Stephanie Klapstein, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Taxation, which is in charge of the licensing. Until then, the closest recreational dispensaries in Nevada are the ones in the Reno area.

The way the ballot initiative was written, only existing medical marijuana establishments can apply for recreational licenses for the first 18 months of the program, she said. There are currently no medical marijuana dispensaries in Elko County, so no one there is eligible to apply for a recreational store license until that 18-month mark.

The ban on rural dispensaries passed 3-2. According to the Elko Daily Free Press, Zack Wood of Jackpot showed up at the meeting with a petition signed by about 60 residents who wanted recreational marijuana establishments in the border town.

There is no money coming into that town, Wood told commissioners, adding that it might create jobs and bring funding for community development. We want this ... Think about all the money that we can bring in.
Trinseo PLC, a materials solutions provider, manufactures and sells plastics and latex binders in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through six segments: Engineered Materials, Latex Binders, Base Plastics, Polystyrene, Feedstocks, and Americas Styrenics. The Engineered Materials segment offers rigid compounds, including polycarbonate compounds, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene compounds, and PC blends to consumer electronics and medical markets for equipment housing applications; thermoplastic elastomer soft plastic compounds, such as overmolds, sealings, tubing, and films for footwear shoe sole, personal care, consumer electronics, and automotive high-end applications; and PMMA products to building and construction, automotive, medical, and consumer goods applications. The Latex Binders segment provides styrene-butadiene, styrene-acrylate, vinylidene chloride, and butadiene-methacrylate latex products for the commercial and niche carpet markets, as well as performance latex products for the adhesive, building and construction, and technical textile paper markets. The Base Plastics segment offers various compounds and blends for automotive and other applications. This segment also engages in the acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, styrene-acrylonitrile, and polycarbonate businesses. The Polystyrene segment provides general purpose polystyrenes and high impact polystyrene for use in appliances, food packaging and food service disposables, consumer electronics, and building and construction materials. The Feedstocks segment offers styrene monomer, a basic building block of plastics. The Americas Styrenics segment provides styrene and polystyrene. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., Chapel Funding, China Recovery Fund LLC, Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Cartera de lnmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Impact Investment Fund I. LP., 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 Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Limited, DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Jersey) 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 lnteractivos Agrupacicm de lnteres Econemico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB Print GmbH, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services (Jersey) Limited, DB Services Americas. Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB US Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a. r.l., DB Value S.a.r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita SA., DB lmmobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG i.L., DB lo LP, DBAH Capital. LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management 18 Ltd., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a. r.l., DBX Advisers LLC, DEBEKO lmmobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK AS., DI Deutsche lmmobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, 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 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 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 Shanghai Private Equity Fund Management Limited, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anenima lnstitucien Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico. S.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank Polska Spelka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Societe per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche Bank. Sociedad Anenima Espanola, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lmmobilien-Leasing mit beschrenkter Haftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.El r.l., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche India Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, 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 Mexico Holdings S.a. r.|., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, 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 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 SA. de C.V.. Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I 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 lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH.

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Tommy Ahlquist:

I am completely against the legalization of marijuana, Tommy Ahlquist, one of the three major candidates for the Republican nomination, told the Times-News editorial board.

Ahlquist said he saw plenty of drug addiction as a doctor. He told a story about taking an airplane flight, sitting near a couple of businessmen from Colorado who had supported legalization but said they were moving because of the effect more widespread marijuana use was having on the quality of life in their town.

Theyre leaving because of it, because they have young kids, he said.

However, Ahlquist supports letting people use cannabidiol oil as long as it doesnt contain any hallucinogenic properties and is prescribed by a doctor. He said he doesnt view it any differently than allowing opioid painkillers, of which he has prescribed plenty in his time as a doctor.

Brad Little:

Little, who is lieutenant governor currently, supports Gov. C.L. Butch Otters executive order setting up a program run by the state Department of Health and Welfare to provide CBD oil to some children suffering from severe seizures.

That programs working and some other states are looking at it, Little said.

However, Little opposes marijuana legalization otherwise. He pointed to the number of dispensaries in Colorado cities like Boulder back when the state allowed medical marijuana but recreational was still illegal.

Those college students had all kinds of pain problems, he said.

Raul Labrador:

Labrador favors allowing wider use of cannabidiol oil for medical purposes, and has co-sponsored legislation in Congress to allow it in states where it is legal under state law. He draws a sharp distinction between cannabis extracts and smokeable marijuana.

Im all for using extract, he said. I dont understand why the governor vetoed that bill.

Labrador opposes legalizing marijuana either for medical or recreational use.

I have not seen any evidence, any science that tells me that should be the way that we do it, he said.

However, he does favor changing sentencing laws, including getting rid of mandatory minimums for non-violent offenses, and is a proponent of alternatives to incarceration such as drug courts.

I dont think we should make a habit of putting people in jail for recreational use of marijuana ... Youre putting them with a different kind of criminal. They advance in their criminality.
MetLife, Inc., a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through five segments: U.S.; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements. It also provides pension risk transfers, institutional income annuities, structured settlements, and capital markets investment products; and other products and services, such as life insurance products and funding agreements for funding postretirement benefits, as well as company, bank, or trust-owned life insurance used to finance nonqualified benefit programs for executives. In addition, it provides fixed, indexed-linked, and variable annuities; and pension products; regular savings products; whole and term life, endowments, universal and variable life, and group life products; longevity reinsurance solutions; credit insurance products; and protection against long-term health care services. MetLife, Inc. was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
OAKLEY  Joanne White isnt a U.S. citizen, but the Oakley teacher had plenty of wisdom and passion for America to pass on to her students as she taught them about the U.S. Constitution on Friday.

I want to be a U.S. citizen because this is the greatest country in the world, said the Canadian who teaches second-graders at the school. I want to be a part of democracy, vote, sit on a jury and have those rights and responsibilities. I want to be a part of it all.

White is in the middle of the process of becoming a citizen.

All schools that take federal money are required to teach the students about the Constitution on Constitution Day, Sept. 17. Because the date falls on a Sunday this year, teachers were allowed to choose a day to teach the subject.

White chose three days.

I have never been around someone who is so passionate about a subject, said Brandi Bedke, principal at Oakley Elementary School. It is amazing to watch her. She has been a good addition to our school.

On Friday, White had students read out loud from a booklet containing facts about the Constitution.

Kids have to know this stuff so they dont take the country for granted, White said. I take it very seriously. It is so important.

White was a teacher by trade in Winnepeg, Manitoba, but when her husband received a work visa to work in Minnesota, she was unable to work for more than five years until she received a work visa. The next step for her was getting a social security card and shortly afterwards she received her green card.

The best four days of my life was when I got married, had my two children and the day I got my green card, White said.

She received her green card March 17, 2012.

On March 19, 2017 she applied for citizenship.

Its fun to know the kids are so excited about this because she is so passionate about it, Bedke said.

On Tuesday, White taught her class about the significance of 9/11 by teaching them about heroism and having them write letters to emergency workers.

I get a tear in my eye because I get to influence them and teach them how awesome their country is, White said.

Whites citizenship application is being processed, and next she will undergo an interview and take the 100-question citizenship test.

She taught immigrants studying for the same test in Minnesota and many of her students passed, so she is confident in the outcome.

Still, when she is sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office, or during other still moments, she pulls out her phone and uses an app to study.

It is a long process, she said. But its worth it.
Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, investment, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products. It also provides insurance cover to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses for risks associated with motor vehicles and medical expenses, as well as property and liability, such as employers' and professional indemnity liabilities. In addition, the company provides investment management services for institutional pension fund mandates; and manages various retail investment products, including investment funds, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies, and individual savings accounts for third-party financial institutions, pension funds, public sector organizations, investment professionals, and private investors. It markets its products through a network of insurance brokers, as well as MyAviva platform. The company was formerly known as CGNU plc and changed its name to Aviva plc in July 2002. Aviva plc was founded in 1696 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
MOUNTAIN HOME  Members of the 124th Fighter Wing were awarded the 2017 Carl S. Spaatz Trophy during the National Guard Association of the United States Conference last week in Louisville, Ky. The Spaatz Trophy is awarded to the overall outstanding flying unit of the Air National Guard. The winner is selected based on overall combat readiness, exceptional ground and flight safety records and resource execution.

During a 2016 deployment to southwest Asia, the Operations and Maintenance Groups of the 124th flawlessly executed more than 1,500 combat sorties and over 9,000 hours with no air-to-ground mishaps. The Mission Support Group and Fighter Wing staff deployed in record numbers supporting combat operations. The Medical Group was the Surgeon Generals Best Clinic of the Year for all Air National Guard units.

Adjutant General of Idaho Maj. Gen. Gary L. Sayler and Vice Wing Commander Col. Jeff D. Aebischer accepted this honor on behalf of the organization from the Director of the Air National Guard Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice. The trophy is named in honor of a former Chief of Staff of the Air force Gen. Carl S. Spaatz.

For more information, contact Maj. Chris Borders at 208-422-5268 or christopher.l.borders2.mil@mail.mil.
Carter's, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, sources, and markets branded childrenswear under the Carter's, OshKosh, Skip Hop, Child of Mine, Just One You, Simple Joys, Carter's My First Love, little planet, and other brands in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Retail, U.S. Wholesale, and International. Its Carter's products include babies and young children products, such as bodysuits, pants, dresses, knit sets, blankets, layette essentials, bibs, booties, sleep and play products, rompers, and jumpers; and OshKosh brand products comprise playclothes, such as denim apparel products with multiple wash treatments and coordinating garments, overalls, woven bottoms, knit tops, and bodysuits. The company also provides products for playtime, travel, mealtime, bathtime, and homegear, as well as kid's bags and diaper bags under the Skip Hop brand. In addition, it offers bedding, cribs, diaper bags, footwear, gift sets, hair accessories, jewelry, outerwear, paper goods, socks, shoes, swimwear, and toys. The company operates 18,800 wholesale locations, including department stores, national chain stores, and specialty stores. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 980 retail stores. The company also sells its products through its eCommerce websites, such as carters.com, oshkoshbgosh.com, oshkosh.com, and skiphop.com, as well as other international wholesale accounts and licensees. Carter's, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
United Parcel Service, Inc. provides letter and package delivery, transportation, logistics, and related services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States. The International Package segment provides guaranteed day and time-definite international shipping services in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, and Africa. This segment offers guaranteed time-definite express options. The company also provides international air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, distribution and post-sales, and mail and consulting services in approximately 200 countries and territories. In addition, it offers truckload brokerage services; supply chain solutions to the healthcare and life sciences industry; shipping, visibility, and billing technologies; and financial and insurance services. The company operates a fleet of approximately 121,000 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; and owns 59,000 containers that are used to transport cargo in its aircraft. United Parcel Service, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. owns, manages, and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates in three segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). The Independent Living segment owns or leases communities comprising independent and assisted living units in a single community that are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors. The Assisted Living and Memory Care segment owns or leases communities consisting of freestanding multi-story communities and freestanding single-story communities, which offer housing and 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living for the Company's residents. This segment also operates memory care communities for residents with Alzheimer's and other dementias. The CCRCs segment owns or leases communities that provides various living arrangements, such as independent and assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing; and services to accommodate various levels of physical ability and healthcare needs. It also manages communities on behalf of others. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned 347 communities, leased 299 communities, and managed 33 communities on behalf of others. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Windstream Holdings, Inc. provides network communications and technology solutions in the United States. Its Consumer & Small Business segment offers services, including traditional local and long-distance voice services, and high-speed Internet services; and value-added services, such as security and online back-up. It also offers consumer video services; video entertainment service under the Kinetic brand; voice and Web conferencing products; and advanced hosted-voice, network management, and business continuity services, as well as owns and operates cable television franchises. This segment serves approximately 1.4 million residential and small business customers. The company's Enterprise segment offers integrated voice and data services, which deliver voice and broadband services over a single Internet connection, data transport services, and multi-site networking services; and other data services comprising cloud computing, and collocation and managed services as an alternative to traditional information technology infrastructure. Its Wholesale segment provides network bandwidth to other telecommunications carriers, network operators, and content providers; fiber-to-the-tower connections to support the wireless backhaul market; voice and data carrier services to other communications providers and large scale purchasers; and special access services and time division multiplexing private line transport. The company's Consumer CLEC segment offers traditional voice and long-distance services, nationwide Internet access services, and dial-up and high-speed, as well as online backup and various email services. Windstream Holdings, Inc. also leases and sells broadband modems, home networking gateways, and personal computers; and sells home phones. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
As chair of the Senate Commerce and Human Recourses Committee, we are responsible for oversight of rules and code changes of 30 boards in the division of professional licensure as well as seven other boards. I hear complaints each year about over regulation by the state on rules and codes. I think we can make real progress in dialing back government requirements starting with the Bureau of Professional Licensure.

This division has 40 employees that help guide volunteer board members throughout the state who receive a small stipend. Last year, the board met 187 times.

Board members  recommended by peers and appointed by the governor for a four-year term  are those business owners/employees required to follow Idaho licensure laws, codes and rules. We work closely with board members to change or update laws, codes and rules as they recommend. Its important that each committee member understand the many different professions requiring licensing to wisely approve or change laws and rules that guide them. While always keeping public safety in the forefront of every policy we craft, our committee plans to work with all boards to review rules already on the books to see that they are properly modernized.

What does a regulatory board do? Boards serve as the regulatory bodies for specific occupations and professions to oversee the interests of Idahos citizens that partake in their services. The primary and over-riding mandate of every board is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the general public.

While board members should not promote or advocate for their profession, their responsibilities are extensive: determine minimum qualifications for a license or registration; regulate standards of conduct and scope of practice for the profession; adopt, administer and/or monitor examinations and continuing education requirements; and review complaints against licensees/registrants, taking appropriate disciplinary action when laws are violated.

The Senate Commerce and Human Recourses Committee is working this year to be more proactive in anticipating what changes are ahead to make licensing requirements more accommodating. As we continue to see an influx of well-trained individuals from other states and military folks with unique training backgrounds, its important that the state be cognizant of their unique circumstance when writing laws.

Last year, we concentrated on the Barber and Cosmetology Licensure by developing a bill that for example, cut back on training hours and offered flexibility to practice away from their office (for wedding events, etc). While the governor vetoed the bill because it was too complex, were working to bring cosmetology board members back together to review the bill again, find ways to reach compromise on key aspects of the bill while keeping it as simple as possible. Lt. Governor Brad Little has already started the policy of tasking boards in all agencies to modernize and simplify regulations required for their profession.

We are also keeping track of what boards are doing across the nation to address over regulations and state-specific restrictions keeping professionals from easily transferring their skills to other states.

This process shows how Idaho can review old and new rules to help fit the intent of the law and make code changes if needed. I thank the citizens of Idaho for passing the constitutional amendment to allow this practice to continue. These changes take time to work so it will be a multi-year process that I welcome. Im confident were on the right track, collaborating at the local, state and national level to solve problems in all professions requiring codes, rules and licensure.
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand. The company also provides home decor products under the West Elm brand; kids accessories under the Pottery Barn Kids brand; and an organic bedding to multi-purpose furniture under the Pottery Barn Teen brand. In addition, it offers made-to-order lighting, hardware, furniture, and home decors inspired by history under the Rejuvenation brand; and women's and men's accessories, travel, entertaining and bar, home decor, and seasonal items under the Mark and Graham brand, as well as operates a 3-D imaging and augmented reality platform for the home furnishings and decor industry. The company markets its products through e-commerce websites, direct-mail catalogs, and retail stores. It operates 544 stores comprising 502 stores in 41states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 20 stores in Canada; 19 stores in Australia; 3 stores in the United Kingdom; and 139 franchised stores, as well as e-commerce websites in various countries in the Middle East, the Philippines, Mexico, South Korea, and India. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and CIA Director Mike Pompeo ought to follow the lead of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and recuse themselves from the special counsels investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trumps campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election.

The two Cabinet members are linked to the investigation through the agencies they run, which are assisting special counsel Robert Muellers wide-ranging probe. Mnuchin and Pompeo should step aside for the same reason Sessions took himself out of the picture: potential conflicts of interest.

In explaining his recusal, Sessions said he was following the recommendation of Justice Department ethics officials. They said that since I had involvement with the campaign, I should not be involved in any campaign investigation, he said.

Mnuchin is in the same boat.

The treasury secretary served as national finance chair for Trumps presidential campaign and on the Trump transition team. Whats more, Mnuchin has a personal relationship with Trump and his immediate family members, and has political relationships that extend to Trump transition advisers and campaign aides who could be affected by Muellers investigation.

Pompeo has his own conflict challenge. A far-right Republican elected to Congress in the tea party wave of 2010, Pompeo touts his personal relationship with Trump and key administration officials. He is an Oval Office favorite.

A serious question of partiality arises in the cases of these Trump appointees.

As it stands, Mnuchin and Pompeo are in a position to closely monitor where the investigation is headedbecause Treasury and the CIA are in the thick of it.

Those government agencies are key providers of support for the special counsels investigation into possible contacts, money transfers and business relationships, including any money laundering, among a variety of Russian officials and Trump associates.

One Treasury bureau, the Financial System Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, is especially equipped to help unearth possible entanglements among Trump, his associates and Russiaor any suspicious financial activities of Trump and his associates. The Internal Revenue Service, another Treasury bureau, is a critical investigative asset because of its access to tax returns and familiarity with tax evasion and gamesmanship with money derived from illegal activitiesthe stuff of which convictions are made.

The CIA is similarly situated with the special counsels office. Last month, CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani noted that the FBI and the special counsels office are leading the law-enforcement investigation into Russian involvement in the election, but he confirmed: CIA is providing relevant information in support of that investigation.

Which gets us back to two of Trumps most obeisant Cabinet members, Mnuchin and Pompeo, and the matter of their recusal.

Do they monitor the work of their agencies with the special counsels office? Do they know the contents of the information shared with the special counsels office? If so, what are they doing with that information?

I raised these questions this week with tpress offices at Treasury and the CIA. I also asked whether Mnuchin or Pompeoor a designeehas disseminated any of the information to White House officials, including the president, his family members, legal advisers or any other administration official. The CIA did not respond. On Friday, spokesman Seth Unger said Treasury declined to comment.

My questions were not without cause.

While Mnuchin and Pompeo should expect to be kept informed of investigations conducted by their agencies, the fruits of those investigations should be disseminated only to duly authorized prosecutors, not the White House.

The country has a dark history of that rule having been violated. And it was a major part of what led to a committee of Congress in 1974 approving articles of impeachment against a president of the United States.

To recall: President Richard M. Nixon was charged with disseminating information received from officers of [the U.S. government] to subjects of investigation . . . for the purpose of aiding and assisting such subjects in their attempts to avoid criminal liability.

The facts, according to the House Judiciary Committee documents: On April 16, 1973, then-assistant attorney general Henry Petersenwent to the White House and relayed to Nixon evidence implicating his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, and Haldemans aide Gordon Strachan in Watergate.

Minutes after Petersen left, Nixon met with White House assistant John Ehrlichman and informed him of Petersens revelations. Ehrlichman then took steps to gather as much information as he could about the events regarded as potentially incriminating by the prosecutors.

Nixon, the committee concluded, had spoken falsely to Petersen when he assured him that secret prosecutorial information would not be discussed with anyone. Nixon, in fact, informed former aides who were grand jury subjects of mounting evidence against them. Hence, the articles of impeachment.

Mnuchin and Pompeo might enjoy their access to the president. But they shouldnt be foolhardy. Because of their jobs, they also might be in a conflict situation and a position to aid and abet individuals who could face criminal liability.

Brownie points and candy from Trump may be dandy, but recusal is better.
Assured Guaranty Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Insurance and Asset Management. It offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments. The company insures and reinsures various debt obligations, including bonds issued by the United States state governmental authorities; and notes issued to finance infrastructure projects. It also insures and reinsures various the U.S. public finance obligations, such as general obligation, tax-backed, municipal utility, transportation, healthcare, higher education, infrastructure, housing revenue, investor-owned utility, renewable energy, and other public finance bonds. Further, it is involved in insuring and reinsuring of non-U.S. public finance obligations comprising regulated utilities, infrastructure finance, sovereign and sub-sovereign, renewable energy bonds, pooled infrastructure, and other public finance obligations; and the U.S. and non-U.S. Structured finance obligations, including residential mortgage-backed securities, life insurance transactions, consumer receivables securities, pooled corporate obligations, financial products, and other structured finance securities. Additionally, the company offers specialty insurance and reinsurance that include life and aircraft residual value insurance transactions; and asset management services comprising investment advisory services, including management of collateralized loan obligations, and opportunity and liquid strategy funds. It markets its financial guaranty insurance directly to issuers and underwriters of public finance and structured finance securities, as well as to investors in such obligations. Assured Guaranty Ltd. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
A questionable ethics move. A fascinating expansion of the Russia-collusion investigation. Unmasking unmasked. And a humiliating experience for Trumps attorney general. President Donald Trumps deal with Democrats took up a lot of bandwidth this week, but there were some big political stories related to the special counsels Russia investigation you may have missed. Lets run those down.

1. Lobbyists can help Trump staffers pay legal fees for the Russia investigation

As special counsel Robert S. Muellers team expands to question more and more people in the White House, those people generally need to lawyer up. That can get expensive real quick. So they can set up legal defense funds to offset the costthink of it as an insiders GoFundMe.

Since the Clinton administration, lobbyists have been able to donate to those funds anonymously. The thinking was that if you dont know which lobbyist gave you the cash, you wouldnt owe them anything.

The Bush and Obama White Houses discouraged that practice. But as Politicos Darren Samuelsohn reported Wednesday, the new head of Trumps Office of Government Ethics revived the rule to make clear that, yes, legal defense funds can accept donations from lobbyists as long as they are anonymous and comply with other gift rules.

OGE spokeswoman Elizabeth Horton emphasized to The Post that the office didnt change the policy and still encourages organizers of these funds to prohibit anonymous donations.

Ethics experts still arent pleased that this holdover from the Clinton administration exists. In Washington, someone who wants to curry favor is never anonymous for long. Theres no way you can prevent someone who gave the money from communicating the message: Hey, Im supporting your legal defense fund, said Richard Painter, who was chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush.

2. Russia investigators are looking into Michael Flynns son

We already know that the elder Flynn, Trumps former national security adviser, is the subject of federal and congressional investigations into his ties to foreign governments and whether he appropriately disclosed those. On Thursday, NBC News reported that the special counsel is also looking into Flynns son, Michael G. Flynn, who traveled with his father on some of the trips in question.

Legal experts say this is a classic example of Prosecution 101 with a witness who isnt cooperating. The elder Flynn is, in many ways, at the center of the Trump campaigns and administrations connections to Russia. Trump fired him in February after just 24 days on the job for not being forthcoming about the nature of his conversations with the Russian ambassador. The FBI was concerned Flynn could be compromised by the Russians.

Snagging a big fish with an unrelated crime is a common tactic used by investigators, said Jeffrey Jacobovitz, a white-collar lawyer who represented officials in the Clinton White House.

Throwing the book at a smaller fishs son is apparently another way to go about it.

3. Susan Rice told Congress she unmasked Trump advisers

President Barack Obamas national security adviser told Congress this week that she asked intelligence officials to share the redacted identities of Trump aides in intelligence reports.

See! I told you so! is pretty much what Trump and his allies said. They have long argued that Obamas intelligence leaders abused their access to classified information to gather knowledge on whom the Trump officials were talking to. Trump even accused Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower during the campaign, an accusation denied by intelligence and law enforcement officials.

Trump seized on the Rice news.

Shes not supposed to be doing that, and what she did was wrong, Trump told reporters Thursday. Weve been saying that. Its just the tip of the iceberg. She wasnt supposed to be doing thatthe unmasking and the surveillance.

But its more complicated than Trump lets on. CNNs Manu Raju reports that Rice told House investigators she wanted to know why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York last year, so she requested to know the names of Americans who met with him. Those Americans, it appears, may have been Trump advisers.

Since she was national security adviser, that was entirely her prerogative. And theres no evidence she did it specifically to target Trump officials.

4. Trump blew up at his attorney general over Russia

Okay, you may have heard (and already cringed) about this one. We already knew that Trump was not happy with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from overseeing the FBIs Russia investigation. Sessionss recusal gave the deputy attorney general authority to appoint a special counsel.

But the public tweet-bashing that Sessions received from his boss was mild compared to what happened behind closed doors in May, as reported Thursday by the New York Times:

Accusing Mr. Sessions of disloyalty, Mr. Trump unleashed a string of insults on his attorney general. Ashen and emotional, Mr. Sessions told the president he would quit and sent a resignation letter to the White House, according to four people who were told details of the meeting. Mr. Sessions would later tell associates that the demeaning way the president addressed him was the most humiliating experience in decades of public life.
Intrepid Potash, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the extraction and production of the potash in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Potash, Trio, and Oilfield Solutions. The Potash segment offers muriate of potash or potassium chloride for use as a fertilizer input in the agricultural market; as a component in drilling and fracturing fluids for oil and gas wells, as well as an input to other industrial processes in the industrial market; and as a nutrient supplement in the animal feed market. The Trio segment provides Trio, a specialty fertilizer that delivers potassium, sulfate, and magnesium in a single particle. The Oilfield Solutions segment sells water for use in the oil and gas services industry; and offers potassium chloride real-time mixing services on location for hydraulic fracturing operations and trucking services. The company also offers salt for use in animal feeds, industrial applications, pool salts, and treatment of roads and walkways for ice melting or to manage road conditions; magnesium chloride for use in the deicing and dedusting of roads; brines for well development and completion activities in the oil and gas industry; and metal recovery salt, a combination of potash and salt to enhance the recovery of aluminum in the aluminum recycling processing facilities. Intrepid Potash, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is based in Denver, Colorado.
The 75th anniversary this year of the opening of the historic Minidoka War Relocation Center is not only a reminder of the injustices that can never be repeated, but also of the extraordinary service of Japanese Americans. Despite their own country, America, questioning their patriotism and uprooting their families, many put their lives on the line to uphold the freedoms of those who distrusted and condemned them. The strength and patriotism of Japanese Americans is to be celebrated and honored.

The National Park Service that maintains the Minidoka National Historic Site, home to the Minidoka Relocation Center during World War II, notes that the relocation centers ruins continue to tell the painful, yet resilient story of Americas Japanese American community during World War II. NPS reports that during the centers more than three years of operation following its opening Aug. 10, 1942, 10,000 people from Oregon, Washington and Alaska lived at Minidoka.

Included among the recognitions at the site is Minidokas Honor Roll of the nearly 1,000 Americans from Minidoka who served in World War II, and they served with great distinction. In a report on the U.S. Army Center Of Military Historys website, Historian Kathryn Shenkle notes that the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up of second-generation Americans of Japanese ancestry, was the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. She noted the irony of this unit liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp, when Japanese Americans from the U.S. west coast were detained in American camps before being drafted into service, and still had family in those U.S. camps. Nisei were denied their property, freedom to move, live in their own homes, work, and learn in the western United States.

A plaque at Minidoka lists some of the remarkable military honors the 442nd Regimental Combat Team earned that include 21 Medals of Honor; 560 Silver Stars; 4,000 Bronze Stars; and 9,486 Purple Hearts. Private First Class William K. Nakamura was one of the Japanese Americans who lived at Minidoka and served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was killed while serving in 1944 in Italy and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2000. The citation for his medal describes his heroic stand and actions enabling his fellow soldiers to survive and advance.

The Congressional Gold Medal was presented collectively to the U.S. Armys 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service, for the distinct service of the Japanese American soldiers who comprised these units. I co-sponsored the Senate legislation that authorized the medal providing this long overdue recognition and had the great honor of helping present veterans from Idaho with their medals. I also recently joined Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, in sending a letter to Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan urging the issuance of a stamp commemorating Japanese American service members who served during World War II and their families for their extraordinary service to our nation.

The Minidoka National Historic Site remains a place for visitors to learn from the past and pay tribute to Japanese Americans who despite enduring significant hardships and distrust from their fellow Americans helped galvanize our freedoms and liberate our allies abroad. We can never forget the tremendous service those soldiers provided while facing enemies abroad and discrimination at home.
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 France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, 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., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., 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 AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., 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 B.V., 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 China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., 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 Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, 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 EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, 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 Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., 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 V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, 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 Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., 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 Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., 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 Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., 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 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 Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., 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 Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, 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., 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., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, 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 Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., 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 B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, 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 Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, 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 Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, 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, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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KAR Auction Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides used vehicle auctions and related vehicle remarketing services for the automotive industry in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments, ADESA Auctions and AFC. The ADESA Auctions segment offers whole car auctions and related services to the vehicle remarketing industry through online auctions and auction facilities. It also provides value-added services, such as auction related, transportation, reconditioning, inspection, title and repossession administration and remarketing, vehicle research, and analytical services, as well as data as a service. This segment sells its products and services through vehicle manufacturers, fleet companies, rental car companies, finance companies, and others. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had a network of approximately 70 vehicle logistics center locations in North America. The AFC segment offers floorplan financing, a short-term inventory-secured financing to independent used vehicle dealers; and sells vehicle service contracts. The company provides wheel repair and hail catastrophe response services. It serves vehicle manufacturers, vehicle rental companies, financial institutions, commercial fleets and fleet management companies, and dealer customers. The company was formerly known as KAR Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to KAR Auction Services, Inc. in November 2009. KAR Auction Services, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.
BUFFALO  Right now, the only sales tax on that steak you ordered will appear on your receipt. The rancher didnt pay a tax when she bought the calf to raise, the slaughterhouse didnt pay a tax when it bought the cow and the restaurant didnt pay a tax when it bought the meat.

But theres another type of tax, called a gross receipts tax, that does charge businesses for each of those transactions.

Its controversial for various reasons. But the merits didnt much matter to the Interim Joint Revenue Committee during its meeting here last week.

Because the revenue committee wasnt considering a gross receipts tax. Not really, anyway. Casper accountant and freshman GOP state representative Jerry Obermueller just wanted a tally of the total gross sales of Wyoming companies. The data lets economists know how much business is being done by out-of-state companies that dont currently contribute to the Legislatures general fund.

Wyoming lawmakers to consider 'menu' of new taxes as education funding crisis looms The Wyoming Legislature is taking baby steps toward considering new taxes in a state known for heavily relying on the boom and bust energy industry for revenue.

Theres more to this than a tax component. Theres also an economic analysis element, Obermueller said. I was surprised you couldnt find out how much economy was imported into Wyoming.

Obermuellers quest to pass a bill to collect this data from corporations in the state is notable for dancing closer to major tax reform than Republican lawmakers have been willing to in recent years.

While debate over a gross receipts tax might seem wonky, it may be an indication of how likely it is that the Wyoming Legislature would seriously overhaul the states tax code as revenue from the energy industry plummets.

Energy reliance

Without a personal or corporate income tax and with some of the lowest sales and property taxes in the nation, Wyoming is heavily reliant on the mercurial energy industry. Severance taxes, mineral royalties and other levies paid by mining companies contribute 60 to 70 percent of public funds in the Cowboy State each year.

The drop in coal, natural gas and oil prices in recent years has led to a nearly $800 million deficit in education funding for the upcoming two-year budget cycle and renewed a discussion about raising revenue, perhaps through new taxes. But most proposals by Republicans, who control the Legislature, have focused on tinkering with existing fees. Yet even those modest attempts to raise, say, sin taxes, like those on alcohol and cigarettes, have failed.

Avoiding taxes, lawmakers look at raising fees CHEYENNE  The cost to register vehicles in Wyoming may increase. So could the cost to file a lawsuit, register a company or get a copy of a birth certificate.

While the House of Representatives was receptive to some of these small tax increases during the legislative session last winter, most of those measures failed in the Senate, where President Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, has made clear his opposition to raising almost any new revenue before passing major cuts to various state programs.

Youve seen what happens to taxes when they hit the Senate, Sen. Dave Kinskey, R-Sheridan, said. They hit a buzzsaw of opposition.

Kinskey hastened to add that he was proud to be part of that buzzsaw.

While a few vehicle-related fees were passed by the Legislature last year, more ambitious bills failed. Those included one proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, that would have launched a new committee to explore the entire tax code in a similar manner to the Tax Reform 2000 report.

And, if Wednesdays discussion was any indication, proposals like Obermuellers appear ripe to be shredded by an increasingly conservative Senate.

Skeptical lawmakers

The committee eventually agreed to move forward with requesting the secretary of states office begin collecting gross sales data from corporations filing annual reports in Wyoming, but not without opposition from two senators: Kinskey and Affie Ellis, R-Cheyenne.

The revenue committee is more moderate than the full Legislature, and the opposition of two senators bodes ill for the measures fate when considered by the full chamber.

That Kinskey and Ellis, as well as Rep. Timothy Hallinan, R-Gillette, opposed the bill was especially notable given that collection of the gross sales information, which would be a precursor to any attempt to pass a gross receipts tax, would not be available until 2021 or 2022 at the earliest, according to the secretary of states office. The effective date for the bill is July 2019, and several years would be needed to ensure that lapsed and subsequently renewed corporate entities would be counted in the data.

But Kinskey nonetheless saw the bill as both an unreasonable government intrusion into private business as well as a precursor to new taxes. He said that as Sheridan mayor he rejected a request from his staff to begin requiring business licenses in order to collect better economic information about the city.

I kind of like living in a state where government doesnt have all that information, he said. Its really the intent of this to put us on a slippery slope to a gross receipts tax.

Ellis said that she was wary of the state requiring businesses to disclose their gross sales for purely inquisitive purposes.

We dont have authority to ask and demand information, she said.

Businesses are already required to submit nearly identical information on federal tax returns.

Obermueller said in an interview later that the bill is in line with other interrogatory exercises the Legislature is undertaking in light of the current funding crisis, such as examining the school funding structure and looking for inefficiencies in state government.

Were going through a period of learning more, Obermueller said. I consider my bill part of that effort.

He remained optimistic that his bill had a good chance of passing the Legislature because all it did was provide more information to work with.

I think most people would probably believe that the people of Wyoming deserve to know what our economy looks like and would not be interested in sheltering them from that knowledge, he said.

But despite most members of the revenue committee voting in favor of the bill last week, Kinskey and Ellis also sit on the five-member Senate revenue committee, which controls which bills make it to the Senate floor. A third member, Jeff Wasserburger, R-Gillette, missed the Buffalo meeting but has opposed exploring tax options in the past.

Scattershot support

Other lawmakers on the committee supported the bill, but in at least one case the reasoning was rather quixotic and may not translate to support for exploring new taxation on Wyoming businesses.

Rep. Dan Furphy, R-Laramie, said he was mostly interested in collecting data on sales from out-of-state companies doing business in Wyoming and finding a way to tax them.

I want to make in-state companies more competitive, and Id like to see how we could somehow gather information on the out-of-state companies, he said. If were going to proceed on a gross receipts tax, those are the companies Id like to see taxed.

Any tax explicitly targeting out-of-state companies would likely run afoul of the U.S. Constitutions interstate commerce provisions.

As a rule, experts say that state legislatures are far more likely to raise or expand existing taxes before looking to new forms of taxation.

Western Washington University professor Todd Donovan said in an interview earlier this year that the politics of expanding existing taxes are far easier to manage, even in conservative states.

If you go from zero to anything, then people really notice that, he said. If its an existing tax, its already there.

The trouble with taxes: Change needed for the state to diversify, but that's politically difficult With Wyomings economy reeling from a drop in the energy sector, state leaders like Gov. Matt Mead have emphasized the need to attract other industries that offer good jobs for blue-collar workers and young professionals.

GOP operative and Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny, who attended the revenue committee meeting, said that serious tax increases were unlikely during the upcoming session.

The mindset appears to be that cuts alone can close the budget deficit, he said.

If taxes are raised, Novotny said it is likely they will pursue a slight expansion of sales tax  nibbling away at the edges, he wrote in an email.

Income tax and gross receipts tax are DOA, Novotny said.
Its easy to see why Jerome County commissioners are considering a deal with federal immigration agents to house suspected illegal immigrants at its new jail. At 50 beds for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at $75 a day, Jerome County stands to make about $1.34 million a year.

Thats a lot of cash for the rural county, which is trying to compete and grow in a surging regional economy. But this issue has a whole lot more to do with it than simply dollars and cents.

Jerome County also has the second-highest Hispanic population in Idaho. And as the hub of the states $3 billion dairy industry, it relies heavily on immigrant labor. Todays businesses like Chobani, Glanbia and Jerome Cheese Co. were all built on the backs of these laborers and their families who continue to work here, live here and send their students to local schools.

Partnering with ICE would be a slap in the face to Hispanics and dairy workers, and opponents fear it would drive immigrants out of the Magic Valley and further harm a dairy industry already struggling to retain workers. Any money from ICE would be erased by lost economic productivity, opponents argue.

Its important to note, also, that ICE is talking about more than just a few prisoners. The federal agency is desperately trying to find a new detention center in the West after it lost access to 300 beds at the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork, Utah. ICE likes Jerome for its location, but also because theres room for expansion and to house even more immigration detainees in the future. ICE has even considered building a separate courthouse in Jerome to hold immigration hearings.

For Hispanics, legal or otherwise living in Jerome, a heavy ICE presence would be chilling. The American Civil Liberties Union is watching the negotiation closely and is in close contact with Hispanics whove flooded county commissioner meetings and staged rallies in opposition to the deal. Opponents have signaled a legal challenge is likely if Jerome County partners with ICE.

The latest to weigh in is Gov. C.L. Butch Otter, who late last month sent a letter to the county sheriffs department.

It is your responsibility to protect public safety and defend the constitutional rights of all people. Nothing in that charge conflicts with contracting with ICE to help enforce our immigration laws, and no outside considerations should keep you from doing so, Otter wrote.

It appears here the governor is encouraging commissioners to take the ICE deal  or at least ignore the ACLU.

But what the governor is not considering  and what we hope commissioners will  is that outside influences (namely, the ACLU) arent driving the opposition. Its locals.

ACLU operatives werent the ones leading protests over the summer. It was our neighbors, friends, coworkers, employees, students, clergy and business leaders  Jerome County residents.

Yes, theres an economic argument to be made that it makes sense to partner with ICE. Yes, commissioners are probably within the law to do so. And, yes, were talking about illegal immigrants here, people who broke the law to get here and under the law should be sent home.

But its also a hard fact that immigrants and their families make up a large part of Jerome County, and commissioners have an obligation to represent their interests as Jerome County residents. ICE is offering a lot of money, but the agency isnt a Jerome County resident, and its not the countys duty to assist in federal immigration enforcement.

The countys duty is to do whats best for Jerome County residents. Commissioners must not forget this as they weigh their decision.
USANA Health Sciences, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells science-based nutritional and personal care products. The company offers USANA nutritional products that comprise essentials/CellSentials, such as vitamin and mineral supplements that provide a foundation of total body nutrition for various age groups; optimizers comprising targeted supplements that are designed to meet cardiovascular, skeletal/structural, and digestive health needs; and foods that include meal replacement shakes, snack bars, and other related products. It also provides Celavive, a skin care regimen for various skin care types and ethnicities; and other products for prenatal, infant, and young child age groups. In addition, the company offers materials and online tools to assist associates in building their businesses, as well as in marketing products. It offers its products directly in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, as well as online. The company has a research collaboration agreement with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine for research in the field of traditional Chinese medicine; and National Sports Training Bureau. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In America, we rely on the rule of law as the basis in our society and to protect us from political and financial influence. In Idaho, two out of the three Idaho Public Utilities commissioners have received campaign funds in the past from Idaho Power or its PACs. In fact, Idaho Power has been the largest donor to Eric Andersons past political campaigns as per the site, FollowTheMoney.org.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Idaho PUC then votes for whatever IPCo wants, against all logic and just recently, against the wishes of Blaine County, as voted on through its planning and zonin and upheld by county commissioners. It will cost Idaho ratepayers $12 million to underground a transmission line in Ketchum; $30 plus million project cost in all that wont provide true redundancy as the lines are side by side, vulnerable to the same fire or ice events.

All Idaho citizens should be alarmed that their rates will go up for this boondoggle project. Could it be time that we also look at separating the influence of our monopoly utility company on our Public Utilities Commission?

Kiki Tidwell

Hailey
Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Global Investors, Principal International, and U.S. Insurance Solutions segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides a portfolio of asset accumulation products and services for retirement savings and income. It offers products and services for defined contribution plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit pension plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, equity compensation, and pension risk transfer services; individual retirement accounts; investment only products; and mutual funds, individual variable annuities, and bank products. The Principal Global Investors segment provides equity, fixed income, real estate, and other alternative investments, as well as asset allocation, stable value management, and other structured investment strategies. The Principal International segment offers pension accumulation products and services, mutual funds, asset management, income annuities, and life insurance accumulation products, as well as voluntary savings plans in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, and Southeast Asia. The U.S. Insurance Solutions segment provides specialty benefits, such as group dental and vision insurance, group life insurance, and group and individual disability insurance, as well as administers group dental, disability, and vision benefits; and individual life insurance products comprising universal, variable universal, indexed universal, and term life insurance products in the United States. It also offers insurance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and their owners, as well as executives. Principal Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.
Snap Inc. is a social media company operating globally. The company was founded in September 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Originally known as Snapchat, the company changed its name to Snap in order to represent its offerings better as it grew over the years. The companys headquarters are in Santa Monica, California and it is a very tightly held company. The original founders, Evan Speigel and Bobby Murphy own a combined 45% of non-dilutable shares with ownership transferable to the other upon death. The two remain active in the company today serving on the board and acting as CEO (Speigel) and CTO (Murphy).

The company was formerly known as Snapchat, Inc. and changed its name to Snap Inc. in September 2016. Snap Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Over the years it has been courted by most of the big tech companies including Facebook and Google but has always opted to remain a standalone company. The business went public in 2017 and raised $30 billion on its opening day which is about 10 times the expected amount.

Today, Snap operates as a camera company internationally. The companys main revenue streams are Snapchat, a mobile app for cameras and communications, and Spectacles, a wearable augmented reality device. Snapchat is a camera app that allows users to take pictures and tell stories, the platform also permits ad sales which is an integral part of the revenue and earnings. The companys mission? To empower people to express themselves in todays digital world.

Spectacles is a hardware device that can connect with Snapchat to deliver pictures and video from a point-of-view perspective. The company has since made three upgrades to the original version and has a Next Generation model available too. The Next Generation of Spectacles are not intended for sale but will be made available to creators who wish to push the boundaries of video and digital communications.

In October 2022 the company reported it had more than 347milion daily active users with more than 250 million engaging with AR each day. The platform had more than 250,000 Lens creators (Lenses are AR experiences) with more than 2.5 million lenses created. There were more than 6 billion lens plays each day and more than 75% of 13-34-year-olds in 20 countries were users.
South Jersey Industries, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides energy-related products and services. The company engages in the purchase, transmission, and sale of natural gas. It also sells natural gas and pipeline transportation capacity on a wholesale basis to residential, commercial, and industrial customers on the interstate pipeline system, as well as transports natural gas purchased directly from producers or suppliers to customers. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 147 miles of mains in the transmission system and 6,815 miles of mains in the distribution system; and served 384,062 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southern New Jersey. In addition, it markets natural gas storage, commodity, and transportation assets on a wholesale basis for energy marketers, electric and gas utilities, power plants, and natural gas producers in the mid-Atlantic, Appalachian, and southern regions of the United States. Further, the company owns and operates rooftop solar-generation sites. Additionally, it owns oil, gas, and mineral rights in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania; acquires and markets natural gas and electricity to retail end users, as well as provides total energy management, fuel management, and energy procurement and cost reduction services. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Folsom, New Jersey.
Telefonica Brasil S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile and fixed telecommunications services to residential and corporate customers in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G as well as mobile value-added services and wireless roaming services. The company also offers data services, including broadband and mobile data services. In addition, it provides pay TV services through direct to home satellite technology, IPTV, and cable, as well as pay-per-view and video on demand services; network services, such as rental of facilities; other services comprising internet access, private network connectivity, computer equipment leasing, extended service, caller identification, voice mail, cellular blocker, and others; wholesale services, including interconnection services to users of other network providers; and digital services, such as entertainment, cloud, and security and financial services. Further, the company offers multimedia communication services, which include audio, data, voice and other sounds, images, texts, and other information, as well as sells devices, such as smartphones, broadband USB modems, and other devices. Additionally, it provides telecommunications solutions and IT support to various industries, such as retail, manufacturing, services, financial institutions, government, etc. It markets and sells its solutions through own stores, dealers, retail and distribution channels, door-to-door sales, and outbound tele sales. The company was formerly known as Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S.A. - TELESP and changed its name to Telefonica Brasil S.A. in October 2011. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
NextEra Energy, Inc. is the largest electric utility holding company in the US. It operates a network of power generation and distribution facilities that include fossil-fuel-generated and green energy. As of mid-2022, the company was capable of generating 58 GW of electricity with nearly 60% of the load produced by green sources including wind and solar. In their view, going green isnt an option, its the solution. NextEra Energy has been recognized multiple times as a leader in clean energy and ESG practices and was ranked the #1 electric and gas utility on the Forbes list of Most Admired Companies.

The company is the result of several mergers that begin with FPL Group. FPL Group is now a subsidiary of NextEra Energy and the third-largest provider of electricity in the US servicing nearly half of Florida. FPL and its affiliates are the single largest provider of renewable energy generated from wind and sun. The group changed its name in 2010 following a decision to shift focus onto renewable energy sources.

Today, NextEra Energy, Inc through its subsidiary FPL serves about 12 million people in eastern and southwestern Florida. The company employs nearly 14,900 people who service 5.8 million accounts. The company is in business to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to retail and wholesale clients. Electricity is generated through wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and coal-fired facilities.

The company is also engaged in the construction and operation of new facilities, specifically renewable power generation, storage, and delivery facilities, and can offer custom solutions tailored to any need. Offerings include tailored services to assist businesses with their transition to clean energy.

NextEra Energy also owns and operates 7 nuclear power stations in Florida, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin generating power for the wholesale market.

Unlike other companies that are targeting net-zero emissions, NextEra Energy has a plan to reach real zero and is investing heavily to reach that goal by 2045. The company had invested nearly $50 billion in green energy infrastructure and initiatives by mid-2022. The plan is to first work on reducing its own emissions and then take its knowledge and expertise to the world.
In The Sunday Times Inside the City column, John Collingridge looks at power generator Drax - owner of the Drax power station in North Yorkshire, which less-than-proudly bears the title of Britains biggest single source of carbon dioxide emissions.

Despite its carbon-chugging existence, the station has managed to survive the many axes that have fallen on its coal-fuelled peers, with Drax taking measures as early as 2004 when it converted half the plant to biomass in the form of wood chips.

That schemes greenness was questionable, Collingridge noted, given the woodchips are shipped all the way from Louisiana and Mississippi, although on a pure business basis it makes perfect sense, given the plant is underpinned by taxpayer subsidies for another decade.

And even with that life support, Drax - the company - still knows it needs to look ahead, especially after a government promise to end coal generation by 2025.

It has plans to convert the rest of Drax - the plant - to gas, build four small gas generating plants around the UK, and plonk the worlds largest battery next to its Yorkshire flagship.

Behind the gusto, Collingridge says, is chief executive Dorothy Thompson, who has been at the helm since the stock floated in 2005 and watched its shares bounce around with Westminsters energy policy of the day.

Shares in Drax closed at 310.1p on Friday, putting the firms value at 1.3bn.

While Thompsons big plans for more gas and a huge battery are indeed bold, Collingridge notes they are not without merit, given National Grid concerns that as true green energies - such as wind and solar - form a larger part of the UKs generating ability, there needs to be something dependable for days when Britains wind and sunshine becomes less than dependable.

Drax says it wants to have seven gigawatts available at any time, ready to go at the push of a button - dependability the government will want to pay a premium for as coal and nuclear supplies are shuttered.

In true Thompson style, the chief executive also wants a 15-year guarantee from Westminster before the company presses on with the plann.

This is gutsy stuff. As analysts at HSBC put it, Drax is not yet an income stock and its strategy is as yet unproven, Collingridge says.

Still, if anyone can do it, Thompson can.

Over in the Mail on Sunday, Holly Black focusses on AIM-traded online property marketing platform Purplebricks, which promises a cheaper - but still guided - alternative to high street estate agents when it comes to selling residential property.

And its been the companys marketing which has taken investors on a roller coaster in the last year, with the Advertising Standards Authority upholding a complaint against the firm on the clarity of the added cost of viewings in its advertising.

That came just two months after the industry self-regulator upheld complaints about claims Purplebricks made over potential savings, compared to high street estate agents, and less than a year after an earlier scolding from the ASA.

An investigation by BBCs Watchdog consumer affairs programme hasnt helped things for investors either, with shares reaching a peak of 514p on 8 August, dropping back to less than 390p last week.

Still, Black notes that shares in the company are worth three times what they were a year ago, which she puts down to the companys market position of letting customers deal with a major transaction behind their touchscreens, rather than in a shiny high-street store.

Its point of difference is its flat fee, as opposed to the traditional percentage arrangement, although that is paid upfront, unless a customer chooses a more expensive pay-later option, which involves receiving a third-party line of credit.

It was the clarity of that more expensive credit option that attracted the ire of BBCs Watchdog.

And while the flat fee doesnt include some things which take an agent out of the office, such as viewings, it does include social media marketing and listings on the major real estate aggregators.

Additionally, despite the bumps in the road when it comes to the clarity of its marketing, its market share has soared, with it now said to hold almost three-quarters of the UK online market.

Now it has a major focus overseas, gaining first-mover advantage already in Australia and targeting the US, where it will use 50m recently raised to push into the already busy market.

Black says that, while Purplebricks wont be unique in the US market, it is a busy market with 5.5 million property transactions each year, and high commissions of up to 6%.

If Purplebricks can avoid further run-ins with the advertising regulator, then its share price should easily recover, Black said.Ambitious expansion plans could mean losses in the short term but, if successful, should reap rewards in the future.
Seven resorts and individuals have been honoured by the PURE Life Experiences awards for their contributions to sustainable and experiential travel.

Founded in 2009, PURE Life Experiences is a hand-selected global community of leading experts in experiential travel with a focus on conservation and transformation. These PUREists are united by a mission to catalyse a new kind of adventure for high-end clients, one that fosters personal connections and encourages a conscientious approach to the environment and local communities.

PURE lifes tailored excursions invite travellers to reconnect with themselves and their world, while protecting the planet and giving back.

Transformational Travel: Cascada Expediciones / Ecocamp Patagonia for The Dientes Trek

The PURE Awards celebrate the best of the best in sustainable travel. This year, more than 200 applications were submitted in categories including Transformational Travel, Conservation and Sustainability, Community Engagement, and Mindful Design. The winners were announced in Marrakech on Tuesday, September 12. Meet them below.

The Dientes Trek is a true wilderness experience. With virtually no trail infrastructure, the immersion in nature and disconnect from the world is designed to be absolute. There is only the traveller, silence, and the mighty peaks and waterways of Tierra del Fuego. The trek has been designed to leave travellers with a greater appreciation for and understanding of the power of nature, as well as themselves as humans in the world, where actions have real consequences for the future of the planet.

Conservation & Sustainability: Singita, for solar technology at Singita Kruger National Park

Singitas solar project aims to reduce reliance on fossil fuels by harnessing energy from this sun-rich part of the world to provide solar power. In 2015, 1,188 photovoltaic solar panels were installed and connected to state-of-the-art batteries and inverters to power lodges. In 2017, the Tesla Powerpack system was introduced. The combination of solar and Powerpack enables sustainable energy generation, consumption, and storage. The system has already reduced diesel generator usage by over 70 percent and is forecast to reduce annual carbon emissions by 1,000 tonnes.

Innovative & Engaging Marketing: Great Plains Conservation, vinyl revival

A campaign of four pre-show emails followed a vinyl theme of new tracks on side one and classic hits on side two, inspired by everything from Bowies Berlin trilogy to classic tracks from Great Plains. The result was a sell-out show, increased brand awareness for Great Plains Conservation, and feedback from the non-trade show audience.

Community Engagement: Oceania Expeditions, Karawara culture on Kabakon Island

Oceania Expeditions invites guests to swap their current reality for life on a secluded island, under the guidance of the neighbouring Karawara people in the tropics of Papua New Guinea. Karawara islanders visit guests daily on Kabakon island, sharing their extensive knowledge and rich customs, and teaching how to forage, hunt, weave, connect and play. Guests are then left to their own devices until the next visit. The project offers an additional income stream for the local community and reignites pride in the continuation of local traditions and cultures.

Contribution to Experiential Travel: Mike Reimer, Churchill Wild

Mike Reimer, co-founder of Churchill Wild, is a true entrepreneur and adventurer. The first to offer walking safaris through polar-bear-inhabited regions of northern Manitoba, hes always one step ahead, planning new experiences for guests. From safe, on-the-ground polar-bear encounters, to an innovative way for people to snorkel with wild beluga whales, to a remote tundra camp set up in the Barren Lands for an Arctic glamping experience, Reimers insatiable curiosity for whats possible keeps guests intrigued and engaged.

Mindful Design: Wilderness Safaris, Bisate Lodge

Bisate Lodges sophisticated architecture and interior design is rooted in Rwandan building tradition. The spherical, thatched structures echo the thousands of hills that dot the Rwandan landscape, while the richly detailed interiors feature surfaces and screens made from a variety of woven materials. Bisate offers accommodations that are steeped in local design, culture, and traditional architecture.

Unsung Hero: Lewis Mangaba, African Bush Camps

Lewis Mangaba is more than a guide for African Bush Camps at Somalisa in Zimbabwe. He is a storyteller, a poet  a man who inspires passion for preserving wildlife heritage to all who encounter him. Mangabas intuition in the bush ensures a fantastic experience for his guests. Hes affectionately known as the medicine man, and once trekked deep into the wilds of Mana Pools to find a plant to treat mosquito bites after a guest, who had been bitten, was averse to repellents.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2017-- A quality improvement program designed to better control hypertension in primary care practices notably improved hypertension control in six months, according to research presented today at the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Hypertension, AHA Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease, American Society of Hypertension Joint Scientific Sessions 2017, in San Francisco.

One in three American adults has high blood pressure. That number is steadily climbing, despite the fact that high blood pressure can be easily treated using evidence-based guidelines.2

Based on the American Medical Association's M.A.P. Framework, the AMA collaborated with Care Coordination Institute Labs, Greenville South Carolina, to create the M.A.P. hypertension improvement program using the latest science in blood pressure control. It stands for measuring blood pressure accurately; acting rapidly to manage uncontrolled blood pressure; and partnering with patients to promote blood pressure self-management.3

"The goal of the M.A.P. is to make it easier for doctors and care teams to help people with hypertension effectively manage their blood pressure," said study author Michael Rakotz, M.D., vice president of chronic disease prevention at the American Medical Association (AMA), based in Chicago.4

Researchers compared blood pressure measurements of more than 21,000 hypertensive patients from 16 practices, comparing their blood pressures from the start of the study to those taken six months into participating in the MAP intervention.5

They found:

Blood pressure control rose from 65.6 percent to 74.8 percent in six months.

Twelve of the 16 practices in the study reported notably better blood pressure control in their hypertensive patients.6

Among the uncontrolled patients at the study's start, average blood pressure fell from 149/85 to 139/80 mm Hg.7

Teaching accurate blood pressure measurement technique resulted in reduced systolic pressures in uncontrolled patients in the office.8

There was no notable change in physicians increasing the number of or dosage of anti-hypertensive medications to treat patients with uncontrolled blood pressure. 9

There was a significant increase in drop in blood pressure with each medication change made during the study (14 mm Hg), compared to drops in blood pressure with each medication change prior to the study (5.4 mm Hg), implying that either patients are doing better at taking their medications daily or that the medications they are being prescribed are working better, according to Rakotz.10

"MAP's evidence-based strategies offer an opportunity for primary care practices to work with patients to quickly improve blood pressure control. And the initiative goes hand-in-hand with national programs focused on reducing the burden of heart disease and stroke, including Target: BP," Rakotz said.

Target: BP is a joint initiative between the AHA and AMA aimed at reducing the number of American adults who die each year from heart attack and stroke. The MAP BP improvement program is a central part of the initiative.

High blood pressure contributes to major health problems, including heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and more.11 The American Heart Association's goal is to improve cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent by the year. 12

###

Co-authors are Brent Egan, M.D.; R. Bruce Hanin, M.D.; Irfan Asif, M.D., Jianing Yang, M.S., Susan Sutherland, Ph.D., Robert Davis; and Gregory Wozniak, Ph.D.13

Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The American Medical Association funded this study.

Note: Scientific presentation time of abstract 93 is 4:30 p.m. PT/ 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.

1 Abstract conclusion and results

2 Second paragraph at this link: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/more-than-400-medical-practices-join-national-call-to-prioritize-blood-pressure-control

3 Interview and beginning of abstract body.

4 Interview Abstract

5 Abstract

6 Abstract results

7 Abstract results

8 Abstract results

9 Interview

10 interview

11 First and second paragraphs in this release: http://newsroom.heart.org/news/more-than-400-medical-practices-join-national-call-to-prioritize-blood-pressure-control

12 Last line at this link: 2020.http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Affiliate/Advocacy-Gains-Strides-Towards-2020-Goal_UCM_486434_Article.jsp#.WZWqn2eWyUk

13 Credentials from interview

Additional Resources:

Available multimedia is on the right column of the release link - http://newsroom.heart.org/news/blood-pressure-better-controlled-with-map-for-doctors?preview=b06e82024ceee274941a03b30128cbbb

More on the MAP protocol and Target: BP are at targetbp.org.

Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews #HTN17

Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association and American Stroke Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations and health insurance providers are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke - the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
SALEM, Ohio  Farm and Dairy newsroom staff members and columnists took home awards from various professional organizations this year.

Every year, we put our work up against much bigger publications and staffs because we try to give our readers the absolute best coverage we can, said Editor Susan Crowell. And these awards prove what we preach here in the newsroom: We may be small, but were mighty.

In the Society of Professional Journalists Ohio writing contest, Reporter Chris Kick placed second in Best Political Commentary in the print, under 75,000 circulation division, for his opinion piece, Ohio should rethink selling prison farms.

Kick also placed second in Best Feature Reporting in the same circulation division, for a trio of feature articles.

In the National Newspaper Association, Reporter Catie Noyes received second place in the video journalism category for her video Not your grandfathers farmers market.

Columnist Kymberly Foster Seabolt won NNAs Best Serious Column category for her tribute to her grandmother, Memories of Gram.

And this was the first year Farm and Dairy participated in the contests coordinated by AAEA, the Agricultural Communicators Network (formerly known as the American Agricultural Editors Association.

In the 2017 AAEA Communication Awards contests, Reporter Katy Mumaw achieved Level One in the Master Photographer program and Editor Susan Crowell achieved Level One in the Master Writer program.

The Ohio SPJ awards recognize excellence in television, radio and print journalism. The National Newspaper Association contest, which drew 1,433 entries this year, awards honor the best in community journalism. The AAEA program recognizes the top work from writers, designers and photographers in the agricultural media field from across North America.
There are "huge opportunities" for UK dairy after leaving the EU, but the industry must shape up in order to exploit them effectively.

That was a recurring theme in an AHDB-hosted seminar looking at post-Brexit prospects for the dairy industry at the UK Dairy Day in Telford this week.

AHDBs Head of Strategic Insight David Swales kicked off the event with analysis, published earlier this week, of UK dairys current trading position and where demand potential lies at a global level.

He said demand for dairy commodity products was a key growth area over the next decade, with a phenomenal increase forecast in the Asia-Pacific region, fuelled by rapid expansion of the middle class.

But Mr Swales warned that to take advantage, UK industry would need to catch up with its global competitors with a targeted exports strategy and more competitive production base.

He said: The key challenge for the whole industry is how we can become more competitive, improve efficiency, drive down costs and align supply chains effectively so we can take advantage of these opportunities.

Domestic produce

With the UK a massive net importer of dairy products, displacing some of these imports with domestic product was also identified as a big opportunity but requiring investment in processing capacity.

Mr Swales said to draw investment into UK facilities, a demonstrably competitive, sustainable and resilient production base was critical.

Following Mr Swales presentation was a panel session chaired by AHDB Market Intelligence Director Phil Bicknell, where he was joined by Lead Dairy Analyst Chris Gooderham and Gail Soutar, Chief EU Exit and International Trade Adviser for the NFU.

During the session, Mr Swales revealed his team is currently working on a piece of analysis looking at the impact of three different post-Brexit policy scenarios on individual farm enterprises across seven agricultural and horticultural sectors.

He said: A lot of the work weve done so far has been quite top level and farmers may question what it means for them  this report will be far more tangible and relatable for farmers.

'Raise the game'

The scenario modelling will be published as a Horizon report at the AHDB Grain Market Outlook Conference on 11 October in London.

AHDB Board Member and Dairy Chair Gwyn Jones closed the event by saying dairy farmers should be looking to raise their game and that AHDB was there to help them do that, citing a new publication looking at delivering a more competitive industry through optimal dairy systems.

The publication recommends that British dairy farms narrow production to one of two systems  block calving within a 12-week window or all year round calving  in order to achieve significant competitive gains at farm level.
A girl has been threatened and her horse punched by two men who entered a farm in Nottinghamshire, it has been reported.

Nottinghamshire police are investigating reports of suspicious activity and a public order incident at a farm at Lambley Lane, Gedling.

Police are now appealing for witnesses and information.

It was reported that two men attended a stables and threatened a girl before one of them punched a horse. The men then left the scene. It happened at about 3.15pm on Monday (11 September 2017).

One of the men was described as white, aged 30-40 with shaved ginger hair and a ginger beard. He spoke with an Irish accent and was wearing a white T-shirt and reflective yellow bottoms.

The other man was described as white, about 50-years-old, with dark brown hair. He also spoke with an Irish accent and had prominent gaps between his teeth.

One of them was driving a white van that had high visibility colouring on it. The other was in a red tipper van.

Police also received a report of a man acting suspiciously at the farm at about 2pm on Sunday (10 September 2017). He arrived in a dark-coloured Nissan Nivara.

Nottinghamshire Police have increased patrols in the area to provide reassurance to the local community and given security advice to the farm owner.

Anyone who recognises the men or has any information that could help, please call 101 quoting incident 503 of 11 September 2017.


Actress Sridevi's thriller drama MOM directed by Ravi Udyawar managed to impress the audiences with its great storyline and impactful performances. The film that was distributed by Zee Studios International is now all set to have its big release in Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. MOM will release in 21 screens in Russia, 9 screens in Poland and 3 screens in the Czech Republic in mid October. To have a wider audience reach in the Russian market, the film is also being dubbed in Russian, read a statement.



Interestingly, MOM was also released in UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The film also marks Sridevi's 300th and features Akshaye Khanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in important roles.



Film's producer Boney Kapoor also spoke about MOM's success to a popular daily. He said, "With the kind of appreciation we have received for 'Mom' across the world, we are pretty sure the audiences in Russia, Czech Republicand Poland will give us a positive response. The film has a very strong message applicable universally, coupled with Sridevi's acting has made the film what it is. We are looking forward to releasing the film there and expanding our audience base,"
Design

The first thing that will catch our eyes when we take a look at these phones is their gorgeous design. There are some design similarities such as the glass black, metal frame, bezel-less sides, thin bezels at the top and bottom of the screen.

On comparing the two, the iPhone X appears to have rounded corners. For the front-facing camera and sensors, there is a small patch above the screen on the iPhone X. Though the Galaxy Note 8 also has thin bezels, it is not as thin as the ones at the top and bottom of the iPhone X's display.

On the former, you can see the entire front being occupied by the screen. Apple has ditched the home button below the screen to increase the space of the display. While the Galaxy Note 8 has also missed out on the home button, the fingerprint sensor has been moved to the rear which is not the case with the iPhone X. Apple has completely missed the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone X.

In terms of dimensions and weight, the iPhone X measures 143.6x70.9x7.7mm and weighs in at 174 grams. On the other hand, the Note 8 has a larger footprint measuring 162.5x74.8x8.6mm and is heftier measuring 195 grams.

Besides this, the Galaxy Note 8 has the IP68 rating and iPhone X has IP67 rating making them resistant to water and dust. While the iPhone's water resistance is not as good as that of the Note 8, the former will be tougher as it is claimed to feature the toughest glass at the front and back.

Display

Talking about the display, both the iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8 feature an OLED display. The iPhone X adorns a 5.8-inch OLED Super Retina Display with a resolution of 1125 x 2436 pixels and a pixel density of 458 ppi. The Galaxy Note 8 flaunts a larger 6.3-inch OLED Infinity Display with a QHD+ resolution of 1440 x 2960 pixels and a higher pixel density of 521 ppi.

Both the smartphones use the OLED panels from Samsung, so both the screens are sharper and render superior contrast and vibrant colors as well. The screen on the Galaxy Note 8 is relatively curved while that on the iPhone X is flat. Samsung has attempted to use a curved screen as it will let you conveniently swipe across the edges of the screen to access the menus and shortcuts.

The major difference is the presence of the S Pen on the Note 8. The stylus lets you sketch and take notes on the device even when the screen is turned off.

Hardware

The Apple phone makes uses of the Apple A11 Bionic chipset, which is based on the six-core architecture and it is claimed to be the most powerful smartphone chipset in the market. The Galaxy Note 8 features an octa-core Snapdragon 835 SoC or the company's in-house Exynos 8895 SoC under its hood. Both are top-end chipsets that are equally powerful and capable. While the iPhone X is said to have 3GB RAM, the Samsung phone has 6GB RAM. It may sound like the higher RAM on the Note 8 will win here but Apple devices usually have smaller RAMs that will not let go of the performance.

In terms of storage, the Galaxy Note 8 has been launched with 64GB storage space that can be expanded up to 256GB using a microSD card, the iPhone X comes in two variants - 64GB and 256GB. As it is known, the latter does not support expandable storage.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box while the iPhone X runs on iOS 11 out of the box. The former will receive the Android 8.0 Oreo update in the coming months.

Get to know the features of iOS 11 and Android Oreo to know how these platforms might compete with one another and the goodies that these will offer you.

Camera

The iPhone X features a dual-lens 12MP camera setup at its rear. One is a wide-angle lens with f/1.8 aperture and the other is a telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture. There is OIS, optical zoom and more for clear photos, capturing depth of field information, bokeh effect, and more. Apple has focused on augmented reality with the camera by letting your project video games onto flat surfaces such as tablets or walls.

In comparison, the Galaxy Note 8 comes with a dual-lens 12MP camera setup with f/1.7 and f/2.4 apertures. This phone also has OIS and optical zoom. However, it misses out on the AR capabilities that Apple has bundled. Up front, there is a 7MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture on the iPhone X has an 8MP front camera with f/1.7 aperture.

The iPhone X has the 3D Face ID sensor that scans your face to unlock your phone and authenticate purchases. Of course, the Note 8 also features a facial recognition feature but it is not as secure and advanced as that on the iPhone X.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 gets the power from a 3300mAh battery that supports both fast charging and wireless charging. This time, Apple has also offered support for wireless charging and fast charging but for the later you need to purchase a dedicated cable separately. The battery capacity hasn't been revealed by Apple but there are claims that it is lesser than that on the iPhone 7.

Price and Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is priced at Rs, 67,000 and is already up for pre-order. When it comes to the Apple iPhone X, the 64GB variant is priced at Rs. 89,000 and the 256GB variant is priced at Rs. 102,000 raising the eyebrows of many. The device is all set to go on pre-order on October 27 and the sale will debut on November 3.

Verdict

Being the tenth-anniversary edition of iPhones, the iPhone X has been designed to set a path for the future of smartphones. And, we can't deny this as the device comes with an all-screen front, AR features, a powerful processor, an advanced face scanner, an all new design and more. The Galaxy Note 8 is in no way inferior to the iPhone X as it comes with an edge-to-edge display, dual camera, powerful processor and more just like its rival. Though the Galaxy Note 8 also features a larger display that covers most part of the device's front, there are slightly thicker bezels, especially at the top and bottom.

If the Face ID sensor is a positive that Apple can put forth, the Note 8 has the S Pen stylus with advanced features to fight with the iPhone X. There is a dual camera setup on both the smartphones so that there is a tough fight in this aspect as well.

Ultimately, both the iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8 are powerful devices but the pricing is the major aspect where Apple might not attract many users at least in India. Even the iPhone fans might not spend such a huge amount to upgrade to the iPhone X.
CIA seeking authority to conduct drone attacks in Afghanistan

Sputnik News

Sat Sep 16, 2017 01:36PM

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is seeking authority from the White House to carry out covert drone attacks in Afghanistan and other war zones, along with the Pentagon, which has so far the lead role for conducting such airstrikes in the country.

Citing current and former intelligence and military officials, The New York Times reported on Friday that President Donald Trump favors granting the CIA greater authority to take on a more direct role in fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

According to the sources, CIA Director Mike Pompeo has in recent weeks made a forceful case to Trump that the restrictions imposed on the agency during the administration of former President Barack Obama has limited the US's ability to conduct "counter-terrorism operations."

Obama imposed the restrictions in part to limit civilian casualties, the report said.

Pompeo suggested earlier this week that Trump favors granting the spy agency greater authority to go after militants. "When we've asked for more authorities, we've been given it. When we ask for more resources, we get it."

If approved, it would be the first time the CIA would have the power to conduct such attacks in Afghanistan. The agency has been conducting such airstrikes across the border in Pakistan for about a decade.

Critics say, the Trump administrationif approve the proposal would open the way for broader air strikes in such countries as Libya, Somalia and Yemen, where the United States says its is fighting the Daesh terror group, al-Qaeda or both.

The Pentagon, which has until now, had the role for conducting such strikes, expressed concern over the proposal, saying American troops on the ground in Afghanistan could end up bearing the burden of any CIA attacks that would kill civilians, the Times said.

The CIA has so for failed to acknowledge its drone attacks, which usually claim the lives of civilians, including children in Pakistan. Islamabad says the drone strikes violate its sovereignty. Washington, however, accuses Pakistan of providing safe havens to militants.

Late last month, Trump pledged to take tougher line with Pakistan and made it clear that he was going to increase the US military presence in Afghanistan. He admitted that his "original instinct was to pull out" but he has changed his mind.

A senior director of programs at Amnesty International USA, Zeke Johnson, said in a statement that "the last thing the US should be doing right now is expanding a global, secret killing program."

"By its own admission, the US government's use of drones has meant the deaths of civilians and there has been insufficient accountability," Johnson added.

Trump's plans to step up air strikes on militants in Afghanistan risks increasing civilian casualties.

 Sputnik

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Officials Release Details of Latest Strikes Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 16, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 28 strikes consisting of 33 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 24 strikes consisting of 28 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed a weapons cache and an ISIS headquarters.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions.

-- Near Raqqa, 19 strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed nine ISIS supply routes, eight fighting positions, a vehicle and a logistics node; and suppressed two fighting positions.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Huwayjah, two strikes destroyed seven vehicle-borne bombs, a bunker and a heavy machine gun.

-- Near Rawah, two strikes destroyed two ISIS-held buildings, a command-and-control node and a vehicle.

Previous Strikes

Additionally, 38 strikes consisting of 55 engagements were conducted in Syria and Iraq on Sept. 14 that closed within the last 24 hours.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, Syria six strikes destroyed an ISIS unmanned aerial system, a fighting position and an ISIS supply route and suppressed three fighting positions.

-- Near Raqqa, Syria, 31 strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed 25 fighting positions, 25 vehicles, three ISIS supply routes, two logistics nodes, ISIS engineering equipment and an improvised explosive device.

-- Near Huwayjah, Iraq, a strike destroyed 11 vehicle-borne bombs and a vehicle-borne-bomb facility.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

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Saudi airstrikes kill seven civilians in Yemen's Ma'rib

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 05:08PM

Saudi Arabia's airstrikes have killed seven civilians, including women and children, and injured five others in Yemen's central province of Ma'rib.

The strikes hit Harib al-Qaramish district, Yemen's al-Masirah television network reported on Saturday. There are no more details available yet regarding the attack.

Saudi Arabia along with its allies -- Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Sudan-- has been pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstate the former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

More than 12,000 people have been killed since the onset of the campaign more than two and a half years ago. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.

The Saudi war has also triggered a deadly cholera epidemic across Yemen.

According to data provided by the World Health Organization and Yemen's Health Ministry, the country's cholera outbreak, the worst on record in terms of its rapid spread, has infected 612,703 people and killed 2,048 since it began in April, with some districts still reporting sharp rises in new cases.

The United Nations also says the Saudi war has left some 17 million Yemenis hungry, nearly seven million facing famine, and about 16 million almost without access to water or sanitation.

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Egypt court upholds life sentence handed down to Morsi

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 01:17PM

A life sentence given to Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi has been upheld, a move that apparently shows the government in Cairo has no intention of easing a crackdown on the followers of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper said on its online edition posted on Saturday that the Egyptian Court of Cassation had confirmed the sentence over a charge of espionage for Qatar.

The court also upheld three death sentences handed down to suspects in the case, the paper said, adding that three others, who are still at large, could appeal similar sentences they had been given.

The life sentence, 25 years in Egypt, is now final for Morsi while the Court of Cassation canceled another 15-year prison sentence handed down to him.

Morsi was convicted of espionage for Qatar in 2016 with prosecutors claiming that he had collaborated with secretaries and Muslim Brotherhood figures to leak classified documents to the government in Doha when he was in office. Morsi's chief of staff at the time, Ahmed Abdel-Ati, is also involved in the case. The two have denied the allegations.

The verdict comes amid deteriorating relations between Egypt and Qatar. Pursuing a call by Saudi Arabia, Cairo cut diplomatic ties to Doha over the emirate's alleged support for terrorism. Qatar is also an ardent supporter of the Brotherhood, the most popular political party in Egypt and the oldest in the Arab world, from which Morsi and many other Egyptian politicians have hailed.

Morsi served as Egypt's first democratically-elected president after the fall of former dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. He was removed from office in a coup led by former head of the armed forces and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Since Morsi's ouster, tens of thousands of Brotherhood members have been arrested and prosecuted while senior party leaders face death or life sentences.

The crackdown on the Brotherhood has sparked widespread outrage around the world as rights campaigners and governments keep criticizing the Sisi administration for the collective imprisonment of the party members.

The post-Morsi crackdown has also affected many with alleged links to outlawed militant groups.

In a Saturday ruling, a court handed down death sentences to seven people over links to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. The convicts, members of the Daesh branch in neighboring Libya, can appeal the sentences as they should go to a process of review by the Grand Mufti, Egypt's top theological authority, until November 25.

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New associates

Sonia Ortiz joins Elite One Source  Nutritional Services as Materials Manager where she brings more than 16 years of food manufacturing experience home.

Stockman Bank opened a mortgage office in Hamilton at 1713 N. First St. Carol Holman assistant vice president, real estate loan officer for Stockman Bank will develop and service real estate loans and assist clients. Holman brings over 32 years of banking experience to the position, which includes loan processing, customer service and business development. She can be reached at 406-375-5381.

Laurie Rowley has joined Windermere as a licensed realtor. Rowley attended the the University of Montana. She has 20-plus years in sales, customer service and extensive knowledge in account management and relationship building. She can be reached at laurierowley@windermere.com.

Promotions

Dan Hill has been promoted at Elite One Source  Nutritional Services from Tablet/Encapsulation Supervisor to Shift Manager. Hill brings years of leadership experience with companies such as Metagenics and Cibo Naturals to this position.

John Erickson has been promoted at Elite One Source  Nutritional Services moving from the position of Quality Control Supervisor to Shift Manager. Erickson, who has served our country proudly in the United States Navy, has brought years of manufacturing experience and leadership to this position.

Elected

Make-A-Wish Montana announced the 13 individuals from across the state who have volunteered to serve on the board of directors and govern Make-A-Wish Montana. Make-A-Wish Montana has offices in Billings and Missoula. Jared Brown from Great Falls, chair; Mary Windecker, of Missoula, vice chair; Bob Burns of Missoula, treasurer; Danielle Wanderer of Bozeman, secretary and Lynn Andenoro of Kalispell, Development Committee chair. The other board members are Michael Gray, Adam Tunning and Jason Vollmer from Billings, Alex Philp and Bruce Kramer from Missoula, Rod Austin from Helena, Teresa Seright from Bozeman, and Emily Michalik River from Polson.

The Exchange Club of Missoula installed its 2017-2018 officers and board of directors. Rolf Tandberg, retired contractor, president; Connie Kulbeck, director at Spirit At Play, president elect; Travis Deaton, president at Comfort Systems, USA, Temp Right Service, immediate past president; Clint Baertsch, retired, treasurer; Pete Pettersen, Pettersen Insurance, secretary. Newly elected and continuing board of directors include Teresa Nygaard, executive director of Parenting Place; Marilyn Hoblitt, realtor; Elaine Davis, fine artist; Chuck Eyer, retired UM professor; Beth Ishizuka, teacher, and Anita Rognas, retired. Dr. Tom Ferguson continues as the District Representative for the service organization and Winton Kemmis continues as the Program Chairman.

Recognition

Jim Parker, executive director of Children and Family Services at Western Montana Mental Health Center, was recognized for 40 years of service.

DJ Smith was top producer for the month of August at RE/MAX All Stars in Missoula. Smith is a full time licensed Realtor and specializes in residential real estate. He can be reached at 406-207-2559.

Patty Hixson of Hellgate High School has been recognized by the Yale Office of Undergraduate Admissions as a recipient of the 2017 Yale Educator Award. Hixson was nominated by an incoming Yale freshman who was a previous Hellgate student. The Yale Educator Recognition Program recognizes outstanding educators from around the world who support and inspire their students to perform at high levels and to achieve excellence.

The ERA Lambros Top Producers for the month of August were Bob Zimorino for commercial, Annelise Hedahl for residential, Cheryl Smith for the Hamilton office, Karen Nalley for the Libby office, Jodie Hooker for the Polson office and Bessie Evans for the Florence office.

University of Montana wildlife biology professor Lisa Eby was awarded the American Fisheries Societys Excellence in Fisheries Education Award. Eby, who serves as the faculty adviser to the student chapter of the American Fisheries Society at UM, is a core educator in the fisheries and aquatic ecology tracks of study in UMs wildlife biology and ecosystem science and restoration degrees.
UAE, US ground forces to launch joint military drill

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 09:01AM

The ground forces of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States are to begin a joint military exercise in Abu Dhabi later on Saturday.

Code-named Iron Union 5, the war game is part of a series of exercises that the UAE organizes with its allies to upgrade its military power, the UAE's official WAM news agency reported.

The drills come amid a rift between several Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and Qatar.

Back in June, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE imposed a trade and diplomatic embargo on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism.

Separately on Saturday, Qatari and French naval forces concluded a two-day exercise in Qatar's territorial waters.

A number of boats and the French Frigate Jean Bart reportedly took part in the drill.

Lieutenant Colonel Falah Mahdi Al Ahbabi, Qatari naval formation commander, said the marine exercise had two stages, which focused on combating terrorism and piracy as well as protecting facilities, and marine shipping lines.

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Venezuela denounces Trump's planned crisis talks as 'rival dialog'

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 06:35AM

Caracas has censured as "rival dialog" US President Donald Trump's planned talks with Latin American leaders on the political crisis in Venezuela, days after the government and opposition resumed reconciliation negotiations.

"You have nothing to evaluate President Trump ... evaluate your internal problems," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Friday, after the White House had announced plans for a "working dinner" on September 18 that will convene several Latin American leaders in New York to discuss the political and economic crisis in Venezuela.

Arreaza also took a swipe at Trump for his threat of a military option in Venezuela last month, saying, "Anyone who dares to attack Venezuela will suffer the consequences."

During the meeting scheduled for Monday, Trump is expected to "discuss the crisis in Venezuela, as well as the strong economic ties and extraordinary success of like-minded Latin American nations in recent decades," US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster told journalists.

The White House declined to elaborate on the meeting's agenda or to name who exactly would attend the talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced that he will not attend the gathering of world leaders at the UN and will instead send his foreign minister to represent the South American country.

Washington's announcement comes as Caracas and the opposition held two days of exploratory talks in the Dominican Republic last week, brokered by the former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero and the Dominican President Danilo Medina.

The two sides agreed to a commission of "friendly countries," including Mexico, Chile, Bolivia and Nicaragua, which are tasked with assisting the negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict that has fueled months of deadly protests in Venezuela.

The next round of talks will be held in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, on September 27.

Previous talks between the Venezuelan government and opposition, which had been led by Zapatero and backed by the Vatican, had failed to bear any results in 2016.

The oil-rich but impoverished country has been convulsed by months of deadly protests against the government in Caracas.

The political tension rose after Caracas announced plans to establish the Constituent Assembly to take over the opposition-controlled parliament and rewrite the constitution. The opposition saw the move as an overt attempt by Maduro to accumulate power.

The unrest, which first broke out in April, has so far led to the death of at least 120 people from the two sides.

The United States imposed fresh sanctions against Caracas last month. Trump signed an executive order on August 25 that prohibits dealings with Venezuela, a measure taken to halt financing what the White House calls Maduro's "dictatorship."

Maduro described the move as illegal and designed to "asphyxiate" the Venezuelan economy and push the oil-rich nation into default. He also says the United States and its allies in the region are fomenting instability to bring down his government.

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How Stable Is North Ossetia?

Liz Fuller September 16, 2017

Just one year after his confirmation as Republic of North Ossetia-Alania head, former prime minister and brewery magnate Vyacheslav Bitarov is facing multiple challenges, ranging from allegations that the parliamentary elections held on September 10 were rigged to the presence of militants reportedly affiliated with the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Those circumstances might strengthen the position of Bitarov's most serious political rival, Vladikavkaz municipal council head Makharbek Khadartsev. The election results could also signal an end to the tacit alliance between Bitarov and Arsen Fadzayev, who heads the local chapter of the Patriots of Russia party.

The parliamentary elections were problematic from the outset. The outgoing parliament had passed legislation late last year under which the 70 lawmakers are now elected not under the previous mixed (majoritarian/proportional) system but exclusively from party lists. Vitaly Cheldiyev of the Patriots of Russia parliamentary faction, who initiated that law, told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service that it would promote the development of a genuine multiparty system, but it was not generally perceived as such. On the contrary, it was widely deplored as the most anticivic law of the year.

Of the 13 parties that initially applied for registration, only eight succeeded. Communists of Russia was barred from the vote on the basis of a formal complaint by its rival, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), that 40 of the 69 candidates on its party list were not residents of North Ossetia. Communists of Russia retaliated by calling for the KPRF to be similarly stripped of its registration for unspecified violations. A court in Stavropol Krai acceded to that request, but Russia's Supreme Court overturned that ruling after KPRF Chairman Gennady Zyuganov lodged a formal protest with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Party of Veterans, Yabloko, the Russian Socialist Party, and the Russian All-People's Union were all denied registration on the grounds that a large proportion of the signatures submitted in their support were deemed suspect.

One deputy head of the Central Election Commission resigned in early August, and a second was dismissed just days before the vote.

Critics of the voting, in which turnout was officially given as 56.6 percent, say it was marred by fraud, including instances of ballot-stuffing and failure to seal ballot boxes; but the Central Election Commission refused to accept as evidence of fraud three videos posted on YouTube of precinct officials cramming stacks of ballot papers into ballot boxes, the news portal Caucasian Knot reported on September 12.

Yet despite that apparent intervention in favor of the ruling United Russia party, the official returns showed a 5 percent decline in support for the party, from 64.3 percent in 2012 to 59.23 percent -- the lowest percentage registered in any of the six legislative elections held simultaneously across Russia that day. By contrast, United Russia garnered 70.77 percent in Krasnodar Krai and 68.99 percent in Penza Oblast. But thanks to the switch to the fully proportional system, United Russia nonetheless ended up with 46 parliament mandates, one more than in 2012.

Patriots of Russia placed second with 15.71 percent of the vote, down from 20 percent in 2012, which translated into 12 mandates, three fewer than before. A Just Russia placed third with 10.1 percent of the vote and seven mandates, up from 7.1 percent and five mandates in 2012; the KPRF received 6.61 percent, marginally less than in 2012, and retained its five mandates.

Claims Of Fraud

Cheldiyev rejected the official returns, telling the local Alania broadcasting company that Patriots of Russia actually won the election, the news agency Regnum reported. Margarita Kulova, who was second on the Patriots of Russia party list, has relinquished her mandate to protest what she described as "large-scale ballot-stuffing."

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose party reportedly received only 2.5 percent of the vote, has demanded a recount. Oleg Eydelshteyn, who heads the LDPR chapter in North Ossetia, told the news agency Regnum that his party received 10 percent of the vote.

Fadzayev, a former wrestling champion who enjoys considerable popular support, has not made any formal comment on the election results. In 2012 and for the duration of then-republic head Taymuraz Mamsurov's second term, Patriots of Russia was the republic's most influential opposition party. But Fadzayev threw his backing behind Bitarov when the latter was installed as republic head last year.

Neither has Khadartsev publicly commented on the election outcome. A former business rival of Bitarov -- he owns the republic's second-largest brewery -- Khadartsev came out openly against Bitarov following the appointment early this year of a new republican election commission from which all the candidates proposed by the Vladikavkaz municipality were excluded. (The city is home to approximately half of North Ossetia's total population of 704,000.) Khadartsev also took Bitarov to task for naming as republican health minister a Russian from outside North Ossetia who immediately dismissed the chief medical officer at the republic's largest hospital. At least a dozen medics resigned in protest and were immediately offered jobs by Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov.

The website On.Kavkaz reported in early March, citing unnamed "sources close to the government," that Khadartsev, hitherto aligned with United Russia, was considering running for parliament on the ticket of Party of Action (Partia Dela) which is virtually unknown in North Ossetia. That information proved wrong, however; the Party of Action did not even apply to register for the ballot.

Bitarov's Increasingly Shaky Grip

Khadartsev did, however, initiate a new attack on Bitarov in the run-up to the September elections. In late August, the Vladikavkaz municipal council addressed a letter to North Ossetia's law enforcement agencies deploring the criminal charges brought against former Mayor Sergei Dzantiyev. A search warrant was issued for Dzantiyev late last year, and he has been charged in absentia with squandering some 75 million rubles ($1.299 million) from the city budget; the municipal council says those expenditures had been officially approved.

Even assuming that Ella Pamfilova, chair of the federal Central Election Commission, chooses not to probe the reported irregularities as ruthlessly as she did analogous alleged violations last year during voting in Daghestan for the Russian State Duma, the outcome of the North Ossetian vote is likely to compound popular antagonism to Bitarov, which has reportedly grown steadily as a result of his failure to kick-start the republic's stagnating economy and reduce its massive state debt. That failure is seen by some as at least partly the result of Bitarov's political experience and a chronic shortage of personnel qualified to serve as ministers or deputy ministers, according to a local journalist quoted by On.Kavkaz.

One further factor, however, suggests the Kremlin may not dismiss out of hand the mounting dissatisfaction with Bitarov's leadership. In what appears to be a classic example of what French scholar Olivier Roy recently termed "the Islamization of radicalism," three young men from North Ossetia who had converted to Islam a few years ago were shot dead last week in a counterterror operation in the North Ossetian village of Chmi, south of Vladikavkaz. The three had recently uploaded to the Internet a video clip in which they formally swear allegiance to IS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

A man from Daghestan subsequently identified as a member of the same militant group died in a shoot-out with police in Vladikavkaz later the same day. The four were reported to have been planning either to stage terrorist attacks or to have extorted money from local businessmen.

In December, an aide to Bitarov said eight men from North Ossetia were among the Russian citizens fighting in Syria on the side of the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; seven months later North Ossetian Interior Minister Mikhail Skokov told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service the number of people from North Ossetia wanted for their alleged involvement with IS was 35. Two suspected IS recruiters have been apprehended trying to enter North Ossetia so far this year.

That IS should appear to be making inroads in North Ossetia is all the more surprising given that the majority of the population are Orthodox Christians; just 25-27 percent are Muslims, including Fadzayev. The Muslim community has been lobbying for the past seven years to regain the use of a 19th-century mosque in Vladikavkaz that was converted into a planetarium after the 1917 October Revolution but has been standing empty since the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Meeting with believers in late June to mark the end of Ramadan, Bitarov categorically rejected that request.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/caucasus-report-how-s table-north-ossetia/28739119.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Venezuelan President Commits to Pricing Oil in Yuan to Counter US Sanctions

Sputnik News

11:36 16.09.2017(updated 18:49 16.09.2017)

Nicolas Maduro stated that Venezuela had already begun publishing prices for its oil in Chinese yuan in a bid to avoid the US dollar and counter US sanctions.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Venezuela began publishing prices for its oil in Chinese yuan in a bid to avoid the US dollar and counter US sanctions, the country's President Nicolas Maduro said.

"We are already pricing [oil] in Chinese yuan because of the sanctions which were facilitated by [opposition politician] Julio Borges and which were adopted by [US President] Donald Trump. They have caused great damage And we are forced to defend ourselves," Maduro said Friday in an announcement aired by the TV network Telesur.

Maduro has already said in the past that Venezuela was going to free itself from the "vice of dollar."

In late August, Trump introduced sweeping new financial sanctions against Venezuela, in particular, forbidding US private companies from acquiring any bonds issued by the Venezuelan government or its state-run oil company.

The US sanctions came in response to a vote to appoint members of a National Constituent Assembly which would replace the 1999 constitution drafted under Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. Critics pointed out that only approximately 2/3 of the assembly members would be chosen by the people of Venezuela; the others would be hand-picked by labor unions and other groups considered loyal to Maduro and his fellow socialists.

Chinese oil industry analysts argued that it was unlikely the US government would impose a completely ban on oil imports from Venezuela.

Venezuela is the third largest crude oil supplier to the United States, accounting for 8 percent of total US imports in 2016, official figures from the US Energy Information Agency showed.

The country has been in turmoil since April, with months of protest and the international community repeatedly expressing concern. The popular unrest has been fueled by the government's response to low oil prices, which has included efforts to fix the value of the currency, resulting in long lines, failed businesses and empty shelves.

 Sputnik

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Congolese Security Forces Kill 36 Burundian Refugees

By VOA News September 16, 2017

Congolese security troops killed at least 36 Burundian refugees and injured more than 100 others during confrontations Friday over plans to return some of the refugees to their home country, officials and local activists said.

Soldiers and police opened fire as the refugees tried to free some of their compatriots in Kamanyola, a town in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo near the Burundi border.

The troops attempted to disperse the refugees by "firing in the air but were overwhelmed" when the group began throwing stones, according to Interior Ministry official Josue Boji.

Eyewitness Alfred Rukungo said the soldiers continued shooting into the crowd even after some refugees were wounded.

Congo-based U.N. communications official Florence Marchal confirmed the deaths and said the Congolese government, the U.N. refugee agency and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo "have deployed teams on-site to shed light on everything that happened."

A statement by released by the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) said at least 117 others had been wounded and that the death toll was likely to rise.

Maman Sidikou, head of MONUSCO, called on authorities to quickly investigate the incident.

"I am deeply shocked with the large number of civilian victims that were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to seek protection and I condemn all kinds of violence between communities," Sidikou said.

Burundi Foreign Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe asked Congo and the U.N. on Twitter for an explanation of the shootings.

The U.N. refugee agency issued a statement expressing shock and sadness over the deaths, and it called for an investigation. The UNHCR said it and its partners had sent teams to Kamanyola, including medical staff, to treat the injured.

"While the precise circumstances are not yet clear, reports indicate that in the course of a confrontation with Burundian demonstrators, Congolese security forces opened fire on the crowd. Initial reports suggest over 30 dead and more than one hundred left injured," the UNHCR statement said.

More than 400,000 refugees from Burundi have fled to neighboring Congo since 2015 to escape political violence sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza's successful but disputed bid to win a third term in office.

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At Least Six Killed as Rival Somali Troops Clash in Mogadishu

By Mohamed Olad Hassan September 16, 2017

At least six people were killed and eight others wounded Saturday when rival Somali government forces clashed in the capital, Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said.

"We have the dead bodies of at least six people and eight injured civilians have been so far admitted at our facility," said Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of the city's main Madina Hospital.

Clashes erupted when Mogadishu's Stabilization Security Unit clashed with a military unit based in the city's Industrial Road in Hodan neighborhood.

Sounds of gunfire awakened the residents of the Hanta-Dheer area.

"It started with sporadic gun shots just before dawn prayer, and then it escalated into heavy gunfire. When I came out of the house as the day wore on, the gunfire died down. I saw the dead bodies of at least three soldiers," said Hashi Hirey, a resident of the neighborhood.

It is not clear if those three dead soldiers included the bodies that were taken to the hospital.

Another resident, Ali Hassan, said "It was around 3 p.m. local time when we heard the first gunfire. I was shocked and ducked under my bed, hearing the loud gunshots being fired. We didn't know it was rival government soldiers clashing. I got suspicious about some terror attack, so we were alert."

Later in the morning more government soldiers were deployed into the area and security officials were sent to go between the rival troops. What triggered the clash between the troops is still unclear.

Somalia's defense minister, Abdurashid Abdullahi Mohamed, contacted by the VOA Somali Service, declined to give details, saying he was in a meeting with his top security officials on the matter and that he would give details later.

The intensity of the gunfire used during the clash forced residents in the neighborhood to flee to other parts of the city, where children and women carrying their belongings were seen arriving.

Another resident, Mohamed Nur Barre, said, "They were using anti-aircraft machine guns and other heavy weaponry. In recent years, we only witnessed explosions and suicide attacks by the al-Shabab militants, but such heavy gunfire in residential neighborhoods reminded us when the militants were fighting in Mogadishu in 2010, that forced us to flee."

Somalia has been without a functioning central authority since the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre. Subsequent governments have not been able to maintain control.

Meanwhile, as government soldiers were clashing in Mogadishu, al-Shabab militants were attacking a key town near the border with Kenya.

Speaking to VOA Somali service, the district commissioner of El-Wak town in the Gedo region, Ibrahim Guuleed Aden, said al-Shabab fighters entered the town and left after looting some properties.

"They attacked the town at dawn and briefly held as the troops retreated to the outskirt. They looted a storage facility owned by a local aid organization before they withdraw," said Aden.

He said the attack caused no casualties.

El-Wak is on the border with Kenya, and it is a key transit point for Kenya military convoys carrying supplies to forces serving as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia known as AMISOM.

Hassan Qoyste contributed to this report.

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Britain raises terror threat level to critical

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:24, September 16, 2017

LONDON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that the terror threat level is raised to critical, which means a further terrorist attack in Britain may be imminent.

May said that her government decided to raise the terror threat level from severe to critical, highest possible level, after an explosion took place on a packed rush-hour carriage at Parsons Green subway station on Friday morning in London.

The British government made the decision on assessment of the current security situation in the United Kingdom by an independent organization, she said.

May described the explosion as a "cowardly attack". She said that members of the British military forces were expected to be seen on streets in London.

This was the fourth time that the assessment has been placed at the highest level in the past 11 years, Sky News reported.

The Islamic State's Amaq News Agency said Friday night that the terrorist group claimed responsibility for the subway explosion in London.

The police said the explosion is a terrorist attack, and a massive hunt is under way to identify the man who placed the home-made bomb on the train.

London police urged anyone with information that could help detectives to contact police hotline on 0800 789 321.

The police said that they are undertaking a complicated investigation to identify the man who is responsible for the blast.

The blast left at least 29 people injured, and most of them are being treated in hospitals for burn injuries.

The blast was caused by an improvised explosive device, which failed to properly detonated, police said.

The Friday blast came after three deadly terrorist attacks in London this year -- Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, and one in Manchester at the end of a concert.

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Russia's Digital Weapons Refined on Virtual Battlefield' of Ukraine

By Jamie Dettmer September 16, 2017

It was a Friday in June, a short workday before a public holiday weekend in Ukraine, and cybersecurity expert Victor Zhora had left the capital, Kyiv, and was in the western city of Lviv when he got the first in a torrent of phone calls from frantic clients.

His clients' networks were being crippled by ransomware known as Petya, a malicious software that locks up infected computers and data. But this ransomware was a variant of an older one and wasn't designed to extort money  the goal of the virus' designers was massive disruption to Ukraine's economy.

"I decided not to switch on my computer and just used my phone and iPad as a precaution," he said. "I didn't want my laptop to be contaminated by the virus and to lose my data," he said.

Virus spread like wildfire

The Petya virus, targeting Microsoft Windows-based systems, spread like wildfire across Europe and, to a lesser extent, America, affecting hundreds of large and small firms in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain.

While many Europeans saw the June cyberattack as just another wild disruption caused by anonymous hackers, it was identified quickly by experts, like the 37-year-old Zhora, as another targeted assault on Ukraine. Most likely launched by Russia, it was timed to infect the country's networks on the eve of Ukraine's Constitution Day.

The cyberattack started through a software update for an accounting program that businesses use when working with Ukrainian government agencies, according to the head of Ukraine's cyberpolice, Sergey Demedyuk. In an interview with VOA in his office in the western suburbs of Kyiv, Demedyuk said, "every year cyberattacks are growing in number."

"Sometimes when targeting a particular government agency or official, they mount complex attacks, first using some disguising action, like a denial-of-service attack, and only then launch their main attack aiming, for example, at capturing data," he said.

Ukraine's 360-member cyberpolice department was formed in 2015. The department is stretched, having not only to investigate cybercrime by nonstate actors but also, along with a counterpart unit in the state security agency, defend the country from cyberattacks by state actors. Demedyuk admits it is a cat-and-mouse game searching for viruses and Trojan horses that might have been planted months ago.

Cybersecurity summit

On Wednesday, the director of U.S. National Intelligence, Dan Coats, told a cybersecurity summit in Washington that digital threats are mounting against the West, and he singled out Russia as a major culprit, saying Moscow "has clearly assumed an ever more aggressive cyber posture."

"We have not experienced  yet  a catastrophic attack. But I think everyone in this room is aware of the ever-growing threat to our national security," Coats added.

And many of the digital weapons the West may face are being refined and developed by Russian-directed hackers in the cyberwar being waged against Ukraine, said Zhora and other cybersecurity experts.

"They are using Ukraine as a testing laboratory," said Zhora, a director of InfoSafe, a cybersecurity company that advises private sector clients and Ukrainian government agencies.

Eye of the digital storm

Since the 2014 ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine has been in the eye of a sustained and systematic digital storm of big and small cyberattacks with practically every sector of the country impacted, including media, finance, transportation, military, politics and energy. Sometimes, the intrusions are highly tailored; other times, more indiscriminate attacks like Petya are launched at Ukraine.

Russian officials deny they are waging cyber warfare against Ukraine. Zhora, like many cybersecurity experts, acknowledges it is difficult, if not impossible most times, to trace cyberattacks back to their source.

"Attribution is the most difficult thing. When you are dealing with professional hackers it is hard to track and to find real evidence of where it has come from," he said. "But we know only one country is the likely culprit. We only really have one enemy that wants to destroy Ukrainian democracy and independence," he added.

Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, has been less restrained in pointing the finger of blame. Last December, he said there had been 6,500 cyberattacks on 36 Ukrainian targets in the previous two months alone. Investigations, he said, point to the "direct or indirect involvement of [the] secret services of Russia, which have unleashed a cyberwar against our country."

Ukraine's cyberpolice head agrees. Demedyuk says his officers have been able to track attacks, especially denial-of-service intrusions, back to "Russian special services, tracking them to their own facilities and their own IP addresses." But the original source of more complex intrusions, he said, are much harder to identify, with the hackers disguising themselves by using servers around the world, including in Asia and China.

Digital weapons refined

Digital intrusions have seen data deleted and networks crippled with real life consequences. And digital weapons are being refined often with the knowledge gained from each intrusion.

Zhora cites as an example of this evolution the difference between two large cyberattacks on the country's electricity grid, the first in December 2015 and the second at the end of last year, which cut off energy to hundreds of thousands of people for several hours.

With the first attack the hackers used malware to gain access to the networks and then shut the system down manually.

"They sent an email and when someone opened it, the payload was downloaded and later it spread across the network and they used the path created for the hackers to get to the administrator's work station and then in a live session switched off the subsystems overseeing electricity distribution," he said.

But with the 2016 attack no live session was necessary.

"They used a malware which opened the doors automatically by decoding specific protocols and there was no human interaction. I think they got a lot of information in the first attack about the utility companies' networks and they used the knowledge to write the malware for the second intrusion," he said.

Digital threats to US

In his speech midweek in Washington, Coats specifically cited possible digital threats to America's critical infrastructure, including electrical grids and other utilities, saying it is of rising concern.

"It doesn't take much effort to imagine the consequences of an attack that knocks out power in Boston in February or power in Phoenix in July," he said.

After the second cyberattack on Ukraine's electrical grid, a group of American government and private sector energy officials was dispatched to Kyiv, where they spent a month exploring what happened, according to Ukrainian officials.

One lesson the visitors drew was that it would be much harder in the U.S. to switch the grid back on after an intrusion. The Ukrainians were able to get the electricity moving again by visiting each substation and turning the system on again manually, an option apparently more challenging in the U.S., where grid systems are even more automated.

"Virtual attacks are every bit as dangerous as military ones  we are living on a battlefield," Zhora said.

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British Police Evacuate Area in London Suburb After Arrest in Subway Bombing

By VOA News September 16, 2017

Armed British police searched a home Saturday in a London suburb and evacuated the surrounding area as a precaution after an earlier arrest in connection with Friday's rush hour bombing on a London subway train that injured 30 people.

A police spokesman said the search and evacuation in Sunbury, on the southwestern outskirts of the capital, got underway after the "significant" arrest of an 18-year-old man in the port area of Dover, a major ferry port for travel between Britain and France.

"He was arrested on the suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Neil Basu said at a Saturday news conference.

Basu also said investigators were keeping and "open mind" as to whether more than one person was involved in the attack.

"We are still pursuing numerous lines of inquiry, and at a great pace," Basu said. "Our priorities ... are to identify and locate any other suspects," he added.

Earlier Saturday, London Transport authorities said they had reopened the Parsons Green station where the bomb on a train partially detonated.

Images of the bomb posted on social media appeared to show a bucket on fire that had been placed inside a plastic bag close to a rail car door.

Prime Minister Theresa May said after the attack that the country's Joint Terrorism Analysis Center had decided to raise the country's threat level to "critical," meaning another attack might be imminent.

London Police Commissioner Cressida Dick told reporters Saturday the threat level had been altered.

"We have a very considerable threat. My colleagues in the intelligence agency would say that this is a shift in threat, it's not a spike. I won't go on in detail about that, but it is a change threat," Dick said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the assault. The terrorist group, however, has a history of claiming responsibility for attacks it may not be connected with.

Shortly after the attack, armed police descended into the Parsons Green station.

May said the public might see more armed police on the streets and the transport network. The prime minister also said members of the military would begin aiding police, providing security at some sites not accessible to the public.

The National Health Service said late Friday that 21 people who were in the subway car at the time of the explosion were being treated at hospitals, while eight other people had been discharged.

The blast was the fifth major terrorist attack in Britain this year.

Trump weighs in

U.S. President Donald Trump called May on Friday to convey his sympathies, the office of the White House press secretary said in a statement.

The statement said Trump "pledged to continue close collaboration with the United Kingdom to stop attacks worldwide targeting innocent civilians and to combat extremism."

Earlier, the British prime minister admonished Trump for his initial reaction to the attack. Trump had tweeted, "Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!"

May responded to the tweet, telling the BBC, "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

London police said their investigation into Friday's attack was being supported by MI-5, Britain's domestic intelligence agency.

Foreign Minister Boris Johnson appealed for calm and said it was important not to speculate.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the British capital "will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism."

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China, Laos agree to boost military exchanges, cooperation

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:00, September 16, 2017

VIENTIANE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China and Laos have vowed to deepen bilateral high-level military exchanges and cooperation during a visit by Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Chang Wanquan to Laos which concluded on Saturday.

During his four-day visit, Chang met with General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit and held talks with Lao Defense Minister Chansamone Chanyalath.

Chang also co-chaired the first China-Laos high-level frontier meeting between the two armed forces with the Lao defense minister.

The two sides expressed satisfaction with the development of the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries and two militaries, and promised to fully implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and two parties, according to a joint statement issued on Saturday.

They agreed that the first China-Laos high-level frontier meeting between the two armed forces was a full success, highlighting the unity and friendship between the two militaries and contributing to the building of peaceful, friendly, stable and prosperous borders between the two countries.

They also agreed to improve cooperation mechanism, deepen pragmatic cooperation, strengthen multilateral coordination, continue to conduct friendly border communication and cooperation, and organize regular activities of joint patrols and joint anti-terrorism.

The Chinese side expressed its readiness to support Laos' army building and development, and pledged to continue providing assistance to the Lao army within its capacity.

During his stay in Laos, Chang also visited the Kaysone Phomvihane National Defence Academy, and paid tribute to the Chinese martyrs cemetery in Laos.

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Air Force

Airman Brittney A. Andersen and Airman Anthony W. Neal graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas. Andersen is the daughter of Susan and Bruce Andersen of Corvallis and is a 2016 graduate of Corvallis High School. Neal is the son of David Neal and Sheila Knudsen of Hot Springs. He is a 2017 graduate of Flathead High School.

Army

Major Sean R. Wilson has been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and is currently assigned as a Joint Logistic Advisor for the U.S. Army Military Training Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His most recent assignment was as the Senior Staff Action Officer for the Army Special Programs Directorate. Lt. Col. Wilson has received his commission in the Transportation Corps after after completing his degree in Elementary Education from the University of Montana in the year 2000. Lt. Col Wilson has served in the the following position: Support Operations Transportation Officer, Heavy Equipment Transportation (HET) Platoon Leader, Light/Medium Platoon Leader, and Commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, deploying in Support Operations Iraqi Freedom, Commander, Butte Recruiting Company, Salt Lake Recruiting Battalion, Butte, Montana. Company Grade Assignment Officer, Human Resources Command, Alexandria, VA. Interagency Fellow/Desk Officers to US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, D.C. Support Operations Officer 325th Brigade Support Battalion deploying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and later Brigade S-4 for 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Executive Officer for the Director of Training, Headquarters of the Army G-3/5/7, Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the Transportation Officer Basic Course and Combined Logistics Advanced Course, Command and General Staff College, and the Combined Joint Warfighter School.
Foreign Ministry: UK should stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs

People's Daily Online

(CNTV) 11:14, September 16, 2017

Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday refuted the United Kingdom government's latest six-monthly report to parliament on Hong Kong, urging the UK to stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular press conference, saying that Hong Kong affairs are China's domestic affairs and no foreign country has the right to interfere.

Over the past 20 years since the return of Hong Kong, it has enjoyed stability and prosperity, maintained its characteristics and advantages, and made remarkable achievements in various fields, Hua said, adding that the successful implementation of "One country, Two systems" principle in Hong Kong has been widely recognized.

"We always firmly oppose the UK government's so-called six-monthly report to parliament on Hong Kong," said Hua, "We ask the British side not to release the relevant report and not to interfere in Hong Kong affairs."

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North Korea seeks military equilibrium with US: Kim Jong-un

Iran Press TV

Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:20PM

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un says his country seeks to reach "equilibrium" of military force with the US, shortly after the UN Security Council strongly condemned Pyongyang's latest missile launch over Japan.

"Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the US and make the US rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," Kim was cited as saying by the country's state news agency on Saturday.

The North Korean leader said the latest missile launch on Friday accurately hit its target.

Kim also vowed to complete the country's nuclear weapons program despite the mounting sanctions against Pyongyang.

The remarks came just after the UN Security Council, in a unanimous statement released following an emergency closed-door meeting Friday, "strongly condemned these [missile] launches, condemned further the DPRK for its outrageous actions, and demanded that the DPRK immediately cease all such actions."

The statement, backed by the North's key ally China, did not threaten Pyongyang with further sanctions but stressed that all countries must "fully, comprehensively and immediately" implement all the Security Council resolutions against North Korea.

Early on Friday, North Korea fired a medium-to-long range Hwasong-12 missile over Japan a few hours after Pyongyang threatened to "sink" its southeastern neighbor.

The missile launch from Pyongyang prompted Japanese officials to stop regular TV programs to ask people in the Japanese island of Hokkaido to take shelter.

The missile flew for about 20 minutes before crashing into the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 kilometers east of Hokkaido at around 7 a.m. local time, the Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported.

In response, South Korea's military immediately launched a ballistic missile drill of its own while the North's rocket was still airborne.

President Moon Jae-in told Seoul's national security council that negotiations with North Korea were "impossible in a situation like this."

The missile launch drew international condemnation, including from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, China, Russia, the US, Japan, Germany and France.

Trump threatens 'overwhelming response'

US President Donald Trump said during a speech at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that Washington would defend its people against all threats, noting that the US options for addressing Pyongyang's threats "are both effective and overwhelming."

In Washington, the White House announced Trump was scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the South Korean president in New York on September 21 to discuss North Korea.

White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster warned that Washington was running out of patience for diplomatic solutions, noting, "For those... who have been commenting on a lack of a military option, there is a military option."

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley repeated McMaster's position, saying that the North continues to be "provocative" and "reckless."

"There's not a whole lot the Security Council is going to be able to do from here, when you've cut 90 percent of the trade and 30 percent of the oil," she added.

"So having said that, I have no problem kicking it to (Defense Secretary) General (James) Mattis because I think he has plenty of options," she pointed out.

However, Russia and France have jointly appealed for dialogue with North Korea, describing it as the only way to resolve tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

The crisis requires resolution "exclusively through political and diplomatic means, by restarting direct negotiations," a Kremlin statement said following a phone call between President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

The North Korean nuclear weapons crisis is expected to dominate the annual high-level UN General Assembly agenda next week.

The UN secretary general is scheduled to hold talks with all the sides to the conflict, including with North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho.

On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to adopt fresh US-backed sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear tests.

The resolution was the eighth against Pyongyang since 2006. So far, harsh sanctions have been imposed on the North over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

The previous round of sanctions was adopted just last month after Pyongyang launched two long-range missiles in July.

Punitive measures have so far failed to stop the North's nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang says it needs to continue and develop its military program as a deterrent in the face of hostile policies by the United States and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

The North conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test on September 3. The hydrogen bomb was about three times more powerful than America's atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

The explosion was felt by residents in Chinese cities hundreds of kilometers from the border. According to international seismic agencies, it created an artificial 6.3-magnitude earthquake.

On Monday, North Korea warned Washington against a new round of sanctions and said its retaliatory measures "will cause the US the greatest pain and suffering it had ever gone through in its entire history."

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Trump: US, Allies 'Will Not Be Intimidated' by North Korea

By Brian Padden September 16, 2017

President Donald Trump has responded to North Korea's most recent missile launch with a vow that the United States and its allies will not be intimidated.

Trump made the remark Friday during a speech to military personnel and their families at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, just outside Washington.

He said North Korea's launch hours earlier showed Pyongyang's "utter contempt for its neighbors and for the entire world community."

Earlier in the day, NATO called for a global response to North Korea's latest launch of a missile, which flew over northern Japan just days after the United Nations imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang for conducting its sixth nuclear test.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter, "North Korea's missile launch is another reckless breach of U.N. resolutions  a major threat to international peace and security which demands a global response."

At the United Nations, the Security Council met behind closed doors for more than an hour. Afterward, in a statement, the council condemned the "highly provocative launch" and called on North Korea to reduce tensions on the peninsula. It also urged states to implement U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang, the latest round of which the council adopted Monday.

"We are discussing for a while that we are really in a vicious circle: We have a provocation, a resolution and then another provocation," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters.

'Stop it'

Nebenzia urged North Korea to "stop it" and said the only political proposal to resolve the standoff was the joint Russian-Chinese "freeze for freeze." That plan seeks to set the stage for a resumption of talks after Pyongyang suspends its nuclear and ballistic missile activity and the U.S. and South Korea suspend their joint military exercises.

The statement appeared unlikely to change North Korea's behavior. After the new sanctions were imposed Monday, North Korea called for the Security Council to be broken up, accusing it of being a "tool of evil" working for the United States.

The latest missile was launched from the Sunan district in Pyongyang and flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said, "We absolutely cannot accept these repeated provocations by North Korea and we strongly protest to North Korea and convey to them the nation's strong anger in the strongest words possible."

Warnings about the missile blared around 7 a.m. local time in the northern Japanese town of Kamaishi, according to footage from national broadcaster NHK.

South Korea's military reported the missile reached an altitude of about 770 kilometers (475 miles) and flew 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles), far enough to reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

U.S. threat assessment

The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement, "Initial assessment indicates the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile" that did not pose a threat to Guam.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command also determined that the missile had posed no threat to North America.

The South Korean military responded to the provocation from the North by launching a Hyunmoo-II missile into the sea that traveled the distance it would take to reach the Sunan airfield in Pyongyang, according to a military spokesman.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in also convened a National Security Council meeting to monitor the situation and prepare for any emerging threats from North Korea.

"President Moon ordered [the military] to closely analyze and increase the readiness posture against new types of threats from North Korea, such as EMP [electromagnetic pulse] and biochemical threats," presidential spokesman Park Su-hyun said.

North Korea said earlier this month it was developing a hydrogen bomb that could carry out an EMP attack. Experts disagree about whether the North had the capability to mount such an attack, which would involve setting off a bomb in the atmosphere that could heavily damage power grids and other infrastructure.

In August, North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan from a region near Pyongyang. That missile flew more than 2,700 kilometers at a maximum altitude of about 550 kilometers.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for new sanctions "to be firmly imposed" in response to the latest North Korean missile test that violated Japanese airspace.

'New measures' urged

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also called for "new measures" against North Korea and said, "These continued provocations only deepen North Korea's diplomatic and economic isolation."

"We call on all nations to take new measures against the Kim [Jong Un] regime," the top U.S. diplomat said.

Tillerson noted that China, which supplies North Korea with most of its oil, and Russia, as the largest employer of North Korean forced labor, have a unique responsibility in the diplomatic situation. "China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own," Tillerson said.

The North Korean state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Friday said in an editorial, "If the U.S. continues to walk on the current course, we will take stronger actions for our self-defense."

A North Korean state agency threatened Thursday to use nuclear weapons to "sink" Japan and reduce the United States to "ashes and darkness" for supporting a U.N. Security Council resolution and sanctions over the latest nuclear test.

In the past two years, North Korea has conducted 27 ballistic missile launches and three nuclear tests.

At the beginning of this year, North Korea's Kim announced plans to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the U.S. mainland.

The Trump administration has called the development of a North Korean ICBM an unacceptable existential threat. Washington has tried to work with Beijing to restrain the latter's ally in Pyongyang through economic sanctions.

While U.S. officials say they prefer a diplomatic solution to this nuclear standoff, military force is also an option.

VOA's U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer and national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

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Ambassador: US should show more efforts in Korean Peninsula crisis

People's Daily Online

(Chinadaily.com.cn) 15:19, September 16, 2017

The United States should do more to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula than it has, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said on Friday.

The ambassador said China has done its best to implement the UN Security Council resolutions in a strict and full fashion, while pushing for relevant parties to resolve problems through peaceful negotiations.

"Everybody else will have to do their share; they cannot leave this issue to China alone," Cui said.

Cui made the remarks on the sidelines of a reception at the embassy in Washington to mark the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"Honestly, I think the United States should be doing  much more than now, so that there's real effective international cooperation on this issue," Cui said.

The ambassador said the US should refrain from issuing more threats. Instead, Washington should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiations.

"We are fully prepared to implement all the Security Council resolutions, no more, no less," Cui said, adding that China expects other relevant parties to do the same.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2375 on Monday to respond to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's sixth nuclear test, conducted on Sept 3.

The ambassador also said China will never recognize the DPRK as a nuclear state and opposes nuclear weapons anywhere on the Korean Peninsula.

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UN Security Council condemns DPRK over missile launch, stresses political solution

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:10, September 16, 2017

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday condemned "the highly provocative launch of a ballistic missile" by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and expressed commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the crisis.

In a press statement released after closed-door consultations, the 15 members of the council urged all UN member states to "fully, comprehensively and immediately" implement all relevant Security Council resolutions concerning the DPRK, particularly the newly adopted Resolution 2375, which targeted the DPRK's oil supply and textile exports.

"The Security Council also emphasized the vital importance of the DPRK immediately showing sincere commitment to denuclearization through concrete action and stressed the importance of working to reduce tension on the Korean Peinsula," said Tekeda Alemu, president of the Security Council, in a readout of the press statement.

The council members stressed the importance of maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large, and welcomed efforts by council members as well as other states to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the crisis through dialogue, said Alemu, the Ethiopian ambassador to the United Nations.

The emergency Security Council consultations were requested by the United States and Japan following the DPRK's launch of a ballistic missile on Friday local time, which flew over Japan's Hokkaido.

The launch, which violates Security Council resolutions, came just days after the council imposed fresh sanctions on the DPRK over its nuclear test on Sept. 3.

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China, Russia Reject U.S. Call For More 'Direct Actions' To Rein In North Korea

RFE/RL September 16, 2017

China and Russia have rejected a call from the United States to take more "direct actions" to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, and said it is up to Washington to defuse the threat through negotiations.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on September 15 that Russia will enforce sanctions imposed on Pyongyang this week by the UN Security Council, but go no further than that.

Speaking after a council meeting at which it condemned North Korea's latest ballistic-missile test earlier in the day, Nebenzya said that the UN sanctions resolution also called for negotiations with North Korea to resolve the standoff, and Washington must now honor that call.

"We called on our U.S. partners and others to implement political and diplomatic solutions that are provided for in the resolution," he said. "Without implementing this, we also will consider it as a noncompliance with the resolution."

Nebenzya repeated Moscow's call for support of a Russian-Chinese plan for striking up a dialogue with Pyongyang, which U.S. officials have dismissed in the past.

The Kremlin said earlier in the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, by phone and they agreed that the crisis requires resolution "exclusively through political and diplomatic means, by restarting direct negotiations."

China's ambassador to the United States had a similar message after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on September 14 called for more "direct actions" by Beijing and Moscow against North Korea.

"Honestly, I think the United States should be doing...much more than now, so that there's real effective international cooperation on this issue," Ambassador Cui Tiankai told reporters at the Chinese Embassy in Washington on September 15.

"They should refrain from issuing more threats. They should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiation," he said.

Tillerson had called for more action by China and Russia after North Korea's latest missile launch early on September 15, which South Korea and Japan said flew far enough to reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, although it was not aimed at Guam and fell into the Pacific Ocean after flying over Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

"China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor," Tillerson said. "China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own."

Tillerson said he was calling for action going beyond the sanctions approved by the Security Council, which he called "the floor, not the ceiling, of the actions we should take."

The sanctions resolution imposed a ban on purchasing North Korean textile exports, capped exports of crude oil to Pyongyang, and required countries to stop providing new guest-worker permits to North Korean laborers.

U.S. officials said the worker provision, which would mainly affect China and Russia, would eventually cut off an estimated $500 million a year of revenues for Pyongyang from earnings sent back home by the workers.

The exchange between Beijing, Moscow, and Washington came as rhetoric escalated over the latest missile test, with North Korea issuing a defiant statement after its condemnation by the Security Council saying that sanctions will not deter it from completing work on a nuclear armament program.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency quoted leader Kim Jong Un as saying that his country had made strides in achieving nuclear and ballistic-missile capabilities despite "limitless" international sanctions, and it will forge ahead and complete the work.

"Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the United States and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military options," Kim was quoted as saying.

U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier decried what he called Kim's "utter contempt" for the rest of the world and warned that "our options are not only effective but overwhelming."

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster also had warned that "there is a military option," though he said it is not the Trump administration's preferred way to deal with the crisis.

The UN Council after its closed-door emergency session on September 15 called Pyongyang's latest missile launch "highly provocative" and "outrageous," and said it represented a threat to the region and "all UN member states."

With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-russia- reject-us-call-more-direct-actions-rein-in-north-korea -missile-nuclear-tests/28738731.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Trump's UN Priority: Global Diplomatic Isolation of North Korea

By Peter Heinlein September 16, 2017

President Donald Trump will push the case for tightening the global economic isolation of North Korea at next week's U.N. General Assembly meeting, according to two senior officials who say he will argue that the failure of diplomacy increases the likelihood of war.

At a White House briefing Friday, Washington's U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster welcomed the Security Council's move this month to place additional sanctions on North Korea, but said Pyongyang's belligerent behavior is continuing.

"What we're seeing is that they continue to be provocative, they continue to be reckless," Haley said. "There is not a whole lot the Security Council is going to be able to do from here, when you cut 90 percent of the trade and 30 percent of the oil. So, having said that, I have no problem kicking it to (Defense Secretary) General (James) Mattis, because I think he has plenty of options."

McMaster said global support for diplomacy backed by rigorous enforcement of sanctions is needed to avoid what he called "the military option."

"What we have to do is call on all nations, call on everyone to do everything we can to address this global problem short of war," McMaster told reporters.

Missile test

North Korea fired a missile Friday over Japan, its second launch over the country since Trump threatened in August to unleash "fire and fury" against Pyongyang if acts of aggression continued. The latest launch has further raised alarm globally over North Korea's developing nuclear and missile programs.

Trump's first presidential trip to the United Nations will be as the head of an unusually high-level delegation, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other senior officials.

His four-day agenda begins Monday when he hosts a meeting on reforming the world body, something close to his heart. Officials say 120 of the nearly 200 UN member states will attend.

Ambassador Haley said his General Assembly address Tuesday would cover a variety of vexing challenges facing the global community.

"There is no shortage of issues, with North Korea being front and center," Haley said. "Iran will be an issue, Syria will certainly be talked about, terrorism efforts and how we counter that will be a huge topic, and obviously the humanitarian issues we face around the world."

Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington, said Trump should use his General Assembly speech to increase pressure on China to do more to rein in North Korea's provocative actions.

"He should explain that if they continue to look the other way when it comes to Kim Jong Un's acts of aggression, America will start sanctioning parties in China that are making the problem worse. And that means Chinese banks for starters," Kazianis told VOA.

Critical opportunity

Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as Washington's U.N. ambassador under former President George W. Bush, said Trump's General Assembly speech is a crucial opportunity to reassure the world that his foreign policy is based primarily on the soft power of diplomacy rather than military might.

"The world is concerned that our current president may be de-emphasizing America's soft power and the values America has traditionally been seen to stand for, and he may be more interested in hard power," Khalilzad said in an interview. "His speech to the General Assembly provides a great opportunity to set the record straight."

Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the United Nations during his relatively short career in politics. He once describing the world body as "a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time."

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program and senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that while the General Assembly debate may appeal to Trump's desire to have the world's attention, the forum does not suit his negotiating style.

"It's the world's most tedious cocktail party," Alterman told a press conference call Friday. "It isn't the way he (Trump) likes to operate. I think he likes working the room, and he likes unwinding with people, but this is a lot of very structured meetings.

"This is not the kind of environment he likes, but this is the kind of environment the U.S. president has to plunge into once a year," Alterman said.

Nevertheless, the president's schedule includes a long list of one-on-one meetings with other leaders. He will not, however, see either Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping, neither of whom is attending the annual gathering.

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JCPOA a great success of negotiation table in a complicated issue

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 16 September 2017 / 16:02

Tehran (ISNA)  Iranian President has met the President of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium in Tehran on Saturday.

In the meeting with the President of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium Siegfried Bracke , Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described Iran-Belgium relations long-standing and positive and said that development of ties in various fields, particularly if economic fields, is beneficial to both nations.

"The post-JCPOA atmosphere can be a great opportunity for deepening economic ties between Iran and the EU members," he added.

"Iran is willing to develop ties with the European Union members and, without a doubt, the two sides can make the best use of the current conditions to develop relations to serve the national interests of the nations," Mr. Rouhani went on to say.

"In the previous administration's term of office, we attempted to settle issues and improve Iran's relations with the world and in the new term, we are attempting to make the best use of the atmosphere provided in the previous administration to serve the interests of our nation," said Rouhani expressing hope that friend countries such as Belgium work more effectively for promoting economic ties and activating the private sectors.

On the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the necessity for both sides to live by their commitments, he said: "Iran and P5+1 could reach an agreement in a very important issue named the nuclear issue and this was one of the greatest achievements of the negotiation table in a very complicated issues that can serve as a model for settling other complicated regional and global issues".

"We believe the only body that can announce Iran's commitment to the JCPOA is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), based on reports of which the Islamic Republic of Iran has lived up to all its commitments stated in the JCPOA," Rouhani added, voicing the expectation that the other side completely live up to its commitments made within the framework of the JCPOA.

Referring to US non-compliance with the commitments made in the JCPOA, he said: "We expect that the EU live up to its commitments and also put pressure on the United States to live up to its commitments".

On the sensitive conditions of the region and the world and the scourge of terrorism, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran added: "Terrorist acts in Tehran and Brussels means that the two countries have a common enemy in this field and it is essential that they cooperate with each other in dealing with this problem".

At the same meeting, Siegfried Bracke also said: "Belgium is determined to develop bilateral relations with Iran and contribute to the development of Iran's multilateral ties with the EU".

Stressing that his country attaches great weight to its ties with Iran, he said: "We believe that the great opportunity of the JCPOA must be made the best use of, especially in the field of trade and economy".

"JCPOA is very important not only for Iran, but also for Belgium and the EU and we will do our best to make sure that the European Union lives up to its commitments".

Iran plays an important role in the region, especially in political and strategic fields, he said, adding: "Cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran is beneficial to all countries that are combatting terrorism".

"As a victim of terrorism, Belgium is determined to have closer cooperation with Iran in this regard," Bracke went on to say.

End Item

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IRGC infiltrates into US military's command centers: Aerospace Force Commander

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 16 September 2017 / 11:07

Tehran (ISNA) - A senior Iranian commander says that over the recent years, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has infiltrated into the US military's command centers and has evidence of their support for Daesh terrorists.

"We have documents showing the behavior of the Americans in Iraq and Syria. We know what the Americans did there; what they neglected and how they supported Daesh," IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a Friday TV interview.

If the IRGC is allowed to release those documents, it would bring about more "scandals" for the US, the commander pointed out.

The Americans, among others, "have come to Iraq and Syria to disintegrate them, but what eventually happened was Iran's will. I see no army in the world to be on a par with the IRGC," he added.

The US has long been accused of colluding with Daesh to provide safe passage and logistic support to members of the Takfiri group in conflict zones.

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

He also announced that Iran possesses domestically-made 10-ton "father of all bombs" that dwarfs the most powerful non-nuclear weapon of the US.

"Following a proposal by the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), [Iran's] Defense Industries [Organization] manufactured a 10-ton bomb. These bombs are at our disposal. They can be launched from Ilyushin aircraft and they are highly destructive," Hajizadeh said.

The commander referred to the ordnance as Iran's "father of all bombs" as compared with the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), also known as the "mother of all bombs," which the US Air Force dropped on tunnels in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province from an MC-130 aircraft in April.

The MOAB weighs about 22,000 pounds (9,800 kg), and was said to be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed. It was developed during the US war on Iraq and is intended to target large below-surface areas.

End Item

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Iran's 'father of all bombs' dwarfs US biggest non-nuclear bomb: Commander

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 02:22AM

A senior Iranian commander says Iran possesses domestically-made 10-ton "father of all bombs" that dwarfs the most powerful non-nuclear weapon of the US.

"Following a proposal by the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), [Iran's] Defense Industries [Organization] manufactured a 10-ton bomb. These bombs are at our disposal. They can be launched from Ilyushin aircraft and they are highly destructive," IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a Friday TV interview.

The commander referred to the ordnance as Iran's "father of all bombs" as compared with the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), also known as the "mother of all bombs," which the US Air Force dropped on tunnels in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province from an MC-130 aircraft in April.

The MOAB weighs about 22,000 pounds (9,800 kg), and was said to be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed. It was developed during the US war on Iraq and is intended to target large below-surface areas.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that its military capabilities are solely aimed for defense purposes and they pose no threat to other countries. The country has also been assisting its allies, including Iraq and Syria, in their ongoing fight against terrorism.

In June, the IRGC fired six medium-range ballistic missiles at Daesh targets in northeastern Dayr al-Zawr province in response to a June 7 terrorist attack in Tehran, which killed 18 people.

The IRGC said the missiles killed more than 170 Takfiri terrorists, including a number of commanders and senior elements, and inflicted heavy damage on their equipment and systems.

Washington has on several occasions slapped new sanctions against Iran over its missile program.

The United States claims that Iran's missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

Iran has strongly rejected the US allegations that it has violated the UN resolution, and insists that its missile tests and rocket launches are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

IRGC infiltration into US military

Hajizadeh also said that over the recent years, the IRGC has infiltrated into the US military's command centers and has evidence of their support for Daesh terrorists.

"We have documents showing the behavior of the Americans in Iraq and Syria. We know what the Americans did there; what they neglected and how they supported Daesh," Hajizadeh said.

If the IRGC is allowed to release those documents, it would bring about more "scandals" for the US, the commander pointed out.

The Americans, among others, "have come to Iraq and Syria to disintegrate them, but what eventually happened was Iran's will. I see no army in the world to be on a par with the IRGC," he added.

The US has long been accused of colluding with Daesh to provide safe passage and logistic support to members of the Takfiri group in conflict zones.

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

In late August, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said US helicopters had transferred members of the Daesh terrorist group in Dayr al-Zawr province.

The sources speculated that the airlift was possibly meant to transfer US mercenaries fighting alongside Daesh or the terror outfit's ringleaders who sought to defect.

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Jill Bialosky is a New Yorker, an editor at W. W. Norton, and a daughter grieving the loss of loved ones. It's unusual for us to print two poems by one poet, in sequence, but this one and the one I selected for next week go very well together. They're from her new book The Players, from Knopf.

***

All day we packed boxes.

We read birth and death certificates.

The yellowed telegrams that announced

our births, the cards of congratulations

and condolences, the deeds and debts,

love letters, valentines with a heart

ripped out, the obituaries.

We opened the divorce decree,

a terrible document of division and subtraction.

We leafed through scrapbooks:

corsages, matchbooks, programs to the ballet,

racetrack, theatre  joy and frivolity

parceled in one volume 

painstakingly arranged, preserved

and pasted with crusted glue.

We sat in the room in which the beloved

had departed. We remembered her yellow hair

and her mind free of paradox.

We sat together side by side

on the empty floor and did not speak.

There were no words

between us other than the essence

of the words from the correspondences,

our inheritance  plain speak,

bereft of poetry.
Iraqi army liberates Daesh-held Akashat town near Syria border

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 12:58PM

Iraqi government forces, backed by allied fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, have liberated Akashat town near border with Syria from the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

The Iraqi forces launched a multi-pronged operation earlier on Saturday to dislodge Daesh terrorists from an area on the border with Syria, south of the Euphrates River.

Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir Yarallah stated that the offensive to liberate the town of Akashat, located 420 kilometers west of Baghdad, was aimed at securing border regions and the area north of the vital highway that linked the Iraqi capital to neighboring Jordan and Syria.

The spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC), Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, said that the US-led coalition supported the operation.

Earlier, the media bureau of the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha'abi, announced in a statement that "all the goals set for the first phase of Akashat liberation operation have been achieved in record time."

Separately, Ahmed al-Asadi, the official spokesman for Hashd al-Sha'abi, also said army soldiers, Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters and members of the Iraqi border police forces had started the operation to retake Akashat from four directions.

On August 31, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the city of Tal Afar and the entire Nineveh province had been purged of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

The recapture of Tal Afar was made possible with the help of Iraqi army soldiers, Federal Police Force, Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters and the Interior Ministry's elite rapid response forces, Abadi said.

Addressing reporters during a weekly press briefing in Baghdad on September 6, Abadi stated that government forces, in full cooperation with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, would soon launch an operation to liberate Hawijah town in the oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk from Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

Daesh terrorists took control of Hawijah after capturing Mosul and several other Iraqi cities in mid-2014.

Hawijah is one of four Iraqi towns still controlled by Daesh. The other three towns of al-Qa'im, located nearly 400 kilometers northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border, Anah and Rawa are in Anbar province.

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Lawmakers of Iraq's Kurdistan region approve independence referendum

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 12:15AM

Iraqi Kurdish legislators of the country's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region have approved a plan to hold a referendum on independence from Baghdad later this month, a contentious move spearheaded by regional President Masoud Barzani that has faced bitter opposition from the central government and several other countries, including neighboring Iran, Turkey and Syria.

In open defiance of Baghdad's strong disapproval of the referendum, 65 out of the 68 Kurdish lawmakers present in the regional parliament on Friday voted in favor of the September 25 polls as opposition legislators boycotted the parliament's first session in two years.

The plan for the non-binding Kurdish referendum was approved in the Iraqi city of Erbil, the capital of a northern province with the same name, in the 111-seat parliament consisting of Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraq's former president, Jalal Talabani, and the independent Goran and Jamaa Islamiya opposition parties.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi slammed the planned vote as "unconstitutional," calling on the Kurdish leadership to come to Baghdad and conclude a dialogue. The premier's remarks came after the Iraqi House of Representatives voted to reject the poll on the Kurdish region's independence.

The Iraqi parliamentarians urged the prime minister to take all necessary measures to maintain the unity of Iraq and start a serious dialogue with the Kurdistan region to resolve the pending issues.

Turkey has already censured efforts to establish an independent Kurdistan as "a grave mistake." Ankara says the potential creation of an independent Kurdish state in its backyard would further embolden Turkey's homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants toward an even stiffer confrontation with the government.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised interview that Ankara would hold a high-level security meeting on September 22 to decide on how to respond to the plebiscite, saying the Kurdish leadership was suffering from "serious political ineptitude."

The Turkish president said Barzani's decision not to postpone the independence referendum later this month is "very wrong."

"Mr. Barzani is well aware of what we think about this matter. I think his statement is very very wrong, because he is well aware of our sensitivities about the territorial integrity of Iraq," the Turkish president stated.

In June, Iran expressed its opposition to the "unilateral" scheme for independence of the Iraqi Kurdistan, underlining the importance of maintaining the integrity and stability of Iraq and insisting that the Kurdistan region was part of the majority Arab country.

US opposition to the referendum

The US has already expressed its opposition to the referendum, arguing that it would weaken the Arab-Kurdish joint military operations which have managed to send the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group into retreat in both Iraq and war-torn Syria.

"The United States has repeatedly emphasized to the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government that the referendum is distracting from efforts to defeat" Daesh and "stabilize the liberated areas," the White House said in a statement on Friday.

Washington also warned that holding the vote in "disputed areas" would be "provocative and destabilizing." It also urged leaders of the Kurdistan region to call off the referendum and commence serious and sustained negotiations with Baghdad.

However, on Thursday, Barzani said that if the US had a stronger alternative to the plebiscite, the Kurdish leadership would look at it.

"But if they want us to postpone the vote with no alternatives, we won't," he added.

Several other countries have also expressed concerns that such a referendum could ignite a fresh conflict with Baghdad and possibly its neighboring countries, diverting attention from the ongoing war against Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

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Iraqi Forces Launch Operation to Liberate East of the Country From Daesh

Sputnik News

17:34 16.09.2017

The Iraqi military announced on Saturday it had launched an operation to clear the parts of eastern Iraq under Daesh control fro terrorists.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Iraqi government troops have launched an operation in eastern Iraq in an area bordering Syria to recapture the territory from the Daesh terrorist group (banned in Russia).

"The forces of the army, people's militia and border guards started a large-scale operation to liberate Akashat village, open the highway to Akashat and ensure security at the border north of Akashat," Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yaralla said in the statement.

The news comes after the Iraq armed forces announced they had freed over 90 percent of the Iraqi territory from terrorists. According to government data, over 2.2 million refugees have returned to the Iraqi regions which have been liberated from the terrorists.

The offensive is believed to enable Iraqi troops to regain control over areas with natural gas reserves and recapture a Daesh stronghold in the town of Qaim northeast of Akashat.

In 2014, Daesh seized large territories in northern and western parts of Iraq, which provoked a new wave of violence and instability in the country. Iraqi government troops have managed to recapture most of that territory, including the cities of Tal Afar and Mosul. In recent days, the army has been conducting massive airstrikes on terrorist positions in the city of Hawijah in the Kirkuk province, which is defended by up to 2,000 Daesh terrorists, according to the Iraqi military.

 Sputnik

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Myanmar Leader's Silence on Rohingya Disappoints, Angers

By Kate Pound Dawson September 16, 2017

For more than 20 years, Aung San Suu Kyi has stood as a human rights icon. Known as "The Lady," she was admired and respected around the world as she endured house arrest and the repression of Myanmar's military government.

Myanmar's de facto leader has received the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has been showered with honorary degrees and memberships.

Now there's a petition to revoke her Nobel (the Nobel committee says that's not possible) and a growing chorus of criticism. Even fellow Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, retired Bishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai, have called on her to say something to condemn the violence against Myanmar's Rohingya minority group.

In the three weeks since a Rohingya militant group attacked police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state, the military and security forces have pressed a retaliatory offensive. Nearly 400,000 Rohingya have fled to overflowing refugee camps in Bangladesh, where aid workers struggle to feed them.

Minimal response

The United Nations has called the violence against the mostly Muslim Rohingya ethnic cleansing.

Others call it genocide.

But Aung San Suu Kyi has said little. Her first statements were to say that the world was being misled about the issue. Nearly two weeks after scores of Rohingya villages had been destroyed, she said her government would protect all the country's residents and would implement a U.N.-backed plan for ending the discrimination and abuse the Rohingya endure.

But nothing more.

"Her silence in this case  that is increasingly recognized as crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing or, by the scholars, genocide  silence is complicity," Maung Zarni, a Myanmar rights activist said via Skype from Britain.

While other critics aren't quite as harsh, the frustration at her silence is profound.

"I suppose the disappointment comes from that someone who knows how abusive the military is has failed to call them out," said Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

It's not just that Aung San Suu Kyi hasn't condemned the violence, said John Packer, director of the Human Rights Research and Education Center at the University of Ottawa in Canada. Packer, who has spent years researching rights in Myanmar, noted that she has also used the language the military has used to justify its actions in Rakhine.

That includes referring to the Rohingya, who have been denied citizenship since 1982, as Bengalis, which reinforces the government's position that they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Almost all of them, Packer said, are from families that have been in Myanmar for generations, going back hundreds of years.

New at governing

There are those, however, who urge patience with Aung San Suu Kyi.

They argue that her National League for Democracy has run Myanmar's government for only a few years, and that the military, which ruled for more than 50 years, retains a great deal of power. The country, also known has Burma, has weak institutions and battles high levels of corruption.

Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, has been critical of Aung San Suu Kyi's stance on the Rohingya but says much of the international criticism is misplaced.

"Constitutionally, she has no power to stop this. But she has moral authority," he said. He thinks more pressure should be applied to Myanmar's top general, Min Aung Hlaing. "He is literally calling the shots."

But aside from the military, powerful nationalist Buddhist monks and many in the ethnic Bamar majority group favor the crackdown on the Rohingya.

Thus, pressuring Aung San Suu Kyi, some experts say, could undermine a fragile democracy.

"She is fighting alone and under great restraints," global policy analyst Tej Parikh wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine in May.

Substantial control

Maung Zarni doesn't buy that argument.

"You talked about how little power she has. Well, she controls five other ministries that are directly involved in the genocidal process. Because genocide isn't just simply killing 100,000 people in two weeks," he said. "She controls the religious affairs, she controls the immigration ministry, she is the de facto head of the government, and she is also foreign minister."

Ganguly at Human Rights Watch said, "This is someone who stood up to the very same abusive army" for so many years as a political dissident. "For her to not call them out is shocking for everyone."

Ultimately, Aung San Suu Kyi must speak, Packer at the Human Rights Research Center said.

"She has to come out and say this is not where we are going  we protect people's lives, their homes."

VOA's William Gallo contributed to this report.

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Bangladesh protests Myanmar airspace violations

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 09:55AM

Dhaka has protested the repeated violations of its airspace by Myanmar as tensions escalate between the two sides on the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, which has triggered an exodus of refugees into Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that it had summoned the charge d'affaires of Myanmar's embassy in Dhaka to complain about a three-time encroachment on its airspace over the last week.

"Bangladesh strongly protested the instances of violation of her airspace by Myanmar military drones and helicopter on 10, 12 and 14 September 2017," the ministry said in a statement.

"Bangladesh expressed deep concern at the repetition of such acts of provocation and demanded that Myanmar takes immediate measures to ensure that such violation of sovereignty does not occur again," it added.

The ministry also warned that any more "provocative acts may lead to unwarranted consequences."

Myanmar's presidential spokesman responded on Saturday that there was no evidence of any trespassing, and that the matter was, however, being investigated.

Ties between the two neighbors soured after Myanmar's military launched a deadly crackdown on the minority Rohingya community in Rakhine State, forcing hundreds of thousands of Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.

According to latest estimates, about 391,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh since the violence erupted three weeks ago, making it one of the fastest growing refugee crises in recent years.

The Myanmar military has been attacking Rohingya Muslims and torching their villages in Rakhine since October 2016. The attacks have seen a sharp rise since August 25, following a number of armed attacks on police and military posts in the troubled western state.

There have been reports of massacres and ethnic cleansing by Myanmar's soldiers on the Muslim population in Rakhine.

'Humanitarian catastrophe'

The Guardian reported Friday that Myanmar's government has seized control of relief operations in Rakhine State.

The daily quoted senior Human Rights Watch officials as saying that the move could become permanent, putting an end to vital food and health programs run by international aid bodies.

"The humanitarian catastrophe" created by the Myanmar military "has been multiplied by the authorities' unwillingness to provide access to humanitarian agencies," said Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch.

"The United Nations, ASEAN, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation need to ramp up the pressure on Burma (Myanmar) and provide more assistance to Bangladesh to promptly help Rohingya and other displaced people," he added.

A World Food Program report concluded two months ago that more than 80,000 children may need treatment for malnutrition, and that there had been a sharp rise in "extreme" food insecurity.

Bangladesh is struggling to provide relief for the huge influx of exhausted and hungry refugees, some 60 percent of whom are children.

Myanmar's government brands more than one million Rohingya Muslims in the country as "illegal immigrants" from Bangladesh, launching a deadly and brutal crackdown on them. Rohingya Muslims, however, have had roots in the country that go back centuries. They are considered by the UN the "most persecuted minority group in the world."

Meanwhile, Amnesty International and border officials in Bangladesh say the Myanmar military has planted landmines on the path of the fleeing Muslims, causing many of them to sustain serious wounds or lose their body organs.

The government, which has come under intense international pressure over its brutal crackdown, claims 432 people have been killed in the military offensive, but the UN and rights groups have give much higher figures.

Three days into the outbreak of the violence, the European Rohingya Council said between 2,000 and 3,000 Muslims were killed in Rakhine state. The UN also said last week that 1,000 people may have died.

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi has so far ignored calls from the international community to stop the violence. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has done almost nothing to end the violence in Rakhine. She recently claimed that the widespread reports of killings and rape against the Rohingya were fake news.

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Bangladesh Government to Build Camp for 400,000 Rohingya Muslim Refugees

By VOA News September 16, 2017

The Bangladesh government plans to construct a large camp to house some 400,000 Rohingya Muslims who have poured in from neighboring Myanmar over the past three weeks, officials said.

Authorities said 14,000 shelters, each able to accommodate six families, will be built over the next 10 days on an eight square kilometer site near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

The government said the movement of the settlement's refugees would be restricted.

"The Royingya refugees won't be allowed to go outside the camp," Bangladeshi Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan said on September 10. They will also be prohibited from traveling by vehicle in Bangladesh.

The camp, which will be built with the help of the Bangladesh military and international aid groups, is in response to an unprecedented exodus that was sparked by attacks on August 25 carried out by Rohingya militants on a Myanmar army base and police posts.

The Myanmar military responded to the attacks with extrajudicial murders, rapes, village torchings and other acts of violence, according to global rights groups and survivors.

The United Nations recently described Myanmar's actions as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

Rohingya Muslims have for decades faced persecution and discrimination in majority Buddhist Myanmar. They are not allowed citizenship, although many families have lived there for generations.

The Myanmar government has maintained that hundreds of Rohingya Muslims, mostly "terrorists," have died, and that 176 out of 471 Rohingya villages have been deserted.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups said evidence shows that Myanmar military forces systematically targeted and torched Rohingya villages over the last three weeks.

Without offering proof, Myanmar has contended that Rohingya insurgents and departing villagers destroyed their own villages.

U.N. agencies are concerned that continued violence in Myanmar may eventually force up to 1 million Rohyngya into Bangladesh, a poor country that is already overpopulated.

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Moscow Police Launch 'Hooliganism' Probe Over Assault Against Navalny Aide

RFE/RL September 16, 2017

Police in Moscow have opened a criminal investigation on suspicion of "hooliganism" after a top campaign aide for opposition politician and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny was attacked by an unknown assailant wielding a metal pipe.

A Moscow police spokesman told Interfax on September 16 that the case had been opened and police were looking for the perpetrator who attacked Nikolai Lyaskin the previous day. Lyaskin is the head of the Moscow office of Navalny's campaign for the 2018 presidential election.

Lyaskin suffered a concussion as a result of the attack and was treated at a hospital.

The incident was the latest in a string of assaults and other harassment of Navalny supporters around the country. Navalny himself suffered a chemical burn to his eye in April when an assailant splashed green antiseptic into his face.

Police closed the investigation into that incident in June without making an arrest.

Navalny is attempting to run in the election, but Russian officials have said he is ineligible because of a felony embezzlement conviction that he says was politically motivated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not announced whether he will participate in the election, but he is widely expected to seek and secure a fourth term as president.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement last week that "radical nationalists and pro-Putin groups have physically attacked and threatened" Navalny's campaigners, and that "official investigations into these incidents have not been effective."

HRW added that Russian police were "systematically" interfering with Navalny's attempts to run for president by raiding his campaign offices, "arbitrarily" detaining campaign volunteers, and carrying out "other actions that unjustifiably interfere with campaigning."

"The attack on Nikolai Lyaskin is, of course, the result of the lack of police action against the scum who carried out earlier attacks," Ivan Zhdanov, a lawyer for Navalny, wrote on Twitter.

Navalny posted a photograph of the alleged weapon on Twitter, writing: "What is this if not attempted murder?"

With reporting by Interfax and Meduza

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-navalny-campaign-activist- attacked-moscow-police-probe/28738831.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Bashkirs Rally In Defense Of Native Language

RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service September 16, 2017

UFA, Russia -- A mass demonstration has been held in Ufa, the capital of the Russian region of Bashkortostan, to support the official status of the Bashkir language.

Protesters at the September 16 rally demanded the reinstatement of mandatory Bashkir-language classes in the republic's schools.

Organizers said some 2,000 people participated in the unsanctioned rally, which was held under close police supervision. There were no reports of arrests or disorder.

At the end of the rally, a police officer approached one of the organizers in order to write him up for his role in the unsanctioned public event. But the demonstrators prevented the officer from doing so and spirited the activist away from the scene.

The demonstration was organized by the unregistered Bashquort nationalist organization.

In the past, students in Bashkortostan's schools were required to study both Bashkir and Russia, the republic's two state languages. This year, however, parents were given the opportunity to refuse Bashkir classes for their children.

Bashkhortostan's regional chief, Rustem Khamitov, said on September 14 that 75 percent elected for their children to study Bashkir.

About one-third of Bashkhortostan's 4 million residents are Bashkir, while 39 percent are ethnic Russians and 25 percent are Tatars.

The rule allowing parents to choose whether their children study Bashkir was put into place after Russian President Vladimir Putin in August ordered the Prosecutor-General's Office to investigate whether children in Russia's so-called ethnic republics were being forced to study local languages.

In July, Putin said while visiting Russia's Republic of Mari El that it was "impermissible to force someone to learn a language that is not [his or her] mother tongue, as well as to cut the hours of Russian language [classes at schools] in Russia's ethnic republics."

Putin's statement and the order given to the Prosecutor-General's Office prompted calls from Russian-speaking parents to abandon mandatory studies of languages other than Russian.

On September 14, the Council of Chuvash Elders in the neighboring Republic of Chuvashia condemned Putin's move, calling it "another attack against the aboriginal languages of the Russian Federation."

On September 7, the Education Ministry of another neighboring ethnic republic, Tatarstan, declared that calls to end mandatory studies of the Tatar language in the republic contradicted federal and regional laws guaranteeing that the local languages of ethnic republics are official state languages along with Russian.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/baskortostan- russia-nationalists-rally-for- language-education/28739128.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Yak-130 Trainer Jet Crashes Near Airfield in Central Russia, Pilots Eject

Sputnik News

15:53 16.09.2017(updated 00:40 17.09.2017)

A Yakovlev Yak-130 advanced trainer and combat jet has crashed near the Borisoglebsk airfield in south-central Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  A combat training Yak-130 plane crashed near the Borisoglebsk airbase on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.

The crew of the plane avoided hitting nearby buildings before catapulting, according to the ministry.

"Both pilots signaled right after landing and their lives and health are not in danger. A search and rescue group has been sent to the area for evacuation," the statement added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the two pilots of the plane had been rescued.

"The search and rescue group has evacuated the pilots of the Yak-130 that crashed near Borisoglebsk to the airfield of their deployment," the ministry said.

A military flight safety commission is preparing to leave for the area to establish the cause of the crash.

 Sputnik

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Ten Su-25SM3 Warplanes Arrive: The Latest Incarnation of Russia's 'Flying Tank'

Sputnik News

15:42 16.09.2017(updated 22:00 16.09.2017)

The Russian Aerospace Forces are due to get more than ten advanced Su-25SM3 close air support planes before the end of this year. Viktor Pryadka, head of the Avintel aviation technology alliance, told Sputnik that the latest Su-25 shows great potential.

Commenting on the upcoming delivery of more than ten Su-25SM3 attack aircraft to the Russian Aerospace Forces, a Russian aviation expert specifically praised the Su-25's great potential.

Viktror Pryadka recalled that the creation of the Su-25, nicknamed Grach (Rook), was initiated by aircraft designer Oleg Samoilovich, who worked at Russia's Sukhoi Design Bureau as Deputy General Designer.

"He floated the idea of developing, in fact, a 'flying tank' which could tackle different targets while airborne. The armored Su-25 plane has an array of modifications, indicating that this aircraft had great potential from the outset," Pryadka said.

Referring to the Su-25SM3, he specifically pointed to the aircraft's increased combat effectiveness and survivability, which is achieved through the installation of more precise armament which helps it counter enemy fighter jet attacks.

"The plane is equipped with two engines and if one engine is destroyed, the Su-25SM3 will be capable of continuing the flight and returning to its airfield," Pryadka said.

Thanks to its unique characteristics, the Su-25SM3 was nicknamed Supergrach (superrook) by Russian pilots." The warplane is capable of destroying targets day or night, and in all weather conditions.

The system of airborne protection makes the aircraft practically invulnerable to enemy air defenses.

The Su-25SM3 is an extensively modernized version of the Su-25, which entered service with the then-Russian Air Force in the early 1980s.

Earlier this week, the Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted a source in the General Staff of the Russian Aerospace Forces as saying that over ten Su-25SM3s will be put into service with Russia's Southern Military District and the fourth Aircraft Training Center by the year-end.

In 2018, the Su-25M3s will be supplied to assault aviation units in Russia's Transbaikalia and the Far East.

The nickname "flying tank" was first used to describe the Su-25's Soviet predecessor  the armored Il-2 attack aircraft, which gained a reputation during World War II for being able to drop bombs and fire rockets at Nazi tanks.

As for the Su-25, it is now reputedly the most difficult plane in the world to shoot down.

 Sputnik

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Russian Strike Wounds Syrian Democratic Forces Troops

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 16, 2017  At approximately 12:30 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time today, Russian forces struck a target east of the Euphrates River in Syria near Dayr Az Zawr, causing injuries to coalition partner forces, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials announced.

Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisors, the officials said. Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike.

Multinational coalition troops advising and assisting the SDF were present but were not wounded as a result of the Russian strike.

"Coalition officials are available and the deconfliction line with Russia is open 24 hours per day," said Army Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, the coalition commander. "We put our full efforts into preventing unnecessary escalation among forces that share ISIS as our common enemy."

Coalition officials said the coalition and its partners remain committed to the defeat of of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and to continued deconfliction with Russian officials. Coalition forces and partners always retain the right of self-defense, officials noted.

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De-escalation zones don't mean Turkish troops presence: Syria official

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 03:09PM

The Syrian government has welcomed an agreement on implementing lasting ceasefire in a de-escalation zone in the conflict-plagued Arab country, stressing such a consensus does not grant Turkish military forces authorization to stay in Syria.

An unnamed official source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates told Syria's official news agency, SANA, on Saturday that Damascus appreciated any initiative that would lead to the resolution of the Syrian conflict, stop the shedding of Syrian blood and alleviate the nation's sufferings.

Representatives of the Syrian government have taken part in six rounds of talks on the crisis in the Arab country in the Kazakh capital city of Astana with optimism and openness, the source added.

He said Syria had authorized both the Russian and Iranian sides to complete the final agreement on the northwestern province of Idlib on the grounds that they are the guarantors of the deal, and the Turkish government changes it positions and stops arming, financing and dispatching terrorists to Syria, and helps establish security in the troubled areas.

"Therefore, the agreement to set up de-escalation zones in Syria does not legitimize the presence of Turkish troops on the Syrian soil, and the Syrian government views such deployment as illegal," the diplomat pointed out.

On Friday, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, which together act as guarantor states in peace talks for Syria, agreed on the details of a "de-escalation zone" in Idlib province.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, speaking in Astana with Lebanon's al-Manar TV station, described the newly-agreed zones in Syria as a "secure cordon" with checkpoints.

Meanwhile, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said a seventh round of talks in Astana was planned for the end of October.

The northwestern province of Idlib borders Turkey and is largely under the control of foreign-sponsored and Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham militant group, which was formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral military intervention in northern Syria, code-named Operation Euphrates Shield, sending tanks and warplanes across the border. Ankara claimed that its military campaign was aimed at pushing the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group from Turkey's border with Syria and stopping the advance of Kurdish forces, who were themselves fighting Daesh, but Damascus denounced the operation as a breach of its sovereignty.

In March, Turkey announced that the operation had ended "successfully." During the operation, Turkey-backed Syrian militant groups and the Turkish military cleared an area in northern Syria of Daesh and prevented the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from conjoining its territories.

The YPG is part of a larger coalition of militants  the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which has been engaged in operations aimed at liberating the city of Raqqah.

Ankara has on multiple occasions expressed its deep concern about the advance of YPG forces in northern Syria.

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US won't be satisfied unless Syria's Assad leaves power: US official

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 08:18AM

US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley has repeated Washington's opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying that the US will not be "satisfied" as long as the Syrian leader is in power.

"Well, I think we're not going to be satisfied until we see a solid and stable Syria, and that is not with Assad in place," Haley said when asked at a White House briefing on Friday whether Washington had been left behind in international efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Iran, Russia, and Turkey have been leading efforts to bring about an end to the Syrian conflict. Acting as guarantor states for a regime of peace in Syria, they have been successfully bringing the warring sides to the negotiating table in a peace process in the Kazakh capital of Astana and have been brokering truces.

Just hours before Haley spoke, Tehran, Moscow, and Ankara struck a deal to jointly police a fourth de-escalation zone in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province. Three other zones had already been created  in Syria's central province of Homs, the Eastern Ghouta area of the southern Rif Dimashq Province, and a southwestern militant-controlled stretch along the border with Jordan. They have sharply reduced fighting in the conflict zones.

A parallel peace process has also been ongoing  although with less tangible success  in the Swiss city of Geneva and under the auspices of the United Nations (UN).

The US, which has long been backing anti-Damascus militants, has been seeing its influence decline as both the armed and political Syrian opposition increasingly turn to the negotiating table in Astana and Geneva.

Iran's role in region

Elsewhere in her comments, Haley said the US did not want Iran to have any "leadership" role in the region after the defeat of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

"I think we're also looking at post-ISIS (Daesh)  what does that look like? And I can tell you, Iran is not going to be in charge, and Iran is not going to have any sort of leadership in that situation," she said.

Daesh has recently retreated from much of the territory under its control amid sweeping advances by Syrian and Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters on the battlefield.

Russia and Iran have been supporting counter-terrorism operations in the region.

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Syria forces ignore US-backed militants, advance past Euphrates

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 05:45AM

Russia says Syrian government forces have crossed the Euphrates River in their push to liberate the Dayr al-Zawr Province from Daesh, ignoring a warning by a ragtag group of militants that receives US backing.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that the Syrian army was already on the river's eastern side.

A commander with the SDF, Ahmed Abu Khawla, had earlier said that the group would not "allow" the Syrian forces to get to the eastern bank of the river.

Dayr al-Zawr is an important battleground. Daesh has mobilized its forces and moved heavy weaponry to the province to make it its main staging area in the face of increasing defeats elsewhere in the country. The liberation of a stretch of land in Dayr-al-Zawr that borders Iraq would be particularly important because it would stop the Takfiri terrorists' cross-border transit between Syria and Iraq.

Syria's ultimate control of the oil-rich province would also help revive its economy.

Earlier in the month, the Syrian army and its allies reached Dayr al-Zawr's provincial capital of the same name, which lies on the Euphrates' western bank, breaking a nearly three-year-old Daesh siege on government-held parts of the city.

Days later, and as the combined forces were building on their gains, the SDF said it was also launching an attack on the province from Euphrates' eastern side.

The Syrian military, which is receiving advisory military help from Iran and Russia and aerial cover from the Russian air force, has said any force seeking to fight terrorism in Syria has to coordinate with it. The US-backed SDF is not.

Khawla, the SDF commander, has also threatened that if his forces came under fire on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, they would return the fire.

"We have notified the regime and Russia that we are coming to the Euphrates riverbank, and they can see our forces advancing," he said on Friday.

The group thus risks a confrontation with the Syrian and Russian militaries.

Also on Friday, a top aide to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Syrian government troops and allied forces would fight any force, including the US-backed militants, in their push to fully liberate the Arab country.

Last Saturday, Ahmad al-Ahmad, who heads the armed Syrian opposition's Syria Press center, said that the SDF did not have the manpower to control Dayr al-Zawr.

The army and its allies have already recaptured Dayr al-Zawr's airbase, power station, and the Teym oilfield near the city.

Newer gains

On Saturday, the troops made further gains in their battle against Daesh pockets in central parts of the country.

The government forces managed to take full control of the villages of Duhour al-Khenzir, al-Shindakhia al-Janobia, and Abu Tarraha in Jub al-Jarrah in the eastern countryside of Homs Province.

In Hama Province, the army units, supported by allied forces, took control of the town of Qalib al-Thor.

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Syrian troops will fight US-backed militia to free Arab country: Assad aide

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 16, 2017 01:44AM

The political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says government troops, backed by fighters from allied popular defense groups, will fight any force, including the US-backed militia, to fully liberate the Arab country plagued with terrorism for over six years.

"Whether it's the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), or Daesh or any illegitimate foreign force in the country... we will fight and work against them so our land is freed completely from any aggressor," said Bouthaina Shaaban in an exclusive interview with Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Manar television network on Friday.

She added that the US-backed SDF forces had managed to capture areas in northeastern Syria from Daesh "without any fighting," implying that the Takfiri militants were working hand in glove with the SDF to take oil-rich areas.

"But they will not get what they want," the Syrian official added.

The SDF is a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is in control of large parts of northeastern Syria for many years. The SDF forces have gained ground against Daesh in the northern city of Raqqah, the terror group's de facto capital in the Arab country.

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. They also support some groups, such as the SDF, claiming that they help them in their alleged fight against Daesh terrorists.

Different foreign-backed terrorist groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011. The government controls the main urban centers in the west of the country and has recaptured much of the eastern desert from Daesh in recent months.

On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Aleksandr Lapin, the Russian chief of staff in Syria, announced that Damascus was in control of 85 percent of the Arab country's territories. He added that Syrian forces must now purge terrorists from the country's remaining 15 percent, which amounts to 27,000 square kilometers.

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U.S. Coalition Says Allies Hit By Russian Strike In Syria

RFE/RL September 16, 2017

The U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria says the Russian military has struck forces backed by Washington in the war-torn country, injuring several allied fighters.

The assertion came hours after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab militia in Syria, accused Russian jets of bombing its forces in Deir al-Zor Province on September 16, injuring six of its fighters in the last major IS stronghold in Syria.

"Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisors. Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike," the coalition said in a statement.

The statement added that coalition advisers who were present "were not wounded as a result of the Russian strike."

The United States and Russia back separate military offensives in the Syrian war, both of which are advancing against IS forces in the east of the country near Iraq.

Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's six-year-old war, while the United States and Turkey support various rebel groups opposed to the Damascus government.

IS fighters, who captured large swathes of Syrian territory in 2014, are opposed by all sides and are being driven from most of their strongholds by the separate government and rebel campaigns.

Washington and Moscow have largely stayed out of each other's way in their fight against IS in Syria, with the Euphrates River frequently serving as a dividing line.

The commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Lieutenant General Paul Funk, said in the September 16 statement that coalition officials "are available and the de-conflictation line with Russia is open 24 hours a day."

"We put our full efforts into preventing unnecessary escalation among forces that share ISIS as our common enemy," Funk said, using an alternate acronym for the extremist group.

The statement added, "Coalition forces and partners always retain the right of self-defense."

There was no immediate comment from officials in Moscow on the incident, though AFP quoted a Russian military spokesman in Syria earlier in the day as saying that Russia was not responsible.

"This is not possible. Why would we bomb them?" Igor Konashenkov was quoted by AFP as saying earlier on September 16 at the Hmeimim base on Syria's coast.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/syria-us-backed-forces- say-hit-by-russia-air-strike/28739390.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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US-Led Coalition Accuses Russia of Striking US-Backed Forces Near Deir ez-Zor

Sputnik News

23:40 16.09.2017(updated 00:40 17.09.2017)

Following the reports of six SDF fighters injured in an air strike in Syria Pentagon blames Russian air forces.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) The US-led coalition fighting against Daesh terrorist group in Syria has accused Russia on Saturday of attacking the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.

Pentagon claimed that when Russia bombed a target near Deir ez-Zor it knew that the SDF units and coalition advisers were there.

"At approximately 12:30 a.m. GMT Sept. 16, Russian forces struck a target east of the Euphrates River in Syria near Dayr Az Zawr, causing injuries to Coalition partner forces. Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and Coalition advisors. Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike. Multinational Coalition troops advising and assisting the SDF were present but not wounded as a result of the Russian strike," the statement read.

Earlier in the day, a Kurdish source told Sputnik that at least six Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters were injured in a Syrian air force attack in eastern Syria.

The Russian Armed Forces have not provided any comments yet.

However, Moscow has repeatedly claimed that decisions about the airstrikes in Syria are made only after thorough verification of the intelligence data. Since the start of the Russian aerial campaign the West has been accusing Moscow of targeting so-called moderate opposition factions in Syria and civilians. Russia and Syria have continuously refuted these allegations.

The SDF is an alliance of Arab and Kurdish militias backed by the US-led coalition. The SDF units began their own operation against the Islamic State terrorist group in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, where the Syrian government forces are already conducting a successful operation with the support of the Russian combat planes. In November 2016, the SDF launched an Operation Euphrates Rage to retake Raqqa, located west of Deir ez-Zor, from Daesh with the support of the US-led international coalition.

 Sputnik

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'Blackmail' and 'Betrayal'! Turkish Minister Slams EU for Imperiling Membership

Sputnik News

03:02 16.09.2017(updated 05:54 16.09.2017)

The war of words between the European Union and their tenuous ally Turkey continues to intensify, with a Turkish official accusing the EU of "blackmail" for threatening to kill Turkey's membership bid. This came after the EU head accused Turkey of taking "giant strides" away from the union.

Omer Celik, Turkey's Minister of European Union Affairs and the Chief Negotiator for Turkish Accession to the European Union, accused the European Commission of "using the EU negotiating process as a way to blackmail Turkey," which he called a "weakening and discrediting [of] the EU institutions."

Celik added that the EU's criticism of his government was a deflection to take attention away from the EU's problems. "They put all those aside and they stoke antagonism towards Turkey in order to cover up their vital internal problems," he said. "At one of the hardest times in our history we were left alone by our friends and allies." He also called the EU schism a "betrayal."

Celik's condemnation came after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made negative comments about Turkey during the European Union General Assembly. "For some considerable time, Turkey has been moving away from the European Union in leaps and bounds."

"I appeal today to the powers that be in Turkey: Let our journalists go. Stop calling our member states and members of governments fascists and Nazis," said Juncker, referring to comments from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in September that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had engaged in "Nazism" when she criticized Ankara and hinted that she might oppose Turkey's membership bid.

"Europe is a continent of mature democracy, those who knowingly offend pull up the drawbridge and sometimes I have the impression that there are those in Turkey who want to pull up the drawbridge and later blame the European Union for the failure of accession negotiations," Juncker continued.

His comments were a more diplomatic phrasing of hardline comments from Merkel, who said during a televised debate that "The fact is clear that Turkey should not become an EU member."

Celik condemned both comments, but also expressed a desire to reach a diplomatic solution to the schism. "It was as if they had entered a contest to find the best way to keep Turkey at a distance and harm Turkey. To Mr Juncker and to Germany, I strongly suggest that we should have some Turkish coffee diplomacy."

Celik's criticism notably excluded the United Kingdom, which has been undergoing its own schism with the EU following the Brexit. "The UK is acting as a real ally, a role model, standing with Turkey in the initial days after the coup attempt and helping to strengthen Turkey's defense capacity," Celik said. "The British, like ourselves, aim to find a way forward in relations. With other countries, it's not about finding a way forward, it's about finding tools to blackmail us."

He went on to say that the EU should give Turkey's membership bid a renewed push. While Turkey's long-standing bid still stands, it was frozen following Ankara's crackdown on alleged dissidents following the 2016 coup attempt.

Celik also pushed for the EU to deliver $3.6 billion in aid as it promised to do in exchange for Turkey taking in a large share of migrants and refugees that poured into Europe as a result of unrest and fighting in countries like Syria and Iraq.

EU ambassador to Ankara Christian Berger has contested these claims, saying that the EU has paid out $970 million of the promised funds and the rest would be allocated in due time.

 Sputnik

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Ukraine's Prosecutor Says Saakashvili Won't Face Arrest Or Extradition

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service September 16, 2017

Ukraine's top prosecutor has said former Georgian President and Ukrainian regional governor Mikheil Saakashvili will not be arrested for defying authorities with his dramatic return to the country after his citizenship was canceled.

In his September 16 comments, Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko also said that Saakashvili, who is wanted in Georgia on allegations of corruption during his presidency, would not be extradited and suggested the stateless ex-leader may have a document allowing him to remain in Ukraine.

"Saakashvili will not be arrested in this case, Saakashvili cannot be extradited from this country while he has a residence permit or other document that he has filed," Lutsenko said at the annual Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv.

Lutsenko did not specify what kind of document he was referring to.

The reformist, pro-Western president of Georgia from 2004-13, Saakashvili was stripped of his Georgian citizenship in 2015 after he took Ukrainian citizenship in order to become governor of the Odesa region at the request of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

He resigned as Odesa governor in November 2016, complaining of official obstruction of anticorruption efforts, accusing Poroshenko of dishonesty, and charging that the government in Kyiv was sabotaging crucial reforms.

Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship in July, leaving him essentially stateless. On September 10, Saakashvili defied Ukrainian authorities and made a chaotic crossing into the country from Poland, helped by hundreds of his supporters.

Authorities on September 12 formally served notice on Saakashvili in the western city of Lviv for what officials called his illegal entry into the country. They claimed several border officers were injured in the altercation at the border with his supporters.

Lutsenko said on September 16 that those who helped bring Saakashvili across the border would face criminal charges but would not be arrested.

But he said those who "beat Ukrainian border guards" would face arrest and prosecution.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-prosecutor-saakashvili- no-arrest-extradition/28739495.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Ukraine's Defense Budget to Increase by Almost 15% in 2018

Sputnik News

04:04 16.09.2017

The ratio of Ukrainian military expenditures to its GDP is the highest in Europe and in 2018 Ukraine's defense spending is likely to rise.

KIEV (Sputnik)  Ukraine's draft budget for 2018 stipulates allocating 164.9 billion hryvhas ($6.34 billion) to the defense and security sector, which is a 14.8 percent increase compared to 2017, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Friday.

"The defense budget will increase  164.9 billion hryvhas will be allocated in 2018. This is the salary of our soldiers, high-quality technical equipment and armament," Groysman said, when presenting the draft state budget at the cabinet meeting.

He noted that the government had allocated 143.6 billion hryvhas ($5.5 billion) to the defense needs this year.

In late August, Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov said that Ukraine will keep its defense spending at the level of no less then 5 percent of GDP, adding that the defense budget will be approved at the National Security and Defense Council's meeting in early September.

Defense budgets of other European countries account for less than 5 percent of GDP. Among NATO members in Europe only several countries even reach the target of 2 percent that the US proclaims.

 Sputnik

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A Saturday-morning coffee ceremony by Missoula's Eritrean refugees at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church kicked off "Welcome Week" activities by Soft Landing Missoula, a refugee aid nonprofit group.

More than 100 refugees have arrived in Missoula over the last year, helped by the International Rescue Committee and Soft Landing.

In addition to the traditional coffee ceremony, the week's activities include:

 Saturday, Sept. 16-Sunday, Sept. 24: A main-floor exhibit at the University of Montana's Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library about the Missoula residents who have been working directly with refugee families. The free exhibit is open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

 Sunday, Sept. 17: The Congolese families return to the stage for their second theatrical production in Missoula. Come to the Sentinel High School from 3-5 p.m. for a production that will focus on Congolese culture, music, and dance. followed by a Q&A with the performers. Admission is free with a suggested donation to benefit the participating families.

 Monday, Sept. 18: What spice do Syrians like in their coffee? How do you say "delicious" in Arabic? What stringed instrument do Iraqis play? Meet, greet and compete in Missoulas first Culture Quiz, sponsored by SALAM (Standing Alongside America's Muslims). Test your knowledge of new Missoulians' cultures in a Jeopardy-style trivia game, followed by potluck dessert and table games from Iraq, Syria and other countries in the region. Event is 7 p .m. at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, 130 S. Sixth St. E., at 7 p.m. Bring a dessert dish.

 Tuesday, Sept. 19: The Missoula Art Museum, 335 N. Pattee St., features the final showing of the Hmong culture exhibition, From Flower Cloth to Story Cloth: Hmong Textiles in the MAM Collection. Drinks and light snacks will be provided at 4 p.m., courtesy of The Good Food Store. Free.

 Wednesday, Sept. 20: Soft Landing Missoula, the International Rescue Committee, Montana Women Vote, the Montana Human Rights Network and many other partner agencies around the state are joining together to call our government representatives to express our support for refugee resettlement. In Missoula, supporters will gather at the Montana Women Vote office at 725 W. Alder St., No. 21 from 6-7 p.m. From home, read this post to learn more about issues, which calls need to be made during Welcoming Week, and read suggested language for your call.

 Thursday, Sept. 21: Join the Jeanette Rankin Peace Center at the Roxy Theater at 8 p.m. to celebrate the UN International Day of Peace with the award-winning film, Rooted in Peace, features interviews with David Lynch, Mairead Maguire, Pete Seeger, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many more.

 Saturday, Sept. 23: Iraqi and Syrian chefs will partner with the chefs at Caffe Dolce to serve specialty dishes all day, and the Wow Falafel food stand will be on the patio. A portion of the sales of these dishes will go directly to the chefs. Reservations suggested.

 Sunday, Sept. 24: Get a sneak peak of the upcoming documentary, The New Neighbors Project upstairs at The Elks, 112 N. Pattee St., at 5 p.m. This innovative project gives refugees a chance to tell a story from behind the camera. Watch previews of refugee-directed short films, which will be featured in film festivals around the county including Missoula's Big Sky Film Festival. These range from a little girls fairy tale of rescuing her best friend from an evil king, to a man's story of his struggle for education and life in a refugee camp. Q&As with the directors to follow each clip. Event is free with a suggested donation to The New Neighbors Project.

At each event, participants will ahave a chance to record their own immigration story with a friend or family members via the StoryCorps app and Soft Landings StoryCorps community. These stories will be archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Late in the night, a Buddhist monk acolyte trod through the quiet halls of the monastery tucked deep in the Tibetan mountains. He found Wyoming adventurer Mark Jenkins and led him to his room.

Once inside, the acolyte pulled out his cellphone and proudly showed Jenkins the music he had collected, mostly rap.

The moment struck Jenkins. The monastery was accessible only by foot. It was a haven of devotion and study. And yet, modernity had reached even here.

Tibet has changed drastically since Jenkins' first visit in 1984. China's growing influence on the region has brought infrastructure and jobs, but Tibet's culture is increasingly under pressure. The complicated 1,500-year relationship between the two cultures will be the focus of Jenkin's upcoming talk, "Tea, Trade and Tyranny: Tibet and China Over Time," to be held Wednesday at Casper College.

I'm trying to demystify the politics of China and Tibet and to bring a clear lens to the relationship between the two," he said.

Jenkins, the writer-in-residence for the University of Wyoming and a journalist for National Geographic, has traveled to Tibet and China more than a dozen times. During some of those trips, he has tried to trace the route of the 1,000-year-old Tea Horse road. The ancient trade route allowed the two peoples to swap Tibetan horses for Chinese tea. Tea porters carried hundreds of pounds of tea on their backs over the 17,000-foot mountain passes. By the 13th century, millions of pounds of tea and about 25,000 horses crossed the road every year, according to Jenkin's 2010 National Geographic story on the subject.

The road was used as recently as the 1940s, but much of the 1,400-mile route has since returned to nature or been repaved as part of modern highways, where modern trade commodities zip by on trucks. China's ascendancy into a global power has drastically altered the relationship between the two. China has "subsumed" Tibet as it searches for resources and more space for its people, Jenkins said.

China views Tibet kind of like America views Alaska  the end of manifest destiny, Jenkins said.

Yak herders have replaced sturdy mountain horses with tiny motorcycles. Tents used by nomadic peoples are now equipped with solar panels. There wasn't a single hotel in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa when Jenkins first visited. Now, there are Hiltons.

Not all of the changes are negative, however. China's growing influence has brought better health services and education, he said. Like most things, the reality of the relationship is complex.

Im not an expert on China. Im a journalist and Im a mountain climber, Jenkins said. But Ive just witnessed the changes. Ive been there.

This is Jenkins' ninth year bringing tales from his expeditions to people around the state. He hopes that by sharing his experiences he can bring understanding of faraway places to Wyoming.

"Its to recognize the complexity of the planet, to value other cultures and to maybe inspire people from Wyoming to plan their own big trip," he said.
After Japans 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued executive orders that allowed U.S. agents to single out people of Japanese ancestry and round them up. FDR gave into wartime hysteria and suspicions whipped up by rumors, in a milieu of fear and decades of systemic racism towards Asians. Altogether, 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry  including entire families  were being confined at many government facilities 75 years ago. This broke lives. These were law-abiding and industrious individuals never charged or found guilty of a crime. Two-thirds were American citizens. Every person on American soil has a right to due process under our Constitution. In 1988, the U.S. government formally acknowledged the damaging illegality of forcibly removing citizens and noncitizens from their homes, livelihoods and communities without charges, and confining them for years behind barbed wired, facing armed guards.

This was not the first time that America had shown itself capable of abandoning core principles of democracy, and violating the rights of some people based on their ethnicity. The infamous Sedition Acts (Montana and U.S) during World War I were accompanied by hyper-patriotism and hysteria. Neighbor turned on neighbor amid a climate of suspicion, especially towards those of German ancestry. Unjust sentencing led to long-term incarceration and hard labor, for simply exercising First Amendment rights. Lives were broken. Racism and xenophobia were also inherent in colonial contacts and negotiations with people whove called this continent home for 10,000 years. How can we begin to understand the repercussions for thousands of innocents and their offspring, of human rights abuses, injustice and confinement (backed by military might) that have accompanied colonization?

Are we creating any new perilous stories today? A provision in a bill (2011 NDAA) passed by Congress, and signed into law by President Obama in 2012, framed our homeland as a battlefield under the 2001 Congressional Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). The new law gives the U.S. president power to deem any persons enemy combatants, allowing them to be disappeared without any due process. This undermines our Constitution in many ways. Rep. Barbara Lee and others tried unsuccessfully to retire the worn-out 2001 AUMF this July, which would have nullified the 2012 law. This story is not over.

Todays news carries stories of unauthorized immigrants being rounded up and held in private prisons. The League of Woman Voters (LWV) has chimed in repeatedly for nearly 100 years to urge compliance with the U.S. Constitution. We support these individuals right to due process (including a fair and speedy trial, counsel, appeal and humane treatment)  whether they are eventually deported or not. Humane treatment means children must not be separated from their parents, nor couples torn apart because of status. Children, in particular must not suffer trauma over the fear of separation, or be subject to extended confinement. We wait on Congress to act, to define clear criteria and an expeditious process for those seeking legal admission, refugee status or a way to earn legal status for unauthorized, but otherwise law-abiding, immigrants already in the country. Someday, when we look back, will this story have a good conclusion?

Sometimes, we need hindsight to see our politics clearly. Stories can also help peel away layers to reveal the human repercussions of our historic choices, and provide lesson for today. The Missoula LWV has help to organize three opportunities this Fall to watch documentaries and hear compelling stories. Please join us as we stand among preserved remnants of the World War II internment camp at Fort Missoula and listen. See information box for details.
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Donald Trump has referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "rocket man" in a tweet about a conversation with the South Korean President.

The US leader tweeted that he had been speaking with Moon Jae-in about the situation with the secretive communist state, which has launched a series of ballistic missiles in recent weeks and conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date.

"I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night," Mr Trump wrote. "Asked him how Rocket Man is doing."

He added that long petrol lines has been forming in North Korea, which he said was "too bad".

The presidents spoke on Sunday regarding the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula, and agreed to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea following recent nuclear and missile tests.

Donald Trump says Kim Jong Un is 'acting badly'

South Korea's President and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to exert stronger pressure through sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear and missile tests, South Korea's presidential office said.

"The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation, and exert stronger and practical sanctions on North Korea so that it realises provocative actions leads to further diplomatic isolation and economic pressure," said a spokesperson from Mr Jae-in's office.

The spokesperson said Moon and Trump had strongly condemned the latest missile launch by North Korea, and agreed that the two nations would work with the international community to implement the latest United Nations' Security Council's resolution.

The latest resolution, passed this week, imposed stricter sanctions on the isolated nation, including a ban on the sale of natural gas to North Korea and on textile exports. Member states are also forbidden from providing work visas to North Korean national.

Kuwait announced on Sunday it will expel North Korea's ambassador to the country, after the US has been increasing pressure on its allies to cut all ties to North Korea in response to Pyongyang's missile programme.

However, Kim Jong-Un has vowed to press on with the expansion of the country's nuclear programme, until it establishes a "military equilibrium" with the US.
New Delhi, Sep 16 (IBNS): Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi called for an urgent need to have a public, sex offenders' registry on Saturday.

Satyarthi made the call on the sixth day of Bharat Yatra, a 35-day long march across the country, to build an awareness on combating child sexual abuse and trafficking.

Bharat Yatra was launched by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi on September 11.



Speaking at the start of Bengaluru stretch of the Yatra, Satyarthi said: India boasts of great scientific knowledge and talent. We should use our knowledge and expertise to build a robust public sex offenders registry. If a comprehensive skill registry can be built by us, then so can a public sex offenders registry, to make India safe for our children."

"I urge all software engineers, disruptors, innovators and scientists to join hands and come together in building this for our country he added.

At the public rally in Bengaluru to generate awareness about the growing crimes of child sexual abuse and trafficking, Satyarthi also emphasised the importance of technological innovation and urged the people of Bengaluru to harness the power they possess and engineer a revolutionary social change using it.

What better city than the Silicon Valley of India to lead this war? Across the world, Bangalore is acknowledged as a hub of IT and innovation. If innovators and entrepreneurs can deploy technology to change our day to day living, surely we can together come up with technology to protect our children? Our smart phones can help provide us with any information from across the world," the Nobel Peace Laureate said.

"They are supposed to be theft proof. Surely our young innovators and scientists can create new apps that will help us protect our children more effectively? Simple things can make a big difference he added.

Ever since its launch, Bharat Yatra has been drawing enormous support from citizens across India, including Bollywood's legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan who tweeted to his fans to support the Yatra.

Earlier, Union Minister for Shipping and Finance Mr Pon Radhakrishnan had flagged off the Yatra from Kanyakumari along with Mr Satyarthi.

In Trivandrum, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured the whole hearted support from his government in eradicating the menace of child sexual abuse and trafficking.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a personal letter to Kailash Satyarthi extending his support to the Yatra, which will cover 11000 kilometres across 22 States, including Karnataka. Some of the key cities it covers include Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Guwahati, Bhopal, Jaipur, Srinagar among others.

Satyarthi has been campaigning for the freedom, safety and security for children across the globe for the past 36 years. His Nobel Peace Prize (2014) was for his continuous efforts and struggle for the rights children.

The Yatra is the launch of the three-year campaign against child rape and child sexual abuse which is aimed at increasing awareness and reporting of the cases, strengthening instuitional response including medical health and compensations, ensuring protection for victims and witnesses during trials and increasing convictions of child sexual abuse in a time bound manner.

Kailash Satyarthi Childrens Foundation mission is to create, implement and advocate child-friendly policies that ensure the holistic development and empowerment of children.
PMO Twitter Handle

Ahmedabad, Sept 17 (IBNS): After inaugurating the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada in Gujarat on the occasion of his 67th birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting at Dabhoi on Sunday and said the project is an outcome of "engineering miracle."

The Sardar Sarovar Dam, whose foundation stone was laid six decades ago, was launched on Modi's 67th birthday.

Speaking at the event Modi said, "Sardar Sarovar Dam faced so many obstacles. But, we were determined that the project will go on."

Modi, who dedicated the dam-the world's second largest-to the nation, urged citizens to leave no stone unturned in creating a 'New India' by 2022, when the country will mark 75 years of India's freedom.

The Prime Minister remembered Sardar Patel and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on the occasion who as Minister "gave great emphasis to irrigation and waterways."

"Sardar Patel would be happy today...imagine his vision that he envisioned this Dam to help farmers and citizens," Modi said.

"Lack of water resources has been a major factor in slowing the pace of development," the PM added.

"I still remember, as CM when I went to border areas I saw BSF Jawans do not have water. We brought Narmada waters to borders for Jawans," he said.

Modi said that the saints and seers of Gujarat have played a very big role in the making of the Sardar Sarovar Dam as well.

He said the waters of Narmada will help several citizens and transform several lives.

Expressing his concern, Modi noted: "The western part of India lacks adequate water supply, in the eastern part there is shortage of electricity and gas supply. We are working to overcome these shortages so that both parts of India development and India scales new heights of development."

The Sardar Sarovar Dam is 1.2-km-long and 163 metres deep.

The foundation stone of the dam was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on April 5, 1961.

The inauguration took place even as activist Medha Patkar has been protesting against the project while demanding rehabilitation of the families affected by the construction of the same.

PM Modi performed a puja at the site of the dam in Kevadia in Narmada district before he unveiled the plaque.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were present during the occasion.
Montana needs a new budget deal.

The agreement approved by state legislators and Gov. Steve Bullock at the very end of the most recent legislative session can no longer be considered a good solution to Montanas current budget problems. In fact, it promises to do more harm than good.

This summer brought deeper-than-expected shortfalls in revenues and steeper-than-anticipated increases in spending to fight wildfires, squeezing the state budget on both sides and triggering painful cuts to crucial agency programs.

Not only are Montanans not happy with the current budget proposal, neither the governor nor legislative leadership appears satisfied with it either. That being the case, the obvious solution would be to convene a special legislative session focused on recalibrating spending cuts to lessen their harm while also adjusting tax rates to bring in additional revenue.

A special session would cost the state even more money, and should be called only if and when Montanas leaders fully grasp the urgent need to negotiate a new deal. The frustrating thing is that neither Montanas governor, a Democrat, nor Republican majority leaders have given any indication they are willing to shoulder such a responsibility and meet in the spirit of compromise. Until they do, Montanans must brace ourselves for some dramatic reductions in state services  reductions that will be painful enough in the short term, and even more excruciating over the long term.

As Montanas executive, Bullock ought to take the leading role on this. He should immediately begin pulling the legislative leadership of both parties together for talks, asking them to develop realistic options that could be considered in a special session.

Remember, it was only a few merry months ago that the Legislature passed, and Governor Bullock signed, legislation containing spending reduction blueprints. Senate Bill 261 led to a 5 percent round of budget cuts, while House Bill 2 will cut an additional 10 percent. The state is required by statute to maintain a certain ending fund balance  and also requires that no more than 10 percent be cut from each agency program.

This means that in order to make up for its $227 million shortfall, the state must cut nearly the full amount allowed by law from each program. The cuts in HB 2, along with other reductions in another fiscal revision bill, Senate Bill 261, add up to $218 million.

Each agency has submitted proposals for reducing their expenditures, and most were able to identify difficult but justifiable areas in which to trim some fat. In the case of the Department of Health and Human Services, however, the cuts hit bone.

DPHHS is by far the states largest agency, accounting for about 85 percent of the total budget. This is because so much of DPHHSs state funding is tied to federal dollars. A required $105 million in cuts to the agency would mean the loss of an additional $135 million in federal funds, for a total loss of $240 million.

According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center, the proposed cuts to DPHHS would mean:

Eliminating health case management for foster children,

Ending payments to foster parents to help cover the cost of diapers,

Cutting services for 300 children with low vision or blindness,

Closing 19 offices of public assistance in rural Montana,

Reducing funding that supports teen moms by over $2 million,

Ending partnerships that evaluate child victims of violence, shifting this cost back onto local law enforcement agencies,

Trimming funds for domestic violence shelters,

Cutting $48 million from case management services for individuals with disabilities,

Eliminating $10 million from a program that helps development disabled and at-risk children from birth to age 3,

Ending prescription drug benefits for more than 10,000 Montana seniors,

Cutting home- and community-based services, hospice services and long-term care for seniors, and

Losing $1.6 million in chemical dependency treatment.

The list goes on. Its not hard to see how the loss of these services will cost local communities more. Hospitals and health care providers, police and prisons, municipal and county agencies will all feel the impact, and have to make up for the reduction in state support. Meanwhile, communities and families will suffer.

Nearly 200 individuals spoke about how the proposed cuts to DPHHS would affect them at a legislative committee hearing last week, after which legislators voted for the second time to informally object to the departments budget plans. Their actions delay the implementation of these particular cuts, but do nothing to solve the departments  or the states  fiscal problems.

The state is also facing reductions in Montana State Prison personnel, the likelihood of closing the new crime lab in Billings and the further loss of funding to the Montana State Hospital  all of which could lead to the kinds of conditions that result in expensive lawsuits.

Republican legislators must realize that these cuts have very real costs. Funding cuts made to education at the state level must be made up in tax hikes at the local level. When the states most vulnerable cannot access the basic support they need at the onset, they end of requiring more extensive  and costlier  services down the line.

Just as Governor Bullocks office must work to identify the least painful places to make agency cuts, legislators must work to identify the least painful ways to raise revenue.

Were not convinced that the spending reductions proposed so far represent the best Montana can do. Anyone whos ever looked at a balance sheet knows its easier to shuffle numbers around if one doesnt consider the real-world impact of budget adjustments. Montanans must make sure our legislative and executive leadership is giving the utmost consideration to the effects of their budget dealing.

Far less important than how we got to this low point is what we are going to do to climb back out of it. Montanans must demand that those with the authority to do so re-think the heavy-handed cuts, explore potential sources of additional revenue  and demonstrate their willingness to compromise on a new budget for the good of Montana.
Congress Twitter page

New Delhi, Sept 17 (IBNS): President of India Ram Nath Kovind has written to Arvind Singh, son of Marshal Arjan Singh, conveying his condolences on the passing away of Marshal Arjan Singh.

In his message, the President has said, I am extremely saddened to learn about the passing of our great and cherished air warrior and Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, DFC. "

He said Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh was a hero of World War II and won our nation's gratitude for his military leadership in the War of 1965.

He served the nation with distinction and was the first and only officer of the Indian Air Force who was honoured with the five-star rank as Marshal of the Air Force.

"For generations of our fellow citizens, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh has remained a living legend. His service to the nation continued even outside uniform, as Lt. Governor of Delhi, Ambassador of India to Switzerland and the Vatican, High Commissioner to Kenya and Member of the National Commission for Minorities. For his services and achievements, he was honoured with numerous awards including the Padma Vibhushan," Kovind said in his letter.

"Please accept my heartfelt condolences and convey these to other members of your family as well as the Indian Air Force community. I pray to the Almighty to give you and your family the strength and courage to bear this irreparable loss. The nation mourns with you," he wrote.
London, Sept 17 (IBNS): The concept and associated value of the mathematical symbol azeroa is used the world over as a fundamental numerical pillar.

However, its origin has until now been one of the fields greatest conundrums.

Scientists from the University of Oxfords Bodleian Libraries, have used carbon dating to trace the figures origins to the famous ancient Indian scroll, the Bakhshali manuscript.

The text dates back to the third or fourth century, making it the oldest recorded use of the symbol.

The research was commissioned by Bodleian Libraries, where the manuscript has been held since 1902. The text was found to contain hundreds of zeroes, and the landmark finding puts the birth of zero or nought as it is also known, at 500 years earlier than scholars first thought.

The concept of the symbol as we know and use it today, began as a simple dot, which was widely used as a placeholder to represent orders of magnitude in the ancient Indian numbers system  for example 10s, 100s and 1000s. It features prominently in the Bakhshali manuscript, which is widely acknowledged as the oldest Indian mathematical text, read the University of Oxford website.

The earliest recorded example of the use of zero was previously believed to be a 9th century inscription of the symbol on the wall of a temple in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. The study findings predate this event and therefore have great historical mathematical significance.

Although a number of ancient cultures including the ancient Mayans and Babylonians also used the zero placeholder, the dots use in the Bakhshali manuscript is the one that ultimately evolved into the symbol that we use today. India was also the place where the symbolic placeholder developed into a number in its own right, and the concept of the figure zero as it exists today, was born.

Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, said: Today we take it for granted that the concept of zero is used across the globe and is a key building block of the digital world. But the creation of zero as a number in its own right, which evolved from the placeholder dot symbol found in the Bakhshali manuscript, was one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of mathematics.

We now know that it was as early as the 3rd century that mathematicians in India planted the seed of the idea that would later become so fundamental to the modern world. The findings show how vibrant mathematics have been in the Indian sub-continent for centuries.

The Bakhshali manuscript was found in 1881, buried in a field in what was then an Indian village called Bakhshali, now in Pakistan. It is broadly recognised as the oldest Indian mathematical text, however, the exact age of the text is widely contested.

The most conclusive academic study on the subject, was conducted by Japanese scholar Dr Hayashi Takao, and, based on factors such as the style of writing and the literary and mathematical content, it asserted that it probably dated from between the 8th and the 12th century.

The new carbon dating reveals that the reason why it was previously so difficult for scholars to pinpoint the Bakhshali manuscripts date is because the manuscript, which consists of 70 fragile leaves of birch bark, is in fact composed of material from at least three different periods.

Richard Ovenden, Bodleys Librarian, said: "Determining the date of the Bakhshali manuscript is of vital importance to the history of mathematics and the study of early South Asian culture and these surprising research results testify to the subcontinents rich and longstanding scientific tradition. The project is an excellent example of the cutting-edge research conducted by the Bodleians Heritage Science team, together with colleagues across Oxford University, which uncovers new information about the treasures in our collections to help inform scholarship across disciplines."

Image: University of Oxford website
Kabul, Sept 17 (IBNS): At least four people were killed due to a landmine explosion in southeastern Khost province of Afghanistan on Sunday, media reports said.

The blast reportedly left 14 others injured.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Faizullah Ghairat told Pajhwok Afghan News the blast took place at 11:00am in a mobile phone market in the city.

The official told the Afghanistan based news agency that the explosives had been placed in a mobile store.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Search operation is currently going on.

No one has been arrested so far.


Islamabad, Sept 17 (IBNS): At least one person was killed as an oil tanker caught fire in Pakistan's Muzaffargarh area on Sunday, media reports said.

The incident occurred close to the Kot Addu Power Company.

Police officials said the incident occurred during welding of a tanker, which had oil stored in it. As the fire spread, it consumed several shops located close by, according to rescue officials, reported Geo News.

Three fire tenders and several water tankers rushed to the spot to douse the flame.

The injured people were rushed to hospital for treatment.
Monday, Sep 18th, 2017 (12:01 am) - Score 6,999

The roll-out of ultrafast fibre optic broadband services using Gigabit capable FTTH/P/B technologies is continuing to ramp up in 2017, with our latest annual estimate of total premises passed across the United Kingdom reaching 1,084,500 (up from 780k in 2016) and this is set to surge.

Related Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP/H) networks generally transmit their data using a combination of laser light and high capacity optical fibre cable, which is capable of delivering Gigabit class speeds (1Gbps+ or 1000Mbps+ if you prefer) and will easily go many times faster in the future.

Networks like this are preferable to the less reliable electrical signals found inside copper or aluminium metal cables, which are usually significantly slower (Will the Real Fibre Optic Broadband Service Please Stand Up). On the flip side FTTP/H networks also take a lot longer and cost significantly more to roll-out than hybrid fibre services (e.g. FTTC), which mix both fibre with slower twisted pair or coax copper cables.

Some will note that we also include proper Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB) services into our summary, even though some FTTB installs do have a small piece of high capacity copper Ethernet cable over the last few metres into apartments or offices. However symmetric Gigabit speeds can still easily be achieved, hence their inclusion. The FTTH Council Europe also includes FTTB networks into their ranking.

Current Progress

Each year ISPreview.co.uk collects as much coverage data as possible direct from related FTTP/H/B providers and we then combine it with related information supplied by Point Topic in order to produce a rough overall annual estimate of total premises passed across the United Kingdom (this may possibly include some part-built premises).

Crucially we exclude the more theoretical addressable market style coverage claims and only focus on actual deployments (i.e. mostly premises that can order the service today and get it installed fairly quickly for a relatively small setup fee, without requiring significant additional civil works).

Native FTTH/P/B Coverage Estimate (Premises Passed)

2013 = 186,500

2014 = 251,522

2015 = 351,642

2016 = 779,006

2017 = 1,084,500 (c.552,000 from altnets*) NOTE: The real figure is likely to be little higher than this because Virgin Media has yet to declare their FTTP progress and most of the data provided by ISPs is from spring 2017 (networks have grown since then). Meanwhile a small number of tiny FTTH/P providers have not declared any solid coverage, although at this time their impact is not statistically significant. * The altnets figure in brackets excludes Virgin Media, Openreach, KCOM and WighFibre.

The overall total above includes Openreach, KCOM, Hyperoptic, CityFibre (Bournemouth & York premises passed), Gigaclear, IFNL (GTC / BUUK Group), Fibre Options, ITS Technology, Relish (Keycom buildings), Vision Fibre Media, Community Fibre, Ask4, Call Flow Solutions, Cybermoor, Community Fibre, Grain Connect, B4RN and so forth. Most are actuals, the rest are Point Topic estimates.

We should add that Virgin Media are hoping to build around an extra 2 million premises passed with FTTP (plus 2 million more via HFC EuroDOCSIS Cable) by the end of 2019 under their 3bn Project Lightning scheme. At present there are no public figures for their FTTP-only progress, which might be at least partly due to recent concerns over the roll-out progress (here).

Breaking Down the Key Influencers

The biggest influence on this total continues to be Openreach, which during the spring claimed to have covered 400,000 premises with their FTTP network and they aim to add another 244,000 premises by April 2018. At present the operators goal is to reach 2 million premises passed by 2020, although theyre also consulting on a future plan that could in theory push this to 10 million by around 2025 (here); at a cost of 3bn to 6bn (here).

After that we come to Hyperoptic, which recently reported having reached 350,000 premises in big urban buildings via their FTTP/B network. On top of that theyve raised another 100m to boost the roll-out, with their next stop being 500,000 by the end of 2019 and then they have an ambitious plan to cover 2 million urban homes by 2022, followed very hypothetically by 5 million in 2025 (here).

Meanwhile KCOM in Hull and East Yorkshire has pushed FTTP out to 132,500 premises (up from 78,000 last year) and theyre heading for a target of 150,000 by the end of December 2017 (75% of their overall network). A plan to reach the final 25% is likely to surface at some point, although that may involve more of their slower FTTC technology.

The above three account for a whopping 882,500 of the total and the rest are accumulated via a diverse selection of smaller players. For example, Gigaclear has covered about 50,000 premises and theyve recently secured another private investment of 111m (not to mention lots of state aid supported Broadband Delivery UK contracts), which should bring them to 150,000 rural premises by around 2020.

Elsewhere London ISP Community Fibre have about 10,000 premises and theyve just raised 11m, which should start them on their way towards a long-term aspiration of reaching 500,000 homes in the city (here). Similarly B4RN has around 3,400 actual connections in rural areas and rising (B4RN covers more premises than this but their community-built approach means they dont release such a figure).

Most of the other operators are quite small, although we know that Independent Fibre Networks Ltd. (GTC / BUUK) has a fairly wide coverage of new build premises (in the tens of thousands) and recent entrant TrueSpeed has just secured 75m of private investment to help them target up to 75,000 rural premises around South West England (here).

A Note About Cityfibre

Finally, we come to the awkward one, Cityfibre, which is a bit of a dark horse because of their love for using the notoriously hypothetical addressable market gauge for coverage instead of premises passed (i.e. premises are included even if the fibre is quite a fair way away and would cost a lot of time and money to reach you).

In the above total weve only put Cityfibres known premises passed figures for Bournemouth and York (each c.20,000), plus a few more for active business or public sector connections. The problem is easy to see because under their addressable market gauge theyd already be claiming to address some 280,000 businesses and 4 million homes, when in reality their actual coverage isnt even close to that.

However in the future this will change because Cityfibre has managed to raise another 200 million (here) and they plan to use this in order to roll-out their 1Gbps FTTP/H network into 5  10 large towns and cities from 2018. The first phase is expected to focus on at least 5 of their 50 existing cities, with the ambition of expanding to 10 cities and potentially passing 1 million premises.

Cityfibre suggests that its mid-term target to reach 50 UK towns and cities could conceivably also provide an opportunity to deliver FTTH to no less than 5 million premises by 2025, although were still awaiting some concrete details. Nevertheless we are expecting Cityfibre to have a noticeable impact, assuming their current plan comes to fruition.

Conclusion

One thing is abundantly clear this year, FTTH/P/B services are finally crawling out of their expensive niche and starting to go mainstream. In particular the recent announcements by Cityfibre, Hyperoptic, TrueSpeed, Gigaclear and Community Fibre show that the UKs full fibre market is gearing up to be very different from previous broadband infrastructure deployments.

In the past the roll-out of new networks was often a two horse race (or maybe more like a gentle paddle) between Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media, albeit mostly focused upon dense urban areas. However in the world of FTTH/P/B were seeing alternative network providers that can compete with the big boys (e.g. Hyperoptic).

Meanwhile operators like TrueSpeed, Gigaclear and B4RN are showing that such networks can also be built in rural areas, where major national providers would often struggle to achieve the same. The Government is helping to facilitate some of this via an investment of 600m and tax breaks on business rates for new fibre (here).

Exactly how far all of the aforementioned coverage plans will take such networks is still not set in stone, especially as we dont yet know the outcome of Openreachs key FTTP consultation. However it seems likely that there will be upwards of 5 million premises passed by 2020 and if that is to be achieved then wed expect to see a sharp rise in the roll-out pace.

NOTE: Some of the data we have been supplied is confidential and as a result weve only summarised those providers where the progress is known.

UPDATE 20th Sept 2017

A comment from Gigaclear follows.
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By Manal Ismael | ( Global Voices Online ) |  

In early September 2017, a piece of paper with a potent message targeted against women, held by a group of Hezbollah fighters in Juroud Arsal, Eastern Lebanon, went viral.

The message, which celebrates every woman who is not using her own photo as a profile picture on Facebook, emerged as pitched battles raged between Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia and the Syrian Sunni al-Nusra Front (officially a former Al Qaeda affiliate) in the area straddling the Syrian-Lebanese border.

This came on the heels of a widely-circulated video of Sami Khadra, a renowned Shiite Lebanese cleric, asking women to replace their photos on Facebook, considered inappropriate and profane, with images of trees and Quranic verses.

The video came under attack by social media users and womens rights activists, igniting a storm of sarcastic comments, but also some support.

One woman retorted, you put a tree while another woman posted a photo of herself next to trees saying I tried looking for a photo with lots of trees. One man, however, said that the clerics words are beautiful and represent true Islamic thinking.

Badia Hani Fahs, a writer for the Lebanese An-nahar newspaper and daughter of the renowned late anti-Hezbollah Shiite cleric Hani Fahs, lashed out in a Facebook post at Sami Khadras remarks:

Use a tree instead of your photoA piece of wood, a tableUse an image of a monkey, a female dog or a jennet [female donkey]May Allah curse their empty turbans!

Lebanese journalist and filmmaker Diana Moukalled mocked the picture of Hezbollah fighters in a tweet, poking fun at their claims of liberating women from takfiris (Arabic for those who call others infidels) while aping their conduct.

From Juroud Arsal a call for women not to post their photos on Facebook[It is laughable that] these are the same people claiming to be saving us women from takfiris who take women as sabaya (women captured during war).

Fighters in the heat of a raging battle with time to consider womens social media habits seemed so far-fetched and ironic that critics drew comparisons with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other extremist groups. Many others derided the Shiite groups alliance with the Syrian regime that has long boasted its secularity.

Controlling women through targeted messaging

In Idlib province, a painted sign reading The Woman is Awra made its rounds in 2015.

Awra refers to the parts of a womans body that must be covered under Islamic law. The sign, produced by a group affiliated with the al-Nusra Front, implies that all of a womans body must be covered. Raseef22 translated it as Women Must be Covered to the Nails.

A Woman is Awra followed by Idlib Religious Mission and Endowment. Source: Raseef22.

Both ISIS and al-Nusra impose austere dress codes on women based on a rigid interpretation of Sharia law. Proponents claim the code is intended to protect women as jewels and hidden pearls.

This claim, however, is considered an outright human rights violation by all major human rights organizations as well as Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In June 2017, independent Syrian news outlet Enab Baladi commented:

Despite the spread of a large number of civil society organizations dedicated to supporting the role of women and bolstering their participation and position in society in opposition areas, womens role in the Syrian workplace has not registered a notable advance, but has actually seen a relative decline.

Groups such as Hezbollah, al-Nusra, and ISIS, all stakeholders in the current Syrian war, have consistently promoted discriminatory views against women. These groups promote policies that treat women as inferiors and restrict their basic rights including movement, dress and the use of social media.

Failing to comply carries grave consequences, the mildest being social and religious shaming while the harshest amounts to whipping and fines.

Womens rights activists struggle to stay hopeful

In 2015, breath-taking videos showed elated Syrian women ripping off Islamic garments after escaping persecution under ISIS, a public outpouring of ecstasy that captured the worlds attention:

While some Syrian women celebrated liberation from ISIS-controlled areas, the emergence of new messages targeted at women sparks pessimism among women and womens rights activists concerned about their futures under any of the warring groups.

Five years ago, four Syrian women dressed in bridal gowns staged a peaceful march in the heart of Damascus to demand wider freedoms and an end to military operations. Yet today, many Syrian women still grapple with authorities to secure their most basic human rights.

As Liesl Gerntholtz, womens rights director at Human Rights Watch put it:

Extremist groups like ISIS and al-Nusra are undermining the freedoms that Syrias women and girls enjoyed, which were a longtime strength of Syrian society. [] What kind of victory do these groups promise for women and girls who are watching their rights slip away.

Any hope kindled by early pro-democracy protests has dwindled, making it difficult to ameliorate the situation for Syrian women. Political parties whose agendas neglect womens rights have seized control of the indefinite future.

Creative Commons License

Via Global Voices Online

=====

Related video added by Juan Cole:

Joy for Syrian refugee family as daughter graduates  BBC News
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Iraqi prime minister Haydar al-Abadi threatened on Saturday to deploy military force against Iraqi Kurdistan if it goes through with the referendum on independence authorized Friday by its regional parliament. The Kurds, he said, are playing with fire. The referendum is set to be held on September 25.

h/t BBC

Iraq is about 60% Shiite Arab, 22% Kurdish, and the rest is mostly Sunni Arabs with some small sects and a few Chaldean Christians.

Turkey is 20% Kurdish and is determined to stay that way.

Iran, a country of 78 million, has about 4 million Kurds in its northwest northeast , but has repeatedly showed its willingness to deploy force.



See Ali Abootalibi on the Kurdistan crisis at Informed Comment



In the meantime, the United Nations suggested to the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that he mothball plans for a referendum and instead embark on a 3-year-long process of negotiations with Baghdad with the aim of reaching a compromise acceptable to both sides, under UN auspices.

Barzani declined the offer.

The British government expressed concern that Barzanis plans will roil the region at a time when resources must be pooled to defeat ISIL.

Turkey and Iran, both with large Kurdish minorities. expressed anxiety about the referendum.

Iran pointed out that its Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) saved the Kurds from ISIL in summer of 2014.

Given that the Iraqi army collapsed in June of 2014 and has only slowly been

rebuilt, I dont think Iraq has the military resources to invade Kurdistan. The Kurdish peshmerga militia is quite good, but I was surprised how poorly they did against ISIL three years ago. Neither side may have the high-powered military they think they do.

Moreover, Turkey and Iran are neighbors and wont let the KRG secede if they can help it.

ISIL will certainly take advantage of this turmoil.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Newsy: US wont support Kurdistans independence vote
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By Simon P. Watmough | The Conversation |  

The emerging humanitarian crisis that has been rocking Myanmar  where an estimated 370,000 Rohingya have been forced out of the country  has prompted broad international condemnation. But so far it has translated into little concrete action.

United Nations (UN) human rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein has called the Rohingyas plight a textbook example of ethnic cleansing following a similar statement from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. While Western countries have been slow and hesitant to respond, leaders of Muslim-majority countries  particularly Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan  have sought to place as much international pressure as possible on the Myanmar government.

The strongest and most vocal response of all has come from Turkey. Indeed the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, appears to have appointed himself as the international voice of the Rohingya Muslims.

Turkeys aid response

According to a Turkish government statement, Erdogan is the first one that managed to get permission for humanitarian aid to enter Myanmar. The Burmese government had, at the peak of the violence, blocked all UN aid towards the Rohingyas.

And so, on September 7, Turkeys foreign aid agency, TIKA, became the first foreign outfit to deliver an initial shipment of 1000 tons of basic foodstuffs and medicine to the conflict zone in Rakhine state, where the majority of Rohingyas live.

Turkey simultaneously announced plans to distribute humanitarian aid to the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh. The move was widely publicised as Emine Erdogan, the Turkish presidents wife visited the camps at the same time.

Public denunciation

Meanwhile, during a meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, Erdogan as the current chief of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) formally condemned Myanmars attitude towards Rohingyas, taking the lead on the topic on behalf of the organisation. He had previously called the ongoing violence a genocide.

Since the crisis broke on August 25, the Turkish president has taken several actions to gather Muslim leaders across the world to put pressure on the Myanmar government. On August 31, he spoke with the leaders of Mauritania, Pakistan, Iran and Qatar urging them to join forces to find a way to stop the violence against the Rohingyas.

Alongside Erdogan, other Turkish politicians have addressed the issue. Remarks by Mevlut Cavusoglu, the foreign minister, garnered global attention. Mehmet Simsek, deputy prime minister, even tweeted unrelated images to raise the point, creating a bit of an embarassment.

So how are we to explain Turkeys ambition to take the lead in this current crisis?

Global ambitions

The political vacuum prompted by the Trump administrations retreat from global leadership has surely played a part. But, more evidently, Turkeys longstanding pro-Western approach has shifted. Turkey is a NATO member and aspired to join the EU for years, but under President Erdogans lead and the current AKP government, the countrys foreign policy has shifted towards the global south, seeking new opportunities.

Turkeys foreign policy doctrine now promotes what Bilkent University academics Pinar Bilgen and Ali Bilgic label civilisational geopolitics, an understanding of culture and civilisation as preordained determinants of international behaviour.

As Bilgin and Bilgic argue, this new doctrine aims at placing Turkey at the core of geopolitical issues between the West and the rest of Asia, justifying this global engagement by its political heritage  mainly based on its Central Asian and Ottoman history.

The shift became most obvious at the end of the 2000s. It has been identified most closely with Ahmet Davutoglu, a scholar of geopolitics and Turkeys foreign minister from 200914. In 2010 Foreign Policy called him the brains of Turkeys global reawakening.

Under Davutoglus watch, Turkeys global diplomatic footprint expanded dramatically, especially in Asia and Africa. He opened Turkeys first embassy in Myanmar in 2012 both to take advantage of the potential trade opportunities from the countrys post-2008 liberalisation and because of the Rohingya issue.

A subsequent trip in 2013 saw him tour refugee camps and call on the Burmese government to extend citizenship rights to the Rohingya people. This new foreign policy coincides with Turkeys decade-long ambition to become a global humanitarian power or what Turkish scholars E. Fuat Keyman and Onur Zakak call a humanitarian state.

The Turkish humanitarian approach has been cast by journalist and former Somali Minister of Planning, Abdirahman Ali, as a middle way between the Western aid model and its Chinese counterpart. Whereas the former is highly conditional, bureaucratic and often security-focused and the latter tends to bolster corrupt ,authoritarian regimes, the Turkish approach  Ali claims  typically bypasses bureaucracy and emphasises a moral standard anchored in protecting human rights and helping the weak.

Turkey has backed this ambition with increased funding for humanitarian assistance over the last five years. Development Initiatives  a UK based NGO  recently reported that now Turkey ranks second in the world for humanitarian aid, having spent around US$6 billion in 2016 (the top-ranked US spent $6.3 billion).

The champion of Muslims rights

One of the other factors is domestic politics. Indeed, much of Erdogans public posturing on the Rohingya issue is entirely self-serving. The image of a strong Turkey reaching out to Muslims everywhere in the world plays very well at home. During his 15-year tenure as Turkeys leader, the countrys once-marginalised pious Muslim citizens have become increasingly prominent in media, business and politics.

Ardent supporters in Turkey  not to mention large segments of public opinion across the Muslim world  thus see him as a champion of Muslim rights everywhere.

Erdogan has studiously crafted this image throughout other crisis, such as in Egypts during the 2011-12 Morsi regime or in Palestine.

His very public spats with Israel and the West have led some pro-Palestinian columnists in Arabic newspapers to call him the new Nasser.

Competition ahead

Nevertheless, in recent days there has been a modest push back from Saudi Arabia, which appears to be chaffing at Turkeys leadership on the crisis. Saudi Arabias ambassador to Turkey released a statement emphasising the Kingdoms strong, decades-long support for the Rohingyas. Iran has followed too, promising shipments to reach Myanmar soon.

Erdogan has promised to raise the Rohingya issue on September 19, at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly  which Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is avoiding.

His calls to protect Muslims worldwide could be a key moment for Turkeys diplomatic leadership but whether other Muslim countries would follow or not will tell the limits of Turkeys so-called humanitarian politics.

Simon P. Watmough, Postdoctoral research associate, European University Institute

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Aljazeera English: UN: Rohingya facing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar
Kuwaitt Embassy in London, the U.K.

Kuwait has decided to reduce North Korea's diplomatic staff and stopped issuing new visas for North Koreans, a U.S.-based media report said Saturday, citing its U.N. sanctions implementation report.

In the report to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), Kuwait said it has decided to cut the number of North Korean diplomats in the country to four from the current nine, the Voice of America (VOA) reported.

The report did not mention when the five diplomats will return home.

The move is in line with UNSC Resolution 2321 adopted last year to punish the North's fifth nuclear test.

Kuwait has also stopped the issuance of visas for North Korean nationals. North Koreans in the Middle East country will be told to leave it once their residential permits expire, according to the report.

Currently, some 6,000 North Koreans are believed to work in Kuwait.

On Monday, the UNSC adopted its ninth sanctions resolution against the North, this time in response to its sixth and most powerful nuke test on Sept. 3. Despite the fresh package of sanctions, Pyongyang staged yet another missile provocation on Friday. (Yonhap)
My name is Britt Cotter and I am an attorney in Polson. I regularly practice throughout Missoula. I am writing to give my support to Brendan McQuillan for Missoula Municipal Court judge.

I have worked with McQuillan as both prosecutor and defense attorney. The first trait that comes to mind is kindness. McQuillan has the empathy and compassion needed to be a fair judge. He is a great person, and an even better parent. But I have also seen McQuillan prosecute people who need to be prosecuted.
Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung

Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung visited the family of a South Korean missionary held captive in North Korea since 2013, the ministry said Saturday.

The Vice Minister visited Kim Jung-wook's family on Friday to comfort them and explain the government's ongoing efforts to bring the 53-year-old Christian missionary safely back home.

"We will continue doing our best to successfully repatriate detainees using all the resources at our disposal," Chun was quoted by the ministry as saying to the family.

Kim has been held in the North since October 2013 on charges of entering the country secretly, plotting to overthrow the regime and spying for South Korea's intelligence agency. He was sentenced to hard labor for life.

Including Kim, there are six South Koreans in captivity in the North.

Choe Chun-gil and Kim Kuk-gi, two other missionaries who were arrested in February and October 2014, respectively, have also been sentenced to hard labor for life.

The three remaining detainees are North Korean defectors.

The North has been absolutely unresponsive to any requests by Seoul about the detainees, such as talking about their release or having their family visit them. (Yonhap)
Los Angeles, CA An An overtime pay class action launched against an insurance claims administrator achieved preliminary approval earlier this month, when a non-revisionary cash settlement worth $2.5 million was given the nod by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl. The unpaid overtime lawsuit alleged that various policies observed by the defendant forced claims adjusters into situations where they had to work off the clock, foregoing overtime pay, meal and rest breaks.

The case is, Case No. BC556145, in theThe class comprises some 600 current and former employees of Sedgwick who worked for the firm as claims adjusters from August, 2010 to present day. Lead plaintiff Antoinette Salazar was herself employed as a claims adjuster at Sedgwick across a five-year period from April, 2007 until May, 2012. She claims in her California overtime law class action that Sedgwick maintains an overtime pre-approval policy as well as an alternative four-day workweek schedule that forces employees into a position where they have to work off the clock in order to meet work quotas established by Sedgwick.As a result, according to the overtime pay laws class action, rest breaks and meal periods were often missed, and combined with work performed off the clock overtime pay for the extra work performed, was not provided. Salazar asserted that that Sedgwick reserved the availability of overtime pay for special projects only, and only if it was preapproved.Sedgwicks policy and corporate culture of restricting overtime, coupled with heavy caseloads imposed on class members, forced employees to work off the clock, outside of their recorded time, the memorandum to the court in support of preliminary approval states. Plaintiff and class members allege they only reported their scheduled hours, and not the hours actually worked. If plaintiff and class members reported unauthorized overtime, they faced disciplinary action, including termination.Sedgwick countered that it duly provided for overtime and complied with California law by providing meal breaks and paying premiums for missed meals. The defendant provides insurance claims administration to major employers in the US, including workers compensation claims, disability, general, auto and professional liability coverage, according to Court documents.Judge Kuhl was happy with almost all aspects of the preliminary settlement, with the only caveat that she suggested language that might give a class participant more time to either file an objection to the overtime pay laws class action  or opt out entirely  if a hiccup such as an address change might serve to delay notification.As class representative, Salazar is to receive $6,000 in additional compensation.
Most of us know that a good nights sleep is key for happiness and productivity, and that conversely, a night of poor sleep can have negative effects on our performance during the day. But a new study manages to find precisely the brain area responsible for learning new skills and shows how it can be affected by poor sleep quality. Share on Pinterest New research manipulates the deep sleep phase and examines its effects on learning new skills. A team of researchers from the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, both in Switzerland, set out to examine the effect of a disturbed deep sleep phase on the brains ability to learn new things. More specifically, the new study  published in the journal Nature Communications  looks at the brains ability to change and adapt in response to the stimuli that it receives from the environment, or neuroplasticity, in the motor cortex and how it is affected by deep sleep. The motor cortex is the brain area responsible for developing and controlling motor skills, and the deep sleep phase  also called slow-wave sleep  is key for memory formation and processing, as well as for helping the brain to restore itself after a day of activity.

Manipulating the motor cortex during deep sleep The study involved six women and seven men who were asked to perform motoric tasks during the day following a night of unperturbed sleep, and after a night during which their deep sleep had been disturbed. The tasks involved learning a series of finger movements, and the researchers were able to locate precisely the brain area responsible for learning movement. Using an electroencephalogram, the researchers monitored the brain activity of the participants while they were sleeping. On the first day of the experiment  after the first movement learning session  the participants were able to sleep without disturbance. On the second night, however, the researchers manipulated the participants sleep quality. They were able to focus on the motor cortex and disrupt their deep sleep, thus investigating the impact that poor sleep has on the neuroplasticity involved in practicing new movements. The participants did not know that their deep sleep phase had been tampered with. To them, the quality of their sleep was roughly the same on both occasions.
Our country is fighting disasters, whether fires or floods, all while preparing the congressional budget. These events have brought neighbors together to prop up their community. Now I ask for your involvement to support our community.

Partnership Health Center (PHC) of Missoula receives federal support to provide comprehensive primary care to anyone, regardless of ability to pay. A portion of this resource is at risk. Seventy percent of the federal grant funding authorization expires on Sept. 30. Without action from Congress, PHC will lose a substantial part of its operating budget.

With the primary care fiscal cliff for the health centers fast approaching, I am concerned about the impact on our patients and future health center jobs, here and throughout the state. Partnership offers excellent medical, dental and behavioral health care to 16,000 residents, provides jobs to over 200 staff members and decreases health care costs.

Community health centers like PHC create access to comprehensive care all across Montana. Congress needs to know that we care about PHCs future. It is critical that we continue long-term funding for healthcare to underserved and rural communities. Please reach out to our senators and congressman requesting re-authorization of the Health Center Fund.

Laurie Francis,

Missoula
The study  led by Dr. Manuela Marin, from the University of Vienna  set out to test whether or not women and men find potential partners more attractive under the influence of music.

Darwins ideas were never proven true, but now, researchers from the University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck, both in Austria, have decided to build on this hypothesis and test whether it  and how much of it  could actually be rooted in psychosocial and biological mechanisms.

Darwin implied that the fact that a person engages with music  be it to compose it or play it  may be a subtle indicator of cognitive as well as physical abilities. Since these are all abilities desirable in a partner, he thought that music may act as a signpost for biologically attractive characteristics.

In the 1871 book The Descent of Man , Charles Darwin tried to get to the bottom of the question, Why is music so important in our human society? He suggested that humans may have invented music to serve a reproductive aim.

A new study by researchers from Austria suggests that listening to music may prompt women to find male faces more attractive.

Facial attractiveness is one of the most important physical characteristics that can influence the choice of a partner, explains study co-author Prof. Helmut Leder, from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna. We wanted to find out how music can alter the perception of this feature.

The fact that music has a strong social element to it, the team says, makes it likely that listening to it could have an impact on how we see other peoples faces and how we therefore perceive their attractiveness.

There is some evidence in the psychological literature that so-called arousal transfer effects can occur if two stimuli are processed consecutively. The processing of the first stimulus produces internal arousal, [] which is then attributed to the second stimulus. This mostly unconscious mechanism can then influence our actions, in this case, the choice of a partner. Dr. Manuela Marin

The team worked with 96 heterosexual participants of both sexes, comprising 64 women and 32 men. The women were split into two distinct groups depending on whether or not they were at a fertile stage in their menstrual cycle. Both the men and the women had similar tastes in music, similar musical training, and the same relationship status.

All the participants were exposed to various fragments of instrumental music of different emotional intensities. Following exposure to music, the women were shown photos of male faces set in a neutral expression, and vice versa.

They were instructed to assess the attractiveness of the photographed faces on a seven-point scale, where 1 meant very attractive, 4 was neutral, and 7 meant very non-attractive.

For consistency, the results were compared with the outcomes of a control group, in which the men and women were shown photographs of members of the opposite sex but were not exposed to music.

The researchers noted that the women who had listened to music tended to rate male faces as more attractive and were more likely to say that they would consider dating them. The results were largely the same for all women, regardless of their fertility status at that point.

Men, however, did not exhibit any significant change in their perception of faces after having been exposed to music. It was also found that the more complex and emotionally stimulating music had the greatest influence on the participants.

Following this experiment, the researchers are interested in finding out whether they would be able to replicate the results in larger cohorts. They would also like to try to understand just how much influence music could have on perception when it comes to selecting a mate.

Our goal is to replicate these results in a larger sample and to modify some aspects of the experiment, says study co-author Dr. Bruno Gingras, from the University of Innsbruck.

For example, he continues, we would like to clarify whether musical abilities and creativity can compensate partially for deficiencies in terms of physical appearance and fitness.
When we move to a new environment  be it a new job, new school, or new neighborhood  we tend to think that our peers have more friends than we do. But what impact does this belief have on our happiness? Research investigates. Share on Pinterest Being surrounded by friends is important for our well-being, but so is not thinking that others have more friends than we do. It is known that loneliness and social isolation are not good for ones health and well-being. In fact, recent studies have reported that social isolation threatens our immune system and cardiovascular health, being responsible for more premature deaths than obesity. But could the mere thought that we are alone make us unhappy? Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada  in collaboration with scientists at Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, MA  set out to investigate the impact of simply believing that one has fewer friends than their peers on ones overall well-being. The team was led by Frances Chen, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at UBC, and the researchers conducted two studies to investigate this social belief. Their findings were published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Examining social misperceptions In the first study, Prof. Chen and colleagues surveyed a group of 1,099 first-year students at UBC, asking them how many close friends they had made and to approximate how many close friends they thought that their peers had made since the beginning of the academic year. Close friends were defined as friends in whom the students felt comfortable confiding their problems, and these were distinguished from social acquaintances. The survey revealed that most of the students believed that their peers had made more friends than they had. In fact, 48 percent of the respondents were convinced that this was true, while 31 percent thought the opposite. In the second study, the researchers tried to see whether or not this belief would be as prevalent over time, examining its positive and negative implications. The team followed 389 first-year university students and asked them to complete the surveys at two time points, with 4 to 5 months between them. The surveys inquired about the participants well-being and sense of belonging. The former was assessed using the Satisfaction With Life Scale, as well as the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience, while the latter was examined using the Revised Social Connectedness Scale. Additionally, the researchers looked at the time that students spent socializing, and the time it took them to form friendships.
The Reds have claimed infielder D.J. Peterson off waivers from the White Sox. Cincinnati transferred reliever Drew Storen to the 60-day disabled list in a corresponding move. The White Sox also outrighted catcher Alfredo Gonzalez to Double-A Birmingham, reducing their 40-man total to 38, Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune tweets.

This is the second time this year a club has claimed Peterson. He previously went to the White Sox on Aug. 6 after the Mariners designated him for assignment at the end of July. For Seattle, moving on from the 25-year-old meant cutting ties with a 2013 first-round pick and a player who was once a highly regarded prospect. Peterson struggled this season with the Mariners Triple-A affiliate and did the same in his 97-plate appearance stint with the White Soxs top farm team, giving him a .252/.315/.404 batting line in 518 PAs. The righty-swinger still hasnt ascended to the majors, and he wont report to the big league club upon his arrival to the Reds, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter).

The 25-year-old Gonzalez also hasnt gotten past the minors since signing with the Astros as an international free agent in 2008. This year, his first in the Chicago organization, the Venezuelan hit .208/.306/.301 in 249 trips to the plate with Birmingham.
A video being circulated on social media suggests the possibility of contaminated/unwholesome sugar on the Ghanaian market.

In the over 3.34 minute video, a woman demonstrates her tea turned into a thick creamy unknown substance after adding an allegedly contaminated sugar she bought from the market.

The video starts with the woman dipping a tea bag in water after which she adds milk. She notes that the milk is not expired, although she failed to show the expiry date on the milk tin.

She stirs the tea and adds sugar. The sugar is tied in a white plain rubber.

After adding the sugar and stirring it for sometime, the tea begins to change into small dark creamy lumps.

Alarmed by this development, she in the video asked the general public to always add milk to tea before adding sugar. This, according to her will allow them to identify between unwholesome or wholesome sugar.

Getting to the end of the video, she pleaded that Ghanaians should be careful when buying sugar.

She added that, the video should be shared on the various social media platforms so the message gets to every Ghanaian to safeguard their health.

It is not known if the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), is aware of the video. However, some social media users are skeptical about the video.

How can it be proven that the milk used has not expired since she did not show the expiry date in the video?

What if the white substance in the video is not sugar but a substance that looks like sugar?

Even the liquid she used could be something other than water?

The kind of tea bag she used could be made with some kind of herbs.

These are some of the questions people are asking on social media about the video. It behoves on the FDA to conduct research on the matter to either dispel rumours or confirm the veracity of the video.

This video comes months after a video of a woman artificially coloring oranges to boost sales surfaced on the internet.

The FDA in a report arrested two women in connection to the video.
A new research by scientists in the US, suggests that there is a relationship between spanking your kid and an increased risk of mental health problems.

According to destinyconnect.com, the research was conducted by a team of scientists at the University of Texas and the University of Michigan analysing data collated over five decades on more than 160 000 children,

Findings from the study posit that spanking has adverse long-term unintended consequences on a childs mental health, their social behaviour and cognitive ability later on in life.

Spanking children to correct misbehaviour is a widespread practice, yet one shrouded in debate about its effectiveness and even its appropriateness. The meta-analyses presented here found no evidence that spanking is associated with improved child behaviour and rather found spanking to be associated with increased risk of 13 developmental outcomes, the researchers were quoted as saying in the report.

It further adds that spanking a kid has some negative outcomes such as increased aggression, heightened anti-social behaviour, lower cognitive ability, a more negative relationship with parents, increased internalising as well as externalising of problems and lower self-esteem.

They added that there is no evidence that spanking does any good for children and all evidence points to the risk attached to it.

Parents are advised to take into consideration the negative effects of spanking before doing it.

If spanking is part of your discipline and it is done on a consistent basis and the child can predict it, then it is good. If the child knows that if they break a window or lie, their parents will spank them because theyve done so before, that is good, Sandton-based clinical psychologist Candice Cowen said in an interview with Destiny.

Parents were also advised to make it clear to their child why they are spanking them.

If the child doesnt understand why they are getting a spanking, they might rebel, parents were warned.
So your wife left you. What can you do to get her back?

There are no guarantees, but the best bet is to let her go and focus on yourself for a while. Yes, you read that right  the best way to get your wife back is to not try and get her back right now, and to not try and get her back for a while, maybe for quite a while.

Your wife left you. That means you are probably a wreck, a hot mess, a basket case. You want her back, you cant believe that you made the mistakes you did and that now shes gone.

Well, its exactly because you are such a mess right now  emotionally for sure, and possibly physically as well  that you cant be trusted to negotiate for her to return and rejoin your life. You are too busy feeling sorry for yourself, or you are still in angry denial about your part in the separation, or youre too drunk or too despairing to handle the delicate, deft diplomacy that will be required to get her back.

So the first step is to take a break a pretty long break  and allow yourself a chance to get back on an even keel. Give yourself the gift of some time and some rest. It also gives your wife a chance to cool down, as well. Arguing with each other while youre both still angry about your problems is not helpful.

By take a break I dont really mean take a rest. Not if you think taking a rest means lying around doing nothing. Sure, if you need a couple days to catch up on sleep, thats fine. But then you have a whole lot of work to do.

What I mean by take a break is a break in communications and interaction with your wife. This break can help keep your estranged wife from becoming your ex-wife, so take it seriously.

The best advice I can give you is to immediately begin a minimum thirty days of no communication. That means no texting, no calls, no emails, no visits, no letters (as if anybody sends actual letters anymore!), no telegrams, no contact on social media, no instant messaging, no nothing! The only thing allowed, and even this should be just in emergencies, would be some kind of necessary housekeeping communication  about bill paying, perhaps, or dealing with your children, if you have them. But those kinds of messages must be kept short and strictly business  do not say anything beyond the bare minimum required. Just the facts, as the cops used to say on TV. And beware, because even a simple, factual message to your estranged wife can become a kind of emotional weapon (look how pitiful I am) or moral boasting.

During this thirty day quiet period, you should focus exclusively on yourself, on your own problems. During this month off, both you and your wife will have a chance to cool down and let go of some of your anger and self-righteous fury and frustration. Even just that change of mind will make a huge difference. Negotiations with your wife will always go better when both of you are calm, cool and collected. So take that break.

Another important activity during the quiet period is to improve your own situation. You have a lot of anger and angst to deal with, so its important to find a healthy way to do that. Exercise is one of the best outlets for rage and frustration, so get to the gym or get out and take a run or bike ride. Vigorous exercise will change your perspective on just about any problem.

Exercise can also help you get into better shape  not just physically, but emotionally. When you work out regularly, your body produces endorphins that change the chemistry of your brain, putting you in a better mood and making you more confident. That confidence shows up to other people around you, making you more attractive and interesting to them. Eventually, when you resume contact with your wife, this improved state of mind will make you more attractive to her and give you a better chance of getting her back. She isnt nearly as likely to take you back if youre a pitiful, blubbering wreck.

You need to also use your quiet period to think about how you contributed to your wifes departure. It has to be serious thought  you need to be honest, at first with yourself, later with your wife, about the part you have played in this disaster. Did you neglect or nag your wife? Did you cheat on her? Abuse her in some way? Do you have some problem with your temper or drinking or drugs? If you cant even be honest with yourself about it, then you will likely need the help of a professional councellor therapist.

Eventually, when you make your case to your wife that you should get back together, you will want to be able to show her that youve acknowledged your mistakes and that youve taken steps to change things. A bad temper can be addressed through anger management courses, for example, while substance abuse can be helped through a 12-step program or medical treatment.

Its also important to take care of your mind during the quiet period. Study or learn something new, some subject that keeps your brain healthy. Read a book or see an interesting movie. Take a trip, even a short one, to a new place. Study a language, visit a museum, learn to cook  anything intellectual and creative. This is important because your intellect is an important and attractive part of you. You should be able to have an interesting, educated conversation with other people, and with your wife, when you finally meet her again.

Remember, if and when the two of you finally meet again, when you are ready to make your case that she should come back, you want to be in good shape  you want to be taking care of yourself and getting on with your life, learning new things, having new adventures. If youre just sitting around crying and feeling like a victim all the time, why is your wife going to want to get back together? She wants a grown up relationship with a functional adult. You need to take steps to become a more functional adult if you are to have a decent chance of getting her back. There are no guarantees, but this will give you the best shot.
Bukavu (DR Congo) (AFP) - Troops shot dead 18 Burundian refugees in clashes in Kamanyola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials in the eastern province of South Kivu said Saturday, giving what they said was a provisional toll.

A Burundian refugee said that more than 30 had been killed and at least 100 wounded.

Interior ministry official Josue Boji said troops had tried to disperse the refugees by "firing in the air but were overwhelmed" when the group responded by throwing stones in Friday's confrontation.

Boji said the clashes began after a group of refugees overran a jail run by the country's domestic intelligence agency to demand the release of four Burundians who had been arrested for expulsion on Wednesday night.

The toll could rise further, as the refugees took the bodies of other victims to the Pakistani-run UN camp at Kamanyola, he said.

A spokeswoman for MONUSCO, the UN's peacekeeping mission in the country, gave a toll, which was also provisional, of 18 dead and 50 injured.

A Burundian refugee told AFP: "I saw people falling down, men, women and children who were completely unarmed.

"So far, we have counted 31 dead and at least 105 injured, 15 of them seriously," the refugee said.

Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to the eastern DR Congo to escape a wave of violence that unfurled in 2015 after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a fiercely contested third term in office.

Overall, the violence in Burundi has claimed between 500 and 2,000 lives, according to differing tolls provided by the UN or NGOs and more than 400,000 Burundians have fled abroad.

Around 36,000 are in DR Congo, mainly in the overcrowded camp of Lusenda, in the east, or several transit camps.

On September 4, the UN released a report accusing Burundi's government of crimes against humanity, including executions and torture, and urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a case "as soon as possible".

Burundi's government firmly rejected the allegations, accusing the UN investigators of being "mercenaries" in a Western plot to "enslave African states".
Crystal Palace lost their fifth straight Premier League game and here's what happened in the 3pm kick-offs.

Huddersfield 1-1 Leicester

Laurent Depoitre scored on his full Premier League debut as Huddersfield and Leicester fought out a 1-1 draw at the John Smiths Stadium. Depoitre, a 3.5million summer signing from Porto, broke the deadlock 40 seconds into the second half before Jamie Vardy fired the Foxes level four minutes later from the penalty spot.

Liverpool 1-1 Burnley

Burnleys stubborn resistance left a dominant Liverpool frustrated on Philippe Coutinhos return to the Reds starting line-up.

Newcastle 2-1 Stoke

Captain Jamaal Lascelles was Newcastles hero for the second time in a week as manager Rafael Benitez celebrated his return to the dugout with a third successive Premier League victory. Christian Atsu had fired the home side ahead after 19 minutes, but Xherdan Shaqiri levelled 14 minutes after the restart to set the stage for Lascelles to repeat his feat at Swansea last Sunday.

Watford 0-6 Man City

Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick for City as they tore Watford apart at Vicarage Road. The 6-0 win moved Pep Guardiolas team top of the Premier League table.

Gabriel Jesus also scored against a previously unbeaten Watford, with Nicolas Otamendi and a Raheem Sterling penalty completing the rout. Aguero took his City tally to 175 goals, just three shy of breaking Eric Brooks club record of 177 that has stood since 1939.

West Brom 0-0 West Ham

West Brom held West Ham in a forgettable 0-0 draw as the Hammers continued to ease the pressure on boss Slaven Bilic. The visitors claimed their second clean sheet in a week after a 2-0 win over Huddersfield and took their first away point in the Premier League this season. Gareth Barry made a record-equalling 632nd Premier League appearance.


Global automobile company, Mercedes Benz, says 30 vehicles procured by the government as ambulances, could best be used as 13-seater passenger buses.

A technical examination conducted on the vehicles delivered to the government in 2014, has revealed as many as 18 defects making it unfit for the initial purpose.

Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid who disclosed this on weekly news analysis programme Newsfile on Joy FM, Saturday, also said the contract for the procurement of the fleet was awarded in 2010 to one Richard Dzakpa, an aide to former National Security Coordinator, Joseph Nunoo-Mensah.

The contract was awarded without going through a competitive bidding process,he added.

The revelation has provided fresh information for further probe into why the government single-sourced the contract to [email protected] to procure 200 ambulances for the Health Ministry.

The NDC government also approved the payment of bank charges in excess of 6,000 Euros.

A member of the previous administration, Inusah Fuseini who also spoke on the programme said, President John Mahama ordered that the payment should not be effected because the vehicles were substantially not fit for purpose.

The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, therefore, charged the responsible state agency to retrieve payments made for the Letters of Credit since this transaction has more questions than answers.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Jerry Tsatro Mordy | Email: [email protected], Twitter: @jerrymordy
Dahir ximar

16.09.2017 LISTEN

The Somali Media Spoilers, who a Dutch court recently handed down a heavy sentence over false allegations against a Somali remittance company, have now faced their second blow after the United Nations Security Council amended their 2014 Somalia report that alleges Somali innocent citizen as a suicide bomber.

Waagacusub and its owner Dahir Alasow, who is a Somali refugee in Holland and its English editor Omar Faruk Osman who are known for extorting and blackmailing the public officials and other prominent business entities in Somalia, alleged Mohamed Abukar Zubeyr as a suicide bomber who blew himself up at the Bosaso police station on 4 August 2014 and thus published Zubeyrs passport which only was in the hands of Omar Faruk Osman, according to Zubeyr who gave exclusive interview with Horn Observer.

"On 6 April 2016, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia and Eritrea received a letter dated 6 April 2016 from the Coordinator of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea providing it with new information regarding Mr. Mohamed Abukar Zubeyr, the statement which was published on 14 April said, "This information shows that Mr. Zubeyr is not the suicide bomber involved in the incident at the Bosasso Central Police station in Puntland on 4 August 2014, which was reported in the Groups final report of 13 October 2014 (S/2014/726).

After the story of Mr. Zubeyr went viral, a lot of victims of abuse through media have dared to talk publicly about their take on the reported extortion by the Dahir Alasow and Omar Faruk Osman, those interviewed included civil society entities, lawmakers and members of the business community all of them were victimized on behalf of the Media, which makes the perception of people against the media more dangerous, putting many innocent Somali journalists at serious risk.

However, Human Rights Watch released a report on the sidelines of the World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, 2016 on the attacks on the Media entitled "Like Fish in Poisonous waters.. The 93 page report paints grim picture on the Press freedom of the country and the dangers facing against the profession.

"Government officials, journalists and international media experts told Human Rights Watch that many journalists lacked professionalism, pointing in particular to a handful of websites and outlets that have on occasion smeared public officials. The HRW report said.

"In page 18 of the report further notes interviews from international media experts, the websites of Dahir Alasow in particular were mentioned in discussions as evidence of poor journalism bent on smearing the reputation of individuals, the report added.

In this way, many media professionals warned that Waagacusub and its owner Dahir Alasow is putting the name of the Somali media in danger which could result public distrust, which threatens the security and the safety of the Somali Journalists.

Somalia government on November last year officially ordered the closures of those websites, following complaints filed at the Somalias Attorney general office.

In the meantime, there have been reliable sources indicating that Dahir Alasow and his associates might have recently been associated to the terrorist organizations, after foretelling in a detailed manner of many successful terrorist attacks which Alasow gave credit himself for telling a week earlier, an operation many believe could not have been known other than the real planners.

Hassan Abdulle
Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in Southern California has won a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot. The winning numbers drawn Tuesday morning at the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee were: white balls 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56, and the red Powerball was 10. The jackpot ticket was sold at Joes Service Center in Altadena, northeast of Los Angeles. The business will receive a maximum Powerball bonus of $1 million. The Multi-State Lottery Association said Monday nights scheduled drawing was delayed by nearly 10 hours until Tuesday because a participating lottery had issues processing sales. The jackpot was by far the largest lottery jackpot ever won, topping the previous record $1.586 billion prize won by three Powerball ticketholders in 2016.
I welcome with approval the Amsterdam courts ruling of dismissing Mr. Dahir Alasow; a Somali national residing at the Netherlands writ of Summons.

The Court in dismissing the writ of Summons recognized that Mr Abdirahman Omar Osman may address Mr Dahir Alasows extortionist practices in light of the evidence against him. The Court further ordered Dahir Alasow to pay Mr Osman EUR 1,699 as compensation for costs of the proceedings.

Extortion is illegal and is punishable under our Law. It is distasteful that these illegal actions are done by a journalist who has the huge responsibility of informing the general public. Therefore, for a such an individual to extort individuals in the name of a good story, it goes against the law and ethics that are expected of journalists and media generally.

It should always be remembered that rights and freedoms comes with responsibilities and limitation and therefore any breach of these rights should be met with the full force of the law.

I therefore applaud the Dutch Court for recognizing that I may address Mr. Alasows extortionist practices in light of the evidence against him.

As a promoter of freedom of expression and free press there are limits as to the lengths a journalist should go to in search of a story. My Ministry has in the spirit of promotion of free press and in consultation with the stakeholders made significant changes to the current Media Law, which now awaits parliament debate and approval.

As we take these tremendous strides towards a free press, let it be noted that we are all subject to our constitution and that as it gives rights and freedoms, it also sets limits as to enjoyment of those rights.

Ministry of Information, Culture & Tourism

[email protected]
Mr. Anthony Boateng, the acting Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has urged teachers to work hard and to be professional in the conduct of their duties.

Speaking at a recent My First Day at School event at the Madina Cluster of Schools in Accra, Mr. Anthony Boateng said teachers had no cause to complain about the attitudes of pupils and said, You are not in this school to complain and to be doing nothing. Stop blaming the child for every wrong thing. You are here to teach and to mold these children for life and you ought to do it well always. You should know that without these pupils, all of us here are unemployed.

Madam Jennifer Dede Afagbedzi, the Municipal Chief Executive of La-Nkwantanang-Madina, lauded teachers for their hard work and urged them to intensify their support for all educational policies and programmes of government, including the Free Senior High School programme.

Mrs. Margaret Nsiah-Asamoah, the La-Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Director of Education, advised teachers to eschew acts that have the propensity to reduce educational standards.

She assured that her outfit would do all within its means to improve the performance of schools in the municipality and said, My outfit would continue to engage the government and stakeholders to promote good-quality education in the municipality.

Meanwhile, Mr. Anthony Kwaku Amoah, a Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GES, in his speech during the donation of some supplementary books to the kindergarten and primary pupils of Saint Kilian Catholic Basic School at Awutu-Beraku in Central Region, urged teachers and school heads to effectively involve parents in the choice of senior high schools for pupils who are deemed to be placed by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

Very soon, our pupils will be choosing their senior high, technical and vocational schools and programmes of study as part of their registration for BECE. I plead with you to involve parents and guardians in this exercise so as to avoid the situation where some parents and guardians mount undue pressure on the CSSPS, when the time comes, with the reason being that they are not aware of the schools that their children have chosen and so will not allow them to enroll.
Batna (Algeria) (AFP) - By donating one of her kidneys, Nawel gave her husband Boubaker Ziani a new lease on life after he had undergone 16 years of dialysis.

But in Algeria and across the entire Maghreb in North Africa, many people continue to suffer or die because of the lack of donors.

Part of the problem lies with laws restricting the harvesting of human organs, coupled with cultural or religious reticence, despite Muslim theologians' approval of organ donations.

Ziani's wife offered him a kidney after she saw that he had become too weak to play with or even to hold his children.

He had long rejected her willingness to help, but in the end as no other donor was available, he finally relented.

He had the operation at one of Algeria's two main centres for kidney transplants, the University Hospital in Batna, 435 kilometres (270 miles) east of Algiers.

"I'm like a newborn," Ziani told AFP, tears in his eyes.

In a consultation room, 47-year-old Abderahmane said he hoped an end to 24 years of dialysis was in sight thanks to a kidney from his mother.

"Dialysis has dominated my life. I want to take a break from this machine and live," he said.

He suffers from a hereditary condition that also affects two of his brothers. Lacking access to transplants, one of them has died and the other has now been on dialysis for two years.

More than 22,000 people in Algeria suffer from renal conditions and are forced to undergo dialysis, according to the ministry of health. A third are waiting for a transplant.

Most families refuse

Many others require liver donations, which can also be offered by live donors.

But under Algerian law, a living person can donate an organ only to a parent, child, sibling or spouse.

In the absence of a national database, the overall number of people awaiting transplants in Algeria is unknown.

Many patients are critically ill as they wait for organs such as a heart which can only be taken from deceased donors.

Algerian doctor Ahmed Bougroura (left), head of nephrology department at Batna's university hospital, 435 kms east of Algiers, talks to Nawel who is going to donated a kidney to her husband Ziani Boubaker, on July 26, 2017

But the law says organs may only be removed from a dead person if their family agrees.

The overwhelming majority refuse, for lack of information, fear of violating religious laws or mistrust of doctors.

Some also suspect that transplants benefit only the privileged.

"Some families had never heard of donations from corpses before the death of a relative," said Dr Ahmed Bougroura, head of the Batna hospital's kidney health department and coordinator of the transplant team.

Theologian Kamel Chekkat, a member of Algeria's association of Islamic scholars, stressed that the practice was not religiously outlawed.

"From a religious point of view, there is nothing to oppose organ donation and the taking of organs from corpses," he said.

He and other Muslim theologians have argued that organ donation after death is "ongoing charity" -- a pious act in Islam that outlives the person who performs it.

The gift of an organ fulfils "one of the major objectives of Islamic law, which is the preservation of life," Chekkat said.

As for the recipient, "whatever the religion of the patient... the law of God instructs us to preserve his life."

Public education required

In 2015, just two patients in Algeria -- which has a population of more than 40 million -- received donor kidneys, according to the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT).

The figures for Morocco and Tunisia were only marginally better, with fewer than 10 patients in each country receiving kidneys from the deceased.

"Organ donation... is struggling to gain a foothold in Morocco, even though there are no prohibitions: not medical, legal or religious," Moroccan organ registrar Said Sabri told AFP.

Laws restricting the harvesting of human organs, coupled with cultural or religious reticence, despite Muslim theologians' approval of organ donations

Dr Rafika Bardi, head of the Tunisian Centre for the Promotion of Organ Transplantation, said that "as in all the countries of the Maghreb... organ donations by the deceased are minimal".

She said the region lacked a "culture of donating organs" and that many people confuse organ donation with organ trafficking.

Algeria is considering changing the law to allow citizens to indicate in writing that they accept to have their organs removed in the event of their death, overriding refusals by their families.

However, specialists say that is not enough.

Campaigners in Algeria and Tunisia want to create registers of people who refuse to have their organs taken after their death -- and anyone not on the list would be considered a potential donor by default.

Farid Sekouf, 41, who is finally preparing to receive his wife's kidney after six years on dialysis, believes the public needs more information on the issue.

"When it comes to going to vote, the state does all it can so that even a person in a tent in the Sahara is informed," he said.
Kumasi, Sept 14, GNA - The total assets of 75 member companies of the Micro-Credit Association of Ghana (MCAG) hit GHs7,803,095.96, last year.

They also granted loans amounting to GHs18,049,267.00 during the period.

Mrs. Regina Kumi, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Association, put the number of loan beneficiaries at 12,521 and said 8,612 of them were women.

She announced this at the annual general meeting of the association held in Kumasi.

It was under the theme 'The role of micro-credit institutions in bridging the poverty gap in the country'.

Mrs. Kumi described the performance of the companies as impressive given the tough economic conditions of the period.

She indicated that they were making immense contribution towards the fight to reduce poverty.

She spoke of the direct relationship between job creation and poverty reduction and said it was on the basis of this that they had been focusing on granting credit to micro, small and medium scale enterprises - to ensure that these businesses received the needed credit to grow and create wealth.

'To improve the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of our country and to build a resilient economy, the role of micro credit institutions cannot be downplayed.'

Mrs. Kumi pointed out that the key to poverty alleviation was an economic growth that was inclusive.

It must reach the majority of the people through improving the performance and sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

She therefore called for the government to support them with tax incentives and subsidized funding to boost their operation and help grow the private sector.

Mr. Sampson Akligoh, Director, Financial Sector Division of the Ministry of Finance, said steps had been taken to sanitize the sector, bring transparency and efficiency into the operations of the micro-credit institutions.

This, he said, was in response to growing public complaints, relating to the inability of some of the companies to pay back depositors money.

He said they would go to every length to protect the interest of the country and the industry.

They were eager to see the capital base of the companies improved and the issue of multiple regulators, addressed.

Mr. Philip Opoku- Mensah, Deputy Chief Manager, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Division of the Bank of Ghana, asked them to stick to best practices.

He identified weak internal controls and poor understanding of the concept of microfinancing as some of the factors accounting for the low performance of many of them in the industry.

GNA

By Josephine Nyarkoh/Beatrice Nyarko, GNA
Accra, Sept. 14, GNA - Thomas Tetteh, a 34 year old electrician, on Thursday wept uncontrollably after an Accra Circuit Court sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment in hard labour for frequently defiling an 11 year old girl at Teshie.

Tetteh who was charged with defilement pleaded guilty and the court presided over by Mrs Jane Harriet Akweley Quaye convicted him on his own plea.

He is said to have had sex with the victim in a faulty taxi parked at a Mechanic Shop at Teshie but luck eluded him when the victim was quizzed over her absence in the house.

Handing down the sentence the court said it had heard the plea for mitigation put in by Mr Andy K. Vortia, a lawyer who acted as a friend of the court and the fact that the convict had not wasted the court time by pleading guilty.

However the court indicated that Tetteh was not young but a full grown man and he was aware of his deeds.

Prosecuting Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Agnes Boafo told the court that the complainant was the mother of the victim.

According to ASP Boafo, Tetteh comes from La but periodically visited a drinking spot at Teshie which was also near the complainant's house.

Prosecution said based on Tetteh's regular visits, he developed an acquaintance with some of the children within the vicinity including the victim.

Tetteh therefore convinced the victim and he has been having sexual intercourse with her and warned her not inform any one.

On September 8, this year, prosecution said during the night, Tetteh went to the said drinking spot and saw the victim around the place and lured her to a nearby mechanic shop, pushed her into a faulty taxi and had sex with her.

ASP Boafo told the court that the complainant looked for her in the area to no avail. When the victim got home, the complainant quizzed her and she let the cat out of the bag adding that accused has been having sex with her on several occasions.

The complainant informed the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service at Nungua and accused was nabbed while the victim was given a medical form to seek medical attention.

GNA

By Joyce Danso, GNA
Accra, Sept. 14, GNA - Ms Otiko Afisa Djaba, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has called on parents to secure the future of their children through the free education opportunity given them by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

'The Ghanaian child has a right to education and you also have the responsibility of learning.'

She urged the children to stop bullying each other and make their schools a happy place in order to better fulfil their potential.

Ms Otiko Djaba said this when she monitored the implementation process of the 'Free SHS' at the Accra Girls Senior High School (SHS) on Thursday.

About 600 girls of the first group of beneficiaries of the 'Free SHS' across the country have been enrolled into the Accra Girls SHS.

'Some people said it cannot happen and it will never happen, but by the grace of God it has happened and it is such a joyous occasion.'

She urged the girls to aim high in order to fulfil their destiny and to say no to teenage pregnancy, no to child marriage and no to dropping out of school.

'I want to take your childhood seriously and enjoy it because every child of Ghana deserves the right to be happy, to be loved and to progress,' the Gender Minister.

She said with the one-district-one-factory and the one-village-one-dam flagship initiatives of President Akufo Addo Government 'we need you to come and operate all these factories, do the researches and be the doctors, presidents, teachers and soldiers.'

Ms Otiko Djaba said the destiny of Ghana lies in education and the dream of our forefathers is being materialised here.

Ghana has signed on to the right to education by the Children's Act of 1998 clause 568 which says that every Ghanaian child of school going age must be in school

'We have also signed onto the Free Compulsory Basic Education since 1992, which was not being well implemented, but with this initiative, parents will no longer be burdened at least for this first year and then we can move as we expand the economy and grow it to ensure that we capture all our children.'

'Who knows, as the economy grows we might even get free education at the tertiary level for Ghanaians.'

She said all the promises made by President Akufo Addo-led New Patriotic Party Government will come to pass, adding that, 'all we need to do is to believe in Ghana and believe in ourselves.'

GNA

By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA
Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of Asogli and President of the National House of Chiefs, has reiterated the call on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to play a lead role in restoring peace to the Republic of Togo.

He said the political crisis in that country was sending wrong signals about West Africa and said it was time the sub-regional body intervened.

Togbe Afede made the call at a grand durbar to climax the 2017 Asogli Yam Festival celebrations in Ho.

He said apart from the conflict spilling over to neighbouring countries, it was turning investors away and needed to be addressed.

Togbe Afede asked ECOWAS to engage the conflicting parties to resolve their misunderstandings democratically other than the use of force and arms.

"Togo needs peace, West Africa needs peace and ECOWAS must act now," he said.

Togbe Afede commended Government for its resolve to work with chiefs and also praised its efforts to ensure peace in the country.

He said chiefs in the country are excited with Government's initiatives such as the "Free SHS, One District, One Factory," and pledged their readiness to take advantage of the policies to develop their areas.

Togbe Afede urged Government to give true support to the private sector to develop and urged the citizenry to eschew laziness, greed and show true love to one another and the nation.

The Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia said Government was in a hurry to transform the country and called for the support of chiefs.

He said a national digital address system would soon be launched to change the economy and face of governance in the country.

Dr Bawumia said the system, the most advanced in the world, would give "even kiosks unique addresses."

He said Government remained committed to the Eastern Corridor road and would restore teacher trainee allowances this month and that of nurses next month.

The festival, held under the theme, "The role of tradition and culture in governance and development," attracted members of the diplomatic corps, tourists and chiefs from Benin, Togo, Congo, South Africa and Cameroon.
Dr. Nii Adjei Kraku ll, the Paramount Chief of Tema, has decried a trend of extortions in second cycle institutions in the wake of the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy by government.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at his Palace over the weekend, Nii Tema said, those throwing spanners into the works of the programme were saboteurs and nation wreckers.

They should stop sabotaging this good initiative by President Nana Akufo-Addo. This is a policy that would bring great blessing to this country and so those trying to draw us back are enemies of the people.

Nii Adjei Krakus lament comes in the wake of the Education Ministrys reported dismissal of two Head teachers and the interdiction of nine others for allegedly extorting monies from students in spite of the roll out of the Free SHS.

A total of nine others were interdicted, Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwaah, announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Dr. Nii Adjei Kraku ll applauded the GES swift execution of the disciplinary action saying it is a good message to others that the government is not joking with the interest of the people.

I will urge the government to continue to police the implementation of the policy so that it really becomes the blessing that it is supposed to be, Nii Tema said.

He also thanked all institutions who are helping and encouraging the implementation of the policy, singling out Stanbic Bank for praise for making its staff wear SHS uniforms to work in show of support for the policy.

I hope beyond wearing school uniforms, Stanbic will also contribute financially towards the sustenance of the policy, Nii Tema said.

Tema Manste commended the Fishing harbour branch Manager for his good works saying that he had made the place a destination for Ghanaians looking for a place to bank.
he Palestinian militant group Hamas says it is ready to dissolve the committee that rules Gaza and hold a general election for the first time since 2006.

It also said it was aiming for more talks with rivals Fatah as it aims to end their decade-long feud.

Hamas representatives have been meeting senior Egyptian officials in Cairo.

In a cautious initial response, the deputy head of Fatah said the move was positive and promising.

After deadly clashes in 2007, Fatah was driven out of the Gaza Strip.

Attempts by the two factions to form a unity government in Gaza and the West Bank since then have failed.

There has been no official response from the Fatah delegation in Egypt, but the deputy leader Mahmoud al-Aloul cautiously welcomed the news and called for other issues to be resolved, including control of border crossings and social reconciliation.

Hamas won the 2006 election but after the 2007 clashes, President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the Hamas prime minister. The group continued to rule over Gaza, while Fatah continued to lead the Palestinian Authority in the parts of the West Bank not under Israeli control.

Associated Press reports that it is not yet clear whether Hamas is ready to place its security forces under Mr Abbass control  a major sticking point in the past.

A key demand: Analysis by the BBCs Yolande Knell

It has been a key demand of President Abbas and his Fatah faction that Hamas dissolve the administrative committee that it set up in March. It is seen as a rival government to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank.

In recent months amid deepening political divisions Mr Abbas has piled pressure on Hamas, taking some controversial steps such as reducing electricity payments for Gaza.

Egypt has long acted as a go-between to try to end the damaging rift between the two main Palestinian factions.

Hamas as a whole, or in some cases its military wing, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, EU, UK and other powers.

Since 2007, Israel and Egypt have maintained a land and sea blockade on Gaza in an attempt to prevent attacks by Gaza-based militants.


The MP for Pru East, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has raised objections with the appointment of Sammy Awuku as Board Chairman of the Youth Employment Authority (YEA), saying he lacks the requisite experience required by law.

Dr. Donkor, the Minority Spokesperson on Employment, Social Welfare, and State Enterprise noted to Citi News that his concerns were not because Sammy Awuku was a member of the New Patriotic Party.

I raised an objection not because he is Sammy Awuku or because he is an NPP [Youth] Organiser. I raised issues with the very requirement of the law. Act 887 of 2015 in section 4, 1(a) it is very specific on the competencies expected of the board chairperson.

The act in question says the Chairperson of the YEA must be a person of recognized standing and experience in administration and human resource development or training.

But Dr. Donkor said the Minority in Parliament feels Mr. Awuku does not match up to this requirement, and thus called on President Akufo-Addoo to reconsider this appointment.

Sammy Awuku has a lot of potential. One is not against Sammy Awuku chairing a board, but one is against Sammy Awuku chairing the Youth Employment Agency Board because of the requirement of the law.

We believe he could be a member of the board but to be the Chair, the law was very specific on the competencies expected of it [the chairperson] and that is why we are appealing to His Excellency the President, or the appointing authority, to take a second look and let our laws work, Dr. Donkor added.

Sammy Awuku being sworn in as Board Chair of the YEA

On Friday, 15th September, 2017, the YEA inaugurated its board, which included the Founder of Ghana's School Feeding Programme, Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffour, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Lawyer Justin Kodua Frimpong who represents management on the Board, and Lawyer Bright Wereko Brobbey, Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations.

The acting CEO of the National Youth Authority, Emmanuel Sin Ayet Asigri, and a Forensic Auditor, Mr. James Quarshie were also appointed as board members.



By: Michael Ogbodu/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Lets consider the evidence.

He was sued for systematically refusing to rent to African Americans and settled out of court.

He demanded the death penalty for five black and Hispanic kids charged in the notorious Central Park jogger rape case  and refuses to recant to this day, though the young men were long ago exonerated and set free.

He had a disdain for African Americans so pronounced that, according to an employee at one of his casinos, supervisors would remove black workers from the floor and ensconce them in a back room whenever he came through.

He was once quoted as saying of a black accountant: Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. I think that the guy is lazy. And its probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. Its not anything they can control.

He retweeted racist and anti-Semitic insults from Nazi sympathizers, called Mexican immigrants rapists and said a judge was unfit to preside over a case because of his Mexican heritage.

He led the inane birther movement that claimed President Obama was born in Kenya.

He suggested moral equivalence between white supremacists and those who oppose them.

He is embraced by bigots, who recognize him as one of their own. Said former Klan leader David Duke, We are determined to take our country back.  Thats what we believe in. Thats why we voted for Donald Trump 

So what, pray tell, did Jemele Hill get wrong? Last week, the co-host of ESPNs SportsCenter issued tweets calling the so-called president, among other things, a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.

Youd have thought she advocated kindergarten classes in Satanism from the speed with which ESPN disavowed her for what it called inappropriate tweets.

Hill would eventually apologize for putting the company in such an awkward position. But ESPNs response was mild compared to the White Houses rebuke. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders pronounced Hills tweets a fireable offense.

Really? Well, if Hill deserves firing for calling Trump a white supremacist, then what does he get for actually being one?

But we already know the answer, dont we? Donald John Trump is a man whose cognitive and moral deficits would, in a sane country, render him unfit to clean toilets at a reasonably respectable strip club. But he became president. And as Ta-Nehisi Coates argues in the new issue of The Atlantic, he was elected largely because of his racism  not despite it  having run on an implicit promise to restore white primacy after eight years of the black interloper Obama.

And here, someone will protest that she voted for Trump, but doesnt consider herself a white supremacist. Yet that hypothetical voter and 63 million others did vote  knowingly  for white supremacy even if they disavow the ideology for themselves. So whats the material difference?

There is none. Thats a bitter truth some of us would prefer not to face, indicting as it does cherished myths about ourselves and our country and how we overcame.

For the record, the only fireable offense here is Trumps impersonation of a president. But make no mistake: Even if he is held accountable in 2020, it wont fix, or even address, that frightened, primitive thing inside them that led so many to reach out to him in the first place.

So the fact of the matter is, Jemele Hill got nothing wrong. No, shes in trouble because she did the opposite.

She told entirely too much truth.

-- Leonard Pitts Jr. is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Miami Herald.
17.09.2017 LISTEN

Amasaman (G/A),Sept. 14, GNA - Mr Clement Nii Lamptey Wilkinson, the Municipal Chief Executive for Ga West Municipality, has presented learning materials to kindergarten pupils to support 'My First Day at School' in the area.

The presentations were made as he toured kindergartens in some communities including Kojo Ashong, Okushibiede, Ayikai Dobro, Odumtia and Achiaman in the Greater Accra Region.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Wilkinson urged teachers to imbue in the school children the fear of God so that they would grow to become obedient, respectful and knowledgeable in all aspect of their education.

He advised the pupils to be punctual at school and to take their lessons very serious for them to become good assets for their families and the nation.

Mr Addo Dankwa Akuffo, the Ga West Municipal Director of Education, asked the teachers to show good morals for the pupils to emulate as they teach, since children could easily copy what they see.

He commended the Assembly for its efforts in providing additional school buildings to help end the shift system in the area.

He assured the school authorities that soon the school-feeding programme would be extended to the Municipality.

GNA
17.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Sept.15, GNA - Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, the Speaker of Parliament, has proposed to the United Kingdom to partner Africa devise a new paradigm for economic partnership which will seriously consider the economic welfare of Africa.

'Europe must be concerned about the poverty in Africa,' he said, adding that the effect of globalisation is that any bubonic plague in Africa may not remain in Africa.'

In a paper presented as part of 25th anniversary celebration of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, in London, last Tuesday, Prof Oquaye made it clear that there cannot be a (fair) global order in which a whole continent (of Africa) is compelled to gravitate towards Europe in search of greener pastures.

Also, 'we cannot replace political refugees with economic refugees. We cannot forget that colonisation befitted Europe immensely and this could be the period for some New World Economic Order'.

The paper made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) through the Public Affairs Department of Parliament, recalled that in the late 1980's the insistence of the donor community for financial assistance to be based on the conditionality of good governance, brought a wind of change in the economic and political management of a number of countries in Africa.

Consequently, new constitutions were drafted and promulgated and multi-party elections held.

This resulted in Ghana's current constitutional and legal framework with a new electoral register, political parties and revised electoral systems.

'Indeed, in Ghana, when complaints arose about the 1992 Elections, donors further assisted with transparent ballot boxes, new electoral register, the counting of the ballot papers at every Polling Station immediately after voting, Photo Identity Cards and enhanced election monitoring by foreign observers,' Prof Oquaye said.

The resultant pattern of these interventions in Ghana was peaceful change of government. The arbitrariness which accompanied military rule has largely been overcome.

The Speaker, who was also a former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ghana's High Commissioner in New Delhi, MP for Dome Kwabenya, and also Head of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, observed that there were nonetheless 'challenges which should be resolved before we can say that the second wind of change has been fully attained.

Just as development partners were critically involved in the first phase, Prof Oquaye said they could participate in the consolidation process by strengthening the legal framework which regulated elections and identified weaknesses in the laws relating to elections and provided against the grey areas.

There could also be training of judges in electoral adjudication process, with adequate and strong measures to tackle confusion after every election and various sources of conflict before they erupted into a conflagration.

The Speaker noted the presence of numerous complaints relating to the electoral Register, such as being infiltrated by non-nationals and suggested the establishment of a donor-driven West Africa Electoral Commission with one register for West Africa, to superintend and nip electoral problems in the bud.

According to the Speaker, Africa needed a New World Economic Order to enable democracy survive, explaining that 'it is a truism that poverty, misery and disease militate against political stability. The central political thesis of Karl Marx is that the exploited in society have nothing to lose but their chains.

'If we do not find a solution to this economic mantra, we may labour in vain,' he said.

He called for arrangement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) not to create troubles in Africa, but rather to address the imbalances in the current WTO arrangements.

On gender, Prof Oquaye said the true empowerment of a woman was when the political, religious, educational, marriage, economic and health issues were simultaneously addressed and made compatible with each other.

He called for the improvement in the role of women political representation and national administration.

'Women political representation and leadership is about 20 per cent of the population in Africa. Political stability and development demand a change,' Prof Oquaye said.

GNA

By Benjamin Mensah, GNA
17.09.2017 LISTEN

Juaso (Ash), Sept 15, GNA - Staff of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) have been asked to step-up their effort at assisting the people to have better understanding of the their civil responsibilities.

Mr. Samuel Akuamoah, the Commission's Deputy Director of Operations, said they should accept to go the extra mile to reach out to everybody.

He indicated that they had a constitutional duty to perform and could not afford to disappointment.

Addressing workers of the NCCE in the Asante-Akim South District at Juaso, he said they had critical role to play - to help Ghanaians to show loyalty and love for their country.

He was in the area as part of his tour of some selected districts to monitor the activities of the Commission.

He had earlier visited the Kwahu East, Kwahu West and the Asante-Akim Central Municipality.

Mr. Akuamoah counseled the workers to live above reproach - conduct themselves well to inspire public confidence.

They should be professional in the performance of their duties and strive to achieve results with any resources put at their disposal

Mr. Samuel Otchere, the District Director of NCCE, pledged to continue to work hard and with passion to grow the nation's constitutional democracy.

GNA

By Yussif Ibrahim, GNA
17.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - The Trades Union Congress of Ghana (TUC) has thrown its support behind the demand of public sector workers for the payment of Tier-2 Pension Scheme by government in order to avert an intended indefinite strike.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Friday, Mr Joshua Ansah, the Acting Secretary General of the TUC, said the government must listen to the cry of the workers and fulfil their demands to avert any repercussions it might bring on the country's economy.

Mr Ansah said the Union supported the statement by the group and called on the government to pay the monies to the various schemes as demanded saying'; 'these are our members and we cannot allow them to fight alone'.

Twelve public sector labour unions threatened to embark on an indefinite strike on September 29, this year to protest government's way of handling their tier-2 pension contributions.

They demanded the transfer of their pension contributions from 2010 to 2016 to their custodian banks rather than being kept in a temporary pension account, which yielded no interests.

Section 218 of the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), requested for the establishment of the Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA) with the Bank of Ghana as a transitional arrangement pending the licensing of trustees and the registration of other service providers and schemes into which Tier two contributions are to be placed.

The authority was subsequently required to transfer all contributions, including returns, to their respective approved schemes within 90 days after the licensing of these entities.

However, the inability of the authority to fully, fulfil the request, especially for public sector workers, has created some doubts as to whether the money was in existence or not.

The Unions making the demand include: the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana, the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the Teachers and Educational Workers Union, and the National Association of Graduate Teachers.

Others are the Ghana Medical Association, the Ghana Physician Assistant Association, the Government Hospital Pharmacists Association, the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Nurses and the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetics.

The rest are the Coalition of Concerned Teachers and the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana.

GNA

By Julius K. Satsi, GNA
Tarkwa, Sept. 15, GNA - The United Bank for Africa Ghana Limited, has opened a new branch at Tarkwa in the Western Region making it the 28th business office in the country.

The new branch is part of the Bank's expansion programme to cover almost all regions in the country, whilst coming closer to customers who have contributed to UBA's success over the past 12 years.

The new facility offers convenience to customers of UBA in Tarkwa and its surrounding towns with a full bouquet of products of the Bank.

Mr. Johnson Olakumni, Head of Digital Banking, who spoke on behalf of the Chief Executive of Officer of UBA Ghana, Mrs. Abiola Bawuah, said the initiative was also to save the teeming customers who before now had to travel down to Takoradi for their transactions.

"Our presence in 18 other African countries has given us the needed leverage to offer superior value to our customers. We are delighted to be partnering with the people of Tarkwa in their development agenda," he added.

"We have committed personnel waiting to serve you as we encourage everyone to start a relationship with us,' he said.

Nana Fosu III, Krontihene of Apinto Divisional Council, assured UBA of his support, and encouraged the Bank to keep up with the industry's good practices, which has pushed them standing tall among competitors.

He promised opening an account with UBA as a sign of the Council's support and expressed the hope that the gesture would encourage the people to bank with UBA.

Mr. Charles Opoku Amoateng, the Safety Manager for Goldfields who spoke on behalf of customers at UBA Tarkwa, praised the Bank for its unparalleled customer service.

'It was a delight on the first day we opened our account as a family. Each of us got our instant prepaid cards in addition to a MasterCard.

'We have been experiencing good customer service from that day and the experience has been remarkable. I think it is a good place to bank and I encourage all to start saving with UBA,' he said.

GNA

By Kodjo Adams/William Fiabu, GNA
Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - Canon, a Japanese multinational corporation, which manufactures imaging and optical products, has launched its new range of Camera and Printer products onto the Ghanaian market.

The products including: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, EOS 7D, G-Series, Ink Efficient Machines, and Video Camera XF-205 devices, offers a versatile and superb image quality. The printers are equipped with devices providing ink efficiency and high page yield printing.

The company introduced the new products in partnership with its Ghanaian distributor, Oman Fofor with a pledge to shore up its investments in Ghana.

At the unveiling of the new digital products in Accra, Mr Amine Djouahra, the Sales Manager, Canon Central and North Africa, said the products with cutting-edge technologies were designed to add a whole new dimension to digital imaging for customers and garner greater market share for Canon in Ghana.

He said the company would partner Ghanaian businesses to boost the economy and enhance its service quality to customers.

Mr Djouahara said the company has extended the one year warranty to three years to ensure that repair costs were covered without undue financial stress.

He said the company has signed a three-year partnership agreement with the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) to revamp the film and photography industry in Ghana.

He said the partnership was also aimed at strengthening knowledge and skill levels in the sector as well as helping to create jobs in the medium to long-term, whilst developing young creative talents for employment in the film and photography industry.

Mr Abbas Gull, the General Manager of Oman Fofor, said the company has adapted to global change to meet the demands of customers.

GNA

By Kwamina Tandoh, GNA
17.09.2017 LISTEN

Ho, Sept. 15, GNA - Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the Volta Region have called on the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to immediately step in to avert explosion of political violence in the Republic of Togo.

They also appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to intervene to avoid the spilling over of political crisis from that country to Ghana.

The Organizations made the call in a press release jointly signed by Mr Francis Asong, Executive Director, VOICE-Ghana and Nana Kugbeadzoe-Bakateyi II, Chief Executive Officer for Global Action for Women Empowerment (GLOWA) to commemorate this year's International Day of Democracy, which falls on September 15.

The theme for this year's celebration is, 'Democracy and Conflict Prevention'.

The CSOs condemned violent attacks by security forces on civilians in peaceful protests, and described the act as an affront to the growing democracy on the Continent.

They said democracy strives in the environment where the rights of citizens were respected and asked regional and international bodies to move in and protect the vulnerable in Togo.

The Organizations expressed their condolences to bereaved families and called for support for victims of the unrest as the world marked Democracy Day.

Some protesters were killed and hundreds wounded in clashes with security officers during peaceful demonstrations aimed at regime change against the Gnassingbe family, which ruled Togo from 1967 till date.

GNA

By A.B. Kafui Kanyi, GNA
17.09.2017 LISTEN

Accra, Sept.15, GNA - The Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Nesrin Bayazit, has commended Ghana's economy at the ongoing maiden edition of the 'Ghana Motor Show' in Accra.

The Ghana Motor Show, which is ongoing at the Ghana International Trade Fair, is aimed at promoting partnerships between foreign and local companies in the automobile industry.

In an interview with Ghana News Agency, Madam Nesrin Bayazit noted the importance Turkey attaches to doing business with Ghana.

'This fair is supported by the Turkish Ministry of Economy we have a diversified relationship with Ghana and we attach great importance to each of them.

'We always try to contribute to the development of Ghana and we believe that Ghana has a bright future and abounds with lots of potentials,' she said.

According to Madam Bayazit, the current Ghanaian economy was one worth supporting because of the strides it was making.

'Ghana's economy is serving as a departure point for other African markets and must be commended.

'Turkey and Ghana enjoys close and cordial relationships and our economic relationship is expanding, our trade volumes increasing, so this is one of the purposes that Turkey is represented in this fair and we hope that Ghana would also promote Ghanaian possibilities and potentials in Turkey'.

Mr Christopher Rockson, the Managing Director, Orange IMC Ghana Limited, noted that the new policy of government to scrap off some taxes in the automobile industry has allowed foreign investors to have interest in investing in Ghana, thus the 'Ghana Motor Show 2017'.

'Foreign investors have developed so much interest in Ghana and we have also been advocating for the use of new and original spare parts into the systemso this has brought the dealers from Abossey Okai and other places to have firsthand information on new parts and possibly meet foreign supplies and investors.

According to Mr Rockson the Fair would help the local spare parts dealers to form partnership to deal in original and new spare parts to boost the economy and also help consumers save money on used parts.

Mr Rockson further noted that 'The scrapping of some tax policies from the government has helped us a lot but we are pleading with the banks and financial institutions to help these local dealers to help them expand and get the quality parts needed for the market'.

Orange IMC Ghana limited together with Fair Act Exhibitions, Events LLP and Verifair Intelligent Interface organized the Ghana Motor Show, which will end on Saturday, September 16.

GNA

By Emmanuel Asante Attakora, GNA
President Nana Akufo-Addo is to propose legislation to designate August 4 as Founders Day.

The birthday of Ghanas first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, on September 21, will be observed as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial day.

Kwame Nkrumahs birthday was originally observed as Founders Day.

This is according to a Statement from the Presidencys Director of Communications, Eugine Arhin.

The statement acknowledged Dr. Nkrumahs standing in Ghanaian history and said it is entirely appropriate that we commemorate him for that role, by designating his birthday as the permanent day of his remembrance.

The President has, therefore, decided to propose legislation to Parliament to designate 4th August as FOUNDERS DAY, and 21st September as KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL DAY, both of which will be observed as public holidays.

In the meantime, the President has issued an Executive Instrument to commemorate this year's celebration of KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL DAY as a public holiday, the statement added.

The Presidency statement argued that August 4, is obviously the most appropriate day to signify our recognition and appreciation of the collective efforts of our forebears towards the founding of a free, independent Ghana.

August 4 is noted as the date for the formation of the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society in 1897, and the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in 1947.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Tripoli (AFP) - The Libyan coastguard has rescued more than 3,000 migrants in 12 separate operations off the country's west coast in the past week, the navy said Sunday.

Most of the rescue operations were staged off the cities of Zawiya and Sabratha, navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem said in a statement.

It was the highest such tally reported for a one-week period since mid-July saw a dramatic fall in migrant numbers attempting the Mediterranean crossing to Europe.

Italy, the closest and main destination, has recorded 6,500 arrivals since then, barely 15 percent of the figure for the same period in the past three years.

Earlier in July, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti proposed a pact to combat human trafficking during a visit to Tripoli to meet mayors of cities affected by the scourge.

Six years since a revolution and NATO intervention that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi, violence-wracked Libya has become a key gateway for clandestine migration to Europe.
Western Montana Mental Health Center (WMMHC) is a community-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment center. We assist more than 15,000 individuals, employ over 750 staff in 16 western Montana communities and operate a budget of over $40 million. Our economic and human impact is far-reaching. Community mental health centers are a well-kept secret, quietly going about our business as we offer the vast array of comprehensive safety-net services that impact the social, health and economics of the communities we serve.

Our mission drives us to provide the safety net functions that communities have begun to take for granted, e.g., mobile crisis teams, crisis stabilization centers, drop-in programs, case management, substance abuse services, jail diversion and programming within jails, just to name a few. It is important that communities realize that much of what they have taken for granted, the very underpinnings of the safety net, is under threat with the impending proposed cuts to the state budget.

It also is a fact that our state mental health system is extremely fractured and disorganized. Besides our comprehensive services, there are numerous other providers who offer one or two services, with no entity clearly responsible. A lack of policy and unclear statutes lead to a lack of quality and fiscal control, not to mention confusion on the part of consumers and communities that need services. If no one is responsible, how do communities go about aligning policy and programs in a way that deliver the outcomes they expect?

While WMMHC understands that our state is experiencing trying fiscal times and we are willing to share in absorbing a portion of the fiscal burden, it is our expectation that our partner, the state of Montana, should want to sit with us, sleeves rolled up, to work together to find solutions. We do not want to be left alone to shoulder the burden of those cuts that will affect one of our most vulnerable populations.

Our foundation as a community-based mental health center has been crumbling for years. A lack of leadership and policy development has left us and the people we serve in an untenable situation. This latest crisis in regards to cuts could decimate services completely. Repealing or eliminating services without a plan is at the worst unethical and dangerous and at a minimum short-sighted and misinformed.

WMMHC is already experiencing unintentional consequences as politics plays out in regard to who is wrong and who is right. Staff is concerned about the proposed changes and wonder what the cuts may mean to them and the individuals they serve. Some are looking for work in more secure fields as we face an already insurmountable workforce shortage. Additionally, WMMHC is continuing to provide addiction recovery services with no contract renewal in place. How many businesses would be expected to engage in this type of relationship?

Treatment located close to home near a natural support system is more humane and less costly. WMMHC has worked hard to develop and finance a range of approaches to serve people at the right time, in the right place. Access to hope and better outcomes while treating people in the least restrictive setting is why we exist. We have invested in training for our exceptional staff to follow best practices. However, transformation takes collaboration, government engagement and persistence. It includes the willingness of government to change policy, funding and actions.

We implore our state to bring stakeholders to the table to develop a vision for behavioral health, to plan policies and services that make more sense financially and for the health of those we serve. We are anxious to get beyond the distrust.

-- Jodi Daly is chief executive officer of the Western Montana Mental Health Center.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has revealed that Dr Kwame Nkrumah who was Ghana's first President to be honoured as a leader who also contributed immensely towards attainment of independence for Ghana.

In a press statement issued on 15th September, 2017 in Accra and signed by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin indicated that President Nana Addo has therefore, decided a proposed legislation to Parliament to designate 21st September as 'KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL DAY' which will be observed as a Public Holiday.

"In the meantime, the President has issued an Executive Instrument to commemorate this year's celebration of KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL DAY as a public holiday", he added.

He also added that, President Akufo-Addo has also decided to propose legalisation to Parliament to designate 4th August as FOUNDERS DAY of which it would be observed as a Public Holiday.

Below is the full statement;

President To Propose Legislation To Establish Founders Day And Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day

President To Propose Legislation To Establish Founders Day And Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day

It is unfortunate that, 60 years after independence, the history of the events leading to it continues to be embroiled in unnecessary controversy, due largely to partisan political considerations of the moment.

It is clear that successive generations of Ghanaians made vital contributions to the liberation of our country from imperialism and colonialism. It is, therefore, fitting that we honour them, as those who contributed to the founding of our nation.

The most appropriate way to honour them is to commemorate the day on which the two most significant events in our colonial political history, that led us to independence, occurred  4th August.

On that day, in 1897, the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed in Cape Coast. The Society did a great job to mobilise the chiefs and people to ward off the greedy hands of British imperialism to ensure that control of Ghanaian lands remained in Ghanaian hands. It represented the first monumental step towards the making of modern Ghana, enabling us to avoid the quagmire of land inheritance that our brothers and sisters in Southern and Eastern Africa continue to suffer, from the seizures of their lands by white minorities.

In a deliberate act in the continuum of Ghanaian history, exactly fifty years later, on 4th August, 1947, at Saltpond, the great nationalists of the time gathered to inaugurate the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the first truly nationalist party of the Gold Coast, to demand the independence of our nation from British rule, at a gathering which included paramount chiefs, clergymen, lawyers, entrepreneurs, teachers, traders and men and women from all walks of life in the Gold Coast, according to an eye witness.

The inauguration set the ball rolling for our nations attainment of independence, and for the dramatic events, including the birth in 1949 of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), that ushered us into freedom.

That day, 4th August, is, thus, obviously the most appropriate day to signify our recognition and appreciation of the collective efforts of our forebears towards the founding of a free, independent Ghana.

It is equally clear that the first leader of independent Ghana, and the nations 1st President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, played an outstanding role in helping to bring to fruition the works of the earlier generations, and leading us to the promised land of national freedom and independence. It is entirely appropriate that we commemorate him for that role, by designating his birthday as the permanent day of his remembrance.

The President has, therefore, decided to propose legislation to Parliament to designate 4th August as FOUNDERS DAY, and 21st September as KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL DAY, both of which will be observed as public holidays. In the meantime, the President has issued an Executive Instrument to commemorate this years celebration of KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL DAY as a public holiday.

signed

Eugene Arhin

Director of Communications

Office of the President

Accra, 15th September, 2017.

Source: Daniel Kaku
Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's coastguard has rescued over 3,000 migrants aiming to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in the past week, while Italy picked up another 2,000 in recent days, official and reports said Sunday.

Though the numbers attempting the dangerous journey have dropped off significantly in recent months, these new rescues indicate the route is still very much open.

The tally was the highest reported out of Libya for a one-week period since mid-July saw a dramatic fall in the number of migrants trying to reach Europe.

Six years since a revolution and NATO intervention that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi, violence-wracked Libya has become a key gateway for clandestine migration to Europe with nearest European country Italy bearing the brunt of the fallout.

Most of the latest rescue operations in Libyan waters were staged off the cities of Zawiya and Sabratha, Libyan navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem said in a statement.

He added the Libyan coast guard rescued 2,082 migrants in nine operations from Monday-Friday -- adding one woman had died -- while Saturday saw a further 1,047 people picked up.

Italy, the closest and main destination, has recorded 6,500 arrivals since mid-July, barely 15 percent of the figure for the same period in the past three years.

Even so, the past week alone has seen around 2,000 rescues according to NGOs and media reports.

Italian daily La Stampa on Sunday reported the arrival in Sicily of 589 migrants on a boat chartered by British charity Save the Children, which could not be immediately reached for comment.

A further 200 people were picked up off the Italian island of Lampedusa and the Sicilian coast.

One Irish patrol vessel, the William Butler Yeats, disembarked on Sunday some 550 migrants at the eastern Sicilian port of Augusta as well as three dead bodies, two women and a child, who the Red Cross said was a three-year-old Cameroonian.

That group had been drifting off the Libyan coast in inflatable dinghies although the Irish naval service said on their Facebook page several had been picked up from the sea as their makeshift craft disintegrated.

Italian vessel Zeffiro meanwhile said it had picked up 135 African migrants off Messina and the SOS Mediterranean NGO had Saturday brought 371 people to port at Trapani, northwestern Sicily.

In July, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti proposed a pact to combat human trafficking during a visit to Tripoli to meet mayors of cities affected by the waves of arrivals.

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday welcomed the overall recent falloff in arrivals.

"The Italian experience of the past few months shows what can be done. There are fewer arrivals and also fewer deaths at sea," said Gentiloni, despite the spike over the past week.
17.09.2017 LISTEN

The real intention of members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to have an illiterate population for their electoral expediency was brought to bare during their so-called "Unity Walk" held in Tamale recently. Ironically, leading the crusade were some of the very people who had been beneficiaries of government bursaries, scholarships, and the Northern Scholarship Scheme.

For reasons best known to them, the NDC have vigorously kicked against the free SHS concept since the idea was mooted by Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008. The 35 series of negative advertisements in the mass media, coupled with certain pronouncements by NDC supporters, no doubt, underscore their abhorrence to the policy. Their actions, however, point to one reason; the free SHS policy has become a political albatross on their neck.

Whilst the head porters, truck pushers, market women, students, the BBC, African Union etc have all hailed the NPP government for removing a major barrier to education and for that matter, poverty, illiteracy and disease, these group of people who think alike are wondering how an 'old president' could outperform a 'youthful president' within this shortest space of time.

Not even the discovery of oil, the contraction of loans, payment of dubious judgement debts, corrupt deals, and the money splashed on their fruitless electioneering campaign - free distribution of V8 to some chiefs, Akua Donkor etc could convince them of the possibility of the programme.

Today, without a shred of shame, the NDC members have turned around to demand a full coverage of the policy for all senior high school students. What is more annoying is the commentary they are running on the sustainability of the programme.

But, when did the NDC come to the realisation that, the economy of Ghana is good enough to provide free SHS for all students let alone sustain it? Did NDC lay a blueprint for the Progressively Free SHS they claimed to have introduced two years ago?

For me, the NDC must be told in plain terms that they have no moral right to question the sustainability of the programme. The free SHS covers only first year students since the forms one and two are already benefitting from their Progressively Free SHS concept. If the current programme were to take a retrospective effect, then those of us who completed secondary schools several years could have availed ourselves of the opportunity.

The NPP will never turn to a group of people who are bereft with ideas of managing economic resources and social interventions. The very Lord who fought the NPP's battle for Victory 2016; the God who gave President Akufo-Addo the wisdom to remove this financial burden of parents, and the Allah who has guided him to implement other policies like "Planting for Food and Jobs" and "One District-One Factory" policy, "National Identification Programme" within eight months would never abandon His son. He would continue to guide and see him through any difficult period.

The secret about sustaining the free SHS policy is simple; keep the NPP in power for long. For, the longer the NPP stays in power, the better for all programmes - NHIA, school feeding, mass cocoa spraying, youth employment, masloc, and free SHS programmes to be sustained.

God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Nana Addo!!!

Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang

Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri

"Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success"
18.09.2017 LISTEN

The Ghanaian Truck Drivers Association of Georgia (GTDAG) was officially inaugurated on Saturday September 16, 2017 at Duluth, a suburb of Atlanta. The auditorium of the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott was packed to capacity by chiefs, representatives of the Ghana Council of Georgia, truck drivers and their families and a cross section of Ghanaians in Georgia.

The chairman for the occasion was Dr. Ali Yallah, Chief Information Officer of River Edge Behavioral Health, a State of Georgia government entity situated in Macon, Georgia. Dr. Yallah is also the executive secretary of the Ghana Council of Georgia as well as the executive president of the Association of Northern Ghanaians of Georgia. Dr. Yallah said he was truly honored to be invited to chair the occasion.

Truck drivers, like teachers, play a vital role in ourlives. We should thank a truck driver for the food we have on our plates because without them, the foods will not come to us from the farms Dr. Yallah said. He commended the truck drivers for coming together to form this association and urged all present to give them all the support and encouragement they need in order to be successful.

In his inaugural address, the president of GTDAG, AlhajiMusahAbdulai said the association was formed three years ago in 2014, among other objectives to seek to the welfare and wellbeing of its members and so far it has made tremendous strides in that regard. Alhaji Musah revealed that the association is intending to acquire a big parcel of land to be used for members truck parking after work and also to establish their own driving school to train prospective members.

According to Alhaji Musah, the association is considering to partner with the Ghana National Road Safety and the MTTU in the near future regarding road safety programs to educate motorists, especially truck drivers, on their annual physicals, pre-trip and post-trip inspections, driver fatigue and other important road safety regulations.

He promised that the association shall also provide some blood pressure (BP) equipment to truck drivers in Ghana as part of their social responsibility. Alhaji Musah concluded by urging members to remain resolute to the association and encourage all Ghanaian truck drivers in Georgia to join the association.

The guest speaker of the ceremony was Mr. Ernest Asare-Nkansah, a tax accountant by profession and accounting instructor at Georgia State University. Mr. Nkansah has been supportive to the association since its formation and played a major role in its setup and registration. Mr. Nkansah congratulated the GTDAG and said he was glad to be part of the historic inauguration.

He noted that the trucking industry is highly regulated and advised members of the association to take record keeping seriously. Other speakers for the evening were Pastor Mina Aduwho prayed for divine guidance for the truck drivers as they embark on their long road trips. Dr. Nicholas Fosu, a pharmacist, shared helpful health tips with those gathered.

In her vote of thanks, Ms. Vicentia, a Nurse Practictioner, thanked all those who attended the function. She particularly thanked Daddy Kay, the MC for the night as well as a key member of the organizing committee. It was certainly a successful and fun filled evening.
It is a known fact that Akufo-Addos government has taken estimable strides to improve the social mobility through implementation of poverty reduction policies such as free SHS, one district one factory, one million dollars per constituency, tax reductions, a dam per village in the northern part of Ghana, among others.

Considering the fact that the erstwhile NDC government left a huge debt amid economic meltdown, it would take a prudent management and a visionary leadership to choose to implement the seemingly admirable, albeit costly social intervention policies.

Once upon a time, the general belief was that leadership and managerial skills were traits from birth. And more so leadership and managerial competencies were only ascribed to tall, handsome and well-connected individuals.

That was indeed an utter misconception, or to put it euphemistically, an isolated thinkers view point. The fact however is, leadership and managerial skills can be acquired through schematic tutorials or routine training.

Apparently, the extant research interest has been focusing on relationships among leaders, managers and followers, with some experts on the topic stressing on the need to study followership.

This has been discussed extensively as useful, not so much because all leaders and managers are also followers, but because modern notions of leadership place considerable emphasis on the power and importance of followers in legitimised leadership.

Some experts however insist that if change is a process of leading an organisation or a nation on a journey from its current state to a desired future state and handling all the problems that arise along the journey, then change concerns leadership as well as management (Gill 2003).

In my view, therefore, the free SHS programme could only be sustained under the aegis of a serious, a committed and a forward thinking leadership.

It is also worthy of note that the social mobility improvement free SHS should at least provide a sound environment for the beneficiaries to develop to their full potential and to have a reasonable chance of leading productive and creative lives.

Let us therefore admit, the opposition NDCs never ending and needless press conferences on the free SHS are becoming extremely nauseating.

Much as the minority NDC operatives are on a mission to appease their ever so peeved party supporters, they cannot continue to play on the minds of discerning Ghanaians.

As a matter of fact, some of us cannot be hoodwinked or proselytised by the minority NDCs gratuitous and sugar-puffed declamations.

Being in Opposition is not just about opposing the Government. There are occasions when the Opposition agrees with the Government, if the solution proposed by the Government has wide support, and is soundly based, then its only natural for the Opposition to agree (Dr Brash).

How on earth would a supposedly responsible opposition organise press conferences with a view to playing down the associated benefits of the newly implemented free SHS?

It goes without saying that governance is a serious business and as such it requires forward thinking, serious and committed group of people to bring about the needed advancement.

Unfortunately, however, we (Ghanaians)have over the years been electing dreadful economic managers, who have only succeeded in sinking the economy deeper and deeper into the mire.

If we stroll down memory lane, the previous NPP government pragmatically introduced social interventions such as the free Maternal Care, the School Feeding Programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Mass Transport System, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the National Youth Employment Programme, now known as GYEDA, the Savana Acceleration Development Authority (SADA) amongst others.

Regrettably, though, the erstwhile NDC government succeeded in running down those crucial social interventions to the dismay of discerning Ghanaians.

Dearest reader, this is not an attempt to hyperbolise the sorrowful state of the aforementioned social interventions after NDC governments eight years of mismanagement.

As a matter of fact, we can all bear witness to scandalous corruption cases involving SADA, GYEEDA, and, how the other social interventions were managed abysmally.

You would think that individuals who pride themselves as social democrats will be extremely empathetic to the needs of the masses, but this is not the case with the NDC apparatchiks.

Bizarrely, they only sing along the social democratic rendition and then turn their back on the masses. It is an illustrative case of social democrats who do not know how to initiate social interventions.

I bet, should Ghanaians make an unpardonable mistake and hand over the poverty alleviation free SHS programme back to NDC Party futuristically, the supposedly social democrats will gleefully revert the comprehensively free policy to their much touted progressively free (whatever that means).

K. Badu, UK.
An international NGO Grace for Impact, along with their private sector partner M&D Clinic, successfully conducted a free clinic this week in Medie and Amasaman which served over 600 patients who otherwise couldnt have afforded to seek medical care.

Amasaman, Ghana- September 13-14.

Understanding that access to quality healthcare is key and critical to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty, the international NGO Grace for Impact partnered with their private sector partner, M&D Clinic last week to provide free medical care to the poor who otherwise couldnt have afforded to seek medical care for themselves and or their family. The medical outreach clinic took place in Medie and Amasaman on September 13 and 14.

Demand was high with over 600 patients treated, including general health screenings, vision screening and treatment, dental screening and treatment as well as an onsite pharmacy which filled the majority of prescriptions.

Over 500 pair of eyeglasses were distributed, hygiene kits were provided which included items for dental health and personal hygiene, numerous cases of malaria treated as well as several life-threatening cases and admissions. Grace for Impact want to be seen as a partner in health, facilitating access to high quality healthcare and ensuring the poor take ownership of their health and capitalize on any and all resources available to them through the NHS.

Although the medical screenings and treatment were provided free of charge, Grace for Impact ensured there was an educational component to ensure sustainability and encourage the poor to register for and take advantage of resources available to them such as the national health scheme, malaria prevention and the importance of WASH. The National Health Scheme is free for pregnant women, babies, the elderly and the poor.

The Country Coordinator, Mr. Kofi Boafo, was on-site both days and says, as a Ghanaian, its encouraging to see all of the medical professionals and volunteers coming out to support us, providing care to a gold standard and making an impact.

Ms. Amanda Childress, the CEO of Grace for Impact, stated that, Im very pleased with the turnout over the last two days and proud of the more than 40 volunteer medical professionals and organizers who supported our work. Were building a sizable network in Ghana so that medical specialists can continue providing specialized care pro bono year round in Ghana using private sector clinics and donated medical supplies and materials provided by Grace for Impact. The initiative also sparks the flame of giving back and volunteerism which play an important role in any society.

In early 2018, Grace for Impact will be holding similar outreach initiatives in the far north including areas north of Tamale and as far as Wa. To date, Grace for Impact, which is headquartered in Dallas, Texas USA, has provided care to over 85,000 worldwide with over $24M USD in services provided to the poor.
Asuasu D/A Primary School in Eastern Region have received support from Empowerment Aid, a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Accra.

The organization visited the school as part of its humanitarian project dubbed School Uniform For Every Girl Child which aimed at Increasing Girl Child enrolment in schools.

As said by Nelson Mandela Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.

The pupils were motivated to study hard in order to grow up and become great people in the society. Donations such as school uniforms, books, bags, shoes and clothing were presented to the pupils.

Ms. Esther PokuaaAmofa, Executive Director of Empowerment Aid (NGO), inspired the pupils to take education serious since its only education that can help them develop their community and Ghana as a whole.

She educated the women in the community to invest in their childrens education since an investment in education pays best the benefit.

The headmaster of the school, Mr. Addo Larbi, who couldnt hide his joy thanked Empowerment Aid (NGO) for such an awesome donation and asked the government and other benevolent organizations and individuals to come and support them.
Thousands of citizens across Lofa County, the presumed stronghold and home of Vice President Joseph NyumaBoakai, last week welcomed Senator George M. Weah, leader of the Coalition for Democratic Change and his entourage including Sen. Jewel Howard-Taylor, Vice Standard Bearer of the CDC into the county.

The CDC leader and his entourage stormed the county visiting some of the majortowns and villages during a campaign tour in Lofa.

Their visit also extended to Zorzor, Kolahun and Voinjama City where the two CDC leaders were gowned by traditional chiefs and elders for their roles in bringing peace in the country.

Earlier, citizenswho assembled at the bridge connecting Lofa and Bong in Salayea, told Sen. Weah and his entourage that they strongly believe that he can better lead Liberia after President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf leaves office.

Joseph Kollie, speaking on behalf of the citizens in Salayea District, said:"For more than twelve years, this Unity Party-led government fooled us. They promised us on many days that they will fix our roads and we in turn, voted them into office hoping that they could fulfill those promises. But what did they do? They failed to give us better roads or better life for twelve years despite the fulfillment of our commitment to continuously vote for them.

"Some have said that this is their stronghold. But today, this huge gathering of people, some of whom have been here since this morning, can attest to you that we love you. We have followed your records for years and we can say here today, that you are the most qualified candidate to succeed President Sirleaf in this election," added Kollie.

The citizens in Salayea, also named Senator George M. Weahthe "Human Magnet" and Kolubah for his ability to command a huge following wherever he goes. Political pundits described the separate gatherings that greeted the CDC leader as unprecedented and a "show of strength" by the party in Lofa, stressing that it will also help to debunk mythsthat the CDC is "only popular" in Monrovia.

Before arriving in the county, Senator Weah and his running mate Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor held several community engagements with motorcyclists and marketeers in Gbarnga and other villages in Bong County where he reiterated his commitment to better the lives of his people if elected to the Presidency of Liberia.

While in Lofa, Senator Weah continued his message of reconciliation and a lasting peace in every village and town that he visited stressing that he is the only candidate that has the charisma to unite "this country" and better the lives of her citizens.

"I have repeatedly said to my supporters across this country and the media that my singular aim of joining politics is to transform the lives of my people and unite my country. For twelve years, they held you in captivity. Under my leadership as the President of Liberia, you will no longer be starved. You will live a better life with abundant opportunities," he said.

Senator Weah further noted that if elected, he will prioritize the issue of road connection in the county stressing that only a better road connection can restore the county's record of being "the food basket" in Liberia. He also told the citizens of Lofa that his administration will embark on rigorous reforms in the healthcare and education sectors across the country.

"This is the time that we must stop the Unity Party (UP)!;under our administration, we will promote better education across Liberia. We will pay the WAEC fees for all students across Liberia. My administration will also ensure that our Healthcare services are accessible and affordable to every citizen across this country."I want to see a Liberia where our people will be treated after they fall sick with the government footing most of the bills; a Liberia where our people will no longer die as a result of their inability to receive better healthcare service for curable diseases. Under my administration, we will do everything to empower you and make this country a better place for you and your children, he said amidst thunderous applause.

The CDC leader also used the occasion to educate the voters on how they should cast their votes stressing that they must turn out in their numbers to vote for him at the 17th spot on the ballot paper, in order to stop the UP-led government from succeeding herself in the impending elections.
Popular Calabar based OAP cum comedian, Friday Awade better known as Last prophet, has joined the government of Nigeria in preaching about consumption of made in Nigeria product.

He did not just join in preaching about it but also looked for an avenue where he can stop in to help in boosting the economic growth of the country through the production of Zobo drink.

So far, there have been high level of sugar consumption as most Nigerians settle for soft drink either at homes or at parties but with the solid push of Zobo drink which is proudly Nigerian, it will go a long way in saving many lives from sugar related ailment.

Zobo drink is not new to Nigerians as it is rather seen as a local drink which possibly is not made in an hygienic environment but for Last Prophet and his team, they have been able to map out good marketing strategy and branding means at which they have used in selling their brands to Nigerians.

The comedian recently unveiled their new label and also used his son, Bill, as the first brand ambassador for the drink as they hope to cut across major states in the country.
'The big truck is still on ...
Climate deniers risk destroying earth

In 2014, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida ordered scientists and public servants to delete the phrases climate change or global warming from any of their writings, journals and reports. Watching him now, hypocritically fumbling his way through public warnings for Florida citizens while monster Hurricane Irma swamps his state, its almost painful.

How long will Republicans keep electing these fools? Their ignorance doesnt just put their own children in danger, they endanger all creatures. Remember Scotts ignorance the next time Montana deniers speak.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte and numerous old loggers blame our fires on radical environmentalists, forest scientists and environmental regulations meant to protect animals and wild lands. lts as if Daines and Gianforte have been stuck here in a smoke-hazed mental fog, instead of Montana citizens.

Pundits from the Heartland Institute and the Heritage Foundation are aggressively denialist. Both were used in opinion columns from recent Sunday Missoulians (Aug. 27, Sept. 3). Read "Merchants of Doubt" (Oreskes & Conway, 2010) and learn how corporate lies drove obsessive profit-seeking even when executives knew their products were gravely harming people. Remember Cigarettes dont cause cancer? Corporate greed is destroying our nations once-great soul, and deniers risk destroying life on earth.

-- Beth Taylor Wilson, Missoula
Do not miss your chance to become a student of an institution in Benin Republic! This country is not that far from Nigeria, and it can provide a lot of opportunities for Nigerian students. Take a look at the top 10 list of approved universities in Benin Republic.

Top 10 list of accredited universities in Benin Republic 2017

10. Universite de Lokossa

It's one of the officially recognized and accredited universities in Benin Republic. It's also ranked as one of the top 10 best universities in the country! It is one of the newest universities as it was established only two years ago. The university is located in Lokossa. This is one of the large towns in the country with population ranging from 50 and 250 thousand. It currently offers Bachelor degrees. International students are more than welcome to study here!

9. PIGIER Benin

It's one of the best private universities on the list of accredited university of Benin! It's also one of the younger universities in the country. It was established in 1997. This educational institution is located in the city of Cotonou. It's a medium-sized city with no more than one million citizens. It also offerss various courses of study. The university includes programmes for Bachelor and Masters degrees.

8. International Polytechnic University of Benin

READ ALSO: The most educated states in Nigeria

This university of Benin Republic is enlisted as number 8 of the best universities in the country., It's a private education institution which was created in 1998. It's currently recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education. This educational institution is located at Cotonou. It offers a wide area of studies, like Doctoral, Master, Bachelor and PreBachelor degrees. It offers the degrees in areas, like:

Arts and Humanities;

Business and Social Science;

Language and Cultural;

Medicine;

Engineering;

Science and Technology.

7. University of Porto-Novo

As you might have guessed from the name of the institution, the university is located in a small city of Benin  Porto-Novo. The university is a part of the list of accredited university in Benin Republic. It was created in 2015. It now offers recognised Bachelor degrees to all of its students. International students are more than welcome to study in this university. It's one of the newest universities in the country.

6. Polytechnic University of Abomey

The university is located in the large town of Abomey. The population of this town is no more than 250, 000 people. The Polytechnic University of Abomey is officially recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education of the Republic. The university is still new and was established in 2014. Nevertheless, it offers a Bachelor degree in various fields of studies. The education courses are mainly focused on the Arts & Humanities and Science & Technology.

5. African University of Technology and Management

This university is internationally recognized/ It`s located in Cotonou. The educational institution has been providing world class university education for over 20 years. In addition, this university is considered to be one of the selective universities in the country. The admissions rate of the university is 60%. This education institution offers Bachelor and Master degree in business and technology disciplines.

4. University of Agriculture of Ketou

The university was established five years ago. It's one of the public education institutions of Benin Republic. The university is located in Ketou. It also has branch campuses in the cities like Adjohoun, Sakete, and Idigny. It offers Bachelor degrees in several fields of study. International students are welcome to enroll in the university. The university also has a library that can help students with their research papers.

3. Catholic University of West Africa

This university was established in 2002. It's officially recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education of the Republic. It's private owned university which is affiliated with the Christian Catholic religion. This education institution provides academic and non-academic facilities. International students are welcome to become part of the Catholic University of West Africa.

2. University of Parakou

The University of Parakou was established in in 2001. It's non-profit public institution which is located in Parakou. Even if it's still a young university, it offers Bachelor degrees in the following fields of study:

Art and Humanities;

Business and Social Sciences;

Medicine;

Science and Technology.

International students are very interested in the University of Parakou. This institution also provided a library for students who are working on their research papers.

1. University of Abomey-Calavi

It's one of the oldest universities in Benin Republic. It was established in 1970. This institution also has branches in the cities like Porto-Novo, Ouidah, and Cotonou. The university provides a wide range of degrees, like Doctoral, Masters, Bachelor and PreBachelor degrees. The University of Abomey-Calavi offers a wide range of subjects, like:

Arts and Humanities;

Business and Social Science;

Language and Cultural;

Medicine and Health;

Engineering;

Science and Technology.

Universities of Benin Republic

Universities of Benin can be an opportunity for Nigerians to get an education abroad. Benin Republic offers you a really impressive education in West Africa. Therefore, it can be your chance to get a degree without traveling too far from Nigeria.

READ ALSO: JAMB regularization 2017-2018

Source: Legit.ng
- The IPOB leader has reportedly gone into hiding over terrorism charge

- The Army had on Friday, September 15 declared IPOB as terrorist group

- The security operatives were said to be directed to arrest Nnamd I kanu

The founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and top leaders of his group have gone into hiding following Fridays September 15 declaration by the Nigerian Army that IPOB and other Pro-Biafran groups were terrorists organisations.

Investigations by Punch on Saturday September 16 revealed that Kanu and his top lieutenants had disappeared from his country home in Afaraukwu near Umuahia and other places he frequently visited.

READ ALSO: Nnamdi Kanu petitions UN, EU, US, 4 other countries over military operation in southeast (documents)

His father, Eze Israel Kanu, is the traditional ruler of the town.

Legit.ng gathered that some IPOB members, who spoke on conditions of anonymity with Punch explained that Kanu and others were advised to go underground following the declaration by the Army and the decision of the South-East governors to proscribe activities of pro-Biafra agitators in the region.

An IPOB member said, We have to apply wisdom to whatever we are doing. We have realised that there is a grand conspiracy against Kanu and other top leaders of our group.

Just imagine barely few hours after the Nigerian military declared members of IPOB and other pro-Biafran groups as terrorists, our own governors came up with their own outright ban of our activities.

This definitely will give the soldiers and other security agencies the opportunity to arrest our leader and mount a deadly clampdown on all IPOB members. So, it is better to operate from a hideout for now.

Meanwhile, Nnamdi Kanu brother simply identified as Fine Boy said he would not disclose his brothers whereabouts, adding that only the IPOB leader could disclose his hiding place.

He said, Only my brother can tell Nigerians where he is, I cant. I dont know why the Army should call IPOB a terrorist organisation, it is out of their desperation to arrest Nnamdi and frustrate the Biafran struggle. We have petitioned the United Nations and the European Union.

The world knows that IPOB is a non-violent organisation, we dont carry arms, we dont kill, and we believe violence can never solve any problem.

Nnamdi will soon disclose his current location and IPOB will also react to the proscription of the group by the South-East governors forum.

It was gathered that the security agencies had been directed to arrest Kanu and other leaders of his group.

The directive to arrest the IPOB leaders was said to have been communicated to the leaders of the security agencies deployed in the region.

The security agencies that were given the directive, according to investigations, include the military, the police and the Department of State Services.

It was gathered that the government felt that it could be dangerous to leave Kanu a free man till the next adjourned date when his case would come up at an Abuja Federal High Court.

His case is said to be coming up later in October.

A top security sources said, We are seriously looking for him. He has a lot of things to explain to the government concerning his statements, actions and activities.

We cant sit by and allow the security situation in the country to be compromised to the extent that an individual will be challenging the Federal Government.

Government has to do something about an individual that is recruiting young people, giving them uniforms, arming them and referring to them as a secret service.

We have been seizing arms and ammunitions at the ports; we also need to know what they were meant for.

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This is someone who unilaterally said there would be no election in Anambra State and some people want us to allow him continue with his activities? No, we need to grow above our ethnic and tribal sentiments.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Emmanuel Kanu, the younger brother of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu,described the military's declaration as 'laughable'

Watch Legit.ng TV interview with IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu's lawyer, about the military invasion:

Source: Legit.ng
- Nigerian army has said that it would soon launch Operation Crocodile in southsouth, southwest regions of the country

- The armys Operation Python Dance II in the Southeast region had generated controversy among Nigerians

- The armys spokesperson, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, however said that the encouraging feedback from the southeast after Python Dance I made the army to commence Python Dance lI

Despite the controversy that greeted Operation Python Dance II in the Southeast region, the Nigerian Army said on Saturday that it would launch an operation, Crocodile Smile II, which would cover the South-South region and some parts of the South-West.

Punch reports that the director, Army public relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, said this in an interview with Signature TV on Saturday September 16.

READ ALSO: Turkish businessman condemns Operation Python Dance II in southeast (video)

Legit.ng gathered that the army spokesman noted that encouraging feedback from the South-East after Python Dance I made the army to commence Python Dance lI.

He said: Look, this is the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Nigerian military belongs to Nigeria and they have a duty to exercise in any part of the country. It is so sad that some people try to politicise these issues. They should have exercised patience and seen how this exercise would go.

We had Operation Harbin Kunama II covering the North-West and parts of the North-Central this year. As soon as we are done with Egwu Eke II (Python Dance), we are also going on Crocodile Smile II that will cover the South-South and some parts of the South-West of the country.

Operation Python Dance II came about based on the encouraging feedback we received as a result of Python Dance I held last year. This is especially because of the crimes during the ember period in the region. You know that the South-easterners, who are enterprising and industrious people, have to return to their places at the end of the year.

Unfortunately, some criminal elements take advantage of this period to perpetrate crimes. We have armed robberies, kidnappings, and communal clashes. But the Christmas of 2016 and New Year 2017 were the most peaceful in that part of the country, and that is attributed to the field training exercise, Python Dance I.

The army spokesman said the activities of a group of vocal people, out of mischief or ignorance trying to create violence should not be taken as the stand of the South-East region.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, and 82 Divisions spokesman, Colonel Sagir Musa, while appraising Operation Python Dance II, told our correspondent on Saturday that people had been calling the communication lines supplied by the military to supply information.

Musa said: There is no reported friction anywhere so far in the whole of the South-East. Apprehension has gone down and people are freely conducting their business. The volume of calls received so far through our dedicated public information cell phone numbers is unprecedented.

Also, the Nigerian Navy said on Saturday that it was on a red alert to secure Nigerias unity, despite the tension generated by the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, said this in Abuja during the Navy Route March at the Mogadishu Cantonment, saying he had ordered the naval personnel to mobilise and secure the maritime domain.

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Represented at the event by the Chief of Naval Transformation, Rear Admiral Ibe Enenwo, Ibas said, Even without tasking, we are fully deployed in internal security situations as required by the constitution and for our own peculiar environment, the maritime environment.

This exercise is holding simultaneously in all naval locations all over the country, and it is required now that we as military personnel keep fit. For you to execute the demanding task I have pointed out, things like security challenges are more now than we have before.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Lauretta Onochie, personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on social media called on Nigerians to thank the Army, instead of vilifying their efforts, for saving Igbos from Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who she described as being sick, childish and immature.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video asking Nigerians if the Operation Python Dance campaign should be canceled:

Source: Legit.ng
WEST LIBERTY  Puppeteers starting packing up their suitcases and jugglers put away their props at 3 p.m. Saturday in downtown West Liberty. At the same time, a Mariachi band tuned their instruments and the smell of Mexican food began to waft through the air.

It was the second year groups in West Liberty decided to hold an all-day festival, with the 21st annual Children's Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., then Fiesta Latina taking over for the rest of the night.

The event usually brings in about 3,000 people, according to Cara McFerren, one of the organizers. During the Children's Festival, children watched puppeteers from all over the country perform, learned how to juggle and had their faces painted as fairies and superheroes.

The annual festival is recognized by puppeteers across the world, she said. Next year, West Liberty will host the annual regional puppeteer fest, which will bring people from eight states and two Canadian provinces.

The Children's Festival has been popular in West Liberty for more than two decades, and last year, organizers decided to collaborate with one of the largest Latino festivals in the area, in hopes of attracting more visitors.

"We wanted to capitalize on the unique events," McFerren said. "Now you have youth, families and the flavor of Latino culture. It's a great merging of cultures, to be able to offer something on this scale."

La Comunidad de Latinos Unidos, of West Liberty, became a certified non-profit organization this year, according to organizer Francisco Martinez. He said similar Latino fests are held in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and elsewhere in Iowa, but Fiesta Latina is the only event of its kind in the West Liberty area.

Saturday's festival coincided with Mexican Independence Day, and Martinez said the event was a time for all Latino people to come together and celebrate their heritage.

"We want to focus on letting young people know about their cultures," he said. "We can talk to young people and tell them 'don't forget your culture.'"

Former West Liberty school board member, Jose Zacarias, said about 55 percent of residents living in the school district are Latino. This year, 50 new Latino students joined the district, and Zacarias said the district is seeing more students move from Puerto Rico.

"[The festival] is important because we've been here so many years, in eastern Iowa, and now people know we're here to stay and we're contributing. You can say it's a celebration as a whole, for Latinos or Spanish-speakers."

With the Chicago-based Mariachi band, Arrieros de Chicago, starting to play the song "El Son de La Negra" in the background, Zacarias said "you can call that's our national anthem.

"The mariachi music, I was born with it," he said.

Zacarias agreed with Martinez, saying the festival was especially important for children and young people, who may become used to life in eastern Iowa and lose touch with their roots.

"It's a way to anchor yourself while in the new culture," he said. "It's a way to feel your identity."

Now a certified non-profit, Martinez said Latinos Unidos hopes to hold more events in the future, as well as outreach programs for children.
- Governor Samuel Ortom has advised the Senate committee on works to be vigilant in its supervision of federal roads

- The governor particularly urged the committee to beam its searchlight on the activities of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA)

- The governor made the call when members of the committee paid him a visit at Government House, Makurdi

Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom has urged the Senate committee on works to intensify supervision of all federal roads in the state with a view to making appropriate recommendations on them to the federal government.

Governor Ortom made the call when he received members of the committee led by Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano state) at the Government House, Makurdi.

Governor Ortom welcoming Senator Gaya and other committee members to the Government House. Photo credit: Terver Akase

He decried the deplorable state of the federal roads and stressed the need for the committee to inspect some of them in the state to have first hand experience of their conditions.

The governor also raised a concern that some contractors handling road projects in the state would either embark on a shoddy jobs or abandon work after being mobilised, thereby bringing greater hardship on the people.

Governor Ortom urges the committee to check the activities of FERMA. Photo credit: Terver Akase

READ ALSO: Nobody, not any group can break Nigeria  Vice President Osinbajo

He also called on the committee to summon the management of FERMA with a view to checking its activities in Benue, stressing that their actions are inimical to the growth of the state.

He went on to cite an instance where the agency took responsibility for a portion of the Makurdi-Lafia road, but the road has since been abandoned.

In his remark, the chairman of the committee, Senator Gaya, said they were in the state to inspect some federal roads in order to take appropriate action for their repairs.

Senator Gaya assured the governor that a new law in the Senate will strengthen FERMA, Photo credit: Terver Akase

Senator Gaya assured the governor that the Federal Highway Act before the National Assembly when passed into law, would seek to redefine the role of FERMA and address other road challenges in the country.

He also commiserated with Governor Ortom, the government and people of the state over the recent flooding that had caused untold hardship on the people on behalf of the committee.

The delegation adorned in TIV attire in a photo session with the governor. Photo credit: Terver Akase

Also speaking, the senator representing Benue North West, Dr. George Akume who also decried the deplorable state of federal roads in the state, said the visit of the Senate Committee could only be meaningful if the federal highways were supervised.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's Senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has stated ahead of the resumption of the Senate from its annual recess, that his focus since he assumed office, has been to build an effective and efficient legislature that directly impacts the lives of all Nigerians.

In a statement signed by his spokesman, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki emphasized that the role of the legislature in a young democracy like Nigeria is often misconstrued, hence, it is necessary for the National Assembly to work towards positively influencing the lives of all Nigerians through its powers of lawmaking, oversight and advocacy.

READ ALSO: Nigerians choose President Buhari ahead of 2019 elections - Poll results

Watch locals scoop fuel from a broken down tanker in Abia state on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng
- Former minister of external affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi has revealed why northers would always prefer Buhari than Atiku and IBB

- He said that Buhari is the only person the northerners trust now and believe would not betray them

- The professor of political science said that IBBs call for restructuring may have angered the north

Nigerias former minister of external affairs and professor of political science, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi has said that the only person right now that the north truly trusts and believes will not play politics with their interests is Muhammadu Buhari.

In an interview with the Punch, Akinyemi said that Buhari stands in the kind of position that the late Sardauna stood in the sixties, adding that an average person on the northern streets believes in Buhari in the way that they dont believe in former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or his former boss, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.

READ ALSO: Buhari has done well so far - Obasanjo

Legit.ng gathered that Akinyemi said that: The only person right now that the north truly trusts and believes will not play politics with their interests is Muhammadu Buhari.

He stands now in the kind of position that the (late) Sardauna stood in the sixties. An average person on the northern streets believes in Buhari in the way that they dont believe in (former Vice President) Atiku (Abubakar) or my former boss, IBB, because those are the people who have spoken out forcefully calling for restructuring. The northern streets will conclude that these persons are playing with their interests.

But Buhari stands in that position of trust in the estimation of the northern streets that if he should say that we need to give up these issues, hes not selling us. What we need to do is to find people in the north that Buhari trusts  people who can discuss with him, that he believes are not setting a trap for him.

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"The Yoruba leaders meeting in Ibadan and this interview will not get through to Buhari. But there are people in the north who can speak with him. There must be mutual trust between Buhari and those speaking with him.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a group known as the Buhari/Osinbajo Democratic Awareness Coalition has committed itself to promoting the achievements of the present administration ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video asking if Nigerians are tired of Buhari:

Source: Legit.ng
- A group, Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET), has demanded the immediate arrest of Nnamdi Kanu

- The group also support the proscription of IPOB by the south-east governors

- They also praised the Nigerian army for declaring IPOB a terrorist group

The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has backed the proscription of the the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its declaration by the Nigerian army as a terrorist organisation.

In a statement sent to Legit.ng, the group also demanded an immediate arrest of Nnamdi Kanu.

The group, at a conference in Abuja, also lauded the Nigerian military for taking the bold step and doing the needful by declaring IPOB as a terrorist group.

CESJET also commended the southeast governors for daring to proscribe IPOB even when they are daily blackmailed politically with threats of being labeled as traitors of their ethnicity.

READ ALSO: Biafra: Umuahia youths give Ikpeazu 24 hours to dethrone Nnamdi Kanus father

The group executive secretary, Comrade Ikpa Isaac, also called on the National Assembly, the presidency (executive) and the Judiciary to adopt a common front in dealing with the menace of IPOB as a terror group by taking all the steps expected of them.

The group's statement reads: "No room should be left for these terrorists to maneuver or manipulate the system to continue intimidating and threatening citizens.

"Since IPOB reportedly enjoyed massive financial, intellectual and political support from highly placed persons from the southeast, we proposed that the federal government delivers an amnesty package for those who funded or supported IPOB up until Friday September 15, 2017 to offer them the chance of distancing themselves from the terror group.

"Anyone subsequently found to be aiding and abetting the group should be treated in accordance with the Terrorism Prevention (Amended) Act 2013."

The group urged the state governors to act on the proscription of the IPOB by arresting members and supporters.

The statement further read: "We implore the governors to back the proscription order up with actions. They must immediately audit their cabinets to identify IPOB supporters and sympathizers in their folds since such people can sabotage them from inside.

"We however note that the governors did not prescribe any punishment for these terrorists for the evil they had brought upon the land in the last few years. There was neither any indication as to what would happen to anyone that continues to carry out activities under the name of IPOB.

"Furthermore, nothing was said of the other franchises that the terrorists use to operate, like the Biafra Zionists Movement. They did not talk about their sponsors and sources of funding.

"There was no mention of justice for the innocent Nigerians killed by these miscreants in the last few days. These are questions still begging for answers."

CESJET called on the southeast governors to be categorical in the terms of reference security agencies will act upon to enforce the proscription of the group.

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CESJECT said: "We also observed that there was no call for the immediate arrest of Nnamdi Kanu as the leader of IPOB terrorist group or any other person who goes out in the name of the group or its violent agitation. All these people, including the lawyer to Kanu, are accomplices that must be treated as such."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that IPOB on September 16 condemned the south east governors forum over its proscription of IPOBs activities.

The IPOBs media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, said the speed with which the governors announced the proscription of the groups activities showed that the governors were disloyal.

Watch this Legit.ng exclusive video of Nnamdi Kanu's lawyers reacting the army's invasion of his client's residence:

Source: Legit.ng
- Lai Mohammed said agitation for Biafra is being sponsored by treasury looters and those who are politically disgruntled

- The minister said that Nnamdi Kanu was being sponsored to incite war in the country

- He commended the southeast governors for proscribing IPOB

The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, said agitation for Biafra is being sponsored by treasury looters and those who are politically disgruntled.

Mohammed said Kanu is being sponsored to incite war under the disguise of fighting for the rights of the people.

He said the IPOB activities was being sponsored to divert attention from the efforts of the Buhari administration and obliterate the laudable achievements of the government.

The minister, who spoke at a conference in Abuja on Sunday, September 17, said: ''Nigerians must understand that IPOB was not set up to fight for the right of anyone or group, but as a tool to destabilize the nation, divert attention from the efforts of the Buhari administration and obliterate the laudable achievements of the government.

READ ALSO: Bountiful harvest forces down prices of food items in central Nigeria

"IPOB is being sponsored by those I will call the Coalition of the Politically Disgruntled and the Treasury Looters. They believe that by sponsoring this group to destabilize the country and trigger chaos, they will realize their ambition of escaping justice and then be free to dip their hands into the nations treasury again.

Alhaji Mohammed wondered why the activities of IPOB became heightened with the advent of this administration, saying: "If this is coincidental, then that coincidence is uncanny, at the least. Remember that Nnamdi Kanu, who led a protest at the Nigeria House in London against Boko Haram insurgency and in support of Nigerias unity, under the Jonathan Administration, has suddenly metamorphosed into an IPOB monster who will rather set the nation ablaze.

He said IPOB thrived on exploiting the nations fault lines, and that its modus operandi "is to trigger conflagration nationwide through attacks and reprisals.

"Thankfully, IPOB has failed in its evil machinations. The good people of Nigeria have seen beyond those cheap tactics and have avoided being incited against one another. We must remain vigilant and resolute. We must all say no to the incendiary and divisive tendencies of IPOB and its cohorts, he said.

The minister commended the Nigerian military for labelling IPOB a terrorist organization and for checkmating the group, and the southeast governors for proscribing the organization.

"But for (the militarys) quick and decisive intervention, IPOB could have set the nation on fire. Thanks to the decisiveness of the military, today the Governors of the states in the southeast have wisely proscribed IPOB, he said.

Alhaji Mohammed accused IPOB of harvesting gory videos from the distant past and from other lands to deceive the international community that the people of the South-east are victims of state-sponsored ethno-sectarian violence, describing such tactics as lies and propaganda.

Such videos, which have very high emotive quotient, are circulating on the social media. We call on all to subject such videos to the greatest scrutiny so as not to be misled. In particular, we urge the international community not to jump to any conclusion on the basis of such videos, he said.

The minister also appealed to the media to show greater restraint and avoid sensationalism in their reporting of the military exercise, Operation Python Dance II, in the South-east.

The divisive and jaundiced opinions of some anarchists have been given a big play by a section of the media. This is wrong. Let me remind all of us of the role of the media, especially the radio, in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that left about 800,000 people dead, he said, adding that the Nigerian media cannot afford to sit on the fence or engage in irresponsible journalism when the issue at stake is the very survival of the nation.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported earlier that the new commissioner of police in Abia state, Anthony Ogbizi, has warned that anybody found with the Biafra flag will be arrested.

Speaking while parading seven suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, the newly deployed state commissioner of police said the proscription of the group by the governors of the south east automatically make its illegal.

He said it has become illegal for anyone to operate under the IPOB which was declared a terrorist organization by the Nigerian military or adorn its emblems.

Watch Legit.ng video of what Nigerians have to say about the army operation in southeast:

Source: Legit.ng
- Two people have lost their lives in Lagos after son of Sarki Hausawa of Okokomaiko allegedly killed a suya man

- This led to a counter attack by associates of the deceased

- The police have arrested Bashiru Ahmed

The Nigerian police has taken control of the situation as series of violent killings erupted in Lagos.

The police made this known on Rapid Response Squad Facebook page on Sunday, September 17.

According to the police, the situation started when Bashiru Ahmed, the son of Sarki Hausawa of Okokomaiko accused a man selling suya of laughing at him.

The man was said to have denied laughing at the son of the monarch but Ahmed refused to believe him and subsequently destroyed his wares.

This subsequently led to destruction and deaths.

The police said:"On Friday September 14, 2017, an incident started between at a suya seller spot by one Bashiru Ahmed who is the son of Sarki Hausawa of Okokomaiko.

"Bashiru accused the suya man of laughing at him and the suya sellers told him he was laughing at the person who fell into the gutter. Bashiru and his gang threw the suya seller's meat on the floor and left.

READ ALSO: Biafra: Umuahia youths give Ikpeazu 24 hours to dethrone Nnamdi Kanus father

"The suya man and some sympathizers went to complain to Bashirus father, the Sarki, Alh Adamu Ahmed Gaya, who promised to pay for the suya but the owner declined the compensation.

"The following day, the suya seller was shot and killed by two assailants who escaped from scene.

Two people have lost their lives in Lagos after son of Sarki Hausawa of Okokomaiko allegedly killed a suya man. Photo credit: Facebook RRS

"The police swung into action and arrested Bashiru Ahmed who is suspected to have had hands in the murder.

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"Today at about 1200hrs, friends of the deceased suya man sighted an associate of Bashiru Ahmed, pursued and killed him near Alaba rago and moved to the palace of the Sarki and set it ablaze."

The situation started when Bashiru Ahmed, the son of Sarki Hausawa of Okokomaiko accused a man selling suya of laughing at him. Photo credit: Facebook RRS

"The area commander Area E" Command,Acp Auwal Musa, the commander RRS Acp Tunji Disu and Officers of Ops Mensa were on the ground to maintain peace . Meeting were held with elders of the community to stop further reprisal attacks, he said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that some police officers who were arrested for allegedly burgling an Abuja residence of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, have been dismissed from the service by the Nigerian Police Force.

Watch the video below as Legit.ng TV asked some Nigerians if they consider the police as their friend.

Source: Legit.ng
Lambert here: This is a very important post. It shows that law enforcement for profit doesnt only happen in flyover country  as in St Louis suburb Ferguson, Missouri  but in the famously blue state of California, dominated by liberal Democrats. Its almost like were looking at an ideology shared by all elites.

By Adam Hudson, a journalist, writer and photographer whose work has appeared in Truthout, AlterNet, teleSUR English, the Nation and other publications. Originally published at Alternet.

Throughout the United States, cities impose heavy traffic fines to generate revenue. But these expensive fines mostly hurt lower-income people and people of color and often lead to suspended drivers licenses. As a result, people get trapped in a debtors prison as these exorbitant fines pile up.

A recent lawsuit in Californias Solano County Superior Court successfully challenged the states policy of holding traffic violators to unreasonable fines, regardless of their ability to pay. Civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) were part of the suit against the court. The settlement provides a template for challenging exorbitant traffic fines and byzantine fee structures that trap people in poverty.

Under the settlements terms, Solano County Superior Court will notify traffic defendants of their right to be heard regarding their ability to pay, and it will update all notifications to traffic defendants, including its website, the oral advisements provided by traffic court judges, and the notice of rights handout given to all traffic defendants, according to a Bay Area Legal Aid press release. The updated notices inform defendants of their rights to ask the Court for a lower fine, a payment plan, or community service if they cannot afford the traffic fine. For homeless, low-income, or public-benefit-receiving traffic defendants, the Court agreed to consider alternative penalties that do not involve paying monetary fines, such as community service.

Traffic defendants do, in fact, have a right to argue ability to pay when contesting fines in court. But typically, courts do not inform defendants that they actually have this right. This settlement upholds that right by ensuring Solano County Superior Court inform defendants of their right to argue ability to pay and consider alternative penalties.

ACLU attorney Micaela Davis argues that suspending someones drivers license is unconstitutional. She told AlterNet, Without giving someone notice and opportunity to be heard on their ability to pay and then by applying the sanction of the license suspension, youre essentially punishing someone, via that license suspension, without providing due processthus violating the U.S. Constitution.

Solano County lies in the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It includes cities like Fairfield (the county seat) and Vallejo. To Solano Countys east is Sacramento County, which houses Californias capital of Sacramento (also the county seat).

The California state government also passed legislation regarding the suspension of drivers licenses for unpaid traffic fines. In late June, California governor Jerry Brown signed a bill ending drivers license suspensions for unpaid traffic fines.

Suspending someones drivers license deprives them of a means of transportation. This makes it difficult to run necessary errands, go to work, or even find work since some jobs require a drivers license. Many working-class and lower-income Californians live in areas where public transportation is almost nonexistent. In these areas, not having access to a car makes it nearly impossible to get around. So for many people, unless they live in a metropolitan area with ample public transportation, having a drivers license is a necessity. Gov. Browns bill alleviates some of this stress.

While the bill is certainly a step in the right direction, it does not fix the problem that the fines remain way too high for some to afford. As Davis explained to AlterNet, Even though that ultimate sanction [suspended drivers license for unpaid traffic fines] is gone, the fact of the matter is the fees that are assessed on people are still way too high. Even if someone is not having their license suspended, were still seeing huge problems with people saddled with these court debts that they cant pay off.

Under California law, failing to appear in court, failing to pay an infraction ticket (even if the defendant cannot afford the fine), or driving with a suspended license is a misdemeanor. Police can arrest, book, and jail people for traffic court warrants or the criminal misdemeanor offense of driving with a suspended license, according to a 2016 LCCR report. Punishment can mean six months in jail, years of probation, and several expensive fees.

Out of all the U.S. states, California arguably has the most expensive and byzantine traffic fines and fee structures. Base fines for common infractions, like traffic violations, in California are typically similar to other states. However, additional fees are piled onto the base fine, which increases the actual fine cost to exorbitant amounts. Such fees include state penalty assessment, court operations assessment, county fund, and several other fees. Californias court costs and penalty fees are significantly higher than average, according to another LCCR report published in 2017.

Additionally, if a defendant fails to pay the fine or appear in court or misses a deadline, a $300 civil assessment fee is added to the fine. According to the 2017 LCCR report, State law makes the imposition of a civil assessment fee permissive (not mandatory), but almost all California courts routinely impose this fee. Additionally, state law allows courts discretion to impose up to $300 but all nine Bay Area countiesand almost all California countiesimpose the maximum allowable amount of $300 automatically, in all cases. Civil assessment fees go to the Trial Court Trust Fund, which funds Californias state courts. Courts receive 100 percent of these fees (other fees are earmarked for other state projects) and use these fees to balance their budgets, according to LCCR.

As a result, California traffic fines are the highest in the nation. For example, according to the 2017 LCCR report, running a red light in California carries a $490 fine, the highest in the country. While the base fine for a red light violation is $100, additional fees increase it to $490. The second highest is Oregon, where running a red light carries a $260 fine, while for most states, the fee is less than $200an average fine of $154 in other states. A speeding violation in California carries a $233 fine. The base fine is $35, but additional fees increase it to $233. The average fine for speeding in other states is $115. Running a stop sign in California carries a $238 fine, while the average is $151 in other states. Meanwhile, Californias jaywalking fine is $197 compared to an average of $108 in other states.

These exorbitant fines exist at a time when the middle class has dwindled throughout the country. According to a Social Security Administration report, 50 percent of American wage earners made less than or equal to $29,930.13 in 2015, while 67.4 percent made less than or equal to $46,119.78.

People of color, particularly blacks and Latinos, are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. Police have a high level of discretion when it comes to charging people for minor infractions and where they direct their law enforcement efforts. This discretion allows for implicit bias of law enforcement officers to influence where they target their enforcement effort, according to the 2017 LCCR report.

Black and Latino drivers are more likely to be pulled over, arrested, ticketed, and searched by police during traffic stops compared to whites. A recent Stanford study also showed that when pulled over for speeding, black and Latino drivers are 20 and 30 percent, respectively, more likely to be ticketed than whites and twice as likely to be searched. Black and Latino drivers are also searched based on less evidence.

LCCR also points out that African-American people were 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for a common, minor offense, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested in many states. But this is not related to higher wrongdoing by people of color. According to LCCR, people of color are more likely to be detained despite not doing anything wrong.

In several Bay Area countries, black and Latino drivers are disproportionately arrested and jailed for driving with a license that was suspended due to failing to pay an infraction fine. The 2017 LCCR report notes a pattern of systemic racial discrimination in county jail bookings for this failure-to-pay infraction. [W]hite drivers are approximately half as likely to be booked in County jail for driving after failing to pay a traffic violation, relative to the county census population average, whereas drivers in the Hispanic or Other racial categories are roughly four times as likely, and African-American drivers are as much as 16 times more likely, depending on the county, according to the report.

In Alameda County, where Oakland and Berkeley are located, blacks make up over 40 percent of failure-to-pay bookings, even though they are 10 percent of the countys population, according to LCCR. Latinos make up over 30 percent of failure-to-pay jail bookings but are under 20 percent of the county population. Meanwhile, whites make up over 40 percent of Alameda Countys population but 20 percent of failure-to-pay jail bookings. In Santa Clara County, where many tech companies like Google and Facebook are located, blacks are less than 5 percent of the countys population, while Latinos are under 20 percent and whites are around 45 percent. However, Latinos make up over 60 percent of failure-to-pay jail bookings and blacks are 10 percent of those bookings, while whites make up 20 percent. A similar pattern of racial discrimination occurs in failure-to-pay jail bookings for non-traffic violations, such as loitering.

Many cities throughout the country get their revenue from fineswhich explains courts refusal to inform defendants of their right to argue ability to pay. But those fines usually come from black residents. A Priceonomics study of cities revenue from fines found that cities that relied heavily on fines had larger black populations. We found one demographic that was most characteristic of cities that levy large amounts of fines on their citizens: a large African-American population. Among the fifty cities with the highest proportion of revenues from fines, the median size of the African-American populationon a percentage basisis more than five times greater than the national median, writes Dan Kopf of Priceonomics. Meanwhile, income level had very little bearing on cities reliance on fines for revenue.

African Americans make up 3.8 percent of the median city population in the United States, according to Priceonomics. However, for the top 50 cities in terms of proportion of revenue from fines, blacks make up 18.9 percent of the population. A similar pattern occurs when looking at averages rather than median. Cities that receive 10 percent or more of their revenue from fines and forfeitures have an average black population of 25.9 percent compared to an 8.7 percent black population for cities that only get 0 to 1 percent of their revenue from fines.

Priceonomics said the connection between fines and largely African American populations is unlikely from black people committing more offenses. Plus, according to the 2016 LCCR report, there is no documented difference in driving behavior between whites and nonwhites. Furthermore, there is no evidential difference in driving behavior based on race. Blacks and Latinos are no more dangerous behind the wheel than white people. A more likely explanation, according to Priceonomics, is that blacks are more highly policed and that, as has been acknowledged by the Director of the FBI, African Americans suffer from heavier legal penalties due to the implicit bias of police officers.

Courts throughout California and the country use fines as a source of revenue. These expensive and byzantine fee structures largely hurt lower-income people and people of color. In fact, cities that rely more on fines as a source of revenue have larger black populations. Courts typically do not inform traffic defendants of their right to argue ability to pay when contesting these fines. The Solano County Superior Court settlement serves as a model to challenge this system. However, it only applies to Solano County. And it remains to be seen whether the court will follow through. So the fight to challenge exorbitant traffic fines and the modern-day debtors prison will continue.
The new economy of excrement Nature

The Equifax fiasco is a classic case of weapon of math destruction WaPo

How badly did Equifax breach damage the Social Security system? McClatchy

Equifax Holds Contract to Verify Data of Obamacare Customers Bloomberg

Internet Tax Ruling Worth Billions Poised for Supreme Court Review Bloomberg

EU efforts to impose heavier taxes on tech giants gather momentum FT

California Legislature Sells Out Our Data to ISPs EFF

Heres how much social media stars get paid to post ads Recode

Researchers find summer heats lasting longer in the Gulf of Maine Portland Press-Herald (study). Since 2004, the Gulf of Maine  which extends from Massachusetts to the head of the Bay of Fundy and includes all of coastal Maine  has warmed faster than anyplace else on the planet, except for an area northeast of Japan.

Youre probably drinking little bits of plastic in your tap water Quartz

Real estate industry blocks sea-level warnings that could crimp profits on coastal properties McClatchy

Where modern macroeconomics went wrong Real World Economics Review (MT).

Syraqistan

Venezuela to End Dollar-Denominated Oil Deals, Currency Exchanges Venezuelanalysis

Venezuelas Maduro upbeat on talks, opposition fear show Reuters

Brazils Elite Have Fallen To Pieces Forbes

Brexit

Spain tightens grip over Catalan spending as tensions soar France24

What Spain has to lose from Catalan independence Politico

Commentary: Labor reform in Frances Macron economy Reuters

China?

The New Cold War

Harvard Fellowships Have Always Been a Joke Foreign Policy (MR).

Trump Transition

Trump Administration Seeks to Avoid Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord, International Climate Officials Say WSJ. The administration is now saying nothing has changed, but the article is reasonably sourced. Teflon Don confounds Democrats Politico. Pollsters are shocked by how many voters describe themselves as exhausted by the constant chaos surrounding Trump, and they find that theres strong support for a Congress that provides a check on him rather than voting for his agenda most of the time. But he is still viewed as an outsider shaking up the system, which people in the various surveys say they like, and which Democrats dont stack up well against.

Health Care

Democrats in Disarray

Harvard Business Schools Latest Case Study Looks at American Politics and Finds a Rigged System WSJ

Whats happening to rural mental health center is sickening Des Moines Register

Our Famously Free Press

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Guillotine Watch

Class Warfare

Psychologists studied 5,000 genius kids for 45 years  here are their 6 key takeaways Business Insider

How Reading Rewires Your Brain for More Intelligence and Empathy Big Think

Antidote du jour (via the Snow Leopard Trust):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
(Natural News) Its difficult for me to even fathom having to write this story on so many levels, so Ill just go through them one by one.

First, the obvious: Anal sex and teenagers should never be spoken of in the same breath, in the same sentence. Call me old-fashioned, but no father should ever have to worry about his daughter experiencing this sexual act, let alone when shes still a teenager  so to my way of thinking, this subject matter should never be published in a pop culture magazine designed for teens. [Or have things changed that much since my kids were that young?]

In any event, the perverts who edit, monitor and censor at Twitter are apparently just as bad as the pervs at Teen Vogue, because they just kicked off a user and mother who chastised the magazines editor, Phillip Picardi, for teaching kids sodomy.

Writer Elizabeth Johnston, who writes at The Activist Mommy website, tweeted this message after discovering Teen Vogues content: Congrats Phillip! A sodomite mag just awarded you for teaching kids sodomy. Way to recruit there @TheAdvocateMag! [The Advocate is a magazine that caters to gays and lesbians, as well as the LGBT community].

As reported by PJ Media, Picardi okayed for publication a guide to anal sex for teen girls in a recent issue. Needless to say, parents everywhere were shaken, disturbed, and upset at something that was, quite frankly, an act of pure stupidity.

So what was Picardis tweeted response? To give everyone the finger while kissing another man.

https://twitter.com/pfpicardi/status/885923789485342721

Nice, huh?

Needless to say, Picardi wasnt banned by Twitter. Or censored. Or limited. Or anything.

Because when it comes the destruction of decency, morality, and traditional American cultural mores, the Alt-Left gets a free pass from the like-minded morons who run tech and media companies.

Writes Megan Fox at PJ Media:

If Phillip Picardi doesnt like the word sodomy, then why is he publishing articles encouraging young girls to practice it? And why is a gay magazine handing him awards for doing it? That does seem rather strange, doesnt it? I can only guess that Johnston got suspended for using the words sodomite and sodomy instead of gay and anal sex and thus angering the gaystappo who appear to run social media.

Exactly right. Because Johnston is a Christian who believes in the Bibles teachings regarding homosexuality and aberrant sexual behavior, her account is the one that gets banned. Or censored. Or limited. (Related: Facebook to become left-wing propaganda echo chamber with Orwellian plan to label independent journalism fake)

We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules, so weve temporarily limited some of your account features, said a message from the gaystoppo. While in this state, you can still browse Twitter, but youre limited to only sending Direct Messages to your followers  no Tweets, Retweets, or likes.

The ban was for 12 hours.

Of course, writes Johnston, actual videos of children being abused can be found on Twitter. But calling out an editor for promoting teen sodomy is worth a suspension?

While leftists accuse The Activist Mommy of wanting society to become A Handmaids Tale, they are the ones taking us back to the dark ages through infanticide  all with the approval of Silicon Valley.

Twitters anti-conservative Nazis arent alone in the world of social media. Google and Facebook are equally guilty of equating conservative, pro-Trump speech and support with racism and bigotry and then using their contrived narrative as the impetus to ban or censure political speech the sensitive Lefties cant deal with (or adequately refute  which is why they name-call instead of debate).

Its time conservatives, libertarians, and political independents who respect and defend American principles, liberties, freedoms, and values abandon these Leftist social media sites that are owned and operated by people who seek to distort or destroy everything that made our country great. There are alternatives.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

ActivistMom.com

PJMedia.com

NaturalNews.com
Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish region's planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Saturday.

If the Iraqi population is "threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily," he said.

Iraq's Kurdish region plans to hold the referendum on support for independence from Iraq on Sept. 25 in three governorates that make up their autonomous region, and in disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces but which are claimed by Baghdad.

"If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation," al-Abadi said.

The leaders of Iraq's Kurdish region have said they hope the referendum will push Baghdad to come to the negotiating table and create a path for independence. However, al-Abadi said such negotiations would likely be complicated by the referendum vote.

"It will make it harder and more difficult," he said, but added: "I will never close the door to negotiations. Negotiations are always possible."

Iraq's Kurds have come under increasing pressure to call off the vote from regional powers and the United States, a key ally, as well as Baghdad.

In a statement released late Friday night the White House called for the Kurdish region to call off the referendum "and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad."

"Holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilizing," the statement read.

Tensions between Irbil and Baghdad have flared in the lead-up to the Sept. 25 vote.

Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, has repeatedly threatened violence if "any force" attempts to move into disputed territories that are now under the control of Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga, specifically the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

"It's chaotic there," Muhammad Mahdi al-Bayati, a senior leader of Iraq's mostly Shiite fighters known as the popular mobilization forces, said earlier this week, describing Kirkuk in the lead up to the vote.

Al-Bayati's forces  sanctioned by Baghdad, but many with close ties to Iran  are deployed around Kirkuk as well as other disputed territories in Iraq's north.

"Everyone is under pressure," he said, explaining that he feared a rogue group of fighters could trigger larger clashes. "Anything could be the spark that burns it all down."

Al-Abadi said he is focused on legal responses to the Kurdish referendum on independence. Earlier this week Iraq's parliament rejected the referendum in a vote boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers.

Iraq's Kurds have long held a dream of statehood. Brutally oppressed under Saddam, whose military in the 1980s killed at least 50,000 Kurds, many with chemical weapons, Iraq's Kurds established a regional government in 1992 after the U.S. enforced a no-fly zone across the north following the Gulf War.

After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam, the region secured constitutional recognition of its autonomy, but remained part of the Iraqi state.

When asked if he would ever accept an independent Kurdistan, Al-Abadi said "it's not up to me, this is a constitutional" matter.

"If (Iraq's Kurds) want to go along that road, they should work toward amending the constitution," al-Abadi said. "In that case we have to go all the way through parliament and a referendum to the whole Iraqi people."

"For them to call for only the Kurds to vote," he continued, "I think this is a hostile move toward the whole of the Iraqi population."
When they first boarded the Norwegian Escape a week ago, passengers knew exactly where they were going. Now they have no idea.

The cruise ship, with about 4,000 guests on board, departed from Miami on Saturday, Sept. 2, and was scheduled to return a week later, after making stops in Honduras, Belize and Mexico.

The boat made it to the Honduran island of Roatan on Monday and Belize the following day. But on Tuesday, passengers were told that their ports of call at Mexico's Cozumel island and the Costa Maya had been canceled.

The dangerous and powerful Hurricane Irma, which had carved a path of death and destruction across a string of Caribbean islands, was headed straight for Florida, home to a fair number of passengers on the ship. Many of those passengers had already switched from relaxation to disaster-preparation mode, and were eager to get home to secure their belongings and ensure the safety of their pets.

Michael Davis, who lives near the water in St. Augustine, Florida, was one of them.

"Once they said, 'We're heading back,' then the mood shifted from vacation time to, 'Alright, let's get home and get it taken care of,'" said Davis, 42.

But there was only a short window of time to drop them off before it would be too dangerous to dock in Miami. So the ship arrived in port Thursday afternoon, two days early, allowing hundreds of passengers to disembark.

Hundreds more had no reason to get off, however, and knew that competing with Florida residents evacuating the state ahead of the storm for rental cars and flights was a losing proposition. So they chose a second option: a "cruise to nowhere."

The Escape headed back out to sea Thursday evening, with a new manifest of about 4,000 that included some of the original passengers as well as some fellow travelers who disembarked early from another ship called the Norwegian Sky. They, too, had decided to prolong their seagoing adventures.

The cruisers have no idea where they are headed or when they will return. A lot of it, they were told, would be up to Irma: which path she decides to take and how long she lingers.

"We said to guests that we cannot confirm when or where you'll be coming back, but obviously we'll make every effort to return the ship to port as soon as it's safe to do so," said Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Vanessa Picariello.

Picariello said the ship "is heading west," but she did not have a more precise route. She said the ship will try to make a port of call if it's safe to do so "but if not, guests will enjoy a cruise to nowhere and be able to be safe and out of the storm."

Picariello added that the ship plans to return to Miami, but that cruise officials will look into alternate ports if the one in Miami is damaged by the hurricane.

Margaret Cunningham of Battle Ground, Washington, said she decided to stay on board with her husband, Mike, after the captain assured them the ship could avoid Irma and even outrun a hurricane.

"They've been very clear that they're not going to run out of food. They're not going to run out of water. They're not going to run out of booze  very important  and so we're just going to stay on and enjoy the ride," said Cunningham, 65, who is recently retired.

Barbara Engel, who could not get a flight home to Dallas, said she believed staying on the ship was her best option.

"I've got everything here and more than I would want, and we can run" from the storm if necessary, Engel, 49, said shortly before the ship pulled into port in Miami on Thursday. "So really, all told, I think I'm in the best place I can be at this time."

Debbie Kendrick, of Courtland, Ohio, said she has enjoyed the cruise, even if she hasn't slept quite as well because she doesn't know when or where it will end.

"I appreciate that the cruise line wants to keep us safe," she said. "They're not just dropping us off."

Associated Press Airlines Writer David Koenig contributed to this report.
Anyone with diabetes who takes blood sugar medication knows their doctor prescribed it to help them. After all, the long-term effects of elevated blood sugar can harm everything from the heart and kidneys to the eyes and feet.

But what if stopping, or at least cutting back on, such drugs could help even more in some patients?

In some older people, such "deintensification" of diabetes treatment may be the safer route, because of the risks of falls and other issues that come with too-low blood sugar.

But a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine suggests more doctors and such patients should work together to dial back diabetes treatment.

Who's over-treated?

Almost 11 percent of Medicare participants with diabetes had very low blood sugar levels that suggested they were being over-treated, the new study finds. But only 14 percent of these patients had a reduction in blood sugar medication refills in the next six months.

Patients over age 75, and those who qualified for both Medicare and Medicaid because of low incomes or serious disability, were most likely to be over-treated. Those who lived in urban areas or were of Hispanic origin were less likely to be over-treated.

Patients over age 75 were less likely than others to have their treatment dialed back, as measured by prescription doses and refills.

But patients who had more than six chronic conditions, or who lived in urban areas or had frequent outpatient visits, were more likely to experience a deintensification.

The results were compiled by a team of researchers from Duke University, the University of Michigan and the VA hospitals in Durham, North Carolina and Ann Arbor, Michigan. They studied detailed records from 78,792 Medicare participants over age 65 in ten states, all of whom had diabetes.

The authors, led by Duke/Durham researcher Matthew Maciejewski, Ph.D., warn against a one-size-fits-all approach when treating diabetes in older patients. They call for greater personalized care that takes account of the risks and benefits that such treatment holds for individual patients.

Jeremy Sussman, M.D., M.S., a co-author of the new study and U-M/VA researcher, suggests that older patients with diabetes - and the adult children who often assist with their care - should talk to their care teams about whether de-intensification is right for them.

The risk of too-aggressive treatment

In people in their 70s and older, very low blood sugar levels - called hypoglycemia -- can actually raise the risk of dizzy spells, confusion, falls and even death.

In recent years, experts have started to suggest that doctors ease up on how aggressively they treat such patients for high blood pressure or diabetes -- especially if they have other conditions that limit their life expectancy.

It can be hard for an older person to recognize the signs of too-low blood sugar, such as confusion and combativeness, or of too-low blood pressure, such as dizziness.

Meanwhile, keeping up with taking multiple medications, and checking blood sugar daily or even more often, can be a struggle for the oldest patients. De-intensifying their treatment can often be a relief.

A previous study by Sussman and his U-M/VA colleagues showed that only one in four of nearly 400,000 older patients in the VA system who could have been eligible to ease up on their blood sugar medicines actually had their dosage changed.

Even those with the lowest readings, or the fewest years left to live, had only a slightly greater chance as other patients of having their treatment de-intensified.

The VA system is actively trying to encourage de-intensification of blood sugar-reducing treatment in its oldest patients nationwide. The U-M/Ann Arbor VA team, led by Eve Kerr, M.D., M.S., is studying the effects of that effort.

More about the new study

For the new study, the team looked at prescription refills among those whose blood sugar levels - represented by a measure called HbA1c - were already well below recommended levels.

They focused on those who had an A1c at or below 6.5 percent, at a single point in time in 2011 - as well as those with an A1c over 9, which is considered very high.

The patients under 6.5 A1c levels would be eligible to ease up on their blood sugar medication dosages, to lower their risk of the consequences of hypoglycemia.

In fact, the American Geriatrics Society recommends that the only medication an older person with diabetes should be on if they have an A1c level below 7.5 percent is metformin.

While 10.9 percent of all the Medicare participants in the study were being over-treated to the point of an ultra-low A1c level, only 6.9 percent were being under-treated and had A1c levels over 9.

"The oldest Medicare beneficiaries are the least likely to benefit from tight glycemic control and most likely to be harmed, so it is troubling that they were more likely to be overtreated and less likely to have their medication regimens de-intensified," explains Sussman, who is a member of the VA Center for Clinical Management Research and the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.

"By focusing on both overtreatment and undertreatment ends of the diabetes quality spectrum, we can best begin to improve the quality of diabetes care in all respects, ensuring that patients get needed care while avoiding unnecessary potential harm," he adds.

Long-term gain, short-term pain

Sussman notes that the reasons why doctors prescribe medication to help people get their diabetes under control mostly focus on the long term.

Controlling these factors for years can help people cut their risk of problems that result from too-high sugar levels, like stroke, heart attack, blindness, nerve damage, amputation and kidney failure.

"Every guideline for physicians has detailed guidance for prescribing and stepping up or adding drugs to control these risk factors, and somewhere toward the end it says 'personalize treatment for older people'," says Sussman, a U-M assistant professor of general internal medicine and VA Ann Arbor researcher. "But nowhere do they say actually stop medication in the oldest patients to avoid hypoglycemia or too-low blood pressure."

If a patient has been on medication for diabetes for many years, and is now in their late 70s or older, they may have gotten many long-term benefits from keeping their levels in control.

But because their chance of a dangerous blood sugar or blood pressure dip goes up with age, the short-term risk starts to balance out any long-term gain they could still get.

Sussman and his colleagues write that effective treatment of diabetes requires a major shift in approach towards greater personalization of treatments based on potential for individual risk and benefit.
Funding cuts and austerity measures are damaging young people's access to mental health services, with potentially long-term consequences for their mental wellbeing, say researchers at the University of Cambridge.

In an article published today in the Journal of Public Mental Health, the team discuss the policy implications of their study published earlier in the year, which found that young people who have contact with mental health services in the community and in clinics are significantly less likely to suffer from clinical depression later in their adolescence than those with equivalent difficulties who do not receive treatment.

Young people's mental health problems are associated with an increased risk of problems later on in adulthood, including poor mental health, lower income, unemployment, inability to maintain a stable cohabiting relationship, and greater contact with the criminal justice system. However, the team's previous study suggested that access for adolescents with mental health problems to intervention in schools and clinics reduces mental health problems up to three years later and would therefore yield personal, economic, and societal benefits over an individual's lifespan.

In the study, Sharon Neufeld and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge used data obtained between 2005-2010 - prior to funding cuts to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the community and in NHS clinics. Between 2008 and 2013, funding for the services dropped by 5.4 per cent in real terms so that in 2012/2013, only 6 per cent of the NHS' total mental health budget was spent on these services. The knock-on effect of this was that while in 2005/2006, 38% of 14-year olds with a mental disorder had made contact with mental health provision for young people in the past year, in 2014/2015 only 25% of all children and young people with a mental disorder had made such service contact.

One consequence of this has been that the number of young people attending A&E due to a psychiatric condition had doubled by 2014/2015, compared with 2010/2011.

"It's important to improve young people's mental health services in schools and strengthen the care pathway to specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, in order to meet the NHS target of returning contact back up to 35% by 2020/2021," says Mrs Neufeld.

"We need to acknowledge the mental health suffering in our young people that has only been increasingly apparent in recent years, and resolve to improve young people's access to effective mental health services."

She and her colleagues argue that as well as protecting funding for specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, funding for school-based counseling is also important as their study found that this was the second most used service for young people with a mental health disorder.

"The current government has promised to provide funding for mental health first aid training for teachers in secondary schools, which should enable them to better identify those with mental health issues and connect students to the appropriate support services," says Professor Peter Jones. "But this is against a backdrop of freezing school budgets, the very budgets that typically fund school-based counseling.

"Funding for school-based counseling must be ring-fenced, whether it be funded through the education sector or NHS, to ensure young people have adequate service access prior to specialist mental health services."

The researchers also argue that GPs could use more training in identifying mental disorder. The Royal College of General Practitioners reports that nine out of ten people with mental health problems are managed in primary care. However, even in the recent past, most GPs do not include a rotation in mental illness as part of their training. Such gaps in training, say the researchers, mean that GPs correctly identify less than a half (47%) of depression cases.

"This is a huge missed opportunity," adds Professor Ian Goodyer. "GPs will encounter a large number of individuals with mental disorders, but have insufficient background knowledge to appropriately identify such cases."

Source: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cuts-to-mental-health-services-putting-young-people-at-risk-say-experts
Hurricane Irma left a lot of standing water in the yards and homes of Florida residents. So, a University of Florida researcher suggests steps for making sure your home doesn't become a haven for mosquitoes.

Some mosquito species can lay up to 200 eggs at a time, so it's critical to empty cups, birdbaths, pots or anything else on your property that has standing water, said UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences entomology professor Phil Kaufman.

"No container is too small to empty," Kaufman said. In addition to getting rid of standing water, he recommends residents use mosquito briquettes to kill immature mosquitoes. The mosquito briquettes are available at many stores.

When going outside to empty containers or do yard cleanup, Kaufman urged residents to wear insect repellant (preferably with DEET) and light-colored clothing.

Containers are a haven for certain types of mosquitoes to lay eggs, particularly after heavy rains, he said. Mosquitoes that lay eggs in containers include Aedes aegypti  the Yellow Fever mosquito  and Aedes albopictus  the Asian tiger mosquito.

Both species can transmit Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses, which can cause fever and headaches, among other symptoms, Kaufman said. But an increase in mosquito population is only one factor in whether mosquito-borne diseases would be transmitted to humans or animals, he said. Other factors include the abundance of other animals or organisms that carry the disease-causing pathogen, Kaufman said.

"Every disease is going to be different," he said. "So you can't say that just because we had a hurricane, we're going to see more disease."

After these rains, mosquito populations will be high for a few weeks, if not a month, Kaufman said. So, it's very important to contact your local mosquito control officials to tell them if you have concerns over an infestation in your yard or neighborhood, he said.

The bigger problem for mosquito control in general might be flooded areas, Kaufman said. Mosquito populations  such as those of the Gallinipper -- will increase more where standing water occurs, he said. Although about six times the size of regular mosquitoes, Gallinippers are largely nuisance mosquitoes, rather than disease-transmitting species he said.
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications describes a breakthrough in research related to facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The debilitating genetic disease - which has no approved treatment - affects an estimated 38,000 Americans and causes degeneration and wasting of the skeletal muscles.

Scientists from the University of Minnesota Medical School inserted into mice a gene called DUX4, which is believed to cause FSHD in humans. When they activated the gene in the mice skeletal muscle cells, the animals developed a slow progressive muscular dystrophy with key features of the human disease. Previous attempts to generate a mouse model for FSHD have not shown FSHD-like muscle disease.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

"In genetic diseases for which therapies have been developed, like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, mouse models like the one we discovered were essential to the development and testing of potential therapies," said principal investigator Michael Kyba, Ph.D., professor within the University of Minnesota Medical School and member of the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, "Now that this hurdle has been overcome for FSHD, we have great hope for therapy development.

In addition to providing a way to test therapies for FSHD, the mouse model allows scientists to understand why muscle degenerates in FSHD patients. According to the study's lead author Darko Bosnakovski, Ph.D., "FSHD is a very unusual muscular dystrophy with a completely different and poorly understood mechanism of muscle damage compared to the more well-known muscular dystrophies. We really do not know why muscle disappears in these patients."

The researchers were surprised to find that when the DUX4 gene was turned on in muscle cells, the mice muscle became inflamed and other cells in the tissue responded by proliferating and overproducing collagen. This led to muscle fibrosis, a condition where contractile muscle cells become replaced by matrix, leading to loss of muscle strength. The involvement of these matrix-producing cells, known as fibroadipogenic progentiors (FAPs), was previously unknown, and suggests that drugs targeting FAPs or fibrosis might be candidates for slowing down the progression of FSHD.

"This study already points to some targets for future drugs, which is very exciting," Kyba added. "With this mouse model, I'm hopeful we'll make progress in our pursuit for a cure."
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  A Wyoming man was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison after pleading guilty for sexually abusing a teenage girl who was in foster care.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that 60-year-old Mervin Scofield Jr. pleaded guilty this week to two counts of sexual assault of a minor while in a position of authority. Scofield apologized in court, saying he can't forgive himself for what he did.

His attorney asked for a probation sentence, but Laramie County District Court Judge Catherine Rogers agreed with prosecutors that prison time was necessary. Rogers said Scofield was dangerous and shouldn't receive probation alone.

According to court records, the girl told the Laramie County Sheriff's Department that she was assaulted three times by Scofield in the fall of 2015.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
In November, 2015, Israeli officials believed that the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has amassed around 150,000 rockets, including a number of long range Iranian-made missiles capable of striking Israeli cities from north to south. The estimates represent a 50 percent increase in the groups weapons stockpiles since May, 2017 when a senior Israeli intelligence official put the number at 100,000.

Since the 2006 war, Hezbollah has built up its store of advanced weaponry with help from the Syrian regime and its Iranian sponsors. In 2016, the group commanded an estimated 20,000 active troops and 25,000 reservists, making it comparable to a medium-sized army.

Hezbollah, Iran and Syria are parts of the same opponent

Syria accused Israel on Thursday of bombing a military site that has been linked to the production of chemical weapons,Missiles versus anti-missiles and air force

Israel has the Iron Dome, Arrow and David Sling anti-missile batteries deployed throughout the country. Israel should be completely defended against aerial threats.

Designed to intercept medium- to-long-range rockets, as well as cruise missiles fired at ranges between 40 to 300km, Davids Sling complements the Iron Dome system, designed to shoot down short-range rockets, and the Arrow system, which intercepts ballistic missiles outside the Earths atmosphere.

Iron Dome has proven itself since it went into service in April 2011, with a successful interception rate of 85% of projectiles fired toward Israeli civilian centers since its first deployment.

With one Davids Sling interceptor missile costing $1 million, $100,000 for one Iron Dome interceptor missile and $3 million for one Arrow interceptor missile, the economic cost of destroying the hundreds of thousands of rockets aimed at Israel is astronomical.
Its hard to imagine that any city in North America will escape the effects of climate change within the next 25 years.

But some will be better positioned than others to escape the brunt of drought, wildfire, extreme heat, extreme precipitation, extreme weather and hurricanes.

Those were some of the climate change-related threats listed by Benjamin Strauss, who focuses on climate impacts at Climate Central, an independent nonprofit research collaboration of scientists and journalists.

Dr. Strauss, 44, identified cities where people could settle in the next two decades if they are aiming to avoid those threats.
Brenda Lewis, an American soprano whose mastery of a vast range of vocal styles carried her to the worlds foremost opera houses and the Broadway stage, died on Saturday at her home in Westport, Conn. She was 96.

Her son Michael Asen confirmed her death.

Ms. Lewis, who sang for a decade with the Metropolitan Opera and for two decades with the New York City Opera, was known for interpreting the music of living American composers.

She originated two signal roles in contemporary opera: the alcoholic Birdie Hubbard in Regina, Marc Blitzsteins adaptation of Lillian Hellmans drama The Little Foxes, and the title role in Lizzie Borden, by Jack Beeson.

At the Met, Ms. Lewis sang in 38 regular performances from 1952 to 1965.

At City Opera, where she appeared from 1945 onward, she sang parts including Santuzza in Mascagnis Cavalleria Rusticana and the title roles in Bizets Carmen and Richard Strausss Salome.
The Mail on Sunday, the statement said, also failed to correct significantly misleading statements in the article, which was written by David Rose and based on the claims of the former NOAA scientist, John J. Bates. The press standards group, known as IPSO, was expected to publish the full text of its ruling on its website.

The man who brought the complaint against The Mail on Sunday, Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said that he had immediate concerns about the article when he read it.

It was fairly obvious right from the start it was bound to be suspicious because David Rose has a long history of promoting climate change denial, Mr. Ward said.

Understand the Latest News on Climate Change Card 1 of 5 Tracking polluters. Climate TRACE, a nonprofit backed by Al Gore and other big environmental donors, is scouring data from satellites to track emissions down to individual power plants, oil fields and cargo ships. The group has cataloged 72,612 emitters and counting, creating a hyperlocal atlas of the human activities that are altering the planets chemistry. U.S. climate threats. The effects of climate change are already far-reaching and worsening throughout the United States, posing risks to virtually every aspect of society, according to a draft report being circulated by the federal government. The United States has warmed 68 percent faster than Earth as a whole over the past 50 years, the draft report said. Disappearing glaciers. Many of the worlds most visited glaciers, including those in Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks, are expected to disappear by 2050 because of climate change, according to a new report from the United Nations cultural agency. The report posed a challenge to the travel industry, which is a large contributor to global carbon emissions. A new response to rising seas. Consigned to marginal land more than a century ago by the U.S. government, some Native American tribes are trying to move to areas that are better protected from high water and extreme weather. In response, the Biden administration has created a program designed to help relocate communities threatened by climate change. A change in priorities. Gabon, a major producer of oil, knows the resource wont last forever. So the countrys officials are turning to the Congo Basin rainforest for revenue  while also promising to preserve the area. The approach, which aims to strike a balance between the needs of a nation and those of a world facing a climate crisis, appears to be working.









It was grossly overblown, Mr. Ward added, and that was clearly what he was trying to do.

Efforts to reach Mr. Rose were not successful. John Wellington, managing editor of The Mail on Sunday, confirmed in an email that the news organization was going to post what he referred to as an adjudication.

Mr. Roses article was published with the print headline, EXPOSED: How world leaders were duped over global warming, and a similar headline online. It detailed assertions by Dr. Bates about temperature data that had been used in the 2015 paper, which provided evidence against the idea that global warming had slowed in the first decade of this century.
On this weeks episode:

Carl Hulse spoke with Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, about why the Democrats didnt strike as good of a spending deal as they let on, his non-reaction to Steve Bannons attacks, DACA and more.

For more coverage and analysis of the conversation, check out these articles:

McConnell Says Democrats Glee on Debt Limit Deal Was Premature

The Senate majority leader said Democrats spiked the ball in the end zone a little too early when they claimed they would have maximum leverage in a December fiscal showdown.

As G.O.P. Moves to Fill Courts, McConnell Takes Aim at an Enduring Hurdle

Mr. McConnell said that individual senators should no longer be able to block federal appeals court nominees by withholding so-called blue slips, a major break with Senate practice.

How do I listen?

If you dont see an audio player on this page or to subscribe to The New Washington for free, follow the instructions below.
WASHINGTON  Bound for the Lincoln Memorial, thousands of demonstrators ambled block after block through the city, shouting obscenities, their faces streaked with sweat and clown paint.

The marchers, known as Juggalos  the tightknit supporters of the rap-metal duo Insane Clown Posse  had descended on the capital to proclaim their right to free speech and to denounce their classification by the F.B.I. as a criminal gang.

But Washingtonians had nothing to fear. In fact, they barely blinked. It was just another day in the capitals summer of protest.

On Saturday alone, in addition to the Juggalo gathering, there was the Mother of All Rallies  an exhortation to the red-cap-wearing faithful to take our country back  and, blocks away, a counterprotest opposing white supremacy. Near the White House, there was a protest against Russias election interference. In all, more than 30 events were booked on federal land in the city.
The tiny two-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean faced its third hurricane watch in two weeks as forecasters announced on Saturday the formation of Tropical Storm Maria, which was expected to strengthen to a hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center projected the storm would approach the Leeward Islands as a hurricane by Monday, and could reach Puerto Rico and the British and United States Virgin Islands by midweek. Its sustained winds reached 50 miles per hour on its westward path toward the Caribbean.

Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic, killed dozens of people in the Caribbean this month. It devastated Barbuda, amplifying the immediate threat of Hurricane Jose by leaving half of its 1,600 residents homeless, according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued for Barbuda in anticipation of Jose, but the storm has lingered in the Caribbean for more than a week without making landfall.
Since then, the museum has been caught in a political debate and faced questions about academic freedom and the boards ties to the Obama administration.

The Times reached out to all 63 museum board members who are presidential appointees or members of Congress, as well as other museum officials. Interviews show that the museum was caught off guard by the impact and furor that its own report would have, and at least some board members were unaware that the museum was wading into a debate about atrocities in Syria.

Leon Wieseltier, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the former literary editor of The New Republic, is among the critics of both the studys findings and its publication. He said the museum did the right thing by pulling it  a move that was first reported by Tablet magazine.

The Holocaust museum, if it stands for anything, stands for the idea that we should always act against genocide and that theres something forever wrong and unsatisfying about the idea that we can do nothing to alleviate radical evil, Mr. Wieseltier said in an interview. This paper basically whitewashes the Obama administrations inaction on Syria and says that theres nothing we can do.

That characterization, echoed by other critics, incorrectly describes the report, according to several academics and Syria-watchers. They also said the studys removal sets a troubling precedent for suppressing independent research.
Don Roy King added another award for S.N.L. later in the show, winning for best direction of a variety series.

Trump jokes were expected; Colbert delivers.

Mr. Colbert had been riding an anti-Trump wave all year to unanticipated ratings gold, and it was no different for his opening monologue Sunday. He spent a good chunk of his monologue talking about the president, declaring Mr. Trump the biggest story in TV last year, and spoofing Mr. Trumps failure to win an Emmy during his years as host of Celebrity Apprentice.

Unlike the presidency, Mr. Colbert said, Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote.

In a surprise, Mr. Colbert brought Mr. Spicer onstage to make fun of one of the former press secretarys signature moments: His first news conference when he declared Mr. Trumps inauguration size was the biggest ever.

Of course, there is a risk in going political at an event thats supposed to celebrate television. The Emmys have set ratings lows for two consecutive years, and there are plenty of viewers out there who do not want to be lectured by Mr. Colbert or anyone from Hollywood about President Trump. And, from the opposite side of the political spectrum, there were many on social media who expressed anger Sunday night at what they saw as an attempted redemption of Mr. Spicer.
Carlos Munoz Portal, a location scout for the Netflix series Narcos was found shot dead in Mexico, El Pais reported on Sunday.

An unnamed friend of Mr. Munoz, 37, told the Spanish newspaper that he saw the scout on Sept. 11, before he headed toward the state of Mexico to take some photographs for the series. Hours later that day, his body was found with multiple gunshot wounds in his car on an unnamed dirt road not far from Mexico City.

According to El Pais, Netflix confirmed Mr. Munozs death, and a spokesman for the attorney general of the state of Mexico said there are no witnesses of the killing.

Narcos is a crime drama about the gritty wars of the 1980s between drug kingpins and law enforcement agencies, set mostly in Colombia. The first three seasons focused on Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel in that country. But the ending of the third season heavily hinted that the shows fourth season would turn toward Mexico.
A new series explores life under the Islamic State through the eyes of four young recruits. And the British crime drama The Commander arrives on Acorn TV.

Whats on TV

THE STATE 9 p.m. on National Geographic. Based on true accounts, this new four-part drama series by the writer and director Peter Kosminsky (Wolf Hall) centers on four young British recruits for the Islamic State who travel to Syria only to find that life under the militant group doesnt live up to their expectations. The brutal reality drives some of them to escape, and pushes others to commit even further. The series begins with best friends Jalal (Sam Otto) and Ziyaad (Ryan McKen) preparing for battle, while the single mother Shakira (Ony Uhiara) and teenager Ushna (Shavani Cameron) learn the rules they must obey as women in the caliphate. The second half of the series will be broadcast on Sept. 19.

AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR 8 p.m. on NBC. Competitors try to climb a 75-foot rope in under 30 seconds in the final stage of the Mount Midoriyama course in this season finale.
Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, the film, which also took best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival earlier in the month, tracks a mothers efforts to get investigators, including a police chief played by Woody Harrelson, to solve her daughters killing. The Toronto honor is usually a reliable predictor of a films awards season chances. Past winners have included La La Land and 12 Years a Slave.

Two more peoples choice prizes were announced in Toronto, part of the 40th year that audiences were in charge of picking the winners. The documentary award went to Faces Places by Agnes Varda and the visual artist JR. The film follows Ms. Varda, 88, and JR, 33, as they tour the French countryside photographing locals (and goats). Joseph Kahns Bodied, a rap battle satire featuring a surprisingly talented scrawny white protagonist, took the midnight madness award.
 North Koreas nuclear program and repeated missile tests will be a major focal point as world leaders gather in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly.

President Trump, who appeared to refer to the Norths leader, Kim Jong-un, as Rocket Man in a tweet, delivers his centerpiece speech to the assembly on Tuesday. He has lunch on Thursday with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, who, in an Op-Ed, argues for stronger enforcement of the sanctions against the North.

Our reporters note U.S. intelligence is trying to determine if ingredients for the unusually powerful fuel the North used in its latest launch may be flowing into the country from China and Russia.
Youre a public company. People buy your stock, Mr. Weiss said. Stuff happens. Companies dont do anything wrong  they do what theyre supposed to do  and yet you get hit by this firestorm of stuff.





A Hacker Appears

As the crisis worsened, three prominent reporters and columnists quit the newspaper, citing its ties to the problematic investor. A major environmental group sold its shares in The Times and urged other groups to follow, saying the impartiality of our reporting couldnt be guaranteed. The Change.org petition had amassed thousands of signatures, and the boycott was expanding.

And just as we were reeling from all of this, here came the grand finale: a video from a masked hacker speaking in a low, distorted voice. He praised the boycott efforts by environmental groups and delivered a grim message. Based on the investment connection, we were told, a group of concerned hackers planned to use a virus to wreak havoc on our facilities so long as The Times kept exchanging blood money for ink. He proclaimed the group would keep fighting for the environment, ending with: Were also doing this because we can.

Stunned silence followed. Then our photographer, Sam, piped up. Do we bring the F.B.I. in?

Indeed, Mr. Gilman said, we had progressed, unfortunately, in the world of crisis communications to criminal behavior and had become something of a victim ourselves. Still, he added, that didnt mean public opinion would swing in our favor, pointing to the fallout from Targets enormous data breach in 2013.

Despite any pressure we may have felt during the simulation, we had the luxury of going back to our actual jobs when it was over. But the quick escalation of the disaster and criticism from all sides made it clear why companies are paranoid about ending up in that kind of situation  even without an ominous video from a hacker  and why they feel the need to plan.

You cant prevent any crisis from happening, Mr. Gilman said. But you can shorten the duration, you can lessen the impact and do better preparation.
Brittany Lauren Millman, a daughter of Richard K. Millman of Stamford, Conn., and the late Lisa Kaufmann-Millman, who lived in Boulder, Colo., was married Sept. 16 to Daniel Nathan Glickberg, the son of Nita Kutler Glickberg of Irvington, N.Y., and Howard A. Glickberg of Melville, N.Y. Rabbi Ben Newman led the ceremony at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, N.Y.

The bride, 29, is a registered nurse at NYU Langone Health in New York, and is pursuing a masters degree in advanced practice nursing at New York University, from which she graduated cum laude with a bachelors degree in nursing. She also graduated with a bachelor of art degree from Tulane University.

The brides father is the president of Contemporary Foods, an event planning and catering business in Harrington Park, N.J. Her mother was the social worker on the child study team for the Demarest School District in Demarest, N.J.

The groom, 34, is a founder of Rodeo Ventures, a venture capital firm in consumer packaged goods in New York. Until 2013 he was the executive vice president and on the board of Fairway Markets in New York, the fourth generation to be involved in his familys business, which was sold in 2007, and from which his father retired as the chief executive. The groom graduated from Trinity College.
Karoline Stephany Katus and Diedra Nicole Nelson were married Sept. 16 at the beachside home of Julie Rice and Spencer Rice, friends of the couple, in Montauk, N.Y. Christopher Carson, who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated.

Ms. Katus (left), 33, is a development officer at the Joyful Heart Foundation, an advocacy group that provides support and programs to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego.

She is the daughter of Marilyn Hunt of Denver and Richard Katus of Los Angeles. Her father retired as a machinist from the Sherman Corporation, a former manufacturer of metal components for the aerospace industry, in Inglewood, Calif. He won the bronze medal in the mens decathlon for Poland in the 1972 Summer Olympics.

She is the stepdaughter of Lynette J. Halverson and Bob Hunt.

Ms. Nelson, 36, is the chief financial officer of GlamSquad in Manhattan, an in-home beauty services company specializing in hair, makeup and nails in the New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington areas. She graduated cum laude from Syracuse. She is the board treasurer of Girls on the Run NYC, a development running program for third-to-eighth grade girls.
Meghan Anna Blanche Cross and Todd Peterson Breeden were married Sept. 16 in Greenwich, Conn. Rabbi Daniel Wolk officiated at the Fairview Country Club.

Mrs. Breeden, 30, is the managing director of Red Bear Angels, a venture capital firm in New York. She graduated from Cornell and received an M.B.A. from Columbia.

She is the daughter of Stacey B. Cross and Benjamin Cross of Greenwich. The brides father is a commodities columnist in Greenwich for TheStreets Real Money Pro. He retired as a senior executive in Morgan Stanleys commodities trading business in Purchase, N.Y. Her mother is an independent furniture and decorative art appraiser who manages estate sales in Greenwich.

Mr. Breeden, 32, is the principal at Kiwi Venture Partners, a venture capital firm in New York. He graduated from Georgetown and received an M.B.A. from Columbia.
Molly Teitelbaum and Dr. Michael Eli Harris were married Sept. 16 in Ottawa. Carla D. Marcus, a Jewish wedding officiant, led the ceremony at the National Gallery of Canada.

Ms. Teitelbaum, 26, is a filmmaker in Manhattan. In July, she was a fellow, working on a short film, at the artists colony Yaddo, which is in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; another of her short films was included in a 2016 show at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Manhattan. In 2015, her short film Off Pink was shown at the Kitchen, a nonprofit art and performance space, also in Manhattan. She graduated from McGill University in Montreal and received a masters degree in fine arts from the Parsons School of Design.

She is a daughter of Sheelagh Teitelbaum and Neil Teitelbaum, both of Ottawa. The brides father retired as patent agent in private practice in Ottawa. Her mother is a psychotherapist with a private practice, also in Ottawa.

Dr. Harris, 35, is a staff pediatrician at the National Pediatrics Center, a medical group in Corona, Queens, and in November is to become a staff pediatrician at NYC Health and Hospitals/Jacobi, and an assistant professor in pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, both in the Bronx. He graduated from Brandeis University, received a masters in public health from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and received a medical degree from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.
The idea had long been on the mind of Celia Dugger, The Timess health and science editor. For several years, she had been filing away news stories and journal articles that touched on what seemed to be a growing trend. It just seemed stunning to me, Ms. Dugger said. It was a huge problem and a fascinating one to try and understand. Her hunch was confirmed in June, when a new study showed that 10 percent of the worlds population now has a body mass index, or B.M.I., of 30 or higher, the threshold many public health experts say qualifies as obesity.

But it was clear that a story of this scale, driven largely by an economic and cultural transformation of the global food system, couldnt be understood solely through a scientific lens. Last year, when Ms. Dugger approached The Timess executive editor, Dean Baquet, with the idea of creating a health reporting pod that would bring in reporters with different areas of expertise, the global obesity story was part of her pitch. This was just the kind of project we would be able to undertake if we had reporters with experience in business and international reporting, as well as in science and medicine, Ms. Dugger said.

The team took off in January, and Ms. Dugger brought in Mr. Jacobs, a veteran foreign correspondent, and Matt Richtel, a Times reporter with a deep background in both business and science reporting (he won a Pulitzer in 2010 for his Times series on distracted driving). She asked Mr. Richtel to see what he could find. He ended up producing a 10,000-word memo.

Brazil was a good place to start. Companies there have been persuading local farmers to cultivate the soybeans and sugar cane that form the basis of much processed food. Conglomerates like Nestle have aggressively marketed those products, and over the past decade the percentage of people with obesity has nearly doubled. And, as Mr. Richtel and Mr. Jacobs reported, its also a place where economic and political forces have driven the shift.

There were other challenges to telling a story of such scope. For instance, cultural attitudes toward food and weight arent uniform, which the team has kept in mind. And explanations of economics and policy can be forbidding, said Hilary Stout, the deputy health and science editor who edited the article. You have to hold the readers attention and get them to see the human aspects of it, Ms. Stout explained.
The 25-year-old farmer was in his fields in Maungdaw Township when the Myanmar military descended. The village men, and even some of the boys, were beaten, then told to run. Some made it, others didnt. Noor was lucky. A bullet only grazed his right shoulder. He could still walk after his beating.

But days of trekking through jungle on the way to Bangladesh had broken his body.

Refugee camps are overflowing with Rohingya in need, hands outstretched for food or water or lifesaving medicine. You cannot help everyone, so you walk on, promising yourself that documenting their suffering is a form of aid.

On Aug. 29, the day before I traveled to Bangladesh, I stood in my new apartment in Bangkok  where Id just moved to begin work as The Timess Southeast Asia bureau chief  surrounded by boxes of possessions I did not need or even remember that my family owned: too many glasses for liqueurs I do not drink, mildewed paperbacks, Legos chewed by the dog.

Two days later, I stood in a creek near Bangladeshs border with Myanmar, as a never-ending column of barefoot humanity trudged through the water. Many people carried nothing but babies too traumatized to make any noise.

Other Rohingya, who had only a few moments to prepare before the Myanmar military burned down their houses, balanced bamboo poles on their shoulders, heavy with sleeping mats, water jugs and solar panels.
Soon after the start of Paris, Texas, Harry Dean Stanton appears in an astonishing gorge called the Devils Graveyard. Hes playing a lost soul, Travis, who will spend the rest of the film getting found. Right now, though, surrounded by rock formations that evoke the westerns of John Ford, Travis is an enigma. On foot and wholly alone save for a watchful eagle, wearing a red cap and an inexplicable double-breasted suit, Travis looks like a former cowboy or maybe a businessman who took a wrong turn. He looks like someone Dorothea Lange might have photographed during the Great Depression. He looks like the American West, all sinew, dust and resolve.

Mr. Stanton, who died Friday at 91, had a rare starring role in Paris, Texas, the 1984 Wim Wenders film that, along with Ridley Scotts original Alien (1979), will probably be the titles for which hes best remembered. His role as Travis, whos on a redemptive journey, certainly elevated Mr. Stantons profile and helped make him an emblem of cool. Of course, he was already cool, at least to those who knew him from Cockfighter and other under-sung touchstones of the 1970s American cinema. Yet even as Paris, Texas brought Mr. Stanton a measure of fame, he remained a quintessential character actor, a performer who ranged wide and far (Laverne & Shirley!), imparting something real and true called Harry Dean Stanton.

Looks tend to be destiny for character actors, who are often cast for what their physicality, including their faces, suggests: the jutting brow that, however unfairly, telegraphs menace or the plump, roundness that conveys joviality but sometimes something sinister. With a long face and a lean frame that in later years turned gaunt, Mr. Stanton could look hapless, but also vaguely sinister, deflated or as wily as a hungry coyote. He knew what he looked like and that he could play menacing, but after appearing in Paris, Texas, he said he didnt want to do anything else thats life negative. You could feel for him, even if he made an exceptional villain.

Alex Cox, who gave Mr. Stanton a meaty co-starring role in Repo Man (1984), once wrote that the actor had the perpetually sad face of someone who had been yelled at by successions of tough-guy directors and actors who were bigger and more brawling than him. That registers as colorful projection, even if it speaks to how certain character actors, given the right roles and directors, develop a mythic aura of their own. Mr. Cox admired Mr. Stanton. But he also wanted a performer who came with a bit of iconography, which Mr. Stanton had, having worked with actors like Warren Oates and directors like Monte Hellman, Arthur Penn and Sam Peckinpah.
CLERMONT, N.Y.  After lunch at her mother-in-laws house in Hyde Park, N.Y., on the first day of summer 1936, Eleanor Roosevelt drove 25 miles north, turning off Woods Road onto the winding dirt driveway toward Oak Terrace, the brick mansion here where she had spent much of her troubled youth.

The first lady wanted to speak with her aunt, who also grew up in the house.

Maude Gray and I have a deep feeling for this particular spot on the Hudson River, but neither of us are at present leading lives which make it possible to keep this place, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote of the visit in My Day, her six-day-a-week newspaper column.

After decades of neglect, though, a renovation now underway aims to return the house to its former glory, with a mission befitting its most famous tenants legacy.

Van Lamprou, a co-founder of Dolce Vita Footwear, who bought Oak Terrace in 2013 for $2.85 million, is leading an extensive restoration of the Second Empire-style mansion, which Mrs. Roosevelts grandfather built in 1872. He plans to use the space to encourage civic engagement.
Baie de la Potence Quarter of Orleans Fish Pond SAINT MARTIN Baie de Marigot Marigot Baie Nettle SINT MAARTEN Simpson Bay Lagoon Cole Bay Guana Bay Simpson Bay Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Lay Bay Cole Bay Great Bay ST. MARTIN Caribbean Sea Area of detail 1/2 MILE Baie de la Potence Quarter of Orleans SAINT MARTIN Baie de Marigot Marigot SINT MAARTEN Simpson Bay Lagoon Cole Bay Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Lay Bay Cole Bay Great Bay ST. MARTIN Caribbean Sea Area of detail 1/2 MILE Baie de la Potence SAINT MARTIN Baie de Marigot Marigot SINT MAARTEN Simpson Bay Lagoon Cole Bay Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Lay Bay Cole Bay Great Bay ST. MARTIN Caribbean Sea Area of detail 1/2 MILE Baie de la Potence Quarter of Orleans SAINT MARTIN Baie de Marigot Marigot SINT MAARTEN Cole Bay Simpson Bay Philipsburg Cole Bay Great Bay Area of detail ST. MARTIN 1/2 MILE Baie de la Potence Quarter of Orleans SAINT MARTIN Marigot SINT MAARTEN Cole Bay Philipsburg Cole Bay Great Bay Area of detail ST. MARTIN 1/2 MILE Quarter of Orleans SAINT MARTIN Marigot SINT MAARTEN Cole Bay Philipsburg Area of detail ST. MARTIN 1/2 MILE SAINT MARTIN SINT MAARTEN Cole Bay Philipsburg ST. MARTIN Area of detail 1 MILE

Tens of thousands of people are struggling to meet basic needs after their islands were ravaged this month by Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the eastern Caribbean.

Atlantic Ocean CUBA Hurricane Irma BARBUDA ANGUILLA haiti dominican republic JAMAICA PUERTO RICO ST. MARTIN Caribbean Sea Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Irma BARBUDA ANGUILLA haiti dominican republic PUERTO RICO ST. MARTIN Caribbean Sea Hurricane Irma BARBUDA CUBA ANGUILLA haiti dominican republic PUERTO RICO ST. MARTIN

The storm destroyed thousands of buildings, displacing many from their homes and knocking out power and potable water systems. Food and water are scarce, hospitals and health clinics are struggling, and schools are closed.

New assessments from the United Nations and Copernicus, a European Union program, show the damage to buildings and infrastructure on three of the hardest-hit islands: St. Martin, Anguilla and Barbuda.

St. Martin

Both the French and Dutch sides of St. Martin were devastated.

Hurricane Irma damaged more than 90 percent of the buildings on the Dutch side, according to a Sept. 15 assessment by the United Nations. A vast majority of structures in Philipsburg, the Dutch capital, were damaged or destroyed.

DAMAGE Destroyed Heavy Moderate Light None or unknown MADAMES ESTATE OVER THE POND Great Salt Pond Philipsburg VINEYARD Great Bay MADAMES ESTATE OVER THE POND Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Great Salt Pond Philipsburg Satellite image taken on Sept. 14 by DigitalGlobe.

Virtually every structure in Cole Bay was damaged, as was one of the islands main power plants in Cay Bay.

Simpson Bay Lagoon Cole Bay PELICAN KEY CAY BAY Lay Bay Cole Bay Cole Bay Simpson Bay Lagoon CAY BAY Cole Bay Cole Bay Simpson Bay Lagoon CAY BAY Cole Bay Cole Bay CAY BAY Cole Bay CAY BAY Satellite image taken on Sept. 14 by DigitalGlobe.

Anguilla

On Anguilla, the storm substantially damaged some 90 percent of government buildings, as well as electricity infrastructure and the main water supply, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Island Harbor Shoal Bay ANGUILLA Cauls Pond Crocus Bay Damaged or destroyed structure The Valley Long Bay Village Anguilla Channel Blowing Point 2 MILES Island Harbor Shoal Bay ANGUILLA Cauls Pond Crocus Bay Damaged or destroyed structure The Valley Long Bay Village Anguilla Channel Blowing Point 2 MILES Island Harbor Shoal Bay ANGUILLA Crocus Bay Damaged or destroyed structure The Valley Long Bay Village Blowing Point Anguilla Channel 2 MILES Island Harbor Shoal Bay ANGUILLA Crocus Bay Damaged or destroyed structure Long Bay Village Blowing Point Anguilla Channel 2 MILES

Barbuda

Barbuda, a tiny island of about 1,800 people, looked like a landfill, the prime minister said after assessing Hurricane Irmas aftermath. At least 75 percent of the buildings in the main town of Codrington are damaged, according to a United Nations assessment on Friday.

Nearly all residents were evacuated to Barbudas sister island, Antigua, which was spared the worst.
Asias Leading Battery Exhibition and Conference Educated All Attendees

Published September 17, 2017 by Lee R

The second edition of GBH shows empowered all attendees to be prepared for the opportunities of the incoming global battery boom.

A new perspective on the incoming battery boom emanating from within the Asian battery market was unveiled at Guangzhous China Import and Export Fair Complex last August 16-18th.

New Era

The 2nd Asia (Guangzhou) Batter Sourcing Fair GBF returned with a splash with 237 exhibitors representing a massive jump of 54.9% from last year, with all visitors to the 15,000 square foot, 700 booth exhibition centre positively blown away!

Leading Theme

The key category of Overseas Brand Representations hosted wonderful breakthroughs from emerging Asian battery brand names representing all areas of the globe including DHS Instruments, Mikrouna, O-PA and Hesse from Germany; TANAKA Electronics, Zeon, ULVAC from Japan; EV Meter, Keysight and Pleiades from the US, and XYREX NANO from Korea among others.

High Level Networking

New cooperation and networking between buyers from Europe and Southeast Asia led to high volume sales, with huge transactions processed by world-leading battery enterprises Microsoft, LG Chem, Roadmasters, Chrysler, Jaguar Land Rover, Tesla Labs, and more.

Government Representation and Cooperation

In the infrastructure sector, new energy related Government Agencies of Nigeria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and were on hand seeking partners for a wide range of respective national projects, most noticeably a buyer group of 55 delegates organized by the Federation of Indian Small Scale Battery Associations (FISSBA).

Growing Demand

The most sought after products and services identified by promoters at the site was High-Performance EV Batteries. A.T. Kearney research estimating that Chinas new energy vehicle installation base will touch 5 million by the year 2020, representing 71% of the world experiencing strong demand for EV batteries across the globe.

Concurrent Conference

The festivities were enhanced by the Asia Power Battery& Energy Storage Conference held concurrently within GBH.

Hot Topics

Hot issues addressed included power battery technology and smart manufacturing, power battery battery application and BMS battery management system, energy storage system, technology and engineering application.

Speakers

The list of 20 acclaimed speakers included Hong Leijun, Vice Secretary General at Hubei Automotive Engineering Society, HBSAE; Tang Weping, Assistant Chief Engineer at Shanghai Institute of Space Power-Sources; and Yuan Fang, Head of BMS Development Department of Tochigi Research Centre of Keihin.

Summary

We are relying on batteries all the time. GBF 2017 was a wonderful way to seize the business opportunities that all that demand creates!
From Smirking Chimp

Yanis Varoufakis begins his account of his half year as Greece's finance minister in the left populist Syriza government (Adults in the Room, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) with a description of a meeting with Larry Summers. According to Varoufakis, Summers explains that there are two types of politicians. There are those who are on the inside and play by the rules. They can just occasionally accomplish things by persuading others in the room to take their advice.

Then there is the other type of politician, those who don't agree to the rules and will never get anywhere. Summers asks Varoufakis which type of politician he is.

As Varoufakis tells us he explained to Summers, he is the second type. He is committed to accomplishing something for his people, most immediately the people of Greece in the struggle to end mindless austerity, but ultimately the people of Europe and arguably the world, in an effort to fight against needlessly cruel economic policies. If this means breaking with the decorum of the elites, so be it.

There is no reason to question Varoufakis' commitment. He left a comfortable life as an academic in Austin, Texas, to take up what he certainly knew to be an incredibly difficult job as Greece's finance minister in the middle of a financial crisis. The newly elected populist government was despised by most of the business and political establishment in Greece and across Europe. Only a person with a genuine commitment to the stated goals of the new government would take on this role. But reading his account, it is questionable whether the path he took was necessarily the best one for Greece and for Europe.

The Long Six Months

To give the basic story, at the start of 2015 Greece was being confronted by the joint power of the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F), collectively known as the "Troika," who were insisting that Greece impose further spending cuts and tax increases even though the country had already endured seven years of depression.

I am using "depression" in the interest of accuracy, not exaggeration. By 2015 Greece's economy had contracted by more than 25 percent compared with its 2007 level. Employment was down by almost 22 percent from where it had been at its pre-crisis peak. By comparison, in the Great Depression the U.S. economy shrank by 28 percent from 1929 to 1933, but had exceeded its pre-crisis peak by 1936. Greece will be lucky if its economy gets back to its 2007 level of output by 2027.

The Troika had gotten the previous conservative government to agree to a wide range of tax increases and spending cuts that had both devastated the economy and left many of the country's poorest people in desperate straits. They had agreed to large cutbacks in already meager pensions, as well as cuts to a variety of programs designed to serve the poor.

The ostensible purpose of these cuts was to have Greece build up a large budget surplus, which would allow it to repay prior loans from the Troika. The budget target demanded by the Troika was an annual surplus on the primary budget, which excludes interest payments, equal to 3.5 percent of GDP (a bit less than $700 billion in the U.S. economy in 2017). The Troika's program also included a wide variety of other demands, including privatization of many public assets and measures designed to weaken the power of Greece's workers.

While there was much for any progressive to object to in the Troika's program for Greece, Varoufakis' key point throughout the book is that the program clearly would not work if the point was to get the money back for Greece's creditors. He argues that there was no way for Greece to run the large surpluses demanded by the Troika. This meant that the debt was likely to grow through time rather than shrink. He argued that the only honest route forward was a write-down of large amounts of the debt, admitting that this money was lost. After a write-down, which would free Greece of onerous interest payments, the country could get back on a course of stable growth.

The book is a tale of bureaucratic dysfunction and outright treachery. In the latter category we find the Socialist finance minister of France as well as the Social Democratic economy minister of Germany. Both are warm and supportive of Varoufakis in private meetings, but then turn around and condemn Greek profligacy when they speak in public. Any number of other figures accept the logic of Varoufakis' argument in private, including top officials at the I.M.F., but then melt into submission in the presence of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, Veroufakis' main nemesis.

The account would be comical if the lives of real people were not at stake. We also get an inside look at the absurd bureaucratic structures that have been created by the European Union. Varoufakis repeatedly finds himself at meetings where no one has the power to do anything to help Greece in its efforts to seek debt relief. While much of this was obviously a deliberate effort at obstruction, the structures of the EU do make it difficult to get anything done and hold anyone accountable for what ultimately happens.

Varoufakis explains to us his negotiating strategy, and ostensibly the strategy of Syriza government to which he belonged. The goal was to accomplish debt relief while staying in the euro zone. He knew that the Troika would never grant debt relief without some threat. (Why would they give to a populist government that had harshly criticized them a deal that they would not give to a subservient right-wing government?) Varoufakis' threat was to leave the euro zone and establish a new currency.

Throughout the book, he is very clear that the goal was always staying in the euro. For an outsider following the negotiations closely at the time, this certainly seemed to be the case. However, he argued that the exit option was essential in order to force concessions from the Troika. His ranking of outcomes was always first, stay in the euro with debt relief, second leave the euro and unilaterally default, third stay in the euro and endure further austerity.

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From Reader Supported News



CIA Whistleblower: Harvard Picks Torture Apologists Over Chelsea Manning

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Harvard University on Friday revoked whistleblower Chelsea Manning's invitation to be a "visiting fellow" following former CIA deputy director and torture proponent Mike Morell's resignation in protest of the hiring and CIA director Mike Pompeo's refusal to accept a speaking invitation at the school.

The smug pronouncements from the CIA crowd were stunning in their hypocrisy. Morell, in a letter he released to all major media outlets following his resignation, said, "I cannot be part of an organization -- the Kennedy School -- that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information, Ms. Chelsea Manning, by inviting her to be a Visiting Fellow at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. Ms. Manning was found guilty of 17 serious crimes, including six counts of espionage, for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks, an entity that CIA Director Mike Pompeo says operates like an adversarial foreign intelligence service."

Pompeo, meanwhile, took a swipe directly at Harvard, saying, "Harvard's actions implicitly tell its students that you too can be a fellow at Harvard and a felon under United States law. I believe it is shameful for Harvard to place its stamp of approval upon her treasonous actions." Pompeo praised Morell's decision to leave the Kennedy School, saying that Harvard "traded a respected individual who served his country with dignity for one who served it with disgrace."

So let's talk about respect. Let's talk about disgrace and law-breaking. I worked with Mike Morell for my entire CIA career. He's very bright. He rose through the ranks more quickly than just about anybody else ever. He's a political animal. He's a company man through and through. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

Morell was a career analyst when he worked his way into the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service. He rose to the position of Deputy Director -- and then Acting Director -- of the CIA. Before that, Morell was Deputy Director of the CIA for Intelligence, the head of its analytic arm. But for a period immediately prior to that, Morell was the Deputy Executive Director of the CIA, the Agency's fourth-ranking officer. It was in that position, during the George W. Bush administration, that he had direct oversight of the CIA's torture program, its system of secret foreign dungeons where the torture took place, and the organization's international kidnapping program called "extraordinary rendition."

That's what Mike Pompeo calls "a respected individual serving his country with dignity."

Chelsea Manning, on the other hand, made classified revelations in the public interest. She is the definition of a whistleblower -- she brought to light evidence of waste, fraud, abuse, illegality, and threats to public health or public safety. Indeed, Chelsea Manning exposed actual war crimes in Iraq. And for that, she was prosecuted. I won't fudge the issue here. Manning released tens of thousands of classified State Department cables that had nothing to do with war crimes. But her motivation is irrelevant. The information, taken in its totality, did expose crimes. That's the bottom line. And instead of being celebrated, she was given 35 years in a military prison. She was only released when President Obama commuted her sentence after more than seven years, at least two of which were spent in solitary confinement.

The real shame of this whole situation is Harvard. The university's leadership doesn't want its students to know about war crimes. It doesn't want its students to hear an alternative worldview. It does want its students to think that torture, secret prisons, and renditions are all the norm and are all ok. It wants its students to learn that ethics, morality, and the rule of law have no place at the CIA or in U.S. intelligence operations. Harvard made a big mistake. It wasn't just to disinvite Chelsea Manning. It was to hire the likes of Mike Morell in the first place.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
From Moyers and Company

Renowned psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton on the Goldwater Rule: We have a duty to warn if someone may be dangerous to others.

There will not be a book published this fall more urgent, important, or controversial than The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, the work of 27 psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health experts to assess President Trump's mental health. They had come together last March at a conference at Yale University to wrestle with two questions. One was on countless minds across the country: "What's wrong with him?" The second was directed to their own code of ethics: "Does Professional Responsibility Include a Duty to Warn" if they conclude the president to be dangerously unfit?

As mental health professionals, these men and women respect the long-standing "Goldwater rule" which inhibits them from diagnosing public figures whom they have not personally examined. At the same time, as explained by Dr. Bandy X Lee, who teaches law and psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, the rule does not have a countervailing rule that directs what to do when the risk of harm from remaining silent outweighs the damage that could result from speaking about a public figure -- "which in this case, could even be the greatest possible harm." It is an old and difficult moral issue that requires a great exertion of conscience. Their decision: "We respect the rule, we deem it subordinate to the single most important principle that guides our professional conduct: that we hold our responsibility to human life and well-being as paramount."

Hence, this profound, illuminating and discomforting book undertaken as "a duty to warn."

The foreword is by one of America's leading psychohistorians, Robert Jay Lifton. He is renowned for his studies of people under stress -- for books such as Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima (1967), Home from the War: Vietnam Veterans -- Neither Victims nor Executioners (1973), and The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide(1986). The Nazi Doctors was the first in-depth study of how medical professionals rationalized their participation in the Holocaust, from the early stages of the Hitler's euthanasia project to extermination camps.

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump will be published Oct. 3 by St. Martin's Press.

Here is my interview with Robert Jay Lifton -- Bill Moyers

Bill Moyers: This book is a withering exploration of Donald Trump's mental state. Aren't you and the 26 other mental health experts who contribute to it in effect violating the Goldwater Rule? Section 7.3 of the American Psychiatrist Association's code of ethics flatly says: "It is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion [on a public figure] unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization." Are you putting your profession's reputation at risk?

Robert Jay Lifton: I don't think so. I think the Goldwater Rule is a little ambiguous. We adhere to that portion of the Goldwater Rule that says we don't see ourselves as making a definitive diagnosis in a formal way and we don't believe that should be done, except by hands-on interviewing and studying of a person. But we take issue with the idea that therefore we can say nothing about Trump or any other public figure. We have a perfect right to offer our opinion, and that's where "duty to warn" comes in.

Moyers: Duty to warn?

Lifton: We have a duty to warn on an individual basis if we are treating someone who may be dangerous to herself or to others -- a duty to warn people who are in danger from that person. We feel it's our duty to warn the country about the danger of this president. If we think we have learned something about Donald Trump and his psychology that is dangerous to the country, yes, we have an obligation to say so. That's why Judith Herman and I wrote our letter to The New York Times. We argue that Trump's difficult relationship to reality and his inability to respond in an evenhanded way to a crisis renders him unfit to be president, and we asked our elected representative to take steps to remove him from the presidency.

Moyers: Yet some people argue that our political system sets no intellectual or cognitive standards for being president, and therefore, the ordinary norms of your practice as a psychiatrist should stop at the door to the Oval Office.

Lifton: Well, there are people who believe that there should be a standard psychiatric examination for every presidential candidate and for every president. But these are difficult issues because they can't ever be entirely psychiatric. They're inevitably political as well. I personally believe that ultimately ridding the country of a dangerous president or one who's unfit is ultimately a political matter, but that psychological professionals can contribute in valuable ways to that decision.

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Gauri Lankesh was shot to death on September 5, 2017. A consistent critic of Hindutva politics and right-wing Hindu extremism, the journalist-activist edited Gauri Lankesh Patrike her own weekly. She was not the first. In August 2015, Malleshappo M. Kalburgi, a noted scholar who was opposed to superstition in Hinduism, was assassinated. Both Lankesh and Kalburgi were staunch proponents of th e theory that their Lingayat religion was distinct from Hinduism.

Also in 2015, in February, it w as Govind Pansare, a left-wing politician who also opposed religious superstitions (like, for example, the ritual to ensure a male child), and also lobbied vocally for the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Act. Then there was rationalist Narendra Achyut Dabholkar, who made debunking religious superstition and mysticism his life's work. In August 2013, he was shot and killed as he took his morning walk. Following his death, the Anti-superstition act he had worked so hard without success to get through the Maharashtra state government was finally enacted.

Last month on August 25th, following the rape conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh -- a former Sikh, styled the guru of bling for his flamboyant lifestyle -- thousands of his Dera religious supporters ran amuck burning buildings, vehicles, railway stations and bringing life to a halt in the states of Haryana and Punjab, and even in parts of Delhi. More than 30 people died and a curfew was imposed.

Indeed gurus are popular: Mr. Modi has appointed a saffron-robed, Hindutva firebrand religious leader, Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. This was aft er local elections there in which communalism was an essential ingredient of his party's victory.

Also on August 25th , activists across the country observed Kandhmal day in memory of the victims of an anti-Christian pogrom in 2008. Kandhmal is in the state of Orissa just southwest of Bengal and over a thousand miles east from Punjab.

A 2016 documentary directed by K. P. Sasi vividly illustrates this notorious incident. Titled Voices from the Ruins: Kandhmal in Search of Justice, it relates the story simply and without resort to emotion. The effect is devastating as the horror of pitiless violence unfolds. In this orgy of arson and bloodshed, the victims were Adivasi and Dalit Christians -- converts continue to be remembered as Dalits in their communities. Dalits are the lowest caste of Hindus formerly known as untouchables. The Hindutva perpetrators destroyed over 350 churches and 6500 dwellings. Eight years later fear and intimidation still rule, and the more than 56,000 people who were displaced have not returned. Churches and homes remain the ruins they were after the pogrom.

Devastating as it was, it is an event not as well known as the 2002 Gujarat riots directed against another minority group, the Muslims, in which at least 1000 were killed. Gujarat is a 1000 miles south of Punjab. The geography of the three incidents is an indicator of how communal hatred has infected people across the nation.

Rana Ayyub, (author of Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up and a friend of Gauri Lankesh) is the journalist who, at tremendous personal risk, exposed administrative and police complicity through a sting operation sponsored by Tehelka magazine. She has just been honored in Vancouver with a Courage in Journalism Award. On her heels, the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has secured the convictions of 119 individuals including a minister (Indira Jaising , Outlook magazine, March 2015). The founders of CJP are paying for their success: Several cases have been filed against them, including criminal charges for such transgressions as accepting about $290,000 over a ten year period from the Ford Foundation. Some use these cases to question their veracity; others say they are being subjected to a campaign of harassment in the courts.

The last twenty-five years have seen the delicate fabric of communal amity rent repeatedly for political gain by upper caste Hindu nationalist parties. For instance, Prime Minister Modi's new laws against cattle slaughter not only affect a $10 billion industry employing mostly Dalits and Muslims, but added to the incendiary rhetoric his ruling party have fostered a climate of hate leading to tragic events. Attacks against Muslims and Dalits have intensified. People are afraid of ordering beef in cafes and owners afraid to serve it.





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By Hamma Mirwaisi

Israel is the only country in the world to support Massoud Barzani's referendum in the Kurdistan Regional Governments of Iraq (KRG) region. The September 25 referendum by Massoud Barzani will bring Kurdish people more war and destruction in that part of Kurdistan, which has some recognition by international communities.

Turkish President Erdogan is supporting Barzani behind seen. And President Erdogan is enemy number one of Kurds and Kurdistan in our lifetime. The oil and water of Kurdistan are attracting strange alliances, which is starting with the alliance of Russian, Iran, and Turkey. Strange as it is to unite Sunni and Shi'a Islamic terrorist states under the umbrella of the Russian atheist leader.

Tevgeri Azadi is an organization in the KRG region who are using Abdullah Ocalan philosophies to Govern the area in the future. The followers of the Abdullah Ocalan philosophies are known in Turkey as PKK, in Syria PYD, YPG, YPJ, and Iran knew as PJAK, KODAR. The majority of Kurds are the followers of Abdullah Ocalan's philosophies.

The followers of Abdullah Ocalan philosophies depend on Kurdish people support only. They are giving their lives to protect Kurdish population and bring more than 50 millions Kurds freedom and peace.

The followers of Abdullah Ocalan are seeking friendship with the US and EU countries based on mutual interest. They are not enemies of Israel, Russian and humanity, they are even seeking friendship with Persian of Tamil-India, Arabs of Africa and Turks of Mongolia who abused Kurds for last few thousand years together.

Today majority of 50 million Kurds are united under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan to defend Kurds and Kurdistan from occupiers of Kurdistan who are imposing wars on Kurdish people now.

References

Who is 'Tevgeri Azadi' to replace Corrupt Barzani and Talabani in Kurdistan?

click here

    ... 

.rojnews.org/haber/19729/.html
From Truthdig



Supreme Court

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The Trump administration's rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been met with widespread resistance by people across the political spectrum. Thousands have marched in the streets to save the "Dreamers" from deportation. Human rights and civil liberties organizations as well as legislators on both sides of the aisle condemned the ending of DACA.

Donald Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, announced the impending termination of DACA on Sept. 5, 2017, disingenuously claiming it was necessary to forestall a looming legal challenge by 10 state attorneys general. Sessions cited no legal authority for his assertion that DACA was unconstitutional. In fact, no court has ever found DACA to be unlawful.

Lawsuits were immediately filed against Trump's cruel targeting of the "Dreamers."

Apparently surprised at the level of opposition to his action, Trump tried to reassure the public that he might save DACA if Congress fails to act within the six-month period, tweeting:

"Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!"

Two days later, at the urging of Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Trump issued another tweet, apparently in support of the Dreamers:

"For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the six month period, you have nothing to worry about -- No action!"

Trump's tweet was not reassuring. In fact, it was not inconsistent with Sessions' announcement, which also said no action would be taken against the Dreamers for six months; then the axe will fall.

The White House Talking Points memo on the rescission of DACA advises, "The Department of Homeland Security urges DACA recipients to use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States -- including proactively seeking travel documentation -- or to apply for other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible."

Trump's "No action!" tweet indicates he is being pulled in different directions -- by his right-wing nativist base, on the one hand, and by the majority of the population who oppose his heartless act, on the other.

So, what's next? Will Congress save DACA? Will Trump reinstate it if Congress doesn't? Or does the fate of DACA rest with the courts?

Will Congress Reinstate DACA?

Congress is now under pressure to reinstitute DACA within six months. Congressional action could take one of three forms. First, Congress might defy years of history and agree on comprehensive immigration reform.

Second, Congress could pass a stand-alone bill legalizing DACA. For example, the BRIDGE Act would enshrine DACA into law and extend it for three additional years to give Congress time to enact comprehensive immigration reform. The Dream Act of 2017 includes protections similar to DACA, but, unlike DACA and the BRIDGE Act, it would create a path for citizenship or permanent legal residency.

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From Consortium News

Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government has shown that it is no profile in courage by withdrawing a visiting fellowship that had been awarded to Chelsea Manning, who served seven years in prison for revealing U.S. war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Kennedy School caved in to pressure from people who shared in responsibility for those and other crimes, including former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, who resigned his own fellowship in protest and denounced Manning as "a convicted felon and leaker of classified information."

Of course, it is also true that Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed for criminal violations pertaining to his protests against "legal" injustices -- as was South Africa's Nelson Mandela. Manning represented perhaps America's quintessential prisoner of conscience of this decade, someone who was severely punished for exposing wrongdoing.

After serving in Iraq as an Army intelligence analyst and witnessing the often-cavalier attitude toward killing Afghans and Iraqis, Manning decided to release thousands of classified documents, including what WikiLeaks labeled the "Collateral Murder" video of a U.S. helicopter gunship mowing down Iraqis and two Reuters journalists on a Baghdad street. Manning's decision was an act of moral courage at a time when American Officialdom was violating a host of international laws with impunity.

Indeed, what was almost as troubling as the war crimes themselves was that virtually no one from the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama was punished for their criminal actions, especially for committing what the Nuremberg Tribunals deemed the "supreme international crime," the crime of "aggressive war."

Bush was allowed to retire to a quiet life as an artist; many of his senior national officials have gone on to comfy jobs in the corporate and academic worlds; and Obama has already begun to hit the lucrative lecture circuit. But Manning served seven hard years in prison and has now been further humiliated by Harvard's cowardice.

In the explanation of the hasty late-night decision to withdraw Manning's fellowship, the school's dean Douglas Elmendorf wrote, "I see more clearly now that many people view a visiting fellow title as an honorific, so we should weigh that consideration when offering invitations."

Dubious Honorees

So, it's fine to honor the likes of Michael Morell (or for that matter other luminaries such as former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, the current MSNBC duo of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and President Trump's laughingstock ex-press secretary Sean Spicer) but not a person who demonstrated true moral courage and suffered greatly to expose grave crimes of state.

By the way, Morell was regarded by many of his ex-CIA compatriots as a classic example of a bureaucratic climber with no moral balance.

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern wrote in 2011 that "Like many senior CIA officials in recent years, Morell's record is checkered, at best. He held key jobs in intelligence analysis over the past decade as the CIA often served as a handmaiden to the war propagandists.

"As for Michael Morell, as with many other successful CIA careerists, his strongest suit seemed to be pleasing his boss and not antagonizing the White House. " Forgive me if my thinking about loyalty to the facts seems 'obsolete' or 'quaint' or if it seems unfair to expect CIA analysts to put their careers on the line when politicians and ideologues are misleading the nation to war but those were the principles that analysts of my generation tried to uphold."

And, last year after leaving government, Morell put on a display of tough-guy-ism that presumably was meant to win him his coveted job of CIA director under the expected presidency of Hillary Clinton.

On the Charlie Rose show, Morell continued his disdain for international law by calling for the murder of Iranians and Russians inside Syria.

In an interview on Aug. 8, 2016, Morell said he wanted to "make the Iranians pay a price in Syria. " make the Russians pay a price in Syria."

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From Alternet

From Trump's "election integrity" commission to Mitch McConnell, the GOP targets the levers of power.

The Republican Party's efforts to disrupt voting and thwart representative government was on full display this past week, when despite ridicule in the press, the GOP's leading proponents of undermining voters and rigging elections were unbowed and forged ahead.

First came Kris Kobach's willfully incorrect -- but headline-grabbing -- accusation on Breitbart.com that more than 5,000 people illegally voted last fall in New Hampshire, delivering an Electoral College majority to Hillary Clinton and a U.S. senate seat to a Democrat. Kobach, an attorney whose anti-immigrant activism launched his career, is the Kansas secretary of state, a current gubernatorial candidate, and co-chair of President Trump's Orwellian-titled "election integrity" commission. Kobach was caught mangling some Republican-produced data about New Hampshire college students who were perfectly legal voters to make his false claim about presumed Democrats voting illegally.

Kobach's antipathy toward non-natives voting is nothing new. He has been repeatedly sued in Kansas over adding qualifications to the state voter registration form, including targeting out-of-staters who have moved there. That creates new barriers to vote in local and state elections. Kobach's anti-democratic partisanship was in sync with another clumsy display this week from another outspoken voter suppressor on Trump's election panel, Hans von Spakovsky. Now at The Heritge Foundation, von Spakovsky led the second Bush administration's voter fraud crusade at the Justice Department, and was caught lying about his email lobbying to keep Democrats from being on Trump's panel.

Trump's election commission keeps getting clownish grades for its antics. This week's New Hampshire field hearing invited only white men to testify, prompting ridicule. Members were caught communicating via private emails for official business -- the same thing right-wingers went crazy about when Hillary Clinton did it. But Kobach didn't backtrack on his voter fraud claims and von Spakovsky didn't resign. No, they forged ahead with the panel's real goal: to impede any citizen who doesn't support the GOP from voting, even as fellow panel members publicly chastised them for it.

That brings us to this week's most notorious witness who testified before the panel in a New Hampshire field hearing. In recent years, John Lott has made more of a name as a firearms fanatic than as a voting rights crusader. But he testified that anyone registering to vote should undergo the same background checks as are needed to get a firearms permit. That too, was ridiculed in the press as a false equivalency, because the legal requirements to be an eligible voter are not the same as for being a gun owner.

However, what nobody mentioned in news reports was perhaps the most salient detail about Lott's proposal that would appeal to Republican vote suppressors. Gun licenses aren't issued to people with criminal records, which if applied to voting, could greatly expand today's current landscape of felon disenfranchisement. In Virginia, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe has been fighting with the GOP and its red-led legislature over McAuliffe's efforts to restore voting rights to nearly 200,000 ex-felons who completed their sentences, probation and parole. In Florida, a state that permanently bans former felons from voting, an estimated 10 percent of the state's residents -- 1.6 million people -- have lost their voting rights this way.

It's easy enough to be dismissive of Kobach, von Spakovsky and Lott, but they are playing a very serious game, burrowing into the fine print and corners of the voting process to find and exploit ways to rig the rules. You may say there's nothing new about such partisanship; that's politics. But the harm this ilk poses to representative government and the stakes for citizens are enormous.

Yet another example this week showed that the GOP is willing to rewrite the rules when it comes to the democratic process, if that's what it takes for them to win. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wants to end a process where home-state senators must approve any federal judicial nominee in their state. Blue state senators have been opposing Trump's nomination of right-wingers to lifetime appointments.

McConnell blocked President Obama's final U.S. Supreme Court nomination, and stalled Senate action on federal appeals and district court seats -- hoping a Republican victory last November would result in a federal judiciary turning toward the right for decades. Currently, there are 144 federal court vacancies. In this case, McConnell is trying to press the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Iowa's Charles Grassley, to end the so-called "blue slip" practice, where home state senators can veto nominations. Yet again, the GOP is willing to put party before country to win and exercise power.
From Consortium News

Sen. Bernie Sanders has unveiled a new single-payer healthcare plan which would provide all Americans with government-sponsored health coverage. Sanders's plan, supported by some 16 Democrats in the Senate, calls for an overhaul of the healthcare system with what would essentially be a tweaked and revitalized version of Medicare-for-all.

"Today we say that a function of a rational healthcare system is to provide quality care to all in a cost-effective way," declared Sanders, an independent from Vermont, "and not to continue a system which allows insurance companies and drug companies to make hundreds of billions in profits each year and makes healthcare industry CEO's extremely wealthy."

Flanked by supporting senators in making his Wednesday announcement, Sanders also noted that a Medicare-for-all program would end "the complexity of a system which adds enormous stress at a time when people need it the least."

I spoke on Sept. 13 to Russell Mokhiber, founder of The Corporate Crime Reporter and of SinglePayerAction.org. Mokhiber has long been an advocate of the single-payer option. He is also someone who watches closely the deadly nature of corporate greed.

Dennis Bernstein: Please give us your initial reaction. Bernie has a number of senators who say they believe in single-payer. Several presidential hopefuls are among those who jumped on the Sanders Single-Payer bandwagon. You think they are playing early presidential politics with single-payer, or are they true believers? Do they support Sander's vision?

Russell Mokhiber: That is what they are saying, and it is obviously because of the grassroots prairie fire that has been lit by single-payer activists over the years. It is truly out of our hands now.

Usually when you go to these meetings with your member of congress, the single-payer activists would be the only ones raising the issue. Now we are standing in line screaming at our congress people, demanding it, because the situation on the ground has become so bad.

Nine years ago, when the insurance industry-written Obamacare was introduced, there were 23 people testifying. They refused to listen to any of us who wanted to put single-payer on the table. In fact, they had us arrested. Six months ago, Bernie's healthcare person told us that there wasn't going to be a single-payer bill because they didn't want to risk a Democratic Senate in 2018 and they thought that single-payer would hurt them. But once they saw the grassroots pressure, they totally flipped. Just a month ago, Bernie had in this bill co-pays and deductibles.

So this is all about the grassroots pressure. Obviously it has now become a hot political issue. Someone like Kamala Harris would never have touched this just a couple weeks ago. Senator Richard Blumenthal from the insurance state of Connecticut has signed on!

Do we believe that they will push single-payer if we take our foot off the gas? No. We believe the Democratic Party is structurally incapable of being a people's party. The only way they are going to respond is if the people keep their foot on the gas. This seems very similar to California in 2006 when the Democrats passed single-payer in California knowing that Governor Schwarzenegger was going to veto it.

We are very encouraged by this response but we really want to see this happen, not just political posturing. We are concerned that the Democrats will use this to gain power and then push it aside for something like a public option or to secure the position of the insurance industry in the current system.

I was at a conference this week called by Cornel West and the Green Party to address the fact that the Democratic Party is structurally incapable of being a people's party. My colleague Bruce Dixon at Black Agenda Report said a few years ago that Bernie is like a sheepdog into the Democratic Party. He is shepherding the left back into the party. My hope is that, if this is what is going on, at least we will get out of it single-payer for all Americans.

DB: Russell, just take a moment to describe what you see as the difference between Obamacare and a single-payer system.



President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010.

(Image by (Photo credit: Keith Ellison)) Details DMCA



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I assure you, "Dear White People" is a show for all.



I want to talk about a show that absolutely deserves its 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. A show that is so good, I've watched its ten episodes four complete times. Obsessed much? Yes, but it's one of those shows that speaks so closely to PoC narratives that I've told every one of my close friends to watch it and report back. (To those of you who haven'tGET TO IT!)

But let's not get this twisted, Netflix's Dear White People (adapted from Justin Simien's film of the same name) is not for the faint of heart, in fact, it's not for anyone uncomfortable with conflict, for people who are easily offended, aggravated, or for people in pure denial. Dear White People is a battlecry for politically and socially aware millennials, the men and women of tomorrow who understand that change and revolution doesn't arise in homogeneity and comfort; instead, by collectively standing in uncompromising diversity. So yes, I'm biased, really biased  this is MY show, but alas, I will attempt to provide a fair review of one of the most important shows released in 2017.

For those of you who aren't scared or irritated by the ironic title, Dear White People, is a PoC manifesto in the millennial age a la Malcolm X and Assata Shakur; a rewarding exploration of race relations in a fictional Ivy League college called Winchester. The show's protagonist, Samantha White (Logan Browning), is a biracial student whose radio show, "Dear White People," addresses micro aggressions and white entitlement on her campus. DWP addresses these racial issues through character pieces that delve into the psychology of each of the main characters  which is a brilliant way to depict the intersectionality of Black narratives.



Samantha White Logan Browning as Sam White (Netflix's Dear White People) Your loyal and unapologetic radio host. Sam is a mixed-race Black woman in a very white space who is tired of people petting her hair, questioning her racial background, insinuating that she is neither Black enough or white enough, propagating white privilege through erasure, dealing with racial insensitivity and racial passivity, all while managing her genuine love affair with Gabe, a white man. (Not to mention that Sam is also recognizing what it means to have light skin privilege.) Sam is our radical leader in Dear White People, the passionate and outspoken film major whose biracial background has her at odds with the racial aggression at Winchester. Sam White's story is the familiar tale of a woman of color struggling to juggle the personal with the political. Can a political radical have a personal life? 'Tis the question.

Lionel Higgins DeRon Horton as Lionel Higgins (Netflix's Dear White People) Played by DeRon Horton, Lionel is an introvert, a writer, a gay man, and a budding journalist. He's the nerdy, sensitive freshman whose development as a young writer is also a nod to the developing dialogues in American culture on identity politics. Gay, black men are often ostracized for being the odd ones of Black culture, shunned by hypermasculinity and shunned by homophobia in Black communities. The show creator, Justien Simien, is also gay, and I find, has a lot to say about Lionel representing queer bodies in heteronormative spaces.

Coco (Collandrea) Conners Antoinette Robertson as Coco Conners (Netflix's Dear White People) Wow. Okay. Again, another example of how radical this show is. How many times are dark skinned, women of color represented in TV? How many times are dark skinned women successful, smart, and radical intellectuals on TV? Played by Antoinette Robertson, Coco is our reminder that the Black experience is not the same for women who are biracial, mixed, or light skin. In fact, Coco is our reminder that colorism is alive and well in the Black community, and that something as simple as skin tone and hair texture can impact how you are valued and perceived in society. Coco's answer to colorism is assimilation, but as one would guess, assimilation has a way of alienating you from your own culture. (Spoiler alert: the demise of her friendship with Sam is a literal metaphorical manifestation of the effects of colorism in the Black community.)

Reggie Green Marque Richardson as Reggie Green (Netflix's Dear White People) Malcom X incarnate is played by Marque Richardson. Reggie is such a special character because he's so normal. Ironic right? Reggie is a man who is feared, demeaned, feared, and for some reason, feared simply because he is Black. Reggie is a jazz-loving intellectual whose main focus is fighting against narratives that suggest he inherently has a predisposition to violence. Indeed, Reggie is a force with whom to be reckoned; he's a smart, young man who is aware of his value in a culture that continually reminds him that Black boys can die like men in the blink of an eye. His achilles heel is Sam, who indirectly reinforces stereotypes in mainstream media that imply Black men aren't worth Black love.

Gabe Mitchell John Patrick Amedori as Gabe Mitchell (Netflix's Dear White People) Ah Gabe. I'm so thankful for this character because a show like this could easily teeter into problematic territory without addressing the racial aggression white women and men face when attempting to speak on their role in racial tension. Like Reggie, Gabe (John Patrick Amedori) is just a man trying to get by there's just one thing, Gabe is a white male with a friend group composed of mostly Black men and women. His white privilege isn't something he basks in, but it is certainly something he has to apologize for at every given moment. Gabe is the average, white American man who is constantly reminded of the transgressions of white men in history. Gabe doesn't choose to run away, or become racially passive to the problems at Winchester, rather, he allows his vulnerability to serve as a tool of education. His romantic partnership with Sam is the crux of the show, a reminder that love, family, and friends all exist in spaces that inhabit social and political dialogues. You can't be color blind like a bullet and Gabe, for better or for worse, undeniably understands this.

Troy Fairbanks Brandon P. Bell as Troy (Netflix's Dear White People) Troy (Brandon P. Bell) is really quite simple. He's really hot, he's relatively smart, but he's not interested in being intellectually unmatched or perfect when compared to his peers. So, who is Troy? Troy is a straight Black male who wants to learn, work, eat, live entirely for himself without society imposing superhuman standards on his life. As Lionel points out in his expose on Troy, "A system that requires perfection in exchange of equality is unattainable and unjust."

Joelle Brooks Ashley Blaine Featherson as Joelle (Netflix's Dear White People) Can someone say comedic relief? I'm hoping in season two, Joelle (Ashley Blaine Featherson), gets more of a serious role in the show. For now, she is the woman who caters to the emotional dead ends of all of her friends, the woman who smiles despite not sharing the same adventures and romantic escapades of her fellow peers. Like Coco, Joelle is placed in a position where her Blackness is never questioned on a basis of her skin tone, and yet, her Blackness is the same crutch that allows her friends like Sam and Reggie to place their baggage on her without offering her some semblance of emotional support. She is the supporter, not the supported, and I'm hoping in season two she has a few wins for herselfshe deserves it.

Dear White People, as I previously mentioned, isn't for viewers who refuse to participate in an open dialogue about race relations in the States. To those who are open to the social landmines tackled in the show, there are many rewards for facing the sensitive fabric of our national history. As a beautiful Coco Connors once said, "Who cares if you're woke or not if you're dead?" To Coco, I say, damn straight. For as many breaths as you have, stay woke America.

Shaun Harris is a poet, freelance writer, and editor published in avant-garde, feminist journals. Lover of warm-toned makeup palettes, psych-rock, and Hilton Als. Her work has allowed her to copyedit and curate content for various poetry organizations in the NYC area.

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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.




For a while at least, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May seem likely to play diminished roles in leading the West in dealing with Russia. While maintaining their vital military/security role in NATO, the United States and the United Kingdom might be better off backing a greater leadership role for continental Europe.

Because of Russia-related investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and two committees of Congress, and other challenges ranging from tax reform to North Korea, Trump for some time may be unable to maintain steady focus on issues of European security. May's indecisive Brexit negotiation has sparked divisions at home and tensions within the European Union, leaving her also with less bandwidth to address questions of European security.

Prospects for continental leadership, however, have improved. Later this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is poised to win a fourth term, although perhaps not a majority in parliament. She would remain the preeminent leader in Europe. Despite sagging poll numbers, French President Emmanuel Macron seems determined to strengthen the EU and France's role.

They will have help. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is capable. He is in the forefront in warning about Russia's upcoming Zapad (West) military exercise on the border of Poland and the Baltics, and in backing alliance defensive measures there. Last March, European Council President Donald Tusk was overwhelmingly re-elected. He has exercised prudent leadership and been a moderating influence on the Brexit crisis.

For over three years, Russia's simmering war in eastern Ukraine has presented the main threat to European security. The Normandy format negotiation (Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine) and its Minsk II ceasefire agreement have not solved the crisis, but may have helped reduce fighting. The Trump administration and Congress are hinting that America may raise the costs to Russia of its aggression by helping to arm Ukraine. In the past, many Europeans have opposed this.

Unity with Europe is critical; otherwise EU support for sanctions on Russia could weaken. This was evident with the latest escalation of U.S. sanctions, mandated by Congress. Some in Europe claim they might weaken energy security by impeding construction of the Nordstream II gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Washington is sensitive to these concerns, and knows that German leadership is essential to maintaining EU consensus on sanctions.

The United States and Europe cooperate closely on security, despite U.S. concerns that Europe spends too little on defense. NATO is rotating more forces through its eastern and Baltic flanks, where perceptions of Russian threats are acute. Washington has appointed a negotiator, Ambassador Kurt Volker, to resume U.S.-Russian discussions on the Ukraine conflict. These talks reinforce the Normandy process rather than replace it.

Europe has long been front and center in defending Western democratic values and respect for human rights. It should now be more active in countering Russian election interference. Despite a U.S. intelligence consensus, Trump has been reluctant to blame Russia for meddling in last November's elections. British officials say Moscow did not interfere in U.K. elections last June.

On the continent, however, Russian political threats are more clearly recognized. Last May, Macron's En Marche political party said it had been the victim of a massive, coordinated hack, which U.S. intelligence said was likely Russian. Cyber thieves from Russian intelligence stole large amounts of Bundestag data in 2015, and recently German authorities repelled repeated Russian cyberattacks. Merkel has been vocal in warning of the risk of Russian interference in Germany's upcoming election, even as her foreign minister wants to avoid a new ice age with Moscow.

In some global crises European leadership can augment, but not replace, American. The United States leads efforts with Japan and South Korea to pressure North Korea, and with China and Russia to rein in their cooperation with it. Continued U.S. backing for the Iran nuclear accord is critical to Western security, as is U.S. military leadership in Afghanistan. If America were to faltersuch as by pulling out of the Iran dealrisks to global security would climb.

Dealing with Russia requires broader Western exertions. Since World War II, America and the United Kingdom have played disproportionate roles, enhancing European security. Now continental Europe will have to assume more of the burden in advancing Western values and interests with an unpredictable and at times unruly Russia.

Denis Corboy is a visiting senior research fellow at King's College London and was European Union ambassador to Armenia and Georgia. William Courtney is an adjunct senior fellow at the nonpartisan, nonprofit RAND Corporation. He was U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, Georgia and a U.S.-Soviet nuclear testing commission. Kenneth Yalowitz is the director of the Conflict Resolution program at Georgetown University and a global fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center. He was U.S. ambassador to Belarus and Georgia.

This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on September 12, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Body cameras for the Mooresville Police Department have arrived. Find out when they will be used.
At least four civilians have been killed and 14 others wounded in an explosion in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, local officials say.

Provincial police chief Faizullah Khairat said the blast occurred at around midday on September 17 at a marketplace in the provinceial capital, Khost.

Khairat said the blast was caused by a "remote-controlled bomb."

A number of those injured were said to be in critical condition, according to Mubarez Zadran, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the volatile province bordering Pakistan has been contested by the Taliban.

As the holy Muslim month of Ramadan began on May 27, a Taliban car bomber targeted an Afghan militia group in Khost, leaving 13 people dead.

A U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States -- carried out by Al-Qaeda, whose leaders were harbored by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But the government is struggling to beat back insurgents in the wake of the exit of most NATO forces in 2014.

A U.S. report found earlier this year that the Taliban controls or contests control of about 40 percent of the country, and security forces are also fighting against militants affiliated with IS.

With reporting by AFP and dpa
An Iranian teenager sneaks up behind a cleric in the capital, Tehran, and knocks his turban off his head before dashing off.

The incident, uploaded on social media, is part of a new tactic employed by anti-government demonstrators in Iran.

Nationwide antiestablishment protests have raged across the Islamic republic since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died on September 16 shortly after she was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law on women's dress.

As the authorities have waged a deadly crackdown on the rallies, some demonstrators have turned to new tactics to sustain the monthslong protests, including tipping off Islamic clerics' turbans in the streets.

Many Iranians associate members of the clergy with Iran's Islamist regime, which many blame for the repression and corruption in the country.

While some Iranians have praised the "turban throwing" as an act of resistance, others have expressed concern that low-level clerics who are not affiliated with the state could become the victims of harassment and violence.

Lawmaker Mohammad Taghi Naqd Ali on November 10 called the new trend "the devil's conspiracy" and warned that young protesters tossing clerics' turbans were "playing with the lion's tail."

State media reported the arrests of two people in recent days who were accused of knocking off clerics' turbans.

London-based human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr said the tactic was a "brave and revolutionary act." Sadr, the co-founder of the rights group Justice for Iran, told RFE/RL that protesters were "humiliating" clerics without resorting to violence. "They're [targeting] the clergy's turban as a symbol of the crimes and corruption of the past 43 years as well as the privileges clerics have enjoyed," she said.

"There is no violence in it, and it also includes youthful mischief, which highlights the spirit of the revolution," Sadr added, referring to the monthslong protests that have posed the biggest threat to the establishment in years.

But Ahmad Zeidabadi, a Tehran-based journalist and former political prisoner, said that some of the clerics targeted in the streets "may be critics or even victims of [state] policies."

"This phenomenon...mainly targets clerics who do not hold any government positions," he said on Twitter, adding that senior clerics in powerful positions rarely appear in public and are often protected by security guards if they do.

Reformist cleric Hojatoleslam Ahmad Heidari, who was jailed in the past for his support for the opposition Green Movement, warned that the new trend could taint the "beautiful face of [the] protest movement against oppression and injustice."

"You're right to be angry at those wearing turbans," Heidari wrote on the news site Esafnews.com. But he added that "those who have a hand in power and are your target" are out of reach. He said many of the clerics targeted were "young and elderly" clerics who are not sitting in "ivory towers."

Attacks on clerics, particularly those who attempt to enforce Islamic codes in public, had been on rise in Iran even before the protests erupted, forcing many clerics to appear in public without their robes and turbans.

Last week, a cleric was reportedly hospitalized after being wounded in Karaj, near Tehran, amid antiestablishment protests in the city. The hard-line Fars news agency claimed that protesters attacked the cleric with knives.

Hassan Fereshtian, a Paris-based Iranian cleric and researcher, said the turban-throwing trend was the result of the "suppressed anger of the past four decades."

"If it aims at eliminating the clergy, we could be facing the start of violence," he warned in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "In fact, the clergy should be eliminated from the centers of power. But they shouldn't be eliminated from society."

Fereshtian, a student of the late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, expressed hope that Iran will reach a point "where secular people can live peacefully next to the clergy and unveiled women next to those who choose to wear the hijab."

In the past year, regime supporters have knocked off the turbans of clerics who had criticized the establishment, including former Interior Minister Abdollah Nuri and former parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi, who has been under house arrest since 2011 for disputing the 2009 reelection of former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi says Kurdish leaders planning to hold an independence referendum are "playing with fire" and Baghdad is ready to intervene with force if violence erupts as a result of the vote.

Abadi on September 16 said if the Iraqi population was "threatened by the use of force outside the law, then we will intervene militarily."

Lawmakers in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region have approved a plan to hold a nonbinding independence referendum on September 25.

Iraq and neighboring countries, including Turkey and Iran, with large Kurdish minorities have vehemently opposed the referendum, and Western countries have expressed concerns the vote could ignite fresh tensions in the region.

"If you challenge the constitution and if you challenge the borders of Iraq and the borders of the region, this is a public invitation to the countries in the region to violate Iraqi borders as well, which is a very dangerous escalation," the Iraqi prime minister said.

He said the referendum could endanger gains made by the Kurdish population under agreements giving their oil-rich region a degree of autonomy.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Campaigning for the October 15 presidential election officially started on September 10, when Kyrgyzstan's Central Election Commission announced the names of the 13 people who qualified to run in the race.

Muhammad Tahir, RFE/RL's media relations manager, moderated the discussion in this week's podcast.

From Bishkek, Timur Tokotonaliev, Central Asia editor from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, took part in the conversation. From Boston, an old friend of the Majlis, Bakyt Beshimov, professor at Northeastern University in Boston and also a former deputy in Kyrgyzstan's parliament, joined the talk. And I had a few things to say also.

Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes.
Hundreds of people took part in a rally in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, on September 17 to denounce a new electoral law. The crowd chanted slogans such as "We will not give up" and "Victory!" Reaching the headquarters of the Moldovan public television, the protesters called for an increase in television time provided to the opposition. The rally was organized by two opposition parties who say the recent changes in the electoral legislation favor the country's two largest political parties while supporters of the new rules insist they will make politicians more accountable. Already signed by Moldovan President Igor Dodon, the law is due to be first applied in the next parliamentary elections in November 2018. (RFE/RL's Moldovan Service)
Hundreds of people have marched in Moldova's capital to protest against a controversial new electoral law.

Participants at the September 17 rally in Chisinau were waving flags of Moldova and the European Union.

Some of them condemned the countrys Russia-friendly president, Igor Dodon, for "selling the country to Moscow."

The demonstration was organized by two opposition parties: the Dignity and Truth Platform and the Party of Action and Solidarity.

The bill introducing a mixed electoral system was approved by lawmakers and signed into law by Dodon in July despite mass protests in Chisinau and criticism from the EU and the United States.

The new legislation provides for half of the lawmakers to be elected on party lists and another half in individual constituencies.

Critics say the electoral changes favor the country's two largest political parties -- the ruling pro-Western Democratic Party and the opposition pro-Russian Socialists. They say the Democratic Party initiated the changes in an effort to do better in the 2018 parliamentary elections amid declining popularity.

However, supporters say the changes will make politicians more accountable.

Moldova has had three governments since 2015, after the disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system sent the country into a political and economic crisis.
A senior NATO general says the military alliance is concerned about the large-scale Zapad (West) 2017 military drills being conducted by Russia and Belarus because of Moscow's lack of transparency.

General Petr Pavel, who is chief of NATO's Military Committee, said in an interview with the Associated Press published on September 16 that the maneuvers could lead "to unintended consequences of potential incidents during the exercise."

Pavel is among several Western military and political leaders who have expressed concerns about the massive military maneuvers, which run through September 20 on NATOs eastern flank in Belarus and parts of western Russia.

Moscow and Minsk say the Zapad maneuvers involve 12,700 troops, but Pavel told AP the actual number could be up to 100,000 in what Western officials call a Russian show of power amid the ongoing standoff over Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

Moscow has denied the drills are an aggressive action and said that "NATO is not considered an enemy" and "the exercise is not aimed at NATO."

NATO said it would send three observers to Belarus and Russia to monitor Zapad, but it has repeatedly called on the two countries to allow broader monitoring of the drills.

Russian state-run TASS news agency reported on September 16 that observers from seven countries had arrived in Belarus to monitor the exercise.

"In the spirit of openness and transparency and on a voluntary basis, Belarus has invited representatives from Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden, and Estonia to monitor the joint strategic exercise," Belarusian Defense Ministry spokesman Uladzimer Makarau was quoted as saying.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite was among those who voiced alarm about the exercises, labeling them a sign that Russia is preparing for a serious conflict with NATO.

Belarus borders Ukraine as well as NATO members Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. The drills are also being staged in Russias western exclave of Kaliningrad, which lies between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.

"All together, what we see is a serious preparation for big war," Pavel told AP. "When we only look at the exercise that is presented by Russia there should be no worry. But when we look it in the big picture, we have to be worried, because Russia was not transparent."

"We have high concentration of troops in the Baltics. We have a high concentration of troops in the Black Sea and potential for an incident may be quite high because of a human mistake, because of a technology failure," said Pavel said. "We have to be sure that such an unintended incident will not escalate into conflict."

With reporting by AP, TASS, and RFE/RLs Belarus Service
Pakistani officials say a roadside bomb blast has killed a government administrator and six tribal police officers in a tribal area on the border with Afghanistan.



Security official Rahmat Gul told RFE/RL that the vehicle of the official, identified as Fawad Khan, was struck by a bomb in Bajaur on September 17.

Muhammad Khorasani, a spokesman of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.



Bajaur is one of the seven tribal agencies that makes up Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas along its volatile border with Afghanistan.



The Pakistani military says it has "cleared" Bajaur from Taliban militants and other extremist groups following a number of offensives there over the past decade, but attacks against government officials, security forces, and those seen as cooperating with the central government remain common.



On August 11, a powerful bomb blast killed at least three people and wounded more than 20 others in the Char Mang district of Bajaur, authorities said.
Voters in the Pakistani city of Lahore are heading to the polls for a closely watched by-election caused when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stepped down in July.



The Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from holding office over a ruling that he was dishonest in a corruption inquiry.

His wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, is running for the seat in Lahore, Sharif's political stronghold, but is currently in London for cancer treatment.

Instead, her daughter Maryam Nawaz led the campaign for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

More than 320,000 voters are taking part in the vote, which is being contested by all the major parties.

The Supreme Court barred Sharif from office after an inquiry into the 2016 Panama Papers linked his family to offshore companies. Sharif denies any wrongdoing.

In August, the PML-N elected a Sharif loyalist, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as prime minister.

Some party officials have suggested Sharif's wife could become prime minister once elected to parliament.

Kulsoom, who has been married to Sharif for more than 40 years, does not hold political office but is a high-profile figure in Pakistan.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and the BBC
Hundreds of gay-rights activists attended a pride march in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, on September 17 under massive police supervision. Among the participants was Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, the country's first-ever female head of government and the first high-ranking LGBT politician in the Balkans. A handful of counterprotesters along the march route included Orthodox clergy. No violent incidents were reported. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service)
Russia has dismissed allegations that its military struck U.S.-backed forces in war-torn Syria, injuring several allied fighters.

Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on September 17 that Russian strikes only hit targets in areas under the control of the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Konashenkov that the Russian military informed the United States well in advance of its operational plans.

"To avoid unnecessary escalation, the commanders of Russian forces in Syria used an existing communications channel to inform our American partners in good time about the borders of our military operation in Deir al-Zor," he said.

The comments come after the U.S.-led coalition battling IS militants in Syria said the Russian military on September 16 struck forces of a U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab militia in Syria.

"Russian munitions impacted a location known to the Russians to contain Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisors," a statement said. "Several SDF fighters were wounded and received medical care as a result of the strike."

It added that coalition advisers who were present "were not wounded as a result of the Russian strike."

Earlier, the SDF accused Russian jets of bombing its forces in Deir al-Zor Province, injuring six of its fighters in the last major IS stronghold in Syria.

The United States and Russia back separate military offensives in the Syrian war, both of which are advancing against IS forces in the east of the country near Iraq.

Russia and Iran back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's six-year-old war, while the United States and Turkey support various rebel groups opposed to the Damascus government.

IS fighters, who captured large swathes of Syrian territory in 2014, are opposed by all sides and are being driven from most of their strongholds by the separate government and rebel campaigns.

Washington and Moscow have largely stayed out of each other's way in their fight against IS in Syria, with the Euphrates River frequently serving as a dividing line.

The commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Lieutenant General Paul Funk, said in the September 16 statement that coalition officials "are available and the de-conflictation line with Russia is open 24 hours a day."

"We put our full efforts into preventing unnecessary escalation among forces that share ISIS as our common enemy," Funk said, using an alternate acronym for the extremist group.

The statement added, "Coalition forces and partners always retain the right of self-defense."

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Interfax
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has hailed Ukraine's recapture of Kherson during a surprise visit to the strategic southern city as the possible "beginning of the end of the war," but warned that such victories came at a high price.

The liberation of Kherson over the last few days was one of Ukraine's biggest successes in nearly nine months since the start of the Russian invasion and sparked days of celebration but also exposed a humanitarian emergency for the residents of the city.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

"This is the beginning of the end of the war," Zelenskiy said in an address to the Ukrainian troops in the city. "We are step-by-step coming to all the temporarily occupied territories."

But he also reminded Ukrainians that the success came at a high human cost.

"The price of this war is high. People are injured. A large number of dead. (Russian forces) have left or escaped -- we believe that they have escaped because our army has surrounded the enemy and they were in danger," Zelensky said.

"There were fierce battles, and the result is -- today we are in Kherson region."

"We are moving forward," Zelenskiy told Ukrainian soldiers in the city, thanking NATO and other allies for their continuing support in the war against Russia.

"We are ready for peace, peace for all our country," he said.

As fierce fighting continues in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Kremlin refused to comment on Zelenskiy's visit to the city, but spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "You know that it is the territory of the Russian Federation."

Russia, which still controls about 70 percent of the wider Kherson region, illegally annexed it and three other Ukrainian regions in September following referendums that Kyiv and the West have labeled as a sham.

Wary Ukrainian officials maintained a curfew in the liberated Kherson region amid fears that mines and booby traps could still maim and kill civilians.

The governor of Kherson region, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said the authorities had decided to maintain a curfew from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. and ban people from leaving or entering the city as a security measure.

"The enemy mined all critical infrastructure," Yanushevych told Ukrainian TV. "We are trying to meet within a few days and (then) open the city," he said.

Zelenskiy's visit to the region came a day after fresh evidence of war crimes was being uncovered in Kherson following the departure of Russian troops.

Zelenskiy said Ukrainian investigators uncovered hundreds of war crimes in areas freed from Russian occupation.

"Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on November 13. "The bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found."

"The Russian Army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered," he said.

The allegations could not be independently verified. Russia denies its troops intentionally target civilians.

Zelenskiy said "stabilization and the restoration of law" has been established in 226 settlements in the region, while the Defense Ministry said it had recaptured 179 settlements and 4,500 square kilometers along the Dnieper River over the past week.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff reported continued fierce fighting along the eastern front in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Ukrainian armed forces' southern command said on November 14 that Russian forces continued to "inflict fire damage on our troops and de-occupied settlements along the right bank of the Dnieper" even after the liberation of Kherson city, which Zelenskiy described as "a historic day."

Yanushevych warned people in an online message about reports of humanitarian aid arriving in downtown Kherson's Liberty Square and urged people to steer clear of the city center as demining operations were due to proceed there.

Zelenskiy also warned Kherson residents about the presence of Russian mines. "I am asking you please not to forget that the situation in the Kherson region remains very dangerous," he said.

Russian officials' announcement that their forces were withdrawing across the Dnieper, which bisects the Kherson region and Ukraine, followed a seemingly hugely successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the country's south in recent months.

The White House has hailed Russia's withdrawal from Kherson as an "extraordinary victory" for Ukraine.

But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned on November 14 that Ukraine should brace for a difficult winter.

"The coming months will be difficult. Putin's aim is to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter," he told a press conference in The Hague after meeting the Dutch foreign and defense ministers.

Stoltenberg urged continued international support for Kyiv and said Russia's military capability should not be taken lightly.

"We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia. They still control large parts of Ukraine. What we should do is strengthen Ukraine's hand."

With reporting by Reuters and AP
The U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine has called a Russian proposal to send United Nations peacekeepers to the region a "step forward" but warns there are still many "obstacles" to the plan suggested by Moscow.

The envoy, Kurt Volker, on September 16 said, "It's very interesting that Russia proposed a UN protection mission.... This is a step forward in a way bringing it up for discussion and bringing it to the [UN] Security Council."

"There's more on the table now that we can work with," he said on the sidelines of the annual Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.

But he added that the mandate of any UN force must not "deepen the division" of the country.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the purpose of a proposed UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in war-torn eastern Ukrainian must be to foster peace, not to cement what he called "Russia's occupation" of a chunk of his country.

Poroshenko said the mission should patrol the whole conflict zone including the border between Russia and the separatist-held parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Kyiv says is used to ship weapons and military personnel in from Russia.

Russia initially indicated that under its plan, the peacekeepers would operate only along the front line separating Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists. Russia also said the plan should be subject to approval by the separatists.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 11 signaled his willingness to look into the idea of deploying the peacekeepers not only along the conflict line but also in other areas where monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) work.

Some 600 observers from the OSCE are in eastern Ukraine, but their presence has failed to halt the fighting.

Volker reiterated that the UN force's mandate should not be limited to protecting the OSCE observers along the conflict demarcation line between zones controlled by Kyiv and those held by the pro-Russia separatists.

The current proposal, he said, "would only protect monitors, not people. It would not give access to control the Russia-Ukraine border. There's a lot of obstacles, a lot of problems with the way it was proposed."

Volker said the force should control the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia, enabling it to help prevent any movement of heavy weapons from Russia to the separatists.

Despite overwhelming evidence, Moscow denies that it has played a role in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The comments came after Volker early on September 16 wrote on Twitter that "The conflict in eastern Ukraine is not an indigenous uprising; it's an externally driven conflict & Russia is responsible."

Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted Volker on September 16 as saying he might meet with Vladislav Surkov, Putin's point man for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, next month.

No date was set, although TASS quoted a U.S. official as saying the meeting would likely occur in October.



The conflict has killed more than 10,000 civilians and combatants in eastern Ukraine since it erupted in April 2014, after Russia seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented separatism in some eastern parts of the country.

The United States and European Union have slapped sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, TASS, and Interfax
Straight shot up U.S. 31 to I-94 finally open in Berrien County

Last few miles had been unfinished since 2004 because of a lack of money to pay for it.
Humanity's light at Saturn has gone out.

NASA's robotic Cassini spacecraft burned up in the ringed planet's atmosphere Friday morning (Sept. 15), ending a remarkable 13-year run at Saturn that has revolutionized scientists' understanding of the outer solar system and its potential to host life.

For example, Cassini discovered methane seas on Saturn's huge moon Titan and geysers of water vapor blasting from fellow moon Enceladus. Both of these moons are worthy of much further study, as is the ringed planet itself and the diverse Saturn system as a whole, Cassini team members said. [In Photos: Cassini's Last Views of Saturn at Mission's End]

"We left the world informed, but still wondering, and I couldn't ask for more," Cassini project manager Earl Maize, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said during a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 13). "We've got to go back  we know it."

And various research teams are indeed working on plans to return to Saturn. In fact, five such concepts are in the running for NASA's next New Frontiers mission  the same type flown by the agency's New Horizons Pluto probe, Juno Jupiter orbiter and OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample-return craft.

Saturn's atmosphere

During its intentional death dive Friday, Cassini briefly became the first-ever Saturn atmospheric probe. One of the proposed New Frontiers missions would pick up on, and greatly extend, the last measurements Cassini ever made.

The SPRITE (Saturn Probe Interior and Atmosphere Explorer) spacecraft would plunge into Saturn's thick atmosphere, characterizing its composition and structure for about 90 minutes before breaking apart and burning up. (Cassini, which was not built for such work, lasted just a minute or two during its dive.)

"Fundamental measurements of the interior structure and noble-gas abundances of Saturn are needed to better constrain models of solar system formation, as well as to provide an improved context for exoplanet systems," principal investigator Amy Simon, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and her colleagues wrote in a mission description last year.

SPRITE would make such measurements, and its data would help "ground-truth" data Cassini gathered about Saturn from afar over the years, the scientists added. [Latest Saturn Photos from NASA's Cassini Orbiter]

Studying Titan

Cassini studied Titan closely over the course of 127 targeted flybys. The Saturn orbiter also carried a piggyback European lander called Huygens, which touched down on the 3,200-mile-wide (5,150 kilometers) moon in January 2005. In the process, it became the first probe ever to pull off a soft landing on a body in the outer solar system.

Observations by both Cassini and Huygens revealed Titan in all its otherworldly glory. Hydrocarbon rain falls from the huge moon's sky, pooling in lakes and seas of methane, some of which are as big as Earth's Black Sea. Complex organic chemicals  the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it  waft about in Titan's thick, nitrogen-dominated atmosphere and eventually drift down to the moon's surface.

It's possible that this bizarre landscape could harbor life, astrobiologists say. And Cassini's work suggests that the big moon may have another potentially habitable environment as well: a salty ocean of liquid water buried beneath the crust. (Indeed, Cassini was directed to its doom primarily to ensure that it would never contaminate Titan or Enceladus with microbes from Earth.)

A proposed New Frontiers mission called Oceanus would investigate both of these environments, taking a variety of measurements from its perch in orbit around Titan. For example, the probe would characterize the organics in the moon's atmosphere and help researchers determine how thick and rigid Titan's crust is, and whether it is convecting internal heat to the surface.

Oceanus "would follow up on Cassini's amazing discoveries and assess Titan's habitability by following the organics through the methanologic cycle and assessing exchange processes between the atmosphere, surface and subsurface," the concept mission's planners wrote in a description of the project, which they presented earlier this year at the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.

Also in the New Frontiers running is Titan Dragonfly, which would send a drone to study the moon from the air and the ground.

"Heavier-than-air flight is substantially easier [on Titan]" than on Earth, Dragonfly principal investigator Elizabeth Turtle, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Research Laboratory in Maryland, told Space.com earlier this year. (Titan's atmosphere is considerably thicker than that of Earth, but the moon's gravity is just 14 percent as strong as our planet's.)

"That means we can take a really capable lander and move it by a few tens of kilometers in a single flight, and hundreds of kilometers over the time of the mission," Turtle added.

The drone would study the composition of Titan's organics in detail, at a variety of different locations.

"Dragonflyis a truly revolutionary concept providing the capability to explore diverse locations to characterize the habitability of Titan's environment, investigate how far prebiotic chemistry has progressed, and search for chemical signatures indicative of water-based and/or hydrocarbon-based life," Turtle and her colleagues wrote about the potential mission in their presentation at the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. [Amazing Photos: Titan, Saturn's Largest Moon]

The plumes of Enceladus

The other two Saturn-oriented New Frontiers proposals target 313-mile-wide (504 km) Enceladus, whose geysers were a revelation to the Cassini team, NASA officials and space scientists in general.

"When we observed the southern hemisphere [of Enceladus] and geysers of water spewing out into the Saturn system, it amazed us and began changing the way we view the habitability  or potential habitability  of moons in the outer part of our solar system," Jim Green, chief of NASA's Planetary Science Division at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., said at Wednesday's news conference.

That's because the water in Enceladus' geysers is apparently coming from an ocean of liquid water that sloshes beneath the frigid moon's icy crust. Cassini observations suggest that this ocean may even have a chemical energy source that could support life as we know it.

But researchers want to learn more about the ocean, and the geysers' plume provides a great way of doing so. One of the New Frontiers candidates, known as Enceladus Life Finder (ELF), would zoom through this plume repeatedly, collecting and analyzing molecules. ELF would look for complex organic compounds that could be a sign of prebiotic chemistry  or perhaps even of life itself.

"It's free samples," principal investigator Jonathan Lunine, of Cornell University, told Space.com in 2015, when ELF was competing for a slot in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost, extremely focused missions. (In January of this year, NASA chose the asteroid-studying Lucy and Psyche missions as its next Discovery projects.) "We don't need to land, drill, melt or do anything like that."

Cassini did some plume sampling of its own, but ELF would sport more-sensitive mass spectrometers than its predecessor did, ELF team members have said. (Cassini's handlers didn't know about Enceladus' geysers before launch, so they didn't put any life-hunting gear aboard the craft.)

Not much has been publicly revealed about the final Saturn-oriented New Frontiers proposal. But its name  Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability  suggests that it would also be a plume-sampling mission.

You can learn more about all 12 New Frontiers candidates  the other seven of which would target Venus, a comet or Earth's moon  in this excellent synopsis by The Planetary Society's Van Kane.

Will any of them fly?

NASA is expected to cull the New Frontiers proposals to a handful of finalists before the end of the year and announce the selected mission sometime in 2019. (That mission will have a cost cap of $850 million, excluding launch, and will lift off by 2025.)

So, it's too soon to say if any of the Saturn-centric missions will ever get off the ground. But fans of the ringed planet may be heartened by one of Green's comments at Wednesday's news conference.

Cassini's discoveries "will live on for many decades afterwards, and already they're beckoning us to go back," Green said. Between NASA's Voyager mission, which visited Saturn with back-to-back flybys in 1980 and 1981, "and Cassini was 30 years," he said, "and I believe that will be much shorter the next time around."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
T he teenager arrested on suspicion of planting a bomb on the Tube is reportedly an Iraqi orphan who moved over to the UK as a refugee three years ago, a community leader said today.

The 18-year-old was detained by police on Saturday morning in connection with the terror attack, which saw 30 people injured when a home-made bomb was detonated on a packed carriage.

Following the arrest, police raided a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey - home to foster care couple Penelope and Ronald Jones who have reportedly taken in refugee children in the past.

As police continued to search the property, a local council leader told reporters that he believed the teenage suspect is an Iraqi orphan who moved to Britain aged 15 after his parents died.

Parsons Green explosion incident on the Tube - In pictures 1 /27 Parsons Green explosion incident on the Tube - In pictures Images emerged on social media of flames spilling from a bucket which appeared to be on the train Kett News Emergency services on the platform at Parsons Green Metro An injured woman is assisted by a police officer close to Parsons Green station in west London after an explosion on a packed London Underground train Dominic Lipinski/PA Armed police stand by a cordon outside Parsons Green tube station Kevin Coombs/Reuters Police, fire and ambulance crews descended on the station Cllr Daniel Holden An injured woman is comforted outside the station Reuters Bomb disposal and armed police unitson the scene at Parsons Green Jeremy Selwyn Personal belonglongs and a bucket with an item on fire inside it, are seen on the floor of an underground train carriage at Parsons Green station Sylvian Pennec/Reuters Police with a woman after the incident at Parsons Green Metro Nick Crowley shows his charred forehead following an explosion whilst on the Tube Nick Crowley Armed British police officers walk through the carriage of a London underground tube carriage at Parsons Green underground tube station in west London AFP/Getty Images Tube carriage and emergency services on the tracks after explosion Sky News Police and emergency services at Parsons Green Station following reports of an explosion on a tube train. Kerry Davies/Daily Mail An injured woman is led away after an incident at Parsons Green underground station in London Reuters Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley speaks to the media outside New Scotland Yard, London, after a terrorist incident was declared following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A forensics officer on the platform at Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A tube train at Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident following a blast sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A police officer and a sniffer dog pictured near Parsons Green tube station Reuters View of emergency services on the tracks at Parsons Green Sky News Commuters were left traumatised by the incident Reuters Bomb disposal units rushed to the scene Reuters Crowds gather outside Parsons Green tube station AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts outside Parsons Green tube station Reuters Emergency services tend to panicked commuters outside Parsons Green Tube station Emma (Twitter) Images emerged of a bucket alight reportedly on the District Line train @RRigs Fire crews, police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene Richard Aylmer-Hall/PA Police vehicles line the street near Parsons Green tube station Reuters

Leader of Spelthorne Borough Council Ian Harvey, whose ward is Sunbury East, said he had learnt about the boy's background from neighbours of the Joneses and publicly available information.

He told the Press Association: "One thing I understand is that he was an Iraqi refugee who came here aged 15 - his parents died in Iraq."

Foster carers: Penelope Jones and Ronald Jones, who are registered to the property being searched, were awarded MBEs in 2010 / PA

The Standard put the claims to the Met police leading the investigation  but a spokesman could not confirm or deny the reports.

He said the force would not comment on any details surrounding the suspects identity.

London Tube bombing: What we know so far

Kent police arrested the teen on Saturday morning in the departures area of Dover ferry terminal.

He was taken into custody at a local police station and will be transferred to a south London police station in due course.

Arrest: police at Dover Port, where detectives investigating the Parsons Green bombing detained an 18-year-old man / PA

Tourist Daniel Vaselicu, 31, said he saw the "young and light-skinned" man being interrogated by two unarmed police officers moments before his arrest in Dover.

Hours later, armed police evacuated the residential street in Surrey and raided a property registered to the two foster carers.

Mrs and Mrs Jones have been foster carers for 40 years who had taken in up to 300 children, including eight refugees.

Parsons Green bombing: Arrest is 'very significant' says Rudd

According to reports, they had an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old staying with them recently.

The couple are said to be staying with friends for at least the next five days following the police raids, during which surrounding houses were evacuated by counter-terror officers, with residents told they had "one minute" to flee their homes.

On Saturday night, police arrested a 21-year-old man in Hounslow in connection with the investigation.

Bomb: The explosive device was planted on the floor of a Tube carriage / PA

The suspect, who was detained under the terrorism act, has been taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody.

Following the second arrest, police searched another residential address in Stanwell, Surrey.

And forensic teams were also searching a property in Hounslow on Sunday afternoon, with a cordon erected around the house. People were told to stay in their homes.

Explosion: 30 people were injured (PA) / Dominic Lipinski/PA

Thirty people were injured when the improvised device exploded during rush hour at Parsons Green station, with all but one now discharged from hospital.

A key strand of the investigation has focused on CCTV as officers comb through footage to establish who planted the device, and when and where it was placed on the train.
A new Banksy piece has sold for more than 200,000 at an auction raising money in opposition to an arms fair taking place in London.

The artwork, named Civilian Drone Strike, depicts drones destroying a child-like drawing of a house while a little girl and her dog watch on in horror.

The 205,000 made from the piece will be split between Campaign Against Arms Trade, which seeks to abolish the international arms trade, and Reprieve, which fights for human rights.

Andrew Smith, of Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: "This money will be used to ensure we mobilise even more people against the next arms fair, so that we can stop it from happening. It's time to shut it down for good."

Banksy - In pictures 1 /85 Banksy - In pictures PA AFP via Getty Images A new artwork painted by Banksy during lockdown, which has gone on display in a hospital corridor PA Banksys Girl With A Pearl Earring modified during Coronavirus @Anth0ny_Ward Stormzy performs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2019 wearing a vest designed by Banksy EPA Sotheby's employees pose with 'Love is in the Bin' by British artist Banksy during a media preview at Sotheby's auction house Jack Taylor/Getty Images Two men are sitting in front of a famous graffiti of British street artist Banksy, painted on a wall of a gas station in the West Bank city of Bethlehem Getty Images Banksy's homage to Pulp Fiction in East London Rex Features A new Banksy artwork in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter appears to have been vandalised days after it first appeared. The mural depicts two reindeer painted onto a brick wall appearing to pull along a bench PA Sotheby's host the first unauthorized retrospective exhibition of works by Banksy Curated by Steve Lazarides-Banksy's agent in the early years Alex Lentati Graffitti art by the 'guerilla' artist Banksy is seen on May 16, 2006 in Chalk Farm, London. The striking large scale spray-painted image entitled 'Sweeping It Under The Carpet' depicts a maid who cleaned the artist's room in a motel in Los Angeles. The piece commissioned by 'The Independent' newspaper edited on Tuesday by U2's frontman Bono, is intended to represent a metaphor for the west's reluctance to tackle issues such as Aids in Africa Getty Images Mural: the artwork before it was covered (Photo: PA) PA Banky's Les Mis artwork in Knightsbridge Jeremy Selwyn A piece of urban art by Banksy discovered on the wall of the Poundland store in Wood Green Nigel Howard A woman attacked by seagulls piece by Banksy, during the press view for the artistis biggest show to date, entitled 'Dismaland', at Tropicana in Western-super-Mare, Somerset PA Builders remove a sheet of wood covering a Banksy artwork moments after being told to take it down from the building opposite the French embassy Getty Images Banksy's Barcode Leopard Rex Features A migrant looks at the work by Banksy in the Calais migrant 'jungle' Banksy A blanket covers a mural by elusive street artist Banksy of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in a migrant camp on the outskirts of Calais. The piece has gained such popularity that people are being charged for the blanket to be lifted to that they can view it PA An employee holds Banksy's 'Girl and Balloon' which was painted on an Ikea frame at Bonhams auctioneers on March 23, 2012 in London Getty Images Dismal, and not how he meant it: Banksy's Dismaland PA Banksy, Brick Lane Rex Features Banksy - Love is in the Air street art, Soho, London Rex Features A graffiti titled "Art Attack" made by the British, guerrilla, graffiti artist Banksy is seen on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier in Ramallah Getty Images Sold: This Banksy on the Gaza Strip was bought for just 118 Banksy Banksy's provocative take on an iconic image from the Vietnam war Alex Lentati A stencil image of a Banksy rat in Haringey, London Jeremy Selwyn Children pose for their photo with an installation of British graffiti artist Banksy's art in New York in 2013 Reuters Art installation by British artist Banksy, a robot and a barcode, is seen on a wall in the Coney Island area of New York City Reuters Mobile Lovers by Banksy on Clement Street, Bristol PA Art Buff created by street artist Banksy in Folkestone, KenT PA Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in the Israeli occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem Getty Images Self-portrait by Banksy PA Grafitti by the illusive artist Banksy adorns a building August 28, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisian Getty Images Vulture Petrol Head Mural by Banksy at Dungeness Susan Pilcher British graffiti artist Banksy's artwork 'No Ball Games' EPA Banksy's Bronx Zoo at Yankee Stadium Reuters Banksy's Eton Posse PA Cardinal Sin by artist Banksy at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool PA A worker holding Banksy's portrait of Kate Moss (2005) at a press preview for the exhibition Banksy: The Unauthorised Retrospective, curated by Steve Lazarides, at S|2 Gallery in London PA A Banksy mural which was painted on the side of one of the classrooms at Bridge Farm Primary in Bristol during half-term PA A stencil image of a rat in Haringey, London Jeremy Selwym A dancer poses with a new installation of art by British graffiti artist Banksy painted on the front door of the Hustler Club in New York Reuters "Flower Girl," a delicate stencil on a massive brick wall by popular street artist Banksy, is displayed in a warehouse in the greater Los Angeles, California AP Brexit mural: The artwork on the side of an abandoned arcade in Dover Reuters Detail from an installation by artist Banksy, entitled Civilian Drone Strike, on display at the Art the Arms Fair art exhibition 2017 PA A man takes a photo of one of two new murals painted by the artist Banksy near the Barbican Centre in London PA Banksy's lost 'Snorting Copper' at it's original home on Curtain Road in Shoreditch Gareth Richman A woman passes one of two new murals painted by the artist Banksy near the Barbican Centre in London PA The painting 'Devolved Parliament' by the graffiti artist Banksy, which is on show at Bristol Museum PA A Banksy artwork on a bridge in Hull Banksy A man walks past an artwork by street artist Banksy in Paris AFP/Getty Images People gather around fences that have been erected to protect the latest piece of artwork by the underground guerrilla artist Banksy Getty Images A street stall with oil paintings creating an image of a yacht in the Venice canal with a sign reading "Venice in oil", set up by a person purporting to be British artist Banksy, in Venice Reuters A motorboat passes in front of an alleged work of British street artist Banksy 'The shipwrecked child', that appeared on the outer wall of a house overlooking the canal Rio de Ca Foscari in Venice, Italy EPA Banksy created Stormzy's Union Jack stab proof vest worn at Glastonbury in July 2019 @banksy Banksy hits Notting Hill Bronwen Weatherby A shopfront displays a mini exhibition by secretive British artist, Banksy with the sign 'Gross Domestic Product', in Croydon AFP/Getty Images Displays in a homeware store, Gross Domestic Product, that is being launched in South London by the graffiti artist Banksy PA Banksy turned a rough sleeper's bench into Santa's sleigh in a social commentary on homelessness at Christmas Banksy A new work of art on the side of a house on Marsh Lane, Barton Hill, Bristol PA A section of the new work he has created during lockdown, in his bathroom. The artist captioned the post "My wife hates it when I work from home Banksy via PA Banksys Girl With A Pearl Earring modified during Coronavirus @Anth0ny_Ward

The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) fair, held at the Excel centre in London's Docklands, hosts more than 1,600 exhibitors from 54 countries.

It allows buyers and sellers of arms to meet and make preliminary deals.

Banksy, an anonymous street artist, is famed for his anti-war, anti-capitalism or anti-establishment artworks.

A number of other high-profile artists and activists have also contributed work to the Art the Arms Fair exhibition, including Peter Kennard, Guerilla Girls and Darren Cullen.


V omiting residents were rushed to hospital sparking fears of a chemical incident in south London.

Emergency services were scrambled to Alwold Crescent in Lee amid fears locals may have suffered an allergic reaction on Sunday.

Witnesses said several people suffered a reaction to an unknown substance.

Taxi driver Ian Crouch, 39, told the Sun that emergency services appeared to be investigating the sewage system.

Five fire engines, paramedics and police were all deployed to deal with the incident.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the incident was not believed to be crime-related and the investigation is being led by the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

A spokeswoman for LFB added: "There was a smell of an unknown chemical at an address in the area and we are investigating that. Some people have been removed as a precaution.

"Some people have been taken to hospital also as a precaution."
P olice have launched a terrorism investigation after an explosion on a Tube train at Parsons Green station on Friday morning.

The blast sent a shot of flames through the packed rush hour train, injuring 30 people.

Commuters described mass panic as people fled from the train and platform out of the south west London station.

Isis claimed responsibility for the attack as Prime Minister Theresa May temporarily raised the national terror threat to "critical", meaning another attack could be expected imminently.

An 18-year-old man was arrested in Dover on Saturday morning in connection with the bomb attack. A second man, aged 21, was arrested on Saturday night in south-west London.

Here is a summary of what we know so far:

 The blast happened at 8.20am on Friday on a train at Parsons Green station, on the District line route between Earls Court and Wimbledon in south west London.

 Witnesses said the Tube train had pulled into the station and the doors had just opened when the explosion went off in the last carriage. Passengers described a heat wave and wall of flame which was sent through the carriage.

 The British Transport Police, Met armed police and officers, firefighters and paramedics from the London Ambulance Service attended.

Parsons Green explosion incident on the Tube - In pictures 1 /27 Parsons Green explosion incident on the Tube - In pictures Images emerged on social media of flames spilling from a bucket which appeared to be on the train Kett News Emergency services on the platform at Parsons Green Metro An injured woman is assisted by a police officer close to Parsons Green station in west London after an explosion on a packed London Underground train Dominic Lipinski/PA Armed police stand by a cordon outside Parsons Green tube station Kevin Coombs/Reuters Police, fire and ambulance crews descended on the station Cllr Daniel Holden An injured woman is comforted outside the station Reuters Bomb disposal and armed police unitson the scene at Parsons Green Jeremy Selwyn Personal belonglongs and a bucket with an item on fire inside it, are seen on the floor of an underground train carriage at Parsons Green station Sylvian Pennec/Reuters Police with a woman after the incident at Parsons Green Metro Nick Crowley shows his charred forehead following an explosion whilst on the Tube Nick Crowley Armed British police officers walk through the carriage of a London underground tube carriage at Parsons Green underground tube station in west London AFP/Getty Images Tube carriage and emergency services on the tracks after explosion Sky News Police and emergency services at Parsons Green Station following reports of an explosion on a tube train. Kerry Davies/Daily Mail An injured woman is led away after an incident at Parsons Green underground station in London Reuters Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley speaks to the media outside New Scotland Yard, London, after a terrorist incident was declared following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A forensics officer on the platform at Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A tube train at Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident following a blast sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A police officer and a sniffer dog pictured near Parsons Green tube station Reuters View of emergency services on the tracks at Parsons Green Sky News Commuters were left traumatised by the incident Reuters Bomb disposal units rushed to the scene Reuters Crowds gather outside Parsons Green tube station AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts outside Parsons Green tube station Reuters Emergency services tend to panicked commuters outside Parsons Green Tube station Emma (Twitter) Images emerged of a bucket alight reportedly on the District Line train @RRigs Fire crews, police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene Richard Aylmer-Hall/PA Police vehicles line the street near Parsons Green tube station Reuters

 Around two hours after the suspected attack, Scotland Yard declared it a terrorist incident. A counter-terror investigation was launched.

 The Met confirmed the blast was an improvised explosive device which had been detonated. Photos on social media show what appears to be a bucket, wrapped in a Lidl carrier bag, with wires protruding from it.

 30 people in total were injured. Nineteen people were taken to hospital by paramedics and the others arrived at hospital themselves.

 Police said most of the injuries are believed to be flash burns. None of those injured are thought to be in a serious or life-threatening condition.

 Officers said they are working with intelligence agency MI5.

 An 18-year-old suspect was arrested on Saturday morning in the port area of Dover.

 A 21-year-old man was arrested in Hounslow, south-west London, at 11.50pm on Saturday.

 Police cordoned off and evacuated an area of 50 metres in radius around Parsons Green station, including residents' homes while officers secure the DIY explosive device. That cordon was lifted on Friday evening.

Theresa May announces terror threat level raised to critical

 It has been reported that the bombing was the work of a "detachment" of ISIS, rather than a "soldier" acting alone.

 On Friday evening, the Prime Minister raised Britain's terror threat level to critical, the highest possible stage, meaning another attack could be expected imminently.

 She and Mark Rowley, the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, both announced military personnel would be deployed to support the police.

 On Sunday, the threat level was lowered back down to severe.

 Rowley said that "excellent progress" had been made in a "very complex" police investigation involving trawling through CCTV footage, speaking to tens of witnesses and taking a number of calls from members of the public.

 Following the first arrest, a residential street in Surrey was evacuated by anti-terror officers. The Met described the evacuation as a "precautionary measure".

 It emerged that the house at the centre of the Surrey raid was home to two "beautiful" foster carers who had been granted MBEs for their work with children in 2010

 It was reported that a local council leader said the teenage suspect was a Iraqi refugee

 Police said on Saturday night that they were still unsure as to whether the bomber was acting alone or as part of a wider network.

 On Sunday, Ms Rudd announced the threat level was being lowered back down to severe, following the second arrest.

 Anyone with any information is asked to call detectives on the hotline 0800 789 321. Anyone with any pictures from the scene is urged to send them to www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk.
A mber Rudd has said the Parsons Green Tube bombing was not a lone wolf attack, after police made a second arrest over the incident that left 29 people injured.

The Home Secretary agreed the second arrest suggested more than one person was behind the attack, but added that its too early to reach any final conclusions.

In an interview with the BBCs Andrew Marr on Sunday, she said it is inevitable that so-called Islamic State will reach in and try and claim responsibility we have no evidence to suggest that yet.

She said the attack was the latest in a year like no other, after five terror attacks on the UK.

Armed police on duty across UK after Parsons Green bomb attack

It comes as 21-year-old man was arrested over the attack in south-west London, after an 18-year-old man was arrested in the port area of Dover on Saturday morning.

She said: Its too early to reach any final conclusions on that [whether or not it was a lone wolf attack]. This has been a year like no other We have seen five serious attacks and six that were foiled by the police.

And the police are getting on with their operation today. They are working closely with the security services They have made two arrests. And they will be working hard to see what else they can find out about this attacker.

Parsons Green explosion incident on the Tube - In pictures 1 /36 Parsons Green explosion incident on the Tube - In pictures Images emerged on social media of flames spilling from a bucket which appeared to be on the train Kett News Emergency services on the platform at Parsons Green Metro An injured woman is assisted by a police officer close to Parsons Green station in west London after an explosion on a packed London Underground train Dominic Lipinski/PA Armed police stand by a cordon outside Parsons Green tube station Kevin Coombs/Reuters Police, fire and ambulance crews descended on the station Cllr Daniel Holden An injured woman is comforted outside the station Reuters Bomb disposal and armed police unitson the scene at Parsons Green Jeremy Selwyn Personal belonglongs and a bucket with an item on fire inside it, are seen on the floor of an underground train carriage at Parsons Green station Sylvian Pennec/Reuters Police with a woman after the incident at Parsons Green Metro Nick Crowley shows his charred forehead following an explosion whilst on the Tube Nick Crowley Armed British police officers walk through the carriage of a London underground tube carriage at Parsons Green underground tube station in west London AFP/Getty Images Tube carriage and emergency services on the tracks after explosion Sky News Police and emergency services at Parsons Green Station following reports of an explosion on a tube train. Kerry Davies/Daily Mail An injured woman is led away after an incident at Parsons Green underground station in London Reuters Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley speaks to the media outside New Scotland Yard, London, after a terrorist incident was declared following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A forensics officer on the platform at Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident following a blast which sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A tube train at Parsons Green station in west London after Scotland Yard declared a terrorist incident following a blast sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through a packed London Underground train PA A police officer and a sniffer dog pictured near Parsons Green tube station Reuters View of emergency services on the tracks at Parsons Green Sky News Commuters were left traumatised by the incident Reuters Bomb disposal units rushed to the scene Reuters Crowds gather outside Parsons Green tube station AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts outside Parsons Green tube station Reuters Emergency services tend to panicked commuters outside Parsons Green Tube station Emma (Twitter) Images emerged of a bucket alight reportedly on the District Line train @RRigs Fire crews, police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene Richard Aylmer-Hall/PA Police vehicles line the street near Parsons Green tube station Reuters

A huge manhunt was launched after a device in a bucket exploded on a rush hour District line train on Friday morning, forcing passengers to flee in panic. Emergency services said that 29 people were injured in the blast.

Detectives investigating the attack said they were keeping an open mind as to whether the Tube bomber was acting alone or as part of a wider network of terrorists.

A key strand of the investigation has focused on CCTV as officers comb through footage to establish who planted the device, and when and where it was placed on the train.

The first man was arrested at around 7.50am, in the port which is the busiest ferry hub in Europe and serves as a commercial gateway to the French coast, including Calais and Dunkirk.

The second was detained in Hounslow at around 23.50 on Saturday night, police said. He has been taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody.
H ome Secretary Amber Rudd has said the UK's threat level has been lowered from critical to severe.

The threat level was raised to critical - meaning another attack could be imminent - following the bombing on a rush-hour Tube on Friday.

Thirty people were injured when a makeshift explosive device was detonated on a District Line Tube near to Parsons Green station.

In the wake of the attack, anti-terror police launched a major investigation and have arrested two people on suspicion of terror offences.

London Tube bombing: What we know so far

On Sunday, the Home Secretary confirmed the threat level had been lowered back down to severe - meaning that members of the military will return to their original postings.

Over the weekend, military personal were supporting the police - allowing more armed officers to patrol the streets.

Amber Rudd: The Home Secretary said the terror threat level has been lowered / PA

Ms Rudd said: "Following the attack in Parsons Green last Friday the police have made good progress with what is an ongoing operation

"The joint terrorist analysis centre, which reviews the threat level that the UK is under, has decided to lower that level from critical to severe.

"Severe still means that an attack is highly likely so I would urge everybody to continue to be vigilant but not alarmed."

Parsons Green: 30 people were injured in the attack / Kerry Davies/Daily Mail

It comes after police arrested a 21-year-old man in Hounslow at 11.50pm on Saturday.

Searches are taking place at a residential address in Stanwell, Surrey, in connection with the arrest , Scotland Yard said.

An 18-year-old man was also detained in the departure area of Dover ferry port on Saturday morning.

Armed counter-terror police raid a house in Surrey

The Home Secretary has said it appears the bomber was not a lone wolf but it is "too early to reach any final conclusions on that".

Asked if she could give any information on claims by Islamic State that there were other unexploded devices, she told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "We don't.

"It is inevitable that so-called Islamic State, or Daesh, will reach in and try and claim responsibility. We have no evidence to suggest that yet."

Following Ms Rudds announcement, the country's top counter-terrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, said police were gaining a "greater understanding of the preparation of the device".

Mr Rowley said the investigation was continuing with high pace and rapid progress, citing the arrests and on-going searches at the two properties.

There is still much more to do but this greater clarity and this progress has led JTAC  the independent body that assess threat  to come to the judgement that an attack is no longer imminent, he said in a statement.

He said that, for practical and precautionary reasons the increased police presence will continue for the beginning of this week, adding: So the public will still see that high level of policing presence; some armed, some unarmed.

Statement: Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley

He added: The military support we have had in place under Operation Temperer will start to phase out as we move through the coming week.

I want to stress however, that specialist teams, well-rehearsed at dealing with major incidents, continue to provide a strong visible presence throughout the capital and across the UK.

The last thing I would say to members of the public is that there is still a severe threat level. If you see something you are worried about or know somebody you are worried about don't hesitate.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Anti-Terrorism Hotline 0800 789 321 or report online by visiting www.gov.uk/ACT.
B ritish troops helping with relief efforts after Hurricane Irma unleashed devastation across the Caribbean have been hailed as extraordinary.

Brigadier John Ridge, who has been coordinating the Joint Task Force, said he predicts the military footprint in the region will begin to scale back after this weekend.

He said the thing which has affected him most is the "staggering resilience" of those who have had their lives turned upside down by the hurricane, but have worked to repair their communities.

"But what has hugely impressed me is the British forces out here as well," he added.

Troops have begun reconnaissance of some of the worst hit areas and places in need of reconstruction / EPA

"The way they have just got stuck in has been extraordinary and to go and see the Royal Marines and Royal Engineers out in some pretty unpleasant conditions - just digging out, cleaning stuff up, helping distribute aid and enjoying doing it.

"I think it is incredible to go and see young soldiers, young marines, young sailors, young airman, interacting and doing amazing stuff and not because they're told to, because they want to.

More than 1,100 British troops are currently deployed across the region, and the Joint Task Force is covering an operation area the size of around 1,000 miles - stretching from Barbados to Turks and Caicos.

Last week the category five storm destroyed and damaged much of what was in its path as it made its way across the Caribbean.

Damaged buildings are seen twelve days after Hurricane Irma ripped through the Caribbean / REUTERS

One of the islands devastated by the hurricane is Grand Turk, where Royal Marines and Royal Engineers have been busy helping the community repair buildings and infrastructure.

Lance Corporal Adam Wellstead of the Royal Engineers said so far they have done a lot to help and have provided engineer support to the local dock house.

"The locals have been really supportive about what we are doing, making us food with what little they've got. They're really appreciative," he said.

The 31-year-old who has been in the Army for six years, said he feels "part of something", adding: "We all want to be out here getting a slice of the pie as such."

Royal Marines from Charlie Company 40 Commando rest after fixing a roof and clearing a building of debris on Grand Turk / PA

Royal Marine Magnus Frykman said he has been distributing aid in the form of water and food over the past few days.

The 35-year-old from Taunton said after unloading many containers packed with sustenance they have become a "well oiled machine" at the Pussers Chain where items are passed between a line of people quickly.

Describing the work they are doing as "amazing" and "hoofing", he said: "Yesterday we went out in the back of a truck dishing out aid to some of the Haitian minorities, it is unbelievable what they are living in.

"I saw a woman with a baby, fanning the eyes of its face, with a whole half of her house blown over and she has her washing up.

"All the locals are really happy to see us... it is really worthwhile."

The father-of-three said most of those who live on Grand Turk have "massive smiles on their faces" despite what has happened.

HMS Ocean, which is carrying another 60 tonnes of aid to add to the 60 tonnes which has already arrived and been distributed, is set to arrive this weekend.
A t times simply being alive in 2017 can feel like something out of a dystopian nightmare. But new Channel 4 sci-fi series Electric Dreams will put your Brexit and Trump-based anxieties into perspective.

From an alien invasion via eerie stealth to catching trains to destinations that arent supposed to exist, in this anthology series based on short stories by Philip K Dick the future is frightening.

Heres what to you need to know about the new show.

1. Its got a stellar cast, featuring some famous faces from across the pond

Thanks to the might of Amazon Prime, the producers on Electric Dreams have managed to entice some impressive acting heft, including some US castmembers.

Alongside Brit talent like Holliday Grainger, fresh from her starring role in the TV adaptation of JK Rowlings Strike novels and Game of Thrones Richard Madden, plus Harry Potters Timothy Spall, theres the likes of Fargo and Reservoir Dogs actor Steve Buscemi, Breaking Bads Bryan Cranston, and True Bloods Anna Paquin.

2. Its an anthology series, with each episode taking place in a different world

Much like the not too dissimilar dystopian series Black Mirror, each episode of Electric Dreams tells a different story with a new set of characters.

Episodes include The Hood Maker which sees Madden as Agent Ross and Grainger as his psychic assistant, who inhabit a dark world without future technology; The Commuter, where Spall plays an unassuming train station employee who discovers that passengers are ending up at a destination that shouldnt exist, and Father Thing which sees aliens invade earth by replacing one human at a time

3. The shows are each based on a different short story by American sci-fi writer Philip K Dick.

Its not the first time Dicks work has been adapted for television by Amazon Prime. His novel The Man In The High Castle was used as the basis for the dystopian drama of the same name starring Alexa Davalos.

But this time the show is to stay truer to the source material, with Dicks name even appearing in the series title.

Around the World in TV Shows 1 /6 Around the World in TV Shows p22 edition 15.03.17 p22 edition 15.03.17 Walter Presents p22 edition 15.03.17 p22 edition 15.03.17 p22 edition 15.03.17

4. Writers from Stranger Things, The Night Manager, Life on Mars have worked on the series

Its not just impressive acting talent that features in the new series, several high profile writers have taken a turn adapting one of Dicks stories for screen.

Stranger Things' Jessica Mecklenburg tackles Human Is, a tale about a woman trapped in a miserable marriage, whose abusive husband (Cranston) returns from war totally changed.

Meanwhile, The Night Managers David Farr casts a writerly eye over The Impossible Planet, which sees two unhappy space employees request a trip back to earth on behalf of a confused old woman, despite the existence of the planet supposedly being a myth.

Theres also Life on Mars co-creator Matthew Graham who has a writing credit on The Hood Maker.

5. Six episodes will air this year and four will follow in 2018

The series is, somewhat confusingly, split into two uneven parts.

The first six episodes The Hood Maker, The Impossible Planet, The Commuter, Real Life, Crazy Diamond and Human Is will be shown in September and October, while the final four shows Kill All Others, Autofac and Safe And Sound will air on as yet unconfirmed dates in 2018.

Electric Dreams begins on Sunday, September 17 at 9pm on Channel 4.
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On August 30th all restrictions on F-35A operations at an Arizona airbase were lifted. This comes after flights were resumed, with altitude restrictions (stay under 11,300 meters) in late June. The problems began in early May and by June 8th five F-35 pilots had reported signs of hypoxia (air supply problems) and F-35As at the base were grounded for two weeks as the aircraft were checked out. Nothing definitive could be found and training flights were resumed but with altitude restrictions. Still nothing conclusive but a new set of safety checks was developed that could catch the problem before it occurred again.

There has been a lot of this sort of thing in the last fifteen years with several different types of aircraft developing mysterious problems with hypoxia. For example earlier in 2107 there were hypoxia problems with U.S. Navy aircraft and on April 5th the navy grounded all its T-45C jet trainers for three days to interview pilots and instructors about air supply problems. It turned out the problem was real and the trainers remained grounded until April 17th. But the aircraft resumed flying only after some changes were made to the pilot oxygen system to bypass the OBOG (OnBoard Oxygen Generating). This limited how high the aircraft could fly. The T-45s will fly at lower altitudes until the navy can determine what was wrong with the OBOG or something else in the pilot air supply system. This restriction will prevent the T-45s from performing about a quarter of the training they normally provide but it averted a threatened pilot strike over the issue. The T-45 problems have yet to be diagnosed, understood and fixed.

While the F-35 is the most modern jet fighting in American service the T-45 is a nine ton, single engine two seat aircraft that has been used since early 1990s to train pilots who will eventually fly jet fighters. The T-45 can also be armed and used for ground attack. In this mode they can carry up to three tons of weapons, including a pod with a 30mm autocannon. In comparison the F-35A is a 31 ton single engine stealth fighter-bomber that began entering service in August 2016.

OBOG problems are not new, nor are problems in general with pilot air/oxygen systems. The U.S. Navy had a similar (to the T-45) problem with its F-18s. There were 64 incidents in 2002-9, resulting in two dead pilots. The navy found that the main problem was carbon monoxide getting sucked into the aircraft air system. The navy modified the oxygen system, eliminating most of the problems. Similar failures continued with the major difficulty finding out exactly what was going on so it could be fixed.

After 2009 the air force looked into the navy experience, to see if there was anything similar going on with the newly introduced F-22 stealth fighters. The air force looked into a lot of potential causes, without a lot of success. In 2012 the air force admitted that its rate of "pilot air supply" incidents for its 187 F-22 fighters has reached the rate of 26 per 100,000 flight hours. For most other aircraft, the rate is closer to 2-3 incidents per 100,000 hours.

All aircraft have occasional problems with their air supply but nothing like what the F-22 was going through. The air force woes began when it appeared that the F-22 might be having a problem with its OBOG system. OBOGs have been around since the 1950s but its only since the 1980s in the last two decades that OBOGs have become compact, cheap, and reliable enough to replace the older compressed gases or LOX (liquid oxygen) as a source of breathable air for high flying aircrew. Each aircraft, especially the F-22 and F-35, gets an OBOG tweaked for space, weight, or other conditions specific to that warplane design. It's this custom design that was also closely studied, to find out how the toxins got in. One recent solution is to constantly monitor the air quality and enable the OBOG to adjust its operation to cope or, failing that, alert the pilot. Another common feature of modern aircraft (and many other vehicles) is a performance monitor that notes and records certain performance data. Sort of a black box, but with a longer memory. These devices have been useful in diagnosing and fixing the hypoxia problems.

One problem is that aircraft have been staying in the air longer (because of in-flight refueling) and carrying enough compressed oxygen has become untenable, often making OBOGs mandatory to deal with the problem. Since the 1990s, most American military aircraft have replaced older oxygen systems with OBOGs. Most Western nations, and Russia, have followed, at least with their latest model aircraft. Most OBOG systems work by using a chemical reaction to remove carbon dioxide from the air taken in to the OBOG and then sending out air with the proper amount of oxygen to the aircrew. The F-22, F-35. F-15E and many other modern aircraft were designed to fly long distances and spend long periods of time in the air. Thus an OBOG is mandatory. But OBOGs proved to be the culprit only part of the time and it has become quite a puzzle to unscramble these air supply problems that keep showing up.
In August 2017 the Israeli Defense Ministry suspended the export arrangement an Israeli UAV manufacturer (Aeronautics) had with a firm in Azerbaijan that built the Orbiter UAV there under license and sold it for export as well. This was the result of a complaint by Armenia that two of their soldiers were wounded when a UAV, coming across the border from Azerbaijan, fell near the soldiers and exploded. It didnt take long to determine that the UAV was an Israeli designed Orbiter 2.

At first Azerbaijan denied it was theirs but Israel, wanting to maintain good relations with Armenia (and their major ally, Russia) insisted on investigating further and found out that the incident was the result of a demonstration of a new model of the Orbiter 2 (the Orbiter 1K) that was introduced in 2015. The 1K was simply an Orbiter 2 equipped to carry a 2 two kg (4.4 pound) explosive charge and, on command from the operator, dive on a target and explode. One of the Azeri officers attending the demonstration asked that the Orbiter 1K actually hit a specific target and detonate. That was OK but as the demo was near the Armenian border the Azeri officer insisted that the test be performed on a target across the border in Armenia. There was some resistance to that but eventually a company rep took the controls and did it. It is still unclear if the Orbiter operators or the Azeri officers involved knew that Armenian soldiers would be near the explosion. There are still a lot of conflicting versions about what went on and the Israeli government felt suspending the export license (which could cost Aeronautics over $20 million) might help clear the air.

Azerbaijan is one of the few Moslem majority countries that is a regular customer for Israeli military equipment. Since 1992 Azerbaijan has bought about $5 billion dollars worth of Israeli weapons and military equipment. This includes a license to build (for internal use and export) the Israeli Orbiter UAV.

Most of the weapons Azerbaijan was buying from Israel and elsewhere was to deal with a decades old territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia that flared into open warfare in the 1990s when Armenia and Azerbaijan became independent countries. Russia has helped broker a ceasefire and is promoting settlement talks. Russia also builds Israeli UAVs under license and also wants this matter settled.

The Israeli Orbiter 2 UAV weighs 9.5 kg (21 pounds) and its battery powered motor can keep it in the air for about three hours per sortie. Maximum altitude is 3,200 meters and top speed is 120 kilometers an hour. Since the UAV can't operate more than 80 kilometers from the controller top speed is rarely needed. The Orbiter is launched by a catapult. It lands via parachute, is waterproof and floats. Orbiters are sold as systems. One of the three UAVs in each Orbiter system can be launched while the other has its battery replaced and the parachute repacked and be ready for another sortie in under ten minutes. The day/night vidcam transmits video back to the handheld controller, where the images can be stored. The Orbiter can also be used at sea, and Israel uses them on some of its patrol boats. One of the Orbiter export customers is Azerbaijan, which formed a joint venture to build Orbiter 2 in Azerbaijan. Because Azerbaijan is a Moslem country Orbiter 2 can then be sold to other Moslem nations (which normally will not buy anything from Israel).

Israel is still shipping high-tech gear to Azerbaijan. In 2016 Israel delivered the land based version of its new Barak 8 SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) system to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan had ordered 12 launchers, 75 Barak 8 missiles and four search radars in 2013. The Barak 8 is a 275 kg (605 pound) missile with a 60 kg (132 pound) warhead and a range of 70 kilometers. The warhead has its own seeker that can find the target despite most countermeasures. The missiles are mounted in a three ton, eight cell container (which requires little maintenance), and are launched straight up. The compact (for easy installation on a ship) fire control module weighs under two tons. The land version has everything mounted in 66 cross-country trucks.
"The world is at a crossroads. Where do we go from here?... The world expects China and the U.S. to properly handle their relationship," Xi pointed out. | Read More
Car Review: 2018 Toyota Camry Preview - Next Gen Of America's Favorite Sedan By Steve Purdy

2018 TOYOTA CAMRY PREVIEW

The Next Generation of Americas Favorite Sedan

Preview by Steve Purdy

The Auto Channel

Michigan Bureau

You want to buy American when you can. Right? Support American workers. Yes? Get a dependable, good looking, efficient car to haul you and your friends around? For sure!

What is the most American sedan? What brand and model can check all the boxes?

Toyota can. The long-running, popular Camry is designed, engineered and built in the U.S. (Georgetown, KY) with more (according to Toyota) domestic content than any other car and it comes with Toyotas legendary quality. Now, with this new version, it has enough style and panache, and even increased power, to please just about any buyer.

Toyota hosted a gaggle of journalists in Oregon this week to get the story first hand from executives and engineers, have a look at, and a first drive in, the newest iteration of the ubiquitous Camry.

(Disclaimer: Sorry  driving impressions, mileage numbers and price will have to wait a few weeks because Toyota has imposed an embargo on these details until later in the month, after all our colleagues have had a equal chance to evaluate the car. Watch this space for an updated story soon.)

In the meantime, here is what we found and can report:

This eighth generation of the venerable Camry is on an all-new platform called Toyota New Global Architecture  30% more rigid, with new dimensions, new suspension geometry and upgrades in just about all systems. Lighter weight materials, including an aluminum hood and thinner steel elsewhere in the body, along with the use of more high-strength steel in the substructure contribute to lighter weight and a more lithe and agile character. Its also just a smidge lower, wider and longer. The engineers insist one of their goals was to give it a lower center of gravity.

At first blush it looks like a logical evolution of the style and design that has been getting more bold and brash with the last two updates of this mainstream, best-selling sedan. A lower hood, narrower A-pillars, brash front fascia and attention to aerodynamic tricks both freshens its looks from the front and improves its ability to slide through the air. Deeper, more detailed body sculpting along the side and around the back maintain the sportier theme. The top trim levels also include dual exhaust with quad, chrome exhaust tips  something we did not expect from Camry. Theyve added some flashy new colors, including a two-tone scheme, and they even offer an interior trimmed in red leather.

The new Camrys stunning new interior design got the most raves at the launch event. Aesthetics and functionality come together beautifully with artful intersecting curves. Toyota designers call it a waterfall design. Varied upscale materials provide the framework for the information and control functions. The larger-than-usual information screen between the speedo and tach were not the most intuitive and are lit a bit too dimly for my old eyes to read. The large multifunction touch screen features the first use of the third generation of Toyotas Entune suite. The center stack is ever so slightly tilted toward the driver for a bit more convenience and the USB, auxiliary and power ports are at the base of the center stack where access we can get at them easily.

Seating is updated front and rear, with the passenger seat now available with as many power settings as the drivers seat. More attention to interior quietness went into the car, but I cant offer my assessment of that until the above-referenced embargo is lifted. That would fall under driving impressions after all. Trunk capacity is improved for the hybrid Camry by moving the batteries from under the trunk to under the rear seat. I could not discern any less room in the back seat though. Theyve also repositioned the battery pack from under the trunk to under the rear set leaving more room for cargo.

The three powertrains  a 4-cylinder, V6 and hybrid  all get updated with more sophistication and bump-up in power along with a new 8-speed, direct shift automatic transmission for the 4- and 6-cylinder models. Unlike other manufacturers Toyota decided not to go the turbocharging route with smaller displacements to achieve better performance and mileage, rather theyve increased horsepower and torque in part by way of a new dual injection, that is, direct augmented with port injection. The 2.5-liter four-cylinder now boasts 206 horsepower and 186 pound-feet of torque while the 3.5-liter V6 now makes 301 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque. Well offer our impressions of the feel of these updated engines and fuel economy numbers when the embargo is lifted.







The hybrid gets an updated CVT that pretends to shift like a conventional 6-speed automatic and even has sort of a manual mode.

In terms of safety, all Camrys come fully equipped with Toyotas Safety Sense P which bundles high-tech features like Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Lane Departure Alert with Steering assist and Automatic High Beams. All models also get Toyotas Star Safety System  that includes stability control, traction control, EBD, brake assist, backup camera, ABS and Smart Stop Technology . Select models also get Blind Spot Monitor and Cross Traffic Alert.

Camry buyers will have a plethora of trim level choices when they become available at dealers by late July. Youll have five to chose from with four-cylinder power, two with the V6 and three Hybrid choices. Prices will be posted later as well.

The market seems to be moving rapidly toward crossovers at the cost of sedan sales but the product planners at Toyota see this as an opportunity. As they update the most popular sedan in America they think they can hold on to their big piece of that still very large market. Like all segments of the auto market this one is intensely competitively. If a manufacturer does not regularly update its vehicles market share can wane very quickly.

My money is on Toyota to continue leading this market.

 Steve Purdy, Shunpiker Productions, All Rights Reserved

The Most In-Depth Independent Toyota Vehicle Consumer Research - Anywhere!
Nutson's Weekly Auto News Nuggets - September 11-17, 2017; No More ICE; Frankfurt; Borgward Return; Autonomous Rules; ET; Genesis G70







AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO, September 17, 2017 Every Sunday Larry Nutson, Senior Editor and Chicago Car Guy along with fellow senior editors Steve Purdy and Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, give you TACH's "take" on this past week's automotive news in easy to "catch up" news nuggets. For More search the past 25 year's millions of (Indexed By Google) pages of automotive news, automotive stories, articles, reviews, archived news residing in The Auto Channel Automotive News Library..

Hey TV viewers, you can now enjoy The Auto Channel TV Network "Free and Clear" on WHDT Channel 3 in Boston and on many local cable systems. All South Florida auto fans can continue to watch The Auto Channel TV Network on WHDT-TV Channel 9 in West Palm Beach as well as cable channel's 17 and 438, channel 9 Miami. WHDN launched its full schedule (including The Auto Channel)of broadcasting in the Naples-Fort Myers market on digital PSIP channel 9.1 channel, look for us On Roku, Hulu and on TUNAVISION.

Nutson's Nuggets: September 17, 2017

* China is joining France and Britain in announcing plans to end sales of gasoline and diesel cars. The reports gave no possible target date, but Beijing is stepping up pressure on automakers to accelerate development of electrics. China is the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold, giving any policy changes outsize importance for the global industry. In other words, what China does will influence cars in the U.S.

* Tesla drivers in Florida got an unexpected assist as they scrambled to evade Hurricane Irma. Owners of certain Model S sedans and Model X SUVs noticed that the battery capacity of their electric cars had increased, giving them as much as 40 extra miles of range to outrun the deluge. Range anxiety  the fear that an electric vehicle will run out of charge before reaching its destination  can be magnified in emergency situations. Tesla confirmed that it had remotely enabled a free software upgrade for vehicles in the path of the storm, motivated by one customer who requested the change while making evacuation plans. The free upgrade was only for a week, though.

* The 67th edition of IAA Cars, better known as the Frankfurt Motor Show, is in full swing with the a line-up of debuts charged with the latest electrified vehicles. The biennial show is the start to the 2017-18 auto show season. Electrified vehicles were the stars of this year's show with the maligned diesel vehicles hardly to be found.

* The U.S. DoT published voluntary guidelines for testing autonomous vehicles as part of a broader government effort to encourage automakers development of self-driving technology. The proposal establishes a voluntary framework of safety guidelines for companies to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The approach also aims to clarify the role that state governments play in regulating the technology, including the enforcement of traffic laws and vehicle insurance requirements. Transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, said the regulations allow automakers to submit a voluntary self-assessment determining which vehicles are ready for public road testing. State laws and regulation continue to apply.

* NACSonline reported that in the wake of two historic back-to-back hurricanes that curtailed fuel supply and increased demand, consumers say that they are feeling less optimistic about the state of the economy, according to the latest NACS Consumer Fuels Survey. Gas prices rose 30 cents over the 30-day period to $2.59 (at the time of the survey).

* A federal investigation is seeking upwards of 60 recalled Volkswagen diesel vehicles that were stolen from the parking lot of the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. The cars, which had been bought back by VW, had fake titles that allowed the vehicles to cross state lines, according to news reports.

* The semifinalists for the 2018 North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year Awards have been selected. The list has been whittled down to 29 eligible vehicles. Alfa Romeo is up for two awards, and no Detroit-3 cars made the cut, a first for NACTOY. Tesla decided not to participate with its Model 3 and only three vehicles qualified for the truck award, two of which are truck-based full size utilities.

* In partnership with Toyota and Honda, Shell Oil Co. will soon be installing seven new hydrogen refueling stations in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento areas. The California Energy Commission is paying the tab with a grant to Shell of $16 million for the project to support a tiny number of fuel-cell vehicles. Shell is an early supporter of hydrogen infrastructure. Toyota, Honda and also Hyundai each have one model available for purchase by the public using hydrogen fuel.

* Hyundais luxury brand, Genesis, announced this week in South Korea a new entry-level sedan destined to be sold in the U.S. as early as next spring. Designed to compete head-to-head with BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4 the new Genesis G70 will be loaded with luxury, performance and technology features. No word on prices yet but we expect it will come in at, or a wisp below, the competition..

* The first commercial full-electric delivery trucks are hitting the road in New York. Daimler Trucks are leasing a total of eleven of these eCanter trucks - three to UPS and a total of eight to four different non-profits in the area. This appears to be just a toe-in-the-water as they expect to have a new level of the electric power technology within about two years, including systems robust enough to power even larger trucks.

* The long-dormant German Borgward brand came back to life a couple years ago when its new Chinese owner began producing a small crossover. In an effort to show they are a real contender they introduced a new Isabella at the recent Geneva Motor Show. The Borgward Isabella was a remarkably stylish small sedan produced from 1955 to the early 1960s but the company went belly-up in 1962. The new Isabella is a high-style, full-electric, four-door coupe. No promises of production yet.

* By reopening the rule-making process for fuel-economy standards the Trump administration signalled its willingness to consider rolling them back. That brought strong resistance and law suits from environmentalists and some states. Five states joined in existing lawsuits this week against the federal governments easing of penalties for automakers not meeingt standards. The suit is in the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York. Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nor the Transportation Department have made official statements.

* NASCAR driver Danika Patrick won't return to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018. Citing a new sponsorship arrangement, speculators are wondering if the 35-year old Patrick may be retiring from NASCAR. Stay tuned.
A 31-year-old Fairfield man allegedly involved with a drug trafficking organization that brings meth from Solano County into Napa County was arrested on Thursday, according to the Napa Special Investigations Bureau.

Officials said that NSIB has been looking into the man, identified as Isidro Llamas-Romero, for more than 10 years, but he has always escaped capture by moving, changing aliases, vehicles and phone numbers.

Llamas-Romero was finally arrested after detectives serving a search warrant on his home in Fairfield located and seized about 2,000 doses of meth and cocaine as well as evidence of drug sales and more than $29,000 in cash, officials said.

Llamas-Romero was arrested and booked at the Solano County jail on suspicion of being in possession of meth and cocaine for sale. He is being held on $1 million bail.
It's way too early to think about the 2020 presidential primaries -- too early for normal people, that is. But that hasn't stopped politicians in both parties from doing just that. And yes, that includes Republicans, many of whom are already pondering who might challenge President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination three years from now.

"I don't see how we can avoid it," Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman, told me recently. "It's pretty clear someone's going to do it."

"I think he's inviting one," Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, one of Trump's GOP critics, said last month.

"There should and will be a challenge," agreed William Kristol, editor at large of the conservative Weekly Standard. Kristol, another Trump scourge, has launched a project he jokingly calls the Committee Not to Renominate the President.

Like so much else about the Trump presidency, this is unusual.

Presidents have faced challenges within their parties before, of course. It's happened four times since 1968, when Eugene McCarthy ran against Lyndon B. Johnson. But it's unusual for intra-party feuding to begin this early, eight months into a newly elected president's first term.

In Trump's case, the causes are easy to find.

The GOP is deeply divided, and the president hasn't done much to heal the breach. Quite the contrary. He has attacked his party's leaders in Congress. He has strayed repeatedly from GOP orthodoxy, most recently when he made a quick deal over the debt ceiling with Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. He still tweets about Republicans as if he weren't one of them -- which, until recently, he wasn't.

If Trump's 2016 campaign was a hostile takeover, it's a takeover that remains incomplete, especially in the party's political class. And by continuing to run against the establishment, Trump is increasing the chances that one of its members will run against him.

Besides, the president is unpopular. His approval rating in the Gallup poll has settled at a dismal 37 percent. That puts him in the zone of electoral vulnerability that drew challenges to Presidents Ford in 1976, Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992.

One more factor: the slim possibility that Trump might not run again, whether because of the investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia or, less likely, because he's tired of the job. That's been enough to persuade some potential candidates to visit Iowa and New Hampshire, just in case.

Who might run?

At the very least, there's likely to be a conscience candidate, a Never Trumper who can't abide the thought of the president sailing to renomination without a fight. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska might fit that bill.

There's a still-vocal runner-up from 2016: Ohio Gov. John Kasich. He says he won't run as a third-party independent, but he won't rule out entering the Republican race.

There could be a grudge candidate, someone savaged by Trump who might enjoy afflicting him in return. That could describe Flake or Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

And, circling nearby, there's a long list of more conventional candidates ready to swoop in if the incumbent falters: Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton -- even, if the president should drop out, Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump's campaign organization, which never stopped for a rest after last year's election, appears to take all this seriously. The president has already held rallies and fundraising events in swing states; that's unusual, too.

Last month, his campaign pollster, Tony Fabrizio, released survey results designed to show, in his words, Trump "crushing a hypothetical GOP field." Actually, it showed the president winning a not-very-intimidating 50 percent of Republican votes, including 54 percent of Republicans who said they would definitely show up for the primaries. Cruz was in second place, with 14 percent; Kasich was third, with 10 percent.

Despite that less-than-impressive 50 percent, however, Fabrizio was right that Trump is likely to defeat any combination of rivals.

The history of recent primary challenges is remarkably consistent: The incumbent wins the nomination. That's what happened when Ronald Reagan challenged Ford in 1976, when Edward M. Kennedy challenged Carter in 1980, and when Patrick Buchanan challenged Bush in 1992.

That doesn't mean a primary challenge has no consequences. In each of those three campaigns, the primary battle divided the party, sapped the incumbent's popularity -- and helped the other party's nominee win the general election in November. The most likely effect of a primary challenge, if one happens, is a boost for Trump's eventual Democratic opponent.

But the long odds may not deter potential challengers. We sometimes forget that politicians run for president for many reasons -- reasons that often have little to do with the odds of success. Some run because they think they can win. Others run on sheer passion, to promote favorite ideas, to change their party's direction, or because they sense they're running out of time.

"I've got a message," Kasich said last month. "We all get old and we all leave this planet. So we're going to be judged in many ways by what we did when we were here."
Watertown landowners will be involved in new Corps flood-control study

After 30 years, a new flood control feasibility study will include the input of landowners and supply a multitude of options other than a dry dam.
Emmy voters are a frustratingly predictable bunch.

How best to explain that Julia Louis-Dreyfus  as brilliant a comedic actor as she is  remains the leading contender for a fifth straight Emmy Award for comedy for Veep this Sunday?

But then again, with nearly 500 new dramas out annually in the era of peak TV, can you blame voters for failing to execute due diligence? Unlike TV critics, Emmy voters have lives: luncheons to attend, pilots to film, not to mention a likely punishing hot yoga schedule.

But this year, the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards (CTV at 8 p.m.), hosted by talk show host Stephen Colbert, have an uncharacteristic dose of incalculability. It helps that, not unlike the top seeds dropping out of the recent U.S. Open, Game of Thrones, the most Emmy-awarded show on TV, is out of the running because it aired outside the voter window.

That leaves the drama field the most open it has been in decades, with the majority of the seven nominees new to TV. The last time this happened was, astonishingly, back in 1961.

My pick would be the Toronto-shot The Handmaids Tale, a dystopian drama based on the Margaret Atwood novel that echoes the seismic cultural shift to the right in the United States.

It oozes the best of prestige television and Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) has already picked up an Outstanding Guest Actress trophy. Elisabeth Moss, sublime as the handmaid Offred, would be the sensible choice for Best Actress.

But this may be too dark for Emmy voters, who may be seeking escapism, not political allegory.

If so, there is the weepy family drama This Is Us. The show has been a monster hit for NBC and it is, remarkably, the first nomination for a network broadcaster for drama since The Good Wife in 2011. This is Nicholas Sparks-worthy fare on steroids: clever, slick, contrived and unashamedly manipulative. It is the life-affirming tonic in the era of a divisive president.

But then of course, there is Westworld. HBO has been looking for a franchise to replace GoT and this has been an extraordinary runner-up. The remake of the film written and directed by Michael Crichton about artificial intelligence run amok in a Western-themed Disneyland, starring Anthony Hopkins, is darkly satisfying. It is Elon Musks worst nightmare.

Also in the fantasy field is Stranger Things, an homage to early Steven Spielberg movies such as E.T. and the novels of Stephen King. The show is entertaining but trite. It may skew too young for some Emmy voters.

Also new to the drama category is Netflixs The Crown, a look at the early life of Queen Elizabeth II. The period drama is traditional, consequential television, but I think too safe and conventional a bet in these more adventurous times.

The two incumbent nominees are House of Cards, which is nominated for a fifth consecutive season, and Better Call Saul, the spinoff of Breaking Bad with its third consecutive nomination. Both are deserving candidates, although neither has been distinguished with the top drama prize.

The latest season of House of Cards, in particular, which follows the outlandish manoeuvrings of a seemingly sociopathic president, seems to have faded into irrelevance during the Trump era. Vince Gilligan meanwhile, continues to astound with self-assured and exquisitely detailed work in Better Call Saul, making the bleak strip-mall landscape of Albuquerque, New Mexico, seem as fascinating as anything in Westeros.

So the race is on and its anybodys guess at this point, which is a good thing.

But what about the Canadians? Apart from the absence of Tatiana Maslany, who won Best Actress in a Drama for her role as multiple clones in Toronto-shot Orphan Black last year, Canadians are still very much present at this years Emmys. (The final season of Orphan Black falls outside the voting window.)

Full FrontalWith Samantha Bee is up for Best Variety Talk Show and the Canadian host has already picked up a writing Emmy for her special Not The White House Correspondents Dinner.

My pick for Best Limited Series is the unsettling, but lusciously shot HBO drama Big Little Lies. Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, Wild) also has a directing nomination for his work, which features a killer cast including Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoe Kravitz.

The limited series race has seen an embarrassment of A-list star riches. This was a category once known as miniseries that in some earlier years could barely field enough contenders. But now it seems that TV is where independent film makers go  if theyre not making Fast and Furious10.

Apart from Big Little Lies you have Feud: Bette and Joan, starring Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford; Genius, directed by Ron Howard and starring Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein; Fargo Season 3, starring Ewan McGregor, and The Night Of with John Turturro.

Its strange to think that only last year Game of Thrones made Emmy history by becoming the most awarded show ever at 38, beating the sitcom Frasier by one Emmy.

The bar has obviously moved. But even in this new golden era, it seems odd that the work of Kelsey Grammer was once seen as a pinnacle of critical television. TV viewers have truly never had it so good.

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The night of Linda Hapaks first celebrity smooch, the streets bordering the now-defunct University Theatre were buzzing with autograph seekers and paparazzi kept at bay by police.

Actress Diane Keaton had flown in, The Godfather script doctor Robert Towne was on hand and Jack Nicholson was quietly plotting to heckle his fellow stars from the audience for comic effect that night  but all eyes were on Warren Beatty. The actor, still riding the wave of fame hed found with Bonnie and Clyde, Heaven Can Wait and Reds, was being feted in what would become the Toronto International Film Festivals final tribute night spotlighting the accomplishments of a film star.

Hapak had spent that September 1984 evening seating guests and working with sponsors but, as it wound to a close, she was in for a surprise.

Warren Beatty came up and kissed me on the cheek, Hapak, now a retired LCBO communications manager, recalled. It was so unexpected.

The peck, meant as a thank you for her help, is among the dozens of memories she has from her ongoing, 35-year reign as TIFFs longest-serving volunteer. Shes trailed by Vera Pordage, a 20-year veteran of the festivals volunteer program. Between the two women, theyve held plenty of doors, seated a dizzying number of guests, scanned astronomical numbers of tickets and climbed an exhausting number of stairs at Scotiabank Theatre when escalators were down.

Hapaks love affair with volunteering for the festival began in the early 80s when she was roped into assisting by a friend who had scored a seat on TIFFs board of directors and recruited Hapak to help at galas because of her marketing background.

There were only 10 of us volunteers that year, but I loved it so much I came back every year, she said. I joke that I will get to 80 and will still be volunteering with a walker.

For Pordage, now a retired educator, it was an ad in the Star that convinced her to first lend a hand in 1996. By the next year, her two sisters were tagging along.

Now, its an annual tradition the siblings start planning for long before the red carpets have been rolled out. In between volunteer shifts, they squeeze in screenings themselves, sometimes up to five a day.

We started off seeing four (films per festival). Now, we see 40, said Pordage. We are getting too old to see so many, though. We will be cutting back.

But they wont be nixing their tradition of rating every film they see and averaging out the rankings to declare one their favourite film of the festival. Meticulously tallied charts Pordage showed off to the Star reveal that their top pick last year was Manchester by the Sea, later nominated for six Oscars.

Among Hapaks fave festival flicks from others years are L.A. Confidential and American Beauty. She was even on hand when The Princess Bride premiered in 1987 and the festival had to have a gigantic chair custom-made just for Andre the Giant to attend.

When Hapak and Pordage met with the Star at the TIFF Bell Lightboxs members lounge recently they brought bags of mementos, including decades of TIFF program books and dozens of volunteer T-shirts. As they rifled through the aging souvenirs, they noted how much the event has changed: shedding its Festival of Festivals name, outliving the shuttered Uptown Theatre, cementing its status as an Academy Award launcher and growing to include 3,200 volunteers.

The application window for new volunteers typically opens in spring. Once accepted, volunteers  the helper army spans every ethnicity, profession and age category above 18  get slotted to assist at theatres, at the airport handling guest arrivals, or with departments involved with press, industry and marketing responsibilities. There are mandatory orientation and training sessions for each.

They also get a rundown of rules that range from a dress code (those bright orange T-shirts arent optional) to the minimum number of shifts volunteers must complete. Theyre reminded that seeking autographs, photos or soliciting career opportunities from festival attendees while on shift is strictly forbidden.

Then theyre told about the perks; each of their volunteer shifts will net them a voucher they can exchange for a festival or TIFF Bell Lightbox ticket, plus TIFF has been known to throw a thank-you party and offer volunteer screenings throughout the year to show their appreciation.

And before every festival screening theyre also treated to a rousing round of applause as audiences view the organizations annual volunteer-appreciation ad, which in past years has featured cameos from acclaimed directors Deepa Mehta and Atom Egoyan, and nods to the The Breakfast Club and Back to the Future.

Hapak and Pordage say the real treats, though, are some of the lifelong friends theyve made and the serendipitous moments.

Ive seen folks I havent seen in years because Ive come across them at the festival, said Pordage, who says one of her sisters fondly tells a story about working a ticket line when a patron asked her name. It turns out it was her Grade 6 student from 30 years ago. He recognized her and she couldnt believe it.

Hapak was likewise touched when she met a Long Island couple who vacationed in Toronto every year for the festival. The husband had a disability and used a cane, so Hapak was always sure to scout out an easily accessible seat for him.

They appreciated having someone on the inside and it was really nice to see them return every year, she said.

She also looks forward to the return of George Clooney, who directed Suburbicon, a crime comedy debuting at this years TIFF.

When I was volunteering with the sponsorship team a few years ago, he was a few feet away from me. I didnt get a kiss on the cheek, though, she joked.

Interjected Pordage, Theres always next year.

TIFF Talk

Question they hear too often

Pordage: Wheres the restroom?

Hapak: Do I have time to get a drink before the screening?

Favourite film genre

Pordage: Historical films and anything directed by a woman

Hapak: Dramas and thrillers

Screening survival foods

Pordage: Fruit, water and cereal bars. Popcorn is a good fallback and a lot of coffee.

Hapak: Twizzlers and Glosettes

Most films seen in a year:

Pordage: 40

Hapak: Has lost count

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The father of a six-year-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert this week is staying overnight in an Ontario hospital after he sustained injuries Saturday afternoon following the courts decision to transfer him back to Quebec.

The man appeared in court Saturday morning for his bail hearing, and was awaiting the vehicle expected to transfer him when he became injured.

At 1:30 p.m., the courts had made a decision upon releasing him into the custody of the Surete du Quebec, Quebecs provincial police force. By 3:30 p.m., Sgt. Carolle Dionne, a spokesperson with the Ontario Provincial Police, had been told that the man had been taken to hospital by ambulance.

At this point theres no information as to the type of injuries or the extent of his injuries, said Dionne. She could not say how the injuries were sustained, but said that police were not looking for suspects regarding the injuries.

The new timeline on transferring the father back to Quebec will depend on further medical evaluations to be done Sunday morning.

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Amber alert case ends with Quebec man arrested in Ontario

The six-year-old boy vanished from St-Eustache, Que., on Thursday and his father was apprehended in Ontario nearly 24 hours later. By then, the body of the boys mother had also been discovered in the family home.

Ontario police said they couldnt comment on what charges the man might face in his home province, and police in Quebec did not respond to requests for comment on that matter. The Ontario Provincial Police say an investigation in their province is ongoing.

Quebec provincial police are combing an area around Lachute for a missing 71-year-old man who previously used the car in which the missing child was found safe.

Sgt. Claude Denis says a ground and air search is currently underway for Yvon Lacasse, adding that finding him is considered a top priority for the investigation.

For us, it is an emergency to find Mr. Lacasse, Denis said from the scene of the search.

Police have speculated that the childs father may have dropped Lacasse off somewhere in his flight to eastern Ontario.

The boys father made it from St-Eustache to the town of Griffith, Ont., about 150 kilometres west of Ottawa, before he was arrested.

Police said they used ground and air support and deployed a spike belt to stop the fathers vehicle and that he was arrested after a short foot chase.

Police said the child was found in the vehicle in good physical health and had been placed in care.

The boys mother, who was married to his father, was found dead Thursday night in a home in St-Eustache, north of Montreal.

Police said she had four children, including three before her relationship with the six-year-olds father.

With files from Alexandra Jones

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VANCOUVERValerie Nicholson believes she might be dead if not for Positive Womens Network.

She was addicted to drugs and sleeping in decrepit hotels in Vancouvers Downtown Eastside when she was diagnosed with HIV about 13 years ago. She assumed it was a death sentence.

I decided to shove a needle in my arm because I thought I was going to die anyway, she recalled.

That changed when she learned about Positive Womens Network, British Columbias only community-based organization specifically serving HIV-positive women. She met women living full, healthy lives with HIV and got the support she needed to treat her addiction.

Nicholson, 61, was heartbroken when she heard the group was closing due to a lack of funding. She said she knows women who are now afraid to leave their homes because they have nowhere else to go.

That was the only place that some of them went because of the stigma and discrimination we still face. Its like theyre scared to live, she said through tears. And what about the newly diagnosed women? Where are they turning?

More than 30 per cent of HIV/AIDS organizations lost federal funding last year when the Public Health Agency of Canada realigned its priorities for fighting the disease. The agency cited a shift in focus from treatment support to prevention.

Following an outcry from the 42 groups that were defunded, former Health Minister Jane Philpott announced the organizations would be eligible for transition funding until spring 2018.

But in April this year, the board of directors of Positive Womens Network announced they were closing their doors.

We have made this difficult decision in response to the shifting landscape of HIV and hepatitis C services, especially as these relate to women, as well as the challenge in sustaining long-term funding to run PWNs programs, a letter on the website reads.

The board declined to comment further to The Canadian Press.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said transitional funding was provided to Positive Womens Network to support strategic planning to help keep the organization sustainable, but the group decided to close before undertaking the planning.

It said its new approach to funding HIV groups will be more efficient and have a greater impact on the health of Canadians. A review is underway to identify lessons learned for future proposal solicitations, it added.

Gary Lacasse, executive director of the Canadian AIDS Society, said he was dumbfounded when Positive Womens Network closed. It was one of the few groups of its kind in the country, he said.

In the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the disease was seen as primarily affecting gay men, Lacasse said. Women had to fight for their place at the table for funding and research, and Positive Womens Network was a leader in that fight, he said.

They were trailblazers in developing programs for women that they really collaborated a lot on across Canada, he said.

Lacasses group also lost federal funding, though it has been replaced by transition money for now. He said Ottawa should recognize the role that care groups play in prevention  when people are supported and taking their medication properly, they wont transmit the virus.

The Oak Tree Clinic at BC Womens Hospital provides clinical care to women and children living with HIV/AIDS, but advocates say Positive Womens Network played a key role in offering emotional support.

The Positive Living Society of BC hopes to fill some of the gaps. It offers health and support services that can be accessed by both women and men, as well as a womens-only lounge in its downtown Vancouver building, said board chairperson Neil Self.

The society also has female peer navigators who provide advice and support to newly diagnosed people. Nicholson was previously the societys first Indigenous chairperson and now works as a peer navigator.

Positive Living expects to lose almost $200,000 in federal funding when the transition money runs out in the spring. It also lost $300,000 in funding in 2015 due to provincial government cuts, which Self said also hit Positive Womens Network.

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The public was wiser, sooner, because of Mr. Justice Ian Nordheimers belief in open court decisions.

From ordering the release of search warrant information linked to mayor Rob Ford to naming Ontarios top-billing physicians, Nordheimers involvement in Superior Court rulings has, in key cases, granted the larger community access to information that some parties wanted to remain secret.

Now, Nordheimer, a proponent of the publics right to know, has a seat in the provinces top court.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould has appointed Nordheimer a judge of the Court of Appeal of Ontario. The Toronto native spent 18 years as a judge of Torontos Superior Court of Justice and administrative judge of the Divisional Court.

Toronto defence lawyer Daniel Brown said losing Nordheimer from Superior Court is bittersweet.

There are some judges the defence lawyers are happy to see in the courtroom and there are some judges the Crown attorneys are happy to see in the courtroom, Brown said.

It seemed as though both defence lawyers and Crown attorney (were) happy to see Justice Nordheimer presiding over a case . . . . Hes balanced and fair and you feel like your argument is being heard when you appear before him and you feel like the result is a just one.

In a Department of Justice Canada statement released Friday, Nordheimer was described as rendering numerous precedent-setting judgments in civil and criminal law, grappling with issues at the heart of Canadas constitutional democracy, such as open court principle, the rights of the accused and treatment of lawfully assembled protesters.

Earlier this year, Nordheimer ruled on Canadas practice of indefinite immigration detention in ordering the release of Kashif Ali, whom the government was unable to deport. The West African man, who had not been convicted of a crime, had spent more than seven years in a maximum-security jail.

Nordheimer called the detention unacceptable and ruled that it violated Alis charter rights.

One thing is clear, and that is that Canada cannot purport to hold someone in detention forever, Nordheimer said, reading from his decision in April.

In 2013, Fords troubled life  there was a cellphone video of him smoking crack and allegations of drinking and driving, snorting cocaine, abusing staffers  was under scrutiny. The police were investigating the then-mayor and his friend, Sandro Lisi, in Project Brazen.

Nordheimer presided over key rulings that ordered police documents to be made public. Following legal challenges from media outlets, including the Star, the judge wrote in a late November 2013 ruling:

We are dealing with the actions of the duly elected Mayor of the countrys largest city and the extensive investigation undertaken by the police into those actions, Nordheimer said in his decision. In terms of legal proceedings, it is hard to conceive of a matter that would be of more importance to the public interest, at this particular point in time, than the one that is presented by this case in the context in which is has unfolded.

Investigative reporter Kevin Donovan, who led the Stars coverage of Ford, said Nordheimers decisions over the years have given him the well-deserved reputation for championing the publics access to the court system.

He understands, in my opinion as an observer of some of these cases, the vital role of the media in informing the public about the goings on of the judicial system and the citizens caught up in it, Donovan said.

We saw that at work in the Project Brazen-related search warrant cases.

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A Toronto woman who organized a daytime wine festival for new mothers has found herself caught in a firestorm over the pervasiveness of alcohol at a time when heavy drinking is on the rise among women.

The weekday event, dubbed A Very Mommy Wine Festival, was meant to give new moms a chance to get together and have fun without the judgment and mommy-shaming they consistently face, organizer Alana Kayfetz said.

The 33-year-old, who has a 1-year-old son, argues the backlash is simply another facet of the pressure placed on mothers.

If this was a mans beer fest where babies were welcome, it would be celebrated, it would be revered, Kayfetz said. We would say, Oh thats so cute, look at those dads guzzling beer and holding their babies. No one would question it.

Read more:

Mixing booze, babies not harmless fun

But critics, some of them experts on substance use, have expressed concerns that making alcohol a focus of social events normalizes drinking and increases the risk of binge-drinking, a behaviour that has grown among Canadian women while hitting a plateau among men.

The number of teen girls and women who reported drinking in the last year has not changed since the mid-1990s. But the proportion of teen girls and women who reported heavy drinking has gone from 8.3 per cent in 2001 to 13.2 per cent in 2014, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

In comparison, the proportion of teen boys and men who reported heavy drinking in the last year has stayed around 23 per cent.

When having a drink or two is par for the course at social events, it can be a slippery slope, said Catherine Paradis, a senior research and policy analyst with the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.

The more you drink, the more likely you are to binge-drink, she said. Binge-drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks on one occasion for men, or four for women.

Part of the problem is that alcohol is everywhere, from races that see runners travel between breweries to university information sessions to cooking shows, Paradis said.

And now, you feel isolated and at risk for post-partum depression and anxiety? Join the boozy mom playdate, she said.

Ashley Wettlaufer, a researcher at Torontos Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said events that prominently feature alcohol typically have alcohol brands as sponsors, which is a form of stealth marketing much like product placement in movies and television.

This is another way in which women are being targeted  the brands are aligning themselves with, say, breast cancer charities, for example, Wettlaufer said.

We now see events like beer yoga advertised on social media and of course groups and events like the mommy wine festival, she said, noting that Canadas current regulations on alcohol advertising dont apply to the internet and social media.

Though most research on alcohol ads has focused on youth, it suggests exposure is linked to increased drinking and positive impressions of brands, she said.

This is all concerning because of the health impact of alcohol, especially for women, such as increased risk of several cancers, including breast cancer, Wettlaufer said.

Kayfetz, the organizer, said drinking at the festival was optional, as it is for every other event she organizes through her company, MomsTO.

And the marketing  which includes taglines such as babes on the hips, wine on the lips  is tongue-in-cheek, she said.

I never thought about what were doing in part of the dialogue of the larger marketing phenomenon, whats happening with alcohol being marketed to women, she said.

We tried Mommies that like to drink tea, join us, but nobody came.

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BANGKOKBangladesh, facing an unprecedented influx of ethnic Rohingya, plans to build a vast camp to house about 400,000 refugees who have poured into the country during the past three weeks.

The new settlements will be built within the next 10 days on 2,000 acres in the Coxs Bazar district near Bangladeshs border with Myanmar, officials have said. Officials plan to construct 14,000 shelters, each with the capacity to hold six families, with the help of international aid organizations and the Bangladesh military.

Restrictions will be placed on any inhabitants of the planned settlement, the government said.

Rohingya will not be permitted to leave the camp, even to live with family or friends. They will also be barred from travelling by vehicle in Bangladesh, landlords will be prohibited from renting to them and only those registered as refugees will qualify for official assistance.

Poor and overpopulated, Bangladesh is no haven for the Rohingya, a long-persecuted Muslim minority from Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Camps were already overflowing with at least 400,000 Rohingya before the current exodus was provoked by Rohingya militants attacking Myanmar police posts and an army base on Aug. 25.

The Myanmar military then began a campaign of village torchings, extrajudicial killings and gang rape, according to survivors and international rights groups. Witnesses and rights organizations have also accused the military of using helicopters to unleash a scorched-earth campaign, burning Rohingya villages.

The United Nations described the actions against the Rohingya as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

With a record number of Rohingya fleeing over the border into Bangladesh, arrivals have been forced to line the streets of local villages, begging for food and water, and the current settlements have reached capacity.

Bangladesh stopped designating new refugees in the early 1990s, forcing hundreds of thousands to fend for themselves by cobbling together bits of tarpaulin and bamboo to build makeshift homes. This year, the government even debated a plan to confine all Rohingya refugees on a flood-prone uninhabited island.

Aid groups have expressed worry about hunger and diseases such as cholera spreading through the squalid settlements in Bangladesh. The lack of an adequate sewage system is also compounding fears about public hygiene. The Bangladesh Department of Public Health Engineering said it would construct 500 temporary latrines, while the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has plans for 8,000 more.

On Sept. 12, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh visited a Rohingya camp in Kutupalong, where she hugged refugees and lamented the deaths of women and children.

We want peace; we want good relations with our neighbouring countries, she said. But we cant tolerate and accept any injustice.

Hasina is scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, where she is expected to ask for help from the international community to tackle the situation.

Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmars civilian administration, announced she would skip the annual meeting. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been criticized for defending the Myanmar militarys crackdown and for staying silent about the plight of the Rohingya.

Hasina has urged Myanmar to take back the Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh, much as Myanmar did during some earlier waves of displacement. Much smaller populations of Hindus, Buddhists and animists living in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have also been displaced by the violence.

On Friday, the Bangladesh government lodged a formal complaint with Myanmar about alleged violations of Bangladesh airspace by Myanmar military aircraft and drones. Myanmar dismissed a similar airspace protest this month.

The Bangladesh government has also been holding two Myanmar photographers covering the Rohingya crisis for a German magazine.

The two, Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat, are accused of entering the country under false pretenses, on tourist visas. The Bangladeshi authorities have suggested that the two may be spies, a charge denied by their lawyers and families.

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WASHINGTONEven Insane Clown Posse couldnt quite believe it.

Were the good guys here today, Violent J, one half of the widely loathed face-painting horrorcore rap duo, told the fans, known as Juggalos, who had gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Were actually in the right this time!

The Juggalos, so easy to make fun of, had a case: the feds were the real clowns. And for a surreal Washington afternoon, the colourful people of one of Americas most-mocked subcultures were being seen by powerful people as freedom fighters, weird makeup and all.

Profane freedom fighters, yes. Two of the Juggalos Saturday refrains of choice: You f---ed up and F--- that s---, which they occasionally chanted in the direction of police helicopters, fingers extended skyward.

But this was the exception. They were so cheerful that some of them insisted on hugging journalists. And their favourite chant was a single upbeat word: family.

It was their response to the term the FBI insists describes them: gang.

Were different, said rally host Kevin Gill. Were not dangerous.

Hundreds of Juggalos had assembled for the demonstration and march in protest of a curious six-year-old FBI decision to include the Juggalos in their official national gang list, alongside such indisputably dangerous entities as MS-13.

Read more:

Insane Clown Posse sues U.S. government in defense of its fans

White nationalist leader Richard Spencer says conservatives should protest against Trump  not for him

The gang classification, Juggalos said, had led employers to force them out of jobs, convinced judges to deny them custody of their kids, and subjected them to police harassment for their Insane Clown Posse tattoos. One Virginia woman, Jessica Bonometti, said she had been fired as a probation officer because of Facebook posts about the band.

If horrorcores so scary, she said, why isnt Stephen King in jail?

The classification was based on what the FBI called sporadic, disorganized, individualistic violence by people identifying as Juggalos. At the rally, Juggalos said criminals could be found among Justin Biebers Beliebers, Grateful Dead Deadheads, or any other large group.

I mean, look at the government. Youve got bad people in there, right? said Ryan Lee, 35, a Virginia construction worker, homeowner and father of three. Were here because were not bad. Its all love and all family.

Many Insane Clown Posse fans are low-income white people. They said the Juggalos are a loving band of misfits, supportive and inclusive, mischaracterized by a mainstream society that rejected them even before some of them started painting their faces.

People fear what they dont understand, says Amy Puterbaugh, 36, of Ohio, whose sign read F--- the FBI.

We listen to scary music. People dont know what to think about us. We just love our band, man, said Lees friend Jeff Feken, 33, whose sign read Make America Whoop Again, a reference to the whoop whoop call Juggalos use to say hello and applaud, because

Juggalos will be Juggalos. This was probably the only Washington protest in history at which marchers sprayed cheap pop into the air: Faygo, the Detroit beverage beloved by the Michigan-bred group.

America is a country of weirdos. Celebrate it, Jacob Roman, 18, shouted into a megaphone, a bottle of Faygo in hand.

Violent J and partner Shaggy 2 Dope cast the Juggalos as the defenders of Americans of all kinds, warning that the persecution of Americas most hated people would inevitably lead to the persecution of others. As usual, they railed against racism, homophobia and economic segregation.

And, as usual, they cursed a lot. They also discussed buttholes. And they said the Juggalo activists should be so proud that they should perform sex acts on the governmently-fine lawn.

Lets march, mothaf-----, Violent J said to end the rally, and off the Juggalos went, demanding their rights.

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WASHINGTONA European official said Saturday that the Trump administration has softened its stance on the Paris climate agreement and may not completely withdraw from it after all.

But the White House quickly rebutted the report.

There has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement, said Lindsay Walters, a White House spokesperson. As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favourable to our country.

At a ministerial summit in Montreal, where the United States was an observer, the European Unions top climate official said the Trump administration had backed away from its announcement in June that it was abandoning the 2015 agreement.

The U.S. stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement, said Miguel Arias Canete.

It was not immediately clear how far that statement would go. Trump, when announcing his decision to withdraw, was adamant about the U.S. ignoring goals on limiting greenhouse gas emissions and other elements believed to contribute to global warming.

At the time, it was seen as another abrogation of the United States pre-eminent role as a global leader.

But Trump argued that the deal was bad for U.S. businesses and that it made Washington foot too much of the cost.

Global warming is an issue with renewed political currency after Hurricane Harvey left epic floods in Houston and the Gulf Coast, and Hurricane Irma devastated parts of the Caribbean and left millions in Florida without power. Scientists say warmer waters may have intensified the force of the storms.

Read more about:

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LONDONThe British government lowered the countrys official terrorist threat level Sunday after a second man was arrested in connection with the attack on a London subway train where a bomb partially exploded.

The downgrading of the threat level from critical to severe means authorities no longer believe an attack is imminent. The severe classification, the second highest level of alert, is based on the assessment that an attack is highly likely.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the easing of the alert indicates that police and security services are making good progress in the sprawling investigation into the attack on a subway train that injured 30 people during the rush hour Friday morning.

Rudd cautioned that the investigation was ongoing.

Police announced the second arrest early Sunday, offering the clearest indication yet that authorities do not believe the person who planted the homemade bomb acted alone.

The first person arrested was an 18-year-old man who was taken into custody Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover. The Metropolitan Police force said a 21-year-old man was arrested Saturday shortly before midnight in the west London borough of Hounslow.

The force said the second suspect was being held under the Terrorism Act and questioned at a south London police station Sunday, but has been neither charged nor identified.

Police on Sunday also launched an urgent search of a property in the southwestern suburb of Stanwell that authorities said was linked to the latest arrest.

They continued searching a home in Sunbury, another southwestern London suburb where neighbours were evacuated on Saturday.

During the attack on a stopped train at the Parsons Green station, a bomb hidden in a plastic bucket inside a supermarket freezer bag only partially exploded, sparing the city much worse carnage.

The two arrests indicate police and security services believe the attack was part of a co-ordinated plot, not the act of a single person.

We are still pursing numerous lines of enquiry and at a great pace, Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism co-ordinator Neil Basu said.

Read more:

Britain raises terror alert level to critical after homemade bomb injures 29

Terrorism-related arrests in U.K. hit record high, officials say

Residents of the Sunbury neighbourhood where an armed police search started Saturday were evacuated in a rush and kept away for nearly 10 hours before they were allowed to return to their homes.

The property belongs to an elderly couple who have for years taken in foster children, including refugees from conflict zones in Syria and Iraq.

The pair  Ronald Jones, 88, and his wife, Penelope Jones, 71  have been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II for their work with children in need of a stable home.

A friend, Alison Griffiths, said the Joneses are great pillars of the community who have taken in several hundred children in the last 40 years.

Neighbours said two young men had been staying with them recently. Police have not provided details about the extensive search, which began several hours after an 18-year-old suspect in the subway bombing was arrested at Dovers ferry port.

The Islamic State has said Fridays subway attack was carried out by one of its affiliated units. The improvised explosive device placed on the subway train only partially detonated, limiting the number of injuries.

The National Health Service says all but one of the 30 people treated for injuries has been released from the hospital. One person is still being treated at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which has a special unit for treating burns.

Officials have raised the number of injured from 29 to 30. That includes 19 people who were taken from the explosion site at Parsons Green station to the hospital and 11 who came in for treatment later on their own.

Home Secretary Rudd said the casualties would have been far higher if the bomb had fully detonated. Frustrated by the string of terrorist attacks in recent months, she said officials will have to work harder to make bomb components more difficult to obtain.

Britain has endured four other attacks this year, which have killed a total of 36 people. The other attacks in London  near Parliament, on London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London  used vehicles and knives to kill and wound.

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On Aug. 28, Justin Trudeau promised Canadians a new nation-to-nation relationship with the Indigenous peoples. The prime minister announced his wish to end the Indian Act of 1876, a complex piece of legislation amended many times since but which still gives the federal government enormous powers over many aspects of Status Indians lives.

Torontos Carolyn Bennett, the new Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, is now charged to work for its dismantlement. Toronto has a second direct link to this story. The Act for the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes in the Canadas, the precursor of todays Indian Act, was passed in Toronto a decade before Confederation, 160 years ago.

In May 1857, John A. Macdonald made a major intervention in the Assembly of the Canadas. The attorney general of Canada West presented the Act for the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes. Neither he nor any other cabinet member had consulted any chiefs or Indian councils prior to the debate. On account of massive emigration from the British Isles the First Nations now only numbered 1 per cent of total population of approximately two million. The valued British allies of the War of 1812 no longer merited consultation.

The Parliament Buildings of the Union of the Canadas dominated the waterfront between John and Simcoe Streets, both named after John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canadas first lieutenant-governor, and founder of Fort York in 1793.

In the mid-1850s, Toronto, a city with a population of approximately 50,000, served as the capital of Canada West, now Ontario, and Canada East, todays Quebec. The Canadian capital shifted between Toronto and Quebec City, as neither section of the Union would accept a permanent capital in the other. Only the midway choice of Ottawa resolved the issue in 1865.

The Gradual Civilization Act established the procedures by which Status Indians could become enfranchised or full citizens. The Act reflected the views and value of the dominant society in regard to the place and role of the First Nations. Enfranchisement was presented as an honour. Its purpose was to grant Indians the vote, full status as British subjects, and ownership of a plot of land of 20 hectares (50 acres) of reserve land.

Any Indian adult male judged by a special board of examiners to be educated, free from debt, and of good moral character, could apply. After a successful three-year trial period the applicant gained full ownership of his 50 acres that immediately ceased to be part of the reserve, and could be sold to a non-Indian.

The Canadian legislature quickly passed the bill, in a near unanimous vote. Why is Macdonald singled out for censure for his assimilationist outlook? All the major political leaders supported the legislation: George-Etienne Cartier, his great Conservative Party political ally; as well as his opponents, Liberals George Brown and Antoine Dorion. Assimilation of the First Nations was seen as an instrument of freedom, not of oppression.

The Indigenous response was not long in coming. First Nations leaders denounced the Gradual Civilization Act. They correctly saw it as an attempt to end their land base. It increased control over their lives. A huge protest meeting was held on the Six Nations Territory near Brantford. They rejected Canadas invitation to disappear. By 1876 only a single candidate had been enfranchised.

Neither Macdonald nor any other Canadian politician paid any attention to First Nations protests after the bills passage. As the distinguished Canadian political scientist Peter Russell has written in Canadas Odyssey: A Country Based on Incomplete Conquests (2017): In Canada at this time, there was not an ounce of respect in either the political or judicial branches of government for Indigenous peoples right to govern themselves.

Two years after Confederation, Macdonald cabinet minister Hector Langevin introduced in Parliament the bill that became the new countrys first major piece of legislation relating to Indians. The Gradual Enfranchisement Act built on the 1857 Gradual Civilization Act of the United Province of Canada. It was devised without Indian consent or participation.

The Indian Act of 1876, passed seven years later by the Liberal administration of Alexander Mackenzie, Canadas second prime minister, completed the legislative framework for assimilation. The passage of the Gradual Civilization Act in Toronto in 1857 set Canada on the wrong road of assimilation, or to use the modern description favoured by some today  cultural genocide.

Don Smith, professor emeritus of history, University of Calgary, is currently writing BLIND SPOT, a study of non-Indigenous Canadians perspectives of the First Nations, 1867-2017.

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Catalyst Canada, an advocacy organization dedicated to accelerating progress for women through workplace inclusion in Canada, has found itself in the news in a way that is distracting from its important mandate.

CIBC chief executive Victor Dodig, a man, has been named chair of the organizations advisory board. He replaces Bank of Montreal CEO Bill Downe, another man, in the role.

Its important that powerful men denounce and work to correct the persistent problem of gender disparity in the corporate world and elsewhere. And no doubt Dodig brings talent, valuable experience and a laudable commitment to equity to the position, as his predecessor did.

At the same time, however, its inconceivable that an organization whose mandate is to increase the representation of women in the corporate world could not have found highly competent women to fill this role  twice.

This is kind of ironic. As an organization you might want your leader to be a reflection of your stated mandate, said Trish Hennessy, director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ontario office. Hennessys organization has done much to highlight the continuing gaps in pay between men and women, an issue no doubt exacerbated by the lack of women in executive roles.

Catalyst should lead by example. Its work is profoundly valuable, not only because gender parity is a righteous goal. Nor simply because gender balance in executive roles is bound to have a self-reinforcing effect, inspiring more women to seek out top corporate jobs. But also because its good for business.

As Catalyst points out, companies with three or more women directors in at least four of five years significantly outperformed those with sustained low representation by an astonishing 84 per cent on return on sales, 60 per cent on return on invested capital and 46 per cent on return on equity.

Yet women are still vastly under-represented in the upper echelons of Corporate Canada. At domestic banks, for instance, women are still in the minority when it comes to top executives. Only nine, or 21 per cent, of the 43 named executives at the eight banks are women, according to regulatory disclosures. And those women only earned 10 per cent  not 21 per cent  of the $214 million the executives earned in total.

The numbers are even worse among other TSX-listed companies, as a 2016 report by law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP revealed. Despite a push by the Ontario Securities Commission to improve female representation on corporate boards of directors, nearly half of all publicly traded Ontario companies still have zero women on their boards. Further, women held only about 13 per cent of all board seats, up just 1 per cent from the year before. This, in a country where more women than men graduate from university.

Defending Catalysts decision to appoint another man to chair its advisory board, the organizations Toronto-based executive director Tanya van Biesen said that men, who lead 95 per cent of companies in North America, play a very important role in the advancement of women in the workplace. We need to engage them to advance change, she said. That is no doubt true. But it doesnt mean they have to lead.

As Biesens predecessor, Alex Johnston, said about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau naming a gender parity cabinet, it isnt talented women who are in short supply. Its the demand for them that has been lacking.

Apparently thats true even at Catalyst.

The organization has an important mandate that would be well served through leadership by example.

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Re: Would a lawyer in 2017 advise a woman to report a rape?, Opinion, Sept. 13

Would a lawyer in 2017 advise a woman to report a rape?, Opinion, Sept. 13

Lawyer/activist Linda Silver Dranoff would have a court presume that a man who has sex with a woman is a sexual predator unless proven otherwise.

Dranoff was disappointed that Judge Marvin Zukers enlightened conviction of Mustafa Ururyar for sexual assault on Mandi Gray was overturned on appeal. That case illustrates just how difficult the issue of consent can get.

It would be great if our legal system could consistently convict men who commit sexual assault. But effectively forcing a man to always be ready to prove he had consent to sex is hardly realistic. Even an entirely frivolous claim could create a serious risk of a jail term.

Mirek A. Waraksa, Toronto

Linda Silver Dranoff cannot be considered a credible commentator on the subject of sexual assault in the courts.

Take the case of York University student Mustafa Ururyar. The legal community across Canada was shocked and very concerned about the actions of Judge Marvin Zuker during the trial and after the guilty verdict. It was obvious to an informed observer that the judge was very biased in his acceptance of the plaintiffs version of events and his complete rejection of evidence of the accused.

The Ontario Court of Appeal examined the case and rejected the verdict as incompetent and ordered a new trial.

This is a judgment that Linda Silver Dranoff describes as enlightened. By her own words, she had relegated herself to the irrelevant fringe of this issue.

Robert Grainger, Ottawa

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Stocks are looking to extend the best weekly gain since June Monday as investors hope the October CPI reading, as well as firming consumer strength, will support markets into the final stretch of the year.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial products and services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking segments. The company offers personal deposits, such as checking, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases. It also provides credit cards and payments; real estate secured lending, auto finance, and consumer lending services; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, and advice to retail and institutional clients through direct investing, advice-based, and asset management businesses; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking products and services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to corporations, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,061 branches and 3,381 automated teller machines (ATMs) in Canada, and 1,148 stores and 2,701 ATMs in the United States, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. It has a strategic alliance with Canada Post Corporation. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
CACI International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides expertise and technology to enterprise and mission customers in support of national security missions and government modernization/transformation in the intelligence, defense, and federal civilian sectors. It operates in two segments, Domestic Operations and International Operations. The Domestic Operations segment offers information solutions and services to the U.S. federal government agencies and commercial enterprises in the areas, such as digital solutions, C4ISR, cyber and space, engineering services, enterprise IT, and mission support. The International Operations segment provides a range of IT services, proprietary data, and software products to the commercial and government customers in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and internationally. The company designs, implements, protects, and manages secure enterprise IT solutions. It also offers software-defined, full-spectrum cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-unmanned aircraft system solutions; and platform integration and modernization and sustainment, as well as system engineering, naval architecture, training and simulation, and logistics engineering. In addition, the company provides enterprise cloud solutions for classified and unclassified networks; and intelligence support that ensures continuous advances in collection, analysis, and dissemination to optimize decision-making. CACI International Inc was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
BNL girls thump Mitchell at The Hive

Bedford North Lawrence defeated Mitchell 78-20 at the Hive on Saturday evening. The win moved the Stars to 3-0 on the season.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called upon farmers to launch 'sweet revolution' and 'blue revolution' by taking up honey bee farming and optimising use of waterways for transportation.

The prime minister, while addressing a conference of cooperatives at Amreli in Saurashtra, listed various initiatives which the farmers can take up to increase their income.

"After green and white revolution, now it is time for 'blue revolution' and 'sweet revolution'," Modi said.

"These two revolutions have the potential to transform the lives of people of Saurashtra," he told the conference after inaugurating the new Amreli Agriculture Produce Market Committee building.

Sweet revolution can be an additional source of income for farmers, he said.

The PM also urged various milk cooperative unions of the state to collect honey from farmers and sell it so the agruculturists get good returns.

On 'blue revolution', Modi said Gujarat has the largest coastline in the country and the Saurashtra region can benefit heavily from water-based transport.

He said sending goods through waterways can bring down transportation cost. Modi said goods from Saurashtra could be sent to ports in Visakhapatnam or Kolkata.

Modi also urged farmers to take up growing timber on the boundaries of their fields.

"We have to currently import timber but if our farmers take up timber farming, it will benefit them in the long run," he said.

He also asked farmers to adopt drip irrigation and solar power for drawing underground water, saying it will reduce cost and yield more benefits.

The PM also stressed on cattle rearing and increasing milk productivity in every milch animal.
Okay, so I just saw Maria's probable path. Very scary for an already fragile environment due to Irma. However, at this point no one can say anything for sure. Irma made a few unexpected moves. It is safe to say that hurricanes, although somewhat predictable remain in essence unpredictable.

Dave, I don't think that there is a clear answer to your question. I think it depends on regional policies. We were forced to evacuate some years ago when we were caught in the path of a hurricane.

Hope all works out for you, stay safe.
Best to contact the Russian Embassy there and seek their advice. If you have the train ticket already it may help to show them the purpose of your Russian visa. You will still need a Mongolian and Chinese visa and so you need to find out how to get these in Ukraine. One month seems a short time for getting 3 visas, especially when out of Australia - I assume that you are an Australian citizen.

If you manage to get just one visa, the russian one, you may consider taking the train along its original route to Vladivostok and then fly out of there. If you get a flight via Beijing or Shanghai you can have 144 hours of free transit in Beijing or Shanghai. This visa free transit will apply if either Beijing or Shanghai is your only stopover in China on your way to Australia.If your flight through China has more than one stopover in China, these visa free transits do not apply. See travelchinaguide for these visa-free policies.
You posted in the general forum for all of NY State; repost in the NY City forum to attract more readers.

Times Square is generally not recommended because it is chaotic and can be overwhelming.
Any suggestions on a hotel for our long day of flying into SJO? We will probably be super hungry, so somewhat close to the airport with a great but casual restaurant would be ideal. A shuttle is a plus but not required. We are traveling to Tulemar the following day.

We are probably going to stay at Hampton Inn for the night before our flights home due to proximity, free shuttle and breakfast.

Thanks!
Hi there,

We are a family of 4 with 2 girls aged 7 and 8 and would like to explore this area for 4 nights after flying in from San Jose on the 14th Dec.

I was thinking to go straight to Poas from the airport for 2 nights and check out the volcano and national park and then go to Monteverde for 2 nights before we travel to Samara beach. Arenal also looks nice but maybe the Poas volcano is enough?

Can anyone recommend any lodges in these areas?

Is there somewhere that's a good base to stay 4 nights and travel to the different areas or should we start at Poas and then move around?

Any advice on the best way to explore this area or other areas that are similar and not too far would be much appreciated.
You already apparently know that it is not advisable to drive after dark due to the danger of bicyclists, pedestrians and animals in the roadway. The most difficult part of the drive will likely be finding Hwy 27, the expressway headed to the coast. Watch out for rock in the roadway on this modern high-speed road which has some problems with rock slides. Once you get off and head for Tarcoles you must be extremely careful to watch for others using the roadway as sidewalks are rare in Costa Rica. Thefts, carjacking, roadblocks are not an issue IMO. The GPS could be. If it is set to shortest route, you may find it detours you onto unpaved roads that seem to head to the middle of nowhere. Do yourself a favor and print out directions to your hotel as a backstop to the GPS. We have also had GPS units die on us en route and that can make things tricky after dark.
I am with Scott here, the south will off the best weather Decmeber and January, though the rainy season might be over in Central Vietnam in January, so you could cover one or two places in that region as well.

In the south I would consider HCMC (it is a busy city, but you can see some landmarks there, and there are some lovely parks and waterparks where your daughter can enjoy herself

I would also recommend the Mekong Delta, visiting one of the homestays. Many of the are located in a rather quiet location, so it is easy to walk around there or even cycle without being afraid being run over by a car or scooter. There are also some nice boat trips.

For the water parks, Phu Quoc might be the best bet as there are nice beaches, decent accommoation for a low price and the sea there is calm (might consider Long Beach on the west part of the island). I think this could be a great place.

HCMC - Mekong Delta - PQ can all be done in that order with the only flight required returning to HCMC from PQ.

As I mentioned before, if the rainy season is over you could consider Hoi An, as it is a beautiful little town. Nha Trang is usually a great place for little kids, but January is certainly not beach weather in Central Vietnam.

If you do not mind the mountain you could consider Dalat. it is a very interesting town in the Central Highlands, quite a few parks and buildings like the Crazy House wil entertain your daughter. From here you can do some trips to waterfalls, coffee plantations or using a great cable car. I think it is a great place to keep a young child entertained. And if you decide to explore he area, do an overnight trip to Lak Lake north of Dalat. The scenery on the way is stunning, and the lake is very nice as well, with an option staying in a Long House.

Have a read of these various places. http://www.travelfish.org is a great site to learn more about the places, and have a look at JBRs or blogs. This will help to come up with a nice itinerary for this trip.

Hope this helps.
How do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan?

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Where to eat in NYC - Part 2

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Which Area Should I Stay In?

Is There Cheaper Lodging Outside Manhattan?

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Public restrooms/toilets. Where do you go when you GOTTA GO?

Where are the best areas for shopping?

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Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-16 23:50:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BANJUL, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The State House of the Gambia announced on Saturday that President Adama Barrow will be leaving for his maiden participation in United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Sunday.

"His Excellency Mr. Adama Barrow, President of the Republic of The Gambia, will travel to New York to attend the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly," the statement said.

Barrow is expected to address the General Assembly and participate in the general debates, while members of his delegation attend other high level sessions. President Barrow will also meet with Gambians during his visit, it added.

This will be the first time President Barrow will be participating in the UNGA Summit since coming into office in January after a disputed elections in December, 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 00:25:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SANAA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 Houthi rebel fighters have been killed in a series of airstrikes by Saudi-led coalition over the past 24 hours on Yemen's northwestern border city of Medi, the Yemeni government said in a statement on Saturday.

Ten other rebels were wounded in the airstrikes that concentrated on the rebels' sites in south and southeast of the Red Sea port city, said the statement posted on the government official media outlets.

The airstrikes began early Friday morning and lasted until early Saturday morning, said the statement, citing a military official in the Yemeni military forces backed by the coalition.

Meanwhile, the government said it lost four soldiers and four others injured in ground battles against the rebels in the same area, but said the airstrikes helped the government troops to repel the rebel ground attack.

Medi locates on the southern border of Saudi Arabia. The area has been the scene of almost daily fighting between the rival Yemeni forces since more than two years.

The sea off the city has been under control of the naval coalition, while the Yemeni rival forces have been fighting on the opposite edges of the city over controlling the border strategic region.

The civil war erupted in the Arab poor country in 2015, few months after Houthi rebels stormed and seized control over the capital Sanaa and most of the northern provinces and ousted the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.

The coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, intervened in March 2015 to defeat the rebels and reinstate Hadi into power.

Over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, have been killed, mainly by airstrikes, during the war.
A niqab veiled young woman is surounded by media in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, April 11, 2011. France's ban on full face veils, a first in Europe, went into force, exposing anyone who wears the Muslim niqab or burqa in public to fines of 150 euros and lessons in French citizenship. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

GENEVA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A group of Swiss voters handed in a petition Friday with 106,600 signatures to federal authorities for a referendum on a nationwide ban on veils that cover the face.

A committee handed in the signatures to the Federal Chancellery in Bern for a people's initiative on the issue. The federal authorities and parliament must now decide upon it, the Swiss News Agency reported.

A petition on a people's initiative needs 100,000 signatures for a federal referendum in the country.

"Switzerland is committed to the tradition of freedom. People who are free, women and men, look at each other when they speak to each other," said the committee in a statement.

Opponents of the referendum have accused supporters of the veil ban of undermining basic rights and attacking "liberal values enshrined in the Swiss constitution", Swiss national radio's website Swissinfo reported.

The committee wanting the ban, argued, however that the European Court of Human Rights considers the forced or voluntary covering of the face in public as in conflict with community life in a free society.

For this reason, it said a ban is appropriate, and does not violate freedom of religion or opinion and it is non-discriminatory.

The proposal demands a ban on any face covering.

The initiative, dubbed by the local media, a "burqa ban", provides for exceptions for reasons of health or safety, climatic reasons or in the case of local customs.

The federal authorities will now validate the signatures before the government and parliament will discuss it and set a date.

Three years ago, the Italian-speaking Ticino area became the first of Switzerland's 26 cantons to approve a burka ban.

Several countries and regions in the European Union, including France, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well the Catalonia region of Spain, have outlawed the wearing of face covering in public.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 01:20:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHICAGO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) has seen a choppy week for grains futures, with wheat and soybean prices surging significantly.

During the trading week which ended Sept. 15, the most active corn contract for December delivery fell 2 cents, or 0.56 percent, to 3.5475 U.S. dollars per bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday released its monthly report on domestic and world agricultural supply and demand. The USDA September crop report was deemed as bearish for corn market as it adjusted the U.S. corn yields upwards.

The USDA also pegged U.S. 2017-2018 corn stocks at 2.335 billion bushels compared with its August estimate of 2.27 billion.

In response, corn prices plunged 1.68 percent at the end of that session.

However, many traders believe that the corn market has likely bottomed; a sideways trend is most probable through harvest; and the next major move will hinge upon South American crop establishment.

Wheat futures posted big gains this week in Chicago. The most active wheat contract for December delivery rose 11.25 cents, or 2.57 percent, to 4.49 dollars per bushel.

According to Tuesday's USDA report, the U.S. wheat ending stocks were estimated at 933 million bushels, the same as last month. But the USDA adjusted downwards its world wheat ending stocks to 263.14 million metric tons, with a decrease of 1.5 million metric tons.

The new wheat forecast pushed its futures higher, prompting a 1.69 percent increase during the session.

The world wheat market as a whole seems to have digested Russia's surprisingly massive harvest this year. While Russian prices continue to drift lower at domestic market as inventories build, its export market rallied steadily since early September.

South hemisphere issues persist. Australia is projected to take a big hit in wheat production this year, with early estimates already down 35 percent from last year. Australian wheat exports are expected to fall 23 percent this year.

As for soybeans, it was a week of ups and downs. On Wednesday and Thursday, technical buying boosted the soybean prices and the USDA export data gave additional support.

Private exporters reported more sales of soybeans for delivery to China. The high demand for U.S. soybeans has led to sharp increase in prices. The soybean market got additional support from trade talk that China booked more U.S. soybeans for late October or November, taking advantage of the relatively low prices.

But on Friday, soybeans were hit with a round of end-of-week profit-taking.

The U.S. dollar is still in a bearish trend, despite the fact that it closed this week slightly higher. Many analysts believe that the greenback is trying to forge a bottom. A weak dollar will make the U.S. grains more competitive.
- IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe's brother has fled the country following threatening messages from unknown people

- Akombe says she is fearing for her life following the sustained threats on her

- Other commissioner have also talked of threats to them in form of text messages and phone calls from strangers

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner Roselyn Akombe is living in fear following threats directed at members of her family.

Already, her brother has gone into exile after unknown people threatened him but seen as a plot to send a message to Akombe.

IEBC commissioners are also living in fear especially after the brutal murder of ICT boss Chris Msando just a week to the August 8 General Election.

READ ALSO: Raila attacks French IT firm after it said IEBC servers weren't hacked

IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe. Photo: Naton

According to reports by Daily Nation, commissioners have had to change their routine as one way of keeping out of danger.

According to the newspaper, Akombe is so terrified than she has ever been before, even after visiting war ravaged countries like Iraq and Somalia.

I have been to Somalia, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq and even Libya for security assessment missions but on a personal basis I have never felt this insecure, she told the paper.

READ ALSO: IEBC's Roselyne Akombe reveals she met Raphael Tuju, tells off Jubilee for telling her to quit

However, she is yet to report the matter to the police and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has said he is not aware of threats to Akombe or any other commissioner.

Boinnet insists that the IEBC officials have sufficient security.

IEBC commissioner Roselyn Akombe and Chairman Wafula Chebukati. Photo: Star

Previously, after the August elections, Akombe was in the news after she was detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as she traveled to the US with the government saying she had not been cleared to leave the country.

READ ALSO: IEBC commissioner Roselyne Akombe back in Kenya after airport drama

There had been reports that she was leaving the country and that she was planning to resign form IEBC, claims she dismissed later.

Meg, the fallen Moi Girls heroine

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- NASA wants IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba and other 11 officials to leave before election can be held

- Raila Odinga has said NASA will sensitise all Kenyans on why a fresh presidential election will not be held with the said officers still in office

- NASA believes that some officials at the electoral body were responsible for the bungled August General Election

NASA Presidential candidate Raila Odinga has launched a countrywide campaign to compel some IEBC officials to leave office before fresh election is held.

NASA has insisted that some officials of the electoral body were behind the bungled August 8 General Election.

Speaking in Nairobi on Sunday, September 17, Odinga who was accompanied by his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka and co-principal Musalia Mudavadi, said there would be no election if the said officials will be still in office.

Raila Odinga during a past campaign rally. Photo: NASA

READ ALSO: Explosive Willy Mutunga affidavit exposes splits and infighting in Supreme Court

NASA is targeting two commissioners and several other officials it believes were responsible for a bad election in August.

"IEBC as currently constituted together with the institutions that conducted the August elections cannot conduct a free and fair election in October. It is not in their interest to do so.

And so today, we launch our campaign against any elections held by IEBC as currently constituted. We shall go around the country sensitising people about our case against elections by IEBC," said Odinga.

READ ALSO: Uhuru supporter offers to sell kidney to campaign for Jubilee

Those who NASA does not want at the commission are CEO Ezra Chiloba, Abdi Guliye, Molu Boya, Ezra Chiloba, Marijan Hussein Marijan, Betty Nyabuto, James Muhati, Immaculate Kassait, Praxedes Tororey, Moses Kipkogey, Sidney Namulungu, Nancy Kariuki and Silas Rotich

"Kenyans are coming for you. Salvage what you can and run. There will be no election with you in office," Odinga warned.

READ ALSO: IEBC commissioner Akombe's life in danger as brother goes into exile after threats

Should Chiloba quit?

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- Supreme Court found IEBC had committed electoral irregularities in the August 8 general election

- Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has apologised to Raila Odinga in an opinion article published in The New York Times

- There will be repeat presidential election on October 17 after Kenyatta's reelection was annulled.

Former US secretary of State John Kerry has apologised to NASA leader Raila Odinga and faulted President Kenyatta's assault on Chief Justice David Maraga.

Kerry led a team of Carter Centre election observers during the August 8 general election which together with other European election observers who gave the election a clean bill of health.

But in an opinion piece published in the New York Times, Kerry sought to explain that he had only said that the voting process was free and fair but had not commented on tallying and relaying of results.

READ ALSO: Explosive Willy Mutunga affidavit exposes splits and infighting in Supreme Court

John Kerry. Photo: CNN

Kerry received a backlash on social media when he said that the election was free and fair and asked Odinga to accept the results.

However, Odinga filed a petition in the Supreme Court and the majority of the judges ruled that election was marred with irregularities and voided the presidential election.

"At the time, there had been sporadic outbreaks of violence, followed by reports of excessive use of force by the government. Mr. Odinga argued he wouldnt take his case to court but would instead let it play out in the court of public opinion. It reminded us of the 2007 elections when Mr. Odinga lost to President Mwai Kibaki and mass violence followed," he wrote.

READ ALSO: Raila launches countrywide campaigns to kick out IEBC officials

He explained that Carter Centre observers are still in the country to continue their monitoring work.

Kerry also lashed out at President Uhuru Kenyatta for attacking the CJ and Supreme Court judges.

Kenyatta, reacting on the court's decision, called them crooks.

READ ALSO: For how long shall Raila hold 40 million Kenyans hostage? Ruto

"Initially, President Kenyatta spoke about respecting the courts decision, but sadly, in subsequent statements, he attacked the judges as crooks and vowed to fix the court if re-elected. All Kenyans, especially its political leaders, need to act responsibly and ensure that the new electoral process is peaceful," he said.

Should Chiloba quit?

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- If there are no reforms in the IEBC , there will be no elections on October, Raila Odinga has insisted

- The NASA leader was speaking during the mega rally in Embakasi, Nairobi on Sunday, September 17

- He alleged that the IEBC had already enacted ways with the Jubilee government to rig the next poll yet again

NASA leader Raila Odinga has maintained that there would be no repeat elections on October 17 if the current IEBC officials were still in office.

Raila led his team of NASA principals to a mega rally in Jacaranda grounds in Embakasi, where he dismissed IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba and his team.

According to the NASA leader, Chiloba were colluding with the Jubilee party to rig the polls yet again  something he insisted he would not allow.

NASA leader Raila Odinga speaking at the Jacaranda grounds on Sunday, September 17. PHOTO: Twitter.com/RailaOdinga

READ ALSO: Raila launches countrywide campaigns to kick out IEBC officials

He maintained that majority of Kenyans had their voices subverted in the August 8 polls due to the alleged electoral misconduct.

Even now, we know they (IEBC) are doing the paperwork to steal the elections, He told the charged crowd In Embakasi.

NASA attracted a mammoth crowd at the Jacaranda grounds. PHOTO: Twitter.com/RailaOdinga

READ ALSO: For how long shall Raila hold 40 million Kenyans hostage? Ruto

Raila also explained that he had attempted to iron out issues with the commisions current officials, to no avail.

"As a coalition we have tried to engage the IEBC with a view to having our grave and valid concerns addressed, but to no avail He went on.

Raila claimed his team have 'irreducable minimum requirements which must be met before the repeat elections. PHOTO: Twitter.com/RailaOdinga

READ ALSO: John Kerry apologises to Raila, faults Uhuru attack on Maraga

Raila, also took a swipe at the Jubilee party leaders for claiming NASA had very little numbers in parliament.

"They claim they have the majority in the August House, that majority is fake,"

Prior reports by TUKO.co.ke indicated that NASA Presidential candidate Raila Odinga has launched a countrywide campaign to compel some IEBC officials to leave office before fresh election is held in a months time.

Raila has now termed his teams' grievances as "irreducible minimum conditions" which must be met before the repeat elections.

Have anything to add to this article or suggestions? Share with us on news@tuko.co.ke

The Moi Girls hero who traded her life for other students:

Source: TUKO.co.ke
The Mayor of the nation's capital city says the police are working and it is not for him to assess their performance.

This,. as he called on the entire society to work together on getting rid of any perception that crime is an opportunity.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 02:20:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Ejidiah Wangui

NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Gideon Anyona has always monitored activities in his farm using a smart phone while relaxing in his rented apartment located on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

His 15 acre farm, located in a rural Narok county 150 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, has a resident employee but mobile technology has eased the pressure of monitoring the general status of crops planted there.

The 33-year old banker manages his farm from the house, thanks to technology which has for the last few years transformed Kenya's agriculture sector.

Anyona is among a growing army of farmers changing the East African nation's agriculture sector, giving it a new and trendy face. Millions of youth are now venturing into it.

Armed with a smart phone, laptop and the internet, the new crop of farmers have engineered a revolution that has not only changed the perception towards farming but is also contributing to the country's efforts in achieving food security.

"I am a banker by profession, I work at one of leading banks in Kenya but I plan to quit soon and focus on farming full time. This is my third year in farming and I don't regret venturing into it. Farming is no longer the tiring and unrewarding job it was a few years ago. Technology has made it easier to navigate, I for instance don't have any background in agriculture but I'm doing it very well," Anyona told Xinhua.

He has installed different farming applications into his smart phone and this is where he draws all his farming knowledge from. He is also a member of different farming and marketing groups on social media where young farmers exchange information on matters related to agriculture.

Sometimes called "telephone farmers", the new breed of farmers is making use of a growing number of digital platforms to help them choose and manage their crops more efficiently, and without forsaking their city life.

"The app requires the user to answer a few simple questions about their location and the desired type of crop, then says what seed varieties are available, who sells them, and what properties they have, such as maturation periods and drought tolerance," said Anyona.

For John Nasiali, 27, a postgraduate student at the University of Nairobi, farming has been his sole source of income since he completed his first degree in 2014.

In his case, Nasiali uses WeFarm, a short messaging service (SMS) which allows farmers to ask questions about specific problems on their farms, and receive crowd-sourced answers directly from their peers.

"Since I discovered WeFarm, things have never been the same again. Initially I used to rely on my neighbors for information on the best seeds and pesticides. With WeFarm, you get to know the best seeds to grow in your location among other things. Such facilities have made farming more professional and a career like any other," said Nasiali.

More than 80 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's population is engaged in farming, but there are just 70 agricultural researchers for every million people, according to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Jane Wanjiru, who grows a variety of crops in her farm, is among the networked generation reaping big from technology.

Wanjiru turned to MbeguChoice last year after seeds she planted failed as they were not fit for the location where her farm is.

"I now know about all the new varieties and where they work, I no longer rely on my peers for such information," she noted.
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COXS BAZAR, 17 September 2017  A vaccination campaign against measles, rubella and polio is underway to immunize 150,000 Rohingya children below the age of 15 in 68 refugee settlements close to the border with Myanmar.

The seven-day campaign is led by the Ministry of Health with support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Health by providing the vaccines, syringes and vitamin A capsules. WHO planned the immunization campaign and is managing and monitoring its field implementation to ensure every child is being reached.

More than 410,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived to Bangladesh since August 25, and thousands more are arriving every day. Children account for 60 per cent of all refugees, according to preliminary estimates.

We are happy that we were able to initiate the immunization campaign so quickly to protect the population from a possible measles outbreak said Navaratnasamy Paranietharan, WHO Representative to Bangladesh. We are all working together under the leadership of the Ministry of Health. This is what allowed us to implement this campaign so rapidly.

Measles is a very infectious and dangerous disease during emergencies, especially for children who are already weak and malnourished, said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEFs Representative in Bangladesh. With thousands of children crossing the border every day, vaccination is crucial to prevent the spread of potentially deadly diseases.

With the growing number of Rohingya refugees UNICEF and WHO are scaling up their health and nutrition services as follow:

Assisting the Ministry of Health to strengthen routine immunization programme.

Support the Ministry to expand the number of doctors, nurses, lab technicians to reinforce maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services.

Renovating the delivery and special new-born care units, antenatal and postnatal care corners, and adolescent corners.

Improving water, sanitation and hygiene in health facilities.

Strengthen health coordination for a better response at the field level.

Strengthen early warning system and surveillance for outbreak prone diseases.

Strengthening health data through supporting Health Management Information System.

UNICEF will also be sending additional health and nutrition supplies from Dhaka and from its supply hub in Copenhagen. WHO is awaiting supplies from international procurement.

UNICEF will need at least $US 7.3 million for the next three months, but additional funds will be necessary as the refugee population continues to grow.

###

Note to the editor

For more information please contact:

Jean-Jacques SIMON, Chief Communication UNICEF Bangladesh, Tel: (+88) 01713043478 jsimon@unicef.org

Christophe BOULIERAC UNICEF Spokesperson in Geneva, currently in Bangladesh Tel: (+41) 799639244 cboulierac@unicef.org
As the U.N. investigates at least seven African countries for possible violations of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, many other countries across the continent have, in recent years, deepened their economic ties to the reclusive Asian regime.

From 2000 to 2015, exports from North Korea to Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Zambia increased by an average annual growth rate of 1.58 percent. Imports from Benin, Senegal and Mozambique saw an average annual growth rate of 1.84 percent during the same period. Across Africa, goods traded with North Korea span an array of sectors and amount to more than $100 million annually.

Dismissals, denials

The U.N. sanctions, which were first imposed in 2006, focus on arms embargoes and trade restrictions amid ongoing concerns about the development of North Koreas nuclear weapons program.

The countries under review are accused of receiving military assistance from North Korea. According to the U.N., Pyongyang has conducted military training in Angola, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; attempted to ship military communications equipment to Eritrea; shipped arms to Mozambique; repaired military equipment in Tanzania; and built military-related facilities in Namibia.

Countries accused of violating the sanctions have denied wrongdoing or dismissed the U.N.s legitimacy.

A government spokesperson for Mozambique said the country has not violated U.N. sanctions against North Korea, but it will cooperate with the team investigating alleged wrongdoing.

Richard Karemire, a spokesperson for the Ugandan army, said his country is fully aware of the 2016 U.N. resolution and has terminated military training engagements with North Korea.

In a written response, Eritreas foreign ministry questioned the U.N. panels mandate and authority, without addressing whether they have ties to Pyongyang.

Burkina Fasos foreign minister, Alpha Barry, expressed shock and dismay at the possibility his nation collaborated with North Korea.

We have no trace of any trade with North Korea, Barry said. Any trade that has occurred likely involved intermediaries in Switzerland, according to Barry.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Burkina Faso released a statement urging all businesses in the country to halt trade with North Korea in the light of the current context, so that our country is in sync with the international sanctions against this country and to protect our good relations of cooperation with the United States of America.

Other countries maintain that their relationships were strictly with private entities in North Korea, not the government.

We had a business relationship with North Korean companies and not the government, said Augustine Mahiga, Tanzanias foreign minister.

Extensive deals

However, Pyongyangs economic ties to Africa have been pervasive. Twenty-nine African nations import goods from North Korea, and 19 nations export goods to North Korea, according to 2015 data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a project at MITs Media Lab.

The deals are small from the perspective of the African nations, accounting for a very small percentage of their total imports and exports.

For the top African importer, Burkina Faso, trade with North Korea accounts for $32.8 million, or 1 percent, of annual imports. For the top African exporter, Senegal, North Korean trade accounts for $7.82 million, or 0.29 percent, of annual exports.

Compared to Chinas trade deals with North Korea, which exceeded $5 billion in 2015, the entire African continent imports just $100 million and exports just $17.5 million of goods from North Korea.

But, the tens of millions of dollars a year make a difference across the continent in a range of sectors. From Senegal and Guinea, North Korea imports frozen and fresh fish; from Benin, North Korea imports raw cotton and scrap iron; from South Africa, they import refined petroleum and various other goods. And, from Burkina Faso, North Korea imports vegetable products.

Exported goods from North Korea are similarly diverse. North Korea exports refined petroleum to Burkina Faso and Benin. To Zambia, Mozambique and Egypt, North Korea exports cars, plastics, rubbers and dozens of other goods.

In 2015, the top five African countries imported more than $73 million in goods from North Korea, and exports from the top five African countries to North Korea added up to $15 million.

Ongoing investigation

Trade deals with North Korea are not violations in and of themselves, and many countries have at least minimal economic ties to the regime.

But, the U.N. continues to investigate at least seven African countries, along with Syria, for possible sanctions violations. The update released earlier this month shows the investigation has changed little since February, when an initial report was published.

Unresponsiveness from the continent as a whole has stymied the U.N.s efforts. In February, 43 African countries had not submitted national implementation reports (NIRs) for sanctions related to Resolution 2270. These NIRs detail how member states are carrying out approved sanctions. The number of countries that had not filed reports had decreased to 40 by September.

Resolution 2270 called for U.N. member states to inspect all cargo destined for or originating from North Korea and halt trade of numerous goods, including aviation fuel, coal, iron, iron ore, gold and rare earth minerals.

Increased vigilance is necessary, the U.N. says, because Pyongyang continues to find ways to sidestep sanctions, sometimes by duping member states.

According to the U.N.s latest report, financial institutions in numerous Member States wittingly and unwittingly have provided correspondent banking services to front companies and individuals of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea engaged in prohibited activities.

Bagassi Koura, Anabela Guedes, Athumani Halima Asijo, and Khalid Ali Abubakar contributed to this report.
Scandal-hit Brazilian construction company Odebrecht said on Sunday it has sold its 33 percent stake in a massive subway project in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, but vowed to keep working in the country.

Odebrecht is involved in a sprawling corruption saga and has already paid $3.5 billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland, embroiling politicians across Latin America.

"Present for 30 continuous years, Odebrecht plans to continue contributing to the development of Argentina in an ethical, integral and transparent manner," the construction company said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

In July the Argentine justice system banned Odebrecht from bidding on new projects in the country a period of one year.
Britain eased its terrorist threat level Sunday from "critical" to "severe" after police arrested a second suspect in the bombing of a subway train in London.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the second arrest was an indication that "good progress" was being made int the investigation of Friday's attack that injured 30 people, all but one of whom have now been released from hospitals.

The "severe" threat level indicates British authorities now believe another attack is highly likely, while the "critical" designation meant an attack was seen as imminent.

Police said in they arrested a 21-year-old man in the west London suburb of Hounslow, which is home to London's Heathrow Airport, just before midnight Saturday. He was arrested under Britain's Terrorism Act.

Authorities searched a home in the London suburb of Stanwell, also neighboring Heathrow Airport, that was linked to the second suspect, who was not identified.

Earlier Saturday, an 18-year-old man was arrested in the port area of Dover, a major ferry terminal for travel between Britain and France.

"He was arrested on the suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Neil Basu said at a Saturday news conference.

WATCH: Scotland Yard Official: 212 Witnesses to Attack Identified

Basu said the first arrest was "significant." Following that arrest, police evacuated the Dover port and a suburban London neighborhood as they searched a nearby house.

Residents of the neighborhood say the house that was searched is occupied by an elderly couple  Penelope and Ronald Jones  who have taken care of foster children for decades. Queen Elizabeth honored them for their efforts in 2010.

Basu said a "number of items" were recovered from the Dover terminal, without giving further details.

Basu also said investigators were keeping an "open mind" as to whether more than one person was involved in the attack.

"We are still pursuing numerous lines of inquiry, and at a great pace," Basu said. "Our priorities... are to identify and locate any other suspects," he added.

Islamic State jihadists claimed responsibility for the attack, but Home Secretary Rudd discounted it.

"It is inevitable that so-called Islamic State or Daesh will try to claim responsibility, but we have no evidence to suggest that yet," she told the BBC. Rudd said authorities will try to determine how the suspects may have been radicalized.

Earlier, she had dismissed as "pure speculation" U.S. President Donald Trump's claim, made Friday on Twitter, that a "loser terrorist" behind the attack was known to Scotland Yard.

British Prime Minister Theresa May had already rebuked the U.S. leader for the remark, saying, "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

London Transport authorities said Saturday they have re-opened the Parsons Green station where the bomb on a train partially detonated.

Images of the bomb posted on social media appear to show a bucket on fire that had been placed inside a plastic bag close to a rail car door.

May said the public may see more armed police on the streets and the transport network. The prime minister also said members of the military will begin aiding police, providing security at some sites not accessible to the public.

The blast was the fifth major terrorist attack in Britain this year.

London police said their investigation into Friday's attack is being supported by MI-5, Britain's domestic intelligence agency.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the British capital "will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism."
Following days of talks Egyptian mediators have gotten rival Palestinian factions to agree to reconcile, although Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group is insisting rival Hamas implement the conditions it has agreed to before taking the next step.

Efforts to resolve a decade-old schism between the two main Palestinian factions appears to be coming closer to fruition, after Egyptian mediators succeeded in convincing the Islamist Hamas group, which controls Gaza to agree to dissolve its Gaza Administrative Committee that governs the territory sandwiched between Egypt and Israel.

The agreement calls for new Palestinian elections in Gaza and the West Bank next year.



Despite the new accord, the Fatah group is insisting Hamas start implementing the deal before any further steps are taken.

It remains unclear if Hamas will agree to another key demand and allow European Union monitors and Egyptian border officials to take control of the main Rafah border post between Egypt and Gaza, officially closed since Hamas refused to uphold a 2005 agreement with Israel, necessitating the presence of EU monitors at the border.

Multiple efforts to mediate an agreement between the two parties have failed since they fell out with one another in 2007.

Egyptian Parliament Member Emad Gad told Saudi-owned Al- Arabiya TV that Hamas probably agreed to the deal because it is no longer able to pay its employees.

Qatar, which used to finance a large chunk of Hamas' operating budget, has been under financial pressure since a June 2017 economic boycott by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.

Following days of negotiations in Cairo, Palestinian Authority official Nabil Sha'ath told Arab media Egypt has once again become the top power-broker in Gaza.

He says Egypt controls Gaza's only border with the world, with the exception of crossings into Israel, and that Egypt has taken the role of top negotiator since a recent deal with Hamas regarding the Sinai.

U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said in a tweet Sunday he welcomes "the recent statement by Hamas announcing the dissolving of [its] administrative committee in Gaza," and that he hoped "the Palestinian parties will use Cairo momentum to address the Gaza humanitarian situation..."

University of Paris Political Science Professor Khattar Abou Diab tells VOA the opportunity for an accord appeared after the conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies broke out in June.

He said Qatar cut its financial subsidies to Hamas after the conflict with Saudi Arabia and its allies erupted in June and that put a great deal of pressure on Hamas to resolve its financial crisis.

But Abou Diab says he is "prudent" about the chances of the latest deal succeeding, since "neither Hamas nor Fatah have kept their word," following previous mediation efforts in Mecca, Doha and in Cairo.
A French journalist held for 51 days on terror charges in Turkey has returned to Paris.

Free-lance journalist Loup Bureau was met by his parents Sunday at Charles de Gaulle airport, according to the campaign group Reporters Without Borders.

Bureau said his release came as "a bit of a surprise", as he saw no signs pointing to his release Friday, a day after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Bureau was detained July 26th on the Turkey-Iraq border under anti-terror legislation. He was reportedly being held because images were found on his laptop of him with Syrian Kurdish fighters accused by Ankara of being terrorists linked to the insurgent group, the PKK.

Bureau was one more than 150 reporters jailed in a crackdown following the failed military coup in July last year.
Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, said Sunday in a statement that it will dissolve its administrative body and hold general elections.

The decision is seen as a way to end a political and territorial rift between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. The move opens an avenue to form a reconciliation government.

The administrative committee is now dissolved and the government can come to Gaza today to assume its responsibilities and duties, Hamas official Hussam Badran told The Associated Press.

The rival Palestinian governments have been at loggerheads since a civil war in 2007, when Hamas drove the Palestinian Authority from Gaza, a year after defeating Fatah in parliament elections. The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza, and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The news of the decision comes after Hamas and Fatah recently participated in separate talks with Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo.

Still, there were no assurances that this deal would succeed where others failed.



In previous deals, including one brokered by Egypt in 2011, both sides professed willingness to reconcile, but ultimately balked at giving up power in their respective territories

Gaza is facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, including a severe electricity shortage.
The militant group Hamas that rules Gaza moved Sunday to end its decade-long political and territorial split with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, agreeing to dissolve its administrative body and hold general elections.

With the Gaza economy in shambles and electricity typically on only four hours a day in the Mediterranean coastal enclave, Hamas said it would immediately allow the Abbas-led "unity government" to assume control. The joint government was formed three years ago, but until now has been unable to govern there.

The breakthrough came after separate talks in recent days by Hamas and Fatah delegations with Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo.

Hamas official Hussam Badran said Gaza officials accepted Abbas' demands to end the stalemate between the rival Palestinian groups "as a sign of our good will toward reconciliation. The administrative committee is now dissolved and the government can come to Gaza today to assume its responsibilities and duties."

Mahmoud Aloul, a Fatah official, welcomed the agreement, but told the Voice of Palestine radio, "We want to see that happening on the ground before we move to the next step."

Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said the Abbas group would hold talks with Hamas to work out details of the pact.

"There will be tangible practical steps in the next few days, starting with the Palestinian national unity government resuming its work according to law in Gaza as it does in the West Bank, in order to continue its efforts to relieve the suffering of our people in the strip and work towards lifting the unjust blockade," Ahmad told the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israel has blockaded Gaza for a decade, and its border with Egypt has also remained largely closed in recent years. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, during a visit to the strip in August, called for the blockade to be lifted, saying Gaza was enduring "one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises" he had seen.

In recent months, Abbas has stiffened financial pressure against Hamas, cutting back electricity payments to force Hamas to end the dispute over the rule of the enclave. Hamas has governed the strip and its 2 million residents since 2007, when it fought a short civil war with Fatah. Hamas has been greatly weakened by three losing armed conflicts with Israel since 2008, international isolation and one of the world's highest unemployment rates.

There have been numerous attempts since 2011 by Hamas and Fatah to reconcile, but all failed. They agreed to the unity government in 2014, but Hamas has continued to oversee Gaza with its administrative body.

The 82-year-old Abbas, now 12 years into what was to have been a four-year term as head of the Palestinian Authority, has led Palestinians in the Israel-occupied West Bank. But opinion polls show him to be an unpopular leader, amid projections that Hamas would win parliamentary elections in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he is prepared to intervene militarily if a referendum held by the nations Kurdish population results in violence.

Speaking to the Associated Press Saturday, Abadi said the Kurdish vote on independence is a dangerous escalation that will invite violations of Iraqi sovereignty.

Abadi also told an Iraqi news agency that the Kurds would be playing with fire by continuing with plans for the referendum, which is scheduled for September 25 in the three governorates that make up the Kurdish autonomous region. The vote is also expected to be held in areas controlled by Kurds but claimed by the Baghdad government.

Turkey warns of grave mistake

On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned that the Iraqi Kurdish plan to hold an independence referendum was a grave mistake.

Iraqi Kurdistan regional President Masoud Barzani is backing the referendum.

Turkey, which borders the Iraqi Kurdish region, has strong ties with Barzani, but Ankara has been stepping up its pressure to call off the vote.

There are 10 days left. Therefore, I want to repeat our friendly call to Masoud Barzani: Correct this mistake while there is still time, Yildirim said Friday to supporters.

The warning was followed by Ankaras first direct threat.

We dont want to impose sanctions, but, if we arrive at that point, there are steps that have been already planned that Turkey can take, Yildirim added.

The warning came days after the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told the Kurds that they would pay a price for the vote.

Ankara fears secession

Ankara, with its own restive Kurdish minority, in an area that mainly borders Iraqi Kurdistan, fears an independent Kurdish state could fuel similar secessionist demands. Those fears are heightened by the suspicion that Syrian Kurds on the Turkish border harbor the same independence ambitions.

Turkish fears of the referendum have created rare common ground across the countrys deep political divide.

Balkanization of the Middle East would bring instability, warned Ceyda Karan, a columnist with the Turkish opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper. Borders are not drawn fairly in many parts of the world. The question of where to find fairness in redrawing them is unknown.

WATCH: Iraqi Kurds Prepare for Independence Vote, Despite Opposition

US: keep focus on IS

The United States has voiced strong opposition to the independence vote.

On Friday the White House released a statement saying the United States does not support the Kurdish plan to hold a referendum, and that the plan is distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS and stabilize the liberated areas. Further, it says, holding the referendum in disputed areas is particularly provocative and destabilizing.

The Trump administration is calling on the Kurds to cancel the referendum and instead engage in serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad, which the U.S. has offered to facilitate.

Iran has also registered its opposition to the referendum, but Turkey arguably has the most leverage on the Iraqi Kurds. The Habur border gate on Turkeys frontier with Iraq is the main trade route to the outside world for Iraqi Kurdistan, while an oil pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan provides a financial lifeline.

Sanctions possible

Sanctions could prove to be a double-edged sword.

Habur does not only mean gate to Iraqi Kurdistan, points out former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who set up Turkeys consulate in Iraqi Kurdistans capital of Irbil.

Habur means gate to Iraq and in todays terms means gate to the Middle East as all border gates are closed with Syria. There is the oil pipeline; Iraqi Kurdistan oil, including Kirkuk oil, is being marketed to global markets through Ceyhan. That is a win, win for Ankara, Selcen added.

Financial considerations are not the only factors that Ankara has to consider.

Ankara is against [the referendum], but on the other hand, Barzani is the best ally in the region. I think they are not that vocal when it comes to the referendum, said political scientist Cengiz Aktar.

Barzani in the past decade has developed a close relationship with Ankara, one built not only on lucrative trade but also on security cooperation.

Barzani has provided assistance to Ankara in Turkeys war against the Kurdish rebel group PKK, which is waging a decades-long insurgency for greater minority rights in Turkey and has bases in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Turkish election politics could further restrict Ankaras room to maneuver.

The Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum threatens to complicate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans re-election bid in 2019.

I understand Mr. Erdogan is trying to balance the traditional Kurdish vote that goes with [Erdogans] AK Party and [Turkish] nationalists, said former diplomat Selcen, who is now a regional analyst.

The Kurdish vote in Turkey traditionally accounts for about 10 percent of Erdogans support, votes that could be crucial in what is predicted to be a closely fought presidential election.

Selcen suggests the solution to the political conundrum posed by the Iraqi Kurdish independence vote to Erdogans own ambitions could be to simply do nothing.

I think in todays system in Turkey, one should only follow closely what Mr. Erdogan says, and, knowing his usual style and usual rhetoric, I find Mr. Erdogans position much milder and more moderate. I will speculate that following September 25, the day of the referendum, it will be business as usual between Ankara and Irbil.

Dorian Jones contributed to this report from Istanbul.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 02:45:53|Editor: Song Lifang

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Protesters clash with police during a rally in Athens, Greece, Sept. 16, 2017. An anti-fascist rally was held in central Athens on Sept.16, 2017, marking the fourth anniversary of the murder of a Greek anti-fascist activist by a supporter of the far-right Golden Dawn party. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

By Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- An anti-fascist rally was held in central Athens on Saturday, marking the fourth anniversary of the murder of a Greek anti-fascist activist by a supporter of the far- Right Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avghi) party.

Rapper Pavlos Fyssas, 34, was stabbed to death by Yorgos Roupakias at Keratsini, a Piraeus port suburb, outside a cafeteria.

It was the first politically motivated crime committed by a GD supporter since the party's entrance in parliament for the first time in 2012, riding on the wave of discontent over austerity.

The musician's killing sent shockwaves across the country and triggered a judicial crackdown on Golden Dawn.

Four years later, the trial of the party's leadership on charges of establishing and running a criminal organization, along Roupakias, is still continuing.

All defendants, including Roupakias, have been released from custody.

About 2,500 anti-fascist activists and representatives of migrants' associations gathered in front of the parliament on Saturday and marched to GD's headquarters demanding "justice with no further delays".

"Pavlos is still alive, kick neo-Nazis out," read banners raised by protesters before the demonstration ends in minor scuffles between groups of anarchists and police.

Hooded protesters pelted rocks and petrol bombs at police forces who responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Four years later, GD still holds ground in polls and is still the third larger party inside the Greek parliament.

Attacks against migrants and political opponents by groups of GD members have been reduced, but not vanished.

Last April, a Greek student was severely injured during an attack by a group of hooded men outside GD's headquarters.

"These offices must close down, because such criminal attacks are orchestrated there," Maria Kaskarika, the student's mother told a press briefing ahead of Saturday's rally.

Magda Fyssa, the dead rapper's mother, assisted by his friends and musicians is organizing a second rally at Piraeus on Monday which will end in a concert.
U.S.-backed militias in Syria said they came under attack Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir el-Zour province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, said six of its fighters were wounded in the strike.

The Pentagon said Russia bombed a position east of the Euphrates river where it knew SDF fighters and coalition advisers were stationed. The jets did not injure coalition forces, it said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow or Damascus. Washington and Moscow support separate offensives in the Syrian conflict, with both advancing against Islamic State militants in the eastern region that borders Iraq.

"Our forces east of the Euphrates were hit with an attack from the Russian aircraft and Syrian regime forces, targeting

our units in the industrial zone," the SDF said in a statement.

The SDF accused Damascus of trying to obstruct its fighters. Such attacks "waste energies that should be used against terrorism ... and open the door to side conflicts," it said.

Wider conflict

The assaults by the Russian-backed Syrian army and the U.S.-backed SDF have at times raised fears of clashes that could stoke tensions between the competing world powers.

Both offensives have converged on Islamic State from opposite sides of the Euphrates river that bisects oil-rich Deir el-Zour, Islamic State's last major foothold in Syria.

Syrian troops with Iran-backed militias have closed in from the west since last week, while the SDF advances from the east.

Russian and U.S. battles against Islamic State in Syria have mostly stayed out of each other's way, with the Euphrates often acting as a dividing line. Talks have been under way to extend a formal demarcation line, officials have said.

The U.S. coalition has said the SDF does not plan to enter Deir el-Zour city, where Syrian soldiers have broken an Islamic State siege that lasted since 2014.

Still, in June, the SDF accused the Syrian military of bombing its positions in Raqqa province, and the United States shot down a government warplane in Syria's crowded airspace.

Amed Abu Khawla, the commander of the SDF's Deir el-Zour military council, said Russian or Syrian fighter jets flew in from government territory before dawn on Saturday.

The warplanes struck as the SDF waged "heated and bloody battles" in the industrial zone on the eastern bank, seizing factories from Islamic State militants, he said.

"We have requested explanations from the Russian government," he told Reuters. "We have asked for explanations from the coalition ... and necessary action to stop these jets."

The air raid came a day after Khawla said his fighters would not let Syrian government forces cross the Euphrates. On Friday, he warned the army and its allies against firing across the river, which he said they had done in recent days.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said units of the Syrian army had already crossed.

Syria's 'strategic intent'

A senior aide to President Bashar al-Assad said the government would fight any force, including the U.S.-backed fighters, to recapture the entire country.

"I'm not saying this will happen tomorrow ... but this is the strategic intent," Bouthaina Shaaban said in a TV interview.

Syrian troops and allied forces captured villages on the western bank of the Euphrates on Saturday, state media said.

Shi'ite militias fighting with Damascus also launched attacks against Islamic State in the south of Deir el-Zour province along the border. Just over the frontier inside Iraq, the military said Iraqi armed forces dislodged Islamic State from the natural gas-rich Akashat region.

The "caliphate" that Islamic State said in 2014 it had established, spanning both countries, effectively collapsed in July when an Iraqi offensive captured the city of Mosul. In Syria, the militants have lost much of their headquarters in Raqqa to the SDF with the help of airstrikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran will not be subject to "bullying" by the United States over the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with a group of world powers, including the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been a frequent critic of the agreement and after taking office has threatened to scrap the deal, which calls for Iran to scale back its nuclear activity to allay fears it is working to develop nuclear weapons, and in exchange get relief from economic sanctions.

"The Iranian nation is standing firm and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the (nuclear accord) will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said in an address to police officers Sunday.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani left Sunday for the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where he is expected to speak with world leaders about the deal, which Iran agreed to with the U.S., Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany after extensive negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he believes Iran is technically in compliance with the agreement, but not acting in the spirit of language in the document that signaled a new approach in relations between Iran and the world.

"What we have witnessed is Iran has stepped up its destabilizing activities in Yemen. It's stepped up its destabilizing activities in Syria. It exports arms to Hezbollah and other terrorists groups. And it continues to conduct a very active ballistic missile program," Tillerson said.

The agreement says all parties will not take steps to undermine the deal.

Iran has issued its own complaints against the U.S., saying the threats of new sanctions or scrapping the agreement amount to a violation of the spirit of the pact.

Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to take unspecified action against Iran next month, expressing continued dissatisfaction with the agreement.

"We are not going to stand for what they are doing to this country," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "They have violated so many different elements, but they've also violated the spirit of that deal. And you will see what we will be doing in October. It will be very evident."

He said, "It is a deal that should have never, ever been made."

The United States on Thursday also extended some sanctions relief for Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal. But no decision has been made on whether to preserve the deal itself.
Kuwait will expel North Korea's ambassador to the Gulf country along with four other diplomats, sources said Sunday.

North Korea's diplomatic presence in the oil-rich state will be reduced to a charge d'affaires and three diplomats, diplomatic sources told news agencies on the condition of anonymity.

The announcement comes two days after North Korea launched another missile over Japan, and less than a week after the United Nations imposed additional sanctions on Pyongyang for conducting its sixth nuclear test.

It follows a visit less than two weeks ago by Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to Washington, where he met with U.S. President Donald Trump. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City called Kuwait "a key regional partner on [North Korea] and many other issues."

Thousands of North Korean laborers work in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Though they comprise a small market compared to China and Russia, sending workers to the Gulf countries helps Pyongyang evade international sanctions. The reduction in diplomatic staff in Kuwait could limit North Korea's ability to earn money for its nuclear program through these workers, as some reports say the embassy has also decided not to renew work permits for North Koreans.
After leaving the majesty of the Grand Canyon in the American Southwest, national parks traveler Mikah Meyer headed north to the cooler climes of the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, he stopped by some of the region's most picturesque and historic national parks.

"I kind of fit along the way these random parks that were out in the middle of nowhere that I could string together to make a route to Washington [State]," he said.

Natural highs  and lows

He was soon standing in the shadow of the tallest freestanding mountain in the state of Nevada  Wheeler Peak, in Great Basin National Park. The mountain stands 3,982 meters (13,065 feet) high and is named for George Wheeler, who led a survey of the Western U.S. in the 1870s.

"It's really in the middle of nowhere and there's no other National Park Service site anywhere near it, and so I asked one of the rangers Why is this a National Park Service site?' And she told me that Nevada has more complete mountain ranges than any other state in the United States, including Alaska," he said.

That fact, along with the snow-capped peaks amid lush surroundings, surprised Mikah. "I feel like if you ask most people what Nevada looks like, this is not the answer they would give you!"

People usually associate Nevada with a desert landscape. But beyond the barren land and the lights and glitter of the state's most famous city, Las Vegas, travelers like Mikah can find many natural wonders.

"I went to a place called Stella Lake, a mountain lake which gives you a gorgeous view of Wheeler Peak," he said. To get there, he walked through a forest of aspen trees. "They were all just budding their spring light green colors. The wind was blowing so strong and these new-growth aspen trees were waving in the wind. It was a really ethereal experience."

Great Basin National Park is also known for Lehman Cave, one of the best places in the world to see hundreds of limestone shield formations.

On its website, the National Park Service describes the cave as an excellent example of a limestone solution cavern.

"Its beginning can be traced back 550 to 600 million years ago when a warm shallow sea covered most of what is now Nevada and Utah. Over the next 400 million years, sea creatures lived and died, piling layers of calcium carbonate-rich sediment on the ocean floor. These sediments gradually solidified into limestone rock."

"It was definitely pretty  very fascinating shapes of all sizes and forms," Mikah said. "So all within this park you can go underground and see this amazing cave and you can hike to the highest point in Nevada," he said.

Fascinating science and surreal scenery

As Mikah headed north to Oregon, he came across another surreal landscape  Painted Hills, one of three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

"It's these really cool, dried-out looking mountains that have red stripes that cut across the rocks horizontally," he explained. "Rocks of orange and yellow and red, juxtaposed with super blue lakes, was completely another planet."

Noted American paleobotanist Ralph W. Chaney once said, "No region in the world shows a more complete sequence of tertiary land populations, both plant and animal, than the John Day Basin."

Historic duo

Also in Oregon, Mikah visited the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. The site commemorates an expedition led by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from 1804 to 1806, to cross what is now the western part of the U.S.

President Thomas Jefferson directed the men and their "Corps of Discovery" to map the territory, find a practical route across it to the Pacific Ocean and establish an American presence before European powers tried to claim it. Lewis and Clark were also to study the geography, plant and animal life along the way, and establish trade with Native American tribes.

"It's funny for me to look at this large historic expedition and realize these were men in their early 30 as they were doing this, and now here I am in my early 30 doing something similar," Mikah said. "And so it's a parallel, age-wise."

Visitors to the park can step into the Fort Clatsop replica for a sense of what the Corps of Discovery experienced more than 200 years ago.

But it was the natural beauty that impressed Mikah the most ... especially the Pacific coastline.

"It's hard to describe the feeling of looking over one of these jagged cliffs and seeing the sun beating on these rocks, and the waves crashing up against the jagged rock cliffs, and boy, I was just blown away by the beauty."

Journeying through the Pacific Northwest, Mikah had a chance to steep himself in history and some of the most stunning landscapes in the country  always a winning combination for a national parks traveler.

Mikah invites you to follow him on his epic journey by visiting him on his website MikahMeyer.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
A senior NATO official says there's reason to be concerned about the large-scale Zapad 2017 military maneuvers being conducted now by Russia and Belarus, since they could be seen as "a serious preparation for big war."

General Petr Pavel, head of NATO's Military Committee, told the Associated Press in an interview Saturday that NATO is increasing efforts to re-establish the military-to-military communications with Russia to avoid any "unintended consequences of potential incidents during the exercise."

The defense chiefs of NATO member countries were holding their annual conference this year in the Albanian capital of Tirana to discuss fighting terrorism, the situation in the Western Balkans and the new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan.

The Zapad war games, being conducted this year mostly in Belarus, run until September 20 and reportedly involve 5,500 Russian and 7,200 Belarusian troops.

'Not aimed at NATO'

Despite assurances from Moscow that "NATO is not considered as an enemy" and that "the exercise is not aimed at NATO," Pavel said Russians have not been transparent about the facts of the exercises. He says the number of troops in the exercises  which the Russians say is about 12,700  could actually be between 70,000 to 100,000.

"All together, what we see is a serious preparation for big war," he told The Associated Press. "When we only look at the exercise that is presented by Russia, there should be no worry. But when we look at the big picture, we have to be worried, because Russia was not transparent."

Two weeks ago, Pavel met with the head of the Russian military's General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov.



The Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, General Curtis Scaparrotti, had a phone call with Gerasimov at the beginning of Zapad 17. Pavel said it was "mainly focused on transparency and risk reduction and avoidance of unintended consequences of potential incidents."

"We have a high concentration of troops in the Baltics. We have a high concentration of troops in the Black Sea, and potential for an incident may be quite high because of a human mistake, because of a technology failure," said Pavel. "We have to be sure that such an unintended incident will not escalate into conflict."

The Military Committee offers consensus-based advice on how the alliance can best meet global security challenges.

Western Balkans

Stability and security in the Western Balkan countries was also discussed during the conference. Pavel said trouble in the region could come from radicalism, organized crime, migration, economic problems or the "malign influence from Russia."

"We do not compete with Russia for the Western Balkans. We are primarily focused on the Balkans being stable and secure," he said.

He also added there was no plan for reducing troops in Kosovo or setting a time length for their presence.

About 4,500 troops from 31 countries have been deployed in Kosovo since June 1999, after NATO's 78-day air campaign to stop a deadly Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia has not recognized it.
Stuck in a refugee camp on the Greek island of Chios with poor internet and little credit, Abrar Hassan, like many others, was unaware that the tech world had been falling all over itself to help him.

More importantly, he was unaware of his rights and how best to prepare for the asylum interviews that would determine whether the 19-year-old, who fled a murderous family feud in Pakistan, had a future in Europe.

There has been an explosion of digital software applications, hackathons and websites since the refugee crisis filtered into Western public consciousness, with the tech world offering a range of solutions, whether to issues like Hassans, navigating the sea or job hunting.

Time has revealed the limits of such solutions when applied with little knowledge of the situation on the ground. Some tech tools, however, are bridging the gap.

No internet, no problem

Hundreds of micro SD memory cards that can be used in mobile phones have been given out in Chios. The memory cards are packed with information to help educate people about crucial details of the asylum process, such as the right to replace an inadequate translator during the asylum interview.

When I came here I didnt know anything about the Greek asylum system, said Hassan, who passed his asylum interview and has remained on the island, helping to distribute SD cards to more refugees.

This is the first time things have been clearly explained.

The micro SD cards do not need an internet connection for people to access the text, audio and visual help offered in the Arabic, Farsi and Urdu languages.

They are the brainchild of Sharon Silvey, founder of RefuComm, a volunteer group working with refugees.



Silvey said that many tech products are often designed with little awareness of the audience they target.

Ive met thousands of refugees and Ive not met one who said that they needed an app  its as simple as that. Im not sure if refugees are involved at all [in development]," she said.

Steep learning curve

That criticism is partly acknowledged by some of those who have tracked the explosion of tech-focused assistance since fall 2015.

Ben Mason of Betterplace Lab, a Berlin-based nonprofit organization focused on what he calls tech for good, told VOA that the initial surge provided an inspiring moment with people wanting to help and some good projects.

But there was quite a lot of misspent energy on solutionism -- the idea you can take a complex social problem and find a simple tech solution," Mason added.

To avoid duplication of services, Techfugees  the most prominent tech network to emerge, with more than 15,000 members  called on users to consolidate their efforts and engage more with refugees themselves, many of whom rely on their own online social networks to get advice.

Tracking the success of this wave of tech support is difficult. Many projects have genuinely helped, such as Kiron Open Higher Education, which offers refugees access to higher education.

In the "fail fast, try again" ethos of the tech industry, meanwhile, other services proved useless or quickly disappeared, and some became notorious.

iSea, a highly hyped, award-winning app, was taken offline after it emerged that rather than live satellite images, it showed a single static image of the sea, rendering it useless for its purported role of helping crowdsource rescue operations.

Stuck in silos

Mason, who recently wrote a report on Germanys tech response to the refugees crisis, argues that while it had yet to deliver at scale, the scene is maturing, with a small but emerging number of tech solutions created by refugees themselves.

Meghan Benton, a senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, said there have been successes, but for tech to truly impact efforts to help refugees, it will have to be about a connection to mainstream services -- rather than a parallel world, which serves small pockets, and might die from one week to the next.

Not that such a solution is simple.

The ever-shifting nature of the refugee presence in Europe presents its own issues. For example, the U.N.s refugee agency in Greece told VOA that as refugees moved from camps into urban settings, helping provide internet services would become even more difficult.

Meanwhile, the slow adaption of many European states to harnessing this tech talent and enthusiasm  for example, in its slow, bureaucratic funding methods  may, to varying extents, be influenced by the politics of the refugee crisis.

A distant prospect

Thousands still languish on the islands and face deportation until their asylum interviews are held.

When it comes to the asylum process, Greek authorities are perceived as more of an obstacle to the fair treatment of refugees than a partner to work with, RefuComm's Silvey said.

For her, the idea of integrating her services remains a distant prospect.

Silvey said she would not be discouraged, though, and is now hunting for funds to roll out her idea further, and aims to launch it in Italy.

And with a team made up mostly of refugees as volunteers, RefuComm doesn't lack the contact with beneficiaries that has plagued other tech solutions.

Millennials are creating all these high-tech solutions, and then some old grandma comes up with a low-tech solution that works," quips Silvey, 56.
Starting Monday, world leaders will gather for their annual U.N. meetings in New York, where President Donald Trump will make his debut on the U.N. stage and the North Korean nuclear issue is poised to top the global agenda.

The U.N. Security Council adopted additional economic sanctions on Pyongyang last Monday, the second round in just five weeks, in response to the regimes Sept. 3 underground nuclear test of a possible hydrogen bomb.

While the United States drafted, negotiated and pressed for the resolutions swift adoption, Trump dismissed the outcome as not a big deal.

WATCH: World Leaders Gather for Annual UN Meetings as North Korea Nuclear Issue Escalates

He has said repeatedly that he will keep the military option on the table, and his United Nations ambassador and National Security chief echoed that Friday during a briefing to White House reporters.

North Korea and military option

What is really important with North Korea is that we try and push through as many diplomatic options as we have, said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. She added that if international economic pressure does not work and North Korea continues to be defiant, there would be little else the U.N. could do.

So, having said that, I have no problem kicking it to General [James] Mattis because I think he has plenty of options, Haley said, referring to the U.S. defense chief.

For those who have been commenting about the lack of a military option, there is a military option, said National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Now, its not what we prefer to do, so what we have to do is call on all nations to do everything we can to address this global problem, short of war.

A lot of leaders are really very scared that the U.S. could blunder into war pretty much by accident on the Korean Peninsula, said Richard Gowan, an associate fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. And so there is going to be a chorus of voices both from Asia and beyond arguing that we still have to give talks a chance, he said of the New York gathering.

But of course, this will almost [certainly] figure in every conversation that leaders have here during the next week, a senior European diplomat said. This is clearly very, very high if not at the top, of leaders concerns these days.

Urgency aside, expectations are low for a major diplomatic advance, in part because Chinese President Xi Jinping will not be attending the gathering.

WATCH: Security and Protesters Warming Up for United Nations General Assembly

Trumps first general assembly

In office since January, this will be Trumps first U.N. General Assembly gathering, but as a native New Yorker, he is returning home, albeit for only the second time since his inauguration.

The president is fond of political rallies where he is clearly comfortable among the affection of his base of supporters. It is harder to predict how he will be received and behave at the United Nations. He has threatened to pull substantial U.S. funding from the organization and dismissed it as just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.

His Tuesday morning speech will undoubtedly be widely watched, not least of all by the North Korean delegation, which, because of the seating rotation in the hall, has drawn a front row seat this year.

There is a chance that he will have a very strong America First message, equally there is a chance he will enjoy all the attention from other leaders and be quite emollient, Gowan of the European Council said. But the next morning he may send out a bunch of tweets attacking the U.N.

Leaders and analysts will also be listening for his views on several issues, including climate change, the war in Syria, whether the U.S. will pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and his strategy for countering Islamic State terrorists.

On Monday, Trump will chair a meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly on reforming the U.N. management system.

The U.S. has asked countries to sign on to a declaration supporting cutting bureaucracy and making the world body more efficient and nimble. Ambassador Haley said Friday that 120 countries have signed on. Reform is also a flagship issue for new U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will speak at the meeting.

Pressing global Issues

There are numerous meetings planned in the margins of the general debate, covering pressing global issues from conflicts in the Middle East and Africa to gender equality to famine response.

In recent weeks, a military crackdown in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has sent 400,000 minority Rohingya Muslims fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. The U.N. chief and his human rights commissioner have both warned that the actions of the military could constitute ethnic cleansing. The humanitarian situation for the refugees is dire.

The Security Council has discussed the matter twice in as many weeks. The Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) has planned a meeting for its members Tuesday, while the British foreign secretary has also scheduled a smaller gathering of concerned countries.

Natural disasters have quadrupled since 1970, and Hurricane Irma, which devastated parts of the Caribbean and Southern Florida this month, has hastily been added to the agenda. Meetings on the weather event will focus on the response and building communities that are more resilient to natural disasters and climate change.

The U.N. says the United States, followed by China and India, have experienced the most natural disasters since 1995.

Some wonder if Irma and Hurricane Harvey, which flooded southeastern Texas last month, will persuade Trump to reverse his decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, which more than 190 other countries have signed on to.

Those that dont believe in climate change are a residual species that will soon disappear, Secretary-General Guterres told a group of students at the United Nations on Friday.

Analyst Gowan said Trump has hinted he might reverse his decision to withdraw from the deal and if he announces that in New York it would be a big diplomatic win for him.

But if President Trump continues to attack the Paris deal, if he manages to embarrass himself by questioning climate science at the U.N., then you are going to hear a lot of other leaders directly or indirectly criticizing his administration and his policies, Gowan warned.
Late on the night of Oct. 13, 1992, 20-year-old Damion Cooper was shot in a dark alley in Baltimore, Maryland. The bullet lodged near his heart and he nearly died. The man who shot him went to prison, and Cooper became what he recalls as a very angry and bitter young man.

All the values I learned went out of the window. My faith was gone. I blamed the society. I blamed God. I blamed everyone for being shot. I didnt understand, he said. Finally, after more than four years, he realized he had to move on. He went back to college, and got his masters degree in theology.

While in seminary, he started doing volunteer work in a prison.

Unknown to me, he noted ironically, for a year and half, I wound up mentoring the very young man who shot me. Once we found out that this was the young man, I forgave him.

Cooper decided to share the lessons he learned during that process. He founded Project Pneuma in his hometown of Baltimore, to teach boys how to control their anger and inspire them to achieve their dreams. In Greek, pneuma means breath and spirit. And thats the core philosophy of the program.

Exercise, breathe and calm down

Twice a week, all year-round, about two dozen boys gather at Baltimore Police Academy to participate in Project Pneuma. It combines exercise, yoga and leadership training.

They joined the program because they had difficulty focusing in school or controlling their impulses. Here, they exercise and meet with adults who care about them, like school principal Nikomar Mosley, who volunteers with the program.

We allow our students to engage in different push-ups and sit-ups and things that will build them physically, he said. Sometimes, with the physical push that helps to keep their eyes focused.

Cooper says other exercises focus on breathing.

We want our young men to understand that oftentimes when they act out of impulse actions, they dont think about it, he said. They just act. So, what were trying to do is get them to slow down. If you take a deep breath, it slows things down. And that makes it easier for them to control their anger and learn to forgive.

Teaching forgiveness, learning leadership

Finding the strength to forgive is one of the lessons Project Pneuma kids learn.

My best friends have gone to this program, said Coopers 14-year-old son Nigel, who adds that joining the program is a transforming experience. They used to always fight no matter what I say to them. But now, they calmed down to the point that you could push them and they could look at you and like shrug their shoulders.

Pneuma is about more than controlling anger and learning forgiveness. The program also helps these kids grow into responsible young men.

We want them to understand that we care about them, that we treasure them, that they mean something, Cooper said. Once they believe it, they can go and do better things in life. They can be role models to other kids in their community.

The participants range in age from 9 to 14. Mosley explained that they count on the oldest students to help the younger ones.

It gives the younger children an opportunity to look up to someone and develop a big brother within the program. So, it develops leadership among our children and it also keeps it diverse. So, the program is ever evolving as those children that are currently participating, they grow up, get older and become the mentors for the younger participants.

Four years after he founded Pneuma, Cooper said, the results so far suggest that the program is working well.

Since we started the Project Pneuma, none of the young men had been suspended at all  not one, he said proudly. Because the parents allow us to come to their schools and check on their sons. We check report cards, we check grades. We pop up and make sure they stay on this path.

14-year-old Virtue Bama says hes always excited about attending Pneuma sessions. This program is very invigorating. This program is very fun for me to be around.

Not only is it invigorating and fun, but kids have stayed with Project Pneuma because it offers something many of them are missing in their lives  encouragement, moral support and consistency.
Protests in St. Louis, Missouri, of the acquittal of a white police officer charged with murder in the death of a black man turned violent again Saturday night, after peaceful daytime demonstrations.

A small band of protesters began breaking windows and throwing objects at police late Saturday in the upscale Delmar Loop area of the St. Louis suburb University City. The Loop is home to more than 100 specialty shops, including restaurants, galleries, clothing boutiques, gift shops and entertainment venues.

Police in riot gear moved in and quickly brought the disturbance under control, but not before demonstrators had left a path of broken glass. Police made a number of arrests.

Earlier Saturday, several hundred people walked through two malls in a suburban St. Louis. Protesters shouted black lives matter and it is our duty to fight for our freedom as they marched in a mostly peaceful demonstration.

The organizer of a regional food festival at one of the malls welcomed the protesters, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. Mike Kociela told the demonstrators, There should be no difference in how anybody is treated...I want to be part of the solution. Im glad you are here. You are welcome.

Concerts canceled

The band U2 also announced Saturday morning that it was canceling a concert, planned for Saturday night, in St. Louis, saying they did not believe city police would be able to adequately protect the event.

British singer Ed Sheerans representatives said they were concerned about the safety of the fans when they announced the cancellation of a Sunday concert.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra canceled the Saturday Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets concert.

Officer acquitted

Fridays protests began after the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a former St. Louis police officer who had been charged with the fatal shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith after a car chase in December 2011. Prosecutors also alleged Stockley planted a gun on Smiths body. Prosecutors said the gun had only Stockleys DNA on it. During the car chase, Stockley can be heard on the video from his car saying that he was going to kill Smith, prosecutors said.

Police said 23 people were arrested and nine police were injured in skirmishes with protesters.

Mayor Lyda Krewson released a statement early Friday urging compassion, despite differing opinions on the acquittal.

We are all St. Louisans. We rise and fall together, she said.

Protests turn violent

Protests started peacefully Friday, with hundreds gathering in the streets of St. Louis holding signs and chanting No justice, no peace. Some made their way to police headquarters, calling for police resignations.

By the end of the night, demonstrators had broken a window and splashed paint on the mayors home, prompting police in riot gear to move the protesters away from the residence.

We are saddened [about the acquittal], we are frustrated, St. Louis Alderman John Collins-Muhammad told the Post Dispatch. Until black people in this city get justice, until we get a seat at the table, there will be no peace in this city.

Damone Smith, a 52-year-old electrician, told the newspaper, I think the verdict is disgusting.

Time and time again, African-American men are killed by police and nobody is held accountable, he said.



Brown shooting

Racial tension in the area is not new. One of the suburbs of St. Louis is Ferguson, Missouri, where two weeks of protests began in August 2014 with the shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer.

That November, the decision not to indict the police officer sparked another week of protests, and the anniversary of the shooting in 2015 was the occasion of a third protest.

Browns father told a St. Louis television station after Fridays verdict, You all know this aint right and you all continue to do this to us. Like we dont mean nothing, like were rats, trash, dogs in the streets ... my people are tired of this.

The incidents in Missouri were followed by police shootings and protests in a number of American cities, among them Baltimore, Maryland; Charlotte, North Carolina; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, marking a formal return to Italy's political stage, laid out his policy priorities on Sunday for the forthcoming election, portraying himself as a pro-European moderate.

Speaking at a meeting of his Forza Italia (Go Italy) party, Berlusconi said he wanted to lead the group into the national ballot, which is expected by next March, promising hefty tax cuts if the center-right regained power.

Subsumed by sex scandals and legal woes, Berlusconi largely vanished from politics after being ousted from power in 2011.

But he has emerged from the shadows this year and Forza Italia, with its traditional rightist allies the Northern League and Brothers of Italy, have combined backing of some 35 percent, according to polls, making them the largest single bloc.

"We predict a great victory for the center-right," said

Berlusconi, 81, looking thin and fit during a speech near Rome that effectively launched the Forza Italia election campaign.

While his allies have repeatedly denounced the European Union, Berlusconi said he wanted more Europe, not less, calling for common defense, foreign, industrial and fiscal policies.

"I do not think we can leave the euro," he said, further underscoring how the anti-euro rhetoric once heard from many Italian parties is receding as the vote nears.

Berlusconi, who had open heart surgery last year, cannot run for office due to a 2013 tax fraud conviction. But he hopes the European Court of Human Rights overturns this ban when it reviews his case in November.

"I expect that Europe completely restores my honor ... But court or no court, I promise you that I will take part in the election campaign," said the four-times premier.

If Forza Italia won power, he said he would introduce a flat tax and eliminate inheritance tax, hike minimum pensions, offer pensions to housewives and give more to impoverished families.

Berlusconi dismissed the chances of the ruling center -left, saying the left was in retreat across Europe, and also took aim at the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which polls say is Italy's largest single party, with support under 30 percent.

The 5-Star is expected to chose the 31-year-old lawmaker Luigi Di Maio as its prime ministerial candidate next weekend.

Berlusconi dismissed him as a "little political meteorite" with no practical know-how.

Highlighting his own long experience in business and

politics, he said he wanted to make a pact with the devil to take 20 years off his life. He joked this his tan, brown hair and slim figure showed a deal might have been struck.

He also looked to swat down the hopes of Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, who has put himself forward as the natural prime ministerial candidate for the center-right.

"We have always had respect for their ideas, but we created the center-right and we have always been the leader to put its program into action," Berlusconi said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 03:06:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia has extended amnesty period for undocumented migrants by an additional month for the third time, according to a statement by the Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.

The extension will be effective as of September 17, according to a letter sent by the Saudi government to Ethiopian Embassy in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia announced in March 2017 a three months amnesty program for undocumented foreign migrants to voluntarily leave the country before the amnesty's expiration in late June.

The amnesty program has been extended twice since then, first in June and then July in order to give more time for the millions of undocumented migrants from all over the world Saudi Arabia believes reside in its territory.

Ethiopia has one of the highest numbers of undocumented migrants in Saudi Arabia, with the government undertaking vigorous campaign to return undocumented Ethiopian migrants back to home.

So far more than 70,000 undocumented Ethiopians living in Saudi Arabia have returned home with another 60,000 undocumented Ethiopians having registered at Ethiopian diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia to return.

There are no exact figures on the number of Ethiopians illegally living in Saudi Arabia but some estimates put the number close to 400,000, taking up jobs ranging from maids to construction workers.

With a growing population currently at around 30 million and a squeeze in international oil price, Saudi Arabia is on a drive to indigenize its work force currently dominated by millions of illegal and legal migrants.
roadside bomb in northwestern Pakistan Sunday killed a senior government official and at least four of his security guards.

The deadly blast took place in Bajaur, a volatile federally administered tribal district on the Afghan border.

Officials said the administrator of the Mamoond sub-district, Fawad Ali, was being driven to a border village to attend a traditional assembly of tribal elders when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

A spokesman for the anti-state Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibly for planting the roadside bomb. In a statement sent to media via email, Muhammad Khurasani asserted the blast killed seven people, including Ali.

The outlawed extremist group and its breakaway factions plot attacks in the border region and elsewhere in Pakistan, saying their violent campaign is aimed at eliminating what they consider to be the current un-Islamic democratic system in the country.

The militant violence has killed tens of thousands of Pakistanis over the years.

Bajaur borders the volatile eastern Afghan province of Kunar where fugitive Pakistani militants have taken refugee and extremists loyal to Afghanistans branch of Islamic State are also well-entrenched .

Pakistani officials allege militants have taken shelter on the other side of the border after fleeing security operations and plot terrorist attacks against Pakistan from their Afghan sanctuaries.

Islamabad accuses Kabul's intelligence agency of backing the terrorist activity. But Afghan authorities reject the charges and in turn blame Pakistan for supporting militant violence on their soil.
A violent storm that hit western Romania on Sunday killed at least eight people and injured 67 others.

Among the reported deaths were people strolling outside or coming out of supermarkets, emergency situation authorities said.

A man in the city of Timisoara died as he was hit by a billboard, while a woman was killed by a falling tree. Two more people died in the western town of Buzias, one of them hit by a falling tree. Another man died in the northwest city of Bistrita after he was hit by a branch during a walk in the park.

The storm, bearing winds of 100 kilometers an hour damaged the roofs of several hospitals, schools and apartment buildings.

Road and rail traffic in parts of Romania was halted by fallen trees and dozens of towns and villages were left without power.

"We can't fight the weather," Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose told Antena3 TV. "The entire medical sector is focused on the injured."

He said the government would help support the communities hit by the storm.

Romania's national weather agency issued warnings of strong winds and rainstorms for western areas of the country.

Emergency responders urged people to take shelter indoors, unplug household appliances and park in areas not close to trees or power lines.

The storm followed several days of high temperatures. Temperatures were above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) on Sunday.

The storm also caused destruction in parts of neighboring Serbia and Croatia, officials said.

In Serbia, a man was reported missing on his boat on the Danube River near Belgrade and six people, including a five-year-old child, were injured by falling trees. Arcing from power lines, caused by the high winds, triggered several wildfires.

In Croatia, flooding brought traffic to a standstill in several coastal towns.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday denied it had bombed U.S.-backed militias in Syria, saying its planes only targeted Islamic State militants and that it had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans.

U.S.-backed militias said they came under attack on Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zor province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, said six of its fighters had been wounded in the strike.

But Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, dismissed the allegations in a statement on Sunday.

Konashenkov said Russian planes had only carried out carefully targeted strikes in the area based upon information that had been confirmed from multiple sources.



The strikes had only hit targets in areas under the control of Islamic State, he said.
One of President Vladimir Putin's top allies said on Sunday she saw no logic in deploying U.N. peacekeepers along the border between Russia and Ukraine, something Kyiv and Washington favor.

Putin this month suggested armed U.N. peacekeepers be deployed to eastern Ukraine to help protect ceasefire monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to help end a conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the proposal "interesting," while Kurt Volker, the U.S. envoy to Ukraine peace talks, says the suggestion gives negotiators more ideas with which to seek a resolution to the conflict. But differences about where the peacekeepers would operate risk sinking the plan.

Putin originally said the peacekeepers could be deployed along the line of contact between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists, but later said they could also be deployed in other areas where OSCE inspectors work.

Washington and Kyiv also want peacekeepers to be deployed along those parts of Ukraine's border with Russia which Kyiv does not control.

However, Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament and a close Putin ally, said on Sunday Moscow strongly objected to that idea.

"I don't see any logic in such a proposal," Matviyenko, visiting Turkmenistan, told reporters, the Interfax news agency reported. "Those who would like to surround the residents of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbas [parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions] with barbed wire or to simply destroy these people ... will not succeed."
The investigation into Russian influence on the US elections has renewed attention to the Russian ban on US adoptions, a response to American sanctions about five years ago. Donald Trump Jr. said that was the topic when he met with a Russian lawyer during his father's election campaign. As Svetlana Prudovskaya of VOA's Russian service reports, the adoption ban has affected families and children in both countries.
The al-Shabab militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing of a senior intelligence officer and his bodyguard in a drive-by shooting in southern Mogadishu.

Mohamud Moallim Hassan Qoley was fatally injured in the Midday shooting Sunday in Dharkaynlay district, officials said.

Qoley was chief of intelligence at Mogadishus Kahda area, one of the capitals 17 districts.

There were two bodyguards with him, the shooting came from a car that was hiding in an alleyway, one of the bodyguards died on the spot, the officer was rushed to the hospital, but he passed away, Ismail said.

Meanwhile, four government soldiers were killed after al-Shabab militants attacked a military checkpoint in the Hiran region north of Mogadishu.

Local officials told VOA the attack occurred at dawn Sunday. Four others were injured, sources say. Militants made away with weapons seized from the soldiers at a checkpoint on a highway linking Somalia to Ethiopia.

Its the fourth major attack on a government camp this month by al-Shabab. The militants have raided government-controlled towns of Bulogudud, Beled Hawo and El-Wak, killing dozens of soldiers and seizing weapons.




Spanish authorities on Sunday pursued efforts to block an independence vote in Catalonia, seizing campaign materials as the chief prosecutor said jailing the region's top politician could not be ruled out.

The government in the northeastern region is intent on holding a referendum on October 1 that will ask voters whether they support secession from Spain, a ballot Madrid has declared illegal.

In a raid on a warehouse in the province of Barcelona on Sunday, police confiscated around 1.3 million leaflets and other campaign materials promoting the vote issued by the Catalan government.

The haul was the largest in a series of similar raids, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Spanish prosecutors, who have ordered police to investigate any efforts to promote the plebiscite, said last week that officials engaged in any preparations for it could be charged with civil disobedience, abuse of office and misuse of public funds.

More than 700 Catalan mayors gathered in Barcelona on Saturday to affirm their support for it.

Asked if arresting regional government head Carles Puigdemont was an option if preparations continued, Spain's chief public prosecutor said in an interview: "We could consider it because the principal objective is to stop the referendum going ahead.

"I won't rule out completely the option of seeking jail terms... It could happen under certain circumstances," Jose Manuel Maza was quoted as also telling Sunday's edition of newspaper El Mundo.

The Catalan parliament passed a law enabling the referendum early last month, but Spain's Constitutional Court suspended it the next day.

Pro-independence activists have said they plan to distribute campaign leaflets promoting the referendum on Sunday evening in Barcelona.

Although polls show less than half of Catalonia's 5.5 million voters support independence, most in the wealthy northeastern region want the chance to vote on the issue.
Suicide among military veterans is especially high in the western U.S. and rural areas, according to new government data that show wide state-by-state disparities and suggest social isolation, gun ownership and access to health care may be factors.

The figures released Friday are the first-ever Department of Veterans Affairs data on suicide by state. It shows Montana, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico had the highest rates of veteran suicide as of 2014, the most current VA data available. Veterans in big chunks of those states must drive 70 miles or more to reach the nearest VA medical center.

The suicide rates in those four states stood at 60 per 100,000 individuals or higher, far above the national veteran suicide rate of 38.4.

The overall rate in the West was 45.5. All other regions of the country had rates below the national rate.

Other states with high veteran suicide rates, including West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky, had greater levels of prescription drug use, including opioids. A VA study last year found veterans who received the highest doses of opioid painkillers were more than twice as likely to die by suicide compared to those receiving the lowest doses.

The latest VA data also reaffirmed sharp demographic differences: Women veterans are at much greater risk, with their suicide rate 2.5 times higher than for female civilians. Among men, the risk was 19 percent higher among veterans compared to civilians. As a whole, older veterans make up most military suicides -- roughly 65 percent were age 50 or older.

"This report is huge," said Rajeev Ramchand, an epidemiologist who studies suicide for the RAND Corp. He noted that the suicide rate is higher for veterans than non-veterans in every single state by at least 1.5 times, suggesting unique problems faced by former service members. "No state is immune."

Ramchand said it was hard to pinpoint specific causes behind veteran suicide but likely involved factors more prevalent in rural areas, such as social isolation, limited health care access, gun ownership and opioid addiction. Nationally, 70 percent of the veterans who take their lives had not previously been connected to VA care.

"This requires closer investigation into why suicide rates by veteran status are higher, including the role that opiates play," Ramchand said.

The dataset offers more detailed breakdowns on national figures released last year, which found that 20 veterans a day committed suicide. The numbers come from the largest study undertaken of veterans' records by the VA, part of a government effort to uncover fresh information about where to direct resources and identify veterans most at-risk.

The department has been examining ways to boost suicide prevention efforts.

"These findings are deeply concerning, which is why I made suicide prevention my top clinical priority," said VA Secretary David Shulkin. "This is a national public health issue."

Shulkin, who has worked to provide same-day mental health care at VA medical centers, recently expanded emergency mental care to veterans with other than honorable discharges. The department is also boosting its suicide hotline and expanding telehealth options.

Ret. Army Sgt. Shawn Jones, executive director of Stop Soldier Suicide, said veterans suicide is an issue that needs greater awareness to provide community support for those in need. Transitioning back to civilian life can be difficult for active-duty members who may return home with physical and mental conditions and feel unable to open up to friends or families. As a result, some veterans can feel overwhelmed by daily challenges of finding a job, buying a home and supporting a family.

"It can be tough because the military is a close-knit community and you have that familial feel," Jones said. "As you transition out, you tend to lose that a little bit and feel like an island onto yourself."

The attention on veteran suicide comes at a time when the VA has reported a huge upswing in veterans seeking medical care as they have returned from conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Veterans' groups say the latest data may raise questions about the department's push to expand private-sector care.

"Veterans often have more complex injuries," said Allison Jaslow, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, citing limitations if civilian doctors don't understand the unique challenges of the veterans' population. If doctors don't ask the right questions to a veteran complaining of back pain, for instance, they may prescribe opioids not realizing the veteran was also suffering PTSD or brain injury after being blown up in a humvee, said Jaslow, a former Army captain.

Expanding private-sector care and stemming veterans' suicide are priorities of President Donald Trump. In a statement this week as part of Suicide Prevention Month, Trump said the U.S. "must do more" to help mentally troubled veterans.
Ukraine's top prosecutor has said former Georgian President and Ukrainian regional governor Mikheil Saakashvili will not be arrested for defying authorities with his dramatic return to the country after his citizenship was canceled.

In his comments on Saturday, Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko also said that Saakashvili, who is wanted in Georgia on allegations of corruption during his presidency, would not be extradited and suggested the stateless ex-leader may have a document allowing him to remain in Ukraine.

"Saakashvili will not be arrested in this case, Saakashvili cannot be extradited from this country while he has a residence permit or other document that he has filed," Lutsenko said at the annual Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv.

Lutsenko did not specify what kind of document he was referring to.

The reformist, pro-Western president of Georgia from 2004-13, Saakashvili was stripped of his Georgian citizenship in 2015 after he took Ukrainian citizenship in order to become governor of the Odesa region at the request of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

He resigned as Odesa governor in November 2016, complaining of official obstruction of anticorruption efforts, accusing Poroshenko of dishonesty, and charging that the government in Kyiv was sabotaging crucial reforms.

Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship in July, leaving him essentially stateless. On September 10, Saakashvili defied Ukrainian authorities and made a chaotic crossing into the country from Poland, helped by hundreds of his supporters.

Authorities on September 12 formally served notice on Saakashvili in the western city of Lviv for what officials called his illegal entry into the country. They claimed several border officers were injured in the altercation at the border with his supporters.

Lutsenko said on September 16 that those who helped bring Saakashvili across the border would face criminal charges but would not be arrested.

But he said those who "beat Ukrainian border guards" would face arrest and prosecution.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that the United States is considering closing its embassy in Cuba following a number of "health attacks" on American diplomats there.

We have it under evaluation. It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered. We've brought some of those people home. It's under review,'' Tillerson said on the CBS television show "Face the Nation."

At least 21 Americans have suffered what the State Department calls "incidents" that have led to a variety of symptoms, including hearing loss, concussions, headaches, ear-ringing, and even problems with concentration and common word recall. Some Canadian diplomats and their families have also been affected.

Some felt vibrations or heard loud sounds mysteriously audible in only parts of rooms, leading investigators to consider a potential sonic attack. Others heard nothing but later developed symptoms.

Though investigators have explored the possibility of sonic waves or an electromagnetic weapon, no culprit or device has yet been identified, the Associated Press reports. The incidents began late last year and the most recent was reported in August.

Lawmakers in Washington have raised alarm over the incidents. On Friday, five Republican senators wrote Tillerson to call for both closing the Havana embassy and expelling all Cuban diplomats from the United States.

Cuba's neglect of its duty to protect our diplomats and their families cannot go unchallenged,'' said the lawmakers, who included Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who led the effort, and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a prominent Cuban-American and critic of the U.S. detente with Cuba.

Cuba has denied involvement and has said it is cooperating in the investigation into the attacks. The United States has not blamed Cuba directly for the attacks, but asked two Cuban diplomats to leave Washington earlier this year.

Former President Barack Obama re-established ties with the Caribbean island nation two years ago, a move that has been criticized and threatened by his successor Donald Trump.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 03:26:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and nine others wounded on Saturday in a suicide car bombing in the city of Kirkuk, a local police source told Xinhua.

"The latest reports said that three people were killed and nine others wounded in the suicide car bomb attack in Kirkuk," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place in the evening when a suicide bomber detonated his car, loaded with explosives, after hitting a nearby vehicle in the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said.

Ambulances, police and civilian vehicles evacuated the victims to the city's main hospital and medical centers, while security forces sealed off the scene to secure the area, the source added.

Tensions run high in the past few weeks as the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk was expected to witness a controversial referendum, as the city is part of the disputed areas that the Kurds want to incorporate into their semi-autonomous region, a move fiercely opposed by the Arabs and Turkomans and by Baghdad government.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most previous cases, has carried out such suicide attacks targeting security forces and crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.
The mass of warm water known as "the blob'' that heated up the North Pacific Ocean has dissipated, but scientists are still seeing the lingering effects of those unusually warm sea surface temperatures on Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead.



Federal research surveys this summer caught among the lowest numbers of juvenile coho and Chinook salmon in 20 years, suggesting that many fish did not survive their first months at sea. Scientists warn that salmon fisheries may face hard times in the next few years.



Fisheries managers also worry about below average runs of steelhead returning to the Columbia River now. Returns of adult steelhead that went to sea as juveniles a year ago so far rank among the lowest in 50 years.



Scientists believe poor ocean conditions are likely to blame: Cold-water salmon and steelhead are confronting an ocean ecosystem that has been shaken up in recent years.



"The blob's fairly well dissipated and gone. But all these indirect effects that it facilitated are still there,'' Brian Burke, a research fisheries biologist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.



Marine creatures found farther south and in warmer waters have turned up in abundance along the coasts of Washington and Oregon, some for the first time.



"That's going to have a really big impact on the dynamics in the ecosystem,'' Burke said. "They're all these new players that are normally not part of the system.''



Researchers with NOAA Fisheries and Oregon State University Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies have been surveying off the Pacific Northwest for 20 years to study juvenile salmon survival.

In June, they caught record numbers of warm-water fish such as Pacific pompano and jack mackerel, a potential salmon predator. But the catch of juvenile coho and Chinook salmon during the June survey  which has been tied to adult returns  was among the three lowest in 20 years.



Burke and other scientists warned in a memo to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries administrators last month that poor ocean conditions may mean poor salmon returns to the Columbia River system over the next few years.

"There was hardly any salmon out there,'' Burke said. "Something is eating them and we don't know what and we don't know precisely where,'' he added.



Seabirds such as common murres could be the culprits. Researchers caught fewer forage fish, such as herring, anchovy and smelt.



When forage fish are low, avian predators may be forced to eat more juvenile salmon. Seabirds near the mouth of the Columbia River may have feasted on more juvenile salmon as they entered the ocean.



The North Pacific Ocean had been unusually warm since the fall of 2013 with "the blob,'' but sea surface temperatures have recently cooled to average or slightly warmer than average conditions. Changes in the marine ecosystem are likely to be seen for a while.



The research surveys also pulled up weird new creatures that had not been netted before. Researchers have caught tens of thousands of tube-shaped, jelly-like pyrosomes, which are generally found in tropical waters. Their impact on the marine food web isn't yet clear.



Fisheries managers are also seeing lower runs of steelhead to the Columbia River system this year.



Joe DuPont, a regional fisheries manager with Idaho Fish and Game, blames poor feeding conditions when juvenile steelhead went out to the Pacific Ocean last year.



Warm waters brought less nutrient-rich copepods, tiny crustaceans at the base of the food chain. Meanwhile, northern copepods richer in lipids, that young steelhead eat, were less abundant.



It's the second year of consecutive low steelhead runs, said Tucker Jones, ocean salmon and Columbia river program manager with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.



"There's a lot of circumstantial evidence to point to an unhappy river experience and meeting ocean conditions that were far from hospitable,'' Jones said. "The 'blob' especially changed the zooplankton food web structure that was out there,'' he added.



Fisheries managers have put some fishing restrictions in place due to low forecast of steelhead expected back this season.



While the mechanisms for steelhead and salmon may be different, "large scale changes to the ocean are driving all of it,'' said Burke.
World leaders gather in New York, beginning Sept. 17, for their annual U.N. meetings that promise a busy agenda amid numerous ongoing conflicts. The talks follow increased nuclear and ballistic missile activity from North Korea and a growing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. VOA's Margaret Besheer reports that leaders will also be eager to hear what U.S. President Donald Trump says in his first U.N. speech.


Imran Awan, a technology worker in Congress for 13 years, is the subject of a federal investigation that has become a lightning rod for some conservatives. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

In late September 2016, leaders in the House of Representatives met behind closed doors for briefings on a closely held investigation into a group of computer technicians working on Capitol Hill.

Investigators with the Inspector Generals Office had been quietly tracking the five IT workers digital footprints for months. They were alarmed by what they saw. The employees appeared to be accessing congressional servers without authorization, an indication that they could be reading and/or removing information, according to documents distributed at the previously unreported private briefings.



For some who listened to the findings, the fact that the employees were born in Pakistan set off alarms about national security, according to two participants who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Others thought it more likely that the IT workers, naturalized U.S. citizens, were bending rules on network access to share job duties  violations of House protocol, perhaps, but not espionage.

The matter was soon referred to the Capitol Police, who have been assisted in their investigation by the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force. In February, the IT workers were barred from accessing the House network, a development that quickly made headlines.

Since then, the story of the House IT workers  brothers Imran Awan, Abid Awan and Jamal Awan, as well as Imran Awans wife, Hina Alvi, and friend Rao Abbas  has become a lightning rod charged by the convergence of politics, cybersecurity and fears of foreign intrusion.

It has attracted unfounded conspiracy theories and intrigue. Far-right news organizations seized on it as a potential coverup of an espionage ring that plundered national secrets and might have been responsible for the campaign hacking of the Democratic National Committee, a breach that intelligence agencies have linked to Russia. President Trump has fanned its embers from his Twitter account, reposting an article that claimed the mainstream media were ignoring a scandal engulfing Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who was slow to fire Imran Awan after news of the investigation broke.

Yet, according to a senior congressional official familiar with the probe, criminal investigators have found no evidence that the IT workers had any connection to a foreign government. Investigators looking for clues about espionage instead found that the workers were using one congressional server as if it were their home computer, storing personal information such as childrens homework and family photos, the official said.

Even so, the story  reconstructed here after The Washington Post reviewed confidential documents and interviewed more than a dozen people, including House officials, witnesses and others, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive investigation  highlights urgent and persistent questions about how well Congress safeguards computer equipment and data.

Lawyers for some of the IT workers told The Post that their clients had done nothing wrong.

Christopher J. Gowen, one of Imran Awans lawyers, called the espionage claims ludicrous.

Theres nothing that Imran did that wasnt requested by one of his clients on House staff, he said.

Jim Bacon, a lawyer representing Abid Awan, said a very lax environment surrounds security protocols in the House. I can tell you what they were doing was not unusual, he said.

The nearly one-year-old investigation has thus far resulted in no charges related to the groups House IT work. It has burrowed deeply into their personal finances and outside business ventures.

In July, prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia charged Imran Awan and Alvi with bank fraud, alleging that the couple made misrepresentations on an application for a home-equity loan.

[Congressional IT staffer charged with home equity loan fraud]

Imran Awan was arrested at the airport as he was preparing to board a flight to Pakistan, where his wife and three children  ages 4, 7, and 10  have been since March. He has pleaded not guilty. Alvi is planning to return to the United States in the coming weeks to face bank-fraud charges, according to court records. None of the other IT workers has been accused of wrongdoing.

The investigation is ongoing. Both the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment.

Chosen in a lottery

Imran Awan, now 38, was a 14-year-old living in Pakistan when he filled out an application for a U.S. program that provides limited green cards through a lottery system, his lawyers said. He and his family were chosen. He arrived at 17, got a job working at a fast-food restaurant and went to community college in Northern Virginia. He transferred to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and earned a degree in information technology.



Awan became a U.S. citizen in 2004, his lawyers said, the same year he was hired for a part-time job as an IT specialist in the office of Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.). Awan had gotten to know some of Wexlers staffers as an intern for a company that provided services to the office.

As an IT specialist, Awan set up printers and work email accounts for new employees, and did technical troubleshooting. Charismatic and accommodating, he became a popular choice among House Democrats and soon cobbled together more than a dozen part-time jobs as what is known as a shared employee on the Hill, floating between offices on an as-needed basis.

Such arrangements came under scrutiny in 2008 when House Inspector General James J. Cornell testified that there was inadequate oversight over shared employees.

In most instances, they have all the freedom of a vendor and all the benefits of an employee without the accountability one would expect with an employee, Cornell told lawmakers. IT specialists, he noted, present an additional risk in that they often have access to multiple offices data outside of both the oversight of congressional office staff and the visibility of House security personnel.

As demand for Awans services grew, he began recommending his family members, who had less formal training. His brother Abid, 33, started working on Capitol Hill in 2005. His wife, 33, joined in 2007. A friend, Rao Abbas, 37, who had most recently worked as a manager at a McDonalds, was hired in 2012. And Imrans youngest brother, Jamal, 24, started in 2014. Each held part-time jobs in multiple Democratic congressional offices.

At the end of the day, whether they had formal training or not, they were trained on the job by Imran, said one of Imran Awans lawyers, Aaron Marr Page.

By 2016, the five worked for a combined three dozen lawmakers under separate part-time contracts with each office. The Awan family members were each paid between $157,000 and $168,000 that year, making them among the highest-paid staffers on the Hill. The salary cap for a congressional staffer is $174,000.



Under House rules, employees in each congressional office are prohibited from sharing their job duties with others who are not directly employed by that office.



(Source: Guidelines issued by the House Administration Committee)

In his 2008 testimony, Cornell warned that a growing number of shared employees are working in illegal teaming arrangements where they pass the work off to other shared employees not on the payroll of the congressional office they are serving.

Gowen, the other attorney representing Imran Awan, acknowledged that the group filled in for each other at times.



Hes working with family and friends, so there was some coverage by colleagues, Gowen said.

Odd invoices

In March 2016, auditors in the Houses Chief Administrative Office discovered strange invoices for computer equipment  purchases that were broken into multiple payments of less than $500. Any purchases over that amount require equipment to be placed on an inventory that helps to track it.

After a referral to the inspector generals office, investigators found that the IT workers had asked vendors to split the cost of equipment among multiple items and charged these items as office supplies instead of equipment, according to the September briefing document.

As of Sept. 1, 2016, there had been 34 purchases totaling nearly $38,000 where the costs of the item was manipulated to obtain a purchase price of $499.99, according to the document. There were $799 iPads and a $640 television on the list, records show.

Most of that equipment was left off the official House inventory, investigators found. And investigators found that some of it had been delivered to the homes of the Awan brothers, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

One vendor, CDW, received a subpoena from federal prosecutors in December, another person familiar with the procurement part of the probe said. The company said in a statement to The Post that it was cooperating with authorities and that prosecutors had assured the company it was not a target of the investigation.

Page, Imran Awans lawyer, said that the home-equipment deliveries were rare and made when his client planned to be away from the Capitol during the delivery. He declined to comment on other aspects of the equipment purchases.



When asked if his client was authorized to split equipment purchases into increments less than $500, Bacon, Abid Awans lawyer, said: In a fluid situation you do what youre ordered to do. Any missing equipment, Bacon said, disappeared after it was brought to the folks who were demanding it. . . . It sounds to me like theres a lot of scapegoating here.



The House is generally bad at keeping track of the millions of dollars worth of office equipment in its care, according to independent auditors. The past four annual audits have cited ineffective controls over property and equipment as a significant deficiency in the House, records show. Inventory processes are not properly designed and are not operating effectively, an audit found in 2014.



(Source: House of Representatives Financial Audit Report 2016)

A spokesman for the Chief Administrative Office, which is required to do regular audits of House equipment, declined to comment.

Patrick J. Sowers, a part-time systems administrator for two House Republicans, said that it is common for IT workers to have equipment delivered off campus because deliveries at the Capitol require a time-consuming security screening process that is not necessary if an employee brings the equipment into the building.

Its possible that everything was done innocently, Sowers said. But when you add it all together, it does give the appearance that something was done inappropriately.

Mapping a trail

By midsummer, with the approval of the House Administration Committee, the Inspector Generals Office was tracking the five employees logins. In October, they found massive amounts of data flowing from the networks they were accessing, raising the possibility that an automated program was vacuuming up information, according to a senior House official familiar with the probe.

Initially, investigators could not see precisely what kind of data was moving off the server due to legal protections afforded by the Constitutions speech and debate clause, which shields lawmakers deliberations from investigators eyes.

Investigators found that the five IT employees had logged on at one server for the Democratic Caucus more than 5,700 times over a seven-month period, according to documents reviewed by The Post. Alvi, the only one of the five who was authorized to access that server, accounted for fewer than 300 of those logins, documents show.

The congressional networks they were accessing do not contain any classified information, which is held on separate servers that have rigid protections and very limited access. The House network does contain lawmakers email, but a senior House official said IT workers could not access it unless lawmakers provided their passwords.



The Inspector Generals Office reported on its findings in a series of briefings in late September and early October in the offices of the House speaker, the Democratic leader, the House Administration Committee, the sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police. The leadership agreed to refer the probe to Capitol Police and the FBI, who had the tools to conduct more thorough background checks and to access their financial records. The criminal investigation began in October.

At the time, the presidential election was underway, and Hillary Clinton was under FBI investigation to determine whether she had mishandled classified information by using a private email server in the basement of her house while she was secretary of state. About two weeks later, after Trump won the election, House leaders decided to take the highly unusual step of barring the five IT workers from the network.

The House sergeant at arms convened chiefs of staff in early February and told them that the IT workers were under investigation for suspicion of stealing equipment and potential security violations related to the House network. Most offices fired the IT staffers. But a few Democratic lawmakers defended the Awans, saying that they had not seen definitive evidence that the Awans did anything wrong.

As of right now, I dont see a smoking gun, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) told Politico in March. I have seen no evidence that they were doing anything that was nefarious.

Wasserman Schultz found a new consulting job for Imran Awan that did not require access to the House network and said publicly that she was concerned that the investigation was driven by ethnic and religious bias. The Awans are Muslims.

Her fierce defense of the Awans at times puzzled even some in her own party. In May, Wasserman Schultz chided the Capitol Police chief during a public hearing after officers confiscated a laptop that had been left in a Capitol Building hallway. It belonged to her office and had been issued to Imran Awan.

I think youre violating the rules when you conduct your business that way and should suspect there will be consequences, Wasserman Schultz told the chief.

She has also suggested that data moving off her offices server might have been files the office routinely stored on Dropbox, an Internet-based document-sharing service. House rules prohibit moving data off the main server, but Wasserman Schultz has said in a public hearing that House administrators had not made those rules clear.

My concern was they were being singled out, Wasserman Schultz told The Post.

[The story of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and an indicted IT staffer thats lighting up the right, explained]

Wasserman Schultzs office has said it is cooperating with the investigation. It has hired an outside lawyer, William Pittard, and for a time considered whether to shield any information sought by investigators by asserting speech and debate protections.

Ultimately, the congresswoman chose not to retain a single document on speech or debate or any other grounds in this investigation, said David Damron, Wasserman Schultzs communications director. Pittard is being paid by the congresswomans campaign for reelection.

Sowers, the systems administrator, said that while storing congressional data on Dropbox or other file-sharing services may be convenient, anyone who is doing it is putting themselves at risk.

Hackers are out there constantly, he said.

Page said he is confident the networking issues that helped kick off the criminal investigation will not result in charges.

Everything we have heard, once stripped of any conspiratorial overtone, is consistent with how systems were set up and used in member offices, the lawyer said. None of this was invented by Imran. We dont think that any of the systems were in violation of any rules or policies, and certainly Imran didnt think so at the time.

House staffers, meanwhile, have proposed a series of reforms in response to the controversy. They are under consideration by the House Administration Committee, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. Those recommendations have not been released publicly, and officials declined to provide them.

The aftermath

The disclosure of the investigation led to a torrent of news stories in the conservative press, led by the Daily Caller. The coverage has delved into the Awans personal finances, side businesses and family disputes  producing an unflattering portrait.

[Watchdog group asks Congress to investigate Wasserman-Schultz over fired IT aide]

Right-wing conspiracy theorists with large followings on the Internet have spun the revelations into intricate tales, trying to make the case that Imran Awan was the source of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee that were published by WikiLeaks during last years presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind the hacking.

The unfounded speculation has found its way into coverage by Fox News.

What if he was the source to WikiLeaks? Fox News Geraldo Rivera said of Imran Awan during a July segment with host Sean Hannity after Awans arrest on bank-fraud charges. He has all the passwords, he has all of the information. This is a huge story.

According to charging documents, Imran Awan and Alvi took out two home-equity loans in December 2016, totaling $283,000, and wired the money to Pakistan on Jan. 18, about a week before they were banned from the House network.

On bank-loan applications to the Congressional Federal Credit Union, Alvi indicated that the couple lived in the two homes that were offered as collateral  but the homes were actually rental properties, according to the federal indictment. The bank does not offer home-equity loans on rental properties.

Imran Awans lawyers said Awan and Alvi have repaid the loans by cashing out their retirement funds. Page, Awans lawyer, would not address the wire transfers, but said that at the time Awan was struggling to arrange an elaborate funeral for his father in Pakistan and fighting legal battles over inherited family property there.



(Source: Federal indictment)

They were charged with bank fraud on July 24. Wasserman Schultz fired Imran Awan the same week.

Alvi had already left the United States for Pakistan, in March. Imran Awans lawyers said Alvi left to allow the family to rent out their home because they had lost their jobs and to temporarily escape the media frenzy, which included harassment of her three children at home and at school.

Federal agents and Capitol Police tried to question her at Dulles International Airport, but ultimately let her and her children board the plane. An FBI agent wrote in a court document that he did not believe she intended to come back. Alvi has agreed to return to the United States in late September, according to court documents.

Imran Awan is living with a relative in Virginia and wearing a GPS tracking device. He has given up his passport and is restricted from traveling farther than 50 miles from the home where he is staying.

Appearing at Imran Awans first court appearance on Sept. 1 was George Webb, a self-described citizen journalist from Fort Wayne, Ind., who has cultivated 40,000 followers by posting hundreds of conspiratorial videos on YouTube.

He filed papers asking the judge if he could present evidence in the bank-fraud case that would reveal a host of other crimes, including money laundering to terrorist organizations. The judge denied the unusual request. Outside the courthouse, Webb said that he believed prosecutors were conspiring with Awans lawyers to minimize the case.

Theyre orchestrating this thing, making it look like theres a trial here, Webb said. Theres no trial here. They are trying to make this look like a small, simple bank fraud case. Its not. Its a spy ring in Congress.
Exceptional Excellent Very Good



WASHINGTON DC - September 12TH: Wine selection shot on September 12th, 2017 in Washington DC. (Goran Kosanovic for The Washington Post)

A fascinating cinsault from the Itata Valley gives us a taste of Chiles history, while a savory carmenere shows off the countrys signature red grape. A berry-filled rose from California, a delicate white from Italy and an inexpensive red from southern France help us with the transition to autumn weather and foods.

[Their goal: Wines that taste more like Chile and less like everywhere else]

GREAT VALUE

De Martino Gallardia Cinsault 2016

Itata Valley, Chile, $23

Cinsault is a relatively minor grape from the Rhone Valley and southern France, but it has a long history in Chiles Itata Valley. De Martinos Gallardia bottling is extraordinary: light and austere with pure cherry fruit and a long haunting finish, like someone a few houses away singing a spiritual on a cool evening when you can keep the windows open. Alcohol by volume: 13 percent.

Distributed by Country Vintner: Available in the District at Cordial Fine Wine & Spirits, Grand Cata; on the list at all area Legal Sea Foods and Seasons 52 restaurants, Bo Brooks in Baltimore.

GREAT VALUE

Casa Silva Cuvee Colchagua Carmenere 2015

Colchagua Valley, Chile, $16

Carmenere, virtually unknown today in its homeland of Bordeaux, has become Chiles signature red grape. This savory rendition offers aromas of tobacco leaf and black fruits, and meaty flavors that practically demand a hearty beef dish. ABV: 14 percent.

Distributed by Bacchus in the District and Maryland, Roanoke Valley in Virginia: Available in the District at Grand Cata, Pauls of Chevy Chase, Rodmans, Yes! Organic Market (Eighth Street SE); on the list at Tico. Available in Maryland at Plaza Liquors in Pasadena, Rips Wine and Spirit Shop in Bowie; on the list at Bar Vasquez in Baltimore, Bo Brooks in Baltimore. Available in Virginia at Organic Butcher in McLean.

GREAT VALUE

Angeline Vineyards Rose of Pinot Noir 2016

California, $13

This is the first rose from this Sonoma County winery, and its a winner. Bright zesty flavors of ripe strawberries leads to raspberries and a refreshing minty finish. If you dont suck this one down before dinner, try it with spicy Asian foods. ABV: 12.5 percent.

Distributed by Country Vintner: Available in the District at Cairo Wine & Liquor, Haydens Liquor, Rosebud Liquor, Sheffield Wine & Liquor Shoppe, Union Kitchen Grocery (both locations). Available in Maryland at Beers & Cheers Too and Diamond Square Beer & Wine in Gaithersburg, the Bottle Shop in Potomac, Hop N Grape in North Bethesda, Village Beer & Fine Wine in Rockville.

GREAT VALUE

Casale Marchese Frascati Superiore 2016

Italy, $14

What a delightful little refresher. This citrusy wine is delicious by itself, as an aperitif with finger foods or even with a light weekend lunch. ABV: 12 percent.

Distributed by Simon N Cellars: Available in the District at A. Litteri, MacArthur Beverages; on the list at Beucherts Saloon, Lupo Verde. Available in Virginia at Screwtop Wine Bar & Cheese Shop in Arlington, Tastings and Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, Tinto (Norfolk, Virginia Beach).

GREAT VALUE

Chateau de Vaugelas Le Prieure Corbieres 2015

Languedoc, France, $12

This Rhone-style red offers hints of wild sage and lavender, with ripe, juicy fruit flavors that suggest the sunshine of Frances Mediterranean coast. ABV: 13.5 percent.

Distributed by Elite: Widely available, including at Rodmans in the District, Rodmans (Wheaton, White Flint) in Maryland, and Whole Foods Markets (various locations) in Virginia.

Availability information is based on distributor records. Wines might not be in stock at every listed store and might be sold at additional stores. Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
For several years, the nations capital has joined other left-leaning cities and states in pushing legislation to improve the plight of the working poor.

Now, facing growing unrest from business owners and internal division over their priorities, D.C. lawmakers are preparing to take a break from further beefing up labor standards.

The retreat, coming after a year in which the District adopted a plan to increase its minimum hourly wage to $15 and enacted a law guaranteeing private-sector workers some of the nation's most generous family- and medical-leave benefits, is an abrupt shift for a city whose leaders have been in the vanguard of the national campaign for workers' rights.

It comes as Democratic cities elsewhere continue to push for enhanced workforce protections, such as laws regulating how businesses schedule employees shifts.

As the D.C. Council prepares to resume its legislative session this week after a two-month summer recess, some are lauding the course correction, while others lament that the District is forfeiting its prominent place fighting for stronger workplace standards.

"Businesses like certainty, and if we're constantly changing the tax burden or the tax environments, or constantly changing the regulatory burden, then it becomes more difficult to do business in the District," said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who has proposed a moratorium through the end of 2018 on bills that would negatively affect businesses.

Mendelson, who shepherded the paid-leave bill through the council in December despite opposition from business groups and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), said businesses need a "breather" and policymakers need to see if the labor laws they have enacted are working.

This doesnt mean absolutely nothing will go through, he said.

Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), chairwoman of the councils labor and workforce development committee, said the District should continue to enact laws that ensure lower-income workers have fair rules to play by in an economic boom that has disproportionately benefited the citys affluent.

Silverman questioned the assumption that marquee workforce protections like the paid-leave bill  which she co-authored  or the $15 minimum wage unfairly burden employers. She said business owners have told her that they are more frustrated with the city's small-bore regulatory requirements, such as permitting.

She said she supports the idea of a fair scheduling bill, which mandates predictable schedules for on-call workers in places such as restaurants, hotels and other businesses. Labor activists have made clear such legislation is their next goal in the District.

But she acknowledged that political reality may dictate that the council takes up other priorities for the foreseeable future.

Not least among them the paid-leave law, which some council members have proposed revising to lower its tax burden on businesses. Debate over whether and how to reshape the law  which increases business taxes to provide eight weeks of paid parental leave, six weeks to care for a sick relative and two weeks of personal sick time  will probably preoccupy the council for at least the rest of the year.

I have told the advocates supporting fair scheduling that we will deal with paid family leave first, she said.

At least one bill affecting business practices is already making its way toward a vote in the council: A measure proposed by council member David Grosso (I-At Large) that would bar employers from asking about salary history before making a job offer. The bill is aimed at eliminating differences in pay between men and women.

Ari Schwartz, lead organizer for the pro-labor coalition D.C. Jobs with Justice, said activists will continue to push elected officials to adopt stronger workplace laws.

Why should legislation that is going to help people in the city get better jobs, get living-wage jobs, be on a moratorium? Schwartz said. I dont understand how anyone can rule out considering things that people need and policies that are going to help people, on some arbitrary timeline just because the business community is up in arms as they always are.

District restaurateur Saied Azali said he welcomed a hiatus from further workplace standards imposed by the city.

Its a wonderful, wonderful idea, said Azali, co-owner of Perrys, Mintwood Place and Convivial. In the restaurant industry, he said, an influx of competitors catering to the Districts increasingly affluent patrons has made it a particularly bad time to impose new regulations on established businesses. Its very tough for all of us to survive, he said.

Such concerns echo those expressed by trade groups during the debate over paid leave in December. The Greater Washington Board of Trade, D.C. Chamber of Commerce, Federal City Council and associations representing restaurants, universities and hospitals opposed the bill ultimately passed by the council, particularly its funding mechanism, a new .62 percent payroll tax levied on employers.

Yesim Sayin Taylor, executive director of the D.C. Policy Center, a fiscally moderate think tank associated with the Federal City Council, said it was a good time for D.C. officials to wait to witness the effects of recent laws such as the minimum-wage increase, whose effects on job creation economists dispute.

The relationship between businesses and their employees is very complex. Its not one-dimensional, Taylor said. Its an important time to sort of stop for the moment and really understand what kind of burden businesses carry in the District.

Yet such a pause would run counter to the prevailing trend in progressive statehouses and city halls elsewhere in the country. With little movement in Congress to improve pay and benefits for the working poor, pro-labor measures have become a priority and litmus test for Democrats at the local level.

California and New York have adopted minimum-wage increases. Last month, Oregon's governor signed a scheduling bill similar to that sought by D.C. labor advocates. In May, New York City approved a law regulating the schedules of fast-food workers.

I think its purely an expression of frustration that lawmakers at higher levels of government havent taken up these issues, said David Cooper, a senior economic analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

Cooper said some liberal cities in Republican-controlled states have run into trouble: When St. Louis boosted its minimum wage this year, Missouri state officials passed a bill to reverse the increase.

It is less common, he said, for pro-labor legislators such as those in the District to unilaterally alter their agenda.

It would be unusual, he said, for D.C., among its peer group of fairly progressive cities, to come out and say they are going to ignore worker standards for the foreseeable future.
Columnist

Jason Roberts, wearing a green polo shirt, jeans and sandals, sits in a classroom at McKinley Middle School in Pasadena, Calif., feeding questions to four boys and two girls standing at whiteboards.

They are typical eighth-graders. The boys tease each other loudly. The girls draw cats on the board while they wait for the next question. The book Roberts uses: Advanced Placement Calculus.

AP Calculus for 12- and 13-year-olds? Even high school seniors rarely take that course. But this otherwise ordinary school district, with 69 percent of its students from low-income families, has created a program called the Math Academy to accelerate students at least four years above their grade level. The idea? Complete high school math, including calculus, in middle school and devote high school to more complex subjects: multivariable calculus, abstract algebra, probability, game theory and other college subjects.

The plan appears to be unique for a public school district, and its pace is not the only startling feature. The Math Academy was initiated by Roberts and his wife, Sandy. They are not teachers but parents with deep backgrounds in math. When Brian McDonald, the former accountant who is superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District, saw the Robertses' fifth-grade enrichment class for 14 students, he assembled skilled teachers to expand it.

As parents of gifted children across the country know, the fact that McDonald listened to and heeded parents is extraordinary. Although educators say they love input from moms and dads, they cringe at parents suggesting what to teach. When parents, including some from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, asked to establish a similar academy in a wealthier area near Pasadena, an official of that district said the program was "not fully research-based" and expressed "concerns regarding its developmental appropriateness for 13- and 14-year-olds."

When they were seventh-graders, two of the six students in Robertss class got passing scores of 3 on the AP Calculus AB test. The others got 2s. Roberts, who designed several systems for Uber, thinks a year of preparation for the more difficult AP Calculus BC test will result in passing scores for all the students, including his and Sandys oldest child.

Three campuses offer the middle school program from the Math Academy. Pasadena High School will start college-level math courses next year.

The Math Academy plans to enroll 60 students in each grade from sixth through 12th in Pasadena. Thats roughly the top 5 percent.

In the Washington area, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has a handful of kids who have finished calculus before ninth grade, said Brandon Kosatka, director of student services. But his is the most selective public secondary school in the country.

The only other effort I could find anywhere close to what Pasadena is doing is the University of Minnesotas Talented Youth Mathematics Program. Its after-school schedule serves about 75 middle and high schools. Twenty-five of its 110 first-year calculus students are eighth-graders or younger.

Pasadenas program is based on the belief that talented math students are everywhere and that an ordinary district can accelerate its learning as well as a state university can. The University of California has approved Pasadenas high-school-math-in-middle-school courses. Nets Katz, IBM professor of mathematics at Caltech, said he likes Roberts exposing the shallowness of the standard high school math curriculum but wonders if he might be sacrificing depth for speed.

If the Robertses middle-schoolers can do college math in high school, might other districts try that? The Math Academy eighth-graders  David Geiselman, Nicole Kwan, George Meza, Riley Paddock, Colby Roberts and Caroline Vasquez  seemed to enjoy being on their feet for an hour, focusing and laughing.

I want them to have a lot of fun, Roberts said.

In high school, they will have the usual mix of English, history and science, with some AP. In math, they will be far beyond that. Their parents and teachers wonder what effect that will have on them and their school.
BLOOD DONATIONS

Blood drives Monday 2:30-7:30 p.m., Claude Moore Recreation Center, 46105 Loudoun Park Lane, Sterling, 800-733-6727; Wednesday 7 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Stone Springs Hospital Center, 24440 Stone Springs, Blvd., Sterling, 800-733-6727; Oct. 6, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, 801 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg, 800-733-6727; Oct. 12, 2:30-8 p.m., Ashburn Fire and Rescue, 20688 Ashburn Rd., Ashburn, 800-733-6727; Oct. 20, 1:30-6:30 p.m., St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St., Leesburg, 800-733-6727.

Inova Blood Donor Center Mondays noon-8 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fridays 6 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays noon-4 p.m. Dulles Town Center, 45745 Nokes Blvd., Sterling. 866-256-6372 or inova.org/donateblood.

FIRST AID

First aid/adult, infant and child CPR/AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Fauquier Health Medical Office Building, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Call for schedule. Registration required. 540-316-3588. $85.

HEARING

Disability Resource Center Technical assistance through the state Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and presentations to businesses, groups and schools. Third Tuesdays 2-5 p.m., Workplace, 205 Keith St., Warrenton. Call for an appointment, 800-648-6324; TDD, 540-373-5890. Free.

MENTAL HEALTH

Counseling for sexual violence survivors Provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice. 703-771-9020.

Crisis Intervention Treatment and Assessment Center Provides emergency mental-health, substance-use and developmental services to Loudoun residents. Daily 7 a.m.-11 p.m. 102 Heritage Way NE, Suite 102, Leesburg. Emergency services are available 24 hours a day at 703-777-0320.

Crisislink Suicide and crisis intervention. Community education, a volunteer crisis response team and CareRing, a telephone outreach program for the elderly and disabled. 703-527-6016, volunteer@crisislink.org or crisislink.org.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services This mental-health nonprofit organization is accepting clients ages 16 to 30 for a coordinated services program with Loudoun County to help young people with their first experience of psychosis find hope and recover. For information, call Lisa Beran at 703-388-6572 or go to prsinc.org.

Piedmont Chapter, National Alliance on Mental Illness Serves Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock counties. Support group, education classes and events for people living with mental illness and their family members. First Wednesdays 7-9 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, 500 Hospital Dr., Sycamore Room A, Warrenton. 571-426-8213.

Mental health first-aid A public education program offered by the Loudoun County Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services to help residents understand mental illness and seek intervention. Go to loudoun.gov/mhfirstaid.

Northern Virginia Chapter, National Alliance on Mental Illness Support group, classes and programs for people living with mental illness and their loved ones. naminorthernvirginia.org.

PREGNANCY, PARENTING

Adoptive family preservation Adoptive families discuss common experiences; registration required. Third Tuesdays 12:30-2 p.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd. Call 703-941-9008, Ext. 23, or email jmellario@umfs.org.

Birthright of Loudoun County Free pregnancy tests, baby clothing, transportation and support throughout pregnancy, 823 S. King St., Leesburg. 703-777-7272.

Bond Between Us A nonprofit organization that offers support to birth parents when children have been placed for adoption. Fourth Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Call for location. 703-771-7844.

Breast-feeding support Mondays 9:30-10:30 a.m., Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588.

Dad support New and expectant fathers share ideas. First Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. 703-858-6360.

For the Children's Sake A support group for separating or divorcing parents to share advice. Four-hour session weekly. Information: 703-391-8599 or fitsfoundation.org.

La Leche League Mother-to-mother support and breast-feeding information. 10 a.m. second Wednesdays in Warrenton, 540-351-6103. Third Fridays 10:15-11:45 a.m., call for location, 703-444-7386. Second Fridays 10:15 a.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., 703-829-0349. Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Panera Bread, 43670 Greenway Corp. Dr., Ashburn, lllashburn@gmail.com. Third Fridays 10:15 a.m., Christ the Redeemer Church, 46833 Harry F. Byrd. Hwy., Sterling, 540-338-4637.

Loudoun Fatherhood Program Fathers discuss the joys and challenges of being a parent. Meets every other Saturday for two hours for four months; sponsored by Northern Virginia Family Service. 571-748-2796. Free.

Loudoun Nurturing Parenting Program Positive parenting techniques; children attend with parents. Registration required. Call 703-771-3973, Ext. 27, or email nurturingprogram@lcsj.org. Free.

Mothernet/Healthy Families Loudoun Program links first-time parents with medical, social and educational resources to give children a socially and physically healthy start in life. Family-support workers meet with participants in homes. English-Spanish translation provided. 703-444-4477, Ext. 217, or inmed.org.

New mother support Wednesdays 9:30-11:30 a.m. Inova Loudoun Medical Pavilion, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. Babies welcome. 703-858-6360.

Online childbirth education program Inova Loudoun Hospital's Web-based program uses animation, videos and interactive activities to guide users through the basics of childbirth, breast-feeding and caring for newborns. 703-858-6360 or thebirthinginn.org/classes.

Parenting Alone group For parents who have school-age children and have lost a spouse or partner to cancer. Second Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call 703-698-2536 or email jennifer.eckert@inova.org.

Pregnancy and childbirth support Childbirth Solutions Resource Center, 8393 W. Main St., Marshall. 571-344-0438.

Young parent services Support for teenage parents. Loudoun County Department of Family Social Services, 52 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg. Call for times. 703-771-5375.

SENIORS

Chair yoga Age 55 and older. Mondays 11 a.m.-noon, Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Wear comfortable clothes. Bare feet or socks encouraged. 571-258-3400. $2 drop-in.

Exercise equipment Age 55 and older. Weights, treadmills, bikes and a cardio-glide. Instruction provided. Weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

Eye care LensCrafters staff members clean glasses and make minor repairs. Second Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2397. Free.

Inova Loudoun mobile van Blood pressure checks. Second and fourth Tuesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling, 571-258-3280; first Wednesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039.

Laughing yoga for seniors Exercises to improve flexibility and balance. Thursdays 9:30-10:30 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

Loudoun Adult Day Centers For seniors with physical limitations or memory loss, a safe and social environment, therapeutic activities, individualized care and respite for caregivers. Limited transportation. Sliding-scale fees. Weekdays in Leesburg, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 703-771-5334; Purcellville, 571-258-3402; and Ashburn-Sterling, 571-258-3232.

Senior Outreach Services Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Senior Center at Cascades. First and third Wednesdays 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280.

Senior Outreach Services Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Sign up in the Leesburg Senior Center lobby. Second and fourth Thursdays 11 a.m.-noon and 12:30-4:30 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

Senior Outreach Services Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Carver Center. First and third Mondays, 12:30-5 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 703-737-8741. Free.

Tai chi for seniors Stretching and strengthening movements. Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

Zumba gold class Age 55 and older. Wear rubber-soled shoes and comfortable clothing; bring water and a towel. Tuesdays 11 a.m., Tuesdays and Fridays 1 p.m. Senior Center of Leesburg, 102 North St. NW, Leesburg. 703-737-8039. $24 per month.

Zumba For people 55 and older learning Zumba for the first time, or those who prefer a lower-impact version. The fitness program combines Latin and international music with dance. Thursdays 11 a.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. $12.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Addiction support Tuesdays 7 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Email sznnodum@gmail.com or 540-935-8148.

Al-Anon Service Center of Northern Virginia A volunteer is available 24 hours with information for spouses, family members and friends of problem drinkers. 703-534-4357 or 877-339-8350. Mondays 8 p.m., Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 125 W. Washington St., Middleburg, 540-554-2747; Tuesdays 7:30 p.m., St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg, 877-339-8350; Fridays 8:30 p.m., Grace Episcopal Church, 6507 Main St., The Plains, 800-344-2666; Tuesdays 12:15 p.m., Warrenton Church of Christ, Route 29 N., 540-347-7448; Tuesdays 7 p.m. and Saturdays 8:30 p.m., Warrenton Presbyterian Church, 91 Main St., 800-344-2666.

Alcoholics Anonymous Various meeting times and locations in Loudoun County. 800-208-8649 or 703-876-6166. nvintergroup.org.

Alienated parents and grandparents support For parents and grandparents who have been shut out of their children's or grandchildren's lives. Friday 7-9 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. The meetings may be extended according to the needs and interests of those attending. 540-349-5814.

Alzheimer's caregivers support For those caring for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Second Mondays 7-8:30 p.m. Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-430-9229. galileeumc.org.

Alzheimer's caregiver support For those who care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Fourth Wednesdays 4-5:30 p.m. The Villa at Suffield Meadows, 6735 Suffield Lane, Warrenton. 540-316-3800.

Alzheimer's caregivers support Emotional, educational and social support for family members and friends of people with the disease. Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. 703-771-5407 or lesley.katz@loudoun.gov.

Alzheimer's caregiver support group Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 540-903-6831 or alz.org.

Alzheimer's support First Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. Spring Arbor Assisted Living, 237 Fairview St. NW, Leesburg. 540-338-6520.

Alzheimer's support First Wednesdays 4 p.m. Leesburg Adult Day Center, 16501 Meadowview Ct., Leesburg. 703-771-5334.

Alzheim er's support First Thursdays, noon, Lansdowne Woods of Virginia, 19375 Magnolia Grove Sq., Lansdowne. 703-283-6554.

Alzheimer's support Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400.

Talk About Curing Autism A nonprofit organization educating and supporting families affected by autism. tacanow.org.

Autoimmune support Last Thursdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jackson Building, 209 Gibson St., Leesburg. autoimmunesupport@

hotmail.com.

Bereaved parent support One-on-one counseling is available. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv.

Bereavement support Age 18 and older. Third Mondays 1 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-957-1800.

Breast cancer support For those with new diagnoses or starting treatment. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 5-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857.

Breast cancer support Fourth Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Tower, Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-0588.

Breast cancer support For those who have finished treatment, have had a recurrence or have metastatic breast cancer. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. Free.

Breast Cancer Support Assistance Fund Loudoun County residents who have received a diagnosis or have undergone treatment in the past 12 months are eligible to apply for financial assistance. Areas included are wigs, bras, puffs and prostheses, mammograms and medical bills, food and help with utilities, rent or mortgage, and transportation costs. The Pink Assistance Fund has been established by the Loudoun Breast Health Network. lbhn.org.

Cancer support Oncology nurses, social workers and spiritual-care providers offer education and support to patients, families and caregivers. Second Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2273.

Cancer support "Life with Cancer," for patients, family members and friends. Second Thursdays 7 p.m. Ashburn Presbyterian Church, Room 202, 20962 Ashburn Rd. 703-729-2012 or ashburnpresbyterian.org.

Caregiver support Emotional, educational and social support. Encourages caregivers to maintain their physical and emotional health while caring for people with dementia or other chronic illness. Fourth Thursdays 3-4 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 540-903-6831.

Caregiver support and resource group Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-noon (no meeting first Wednesdays), Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv.

Caring for Aging Parents Support group. Confidential. Fourth Wednesdays 7:30 p.m., Family Focus Counseling Service, 20-B John Marshall St., Warrenton. 540-349-4537.

CHADD parents support For parents of children with ADD/ADHD. Fourth Sundays 3 p.m. KinderCare, 44051 Ashburn Village Shopping Plaza. chadd.novaloudoun@gmail.com.

Chronic illness support Tuesdays 1:30-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministries, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv.

Coffee and Conversation Support for those discouraged because of illness, bereavement, caregiving or a loved one in the military. Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814.

Compassionate Friends For parents who have experienced the death of a child. First Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg. 540-882-9707.

Creating and Connecting Two-hour art therapy and relaxation workshop for cancer patients. Every other month, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-858-8850.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance of Western Loudoun Saturdays 3 p.m. Purcellville Library, 220 E. Main St., Carruthers Room. Call 703-431-7160 or email kathy@dbsanca.org.

Drop-in grief support Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. St. David's Episcopal Church, 43600 Russell Branch Pkwy., Ashburn. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-597-1781.

Families Overcoming Drug Addiction Support group. First and third Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. myfodafamily@gmail.com or 540-316-9221.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and parent support A group in partnership with Metro DC PFLAG. Fourth Sundays 4-6 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church, 22135 Davis Dr., Sterling. 703-328-6518.

Griefshare Open to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one. Tuesdays through Oct. 3, 7-8:30 p.m. Purcellville Baptist Church 601 Yaxley Dr., Purcellville. Call 540-338-0918 or email caring@purbap.org. Workbook, $15.

Griefshare Nondenominational seminar and support group. Tuesdays 7:30-9 p.m., and Wednesdays, 1-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Free.

Grief support Sponsored by Hospice Support of Fauquier County. Individual counseling available. First and third Thursdays 3:30-5 p.m. Hospice Support Office, 42 N. Fifth St., Warrenton. Registration required. Email hospicesupport@verizon.net or call 540 - 347-5922.

Grief support Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814.

Hospice support Free medical-equipment loan facility for Fauquier County residents. Especially needed are donations of wheelchairs, bedside commodes, rolling walkers, electric hospital beds, shower benches and chairs, adult diapers, lift chairs, Ensure and hospital bed mattresses . 540-347-5922.

Look Good, Feel Better For women undergoing or emerging from cancer treatment. Every other month, 6:45-9 p.m., Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-776-2820. Free.

Loudoun CHADD support Led by Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Leesburg Town Hall, lower-level conference room, 25 W. Market St. 703-669-2445.

Lyme disease support Fourth Sundays 2-4 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Conference Room A and B, Leesburg. Go to natcaplyme.org or email loudounlymeadvocates@

gmail.com.

Lyme disease support Third Thursdays 7-9 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Call 540-341-8245 or email phillipsgeo@comcast.net.

Lyme disease support Age 18 and older. First Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Email charphealy@yahoo.com.

MADD Loudoun victim support For those who have been affected by drunken driving. Third Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. 210 Wirt St., Leesburg. 540-338-6491.

Man-to-Man cancer support Sponsored by Loudoun Cancer Care Center, for prostate cancer patients and their families. Second Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-858-8857 or karen.archer@inova.org.

Menopause support Third Thursdays 6:30-9 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg (second floor, Patient Education Room). 703-858-8060.

Men's grief support Second Mondays at 7 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 703-568-3346. Free.

Multiple sclerosis support Saturdays 10:30 a.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-2826.

Multiple sclerosis support Last Sundays, September-June, 2-4 p.m. Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Pl., Potomac Falls. Call ahead to confirm. 703-771-4256.

Nar-Anon family support For those affected by loved ones with addiction. "Meaningful Mondays," 7-8 p.m., Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-203-9792; "Wisdom Wednesdays" 7-8 p.m., St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 37730 St. Francis Ct., Purcellville, 703-606-7125; "Serenity Thursdays," 7-8 p.m. Leesburg Presbyterian Church, 207 W. Market St., Leesburg, 703-606-7125.

Overeaters Anonymous For fellowship and support. For locations and times, go to oa.org.

Parkinson's social Coffee and conversation. Third Wednesdays 10 a.m.-noon, Tribute at One Loudoun, 20335 Savin Hill Dr., Ashburn. parkinsonsocialnetwork.org or 703-378-7221. Free.

Parkinson's support Open to those with Parkinson's disease, their family members and caregivers. First Tuesdays 1:30-3 p.m. Call for Ashburn location. 571-442-8851.

Postpartum support Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Cornwall Campus, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. 703-909-9877 or lamckeough@gmail.com. Registration required.

Reach to Recovery Home-visit program for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients. Temporary prostheses, exercise instruction and encouragement. 703-938-5550.

Sexual assault and incest survivors group counseling Services provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice and the Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter are free and confidential. 703-771-9020.

Sexual assault survivors empowerment support Sponsored by Sexual Assault Victims Volunteer Initiative. Child care available with 48 hours notice. Mondays; call for times and locations. 540-349-7720.

Spiritual support group For cancer patients, family members and friends. Third Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8850.

Stroke support First Wednesdays, noon-1:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. Free.

Stroke survivors and caregivers support Second Wednesdays 11 a.m.-noon, Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second floor, Patient Education Room. 703-858-6199 or jill.lieb@inova.org.

Suicide counseling Third Wednesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Leesburg Town Office, Conference Room 2, lower level, 25 W. Market St., Leesburg. survivorsofsuicideloss

leesburg@gmail.com or 703-587-1618.

Widows and widowers support Third Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039.

Women's support Sponsored by Services to Abused Families. Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Confidential location. 540-825-8876.

Women's cancer support Woman to Woman, first Wednesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Registration required. 703-858-8850.

MISCELLANEOUS

Brain trauma survivors' brown-bag lunch For survivors and caregivers. First Tuesdays, noon-1:30 p.m., Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second-floor Patient Education Room. Call 703-737-3150 or email jberg@braininjurysvcs.org. Free.

Child developmental screenings For ages 2-5. Children may not be kindergarten-age-eligible. Sponsored by the Loudoun County school systems' Child Find Center. 571-252-2180.

Cholesterol screenings Weekdays, 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Fauquier Health LIFE Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2640. Registration required. $35.

Emergency food supplies Loudoun County residents in need can receive a free three-day supply of groceries. Supplies are distributed Mondays through Saturdays by Loudoun Hunger Relief. Call 703-777-5911 or go to loudounhunger.org.

Fauquier free walk-in medical clinic Call Thursdays 12:30 to 1 p.m. to register for the clinic, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Patients are seen by appointment Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fauquier and Rappahannock residents only. Bring proof of address for the first visit. Patients cannot have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. Information: 540-347-0394 Tuesdays or Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Fauquier Hospital Bistro Senior Supper Club Nutritious meals and fellowship for people 55 and older. Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Bistro on the Hill, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $5.49.

HEROES (Hometown Enabling Relationships, Opportunities and Empowerment through Support) is a program for military families. Support to military members and families, from predeployment up to two years post-deployment. Assistance includes financial help, job placement, family care and mental-health services. caring@purbap.org or heroescare.org.

Inova Loudoun Hospital Mobile Health Services Blood pressure screenings. Monday 9-11 a.m., William Watters House, 22365 Enterprise St., Sterling; Thursday 11 a.m.-noon, Lovettsville Community Center, 57 E. Broad Way, Lovettsville; Sept. 26, 9 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 2001060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling; Sept. 27, 10 a.m.-noon, Lansdowne Woods, 19400 Leisure World Blvd., Leesburg; Sept. 28, 10 a.m.-noon, Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Information: 703-858-8818 or inova.org/mobilehealth. Free.

Loudoun Cares information and referral help line Call 703-669-4636 for help in finding resources for county residents on issues of eviction, utility cutoffs, health care and employment.

Motor skill screenings Birth to 21 months. First Thursdays, Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. Call for an appointment. 703-858-7620. Free.

Northern Virginia long-term-care ombudsman Call 703-324-5861 for help with complaints related to long-term-care facilities.

Road to Recovery Free rides to appointments for cancer patients. Call 410-781-6909 or email jen.burdette@cancer.org. Free.

Safe sitter classes For girls and boys ages 11-14. First Saturdays except for holiday weekends. 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. To receive a Safe Sitter Certificate, students must pass practical and written tests on babysitting and handling an emergency. Take a lunch from home or buy one in the cafeteria. $70, includes handbook and snacks. Registration required. Contact 703-858-8818 or charlene.martin@inova.org.

Seven Loaves Food Pantry Individuals and families can receive a three-day supply of food, distributed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-noon. Go to sevenloavesmiddleburg.org or call 540-687-3489.

Tree of Life Food Pantry Serving western Loudoun County. Food is delivered Wednesdays and Saturdays. 703-554-3595.

 Compiled by Sandy Mauck

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Email: ldliving@washpost.com



Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar

Loudoun County and Fauquier County health calendar
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 04:01:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ABUJA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Three police personnel abducted by gunmen in Nigeria have been rescued and are in stable condition, a senior police officer confirmed on Saturday.

The three police personnel were abducted on Sept. 4 in the northwestern state of Zamfara when unidentified gunmen stormed a police outpost in a village in Tsafe area of the state.

Zamfara State police chief Shaba Alkali said one of the security agents was wounded as a result of a gunshot by their abductors.

According to Alkali, the police, in collaboration with other security agencies, were working to apprehend the abductors.

Abduction is common in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Most foreigners and citizens seized by gunmen in the country were usually released unharmed after paying a ransom.
Breaux Vineyards opened the spring wine-tasting season this year with a supply of 2,000 high-end crystal wineglasses manufactured by Riedel. The popular winery in western Loudoun County has only about 200 of them left.

Customers are stealing them, company Vice President Jen Breaux said.

Its disheartening, because we want to give an experience that matches the setting, she said. And the public can make that kind of hard. You want people to taste out of a beautiful Riedel glass and have the full experience. But, quite frankly, losing 1,800 glasses is unacceptable.

Other Loudoun winemakers confirmed that theft by customers is a growing problem that cuts into their profits.

This time of year, we routinely lose at least one case of [25] wineglasses every weekend, said Dave Greb, tasting room manager at North Gate Vineyard, near Purcellville. There have been times when were really busy when weve lost a whole case in one day.

Kathy Clough, who manages the tasting room at Breaux Vineyards, said she once observed a young woman leaving with a sweater full of glasses.

As she was drunkenly walking down the sidewalk, they were dropping out and breaking, Clough said, adding that its some of the larger groups that we have the issues with.

[Loudouns wine country is the best in Virginia, but now its aiming higher]

If you have 30 people in a group, and they all steal a Riedel glass, any profit we made off the wine they purchased that day is gone, she said.

The problem isnt limited to wineglasses. Breaux said that customers routinely take cutting boards, bread knives and stainless steel ice buckets.

Im down to six ice buckets, she said. I had 200 of them a year ago.

Customers have even taken decorative items such as plastic pink flamingos and palm trees, Breaux said. This summer, she confronted two men who were walking off with a complete cornhole set  two boards and a box of bean bags used to play the popular lawn game.

They said, Weve purchased enough wine here. We feel like theyre ours. Breaux said. They truly felt entitled to take them. And theyre lucky that they didnt leave in a police car.

The cornhole caper was the boiling point for Breaux, who vented her frustrations to Nancy Bauer, an Alexandria-based writer with expertise in Virginia wines. Breaux asked Bauer whether she would address the issue of thefts from wineries on her website, Virginia Wine in My Pocket.

Bauer said that her subsequent article received the most traffic of any story she had ever posted on her website. She attributed some of the thefts of wineglasses to confusion as to who owns them.

It used to be the given that . . . you go to the winery, you taste the wine, they give you the glass, she said. But now people dont want all those glasses, so they started turning down the glasses.

Breaux said that she and her staff have discussed whether to include the wineglasses in the cost of the tasting. But she doesnt think customers would see sufficient value in paying the higher cost.

Theyll steal the glass, but they dont want to pay for it, she said.

Breaux said that her staff has had to become more explicit with customers about what is included in the price of a tasting.

If they buy a bottle, typically, well say something, tactfully, like, You can leave your glasses on your table or put them on one of the wine barrels at the bus stands at the end of your experience today, to signal that the glasses arent theirs to keep, she said.

She blames most of the thefts on customers sense of entitlement, coupled with their lowered inhibitions after drinking a few glasses of wine. Some people will say, Ive bought enough wine here. Ive consumed enough wine for the value of the glass  like thats an excuse, Breaux said.

Customers also have a misconception that the wineries can afford to take the loss, she said.

Wineries are . . . beautiful, and theres a facade of luxury, but we are farms, she said. It does hurt the bottom line. It hurts immensely.

People dont realize that the profit margin on a bottle of wine is actually quite small, Breaux added. If youre buying a bottle of wine for 19 dollars, and steal a six-dollar glass, that doesnt really leave a lot for me to keep my lights on.
Bonnie Angelo in the 1950s. She chronicled the rise of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and wrote a well-received book about the impact of presidential mothers on their sons. (Winston-Salem Journal)

Bonnie Angelo, a Time magazine reporter who covered the White House, chronicled the rise of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and wrote a well-received book about the impact of presidential mothers on their sons, died Sept. 17 at a nursing home in Bethesda, Md. She was 93.

The cause was complications from dementia, said her son, Christopher Levy.

Ms. Angelo cannonballed to the forefront of political journalism with a ferocious work ethic, a spitfire personality and a knack for winning the trust of the powerful. Journalist Nan Robertson of the New York Times once called the diminutive Ms. Angelo, with her Southern drawl, "ninety-eight pounds of pepper out of North Carolina."

She hopscotched among papers including Long Islands Newsday, where she covered the Kennedy White House and the U.S.-Soviet space race, before landing at Time in 1966. She once accompanied Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) to South America, where she watched him swim in the Amazon. She later joked about a journalists mind, ever keen for a scoop: Hey, she recalled thinking, we have never had a U.S. senator eaten by piranhas.

Ms. Angelo was a visible member of the Washington press corps, appearing on the Metromedia talk show Panorama for more than a decade. She also served as president of the Womens National Press Club, a counterpart to the National Press Club. (The National Press Club began to admit women in 1971.)



Ms. Angelo in 1961, sworn-in by Sen. Kenneth B. Keating R-N.Y.) as president of the Women's National Press Club in Washington. (AP)

The male-only club drew high-profile speakers, and Ms. Angelo related with rage decades later the indignities that female journalists faced to cover those visiting newsmakers. Women, she said, were shoehorned into the sweltering, standing-room ballroom balcony, while male journalists dined at tables and were permitted to ask questions.

"I remember being in that damned balcony crowded up against Pulitzer Prize-winners like Miriam Ottenberg . . . and Marguerite Higgins," she told Robertson for her book "The Girls in the Balcony." She recalled watching the men and their guests "sitting there on the ballroom floor and luxuriating over their crummy National Press Club apple pie."

In professional terms, it couldnt have been meaner, it couldnt have been pettier, she continued. You entered and left through a back door, and youd be glowered at as you went through the club quarters. It was discrimination at its rawest.

In 1978 Ms. Angelo was tapped to be Time's bureau chief in London. The election the next year of Thatcher as prime minister  the first woman to lead a major Western power  "kept me in cover stories," Ms. Angelo later said. She also wrote about the 1981 royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer as well as the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. She returned to the United States in 1985, first as New York bureau chief and later as a correspondent with a wide-ranging portfolio but an emphasis on politics.

In 2000 she wrote the book "First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents," a corrective to a widely held notion that first ladies were the dominant female influence on the nation's commanders in chief.

Ms. Angelo focused on the modern presidency, from Franklin D. Roosevelt and his domineering mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, to Bill Clinton and his flamboyant mother, Virginia I was not one for the rules Kelley. The matriarchs, she showed, often transferred their ambitions from their feckless husbands to their promising sons. Many also suffered harrowing setbacks early in life and emerged from tragedy with a fierce drive and resilience they passed on to their boys.

In her Washington Post review, journalist and Reagan White House chief of protocol Selwa Roosevelt (who married a grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt) called First Mothers a fascinating book, gracefully written and thoroughly researched, which gives the reader fresh insights into how the characters and values of our recent presidents were shaped.

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Ms. Angelo said the book was inspired by a conversation with Robert Kennedy as they traveled across California during the 1968 presidential primary.

"The family was deployed all over the state campaigning for him," she later told C-Span, "and I said, 'With all the tragedy that your family has suffered at the hands of politics, how do you account for the fact that they're out there again?' And he kind of looked at me under the eyebrows and said, 'Have you met my mother?' "

Veronica Estelle Angelo was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Jan. 29, 1924, the youngest of four children. Her father ran a grocery store, and her mother was a teacher.

Bonnie, as she became known, graduated in 1944 from what was then the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro).

After working in the womens pages at the old Winston-Salem Sentinel and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, she arrived at the Washington bureau of Newsday in the mid-1950s. The best thing that ever happened to me professionally was working for Alicia Patterson, a woman who believed that a woman reporter could do anything, Ms. Angelo said in a history of the paper that Patterson founded.

In 1960, she landed a scoop with national political ramifications. The Catholic faith of Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the Democratic candidate for president that year, had become an undercurrent of the campaign. But what was called the religion issue burst into the open that September at a meeting of 150 prominent Protestant ministers  led by the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale  at Washingtons Mayflower Hotel.

They barred journalists from attending. Secrecy, Ms. Angelo later said, whetted my appetite. She sneaked in through a back entrance and sat in a small room near the meeting, where she could overhear the goings-on. Her story revealed what she called very ugly and bigoted remarks behind the ministers politely worded public resolution raising concerns about Vatican influence in the White House.

When the story came out, Peale distanced himself from the resolution. Kennedy went on to address a group of ministers in Houston about religious prejudice and freedom in what is regarded as one of his most eloquent speeches.

In the early 1960s Ms. Angelo also distinguished herself writing about school desegregation conflicts in Prince Edward County, Va., and the space race at the time of astronaut and future U.S. senator John Glenn's orbit around the Earth. "I was there when John Glenn was a young Marine, and I'm here when he's the ancient mariner," she recalled in 1998 when she received the International Women's Media Foundation lifetime achievement award and Glenn returned to space aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Her husband, Harold Levy, died in 1998. Their son, Christopher Levy of Bethesda, is her only immediate survivor.

Ms. Angelo wrote a second book, "First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives" (2005), which received mixed reviews. Post book critic Jonathan Yardley called it a "relentlessly upbeat" and "sanitized" take on the challenges of living in the national fishbowl.

In a career spent with politicians and their retinue, Ms. Angelo often enjoyed a privileged front-line position. But, sometimes, she did not.

Covering presidential daughter Lynda Johnsons marriage in 1967 to future Virginia governor and senator Charles Robb, she was forced to view the nuptials from behind a drapery peephole. They cut a little hole so I could see every magical moment, she later told The Post, adding that she spent the ceremony kneeling on the floor. And for that I bought a new velvet dress.
A man and a woman were killed Saturday night in a car crash in the Great Falls area of Fairfax County, the police said. They said a juvenile female was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The crash occurred in the 10500 block of Beach Mill Road, the police said.

No names or ages were released. No cause for the crash was given.

The site is about three miles north of Leesburg Pike, and about two miles south of the Potomac River.
THE DISTRICT

Crack in sunken fireboat

A waterline crack in the hull of a fireboat caused the vessel to sink last month at a marina in the Southwest Waterfront Park, a D.C. fire department spokesman said Friday.

The cause was determined after testing by a surveyor. The crack formed on a spot where two pieces were welded together and was hidden behind a sea chest that houses a fire pump, which is part of an onboard sprinkler system.

The 29-foot-long Fireboat 3 was built in 2014 and purchased by the department for about $300,000. It was the newest boat in the fleet, and fastest, and used primarily for water rescues. Authorities said the boat sank Aug. 23.

Vito Maggiolo, a fire department spokesman, said the boat is under warranty and the District is in contact with the manufacturer and their insurance company to determine a course of repair and to return it to service.

An estimate for repair costs is not yet complete.

Maggiolo said an independent surveyor found that the vessel had been properly maintained but that it had undergone recent modifications after fire officials complained about engine issues.

The department currently has Fireboat 1; the 71-foot John H. Glenn Jr. which was built in 1962 and bought secondhand from the New York Fire Department; and a backup Boston Whaler built in 1984 and pressed into operation as Fireboat 4.

A new vessel  Fireboat 2  has been purchased and should be delivered to the department by the end of the month, Maggiolo said.

 Peter Hermann

MARYLAND

Fatal shooting in Riverdale

A man died after being found with gunshot wounds early Saturday in the 6000 block of 67th Place in Riverdale, Prince Georges County police said.

Officers responded at about 1:20 a.m. to a shooting call and discovered the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Detectives are working to establish a suspect or suspects and motive in the case and police had not released the victims identity.

 Spencer S. Hsu

Pedestrian killed near shopping center

A pedestrian was hit by an SUV and killed Friday night in the Waldorf area of Charles County, Maryland State Police said.

They said the pedestrian was trying to cross southbound U.S. Route 301 north of Smallwood Drive when he walked into the path of the vehicle. The police identified him as Leo Wheatley Bury Jr. of La Plata. He was walking from the median and was hit in the second left turn lane, they said.

His age was not given. The police did not say why he moved into the path of the vehicle.

The crash occurred near the St. Charles Towne Center, a busy commercial area.

 Martin Weil and Clarence Williams
Two people were injured late Saturday night when they fell from an overpass on Interstate 295, near the border between the District and Prince Georges County, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.

The incident occurred just north of Eastern Avenue NE, where I-295 crosses railroad tracks. The two were fleeing from the police when they fell, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.

According to U.S. Park Police spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Rose, Park Police assisted D.C. police in the pursuit of a vehicle in connection with a robbery shortly after 11 p.m. No other details about the circumstances of the pursuit or the fall were provided.

The two were raised to the highway by ropes and rescue baskets in what D.C. Fire spokesman Vito Maggiolo called an "extensive" rescue operation that also involved units from the Prince George's County Fire Department. Both were transported to the hospital and one of the two was reported in critical condition.

Soon after the rescue operation was completed, a third person was found hiding from the police, officials said. It is unclear whether that person also fell. That person was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mary Hui contributed to this report.
If you were at risk for developing depression, would you take a pill to prevent it?

For years, physicians have prescribed antidepressants to treat people grappling with depression. Some people can benefit from taking these medications during an acute episode. Others with a history of recurrent depression may take antidepressants to help prevent relapses.

But researchers are studying a new use for these medications: to prevent depression in people who may have never had it before.

It has long been known that people with head and neck cancer are vulnerable to becoming depressed. These types of cancers can impair functionality at the most basic levels, like speaking or swallowing. Treatments, such as surgery and radiation, for these diseases can be debilitating. Some studies have estimated that up to half of patients with head and neck cancers may experience depression.

A group of researchers in Nebraska examined what would happen if non-depressed patients were given antidepressants before receiving treatment for head and neck cancer. Published in 2013, the results of the randomized, placebo-controlled trial were startling: Patients taking an antidepressant were 60 percent less likely to experience depression compared with peers who were given a placebo.

In medicine, this approach is often referred to as prophylaxis, or a treatment used to prevent disease.

Prophylactic antidepressants have shown promise in other high-risk patient populations as well. A meta-analysis published in 2014 found that prophylactic antidepressants cut down the incidence of depressive episodes among people receiving therapy for hepatitis C by more than 40 percent. Randomized trials suggest that patients who take antidepressants early after a stroke experience significantly lower rates of depression. Small studies have also found that people receiving treatment for melanoma may be less likely to develop depressive symptoms if they are pre-treated with antidepressants.

These findings provide compelling reasons for physicians and patients to consider using these medicines to preempt mental-health issues. But this experimental frontier  which relies on prediction and prevention  is controversial.

After all, there arent guidelines for how to treat a depressive episode that hasnt happened yet. Its not clear how long patients should stay on these medications or at what level of risk someone warrants prophylactic antidepressants.

And although antidepressants are usually well tolerated, these medications can come with side effects ranging from headaches to diarrhea to life-threatening reactions. These side effects can be immediate and obvious, whereas the benefits of prophylactic medications may be harder to appreciate over the long term.

Some critics have raised concerns about the financial incentives behind those who are promoting prophylactic antidepressants. For instance, one of the trials examining depression in stroke patients used the antidepressant escitalopram in the study; readers later discovered a lead author had undisclosed financial ties to Forest Laboratories, a company that manufactures this medication.

Indeed, antidepressants are already among the most widely prescribed medications in the United States; as many as 1 in 8 American adults take these medications each year. Expanding the use of antidepressants to people who have never had depression could substantially increase national consumption of psychiatric medications.

Others have taken issue with the idea of medicating patients against distressing situations. In a 2001 letter to the Lancet, Druin Burch mocked the idea of prophylactic antidepressants: "Antidepressants could be given prophylactically for weaning and for puberty, and to medical students before their final exams," the British physician wrote. "Worried relatives in hospital could be greeted  before any news was given  by a prescription for 2 months' worth of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to be started immediately in case the worst should happen. One could save money on hospital art and the niceties of interior decoration by simply prophylactically dosing all who worked and stayed there with a decent antidepressant."

This satire raises key questions about using pharmaceuticals to prevent depression: Can taking a pill really protect us from the emotional ravages of stroke or cancer? Are there other ways of helping patients cope with circumstances that place them at risk for depression?

Therapy may have an important role to play. The controversial escitalopram trial found that problem-solving therapy may also be effective in preventing post-stroke depression. Studies suggest that interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy  a type of talk therapy that helps people change negative thinking patterns  may be useful in preventing postpartum depression. Meanwhile, mental-health experts are looking at whether stepped-care programs, which take a graduated approach to therapy and medication referrals, can help avert depression among vulnerable populations, such as elderly patients.

In the age of personalized medicine, its not yet clear what role prophylactic antidepressants will play. So far, just a handful of studies have shown promising results among particularly high-risk patients. It remains to be seen whether these results can be replicated in larger trials and whether the medical community adopts these treatments. During my time in medical school and now in my residency in psychiatry, I have yet to see these kinds of prophylactic treatments  medication or otherwise  for people who have never had depression.

We may never be able to take away the stress of a disfiguring surgery, the despair from losing the ability to speak or the sadness that comes with a cancer diagnosis. But these studies suggest that doctors may be able to prepare patients for challenging situations in ways that protect them from sliding into clinical depression. Some patients may benefit from early use of antidepressants, others with therapy or a combination of the two.

If health-care providers are paying more attention to the mental health of patients at risk for depression, that seems like a step in the right direction.

Morris is a resident physician in psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

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UNITED KINGDOM

Is Johnson eyeing the job of prime minister?

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has fueled speculation that he hopes to eventually succeed Prime Minister Theresa May by spelling out his Brexit goals days before her major policy speech on the topic.

Johnson, a former journalist, wrote a 4,000-word article in the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph explaining how Brexit can bring a glorious future to Britain and help it become the greatest country on Earth. Johnson, who has also served as mayor of London, said that Britain shouldnt seek to stay in the European Unions single market or the customs union and that it should seize the opportunity to make its own way.

The timing of his Brexit broadside is important because May is scheduled to detail her own Brexit views Friday in a much-touted speech in Italy.

That Johnson has made his views known first could be seen as a challenge to her authority, which was weakened by a poor showing in the June 8 election that cost her Conservative Party its majority in Parliament.

Johnson sought to quiet speculation later Saturday by tweeting: All behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit.



Relative cry during a mass funeral for victims of a school fire outside of Kuala Lumpur. (Daniel Chan/AP)

 Associated Press

MALAYSIA

7 boys suspected of setting deadly fire

Police said Saturday that they have arrested seven boys suspected of starting a fire that killed 23 people at an Islamic boarding school because students there had allegedly teased them.

Speaking in a televised news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Police Chief Amar Singh said the boys, ages 11 to 18, were detained Friday night after investigators obtained security footage from a neighboring building.

The blaze at the three-story tahfiz school, where Muslim boys study and memorize the Koran, blocked the lone exit to the dormitory, trapping students behind barred windows. Two adults and 21 teenage students were killed.

Singh gave no details on how the suspects had allegedly been mocked by students at the dormitory.

 Associated Press

Dozens of Burundian refugees are reportedly killed in Congo: At least 36 Burundian refugees have been killed in clashes with Congolese security forces who allegedly fired indiscriminately at protesters, the U.N. envoy to Congo says. Maman Sidikou said he was "deeply shocked" at the violence. Another 117 people were wounded and one Congolese officer was killed, he said in a statement. Thirty-nine gravely wounded Burundian refugees were evacuated by helicopter to the city of Bukavu, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo said. Friday's clashes erupted in Kamanyola in Congo's South Kivu province when Burundian refugees and asylum seekers protested the expulsion of four of their countrymen from Congo. The U.N. envoy called for a swift investigation and urged Congo's security forces to use force only as a last resort.

Hamas agrees to talks with Fatah, Palestinian elections: The Palestinian group Hamas has agreed to participate in talks with the rival Fatah movement, to dissolve the Gaza administrative committee and to hold general elections, the group said in a statement Sunday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority, controlled by Fatah, fought a war with Hamas over the Gaza Strip in 2007, which led to Hamas taking over the territory. Attempts to reconcile the two and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have failed.

Turkey upset by Kurdish festival in Germany: Turkey's Foreign Ministry summoned Germany's ambassador in Ankara to protest the country's allowance of "terror propaganda" by Kurdish militants. The ministry said a festival in Cologne used "symbols" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, including pictures of the group's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is imprisoned in Turkey. The Turkish government has repeatedly accused Germany of harboring the PKK, and relations have soured in the past year.



Nine die in apparent friendly-fire incident in Somalia: Nine people, including a civilian, were killed in fighting between the military and police backed by intelligence forces in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, police said. "It seems they mistook the Somali national army for [clan] militias," said Maj. Abdullahi Hussein, a police officer. He said the fighting occurred because police were wrongly told that there were militias in the area.

 From news services
The recent sale of two prominent real-estate brokerage firms in the D.C. region is part of a wave of consolidation that is taking hold across the nation, as Internet upstarts and new technology shake up the industry.

Within the span of one week, longtime local powerhouse Long & Foster was acquired on Sept. 7. by HomeServices of America, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate headed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Five days later, Long & Foster bought Evers & Co. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Those back-to-back sales followed other recent deals elsewhere in the country. Within the past six weeks, HomeServices acquired a North Carolina brokerage firm, and New York giant Douglas Elliman Real Estate purchased Beverly Hills-based Teles Properties.

HomeServices has been on a mission over the last 20 years of acquiring great companies large and small in key markets around the country, aggregating the companies and creating scale and synergies, said Ron Peltier, chairman and chief executive of HomeServices. The industry is very fragmented, and with the costs of business continuing to rise, having scale is critical.

Buffett, in a note to investors this year, said HomeServices is likely to continue to be on the hunt for more realty companies and opportunities to franchise.

We like both aspects of the real estate business and expect to acquire many Realtors and franchisees during the next decade, Buffett wrote.

HomeServices counts more than 41,000 real estate professionals working in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

"I'll wager you right now, within the next six to 12 months, you will see Long & Foster and HomeServices do 10 or 12 more transactions like that," said Steve Murray, president of the consulting firm Real Trends, which represented Long & Foster in its deal with HomeServices. "The fact that Wes Foster considered doing this has caused many of his peers to reconsider whether they should stay private or themselves seek a buyer."

[Long & Foster acquired by Berkshires HomeServices]

Long & Foster was founded in 1968 by Wes Foster and Henry Long. (Foster bought out Long in 1979.) It became one of the biggest residential real estate companies in the country by sales volume. Last year, Long & Foster had nearly $29 billion in sales and sold more than 81,000 homes. It also was one of the largest privately held companies in the Washington region, with approximately 11,000 agents in more than 230 offices serving home buyers in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Long & Foster will continue to operate under its brand and maintain relationships with partners such as Christies International Real Estate.

[Long & Foster acquires D.C.-area real estate brokerage firm]

Donna Evers founded Evers & Co. in 1985 and grew it to a three-office brokerage firm with nearly 100 agents in the District, Maryland and Virginia. She will continue to oversee the three offices after the sale but the Evers & Co. brand will be discontinued in the fall.

You say sell but its really more of an affiliation and a partnership, Evers said. We want to grow and prosper and I think this is a good way to do it.

In both cases, the companies followed hyperlocal strategies to build their businesses. In an industry built on personal relationships and local expertise, their real estate agents didnt just know about cities and towns. They also knew neighborhoods and blocks.

We always have, first and foremost in our minds, how do we serve our clients best? Evers said.

Yet home buyers are increasing relying on a host of new Internet services to find properties and assess a market, reducing their dependence on brokers. As technology costs mount, small and privately owned brokerage firms have found it difficult to remain competitive against online companies such as Redfin.

Plus, back-office functions such as marketing, advertising and statistical analysis cost money. It can be more cost-effective to merge with a bigger entity to spread out those costs.

What makes Long & Foster attractive to HomeServices and Evers & Co. appealing to Long & Foster is the market savvy they bring.

With the acquisition of Long & Foster, HomeServices quickly establishes a foothold in the lucrative D.C. housing market.

I think its a win-win for all of us, Evers said.

The timing of the sales of Long & Foster to HomeServices and Evers & Co. to Long & Foster led some to speculate they were related. However, according to those involved in both deals, the sales werent intertwined but separate.

I know it sounds like it was some great, grand plan, but it wasnt, Evers said.

Murray added that Long & Foster had been working on a deal for Evers & Co. for six or eight months but put it off until after its deal with HomeServices was complete.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 04:36:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation late Saturday with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan over the recent situation in Rakhine State of Myanmar.

They discussed ways to resolve the crisis and end the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, as well as a recent report by the Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission, which calls for an end to the restrictions on the movement and citizenship of the 1.2-million Rohingya minority in Rakhine, local media reported, citing presidential sources.

Erdogan highlighted the urgency for the international community to stop the violence in Myanmar and deliver aid to the region.

Turkey is ready to work with the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to seek a solution to the problem, Erdogan added.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council expressed "deep concern" over the situation in Rakhine State and called for an end to violence against the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group in Myanmar, while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the situation in Myanmar's Rakhine as "catastrophic."
Following a fast-moving investigation and manhunt, British police on Saturday arrested a second man in connection with a detonation on the London subway during the Friday morning rush hour, in which at least 30 people were injured. Police labeled the attack terrorism.

The man, 21, was arrested just before midnight Saturday in West London. Police did not announce his detention until Sunday morning.

Earlier, an 18-year-old man had been arrested by Kent police in the port area of Dover on the English Channel. Police suspect he might have been seeking a boat out of England.

In addition, armed police raided and searched a house in Sunbury, west of London, on Saturday afternoon. Counterterrorism units were at the scene, and police told reporters the operation was connected to the subway explosion.

A homemade bomb exploded on a London subway train at Parsons Green station Friday morning, sending a scorching blast of flame and smoke through a London subway car.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the BBC on Sunday that the second arrest suggested the attack was not the work of a lone wolf terrorist and implied some level of conspiracy.

On Saturday, Rudd said Saturday that it was good fortune the improvised explosive device did so little damage, but she said that the materials used to build the bomb were too readily available.

We have to make certain we take all the steps we can to ensure that the sort of materials this man was able to collect become more and more difficult to combine together, she said.

[Britains prime minister: Not helpful to speculate on probe]

Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Neil Basu called the arrest of the teen at the Dover port significant and said the investigation is ongoing.

Both men are being held for questioning under the Terrorism Act. For strong investigative reasons, we will not give any more details on the man we arrested at this stage, Basu said, speaking of the teen.

In the town of Sunbury-on-Thames, located about 15 miles to the west of central London, residents waited outside a police cordon on Saturday evening, as forensics experts entered a rowhouse on Cavendish Road.

Anna Wilkins 43, lives next to the house being searched. I saw a young man come out of there with his bike a couple of times in recent weeks, Wilkins said. The young man, whom she described as Asian, arrived at the house just a couple of months ago and lived with an elderly couple. It is unknown whether the young man described by Wilkins is the suspect arrested in Dover.

I never spoke to him and only saw him when he left the house with his bike, but I was always suspicious of him, Wilkins said.

The BBC later reported that the couple who owns and lives in the house that was searched, Ronald and Penelope Jones, were respected members of the community who had worked as foster parents for hundreds of children, including refugees. They were awarded for their service with honors from Queen Elizabeth II in 2010.

One resident living near the house being searched said he had never seen anyone entering or leaving it. This isnt an area where people really know each other, said Chris Ross, 51. This afternoon, there were suddenly armed police officers who told us to get out of our houses as soon as possible. They only gave us a couple of seconds.

After the bombing, security measures were immediately tightened across London's vast mass-transit network, and the government described the threat level as critical, meaning another attack could be imminent. That was later reduced to "severe."

The Islamic State terrorist group asserted responsibility for the explosion. Experts cautioned that the group often seeks credit for attacks it may have only inspired, as well as ones it had nothing to do with.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick traveled  escorted by journalists  by subway to Waterloo station and patrolled the South Bank of the Thames.

Yesterday we saw a cowardly and indiscriminate attack, which could have resulted in many lives being lost, Dick said. Since then, we have had teams of detectives and specialists working through the night on the investigation, and officers throughout London mobilizing and providing an increased visible police presence  especially in crowded places.

The explosion on Londons Tube rekindled debate about whether countries such as Britain have been tough enough in fighting terrorism. Just hours after the blast, President Trump suggested that Britain needed to be more proactive. Prime Minister Theresa May retorted that such comments were not helpful.

Read more:

British police deploy giant futuristic nets in bid to stop terrorist vehicle attacks

Terrorism in London seems to confirm Muslims growing dread

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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In this July 11, 2017 photo U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani take part in a press conference in Doha. Tillerson arrived in Qatar to try and mediate a dispute between the energy-rich country and its Gulf neighbours. (Alexander W. Riedel/U.S. State Department via AP)

More than three months after it began, the Persian Gulf dispute that has driven a deep wedge between Americas closest allies in the region appears no closer to resolution.

The Trump administration, which depends on the gulf states as its main air and sea launchpad for the fight against the Islamic State, and as a bulwark against Iran, is starting to get worried.

"We have an awful lot of equities here," a U.S. official said. "Is it acceptable that American business starts reporting to us that contracts are getting canceled because of the climate in the gulf?" Or that the air base "from which we rain down holy hell" on militants in Syria and Iraq is endangered? Or a unified Arab bulwark against Iran is fraying?

Were all starting to feel . . . that the Qatar crisis gets in the way of things we want to do, said the official.

The initial eruption came days after President Trump proclaimed the gulf allies united during a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in late May. Charging that Qatar was financing terrorists and trying to undermine their governments, four nations in the region  gulf monarchies Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, joined by Egypt  broke relations and closed their air, land and sea borders to the tiny, energy-rich peninsula at the Straits of Hormuz.

Since then, the protagonists on both sides have waged a public war of insults and accusations, much of it through shrill, multimillion-dollar U.S. lobbying campaigns targeting political opinion in Washington.

The largest political ad buy of the summer came from an organization called the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee, SAPRAC, which spent $1.6 million on television spots on local news and Washington broadcasts of national programs, according to data provided to The Washington Post by CMAG-Kantar Media, which tracks television advertising.

One country in the gulf region is a threat to global security, intones the narrator of the ad over doomsday music. President Trump, Qatar cannot be trusted.

Home to a crucial air base and more than 10,000 U.S. service members, Qatar has been cited in the past by U.S. officials for lax control over terrorist financing. But officials have also noted recent progress, and few appear to believe that Qatars sins are much worse than those of others in the region. Instead, many chalk up the conflict to what one person involved in U.S. efforts to end it called personal animosity among the gulfs ruling families, and differing outlooks on how best to keep themselves in power.

U.S. and foreign officials who discussed the crisis spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid fueling an already inflamed dispute.

At the beginning, it was Trump who spread the fire, with his open support of the accusations against Qatar. While Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis avoided blame and called for negotiations, Trump hailed the wisdom of Saudi King Salman, reveled in Saudi purchases of U.S. arms, pointed a finger at Qatars capital, Doha, and said the United States could launch its counterterrorism warplanes from somewhere else.

During the summer, Tillerson and Jared Kushner, Trumps White House adviser and son-in-law, traveled separately to the region. In August, Tillerson sent two U.S. envoys to the gulf, but no progress was reported.

It was not until early September, after months of cajoling from Tillerson and Mattis, that Trump apparently decided it was time to put an end to the spat. What youre seeing now is the White House trying to push this, to say enough is enough, before it begins to affect military operations, an official said.

At a Sept. 7 news conference with the visiting emir of Kuwait, whose own mediation efforts have been unsuccessful, Trump said he might have to bring the parties to the White House and handle the negotiations himself.

Very quickly, I think, well have something solved, he said.

In telephone talks the next day with leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Trump facilitated a call between them.

But any rapprochement was short-lived. Within hours, both governments had publicly claimed that the other had blinked first and sought the dialogue. The effort was officially suspended.

The failure of Trumps personal diplomacy has left the United States with few options. There is little reason to think that the president, who plans to meet with some leaders from the region during the U.N. General Assembly, will have much better luck in person.

Tillerson has gone out of his way to bolster Qatar, calling demands by the Saudi-led quartet unreasonable and signing a new memorandum of understanding on terrorism financing with Doha. But the administration has left itself little leverage with the other side, unless Trump is willing to sacrifice arms sales and other Saudi-U.S. business deals, or temper his own fulsome praise for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the principal Saudi partner in the fight against Qatar.

The Saudis and Emiratis have diligently courted the Trump White House. Even before the May presidential visit to Riyadh, according to U.S. intelligence, they were planning a new offensive in their long-running dispute with Qatar, correctly concluding that Trump would be sympathetic.

Small Qatar has long irked its neighbors by pursuing an impertinent foreign policy that they think contradicts their interests. A list of their 13"nonnegotiable" demands includes an end to Qatari support for political Islamic movements; , including the Muslim Brotherhood; closing Al Jazeera; , the state-funded Qatari media company;reducing ties with Iran, with which Qatar shares the world's largest gas field; and ejecting political dissidents who come from quartet countries.

Qatar has said it will talk with its accusers but will not agree to anything that impinges on its sovereignty.

As U.S. policymakers wring their hands, the main beneficiaries of the dispute so far are the lobbying firms each side has hired to influence Washington, as reflected in their filings under the Justice Departments Foreign Agents Registration Act.

In August, the Podesta Group retroactively registered for work it had done since June on behalf of SAPRAC, the Saudi purchaser of the television ads, at a monthly fee of $50,000, not including production and other expenses or marked-up media buys.

That fee is relatively small compared with the multiple other firms employed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some recently, and some on the payroll for years with monthly or quarterly fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Qatar has been a relative latecomer to the all-out influence war, but it has gone on a hiring spree since early summer.

Rather than attacking its accusers, Qatar has focused on print and online ads emphasizing its close security ties with the United States and its own counterterrorism efforts. South Carolina-based Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough was hired at $100,000 a month in July to build political capital and relationships for Qatar, and to ensure the right information is out there, and the right people know it, said Christopher T. Kushing, the firms managing director for public strategies.

Avenue Strategies, a firm tied to Trump campaign officials, is being paid $150,000 a month for strategic consulting services, and former attorney general John D. Ashcrofts law firm received a $2.5 million retainer for evaluating, verifying, and as necessary, strengthening [Qatars] anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financial compliance programs, according to the filings.

As far as the administration is concerned, however, the question of who is right has faded when compared with the potential damage of the dispute itself. The message to the gulf leaders, an official said, is that the cacophony of paid voices is ham-handed, and theyre being taken to the cleaners by those guys.

Were trying to tell them to knock it off.

Tom Hamburger and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that the United States is considering closing the U.S. Embassy in Havana in response to mysterious hearing problems that have left at least 21 employees with serious health issues.

We have it under evaluation, Tillerson said on CBSs Face the Nation when asked about calls by some senators to shutter the diplomatic mission. Its a very serious issue, with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered, and weve brought some of those people home. Its under review.

Closing the embassy would be a serious setback to relations between the United States and Cuba, two Cold War adversaries whose enmity stretched more than half a century before they restored diplomatic relations and upgraded their missions into embassies in 2015.

But at least 21 Americans who worked in the U.S. Embassy in Cuba have reported medical problems since late last year, when percussive attacks on their residences began. The incidents apparently continued into 2017. Two Cuban diplomats have been expelled from the embassy in Washington in response.

The State Department did not talk publicly about the incident until August, months after the problems were uncovered.



The FBI is investigating what the union representing Foreign Service officers calls sonic harassment attacks on the diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. (Desmond Boylan/AP)

[Trumps Cuba policy tries to redefine good U.S. tourism.]

Some of the victims suffered mild traumatic brain injuries, hearing loss and other neurological and physical ailments, said the union representing Foreign Service officers. The FBI is investigating what the union calls sonic harassment attacks on the diplomats. A Canadian diplomat also reported similar problems.

Cuba has denied any responsibility for the attacks.

Cuban President Raul Castro called in the then-head of the U.S. mission, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, to express concern.

Five Republican senators wrote Tillerson last week asking him to close the embassy and expel Cubas diplomats from the United States.

We ask that you immediately declare all accredited Cuban diplomats in the United States persona non grata and, if Cuba does not take tangible action, close the U.S. Embassy in Havana, the senators wrote. Cubas neglect of its duty to protect our diplomats and their families cannot go unchallenged.
Iran and the United States on Sunday tore into each others behavior regarding the 2015 nuclear deal as Americas top diplomat and Irans supreme leader traded accusations of backsliding on agreed-to commitments.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged that Iran is in technical compliance with its obligations under the pact negotiated by the Obama administration and five other world powers. But he faulted Tehran for its non-nuclear activities in the Middle East  backing militias in Yemen and Syria, supporting terrorist groups and testing ballistic missiles.

We have a lot of issues with Iran, Tillerson said on CBSs Face the Nation. Theyre a yard long. The nuclear issue is one foot of that yard. We have two feet of other issues that we must deal with. And it has to do with Irans destabilizing activities.

For his part, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate power in Tehrans theocracy, took to his English-language Twitter account to label Washington as, in turn, domineering, bullying, oppressive, hounding and cruel  and corrupt and lying to boot.

Every day US govt. exposes a new side of its viciousness & proves Imam Khomeinis words true: U.S. govt. is the great Satan, he tweeted.

The criticisms were lobbed at a critical moment for the Iran deal, which eased economic sanctions in return for Iran agreeing to restrictions on its nuclear program.

It is being kept alive for the time being, after President Trump put aside his disdain for the deal on Thursday and waived U.S. sanctions that were suspended under the agreement and must be revisited every 120 days. If he hadnt, the United States would have been in breach of its promises.

But the administration is still reviewing its policy toward Iran and the nuclear deal, and Trump has said he is inclined to say next month that Iran is not complying with its commitments. If he does, Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions, in effect breaking the U.S. commitment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said eight times that Iran is complying with the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as Tillerson allowed on Sunday.

The administration contends that Iran is violating the spirit of the deal, because in its preface it is stated that the nations negotiating it anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security.

Tillerson said that sentence explains, in a nutshell, why sanctions were lifted.

But since the nuclear deal has been concluded, what we have witnessed is Iran has stepped up its destabilizing activities in Yemen, it stepped up its destabilizing activities in Syria, and exports arms to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and it continues to conduct a very active ballistic missile program, Tillerson said. None of that, I believe, is consistent with that preamble commitment.

Supporters of the deal say it was never intended to solve every issue between the United States and Iran. The diplomats who negotiated said at the time that the deal was narrowly focused on Iran's nuclear program because it was considered better to confront Tehran without the possibility of nuclear weapons.

Iran, which has always denied seeking to build nuclear weapons, has complained it has not received the economic benefits it expected from the deal because the United States has not done enough to convince the business community that it will remain in effect so long as Iran keeps its promises.

Irans sense that it was shortchanged in the deal was behind a series of tweets by Khamenei on Sunday, in between congratulating graduating police cadets and criticizing Aung San Suu Kyis silence on the plight of Burmas Rohingya.

Calling the U.S. approach to the nuclear deal totally oppressive hounding & cruel in one tweet, Khamenei in another tweet accused corrupt, lying U.S. officials of hypocrisy.

Enemies must know if bullying works elsewhere in world, it wont work for Iran, he said in another tweet. Retreat has no place when it comes to our national interests.

And he suggested that any move to decertify Irans compliance or withdraw from the deal will not go unanswered.

The Iranian nation stands strong.

Read more

Fate of Iran nuclear deal is tenuous

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Moves are being made to establish a cave registry in Derbyshire, following in the footsteps of those covering Mendip, Wales and Gloucestershire.

Bob Leakey takes a trip into the unknown with a discussion on why we do what we do.

Please note that second-hand stocks can and do change rapidly. Different copies of the same issue may be available at differing prices, depending on condition, so use a search to uncover any others. Also note that not all the second-hand stock of Descent is online: if you are looking for a copy in a different conditions, or one that is not online, please contact us to enquire.

Availability of these varies a great deal. Some early and a few later editions are very scarce. Prices vary widely, according both to scarcity and condition  to a collector, creases or a stamped imprint would affect an issue's desirability, while clubs may only wish to have a 'reading copy' to place in the library. In short, expect prices higher than those for back issues  especially for copies in good condition  although sometimes a second-hand copy may be damaged and thus be cheaper than a back issue.

With such a wealth of information contained in the pages of Descent, out-of-print editions have become much sought after. To help collectors and researchers, where possible second-hand copies are available to supplement the back issues in stock.

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Ideally, the VAT should be paid at the point of posting, but doing so requires registration with an agent to handle the payments, and this is incredibly expensive and not financially viable. To be clear, all small publishers in the UK are in the same position and we are unable to post any items to the EU with VAT or other duties paid.

Ordering any item from Wild Places, including a Descent subscription, requires that you accept responsibility of paying the VAT and any other local charges on delivery.

To be clear: Wild Places will NOT cover any charges levied by your country; it is your responsibility to accept these when placing an order.

We apologise for the situation, but it is outside our control. We will maintain a link from the left-hand column on the home page with the latest updates. If you are an existing subscriber to Descent and have not replied yet to our enquiries concerning your deliveries, please make contact.

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Postage costs are included in the purchase price VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid: you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery

After many years of offering cover, a meeting at South Wales CC headquarters has set out a new structure for the organisation.

The official record of the longest and deepest caves, according to the International Union for Speleology.

Since 1962 the CNCC has gained access to many of the norths caves and potholes, building relationships between cavers and landowners. But at Dale Barn Cave, theres been a failure!

Westminster SG seems to have broken the record for the smallest expedition to leave our shores: there were only two of them!

Tim Atkinson indicates the directions that hydrological studies are taking in the UK  how is water traced, and what has it revealed?

Please note that second-hand stocks can and do change rapidly. Different copies of the same issue may be available at differing prices, depending on condition, so use a search to uncover any others. Also note that not all the second-hand stock of Descent is online: if you are looking for a copy in a different conditions, or one that is not online, please contact us to enquire.

Availability of these varies a great deal. Some early and a few later editions are very scarce. Prices vary widely, according both to scarcity and condition  to a collector, creases or a stamped imprint would affect an issue's desirability, while clubs may only wish to have a 'reading copy' to place in the library. In short, expect prices higher than those for back issues  especially for copies in good condition  although sometimes a second-hand copy may be damaged and thus be cheaper than a back issue.

With such a wealth of information contained in the pages of Descent, out-of-print editions have become much sought after. To help collectors and researchers, where possible second-hand copies are available to supplement the back issues in stock.

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If stock is available for all post destinations, selecting any set of options will allow you to place your order immediately.



If stock is limited, for example with a single copy of a second-hand book, it will be assigned to UK stock. If you require posting to an address outside the UK, selecting your options may not allow an order to be placed, even though stock is available. If this is the case, please contact us to enable the options you require.



Please see our FAQs relating to deliveries, and the Delivery page linked from the bottom of each page, before placing your order if time is an important element for your order.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL DESCENT SUBSCRIBERS OUTSIDE THE UK

We regret that due to the volatility of Royal Mail postage charges, we have been forced to remove the option for two-year subscriptions. We have also been forced to remove the option for economy mail to the EU, given indications that Royal Mail intends to remove this service.

All international mail is now being despatched in paper wrapping using Royal Mail customs and address labels mandated by them. We also regret this means we can no longer indicate the last issue of your subscription on the mailing sheet or supply a reminder to renew with the final edition. Please track your own subscription ending or check with us at any time. Subscriptions begun since September 2021 have a comment added in your account (under the tab for the order) which records the final issue to be supplied.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EU CUSTOMERS

On 1 July 2021 the EU removed all exemptions for tax and customs duty on low value items posted from the UK to the EU, meaning that although VAT is 0% on books and magazines in the UK, it is charged within the EU and the VAT (potentially plus a handling fee) now apply to all orders to the EU.

Ideally, the VAT should be paid at the point of posting, but doing so requires registration with an agent to handle the payments, and this is incredibly expensive and not financially viable. To be clear, all small publishers in the UK are in the same position and we are unable to post any items to the EU with VAT or other duties paid.

Ordering any item from Wild Places, including a Descent subscription, requires that you accept responsibility of paying the VAT and any other local charges on delivery.

To be clear: Wild Places will NOT cover any charges levied by your country; it is your responsibility to accept these when placing an order.

We apologise for the situation, but it is outside our control. We will maintain a link from the left-hand column on the home page with the latest updates. If you are an existing subscriber to Descent and have not replied yet to our enquiries concerning your deliveries, please make contact.

NOTE: Subscribers in Norway or Switzerland (which are outside the EU) should place your order on the Subscription International page or contact us first.
A statewide sales tax has been anathema to generations of Montanans, but times change and its time to talk again about that long-taboo tax.

Montanas present revenue shortfall necessitates both short-term and long-term solutions. State revenue hasnt kept up with the cost of maintaining existing public services for the past couple of years. The bigger challenge appears to be that the revenue gap is projected to grow next year and in future years.

The state of Montana relies heavily on personal income taxes and to a lesser extent on corporate income taxes. Income tax revenue is increasing at a low rate while natural resource revenue (oil, gas, coal) has dropped with the global price of oil and decline in worldwide demand for coal.

As of Jan. 1, 45 states were collecting statewide sales tax, according to a report from the Tax Foundation, an independent policy research organization in Washington, D.C. All of Montanas neighbor states collect statewide general sales tax and all allow local governments to collect a general sales tax. According to the Tax Foundation, these are the statewide sales taxes and the maximum local sales tax allowed by:

Wyoming: 4 percent statewide, 2 percent local.

South Dakota, 4.5 percent statewide, 4.5 percent local.

North Dakota 5 percent, 3.5 percent.

Idaho, 6 percent statewide, 3 percent local.

Montanas neighbors rank among the lower-rate states nationwide. The states with the highest statewide general sales tax are California at 7.25 percent, and Mississippi, Tennessee and Rhode Island all at 7 percent.

Montana is one of five states with no general sales tax, along with Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon.

While many Montanans are pleased and proud to pay no sales tax, there are drawbacks. Our state tax system is less diverse and more easily unbalanced by fluctuations in natural resource and income tax collections. As Montanas outdoor economy has grown, that growth isnt reflected substantially in state (or local tax) revenues. Montana has millions of out-of-state visitors every year who spend lots of money on dining and shopping, but dont pay tax on most of their purchases (gasoline, lodging and rental cars are the exceptions).

On average, states generate more than one-third of their revenues from personal income taxes and another one-third from general sales taxes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The remaining revenues are split between excise taxes (on gasoline, cigarettes and alcohol); corporate income and franchise taxes; and taxes on business licenses, utilities, insurance premiums, severance, property and several other sources.

A state sales tax should be tailored to exempt essentials, such as groceries and health care items. Most states exempt unprepared food. Some exempt clothing. Some states hold sales-tax holidays, such as a weekend for back-to-school shopping.

Over the years, Montana has seen proposals to enact a sales tax that would offset property taxes. But the reform needed now must increase revenues overall.

The states revenue crunch has developed recently. Local governments have been struggling for many years because state law limits their tax options. They depend heavily on property assessments. A statewide general sales tax could be written to allow local government to add a limited tax on the same items.

Montana voters last rejected a sales tax in June 1993 by a margin of 3-1. A lot has changed in the past 24 years. Montana has more people, workers and visitors. Our population is aging faster than most states, increasing demand for health care and home care subsidized by the state. Montana is at full employment with more people earning paychecks. Paying for high-quality education is more important than ever for technical, professional and trade jobs.

We dont expect that a statewide sales tax will be enacted this year, but lets get a public discussion started now.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 05:21:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HELSINKI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A routine apprehension of an alleged drunken driver turned into a massive chase in central western Finland on Saturday.

Police was shot at from a car it had stopped in Nokia, near Tampere. The car managed to escape and was chased southbound by the police on highway 12.

Police exchanged fire with the vehicle when it was finally reached in Huittinen, some 50 kilometers south of Nokia.

The shooter was injured. The driver and the shooter were detained. Local media said the police had commissioned help from the military.

Police gave no further details of the incident, which is a rare case in Finland.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/09/2017 (1885 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The town of Ste. Anne is in shock following the death of a young girl on Friday, who was killed after a train hit her bicycle at a pedestrian crossing.

The 12-year-old girl was reportedly riding her bicycle across the CN Rail track while wearing earphones. She was rushed to hospital, where she later died.

Community members were quick to share their condolences on social media.

Will light a candle tonight, wrote one woman, (rest in peace) wee one.

Im lighting a candle tonight for the friends, family and community affected by this tragedy, wrote another. I have no words only love.

Ste. Anne Mayor Richard Pelletier said he had not yet had a chance to meet with the family, although they are definitely shook up.

He expects a memorial will be organized for Monday or soon after, once police have had an opportunity to go into the school and provide support for the girls classmates.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim and the local community, wrote CN in a statement sent to the Free Press on Saturday.

The Ste. Anne police department is investigating, it said, with CNs assistance. A spokesman for the railway said the crossing is regulation compliant.

Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau released a statement on Friday offering his sympathies.

It is with great sadness that I learned of the accident involving a young person, he said.

The minister reiterated his commitment to rail safety, saying, My officials will work closely with the railway company, the municipality and all law enforcement officials in order to determine the cause of this tragic accident.

Ste. Anne is about 45 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/09/2017 (1884 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Toast the theatre

FemFest, an annual showcase of women in theatre, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Organized by Sarasvati Productions, the festival runs today through Saturday, primarily at the University of Winnipegs Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (400 Colony St.). Today at 8 p.m., Vancouverite Ivan Coyotes musical Tomboy Survival Guide is on at the West End Cultural Centre. Tickets are $20. For the full schedule, visit sarasvati.ca.

Faceoff

JUSTIN SAMANSKI-LANGILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Local artist Kenneth Lavallee poses in front of his Creation Story, which was installed on the side of the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of the upcoming INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE exhibition.

They may not need this blurb to corral fans, but the Winnipeg Jets play their first pre-season game Monday, which you should know, if only to avoid traffic. The puck drops at 7 p.m. as the Jets face the Minnesota Wild at Bell MTS Place.

Games with gusto

Across the Board Game Cafe (211 Bannatyne Ave.) hosts its bi-weekly mingles nights Tuesday starting at 6 p.m. With hundreds of games to choose from, heres a good chance to try something new and maybe befriend some strangers (or make absolute arch-nemeses, depending how competitive you are).

Give it a gander

At FortWhyte Alive (1961 McCreary Rd.), thousands of geese are beginning to fly south for the winter. Starting Wednesday, you can watch their escape during a sunset dinner. From Sept. 20 to Oct. 22, the lakeside Buffalo Stone Cafe will present three-course meals to mark the occasion. Visit fortwhyte.org to see the menus and make reservations. Adult tickets are $45, children under 12 pay $25.

Rock and repeat

There are at least three great indie rock shows on tap Thursday. First, Yes We Mystic takes the stage at the Park Theatre at 7 p.m.; Roman Clarke is releasing his solo EP, Looking for Mine, at The Good Will Social Club at 8 p.m. and a block north, Mobina Galore is playing the West End Cultural Centre, also at 8 p.m. For more details, check manitobamusic.com.

Art Insurgence

The Winnipeg Art Gallery (300 Memorial Blvd.) is hosting its largest-ever exhibit of contemporary Indigenous art starting Friday. Featuring multimedia work from 29 emerging and established artists, such as KC Adams and Kenneth Lavallee, the INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE collection expresses political insurgency and cultural resurgence to radically shift the Canadian paradigm, the WAG website says. Fridays free opening runs from 7 p.m.-10 p.m.

Craft with Canucks

Fall market season is upon us with Etsy Sellers of Manitoba kicking things off Saturday. Expect dozens of vendors who normally sell their goods online, including Sly Scarves, CopperAndPine and Orange and Prairie, at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre (1808 Wellington Ave.). The sale runs from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., admission is $3.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/09/2017 (1884 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MEKONG RIVER BANK, THAILAND  It takes one hour and 45 minutes to fly from Shenyang, a sprawling provincial capital in northeastern China not far from the border with North Korea, to Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Its the kind of flight in which passengers have to gobble down their beef and rice before the attendants come around telling them to stow their tray tables for landing.

But for the North Koreans who escape from Kim Jong Uns regime, by way of China, there is no quick flight onward.

Instead, they embark on a gruelling journey that  best-case scenario  involves travelling almost 4,350 kilometres on buses, motorbikes and boats, in taxis and on foot over mountains, on a roundabout route scores of North Koreans each month are embracing as the best possible way to reach South Korea, where they will immediately become South Korean citizens.

Paula Bronstein / Washinton Post North Korean defectors rest in a hotel room in Thailand. They will be sent to Seoul, where they will immediately become South Korean citizens.

For most, the journey will first pass through China, Vietnam and Laos, where they must be on the alert for police who might arrest them and send them back the way they came  to certain and brutal punishment in North Korea.

Not until they cross a fourth frontier from Laos into Thailand are they finally safe.

Kim, the young and tempestuous North Korean leader, is issuing increasingly shrill threats to the outside world, flying missiles over Japan and threatening to strike the United States.

For the people of North Korea, his threats are not just bluster. They are a very real part of daily life.

Behind the visible salvos of missiles, ordinary North Koreans are risking their lives to make this invisible journey out of Kims clutches and to safety.

The Thai authorities do not send them back. Instead, they will slap them with a minor immigration violation and alert the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok, which will start the process of transferring them to Seoul  not far from where many started their journey. There, they will start a new life, one of constant internet connectivity and white rice every day.

I want to learn all about computers, said a 15-year-old boy who arrived in Thailand from Laos 12 days after escaping from North Korea. I want to become a computer expert.

I want to be good at computers, too, chimed in his eight-year-old sister, who was playing with an imitation Barbie a humanitarian worker had given her on arrival in Thailand. It was the first doll she had ever owned.

The brother and sister were two of the 11 North Koreans who told the Washington Post of their escape after arriving here, on the Thai side of the Mekong River, before turning themselves in to the police.

The North Koreans asked to withhold their names and other identifying information to avoid putting their family members still in North Korea at risk of retribution from the Kim regime.

They were recovering from the last leg of their terrifying journey out of North Korea, which started with a dead-of-night escape across the water into China and culminated in a boat ride across a swollen Mekong, which washed them way downstream from where they were supposed to be dropped.

After they had spent hours in the rain, not knowing where they were, the activist who had helped them escape finally found them.

They slept overnight in a spartan hotel room here and ate hot food and changed into dry clothes. Then, the following morning, with an air of anticipation, they turned themselves in to the police.

They were processed, then joined about two dozen other North Koreans in holding cells.

It was a muggy day. In two of the cells, women and children  including the little sister who got the Barbie and a baby who had just started walking  fanned themselves on mats on the floor and ate sunflower seeds. The pink bars had been turned into a makeshift washing line, and the girl had hung up her dolls dress on it.

A third cell contained a handful of men and the wannabe computer nerd.

Once there was a busload of them, as more North Koreans arrived nearly every day, theyd all be driven 12-plus hours to Bangkok.

The 11 said, throughout their perilous escape, they had been focused on this moment  on the moment they would get to the safety of this humid and smelly cell, the moment the South Korean bureaucracy would whir into action.

  

It was the experience of crossing back and forth into China, unrelentingly capitalist China, that made the fisherman decide to flee from North Korea. He was earning a good living, plying the seas as his official job and transferring money across the border as his unofficial one. Seeing how Chinese people lived and listening to South Korean news on a radio hed bought across the border had opened his eyes.

I realized that what we were told by our media was all lies, he said the night before they surrendered to police.

For the 50-year-old woman from the North Korean port of Nampo, it was the fear of being repatriated to North Korea again  shed just spent 2 1/2 years in a re-education camp  that made her carry on after she made it back to China.

For the 23-year-old school friends from the border city of Hyesan, being sold to Chinese men  knowingly or unknowingly  was the way to make money for their families. I knew I was going to be sold, but I was prepared to go, said one, looking up from her smartphone.

Her friend, a hairdresser, had gone to China several months before. She thought she was going to work in a restaurant but instead was sold to a Chinese man for US$12,000.

For all these reasons and many more, North Koreans cross the river into China.

Untold thousands risk their lives to escape each year. Some live in hiding in China, some get caught and repatriated, and some  1,418 last year  make it out to safety in South Korea.

When Kim Jong Un came to power at the end of 2011, at the age of 27, many North Koreans hoped he would usher in a new era of modernity and openness for the totalitarian state.

That didnt turn out to be the case.

Kim has ordered a merciless crackdown on the long border with China, and Beijing has stepped up its own vigilance. The flow of people has dropped markedly  but not altogether.

A vast network of brokers, many of them defectors from North Korea themselves, arrange escape through a system that is now so well-oiled that, if everything goes smoothly, a North Korean can be in a Thai detention centre within 10 days and in South Korea within a month.

Thats if everything goes right.

After finding a broker, North Koreans who have earned money through private trading pay up front for their escape. Others promise to pay with the settlement money they receive after arriving in South Korea. A lucky few have their escapes financed by Christian organizations.

The group containing the fisherman was rescued by Now Action and Unity for Human Rights, an organization led by Ji Seong-ho, himself a North Korean who escaped. Jis outfit arranged to pay US$2,000 to get each member of the group out. Contacting a broker directly would have cost double that, he said.

The group crossed the river into China at night to find two cars waiting to take them to two safe houses  just as their broker had said.

By the time we arrived at the house, it was getting light outside, a 42-year-old housewife said. We stayed there for three days, just eating and sleeping and watching Chinese TV until it was time to go.

They were going to take a new route, through Vietnam rather than directly through Laos, because Chinese authorities had become more aggressive near the Laotian border.

I was worried that we were being used as guinea pigs on the route. But if we were going to die, we were going to die, the fisherman said. We had already decided to kill ourselves rather than be sent back to North Korea.

The group was then put onto the first of many buses for a 17-hour-long journey. That was nothing  we spent more than 80 hours on buses in China, the housewife said with a laugh.

Being on a bus was dangerous. If Chinese police boarded to check their documents, the North Koreans would be busted. We didnt sit together, and we didnt speak to each other while we were on the bus, the housewife said. Nobody bothered us because they thought we were sleeping the whole time.

These escapes are usually co-ordinated by someone in Seoul managing the tricky logistics.

We have to know the exact locations of checkpoints. We need to be able to tell them where to wait and when to cross, said Kim Sang-hun, a Seoul-based Christian activist who helps North Koreans escape.

They can be arrested anywhere at any time, and the situation is going to be very bad for them. So to bring them to safety, we have to know the local bureaucracy and find a way to get around it.

Yet this was the easy leg of their journey. Many North Koreans speak some Chinese, either through living in China or by trading with China, and their similar looks mean they can blend in with the local population.

Yet when they got to the bus station closest to the border with Vietnam, the atmosphere changed. Police were patrolling the border in force, so their guides told them to take cover and then be prepared to run through the dark.

Hiding between buildings, waiting for their moment to cross, the North Koreans were being as still as they could be. The guides were gesturing at them not to move. They didnt need to have a common language  their body language spoke volumes. When the moment came, they ran. And they were across.

The hardest part was still to come. After several more bus and car rides through Vietnam, the North Koreans had to hike through the mountains along the border with Laos, through torrential rain.

Every step of the escape is hard and dangerous  hiking mountains, changing methods of transportation and crossing borders, said Ji, the activist who now helps his compatriots escape. Because theyre so tense, some fall ill during or after the escape.

The journey is especially onerous for children, the elderly and the disabled, he said. Mothers sometimes give their children sleeping pills so they wont cry and give them up.

Three men with flashlights were waiting to lead the group over the mountain paths. It was raining hard, and they were all soaked through. The paths were slippery and treacherous. It was pitch black.

We were told we were supposed to go over two mountains, but I think it was three, said a young mother who had left her four-year-old daughter behind in China while she made the escape. It was really hard, and I was so scared I thought I was going to die from fear.

The 50-year-old woman from Nampo said the border crossings were the most terrifying part. I kept thinking: What would happen if I get caught now? she said. If I was repatriated again, I knew that it would be the end of my life.

They did make it into Laos, and there was another car waiting for them at the border. The drivers nerves put them on edge. He was afraid of being stopped by the police with the North Koreans in his car, and his fear was contagious.

Most unnerving of all was the reality of being so close to safety but not quite there. I kept thinking: Imagine if I made it this far and then I got caught in Laos, the young mother said.

Just four hours to the Mekong River and, across it: Thailand.

Their clothes still wet from the mountain crossing, the group was dropped on the river bank in the pouring rain. There, they waited in the darkness until it was time to cross.

At 3:30 a.m., they got into one of the long boats that navigate the Mekong. The heavy rains had made the river high and fast, and they were dropped 32 km downstream from where they were supposed to go ashore.

There was nobody around, nobody waiting for us, the housewife said. Up until that time, everything had worked perfectly.

But for the fisherman, it didnt matter. I was so relieved to be in Thailand. I sat by the river and smoked some cigarettes.

Ji, waiting upstream for them, started out on a frantic, hours-long search. He heard from the co-ordinator in Seoul that theyd crossed and realized theyd missed their drop point, but he didnt know where they were. And they, not being able to read Thai, didnt know where they were, either.

Luckily, as one of the women in the group had a Chinese cellphone, Ji eventually found them and took them to the nearby hotel, where a hot shower and dry clothes awaited them.

That Saturday night, before they turned themselves in at the police station, they had a celebration. They pushed back the beds in the hotel room, and the housewife cleaned the tiled floor. They sat crossed-legged and ate sticky rice, grilled fish, fried chicken and banana chips, all washed down with large cans of Chang, a Thai beer.

The eight-year-old played with a reporters phone, delighting in photo filters that gave her bunny ears or a crown of flowers.

Not far to South Korea now.

 Washington Post
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 10:02:28|Editor: liuxin

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HANOI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two Vietnamese men under death sentence were arrested by police six days after escaping from a prison in Vietnam's Hanoi, the country's Police General Department announced on Sunday.

Nguyen Van Tinh, 28, from Hanoi, who in April received death sentence for the charge of drug trafficking, was detained in a jungle in northern Hoa Binh province on Sunday morning.

Several hours earlier, Le Van Tho, 37, from northern Hai Duong province, who in May was sentenced to death for the charges of drug trafficking, murder and swindling for appropriation of assets, was arrested when he was sitting in a taxi in Hai Duong.

On the rainy Sept. 11 morning, Tho and Tinh broke their shackles and a hole in the wall of their cell, climbed to a watchtower, and used a rope to swing over a 3-meter fence to escape from T16 Detention Center in the rural district of Thanh Oai.

Some staff of the detention center have been accused of negligence.
A locations manager for Netflixs Narcos was killed Monday, apparently by gunshot, in a rural area of Mexico known for gang-related drug violence.

A report in the local press indicates 37-year-old Carlos Munoz Portal died while scouting locations for the show. There are no specifics yet on what happened, but he was last seen heading out to the State of Mexico for some production photographs.

His body was found hours later in his car and had sustained several gunshot wounds. The vehicle was found on an unnamed dirt road in San Bartolo Actopan, part of the municipality of Temascalapa. The site is located very close to the border with Hidalgo, which is notorious for drug-related homicides.

A spokesman for the Attorney General of the State of Mexico said no witnesses have been located.

A Netflix statement said, We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate.

Munoz was a graduate of the University of the Americas and had been working in the film industry for more than decade as a locations manager. His resume includes Mel Gibsons Apocalypto and Spectre, the 2015 James Bond film that begins in the Mexico.

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On Wednesday, a man pleaded guilty to murdering and sexually assaulting a Washington, D.C., actress and yoga instructor on Christmas Day 2016.

Duane Johnson pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree felony murder in the slaying of Tricia McCauley, a woman he did not know and also sexually assaulted, the U.S. Attorneys Office of the District of Columbia announced in a press release.

McCauley worked as a stand-in on 2006s Step Up and appeared in multiple short films and D.C. stage productions.

Johnsons plea, which will not be final until sentencing, calls for a 30 year prison sentence, after which Johnson, 30, will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Henry McCauley Jr., McCauleys father, told the Washington Post this sentence would be sufficient in his eyes.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Hell be an older man, the victims father said. Were just not the type of people who want to see vengeance.

Tricia McCauley (right)

According to the press release, on Dec. 25, 2016 at about 5:30 p.m., McCauley, 46, left her home and got into her Toyota Scion to drive to a holiday party at her friends house. On the drive, McCauley encountered Johnson, and he proceeded to get into her car and sexually assault her. During the struggle, Johnson took the scarf McCauley was wearing and used it to strangle her. After she died, Johnson took her body and put it in the backseat of her car.

She was reported missing by her friends and after a search was launched to find her, she was found the following night at about 11:20 p.m.

 PEOPLEs special edition True Crime Stories: 35 Real Cases That Inspired the Show Law & Order is on sale now.

Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department found her car parked outside of a pharmacy. When they went inside the pharmacy they found Johnson, who had the keys to McCauleys car in his pocket. When police went to her car, they discovered her body.

Story continues

Johnson has been in custody ever since.

Previously Johnson told police McCauley had allegedly tried to kill herself in the car.

She was suicidal and hung herself in the car, Johnson told officers.

When questioned by police about why he had been spotted driving her car, Johnson said that prior to killing herself, [McCauley] told [him] that he could have all her belongings, including credit cards, money and her car.

PEOPLEs calls to the lawyers representing Johnson were not immediately returned.

Johnsons sentencing is currently scheduled for Nov. 17.
Narcos location manager Carlos Munoz was shot and killed in a rural, violent region outside of Mexico City Monday, while scouting for filming locations for the Netflix shows fourth season.

A friend of Munozs told El Pais Internaional that Munozs compact car was found on an unnamed dirt road in San Bartolo Actopan riddled with several bullets.

Given the depopulated we have no witnesses, says a spokesman for the Attorney General of the State of Mexico. We do not know if he was in Hidalgo and from there they followed him or if he was in the State of Mexico and tried to flee towards Hidalgo.

Also Read: 'Narcos' Season 3: Cocaine Goes 'Fortune 500' in First Full Trailer (Video)

Munoz was a veteran location manager, having scouted for Spectre, Sicario, Fast & Furious, Man on Fire and Mel Gibsons Apocalypto, along with episodes of the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle.

We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate, Netflix said in a brief statement.

Related stories from TheWrap:

'Narcos' Season 3: Cocaine Goes 'Fortune 500' in First Full Trailer (Video)

Get a Closer Look at the Cali Cartel in 'Narcos' Season 3 Teaser (Video)

'Narcos' Star Pedro Pascal Exclusive StudioWrap Portraits (Photos)

'Narcos' Airport Ads Are a Genius Twist on Pablo Escobar Drama's Drug-Smuggling Theme
We are aware of the passing of Carlos Munoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family, a Netflix spokesman told PEOPLE in a statement. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate.

The 37-year-old s body was found riddled with gunshot wounds in a car in a remote area near the borders of Hidalgo state, El Pais de Espana reported in Spanish. Given the lack of witnesses, authorities told the paper they are having trouble piercing together the circumstances that lead to his killing  unaware whether he was killed while fleeing to Hidalgo or from Hidalgo.

En parajes #Edomex, Carlos Munoz Portal (37), buscaba locaciones para serie @NarcosNetflix . Fue encontrado muerto, por balas, en automovil pic.twitter.com/Dbn6brJp1w  Julio Astillero (@julioastillero) September 16, 2017

According to Variety, Hidalgo had the highest murder rate in Mexico. In July, 182 cases of homicide were reported in the densely populated state, a ratio of 12.2 for every 100,000 inhabitants.

A spokesman for the Attorney General of the State of Mexico told Deadline no witnesses have been located

Narcos, which most recently handled the Colombias Cali cartels rise and fall in season 3, was preparing to shift focus on cartels in Mexico. The infamous Juarez cartel was briefly featured in the most recent season.

A graduate from the University of the Americas, Munoz has been working in the film industry for more than decade as a locations manager.
Another seemingly awkward attempt at a public display of affection between First Lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump is under the Twitter microscope.

At a Friday night event held at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Melania gave a speech introducing her husband. The president thanked her by firmly shaking her hand and motioning for her to sit down by guiding her off the stage with his arm.

Social media users were quick to call the moment awkward.

Another commented, Nothing says I love you my wife like a firm handshake and false pleasantries.

The US First Lady introduces her husband on stage at an event at Joint Base Andrews. He thanks her with a handshake. pic.twitter.com/fPQNoMpnWa  Caitriona Perry (@CaitrionaPerry) September 15, 2017

By far the most awkward husband/wife encounter I've evr witnessed was just now when Trump shook Melania's hand at the podium. Hug her, dude!  natalie (@nataliehaddad_) September 15, 2017

Nothing says I love you my wife like a firm handshake and false pleasantries.



Guess he won't have an Al Gore moment.#TheResistance https://t.co/kZwvmWMXOD  Grant Stern (@grantstern) September 16, 2017

Did he give a slight push out the way? pic.twitter.com/Dh6iT8DAAy  Diya Khothule (@BKLYN_Diya) September 16, 2017

my husband and I just shook hands goodnight just to try it and OMG IT IS SO WEIRD!!!! WTH?!?!?  Megan Mak. (@meggitymak) September 16, 2017

At Andrews Air Force Base, Trump greets his wife, Melania, with a handshake. Their's is a financial ARRANGEMENT, not a marriage. pic.twitter.com/4DoLsyNnLy  Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) September 16, 2017

Ah yes, a handshake, so intimate, thank you very much husband sir, my misery is palpable, solid deal sir  MelaniaTrumpFLOTUS (@TrumpFlotus) September 16, 2017

Trump greets Melania with a polite handshake and, didn't you notice, a firm shove offstage. https://t.co/OVc7PLcC0x  Linda Wouldn't Know (@Lindlee) September 16, 2017

This isnt the first time Twitter has pointed out a questionable PDA exchange between the Trumps. In May, Melania appeared to swat the presidents hand away as he reached for it when they arrived Tel Aviv, Israel.

That moment came not long after the first ladys verified personal Twitter account liked a tweet about her dramatic change in facial expressions at the January Inauguration when she smiled, then scowled, after the president glanced in her direction. In his anti-Trump tweet, writer Andy Ostroy joked: Seems the only #Wall @realDonaldTrumps built is the one between him and @FLOTUS #Melania #trump.

The tweet was un-liked after Twitter caught on, and Melanias communications director, Stephanie Grisham, later told PEOPLE The First Lady wasnt aware of any of this until I brought it to her attention. It isnt her primary account and we have since changed the passwords.
Real Housewives of New York star Sonja Morgan played a part in causing her friend and Million Dollar Listing star Josh Flagg to sustain a pretty serious pre-wedding injury.

Earlier in September at Flaggs pre-wedding dinner in Los Angeles, Morgan, 53, was responsible for Flagg falling on his face, which resulted in a sizable gash on his forehead.

But Flagg, 32, isnt complaining.

Sonja and I have been great friends for many years, and any wounds she may or may not have inflicted on me are well welcomed, Flagg told Page Six. I love her dearly.

Morgan claims the incident happened when Flagg fell over while trying to look at Morgans necklace after too many drinks  and that he left her no choice but to literally grab him by his privates.

Wed all had dinner first It was several sources and wines at Tao, then we went over to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where everybody was staying, Morgan explained. We were all hanging out, and Josh leaned over to look at my diamond-and-pearl necklace, but he unfortunately tripped over and I had to literally catch him by his bs.

Hes a tiny thing so it wasnt hard. He may have banged his head, but it wasnt bad, Morgan added. He had a little nick on his face, but if you look at the wedding pictures, he was fine and he looks great.

My last kiss with my dear friend Josh as a single man before he gets married to the lovely Bobby. Beautiful seated dinner and dancing for family and out-of-town guests at the parents home last evening. Thank you for sharing the love! A post shared by Sonja Morgan (@sonjatmorgan) on Sep 9, 2017 at 1:51pm PDT

In a touching photo Morgan posted on Instagram of her and Flagg ahead of his wedding she wrote, My last kiss with my dear friend Josh as a single man before he gets married to the lovely Bobby. Beautiful seated dinner and dancing for family and out-of-town guests at the parents home last evening. Thank you for sharing the love!

Flagg proposed to Bobby Boyd last summer in Paris and the two wed at a Jewish wedding at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California on Sept. 9.

Bobby and I are truly over the moon happy, Flagg told PEOPLE shortly after the proposal. Very seldom do couples share what Bobby and I share. What makes our partnership complete is we are most importantly best friends. We are both extremely happy and excited for the next chapter.
President Donald Trump set himself up this morning when he tweeted a demand that ESPN apologize for Jemele Hills untruths about him. He was referring to Hills tweet calling him a white supremacist, among other remarks.

Sure enough, a few hours later, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders got asked at her briefing, Does that mean hes willing to apologize for birtherism claims that he had made for years?

I think the president has made many comments on that front, Sanders responded, making the reporters point. Trump for years led the charge on spreading the lie that President Barack Obama could not hold the office because he was not born in this country.

ESPN has been hypocritical, Sanders continued quickly, clinging to her talking point. They should hold anchors to a fair and consistent standard.

RelatedESPN Fires Curt Schilling Over Anti-Transgender Post

Hill, meanwhile, has issued a statement saying: My comments on Twitter expressed my personal beliefs. My regret is that my comments and the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remains unconditional.

ESPN followed with its own statement: Jemele has a right to her personal opinions, but not to publicly share them on a platform that implies that she was in any way speaking on behalf of ESPN. She has acknowledged that her tweets crossed that line and has apologized for doing so. We accept her apology.

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The red carpet at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night brought together stars of the small screen at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. From the all-star ensemble casts of Stranger Things and This Is Us to comedic stars like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Aziz Ansari, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Alec Baldwin, the best in the business walked the red carpet on Sunday night. Click through above for every attendee.

Check out more Emmy Awards coverage from Yahoo Lifestyle.

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Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 10:27:34|Editor: Mengjie

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MACAO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The election of the sixth Legislative Assembly of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) kicked off on Sunday morning, with more than 300,000 registered voters expected to cast their ballots in polling stations.

Thousands of voters went to polling stations ahead of the official voting time of 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Sunday. The polling will wrap up at 9 p.m. (1300 GMT) in the same day.

In line with the provisions of the Basic Law, the sixth legislature will be composed of 33 seats - 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats, and seven others appointed by the Macao SAR's chief executive.

There are a total of 307,020 eligible voters in direct election, up 11.23 percent from the previous election in 2013.

The 859 legal person voters, up by 19.47 percent from the previous election in 2013, will vote in indirect election.

A total of 186 candidates will run for the 14 directly-elected seats, while 15 candidates from six vocational groups will run for the 12 indirectly-elected seats.

There are 42 polling stations setting up in all districts for voters' convenience, based on voters' permanent residence address.

To ensure the voting rights of residents who are serving their terms of imprisonment, the authorities also set up a polling station in the Macao Prison.

Under Macao's law on voter registration, only permanent residents of Macao aged 18 and above have the right to vote.
Laura Wallen

Though Tyler Tessier tearfully pleaded for his pregnant girlfriend, Laura Wallen, to safely return home after she had been missing for a few days, police say he already knew she was dead.

Laura, if youre listening, it doesnt matter whats happened," he pleaded to the cameras. "It doesnt matter what type of trouble. Theres nothing we cant fix together.

The couple had been seen together at a grocery store near their home in Maryland on Sept. 2. Wallen's sister said she received a text from Wallen's phone that day that said Tessier had taken her to an open field and she wasn't sure why they were there. Her sister said to send a picture of where she was, and she did.

RELATED: Was Kenneka Jenkins Murdered? Why Her Mom Doesn't Believe Police Explanation Of How The 19-Year-Old Wound Up Dead In A Hotel Freezer

Tyler has me on an adventure in the country, the text read. " Dont know why Im here but its for something."

Her sister asked, Really where are you?

Wallen replied: Im waiting in a field.

Google Maps

The 31-year-old social studies teacher was reported missing the following Monday, Sept. 4, when she didn't show up for the first day of school at Wilde Lake High School.

That same day, Wallen's sister said she received more texts from Wallen's phone that said she wasn't sure if the child she was four months pregnant with was Tessier's and said it might be a previous boyfriend's. Police said those texts were sent by Tessier.

I am like 95 percent sure Tyler is not the father, one of the texts said. Im probably going to lose my job over this."

And another one said: Tyler is never going to forgive me. If he tries to call you, please tell him hes a great guy because I know I really hurt his feelings.

RELATED: What Happened To Savanna Greywind? New Details Released About The Newborn Baby Found Five Days After 22-Year-Old Pregnant Woman Went Missing

Her family said she was excited about the new school and didn't give any sign that she was about to take off on her own. Things took a turn when police found her car three days after she was reported missing in a parking lot of an apartment complex nearby the school. It was abandoned and unoccupied with the front license plate removed.

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On September 14th  10 days after Wallen had been reported missing  the bodies of Wallen and her unborn child were found in a shallow grave in that field where she had sent a photo of to her sister. Soon after, police announced that Tessier had been arrested and charged with her murder.

A motive hasn't been released, and police haven't released the cause of her death, but they do think Tessier killed Wallen Sept. 3. He admitted to removing her car's front tag, disposing of it and her license and iPhone before driving the car to the parking lot.

He then texted an acquaintance, asked for a ride to Baltimore and said he needed help to "clean up a mess."

The acquaintance declined to assist.

Tessier had made several trips to that acquaintance's property, which is near the field where Wallen's body was found, but police say the acquaintance had no involvement.

Police say Tessier was a person of interest and gave conflicting stories about his girlfriend's disappearance.

"This is one of those tragic cases where you have an absolutely innocent victim, said Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said. Just a senseless killing.



RELATED: 5 Horrible Things Jim Carrey Allegedly Did To His Ex-Girlfriend Before She Committed Suicide (According To Her Therapist)

Emily Blackwood is an editor at YourTango who covers pop culture, true crime, dating, relationships and everything in between. Every Wednesday at 10:20 p.m. you can ask her any and all questions about self-love, dating, and relationships LIVE on YourTangos Facebook page. You can follow her on Instagram (@blackw00d) and Twitter (@emztweetz).

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Amid rising tensions between the United States and North Korea, Pyongyang launched a missile that flew over Japan on Friday.

While many people in Japan and South Korea have grown somewhat used to the frequent military displays from North Korea, U.S. travelers who had booked trips to Tokyo or the Japanese islands are understandably spooked.

Travel + Leisure spoke with Abby Hocking  a New York City-based photo editor with plans to travel to Tokyo and Kyoto with her husband in November  about her concerns. Hocking recently inquired with her booking agencies to see if their trip costs could be refunded after receiving frantic phone calls from anxious family members.

"That planted the seeds of doubt," she said.

While initially dismissing their fears as unfounded, Hocking and her husband grew more concerned after the second missile launch in less than two weeks.

"Maybe this isn't the best time to go," she said. "But then, when is the best time to go?"

Security experts and government officials, however, have said Japan continues to be safe for tourists, and the missile tests should not be a deterrent for travel.

The way I think about the North Korea threat is analogous to earthquake risk," Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on United States-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), told Travel + Leisure.

"If the possibility of an earthquake is not going to deter people from going to Japan, I dont see at this time why tensions with North Korea should be a deterrent, he said.

The missile over Japan flew farther than any other North Korea test, The Telegraph reported, though its payload and accuracy are not yet known. Japan has missile defense, but they can only fire if attacked, according to their constitution.

The fact that Japan did not shoot down the missile can be construed as a positive sign, according to Snyder, as it indicates the missile did not constitute an attack.

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North Korea has repeatedly threatened to attack Guam, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, and is reportedly developing an intercontinental missile.

The United Nations imposed its toughest sanctions yet on North Korea earlier this summer, and U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea in August that, if it continued to threaten the U.S., he would unleash "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

Scholars warned at the time that Trump's menacing remarks signaled a potential shift in the U.S. policy toward the Korean peninsula  one which could result in a military solution.

Usually, the U.S. government is willing to give more time for a resolution, to see how the resolutions bite, Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, told The New York Times.

Tourists have continued to arrive to Guam, however, and Japan also remains safe for visitors at this time, according to both private analysts as well as the U.S government. The State Department has not issued a travel warning or advisory for Japan, and a military intervention is not imminent.

Snyder pointed out that both missiles recently launched over Japan were tests that flew over the island nation but did not actively target the U.S. ally. There are no signs of an immediate attack, including the fact that North Korea remains in a testing phase, he said.

A spokesperson from the State Department told T+L that travelers should visit the department's travel website and "remain aware," while monitoring local news and developments.
Bricks and chemical agents were thrown last night by a crowd of 1,000 protesters in St. Louis following the not-guilty verdict of a former white police officer, Jason Stockley, in the fatal shooting of a young black man, Anthony Lamar Smith.

Ten law enforcement officers were injured, and 23 people were arrested as of 6 p.m. on Friday. Officers used mace, tear gas and rubber bullets to control the crowd, as several dumpster fires were set throughout the city, and windows at the home of Mayor Lyda Krewson were broken. A U2 concert scheduled in the city for Saturday was canceled, after the band had been informed that the police department was "not in a position to provide the standard protection" for their audience. The vast majority of Friday's protest groups did not engage in any property damage, and most of the 23 arrested were released as of Saturday morning.

The protests began shortly after the early morning verdict, and for most of the day consisted of a large group of demonstrators walking through the city, blocking some intersections and highway ramps.

In preparation for the verdict, the Missouri National Guard was activated on Thursday, police officers were assigned longer shifts, local schools closed or let students out early, and businesses began to stock plywood to board their windows in the event of lootings.

Three years ago, similar protests in St. Louis following the acquittal of officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown led to changes in police department procedure as well as nationwide investigations into law enforcement conduct.

What Happened?

In 2011, Jason Stockley, 36, fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, after a car chase following what Stockley said was a drug transaction. Just before he shot Smith, Stockley said, We're killing this [expletive deleted], dont you know, according to dashboard camera video cited in the trial.

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According to prosecutors, Stockley planted a gun in Smiths car that day. Stockleys DNA was found on the gun, according to court documents, and Smiths was not.

The court did not set a public date for its verdict, and Stockley waived his right to trial by jury. New evidence reopened the case in May 2016 despite a $900,000 settlement the police department paid the Smith family in 2013, one of the largest police department settlements in city history.

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Afghanistan is considering training and arming 20,000 civilians to defend territories where Islamic militants have been driven out, officials say, sparking fears the local forces could become another thuggish militia.

The proposal for a government-backed armed group that would protect its own communities from the Taliban and the Islamic State group comes as Afghanistan's security forces, demoralised by killings and desertions, struggle to beat back a rampant insurgency.

But the proposal has raised concerns that the local forces could become unruly and turn into another abusive militia terrorising the people it is supposed to defend.

"The Afghan government's expansion of irregular forces could have enormously dangerous consequences for civilians," said Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based group said Western diplomats in Kabul familiar with the plan -- modelled on the Indian Territorial Army that supports the country's regular forces -- said Afghan officials had expressed concerns the militia could be used by "powerful strongmen" or become "dependent on local patronage networks".

American and Afghan officials told AFP the fighters would come under the command of the Afghan army and be better trained than the Afghan Local Police -- a village-level force set up by the United States in 2010 and accused of human rights violations.

"Right now we rely on commandos and air strikes to retake the lost territories but after the commandos leave we dont have enough forces to hold onto the territories," said a senior defence ministry official who asked not to be named.

"The force will operate under an army corps and will be used to fill the gaps. They will be recruited from the locals and will be numbered around 20,000."

Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed to AFP that a plan for "local forces" was being discussed.

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"People will be recruited from their areas because they know their regions and how to keep them," Waziri said, but added there was no guarantee it would be implemented.

A spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support train and assist mission also confirmed a proposal for an Afghan territorial army was on the table.

But another American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told AFP the idea was still in "the brainstorming phase".

- Security quick fix -

The Afghan government and its foreign backers have been cultivating militias to bolster the 330,000-strong Afghan National Security and Defense Forces as they battle to get the upper hand in the grinding conflict.

In Afghanistan, militias -- private armies and government-backed armed groups -- have a long and chequered history in the war-torn country and many Afghans are wary of them.

Civilian casualties were at record highs in the first six months of 2017, a UN report showed, with forces loyal to the Afghan government accounting for nearly 20 percent of the deaths and injuries.

Since NATO ended its combat mission in 2014 the Taliban has been gaining ground and Islamic State is expanding its footprint.

As of February only about 60 percent of Afghanistan's 407 districts were reported to be under government control, according to the US watchdog agency SIGAR.

Earlier this year Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered a near doubling of the country's elite fighting force from 17,000 as part of a four-year roadmap that also aims to strengthen Afghanistan's air force.

While US President Donald Trump's commitment to increase American troop numbers and leave them there indefinitely has been welcomed by Afghan authorities, they know it will take time to improve the fighting abilities of their security forces.

With parliamentary and presidential elections planned in the next two years they want a security quick fix.

But critics fear that rather than support Afghanistan's beleaguered security forces, the militia could aggravate factionalism and push Afghanistan deeper into conflict.

"It's a tool that the US military and successive Afghan governments have reached for and it looks like a solution to their problems but actually the real solution would be to have a functioning ANA (Afghan National Army) and ANP (Afghan National Police)," Kate Clark, a senior analyst at Afghanistan Analysts Network, told AFP.

"It's a dangerous thing to play with, arming your civilians."
The Department of Defense has confirmed that an (as-yet-unidentified) American citizen is being held in U.S. military custody in Syria or Iraq as an enemy combatant. More specifically, the available information asserts that he was a fighter for the Islamic State who was captured in Syria by U.S.-friendly forces (or at least surrendered to those forces), and was then turned over to the United States.

How significant is this development from a legal perspective?

The straight civilian prosecution option: Under this option, the individual will be brought back to the United States to face civilian criminal prosecution as rapidly as possible. This option would minimize the legal and political friction that will arise under the other options mentioned below. If the individual was indeed an Islamic State fighter, and there is admissible evidence to that effect, there will be ample charging options (material support, conspiracy, and others).

The straight military detention option: The individual might be kept in military detention under color of the law of armed conflict, as an enemy combatant. We have not had a situation like that (long-term military detention with a citizen) for many years. It happened previously with Jose Padilla, of course, and Yaser Hamdi. Hamdis case seems particularly relevant as an analogy, insofar as both cases involve a U.S. citizen said to be a fighter for an enemy force in an overseas location at a time and place when and where it is quite clear that the law of armed conflict applies. The Supreme Court concluded in Hamdis case that his citizenship did not relieve him from being subject to military detention in such circumstances, so long as the government could prove he was in fact the person they claimed him to be (since as a citizen he had Fifth Amendment due process rights), and so long as the underlying state of armed conflict continued (with qualifications relating to the possibility that the conflict might evolve in murky ways warranting renewed attention down the road). Then again, Hamdi can be distinguished from this particular individual in that the 2001 authorization for use of military force relatively clearly covered the Afghan Taliban, whereas the relevance of the 2001 authorization for use of military force to the Islamic State is a contested question that courts have never addressed. If this individual is held as an enemy combatant long enough for the machinery of habeas review to get underway  and surely the preliminary steps leading to a petition already are in the works, or soon will be  the administration will find that it has created a situation in which a federal judge might just reject the authorization for use of military force interpretive theory that has for several years been the foundation for the anti-Islamic State effort. Thus, even if the citizenship angle does not pose significant legal risk for this approach (and some no doubt will reject my assessment that Hamdi squarely applies in this respect), the authorization for use of military force angle is a very serious risk.

Another angle to consider here: Where would the individual be held? The options are: inside the United States, Guantanamo Bay, or continual custody at the in-theater base at which he is currently being held. All of these options entail a variety of practical, diplomatic, and political frictions.

The military commission prosecution option: This option entails all the same challenges as noted above with the straight military detention option, plus all the challenges that the existing commission prosecutions have generated. Note that the biggest problem of the latter variety, relevant for this case, is the uncertainty surrounding the availability of inchoate crime charges. Simply put, it is clear you can charge material support and conspiracy in civilian court, but you cant charge material support in the commissions now  and it is quite unclear whether conspiracy will be chargeable (the matter is still under litigation). None of that would matter if this individual can be linked to a specific violation of the laws of war, such as killing a prisoner. But more likely the government can prove no more, and no less, than his membership in and support for the Islamic State. The prospects for conviction thus seem manifestly better in a civilian trial.

Update: As my colleage Steve Vladeck points out, I should clarify: The Military Commissions Act of 2009 specifies who may be prosecuted before the current military commission system: those who are alien enemy belligerents within the meaning of that statute, which of course this individual is not. Trial of this individual in a military tribunal accordingly would require some fancy footwork under 10 U.S. Code 821 apart from the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which in turn would at best result in charging options more clearly limited to accepted categories of war crime in the law of armed conflict, which would seem to exclude the prospect even of a conspiracy charge (since, as I understand it, the current Department of Justice litigating position is to accept that inchoate conspiracy is not a violation of the laws of war (though they contend it is still chargeable under the commissions act).

The hybrid option: Under this option, the individual will remain in military custody for the short term, subject to interrogation for some period of days or weeks. Then an FBI clean team would be brought in, and the model would shift to the civilian prosecution system, with the individual Mirandized (and reinterviewed if possible) and brought to the United States for a criminal trial in federal court. This is the model pioneered by the Obama administrated in situations like Warsame and Khattalah, and it is a clever way of maximizing the potential benefits of short-term interrogation and long-term incapacitation. Because it uses elements of both detention and civilian trial, this model does tend to draw criticism from both ends of the policy spectrum on these issues, yet the nature and scale of that friction has not been debilitating in the past instances. The more interesting challenges in this model have to do with the willingness of the courts to accept what occurred during the military detention phase at step one. That phase entails, by definition, a delay in presentment, and depending on the nature of the pre-Miranda interrogation and also on whether the government puts forward the fruits of the post-Miranda interviews, there also may be motions to suppress or even a motion to dismiss the indictment on grounds of outrageous government conduct. Such challenges create pressure on the government to minimize the length of the military detention phase, but to an uncertain extent. Judge Christopher R. Coopers recent ruling in United States v. Ahmed Salim Faraj Abu Khatallah on such issues is a very interesting read in that respect. It accepted that particular application of the hybrid model, but goes out of its way to emphasize some very specific facts justifying that outcome; one cannot count on a similar result on just any facts.

Prediction: Some version of the hybrid option, I think. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP/Getty Images
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.  Many important questions are asked in the pursuit of science, but here's one that isn't heard very often: Why so serious?

But at the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, laughter is an important part of the process  maybe not the scientific process, but the process of selecting the prizewinners, who pursued research topics that made people laugh, and then made them think, according to the Ig Nobel organizers.

At the 2017 Ig Nobels, held here today (Sept. 14) in the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University, researchers representing five continents made an appearance to acknowledge the dubious achievement of acquiring an Ig Nobel. The evening was punctuated by commentary-free science experiments, a mini-opera about incompetence, ultra-brief lectures, and, of course, plenty of paper airplanes. [Watch the 27th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony]

Top-hatted master of ceremonies Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobels and the editor of the science humor magazine "Annals of Improbable Research," announced winners in 10 categories: Physics, Peace, Economics, Anatomy, Biology, Fluid Dynamics, Nutrition, Medicine, Cognition and Obstetrics. Each winner received a coveted (and handcrafted) Ig Nobel statue topped with a red question mark, commemorating the year's theme of "Uncertainty." They also received 10 trillion dollars  Zimbabwean dollars, that is, delivered in a single bill and worth about 4 U.S. cents.

Winners were handed their prizes by obliging Nobel laureates and then invited to say a few words. But not too many  after 60 seconds, an adorable 8-year-old girl named "Miss Sweetie Poo" would join them onstage, and repeat "Please stop, I'm bored!" until the long-winded winners stopped talking. [The 10 Ig Nobel Awards of 2017]

Not that they didn't have plenty to talk about. Their research delved into fascinating territory: whether cats are both a solid and a liquid, why old men's ears are so darn big, how interacting with a live crocodile can affect a person's affinity for gambling, and why some people are disgusted by cheese, to name just a few.

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A pair of identical twins offered an onstage demonstration of a key principal in the study that won the Ig Nobel Cognition Prize  that identical twins can't tell themselves apart in a photo. M. Weisberger/Live Science

Some acceptance speeches were followed by brief demonstrations of the research findings, such as the study that won the Fluid Dynamics Prize, which showed how a cup of coffee sloshes and spills when the person carrying it is walking backward.

Another demonstration was performed by a co-author of the study that won the Peace Prize; he brought an unusual musical instrument onstage to spotlight findings that showed how sleep apnea and snoring could be effectively treated by playing a didgeridoo.

The Ig Nobel Obstetrics Prize went to researchers who showed that a developing fetus responds to music played through a speaker inserted into its mother's vagina. M. Weisberger/Live Science

Other scientists delivered 24-second lectures about their research and followed up with a seven-word summary, such as, "Robots that talk are perceived as stupid," and "Uncertainty is the only sure thing. Perhaps."

Abrahams announced that a live demonstration with a vampire bat had been planned to showcase a winning study about the first evidence of vampire bats feeding on people. But, he said, the bat was "not where we left it." He recommended that if anyone came across the wayward bat, they should notify an usher.

Before long, the evening wound to a close. After all the prizes were awarded and the final notes of the opera were sung, everyone gathered together one last time, for the traditional Ig Nobel "Goodbye, Goodbye" speech, which was as heartfelt as it was brief. The winners may not have had much time onstage to talk about their noteworthy research, but as Abrahams put it, "Their achievements speak for themselves all too eloquently."

Original article on Live Science.

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This videograb made from a handout video shows alleged hooded hunters posing with rifles - AFP

A group of armed and masked men have issued a video in which they vow to start hunting bears in Frances Pyrenees mountains following attacks on sheep.

Brown bears, a protected species, were blamed for the deaths of about 450 sheep who tumbled over cliffs while being chased by bears in two separate incidents this summer.

The threat to hunt them marks an escalation of a bitter dispute between farmers and conservationists over the predators. They were re-introduced into south-western France from Slovenia in the 1990s after hunters had all but wiped out native Pyrenean bears.

The video, filmed outdoors at night and sent to news organisations, shows about 30 men holding shotguns or hunting rifles, their faces hidden by balaclavas.

Brown bears are a protected species Credit: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

A deliberately distorted voiceover says: By introducing Slovenian bears and establishing a nursery allowing them to multiply, the French state is implementing land management policies that are gradually restricting access by men and women of the mountains and their freedom to work.

The voiceover adds: The state has remained deaf to the requests of our elected representatives, our citizens and trade organisations. We have decided to reopen bear hunting in Ariege [the local area] and to conduct active resistance against agents of the state.

The video, which concludes with shots fired in the air, comes three weeks after farmers were accused of firing about 50 rounds to intimidate wildlife officials visiting the area to assess how many sheep the bears had killed.

The government pays compensation for livestock killed, but many farmers say they can no longer co-exist with a bear population estimated at 39.

A local group is campaigning for many of the beasts to be returned to Slovenia, with others restricted to a reserve so that livestock could graze in a no-bear zone without fear of attack.

The authorities are taking the video seriously and prosecutors have opened an investigation.

The local Prefecture described the threat to resume bear hunting as a pathetic drift into violence and illegality.

It added in a statement: Play-acting as a terrorist organisation is not a joke. It harms all those who defend the development of rural and mountain territories.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 10:32:36|Editor: Mengjie

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KAZAN, Russia, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russia and China can cooperate more closely in industrial and high-tech fields, and the future of such a partnership will be rosy, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has said.

"We are always ready to develop cooperation in all areas where there is an opportunity to unite our potential," he told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview here.

Manturov said he views Russia-China cooperation in industry and high technologies very positively and he has formed a working group on a wide range of industries together with Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei.

According to him, Russian fertilizers giant PhosAgro is considering with Chinese partners joint production of hydrochloric acid at one of its plants.

The Ammonium firm located in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan is mulling the possibility of Chinese investment in the expansion of the range of its ammonia-based products.

Russia has also invited Chinese enterprises to participate in the creation of industrial parks for the production of value added aluminum items.

According to Manturov, Russia exports its electricity, hydrocarbon resources and primary aluminum, but it paradoxically imports finished aluminum products.

"Therefore, to create added value in Russia, we are now considering with colleagues from foreign countries, particularly from China, the possibility of their participation in expanded production of cables or aluminum wheel plates for cars," he said.

China and Russia are now jointly developing a wide-body long-range airliner and they have reached the stage of a draft design, during which potential suppliers of components and units will be selected and the final look of the aircraft will be decided, said Manturov.

He said both sides are currently discussing the name for the new plane, which should be universally accepted in Chinese, Russian and global markets.

"We consciously chose this option (of civil aviation cooperation), realizing that by using our joint potential of fundamental and applied sciences and markets, we will be able to achieve the result faster than if we work separately," he said.

To explore more cooperation, Manturov and Miao met earlier this week in Kazan to discuss further partnerships in civil aviation, raw materials, equipment and radio electronics.

After the discussion, the two ministers witnessed the signing of an agreement on proposed Chinese investment in Tatarstan and a memorandum of understanding on holding a China-Russia innovation competition.

Manturov told Xinhua that the two countries can cooperate on a wide range of products and the most important thing is to create conditions for business, which will then advance concrete proposals and ideas.

He said the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade is pushing for reducing barriers in the field of standards and in the formation of a favorable investment climate.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A top aide to President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday the Syrian government would fight any force, including U.S.-backed forces also battling Islamic State militants, in its drive to recapture the whole of the country. Assad has previously vowed to recapture the whole of Syria. The government controls the main urban centres in the west of the country and has taken back much of the eastern desert from Islamic State in recent months. "Whether it's the Syrian Democratic Forces, or Daesh (Islamic State) or any illegitimate foreign force in the country ... we will fight and work against them so our land is freed completely from any aggressor," Bouthaina Shaaban said in an interview with Hezbollah's Al Manar TV. Shaaban said the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had captured areas from Islamic State "without any fighting", apparently accusing them of collusion with the jihadists. The SDF "are trying to get areas (where there is) oil ... but they will not get what they want," she said. Shaaban also said plans to "divide" Syria had failed, without elaborating. The Kurdish YPG militia, which dominates the SDF, has for years controlled large parts of northeastern Syria. Advances against Islamic State in its Raqqa stronghold and a new offensive in Deir al-Zor are bringing more territory under the control of the SDF. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Madrid (AFP) - Thousands of Basques holding banners that read "we want to decide" marched Saturday in support of Catalonia's independence referendum to separate from Madrid, which Basque separatists have long fought for.

Organisers said 35,000 people rallied in the northern city of Bilbao -- a symbolic protest in a region still marked by decades of violence once waged by armed separatist group ETA, and where the desire for independence remains strong.

The march comes just two weeks before Catalonia's separatist executive is slated to hold a referendum on October 1 despite a ban by Madrid.

Spain considers the vote illegal, as does its Constitutional Court.

Waving the red, blue and yellow Estelada flag used by those who want independence in Catalonia, and red, white and green Basque regional flags, protesters marched under threatening skies.

They carried a large banner filled with "Yes" slogans, referring to the answer Catalan separatists want to give in the referendum that will ask voters whether they want the region to become an independent republic.

Jasone Agirre Garita, a regional lawmaker, said protesters wanted "to demonstrate they are for democracy and for the basic right to decide."

"They want to denounce the anti-democratic attitude of the Spanish state," she added.

The protest was called by Gure Esku Dago, an organisation that pushes for Basques to be given the right to decide on their future.

Arnaldo Otegi, a veteran leader in the northern region who was once part of ETA and now heads up Sortu, a party that campaigns for independence, was also present at the march.

Madrid has pulled out all stops to prevent the Catalan referendum from going forward, including threatening to arrest mayors who facilitate the vote, ordering police to seize any item that could be used for the plebiscite and tightening control over the region's finances.

It says the Constitution stipulates that a Spanish region does not have the right to call a referendum.
There was a law enforcement presence sufficient for the invasion of a small country, or Oregon at least, that kept the University of California at Berkeley from descending into violence yet again on Thursday night.

Berkeley has achieved building a wall before Trump did, joked conservative journalist Ben Shapiro as he took the stage at the universitys Zellerbach Hall shortly after 7 p.m. The reference was to the extensive security cordon, including physical barriers and rows of law enforcement officers in riot gear, that created a ring around the center of campus. In all, the public university was estimated to have spent $600,000 on security for the talk by the controversial commentator.

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Alexander Nazaryan for Newsweek.

Despite that cost, Thursday night proved a crucial test of whether Berkeleyboth the college and the citycould forfend the kind of political chaos that has become almost commonplace here ever since right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos tried to speak on campus last February. That night ended in fiery destruction; several other confrontations between political factions since then have resulted in bloodshed, recrimination and embarrassment for Berkeleys civic leaders, whove shown an inability to keep the peace while letting people exercise their First Amendment freedoms.

More tests loom in the near future, with scheduled appearances by some of the most incendiary personalities on the right, including Yiannopoulos, pundit Ann Coulter and ferocious Trump loyalist Stephen Bannon, who recently left the White House, where he was chief political strategist, to return to the helm of Breitbart News. They will all reportedly converge on Berkeley in late September for an event being billed as Free Speech Week.

Shapiro was invited by the Berkeley College Republicans and sponsored by the Young Americas Foundation, a national group with ties to the conservative Koch family. Tickets to the event sold out quickly, but it was uncertain until recently whether the talk, titled Say No to Campus Thuggery, would even take place, so fraught has the presence of conservative voices on Berkeley become. But the universitys new chancellor, Carol T. Christ, has vowed to uphold the First Amendment, even if that perturbs progressive sensitivities. In case anyones sense of safety or belonging was threatened by Shapiros appearance, counseling was available.

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Alexander Nazaryan for Newsweek.

Informal observation suggested that few, if any, Berkeley students sought these counseling services. And yet the mood ahead of Shapiros talk was tense, with many wondering if the black-clad leftist activists of antifa would try to disrupt the event.

Robert, a supporter of President Donald Trump, came from the Napa Valley, where he works, to wait in line for a standby ticket to the talk. I dont think Ben Shapiro is a fascist at all, he said, expressing the widely held sentiment that Shapiros detractors are unaware of his ideas and opinions. He hoped that the expensive security measures would allow for the event to proceed.

Ben Bergquam, the host of a conservative radio program, drove all the way from Fresno to hear Shapiro talk. Hed been assaulted by antifa members at an earlier Berkeley clash and showed reporters stitches on his ear and scalp.

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Alexander Nazaryan for Newsweek.

I came here to stand up for America, he said, to expose the violent radical left for who they are. He acknowledged that last months death of Heather Heyer, a counterprotester in Charlottesville, Virginia, was caused by a far-right extremist, though he also suggested that left-leaning groups such as antifa and Black Lives Matter were the greater threat to civil society. Anyone who calls Ben Shapiro a fascist is an idiot, Bergquam said.

Inside the security cordon, which rendered the center of campus eerily serene as night fell, right-wing celebrity Lauren Southern recorded a video for her social media fans. Its important to show up here, she said, citing Berkeleys historic role as a crucible of free speech. She bristled at the suggestion that the mere presence of Shapiro and his fans was a form of incitement.

Does a woman wearing a short skirt incite rape? Southern asked. Several admirers milled nearby, including one in a Reagan Bush 84 T-shirt. In the distance, behind all the barriers and all the cops, protesters railed against fascism and the corporate state.

Days before the speech, Berkeley city officials voted to lift the 20-year ban on police officers use of pepper spray. They plainly worried that the universitys defensive measures would push protesters and counterprotesters out into the city streets, necessitating more aggressive tactics. The maneuvering on all sides was especially astonishing because Shapiro had spoken on campus in the spring 2016 without any notable fanfare. Back then, though, the notion of a Trump presidency was still little more than a preposterous possibility.

A graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, which he entered at 16, and Harvard Law School, Shapiro is generally considered far more moderateand thoughtfulthan an inveterate bomb-thrower like Yiannopoulos. He was previously an editor at Breitbart News but quit during the presidential campaign after a colleague, Michelle Fields, was assaulted by Corey Lewandowski, the first of Trumps three campaign managers. Shapiro was upset Breitbart sided with Lewandowski over Fields. He did not vote for Trump and has been a frequent critic of the president, though that has not made him a darling of anti-Trump forces.

Shapiro did not sound like a white supremacist during his talk, pointing to the yarmulke on his head as evidence (he is an adherent of Orthodox Judaism). Instead, the combative and sure-footed 33-year-old came across as a Ronald Reagan acolyte, devoting his time onstage to loosely joined riffs about the greatness of America, the value of personal responsibility and the danger of identity politics. America is the greatest country in human history. You are not a victim, Shapiro said, in a line that seemed to recall the Gippers infectious shining-city-on-a-hill optimism.

Reagans political rise would have been unlikely, if not impossible, without the Berkeley protests of the late 1960s, which served as the perfect foil for his sunny, orderly brand of Republicanism. Similarly, Shapiro taunted and goaded the leftists of antifa, calling them pathetic, lying, stupid jackasses, adding hard-left morons for good measure.

And as protesters outside engaged in anti-law enforcement chants, Shapiro praised the very same officers, including members of the Oakland and Berkeley police departments, as well as the California Highway Patrol. These are the folks that stand between civilization and lawlessness, he said. That law and order line recalled Trump, for whom Shapiro did not have manyor, really, anykind words. But much like Trump, he devoted a good portion of his time onstage to deconstructing and reconstructing his own public persona.

Antifa is fascist, he said at one point. Im not fascist. In another rhetorical tactic recalling Trump, Shapiro complained on more than one occasion about the size of the audience, accusing Berkeley officials of preventing potential attendees from purchasing standby tickets. Indeed, many of the seats in the auditorium remained curiously unfilled.

The most remarkable aspect of Shapiros speech was how mainstream it soundedor, rather, would have before the presidential election of 2016. While he reserved most of his attacks for the left, he unambiguously lambasted the racists and extremists of the far right. After the speech, which lasted about 40 minutes, Shapiro took questions from the audience, including some from several self-described liberals. One young woman, a Berkeley student, engaged Shapiro in a heated but civil debate on abortion. The protracted, nuanced exchange would have heartened anyone who believes that measured political disagreement is no longer possible in America.

The reality was somewhat different out in the chilly Northern California night. On the opposite side of the barricades, the Refuse Fascism protestersof whom there appeared to be perhaps 200continued to rail against the Trump administration, corporate capitalism and other varieties of injustice. But the speakers were unfocused, with one repeatedly resorting to a refrain of Fuck all that shit without elucidating his complaints. The audience, in turn, seemed largely disengaged, even as bare-chested young men with USA painted across their torsos ran through the crowd, gleefully looking to provoke.

Were gonna do what the German people should have done when Hitler came to power, one of the Refuse Fascism activists said, in what one has to imagine was a largely facetious call to political violence. In any case, not many appeared willing to storm the Reichstag just yet.

As for the city of Berkeley, it remained calm, free of the destruction that marked the canceled Yiannopoulos appearance seven months ago. People milled about, plainly relieved that, for once, Berkeley had escaped violence, depriving Fox News and Breitbart of images of an out-of-control liberal mob. One elderly gentleman with graying hair, who looked as if hed been to a Berkeley protest or two in his heyday, told his companions that he had an America Was Never Great T-shirt, a play on Trumps Make America Great Again campaign slogan.

Alas, hed spilled coffee on it, the graying revolutionary lamented. Perhaps it would be ready for the next protest.

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The HuffPost bus sits in front of the Arkansas State Capitol during a visit to Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sept. 13, as part of "Listen To America: A HuffPost Road Trip." The outlet will visit more than 20 cities on its tour across the country.

A sign under an overpass in Arkansas.

The Junction Bridge illuminated during the evening hours. The bridge changed colors from time to time.

You can walk across Junction Bridge, which is lit with LED lights.

The city of skyline of Little Rock as seen from the Junction Bridge.

One of the many quaint city streets in Little Rock.

Jodi Morris speaks during a tour of Little Rock Central High School.

The restored Magnolia gas station beside Little Rock Central High School.

Little Rock Central High School, which is now a designated national historic site.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Library building.

The roadway leading up to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library building.

A replica of the Oval Office in the The William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

HuffPost sets up its bus outside of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

Will Tooke interviews Robert Walker on the HuffPost bus.

The HuffPost bus on location.

Adam Schultz edits video on the bus.

Shambala, a food truck owned by Phoebe Glass and Amir Salem, serves up vegetarian food near the HuffPost video activation site.

Hillary Frey, HuffPost's director of editorial strategy, works during the HuffPost visit to Little Rock.

The Loblolly food truck at the HuffPost activation site.

HuffPost reporter Jenna Amatulli orders ice cream from the Loblolly food truck.

Frey introduces the "Victory Over Violence: Overcoming Gangs in Little Rock" event.

Moderator Kevin Kelly Listens to panelists Leifel Jackson, Joyce Elliott, Tristan Wilkerson and Police Chief Buckner talk about crime in Little Rock.

Leifel Jackson speaks to the crowd.

Joyce Elliott laughs at Tristan Wilkerson's comments.

The crowd listens to the speakers during the "Victory Over Violence: Overcoming Gangs in Little Rock" event.

Little Rock Police Chief Buckner talks to the crowd.

The HuffPost bus at Philander Smith College in Little Rock.

Tooke works aboard the bus as HuffPost staff members make their way to Oxford, Mississippi.

Bus driver Bobby Jensen does some late-night driving on the way to Oxford.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Khar (Pakistan) (AFP) - A roadside bomb killed a local government official and five policemen on Sunday in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast took place in the town of Mamoond, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Khar, the main town of Bajaur, one of the country's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts, where the army has been battling Taliban militants.

"A local government officer and five tribal police were killed when an improvised explosive device planted on a roadside exploded when their vehicle passed," senior local government official Anwarul Haq told AFP.

Local security officials confirmed the attack and casualties.

Pakistani militant umbrella group Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for the explosion. "Our mission is to eliminate the black infidel democratic system in Pakistan and impose Islamic justice system. We will trample every hurdle in the way of our mission," spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said in a message sent to reporters.

Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military offensives against insurgents along the northwestern border.

But militant groups are still able to carry out bloody attacks, particularly in the northwest.
A statewide ban on selling foie gras may soon be back on in California.

Foie gras, which means fat liver in French, is a luxury food item typically produced by force-feeding ducks or geese with a 10-12 inch feeding tube, which fattens the birds liver beyond its natural range.

A French farmer holds a funnel filled with corn to force-feed a duck using the traditional method by French producers at a poultry farm in Mayelis, southwestern France, in 2006. (Photo: Regis Duvignau / Reuters)

Animal advocates criticize the process as cruel, and in 2004, California passed a law that prohibited the selling birds that had been force fed to enlarge their livers, Reuters reports.

At the time, the states legislative analyst wrote that the production of foie gras was so hard on the birds that they would die from the pathological damage it inflicts if they werent slaughtered first, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The law took effect in 2012, prompting celebrations from animal rights activists but backlash from some chefs who said it infringed on their rights to serve what they want.

However, in 2015, a Los Angeles U.S. District judge struck down the ban on the sale of foie gras, ruling it was an ingredient, and that the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act gives the U.S. Department of Agriculture sole jurisdiction over the ingredients that are allowed in poultry products. A ban on producing force-fed foie gras remains within the state.

But as of Friday, it looks like foie gras could soon be off Californias menus once again. A Pasadena-based appeals court overturned the 2015 ruling. Judge Jacqueline Nguyen wrote that the law was not banning an ingredient, but rather a method of production.

Foie gras at a restaurant in Sacramento, California, in 2012. (Photo: Sacramento Bee via Getty Images)

It is not the livers that are force-fed, it is the birds, she wrote, according to the Sacramento Bee. The difference between foie gras produced with force-fed birds and foie gras produced with non-force-fed birds is not one of ingredient. Rather, the difference is in the treatment of the birds while alive.

Nguyen also pointed out that more than a dozen countries  including Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom  have some type of ban on forced feeding or foie gras, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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Restaurants are not mandated to remove foie gras from menus immediately, though. Challengers of the ruling still have time to appeal it, and the ban wont be officially reinstated until the appeals process is over, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. And that process could take months.

As it stands right now, nothing changes, Cathy Kennedy, director of pro-foie gras group Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, told the Chronicle. We are absolutely going to appeal.

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Evacuation Of Pets

This image of Naomi Coto carrying her dog, Simba, on her shoulders as she was forced to evacuate her Houston home on Sunday is just one of hundreds of pictures which show the lengths that many pet owners went to to save their pets.

Locals are trying to save a colony of bats that are drowning as water reaches the top of a bridge in Houston https://t.co/HbUGj1zdRm pic.twitter.com/thvMnGoFBB  CBS News (@CBSNews) August 30, 2017

A cattle drive takes to the streets of Dayton, Tx. due to #Harvey #txwx



Video via Rebekah Brand pic.twitter.com/uyg2YDG4aJ  Hilary Scheinuk (@hscheinukphoto) August 28, 2017

One loud and lucky pig rescued from #Harvey high water #Fox26 pic.twitter.com/DRxGaCsVvC  Greg Groogan (@GrooganFox26) August 28, 2017

A dog was saved from the flooded streets of the sun chase neighborhood in Hamshire. pic.twitter.com/AXzEWzdZes  Jacque Masse (@jmasse12news) August 28, 2017

This video of Hankamer, Texas police officers saving dogs from a flooded shelter will get you through your day. pic.twitter.com/wQHYBn9JzL  Adam Best (@adamcbest) August 29, 2017

UPDATE: Frankie & Bear are safe. The two dogs we saw sitting in a boat in a flooded neighborhood have been rescued https://t.co/HOX03V5Typ pic.twitter.com/oo3IDt81R2  ed lavandera (@edlavaCNN) August 29, 2017

HEARTBREAKING: This was Saturday. An abandoned dog left alone during the flood in TX. The photographer rescued it



( - @DailyMail ) #Harvey pic.twitter.com/UepRjSlfXK  Matt Rodewald FOX 10 (@Matt_Fox10) August 28, 2017

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Los Angeles (AFP) - A US court in California on Friday re-instated a ban on foie gras in a move celebrated by animal rights activists who have long opposed the controversial French delicacy made by force-feeding ducks and geese.

The decision reverses a previous ruling in 2015, which said that a statewide ban on the food was superseded by federal law on the matter.

California's legislature had voted on its ban in 2004 with an eight-year grace period -- after which any restaurant caught selling the product risked a fine of $1,000.

Friday's judgment, which won't go into effect until the completion of an appeals process, was hailed by animal rights organizations but blasted by chefs and food groups who said it violated their freedoms.

In a statement, PETA said "the champagne corks are popping," adding that only the most callous chefs could stomach the practice of force-feeding poultry to produce diseased livers that it described as "torture on toast and unimaginably cruel."

An association of foie gras producers in Canada and New York as well as a restaurant in Los Angeles had contested the state law, saying it interfered with domestic trade law.

Ken Frank, a chef at the La Toque French restaurant in Napa Valley said the ban was a "terrible piece of legislation," according to the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that he expected it to be eventually lifted.

TV chef Eric Greenspan told the Los Angeles Times the decision was "just crazy."

"Don't eat it if you don't want to, but dont impede on anyones rights to do what they want to do," he said, adding: "Let's ban assault rifles before we ban foie gras if you want to talk about cruelty."

Jared Goodman, PETA's director of animal law, told AFP the court ruling was "a huge step towards finality."

Its opponents now have 14 days to file an appeal before a wider bench, failing which it would become law -- though if the appeal is heard, a final decision could be some time away.

The case could in theory eventually end up before the Supreme Court, an outcome seen as unlikely by Goodman.
Under Senate Bill 149, California could only clear candidates to appear on the ballot if theyve revealed their tax information to the public: Reuters

Presidential candidates will be required to release their tax return before they are allowed to run in California.

The bill, called the Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act, has now been sent to the state's governor Jerry Brown for his signature.

In passing the measure, the Democrat-controlled legislature again demonstrated its status as a bastion of opposition to Donald Trump. Breaking with tradition for presidential contenders, Mr Trump declined to release his full tax returns before he was elected, despite concerns that his sprawling business empire could present a conflict with his public duties.

Under Senate Bill 149, California could only clear candidates to appear on the ballot if theyve revealed their tax information to the public. The elected official who would oversee the process, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, backed the measure and has been a vocal critic of Mr Trump, strongly criticising his baseless claims that millions of people voted illegally during the 2016 election.

Forty years of Democrats and Republicans alike have release their tax returns, and its time California holds this president and all future presidents accountable, Senator Mike McGuire said on the Senate floor, noting that the presidency and the vice presidency are the only offices not subject to conflict of interest laws.

The bill cleared both houses of the Legislature on a largely party-line vote, with Republicans calling the measure a political stunt.

To become law, the bill would still need Gov Browns signature. The proposal also wades into murky legal waters, with a state analysis concluding that the measure falls within a muddled and evolving area of the law, and would likely face a court challenge. The Legislatures legal arm warned that the bill violates the Constitution.

Just as that legal uncertainty did not deter California, it has not dissuaded lawmakers in dozens of other states from introducing similar measures  part of a concerted backlash to Mr Trumps financial secrecy.

However, Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey and a former campaign surrogate for Mr Trump, vetoed a bill imposing the requirement in his state.
There weren't any doctors when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but one duck-billed dino has managed to get a diagnosis for its unusual joint condition about 78 million years after its death, thanks to a group of researchers who analyzed its strangely fused and pitted fossilized bones.

The adult duck-billed dinosaur, known as a hadrosaurid, had an inflammatory type of chronic arthritis, known as spondyloarthropathy, that attacks the spine and can cause the vertebrae to fuse together.

"This is the first occurrence of spondyloarthropathy in a hadrosaurid that we know [of]," said Darren Tanke, a senior fossil preparation technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada, who is studying the fossils. [Photos: Duck-Billed Dinos Found in Alaska]

Researchers uncovered the unique fossils in 1988 from a bone bed  basically, an accumulation of bones from different dinosaurs in one location  at Milk River Ridge Reservoir, an artificial lake in southern Alberta.

"We were just doing a general collection of the bones along the shoreline there," Tanke told Live Science. "The lake was lapping against the shoreline, exposing all these bones. They had to be collected right away, or they would have been destroyed."

The scientists put the fossils into a plaster jacket, and worked on them over the years at the Royal Tyrell Museum, extracting horned and duck-billed dinosaur remains from the rock. Recently, a probe into the sample revealed a mysterious bone; it looked like the dinosaur's sacrum  a bone in the lower back made of fused vertebrae that sits between the hip bones and the pelvis.

But this guess was wildly wrong, the researchers soon found.

"As [the fossil] became more and more cleaned up, we realized that the fusion of the vertebrae wasn't the sacrum," Tanke said. "It was fused because it was a pathology of the specimen, and the bones were not sacral vertebrae; they were dorsal vertebrae [in the middle of the back]."

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Notice the pitted bone caused by the spondyloarthropathy. This bone would be smooth if the dinosaur didn't have this condition. Courtesy Royal Tyrrell Museum

It's not uncommon to find fused duck-billed-dinosaur vertebrae, but these vertebrae are typically in the dinosaur's tail, not in the middle of its spine, Tanke said.

Chronic condition

Tanke excavated the rest of the duck-billed-dino specimen with extreme care, using an instrument that blasted air and an abrasive (in this case, baking soda) at the fossils to free them from the rock and clay.

The end result was unexpected: They found fused, pitted and textured vertebrae  a sign of spondyloarthropathy, said study co-researcher Dr. Bruce Rothschild, a professor in the School of Medicine at West Virginia University.

The condition likely impaired the dinosaur's movement  a disadvantage if it was fleeing a predator, such as a tyrannosaur, Rothschild said. The ailment may have also made it difficult for the duck-billed creature to move around in everyday life and defend itself, he said.

Evidence of spondyloarthropathy has also been found in other dinosaurs, including two species of horned dinosaur, six types of sauropod (a long-necked and long-tailed herbivorous giants) and two species of theropod (bipedal, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs, such as tyrannosaurs), the researchers said. The condition also affects mammals, including humans, Rothschild said. [The Strangest Medical Conditions]

There is no cure for the condition, but its symptoms in humans are often treated with the anti-inflammatory drug sulfasalazine (brand names Azulfidine and Sulfazine), Rothschild noted.

The research, which has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, was presented Aug. 23 at the 2017 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Calgary, Alberta.

Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations
Repeal of the Affordable Care Act is back on the agenda, with Republicans suddenly talking about a bill that, until recently, few people in either party had taken all that seriously.

The prospects for the new legislation are murky. The proposal has generated a ton of conversation in political and health policy circles in just the past week, with multiple outlets reporting that leadership is now thinking about floor action before Sept. 30. Thats the magic date when, because of parliamentary rules, Republicans lose their ability to pass repeal with just 50 votes. But much of the chatter is hype from supporters and its hard to know how much enthusiasm for the proposal actually exists.

Still, even if the bills political fortunes are difficult to pin down, the impact it would have as a law is crystal clear. By dramatically scaling back what the federal government spends on health care and undermining rules designed to guarantee insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, this new proposal would leave millions of Americans struggling to pay their medical bills and to get coverage.

It is, in other words, another shot at full repeal, although its GOP sponsors sometimes suggest otherwise  and thats one reason it has escaped heavy scrutiny until now.

A New Bill With The Same Old Devastating Effects On Coverage

Those sponsors are Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina  an unlikely duo, perhaps, given some of their previous statements about repeal. During the spring and summer, Graham repeatedly criticized his partys leadership for trying to jam through legislation on a party-line vote, without trying to work with Democrats or going through the usual committee process.

Cassidy, for his part, famously urged his colleagues to pass what he dubbed the Jimmy Kimmel test  a reference to the late-night television hosts impassioned public plea to make sure everybody has access to care, regardless of income or medical condition, after his newborn son was diagnosed with a genetic heart defect. Cassidys grandstanding on access to care seemed to make sense, given that previously he had worked with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on a skeletal proposal that he promised would let states keep their versions of Obamacare intact if they so chose. California, New York  you love Obamacare, you can keep it, Cassidy said.

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But when it came time to vote repeal legislation in late July, there was Graham voting yes, even though leadership had ignored his pleas for regular order, and there was Cassidy right there alongside him, even though the bills would have violated the Kimmel test by depriving millions of coverage. Now the pair is back with a proposal that would (yet again) go straight to a floor vote and would (yet again) mean no coverage for tens of millions.

Starting in 2020, the Cassidy-Graham bill would eliminate both the Affordable Care Acts subsidies and the enhanced federal funding that underwrites the expansion of Medicaid in 31 states (plus the District of Columbia). The bill would then establish a block grant, handing money directly to the states for helping people to pay for health care. This would produce the best of all worlds, as Cassidy and Graham would say, because it would mean states could stop worrying about the complications of the Affordable Care Act and simply use that money in ways that will work best for them and their citizens.

In reality, the Cassidy-Graham would shrink the federal investment in health care programs dramatically, by somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 billion over the next ten years, or maybe even more, according to a preliminary and rough analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Starting in 2027, the money would vanish altogether. In theory, Congress could appropriate new money then, a possibility Cassidy and Graham have raised in an effort to soothe those nervous about such a dramatic drop-off in funds. In practice, it would take $200 billion each year just to keep pace. Thatd be a huge ask for any Congress.

Its true the bill would give states new flexibility  so much flexibility, in fact, that they wouldnt have to direct the funding to the low- and middle-income Americans who need the help most. Nor would they have to keep regulations that prohibit insurers from charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing medical conditions, or include benefits like mental health and maternity that carriers frequently excluded in the old, pre-Obamacare days and would almost surely start excluding again if they had the chance.

This bill is far more radical [than previous repeal bills] in that it envisions going back to the pre-ACA world, where the federal government wasnt in the business of helping low-income adults or moderate-income people without employer coverage get health insurance at all, Aviva Aron-Dine, senior fellow at the center, told HuffPost. Compared to pre-ACA, there would be some extra state grant money floating around  but it would have virtually no requirements attached to it at all and, since the funding wouldnt adjust based on enrollment or costs, it would be hard for even well-intentioned states to use it to create an individual entitlement to coverage or help.

Oh, and the bill would repeal the Affordable Care Acts individual mandate, and do so right away  destabilizing insurance markets and causing premiums to rise right away, according to official projections.

Exactly how many people would lose insurance, and what kind of benefits would be left for the people who hold onto coverage, is not clear. The Congressional Budget Office hasnt had a chance to evaluate the plan yet, although Cassidy, like most Republicans these days, has already said hes willing to ignore CBO altogether because he thinks their analysis is unreliable. (Actually, the CBO predictions of the Affordable Care Acts ultimate coverage impact were quite good, even though some specific projections of the type of coverage people would have were way off.)

Why Cassidy-Graham Bill Might Not Pass, And Why It Might

The substantive impact of the bill and the rushed process Republicans are using to push it make the Cassidy-Graham bill look a lot like the bills that failed to get majority votes back in July, when the Senate took them up.

And the politics of repeal would seem to be no more favorable for Republicans than they did then. The 2010 health care law, which has led to a historic decline in the number of people without insurance, has grown steadily, if incrementally, more popular during the repeal debate, according to polling. Clear majorities now prefer either keeping or improving the law, flaws and all, rather than getting rid of it outright.

As it happens, in just the past few weeks, a handful of Republican and Democratic senators have taken that instruction to heart. They have been working diligently on a different piece of legislation  a narrowly tailored bill designed to shore up the program in the states where it is struggling and, in the process, find some common ground between the parties.

This was just the kind of effort that one Republican in particular, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, had insisted he wanted when he cast a dramatic and decisive vote against the final GOP repeal proposal to come up in late July  and it would seem like he would be loathe to short-circuit this new bipartisan effort, now that it is underway. But McCain is also very close to Graham and at this point nobody knows how hell reconcile personal loyalty and political principle. (So far, McCain has sent out conflicting signals over how he feels about the Cassidy-Graham bill.)

Another factor in the bills eventual success or demise could be the way it shifts money among the states. Because of its complex funding formula, states like Alabama and Texas would initially see more funding, while states like California and Connecticut would see dramatic cuts, according to the same Center on Budget and Public Priorities analysis. The partisan tinge to the transformation is presumably intentional, since its mostly a transfer of money from Democratic states to Republican ones  and, perversely, from those states that have tried hardest to expand coverage, by expanding their Medicaid programs and promoting enrollment, to those that have done as little as possible to help their citizens and in some cases worked actively to undermine the Affordable Care Act.

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But the formula doesnt work out perfectly for Republican states, according to the same analysis. By year 10, for example, Alaska, Ohio and West Virginia would all be losing money, and thats politically critical since Alaskas Lisa Murkowski was one of three Republican senators who voted no on the final repeal bill while the votes of Ohios Rob Portman and West Virginias Shelley Moore Capito were in play until the end, although they both voted yes.

Neither Capito, Murkowski, nor Portman have said much about the new bill, nor has Collins, who was the third member of the triumvirate to kill repeal last time. The only Republican senator to indicate a clear position on Cassidy-Graham so far has been Rand Paul, of Kentucky, who has said hes a firm no  ironically, if predictably, because it leaves too much of the Affordable Care Acts edifice in place.

He might stick to that position and vote no, making the GOP vote math impossible unless leaders can somehow flip Murkowski (thought to be highly difficult) or Collins (thought to be impossible). Or he might change his mind. Or other Republicans could come out against the proposal.

Its difficult to say where this is all going. After all, the idea that repeal could get another look now, despite its unpopularity, in the form of a proposal that in some respects is more radical than its predecessors, is difficult to fathom. And yet here we are, fathoming it.

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Demonstrators are arrested by U.S. Capitol police while protesting against Republican health care reform legislation outside the offices of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.

Samantha Coronado of Tucson, Arizona, and fellow demonstrators are arrested after protesting outside the offices of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

Demonstrators are lead away in handcuffs.

Capitol Police officers arrest a protester.

A demonstrator is carried away.

A healthcare activist holds up a sign while she and others occupy the office of Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to protest the Republican health care bill at the U.S. Capitol on July 10, 2017.

Health care activists protest to stop the Republican health care bill at Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.

Health care activists are detained after the protest.

A health care activist holds up a sign.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 11:57:46|Editor: liuxin

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MANILA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will beef up its patrol fleet with more brand new and modern patrol boats, a helicopter and weapons beginning next year as it plans to further strengthen its maritime patrol capability, a lawmaker said on Sunday.

Rep. Johnny Pimentel, a member of the House appropriation committee, said the government has set aside 6.7 billion pesos (130.1 million U.S. dollars) of its 3.767 trillion pesos (73.15 billion U.S. dollars) budget for 2018 to build up the PCG with a fleet of new boats, helicopters and weapons.

"The fresh funding will help pay for the acquisition of 10 newly built 44-meter patrol boats from Japan, of which five have already been delivered to the PCG," said Pimentel in a statement.

He said the PCG is also acquiring four 24-meter fast boats for delivery in 12 months, an 82-meter boat for delivery in 2019, and two 94-meter, high-endurance boats for delivery in 2020 and 2021.

Pimentel said the PCG is also spending 922 million pesos (17.96 million U.S. dollars) for firearms, 686 million pesos (13.4 million U.S. dollars) for a helicopter meant for deployment aboard a boat and 682 million pesos (13.3 million U.S. dollars) for smaller watercraft.

"These new assets will go a long way in enabling the PCG to perform its mission to enforce our maritime laws, conduct sea disaster search and rescue when needed and protect our marine environment," Pimentel said.

Pimentel said the PCG is also procuring high-performance rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), ranging from seven to 15 meters, which can be used to deploy troops from bigger patrol vessels or shores, and can also serve as lifeboats.

"These high-speed RIBs will be helpful in vessel interdiction and non-compliant boarding team operations. They can also help fight off terrorists as well as drug smugglers aboard motorized boats," Pimentel said.

He said the 2018 budget also includes the hiring of 4,000 new PCG personnel to man the new assets and equipment that will be acquired. "We've increased from 8,930 this year to 12,930 in 2018 the authorized positions for uninformed PCG personnel," he said.

At present, he said the PCG has filled up 8,792 of the 8,930 authorized positions for uniformed personnel. The PCG also has 506 positions for civilian employees, of which 352 are filled.

Of the 6.7 billion pesos (130.1 million U.S. dollars) in new appropriations, he said 3.1 billion pesos (60.2 million U.S. dollars) is lodged in the budget of the PCG itself, while 3.6 billion pesos (70.1 million U.S. dollars) is in the allocation of its mother agency, the Department of Transportation.
Kim Jong-un smiles as he inspects the test launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile in Pyongyang: AP

Donald Trump has referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "rocket man" in a tweet about a conversation with the South Korean President.

The US leader tweeted that he had been speaking with Moon Jae-in about the situation with the secretive communist state, which has launched a series of ballistic missiles in recent weeks and conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date.

"I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night," Mr Trump wrote. "Asked him how Rocket Man is doing."

I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017

He added that long petrol lines has been forming in North Korea, which he said was "too bad".

The presidents spoke on Sunday regarding the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula, and agreed to impose stronger sanctions on North Korea following recent nuclear and missile tests.

South Korea's President and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to exert stronger pressure through sanctions on North Korea following its nuclear and missile tests, South Korea's presidential office said.

"The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation, and exert stronger and practical sanctions on North Korea so that it realises provocative actions leads to further diplomatic isolation and economic pressure," said a spokesperson from Mr Jae-in's office.

The spokesperson said Moon and Trump had strongly condemned the latest missile launch by North Korea, and agreed that the two nations would work with the international community to implement the latest United Nations' Security Council's resolution.

The latest resolution, passed this week, imposed stricter sanctions on the isolated nation, including a ban on the sale of natural gas to North Korea and on textile exports. Member states are also forbidden from providing work visas to North Korean national.

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Kuwait announced on Sunday it will expel North Korea's ambassador to the country, after the US has been increasing pressure on its allies to cut all ties to North Korea in response to Pyongyang's missile programme.

However, Kim Jong-Un has vowed to press on with the expansion of the country's nuclear programme, until it establishes a "military equilibrium" with the US.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans to campaign next week for Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), who is involved in a primary runoff against former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore.

I will be in Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday night to support Luther Strange for Senate. "Big Luther" is a great guy who gets things done!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2017

The announcement sets up a showdown between the president and Steve Bannon, as the former White House chief strategist supports Moore.

Bannon left the administration earlier this month and rejoined Breitbart News, the site espousing white nationalist views that he led before joining Trumps president campaign. The controversial former Trump aide is said to be targeting a number of incumbent GOP senators during the 2018 midterm elections. He has been careful, however, not to frame his efforts as a battle against Trump, but rather as one against establishment Republicans and the swamp in Washington.

Trumps announcement came just hours after Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who finished third in the first-round primary with 20 percent of the vote, endorsed Moore. In his announcement, Brooks called the race an epic battle between the people of Alabama who put America first, and the Washington Swamp.

Bannons allies are also portraying the race as an opportunity for Trump voters in the state  of which there are many  to reassert themselves in the wake of what they see as several key failures by the president to act on his agenda.

Essentially, what the Alabama race provides for the first time since Trump began backtracking on a number of his core agenda items, is a chance for voters to affirm whether they believe in Trump or whether they believe in the agenda he campaigned on, Breitbart News Matt Boyle wrote Saturday, citing news of Trumps policies on immigration, climate change and the war in Afghanistan.

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If they believe in Trumps agenda, Moore is the clear choice  but if they follow the cult of personality around Trump, then Strange is the clear choice. And for Trumps personality to rescue the endangered Strange campaign, it will take a herculean effort on the part of the president, he added.

Moore, a staunch evangelical, would become one of the most hardline conservative senators if elected. Earlier this year, he suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might have happened because the country had distanced itself from God.

The GOP primary runoff election will be held Sept. 26.

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Donald Trump in his Manhattan apartment after receiving the news that the New York City Board of Estimate unanimously approved a 40-year tax abatement plan on May 20, 1976.

Donald Trump displays a model of a D.C. convention center he hoped to develop in July 1976. His bid was unsuccessful.

Donald Trump with singers Whitney Houston, center, and her mother, Cissy Houston, and an unidentified woman in San Francisco in 1980.

Donald Trump, his father, Fred, and New York Mayor Ed Koch celebrate the completion of Trump Tower in July 1982.

Walt Michaels shakes hands with New Jersey Generals' owner Donald Trump at Giants Stadium after Trump named him as the USFL team's coach.

Charles Brown, Nancy Reagan and Donald Trump on April 15, 1985.

Donald Trump with his first wife, Ivana, at the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 1985.

Donald Trump and Henry Stern lay the first cement at Wollman Rink in New York City's Central Park on Sept. 10, 1986.

Donald Trump in Central Park on Nov. 12, 1986.

Donald Trump meets with Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca at Trump's office in New York in 1987.

Donald Trump in July 1989.

Ivana and Donald Trump sit at a table aboard their luxury yacht The Trump Princess, anchored outside the Water Club in New York in July 1988.

Ruth Roper, Donald Trump, Mike Tyson and Robin Givens on July 1988.

Ivana and Donald Trump in New York on Dec. 4, 1989.

Donald Trump with his private jet on Sept. 13, 1989.

Donald and Ivana Trump circa 1990.

Donald Trump, far right, walks down Fifth Avenue in New York past a beggar after holding a news conference on Nov. 16, 1990. Trump announced he had reached a deal that will temporarily put his Taj Mahal casino into bankruptcy protection.

Donald Trump and friend Marla Maples on March 5, 1991.

Donald Trump watches as Marla Maples gets a kiss from Earl Sinclair of TV's "Dinosaurs" during lunch at the Trump Plaza Hotel on Nov. 2, 1992.

Donald Trump and Ivana Trump after their divorce settlement in April 1993.

Donald Trump marries Marla Maples in December 1993.

Donald Trump photographs and interviews Playboy centerfold hopefuls at the U.N. Plaza hotel for the magazine's 40th anniversary issue in June 1993.

Donald Trump in August 1994.

Donald Trump confirms his wife, Marla Maples, is pregnant in April 1993.

Donald Trump enters the Plaza Hotel in New York past supporters in December 1994. Hundreds of supporters showed up at a news conference where Trump denied a New York newspaper report that the Sultan of Brunei had bid $300 million to buy the Manhattan hotel.

Marla Maples Trump and Donald Trump with their family at the U.S. Tennis Open in New York on Sept. 7, 1994.

Donald Trumps groundbreaking ceremony with electric jackhammers for the new Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle, with Lt. Gov. Betsey McCanney, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and architect Philip Johnson on June 21, 1995.

Donald Trump in his office in August 1994.

Miss Universe Alicia Machado of Venezuela with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 16, 1997.

Miss Universe Alicia Machado kisses Donald Trump during her fitness workout at a health center in New York. The 19-year-old Machado started a fitness program after she was criticized for gaining weight after the 1996 Miss Universe pageant.

Donald Trump in his Trump Tower office on May 8, 1996.

Actor Sylvester Stallone mimes punching Donald Trump at a charity event at a home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 24, 1997.

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump at a May 1999 news conference at the GM Building, where CBS announced that Bryant Gumbel will be the host of its new morning news program, "This Morning." The show would be broadcast from Trump's International Plaza Building.

Chris Matthews, left, and Donald Trump during a break in the taping of MSNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews" at the University of Pennsylvania's Irvine Auditorium on Oct. 18, 1999.

Donald Trump reaches for a pen as he signs a copy of his new book, "Trump: The America We Deserve," at Trump Towers in New York in January 2000.

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Oktoberfest is upon us as the first day began Sept. 16. The German festival is now a worldwide phenomenon celebrating Bavarian culture and flowing pints of beer. Heres everything you need to know about the celebration.

When is it?

Oktoberfest runs from Sept. 16 to Oct. 3 this year, according to Munichs website. It normally runs for 16 days with the last day being the first Sunday in October. However, if that 16 days falls before Oct. 3, it will last 17 or 18 days.

Why is it celebrated?

Oktoberfest began as a wedding celebration more than 200 years ago when Bavarias Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on Oct. 12, 1810. The wedding was celebrated with multiple days of drinking, feasting and horse races.

The celebration then became an annual event.

Where is it celebrated?

Oktoberfest celebrations can be found all over the world, but the main event is in Munich, Germany, where the first Oktoberfest was held.

How is it celebrated?

Oktoberfest is often associated with beer, but the festivals traditions go beyond that. While the beer tents, of course, provide drinks, they also play only traditional Bavarian music. The original six Munich breweries still provide the beer. You can also catch people in traditional Bavarian clothing, dirndls and lederhosen.
Facebook released to FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller records of ads and other information it found on its platform which traced back to a Russian troll farm, as well as information on accounts that brought the ads to American voters, according to the Wall Street Journal and CNN.

Mueller got the records after obtaining a search warrant for information on the fake accounts that Facebook said it shut down. The records given to Mueller provide much more details than what the social media platform said last week to Congress.

Facebook told Congress last week it found about $100,000 in ad spending from June 2015 to May 2017, which were linked to 3,000 ads. The propaganda was traced back to nearly 500 inauthentic accounts and pages, the company said.

Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia, Facebook said last week.

The information Facebook gave to Mueller included copies of the ads and information about how the inauthentic accounts bought them and how they targeted the propaganda, according to the Journal, which first reported the disclosure. The social platforms policy says it would only turn over "the stored contents of any account," including messages and location data under a search warrant.

Facebook didnt share the same information with Congress partly because of concerns of disrupting the special counsels investigation and because of U.S. privacy laws. During the talks with Congress, the tech company deviated from talking specifically about the ad buys.

Some lawmakers were unhappy with the lack of information divulged by Facebook. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., whos on the Senate Intelligence Committee, suggested the committee may call Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies in for more information.

The warrant obtained by Mueller means his team now has more information to look into how Russia used social media to meddle in last years presidential election.

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Mueller clearly *already* has enough information on these accounts -- and their link to a potential crime, tweeted Asha Rangappa, a former FBI counterintelligence agent. To justify forcing FB to give up the info. That means that he has uncovered a great deal of evidence through other avenues.

President Donald Trumps team has denied working with Russia to win the presidency, while Russia has previously said it did not meddle with the U.S. election.

What Facebook Revealed About The Ads

Facebook said the ads from inauthentic accounts did not mention Trump or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Instead, the ads focused on spurring divisive social and political views, from topics like LGBT, race, immigration and the Second Amendment. Facebook said approximately one-quarter of the ads were geographically targeted and ran mostly in 2015 rather than 2016.

We have shared our findings with US authorities investigating these issues, and we will continue to work with them as necessary, Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos said in a post last week.

The company also listed out steps it has implemented towards curbing fake accounts and stories on the platform.

We know we have to stay vigilant to keep ahead of people who try to misuse our platform, said Stamos.

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Kenneth Gleason, 23, is reportedly being eyed as a person of interest in last week's fatal shootings of two men. (Photo: East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office)

A 23-year-old Louisiana man is reportedly being held as a person of interest in the separate slayings of two black men who police say were gunned down last week in potentially racially motivated attacks.

Kenneth Gleason, who is white, was jailed Sunday on unrelated drug charges, The Associated Press reported. Authorities say they continue to investigate his potential connection to the killings.

There is a strong possibility that it could be racially motivated, Baton Rouge Police Sgt. LJean McKneely told the AP.

A manhunt was launched shortly after Donald Smart, 49, was found gunned down in a roadway around 11 p.m. Thursday, police said. Smart was shot multiple times while walking to work, The Advocate reported.

Just two days earlier, authorities had found a similar scene by a crosswalk roughly 5 miles away. Bruce Cofield, 59, was found lying dead in the roadway, also from apparent gunshot wounds, police said.

A witness told The Advocate that she heard what sounded like a dozen shots being fired Tuesday during the attack that killed Cofield. The outlet reported that Cofield appeared to have been homeless.

McKneely said Gleasons vehicle fit the description of one police were looking for and that shell casings collected at the scene of both shootings matched each other. Authorities reportedly have collected additional evidence, but McKneely declined to say what it was.

A search of Gleasons home on Saturday yielded less than a gram of marijuana, as well as human growth hormones for which Gleason did not have a prescription, the Advocate reported, citing an arrest report. As of Sunday afternoon, a bond hearing reportedly hadnt been set for Gleason.

Police in Baton Rouge did not immediately return HuffPost requests for comment.

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Mother Of Aurora Shooting Victim Asks Alex Jones If Congressional Shooting Is 'A False Flag'

Suspect Arrested In Barcelona Terror Attack

Story continues

Also on HuffPost

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Cassini project manager Earl Maize hugs Julie Webster, spacecraft operations team manager, at Mission Control at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory just after the missions end. Program scientist Linda Spilker is at left, and Jim Green, the head of NASAs Planetary Science Division, is at right. (NASA Photo / Joel Kowsky)

Before its destruction, the bus-sized Cassini spacecraft fought Saturns buffeting atmosphere to send back scientific data for even longer than NASA thought it would.

But the end was inevitable: Twenty years after its launch, and 13 years after its arrival at the ringed planet, the final signals from Cassini were received at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., at 4:55:46 a.m. PT today.

Im going to call this the end of mission, Cassini project manager Earl Maize declared, during an early-morning webcast that was watched by tens of thousands. Project manager, off the net.

The end was pre-ordained days earlier, when a final maneuver put the spacecraft on a course to dive into Saturns upper atmosphere. NASA meticulously planned out the controlled descent to make sure there was no chance that Cassini could crash into one of Saturns moons, which are certain to be targets for future missions.

During the hours before the end, Cassini sent its last batch of images showing Saturn and its moons, and then it streamed back data from instruments that sampled Saturns atmosphere and its magnetic field.

A Sept. 14 image from Cassinis Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer shows the spot in Saturns atmosphere (marked by a white ellipse) where the spacecraft met its demise a day later. (NASA / JPL / ASI / University of Arizona / University of Leicester)

One of the last pictures sent back by NASAs Cassini orbiter shows Titan, a smog-covered moon of Saturn, with its hydrocarbon lakes visible toward the top of the image. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI)

This Sept. 13 image of Saturns outer A ring, captured by NASAs Cassini spacecraft, shows the small moon Daphnis and the waves it raises in the edges of the Keeler Gap. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI)

NASA released this color version of the final image captured at Saturn by the Cassini spacecrafts imaging cameras. It looks toward Saturns night side, lit by reflected light from the rings, and shows the location where the spacecraft would enter the planets atmosphere hours later. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI)

Cassinis engineers determined that the spacecraft would encounter so much aerodynamic stress during its 76,000-mph dive that it would break up and vaporize even before hitting Saturns cloud tops. NASA expected the final signal to be received back on Earth at 4:55:16 a.m. ET.

Telemetry indicated that the spacecraft put up a noble fight. During the webcast, one team member in JPLs mission control room could be heard saying Cassini is still there!

The end came about half a minute later than NASA had anticipated.

After Maize declared the operational phase of the $3.3 billion mission to be finished, the room melted into hugs, applause, cheers and more than a few tears.

The lucky peanuts were there, NASAs associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, said later in reference to the traditional snacks laid out for key mission moments at JPL. But there was a lot of Kleenex.

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Earth received @CassiniSaturns final signal at 7:55am ET. Cassini is now part of the planet it studied. Thanks for the science #GrandFinale pic.twitter.com/YfSTeeqbz1  NASA (@NASA) September 15, 2017

The spacecraft is gone, Maize said at a post-mission news conference. Thanks, and farewell, faithful explorer. But the legacy of Cassini has just begun.  Long live Cassini.

Although Cassini is kaput, the mission is far from over for hundreds of scientists back on Earth. In the months ahead, the Cassini science team will pore over hundreds of gigabytes of data sent back by the spacecraft  images and readings that are likely to generate research papers for decades to come.

The readings are sure to include the atmospheric data from Cassinis final minutes.

Even in those last few seconds, Cassini managed to continue its rewriting of the textbooks and its legend, JPL Director Michael Watkins said.

NASAs next grand odyssey to the giant planets and their moons wont get off the ground until the 2020s, when its due to launch a spacecraft to Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter thats thought to harbor a hidden ocean and perhaps even life.

But two of Saturns moons, ice-covered Enceladus and smog-covered Titan, are high on NASAs list for future exploration because of their potential for undersea life and prebiotic chemistry.

In the words of our former governor here, We will be back, Zurbuchen said in Pasadena.

During todays news conference, Maize provided a corrected figure for the expected loss of signal from Cassini, and this report has been revised to reflect that figure.

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Paris (AFP) - The young French journalist Loup Bureau arrived back in Paris on Sunday, "tired but relieved", after being detained for more than seven weeks in a Turkish jail on terror charges.

The 27-year-old's case had heightened alarm in Europe over press freedoms under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who launched a wide-ranging crackdown after last year's failed coup against him.

Bureau, a journalism student who has worked with the television channels TV5 and Arte and the website Slate, was detained on July 26 on Turkey's border with Iraq.

He was charged with membership of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurd militia, after he was found with photos that showed him with members of the group.

Ankara considers the YPG to be the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than three decades.

But the United States regards the YPG as the most effective force fighting the Islamic State group as it seeks to wipe out the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

Bureau's friends, family and girlfriend, along with French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen, were at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport to greet him as he landed on a flight from Istanbul.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who had appealed to Erdogan for Bureau's release, spoke to the journalist by telephone and told him to get some rest.

"I was not ill-treated physically but there were threats and intimidations," Bureau told reporters at the airport.

"From the moment when Mr Macron announced he was demanding my release, there were changes -- the guards started to understand that I wasn't a terrorist, that the things I had been accused of were not really true."

Bureau's arrest had spurred a high-profile campaign in France for his freedom, and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian flew to Ankara last week to lobby on his behalf.

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- 'No change in Turkey' -

Turkish authorities have arrested tens of thousands since the failed coup of July 2016, targeting a variety of opponents as well as individuals accused of links to the alleged putschists.

Several European journalists have been caught up in the crackdown, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker speaking out against the arrests in a country that remains a candidate for EU membership.

"Journalists belong in newsrooms not in prisons," he said this week.

"I appeal to the powers that be in Turkey, let our journalists go."

In June, Ankara released and deported French photojournalist Mathias Depardon who was held for a month on charges of supporting terror groups. He was also detained in Turkey's restive southeast.

Germany's Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel was imprisoned in February and has been personally accused by Erdogan of working as a "terror agent".

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which campaigned for Bureau's release, hailed his return but estimated that 160 to 180 Turkish journalists are in detention.

"The liberation of Loup Bureau is welcome but the situation in Turkey has not changed," said RSF chief Pierre Haski, who was at the airport to greet the reporter.

Turkey ranks 155th on the latest world press freedom index compiled by RSF, falling below Belarus and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 12:57:56|Editor: Mengjie

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SAN JOSE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis held talks with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on bilateral relations here on Friday.

Solis said Costa Rica sees China as a great friend and partner, and has always developed its relations with the country from a strategic height.

The Costa Rican side thanked the Chinese side for its support and assistance in its development, and hopes China to continue to actively take part in the construction of infrastructure projects in Costa Rica, said Solis.

The president called on Costa Rica and China to implement their bilateral free trade agreement and translate the potential into tangible growth of bilateral trade.

He also called on the two countries to further deepen cooperation in the field of public security, referring to the inauguration of a Chinese-built and funded National Police Academy in the country's east-central province of Limon.

Hailing the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Panama, Solis said the development provides fresh opportunities for Costa Rica and other Central American countries.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Costa Rica.

Wang, for his part, said the two countries have witnessed close exchanges at all levels and vigorous cooperation in various fields.

Wang noted that Costa Rica was the first Central American country to establish diplomatic relations with China, adding that the bilateral relations have been playing an exemplary and leading role in promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and Central America countries as a whole.

Wang called on the two countries to strengthen political mutual trust and support each other on issues of their core interests and major concerns.

He called on the two sides to deepen cooperation in six fields, namely, infrastructure construction, trade, new energy, public security, people-to-people exchanges and regional affairs to better benefit the two peoples.
(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google said it had disabled a "majority" of the offensive keywords that BuzzFeed found could be used by advertisers to target people searching for racist and anti-Semitic topics. Google, the world's biggest advertising platform, not only allowed advertisers to target searches such as "Why do Jews ruin everything" but also suggested the user to run ads next to searches such as "the evil jew" and "jewish control of banks", a campaign by BuzzFeed discovered. (http://bzfd.it/2x2HX4H) The ads were visible when such keywords were searched for and Google's ad buying platform tracked the ad views, according to the internet media company's report based on the campaign. Google disabled the keyword searches used in the campaign after BuzzFeed's inquiry, except an exact match for "blacks destroy everything", the report said. "We've already turned off these suggestions and any ads that made it through, and will work harder to stop this from happening again," Google's senior vice president of ads Sridhar Ramaswamy said in an email. The news comes a day after Facebook Inc said it was temporarily disabling the ability of advertisers to target based on people's self-reported education and job information after a report that those features allowed targeting based on anti-Semitic topics. (Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Hamas said on Sunday it would do away with a body seen as an alternative government in the Gaza Strip in a step towards reconciliation with rival Fatah following discussions with Egypt.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, also said it was ready for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah on forming a unity government and holding elections.

The announcement comes after talks in Cairo last week with Egyptian officials in which Hamas chief Ismail Haniya agreed to take such steps, a Hamas official has told AFP.

It was unclear however whether the steps would result in further concrete action toward ending the deep division with Fatah, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In Sunday's statement, Hamas spoke of the "dissolution" of what is known as the administrative committee, which was seen as a rival government to Abbas's administration.

Hamas formed the committee in March, and since then Abbas has sought to put further pressure on the Islamist movement, reducing electricity payments for the Gaza Strip among other measures.

Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, having seized it in a near civil war from Fatah following a dispute over parliamentary elections won by the Islamist movement.

The Gaza Strip has faced deteriorating humanitarian conditions, with a severe electricity crisis and a lack of clean water, among other issues.

It has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade, while its border with Egypt has also remained largely closed in recent years.

The coastal enclave of some two million people also has one of the world's highest unemployment rates.

Facing those conditions, Hamas has turned to Egypt for assistance, particularly involving fuel to produce power.

Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Hamas, have fought three wars since 2008.

UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, but Israel says it is necessary to stop Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to make them.

Last month, the Gaza head of Hamas, Yahya al-Sinwar, said the movement had increased its military capabilities thanks to newly improved relations with Iran, Israel's arch-enemy.
Kamala Harris

Hillary Clinton's new memoir has thrown her battle with Bernie Sanders back into the political spotlight.

Democratic operatives say their ideological differences could have implications for 2018 and 2020.

The party's leftward shift may lead to more 'purity' tests like those Clinton says she was subjected to.

Hillary Clinton has taken off the "straitjacket" she says she was forced into during the 2016 Democratic primary.

In her new campaign memoir, the former presidential candidate wasn't exactly subtle about her disapproval of Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign against her for the Democratic presidential nomination, writing that Sanders, a Vermont independent, caused her "lasting damage," deepened divisions among progressives, and "pav[ed] the way for then candidate Donald Trump's 'Crooked Hillary' campaign."

While many, including Sanders, dismissed Clinton's criticism as an irritating re-hashing of a now-irrelevant battle, the divisions between Clinton's centrist wing of the Democratic Party and Sanders' more progressive (or more populist) supporters could have implications for Democrats in the 2018 midterms and even the 2020 presidential election.

'Purity tests'

The day after Clinton released her book, Sanders unveiled his much-anticipated single-payer healthcare plan. Short on details and ambitious in its vision, the proposal won the endorsement of 15 top Democrats, many of them likely 2020 presidential candidates.

But other party leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, distanced themselves from the plan.

"We want to move the issue forward," Schumer said, adding that "there are are many different bills out there," including "many good ones" that he and other Democrats are examining.

Pelosi warned that support for a single-payer system shouldn't become a "litmus test" for Democrats.

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In an interview on the liberal podcast "Pod Save America," Clinton said that while she supports the proposal as a "political statement," she doubts it's much more than a pipe dream at this point.

She also criticized the plan's lack of particulars in an interview with Vox.

"I don't know what the particulars are," Clinton told Vox. "As you might remember, during the campaign he introduced a single-payer bill every year he was in Congress  and when somebody finally read it, he couldn't explain it and couldn't really tell people how much it was going to cost."

Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau, a co-founder of the consulting firm Rokk Solutions, echoed this skepticism.

"I believe in single-payer," he said. "I think there's a big difference between saying you support single-payer and figuring out a way to get the votes and an economic plan in order to get it passed and to pay for it."

Clinton raised the issue of ideological "purity" in her book, arguing that Sanders unfairly narrowed the progressive platform.

"It was beyond frustrating that Bernie acted as if he had a monopoly on political purity and that he had set himself up as the sole arbiter of what it meant to be progressive," she wrote, adding that Sanders simultaneously gave "short shrift to important issues such as immigration, reproductive rights, racial justice, and gun safety."

Mollineau warns that ideological tests could prove just as dangerous for more centrist candidates in 2020.

"When I hear or read that there's some folks who think that someone like a Kamala Harris might not be progressive enough to be our nominee in 2020  now regardless of whether you support her or not, that's a ludicrous statement and it's a horrible way of applying a purity test," he said.

Steve Schale, a Florida-based Democratic strategist and former adviser to President Barack Obama in the state, says that ideological debates among progressives are not what the party needs right now.

"We're not going to win elections trying to make sure that we have 100% loyalty among 35 or 40% of the electorate, which is what Democrats are," Schale said. "We've got to have a conversation about how we grow the appeal."

Unity among liberals is important, Schale argues, but not nearly as critical as opening the party back up to those independents or one-time Democratic voters who, for a myriad of reasons, abandoned Clinton.

"It's easy to scapegoat the base, or to scapegoat Sanders voters," he said. "But the reality is that [Clinton] lost because the places Barack Obama was much more competitive in in 2008 and 2012 ... she just got torched in."

Onwards and leftwards

Throughout Clinton's book "What Happened," and in interviews over the last several days, Clinton argued that Sanders is not a Democrat. She alleged that he ran for the nomination not to help the party, but to "disrupt" it.

And by that measure, she says, he succeeded.

Mollineau argues that Sanders and others eager to challenge the party establishment "can't have it both ways."

"If you want to affect change within the Democratic Party than you need to become closer to the Democratic Party  you can't lob bombs from outside," Mollineau said, adding that while Sanders "could have been doing more to change the Democratic Party from within" throughout his years in Congress, "he just chose not to."

But while Clinton's career in public office is likely over, Sanders still remains a powerful force in national politics. For several months, he's held the mantle as the most popular politician in the country.

Many Democrats, including Jill Filipovic, an author and liberal commentator, argue that it is now Sanders' responsibility to unite the left.

"Sanders has positioned himself as a leader for the future of the left, and his followers agree, with near-messianic worship," Fillipovic wrote in a CNN column. "Embracing the whole left would be a good place for him to start."

But as Thomas Edsall pointed out in a recent New York Times column, there is evidence that progressives have only moved farther left since the election. He cites Pew Research Center data that shows that Democratic voters  particularly whites, Millennials, and post-grads  are much more eager to label themselves "liberal" in 2017 than they were in past years.

And while the left has seen a resurgence in support since November, the money and energy that's flowing into the party is going to Sanders' Our Revolution organization and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, rather than the Democratic National Committee, which is suffering somewhat of a crisis of credibility post-2016.

While Mollineau admits that there are "ideological battles" that will likely be fought in the coming months and years, the tension between Clinton and Sanders won't necessarily remain central.

Although he doesn't put it past campaigns or super PACs to use lingering 2016 tension to "gain a tactical advantage" by aligning a candidate with Clinton or Sanders in an effort to alienate the others' supporters.

"It wouldn't surprise me, it's just a matter of how powerful that is and whether or not voters have moved on by then," he said.

NOW WATCH: Putin says Trump is not his bride and claims Americans don't know the difference between Austria and Australia





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Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Police in Honduras fired tear gas at more than 5,000 opposition supporters holding a protest against President Juan Orlando Hernandez in the capital on Friday, during the country's independence day celebrations.

The demonstrators were expressing their anger at Hernandez's bid for re-election in November 26 polls, made possible by the supreme court two years ago overturning a constitutional one-term limit for presidents.

They marched behind a banner declaring "the re-election is a fraud."

Around 400 riot police suddenly deployed around the march, firing volley after volley of tear gas at the demonstrators, the thick cloud forcing them to disperse. Many fled, but some lay on the ground, choking.

One police officer told reporters that "what we are doing is protecting private property," alleging that the protesters were "breaking windows, signs, walls."

Manuel Zelaya, a former president who was deposed in a coup in 2009 when he tried to organize a referendum seen as an attempt to lift the one-term limit, accused the police of putting stone-throwing troublemakers in the march to justify the police action. His party was among those taking part in the march.

The opposition demonstrators later regrouped and continued their march.

The anti-Hernandez protest took place in the center of the city, separate from a government-promoted march of 20,000 people marking Honduras' independence from Spain in 1821.

Hernandez, a 48-year-old US-educated businessman, is seen as the frontrunner in the presidential election. He took office in 2014.
When Hyundai starts to move in a particular direction it doesn't waste time. Having already dipped its toe into the electric vehicle market with the introduction of the all-electric version of the Ioniq, the South Korean manufacturer is now planning to unveil a fully electric version of its new Kona compact crossover SUV at the Geneva motor show next March.

At the Frankfurt motor show, which launched this week, Hyundai Europe's chief operating officer, Thomas Schmid, confirmed that an electric Kona will not use the drivetrain currently used in the Ioniq. Instead, the Kona will feature a next-generation electric system with a more powerful battery for greater range.

Hyundai is now the latest automaker to announce its electrified vehicle strategy for the near future. We now know we'll see 15 "eco" models included in the Hyundai range by 2020, which not only means battery electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, but hydrogen fuel cell vehicles too. However, Hyundai Europe President, Hyung Cheong Kim, told an audience at the Frankfurt show that only 10 of these 15 models will be sold in Europe. Included in these will be a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell crossover SUV with a range of some 800 km, which is set to be launched as soon as next spring.

The regular version of the Kona made its public debut this week at the Frankfurt motor show, where the company also revealed five-door hatchback and N-badged performance versions of its i30 compact car line.

The Kona compact crossover SUV will be offered with available all-wheel drive, and there will initially be a choice of 1.0-liter and 1.6-liter gas engines. A 1.6-liter diesel variant is then set to be released in the summer, although how much demand there will be for that in the current climate remains to be seen.

Hyundai had already confirmed it intended to put EVs right to the center of its ongoing product strategy, and was therefore working on developing its first dedicated all-electric vehicle platform. The aim is for the new platform to allow Hyundai to be able to come up with a number of different models with longer driving ranges than are available at the moment. The electric Kona is expected to offer a range of somewhere in the region of 390 km (242 miles) when it goes on sale in the first half of next year.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says any wrong move by the US 'will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic': EPA

Iran's Supreme Leader has warned Iran would react strongly to any "wrong move" by the United States on Tehran's nuclear accord with world powers.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's statement comes days after Donald Trump said Iran had violated the agreement's "spirit".

"The Iranian nation is standing firm and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the [nuclear accord] will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic," state television quoted the Ayatollah as saying.

The US President had called the nuclear accord "one of the worst deals I've ever seen" and hinted he may attempt to rescind the deal.

"You'll see what I'm going to be doing very shortly in October," Mr Trump said. "The Iran deal is one of the worst deals I've ever seen.

"Certainly at a minimum the spirit of the deal is atrociously kept. The Iran deal is not a fair deal to this country. It's a deal that should not have ever been made."

Washington extended some sanctions relief for Iran on Thursday under Tehran's 2015 deal with world powers but said it had yet to decide whether to maintain the agreement.

"Today, despite all the commitments and discussions in the negotiations, America's attitude towards these negotiations and their outcome is completely unjust and amounts to bullying," Mr Khamenei said.

"The Americans should know that the Iranian people will stand firm on their honourable positions and on important issues related to national interests, there will be no retreat by the Islamic Republic," he added in a speech to Iranian military academy graduates.

Iran said last month it could abandon the nuclear agreement "within hours" if the US imposes any new penalties, after Washington ordered sanctions over Tehran's ballistic missile tests.

The US imposed unilateral sanctions after saying the missile tests violated a UN resolution, which endorsed the nuclear deal and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology. It stopped short of explicitly barring such activity.

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Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.

The head of Iran's atomic programme previously warned the country would be able to create highly enriched uranium within five days of the US ending the nuclear agreement.

Ali Akbar Salehi, one of Irans vice presidents, made the comments on state TV in apparent reaction to increased sanctions imposed by America last month.

He suggested the country could achieve 20-per cent enriched uranium in "at most" five days - a level at which it could then quickly be processed further into weapons-grade nuclear material.

Definitely, we are not interested in such a thing happening, Mr Salehi said. We have not achieved the deal easily to let it go easily. We are committed to the deal and we are loyal to it.
Baghdad (AFP) - An Iraqi vice president warned Sunday that Baghdad would not tolerate the creation of "a second Israel" after the Jewish state became the only country to support a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq.

The leaders of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan must "call off the (September 25) referendum that is contrary to the constitution and does not serve the general interests of the Iraqi people, not even the particular interests of the Kurds", said Vice President Nuri al-Maliki.

"We will not allow the creation of a second Israel in the north of Iraq," Maliki, a Shiite former prime minister, said at a meeting with US ambassador Douglas Silliman, in a statement released by the vice president's office.

A country set up on a religious or ethnic base, like the Jewish state established in 1948, would not be acceptable, Maliki said.

He warned that an independence vote would have "dangerous consequences for the security, sovereignty and unity of Iraq", and called for dialogue between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government in the northern city of Arbil.

As opposed to Muslim countries in the region as well as the United States and Western allies, Israel has come out in apparent support of the referendum.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the Kurds' aspirations for a state of their own, without specifically referring to the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

"While Israel rejects terror in any form, it supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own," a statement from his office said.

An Israeli flag was flown alongside Kurdish flags at a rally in Arbil on Friday in support of the referendum.

The United Nations has urged Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani to drop plans for the controversial referendum and enter internationally-backed talks with Baghdad aimed at reaching a negotiated deal within three years.
Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand's charismatic opposition leader Jacinda Ardern rallied support Sunday for the final week of a rollercoaster election campaign that has her centre-left Labour Party within sight of an unlikely victory.

Labour had been heading for disaster at the September 23 polls until Ardern took over last month and sparked a surge in support that local media dubbed "Jacinda-mania".

The 37-year-old has been mobbed at shopping malls and earned comparisons to Canada's Justin Trudeau and France's Emmanuel Macron from pundits such as former prime minister Helen Clark.

Her rise has wrong-footed Prime Minister Bill English's conservative National Party, which had been cruising to a record-equalling fourth term.

English has dismissed Ardern's appeal as "stardust", focusing instead on National's strong record guiding New Zealand through the global financial crisis and a deadly Christchurch earthquake in 2011.

Ardern herself admits she is surprised at the public's response to a self-described "policy nerd" who never envisioned herself running for prime minister.

"This will go down as the most extraordinary period of my life," she said on the campaign trail last week.

- 'Worst job in politics' -

Ardern grew up in the North Island hinterland, where her father was a police officer. She credits the poverty she saw there with shaping her beliefs.

She was raised as a Mormon but left the faith in her 20s due to its stance against homosexuality.

After completing a communications degree, Ardern served her political apprenticeship in Clark's office before heading to Britain to work as a policy adviser in Tony Blair's government.

She was elected to parliament in 2008 and in March this year became Labour's deputy leader, confirming her status as a rising star.

At the time, Ardern was viewed as a talented, but still developing, future leadership prospect, unproven in a political dogfight.

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But Labour's top job was thrust upon her on August 1, when her predecessor Andrew Little quit after his polling hit 20-year lows of 23 percent.

"Everyone knows I have just accepted, with short notice, the worst job in politics," Ardern said after becoming Labour's fifth leader in four years, and the youngest in its 101-year history.

The gamble on a rookie less than two months out from an election appears to have paid off, with some polls showing Labour's support surging to 44 percent.

Ardern puts that down to a shifting national mood.

"There's a movement for change and I think after nine years people are starting to believe that we're drifting," she said.

While acknowledging New Zealand has maintained a robust economy under National, Ardern has argued for a more progressive agenda that addresses social inequality.

Housing affordability, free tertiary education, environmental action and improved healthcare have been constant themes at the hustings.

She has also vowed to slash immigration numbers and bar foreigners from buying houses in New Zealand amid fears offshore money is fuelling the rise in property prices.

Ardern has also allowed glimpses of her personality to emerge, speaking of her liking for single-malt whisky and short-lived career as a music festival DJ.

- Generation next -

The former public relations student has a knack for pithy soundbites that cut through the political clamour and grab voters' attention.

It has proved particularly effective with young voters as Ardern argues for generational change in New Zealand politics.

"My generation has been sold down the river by your government" she admonished the 55-year-old English, going on to describe climate change as "my generation's nuclear-free moment".

Doubts about her temperament evaporated amid several feisty debates with English.

Voters also saw a steely side when a TV host told her that New Zealanders had a right to know her plans for parenthood before deciding whether to elect a young woman as prime minister.

"It is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace," she responded, wagging her finger at the male presenter.

Ardern's major blunder so far was her refusal to release a pre-election tax plan, instead saying she would consult a committee of experts after the ballot.

English seized upon this, saying Ardern wanted a blank cheque to introduce new taxes after years of fiscal restraint to achieve a budget surplus.

"Now the stardust has settled, you're starting to see the policy... as an alternative to a successful New Zealand, you're being asked to vote for a committee," he said.

Ardern relented last week and said there would be no tax changes in her first term, but the mistake halted her momentum and ensured she would not simply sweep to power on a wave of Jacinda-mania.

"I'm taking nothing for granted... it's down to the wire and it will be extraordinarily close," Ardern said.
Nine months into the administration of President Donald Trump, fans of the eccentric Detroit rap duo Insane Clown Posse assembled a larger rally on the national mall this Saturday than the presidents diehard supporters stationed a few hundred yards away.

The dueling rallies reflected the difficulty that any sitting president has in mobilizing his base, and the particular challenge that Trump has as he struggles to pass major legislation and honor his campaign promises.

Unlike the pro-Trump rally, Juggalos, as clown-makeup-wearing Insane Clown Posse fans call themselves, protested on the National Mall on Saturday for an actual specific purpose. That could explain why the gathering that surrounded the base of the reflection pool at the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon was significantly larger than the pro-Trump rally.

Christian Ike came from Los Angeles to protest the FBI's 2011 designation of juggalos as a gang. (Photo: Paul Blumenthal)

In 2011, the FBIs National Gang Intelligence Center designated Juggalos, who say they are simply fans of a band, as a loosely organized hybrid gang, saying a subset of the group is involved in criminal activity. The agency sent out briefing materials to all law enforcement offices around the country listing Juggalos as a gang alongside Crips, Bloods and MS-13. They pointed out particular signs to look for to see if a person was a Juggalo, like the hatchet man symbol of the Insane Clown Posse.

The result was that people who counted themselves fans of Insane Clown Posse have been fired from their jobs, lost children in custody battles and were targeted and harassed by police.

Kevin Gill, an employee for the band and host of a Juggalo podcast, gave the opening remarks, calling the rally, The most important day in Juggalo history. This protest was some monumental shit, he added, before ripping into a denunciation of the FBI for categorizing Juggalos as a gang. In response, the crowd broke into a raucous chant about the much-hated FBI, They fucked up! They fucked up!

Give us back our fucking civil rights, Gill shouted.

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Gill and every other speaker at the Juggalo rally preached inclusivity with a passion that speakers at the pro-Trump rally reserved for subjects liker border security.

We dont care if youre black, white, Hispanic, straight, gay, trans, fat as fuck or skinny as a broom stick, Gill said, adding everyone is welcome to be or support Juggalos.

This was largely the message from the Juggalos in attendance.

At the core of it, its just a battle cry against discrimination, Christian Ike, a Juggalo who traveled from Los Angeles for the protest, told HuffPost. Obviously theres worse discrimination in this country than what the Juggalos are facing. But were here to say that were also with those people.

Jessica, a Juggalo from Arlington, Virginia, who declined to give her last name, told HuffPost, Were not a gang. We dont do that. Were about love and family.

Im tired of the FBI going around harassing people, pulling them over, people getting fired, Kev aka Juggs from the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, said.

Zac, pictured in a bright orange suit and hat, came from Utah County, Utah. He said he has been harassed for wearing Juggalo merchandise because of the FBI's gang designation. (Photo: Paul Blumenthal)

Four speakers recounted the ways that their lives have been negatively impacted by the FBIs designation of Juggalos as a gang.

New Mexico resident Crystal Guerrero said that she lost custody of two children because she went to one Insane Clown Posse show. Laura King of Fredericksburg, Virginia, recounted how she was permanently placed on a gang registry while she was on probation for a DUI offense because she had a tattoo of the hatchet man symbol. Jessica Bonometti was fired from her job as a probation officer in Woodbridge, Virginia, because she liked some Insane Clown Posse-related photographs on Facebook.

Zac, a Juggalo from Utah County, Utah, wearing a bright orange suit while holding the Utah state flag, told HuffPost that he had been harassed numerous times by police and private security just for wearing Insane Clown Posse T-shirts and having bumper stickers on his car. He said that he doesnt wear the clothes or decorate his car the way hed like to because it makes him a target.

I do not support Insane Clown Posse the way I normally would and I feel that its in violation of my rights as an American to support a band and thats why Im here, he said.

The "Mother of All Rallies," seen here from its rear perimeter, drew just a few hundred people. (Photo: Daniel Marans)

Further east on the mall, closer to the U.S. Capitol building, pro-Trump activists had convened the Mother of All Rallies, to help send a message to Congress, the media and the world: we stand united to defend American culture and values.

As it turned out, the self-described Woodstock of American rallies, drew just a few hundred people, leaving much of the enclosed grass area allotted to the group empty for the duration of the afternoon. The lineup of speakers consisted mainly of D-list conservative leaders like Marco Gutierrez, the founder of Latinos for Trump, who famously warned that if the country did not curb immigration there would be taco trucks on every corner. No Republican members of Congress or elected officials of any major office were there.

The rally organizers made a point of condemning racism on their website, advising attendees, in all caps, NO CONFEDERATE FLAGS, NO COMMUNIST FLAGS, NO FOREIGN FLAGS ALLOWED.

It was not clear if the members of the Oathkeepers and other right-wing militiamen in khaki tactical vests at the perimeter of the rally strictly enforced this dictum.

But for the most part, the gathering appeared to be free of Confederate flags or overtly white supremacist paraphernalia of the kind on display at the clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August.

Jacob Boslet, a 19-year-old from Altoona, Pennsylvania, was waving a Kekistan flag popular on the alt-right that resembles a particular version of the Nazi flag.

Boslet, whose brother was attending the Juggalo rally, claimed that he was waving the flag to make a statement in support of free speech, not white nationalism, which he condemns.

This is to promote the idea that you can create your own entity regardless if it offends someone or not, or someone has already taken it. Look at it  it looks stupid and is a joke, Boslet said.

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Jacob Boslet, 19, of Altoona, Pa., waved an Alt Right "Kekistan" flag, but claimed it was a joke intended to champion free speech. pic.twitter.com/TipsNS2xxX  Daniel Marans (@danielmarans) September 16, 2017

There were flashes of the tensions that have flared up between either white supremacists or Trump supporters and left-leaning counterprotesters. Outside the rally perimeter, a group of self-described antifascists or Antifa members, some of whom concealed their faces with black bandanas, got into heated political arguments with rally attendees. As the friction increased, U.S. Park Police officers got between the two groups, in an attempt to prevent violence.

In short, it was a classic Make America Great Again rally reminiscent of those that buoyed Trumps campaign  save for the fact that it lacked both Trump and the throngs of supporters that flocked to him on the campaign trail. At one point, a speaker even got the crowd into a chant of Lock her up, the campaign-trail mantra about then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Asked about Trumps stumbles, including the failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, rally-goers universally blamed congressional Democrats and Trumps Republican critics like Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John McCain (Ariz.). For the most part, they were not even especially perturbed by Trumps apparent willingness to help undocumented immigrants who arrived as children stay in the country.

I dont really think that people want everyone who came here illegally deported because some of them are trying to build a future for themselves and a future for their country, Boslet said.

In many ways, the ralliers reflected the more independent nature of Trumps fan base. Few if any attendees who spoke to Huffpost identified as Republicans.

Jennifer McGarrity, a 43-year-old sales manager, who drove down from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to show support for the president, identified as a pro-choice independent. She was unfazed by Trumps increased willingness to forge agreements with congressional Democrats.

He knows how to get the deal done when he wants his agenda to pass through so hell talk to who he has to, she said.

More than one rally attendee said that their only disappointment in Trump was his willingness to intervene militarily in foreign countries.

Im disappointed that he wants to be a war president. Instead of going toward a route of peace, he wants to wage war whether it be in Syria or North Korea, said Manny Vega, a 32-year-old truck driver from Richmond, Virginia, who served four tours in Iraq with the Marines.

Vega is especially concerned about the length of the war in Afghanistan, which has lasted nearly 16 years. He noted that the young children of veterans who fought at the beginning of the Afghanistan War are now eligible to serve in it.

Its a real sad situation where father and son are fighting the same war, he said.

Also on HuffPost

A man holds up a sign during a protest against racism gathered in front of the White House, on August 14, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Protestors rally on Fifth Avenue near Trump Tower.

Hundreds of protesters gather outside of Trump Tower.

A woman raises her fist at the front of a march down Washington Avenue to protest racism and the violence over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Protestors rally on Fifth Avenue near Trump Tower ahead of President Donald Trump's arrival, August 14, 2017 in New York City.

Supporters of anti-Trump protestors hold up signs inside Trump Tower ahead of President Donald Trump's arrival, August 14, 2017 in New York City.

Pedestrians walk past a 15-foot tall inflatable rat in the likeness of U.S. President Donald Trump at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street up the road from Trump Tower, August 14, 2017 in New York City.

A President Donald Trump supporter (left) argues with anti-Trump protesters as they gather outside of Trump Tower.

Protestors rally on Fifth Avenue near Trump Tower.

Hundreds of protesters gather outside of Trump Tower.

Protestors rally on Fifth Avenue.

A man holds up a sign during a protest against racism in front of the White House.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 13:23:03|Editor: Liangyu

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Police guard as protestors march in St. Louis, Missouri, the United States, Sept. 16, 2017. Police on Saturday put up barricades around the courthouse and police headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, bracing for more protests that are expected to come in days. (Xinhua/Dane Iwata)

CHICAGO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Police on Saturday put up barricades around the courthouse and police headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, bracing for more protests that are expected to come in days.

Protests broke out in the city on the border of Missouri and Illinois Friday after a St. Louis circuit judge acquitted former police officer Jason Stockley who fatally shot 24-year-old Lamar Smith in 2011.

Protesters blocked highways and destroyed public and private properties by throwing rocks at police officers and bricks at the St. Louis mayor's house.

As a result, nine St. Louis police officers and one Missouri Highway Patrol officer were injured by thrown bricks, two of whom were transported to a hospital later. In the meanwhile, 32 people were arrested by the police.

In a tweet, the Missouri Police Department stated, "Agitators refuse to disperse causing property damage near Mayor's home. Those who don't comply with police orders subject to arrest."

In less than two hours, the police posted another tweet, "Agitators are being warned that this is no longer a lawful assembly. If they do not disperse, they will be subject to arrest."

Former police officer Stockley was found not guilty of first-degree murder and armed critical action on Friday, almost six years after the incident happened when he shot Smith five times after a high-speed car chase that ended with a collision.

Prosecutors said Stockley planted a gun on Smith, as Stockley's DNA was found on the gun but Smith's was not. Stockley maintains his statement that he was acting in self-defense.

Prior to the not-guilty verdict, Republican Missouri Governor Eric Greitens put the U.S. National Guard on standby in expectation of demonstrations, deploying some troops at points of critical infrastructure.

"We know this verdict causes pain for many people," Greitens said in a statement. "I'm committed to protecting everyone's constitutional right to protest peacefully, while also protecting people's lives, homes, and communities. For anyone who protests, please do so peacefully."
Presley Gerber and Kaia Gerber walk the September 2017 Burberry show together during London Fashion Week. (Photo: Getty Images)

As Cindy Crawford takes a step back from modeling, her two children, Kaia and Presley Gerber, continue to dominate the high-fashion runways. The two siblings made their first major catwalk debut together at the September 2017 Burberry show during London Fashion Week on Saturday evening.

Although its the first catwalk theyve shared together, its not the first runway for either of them.

Kaia Gerber made her first NYFW debut this season walking the runways at Calvin Klein, Fenty Puma, and Marc Jacobs. Her brother, Presley, has previously walked the Moschino, Zadig & Voltaire, and Dolce & Gabbana shows.

The two Gerber siblings were in high company at the Burberry show. They strutted by some of Londons biggest fashion models, who sat front-row  including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and Cara Delevingne. British Vogue editor Edward Enninful attended the show, as did American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, with her daughter, Bee Shaffer.

The Gerbers join a new league of fresh-faced Burberry models, including Jude Laws 16-year-old daughter, Iris, who also sat in the front row at the show. Law became the new face of Burberry Beauty earlier this year.

From left, British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, model Naomi Campbell, model Kate Moss, and British Vogue fashion director Venetia Scott. (Photo: Getty Images)

Vogue editor Anna Wintour wears a Burberry coat to the brands September 2017 show. (Photo: Getty Images)

Models Naomi Campbell and Cara Delevingne wear Burberry to the brands September 2017 show. (Photo: Getty Images)

In terms of the collection, creative director Christopher Bailey continues to deliver what he does best  fresh, new modern interpretations of the British culture and sartorial way of dressing. Tartan, plaid, and Burberrys signature check patterns became reworked in fresh new rain smocks, ponchos, hats, zip-up jackets, oversize tote bags, coats, and more. Colorful, vibrant plaid patterns were rampant during NYFW and continue to be a big trend.

Model wears a crystal chandelier monocle earring and tartan coat from the Burberry September 2017 collection. (Photo: Getty Images)

Colorful, oversize plaid tote bag from the September 2017 Burberry collection. (Photo: Getty Images)

Model wears a millennial pink rain coat and Burberry check zip-up jacket at the brands September 2017 show. (Photo: Getty Images)

Hygge style dominated the runway where Kaia Gerber and other models strutted, wearing colorful, cozy knitwear paired with argyle socks and playful heels. Millennial pink crept its way onto a few outerwear pieces too.

In terms of accessories, models wore large, statement crystal chandelier monocle earrings. Dont be surprised if you start seeing this jewelry style trend show up next spring. But you dont have to wait that long because the Burberry collection is available for immediate purchase globally, and will also be exhibited at the Old Sessions House in London, where the show took place.

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Close-up of the monocle crystal chandelier earrings from the Burberry September 2017 show. (Photo: Getty Images)

Alongside the show, Christopher Bailey helped curate the new Here We Are exhibition, which features more than 200 works of the 20th centurys most prominent social and documentary photographers, exploring the British way of life. It will include never-before-seen works by Shirley Baker, Ken Russell, Alasdair McLellan, and Gosha Rubchinskiy. If you happen to be in London soon, you can catch the exhibition, which opens Sept. 18, and runs through Oct. 1 at the Old Sessions House, located at 22 Clerkenwell Green, Clerkenwell, London.

Continue to check back with Yahoo Lifestyle as we cover the rest of fashion month in London, Milan, and Paris.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

 All of the bold and beautiful Spring 2018 shoes from NYFW

 The complete NYFW trend guide for Spring 2018

 See all of the best bags, hats, and accessories from NYFW

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Nairobi (AFP) - Doubts are growing over Kenya's ability to hold a rerun of its presidential election in just one month as key players remain unable to agree on how to conduct a credible vote, analysts say.

Bickering on all sides and confusion over the process have only increased as the clock ticks down to the October 17 vote, called after the Supreme Court annulled the initial August election, citing widespread irregularities.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has vowed to boycott the poll if a list of demands are not met and on Sunday he launched a nationwide campaign "against any election" run by the current electoral commission (IEBC), which he accuses of rigging the first poll.

"The challenges are pretty extraordinary," said John Githongo, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner in Kenya, who said he believed the election date "does not seem feasible because we are asking people who have failed calamitously to run an election after such a short time".

A key hurdle is that the Supreme Court has yet to deliver its full judgement detailing why exactly it decided to annul President Uhuru Kenyatta's victory.

Chief Justice David Maraga mentioned only "irregularities and illegalities", notably in the transmission of election results.

The court has until September 22 to deliver the full ruling, which would give the IEBC little time to make any necessary changes.

"It is very uncertain," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of African politics at the University of Birmingham in England.

"We don't know if the Supreme Court is going to say something about technology, we don't know if they are going to directly impugn any of the individuals in the IEBC. Will they have to be replaced? If so, how will that be done in the time frame?"

- 'Paralysis' and confusion -

In the absence of the judgement, the electoral commission has pushed forward with plans for a new election, dismissing opposition calls to sack its top officials.

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"It was expected that the IEBC would move swiftly to undertake far-reaching reforms. So far this has yet to happen," the Daily Nation newspaper said in an editorial on Saturday, denouncing a "stalemate which has created paralysis and is confusing the public".

Fissures within the IEBC, meanwhile, were exposed when a leaked memo showed chairman Wafula Chebukati outlining a raft of irregularities in the election to the commission's chief executive Ezra Chiloba.

Kenyatta has insisted that the election go ahead as planned, accusing his longtime rival Odinga of seeking to block the vote as a way of forcing the president to accept a coalition government.

The National Super Alliance (NASA) of opposition parties has formulated a list of demands including the dismissal of certain officials, a change in the procurement of election materials and live media coverage of the declaration of results at tallying centres.

"IEBC as currently constituted... cannot conduct a free and fair election in October," Odinga said on Sunday.

- 'Worrying' rhetoric -

The opposition alleges that the August 8 election was rigged through the hacking of an electronic vote-tallying system.

It said many of the so-called 34A tallying forms, meant to back up electronic results, were delayed and often had not been signed or stamped, or were illegible or lacking serial numbers or watermarks.

French biometrics firm OT-Morpho, which provided the results transmission system, has said that an audit of its system showed no hacking or manipulation of data.

But the IEBC has yet to comply with a Supreme Court order to allow independent access to its servers.

Cheeseman said that with the IEBC suffering from lost legitimacy, an ideal solution would be for rival parties to sit down and negotiate the path to an election which could be acceptable to all.

Increasingly bitter rhetoric, however, has driven them only further apart.

"A lot of the language has been really worrying," Cheeseman said.

He pointed in particular to comments by Kenyatta referring to Chief Justice Maraga as a "crook" and saying he would "fix" the Supreme Court if re-elected. He has also threatened to impeach Odinga if he wins.

Analysts say the main problem with a rushed election is that the Supreme Court has now set a precedent by overturning an election result based on shoddy procedures.

The losing party in another flawed vote could again argue that improper procedures had marred the outcome, which could lead the Supreme Court to again overturn the result.

According to Kenya's constitution, the IEBC has until October 31 to hold the new election.

"They do have a window. Even if it is late by a few weeks. However if they go beyond (that date) that is unprecedented and there is no guidance as to what happens there," said Kenyan writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola.
Kevin Hart recently apologized to his wife, Eniko Parrish, and his two kids from a previous relationship, Hendrix and Haven Hart, after being involved in a sexually suggestive video.

Last week, an unnamed woman allegedly demanded money from Hart after they engaged in a sexually suggestive act. TMZ reported that the two did not have sex. The comedians rep told the publication that someone tried to extort a huge sum of money from him by threatening to release the video.

Someone tried to set Kevin up in a failed extortion attempt. As law enforcement is involved, we cannot comment further as it could affect the investigation, Harts rep said.

On Saturday, Hart uploaded a lengthy video via his Instagram account and revealed that it is intended for his wife and children. The comedian promised to do better, as well as make better decisions. He also acknowledged the fact that he isnt perfect and could make mistakes every now and then. Hart also expressed his love for Parrish and his children.

Im at a place in my life where I feel like I have a target on my back. And because of that I should make smart decisions. And recently, I didnt. You know, Im not perfect. Im not going to sit up there and say that I am or claim to be in any way shape or form, he said.

Meanwhile, this is the third time that Hart has been in the middle of a cheating controversy. In July, there were rumors suggesting that he cheated on Parrish with a woman he just met in a Miami Beach night club. Photos of Hart with the woman riding the same car also circulated online at that time, according to People.

In August, Harts ex-wife, Torrei Hart, claimed that the actor cheated on her with Parrish while they were still married. Going to be honest with you people, Im at a point where I cant even be shocked anymore. All I do is laugh, man, he said at that time. Hart and Parrish are expecting their first child together.

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KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait has ordered North Korea's ambassador to leave within a month as the Gulf country downgraded diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, a North Korean diplomat in the Gulf region said on Sunday. The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions after North Korea's sixth and largest nuclear test this month, and the United States called on countries to sever diplomatic and financial ties with it. The diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the ambassador, So Chang Sik, will leave following Kuwait's decision to downgrade the North Korean diplomatic representation to charge d'affaires level. However, Chang Sik was planning to leave at the end of September because he has ended his term, the diplomat added. Kuwaiti officials did not immediately respond when asked to comment. Kuwait, where around 3,000 North Koreans live, has been hosting North Korea's sole diplomatic mission in the Gulf region. Kuwait's announcement comes after U.S. President Trump met with the Gulf state's ruler in Washington earlier this month. Last month the Gulf country stopped direct flights to and from Pyongyang as well as halting entrance visas and commercial licenses, state news agency KUNA reported, citing an official at the foreign ministry. The Kuwait foreign ministry said at the time it was committed to implementing Security Council resolutions on North Korea, adding that it had stopped loans to the Asian state, banned imports and cut the numbers of its diplomats in the country. (Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy, writing by Sylvia Westall, editing by Louise Heavens)
Authorities are investigating the death of a Louisiana State University student as a possible alcohol-involved hazing ritual. Maxwell Gruver, an 18-year-old freshman at the school, died Thursday after being taken to the hospital in the early hours of the morning.

A preliminary autopsy revealed Gruver had an elevated blood alcohol level as well as THC, a component of marijuana, in his urine. There was no internal or external trauma, said Dr. William Clark, the East Baton Rouge coroner.

These findings will be confirmed in detail through our own toxicology testing, officials said, according to KOCO-TV. Final autopsy results pending further studies including toxicology and histological testing.

The remaining tests could take up to a month to complete. LSU police confirmed they were investigating Gruvers death as a possible hazing incident involving the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Gruver had been driven to the hospital from the fraternity house in a private vehicle, according to WAFB-TV. All Greek activities at the university were suspended in the wake of Gruvers death, LSU President F. King Alexander said.

There are allegations that Maxwells death was related to hazing, but I want to emphasize that this is an evolving situation, said Alexander. As we have continually warned over and over again, hazing is dangerous, irresponsible and unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated at LSU, period.

Phi Delta Thetas headquarters confirmed Friday it was investigating Gruvers death and had suspended the LSU chapter.

First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Gruver family and all who knew Maxwell during this very difficult time, said Bob Biggs, executive vice president and CEO at Phi Delta Theta general headquarters. Were committed to investigating this situation thoroughly. The chapter and any individuals who are found to have violated our policies will be held accountable.

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Gruvers death comes months after the hazing death of Timothy Piazza, a student at Penn State University. Piazza died following a hazing ritual known as the gauntlet during which fraternity pledges drank mass quantities of alcohol. Piazzas death led to charges being leveled against 18 fraternity members and a nationwide call to end the practice of hazing on college campuses.

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Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 13:58:11|Editor: Mengjie

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SAN JOSE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday China is ready to make concerted efforts with Costa Rica to forge a closer, more extensive and deeper strategic partnership, to better benefit the two peoples and make greater contributions to regional peace and stability.

Led by exchanges between the two heads of state, China-Costa Rica ties have seen steady development and fruitful results since the establishment of diplomatic relations a decade ago, Wang said when meeting with his Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Gonzalez.

Speaking highly of Costa Rica's adherence to the one-China policy, Wang said China is ready to keep enhancing political mutual trust with the Central American country, understanding and supporting each other on issues concerning their core interests.

China welcomes Costa Rica to actively participate in its Belt and Road construction and is ready to strengthen cooperation with the country in six major fields, namely, infrastructure construction, trade, new energy, public security, cultural and people-to-people exchanges and regional affairs, Wang said.

The Chinese foreign minister also called on Costa Rica to play a larger role in the development of relations between China and Latin American countries, especially between China and Central American and Caribbean countries.

For his part, Gonzalez said the strategic partnership based on equality, mutual trust, cooperation and win-win results Costa Rica and China forged in 2015 provides an important opportunity for the two sides to deepen cooperation.

Speaking highly of China's Belt and Road Initiative, Gonzalez said Costa Rica is ready to actively take part in its construction, which will promote the country's own development.

Costa Rica adheres to the one-China principle and will continue to staunchly support China on issues concerning China's core interests, he said.8 Hailing the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Panama, the foreign minister said Costa Rica is willing to explore trilateral cooperation with China and Panama.

Besides, the two foreign ministers also compared notes on global and regional issues of common concern. Before the meeting, Wang and Gonzalez witnessed the signing of an agreement on cooperation on economy and technology and held a joint press conference.

At the press conference, Wang pledged Chinese support for Costa Rica in the development of industries such as solar and wind energies and green vehicle.

Wang also said the Chinese side invites Costa Rica to take part in the China International Import Expo scheduled for next year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 14:51:14|Editor: liuxin

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A cyclist rides a bike with her kids during the 2nd annual "Bike the Night" event in Vancouver, Canada, Sept. 16, 2017. More than 5,000 people attended the event, a 10-kilometer bicycle tour around the city. (Xinhua/Liang Sen)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 15:03:28|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HARBIN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- A 15-megawatt photovoltaic power station, with investment from China-based Sirius Holding Group, has been put into operation in Astrakhan, Russia.

The station generates 15,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour.

Cui Zhiwei, deputy general manager of Sirius, said the company's investment was expected to be recouped in five years.

Power demand in Russia has seen sustainable growth thanks to its economic recovery in recent years.
Liberal courts and judges paved the way for the 32-year-old career criminal and his 23-year-old female accomplice to arrive at this point. She now faces the charges alone as her partner died from wounds suffered afterwards. In a jail interview with KCRA Channel 3 (NBC) she claimed to just be a prostitute and knew nothing about any stolen cars. She was on searchable three-year probation for, guess what, stealing cars. Oops! Had her previous judge not dismissed her previous five cases, she might have been in prison. As for her deceased partner, his parents may lose their home for the $100,000 they put up for his bond on federal charges of ID theft, drugs and weapon possession. I was shocked that even the feds had planned to give this career criminal a plea deal, too. Pampered in California. Deputy French was buried on Aug. 7. Liberals are really to blame folks. This affects all of us who respect the men/women of law enforcement no matter where we chose to live. That's what we miss in the USA on a daily basis. Please honor those who serve and protect as valued resources. I know they appreciate your thoughts and prayers from time to time. I sure do!
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 15:18:32|Editor: Song Lifang

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KAMPALA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) - Uganda's cabinet late Friday approved a resolution by its ruling party legislators for a constitutional amendment to remove the 75-year-old age limit for presidents.

The Cabinet allowed the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party to table a private members bill for constitutional amendment in Parliament next week, said Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda's minister of Information Communication Technology and National Guidance.

The NRM legislators on Tuesday passed a resolution to table a constitutional amendment bill to amend Article 102(b) and scrap the 75-year-old age limit for presidents.

"The Cabinet had no objection with the legislator's resolution. It advised the chief whip to advise the legislator wishing to table the private members bill to do so in accordance with established legislative procedure and laws," said Tumwebaze.

But opposition politicians argue that once the constitution is amended, it would enable the country's President Yoweri Museveni to run for another office term in 2021. Museveni is currently 73 years, and has been in power for over 30 years.

Some NRM politicians and opposition legislators have vowed to block the proposed private members bill.

"We shall do whatever it takes to block and ensure this bill is not presented on the floor of parliament. President Museveni has ruled and must retire with a legacy," said Mohammed Nsereko, a legislator for Kampala Central.

The NRM party has over 250 out of 430 legislators in the country's Parliament. Some observers believe when the bill comes on the floor of parliament, it will be passed because of the NRM numerical advantage.
(DEL CITY, Okla.)  An Oklahoma mother whose 5-month-old daughter died after being left alone in a hot vehicle has been convicted of felony child neglect.

Adele Gonzales, 37, of Del City was sentenced to 18 months in prison Thursday, The Oklahoman reported. She said she wasnt aware her baby was in her SUV when she spent more than two hours at a nail salon with her teenage daughter Aug. 29, 2015.

According to police, Gonzales initially said she brought the baby into the salon and only left her in the vehicle for about 20 minutes with the air conditioning on after returning home.

Gonzales later admitted that she lied in her initial interview with police, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Perry Hudson said she respects the jurys decision, but that she is disappointed.

Hudson contended the babys death was a tragic accident, not a crime. But the prosecution argued that Gonzales negligent actions led to the death of her child.

Prosecutors also noted that Gonzales didnt check in with her younger children who were left at the home while she was at the salon. The oldest of the children was 12 at the time.

Prosecutors said the baby died after her body temperature reached 110 degrees. Emergency responders testified that the baby was found unresponsive and very hot to the touch.
Myanmar's army chief has urged the country to unite over the "issue" of the Rohingya, a Muslim group he says has no roots in the country, and which his troops are accused of systematically purging.

The military says its "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine state are aimed at flushing out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25.

But the violence has engulfed the border region and triggered an exodus of more than 400,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh, where they have told of soldiers slaughtering civilians and burning down entire villages.

UN leaders have described the campaign as having all the hallmarks of "ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingya, a stateless group that has endured years of persecution and repression.

The status of the Muslim minority has long been a explosive topic in Myanmar.

Many in the Buddhist majority view the group as foreign interlopers from Bangladesh and deny the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, insisting they be called "Bengalis".

General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's globe-trotting army chief, trumpeted that view in comments posted on his official Facebook page Saturday.

"They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar. (The) Bengali issue is a national cause and we need to be united in establishing the truth," the post said.

- No return for refugees? -

The defence of his army's operations comes amid strident global condemnation of the violence, which has strapped Bangladesh with the overwhelming task of providing shelter and food to a rising tide of desperate refugees.

But inside Myanmar the army is riding a new wave of support from a public that has incubated hatred against the Rohingya for years.

On Sunday Myanmar's government hinted that it may not take back Rohingya who fled across the border, accusing those refugees of having links to the militants.

"Those who fled the villages made their way to the other country for fear of being arrested as they got involved in the violent attacks. Legal protection will be given to the villages whose residents did not flee," the government's Information Committee statement said.

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Previous statements have said the country will set up relief shelters in northern Rakhine for Muslims "who can guarantee they are in no way connected to the terrorists".

Myanmar's civilian leader, former democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, has no power to control the army, which retains sweeping powers from its years of junta rule.

But she has been castigated for failing to voice sympathy for the Rohingya bolting out of the country in desperate scenes tha have shocked the globe.

All eyes will be on the Nobel laureate this Tuesday as she addresses the nation on the crisis for the first time, a speech that many outside the country hope will explain her near silence on the unfolding human tragedy.
A planet 1,400 light years from Earth reflects such little light from its host star that it looks pitch black, scientists have reported.

The darkness reveals information about WASP-12bs atmosphere and shows it to be unique compared to other exoplanets of similar size. According to the European Space Agency, it took an eclipse of the planet to measure its brightness  scientists fired up the Hubble Space Telescope and waited for WASP-12b to pass behind its star, then measured how much light it reflected back into space, a quality known as its albedo.

Experts can use albedo to learn about the composition of a planets atmosphere, because different ingredients reflect light differently.

In the case of this exoplanet, the amount of reflected light at every optical wavelength is so low that it is darker than fresh asphalt, researcher Taylor Bell said in the ESA statement.

The astronomer from McGill University was the lead author of a paper describing the dark conditions. Its maximum albedo value of 0.064 makes it half as reflective as Earths moon. For comparison, Earths albedo is 0.37 and the albedo of Enceladus, an ice-covered moon of Saturn, is 1.4, making it the brightest body in the solar system.

WASP-12b does send out light in one way, however: Its so hot that it glows red.

The low albedo shows we still have a lot to learn about WASP-12b and other similar exoplanets, Bell said.

wasp-12b

Photo: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Similar exoplanets would include others in the class of WASP-12b, known as hot Jupiters. They get their name from their size and their distance from their host stars  they are roughly as big as Jupiter but our Jupiter is in the cold outer solar system, far away from the sun, while these exoplanets are so close to theirs that they are scorched.

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WASP-12b is about twice as large as Jupiter and completes an orbit around its star in a little more than a day.

Because it is so close to its parent star, the gravitational pull of the star has stretched WASP-12b into an egg shape and raised the surface temperature of its daylight side to [4700 degrees Fahrenheit], the ESA explained.

That tremendous temperature might be why its so unreflective. Its atmosphere it so hot that it starts to mimic the atmosphere of a small star.

There are other hot Jupiters that have been found to be remarkably black, but they are much cooler than WASP-12b, Bell said. For those planets, it is suggested that things like clouds and alkali metals are the reason for the absorption of light, but those dont work for WASP-12b because it is so incredibly hot.

According to the study, the low albedo suggests that WASp-12b has an atmosphere with atomic hydrogen and helium  as opposed to molecules of those elements.

The authors said the findings show the great diversity among hot Jupiters.

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Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 16:08:49|Editor: Song Lifang

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CAIRO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Minister of Transport Hisham Arafat said 70 percent of railways in Upper Egypt had been renovated, local media reported on Sunday.

The minister made the remarks during his inspection of a number of road projects in Qena, south of Cairo on Saturday. He was accompanied by Qena Governor Abdel Hamid el Hagan.

As many as 245 railway crossings have been renewed as part of the ongoing projects, Arafat said during the trip.

The ministry seeks, in cooperation with the Ministry of Military Production and several state companies, to develop 10 to 15 level crossings per month, said the minister.

He also inspected the project of a mega axis that includes 15 bridges and four tunnels.
NATO has said it will take a further month to respond to Washington's demands for alliance allies to send more troops to Afghanistan.

During a meeting of the NATO Military Committee in Tirana on Saturday, defence chiefs from 29 members of the organisation "recognised the need to fill the current... shortfalls" in troops, according to group president General Petr Pavel.

However, no decision will be taken until they have consulted with their respective governments, Pavel told reporters after General Joe Dunford, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, presented their requests.

The meeting comes months after Pentagon chief Jim Mattis told NATO allies they must finish the job in Afghanistan or risk allowing the insurgency to bloom.

"The bottom line is that NATO has made a commitment to Afghanistan for freedom from fear and terror, and freedom from terror demands that you can't let this be undone," he said in June.

Allies are expected to give a firm answer when the committee reconvenes in October, NATO Supreme Allied Commander US General Curtis Scaparrotti told reporters.

NATO says "more than 15" countries have pledged additional support, but has yet to give details on extra troop numbers.

Albania, which has 83 soldiers in Afghanistan, has said it is ready to send about 30 more.

Last month US President Donald Trump cleared the way for the deployment of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, backtracking from his promise to swiftly end America's longest war, begun after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

He did not specify how many soldiers would be sent but officials have said the additional troops could number some 4,000, on top of 11,000 already on the ground.

Scaparrotti did not reveal details of the discussions in Tirana, but said the coalition's aim was to train and equip Afghan special forces and to help provide the country with air support.

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"What we would like NATO to provide: TAA actually, that's train, advise and assist," he said.

"(There's an) effect on the morale of the Afghan troops when it's their own airforce support. So to the extent that we can get more advisers in there we can effect a faster development of their force, and it's better for everyone," he added.

NATO transferred security responsibilities to Afghan forces in 2014 but has around 13,000 soldiers stationed in the country on the alliance's longstanding mission.
Babis Fassoulas , Author provided

There has been a lot of interest in our discovery of nearly-6m-year-old footprints on Crete, first reported by the The Conversation  suggesting that human ancestors could have roamed Europe at the same time as they were evolving in East Africa.

Sadly the site was vandalised in the last week, with four or five of the 29 tracks stolen. We are fortunate that many of the best tracks remain  the people who did it clearly didnt know what they were looking for. Our guess is that they were simply intending to sell them.

The theft occurred despite the site being afforded protection under Greek heritage law and being in the care of local officials. Police, we are told, have made an arrest in connection with the incident, and it is hoped that the missing material will be returned soon. The damage, however, is irreparable.

Babis Fassoulas , Author provided

The Cretan authorities moved swiftly to bury the site temporarily while a more permanent conservation solution, such as moving the entire surface, is sought. We are lucky that the whole area has been 3D-scanned with an optical laser scanner in high resolution as part of the original study. In due course this data will be made available via the Natural History Museum of Crete and the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University in Sweden. So there will fortunately not be much of an impact on the research.

Yet the event is devastating. To understand the significance to someone who studies ancient tracks like these, consider it equivalent to an attempt to steal part of the Sphinx at Giza or vandals dislodging one of lintel blocks at Stonehenge.

Unfortunately, the theft and vandalism of tracks is nothing new. For example, there was a recent case on the Isle of Skye in Scotland of vandalised dinosaur tracks dating from around 165m year ago that lead to a police probe. The ethics around the collection and sale of fossils and artefacts is complex, and many of the great scientific collections today are based on collection and sales by amateurs in the past. Ultimately, it seems wrong to collect and sell artefacts that theres only a limited number of.

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Conversation challenges

But how can you conserve what is essentially a slab of soft rock, close to the sea and open to the elements? Oddly, erosion at such sites is to be encouraged because it often helps reveal new surfaces which may contain additional prints.

Its tricky  a problem I first faced following my discovery of the Ileret hominin footprints, the second oldest such tracks in the world at the time, and preserved in nothing but packed silt.

Babis Fassoulas , Author provided

I did some research on this with colleagues and concluded that the only option is to excavate and digitally record them in 3D. This can be done either with a laser scanner or just with a digital camera in the field. Some 20 pictures of a track from different angles is enough to create a 3D image. These days 3D printers can easily create models for museums and for collectors.

Digital preservation is probably the key for the Cretan tracks as well. This worked well for the 2,100-year-old human footprints of Acahualinca in Managua (Nicaragua), where the originals are perfectly preserved under a roof built over the site, and in an adjacent museum.

The 120,000-year-old human footprints at Nahoon Point in South Africa are marked by a footprint-shaped visitors centre that looks great from Google Earth. There are also a number of excellent examples of dinosaur track sites preserved in museums and under shelters, such as those at Las Cerradicas in Spain.

Perhaps the most controversial of conservation solutions has been to bury the worlds oldest confirmed hominin footprints  from Laetoli in Tanzania  which were first documented in the late 1970s. These tracks were buried as a way of protecting them from weathering and natural-decay.

There has been extensive debate about what should happen at this site and many scientists are unhappy about the lack of access. Plans for the site over the years have varied from an on-site museum to the removal of the whole slab to another site. The debate continues, but ultimately it is money that precludes a solution that would allow access to the public and scientists alike.

Author provided

Indeed, the challenge is always money. It is expensive to erect and maintain protective structures, and to gain funds you need publicity to ensure that all the stakeholders involved are aware of the scientific, social and emotional value of a site.

One of the reasons for publicising the Trachilos tracks was not only to get the discovery debated in open scientific circles, but also to raise its public profile  thereby seeking better protection and ultimately its preservation in a local museum. That would bring visitors and fuel local revenue.

The trouble is the very publicity aimed to assist the sites protection may have led to an enhanced perception of its monetary value. After all, the site had been known locally for years. Publicity though, is a double-edged sword and we have been lucky on this occasion to avoid the full length of its blade.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Matthew Robert Bennett receives funding from the Natural Environment Rsearch Council.
Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari must meet with Biafran secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu before violence between the army and separatists escalates into a full-blown conflict, according to Nigerias former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Speaking to Newsweek in London, Obasanjowho served as Nigerias first elected head of state from 1999 to 2007says that the heavy-handed tactics of the Nigerian state against pro-Biafra activists, a secessionist movement that is pushing for an independent state, have not suceeded, and a more conciliatory approach is needed.

I dont see anything wrong in that [Buhari meeting with Kanu]. I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage it, Obasanjo tells Newsweek.

I would want to meet Kanu myself and talk to people like him, people of his age, [and ask:] What are your worries? Not only from the southeast but from all parts of Nigeria.

09_14_Obasanjo_2

Joe Penny/Reuters

Nigeria has witnessed an uptick in pro-Biafra sentiment in recent years, resulting in deadly clashes between the military and secessionists.

Declaring itself an independent republic in southeast Nigeria in 1967, Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria in 1970 after a three-year civil war in which at least 1 million people died. Obasanjo fought alongside Buhari on the Nigerian side in the war.

Read more: Nigerias civil war is not over | Opinion

Kanu, a British-Nigerian dual national, has risen to prominence as the leader of modern pro-Biafra separatists. Kanu was arrested in Nigeria in October 2015 and held for almost two years without going to trial. He was bailed in April but faces trial for charges of treason.

09_15_Obasanjo_Biafra

MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty

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Kanus backers accused the Nigerian military of invading his home and killing supporters earlier this weeka charge the military denied.

While Buhari has largely avoided speaking publicly on the Biafra issue, the Nigerian military has come under scrutiny for what right groups say is a heavy-handed response to protests by Kanus group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and other separatists.

Nigerian security forces killed at least 150 pro-Biafra supporters between August 2015 and November 2016including some in extrajudicial executions, according to a report by Amnesty International.

The number included at least 60 people who were killed at a memorial gathering in May 2016, when security forces raided homes and a church where IPOB members were sleeping. The Nigerian military denied Amnesty Internationals allegations and said IPOB members had used unjustifiable violence against soldiers.

Biafra supporter

STEFAN HEUNIS/AFP/Getty

Nigerian soldiers were recently deployed to the southeastern state of Abia, where Kanu is currently living. IPOB members alleged that soldiers surrounded Kanus home on Sunday and killed several people, but the Nigerian Army said in a statement that IPOB members had blocked the road while army vehicles were on patrol, and had thrown stones at soldiers.

The statement said the soldiers fired in the air to disperse the IPOB members and that no one was killed. The army shared a video which it said supported their account.

Obasanjo says that the armys heavy boot response to pro-Biafra sentiment is not the solution, but adds that the secession craved by IPOB is not the way forward either.

The former president, who was also military head of state in Nigeria from 19761979, says economic development in the country is the only way to solve the issue. Some Igbo leaders have complained that President Buhari, who hails from northern Nigeria, has prioritized the development of other parts of the country to their detriment.

We need to satisfy the youth in job creation, in wealth creation, in giving them a better, fulfilled life, in giving them hope for the future, says Obasanjo. Theres no easy way out.

The Biafran war erupted in 1967, after Odumegwu Ojukwu, a Nigerian military officer, declared independence. Biafra was largely populated by the Igbos, a mostly Christian ethnic group; Ojukwu's declaration of independence came on the back of pogroms against Igbos in northern Nigeria, which is dominated by the mostly Muslim Hausa ethnic group.

Nigeria, which had a much larger military force, blockaded the Biafran order, leading to a famine that sparked worldwide condemnation when images and footage of starving Biafran children seeped out to the international media.

01_01_Starving_biafra_01

Lyle Conrad/Public Health Image Library

Ethnic tensions have again been boiling over recently in Nigeria, a country of more than 180 million people and hundreds of ethnic groups. A coalition of youth groups ordered Igbos to leave northern Nigeria in June; while the demand was rubbished by the Nigerian government, none of the leaders of the groups were arrested.

Obasanjo, a senior Nigerian commander during the war, says Nigeria must avoid allowing the current tensions to escalate into another conflict. Those who fought in the war in Biafra will not want to fight any other war," he says. I have fought one war too many in Nigeria; I dont want to see another."

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By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Fighting between the military and police backed by intelligence forces killed nine people in the Somali capital on Saturday, police said. "It seems they mistook the Somali national army for (clan) militias. The death toll is nine people including a civilian," Major Abdullahi Hussein, a police officer, told Reuters. He said the fighting occurred because police were wrongly informed that there were armed militias in the area. "Accidents happen," he said. Somalia has been riven by civil war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator then turned against each other. The weak U.N.-backed government is now battling an Islamist insurgency, but many members of its security forces are badly trained and coordination is poor. "Last night security forces (the police and intelligence) besieged us and then opened fire. We defended ourselves and chased the so-called security forces after hours of fighting today. We lost two soldiers and a wife of my colleague," Major Nur Osman, a military officer, told Reuters on Saturday. "The land belongs to the military, it houses the families of soldiers. However, the security forces were trying to force us off the land," he said. Residents said the fighting was terrifying. "We were awoken last night ... by gunfire ... We took our babies on our shoulders and fled," resident Mohamed Idle told Reuters. In a separate incident on Saturday, Islamist insurgents briefly entered the town of El Wak in Gedo region, southern Somalia, near the border with Kenya. "A few soldiers were in El Wak and they left in the morning for tactical practice. Many al Shabaab fighters advanced," Captain Ibrahim Ali, a military officer, told Reuters. Al Shabaab said they stayed briefly, took weapons and supplies, and left. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
Some car companies release their business plans and goals publicly, others don't.

This morning, the Renault Nissan Alliance (now including Mitsubishi as well) released a new six-year plan laying out its business goal through 2022.

Among the most significant: The group said it will launch 12 separate battery-electric vehicles globally by 2022.

DON'T MISS: Goal for 2018 Nissan Leaf: double sales of new electric car

Equally important, those 12 vehicles will "utilize common platforms and components" across all three brands, meaning significant economies of scale.

While Renault's rescue of struggling Nissan made headlines in 1999, the Japanese company is now widely acknowledged to be the stronger partnerand it has been the global leader in mass-market electric cars since 2011.

Launched in 2011, the first-generation Nissan Leaf remains the world's highest-production electric car today, with more than 280,000 sold since December 2010.

Longer-range Renault Zoe electric car, introduced at 2016 Paris Motor Show

Longer-range Renault Zoe electric car, introduced at 2016 Paris Motor Show

Longer-range Renault Zoe electric car, introduced at 2016 Paris Motor Show

The Renault Zoe, a hatchback one size smaller launched in 2012 by its French alliance partner, is the best-selling electric car in Europethough its uses largely separate underpinnings than the Leaf.

While all Leafs have used cells from the AESC joint venture between Nissan and NECwhich will be sold to a Chinese investment firm by the end of this yearsome of the six Renault electric vehicles so far have used cells from Korean maker LG Chem.

The 2018 Nissan Leaf, with new styling, an updated interior, and 150 miles of rangeand a 200-mile version coming for 2019retains the underpinnings of the 2011 original.

READ THIS: 2018 Nissan Leaf: does it pioneer the 'mid-range' electric car?

But its replacement, expected in the early 2020s, will likely share its platform with the second-generation Renault Zoe and one or more battery-electric models from Mitsubishi as well.

That brand has showed an all-electric compact crossover concept called the eX for several years, and rumors of a Nissan e-Rogue or other all-electric crossover utility vehicle periodically emerge from that brand as well.

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With the addition of Mitsubishi, the Renault Nissan Alliance is now at the same scale as the three traditional global industry leaders: General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen Group, each of which builds roughly 10 million cars a year.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn at 2016 New York Auto Show roundable discussion

But alliance head Carlos Ghosn, who led the turnaround of Nissan as its first-ever non-Japanese CEO, has ambitious plans for the group.

To achieve this target, on one side Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors will accelerate collaboration on common platforms, powertrains and next-generation electric, autonomous and connected technologies.

From the other side, synergies will be enhanced by our growing scale. Our total annual sales are forecast to exceed 14 million units, generating revenues expected at $240 billion by the end of the plan.

CHECK OUT: Nissan's plans: reignite electric-car sales, boost lagging Mitsubishi

Other elements of the latest six-year plan, titled "Alliance 2022," include production of more than 9 million vehicles on shared architectures.

Common powertrains will be used across three-quarters of the various makes' vehicles, up from just one-third today.

As many as 40 vehicles will offer autonomous-driving technology by 2022, and the alliance specifically said it intends to become an operator of "robo-vehicle ride-hailing services," though it didn't specify in which markets.

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Peaceful demonstrations in St. Louis turned violent Friday night after a former white police officer charged with the murder of a black man was acquitted, prompting multiple assaults of law enforcement officers, property damage  including the mayors home  and more than 30 arrests.

At least nine police officers, including one with a dislocated shoulder and another with a potentially broken jaw, were reported injured along with one Highway Patrol trooper, Acting Police Chief Lawrence OToole said in a video statement posted to the St. Louis Police Departments Twitter page early Saturday morning.

Police were assaulted with bricks and bottles, officials said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In response, roughly 200 police officers donning riot gear attempted to clear the crowds with tear gas and, in total, 32 people were arrested throughout Friday, police spokeswoman Schron Jackson said Saturday, the paper reported.

Many of the demonstrators were peaceful. However, after dark, many agitators began to destroy property and assault police officers, OToole said in the video statement, alongside Mayor Lyda Krewson.

Chief O'Toole & Mayor Krewson update citizens on tonight's demonstrations. https://t.co/7thVAbntCX  St. Louis, MO Police (@SLMPD) September 16, 2017

At one point, roughly 1,000 protestors converged on the mayors home, throwing rocks and bottles at the property, the Post-Dispatch reported. There was no evidence to suggest that Krewson was inside at the time.

Protesters break window at what they think is #stl Mayor Lyda Krewson's house pic.twitter.com/uW0JmwQ70l  St. Louis Magazine (@stlmag) September 16, 2017

Tension boiled over hours after circuit Judge Timothy Wilson found former St. Louis police offer Jason Stockley not guilty in the killing of Anthony Lamar Smith in December 2011. A court document said that Stockley and another police officer chased Smith, a drug suspect, in a car at more than 80 miles per hour and that he was going to kill this motherfer, dont you know it before instructing the driving officer to steer the car into Smiths slowing vehicle.

Stockley then approached Smiths car and fired into it five times, striking Smith with each shot, according to the document, killing him. Stockley then allegedly planted a gun in the car, the document states, as the firearm was later determined to have only Stockleys DNA on it.

In his verdict, Wilson wrote that after agonizingly going over the cases evidence, he was simply not firmly convinced of Stockleys guilt.

Stockley in an interview with the Post-Dispatch Friday said that news of his clearance feels like a burden has been lifted, though the burden of having to kill someone never really lifts.

I can feel for and I understand what the family is going through, and I know everyone wants someone to blame, but Im just not the guy, Stockley added.

Mayor Krewson in a statement Friday said that she is appalled by what happened to Smith.

I am sobered by this outcome, she wrote. I will continue my work to create a more equitable community.

In addition to Krewsons home, a public library and at least one local business was damaged during the protests.

Busted front doors of the Schlafly Branch Library on CWE. #stockleyverdict pic.twitter.com/svu2CFrNfs  Joe Holleman (@STLsherpa) September 16, 2017

The rock band U2 was scheduled to perform a concert Saturday night in the city but canceled after police told them they were not able to provide standard protection.

In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans safety by proceeding with tonights concert, the band said in a statement. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment.
Yahyah Farroukh was registered at living in the property being searched by police

Police have arrested a second refugee foster child who had been living with the same family as part of the terror investigation into the Parsons Green bombing.

Yahyah Farroukh, 21, was arrested outside the chicken shop where he worked in Hounslow on Saturday night just hours after police caught the 18-year-old suspected of planting the Tube bomb at the Port of Dover, witnesses say.

After his arrest police cordoned off his home just yards from Heathrow Airport in Stanwell, Surrey. The Syrian refugee had previously lived at the home of Ron and Penny Jones, who had been fostering the 18-year-old before his arrest.

Officers also searched Aladdins Fried Chicken in Hounslow.

According to his Facebook page Mr Farroukh had moved to the UK from Damascus.

Friends of the Joneses said the elderly couple, who had taken in hundreds of children since the 1970s, had only recently returned to fostering after being moved by the plight of youngsters caught up in the refugee crisis.

Family friend, Jim Adaway, 37, said the couple had wanted to help resettle children from overseas, particularly war zones, but had been struggling to cope with one of the children in their care.

Yahyah Farroukh

Mr and Mrs Jones, who were appointed MBEs for their fostering work in 2009, described how they felt compelled to help others and had kept in touch with many of the young people who had shared their home.

Mrs Jones said the children she took in needed to be loved and made to feel special.

She said: "We open our hearts to all the children. Anybody that comes to us we will do whatever we can do to help them with whatever they need."

She added: "There must have been hundreds of children. I try to stay in touch with them. Some have been adopted. I send them birthday cards - it's a very extended family."

The improvised explosive device in a white bucket blew up on the final carriage of the Parsons Green train Credit: Twitter / @Pricey1983aa

The couple, who had six children between them, were being looked after by relatives as police continued to scour their home for clues.

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Neighbours of the Stanwell property which was cordoned of by police said that Mr Farroukh had moved into the property more than a year ago .

One said: "There would be men going in his house. There's always cars coming and going. They all talk Arabic.

"Some of them wear caps on their heads and the long (traditional) dress. He didn't dress in traditional dress.

"When he walks around he's always on his mobile. He speaks Arabic.

"Sometimes I've seen him with a black thing around his head."

Yahyah Farroukh

Pat Hodge, who works in a warehouse, said: "I thought he was a student. He would always wave to us, the others wouldn't.

"They would set out prayer mats in the garden. They always had something, like gadgets, in their hand but there was no TV, no furniture in the house."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Three addresses are now being searched; two searches are continuing at addresses in Surrey and a further search is taking place in Hounslow in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Parsons Green incident."

Parsons Green Tube carriage explosion

Speaking about the second arrest, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "A second man has been arrested by detectives from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command investigating the terrorist attack at Parsons Green on Friday, 15 September.

"The 21-year-old man was arrested in Hounslow at around 23:50hrs on Saturday, 16 September.

"He was arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act and taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody."

Hours after the second arrest, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, said the UK's threat level had been lowered from critical to severe.

Parsons Green London Underground terror attack, in pictures

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said police had made "good progress" in the investigation as she announced the country had been removed from the highest terror alert.

Ms Rudd said: "Following the attack in Parsons Green last Friday the police have made good progress with what is an ongoing operation.

"The joint terrorist analysis centre, which reviews the threat level that the UK is under, has decided to lower that level from critical to severe.

"Severe still means that an attack is highly likely so I would urge everybody to continue to be vigilant but not alarmed."

The threat level had been put up to its highest level on Friday night after the homemade bomb partially detonated on a District Line train, injuring at least 29 people.

The train, which was bound for Edgware Road, was just pulling into the station in south-west London in rush-hour on Friday morning when the device detonated in the rear carriage, sending passengers fleeing to safety.

Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic after the blast sent a "fireball" and a "wall of flame" through the train.

Emergency services tend an injured woman following the blast on the District Line train Credit: SOCIAL MEDIA

Parsons Green station was reopened in the early hours of Saturday.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, speaking after a meeting of the Governments Cobra emergency committee, said there was no doubt the bomb was a "serious IED". "It was good fortune that it did so little damage", she said.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said on Saturday that police were "chasing down suspects", indicating that a potential network of plotters could have been involved.

The force said it has spoken to 45 witnesses and 77 images and videos have been sent to detectives by members of the public.

A key plank of the investigation has focused on CCTV, with officers combing through footage to establish who planted the device, and when and where it was placed on the train.

Following the attack, troops were dispatched to key sites across the country to free up armed police officers after the country's terror threat level was raised to its highest point.

The threat level remains at critical, which means a further attack is feared to be imminent.

In a move to reassure Londoners, the Met Commissioner Cressida Dick also joined uniformed officers on patrol, travelling by tube to Waterloo Station and walking along the South Bank.

The attack - the fifth terrorist attack on the UK in just six months - caused a diplomatic row between Washington and London.

Annotated: The home-made device
A man views a distillation system at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition: Reuters

Entrepreneurs looking to cash in on Californias new marijuana gold rush flocked to Los Angeles this week for the citys Fourth Annual Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition, taking in advice and pitches from venture capitalists to a marijuana sommelier.

Workshops were conducted, business cards were swapped with more than 200 bustling booths  exhibiting everything from pot paper, to shampoo and even suppositories  at the LA Convention Centre. It was a spirited free-for-all that anticipated one thing: 1 January 2018  a date that puts dollar signs in many a Californians eyes.

For it is then that the state will fully legalise recreational marijuana use, thanks to Proposition 64  the adult use of marijuana act  which was passed last year. Explosive growth is then projected for the industry and the state; growth which may represent a boon to the tune of $7bn (5bn), as well as the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

This is truly an exciting time, gushed a speaker at one of the workshops, which covered the gamut of helpful weed topics, down to the burgeoning Canadian market and marijuana food pairings. We hope youll enjoy the ride!

Oils-free, biodegradeable plastics from hemp were touted as a potential $400bn global market in the Hemp MBA In A Day seminar  a number which would seem pie-in-the-sky for now at least.

Though the sky seemed the limit, the Expos takeaway messages were sometimes contradictory. Caution hung just under the surface of many of the big sells, with California's marijuana business still very much in flux while it prepares for the big day and a future that is difficult to predict.

At the How To Buy Equity In A Cannabis Business: What To Look For, What To Avoid workshop, a how-to for both pot newbies and more experienced investors, another speaker warned The industry has a lot of smoke and mirrors, but only after suggesting that certain investment returns could go as high as 150 per cent.

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Workshop leaders also gingerly tip-toed around the Sessions Depression, an industry term affectionately coined for the Trump Administrations Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is said to be considering a crackdown on Americas supply of cannabis. But many remained confident that California, the largest of the weed states, would lead a development juggernaut that would eventually be too hard for Congressional leaders to ignore, let alone put down (notably, a national bill known as the Marijuana Effective Drug Study Act of 2017, or MEDS Act, was introduced by conservative firebrand, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch on Wednesday).

In room 501AB, Max Montrose, President of Denvers Trichome Institute, which offers cannabis certification and education, led his Interpening: The Art of the Cannabis Sommelier workshop. A gawky 30-something with red hair and glasses, Mr Montrose explained to attentive business minds, millennials and retirees alike how he developed his discriminating palate in Colorado, the first state in the US to legalise medicinal marijuana, in 2012. I was a kid on a cocktail of pharmaceuticals. At 13, I started noticing how different types of cannabis strains affected me, said the self-described weed nerd, and creator of the Island Diesel Skunk sativa strain.

Grasping, as many other speakers did, to convince his new students of his expertise in such a young, unsettled industry, he added, meekly: I mean, started teaching people before I had facial hair.

Thousands attended the the Cannabis World Congress in LA (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Mr Montrose then adeptly pointed out a huge gap in the classification of marijuana types, one which could potentially create a giant headache in a national weed rollout. I've bought six different types of blue dream at four different dispensaries. Many experts don't know much about the actual plants, they don't know what they're talking about, he said, advocating strongly for marijuana DNA testing  to ensure customers know the strength of what they are buying.

Much else has yet to be ironed out in this industry; the state, its counties and cities are rushing to finish cobbling together a myriad of new regulatory laws, which will do everything from resolving taxation and licensing issues, to deciding whether a pot smoker can have their weed delivered by drone (the final verdict: no, as airspace is regulated by federal laws).

The patchwork of state laws was ticked off at hyper-speed in the popular Open A Cannabis Business workshop, led by Nicole West, an instructor at Clover Leaf University, a Denver-based training institute.

Ms West lovingly painted a picture of one of the states most successful growers who had 15,000 square feet and 197 air conditioners.

But caution was still a watchword. California is a big state, she said. But this isnt like opening up a brewery  Im sorry to be so negative

She added: Nobody that understands how to be commercial understands anything about weed, and nobody that knows about weed understands commercial  25 per cent of operators will roll out strong, and everyone else is going to have to pick up the pieces.

But despite the odd products, the high talk and the pearls of wisdom, the resolution of one important matter still remained to be addressed for this marketplace - that of inclusion.

It is a matter that is raising hackles within Californias minority communities, who want fair representation.

One Expo attendee Joe Cain, a Malibu Gold, laid out the problem.

Im part of a team of growers, but the opportunity is not always there, he said. Certain communities are less informed.

Right now, he added, my auntie, who's on a community board in Compton, is currently going to war with the city, trying to get equal opportunities for blacks to own dispensaries.

Mr Cain said that many African-Americans are being blackballed from entering the industry due to prior marijuana convictions. It is an irony that is particularly ripe, given that the states coffers are due to fill up from weed sales.

Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader, weighed in on the issue as he gave the Cannabis Expo keynote speech, while newly appointed City of LA cannabis czar, Cat Packer, promised to level the playing field by creating a social equity programme for dispensaries.

It is clear that interest is high however with Expo attendance far in excess of last years 4,000 attendees. Ms West was enthusiastic Colorado made $900m. Imagine what Californias going to do!

Clover Leaf University chief executive Chloe Villano said she will soon open a training location in California, having had to turn people away who turned up at the door in Denver thanks to her classes being oversubscribed. People are just getting into their cars from all over the US, she said. Theyre not even looking at the schedule.
PISSED: A 200-day durational performance where Cassils has captured all the urine their body has passed since February 26, 2017, when Trump rescinded the Obama era order allowing trans teens to use their bathroom of choice versus the gender assigned to them at birth. (Photo: Cassils with Robyn Beck; Courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery New York)

Cassils spent a good chunk of this week trying to ensure that the 200-gallon tank of urine he was installing at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts didnt leak and destroy the gallery and its important legacy.

Can you even imagine? the transgender performance artist, who uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, asked me when we sat down to chat about his second solo show at the New Your City gallery. The show, entitled Monumental, features a new work that he made by saving his urine for the last 200 days and collecting it in the tank.

The piece, PISSED, was created in response to President Donald Trumps February decision to rescind President Obamas directive that transgender students should be able to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. PISSED will be unveiled at the gallery on Saturday night when, according to a press release for the show, Cassils will perform a related piece, Fountain, and thereby complete the 200 day durational performance by linking their body to the minimalist structure.

Cassils, a Canadian-born 2017 Guggenheim Fellow and 2015 Creative Capital Awardee currently living in Los Angeles, has made a career for himself by approaching and proposing theories and questions about the body, politics, gender, history, being transgender and other potentially incendiary topics through his performance-based art. Ahead of the debut of Monumental, he discussed the logistics of preserving so much urine for such a long period of time, his relationship to his body as a transgender artist, the divide between art and activism and more.

HuffPost: Did PISSED happen organically in response to Trumps action in February or was it a piece youd be conceptualizing in some way and Trumps move ended up giving you the perfect opportunity to actualize what youd been incubating?

Cassils: Its something that Ive been thinking about personally as someone who has to navigate bathrooms on a daily basis. This is just an experience that Ive had. It was really [stemming from] following the Gavin Grimm case in depth and being really inspired by such a young person. Looking at someone who was just 14 years old and speaking his truth to a bunch of adults and students who were bullying him  and of course hes picked up by the ACLU because hes articulate, well-versed, educated white trans man, and certainly, he isnt necessarily the stand-in for most trans experiences; there was something incredibly compelling about his bravery. I felt quite attached to that particular story and then when Trump rescinded this order, I just couldnt believe it. I feel like that about so much of whats happened  DACA last week, Charlottesville  these issues are not necessarily separate. When you look at something like DACA, we have 800,000 dreams who are being kicked out of the country  young people who are trying to do the right thing  and 50,000 of those are LGBTQ members of our community, so [Trump] is affecting trans and queer people on many different levels across all these different intersectional boundaries.

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When that order was rescinded I was like, You know what? Fuck this! I wanted everybody to do an active protest and FedEx their urine to the White House that night. I thought, Lets all just flood the White House with piss!

Literally.

Literally! But I am undergoing my citizenship application and my lawyer said, Do not do that. You will be 86-ed from this country so fast  because sending urine in the post is considered a biohazard, so its an act of terrorism, believe it or not. Some people think this issue is ridiculous and that we shouldnt even be having this conversation but the excretion of our bodies can literally be seen as a loaded weapon. Because of the limitations of taking an actual political action, based on my non-citizenship at the time, I thought, Im an artist and Ill go the route of the metaphor and I came up with the concept in a day or two.

Sometimes my ideas take a very long time to come to fruition but this one was just right on the surface. That being said, I just started collecting my piss that day [Trump rescinded Obamas directive] or two days after. But I didnt know how the project was going to manifest or how I was going to keep the urine  working with a biochemist and the procuring of seven fridges [to hold the urine] wasnt something I was thinking about at the time.

Alchemic. Cassils with Robin Black 2017 (Photo: Cassils with Robin Black)

How does a person go about collecting and preserving 200 gallons of urine for months on end?

Thats a good question  and thats a question that no one had really previously asked because why would we ever need to save urine? No one does. My wife is a nurse and I asked her to go to work the next day and ask the doctors about urine preservation and she said, theyre not going to know about that. They keep urine for a UTI test for maybe two days and then they chuck it. But you know who would know? A biochemist. And it turns out that my wife, who is a former dominatrix, knows a dominatrix who also has a PhD. in biochemistry and if you go to her website it says PhDeviant [laughs]. Her name is Mistress Snow Mercy and I called her up and she totally hooked me up. Because she went to UCLA, she had quite a lot of contacts and she contacted the head of the forensics lab at the L.A. Police Department and someone who worked at a higher level for the childrens hospital and together they brainstormed this formula. They ordered this preservative off of Amazon for me and it came in the mail and I was about to open it and I got this phone call and the voice said, Cassils, its Snow Mercy. Do not open that box. I had opened it a little bit and there was like a skull and crossbones on it. I guess they thought I was in a lab? I was like, Im not in a lab  Im in my bathroom! [laughs]. So they figured out a much more non-lab necessary process, which essentially ended up being borax, which is a roach killer, and it kills the bacteria.

So you just added that to the urine and you were good to go?

Right. So, in short, I would carry around a 24-hour medical urine capture bottle and I would bleach all of these bottles to disinfect them and then air-dry them. I have a funnel, because my aims not so hot, and then Id have to bleach that each time I used it. So I urinate into the bottle and then when it reaches completion, I add 30 grams of the borax solution, shake it up, date it and leave it in the fridge. Living with a performance isnt always easy [laughs] and my wife was like, You only get one extra fridge in our one-bedroom [apartment]!

She must be ridiculously patient.

[Laughs] She really is! I was like, thats fair. So I had to ask my friends  and a lot of them dont have spare spaces  but I found a couple of friends that have a garage or a studio and I found seven people to let me house fridges that I bought off of Craigslist and then Id load up my Honda with as much piss as I could fit in and then reposition it in someones garage. I literally had urine all over Los Angeles.

Thats incredible... and disgusting?

A week ago, I had to go around with my friend in their larger car and we filled our cars with 200 gallons of urine. We had to make pit stops to assemble it in 50-gallon oil containers for transport out to New York. It was completely insane and logistically, I want to say one of the hardest performances Ive ever done.

Which is saying a lot, considering the performances youve done.

I think its because there was very little pleasure factor in it for me. My other works are hard  but theyre hard in a way that I like. This was really re-inscribing an oppression. You know, first of all theres the act of saving your piss and holding your piss really replicates the experience one feels when theyre cognizant of what their body needs to do to empty their bladder, be it in a public space or a private space and all of the anxiety that comes along with this. This piece really hyper-performed that for me.

When the exhibition is done, what happens to the urine?

Thats a good question. I dont know what will happen. Weve been in motion, so weve just been trying to keep up with the process. This is a 200-day piece  we started this on February 23 and there were certain days when I was traveling and when youre traveling you cant bring urine on a flight with you. So I had to get friends to donate their urine to make up for the days that I couldnt save my own urine because its not about my body, per se, its about what one body has to mitigate.

So it was surrogate urine.

Right. I learned a lot from the people who participated in the piece. Some people were trans-identified, some werent and especially for the people that werent, it changed the issue in their mind. So, I think going forward, what Id like to do, as this continues, for example, I have an exhibition in Los Angeles in the spring, and at that point well be over a year into this, so what would it be like to create a tank that held 400 gallons of urine and have the city of Los Angeles do a urine drive? That way the piece would be a collective action. So I think Im going to continue with this but Im not sure how. As far as keeping the urine [that will be featured in the New York exhibition], I dont know. I have a friend who is an art historian who said, You need to work with a contemporary arts conservationist, and I was like, Yeah I do! [Laughs]

I love the idea of trying to archive 200 gallons of urine.

Right? I was talking with one of my friends who let me store a fridge with her and she was jokingly calling it my archive, but it literally is an archive of my body.

Becoming an Image performance still from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Historic Cast Hall, 2016. (Photo: Cassils with Zachary Hartzell Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery New York)

Tell me more about Fountain, the performance that will take place on the opening night of the exhibition.

This sculpture that Ive made is a result of this 200-day durational performance. The idea behind the sculpture was to showcase to people just how much fluid one body needs to contend with as the result of a government ordinance. So it kind of makes what might seem abstract in nature very concrete. You see this mass and its intense  its a lot. So thats present in this room  this large tank of urine. And then the other component is that Ive created a four-channel audio piece that accompanies this work and that is basically all of the oral arguments that took place in the Gavin Grimm case. It starts at the Virginia School Board meetings when concerned parents and students are addressing the school board and voicing their concerns about Grim  including Gavins voice, who is trying to defend himself, and his mother. Its incredibly moving. And then I follow those arguments all the way up to the 4th Court of Appeals where you hear the lawyer from the ACLU arguing against the Virginia School Board. And what was striking to me  because Ive never listened to judicial proceedings from start to finish like that  was the incredible ignorance that ran through all levels of the proceedings. You might expect ignorance at a local school board but you dont expect that from a 4th circuit judge  thats quite terrifying.

This four-channel installation spacializes these arguments so that the discussions are literally being hurled back and forth over the cube. So what it does is that it contextualizes what youre looking at. Because although this is an idea about making formally what the fluid amount actually is  at worst it could be reduced to just an aesthetic: This is beautiful! Wow, is this golden nectar? But when you hear these testimonies  and theres a lot of Bible quoting, its really crazy  you understand the essentializing that goes on in this country. God made you man  you are a man! How dare you go against being a man? Thats blasphemy! And although this is about the trans issue, it does speak to the deep divide in our country right now about these fundamental ideologies and ways that we approach living.

And then the performance Im doing is really a closing ceremony for those 200 days. Its very different from the rest of my performances that are kind of visually bombastic. I will be facing the sculpture on a very, very high [platform]  probably like 10 feet up in the air, so youre not eye-line with my crotch. Im looking down on you. And behind me, is a grid of the 262 orange 24-hour urine capture bottles I used and they create another cube. Theres one space left, which is the one final bottle. So for the two hours of the exhibition opening, I will literally just be standing up there and pissing into the bottle if I have to piss. And at the end of the performance I will climb down and I will dump the urine into the cube and I will place that final bottle on the shelf. So its really about closing this piece down.

Many trans people do not want to center conversations about being trans around the body because they argue that being trans is so much more than that and that when we focus on just the body, we neglect so many other important issues about and related to being trans. As a trans artist whose work centers around the body  often your body in particular  what are your thoughts on that?

I think that [concern] is totally valid. I think the key to that is not creating works that are completely sensationalizing specifically the idea of genitals, for example. So, I think in a way, Im on the same page as that. So rather than talking about [gender affirmation] surgery or the specifics of someones genitals, Im showing you what a huge block of urine looks like  something that regardless of what you look like or how you work in the world is something that we all have to contend with. Its about erasing those sensationalist markers. So though it is about the body, I try to create work that speaks to  I dont want to say all bodies but I try to make work that allows someone who might not have the subjectivity to enter into a reflective dialogue. I try to do something thats emotionally impactful that could perhaps wrench open a little corner of their mind to imagine what it would be like to be that person.

Its about creating modes for empathy. We all have bodies and theres something incredibly powerful about live performance in a world where we are so attached to our screens. I used to live in New York City in the early 90s and when you were riding the subway people would actually look at each other or you would read a book and now everybody is invested in their tiny digital device. So theres something incredibly impactful about the physical presence of liveness and our bodies are what we use as barometers and thermometers to be present. So I think there are ways of speaking to the body without reducing the body to some essentialist or totally objectified or totally sensationalized body.

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Inextinguishable Fire performance still from the National Theatre, London UK, Spill Festival of Performance 2015 (Photo: Cassils with Guido Mencari Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery New York)

Im interested in what you just mentioned about your work possibly wrenching open a little corner of the mind for individuals to consider things they may not have considered before. So much of the work that youve done  including PISSED  involves elements of shock or revulsion, and definitely danger. Youve set yourself on fire, youve changed how your body looks through extreme measures for and through your art. Is the revulsion and the shock intended  and intentional  to help wrench that corner open?

I think I am an extreme person but I also think were living in extreme times. Cuts, the piece youre talking about where I gained 23 pounds of muscle over 23 weeks was an exploration of where is the line in the sand in regards to how we classify people as male or female. Rather than having surgery or taking hormones, I was interested in exploring my body as a material condition  how can I work with flesh and manipulate flesh and sinew? So on one level you can say, Wow, thats really extreme. But for me its more about hyper-performing the things that we take for granted.

Some people say, God said youre a woman, you must be a woman. Well, actually, my body is a material and based on the sensory input and the nutrition and the biomechanics and the protocol, I can make [my body] one way or the other. This idea that embodiment is so rigid  that youre either this way or that way  or even as a trans person, youre this way and then you take hormones or have surgery and then youre that  Im interested in mutability and the agency that we can inscribe. Fine, if you want to take hormones but you dont have to. There are other things we can do. So I guess Im interested in showcasing that process and unpacking it. So rather than just ending with a really bombastic image, like Homage to Benglis, with the lipstick  which is a really bombastic image  I show every single image in between and I record every single meal that Im consuming and I photograph all of the food that Ive consumed to get to that point. So for me, its about revealing the mechanisms of consumption and capitalism around that end image.

So, for example, Eleanor Antin, who starved herself for 72 days in 1972, which is the work that that piece is referencing, you look at her body from the first day to the 72nd day and it looks like something, but its not what wed expect now. So part of it is trying to reflect the extremity that exists. It seems insane that I have to make a cube of piss for people to get this idea. I shouldnt have to make this. I shouldnt have to hold my own urine. Its crazy that we have to go to these extremes but this is the culture that were living in. So, I feel like its a way of calling to attention the insanity of what were undergoing and what were enduring  and making it a transparent process that reveals the process. Its all about revealing it.

You recently said that you dont consider yourself an activist, you consider yourself an artist. Id argue that most people would look at your art and say, Those are activist works. But it also seems like part of what youre saying is to be a I was going to say a trans person but perhaps just someone who is other(ed) in this culture is to be an activist simply by existing. Talk to me about your ideas about art and activism and how they do or dont link up for you personally.

I have friends who are lawyers and doctors  and when I say lawyers and doctors that sounds fancy but what I mean is my wife is a nurse at the LGBT center. She deals with really intense issues around healthcare and people who are on the streets, people who are fighting every day to survive as members of our community. I have good friends that work for the ACLU. I know people who are on the streets and going to D.C. to push hardline policy changes and really affect the mechanics and laws that affect our day-to-day lives in extreme ways. So, I guess its almost in a way out of reverence for that kind of work that I would never claim [to be an activist]. I think what art does is different. Its really silly, I guess, to distinguish between Im an activist or Im not an activist. I want to make the world a better place and I want to change peoples minds and if that makes me an activist, then Im an activist.

But youre not concerning yourself with the specific terminology  you just want to do what you do.

Im doing what I do with the hope that it starts a conversation but I could never say that I can create policy in a direct way  or Im not doing the work of that. But Im very interested in working alongside the people who are doing that kind of work. For example, Im going to have a panel discussion around this exhibition and Gavin Grimms lawyer, Chase Strangio, will be present on it. I think my job is to visually create a language to talk about these issues that lawyers are doing in terms of the policy change that theyre creating or that people in the medical industry are doing around healthcare reform and helping those communities. Maybe I am an artist-activist in a way but what I was saying in that particular context you referenced is that its a very different kind of work. Its a work that Im doing in a solitary way to express an idea to create a dialogue versus working in teams in the government against this incredibly grinding bureaucracy. I just think those activists would [look at what I do and say] Thats not activism! That looks like a lot of fun. [Laughs]

Theres such an exhibitionist grounding to your work  and I dont mean exhibitionist in a tawdry or salacious way, like a flasher opening his trench coat on the subway  in that your body is literally used as or becomes an exhibition. Who are you doing the work for? You? Your audience?

Im a firm believer in the idea that the personal is the political. In many ways, although I just said that Im trying to make work that doesnt speak to my body, on the flip side of that, my body is my own experience  its my subjectivity. I can talk about and say, We need to be making anti-racist works and I can speak about racism in a larger scheme but I can only speak about it as a white ally and as a Canadian who immigrated to this country. I have a very different experience [from American people of color]. So, I dont think of my work as for me. If it was just for me, Id just stay in a garage and paint watercolors [laughs].

I think of this as  I dont have children and Im not going to have kids, so if I can humbly offer forth something that can make a contribution and allow people to have a different observation about the mechanisms about how were living, and that can be helpful to cis or queer folks [thats important to me]. I definitely make work for queer people but I end up going to universities and lecturing and speaking to a lot of young, cis white people and I speak to those young people about trans issues, about issues of racism in relationship to visual arts practice from my perspective. I can only speak from my own perspective but at the same time I hope to offer forth something that is helpful to a multitude of people. I think of my work as a kind of porous sponge  I try to make entry points for people that have different understandings. I want to make something thats a strong enough of an image that if you know nothing about art, you can get something from it. You can understand it. You dont need to read the wall text and you dont have to have a masters degree. Likewise, I like to make something for the art historian who is like Oh wow! Thats a play on this very particular Donald Judd and thats kind of queering white male dry formalism and injecting this minimalist content with a contemporary political form. And maybe someones not going to get that  but maybe someone else will. So I want to make all kinds of different doorways.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Monumental opens at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York City on September 16 and features a live performance by Cassils that night from 6 - 8pm. The show runs through October 28. For more information about Cassils, visit his official website.

Pissed, a panel & conversation with Cassils, Jack Halberstam, Titus Kaphar, Joel Sanders, & Chase Strangio, takes place on Tuesday, September 26, from 7 to 9pm at the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University, Performance Studies Studio, 721 Broadway, room 612 in New York City. This event is free & open to the public.

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Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 16:23:56|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Back in the 1990s, Long Youfu had a pretty horrible job, creeping into scorching kilns and polishing ceramic tiles.

Today, he merely monitors an automatic loading and unloading system and presses some buttons on a polishing machine.

Long works in Guangdong Wonderful Ceramics Group in south China's Dongguan, the city which supplies one-fifth of the world's smartphones and one-tenth of the world's shoes. It's often called "the factory of the world."

Average annual wage in Dongguan had nearly doubled in five years to 46,000 yuan (around 7,100 U.S. dollars) in 2016.

As growth slowed, demand dwindled and the days of cheap labor ended, the city's businesses had to evolve or perish. Some traditional industries still rely on intensive labor and if they do not change the way they operate, they might not survive.

In the worst year, Guangdong Wonderful Ceramics Group posed a loss of 13.3 million yuan, but it strove to develop overseas markets and used technology to cut costs and raise productivity.

"We invested nearly 400 million yuan on technology and cut the number of workers on each production line from 100 to 40," said He Jiye, the company's deputy Party secretary.

"Our daily per-capita output has increased more than 20 fold," he added.

In 2016, the company made 240 million yuan profit, up 27.8 percent, with clients in more than 60 countries and regions. The group invested 172 million dollars in a factory in Tennessee last year, where further automation has reduced the number of workers on production lines to 20.

Dongguan has supported the manufacturing industry to the tune of at least 200 million yuan each year for the past three years to encourage technological upgrades. There are still a few factories where thousands of workers in long lines hunch over sewing machines or slot components into printed circuit boards, but that mode is being replaced by partially automated production lines, with human workers only at key points in the process.

More than 1,500 km away from Dongguan, in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, a similar transformation is underway.

At the workshop of Jiangsu Sunway Precision Forging Co., robots forge high-temperature alloy pieces while humans operate computers and monitor the robots.

The company, which used to produce bicycle parts for major domestic manufacturers, now supplies precision car parts.

"We decided to transform the company in 2000 and increased spending on research and development," general manager Dai Jingmin said.

Since 2015, the company has spent more than 200 million yuan, one third of its output, on technological upgrades, the precision of its products and work safety.

Nationwide, the old growth engines are unable to carry the economy forward. The country is trying to transform the economy towards a model that draws strength from consumption, innovation and service.

The gains from the transformation are beginning to soothe the pains. Although growth rate fell to a 26-year low in 2016, it is steadier and perhaps more sustainable.

From 3D printing to genetic engineering, from drones to artificial intelligence, Chinese companies are leading the world in reshaping the technological and business landscape.

The economy is on the right development track, despite the downward pressure, said Zhang Junwei, an economist at the State Council Development Research Center.
By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) - Activists in Washington state plan to launch a protest flotilla on Saturday in the Pacific Ocean's Puget Sound over the accidental release of tens of thousands of farm-raised Atlantic salmon that they say threaten dwindling stocks of wild fish. The afternoon protest, which seeks to shut down farms that raise the non-native salmon in underwater pens, is expected to draw dozens of boats, kayaks and canoes on a route along the San Juan Islands where the spill happened. Last month, a damaged pen operated by Cooke Aquaculture, a global seafood corporation based in Canada, accidentally allowed the salmon to escape. That raised fears they would compete with wild fish for food, prey on the young, and expose them to disease. Protesters said native fish like Chinook salmon and steelhead trout were already struggling before the spill. "Our wild salmon are in trouble and we can't afford to have an industry in our state that only adds to their problems," Kurt Beardslee, head of activist group Wild Fish Conservancy and organizer of the protest, said in a telephone interview. Cooke, which is privately owned, said in an email to Reuters that it "apologizes humbly for this accident," which is under investigation by state regulators. The company pledged to review operations of other fish pens it has in Washington. Native American tribes said they were told by Cooke and by state officials to "go fish," said Brian Cladoosby, chairman of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. The invitation for anyone to catch as many of the fugitive fish as possible was, at best, ineffectual, he said. Swinomish rights to fish in the Puget Sound are guaranteed by historic treaties and their livelihoods depend on commercial fisheries. "Many native salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest are already endangered or threatened. Putting this many Atlantic salmon, an invasive species, into the ecosystem cannot be good for it," Cladoosby said. Atlantic salmon are seen as particularly suitable for farming, due to their quick growth and disease resistance. Company spokesman Chuck Brown said there was no evidence Atlantic salmon posed a threat to wild Pacific salmon stocks. He added that Cooke had offered to fund a two-year study examining the impact of the farmed fish. Cooke said it quickly took steps to contain the breach and gained emergency permits from government officials to recapture escapees. Findings from a state investigation are expected to be released in November, said Cori Simmons, spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources. (Reporting by Laura Zuckerman, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Heavy monsoon rain heaped new misery Sunday on hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohinyga stuck in makeshift camps in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar, as authorities started a drive to force them to a new site.

With food and water shortages already making life tough, torrential rain brought back swamp-like conditions to many parts of the border town of Cox's Bazar which has become a magnet for the Rohingya.

About 7.7 centimetres (three inches) of rain fell in 24 hours and more is predicted in the next two days, the Bangladesh Weather Department said.

Bangladesh authorities, who have already issued travel restrictions on the Rohingya, launched an operation late Saturday to get tens of thousands out of roadside camps and hillside shanties into a giant new camp.

The United Nations says 409,000 Rohingyas have now overwhelmed Cox's Bazar since August 25 when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar launched operations in Rakhine state.

As existing camps are already full with 300,000 Rohingya fleeing earlier violence, many of the Rohingya have been forced to live in the open air or under flimsy plastic sheets.

Police toured streets with loudspeakers ordering exhausted families to go to the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar, which is being cleared to build new shelters.

"We are shifting them from the roadsides where many of them have been staying," Khaled Mahmud, a government spokesman for Cox's Bazar district told AFP.

Mahmud said gradually all the new Rohingya would be taken to Balukhali to bring order to the chaotic aid operation.

On Sunday Myanmar's government hinted that it may not take back Rohingya who fled across the border, accusing those refugees of having links to the militants.

"Those who fled the villages made their way to the other country for fear of being arrested as they got involved in the violent attacks. Legal protection will be given to the villages whose residents did not flee," the government's Information Committee statement said.

Story continues

Previous statements have said the country will set up relief shelters in northern Rakhine for Muslims "who can guarantee they are in no way connected to the terrorists".

- 'Disaster unfolding' -

On Saturday, Bangladesh police issued tough new orders banning the Rohingya from moving out of designated areas. The order even prevented them from taking shelter with friends and relatives.

Checkpoints have been set up at key transit points.

With thousands more Rohingya arriving each day, Bangladesh authorities fear the refugees could swamp other towns and cities across the country.

But the United Nations is already warning of intolerable conditions in the camps around Cox's Bazar.

The rain "has doubled their misery", said Mohammed Kai-Kislu, police chief at Ukhia near Cox's Bazar, the new home for many Rohingya.

Aid workers said thousands of Rohingya were drenched by the return of the monsoon after a respite of a few days.

Arfa Begum and seven of her family tried to hide under rubber trees near the Balukhali settlement where they arrived five days earlier.

"They evicted us from the rubber plantation," she said, referring to the police and border guards forcing the refugees out of makeshift shelters.

"It took hours to find a safe place. We were drenched," she told AFP.

Faced with a spreading mudbath, the Rohingya have started building bamboo carpets to get over flooded land.

A human rights expert in Cox's Bazar urged the government to shut local schools for three days to allow the Rohingya to camp in them.

"It is another disaster unfolding. Thousands of Rohingya had no place to hide when the rain came," Nur Khan Liton, who headed Bangladeshi rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, told AFP.

He said moving the Rohingya from roadsides and open spaces should be halted as it was compounding their troubles.

- Suu Kyi to give speech -

Conditions deteriorated for the Rohingya in what could be a key week in the crisis.

Myanmar's de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi is to give a nationally televised speech on the Rohingya case on Tuesday.

The Nobel peace laureate, much criticised around the world for not condemning the violence against the Rohingya, must address the global outrage while not angering the military, which maintains huge power.

General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's globe-trotting army chief, called for a "united" stance in handling the crisis but gave no sign of concessions.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York to press for greater help coping with the refugees and put more pressure on Myanmar over the case.

She is to address the UN assembly on Thursday.
An official for Facebook told TechCrunch that the company is "continuing to cooperate with the relevant U.S. authorities," as investigations into the Russian hack of last year's presidential election continue to expand. In the latest development, authorities are now investigating how agents used online advertising on social networks and search platforms, and tech companies are being forced to hand over new, sensitive information to investigators as a result.

In some cases, that means providing different information to different investigations, as The Wall Street Journal is reporting today.

Facebook has apparently turned over more detailed information to the special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, than the company shared with Congress last week, the Journal reports.

Mueller's investigation has received copies of the Russian-bought ads and details about the specific account information and targeting criteria the buyers used to distribute their ads, according to the Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

It's likely that Facebook was compelled to turn over the information because the investigating team received a search warrant.

If indeed, Mueller is using warrants, then it's likely that Facebook won't be the only tech company that may be forced to reveal information about potential clandestine advertising buys, which Russian agents are alleged to have made in order to influence the U.S. election.

The Journal reports that Mueller's team could have gotten information that Facebook withheld from Congress because of concerns around privacy laws or fears of disrupting the Mueller probe. My guess is that Facebook is likely also thinking that the Mueller investigation is a tighter ship and less likely to leak details of the ads whereas Congressional staffers could leak like sieves.

It's clear that Facebook has no interest in revealing details of the ad buys, or telling individuals whether they were targets of what amounts to a Russian plot to influence the U.S. election.

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It's something members of the tech community have taken Facebook to task for already.

Secret political ads are by definition an attack on democracy. Their disclosure is not optional. Shocking FB continues to insist otherwise.  Pierre Omidyar (@pierre) September 9, 2017

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

We've reached out to the Office of the Special Counsel and for comment and will update if we hear back.

Last week Facebook revealed that it had sold as much as $150,000 in political ads to pro-Kremlin entities between 2015 and 2017.

It was part of a broader report that indicated 500 "inauthentic" accounts linked to Russia had purchased 5,000 ads from the company. The developments today relate to that same trove but are a sign of yet more data now being handed over to authorities.

Last Wednesday, as the company released its assessment, Facebook representatives also spoke to Congress as part of ongoing House and Senate investigations into Russian interference in the election. Facebook even told The Washington Post, "there is evidence that some of the accounts are linked to a troll farm in St. Petersburg, referred to as the Internet Research Agency, though we have no way to independently confirm.

As we reported, the Internet Research Agency is widely known for its pro-Kremlin online propaganda campaigns, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe is backed by someone with close ties to the Russian intelligence community who is a close friend of Vladimir Putin's.

Facebook's disclosure was the first time it admitted that Russians had reached out to voters during the elections. The company had previously denied that there were any ad buys made by Russian agents or anyone connected with the Russian government.

All of these discoveries and announcements come amid serious questions about the role of Russia in the last election ... and whether the President Donald Trump's campaign (or people associated with that campaign) colluded with the Russian government.

Committees in both houses are writing up reports on the role Russia played in the election.

It's also worth noting that Facebook isn't the only social media company to come under fire for either unwittingly or knowingly playing a role in disseminating propaganda on behalf of a foreign government.

Twitter is also expected to come before congressional inquisitors in the coming weeks, according to a report from Reuters last week, quoting Democratic Senator Mark Warner.

It was my belief that the Russians were using those sites to interfere in our elections, and the first reaction from Facebook was, No. Youre crazy. Warner said at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance conference in Washington. I think what we saw yesterday in terms of their brief was the tip of the iceberg, Warner said. He also told reporters he expected Twitter to soon brief the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the panels investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether members of President Donald Trumps campaign colluded with Moscow.

Facebook has been reluctant to share any details with the public and have extended that reticence to the Congressional investigators that are looking into Russian interference. The Journal reported that Facebook believes the data on ads could be protected under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Bi-partisan leadership from the Senate Intelligence Committee is pushing for company representatives to come to Capitol Hill and publicly walk Senators through how potential Russian agents came to advertise on the company's social network.

The Senate could compel Facebook executives to show up by issuing a subpoena... But subpoena power to testify is not the same as a warrant. Search warrants have more legal force behind them and mean that the company has to disclose more information than it would in live testimony.
Russia is downright lying about the size and the type of its military drills, and that increases the odds of a clash with the West, a former envoy to NATO said as Moscow kicked off a military drill that allies estimate could inflate to almost 10 times its reported size.

The fact that the Russians dont really apply the document should worry us, Tomas Valasek, the former Slovak ambassador to NATO, told Politico. In the future, there may well be a situation where we want proper monitoring when the tensions between East and West are much higher than they are today. And [when] we dont have that recourse, then it makes everybody jumpy, right?



The size and purpose of Russias current Zapad drill, run jointly with Belarus, has become a source of profound disagreement between Moscow and NATO allies. Germany has estimated that up to 100,000 troops could take part, as opposed to the meagre 12,700 officially meant to participate. Countries neighboring the drill, such as Lithuania and Poland, have expressed concerns that the drill intends to simulate an attack on them and that Russia plans to use the noise of the drill as cover for permanently deploying more troops westward.

Russia and Belarus have claimed that the drill is a practice defense of Belarus in the case of an invasion or a foreign-backed insurgency, not dissimilar from the sort Russia is backing in eastern Ukraine.

Valasek said that although the Russian government is deluded in some of its views of the West, he did not believe that Moscow was irrational or that Zapad would directly lead to an armed clash this time. However, he said that Moscow's habit of obfuscating and downright lying about its own drills was most worrying.

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Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters

It makes the Western countries feel that they need to respond with an exercise of their own, and thats how accidents happen, he said.

Sweden, a neutral state, is hosting troops from some NATO allies in a drill running in parallel with Zapad, while Baltic states have requested that NATO or U.S. troops heighten presence near them during Zapad, as they consider it unpredictable.

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Michael Caputo, a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, has claimed the ongoing federal probe into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia has taken such a financial burden on him that he's been forced to dip into his childrens college funds to pay for an attorney.

Caputo, who had worked in the Trump campaigns communications department, has a hired a New York based attorney to assist in the ongoing investigation. He told The Washington Examiner he is struggling to pay for a legal defense team, because it requires a certain kind of attorney that is costly but competent.

"It's very expensive and nobody's called me and offered to help," said Caputo. "The problem is, it's very specialized representation, so it takes a certain type of attorney, and they're quite competent. And you'll pay for competency.

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REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Caputo said the probe was politically motivated toward destroying the campaign's allies. He told the publication he had received death threats, which is also causing him a great deal of financial stress.

We've had to install security. I've had to take security precautions at both my home and at my office, and with my children, so these all add up very quickly," he said.

Caputos grievances come as Special Counsel Robert Mueller dives deeper into the probe. Mueller is looking into social medias connection to Russias interference with the election and Trumps financial ties to Russia.

Although Caputo has not had any assistance in paying for his legal aid, a few members of Trumps team have had their legal services paid for. The Trump campaign paid $50,000 for Donald Trump Jr.s attorney back in June.

"It's legal for the campaign to pay any legal expenses arising out of the campaign," said Larry Noble back in June, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group.

Other Presidents like Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have also brought in lawyers to the White House to handle explosive issues. Like Clinton, Trump has a lot of private lawyers in addition to White House Counsel.

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During his campaign, Trump bragged about his wealth.

"I don't need anybody's money; it's nice," he said when he announced his candidacy in June 2015. "I don't need anybody's money. I'm using my own money. I'm not using the lobbyists'. I'm not using donors'. I don't care. I'm really rich."

After winning the Republican nomination for president, the Trump campaign began accepting donations.

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Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya gained attention for her June 2016 election campaign meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. Since the meeting in Trump Towerwhen she promised damaging information about Hilary Clintonmany questions have been raised about who she is and how she quickly acquired her wealth.

In an attempt to understand how the attorney was able to afford millions of dollars of property on a five-figure salary, CNNs National Security Analyst Michael Weiss investigated where she got all of her money.

Veselnitskaya, 42, didnt respond to interview attempts from Weiss who hoped to confirm her employment details and income, he reports. But according to two separate Russian financial databases (Larix and Cronos), Weiss found that she went from a salary of $1,559 a year in 1993 to earning $53,645 in 2003. But, what sparked the most curiosity was how she bought pricey properties situated a short distance from Vladimir Putin's presidential residence.

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Yury Martyanov/AFP/Getty Images

In August 2003, before the lion's share of that $53,645 was earned, the Russian land registry shows that Veselnitskaya was somehow able to buy two large plots of land in an elite residential community in the Moscow suburbs -- properties that cannot have been sold for less than $500,000 apiece at the time, according to two Russian brokers with extensive experience selling in that area, Weiss reports.

A majority of her 2003 income was made after she bought the property in DSK Riita estimated to be worth $1 million. Three years later, she built a home on the land, which can be seen in a 2015 promotional video for another home in the neighborhood.

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"The cost of developing completed houses in that community in 2006 were in the ballpark of $10 to $12 million," Anya Levitov, a Russian broker told Weiss.

If Kremlin-connected, Veselnitskayas story would not be unusual, as its been known for other well-connected figures to have net-worths far above their incomes. Many have what's colloquially known as a krysha, or 'roof' (as in protection) for whom they do favors in return for gifts, Weiss notes.

Aside from the mystery of her wealth, other questions about Veselnitskayas June 2016 meeting remain unanswered. Last Thursday, Trump, Jr. told the Senate he met with her and three associates linked to Russia in order to assess Clintons fitness for office.

To the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out, Trump Jr. said in a statement about the meeting, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had phoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday to discuss the Syria situation and how the "anti-terrorism" battle on the ground was playing out. The call occurred after U.S.-backed militias in Syria said they had come under attack on Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zor province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not say in its statement about the Lavrov-Tillerson call if the two men had discussed that allegation and how Moscow had responded if they had. (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Paris (AFP) - A London-bound British Airways flight was evacuated at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday after a bomb scare, but was later cleared for take-off.

A woman in her 50s was taken into custody on suspicion of claiming that the Heathrow-bound plane, with 130 passengers onboard, was going to explode, a source close to the inquiry said.

She was refused access to the plane because she did not have a valid ticket.

Authorities released the woman later Sunday after a psychiatrist determined she was suffering from impaired judgement, the source said.

An airport source said the threat came about 10 minutes before flight BA303 was due to take off, prompting it to be evacuated.

Bomb disposal experts and sniffer dogs swept the aircraft, while passengers had to pass back through security, the source said.

Passenger James Anderson, a 20-year-old entrepreneur, wrote on Twitter that everyone onboard had been "individually searched by armed officers", while police and fire vehicles surrounded the plane.

The airport's operator Aeroports de Paris said an incident "linked to security" had grounded the plane.

"There was an incident that led authorities to decide to keep the plane on the ground and to disembark the passengers a few minutes before take-off, to carry out additional checks," a spokesman said.

The scare came after the bombing of a London Underground train on Friday that left 30 people injured.

The flight was able to take off shortly before noon (1000 GMT), more than four hours late.

British Airways said in a statement: "The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority.

"We would never operate a flight unless it is safe to do so."
(NEW YORK)  Citing a social media backlash, the seminary at the Catholic University of America has canceled a talk by a popular Jesuit priest whose latest book advocates for more compassion for gays within the church. In a rare public rebuke, the universitys president said Saturday that he opposed the seminarys decision.

The Rev. James Martin, editor at large at the Jesuit magazine America and author of several books on Catholicism, said he had planned a seminary talk on Jesus, not his recent book on LGBT people, Building a Bridge, which has been backed by two U.S. cardinals and three bishops.

Far-right Catholic sites such ChurchMilitant.com and some conservative Catholic writers have denounced the book, and that had led to online campaigns to pressure Catholic institutions against hosting Martin.

The seminary in the nations capital, called the Theological College, said it had experienced increasing negative feedback from various social media sites about Martins talk and, as a result, decided to cancel the event.

Martin said he was notified late Thursday of the decision.

The Catholic University president, John Garvey, said in a statement that the university administration did not support the cancellation, and noted that that Martin has spoken before at the school, which was founded by the U.S. bishops and is under their supervision.

The campaigns by various groups to paint Fr. Martins talk as controversial reflect the same pressure being applied by the left for universities to withdraw speaker invitations, Garvey said. Universities and their related entities should be places for the free, civil exchange of ideas. Our culture is increasingly hostile to this idea. It is problematic that individuals and groups within our church demonstrate this same inability to make distinctions and to exercise charity.

Austin Ruse, who leads the Center for Family & Human Rights based in New York, has called Martins complaints about the conservative pushback on his book pansified. The Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, who runs the popular conservative blog Father Z, said Martin promoted a homosexualist agenda. And Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Vaticans liturgy office, recently criticized Martins approach in an Op-Ed article in The Wall Street Journal.

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Last April, Pope Francis appointed Martin as an adviser to the Vaticans communications department.

Martin said his book does not challenge church teaching. It simply builds on the catechism and the Gospels, he said in a telephone interview. Jesus is very close to me in prayer and Im convinced that reaching out to people on the margins is still what he wants me to do.

Martin said Catholic institutions had scrapped two other of his talks, but many more had been scheduled, including a Skype talk Saturday with a parish in North Carolina. He said the leader of his Jesuit province has asked him not to discuss his own sexuality.

Not every book about LGBT Catholics has to be about sex, Martin said. Ironically, these right-wing groups are obsessed about sex, not me.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 16:23:58|Editor: ZD

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani smiles during an official welcoming ceremony at the airport of Manas some 30 km outside Bishkek on December 22, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)(File photo)

TEHRAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Rouhani said Sunday that he will explain some points about the U.S. misconduct pertaining to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal in his UN speech, official IRNA news agency reported.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani left Tehran for New York on Sunday to attend the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting, IRNA said.

During his trip, Rouhani will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly and will urge the U.S. to abide by its commitments to the nuclear deal reached in 2015.

He said that the meetings that have been planned for him on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York is "very important."

Rouhani said that Iran has been committed to its obligations and this has been confirmed repeatedly by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

After years of tension with the West, Iran struck a deal with the world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in July 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of western and international sanctions.

The international agreement is facing a serious threat of collapse as tensions mounted between Washington and Tehran recently, the report said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who during his election campaign had called the Iranian nuclear deal a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated," approved new sanctions on Tehran for its missile program.
A high school student in Mississippi wanted to showcase her love for McDonalds in her senior portraits.

Mikayla Cleckler, 17, is set to graduate in 2018 from Northeast Jones High School and to honor her longtime love of McDonalds, she celebrated the milestone at her favorite fast food chain.

Read: McDonald's Cashier Tried to Flush Baby After Giving Birth at Work: Cops

I texted my cousin and asked if she would take my senior photos for me and she was like, 'You know we have to take them at McDonalds, Cleckler told InsideEdition.com.

Clecklers cousin, Jana Cooley, took a variety of different photos, from Cleckler posing with French fries, to the teen sipping on a large soda on a sidewalk in front of one of the restaurants.

The teen said she goes to the popular fast food restaurant at least once a week because she loves their chicken sandwiches.

Clecklers high school allows senior students to put photos theyve had taken of themselves on a page in the yearbook, which is exactly what the teen plans to use the photos for.

Read: Burger King Dresses Up as Ghost of McDonald's for Halloween, Complete With Matching Food Packaging

She said she will also put the pictures on her graduation invites, but most of all, she is just happy to have the memory.

We just wanted something different from everyone elses, something to look back on and laugh, Cleckler said. My friends thought the photos were hilarious and so me.

Watch: 17-Year-Old Ask Disney-Obsessed Mom to Prom in the Most Magical Way

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Madrid (AFP) - Spanish police on Sunday seized 1.3 million pamphlets and posters supporting Catalonia's independence referendum, the latest move to try to block the vote.

Catalonia's pro-separatist government is determined to hold a referendum on October 1, despite it being banned by Spain's Constitutional Court.

The documents were seized at an advertising distribution company near Barcelona, the Spanish interior ministry said in a statement.

Among the documents were about 700,000 leaflets promoting a "yes" vote in the referendum and 370,000 flyers with logo of the Catalan government along with 138,000 posters for the far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party.

Faced with a determined Catalan government, Spain has multiplied its efforts to crack down on the referendum, having previously seized propaganda material and threatened to arrest Catalan mayors who allow the vote.

- 'We are not afraid' -

Also on Sunday, hundreds of people attended a meeting in Madrid to show support for the referendum, some waving pro-independence leaflets.

The meeting was held in a small theatre in the central district of Lavapies after a court banned holding it in a cultural centre owned by the town hall.

"Faced with their ban, we are determined," Jordi Cuixart, head of Omnium Cultural, a Catalan cultural organisation, said to applause from the public inside and outside the theatre.

"We need your solidarity now more than ever. What we are experiencing today is a true breakdown of democratic process."

Outside the meeting, some chanted "Freedom of expression", "Right to decide" and "We are not afraid" under the watch of several police officers.

"This is no longer a question of Catalans and Spaniards, it is a question of the quality of our democracy," Maria Jose Hernandez, a 40-year-old old graphic designer, told AFP.

On Sunday, the newspaper El Pais called on famous personalities such as writer Javier Marias and actress Marisa Paredes to call for Catalans to abstain from what the newspaper dubbed an "anti-democratic swindle".

Catalan society is deeply divided on the subject of independence. A poll commissioned by the regional government in July showed 49.4 percent of Catalans were against independence while 41.1 percent were in favour.
Protestors clashed with St. Louis police Friday after the acquittal of a white police officer charged with the murder of a black motorist in a 2011 shooting. One video caught riot police bowling over an older woman as they attempted to quell demonstrations.

Watch the lady wearing red in the bottom right of the screen. Police using pepper spray on protesters marching after the Stockley ruling pic.twitter.com/XF16yxDQqg  FOX2now (@FOX2now) September 15, 2017

Rallys began peacefully but they grew more violent as the day progressed.

Some protesters and police officers skirmished around the city. Protesters threw bricks and bottles at police officers who used tear gas and rubber bullets to suppress the crowds. One woman was knocked down by police and stepped over in the violence.

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Photo: Lawrence Bryant/REUTERS

A group of protesters surrounded St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's home and smashed several windows and threw paint at the building. Krewson did not appear home, according to the St. Louis Dispatch.

Acting Police Commissioner Lawrence OToole said in a statement posted to Twitter that 10 police officers were injured throughout the day and 32 people were arrested in the protests.

Many of the demonstrators were peaceful, O'Toole said in the statement he made alongside Krewson. However, after dark, many agitators began to destroy property and assault police officers.

A library and several restaurants were damaged in addition to the mayors home.

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Orders to disperse were given numerous times, O'Toole said. Tear gas was deployed after officers were assaulted with bricks and bottles. Officers did deploy pepper balls as a less-than-lethal option after agitators continued to assault officers with objects and destroy property.

On Friday a judge acquitted former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley for the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith in December 2011. Smith was killed after a high-speed chase with police.

Per court documents the investigator on the case said that Stockley said going to kill this motherf-r, don't you know it at some point during the chase, instructed the officer driving in the chase to hit Smiths car as it slowed and then got out and fired five shots into Smiths car. Prosecutors also accused Stockley of planting a gun on Smith.

The case was decided in a bench trial. Judge Timothy Wilson, the circuit judge hearing the trial, acquitted Stockley because he said he wasnt convinced by the prosecution that Stockley did not act in self-defense.

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A middle schooler in Farmington Hills, Michigan said he was assaulted by a teacher for opting to sit during the Pledge of Allegiance. Stone Chaney, a sixth grader at East Middle School, said when he didnt stand for the pledge during homeroom Sept. 7, the teacher got violent.

The teacher consultant comes up behind me and snatches me out of my chair violently, Stone told WDIV-TV. I was so confused. I didnt know what was going on.

Stone returned to school the day after the incident happened, but a different teacher yelled at him when he chose to again sit during the Pledge of Allegiance. Since then, he hasnt returned to school. Stones family said he might start attending school in a different district as a result of the incident.

I dont feel safe going to that school anymore because I dont know what theyre going to do next, he said.

As for the school district, Farmington Public Schools released a statement about the situation. The teacher accused of assaulting Stone was put on leave until the school could determine what had taken place, the superintendent said in the statement.

The District fully supports the right of each student to participate or not in the daily Pledge, the statement said. The teacher allegedly involved in the incident has been placed on administrative leave. At this time, the District cannot speculate about the outcome of the pending investigation.

Stone explained his reasoning for choosing not to stand to local reporters.

I dont stand because I dont pledge a flag, said Stone. I pledge to God and family.

Stones family said they back up his decision to sit during the pledge.

Its his choice to sit, said his father, Brian Chaney, according to WDIV-TV. I dont make him sit. And they should respect that.

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Photo: Getty Images

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(via Texas Lutheran)

Updated 11 a.m. ET Sept. 17

Division III Texas Lutheran kicker Tyler Hopkins made a chip shot field goal in perhaps the most extraordinary way possible on Saturday. Though it was apparently illegal.

Hopkins short field goal try was blocked by a Belhaven University player. But after the kick was blocked, he had the presence of mind to kick it off the bounce. The second kick went through the uprights for three points.

(Via Texas Lutheran)

After looking at the rule book Saturday night, we thought the kick was a legal field goal because Hopkins kicked it off a bounce. According to the NCAA rule book, any free kick or scrimmage kick continues to be a kick until it is caught or recovered by a player or becomes dead. The kick was never recovered by anyone.

Also according to the rule book, it is a legal kick if it is made by Team A  in or behind the neutral zone during a scrimmage down before team possession changes. Possession never changed and the kick was made behind the neutral zone.

But according to Football Zebras, those rules are superseded by the rule preventing the kick of a loose ball. So the field goal should never have been allowed. Whoops. We read the rules wrong. And the officials apparently did too.

A ball that is not in a players possession is a loose ball: in-flight forward passes, fumbles, kicks, and backward passes are all loose balls. So, the blocked field goal remains a kick, but it is also a loose ball. And under no circumstance may a player deliberately kick a loose ball. (A ball being dropped for a legal punt or dropkick is not considered loose if it is kicked as usual.) So, at this point there is a foul for an illegal kick. This being Division III, we are under NCAA rules, and the illegal kick is a 15-yard penalty and a loss of down. Assuming this is a fourth down, this would be a turnover on downs.

      

Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is considering closing its embassy in Havana in response to an alleged sonic attack on U.S. personnel in Cuba, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.

"We have it under evaluation," Tillerson said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program. "It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered."

Five Republican senators on Friday called for the Trump administration to retaliate against the Cuban government by expelling Cuban diplomats and possibly shuttering the U.S. embassy there over attacks that began in late 2016.

The State Department said in August that Americans linked to the U.S. embassy in Havana had experienced physical symptoms from "incidents" involving sound waves. Five Canadians were also affected.

Symptoms included nausea, dizziness and temporary loss of hearing or memory.

Cuba, the United States and Canada have investigated the attacks, but the probe has not yielded any answers about how they were carried out or who was responsible for them.

Cuba has denied involvement. The U.S. State Department has not blamed Havana for the attacks but asked two Cuban diplomats to leave Washington in May.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
A former Pennsylvania state trooper who caused the deaths of his pregnant wife and the child she was carrying in what he characterized as a gun-cleaning accident at their home has pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

Joseph Paul Miller pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of involuntary manslaughter for causing the March 2014 deaths of JoAnna Miller and the baby girl, who was delivered but died soon after.

Miller, of Horsham, initially said the gun was about 10 feet away from his wife when it accidentally went off, but he later revised that distance to about 2 feet away. Prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia, however, said ballistics and forensics tests showed the gun was only 3 to 6 inches from his wifes head when it fired, and they charged him.

Miller, whos 36, faces up to five to 10 years in prison when sentenced in the coming months.

He has resigned from the state police and maintains custody of the couples other children, said his attorney, Tim Woodward.

Hes devastated, and not a day goes by that he doesnt miss his wife, Woodward said in a phone interview. This is an unspeakable tragedy, the consequences of which will remain with Joe the rest of his life.

JoAnna Miller, who was 34, had been 24 weeks pregnant when she was shot in the head in their family room while going through childrens clothes to donate them. She delivered the baby, named Gillian, through an emergency C-section. Mother and daughter died soon after.

Joseph Miller told investigators he had been taking apart a gun he owned in the family room to clean it when it discharged. In a 911 call he said: I, ah, was cleaning. I was about to clean my gun, and I didnt realize there was a round  I shot my wife.

Miller remains out on bail while he waits to be sentenced in Montgomery County.
The California Assembly called on Congress to censure President Donald Trump after his comments about Charlottesville, VA, during a time of violence including a protest to remove a Confederate statue of Robert E. Lee in the city. On Friday night, Democrats in the State Assembly passed the resolution 41 to 5, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The resolution comes after Trump blamed many sides for the violent encounters during the Aug. 12 rally among white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and counter-protesters. During the rally, a man plowed his car into the crowd of demonstrators protesting, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Trump later denounced the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis, but continued to blame both sides.

The KKK and the neo-Nazis depict hate and terror and death, Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, the bills Democratic author, said on the Assembly floor, Politico reports. And President Trumps comments to legitimize these groups opens up wounds that many have experienced over many, many years. His comments legitimize these groups that promote hate.

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Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Only one Republican spoke out, opposing the resolution which passed as non-binding.

"Lets utilize our time on issues that are germane to the state of California," Harper said during the debate, Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach) said.

The states legislative session concluded with Harper telling his colleagues, If you want to spend your time talking about Donald Trump from a legislative body, be like [former Assemblyman] Jimmy Gomez, run for Congress. But were in the California Legislature and its about time we stayed on state business, Politico reports.

If passed, Trump would be the first president to be censured since Democratic President Andrew Jackson. In 1834, the Senate voted (26 to 20) to censure Jackson for refusing to turn over documents.

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On Thursday, Trump signed a resolution passed by Congress rejecting the events in Charlottesville as well as "white nationalists, white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other hate groups."

"As Americans, we condemn the recent violence in Charlottesville and oppose hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms," Trump said in a statement, according to NBC News. "No matter the color of our skin or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God."

The resolution also honored Heyers, who was killed when a 20-year-old man cited as having Neo-Nazis ties rammed his car through a crowd of protesters.

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President Donald Trump held a conference call with Jewish leaders on Friday for the High Holidays. (Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Despite being boycotted by key liberal Jewish organizations, President Donald Trump attempted to reach out to American Jews on Friday with a conference call to express wishes for the upcoming High Holy Days.

The annual conference call, a tradition instituted by President Barack Obama to mark Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, has typically drawn leaders from across American Jewish denominations. This year, the weeks leading up to the call exposed a fracture between liberal American Jews who are critical of the president, and their more conservative counterparts who are interested in keeping a line of communication open with the White House.

Leaders in the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements boycotted the virtual meeting, citing the presidents initial claim that neo-Nazis and their counterprotestors were both responsible for the violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August. The White House reportedly ended up leaving some of the liberal Jewish organizations off the invitation list.

Representatives from several Orthodox-leaning organizations were invited to participate and decided to call in  including leaders from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and other groups.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told HuffPost that he participated in the conference call around 8 a.m. Pacific time on Friday morning, and that it lasted between six to eight minutes. Unlike the Obama-era High Holy Day calls, Hier said that there was no Q & A session during Trumps call.

Hier said that overall, the president spent time giving High Holy Day greetings to the group and reaffirming a strong commitment to Israel.

Rabbi Marvin Hier is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. (Photo: Axel Koester via Getty Images)

He condemned anti-Semitism in the strongest terms and basically said that America is a stronger country because of its vibrant Jewish community, Hier, who delivered a blessing at Trumps inauguration, told HuffPost.

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Hier said he was told that there were Holocaust survivors on the call as well. The president reportedly thanked these survivors for telling their stories and confronting evil in the world.

Nathan Diament, executive director of the public policy arm of the Orthodox Union, echoed Hiers comments about the content of the call, saying that the president expressed admiration for the Jewish community, condemned ant-Semitism and all forms of hate, and reaffirmed support for Israel.

It was significant and meaningful for the President of the United States to speak to the Jewish community ahead of the high holidays, Diament told HuffPost. The High Holy Days begin this year on September 20.

Thank you @realDonaldTrump !

Your heartfelt words on today's call were meaningful. You are a true friend of #Israel and the Jewish people.  Matt Brooks (@mbrooksrjc) September 15, 2017

Orthodox Jews, who make up about 10 percent of the American Jewish community, are more likely than members of other denominations to say that they approve of Trumps performance as president. A recent survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee found that 71 percent of Orthodox respondents had favorable views of the presidents performance so far.

However, members of the other three main branches of American Judaism have markedly different views  73 percent of Conservative, 88 percent of Reform, and 92 percent of Reconstructionist Jews surveyed viewed Trumps performance unfavorably.

We asked US Jews what they think about @RealDonaldTrump. See what else they had to say: https://t.co/inwioWK9tO pic.twitter.com/1EMXo2Qg2h  AJC (@AJCGlobal) September 13, 2017

Trumps track record with the American Jewish community has been riddled with difficulties from the start of his presidency. A few days after his inauguration, he issued a statement about Holocaust Remembrance Day that failed to specifically mention Jewish victims.

In August, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative Jewish organizations jointly criticized the president for his comments on Charlottesville. The president has alternated between condemning white supremacist hate groups and claiming that both sides were responsible for the violence that erupted in that city. The three branches of Judaism came together to say that Trumps words have given succor to those who advocate anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia.

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism told HuffPost that his organization stands by their decision to not host a High Holiday call with the president this year.

We are disappointed that the president continues to draw a false equivalency between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, he said.

On Friday, Hier defended his decision to participate in the call, saying that while he was critical of the presidents comments on Charlottesville, he felt the American Jewish leaders needed to be at the table to discuss matters that are important to the community.

My philosophy is if we want the United States of America to be a strong country and to have dialogue and freedom, we cant eternally be mad at each other, Hier said. I disagreed with the presidents remarks about Charlottesville, but Im not in favor of long-term boycotts, because when will it end?

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U.S. President Donald Trump sits near memorial candles after being lit at the Remembrance ceremony, hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Museum, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. (Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Hier told HuffPost he was confident that the president understood the concerns American Jews have about anti-Semitic rhetoric.

The presidents family are Orthodox Jews, so he knows very well the feeling of vulnerability, how we feel about neo-Nazis and the Klan, Hier said. Were human beings, we all make mistakes. In my opinion, the president misspoke [about Charlottesville].

But if we never talk to the other side because were so angry at their political beliefs, then you fracture forever the United States of America, he said.

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President appears to ridicule North Korean leader and shortages after sanctions, as UN ambassador says Pentagon has plenty of military options

People watch as a screen shows footage of the launch of a Hwasong-12 rocket in Pyongyang on Saturday. Photograph: Kim Won-Jin/AFP/Getty Images

Advisers to Donald Trump have warned North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programmes, saying that the regime faced destruction if it continued its reckless behaviour and forced the US to defend itself or its allies.

The warning came on Sunday after Trump tweeted about a phone call to South Korean president Moon Jae-in, and appeared to mock Kim Jong-un.



I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night, the US president wrote. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!

The latest bellicose language from Washington came just days after North Korea fired another ballistic missile, which overflew Japan, and Kim boasted that such efforts would continue as his country neared its goal of equilibrium in military force with the US.



Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, said North Korea was starting to feel the pinch of being economically strangled as recent sanctions have caused the country to be cut off from the world. But, she said, diplomatic and other non-military options were running out.

If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed, the former South Carolina governor told CNNs State of the Union. We all know that and none of us want that. None of us want war. But  something is going to have to be done.

The North may have found a way to make a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a missile, but firing one at the South is likely to provoke retaliation in kind, which would end the regime.

Pyongyang has enough conventional artillery to do significant damage to Seoul, but the quality of its gunners and munitions is dubious, and the same problem  retaliation from the South and its allies - remains.

In the event of a non-nuclear attack, Seoul's residents would act on years of experience of civil defence drills, and rush to the bomb shelters dotted around the city, increasing their chances of survival.

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North Korea will be high on the agenda at the UN general assembly in New York this week, after the UN security council voted unanimously for further sanctions. Asked about Trumps description of such measures as merely small steps towards a solution of the North Korea problem, Haley said: Everybody in the international community sees what a big deal it is.

CNN host Dana Bash asked if Trumps now infamous pledge to respond to any action against the US mainland or its territories with fire and fury like the world has never seen was an empty threat. She said it was not and that responsibility for any stepping up of action against North Korea now lay with the Pentagon and defense secretary James Mattis.

We are trying to use every diplomatic possibility  [but] we have pretty much exhausted all the things we can do at the security council at this point, Haley said. Im perfectly happy kicking this over to General Mattis now, because he has plenty of military options. We wanted to go through all the diplomatic options to get their attention first and if that doesnt work, General Mattis will take care of it.

National security adviser HR McMaster told ABCs This Week Kim Jong-un would have to give up his nuclear weapons because the president has said hes not going to tolerate this regime threatening the United States and our citizens with a nuclear weapon.

Asked if that meant Trump would launch a military strike in the event that North Korea did not comply, as it has shown no sign of doing, McMaster said: Hes been very clear about that, that all options are on the table.

The only concession was given by secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who said on CBSs Face the Nation that the US still seeks a peaceful solution to the North Korean crisis. Pressure on the regime was designed to bring North Korea to the table for productive and constructive dialogue, he said.

But Tillerson also warned that we do not have much time left and said that if efforts to talk were to fail: Our military option is the only one left.

We have tried a couple of times to signal to them that we are ready if they are ready [to talk], but they only thing they do is fire more missiles, Tillerson said.

Trump is making his first appearance at the UN general assembly, giving a speech on Tuesday morning. He has called the world body weak, incompetent, bad for democracy and no friend of the US.



Haley said Trump would arrive on a new day at a UN more committed to action and reform under a new secretary general, Antonio Guterres.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 16:24:01|Editor: Song Lifang

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers in the western U.S. state of California on Saturday passed a "sanctuary state" bill to protect immigrants without legal status in the United States, in an obvious defiance against the policy of President Donald Trump's administration.

The bill would limit state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officials from asking about a person's immigration status and holding people for that reason.

The decision came about a month after Californian Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its threats to withhold public safety funds from so-called "sanctuary" cities.

Trump signed an Executive Order on Jan. 25 seeking to withhold federal funding for "sanctuary jurisdictions". The U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive in July warning that nine local governments may lose federal funding because of their "sanctuary" policies.

The nine governments on the blacklist are Chicago, the state of California, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Clark County of Nevada, Cook County of Illinois, Miami-Dade County of Florida, and Milwaukee County of Wisconsin.
President Donald Trump has derided the U.N for its utter weakness and incompetence" and even pledged to cut U.S. taxpayer funding that contributes to its budget.

But next week Trump will attend the General Assembly for the first time, and on Tuesday will address world leaders in what will be one of his highest profile speeches to date.

UN General Assembly

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

What will Trump say?

Some diplomats may be braced for an anti-UN tirade by the president, but the message from the White House indicates that Trump may adopt a more measured approach, and emphasise the need for international cooperation across a range of topics.

In a briefing to reporters at the White House Friday, Trumps national security adviser H.R. McMaster said that Iran and North Korea will be the top of the agenda.

In many respects this is just going to be business as usual, a Trump administration official told Politico.

There are indications though that in some respects the meeting may not quite match that description.

The three international goals Trump will emphasize on the visit are peace, prosperity and sovereignty, McMaster said.

And while the first two may be familiar in U.S. post-war diplomacy, the third is a loaded term in international relations, hinting at Trumps 'America First' agenda.

For Trumps populist baseas well as conservative nationalist pundits like Breitbart executive chairman, and former White House official, Stephen K. Bannonthe UN is a globalist conspiracy to tie down the United States like Gulliver, writes Stewart M. Patrick for the Council on Foreign Relations.

"In this view, the UN has forgotten its original purposenamely, to serve as a platform where independent nation states cooperate on matters of common interest. Equally bad, the UN bureaucracy is out of control, no longer beholden to its national governments.

"The Trump administration intends to change that."

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The use of the term is a declaration that the U.S. reserves the right to go its own way, unhindered by international accords, and signals a break with Obamas emphasis on multilateral approach to international relations.

Another factor is Trumps famous unpredictability. Trump has lambasted a U.N. sanctions package against North Korea passed this week that he says is not a big deal that might not have any impact.

Will the president take to Twitter to savage the UN if he feels insufficient progress is being made, breaking with the carefully crafted talking points created by advisers and diplomats?

Trump's audience will be very aware of his mood swings, said Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert with the European Council on Foreign Relations told Politico.

"If he gives a good speech but undercuts that with a few mad tweets against the U.N. the next morning, he will waste their goodwill.

Who will he meet?

McMaster said that reform of the U.N. is very much on the table at the meeting in general, with focus on ideas for making the notoriously inefficient organization, whose biennial core budget is $5.4 billion, more streamlined.

He will also meet the leaders of France and Israel to discuss, amongst other issues, Iran and, as McMaster said, its destabilizing behavior, including its violation of the sovereignty of nations across the Middle East.

On Monday evening he will host a working dinner with Latin American leaders.

After addressing the General Assembly Tuesday morning, Trump will meet with senior UN officials and the Emir of Qatar, a key regional ally which he has accused of backing terrorism in recent months.

On Wednesday, the President will meet with the leaders of Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, the United Kingdom, and Egypt. He will then meet African leaders, to discuss issues including economic development.

Finally, on Thursday the President will meet with the leaders of Turkey, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, before South Korea and Japan, with which he will discuss the worlds most urgent and dangerous security problem, North Korea.

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By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will pummel foes and embrace friends in his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly next week, keeping pressure on Washington's adversaries North Korea and Iran, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Friday. Briefing reporters ahead of the annual U.N. meeting, Haley and White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster took a tough line on North Korea, warning that a military option to deal with its nuclear threats was available. Trump will meet with leaders from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America throughout the week, but his remarks, scheduled for Tuesday morning, will be the president's highest profile opportunity to explain his foreign policy vision couched in his "America first" agenda. "I personally think he slaps the right people, he hugs the right people, and he comes out with (the) U.S. being very strong, in the end," Haley, speaking at the White House, said of Trump's speech. Haley declined to say whether Trump would commit Washington to maintaining its current level of funding for the 193-nation body. Trump has complained that the United States funds 22 percent of the U.N. budget and nearly 30 percent of U.N. peacekeeping duties. Trump will kick off the week with a meeting about U.N. reform on Monday. He will then have meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that will focus on Iran, McMaster said. Trump has dinner scheduled with Latin American leaders. On Tuesday, he will meet Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Trump said last week he would be willing to mediate the worst dispute in decades between Qatar and U.S.-allied Arab states. On Wednesday, he will meet with leaders from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Britain and Egypt and on Thursday there are talks scheduled with leaders from Turkey, Afghanistan and Ukraine before holding a lunch with the leaders of South Korea and Japan. McMaster said it was unlikely that Trump would speak to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, whom the White House has sanctioned and called a dictator. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; editing by Grant McCool)
Videos of Trump supporters burning their Make America Great Again caps to a crisp in protest of the president striking a deal regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) with Democratic leaders flooded Twitter on Friday.

People who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 elections took to Twitter to post videos where they set fire to red caps that bore Trumps campaign slogan, with hashtags like AmnestyDon, BurnMyMAGAHat, BuildTheWall and GoGetHimMueller.

While some simply set their MAGA caps on fire, others came up with more innovative ways of disposing of their caps like throwing it into the garbage chute.

Anti-Trump protesters, on the other hand, gleefully took advantage of the President's supporters turning against him and posted memes and tweets mocking his apparent downfall.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and New York senator Chuck Schumer had dinner with Trump on Wednesday after which they released a joint statement that insinuated that they had reached an amicable decision regarding the issue of DACA. "We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides," the statement said, reported several news outlets.

Soon after, the White House did not confirm or deny that any agreement had been reached during the dinner between the leaders. In regard to the areas of discussion, it read: "These topics included tax reform, border security, DACA, infrastructure and trade. This is a positive step toward the president's strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans."

Similar sentiments were echoed by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she tweeted: "While DACA and border security were both discussed, excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to."

Even though Trump himself took to Twitter to assure his followers that he did not strike a deal with democratic leaders during dinner, it did not help. "No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote," he tweeted.

To make matters worse, Trump clarified that the promise of building the border wall between U.S. and Mexico had been reduced to "renovation of old and existing fences and walls."

The WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built, he tweeted.

The main backlash from his supporters started after Trump posted the following tweets, which displayed an empathetic attitude toward the very "Dreamers" he was in favor of deporting throughout his presidential campaign. The tweet was posted on Thursday.







According to Breitbart, an outlet that has always had Trumps back, the cap-burning might be a strong indication of the president losing out on his support-base fast.

According to a New York Times reporter following the outrage among Trumps followers, his campaign sent out an email to the reporters that read: Theres been a lot of noise today and a lot of rumors. Let me set the record straight. We will build a wall, (not a fence) along the Southern border of the United States of America to help stop illegal immigration and keep America safe.

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By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could remain in the Paris climate accord under the right conditions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday, signalling a shift in tone from the Trump administration, which angered allies with its decision to pull out of the agreement. President Donald Trump is willing to work with partners in the Paris agreement if the United States could construct a set of terms that are fair and balanced for Americans, Tillerson said on the CBS' "Face The Nation." Asked if there was a chance the United States could stay in the accord, Tillerson responded, "I think under the right conditions." "The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue," Tillerson said. Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, struck a similar tone in television interviews on Sunday in which he said Trump had always been willing to consider changes on the climate pact. "He left the door open to re-entering at some later time if there can be a better deal for the United States," said McMaster said on ABC's "This Week" programme. "If there's an agreement that benefits the American people, certainly." The accord, reached by nearly 200 countries in 2015, was meant to limit global warming to 2 degrees or less by 2100, mainly through pledges to cut carbon dioxide and other emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. The Republican president fulfilled his campaign promise to pull out of the 2015 accord in June, when he announced tersely "We're getting out." Trump maintained the pact would undermine the U.S. economy and national sovereignty and his decision drew anger and condemnation from world leaders. It takes four years for a country to withdraw from the Paris agreement, so the United States will be a party to the agreement until two days after Trumps first term ends. U.S. officials attended a meeting on Saturday of ministers from more than 30 of the nations that signed the climate change agreement. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Trump administration officials said the United States would not pull out of the agreement and had offered to re-engage in the deal. McMaster dismissed the report as inaccurate. "He's out of the Paris climate accord," he told the "Fox News Sunday" programme. Tillerson said Gary Cohn, Trump's top economic adviser, was overseeing the issue. "So I think the plan is for director Cohn to consider other ways in which we can work with partners in the Paris Climate Accord. We want to be productive. We want to be helpful," said. Cohn has been part of the "stay-in" accord camp, which included Trumps daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Former chief strategist Steve Bannon was one of the main opponents of the accord before leaving the White House last month. Trump has said the Paris accord is soft on leading polluters like China and India, putting U.S. industry at risk. But the Republican president has shown flexibility on some campaign promises, and U.S. allies have been vocal on the importance of the climate accord. At a July news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Trump held open the door to a reversal of his decision, saying "Something could happen with respect to the Paris accords. Let's see what happens." (Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Writing by Lucia Mutikani and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Patricia Zengerle and Marc Frank WASHINGTON/HAVANA (Reuters) - Five Republican senators called on Friday for Washington to retaliate for an alleged sonic attack, inaudible to some human ears, on U.S. personnel in Cuba by expelling Cuban diplomats and possibly closing the U.S. embassy in Havana. In August, the State Department said Americans linked to the U.S. embassy in the capital had experienced physical symptoms caused by such "incidents," involving sound waves, starting as far back as late 2016. Five Canadians in Havana were also affected. In some cases the victims heard nothing, while others sensed deafening sound, but all suffered symptoms such as nausea, dizziness and temporary hearing or memory loss. The incidents have left a sense of unease among Havana's diplomatic community, various diplomats said, and the Cuban Foreign Ministry has not provided any explanation to date. A months-long investigation by Cuba, the United States and Canada into the mysterious affair, unprecedented in modern diplomatic history, has yet to come up with answers as to how the attacks took place, let alone who was behind them. Cuba has denied involvement. The U.S. State Department has not blamed Havana for the attacks, but asked two Cuban diplomats to leave Washington in May. Canada does not intend to take diplomatic action "at this time," an official said in August. In a letter, the five Republicans - Senators Tom Cotton, Richard Burr, John Cornyn, Marco Rubio and James Lankford - urged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to remind the Cuban government of its responsibility toward diplomats. "Furthermore, we ask that you immediately declare all accredited Cuban diplomats in the United States persona non grata and, if Cuba does not take tangible action, close the U.S. Embassy in Havana," they wrote. All five are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the congressional panels looking into the matter. Burr is its chairman and Cornyn is the number two Republican in the Senate. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans control majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress. The letter came as the United States was expected to issue new, tighter restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba, as part of a partial rollback of the U.S.-Cuban detente by President Donald Trump. Rubio, a Cuban-American, was a key player in forging the new, more hostile policy toward the island. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. The seaside U.S. embassy in Havana was still closed due to damage in the wake of Hurricane Irma, with staff working from the ambassador's residence and from home. A source close to the investigation underway on the island said the Cubans had been very cooperative, even offering to let the FBI in to investigate for example. "As far as we have ever known, the U.S. officials here in Cuba have never suspected the Cubans as perpetrating these events," the source said. Foreign policy experts say it is hard to see what Cuba would have to gain from perpetrating attacks on diplomats. It has enjoyed good relations with Canada for many years and in 2014 started to normalize relations with its old Cold War enemy the United States. Theories abound. One is that another country like Russia, Iran or North Korea might want to drive a wedge between Cuba and the west. Another is that there is an internal power struggle underway on the island. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington, Marc Frank and Sarah Marsh in Havana, David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang)
The UN Security Council will on Thursday hold a ministerial-level meeting on the threat from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction that will focus on enforcing sanctions on North Korea, diplomats said.

The United States called the meeting that will be held during the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

The purpose of the meeting "is to discuss ways the Security Council can better enforce the resolutions it has adopted to prevent the spread of the world's most dangerous weapons," said a US concept note on the meeting obtained by AFP on Saturday.

The Security Council this week imposed a new raft of sanctions on North Korea, slapping an export ban on textiles, freezing work permits to North Korean guest workers and placing a cap on oil supplies.

The impact of those sanctions depends largely on whether China, North Korea's ally and main economic partner, will fully implement them and on Russia, which is hosting tens of thousands of North Korean workers.

During the council meeting, countries will address ways to stem missile and nuclear technology to "the world's most dangerous actors," the note said.

The meeting, held at a ministerial level, will highlight global unity in confronting the crisis with North Korea, diplomats said.

North Korea on Friday fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, in response to a new round of UN sanctions imposed over its sixth nuclear test.

The council met behind closed doors on Friday and condemned the "highly-provocative" missile launch, but it did not threaten further sanctions.

Japan stressed that the focus must be on fully implementing the recent sanctions resolutions to put pressure on North Korea to come to the table to negotiate an end to its nuclear and missile programs.

If fully implemented, the sanctions would deny North Korea more than $2 billion in revenue from exports and other economic activities, according to US officials.

China and Russia have been pushing a proposal to kick-start talks with North Korea with a freeze on the country's nuclear and missile tests in exchange for a suspension of US-South Korea military drills.

The United States has rejected that proposal as "insulting" and maintains it will only enter into talks with Pyongyang if it halts all missile and nuclear tests unilaterally.
Captain Sonny Hernandez said Christians who supported the right of service members to practice other religions

A US Air Force chaplain has said Christians in the armed forces who tolerate people of other religions "serve Satan".

Captain Sonny Hernandez claimed those who supported the rights of non-Christian colleagues to practice their faith were "grossly in error".

The pastor is reserve chaplain for the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, which is home to thousands of servicemen and women.

In an article for right-wing website Barbwire, he described worshippers who prioritised the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion over church teachings, as "counterfeit Christians".

Anyone who enlists in the armed forces is required to swear an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".

"Christian service members who openly profess and support the rights of Muslims, Buddhists, and all other anti-Christian world views to practice their religions -because the language in the Constitution permits - are grossly in error and deceived, " Mr Hernandez wrote.

Christians in the armed forces who supported "accommodating everyones alleged rights" could be said to "serve Satan," he added.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) filed a formal complaint about Captain Hernandez to the US Department of Defence in April.

It called for the chaplain to be investigated over a blog post titled: "How was Col Goodwin - an open homosexual - able to enter the Air Force?"

The complaint accused the chaplain of believing his "bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic" beliefs "take a higher precedence than the law and federal ethical standards".

It said a number of servicemen and servicewomen had raised concerns about Mr Hernandez.

MRFF told Newsweek it had filed another complaint about the pastor following the chaplain's latest article this week.

Michael Weinstein, the group's founder and a retired Air Force officer, said the piece was evidence of President Donald Trump emboldening the far fringes of the Christian right.

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"Americas military members look to the president for direction and inspiration," he said. "Trumps statements and actions have fully endorsed and validated this unbridled tidal wave of fundamentalist Christian persecution, which is now more inextricably intertwined into the very fabric of our Department of Defence than ever before."

The MRFF said complaints about religious bigotry in the armed forces had doubled since Mr Trump's election.
Kim Jong-un watches a Hwasong-12 missile launch in an undated photo released by North Korea's state news agency - REUTERS

North Korea faces destruction if it continues to threaten the US and its allies, according to one of Donald Trumps most senior diplomats, while the president unveiled the dismissive new nickname of Rocket Man for the countrys erratic ruler.

With world leaders gathering in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, when North Koreas nuclear programme is expected to dominate, senior administration figures said time was running out for a diplomatic solution.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said North Korea was starting to feel the pinch of sanctions but added that she would be happy to turn the matter over to the military.

We all know that if North Korea continues with this reckless behaviour and if the United States has to defend itself or its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed, she said.

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The warnings came a day after Kim Jong-un promised to continue his weapons programme saying he was close to reaching equilibrium with US military force despite fresh UN sanctions last week.

Mr Kim has threatened Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, and has fired two missiles over Japan, including one missile that was launched on Friday.

North Korea also recently tested its most powerful bomb.

For his part, Mr Trump tweeted that he had discussed the matter with Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, during a phone call on Saturday

I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017

Mr Trumps use of nicknames was a feature of the primary and election campaigns last year, and credited with helping defeat Low Energy Jeb Bush for the Republican nomination and implanting Crooked Hillary into the nations psyche.

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HR McMaster, the White House national security adviser, warned of the imminent danger from Pyongyang.

"This regime is so close now to threatening the United States and others with a nuclear weapon, that we really have to move with a great sense of urgency on sanctions, on diplomacy and preparing, if necessary, a military option, he told the Fox News Sunday programme.

Meanwhile the administration is still trying to explain its stance on the Paris climate accords, after a weekend headline suggested European officials had been told the US would not be withdrawing after all.

Rex TillersonCredit: AP

Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, said Mr Trump was willing to work with foreign leaders to find terms that were acceptable to the US.

The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue, he told CBSs Face the Nation show.

The Trump administration is also considering shutting its recently reopened embassy in Havana following following a string of apparent sonic attacks on American diplomats in Cuba, according to Mr Tillerson.

"We have it under evaluation. It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered," he told CBS's Face the Nation. "We've brought some of those people home. It's under review."

The victims have suffered hearing loss, concussion and nausea while stationed in Havana but officials have struggled to identify the cause.
Montreal (AFP) - A US envoy has signaled that President Donald Trump may be ready to soften his stance on the Paris climate pact, a European official said at a summit in Canada on Saturday.

Any shift in the US position on the historic deal could be hugely significant, after Trump announced in June that he was abandoning the 2015 agreement.

The United States "stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris Accord, but they try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement," said the European Union's top climate official Miguel Arias Canete.

He said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly with American representatives "to assess what is the real US position," but noted "it's a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past."

Environment ministers from some 30 countries gathered in Montreal on Saturday to push forward on implementing the Paris climate deal without the US.

The United States was represented only by an observer, who was not immediately available for comment.

All the ministers present and the US observer agreed that the Paris accord was irreversible, French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said.

Trump, whose country is the world's second biggest producer of greenhouse gases after China, drew widespread criticism when he announced on June 1 that he would quit the climate pact.

He has said he wanted to renegotiate the massive agreement, which was originally signed by every nation except Syria and Nicaragua.

The actual withdrawal time from the pact is three years, allowing time for a US re-think.

In August, the Trump administration confirmed it was abandoning the Paris accord but the State Department then indicated Washington was still committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and engaging with the international community on combating climate change.
Iran's President said the top foreign policy priority for his new government was to protect the nuclear deal from being torn up by the United States. (AFP Photo)

TEHRAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Rouhani said Sunday that he will explain some points about the U.S. misconduct pertaining to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal in his UN speech, official IRNA news agency reported.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani left Tehran for New York on Sunday to attend the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting, IRNA said.

During his trip, Rouhani will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly and will urge the U.S. to abide by its commitments to the nuclear deal reached in 2015.

He said that the meetings that have been planned for him on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York is "very important."

Rouhani said that Iran has been committed to its obligations and this has been confirmed repeatedly by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

After years of tension with the West, Iran struck a deal with the world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in July 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of western and international sanctions.

The international agreement is facing a serious threat of collapse as tensions mounted between Washington and Tehran recently, the report said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who during his election campaign had called the Iranian nuclear deal a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated," approved new sanctions on Tehran for its missile program.
A high-status Viking warrior who was thought to be a man turns out to be a woman, a new DNA analysis finds.

The remains of the warrior were buried with an array of warlike accessories, including arrows, swords and warhorses.

The findings raise questions about the role of women in Viking society, which has historically been thought of as a testosterone-fueled, patriarchal culture, the researchers say. [In Photos: Viking Voyage Discovered]

"The identification of a female Viking warrior provides a unique insight into the Viking society, social constructions and exceptions to the norm in the Viking time-period. The results call for caution against generalizations regarding social orders in past societies," the researchers wrote in their paper, published online Sept. 8 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Trading town

Scientists unearthed the remains of the warrior from one of the largest Viking burials ever discovered: a ring of graves that encircle the medieval town of Birka, on the island of Bjorko, in Sweden. Starting in the eighth century, the town of Birka was a thriving trade center, bustling with artisans, warriors and traders. Goods from far-flung regions of the world  such as the Byzantine Empire, Asia and central Europe would pass through the town before making their way to other places in the Viking world. The town, which typically supported between 700 and 1,000 inhabitants, was thus somewhat culturally different from the areas around it, the researchers noted. Since the 1800s, more than 3,000 graves have been unearthed in Birka, the researchers wrote.

One of the graves was that of a presumed Viking warrior, whose remains were buried with a range of warlike weapons. For decades, however, researchers assumed that the burial was that of a high-status male officer. [Fierce Fighters: 7 Secrets of Viking Seamen]

In the 1970s, however, researchers noticed the slender build of the long bones, as well as distinctive features on the hip bones, and identified the body as belonging to a woman. But that hypothesis was controversial; many experts discounted the notion that the warrior could be a woman. In 2016, a bone analysis once again showed that the burial belonged to a woman, though many scholars remained skeptical.

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Genetic analysis

To help settle the question, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, an archaeologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, and her colleagues took DNA samples from the skeleton. They found that the warrior was, unequivocally, a woman, with genetic affinities to modern-day people who currently live in the Orkney Islands, Iceland, England, Scotland and Scandinavia. Based on strontium isotopes (versions of strontium with different numbers of neutrons) from her teeth, which more closely matched levels found in other areas, the team found that the woman had not grown up in Birka but had relocated there after childhood.

The grave goods that were buried with her  such as a sword, an ax, a spear, arrows, a battle knife, two shields and two horses  suggest that the woman was a professional warrior, the researchers wrote in the new study. The grave also included a set of gaming pieces, which suggests a knowledge of tactics or strategy, implying she was a "high-ranking military officer," the researchers wrote.

The researchers who worked on this new study are not convinced that Viking society was an egalitarian utopia. It's not clear how common such a role was for women, they said. For instance, no other tombs with clear Viking warrior women have ever been discovered, the researchers wrote in the study.



Still, "the results suggest that women, indeed, were able to be full members of male dominated spheres," the researchers wrote.

Heightened scrutiny

Almost as soon as the genetic results were published, scholars began to question the interpretation that the woman was a warrior. One of the biggest issues is that the body itself bears no sign of the traumas typically associated with battle.

For instance, Judith Jesch, director of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age at the University of Nottingham in England, expressed skepticism about some of the paper's conclusions.

For instance, on her blog, Jesch criticized the use of an earlier version of her work on women warriors, which was written more for popular consumption, without referencing her newer, more thorough and academic work.

"Women warriors and/or Valkyries and/or shield maidens (they are all often mixed up) are not just 'mythological phenomena' as stated by the authors, but relate to a whole complex of ideas that pervade literature, mythology and ideology, without necessarily providing any direct evidence for women warriors in 'real life,'" Jesch wrote in her blog post.

Another issue is that many of these sites were excavated in the 1800s, so it can be difficult to determine which "bags of bones" belong to which burials, Jesch added.

Of course, men who are buried with similar warlike accoutrements are rarely thought to be anything other than warriors, Hedenstierna-Jonson said in an interview with Science magazine. What's more, few of the graves in Birka have skeletons that sustained sharp-force trauma, suggesting that some of the warriors in this trading town may have been warriors more in title than in practice, the researchers wrote.

Either way, the researchers call for using the same standard of evidence with both male and female graves.

"Do weapons necessarily determine a warrior? The interpretation of grave goods is not straightforward, but it must be stressed that the interpretation should be made in a similar manner regardless of the biological sex of the interred individual," the researchers wrote in the paper.

Originally published on Live Science.

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(Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

The White House reaffirmed that the United States is still planning on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, despite recent reports that claim the Trump administration has flip flopped on its original policy to back out of it.

The administrations statement came in response to reports that President Donald Trumps senior adviser Everett Eissenstat had announced plans that appeared to soften the White Houses stance on the Paris climate accord.

During a meeting of environmental ministers in Montreal, Eissenstat reportedly suggested that the administration was considering reviewing what negotiations can be done in order for the U.S. to stay in the climate accord, the Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled Trump Administration Wont Withdraw from Paris Climate Deal.

The White House quickly shut that notion down on Saturday.

There has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement, White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters told CNN Saturday evening. As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reaffirmed those sentiments on Twitter.

Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed. @POTUS has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms.  Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 16, 2017

According to earlier reports from the Journal and the Agence France-Presse, European commissioner for climate action and energy Miguel Arias Canete told reporters on Saturday: The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement.

The alleged change of plans were shared widely on social media on Saturday, considering Trumps repeated campaign promise to cancel the U.S.s involvement in the climate change deal, which involves 195 countries.

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When Trump officially announced his plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement in June, he said hed be willing to immediately work with Democratic leaders, either to negotiate the U.S. back into Paris or devise a new pact.

Since then, the administration hasnt officially announced any new policies on the climate change agreement, nor has it provided any details on what a renegotiation with the accord would look like.

Though Saturdays remarks during the climate summit in Montreal may suggest that Trump is softening his views the Paris Agreement, it isnt clear who he has working on the issue of getting back into the accord.

In late August, the administration dissolved the White Houses special envoy for climate change, the position responsible for overseeing the U.S.s international policy on climate change.

According to the AFP, Canete said officials would meet with U.S. representatives on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations next week to assess the U.S.s real position on the Paris agreement.

Responding to the White Houses reassurance that the U.S. hasnt changed its mind on the matter, John Coequyt of the Sierra Club issued a statement to HuffPost saying it had lost all hope in Trumps denial of climate change.

Coequyt said: For anyone who had any hope that two historically devastating storms striking our nation would wake up the Trump Administration to the reality of the climate crisis, think again.

Also on HuffPost

Steve Culver cries with his dog Otis as he talks about what he said was the, 'most terrifying event in his life,' when Hurricane Harvey blew in and destroyed most of his home while he and his wife took shelter there on in Rockport.

Ofelia Castro leads her grandchildren across a flooded street as they continue an hours long trek from their flooded house in the Edgewood area of South Houston to a relatives apartment miles away.

Aaron Tobias who said he lost everything stands in what is left of his home in Rockport. Mr. Tobias said he was able to get his wife and kids out before the storm arrived but he stayed there and rode it out.

Damaged boats in a multi-level storage facility are seen in Rockport.

People gather supplies out of destroyed homes to take back to a shelter near City-By-The Sea, Texas.

A destroyed laundromat is seen in Rockport.

A destroyed apartment complex is seen on Aug. 26, 2017, after Hurricane Harvey passed through Rockport, Texas.

Donna Raney is helped out of the window by Lee Guerrero and Daisy Graham in Rockport.

Valerie Brown walks through a flooded area after leaving her apartment in Rockport.

Charlie Company of the 4th Assault Amphibious Battalion, Marine Forces Reserve arrive at the Central Mall in Port Arthur, TX on Thursday night after running rescue missions in the hardest hit areas of town throughout the day.

A Rockport firefighter goes door to door on a search and rescue mission as he looks for people who may need help.

Rescue personnel help Hersey Kirk as she is airlifted into a rescue helicopter.

Jacque McKay walks through the apartment complex where she lives in Rockport.

A damaged home is seen after Hurricane Harvey in Rockport.

Damage is seen to a shopping center in Victoria, north and farther inland than Rockport.

Damage is seen at a business near Rockport

A damaged mobile home in Victoria.

Damage to a hotel in Victoria.

A business is damaged in Victoria.

A light plane sits upside done at Rockport Airport.

A sunken boat at Rockport Harbor.

Destroyed houses in Rockport.

Light medium tactical vehicle's (LMTV) make their way through floodwaters near Bridge City in Texas.

A car lies abandoned in Rockport.

A police officer checks for survivors among destroyed houses in Rockport.

A gas station in Victoria.

Damage to homes is seen near Rockport

A sign on a Holiday Inn hotel in Victoria.

Just got out of Rockport; no cell service there; catastrophic damage; homes, businesses destroyed. #hurricaneharvey pic.twitter.com/CJKPJOhEHZ  Jeremy Schwartz (@JinATX) August 26, 2017

First light reveals heavy damage in Rockport, TX. #hurricaneharvey. pic.twitter.com/a9vVRn9iJS  Jeff Gammons (@StormVisuals) August 26, 2017

A burnt-out house that caught fire after Hurricane Harvey hit Corpus Christi.

A house suffers roof damage in Corpus Christi.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
An Iowa woman replaced bouquets with rescue puppies for her wedding day in a bid to help the dogs find homes.

Samantha Clark came up with the idea to have the pups in her wedding after she saw another bride do the same thing on Pinterest.

Read: Fur-Ever Love! Rescue Pups Replace Flowers at Dog Lovers' Wedding

I originally wanted to use my own three dogs but decided that they already have love and a home so I decided I wanted to try to help rescue dogs, Clark told InsideEdition.com.

Clark contacted a local shelter, A Heinz57 Pet Rescue and Transport, to see if they had puppies that could be included, and they did.

The puppies were carried down the aisle at Clarks Sept. 9 wedding by her bridesmaids. The bridal party also took pictures with the then 7-week-old dogs for Clarks wedding photo shoot.

They were a huge hit. The bridesmaids were ecstatic to hold them down the aisle. It all flowed very perfectly, Clark said. They were the best, well-behaved puppies Ive dealt with.

A book, which included pictures and biographies of other dogs at the rescue that are up for adoption, was also presented at Clarks wedding. The rescue has reportedly received a plethora of adoption applications since then.

The puppies featured at Clark's wedding are also now up for adoption.

Read: Bridal Party Poses With Rescue Puppies Instead of Bouquets for Animal Lover's Wedding

Clarks stepmother, Sarah Olson, said it was very much like her to want to have the animals present on her big day.

The puppies were adorable and there was nothing that could more her to include in the day. She is such a dog lover and to incorporate these puppies was so Sam, Olson told InsideEdition.com.

Watch: Why This Bridal Party Used Orphaned Puppies Instead of Bouquets

Related Articles:
Aden (AFP) - A young soldier participating in operations against Al-Qaeda in Yemen has murdered three jihadist detainees who confessed to killing his colonel father, a security source said on Sunday.

The soldier -- a member of Yemen's government intelligence services -- carried out the killings "suddenly and without the consent of his colleagues" during an interrogation on Saturday, the source said.

According to the source, the soldier's colleagues were "angered" by the killings, but he did not face repercussions.

Tribal leaders confirmed the revenge killings to AFP.

The jihadist detainees were captured during a military operation last week in the district of Wadea in Abyan province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen.

The soldier's colonel father, whose name was not disclosed for security reasons, was assassinated in Wadea early last month.

Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition on Thursday managed to drive Al-Qaeda militants from Wadea, which is symbolic as the birthplace of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which the United States views as the network's most dangerous branch, has exploited more than two years of conflict between Hadi's government and Shiite Huthi rebels who control the capital to expand its presence.
A batch of freshly hatched sea turtles displaced by hurricanes Irma and Jose have been given a new lease on life as a Florida zoo ensured their safe release back into the wild.

Officials from Brevard Zoo, Barrier Island Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Sea Turtle Preservation Society delivered nearly 1,500 hatchlings and washbacks  young turtles literally washed back after swimming offshore  to the zoos Sea Turtle Center on Monday.

Staff and volunteers tirelessly cared for and watched over the green and loggerhead sea turtles as they recovered from the ordeal.

Fortunately the turtles that we've received the last three days have been healthy, fairly new off the beach, a week, maybe two weeks old, said Melanie Stadler, the Brevard Zoo's sea turtle program coordinator.

Read: Cincinnati Zoo Welcomes New Gorilla A Year After Harambe Was Killed

[They were] not emaciated, very active," she added. "We want to get them out as soon as possible. We dont want them to be with us for very long."

The young reptiles were transferred to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and spent the night at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, the Brevard Zoo said.

They were then placed on offshore mats of seaweed Friday, officials said.

Read: Zoo Animals Eat Their Christmas Presents After Incredible Game of Hide-And-Seek

Authorities cautioned that though the turtles are now safe, wildlife may still be at risk as further natural disasters loom.

Although the number of troubled turtles found on Floridas eastern coast has lessened significantly in recent days, the behavior of Jose and future hurricanes could create another crisis in the coming weeks, a statement from the zoo said.

To learn what to do if you find a washback, click here.

Watch: Lions and Monkeys Reach and Stretch for Goodies at Zoo's Annual Weigh-In

Story continues

Related Articles:
The IDF wants the government to increase the scope of its operations for "the war between wars," which refers to periods like the present, when security operations are being carried out while no wars are being fought.

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By beeing up its special operations capabilities, the IDF hopes to be able to foil the plans of such organizations as Gaza-based terror group Hamas and Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah, thereby preventing the next war and strengthening deterrence.

The IDF also reported that even at present, it carries out hundreds of operations every year, in a variety of ways: these include military attacksmost of them by airin addition to intelligence attacks, cyber attacks, economic operations, political moves and some that include its cooperation with international and regional powers.

The large-scale IDF drill that took place up north, ending earlier this week (:  )

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As stated, one of the objectives of these operations is to prevent Hezbollah from attaining high-precision missiles that could damage strategically significant facilities in Israel or military bases critical for winning future wars. Though Israel does not consider such a scenario as an existential threat, it does see it as a strategic concern.

Another area that the IDF would like to fortify is its ablity to respond in the north. This in light of growing tensions in the region, which led Israel to demand that the superpowers make sure to keep Iranian forces from the Golan Heights, as part of the arrangement that was reached by Russia. Specifically, Israel requested that no Iranian forces be found west of the Suwayda-Damascus road. Apparently in response to the Israeli Air Force's increased presence in the north, over the past month the IDF has noticed a great deal of nervousness within the Syrian air defense system. So far, no antiaircraft missiles have been fired at Israel, though the possibility does remain a concern.

An F-15 fighter jet (Photo: Reuters)

Iranian support for Hezbollah is another cause for apprehension. Hezbollah's stipend from Iran is reported to be $800 million a year. In addition, of the approximately 22,000 fighters of the Shiite organization, about 7,000 are fighting for the fourth year now on Syrian soil, in addition to the 2,000 soldiers who have been killed in battle.

The defense establishment also noted that Hamas has been monitoring the progress of the construction of the Israeli barrier against the tunnels that connect Gaza to Israel. At present, the terror group is contemplating whether to forge ahead with their tunnel building or to use it now to carry out terrorist attacks, even at the cost of another war breaking out with Israel.

Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced the completion of the large-scaled "Or HaDagan" military exercise in the north of the country. With the participation of tens of thousands of soldiers and a slew of aerial, navy and land vehicles and equipment, it was the largest exercise in 19 years. During Or HaDagan. "The objective of the exercise was to improve the Northern Command, the Northern Corps and its divisions' ability to fight the multi-branch operational system in the Northern Command, with an emphasis on the Lebanese front," the Spokesperson's Unit stated.

During the exercise, IDF forces were trained in joint efforts of the ground, air and sea, including battling Hezbollah forces. Defensive capabilities, fire strikes, intelligence incidences and military maneuvering were practiced in several sectors, simultaneously and over a long period of time.

Stepping up Haredi recruitment

In addition to special operations, the IDF has begun looking into ways to best impliment the High Court of Justice's recent decision to cancel the exemption of thousands of Haredi yeshiva students from military service.





Photo: Yiddishfeed

The Court's decision comes in an opportune time for the IDF, as the mandatory army service time for its current soldiers is cut short, a loss that is expected to become a hindrance for the army by 2022. As a result, the IDF is interested in recruiting Haredim and is willing to invest in setting up additional frameworks to meet their needs. These include extra payment to Haredi soldiers who already have children, with monthly salaries reaching up to NIS 5,000.

According to the army, the establishment of a new ultra-Orthodox battalion, in addition to the "Netzach Yehuda" battalion, will save existing reserve units 18 rounds of reserve duty in guarding Israel's borders. This in turn could save the army tens of millions of shekels a year.

Found another ultra-Orthodox battalion could also alleviate additional brigades such as Golani or the paratroopers from border patrol, freeing them to maneuver in the next war in Lebanon or Gaza.

The IDF recruited about 3,000 young ultra-Orthodox men during 2017200 less than the target it set for itself. That said, most of them have successfully integrated into a variety of positions within the Air Force, Home Front Command, the Technology and Logistics Division, and even in various combat units.
"We are very proud of you," then-defense minister Shimon Peres can be heard telling the elite Sayeret Matkal fighters after they rescued the kidnapped passengers of the Air France flight, during the IDF's Operation Entebbe. Peres' sentiment, along with several other exchanges between then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Paratroopers commander Matan Livnai, and the fighters, passngers and crew members aboard the plane, can be heard on a recently discovered audio recording that was released on Thursday by the Defense Ministry, on the one-year anniversary of Peres' death.

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The audio recordings from the operation were discovered as part of the digitization efforts currently being carried out by the Ministry of Defense. At the beginning of the recording, apparently when Peres and Rabin passed among the families of the kidnapped soldiers on their way to the plane, people can be heard thanking them. "They said they would do everything to save them. It's unbelievable what they did," said a relative of one of the hostages.

'You have changed Israel's perception and character'

Following the operation's conclusion, Peres and Rabin spoke with the Sayeret Matkal fighters who freed the kidnapped passengers. Then-Paratroops commander (and future IDF chief of staff) Matan Vilnai also spoke with them, telling Peres, "It worked out just as we wanted, there were no changes. Everything's fine. The main concern was the touching down of the wheels of the plane. I was on the first plane. The field was lit. We entered the landing without a problem."





Peres (C) and Rabin (R) upon meeting soldiers, passngers and crew, following Operation Entebbe (Photo: Def. Ministry's IDF Archives, Udi Herzl Tzahik)

Both Peres and Rabin thanked the fighters for their service. "I do not want to speak at length," Rabin told them. "The IDF has a long tradition, and your units also have a tradition of unusual operations. I think that this operation, in some ways, went above and beyond what had previously been customary. Not only did you save people, but you have changed Israel's perception and character. And for that you deserve praise."

Peres then added, "I also want two or three sentences. You left a very worried country, and you return to a very proud country, and that is really thanks to you. You took a greater risk than you might realize. We will conduct an inquiry, but for the time being welcome back, go rest."

Photo: Def. Ministry's IDF Archives, Avi Simchoni, Mickey Tzarfati)

'We awaited instructions from "our boys"'

Speaking on tape, one of the released prisoners explained that once he realized what was going on, he took cover and waited for the IDF to come rescue them.

"We heard the shots but didn't understand what was happening, so I grabbed the girls, lay down on the ground and awaited instructions from 'our boys.'"





Photo: Def. Ministry's IDF Archives, Udi Herzl Tzahik

Another one of the released passengers, named Ron Davidson, spoke with Peres about the kidnapped Israelis' behavior. "I have to say, Sir, that the all Israelis behaved with dignity and while helping one another in an exemplary manner." Peres asked him, "Did you understand what was happening? That the IDF had come? Or not?" Davidson replied, "I understood it, but I don't know if everyone understood."

Aryeh Grotzky, who was also saved in the attack, can be heard recalling the events the events that took place once the IDF soldiers made a move to overtake the plane from the terrorists. "There were a lot of shots. The whole thing took 12 minutes. The vast majority (of those kidnappeded) managed to reach two corners, a bathroom and another corner that was quite hidden. The two Germans guarded us. The Germans shared shifts, there was a German man and a German woman, in addition to two other young men who had commandeered the plane. After that, there was a group that arrived from Kampala (Uganda's capital), including a very tall and brutal man."





Photo: Def. Ministry's IDF Archives, Udi Herzl Tzahik

Ada Zorowitz, then 16, told Defense Minister Peres that she was happy to be at home. When asked by Peres if she knew the IDF had come to release them, Zerovitz replied: "At first we did not, until we saw them. When they blew up the dynamite, we initially thought it was the terrorists, because they had told us that there's dynamite all around."

Photo: Def. Ministry's IDF Archives, Armon Noam

The crew decided to stay and care for the passengers

After commandeering the aircraft, the terroristswhose aim was to free several dozen Palestinian terrorists in exchange for their prisonersallowed the crew of the Air France flight to leave. Most of the crew members, however, chose to stay with the captives.





Photo: Def. Ministry's IDF Archives, Udi Herzl Tzahik

"Thank you very much for your behavior," Peres told the Air France crew. "How did they treat you? I understand that the crew of the plane was held in the room of the ladies or what?" A crew member then replies that they were together with the passengers in Uganda's Entebbe terminal, and that he believed there were between seven and nine kidnappers. Rabin then said, "The passengers appreciate very much the way you took care of them, under these very difficult conditions, and we appreciate it very much."

Yoni Netanyahu died, but almost all the hostages were rescued

During Operation Entebbe, which was also called Operation Yonathan, after the death of Sayeret Matkal commander, Yoni Netanyahu, the IDF prepared to rescue 105 Jews and Israelis who were held hostage by their kidnappers, Palestinian and German terrorists. After stopping on their way to Paris, 56 additional passengers, including the Palestinian terrorists and two German members of a radical leftist organization, boarded the plane. The 246 passengers were then held at gunpoint, as the plane was directed to land in Entebbe's airport.

The kidnappers set up an ultimatum demanding the release of more than 50 convicted terrorists, most of them held in Israel. Later, the terrorists released the non-Jewish passengers. Most of the crew chose to stay with the hostages.

The Israeli government announced that it was accepting the conditions of the kidnappers and began negotiations with the French and with Ugandan ruler Idi Amin (who cooperated with the terrorists). At the same time, the defense establishment was planning a rescue operation.

On July 3, 1976, even before the plan was approved at a Security Cabinet meeting, four Hercules planes took off from the airport in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh, carrying about 200 fighters.

When they arrived at the airport in Entebbe about seven hours later, a raid force headed by Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu, composed mainly of the Sayeret Matkal soldiers, headed toward the terminal where the captives were held. Yoni was killed in battle, in addition to three passengers. A fourth passenger, who was taken to the hospital after landing in Entebbe, was later executed at the behest of Idi Amin.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded his six-day visit to Latin America Thursday after spending his final day in Mexico where he told the country's President Enrique Pena Nieto "we can bring the fruits of (Israeli) innovation to the people of Mexico."

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Nieto said on Thursday that his country had accepted Israel's offer to help it and the United States develop Central America, as Israel and Mexico seek to deepen business ties.

PM Netanyahu with President Nieto (: ")

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Speaking at a news conference with Nieto, Netanyahu described the meeting as "a milestone" pointing out that the trip was the first to take place by any sitting Israeli prime minister.

"This is the first visit since the founding of the State of Israel of an Israeli prime minister in Latin America. It's the first visit in Mexico. It is, I would say, an unpardonable lapse, but we want the pardon," Netanyahu said.

PM Netanyahu with President Enrique Pena Nieto (Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)

"We're here. We think that we correct now a historic lapse, because Mexico is a great country. It's one of the world's great economies, it's a great nation, a great people, a great culture. We want to be close, even closer to Mexico, and this is what this meeting signifies."

Expressing his determination to "sieze the future" and to deepen Israel-Mexico ties in a variety of fields, the Israeli premier concluded by inviting the Mexican leader to Israel.

"The saying the Jewish people have had for many centuries was 'next year in Jerusalem.' So I would like to say this year in Jerusalem but it's rather late in the year, so I say, inviting you, to Israel next year in Jerusalem, my friend Enrique," Netanyahu said.

Pena Nieto said at the press conference that the two nations had agreed to update their free trade agreement, which was signed in 2000.

"We have agreed to establish and begin the ... negotiations to look over this agreement so that the commercial relationship between both nations intensifies and grows," he said.

Netanyahu was joined by a business delegation including representatives from communications firm AudioCodes Ltd , cyber security firm Verint Systems Inc and Mer Group, which specializes in telecommunications and cyber security.

Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO

In Central America, Pena Nieto said Israel's assistance could bolster the United States and Mexico's efforts in the region, particularly in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. He noted that Israel brings experience from carrying out development projects in Africa.

The United States and Mexico have been seeking to encourage investment in infrastructure improvements in Central America's so-called Northern Triangle in an effort to stem migration to the United States.

The relationship between the nations was strained earlier this year by a tweet in which Netanyahu appeared to praise US President Donald Trump's plans to build a wall on the Mexican border. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin later issued a statement apologizing for any misunderstanding.
In the current state of affairs, theres absolutely no chance the nuclear agreement with Iran would be cancelled, and theres no chance the United States would walk away from the agreement. Theres a simple reason for that: None of the countries and international organizations that signed the agreement have an interest in violating it.

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On the contrary, its clearly in the best interest of everyoneincluding the US and Israelto uphold the nuclear agreement with Iran and then increase the measures to supervise its implementation in letter and spirit. The US, for example, is currently embroiled in an active nuclear dispute with North Korea, and cancelling the nuclear agreement with Iran will only cause trouble on another front and increase China and Russias extortion abilities towards the US.

Moreover, the US has no interest in withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran because all its European partners would not follow in its footsteps and, as a result, Iran would have no problem bypassing the sanctions that would be imposed by the US. An American demand to withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran might also split the United Nations Security Council.

US President Trump. America has no interest in walking away from nuclear agreement with Iran (Photo: Reuters)

Israel has no interest in cancelling the nuclear agreement as such a move might force it to enter an activeand perhaps militaryconflict with Iran, while the US is completely focused on the crisis with North Korea and on the other difficulties the Trump administration faces.

In addition, Israel is likely preparing a series of technological, cyber and military measures for the day Iran will no longer be committed to the nuclear agreement. In 10 years from now, Iran will likely try to obtain a nuclear weapon, like North Korea did.

Israel also has an interest to wait and see how Washington solves its crisis with Pyongyang. The second ballistic missile fired by North Korea over Japan last Thursday comes as another sign this crisis could get worse and the US might have to act. An American military operation against North Korea could make any activity against the nuclear agreement with Iran unnecessary.

When the Iranians see what happens to North Korea after pushing its luck with the US, they might think twice before trying to obtain nuclear weapons. In this case, Israel would simply enjoy the windfall.

Leverage of pressure

Another reason why the nuclear agreement with Iran shouldnt be cancelled is the fact the Islamic Republic is implementing it in letter and spiritand American intelligence agencies, Israel and the UN inspectors monitoring the implementation of the deal in Iran can testify to that. If Iran isnt violating the agreement, US President Donald Trump has no lawful cause to cancel it or withdraw from it. Congress, which is supposed to receive a report from the president next month on whether Tehran is meeting the terms of the agreement with the US, wont allow him to walk away from it for no reason.

The government in Jerusalem and the Defense Ministry and General Staff in Tel Aviv are well aware of this. In meetings with senior defense officials, the unequivocal recommendation is to avoid pressuring the US to withdraw from the nuclear agreement, but rather to establish tight cooperation with American intelligence agencies that are monitoring the nuclear program and Irans fulfillment of its commitments.

Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israel has a clear security interest in reaching understandings with US on measures that will be taken after nuclear deal expires (Photo: Reuters)

Moreover, Israel has a clear security interest in reaching understandings with the American administration on the measures and actions that will be taken after the nuclear agreement expires and Iran renews its race towards a nuclear bomb.

Allegedly, theres a contradiction between the defense establishments stance and the prime minister and defense ministers unequivocal demand that the US withdraw from the nuclear agreement signed by former US President Barack Obama. Trump promised to do just that during his election campaign, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is allegedly demanding he stand by his word.

Is there a difference of opinion here between the Israeli defense establishment and the political echelon? Not necessarily. From conversations with state officials, its quite possible Israel is stepping up its demand that Trump withdraw from the nuclear agreement as a leverage for pressuring him to accept Israels other, more important, demands in the Iranian context, which have to do with Iranian deployment of forces and presence in Syria. Israel is trying to pressure the American administration to boost its intelligence supervision of Iran and devise a military and diplomatic plan together with Israel for the day the nuclear agreement expires.

The pressure on the Trump administration over the Iranian presence in Syria will definitely affect Russia and Syria, as well as China and the US. That pressure could also prompt the American administration to compensate Israel for the nuclear agreement by creating tight cooperation ahead of the day Iran resumes its nuclear race.

The conclusion is simple: Israel is taking advantage of Trumps election promise to leverage the issues it really cares about. Knowing the Trump administration wont walk away from the nuclear agreement with Iran, Jerusalem hopes to get something in return in much more important areas.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 16:59:12|Editor: Song Lifang

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PHNOM PENH, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn will lead a delegation to attend the 72nd session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and other important meetings to be held in New York from Sept. 19 to 25.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, the Cambodian top diplomat will deliver his speech at the session focusing on the importance of the collective effort to address climate change and terrorism, Cambodia's achievement on Millennium Development Goals and Cambodia's efforts towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Sokhonn will also highlight regional and international issues of common concerns and the latest developments in Cambodia in his speech, the release said.

The minister will also join the Non-Aligned Movement meeting, the conference on interaction and confidence building measures in Asia, the informal ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) ministerial meeting, and the ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings with the president of the UN General Assembly and the UN secretary general, among others.

On the sidelines of the session, Sokhonn will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, Britain, the United States, and other dignitaries.
The march towards US President Donald Trumps suite at the United Nations building in New York likely wont be met by too much patience from the host. The line will be long, the assistants will send leaders in for a tete-a-tete, each leader with his own list of issues, and were all familiar with the president's restlessness.

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Six meetings have already been scheduled from our neighborhood: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordans King Abdullah, Qatars emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Its equally interesting to see who Trump wont be meeting with. In other words, who the president of the worlds greatest power has absolutely no interest in. For example, the leaders of North African states. Trump appears indifferent to the changes and tensions around them. The administration isnt dealing with the bloody war taking place between Saudi Arabia and Yemen (and the cholera outbreak in Yemen, which is claiming hundreds of lives a day), with divided Iraq and with Kurdistan, which hasnt decided yet whether to give in to the threats and cancel its independence referendum at the last minute.

Trump and Netanyahu. All you have to do is turn the key and restart the process (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley say Trump plans to pat the friends on the back and slap the enemies in the face. Going back to our neighborhoods list of meetings, the president is about to waste his precious time. Its no secret that almost all leaders from the neighborhood who have managed to secure a meeting in the presidential suite are going to cost the US hundreds of millions of dollars and maybe more. Each leader and his own interests. At the end of the day, their purpose is to ensure that the American aid wont be cut.

On the UN stage, Trump is expected to blast the Iranians, but he wont cancel the nuclear agreement. According to reports from last week, the Iranian issueboth concerning the nuclear agreement and concerning the Iranian presence in Syria and Lebanonwill be at the focus of his meeting with Netanyahu, but in the closed room Trump will likely also try to solve the Palestinian mess. The package of economic benefits to the Palestinians, which the prime minister is supposed to bring along to the meeting, will possibly allow the American presidentwho is desperately seeking some kind of diplomatic achievementto point to certain progress, even if it's symbolic, as part of the efforts to renew the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Thats insufficient, Mr. President. You should have taken advantage of the fact that Netanyahu and Abbas are in your court at the same time (or manipulated their schedules) and slammed their heads against each other in your suite. Netanyahu says he has no objection to meeting Abbas? Take him at his word. Abbas makes similar overtures? Yallah, be my guest, come over and shake Netanyahus hand.

Trump and Abbas. Its not too late to create this weeks drama (Photo: EPA)

I assume youve learnt enough about the conflict. Even your advisors are already capable of reciting the main issues of the dispute in their sleep. Its true theres nothing new under the Middle Eastern sun and there wont be anything new anytime soon. The conflict wont shrink, Israel wont divide Jerusalem, the refugees wont return. But it could serve as an opportunity to create a momentum of thawing the frozen process. Everything is ready. All you have to do is turn the key and restart the process.

Dont waste your time, Mr. President, with Jordans Abdullah, with Egypt's al-Sisi, with the Qatari emir and even with Erdogan. These meetings wont lead to any progress in the Israeli-Palestinian context. Not one will complain if you force Netanyahu and Abbas to shake hands and at least make sounds of peace. With their vast experience, you can rest assured that they will know how to handle their opposition at home.

You should pressure them, bring them together, make them talk face-to-face, shake hands in front of the camera. If that happens, youll get the image of the diplomatic achievement youve been looking for, and maybe even jumpstart a process. Its not too late to create this weeks drama.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday Tehran would react strongly to any "wrong move" by the United States against the nuclear agreement with world powers.

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"The Iranian nation is standing firm and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the (nuclear accord) will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic," state television quoted Khamenei as saying.

The warnings from the Iranian leader come days after US President Donald Trump claimed Iran violated the agreement's spirit. "We are not going to stand for what they are doing," Trump said.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani (Photo: Reuters)

To that end, last week the United States sanctioned seven Iranian citizens and seven Iranian companies, while easing off other sanctions, in accordance with the nuclear agreement.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington is still working to develop its policy on Iran and will consider the wider threat it poses beyond its nuclear capabilities. "No decision has yet been made," he clarified.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, meanwhile, said Sunday the nuclear agreement between Iran and the superpowers was intended to safeguard the peace and stability of both the region and the world.

"Today, there is a consensus in the world that the agreement benefits security, stability and development in the region and the world," Rouhani said before embarking for New York to participate in the United Nations' General Assembly.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (Photo: Reuters)

Using some flowery language, Rouhani likened global attitudes towards the nuclear agreement to a dinner party. "The opponents of the agreement are restricted to two or three countries, including some in the US, who feel cheated. They believe that a feast has been set out, but that they are deprived of going to the table and having something. This is while they can also choose the right path, enter the room and go to the table; that's fine with us," he said.

Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, set to take place Monday evening in New York, is expected to focus mostly on the Iranian threat.

Netanyahu will present Israel's position to Trump, according to which the US must work to cancel the nuclear deal with Iran or alternatively make significant changes to it.
Maj. A.'s dream was to join the Shayetet 13 frogmen and dive deep underwater. Instead, he found himself flying high in the air after successfully finishing the Air Force Flight Academy and becoming the first Druze navigator in the IDF. A. is the pioneer, with two other Druze men following in his footsteps. They all live in Druze villages in northern Israel, where the draft and career service rates are among the highest in the country.

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When Maj. A., 35, received his first draft notice, he was told he could not join Shayetet 13 as he initially wanted, so he decided to start industrial engineering at the Technion as a soldier-student.

"While I was studying, I received a summons for Flight Academy," A. recounts. "I had to decide whether to continue my studies or begin the sorting process. Eventually, I chose the Air Force and went at it with everything I had."

Maj. A. (Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

A. was accepted and began the course at the Flight Academy, but when he realized he was not designated to become a fighter pilot or a helicopter, he started questioning whether he wanted to continue and become a navigator. Eventually, after consulting with others, he decided not to give up.

"I felt like this was something very important, and that I had the opportunity to make the most of my abilities. The Flight Academy left me with a lasting impression. It's an extraordinary experience, and the uniforms I wear are a source of great pride to me and for the Druze sector," he says.

A. is the eldest of four, and his desire to serve his country is something that was instilled within him at home. His father was a senior officer in the Border Police, while his brother served in the Military Intelligence Directorate.

A., who is married and a father of three, plans to continue serving for many more years and wishes to send a message to the younger generation: "Have high aspirations and don't be afraid to go as far as possible, because there is full equal opportunity in the IDF. Don't be afraid of failure, it would only make you stronger. As Druze, we need to believe in ourselves more."

Like A., combat navigator G., who grew up in a small Druze village in the Galilee, comes from a long and honorable lineage of IDF servicemen. His grandfather was awarded the Head of Regional Command Citation for displaying bravery and daring in an operation on the Egyptian border in the 1950s, while his other grandfather is a retired colonel. G.'s high school friend wrote in his year book that "in 10 years, he'll be the IDF chief of staff."

Thousands of participants took part Friday in a race to commemorate the 421 Druze fighters who fell in all of Israel's battles and terror attacks.

This year's race was in memory of Border Policemen Ha'il Satawi and Kamil Shnaan who were killed in a terror attack on the Temple Mount.

Race in memory of fallen Druze soldiers (Photo: Efi Shrir)

"Taking part in the race is a wonderful way to show solidarity with members of the Druze sector, to send a message of unity and brotherhood and expressed the covenant of life between us and the State of Israel," said the spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif.

Four Druze IAF officers will also participate in the race: the commander of the Patriot missile defense system, the head of the development team in the Ofek satellite and reconnaissance division, the commander of the basic training course in the technical unit and a lieutenant colonel and head of the planning branch of the engineering infrastructure department who is the highest ranking Druze in the Air Force.

"This is a very significant event that reflects the bond between the Druze community and the State of Israel," A. said about the race. "This is a brotherhood, and we must realize it in other fields as well, such as education, academia and employment. Today, unfortunately, the community doesn't receive the full rights it should be getting in other fields."
The Ghana Education Service has indicated that the collection of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) fees will not be be scrapped under the new Free SHS policy.

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Michael Nsowah, the chairman of the GES governing council, spoke to Citi FM, when he noted that the association had the mandate to raise funds for projects they deemed necessary for the school.

Michael Nsowah, Chairman of GES Governing Council

READ ALSO: Ghanaian men are afraid to propose to us- Military women cry out

He stated however, that these levies will only be permitted as long as the failure to pay on a parents side does not interfere with a students continuous access to their educational facilities.

The GES statement follows reports of parents fighting against payment of PTA dues earlier last week after the Free SHS policy took off.

According to a Citi FM report, in one case, the collected levies by the Bongo SHS in the Upper East Region were refunded to the students.

As part of the Free SHS policy, government would also cover certain considerations for teachers, that the PTA usually covered.

Mr. Nsowah further stated: the PTA is an association of mature people. They have come together to support the running of schools, which is a good thing and nobody has said they cannot collect fees. All that the ministry is saying is that, when you want to collect PTA fees, make sure that the collection does not result in a student being sent out of school because of the parents inability to pay the fees.

He further emphasized that the policy will cover all the GES-approved fees for first year students, aside the PTA dues.

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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.

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Popular Nigerian artist, Patoranking, has stated that at a point in his life he came to Ghana in search of a better life, but ended up homeless and on the streets of the Capital, Accra.

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Patoranking

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Speaking in an interview with Cool FM in Lagos, Nigeria, the "No kissing baby" hit-maker expressed that the Nigerian market is a very "powerful" one, and that if Nigerians like your song then the rest of Africa would probably like it to.

"There was a point in my life that I traveled to Ghana in search of greener pastures but I ended up trekking and sleeping on the streets. I decided to come back to Nigeria." he revealed.

The popular Nigerian artist went on to say that after he released the hit songs titled 'Alubarika' and 'Girlie O', he ended up being invited back to Ghana to perform in Ghana, Kumasi Stadium.

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Patoranking's humble beginnings

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Patoranking, born Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie, said he was surprised when he realized that 13 cars made part of the group that came to pick him up.

"I was very surprised but was grateful to God, said Patoranking.

Patoranking and Ghanaian actress and TV personality, Joselyn Dumas

According to Patoranking, comments made by fellow artist, Mr. Eazi, to the effect that a lot of artist were copying his style, and that Ghanaian music in general was having a great influence on Nigerian sounds was wrong.

"We have been having this cultural exchange with Ghana way back since the time Tuface sang My love which featured VIP from Ghana," he said.

"It is false for Mr. Eazi to say he started that style of music because he did not help me sing my hit song, My Woman.... It is the biggest afro-beat song in the Caribbean. I do not agree with his statement. It is wrong. he said emphatically.

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- Former deputy central minister says his children won't go to "free SHS" school.

- He says the quality of education under the policy is questionable

Mr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, a former Deputy Central Regional Minister appointed on the Mills led administration, has stated that he won't allow his kids to participate in the ongoing free senior high School initiative.

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Former deputy central regional minister, Mr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah

READ ALSO: Hanks Anuku happy to be invited to Free SHS launch

Voicing his opinion on the issue of free senior high school education in Ghana, Mr. Quansah question the quality of education students will receive under the initiative.

Due to his concerns over quality, the former government appointee said he would not allow any of his wards to benefit from the newly introduced government initiative.

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"I will not allow my children to be part of it. One of them gained admission to Achimota but I have asked that he attends Akosombo International School where I am guaranteed of quality, he said.

Speaking on Agoo TV, the former Mfanteman constituency lawmaker expressed that he'd rather have his wards in a school where he's sure to get his money's worth, than have them study under a policy who's quality is yet to be proved.

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Last week, the Akufo-Addo led administration launched its flagship campaign initiative, the Free Senior High School program. Though many have welcome government's move to unburden parents with stifling fees, some have questioned the quality of education students could possibly received under such a policy.

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Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 16:59:13|Editor: ZD

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani smiles during an official welcoming ceremony at the airport of Manas some 30 km outside Bishkek on December 22, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua)(File photo)

TEHRAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that he will explain some points about the U.S. misconduct pertaining to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal in his UN speech, official IRNA news agency reported.

Rouhani left Tehran for New York on Sunday to attend the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting, IRNA said.

During his trip, Rouhani will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly and will urge the United States to abide by its commitments to the nuclear deal reached in 2015.

"Today, there is a consensus in the world that the JCPOA (or Iran's nuclear deal) benefits security, stability and development in the region and the world," he was quoted as saying by Press TV.

"The opponents of the JCPOA are restricted to two or three countries, including some in the United States, who feel cheated. They believe that a feast has been set out but that they are deprived of going to the table," Rouhani said.

He said that Iran has been committed to its obligations and this has been confirmed repeatedly by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

After years of tension with the West, Iran struck a deal with the world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in July 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of western and international sanctions.

The international agreement is facing a serious threat of collapse as tensions mounted between Washington and Tehran recently, the report said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who during his election campaign had called the Iranian nuclear deal a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated," approved new sanctions on Tehran for its missile program.

Apart from the JCPOA, Rouhani will also talk about bilateral ties with world countries, regional issues as well as international developments including the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, according to the report.

On Sunday, Rouhani said regional issues have no military solutions, and there is need for political solutions with the participation of other countries.

He also pointed to terrorism as a major problem which all countries should join hands to eradicate in order to return peace and security to the world.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 17:04:15|Editor: ZD

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Xinhua file photo)

by Saud Abu Ramadan

GAZA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Rival Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party agreed on Sunday to reconcile, form a unity government soon and prepare for the general parliamentary and presidential elections, an official Hamas statement said.

"Hamas dissolves the administrative committee and invites the consensus government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to come to the Gaza Strip immediately to practice its missions and carry out its duties," said Hamas statement issued from Cairo on Sunday predawn.

Hamas agreed to dissolve the administrative committee it had formed in March last year to run the daily affairs in the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave that Hamas has been ruling since it had violently taken control of it in the summer of 2007.

The formation of Hamas committee, which was considered by Abbas as a shadow government, caused Abbas' tight unprecedented measures against the Gaza Strip, such as reducing 30 percent of the employee salaries, stop paying for electricity services and sending 7,000 employees to early retirement.

Hamas announcement came following eight days of a dialogue in Cairo between senior Egyptian security intelligence officials and a senior Hamas delegation, headed by the top leaders of the movement, including Ismail Haneya, Hamas politburo chief.

On Friday, Abbas brought an official Fatah delegation to Cairo to join the reconciliation dialogue that Egypt has been sponsoring, before which Abbas chaired a meeting for Palestine Liberation organization executive committee in Ramallah.

Hamas statement, which consisted of four points, also said that the movement accepted to hold the general, presidential and legislative elections in the Palestinian territories, the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

Last presidential elections were held in 2005 and legislative elections in 2006.

It also said that Hamas movement is ready to response to the Egyptian invitation to resume the dialogue soon with Fatah Party on the mechanisms of the full implementation of Cairo Reconciliation Agreement that was reached between the two sides in May 2011.

"Hamas agreed to start the dialogue with Fatah movement on the formation of a Palestinian unity government in the framework of a comprehensive dialogue that includes other Palestinian factions and political powers who also signed in 2011 Cairo agreement," said the Hamas statement.

In May 2011, President Mahmoud Abbas and former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal signed in Cairo a reconciliation agreement that included the formation of a unity government that prepares for general elections within six months; however, the two sides failed to implement it immediately.

The failure was due to deep differences on handing security control to the Palestinian Authority, where the two sides kept trading accusations on who is the party that hinders and blocks the implementation of the agreement until April 2014.

In April 2014, Hamas, Fatah and the PLO factions signed on Shatti (Beach) agreement at the house of the current Hamas chief Ismail Haneya in western Gaza, and agreed to form a consensus technocrat government that runs both Gaza and the West Bank headed by Rami Hamdallah.

The first consensus government was formed in June 2014. However, in July 2014, Israel waged a large-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip that last 50 days. At the end of the war, Hamas and Fatah disagreed on whether the consensus government should pay the salaries of 42,000 Hamas employees or not.

Trade of accusations and disagreements went deeper between the two sides, until Hamas formed the committee to run Gaza and accused the consensus government and Abbas of turning their backs on the Gaza Strip.

Forming the committee outraged Abbas and urged him to carry out punitive measures against Gaza.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in an emailed press statement that Hamas has positively responded to the big Egyptian efforts, which were exerted to achieve reconciliation and ending more than 10 years of internal Palestinian division.

"This position puts President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement in front of the Egyptian efforts and in front of the Palestinian people before a real test in order to achieve our people's aspirations, achieve a real unity and a real partnership," said Barhoum.

Talal Oukal, a Gaza-based political analyst and academic said there is apparently "a wave of optimism this time because it seems that the Egyptians are more serious than before," adding that Hamas and Egypt's ties are getting better, so Hamas "is keen to keep these ties good with Egypt."

"As a result of having Fatah delegation in Cairo, Hamas has been put under the pressure of Egypt and Fatah delegation to immediately respond to Abbas call of dissolving its administrative committee, and it really did and agreed to dissolve it," said Oukal.

However, he wondered if "Hamas committee is the only obstacle for reaching full reconciliation and ending internal division," saying that he is "personally consciously optimistic," because there are many questions that need answers.

Officials also said more information was needed before considering it a done deal.

"Hamas's step is a positive indication if they really dissolved the administrative committee and showed its willingness to hand over control to the unity government," Mahmoud al-Aloul, a member of Abbas Fatah party, told Voice of Palestine radio.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 17:39:22|Editor: ZD

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people including five security personnel were killed and several others injured in a remote-controlled bomb attack in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Bajaur Agency, local Urdu media reported on Sunday.

According to the reports, the blast happened at about 12:30 p.m. local time when a roadside planted bomb hit a security forces' vehicle in Loi Mamond area of Bajaur Agency, one of the seven tribal areas of the country stretching along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

"A government official and five security personnel were among the killed," said a political administration official of the agency, adding that the target of the miscreants was the security forces.

All the injured have been shifted to a nearby hospital in the area by rescue teams, said government resources.

Police and security forces as well as rescue team rushed to the blast site immediately after the bomb attack.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and kicked off a search operation in the surrounding areas for the culprits.

No group has claimed the responsibility for the the attack yet.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 17:59:25|Editor: Song Lifang

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by Ronald Njoroge and Wang Xiaopeng

NAIROBI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's flower industry has tapped into the growing Chinese market in order to boost earnings of the sector, as part of the country's effort to diversify its markets of exporting.

The expanding Chinese economy has created demand for high quality flowers, Kenya Flower Council (KFC) CEO Jane Ngige told Xinhua in an interviews before and during the two-day Naivasha Horticultural Fair, one of the biggest events of the kind in Africa, which concluded on Saturday.

"Chinese consumers are willing to pay a premium price for high quality flowers. We therefore want to tap into the high value flower segment of Chinese market in order enhance our farmers earnings," Ngige said, adding that to meet the demand, the industry is seeking to move up the flower value chain amid rising costs of production.

Most of Kenyan flower exports reach the Asian nation via the Netherlands-based flower auctions, said Ngige, stressing that a number of Kenyan flower firms do send flowers directly to China but in limited quantities.

Kevin Liu is one of a few Chinese businessmen who specializes in exporting Kenyan flowers to China directly. He told Xinhua in an interview at the fair on Friday that his company, Kevin International, exported only 40 tonnes of flowers to China in 2015 when the business was initiated. In the following year, the sales had increased to 320 tonnes, most of which were roses.

Accoring to Liu, the future for Kenyan flowers in China is bright. Ngige also has confidence. She said the Kenyan flowers can be competitive in the Chinese market due to factors including the presence of direct air links between the two countries, though logistics remains a challenge for businesses due to the need to balance inward and outward cargo.

"The flower sector is holding discussions with airlines to come up with best arrangement that will ensure maximum revenue," Ngige said.

Kenya flower industry is producing a relatively stable volume in recent years. Last year, the East African nation exported approximately 133,000 tonnes of flowers, the bulk of which was absorbed by the European Union member states, according to the website of the KFC, which did not provide figures on export to each markets.

According to the ministry of agriculture, the flower sector earned Kenya about 690 million U.S. dollars in 2016, making it one of the leading sources of foreign exchange.

"Kenya produces world class flowers that compete globally due to its geographic location along the equator that has sunshine throughout the year as well as favorable soils," she said.

"In addition, Kenya's location allows it to export flowers seamlessly to all regions of the world," the KFC CEO said. Kenya is among four countries in the world that can produce high quality roses.

Ngige added that increased sales to China will help the industry diversify its export markets. "Currently the industry is very vulnerable as most of its produce is sold to a single economic bloc," she added.

Ngige said that there is urgent need for Kenya to find new markets due to increasing competition in the flower business, noting that Kenya's success in the flower industry has motivated other African nations to enter into the sector.

"In the past decade, we have seen the emergence of Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania as flower exporters," she said.
Iraq and Russia resumed air services on Sept. 17 for the first time since 2004, as stability starts to return to the war-torn country. (AFP Photo)

BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iraq and Russia restored scheduled commercial airline services on Sunday for the first time since 2004, as stability returns to the war-torn country, Iraqi Airways source said.

An Iraqi Airways plane left Baghdad at 10:31 a.m. (0731 GMT) and was expected to arrive at Moscow's Vnukovo airport at 2:19 p.m. (1119 GMT), Iraqi Airways said.

It is a signal on the part of the Iraqi authorities that Russian nationals can safely visit Iraq, it said.

The two countries may also later agree on air travel to the Iraqi city of Basra, the source added.

Russia suspended regular flights to Iraq in 2004 after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 plunged the Arab country into war.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 19:12:45|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Students attend class inside a new classroom at Mannashan Village in Bulangshan Town of Menghai County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A total of 524 people of the Bulang ethnic group live at the village and most of them have built new houses with the help of government under a policy of poverty alleviation. (Xinhua/Yang Zongyou)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 18:24:40|Editor: Song Lifang

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ISTANBUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday reiterated his opposition to an upcoming referendum on independence by the Iraqi Kurds, saying Ankara and Baghdad are aiming to preserve Iraq's territorial integrity.

"We share a 350-kilometer-long border with them, our kin and coreligionists live there and in reality we are the members of the same civilization," Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul prior to his departure for the United States.

"But if you take any step against that understanding we cannot just let you proceed," he spoke of the intention of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government to press ahead with the vote on independence on Sept. 25.

A day earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his government is prepared to intervene militarily if the referendum results in violence.

Erdogan said he is going to meet with al-Abadi in the U.S. and discuss the issue in details.

On Friday, the Turkish leader called on the Iraqi Kurds to cancel the planned vote, noting Ankara will announce its official position on the issue after Turkey's National Security Council and cabinet meet on Sept. 22.

Turkey has been battling against an insurgency by its own Kurds over the past three decades.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 18:29:42|Editor: Song Lifang

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MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least two people, both civilians were killed and two others injured after a blast hit Alinegar district in Afghanistan's eastern Laghman province on Sunday, spokesman for provincial government Sarhadi Zawak said.

"A mine planted by insurgents on a road in Alinegar district went off at noon time killing two innocent civilians and injuring two children including a seven-year-old girl," Zawak told reporters here.

Mehtarlam is the capital of Laghman province, 90 km east of Kabul.

This is the second blast in the eastern region of Afghanistan on Sunday. Four people were killed and 13 others injured in a separate blast in Khost city, the capital of Khost province.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 19:04:55|Editor: Song Lifang

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PHNOM PENH, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian court on Sunday decided to detain a woman for insulting the country's King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen in Facebook posts.

Fruit vendor Moeun Lihor, 20, was arrested on Friday in Banteay Meanchey Province, northwest Cambodia after she posted to her Facebook doctored photographs along with messages that insulted the monarch and the prime minister.

Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court's Judge Chuon Vannak said in a pre-trial detention verdict that the woman was charged with "public insulting" and "provocation to commit discrimination" under the Article 307 and 496 of the Criminal Code.

According to the Criminal Code, public insulting could be punished by a fine of up to 2,500 U.S. dollars, as provocation to commit discrimination could be imprisoned from one year to three years and a fine of up to 1,500 U.S. dollars if the provocation produced no effect.

Government-aligned media Fresh News reported Sunday that Lihor had acknowledged her mistake and said she posted to Facebook the doctored images along with insulting messages at the behest of a Cambodian man living in Australia, whom she has known for three years via Facebook.

In July, a 28-year-old man, Rom Chamroeun, was also arrested for posting a message to Facebook threatening to kill the prime minister. He was charged with "death threat," the crime that could be jailed up to two years if convicted.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 19:09:56|Editor: Song Lifang

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Afghan security force members take part in a military operation against Taliban militants in Jawzjan province, Afghanistan, Sept. 17, 2017. At least 22 militants were killed and 26 others wounded over the past two days in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province as cleanup operations have been continuing, an army official said. (Xinhua/Mohammad Jan Aria)

SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 22 militants have been killed and 26 others wounded over the past two days in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province as cleanup operations have been continuing, an army official said.

"Afghan national army launched military operations in parts of Jawzjan province two days ago to clean up the areas from insurgents," General Abdul Dayan, deputy commander of 209 Shaheen Corps told Xinhua, adding that 22 militants have been killed, 26 injured and five others arrested during the ongoing crackdown.

One army soldier also lost his life, while another injured during the operation, he said.

Jawzjan province with Sheberghan as its capital 390 km north of Kabul is among relatively restive provinces where Taliban and Islamic State group are active, often carrying out attacks against the security forces.
(File photo) A boy picks up fish at Zanzibar, Tanzania, March 30, 2013. (Xinhua/Qi Lin)

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago has begun enforcing the Tobacco Control Regulations, which bans smoking in public places, a senior official said on Friday.

Jamala Taib, Director General of Zanzibar's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said that the decision to enforce the anti-smoking regulations came after realizing that there is a rise of health problems linked to tobacco use such as cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure in the archipelago.

He said: "These new tobacco control regulations provide clear restrictions to tobacco use in public places, tobacco advertisement, promotion, sponsorship packaging and labeling of tobacco products."

"Zanzibar is not producing tobacco and has no cigarettes making factories but there are many people who are being affected by smokes generated by cigarette smokers," Taib said in an interview.

The official added that research has shown that large percentages of people in the Indian Ocean islands who are affected by the reckless cigarette smoking.

According to Taib, 15 percent of deaths of nonsmokers in Zanzibar are caused by those who smoke in public places.

Among other innovative tobacco control measures in Zanzibar include increasing taxes on tobacco products as well as reaching out to youth.

He cited police, other security and the general public as key partners in enforcing smoke free regulations, which requires cigarettes smokers to stay far away from the public for the healthier benefits of non-smokers.

Smokers must be some meters away from public spaces, such as schools, hospitals, bus stations, and even in vehicles. All these are considered public places, according to the official.

Tobacco control legislation provides the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products, and ultimately control the tobacco epidemic in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago off the coast of Tanzania consisting of Zanzibar Island, Pemba Island and many smaller islands.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.
A police vehicle patrols on a street in London, Britain on Sept. 16, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that the terror threat level is raised to critical, which means a further terrorist attack in Britain may be imminent. (Xinhua/Stephen Chung)

LONDON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- British Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Saturday said that the government will suggest new security treaty to keep level of counterterrorism cooperation with the European Union (EU) after Britain leaves the 28-member bloc.

Rudd, who did not give further information on the proposed treaty, made the statement one day after an explosion took place Friday morning on a packed rush-hour carriage at Parsons Green subway station in west London.

An 18-year-old man was arrested earlier Saturday in the departure area of the port of Dover in connection with attack on the London tube bombing, which left at least 29 people injured.

The arrest is "very significant" and the terror threat level remains "critical", Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said.

British authorities raised the country's terror threat level from "severe" to "critical", the highest possible, meaning they think another attack may be imminent

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the fifth terrorist attack in the United Kingdom this year.

The Friday blast was caused by an improvised explosive device, which failed to properly detonate, police said.

London transport authorities said Saturday that they have re-opened Parsons Green subway station.

Previous attacks in Britain this year at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park as well as a blast at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester killed dozens of people and injured more than 150 others.

In late August, senior European Union officials warned that Britain needs to urgently clarify its position on security issues, or risk missing out on vital new counter-terrorism tools.

The commission has been revamping systems to identify who is crossing borders into the EU, and help dismantle cells that are financing jihadist networks, tackle terrorists who use fake identities and upgrade Europol.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 19:50:03|Editor: Song Lifang

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MOSUL, Iraq, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were killed and 18 others wounded on Sunday when a booby-trapped school building detonated near the newly-liberated city of Tal Afar west of Mosul, a local official in Tal Afar said.

The incident occurred in the morning in the school building in the village of Mjareen, leaving five paramilitary fighters and three civilians killed and 18 people wounded, member of Tal Afar city council Tariq Egrish told Xinhua.

The school building was used by the paramilitary tribal fighters as a training center, Egrish said.

Egrish did not give further details on whether the bombs were newly planted or were left from the former presence of the Islamic State (IS) militants in the city.

Explosive experts were sent to check and remove explosives in Tal Afar left by IS militants as the city and its surrounding areas were liberated from IS on Aug. 31, declared by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 20:15:08|Editor: Song Lifang

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TEHRAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday warned against any "wrong" move by the United States, which aims at breaching Iran's 2015 nuclear deal.

"They (the U.S. administration) have shown wickedness and malicious behavior with regard to the JCPOA (nuclear deal)," said Khamenei.

He also called the U.S. administration "truly a vicious of devils," referring to the recent chain of sanctions proposed by President Donald Trump's administration against Iran.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 20:15:10|Editor: Song Lifang

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's government announced on Sunday that it will legalize children adoption by same-sex families by 2018.

Responding to a petition filed to the Supreme Court by same-sex couples, a representative of the State promised to the court that the government will start the legislation of a law to regulate equal adoption rights to same-sex couples.

The petition was filed by the Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement, a progressive Jewish center.

"We will continue to monitor the legislative process," Riki Shapira, a lawyer who represented the petitioners, told the Hebrew-language Ynet news site.

"We will insist on the full implementation of the law in an egalitarian manner," she said.

The recent statement came after in its first response to the court, the State said it will not recognize gay family rights to adopt a child, stating such parenthood might harm the child.

Currently, in Israel, gay people can adopt a child if he or she are over five years old at the time of the adoption or the child was born and legally adopted outside Israel.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 20:40:18|Editor: Song Lifang

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain Sunday invited Tajikistan to join the trade route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying Pakistan offers excellent opportunities to Tajikistan for its imports and exports through the Gwadar port in Balochistan province, according to a statement from the President House in Islamabad.

Hussain was talking to his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan's capital, on the sidelines of 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games during which they discussed cooperation in the energy sector, regional connectivity and trade, the statement said.

The Pakistani president hoped that the legal process for Tajikistan's entry into Quadrilateral Traffic-in-Transit Agreement (QTTA) would provide the Central Asian country a legal framework to access Pakistani seaports through CPEC.

The QTTA is a transit trade deal between China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Hussain said Pakistan attached great priority to the timely completion of the Central Asia South Asia energy project commonly known as CASA-1000 by 2018 and looked forward to importing electricity from Tajikistan.

The CASA-1000 would transit excess Kyrgyzstan's and Kazakhstan's electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with the Central Asian countries particularly Tajikistan as the two countries enjoyed fraternal ties, shared common goals of peace and prosperity for their peoples and the region as a whole," Hussain said.

He stressed the need to finalize the bilateral transit trade agreement, which he said would create a win-win situation by creating road links between Pakistan and Tajikistan.

He said resumption of direct air link between the two countries in May 2016 was a big step forward and stressed the need for resumption of flights by Tajikistan's Somon Air which had suspended within three months of its launch.

President Rahmon agreed to give directive to his government for resumption of Somon Air flights to Pakistan, the statement said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 21:05:24|Editor: Song Lifang

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's official Central Bureau of Statistics scaled down on Sunday its economic growth estimates for 2017's second quarter to 2.4 percent, citing a drop in exports.

According to the bureau's initial forecasts, Israel's gross domestic product (GDP) should have grown by 2.7 percent in the second quarter of 2017.

However, a 4.1 percent drop in exports during the second quarter of 2017 led the bureau to update the growth estimation to 2.4 percent. The decrease continues a trend of sluggish export. Export composes some 40 percent of Israel's economic activity.

The lower GDP estimates still mark a positive change after Israel saw a growth of merely 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2017.

A recent forcast of Israel's central bank projects that the Israeli economy will grow by 3.4 percent in 2017, a target that looks feasible, according to analysts.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 21:55:39|Editor: Song Lifang

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TEHRAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iranian senior officials on Sunday warned against the U.S. "breach" of nuclear deal reached in 2015 and called for Washington's adherence to its pertaining commitments.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday warned against any "wrong" move by the United States which might violate the deal.

"They (the U.S. administration) have shown wickedness and malicious behavior with regard to the JCPOA (nuclear deal)," said Khamenei.

During the negotiations with the world powers in 2013-2015, "the country's officials reached the conclusion that they should negotiate and ignore some of their rights so that sanctions would be removed," Khamenei said.

"However, today, we see that despite all agreements and promises and many discussions during the negotiations, the United States treats these negotiations and their outcome in a totally oppressive and bullying manner," he was quoted as saying by Press TV.

Khamenei noted that "the Iranian nation is standing firmly, and any wrong move by the hegemonic system concerning the JCPOA would receive the Islamic republic's reaction," Tasnim news agency reported.

He also noted that the reason behind insecurity in the Middle East can be traced back to the "wicked and mischievous interventions" by the United States.

If the regional nations and governments want to block the infiltration of hegemonic powers like the United States into the region, they must really believe in their own ability, he said, adding that "If we step back, the enemy will step forward."

Moreover, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that he will explain some points about the U.S. misconduct pertaining to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal in his UN speech, official IRNA news agency reported.

During his trip, Rouhani will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly and will urge the United States to abide by its commitments to the nuclear deal reached in 2015.

"Today, there is a consensus in the world that the JCPOA (or Iran's nuclear deal) benefits security, stability and development in the region and the world," he was quoted as saying by Press TV.

"The opponents of the JCPOA are restricted to two or three countries, including some in the United States, who feel cheated. They believe that a feast has been set out but that they are deprived of going to the table," Rouhani said before leaving Tehran for New York on Sunday to attend the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting.

He said that Iran has been committed to its obligations and this has been confirmed repeatedly by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

On Saturday, Rouhani urged the EU to press the United States to abide by its commitments to the nuclear deal reached in 2015, Tehran Times daily reported.

"We expect the European Union to fully implement the nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, and press the United States to be committed to its obligations to the deal, Rouhani said.

"Iran also expects the EU to send this strong message to the U.S. (administration)," Rouhani said during a meeting with the visiting president of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium, Siegfried Baracke.

Iran is determined to use the post-JCPOA atmosphere and expand relations with European countries, especially Belgium, he added.

After years of tension with the West, Iran struck a deal with the world powers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in July 2015, under which Iran agreed to limit its uranium-enrichment activities in return for the lifting of western and international sanctions.

The international agreement is facing a serious threat of collapse as tensions mounted between Washington and Tehran recently.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 21:55:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) agreed to strengthen cooperation to fight terrorism, secessionism and extremism at a meeting on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by its member states -- India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- as well as delegates from the executive committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).

Plans, a draft protocol, a draft memorandum and resolutions were approved at the meeting to crack down on terrorism, secessionism and extremism.

According to a decision made at the meeting, Kyrgyzstan will hold the presidency of RATS from September 2017 to September 2018, and the next meeting of RATS will be held in April 2018 in Uzbekistan.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:05:44|Editor: Song Lifang

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LONDON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom maintained the highest terrorism threat level in London and other parts of the country on Sunday after a second man was arrested in connection with the Friday explosion in a packed rush-hour carriage at a subway station in the western part of the British capital.

The 21-year-old man was arrested in Hounslow around 11:50 p.m. BST on Saturday under the Terrorism Act, police said early Sunday. He was taken to a south London police station and remains in custody.

The latest arrest was made after London's Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Neil Basu said police were keeping an "open mind" over whether more than one suspect was involved in the bombing.

Basu, who described the arrest as "very significant," said, "If there are other people responsible it's our job to find them and that is part of the reason that we are remaining at critical threat."

The British raised the terrorism threat level from "severe" to "critical" just hours after the explosion, which was caused by an improvised explosive device.

The "critical," the highest of the five levels used to describe the threat, means a further terrorist attack may be imminent.

Thirty people were injured, none of them seriously, after the explosion took place at Parsons Green subway station in west London on Friday, prompting the police to stage a massive hunt for those who are responsible for the fifth terrorist attack in the country over the past six months.

Previous attacks in London this year at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park as well as a blast at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester killed dozens of people and injured more than 150.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Friday subway explosion.

At least 1,000 armed police are patrolling streets in London, and the military forces are mobilized to protect strategic points across the country.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on Sunday that an extra of 24 million pounds (about 32 million U.S. dollars) is to be pumped into counter-terrorism policing in the wake of this year's terror attacks.

The extra funding will go to counter-terrorism police including the police forces in London and Manchester to assist with their response to the threat of terrorism and help meet costs relating to the recent terrorist attacks.

"The threat we face from terrorism is becoming more complex and diverse," Rudd said in a statement. "That is why we are reviewing our counter-terrorism strategy to ensure the authorities have the powers they need to halt terrorist activity and why, today, I have announced 24 million pounds of additional support for counter-terrorism policing this year."

The new government move came as the investigation into the subway blast is underway.

Armed police launched a raid on a property in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey following the arrest of the 21-year-old man.

As many as 60 homes in the area were evacuated "as a precaution."

At present, British police are raiding a home in Stanwell, about 25 kilometres southwest of central London, linked to the arrest of the second suspect.

Experts said the bomb, which was placed in a bucket and concealed in a plastic bag, could have been far more destructive if it had fully detonated.

Two days after the attack, all but one of the people injured had been released from hospital, the British National Health Service said.

One person was still being treated at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which has a special unit for treating burns.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:20:51|Editor: Mengjie

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People visit an exhibition of German Art in China at the Royal Ancestral Temple in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 17, 2017. The opening ceremony of " Germany 8 -- German Art in China" was held here on Sunday. The massive art shows including 7 themed exhibitions will display 320 works of 55 German artists. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang)

BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Art lovers in Beijing are able to take a close look at the diverse works of 55 contemporary German artists as a large exhibition opened at the Imperial Ancestral Temple art gallery on Sunday.

In celebration of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Germany, the "Deutschland 8 -- German Art in China" exhibition at seven different venues, displays nearly 320 works of German artists since the 1950s in painting, sculpture, photography and others.

The exhibition, which will last until October, is sponsored by China's Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Foundation for Art and Culture in Germany.

"The exhibition opens a new chapter and an innovative path for cross-cultural exchange between China and Germany, and between China and Europe," said Fan Di'an, president of the Chinese art academy.

According to Walter Smerling, chairman of the German foundation, the preparation for the exhibition took nearly two years and the masterpieces on display were collected from a number of German museums, galleries and individuals.

A forum will be held for Chinese and German scholars and artists to discuss contemporary art development.

The Germany art show is in response to the successful exhibition, "China 8 -- Contemporary Art from China," which was held in eight German cities and nine museums in 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:30:54|Editor: Yurou

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CAPE TOWN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Africa will sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons next week during the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Presidency said on Sunday.

President Jacob Zuma will ink the treaty on behalf of South Africa on September 20, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said.

Signature of the treaty reflects South Africa's continued commitment towards the achievement of a world free from the threat posed by nuclear weapons, Ngqulunga said.

This will ensure that nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes only, he added.

The Presidency issued the statement as Zuma arrived in New York to attend the UN General Assembly session which is under the theme: "Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for all on a Sustainable Planet".

This will be the first General Debate for the newly appointed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who started his term on January 1, 2017.

South Africa fully supports Guterres who identifies his major priority as the achievement of sustainable peace and security through conflict prevention by establishing a "culture of prevention" in the UN, Ngqulunga said.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination. It was passed on July 7, 2017.

South Africa, the only country in the world to dismantle nuclear weapons it developed, has already been a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1991.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:40:56|Editor: Lu Hui

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Police patrol on a street in London, Britain on Sept. 17, 2017. British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on Sunday that the United Kingdom's terrorism threat level has been lowered from "critical" to "severe" after being raised to the highest possible in the wake of the Friday explosion at a subway station in west London. (Xinhua/Stephen Chung)

LONDON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on Sunday that the United Kingdom's terrorism threat level has been lowered from "critical" to "severe" after being raised to the highest possible in the wake of the Friday explosion at a subway station in west London.

Rudd made the statement after British police arrested two suspects in connection of the explosion in a packed rush-hour carriage on Friday at Parsons Green subway station.

The level of "critical", the highest of the five levels used to describe the threat, means a further terrorist attack may be imminent. The level of "severe" is the second highest level.

The threat level system, introduced on Aug. 1, 2000, is based on available intelligence, terrorist capability, terrorist intention and timescale.

The two suspects -- one is 18 and the other is 21 -- were arrested by British police on Saturday.

Thirty people were injured in the explosion, none of them seriously, in the wake of the subway blast, prompting the police to stage a massive hunt for those who are responsible for the fifth terrorist attack in the country over the past six months.

Previous attacks in London this year at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park as well as a blast at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester killed dozens of people and injured more than 150.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Friday subway explosion.
New addition

The North Dakota Safety Council has hired Malinda Weninger as an accounting assistant.

Weninger has an associate degree from North Dakota State College of Science and more than 30 years of experience in accounting, budgeting and grant management. She will assist the accounting department with credit card deposits, class reconciliation and invoicing.

Barber hired

Mug & Brush Barber Shop hired new barber, Danielle Thurston.

Thurston is a master barber who recently graduated from Moler Barber College in Fargo. She specializes in head and beard cuts and trims, scalp and facial massages, and hot towel shaves.

Agent achieves

Ryan Schnell of Bismarck was the top producer of Farmers Union Insurance Commercial Lines Insurance and was also a top five producer of PACCO Auto Insurance for the company during the month of July.

Schnell is the insurance agent for CCU Insurance Agency LLC, a partnership of Farmers Union Insurance and Capital Credit Union.

Papke hired

Mandy Papke, family nurse practitioner, joined Sanford Seventh & Thayer Clinic in Bismarck as a nephrology provider.

She will diagnose and treat kidney disease and disorders in adolescents and adults.

Papke graduated from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks with a master's degree in nursing.

State employees honored

Two state employees were recognized for their service.

North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Oil and Gas Division, Williston District Supervisor John Axtman received the Governors Landmark Award for excellence in management.

Karlene Fine, executive secretary of the Industrial Commission, received the Harvest Award, given to individuals who have made an exceptional commitment to quality, demonstrated in their everyday work.

John always demonstrates the highest caliber of work ethic and commitment to staff development and his dedication provides the backbone of Oil and Gas Division field leadership in Williston, department director Lynn Helms said in a statement. John is an outstanding educator and mentor to junior field regulatory staff and possesses a skill set and oil and gas field knowledge that is incredibly beneficial to this agency.

Fine has worked for the State of North Dakota for more than 40 years.

Karlene has an unparalleled knowledge of state government having worked for seven gubernatorial administrations, and she oversees 14 entities of the Industrial Commission, including work with the Department of Mineral Resources, Helms said. She is extremely thorough, thoughtful and absolutely one of kind.

Institute adds four

Dakota Eye Institute recently hired three new ophthalmic technicians.

Shannarae Fischer, of Bismarck, Tammy Ingles, of Driscoll, and Emily Sandvick, of Fond Du Lac, Wisc., and Mandan, will perform initial screenings and preliminary eye function testing for patients prior to seeing the doctor.

Dakota Eye also recently hired Karen Johner, a native of Mandan who attended Minot State University, as a receptionist.

Simburger hired

Isaac Simburger has joined Braun Intertec as an American Petroleum Institute inspector for pipelines and tanks.

Simburger has more than 13 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, power generation, ethanol fuels as well as in construction and mining.

Gessner promoted

Widmer Roel promoted Amanda Gessner, certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner, to audit supervisor.

Gessner received her bachelors degree from the University of Minnesota and has been with the company since 2015.

Binstock certified

Derek Binstock, a registered assistant with Choice Financial Wealth Management, recently passed the General Securities Representative Examination. He also passed the Uniform Combined State Law Examination.

The General Securities examination enables Binstock to solicit, purchase and sell security products. The Uniform Combined State Law examination registers candidates as both securities agents and investment adviser representatives.

Binstock has been with the office since November 2015.

Gee leads division

The North Dakota Department of Human Services has selected Michele Gee as director of its Economic Assistance Division.

The division administers programs that help qualifying low-income individuals, families with children, older adults and people with disabilities meet their basic food and household needs.

In addition to leading the division, Gee also will continue to serve as a team member in the development and testing of the departments eligibility systems.

Gee has more than 22 years of experience. For the past two years, she has served as the public assistance director participating in strategic planning, supervising staff in the administration of economic assistance programs and working to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations.

In her tenure with the department, she has served as the assistant director and program administrator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She also spearheaded the implementation of the SNAP statewide electronic benefit transfer system.

She has a bachelors degree in business administration and an associates degree in management information systems, both from the University of Mary.

New agent

Jo Ellen Colling Kralicek has joined the Century 21 Morrison as a real estate agent.

Kralicek is from Bismarck. She brings 25 years of customer service and sales experience to the Century 21 Morrison team as well as a deep knowledge of the local area.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:56:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAPE TOWN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of robbery suspects have been arrested in an intensified anti-crime operation in four robbery-stricken provinces, the South African Police Services (SAPS) said on Sunday.

The Trio Crime Combating Interventions, carried out in Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal provinces, has been yielding significant results, SAPS Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.

The operation has been put in place to intensify the prevention and investigation of house robberies, business robberies and hijackings as well as to trace and apprehend the perpetrators of these crimes.

The operation involves members from Crime Intelligence, Visible Policing, Tactical Response Team, Public Order Police, Detective Services and the Organized Crime Unit.

For the period June to August this year, the operation has led to the arrest of more than 307 suspects, confiscation of 43 firearms and 209 rounds of ammunition, and recovery of 88 stolen or hijacked vehicles, according to Naidoo.

During the operation, there have been a total of 8,919 vehicle check points conducted with over 60,000 vehicles, over 163,000 people and nearly 3,000 premises being searched, he said.

"While we gear up for these operations, we call upon all people in South Africa to continue assisting the police in its efforts to combat crimes," said Naidoo.

Some of the ways people can be of assistance is to remain vigilant at all times and provide the police with information on all criminal activities, preferably before they are committed, he added.

The crackdown was carried out amid growing fear for crime among South Africans.

According to the recent Victims of Crime Survey by Statistics South Africa, housebreaking and home robbery are the most feared types of crime in South Africa.

This is despite households experiencing a decline in housebreaking and home robberies from 931,000 incidents in 2010 to 807,000 in 2015/16, the survey shows.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:56:04|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Wang Linjuan, one of China's most wanted fugitives, returned to China and turned herself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Sunday.

Wang, 37, a former manager assistant at a subbranch of China Postal Express & Logistics in south China's Guangdong Province, fled to Canada in December 2011 after being accused of misappropriation of public funds, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" of 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

Wang is the 45th on the list to have returned.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 22:56:04|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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PARIS, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Four female American tourists were attacked with hydrochloric acid by an unknown woman on Sunday morning at Marseille's main train station (southern France), and two of them were touched in the face, local newspaper La Provence reported.

The four tourists, who are in their 20s, in transit from Marseille to Paris, were attacked at about 11:00 a.m. at the train station Saint-Charles. The two victims touched in the face were transported to the hospital and the two others were simply shocked.

According to police source quoted by La Provence, it's said to be the gesture of a woman, mentally unbalanced, who stayed in place after attacking and exhibited her own photos presenting herself with burns. The 41-year-old perpetrator was arrested and detained by the police.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 23:06:09|Editor: Mengjie

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CHENGDU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Tourism in southwest China's Sichuan Province, home to most of the country's wild pandas, has developed rapidly in recent years thanks to its rich cultural and natural resources and promotion.

The fourth Sichuan International Travel Expo, which opened Sunday in Emeishan City, will witness the signing of 28 contracts valued at 68.5 billion yuan (10.5 billion U.S. dollars), said Fu Yonglin, director of the Sichuan Tourism Development Committee.

Featuring opening-up and green development driven by tourism, the weeklong expo has attracted more than 2,000 guests from 74 countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, Russia and Germany.

Last year, Sichuan hosted 630 million domestic tourist arrivals and 3 million overseas visitors. Tourism accounts for 8.4 percent of the province's economy.

In the first half of this year, Sichuan tourism revenue grew 19.3 percent year-on-year to reach 45.8 billion yuan.

"We strive to develop tourism into an industry of more than 100 billion yuan," said Peng Lin, Party chief of Leshan City, home to Mount Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha on UNESCO's heritage list.

During the expo, seminars will be held to discuss sustainable tourism development.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 23:16:15|Editor: Liangyu

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Governor of Egypt's Luxor Governorate Mohamed Badr receives an interview with Xinhua in Luxor, Egypt, on Sept. 9, 2017. Egypt is eager to tap into the Chinese market to revive its ailing tourism industry, Governor of Egypt's Luxor Governorate Mohamed Badr told Xinhua in a recent interview. China has become the fourth largest exporter of tourists to Egypt since the beginning of 2017. Official figures from the Egyptian Embassy in Beijing show a total of 147,000 Chinese tourists visited Egypt in the first five months of 2017, marking a 94 percent rise from the same period last year. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

LUXOR, Egypt, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Egypt is eager to tap into the Chinese market to revive its ailing tourism industry, Governor of Egypt's Luxor Governorate Mohamed Badr told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Badr noted that the number of Chinese tourists has already notably increased after the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Egypt in early 2016.

The Chinese president toured Luxor during his visit to Egypt, and the reports of this visit by major Chinese media outlets helped attract more Chinese tourists to visit Luxor, the governor said.

Badr said the inflow of Chinese tourists has somehow revived the tourism business in Luxor, which is a favorite attraction for tourists after the Pyramids.

Tourism in Egypt, a major source of its national income and foreign currency reserve, was dealt a further blow by the Russian airplane crash in North Sinai in October, 2015 after which several countries, including Britain and Russia, suspended their flights to Egypt.

This aggravated the recession in the country's already ailing tourism sector due to political instability.

Even before the Russian plane crash, Egypt suffered a sharp decline in tourists due to three years of political turmoil, including two mass uprisings that toppled two presidents, forcing several countries to ban their citizens from traveling to Egypt for safety reasons.

Luxor, once an ancient Egyptian capital, suffered similarly as other Egyptian tourist cities.

Amid the dire conditions, Egypt now pins big hope on China, a growing tourist market, to revive its tourism sector.

"We are focusing more on the Chinese market. I have given orders to add Chinese language to all direction signs on roads and tourist sites across Luxor," Badr said.

The governor said he has a general impression that the Chinese tourists, who are very well educated, come to Luxor because they want to learn more about the history of ancient Egypt.

Official figures from the Egyptian Embassy in Beijing show that the number of Chinese tourists who visited Egypt in the first five months this year nearly doubled from last year.

A total of 147,000 Chinese tourists visited the most populous Arab country from January to May 2017, marking a 94 percent rise from the same period last year.

China has become the fourth largest exporter of tourists to Egypt since the beginning of 2017.

Statistics also show that Chinese tourists spent 850,000 tourist nights in Egypt from January to May 2017, compared to 161,000 tourist nights in the same period last year.

"We have some four sister cities in China and in the next months we will have two more Chinese cities," the governor said, adding that he hopes to have more direct flights between Luxor and Chinese cities.

Badr noted that he is trying to market Luxor as a tourist attraction by giving Chinese tourists a good impression so every visitor would have a good story to tell back home.

Badr stressed that Luxor is totally safe, as his team is working hard to increase security and tourist facilities.

"We have also developed the road network in the province. I expect more tourists, mainly Chinese, to come to Luxor this year," he said.

Speaking about a Chinese initiative to construct an opera house in Luxor, Badr said a protocol of cooperation would be signed soon.

"We have already allocated a piece of land for the opera in front of the Nile," he said, adding that it will be jointly funded by culture ministries in China and Egypt.

In January 2016, Egypt's cabinet approved a Chinese initiative to establish a new opera house in Luxor, which was proposed during the visit of President Xi to the historic city.

"I think it is very important to establish such a cultural and artistic minaret in Luxor. I believe that we will know soon when the construction work will start," Badr said.

The governor predicted that it will take 18 to 20 months to finish building the opera house.

"We have connections in history, we are the cradles of civilization; we are developing the world together," Badr said, referring to the friendship between Egypt and China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 23:16:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Iran in October, amid rising tension over Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) independence referendum on Sept. 25, local media said Sunday.

Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will preside at the fifth Turkey-Iran High Level Strategic Council meeting on Oct. 4 in Tehran, local Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The upcoming visit would focus on bilateral relationships and the regional developments, especially situations in Iraq and Syria, Erdogan said in a televised interview over the weekend.

The fight against terror is also an important topic, he added.

Erdogan also announced that Turkey's Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar would also pay a visit to Iran prior to his scheduled trip on Oct. 4.

The Turkey-Iran relations has revived recently, with their common interests on Kurdish issues and security cooperation. On Aug. 16, Iran's Chief of General Staff Mohammad Bagheri paid a visit to Ankara and discussed ways to fight terrorism as well as border security with his Turkish counterpart.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 23:41:25|Editor: Mengjie

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Students perform during the awarding ceremony of the 7th Ambassador Cup Chinese Language Contest and the 6th Chinese cultural performance competition in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, Sept. 17, 2017. Nepal on Sunday hosted the award ceremony of the 7th Ambassador Cup Chinese language contest and the 6th Chinese cultural performance competition in Kathmandu.(Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

KATHMANDU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Nepal on Sunday hosted the award ceremony of the 7th Ambassador Cup Chinese language contest and the 6th Chinese cultural performance competition in Kathmandu.

More than 70 schools and nearly 650 students took part in both competition organized by the Chinese Embassy in Nepal and hosted by Volunteer Chinese Teachers Home in Nepal.

Addressing the awarding ceremony, Nepali Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara said such educational and cultural contests will boost the people-to-people exchanges between Nepal and China.

"Students who are learning Chinese language within the country or in China under various scholarship programs can contribute to the building of new nation," Mahara said.

Mahara said that Nepal can highly benefit from China's Belt and Road Initiative in various areas including trade, road and railway connectivity, development of infrastructures and people-to-people relations.

Addressing the function, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong said that such educational and cultural exchanges are important for strengthening bilateral ties.

According to the volunteer Chinese Teachers Home Nepal, nearly 15,000 Nepalese students are learning Chinese language across the country. Around 70 elementary and middle schools along with a half dozen colleges offer courses in Chinese language to their students.

Beside Chinese language, Chinese cultural activities like dance, martial arts, calligraphy among others are populator in Nepal.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-17 23:41:27|Editor: Yurou

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KATHMANDU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- As Nepal is adopting a federal system of government, closer attention to sequencing political, financial and administrative decentralization will be important, the World Bank said here on Sunday in its latest "Nepal Development Update."

The World Bank said in a statement that a large proportion of federal spending is expected to be passed on to subnational governments, ultimately increasing public spending from fiscal year 2018.

However, the Update cautioned that unresolved issues surrounding the implementation of the new federal architecture could challenge budget execution, particularly during the upcoming year.

"Nepal's new fiscal federalism system suggests a marked asymmetry between stronger decentralization of spending responsibilities and relatively unchanged low decentralization of tax collection powers," the statement read.

Takuya Kamata, the World Bank's country manager for Nepal said that the subnational governments will play an increasingly critical role in Nepal's public expenditures.

"A system of fiscal transfers that is designed for transparency and predictability and supported by a small set of simple rules, could go a long way in helping meet the development objectives of federal Nepal," the statement quoted Kamata as saying.

Meanwhile, in its semi-annual assessment of economic performance, the Update noted that economic activity in Nepal has been highly impacted by severe floods affecting over a third of the country.

"Economic growth is expected to be lower than earlier forecast and is expected to average 4.5 percent over the next two fiscal years," the statement said.

Over 80 percent of land in the southern Terai, the country's food basket, was affected in the August floods that killed over 100 people and displaced thousands of families.
| 2017-09-18 06:08:18|Editor: Liangyu

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Photo provided by Brunei's Information Department shows Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (C), who is also the country's Minister of Defense and Supreme Commander of Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF), delivers a speech on the 56th RBAF anniversary in Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei, on Sept. 17, 2017. Brunei's armed forces should be ready to deal with the cyber-related threats which prevailed in the digital age, said Haji Hassanal Bolkiah when delivering a speech on the 56th RBAF anniversary on Sunday. (Xinhua)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's armed force should be ready to deal with the cyber-related threats which prevailed in the digital age, said Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei's Sultan on Sunday.

Delivering a speech on the 56th Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) anniversary, the Sultan, who is also the country's minister of defense and supreme commander of RBAF, emphasized the importance for RBAF personnel to strengthen their respective internal fortress and adhere to the ethics of social media usage as part of the wider efforts to safeguard against radicalization and extremism.

Apart from this, the Sultan also raised the increasing prevalence of cyber-related threats in today's digital age and took note of the on-going efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Defense and the RBAF in enhancing Cyber Defense.

In addition to highlighting the current nature of today's complex threats, Haji Hassanal Bolkiah also touched upon the need for the RBAF to always focus on devising smarter ways towards ensuring the necessary levels of preparedness.

In this regard, he urged the Ministry of Defense to implement a Prioritization Exercise and Equipment Care more comprehensively so as to ensure that existing financial allocations are optimally utilized.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 00:56:45|Editor: Yurou

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Vehicles are submerged in flood in great Houston area, Texas, the United States, Aug. 27, 2017 as the Hurricane Harvey made its strong landfall over the Texas Gulf Coast Friday night. Widespread and worsening flood conditions prompted the closure of nearly every major road in Houston as the outer bands of Harvey swept through the Houston area over the weekend. Latest news reports said the storm death toll has climbed to at least 5. (Xinhua/Song Qiong)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that the United States could stay in the Paris Agreement on climate change under right conditions.

"Under the right conditions, the president said he's open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others in what we all agree is a challenging issue," said Tillerson in an interview with CBS.

Tillerson's remarks were in line with previous statements from the U.S. State Department which said that the United States is "open to re-engaging in the Paris Agreement if the United States can identify terms that are more favorable to it, its business, its workers, its people, and its taxpayers."

U.S. President Donald Trump on June 1 announced his decision to withdraw from Paris Agreement, citing concerns about the accord's threat to the U.S. economy as a main reason for the withdrawal.

"The cost to the economy at this time (by 2040) would be close to 3 trillion U.S. dollars in lost GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs," said Trump then, citing figures from a disputed study commissioned by the American Council for Capital Formation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, both known for lobbying against climate regulations.

The decision to withdraw fulfilled a crucial campaign promise by Trump, who once called climate change "a hoax."

In fact, before he announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Trump had already taken a series of actions aimed at reversing his predecessor Barack Obama's climate policies.

In March, with coal miners standing by, Trump signed an executive order mainly targeting the Clean Power Plan, a signature effort by Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants in keeping with U.S. promises of the Paris Agreement.

In his first budget request, Trump also proposed a 31 percent reduction in funding the U.S. Environment Protection Agency.

Yet, despite his decision to leave the Paris Agreement, Trump would stick to the four-year-long withdrawal process stipulated by the Paris Agreement, which means that the U.S. withdrawal won't take effect till November 2020, about two months away from the end of his first term.
LUXOR, Egypt, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Egypt is eager to tap into the Chinese market to revive its ailing tourism industry, Governor of Egypt's Luxor Governorate Mohamed Badr told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Badr noted that the number of Chinese tourists has already notably increased after the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Egypt in early 2016.

The Chinese president toured Luxor during his visit to Egypt, and the reports of this visit by major Chinese media outlets helped attract more Chinese tourists to visit Luxor, the governor said.

Badr said the inflow of Chinese tourists has somehow revived the tourism business in Luxor, which is a favorite attraction for tourists after the Pyramids.

Tourism in Egypt, a major source of its national income and foreign currency reserve, was dealt a further blow by the Russian airplane crash in North Sinai in October, 2015 after which several countries, including Britain and Russia, suspended their flights to Egypt.

This aggravated the recession in the country's already ailing tourism sector due to political instability.

Even before the Russian plane crash, Egypt suffered a sharp decline in tourists due to three years of political turmoil, including two mass uprisings that toppled two presidents, forcing several countries to ban their citizens from traveling to Egypt for safety reasons.

Luxor, once an ancient Egyptian capital, suffered similarly as other Egyptian tourist cities.

Amid the dire conditions, Egypt now pins big hope on China, a growing tourist market, to revive its tourism sector.

"We are focusing more on the Chinese market. I have given orders to add Chinese language to all direction signs on roads and tourist sites across Luxor," Badr said.

The governor said he has a general impression that the Chinese tourists, who are very well educated, come to Luxor because they want to learn more about the history of ancient Egypt.

Official figures from the Egyptian Embassy in Beijing show that the number of Chinese tourists who visited Egypt in the first five months this year nearly doubled from last year.

A total of 147,000 Chinese tourists visited the most populous Arab country from January to May 2017, marking a 94 percent rise from the same period last year.

China has become the fourth largest exporter of tourists to Egypt since the beginning of 2017.

Statistics also show that Chinese tourists spent 850,000 tourist nights in Egypt from January to May 2017, compared to 161,000 tourist nights in the same period last year.

"We have some four sister cities in China and in the next months we will have two more Chinese cities," the governor said, adding that he hopes to have more direct flights between Luxor and Chinese cities.

Badr noted that he is trying to market Luxor as a tourist attraction by giving Chinese tourists a good impression so every visitor would have a good story to tell back home.

Badr stressed that Luxor is totally safe, as his team is working hard to increase security and tourist facilities.

"We have also developed the road network in the province. I expect more tourists, mainly Chinese, to come to Luxor this year," he said.

Speaking about a Chinese initiative to construct an opera house in Luxor, Badr said a protocol of cooperation would be signed soon.

"We have already allocated a piece of land for the opera in front of the Nile," he said, adding that it will be jointly funded by culture ministries in China and Egypt.

In January 2016, Egypt's cabinet approved a Chinese initiative to establish a new opera house in Luxor, which was proposed during the visit of President Xi to the historic city.

"I think it is very important to establish such a cultural and artistic minaret in Luxor. I believe that we will know soon when the construction work will start," Badr said.

The governor predicted that it will take 18 to 20 months to finish building the opera house.

"We have connections in history, we are the cradles of civilization; we are developing the world together," Badr said, referring to the friendship between Egypt and China.
A vintage car drives past the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, June 19, 2017. (REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that the United States was considering whether or not to close down the U.S. embassy in Cuba after U.S. diplomats fell ill.

"We have it under evaluation and it's a very serious issue with respect to the harm some individuals have suffered," said Tillerson in an interview with CBS.

"We've brought some of those people home. It's under review," he added.

The U.S. State Department revealed last month that at least 16 Americans working at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, suffered physical symptoms caused by some "incidents."

The U.S. authorities later confirmed that at least 21 Americans suffered physical symptoms.

No details of the injuries have been released, but media reports said the affected Americans suffered a severe hearing loss and at least one victim suffered some "brain damage."

The United States expelled two Cuban diplomats in late May after some U.S. Embassy personnel in Havana reported that some "incidents" caused "a variety of physical symptoms" in them.

Cuba said that it was investigating allegations by the United States that unspecified "incidents" caused physical symptoms in Americans serving at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, after two Washington-based Cuban diplomats were expelled.

"Cuba has never, nor would it ever, allow that the Cuban territory be used for any action against accredited diplomatic agents or their families," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The United States and Cuba officially resumed a diplomatic relationship in July 2015, more than five decades after they severed it.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 02:52:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DOHA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani patronized the opening of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in New York on Sunday, QNA has reported.

The two-day event will explore opportunities to strengthen cooperation between the Islamic world and the United States.

The forum aims to chart the ways in which the relationship between the two sides should be in light of the developments of the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump will hold a meeting with the head of Qatar on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Tuesday to discuss the Gulf crisis.
People look at a bionic robot at an exhibition during the 2017 national mass innovation and entrepreneurship week in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 15, 2017. More than 300 items and projects on artificial intelligence, biotechnology, new material, energy conservation, environmental protection, intelligent robot and Internet plus were displayed at the exhibition. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

by Xinhua writers Wang Naishui, Li Ming

NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Artificial intelligence (AI), along with other financial technology (fintech) innovations, are significantly changing the ways that financial business are being run, especially in the fields like trading, insurance and risk management, leading the traditional financial industry into a new era.

ROBOTS REPLACING HUMANS

Back in 2000, Goldman Sach's New York headquarters employed 600 traders, buying and selling stock on the orders of the investment bank's clients. Today there are just two equity traders left, as automated trading programs have taken over the rest of the work.

Meanwhile, BlackRock, the world's biggest money manager, also cut more than 40 jobs earlier this year, replacing some of its human portfolio managers with artificially intelligent, computerized stock-trading algorithms.

Those two big companies are not the only financial institutions replacing human jobs with robots.

By 2025, AI technologies will reduce employees in the capital markets by 230,000 people worldwide, according to a report by the financial services consultancy Opimas.

"Asset managers, analysts, traders, compliance administrators, back-office data collection and analysts are most likely to lose their jobs, because their jobs are easier to be replaced by automation and AI," Henry Huang, an associate professor at Yeshiva University's Sy Syms School of Business, told Xinhua.

"The net effect of this kind of automation will be more about increasing the productivity of the workforce than of robots simply replacing people," said Richard Lumb, group chief executive of Accenture's Financial Services operating group.

The best automated firms will outperform their competitors by making existing workforces more productive through AI, he added.

While humans are losing jobs in the financial industry, companies are enjoying the benefits bringing by AI technologies.

"Initially AI will add the most value and have the largest impacts in compliance (especially anti-money laundering and know-your-customer functions), cybersecurity and robo-advice," Lumb told Xinhua.

WALL STREET EMBRACES FINTECH

Facing rising pressures from fintech innovations, represented by AI, Wall Street financial institutions choose to embrace the new trend.

"In general, we see the outlook for fintech as strong. Demand for fintech by banks is growing because of regulatory and capital pressures, competition from large technology players like Google and Amazon and the abundance of new security threats," Lumb said.

The FinTech Innovation Lab, an annual program launched in 2010 by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City to foster fintech growth, has helped New York participants raise more than 440 million U.S. dollars.

"The FinTech lab has proven to be a significant program for engagement between entrepreneurial technology companies and New York's financial industry," said James D. Robinson III, General Partner and Co-founder of RRE Ventures.

In New York City alone, fintech investment overall has increased from 216 million dollars in 2010 to 2.4 billion dollars in 2016.

"Big new frontiers are only just beginning to opening up in fintech - from AI, block chain and robotics to biometrics, augmented reality and cybersecurity," Lumb said.

Among all the fintech innovations, the prospect of the block chain has the highest expectation.

"The block chain will change the way people store information, which is real, spreading fast and cross-border, and its 'de-centric' feature will allow everyone to know what other people are doing. The application of block chain in finance will once again bring about a revolutionary impact on the industry, just like AI does," said Huang.

FINTECH IN CHINA

Although it is hard to tell which country is leading the fintech innovations, many experts agree that China has outperformed other countries in fintech services adoption.

"The work in China has been dramatically ahead of anywhere else in the world," said Jim Bruene, founder of Finovate conferences, which showcase cutting-edge banking and financial technology.

With more intelligent, in-context financial services, especially commerce activities built around social media applications, "China is likely five or six years ahead of the United States," Bruene told Xinhua.

The latest report by Ernst & Young showed that China's fintech adoption rate came at 69 percent in an index that measures users' activity in various areas, including money transfer, payments, investments, borrowing and insurance, the highest among 20 major markets globally.

Wechat Pay, the e-payment platform built inside the 900-million-user Chinese social media application Wechat, is seen as the future of fintech services by many experts.

"Messaging is the next web browser, fintech and all other applications are going to live in a mobile messaging application like Wechat, just like how they lived in web browsers," said Greg Ratner, co-founder and chief technology officer of Troops, a U.S. artificial intelligence startup.

"It is going to be the future and is already happening in China. And I think it will come to the United States in the next five years," Ratner told Xinhua.

According to Huang's observation, there is a major difference between China and the United States in fintech development model.

"In the U.S., banks are the main driver of fintech innovations, while in China, BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) representing the enterprises contribute most to the fintech development," Huang said.

"Considering the scale of banks in China, they should play a more important role in fintech innovations," he suggested.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 04:02:26|Editor: Yurou

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HELSINKI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Renewable energy sources will exceed the level of fossil sources in Finland next year thanks to current investments, an expert said on Sunday.

Markku Alm, a senior official at the southwestern Finland development center for business and environment, told national broadcaster Yle that the newly launched bio-product plant in Aanekoski, central Finland, and the replacement of the Naantali coal burning power plant with a multi-material power plant later this year will change the situation.

Additional wind-powered plants will be starting as well, Alm added.

The current Finnish government has earlier set the target that renewable energy sources would cover half of Finnish energy production by 2030.

Ilkka Hamala, CEO of Metsa Fibre, said the company's new biomass plant in Aanekoski will increase the relative share of renewable energy by 2 percentage points.

But he warned that "biomass will simply not suffice" to keep up continued growth in renewable energy. He predicted that the growth of renewable energy sources will continue as a strong trend, but it must be based on "a wide array of various tools".

He reminded that the share of nuclear power will be important in Finland both for the energy security and with a view to repelling the climate change.

In 2016, the share of renewable sources was 34 percent and the fossil sources 38 percent. The rest was other sources like nuclear and peat.

The consumption of energy in Finland per inhabitant is the largest in the European Union. The reasons are the country's energy intense industries, cold climate and long transport routes in the wide but sparsely populated country.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 05:47:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) will enter Syria's northwestern province of Idlib by the end of September along with Turkish forces, activists said on Sunday.

Activists cited a commander of the Ninth Unite of the FSA known as Abu Jalal as saying that 3,000 FSA fighters are preparing to enter Idlib and the countryside of Aleppo province in northern Syria with the Turkish army.

"Entering Idlib will take place in full cooperation with the Turkish army and we expect all rebel factions in Idlib to join us against the Levant Liberation Committee (LLC)," the commander was cited as saying.

He said the LLC fighters are floundering against the backdrop of the attempts to end its presence, following the recent fractions in the group's ranks.

The LLC is an umbrella comprising several rebel groups, mainly the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

But the group has started feeling the pinch with the new de-escalation zones' deal that was recently reached between Iran, Turkey and Russia, as the deal executed the Nusra as a terrorist group, while entice other rebel factions to break up with the LLC.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran, which held a new round of peace talks on Syria Thursday and Friday in Astana, decided the creation of de-escalation zone in Syria's Idlib and nearby areas as part of the tripartite plan to curb the violence in major hotspots in Syria.

In a joint statement, the three powers said they agreed "to allocate" their forces to patrol the zone covering the opposition-held Idlib and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces.

It said that the zones will be formed for a six-month period and could be extended if necessary.

The three powers agreed to send a total of 500 observers to monitor the deal implementation in Idlib, but the Russians will be sending military police.

However, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the Syrian government rejects any Turkish presence in Syria as "illegitimate."

The de-escalation zones' deal in the northern province of Idlib is "temporary aiming to restore life to the international road between Damascus-Hama, and Aleppo to alleviate the suffering of the citizens," according to the statement.

The ministry said the deal doesn't grant any legitimacy to any Turkish presence on the Syrian ground, and the Turkish presence is illegitimate.

"There is no concession whatsoever to the unity and independence of Syrian territory and we will never stop fighting terrorism, whatever its tools and supporters," the ministry said.

The deal is the latest in a series of de-escalation zones deal reached between major powers in recent months.

A separate deal was reached between U.S. and Russia in southern Syrian cities of Deraa and Quneitra, and Russian military police were deployed in the area to monitor the cease-fire which started on July 9.

The Russian Defense Ministry also declared a cease-fire deal in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta, as well as in Homs, however, the deal was only reached with an opposition group that has limited dominance in the opposition-held areas in Homs.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 06:07:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TRIPOLI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Clashes between rival security forces in Libya's western city Sabratha on Sunday killed five people and injured eight others, according to security and medical sources.

"Clashes erupted between anti-IS operation chamber and members of the city's military council killed four people," a security source of Sabratha told Xinhua.

"The clashes broke out at dawn using light and medium weapons after a member of the city's military council was killed by the anti-IS operation chamber," the source added.

The source also said the clashes ceased a few hours ago. However, some gunfiring can still be heard in part of the city. The source also said that elders intervened and mediated between the fighting parties.

A source of the city's hospital told Xinhua that the hospital received one body and eight wounded people, confirming that the number of casualties is likely to increase "as ambulences are unable to access areas of clashes."

The Libyan Red Crescent of Sabratha announced plans to evacuate the remaining families trapped in the areas of clashes.

Sabratha's anti-IS operation chamber was formed in 2016, and is allied with the Tripoli-based UN-backed government of national accord.

The military council opposes the chamber and accuses its members of being loyal to the rival eastern-based General Haftar's army.

Libya remains politically divided despite signing a UN-sponsored peace deal and appointment of a unity government. Since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the north African country is plagued with escalating violence and unrest.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-18 06:32:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HAVANA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 people have been detained in Havana on suspicion of robbery and looting shops as Hurricane Irma lashed the island last week, local press reported on Sunday.

"We are investigating...10 legal cases against 14 people accused of robbery in these establishments. All were detained on charges of theft, violent robbery and embezzlement," Havana's chief prosecutor, Dixan Fuentes, told the Juventud Rebelde daily.

According to Fuentes, those arrested include officials and state workers.

Fuentes mentioned that those arrested would have access to a lawyer and would be allowed to stay in touch with their families. Any punishment would take into account their personal details, such as age and any criminal history.

"This procedure will have all the guarantees established in the law, for it to happen in a short time, allowing for a correct response to the punishable act and for the citizens to answer more quickly for these (acts)," continued the prosecutor.

Havana, which suffered serious flooding from Irma, saw a number of shops and service stations looted near the emblematic seafront avenue, known as the Malecon.

Houses which were partially or totally damaged were also looted, while "unscrupulous elements" sold "missing products, such as water and energy," said the prosecutor-general of Cuba in a statement.

Irma lashed Cuba's northern coast last weekend and left at least 10 dead alongside severe material damage.
Thea Jorgensen, a 31-year-old business owner and North Dakota National Guard member, can now add a new title to her list: Miss America's trainer.

Jorgensen worked with Cara Mund, a Bismarck native, who earlier this week made history by becoming the state's first Miss America.

Jorgensen worked with Mund throughout the year  at one point working out twice a day, five days a week  to prepare her for the Miss North Dakota pageant, and after that they went in double time for Miss America.

In an interview this week at Jorgensen's small fitness studio in Bismarck, Jorgensen said she gives all the props to Mund in her victory.

"She worked her butt off," Jorgensen said. "Its hard for me to want to be like, 'Oh, Im Miss Americas trainer,' when in reality I really want to celebrate her and all the work that shes put into it."

Jorgensen became a certified personal trainer in 2011, and started her business Thea Ward Fitness in 2015. Prior to that, she worked as a buyer in the bridal industry.

After losing more than 150 pounds, Jorgensen decided she wanted to help others lose weight and be healthy.

I wanted to be able to help people feel better about themselves, and not in a degrading way," she said.

Jorgensen works with military personnel, offering free workouts to members of Team Red, White and Blue, a national nonprofit she's involved with that helps veterans through organizing various activities in their communities. Her favorite way to train is called "tactical training," which can be used to train military first responders.

"I train all sorts of people; thats just kind of my specialty," she said.

Jorgensen said she began working with Mund in early January. After Mund took home the Miss North Dakota title in June, they got ready for Miss America.

"Thea was instrumental in helping her be ready for Miss North Dakota, and then she continued to work with her through the summer," said SuAnn Olson, board member for the Miss North Dakota Scholarship Organization. "I just think she was exactly who Cara needed."

Olson said many of the women who go to the Miss America competition use personal trainers or a fitness regimen. The swimsuit portion of the pageant, albeit small, still counts and is a display of confidence, she said.

Mund's mom, DeLora Kautzmann Mund, said Jorgensen was a "huge motivator" for her daughter.

She was so supportive, and she got Cara ready," Kautzmann Mund said.

Jorgensen said Mund's workout schedule varied at times, but they first focused on high-intensity, calorie-burning workouts, and then moved into strength training.

Jorgensen said this was her first time working with a woman in a beauty pageant, and, at first, she was judgmental. By the end of it, she said she was impressed with Mund's work ethic and was surprised to learn of the positives of pageants.

"It opened my eyes to the whole pageant world," Jorgensen said.

On Sept. 10, Jorgensen, like many North Dakotans, clung to the edge of her couch watching the Miss America competition. As soon as Mund got in the top 15, Jorgensen knew she could make it to the top three. Once she got there, Jorgensen said she knew Mund would take the crown.

"It was really fun to watch. It was incredible to see her progression," she said.

Jorgensen said she's excited for Mund to return to North Dakota so she can continue to work with her. She has also volunteered to train the contestants in next year's Miss North Dakota pageant.

Jorgensen also has other plans, including going back to school to get a degree in psychology so she can learn how to help people with mental health disorders. Jorgensen said she has experience with various peer-support trainings through Team Red White and Blue, but she wants the credentials of having a psychology background.

I really enjoy working with people who understand 100 percent today might not be 100 percent tomorrow, she said. And just kind of help people use fitness as a way of coping with mental health disorders.

Bismarck Tribune reporter Amy Dalrymple contributed to this article.
US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said President Donald Trump's "fire and fury" comment last month about North Korea's nuclear program was not an empty threat.

In an interview that aired Sunday with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union," Haley emphasized that Defense Secretary James Mattis has an array of options to destroy the nation of some 25 million people.

If the US exhausts diplomatic options on North Korea, the US military would "take care of it," Haley said,

"We wanted to be responsible and go through all diplomatic means to get their attention first," Haley said. "If that doesn't work, General Mattis will take care of it."

Haley warned a war would mean the destruction of North Korea.

"If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed," Haley said. "And we all know that, and none of us want that."

The United Nations Security Council adopted a new round of sanctions on North Korea last Monday in response to the nation's sixth and largest nuclear weapons test.

Trump called the move "another very small step," but Haley talked up the significance of the agreement and went on to say it was near the limit of what the US could accomplish through the UN.

"We have pretty much exhausted all the things that we could do at the Security Council at this point," she said.

London

On Friday, Trump responded to a terrorist attack on the London Underground by taking to Twitter, quickly saying the perpetrators were "in the sights of Scotland Yard" and prescribing an expansion of his travel ban as well as moves aimed at shutting down terrorist recruitment on the internet.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the comments in an interview on ABC's "This Week."

"I don't think it's helpful for anyone to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation," May said.

In her interview on CNN, Haley said Trump would not want to harm an investigation but was "emotional and passionate" about what happened in the UK.

"There was no ill intent with that," Haley said. "I think it was the fact that he was just very concerned and very disturbed that these terrorist attacks keep happening in Great Britain."
According to the National Sleep Foundation as many as 70 million Americans have some kind of sleeping disorder. Whether its insomnia, sleep apnea, or snoring the result is a nation full of people sleepwalking through life and creating health hazards for themselves and others around them. Its estimated drowsy drivers cause at least 100,000 automobile crashes each year.

The sleep-deprived have greater incidences of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Groggy employees also cost employers billions of dollars in productivity and health care costs each year.

According to researchers, one of the best ways to tackle the sleep monster is with sound.

Sleep scientists say different types of sounds help you sleep longer and more deeply. But which sounds will conk you out the most effectively? Look at any sound machine or app and youll see that the choices are varied.

Here is a rundown of some of the most popular sounds and why they work to put you to sleep.

Nature sounds

Mother nature has proven effective in gently lulling people to sleep with the sounds of falling rain, thunderstorms, or trickling creeks. The thought is that natural sounds are less likely to annoy us because the sounds are not necessarily repetitive. They fluctuate in both frequency and amplitude. Dr. Praveen Jinnur, who works in sleep medicine at Essentia Health in Fargo, says nature sounds can be effective because they drown out other more distracting sounds like household noises.

Sounds of ocean waves, sounds of birds and wind chimes can provide a sense of calm and relaxation, he says, Rhythmic drumming in some causes can also have a hypnotic effect inducing sleep, he says.

Memories play a role as well. Nature sounds often remind the self-conscious of simpler times and places away from the stress of daily life. You wont find highway noises and sirens on any sleep CD or app. Be advised however, if youre prone to frequent trips to the bathroom every night, the sounds of trickling rain or ocean waves might not be your friend.

Music

Some people swear the only way they can fall asleep is by listening to music. Others say listening to music is too distracting. For those who dont mind music at bedtime, research shows people fall asleep more easily to classical, soft folk or acoustic music rather than faster paced music with lyrics. But its not always an exact science. Different things work for different people. Jinnur says people might have to try different types of music to determine what works best for them.

The exact reason why certain music can help you sleep isnt clear, he says,  It is likely related to the relaxing effect that a good song can have, or the fact that music my trigger feel-good chemicals in the brain.

Even if you fall asleep listening to music, researchers suggest setting a timer which turns off the electronics so it wont unexpectedly wake you up later.

Voices

As counterintuitive as it sounds, listening to other people talk can put you to sleep. Remember Ben Steins portrayal of the boring teacher in Ferris Buellers Day Off? Now imagine listening to that for several minutes. Or remember back to the most boring lecture class you had in college and recollect how you had to fight to not have your head hit your desk.

Clinical hypnotists understand the power in soothing, soft voices to help clients enter a deep state of relaxation. The same holds true for sleep. Scientists advise you to find a podcast that holds your attention enough to keep you interested but is not so riveting that you cant drift off.

White noise

White noise is defined as a type of noise that is produced by combining sounds of all different frequencies together. Its a sound, but you can really define what it is. Because the brain cant define what it is, its less likely that the person trying to fall asleep will get distracted.

One effective tool in falling asleep is a ceiling fan or a portable household fan. The whirling blades create a soothing, predictable cadence that helps some people fall asleep.

Silence

Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons once sang, Silence is Golden, and they might have been talking about the power of quiet in getting one to sleep. Research from the National Institutes of Health shows because silence is void of negative memories, people are not distracted they way they might be while listening to music or other sounds like voices or nature.

While sounds might assist individuals in falling asleep, it should not be the only tool. Jinnur says its also very important to practice good sleep hygiene which includes keeping daytime naps to under 30 minutes, limiting intake of stimulants like nicotine and caffeine close to bedtime and getting adequate exercise.

The benefits may not happen overnight and can take as many as 3-4 weeks to see improvement, Jinnur says.
The Burke County prosecutor reached a pretrial diversion agreement this week with a western North Dakota man charged in a rare voter fraud case.

Dale Monte Larsen was charged with voter fraud, a Class A misdemeanor, for allegedly voting in Burke and Ward counties during the 2016 election. Secretary of State Al Jaeger said it may be the first such case to be prosecuted since the 2000 election.

The diversion agreement, approved by District Judge Douglas Mattson Tuesday, calls for Larsens prosecution to be suspended for six months as long as he doesnt commit a crime or infraction and follows through with neuropsychological testing. Burke County States Attorney Amber Fiesel said if those conditions are met, the case will be dismissed. She declined to comment on the rationale behind the neuropsychological testing condition.

The agreement notes there is substantial likelihood that a conviction could be obtained, but the benefits to society from rehabilitation outweigh any harm to society from suspending criminal prosecution.

Larsen, whose address is listed as Stanley, didnt have an attorney listed in court records. A man who answered the phone at a number posted online as Larsens declined to comment.

Larsen told a Burke County deputy sheriff that he started filling out paperwork in Bowbells, the Burke County seat, quite a bit before the election but it took too long and he left, according to the deputy sheriffs affidavit. He didnt turn in a ballot and didnt vote twice, he told Deputy Sheriff Samuel Mueller.

But information from auditors in Ward and Burke counties showed Larsen was allowed to vote in Burke County by absentee ballot and voted in person in Kenmare, which is in Ward County, according to Muellers affidavit.

Larsens case was highlighted by a letter Jaeger sent to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, a controversial commission created by President Donald Trump. Critics have argued its based on a false premise of widespread voter fraud.

North Dakota officials were unable to provide the commission with voter information it requested due in part to a state law that prevents information maintained in the Central Voter File from being shared except with certain individuals and groups and for a specific limited purpose, Jaeger, a Republican, told the commission earlier this month.

Jaeger said the state knows of at least two probable cases of double voting in the 2016 election. The other instance involved a person casting an absentee ballot in North Dakota and voting in person in Idaho, but the state was told that because there was no evidence of conspiracy, this individual would not be prosecuted.

There were nine suspected instances of double voting in the 2012 general election, Jaeger said, prompting the Legislature to amend voter ID requirements in 2013. Those changes, along with others made two years later, were challenged successfully in federal court.
We in big trouble

IF a Category 5 hurricane like Irma were to hit Trinidad and Tobago buildings in lower income areas and squatters would be the most affected, says Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry president Dr James Armstrong.

If it were to happen here it might not be as devastating as 95 per cent of the buildings in Barbuda but you would be surprised to see a significant amount of destruction. Irma caused also catastrophic damage in Barbuda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Anguilla and the Virgin Islands and has caused at least 82 deaths, including 43 in the Caribbean and 39 in the United States. But what if it and another similar hurricane had hit this country? Armstrong, in response to Sunday Newsday, said a powerful hurricane would be devastating to this country in different ways including severe flooding. He said he was also not sure that the type of construction used for small buildings could withstand a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

We will have a significant amount of damage. I dont think we are really following, particularly in lower income areas, following even small building guidelines. Armstrong said the country has not had the experience of a powerful hurricane for many years.

TT was hit by Tropical Storm Bret in June leading to one indirect death, downed trees, roofs blown off and flooding but no major damage. But back in 1974 Tropical Storm Alma caused $5 million in damage and two deaths while the 1933 Trinidad hurricane resulted in 13 deaths, thousands left homeless and an estimated $3 million in damages.

And there was deadly Hurricane Flora in 1963, which devastated Tobago on September 30 with winds estimated at 195 km/h.

Eighteen people died in Tobago, and two drowned in Trinidad due to flooding triggered by the Category 3 storm. The island lost 50 per cent of its coconut trees and cocoa crop, as well as 75 per cent of the trees of the forestry reserve.

Flora destroyed an estimated 2,750 houses in Tobago, and damaged 3,500 amounting to US$30 million in losses.

Armstrong said there is a need to tighten up the construction of buildings and homes, and this includes ensuring inspections take place. He recommended the retrofitting of a number of homes.

I am hopeful something can be taken into consideration certainly within local government municipal bodies for the building control. Armstrong said to construct a home an application must be made to the Town and Country Planning Division but with local government reform it would all be done at the municipal level.

There are guidelines, he disclosed, for the construction of small buildings which most engineers follow as well as codes from Florida in the United States, and the United Kingdom. Armstrong also said there is the Caribbean Uniform Building Code or CUBiC.

(Although Irma caused major damage in Florida, there are many reports that buildings withstood her fury because of improved building codes enforced after 1992s Category 5 Hurricane Andrew caused significant infrastructure damage to the state.) Armstrong said despite the guidelines they are not always followed and gave the example of roofs resting on a ring beam (a horizontal support for a masonry wall) instead of being properly connected.

He said in the event of a hurricane the housing stock at a lower (income) level would incur significant damage though not to the extent suffered in other countries. And by and large there is fairly good housing stock at the upper level, he observed.

God is a Trini so we keep getting away from it. Armstrong attributed seasonal flooding to a lack of control.

He pointed that that in the National Physical Development Plan (NPDP) of 1984 there were areas indicated as flood plains but from then to know it is surprising that such areas have had significant development.

He also said with the level of squatting and squatter regularization the country was really asking for trouble when it comes to hurricanes.

On the National Building Code, for which a committee had been set up, Armstrong said as far as he is aware work is still being done on it but we need to move on that as quickly as possible. We do need a building code. We really need to get these things done and once we have it in place we need to enforce itat the design level when we submit designs and (have it) scrutinized carefully (to ensure) that details in architectural drawings would withstand different disasters.

We also have earthquakes to think about. That is another problem as well.
Pure fiction

I was very surprised and shocked this morning (yesterday) when I was reading about this cell near to the airport. That is pure fiction, an upset Samaroo said of Knights claim, which was contained in a story carried in yesterdays Newsday.

Samaroos denial came amid a report in the Edmonton Journal which said Knights research on jihadi radicalism in TT is being used by the United Nations to develop a strategy to fight violent extremism.

According to the publication, Knight is reported to have said that Samaroo took him to an al-Qaeda sleeper cell in 2005 when he began to research jihadism in Trinidad during a conference on Free Trade in the Americas that he had organised in collaboration with the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies.

The Edmonton Journal reported that during the conference, Knight claimed that in a casual conversation with Samaroo, he mentioned the work he was doing on the recruitment of child soldiers in civil conflicts across Africa.

He claimed Samaroo subsequently asked him if he would like to see a jihadi sleeper cell, which was said to be located on a site close to the Piarco International Airport.

However, Samaroo yesterday made it clear there was no truth to Knights claim. He fraudulently used my name as the person who provided information for his research which I didnt. He mixed up his sources, Samaroo said.

The historian said he has never spoken to Knight about the presence of a al-Qaeda sleeper cell in Piarco.

I dont know who else he spoke to and possibly somebody else might have told him about this cell near Piarco. But, I certainly didnt and even up to today, I dont know of any cell that exists up in that area. Samaroo further claimed Knight had used his name because he wanted to get a contract with the United Nations to deal with terrorism.

So that he had to build up a case that he was in Trinidad and he did research. I suppose he thought my name, being professor, would enhance his CV. He wanted to prove to them that he had done a lot of work in Trinidad which I dont think he did. Later, in a statement, Samaroo described Knights claim as ridiculous.

I wish to state that whilst I had discussions with the professor, I never led him to any cell since I am not aware of the existence of an y such cell, he said.

Professor Knight has confused his sources. No doubt, he wanted to give credibility to his story by using my name but there is no truth to his claim. Up to press time, Knight had not responded to questions which Sunday Newsday emailed to him.
PM to talk on Mouttet report

On Friday, the prime minister told the Parliament he had received the report and said he review its contents over the weekend.

But yesterday, Rowley said: I have read it and I am very disturbed by what I have read and I would make it available to the investigation in the Parliament and the AGs office. He further said the report contained some matters of concern. So, I am going to the JSC (Joint Select Committee) on Monday and I will make my comments there. One month ago, the Government appointed a sole investigator, businessman Christian Mouttet, to conduct an independent investigation into the contracts for the Cabo Star and Ocean Flower 2, both of which were procured by the Canadian- based Bridgemans Services Group.

Mouttet was given a time frame of 30 days to produce a report.

Investigations into the procurement of the vessels also are being carried out by the Port Authority of Trinidad & Tobago, Integrity Commission and Parliaments JSC.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has called for the dismissal of Defence Spokesman, John Enenche, claiming he deceived the public by declaring them a terrorist group.

Eneche made the declaration, citing the formation of a Biafra secret service, militant possession and use of weapons as well as physical confrontation of troops as part of reasons for the declaration.

But IPOB have accused him of usurping the roles and responsibilities of the judiciary, arguing that he had no legal backing.

This declaration is not only judicially provocative and belligerent, the Idoma-born army officer acted beyond the mandate of the Nigerian army as specified in sections 10 & 11 of CAP A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (L.F.N.) 2004 and in section-217(2) of the Nigerian fraudulent constitution, read a statement by Emma Nmezu and Clifford Iroanya, who identified themselves as spokespersons of the organisation.

Recall that on March 1, 2017, the Honourable Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako of the federal high court, Abuja declared in her ruling that IPOB is not an unlawful society/organisation.

Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako gave her judgment having studied the conditions for an organisation to be deemed unlawful as stipulated in section-62 of CAP C38 L.F.N. 2004.

Up till this day, that ruling from Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako has not been upturned by any court.

And for this reason, Major-General John Enenche (though a Biafran from Idoma land) must be dismissed from the Nigerian army, arrested and brought to trial in the court of Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako.

They added that what constitute the acts of terrorism are given in the terrorism (prevention) Act of 2011, where section 2 stipulated that only a judge can declare an organisation proscribed based on proven case of acts of terrorism and such case will be presented to the judge through an application made by the attorney-general or the national security adviser or the inspector general of police with the approval of the president. The judges declaration will thereafter be gazetted.

The questions that now beg for answers are: (1) Does the director of defence information (DDI) of the Nigerian army (Major-General John Enenche) fall into any of the three categories of persons that should make an application to a Judge to declare IPOB a terrorist organization? they asked.

(2) Which judge did the DDI make such application to and was it approved by the president prior to submitting the application?

(3) Where is the approval given to the DDI by the judge? (4) When and where was the Judges declaration gazetted?

In particular, this deceitful act is a violation and interference into the judicial arm of government and it is an overreach. It is also a deliberate act in contempt of a subsisting ruling in a competent court of law.

IPOB, whether led by Nnamdi Kanu or led by the DOS, is not a terrorist organization because no court of competent jurisdiction has so declared it. The so-called declaration by Major-General John Enenche is null and void and of no effect.
Ovation publisher, Dele Momodu, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerian military to exercise restraint in handling Nnamdi Kanu and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He spoke against the backdrop of the declaration of IPOB members as terrorists.

Read his article below

Fellow Nigerians, let me confess my admiration for security forces generally. It is not just because of the cleanliness and crispiness of their uniform or the famed discipline that they imbue in their members. It is because I find their job too risky. I often wonder why any man or woman would voluntarily sign his or her death warrant. For me, they appear more like suicide bombers. As a toddler in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, I remember being told by older people that soldiers are trained to kill and we were told to avoid them.

The myth flying around included that most of them were recruited without having much education. But as I grew up, I began to acquire a special fascination for them, especially the elite squads in the Navy and the Air Force. I would later interact with many soldiers at home and abroad. I love their uniforms, jackboots and in particular their menacing guns.

I still imagine till this day what it takes to be a killer. We were told soldiers were regularly injected with special drugs that makes it impossible for them to have the milk of human kindness in them. But with time, I saw and met many soft-hearted soldiers. I used to tease them about what we were told as kids. I must say I became one of their fans and good friends. I visited our soldiers in Sierra Leone and Liberia and gave them my humble support and they were very appreciative of my modest contribution and inspiration.

The reason for my preamble must be obvious to you all. I was seriously angry after seeing a video purportedly showing how our soldiers were brutalising fellow Nigerians and subjecting them to the worst indignities known to mankind. Ive been praying that the videos were shot in outer space and not anywhere near Nigeria. But if what I saw very vividly actually took place on our planet and in this our dear beloved nation, then weve truly missed the road. I did not see any sign of weapons with these hapless victims of oppression and repression.

At the very worst, even if as the military authorities claimed, that the soldiers were pelted with pebbles and stones, the treatment meted out to the personalities in the video is undeserved by any human being. How was the response from the military commensurate to that of the supposed hoodlums? Was it not an act of provocation in itself for soldiers to be engaging in drills in an area already soaked with tension?

Let me stretch the argument a bit further. Whose idea was it to draft the soldiers onto the streets to intimidate Nigerians in areas where there was no war? How can anyone send soldiers to threaten a people who already feel marginalised and are saying so very resoundingly? What is wrong with empowering members of the Nigeria Police Force and especially the anti-riot police squad to tackle cases of hooliganism and even terrorism. Soldiers are meant to come out in open battle only in extreme cases where there is total chaos and mayhem. President Muhammadu Buhari has wittingly or inadvertently walked into the trap cleverly set for him by the Biafra secessionists. Kanu and company have read the President well knowing his proclivity for no-nonsense and high-handedness.

If truth must be told, this is the height of intolerance on the part of the Nigerian State. I have not seen any Lawyer who believes in the legality of what our soldiers have done. Kanu may be reckless and irresponsible by promoting internecine wars and heating up our country unnecessarily but no one can deny him the right of expressing himself and agitating for his beliefs. What could have been done to him was very simple; send the police after him and get him rearrested for flouting his bail conditions. Some of his hard core loyalists and acolytes could be easily identified and kept out of circulation. For the past few months, Kanu has been raking and ranting but he has not fired a bullet.

As a matter of fact, this government has unfortunately resurrected a man who was already on his way to Golgotha and at a time his bravado was becoming increasingly irritating to many of those who took him seriously initially. The staccato fashion of his argument was becoming boring and predictable. I really dont know who misadvised our leaders into thinking they can fight all wars and win all. Believe me please, I know Nigeria a bit, it is a dangerous gamble.

Im aware that our President is a retired Major General, a man well known for his taciturnity, who packs his punches and loves to take on known and imaginary enemies. But we supported him because we believed Baba had transfigured into a born again democrat. The Buhari we supported was not the man who ruled with draconian Decrees from 1983-85 and was forced out of power and his detractors rejoiced openly and widely. The same Nigerians who praised you for beating your child would soon turn around to castigate you and ask why youre so wicked. That is the reality of Nigeria. This particular case is even more precarious. Some Northerners had issued threats to the Igbos to quit their territory or face monumental reprisals.

A few of the respected people in the North cautioned them but they were rebuffed with insults in a most vicious manner. No security arm ever tried to even invite them for any chat not to talk of arrests. The then Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, did so well by engaging different sections of Nigeria in peaceful dialogue and we were happy that the ticking bomb was carefully detonated. Just imagine what would have happened if he invaded parts of the North or East with soldiers blazing with guns and bayonets. He would have been accused of all sorts, including ethnic cleansing.

Our President should be told in very clear terms that the world has changed drastically in the last three decades. No leader can order his troops out in the streets to kill and destroy wantonly. We should not over-stretch our luck. Nigeria cannot afford a second civil war. Our economy is already in shambles. We should prosecute how to return to economic recovery urgently and resist the temptation of wasting our scarce resources on persecuting our fellow citizens. The videos in circulation tend to portray us as barbarians who belong in the prehistoric age. Weve suffered enough negativity and should not invite the wrath of the world upon ourselves.

Believe it or not, Nigeria may find itself in the bad book of War Crimes Tribunal. It is not impossible, no matter how long it takes. Mass graves have been reported in some parts of Nigeria with concrete proofs. Nigerians have been detained indefinitely in near solitary confinements without trial. These are not the best examples to lay for our future. Many of those who should speak up against tyranny are too squeamish for obvious reasons. But it should not be so.

Im not a supporter of Biafra. I dont have to be. I love and prefer a bigger, stronger and more prosperous Nigeria. But there are reasons for many Nigerians to detest Nigeria, today. They feel they have been horribly marginalised and treated like second class citizens in their own country.

Their perception is that they believe all or most of the following things. Their children no longer attend the good schools for which the Igbos have become well known. The goods, some of which they even make themselves in Aba, have become only available for the rich. Infrastructure is sorely lacking for the most part. Where they exist, they are decaying and nobody is really attending to them.

There are no new jobs and the few old jobs are being lost in droves. The state of healthcare is almost hopeless. Federal character has become a total charade. We can go on, ad infinitum, reeling out the litany of woes that our brothers and sisters in the South East believe is responsible for the unusually strident agitation that we are now witnessing. To be fair and charitable they do have cause to be aggrieved in many respects.

Our government should address these issues instead of attacking those who disagree with them. One of the surest ways to do this is by education, information and public enlightenment to demonstrate that the position is not as bad as they feel.

The social media is awash with facts and figures for and against the depth and seriousness of the so-called marginalisation of the South East. The next step would be to identify those issues which are of critical concern, proffer solutions to resolve them and then act on these solutions. The third and equally important duty of the government is to ensure an equitable distribution of resources and positions.

Indeed, this is the major reason for the clamour for restructuring. Whilst we still operate in a system where government provides practically everything, it is only just that people must have a sense of belonging and participation.

However, the best form of restructuring that Nigeria needs now is not merely to decentralise power but to cede power completely to the private sector whilst government contributes its quota by providing the enabling environment for the much needed industrialisation and technological advancement that will take us out of our present doldrums.

In the name of God, the omnipotent and merciful, everyone should beg our Federal Government to end this self-immolating war of attrition. We have nothing to gain. In fact, we have more to lose.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has advised the Nigerian military to review the labeling of IPOB as a terrorist organisation.

HURIWA on Saturday lamented that the military has increasingly become anti-democratic and assuming legislative powers, alleging that its hierarchy was working in conjunction with Arewa youths.

HURIWA said both section 4 of the Constitution of Nigeria and section 6 recognised the National Assembly as the body to exercise legislative powers of the federation and the judicial powers of the Federation.

It described the pronouncement on IPOB as a terrorist group as a charade and a plot to initiate violent crackdown on the members of this substantially unarmed and peaceful group.

The Rights group warned that the military institution as a creation of the law must not be permitted to grow wings and become an omnibus vehicle that would ride roughshod on the democratic and constitutional rights of associations and groups to operate as strictly non-violent and peaceful bodies.

HURIWA said by the Constitutional provision, only the Courts of competent jurisdictions or the legislative chambers of the Nigerian National Assembly under the relevant provisions of the Constitution, can make pronouncements on which groups can be categorised as terrorist organisations.

In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the Media Affairs Director Miss ZainabYusuf, HURIWA said the attempt by Major General John Enenche of the Defence Headquarters to confer on his office the powers of judicial or legislative authorities by unilaterally declaring the Europe-registered group as a terrorist group is unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, null and void.

We reject this coup plot against the constitutional rights of citizens to join associations freely and to assemble peacefully, it read.

The illegal pronouncement of the Defence Headquarters that IPOB is a terrorist organisation shows that the Defence authority is working in tandem with the AREWA YOUTH coalition which had recently canvassed the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist group.

The military must be stopped from attempting to imprison a huge number of Igbo youth only because they are seeking to enjoy their rights to self determination which is authorised by all international laws.

This Defence Headquarters will one day pronounce any town union as terrorist organisation the moment the group opposes the government of the day. This dictatorship must be uprooted immediately and comprehensively defeated.

Has the DHQ complied with the appropriate procedure in declaring IPOB a terrorist organization? What is the legal and operational implication of this declaration? What is acts of terrorism in the circumstances of this Law?, the statement quipped.
Some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Saturday expressed surprise by the rise in the number and societal acceptance of cross-dressed men across the country.

Cross-dressers are people who wear clothing typical of the opposite sex; in this case however, popular among men who dress as women.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that police officials made various arrests of young men who have allegedly defrauded wealthy men in Lagos, Zamfara, Rivers and Abuja by presenting themselves as women.

Some of the residents who spoke to NAN said that it was astonishing how young Nigerians seem to be accepting the idea of cross-dressing.

Joy Nduka, a makeup artist, said that she was surprised by the fact that more Nigerians were aaccepting the idea of cross-dressing.

I first heard of this concept in Nigeria last year when it was in the news that some men dressed like women to dupe rich men they met at bars and hotels.

I found it a bit funny at first that some men could be easily deceived in that manner by their fellow men.

However, I later realised that we all focused on the men who were robbed and not on the men who were comfortable dressing like women to commit the crimes.

It shows the trend is gradually being accepted among Nigerians, she said.

Victor Itamunoala, a marketer, said We have always had popular TV personality, Denrele Edun, who remain a controversial figure because of his cross-dressing fashion.

His fashion concept has always had a hint of feminism in it be it with makeup, hairstyles, high shoes and more.

Nigerians were against his fashion but these days, many people seem to support him and he has inspired more men to dress that way.

We have gradually seen a number of Nigerian social media personalities become popular for being cross-dressers and the most popular one today is the man that calls himself the `Snapchat queen, Bobrisky.

Bobrisky, originally known as Okuneye Idris, has gradually become a celebrity by acting and dressing as a woman.

We all watched him transform from a dark skinned man to a light skinned woman who now travels the world and gets paid in pounds and dollars by Nigerian fans who take pictures with him.

This is insane and appalling, especially as all these famous cross-dressers claim to have connections among politicians.

The next thing we will see is same sex marriage being legalised in Nigeria, this is how such things start he said.

Another resident, Ndidi John said that the trend was catching on among youths because of the influence of foreign movies.

You cannot eliminate the role of social media, foreign films and now Nigerian celebrities that engaged in cross dressing on the youths.

But I personally believe that most of them will grow out of it as the advance in age and become less rebellious, she said.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday in Yola, reinstated the commitment of the Federation Government to keep one, indivisible Nigeria.

Osinbajo made the commitment while speaking at the reception in Yola in honour of the new President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Most Reverend Musa Filibus.

The vice-president, therefore, urged Nigerians to sustain the unity which he said was the dream of the fore fathers of the country.

According to him, Christians are encouraged to pursue justice and reconciliation with people of other faith.

While congratulating Filibus for being the first Nigerian and second African to emerge President of LWF, Osinbajo urged him to work toward uniting the church and promoting peace and love.

It is our role as Christians to bind people together and we must do so by self sacrifice and love.

On behalf of the Federal Government and Mr President, I wish you an excellence and God guided tenure as President of LWF.

Earlier, Gov. Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa, who also congratulated Filibus for his elevation and making the people of Adamawa and Nigeria proud, assured him of his administration support to succeed.

In his remarks, Filibus thanked the government of Adamawa and Nigeria for standing behind him and urged more support and prayers for a successful tenure.

Filibus vowed to make Nigeria proud by being a good ambassador.

I will stand to be one among many to prove that Nigeria stands tall among the comity of nations.

I give thanks to all who contributed in making me what I am today, Filibus promised.

LWF is a global communion of 145 churches in the Lutheran tradition, representing over 75 million Christians in 98 countries.

Other dignitaries that graced the occasion were, the Governor of Plateau, Mr Solomon Dalong, Mr David Babacir and representatives of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Governor of Taraba and his Benue counterpart.
The president of the Washburn City Commission denies any wrongdoing as a group of residents are moving to relieve him from office as a petition, calling for a recall vote, is being circulated.

"The allegations being brought against me are totally fabricated," Larry Thomas said. "The individuals circulating the petition should be embarrassed that they have no plausible reasons for a recall. I am performing the duties I was elected to do and will continue to do so."

Concerned Citizens for the Recall of Washburn President Larry Thomas cites ongoing disregard for transparency and allegations of harassment of employees as the reasons for the petition.

"Commissioner Thomas made promises to our community during his campaign in 2014. He said he wanted our local government to be more transparent and wanted to work with residents to further our community," said Kristi Jaeger, chairperson of the five-member recall committee.

At issue is an open meetings violation in which Thomas and another city commission member, Kit Baumann, served on the Waste Collection Committee to review garbage proposals and make recommendations. However, the two-member committee failed to provide appropriate notice of meetings held in October 2015, according to an opinion issued by the office of Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem.

The opinion concluded: "The Washburn City Commission violated open meetings law when it failed to provide notice of its Waste Collection Committee meetings."
The 7th Digital Earth Summit (DES-2018), an international event focusing on digital earth for sustainable development in Africa, will be held in the Atlantic coastal city of El Jadida, Morocco, April 17-19, 2018.

This gathering is very important for African and international community of earth observation and geo-spatial information science. It is organized by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) and the Chouaib Douakkali University in partnership with the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE) and the Moroccan Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (MARSE).

The event will bring together scientists and professionals from the African and international community to discuss latest achievements in earth observation, review challenges and share experiences.

The conference program features keynote speeches by leading scholars, technical sessions with reports of the latest research outcomes, debates on topics such as capacity building, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), big data, space policy, programs and projects, as well as commercial exhibitions showing latest products and services in Digital earth and geospatial information technologies.

The experts will look into all aspects of geospatial data, earth sciences, space sciences and information sciences and technology for monitoring and forecasting natural and human phenomena.

They will also discuss best practices and applications for earth observation as well as latest digital earth technologies to achieve sustainable development goals.

Participants will review several other issues related to the role of digital earth technology in combating famine, geo-ethics and the importance of earth observation and geo-information sciences.

Digital Earth is a global initiative seeking to construct a comprehensive virtual representation of the planet. It is a collaborative effort between Earth sciences, space sciences and information sciences to monitor and forecast natural and human phenomena.

The International Society for Digital Earth is a non-political, non-governmental and not-for-profit international organization. Its principal goal is to promote academic exchange, science and technology innovation, education, and international collaboration towards Digital Earth.
Shell casings linked to the crimes were found in Kenneth Gleasons car. Photo: Handout/East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office

Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said on Sunday that there is a strong possibility that the murders of two black men in the city last week were racially motivated, according to the Associated Press. A 23-year-old white man, Kenneth Gleason, is considered a person of interest in the fatal shootings, which happened two days and five miles apart. Gleason is currently being held on drug charges, as police say they do not have enough evidence to charge him with the murders yet.

On Tuesday night, a 59-year-old homeless man named Bruce Cofield was shot and killed in Baton Rouge in what originally seemed like a random crime. Then, two days later, 49-year-old Donald Smart was killed in a similar manner while walking to his restaurant job on Thursday night. According to a police bulletin obtained by The Advocate, in both cases, the gunman, wearing dark clothes and possibly a tactical vest, shot the men from a red sedan using a 9-mm handgun, then exited his car to continue shooting them multiple times. A witness reported hearing about 12 shots on Tuesday when Cofield was killed.

The shootings were later linked after ballistics tests, and a manhunt for the killer began. Its not yet clear how Gleason became a suspect, but police said that his car matched the description of the vehicle they were looking for, and shell casings linked to the crimes were found inside.

The second victim, Donald Smart, was married with three children. He was a well-liked veteran employee at Louies Cafe, the busy 24-hour diner near LSUs campus where he had worked for 20 years. The restaurants general manager, Fred Simonson, broke down in tears as he remembered Smart during an interview with The Advocate on Saturday. What Donald means to me as a person and Louies as an institution is not quantifiable  its not measurable, Simonson said. Were not all perfect but, damn it, if this guy wasnt close  I will love that man until the day I die.

Here's the general manager of the 24-hour diner talking about Donald Smart, his employee who was "without peer" pic.twitter.com/OhZTCY4DI0  Grace Toohey (@grace_2e) September 17, 2017

The diner, which was a half-mile from where Smart was gunned down, closed on Friday night so staff members could mourn.
For every car owner, there are certain aspects that determine why they choose to buy a certain brand. ABUBAKER MAYEMBA talked to some car owners and dealers about what they consider when buying a car.



For the past five years, Julius Kanabahita has been dealing in vehicles at various car bonds in Kampala. Every day, he interacts with many potential car buyers.

Most of the clients spend days, if not weeks, looking for a car that best suits their interests, he says, highlighting what most folks consider.

SPARE PARTS

Most customers, he says, first consider the availability of spare parts in case of any mechanical breakdown. Kanabahita observes that many prefer to buy the Toyota brands since their replacements can be easily sourced at affordable prices.

Any Toyota car can be fixed faster since the spares can be found almost everywhere. That is not the case with other brands like Fiat and Chevrolet, he says.



Prices

After deciding whether the vehicle they are interested in has readily available spare parts, clients usually consider the cost of the vehicle. Most car buyers usually expect to get better quality at a cheaper price, he says, but this is not usually the case.

Nakawa-based car dealer Jackson Mutekanga explains that prices depend on a number of issues. These include, among others, the car model, year of make, comfort, trends and taxes. The above also play a vital role in guiding ones car choice.

He says older cars are charged lower taxes compared to the newer ones. For instance, the 2002/03 Toyota Premio model costs Shs 23 million, whereas the 2009/10 make costs around Shs 60 million.



Trends

Instead of buying a Toyota Premio, Ronald Mpanga chose to take home a Toyota Wish despite the fact that both cars go for similar prices. He stressed that he chose the latter since it is trending and has more space than the former.

A Toyota Wish is better than the Premio because it has a huge classy look, more space and its fuel consumption isnt that bad, Mpanga says.



Fuel Consumption

According to Kanabahita, most middle-income earners in Uganda prefer cars that consume less fuel for longer distances. Cars with 1.8litre and 2.6 litre engine capacity are preferred compared to those with three litres and above.

Ugandans love cars that cover 14 kilometers on one litre, he says. You find that even when they have money, most people will still choose to buy a car that consumes less.

Toyota models are the most sought after cars, and this is basically because they tend to fit in the interests of most Ugandans. Its models like Raum, Vitz, RAV4, Corolla and Nadia are bought by both low and middle-income earners.

But still, most rich folks also opt for the more expensive Toyota brands such as the Land Cruisers, Harriers and other advanced models.



abumay1988@gmail.com
Two police officers and a civilian have been shot dead today in Kalerwe during a suspected armed robbery in Kalerwe near Total petrol station along Gayaza road.



According to police, SPC Mubiru and SPC Moses Karungi were shot dead a few minutes past 9.00pm today, when armed robbers attacked staff of Denovo bread company as they collected cash from different points of sale where Denovo bread is sold.

Also killed is Denovo company driver, Kasirye Ssengonzi. The assailants reportedly took off with the police officers guns.

The vehicle in which staff of Denovo bread were travelling bearing marks of bullet scars

It is still unclear if the police officers were guards of Denovo or guards of nearby premises. Denovo staff were travelling in a Toyota Noah vehicle, reg no. UAY 993Y at the time of the attack.

Police suspects the staff who started collecting money from Nateete, Mutundwe, Kasubi, Bwaise, Nabweru to Lugoba, Kawempe, Mpererwe and then Kalwere where the attack happened must have been trailed by their assailants all along.

The list of Denovo cashiers injured according to police include the following; Nakatudde, Nakiwala, Angella Nantongo and Winnie Nansamba.
Dudley credits standardization, simplification

In a talk he gave last week at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen, BP CEO Bob Dudley said his company has cut production costs by half in the North Sea.

This focus on standardization, simplification and discipline on cost has contributed to our average production costs in the North Sea coming down from a peak of over $30 a barrel in 2014, to less than $15 a barrel today. Heading towards 2020, with all our major new developments coming into production, we expect that to come down below $12 a barrel in the North Sea, the BP chief executive said.

Dudley was opening plenarys keynote speaker at the European E&P conference. His talk was entitled New realities  reinventing our industry. He talked about how the energy industry is changing.

Dudley referred to an innovation his company is focusing on as the type of businesses we develop in the future, and the shape of future business models.

The fuel mix is changing

Oil and gas will be a big part of the mix for decades to come. But the fuel mix is changing, along with the way resources are produced and delivered as we move to lower carbon and look to advance that transition.

Dudley said the BP portfolio is shifting towards more gas as we put together the right projects.

Promotes biofuels

Dudley said BP was continuing its work in developing renewables, particularly  in terms of bio for fuels and feedstocks. We recently acquired a joint venture facility in the U.S. that will help with the commercialization of biobutanol.

Dudley said BP is very focused on using venturing to screen for and test new emerging technologies in the area of lower carbon.

Its an environment with opportunities for the most efficient and competitive producers  and for producers of more efficient products, like fuels and lubricants that offer more miles per liter or a higher bio-content that lowers the carbon footprint.

BP reports full ownership of three ethanol production plants in Brazil with combined capacity of 10 million tons per year. On the oil and petrochem side, BPs share of the oil refining operations it owns or participates in comes to just under 2 million barrels per day.

BP operations  key facts

(Click to enlarge)

By Oil and Gas 360

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association

Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America.
LAKE GEORGE  Each one of the more than 110 cars in Sundays 11th annual Councours dElegance rolled into the Festival Commons at Charles R. Wood Park brought with it both history and stories.

Howard Kroplick of East Hills had the best of both with his 1948 Tucker, one of 51 built by Preston Tucker.

There were 51 made, 47 still exist today and 21 of them are locked in museums, said Kroplick. I would say there are probably five that still get driven.

Kroplick gets so many questions about the car that he has a two-sided handout he gives to show-goers. One side details the cars, the other lists the eight owners of this particular car, which is No. 1044.

Therein lies another story.

Kroplick bought the car in 2017 from Mark Lieberman, who bought it the year before. Prior to that it had been in storage from 1982 to 2016 in a metal building in Pennsylvania.

I went to Arizona for the auction, I talked to the owner and I told him I wanted it, but I could not pay his reserve, which was $1.6 million. He asked what I could pay and I told him, said Kroplick, who owns the 1909 Alco that won the Indianapolis 500, a town car owned by the Chrysler family and a pre-production Mustang.

When I bid on this car, I always bid at this end, and when I bid the $1.2 million, the auction said the reserve was lifted and they sold me the car.

The car is road-worthy, Kroplick said, noting he drives it to car shows within 15 miles of his home. He also lets a couple members of the Tucker family drive it. They do not have a Tucker of their own, so I think one of the reasons they are working with me is so they can drive it.

Kruplick added, Its a good car. Its a fun car.

The car was made famous in the 1988 film Tucker: a Man and his Dream directed by Francis Ford Coppola, produced by George Lucas and starring Jeff Bridges.

It drew a steady stream of onlookers at Sundays show, which focused on cars restored to the condition in which they left the factory and meeting qualifications for one of the specific classes in the show.

George Spruce of Long Island said he came to the Concours because of its new site in Lake George.

There is a good range of cars, he said. There are the kind of cars a middle-class person might have bought and there are some really high-end cars. They really did their homework.

The Hemmings event lasted three days and got great weather all three days, although Sunday got particularly warm. Friday focused on touring, up Prospect Mountain and through the Adirondacks. Saturday was an open car show that drew more than 200 cars and Sunday was the invitational only Concours.

It was also one of multiple events in the village this weekend. Others included the Lake George Jazz Festival, the King George Fishing Derby and Lake George In-Water Boat Show.

The village has been so receptive and they have gone out of their way for us, and the weather has been beautiful, said Jim Mennetto, publisher of Hemmings Motor News, which sponsored the show in Saratoga Springs for the last give years and in Vermont the five years before that. I am looking forward to having a long relationship with Lake George, he said, noting the show drew from 25 states and two Canadian provinces.
WASHINGTON -- Many Americans' moral vanity is expressed nowadays in their rage to disparage. They are incapable of measured judgments about past politics -- about flawed historical figures who were forced by cascading circumstances to make difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect information. So, the nation now needs an example of how to calmly assess episodes fraught with passion and sorrow. An example arrives Sunday night.

For 10 nights on PBS, Ken Burns' and Lynn Novick's "The Vietnam War," 10 years in the making and 18 hours in length, tells the story of a war "begun in good faith by decent people, out of fateful misunderstandings," and "prolonged because it seemed easier to muddle through than admit that it had been caused by tragic decisions" during five presidencies. The combat films are extraordinary; the recollections and reflections of combatants and others on both sides are even more so, featuring photos of them then and interviews with many of them now.

A 1951 photo shows a congressman named John Kennedy dining in Saigon. There is an interview with Le Quan Cong, who became a guerilla fighter in 1951, at age 12. Viewers will meet Madame Le Minh Khue, who was 16 when she joined the "Youth Shock Brigade for National Salvation": "I love Hemingway. I learned from 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Like the resourcefulness of the man who destroys the bridge. I saw how he coped with war, and I learned from that character." As did another combatant who loves that novel, John McCain.

Eleven years after his Saigon dinner, President Kennedy said, "We have not sent combat troops in the generally understood sense of the word." Obliqueness and evasions greased the slide into a ground war of attrition. Kennedy, his successor (who said, "Foreigners are not like the folks I'm used to") and their advisers were determined not to make the Munich mistake of confronting an enemy tardily. Tapes of Lyndon Johnson's telephone conversations with advisers are haunting and horrifying: To national security adviser McGeorge Bundy: "What the hell am I ordering [those kids] out there for?"

In 1966 alone, eighteen large-scale U.S. offensives left more than 3 million South Vietnamese -- approximately one-fifth of the country's population -- homeless. Just on the Laos portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, more tons of bombs -- 3 million tons -- were dropped than fell on Germany and Japan during World War II. By body counts, America was winning. As an Army adviser says in episode 4, "If you can't count what's important, you make what you can count important."

Vincent Okamoto earned in Vietnam the Army's second-highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross. He recalls the platoon he led:

"Nineteen-, 20-year-old high school dropouts ... they looked upon military service as like the weather: you had to go in, and you'd do it. But to see these kids, who had the least to gain, there wasn't anything to look forward to. ... And yet, their infinite patience, their loyalty to each other, their courage under fire. ... You would ask yourself, 'How does America produce young men like this?'"

Or like Okamoto. He was born during World War II in Arizona, in a Japanese-American internment camp. Karl Marlantes, a Rhodes Scholar from Yale who voluntarily left Oxford for Marine service in Vietnam, recalls a fellow lieutenant radioing to battalion headquarters over 20 kilometers away the fact that he had spotted a convoy of trucks. The battalion commander replied that this was impossible because intelligence operatives reported no trucks near there. In a Texas drawl the lieutenant replied: "Be advised. I am where I am and you are where you are. Where I am, I see goddamned trucks."

Weary of hearing the prudence that was so painfully learned in Indochina derided as the "Vietnam syndrome," Marlantes says (in his Wall Street Journal review of Mark Bowden's book "Hue 1968"): "If by Vietnam syndrome we mean the belief that the U.S. should never again engage in (a) military interventions in foreign civil wars without clear objectives and a clear exit strategy, (b) 'nation building' in countries about whose history and culture we are ignorant, and (c) sacrificing our children when our lives, way of life, or 'government of, by, and for the people' are not directly threatened, then we should never get over Vietnam syndrome. It's not an illness; it's a vaccination." The Burns/Novick masterpiece is, in Marlantes' words about Bowden's book, "a powerful booster shot."
FORT ANN  As Kevin Lovely drove up to 713 Dewey Bridge Road just after 4 p.m. Sunday, he saw heavy black smoke rolling out of one barn, which was engulfed in flames, and saw the fire had spread to a second barn as well.

Our initial attack was to keep the fire from spreading any more, said Lovely, the chief of the Fort Ann Volunteer Fire Department, who led more than 60 firefighters from more than a dozen departments in fighting the fire. We stopped it from getting too far past the second building, but there was nothing we could do about the others. That first barn was fully involved when we got here.

The fire destroyed both barns, as well as a pickup truck and tractor parked between them.

Lovely said the fire killed an unknown number of heifers, calves and pigs and piglets. Some of the animals got out, but most of them were in the back of the first barn and there was nothing we could do, he said.

Two firefighters were transported to Glens Falls Hospital for observation because of issues with the late-afternoon heat.

The property is owned by Dick and Lucy Burch, Lovely said. They live across the street from the barns and Lovely said Dick Burch was among several people who reported the fire.

County investigators were on the scene, but said it may be several days before a cause is determined, because the damage was so severe.

The first call for the fire from the Washington County Department of Public Safety went out at 4:04 p.m. and sent Fort Ann, West Fort Ann, Granville, North Granville and Hartford to the scene.

When Lovely saw how severe the fire was, he requested a second alarm.

We called everyone we could from Washington County, then we started calling departments from Warren County, said Lovely, who noted Pawlet and West Pawlet, Vermont, responded as well. We set up three fill sites, then we called in the towers to get more water on it.

Tanker trucks were ferrying water from fill sites on Aikens Road, at Deweys Bridge and at the Hartford station. Ladder or tower trucks from Whitehall and Kingsbury were also called.

Firefighters were still putting water on the fire two hours after the initial call, because hay bales and parts of the buildings were still smoldering. Lovely declared the fire knocked down at about 6 p.m., but he said there would be a long cleanup process.

We are going to need to bring in some excavators in to clean this up, he said.

Lovely said there were several explosions inside the barn after firefighters arrived. He said they could have been from gas or propane.

Other departments on the scene included Bay Ridge, Argyle, West Glens Falls and Fort Edward, along with Fort Ann, Skenesborough and Fort Edward EMS crews. Other departments were moved around to cover stations that had sent full crews to the fire.
It seemed like every hour on the hour, Florida Gov. Rick Scott was on the television making a plea for Florida residents to evacuate, to stay safe and get out of the way of the monster hurricane.

The passionate pleas from the guy wearing the Navy ballcap just made me angrier and angrier.

After Rick Scott was elected governor in 2011, his administration forbid state employees from using terms such as climate change and global warming, according to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.

While scientists around the world continued to sound the alarm that the seas were rising and warming, and that places like South Florida were in harms way, Scott did nothing to lessen the impact or mitigate the problem.

He stuck his head in the sand and refused to talk about it. Whats worse, he refused to let anyone in the state talk about it.

But there he was on the front lines last week, telling residents to run.

I blame the guy in the Navy ballcap for every home destroyed.

I blame the guy with the fake concern for those nursing home deaths.

I blame Gov. Rick Scott for being a politician first and a human being last.

What is even more appalling is that the hurricane he did nothing to prepare his state for, has helped his political stock rise, and it may propel a run for the U.S. Senate next year.

That would be Floridas gain, because another hurricane will eventually top Irma and it would be nice if they had a leader to prepare them.

The state of Florida is considered one of the most susceptible to the effects of global warming.

A report issued by a team of researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year found startling evidence that Florida had hugely underestimated the number of people at risk and the cost of protecting them.

In terms of sheer number of people living in harms way (South Florida) is way at the top basically, said Stetson University ecologist Jason Evans told the Chicago Tribune. It just pops out.

So what did Gov. Scott do?

Nothing.

This past April, witnesses told a Senate panel that South Florida was already experiencing the worsening effects of rising sea levels.

One witness from Broward County described how during seasonal high tides, ocean water flows up drainage pipes into the streets, businesses are forced to seal front doors with caulk to keep out the water and underground sea water is moving inland and contaminating drinking water wells.

Gov. Scott did nothing.

The previous Republican governor, Charlie Crist, took office in 2007 and announced that global climate change is one of the most important issues we will face in this century.

Crist went on to convene a climate change summit in Miami and created a task force to focus on the issue.

But without help from the state, local government was often forced to step into the vacuum.

Miami Beach undertook a $500 million infrastructure program to raise roads and build storm water pumps.

A coalition of four South Florida counties coordinated mitigation and adaption plans.

Pinellas County, where St. Petersburg is located, hired a climate specialist to convince government officials, planners and scientists to work together on adapting to change.

The smaller towns and burgs all across the state dont have the economic resources to duplicate those efforts.

Climate change does not cause hurricanes, but it does intensify them.

Irma was exhibit A.

Until Gov. Scott announces state plans to address the rising seas and warming oceans in his state, the federal government should withhold all hurricane relief.

That may be heartless. I understand that.

But no more heartless than Gov. Rick Scott ignoring his states most dangerous problem.
When it comes to county supervisors spending taxpayer money, we are big fans of frugality.

Yes, we believe they should be cheap and squeeze every nickel.

So when SUNY Adirondack came to the supervisors with their hand out this past week for a larger contribution to the schools budget, our first reaction was like many of the supervisors  not so fast.

Warren County already contributes $1.97 million and Washington County $1.46 million, or about 11.5 percent of the colleges budget.

But college officials made the case that most schools SUNY Adirondacks size get a contribution closer to 15.6 percent. They argued that if the counties increased their contributions, the school could keep tuition increases to a minimum while improving programs and infrastructure.

We got the impression the colleges request left more supervisors scowling than smiling.

What is probably more important for the supervisors to consider is what taxpayers are getting for their money.

Two years ago, SUNY Adirondack got $10 million from the state to build its science and technology building, then the school came to the counties looking for cash to complete what was then a $20 million project.

At the time, we argued that an investment in SUNY Adirondack was a far better use of taxpayer money than, say, the new court facilities being built. We still feel that way.

What we argued at the time is that the growth of the college with a new dorm and new facilities had the potential to be an economic engine to create jobs and drive revenues.

Thats how the supervisors should look at SUNY Adirondacks most recent request.

This is not just being pro education, it is being pro economic growth.

We know that students who go to college and get degrees earn more money, get better jobs and contribute more to our community. The vast majority of the students attending SUNY Adirondack are still from around the region, and many will undoubtedly remain here.

In recent years, the college has worked diligently to establish programs that will help local businesses develop employees with the right skill sets. The schools nursing program is a great example of that.

Secondly, the addition of a living residence on campus has led to greater chargeback fees from other counties, but the benefits dont stop there. Those approximately 400 students are coming mostly from outside our region, and along with those that commute to school are contributing to our local economy daily, buying pizza, gasing up their cars, eating at restaurants and buying groceries.

But what may be most important for the local economy is that the college has positioned itself to grow.

Because of the high cost of four-year colleges, we know that community colleges are not only a greater bargain, but perhaps the only way many students can keep student loan debt at a reasonable level.

As more students enroll, more professors and support personnel will be needed. These are good paying jobs that will also boost our economy.

The supervisors should not look at increased funding as a handout, but an investment that could grow the economy and create jobs like few other ways they spend our money.

That said, supervisors should not write the college a blank check. We believe the county should work with the college to gradually increase its donation to get closer to the 15.5 percent that is the average around the state.

Investing in SUNY Adirondack will lead to more revenue for both counties.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Stars editorial board, which consists of Publisher Rob Forcey, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran and citizen representatives Dan Gealt, George Nelson and Connie Bosse.
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No one was injured in an early morning Sunday house fire in Clinton that remains under investigation.

Firefighters arrived at 846 6th Ave. S. about 1:20 a.m. for a report of a possible front-porch fire. Heavy smoke was coming from the front of the 2 1/2-story wood-frame structure.

The house's occupants safely left the structure and are staying with friends.

The house was heavily damaged by smoke and fire, according to a news release from the Clinton Fire Department. The house was insured, but the contents were not, firefighters said.

Heat from the fire also damaged the house next door.

The state fire marshal and Clinton Fire Department are investigating the blaze.

Crews from Fulton, Illinois, and Camanche, Iowa, assisted at the scene, where Alliant Energy crews also responded.
Former U.S. Rep. Phil Hare is endorsing Democrat Chris Kennedy for Illinois governor, saying he's best equipped to lead the state, which has gone through years of budget and political struggles.

Hare, who represented the 17th congressional district from 2007 to 2011, hosted a fundraiser for Kennedy on Friday at his Rock Island home.

"I enthusiastically support Chris Kennedy to be the next governor because he possesses the right combination of experience and progressive values to lead Illinois out of the mess were currently in, Hare said in a statement released by the Kennedy campaign on Friday. I also believe that having Chris Kennedy at the top of the ticket will help all Democrats down the ballot throughout Illinois.

Hare also praised Kennedy, saying that had supported labor unions, notably during his tenure leading the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

Before winning election to Congress, Hare was the longtime district director for the late congressman, Lane Evans.

In his endorsement, Hare said Kennedy represents the same values that Evans fought for.

Kennedy is among a handful of Democrats seeking the party's nomination to run against incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican.

Also in the race are: state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evansdale, businessman J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar, state Rep. Scott Drury, D-Highwood, Madison County regional schools superintendent Bob Daiber and Tio Hardiman, a community organizer in Chicago.

The primary will be March 20.
As I watched the news coverage of hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida, I was struck by our vulnerability in a universe we cannot control. I was surprised to see how many times the expert predictions of Irmas storm path turned out to be wrong  with devastating consequences to people and property.

The natural disasters that hit southern Texas and Florida in quick succession demand a different approach to how we protect our citizens. Scientists agree the earths temperature is rising, so the confluence of mammoth hurricanes like Harvey and Irma, as well as the unchecked spread of wildfires in Western states, can no longer be called rare 500-year events, but unfortunately, a sign of things to come. We need to be better prepared.

Both storms could cost the country upward of $200 billion to rebuild. This urgent need for federal emergency funds is likely to upend the already difficult partisan budget process.

The idea that Congress must cut other essential spending to meet the needs of communities that have been devastated has proved a non-starter. Seeking a down payment on essential emergency aid to Texas and Florida, President Trump sought to avoid delays due to partisan wrangling by working with Democratic leaders willing to lift the debt ceiling on a short-term basis.

But the recently-passed $15 billion in emergency aid is likely to be used up by the middle of October. A divided Congress will find itself hard-pressed to appropriate somewhere between $100-$200 billion more, the estimated amount needed to rebuild in Florida and Texas, while at the same time addressing other budget priorities and tax cuts.

Deficit hawks will be pitted against representatives from areas affected by the hurricanes. If these recent disasters were only a one-time financial crisis, Congress might muddle through this providing some relief to residents of Florida and Texas while other budget priorities are shortchanged.

Adequate funding for natural disasters should be a given, not treated as a part of zero-sum political horse trading over budgets.

A completely new approach is needed, and heres why:

Rising sea levels indicate these natural disasters will be more frequent going forward. We think that Harvey type of rainfalls will become noticeably more frequent as the century goes on, said Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at MIT. The Los Angeles Times cites research that shows that the strongest storms, Category 3, 4, and 5 storms will likely become more frequent.

The Dallas Morning News this month cited a Harris County Flood Control District report from two decades ago, that predicted with "chilling accuracy" a reality experienced by thousands of homeowners in the Houston area. The report proposed a $400 million fix of the aging reservoir that could have pushed water toward the Houston Ship Channel more quickly. It also suggested buying out properties at risk and regulating development in the area. These reasonably low-cost infrastructure investments could have saved billions needed now for rebuilding, while protecting lives and property.

Three years before the catastrophe of Katrina, a five-part front page series in the New Orleans Times-Picayune warned that not a single levy in southern Louisiana could withstand a Category 5 hurricane. Officials ignored the reports prediction that the city would be submerged when the big one arrived, which it did, with frightening force, killing 1800 people.

Being fully prepared, instead of merely responding to natural disasters, requires a sustained financial commitment.

A 3 percent surtax could be set aside to deal with natural disasters. Based on projected 2017 tax revenues, a surtax would raise just over $100 billion annually that could be used not only to cover emergencies and rebuilding, but also to make infrastructure improvements that might have spared much of the damage in the Houston area during hurricane Harvey, and in New Orleans during Katrina in 2005.

Before Hurricane Harvey, the last major hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland was Wilma in October of 2005, an unprecedented 142-month stretch. The Trump administration had proposed sharp budget cuts to FEMA, as well as the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which helps communities prepare for hurricanes. Obviously, the presidents priorities should and have changed in the wake of these major hurricanes, but an ongoing commitment to preparedness is needed now.

The modest surtax Im suggesting, dedicated solely to prevention and recovery from natural disasters, would enable our federal government to strengthen infrastructure, save lives and protect property. At the same time, it would take disaster preparedness out of the political budget fray.
Riverdale City Council wouldn't listen to reason or protest. In its obstinance resides the case for ending a city's unilateral power over doling out tax incentives.

Come January, Iowa lawmakers should take up an idea they've batted around for years and immediately empower counties with veto power over ill-conceived handouts such as the tax increment financing package approved 4-1 in Riverdale on Tuesday night. Specifically, Sen. Mark Lofgren and Reps. Phyllis Thede and Monica Kurth -- members of the Senate and House Local Government committees -- should introduce legislation to, finally, give all taxpayers a legitimate say over what they're expected to fund.

City Council members couldn't vote fast enough to hand over $1.5 million in local, county and school district cash to developers of a planned residential subdivision. And they couldn't care less who tried to stop them.

Scott County supervisors opposed the TIF that would turn Welch Family Farm into a housing tract. TIFs were never intended to subsidizing middle class housing. It's a tool designed to rehab blighted industrial zones. Add to that the consumption of fertile farmland and the county's objection was all but assured from the get go. Pleasant Valley Community School District opposed it, too. That's because it would sap hundreds of thousands in would-be tax revenue from the district's coffers. And it would do it while boosting student enrollment.

In a very real sense, both county and school district residents will pay for one developer's sweetheart deal.

But not just local taxing bodies raised holy hell over the city's burning desire to flout accepted tax policy.

Dozens of residents packed the City Council's chambers Tuesday night. They protested. They waived signs. They pleaded with the council. In turn, council members accused them of ignorance and threatened to turn the police on them.

Think about that for a second. Riverdale touts just 430 residents. Ten to 15 percent turned up on a Tuesday night to rail against a project.

Council members accused dissenters of being misinformed. But the evidence suggests it was the City Council that refused to honestly assess the information. The minds of its members were made up weeks ago. And no griping from county officials, school board members or residents could change them.

Riverdale isn't the first to abuse TIF locally. LeClaire ignored county-wide objections for years and handed out incentives for its neighborhoods. Muscatine is mulling something similar.

In all instances, the sole decision-making authority lies with the city. Iowa law only requires the consultation of affected taxing entities. Counties and schools object. City councils ignore the complaints and push ahead, effectively taxing entire tax bases who have absolutely no representation in the process.

It's downright undemocratic.

At the very least, county boards throughout Iowa should wield veto power over proposed TIFs. County boards are composed of professional elected officials, well compensated for what's effectively a full-time post. Counties tout entire departments of professional planners, tax specialists and budget analysts capable of truly assessing the proposed project at least somewhat removed of city-level politics. County officials are less beholden to political contributions from a single development firm and better equipped to critically analyze the copious legalese that comes with TIF applications.

And, of greatest import, county boards represent an entire constituency, the very people who, ultimately, would foot the bill.

As it stands, the very governmental body best positioned to provide objective oversight over TIF applications can offer only meaningless advisory opinions. County officials can scold city officials for bending to development pressure. They can draft wordy letters objecting to the adverse affects such projects would have on schools, farmland and the county's tax base. And they can be ignored, just like the school board and residents who were shamelessly ignored in Riverdale on Tuesday night.

All of Scott County got railroaded by a city council obviously answerable to no one. It wasn't the first time. Nor will it be the last. That's unless Iowa Legislature -- starting with the Senate and House Local Government committees -- finally decides to give taxpayers a legitimate voice.
Its wonderful Davenport Community School District Superintendent Art Tate tried to bring awareness to the Iowa Education Board and Legislature about Davenport funding inequities. It was this way even when I was on Davenport School Board in the 1990s. Every board since then has fought it.

They were told as we were that you still have to meet state law of writing a balanced budget. This is where the card game begins. Administrators are good at diversion; create a problem to divert your attention away from a goal. As a policy board, we set goals and try to have the superintendent follow the instructions to meet these goals. Instead, he started this campaign and began his quest.

How many voters in Davenport voted for the fourth high school in Davenport? How did the state take free and reduced lunches away from Davenport? How do you allow a middle school to close so you can sell your administration building and move into the school that wont sell? A one-cent sales tax is the answer.

Dr. Tate has figured a way by using the one-cent sales tax for brick and mortar first then follow with the program change as he molds it. Davenport voters cannot stop him.

Look at the new expansion in the district and the employee shifting and adding salary increases, insurance costs, building supplies, equipment to fill the new buildings.

This has gone on before one student has benefited. Now you can see why Davenport has a budget shortfall.

Jim Hayek

Davenport
NISLAND - Lana Lewis, Nisland, was born in Nebraska before moving to Riverton, Wyo. She graduated high school in 2004 and University of Wyoming in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in finance. She works for the Rural Community Insurance Services as a crop insurance adjuster.

But another facet of her life comes in the form of a new position as the rookie on the Nisland/Arpan Fire/Rescue. Lewis has been married to Graham, a local man, for the past 10 years and they have lived southeast of Nisland since 2008 when Graham returned to the family farm.

"The main reason I decided to become a volunteer is because Graham didn't feel he had the time to dedicate to the department," said Lewis of her decision. "I always have felt that I wanted to be a help to my community and this is how I am doing that. We are fortunate to live in an agriculture based community where neighbors help each other out."

Lewis started with the department about five months ago and has learned a lot in that short time.

She spoke about her first fire, a non-life threatening circumstance. "I was able to learn the first steps of handling a fire hose and working with a team," she said. "My first house fire was truly a learning experience. I was surprised how many people it takes to handle a large structure fire."

As the rookie on the squad her first role is to learn as much as she can from experienced firefighters who will be retiring within the next 20 years. She said she feels fortunate to work with a crew that is very patient and knowledgeable. She also helps with record keeping and other tasks around the fire hall.

Life on a fire is very different from the tasks she performed working for Wells Fargo, CBH Feed and Ag Services and as a crop adjuster. The most unusual thing she learned is how to "hot load" when Life Flight is called in.

"The helicopter stays running while it is being loaded," she said with a certain level of excitement. However, most things Lewis does with the department are more mundane and she feels like she is treated just like any other firefighter.

"I don't feel like I have been treated differently than anyone else that is a rookie," she said. "Fire doesn't care what gender you are. This role isn't about being a man or a woman; it is about being a good citizen."

She is happy to be in a position to truly help her community and do the same things the men do. She said the firefighting suits fit the guys better than they do a woman.

She also hopes to inspire other men and women to volunteer for emergency services or find another way they can to serve their community.

"I am very grateful for having an opportunity to serve my community and learn new things, especially when it could help save a life."
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. | Volunteering doesnt always mean cleaning a section of highway every few months. Its about giving back. For Ellsworth, this belief is showcased by its Airmen helping to improve the Black Hills community whenever an opportunity presents itself.

The United Way Day of Caring is one such opportunity and more than 200 Airmen from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, participated in the event in Rapid City, South Dakota, Sept. 7, 2017.

This event shows the character of the Airmen, said Airman Johnathan McCarty, a weapons loader assigned to the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 37th Aircraft Maintenance Unit. It shows that we give back to the community, and shows the [Black Hills] that we are there for them.

This event helps give back by doing projects such as landscaping, running food banks, and helping with minor construction. Each project had Airmen and Black Hills residents working together to give a helping hand.

Our community always comes to help those in need, said Rosellen Reese, the Rapid City United Way administrative assistant. Wherever you look, there is some group ready and willing to help, regardless of what project needs to be done.

Participating Airmen and other volunteers from the area met at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City and dispersed to their different projects for six hours.

We always help, McCarty said. Regardless if it is a hurricane in Houston, Texas, or this event, we always are going to be there to help. The community should know that [Ellsworth] is always there for them, regardless of what they go through.

There were 31 different projects that Airmen participated in including cleaning abandoned storage containers, packing food at food banks, and demolishing gazeboes. All of these events demonstrated the amount of effort Airmen put into the local region.

Ellsworth does make a difference, Reese said. She went on to explain that the base offers tremendous support because of the sheer number of Airmen who are interested in helping.

There were more than 1,000 participants, with approximately one-fifth coming from Ellsworth. Airmen from the base here have been participating in this event since 2001.

Without the help of Ellsworth, we wouldnt have been able to do every single project, Reese said.

Community involvement is key to how an areas civil-military relation is viewed. Assisting the Black Hills area is one of the main factors to why Ellsworth has strong support throughout western South Dakota.

Anywhere, every time: Ellsworth supports their community.
Volunteering is often a thankless job, but a few hardworking children's advocates got the thanks they deserve during a recent appreciation event.

The Seventh Circuit CASA Program held its annual volunteer appreciation picnic on Aug. 30 to recognize the program's 56 volunteers.

CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates, and its workers seek to provide a courtroom advocate for children who have suffered abuse and neglect. A news release from the organization says Seventh Circuit CASA has five staff people, leaving much of the advocacy work done by volunteers.

"Last year 194 children in our community had a voice in court because of CASA volunteers," the release reads.

One of those volunteers, Gwendolyn Menke, was named the "Rising Star Volunteer of 2017" and received a certificate of appreciation.

The children that we work for are survivors, Executive Director Kehala Two Bulls said in the release. They have experienced abuse and neglect and have been removed from their families and everything that they know.

Once children are placed in state custody, CASA said they start to cycle through case workers and placements, often for as long as 12 to 18 months. According to the release, many children report that their volunteer advocate is the one consistent adult in their life during a turbulent time. There have been advocates in Rapid City who advocated for the same child for five years, the release says.

Being a CASA is about showing up for a child and giving them a voice. Its a wonderful experience for the volunteer and the child. The trust and care that grows in these relationships is profound, Two Bulls said.

Local judges have also voiced their support for the program.

I believe that CASA provides a very important and personal voice for children who are the subject of court proceedings. Their personal and active involvement represents children in otherwise very difficult situations, Circuit Court Judge Heidi Linngren said in the release.

Seventh Circuit CASA currently has 295 children waiting for an advocate.

The next new volunteer training will begin Oct. 14. For more information, call 394-2203 or go to casaofrapidcity.org.

Local swim program donates 300 pounds of food

The Rapid City Aquatics Division has donated 300 pounds of food to Feeding South Dakota as a result of its summer food drive at local city pools.

According to a news release from the city, the City's Military Swim program allowed free pool admittance to military personnel with the donation of two cans of food. The drive brought in 300 pounds of food to give to Feeding South Dakota, according to Barbara Iwan, Aquatics Specialist with the Rapid City Parks and Recreation Department.

"The Military Swim was a great success. It was an opportunity to show appreciation to our military and at the same time collect much-needed food donations that will help many people," Iwan said in the release.

Iwan praised Aquatics Division staff for their efforts in the donation program.

Community foundation grants $50K to project

The South Dakota Community Foundation awarded the Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting a $50,000 South Dakota Fund grant for their Black Hills Bureau project, according to a release from the community foundation.

The release says public broadcasting will open the Black Hills Bureau this month. The new Black Hills Bureau will serve as a hub for storytelling, premiere screenings for SDPBs locally produced programming, lectures, political debates and many other functions.

Friends of SDPBs Black Hills Bureau plan to host regular events from the Bureau in the South Dakota Community Foundation Gallery, according to the release.

SDPBs new Black Hills Bureau is going to be the focal point of our West River coverage and programming, said Julie Overgaard, SDPB executive director, in the release. The partnership with the South Dakota Community Foundation is a wonderful opportunity for both, like-minded organizations to enhance their presence in the Black Hills region and bring important state-wide conversations to the Black Hills. Without the SDCFs support, this would have never been a reality.

The South Dakota Community Foundation awards South Dakota Fund grants on an ongoing basis. For more information or to apply for a grant, visit SDCommunityFoundation.org/SDFund.
A candlelight vigil is planned for tonight to keep up hope that a woman who grew up in Spearfish and is now missing in California will soon be found safe.

The vigil for Julia Jacobson is planned for today from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Indian Springs Gazebo at 222 W. Dakota St. in Spearfish. It is one of four simultaneous vigils being held at locations where Jacobson has connections to friends and family, including in Bismarck, N.D., where her family lives, and in San Diego, where she went missing.

Jacobson, 37, attended elementary, middle and high school in Spearfish. An Army veteran, Jacobson was last seen around 6:30 a.m. Sept. 2, at a 7-Eleven in Mission Hills, San Diego. A note was found indicating that she might be traveling, but her car was then found a short distance from her home with the windows rolled down and Jacobson and her dog nowhere to be seen.

On Sept. 6, Jacobson's family filed a missing person report with San Diego Police. Her friends and family are waging a nationwide campaign to find Jacobson.
Is it possible that preventing youth suicide can be accomplished by simply sharing a pizza or a hot fudge sundae?

Or by taking a drive through the Black Hills?

Or just by giving a child a hug, and listening to them through non-judgmental ears?

Certainly the reason that anyone would choose to end their own life can never truly be known, and no blame should ever be cast.

And yet, as Rapid City and western South Dakota as a whole are suddenly facing a youth suicide crisis, it is surely the right time to seek solutions to this tragic and heart-rending situation. Three young people in the Rapid City Area School District have taken their lives since July, and area Indian reservations have long been home to numerous and devastating reports of young people who have made the sad and very final decision to end their lives.

This newspaper has commended the local school district for stepping up and publicly discussing the problem, including hosting a public meeting last week that drew 100 people and kicked off what we hope is an ongoing conversation to bring suicide into the open and seek solutions.

To that end, Corey Harouff wants adults and children alike to know that preventing suicides and suicide attempts can often boil down to the most basic of human interactions. Harouff is the director of Rapid City Young Life, a faith-based youth mentoring program that creates partnerships with youths who are in crisis or who simply need a kind, honest, caring person to interact with.

"Kids are hurting," says Harouff. "They're starving for attention, starving for connections, starving for relationships."

Harouff shared his views on the symptoms and causes of suicides  in both youth and adult populations  in the Journal's latest Storytellers and Newsmakers podcast that will post on rapidcityjournal.com and iTunes on Monday. During that conversation, and during the public forum where he was a speaker, Harouff insisted that despite a world that has never been more instantly connected, there's a significant lack of connections in many people's lives.

Feelings of loneliness, abandonment, isolation: Those are the root causes of suicidal thoughts and acts, he argues.

At Young Life, Harouff and colleagues like Chris Parrish make a bold statement to children in the simplest of ways. They meet with them, buy them pizza, talk to them, listen to them and care about them. They make them feel safe, respected, fought for and loved.

But it doesn't take a youth minister to make that happen. As adults, or even peers, for a troubled youth, we can all make time to help.

Parents are uniquely positioned to help keep their children safe, but any adult can take on the important role of being a child's friend.

Harouff has a technique that seems so obvious and simple that it is heartbreaking to think that it must be taught. And it will take only one hour a week.

He suggests that a parent or adult mentor spend just one hour per week with a child, doing an activity that can be as simple as taking a drive, going out for pizza or a snack, or playing a board game or video game together.

Turn off the authoritative voice, leave criticism for another day, share things about your life and listen closely to what the child is saying. Look, listen and love.

"Just hang out with them, and love on them," he says.

Surely we can all do that. Surely we can make the small but critical emotional investment necessary to show children that they are cared for, loved, and listened to.

Surely it won't take another suicide or suicide attempt for us to make that time.
The Bitterroot National Forest is taking comments on a proposed 27,453-acre project near Darby that involves logging, prescribed burns, creation of about four miles of new roads while decommissioning 35 miles of roads, and changing access to some roads and trails.

Eric Winthers, the Darby district ranger, said the project is fairly small and mainly involves land acquired a few years ago from the Darby Lumber Company. It encompasses land in the Rye Creek, Little Sleeping Child Creek, Harlan Creek, Roan Gulch, Burke Gulch and Robbins Gulch drainages on the Darby/Sula Ranger District.

The project is known as Darby Lumber Lands Phase 2, and is a continuation of the Darby Lumber Lands watershed improvement project in 2015.

"It includes a bit of vegetation management, and a lot of the transportation piece is taking old roads and decommissioning some that we don't need," Winthers said on Friday, adding that the Darby Lumber Company "roaded and logged, then it burned, and it's been through some pretty rough times."

The proposed project includes commercial harvest on about 1,260 acres of dry pine sites, and in two harvest units of 95 and 40 acres, they want to clearcut due to current diseased conditions.

"Our silvaculturarist wants to clean up and remove those trees from a disease standpoint and start over," Winthers said.

The project is expected to provide more than 5 million board feet of timber to Montana sawmills.

The prescribed burns would take place on the harvest units as well as a 57-acre open pine/grassland site in order to reduce fuels, "rejuvenate wildlife forage, and help return fire to a landscape that developed with fire," according to the project description.

About 4 miles of permanent road, and 4 miles of temporary roads would be created as part of the project.

Two new off-highway vehicle trails, which would be less than 50 inches wide, would improve the recreational experience in the upper Little Sleeping Child/Lairdon Gulch area.

"That would connect to a series of old roads and become an ATV loop," Winthers said.

The Bitterroot Community Wildfire Protection Plan identified the area as a high priority for fuels reduction within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

During the past 10 years, the Bitterroot National Forest has completed numerous fuels reduction projects in a large portion of "high priority areas" in the WUI. Since 2007, the forest has treated more than 30,000 acres of overstocked National Forest lands that border private property or are near homes.

Montana DEQ has listed two streams in the project area, Rye Creek & North Fork Rye Creek, as water quality impaired.

To learn more about Darby Lumber Lands - Phase 2 and to view maps visit www.fs.usda.gov/bitterroot. Click on NEPA Projects. Printed copies are also available for review at the Hamilton Supervisors Office and the Darby Ranger District office.

Public comments are due by Oct. 13 and can be submitted to: Eric Winthers, District Ranger, by mail to P.O. Box 388, Darby, MT 59829; by fax to (406) 821-4264, or by email to comments-northern-bitterroot-darby@fs.fed.us. Comments should include: the name, address, phone number, and organization represented, if any; the title of project on which the comments are being submitted; and substantive comments including specific facts and supporting information for the district ranger to consider.

Only individuals or entities who submit timely and specific written comments about the proposed project during the public comment period will be eligible to file an objection.

For more information or questions concerning the project, contact Winthers at (406) 821-3913 or Ed Snook, Forest Hydrologist at (406) 363-7103.
Empty Bowls is a simple meal where diners buy a beautiful handmade bowl, filled with soup, as part of a fundraiser to help fill the many empty bowls in the Bitterroot Valley.

Clay Works! in the Bitterroot, a pottery co-operative in Hamilton, is sponsoring the Empty Bowls project in the Bitterroot Valley with a soup and bread lunch on Nov. 11. The funds raised during the event will benefit two local groups that are trying to feed the hungry and educate them to feed themselves.

Pottery artists Kim Milstead, Robin Ireland, Sidney Mehlschmidt, Eve Meng and Vevan Yang are coordinating the Empty Bowls event. Milstead is the program director for Empty Bowls.

I like the idea that its bowls and pottery, Milstead said. We all love to create; the title of it ties us to the bowls and it is good to be thinking of people other than ourselves.

Ireland said feeding the hungry is the goal of Empty Bowls.

It originated in 1990 to advocate arts and education as well as feed the hungry or raise awareness of food insecurity, Ireland said. It started as a project in an art class years ago.

Milstead said that originally, art students came up with the idea to make bowls in pottery class and sell them to raise money to donate to the food bank.

This started in Michigan but now is worldwide, she said. It is an international movement with local details. You can have any kind of meal, any kind of bowls, however you want to do it. It is often picked up by arts organizations to fight hunger and advocate the Arts and art education.

Mehlschmidt said he was involved in the Empty Bowl efforts in Anchorage, Alaska, for 25 years before moving to Montana.

It involved the high schools and universities, he said. It was a huge event for a large population that raised over $1 million in 25 years.

Ireland said the Empty Bowl program has been held in the Bitterroot Valley for years but needed a new impetus and since we have this new co-op, were only a year and a half old, we thought it would be a good project for us to do that would benefit the community, Ireland said. Its a win-win - good for us and good for the community.

Proceeds from the luncheon will be divided three ways.

Forty percent will benefit the Community Meals program that serves free meals five different nights of the week, Labor Day through Memorial Day, at several different churches.

Its awesome and we appreciate them recognizing us and making the recipients of their efforts, said Cheryl Calvert, community meals coordinator.

Forty percent will benefit the MSU Extension SNAP Education Program that teaches nutrition classes to first-, third- and fifth-grade classes at Hamilton, Darby, Victor and Stevensville schools. SNAP coordinator Rachel Ariaz also teaches an adult nutrition class five to 10 times a year. The eight-week long classes teach healthy strategies and practice skills for cooking, buying and planning meals.

Twenty percent of donations will be kept by Empty Bowls/Clay Works! as seed money for future programs.

Bread will be made by Red Rooster and Alpenstuble Inc. Soups will be made by Bouilla, Spice of Life, Taste of Paris, Bitter Root Brewing, and the Trapper Creek Job Corps culinary arts department.

Soups will be served in a handmade bowls crafted by local potters.

Clay Works! potters are hard at work making hundreds of bowls to be donated for the event, Milstead said. Some potters work in their own studios and some work at the co-op. The bowls take weeks, even months, to finish.

Milstead said there will be more than 200 bowls and she hopes to sell that many (or more) tickets to the luncheon.

In the future, the group plans to offer a bowl-making workshop where people could come, and learn, and contribute, Milstead said. Making bowls are one of the first thing everyone makes because the clay throws itself outward. We try to get younger people who are interested in art to also be interested in this project.

In fact, Corvallis Art teacher Kevin Silkwood, president of the Clay Works! Co-op, is donating bowls he crafted;. He's teaching his students the art of pottery, and hopes to have 20 student-made bowls completed in time for the November luncheon.

It is good to have kids learning skills to help others beyond the classroom, Silkwood said. It is good for them to help the community.

The Bitter Root Empty Bowls is under The Bitter Root Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc. (Bitter Root RC&D) as the 501C3 fiduciary agent.

Were working with them, with Trapper Creek Job Corps, and the OHara Sustainability Center, Milstead said. The Knights of Columbus will be serving the soup and the St. Francis Pastoral Life Center is giving us the use of their building.

The Empty Bowl luncheon will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 11 at the St. Francis Pastoral Life center, 511 So. Fifth St. in Hamilton. Tickets cost $20 and will be available starting on Oct. 1 at Chapter One Book Store, Art City, Art Focus, the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce, and from Clay Works! Board members.
Editor's note: First of a two-part series.

As a boy growing up in Butte, Bart Riley loved spending time at the family business, Riley Meats, on West Park Street. Young Bart and his siblings would help out cleaning the shop after his father was done cutting meat for the day.

"I must have been good at it, because more and more the task fell to me," he remembers with a grin. "I enjoyed it."

He still enjoys it. As the third-generation proprietor of Riley Meats  his grandfather started the business in 1948  he now gets to clean up after himself, scouring every inch of his small wholesale and retail meat-cutting operation with steam sprayed at 225 degrees. Walk in any day  as federal and county inspectors have attested  and the little shop, still at 134 W. Park Street, is immaculate.

But the consistent praise from inspectors has not prevented the past 12 years from being a federal regulatory nightmare for Bart Riley and his family.

A shocking visit

On Aug. 3, 2005, Dr. Jeffrey Legg walked into Riley Meats.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service, the branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture charged with ensuring the safety of food in the marketplace, had by that time been inspecting Bart's business for 36 years. On a daily basis, an inspector would be present as the successive Rileys cut steaks, ground hamburger, waited on the occasional retail customer, and in recent years made sausage with a top-secret concoction of spices Bart adds to his ground pork.

Riley does not slaughter; he is a processor, a purveyor of fine meat mostly to wholesale customers  restaurants spread across several states  and also to walk-in retail customers.

It is the quintessential family business, big enough to provide a good living to Bart Riley and his family, not big enough to require multiple employees and all the discomforts  and compromises  that come with scaling a business upward.

On this day almost exactly a dozen years ago, Riley's then-regular federal inspector, Rick Toot, introduced him to Legg. Legg, a veterinarian by training, was Toot's new boss, the new front-line supervisor for the Montana circuit. His credentials were impressive: A former front-line supervisor in North Dakota, he had then been promoted to regional headquarters in Minneapolis as a deputy district manager.

Now, he had apparently decided to head back into the field, supervising the inspection of dozens of federally inspected plants in the Billings circuit, covering Montana and part of Wyoming.

Riley had no reason to be worried. He had a very good professional relationship with FSIS, currently in the person of Toot, who remembers, "Riley's Meats was consistently free of issues. His plant  I mean it's an old building, but it's immaculate. The guy takes care of that plant."

As Riley gave him a tour of his modest operation, Legg could not have been more polite. But after the tour came the shock.

He told Riley he couldn't use the wooden pallets his products were stacked on in his coolers. "You need to change them out" to plastic, he said. The basement  even though no business was done there, no product stored there  needed to be refurbished with new concrete. Back upstairs, the walls that Bart had covered with easy-to-clean galvanized metal needed to be re-covered with glass board. The carts that Riley used to transport product back and forth from cooler to street were fashioned of galvanized metal-clad wood. Unacceptable, he was told. The carts must be stainless steel. And, Legg said, you have to build an office for the inspectors, at least 8'x10', with a locking door and a source of heat and a desk and file cabinet.

The list went on and on, and as it did, Riley became more and more distressed. The calculator in his head  the one every small businessman has  was clicking away furiously, and the numbers were getting scary-big. Approaching six figures.

Another shock: Legg told Riley he didn't see how he could continue to process wild game during hunting season and retain his federal inspection. Riley explained that the processing of wild game was done completely separately, after his regular working hours, and the plant was rigorously cleaned afterward. Legg expressed doubt that would be good enough under his regimen.

Toot took Legg into several other plants during his get-to-know-the-circuit tour. At each place, Legg was super-polite but ended the visit with a long to-do list.

"He told them all, 'I'm available to you 365 days a year, seven days a week,'" Toot remembers. "Here's this guy in a suit and tie and pretty shoes, trying to convince them instantly he's one of them. I had half a dozen plant managers pull me aside after those initial visits and say, 'He's trying to close my plant.'"

In the weeks following Legg's visit, Riley wrestled with what to do. Reluctantly, he built the inspector's office. He did the basement concrete work. And he replaced the pallets in one of his coolers, all in all spending around $10,000.

But then one day he noticed that he was getting Daily's bacon delivered from Missoula on wooden pallets, and he knew the large Daily's Premium Meats plant was federally inspected.

So Riley took a closer look at FSIS regulations. And he discovered that nowhere in the federal rules did it specify that wooden pallets were unacceptable.

Now more than a little irritated, Riley checked further. Ultimately, he discovered that none of the work Legg had told him he needed to do was based on federal regulations  not the wall coverings, not the concrete, not the steel carts, none of it.

Further, he would discover with more research that Jeffrey Legg was known within the agency for making arbitrary pronouncements that were not rooted in the rules.

Riley was told by an inspector who had worked for Legg in North Dakota that inspectors and plant operators there had come up with a name for the orders from Legg that were nowhere in the federal regulations.

"They called them 'Legg regs'," Riley said. Soon, Montana owners would be using the same phrase.

One night about 10 p.m., Riley was reading the federal regulations.

He found that slaughter plants are required to provide an office for inspectors. Processing plants, like Riley's plant, are not, the regulations specified. A desk must be provided for the inspector. That's all.

"I was wild," Riley remembered. "I loaded up a chainsaw, a crowbar, and a sledgehammer, and I went to the plant and tore down that office. I had it gone by midnight.

"I cleaned everything up and left the piece of the door with the padlock on it on the inspector's desk.

"The next day, nobody said a word. And nobody ever said anything about it. They knew that I knew I'd been lied to."

Ranchland episode irritates governor

Just a day after Legg's visit to Riley Meats, he issued an order closing down Ranchland Packing in Butte for a supposed rodent issue in the plant's offices  not near its production areas. This greatly irritated at least one influential Montanan  then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

FSIS impounded some two hundred carcasses that were hanging in the Ranchland plant when the agency closed it. One of them, a prize hog, belonged to none other than the governor, who had purchased it from its young owner at a 4-H auction. To make matters worse, Ranchland took the necessary steps to remedy the issue immediately, but Legg had gone on a fishing trip and wasn't immediately reachable to authorize the reopening of the plant.

Within days, the plant was reopened, carcasses released.

But soon, federally inspected meat businesses in Montana were in something of an uproar.

Other facilities, after hearing of Riley's pushback, began complaining about Legg too. Plant owners heard through the grapevine that Legg had been sent to Montana by FSIS brass to get as many small operations off of federal inspection as possible.

And indeed some businesses, faced with long to-do lists from Legg, did make the decision to drop federal inspection and begin to be inspected by the State of Montana  generally considered less stringent.

For Riley's operation, though, federal inspection is critical to his business model. Riley sells to restaurants and other clients across state lines  which can't be done without federal inspection.

To combat the uproar in Montana, the Food Safety and Inspection Service decided to set up a series of "listening sessions" to hear and address small and very small plant operators' concerns.

The FSIS officials endured an earful.

Repeatedly, the FSIS bureaucrats from headquarters assured plant operators that no, the requirements enumerated in the "Legg regs" were not real. Plants don't have to change out wooden pallets. Plant operators don't have to cover every surface with glass board. All equipment doesn't have to be stainless steel. Only areas of the building directly involved in operations or product storage were subject to inspection, not basements or other floors that were not part of the operation. And plants didn't have to take a suspension from federal inspection in order to process wild game.

Legg, answering a direct question from Riley, admitted that "we have no problem with wood pallets" as long as they are in good repair, leaving Riley stunned at the contradiction from Legg's statement at his plant.

Toot bit his tongue. He had accompanied Legg to several plants in which Legg had said wooden pallets were unacceptable. Even more, he had been ordered by Legg to write NRs  "noncompliance records"  citing plants for using wooden pallets. In an affidavit Toot would sign in January 2014, he wrote, "Dr. Legg  told me that anyone who did not write NRs" on the issue would be gone. "He said that about three times. I took that as he was saying we would be fired if we did not write NRs on wooden pallets."

At the listening sessions, in the presence of his supervisors, Legg did not deny that he had ordered plants to remove the pallets. But later, when his conduct was investigated, he would officially deny he had ever said wooden pallets were unacceptable.

The second "listening session," in Helena, got hijacked by the governor. Schweitzer showed up unannounced, with a video crew, and harangued the FSIS officials for half an hour straight, scolding them for overzealous actions against small Montana operators even as cattle from Canada were able to enter the country uninspected, despite the concern of BSE (mad cow disease).

The final session, in Butte, ended early amidst acrimonious questions about the Ranchland closure. The sessions' message to plant owners was clearly intended to reassure: FSIS was not trying to drop them from federal inspection, and they would not be penalized for failing to meet requirements that weren't in the rule book.

But for Bart Riley, the listening sessions solved nothing. And his problems with the FSIS's new front-line supervisor were about to get much worse.

A blizzard of citations

Rick Toot, the inspector who introduced Legg to Riley, remembers that Legg was clearly angered at Bart Riley's pushback. He told Toot and others that Riley Meats "needed to go away."

Toot and other inspectors were told to write NRs  a lot of NRs  on Riley.

"One thing that has to be made perfectly clear," Toot says, "is that Dr. Legg never used the word 'quota' in describing how many NRs he wanted. And he's a master of deniability. He'd never admit there was a quota.

"He won't put anything in writing like that," he added. "Usually, when he made those statements, there were no witnesses.

"But one day down at Ranchland, his ego must have been running really high, and he had several of us there, inspectors and veterinarians, and he had us gathered in a circle, and he was kind of in his pulpit. And he told us flat out, 'I want one NR per day in this plant.' Now if that's not a quota, I don't know what one is."

Toot said he asked Legg one day, "Dr. Legg, correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been at this under your supervision for a year, and we've been writing all these NRs, and the plants have been correcting those issues. So theoretically, shouldn't the number of NRs be going down?"

"He told me, 'Absolutely not,'" Toot remembers. "He said we had to keep those NR numbers up."

For Bart Riley, the blizzard of NRs after the "listening sessions" became an enormous distraction. And they also represented a very real threat to his business  financially and logistically. Paperwork meant time away from cutting meat. And while most complaints were very trivial  pinhole-sized rust spots on a grocery cart used to ferry bagged product into the coolers, easily addressed by a two-second spray of steel coating  some were more aggravating.

When, at Legg's directive, Riley was given an NR for using wooden pallets, his rejoinder on the federal form is telling:

"I am appealing this NR because, in my view, it constitutes harassment and discriminatory treatment in retaliation for my speaking out at the FSIS listening sessions in September. Contrary to the public statements made by Bill Smith, Deputy Administrator, Office of Field Operations, the issue of wooden pallets remains at the forefront of the harassment issues I am experiencing in my plant."

He added, "I believe it is imperative the agency understands that the pallets in question arrived in my facility bearing product I purchased from Daily's Bacon in Missoula. Based on my conversations with Daily's, the ... use of wooden pallets identical to the ones in use at my facility is not an issue at their plant. This information leaves me in a quandary; either there is a dual standard of enforcement in Montana or my plant is being subjected to intention(al) harassment, possibly of a retaliatory nature.

"Please advise me, in writing, how the pallets in question are a violation in my plant but not in Daily's."

Gov. Schweitzer's office also fired off a letter to FSIS district headquarters. Within days, the NR was rescinded.

A few weeks later, Riley received an NR that left him all but speechless. The citation questioned whether the plant had a potable water supply. When Riley responded that the plant had been hooked up to city water for many decades, he was asked for a letter certifying that the city's water supply was drinkable.

That NR, too, was rescinded.

The paper kept coming. Pinhole rust on carts. Rust on the bottom of hand trucks that were being stored but not currently used. Riley challenged Legg directly on that one; Legg waved a hand and said, "Appeal it, it'll disappear."

As Riley spent more and more time in his office writing NR appeals and checking on the status of the citations, his frustration mounted.

An NR written in May 2006 about a spot of "biofilm" on his freezer wall became the last straw for Riley. He couldn't see anything the matter with his freezer wall. Resignedly, he appealed the NR.

Then, the inspector presented him with a revision. Now the "biofilm" was "an oily smear with adherent dust and unidentified debris intermingled with frozen concentrate." And two boxes of product were tagged "retain" by the inspector because concentrate had dripped onto the cardboard (nowhere near the product, which was sealed in plastic.)

It turned out that the inspector had reached out to the FSIS Technical Service Center to work on the wording of the NR. Riley, who thought the NR had been changed to make it sound more serious, questioned how people at the Omaha center could have a better idea of what was on his freezer wall than the inspector in Butte.

After his appeal, the product was released for shipment. The NR, though not rescinded, was deleted from the system, apparently by Legg, which would be a violation of FSIS policy.

Riley was out of patience. He filed an official complaint, alleging multiple instances of willful harassment by Legg and other FSIS personnel.

The complaint was investigated. Riley was interviewed. But for the next two years plus, he heard nothing about a resolution.

Quotas by any other name

The issue of "quotas" of NRs would not die.

FSIS administrator Al Almanza was asked in June of 2008 in an interview on an industry blog, meatingplace.com, whether inspectors were given quotas of NRs.

"I'd say that's false," Almanza replied. "A more accurate description is that whenever a plant has zero NRs, you would assume that it would be a perfect plant. We have to document deficiencies and have their preventative and corrective measures documented. I'm not aware of any quotas.  we are not going to order or direct any of our inspectors on any number of NRs to be documented on a day, a month, et cetera."

In Montana, the situation on the ground felt much different, particularly in plants that had incurred Legg's displeasure.

"He had quotas, definitely, particularly for the plants he didn't like," said another inspector who requested that his name not be used because he still works for FSIS. "And he didn't like Bart Riley."

Riley said yet another inspector told him that Legg had passed down orders through an intermediary that all inspectors needed to write 10 NRs in every plant each quarter. When the inspector questioned his supervisor about whether that was a quota, he was told that Legg said it wasn't a quota, but he did not see how every plant wouldn't have 10 NRs per quarter.

Just six weeks before Almanza's denial, Legg forwarded an email to his inspectors from Roger Kubera, then an analyst with the Minneapolis district, covering Montana.

"Not to be forwarded," the email started. It went on to say: "Perfect plants 'O' NRs??? 1-NR maybe if they worked one day. 2-NR's possibly in certain cases. 3 or more is the most likely."

Interviews, questions refused

The Montana Standard contacted FSIS and asked to interview Jeffrey Legg as well as his current supervisor in the district office, which has been moved from Minneapolis to Denver, Anna Gallegos; Bill Smith, head of the Office of Field Operations for FSIS; and the FSIS administrator, Al Almanza. Over a period of months, all interview requests were refused. The Standard then provided a comprehensive list of questions to be answered by Legg, Gallegos, Smith, and Almanza. The agency declined to provide answers to the questions. (Almanza retired shortly after both the interview request and the questions were rejected.)

In response to the interview requests and specific questions, the agency instead issued a one-paragraph statement:

"FSIS makes no exceptions when it comes to the safety of our food supply and protecting the health of American families. Our inspectors take appropriate regulatory actions to ensure that the nation's food is safe and wholesome, regardless of the size of the establishment. It is our policy and responsibility to investigate complaints and inquiries thoroughly, to take appropriate action on the basis of the findings, and to ensure that any disagreements between plant managers and FSIS inspection program personnel are reviewed and resolved."

A Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the case was partially filled and partially rejected. Specific documents requested, including the agency's investigative reports that followed Riley's complaints, were not provided.

'No further action'

On Oct. 1, 2008, some two years and four months after Bart Riley first filed a complaint with FSIS concerning the actions of Jeffrey Legg, he received a letter from Judith Riggins, then FSIS's deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Field Operations.

"With regard to the 11 allegations regarding willful harassment, (FSIS) concluded that three allegations were not substantiated, five allegations were substantiated and three allegations were inconclusive."

She added, "With regard to the eight allegations regarding  willful or intentional acts to intimidate or otherwise coerce or torment you, (FSIS) concluded that three allegations were not substantiated, one allegation was substantiated, two allegations were partly substantiated and two allegations were inconclusive."

She concluded, "While I appreciate the concerns mentioned in your complaint, it is my finding that each of the issues mentioned have been addressed in an acceptable manner. Based on the results of my findings, I plan to take no further action on your complaint."

Riley was stunned. The agency was admitting that at least six allegations of willful harassment and intentional acts to intimidate or torment Riley were true, and seven more were either partially confirmed or possibly true. And in the same breath, the agency was concluding no action was needed.

Over the next decade, Riley would file at least four more formal complaints against Legg. This belated response to the first complaint would be the most favorable one he would ever receive. At least two complaints received no response at all.
Californias new sanctuary state bill limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agents drew support Saturday from Los Angeles officials, but a stinging rebuke from the Trump administration, whose Justice Department said the measure undermines national security and law enforcement.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said he was grateful to the legislature, while Police Chief Charlie Beck said the bill built on 40 years of the citys efforts to foster trust in immigrant communities.

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We are committed to reducing crime through community partnerships and constitutional policing, said Beck.

The legislation passed early Saturday drastically scaled back the version first introduced, the result of tough negotiations between Gov. Jerry Brown and the bills author, Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), in the final weeks of the legislative session. The bill, SB 54, must still be signed by the governor.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell , an early and prominent opponent of the bill, said the changes had satisfied his concerns that it would hurt immigrants more than it would help them.

While not perfect, [the bill] kept intact our ability to maintain partnerships with federal law enforcement officials who help us in the fight against gangs, drugs and human trafficking, McDonnell said in a written statement. It also retains the controlled access that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has to our jails.

The Trump administration, which earlier threatened to withhold federal grants from sanctuary cities, warned that the bill threatened public safety.

"Just last month another illegal alien allegedly killed a community volunteer, yet state lawmakers inexplicably voted today to return criminal aliens back onto our streets, said Devin O'Malley, a spokesman for the U.S Department of Justice. This abandonment of the rule of law by the Legislature continues to put Californians at risk, and undermines national security and law enforcement.

Called the California Values Act, the sanctuary bill initially would have barred state and local enforcement from holding, questioning or sharing information with federal immigration agents about immigrants in custody unless the immigrants had violent or serious criminal convictions.

McDonnell had broken ranks with many other Los Angeles elected officials by opposing the initial legislation, arguing that if immigration agents could not pick up people from the jails, they would go looking for them in the streets, spreading fear and curtailing immigrants cooperation in criminal cases.

The amended bill would allow federal immigration authorities to keep working with state corrections officials and to continue entering county jails to question immigrants. The legislation would also permit police and sheriffs to share information and transfer people to immigration authorities if they have been convicted of one or more crimes from a list of 800 outlined in a previous law, the California Trust Act.

Under added provisions of the bill, however, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would have to develop new standards to protect people held on immigration violations, and to allow immigrant inmates to receive credit toward their sentences for time served if they complete rehabilitation and educational programs while incarcerated.

The state attorney generals office would have to develop recommendations that limit immigration agents' access to personal information. The attorney general also has broad authority under the state Constitution to ensure that police and sheriffs agencies follow SB 54s provisions should it be signed into law.

More than 150 communities have laws or policies that restrict the ability of police and jails to hand over people who are in the country illegally to federal immigration officers. The Trump administration in April warned nine jurisdictions, including Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, New Orleans and New York, that they risked losing federal grants by sidestepping cooperation with federal agencies.

Top politicians in Los Angeles  a fulcrum of Trump resistance  had avoided the sanctuary label. But the City Council this month moved to declare L.A. a city of sanctuary, in response to Trumps August announcement that he would unwind a program protecting immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the bill achieved only incremental progress, and he called on local law enforcement to fully implement its provisions.

The scapegoating and persecution of immigrants is what has made our community unsafe, Alvarado said. With this bill, our state is telling Trump: Mr. Trump, you can keep your money. Well keep our immigrant community. 
KATHMANDU, Sept 17 : The meeting of the Sub-Committee under the parliamentary State Affairs Committee has today endorsed its report on the Bill relating to facilities of former office-bearers -2017.

The Bill defines former officer-bearers as former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Prime Ministers/Chairs of Council of Ministers, Chief Justices, Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly (CA), the Speaker of the Parliament and the Chairperson of the National Assembly, the Upper House of Parliament.

Office-bearers also refers to the former CA members and members of the National Assembly and the House of Representatives, however, they are not entitled to any facilities as per the Bill.

Clause 4 of the Bill states the perk, pay and privileges incorporated in the Bill for the VIPs include Rs 200,000 every month for the former Presidents not having house of their own in the Kathmandu Valley as a house rent while other former office-bearers would receive Rs 75,000 monthly.

Similarly, the former Presidents who would own house in the Kathmandu Valley would be provided one million rupees in lump sum annually for the maintenance of the houses while other former office-bearers would receive Rs 300,000 in lump sum for the same purpose, according to the Bill.

In case of death of former office-bearers receiving the facilities, the families of him/her should return vehicle provided to him/her to the concerned authority within three months, according to a provision in the Bill.

The former CA members, and members of the Legislature-Parliament, Parliament, the House of Representatives and the National Assembly will be provided with free treatment facility at government hospital, according to the clause 7 of the Bill.

The government will provide CA members with a logo reading 'CA member'.

A seven-member Sub-Committee was formed under the leadership of Jeevan Bahadur Shahi which had Ishwori Neupane, Rabindra Pratap Shah, Lokmani Dhakal, Bishal Bhattarai, Shyam Prasad Dhakal and Santa Kumar Darai as members.

Earlier, the issue of providing facilities and perks to former lawmakers was discussed at the meeting of the State Affairs Committee (SAC) on September 14.

The Bill will be tabled at the Legislature-Parliament after being passed by the SAC. It will come into effect after the parliament endorses it. RSS
These are really bure din [bad days] for the spiritual gurus of India.

While the likes of Ram Rahim, Asaram Bapus and Rampal are cooling their heels behind bars for their not so spiritual acts, Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale who is also known as "Ichadaari Baba" among his followers has also joined them for running a high profile sex racket.

It was unprecedented in recent history that Odisha had witnessed mass movements targeting many such Babas/spiritual gurus which had compelled the state government to arrest few of them. In fact the judiciary had also expressed grave concern over such Babas masquerading as spiritual leaders, robbing innocent followers of money and leading a "licentious life".(https://www.telegraphindia.com/1160528/jsp/odisha/story_88018.jsp)

With increasing instances of the blurring of boundaries between spiritual and criminal where the legitimacy of the whole fraternity is under scanner, the list of 14 fake babas brought out by Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad - apex organisation of Sants and Sadhus - comprising of 14 Akharas, seems to be an afterthought. The Akhara also plans to put in place a mechanism to award the title of Sant because it has suddenly realised that it is being "increasingly misused.

A cursory glance at the list makes interesting reading. At least half among the list are either behind bars or have come out on bail only recently and rest of them are facing different types of cases in courts for their various acts of omission and commission. A layperson could also say that the list is merely a rehash of few old cases which have been under public glare recently and this sudden declaration also puts a spotlight on the functioning of the apex body itself. In fact, the Akhara Parishad has invited lot of ridicule for the inclusion of one Sacchdanand Giri - who was earlier a beer bar owner and real estate baron- and who is prominently on the list, as he was anointed as a "Mahamandaleshwar" in July 2015 in Allahabad by the same body. People are curious to know what transpired between these two years that the apex body declared him fake.

And it is not for the first time that such a controversy has arisen. Few years back Radhe Maa, was herself declared Mahamandaleshwar by Juna Akhara, a major Shaiva militant ascetic order, which led a situation of implosion in the group itself and there were , "[s]trong allegations that huge amounts of cash had changed hands."(https://scroll.in/article/747302/three-years-on-radhe-maas-anointment-as-high-priest-continues-to-roil-key-order-of-sadhus).

The adhocism in preparing the list is evident but that would not save Akhara Parishad from scrutiny and it will have to tell the basis for inclusion in the list. For example the Apex body will have to explain whether delivering hate speeches which creates disaffection between communities which is prosecutable under law has also been considered a criterion for declaring someone fake. This query is important as of late we have been witness to rise in such speeches by Sadhus who enjoy amiable relationship with the ruling establishment.

The Akhara has announced that it would bring out another list in next few months, but absence of many other notables in the very first list do raise question marks about any such future exercise. Take the case of Shankaracharya Dayanand - a godman who had established his peetham in Jammu - who has been behind bars for his alleged role in the Malegaon bomb blast where recordings on his own laptop had provided important clues to the designs of the Hindutva terror module. If Swami Assemanand, an accused in many such blasts - who is on bail these days - has been included, what stopped the Akhara from including this self-proclaimed Shankaracharya in the list. Or what stopped the Akhara from including the spiritual group - especially its founder - from Western India which formally talks of spiritual salvation and awareness of righteousness, but where destruction of evildoers is an integral part of spiritual practice and to facilitate this Dharm Kranti (religious revolution) the seekers are also provided with training in arms - rifles, trishuls, lathis and other weapons. Remeber its activists have also been found to be involved in various types of terror acts including killing of rationalists.

Believe me there could be a variety of such examples.

It also appears that the Akhara has based its efforts on media reports or public perception than doing any groundwork and fixing any criterion. For example it has not taken care to refer to already widely available material in public domain where other exploits of these Godmen/Conmen are visible where they were found to be sheltering fugitives from the law, laundering money, arranging for government contracts, solving your financial woes or even bumbing off a pesky blackmailer. Tehelka had done a story (http://www.tehelka.com/2013/11/the-guns-godmen-of-ayodhya-2/) few years back titled The Guns and Godmen of Ayodhya telling how "[m]ost of the 7,000 mutts temples and maths in Ayodhya have become centres of crime" and now over the last few years more than 250 Sadhus have been booked for crimes including murders and some have been even killed in encounters.

Within last few years leading TV channels of the country have also provided an inside view of this fraternity - thanks to the sting operations done by their confidants, - which have further exposed not so bright side of these spiritual gurus. The programme aired on TV under the title Hey Ram had brought forth interesting commonality between the likes of Asaram Bapu and four others from the fraternity. (Godmens unholy link with criminals, Mailtoday, 11 Sep 2010). This particular sting operation was preceded by an expose done by CNN-IBN and Cobrapost jointly which had showed godmen laundering money, in the name of God, all for a commission ( (CNN-IBN Posted Sunday , May 06, 2007 at 20:30 Updated Monday , May 07, 2007 at 02 ; CNN-IBN Posted Monday , May 07, 2007 at 08:11). A leading light among these godmen/women , who was proactive in the early nineties movement of majoritarian consolidation had even even shared a secret with the interviewer that he has formed a separate trust to facilitate his work of converting black money to white money for a commission.

There are other problems as well in the modus operandi adopted by the Apex body.

Naturally the question of locus standi of the self-appointed apex body, whose proximity to Vishwa Hindu Parishad is an open secret, is also gaining prominence. Voices are also being raised about the deep slumber in which the body found itself when the news of depradations of these Sadhus and Sants was openly discussed in the media. Remember exploits of Ram Rahim were discussed in the media since 2002 only, the killing of brave journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati allegedly at the hands of followers of the sect had occured in the year 2003 only or unnatural deaths of children in the Ashram run by Asaram Bapu or his other not so spiritual deeds were freely reported in the media for years together. And it is not for the first time that A cchadhari Baba has been apprehended but the apex body preferred to remain silent, rather busy in settling internecine battles or gaining proximity to the ruling establishment of the day.

Perhaps the best way to move forward is not to leave the task of identifying the fakes to the fraternity itself and think of something like anti superstition law at the national level, a law for which Dr Narendra Dabholkar fought for more than eighteen years and was assassinated by right-wing fundamentalists for his tireless efforts in this direction only. The bill was hastily passed merely four days after he was shot dead in August 2013 by two bike-borne assailants near his home in Pune.

A report which appeared in Mint (http://www.livemint.com Sundayapp /2gPnf7FvB0O2b8x2PCAsDK /The-false-godmen-of-Maharashtra.html) tells how "..In the three and a half years since Maharashtra passed this law against such practices, there have been hundreds of cases against fraudulent godmen who thrived on the superstition and fears of many". An advocate told the reporter that of the 400 cases registered under the anti-superstition act in the state so far, seven cases have been brought to trial and six witnessed convictions.

It was only last month that the capital witnessed a programme organised under the auspices of Maharashtra Andhashradha Nirmulan Samity (MANS, http://antisuperstition.org) wherein Avinash Patil, executive president of MANS, stated that in his 30-odd years of working on the issue, the organization has busted over 5,000 dishonest gurus across the state.

Not a small figure definitely.
John David Finley is a freelance writer and author of the cookbook, "Sacred Meals from our Family Table," which features Santa Barbara County wines. He can be reached at sacredmeals@comcast.net.
Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. She can be contacted at 623-8193 or at shirleycontreras2@yahoo.com. Her book, The Good Years, a selection of stories shes written for the Santa Maria Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, 616 S. Broadway.
Genres : Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Fantasy

Starring : Bessie Love, Lewis Stone, Wallace Beery, Lloyd Hughes, Alma Bennett, Arthur Hoyt

Director : Harry O. Hoyt

Plot Synopsis

True to its title, the 1925, 10-reel version of The Lost World effectively disappeared from circulation in 1929 all known positive prints destroyed a move by First National Pictures to help clear the way for another creature film utilizing special effects and Willis O Brien s cutting-edge animation techniques: King Kong. For more than 80 years, only abridged editions of The Lost World remained in existence... until now!



Follow Professor Challenger, played by the inimitable Wallace Beery, as he and a crew of curious explorers embark on an expedition in search of a mythical, prehistoric plateau in South America. Along for the adventure are eminent scientist Summerlee (Arthur Hoyt, the director s brother), sportsman Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone), journalist Ed Malone (Lloyd Hughes) and Paula White (Bessie Love), whose father disappeared on the same plateau. The party is not there long before the lost world of the jungle begins to reveal its secrets: a primitive ape-man, a Pterodactyl flying through the air, a massive Brontosaurus feeding upon the trees, the vicious Allosaurus, and many more monstrous beasts of the Jurassic age.



Flicker Alley, Lobster Films, and Blackhawk Films are thrilled to present the world-premiere Blu-ray edition of Arthur Conan Doyle s The Lost World, the most complete version of the film ever released. This visually stunning 2K restoration, accomplished by Lobster Films, features newly-discovered scenes and special effect sequences, incorporating almost all original elements from archives and collections around the world. Renowned silent film composer Robert Israel contributes a new and ambitious score, performed by a full orchestra in 2016.
The event saw the participation of delegates from nearly 200 Japanese enterprises and more than 40 enterprises in Vietnams provinces of Dak Lak, Ha Nam, Hung Yen and Hau Giang.



Speaking at the forum, Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture Kuroiwa Yuji spoke highly of Vietnam's investment environment with its abundant labour force, maintaining a high economic growth rate of over 6 percent, and its favourable policies, as well as improved administrative procedures.

Governor Kuroiwa Yuji expressed his hope through the forum that Japanese businesses will continue to invest more in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong said that the friendship Vietnam and Japan is the cornerstone of economic cooperation between the two countries, he added that Vietnam is becoming one of the most attractive investment destinations for Japanese businesses.

He thanked the Kanagawa Prefecture for organising the forum while praising the efforts of Governor Kuroiwa Yuji in contributing to better bilateral relations.

Representatives from the provinces of Dak Lak, Ha Nam, Hung Yen and Hau Giang introduced their strengths, potential and incentives to Japanese enterprises. The presentation attracted the attention of many Japanese businesses.

Kanagawa has a population of about 9 million, second only in Japan after Tokyo, with GDP of more than $300 billion. It is also one of Japan's most invested provinces by Vietnam. The province has its own industrial park in Hung Yen.

Vietnamnews
SIOUX CITY -- Sioux City Brick welcomed Malcolm Johnston as the new safety and environmental manager at its Sergeant Bluff manufacturing plant.

Johnston has more than two decades of supervisory manufacturing experience and previously worked at Rock Valley, Iowa-based MK Industries.

In his new role, Johnston will coordinate safety and environmental issues at the Sergeant Bluff facility, including acting as an insurance carrier liaison, monitoring safety programs and overseeing regulatory compliance.

Sioux City Brick and its divisions have manufacturing plants in both Sergeant Bluff and Adel, as well as sales offices in Sioux City; Des Moines; Omaha; Bloomington, Minnesota; and a thin-brick division in Pelzer, South Carolina.
Specs :Brand new 4K restoration from the original negative, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of both the English and Italian versions of the film

First pressing only: New writing on the film by Helen Chambers, author of Joseph Roth in Retrospect: Co-existent Contradictions

Video Resolution/Codec :1080p/TBA

Aspect Ratio(s) :1.85:1

Audio Formats :5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Stereo 2.0 options for the English presentation with optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

Stereo 2.0 audio for the Italian presentation with optional newly translated English subtitles

Subtitles/Captions :English, English SDH
DES MOINES -- Unless lawmakers take action, there will be automatic changes to Iowas beginning farmer tax credit program on Jan. 1.

The beginning farmer tax credit program was created by the legislature in 2006. In 2013, lawmakers changed the guidelines and dollar figures for the program, but that legislation expires this year. The program will remain in place, but without further legislative action, the financial guidelines for the program revert to 2012 levels.

Officials at the Iowa Finance Authority say the changes will not affect farmers or landlords using the tax credit program this year, but that on Jan. 1, the levels will change.

For example, the agricultural assets transfer tax credit program presently offers a 7 percent tax credit for a cash-rent lease to a qualifying beginning farmer and a 17 percent tax credit for a crop-share lease. On Jan. 1, those figures will go back to the 2012 levels of 5 percent for a cash lease and 15 percent for a crop share lease.

There is an additional 1 percent tax credit if the beginning farmer is a veteran, which is set to end Dec. 31.

And a custom farming contract tax credit would also end. The custom farming tax credit program is a small one, with only 10 to 20 applications per year, according to Lori Berry, chief community development officer for the Iowa Finance Authority, but she says it has been useful.

In addition, the change would mean a lower cap on the total amount of state dollars that could go to the program. In 2009, the legislature put in a cap of $6 million on the value of the credits that could be granted. In 2013, that cap was raised to $12 million. As of Jan. 1, the figure would go back to the $6 million level set in 2009.

The deadline for applications for the 2017 program was Sept. 1.
ORANGE CITY, Iowa | The traveling exhibit "German Iowa and the Global Midwest" will make a stop at Northwestern College's DeWitt Learning Commons from Sept. 27 to Oct. 9. The display is free and open to the public.

The history of German immigrants in Iowa, as well as American life during World War I, is told with artifacts, photographs and text. Iowa City's Old Capitol Museum put the traveling exhibit together, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I.

Northwestern is putting together a smaller, complementary display using materials from the college's archives, which will be shown alongside the traveling exhibit. The college's exhibit is focused on U.S. army enlistment during the war.

Group tours of the exhibit can be arranged by calling the library at 712-707-7234 or by emailing library@nwciowa.edu.
PRIMGHAR, Iowa | I watched a farmer churn his combine through field of soybeans on Thursday evening, six miles northwest of Kingsley, Iowa, my first harvest brush of the 2017 season.

The scene had my mind racing 52 miles north to Primghar, where Jim, Kurt and Tom Edwards operate Nicholson & Edwards Grain Company, a multi-faceted firm that's served the heart of O'Brien county for more than a century.

"We found a newspaper article on the main house, it was built in 1915," Kurt Edwards told me.

That main house and its annex, which held 80,000 bushels of grain at the time, burned to the ground Sept. 8 and into the next morning. An additional two bins behind the elevator were destroyed in the blaze as well. All told, the company heads into harvest down in storage capacity by 180,000 bushels.

At least they're heading into harvest. I liked hearing that much.

Kurt Edwards, a former member of the Primghar Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department, was just outside of Primghar at 8:08 p.m. last Friday when the call came in about flames engulfing the top of the elevator. He dashed to the site and met local firefighters as they began the battle.

"Another employee and I went into the office to get as many of the records out as we could," Edwards said. "We got the computer hard drive out, all of our customers' grain records out and some of the essentials that will keep us going."

Soon, fire departments from eight other area communities had reported to the inferno: Men and women from units in Archer, Sanborn, Sutherland, Hartley, Sheldon, Paullina, Granville and Calumet. Crews poured 350,000 gallons of water on the blaze, working until 4:30 a.m. to contain it while protecting the neighborhood on the town's west edge. The Primghar Ambulance, the O'Brien County Sheriff's Office and B&R Excavating assisted at the scene as well.

Primghar firefighters returned Saturday morning and throughout the early part of the week to douse hot-spots.

Jim Edwards, who was in the Iowa Great Lakes when the fire started, hustled back to Primghar to join the local fire department, a unit upon which he serves.

"We can't say enough about the fire departments, the ambulance crew and all the volunteers from here and our surrounding communities who showed up to help," Kurt Edwards said. "Their help was probably the only bright spot of this event."

The fact the business will continue to operate during this harvest season represents a second bright spot.

"Some of the grain elevators around us have said they'd support us, which we would do for anyone else," Edwards said. "Our main focus is getting a temporary office and scale set up so that we can serve farmers this harvest."

Once the 2017 harvest concludes, Jim, Kurt and Tom Edwards, the owners, will move ahead on plans to replace the grain bins destroyed in the blaze. The Edwards family, after all, has been involved with this enterprise since 1956.

"We grew up here," Kurt said. "We've been working here ever since we were old enough to carry a shovel and scoop grain."

The company lost 20,000 bushels of beans in addition to the bins, the annex and the main house. Those items, he said, can be replaced. Kurt Edwards said the company was insured and will be able to replace those physical pieces, components whose valuation may come to $1 million.

Primghar Volunteer Fire & Rescue Chief Gary Lansink said the cause of the fire may likely be listed as "undetermined" as the elevator, where the blaze began, had to be torn apart to finish fighting it.

"We might have to haul grain off-site more than normal," Kurt Edwards said. "And we'll get a warehouse for seed to keep us going this fall."

I told Edwards about watching a farmer combine soybeans near Kingsley on Thursday afternoon. He'd heard of one other getting started that day in O'Brien County.

"I spoke with one farmer who did 30 acres of beans last night," he said. "We've got a 7- to 10-day window to get going. By (this) week, we'll have a scale hooked up."

While it's been a tough week for the Edwards brothers, their families and employees in a smoky, hazy section of Primghar, they remain ever thankful for the volunteers -- people like them, really -- men and women who dropped everything to help protect their town and their livelihood.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | Atokad Park was once again abuzz with the sound of cheering and pounding hooves Saturday afternoon as Ho Chunk Inc. held its second racing event in two years at the new track.

There was a cool breeze underneath the overcast sky as bystanders clung to the lines of colored flags that separated the crowd from the track, watching the horses speed by.

"It's a horse race; you've got to come," South Sioux City resident Jan Brodersen said of why she attended. "It's something different to do."

This was the second year in a row the rejuvenated race track at Atokad Park held horse racing. Last year, the first since being built by Ho-Chunk Inc. at the site of the former Atokad Downs, the furlong-length track had held one three-horse race.

Alexcia Boggs, director of development for Ho-Chunk, said the comments from the event-goers had been mostly positive in the first year, but many recommended holding a few more races. Ho-Chunk listened and boosted the number to three this year.

Boggs said for the second year in a row, she was pleased with the turnout.

"The turnout actually is really impressive," she said about 15 minutes before the first race. "I know we had 300 souvenir glasses, and the glasses are gone. I definitely think probably 300 or 400 people so far."

Atokad dates back to 1956. Like other Nebraska thoroughbred tracks, it fell on hard times starting in the 1990s as casino gambling was introduced in neighboring Iowa.

Ho-Chunk, the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, purchased Atokad in 2016 with the hopes of eventually turning the property into a casino. But an effort to amend the state's constitution to allow casino gambling at horse tracks failed to garner enough signatures to make the ballot last November.

To maintain its racing license from the state, the South Sioux City track must continue to hold at least one live race per year.

Brodersen, who hadn't made it last year but had been to races in years past at the former Atokad Downs, said she was pleased to see the family-friendly atmosphere of the event.

As of the first race -- which ended with Nic a Jack edging out Cherishistheword to claim a $3,500 purse -- she hadn't placed a bet. But she said she had plans to as the afternoon went on.

She also said she hoped the annual races would eventually turn into something much bigger.

"We'd like to see them actually be able to get a casino or racetrack over here," Brodersen said. "Nebraska needs something like this, especially when we're this close to Iowa."

Mark Peterson, who was standing next to her, agreed.

"Wed like to see it go further," he said.

While the races -- spaced 40 minutes apart -- served as the main draw, there was no shortage of other diversions for attendees in between. Activities included bounce houses, face painting and pony rides, as well as a raffle, food vendors, a crazy hat contest and live music.

Behind the grandstands, Patty Rarrat and her 3-year-old grandson, Carter, stood in a line of families waiting for a free pony ride. She said Carter already been on one that afternoon and could hardly wait to go again.

"He loves the horses," she said. "It's so good that it's kid-friendly. They don't charge you to come in, and I was surprised that all this stuff was free, too."
More than a dozen Siouxland volunteers return home this week after spending days feeding tens of thousands of Texans displaced by Hurricane Harvey.

Beef Products Inc. deserves a great deal of gratitude for leading the tri-state relief effort, which included rounding up the volunteers, donating and transporting equipment to cook the meals and supplying all the food and drink, which was either donated or sold to the company at cost, Journal staff writer Ian Richardson reported. The products included 6,000 pounds of BPIs taco meat for nachos, and 10,500 pounds of hamburger patties provided by Jensen Meats, which uses BPI's Lean Finely Textured Beef, as well as buns from Bimbo Bakery, chips from Frito-Lay and bottled water from the Chesterman Co.

A mix of BPI employees, their family members and other volunteers traveled the more than 1,000 miles to the Houston area to assist the American Red Cross in serving food to refugees, many of whom lost their homes to the Category 4 storm and ensuing record rainfall. Over 10 days, the teams will serve more than 50,000 meals. For many, it was their first hot meat in days.

While some local volunteers drove to southeast Texas, BPI flew others there in its corporate jet. The family business also is covering the volunteers' lodging and meals.

The BPI and Roth family members have a long history of generosity in Siouxland, donating to countless local charitable and civic events. While BPI assisted in previous local disaster relief efforts, such as tornadoes that hit the Wisner and Pilger area in Nebraska in 2014, the company had never tackled anything on the scale of Harvey, which ravaged the Gulf Coast cities in Texas, with damages estimated at more than $150 billion.

The tragedy hit close to home for BPI, which got its start in Texas in 1981 in Amarillo, Texas, where the private firm operated a plant as recently as 2012.

BPI was one of several Siouxland employers that donated resources and organized relief efforts to assist hurricane victims, not only in Texas, but also, more recently, in Florida, where Hurricane Irma came ashore last weekend. Seaboard Triumph Foods, for example, sent a trailer of pork from the first week of production at its Sioux City plant to each southern state. The fresh pork was donated to Operation BBQ Relief, an organization which expected to serve more than 100,000 meals over 11 days to those affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

An untold number of volunteers from the tri-state area also answered the call to help their fellow citizens whose lives and livelihoods were turned upside-down by Mother Nature. Leaving their own family, jobs and other day-to-day responsibilities temporarily behind, local volunteers hit the road and entered hurricane-ravaged zones, often at some risk to themselves. For their unselfless acts, they deserve our respect and admiration.

As the floodwaters recede, power is restored and debris is cleared away, Siouxland volunteers can take pride in the role they played in helping out so many Texans and Floridians at a critical time of need.
Papua New Guinea has a new formal representative in Samoa with the appointment of Fiona Ey as P.N.Gs Honorary Consul.

P.N.Gs Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rimbink Pato, formally commissioned Ms. Ey and presented her consular commission at a ceremony held at Taumeasina Island Resort last Friday.

The Minister was in Samoa to attend the Pacific Islands Forum.

The appointment of a new P.N.G. Honorary Consul to Samoa reinforces the spirit of regional cooperation, particularly during this week of the Pacific Islands Forum. It demonstrates the commitment that the people and government of P.N.G. have to working with our Pacific brothers and sisters to strengthen our ties across the region, Minister Pato said.

It is appropriate that this consular commissioning is taking place at the Taumeasina Island Resort, which is a great example of regional investment creating real opportunities for both Papua New Guineans and Samoans.

Through Fionas appointment as Honorary Consul, we look forward to strengthening the relationship between our two countries with greater trade and economic ties, and more people-to-people development opportunities.

In receiving her Commission and taking her oath of office, Fiona acknowledged the trust and faith placed in her by the people and Government of Papua New Guinea.

I would like to extend to the Government of Papua New Guinea my sincere thanks for this privilege and also my commitment to well and faithfully serve in the role as Honorary Consul, she said.

Fiona Ey is a lawyer by profession and a partner with local law firm Clarke Ey Koria Lawyers. She is an experienced business lawyer working in Samoa and the region and has lived in Samoa for over 15 years. Fiona is married with 2 children and is a member of the Leiataualesa family of Manono. Fiona is also the Chair of the Board of the Small Business Enterprise Centre.

The P.N.G. Honorary Consul in Samoa works in close consultation with the P.N.G. High Commission in Wellington to advance trade and investment interests and development cooperation between P.N.G. and Samoa.
In a September 16 tweet, Polman, the head of the third largest consumer goods company in the world, said: We have forgotten how to rescue each other.Human empathy (is the) key to our survival.

Mr Polman also posted a link to the Open Letter to the UN Security Council sent on 13 September by eminent global citizens calling for immediate UN intervention to end the violence and repression against the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State. .

The signatories to the letter include twelve Nobel laureates, including Professor Muhammad Yunus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Malala Yousafzai.

Others signers include musician Bono, writer and activist Richard Curtis, education pioneer and founder of Khan Academy Salman Khan, human rights activist Asma Jahangir, actor and rights activist Shabana Azmi, and poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar.
"Knowledge acquired in Equine Guelph online courses has opened doors for me in the industry," says Standardbred breeder Cameron Lago. "The racing industry is a tight-knit community, and since taking the courses, I have seen a few big name trainers pushing towards hiring Equine Guelph students and have motivated a few friends to look into them."

In the fall of 2016, Lago applied for, and was awarded, the Stuart Stocks Memorial Equine Award. This enabled him to enroll in two online courses, thus furthering his knowledge in training horses to perform at their peak while maintaining their welfare. A representative on the Canadian Council of Animal care, Lago already possessed a deeply rooted passion for horses and maintains, "When you are training horses to their maximum performance level, it is important that you treat them humanely."

After taking the online Exercise Physiology course, Lago says he gleaned important information on how different muscle fibres are being used and how their composition will reflect on how well the horses perform at the track. Learning about bone remodeling has had an impact on how he will train his foals; walking at increased rates progressively as they grow up to ensure bone structure can handle training, while maintaining a balance of not pushing so hard that it becomes and animal welfare issue.

"The networking component and online community was an awesome experience," says Lago. "It was probably my favourite part!" Lago explains they were learning, from other online students, about racing in Australia and New Zealand, while also learning about how dressage riders and jumpers train differently.

Lago also took the online Genetics course looking for ways to maximize his breeding program and is planning on taking Equine Guelph's nutrition course soon. Lago says the courses so far have been a huge asset, "You are gaining an inside view on what is happening in individual athletes and making sure each individuals needs are met to 100 per cent." In the Exercise Physiology course, Lago explains the lessons learned regarding the importance of sourcing an equine nutritionist. Like a human athlete; what you put in is what you get out. Lago says, he is really looking forward to taking the nutrition course.

The flexibility of the online courses is great. Lago has been away from his home farm in Guelph, working in Alberta and completing studies in Agriculture. Due to the 24/7 accessibility of the online courses, he was able to fit everything into his busy life.

Deborah Corcoran was also awarded the Stuart Stocks Memorial Equine Award in 2016. As a Barrister, Solicitor and groom at Woodbine Racetrack, she sees the value in continuing education and is determined to become an advocate for horses and their lifecycle planning. With a soft spot for senior horses and second careers for race horses, Corcoran has been involved in fundraising for Mindy Lovell of Transitions Thoroughbreds, a non-profit organization that provides intervention, rehabilitation, retirement, re-homing, and re-training for off-track Thoroughbreds for sport and pleasure.

Corcoran also has her own ideas for a Fifty for $50 deal providing 50 minutes of legal opinion, advice, drafting, etc. with all proceeds going to Transitions Thoroughbreds. As a newcomer to the horse industry with five years of experience under her belt, Corcoran says, "The Equine Behaviour online course was a catalyst in my journey to further my education and to learn more about horses. My commitment is to horse welfare in general and therefore I must keep learning."

Entries for the next Stuart Stocks Memorial Equine Award will be accepted until November 15, 2017.

Another new award has also just been announced which will be of interest to participants in the Standardbred industry. The Roger L'Heureux Memorial Equine Award has been established in loving memory of Roger L'Heureux by David L'Heureux and Crystal Fountains Inc.

See Equine Guelph Tuition Awards for entry details on how to apply for both of these opportunities.

(Equine Guelph)
You are probably wondering why you need a shotgun scope or optic for turkey hunting. Not all hunters use scopes or red dots for hunting turkeys, and there are a few things to consider when you decide if you want one or not.

Hunting turkeys takes work, so when you finally get that shot, you want it to count!

Reasons to Consider a Shotgun Scope

Some hunters will argue that a shotgun scope is just another thing to worry about or break. You might hear that it is not worth the weight since shooting turkeys often involves close shots.

I personally think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and an extra pound or so does not bother me.

Even though the bird may be close and the pattern is large, the same advantages are found when shooting any gun with a scope.

An optic forces you to focus on the front site and get into the correct position to shoot. It minimizes shooter error.

and get into the correct position to shoot. It minimizes shooter error. You are going to miss fewer turkeys  period. A scope forces you to site the bird at long or close range.

A scope forces you to site the bird at long or close range. Its a fact that your depth of focus is going to decrease as you get older. A scope lines up the bird at a distance and helps compensate for the loss.

This article will suggest some of my top picks, and then take you through the pros and cons of specific scopes.

Features to Consider

There are several features to consider when purchasing a scope. Ill briefly take you through them so you can make an informed decision.

Weight and Dimensions

Keep your scope light. Its no fun to walk several miles and then have to trudge back with your two large Toms.

You can purchase a good scope for around a pound, and less than 18 inches long  even less for a Red Dot.

Crosshair

The cross-hair in your scope forces you to focus on your shot. Your shots are more accurate, and the misses reduced.

A cross-hair or aiming point is also referred to as a reticle, and there are several types to consider. This article on Reticles does a nice job of describing the different types and uses.

Bullet Drop Compensating Reticles

MilDot Reticle

Illuminated Reticles

Clear

When hunting for turkey, your target is often close. It is important your scope optics be crisp and clear, but you dont need high resolution. Make sure you have a clear view of your target, and you will be in good shape.

Shock Resistance and Durability

There are a few things to consider when it comes to durability.

You are going to be out in the woods, and potentially moving fast if hunting something other than turkey, like rabbits. Make sure you have a scope that is going to hold up to being handled and moved around a lot in tough terrain.

Weather is another factor. It may be cold, rainy (especially during turkey season), snowy, etc. Your scope needs to be able to stand up to these conditions.

Finally, dont forget recoil. A shotgun typically has a good bit of recoil, so make sure the scope you choose is shock-resistant.

Magnification

The correct magnification is important for a turkey scope. You wont be shooting from far away, so a 2-7 32mm is acceptable. Ultimately, magnification is a personal choice.

Keep in mind that with a scope, you wont have as much eye relief as you will with a red dot, and it will be harder to swing around to sight a fast-moving bird.

Top Product Reviews

The scopes I have listed below off good value for their prices, and provide a variety of different features in solid scopes.

TRUGLO Traditional 30mm Red-Dot Sight

Weigh t: 7 ounces

t: 7 ounces Dimensions : 9 x 5.8 x 2 inches

: 9 x 5.8 x 2 inches Specific features : Adaptable, has a flip lens, eye relief, elevation adjustment

: Adaptable, has a flip lens, eye relief, elevation adjustment Weight : 7 ounces

: 7 ounces Best use: Low light, short distances

The Truglo Red-Dot APG Scope is a versatile red dot that can mount on a Weaver or a Picatinny mount. The ability to adapt it for different mounting systems is one of its strengths.

The 5-MOA red-dot reticle is crisp and clear, providing optics often found in more expensive red-dot scopes. The lens is clear, and you have a nice wide view, and with a lower magnification, this is an ideal red-dot for a shotgun.

At this price point, you will be hard-pressed to find a more durable optic that is dependable and reliable when you need it.

PROS Great price

Good eye relief

Wide field of view

Versatile/Easy Mounting CONS Durability/Quality complaints

Covers not attached to sights

The red dot is not a sharp dot

Screw covers instead of twist knobs

Simmons Truplex Riflescope (3-9X40, Matte)

Weight : 10.08 ounces

: 10.08 ounces Dimensions : 15.40 x 3.10 x 3.30 inches

: 15.40 x 3.10 x 3.30 inches Specific features : Wide view, non-reflective coating, multi-coated lenses

: Wide view, non-reflective coating, multi-coated lenses Best use: Low light, a short distance

This is a budget scope at a low price, but it receives strong reviews. If you prefer a scope instead of a red-dot this scope provides a good magnification range @ 3-9 x 40mm.

The Simmons Truplex is a simple, sleek scope with features found in higher-priced models  8-point riflescope, Fully-coated optics, 1-4-MOA SureGrip audible-click windage, and elevation adjustments, Waterproof, fog proof, recoil proof, Truplex reticle.

If you are considering moving to a scope on your shotgun, give this scope a try. You might find that your test scope ends up becoming your permanent scope.

PROS Sleek, low profile design

Low price

Durable against recoil

Versatile/Easy Mounting CONS Some durability/Quality complaints, ie., plastic knobs

Adjustments click a little mushy

Average eye relief

Some parallax complains

Bushnell Trophy TRS-25 Red Dot Sight Riflescope, 1x20mm, Black

Weight: 3.7 ounces

3.7 ounces Dimensions: 5.4 x 3.4 x 2.2

5.4 x 3.4 x 2.2 Specific Features: Compact, Light, 1x Magnification

Compact, Light, 1x Magnification Best Use: Low light, close targets, tough terrain

The TRS-25 is known for its rugged durability. This red dot sight has nitrogen-purged fog proofing, and the optics are O-ring sealed. You can count on this optic to perform and heavy humidity and big temperature swings, so you can always see your target.

This red dot optic has 11 brightness settings, which illuminates the 3 MOA reticle, making it easy to locate your target. Your ability to adjust the brightness settings also allows you to conserve the battery while you are out in the field.

At less than $100, this is a great price for a quality optic. The TRS-25 receives many good reviews, and at the time of this article, the four and five-star reviews were 86% of the 11,000 plus reviews. This is a very popular Red Dot Riflescope.

PROS Price

Shock Proof

Waterproof CONS No auto on/off

The dot is not a sharp dot

Low Battery Life

Vortex Optics Spitfire 1x Prism Scope  DRT Reticle (MOA)

Weight: 14.4 ounces

14.4 ounces Dimensions: 6.75 x 2.5 x 4

6.75 x 2.5 x 4 Specific Features: dual-ring tactical reticle, 3.8 eye relief, fully-coated lenses

dual-ring tactical reticle, 3.8 eye relief, fully-coated lenses Best Use: All Weather

The Spitfire also serves nicely on a shotgun. The generous sight picture and forgiving eye box allow you to target effortlessly in any scenario. Fully multi-coated lenses offer true to life clarity and brightness.

The etched dual ring tactical reticle provides a visible point of aim whether powered up or not. At least, this is the claim by the manufacturer. There are ten brightness settings and an option between red or green illumination.

The machine cast aluminum optic claims shockproof, fog-proof, and waterproof by the manufacturer, and reviews give high marks for durability.

PROS Durability

Regular Batteries

Waterproof CONS Too high for backup sights

Related: If you need some 2 piece rings to go around the scope to keep it on your shotgun, the AccuShot Picatinny/Weaver Rings will work for you. They are made to use every day and can work with scopes up to 61 mm.

Sightmark Mini Shot M-Spec LQD Reflex Sight

Weight: 7.6 ounces

7.6 ounces Dimensions: 3.7 x 1.8 x 2.2 inches

3.7 x 1.8 x 2.2 inches Specific Features: Lightweight, 10 brightness settings, waterproof

Lightweight, 10 brightness settings, waterproof Best Use: All-weather, close-range precision

The Sightmark Mini Shot M-Spec LQD Reflex Sight is a quality scope. This scope is fully coated for a bright view, no matter the time of day  dusk, late-night, and early mornings. The view is clear with high contrast, and the scope allows you to easily and quickly place your target.

The low-profile mount is good for shotguns and pistols, and quick finger adjustments for wind and elevation help sight your target quickly and accurately.

10 brightness levels give shooters perfect reticle options from low light situations to the brightest days. An ambidextrous digital switch allows the M-Spec to be easily turned on and off by left and right-handed shooters.

PROS Clarity

Ease of use, quick adjustments

Durable CONS Price

Circle in scope could be larger

Related: Check out a favorite turkey call of mine. The Woodhaven Custom Calls Turkey Call comes in a 3 pack and is highly durable and versatile so that you can change calls.

Final Thoughts

There are many good scopes and optics. The ones chosen for this article provide both price and quality options. Reviews make them some of the best in their categories for features and affordability.

The optics you choose dont need to be the most expensive but should be what works for you.
Across the state of Florida, and up into Georgia and South Carolina, images of first responders have become a welcome sight amid the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

But among the usual uniforms -- those of police, firefighters and paramedics -- a nun's habit stands out.

And when said nun is wielding a chainsaw, well, that is something that can renew faith in even the most downtrodden.

"There was a need, I had the means, so I wanted to help out," Sister Margaret Ann told Erin Burnett on Tuesday evening.

A 30-year education veteran from Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School in West Kendall, Florida, Sister Margaret Ann knew of a chainsaw in her school's closet, so she thought nothing of ripping into a downed tree blocking a road.

"We teach our students: Do what you can to help other people, don't think of yourselves," she said during a live interview on CNN's "OutFront." "That's what I wanted to do."

An off-duty police officer captured video of the chainsaw-wielding nun, sharing the footage on the department's Twitter feed on Tuesday.

"He said, 'You know though, Sister, the police will do this.' And I said 'but it's going to take them too long ... it's dangerous, people are going to get hurt here.' "

Tuesday's guest said she does not know when her school will reopen, as the air conditioner was damaged during the hurricane. Additionally, downed trees cover six of the school's 40 acres, and a wall has been blown in.

In the meantime, Sister Margaret Ann, and those like her, will continue to do the Lord's work.

"The community will come out and help us. That's what we do," she said. "It's good."
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific knew it had problems at its Cypress Island fish farm before the catastrophic failure that spilled tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound.

The farm site No. 2 was identified as the first priority for upgrades. We knew it was at the end of its life cycle and it needed upgrades right away, and we were in the process of doing that, company spokesman Chuck Brown said this week.

But the company never got the chance.

Instead, the farm capsized the weekend of Aug. 19, with 305,000 Atlantic salmon inside. The company collected 142,176 in all from its nets. The rest escaped.

^pThough evidence of damage to native fish runs is sparse, the accident has sparked an outcry to shut down the Atlantic salmon fish-farming industry in Washington. The state already has said it wont allow new or expanded farms until further review, and 20 Western Washington tribes with treaty-protected fisheries say they want Puget Sound farms shut down entirely.

^pIt also comes as the industry is under intense scrutiny across the border in British Columbia. First Nations people on Aug. 25 began an occupation of a net pen farm at Swanson Island near Alert Bay, demanding permits be revoked for the farms in their local waters because of concern about disease, fish waste and parasites harming wild stocks.

This month, the occupation expanded to a second farm on the B.C. coast as the Musgamagw Dzawadaenuxw, led by Hereditary Chief Willie Moon, occupied another Marine Harvest salmon farm, off northeastern Vancouver Island. The move brought support from other tribal nations. This is an assertion of their authority in their traditional lands and waters, after the Cypress Island failure, said a statement by the chiefs of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council.

The Washington fish escape made waves at Shishalh Nation, too, where fishermen were surprised and alarmed to find three escaped Atlantic salmon in their nets on Aug. 27, in the Sabine Channel, 80 nautical miles from Cookes spill. Two of the fish were females, full of eggs. The tribe opposes any farmed salmon in its waters.

In Washington, 20 tribes also said all Atlantic salmon farms in Puget Sound should be closed, with no more allowed.

Just how many fish got loose is unknown. Their escape threatens our already weak stocks of native Pacific salmon as well as our treaty fishing rights, said a statement from the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

Little state government oversight, lack of coordination and a rapid-response plan, along with poor communication by Cooke Aquaculture delayed quick action to contain the fish, allowing them to spread throughout Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Washington Coast and southern British Columbia.

The statement also said Cooke should be fined for negligence and made to pay for all clean up costs.

Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, said he thinks it is past time to take action against Atlantic salmon farming in Washington, adding that he and others in Olympia on both sides of the aisle have legislation in the works for the coming legislative session. I am totally opposed to net pen aquaculture of invasive species in the Salish Sea.

The impact of the spill remains unknown on wild fish runs, some of which are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act.

You dont know are they going to go upriver, are they are going to eat fish or not eat fish, or compete for food, said Lorraine Loomis, fisheries manager for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and chairwoman of the commission.

Swinomish chairman Brian Cladoosby was out fishing this week, trying to kill these things. He said fishermen are catching Atlantics with bellies full of native Pacific salmon fingerlings.

Washington is no stranger to farmed Atlantic salmon escapes, with spills in 1996, 1997 and 1999, including one of 369,000 fish. So far, no instance of crossbreeding between Pacific and Atlantic salmon has been documented.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife once tried to establish Atlantic salmon runs to stoke fishing opportunity, releasing the foreign fish in Washington waters in 1951, 1980 and 1981. Many releases also were made in lakes. But none resulted in established runs.

Research to develop a marine net-pen industry began in the late 1960s, beginning in Puget Sound near Manchester by the National Marine Fisheries Service  now NOAA fisheries, the federal agency charged with protecting Washingtons imperiled wild runs.

Atlantic salmon, through intensive breeding programs, emerged as the species most amenable. Washington today is the leading farmed Atlantic salmon producer in the nation. California and Alaska ban the industry. No Atlantic salmon farms operate in Oregon.

Concern about the effects of farmed Atlantic salmon on wild Puget Sound stocks have dogged the industry in recent decades. A September 1999 white paper by WDFW scientists found that evidence available before the summer of 1998 suggested escaped Atlantic salmon were not colonizing local watersheds and were not significantly impacting native fish. However in 1998 and in 1999 naturally produced Atlantic salmon were discovered in streams on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, the scientists wrote.
Woodland triple-homicide suspect Brent Luyster will be unshackled when he appears for lengthier court proceedings and meetings with his attorneys at the Clark County Jail, following a judges ruling Friday. The ruling is contingent on Luysters behavior, however.

Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis granted the defenses request after listening to arguments made on behalf of Luyster and the jail.

Im very confident in the (Clark County) Sheriffs Office and their ability to maintain security in the courtroom, regardless if an inmate is shackled or not, Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Smith said after Lewis ruling.

Since his arrest in the triple-homicide and new charges in a separate case, Luyster, 37, a white supremacist, has appeared in court with his wrists and ankles shackled, and courtroom security has been tight. At least a dozen officers from the sheriffs office and Vancouver Police Department attend.

Luysters lead defense attorney, Chuck Buckley, told Lewis that his client has repeatedly expressed frustration, because of his difficulty in combing through thousands of pages of documents in his cases. The shackles hamper the process, he said, and are unconstitutional.

Civil Deputy Prosecutor Jane Vetto, speaking on behalf of the sheriffs office, argued that its within the jails authority to adopt procedures to ensure facility security. She said the shackles are necessary to prevent Luyster from attempting to escape, attacking or taking hostage his defense counsel or jail staff.

Luyster is already accused of trying to escape from the jail in February while being held in the triple-homicide. A trial date has not yet been set in that case.

Vetto also cited public safety concerns of Luyster being unshackled in court.

She then laid out all of Luysters bad behavior since hes been in the jail.

On the night of his arrest, July 16, 2016, Luyster used nail clippers to remove an electrical outlet, in an attempt to set his cell on fire, she said.

Hes wiped feces around his cell and security cameras inside on at least 17 occasions, Vetto said, and has urinated inside and outside his cell, as well as on his food tray.

Luyster has flooded his cell and encouraged other inmates to do the same, Vetto said, and was caught scratching the camera cover in his cell. Court records state that he also threw water mixed with feces into a fire detection box, causing it to short-circuit.

Vetto told the judge that Luyster has been hiding contraband, such as other inmates spoons. She described Luyster as a skilled machinist who could create a weapon out of everyday items.

To put him in a room unshackled would be irresponsible, she said, then adding, How can that possibly end well?

She told Lewis that the sheriffs office is currently talking with Superior Court Administration about courtroom security during Luysters trial.

Buckley said hes not contending that Luyster has been a good inmate but said theres no indication hes ever assaulted anyone at the jail. He described Luyster as a gentleman during their attorney-client visits.

We are willing to assume that risk, he said of meeting with an unshackled Luyster at the jail.

Lewis called the issue a delicate balance. And his ruling comes with stipulations.

Luyster, whos had no issues in the courtroom, must continue to behave while appearing for hearings. He will only be unshackled for lengthier court proceedings in Lewis courtroom. He must also go six days without any jail violations in order to be unshackled during attorney-client meetings in the jail. His attorneys have to sign a waiver relieving the jail of any liability.

It will be entirely up to Luyster, when he shows the ability to control himself, Lewis said.

After the hearing, the family of Joseph Mark Lamar, whom Luyster is accused of fatally shooting, called the judges ruling arrogant and careless.

He already tried to break out of the jail. He obviously does not respect authority, and he has nothing to lose, Lamars sister, Abia Nunn, said. We have rights, too.
With the summer heat having melted much of the snow on Mount Baker, a rocky peak covered with light blue sheets of glacial ice has been revealed.

That ice has been fast disappearing in recent years  a trend seen in glaciers throughout the North Cascades.

When I first came here in the 1980s, the glacier was still just above that waterfall there, geologist Jon Riedel said while looking out from a rocky ridge at Easton Glacier on the south side of Mount Baker.

The ridge, carved out of the landscape during the last ice age by the once massive Easton Glacier, towers above the valley below where a brown Rocky Creek spills from beneath the remaining glacier.

This was once full of ice, Riedel said while looking across the exposed valley to the opposite ridge.

Riedel does glacier monitoring for North Cascades, Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks. He also does work for the U.S. Forest Service and does independent research, largely focused around Mount Baker and the greater North Cascades.

He recently documented that in North Cascades National Park east of Mount Baker, glaciers shrunk an estimated 19 percent between 1959 and 2015.

That amounts to about 12.4 square miles of ice cover and hundreds of billions of gallons of water no longer held in reserve.

That trend  the regions glaciers losing more ice during summer than they accumulate during winter  continued in 2016.

Each year, Riedel takes measurements at four glaciers in North Cascades National Park. Those measurements show him how much ice is gained or lost, or what he calls the mass balance.

To calculate the mass balance, Reidel measures how deep and dense the snowpack is on the glaciers in April and how much snow and ice has melted by late September.

Since Riedel began monitoring Noisy Creek, North Klawatti, Sandalee and Silver glaciers in 1993, each has lost a significant amount of ice.

Noisy Creek and North Klawatti glaciers suffered their biggest losses of ice in 2015, the year the state experienced a snowpack drought, according to Riedels data.

In 2016, those two glaciers continued to lose ice while Sandalee and Silver glaciers each gained some.

Those gains are slight when compared to the losses amassed since 2002. The gains are about one-fifteenth of what has been lost at Silver Glacier and about one-thirtysixth at Sandalee Glacier.

Riedel said the gains are even less significant when compared to the amount of ice lost since 1959 based on U.S. Geological Survey data and maps.
Overwhelmed by generous support LAPEER  It took a couple tries, but Lapeer Community Schools has their School Improvement Bond. Previously defeated by voters during Augusts primary election, the Midterm Election held Tuesday brought...

Road Commission may revisit another ballot proposal in the future MAYFIELD TWP.  Voters said no Tuesday to the countywide 1.85-mill proposal sought by the Lapeer County Road Commission (LCRC) for road and bridge maintenance, but Managing Director John Daly...

Prospective businesses already inquiring about marijuana licenses in Imlay City IMLAY CITY  Voters in Imlay City have opted into a ballot measure allowing the establishment of medical marijuana facilities within city limits. The unofficial tally saw 1,243 votes cast,...

Mayfield Township voters keep annual meeting in place MAYFIELD TWP.  An annual meeting will continue to be held in Mayfield Township following Tuesdays election. A bid to abolish the annual meeting was defeated. There were 2,187 No...
World Chinese entrepreneurs meet in Myanmar for business convention

Xinhua, Yangon :

The 14th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC) kicked off here on Saturday, gathering more than 2,000 overseas Chinese business leaders to discuss plan of business expansion.

Under the theme of "An Opening Economy in Myanmar, A New Epoch in History," the four-day convention is hosted by Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce with Wu Jiyuan (U Myint Shwe) as general chair.

With strong support of the Myanmar government, the WCEC is aimed at pushing the regional economic development in line with the world's changing economy and bridging world's Chinese entrepreneurs for cooperation.

It is also set to make use of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative to jointly explore the future development trend and space of Chinese businessmen as well as the world and Myanmar's economy.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Myanmar First Vice President U Myint Swe expressed delight at seeing the overseas Chinese entrepreneurs in Myanmar making linkages with business contacts in various countries around the world and contributing to the economic development of Myanmar.

Noting that Myanmar is participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, U Myint Swe said the strategic location of Myanmar will contribute to the success of the initiative.

The vice president welcomed investments in the country's special economic zones under implementation, while expecting extensive investments also in other industrial development sectors.

He believed that the opportunity for Myanmar to host the 14th WCEC will result not only in close friendly relations between Myanmar and China, but also bring numerous new opportunities for overseas Chinese entrepreneurs and business persons to expand their investments in Myanmar.

The WCEC will also create a good environment for the promotion of people-to-people contact and interaction between the peoples of Myanmar and China, he said, adding that through such interaction, mutual understanding and respect as well as friendship can be built up step by step for the establishment of a sustainable, economic and social community.
Jane Austen banknote goes into circulation in Britain

Life Desk :

Just over one billion polymer ten-pound notes have been printed ready for issue, and will begin to be seen in the following days and weeks as the notes leave cash centers around the country and enter general circulation, the bank said.

It is also the first British banknote with a tactile feature to support blind and partially sighted users. A series of raised dots in the top left-hand corner helps blind and partially sighted users to identify the denomination of the note, Xinhua news agency reported.

The first of the new notes has been given to Queen Elizabeth, with her husband Prince Philip and the heir to the British throne receiving the second and third notes produced.

The new Jane Austen ten pound note joins the Winston Churchill five pound note in the first series of polymer Bank of England banknotes. A new 20 pound note featuring J.M.W Turner will follow in 2020.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said: "The new 10 pound note celebrates Jane Austen's work. Austen's novels have a universal appeal and speak as powerfully today as they did when they were first published."

The new note contains sophisticated security features which make it very difficult to counterfeit. It is expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the current paper notes-around five years-and stay in better condition during day-to-day use.

The old ten pound notes will remain as legal tender until spring of 2018.

-IANs
Jannatul Piya with Taskin Ahmed in commercial film

Sports Reporter :

Jannatul Piya, a model and actress worked with pacer Taskin Ahmed in a commercial film of APEX.

Earlier, Piya worked with Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal in television advertisements.

Piya and Taskin sign with APEX Footwear in an agreement in August. Piya and Taskin have been acting as brand ambassador of APEX Footwear for one year.

Before leaving the city for South Africa, pacer Taskin Ahmed took part in a shooting of commercial film with Jannatul Piya at FDC in the city on Friday last. They will take part in the publicity, photo-shoot and branding of the different products of APEX Footwear in the next year.

Adnan Al Rajeeb made the commercial film of Piya-Taskin duo.

Piya took part with Shakib Al Hasan in a commercial film of Polar Ice Cream.

She also took part with Tamim Iqbal in a commercial film of a real estate company.




N. Korea`s mad rush for nuclear status

NORTH Korea said it was seeking military "equilibrium" with the United States as leader Kim Jong-Un vowed to complete Pyongyang's nuclear programme. North Korea successfully fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday, responding to a new round of UN sanctions over its sixth nuclear test with its furthest-ever missile flight. Seoul's Defence Ministry said it probably travelled around 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 770 kilometres.





The UN Security Council condemned Friday's launch as "highly provocative" and US President Donald Trump scheduled talks with the leaders of Japan and South Korea to address the crisis. The US Pacific Command confirmed Friday's rocket was an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) and said the launch did not pose a threat to North America or to the US Pacific Territory of Guam, which Pyongyang has threatened with "enveloping fire".





Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron jointly appealed for talks with North Korea, saying this was the only way to resolve tensions over its nuclear programme. The appeal was directed at the United States and Japan, which have called for pressure to be ramped up through sanctions rather than pinning hopes on talks.





Russia and China, North Korea's main ally, on Monday backed a US-drafted resolution at the Security Council to impose fresh sanctions on Pyongyang - but they maintain dialogue is key to defuse the crisis. The sanctions imposed on Monday banned the North's textile trade, stopped new work permits for its labourers, and imposed restrictions on shipments of oil products, among other measures.





Kim's stated ambition of achieving a military balance with Washington is some way off as it's too unrealistic for North Korea to reach 'equilibrium' in nuclear force with the US. The North has raised global tensions with its rapid progress in weapons technology under Kim, who is regularly pictured by state media overseeing launches and visiting facilities.





All of this is occurring because the world does not care enough about the North Korean people. The aims of one family to perpetuate dynastic politics to ensure that the entire country remains at the whim of an entire family has led to the situation where the North is at today. Because it does not have oil or any major resource, and because it has nuclear weapons as deterrence, the world is unwilling and therefore unable to engage in any meaningful interaction with the North, thereby keeping its people under the wraps of one of the most oppressive regimes of the world.





This situation will not change as long the international community thinks of its leader as a wrong headed man who is ready to unleash his weapons even at the slightest provocation. By continuing to give North Korea space the world is also giving it enough time to create substantial deterrents. In the long run they will think that they can get away with anything - and it can't be a good thing. Appeasement never worked with any dictatorial regime - and it remains the same today as it did in 1939.






Delhi tags strict conditions on its line of credit

INDIA has imposed new conditions, including obligatory approval for procurement of goods and services for the implementation of projects in Bangladesh utilising the proposed $4.5 billion Indian Line of Credit (LoC). Officials said that the Ministries and Divisions would need to seek approval from the Indian government for each of the project components separately as stated in the draft loan agreement forwarded by New Delhi to Dhaka in last August. In April, India offered Bangladesh $4.5 billion loan known as the Third Line of Credit during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Delhi. Previously, India extended loans of $1 billion in 2010 and $2 billion in 2016 known as the first and second lines of credit respectively.





Bangladesh is only allowed to use proposed loan on projects backed by India. Both Dhaka and Delhi have committed to finalise the terms and conditions of the third line of credit by coming October to start the implementation of 15 projects identified already. ERD officials hinted that two more projects might be included. Those include upgrading Benapole-Jessore-Narail-Bhatiapara-Bhanga Road (135km), Ramgarh-Baruerhat Road (35km) and Comilla (Moinamati)-Brahmanbaria-Sharail Road into 4-lane. Mentionable, most of these roads would extensively be used by India for opening corridors with its North-eastern states -- Seven Sisters. Besides, supply of equipment for establishment of the Mollahat 100MW Solar PV Power Plant, supply of machinery for solid waste management in Dhaka South City Corporation area and installation of one lakh LED street lights in Dhaka, Chittagong and Rajshahi are among the other identified projects.





All these stern conditions just indicate the failure of our government at the international stage. ERD officials said that the Ministries and Divisions found it difficult to implement 15 projects with the loan of $1 billion under the first line of credit in the past six years because of tough conditions attached by Delhi.







In more simple words, Delhi is determined to get all fruits out of these projects financed under the LoCs but shifting all the burdens upon Bangladesh. Delhi will take back all the money, including interest forcing Bangladesh to go by the ToRs dictated by Delhi bosses.





Corruption has occurred in every sector and our Government is pretty helpless to prevent it. This is what happens when a government stays in power for too long forcefully. It becomes ridiculously helpless against international pressure, particularly from the South Bloc of Indian Capital Delhi.
Drive against rice hoarders begin

Although the government launched open market sale of coarse rice at the rate of Tk 30 per kilogramme and wheat at Tk 17 across the divisional and district towns, but people are not showing interest to buy those due to what they say \'substandard food\'. T

Staff Reporter :

Deputy Commissioners (DC) have started drive on Sunday against illegal stock of rice across the country as per the government directive.

The districts and the police administrations have been asked to arrest those hoarding rice illegally to create disquiet in the society.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said while talking to reporters after a meeting with the leaders of Auto-Mill Owners' Association at the Secretariat.

"The rice price is soaring due to the hoarding. Actions will be taken against the hoarders. The owners will be arrested if there is any evidence of hoarding of rice," he said.

Recently, the law enforcers raided a warehouse owned by Bangladesh Rice Mills Association Chairman Abdur Rashid in Kushtia.

During the drive, they found additional rice stored in the silo and fined him Tk 50,000.

Referring to the incident, Tofail said the registration of the association led by Abdur Rashid and Layek Ali will be revoked if it is found that they are responsible for the abnormal rise of price.

He said a joint meeting of three ministries with the Rice Mill Owners' Association, Rice Importers' Association, wholesalers and retailers will be held at the Food Ministry on Tuesday.

Food Minister Qamrul Islam was present at the meeting.
New Yorker magazine terms Suu Kyi 'the ignoble laureate'

bdnews24.com :

The New Yorker magazine has called Aung San Suu Kyi "the ignoble laurate" after the Nobel Peace Prize winner remained silent and unmoved by a crisis described by the UN as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

The famed American publication also said that Suu Kyi's champions were now 'contemplating her fall from grace, and appalled' that she kept mum over the atrocities carried out by the security forces on Rohingyas in Rakhine state.

"There have been widespread calls for the Nobel Committee to strip her of the prize. But there is no statutory procedure for doing so, nor is it clear how this would end the murder, rape, and mass exodus of the Rohingya at the hands of Myanmar's Army," the magazine added.

It said, the most urgent and powerful appeals to Aung San Suu Kyi came from her fellow Nobel laureates. The Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who won the prize for her advocacy of girls' education, condemned the "tragic and shameful treatment" of the Rohingya.

"I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same."

Addressing a letter to his "dear sister," the anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu wrote of his "profound sadness" and called on Aung San Suu Kyi to end the military-led operations.

"If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep," he wrote.

The Dalai Lama subsequently urged her

to find a peaceful solution to the humanitarian crisis, saying that Buddha would have "definitely helped those poor Muslims."

This is not the first time that laureates have spoken of their displeasure with Aung San Suu Kyi, the New Yorker said adding "in December last year, when the military conducted another brutal offensive against the Rohingya, thirteen Nobel winners, including Muhammad Yunus, Shirin Ebadi, and Leymah Gbowee, signed an open letter deploring the Army's use of helicopter gunships, arbitrary arrests, and the rape of women."

"Despite repeated appeals to Aung San Suu Kyi," they concluded, using her honorific, "we are frustrated that she has not taken any initiative to ensure full and equal citizenship rights of the Rohingyas. Suu Kyi is the leader and is the one with the primary responsibility to lead, and lead with courage, humanity and compassion."

Delving into her past, the New Yorker mentioned a short essay she wrote titled 'Let's Visit Burma' in which Suu Kyi described the "colourful and diverse origins and customs" of her compatriots. Rakhine state, in the west of Myanmar, was something of a "mystery" in this respect, she wrote. Its population had originated from "Mongolian and Aryan peoples who had come over from India." Owing to its geographical position, Bengal had also "played a major part" in its history and culture. Among the state's numerous ethnic groups -Arakanese, Thek, Dainet, Myo, Mramagyi, and Kaman-others displayed "the influence of Bengali."
Rohingyas can go to int'l court for justice

'They have no roots in Myanmar', says Myanmar army chief

Special Correspondent :

Law Minister Advocate Anisul Haque on Sunday said that Rohingya people can go to the international court to get justice over the ongoing crisis in Myanmar.

Anisul Haque made the statement at a time when over 400,000 Myanmar nationals have taken shelter in the country's southeastern bordering district of Cox's Bazar being driven away by the Myanmar army after August 25.

"If they want, the Rohingya people can go to the international court to get justiceand to get a solution over the crisis. There are several examples in the world where different nations went to international court. However, it's up to them whether they will move for international court or not," he said while addressing a programme in the capital.

Local sources said at present about 10 lakhs registered and unregistered Rohingyas are staying in Bangladesh. Of them, 5/6 lakhs had entered here since 1982. He said, "Bangladesh hosts Rohingya refugees on humanitarian grounds as the government seeks peaceful solution to the Rohingya problem.The Foreign Ministry is making its efforts to exert international pressure on Myanmar to reach a peaceful solution to the problem."

"Bangladesh is densely populated country with 16 crore population, even so we are giving shelter to the Rohingya people," the Minister said.

International community, including United States and United Kingdom, have already expressed severe concern about the Myanmar army's cleansing operation against the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State.

Not only that, the visiting Trade Envoy of the UK Prime Minister to Bangladesh Rushnara Ali, MP, on Sunday said the role of Myanmar government towards its Rohingya ethnic minorities is not acceptable.

Referring to the humanitarian crisis, the British MP assured of increasing UK aids and investments in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Myanmar's army chief General Min Aung Hlaing, has urged his countrymen to unite over the "Rohingya issue"; saying that they have no roots in the country [Myanmar]. According to a report ran by AFP, the military - which is accused of systematically purging of Rohingyas -- says its "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine State are aimed at taking out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25.

In a status on his official Facebook page on Saturday [September 16], General Min Aung Hlaing, "They have demanded recognition as Rohingya, which has never been an ethnic group in Myanmar. [The] Bengali issue is a national cause and we need to be united in establishing the truth," the post said.
Myanmar govt's role unacceptable: Rushnara

Visiting UK Prime Minister's trade envoy Rushnara Ali MP on Sunday said the role of the Myanmar Government towards its ethnic minorities is not acceptable.

She pointed out the humanitarian crisis caused by Myanmar armed forces by inflicting violence against Rohingya minority in Rakhine State.

The Bangladesh-origin British MP also mentioned that Bangladesh is gaining moral high ground by giving room to the Rohingya minorities and by giving access to the NGOs in Bangladesh.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam MP had a meeting with a British trade delegation led by Rushnara Ali at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the afternoon. British High Commissioner Alison Blake also accompanied the delegation during the meeting, according to Foreign Ministry here.

While referring to the holding of Strategic Dialogue in March and visit of Lord Ahmad of Wimboldon, the UK FCO Minister this year, State Minister Shahriar Alam mentioned that the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the UK has reached to strength.

The British MP assured that the aid and investments from the UK will certainly increase in this backdrop.

She and her delegation also expressed keen interest to invest in the development of railway sector including strong railway infrastructure. She also offered to avail lucrative export credits from the British companies to implement the upcoming mega projects.
Tk 102 cr Swiss aid for Rohingyas

Switzerland has committed to contribute 1.2 million Swiss Francs (about Tk 102 crore) in emergency humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya people and the flood-affected people in Bangladesh through the SDC Humanitarian Aid.

Out of this contribution, one million Swiss francs will be used to provide life-saving support and respond to the immediate needs of the Rohingyas who have recently arrived in Bangladesh, said a press release of Swiss Embassy in Dhaka.

The priority support areas are food security, shelter, water and sanitation.

Switzerland is closely monitoring this humanitarian crisis and envisions scaling up its humanitarian assistance to meet the emergency needs of the new arrivals.

Switzerland has also decided to provide CHF 200'000 to support the flood affected people in Bangladesh. This Swiss humanitarian assistance comes in response to the emergency appeal made by the International Federation of Red Cross.
`Last chance` for Suu Kyi

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has "a last chance" to halt an army offensive that has forced hundreds of thousands of the mainly Muslim Rohingya to flee abroad, the UN head has said.

Antonio Guterres told the BBC unless she acted now, "the tragedy will be absolutely horrible". The UN has warned the offensive could amount to ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar says it is responding to deadly militant attacks in northern Rakhine state and denies targeting civilians.

The country's army chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, on Sunday accused the Rohingya of trying to build a stronghold in the state.

In an interview with BBC's HARDtalk programme ahead of this week's UN General Assembly, Mr Guterres said Aung San Suu Kyi had a last chance to stop the offensive during her address to the nation on Tuesday. "If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I don't see how this can be reversed in the future."

Media captionAntonio Guterres told the BBC he feared an 'absolutely horrible' tragedy

The secretary general reiterated that the Rohingya should be allowed to return home.

He also said it was clear that Myanmar's military "still have the upper hand" in the country, putting pressure "to do what is being done on the ground" in Rakhine.

Aung San Suu Kyi - a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent many years under house arrest in the junta-run Myanmar (Burma) - is now facing growing criticism over the Rohingya issue.

She will not be attending the UN General Assembly in New York, and has claimed that the crisis is being distorted by a "huge iceberg of misinformation". She said tensions were being fanned by fake news promoting the interests of terrorists.

Mr Guterres' warning comes after Bangladesh said it was now limiting the movement of more than 400,000 Rohingya who have fled from Myanmar.

Bangladeshi police said Rohingya would not be allowed to travel anywhere outside of their allocated homes, not even to live with family or friends. Transport operators and drivers have also been urged not to carry refugees, with landlords told not to rent out any property to them. Media captionThe BBC's Jonathan Head went on a government-organised trip to Rakhine state last week
Business / Companies

by Takudzwa Chiwara

Low cost internet provider, Powertel Communications' internet connectivity has been down for a week, with the parastatal remaining mum over the disservice.The blackout has affected Powertel's, a subsidiary of ZESA, national internet connectivity. Powertel offers wifi and dial up dongle internet services.Powertel clients took to social media networks to vent out their displeasure.A facebook user, Nicholas Johwani said: "Beitbridge now a week (without internet connectivity)."Another Powertel subscriber, Nicholas Johwani said: "Update us about service interruption for the past days to now."It's now 148 hours no internet connection in Gweru!! Business on the verge of collapse, what's going on Powertel?" posted Charlee Edson on Powertel Zimbabwe Facebook page.In response to Edson, PowerTel Zimbabwe replied: "We apologise for the down time you experienced on the network in Gweru."Kindly inbox us with your email address and contact details so that we are able to advise you on recompense measures you have available to you," said PowerTel Zimbabwe.Rid Waan posted on Powertel Zimbabwe Facebook page urging the internet provider to compensate its subscribers for the data bundle loss, as some packages have since expired.Powertel offers a variety of data packages. Its lowest data package, 1 gigabytes cost, $2, 50, while its premium package, monthly unlimited data costs, $40.The internet provider also has an array of data bundles such as its, two, four and eight gigabytes. It also offers weekly and biweekly bundles which are quite affordable to the internet savvy.Powertel's customer base augmented phenomenally when it introduced a students' data package promotion in 2013. Currently, it is on a $11 million expansion drive to cater for its large customer base.Its major competitors are Africom, Telone, Zol and Liquid.
More lives can be lost

Lack of food, water, shelter: Situation at camps in crisis point

Staff Reporter :

Moderate to heavy rain over the weekend has turned the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar into muddy ground where thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar have taken shelter.

"If the Rohingya refugees can't meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and many more lives could be lost," Mark Pierce, Bangladesh Country Director for 'Save the Children said in a statement on Sunday.

Pierce said the humanitarian response needed to be rapidly scaled up. "That can only be done if the international community steps up funding," he said.

Heavy rain over the weekend turned roads into mud, with countless Rohingya putting up shelters with bamboo and plastic sheets beside them, said Chris Lom, of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM).

"Clean water and sanitation can only be delivered in a structured environment," said the IOM official.

Lom said: "Rohingya refugees are living in these muddy, awful conditions in these refugee camps. They could die due to a lack of food, shelter and available drinking water as huge numbers of them fleeing violence in Myanmar."

"I'm particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need. If families can't meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost," Mark Pierce said.

Rohingya people, including families, children and the elderly, are spending night outdoors with no shelter from the rain conditions.

Thy have been exposed to conditions that pose a threat to their health as assistance fails to meet minimum standards.

Meanwhile, Met office on Sunday forecast that further heavy to very heavy rainfall due to active monsoon during next 12 hours at places over Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions.

As it has been raining since Saturday night the situation in refugee camps under Ukiah and Teknaf upazilas of Cox's Bazar district has deteriorated, a local told journalists on Sunday. And if the rain continues, situation will take a serious turn.

Nearly 410,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority fled from western Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape a military offensive that the United Nations has branded a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Of them, 229,000 Rohingyas are living in new makeshift settlements at Ukhia and Kutupalong in Cox's Bazar, while 159,000 moved into the makeshift camps set up by the Rohingyas prior to the influx that began on August 25.

The prices of essentials, household items, rent, public transportation fares and labour in Teknaf and Ukiah upazilas have increased due to arrival of Rohingyas.

There is no sign that violence has stopped in Myanmar, with smoke, apparently from burning villages, seen as recently as Friday, meaning more refugees are likely to cross.

Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital opened up a separate ward and surgery unit for the new arrivals as high number of injured with gunshot and diarrhea patients got admitted there.

Border Guard Bangladesh, local residents and camp committees in the pre-existing makeshift settlements are continuing to direct new arrivals to the new spontaneous settlements.

Significant numbers of new arrivals observed along the roadsides at Kutupalong and thousands of new arrivals are reportedly taking shelter in the Teknaf urban area.

Due to the absence of proper structures, many people slept under the open sky amid rain.

Mohammad Aminul Huq, a local person living adjacent to Kutupalong camp, said conditions are dire. "Most of Rohingyas are in the open air."

Unless adequate protections are urgently put in place, it is apprehended that thousands of pregnant women, young children, and elderly people will be exposed to extremely harsh conditions this late monsoon with potentially life-threatening implications.

Bangladesh border guards said on Sunday the flow of refugees leaving Myanmar had eased off over the past day, apparently because bad weather had discouraged people from taking to boats to reach Bangladesh.

Human Rights Watch said satellite imagery showed 62 Rohingya villages had been torched since the violence erupted.

Myanmar says more than 430 people have been killed, most of them insurgents, and about 30,000 non-Muslim villagers displaced.
There are more refugees than food

Inadequate capacity, resources and lack of coordination: Aid agencies struggling

A Rohingya refugee looks out from a shelter after getting wet in the rain in Cox\'s Bazar. Photo: Agency

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :

Aid agencies are scrambling to respond to the influx of Rohingya refugees who fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh to escape persecution and violence at their home.

"We're ramping up food distribution and other services to the Rohingya refuges. But still it is inadequate to support them," Oxfam Bangladesh's Interim Country Director M B Akhter told media on Sunday.

Around 40,000 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh in the last three weeks and aid organisations struggle to support the huge number of refugees.

The International Organisation of Migration (IOM) earlier said the flow of Rohingyas into Bangladesh was "unprecedented".

"They have no clean drinking water and no food. They are homeless and hungry following a long and treacherous journey across the border. Many are now sleeping under open skies, by roadsides and in forests, with no protection," Akhter said.

The Oxfam Country Director said that aid agencies are struggling to cope with the huge number of refuges as their capacity and resources were insufficient to cover the needs of all people that currently needed humanitarian assistance.

Oxfam planned to help 200,000 people, approximately half of the number of Rohingya people who had recently crossed into the region. The crisis is so severe at the UNCHR run camps (Kutupalong and Nayapara) in the Cox's Bazar where the number of refugees has doubled since August 25.

The two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar in south-east Bangladesh - home to nearly 34,000 Rohingya refugees before this influx - are now bursting at the seams. The population has more than doubled in two weeks, totaling more than 70,000, the UNCHR said.

It said the capacity of the camps is already exhausted. Refugees are now squatting in makeshift shelters that have mushroomed along the road and on available land in the Ukhiya and Teknaf areas.

"They are in need of shelter, food, water and healthcare urgently," said UNHCR spokesperson Duniya Aslam Khan.

Aid workers said among the Rohingya refuges, women, children, older people and those with disabilities were especially vulnerable and they are in emergency need of food and shelter. But they are not getting aid due to lack of official oversight and coordination among the aid agencies.

"There are more people than food so it is very chaotic," said Sunabhan (44), who arrived in Bangladesh with her family 10 days ago after fleeing the violence that killed her husband.

She was among the hungry Rohingya refugees near the camp in Kutupalong.

"The strong ones run to the trucks and they get the food first, it is more difficult for women and children," added Sunabhan, another of four.

The United Nations (UN) said this week there was an urgent need for a coordinated response to the massive influx of desperate people, most of whom have still had no assistance from aid agencies or the state.

"The current distribution methods make it impossible to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most," an aid worker told The New Nation on Sunday asking not to be named.

He said each time a truck pulls up, the refugees, including women and children, scramble to grab the food parcels, water bottles and clothing the volunteers throw into the desperate crowd. "This is not the right way to aid distribution. It also raise concerns about the safety of the refugees rushing for aid," he added.

The aid worker further said the authorities should set up drop-off points for aid distribution to avert any untoward situation. Bodies should also be formed to coordinate aid efforts in the camps.
News / Agriculture

by Nobleman Runyanga

Thomas Chakauya (not his real name) from Odzi Farm in Odzi, Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe has just sold his tobacco crop and has managed to roof the five-roomed house, which he started building two years ago. This tobacco marketing season he also managed to buy a tobacco baler and two oxen to boost his draught power. Since he embarked on tobacco growing five years ago, Chakauya's life has improved markedly.Chakauya completed his Ordinary Level studies at the Jechera Secondary School in the nearby resettlement area. He passed three subjects namely ChiShona language, Agriculture and Bible Knowledge and his elderly parents could not afford to raise money to enable him to re-write his examinations which would enable him to secure a place at the Magamba Vocational Training Centre in the District to pursue studies in Agriculture. His lifeline was the introduction of contract tobacco farming in the Odzi area by the Harare-based Mashonaland Tobacco Company in 2012. Since then his life was transformed from that of a poor unemployed and hopeless boy into young man whose life now has a defined direction. While a few years ago he had resigned to fate, today he has great plans for his future.According to Chakauya's ChiManyika tradition, the last male child in a family inherits his parents' homestead and land. Being the last boy child in his family, Chakauya naturally used part of his parents' 10 hectare plot to embark on his tobacco-growing venture when he joined contract farming. Today, the piece of land is no longer sufficient and this has forced him to rent additional pieces of land from other farmers around him. He has since applied to the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement for a bigger piece of land to enable him to realise his dream of becoming one of the biggest tobacco farmers in the country.Chakauya's success story is one of many that other tobacco farmers have experienced which has seen their lives being transformed by growing the golden leaf following the land reform programme, which Government of Zimbabwe undertook in 2000. Under the programme, whose aim was to correct the land ownership imbalances of the colonial era, Government re-distributed over 17.3 million hectares of prime land which was occupied by about 4 000 white farmers. This benefitted over 300 000 families.The land reform programme has not only transferred ownership of land from whites to blacks but changed the complexion of the tobacco growing sector as well. Today, people such as Chakauya dominate the sector. The sector was briefly set back by the lack of funding during the early 2000s but with the introduction of contract farming by companies such as Mashonaland Tobacco Company, British American Tobacco Zimbabwe and others in 2005, the sector has fast recovered lost ground. For example, the 2017 tobacco marketing season saw 186.3 million kilogrammes of the golden leaf worth US$557 million going under the hammer, which is 41.7 million kilogrammes shy of the 228 million kilogrammes realised at the peak of the sector in 2000. This points to the fact that the sector is growing fast despite the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.This growth has been underpinned by a number of factors which include increased funding access by the companies that are supporting contract farming as well as the technical support provided by Government agronomists through the Department of Agricultural Research and Extension Services (AREX). Some of the contracting companies also provide their own agronomists, an arrangement which has helped people like Chakauya, who have no formal training in agriculture let alone a specialist area such as tobacco farming. Although the quality of the tobacco was initially low and fetched low prices, which frustrated the farmers, this has improved significantly over the years.The tobacco industry sector continues to grow if some of the figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) are anything to go by. Over the years, the number of registered growers has grown steadily and now stands at over 80 000 as at the end of August 2017 compared to a few hundred during the early 2000s. Even the tobacco hectarage has been on a growth trajectory. For example 34 400 hectares have been put under tobacco in 2017 compared to 31 94 hectares in 2016. The number of new growers has also increased from 10 869 as at August 2016 to 23 210 at the end of August 2017. The introduction of a 5 percent export incentive by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in November 2016 has partly spurred this increased hectarage.The various initiatives have enabled Zimbabwe to maintain its pole position in Africa as the largest tobacco grower. Globally, it is the 6th largest grower of the golden leaf, which it exports to various countries such as China, America, Britain and South Africa among others.It is such life-transforming experiences, which are brought about by President Robert Mugabe's empowerment policies that see members of his ruling party, ZANU PF, retaining him to lead them every elective congress. It is such game-changing initiatives that cause the majority of Zimbabweans to vote him into power every five years.
News / International

by Chigumbu Warikandwa in New York

An anti-Mugabe and anti-Zimbabwe demonstration bankrolled by the country's traditional detractors and fronted by one shadowy activist based in New York Savanna Madamombe has failed to attract public interest after people went along with their usual business, ignoring their effort.Picketers take to the United Nations Headquarters every September to coincide with the arrival of world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).Madamombe has been frantic on her social media handles in a bid to attract public interest on her planned mega' demo against alleged President Mugabe's misrule. Only a paltry curious crowd of onlookers could been seen milling around watching Madamombe and her eight partners frolicking with their banners at the largely ignored demonstration.A visibly disappointed Madamombe could be seen desperately holding her picketing tools which included banners, a few cameras and tablets as the mid-morning sun started to threaten even higher temperatures.Meanwhile, a mega demo supporting Zimbabwe has been held successfully by the December 12 Movement in New York ahead of the expected arrival of President Mugabe later today.Leader of the December 12 Movement, Cde Coltrane Chimurenga said, "What is very significant to us is that our President, President RG Mugabe is coming here to address the world but more importantly, he is coming here to address the world to show that he is the true Pan African world leader for patriotic sons and daughters. The December 12 Movement being long time comrades of Zimbabwe and Zanu PF, it is our obligation and duty to organise and mobilise people into the streets. We want to send a clear message to the detractors and to those individuals who call themselves Zimbabweans but in fact have defected to join the enemy."The December 12 Movement picketers thunderously chanted "We are African People!" "Mugabe is Right!"
News / International

by Kingstone Jambawo

London -15 September 2017- Tawananyasha Widows and Orphans Christian Organisation (TWOCO) U.K under the umbrella of, Women Of Justice Arise (WOJA) marched from the Zimbabwe embassy-London-to number 10 Downing Street to Hand in a petition to Lord Ahmad (Prime ministers Special Representative on Sexual Violence in conflict) requesting the British Government to intervene on political violence against women in Zimbabwe.The petition was presented by Deborah Jandles Founder of TWOCO and Women of Justice Arise and leaders of WOJA, Beverly Mutandiro,Lean Jean Mushuku, and Nicolatte Shungu Gwati.TWOCO is a registered charity in England and Wales which supports widows and orphans in Zimbabwe and is under the umbrella of WOJA.The group met at the Zimbabwean embassy in London for a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness of political violence as the country approaches the 2018 general election before marching to number 10 Downing Street.The Christian group was joined by human rights organisations which include Zimbabwe Christian Peace Movement (ZCPM), Female Victims of Torture Arise (FEVTA), Restoration of Human rights (ROHR), and MaZimbabwe Yes We Can (MZYWC) which are also advocating for equal political rights.The petition - MY RIGHT TO VOTE/NOT YOUR RIGHT TO RAPE- has a sole aim of highlighting all forms of politically motivated sexual violence against women in Zimbabwe.The group has also written to all Southern Africans Development Community (SADC) member states requesting that they exercise their constitutional mandate as signatories to address the recurring ugly scenes of violence already manifesting across Zimbabwe ahead of the elections.This petition marks the start of an organised campaign by Zimbabwean diaspora Christian women against political violence on women and girls at home.It was organised and signed exclusively by women, and therefore demonstrated clearly for the first time that Christian diaspora women are in solidarity with the women victims of political violence at home.Earlier this year MDC activist Masciline Chikosha was sexually assaulted by suspected Zanu Pf thugs in Bindura for wearing an MDC T Shirt but no arrests were made despite, the identity of the perpetrators being known.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe civil society organisations have been intensifying the call for the diaspora right to vote in the 2018 general elections.Zimbabwean Diaspora are being prevented from exercising their right to vote on this major 2018 political decision that is more likely to affect their lives as well as that of their families back home.Zimbabwe is one of the few repressed countries that disenfranchises their own diaspora citizens from voting. Whilst the 2013 constitution allows diasporas to exercise their right to vote, it is up to the sitting government to align the law.
News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

A 27-year-old Silobela man is reported to have raped and robbed 30 women in Parker, Mutimutema village.The suspect, Stanford Ntini Sibanda is reported to have brought untold suffering to Silobela villagers.Apparently he is said to be currently on police wanted list and he has been elusive to the police since September 2016.Speaking to Bulawayo24.com the village head of Parker village 2, Mr Phenious Moyo Mupandawana (85) said he does not condone crime in his village and is appealing to the public to join hands with police in apprehending Ntini."Ntini is a problem child he breaks into people's houses armed with machetes rapes women and rob them of their valuables."We are appealing to the public to join hands with the police so that the notorious criminal is arrested."In my village I do not condone crime, criminals should face the wrath of law," thundered Moyo.Several women who were interviewed by this reporter said they live in fear since Ntini does not choose on who to pounce on and he does not use protection in his shenanigans.Meanwhile, his accomplice Clifford Moyo is battling for life at Parirenyatwa group of hospital in Harare after he was shot by the police last month, after he disarmed and bashed police officers who were trying to arrest Ntini.Moyo gave room for Ntini to flee while he attacked the police. However, the police finally over powered him and shot him twice while he was running away.One police officer cheated death in the scuffle after he was strangled by Moyo and was hospitalised at Silobela general hospital for two weeks.
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CARBONDALE  Sitting in his university office on Friday afternoon discussing the roots of parallel economic crises that have resulted in harsh social consequences for disadvantaged African Americans in East St. Louis and Cairo, Father Joseph Brown picked up the Bible from his desk and thumbed with ease to the book of Exodus.

The great phrase out of Exodus is, the Pharaoh forgot, said Brown, who is a professor of Africana Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a Catholic priest.

He scanned the page for the exact passage he wanted to share in underlining his point  Exodus 2:23: In the course of those many days the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned under their bondage and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to God, and God heard their groaning.

Looking up, he continued his line of thought. Now, after 400 years of enslavement, the people of Israel who had gone down there as refugees, including one of whose members saved the economy of Egypt  But after 400 years it turned into, What can we do to get rid of these people or exploit them further because they dont belong here.

Well, they helped you save yourselves.

The principal message of Exodus, Brown says, is one shared by Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. Its also his favorite.

Be kind and accepting to the stranger and the alien among you for you yourself were slaves in the land of Egypt. Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, for if you do, your children shall become orphans and your wives become widows, thus says the Lord, he recited, from memory.

In Cairo (pronounced CARE-O), so-named for Southern Illinois long-ago given nickname of Egypt because of resemblances in landscape and agricultural economics, the Pharaoh has forgotten, Brown said.

The roots of social problems in Cairo, East St. Louis

He said it his perception that the government failure at all levels went largely unnoticed because the people who call Elmwood and McBride home are viewed as others by the majority of people who could have, and should have said or done something much sooner. The two complexes are set to be torn down because years of neglect have made them unsafe.

Brown says the same goes for the low-income people who live in East St. Louis many failing public housing complexes and in other poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Therefore, these communities have continued a downward economic spiral, he said.

East St. Louis is the city where he was born and lived until his teenage years. He considers it his hometown. As a young boy, he spent several years living with his grandparents at the East St. Louis Housing Authoritys John Robinson Homes.

During this tumultuous period, the Illinois National Guard stood watch while a mob of violent and angry white people shot at, stabbed, beat and lynched numerous African-Americans.

Browns parents also lived for a brief period of time in Cairo in the 1930s. Brown said it was common for black people of the time period to travel between these two cities. They hold great significance in African-American history, especially in the Midwest. Many of the African-American families that today respectively call Cairo and East St. Louis home are related. There are strong ties between the cities, he said.

Cairo is a much smaller community, of about 2,400, compared to East St. Louis population of about 27,000. Further, Cairo also is more isolated, as the city at the bottom tip of Illinois is about an hour from the larger cities of Paducah, Cape Girardeau and Carbondale. But there are many common threads to the issues that have plagued these communities, Brown said.

Namely, racism was the primary driving force behind their economic downturns. Brown said that by 50 years after the 1917 race riots, most of the large employers had left in the city. It wasnt white flight. It was business flight. There was no tax base left. So the people who had actually maintained the privilege of jobs in that city, there was nothing left for them, Brown said. Cairo faced many of the same issues, and saw the exiting of numerous other businesses in the wake of intense racial discord throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Both cities are near economic deserts.

Whats left is two primary categories of employment for the people who stayed behind: the administration of welfare programs and the educational system, Brown said.

Its the same dynamic, Brown said of the situation facing Cairo and East St. Louis. Welfare and education  and they both provide jobs. But they do not provide jobs for the citizens, just for the people in those specific professions. And to say, Well, theres nothing we can do.

I dont want to hear people talk about encouraging business opportunities in the state of Illinois or the United States of America and not say our first priority is the places where there is none.

HUD controls housing agencies in East St. Louis, Cairo

In Cairo and East St. Louis, there has been such systemic failure concerning public housing  which is among the many social consequences of decades of private and government disinvestment  federal housing officials are administering the public housing agencies in both cities in what HUD calls administrative receivership.

Administrative receivership means federal officials ultimately are in charge of day-to-day operations rather than locals at the housing authorities. In both cities, a long history of corruption and mismanagement is part of the equation that prompted this government action, which is relatively rare when considering there are 3,200 housing authorities in the country. The East St. Louis Housing Authority has held that dubious distinction since 1985; the Alexander County Housing Authority since 2016.

Brown said the majority of people wrongly lay these local failures at the feet of those who live in the public housing.

Because this is America, people assume the condition theyre living in must be due to their inferiority, their lack of discipline  their laziness, in other words  or some other moral defect, when the moral defect is not the victim but the perpetrator, Brown said.

We do not see them as our sister, our brother, our daughter, our son, our mother or our father, he said. We dont see them that way. And if we dont see them for who they are, we will never care about the hurt they have. Because were not here to alleviate hurt. Were not here to challenge the causes of the pain, the discomfort or distress.

We are here to maintain good order and our jobs. That is the root cause.

Thousands of freed slaves sought refuge at site of McBride

The roots of the public housing crisis playing out in Cairo also has weighed heavy on the mind of Kerry Pimblott, author of Faith in Black Power: Religion, Race and Resistance in Cairo, Illinois. Pimblott studied the Civil Rights Movement in Cairo while earning her doctoral degree in history, with an emphasis on African-American history, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which she was awarded in 2012. Presently, she is a lecturer in international history at the University of Manchester in England.

She recently penned a column on the topic published by Patheos, a faith-based blog. In it, she summarizes some of the key points in her book that help provide context to the current-day housing crisis facing Cairo that threatens to force at least some families who do not want to leave the city to find housing in other communities.

HUD does not plan to build new housing in Cairo because, federal officials say, they cannot attract a private developer to the table for the partnership it requires to do so. On its face, the coming exodus could be viewed as a tragic but inevitable development for a declining river town, she wrote in her recent column. But, history offers a longer and more complex story of racial discrimination, disinvestment, and resistance that I tell in my recent book 

The above-mentioned book was published in December. In the book and column, Pimblott notes that the construction of Cairos two family public housing complexes that HUD plans to eventually demolish began during World War II following the passage of the 1937 U.S. Housing Act.

Elmwood Place was designated for white residents and Pyramid Courts, which later was renamed McBride, was for black residents, she wrote. Segregated housing was common of the era, as were inequities in complexes for whites and blacks. Elmwood Place was built uptown in a mixed income neighborhood and made of nicer materials. Pyramid Court was constructed of cheaper wood-frame materials and placed downtown in an area more prone to flooding, adjacent to the Mississippi River levee on Cedar between 12 and 15th streets, according to Pimblotts research.

This story of Jim Crow public housing is one familiar to many American cities, Pimblotts most recent column reads. What is less known, however, is that the Pyramid Courts first residents in 1943 followed in the footsteps of an earlier generation of Black Carioites.

During the Civil War, Cairo served as the headquarters for the Unions army and naval operations on the western front. After the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862 and Lincolns subsequent Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans fled the cotton fields of the Deep South and crossed federal lines in growing numbers. Many were transported northwards on the Mississippi River aboard steamers to Cairo.

According to Pimblott, more than 5,000 black people sought refuge in the Unions northernmost contraband camp located on 12th and Cedar Streets. She said her research revealed the camp was located at the exact site of the contemporary McBride. This little-known fact seems to be all but forgotten or dismissed.

Despite the proliferation of historical markers to Cairos Civil War history, none commemorate the citys monumental significance to the thousands of formerly enslaved African Americans who took their first tentative steps toward freedom here, she writes.

Sadly, she also notes the site where McBride now sits, and from which families are being relocated as HUD prepares to raze the complex because of its squalor conditions, the people who lived there as recent freedmen more than 150 years prior also faced horrid living conditions.

Pimblotts research revealed that eyewitness accounts from abolitionists and missionaries showed that the Civil War refugees were bunked in unsanitary, disease-ridden and overcrowded accommodations that the Quaker Levi Coffin described as granting none of the comforts and few of the necessities of life.

They laid the foundation of Cairos black community

At the end of the war, many of the African Americans migrated north toward St. Louis and Chicago and other large cities. Still, Pimblott notes, many remained. The black population grew from 47 in 1860 to 1,849 in 1870, according to her research.

Those that stayed were responsible for laying the foundations of Cairos black community, building churches and fraternal orders, schools, unions and businesses, she writes. In many cases, it was the direct descendants of this first generation of black Cairoites who carried their belongings into another federally sponsored housing initiative during WWII almost a century later. In a Skype interview with the newspaper this past week, Pimblott said she assumes that many of the people being relocated from McBride are descendants of the people who lived at the same site following the Civil War.

She noted that dating back decades, the residents of Pyramid Court, now McBride, were complaining to federal officials about inadequate housing in their city, most notably when the U.S. Civil Rights Commission held hearings there in 1972, according to the transcripts.

I think one of the challenges is that really, from my perception, is people dont know the history of it, Pimblott said. So people in the federal government I dont think would have passed the knowledge on to know how deeply theres been a failure.

Beyond the public housing situation they now have to wrestle with, they wouldnt know that this was ever the federal governments responsibility and that they have failed on so many levels at so many points in history that make this such a systemic racist situation.

And even if they did, they would just say, Well theres nothing we can do about the past and so now people just need to go on and find a solution that works for them in the present, not acknowledging that this isnt just a Cairo problem, that this is a problem all over the United States.

Pimblott said that unethical government practices have promoted uninhabitable accommodations that have gone unchecked by HUD, even though we know in Cairos case that people from those housing projects have come forward time and time again in different generations to complain about exactly the same housing concerns, which is roaches, vermin in their houses, infestation, plumbing issues, electrical issues, health concerns raised by family members.

She said that in her mind theres no question that the federal government must view the housing crisis in Cairo  and therefore its solution to it  through the long lens of history, even though new people have assumed leadership posts throughout the federal housing agency. In her view, that hasnt happened to date.

I think its just blindness on the part of government toward their responsibility and any real solutions to the problem, she said. She said the issues playing out in Cairo speak to the greater political inertia to deal with the failing public housing system in the United States. Its bigger than Cairo.

No easy current-day answers to historical failures

And its bigger than East St. Louis, too. But these are two case examples of the ways in which decades of government failure and systemic racism and the resulting socioeconomic consequences can culminate in crises without any easy current-day answers.

St. Clair County States Attorney Brendan Kelly said hes had numerous battles with HUD concerning the East St. Louis Housing Authority while working as a prosecutor and assistant prosecutor. Kelly is running in the Democratic primary for the 12th congressional district held by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, which encompasses East St. Louis and Cairo.

He said those battles have been primarily over security and safety and the constant delays in redeveloping the housing in East St. Louis to make it safe and to make it a place where the folks who need public housing have a decent place to live.

Kelly said hes most familiar with whats transpired in East St. Louis, but also has followed the news articles about the housing crisis in Cairo.

I think HUD through both Republican and Democratic administrations has absolutely failed the people of Cairo, and theyve absolutely failed the people of East St. Louis, he said.

Kelly said the federal governments approach to public housing, including its oversight function, has been a complete failure in both cities. Where it concerns HUDs relocation effort in Cairo, Kelly said, I dont think the solution for the people of Cairo is to toss them to the wind.

They love their home, they love their community, they love each other, and they should find a way for them to be able to stay there in the community, he said.

And I think given how poorly HUD has treated them, and what HUD has failed to do through both Democratic and Republican administrations, they owe them that. They absolutely owe them the ability to stay in their home community.

HUD: There are limitations to agency's abilities to respond

In response to the criticism of HUDs work in Cairo and East St. Louis, HUD spokesman Jereon Brown said opinions are always worth listening to. Still, he said there are limitations to what the federal housing agency can do to address the widespread economic issues in these communities. He said there is a nexus between economic conditions and housing. In previous interviews, hes said its the economy that drives housing, and not the other way around. Its also notable that they either ignored or were unknowledgeable about HUDs budget, he said. Sometimes understanding the why affords more than an editorial.

Jereon Brown also said it is interesting that many of the candidates for political office in Illinois who have weighed in on the situation in Cairo have implied of HUD, They should find a way. I certainly hope that one day soon they realize they could be the they, he said.

Thats when tough decisions and ideas are required, not just rhetoric. Not one campaigner has added much outside of volume.

Jereon Brown said HUD is working to preserve as many housing units as possible in Alexander County, while also preparing to demolish Elmwood and McBride. He said the other priority is to stabilize the finances of the Alexander County Housing Authority. Then, HUD intends to turn the housing authority back over to local control some time in 2018, within two to three years of taking it over.

By comparison HUD has been running East St. Louis public housing affairs for 32 years. In addition to East St. Louis and Cairo, HUD is operating the Wellston (Missouri) Housing Authority in administrative receivership, and has since July 1996; and the Gary (Indiana) Housing Authority, since July 2013. All four of these Midwestern communities  Cairo, Wellston, East St. Louis and Gary, are predominately black communities. All four are fast depopulating communities. All four face harsh economic conditions that manifest themselves in a host of debilitating socioeconomic side effects experienced by the people who live there. In all four, there are people who love their city and want it to survive.

Gary, Indiana, is the largest of the four, with about 76,000 people. Wellston, which sits just eight miles to the west of St. Louis, and with a population of about 2,200, is roughly the size of Cairo.

In the last roughly 30 years, HUD has placed 19 housing authorities into administrative receivership, though these are the only four that remain in that category. (This excludes judicial receiverships, ordered by a judge).

Under HUD Secretary Ben Carson, the federal housing agency has been charged with working toward ending the practice of long-term administrative receiverships and transitioning those currently under HUDs administrative purview back to local control. The agency is currently preparing a plan to return the East St. Louis Housing Authority to the city, and that philosophy also seems to be, at least in part, driving the desire for a quick turnaround, relatively speaking, in Cairo.

Kelly: Im dubious of their motivations

Kelly said hes been hearing rumors for at least seven years about the federal governments plan to return the East St. Louis Housing Authority back to local control. Kelly said hell believe it when he sees it, and withhold final judgment on the plan until he reviews all the particulars. But hes not optimistic given that HUD has not made the types of significant improvements he believes are necessary for local success  even though the agency has been involved for three decades.

I think frankly this is just HUD washing their hands of their failure. Im dubious of their motivations in terms of this process, he said.

In theory, in theory  I underline that, in theory  local control of community affairs is a good thing. We all want local communities to be engaged in local problems. But this idea of local control that HUD is espousing, to me its just an excuse for them to hand off the problem, and not be the partners that we need them to be.

Drive through public housing, go talk to anybody who lives there, walk into any home of public housing, and youll see the proof that their policy and approach theyve taken over both Democratic and Republican administrations has been a failure.

Joseph Brown shared similar concerns about HUDs planned exit from East St. Louis, as well as Cairo.

If the people they are talking about who would be the ones exercising the local control had financial stability, job stability, decent health care and community policing practices in place, then I would say its possible to turn it over to local control.

Yet, as it stands, Brown said hes worried the federal government may be looking to walk away from these communities before finishing the job at hand, which as he sees it, is being a true partner in acknowledging and then addressing the root causes of the economic crises at play in Cairo and East St. Louis and other similarly situated communities.

East St. Louis a city that survives, Brown says

East St. Louis is a city that survives, and they have some political, and civic and business leaders who are working themselves into exhaustion to do more with what theyve got, and to do better with what theyve got, and I know the civic leaders, political and social leaders in Cairo are doing the same thing, he said.

But without adequate tools to do the job, the federal government is setting these communities  and those living in them  up for failure, he said.

We are turning over control over something that is in inevitable decline, Brown said. He noted that during the civil rights movement it was often said, as it still is today in churches, that if one perishes we all perish.

There is no way you can say its not my block. Its not my region. Its not my state. Its not my country. They are not my children, Brown said.

Well then, whose are they?

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the date HUD placed the Wellston Housing Authority into administrative receivership. A previous version incorrectly assigned to the Wellston Housing Authority the date HUD took such action in East St. Louis.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Factions in the ruling Zanu-PF party are burning the midnight oil in a bid to influence President Robert Mugabe's choice of successor to Shuvai Mahofa, who was the Provincial Affairs minister for Masvingo before her death on August 14.The Team Lacoste faction, which is calling the shots in the fractious Masvingo province, is backing two horses to land the position, which makes its holder the most important civil servant in the region.The faction, which is currently on the back-foot after a number of its functionaries were purged for campaigning for Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over from Mugabe, is backing the ruling party's chief whip, Lovemore Matuke, and Senator Clemence Mkwarimba to replace Mahofa.A rival faction, known as Generation 40 (G40), is also leaving no stone unturned, plotting to influence Mugabe to pick from their pot.Four names top the G40 list of possible successors for the fallen "Iron Lady of Masvingo", who died before being admitted at Makurira Memorial Clinic at the age of 75, and was buried at the National Heroes Acre.These are former deputy minister of Labour Tongai Muzenda; Masvingo urban legislator Daniel Shumba; Bikita South legislator Jappy Jaboon and Killer Zivhu  chairperson of the Association of Rural District Councils.According to Zanu-PF insiders, the real battle could be between Muzenda and Mkwarimba considered the frontrunners in the respective factions.Muzenda is the son of the late vice president Simon Muzenda who died in September 2003, having deputised Mugabe for about 16 years."As you know, Mugabe sometimes rewards children of his former colleagues. He may therefore settle for Muzenda because he is not too involved in these factional fights unlike other cadres being tipped for the post," a Zanu-PF insider said.Mugabe may also try to neutralise the warring factions which are causing confusion in Masvingo and other provinces by appointing a neutral Provincial Affairs minister who may work towards uniting the two sides."I think the president will appoint someone who is totally different in his or her approach from the late Mahofa. As you know, during Mahofa's time there was an outcry in Masvingo because she was not recognising G40 MPs. She was causing unnecessary fights in the province hence the president may try to avoid the same situation by not appointing Team Lacoste hardliners," remarked another Zanu-PF insider.Psychomotor minister Josiah Hungwe, who is the most senior politician from Masvingo, told the Daily News yesterday that there was no jostling for the position."I don't know about that issue. There is no one fighting for that position," Hungwe, who is linked to the Team Lacoste faction, said.Efforts to get a comment from Muzenda and Mkwarimba were fruitless as their mobile phones were unreachable.Mahofa was widely revered as the Zanu-PF political godmother in the volatile Masvingo province.At the time of her death, she was involved in nasty battles with the G40 faction which is fiercely opposed to Mnangagwa's ascendancy to the top job.Mahofa is one of the Team Lacoste functionaries who campaigned vigorously for Ezra Chadzamira to win the Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial election against a G40-linked Mutero Masanganise.Chadzamira was later endorsed by Mugabe despite a spirited fight from G40 to have the results nullified.The late Mahofa was in recent months the target of First Lady Grace Mugabe's wrath.Grace sledged Mahofa for failing to acknowledge her while chanting a Zanu-PF slogan and failing to display party regalia during a recent Zanu-PF women's league national assembly meeting.This did not go down well with Grace, who went for Mahofa hammer and tongs, claiming there were women who were working with rival party bigwigs to stampede Mugabe out of power.She also cited an unnamed South Africa-based woman she claimed was splashing money among women's league members, urging them to dump Mugabe.
CARBONDALE  Hunan Chinese Restaurant will celebrate its 30th anniversary at a party from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday at the restaurant, 710 E. Main St. in Carbondale.

During the celebration Chan San, who owns the restaurant along with his wife Jenny, will announce that 100 percent of the proceeds of the restaurant from Tuesday through Sept. 25 will go to a scholarship fund for Carbondale Community High School seniors.

San created the scholarship fund two years ago as a way to give back to the community that has been so good to him and his family. Each year one scholarship is given to a graduating senior at CCHS who will attend Southern Illinois University. Another scholarship is given to a graduating CCHS senior who will pursue a degree at any college or university.

This is one way we can say thanks to the community for supporting our business, San said.

San does not know how much money the restaurant can collect, but he hopes to raise enough funds to give several scholarships. The money will be split between scholarships dedicated to those studying at SIUC and CCHS students studying at other colleges and universities.

San is a native of Laos and left his birth country in the mid-1970s during a period of political turmoil. He spent a few years in a refugee camp in Thailand, then lived in Canada for eight years before coming to the United States.

San and his brother first opened Hunan in Murphysboro, then moved the business to Carbondale two years later because most of their customers were coming from Carbondale.

The last 30 years, this area has been nice to our family, San said, adding that they raised their daughters in Carbondale. We have a lawyer, an architect and a chemist. We think education is important.

San has some other plans for the celebration event. Carbondale Mayor Mike Henry, Carbondale Community High School Superintendent Steve Murphy and SIU Chancellor Carlo Montemagno will speak. A ribbon cutting will be at 5 p.m.

He said the city approved use of firecrackers as part of the celebration.

The anniversary celebration is open to the public, and San encourages all his customers and friends to come and help them celebrate.

Hunan is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 pm. Saturday and 11:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
ST. LOUIS  The nations inland waterway system is sometimes described as one part of the proverbial three-legged stool  along with road and rail  responsible for moving crops grown in the Midwest to markets around the world.

But the waterways leg could use some propping up.

The network that includes the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers is a big reason American grain farmers compete favorably against their South American counterparts. Those in the industry dont take that advantage for granted.

With the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois rivers, you have this artery for our supply chain that penetrates into the most productive farm ground on the planet, said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. Its arguably the main reason why were so attractive on the world marketplace.

Austin Fallin, a transportation specialist at Archer Daniels Midland, called U.S. infrastructure one of the reasons the United States is one of the global superpowers.

But many are concerned about the state of the inland waterways system, especially the condition of the locks and dams crucial for economical movement of freight that includes a sizable portion of the corn, soybeans and wheat grown in the nations heartland.

Fallins colleague at ADM, Austin Ramsey, has seen changes in transportation arriving at the companys St. Louis terminal from points north.

Were seeing a lack of confidence in the waterways infrastructure, Ramsey said. Shippers up north, instead of coming down through the lock and dam system, will load up on rail and then come down to here where they can bypass that system. Thats not good for farmers, because it costs more to make that southbound trip on rail.

The issue is an important one for the United Soybean Board, which distributes soybean checkoff money. Fallin and Ramsey recently brought a group of USB directors up to speed as they toured the Decatur, Ill.-based companys grain facility in downtown St. Louis.

One 15-barge tow equals the carrying capacity of 870 semi-trucks or more than two 100-car trains. It gets even better at St. Louis, which is south of the northernmost lock and dam on the Mississippi.

Here in St. Louis, since we dont have to deal with the lock and dam system, our tows can be up to 40 barges, Ramsey said. We have even better economies of scale at this facility.

But the river transportation system is in need of modernization. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved a number of projects to repair and expand the infrastructure, but failure by Congress to approve funding has spanned multiple administrations.

It certainly isnt a new issue. The St. Louis-based Midwest Area Rivers Council 2000  the group formed in 1992 and whose name indicated its goal for modernization of the system by the year 2000  folded several years after that deadline came and went with no work approved for the locks and dams.

The lock and dam system was largely built in the 1930s with a 50-year lifespan, Fallin said. If you do the math, were pretty much past that now. Theres a lot of optimism with the current administration and its $1 billion infrastructure proposal. There is some hope for getting the infrastructure back on track.

Steenhoek said it is difficult to overstate the value of Americas transportation infrastructure to farmers. Without it, the great progress in the nations agricultural system over the past few decades would not be fully realized, especially in todays global market.

Sure, we can grow crops in significant volumes, but our ability to get them from where theyre grown to our international markets more cost effectively and reliably than our friends in South America is the secret to our success, he said. And the inland waterways is a big reason for that.

Even though Brazil certainly has one of the most extensive inland waterways systems in the world, they dont take advantage of it near to the extent that we access our inland waterways.
The sorry state of the United States inland waterways system is well known, but solutions to fixing it seem, at times, elusive.

Folks cross railroads, they travel roads and see rusty bridges, theyre asking Wheres our DOT funding for this? But theyre not calling and asking Wheres our energy and water funding to maintain our rivers? said Thomas Heinhold, the Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District deputy chief of operations.

Heinhold was part of a barge and lock and dam tour Aug. 4 on the Mississippi River near Davenport, Iowa.

Maintenance, repairs and improvements to the lock system come primarily from the federal budget.

The Rock Island District includes 20 locks. Heinhold said to keep the system intact, they should be doing a major rehabilitation on at least one lock every year, but because of lack of funding, the last rehab took place in 2005. The next one is planned for 2020 on the Illinois River.

We are way behind on major rehabilitation, he said. The risk of a catastrophic failure on this one-lane highway is getting greater every year. On the highway, if a bridge is out, theres a detour. On this system, thats not an option.

In 2007 Congress approved the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program which was meant to address some of these funding issues. But, according to Heinhold, no additional funding has been provided a decade after it was created.

If NESP had been implemented, 1,200-foot locks would be the standard on the Mississippi.

We are prepared to tackle that challenge, Heinhold said. Hopefully that funding comes at some point in the near future.

Another funding stream for repairs isthe Inland Waterways Trust Fund. IWTF money comes through a 29 cent tax on fuel used by towboats. Funds match federal dollars, on approved rehabilitation projects.

Emergency repairs

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported emergency repairs to a gate at a lock near St. Louis caused a major Mississippi River traffic jam last month. Dozens of barges were delayed due to a cracked gate at the Melvin Price Lock and Dam at Alton, Ill. Barge traffic was closed or limited Aug. 30 through Sept. 3. An Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson said the cracks were discovered during a routine inspection.

[Some of these locks] are falling apart right before our eyes, said Marty Hettle, chairman of the Inland Waterways User Board. Its not all the [Army Corps of Engineers] fault. These guys are just being good soldiers and doing what their bosses tell them and what the laws, written by Congress, bind them to. If things were different and they had sufficient funding, Im sure we wouldnt be looking at this backlog.

Delays and closures can result in financial losses to farmers and companies that rely on the barges cargo making it downstream in a timely manner.

Additional delays happen because the locks themselves are too small for modern barge traffic.

Heinhold explained a towboat usually transports 15 barges, totaling about 1,200 feet of length. But, the locks in this portion of the country were mostly built for the barge traffic of the 1930s, and are only 600 feet long. Because of this, it can be a slow process getting all 15 barges through the lock.

That causes delays and additional risk in the system, Heinhold said. And, basically, limits and constrains the capacity of the system as well.

Federal support

Ive been hearing over the last five or six years, since I got into politics, about this issue, said Iowa Congressman Rob Blum, who attended the Aug. 4 tour.

This system on the river is very important to getting our corn and soybeans down to the port in New Orleans. If a lock went down here, it would be catastrophic. I dont think the average person understands how much traffic comes down this river.

Blum, a Republican, and Democrats Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth and Iowa Congressman Dave Loebsack, said they are aware of the problems with the system.

We just cant get [our commodities] down the Mississippi fast enough to be competitive when you have competitors coming from Brazil thats got so much government funding behind them, said Duckworth.

Thats where I come in, my colleagues  come in, finding a way to work it out in a bipartisan way to solve the issues. Bottom line, its about time we made serious investments in our nations interstate commerce system.

Blum offered a path to additional funding through establishing a lock user fee.

The president wants to leverage over a trillion dollars for infrastructure. One of the ways to do that, a beautiful way to do that, is through user fees, he said, having companies pay a fee  like a toll road  to use locks along the river.

Theyd be happy to pay it, especially if the locks were modernized and made twice as long. Its a win-win.
News / National

by Staff reporter

GOVERNMENT has revived its bid to regulate consumption of alcohol with a Cabinet committee recently approving a draft policy outlawing sale of alcoholic products during certain days, hours and to pregnant women.It has been gathered that the National Alcohol Policy has since received blessings from various line ministries and is set to be tabled in Cabinet anytime soon.The push to enforce a host of restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol follows Government's concern over increasing cases of abuse of the product countrywide.The policy is a brainchild of former Health Minister Dr Timothy Stamps, who is now health advisor in the Office of the President and Cabinet.Dr Stamps argued the policy is the right pathway in maintaining good health as well as protecting people against alcohol abuse.Health and Child Care secretary Retired Brigadier General Dr Gerald Gwinji said the proposed new rules are similar to those first mooted in 2010."We took the proposed new policy to the working party which comprises officials from various ministries and it passed," he said."It also went to the Cabinet Committee on Social Services and Poverty Eradication and it went through. It now awaits to go to the Cabinet."The current one is a revised version of the 2010 draft after realising that the initial one had gaps."The policy is concerned with imparting behaviour change."Policies are there to give guidance to the general populace and various stakeholders. The reduction of alcohol abuse can be done partly through the law but the rest will be through moral suasion."Our Harare Bureau understands that the policy proposes to bar the sale of alcohol during the week, regulate the number of hours to sell the products and provide guidelines on the consumption of alcohol during special events like parties and weddings on the basis of the venue in which they are held.Information shows that motor vehicle drivers found with a blood alcohol concentration of above 0,08 per 100ml of blood face arrest and those found selling the product to pregnant women will also be arrested.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC-T yesterday tried to play down former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai's latest health problems, saying the party's leader was in a stable condition after he was airlifted to a South African hospital on Friday.Reports of Tsvangirai's sickness sparked panic among his supporters who yesterday took to Twitter and Facebook to express their fears.Tsvangirai was forced to prematurely leave Kadoma where the MDC Alliance leaders were holding a retreat after he fell ill and was transferred to a medical facility in the neighbouring country when his health deteriorated.However, his spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka claimed reports that the MDC-T leader was in a critical condition were not true."President Morgan Tsvangirai, who flew to South Africa for a routine medical procedure, is in a very stable condition, contrary to morbid media reports that he is critical and is battling for his life," Tamborinyoka said in a statement."True to form, the people's leader is more worried about the plight of Zimbabweans than his own condition."This morning, he was assuring Zimbabweans he will be home soon; urging the nation to co-operate with the on-going nationwide exercise to acquire birth certificates and national registration documents that will enable them to exercise their right to vote."He said Tsvangirai urged Zimbabweans not to panic about his health.The former trade unionist was diagnosed with cancer of the colon last year and has been receiving treatment in South Africa since then.But the latest health scare is likely to embolden Tsvangirai's rivals who want him to give way to a new leader as the opposition prepares to tackle President Robert Mugabe in next year's elections.Meanwhile, MDC Alliance spokesperson Jacob Ngarivhume said Tsvangirai had actively participated at the Kadoma meeting before his sudden departure."The MDC Alliance leader Morgan Tsvangirai gave guidance and direction to the strategic workshop," he said."As a leader of the alliance, he had to give his input on critical issues shaping the agenda of the alliance."From the alliance's point of view, he was at the workshop and his contribution was sharp and very useful."As the leader of the alliance, he played his part and we absolutely saw no problem at all with any of his contributions."There is absolutely no need for anybody to worry. We are very happy with the way he led the workshop and we absolutely have no reason to panic for whatever reason."Ngarivhume said the opposition party leaders had crafted an election campaign strategy and a roadmap for 2018 elections.On Tsvangirai's health, several MDC-T leaders said they would stick to the statement released by Tamborinyoka and would not comment further.Opposition parties including Joice Mujuru's National People's Party and Nkosana Moyo's Alliance for the People's Agenda rallied to Tsvangirai's side, wishing him a speedy recovery.
NEWBERRY  Newberry College made a strong showing on the 2018 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings released last week by the national magazines annual report on colleges. Newberry appeared on the following lists:

Best Regional Liberal Arts Colleges in the South (#17)

Best Value for Regional Colleges in the South (#7)

Least Student Debt Load at Graduation for Regional Colleges in the South (#3)

For many years, Newberry College has ranked in the Top 50 for Best Colleges in the South, but the private liberal arts college ascended into the Top 20 last year, where it has retained its place in the 2018 rankings among the regions upper echelon.

I am pleased Newberry College continues to be recognized for its efforts to offer students an affordable, high quality education, Newberry College President Dr. Maurice W. Scherrens said. These highly respected rankings are another proof point of the value of a Newberry College education.

Newberry College senior Benjamin Herring echoed the presidents observation. Results like these rankings affirm what we already know as students, said Herring, the current president of the Newberry College Student Government Association. They show that others are taking note and valuing the unique experiences were having at Newberry as we explore our passion and purpose in life.

Newberry College earned the #7 spot as the Best Value for Regional Colleges in the South, its second consecutive appearance on this list.

Our Loan Repayment Promise, which pledges to help students who earn less than $40,000 after graduation to repay their college loans, has proven to be a very attractive benefit to students and their families, said Joel Vander Horst, dean of Enrollment Management.

Newberry made its debut appearance on the rankings for Student Debt at Graduation, appearing third on the list for Least Debt for Regional Colleges in the South.

Newberry College offers a very competitive financial aid package, Vander Horst said. Weve also been proactive in identifying students who might be at risk and helping them find solutions before they experience a financial crisis that could prevent them from returning to school.

As an institution, we are called to prepare students for successful careers and meaningful lives, said Hugo A. Hap Pearce, chairman of the Newberry College Board of Trustees. Our excellent rankings demonstrate our success in helping students achieve their unique goals.
The Constitution, George Washington once said, is the guide which I will never abandon. Americans have continued to uphold that sentiment ever since.

The Constitution of the United States has existed as the supreme law of the land for more than two centuries, making it the oldest written constitution in the world. During that time, the American people have remained mostly loyal to its original precepts, while also accounting for various changes through the introduction of 27 amendments.

The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of the U.S. Constitution as we celebrate Constitution Day and the 230th anniversary of its signing on September 17, 1787.

1. Under the original Constitution, the president was elected by:

A. Direct vote of the people of the United States

B. Electors chosen by the Congress of the United States

C. Electors chosen in each state by a means specified by the state legislature

D. He was not elected, but appointed by members of the House and Senate voting together

2. According to the Constitution, the number of representatives in the House of Representatives is:

A. A number to be determined by Congress, based on population

B. Between one and 11 from each state, depending on population

C. Two from each state

D. 435

3. In the original Constitution, the number of justices on the Supreme Court is:

A. Seven

B. Nine

C. No less than seven, and no more than 17

D. The Constitution does not specify the number of justices

4. The minimum age for a member of the U.S. Senate is:

A. 25

B. 30

C. 35

D. The Constitution does not specify a minimum age

5. Which state was the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution?

A. Maryland

B. Delaware

C. New Jersey

D. Connecticut

6. In the original Constitution, how many references are there to slaves or slavery?

A. Zero

B. One

C. Two

D. Three

7. The Declaration of Independence includes four references to God. How many are there in the original U.S. Constitution?

A. Zero

B. One

C. Two

D. Three

8. What is the only part of the U.S. Constitution that cannot be amended?

A. The requirement that the president must be a natural born citizen

B. The provision forbidding state governments from passing laws impairing the obligation of contracts

C. The requirement that each state has equal representation in the Senate

D. Everything can be amended

9. Only one delegate from the state of New York ended up signing the Constitution. Who was it?

A. George Clinton

B. Alexander Hamilton

C. John Jay

D. John Hancock

10. According to the Constitution, the vice president serves as president of:

A.The House

B. The Senate

C. The Congress

D. The Cabinet

ANSWERS: 1-C, 2-A, 3-D, 4-B, 5-B, 6-A, 7-A, 8-C, 9-B, 10-B
Open letter to S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster:

I hope this letter finds you well after our Labor Day holiday. I find it disheartening, on the day after a holiday designed to commemorate and honor American workers, that I must write to you about a choice you are making that will greatly harm and jeopardize the livelihoods of workers in South Carolina that you now govern. You are taking a stance against your own public employees by seeking to remove their pensions and retirement plans because of actions over which they had no control.

I find it not only heartless but also ill-conceived to wish to alter the benefits of current and future public workers in our state and would ask that you reconsider this position before it does irreparable damage to our state, its economy and the lives of our workforce.

As I read positions you are taking on the state's retirement crisis, I see a variety of hardships your stance will create for the state as a whole, for every county and for the numerous employees across South Carolina who have paid into the retirement system in good faith, with a full expectation that the state would be able to provide them with the benefits promised when they opted to work as a state employee rather than pursue jobs in the private sector that would offer better pay.

But Gov. McMaster, I am from a small rural county in South Carolina; I represent Bamberg County on its county council. I see firsthand how your ideas to convert the pension system to a 401(k) plan and raise the retirement age for the state will place an extremely undue burden on these smaller, poorer areas of the state where attracting employees is already difficult.

I also see how these poor decisions of leadership will continue to keep South Carolinians impoverished, unable to maintain even a minimum standard of living, as your policies seek to undermine any financial surety they attempt to create for themselves as they approach retirement age.

With reduced benefits and uncertain pension accounts, state employees will be relocating to other jobs in the private sector, leaving all counties struggling to provide public services to citizens. In smaller, poorer, rural counties like Bamberg -- the hometown of your predecessor, where salaries are already significantly lower than larger, wealthier counties, such as the one in which you currently reside -- many employees have opted for state career positions for the promise of good benefits and a reliable retirement plan. You have now pulled the rug from underneath these employees and from the employers who rely on a competent workforce to serve South Carolinians daily.

Attracting and maintaining quality employees will become impossible in these smaller counties, as teachers, firefighters and local government employees will relocate to other areas and find careers in other states where benefits are more certain.

Smaller counties -- such as Bamberg, Barnwell, Allendale, Kershaw, etc. -- cannot compete with larger counties' salaries, but we could always provide the same strong, reliable benefits. We won't have that any more with your decisions. Our citizens, our children, our cities will suffer greatly at your hands for dismantling the state retirement system.

Most employees of the state in these smaller regions already struggle to make ends meet. I see this daily and I cannot stand by quietly as I see my fellow citizens suffer at the hands of their own leaders who have taken office to protect them and their interests but are now undermining them, making it increasingly more difficult for them to live and thrive happily in South Carolina.

My family is a victim of these changes, as well, as my wife is a public school teacher in South Carolina. She took a significant pay cut to relocate to Bamberg County schools from Daniel High School. Still she knew that students in Bamberg County deserved the same opportunities at education as students in wealthier parts of the state. Her salary cut, however, is felt constantly by our family, as we have four children to raise and consider ourselves paying higher taxes each year with less money in our pockets.

And now the state wants to significantly undercut the pension system we have relied upon for retirement. It seems cruel and unfair to treat hardworking employees, citizens and voters of your own state in such a manner.

While these decisions you are making impact the entire state, I feel as though rural South Carolina is often forgotten or, even worse, we have been abandoned by the state and its leadership, as we will no doubt suffer more because of your indifference to the retirement system's stability. I would invite you and any member of the Legislature to visit Bamberg County and see the levels of poverty we experience daily. I challenge each of you to come and look in the face of our hardworking employees, the teachers here and across the state, and anyone endangered by what you are about to do, and explain to them why their years of loyal service to South Carolina are about to be disregarded as you work to remove their pensions from them and undercut their benefits in a way that will no doubt prevent some employees from retiring ever -- as they will not be able to bear an annual cost of living that would exceed the fluctuating payouts of a 401(k) plan dictated by a volatile stock market that nearly crashed out less than a decade ago and has only recently shown signs of steady recovery.

I hope you will weigh the contents of my letter and consider my plea that you reconsider your position on the changes you wish to make to the state retirement plan. My hope is that you, as governor of this state, will act compassionately and in the interest of the public employees -- who are also citizens and voters in this state -- as you work to salvage the state's retirement system.

Consider the repercussions your actions will have for decades to come on our workforce, our ability to hire and provide services and the livelihoods of our own people.
Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, Ibdar Bank, said its joint venture with Investra Group, a top UK developer and Apache Capital, a major British asset manager, has signed up UK Contractor Bennete to construct the Cumberland Place, a $29.5 million purpose-built student accommodation project in Southampton, UK.



The project will be completed in time for the academic year 2018/2019.



On the new project, CEO Ayman Sejiny said: "Ibdar Bank is pleased with the performance of our JV partnership in the UK. We are working to add value to our investors, and are happy to announce that we have appointed a reputed contractor to develop the project site into a leading Purpose Built Student Accommodation and have commenced construction.



The project, which is designed to meet the rising demand for student accommodation from both local and international students, is located at Cumberland Place, one of the main commercial streets in Southamptons city center, stated the top official.



The site is in close proximity to Southamptons main universities, in addition to the citys transportation, services and retail points. Cumberland Place will provide accommodation for more than 200 students in a mixture of modern one and two bedrooms, he added.



Bassem Kameshki, the director of real estate, said Ibdars focus remained on value-engineering deals in order to achieve higher returns for the investors.



Since acquisition, there have been strong indicators that the student accommodation project value will increase. The Southampton market has witnessed substantial growth with major infrastructure and commercial developments set to position the city as a regional academic and business epicenter and true capital of the South,"stated Kameshki.



According to him, the construction on the project is progressing well and is ahead of schedule.



In addition to Cumberland Place, the Bahraini bank has a number of global real estate investments under its portfolio, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabia is likely to begin the process to find a vendor to build the countrys first nuclear reactors as early as next month, said a report, citing nuclear industry sources.



The kingdom seeks to build two plants that could generate up to 2.8 gigawatts (GW) of energy, three industry sources told Reuters.



"Competition will be fierce," one source told Reuters, adding that the Saudis were expected to send a request for information (RFI) to suppliers in China, France, Japan, Russia, and South Korea in October, thus beginning the "tender process" of finding a vendor to build the plant.



Saudi Arabia would present the details of their plan to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog affiliate, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later this month, reported Sputnik citing a senior industry source. They also hope to begin construction of the plant in 2018.



This would make it the second Arab country to explore the use of nuclear energy, after the UAE



Saudi Arabia's goal is to build 17.6 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2032, according to the website of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (Kacare). As Saudi Arabia has no nuclear industry, they will have to hire a foreign contractor.



Companies such as French reactor builder Areva, China's National Nuclear Corporation and the Moscow-owned Rosatom have all approached Kacare for setting up Saudi Arabia's first nuclear reactors in the past, stated the report.



There has also been interest from other reactor builders, such as Japanese conglomerate Toshiba and the South Korean utility company Korea Electric Power Corporation, which is the company building the UAE's $40-billion reactor, it added.
DP World Limited, a leading shipping terminals operator, has announced that the company has reached a decision not to renew its operating contract for PT Terminal Petikemas Surabaya (TPS) in Indonesia at the end of the agreement in 2019.

DP World is a 49 pr cent shareholder in TPS, which represents a gross capacity of 2.1 million TEUs out of 85 million TEUs for the group. There will be no material financial impact on the group as a consequence of this action, DP World said.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World Group chairman and CEO, said: DP World, alongside other global terminal operators, has built world class port infrastructure in Indonesia that serves the needs of shipping lines, manufacturers, traders and consumers in the region. Over the last 20 years, Surabaya has benefitted from DP Worlds state-of-the-art, productivity-enhancing systems, training and development programmes, as well as the companys security, safety and environmental best practices, and we are proud of our success there. We have invested significantly in the terminal infrastructure, which has created jobs and contributed to the growth of both the port and the region.

It is unfortunate that the significant positive contributions made by global terminal operators in Indonesia have not been fully recognised, despite our successful track record. We are therefore disappointed that the operating contract renewal terms offered by the Indonesian authorities did not meet our threshold for continued investment. Adhering to strict financial discipline has been crucial to the growth of DP World and on that basis we are not able to renew the agreement beyond 2019. The transfer of operations will be in accordance to the terms and conditions of the contract, he said.

When investing in trade infrastructure and services, our goal is to serve our global customers while making a positive economic impact in the countries in which we work and delivering returns to our shareholders. We remain committed to investing in Asia and all geographies that have an appetite for foreign direct investment, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
A total of 50 new electric vehicles from American automaker Tesla have been inducted into the limo fleet of the Dubai Taxi Corporation. All these vehicles are fitted with several components of self-driving techniques.



Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Emirates Group, and Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, kicked off the operation of these e-vehicles in the presence of senior government officials, said a statement from Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).



Mattar Al Tayer, the director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA, also attended the launch ceremony.



The operation of Tesla electric vehicles is a manifestation of the directives of Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world, said the statement.



It also replicates the Green Economy for Sustainable Development Initiative of Sheikh Mohammed and the Dubai Smart Autonomous Mobility Strategy aimed at converting 25 per cent of total journeys into driverless journeys by 2030.



This initiative is also part of the RTAs expeditious efforts to provide self-driving transit means by going through technological tests designed for autonomous transit means, it stated.



Speaking at the launch, Al Tayer said: "The RTA has recently received the delivery of 50 Tesla vehicles as part of a deal for 200 vehicles signed last February on the sidelines of the World Government Summit 2017. As such, 75 vehicles will be supplied in 2018, and 75 others are to be delivered in 2019."



DTC has coordinated with the concerned parties to provide the needed infrastructure to ensure the operation of these vehicles, including the provision of 13 electric recharging stations, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
News / National

by Staff reporter

A UNITED Nations (UN) team tasked with tightening screws on North Korea's authoritarian regime has written to the Zimbabwean government requesting information on the country's dealings with the rogue state. This comes as it emerged that Harare could be violating United Nations resolutions restricting trade with the South-East belligerent Asian country.The UN has threatened an asset freeze on local companies dealing with a Pyongyang firm involved in construction and sculpture.A report dated September 5 2017 reveals that a United Nations Panel of Experts wrote to government officials demanding to know the operations of North Korea's Mansudae Overseas Project (MOP).MOP is a construction company based in Jongphyong-dong, Phyongchon District, Pyongyang, North Korea.It is the international commercial division of the Mansudae Art Studio.The company was involved in the construction of the country's National Heroes Acre, including the statue of the Unknown Soldier. MOP also made the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo's statue.If investigations by the UN establish that Zimbabwe continues to assist or is doing business with North Korea, the country or local companies dealing with the eastern Asian country run the risk of having their assets frozen.Last month the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed the "most stringent" sanctions on North Korea that banned exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood in response to Pyongyang's testing of two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July that could target the United States.The 15-member UN Security Council agreed to cut North Korean exports by about US$1 billion a year.The sanctions regime also banned "the opening of new joint ventures or cooperative entities with" North Korea, and capped the number of North Koreans working in other countries at current levels.Another penalty prevented existing joint ventures into expanding their operations.In its mid-term report, the UN panel of experts said it noted with concern North Korea's denial of the legitimacy of Security Council resolutions, saying the resolutions have "no legal basis at all"."The Panel continued its investigations into violations of the arms embargo and activities of entities and individuals of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) designated by the United Nations for trade in conventional arms and ballistic missile-related items, particularly in Africa and the Middle East," the report says."The Panel continued its investigations into the activities of the Mansudae Overseas Project Group and its relationship to the United Nations-designated entity KOMID, which the Panel has recommended for designation."With regard to Mansudae activities in a number of African Member States including Angola, Benin, Botswana, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the Panel has written to these countries requesting information on the entity's activities including the provision of statues."The panel said evasive practices of North Korea significantly increase the challenges associated with implementing United Nations financial sanctions.North Korea is widely regarded as a rogue and authoritarian state and is under UN sanctions. Several countries, however, enjoy trade and bilateral relations with the country.DPRK has been providing military assistance and hardware to some countries despite UN Resolution 1718 of 2006, which cemented into international law the condemnation of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.The resolution barred UN member states from dealing with North Korea with respect to major weapons systems, missiles, and nuclear and other related activities and goods.Subsequent resolutions notably 1874 of 2009, 2087 of 2013, 2094 of 2013 and 2270 of 2016 tightened the sanctions by barring trade in all arms. UN member states are forbidden from receiving police, paramilitary or special forces training from North Korea.The awarding of the tender to construct Nkomo's statue to a North Korean company stirred an uproar, as the Asian country trained the Fifth Brigade crack unit, which killed thousands of people in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces during the Gukurahundi era.The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe estimates that over 20 000 civilians werekilled during the atrocities.During Nkomo's burial at the National Heroes Acre in 1999, Mugabe described the Gukurahundi period as a "moment of madness".
Digital payments will dethrone cash as king in the Middle East, and boost regional GDP by nearly $100 billion, industry experts said ahead of Gitex Technology Week, a major IT event in Dubai, UAE.



As Middle East countries accelerate their digital transformation agendas with nationwide high-speed technology connectivity, one of the biggest benefits will be quick and easy mobile payments. In the near future, Middle East residents will be able to pay for parking tickets and in-store purchases, top up mobile phone minutes and data, and send remittances via mobile apps.



Paolo Gagliardi, chief business officer of the UAE-based financial technology start-up Trriple, said: Once fast, secure, and easy-to-use digital payments become mainstream, that means cash is king no more in the Middle East. Using digital payments, consumers and merchants can save time and money, and gain real-time insights on transaction history and spending trends.



Trriple estimates that about 80 per cent of the UAEs transactions are done in cash, which can be expensive to produce and secure, and often inconvenient to use. However, if the Middle East captured its full digital potential, and made digital payments widespread, then the region could add $95 billion in GDP by 2020, according to a recent report by the consultancy McKinsey.



Experts agree that the UAE is a global leader in supporting digital payments. Already in 2017, the UAE Central Bank has issued regulations for digital payments, supporting UAE Vision 2021 goals of smart government, financial inclusion, innovation, and market competition.



The UAE government has set the stage for digital payments to transform transactions across every industry vertical, across public sector, to transport, tourism and healthcare. Trriple aims to leverage Gitex to fuel our growth and expansion, by showcasing the latest solutions, meeting with investors, growing our partner ecosystem, and networking with fintech leaders, added Paolo Gagliardi.



Trriples mobile wallet provides a secure and convenient open source payment platform, which can securely connect with any government, organization, or banking network in the world.



Gitex Technology Week 2017 runs from October 8 to 12 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.  TradeArabia News Service
Travellers expectations have changed drastically during the pandemic and the travel industry needs to better understand the behaviours and expectations of the new traveller in order to respond to them, says Roshan Mendis of Sabre.
The Box Appeal, a month-long annual charity appeal organized by the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, has launched this years campaign.



In its 10th year The Box Appeal is an initiative that collects boxes of essential everyday items that are then given to labourers. This year the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group aims to collect over 20,000 boxes through its Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson Hotels in the UAE.



What started as a small charity project by Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Media City in 2008 has now grown to be a major success story, and is now firmly established in the UAE, receiving support from prominent companies such as Coca Cola, Dance 97.8 FM, ITP Media Group, McLaren Group, Arcadis, Herbert Smith Freehills, Barakat and Accenture.



We are delighted to launch this years Box Appeal and pleased to see this great initiative grow from strength to strength every year. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is recognised as a trusted responsible hotel business and caring for people and the community is an integral part of how we do business. We are proud that the Box Appeal campaign has made a difference to over 120,000 people since its inception said Mark Willis, area senior vice president, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, The Rezidor Hotel Group.



The Box Appeal campaign runs from September 15 to October 15. For people looking to participate in the campaign, boxes may be collected from any Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson hotel in the UAE. Twelve mandatory items should be added; a t-shirt, cap, disposable razor, shaving cream, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, hand towels, comb, anti-bacterial soap, shampoo and talcum powder. Boxes should then be returned to any of the Radisson Blu or Park Inn by Radisson hotels in the UAE or the Dance FM studios in Dubai Media City.



This is our way of celebrating the unsung heroes of our community  the many labourers, who have helped build these amazing infrastructures around us. We are aiming to make it a record breaking year with the support of our partners, sponsors and of course the local community. The Box Appeal is very easy to participate in. We hand out boxes with a list of items that people just need to buy and put inside the box, before dropping off at any of our hotels or the Dance FM studios. There has been an overwhelming response from hotel guests, schools and the general public who are looking to help. I encourage as many people as possible to support this fantastic initiative said Aldert van Zyl, regional responsible business coordinator Middle East, Rezidor Hotel Group. - TradeArabia News Service
A Royal Wings carrier flying in to Aqaba from Amman, Jordan, skidded off course upon landing at King Hussein International Airport. No injuries to passengers or crew were reported.



The Boeing 737, which was leased on ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) basis from Solitaire Air, landed today at 8:20 am on its regular flight (JO 6888) from Amman to Aqaba and will continue to Dubai.



A minor damage was recorded on the external structure of the aircraft while it was skidding off the runway. Royal Wings provided hotel accommodation in Aqaba for all the passengers who were onboard while waiting for another airplane to arrive and carry them from Aqaba to Dubai, the carrier said in a statement. - Tradearabia News Service


Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, has sold its 90 per cent interest in the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi, Malaysia for $90 million.



The shares were sold to Leisure Ventures, an affiliate of Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), a Singaporean listed company.



Prince Alwaleed said: This transaction marks yet another success for KHCs value realisation strategy from growth market investments".



KHC continues to be a stakeholder in this property through our interest in the management company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts which will continue to operate the resort, he said.



Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) is one of the worlds foremost value investment firm that is internationally renowned for its interest in both high performance global brand and strategic regional interests. Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, KHC is led by its founder and chairman, Prince Alwaleed. Founded in 1980 and publicly traded since 2007, KHC has achieved three decades of exceptional investment success and is renowned for its diversified portfolio of global powerhouse brands and high performance regional investments. - TradeArabia News Service


BISMARCK, N.D.  North Dakota oil drillers and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven want federal geologists to reevaluate the amount of recoverable crude oil in the state, saying a new assessment likely would show stronger production potential and attract investment.

The U.S. Geological Survey once said two massive shale formations found in North Dakota held the largest continuous oil accumulation it ever assessed. But the title was given to a formation in Texas Permian Basin last year, after a USGS assessment found nearly three times the amount of recoverable oil than in the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

Hoeven now wants the USGS to take into account other formations in western North Dakotas oil patch that could be exploited using technology developed for the Bakken and the Three Forks directly below it.

The industry wants a broader study, the North Dakota Republican said. The industry feels it will show a larger resource if the other formations are included.

Hoeven said top officials at the USGS have given assurances that the study would be done, though it could take a year or two to begin.

USGS spokesman Dave Ozman said he was aware of the request but no formal decision has been made to do a new assessment.

North Dakota geologists say nearly 20 different geologic formations have been tapped in the state since oil was first brought to the surface 66 years ago. The Bakken and Three Forks, which only have been tapped in the last decade using hydraulic fracturing, now account for 95 percent all of North Dakotas more than million-barrel-per-day oil production, ranking it second behind Texas.

Know-how gained from the Bakken and Three Forks is being tested on other formations in the state and it has been successfully applied elsewhere, creating a rivalry for drilling rigs and investment.

Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said investment dollars have dropped in the state as companies and investors have more options.

Weve certainly seen a lot of competition from other oil shales, said Ness, whose group represents more than 500 companies working in the states oil patch.

Ness said a new assessment that would consider underdeveloped formations would give a more accurate picture of the states oil capability.

Having the best information available would do a lot for development and reaffirm and show the potential, he said.

The Bakken formation encompasses some 25,000 square miles within the Williston Basin. About two-thirds of the acreage is in western North Dakota, where the oil is trapped in a thin layer of dense rock nearly 2 miles beneath the surface. The Three Forks formation underlies most of the Bakken.

In 2013, the USGS released data that showed 7.4 billion barrels of oil could be recovered from the Bakken and Three Forks spanning parts of North Dakota and parts of Montana, nearly double the amount the agency previously estimated for the region in 2008.

The USGSs study last year found Wolfcamp shale, located in the Midland Basin portion of Texas Permian Basin, contains 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Billionaire oilman Harold Hamm, chairman and chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc., has long said that government estimates of recoverable oil in the Bakken and Three Forks formations are too conservative.

Hamm, whose company is one of the oldest and biggest operators in North Dakota, has for years maintained the Bakken and Three Forks alone hold more than 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil, which would rival new the federal estimate for the Texas formation.
PIERRE, S.D.  South Dakotas Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law that would require out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes on in-state purchases  a defeat the state expected and welcomed in a case that eventually could have national implications for e-commerce.

Attorney General Marty Jackley hopes to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider rulings issued mostly before the online shopping boom that exempt retailers from having to collect sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence. He said they give out-of-state online retailers an unfair competitive advantage over local retailers.

Todays decision paves the way to respectfully request the U.S. Supreme Court to provide that much needed fairness to save main streets and jobs across South Dakota, Jackley said in a statement.

South Dakota has no income tax and depends heavily on sales taxes, and the state estimates it loses about $50 million in tax revenue annually to e-commerce. Jackley said the U.S. Supreme Court should particularly reconsider its 1992 ruling in a North Dakota case in light of the extraordinary growth of the internet and the exponential technological advances that have been made in the last quarter century.

States have pushed Congress to address the issue without success so far, and one estimate put the loss to states at roughly $26 billion in 2015. South Dakota is the furthest along of several states attempting to overturn the precedent.

Many e-commerce companies rely on the 1992 ruling to avoid collecting state sales taxes, while some, such as Amazon, do so despite the precedent. Online retailers Wayfair, Overstock and Newegg challenged the South Dakota law at the trial court level.

The state Supreme Court acknowledged that as online sales have risen, South Dakotas revenues have decreased. That prompted the Legislature to pass the law with little opposition last year as a deliberate challenge to several U.S. Supreme Court rulings on how to apply the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which generally gives Congress exclusive authority to regulate interstate trade.

South Dakota is pinning its hopes on a concurrence written by Justice Anthony Kennedy in a 2015 Colorado case that questioned the advisability of abiding by those precedents on sales tax collections given the dramatic technological and social changes ... in our increasingly interconnected economy, the states high court noted. It also acknowledged that before joining the U.S. Supreme Court this year, Neil Gorsuch raised similar concerns when he was a federal appeals court judge.

But the South Dakota justices wrote that however persuasive the states arguments may be for revisiting the issue, the 1992 decision has not been overruled and remains the controlling precedent.

South Dakota will now take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where to be heard, it would need the votes of four justices.

The National Retail Federation issued a statement calling on Congress to pass carefully crafted legislation allowing states to require online sellers to collect sales taxes, which it said would be far preferable to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reverses the 1992 decision without addressing the details of implementation.
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 318 E. Sixth St., will be holding Rally Day on September 17, marking the return of Sunday School and the Fall worship season.

Please join us for Worship Service at 9 a.m., followed by Sunday School classes for those three years old through 12th grade from 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m. Christian Education Adult classes will start on October 15. All are welcome and invited. For more information, please call the church office, 237-9087.
News / National

by Staff reporter

WAR veterans have been challenged to contest for office in next year's general elections.Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Bulawayo chairperson Cephas Ncube said war veterans aspiring for office should prepare their CVs and submit them to the provincial office.Ncube was speaking at a ZNLWVA special emergency general meeting held at the association's provincial offices in Entumbane in Bulawayo yesterday. He was however, quick to caution the war veterans aspiring for office not to flout the party's rules by engaging in early campaigns.Zanu-PF has warned party members aspiring for office against starting campaigning early before the party gives the green light."Let's go and contest for Parliamentary and council seats. Some of us here don't want to contest saying it is expensive, but the revolution has no price.You can never put a price tag on a guerrilla. When one of us, a guerrilla has entered the race, let's support that person. That is one way we will stop malcontents from infiltrating the party," he said.Ncube added: "Those that want to contest, you can start preparing your CVs, bring them to the office and you can be assisted to spruce it up. When the time comes you will then submit your CVs to the relevant offices."We must however, not breach party rules and start campaigning. The dates will be announced and when that has happened you can submit your CVs. For now just prepare your papers and send them to me," he said.Ncube said war veterans should not let the gains of the liberation struggle slip through their fingers by letting opposition parties take power from the ruling party Zanu-PF."If as a revolutionary party we lose these elections, coming back will be a struggle because these reactionaries will make sure they finish us up for good. Let us not let that happen," he said.The meeting also saw war veterans airing their concerns with the issue of disability compensation taking centre stage. War veterans said they were being paid a flat $70 as disability compensation regardless of the degree of one's disability. Ncube promised to take the matter up with Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees Minister Tshinga Dube with the view of having the compensation paid in proportion to one's degree of disability.The war veterans also bemoaned lack of support from local political leaders in Bulawayo when burying their colleagues at the provincial heroes' acre. One former war fighter only identified as Ndlovu said: "When we bury our fellow war veterans, no minister from this part of the country attends, we don't get police escort . . . Is this the trend everywhere else or it is just happening here in Bulawayo?" he asked.
Mondays Highlights</&h1>

Monday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 2 p.m, 917 N. Beech; 5:30 p.m., 328 E. A; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 6 p.m., 456 S. Walnut; 7 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 8 p.m., 328 E. A. Douglas: 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688.

Al-Anon: Noon, 701 S. Wolcott, St. Marks Church, main entrance, left to library.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 7 p.m., 302 E. 2nd, Methodist Church; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Teen Addiction Anonymous: 3:30-4:30 p.m., Boys & Girls Club Teen Center. Info: 258-7439.

Adult Children of Alcoholics: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott St., Suite 200.

TOPS Weight Loss: 5:30 p.m., Weight Loss Support Group TOPS #246, Wyoming Oil & Gas Building, 2211 King Blvd. Use NE door entry. Info: 265-1486.

Toastmaster Clubs seeking members

Toastmasters is a step by step program designed to learn how to prepare and deliver presentations (both planned and impromptu) and improve communication and learn leadership skills. Many individuals have advanced in their careers using skills learned in Toastmasters. Students are always welcome. Toastmasters is a National/International Organization aimed at self-improvement and you can review their web site at toastmasters.org. There are three clubs in Casper:

Morning Tour Toastmasters meets weekly Mondays, 6:30 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. at Perkins Restaurant. For information, contact Jens at 267-6406 or Mary Ann at 234-0158.

Learn computer basics

The Natrona County Library will offer a Computer Basics class from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This class is designed for computer beginners and will take participants through a series of exercises to help learn how to use the keyboard and mouse, how USB drives work, and basics of navigating your computer. Feel free to bring your computer or use one of the library computers. Call 577-READ x2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Tween Monday games

The Natrona County Library will host an afternoon of Minute to Win It games for tweens entering grades 4-6 at 4 p.m. Come have some fun playing short, competitive games. They only take a minute, but be careful, you may get messy! Call 577-READ x5 for more information.

Youth classes at

rec center

Get creative or learn a new skill in these classes offered at the Casper Recreation Center this fall. Choose from a variety of five or six week classes beginning the week of September 18.

Basics of Photography for Youth: This class is for beginners interested in taking good pictures and learning to use camera settings. Ages 10-17 will experiment with a wide variety of backgrounds and lighting techniques. Bring a digital camera. Class meets from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays.

Youth Art & Pottery: Bring out your creative side and get an introduction to drawing, painting, and working with clay (hand building & throwing on the wheel)! All supplies are furnished. Class is held on Tuesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

For more information about classes or fees, please call 235-8383, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., or check online at www.activecasper.com.

Tai chi for health

New Tai Chi for Health classes will start Sept. 18 and 21. Tai Chi is an ancient practice proven to reduce pain and improve your mental and physical well-being. The series of Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention was developed by Dr. Paul Lam of Sydney, Australia. The form uses gentle Sun style Tai Chi postures that are safe, easy to learn, and suitable for every fitness level. This form can be done standing or seated. The practice of Tai Chi will help you to reduce stress, increase balance and flexibility, and improve your overall feeling of wellness.

A five-class pass or membership with Healthy Life Studio is all you need to attend the Tai Chi for Health classes. The first class is Monday, Sept. 18 at 1:30 p.m. The hour-long classes run Monday and Wednesday starting at 1:30 p.m. An evening class is also beginning with the first class to be held on Sept. 21 and continuing each Thursday at 7 p.m. for an hour each week.

These classes will be located at the Healthy Life Studio in the Sunrise Shopping Center at 4200 South Poplar Street. You can register for this workshop online at www.healthylifestudio.com or drop in before the first class to sign up.

Dance classes

for adults

Dance classes arent just for kids. Besides being fun, dancing has many positive health benefits and a tremendous impact on overall flexibility, strength, balance, endurance level, and emotional well-being. Adults can choose from several different classes beginning the week of September 18.

Belly Dance is for ages 15 and up and improves self-confidence and poise. Learn basic techniques, posture, and movements used in American Oriental dance. Participants need to bring a hip-scarf or shawl to tie around their hips. Class meets on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and is open to everyone, regardless of body type, gender, or experience.

Ballet Barre is a new dance-exercise class inspired by traditional barre work in ballet. It began by helping to gain strength and flexibility while toning the body without the dance class. Light weights and floor work will be included. Wear form-fitting, non-restrictive clothing and ballet slippers, foot pads, or bare feet.

Clogging is for ages 7 through adults who will learn, perfect, and have fun with this American form of dance where the dancers footwear is used musically by striking the heel, toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible percussive rhythms. Classes will meet on Mondays; Beginning class from 5:306:05 p.m. and Intermediate/Advanced class from 6:10 to 7:10 p.m. There is also a Drop-In Clogging program on Thursdays from 10:15 to 11 a.m.

For more information about classes or fees, please call 235-8383, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., or check online at www.activecasper.com.

Youth dance classes start Sept. 18

The fall session of dance classes at the Casper Recreation Center will begin the week of September 18 and culminate in a dance recital in early December. Choose from a variety of classes for all different ages and improve coordination, flexibility, and self-confidence.

Pre-School Dance is for 3 and 4 year olds. Preschoolers will learn ballet and dance basics while working on coordination and flexibility and having fun with creative movement. Class is held on Wednesdays from 5:35 to 6:15 p.m.

Beginning Ballet introduces 5 to 8 year olds to the basic foundations of ballet including positions, proper body form, and classical technique. Class includes footwork, barre, center, and movement across the room. Class is held on Tuesdays from 4 to 4:40 p.m. Intermediate and Advanced Ballet focuses on more difficult exercises, technique, and combinations. Intermediate class is for ages 6 to 11 and meets on Thursdays from 4 to 4:40 p.m. Advanced class is for ages 10 and up and meets on Tuesdays from 4:45 to 5:40 p.m.

The new Ballet for Figure Skaters class is specifically designed to complement on-ice training. Students ages 8 to 15 will work on building strength, flexibility, fluidity, and grace. Class is scheduled to meet on Thursdays from 4:45 to 5:35 pm.

Learn basic hip-hop steps along with trendy moves and combinations such as the Bart Simpson, Roger Rabbit, whip, nae nae, and more in the Beginning Hip-Hop class for ages 8 to 12. Class will meet on Mondays from 4:20 to 5:05 p.m.

Clogging is for ages 7 through adults who will learn, perfect, and have fun with this American form of dance where the dancers footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible percussive rhythms. Classes will meet on Mondays; Beginning class from 5:30 to 6:05 p.m. and Intermediate/Advanced class from 6:10 to 7:10 p.m.

For more information about classes or fees, please call 235-8383, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., or check online at www.activecasper.com.Fencing class starts Sept. 18

The Casper Recreation Center will be offering fencing classes this fall for ages 9 through adults beginning September 18.

In this introductory class to the Olympic sport of fencing, students will learn to use the foil and basic foot work including advance, retreat, and lunge. Students with prior experience will continue to build on their skills and learn lines of attack, lines of defense, bouting rules and skills, and strategies. Classes are held on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and are taught by Michael Bailey and Vincent Crolla. The registration fee is $70 for the seven-week session and for those students who dont have their own equipment, there is an additional $10 equipment fee. Another session will be offered from November 6 to December 18.

Dont delay, class sizes are limited, so register today. For more information, please call 235-8383, stop by the Casper Recreation Center at 1801 E. 4th St., or check online at www.activecasper.com.

Casper Dance club meets weekly





The Casper Dance Club has classes on Monday nights from 7 to 9 p.m., in the ballroom at the Casper Senior Center, 1831 E. 4th. This is for beginners and experienced dancers. Fee is $3 and we do two-step, waltz, East and West coast, cha cha, etc. Come join us. </&h1>
Mohamed Salih stood in front of more than two dozen people who had gathered Saturday to listen and talk about Islam.

The Sudan native moved to the U.S. in 1969 as an undergraduate student, finished his doctoral degree in natural resources and is now a Muslim leader and active member of the Cheyenne community. Since Sept. 11, 2001, hes worked to promote understanding of what Islam is and what its not, he said.

His talk, Introduction to Islam was part of the Muslim Faith Topic of Churches event held Saturday at Wyoming Medical Center. The session was organized by the Wyoming Association of Churches and also included a talk by Central Wyoming College President Brad Tyndall as well as open discussions among the attendees, speakers and organizers.

My main purpose in these things is really to bring an understanding to the religion, Salih said in an interview before his talk. I would like to see us go beyond tolerance to understanding and acceptance.

Salih recently retired from more than 20 years as the dean of business and technology division at Laramie County Community College, where he also has taught classes about Islamic philosophy and history. Hes also led several community courses, been part of panel discussions and written newspaper opinion pieces about issues relating to the faith. Hes active in several non-religious community efforts, boards and committees in the Cheyenne community.

Hes seen progress in his efforts, he said after his talk.

I see the change because people know me, Salih added. Its the personal relationships that makes a difference.

More than two dozen attended the event, including Christian bikers, pastors and Muslims. The talk was part of the Wyoming Association of Churches Love Your Neighbor series and followed a session last year about Buddhism, Doug Goodwin, a leader in the Wyoming Association of Churches, told attendees.

Part of our concern is, as loving our neighbor, is we want to know our neighbors, and its kind of nice to know somebody who practices their particular faith, Goodwin said.

Salihs talk covered the basic beliefs of the faith and addressed many questions people have asked him over the years. Sixty percent of Americans know little about Islam, he said.

I have been doing this around Cheyenne a lot since 9/11 he told the group, not to preach to anybody about it, and not to be an apologist for it, but just to inform and communicate.

Followers of Islam are known as Muslims and believe in one God as well as prophets including Mohammed, Moses and Jesus, he said during his talk. Islam crosses many cultures around the world, and Muslims make up 1 percent of the U.S. population. Hes one of roughly 200 to 400 Muslims in Wyoming, Salih said.

Salih invited people to ask questions and talk about terrorism, Islamophobia, Sharia and anything else they wanted.

Pastor Jack Damien of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church said he appreciated the informative talk and came to learn more about Islam and about my Lord Jesus Christ both, he said in an interview. My father was Catholic, my mother is Lutheran and my best friend was Jewish in high school, so its just a natural bent I have, and this is one way to fulfill that is to learn about Islam. Just to expand my awareness of who I am and whos my neighbor.

Audience member Dale Zimmerle is a member of the Christian Motorcyclists Association and also attended to learn more, he said in an interview.

It breaks my heart to know that without them accepting Jesus as the answer that theyre going to spend eternity in hell, Zimmerle said. And I want to know more about them so that maybe I can talk to some people and share the gospel message with them.

Salih noticed that people have wanted to know more about Islam since 9/11, so he stepped up his efforts, he said. He also urges Muslims to be active and visible in their communities so people can get to know them.

In Wyoming, most people dont have interactions with Muslims one on one, Salih said. But if you got to know a Muslim, then you would know the religion, sort of. Then you would accept them as human beings. If you watch the news, then you can lump all Muslims in a category that they are not supposed to be in. Thats how it is. Again, it comes back to education.

While hes been confronted with Islamophobia and discrimination, he estimated 80 percent to 90 percent of his interactions with others in Wyoming have been positive. He makes an effort to show what the religion teaches, and that it condemns violence, including terrorism, he said. He knows many people have fears and concerns and wont agree with him.

But its expected, and I have no problem with it, he said. He doesnt shy away from talking about topics such as Islamophobia, terrorism and Sharia.

For me the bottom line is this: Even if there is evil, you have to confront it with love, Salih said. And love will always win, Im hoping.
CHICAGO  JPMorgan Chase & Co. says it plans to invest $40 million over three years in neighborhoods on Chicago's South and West Sides to create economic opportunity.

Bank officials said Thursday that poverty, racial and economic inequities, and a lack of opportunity are factors behind Chicago's gun violence. CEO Jamie Dimon says it is incumbent on business leaders to collaborate with government and the community to develop solutions.

Investments will be used to help offer job training, finance neighborhood revitalization and expand access to credit for small businesses.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says creating a coalition of civic, corporate and community partners to invest in neighborhoods will "drive change that will last for generations."

JPMorgan's effort in Chicago mirrors one in Detroit, where it has committed $150 million by 2019.
Q: I recently was scheduled to fly from Toronto to Washington, D.C., on Porter Airlines. The flight was canceled when I arrived at the airport. Porter proposed rescheduling me on a flight two days later. A representative said the airline would put me up in a hotel for two nights and provide meal vouchers.

But I needed to be in Washington before that. The counter agent implied that I would be reimbursed if I bought a ticket on another airline, so I did. I arranged for Porter to fly me to Boston, and then I took a Southwest Airlines flight to Baltimore for $167.

The Southwest flight was my only expense. I believe I should be reimbursed, since it actually cost the airline less than two nights at a hotel, meals and transportation to and from the airport. Porter does not respond to my requests, so I am turning to you. Can you help?  Evelyn Morton, Potomac, Maryland

A: If a Porter Airlines representative promised you a refund for your flight back to Baltimore, the airline should have forked it over. But if an agent only implied that the airline would cover your expenses, that's another matter.

What's Porter required to do? Under its conditions of carriage  the legal agreement between you and the airline  nothing, really. Section 8 of the contract only says that the carrier will undertake "its best efforts" to carry you and your baggage "with reasonable dispatch":

"Times shown in timetables or elsewhere are not guaranteed and form no part of this contract," it adds. "Schedules are subject to change without notice."

Typically, an airline will offer to pay for your hotel, meals and transportation expenses when a flight is canceled. But a flight on a different carrier? You'd need to get a promise like that in writing, or, better yet, persuade the airline to pay it on the spot. Airlines can rebook you on another airline  it's called "endorsing" your ticket. But there's no rule that an airline must endorse your ticket when a flight is canceled.

Your math seemed to make sense. Wouldn't it cost Porter more for a hotel and meals than the Southwest flight? Maybe, maybe not. Airlines negotiate special contracts with hotels, so it might have cost Porter less to keep you in a hotel than to pay for a flight on another airline.

I list the executive contacts for Porter Airlines on my consumer-advocacy website: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/porter-airlines/. You could have reached out to them if the airline continued to ignore you.
Work is now underway on the newest student housing high-rise near the University of Arizona.

The new tower, dubbed Aspire, will have 10 stories, two of which are for parking and retail.

The apartment building is being developed by the Houston-based Dinerstein Companies and was designed by Gensler architects, also based in Houston.

Aspire is being constructed just behind the Chase Bank on Park Avenue, near East Speedway. John Ash, a senior associate from CBRE Tucson, says The Dinerstein Companies purchased the former parking lot behind the Chase Bank for $10.2 million.

The building will house 505 students and have units ranging from studios to six bedrooms. A rooftop pool and amenity deck are included.

We will also have a top-of-the-line fitness center, study and coffee lounge, resident social lounge, courtyard, sky deck with hammocks overlooking the city, said Merideth Savoie, a spokeswoman for the Dinerstein Companies.

Rent prices will be determined 30 days before leasing begins.

Two-story penthouse apartments with upscale finishes, modern furniture, wood-style flooring and memory foam mattresses will be offered, according to Savoie. The Dinerstein Companies plan to begin leasing in Fall 2018, with the building opening in Fall 2019.
For more about Falls Prevention and local public health and safety events, call PCOA in Tucson at 790-7262 or visit online at www.healthypima.org.

The collaborative effort is known as the Southern Arizona Falls Prevention Coalition, a chapter of the statewide Arizona Falls Prevention Coalition in Phoenix.

In 2015, Pima Council on Aging and Pima County Health Department officials brought together local and regional emergency responders representing fire districts and departments, educators at the UA Center on Aging, and health care providers including Banner Trauma Outreach/Injury Prevention Services to discuss the escalating statistics of fatal and non-fatal injuries from falls.

4 free ways to learn more about fall prevention

The hosts of The Morning Blend program on KGUN TV 9 will talk to local experts about fall prevention at 11 a.m. every day starting Monday (Sept 18) and ending Friday (Sept. 22). Information will include practical ways to prevent a fall, and local resources that are available, including PCOAs health promotion programs, and home adaptation and repair programs.

Starting Monday (Sept. 18) in Oro Valley:

Golder Ranch Fire District is the host of a series of safety information events every day including demonstrations and talks about the importance of movement and health, home safety, medications management, and compression-only CPR starting at 9 a.m. at Station 380 at 1173 W. Magee Road.

Green ValleyFriday, Sept. 22

Green Valley Assistance Services, in partnership with Green Valley Fire Districts, is hosting an event about fall prevention that includes exercise demos, and health and home safety issues at the Valley Presbyterian Church at 2800 S. Camino Del Sol, starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 1 p.m.

St. Luke's Home in TucsonSept 29, Oct 6 and 13

Banner UMC Trauma Outreach & Injury Prevention Services is offering a series of three talks about reducing fall risks, home safety and the benefits of physical activity for health, in partnership with St. Lukes Home at 615 E. Adams Street, starting Friday, Sept. 29, and continuing Oct. 6 and Oct. 13. The sessions will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 11 a.m.

For details and to register for the series of talks, contact Susan Kinkade  Trauma Outreach/Injury Prevention Coordinator at 694-4713 or email susan.kinkade@bannerhealth.com.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Sept. 17 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages.
HAWKINS HAS NO FEAR OF THE GALLOWS

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Man Charged With Murder of Leonhardt Freely Says He Committed the Crime and Laughs at Insanity Plea.

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Yesterday afternoon E. W. Hawkins, the self-confessed murderer of Albert C. Leonhardt, was arraigned before Judge Campbell in the district court to plead to the indictment of murder returned against him by the grand jury. On his first appearance in court the prisoner did not plead, his attorney, George E. Tralles, questioning the sanity of his client. Later in the afternoon Hawkins pleaded not guilty to the charge.

When Hawkins was first arraigned on the charge of murder he stated that he did not care to have counsel, but because of the gravity of the offense the court appointed George F. Tralles to look after the interests of the defendant and advise him in regard to his rights. Yesterday afternoon Hawkins was brought into court, and continued smoking a cigarette until reprimanded by the court, when he became sullen.

Attorney Tralles announced to the court that he questioned the sanity of his client, and would make an affidavit to that effect. The prisoner was taken out of court and returned again at 4:30 oclock, when he pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.

Hawkins is undoubtedly one of the most peculiar individuals in the criminal annals of Arizona, and there is not the slightest doubt that he is a born criminal, according to his own statement. When seen in the county jail yesterday evening by a Star representative he discussed his case freely, and replied top questions without the slightest hesitation.

When asked if he thought he was insane, Hawkins stated that he was not any more insane than his interviewer, and laughed at the idea of his attorney putting forth such a defense for him. He stated freely that he fired two shots at Leonhardt and described how they struck his victim. When asked if he had any remorse, or if the occurrence worried him, Hawkins freely stated that it did not, as he very seldom thought of the dead man.

He went on to say that his only desire was to delay his hanging until he could make some provision for his wife, to whom he seems to be deeply attached. He said that he did not care to cause the county any unnecessary expense, as he had committed the crime and was willing to swing as soon as he knew his wife would be taken care of.

When asked concerning his relatives, Hawkins replied in a bitter tone that they had not come to his assistance, but that he thought when he was dead his parents would probably make some provision for his widow.

He went on to say that had it not been for his attorney he would have gone into court and pleaded guilty to the charge, as he was sick of the whole thing and wanted it over, but hoped he would be given time to look after his wife.

He freely told of having committed several crimes in Oakland, and boasted of the fact that he had the town turned upside down before they caught him and sent him to Folsom, where he served two years.

The newspaper man remarked to Hawkins that he seemed very young and ought to want to live, but in reply the prisoner simply said if he did not go for this he would go for something else, and he did not want to be shut up in the penitentiary for a term of years.

The entire demeanor of the self-confessed murderer was that of a keen-witted young man. He thinks quickly and expresses himself in grammatical English without the slightest hesitation. He seems to realize that he is a born criminal, and gives but little thought to things which have gone before. There is not the slightest tinge of remorse in his entire make-up.

To all who have seen and talked with Hawkins he has proved the most exceptional criminal ever brought to public view. He has no fear of death, apparently, and seems to invite it, on condition that provision will be made for the welfare of his wife.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE High Court in Bulawayo has blocked the process of confirming Mr Sanders Mlotshwa as the substantive Chief Mvuthu until determination by the Constitutional Court on the wrangle with his niece Miss Silibaziso Mlotshwa over the throne.This follows an urgent chamber application by Miss Mlotshwa seeking to stop Hwange District Administrator from forwarding her uncle's name to the Government, as the designate Chief Mlotshwa.Mr Mlotshwa, the District Administrator for Hwange, Minister of Rural Development, Promotion of Culture and Heritage, Abednico Ncube and President Mugabe are cited as first, second, third and fourth respondents respectively in the application.Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi on Friday last week issued a provisional order interdicting the DA from installing a substantive Chief Mvuthu.Justice Mathonsi said a substantive chief could only be installed after the Constitutional Court makes a determination on the constitutionality of the Ndebele/Nguni customary law succession principle which excludes women from holding the position of chief."Pending the final determination of this application it is ordered that the second respondent be interdicted from forwarding the name of the first respondent to the third or fourth respondent for confirmation as substantive Chief Mvuthu pending the finalisation of the constitutional challenge pending before the Constitutional Court. The process of appointing a substantive chief for the Mvuthu chieftainship be stayed pending the finalisation of the constitutional challenge pending before the courts," reads the interdict in part.Justice Mathonsi gave Mr Mlotshwa 12 days to oppose the provisional order, from the day he was served with the order. Miss Mlotshwa, the eldest daughter of the late Chief Mvuthu Mlotshwa has approached the Constitutional Court contesting her exclusion in the nomination process for the inheritance of her father's throne.Her clansman barred her from taking over her father's throne because she experiences monthly menstrual periods, among other reasons. Miss Mlotshwa approached the Constitutional Court after the Supreme Court advised her that the matter was a constitutional one.She, through her lawyer Mr Thulani Ndlovu of Sansole and Senda Legal Practitioners, is challenging the constitutionality of the Nguni customary succession principle which excludes women from appointment as chiefs. She argues that such customary principle is inconsistent with the Constitution of Zimbabwe."It is my further view that the Nguni customary succession principle in as far as it excludes women from chieftainship violates my rights as protected in the Declaration of Rights being my right to equality and non-discrimination (Section 56), right to dignity (Section 51), right to language and culture (Section 63) and rights of women (Section 80) of the Constitution," she stated.The Mvuthu throne became vacant after the death of Chief Mvuthu Mlotshwa in 2014 and his brother Mr Sanders Mlotshwa was appointed chief.Miss Mlotshwa contested her uncle's appointment contending that she was supposed to takeover from her late father as she was the eldest of her father's three daughters.The Nguni culture follows a lineal system of succession where the eldest child of the chief is heir to the throne. Miss Mlotshwa further argued that in KwaZulu-Natal where the Ngunis originate, there were now many female chiefs who have undertaken the tasks equally competently.
A man was killed and two people were seriously injured in a single vehicle crash late Saturday night on North Oracle Road and East Auto Mall Drive, according to a Tucson Police Department release.

Police arrested the driver, 18-year-old Anthony Hall, on suspicion of second-degree murder, aggravated assault with serious physical injury and aggravated assault with a dangerous Instrument

Alcohol and speed may have been a factor in the collision, police said.

Hall was driving a 2005 Infiniti G35 was speeding south on Oracle in the median lane and passed a vehicle when he lost control and struck a metal utility pole on the southwest corner of the intersection around 11:45 p.m., police said in the release.

Hall, a man in the rear seat, and a woman, who was the front passenger, were taken to Banner University Medical Center. The rear passenger, Mihir Dixit, 23, died at the scene, police said.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.
The Tucson Fire Department responded to a small fire in an unoccupied building in La Placita Village at 100 S. Church Avenue on Saturday evening, according to TFD spokesman Capt. Andy Skaggs.

A TFD engine company arrived at 6:40 p.m. and saw the fire but the sprinkler system became activated extinguishing the flames, Skaggs said.

The crew put out the remaining flames and searched for possible occupants while another crew checked to see if the fire had spread to another part of the structure, he said.

A third company turned off the sprinkler system to prevent any more water damage, Skaggs said.

Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire. No firefighters were injured in the incident, he said.
Multiple Southern Arizona law enforcement agencies, led by the United States Marshals Service, conducted Operation Southern Star VI which netted 73 fugitives from Sept. 11-15, according to a release from David Gonzales with the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Marshals Service led the Arizona WANTED Violent Offender Task Force involving agencies from Pima, Graham and Cochise counties which focused on fugitives with felony warrants for violent crimes and drug offenses, Gonzales said.

There were 34 arrests made in Pima County while 22 were made in Cochise County and 16 in Graham County. One arrest was made out of state, Gonzales said.

The crimes involved included robberies, firearm crimes, assaults, burglaries, drug offenses and weapons seized, according to the release.

Some of the local task force participants were the Tucson Police Department, Pima County Sheriff's Department, Pima County Adult Probation and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Police Chief Chris Magnus said, "The Tucson Police Department is focused on actively pursuing dangerous fugitives within our community. Our partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service not only supports those efforts, but also helps reduce future crime in our neighborhoods."
WASHINGTON  As he prepared to leave Washington, and head back to Sahuarita after two weeks of praying and lobbying for the DREAM Act, the Rev. Randy Mayer said he was frustrated by the slow progress  but not surprised.

Every time I see the immigration conversations come up in Washington, D.C., they never go anywhere, said Mayer, pastor of Good Shepherd United Church of Christ.

But Mayer and other religious leaders who have been lobbying  and fasting in some cases  from United Methodist offices on Capitol Hill said slow progress would not keep them from continuing to push for their cause.

The Rev. Noel Andersen, a fellow Southern Arizona minister and an immigrant rights organizer for Church World Service, will stay in Washington to lobby and organize.

We believe that the amount of people mobilizing, the amount of popular opinion that is on our side, even with Trump voters will eventually lead to a DREAM Act vote, he said.

He and other faith leaders began protesting at Lafayette Square two weeks ago, five days before President Trump announced he planned to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by March.

Group members fasted, hoping to catch the attention of Trump, who they called a man of faith, and dissuade him from making what they believed to be an immoral decision.

After Trumps Sept. 5 announcement on DACA  an Obama-era program that defers deportation for immigrants who were brought here illegally as children  Andersen said the groups advocacy efforts shifted to passing the DREAM Act, which would put many of DACAs protections into law. They also ramped up their efforts, organizing more vigils, meeting more often with congressional representatives and calling for swift action.

On Wednesday, Mayer and others met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who told them Democrats were standing strong on the need for a vote on a clean DREAM Act.

Mayer said those DACA recipients whose futures hang on Congress decision cannot afford to have their priorities put aside.

That rang true with Pastor Tyler Johnson of Redemption Church, a multi-congregational Arizona church, who joined in a conference call with immigration advocates Wednesday who were also pushing for the DREAM Act.

Johnson said he has DACA recipients throughout his congregation and has found that they are more aware of their responsibility to society than many who take citizenship for granted. He believes the country should enforce its laws, but argues that society should look inward and show mercy to immigrants.

The rhetoric and logic in our culture at large, that we have to preserve ourselves at cost to the other, is absolutely counter to everything in the New Testament, Johnson said. Im not saying a country doesnt have rights to establish laws of the land, but in my view  God has given government to create more loving and just societies, not more scared, self-preservational societies.

Thats why Andersen said faith groups will continue to find creative tactics to create tension so that we are forced to think about this issue critically and that we are able to force people to take action appropriately to accomplish this goal of protecting these young people.

Mayer said one goal is comprehensive immigration reform, and a shift from Border Patrol agents to customs officers. But in the almost 20 years of living in Southern Arizona, he has noticed that the goalposts keep changing on immigration reform

What happens is the money is still sent to the borderlands for militarization, for technology, for more boots on the ground  and we dont have immigration reform, he said.
At the dawn of the 20th century, the Tohono Oodham people realized they could no longer produce enough food to survive.

Until modernization took over their lives, they hunted rabbit, javelina and had an ample supply of wild-grown spinach and rhubarb. Mesquite trees provided sap and pods to grind into flour. Emory oaks provided acorns, while cholla and saguaro cactus produced edible fruit they harvested with far-reaching saguaro ribs. They farmed corn, squash and beans. Baked agave was a favorite food.

This was the life that Frances Sallie Blaine was born into on Dec. 16, 1912, in Ko:m Wawhai, Arizona (her father, Si-al Memda, had taken the Anglo name of Blaine). Her life changed dramatically during her years living on the Tohono Oodham Reservation as well as her days eking out a living in the Tucson barrios.

By the time she was 18 months old, Frances mother had died and she was living with her grandparents in the village of S-koksonagk (Many Pack Rats) on what would be designated the Papago Reservation in 1916 and later renamed the Tohono Oodham Reservation.

An only child, her playmates were the horses, birds and plants that surrounded her dome-shaped, thatched home. She made dolls from weeds pulled from the ground with the roots serving as hair. She talked to the cactus and trees or, according to Frances, whatever Id find crawling on the ground.

Her grandmother taught her which wild plants to gather, how to pick cholla buds, prickly pear, saguaro fruit and mesquite beans. She learned how to prepare fruits and vegetables, how to grind corn, make tortillas and cook. She was poor but happy.

I didnt have any pretty clothes, she said in her book Desert Indian Woman that she co-wrote with anthropologist Deborah Lyn Neff. I didnt have an extra pair of shoes, sometimes I didnt have any shoes!

At age 12, Frances was sent to school and instructed to speak only English. Four years later, she was hospitalized with tuberculosis and spent two years recovering, her school days at an end.

After her grandmother died, Frances and her grandfather moved to Santa Rosa Ranch, where she cooked for ranch hands until she married Jose Manuel on May 6, 1930. She was 18 years old when she moved with her husband into her in-laws home in San Pedro. She slept on the floor and tried to emulate her mother-in-laws cooking skills. Six children followed in rapid succession.

Jose took a job with the Civilian Conservation Corps, making water holes on the reservation, building fences and dams. They lived in a tent, moving about every two months.

When winter came, Frances said, and we didnt have enough blankets, I took those barley gunny sacks and some yucca fibers and dried the yucca and stuffed the gunny sacks with yucca fibers and alfalfa for our mattress and blanket.

By 1941, drought permeated the entire Southwest, including the reservation. Frances and Jose knew their days were numbered eking out a living on the parched desert ground. They sold their cattle, left their children with Joses mother and moved to Tucson to find work.

According to Frances, The second day we moved into town, Jose was washing dishes at El Presidio, and two days later I worked at the Pioneer Hotel as a chambermaid. I started off with 40 cents an hour at the hotel, but at that time 40 cents an hour was something.

They lived in Tucsons barrio district in a one-room house and cooked their meals outside. Sitting on the floor to eat, a box served as their table. The only other furnishings were a bed and one chair.

Every weekend, they headed back to the reservation to see their children (they had four at the time). More children were born and eventually the entire family moved into town.

In 1953, Jose was killed in an auto accident.

At the time, Frances was working as a domestic while making and selling tortillas in the evenings.

To bring in more money, she started demonstrating basket-weaving in Tucson schools using traditional bear grass, yucca and devils claw to construct her creations.

She won numerous awards for her talent, even though she once confessed, Im not the very best basket-weaver, there are others who make prettier baskets.

Frances said her grandmother taught her how to make baskets, and she enjoyed the process.

(T)o me, basket-weaving is relaxing, she said. And I dont know how to put it, but its there. Youre all together when you are making baskets; there are no other things.

Like if youre cooking you are thinking about something else, or if you are washing or walking youre thinking about something. But basket-weaving is the only thing that you are all there.

Neff, her co-author, knew how important basket-weaving was to Frances. I have come to think that Frances perpetual state of hopefulness is strongly related to her basket-weaving, she said. The only time that Frances gets really depressed is when she cant make baskets, like when her finger gets infected (from diabetes, a common disease among Native Americans). ... Frances looks forward to sitting down to make a basket, and now that she is older, it keeps her going.

Along with basket-weaving demonstrations, Frances taught doll-making techniques, flower-making, gave sewing lessons and preserved traditional Tohono Oodham foods .

After retiring, Frances returned to live on the reservation.

During her lifetime, Frances received numerous awards for her work including the 1977 Arizona Living Treasure, 1987 Preservation of Culture, 1991 Distinguished Tohono Oodham Basketweaver and the 2004 YWCA Women on the Move.

Frances died Dec. 16, 2006. She is buried in the village of S-koksonagk.
Curt Cardine

The economic theory behind school choice and vouchers relies on the free marketplace and the consumers of educational services to cull winners and losers. Children represent backpacks full of cash that follow the child to the school of their parents choice.

The data gleaned from 20-plus years of financial reports on charter schools paint a different story. In reality, Arizona families lack sufficient information to make an informed choice about what school their children attend. As Ronald Reagan might have put it, we have trusted without verifying the financial and academic results of that trust.

Since 1994, 424 charter schools have shuttered their doors, a failure rate of 43 percent. Thirty-four percent of all charters that fail do not meet the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools Financial Performance Recommendation. Another 90 charter groups that failed did not meet the Cash Flow Standard.

My concerns led to three years of intensive research. This effort was undertaken to statistically verify first-hand observations as a charter and district leader. Special attention was paid to the 2013 through 2016 audits, annual financial reviews and IRS 990s (used by the IRS for nonprofits).

The research findings are documented in a series of three policy reports from the Grand Canyon Institute, a nonpartisan public policy think tank.

The reports are Following the Money, Red Flags and Teachers in the Charter Marketplace.

Following the Money presents financial data on charter school management salaries. Charter administrative costs on average are twice district management costs. One case showed two administrators earning a total that exceeded $500,000 for managing one small school with less than 300 students. The top earners are often husband and wife teams, relatives or business associates of the charter holder, collectively making more than $200,000 to oversee a few hundred children.

Charters are not required to conduct a competitive bid process like public district schools. This allows many charter holders to earn compensation by doing business with their own for-profit companies. In one case, a charter holder paid his own for profit company $12 million in one year for learning-management software. The cost should have been less than 10 percent of that amount, based on what the Mesa Unified School District spends for a similar type of software.

In 2013-14, related-party business practices were worth a half a billion dollars, representing 48 percent of charter school transactions for contracts, leases and rents. As a comparison, public school districts are not allowed to do business with companies owned by the superintendent or school board.

Also, widespread irregularities abound in the financial information that some charter schools provided to different governmental agencies.

An individual charter schools various financial reports to the state often present disturbing disparities when compared to their audits. Agencies acknowledged that they check the reports they receive for consistency with Form 990 submitted to the Internal Revenue Service.

When questionable financial practices go unchecked with substantial amounts of money diverted to profits and debt, financial instability results  the topic of the second paper in the series.

Public policy must be called out when it is not working as intended.

Key recommendations in this first report include compelling charter schools to conduct public bid processes, benchmarking administrator salaries to public district superintendents overseeing similarly sized student populations and requiring that financial information in reports submitted to state and federal agencies be reconciled to ensure consistency.

One-fourth of Arizonas charter schools are operating in the best interest of their students, providing a quality innovative education while being responsible stewards of the state taxpayer dollars with which they are entrusted. Lets honor their hard work and sound business practices by holding the other three-fourths to the same standards.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, reportedly had a torrid time from party executive members in the Midlands province last week, who wanted to get clarification on the alliance which the party has formed with other parties ahead of next year's general elections.Mr Tsvangirai, allegedly without consulting party structures, entered into an alliance with MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube, People Democratic Party led by Mr Tendai Biti and Transform Zimbabwe led by Mr Jacob Ngarivhume to form MDC-Alliance.The move by Mr Tsvangirai irked a number of top party officials including his deputy Dr Thokozani Khupe, chairman Mr Lovemore Moyo and organising secretary Mr Abednico Bhebhe. Party officials told Sunday News that when Mr Tsvangirai met the Midlands executive members in Gokwe, he was grilled with members expressing dissatisfaction on the alliance.During the closed door meeting, Mr Tsvangirai was reportedly at pains explaining the provisions of the alliance to provincial members who demanded transparency."Some members accused him of being selfish as he is mainly focused on satisfying personal interests at the expense of the party," revealed committee member who preferred anonymity.Among the hot issues, according to the executive member, was that of imposition of candidates in certain constituencies by Mr Tsvangirai."Most members were disgruntled by the imposition of candidates. It ended up consuming most of the time as the president (Tsvangirai) failed to clarify why he is allowing other parties, especially PDP, to take most of the seats targeted by our candidates," said a party executive who attended the meeting.Of particular interest, according to the executive member, was why Mr Tsvangirai was said to have allowed Mr Settlement Chikwinya to contest for Mbizo seat ahead of party members when he had jumped ship in the past. Mr Chikwinya was recalled from Parliament in 2015 after he jumped ship from MDC-T joining PDP.Members stood in solidarity with Nkayi legislator Mr Bhebhe whose seat is also reportedly earmarked for a PDP member whose name could not be established. MDC-T Midlands provincial deputy spokesperson, Mr Willard Somerai confirmed the meeting saying the agenda was to update the province on the ongoing coalition talks."The meeting was not personal, the party is bigger than personal interests. The president wanted to give feedback as well as to update the province on the coalition process that is still underway," Mr Somerai said.On imposition of candidates, Mr Somerai said the party was yet to officially open the campaign season, adding members can only start jostling for positions after the campaigning season officially opens.
A Vietnamese taxi driver in Nha Trang has been held for investigation after overcharging a group of Chinese tourists in the south-central beach city earlier this week, police said Friday.

On Wednesday, Chinese national Lu Juan, her mother and her son hailed a cab to go from the Nha Trang Center shopping mall back to their Muong Thanh Hotel.

Driver Le Trong Quat picked up the tourists and dropped them off a few dozen meters from the hotel, when the taxi meter displayed an amount of VND62,000 (US$2.7).

However, the 40-year-old cabbie put out his mobile phone and pressed the number 7,120,000, asking the tourists to pay VND7.12 million ($310).

Knowing that they were cheated, Lu refused to pay the exorbitant fare, only to be threatened by the dishonest driver. The Chinese tourist reluctantly agreed to give him VND3 million ($132).

But as Quat continued to ask for more, Lu eventually had to give him another VND3 million for fear of being assaulted.

Upon leaving the taxi, the Chinese tourists went straight to the local police station and reported the scam.

On Thursday, police managed to catch the scam driver and asked him to return the overcharged fee to the Chinese passengers.

Quat has scammed people with a rental car wearing the license plate of 79A-04318 and a fake badge of a local taxi firm, according to the police.

The cabbie now faces charge of extortion of property.

On August 4, a South Korean tourist was charged VND700,000 ($31) for a taxi ride from Da Nang International Airport to her hotel in the city that should have cost VND60,000 ($2.6).

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HA TINH, Vietnam - A typhoon tore a destructive path across central Vietnam on Friday, flooding hundreds of thousands of homes, whipping off roofs and knocking out power in the countrys most powerful storm in years.

Four people were killed, more than 5,000 houses were submerged, 19 collapsed and nearly 24,000 houses in Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces were damaged, the disaster agency said in a report.

Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces bore the brunt of Typhoon Doksuri and power cuts were widespread after winds brought down or damaged thousands of electricity poles, trees and billboards. A television tower in Ha Tinh province collapsed.

There has never been a storm of level nine or 11 that lasted for eight hours straight like this one, causing quite large damage, agriculture minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong told national Vietnam Television.

People recover motorbikes from a flooded fields while the Doksuri storm hits in Ha Tinh province, Vietnam September 15, 2017. REUTERS

More than 116,000 people had been evacuated from Vietnams densely populated coastal strip in preparation for Doksuri. Winds exceeded 130 km (80 miles) per hour and were expected to weaken as the storm heads to Laos.

It looks terrible, worse than war time, said Tran Thi Hong, principal of the Ky Xuan kindergarten in Ha Tinh province, which lost its entire roof. I could just cry, it took us so long to build this school, she said.

Four fishing boats sank in Quang Ngai province, the disaster committee report said. Many fishermen had dragged their small wooden boats into the streets of coastal towns to try to stop them from being carried away.

Around 40 flights were canceled between the capital, Hanoi, in northern Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial hub in the south.

The eye of the storm skirted Vietnams most important coffee growing areas and the rains it brought were largely seen as beneficial to the trees, coffee traders said. Rice farmers had rushed to gather in what they could before Doksuri struck.

Vietnam often suffers from destructive storms. Floods in northern Vietnam killed at least 26 people and washed away hundreds of homes in August. Last year, more than 200 people were killed in storms.
Society

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Saturday requested measures be taken promptly to repair damage wrecked by Storm Doksuri, which had killed five people, injured 15 others and unroofed 114,000 houses in five central Vietnamese provinces, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue, over the past few days, and to provide residents with emergency relief.

-- The Ministry of National Defense on Saturday turned the first sod on a project worth VND270 billion (US$11.7 million) to treat dioxin-contaminated soil at the Bien Hoa airport, located in the southern province of Dong Nai, a major military airbase of the U.S. army during wartime in Vietnam.

-- The Peoples Procuracy in Con Dao District in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, approximately 120km from Ho Chi Minh City, has revealed they had started legal proceedings against three men involved in the illegal sale of endangered olive ridley sea turtle eggs in April.

-- More than 100 police officers in Binh Duong Province, 30km from Ho Chi Minh City, early on Saturday raided a beer club in Thu Dau Mot City, where they found attendants and clients using American weed and synthetic drugs.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee has requested 27 households located along the Saigon River in Thu Duc District which face risks of subsidence be relocated promptly.

-- The two death-row inmates who had broken out of a police-run detention center outside Hanoi on Sunday last week was apprehended on Saturday and Sunday this week in Hai Duong Province and Hoa Binh Province.

-- A fire raged at Tan Binh Industrial Park in Ho Chi Minh City, destroying several of its workshops on Saturday evening.

Business

-- Though construction material producers and outlets have promised to provide adequate supply at unchanged prices in the central provinces ravaged by Storm Doksuri, thousands of residents find it hard to have their homes roofed due to a shortage of construction workers.

-- Health-conscious consumers have been drawn to a wide array of green vegetables and specialties from across the country offered for sale at a market session, to close on September 17, in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City.
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper has established a fund to support residents in north-central Vietnam, whose lives have been devastated by Typhoon Doksuri.

The tropical storm, which was considered the strongest to hit Vietnam in the past decade, made landfall in the north-central region on Friday afternoon, packing winds at 103 to 133km an hour and squalls at up to 183km per hour.

Provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien-Hue were directly impacted by the storm, among which Ha Tinh and Quang Binh Provinces were hit the hardest.

Reports have showed that four people had been killed and 21 others injured by Doksuri.

Over 121,200 houses were damaged and hundreds of thousands of residents lost their homes to the storm.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has visited the affected residents in Nghe An and Ha Tinh Provinces, urging authorities to promptly deal with the consequences and stabilize the lives of local people.

Repairs have also been carried out at local schools so that students can resume their studies soon.

Tuoi Tres editorial board on Saturday decided to provide an emergency support package worth VND500 million (US$ 21,962) for the victims in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh.

The money will be given to 100 families that suffer the most.

Readers can also contribute to the efforts from Sunday, September 17.

Schools are damaged by the storm in the north-central province of Quang Binh. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Donations can be made directly at the headquarters of Tuoi Tre at 60A Hoang Van Thu Street, Ward 9, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Anyone who wants to help can also come to the newspapers representative offices in other provinces and cities at the following addresses:

In Hanoi: 72A Thuy Khe Street, Tay Ho District

In Hai Phong City: 10/81 An Da Street, Ngo Quyen District

In Nghe An Province: 158 Dinh Cong Trang Street, Vinh City

In Da Nang City: 9 Tran Phu Street

In Hue City: 61 To Huu Street, Xuan Phu Ward

In Binh Dinh Province: 31 Nguyen Cong Tru Street, Le Hong Phong Ward, Quy Nhon City

In Khanh Hoa Province: 64 Le Dai Hanh Street, Nha Trang City

In Dak Lak Province: 181 Hai Ba Trung Street, Buon Ma Thuot City

In Lam Dong Province: 8 Hoang Van Thu Street, Da Lat City

In Dong Nai Province: E3 Phan Dinh Phung Street, Quang Vinh Ward, Bien Hoa City

In Tien Giang Province: 171 Tet Mau Than Street, Ward 4, My Tho City

In Can Tho City: 95 Ngo Quyen Street

Those living in Vietnam who wish to transfer their support can wire the money to Tuoi Tres bank account No. 113000006100 at VietinBank, Branch 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

Overseas donors can transfer the money to the newspaper via Vietcombank Ho Chi Minh City at account No. 007.137.0195.845 (for US$), or 007.114.0373.054 (for euro), SWIFT code: BFTVVNVX007.

The description of the transfer should state ung ho dong bao cac tinh mien Trung (support for residents in central Vietnam).

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Two death-row prisoners who broke free from a police-run jailhouse in Hanoi on Sunday last week have been captured while on the run in the northern provinces of Hai Duong and Hoa Binh.

The inmates, Le Van Tho and Nguyen Van Tinh, had been reported missing from their cell at the T16 detention center, run by the Ministry of Public Security, since September 10.

Tho was arrested at around 5:00 pm on Saturday near a market in Hai Duongs Nam Sach District.

Plain-clothes police officers reportedly ambushed a taxi that Tho was in, dragged him out of the vehicle and had the man handcuffed and blindfolded before escorting him away in a black car.

Plain-clothes police officers arrest Le Van Tho near a market in Nam Sach District, Hai Duong Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, Tinh was arrested at around 1:15 am on Sunday while trying to seek refuge in a cave in Hoa Binhs Mai Chau District, the Ministry of Public Securitys senior police chief Tran Van Ve confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper nearly an hour later.

Despite Tinhs resistance, he was swiftly put under control by experienced officers and escorted to the T16 detention center during the night, Ve said.

Nguyen Van Tinh (green shirt) is arrested near the entrance to Kia Cave in Mai Chau District, Hoa Binh Province. Photo: Facebook/Hong bien Hoa Binh

Tinh, 28, was sentenced to death by the Peoples Court of Hanoi in April for his involvement in a narcotics ring.

His previous offense was harboring or consuming property acquired through the commission of crime by others.

Tho, 37, received the death penalty in May when the Peoples Court of Ha Nam Province in northern Vietnam found him guilty of dealing in narcotics, murder, and property appropriation.

His past convictions included murder, kidnapping for ransom, illegal use of military firearms, bribery, robbery, and property appropriation.

The two had been held in the same solitary confinement at the T16 detention center in Hanois rural Thanh Oai District while awaiting execution.

Mugshots of Nguyen Van Tinh (L) and Le Van Tho. Photo: Hanoi Police

Initial investigation reports showed that the two prisoners had managed to break their shackles while correctional officers were not paying attention, and dug a hole to tunnel their way out of the cell at midnight last Sunday.

A criminal investigation has also been launched into negligence and dereliction of correctional officers at the jailhouse that had led to the dangerous criminals escape.

Le Van Tho during a police interrogation. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Police swooped on a nightclub in southern Vietnam on Saturday and found dozens of people under the influence of narcotics.

Marijuana, ecstasy and synthetic drugs were among the illegal substances found in the belongings of patrons and waitresses during the swoop on the F1 Club in Thu Dau Mot, the capital city of Binh Duong Province, about 30km east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Twenty-three club-goers tested positive for narcotics on the spot while hundreds of club employees and patrons were escorted to the police station for further inquiries.

Some with symptoms of drug overdose were rushed to the hospital by police officers.

According to police documents, the F1 Club is licensed to offer catering and clubbing services, and to sell cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.

However, as many as 39 of its employees were found to be working without labor contracts at the time of the police raid.

The club owner was unable to show invoices and proof of payment for its imported alcohol and firecrackers.

Last month, a brawl that broke out outside the club between two groups led to the death of one man and the prosecution of two others on charges of murder.

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A project worth nearly US$12 million has been initiated to prepare for the elimination of dioxin contamination near a military airport in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai.

The Ministry of National Defense on Saturday started the project on a piece of land close to the Bien Hoa Airbase, located in the namesake city.

With the total expenditure estimated at VND270 billion ($11.8 million), which is funded by the central government, the Vietnam Peoples Air Force has been tasked with implementing the project.

Colonel General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defense, said that the project will help minimize the effects of dioxin on the officers working at the airbase as well as the residents living nearby.

During the operation, the specific areas affected by dioxin will be determined so that military units and constructions will be moved to a safer zone.

The completion of the project will provide necessary infrastructure and equipment for a plan on the comprehensive removal of the toxin, which is expected to be conducted later this year.

Military and local officials initiate the project during a ceremony on September 16, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

This comprehensive project will cost about $500 million in total, provided via non-refundable official development assistance (ODA) of the United States and some of Vietnams international partners.

The areas surrounding Bien Hoa Airbase has been a hotspot for dioxin pollution caused by previous wars.

Examinations by Vietnamese and U.S. authorities estimated the amount of soil infected with the toxic substance at over 500,000 cubic meters.

According to Col. Gen. Vinh, the two nations have cooperated effectively in the past years to deal with dioxins, explosives, and other war consequences.

The official hoped that the U.S. would continue their goodwill in settling the issues.

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The Vietnamese naval force has welcomed a new patrol and rescue vessel equipped with a helipad, which was locally built and assembled.

The Hai Minh Shipbuilding Company under the Ministry of National Defense on Friday delivered the patrol ship numbered 924 to the Vietnam Peoples Navy.

The vessel is specialized in maritime patrols and offshore search and rescue missions and was built in the Southeast Asian country based on the design of Russias MTD Company.

The boat is capable of operating for 15 consecutive days at sea and rescue between 100 and 120 people at a time.

The ship is seen from above.

Featuring a highly durable steel hull, the ship is 63.1 meters long, 11.9 meters wide, six meters high, and weighs over 700 metric tons.

It can reach a maximum velocity of over 25 knots and take part in search and rescue missions in rough sea conditions and wind speeds at up to 133km an hour.

The 924 is outfitted with a helipad that meets all requirements set by the Bureau Veritas.

The vessel can aid international search and rescue efforts if requested thanks to its modern Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, GMDSS-A3.

The captain cabin

It also includes an operation room, ventilator, ultra sound machine, cardiac pacemaker, and patient monitoring device among other equipment to provide necessary aid for the victims.

Speaking at the ceremony to receive the ship on Friday, Rear Admiral Hoang Hong Ha, Deputy Chief Commander of the Vietnam People's Navy, praised the efforts of the leaders, engineers, and employees of Hai Minh Company.

According to Vu Hai Duong, captain of the patrol ship, all officers and sailors are ready to put the ship into operation.

A speedboat on the patrol vessel

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Early week interest in a couple supposedly being thrown off The Block saw its number skyrocket last week -as high as 1.71m- helping Nine to win the week.

In the end the expulsion never happened, it was a threat only (which producer Julian Cress made clear right here in August). Seven chomped away at Nines lead, notably with AFL at weeks end, but it wasnt enough for a win. At least not until Timeshifted numbers are forthcoming.

TEN enjoyed a lift thanks to two night of The Bachelor concluding, partly making up for Australian Survivors under-performing. Gruen was back with a splash for ABC, their top-rating show of the week, while railways still rule on SBS.

Network:

Nine: 30.0

Seven: 29.3

TEN: 17.3

ABC: 16.4

SBS: 7.0

Primary channel:

Nine: 22.8

Seven: 19.7

TEN: 12.2

ABC: 11.2

SBS: 4.9

Multichannels:

7mate: 3.8

7TWO: 3.3

ABC2: 3.2

9GO!: 3.1

ONE: 2.8

7flix: 2.5

ELEVEN: 2.3

9GEM: 2.2

9Life: 1.8

ABC NEWS: 1.4

SBS VICELAND: 1.1

SBS Food Network: 0.8

ABC ME: 0.6

NITV: 0.2

Nine easily won the demos 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54.

Nine won Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. Seven scored Thursday, Friday and Saturday. ABC bettered TEN on Monday & Saturday.

Seven won Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Nine took Sydney and Brisbane.

Best brands last week were:

Nine: The Block (Sun: 1.71m), Nine News (Sun: 1.42m), 60 Minutes (976,000) and This Time Next Year (816,000).

Seven: Little Big Shots (1.23m), Seven News (Sun: 1.07m), Sevens AFL (1.02m) and Sunday Night (790,000).

TEN: The Bachelor (Final Decision: 1.11m), Have You Been Paying Attention? (736,000), Australian Survivor (604,000 simulcast) and The Project (7pm: 525,000).

ABC: Gruen (901,000), Four Corners (719,000), ABC News (Sun: 696,000) and Australian Story (685,000).

SBS: Great American Railroad Journeys (324,000), Gourmet Farmer (303,000), Insight (271,000) and Great British Railway Journeys (265,000).
Take one look at the IMDb credits of Genevieve OReilly and its hard not to be impressed; New Tricks, Waking the Dead, Episodes, Midsomer Murders, The Honourable Woman, The Fall, The State Within, The Secret, The Matrix Reloaded, Rogue One, The Young Victoria.

No stranger to science fiction and fantasy, the Irish-born actress is currently starring in ABCs paranormal series Glitch, as Dr. Elishia McKellar.

But she has Australia to thank for her performing debut, after emigrating to Adelaide at the age of 10.

I remember the day we arrived it was 42 degrees, and Id just come from winter in Ireland. It was this amazing sensory experience, she recalls.

I have these extraordinary parents who sold it to us as a big adventure.

She trained at NIDA in the late 1990s, graduating in 2000.

We did a show that was part of the Olympics Arts festival with Barry Kosky. I cut my teeth as an actor at the Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Street and the Ensemble Theatre. I did a bit of telly on All Saints and a few bits and pieces. Then I went to London.

I really wanted to keep working on stage, and hopefully have the opportunity to do more work and telly. So I thought my avenue would be more in London than LA.

So many Australian actors build their skills in LA and then come back and do fine work. I guess they are just swimming in a bigger pool. But I really wanted to work in theatre and the culture of theatre in London is a hotbed of activity.

London was ironically home base for the BBC-Showtime tinsel-town comedy Episodes. OReilly featured in 3 seasons as Jamie Lapidus, the blind wife of network president Merc (John Pankow), secretly having an affair with Matt LeBlanc (as Matt LeBlanc!).

One of the first scenes in Season 2 was me giving him a hand job! Blind! It was so funny but really great. Matt is incredibly generous, very funny, very naughty and a wonderful guy. He was a pleasure to work with and we had a great connection. It was easy to find the fun because hes a fun guy.

We shot the whole first season in the UK, so there was a lot of green screen. But from the second season on, we went to LA to do the exteriors, with the interiors in the UK. The sky and the light is different (in LA).

People in our industry really love Episodes because its so true at times. The heartbreaking and horrific things that happen (prompt) people to say That couldnt possibly happen! but its exactly what happens.

Jeffrey Klarik & David Crane who wrote it are both super-successful at writing and producing in America and they were just pulling on all their experiences.

In the acclaimed The Honourable Woman she played the private secretary to Maggie Gyllenhaals Nessa Stein, written, directed and produced by Hugo Blick.

I was so excited to work with Hugo. He wrote and produced The Shadow Line a few years previous which I thought and I remember thinking at the time Bloody hell, this is so brilliant. Why is there only 1 woman in it? And then Honourable Woman came along, OReilly continues.

He said he felt the same thing, he had to write something for a woman. And gosh he did. It was such a delicate, intricate, brave piece.

I loved working with Maggie. Shes a great girl and become a darling friend.

Yet the Australian-filmed colonial drama Banished didnt attract the same critical acclaim with writer Jimmy McGovern criticised for overlooking the Indigenous experience -despite his mentoring of writers on Redfern Now.

I missed the Indigenous story being part of it, OReilly concedes, before adding, What he wanted to do -and its no excuse I completely understand- but he wanted to set-up a story within a camp, as an English story. He didnt want tokenism. He didnt want an Indigenous man or woman standing on a cliff and that was all they would play. And I believe Jimmy when I say that because he believes in Indigenous character stories.

He set up things in the first season for them to go into the bush in the next season, but the second season didnt happen. Thats telly.

OReilly followed Banished with Glitch as Dr. Elishia McKellar, assisting Sgt. James Hayes (Patrick Brammall) when bodies begin to rise from a cemetery in rural Yoorana. This time the Indigenous element is pivotal to the storyline. But as viewers discovered at the end of Season 1, McKellar too has a past of her own.

We ended the series finding out that she has previously been dead. So thats where S2 starts, really. So we have to find out who is Alicia McKellar, why is she dead and if she was dead, who is she now? Why does she love John Doe (Rodger Corser)? she explains.

That plays this season, that connection she has with Rodgers character.

In Season 2 the writers will explore the many secrets Dr. McKellar has been withholding from the beginning as John Doe questions whether he can trust her.

I think theyve really raised the stakes, OReilly suggests.

Theyre incredibly ambitious as television makers and I think theyre really embedding themselves in the genre and the questions they set up in S1. The boundary, the bleeding eyes, coming back from the dead

They have pushed it to play on world scale in a genre that is not typically known as Australian. And I think this genre plays beautifully in the Australian bush.

Glitch airs 8:30pm Thursdays on ABC with all episodes now on iview.
Opinion / Columnist

Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba does not only speak on African solutions for African problems, he raises hell and does not let any sleeping dogs lie. The Kenyan Pan-Africanist lawyer and judge does not take prisoners when it comes to calling a spade a spade in critiquing leaders and calling them out of their corrupt and thieving ways that have let the world down.There is no doubt that Professor Lumumba has the poor and down-trodden African masses at heart when he confronts the mighty and high among African leaders. Gifted with fire eating oratory skills and cutting baritone voice, Lumumba is only a good interlocutor if he is on your side and advancing your cause, not when he puts you on the firing line of his machine gun mouth.He has been described as the legal mind that has kept the Kenyan and African political establishments awake with his scathing critique and no holds barred naming and shaming of leaders. For that reason, Lumumba is today one of Africa's most important public intellectuals and champions of social justice. He has held the position of Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and he presently is the Director of the Kenya School of Laws.His superior education, a doctorate in Laws of the Sea from the University of Ghent in Belgium and a leading African legal mind gives Lumumba power, privilege and attention wherever he goes and that makes his work important and also dangerous. He is, in truth, not the first African intellectual to isolate African leaders, Africans and African governments for criticism and scathing descriptions.There is a long generation of public intellectuals like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Jack Mapanje and other African thinkers that had to go to exile to escape the wrath of their governments that they haunted with volcanic critic and scathing satire. What is special and therefore very dangerous about Professor Lumumba's brand of political and intellectual critique of Africa, African leaders and Africans, is the way in which he easily lends himself to the role of a colonial constable who uses his rare and superior intellect and stature to multiply and amplify colonial stereotypes about Africa and Africans.As a venerated Professor and distinguished lawyer and judge he carries communicative privilege and political stamina, he is a role model, to the extent that even his mistakes and misdirections may be eaten and swallowed as wisdom and law by the uncircumcised. It is important that such political and legal voices like Lumumba are carefully and closely listened to and watched, peradventure their own limitations lead many astray. Vigilant Pan-Africanists such as Chinweizu, a Nigerian decolonial intellectual, as early as the 1960s gave such icons as Wole Soyinka a torrid time, criticising them for using words and language in Africa about Africans that benefited rather than confronted the British Empire in the continent. In that decolonial gesture as that of the Bolekaja critics, Chinweizu and his critics, madness in great Africans must truly not go unwatched.Of political hygiene in AfricaOf the books, the actual emblems of the intellectual vocation, the talismans of the trade, Professor Lumumba has many. He is copious, prolific and wields criminally lucid prose. There is a flourish of legal and political literature from his busy desk that the African academy cannot ignore.Prominent in most of his books about Africa is the theme of "political hygiene" in Kenya and in Africa at large; on the same theme he has delivered many a fiery speech. For those students of history and politics in Africa that read their Africa well, the theme of political hygiene and political sanitation in the African continent is traceable to that African walking library, the late Ali Mazrui who in 1970 wrote a piece for the journal of African and Asian Studies demanding and describing "political hygiene and cultural transition in Africa."The interesting and also problematic political critique of Ali Mazrui is perhaps a subject for another day, its own good day for as he described himself Mazrui's intellectual and political life was "a long debate," he was a true supermarket of contesting and contested ideas and insights, he was simple but not simplistic.When Lumumba pursues the theme of sanitation and cleanliness in African politics he crushes and smothers his subjects, something that Ali Mazrui was way too critical to be careless about. Not so with Lumumba. The African leader is an incorrigible thief and a corrupt scoundrel.Once Lumumba insinuated that Africa was poor and backward because Nigerians are too corrupt and dirty thieves. In Africa thieves elect other thieves to power and thievery is therefore rewarded and promoted in the continent as a political culture and a philosophy of life. Lumumba does not only deliver his speeches, like any gifted orator who knows his job well, he performs them, he is dramatic and spectacular, and words obey him.In politics as it is in philosophy one can be true and still not be correct in what he says. Yes, truth is not simply right. Like all other expert and trained communicators, Lumumba should know better about audiences, the theatre and the gallery, who are the people that relish in his delivery and who are those that are wounded and why. Lumumba speaks at the dear expense of Africans and Africa, and his otherwise constructive critique has lost its constructive for destructive, a Grade One student in Africa might lose confidence forever in being African after listening to a treat by Prof Lumumba judges Africa unkindly.Students of language, discourse and political communication will point to it that such words as "hygiene" and "cleanliness" are important words in life but carry a lot of colonial baggage. In the language of colonisers and enslavers, the African was a dirty object that needed sanitisation and cleaning. To give body and power to such terms in trying to constructively critique Africans and African leaders is to play the political and historical ball all wrong at the wrong place and wrong time.Lumumba feeds into, from and confirms colonial stereotypes about Africa and Africans, a sin that African men and women of letters and laws should not be complicit in. The reason why Lumumba's critique of Africa and Africans is spreading worldwide like a wild international fire is not simply because of his obvious mental gifts or relevance in world politics, no. His insults of Africa and Africans please white supremacists and racists who have found in Lumumba an eloquent colonial constable who can express crude racism on their behalf.This is not to hang the professor out to dry, to throw his baby of critique together with the water of his message, no, but it is to throw this very baby away first that we need, Lumumba is wrong in blaming all problems of Africa on Africans. That Africa is largely what it has become because of slavish and colonial underdevelopment still remains a truism even as African leaders have sinned against Africa, sold the proud continent to the proverbial dogs, in corruption and incompetence that smells to the high heavens, nauseating the very gods.African critique of AfricaThe first crime and the first corruption of all centuries is perhaps the enslavement and colonisation of one people by another for whatever reason. For that reason, African intellectuals in the name of their intelligence can satirise Africa and critique African leaders for their thievery, political violence, laziness and other sins without lending weight to colonial fictions and myths about Africans.The point Lumumba misses by a wide margin is that some African leaders were shaped in the way they are by colonial education systems and ideological indoctrination, hence the way they have led Africa astray. African leaders deserve to be bashed for their crimes against Africa and humanity, and that bashing does not have to defend the colonial and slavish wound that all Africans and all black people in the world suffer.Africans exist in a political and legal world system that was not designed by Africa, where a world system was imposed on the continent in violent historical colonial encounters from which the continent may not recover soon. Speakers like Lumumba might think that we must be done with issues of slavery and colonialism by now, in 2017, but evidentially issues of slavery and colonialism are not done with us yet.The beginning of any durable critique of Africa and Africans should begin with a baptismal observation that Africa produces its own history not under conditions and circumstances designed by itself, and Africa has been shaped by a cruel history conducted by its enemies and exploiters. Politically and philosophically, such critics of Africa and Africans as Professor Lumumba should be born again. That his name sounds like that of Patrice Lumumba should help him think again. Given his social power, intellectual influence and political example, Lumumba should be corrected as he is a powerful wrong model that enemies of Africa might use to do Africa down even more.-Cetshwayo Zindabazezwe Mabhena writes from Pretoria in South Africa: decoloniality2016@gmail.com
Have you ever wondered why Borders exist within society? Especially if you consider the significant role human migration has played in the advancement of society, science and technology. The numerical system the world uses today would not have existed if it weren't for migrants from Muslim nations, the democratic process we use as base for our own democracy come from Greece plus much more.

Borders are political boundaries that have been created by individuals or groups that have gained wealth and subsequently power over a population. The earliest form of borders as we know them were created by the Roman Empire to create order within the serfdom.

In ancient Greece, the Delphic priests regarded unfettered movement as one of the four freedoms distinguishing liberty from slavery.

The failures of borders

Throughout history, every time a social order died out and new one was born, the leaders and those in power at the time ensured that borders remained to increase the power of a state. In the early renaissance period, a social order founded on wage labourers emerged and the governments continued to impose borders around nation states because people were considered wealth and a valuable workforce to be kept within those borders.

This continues to this day, when politicians talk about migration and the effects on a nation, they rarely focus on the human and social impact but the economic impact.

Migration is viewed as tool to gain wealth for those who already have power. Furthermore, borders have been used and drawn up throughout history to divide and conquer specific nations throughout the world. The European colonisers have often created borders, in particular in Africa, to control a population and extract resources from those nations.

But whenever they have drawn borders, they have failed to consider the geopolitical aspects of the region and this has left many African nations fighting bloody battles after the coloniser left, most of which continue to this day.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a prime example of the serious implications that the drawing of artificial borders can do and because of its significant deposits of valuable minerals and natural resources, it has been a victim of exploitation from outsiders.

The DRC has been the most underreported warzone in the world, since the late 1990s, 6 million people have been killed with estimates suggest children under 5 accounts for 50% of the deaths. The country was formed under colonial rule of the British and the French but it was left weak and divided when Belgium withdrew in the 1960s, after years of bloodshed and extractions of its natural resources.

Geopolitical and power purposes

There are a significant number of countries that have expanded their boundaries and borders for geopolitical purposes. Sections of land that provide a significant advantage over the defence, offence and the ability to trade for a country. This is the reason why Russia annexed Crimea, China continue to dominate Tibet and the US bought Alaska off Russia and forced France out of New Orleans.

These were vital lands to extend their borders to expand their powers and secure their wealth.

The artificial creation of borders is used to gain power and wealth, it is suggested that they are a result of peace and this notion is somewhat true however, they are largely a result of greed and control. The desire to control a population often precedes the creation of borders and colonisation in Africa is a key example how borders are used to divide and rule populations in the pursuit of wealth at the expense of human life.
The last Week In Politics in the UK had two very important pieces of legislation win their votes in the House of Commons, the first was the highly publicised European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. The second was a bill that will make controversial changes to parliamentary committees. James Murdoch has also stated that the government must not ignore the Fox-Sky deal and threatens No. 10 by claiming it is a test over Brexit and the UK's openness to investment.

Meanwhile in the world, hurricane Irma continued its destructive path in the Caribbean nations, more elections announced in Venezuela, Brazilian president, Michel Temer, faces more corruption allegations and the Polish government have failed to address judiciary concerns.

The UK's democratic processes undermined?

The EU withdrawal bill has begun the process of going through parliament and after a long debate MPs voted in favour of a second reading, 326 to 290. Significantly, most of Labour voting against the government after they revealed that concessions should be made over the single market. But the main opposition to the bill has been over the dubbed 'Henry VIII clause', which gives significant powers to MPs to possibly change laws with little to no scrutiny. Furthermore, there are around 100 amendments lined up by MPs to try and combat the potential Conservative powerplay over legislation in the UK.

The other bill to win its first vote was a bill put forward by commons leader, Andrea Leadsom, the legislation itself will make controversial changes to parliamentary committees.

The bill was put through at a similar time as the brexit bill to cause confusion over its design and it has been advertised by the government as necessary for Brexit. The issue is that the bill will give the Conservatives the most power of key legislative committees. Currently, public bill committees mirror the make-up of the Commons and they scrutinise legislation line by line, but the changes will mean the Conservatives will have a majority despite being a minority government.

This means all legislation could be passed by the Conservatives with no fear of opposition and the laws can affect everyday life and very few will have any bearing on Brexit itself, because that is what the EU withdrawal bill is for, this is merely legislation that takes power away from society and rewrites the election result.

Briefly, James Murdoch is claiming that if the government don't allow Fox's takeover of Sky, then it would show that the UK isn't open to investment post-Brexit, but the concern is a monopoly of the media from Murdoch family owned companies, culture secretary has rightly referred it to the Competition and Market Authority for further scrutiny.

World News

Hurricane Irma continued its path of destruction in the Caribbean, killing scores of people and leaving countless homeless. Nearly every building in Barbuda were destroyed, two-thirds were on St Martin and several islands faced food shortages. Whilst many governments have pledged aid, UNICEF have stated that it will not be enough without private donations.

Venezuela's government have announced that elections for governors in 23 states are to be held on October 15th. After significant intervention from the US to purposefully destabilise the country it is likely that opposition members will win.

Meanwhile in Brazil, a supreme-court judge has authorised further investigations into corruption allegations against President Michel Temer. The federal police claim that he signed a decree regulating ports in return for bribes. These come after he was charged with corruption and put into power via a soft coup and is known to be favoured by the US. Whereas, Dilma Rousseff, who has been regarded as the most successful president in the country's history but was purposefully undermined by the US. Lastly, the European Commission have announced that Poland have failed to address the judiciary concerns and have given them a final warning and month to do so, what happens next is unknown.
"These guys are talking about bangs and shimmies up there. That doesn't sound like instrumentation to me."

The Apollo 13: 20th Anniversary Blu-ray disc is included with this set. To read a terrific review of that disc, click here.

Truth be told, I don't have a whole heck of a lot to add to the Apollo 13 review. We gave it Five Stars two years ago and I stand by that assessment today. Over the past 22 years, it isn't too difficult to state that it's perhaps director Ron Howard's best film and also features one of Tom Hanks best performances. If the man could win an Oscar for Forrest Gump, I can't explain how the guy didn't even get a nomination here. The supporting cast is pitch-perfect featuring amazing turns from Kevin Bacon, the late great Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise. And that's not even mentioning the equally impressive Oscar-nominated performances from Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan.

For me, it was my favorite flick of 1995. I turned thirteen that summer so naturally the numerical significance wasn't lost on me. It's the one that I saw in theaters over and over again. I just couldn't get enough of it. I loved the sense of adventure that comes from traveling out into the unknown. I loved the human drama of a story of survival that required the cooperation of hundreds of people to bring three men home alive and how this feeds a constant sense of human accomplishment throughout the film. It really is incredible when you think that within a span of ten years space travel went from being mere theoretical science to a man walking on the surface of the moon.

On top of the previously mentioned cast, this film also sports my favorite score from the late James Horner. Sure he was also nominated for the equally grand and impressive Braveheart that same year, Apollo 13 still tops it in my opinion. The blast off sequence alone makes the score. It's an equal combination of tension and suspense and joyful release as the astronauts get ready, board the spacecraft, the engines ignite and then the rocket hurls towards space. It's a beautiful sequence. In reality, I think I kept going back to the theater just to see that scene again and again.

Apollo 13 may have been my favorite movie of 1995, but it was a packed year. As I said, I turned 13 that year and it made it significantly easier for my parents and my older sister to take me to R-rated movies. 1995 felt like the first year where I somehow managed to catch all of the major flicks in the theater. The previously mentioned Braveheart, The Usual Suspects, Heat, hell - I probably went to see Se7en at least four times alone. 12 Monkeys introduced me to the wild mind of Terry Gilliam. Casino was the first Scorsese movie I saw in the theater. I experienced my first migraine headache during Waterworld (I still love this movie but that was serious pain to endure for two hours). Desperado proved that action movies could be cool as hell. But through it all, Apollo 13 stayed on top.

To this day I pull this movie out at least once a year - if not more. Like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, if it's ever on TV and I happen to stumble upon it, I stop everything and finish it. If you give this movie just a couple minutes of attention it's nearly impossible not to see it through to the end. Sure, there's little mystery left as I know the outcome of the movie, but I get wrapped up in it just the same. Of all the great movies of 1995, I've easily seen Apollo 13 the most. I wore out my VHS tape, a put a few scratches on my DVD, went through both Blu-ray releases and now I'm onto 4K UHD Blu-ray. Simply put, it's one of a handful of movies that no matter what format it's on, It'll always be a part of my collection.

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray

Apollo 13 arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios in a two-disc Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray with Digital Copy set. Both discs are housed in a standard sturdy black Ultra HD Blu-ray case. The disc loads directly to a static image main menu with traditional navigation options. The standard Blu-ray disc is the exact same one included with the 20th Anniversary release.
Donald Trump has not been one to hold back his thoughts, especially during his early morning Twitter sessions. During the president's latest rant on social media, he decided to mock the leader of North Korea, while also hitting back at the New York Times.

Trump's Twitter play

It started back when Donald Trump announced his campaign for president while referring to illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers." Trump's remarks instantly triggered a negative reaction from the majority of the mainstream media, resulting in the former host of "The Apprentice" spending more time on Twitter as a way to bypass the traditional press.

Over the next two years, it became common place for Trump to create new feuds and continue old ones with his political opponents, whether it be in the media, Democrats or other Republicans, or even world leaders from rival nations. One of Trump's top targets in the media has been the New York Times, which he has given the nickname of "failing New York Times." In addition, Trump's most recent global enemy has been the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. As seen during his tweets on September 17, Trump decided to rip into the New York Times, while mocking Kim with his own nickname.

I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017

Taking to Twitter on Sunday morning was Donald Trump, who took time to troll Kim Jong-un as tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world continue.

"I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing," Trump tweeted, in reference to his new nickname for the North Korean leader. "Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!," he continued.

This is the #NYTimes. Can you understand why so many reporters are cautious about working for them? https://t.co/LRJKtFNgM4  David Martosko (@dmartosko) September 17, 2017

Not long after his tweet about North Korea, Donald Trump re-tweeted a post by David Martosko of the Daily Mail who criticized the New York Times for their recent piece about the president allowing an 11-year-old boy to mow the White House lawn.

The article in question attacked Trump for doing so, which led Martosko to tweet, "This is the #NYTimes. Can you understand why so many reporters are cautious about working for them?"

Moving forward

While Donald Trump spends his morning mocking his opponents on social media, the commander in chief has many other issues to worry about in the White House.

As his relationship with the Republican Party implodes in front of the public eye, and with Democrats holding his feet to the fire, Trump is sitting on an approval rating of just 35 percent after only nine months in office.
Hurricane Irma has passed, but its economic impact will be longstanding. Between lost economic output and property damage, Moodys Analytics estimates that the total economic cost of Hurricane Irma could amount to $83 billion. Many lives were lost in the storm. Over the past week, countless bleak news stories have streamed onto social media platforms. Its likely that they will continue to do so with the amount of damage that this catastrophic hurricane did. This is a collection of a few random acts of kindness related to Hurricane Irma to allow for some relief from the relentless bad news.

More than a meal

During an extended trip to avoid Hurricane Irma, Deanna Feist and her husband went to eat at the Old Mill restaurant in Pigeon Forge, TN. On their way there, they were forced to turn off their car when all of the lights on their dashboard lit up. They asked the man in the car next to them for a jump, and he happily helped them out. Just as Deanna was about to add their names to the waitlist at the restaurant, the man who had helped them jump their car introduced himself as the manager to her husband. He told them hed been running the place for 23 years. He promised to seat them as quickly as possible. They got a table faster than they could believe, and their food was out even faster.

At the end of the meal, their waitress placed an envelope on their table instead of a bill. She told them that the envelope was from the manager and that their meals were on the house. If that wasn't a big enough random act of kindness, inside of the envelope was a letter, two $100 bills, and a voucher for free meals at the restaurant.

The letter read;

"You are probably here to escape the Hurricane Irma. My brother lives in Tallahassee, FL. I am saddened to see such devastation in this beautiful state. I hope everything will turn out ok for you guys. Enclosed please accept my gift to you in case you need to buy a battery for your car. Also, I am enclosing a meal ticket so you can come back to eat here.

Good luck and thanks for visiting my restaurant

Mo Tamaddoni

Gen Mgr"

Deanna shared his random act of kindness in a public post on Facebook so that the world might see how generous others can still be and because There are still good people out there! She promised to pay it forward, referring to Mo as a Godsend and thanking him for the act of selflessness and generosity that touched her heart.

Generating random acts of kindness

Pam Brekke of Sanford, Florida spent days scouring stores for a generator to prepare for Hurricane Irma. She said she spent all that time staring at empty store shelves. Brekke heard that a Lowes Home Improvement in Orlando, about 30 miles from her home, had received a shipment of almost 200 generators.

She was overjoyed, and immediately hurried to the store. When she arrived, she began to sob as a Lowes employee helped a man load the last generator into his cart right in front of her in line. Ramon Santiago, a bystander who had gotten a generator but had not paid for it yet, knew it was time for a random act of kindness. He didnt know that Brekkes father was on oxygen; he didnt know anything except that she was crying because she didnt get there on time to get a generator. He just wanted to be someone who helped someone else. He offered her his. He said, She needs the generator, and gave her an encouraging hug. If only everyone was so easily motivated to participate in random acts of kindness!

Animal acts of kindness

Kerry Sanders and his team from the Today Show were reporting about Hurricane Irma from Floridas Gulf Coast when they saw a man carrying a baby dolphin toward the ocean. That man had discovered that baby dolphin half a mile away on a sidewalk, picked it up, wrapped it in a blanket and carried it to the water as quickly as he could. Sanders stopped what he was doing to get into the water with the man who had started this random act of kindness so they could hold the dolphin and give it a chance to rest. After about 15 minutes, they attempted to guide the dolphin out into the ocean, but it kept getting pushed back to shore by the powerful waves. However, after multiple attempts, they were able to help the baby out to sea.

Less than an hour after the pair helped to save that dolphin, Sanders got the chance to help another dolphin! This time, it was an adult dolphin that needed assistance. When Sanders arrived, the dolphin was panting and obviously distressed. A small crowd gathered, and the bystanders helped him get the animal back to the water. He instructed them on where and how to grab the animal in order to avoid injuring it. He said, "I explained, 'This is what were going to do. Were not going to pick it up by the dorsal fins or pectoral fins. Were going to get our arms underneath it and lift it up altogether, 1-2-3, and then we're going to walk it out.'" Thats exactly what they did. Once the animal was in deeper water, a few of the volunteers remained in the water to hold the dolphin and allow it to rest and catch its breath while the rest of the volunteers swam back to shore.

After a few minutes, the dolphin was able to venture back into the ocean. Even though they all had their own things to deal with because of Hurricane Irma, a random group of strangers came together to complete this random act of kindness!

Anna's Acts of Kindness

Countless random acts of kindness have been occurring because of Hurricane Irma, but how many of them have involved Disney princesses saving a co-stars family or singing with evacuees? Kristen Bell, who voiced Anna in Frozen, is currently filming in Orlando. When she found out she couldnt evacuate, she posted Instagram that she was trying to stay positive but cautious, and trying to help those who need help prepping. She also mentioned that it was beautiful to see that every person she passed was assisting someone else.

She joined in on the random acts of kindness in multiple ways. She discovered that Frozen co-star Josh Gads family was in Hollywood, Florida, and immediately secured a hotel room for them where she was staying. Gad took to Instagram to share the story and a picture that Bell had sent him of her and his parents. He raved about how grateful he was for Bells random act of kindness, saying that she literally saved my parents and my entire family tonight from #hurricaneirma. When they were stranded in Florida, she got them a hotel room at her hotel in Orlando and saved them, my brothers, my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. He also said, They don't make them like this girl. Thank you, Kristen.

You are truly an angel sent from above. Kristen didnt stop there. Next, she went to a shelter to perform the Frozen hit For the First Time In Forever. She even pulled an evacuee up from the crowd up onto the stage to sing Elsas part with her!

Spread the love with a Hurricane Irma-related random act of kindness of your own

If you can volunteer to help the victims of Hurricane Irma, do it! Although you may not be able to go and volunteer, you can donate to organizations that are helping those who have been impacted by Hurricane Irma to rebuild. Every random act of kindness matters!
This week, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders rolled out his "Medicare for All" bill that would finally bring Universal Health Care to the United States. Less than 24 hours later and President Donald Trump was quick to speak out on the issue.

Trump on Bernie

Since the start of the 2016 presidential election, the two names that stood out to rock the system was Donald Trump on the right, and Bernie Sanders on the left. Trump first announced his plan to run for president on the floor of Trump Tower in June 2015, doing so as a candidate in the Republican primary.

Despite the odds against him, the former host of "The Apprentice" was able to pull off the upset and be named the GOP nominee last summer. On the other side of the aisle, Bernie Sanders pushed Hillary Clinton to her limits in the Democratic primary but ultimately fell short, despite many supporters of the senator believing the DNC conspired against him. With Trump now in the White House and Sanders remaining in the Senate, the battle of ideas continues, which is no different over the current fight on health care. While Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," Sanders is pushing to go to a universal health care system, which was evident in his new bill. Responding to Sanders in a pair of tweets on September 14 was Trump who vowed to veto the legislation if it ever made it to his desk.

...I told Republicans to approve healthcare fast or this would happen. But don't worry, I will veto because I love our country & its people.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017

Taking to his Twitter account on Thursday afternoon was Donald Trump who ripped into Bernie Sanders for pushing the idea of single-payer health care, while labeling his bill a "curse." "Bernie Sanders is pushing hard for a single payer healthcare plan - a curse on the U.S.

& its people," Trump tweeted out. "I told Republicans to approve healthcare fast or this would happen," Trump continued, taking a shot at his own party in the process. "But don't worry, I will veto because I love our country & its people," he concluded.

Twitter responds

Within minutes of sending out his tweet attacking Bernie Sanders, critics of the president lashed out on social media.

"A curse of healthcare?" one Twitter user wondered, which was answered by another who wrote, "Yes, that sums up the #GOPfail view. If you can't afford to live...oh well." author Stephen King chimed in, tweeting, "Trump promises to veto single payer health care, should it get to his desk. No surprise. His rich friends wouldn't like that at all."

Trump promises to veto single payer health care, should it get to his desk. No surprise. His rich friends wouldn't like that at all.  Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 14, 2017

You. You're the curse on this nation. That will be broken once we find the magic goblet and break it.  Sarah Wood (@sarahwoodwriter) September 14, 2017

"Yes cause people not having to worry about money while dying is a horrible thing!

Why make it easier for them President Trump," one tweet read. "Yep, a healthy population is such a curse!" another social media user added.

Yes cause people not having to worry about money while dying is a horrible thing! Why make it easier for them President Trump.  Mark Bland (@markbland) September 14, 2017

Canada is doing just fine  Shannon Bird (@Shannon281975) September 14, 2017

"Oh look, there goes Donny talking about himself again," an additional tweet read with sarcasm. "You. You're the curse on this nation. That will be broken once we find the magic goblet and break it," a Twitter user posted. As the backlash continued it showed that the fight over health care in the United States was far from over.
Philosophy has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The very foundations of society were laid down by a set group of genius men that gave sets of rules for a perfect or just society. What would they think of Donald Trump? Did they predict a ruler like Trump?

Socrates

Socrates was one of the first well-known philosophers, and probably one of the most insightful in terms of corrupt rulers. Throughout "The Republic" Socrates talks a lot about corrupt rulers rising from wealth. Does this sound a lot like our president-elect? He also strongly implied that the ruler would be ill-prepared for the presidency, as Donald Trump has eloquently shown to us. While Socrates didn't say the world would end with a president such as Donald Trump, he did say that it would threaten democracy and its sanctity.

He also said that society would become unjust, as someone who isn't fit for ruling is in the position of a ruler. He also specifically mentions how rulers will act with reckless abandon, and make decisions that aren't just, and only benefit the ruling class.

"He is usually of the elite but is in tune with the time. Given over to random pleasures and whims. Feasting on food, and especially sex."

Aristotle

The case with Aristotle is considerably different that of Socrates, while they both somewhat predicted the rise of a corrupt ruler, Socrates didn't exactly say it. In his book "Rhetoric," he stated that there are three ways that people can be persuaded. People are easily manipulated through logos (logic), ethos (ethics), and pathos (passion).

In this book, he also talks about a rhetoric, which is basically just an older description of what we would consider an election. If you look at the history of presidential elections recently, you could see a trend of pathos winning, such as in Romney versus Obama. Romney had a logos appeal, while Obama had a pathos appeal with the innovations he was planning to make in socialized health care.

Aristotle has proclaimed that pathos is normally the winner, as people listen with their emotions. What did Donald Trump try to appeal to the voters with? Pathos. He tried to take hold of the American peoples hearts so he could win the presidency through lies and continue to lie throughout his presidency.

Summary

Do you think these philosophers' predictions were right, or do you think that it's just a coincidence? No matter what you think, there's no doubt that Donald Trump has manipulated the American people and failed to follow through on his promises.
Opinion / Columnist

President Robert Mugabe is in New York on yet another useless jaunt where there are no prospects of him returning home with something that can lift the spirits of a country in economic turmoil.Mugabe, as usual, took a plane load of hangers-on, who always wait for his annual trips to the United Nations for their shopping at the expense of the taxpayer.According to reports, the 93 year-old ruler's delegation has a staggering 70 people, including his children and grandchild.As it is, Mugabe's children Bellarmine Chatunga and Bona as well as her son Simbanashe, are living it out in New York at the expense of the taxpayer.Last week there were also reports that first lady Grace Mugabe's son Russel Goreraza would also tag along.Although the summit is expected to run from September 19 to 23, Mugabe and his entourage left Harare three days earlier.Previously, it has been revealed that the government gives each member of the delegation $1 500 per day.Very few Zimbabweans earn that much annually. In fact, there are reports that treasury would fork out a staggering $1 million for Mugabe's trip to New York.For years, Mugabe has been attending the UN general assembly religiously but there is nothing to show for that adventure.Instead, he has used the platform to perpetuate Zimbabwe's isolation from the international community through inflammatory speeches.Already, our readers can predict what Mugabe is going to say when he is given the podium at the assembly on Thursday.He will ramble about the ban imposed on his family and inner circle from travelling to western countries and nothing will be said about the plight of Zimbabweans that can longer access lifesaving drugs because of Zanu PF's economic mismanagement.In other words, the New York jaunt is unnecessary. The $1 million that Mugabe will allegedly spend on the latest trip could have gone a long way in alleviating a plethora of problems facing this country.A few days before the president's trip to New York, it was revealed that the Registrar-General had stopped issuing emergency passports because the government was finding it difficult to import special paper used to produce the travel documents.The freeze in the issuing out of the passports will generally affect Zimbabweans that need urgent treatment outside the country.The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is struggling to source foreign currency for the productive sector and many companies on the so-called priority list have been waiting for many months to be allocated the United State dollars.As a result, companies are collapsing and thousands of workers are being thrown onto the streets because of the foreign currency shortages.However, Mugabe's globetrotting continues unabated. The president has also been frequenting Singapore for medical treatment at taxpayers' expense, but he does not find it important to prioritise the people's welfare.Mugabe must be ashamed of the way he wastes the country's meagre resources on useless foreign trips.He must have a conscience and stop inflicting more pain on people that have suffered so long from his poor policies.
The "Alaskan Bush People" family remains intact among rumors and controversies surrounding their legitimacy as nomadic people. The Browns have turned to each other for comfort and support as the matriarch in the family battles cancer.

But on one occasion, one of the siblings, Joshua "Bam Bam Brown, has decided to keep his privacy for himself and his partner, Allison Kagan. He even made a decision to leave the show February of last year to travel around the country with his girlfriend and their two dogs.

But recently, he made headlines when he returned to the spotlight to be with his mother.

According to sources, the estranged son heard that Ami lost too much weight and this situation has worsened her health. Bam Bam came back to give support to his ailing mother and assistance to his father and siblings in this dilemma.

Loving son to his ailing mother

According to People, Bam said that as soon as he learned that Ami got cancer, his immediate response was to run away. But a stronger emotion stopped him from doing so and picked his car keys and drove to be with his mother in her hospital bed. He also added that his presence would give moral support to everyone in their family.

The Alaskan Bush People stars presence in that vigil for their 54-year-old mom shatters rumors that he has already forgotten his family.

Future away from home

On the other hand, insiders are spreading the news about Bams secret wealth and his extra-curricular activities. Hes been accused of being selfish for leaving his family behind. But still, for the majority of Alaskan Bush People fans, his choice to live a private life belongs to him alone.

Furthermore, Radar Online reported that Bam has purchased a yacht from Ell And CH Investments back in November 2016 with his girlfriend.

The couple was photographed on the said boat. The said report added that Bam is planning to ferry the boat to The Bahamas for repair.

Other reports say hes planning to live in that island state. Bam Bams love for travel and exploring new things could be the reason why some people choose to believe that hes really leaving for good.

However, whatever he decides to do with his life in the future is his rightful choice to make.

In two days time, Bam Bam will be celebrating his 33rd birthday. Meanwhile, Alaskan Bush Peoples return for another season remains unclear. Would you love to see the Browns back again and check out their new place in Colorado? Let us know in the comment section below.
In the age of Donald Trump, the political divide among the American people is wider than it's been in some time. After a CNN host joked about poisoning the president, outrage quickly sparked in the right-wing media which led to surprising remarks from conservative author Ann Coulter.

Coulter defends CNN

It didn't take long after Donald Trump made his presidential campaign official that he would quickly dominate the news cycle. During his campaign announcement, the former host of "The Apprentice" labeled illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers," resulting in many on the political left to lash out and accuse him of being a "racist." In the two years that have followed, Trump's popularity among his core base on the right has remained strong, while the majority of the country now push back at his presidency.

Trump would find himself as the butt of the joke on comedy shows and on late-night TV, which the billionaire real estate mogul would respond to at times during his many Twitter rants. Earlier this week, TMZ caught up with Anthony Bourdain, host of CNN's Part's Unknown, who joked about poisoning the president. Right-wing media quickly went on the attack, which promoted Ann Coulter to speak out on September 16.

Annoyed prissy conservatives forcing me to defend @CNN & @Bourdain, but...Q: What would U serve Trump & NK dictator? A: "Hemlock" is a JOKE.  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 16, 2017

"If Trump and Kim Jong Un were going to have a bit of a summit to try and mend relations and they wanted you to cater, what would you serve?" the TMZ reporter asked Anthony Bourdain.

"Hemlock," the CNN host replied with obvious humor. After many in the conservative media accused Bourdain of sending a death threat to the president, the typically conservative Ann Coulter actually came to the defense of CNN and their host.

Anthony Bourdain has NO RESERVATIONS about poisoning President Trump!

 pic.twitter.com/eDEpIqbBMe  TMZ (@TMZ) September 16, 2017

"Annoyed prissy conservatives forcing me to defend @CNN & @Bourdain, but...Q: What would U serve Trump & NK dictator?

A: 'Hemlock' is a JOKE," Ann Coulter tweeted out. Coulter's post came just hours after she attacked the network for alleged overreacting when a recent guest, Fox Sports' Clay Travis, told female host Brooke Baldwin that he believes in only two things, "the First Amendment and boobs." "It wasn't sexist, it was stupid & vulgar.

But that's what CNN gets for banning smart guests, for fear they'll make the hosts look stupid," Coulter tweeted.

It wasn't sexist, it was stupid & vulgar. But that's what CNN gets for banning smart guests, for fear they'll make the hosts look stupid. https://t.co/rc2NhggOnG  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 16, 2017

Next up

While Ann Coulter defending CNN comes as a surprise due to the author's routine bashing of the network and hard-line right-wing views, she has backed off her support of Donald Trump in recent months. Coulter ripped Trump earlier this year over his moves on foreign policy, and recently called his speech on tax reform the "worst" of his political career.
In recent weeks, the issue over immigration reform has taken center stage. On Wednesday night, news broke that Donald Trump reached a deal with Democratic Party leaders over the issue of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) which didn't go over well with some of the president's strongest supporters.

Coulter on Trump

It all started back in the summer of 2015 when Donald Trump stood on the floor of Trump Tower in New York City and announced that he was running for president, and would do so in the Republican primary. With his family behind him, Trump gave a speech that would lead to massive backlash due his remarks about illegal immigrants being "rapists" and "murderers." Over the next two years, through the primary and general election, the former host of "The Apprentice" had strong words about his plans on immigration, including the possibility of mass deportation, and the construction of a border wall that he promised would be fully paid for by Mexico.

Despite this, Trump has not been able to have much success on these issues since his inauguration, and has made many in his base angry. The latest news revolved around DACA, which was put in place by former President Barack Obama allowing children brought to the United States illegally by their parents the ability to stay in the country under certain conditions. Trump reportedly reached a tentative deal with the Democrats to keep the program alive, which prompted conservative author Ann Coulter to lash out on September 14.

At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached? https://t.co/g1mMhmm8ng  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017

Taking to her Twitter account early Thursday morning, Ann Coulter appeared done with her support of Donald Trump, going as far as hinting about his possible impeachment while replying to the president's own tweets.

Trump tweeted "Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!" "They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own - brought in by parents at young age," Trump continued.

If we're not getting a wall, I'd prefer President Pence. https://t.co/g1mMhmm8ng  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017

In response, Ann Coulter replied, "At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached?" In a follow-up tweet, Coulter noted, "If we're not getting a wall, I'd prefer President Pence." Not stopping there, Coulter, once one of the loudest supporters of Donald Trump, mocked the commander in chief.

"Let's play Jeopardy. ANSWER: An Easter egg. QUESTION: What'sthe only thing easier to roll than Donald J. Trump?" she sarcastically tweeted.

Let's play Jeopardy. ANSWER: An Easter egg. QUESTION: What's

the only thing easier to roll than Donald J. Trump?  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017

Next up

Despite Donald Trump speaking out and claiming that he will still complete construction of the border wall, his supporters are starting to lose patience. While the details of Trump's deal with the Democrats over DACA is unknown as of this time, it doesn't look good for those who were hoping the president would stay true to his campaign promises.
Carlos Munoz Portal, 37, a Mexican national working as a location scout for the hit Netflix series "Narcos," was found shot to death in his bullet-riddled car. There was an apparent chase through the back roads of Central Mexico and he had his camera with him, according to a friend.

A successful and well-respected location producer, some of his film credits include "Sicario," "Spectre," "Fast & Furious," and "Apocalypto." Munoz was doing pre-production scouting for the fourth season of "Narcos" at the time of his death. It is common for location producers to be independent contractors, not necessarily employees of the film studio production company.

The terms of his contract with Netflix are not known.

'Narcos' storyline is accurate.

Considering the series is based on actual events, and real people depicted by the actors are under witness protection, continuing working on the film project in Mexico may be dangerous. Events could erupt at any time into violence against production staff, cast or crew, as evidenced this week with the murder of Munoz.

In Season 3 of "Narcos," the Columbian Cali Cartel turned a successful heroin smuggling operation into an international cocaine empire. The President of Columbia, Juan Manuel Santos, supported and funded "Narcos" while Netflix scheduled shooting its season about Pablo Escobar's crime spree. The revolution has tamed the area since the 1990's, and the country is now reported to be safe for tourism once more.

El Chapo and the Cartel de Juarez are said to be portrayed in Season 4, which focuses on the Mexican cartel, and the continuation of the cocaine trail into the U.S. Munoz was scouting for filming locations accurate to the crime scenes, but Mexico proved fatal. Rumors are that producers are looking at Afghanistan as an alternate location.

Mexico's murder rate one of the highest in the world.

The City of San Bartolo Actopan, where Munoz was found, is part of the municipality of Temascalapa, near the border of Hildago. The area is known for its drug-related slayings and is plagued with organized crime and drug war homicides, with local police repeatedly turning a blind eye.

98 percent of the murders committed in Mexico last year remain unsolved. Only Syria had a higher murder rate in 2016.

Netflix confirmed Munoz's passing, reporting that an investigation into his death is ongoing. There are no witnesses or suspects at this time. It looks like Munoz was in the wrong place at the wrong time, albeit for good reasons.
Simon Cowell, the super-wealthy host of "America's Got Talent" took a barefoot stroll in West Hollywood on Saturday. The host we love to hate was with his girlfriend Lauren Silverman and as the Mail Online pointed out, "he seemed unfazed by his lack of footwear as he smiled during a shopping trip."

His more than casual, shoeless trip to the shop was captured on camera. Thanks to TheCeleb, his laid-back day out to visit the chockie shop was posted up on Youtube.

Simon Cowell relaxed after recent X Factor wrap

Simon Cowell seems to be ultra-relaxed and happy this week.

He was also spotted wearing a pair of flip-flops, while out with his three-year-old son Eric and stunning girlfriend Lauren over the weekend. The Mirror wrote that "the star had flown back to Los Angeles after filming the latest series of X-Factor which debuted on TV earlier this month."

Obviously enjoying the company of his family, Simon, Lauren and little son, Eric were wearing matching blue and white outfits and didn't seem to mind too much when X17onlineVideo asked a few questions when they were on a trip to Kitross in Beverly Hills on Friday.

Nevertheless, Simon was obviously not too thrilled that the reporter took the opportunity to ask him how he felt about the London Bombing. It seems he tried to change the subject and glanced at his little boy Eric, who was holding his hand.

When the reporter persisted and asked again about his feelings on the London bombing, Simon replied that "this is not a good time." It was obvious that he did not want to talk about terror, bombs, and mayhem in front of his son.

X17onlineVideo commented on Youtube that Simon seemed to be surprised to hear about the terror attack in London, but more than likely he was just a bit taken aback at such an insensitive question in front of his child.

Simon can be scathing

As all of Simon Cowell's fans know, he can be scathing when he judges shows like 'X Factor,' 'Britain's Got Talent,' and 'America's Got Talent,' but maybe he was just kicking back as he fobbed off the reporter in a nice enough way.

Simon and his family dropped off some packages in their luxury auto before heading to Kitross Kids, maybe looking for some more casual wear for their son.

It is very obvious that Simon and his family are enjoying a laid back time in LA. Do you think it was inappropriate to ask him about the London bombing in front of Eric? Is going barefoot to the chocolate shop a tad over the top even for Simon Cowell?
Republican senator and Evangelical Christian Ted Cruz's official Twitter account was caught "liking" a porn tweet earlier this week, and has since come under fire for what took place. After the Texas senator attempted to explain himself on cable news, he instantly became the butt of the joke on Twitter, with even some in Hollywood speaking out

Cruz on controversy

During the 2016 presidential election, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was one of 16 name to run in the Republican primary. While Donald Trump ultimately came away with the win, and later the presidency, Cruz was the last man standing to take on the billionaire real estate mogul.

During the primary, Trump was relentless, giving Cruz the nickname of "Lyin' Ted," while also promoting an unfounded conspiracy published by the National Enquirer that claimed the senator had cheated on his wife with five different women. Fast forward to earlier this week and Cruz is once again caught up in an embarrassing scandal. The official Twitter account for Cruz was busted for "liking" a porn tweet on Twitter. As expected, the Tea Party favorite and proud member of the religious right was quick to dismiss the allegations, writing them off as nothing more than a "staff error." As seen during an interview with CNN on September 13, Cruz has decided to break his silence on the issue at hand.

Sitting down with CNN's Dana Bash on Wednesday was Ted Cruz, and the aforementioned topic of internet porn was brought up. Cruz continued his defense, saying the action wasn't "malicious," but really nothing more than a mistake by a staffer who "accidentally hit the wrong button."

Ted Cruz Explains Twitter Porn Like Wasn't Malicious: Staffer Accidentally Hit the Wrong Button https://t.co/ZFDJeWbFC0 (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/SlpnLJZIsP  Mediaite (@Mediaite) September 13, 2017

At this point, Dana Bash then questioned Ted Cruz on his previous position in Texas where he supported a ban on purchasing sex toys.

Cruz brushed off the allegation, claiming it was just the "liberal media" being "obsessed with sex." "Consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want in their bedrooms," Cruz added.

Twitter reacts

In response the Twitter porn controversy surrounding Ted Cruz, social media was quick to poke fun at the senator, including top celebrities sounding off.

"(TC)swears it was a staffer, not him, liking porn on his Twitter & he plans to punish that staffer by never ever revealing their name," John Fugelsang tweeted.

The only thing worse than imagining Ted Cruz watching porn is imagining Ted Cruz in one.  George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) September 13, 2017

Ted Cruz swears it was a staffer, not him, liking porn on his Twitter & he plans to punish that staffer by never ever revealing their name.  John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) September 13, 2017

its genuinely heartwarming to me that literally the entire internet can pause to laugh together at ted cruz pounding off  jon hendren (@fart) September 12, 2017

"If you were Ted Cruz, how would you have pivoted from porn to tax?

'Dana, you know what gets me hot? Lowering corporate tax rates,'" Sam Stein sarcastically added. "Maybe Ted Cruz doesn't masterb8, maybe watches porn &gets all pent up then unleashes his frustrations on poor people& gay people," actor John Leguizamo posted.

Mayb Ted Cruz doesnt masterb8, mayb watches porn &gets all pent up then unleashes his frustrations on poor people& gay people."  John Leguizamo (@JohnLeguizamo) September 13, 2017

If you were Ted Cruz, how would you have pivoted from porn to tax?



Dana, you know what gets me hot? Lowering corporate tax rates"  Sam Stein (@samstein) September 13, 2017

"The only thing worse than imagining Ted Cruz watching porn is imagining Ted Cruz in one," George Takei tweeted out. The mockery and trolling of Cruz continued as the senator from the Lone Star State does his best to deflect from the issue at hand.
Russias Vladimir Putin has always been a hanging sword over the head of Europe and even the United States to a certain extent. Over the past few days, Ukraine officials have reported that the Russian President has moved thousands of troops near the country's border. Now with the recent Russian military exercises in the tension-filled region, the Ukrainian leaders have reached out to the United States government for help.

Reportedly, the last time Putin had an epiphany that the west was invading, a real war broke out with Ukraine after his troops descended on Belarus.

And now based on his history, the European Union leaders, no doubt, have good reasons to be in panic mode.

Is Putin getting ready to attack NATO?

The week-long West-Bilateral war game as it is called has sent alarms all over Eastern Europe, especially considering the recent tensions between Putin and NATO. Russia is in the middle of one of its largest military expansions in decades, and the Russia-NATO relations have been at its worst since the decades-old Cold War.

Belarus is a key territory in the region as it shares borders with three NATO members and the Ukraine. Since the story broke, Russian officials have tried to calm the situation citing that the exercise only involved around 12,700 troops.

However, Germany and Poland disagreed, estimating that around 100,000 troops participated in the exercises at Kaliningrad.

Putin's military kicks off Zapad-2017 in Belarus

Kaliningrad is one of Russias nuclear weapons storage sites, and the surrounding nations are rightly worried about such a large-scale military exercise. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite expressed her concerns on Wednesday.

According to Grybauskaite, a large military mobilization has been seen in the region. This she said, is an aggressive move against the West. The President also iterated that Putin could use the military drills to keep high numbers of troops in the area escalating regional tensions.

However, Russia defense officials said they are only administering precautionary exercises.

According to the officials, the goal is to defend the Russian borders along Belarus against terrorist attacks. The Russian spokesperson also stated that the objective is to empower Belarus, which was used to attack them as far back as the Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler eras.

The Belarus state media has reported that Russian troops and tanks have moved closer to its borders and are expected to enter the country within the next 24 hours. Belarus, Russia claims, gives easy access to would-be military powers wanting to invade Russia.
US Consul General in Shanghai Sean Stein speaks at the newly renovated waiting room on Sept 7. GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY

The US Consulate in Shanghai has re-outfitted its waiting room with photos of many natural wonders in the United States to woo Chinese travelers.

The project is a joint effort with Brand USA, an organization dedicated to marketing the US as a premier travel destination, and is aimed at promoting off-the-beaten-path destinations as well as emphasizing the importance of Chinese tourism in the US, according to Consular Chief Bill Weissman, who presided over the ribbon cutting for the project's completion on Sept 7.

US Consul General in Shanghai Sean Stein pointed out that an increasing number of US tourists are visiting regions in China such as Yunnan, Heilong-jiang, Tibet instead of just the major cities, and that he would like for Chinese tourists to do the same.

"What we hope is that when people come through the room, they'll look at the poster on the side and decide to go beyond usual destinations like San Francisco or New York to see the many other amazing things in the US, such as visiting Utah, the Grand Canyon, and other small towns," said Stein.

"As more and more Chinese travelers go to the US to experience America, they are helping the US economy and supporting many good US jobs."

The redecoration of the US Consular Section's queuing area aims to not only ensure that each visa applicant has as positive an experience as possible when they apply for a US visa, but also to promote a new brand of independent travel to the US that is quickly on the rise, he added.

China has become the number one market for US travel and tourism exports and is its largest market in terms of spending. Last year, almost 3 million Chinese nationals visited the US - a 15.5 percent year-on-year growth - and spent $33 billion on tourism expenses.

He Qi in Shanghai contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at heqi@chinadaily.com.cn
The new GIX building in Bellevue, Washington. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

"Innovation is all about 'what is new', and the key is to dare to think differently," said Microsoft's Harry Shum.

Shum, executive vice-president at the tech giant, leads Microsoft's AI and Research Group.

He is also actively involved in educational innovation as one of the five board members of the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a partnership between major research universities and innovative corporations to develop leaders in innovation.

The two founding partners of GIX are the University of Washington and Tsinghua University, with foundational support from Microsoft.

The idea of the model was born in 2012, and the partnership between the two universities was created after Microsoft President Brad Smith visited Tsinghua University in Beijing.

"We started working on this five years ago, and it was based on the sense that future education would need to bring people together from different countries," Smith said. "Some of the problems of the world are global problems, issues like climate, (and) don't respect boundaries. If we are going to make progress in solving these problems, we have to find new ways to work together. It really requires that people start to learn together as students. As they learn more about each other, in our view, we build a new bridge across the Pacific.

"I still remember it like it was yesterday, the very first conversation I had with the University of Washington about this," he said. "And I said in that breakfast that, if we were very fortunate, we would succeed in persuading one university above all others to join, and that would be Tsinghua University."

Smith said "it was a reflection of Microsoft's long-standing research work in Beijing, our relationship with Tsinghua University. I felt that of all the universities in the world, it could bring more to this kind of international partnership, really the kind of partnership the world needs, than any other institution.

"So above all, I am very pleased now five years later to look back and see this become real," he said.

Shum said "the model is a cross-country, cross-culture and cross-discipline one, which I believe builds fertile soil for innovation".

On Sept 14, GIX announced that it had been joined by eight more Academic Network members and five Industry Consortium members.

The eight members of the GIX Academic Network are: Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Indian Institute of Science, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, National Taiwan University, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tecnologico de Monterrey, and the University of British Columbia.

GIX Industry Consortium members include: Arm, Baidu, Boeing HorizonX and T-Mobile. Hainan Airlines has joined GIX as a valued partner providing travel support, fellowships and project support for students.

Academic Network members promote GIX to their students and connect faculty with relevant areas of research expertise. They also may offer projects to GIX learners in connection with industry partners. They benefit by gaining connections to UW research and Seattle's innovation ecosystem.

Industry Consortium members gain access to the GIX community of faculty, inventors and learners and may submit projects for students in the launch phase of the curriculum.

The goal shared by this member network is to forge connections and foster long-term relationships leading to technical exchange, co-invention and collaboration.

On the same day, GIX also celebrated the opening of its new home, a 100,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Bellevue, Washington.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, announced that the new GIX facility will be named the "Steve Ballmer Building" in honor of the former Microsoft CEO.

Microsoft provided $40 million in early funding and is committed to GIX's long-term growth and success. Ballmer has always been an advocate for business collaboration across international borders. He advanced Microsoft's global footprint and operations and forged groundbreaking new partnerships around the world.

Under Ballmer's leadership, Microsoft was the first company to open a basic research facility in China, and as a result, the Redmond, Washington company has a 20-year relationship with Tsinghua University.

"With the building opening, the partnership really enters its next phase, because the most important thing for us to contribute right now is frankly not more money, but time," Smith said.

Later this month, the GIX building will be occupied by the program's first two cohorts of master of science in technology innovation (MSTI from UW) degree students and dual degree students, which combines the MSTI with a master of engineering in data science and information technology (MEDSIT from Tsinghua) degree.

Half the students are from the United States and China. The rest hail from around the globe, from Canada, Estonia, France, India, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia and Switzerland.

The Chinese students selected for the program were among the school's top tier but also had to prove they were adept at problem-solving, said Yang Bin, vice-president and provost of Tsinghua.

"We just 'opened the door' to the brand new GIX building," said Tsinghua University President Qiu Yong at the celebration ceremony. "I know we have opened the door to a level of cooperation that is unlimited by boundaries. We have opened the door to a collaboration that will facilitate international and interdisciplinary integration for technological innovation. And we have opened the door to an innovative education model and greater global capacity to tackle the world's greatest challenges."

Smith said it was "an important day for the relationship between China and the United States, because this is a building and this is a partnership that will help our countries (move) closer together. And I think that's what the future of the world requires if we're going to make progress and solve the world's problems."

With more global partners joining, GIX looks for an enrollment of 3,000 in a decade.
China's envoy to Washington is urging the US to do more to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, stressing that UN sanctions on Pyongyang also call for dialogue and peace talks.

Hours after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea launched a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said the US "should be doing much more than [it is] now", so that there's real, effective international cooperation on the Peninsula issue.

"Everybody else will have to do their share; they cannot leave this issue to China alone," Cui said at a National Day reception Friday night in Washington.

The US should refrain from issuing more threats. Instead, it should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiations, Cui said.

The ambassador's remarks came at a time when the DPRK's latest missile test has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, and refueled talk of a military option by the Trump administration, which has also asked China to increase pressure on the DPRK, partly by cutting oil shipments to Pyongyang.

China responded by saying that it has done its best, and the initiators of the trouble should end it, according to China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying.

Asked about possible oil cuts to the DPRK, Cui told reporters, "We are fully prepared to implement all the Security Council resolutions  no more, no less."

Cui did say that China will never recognize the DPRK as a nuclear state and opposes nuclear weapons anywhere on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, including Japan and Taiwan.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2375 last Monday to respond to the DPRK's sixth nuclear test, conducted on Sept 3.

Cui said the resolution is a shared responsibility for all parties.

"We need to be clear that the latest UN resolution not only sanctions DPRK's nuclear activities but also calls for the reopening of dialogue and resolving the issue through consultations," Cui said. "The resolution should be implemented comprehensively."

At UN headquarters in New York on Friday, Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia also called on the US and others to implement the "political and diplomatic solutions" that are provided for in the latest sanctions resolution.

"Without implementing this, we also will consider it as a non-compliance with the resolution," Nebenzia said, according to Reuters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron also agreed in a phone call on Friday that resuming direct talks with the DPRK was the only way to resolve tensions over its nuclear program, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
Opinion / Columnist

They say you can never keep a good man down, that is exactly what New York witnessed yesterday when an anti-President Robert Mugabe demonstration dismally failed to kick off at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly, in US.Instead the D12 Movement stole the limelight from the MDC-T North America Province which had hyped on their protest that was designed to humiliate President Mugabe and Zimbabwe at the Summit.Video clips have since gone viral featuring a lone Savanna Madamombe marching against a multitude of the determinative D12 Movement activists that thronged the UN headquarters.Conventional wisdom will tell one that the deafening pro-Mugabe mantra that engulfed the Summit was to be anticipated given the prophetic and academic submissions by Afrobarometer which pointed out that President Mugabe still commands popular support.The Research and Advocacy Unit also threw its weight behind this notion stating categorically that ZANU PF would romp into victory in 2018.These indications in the surging of President Mugabe's support amid claims that he has allegedly run down the country and the happenings in New York, need no rocket scientist to explain how ZANU PF will bury the opposition in the 2018 harmonised elections.As usual opposition sympathisers have sought to bury their heads in the sand in face of this crushing humiliation by seeking to hide behind the finger and insinuate that the D12 is a hired Movement.This fear to face reality and complacence by the opposition is what is chipping away their electoral appeal.Suppose theirs is a genuine cause, should we have seen thousands of demonstrators at the Summit? Alas, there was just a lone Madamombe.The message has always been send out there that a shadow follows where there is light. Without light there cannot be a shadow.The smear campaigns by MDC have not yielded any political dividends for the brothers and sisters.The no show at New York has empirically exposed the opposition that they have no capacity to mobilise for their cause. What they did, was just a favour on ZANU PF, which they helped market by threatening to demonstrate against.At the end of the day pro-ZANU PF activists emerged victorious while the opposition's Madamombe became the principal victim.An old adage goes; the voice of many is the voice of God.The battle of numbers has over the years been ZANU PF's staple food; as such the opposition can do Zimbabweans a favour by stopping to fight against nature.The best option available for them is to go back on to the drawing table and devise competitive policies and strategies and imperatively dump their sabotage approach to politics.Zimbabweans understand now that President Mugabe means good to them and that most of the touted problems are a creation by his enemies in a bid to soil his image. Thus indeed, no matter how much mud one swings at a good cause, the good man will emerge victorious at the end of the day.
IEN BIEN  Authorities have confirmed a serious case of deforestation has occurred in this northern mountain province, resulting in the destruction of about 80 percent of the special forest areas in Pa Khoang Commune.

The provinces Muong Phang Management Board for Forest, Historical vestiges and Environmental Landscape issued a complaint late last month that serious illegal logging was occurring in more than 6,500 square metres of special forest in the commune, online newspaper Vietnamplus reported. In response, the provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development completed a report on September 5 and released it to the public on Friday.

The board charged that about 80 per cent of the special forest areas in the commune had been destroyed. Almost all trees with a diameter of 15cm and many others with a diameter of about 20-30cm had been cut down and burnt.

The destruction happened, according to the board, during July 15 and August 4 this year when a company named Tran Le Cherry Blossom sent staff and hired some locals to fell the forest without informing the local forest management board about their work.

Director Tran Le admitted in a meeting with local authorities and the forest management board that he had directed his staff to clear more than 6,500 sq.m of the forest to plant cherry trees. He said they did so with the authorisation of the ien Bien Province Peoples Committee.

The company director said a document issued by the committee on July 12 allowed the company to undertake the deforestation in order to plant cherry trees in preparation for an upcoming cherry blossom festival. The festival was intended to promote tourism development in the area.

At the scene of the destroyed forest area, about 480 cherry trees have been planted.

However, at some other working sessions with local authorities, the company director could not provide adequate documents proving his companys actions to destroy the forest areas were done with authorities approval, especially the decision to convert special forest land into other purposes in accordance with the law.

Investigation results showed that the company exploited the November 2017 policy of the Peoples Committee of ien Bien Province to organise a cherry blossom event to destroy the area of special forest, Vietnamplus reported.

Thus the action of deforestation by the company had seriously violated the regulations cited in Article 12 of the Law on Forest Protection and Development.

The company would be punished strictly according to the law, according to the forest management board.

The case would be investigated further, the newspaper said.  VNS
by Nguyen Huu Phung Nguyen

Ngo Thi Thuy Hang gave up her stable, high-paid job in Ho Chi Minh City to move to Ha Noi, almost 1,800 kilometres away. She has seemingly forsaken her youth in the quest for martyrs remains, leading the Centre of Legal Consultancy and Assistance for Families of War Martyrs (MARIN) through a long development journey of trials and tribulations.

The stable present

Ten years after we first met, Hang is still a slim woman, but wrinkles have appeared in the corners of her eyes. I was startled to realise that this woman really had spent all her youth on MARIN, forsaking marriage and wealth. Hang still lives in a rented apartment, with recognition certificates and profiles covering the walls. I know Hang will never stop that journey.

With Hangs ceaseless efforts, www.nhantimdongdoi.org has made great strides, well beyond its original goal.

We look for each other along the length of our motherland... we look for each other, never to return... are the words of the song Mien Xa Tham (A Faraway Realm) by songwriter uc Trinh, which was chosen by Hang as the background music for the online Vietnamese war martyr monument at www.lietsivietnam.org.

This project started in December 12, 2009, as a permanent remembrance site for heroic martyrs. Here visitors can find information about each individual martyr, with the circumstances and place of their death, and information about living or deceased relatives. Each battle, each front, is reconstructed to provide the circumstance in which the soldiers fell, including the letters and journal entries sent from the most brutal battlefields.

The thoughts and emotions in each word, each digital incense stick and wreath of flowers sent in by the martyrs comrades in combat and their families are as real as they are virtual. This not only has value in terms of data and authenticity, but above all, it embeds the unique humane value of MARIN. Over 50,000 martyrs have had their information processed at the online monument and this figure is being updated daily.

Recently, to mark the 69th War Martyrs and Wounded Soldiers Day (27/7/1947-2016), MARIN held a press conference to announce a project it called Home-coming Day, having matched names of 172 fallen soldiers to their remains. At the conference, Hang announced that over the coming five years, it would seek to match the names and remains of 5,000 martyrs to give their families comfort. This major project follows a pilot it launched in 2003. Given the advances in information integration and analysis based on digital technology, MARIN hopes to achieve its goal.

I have had the opportunity to attend many of MARINs local mobile counselling sessions for the families of martyrs. These sessions are a part of the Knowledge Dissemination for the Search of War Martyrs project launched and implemented by MARIN since the end of 2008. In Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh or other provinces where the MARIN team goes, relatives always pack the conference hall. They are still desperate for information on their fallen loved one.

And Hang, together with other volunteers, provide them with methods to find the martyr from reading the death notices, differentiating between various kinds of death notices, decrypting the unit code to determine exactly the battlefront and the general area where the soldiers fell. Hang sees the search for martyrs as a jigsaw puzzle and guides the families with pictures and models to help them. The martyr search jigsaw puzzle with dark and light colour arrays and patterns is put together by Hang in the most approachable and perspicuous way. That is why at each of Hangs mobile counseling sessions, there are tears but also smiles of faith and anticipation, of sharing and empathy. Thanks to them, the pain of losing a loved one in war is somehow soothed.

Through ups and downs

It all began at the end of October 2004, when the administrators of the www.nhantimdongdoi.org website received an email from a woman named Ngo Thi Thuy Hang. She asked for help in finding the grave of her uncle who perished in the war against the French but whose remains were still missing. In addition, Hang offered: Call me if you need help editing your news articles...

Nguyen Huu Tuan, the team leader, immediately contacted Hang. Tuan needed someone who could help with editing the websites articles. Hang was an editor for the Thoi Trang Tre (Youth Fashion) magazine in Ho Chi Minh City at that time. She agreed to help Tuan.

When Hang joined the team as an administrator, the information on the website became much more diverse and interesting. Whenever she had free time, instead of going out with friends, Hang quietly went to martyr cemeteries and searched for information online on her own.

However, feeling that the website needed to be even more professional and upgraded, in August 2006, Hang gave up her good job in HCM City to move to Ha Noi so that she could contribute more to nhantimdongdoi.org. The first thing Hang did was to find a legal status for the website.

With the help of many people, by the end of 2006 the Information Centre of War Martyrs (abbreviated as MARIN) under the Union of Applied Information Technology Sciences was founded. Hang was voted its director.

Hang wanted to fill the information gaps about the martyrs graves on the website herself, and came up with an amazing plan. With her own money, she spent two years carrying her laptop and digital camera around every martyrs cemetery in the country, taking pictures of the headstones. The photos were taken during the day, the information would be processed by the evening and updated immediately on nhantimdongdoi.org if an internet connection was available. Hang thought if she could focus her efforts for two years, she would be able to develop a map of martyrs tombs.

Time went by, the student group who founded nhantimdongdoi.org graduated, found employment and one by one got married. By then, they could no longer spare time for nhantimdongdoi.org. Only Hang remained and continued her fateful relationship with MARIN. The work at the website becam Hangs love, and MARIN became Hangs family.

At that time, Hang was working a 9-to-5 job for the communications department of a ceramic tile production corporation in Vinh Phuc Province. Hang rented an old apartment to live and use as MARINs office. She took a bus in early morning to go to work and would not come home until late in the evening, when she started her second job for MARIN.

However, getting information about fallen soldiers is no easy task. The country has been at peace for more than 40 years, many documents have been lost, many gravestones have been abraded, many memories have faded. Red tape as well as unsympathetic irresponsibility have kept information about the graves and remains of martyrs hidden in dusty drawers or filing cabinets. I have witnessed how much Hang had to struggle to get her hands on such information. She had to go to localities to meet officials at the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, at martyrs cemeteries, at the Ministry of Defence, or with anyone who could provide information about the martyrs graves.

The intensity of the work was too great, and Hang just got thinner and thinner. Once, due to overwork, Hang suffered from stomach-ache, her body grew weak and she had to be hospitalised for several days.

However, feeling that it still wasnt enough, Hang decided to quit her job at the ceramic tile company to devote full time to MARIN.

The decision to quit her job created many difficulties, the biggest of which was funding to pay bills and sustain MARINs operations. MARIN helped the families of martyrs without charge, while the organisation itself still had to cover many costs.

At the most difficult time, Hang received a support package in seed capital from the Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP). CSIP supported MARIN in the training and enhancing of management skills, as well as communications and networking activities. In addition, CSIP guided Hang to follow the Social Enterprise model, to operate for the community and still generate revenues to maintain its activities.

To have an independent legal status, in November 2012 the Management Centre of Data Bank about War Martyrs and People with Meritorious Services changed its name to the Centre of Legal Consultancy and Assistance for Families of War Martyrs (MARIN) under the Viet Nam Judicial Support Association for the Poor of the Ministry of Justice. MARINs objective is to join hands with the Party and the State to soothe the pain of wars, and repay the debt towards heroic martyrs through legal counseling and assistance for their families in the search for information related to the martyrs.

For more than ten years, I have witnessed the joy of relatives who, thanks to the help of MARIN, have succeeded in finding the exact information about their loved ones graves. Associate Professor Van Thi Kim Cuc, lecturer at the Department of Psychology of Ha Noi University of Social Sciences - Viet Nam National University, who is the daughter of war martyr Van inh Nha (from Huong Son, Ha Tinh) told us:

My father passed away. The death notice says that he perished in the southern battlefront. Ten years ago I went to look for his grave. We went to Road 9 National War Martyrs Cemetery and saw my fathers grave there but we werent sure... Through MARIN and the data that the centre had, and cross-checking with the information on the death notice and comparing with the information provided by the Ministry of Defence, my family were able to locate the current burial map. Had it not been for MARINs support, all my life I would not have been able to know exactly where my father lay and how he lost his life.

The case of Cuc was part of the pilot project Returning the Correct Name to 23 War Martyrs (from October 2013 to July 2014). The information of these 23 martyrs graves in Road 9 National Martyrs Cemetery (Quang Tri) was mismatched. To correct it, MARIN had to go through many procedures and paperwork. Only after nearly nine months with dozens of e-mails and letters and countless phone calls did the martyrs graves get the correct identification.

Every additional martyr who is identified and returned to the family means less pain and guilt for the relatives, families and society as a whole. It also means that we are one step further on the path of easing the pains of war, the motto MARIN adopted in its early days 10 years ago. VNS

(The story is from Redefining Success, a book published by the Womens Publishing House, 2017.)
Opinion / Columnist

THE REBIRTH OF BUKALANGA: A GREAT NATION

NOW TO THE NCUBE CLAN

ATTEMPTED NDEBELEFICATION OF THE NCUBE AND OTHER KALANGA CLANS

ON TO IZIDUKO ZAKWA-NCUBE

BUT HOW DO THE SOTHO COME INTO ALL THIS?



THE NCUBE CLAN BACK IN MATEBELELAND

NCUBE PRIESTHOOD IN THE MWALI RELIGION

THE NCUBE CLAN IS KALANGA

Since the publication of my book, The Rebirth of BuKalanga, a lot of interest has been generated in Kalanga identity, history, heritage and perhaps, even language. The interest has been both positive and negative, some wanting to know more about the Kalanga, some wanting to suppress Kalanga history and identity and keep it subsumed to Ndebele, Shona and Tswana identity (in Botswana in this case).Yet, one wonders, can the history, identity and languages of a People whose ancestors established one of the 3 Greatest Civilization in Africa be suppressed forever (the 3 Great Civilization are the Nzimabgwe [Zimbabwe] Civilization epitomized by Maphungubgwe, Great Zimbabwe and Khami Cities; the Axumite Civilization of Ethiopia and of course the Egyptian Civilization).But not only that, the Kalanga established the greatest Kingdoms known to man Africa South of the Sahara: the Mamboan Kingdoms of Maphungubgwe, the Monomotapa Empire, the Buthwa-Togwa Kingdom and the Lozwi Kingdom (these being actually successive phases of the same Kingdom).The Kalanga are also known to have established the first Iron Age Culture in South Africa about 500 AD, known as the Leopard's Kopje Culture (centered in what is now Matebeleland, North East District of Botswana and the Limpopo Province of South Africa). They would also go on to be the first in the region to practice mixed farming, domestication of cattle, gold-mining, smelting and trade with the Phoenicians, Arabians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Portuguese, and by some accounts, the Chinese.The Kalanga also established a Religion with the most advanced idea of the Supreme Being - Mwalism - way before the entry of missionaries into Southern Africa, a religion, interestingly, cited by many a scholar and writer in the field as surprisingly Yahweist: complete with Priests, a central mountain of worship (Matopo-Njelele) and rituals and traditions unbelievably similar to Yahweist religions of the Middle East. Of course this has been attributed to Kalanga origins in what is now the Sudan-Ethiopia-Egypt region.(NB: at this time the Kalanga comprised what have remained to this day as BaKalanga, the Nambya and sections of the Venda, Lobedu, etc).It is only fitting that we delve into the history and identity of the Ncube (Hoko/Shoko/Mfene) Clan immediately after talking about the Mwali Religion, for this is the Priestly Family of the Mwali Religion. Since time immemorial, the Ncubes have served at Njelele (the top Mwali Shrine) as Priests.(The other clans like the Moyo-Lozwi served in other capacities as Political Leaders; the Nleya-Mndambeli as the Ambassadors and Intelligence Agencies, the Mihha as the Engineering Corps; the Kumbudzi as the Historians and Custodians of Knowledge; the Ntombo as the Masons/Civil Engineering Corps; the Kadzaha as Keepers of the Royal Harem; the Sungwaha as the Royal Counsels/Legal Advisers, etc.)That this is the historical arrangement in BuKalanga is not in dispute. Instead, as the Kalanga re-find themselves and reestablish their long-suppressed identity, language and indeed Peoplehood, we find ourselves stacked up against opposition from particularly the Mthwakazists (Ndebele Nationalists) and the Shona Imperialists.Of course, the primary reason of opposition is that these two have long built their claims to greatness on suppression of the Kalanga and their identity, dating back from 19th Century Conquests through to British Colonialism and the Gukurahundi Genocide.Apparently, the fear now is that if the Kalanga reassert themselves, all the years of Shona myth taught as history will be found wanting; whilst on the other hand, the Mthwakazists fear that their numbers will be exposed for how low they really are.For lets face it: ubuNdebele was never an identity of the Kalanga (and Tonga, Nambya, Sotho, Venda, etc), ubuNdebele was only extended to and imposed (violently through raids, British machinations working with Ndebele Indunas to quell Kalanga anti-colonial activity), etc after the "Nketha Census" which showed that Nguni (the real Matebele or Ndebele) numbers were drastically falling, about the 1930s.To boost their numbers, led by the Matebele Homeland Society (predecessor to the modern Mthwakazist movements), began imposing the idea that everyone in the region now called Matebeleland is "Ndebele". So divisive among the Ndebele themselves was this issue that it resulted in the formation of the Sons of Mzilikazi Cultural Society as a counter-center of power to the MHS as it believed that "Ndebelefying" the Kalanga (so-called AmaHole) and other Nations (Tonga, Venda, Sotho, etc) was a bastardization of Ndebele identity.In line with their attempt to perpetuate Ndebelefication of the Kalanga and boost Ndebele numbers in the process (an act done masquerading as "uniting Matebeleland"), the Mthwakazists deny the self-evident, historically and empirically verifiable facts that people with the surnames NCUBE, Moyo, Ndlovu, Dube, etc are actually People of Kalanga Stock.Their central argument is that since these surnames also exist in what is now South Africa (and indeed in KwaZulu-Natal) and as far as Malawi, it cannot be true that these are Kalanga surnames (of course the same people have no problem with the fact that the Nguni themselves are found all the way from KwaZulu-Natal to Malawi, yet find it unbelievable that the Kalanga, with a settled history in the region dating 2000 years, can be found south of the Limpopo and north of the Zambezi!)It is also argued that since the Ncube (and other Kalanga clans) now have praises (izibongo/iziduko) that seem to capture a Nguni origin, they cannot be of Kalanga stock. Of course I have previously commented elsewhere that if we follow this line of argument, does it mean that a Mthethwa or Sithole (100% Nguni stock) ceases to the Nguni simply because they now live in Manicaland, speak Shona and carry Shona praises?Does a ben Yehudah, Cohen or Levi cease to be a Jew simply because they are now living in Brazil or South Africa or Australia? Are we not even to this day hearing Americans proudly stating that they are Italian, Scot, Irish, even when they speak none of those languages but American English? Why then must a different standard apply to the Ncube and other Kalanga Peoples spread across Southern Africa from the Cape Coast to the Congo?The earliest record we have of iziduko of the Ncube in a Nguni language is the writing of Henry Masila-Ndawo writing in 1938 in his book, Iziduko ZamaHlubi (the Kalanga version is recorded by Kumile Masola in 1920 in his book Nhau Dza BaKalanga, of course we do have even earlier records from missionary records).In his record, Masila-Ndawo records the typically Nguni surnames, and interestingly, skips Ncube/Mncube (and only describes them in his text, with a major footnote: "ngabafikayo emaHlubini, bambi kubo benobukhosi babo" - the list is on page 5 of his book). He further states: "Ababantu babesisizwe esibe siphethwe ziinkosi zaso. Ayemi ngasentla-ntshona kwelaKwaZulu-Natal." Of course this already tells us of the external origins of the Ncubes among the Nguni groups.In delineating the iziduko of the Ncubes, he states: "Yimzilankatha, Ngabasekuhleni, ngabaseThusini, Ngamalandela-langa, Abamfazazan' omfutshane, Bambophelela ngemvanana, NgabaseNdalameni basebuhleni belizwe, Banjengelitshe lamanzi, lona liluhlaza, Ngabakwaziyane". Then later we have variants of the same that are largely similar.Now, of particular interest is (1) They are not originally Nguni (babesisizwe esibe siphethwe ziinkosi zaso; NgabaseNdalameni (reference to gold no doubt, something the Kalanga are famous for), and in what may be the most instructive line in the praises, we find a translation of the Kalanga praises into Zulu. The Kalanga goes: "Bobamhulu, Yaba mhulu yabang'ombe" (talking to growth and reference to growth of a cattle head). Is it a coincidence that we find the same line even in the Nguni variant: "Nina bakaNkomo zilal'uwaca"?The praises also go on to state: "Nafik' eSwazini naphenduk'uNkambule, Msuthu". This not only emphasizes what Masila-Ndawo has already told us (the external origins of this Clan to the Nguni), but also identifies them as Msuthu. This of course carries enormous importance, for that's exactly where the Kalangean link is found. Being the immediate northern neighbors to them, the Nguni would have seen anyone from their north as Sotho.Several writers from Alfred T. Bryant (1901), J. T. Bent (1892), Dr. George MacCall Theal (1896), Henry Masila-Ndawo (1932), Mtompe Khumalo (born 1875 and writing in 1944 through Dr. Neville Jones), S. M. Molema (1920), Clement Doke (1937) etc record that there was a major Kalanga migration and settlement into what is now KwaZulu-Natal, part of it prior to Nguni settlement and part of it pushed by Nguni migrations down south from the north.Dr. Clement Doke, citing an even earlier writer, Nicolaas Jacobus Van Warmelo (born 1904) and living among the Sotho and Venda, records the following:"This sub-group (of the Pedi) consists of a large main body and several smaller members which, being numerically so weak, have not hitherto received much attention. The bulk consists of the tribes of the center, viz. those of Sekukuniland, Pokwani, and neighboring districts.These are the Pedi and those other tribes, either loosely called Pedi or speaking the Pedi language, which have been under Pedi control and influence for a long time, such as the Tau, Kwena (Mongatane and Kopa [probably Khupe]), Ntwane, Koni (both those offshoots of Matlala's who migrated hither from Pietersberg, and those numerous other small groups with the totems tlou [elephant], phiri [monkey], phuthi [duiker], nare [buffalo], kwena [crocodile], nkwe [leopard], tau [lion] and thswene [baboon], which are of quite different origin), and the Roka from across the Olifants River.Farther north, in Pietersburg district, are the tribes of Mphahlele, Thswene, Mathabatha, Matlala and Dikxale, all of them Koni from the East, who scaled the mountains round Haenertsburg and settled on the plains of Pietersburg. There are further the Molepo, the Tlokwa and some Birwa (from South-Western Rhodesia), and the big tribes of Moletse (Kwena) and Xananwa of Blauwberg.Smaller subsections of the Transvaal Sotho, showing various peculiar characteristics, are found in the extreme North-East and East of the Sotho area. In the North-East are the Phalaborwa, the tribes of Masisimala, of Mamidja and of Sekororo. The latter are, according to tradition, of Shona [actually Kalanga] origin, and with them therefore the related Letswalo, who now live in the Woodbush.Finally, there are the Kxaxa, Mmamabolo's people, and the half-dozen tribes of Lobedu who have the wild boar (kolobe) as totem and are more closely related to the Venda than any other Sotho tribes. In the extreme East is a subdivision formed by the Kutswe, Pai, and Pulana tribes, all except the first being represented by numerous small independent sections. They live in or just below the Drakensberg escarpment in Pilgrimsrest district (van Warmelo, in Doke, 1937)."As we can see, just as among the Nguni groups, even among the Sotho, the Peoples with the surnames that we submit are Kalanga surnames are also identified as originating in BuKalanga. Of course, the Nguni would have thought of them as Sotho since they tended to encounter them among BaSotho. And of course we know that generally, Nguni groups do not use animal and body parts for their surnames.(See The Historiography of Southern Africa: Proceedings of the Experts Meeting held at Gaborone, Botswana from 7 to 11 March, 1977, "On the other hand one is struck by the fact that all these other groups observe totems to mark descent, and the Nguni, as a rule, do not" (Unesco 1980: Online).)More evidence could be provided to show how Kalanga Peoples settled all across Southern Africa, however, space does not allow further treatment. However, I would like to now turn to the Ncube Peoples in Matebeleland. We have shown that the Ncube (and the Ndlovu, Dube, etc) south of the Limpopo are actually originally a people of Kalanga stock.This challenges the key point of argument of the Mthwakazists: that some of these surnames are actually of Nguni origin and the people thereof crossed the Limpopo with Mzilikazi. Of course this flies in the face of historical facts.Not only were all these People, Ncube included, treated and classified as "AmaHole", but in his narrations to Dr. Neville Jones, the Rev. Mtompe Khumalo clearly states that these surnames are those of the Kalanga, and in his list of Nguni (Ndebele) surnames, does not list either Ncube, Ndlovu, Dube, Moyo, Sibanda, etc. In fact, he cites them as "AmaHole" surnames. Historically we know that people that crossed the Limpopo with Mzilikazi were either classified as Abezansi or Abanhla. How then would these ones be exceptions?Of course, the biggest hurdle for the Mthwakazist to overcome with regards to the Ncube clan's origins and identity is their priesthood in the Mwali Religion. The Mwali Religion is absolutely unknown among the Nguni, and if the Ncube are Nguni who "came with Mzilikazi", how do we explain their priesthood in the Mwali Religion, when that religion is not known among the Nguni? In fact, Ncube priesthood predates Nguni settlement in Southern Africa by centuries!There is just no way the Ncube Clan can have been Nguni, yet be Priests of a central religion of BuKalanga. It does not make political, histerio-geographical nor chronological sense. In fact, whether we look at their settlement in what is now Matebeleland or KwaZulu-Natal, all the available evidence points one direction: BUKALANGA.Available evidence, documentary, demonstrated by geographical settlement or religious, shows us that the Ncube are a Kalanga Clan. Whether they now speak IsiNdebele, IsiZulu or any other language, all that is a result of the dynamics of migration, conquest and assimilation. Indeed, as Bryant and Doke state:The frontier wars of Tshaka (and Mzilikazi) hardly left any ethnic group untouched. Many were crushed to a point where they lost all memory of their origins, and indeed, as a means of survival, completely abandoned their languages and now speak the language of the conqueror. Of course that is true be it in Matebeleland or KwaZulu-Natal.PS. Some Mthwakazists would argue that the "NC" sound does not exist in TjiKalanga. That may be true to some extent, but does not negate what the evidence suggest. We know that people tended to take on the name of their settled place as a means of survival in the face of war and genocide, and it may be the case that the Hoko/Shoko took on this surname from their settled place or that which they were referred to by the Nguni - eMaNcubeni. We find this also among the Shulo/Hulo Clan that takes its surname (Khupe/Khope) from the place of settlement (Khopeng in Sekhukhuneland).With 18th and 19th century life having been that of survival in the face of war and genocide, migrations and convulsions, intrusions and extrusions (Dr. Getrude Caton-Thompson - The Zimbabwe Culture) it should not surprise us that that the Hoko/Shoko in Matebeleland would have adopted the means of survival of those across the Limpopo in the face of the horrid Zulu assegai from Tshaka to Mzilikazi.Thus, whilst retaining their praises and priesthood in the Mwali Religion, took on the survival names used by their compatriots in what is now KwaZulu-Natal to evade the Ndebele Assegai. Of course to this day people change names, surnames and pronunciations thereof for survival purposes. We see people today returning with new versions of their surnames from South Africa as a means to ensure economic survival.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. This aphorism, coined more than 100 years ago by George Bernard Shaw in his play Man and Superman, sums up the essence of the 27 women and men whose stories are told in Vietnamese and English in a newly published compilation entitled Redefining Success.

They are social entrepreneurs, people who establish startups based on various business models to develop and fund solutions to social, cultural, or environmental problems. In Viet Nam, where startup has become a pervasive buzzword denoting progress and financial success, the concept of social startups is little known. The book aims to awaken awareness of the idea and inspire its development.

Almost 40 years ago, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher insisted that the weaker members of society should be given fishing rods rather than fish  tools with which to change their lives, rather than welfare payments that perpetuate their dependence. With immense compassion and drive, the social entrepreneurs featured in this book do just that.

They and the vulnerable people they serve have not only found their own fishing rods, but also figured out how to fish, how to process the fish, how to distribute it for consumption, writes Dr ang Hoang Giang, a social activist.

The books protagonists are both men/women and supermen/women. Some have known disadvantage or tragedy. In their modest patch, each strives to change the communities in which they live. The book follows their ups and downs, the dreams and naivete often warring with despair, as they confront the lack of material resources to carry out their vision.

The book follows both men/women and supermen/women ups and downs, the dreams and naivete often warring with despair, as they confront the lack of material resources to carry out their vision.  VNS Photo oan Tung

The book is the brainchild of Pham Kieu Oanh, a social worker and community developer, who first encountered the concept of social enterprises more than 10 years ago.

At the time, I thought the business world had nothing to do with the community development work. I simply assumed that it was the responsibility of profit-making companies to shoulder part of the funding for community development, and we should mind our own business, she writes.

After being exposed to the work of The One Foundation in Ireland and similar groups, Oanh started realising how the power of business could be efficiently harnessed to address social issues and affect change. In 2008 she established the Center for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP). Over the past eight years, CSIP in collaboration with local and foreign partners, has established the initial foundation for a social enterprise community in Viet Nam.

One member of the community is Nguyen Quang Thach, and this is how he started out on a quest to improve education for children in rural Viet Nam.

He wanders the country in a white, worn-out shirt, dirty Adidas shoes with worn soles. His entire luggage can fit in an old backpack. He eats at roadside food stalls, asks to spend the night at peoples homes. He travels 20 kilometres a day on foot, only stopping to give out books and talk to students and parents. There are also days when he is sick and cannot drag himself about any longer. But once he gets better, he gets going, the book describes.

Thach has invented the Family Bookshelf, the Parent Bookshelf and other literacy projects. So far, communities have built more than 10,000 bookshelves, spreading the reading culture to regions where it did not exist.

The business model was simple: If each individual were to donate a few hundred thousand ong (US$10-40) a year a whole generation could be intellectually literate and change the nations future, Thach explains. In 2016, he was one of two individuals awarded the King Sejong Literacy Prize by UNESCO.

Other soldiers in this battle for a more humane, just society have achieved different kinds of recognition. Duong Phuong Hanh lost most of her hearing as a child. Until the age of 40 she lived in a world of virtual silence, alternately embarrassed by her disability and fearful of losing her livelihood. The book describes a journey that culminated in her founding of the Centre for Consultancy & Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2016, the first and only social organisation in Viet Nam founded by and serving the hearing-impaired.

The initiatives are based on different business models and goals. Most if not all these entrepreneurs had no experience in business. Social workers Thai Thi Le Khanh and Le Phuong, for example, started a project to prevent children from dropping out of school and support poor women in improving their income in 1990. The project has evolved into a social organization called Mai Vietnamese Handicraft, which employs 22 women and generates at least US$1million a year.

Whether developing chemical-free farming, reviving the art of calligraphy, preserving traditional ethnic minority culture and enabling it to flourish, the initiatives all have one thing in common: they redefine the notion of success in a materialistic world. Formally defined as not-for-profit enterprises, they profit society. VNS
SEOUL  North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific on Friday, responding to new UN sanctions with what appeared to be its furthest-ever missile flight amid high tensions over its nuclear programmes.

The launch, from near Pyongyang, came after the United Nations Security Council imposed an eighth set of measures on the isolated country over its ballistic missile and atomic weapons programmes.

That followed its sixth nuclear test - by far its largest yet - earlier this month, which Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb small enough to fit onto a missile.

In New York, the Security Council called an emergency meeting for later on Friday.

The US Pacific Command confirmed Fridays rocket was an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) and said it did not pose a threat to North America, or to the US Pacific territory of Guam, which Pyongyang has threatened to bracket with "enveloping fire".

Seouls defence ministry said it probably travelled around 3,700 kilometres and reached a maximum altitude of 770 kilometres.

It was "the furthest overground any of their ballistic missiles has ever travelled", Joseph Dempsey of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said on Twitter.

It was a "clear indication North Korea has range - not necessarily accuracy - to follow through (the) Guam plan", he added.

The North has raised global tensions with its rapid progress in weapons technology.

The Norths last missile launch, a Hwasong-12 IRBM just over two weeks ago, also overflew Japans main islands and was the first to do so for years.

But when Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July that appeared to bring much of the US mainland into range, it fired them on lofted trajectories that avoided passing over the archipelago nation.

"The North is sending a message which is, we are not cowering before any sanctions and our warnings are not empty threats," Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said.

Millions of Japanese were jolted awake by blaring sirens and emergency text message alerts after the missile was fired.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo could "never tolerate" what he called a "dangerous provocative action that threatens world peace".

Tokyo had protested to Pyongyang in the "strongest words possible", chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga added.

The missile overflew Japan for around two minutes, reports said, but there were no immediate indications of objects falling onto Japanese territory.

Oil shipments

South Koreas military immediately carried out a ballistic missile drill of its own on Friday in the East Sea, Koreas name for the Sea of Japan, the defence ministry said.

The Hyunmu missile travelled 250 kilometres -- a trajectory intentionally chosen to represent the distance to the launch site at Sunan, near Pyongyangs airport, it added.

President Moon Jae-In called an emergency meeting of Seouls national security council, a standard procedure after the North fires a missile or tests a nuclear device.

The United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed on Monday are the strongest so far, banning the Norths textile trade and imposing restrictions on shipments of oil products, among a series of other measures.

But analysts expect them to do little to dissuade Pyongyang, which says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself against the threat of invasion by the US.

Earlier this year US President Donald Trump threatened it with "fire and fury", heightening fears of conflict.  AFP
ST. LOUIS -- U2's concert scheduled for Saturday night at the Dome at America's Center is canceled. So is Ed Sheeran's for Sunday night at Scottrade Center.

Live Nation and U2 announced the news in a joint statement. "We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size. We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity.

In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans safety by proceeding with tonights concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment. - Live Nation and U2

Fans who purchased tickets online will receive a refund on the credit card tickets were ordered on. Refunds for non-internet purchases will be available starting at 10 a.m. Monday at at point of purchase.

Later Saturday in an Instagram post on U2's account, Bono posted that he was "deeply saddened at what has happened in St. Louis and having to cancel our show tonight....I found myself reading Dr. King's speech from the National Cathedral and asking myself is this 1968 or 2017?"

Sheeran's representatives cited "safety of the fans" and said he would "look forward to returning to St. Louis as soon as Ed's schedule will allow in 2018."

On Friday, former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty in the murder of Anthony Lamar Smith, leading to much unrest in St. Louis including downtown and in the Central West End.

Other events got called off Saturday in the wake of the Stockley protests. PeaceFest 2017 at Harris Stowe State University was postponed and rescheduled for Oct. 28. The Science Uncorked event at the St. Louis Science Center, set for Saturday night, also was postponed. A new date was not immediately announced.

The St.Louis Symphony Orchestra on Saturday canceled its "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" concert for Saturday night and said it was working to reschedule the date.

Another Saturday cancellation was Shakespeare in the Streets in front of the downtown St. Louis Public Library. It was a victim Friday night as well.

Also rescheduled were comedian Mike Birbiglia's two shows Saturday night at the Pageant - moved t Dec. 10, and Will Hoge's show at Delmar Hall until Dec. 5.

A slew of events were canceled or postponed Friday as well, including the Moonlight Ramble bike ride, originally set for Saturday night. The Cardinals Care 6K run set for Sunday also was called off.

U2's "The Joshua Tree Tour" commemorates the 30th anniversary of the band's landmark album, and is one of the year's biggest treks. The tour has two more U.S. dates before heading to South America.
CEDAR FALLS  Sharan Leventhal, a member of the acclaimed Kepler Quartet will headline the second-annual Midwest Violin Caucus this week at the University of Northern Iowa.

Leventhal, also a professor at the Boston Conservatory and half of Marimolin, a pioneering violin-marimba duo, will present master classes for violin students, as well as perform at an early evening concert.

Eighty or more young people are expected to attend the caucus, which culminates in a free concert at 5 p.m. Saturday in Davis Hall at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. No tickets are required.

Sharans presence will bring talented students from the entire Midwest to our doorstep. The experience they will receive is one that will last a lifetime, says Ross Winter, UNI assistant professor of violin and caucus organizer.

Last years debut caucus was a great success for students from throughout Iowa, as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. This year, there is enthusiasm and interest from throughout the Midwest. Young musicians are exposed and inspired by hearing other students their age perform at a very high level and receive some really fantastic teaching, Winter says.

Leventhal is a veteran performer, touring four continents as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. She won the 1984 International Contemporary Music Festival in Germany, and since then, has built an international reputation as a champion of contemporary music.

She teaches at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, and is known for her detailed approach to effortless playing and injury prevention.

Teaching is extremely important to Leventhal. As Ive gotten older, teaching has become quite central to what I should be doing in the world. Interacting with young people in a different place is always attractive. Im a bit of a crusader, Leventhal explains.

Being exposed to and educated in the arts, she says, changes who we are in a fundamental way, in how we view the world, and our relationship to ourselves and to each other. Young people should be trying something that is compelling and important to them.

In addition to the Kepler Quartet and Marimolin, Leventhal is a founding member of the Gramercy Trio and appears regularly with the Boston Artists Ensemble. She can be heard on multiple recordings and has premiered more than 130 works.

Students will perform parts from Vivaldis Four Seasons with Leventhal as soloist. She will perform with a UNI faculty pianist and also perform duos with Ross. The Bach Double Violin Concerto is also on the program with a different young soloist on each movement.

In the long term, Winter says music students are being introduced to UNI on a grander scale, by bringing in fabulous, top-notch artists, whether these young people go on to pursue professional careers as teachers or musicians or play for fun and personal enjoyment.
WATERLOO -- The children gathered on the rug around Jaine Benson as she called on each of them, pointing to a chair or a T-shirt and asking them the color.

It's a typical drill in the early days of kindergarten, and this Lou Henry Elementary School class looks like many others. Where the class stands out is in how it sounds.

The yellow shirt is jaune, the red chair is rouge, the white screen is blanc while other shirts and objects in the room are bleu, vert and gris -- French for blue, green and grey. The question Benson asks as she quizzes each student is in French, as well.

The new dual-language immersion kindergarten is taught in French for half of each day and in English for the other half. Benson and Kelley Lattimer co-teach the class, one of the few in Iowa.

The arrangement reflects the makeup of the class. Ten of the children are native French speakers whose families immigrated to Waterloo from Africa's Democratic Republic of the Congo. The other 12 are native English speakers.

"It all came about because in the past few years we've had a large influx in Congolese students," said Jake Youngkent, Lou Henry principal. "That's been a growing population in our building for the past several years."

Administrators were planning a dual-immersion class that would start in a Waterloo Community Schools' building a year from now. They had visited a Spanish program in Marshalltown and had been considering a class in that language.

"But we had a series of events that kind of opened this door," said Youngkent. "We were staffed for three sections of kindergarten, and it became apparent very quickly that we were going to need a fourth section."

Benson, a certified French teacher, was serving as a district substitute. Lattimer, who had been a Lou Henry English language learners' teacher, has a K-6 certification and a reading endorsement.

"Things just kind of fit together to start," said Youngkent. Lattimer takes the the lead on writing the lesson plans and the English teaching portion. Benson leads the French portion.

The class started on Sept. 5, more than a week into school. Parent meetings were held the week before.

"We had 12 spots for English-speaking students," said Youngkent, with 24 families interested. All 10 of the French-speaking kindergartners would be in the class, the others were chosen by lottery.

"It just seemed that we had the staffing, we had the students and we were very pleased that we had the parent support," said Amy White, the district's ELL facilitator, who was involved in the dual-immersion planning.

"It made sense to move forward," said Charles McNulty, the district's associate superintendent for educational services.

Unique approach

The new class is Waterloo Schools' latest "signature program," a term the district uses to distinguish offerings that are unique to the area. This includes the International Baccalaureate Diploma, a rigorous two-year college preparation program, and the Waterloo Career Center, which includes a growing menu of hands-on career and technical education courses.

"You don't build academic achievement from intervention," said McNulty. Rather, it comes from "opportunities for innovation and empowerment for our students. Those are called 'signature programs.'"

He and other district leaders see the dual-immersion class in the same light.

"Too often, we don't recognize diversity as a true opportunity for excellence -- because that's what it is," said McNulty.

The district has an abundance of cultural and linguistic diversity among its students. "We have over 40 languages spoken districtwide, and I think just over 30 languages spoken that qualify for ELL services," said White. Spanish makes up the largest group of native speakers after English.

"We'd be looking at our opportunities to develop a Spanish immersion pathway, too," said McNulty. "I think we'll have no problem filling a classroom with a dual-language focus" on Spanish.

Kara Rash, a West High School Spanish teacher, initially brought the idea of a dual-immersion program to McNulty and her principal. She saw the difficulties her students had learning the language.

"I came to the conclusion that they're starting too late," she said, and began researching the dual-immersion approach. "Your brain is capable (of learning in two languages), you just have to start at a young age."

Rash was part of the group that studied the idea over the past year and visited Marshalltown's program. "That's where I really started seeing we can do this in Waterloo," she said.

Elise DuBord, an associate professor of Spanish linguistics at the University of Northern Iowa, said she has seen the difference when a student is immersed in language study from a young age and sticks with it through high school.

"For the students who took four to five years of high school Spanish, they're pretty good when they get to college," said DuBord. But those who have been in an immersion program since kindergarten, she reported, often speak nearly as well as native speakers.

She noted that, along with Marshalltown, there are Spanish dual-immersion programs in West Liberty and Sioux City among Iowa school districts. There are also several Spanish immersion programs in private schools across the state. French is a different matter.

"As far as I know, this is the first French dual-language program," she said, in the state. "That's pretty hard to come by anywhere in the U.S."

While there are many approaches to bilingual education and teaching English to non-native speakers, DuBord said research has shown the effectiveness of dual-immersion programs involving native speakers of both English and a foreign language.

"We sort of see that as the gold standard for language acquisition," she noted. "It meets so many of the needs" for both student groups.

DuBord said a lot of research has shown the minority language speakers "actually learn English faster and they also are able to keep up academically with their peers at the same grade level."

On the side of native English speakers, "there are many cognitive advantages to learning another language at a young age" -- including helping to develop math and reasoning, social skills, and even empathy, she said. "It also helps them to look at things from two different perspectives."

As dual-immersion helps a young learner maintain a native language, that can preserve important connections to older generations in the U.S. or another country. And the increased familiarity of the native English speakers with a new language can encourage their families to get to know immigrants in the community.

"I think it can have a really positive impact on community building for the immigrant to get more involved," said DuBord. "I think that can be really positive at a community level."

Work in progress

The pair of Lou Henry teachers is still shaping their approach to instructing the students.

"Right now, I'm doing colors and some numbers and shapes," said Benson. The French speakers are quickly picking up on what she's teaching, but the English speakers don't always. She is learning how to adjust instruction to meet each student's needs.

"By the end of this month, I'll know which kids learn better directly and which learn by inference," said Benson.

Lattimer cites one effect of the dual-language approach in the class that is already evident.

"I have definitely seen the French kids have more confidence," she said, because their native language is being taught.

As far as the English speakers, "they feel kind of special," she said, since they are learning something different from peers in other classes.

Enzo Tchyombo, one of the French-speaking kindergartners, talked about some of what he has been learning, including how to spell red and blue in English. He is also learning about appropriate classroom behavior.

"We are listening. We have to keep our eyes on the teacher," he said. "When she tells us to go line up, we go line up."

Olivia Iverson is learning, too. But she seems to recognize more is being asked of her kindergarten class than others at the school.

"I like learning French, but I like learning English more," said Olivia, since she already speaks it. She should have plenty of time to grow in her understanding, though.

The intent with the current dual-immersion students is to provide the instruction throughout the elementary grades, keeping them together in the same class.

With the current Congolese population in the district, program developers would like to see another French dual-immersion kindergarten class start next year when these students move on to first grade. While Lou Henry has enrolled the most Congolese children in the district, White said Lincoln Elementary School has a large number of French-speaking students. Several other district schools have only a scattering of these students including Irving, Kingsley and Kittrell elementaries; George Washington Carver Academy and Hoover Middle School; and West High School.

Administrators note launching further classes depends on having enough interested families that are native speakers of one foreign language as well as needed staffing and financial resources. For this year's class, that meant hiring another teacher, a cost that was paid for out of the district's general fund.

"I think, being a signature program, we would look for how we might ... provide this to students across the district," said White.

Youngkent added, "Our goal is to offer this pathway for kids through elementary and hopefully into high school."

DuBord said "very few" dual-immersion programs continue into high school. Some may offer a class or two, but bilingual high schools largely exist in areas with much larger minority populations.

However the program is developed, she's glad to see the approach emerging in Waterloo Schools.

"It gives that minority language more status," said DuBord. As native English speaking peers are learning their language, the immigrant students are more likely to maintain ties to it.

"I think it becomes a big motivator for both groups of students to really succeed in both languages," she said.
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian takes a historical look at Latin American diplomacy to argue that there is precedent for dealing with a situation like Venezuela. He cites the Contadora Group in particular, which worked on the Central American crisis in the 1980s.





Today, the world and region are immersed in dynamics that are not dissimilar to the past. The case of Cuba shows what the region must avoid. Instead, Latin Americans should emulate cooperative efforts made in Central America by the Contadora Group. This method could help to stabilize the situation in Venezuela before it is too late. Whether the states of Latin America have learned from the past or have the political will, however, remains to be seen.

He uses the case of the Cuban Revolution to show the passivity of Latin American governments, which allowed for Cuba's isolation. Doing the same with Venezuela could have the same effect, which in practice could mean years more of repression.This has been a vexing question. It is in the collective interest to find a solution to the crisis. Venezuela's problems will spill over. But that spillover is not uniform. Bolivia is more committed to ideology, for example. Plus, such an effort requires considerable time and commitment. Colombia is implementing a peace process while Brazil is trying to impeach everyone.Article after article has been written about what Latin Americato do. More should analysis what they're actually doing now and why. I gave my pessimistic view about all this earlier this year.
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Opinion / Columnist

Tsvangirai is just an example of a failed leader who cannot think and, like a car locked in one gear with a broken stirring shaft and no breaks, he can only go in one direction regardless how stupid and dangerous that may be."This morning, he (Tsvangirai) was assuring Zimbabweans he will be home soon; urging the nation to cooperate with the ongoing nationwide exercise to acquire birth certificates and national registration documents that will enable them to exercise their right to vote," Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said."We urged Zimbabweans to turn out for voter registration in their multitudes so as to deal with the multiple cancers afflicting the nation that include corruption and clueless leadership that is concentrating on succession battles at the expense of the plight of the ordinary people."In his usual light-hearted manner, President Tsvangirai said he was more worried about the country's health, urging Zimbabweans to vote wisely next year so as to deal with the multi-layered afflictions of the country's political economy."President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs landing the nation in this economic mess and political paralysis but, if the truth must be said, it is the corrupt and incompetent opposition that has kept us stuck in the mess these last two decades. MDC have had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but have wasted them all.Even now, with the benefit of hindsight, Tsvangirai cannot get it in his head that Zanu PF has been rigging elections to stay in power and hence the reason why the country needs to implement the democratic reforms before holding another election. It is futile to keep contesting flawed elections whose results are pre-determined.Although, Tsvangirai has complained of Zanu PF rigging the elections every time he has, nonetheless, consistent refused to do anything to address the problem of vote rigging head-on by implementing the democratic reforms convince he can win still win the elections regardless. In the March 2008 elections, for example, Zimbabweans voted for Tsvangirai in droves to give him a 73% victory, according to President Mugabe's own inadvertent admission. Mugabe ordered the Zanu PF controlled ZEC to recount the votes and after six weeks of "cooking up" the figures Tsvangirai's votes were whittled down to 47% - enough to force the run-off.In the run-off, Zanu PF "declared war on the people", to use Tsvangirai's own words; to force them to vote for Mugabe. President Mugabe turned his earlier 27% defeat into a landslide, 84%, victory.SADC leaders refused to accept President Mugabe's victory as a true reflection of the free and democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe; not after such blatant vote rigging and wanton violence. They proposed the formation of the GNU which was then tasked to implemented a raft of democratic reforms; along the same lines as had been proposed for Kenya the year before, 2007.Whilst Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga understood the importance of implementing the democratic reforms and got on with it, PM Morgan Tsvangirai did not implement even one reform during the GNU, not one. How he still expected to win elections in which Zanu PF can cook up a 73% victory to 47% to force a run-off or use wanton violence to overhaul a 27% into a 84% is a complete mystery.SADC leaders advised Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to contest the 2013 elections with no reforms in place; it was obvious Zanu PF would rig the vote."If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai & co. in June 2013, according to Dr Ibbo Mandaza who attended the Maputo summit.There is only one rational explanation why MDC did not implement any reforms and continue to contest flawed elections - greed."The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious - withdraw from the (2013) elections," explained Senator Coltart in his recent book."The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."MDC factions have since found each other and formed the MDC Alliance but there will be no talk of boycotting next year's elections, as Senator Coltart had suggested. MDC are going to contest elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happens to be as long as there is a chance to win the few seat Zanu PF throws away, bait, to entice the opposition to contest.Tsvangirai was right on one point; Zimbabwe is dying from many cancers and the mother of these cancers being "clueless leadership" and when it comes to democratic change he is totally clueless.After all the huffing and puffing about MDC being the party for democratic change, as the party name implies, all the "Chinja maitiro! Gukula izenzo! Change your ways!" sloganiaring; "No reform, no election!" party congress resolution, etc., etc.; MDC has not brought about even one democratic change. Indeed, MDC has been the biggest obstacle to meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe because of MDC leaders are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent.President Tsvangirai urged "Zimbabweans to vote wisely next year." Yeah, right! The nation did much more than vote wisely in March 2008; they risked life and limb to give you staggering 73% victory in March 2008, you twat! You have never become president because Robert Mugabe has blatantly cooked up vote and used brutal violence to deny ordinary Zimbabweans their most basic human right; the right to free, fair and credible elections.For Pete's sake, what is it going to take you, Tsvangirai and your equally corrupt and incompetent MDC friends to accept that Zanu PF's vote rigging exploits are way off the scale to be defeated by simple acts like voter mobilization. We need to implement the democratic reforms. We need free, fair and credible elections if we are ever going to get out of this political and economic mess we are stuck in today.