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Total 100 articles, created at 2016-07-15 00:01 1 Ruth Bader Ginsburg sorry for calling Donald Trump 'faker' (1.28/2) US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg apologises for her recent criticism of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump 2016-07-14 20:35 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 2 English Conversation Questions / Debates 14,020 discussion and conversation questions for speaking practice. 701 FREE ESL lesson plans, handouts, worksheets and (1.04/2) downloads. Controversial and mainstream topics. 2016-07-14 20:36 826Bytes www.esldiscussions.com 3 Couple married while riding Carowinds Fury 325 coaster

(1.03/2) James Music and Cortni Bryant tied the knot on Fury325 at Carowinds Thursday morning. The Mount Airy couple met in 2015 and had their first official date at Carowinds last spring. 2016-07-14 20:36 2KB www.charlotteobserver.com 4 California Police Video Shows Fatal Shooting of 19-Year-Old Video (1.02/2) Fresno police on Wednesday released body-camera video of officers fatally shooting a 19-year-old man who ignored repeated commands to stand still and show his hands. 2016-07-14 21:29 1KB abcnews.go.com 5 Reports: Trump Picks Mike Pence For Vice President (1.02/2) Donald Trump will name Mike Pence as his running mate, tapping the Indiana governor as his vice presidential nominee ahead of next week's Republican National Convention, according to multiple news ou 2016-07-14 20:39 2KB dailycaller.com 6 Theresa May's cabinet: Who's in and who's out? (1.02/2) Theresa May is forming her government after becoming prime minister. Who is in - and out - of her first cabinet? 2016-07-14 20:37 19KB www.bbc.co.uk 7 The knockout blow – the risk of brain injury in mixed martial arts Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it (0.08/2) work? The passion driving fighters to be in the cage in the first place is one that will inevitably put them at risk of a brain injury. 2016-07-14 20:36 10KB www.newstatesman.com

8 Climate Change has vanished in the Cabinet reshuffle - how scared should we be? has only postponed the Punishment (0.08/2) Budget The new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy suggests it's not easy being green. 2016-07-14 20:36 8KB www.newstatesman.com 9 Midlife crisis? Why middle age isn't a problem to be solved Commons confidential: Jezza's new tricks (0.01/2) Three new books examine a period of life which seems to cause untold anxiety. But isn't there a case for just living it? 2016-07-14 20:36 16KB www.newstatesman.com 10 Of the People Americans share their hopes, fears and frustrations in interviews from the campaign trail. 2016-07-15 00:00 1KB www.nytimes.com 11 Stormers will not take struggling Kings lightly in dead rubber Although Stormers coach Robbie Fleck has said he will rest Bok locks Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit this weekend‚ he’s made it clear that the rest of the team will be full strength in order to maintain momentum. 2016-07-15 00:00 3KB www.timeslive.co.za 12 Hardcore Muslim extremists must be isolated in prison – report — RT UK A small group of proselytizing Islamist extremists among prisoners in England and Wales pose a severe threat and must be isolated in top-security prisons, a forthcoming report into the issue has concluded. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.rt.com 13 ‘Charming bastard’ appointed to lead EU negotiations — RT UK Prime Minister Theresa May has handed top cabinet posts to Brexiteers in a bid to reassure Tory MPs she will honor her “Brexit means Brexit” pledge. That includes putting long-time Euroskeptic and “charming bastard” David Davis at the helm of negotiations. 2016-07-15 00:00 6KB www.rt.com

14 Promoted upstarts Baroka FC continue to talk up their own prospects Premier Soccer League newcomers Baroka FC are here to stay‚ says club boss Khurishi Mphahlele. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 15 Russian Air Force intensifies strikes on terrorists near Palmyra (VIDEO) — RT News Russia used six long-range bombers to target terrorist forces and oil sites in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry reported, saying it is intensifying airstrikes near Palmyra. 2016-07-15 00:00 1KB www.rt.com 16 Former Orlando Pirates star Ian Palmer undergoes kidney transplant Former Orlando Pirates striker Ian Palmer has been admitted into hospital and will have a kidney transplant on Wednesday. 2016-07-15 00:00 864Bytes www.timeslive.co.za 17 out of the elections after losing last gasp bid The National Freedom Party (NFP) will not contest the local government elections in August‚ throwing the party’s survival into doubt. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 18 DA: ‘ANC candidates list represents corruption‚ declining service delivery and unemployment’ The Democratic Alliance says the mayoral candidates list announced by the ANC on Saturday night represents corruption‚ declining service delivery and unemployment. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 19 Lack of Parliament antics sees EFF’s media profile dip: survey The African National Congress (ANC) saw an uptick in its media profile‚ but for the wrong reason. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 20 SABC CEO Jimi Matthews quits: ‘What’s happening at the SABC is wrong' Acting South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) CEO Jimi Matthews has apparently resigned‚ citing having been “complicit in many decisions which I am not proud of”. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.timeslive.co.za

21 ‘Brexit and the shanty town between France and Britain’ by Maite Nkoana-Mashabane International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane has raised eyebrows with yet another display of 2016-07-15 00:00 4KB www.timeslive.co.za 22 Disqualifying NFP from polls violates voters’ constitutional rights: EFF The National Freedom Party (NFP) received the backing of another opposition party in the difficulties it’s facing regards its participation in the August 3 municipal polls. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 23 Campaign jingle composer named Duterte adviser The rocker is now a presidential adviser. Musician and businessman Ramon “RJ” Jacinto, who composed the campaign jingle of President Duterte in the May elections, has joined the 2016-07-15 00:00 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 24 PH seeks world support for court ruling The Philippines plans to call for world support at a meeting of Southeast Asian nations and the European Union in compelling China to respect an international tribunal’s ruling that rejected 2016-07-15 00:00 6KB globalnation.inquirer.net 25 Maguindanao town mayor survives rocket- propelled grenade attack DAVAO CITY -- A Maguindanao mayor survived an ambush around 5 p.m. Thursday, a report from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police office said. South Upi Mayor Reynalbert Insular was on 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 26 ‘Yolanda’ victims ask DSWD to probe housing aid funds ILOILO CITY—A group of survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) and its supporters asked Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo to audit funds meant for building 2016-07-15 00:00 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 27 Bohol, Samar cases illustrate brutality of campaign vs drugs CLARIN, Bohol—Alma Arcales Sabejon, 42, tried to flee her assailants, wounded in the initial volley of fire. Desperate, she pleaded for help to bus passengers who could just watch as the gunmen ran 2016-07-15 00:00 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net

28 Doc’s killer meted 40-yr prison term BACOLOD CITY—Justice for the violent death of a prominent doctor in the city four years ago finally came on July 12 when a regional trial court found a young man guilty of the murder. Dr. 2016-07-15 00:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 29 More drug rehab centers sought for addicts CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Police are urging local governments to build rehabilitation centers for drug dependents in each of the 22 legislative districts in Central Luzon. Chief Supt. 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 30 Toll of drug war on cops: 123 sacked The all-out war on drugs launched by the Duterte administration is taking its toll on those who are supposedly on the front line of the battle to stamp out the widespread trafficking of illegal 2016-07-15 00:00 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 31 Town that can’t move Mayon moves people away from volcano STO. DOMINGO, Albay—At least 269 families living on the slopes of Mt. Mayon in the village of Lidong in this town in Albay province have left their communities for new houses away from the 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 32 Rody’s antidrug drive a war vs poor, rights groups say Human rights groups and the former head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) expressed alarm on Thursday over the rising body count in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, saying it 2016-07-15 00:00 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 33 Munti sidewalks rid of vendors, even those who reelected mayor The City government has begun sidewalk-clearing operations in the Alabang viaduct area to rid the streets of “eyesores,” such as makeshift stalls and illegally parked vehicles, and also 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 34 cops storm suspect’s house, kill him in his briefs A man tagged as one of Pasig City’s top drug suspects was shot dead by the police inside his home allegedly because he resisted arrest and fired at the officers, while four men and a woman were 2016-07-15 00:00 5KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 35 Stuck in traffic, Macaraya happy Cafe France still delivered Pulling a double duty on Thursday, coach Egay Macaraya was relieved that at least one of his teams emerged victorious. The veteran mentor arrived before the third quarter of Cafe France's 2016-07-15 00:00 2KB sports.inquirer.net 36 De Lima asks Senate to probe drug slays Warning that the string of killings may escalate into a state- sponsored “crime against humanity,” Sen. Leila de Lima is pushing ahead with her proposed legislative inquiry into the 2016-07-15 00:00 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 37 Ex-admiral says US should defend Panatag WASHINGTON—The United States should be willing to use military force to oppose Chinese aggression at a disputed reef off the coast of the Philippines, a former commander of US forces in the Pacific 2016-07-15 00:00 4KB globalnation.inquirer.net 38 Fishers shift attention to UN rights complaint SUBIC, Zambales—Fishermen here have shifted their attention to a complaint they had filed against China in the United Nations on the heels of a landmark decision by the Permanent Court of 2016-07-15 00:00 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 39 Ex-VP Binay faces trial over P2-billion car park Former Vice President Jejomar Binay has been haled to the Sandiganbayan for his role in building what has been described as the world’s priciest car park in City. The Office of 2016-07-15 00:00 5KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 40 Sorry, no PNP, AFP pay raise Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Thursday said the government would not be able to fulfill President Duterte’s commitment to double the basic salary of state forces in his first year in office, 2016-07-15 00:00 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 41 CPL 2016: AB de Villiers blasts Tridents to victory over Patriots A brilliant innings from AB de Villiers helped the Barbados Tridents to victory in their Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match against the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 2016-07-14 22:14 3KB www.mid-day.com 42 Sporting stars, Bollywood, politicians to support Vijender An August gathering of sporting legends, politicians and Bollywood celebrities will be in full attendance when star boxer Vijender Singh takes on Australia's Kerry Hope in the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight Championship title 2016-07-14 21:58 2KB www.mid- day.com

43 Pulse Nightclub Released Back to Owner Video Pulse nightclub in Orlando has been released back to its owner, a little over a month after the June 12 mass shooting there that killed 49 people. 2016-07-14 21:30 988Bytes abcnews.go.com 44 Texas Woman Renews Driver's License at Age 102 Video Helen Maddox has been driving behind the wheel since 1930. 2016-07-14 21:29 2KB abcnews.go.com 45 ISIS battlefield numbers plummet, global attacks increase – leaked intel report — RT America The number of foreign Islamic State fighters has halved in just one year, according to a classified White House intelligence report seen by NBC News. The data, however, says these fighters are now carrying out attacks across the world. 2016-07-14 20:38 3KB www.rt.com 46 Energy Dept Scrambling After Electric Grid Problem Exposed Officials working for a government-run electric grid operator are scrambling to respond to a scathing Wall Street Journal expose on the poor security at critical electricity substations across the cou 2016-07-14 20:39 5KB dailycaller.com 47 VIDEO: Tumwater shooting scene sights and sounds Sights and sounds as police investigate a quadruple shooting in Tumwater on Wednesday morning. 2016-07-14 20:38 2KB www.thenewstribune.com 48 Navy Admiral: Selling Weapons Overseas Should Be Easier A top Pentagon official is calling to reform the approval process for selling military technology overseas as the U. S. approaches $40 billion in foreign military sales. Federal agencies are straini 2016-07-14 20:39 3KB dailycaller.com 49 VIDEO: 7 Seas Brewing celebrates 7 years Sights and sounds from 7 Seas Brewing's seventh anniversary party in Gig Harbor on Saturday. 2016-07-14 20:38 1KB www.thenewstribune.com

50 Breaking News English Lesson English News Lessons: Free 26-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini- lesson - National Dress - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events. 2016-07-14 20:36 1KB www.breakingnewsenglish.com 51 House GOP Takes On Obama-Backed Solar Power Stations House Republicans will target a series of Obama administration- subsidized solar power plants Thursday, many of which have torched birds as well as caused massive fires. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas 2016-07-14 20:39 3KB dailycaller.com 52 Misty Copeland scores role in 'Nutcracker' movie Ballerina Misty Copeland is making the leap -- or maybe a grand jeté -- to the big screen. 2016-07-14 21:22 1KB rss.cnn.com 53 Ronaldinho arrives in Chennai for Premier Futsal Amid a horde of scribes and waiting photographers, two-time FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho arrived in the city to grace the inaugural edition of Premier Futsal tournament 2016-07-14 21:21 2KB www.mid-day.com 54 Praveen Amre has conflict of interest; Dilip Vengsarkar, Rajeev Shukla cleared Former India Test batsman Praveen Amre and ex-Karnataka left- arm spinner Raghuram Bhat have been found to be in Conflict of Interest by the Cricket Board's Ombudsman who has cleared former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar from a similar charge 2016-07-14 21:20 2KB www.mid-day.com 55 Anirban Lahiri positive ahead of Troon test India's Anirban Lahiri is hoping his love for the links will lead to a strong showing at The British Open which begins at the Royal Troon Golf Club here on Thursday 2016-07-14 21:19 4KB www.mid- day.com 56 Team which adapts quickly will have edge: Leander Paes With wet conditions caused by incessant rain adding to the challenge, veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes today said the team which adapts quicker will have the edge in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-I tie between India and South Korea starting here tomorrow 2016-07-14 21:18 2KB www.mid-day.com 57 Edinburgh baby born from frozen ovary in UK first A cancer patient from Edinburgh becomes the first UK woman to give birth following a transplant of her frozen ovary tissue. 2016-07-14 20:37 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 58 Margate woman jailed for 'cruel' James Bulger tweets A woman who admitted sending "cruel" Twitter messages to the mother of murdered toddler James Bulger is jailed for three years. 2016-07-14 20:37 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 59 Pokemon Go: Trailblazer that could redefine mobile games It's early days for Pokemon Go, but some believe the app marks a turning point in mobile video games. 2016-07-14 20:37 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 60 John O'Neil named as man who must tell police of sex plans A man who must notify police 24 hours before he has sex can be named, a district judge rules. 2016-07-14 20:37 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 61 Game of Thrones and The People v OJ Simpson lead Emmy nominations Fantasy drama Game of Thrones receives 23 Emmy nominations, one more than its closest rival, crime series The People v OJ Simpson. 2016-07-14 20:37 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 62 Verdict on ISL final fiasco next week Former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Kshitij Vyas, will pronounce his verdict next week on FSDL and FC Goa's appeal against sanctions imposed on them by ISL's Regulatory Commission for boycotting the prize distribution ceremony following last edition's final 2016-07-14 21:15 3KB www.mid-day.com 63 Marketing Moment 105: Odetta’s ‘Hit or Miss’ plays during wacky Southern Comfort ad To celebrate the Ad Club of New York's 120th anniversary, The Drum is inviting readers to share their favorite marketing moments from the past 120 years. 2016-07-14 21:15 1KB www.thedrum.com 64 Olympic cyclist Laura Trott becomes ambassador for P&G’s #LikeAGirl In the run up to the Olympic Games, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has signed cyclist Laura Trott as an ambassador for its long-running #LikeAGirl campaign. The partnership came after the FMCG-giant found that nearly two-third of girls want more female role models in sport. 2016-07-14 21:15 2KB www.thedrum.com 65 John’s Weird Week: Pokemon predators and Cillit Bang boots Barry Scott Welcome to John’s Weird Week, your weekly marketing, advertising and media round-up, but like, with peculiar things. 2016-07-14 21:15 1KB www.thedrum.com 66 Shine Technologies unveils ad tech veteran James Collier as CRO, and lifts the lid on its business model Controversial ad blocking outfit Shine Technologies has announced that ad tech veteran James Collier as its chief revenue officer, as the outfit also reveals more about its product roadmap including an ‘ad verification platform’. 2016-07-14 21:15 7KB www.thedrum.com 67 'Not every brand is the same': Sony's Hollie Bennett on why brands shouldn't fear being 'left behind' on social From live-streaming to Snapchat and near-constant Facebook algorithm changes what’s a marketer to do when it comes to navigating the rapidly changing world of social media? 2016-07-14 21:15 5KB www.thedrum.com 68 Anomaly welcomes former managing partner at KesselsKramer, Engin Celikbas as Amsterdamn CEO Anomaly has named Engin Celikbas as partner and chief executive of its offices in Amsterdam. 2016-07-14 21:15 1KB www.thedrum.com 69 Coca-Cola introduces new Aquarius Vive brand designed by Pemberton & Whitefoord Coca-Cola Iberia has introduced a new product under its Aquarius drinks brand named Vive, with packaging designed by based agency Pemberton & Whitefoord. 2016-07-14 21:15 1KB www.thedrum.com 70 Greg Clark named business, energy and industrial minster as Sajid Javid moves to communities post Greg Clark has been named by prime minister Theresa May as secretary of state of a newly-created ministry of business, energy and industrial strategy, replacing former business secretary Sajid Javid. 2016-07-14 21:14 1KB www.thedrum.com

71 Advertisers call on industry to give new but 'far removed' culture secretary a 'firm handle' on its contribution to economy Karen Bradley has been appointed secretary of state for culture, media and sport, taking over from John Whittingdale who was sacked from the post earlier today (14 July). 2016-07-14 21:14 3KB www.thedrum.com 72 La Liga continues clean rebrand with new Tag Heuer sponsorship Tag Heuer has continued its push into football sponsorships with a new deal making it a top sponsor of La Liga. 2016-07-14 21:14 1KB www.thedrum.com 73 8 shocking amendments made to the draft Republican Party manifesto After a long, close battle, Malcolm Turnbull retains power in Australia – how it happened The party platform is shaping up to be even more extreme than many expected. 2016-07-14 20:36 14KB www.newstatesman.com 74 England Makes Harassing Women A Hate Crime Police from a small county in England announced Wednesday that harassing women on the street would now be classified as a "hate crime. " Nottinghamshire police said actions such as street harassment 2016-07-14 20:39 2KB dailycaller.com 75 Here's What Ecuador Does With Its Illegal Immigrants Ecuador is kicking out a bunch of Cuban migrants who were traveling through the country trying to get to the U. S. to flee Castro's communist regime. Forty-six Cubans were sent back to their island 2016-07-14 20:39 2KB dailycaller.com 76 Why latest CBS News/New York Times poll is "devastating" for Clinton CBS News contributor and former "Face the Nation" moderator Bob Schieffer joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the latest CBS News/New York Times poll showing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tied ahead of the conventions. 2016-07-14 20:37 1KB www.cbsnews.com 77 Best and worst things to buy generic Follow these tips so that the next time you go shopping you'll know when to go for quality and when to focus on your bottom line 2016-07-14 20:37 4KB www.cbsnews.com 78 33 people hospitalized in NYC after smoking synthetic marijuana — RT America On Tuesday night, 33 people in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood were hospitalized after consuming Spice, or synthetic marijuana. Witnesses describe the scene looking like something out of a zombie movie. 2016-07-14 20:38 5KB www.rt.com 79 Kim Kardashian Says Taylor Swift Lied About Kanye Famous Lyric Kim Kardashian said Taylor Swift plays the victim to get attention. [caption id="attachment_5090118" align="alignnone" width="640"] (Photo: DANIEL ROLAND/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption] After Karda 2016-07-14 20:39 2KB dailycaller.com 80 Obama Admin Won’t Light White House in Blue to Honor Deceased Dallas Police Officers With great fanfare, the White House was aglow in rainbow colors hours after last year’s Supreme Court decision affirming gay marriage. The White... 2016-07-14 20:39 1KB spectator.org 81 Poll: 80 Percent Of Americans Fear 2016 Election Results A strong majority of likely voters are afraid of the results of the general election, according to an AP poll published Thursday. Eighty-one percent of likely voters reported they are afraid of at 2016-07-14 20:39 2KB dailycaller.com 82 DHS Could Be Hiding Information About The Dallas Shooter Officials at the Cause of Action Institute, a nonprofit government oversight group, are seeking documents they believe may show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is withholding vital informat 2016-07-14 20:39 3KB dailycaller.com 83 Study: Alzheimer's Vaccine Is Three To Five Years Away Scientists made a breakthrough development in a vaccine for Alzheimer's that could be available in three to five years, according to a study published Thursday by a joint University of California and 2016-07-14 20:39 2KB dailycaller.com

84 Google hit by fresh European Union anti- trust charges The European Commission steps up pressure on Google, alleging that it abused its dominance in internet shopping and restricted competition. 2016-07-14 20:37 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 85 Rock Hill officer receives hugs Officer William Andrews was thanked by many York County senior citizens Wednesday after he gave a safety speech. 2016-07-14 20:35 3KB www.heraldonline.com 86 Scott: Black Lives Matter Is Welcome To Meet With Trump Dr. Darrell Scott, a supporter of Donald Trump who is speaking at the upcoming Republican Convention said on Thursday that groups like Black Lives Matter are welcome to meet with Trump but they just 2016-07-14 20:39 3KB dailycaller.com 87 Bond denied for suspect in downtown Rock Hill armed robbery A judge denied bond Wednesday for Danny Brown, who is accused of kidnapping and robbing a woman at knifepoint in downtown Rock Hill Wednesday morning. The victim was in court and told the judge she was "terrified" Brown would find her if he got out. 2016-07-14 20:35 3KB www.heraldonline.com 88 Update on Rock Hill man, 77, stabbed to death Walter Marshall Faile was found stabbed to death July 7 at his Rock Hill public housing apartment. 2016-07-14 20:35 2KB www.heraldonline.com 89 Samantha Hoopes Swimsuit Model Plays Baseball In Video Samantha Hoopes is better known for her swimsuits than her athletic skills, but that doesn't mean the 25-year-old model doesn't know how to steal bases. Watch Hoopes go for third in this video. (R 2016-07-14 20:39 910Bytes dailycaller.com 90 Editor's Blog at WRAL TechWire Consumer Reports is calling on Tesla to disable its "Autopilot" feature that enables hands-free operation. Citing the recent fatal accident involving a car with Autopilot engaged, Consumer Reports labels the feature as "Too Much Autonomy Too Soon. " Tesla says it will... 2016-07-14 20:39 4KB wraltechwire.com

91 Senate: Obamacare Provision Ignored By Federal Officials Senate Republicans introduced a measure Thursday with the aim of preventing the Obama administration from ignoring a provision within its own healthcare law. President Barack Obama successfully ove 2016-07-14 20:39 3KB dailycaller.com 92 Arianny Celeste Swimsuit Picture In Costa Rica UFC star Arianny Celeste's latest swimsuit picture is unbelievable. Celeste posted a photo of herself while in the water in Costa Rica with the caption, "Make a splash wherever you go. " (SLIDESHO 2016-07-14 20:39 1KB dailycaller.com 93 Rescuing America's roadside giants Anyone making a road trip across America is likely to pass huge advertising models. Some of the best known are Muffler Men - but after five decades they are dying out. 2016-07-14 20:37 7KB www.bbc.co.uk 94 South Korea tackles baffling menu translations New government body aims to stamp out embarrassing foreign- language translations for Korean dishes. 2016-07-14 20:35 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 95 Florida mosque removed as polling site after anti-Islamic backlash A Florida mosque has been removed as a polling station for the 2016 election after local officials received complaints and threats of violence 2016-07-14 20:35 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 96 Hungary deploys army to push migrants back to Serbia Up to 10,000 Hungarian police and soldiers are pushing back migrants to the Serbian border, where they are languishing in appalling conditions. 2016-07-14 20:35 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 97 India students drown during river selfie Two teenagers have drowned while taking selfies in a swelling river in northern India 2016-07-14 20:35 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 98 Crossword artwork filled in by German woman in museum A 91-year-old woman is under investigation in Germany after filling in blank spaces on a crossword-themed artwork in a museum. 2016-07-14 20:37 1KB www.bbc.co.uk

99 Big basket building in Ohio to be sold An iconic building shaped like a basket in Newark, Ohio, home to basket-making company, is to be sold, leaving its future uncertain. 2016-07-14 20:35 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 100 Boris Johnson is a liar with his back to the wall, says French FM France's foreign minister says his newly-appointed British counterpart, Boris Johnson, is a liar with "his back against the wall". 2016-07-14 20:35 3KB www.bbc.co.uk Articles

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-07-15 00:01

1 Ruth Bader Ginsburg sorry for calling Donald Trump 'faker' (1.28/2) US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has apologised for her recent criticism of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Justice Ginsburg said she regretted her remarks and they were "ill-advised". "Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect," she said in a statement. The liberal judge, 83, came under fire after she called Mr Trump a "faker" in an interview with CNN. "He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego," she told CNN. On Wednesday, Mr Trump called on the top judge to retire after making "very dumb political statements" about him. Justice Ginsburg also recently told the New York Times she could not imagine a Trump presidency, joking that she would move to New Zealand if he should win in November. "I can't imagine what this place would be - I can't imagine what the country would be - with Donald Trump as our president," she said. Mr Trump hit back, telling the New York Times her comments were "highly inappropriate" and a "disgrace to the court". Critics on both the right and left said Justice Ginsburg may have risked her legacy to insult Mr Trump and could undermine the credibility of the Supreme Court. Mr Trump, who has never held political office, pulled off a stunning win in the primary contests by beating 16 other Republicans, including seasoned governors, senators and congressmen. He is expected to unveil his running mate on Friday and next week he will be formally named as the Republican nominee at the party's annual convention in Cleveland.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg regrets 'ill-advised' criticism of Donald Trump washingtontimes.com 2016-07-14 20:35 www.bbc.co.uk

2 English Conversation Questions / Debates (1.04/2) Recommend the site on blogs, forums and other sites. Consider buying my 1,000 Ideas and Activities book. Send me 20 questions on a topic not already here. Mail to info [at] breakingnewsenglish . com Free ESL Materials.com: A site containing links to free materials for ESL teachers and students.

Lesson Plans for ESL / EFL eslholidaylessons.com 2016-07-14 20:36 www.esldiscussions.com

3 Couple married while riding Carowinds Fury 325 coaster (1.03/2) The NAACP sponsored a panel discussion Wednesday night at Little Rock AME Zion Church that gave the black community a chance to ask questions and talk with members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. A large tree fell in the 3500 block of Avalon Ave. about 1:00 P. M. Wednesday, damaging two houses. A witness said the tree was damaged by lightning recently. No injuries were reported when a CMS school bus and a car collided on N. Hoskins Road at Woodman Ave. Wednesday morning. WBTV meteorologist Al Conklin with The Charlotte Observer weather forecast for July 13, 2016. A man is dead and a woman injured in a double shooting on Parkstone Drive in Indian Trail on Tuesday morning, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said. The Pineville Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is investigating a homicide that occurred at 122 Olive Street in Pineville. WBTV meteorologist Al Conklin with The Charlotte Observer weather forecast for July 12, 2016. The developers planning to remake the Charlotte Observer’s former site on Stonewall Street are closing in on the last piece of land they need: A sheet metal shop that’s occupied a site on South Mint Street for more than 50 years. Meanwhile, demolition continues on the former warehouse and parking deck bordered by South Church and South Poplar streets. The funeral for 29-year-old Charlotte-Mecklenburg police candidate Jeremy Moseley was held Monday at Saint Matthew Catholic Church on Ballantyne Commons Parkway. The department had recently hired the candidate, Jeremy Moseley, on June 27 when he collapsed and died on Tuesday. He was in the midst of 8:30 a.m. training with other candidates. The Farmer's Market Kids Festival in Davidson on July 2 featured a Chopped Competition where kids teamed up with local chefs. Newlyweds take the plunge on Fury 325 during roller coaster wedding charlotteobserver.com

Couple gets married on Fury325 coaster at Carowinds heraldonline.com 2016-07-14 20:36 www.charlotteobserver.com

4 California Police Video Shows Fatal Shooting of 19-Year-Old Video (1.02/2) Police in Fresno California have released video from an officer's body camera. Shown a traffic stop that turned deadly we do have a warning about the speedy you're gonna see some of you might find images. Disturbing so after pulling over a truck driven by doing noble. Police say they asked him to step out and show his hands and that's when they say he appeared to reach for something and shouted to them that he hated his life. Officers fired four shots at noble they later found that he was not armed. The district attorney and the FBI conducting now separate investigations. Into that case there in Southern California. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Another Cop Shooting Video Is Out, But The Dead Guy Is White dailycaller.com 2016-07-14 21:29 ABC News abcnews.go.com

5 Reports: Trump Picks Mike Pence For Vice President (1.02/2) Donald Trump will name Mike Pence as his running mate, tapping the Indiana governor as his vice presidential nominee ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention, according to multiple news outlets. But a Trump spokesman is denying that anyone has been chosen. “A decision has not been made by Mr. Trump,” spokesman Jason Miller wrote on Twitter in response to the reports. “He will be making a decision in the future and will be announcing his Vice Presidential pick tomorrow at 11am as planned.” Roll Call , CBS News and the Indianapolis Star cited sources on Thursday saying Trump would tap Pence. The New York Times reported that Trump has “signaled strongly to Republicans in Washington that he will pick Mike Pence.” Trump will publicly rally with his running mate in New York on Friday morning. Hailing from what could be a battleground state in the general election, Pence, a 57-year-old former radio host, has Washington legislative experience as a former congressman and executive experience as governor of Indiana. He’s a Christian conservative popular with movement and tea party conservatives. He hasn’t always embraced Trump. Pence endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the Indiana Republican primary this year. Others under consideration for vice president in recent days include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and former Lieutenant General Mike Flynn. Follow Alex on Twitter

Reports: Pence to be Trump's VP pick ajc.com 2016-07-14 20:39 Political Reporter dailycaller.com

6 Theresa May's cabinet: Who's in and who's out? (1.02/2) Theresa May is forming her new government after becoming Conservative prime minister. She is continuing to announce her full cabinet - but here's what we know so far. The list will be updated as new appointments are made. Campaigned to Remain in the European Union The former home secretary, 59, becomes the UK's second female prime minister in the wake of 's resignation after the EU referendum. She had previously served in the Home Office for more than six years. Theresa May: Full profile Campaigned to Leave the EU Boris Johnson succeeds Philip Hammond at the Foreign Office. The former London mayor headed the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union. He did not previously have a ministerial appointment in Mr Cameron's government but accepted an invitation to attend political cabinet. He was not running any department. Mr Johnson, 52, may be one of the best known politicians in the country but the move to foreign secretary is a big step up from his previous role. Read how the world has reacted. Leave campaigner David Davis has been appointed to the new cabinet position of secretary of state for exiting the European Union - or "Brexit secretary". A veteran Eurosceptic, he has previously held the positions of Conservative party chairman and shadow deputy prime minister. Between 2003 and 2008, he was the shadow home secretary under both Michael Howard and David Cameron. Mr Davis, 67, lost to David Cameron in the 2005 Tory leadership contest. Details about the new Brexit department are still emerging, but it is likely to take the lead in negotiating Britain's departure from the EU and unpicking the thousands of pages of EU rules written into UK law. Theresa May is reported to have ordered civil servants to find a building for the new department. Leave campaigner , 54, has taken on another newly created position as secretary of state for international trade. He was made secretary of state for defence in 2010 but resigned in 2011 over allegations he had given a close friend, lobbyist Adam Werritty, access to the Ministry of Defence and allowed him to join official trips overseas. Like Mr Davis he is a Eurosceptic who voted to leave the EU and he also stood unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party leadership in 2005. He stood again in the latest race to be leader but was eliminated in the first ballot after winning the support of just 16 MPs. Remain campaigner The appointment to chief whip is a big step up for Gavin Williamson, according to BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg. David Cameron's former parliamentary private secretary, he also served as parliamentary private secretary to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin. The 40-year-old from North Yorkshire was elected MP for South Staffordshire in 2010. As chief whip, he will attend Cabinet meetings. Remain campaigner Karen Bradley takes over from the deposed John Whittingdale as Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. She had been working with Theresa May as a Home Office minister since 2014. She was first elected MP for Staffordshire Moorlands in May 2010. Her appointment comes two months after Mr Whittingdale and the BBC agreed a major overhaul of the corporation. Read more about her appointment here. Leave campaigner Andrea Leadsom, the Conservative leadership candidate who dramatically pulled out of the race, is the new Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary. The prominent Brexit backer is promoted from energy minister to a cabinet role which will see her take responsibility for a farming industry as it faces the end of European Union subsidies. She will also have to fashion a post- Brexit fisheries policy. Green campaigners will be watching carefully to see what happens to environment regulations in areas including wildlife habitats, air pollution and water quality, currently governed by rules from Europe. Mrs Leadsom's public reason for withdrawing from the leadership race was to allow a rapid transition at the top, and give the economy certainty in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. But our political editor Laura Kuenssberg says her friends were saying she was alarmed by the level of scrutiny given to her comments on motherhood reported in the Times. Read more on Mrs Leadsom's motivations for stepping aside here. Baroness Evans of Bowes Park becomes leader of the House of Lords at 40, in her first ministerial role since being ennobled by David Cameron in 2014. She attended London's Henrietta Barnett School and Cambridge University before becoming deputy director of the Conservative research department, deputy director of the Policy Exchange think-tank and chief operating officer of the New Schools Network - the organisation which ran Michael Gove's free schools programme. Remain campaigner Damian Green is appointed the new Work and Pensions Secretary, taking over from Stephen Crabb, who earlier resigned. Mr Green served as an Immigration Minister and Justice Secretary in the coalition government but has been on the backbenches since 2014. Leave campaigner Priti Patel is the new International Development Secretary, a promotion from her role as employment minister which she's held for just a year. Ms Patel became MP for Witham in 2010 and joined the front bench as a Treasury minister in 2014. She is no stranger to controversy, having previously advocated bringing back the death penalty and was accused of "divide and rule politics" during the referendum campaign for claiming that "biased" immigration policy prevents curry chefs from outside the EU from working in the UK. On her appointment, she immediately faced calls to guarantee the UK's legal commitment to spending 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid. Remain campaigner Greg Clark is secretary of state of a newly-created ministry of business, energy and industrial strategy. His appointment spells the end for a department which put climate change at the top of the agenda. Just eight years after it was created by then-prime minister Gordon Brown, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) is being merged into Mr Clark's new department and losing the "climate change" part of its name. Environmentalists immediately expressed concern that the reshaping of departments showed the government was downgrading climate change as a priority. But Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said Mr Clark's move was "an excellent appointment", saying he "understands climate change, and has written influential papers on the benefits of Britain developing a low-carbon economy". Remain campaigner James Brokenshire, who has been working with Theresa May at the Home Office - where he was immigration minister - has been made Northern Ireland Secretary. He takes over from Theresa Villiers, who resigned from the cabinet having been offered another role but saying it was not one "which I felt I could take on". Before entering parliament Mr Brokenshire was a partner at a large international law firm. From 2011 to 2015, he served as security minister at the Home Office with responsibility for domestic national security and counter terrorism. This included supporting the home secretary with oversight of the work of MI5 and the national police counter-terrorism network. His responsibilities also included the government's counter-terrorism strategy and he was part of the prime minister's "extremism taskforce". He also led negotiations with the Jordanian government to secure the deportation of the radical cleric Abu Qatada. Read more on his appointment here. Remain campaigner David Lidington, former Europe Minister, is promoted to Leader of the House. Campaigned to Remain in the EU Philip Hammond has been named chancellor of the exchequer. He was foreign secretary under David Cameron from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as defence secretary and transport secretary. He replaces George Osborne. Mr Hammond, 60, is seen at Westminster as the ultimate safe pair of hands. Sometimes mocked as "box office Phil" for what some see as his dull delivery, he forged a reputation in the shadow Treasury team as the Tories' public spending "axeman". He was seen as a Eurosceptic who spoke of withdrawal if the EU were not reformed, but was a Remain campaigner in the referendum. He now has the job of steering Britain's economy through the choppy post-Brexit waters. Read what Mr Hammond has to say on his first day in the job. Remain campaigner Amber Rudd has been made home secretary, filling the vacancy left by Mrs May. Ms Rudd was formerly energy and climate change secretary, a position she held for just one year. During the campaign for Remain in the EU referendum, she warned in a TV debate that she would not trust the new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to drive her home at the end of a night out. The former investment banker, venture capitalist, and financial journalist, aged 52, decided to enter politics in her 40s in order to get "a grip on her life". She quickly joined the fast track to the top after being elected to Parliament as MP for Hastings and Rye. She was seen as a protege of then Chancellor George Osborne, serving as his parliamentary private secretary before being promoted to junior minister at the Energy and Climate Change department in 2014. Remain campaigner Liz Truss moves from her role as secretary for environment, food and rural affairs to replace Michael Gove as justice secretary. A qualified management accountant, she became MP for South West Norfolk in 2010 and was appointed education minister in 2012. She was brought up in Yorkshire and attended Roundhay, a comprehensive school in Leeds, and went on to read philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford. Socially liberal, the 40-year-old was a founder member of the free enterprise group of Conservative MPs arguing for more deregulation of the economy. Remain campaigner Justine Greening has said she is "absolutely delighted" to be made the new education secretary, taking over from Nicky Morgan. She was also appointed minister for women and equalities. Her new department will also take on higher and further education, skills and apprenticeships. Ms Greening leaves her international development secretary post, which she was promoted to in October 2011. MP for Putney since 2005, she became economic secretary to the Treasury after the 2010 election, succeeding Philip Hammond as transport secretary after he was promoted to defence secretary. At London's Pride day on 25 June, two days after the Brexit vote, the 47- year-old announced in a tweet she was in a same-sex relationship, saying "I campaigned for Stronger In but sometimes you're better off out! ". Read more about what's awaiting Ms Greening at the education department. Leave campaigner Chris Grayling, Theresa May's leadership campaign chief, has been appointed Transport Secretary. He was formerly Leader of the House. Remain campaigner Patrick McLoughlin leaves his role as transport secretary to become Conservative Party chairman and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. An MP since 1986, the former miner also served as chief whip, after being appointed to the role in David Cameron's first cabinet. As transport secretary, he was in charge of several large-scale projects including Crossrail and HS2. The 58-year-old said he was "very pleased indeed" with his new role. Remain campaigner Sajid Javid is moved from business secretary to Secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government. Remain campaigner Michael Fallon has kept his job at the Ministry of Defence - a position the 64-year-old has held since 2014. He was Conservative MP for Darlington from 1983 to 1992 - initially during Margaret Thatcher's time in Downing Street - and after leaving Parliament, he was later re-elected as MP for Sevenoaks in 1997. A former Conservative Party deputy chairman, he has previously served as energy and business minister, and before that secretary of state for business and enterprise. Seen as a safe pair of hands in Westminster, he described himself as a "pretty reluctant Remainer" after the EU referendum. Remain campaigner Despite earlier speculation, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt remains in his post. The 49-year-old was appointed culture secretary in David Cameron's first coalition government, a role he held for two years - including while London played host to the 2012 Olympic Games. He took over the health portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle in 2012, and described the appointment as the "biggest privilege of my life". Most recently, Mr Hunt has been locked in a battle with the British Medical Association over a new contract for junior doctors, which has led to a series of strikes. Remain campaigner David Mundell will continue as Secretary of State for Scotland. Mr Mundell, the only Scottish Conservative MP, said his focus was now on "ensuring Scotland gets the best possible deal out of the EU negotiations". Former prime minister David Cameron first appointed Mr Mundell to the post when he held his Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale seat for the third consecutive election in 2015. Remain campaigner May's cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Alun Cairns, MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, remains in his cabinet role as secretary of state for Wales. He was appointed to the post just four months ago so there was little surprise that he will retain his position. The 45-year-old, who was born in Swansea and is a graduate of the University of Wales, Newport, was elected as MP for the Vale of Glamorgan in 2010. He worked in banking for a decade before his election to the Welsh Assembly. Remain campaigner George Osborne has been fired as chancellor. He had been in the Treasury since 2010 - throughout David Cameron's tenure in Downing Street. He had also been first secretary of state since May 2015. A key ally of Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne tweeted it had been a "privilege" to be chancellor, adding: "Others will judge - I hope I've left the economy in a better state than I found it. " Leave campaigner Michael Gove has been fired as justice secretary. The former Times journalist also served under David Cameron as education secretary in the coalition government, and as chief whip. He successfully campaigned for Brexit alongside Boris Johnson - but later withdrew his support for his colleague to be Conservative leader and prime minister, instead standing himself. He was eliminated in the final round of voting by MPs in third place. His surprise move to stand for the leadership and therefore to become prime minister effectively dashed Mr Johnson's hopes of running. Remain campaigner Nicky Morgan is to leave her post as education secretary. The 43-year-old, who qualified as a lawyer, became an MP in 2010 and rose to the cabinet position of minister for women and equalities in 2013. London-born Ms Morgan replaced Michael Gove as education secretary in 2014. She reportedly considered standing in the Conservative leadership contest, but ultimately threw her support behind leave campaigner Mr Gove, despite campaigning for a Remain vote herself. In a tweet, she said she was "disappointed" not to be continuing her work in the education department, before congratulating her successor Justine Greening, saying she was "committed to excellence in education". Remain campaigner Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb has resigned from government "in the best interests of my family". He was one of the four contenders who lost out to Theresa May for the Conservative leadership. BBC political correspondent Vicki Young says it's not yet known whether Mr Crabb was offered a post he did not want or had just decided to resign from the government, possibly following some newspaper stories about his private life at the weekend. Read more about Mr Crabb here. Leave campaigner John Whittingdale has left his post as culture secretary. The Leave campaigner was vice-chairman of the influential group of Tory MPs called the 1922 Committee until he took over the portfolio for culture, media and sport after the general election in 2015 from Sajid Javid. In a tweet , he said it had been "a privilege" to serve as culture secretary, and wished his successor "every success". Leave campaigner Theresa Villiers steps down as Northern Ireland secretary, saying she declined an offer of another role from the new prime minister. Former barrister Ms Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, had held the Northern Ireland portfolio since 2012. Prior to that, she was a Member of the European Parliament for six years. In December 2005, Mr Cameron promoted her to shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. In 2007, she was made a shadow transport minister, a brief she continued to hold when the coalition came to power. She was among prominent figures who campaigned for Brexit. She said Mrs May had been "kind enough to offer me a role" but added that it was "not one which I felt I could take on". Read more about Ms Villiers here. Remain campaigner Oliver Letwin has been sacked from his role as Cabinet Office minister and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The long-time MP started his political career as a policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher's government. After becoming elected an MP in 1997 he went on to serve in high profile shadow cabinet posts under then Tory- leader Michael Howard, including shadow home secretary and shadow chancellor. A mainstay of the Cameron years, he served as minister for government policy under the coalition government, and continued as a cabinet member following the 2015 general election. However, the 60-year-old may be better known by some for throwing parliamentary papers into a public bin in St James's Park and apologising for comments he made about black people days after the 1985 Broadwater Farm riot in north London. Remain campaigner Chief Whip Mark Harper leaves his post to make way for David Cameron's former parliamentary private secretary Gavin Williamson. In a tweet, the MP for the Forest of Dean, who held the chief whip post for one year, said: "I have decided to leave the Government & return to the backbenches. I'll continue to loyally support HMG & @theresa_may as our new PM. " Baroness Stowell of Beeston moves aside as Leader of the House of Lords, and is succeeded by 40-year-old Baroness Evans.

Theresa May's ruthlessness gives her the cabinet she wants Philip Hammond has only postponed the Punishment Budget newstatesman.com 2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

7 The knockout blow – the risk of brain injury in mixed martial arts Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? (0.08/2) On Saturday 9 July, an audience of almost 20,000 crowded into an arena in Las Vegas to watch the events of Ultimate Fighting Championship 200 unfold. The night marked the 200th major event for the UFC, a mixed martial arts organisation that has capitalised on the desire of fighters and fans alike to have a professional, regulated space in which their fervour for the most extreme displays of physicality can be fulfilled. The penultimate fight of the night saw the 6ft 3, 265-pound behemoth Brock Lesnar return to the Octagon – an eight-sided steel cage in which fights take place – to face Mark Hunt, a heavyweight whose heavy hands and proven knockout power were a cause of concern for the returning Lesnar. However, after shaking off some ring rust in the opening minutes of the first round, Lesnar went on to destroy his opponent for 15 minutes. He floored Hunt and pummelled his face and head with a succession of hammer fist strikes. It’s a scene that UFC acolytes will be accustomed to, in a sport that prizes extreme aggression. But things could have gone very differently for Lesnar. Hunt devastatingly knocked out heavyweight Stefan Struve in March 2013 – a knockout that raised serious concerns around Struve’s health. Knockouts are classified as moderate concussions, in which a total loss of consciousness occurs. In his career, Struve has been knocked out six times in a similar fashion – a startlingly high number given the impact just one concussion can have. SB Nation conducted a lengthy interview with spinal and orthopaedic surgeon Dr Johnny Benjamin, in which he said of Struve: “At some point, someone really needs to ask the question, should he still be fighting? That many concussions, so quickly, at this young age . . . a person has two types of age, chronological and physiological age, Stefan’s license may say he’s 25, but in physiological years, he’s much, much older than that, with all the concussive force that he’s sustained.” Continuing his warning, Dr Benjamin went on to tell SB Nation that in fact, multiple concussions can be received by a fighter in a single bout. In this particularly perilous situation, a fighter could die from second impact syndrome – a condition that surfaces when a second concussion occurs before symptoms from the first have been cleared. And it’s not just the medical establishment chiming in with their concerns; fighters are worried too. UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, previously criticised for his conservative fighting style, said that “there’s not enough money in the world” for him to risk brain damage by employing a reckless brawling style of fighting. As the sport of mixed martial arts continues to gain popularity in the UK, particularly with the rise in prominence of the Irish fighter Conor McGregor propelling its growth, it’s important to ask: from the knockout power of Hunt and Lesnar, to the lighter blows endured in gyms across the country during casual training, how real is the risk of brain injury? Brain injury can occur in various forms, with a surprisingly wide range of causes involved. Traumatic brain injury can be sustained by trauma to the head; an unfortunate collision while driving or an accidental fall, for example, can pose real threats to the brain. Traumatic brain injury falls into a larger category of acquired brain injury – one that encompasses any situation in which an injury has occurred to the brain since birth. Luke Griggs, a spokesperson for Headway , the brain injury association that works to improve life after brain injury, tells me: “Our advice is that everyone should be aware of the signs of concussion. Too many people falsely believe that a concussion can only happen if a person loses consciousness. In reality, only around 10 per cent of reported concussions involve a loss of consciousness.” The symptoms of concussion cross over with many other things, which make it difficult for people to know that what they’re experiencing is attributable to a concussion. Dizziness, nausea, blurred vision and imbalance are just some of the markers to look out for. For most, the risk of long-term damage is minimal if the appropriate medical advice is taken. But in the case of mixed martial arts, a sport in which victory is very often claimed through knockout, the passion which drives fighters to be in the cage in the first place is one which will inevitably drive them to endure as many blows to the head as possible in order to stand tall at the end. The UFC and mixed martial arts’ growing popularity in the UK means more needs to be done to make people aware of the risks of getting involved in such sports. Griggs adds: “Our brains control everything we think, feel and do. Therefore a brain injury – whether as a result of one blow to the head or many – can affect our ability to speak and comprehend language and instruction; it can change personalities and the ability to control and manage our emotions, and it can affect our physical capabilities.” In an effort to educate the public about concussions in both sporting arenas and in everyday life, Headway launched a campaign in May called Concussion Aware. The campaign takes an “if in doubt, sit it out!” approach to head injuries, a mantra specifically aimed at sports clubs which may be bustling with amateurs keen to imitate the athletes who compete on an international stage. “We are urging all sports clubs, as well as academic institutions, to sign a pledge at concussionaware.org.uk to signal their commitment to taking a sensible, safety-first approach, ” Griggs says. “ In doing so, they can access a host of materials to help spread the Concussion Aware message.” Medically, continued research and the use of PET scans is helping researchers draw up new guidelines that could potentially protect fighters, through honest and accurate assessments of their brain health. The UFC itself has taken full responsibility for ensuring that its fighters can remain healthy. In 2014, the UFC, along with a number of other fight organisations sponsored a study which looked into the impact repeated blows to the head can have on the brain, and examine whether MRIs can play a crucial role in analysis. For a growing sport that shows no signs of slowing down, it’s the promotion of this type of awareness and demand for greater protection that will give it a greater legitimacy. The Labour party has suspended local meetings of its constituency branches until its leadership election is complete. This unprecedented decision was made to avoid the risk of intimidation and abuse at local meetings, in a party that has become rapidly more divided – with aggression escalating among activists and in politicians’ language. The party’s National Executive Committee decided to temporarily cancel all local party meetings following the suspension of an entire local Manchester branch on Tuesday evening. The Gorton constituency party was suspended by Labour, and is now under police investigation, after allegations of infighting, bullying and voting irregularities. These allegations “relate to the conduct of Labour Party members both during and outside of Labour Party meetings”, according to Labour HQ. The morning following Gorton’s suspension, the Huffington Post revealed the NEC’s ban on local branches meeting until Jeremy Corbyn’s fate is decided, reporting: “The move to suspend local party meetings was to prevent further intimidation and violence of MPs and members.” CLPs (Constituency Labour Parties) are now only permitted to meet to nominate a leadership candidate, and in the circumstance of a by-election or mayoral election: All Labour CLP + branch meetings suspended during leader elexn. See my full NEC colour read: https://t.co/ZuYkzNQKid pic.twitter.com/zDSbXFI9NZ — Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) July 13, 2016 Corbyn and the Labour leadership have been repeatedly urged to combat the climate of intimidation in their party. And this is an example of the party taking measures to prevent such situations arising. But will it work? While CLP meetings are easily suspended, MPs must, of course, continue to do constituency work. And there is nothing the party has done to prevent angry activists demonstrating outside the constituency offices/surgeries of MPs they’re not keen on, a lthough Momentum has urged its supporters not to. This kind of protest can cause MPs and their staff to feel personally attacked simply for representing their constituents. Also, some local members are getting around the ban by holding impromptu, informal meetings. For example, on Wednesday, 41 members of Hounslow’s local Labour party held a spontaneous meeting to reiterate their support for Corbyn after the official Brentford and Isleworth branch meeting was cancelled at short notice. Brentford Labour member James Rosen says: “With Labour branch meetings suspended until after the leadership contest, grassroots Labour members will continue to meet as planned to support Jeremy Corbyn.” Temporarily cancelling meetings might give aggressors fewer places to go for now. But in a climate where a brick has been thrown through the window of leadership candidate Angela Eagle’s constituency office, there should also be a longer-term strategy to target abuse in and around the party.

Commons confidential: Jezza's new tricks Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com Ukip donor Arron Banks wants to fund a new political party – how would it work? Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com

Philip Hammond has only postponed the Punishment Budget Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com Is Labour ready to elect a woman as leader? The evidence suggests not Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com

Major unions pledge their support to Jeremy Corbyn as a leadership challenge looms Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com Labour's new election rules are no match for Jeremy Corbyn voters Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com

Sending Boris Johnson to the Foreign Office is bad for Britain, for Theresa May Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com It’s neither in Labour nor the UK’s interests to blame Jeremy Corbyn for Brexit Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com 2016-07-14 20:36 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

8 Climate Change has vanished in the Cabinet reshuffle - how scared should we be? Philip Hammond has only postponed the Punishment Budget (0.08/2) Climate Change has gone! Not from the atmosphere sadly. But from inclusion in the title of a UK government department. The new PM, Theresa May, has merged the old Department of Energy and Climate Change with elements of the Department for Business. The result: a new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. So what does this sudden ommission mean for the green agenda? Will carbon reduction now be central to business investment - so accepted that it no longer needs spelling out? Or rather consigned to an awkward afterthought? The first reactions to the news of DECC’s dismantling were distinctly frosty: But the announcement that Greg Clark , MP for Tunbridge Wells, would be taking the helm of the new department has helped calm some of the initial fear. Clark has been praised by the green sector, both as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and during his time as shadow environment secretary. He is particularly feted for arguing that action on climate change can be the path to a stronger economy, rather than an obstacle. "The choice between aggressive and ambitious action on carbon reduction and a successful, powerful economy is, in fact, not a choice at all - they are one and the same,” he said of Labour’s 2010 decision to raise emmissions targets And his statement this afternoon said nothing to suggest that he has changed his position: “I am thrilled to have been appointed to lead this new department charged with delivering a comprehensive industrial strategy, leading Government’s relationship with business, furthering our world-class science base, delivering affordable, clean energy and tackling climate change.” Though many will be hoping that the order of his sentence does not reflect his hierarchy of care: Clark will have to act swiftly to reassure environmentalists and investors alike. A quick ratification of the Paris Agreement would be an excellent start here. As would boosting renewable energy and making good on his 2010 ambitions to support research into carbon capture storage and the roll out of smart grids. Such signals will be all the more urgent in light of the appointments of Andrea Leadsom to DEFRA and Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary - both figures renown for their links to the climate-sceptic side of the Conservative party. Clark is a smart appointment. But with climate change no longer enshrined in a department's purpose, the green lobby is left pinning its hopes on a single man. Before the EU referendum, the then-Chancellor George Osborne warned a vote for Brexit could mean a punishment Budget. On 15 June, he told the BBC: “There would have to be increases in tax and cuts in public spending to fill the black hole.” One month later, Osborne has been turfed out of the Treasury to make way for Philip Hammond, who quickly confirmed there would be no emergency budget. For Leave voters, this may confirm that the financial whips and chains existed only in Osborne’s imagination. And yet, sooner or later, the pain is coming. And Hammond will have to be ready for it. The lashing storm The swings of the FTSE 100 captivated commentators in the days after Britain voted for Brexit, but it is only now that the data on the underlying economy starts to trickle through. The housing market is already squirming. According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, new home buyer enquiries were at the lowest levels since mid 2008. The report stated: "Anecdotal evidence suggests that uncertainty relating to the EU referendum result was the primary driver of the slump. " Meanwhile, four commercial property funds took steps to prevent investors pulling out their cash. In theory this could be good for first-time buyers, who face prohibitive prices. But the word on the street is the main beneficiaries will be wealthy overseas property investors, who can afford to hold onto a property for years and for whom weaker sterling represents a nice discount. The jobs market is also reeling. Mariono Mamertino, an economist at job site Indeed, said: “A further, prolonged period of doubt will do little to encourage employers who have already delayed making hiring decisions to come off the fence.” The Bank of England’s agents found that some businesses are beginning to delay investment projects and postpone recruitment decisions. The Bank concluded that, taken together with the creaking housing market: “These indicators suggest economic activity is likely to weaken in the nearer term.” Hammond’s umbrella Although Osborne carved out a reputation as the austerity Chancellor, in practice he benefited from the Bank of England’s stimulus programmes, which pumped money into the economy and kept credit cheap. The Bank of England was widely expected to slash the Bank Base Rate on Wednesday from its existing low of 0.5 per cent. In the event, it didn’t. But monetary policy is one of the first lines of defence. Low interest rates would make it easier for Hammond to keep the economy moving by investing in infrastructure. Crucially, new PM Theresa May has shredded Osborne’s fiscal rule, which constrained borrowing to invest in this way. Mitul Patel, head of interest rates at Henderson Global Investors, said: “Lower interest rates will lower borrowing costs for the Government. It will make borrowing for infrastructure cheaper.” As well as using interest rates, Patel predicts the Bank is likely to return to other financial crisis-era measures, such as Funding for Lending – a scheme offering banks discounts to lend – and quantitative easing. But he warned: “The scope for further cuts is fairly limited.” The painful road ahead Although it might not have felt this way to single parents, or others reliant on public services, a classic Osborne tactic was postponement. He missed key deficit reduction targets in his last Budget – causing the Institute for Fiscal Studies to predict he would need an extra year of austerity. Brexit has simply added more pressure. In May, the IFS predicted quitting the EU would add two extra years of austerity. Patel said: “Austerity has to be on the agenda at some point. They still need to think about five to ten years down the line. How do we get things on a sustainable footing?” In her first speech as PM, Theresa May pledged to help those who are "just managing". Her comments appeared to be addressed at working-class Leave voters, who are widely believed to have used their votes to protest against austerity. Hammond could shift the burden of cuts from the working poor to wealthy pensioners, or he could raise taxes. But both of these decisions will hurt the Tories' grey-haired army of supporters. It is precisely why Osborne, a fine Budget tactician, continuously froze working-age benefits while allowing pensions to rise. Osborne may be gone, but the financial situation will still come knocking at No. 11. Sooner or later, Hammond is going to have to inflict some pain. Edit quicktab Configure block Last 24 hours Edit view Configure block Sending Boris Johnson to the Foreign Office is bad for Britain, good for Theresa May By Stephen Bush No - you can't vote in the Labour leadership contest by joining Unite By Stephanie Boland Theresa May's ruthlessness gives her the cabinet she wants By George Eaton Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? By Anoosh Chakelian Edit view Configure block Gas – a vital, sustainable fuel of the future By Andy Irwin

Theresa May's ruthlessness gives her the cabinet she wants Philip Hammond has only postponed the Punishment Budget newstatesman.com Philip Hammond has only postponed the Punishment Budget Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com 2016-07-14 20:36 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

9 Midlife crisis? Why middle age isn't a problem to be solved Commons confidential: Jezza's new tricks (0.01/2) An email arrives from the editor of these pages. He has an idea for a piece, he says, because there are a few books on his desk about “midlife”. Would I be interested in reviewing them? He adds a hasty parenthesis, salving my vanity with a remark alluding to how, of course, I’ll have to use my vivid imagination, what with being technically too young to know about this subject. How interesting that – though he knows full well it’s an editor’s job to be honest – it is at this hurdle that he falls. For who does not, in the 21st- century, privileged Western world? Look! There’s Cindy Crawford, “flawless” at 50, wowing us with her makeup-free snaps on Instagram! Sharon Stone poses nude at 57 while trying somehow to assure the rest of us that we do have a lot in common with her (“my ass looks like a bag of flapjacks” – whatever that looks like. Anyway, not like Sharon’s ass). For we prize youth over wisdom, beauty over truth. We can’t deny that similar judgements are made about women, and indeed men, who are not film stars or models. And so we must accept those judgements, it seems, as our lot. “We had assumed that ageing would move over us rather like a desert wind over dunes,” writes Marina Benjamin in The Middlepause , “bringing about a gentle drift, a shift in shape that would leave our essence, our fundamental ‘duneness’, intact. But for many women it hasn’t worked that way. Ageing has punched us in the face like a thug and it has been transfiguring.” All of these books accept the premise of that transfiguration. Benjamin’s and Miranda Sawyer’s are in the genre of the meditative memoir, with investigations of the landscape that they consider threaded throughout. The one by Barbara Bradley Hagerty is more in the vein of what I would call scientific self-help, and so considers the plight of men as well as women, but Hagerty connects to the reader through her own experience of ageing and her battles to – quite literally – stay on her bike as the years rack up. All three made me want to throw them across the room at one point or another, although all three elicited sympathy and interest, too. In memoir of any sort, the writer’s gaze must, finally, remain somewhat fixed on her own navel: the trick is ensuring that readers are also happy to examine that navel, or at least find ways to think about their own navels. “Between 2000 and 2010,” Miranda Sawyer writes in Out of Time , “I didn’t move house once. I got married, I gave birth to two children. I acquired and held on to a flat, a microwave and a dishwasher, and a mortgage on that flat. How did that happen?” If you’re expecting the next few sentences to run along the lines of “Lucky old me!” (the world being what it is these days) you would be wrong. “Is this the person I am now?” Sawyer enquires of herself. “God, how dreary.” Dreary is as dreary does, as my grandmother might have observed. That said, Sawyer knows perfectly well that her plight is not a plight at all. “Poor me, huh? Play the tiniest violin.” She knows that her life, that of a freelance writer with a partner and children, is “enviably freestyle”. And yet this mortgaged, school-run existence is not the one she imagined for herself when she was hanging out in clubs in what she now knows is her youth. She is torn between rejecting the trappings of adulthood (as we have been told to think of them) and desiring even more of them. She has to stop herself, she says, wanting a bigger house or a patio, blaming property shows on television “stimulating a long-dormant home-improvement gene”. A throwaway line, this reference to a gene, and yet a revealing one. I’m not a scientist, but I am willing to bet that while our DNA drives us to find food and shelter so that our species may survive, the desire for a patio is cultural rather than genetic. Yet culture is the trap these writers can’t escape. None of us can. “There is nothing at all glamorous about 50 that I can see,” Marina Benjamin writes. Fifty to her feels “tarnished as an old coin, and worn – worn down and worn out”. She wishes, she says, to beat time at its own game. “And yet slowing down, falling, taking stock: these are the enemies of the middle- aged woman, too, because at those moments when you stop long enough to assess where you are you come into the full inheritance of the ageing process, which, in turn, gives the lie to the hubristic idea that anyone is capable of mastering time in the first place. We cannot. We don’t.” Of course we cannot, but it requires heroic effort, when we are surrounded by adverts for tooth-whiteners and Spanx, to resist the effort to do so. Consumer society creates binary distinctions which encourage us to place ourselves into categories: pass 50 and you will cross the border from young to old; you will require this cream and not that one. There is a connection, I believe, to our current ideas about gender, as Helen Lewis discussed in these pages a few weeks ago. “I wince when I read oh-so-liberal parents explaining that they knew their toddler son was a girl when he wore pink and played with Barbies,” she wrote, noting that when she was young (as when I was young), children played with Lego, not “Lego” and “Lego for Girls”. It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that someone, somewhere, is always trying to sell us something. Yet the passage of time affects not just our own selves, our own bodies, but those of our loved ones, too. Benjamin writes movingly about her father. During his life their relationship had been “a ruin”; after his death, however, she comes to miss him. “I miss the slightly reckless feeling of riskiness that hung about him like a cologne – part sweat, part excitement, part dare.” She observes her growing daughter, just reaching adolescence: “at the opposite end of the reproductive spectrum” from her mother, now. She calls the feeling she gets from watching her daughter’s journey to adulthood “ersatz nostalgia”, “a misplaced anxiety about all the future paths I shall never take because with middle age comes a shrinking sense of the possible”. Yet she also recognises that this is a sense, and not necessarily reality. There are different ways, certainly, to address that perceived narrowing of possibility. To focus on the way in which advertising encourages self- loathing among women is the least appealing aspect of these books. Not everyone can be Nora Ephron. “Your flesh is fleshier,” Sawyer writes, of the changes that are coming upon her. “You consider putting your biceps between two pieces of bread and chowing down.” I’m not sure why you would consider that, in any circumstance. Much more affecting is her recollection of herself as a young gymnast. Sawyer is a runner now: nothing too severe, a couple of times a week in the park, slowly. She talks to Eddie Izzard about his midlife passion for marathon running – recently, at the age of 54, he completed 27 marathons in 27 days to raise money for Sport Relief – but doesn’t gain much insight into his motivation. “It’s just adding things to my life,” he says blandly. But then Sawyer reveals that the reason she runs is that she is too old for the sport she loves, and conjures it in words through memory: “The tensing and flexing of muscles, the twist and spin in the air. The dancing beauty of it. That feeling of your body doing exactly what you ask of it. The most astonishing, outrageous, utterly natural thing. Gone now.” In case you are wondering – and you may not be – I am not, needless to say, immune from this, at least not when it comes to decay. My right hip has a way of nagging at me these days; I can no longer curl right up like a doodle bug in an airplane seat. But perhaps I am lucky that, unlike Sawyer, I was so actively miserable in my youth that I am overjoyed to be over it. Being a kid, that was great. My teens and twenties and hey, let’s head into my thirties, not so much. I was worried and frightened most of the time. I felt observed and judged and always found wanting. Not any more, though I know the road will be hard again along the way. In my youth I was after epiphany; these days I’ll settle for a really good cup of coffee. Maybe this means I’m having an “intentional” middle age, but probably not. That is what Barbara Bradley Hagerty advocates in Life Reimagined. Hagerty is an American journalist and author; she worked for two decades at National Public Radio and before that for the Christian Science Monitor. Her first book, Fingerprints of God , attempted to explore the science of spirituality, and it was a work, like this one, which sprang from her own experience. Raised a Christian Scientist – a form of Christianity that abjures any kind of medical intervention – Hagerty did not take her first painkiller until the age of 34. She abandoned that sect, though not the Christian faith. Faith plays a significant role in Life Reimagined , too. That’s not the only way in which this is a very American book. (I’m American, as well as middle-aged, so I’m officially an authority on the subject.) There are the descriptions of the characters who people it, for a start. “Jim Coan enters at this moment, a tall, lanky man with an appealing smile and a ponytail that has just a whisper of gray.” Mary Lou O’Brian “has improbably lustrous brown hair, the glasses of a cool librarian, and a gentle, wide smile”. This is the Malcolm Gladwell school of change-your-life non-fiction, full of charming scientists whose work will alter the way you think about (fill in the blank) and the people whose lives have been altered as a result. They smile appealingly (or widely) and we are lucky to have met them in the pages of the book. And the story Hagerty tells is one of salvation – not because she is a Christian, but because she’s an American, and that’s the American story, too. “Make America Great Again!” can be translated as: “Make Yourself Great Again!” The Europeans who first came to the continent did so to save their souls; we have been trying to do the same ever since, through evangelical religion, yammering on about the Second Amendment, or by advocating clean eating, whatever that is. Finding your bliss is secular salvation, and again the options seem pretty binary. Midlife marriage can be a desert or it can be an oasis, goes the chapter heading here; muddling through isn’t an option. Hagerty talks to Arthur Aron, a research psychologist at Stony Brook University in New York, about enduring love. Like an old-time preacher, he has the answer. “How do you navigate from Archie and Edith Bunker [read, “Alf and Else Garnett”] to Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward? You can do this, Art Aron says, by infusing one element in your life.” That element gets its own paragraph: “Novelty.” Rather to my alarm (and to Hagerty’s, too, it must be said), Aron’s evidence for this involved a study in which couples crawled across a room with their ankles and wrists velcroed together, carrying a pillow between them. Another set of couples performed a “boring” task, one of them rolling a ball across the room as the other watched. “Those with the ‘novel’ task reported more happiness with their relationship.” Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised to discover this; Fifty Shades of Grey did awfully well, as I recall, and that 50 wasn’t much to do with midlife’s troughs. Hagerty is a striver. She urges us to find our “brand”. Although she argues that this demands identifying our “signature qualities, talents, personality traits, proclivities and experiences”, all of which will help define our essence as we move into that intentional midlife, her use of the language of marketing – a language she discovers through a conversation with Beverly Jones, who runs a company called Clearways Consulting, offering “executive coaching and leadership development” – is telling. It’s not that Hagerty believes that there is a quick fix to any of the concerns affecting readers of this book (or any of the three books), who, let’s remember, are likely to be middle class and relatively affluent. Towards the end of Life Reimagined , Hagerty’s husband, Devin, cautions her against paying too much attention to what’s on the outside. “Surface solutions” – anti-ageing creams for the body and mind – aren’t much good. “What you’re finding is: the solution is from the inside. It’s all about how you think, how you engage your mind, your marriage, your career. It’s harder, but it works.” Does it? Only if you accept that a solution is what is required. If you don’t, make yourself that coffee and get on with your life. Theresa May the Home Counties disciplinarian was crowned Prime Minister in her steel-capped kitten heels after the flaky Andrea Leadsom spontaneously combusted in the mother of all rows – but my snouts report that Leadsom was already struggling with public scrutiny. Rising without trace during the Brexit campaign, the champion of the Tories’ Tea Party wing yearns for her old anonymity. I was told of an incident that shook the Leadbanger when she was buying her lunch in Pret A Manger. A stranger asked, “Are you Angela. .. I mean Andrea Leadsom?” Her shy smile of acknowledgement quickly turned into a bemused scowl when he said, “I hope you don’t win,” before stomping off angrily. The May Queen would have cut him down with an icy stare. Old dogs can learn new tricks. Labour spinners have finally taught Jeremy Corbyn to smile and bid a cheery good morning to the capitalist media on leaving home in the morning, rather than grumpily snatching microphones or putting a hand over camera lenses. The charm offensive isn’t as useful as legal advice to fight Labour’s National Executive Committee, but it’s a start. John McDonnell, Jezza’s comrade, complains that he has been too busy to cut his hedge, so camera crews lurk in the overgrown foliage, ready to pounce as soon as he closes the front door. For a party leader with a cult following, Corbyn sounds more like an assistant manager of a provincial building society than a messianic saviour. The nation’s best-known allotment holder was among the faithful at the Durham Miners’ Gala, yet he was touchingly surprised to find himself the main attraction. He leaped out of his seat at the meeting, possibly hoping to match Dennis Skinner’s tub-thumping call to arms against Labour’s enemies within and its Tory foes without. The Dear Leader captured the image but, alas, couldn’t repeat the oratory. In the newly class-conscious Labour Party, one MP won’t back Angela Eagle because: “She calls her father ‘Daddy’.” Paranoia in the Corbyn camp: a member whispers that a prominent figure in the shadow cabinet suspects that another is an MI5 informant. Nothing should surprise anybody when politics is on steroids, but surely Labour is more wobbly MFI with a few screws missing than MI5? “The cheese and wine tasting event due to take place this Saturday has been postponed. Due to the turmoil going on at the top of the party, we thought that this might not be the best time to have a knees-up,” announced a sobering email to Labour activists in Kingston and Surbiton. Shiraz socialism, it seems, is collapsing. David who? Kevin Maguire is the associate editor (politics) of the Daily Mirror

Commons confidential: Jezza's new tricks Labour suspends local party meetings to avoid intimidation – will it work? newstatesman.com 2016-07-14 20:36 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

10 Of the People Mayor Shirley Franklin started a program in the city of Atlanta in which every single student who graduated from a public school, she’d find a way to pay for their first year of college. And, after hearing my story, she took an interest in me. She gave me a job in her office and she helped me get into college. Summer came, and I didn’t go to work because I didn’t have a suit. I got a call saying, “You need to get to work,” and she had someone take me suit shopping. They took me and bought me like five different suits and said, “This is how you invest in your kids.” I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college. That is the kind of local politics I grew to love in Atlanta. National politics is more messy. But I have hope that is going to change. Photograph by Ryan Stone for The New York Times

2016-07-15 00:00 The New www.nytimes.com

11 11 Stormers will not take struggling Kings lightly in dead rubber In the past the Stormers had already qualified for the play- offs before the final round of pool play and chosen a second-string team for their final match‚ only to see the wheels come off in the post- season. Fleck wants to reduce the possibility of that happening again. So he’s vowed that the struggling Kings will face a near full-strength Stormers side that will treat the match like a vital engagement rather than the dead rubber it is. "What we learnt from the past is that this week is more crucial than the quarterfinal week in terms of our preparation‚" Fleck said. "If we take our foot off the pedal this week‚ we are not going to do well next week. Momentum is everything for us - we need to find an intensity that we have not had this season and that is what we need to take into this game. It is actually an extremely crucial week and game. "Next week there is going to be a lot of focus and pressure on the squad‚ but it is all about us relieving that pressure and focusing on us. We want to play at another level this weekend. "We want to play at a different intensity that we haven't had this season yet and that has got to be our key focus for the week. " On paper the Stormers should be able to sleepwalk through the match and still gain a positive result. But as Fleck said‚ the game is more about the performance than the result. The Stormers need to leave the field knowing that they have taken a step up in terms of performance and intensity‚ especially as their quarterfinal will be against one of New Zealand’s superb teams. "The Kings set-piece is good. We have been impressed with their lineout and their scrumming has been pretty good as well. They are not an easy side to play‚” Fleck said. No 8 Schalk Burger looks set to retain the captaincy after leading the side for their two matches in Australia. Co-captain Frans Malherbe is still under an injury cloud and Juan de Jongh is preparing for the Olympics with the Blitzboks. Burger’s leadership was crucial in Australia and he will continue in that role in the business end of the campaign. "Burger stepped up to the plate. The team needed him as a leader and he did a phenomenal job on tour‚” Fleck said. "Should Frans be available‚ he will be available in the captaincy role with Burger. If not‚ then Schalk will continue as sole captain of the team.”

2016-07-15 00:00 Craig Ray www.timeslive.co.za

12 Hardcore Muslim extremists must be isolated in prison – report — RT UK Former Home Office official Ian Acheson, who is charge of the review, told the justice committee that a small number of prisoners among the 12,500 Muslim inmates in England and Wales were targeting fellow inmates with “proselytizing behavior.” The ex-prison governor called for the creation of special isolation units, removed from the rest of the prison grounds. “There are a small number of people whose behavior is so egregious in relation to proselytizing this pernicious ideology, this lethal nihilistic death cult ideology, which gets magnified inside prison particularly when you have a supply of young, impulsive and often highly-violent men, that they need to be completely incapacitated from being able to proselytize to the rest of the prison population,” Acheson said on Wednesday. Under the proposals, individualized de-radicalization programs would then be given to the isolated extremist inmates. “It is not about prisons for Muslims or prisons for terrorists. It is a nuanced response that holds out the possibility of redemption,” he said. Acheson told MPs that a number of prisoners had been convicted of non- terrorist offences, but later became radicalized while in prison. The National Offender Management Service (Noms), the organization tasked with dealing with prison extremism, lacked a coherent strategy, the 100-page report found. READ MORE: 500 school children needlessly sent for ‘deradicalization’ by government, teaching union claims Acheson said prison personnel lacked adequate training to confront Islamist ideology, and were often afraid that they would be accused of racism if they did. The report recommends the recruitment of more Muslim prison staff as well as better Prevent training for existing officers. Michael Gove, who was justice secretary before Prime Minister Theresa May’s Thursday cabinet reshuffle, told MPs that while he is “extremely sympathetic” to Acheson’s recommendations, the plans would need approval from the new home secretary before being implemented.

2016-07-15 00:00 www.rt.com

13 ‘Charming bastard’ appointed to lead EU negotiations — RT UK Since the June 23 vote, the world has been looking for clues as to what Britain’s future relationship with Europe will look like, with concerns the aftermath will see the UK’s economy plunge into recession. Some Euroskeptics feared that May, who was a tepid ‘Remain’ supporter during the referendum, might try to avoid a clean break with Europe. But with ‘Leave’ campaigners scoring the top jobs, including Boris Johnson as foreign secretary and Liam Fox as international trade secretary, it’s becoming clearer how Brexit negotiations could shape up. David Davis, a staunchly Euroskeptic lawmaker, has landed the key job of ‘Brexit minister’ in charge of negotiating the UK’s exit with the 27 remaining EU member states. Davis, 67, says the risk of losing a key export partner will force EU leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to a free trade deal. “Once the European nations realise that we are not going to budge on control of our borders, they will want to talk, in their own interest,” Davis said in an article for ConservativeHome, written before he was appointed to the role. He says the UK should take its time before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - the formal process by which Britain can leave the bloc - an approach at odds with other European states. “The negotiating strategy has to be properly designed, and there is some serious consultation to be done first. This whole process should be completed to allow triggering of Article 50 before or by the beginning of next year.” He says the ideal outcome is “continued tariff-free access.” “We should work out what we do in the improbable event of the EU taking a dog in the manger attitude to Single Market tariff free access, and insist on WTO rules and levies, including 10 percent levies on car exports.” He says if Brexit negotiations are done right, Britain will have a “more dynamic economy.” “Our businesses will have greater global opportunities, and will be more competitive. There will be lower prices in the shops, once we are outside the Common External Tariff. “There will be higher wages for the poorest. An immigration system that allows us to control numbers. Control of our laws, so our lives are not hampered by needless and restrictive regulations.” But Davis may be a little misguided about some aspects of EU law and trade deals. During the referendum campaign, he said Britain would negotiate individual trade deals with other EU countries. However, one of the basic features of the EU is that bloc countries cannot negotiate individual trade deals. Davis worked in the Foreign Office from 1994 to 1997, with responsibility for negotiations with Europe, where he picked up the nicknames ‘charming bastard’ and ‘monsieur non’ (Mr. No). May has put him in her top team despite Davis pursuing legal action in the European courts against surveillance laws she introduced. He joined forces with Labour deputy leader Tom Watson to jointly challenge the legality of the Government’s Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014. Britain’s new Chancellor Philip Hammond says despite the Brexit vote having a “chilling” effect on the British economy, including investment, job creation and business confidence, there will be no emergency budget. “There is no plan for an emergency budget, as Theresa May made clear. There will be an Autumn statement in the normal way and then there will be a budget in the normal way,” he told ITV. “But the markets do need signals of reassurance, they need to know we will do whatever is necessary to keep the economy on track.” Speaking to LBC radio, he said Britain would likely come out of the single market as a result of its decision to leave the EU, and hoped Britain would be able to negotiate “access” to the market through trade deals. When asked by the BBC whether he still believed in deficit reduction, he said the economy was “entering a new phase.” He said he has a series of meetings lined up with key economic leaders, including the governor of the Bank of England, in which it will be assessed whether a post-referendum recession could be expected. Hammond has said the best place for Scotland is inside the UK economy, and outside the EU, delivering a blow to SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon’s bid to keep Scotland in the bloc. He also rejected the idea that Scotland could have a separate relationship with the European single market. Hammond moved from the Foreign Office to the Treasury. The man he succeeded as chancellor, George Osborne, who was a ‘Remain’ campaigner, was sacked from the cabinet. In an astonishing comeback, former Mayor of London and Brexiteer Boris Johnson has been appointed Foreign Secretary - his first cabinet post. He was a front-runner to succeed David Cameron as prime minister before being pushed out of the Tory leadership race by fellow ‘Leave’ campaigner Michael Gove. But the man who is about to represent Britain on the world stage has made a number of contentious comments about world leaders, making his appointment an interesting one. He has likened US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to a “sadistic nurse in a mental hospital” because of her “dyed blonde hair and pouty lips” and wrote a limerick in which the president of Turkey has sex with a goat. Johnson has described former US President George W. Bush as a “cross- eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate,” and ex-British PM Tony Blair as “a mixture of Harry Houdini and a greased piglet.” One of the three candidates vying to lead the opposition Labour Party, Owen Smith, says Britain should vote again on whether to remain in the EU once a Brexit deal is agreed. According to , Smith, who announced his candidacy to succeed Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday, says many Britons who backed leaving the EU believe they were misled and should be given a second chance to vote. “That does mean a second referendum or a general election when the terms are clear. The Labour government should be committed to that,” he said.

2016-07-15 00:00 www.rt.com

14 Promoted upstarts Baroka FC continue to talk up their own prospects As is the case with most teams who are promoted from the National First Division to the PSL‚ a swift return back to the lower league is often the more likely scenario than a prolonged stay in the top- flight. But Mphahlele vowed that his recently promoted side would not suffer a similar fate in the coming season. “We won’t get relegated. I can guarantee you that‚” said a confident Mphahlele. Club coach Kgoloko Thobejane is known for making extravagant statements and perhaps it was to be expected that the club chairman would be equally colourful. Mphahlele stated that his side would not be overwhelmed by the prospect of facing some of the country’s biggest sides when the campaign finally gets underway in August. “We want this coming season to be the best season for us‚” the chairman said. “We want it to be one that everybody will talk about. We want to win cups. We want to add value to the product that is the PSL. We want to make sure that everybody is proud. “The NFD has lost one of their best members‚ and we want the PSL to have the best team ever [in Baroka].” The club will be heading to Zimbabwe for two weeks for their pre-season camp. However‚ they are yet to confirm their opponents for the build-up to the new season. “We intend on spending two weeks in Zimbabwe before the league starts‚” Mphahlele said. “They are our closest neighbours in Limpopo‚ they are not far from us. We have our own boys from Zimbabwe. We also want to get some supporters from Zimbabwe to cross the boarder and come to Peter Mokaba [Stadium] to support us. “We are still talking to them‚ but we have not finalised anything. But they are very positive and happy.”

2016-07-15 00:00 Chumani Bambani www.timeslive.co.za

15 Russian Air Force intensifies strikes on terrorists near Palmyra (VIDEO) — RT News The Tu-22M3 bombers flew all the way from Russian territory to deliver their deadly cargo, the report said. The ministry also released a video of the operation. The airstrikes focused on areas around as-Suhnah and Arak, the Russian military said. Both towns are located east of Palmyra on a strategic road connecting the ancient city with Deir ez-Zor, an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) stronghold in the east of Syria. “ The strikes destroyed a command point, a militant field camp, two oil pumping sites, a significant number of enemy personnel and hardware ,” the military reported. The US-led coalition, which is fighting IS separately from Russia, was duly notified of the pending mission, the ministry noted. This week, Russian airstrikes have hit over 50 targets in Syria since Tuesday, the ministry said. Moscow sent warplanes to Syria in September of last year at the request of its government, turning the tide of the bloody war. Russia has since downsized its military presence in Syria, however. One of the biggest successes of the campaign was the re-capture of Palmyra from IS in March. Russia and the US are trying to stabilize the situation in Syria by bringing together Damascus and "moderate" groups that do not share a jihadist agenda, but the effort has been stalled by the animosity of the warring parties, as well as other factors. Difficulty in distinguishing opposition groups as either jihadists or "moderates" has also been a bone of contention.

2016-07-15 00:00 www.rt.com

16 Former Orlando Pirates star Ian Palmer undergoes kidney transplant Have you got to the point where you don’t know how you’re going to pay your car instalment at the end of the month? Well you're not alone writes our consumer journalist Wendy Knowler

2016-07-15 00:00 Mninawa Ntloko www.timeslive.co.za

17 National Freedom Party out of the elections after losing last gasp bid This follows the Electoral Court’s decision to dismiss the party’s bid to be included on the ballot paper‚ after missing the Electoral Commission of SA’s (IEC’s) payment deadline. The Electoral Court’s decision is a blow for the already embattled NFP‚ the country’s fifth-biggest political party‚ whose leader Zanele Magwaza-Msibi has been out of action for more than a year after falling ill at the end of 2014‚ leading to a vacuum that led to divisions within the party. At the weekend two senior party members‚ secretary-general Nhlanhla Khubisa and national chairman Maliyakhe Shelembe‚ resigned from the NFP. The party approached the Electoral Court last week after treasurer Xolani Ndlovu‚ in what the party called an “administrative error”‚ misread the deadline provided by the IEC and paid the R90‚000 deposit late. The IEC on Monday said the court had dismissed the NFP matter. The order was issued on Saturday. However‚ the NFP made no mention of the court’s decision at a press briefing held in Durban on Sunday. But it did announce that it had decided to suspend deputy chairman Scelo Mabika and Ndlovu. This means the party‚ formed on the eve of the 2011 local government polls‚ will have no representation at local government elections ahead of the next general election in 2019. The NFP was a breakaway party from the . It is not clear whether the fracturing party can survive if it cannot contest the August 3 elections. Worsening its position are the suspensions and resignations of party leaders. The party has said it will take the matter all the way to the Constitutional Court in a bid to contest the polls. In 2011‚ the NFP won 644‚917 votes‚ giving it more than 200 councillors‚ mainly in KwaZulu-Natal. The NFP went on to forge a coalition with the ANC in 19 hung municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal. Magwaza-Msibi has worked closely with the ANC‚ and is the deputy minister of science and technology‚ but has not been active since her illness. 2016-07-15 00:00 Genevieve Quintal www.timeslive.co.za

18 DA: ‘ANC candidates list represents corruption‚ declining service delivery and unemployment’ “The ANC cannot bring the change needs‚ because it is more concerned with putting allies of Jacob Zuma in top mayoral positions. Zuma's pals will‚ like the President‚ put self-enrichment first and the people last‚” DA spokesperson Phumzile Van Damme said in a statement on Sunday. The DA has accused Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate Danny Jordaan of being a “part-time Mayor of broken promises after having faked the launch of a Metro Police‚ introducing 21‚000 more NMB residents to the ranks of the unemployed since December 2015 and losing over R320 million to leaks and electricity theft in the last 9 months. “Additionally‚ Jordaan's criminal pal Linda Mti was recently appointed to the Head of Safety and Security‚” said Van Damme. “In five years Mayor has overseen unemployment in Johannesburg rise to 869‚000. At the same time conditions in the informal settlements of Johannesburg have deteriorated to where the SA Human Rights Commission is now investigating the Johannesburg ANC government for human rights abuses. That the ANC wants to give Tau another term in government shows that the ANC doesn't take service delivery and stopping corruption seriously. “In Tshwane‚ the failure to reaffirm Mayor [Kgosientso “Sputla’] Ramokgopa shows that the ANC recognises that he and his ANC government have failed to deliver‚ including Sputla's PEU smart-meter Billion Rand scandal‚ unlawful broadband contracts‚ undrinkable water in Hammanskraal with 40‚000 more people joining the ranks of the unemployed in Tshwane since January 2016.” The DA said the ANC's inability to select a Tshwane candidate shows “a fractured and broken ANC in Tshwane”. “The voters cannot place trust in a party that fails to even agree on a suitable candidate for Mayor because it is so fractured and factionalised”. Van Damme added that the DA is ready to bring real change to Nelson Mandela Bay‚ Tshwane‚ Johannesburg‚ Ekurhuleni and many other places across the country. “This is the change that will stop corruption‚ deliver better services and create jobs. This is the change we need to move our country forward again.”

2016-07-15 00:00 Nomahlubi Jordaan www.timeslive.co.za

19 Lack of Parliament antics sees EFF’s media profile dip: survey The wrong reason for the ruling party paid off for the official opposition‚ the Democratic Alliance (DA). That Parliament is not in session curtailed the impression the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) made. Those are some of the key findings of Basemedia’s “political tracker” for June. “The violence is Tshwane significantly elevated the ANC’s media profile but also contributed to negativity on the organisation‚” the survey found. It said that “ emerged as one of the ANC’s most visible members after she was announced as mayoral candidate for Tshwane”‚ but noted that both she and incumbent mayor Kgosientsho Ramokgopa “faced negativity as a result of the violence that followed the announcement”. The research note‚ however‚ that the party was “gradually able to move away from the critical coverage as the party deployed senior leaders on the campaign trail”. The tracker suggested that the DA had profited from the ANC’s trouble in the country’s capital as the “media reflected on the internal strengths of the DA and the manner in which the party had chosen its candidates”. It also said the DA and leader had scored from the “Jobs not jets” campaign about its disapproval of the widely reported R4-billion price tag for a new presidential aircraft. EFF leader ‚ on the other hand‚ “struggled to have any high- impact media exposure” other than that which was “generated…after he stated that ‘South Africa would be a boring place without whites’ ”. The researchers noted that “past analysis has shown that one of the biggest drivers for the EFF has been because of the organisation’s behaviour in Parliament”. “However‚ with Parliament now in recess‚ the EFF has struggled to get media to focus significantly on the party’s local election campaigning.” The study also found that Inkatha Freedom Party leader “advanced his media profile while speaking at the IFP’s manifesto launch” in uMlazi‚ during which he acknowledged that his party had lost ground‚ but had regrouped and focused itself for the August 3 municipal polls.

2016-07-15 00:00 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

20 SABC CEO Jimi Matthews quits: ‘What’s happening at the SABC is wrong' Matthews tweeted a picture of his resignation letter to SABC board chair Professor Mbulayeni Maghuve on Monday morning. In it he wrote: “It is with great sadness that I tender my immediate resignation. “For many months I have compromised the values I hold dear under the mistaken belief that I could be more effective inside the SABC than outside‚ passing comment from the side- lines. “In the process the prevailing‚ corrosive atmosphere has impacted negatively on my moral judgment and has made me complicit in many decision which I am not proud of. “What is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be part of it.” Matthews also apologised to the “many people who I’ve let down by remaining silent when my voice needs to be heard”. Matthews was most recently in the news when he complied an answering affidavit on behalf of the SABC in its defence against a complaint lodged at the Independent Communications Authority of SA over the its decision to not show footage from violent protests. The complainants - the Media Monitoring Africa (MMA)‚ supported by the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition and the Freedom of Expression Institute – said the decision constituted blatant censorship by the broadcaster‚ more so in the run-up to the August local government elections. On Friday‚ the South African National Editors’ Forum said it was “shocked by the suspension of three senior SABC journalists - economics editor Thandeka Gqubule‚ RSG executive producer Foeta Krige and senior journalist Suna Venter - …for disagreeing with an instruction during a diary conference not to cover the Right2Know (R2K) campaign’s protest against censorship at the public broadcaster”.

2016-07-15 00:00 Tmg Digital www.timeslive.co.za

21 ‘Brexit and the shanty town between France and Britain’ by Maite Nkoana-Mashabane Responding to a question at a briefing in Pretoria‚ she said: "Brexit? We don't know about it. We saw it on television. We heard it will impact negatively on trade and relations‚ but we haven't seen any evidence of that. " She recently became the target of ridicule after a rambling interview with Al Jazeera. On Monday‚ she appeared unconcerned by the admission that she knew nothing about the most momentous event in world affairs in recent times. The vote‚ by Britain‚ to exit the EU - SA's largest trading partner - has shaken global markets and sent currencies on a roller-coaster ride. Below is the full transcript of two of her responses‚ as released on Tuesday by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation‚ and published here unedited: Asked by RFI: “Question is on the visit to France. I would like to ask you about the importance of this visit in the context of Brexit and how that's going to change South Africa's relations with France especially accessing the EU market?” Nkoana-Mashabane: "Before I go to this question‚ before I forget even on the things I want to say on a lighter note. For some reason there is something very special between us and France. “When we were campaigning for Mme Dlamini Zuma we were told that: " aren't you aware that you are up against France? "‚ so we wondered‚ France is a member of the European Union. “We are members of the African Union so this can't be true. So Brexit‚ we don't know about it. We saw it on television. We hear that it would impact‚ when it started‚ negatively on our trade and investment relations with countries from that part but we haven't seen real evidence. “Maybe it is still coming but one thing first we are not members there and we can only say viva democracy.” Question by Carien du Plessis from News24:.... Also another question about Brexit. It looks like after Brexit‚ the EU project is crumbling a little bit. A lot of people want to pull out. Do you think this affect negatively the philosophy that the AU is currently chasing the whole integration idea or integrated market. Do you think this could affect the AU negatively? " Nkoana-Mashabane: “The Europeans were never colonised. They colonised others. So whatever we do here starting from the Organisation of the African Union to the African Union we were not mimicking the European Union because we come from two different backgrounds. “If their project failed or is failing we wish it shouldn't fail because people nowadays in 2016‚ if we understood what globalisation was about‚ is that they would follow opportunities. “So if you say we would build high walls to stop them we do not know how practical that is. That even when Brexit or when Britain was exiting‚ people were arriving in boats in Europe so I don't know how immune is the UK from that. “But I know that there is a big shanty town that's building up between the two countries. Am I correct? So those people are in limbo so one day they would have to go somewhere because they would not go back to their home countries. “Of course we focus on protecting and respecting the sovereignty of our individual member states and practically deal with issues of border control that would not necessarily inhibit people‚ genuine travellers who are carrying‚ who are documented‚ to be able to do business with their own backyard market. President Museveni says it takes two weeks to transport cattle by truck in the same region called the EAC from Uganda to Kenya. “So if we had good roads and rail infrastructure it wouldn't be a problem. At a given checkpoint on whether this cattle are healthy and have all their documents they could pass but that which has been an inhibition it's not whether they were healthy or not‚ it's because the roads infrastructure made it difficult. So we are still dealing with basics here. “But we say it's not necessary for me to fly to France in order for me to connect to Nouakchott. I should be able to fly from OR Tambo to Nouakchott so these are the things that we are still dealing with. So really we are not at the level where we can be saying you know the Union on the other side of those who once colonised us is falling apart so stop integrating.”

2016-07-15 00:00 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

22 Disqualifying NFP from polls violates voters’ constitutional rights: EFF Saying “money or fees payments should never be a basis upon which a political party is allowed to contest elections”‚ the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Wednesday called on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Court to allow the NFP to contest the elections. On Tuesday‚ KwaZulu-Natal IEC head Mawethu Mosery announced that the NFP would be barred from taking part in the poll‚ as it had failed to pay the R90 000 deposit that is a prerequisite for participation. The EFF noted that the “NFP is currently a majority party in some municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal” and the results of the 2014 general showed that a “section of the electorate has “confidence in the NFP”. “Disallowing the NFP an opportunity to contest the 2016 local government elections will not just be penalising the leadership of the NFP‚ but will be violating voters’ constitutional rights to vote for a political party of their own choice‚” said the EFF’s . “The IEC and Electoral Court should therefore not magnify an administrative fault into a decision that will prevent the whole political party‚ its candidates and voters from participating in a democratic process.” Ndlozi said his party was taking “this principled position because‚ in 2014‚ the EFF challenged the IEC in court over the constitutionality of demanding money from political parties and individuals who want to contest elections”. “We still stand by a view that the IEC should utilise a different criteria to determine the seriousness of political parties and candidates that wish to contest elections‚ other than money‚ because accessibility of money in South Africa has class‚ racial and even gender connotations.”

2016-07-15 00:00 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

23 Campaign jingle composer named Duterte adviser The rocker is now a presidential adviser. Musician and businessman Ramon “RJ” Jacinto, who composed the campaign jingle of President Duterte in the May elections, has joined the select few who give him counsel, having been named presidential adviser on economic affairs and information technology communications. Malacañang on Thursday announced Jacinto’s appointment with the rank of undersecretary. Popularly known as a guitarist and rock and roll musician, Jacinto helped gather support for Mr. Duterte during the campaign and wrote a jingle for him extolling him as a “man of action without corruption.” He also owns a radio and TV station, as well as a company with interests in real estate development, retail and manufacturing. His family established Jacinto Steel, considered the pioneer manufacturer of galvanized iron sheets in the country. Jacinto is the latest entertainment personality to get a post in the Duterte administration. Earlier, TV host Arnell Ignacio and singer Jimmy Bondoc were named assistant vice presidents of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Ignacio handles community relations, while Bondoc is in charge of entertainment. Former TV host and reporter Katherine de Castro has been named tourism undersecretary for media affairs. Folk singer Freddie Aguilar, a frequent performer at Mr. Duterte’s campaign rallies, is also reported to be up for the leadership of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). Bandera recently reported that Aguilar had agreed to head the NCCA but also asked the President to create a department for culture and the arts, as he wanted to have a “cultural revolution” in the country. But until the department is formed, he was willing to try heading the NCCA. Former Napoles lawyer The Palace also announced on Thursday the appointment of Lanee Cui- David, former lawyer of Janet Napoles, as deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Napoles was allegedly a key player in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, in which three senators have been charged and arrested. David is also a San Beda College graduate like the President. She was quoted in earlier reports as saying that her law firm had already withdrawn from the tax cases of the Napoleses. Also named BIR deputy commissioner was Jesus Clint Aranas, treasurer of Mr. Duterte’s political party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan. Arthur Tabaquero, former chief of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, is the new presidential adviser on military affairs with the rank of undersecretary. Raymundo de Vera Elefante is the Department of National Defense’s undersecretary for finance, ammunition, installations and materials. Elefante is a former Philippine Air Force (PAF) brigadier general who headed the PAF Reserve Command. Gamaliel Cordoba has been reappointed commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission.

2016-07-15 00:00 Leila B newsinfo.inquirer.net

24 24 PH seeks world support for court ruling The Philippines plans to call for world support at a meeting of Southeast Asian nations and the European Union in compelling China to respect an international tribunal’s ruling that rejected Chinese claims to most of the South China Sea, escalating a dispute that has raised the prospect of conflict. President Duterte is skipping the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem), but he has sent Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay to represent him at the summit, which opens today in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Thursday that Yasay would discuss “within the context of Asem’s agenda” the Philippines’ peaceful approach to resolving its maritime dispute with China and “the need for parties to respect” the ruling by the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in favor of the Philippines. The arbitral tribunal ruled on Tuesday that China had no historic right to almost all of the South China Sea and that it had violated ’s sovereign rights to its own exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by preventing it from exploring for oil and Filipino fishermen from fishing in those waters locally known as West Philippine Sea. China, which claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, including waters close to the shores of the Philippines and other claimants—Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan—rejected the ruling, saying on Wednesday that it would take all necessary measures to protect its “territorial and maritime rights and interests” in the waterway. On Thursday, China threatened a “decisive response” to any provocations in the South China Sea after the ruling. “If anyone wants to take any provocative action against China’s security interests based on the award, China will make a decisive response,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang. In an interview on Wednesday, Yasay said he was confident that the international community would support the ruling. “We already have the full support of the members of the international community and we hope Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will come up with a unified statement,” Yasay said. No Asean statement But regional diplomats said on Thursday that the 10-member Asean would not issue a statement on the ruling, blaming the no-comment on pressure by China. “Asean officials had prepared a draft text, but there was no agreement to release a joint statement,” a Southeast Asian diplomat said, adding that China was believed to have leaned on its Asean allies Laos and Cambodia to prevent a statement in the highly charged affair. “Some Asean countries are definitely not happy. Beijing’s action can be seen as interference in Asean’s centrality,” the diplomat said. Another senior Southeast Asian diplomat said China had “succeeded in splitting Asean through its allies on the South China Sea issue,” referring to Laos and Cambodia. Even just raising the issue at the Asem summit will anger China, which has long bristled at Philippine efforts to have the dispute discussed at multilateral events. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou insisted on Monday the Asem summit was “not an appropriate venue” to discuss the South China Sea disputes. Chinese pressure Chinese pressure was blamed last month for a startling diplomatic U-turn by Asean, which swiftly disowned a joint statement released by Malaysia after an Asean-China meeting in Beijing. That statement had expressed alarm over Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea. The fiasco highlighted the bloc’s inability to maintain a united front on the issue. While the Philippines and Vietnam have been particularly critical of China, Laos and Cambodia are generally regarded as preferring to side with their giant neighbor and benefactor. Laos holds Asean’s chair this year. Asked on Thursday about the lack of an Asean statement on the arbitral court’s ruling, DFA spokesperson Charles Jose said: “Kindly direct your query to the chair, Laos, because it is the one consolidating views and positions, being the chair.” Cambodia had said before Tuesday’s ruling that it would not back any Asean comment, effectively ruling out a statement since the bloc doesn’t speak without full consensus. Asean has in recent years released joint statements expressing increasing alarm over island-building in the South China Sea, while taking care not to single out China. But those days may be over, given the issue’s potential to divide Asean, according to former Philippine UN representative Lauro Baja. “We should no longer expect in the future that there will be an Asean statement on China,” Baja said. ‘Soft landing’ The Philippines initially refrained from asking China to abide by the arbitral tribunal’s ruling, following President Duterte’s directive to achieve a “soft landing” with the country’s much more powerful neighbor. Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Thursday the President was confident the Philippines would be able to negotiate better with China after the arbitral tribunal’s ruling. Diokno attended the Cabinet meeting that Mr. Duterte called on Tuesday after the tribunal handed down its ruling. “Let’s be magnanimous in victory. That’s what he said,” Diokno said when asked about Mr. Duterte’s comment about the ruling. Last night, speaking at a dinner held in his honor by San Beda Alumni Association, Mr. Duterte said he would ask former President Fidel Ramos to go to China to start talks with Beijing. Manila hardened its stance on Thursday, with the DFA statement detailing Yasay’s priorities at the Asem summit. Yasay will have support from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said as he left for Mongolia on Thursday that he wanted to discuss the South China Sea disputes at the summit. Asem is a gathering of leaders from Asia and the European Union for the strengthening of cooperation between the two regions. The summit is held every two years. The Philippines is a founding member of Asem, and has actively participated in the Asia-Europe dialogue since its establishment in 1996. With reports from Marlon Ramos and AFP 2016-07-15 00:00 Estrella Torres globalnation.inquirer.net

25 Maguindanao town mayor survives rocket- propelled grenade attack DAVAO CITY — A Maguindanao mayor survived an ambush around 5 p.m. Thursday , a report from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police office said. South Upi Mayor Reynalbert Insular was on his way home from Cotabato City when unidentified men fired a rocket-propelled grenade on his convoy as it was passing by Kilometer 28 in Barangay Kibleg in North Upi town, said Chief Inspector Ronald De Leon, the ARMM police spokesperson. De Leon said the explosion missed Insular’s party. His police escorts engaged the armed men in a brief gunfight. The attack continues to be investigated, as of this posting, according to De Leon. Insular is a first-term mayor, having won as an independent candidate during the May 9 elections. His town was listed as among the “areas of immediate concern” by the Commission on Elections due to intense political rivalries. A few days after the May elections, unidentified armed men also shot dead reelected South Upi Councilor Warlito Pinuela. A report from the South Upi police said Pinuela was standing in front of his home in Barangay Timanan on May 27 when unidentified men on a motorbike arrived and opened fire on him around 8 p.m. Pinuela had just been reelected to a third term. He died there and then after suffering multiple gunshot wounds. SFM

2016-07-15 00:00 Allan Nawal newsinfo.inquirer.net

26 26 ‘Yolanda’ victims ask DSWD to probe housing aid funds ILOILO CITY—A group of survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) and its supporters asked Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo to audit funds meant for building or repairing houses of victims of the 300-kilometer-per- hour storm in November 2013 after hundreds of them failed to receive funds from the Aquino administration. The Kusog sang Pumuluyo, a group of Yolanda survivors and its supporters on Panay Island, also pleaded to Taguiwalo to finish the distribution of funds for the emergency shelter assistance (ESA) program started by the previous administration but which critics said had left out hundreds of victims. Kusog said Taguiwalo should also order an audit of funds donated for Yolanda victims following reports that billions of pesos from foreign donors were left unspent by the Aquino administration. “We hope that Secretary Taguiwalo will look into the appeal of the survivors who have been complaining since the previous administration,” said Fr. Marco Sulayao, Kusog spokesperson. In a text message, Taguiwalo said she would “immediately act” on Kusog’s appeal. “We continue to gather feedback from people’s organizations, especially Yolanda survivors, regarding the aid they insist they did not receive,” Taguiwalo said in her text message. She said a review of the implementation of disaster relief programs for Yolanda victims “remains one of the priorities” of her department. “We want to make sure that the problems the DSWD encountered in the delivery of aid to Yolanda survivors will not happen again,” said Taguiwalo. “This is precisely why there is a review,” she said. Western Visayas suffered heavily when Yolanda battered the region, leaving behind hundreds of people dead and billions of pesos in property damaged. The region includes the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo. At least 23,814 families (21,114 in Aklan and 2,700 in Capiz provinces) are still waiting for the release of funds for the ESA, according to Sulayao. Most had not been listed as beneficiaries or were excluded from ESA as a result of Memorandum Circular No. 24 issued by former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman. Under the memorandum, survivors whose houses were destroyed or damaged are ineligible to receive cash aid if their families have monthly incomes of more than P15,000 and if they are living in areas tagged as danger zones. Survivors who have gotten help from nongovernment sources are also disqualified from ESA, which provides cash grants of P30,000 per family that lost its house to Yolanda and P10,000 per family that needed to repair its damaged house. Kusog called for the scrapping of the memorandum, calling it discriminatory. The group said disqualifying families with incomes of at least P15,000 a month from the program and those that got help from private sources still needed government help because of the massive devastation left by Yolanda. Fr. Sulayao said the investigation and prosecution of officials involved in irregularities in the distribution of ESA funds should be continued. Deputy Ombudsman Paul Elmer Clemente had ordered the suspension of two village officials in Lemery town for nine months for soliciting P10,000 from the ESA funds received by a Yolanda survivor. Barangay Captain Cherryl Peniero and Barangay Councilor Rolly Castro, of Barangay Poblacion Southeast Zone, are also facing a criminal case. The Ombudsman found them guilty of getting P10,000 from Milagros Binas, who was supposed to receive P30,000 in ESA funds since her house was destroyed by Yolanda. Binas said P10,000 of her funds went to the two officials who asked for a “donation” in exchange for their efforts to list down Binas as a beneficiary.

2016-07-15 00:00 Nestor P newsinfo.inquirer.net

27 Bohol, Samar cases illustrate brutality of campaign vs drugs CLARIN, Bohol—Alma Arcales Sabejon, 42, tried to flee her assailants, wounded in the initial volley of fire. Desperate, she pleaded for help to bus passengers who could just watch as the gunmen ran after her and finished her off with a shot in the head. Ariel Pitong Unay was in his hotel room when policemen came knocking at 4:30 a.m. Minutes later, he lay dead in the bed with multiple gunshot wounds. Theirs is the latest in a string of killings being attributed to the heightened war on drugs launched by the Duterte administration. Their cases also define the brutality with which the war is being waged and which had drawn statements of concern from human rights advocates and government officials who support the war but are shocked by how it is being waged. Sabejon, also known in police blotters by her alias “Madame,” has been tagged as a top drug financier in Bohol province. Unay is a former soldier who, police said, supplies drugs to pushers in the province of Northern Samar, one of the country’s poorest. The circumstances that led to their deaths are all too familiar, although taking place in different settings with what appeared to be different scripts. Sabejon was on her motorcycle heading for the village of Bacani in the town of Clarin, Bohol, when she was chased by two men on another motorcycle. One of the men shot Sabejon, causing her motorcycle to crash and sending her sprawling on the pavement. The man who shot her calmly approached Sabejon and continued to pull the trigger. Although wounded, Sabejon ran to a bus, which was unloading passengers, to plead for help. The two men went after her and shot her in the head, sending her slumping lifeless on the floor of the bus to the horror of passengers on board. PO3 Roderick Maglangit, Clarin police investigator, said Sabejon is on the list of top 10 drug personalities in the town. Sabejon, according to Maglangit, refused to heed an appeal, made by Bacani village chair Victor Sanchez and Clarin police chief Insp. Fernando Peroramas, for her to surrender through the Oplan Tokhang (knock and plead) campaign of the Philippine National Police. A surrender ceremony was held on July 8. Sabejon was absent. Unay was at Johnjohn Hotel in Catarman City, Northern Samar, when police set him up for a buy-bust operation. An undercover policeman was supposed to buy shabu from Unay in Room 202 when Unay, according to Supt. Alberto Garcia, Catarman police chief, sensed he was being set up and started shooting. Policemen knocked on the door but Unay, said Garcia, “immediately fired upon us.” “So we fought back,” Garcia said. Forensics examiners said they recovered shabu, P8,000 in cash, illegal drug paraphernalia and two guns in Unay’s room. The war on drugs is taking its toll also on individuals who had become paranoid about being the next target. This is apparently the case of a 27-year-old construction worker who surrendered and admitted killing a couple he suspected of wrongly identifying him to police as a drug user. Eduardo Ardiente is now detained at the Cebu City police stockade pending the filing of two counts of murder and a count of frustrated murder against him. Supt. Michael Bastes, head of the Cebu City police intelligence branch, said the knife used by Ardiente to kill couple Ricardo and Francisca Cupta and wound a neighbor, Cyric Balolot, had been found. “I had enough,” said Ardiente. “Everyday they kept telling me ‘you surrender to authorities,’” he said. Ardiente said the Cupta couple and Balolot kept accusing him of using drugs and stealing. He said he stopped using drugs in 2010. “I drink and I smoke but I don’t use drugs anymore,” he said. With a report from Ador Vincent S. Mayol, Inquirer Visayas

2016-07-15 00:00 Leo Udtohan newsinfo.inquirer.net

28 Doc’s killer meted 40-yr prison term BACOLOD CITY—Justice for the violent death of a prominent doctor in the city four years ago finally came on July 12 when a regional trial court found a young man guilty of the murder. Dr. Andres Gumban, 63, was beaten on the head with a stone and stabbed 35 times inside his house in Regent Pearl Homes Subdivision in Barangay Alijis on May 12, 2012. The killing was captured on video by his attackers and shocked the local business and medical community. In his 21-page decision, Judge Ray Alan Drilon of Regional Trial Court Branch 41 sentenced Fof Pascual Jr., 22, to at least 40 years imprisonment and was ordered to pay the victim’s heirs P135,000 in civil indemnity for moral and exemplary damages. Pascual’s companion, who was 16 at the time of the murder, earlier pleaded guilty to the crime on Dec. 12, 2012, and received a prison term of 10 to 17 years.

2016-07-15 00:00 Carla P newsinfo.inquirer.net

29 More drug rehab centers sought for addicts CITY OF SAN FERNANDO —Police are urging local governments to build rehabilitation centers for drug dependents in each of the 22 legislative districts in Central Luzon. Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, the region’s police director, said the rehabilitation facilities would complement the police campaign to end illegal drug trafficking and use. The idea came up as more than 12,000 drug users and pushers surrendered in the region. Aquino said 250 operations in the region since July 1 had also resulted in the death of 48 suspects who resisted arrest and the detention of 300 others. “There is no system yet,” he said about the absence of a program to reform users and pushers. “Our congressional representatives should be able to find funds for the construction of rehabilitation centers per district,” Aquino said. Few rehabilitation facilities operate in the region. The Central Luzon Drug Rehabilitation Center is a private facility that charges a maximum of P10,000 monthly. It can accommodate 1,800 patients. Aquino lauded the Bataan provincial government and the Bataan police for building Bahay Pag-asa, which helps drug users reform. It offers counseling, spiritual development and livelihood training. In some cases, instead of helping reform drug dependents, rehabilitation centers are being used to sell drugs. This was apparently what happened at the Cotabato provincial rehabilitation center in the village of Amas in Kidapawan City where police seized sachets of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) in three rooms. Supt. Bernard Tayong, spokesperson of the North Cotabato police, said policemen raided the facility acting on a tip that drugs are being peddled there. Rooms holding three drug suspects yielded the shabu. Last year, at least six guards assigned to the facility, which is being run by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, were investigated and transferred when a similar raid yielded drugs. Reports from Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao

2016-07-15 00:00 INQUIRER.net newsinfo.inquirer.net

30 Toll of drug war on cops: 123 sacked The all-out war on drugs launched by the Duterte administration is taking its toll on those who are supposedly on the front line of the battle to stamp out the widespread trafficking of illegal substances—policemen. In two regions in the Visayas—western and central—at least 123 policemen had been removed from their posts in the wake of the antidrug war. Among these are 67 members of two special police units in Central Visayas who had been praised for their roles in the killing of two suspected drug lords in June. Seven policemen from the Central Visayas police force were fired after testing positive for drug use. In Western Visayas, at least 49 officers had been fired as they await results of investigations into their alleged involvement in drugs. Chief Supt. Noli Talino, Central Visayas regional police chief, ordered the transfer of all 67 members of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (Raidsoft) and the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG). Talino said he was dissatisfied with the performance of the policemen who killed suspected drug lords Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria in Banacon Island on May 28 and Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz in Las Piñas City in on June 17. While Talino, former member of the Special Action Force, said the transfer of the Raidsoft and RSOG officers was part of the war on drugs, “I’m not saying these operatives are into drugs.” “Perhaps, they need to try other police units,” said Talino of the 67 officers. “If they’re really good policemen, wherever they will be assigned, they will do their jobs,” he said. The policemen removed from their posts would be required to undergo schooling. The transfer of the 67 Raidsoft and RSOG officers followed the transfer of seven policemen in Central Visayas to what some would refer to as “freezer” positions at the regional holding and administrative unit. The seven are facing investigation after they tested positive for drug use. “They can contest the findings but I’ll make sure they get dismissed from the service,” Talino said. In Southern Mindanao, authorities counted at least 22 dead and 17,000 had surrendered since the war on drugs was launched. Chief Insp. Andrea dela Cerna, Southern Mindanao police spokesperson, said those killed had resisted arrest. “Policemen should also protect themselves,” Dela Cerna said of the killings. With a report from Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao

2016-07-15 00:00 Ador Vincent newsinfo.inquirer.net

31 Town that can’t move Mayon moves people away from volcano STO. DOMINGO, Albay—At least 269 families living on the slopes of Mt. Mayon in the village of Lidong in this town in Albay province have left their communities for new houses away from the volcano’s 6-kilometer permanent danger zone. The P169-million housing project in the village of San Andres was funded by the national government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the provincial government of Albay. The roofs of the houses had been designed to serve a evacuation areas secured by steel railings and can be used by residents during heavy flooding. Marites Pontejon, 45, said she is happy that her family is among the project’s beneficiaries. “We now have our own concrete house,” she said. Marilyn Abula, 38, said her family can now sleep soundly even during storms or when Mayon becomes restive. Elsa Alamares, 40, likened owning a new house to winning a lottery jackpot. “My big thanks to God because he gave us this house,” said Alamares, mother of 10. Ma. Salome Villanueva, chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the town, said the families would be safe in the relocation area, describing the houses as “typhoon-proof.” “[I can say] 100 percent they are safe in the relocation site as it is situated in an elevated area,” she said. Mayor Herbie Aguas said the relocation of residents would result in savings for the local government because the town would not spend anymore on evacuation. “We cannot move Mayon,” said the mayor. “So every now and then (we should expect) abnormal activities,” he said. Michael B. Jaucian, Inquirer Southern Luzon

2016-07-15 00:00 INQUIRER.net newsinfo.inquirer.net

32 Rody’s antidrug drive a war vs poor, rights groups say Human rights groups and the former head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) expressed alarm on Thursday over the rising body count in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, saying it was turning out to be “a war versus the poor.” In a press conference, the Citizens Council for Human Rights (CCHR)—a coalition of nongovernment and peoples organizations, human rights lawyers, the religious sector and academe—urged President Duterte to take steps to check the growing number of drug and criminal suspects killed in so-called police operations or found dead in the streets. According to the CCHR, those suspected of involvement in illegal drugs, mostly poor individuals, are denied due process with some even “executed before they can publicly defend themselves in court.” It suggested that instead of killing these defenseless individuals, the government “should address the roots of rampant crime and the extensive drug trade in the country as well as other social problems by stamping out poverty and social idleness.” The CCHR’s observations were supported by former CHR Chair Etta Rosales who said that killings, including the plan to restore the death penalty, would not make drugs and crime go away but would “just hit the poor and the defenseless.” In a statement, she noted that the antidrug operations conducted by the police targeted poor and defenseless individuals. “You don’t see raids taking place in rich subdivisions yet drug lords are known to live luxurious lives,” Rosales said. She called for a probe, saying that “such investigations enable an environment to collectively temper this increasing pitch for bloodlust that instinctively celebrates these deaths rather than pause for compassion and concern.” Rosales and the CCHR both called for individuals suspected of involvement in drugs to be given the right to due process and to reintegrate into their communities. “We must invest in a society of compassion and recognition that we are our brothers’ keepers, not in a future where those with less in life are dead, just because it is easier that way,” she said. Based on the CCHR’s count, the government’s declaration of an all-out war against drugs has already claimed the lives of 251 people and “still counting” from May 10 to July 13. The group said the rise was “too alarming to be ignored,” noting that from January 1 to May 29, there were only 39 reported deaths due to drug-related violence. “We believe that summary execution methods [which] violate the right to life and to due process will not solve the country’s crime and illegal drugs problem. Instead, it will only exacerbate the problem of lawlessness and violence in the country,” said CCHR convenor and Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates chair Max de Mesa. According to De Mesa, the killings were worrisome because these were “prompted by the pronouncements of the President,” noting that even before Mr. Duterte assumed office, he had urged the police and ordinary citizens to kill those involved in illegal drugs. Citing a need to put an immediate stop to the killings, the CCHR said this could be done by encouraging lawmen to follow the criminal justice system. It also asked local government leaders to stop using “dehumanizing” methods in the war against crime and drugs such as public shaming.

2016-07-15 00:00 Maricar Brizuela newsinfo.inquirer.net

33 Munti sidewalks rid of vendors, even those who reelected mayor The Muntinlupa City government has begun sidewalk- clearing operations in the Alabang viaduct area to rid the streets of “eyesores,” such as makeshift stalls and illegally parked vehicles, and also prevent criminals from taking advantage of the high-traffic site. “The law states that a one-meter (breadth of) sidewalk should be clear of obstructions for pedestrians,” said Senior Supt. Teresita Salvadora, who headed the operations that started Wednesday morning. “Even overhead fixtures should not go beyond that boundary,” she said. The Alabang viaduct area covers both the northbound and southbound lanes of Manila Service Road and its intersections at Alabang-Zapote Road and Montillano Street. First to be cleared was the middle portion of the service road, which runs right under the viaduct and once looked like a wet market due to the sheer number of stalls crowding it. But Esperanza Basilan, one of the displaced merchants and chair of the Muntinlupa Vendors Association, said they wanted to have a talk with Mayor Jaime Fresnedi. “I rallied our members behind Mayor Fresnedi, so now they are asking me: Is this what we get in return?” said Basilan, a 58-year-old fruit vendor. “If this will continue, what does that mean for our 3,000 members?” Tez Navarro, head of the city’s public information office, said the local government was working out livelihood programs for the affected vendors and their families. “They can be trained in food processing, sewing, or other skills for work abroad, such as bartending. We can give scholarships (for their children). We have to identify first those who are really from Muntinlupa. Nonresidents will be sent back to their respective cities.”

2016-07-15 00:00 Annelle Tayao newsinfo.inquirer.net

34 Pasig cops storm suspect’s house, kill him in his briefs A man tagged as one of Pasig City’s top drug suspects was shot dead by the police inside his home allegedly because he resisted arrest and fired at the officers, while four men and a woman were found dead also in Pasig, San Juan, and Parañaque cities on Thursday. They were the latest additions to the growing body count that now worries human rights advocates and critics of President Duterte’s anticrime drive, which they say practically endorses the extrajudicial killing of suspects who are denied due process. Felix Manlangit was only in his underwear when he allegedly exchanged fire with members of the Pasig Police Community Precinct 1, who came to his house on Banaag Street, Barangay Pineda, at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to serve an arrest warrant. His live-in partner, who ended up being arrested, denied that Manlangit fought back, saying he didn’t even own a gun. In an interview, Senior Supt. Jose Hidalgo, the city’s police chief, said the 52-year-old Manlangit was ordered arrested by Judge Danilo Cruz of Pasig Regional Trial Court on charges of illegal possession of firearms. “He is not just small fry; he is a big-time drug dealer,” Hidalgo said of the slain suspect, who wielded a .38-caliber pistol. The arresting team told him to surrender but he refused and even fired at the officers, forcing them to retaliate, according to investigator PO3 Melvin Mendoza. The police arrested Rosalinda Failangca, Manlangit’s live-in partner, after a search of their bedroom yielded a kilo of “shabu” kept in different plastic containers, various drug paraphernalia and a stash of marijuana. The shabu alone could fetch P2 million in the streets, Hidalgo added. Speaking to the Inquirer, the detained Failangca admitted that her partner sold and used drugs—and that she had been trying to convince him to surrender. But she denied the police version of how Manlangit died. “They forced their way in. Everything happened so fast. We were both asleep and just in our underwear. He (Manlangit) was not even given the chance to put his clothes on,” Failangca added. She said the police dragged Manlangit out of their bedroom and that she later heard “‘three shots” within the house. The next moment, she saw the dead Manlangit already being brought out on a stretcher. ‘Packaged’ bodies Also in Pasig, the body of an apparent victim of summary execution was found by a street sweeper around 5 a.m. Thursday on F. Flores Street, Barangay Buting. The victim, identified at press time as “Onpol,” was a known drug pusher in the area, said the case investigator, PO3 Al Alvarez. The corpse was found with a sign in Filipino saying: “I’m a pusher, holdup man, car thief. Bye! Onpol.” In Mandaluyong, another dead man was dumped on the sidewalk along the southbound lane of Edsa, near the Securities and Exchange Commission building in Barangay Wack Wack. Found around 4:50 a.m., the body was wrapped with packaging tape and stuffed in a black plastic bag, with a piece of wire forming a noose around the neck. The victim was described to be 35 to 40 years old. In San Juan City, two more bodies were found in separate locations in a span of an hour. The first victim was identified by a relative as Marcilina Ballares, 42, whose body was found on Soisson Street, Barangay Sta. Lucia, around 3:30 am., according to PO2 Karl Sawey of the San Juan police. Ballares’ face was also wrapped with packaging tape. Sawey said eight plastic sachets of shabu and “a notebook”—purportedly containing a list of names and corresponding numbers—were found beside the body. Around 2:50 a.m., another body of a man was discovered along G. Soriano Street, Barangay Kabayanan, San Juan. A tricycle driver found a corpse hogtied and the face also wrapped with packaging tape. Eight sachets of suspected shabu were also recovered beside the body. In Parañaque, Roberto Frias was shot and killed around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on Peru Street, Barangay Don Bosco, by two unidentified gunmen who stalked him on a motorbike. The city police chief, Senior Supt. Jose Carumba, said Frias was on the city’s drug watch list along with his wife, Malou, alias “Malou Negra.” Authorities could no longer locate her as of Thursday. “I believe we have already knocked on their door,” Carumba said, alluding to the antidrug campaign Oplan Tokhang, wherein the police go to the homes of known drug suspects in a community to personally persuade them to surrender.

2016-07-15 00:00 Annelle Tayao newsinfo.inquirer.net

35 Stuck in traffic, Macaraya happy Cafe France still delivered Pulling a double duty on Thursday, coach Egay Macaraya was relieved that at least one of his teams emerged victorious. The veteran mentor arrived before the third quarter of Cafe France’s game against Blustar Detergent at Ynares Sports Arena in the 2016 PBA D-League Foundation Cup, where the Bakers already had a sizeable lead en route to their 90-61 win. “Grabe ang traffic,” remarked Macaraya, who had been stuck in the horrendous standstill in Shaw after coming from San Juan for his duties with San Sebastian. While he was anticipating traffic, Macaraya wasn’t prepared for the intensity of it worsened by the heavy downpour in Pasig. Thankfully, his assistant coaches kept him on the loop as his game plan before hand worked to a tee. “Inasahan na namin yung traffic and pinaguusapan na namin yun kahapon pa lang sa practice. Sinabihan ko sila na if ever mapunta man ako ng late, si coach Yong (Garcia) will handle the team,” he said. “I’m happy that our gameplan was in full effect today.” But while he had full confidence on his team, Macaraya couldn’t help but worry about his Bakers, especially after San Sebastian suffered a 76-61 defeat to Perpetual in the NCAA. “Naipit talaga ako sa traffic kaya talagang tawag muna ako sa kanila kung ano ang nangyari. Pero knowing na lumalamang kami, medyo nakampante naman ako,” he said. But Macaraya may want to avoid traffic next week as Cafe France renews its rivalry against Phoenix in what is expected to be a dogfight. “Alam naman natin na pag Phoenix ang kalaban, it’s all about kung sino ang maging nasa taas. Nandoon yung competitive spirit for both teams palagi kaso naglaban na kami dati sa championship,” he said. “It will be a good game and I know both teams want to win that game badly.”

2016-07-15 00:00 Randolph B sports.inquirer.net

36 De Lima asks Senate to probe drug slays Warning that the string of killings may escalate into a state-sponsored “crime against humanity,” Sen. Leila de Lima is pushing ahead with her proposed legislative inquiry into the administration’s bloody war against drugs and crime despite the reluctance of some senators. De Lima, who is expected to head the Senate committee on justice and human rights, on Thursday filed Senate Resolution No. 9 calling for an “urgent” investigation into the “rampant extrajudicial killings and summary executions of suspected criminals” in aid of bolstering police accountability for excesses and to “institute corrective legislative measures to ensure full respect for basic human rights.” “The use of force, it appears in a lot of cases, fails to comply with the legal criteria of absolute necessity and proportionality,” De Lima, a former justice secretary and human rights chief, said in her resolution. “Regardless of the question of whether those killed were in fact criminals, precisely because there was no opportunity for them to be prosecuted before a court of law, the fight against crime is apparently becoming a looming state-sanctioned cover for a policy of summary executions and extrajudicial killings of any and all suspected criminals” she said. “An extrajudicial or summary killing is homicide. Carried out premeditatedly and in conspiracy with other public authorities, it becomes mass murder, which, if left unabated and unchecked, can escalate into a crime against humanity under international law,” De Lima warned. Body count In her three-page resolution, De Lima cited how the body count had reached more than 300 since the election of President Duterte, known for his uncompromising stance on the illegal drug trade. She found incredulous what had become a common police explanation that suspects slain while in police custody “ tried to wrest the arresting officer’s gun.” Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Thursday urged the President to convene the Joint Judiciary-Executive-Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council (JJELACC) to arrest what he said was an indication of “a breakdown in law and order.” “We have done it before. We can again work together to strengthen the administration of justice and speed up the disposition of cases. JJELACC can again serve as the strategic response to criminality and disregard for the rule of law,” Pangilinan said. He proposed the convening of the body in 2007 and this was convened twice. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, along with several other senators, has said the proposed inquiry was baseless and premature. Administration officials have also threatened to investigate De Lima, saying that on her watch as justice secretary the illegal drug trade flourished, pointing to convicted drug lords at New Bilibid Prison continuing their activities. Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the Philippine National Police was looking into “vigilante killings” and operations where deaths were involved. “The government is against any form of extrajudicial killings. We do not condone these acts. Government is here to save our people from the drug menace and punish the offenders, including the big-time ones,” Andanar said in a statement. “While the campaign against drugs is far from perfect, a generation of have been saved from this scourge of society and destroyer of lives. Many communities are now relatively drug-free with record-high number of people giving up to authorities, choosing quieter and healthier lives,” he said. Malacañang put the number of drug dependents who have surrendered at 60,000. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño and Leila B. Salaverria

2016-07-15 00:00 Tarra Quismundo newsinfo.inquirer.net

37 Ex-admiral says US should defend Panatag WASHINGTON—The United States should be willing to use military force to oppose Chinese aggression at a disputed reef off the coast of the Philippines, a former commander of US forces in the Pacific told a congressional hearing on Wednesday. Dennis Blair made the recommendation to a Senate panel, a day after an international tribunal invalidated Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. The objective was not to pick a fight with China at the disputed Panatag Shoal, internationally known as Scarborough Shoal, but to set a limit on its military coercion, Blair said. Ambiguous defense treaty “I think we need to have some specific lines and then encourage China to compromise on some of its objectives,” he told the hearing. The Philippines is a US ally, but their treaty is ambiguous about whether the United States would come to its defense in disputed territory. Panatag Shoal is located 210 kilometers off the coast of Zambales province on the main Philippine island of Luzon, well within Manila’s 370-km exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in waters the Filipinos call West Philippine Sea. China seized Panatag Shoal in 2012 after a two-month standoff with the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard, forcing Manila to bring the law of the sea case against Beijing in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Manila asked the court to void Beijing’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea and demanded respect for its right to explore resources within its EEZ. Beijing refused to participate in the proceedings, saying it had historic rights to the South China Sea, that it did not recognize the court, and it would not abide by its ruling. The tribunal found for the Philippines, and ruled on Tuesday that China had no historic rights to the sea and it violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights by building artificial islands and barring Manila from exploring resources and Filipino fishermen from fishing in the West Philippine Sea. China warning China has rejected the tribunal’s ruling. On Wednesday, it warned other countries against threatening its security in the South China Sea. Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said Beijing could declare an air defense identification zone over the waters if it felt threatened. China, however, also extended an olive branch to the new administration in the Philippines, saying the Southeast Asian nation would benefit from cooperating with China. Blair, also a former director of national intelligence, said China has alienated its neighbors through its aggressive actions in the South China Sea, including its reclamation of land and construction of airstrips and ports in the Spratly archipelago. He advised a careful US approach following the tribunal ruling to give Beijing opportunity to change course. Kurt Campbell, the former top US diplomat for East Asia and now an adviser on Asia policy for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, said, “I think over time China will start to adjust its position because they will realize it’s not in their best strategic interests.” US support for talks US President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, said the United States would support China- Philippines negotiations that were free from “coercion and undue pressure.” Kim was speaking at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday before the same Senate subcommittee on Asia. US officials have said occupation or militarization of Panatag Shoal by China would be very dangerous and destabilizing. But they have declined to say whether it would invoke the US-Philippines defense treaty, which calls for the allies to help defend each other if there is an armed attack on their armed forces, public vessels, aircraft or island territories under their jurisdiction in the Pacific. AP

2016-07-15 00:00 INQUIRER.net globalnation.inquirer.net

38 Fishers shift attention to UN rights complaint SUBIC, Zambales— Fishermen here have shifted their attention to a complaint they had filed against China in the United Nations on the heels of a landmark decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague that the Philippines has legitimate rights over disputed areas like Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque Jr. said the UN committee on economic, social and cultural rights (CESCR) would meet again in September to discuss the fishermen’s appeal. The fishermen asked the United Nations to investigate “the massive and gross human rights violations committed against them by the state agents of the People’s Republic of China.” More than 50 fishermen from Zambales and Pangasinan provinces filed the complaint last year with the help of Roque and the Institute of International Legal Studies of the University of the Philippines Law Center. Panatag Shoal is a triangular chain of reefs and rocks surrounding a lagoon, 240 kilometers from the coastline of Zambales and western Pangasinan. In its July 12 ruling, the PCA said there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the “nine- dash line.” It also pointed out that fishermen from the Philippines and China both had fishing rights around the disputed Panatag Shoal and that China had interfered by restricting access. The fishermen appealed to the United Nations to “urgently intervene and investigate the human rights violations committed by China” against Filipinos fishing on the shoal. The United Nations should also direct China to “cease and desist” from violating their human rights, including their right to livelihood and adequate food supply, according to the fishermen’s petition. Roque said the fishermen lost income in several instances when they were chased away by Chinese patrol boats, some dating back to 2012, for which they could be compensated if the UN should decide in their favor. China seized the shoal after a two-month standoff between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in 2012. Based on the fishermen’s accounts, the Chinese patrols rammed their boats and attacked them with water cannons while fishing near the shoal. Tirso Atiga, 44, a fisherman who joined the complaint against China, said he and other local fishermen had been waiting for feedback from the CESCR.

2016-07-15 00:00 Allan Macatuno newsinfo.inquirer.net

39 Ex-VP Binay faces trial over P2-billion car park Former Vice President Jejomar Binay has been haled to the Sandiganbayan for his role in building what has been described as the world’s priciest car park in Makati City. The Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday indicted the 73-year-old Binay and his son, former Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay, on charges of graft, malversation and falsification of public documents over irregularities in the contracts they entered into on the city’s behalf for the Makati City Hall Building II. The 11-story car park cost the city a staggering P2.28 billion. The criminal suit drew a swift denunciation from Binay’s spokesperson, Joey Salgado, who blamed its filing on Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and her “undying loyalty to her [Liberal Party] patrons.” “This is a diversionary move intended to shield political patrons from public indignation,” Salgado said. He cited the criminal complaints filed against former President Benigno Aquino III in the past two weeks, including graft and malversation over the discontinued Disbursement Acceleration Program. The charges against Binay were filed in the antigraft tribunal two weeks after he relinquished his post and lost his immunity from suit. The former Vice President lost the May 9 presidential election. Binay was indicted on four violations of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, malversation and nine counts of falsification of public documents. That provision penalizes public officers “causing any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.” Bailable All the charges are bailable. Prosecutors set Binay’s bail at P40,000 for malversation, P30,000 for each count of graft and P24,000 for each count of falsification, for a total of P376,000. Binay has also been charged with plunder over the alleged overpricing in the contracts, but the Ombudsman is still studying that aspect of the case. In the graft complaints, the Ombudsman accused the Binays of rigging the bidding for the car park on F. Zobel Street in Barangay Poblacion in favor of preferred contractors, both in its design and construction. Construction took six years to complete, beginning in 2007 when Binay was still the mayor until 2013 when his son succeeded him. The son would later be dismissed from the service and perpetually disqualified from public office over his own participation in the project. The younger Binay, along with several other Makati officials, were earlier indicted on a separate graft and falsification charges. In the new charges, he was named respondent in the malversation case, as well as in two counts of graft. The Makati car park was described by two of the original private complaints as “the most expensive parking building in the entire country” as a result of overpricing. It has five floors of parking space on top of the basement parking, a roof deck and a total area of 31,928 square meters. The Binays have denied any wrongdoing in the construction of the building, among other controversial city transactions under their leadership. Unnumbered vouchers The Ombudsman said Binay, in his capacity as mayor, had approved the bids and awards committee resolutions, notices of awards, contracts and payments using unnumbered or undated disbursement vouchers and obligation requests despite irregularities. In the malversation case, the Binays were accused of awarding the P11- million contract for the design of the car park to Mana Architecture and Interior Design Co. despite a lack of public bidding and “glaring flaws in the procurement process.” In the graft cases, the Ombudsman noted a “simulated public bidding” for three contracts for the construction of the car park. These were eventually awarded to the lone bidder, Hilmarc’s Construction Corp., in spite of deficiencies in required documents and the lack of accepted and approved plans and specifications, according to the Ombudsman. The three contracts that went to Hilmarc’s amounted to P1.486 billion, based on the graft charges. In February, the Ombudsman said it could only file cases against Binay after the expiration of his term as Vice President. Under the law, an impeachable officer, while in office, cannot be the subject of a criminal indictment in court.

2016-07-15 00:00 DJ Yap newsinfo.inquirer.net

40 Sorry, no PNP, AFP pay raise Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Thursday said the government would not be able to fulfill President Duterte’s commitment to double the basic salary of state forces in his first year in office, saying the P3.35-trillion proposed budget for 2017 did not include allocation for such purpose. Mr. Duterte’s vow to increase the gross pay of personnel of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines was an integral part of his campaign during the May 9 elections, which he anchored on a no-nonsense approach to solving crimes. The President said providing better compensation to law enforcement agents would discourage them from engaging in unlawful activities like protecting illegal drug syndicates. He even dangled cash reward of as much as P5 million to policemen who would kill big-time drug lords. However, Diokno said the realization of the President’s campaign promise may have to be on the back burner for the meantime as the government would have to address other pressing financial issues besetting the PNP and the AFP. “There’s none. It’s not included,” Diokno said when asked if the 2017 budget contained the salary increase of soldiers and policemen as promised by the President. “We’re studying that. In fact, we are trying to consider everything. The problem is that the government already owes so much to the pension fund of the (soldiers) and policemen. It has ballooned,” he said after presenting the Duterte administration’s first proposed budget. But the budget chief said AFP and PNP personnel would receive a pay increase next year as part of the second tranche of the Salary Standardization Law which then President Benigno Aquino III had signed. Diokno said he would discuss the matter with Mr. Duterte, who was known to adopt the carrot-and-stick approach in disciplining policemen when he was the mayor of Davao City. He said he would announce “in two weeks’ time” how the Department of Budget and Management would address the issue. “We want to bring it up with the President, but we have to be sensitive on how to address this problem. Otherwise, the day will come that 80 percent of the military budget would be on pension only,” Diokno warned. He noted that soldiers usually “live longer” after retiring from the service at the age of 56 as mandated by law. “They (soldiers) retire early and … live long. Look at FVR. He’s still alive,” he said, referring to former President Fidel Ramos, a retired chief of the Philippine Constabulary, the PNP’s predecessor. “In fact, the pension of the military is higher than the salary of the incumbent (personnel). That’s how big that problem is. And nobody talked about this for the last 15 years,” Diokno said. Asked if the government would have to postpone the purchase of military hardware, he said: “I think so.” Diokno then broached the idea of enlisting the services of members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps who, he said, were not entitled to pension benefits. “For me, I’m for smaller, leaner, better-trained Armed Forces,” he said.

2016-07-15 00:00 Marlon Ramos newsinfo.inquirer.net

41 CPL 2016: AB de Villiers blasts Tridents to victory over Patriots A brilliant innings from AB de Villiers helped the Barbados Tridents to victory in their Caribbean Premier League (CPL) match against the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. His innings of 82 was his second half century in his last two innings and his highest score this season. When the chase got under way the Patriots got off to a decent start but disciplined bowling from the Tridents prevented them reaching their target as they fell 26 runs short of victory. Faf du Plessis attempted to hold things together while also scoring quickly but his 42 was not enough to secure victory for his team. An excellent start with the ball from the Patriots in the Tridents batting PowerPlay saw them take control of this match before de Villiers ripped it away from them. Alzarri Joseph, one of the stars of the West Indies Under- 19 World Cup triumph, bowled brilliantly with the new ball. He beat Ramon Reifer for pace with a shorter ball that ballooned up for a catch for Lendl Simmons. Two more wickets fell inside the first six overs; USA international Steven Taylor trapped lbw by Sheldon Cottrell and Shoaib Malik caught mistiming a pull off Samuel Badree, as the Tridents found themselves 29-3 and in real trouble on an excellent Kensington Oval pitch. From there de Villiers proved why he is considered the best batsman across formats in world cricket as he steadied the Tridents ship. He began slowly but accelerated brilliantly throughout his innings. He finished with 82 from 54 balls, the highlight being the giant six that he smashed over the roof of the grandstand off Cottrell. He was dropped three times during his innings, the last of which involved a sickening collision between JJ Smuts and Kieran Powell. It was a bone- crushing impact and it was upsetting to see Powell leaving the ground in an ambulance. Powell suffered a concussion and he is being closely observed by the medical staff, and was unable to bat. De Villiers was well supported by Nicolas Pooran and Kieron Pollard as the Tridents managed 180-6 off their 20 overs, a formidable target for a misfiring Patriots team to chase down. Smuts had recovered well enough from his impact with Powell to open the batting for the Patriots and he didn’t seem to be showing any lasting after- effects as he struck Wayne Parnell for back-to-back fours in the first over. Smuts looked to be well set to make a decent contribution when he attempted to cut a wide ball from Akeal Hosein and only succeeded in chipping the ball straight to Reifer at point. Proteas batsman du Plessis made a significant contribution, but he lacked any real support from his colleagues as the required rate began to rise. Jonathan Carter made 47 but he struggled to make those runs at a decent lick, as a result heaping more pressure on du Plessis. The required rate was up to 14 an over when du Plessis attempted a cross- batted swipe to a delivery from Reifer that he edged onto his stumps. Carter swung manfully to try and catch up with the rate, but it just kept climbing. The Patriots are not mathematically eliminated from the CPL, but their chances of making the knockout stages rest on them winning their remaining four matches and hoping for other results to go their way.

2016-07-14 22:14 By mid www.mid-day.com

42 Sporting stars, Bollywood, politicians to support Vijender New Delhi : An August gathering of sporting legends, politicians and Bollywood celebrities will be in full attendance when star boxer Vijender Singh takes on Australia's Kerry Hope in the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight Championship title, at the Thyagaraj stadium here on Saturday. Vijender Singh Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir will be in attendance from the cricketing world. Besides country's star woman boxer Mary Kom and double Olympic medalist wrestler Sushil Kumar will also witness the fight. The stars of Bollywood that will add to the power packed performance and the glam quotient of the event are Irfan Khan, Randeep Hooda, Neha Dhupia, Diljit Dosanj, Rannvijay, Baadshah, Jimmy Shergil and Raghu among others. Other prominent personalities that attend the event are Finance Minister of Haryana Captain Abhimanyu Singh, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, BJP President Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Rajiv Shukla, Baba Ramdev and Anirudh Chaudhary. Singh has lived up to a very successful run in the amateur boxing circuit and has been unbeaten in the six fights that he has competed after turning professional in 2015.

2016-07-14 21:58 By PTI www.mid-day.com

43 Pulse Nightclub Released Back to Owner Video The Orlando nightclub were 49 people were shot to death last month has been released back to its owners. By investigators. The owner says she's glad to have it back but is still devastated by the attack in a place. Meant to be safe for LG BT members. The future of that particular building is unclear but the owner hopes to reopen the pulse nightclub. Perhaps in a new location. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-07-14 21:30 ABC News abcnews.go.com

44 44 Texas Woman Renews Driver's License at Age 102 Video It's overblown saddling with the DMV doors swing open. And this happens. A 102. Year old Helen Maddux was afraid she might want to tennis to keep her driver's license pass with flying colors. That's us okay and that it actually you can take a road trip with island mavericks know she's not drive. And the radio off you won't be. My dad and power and we all and. We had a great time 194 Q she was born July 28 1914. The day World War I started. 1916. Well hundred years ago. There you are do you remember the first cart you. Yeah Albania the daily their Buick she took without her parents' permission we know where this is have been about nineteen. Thirty. Had the car and I said to the girls and let's go for ride over Kandahar were where that's were the boys were. Your first driver's license will do that to you a few years later she and her sister split the price of a ship. And Corey Feldman would grow to three wins Florida. We know about the story about that weather is hiring away a. All hell and you was there was a guy and a pub with a boat and an offer and that was Ernest Hemingway. Are you telling me that Ernest Hemingway hit on you in Key West in 1937. That's right she steered clear. But the road ahead would stay interest fifty year marriage and to love affair with politics. Where the best wishes. Gulag. Eisenhower. And that's from him to you can rule. District eleven a good person who thought. A good Republican Helen's walls blown. Photos and well wishes from GOP stars Helen having tea with Nancy Reagan Alan Charlton Heston. Trading personal mail with president George W. Bush we shall bow. Birthday cards back four out of at all but just as proud of this. I just wanted to be able to have my drive reflect and I don't worry given well why is that important now. I guess because. I feel like I'm news English self. If I don't overdrive replies Booth she drew is very little friends like former Republican state rep Barbara Nash are always nearby. I just don't walk. I don't want to drive with a crazy people who felt. No wouldn't want that. But she does have another two years under license. Jim Douglas Channel 8. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-07-14 21:29 ABC News abcnews.go.com

45 45 ISIS battlefield numbers plummet, global attacks increase – leaked intel report — RT America The number has dropped to just 12,000 fighters, which is about half what it was in early 2015, according to the intelligence report recently sent to the White House. NBC published its findings on Wednesday. The figure comes just as Islamic State (IS, ISIS/formerly ISIL) released its own statistics, boasting of 5,200 people killed in attacks worldwide. According to its Al Naba website, the figure includes also those attacks where allegiance was given to IS – such as the Pulse nightclub in Florida. Hundreds alone died earlier this month in Baghdad and Saudi Arabia attacks, and Turkey lost 45 people at its main international airport in late June. While it is impossible to verify whether the attacks were indeed carried out or plotted by the militant group, the report reveals IS sympathizers return home and may conduct operations there. “A stunning 30 percent of those who have fought in the war zone have now returned to their home countries – at a rate of 3,000 ISIS adherents per month,” NBC says. Solving the problem of radicalizing Western youths only went so far, as countries lying outside of the immediate warzone of Syria and Iraq have simply made it harder for would-be fighters to make the journey – they did not eliminate the threat altogether. The loss of IS fighters, coupled with the rising number of terrorist attacks worldwide, for some means that a new phase of the war against the group has been entered. According to terror expert Malcolm Nance, who spoke with NBC, this is a direct result of the group’s loss of territory in Syria and Iraq. "The effect that's going to happen now is like stepping on a ball of mercury," said Nance, a former intelligence analyst and head of the Terror Asymmetrics Project. "You step on a ball of mercury, all the pieces break up and spread around the world. " He says that, as this new phase of confrontation is underway, “We are creating, essentially, a ghost caliphate” with no central location. As far as preventing trips to warzones goes, that plan isn’t entirely fool-proof either, as 500 Western nationals continue to travel to Syria and Iraq every month to fight for the terrorist group. This is in spite of crackdowns at home in the US and Europe. According to the report, 1,200 French nationals are currently fighting abroad, as well as 335 Britons and 145 Americans. For the former Soviet republics, that number is 2,400 current fighters, and the data says it doubled in the past year. A large portion of those fighters are from the Caucasus region and have a history of militant activity.

2016-07-14 20:38 www.rt.com

46 Energy Dept Scrambling After Electric Grid Problem Exposed Officials working for a government-run electric grid operator are scrambling to respond to a scathing Wall Street Journal expose on the poor security at critical electricity substations across the country. “Today, the Wall Street Journal ran a long anticipated piece on grid security featuring Liberty Substation break-ins in 2013 and 2014,” Mark Gabriel, the CEO of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), emailed staff after WSJ published its piece. “Public Affairs is collaborating with [the Energy Department] on the responses,” he wrote in the email, obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. WSJ’s Rebecca Smith wrote a lengthy expose on the vulnerability of hundreds of electric substation used to move electricity across the U. S. WAPA operates and delivers electricity to customers in 15 western states and has been criticized for its lax security measures. “The story discusses funding needs and features Director of Security Keith Cloud,” Gabriel wrote. “To ensure you have complete information, here are some additional facts,” he said, listing a few talking points. “We spend more than $200 hundred million per year on capital improvements, including investments in security to meet the ever-growing demands to protect the nation’s electrical power grid,” he wrote in the email. WAPA is one of four DOE-run electricity transmission providers and is responsible for more than 17,000 miles of transmission lines which provide power to 680 utility and power companies that operate 328 substations across the western U. S. — WAPA is one of the top 10 largest electrical transmission operators in the country. Smith’s article mentions attacks on the Liberty substation near Phoenix, Arizona, which is operated by WAPA and owned by the federal government. Smith wrote Liberty “is a critical link in the southwest power corridor, delivering electricity to heat homes in northwestern states during winter and cool buildings in the southwest during summer.” In November 2013, attackers slashed fiber-optic serving Liberty and a larger substation near the Hoover Dam. Smith noted it “took workers about two hours to re-establish proper communications and normal controls.” Liberty substation was attacked again in 2014, and this time “two men with a satchel cut the gate lock and headed to the control building,” but “left after trying, unsuccessfully, to cut power to a security trailer outfitted with cameras and blinking lights.” Cloud, who Gabriel mentioned in his email, said “16 of 18 security cameras had failed” at Liberty, according to WSJ. “Most were installed after the first break-in and hadn’t been properly programmed,” Smith reported. “Investigators retrieved a single fuzzy video from a thermal-imaging camera.” Gabriel’s email claimed the “Liberty break-ins are a snapshot of where we were three years ago.” “We have made progress,” he wrote. “Since then, we expanded the physical security office to provide more coverage and we conduct assessments at all of our 320 substations.” “We are committed to continually improving our security posture,” he wrote. “This commitment is fundamental to delivering on mission and meets the ever-growing demands needed to protect the nation’s electrical power grid.” The Department of Energy’s (DOE) inspector general released a report in April detailing how the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) “had not always established adequate physical security measures and practices for its critical assets, addressed physical security measures recommended in prior risk assessments, and conducted performance testing to ensure that security measures for physical assets were performing as designed.” “The issues we identified occurred in large part because Western had not placed sufficient emphasis on physical security,” the IG’s office wrote in its report. “We also found that Western lacked specific policies and procedures for maintaining security equipment, controlling access keys, implementing risk assessment recommendations, and conducting performance tests.” “These concerns are not merely theoretical,” the IG reported. “Western had experienced instances where its critical assets had been penetrated and, in some cases, Western did not have the physical security capabilities to promptly detect the intrusions.” “One of the intrusions resulted in damage to the perimeter fence and control building door, and the theft of a security camera and tools,” according to the report. Follow Michael on Facebook and Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

47 VIDEO: Tumwater shooting scene sights and sounds As he drives the roads of South Hill, Pierce County Sheriff's Sergeant Pat Davidson talks about how the shooting of police in Dallas has affected him, his deputies, and their families. Dugan Lawton faces murder charges in Thurston County Superior Court for the shooting deaths of three people on June 22. Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza announces an arrest in the June 22 triple homicide on Dutterow Road. Son Timothy and daughter Tracy Fabre deliver emotional statements during the sentencing of their father, Milton, on Friday in Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma. The 81-year-old pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of his daughter, Tamara, and was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison Thurston County sheriff’s detectives are investigating an early morning shooting near Lacey that left three people dead and one injured. Four people were shot and three dead after a shooting on Dutterow Road SE in Lacey. Gail Doyle's nephew, Ryan Berlin, visited Thurston County Superior Court on Tuesday, June 21 for the arraignment of James E. Stidd, the man suspected of killing Doyle. Cortney Spencer who lost both legs when Brenda Pleasants, who had been drinking, crashed into him, speaks at her sentencing in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday, June 17, 2016. Pleasants was sentenced to one year and a day in prison on a charge of vehicular assault. Surveillance video just released by the King County Prosecuting Attorney Public Disclosure Office, a student at Seattle Pacific University pepper- sprays a gunman then taking him to the ground during an on-campus attack in 2014. The video was released after a ruling ordering the footage released under Washington’s Public Records Act. Michael Boisselle is sentenced for 21 years and eight months Wednesday in Tacoma on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Brandon Zomalt.

2016-07-14 20:38 www.thenewstribune.com

48 Navy Admiral: Selling Weapons Overseas Should Be Easier A top Pentagon official is calling to reform the approval process for selling military technology overseas as the U. S. approaches $40 billion in foreign military sales. Federal agencies are straining to keep up with foreign demand for American weapons systems, and the U. S. needs to improve the process for approving sales, Vice Admiral Joseph Rixey told Reuters. Rixey said the arms sale process is “not broken but it’s certainly burdened.” As director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which manages all arms sales with other countries, Rixey called for improvements to the process. “We’ve got to make sure that we get better,” Rixey said, speaking to an audience at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK. Currently, the Department of State has to approve all sales of weapons to other countries, and that process sometimes take years to complete. Rixey said that the U. S. will approve around $40 billion in sales of military equipment to allies this fiscal year, down from $47 billion approved in fiscal 2015. While approval of arms sales to other countries is down compared to last year, global demand for American military technology appears to be growing. In 2014, the U. S. sold $34 billion in weapons to other countries, up from $30 billion in 2013. Rixey noted that improving foreign military sales doesn’t mean removing foreign policy debates from the process. “Anything that is in foreign policy review is actually part of the deliberate conversation,” Rixey said. “When we get stalled there, the system is not broken, but actually acting as intended. We’re having a debate about foreign policy.” Spreading advanced military technology around the globe could damage the marginal advantage that comes with superior technology, according to global consulting firm Deloitte LLP. (RELATED: US Defense Strategy May Be On The Wrong Track, Leading Consultant Firm Says) While the U. S. has focused on a strategy of innovation to gain advantage over other countries, the sharing of technology between nations has also increased. Last January, Deloitte reported that the sales of U. S. defense technology to foreign governments is rapidly increasing. The U. S. secured $46 million in foreign military sales contracts in 2015, more than double the amount received in 2010. Follow Thomas Phippen on Twitter Send tips to [email protected] . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

49 VIDEO: 7 Seas Brewing celebrates 7 years George King, president of the Burley Community Club, discusses the history of the Burley Community Center. The Gig Harbor Rotary Club has placed a Peace Pole outside of the Gig Harbor Civic Center. Gig Harbor pianist and U. S. military veteran Elijah Bossenbroek performs "I Give Up" from his album Carpe Lumen. Follow along as the Gig Harbor Police Department monitors the waters of Gig Harbor during the busy Maritime Gig Festival weekend. What's a hurdy-gurdy? Budapest West members explain. Peninsula and Gig Harbor High School Students take part in a mock car accident to highlight the dangers of drunk driving and distracted driving. Residents of the Quail Run housing development know Halloween is approaching when they see neighbors Daniel and Tracy Perkins digging their own graveyard. Most eyes will be on the record-setting Gig Harbor High offense from a season ago, which returns several key pieces. Quarterback Davis Alexander returns, as well as wide receiver Noah Samsen and Peninsula transfer Kyle Olson-Urbon.

2016-07-14 20:38 www.thenewstribune.com

50 Breaking News English Lesson The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has advised its citizens not to wear the country's traditional clothes when travelling overseas. This was after an Emirati businessman was mistaken for a member of ISIS in a hotel in the state of Ohio, USA. The businessman, Ahmad Al Menhali, 41, from Abu Dhabi, was making a phone call in the lobby of a hotel. The hotel receptionist called the police because he was wearing the traditional white kandoura (Arab robe) and headdress, and he was speaking Arabic, so she thought he might be a terrorist. Police armed with assault rifles wrestled a terrified Mr Al Menhali to the floor. He needed hospital treatment after the incident. He was shocked at how "brutal" the police were. The police and the hotel have apologised for the incident. The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised Emiratis to avoid wearing the country's national dress when travelling abroad. It said citizens had to think about their safety outside of the UAE. Mr Al Menhali reportedly blamed Donald Trump, for making people hate Muslims. The Council on American Islamic Relations said it was worried about what happened to Al Menhali. It said: "The fact that the police referred to his clothing in their report as a criminal [sign] is very concerning. " It added: "Police need more diversity training. This is shocking". Mr Al Menhali said: "I always wear my traditional clothes during all my travels and never encountered such a thing".

2016-07-14 20:36 www.breakingnewsenglish.com

51 House GOP Takes On Obama-Backed Solar Power Stations House Republicans will target a series of Obama administration-subsidized solar power plants Thursday, many of which have torched birds as well as caused massive fires. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, is leading the House Natural Resources Committee’s oversight panel in investigating the Ivanpah solar plant and others that have benefited from federal loans and grants despite fire hazards and environmental destruction. “During the Obama administration, taxpayers have subsidized tens of billions of dollars in renewable energy projects, including risky utility scale solar projects on federal land,” a committee memo notes. “These projects cover vast tracts of land, and have demonstrably impacted protected species.” The plant’s operators requested the federal government give it $539 million in federal grant to help pay off the $1.6 billion loan it got from the Energy Department – it essentially used taxpayer money to pay off a loan from taxpayers. The California-based Ivanpah generates a paltry 45 percent of expected power in 2014, and 68 percent in 2015, according to government data. The highly subsidized plant manages to accomplish at the wholesale cost of $200 per megawatt hour, which is six times more expensive than power created by natural gas-fired power plants. “Despite its corporate backers, and billions in funding provided by the federal government, Ivanpah has been unable to meet its contractual agreements to supply electricity to consumers in California,” the memo adds. “In March of this year, the facility was granted an extension, with financial penalty, to provide extra time to meet its obligations.” The committee’s memo also notes how the solar plant has incinerated birds. “Known as ‘streamers,’ it is believed that the birds are drawn to the installation — either mistaking the bright light for water, or pursuing the insects that are drawn to the light,” the memo said. “The birds are then incinerated in the air by 1,000-degree Fahrenheit rays from the collection towers. This includes many species covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.” Enormous solar power plants like Ivanpah are significantly different than rooftop solar panels. They use tens of thousands of mirrors that reflect sunlight at a tower holding massive amounts of water that is then heated to produce the steam powering a turbine producing electricity. Follow Chris on Facebook and Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

52 Misty Copeland scores role in 'Nutcracker' movie The prima ballerina has nabbed a role in Disney's forthcoming "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" movie. Copeland posted a picture of the script on her Instagram account with the caption: "I'm thrilled to be a part of this amazing project with Disney and the wonderful Lasse Hallstrom. #TheNutcracker #MoreToCome. " The studio announced the live-action film back in March and Hallstrom is set to direct. Copeland has been lauded for breaking down barriers as an African- American dancer and is the subject of Nelson George's 2015 documentary "A Ballerina's Tale. " For the upcoming film, she reportedly will appear as the lead ballerina in the "Nutcracker's" only dance scene.

2016-07-14 21:22 Lisa Respers rss.cnn.com

53 Ronaldinho arrives in Chennai for Premier Futsal Amid a horde of scribes and waiting photographers, two- time FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho arrived in the city to grace the inaugural edition of Premier Futsal tournament. The 36-year-old Brazilian great will represent Goa 5's as the franchise's marquee player. Ronaldinho arrives at Chennai Airport to participate in "Premier Futsal League 2016". Pic/ AFP Sporting a casual t-shirt, shorts and studs, the former Barcelona and AC Milan star was swamped by the waiting media as he stepped out of the international airport late last night. The 2002 World Cup winner looked calm as he obliged the lensmen by posing for photographs, even as the bouncers and police jostled around. The organisers had arranged for a Rolls Royce to pick up the legendary footballer with league CEO, Abhinandan Balasubraminian present to receive the player. Chennai International Airport was the place of attention as other renowned footballers Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Hernan Crespo all arrived one by one. Premier Futsal, a franchise-based international (a form of football being played indoors on a smaller field with five players in a side for 40-minute duration) tournament and promoted by an entity formed by Indian entrepreneurs, has attracted some of the world's well known former football stars. It has Portuguese football legend Luis Figo as president and Indian cricket star Virat Kohli as ambassador. The inaugural season kicks off here tomorrow and move to Goa on July 18. The final will take place in Goa on July 24.

2016-07-14 21:21 By PTI www.mid-day.com

54 Praveen Amre has conflict of interest; Dilip Vengsarkar, Rajeev Shukla cleared Former India Test batsman Praveen Amre and ex- Karnataka left-arm spinner Raghuram Bhat have been found to be in Conflict of Interest by the Cricket Board's Ombudsman who has cleared former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar from a similar charge. Praveen Amre Also cleared by the Board's Ombudsman, Justice (Retd.) A P Shah, after his attention was drawn to a similar Conflict of Interest issue is IPL Governing Council's chairman Rajeev Shukla, as per details available on the BCCI's website bcci.tv. Amre, a member of the Mumbai Cricket Association's managing committee as well as the coaching staff of IPL team Delhi Deredevils, was deemed to have potential Conflict of Interest by a complaint lodged with the Ombudsaman. The Ombudsman rejected Amre's contention that there was no conflict as he had joined the Daredevils coaching staff before the 2015 edition of IPL and only subsequently became a managing committee member in MCA before renewing his contract with the IPL franchise this year. Justice Shah found that there existed a conflict of interest in this case as per the BCCI rules which stipulated that an administrator, which includes members of the managing committee of the affiliated units of BCCI, or his near relative shall not be on the pay roll of an IPL franchise. "Mr Amre should not have taken any position in the coaching staff of an IPL franchise, while being an administrator," he has stated in his order. He has also directed the Board to take appropriate action against Amre as the IPL edition has already concluded and has declared that "for the next edition of the IPL, Mr Amre cannot continue to be a part of the MCA Managing Committee and the Delhi Daredevils (or any other IPL team) coaching staff. " "The BCCI is also directed to write to all the IPL franchises to clarify Rule 1 (A)(B) of the Rules on Conflict of Interest that the franchises cannot employ any Administrator (as defined in the Rules) as part of its support staff," the Ombudsman has said in his July 6 Order.

2016-07-14 21:20 By PTI www.mid-day.com

55 Anirban Lahiri positive ahead of Troon test Troon (Scotland): India's Anirban Lahiri is hoping his love for the links will lead to a strong showing at The British Open which begins at the Royal Troon Golf Club here on Thursday. Anirban Lahiri The reigning Asian Tour No.1, who is making his fourth appearance in the world's oldest championship, is eager to improve on a career best tied fifth outing in a major tournament achieved at the PGA Championship last season. "The Open has always been good to me, so I'm hoping for a good run," said Lahiri, who made a hole-in-one in his debut at Royal Lytham in 2012 and was tied 30th at St Andrews last year. "I'm feeling positive about my game and the golf course sets up for me. I like the way the holes shape away and it's something that suits my eye. " After a spectacular 2015 season where he won twice in Asia, made his Presidents Cup debut, earned his PGA Tour card and broke into the world's top-50, Lahiri's 2016 campaign has been rather muted with only two top- 10s thus far, one in Asia and the other in the United States. He conceded that competing in his rookie PGA Tour season has been challenging as he faces a new golf course almost every week. Hence, a return to a links setup in Scotland has provided him with a fresh confidence booster. "I prefer playing links courses to parkland courses probably because we don't play enough of it and also because you have to be more creative as it's less sterile. You have to control your ball flight, up and down and sideways and you have to have a lot more feel," said Lahiri. "We play most of the times in benign conditions and greens are soft and we are throwing darts and it's more of a putting competition (in the US). Out here, it tests every department of your game and that's what makes links golf very special. "The best think about links golf is that it's not about the power game. I've played some of my best golf over the last few years on courses where it's strategy and precision over power. "Even my best finish in America this year at the Colonial was on one of the shortest and tightest courses, something like the Delhi Golf Club. It adds to the comfort level. " In preparation for his week, the world No.62 has thrown in a two iron in his golf bag place of his five wood and left out a gap wedge in preference of a blade four iron in hope of tackling the winds that is so often associated with The Open. "On a course like this, you need a lot of long irons off the tee, so it's a completely different makeup," he said. This week's Open championship will mark the start of an exciting run of big tournaments for Lahiri which includes the PGA Championship in a fortnight and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where he has qualified with S. S. P. Chawrasia. "I'm super excited about the Olympics. It's fantastic. The last couple of years have flown by and we're a few weeks out of Rio. It'll be a very proud moment for me. SSP and I will be there for the opening ceremony and we'll be with the rest of the Indian contingent marching out there and you can't buy that experience. There's nothing that compares to that feeling. You're part of something that is bigger than yourself," said Lahiri. "The goal obviously will be to get there and try to get a medal, or two, if both S. S. P. and I can play well. That should have a big impact on golf in India and Asia. Guys like Kiradech (Aphirbarnrat), Thongchai (Jaidee) and (Jeunghun) Wang will be there and it's going to make a big difference. " 2016-07-14 21:19 By IANS www.mid-day.com

56 Team which adapts quickly will have edge: Leander Paes Chandigarh : With wet conditions caused by incessant rain adding to the challenge, veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes today said the team which adapts quicker will have the edge in the Davis Cup Asia- Oceania Group-I tie between India and South Korea starting here tomorrow. Leander Paes "I think that tennis on grass is more technical, so the one who adjusts to these conditions faster, is going to have a big advantage," Paes said after the draw ceremony here today. The weather was inclement in Chandigarh today and according to the local MeT Department's Director, Surinder Paul, more rains are likely to occur in the city over the next 2-3 days. Ram Kumar Ramnathan will take on Seong-Chan Hong, ranked more than 200 places below him, in the first singles match here tomorrow. "We were hoping that it would turn out like this where Ram gets to play the first match. Also, we were thinking about whether Lim would play doubles or not. It will be interesting to see how the weather holds out and how the matches eventually get played. But as a team, we are ready for any situation that arises," Paes said. About wet conditions here, Paes said, "We have played in wet conditions before, especially when we played against Switzerland in Kolkata. We had rain literally all through Thursday night and on Friday morning when we got out there the court was really soft and damp. Being grass, we need to take care of that court really well". The tie will be played out at the grass-courts of Chandigarh Club here and Paes said the Indians are ready for the challenge. "As a team, we are all ready for the tie and hopefully we can start on time tomorrow, but if that doesn't happen, I believe we might be able to play three matches on Saturday -- two singles and a doubles -- which means we might have an earlier start on Saturday.

2016-07-14 21:18 By PTI www.mid-day.com

57 Edinburgh baby born from frozen ovary in UK first A cancer patient from Edinburgh has become the first UK woman to give birth following a transplant of her frozen ovary tissue. The mother conceived naturally and gave birth to a baby boy two weeks ago. Edinburgh University scientists are freezing tissue from the reproductive organs of boys and girls as young as one, which can be re-implanted once they reach adulthood. The 33-year-old mother had a section of her ovary removed 11 years ago. She wishes to remain anonymous. Following her chemotherapy, doctors re-implanted the tissue last year. Researchers said the new service was open to NHS patients. The new mother said: "That the re-implanted tissue took so quickly, came as a really wonderful surprise. "I'm incredibly appreciative of my oncologist's foresight in sending me for the consultation with the fertility team. "I had one small surgical procedure before I began my second round of chemotherapy and now, 10 years on, my husband and I have been able to have a family. " She added: "We never thought it would be possible and we are just astonished and overjoyed. We are extremely grateful to all the people involved in this process. "When you're going through cancer treatment it can be hard to think about the future, but I do think this will offer hope to others that they could one day have a family. " Prof Richard Anderson, of Edinburgh University, said: "The storage of ovarian tissue to allow restoration of fertility after cancer treatment in girls and young women was pioneered in Edinburgh over 20 years ago, and it is wonderful to see it come to fruition. "This gives real hope to girls and young women facing treatment that may cause them to become infertile, and shows how some medical advances can take a long time to show their benefits. " The research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, Children with Cancer, the European Union and the Medical Research Council. It has involved close collaboration with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.

2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

58 Margate woman jailed for 'cruel' James Bulger tweets A woman who admitted sending disturbing Twitter messages to the mother of murdered toddler, James Bulger, has been jailed for three years. Chloe Cowan, 20, from Margate in Kent, pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress at an earlier hearing at Canterbury Crown Court. She had posed as one of the toddler's killers and as his ghost in the tweets. Cowan was given a restraining order, prohibiting her from making any contact with James' parents or their family. In addition, she was banned for 10 years from using any device with internet capability without it being able to store the history of its use. Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East, Jaswant Narwal, said Cowan had "targeted and tormented" the two-year-old's mother with "cruel tweets". James was murdered in 1993 by schoolboys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson after they abducted him from a shopping centre in Bootle, on Merseyside.

2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

59 Pokemon Go: Trailblazer that could redefine mobile games It seems stranger than fiction, but Pokemon Go - an app that has triggered a global phenomenon where millions of people obsessively capture small creatures in public spaces - was first introduced as an April Fool's Day joke. In 2014, YouTube published a mock sales pitch called Google Maps: Pokemon Challenge, which showed the corporation's maps app overtaken by colourful monsters. The video asked recruits to track down these critters using their phone's GPS location data, and then capture them using their camera. If you are still unsure about how to play Pokemon Go, or what it is, Google's prank provides a pretty good guide. It's perhaps no coincidence that the studio that developed today's blockbuster app, Niantic Labs, is itself a spin-out from Google. Up until now, the central concept of mobile games has been something that can be enjoyed anywhere. They are pit-stops in daily routines. But few games encourage playing while on the move like Pokemon Go does. In order to succeed, players have to travel to destinations and visit landmarks previously unknown to them. In doing so, the Pokemon Company - and Nintendo, which has a large stake in it - may have just harnessed the true potential of mobilised gaming. This a watershed moment for augmented reality in particular. The concept has been around for more than a decade but has never before achieved this level of mainstream awareness. Augmented reality games use a device's sensors to mix together the virtual and real worlds, allowing players to, for instance, fight a dragon circling Big Ben or take down a spaceship zipping through your lounge. Read more: Pokemon Go unleashed in UK Five random Pokemon stories Nintendo shares up more than 50% Pokemon fixes Google error Pokemon Go is a monster hit Innovations, as self-evidently important as they are, don't tend to write the history of the games industry. Usually, it is the trendsetters that shape its future. Doom wasn't the first shooter that depicted the world through the eyes of its hero, Street Fighter 2 wasn't the first one-on-one brawler, and Candy Crush was hardly the first game of rearranging items in lines, but all three were the trailblazers that set their respective genres alight. Pokemon Go is not even the first augmented reality title to win critical acclaim. In 2012, London developer Six to Start released Zombies, Run!, an audio- only exercise game that tasks joggers with fleeing from the undead, with the sounds of groans in their ears. A year later, developer Niantic Labs released Ingress, which tasks players with finding virtual items dotted around the real world using a smartphone's GPS. Although it has since been downloaded more than 14 million times, it is now perhaps best known for being the precursor to the same studio's Pokemon- themed follow-up. The likelihood that other developers are now frantically working on games with similar conceits - collecting and interacting with virtual items in the real world - is very high. What Pokemon Go has demonstrated so effectively is that augmented reality games can be extraordinarily viral if developed in a certain way. On social media, thousands of players are posting images of Pokemon creatures dwelling in random locations and historical landmarks. This in itself has become a game of one-upmanship, to the extent that one Twitter user even snapped a picture of a monster while he was being pulled over by the police. It is Pokemon Go's presence in the real world that sets it apart. Its millions of players have effectively become walking advertisements by shuffling through busy streets with their smartphones held aloft, in the hope of catching their next creature. Popular sightseeing locations, such as New York's Central Park, as well as more obscure ones, including an Australian suburb , have been bustling with crowds of players looking for rarer and elusive Pokemon. For now, the game is a little barebones and free to play. Its developer currently makes money from the optional power-ups and virtual items that can be bought within the title. But Niantic is already in talks with various companies who want to buy sponsored locations within the game. This is a new kind of revenue stream for a games developer and, at a time where traditional income routes are somewhat challenged, is something that will certainly turn heads if successful. The iPhone and Android have revolutionised the games industry by ushering in a new era of lightweight and compulsive games enjoyed in small chunks; on commutes into work and while queuing at the Post Office. Pokemon Go takes that idea one step further. Here, the great outdoors isn't just a place to play games, but now an interactive playground to explore. Rob Crossley was GameSpot's first UK editor, and previously worked for video games sites including Develop, Edge and CVG.

2016-07-14 20:37 By Rob www.bbc.co.uk

60 John O'Neil named as man who must tell police of sex plans A man who must notify police 24 hours before he has sex can be named, a district judge has ruled. John O'Neil, 45, from York, was cleared of rape at a retrial last year but was made the subject of an interim sexual risk order (SRO). An order prohibiting his identity from being made public has been lifted at York Magistrates Court. North Yorkshire Police has applied for the SRO to be made permanent after Mr O'Neil allegedly breached it. The single father-of-two has said he had an interest in sado-masochism and used to visit a fetish club. He said the order violated his human rights and meant he could not have an intimate relationship. "It's absolutely devastating. I don't have a life," he said. SROs were introduced in England and Wales last year and can be applied to any individual who the police believe poses a risk of sexual harm - even if they have never been convicted of a crime. The order requires Mr O'Neil to disclose any planned sexual activity to the police or face up to five years in prison. Mr O'Neil is accused of breaching one of the conditions of the order by not giving police the Pin number to his mobile phone. He has threatened to go on hunger strike in protest of the SRO. A judge is to decide on the police's application at a hearing at the same court next month.

2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

61 Game of Thrones and The People v OJ Simpson lead Emmy nominations Fantasy drama Game of Thrones has received 23 Emmy nominations, one more than its closest rival, crime series The People v OJ Simpson. Thrones, which won a record-breaking 12 awards in 2015, delivered almost a quarter of network HBO's 94 nods. There were also several British nominees, including Sherlock, Luther and Downton Abbey and for talk show hosts James Corden and John Oliver. The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles on 18 September. Viola Davis, who also made history in 2015 by becoming the first black woman to win the best lead actress prize, has once again been nominated for her role in How To Get Away With Murder. Comedy star Amy Schumer secured four nominations, the most given to any one person this year, for her acting and writing in Saturday Night Live, Inside Amy Schumer and Amy Schumer: Live At The Apollo. The nods for Game of Thrones included best supporting actor and actress nominations for last year's winner Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headley, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams and nods for writers David Benioff and DB Weiss. The People v OJ Simpson's lead actors, Courtney B Vance and Cuba Gooding Jr were both nominated for the outstanding lead actor award. That category also saw nominations for Idris Elba for Luther, Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock and Tom Hiddleston for The Night Manager. There were also nods for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, for their writing on comedy Catastrophe, and for The Americans' Matthew Rhys, who was nominated in the best drama actor category. Julia Louis-Dreyfus will go for her fifth best comedy actress title for playing Selina Meyer on Veep, while last year's winner Jeffrey Tambor was once again nominated for best comedy actor for his role as a transgender college professor in Transparent. Tambor was one of several nominations for performances in shows on streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Others included both Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright for House of Cards; Aziz Ansari for Master of None; Kyle Chandler for the drama Bloodline; Rami Malek for Mr Robot; Lily Tomlin for Grace and Frankie plus Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Ellie Kemper. Beyonce's film Lemonade took two nominations, with the singer receiving a personal nod for her directing work. Five-time best comedy winner Modern Family was once again nominated - it is currently tied with Frasier for the show with the most titles in the category. The nominations were announced by Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham and Black-ish's Anthony Anderson, who whooped and cheered as he read out his own nomination in the best comedy lead category, one of several the show received. A full list of the nominations is available on the Emmys website .

2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

62 Verdict on ISL final fiasco next week New Delhi : Former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Kshitij Vyas, will pronounce his verdict next week on FSDL and FC Goa's appeal against sanctions imposed on them by ISL's Regulatory Commission for boycotting the prize distribution ceremony following last edition's final. Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) is a joint venture between IMG-Reliance and Star India. "Honourable former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Mr Kshitij Vyas, acting as the independent jury member of the ISL Appeals Panel will pronounce the decision on the appeals made by FSDL & FC Goa next week," the Indian Super League said in a statement. It added, "FSDL had appealed the decision of the ISL Disciplinary Commission to dock FC Goa 15 points for the 2016 season of Hero ISL. FSDL in its appeal had represented that the larger interest of the fans of FC Goa and the level playing field for all teams will be affected because of this and had requested the Appeals commission for a lenient view on the docking of points. " FC Goa had filed their appeal before the ISL Appeals Panel comprising Vyas in May. "FC Goa, on their part, had appealed to the Appeals commissioner on the ban on their co-owners, the financial penalty in addition to the docking of points," the ISL said in the statement. The ISL Regulatory Commission slapped the Goan franchise with a Rs 11 crore fine, docked 15 points and banned co-owners Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas Dempo for three and two years respectively for boycotting the ISL final prize distribution ceremony and "bringing the league into disrepute". The FC Goa co-owners were adjudged to have decided to boycott the prize distribution ceremony even before the alleged assault of Chennaiyin FC captain Elano Blumer on Dattaraj. The ISL Regulatory Commission took the decisions after the conclusion of the hearings in Mumbai relating to the controversy surrounding the scuffle between Chennaiyin FC's Brazillian marquee player Elano Blumer and FC Goa officials after the ISL second season final in Margao in December last. As per the appeal copy, no opportunity was given to cross examine any of the witnesses and no opportunity was afforded to FC Goa to present evidence as to what actually transpired on December 20 last year. FC Goa termed the sanctions against them and co-owners as unprecedented in the world of football and without any basis in law or fact.

2016-07-14 21:15 By PTI www.mid-day.com

63 Marketing Moment 105: Odetta’s ‘Hit or Miss’ plays during wacky Southern Comfort ad To celebrate the Ad Club of New York's 120th anniversary , The Drum is inviting readers to share their favorite marketing moments from the past 120 years. Today’s marketing moment was chosen by David Bornoff, creative director at Pandora. Below, find out why Southern Comfort’s “Beach” video, created by Wieden + Kennedy New York, is his favorite marketing moment. Good music can be the difference between a memorable commercial and a spot you fast-forward through. Here’s one that ruled: Southern Comfort – “Beach.” Only an amazing song like Odetta’s “Hit or Miss” can carry a commercial with a burly dude in a speedo walking down the beach for two-minutes. Try watching it on mute, you won’t get through the first 10 seconds. To submit your own favorite marketing moment, email [email protected] and include 'Marketing Moments' in the subject line or tweet @TheDrum using the hashtag #marketingmoments.

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

64 Olympic cyclist Laura Trott becomes ambassador for P&G’s #LikeAGirl In the run up to the Olympic Games, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has signed cyclist Laura Trott as an ambassador for its long- running #LikeAGirl campaign. The partnership came after the FMCG-giant found that nearly two-third of girls want more female role models in sport. “The Olympic Games is a time when - all around the world- female sports participation is elevated in the public eye, and for that reason, we could not think of a better moment to drive awareness of the critical role sport play in building girls’ confidence,” said Michele Baeten, associate brand director and Always #LikeAGirl leader at P&G. “We will rally and unite Olympic athletes, the International and National Olympic Committees and other organisations, to spark a change and inspire a world in which every girl truly feels that she can play sport and will Keep Playing #LikeAGirl!” It comes after P&G released the latest installment of the #LikeAGirl adverts last month, which aimed to encourage girls to 'Keep Playing'. Always partnered with Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein for the ad (shown above) in which it asked girls about their athletic experiences, the challenges and the benefits, what helped them stay in the game, or what led them to quit. Already it’s had nearly 12m views on YouTube alone. For Olympic gold medalist Trott, the campaign struck a chord: “That’s why I am proud to be supporting the Always #LikeAGirl mission to help stop the drop in confidence girls experience at puberty," she said. "Sport really is one of the strongest confidence building activities and as a female athlete competing in the Olympic Games I want to encourage and inspire girls everywhere to keep playing #LikeAGirl and never quit.”

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

65 John’s Weird Week: Pokemon predators and Cillit Bang boots Barry Scott Welcome to John’s Weird Week , your weekly marketing, advertising and media round-up, but like, with peculiar things. This week, we’ve disrupted the format to bring you fewer stories within a longer run- time... Here they are. 1. Pokemon Go launched on Android and iOS mobile , an augmented reality app that lets you hunt Pokemon in the real world, yes the REAL world. As a result, the media took its default position of fear when faced with the unknown and ran more absurd stories than there are Pokemon about the dangers facing those playing the new game. I always went on my own Pokemon adventure to see if its really as dangerous as advertised. 2. Amid the inescapable Pokemon Go maelstrom cleaning company Cillit Bang sacked its mascot Barry Scott – replacing him with one of Madonna’s dancers – and boy can he dance. It pulled together a fitting tribute to Barry who’s (dis)graced UK TV’s for more than a decade. It hinted that he may one day make a return… And that’s all for this week, check out last week’s effort: Carlsberg Breathalyzela, ITV/IKEA nudity & Kingsley resignation.

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

66 Shine Technologies unveils ad tech veteran James Collier as CRO, and lifts the lid on its business model Controversial ad blocking outfit Shine Technologies has announced that ad tech veteran James Collier as its chief revenue officer, as the outfit also reveals more about its product roadmap including an ‘ad verification platform’. Collier will head up the London office of Shine Technologies (which earlier this year announced a tie-up with UK mobile operator Three), continuing its crusade to help clean up ad tech, as the company’s chief marketing officer Roi Carthy would put it. A new CRO, a London office, and a mission to eliminate 'malvertising' Collier, ex- AdTruth, Google, News International, among many others, is tasked with collaborating with other stakeholders in the ad tech sector to evolve the current online advertising experience to one that puts consumer consent and choice at the centre”. Presently, the -based outfit has ‘malvertising’ (i.e. ad tech that injects nefarious software on consumers’ devices for a range of unethical, or illegal, reasons) in its crosshairs. Speaking with The Drum, Collier described the dual trend advertisers turning to ad tech, and the attraction this holds for organised criminals as a “confluence of crisis that leads to the proliferation of malware”, adding that in the mobile advertising sphere it is particularly rampant. In a statement, he added: “As an industry we need to work together to deal with some of the most pressing issues in our marketplace, namely fraud and bad advertising practices that hamper both the publisher’s ability to generate revenue, and brands from being able to attribute the right level of investment in mobile. " Shine chief executive and co-founder Ron Porat added: "James comes to Shine as an advertising & technology sector veteran, with the ideal background and experience to help Shine evolve online advertising for the better. I’m positive James will prove incredibly effective as we launch the next phase of Shine. " A new offering Additionally, Shine is now going to market talking about its product roll out – previously it had only offering mobile operators the ability to block ads that were eating up bandwidth on their networks – with an “ad verification tool” which it will offer predominantly to the long-tail of publishers on the way, according to Shine’s Collier and Carthy. The proposed platform is still in development (neither Carthy or Collier ruled out a 2016 launch) with the outfit in talks with various stakeholders over how it will operate. Speaking with The Drum, both parties said the proposed offering will ‘work similarly to any other machine verification process’, and will operate as a ‘plug and play’ where advertisers can upload their creative, etc., and then optimise their campaign. “With operators we can help eradicate malware and fraud,” said Collier, adding that the new offering is “not a whitelisted ad network”. Rather, it will be another ad platform “with better ant-fraud software”, according to Carthy. “Publishers have been the least [well]-serviced out of ad tech, but if you look at it historically, if malware gets eliminated, then CPMs go up,” added Collier, emphasising that the intended offering is not an additional ‘tax’, or a ‘racket’. “The industry has looked internally for too long,” interjected Carthy. Speaking earlier with the Drum , he explained his opinion that: “There is a lot of abusive tech out there, and absolutely no regulatory measures for the control of it. “We believe that you need a commercial entity to battle this thing. You need a company that is as motivated to protect consumers, as ad tech is to monetise them.” A pivot for Shine? When asked if the proposed offering represented a pivot from being a consumer protection outfit, to a more fully-fledged ad tech offering, Carthy answered: “No … We knew that it would take a comprehensive approach to create a better advertising experience for consumers. “We knew it would take us a year and a half to create the right market conditions on both the advertising industry side, and the mobile carrier side. And like clockwork, here we are working with brands, agencies and associations to do create a framework that has the consumer at the centre.” Last week research outfit ExchangeWire and The Media Trust published a survey examining levels of awareness on ‘malvertising’, revealing a widespread consensus among the media industry that the threat is on the increase (see graph below). So just why do people block ads ? Earlier this week, fellow ad blocking outfit Eyeo (the operator of desktop extension AdBlockPlus) published research by itself and HubSpot examining the reasons why some online audiences choose to block ads, with just some of the issues outlined in the chart below. The agency-side view Speaking with The Drum, Malcolm Poynton, global chief creative officer at Cheil Worldwide, said: "It's time for brands to forget advertising on mobile altogether and to simply create genuinely entertaining and meaningful ways for consumers to engage with them through their mobile devices – this is what will get brands ahead when it comes to people liking them. "Ad blocking is only going to get more prolific so brands need to ditch the mobile ads and find new ways to connect with their audiences, in a ways that work for the consumer. It's do or die time. " In conversation with The Drum, Norm Johnston, Mindshare’s global chief strategy and digital officer, outlined his view that Shine and other ad blocking companies are simply responding to people’s desires to stop getting bombarded with irrelevant, annoying, intrusive ads, particularly on mobile devices. He added: "The internet has always had an historical tension between publishers' desire to monetise content and consumers’ wish for a superior consumer experience. "Ad blocking occurs when that equilibrium becomes unbalanced. In short, annoying people with ads may generate short-term advertising revenue gains but in the end upsets the accepted equilibrium of getting free content in return for non-intrusive advertising. "The industry – publishers, agencies, advertisers – need to come to their senses and recognise that bad advertising only encourages more ad blocking, which undermines the entire business model of the free Internet established back in 1994. Adopting the IAB’s LEAN principles is a good place to start. " Of course, Mindshare's own client Three - the agency conducts media planning etc. for the operator - is itself exploring ad blocking with Shine (as mentioned above). When asked if this is ever raised in conversation between the pair, Johnston added: "Three have every right to explore added-value services to its customers. If its customers prefer an ad-free Internet experience, and accept that it may ultimately limit their access to free content, than that’s their choice. Ultimately it’s a personal decision, and Three is only providing the options people want. "

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

67 'Not every brand is the same': Sony's Hollie Bennett on why brands shouldn't fear being 'left behind' on social From live-streaming to Snapchat and near-constant Facebook algorithm changes what’s a marketer to do when it comes to navigating the rapidly changing world of social media? As the deadline for this year’s Social Buzz Awards approaches, The Drum has approached to some of the best and brightest minds in the industry – who just so happen to be judging this year’s awards – for advice. First up is Hollie Bennett, UK digital and community manager at Sony, who explains why creating meaningful content with influencers is now one of the biggest challenges facing brands and why they shouldn't fear being 'left behind' when it comes to new platforms. How have platforms like Snapchat, Facebook Live and Periscope changed the social landscape, have you noticed changes in the way brands are now using social as a result? We have always thought of social as being immediate but things have gone a step further and now there is ‘live’ to consider. Live gives us no opportunity to have a do over or to even have full control. However, it gives brands an amazing opportunity to show their personality and have a direct link to their community. Has the emergence of these new platforms impacted your role in any particular way? Part of my role has been focused on growing and developing our own YouTube channel, PlayStation Access. The channel allows us to create content that is packed with personality and engage directly with our community but our next step will be to think about creating live stream content and delivering this to a regular schedule. We will also be looking at how to build communities on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Live and integrating this into what we do every day with PlayStation Access. What do you think has been the biggest change to the social media landscape this year? Personally I feel that one of our biggest changes is around how we as brands work with influencers and incorporate this into what we do. We find ways to work with, and integrate, influencers into what we do. It’s important that brands and YouTubers find a way to collaborate so that they’re creating meaningful content. What do you predict will be the ‘next big thing’ in social and why? I think that live content is here to stay and will continue to evolve; we’ve seen things such as eSports grow exponentially in the games industry and live platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live sit at the heart of this. When new platforms emerge do you think it’s best to jump right in or hold back and let others test the waters? Why do you feel this way? Personally I like to sit and watch. I work hard to cover the platforms I currently care for but, for me personally, I like to feel confident that I can not only develop a platform but populate it with content before I start it. This industry tends to be incredibly supportive and collaborative and often community managers will share their knowledge with their industry peers so that we can all develop an understanding of what platforms can offer us. We pool that knowledge together so that all of us can do the best with the tools we have. I really love that. Facebook’s Nicola Mendelsohn has predicted Facebook “will be probably all video” within the next five years, what’s your take on this? We already find that we are using a lot of video as it sees great interaction. I think the next step is not just about it being all video, it will be about making video content as strong as possible for the platform. We will see lots of creativity as brands try to make video content the best it can be and I can’t wait to see, and be inspired, by that. A lot of brands still focus time and energy on ‘traditional’ platforms like Facebook and Twitter, do you feel these brands are in danger of being left behind? Not every brand is the same so not every brand should feel pressured into feeling like they will get left behind for not being on certain platforms. Know your audience and which platforms they’re naturally engaging with, know your platform and how it works, don’t be scared of working hard to build the best you can build but don’t put yourself in a position when your fear of being ‘left behind’ is pulling you in too many directions. Join us next week when TMW Unlimited's head of social Laurier 'Lo' Nicas Alder will be sharing her thoughts on Pokemon Go, Oculus Rift and more. The Social Buzz Awards, sponsored by Buzzoole and Tint, are open for entry until Friday 5 August, for more information on the awards, how to enter and this year's judges visit the Social Buzz Awards site.

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

68 Anomaly welcomes former managing partner at KesselsKramer, Engin Celikbas as Amsterdamn CEO Anomaly has named Engin Celikbas as partner and chief executive of its offices in Amsterdam. Celikbas joined following a two month break after spending 18 years as owner and managing partner at KesselsKramer working with brands such as Diesel, citizen hotels, Absolut and on the city marketing campaign; ‘I Amsterdam’. He also saw the company open offices in London and Los Angeles. Celikbas said: "KesselsKramer has a special place in my heart. Both places have a very wide understanding of the meaning of ‘creativity’ and ‘media’, however at this stage in my business life, I really want to flex my entrepreneurial muscles both with clients and for Anomaly. " Based in Amsterdam, Celikbas will work in the newly updated office with a mandate to lead the growth of the advertising agency. Carl Johnson, global chief executive at Anomaly, said: "Engin is incredible well qualified to take this vital role given his deep experience both as a leader and an innovator. Importantly though, his ambition to do something really special still burns – he is a force to be reckoned with. " Currently Anomaly also has offices based in LA, New York and Shanghai.

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

69 Coca-Cola introduces new Aquarius Vive brand designed by Pemberton & Whitefoord Coca-Cola Iberia has introduced a new product under its Aquarius drinks brand named Vive, with packaging designed by London based agency Pemberton & Whitefoord. The drink, which contains extracts of the ‘superfruit’ Baobab, has been introduced after consumers have started to pull away from sports drinks, something that the Aquarius brand was initially linked to when it launched. The agency worked closely with Aquarius on the design of the packs, as well as on promotional multipacks, POS materials and the brand’s corporate guideline document. The design of the bottle and cans for Aquarius Vive, which comes in Lemon and Lime and Tropical, features a Baobab leaf background as well as vibrant colours. Commenting on the product, Danae Blanco, senior brand manager at Aquarius said: “Aquarius was born very linked to the world of sports drinks. But in a natural way, the consumer has pulled out of this territory and has gravitated to all other consumption occasions becoming a healthy refreshment drink for any moment. With Aquarius Vive, we want to encourage this natural movement of the consumer”. The Aquarius family of products (Aquarius and Aquarius Zero) are already Coca-Cola’s fifth best selling brand, and Aquarius Vive is set to boost volume growth this year by 8.5 per cent.

2016-07-14 21:15 www.thedrum.com

70 Greg Clark named business, energy and industrial minster as Sajid Javid moves to communities post Greg Clark has been named by prime minister Theresa May as secretary of state of a newly-created ministry of business, energy and industrial strategy, replacing former business secretary Sajid Javid. Javid still has a place at the table as communities secretary, looking after the department responsible for local government. Clark was previously at the helm of the communities and local government division, and there are no immediate details on his new remit his title suggests that the department for energy and climate change is being merged with the department for business. As business secretary, Javid championed an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for entrepreneurship which he promised would “will make sure the voice of entrepreneurs is heard loud and clear in parliament.” In its first year the group will focus on four key policy areas: enterprise education, exporting, tax reform and female founders. He also pushed forward new measures to help Britain lead the way in developing driverless technology, signing off £30m of funding for research and development (R&D). Other cabinet appointments announced so far include Karen Bradley as secretary of state for culture , media and sport; Phillip Hammond aschancellor; Boris Johnson as foreign secretary; Damien Green as work and pensions minister and Andrea Leadsom as rural affairs minister.

2016-07-14 21:14 www.thedrum.com

71 Advertisers call on industry to give new but 'far removed' culture secretary a 'firm handle' on its contribution to economy Karen Bradley has been appointed secretary of state for culture, media and sport, taking over from John Whittingdale who was sacked from the post earlier today (14 July). The creative sector claims to be worth almost £10m an hour to economy and wants the Bradley to know about. The Advertising Association released a statement shortly after saying Bradley and Greg Clarke (newly appointed Business Secretary) are a "long way removed from advertising" and need to be made aware of the creative industries contribution to the economy. “We’ll need to move quickly to give them a firm handle on advertising’s contribution – to the economy, business, society and people – and to build understanding of the role and effectiveness of self-regulation," saif Ian Barber, communications director at the AA. It was a sentiment echoed by the IPA, with president and chairman of MullenLowe London Tom Knox adding: “Coming from the Home Office, Karen Bradley is a bit of an unknown quantity to us. We are therefore keen to see what her priorities will be for the creative industries and how she plans to continue to support and champion our value as we now contribute an incredible £84.1bn a year to the UK. " Whittingdale was appointed to the role last May but was quick to undertake a review of the BBC and the license fee. A year later he released a whitepaper which made a number of recommendations as to how the service should be run in the future. Bradley will now be tasked with completing her predecessor’s review of the BBC. Whittingdale has been outspoken on his view that Channel 4 should be privatised, something the broadcaster has been strongly opposed to. It's an issue the new culture secretary will face as she joins May's top team. Knox added: "We hope she will completely shelve John Whittingdale’s controversial plans regarding the privatisation of Channel 4 – something which the advertising industry and the broadcasting community are united in being vehemently against.” The former chartered accountant and MP for Staffordshire Moorlands last year introduced interim rules requiring judicial permission for police seeking to track journalists’ sources . She now joins Phillip Hammond the new chancellor, Boris Johnson as foreign secretary, Damien Green as work and pensions minister and Andrea Leadsom as rural affairs minister. Ed Vaizey, MP and minister of state for culture and the digital economy was appointed to the privy council earlier today. Additional reporting by Rebecca Stewart.

2016-07-14 21:14 www.thedrum.com

72 La Liga continues clean rebrand with new Tag Heuer sponsorship Tag Heuer has continued its push into football sponsorships with a new deal making it a top sponsor of La Liga. The Swiss watchmaker has been announced as the new Official Timekeeper and sponsor of the Spanish league with a new deal which will see its branding feature on the substitution boards used by fourth officials during games. The agreement completes a trio of football important sponsorships for Tag Heuer which is now a top sponsor of the world’s three biggest leagues in the Premier League, the German Bundesliga and La Liga. To mark the deal the brand unveiled a special clock, counting down to kick- off for the new LaLiga season on Saturday 20 August. Tag Heuer Spain’s general manager, Blanca Panzano, said the deal “completes Tag Heuer’s association with the best football leagues in the world”. “The association with LaLiga, one of the largest institutions in the football world, takes our #DontCrackUnderPressure campaign another step forward, and we believe this also defines the spirit of LaLiga.” Tag Heuer agreed a three year partnership with the Bundesliga in August 2015 and its three season deal with the Premier League will until the end of the 2018-19 season.

2016-07-14 21:14 www.thedrum.com

73 8 shocking amendments made to the draft Republican Party manifesto After a long, close battle, Malcolm Turnbull retains power in Australia – how it happened Earlier this week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) met to debate the terms of the party’s policy platform ahead of their National Convention. The debate in Cleveland covered a plethora of issues including: marriage, energy, immigration, religion and trade. Although Donald Trump was absent from the sessions, the discussions reflected the growing influence of the presumptive presidential nominee. Of particular importance was the absence of any mention of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement promoted in the 2012 Republican platform. Debates over LGBT issues were some of the most fiercely debated during the meeting, reflecting the gulf between 2012 and 2016 in terms of same- sex marriage and trans-awareness. Although little progress was made in the actual draft, the meeting did shine light on the divisions between the staunch religious conservatism of the party, and the stance of the more populist Trump – who has condemned anti-gay propaganda. The draft must now be ratified by the 2,472 delegates at the party’s National Convention before it becomes the official party platform for the election. Here’s a list of the most astonishing amendments: 1) Marriage is between a man and a woman While a distinct softening on same-sex marriage is seen in the draft, the committee overwhelmingly voted down a proposal that would in any way support same-sex marriage. Instead they want last year’s Supreme Court decision – the case of Obergefell vs. Hodges – that legalized gay marriage overturned. The draft read: “We urge (the ruling’s) reversal whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.” The decision came despite the attendance of Rachel Hoff, the first openly gay delegate to appear on the committee. During the meeting, she said: “We are your daughters. We are your friends. All I ask today is that you include me and people like me.” 2) Gay and transgender “conversion therapy” is OK Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, proposed an amendment that “supports the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy, for their minor children”. It was viewed a nod to gay conversion therapy in everything but exact terms. Obama has been outspoken in his opposition to gay and transgender “conversion therapy”. His administration released this statement last year in response to an online petition that wanted such “therapies” outlawed. “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.” Another motion rejected the right of transgender people to use the gender of toilet with which they identify. 3) “Religious liberty” should be afforded to businesses Jonathan Gardner, a delegate from New Mexico, bemoaned that some adoption agencies that refuse to facilitate adoptions for same-sex couples had been pushed to breaking point by government legislation. Subsequently, the committee ratified a “religious liberty” amendment that would protect businesses that refuse to serve LGBT people. 4) “Mom and Dad” are essential for a happy life After discussing the dangers posed by same-sex couples, the committee ratified an amendment that claimed children are “healthier” in “traditional” familial environments. “Children raised in a traditional two-parent household tend to be physically and emotionally healthier, less likely to use drugs and alcohol, engage in crime, or become pregnant outside of marriage.” The committee subsequently debated the terms of a sentence that read, “children have a natural right to be raised in an intact biological family.” 5) Coal is “clean” In a discussion on energy resources, Texas delegate David Barton proposed a motion that would include the word “clean” to describe coal. The committee passed the amendment, meaning the draft platform describes coal as “an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource.” The United States is one of the world’s largest producers of greenhouse gases. It was responsible for close to 18% of the world’s greenhouse emissions last year. 6) A “wall” is better than a “fence” The initial draft read that a “physical barrier” should be constructed between the United States and Mexico. An amendment was passed that called specifically for a “wall” between the two countries. New GOP platform now includes language that supports the border wall. We will build the wall and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 13 July 2016 7) The Bible is a civic necessity The draft platform called for the compulsory study of the Bible in all public schools. According to the committee’s proposal, “a good understanding of the Bible is indispensable to the development of an educated citenzry.” Non-Christian religions (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism) make up roughly 6% of the US population. A 2014 study found that just over 20% of the US population are either atheist or agnostic. In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, Donald Trump renewed his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. 8) Pornography is a “public health crisis” Mary Frances Forrester, a North Carolina delegate, proposed – which passed with almost no contest – that describes pornography as a “public health crisis.” It read: “Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being.” The pornography proposal, which was totally absent from the initial draft released on Sunday evening, was passed at a similar time to discussions on curbing gay and transgender rights. The committee failed to make any mention of gun crime. The final draft will be confirmed at the Republican National Convention also in Cleveland, Ohio. Eight days after polling stations closed – and despite nearly 20 per cent votes having not yet been counted – Malcolm Turnbull declared victory in Australia’s federal election. With only two seats left in doubt, the Liberal- National Coalition Party has secured the 76 seats out of 150 required to form a majority government in the House of Representatives. Bill Shorten’s Labor Party has secured 67 seats – and is expected to win the remaining two. Five seats were won by independent parties. In an emotive victory speech, Turnbull said: “Politics is not about us the politicians. It’s not about the media, the political commentators, the pundits, or the pollsters. It’s about the Australian people.” “Everything we do is about the future. Everything.” Securing a stable economic future for Australia was Turnbull’s major campaign promise. The country is reaching the end of a long mining boom, and outlining a clear trajectory through this transitional economic period was essential for both party leaders. Bill Shorten, the "down-to-earth" Labor leader, campaigned on a manifesto for: “Health. Jobs. Education.” He claimed to provide the wider social security that Turnbull would neglect. Turnbull focused particularly on job creation and accelerating growth. And although not directly responsible for them, his economic footing was bolstered by the signing of a number of major free trade agreements last year – with South Korea, Japan, and most importantly, China. A vote for him, Turnbull argued, was a vote for economic security. But despite his broad personal popularity, Turnbull's policies failed to impress voters across the board. Across the country, the Coalition lost considerable ground to Shorten’s Labor Party. Of the 14 seats that changed hands, ten were Labor gains. Chisholm in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs – a marginal seat – was the only constituency to swing from Labor to Liberal. The morning after polling day, Shorten said: “Whilst there was no clear winner, there was clearly one loser: Malcolm Turnbull’s agenda.” Further testament to the weakening of Liberal authority was the rise in votes for independent parties; an insurgence that caused major concern for Turnbull and Shorten in the weeks before the election. The possibility of independent seats holding enormous bargaining power in the event of a hung parliament was to be avoided at all costs. Turnbull said that a vote for an independent party would be “a vote for chaos.” Although the vote “for anyone else” was up 13 per cent, Turnbull scraped by unscathed. However, this percentage rise does show the anti-establishment sentiment in global politics present in Australia. Brexit was keenly followed by the country’s politicians, and whilst independent parties used the political earthquake to steer voters away from the mainstream, the two main parties seized upon the result to reiterate the necessity for political stability. Turnbull and Shorten both claimed they could offer it. Brexit shows the need for a government that can deliver stability and unity. Labor can, Mr Turnbull and the Liberals cannot. — Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) 25 June 2016 Two days to go! pic.twitter.com/ULAitEAgXj — Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) 30 June 2016 Australia has proved strong & resilient in uncertain economic times - not by chance, but with a clear economic plan. pic.twitter.com/qmr0tpgvD6 — Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) 26 June 2016 The image in this tweet is, of course, not coincidental. During the campaign, Turnbull attempted to cast himself as the heir apparent to John Howard – the last long-serving Prime Minster of Australia (1996-2007) – by-passing the other four Prime Ministers the country has had in the past six years. He projected himself as a symbol of longevity; a leader that would rise above the vicissitudes of recent political volatility. Critics of Turnbull pointed to the manner in which he deposed his predecessor, Tony Abbott, as evidence to the contrary. Healthcare became one of the most sensitive issues of the campaign. Labor claimed that the Liberal Party would privatise Medicare, the Australian healthcare system. They hammered home the risk a vote for the Liberal party would pose to its survival. Turnbull vigorously refuted the claims of privatisation. The Liberal party accused Shorten of outright lying about their policy on Medicare. It became the known as the Labor scare-tactic, or "Mediscare". Five more days - let's save Medicare. #ausvotes https://t.co/sxpvJ24MCP — Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) 27 June 2016 Particularly divisive was an election-day text message sent from Labor’s Queensland branch. The message read: “Turnbull’s plans to privatise Medicare will take us down the road of no return.” On iPhones, the message sender read “Medicare”. The move attracted widespread criticism, and has become a matter for police investigation. In the days immediately after the election, a spokesperson for the Labor Party in Queensland responded: “The message was not intended to indicate that it was a message from Medicare, rather to identify the subject of the text.” Turnbull labeled the message “an extraordinary act of dishonesty.” Attorney- General George Brandis called it “disgraceful” and “fraudulent”, suggesting it had the power to change the election result. But Shorten has since acknowledged and defended the text message . The government now faces considerable challenges. With an extremely narrow majority in the House of Representatives, a conflicted Parliament will find it difficult to pass legislation through the Senate. Turnbull will need to effectively manage a restive right to his own party; many of whom are at odds with his socially liberal views, and are also uncomfortable about the narrow majority of their victory. A likely first challenge will be the plebiscite on same-sex marriage promised by the Liberal Party. Although both Turnbull and Shorten support it, there remains a question mark whether it will pass in a national vote. If it doesn’t, it could be the first blow to any continued cross-party support. Shorten promised a vote on same-sex marriage amongst MPs – a motion that, he insists, would pass easily in the House of Representatives. Although Shorten assured Turnbull that “where there is common ground, we will work very hard to accomplish”, he has also hinted at the fragility of Turnbull’s government and authority. He has even suggested that Australians could be back at the polls within a year. But with pronounced election and political fatigue felt around the country, the public might resent such a move by Shorten. Michelle Landry, whose win in Capricornia, Queensland, took the Liberal party over the finishing line, hit at the heart of national sentiment: “People are sick of the fighting in politics. They want everyone to get together and work.” Regardless of the narrow majority won by Turnbull, some will see the election result providing more questions than answers.

2016-07-14 20:36 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

74 England Makes Harassing Women A Hate Crime Police from a small county in England announced Wednesday that harassing women on the street would now be classified as a “hate crime.” Nottinghamshire police said actions such as street harassment, taking a photo without permission, and sending unsolicited text messages are now classified as “hate crimes,” reports The Washington Post. The Chief Constable claimed that the Nottinghamshire Police department is trying to combat all aspects of misogyny. “What women face, often on a daily basis, is absolutely unacceptable and can be extremely distressing,” Chief Constable Sue Fish said in a statement . “Nottinghamshire Police is committed to taking misogynistic hate crime seriously and encourages anyone who is affected by it to contact us without hesitation.” Nottinghamshire also added “misogyny hate crime” which is defined as “incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman, and includes behavior targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman.” Police officers received training on how to recognize misogyny and ways to fix it, reports the BBC. Officers are supposed to figure out how to support the women who were harassed and to see if there is anyway to stop it from happening to them again. Training started three months ago and will finish at the end of July. Domestic abuse is not considered a hate crime, because it has its own separate procedure. “We’re pleased to see Nottinghamshire Police recognize the breadth of violence and intimidation that women experience on a daily basis in our communities. Showing that the police take it seriously will also give people the confidence to come forward and report offences,” Melanie Jeffs, the manager at Nottingham Women’s Centre, said. The police department claimed that Nottinghamshire is the first county in England to classify misogyny as a hate crime. Other countries in Europe have already made similar laws. Follow Amber on Twitter Send tips to [email protected] . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

75 Here's What Ecuador Does With Its Illegal Immigrants Ecuador is kicking out a bunch of Cuban migrants who were traveling through the country trying to get to the U. S. to flee Castro’s communist regime. Forty-six Cubans were sent back to their island Wednesday after they were denied visas from Ecuador. The Cuban migrants’ plan was to illegally travel through Ecuador so they could get to Mexico and ultimately the U. S. The Obama administration’s decision to normalize diplomatic ties between the U. S. and Cuba in December 2014 has led many Cuban migrants to rush into the U. S. out of fear they will soon not be recognized as asylum seekers. A 1996 law, the Cuban Adjustment Act , gives preferential status to Cuban migrants over other migrants, quickly making them eligible for residency and working in the U. S. Ecuador’s interior minister, the equivalent of the secretary of Homeland Security, stated that 121 Cubans have been sent back to their communist country since Saturday. Cubans have lived in tents outside the Mexican Embassy and other areas of Ecuador in hopes of landing visas since June, according to Univision. Thousands of Cubans who were stranded in Costa Rica in December were flown out of the country to El Salvador, where they proceeded to board buses to Mexico. The deal to get the Cubans into the U. S. from Costa Rica was brokered by Pope Francis. Follow JP on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 Foreign Affairs dailycaller.com

76 Why latest CBS News/New York Times poll is "devastating" for Clinton |CBS News contributor and former "Face the Nation" moderator Bob Schieffer joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the latest CBS News/New York Times poll showing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tied ahead of the conventions.

2016-07-14 20:37 Why latest www.cbsnews.com

77 Best and worst things to buy generic By Caroline Hailey/GOBankingRates Whether you're single or married, have a large or small family, finding ways to save money is always a good idea. And with so many generic options out there these days, it's often tempting to just buy the cheaper products and save your money for something else. But "cheaper" doesn't always mean better. So, how can you know which brand names are worth the higher price tags and which ones aren't? Follow these tips so that the next time you go shopping you'll know when to go for quality and when to focus on your bottom line. This post was originally published by GOBankingRates. Eating a bowl of cereal each morning is a quick and cheap way to make sure you and the kids have breakfast before dashing out the door. For every brand name of cereal out there -- Cheerios, Apple Jacks, Lucky Charms -- there is almost always a generic version right next to it on the shelf with a similar name. And it's not just the name that's similar; the product itself normally is too. So, don't bother spending more just to get the name brand. "Cereal is a great item to buy generic," said David Bakke, author of personal finance book "Don't Be a Mule. " Oftentimes, your generic cereal will taste similar to your favorite name brand. Depending on how much cereal your household goes through in a month, switching to generic could add up to serious savings. Cooking at home instead of always eating out is a great way to save money. You don't have to pay tax and tip, and the food itself is not only cheaper, but probably healthier as well. To make your meals taste as good as the food you get at a restaurant, you'll want to take advantage of a variety of spices. But just because spices can make a big difference in the kitchen when it comes to taste, that doesn't mean you should be spending more than you need to on them. "Seasonings and spices are another good bet for going generic, because the taste difference is minimal, but you'll also save a lot," Bakke said. When it comes to babies, all parents want what's best. So, it certainly makes sense to buy the brand name of baby food and other baby products - - but not everything you buy for your babies is worth the brand-name price. Because babies go through so many diapers each day, the generic brand will do just fine and save you a pretty penny. Diapers are only being used for a short period of time and will be thrown away immediately anyway, said Bakke. You probably spend more money on medications than you should. Instead of throwing money away , prescription medications are one of the best items to buy generic, said Joseph Sanginiti, president and chief operating officer of FamilyWize, a company that works to help people afford their medications. "According to the FDA, the average cost of a generic drug is 80 to 85 percent lower than its brand-name counterpart," Sanginiti said. "Cost is the No. 1 reason why people don't take their prescriptions, so if the option is available, generic is a cost-efficient way to stay healthy. " When it comes to cutting costs, there is at least one common household item that isn't worth the savings, said Bakke. "Toilet paper is one item where you do not want to go generic," Bakke said. "The quality is poor, and it can also irritate your skin. " As an added reason, he said generic toilet paper won't even save you that much, and you can often find brand-name toilet paper at a great price. While you can save some serious bucks when choosing the cheap version over the brand name for big electronics, you won't be getting the quality you want. The extra money spent on brand-name TVs and other electronics is worth it, considering these items typically come with much better warranties , customer service and support than cheaper options. The cheaper quality can also lead to other problems, Bakke said. "If you can save $200 on a cheap flat-screen TV, but it breaks down after a few months, you'll usually have to go out and buy a new one since they're so expensive to repair," he said. While good cheese can definitely be a bit pricey, it's one food product that is worth the extra money. "Cheese is another item not to buy generic, because [the generic versions don't] taste very good and the savings aren't that significant," Bakke said. Cheaper cheeses aren't typically as high quality and contain more additives and fillers you probably don't want to be eating. 2016-07-14 20:37 GOBankingRates www.cbsnews.com

78 33 people hospitalized in NYC after smoking synthetic marijuana — RT America The synthetic marijuana drug known as Spice, or K2, was responsible for the overdose of 33 “ barely conscious ” people in Brooklyn on Tuesday, the New York Daily News reported. Some were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Brooklyn local Patricia Cardozo told DNAinfo that the affected “ couldn't keep going. They were urinating, vomiting. ” Rafael Perez was working at a nearby barbershop and told DNAinfo, “ I saw two people smoking for maybe 15 minutes. Then they fell to the floor. ” While K2 and Spice are advertised as being an alternative to marijuana, the effects are significantly more severe. The city’s Health Department has warned that using the drug can lead to confusion, paranoia, hallucinations, vomiting, seizures, kidney failure and reduced blood supply to the heart. “ It was a scene out of 'The Walking Dead.' People were stumbling all over the place, ” Brian Arthur, another witness, told DNAinfo. The drug was outlawed in October 2015 after the New York City council voted to fine stores selling the product anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000, with the possibility of shutting the business down and revoking its tobacco license. However, it is believed that two small corner stores, or bodegas, were responsible for selling in the Bed-Stuy and Bushwick border. The Big Boy Deli and Dream Burner Tobacco Shop, both close to the Myrtle-Broadway train stop, both had a history for selling the K2, with one of them spraying leaves with chemicals and selling the product in store. Dream Burner was shut down by police on Wednesday, the Daily News reported . One of the issues with the drug is that its effects are incredibly inconsistent. The New York City Health Department wrote : “ Since the chemicals found in K2 vary from packet to packet, and potency can differ even within one packet, the effects of K2 are unpredictable. People who use K2 may feel fine one time, and become extremely sick the next. ” While the effects vary, they are rarely good. “ It could be a bad batch, but show me a good batch, ” a police source told the Daily News. Allegedly, the people involved with the mass overdose were too out of it to be interviewed by the police. Concern over the drug has spread to the top of New York’s chain of command, with Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio both expressing concern. Cuomo compared the overdoses to the spread of heroin and crack cocaine in the late 1980s. One resident expressed similar sentiments in a video he took of the scene, saying, “ I remember when dope used to be that way, dope used to have people like that. ” Cuomo acknowledged the current drug crisis across New York State. “ Between synthetic marijuana, between opioids and heroin we have a real crisis on our hands, ” he said. “ It is a law enforcement crisis, no doubt, but it's also an education crisis, a family crisis and it's a treatment crisis .” Mayor de Blasio responded to the mass overdose by announcing a larger scale crackdown on the sale of synthetic marijuana. “ You're going to be seeing very rigorous enforcement very quickly, ” he told reporters, going on to say, “ We're going to shut down any stores that are doing this. ” He also highlighted the issues that are relatively unique to synthetic marijuana, a drug that some may assume is harmless or undergoes some type of quality control, due to the commercial sale of it. “ All drugs should be approached with great suspicion, ” the mayor told reporters, “ but this one changes all the time, in some ways very, very dangerous ways. So I want to particularly urge parents talk to your young people. ” “ If you're selling this drug we have the ability to shut your store down. We will literally take away your livelihood. So I hope that is a clear enough warning that, yes, help is on the way to any neighborhood afflicted ,” de Blasio said. The area where the incident took place sits right on the border of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, where local residents complain that help is not coming fast enough. “ Being this is an isolated block, they smoke their K2 here and we over here chase them out of here, ” a local told New York 1, adding, “ They sit on the side of the fence, they smoke their K2, they get their little seizures, they pass out. ” A former nurse at a Brooklyn hospital, who wished to remain anonymous, told RT that K2 users brought to the emergency room would behave like “ demons .” The nurse said that the users have a reputation for attacking caregivers, including one who was bit on the neck by a K2 overdose patient. The nurse described that scene as “ a bloodbath. ”

2016-07-14 20:38 www.rt.com

79 Kim Kardashian Says Taylor Swift Lied About Kanye Famous Lyric Kim Kardashian said Taylor Swift plays the victim to get attention. (Photo: DANIEL ROLAND/AFP/Getty Images) After Kardashian said Swift was lying when she said she didn’t approve a lyric Kanye West wrote about her on his new album, the reality star stood by her decision to publicly criticize Swift. (RELATED: Taylor Swift Just Blew Kanye West Away With This Acceptance Speech) “I never talk shit about anyone publically, especially in interviews,” Kardashian tells Kourtney Kardashian during an episode of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” “But I was just like I had so had it. I just felt like I wanted to defend him in it because it’s like, she legitimately quote says, ‘As soon as I get on that Grammy red carpet I’m gonna tell all the press. Like I was in on it.'” (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) Kardashian is referencing her GQ interview where she blasted the 26-year- old singer. WATCH: “And you know just another way to play the victim,” she said. “It definitely got her a lot of attention the first time. I just don’t think he should be punished for it still to this day.” “I feel like I’ve had it with people blatantly treating my husband a certain way, making him look a certain way,” she continued. “Kanye is always so honest and speaks his mind. And you know, when we were first dating, people would always talk s–t and he always had my back. At this point, I really don’t give a f–k so I’ll do whatever to protect my husband. (Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson) Kardashian said there was even video evidence that Swift approved the lyric. “They sent an attorney’s letter like, ‘Don’t you dare do anything with that footage,’ and asking us to destroy it.” (RELATED: You Won’t Believe What Kim Kardashian Just Said About Taylor Swift During This Interview)

2016-07-14 20:39 Entertainment Editor dailycaller.com

80 Obama Admin Won’t Light White House in Blue to Honor Deceased Dallas Police Officers With great fanfare, the White House was aglow in rainbow colors hours after last year’s Supreme Court decision affirming gay marriage. The White House has also taken on a pink hue for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is all well and good, but when the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association asked the Obama Administration to light the White House blue in honor of the five Dallas police officers executed last week, they passed. When asked about it yesterday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest tersely said, “That’s not something that we plan to do at this point.” By contrast, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Governor’s Mansion be lit in blue in honor of the fallen officers. Of course, this should come as no surprise. Police get the Israel treatment from the Obama Administration. Oh, President Obama and his cabinet will pay lip service to police officers, but when asked to do something that is meaningful to the families of those officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty, it is not a priority. For most on the Left, the police are viewed as an oppressor and a symbol of racism. To honor them would be to not only alienate their political base, but to violate a deeply held contempt for the men and women in blue. As long as the police have an Alinskyite target on their back they will get no love or legitimacy from the Obama Administration.

2016-07-14 20:39 Aaron Goldstein spectator.org

81 Poll: 80 Percent Of Americans Fear 2016 Election Results A strong majority of likely voters are afraid of the results of the general election, according to an AP poll published Thursday. Eighty-one percent of likely voters reported they are afraid of at least one of the candidates winning the election in November. Twenty-five percent admitted they were afraid of both candidates. Individually, 56 percent of voters reported they feared a Trump presidency, while 48 percent reported a fear of a Clinton presidency. Only 26 percent of Trump and Clinton supporters stated they would be excited if their respective candidate won the general election. “If Hillary Clinton won, I’d probably consider suicide. I’m definitely not a fan,” Dennis Fernandez of Arizona told the Associated Press. Lawrence James, a voter in North Carolina added, “If Trump wins, well, we’ve already checked out Malta and New Zealand. I’m just not comfortable that he’s not going to make rushed, uninformed decisions.” Fourteen percent of supporters for both candidates said they didn’t like the candidate they would be voting for. “I really don’t love either of the candidates. What do they say? It’s a choice between hot and hell,” Annette Scott, a New Jersey resident told the Associated Press. According to a national CBS poll published Thursday , both Clinton and Trump earned very high negative numbers. 67 percent of voters rated Clinton as “not honest or trustworthy.” 62 percent of voters said Trump was “not honest or trustworthy.” Follow Phillip On Twitter Have a Tip? Let us Know Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

82 DHS Could Be Hiding Information About The Dallas Shooter Officials at the Cause of Action Institute, a nonprofit government oversight group, are seeking documents they believe may show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is withholding vital information about the Dallas shooter from the public. Micah Johnson killed five police officers in Dallas July 7 before police killed him with a bomb delivered by a robot. (RELATED: Police Blow Up Dallas Suspect With Robot Bomb) “Statements about the shootings by President Obama and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson raise questions about the DHS role in responding to the Dallas shooting and whether there is information about the shooter being withheld from the public,” said the group’s president and CEO, former federal judge Alfred J. Lechner, in a statement. “Because Secretary Johnson appears to be the first public official to confirm that only one shooter existed, it raises questions as to what extent DHS was involved during the aftermath of the shooting and why local authorities were not first in alerting the public.” “Additionally, discrepancies between statements by President Obama and the Dallas police chief raise concerns that there may be additional information about the motives of the gunman that are being withheld from the public by the Obama administration,” Lechner continued. Dallas Police Chief David Brown initially said multiple suspects were involved on July 8 and that three were taken into custody, but the DHS secretary contradicted those reports later that day, announcing Micah Johnson acted alone. “Johnson was the first public official to announce that the gunman was a sole actor,” the group’s FOIA request says, citing a Weekly Standard article. “Because Secretary Johnson appears to be the first public official to confirm that only one shooter existed, it raises questions as to what extent DHS was involved during the aftermath of the shooting and why local authorities were not first in alerting the public.” Obama said the gunman’s motives were unclear, while Brown said the shooter “was upset about the recent police shootings … and he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.” (VIDEO: DHS Secretary: ‘It’s Still Relatively Early’ To Call Dallas Attack A Hate Crime) “The discrepancy between the two statements raises concerns that there may be additional information about the motives of the gunman that are being withheld from the public by the Obama Administration,” Cause of Action Institute said in its FOIA request. The group seeks July 7 communication records for the DHS Office of the Secretary and the DHS Office for State and Local Enforcement sent to or received from the Executive office of the President, the Dallas police department, the Dallas Mayor’s office, the Texas Governor’s office and the Department of Justice. Cause of Action Institute is also seeking internal communications records from the two DHS offices regarding the Dallas shooter, as well as all records regarding the gunman since January 1, 2015. Follow Ethan on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

83 Study: Alzheimer's Vaccine Is Three To Five Years Away Scientists made a breakthrough development in a vaccine for Alzheimer’s that could be available in three to five years, according to a study published Thursday by a joint University of California and Flinders University research team. The research team successfully created a vaccine formulation that targets the proteins that create and lead to Alzheimer’s disease. The study was published in the peer reviewed journal Nature’s Scientific Reports. “If we are successful in pre-clinical trials, in three to five years, we could be well on the way to one of the most important developments in recent medical history,” Dr. Nikolai Petrovsky, a professor at the Flinders University School of Medicine who is the director of the company creating the vaccine, wrote in a press statement. The vaccine research was funded by the U. S. National Institutes of Health. The same company that is currently developing the vaccine, also created the world’s first swine flu vaccine during the 2009 pandemic and is involved with Ebola and Zika virus research. “This study suggests that we can immunise patients at the early stages of AD, or even healthy people at risk for AD, using our anti-amyloid-beta vaccine, and, if the disease progresses, then vaccinate with another anti-tau vaccine to increase effectiveness,” Dr. Anahit Ghochikyan, who co-authored the study, told the press. With more than 48 million dementia cases in 2015, Alzheimer’s affected 48 million people in 2015 and is one of the costliest diseases affecting the world’s health care systems. Dementia-related illnesses like Alzheimer’s cost the world more than $600 billion a year, according to a 2010 study by the World Health Organisation. Congress spends $1.3 billion on Alzheimer’s research every year. Follow Andrew on Twitter Send tips to andrew@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 Energy Environmental dailycaller.com

84 Google hit by fresh European Union anti-trust charges The European Commission has stepped up pressure on Google, alleging that it abused its dominance in internet shopping and restricted competition. It also accused Google of stopping websites from showing adverts from the search engine's competitors. And it strengthened an existing charge that Google favours its own comparison shopping services in search results. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Google had no right to limit its rivals. She said: "Google has come up with many innovative products that have made a difference to our lives. But that doesn't give Google the right to deny other companies the chance to compete and innovate. " Google is already facing formal anti-trust charges over claims that it abused the dominant position of its Android operating system. The US company is accused of placing onerous requirements on firms using Android and stifling competition. A spokesperson for Google said on Thursday: "We believe that our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for European consumers and promote competition. "We'll examine the Commission's renewed cases and provide a detailed response in the coming weeks. "

2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

85 Rock Hill officer receives hugs Several Rock Hill police officers took time out of their Sunday to teach defensive moves to martial arts students from Champions in Motion in South Carolina and North Carolina. REPOST Washington, D. C. youth activists with Operation Understanding D. C.'s 22nd class of black and Jewish high school students, met with members of Rock Hill's Friendship Nine Tuesday at the Five and Dine to discuss the civil rights leaders' experiences. The group is on a 25-day "civil rights" journey through New York and southern states as part of its year-long program. The students met with the men at the former McCrory's lunch counter where the college students staged a sit-in in 1961 and served in a prison camp. Chick-fil-A in Rock Hill is celebrating Cow Appreciation Day Tuesday, where patrons can dress like a cow to get a free chicken sandwich, salad, wrap and other items. At the Dave Lyle Blvd. location, customers packed the restaurant wearing full cow costumes, black-and-white shirts, headbands and masks. The event runs until 7 p.m. Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism is holding its fourth annual youth football coaches clinic Thursday, July 14 at Sullivan Middle School. Former Northwestern and Lewisville Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Wallace explains why coaches should take advantage of the free clinic. Living historians at Historic Brattonsville discuss the history behind the Battle of Huck's Defeat at a battle reenactment on Saturday. The original American Revolutionary battle took place on July 12, 1780. The event at Historic Brattonsville will continue Sunday from 10:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Palisades Episcopal School in Charlotte, North Carolina, is adding a new physical education program - horseback riding. Catherine Muccigrosso/Lake Wylie Pilot Craig Faile, 42, advisor with Blackbridge Financial on N. C. 49 in Charlotte, North Carolina, gives us a peek inside the 1970s home he tranformed into his office. John Marks/Lake Wylie Pilot Julia Phillips, a former girlfriend of former York Mayor Melvin Roberts, who was convicted for accessory to murder in his death in 2010, died in prison Wednesday. Roberts' sons said Thursday they had hoped Phillips, who maintained her innocence, would have revealed the truth about their father's death. York police detectives said they are still seeking answers to the murder and the case is still under investigation. On Thursday, Rock Hill Municipal Court Judge Kesha Simpkins set bond at $9,000 for Rock Hill's DeAngelo Roseboro, 21, who is charged with three counts of ill treatment of animals. Each charge carries a sentence of up two years. Police say DeAngelo tortured three dogs by throwing dozens of lit fireworks at the animals that were chained. Roseboro is one of four men charged as an accessory in the 2014 murder of Chester City Council member Odell Williams.

2016-07-14 20:35 www.heraldonline.com

86 86 Scott: Black Lives Matter Is Welcome To Meet With Trump Dr. Darrell Scott, a supporter of Donald Trump who is speaking at the upcoming Republican Convention said on Thursday that groups like Black Lives Matter are welcome to meet with Trump but they just want to “stand outside the door and criticize.” Appearing on “MSNBC Live” with Tamron Hall, Scott said, “Well, if the Black Lives Matter and other groups want to talk to Mr. Trump, they can contact me. I can make it happen… The doors have been open. The doors have always been open but they want to stand outside the door and criticize the door, rather than come into the door and just directly communicate with the man.” Hall followed up, “You have a large number of white voters who believe that Donald Trump is speaking to their fears that they are on the verge of being eliminated, whether it’s people in this country illegally, whether it’s African- Americans or Black Lives Matter. Why is he so appealing to some of these groups who say, are tied to white supremacists or tied to this notion of angry white voters, feeling they’re under siege?” (RELATED: Black Pastor: ‘The Liberal Media’ Doesn’t Know The Real Trump [VIDEO]) “Ethnicity plays a large part in anybody’s decision-making process,” Scott who is Pastor of New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio said. “When you have people — the Irish support the Irish, the Jews support the Jews, the Italians will support the Italians and the blacks, there are a number of blacks that supported Obama simply because he was black. He appealed to black nationalists, he appealed to black revolutionaries revolutionaries. So to Donald Trump to appeal to them, listen, they have to vote too. They’re going to vote for somebody. They like his message.” “But the bottom line moving forward, you believe that there will be potentially a door open for Donald Trump to have an outreach with Black Lives Matter,” Hall asked. “There is a door open. We’re forming boards now,” Scott replied. “I’m on a board. I’m on a board with him to have minority outreach, black outreach. We have a diversity coalition. But we’re also going to target African- Americans specifically for dialogue. And once again, we endeavored to do this several times in the past.” “If I name the names in public of the people who I invited to attend these meetings, that refuse to attend, but want to sit outside of the meeting and criticize, I’ve even had preachers that refused to attend the meeting that criticized Donald Trump in public and tried to speak up the back door and get private meetings with him. I have have the e-mails to prove it. I don’t want to pull their pants down in front of the nation. I could though.” Follow Steve on Twitter and Facebook

2016-07-14 20:39 Media Reporter dailycaller.com

87 Bond denied for suspect in downtown Rock Hill armed robbery Known gang member Quinton McClinton pleaded guilty Wednesday to accessory after the fact to murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery in connection with the fatal 2014 shooting of Chester City Councilman Odell Williams. McClinton, who was driving the truck that Williams was pursuing before he was shot, was sentenced to five years in prison on each charge, with the sentences running concurrently. Several Rock Hill police officers took time out of their Sunday to teach defensive moves to martial arts students from Champions in Motion in South Carolina and North Carolina. REPOST Washington, D. C. youth activists with Operation Understanding D. C.'s 22nd class of black and Jewish high school students, met with members of Rock Hill's Friendship Nine Tuesday at the Five and Dine to discuss the civil rights leaders' experiences. The group is on a 25-day "civil rights" journey through New York and southern states as part of its year-long program. The students met with the men at the former McCrory's lunch counter where the college students staged a sit-in in 1961 and served in a prison camp. Chick-fil-A in Rock Hill is celebrating Cow Appreciation Day Tuesday, where patrons can dress like a cow to get a free chicken sandwich, salad, wrap and other items. At the Dave Lyle Blvd. location, customers packed the restaurant wearing full cow costumes, black-and-white shirts, headbands and masks. The event runs until 7 p.m. A Rock Hill, SC, woman who had drugs in her car on the side of the road, where she was found sleeping with her daughter, was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to two heroin charges Monday. Living historians at Historic Brattonsville discuss the history behind the Battle of Huck's Defeat at a battle reenactment on Saturday. The original American Revolutionary battle took place on July 12, 1780. The event at Historic Brattonsville will continue Sunday from 10:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Palisades Episcopal School in Charlotte, North Carolina, is adding a new physical education program - horseback riding. Catherine Muccigrosso/Lake Wylie Pilot Craig Faile, 42, advisor with Blackbridge Financial on N. C. 49 in Charlotte, North Carolina, gives us a peek inside the 1970s home he tranformed into his office. John Marks/Lake Wylie Pilot Julia Phillips, a former girlfriend of former York Mayor Melvin Roberts, who was convicted for accessory to murder in his death in 2010, died in prison Wednesday. Roberts' sons said Thursday they had hoped Phillips, who maintained her innocence, would have revealed the truth about their father's death. York police detectives said they are still seeking answers to the murder and the case is still under investigation.

2016-07-14 20:35 www.heraldonline.com

88 Update on Rock Hill man, 77, stabbed to death Excerpts from the closing statements in the trial of Christopher Moore, accused of fatally shooting Chester City Councilman Odell Williams in 2014. York County sheriff's spokesman Trent Faris talks about when deputies suspected the alleged abduction reported by two Fort Mill boys had been made up. He also talked about the 'lesson' officers hope they learned. Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood is in court this week facing allegations from former deputy Mary Anne Tolbert that he coerced sex. Underwood calls the claims false. Here are excerpts from opening statements. Father of alleged victim calls suspect "menace to society" and her actions "despicable. " York Police Department and York School District One are investigating after a school bus was involved in a hit and run crash involving a pedestrian. Here are excerpts from a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Investigators charged Jacob Smith of Rock Hill with a fourth count of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor after a second teen victim came forward. Smith appeared in court Wednesday for a bond hearing, which was attended by the second victim's parents who claim Smith is a manipulator who hides behind Christianity. Bond was denied. Terrie Ruff and her son Michael Huskey give details about an alleged abduction attempt as Michael and his cousin were walking to school Monday morning. Michael is a fifth grader at Pleasant Knoll Elementary in Fort Mill. Police responded and were unable to find the suspect. April Victoria Gleason of Lancaster, SC appears in court Monday for a bond hearing. She is charged with homicide by child abuse after investigators say she knowingly left her daughter, Soren Chilson, alone with the man police say eventually killed the child. A 17-year-old Rock Hill High student and the mother of a 2-month-old baby died in a shooting early Sunday in York that police have characterized as random. Family members of the deceased teen share their thoughts about her. Family members said Ja'Terreon Thorne, a 17-year-old Northwestern High junior, was shot to death Saturday night in Rock Hill. They said Thorne and two friends were playing with a loaded gun in a mancave area behind the Horseman Drive home when the gun went off and Thorne was shot in the chest.

2016-07-14 20:35 www.heraldonline.com

89 Samantha Hoopes Swimsuit Model Plays Baseball In Video Samantha Hoopes is better known for her swimsuits than her athletic skills, but that doesn’t mean the 25-year-old model doesn’t know how to steal bases. Watch Hoopes go for third in this video. (RELATED: Samantha Hoopes Just Posted A Completely Topless Photo Online) WATCH:

2016-07-14 20:39 Entertainment Editor dailycaller.com

90 Editor's Blog at WRAL TechWire By Staff, wire reports Consumer Reports is calling on Tesla to disable its "Autopilot" feature that enables hands-free operation. Citing the recent fatal accident involving a car with Autopilot engaged, Consumer Reports labels the feature as "Too Much Autonomy Too Soon. " Tesla says it will continue development of Autopilot, insisting that drivers supported by Autopilot "remain safer than those operating without assistance. " In an extensive article posted at the top of its website Thursday morning, Consumer Reports said Tesla should "disable hands-free operation until its system can be made safer. " "By marketing their feature as ‘Autopilot,’ Tesla gives consumers a false sense of security," said Laura MacCleery, vice president of consumer policy and mobilization for Consumer Reports, in the article. "In the long run, advanced active safety technologies in vehicles could make our roads safer. But today, we're deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of promises about unproven technology. 'Autopilot' can't actually drive the car, yet it allows consumers to have their hands off the steering wheel for minutes at a time. Tesla should disable automatic steering in its cars until it updates the program to verify that the driver's hands are on the wheel. " The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the fatal crash. Consumer Reports spelled out four steps it believes Tesla should take: In an email to the Associated Press, a Tesla spokeswoman said the company has no plans to change the name, and that Autopilot is safer than cars operating without the electronic assistance of cameras, radar and computers. "While we appreciate well-meaning advice from any individual or group, we make our decisions on the basis of real-world data, not speculation by the media," the spokeswoman said. Consumer Reports said it contacted Tesla directly about its concerns and Tesla responded as follows: Consumer Reports contacted Tesla about these concerns, and the company sent this response via email: “Tesla is constantly introducing enhancements, proven over millions of miles of internal testing, to ensure that drivers supported by Autopilot remain safer than those operating without assistance. We will continue to develop, validate, and release those enhancements as the technology grows. While we appreciate well-meaning advice from any individual or group, we make our decisions on the basis of real-world data, not speculation by media.” Tesla also defended the safety record of the system, writing that “130 million miles have been driven on Autopilot, with one confirmed fatality.” The company underscored that its beta software development process includes “significant internal validation.” In the article, Consumer Reports noted its own tests of Teslas and what they found: Consumer Reports has owned three Teslas (2013 Model S 85, 2014 Model S P85D, and 2016 Model X 90D) and we’ve seen first-hand how such beta software is transmitted wirelessly into the cars. When software in a desktop computer or handheld electronic device is labeled as “beta”—it typically means that functionality is not fully developed and is still being fine-tuned. Tesla says that the system makes frequent checks to ensure that the driver’s hands remain on the wheel, but our recent testing on a Model X in Autopilot mode on a long, straight road found that the system took more than three minutes after our tester’s hands were removed from the wheel before the vehicle gave any warning. Being early adopters, many Tesla owners may want to test the limits of cutting-edge features included in updates to their cars. And while some drivers may be skilled and understanding of such features, confidence in or over reliance on the technology can have potentially fatal consequences. Read the full Consumer Reports article at: http://www.consumerreports.org/tesla/tesla-autopilot-too-much-autonomy- too-soon/ Watch a video about Autopilot at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWreyC2l-dw WRAL TechWire any time: Twitter, Facebook The latest blog posts from our WRAL TechWire and WRAL editors. Read more articles…

2016-07-14 20:39 Staff, wraltechwire.com

91 Senate: Obamacare Provision Ignored By Federal Officials Senate Republicans introduced a measure Thursday with the aim of preventing the Obama administration from ignoring a provision within its own healthcare law. President Barack Obama successfully overhauled national healthcare in 2010 when he signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Republicans are now arguing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is ignoring one of the few provisions in the law they like. The provision allows employers to reduce insurance premium costs for employees making healthy choices. “This is yet another example of the Obama administration ignoring the plain text of the president’s own health care law in order to appease special interest groups,” Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I’m proud to join in this effort to prevent this blatant overreach and put business decisions back in the hands of employers who best understand their own workers’ health care.” Employers are able to discount health insurance premiums by up to 50 percent for employees making healthy choices like quitting smoking or maintaining a healthy cholesterol level. Republicans claim the EEOC has been ignoring the provision by filing lawsuits alleging employers that reduce costs for healthy employees are breaking federal discrimination and disability laws. “Wellness programs are the only part of Obamacare that everyone agreed on,” Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said in a statement to TheDCNF. “EEOC has refused to listen to the concerns of Congress, the White House, and American business-owners, Congress must act to help employees seeking to improve their health, while bringing down their health insurance costs.” The EEOC issued a clarification in May on how it planned to enforce the provision going forward. Republicans expressed concern the clarification only reinforced that the agency plans to continue violating the law. Alexander and Isakson introduced their measure under the Congressional Review Act which allows lawmakers to review and reject regulatory chances within 60 days. Follow Connor on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

92 Arianny Celeste Swimsuit Picture In Costa Rica UFC star Arianny Celeste’s latest swimsuit picture is unbelievable. Celeste posted a photo of herself while in the water in Costa Rica with the caption, “Make a splash wherever you go.” (SLIDESHOW: UFC Star Arianny Celeste Is Nearly Naked For All Her Fans In These Pictures) A photo posted by Arianny Celeste UFC® (@ariannyceleste) on Jul 14, 2016 at 8:37am PDT She’s a superstar, and it’s not a mystery why. Follow David on Twitter and Facebook

2016-07-14 20:39 dailycaller.com

93 Rescuing America's roadside giants Anyone making a road trip across America will sooner or later run across a giant statue - a cowboy, an American Indian chief or a lumberjack, perhaps. Many, now half a century old, are falling apart, but one man and his friends are tracking them down and bringing them back to life. On the concrete floor of an Illinois garage, a giant rests in pieces. His head is the size of a wardrobe, his bulging torso bigger than a double bed. The 23ft-high (7m) colossus stood for 45 years outside Two Bit Town, a now- abandoned tourist attraction in Lake Ozark, in the heart of the American Midwest. Chief Bagnell, as he was nicknamed, was one of thousands of giant statues designed to entice travellers to pull off US highways. Now he is getting a makeover thanks to Joel Baker, a television audio technician by day who is America's leading restorer of fibreglass figures made in the 1960s and 70s. "Over the years these guys have been in the weather and the wind. Some of them have been hit by cars," says Baker as he weaves his way through the outhouse strewn with body parts. With the help of three friends, he has spent his evenings for past three months stripping off layer after layer of paint from Chief Bagnell's body. They have patched up cracks and painstakingly polished around every feather in the warrior's headdress, and every wrinkle in the face. What started out as a fun hobby for Baker five years ago, tracking down the statues made by a California-based boat building firm, International Fiberglass, has developed into a mission to save and repair them. The firm began making giant human figures in 1964 after a restaurant in Arizona ordered a model of Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack in American folklore. It made hundreds more over the next decade, of which between 180 and 200 still exist, according to Baker. After Paul Bunyan came cowboys, golfers, pirates and goofy-looking country bumpkins, advertising everything from tyres to golf courses. "These giants were just going out all over America," says Baker. The first American Indians were purchased by Pontiac dealerships, while the cowboys were made for Phillips 66 petrol stations. The figures were also a common sight outside car repair workshops often carrying an exhaust pipe - a muffler in American English - and have become known as Muffler Men. But there were also about 20 female models - so-called Uniroyal Gals, made for the Uniroyal tyre company in 1966, some clad in a bikini, others in a skirt, T-shirt and heels. By today's standards the gals in bikinis, the stereotyped American Indians and country bumpkins might be considered inappropriate. But they reflect the values of the period - and so it's no surprise that the vast majority of Muffler Men were white and male. "The American hero was this big brawny guy who's going to change your tyre or chop down your tree," says author Doug Kirby, one of the founders of RoadsideAmerica.com which maps the giants' locations . "It's all quite politically incorrect now, of course. " For Baker and his fellow enthusiasts, the Muffler Men epitomise the road culture and mass production of the 1960s - but the idea of building models of epic proportions to attract passing trade goes back much further in American history. The founding father was James V Lafferty, who built a six-storey elephant on a strip of undeveloped coastal land just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1881. Lucy the Elephant was intended to attract property buyers and visitors and still stands as a tourist attraction today, having survived Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In 1882, Lafferty filed a patent on giant buildings "of the form of any other animal than an elephant, as that of a fish, fowl, etc. ", which he claimed was his invention. One of the first examples of giant novelty architecture at the roadside was a 64ft-high (20m), bright orange wooden bottle on the outskirts of Auburn, Alabama. Built in 1921 to advertise Nehi soft drinks, and billed as "the world's largest bottle", the structure housed a service station, grocery shop and living space. It burned down in about 1936, but the area on the map is still called The Bottle. Traders had always relied on images rather than words to advertise goods to America's multilingual immigrant population, says Brian Butko, a historian whose books include Roadside Giants and Roadside Attractions. But as time went on, scale became important. "It is a lot harder to attract attention when cars are going by at 50 mph," says Butko. "That's where the roadside giants got started. They were trying to draw people off the road from long distances away. " When the modern American road trip really got going after World War Two, with the rapid growth of car ownership and the new interstate highway system, more and more businesses competed to cater for road-weary travellers. "A lot of the people I talk to say Muffler Men remind them of their childhood in the 60s," says Joel Baker. "They remember being in the back of their dad's car, they remember the make and model of the car and driving by whatever restaurant the Muffler Man stood at. " But just as Muffler Men multiplied thanks to the success of the car industry, they suffered when it stumbled in the 1970s. International Fiberglass ceased operations in 1972, and slowly attitudes towards its giants began to change. "There was a sense of embarrassment about these models," says Butko, when the fuel crisis and subsequent recession caused some dealerships, fuel stations, and repair workshops to close. More efficient cars had less need to stop in small towns, and just drove past. Many of the Muffler Men were "just trashed", says Joel Baker. Among those that were simply neglected, he has discovered many in dire condition, with arms and heads falling off. It's the contrast between childhood memories of the models and their current state that has driven him to take action. And it seems communities are beginning to appreciate the figures again as other authentic elements of the roadside, such as diners and petrol stations, disappear. "In lots of places, they went from tacky things that half the town hated, to becoming a cherished landmark," says Kirby. Businesses are also harnessing their pulling power once more. Shawn Fennel, who owns a repairs garage for vintage cars near Nashville, Tennessee, paid $20,000 (£14,000) for a Muffler Man to stand on his forecourt last year, and transported it across the country from El Monte, California. "It's every day that somebody stops and has their picture made," Fennel says. Doug Kirby says travellers are also taking greater interest, and sometimes going out of their way to see one. "There's awareness that a roadside attraction or model is something of a rarity," he says. "It's a fun diversion, something that's pretty simple - just as it always was. " So Muffler Men made in the 1960s are still doing their job. In the garage, Joel Baker and his team are slowly revitalising the giant war chief, with a view to reinstalling him in Lake Ozark this summer. Two colleagues spray the model with grey primer to prepare for repainting. Baker stands back and smiles with satisfaction. "There's a pull to these giants," he says. "That's why they were made - to attract attention. And it worked. " Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook Have you seen a damaged Muffler Man? A selection of your comments will be published.

2016-07-14 20:37 By Jasmine www.bbc.co.uk

94 South Korea tackles baffling menu translations South Korea has set up a government task force aimed at ridding menus of confusing or embarrassing translations of Korean dishes. Officials from two ministries will team up with language and food experts in order to agree on standardised descriptions for the country's cuisine in English, Chinese and Japanese, the Korea Times reports . The authorities aren't happy about the baffling - and often amusing - translations spotted on menus over the past few years, many the result of computer translation tools. English-speaking diners who chose the "dynamic stew" at one restaurant may have been disappointed to be greeted with pollock, while another place called a dish "six times", when it was actually steak tartare, the report notes. It's not only a problem in English. A university study presented to the National Assembly in June found that of 185 Seoul restaurants with Chinese-language menus, a third had inaccurate translations. One reportedly offered Chinese diners "spicy and weird soup" alongside a creation described as "roast grandmother" - in reality a pork dish with aged kimchi. Assembly member Yeom Dong-yeol said at the time that providing accurate foreign names was important to "increase the cultural value of Korean foods". To help restaurateurs out, the new task force is setting up a website listing the correct translations for each dish and promoting their findings to menu designers. See also: Does Singapore really need a Michelin star guide? Next story: India offers Ganges holy water by post Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter .

2016-07-14 20:35 By News www.bbc.co.uk

95 Florida mosque removed as polling site after anti-Islamic backlash A Florida mosque has been removed as a polling station for the 2016 election after local officials received complaints and threats of violence. The Islamic Center of Boca Raton had planned to host a polling site for the state's primary in August and the general election in November. Officials rescinded the invite, drawing sharp criticism from Florida lawmakers who said it reinforced religious discrimination. The site was moved to a nearby library. County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher said she moved the site after receiving about 50 complaints from people who said they did not want to vote in a mosque. The Islamic Center has been used as a polling station at least since 2010, the Washington Post reported . Democratic US Representatives Ted Deutch and Lois Frankel released statements opposing the move. ``If we are going to use places of worship as polling places, we should not discriminate,'' Mr Deutch said. It is unclear how many houses of worship are used as polling places across the country, but churches are often selected as host sites because of their large auditoriums and parking lots. Mosques in California, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio have served as polling places, including one that has been used since at least 2004, according to the AP news agency.

2016-07-14 20:35 www.bbc.co.uk

96 Hungary deploys army to push migrants back to Serbia A massive security operation, involving up to 10,000 police and soldiers, is under way along Hungary's southern border with Serbia, to keep out migrants and refugees. The armed forces have been deployed to reinforce a 175km (110-mile) razor-wire fence erected last year on a border that is also a gateway to the European Union. Until new regulations came into force on 5 July, an average of 130 people crossed the fence every day. The new law allows the authorities to push back anyone caught inside Hungary within 8km of the fence, but in practice it seems to be applied to those caught far deeper into Hungary, as far as Budapest. The push-backs usually happen at night, through gates built into the razor wire fence, or even over the wire. The measures have caused growing backlogs on the Serbian side in daytime temperatures of up to 37C. More than 1,000 migrants are now waiting to enter Hungary, legally, through one of two "transit zones" at Horgos and Kelebia. The conditions in the camp at Horgos are appalling. Most of the residents are Afghans, while Syrians and Iraqis are concentrated at Kelebia. A long queue forms each morning for the two taps of running water which serve 850 people, including many women and children. There are now 12 toilets. Another queue forms rapidly when a jeep from the Serbian Red Cross arrives with bread rolls. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, provides tins of tuna. People boil water for tea over small fires dug into the sandy earth. Some bake potatoes or sweet corn on the embers, or heat the tuna. Shelter from the burning sun is offered by small tents and UNHCR blankets, tied together between poles cut from the undergrowth. Last week a 10-year-old Afghan boy drowned while trying to wash in a pond nearby. His mother walks aimlessly through the camp with her other children, too sad to speak to anyone. The UNHCR is mediating with the Serbian and Hungarian authorities about where to bury the dead boy. The unofficial leader of the camp, 25-year-old Afghan doctor Hamid Joya, is besieged by people trying to find out what number they are on his list. He negotiates with the Hungarian Office of Immigration and Nationality, which controls the steel turnstile into the transit zone, built right into the border fence. Each day 15 people are admitted - 14 from families, and one single male; and a similar number at the other transit zone at Kelebia. "When the transit zones were first established we were told they could process 100 people a day," UNHCR spokesman Erno Simon told the BBC on a fact-finding visit to Horgos. "We have been trying to persuade the Hungarian authorities to increase the number because of the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to camp here," he told the BBC. But if 100 people were admitted each day, that would render the massive security operation on the far side, and the fence itself, irrelevant. The Hungarian government has called a referendum for 2 October to oppose refugee redistribution quotas proposed by the European Commission. To be valid, the referendum will require at least 50% of Hungary's eight million voters to take part. The government has launched a nationwide publicity campaign to mobilise the public to participate. Some opposition parties have called for a boycott of the referendum, claiming that it would be a vote against Hungary's continued EU membership. President announces 2 October vote Relocation deal explained Migrant crisis enters new phase Migrants who have been pushed back to Serbia through the fence have accused police in Hungary of brutality. Samir, from Afghanistan, says he was punched and kicked by police after he surrendered to them having gone four days in Hungary without water. He was then pepper-sprayed as he was being pushed back through the fence "to teach him a lesson". "We have witnessed a lot of cases of intentional trauma that can be related to excessive use of force," said Momcilo Djurdjevic, a doctor from MSF (Doctors Without Borders), which has an active presence in both camps. He lists testimonies from refugees and injuries that MSF has treated including "cuts, dog bites, and police, baton-shaped bruises on their bodies". There has been no official Hungarian response to these allegations. Official communiques note only that illegal migrants caught on Hungarian territory are "escorted" back to the border. Faisal Sarwary from Kandahar has been in the Horgos camp for two weeks, with his father, mother, and four sisters. Smugglers in Belgrade offered them an illegal trip to Austria, across Hungary, but "my father didn't accept. We just want to be patient and pass these borders legally". A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

2016-07-14 20:35 By Nick www.bbc.co.uk

97 India students drown during river selfie Two students have drowned while taking selfies in a swelling river in a remote part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Indian media reported that the accident happened while local students were picnicking on the banks of the Kosi river in Rampur district. A police official said a group of boys went into the river and two ventured too far into deep water. Several people have died in India while taking selfies over the last year. India teenager dies after 'freak' train selfie India Mumbai identifies 'no selfie' zones after woman dies "A group of students were bathing in the swollen river," Police inspector Kushalveer Singh told the BBC. "Two decided to go deeper into the river to get a better selfie, but they lost their balance and drowned. " The rescuers took more than an hour to retrieve the bodies of the victims, he added. Twelve other teenagers who had been bathing were reported safe. Eyewitnesses speaking to local media said the boys appeared to have been caught unaware by a surge of water that could have been released from a nearby dam. Earlier this year police in Mumbai declared 15 locations in the cities as places where taking selfies "can be dangerous". The move followed the death of an 18-year-old girl who drowned in the sea while taking a picture. Last year, authorities also imposed a "no selfie zone" at a Hindu festival due to fears they could cause stampedes.

2016-07-14 20:35 www.bbc.co.uk

98 Crossword artwork filled in by German woman in museum A 91-year-old woman is under investigation in Germany after filling in blank spaces on a crossword- themed artwork in a museum. "Reading-work-piece" is a 1965 piece by avant garde artist Arthur Koepcke and features the phrase "insert words". The woman began writing on it using a ballpoint pen during a visit by senior citizens to Nuremberg's Neues Museum. Museum officials say they believe the work can be restored and said the woman was reported for insurance reasons. The woman is being investigated for damage to property, although there is no suggestion of any malicious intent. The pensioner told police she understood the English-language instruction on the artwork to insert words and took it as an invitation to fill in answers to the clues, Suddeutsche Zeitung reported. She added that this should not have come as a surprise to the museum as it had not put up a notice instructing visitors not to write on the piece, the newspaper said. Gerlinde Knopp, who was leading the excursion, said the museum was also full of interactive art, making it easy to lose sight of what one could and could not do there, "Reading-work-piece", which is on loan to the museum from a private collection, is insured for €80,000 ($89,000; £67,000).

2016-07-14 20:37 www.bbc.co.uk

99 Big basket building in Ohio to be sold An iconic building shaped like a basket in Newark, Ohio, home to a basket- making company, is to be sold. Nicknamed the "Big Basket," and belonging to the home decor Longaberger Company, the building is looking for a buyer. Employees who work inside the seven-storey basket building are being moved to another location in Ohio. It opened in 1997 and once housed 500 employees of the company, the Columbus Dispatch reports . Now, the company is facing hard economic times. The last employees working in the building are moving out this week. "The Big Basket is like the St Louis Arch," Jim Klein, a former Longaberger president, told the newspaper. He wants to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places. "It's a really important part of south-eastern Ohio history. " The building's shape was the company's founder's idea, the Dispatch reports. It cost $30 million (£22.5 million) to build. Dave Longaberger had a very specific idea for the building, the Dispatch reports, and would not settle on a design until architects agreed to make it look exactly like one of the company's baskets. A Facebook group titled "Preserving the Longaberger 'Big Basket' as a National Treasure" has 1,683 members. Mr Klein keeps members updated on his mission to get the building on the National Register in the group. "Wish we could all donate enough $ to buy the big basket and turn it into a museum. I realise this isn't feasible at all, but wishful thinking," one member writes. Another writes, "It isn't fair. It's a landmark Dave built. What happened to this [company]. So sad. " Not everyone at Longaberger is sad to be leaving the basket, though. Brenton Baker, director of marketing and communications for the company, told the Ohio Advocate that the office they are moving to is more convenient and they look forward to being closer to their colleagues. "It is not a sad thing we are leaving," Mr Baker told the newspaper . "People keep saying they feel sad for the employees. Don't feel sad for us. I cannot wait for next week. For me, next week can't come fast enough. For the people on the outside, it's probably not that way. " 2016-07-14 20:35 www.bbc.co.uk

100 Boris Johnson is a liar with his back to the wall, says French FM France's foreign minister has said his newly-appointed British counterpart, Boris Johnson, is a liar with "his back against the wall". In comments to Europe 1 radio, Jean-Marc Ayrault said Mr Johnson had lied to the British people during the recent EU referendum campaign and would now be under pressure "to defend his country". He said France needed a negotiating partner who was credible and reliable. The former London mayor led the campaign to take Britain out of the EU. He was expected to stand for the Conservative party leadership in the wake of the referendum result, but did not put himself forward after key colleagues withdrew support. His appointment as foreign secretary has surprised many politicians and commentators around the world, who have recalled his history of undiplomatic or offensive comments. Boris Johnson appointment: The world reacts How Britain's new foreign secretary has insulted the world Mr Ayrault said: "I am not at all worried about Boris Johnson, but you know his style, his method during the campaign - he lied a lot to the British people. "[He has] his back against the wall to defend his country but also with his back against the wall the relationship with Europe should be clear. "I need a partner with whom I can negotiate and who is clear, credible and reliable," he added. "We cannot let this ambiguous, blurred situation drag on... in the interests of the British themselves. " Reacting to the comments, Mr Johnson said it was "inevitable there will be some plaster coming off the ceilings in the chancelleries of Europe. It was not the result they were expecting and they are making their views known in a frank and free way". But he added: "The French foreign minister has in fact sent me a charming letter just a couple of hours ago saying how much he looked forward to working together and deepening Anglo-French co-operation in all sorts of areas, and that is what we want to achieve. " Mr Johnson said he wanted reshape Britain's identity as a "great global player". He said: "We have to give effect to the will of the people in the referendum but that does not mean leaving Europe. There is a massive difference between leaving the EU and our relations with Europe which, if anything, are going to be intensified. " France and other EU states have urged Britain to start the process of leaving the EU promptly, to minimise uncertainty. New Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to implement Britain's exit from the bloc but has not said when she plans to trigger the formal exit procedure. She has already spoken to French President Francois Hollande. Mrs May's spokeswoman said she "explained that we would need some time to prepare for these negotiations".

2016-07-14 20:35 www.bbc.co.uk

Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-07-15 00:01