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Total 100 articles, created at 2016-07-31 00:02 1 Hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people crashes in Texas
(2.09/3) LOCKHART, Texas — Federal officials say a hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas, and it is unclear whether there are injuries or 2016-07-31 00:01 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 2 Who’s Your Mommy? Hillary Clinton at DNC Hillary Clinton’s advantage going into the final evening of the Democratic National Convention was her nonstop determination. (2.05/3) The former first lady and secretary of... 2016-07-30 23:10 4KB spectator.org 3 Yahoo Announces Editorial Plans for 2016 Summer Games
(1.00/3) --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ( : YHOO) today announced its full global editorial lineup for the 2016 in... 2016-07-30 23:17 2KB investor.yahoo.net 4 Yahoo to Participate at the J. P. Morgan Global Technology, Media & Telecom
(1.00/3) Conference --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) CFO will participate in a question-and-answer session at the J. P... 2016-07-30 23:17 1KB investor.yahoo.net 5 Hinkley Point: What is it and why is it important? (0.02/3) Hinkley Point: What is it and why is it important? 2016-07-30 23:03 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 6 Yahoo to Live Stream Video of Second Quarter 2016 Earnings on Yahoo Finance on
(0.01/3) July 18, 2016 --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) will discuss the Company's financial results for the second quarter ended via... 2016-07-30 23:17 1KB investor.yahoo.net 7 Russia misses out while drug users take their place in Rio — RT Sport While Russia’s track and field team, including athletes with no doping history, sit out the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, there's a host of athletes who will be allowed to compete in Brazil despite having had their own issues with banned substances. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.rt.com
8 'The days of apartheid are gone' – Pitso Mosimane Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has fired a shot of disdain at the short-term thinking of PSL clubs who do not take continental competitions seriously. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.timeslive.co.za 9 Russia rejects US criticism of weapons deployment to Crimea — RT Russian politics A senior Russian diplomat has dismissed US criticism over deploying weapons and forces to Crimea, saying the Russian Federation is absolutely free to protect its national security by moving forces anywhere on its territory. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 10 DA asks SCA to deny petitions from ‘Hlaudi and his band of protectors’ Hlaudi Motsoeneng “and his band of protectors now need to abandon this abuse of our judicial system and taxpayers’ money”‚ the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 11 BBC, other MSM guilty of ‘clear & consistent bias’ against Corbyn, study finds — RT UK British news channels are blatantly biased against Jeremy Corbyn, giving far more airtime to commentators who openly criticize the Labour Party leader than those who support him, a second study of the phenomenon shows. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.rt.com 12 Majority of Germans don’t believe Merkel will handle refugee crisis The majority of Germans do not trust Chancellor Angela Merkel’s claim that the country will successfully handle its refugee crisis. Merkel has come under fire over her “we can do it” remark in response to her open door policy towards asylum seekers. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.rt.com 13 Komphela prepared to sacrifice job to do what's right for Kaizer Chiefs Steve Komphela will do the right thing and continue attempting to implement the type of football he believes Kaizer Chiefs need to play to become a winning combination again‚ rather than trying to protect his own job. 2016-07-31 00:01 4KB www.timeslive.co.za 14 90yo woman killed at nursing home in S. Carolina’s first fatal alligator attack — RT America An elderly woman who was found dead in a pond was killed by an alligator only hours after she disappeared from her nursing home in Charleston, South Carolina, officials said Wednesday, making it the first case of its kind in the state. 2016-07-31 00:01 1KB www.rt.com 15 The reason Black Coffee was released from Spring Fiesta Black Coffee has been released as a headline act at the upcoming Spring Fiesta music festival in order for the DJ to chase a 'pivotal career opportunity', the event's organisers announced this week. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 16 DA irked by poor Madibeng’s offer to pay back the money for Zuma The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants President Jacob Zuma to provide PoPP – proof of personal payment. 2016-07-31 00:01 884Bytes www.timeslive.co.za 17 ‘The way Britain shares its wealth led to Brexit’ — RT UK Physics genius Stephen Hawking has called for a reassessment of how wealth is viewed in Britain in the wake of the UK’s vote to exit the European Union. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 18 US military giving back 17% of occupied Okinawa land to Japanese — RT News Citizens of Okinawa in Japan could be having their wishes fulfilled – at least 17 percent fulfilled, as that is the amount of land the United States military plans to transfer back to the island from its control, amid growing problems with its public image. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.rt.com 19 Swedish ‘bikini cop’ tackles mobile phone thief while sunbathing (PHOTO) — RT Viral An opportunist thief masquerading as a newspaper seller got more than he bargained for when he tried to swipe a mobile phone from under the nose of a sunbathing Swedish policewoman. 2016-07-31 00:01 1KB www.rt.com 20 Transfer-listed Xulu‚ Manqele‚ Mthembu set for Chiefs first team return Kaizer Chiefs’ three transfer-listed players are yet to receive offers from rival clubs‚ and they are showing “positive signs” that just might prolong their stay at the club‚ says Amakhosi football manager Bobby Motaung. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.timeslive.co.za
21 Skyfall: Humvees airdropped from 5,000 feet by C-17 (VIDEO) — RT Viral A spectacular video showing a training airdrop of Humvee vehicles by a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport plane was published online. 2016-07-31 00:01 1010Bytes www.rt.com 22 Russia will seek Ukraine foreign assets freeze if $3bn debt not repaid — RT Business Moscow may file a case seeking to freeze Ukrainian assets abroad if Kiev continues to refuse to pay back the $3 billion debt to Russia, says a source close the presidential administration cited by Izvestia daily. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 23 Alcohol crackdown at UK airports after boozy Brits wreak havoc — RT UK Britain’s new aviation minister has pledged a crackdown on alcohol sales at airports after dozens of drunken Brits caused havoc on flights, with one man allegedly drinking a whole bottle of vodka before abusing fellow passengers. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 24 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. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 25 RT visits Erdogan’s self-exiled arch- nemesis Fethullah Gulen at his US estate — RT News An RT reporter has met with “Turkey’s most wanted man,” Fethullah Gulen, a powerful preacher who has been living in self- exile in the US state of Pennsylvania. Ankara blames the scholar for the recent coup attempt in Turkey and wants him extradited. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 26 Russia may supply components for Iranian satellites — RT Business Components for Iranian satellites may be produced by Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation, said Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov after meeting with Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Vaezi in Moscow. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com
27 The stats favour the Lions in their Super Rugby semifinal‚ but… Statistically the Lions have an advantage over the Highlanders going in to their Super Rugby semifinal on Saturday‚ but so often stats winners are losers on the field. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.timeslive.co.za 28 Cech trusts Wenger to buy right players for Arsenal tilt Goalkeeper Petr Cech expects manager Arsene Wenger to bring in the right players necessary to improve Arsenal's bid to win a first Premier League title since 2004 without wasting money on panic buys. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 29 Busted! Trump claimed to have spoken with Putin, now denies contact — RT America “I’ve never spoken to Putin,” US presidential hopeful Donald Trump said this week as he was commenting on an alleged Russian hack of the DNC. But that’s not what he publicly stated just two years ago. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 30 20 Russian high-profile organizations attacked by spy malware in coordinated op – FSB — RT News Computer networks of some 20 Russian state, defense, scientific and other high-profile organizations have been infected with malware used for cyberespionage, the Russian Security Service (FSB) reported, describing it as a professionally coordinated operation. 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.rt.com 31 Brazilian drug lord busted after turning prison cell into luxury suite — RT News A three-room suite complete with a library, high-tech kitchen, stylishly tiled walls, plasma TV and even a conference room – no, it’s not an apartment of a US rapper, it’s actually a prison cell where a Brazilian drug lord was serving his sentence. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.rt.com 32 Turkish prosecutor claims CIA, FBI trained coup plotters — RT News A Turkish prosecutor has claimed that the CIA and FBI provided training for the followers of powerful US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the coup attempt earlier this month. 2016-07-31 00:01 6KB www.rt.com 33 Warning that not all winners live happily ever after as man claims R87 million lottery jackpot A man has stepped forward to claim the country’s massive R87- million Powerball lottery jackpot. 2016-07-31 00:01 3KB www.timeslive.co.za 34 Police steps up security at Amsterdam airport after threat Armed police are conducting extra-security checks at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam after the authorities received reports of a possible threat. Officers searched every car entering the hub while adding it is likely that flights will be delayed. 2016-07-31 00:01 1KB www.rt.com 35 NASA test legacy engine for future Mars missions — RT America Compensating for a setback two week ago, NASA has successfully tested the RS-25 engine, a legacy developed on the Space Shuttle program, which will end up as part of America’s new heavy-lift rocket needed for deep space missions. 2016-07-31 00:01 1KB www.rt.com 36 Joma Sison: Duterte can be ‘volatile’ but… Is it all over even before it started? Perhaps not, according to Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), who lashed out against the lifting of the 2016-07-31 00:01 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 37 Zamalek Downed It was a cruel twist of fate for the visitors but deserved stroke of luck for hosts 2016-07-31 00:01 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 38 Microbiologist vs dengue leads science awardees A microbiologist who developed a portable kit that can detect within an hour the presence of dengue virus in the blood and a University of the Philippines (UP) professor who used 2016-07-31 00:01 6KB technology.inquirer.net 39 Party-list reps buck plan to abolish them While President Rodrigo Duterte was right in saying that the party- list sytem has been abused by the rich and powerful, several lawmakers said it should not be abolished, as it had 2016-07-31 00:01 5KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 40 Duterte calls off truce President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday night recalled his ceasefire order after a 5 p.m. deadline he had set passed without a response from communist insurgents. READ: Duterte lifts 2016-07-31 00:01 8KB newsinfo.inquirer.net
41 Drudge Gets Wolf Blitzer Wrong: I Was at CNN Party Too Over at the Drudge Report, the estimable Matt Drudge has this headline: From Drudge the link takes you to this story in the... 2016-07-30 23:27 2KB spectator.org 42 A Thought on The Hacking of Hillary With the FBI now investigating the hacking of Hillary Clinton’s campaign as well as the DCCC, I have but one question. Could it... 2016-07-30 23:27 610Bytes spectator.org 43 Dick Morris Dismantles The Clinton Narrative In case you somehow were swept away by Hillary’s “herstoric” speech, a little truth tonic: Dick Morris recounts Hillary’s history. It starts... 2016-07-30 23:27 1KB spectator.org 44 WikiLeaks Crashes the Party Democrats liked secret-stealing Russians so much better when they called themselves Communists. Alger Hiss’s Bokhara rug, 1929 Ford Roadster, Woodstock typewriter... 2016-07-30 23:27 5KB spectator.org 45 Arsenal to live stream upcoming fixture through the official club app Arsenal has taken steps to strengthen its digital capabilities by partnering with online video company Ooyala to stream an upcoming pre-season friendly through the club’s official app. 2016-07-30 23:30 2KB www.thedrum.com 46 USA TODAY 'Gone' tells the story of Mississippi native Felix Vail and the people whose paths he crossed. Vail goes on trial Aug. 8 in Lake Charles, Louisiana — the oldest prosecution of a serial-killer suspect in U. S. history. Vail is charged... 2016-07-30 23:20 929Bytes rssfeeds.usatoday.com 47 3 dead, 1 injured in shooting at party near Seattle, suspect detained — RT America Three people have been shot dead and one wounded in a shooting at a party, presumably involving young people in Mukilteo, which is not far from Seattle, according to police. The suspect has been apprehended by police. 2016-07-30 23:20 1KB www.rt.com
48 South Sudan Olympics selector claims ad deal swayed sprinter pick for Rio 2016 The secretary-general of South Sudan’s Olympic committee has said he felt under pressure to choose a runner for Rio 2016 because she was the star of a Samsung ad campaign. 2016-07-30 23:29 1KB www.thedrum.com 49 The Mirror Test: America At War In Iraq And Afghanistan This post is an adapted excerpt from State Department official J. Kael Weston's book, "The Mirror Test," which was released on May 24, 2016. His book chronicles his seven consecutive tours in Iraq an 2016-07-30 23:20 5KB dailycaller.com 50 Disney-owned Maker Studios hit with layoffs Opened with a bang, and deep investment in 2014, Disney-owned short-form creative specialists Maker Studios confirmed to Deadline that they are, in fact, laying off staff. Initially, Disney made a $500m commitment to the effort and, if certain financial targets... 2016-07-30 23:29 1KB www.thedrum.com 51 US urges UN to back African force for South Sudan The United States urged the UN Security Council to back a regional force for South Sudan to shore up UN peacekeepers unable to cope with... 2016-07-30 23:21 2KB www.digitaljournal.com 52 Transgender teen, family share their story Kai Shultz, a 14-year-old transgender boy, and his family in Gig Harbor discuss his transition and outrage over the shooting in Orlando. 2016-07-30 23:27 2KB www.thenewstribune.com 53 Verizon to acquire Yahoo's operating business BASKING RIDGE, N. J... 2016-07-30 23:27 16KB investor.yahoo.net 54 Trump’s Darkest and ‘Most Brilliant’ Hour Donald Trump claims to be the one person who can avert the certainty of impending doom. “Nobody knows the system better than me,”... 2016-07-30 23:27 6KB spectator.org 55 The Democratic Party Is Tom Steyer's Now The Democratic Party’s platform on energy and climate has shifted dramatically leftward, putting the party in sync with the climate policies advocated by its wealthiest donor, billionaire environmen 2016-07-30 23:21 3KB dailycaller.com 56 You Won't Believe Whose Granddaughter Is Voting For Clinton Republican Arizona Senator John McCain's granddaughter Caroline McCain wrote in a Thursday Medium post that she's supporting Hillary Clinton. As first reported by The Hill, McCain says that she has 2016-07-30 23:25 3KB dailycaller.com 57 7 Of The Most Absurd Emails From The DNC Email Leak Wikileaks released nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffers just days before the convention kicked off. The leaks, dating from January 2015 to May 2016, reveal Demo 2016-07-30 23:25 4KB dailycaller.com 58 JK Rowling praises Harry Potter fans for not sharing Cursed Child spoilers JK Rowling praises fans for keeping the secrets of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as the stage show opens in London after weeks of previews. 2016-07-30 23:06 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 59 Breaking News English Lesson English News Lessons: Free 26-Page lesson plan / 2-page mini- lesson - Exercise - Handouts, online activities, speed reading, dictation, mp3... current events. 2016-07-30 23:06 1KB www.breakingnewsenglish.com 60 Goldman Subpoenaed For Global Corruption Subpoenas were issued to Goldman Sachs for its alleged connections to a global corruption ring, according to reports Friday. Goldman Sachs, a worldwide leading investment bank with ties to the 2008 2016-07-30 23:11 2KB dailycaller.com 61 Romney: Hillary Could Lose, And Bill Is A Big Reason Why Mitt Romney now says Hillary Clinton could lose the election, in large part because she's an "awful candidate" who is perceived as inauthentic -- and trying to act like her husband Bill isn't helpin 2016-07-30 23:11 2KB dailycaller.com 62 MLB Baseball Box Scores ST. PETERSBURG, Fla... 2016-07-30 23:11 3KB scoresandstats.newyork.cbslocal.com 63 Captain Not So Fantastic It seems to me entirely appropriate that the title of Captain Fantastic, otherwise far from clear in meaning, makes Matt Ross’s movie sound... 2016-07-30 23:11 5KB spectator.org 64 New Classes at Pisgah Wildlife Center KMorgan 1346 posts 2016-07-30 23:13 4KB www.thetribunepapers.com
65 TUNE IN TODAY: Yahoo Hosts First-Ever Live Stream of Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting Live coverage begins at 10 a.m... 2016-07-30 23:17 2KB investor.yahoo.net 66 60 injured as Yerevan police disperse protesters from besieged police station (PHOTO, VIDEO) — RT News At least 60 people were injured when police used flashbangs to disperse protesters around Yerevan’s police station that was seized by an armed group earlier in July. Demonstrators came out to support the anti-government gunmen. 2016-07-30 23:13 3KB www.rt.com 67 Federal judge strikes down WI election laws as benefiting GOP — RT America A federal judge found parts of Wisconsin’s elections laws to be unconstitutional, ruling they unfairly benefited the Republicans that had enacted them by making it more difficult for Democrats to vote. The state’s voter ID law was not thrown out, however. 2016-07-30 23:13 3KB www.rt.com 68 Two charged in cold-case killing More than 25 years after a Walton County man was killed, two men have been arrested in connection with his death, police said Friday. 2016-07-30 23:18 927Bytes www.ajc.com 69 Shocking images underscore war devastation of ancient Syrian city (PHOTOS) — RT Viral Five years on since civil war broke out in Syria, shocking photos show the destruction caused to Aleppo, the country’s largest city before the conflict, in grim before and after pictures. 2016-07-30 23:13 1KB www.rt.com 70 ‘Bonkers’ govt decision casts doubt on Britain’s first nuclear power plant in 20yrs — RT UK Theresa May’s government has made a “bewildering and bonkers” decision to pull back on signing a deal to build Britain’s first new nuclear power station in 20 years, just a day after it was given approval and funding. 2016-07-30 23:13 3KB www.rt.com 71 Austria’s far-right candidate leading in first re-run election poll — RT News Far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) candidate Norbert Hofer has a four percent lead over his main rival according to early opinion polls, as he looks to win a repeat of the Austrian presidential election, which is due to be held in October. 2016-07-30 23:14 1KB www.rt.com 72 English Conversation Questions / Debates 14,020 discussion and conversation questions for speaking practice. 701 FREE ESL lesson plans, handouts, worksheets and downloads. Controversial and mainstream topics. 2016-07-30 23:01 826Bytes www.esldiscussions.com 73 Bloomberg View Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news... 2016-07-30 23:01 1KB www.bloomberg.com 74 Corbyn: Labour MPs planning split should think again Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls for the party's MPs to "think again" after reports some are planning a "semi-split" of the party, while rival Owen Smith says Labour is on a "precipice". 2016-07-30 23:07 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 75 US election 2016: Onward from the conventions What have the conventions revealed about the two main US presidential candidates and what should we expect next? 2016-07-30 23:03 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 76 Belgium charges man with planned terror attack One of two brothers arrested in Belgium in an anti-terror operation is charged with attempting to commit "terrorist murder". 2016-07-30 23:03 1KB www.bbc.co.uk
77 Tokyo's ill-tempered election Tokyo is preparing to vote for its next governor, one of the biggest jobs in Japan, but the campaign has been marred by insults and allegations of sexism. 2016-07-30 23:03 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 78 Entertainment week in pictures: 23 A look at some of the events over the past week, including Michael Keaton receiving a Hollywood star and the stars of Doctor Who taking a selfie. 2016-07-30 23:03 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 79 Who are the Corbynistas? BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith spends the day with some Labour members in Leeds and finds little evidence of waning support for Jeremy Corbyn. 2016-07-30 23:03 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 80 1966 World Cup: Special event marks 50 years since England's football win Thousands of people attend a special Wembley event exactly 50 years since England's football team won the World Cup. 2016-07-30 23:03 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 81 Trevor Gray: Wife's battle to clear wrongly jailed detective's name A High Court judge has said a police force was wrong not to reinstate a former detective wrongly jailed for raping a woman in 2011. His wife told BBC News how her family won a five-year, £150,000 battle to clear his name. 2016-07-30 23:03 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 82 Are female leaders disadvantaged by media bias? The media more often focuses on what women wear and their family status, but does that hurt the public's perception of their leadership? 2016-07-30 23:03 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 83 In pictures: Fishing for shrimp Photographer Charles Fox documents the work of the Trapang Sangke fishing community in Cambodia. 2016-07-30 23:03 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 84 10 things we didn't know last week The most heavy metal word in the English language and other news nuggets. 2016-07-30 23:03 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 85 Plastic bag use plummets in England since 5p charge Shoppers in England are on target to use six billion fewer plastic bags in the first year since a 5p charge for them was introduced, government data suggests. 2016-07-30 23:03 3KB www.bbc.co.uk
86 Testing times for Europe's banks The results of European bank "stress tests" have been announced, with the aim of establishing how well the banks could cope with a new financial shock. 2016-07-30 23:03 6KB www.bbc.co.uk 87 Premiers past: What now for Cameron? What they did next - the futures of prime ministers past 2016-07-30 23:02 10KB www.bbc.co.uk 88 Putting it all on the table: Ayman Odeh has a dream of a better future for Israel Joint List leader Ayman Odeh's dream and Israel’s reality haven’t meshed so far. 2016-07-30 22:59 15KB www.jpost.com 89 Don't miss these 2016 non-blockbuster films The highly anticipated "Jason Bourne" movie starring Matt Damon is just one of a slew of big ticket blockbusters that have been released over the past seven months. But what about those smaller and independent films that don't get as much hype as their bigger-budgeted... 2016-07-30 22:53 1KB www.cbsnews.com 90 New documentary profiles 1936 U. S. Olympic rowers Eighty years ago, 400 Americans took part in the 1936 Olympiad in Berlin. But it was a group of nine rowers from the Pacific Northwest that took the nation by storm. A new PBS documentary -- inspired by the bestselling book, "The Boys... 2016-07-30 22:53 1KB www.cbsnews.com 91 Retailers are luring shoppers with booze Retailers are catching on to the latest buzz-inducing trend in the industry -- stores with fully-stocked bars. Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters and even Barnes & Noble have all incorporated bars and restaurants into their retail spaces. CBS News business... 2016-07-30 22:53 1KB www.cbsnews.com 92 Saturday Sessions: Lucy Dacus performs "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" Singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus is being hailed as one of the biggest finds of 2016. The 21-year-old Richmond, Virginia native grew up in a musical family. Her mother, an elementary music teacher, and her father, a guitar player, both encouraged their... 2016-07-30 22:53 1KB www.cbsnews.com
93 Booze ban for China region's civil servants No more lunchtime tipples for government employees in Anhui province. 2016-07-30 22:55 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 94 The Great Smyrna Fire Mike Scruggs 2 posts 2016-07-30 22:52 11KB www.thetribunepapers.com 95 Alaska’s Tony Dela Cruz helps fight ‘darkness’ ALASKA captain Tony dela Cruz knows darkness. He did not know its name before, but he knew it was around him. “I realized that this is not where I wanted to be when you are sitting alone in 2016-07-30 22:18 4KB sports.inquirer.net 96 Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat rise Scientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft. 2016-07-30 21:55 2KB rss.cnn.com 97 Bernie Sanders Won't Rule Out Future Presidential Run We may not have seen the last of Bernie Sanders on the presidential stage. During an appearance on HBO's "Real Time" Friday night, Sanders didn't rule out a future presidential run when host Bill M 2016-07-30 21:55 1KB dailycaller.com 98 Pilot Union Accuses American Airlines Of Compromising Safety American Airlines officials told employees earlier in July to "speed up" operations, and now the company's pilots union has responded to the call. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which rep 2016-07-30 22:10 2KB dailycaller.com 99 BLM Activist Shaun King Wants College For Cops Black Lives Matter activist and professional social justice warrior Shaun King now wants a law requiring all police officers in the United States to have college degrees. To make his case, he cites se 2016-07-30 22:10 8KB dailycaller.com 100 What Dems Think Of Unions Supporting Hillary PHILADELPHIA -- Democratic National Convention participants denounced union leadership for endorsing party nominee Hillary Clinton when so many union members were behind Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sander 2016-07-30 22:10 4KB dailycaller.com Articles
Total 100 articles, created at 2016-07-31 00:02
1 Hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people crashes in Texas (2.09/3) LOCKHART, Texas — Federal officials say a hot air balloon carrying at least 16 people caught on fire and crashed in Central Texas, and it is unclear whether there are injuries or deaths. Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the accident happened shortly after 7:40 a.m. Saturday near Lockhart, Texas, when the hot air balloon crashed into a pasture. Lunsford said that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are going to the scene to investigate. Lockhart is about 30 miles south of Austin. TVJ
Texas hot air balloon crash: 'No survivors' among 16 on board bbc.co.uk FAA warned of potential for many hot air balloon deaths washingtontimes.com
Texas balloon crash: Aerial footage shows aftermath bbc.co.uk 2016-07-31 00:01 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net
2 Who’s Your Mommy? Hillary Clinton at DNC (2.05/3) Hillary Clinton’s advantage going into the final evening of the Democratic National Convention was her nonstop determination. The former first lady and secretary of state never gave up on her bid to become the first female American president. Unlike Donald Trump, she didn’t just stumble into the nomination. She reached the spotlight through “steady leadership” — a euphemism for plodding on after personal scandal on an epic scale and a painful election loss in 2008. It was a convention notable for its role reversals. Break out the tea and cookies: Supporters touted the feminist role model as a great mother first. At some moments the convention seemed like an excursion back in time, to the The Donna Reed Show. The mommy focus served not only to humanize Clinton, but also to distract from the reckless judgment that has dogged her professional life. President Obama talked about how everyone in the public spotlight makes mistakes. He’s right. Two mistakes that have haunted Clinton through this primary, however, were not caused in the heat of chaos when there are no good decisions. To the contrary, Clinton’s decision to use a home-brew server for her State Department emails, which opened a door to hostile hackers, was not thrust upon her. Likewise her hefty Goldman Sachs speaking fees — $675,000 for three talks — were not due to complex forces beyond her control. Clinton has a long-standing record of greed. No worries, the mommy theme coos, as Chelsea Clinton turned out great. The Philadelphia confab checked all the boxes on Donald Trump’s dark side. Khizr Khan — whose Army captain son, Humayun Khan, 27, died saving his comrades during a Baghdad suicide bombing — shamed Trump when he intoned, “You have sacrificed nothing.” I dare any American to support a ban on Muslim immigrants after watching Khan extol the U. S. Constitution. Retired Gen. John Allen questioned Trump’s judgment on military matters. The most devastating hit on Trump came from disabled Americans and their families. Last November, in perhaps his most puerile and heartless rant, Trump jerked his arms as he made fun of a New York Times reporter with a physical disability. On the first night of the convention, Anastasia Somoza, who has cerebral palsy, slammed Trump as a man who “shouts, bullies and profits off of the vulnerable Americans.” It had to be said. Policy-wise, Clinton has moved to the left, as has the Democratic Party. She doesn’t distinguish between legal immigrants and those who are here illegally. She calls both groups “immigrants,” as she ignores federal laws enacted by Congress and never overturned. She waited until 2013 to support same-sex marriage, and now voices contempt for anyone so backward as to oppose it. She supports raising the minimum wage as high as $15 per hour. She assumed vanquished rival Bernie Sanders’ plank to make “college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all.” She wants to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United — a decision in which the U. S. Supreme Court upheld critics’ free speech right to criticize Clinton in a movie. Having buried Trump in the fundraising department by about 40-1, she promised Thursday night to “get money out of politics.” She criticized Trump’s temperament handling “a tough question from a reporter” — unencumbered by her own record of not holding a press conference for more than 235 days. For me Clinton will always be the New York senator who voted for the war in Iraq, before she turned against it. (Her Iraq War vote is the reason Clinton lost the Democratic primary in 2008, and a reason so many Democrats were drawn to Sanders.) In 2008 her campaign ran an ad that asked whom voters wanted to answer a 3:00 a.m. phone call to the White House after things have gone south in a little-known faraway hot spot. The rookie senator or the lady hawk? That was before Benghazi. Now 2016 Clinton wants to break the glass ceiling via the mommy track. Clinton’s biggest selling point is Trump, who shifts positions more readily than Clinton. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons,” quoth Clinton. But is Trump, to paraphrase Obama, unlikable enough? Full Speech: Hillary Clinton delivers DNC remarks, accepts nomination cbsnews.com
Did Hillary Clinton plagiarize a line in her DNC speech? Maybe ajc.com 2016-07-30 23:10 Debra J spectator.org
3 Yahoo Announces Editorial Plans for 2016 Summer Games (1.00/3) --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ( : YHOO) today announced its full global editorial lineup for the 2016 in , including Olympic gold medalists and. Yahoo will send more than 15 experts and writers to Rio, plus another 15 video producers and crew to cover the Games from every angle. Yahoo's focus for the 2016 will be to tell compelling stories and produce instant reactions across all content platforms. "We will use our world-class reporting to seek out the unscripted moments that make the so riveting," said , Vice President,. "We're poised to offer our most comprehensive coverage ever with a relentless emphasis on mobile- first content. We look forward to Shawn (gymnastics) and Summer (swimming, host) along with Canadian Olympian ( ) providing insider commentary on Yahoo's global stage. " Yahoo's experts will create unique content for Yahoo's global audience leading into the and throughout the. Content from Yahoo's talent will include video originals such as Instant Reactions, Power Rankings, Yahoo Sports Rio 101 and the Yahoo Sports , while Yahoo's award-winning writers like , , and will create in-depth features to tell the untold stories of Olympians and how medals were won or lost. Former Canadian national team and pro soccer goalkeeper will bring expert analysis to Yahoo Canada and host "Bring Your Eh Game" podcasts throughout the games. Finally, Yahoo's and based production teams will create three daily shows in Spanish and English, as well as documentary-style video content capturing the lively and colorful environment on the ground at the Games. Yahoo Summer Games coverage can be found across platforms from its custom destination page featuring medal counts and on the app. will also translate its coverage into a variety of languages to reach its over one billion unique users worldwide. Yahoo's editorial staff will work around the clock to make sure fans across the globe won't miss any piece of the action or unique story whether they're cheering for the , , , , , etc. is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).
Yahoo Announces Board Changes and Agreement With Starboard investor.yahoo.net 2016-07-30 23:17 investor.yahoo.net
4 Yahoo to Participate at the J. P. Morgan Global Technology, Media & Telecom Conference (1.00/3) --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) CFO will participate in a question-and-answer session at the J. P. Morgan Global in. The session is scheduled to begin on , at / . A live webcast of the session will be available on the Investor Relations website at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/events.cfm? CalendarID=5. is a guide to digital information discovery, focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining users through its search, communications, and digital content products. By creating highly personalized experiences, helps users discover the information that matters most to them around the world -- on mobile or desktop. connects advertisers with target audiences through a streamlined advertising technology stack that combines the power of data, content, and technology. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com). and Yahoo Finance are the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Yahoo Announces Board Changes and Agreement With Starboard investor.yahoo.net 2016-07-30 23:17 investor.yahoo.net
5 Hinkley Point: What is it and why is it important? (0.02/3) Plans to build the UK's first new nuclear plant in decades, Hinkley Point in Somerset, received an unexpected setback when the government said it wanted to delay its final decision on the project. French utility EDF, which is financing most of the £18bn project, approved the investment required at a board meeting on Thursday evening. That was taken as a signal that construction would get underway and contracts were due to be signed on Friday. But late on Thursday the UK Energy Secretary, Greg Clark, said the government needed to review the project before making a decision in "early autumn". The proposed plant is known as Hinkley Point C and would be built next to two existing facilities, Hinkley Point A and B. But how did the project get to this point and what is at stake here? What are the arguments for Hinkley Point C? Companies and governments want Hinkley Point C to be built. For the UK, it will deliver 7% of our electricity when most other nuclear power stations will have closed down. The low-carbon electricity will help towards our climate goals. The huge project will provide an economic stimulus. And the funding arrangements mean the cost will not end up on the government's books. The French want it built because it furthers their international nuclear ambitions. Despite setbacks in projects in Finland and Flamanville in northern France, Hinkley provides a showcase to export their reactor technology around the world. The Chinese, via the CGN group, have committed to one-third of the £18bn cost, in order to get a foothold in Western Europe. The Hinkley deal also involves the Chinese taking a stake in a new project at Sizewell and the possibility of building their own reactors at Bradwell in Essex. How big is the project and what will it cost? Hinkley Point C will be the biggest construction site in Europe, according to EDF. The construction will provide 25,000 jobs. At its peak, 5,600 people will work on site. The finished power plant will employ 900 people. The upfront cost for EDF and its partner over the coming years will be £18bn. But in return, EDF will receive a guaranteed price for Hinkley's electricity for 35 years. A complex subsidy arrangement will see consumers pay billions. EDF's expected return on its investment is expected to be between 9% and 10%. What will it mean for consumers? The government insists that consumers will pay about £10 a year for Hinkley Point C. Despite requests, it has not provided any analysis to justify that figure. EDF's contract with the government guarantees the firm a "strike price" of £92.5 per MWH for the electricity that HPC generates. If the wholesale price of power is lower than this, consumers make up the difference. But the government now expects future wholesale electricity prices to be lower than it forecast when it agreed the strike price in 2013. The National Audit Office says that as a result, the expected top-up payment by consumers has increased from £6.1bn to £29.7bn. Why is the UK keen on new nuclear? Ever since Tony Blair committed the UK to new nuclear in 2006, successive governments have argued that nuclear power is necessary as part of our generation mix. Having new nuclear - it is argued - makes the UK less reliant on imported energy. Nuclear also delivers base load electricity - that is, the amount of power that is needed to satisfy minimum demand - because it is always available. That's important as more intermittent renewables - such as wind and solar power - come on to the grid. Who is involved in the project? French energy giant EDF is leading the project. It's 85%-owned by the French state. French nuclear firm Areva, which is also majority state-owned, is supplying the EPR reactor technology that will be used at Hinkley Point C. But EDF is now in effect buying the reactor from itself. Following years of losses, Areva's reactor unit is being merged with EDF as part of a rescue plan orchestrated by the French government. China's CGN has a 33.5% stake in Hinkley Point C and will have to fund a third of the £18bn cost. But 60% of the construction value will flow to UK firms. Why has it taken so long? EDF's UK boss originally said that he expected Britons to cook their Chistmas turkeys with power from Hinkley Point C by 2017. But the project has been hit by a series of setbacks and delays. Concerns have grown over Areva's EPR reactor, the type to be used at Hinkley. It's technically complex and has proved difficult to construct: EDF's Flamanville project in Northern France is three times over budget and years behind schedule. As the cost of Hinkley escalated, EDF had to find a partner to share the financial burden. Falling power prices then hit EDF's revenues. Its finances were further shaken by mounting liabilities, due to the roll-out of smart meters and the upgrading of France's nuclear power capability. The deepening financial crisis led EDF's finance chief, Thomas Piquemal, to resign earlier this year. Opposition from French trade unions, which want Hinkley Point C delayed, also forced the company to conduct a lengthy consultation with its works council to avoid a legal challenge. But earlier this week, shareholders agreed a French government-backed refinancing plan that has paved the way for this final investment decision. With the UK government's decision to look at the small print before giving final approval, the timetable has been thrown up into the air once again.
May had objections to Hinkley Point, says Cable bbc.co.uk 2016-07-30 23:03 By John www.bbc.co.uk
6 Yahoo to Live Stream Video of Second Quarter 2016 Earnings on Yahoo Finance on July 18, 2016 (0.01/3) --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) will discuss the Company's financial results for the second quarter ended via live stream video. WHERE: The live stream will be broadcast from Yahoo's studio and will be available exclusively on Yahoo Finance at http://finance.yahoo.com/. The video will be archived after the event at https://investor.yahoo.net and will be available for 90 days following the broadcast. Yahoo is a guide to digital information discovery, focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining users through its search, communications, and digital content products. By creating highly personalized experiences, Yahoo helps users discover the information that matters most to them around the world -- on mobile or desktop. Yahoo connects advertisers with target audiences through a streamlined advertising technology stack that combines the power of Yahoo's data, content, and technology. Yahoo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, , and has offices located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com). and Yahoo Finance are the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Yahoo Reports Second Quarter 2016 Results investor.yahoo.net 2016-07-30 23:17 investor.yahoo.net
7 Russia misses out while drug users take their place in Rio — RT Sport In addition to International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decision to ban entire Russian track and field team from Rio Olympics (with only one exclusion – the long-jumper Darya Klishina, who lives and trains in USA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated that Russian athletes with any doping history will not be allowed to compete in Rio, even if they have served a penalty. Here's a look at some of the drug-tainted athletes from other countries, who meanwhile will be able to take their place in Rio: Tyson Gay The American sprinter tested positive for a banned substance in May 2013. Gay admitted doping, but blamed it on an unspecified third party. He was stripped of his silver medal from the London 2012 Games and banned until June 2014, but is chasing Olympic glory this summer. Justin Gatlin The 2004 Athens gold medalist has twice served bans after testing positive for a banned substance. In 2001 he was suspended for two years, later reduced to one year on appeal, while in 2006, he incurred a four-year ban. Gatlin returned to the track in 2010, and in June 2012 recorded a time of 9.80s - the fastest-ever time for a man over the age of 30. Marin Cilic The Croatian tennis star was banned in 2013 after traces of Nikethamide were found in a urine test. Cilic argued someone from his team bought Coramine glucose tablets at a pharmacy and as a result an independent tribunal found that he did not intend to enhance his performance. The suspension ran until February 2014 and he returned to the game to claim the US Open title the same year. Yelyzaveta Bryzgina The Ukrainian sprinter served a two-year doping ban for steroid abuse from 2013 to 2015, but has since returned to action and will compete in Rio. Sun Yang In May 2014 Yang tested positive for the banned stimulant Trimetazidine and was banned for just three months by the Chinese Swimming Association. He will defend his 400m and 1500m freestyle titles in Rio. Michael Phelps The legendary American swimmer was photographed smoking marijuana in 2009 and subsequently banned for three months. He came out of retirement in 2014 and has since qualified to compete in Rio. Yohan Blake The Jamaican sprinter was once touted as the biggest threat to Usain Bolt, but a positive test ahead of the 2009 World Championships halted his progress. He served a three-month ban and will compete in Rio, but is unlikely to threaten the big guns in Brazil.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
8 'The days of apartheid are gone' – Pitso Mosimane Downs beat Zamalek 1-0 at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Wednesday night to confirm themselves winners of the 2016 Caf Champions League’s Group B and reach the semifinals. This follows Orlando Pirates having reached the finals of the 2013 Champions League and 2015 Caf Confederation Cup in an unprecedented period of success for South African clubs in continental football. Pirates’ exploits have ensured South Africa enough points to move up to sixth on the Caf rankings that determine how many teams a country can enter in continental club competitions. Sundowns have contributed three more points reaching these semis. Mosimane‚ though‚ said it is unfair for some SA clubs to have to carry the baton while others – notably Bidvest Wits in the past two seasons‚ and Ajax Cape Town last season – effectively throw matches to avoid the cost and demand of playing in Africa. “All I know is that Orlando Pirates have done South Africa a favour by reaching continental semifinals and going further‚” Mosimane said. “And I’m happy that we are also now contributing and giving back‚ and making sure that we have two places for the Champions League and two for the Confederation Cup. “But it’s not nice. We work so hard that South African teams have places in these competitions and then some people don’t take it seriously. They say‚ ‘We don’t care about this’. “Sometimes you have clubs who really want to take these competitions seriously‚ like Platinum Stars. They really want it. They are so happy to be part of it. “And it’s not only good for us [the clubs]‚ it’s good for Bafana and the country. “It’s beautiful. We need to play in this space. We’ve been away from this space for too long. So it’s good when the real people look at it properly and take it seriously. “Because sometimes teams take 11 players with two substitutes.” Mosimane hit out at clubs’ complaints of the expense of playing in continental competition. “I think they look more at the financial side‚ to say‚ ‘Why should we spend money to go there’. But the SA teams who play in the Champions League are well sponsored. They really are‚” the former Bafana Bafana coach said. “There is no need. Our teams are well sponsored. We’ve got millions in sponsorship to be able to go there. “I mean‚ Zesco United – Zesco‚ we loaned them players at Sundowns. And they don’t even pay loan fees. But they keep going in Africa. How do they go? “I mean how much is a player at Zesco earning? Even Asec? But they keep going. “So it’s the mentality‚ it’s the culture. I don’t know – maybe we should blame apartheid for having been out of the continent for so long. But the days of apartheid are gone – let’s be honest.” Zambia’s Zesco United are in second place in Group A of this year’s Champions League‚ and Ivory Coast club Asec Abidjan in third. Sundowns have won all three matches in Group B‚ having also beating Nigerians Enyimba 2-1 at home and Zamalek by the same scoreline in Cairo. They won a fourth against ES Setif (2-0)‚ who were subsequently expelled for fan violence in the match in Algeria‚ reducing the group to three teams. Downs‚ on an unassailable nine points‚ will win Group B‚ ensuring a crucial home second leg match in the semifinal. - TMG Digital
2016-07-31 00:01 Marc Strydom www.timeslive.co.za
9 Russia rejects US criticism of weapons deployment to Crimea — RT Russian politics “ In reality, Russia has the right to base the movement of military forces and weapons on its territory on its own independent decisions ,” the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Security and Disarmament Mikhail Ulyanov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti on Friday. READ MORE: Russia to boost military presence in Crimea, response to NATO E. Europe expansion Ulyanov added that Russia had always chosen more correct formulas when it made public statements about the structure and placement of US military forces. “ We do not attempt to tell Washington which armed forces and in which numbers they can send to any of their states. The fact that they allow themselves to release such recommendation regarding us can be perceived as not quite politically correct, to say the least ,” he noted. Ulyanov also said that Russia had to take into consideration the fact that NATO members from outside the Black Sea region were sending their Navy ships to the Black Sea. This situation does not add up to mutual security and has to be included in the Russian military planning, he noted. READ MORE: Russia has right to place nuclear arms on its soil, including Crimea - Foreign Ministry The official told reporters that Russia had not received any proposals concerning the extension of the New START agreement, but if such proposals were to arrive they would be studied in accordance with all norms of international relations. In June last year, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement claiming that Russia retained the right to deploy its nuclear weapons anywhere on its national territory, including on the Crimean Peninsula. Back then, the statement came as a reply to allegations that the deployment of Russian arms in Crimea would be a violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, made by pro-US Ukrainian politicians.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
10 DA asks SCA to deny petitions from ‘Hlaudi and his band of protectors’ The party said it will pen an affidavit asking the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to deny petitions for leave to appeal the Western Cape High Court’s setting aside of the appointment Motsoeneng as South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief operating officer. Theses petitions were expected from Motsoeneng‚ the SABC board and Communications Minister Faith Muthambi following Judge Dennis Davis’ dismissal earlier this year of their application for leave to appeal his judgment that found Motsoeneng’s appointment from acting to permanent COO was unlawful and irrational. “Mr Motsoeneng‚ Minister Muthambi and the SABC have been unsuccessful in almost all courts in which he has sought to keep his job‚” said the DA’s James Selfe. “Indeed the Western Cape High Court already found that the three government respondents ignored the remedial action ordered by the public protector‚ which the SCA slated is ‘irrational and unlawful’‚” he added. “To petition the SCA again on this matter is in itself irrational and a desperate attempt by the SABC and Minister Muthambi to protect a COO who has all but driven the public broadcaster into the ground.” Selfe also raised Monday’s decision by the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s (Icasa) Complaints and Compliance Committee to order the SABC to immediately withdraw the decision not to cover violent protests‚ which was attributed to Motsoeneng. “This is the latest independent body that has slated Mr Motsoeneng in his crusade to turn the SABC into his own personal fiefdom with his latest attempts to chill free speech by censoring any and all protest footage under the guise of cultivating ‘national unity’‚” he said. Motsoeneng has already indicated that the SABC will take the Icasa ruling on review. Selfe said of his party’s SCA affidavit that “while going to the courts is not the most desirable course of action‚ other remedies have proved unsuccessful”. He added that his party was “optimistic that the court will decline any petitions that will result in Mr Motsoeneng keeping his job”.
2016-07-31 00:01 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za
11 BBC, other MSM guilty of ‘clear & consistent bias’ against Corbyn, study finds — RT UK New research by the Media Reform Coalition and Birkbeck University of London shows there has been a “clear and consistent bias” both online and on television against Corbyn since the coup against his leadership was launched after the EU referendum. Similar conclusions were drawn earlier in July by a similar London School of Economics (LSE) study. Birkbeck academics studied news reports published in the wake of the June 23 vote, when a series of shadow cabinet members resigned en masse in the hope of forcing Corbyn to stand down. Outlets, including the BBC, were found to have given Corbyn opponents double the airtime afforded to Corbynistas. The report found “a marked and persistent imbalance in favour of sources critical of Jeremy Corbyn, the issues that they sought to highlight, and the arguments they advanced.” It also found a “strong tendency within the main BBC evening news bulletins for reporters to use pejorative language when describing Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters, including words like ‘hostile’ and ‘hard core.’” Media critic Roy Greens said the findings should force reporters and editors to face “the reality of their bias.” Compiled by Dr. Justin Schlosberg, the study compared news pieces about Corbyn’s leadership struggle as seen through the lens of the BBC, ITV, the Daily Mail, the Huffington Post, IBTimes, the Mirror, the Independent, the Guardian and the Telegraph. And as far as opinion pieces were concerned both the Telegraph and the Daily Mail failed to publish any article supportive of the leader of the opposition. The outlet most sympathetic with Corbyn was the Huffington Post, which divided its coverage between 50 percent pro-Corbyn comment and 50 percent critical or unclear. “Amidst the social fracturing and polarisation of democratic life post-Brexit, the need for a more plural and inclusive mainstream news media has never been more urgent,” Schlosberg said. “We hope that broadcasters and editors will respond positively to our call to consider the impact of imbalanced reporting on the democratic process.” Earlier research by LSE echoed Schlosberg’s conclusions, finding that three quarters of newspaper reporting on Corbyn in his first months as leader either ignored or “distorted his views.” “Allowing an important and legitimate political actor, i.e. the leader of the main opposition party, to develop their own narrative and have a voice in the public space is paramount in a democracy,” LSE’s Dr. Bart Cammaerts said.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
12 Majority of Germans don’t believe Merkel will handle refugee crisis The findings came in a recent poll, which was carried out by the YouGov market research firm between July 26 and July 29 among 1017 German citizens, according to the German media, which saw the results of the survey. The question put to the public was: “What is your attitude to Merkel’s statement ‘We can do it’ which she said several times in relation to the high number of refugees and the need to accept them in Germany?” READ MORE: 'Germany should send back foreigners to save lives, stop appeasing Islamists' – Bavarian MP to RT At least 66 percent of the respondents said that they do not agree with the chancellor’s policy towards refugees, while some 27 percent support Merkel, the survey said. According to YouGov these are the worst results since August 31, 2015, when 51 percent disapproved of the Chancellor’s policy. Merkel has been under fire after Tuesday’s speech when she said she will still stick to an open door policy for refugees. She added that Germany is still “safe,” despite the recent deadly attacks, most of which were committed by migrants. READ MORE: ‘She declared war on own people’: Merkel vows to stick to open door policy, faces online uproar The chancellor made it clear there will be no U-turn in the state’s policies regarding migrants. Dealing with the flood of refugees is a “historic task” Merkel said, while she reiterated that Germany “will make it.” She also stressed that “lot’s has already been done,” echoing arguments she had made in previous speeches. She defended her welcoming policy towards refugees on Thursday, saying that Germany “will give asylum to those who are politically persecuted and we will give protection to those who flee war and expulsion according to the Geneva Refugee Convention.” Germans quickly hit back at Merkel’s “we can make it” line by posting statements such as “unfortunately we cannot ask the victims of the recent attacks whether they see it exactly the same way. " On Friday the head of the Green Party Cem Ozdemir said that he feels “ashamed” due to “the failure of the world community, of Europe and above all of Germany" to resolve the refugee crisis. Ozdemir believes bringing peace to war zones is crucial in this respect. He mentioned Aleppo, where civilians have been trapped. “This is an unimaginable misery - and the world barely takes any notice. Angela Merkel is completely ignoring this and other humanitarian catastrophes,” he told the Funk Media Group, as cited by the Local. Frauke Petry, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which strongly rejects the refugee inflow into Germany, also criticized Merkel’s policy towards migrants. “…Stop repeating ‘we’ll manage it’ and finally admit your mistake,” she said. READ MORE: Rising fear of terrorism pushes Europeans to rethink approach to right-wing parties Germany has been recently on high alert following five deadly assaults in recent weeks. Three were committed by asylum seekers, and two of them are being investigated for links to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISSI/ISIL).
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
13 Komphela prepared to sacrifice job to do what's right for Kaizer Chiefs From the beginning of Komphela’s long-awaited first stint at a big club – the biggest of them all in South African football – the former Bafana Bafana captain has been on the edge and in a difficult position. He had a tough act to follow in one-time Bafana mentor Stuart Baxter‚ whom Komphela assisted in the national technical team from 2004 to 2005 and who had won league and cup doubles with Chiefs in 2013 and 2015. Baxter left for a reason – he felt the club would not rebuild an ageing squad to his satisfaction to continue winning with it. Komphela‚ finally given a chance at a “big three” team‚ stepped into that environment. After finishing fifth in the PSL in a trophy-less 2015-16‚ the coach‚ who has at times worked wonders at small clubs such as Free State Stars and Maritzburg United‚ is still negotiating a cliff-edge. He continues to show passion and honesty‚ explaining how he will attempt to create a winning combination out of new signings‚ who have promise but still have not quite matched the headline acquisitions of heavyweight rivals Mamelodi Sundowns‚ Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits. Komphela was asked if signings like including Sundowns right-back Ramahlwe Mphahlele‚ SuperSport United left-back Suibusiso Khumalo and the Chicken Inn pair of Mitchell Katsvairo and Edmore Chirambadare can suit his needs more than a squad he mostly inherited last season. “Not my needs per se. Not my style of play per se. It’s looking at how Chiefs needs to play‚” the coach replied. “It is only fair to say that a Chiefs team has to take the initiative. A Chiefs team has to be proactive. A Chiefs team cannot react. “Now when I talk about ‘you are not proactive’‚ I mean you are too defensive. You are saying: ‘I’m giving you the initiative‚ opponent‚ I don’t care about the ball‚ I will sit without the ball and then come out on the counterattack.’ “Chiefs cannot afford that. For Chiefs‚ you have to take the initiative. “But to dominate you have to get the ball. And to do that‚ your game model in defence must be right. Even in your attack‚ as you start your attack‚ you already prepare yourselves that if we lose the ball we’re going to be like this. “Those things take time to implement. And it might not come out immediately. It might take three months‚ four months‚ a year. And in that year I might lose my job. “But at least do what is right. The biggest fear with human beings is to be scared to lose your job. “But listen‚ the joy of people is much more important than my losing my job. “Nelson Mandela sacrificed his life for people to be at peace. Sacrifice your job for people to be at joy – that’s how I look at it.” Komphela admitted Chiefs might have not quite matched such headline signings as Sibusiso Vilakazi to Sundowns‚ Cuthbert Malajila and Mogakolodi Ngele in the other direction to Wits‚ and Pirates’ acquisitions of Abbubaker Mobara and Riyaad Norodien from Ajax Cape Town. “It’s a business model. I don’t think they [Chiefs’ rivals] have quite the same overall infrastructure we do. Our development is quite strong‚” Komphela said. “And with the how football is currently played‚ with the speed that it is played at‚ the only fast people are the young ones. “So it’s just common that you have to tilt your scales toward youth so that you have the energy. “And I don’t think that we are at a disadvantage. We are OK. “Our rivals are dealing with their issues in their own way. We are OK with how we are dealing with things. “We are giving an opportunity to our kids here. Don’t be scared to play with youngsters – they will give you what you want.” Chiefs have promoted last season’s top-scorer from the Diski Challenge reserve league‚ Emmanuel “Adebayor” Letlotlo‚ to their first team‚ and 19- year-old centreback Siyabonga Ngezana from the youth. They have signed 19-year-old striker Ryan Moon from Maritzburg.
2016-07-31 00:01 Marc Strydom www.timeslive.co.za
14 90yo woman killed at nursing home in S. Carolina’s first fatal alligator attack — RT America The death of Bonnie Walker, 90, was accidental and caused by “multiple sharp and blunt force injuries,” the Charleston County Coroner’s Office ruled. “The injures are consistent with those which could be inflicted by an alligator and our investigation has confirmed that an alligator was involved in the decedent’s death,” Coroner Rae Wooten said. Officials from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced they conducted a necropsy on the alligator and confirmed the creature was involved in Walker’s death, according the Post and Courier . In the early hours of Wednesday, the woman was reported missing from the Brookdale Senior Living Center. Her body was recovered three hours later in a retention pond behind the site. Robert McCullough, spokesperson for DNR, said the death was the first time an incident related to an alligator in the state had turned fatal. “It’s the first one as far as we’ve been keeping records,” McCullough said. Officials believe Walker slipped and fell down an embankment before landing in the water, which attracted the attention of the alligator. Meanwhile Florida has had 23 fatal alligator attacks in the last 68 years, the Courier reports, including the recent death of a 2-year-old boy outside Disney World in June. READ MO RE: Gator attacks 2yo boy & drags him into water near Disney’s Orlando resort
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
15 The reason Black Coffee was released from Spring Fiesta Fans were looking forward to seeing the globe-trotting DJ in action but were disappointed to learn that he has been removed from the event's line-up. The festival's organisers released a joint statement with Black Coffee on Thursday announcing the decision, saying that they had chosen to release him from the line-up in order for him to chase an "unforeseen prestigious" career opportunity. The festival said that after discussions with the DJ's camp, "it was disclosed that an unforeseen prestigious and vitally pivotal career opportunity had been presented to Black Coffee. One which unfortunately made it impossible for Black Coffee to honour his performance commitment to Spring Fiesta on Saturday the 1st of October. " Organisers admit that at first they though that the request was a bit selfish but later realised that Black Coffee now belongs to the whole world. "Spring Fiesta fully supports and has encouraged Black Coffee to accept and embrace this unique opportunity which we believe will be seminal in further advancing and cementing his legacy on the global stage. To this end, we have made the decision to release Black Coffee from his scheduled performance at Spring Fiesta 2016," Festival Director Ricardo da Costa said in the statement. There has been no word yet on what the opportunity is but Black Coffee has thanked fans for understanding and has hinted at a return to the festival in 2017. "I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to return to Spring Fiesta in 2017 to once again perform for all of my incredible South African fans," he added. But wipe your tears, Black Coffee fans, your hero will still be a part of the festival's "Road To Spring Fiesta" campaign in the lead up to the main event.
2016-07-31 00:01 TMG Entertainment www.timeslive.co.za
16 DA irked by poor Madibeng’s offer to pay back the money for Zuma He's been around since he was a teen but jumped to stardom in 2006's High School Musical. Since then, Zac Efron has become a household name. Not only for his dashing good looks but also because he is a really talented actor.
2016-07-31 00:01 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za
17 ‘The way Britain shares its wealth led to Brexit’ — RT UK In an opinion piece for the Guardian newspaper on Friday, Hawking said it would be “ foolish to ignore the role that wealth does and doesn’t play in our society ” in the aftermath of the June 23 referendum. The professor, who suffers with motor neuron disease, said although he was stung by the ‘ Leave ’ vote: “ If I’ve learned one lesson in my life it is to make the best of the hand you are dealt. ” “ Now we must learn to live outside the EU, but in order to manage that successfully we need to understand why British people made the choice that they did. I believe that wealth, the way we understand it and the way we share it, played a crucial role in their decision. ” He said wealth has an important role in academic terms, as the EU provided grants for science and for him personally in terms of medical care for his severe disability. New enterprises and “ cathedral projects ” are now being invested in and more must follow, said Hawking. He described these as “ the modern equivalent of the grand church buildings, constructed as part of humanity’s attempt to bridge heaven and Earth. ” “ These ideas are started by one generation with the hope a future generation will take up these challenges. ” These could help address a number of “global and serious” issues like “ climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans. ” Hawking warned that failing to deal with these issues would hand a victory to “ the forces that contributed to Brexit, the envy and isolationism not just in the UK but around the world that spring from not sharing. ” “ If we do this, then there is no limit to what humans can achieve together. ”
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
18 US military giving back 17% of occupied Okinawa land to Japanese — RT News Several murders and a drunken joyride that made headlines have only added to the growing feeling of discontent amongst the locals about the US’ regional presence. The military bases have long been blamed for noise and air pollution, and many locals also see them as an uneasy legacy of post- WWII American occupation. The handover is the biggest such move since 1972, when the formal occupation by US forces ended. It comes amid a rise in anti-American sentiment following a series of cases involving the US military, particularly the murder of a young Japanese woman by a civilian contractor. The area that is being returned is 4,000 sq. hectares (or 40 sq. km) and is part of a jungle training camp, a statement read. READ MORE: Tokyo to review ‘one-sided’ privileged status of Americans working at US bases in Japan "We are respectful of the feelings of Okinawans that our footprint must be reduced,” Lt. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, said according to Reuters. His remarks come a month after Okinawans held one of their biggest demonstrations against the US presence in decades, with over 50,000 (65,000, by some accounts) showing up holding banners reading “anger over the limit,” following the murder of a young woman by an ex-Marine. Whilst the Japanese public was observing a 30-day mourning period for the young Japanese woman who was murdered, an American servicewoman went on a drunken joyride, which further inflamed tensions. The highly publicized cases led to varying degrees of control exercised over American troops – the latest being a blanket ban on all drinking on the island and for most servicemen and women to be confined to base. Tokyo is also in the midst of reviewing the privileges enjoyed by Americans living on Okinawa, in line with a 1960 agreement. As things stand, Japanese prosecutors do not have the power to indict members of the US military or its “civilian component” if they are alleged to have committed a crime while they were on duty, giving US authorities carte-blanche to take jurisdiction over the case. The so-called SOFA agreement is under review now. READ MORE: US tested biological weapons in Japan’s Okinawa in the 60s – report The handover of part of the territory back to the Japanese was agreed in 1996, but was not completed, as locals protested construction of a series of helipads – a precondition for the land to be transferred. The military base is of strategic importance to the Americans and the Japanese, who depend on Washington’s 30,000 military personnel stationed on Okinawa to guard them from China, which they perceive as a military threat. Around 50,000 US nationals live at the base, which occupy close to one-fifth of the total landmass of the island. 2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
19 Swedish ‘bikini cop’ tackles mobile phone thief while sunbathing (PHOTO) — RT Viral Off-duty officer Mikaela Kellner was catching some rays in a Stockholm waterside public park on Wednesday, when she leapt into action to catch a pickpocket while wearing only a bikini. A picture of Kellner pinning down the thief in her ‘civvies’ has since gone viral after she posted it to Instagram. Captioning the incredible snap “Beware of pickpockets,” Kellner explained how the robber had initially approached her and some friends, offering to sell them a newspaper for homeless people. On placing the newspapers down in front the group, according to Kellner the man then tried to snatch one of their smartphones. What happened next could not have been expected as Kellner sprinted 15 meters through the park to tackle the man. “I did not hesitate. Had I been naked, I would have also intervened. It was a little funny that I grabbed him in a bikini,” she told Aftonbladet. The ‘bikini arrest’ image has since garnered thousands of likes on social media. “I am very happy that I posted the picture. The aim was to draw attention to how easy it is to be robbed,” she added.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
20 Transfer-listed Xulu‚ Manqele‚ Mthembu set for Chiefs first team return Chiefs announced a list of 20 players whose contracts would not be renewed‚ would be released‚ or put on transfer at the end of last season’s trophyless campaign where Amakhosi finished in fifth place. The three transfer-listed players – strikers Edward Manqele and Siphelele Mthembu‚ and defender Siyanda Xulu – have remained training with the squad. Motaung said being put on transfer can at times act as a metaphorical kick up the rear end for a player. “We haven’t received any offers for them. But obviously they’re part of the squad‚ like we said. And they’re part of the team‚” said Motaung. “And I think also sometimes putting players on transfer can shake them up a bit. Because they understood what the reason was for putting them on transfer. “It was for them to get an opportunity to play. But I think with the changes that have been made – and now they’ve got another lifeline – their attitude has been positive so far in camp. “And they are showing positive signs as well‚ with the change of attitudes and the energy that they have brought in. So I think they still have a lifeline to prove themselves. “For us it’s to get these guys to play football. It’s not about personal issues or anything. It’s more about them coming into Chiefs‚ wearing that jersey and competing. “And if we feel that the player is not giving us that much obviously we’ll put them on transfer just because we need them to go out there and compete as well‚ or get another opportunity.” All three players are available‚ and have been part of the voting‚ for Saturday’s preseason Carling Black Label Cup‚ where Chiefs meet Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium. - TMG Digital
2016-07-31 00:01 Marc Strydom www.timeslive.co.za
21 Skyfall: Humvees airdropped from 5,000 feet by C-17 (VIDEO) — RT Viral The airdrop was executed in late May during the Crescent Reach annual exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Humvees were parachuted from 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) by airmen of the 16th Airlift Squadron, normally based at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. The exercise apparently went better than a Humvee airdrop at Hohenfels military base in Germany in the same month, in which three badly-fastened armored vehicles dropped from a C-130 Hercules spectacularly crashed to the ground. WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
22 Russia will seek Ukraine foreign assets freeze if $3bn debt not repaid — RT Business Earlier this week, Ukraine’s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danilyuk said the country didn’t intend to repay the $3 billion debt to Russia, calling it “a political credit”. The Kremlin insists the debt is sovereign. READ MORE: Kiev imposes indefinite freeze on foreign debt repayment Under international law freezing the assets of a debtor is a common measure. “Freezing the assets means the money stops working, in this case, it may become a measure of pressure,” said lawyer Osip Visotsky as quoted by Izvestia. “If Russia gets down and dirty on the issue, the Ukrainian authorities will have to react. Ukraine shouldn’t hope the problem will simply go away,” Russian State Duma Deputy Leonid Slutsky told Izvestia. He stressed that Ukraine had better repay its sovereign debt. Earlier this year, Russia filed a lawsuit against Ukraine in the High Court in London to recover the loan Kiev failed to pay back in December. READ MORE: Moscow sues Kiev in London over $3bn debt In May, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko approved a bill extending the moratorium on paying off the country’s external debt, including the $3 billion Eurobond owed to Russia. Ukraine’s debt to Moscow, recognized by the IMF as official and sovereign, is the result of the agreement signed in 2013 between President Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Russia agreed to lend Ukraine a $15 billion loan via the Ukrainian Eurobonds purchase. The first tranche of $3 billion was provided by Russia and was to be repaid by December 20, 2015. READ MORE: IMF recognizes Ukraine’s contested $3bn debt to Russia as sovereign Moscow had already suggested a debt-relief plan under which Ukraine could repay its arrears in three installments of $1 billion over the next three years. Russia wanted guarantees from the US, the EU or the International Monetary Fund on future payments of the Ukrainian sovereign debt. The deal, however, fell through, as Ukraine’s Western backers were unwilling to provide the guarantees.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
23 Alcohol crackdown at UK airports after boozy Brits wreak havoc — RT UK Lord Ahmad has announced he will look into the way alcohol is sold in airports to ensure business travellers and families going on holiday feel “safe and secure.” The peer will examine the timings during which alcohol is sold in airports and ways to prevent drunken passengers boarding planes. Ahmad denied he wants to “ kill merriment altogether ,” but insisted passengers need to be “ responsible ” when flying. “ If you’re a young family travelling on a plane you want to go from point A to B, you don’t want to be disrupted, ” he said. “ I don’t think we want to kill merriment altogether, but I think it’s important that passengers who board planes are also responsible and have a responsibility to other passengers, and that certainly should be the factor which we bear in mind. “ In terms of specific regulations of timings of outlets (which sell alcohol) and how they operate, clearly I want to have a look at that .” Simon Calder, travel editor of the Independent, said the government’s review will lead to more control over how alcohol is sold at airports. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said ministers may also consider breathalyzing passengers who are thought to be intoxicated. Last month a British easyJet passenger was arrested after allegedly downing a bottle of vodka before abusing passengers and crew on the Corfu-bound flight. The pilot said: “ We have had a nightmare. The man threatened our cabin crew, me and passengers, and then threatened to kill his girlfriend and children who were on the flight with him.”
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
24 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 “Thoko Didiza 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 Mmusi Maimane 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 Julius Malema‚ 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 Mangosuthu Buthelezi “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.
2016-07-31 00:01 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za
25 RT visits Erdogan’s self-exiled arch-nemesis Fethullah Gulen at his US estate — RT News Reporter Caleb Maupin and an RT America crew were invited to visit Gulen at his estate in rural Pennsylvania. Although the renowned Turkish cleric did not wish to speak to the press, he made it clear that he hasn’t left his highly secured American home, despite Ankara’s suggestions he might be on the run. Immediately following the failed coup attempt on the night of July 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed Gulen and his supporters for attempting to seize power in Turkey. Erdogan has demanded the cleric’s arrest and extradition from the US, but Washington has repeatedly responded by saying it needs clear evidence of a link between Gulen and the attempted coup before it will consider extraditing him. READ MORE: Turkey-US ties will suffer unless Gulen extradited, foreign minister says Turkish officials have previously suggested that the moderate Islamic preacher might have already left North America and could be on the run, mentioning Australia, Mexico and South Africa as possible refuges. “ We know that he could have left for a number of other countries ,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk earlier this week, and Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozda has suggested to Haberturk TV that Gulen could have fled the US. Born in 1941, Fethullah Gulen had become a popular preacher in Turkey before a military coup in the 1980s. Afterwards, he resigned his post as cleric and founded the Hizmet movement, which is considered by its supporters to be a modern face of Islam. As then-president-to-be Erdogan rose in Turkish politics, Gulen and his movement firmly supported the future PM who would later become the state’s leader. Gulen left his native country for the US in 1999 and has not returned. His supporters in Turkey were accused of recording and leaking incriminating conversations involving the president, his relatives, and other top officials in 2013 and 2014. Gulen was then accused of orchestrating a coup. He now faces a potential life sentence in Turkey.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
26 Russia may supply components for Iranian satellites — RT Business “Iran shows a great interest in the experience of the Russian space program, including in the area of communication... The Russian satellites’ constructors have a very good chance of getting orders and contracts for Iranian projects,” Nikiforov told Rossiya 24 news channel, adding that negotiations are underway. Vaezi is on an official visit and plans to meet Roscosmos officials, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov as well as Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak. Iranian Vice President Sorena Sattari has already said Tehran will buy satellite equipment and Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) airliners from Russia for $21 billion. Tehran is interested in using Russian rockets to launch satellites into orbit, he added. The Russian rocket and space corporation Energia is currently developing components for Egypt’s Egyptsat-A satellite. Energia designed and manufactured EgyptSat-2 which was successfully launched from the Baikonur space center in 2014. Last year, the subsidiary of the Russian Space Center and French satellite provider Eutelsat signed a long-term launch contract. In terms of the deal, several Proton-M carrier rocket launches with Eutelsat satellites will be carried out between 2016-2023 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The first launch is expected to carry the Eutelsat 9B satellite into orbit. The high- power broadcast satellite is designed to provide digital television and data services for Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. Over the past 15 years, Russian Proton rockets have launched 11 Eutelsat satellites into space.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
27 The stats favour the Lions in their Super Rugby semifinal‚ but… The Highlanders‚ defending champions‚ generally find a way to win even though the stats suggest they shouldn’t win as much as they do. Take their handling errors as an example. They have a competition high one error per six carries. That translates to turnover ball and that’s a part of the game the Lions thrive on. They are Super Rugby’s leaders in turnovers‚ making one for every 11 tackles. But somehow the Highlanders are able to overcome their mistakes better than most because they have the best defence in the competition. They scramble brilliantly and they have the most prolific kicking game in the tournament as well. Often their handling errors are not in critical defensive zones on the field because they tend to only start playing “running” rugby when they are on their opponents’ territory. Handling errors are one thing‚ but where they occur is even more critical. But the Lions are a much more confident team since their last meeting‚ which the South African pacesetters lost 34-15 in Dunedin against a Highlanders side that took every chance that came their way that weekend. Given the tough travel schedule the Highlanders have endured in the past month – Dunedin-Port Elizabeth-Buenos Aires-Dunedin-Canberra- Johannesburg – the Lions must be feeling confident of turning the screw in the final quarter of the match again‚ just like they did against the Crusaders last weekend. And just as they did in the quarterfinal the Lions will need to make a fast start‚ defend well when they don’t have the ball‚ handle the Highlanders’ kicking threat and don’t allow their pack to gain parity. Faf de Klerk vs Aaron Smith – The All Black is without doubt the world’s best halfback at the moment. Smith’s crisp service is peerless and his ability to read the game and take exactly the right option is what marks him as a great. De Klerk will have to be at his scrappy best‚ harassing Smith into poor decisions. The Lions pack can give their little scrumhalf an advantage here by dominating the tight loose. Jaco Kriel vs James Lentjes – Little is known about the Highlanders openside‚ but the fact that he has been selected to start suggests he has the ability to compete with Kriel in the battle on the ground. The Lions and Springbok flank is a master pilferer with 15 turnovers won this year. Kriel is also a prolific ball carrier with 134 carries this season and 15 of them have been converted to clean breaks. Ruan Combrinck vs Waisake Naholo – The two wings are unlikely to directly compete‚ but are gamebreakers and essential attacking weapons. Comparing their stats is tricky because Naholo has played fewer than half the minutes Combrinck has in 2016‚ yet still managed to score seven tries. Combrinck has touched down eight times‚ but it’s his work off the ball that creates chances for his teammates. Combrinck has made 28 clean breaks‚ just two fewer than tournament leader Johnny McNichol. Franco Mostert vs Tom Franklin – Mostert is a tireless ball-carrier for the Lions and vital to putting them on the front foot. It’s a role Franklin performs well for the Highlanders as well. Both are valuable sources of lineout ball but Mostert is that little bit more efficient in terms of steals. He’s nicked four off opponents this season compared to Franklin’s one.
2016-07-31 00:01 Craig Ray www.timeslive.co.za
28 Cech trusts Wenger to buy right players for Arsenal tilt Wenger has made three additions to his squad so far in the close season, bringing in midfielder Granit Xhaka, defender Rob Holding and striker Takuma Asano, and, according to media reports, is actively looking for another forward. "I think you need to buy players you need, you need to buy players that will improve the team and not to buy players just for buying. That's the philosophy of the club," Cech told British media. "I've been here since last season and you can see that every time we bring in a player, it's a player we need, and the manager believes he improves the team. "There is a core of the players who have been at Arsenal for years, and they know that is an advantage as well. People get to know each other, how to play together. " Leicester's Jamie Vardy has already spurned the advances of the north London club in favour of extending his stay at the King Power Stadium, while Olympique Lyonnais said they rejected a 29 million pound ($38.27 million) bid for Alexandre Lacazette. However, Per Mertesacker's injury, which will see the centre back miss several months, is likely to force Wenger to begin the search for another defender, with media reports touting Valencia's Shkodran Mustafi as a possible target. Arsenal begin their new campaign on August 14, when they host Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.
2016-07-31 00:01 REUTERS www.timeslive.co.za
29 Busted! Trump claimed to have spoken with Putin, now denies contact — RT America Trump, whom critics accuse among other things of being fascinated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday denied having any links to the Kremlin. “I have nothing to do with Putin. I have never spoken to him. I don’t know anything about him other than he will respect me,” Trump told a conference before attacking his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton, suggesting that Russia should look for her 30,000 missing emails. READ MORE: ‘Of course I’m being sarcastic’: MSM misses Trump’s joke on Russia & Hillary emails Trump’s denial of knowing Putin personally contradicts his own words, which he uttered in May 2014 at a National Press Club luncheon. He was asked about how he would negotiate with Putin and said he had done so during preparations for the Miss Universe 2013 pageant in Moscow. “I own the Miss Universe. I was in Russia, I was in Moscow recently. I spoke indirectly and directly with President Putin, who could not have been nicer. And we had a tremendous success. The show was live from Moscow,” he told the audience. One of the statements is obviously wrong. According to the Washington Post, Trump did schedule a face-to-face with Putin, but the meeting was canceled by the Russian president at the last minute. Putin reportedly sent a decorative lacquered box and a warm note to the US businessman. During the US presidential campaign, Trump and Putin have voiced approval towards each other on several occasions. Critics of the Republican nominee accuse him of dictatorial aspirations, which they claim he shares with the Russian leader. On the social media many people branded him a “Siberian Candidate” – a reference to the Richard Condon 1959 thriller novel ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, which features a Chinese-Soviet plot to use a brainwashed Korean War veteran from a prominent political family to stage a coup in America.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
30 20 Russian high-profile organizations attacked by spy malware in coordinated op – FSB — RT News “The IT assets of government offices, scientific and military organizations, defense companies and other parts of the nation’s crucial infrastructure were infected,” the FSB said in a statement as cited by the Russian media. The security agency said that all the cases are linked and appear to be part of a well-coordinated attack requiring considerable expertise. The coding of the malware and vectors of attack are similar to those used in previous cyber-offensive operations against targets in Russia and other nations, the report stated. “The advanced software was tailored for each target individually based on unique characteristic of the computer under attack,” the report said. The malware could be used to monitor internet traffic, take screenshots, secretly take recordings with an infected computer’s camera or microphone, log keyboard strokes and conduct other forms of surveillance, the FSB said. The agency did not specify which party it suspects to be behind the reported cyber espionage or whether it was sponsored by any foreign government. Kaspersky Lab, a Russian computer security company, said that it is investigating the activities of a “powerful cyber gang” that has targeted Russian organizations. “We need some time to confirm the data in our possession. After that we’ll be ready to share the results of our inquiry,” Kaspersky Lab’s press-service said. The report comes shortly after the US media accused Russia of hacking the DNC, claiming that the Kremlin wants to influence the outcome of the November presidential election. When asked about the allegations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he would not comment because he did not want to swear.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
31 Brazilian drug lord busted after turning prison cell into luxury suite — RT News The VIP suite belonged to Jarvis Chimenes Pavao, a convicted Brazilian drug lord, considered one of South America's most dangerous narcotics traffickers. He had been serving an eight-year sentence for money laundering since 2009 at the Tacumbu prison in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. Police discovered the luxurious cell on Tuesday night at almost the same time, as a bomb was uncovered inside the prison. It is believed that the drug baron wanted to create a diversion by detonating the device, in order to allow him to escape. Chimenes Pavao was due to be released in 2017, but it is alleged he feared being extradited back to Brazil where he would face extra charges, hence his desire to break out of jail. During his time behind bars, he certainly lived in luxury. The three-room cell had a bathroom, a kitchen and even a conference room. It also had air conditioning, stylishly tiled walls, luxurious furniture and a library. Chimenes Pavao also enjoyed his big DVD collection, which he liked to watch on big-screen plasma TV. The drug lord apparently loved watching films about other famous drug lords as the full collection of "Pablo Escobar” TV series was found in his cell. Escobar was a notorious Colombian drug lord and trafficker in 1990s. Known as "The King of Cocaine" , Escobar was considered the wealthiest criminal in history and one of the richest men in the world. Following the scandalous discovery, Chimenes Pavao was transferred to a cell in a police special operations unit. It’s not clear what conditions he is having to put up with there. His lawyer, Laura Acasuso was quick to tell reporters that high-ranking officials were aware of the privileges that the drug lord had access to. "Six or seven justice ministers and six or seven prison directors" took bribes from Chimenes Pavao, she said. The Justice Minister Carla Bacigalupo was subsequently removed from her post and her replacement, Ever Martinez, promised to destroy the cell. "We're going to demolish Chimenes Pavao's cell and take action against the prison directors who allowed this inmate to enjoy these privileges," he said. However, the criminal’s lawyer says that the drug lord contributed to the renovation of the prison and paid for lodgings for prison directors and toilets for the guards. He even renovated the prison library and improved the cooks' salaries, he added. Some inmates were also disappointed by the fact Chimenes Pavao was removed from the prison, as the drug lord has always been very generous. "He was the most loved man in this prison," one prisoner, Antonio Gonzalez told AFP. "I don't know what's going to become of us without him," another inmate said on condition of anonymity. He added that the drug lord paid for a football pitch and chapel at the prison and even employed bodyguards among the prisoners.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
32 Turkish prosecutor claims CIA, FBI trained coup plotters — RT News The indictment, prepared by the Edirne Public Prosecutor’s office and accepted by the local Second Heavy Penal Court, seeks the harshest possible punishment for 43 suspects that have allegedly been linked to the failed coup attempt on July 15, including the coup’s supposed mastermind, Fethullah Gulen, the arch-nemesis of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The prosecutor said on Thursday that members of what it describes as “the Fethullah Terrorist Organization” were trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “The CIA and FBI provided training in several subjects to the cadre raised in the culture centers belonging to the Gulen movement. The operations carried out by prosecutors and security officials during the Dec. 17 process can be taken as a good example of this,” the document says, referring to a high profile corruption probe that targeted senior government officials between December 17 and December 25 of 2013, as reported by the Turkish Hurriyet daily. The investigation affected many officials linked to the Turkish Cabinet, which was headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan at that time. Erdogan, who is now Turkey’s president, called it “a judicial coup” attempt, while accusing Gulen and his movement of orchestrating it with the help of some “foreign forces.” The indictment states that Gulen loyalists received US training and infiltrated judicial and security institutions. “This [failed coup] attempt aimed to weaken the state with all its institutions by getting rid of the government completely. Those in the Gulen movement who work in the judicial and security institutions and who received the aforementioned training, took on this task and moved into action,” the document says, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency. It adds that some other foreign secret services were also involved in training the coup plotters, according to the Turkish Yeni Safak newspaper. Relations between Washington and Ankara soured following the foiled coup attempt on July 15. Some Turkish media and even government officials, including the labor minister, have claimed that the US was somehow involved, despite an outright denial from the US. Immediately after the failed coup attempt, the Turkish government criticized the US for providing safe haven for Gulen, saying that a country that harbors “the coup planner ” is “no friend” to Turkey. Ankara has also repeatedly demanded that the US extradite Gulen to Turkey, while Washington has maintained that Turkey must first file a formal extradition request and provide solid proof of his involvement in the coup. On July 25, Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said that Turkey- US ties could suffer unless Washington extradites Gulen. On Friday, Erdogan once again slammed the US for harboring Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, and demanded his extradition. He also lashed out at the head of US Central Command, General Joseph Votel, who has criticized the detention of thousands of Turkish military personnel in the aftermath of the coup attempt and said that some of the military figures that the US had been working with are now in jail. READ MORE: ‘Traitor cemetery,’ ‘birthplace toilet’ & other unconventional retaliation after failed Turkey coup “It is not up to you to make that decision. Who are you? Know your place...” Erdogan said, as quoted by AP. “Instead of thanking this nation that quashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary you are taking sides with the coup-plotters,” he added, stressing that “the coup plotter is in your country anyway” and “you [the US] can never convince my people otherwise.” On Friday, general Votel rejected Turkey’s claims. “Any reporting that I had anything to do with the recent unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey is unfortunate and completely inaccurate,” Votel said, according to the statement from US Central Command. Votel added that “Turkey has been an extraordinary and vital partner in the region for many years.” On July 25, Yeni Safak claimed that retired US Army General John F. Campbell, the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, was behind the foiled coup attempt. Campbell reportedly sent more than $ 2 billion in transactions to Turkey via Nigeria in order to distribute it among the pro-coup military. He has also been accused of managing the soldiers involved in the rebellion, the daily said, citing sources close to the investigation. Washington later dismissed the allegations against the general, with White House press secretary Josh Earnest calling them unsubstantiated. The US dismissed claims that it was complicit in the Turkish coup attempt as “utterly false and harmful” after Ankara declared that any state standing by US-based cleric Gulen an enemy. On July 19, US ambassador John Bass even went on CNN Turk to dismiss the accusations against the US. “The United States government did not direct, support or know about the coup [attempt] before it happened or until it was underway,” he said at that time. READ MORE: Turkey-US ties will suffer unless Gulen extradited, foreign minister says Relations between the two countries have also been strained by the situation at NATO’s Incirlik air base in Turkey, which stores US tactical nuclear weapons and is being used by Washington in its campaign against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in neighboring Syria and Iraq. About 1,000 people gathered at the base on Thursday in an anti-US protest to demand the closure of the facility. Turkish prosecutors and police have conducted searches at the base, and its commander, General Bekir Ercan Van, has been arrested along with more than a dozen lower ranking officers on charges of complicity in the attempted coup. According to Turkish officials, 270 people were killed in the July 15 uprising against President Erdogan, including 24 plotters. More than 18,000 people have been detained since the foiled coup attempt, Turkish Interior Minister Efkana Ala announced recently. Over 45,000 members of the army, judiciary, police, and media, as well as civil servants, have been fired.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
33 Warning that not all winners live happily ever after as man claims R87 million lottery jackpot eNCA reported on Thursday that Lottery operator Ithuba had validated the ticket held by the man from Limpopo. The winning ticket‚ purchased for R20 at a filling station in Mokopane‚ is reported to be the fourth- biggest cash prize in the history of the lottery. Businessman John Mphosi‚ the national lottery retailer who sold the winning ticket mere hours before the draw‚ told The Times newspaper that he and his staff had fielded dozens of phone calls from people who believed they were the jackpot winner. Counsellor Vaughn Grantham cautioned that winning a lump sum of money could be traumatic and encouraged jackpot winners to seek counselling. Counselling is offered to jackpot winners to help them cope with the stress that comes with their newfound celebrity status - but history has shown that not all winners live happily ever after. South Africa’s first mega-jackpot lottery winner 16 years ago‚ who pocketed almost R14-million‚ ran up a string of debts five years ago. Batsirayi Mupfawi‚ who worked for 15 years as a chauffeur for golfer Ernie Els’ manager Nick Frangos‚ won a fortune on April 8‚ 2000 after spending R5 on a lottery ticket‚ reported the Sunday Times. He bought himself a R1.6-million home and treated his family to a holiday in Disneyland. While running his own cross-border trucking company five years ago‚ he accumulated a string of debts and one of his flats was auctioned. But‚ he said at the time‚ he was better off than some lottery winners whose windfall ended in tears. “I have read so many stories about Lotto winners who died early‚” he said. Lottery winners famous for their misfortune‚ reported the Sunday Times‚ have included: - Jason Canterbury‚ from the Cape Flats‚ who won R6.7-million in the lottery in 2003 at the age of 18. Three years ago‚ he was sentenced to 28 years in jail for murder after turning to drugs and crime to support his lifestyle after his winnings evaporated; - William Post‚ who won more than R780-million in a US draw in 1998‚ only to end up living on a social grant after relatives siphoned away his windfall‚ hired a hit man to kill him and then sued him; and - Jeffrey Dampier‚ who died after his 1986 US win of R134-million. His sister-in-law‚ who had hoped to inherit his windfall‚ was sentenced to life in prison for his murder.
2016-07-31 00:01 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za
34 Police steps up security at Amsterdam airport after threat There is a strong police presence in and around Schiphol, the fifth busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger volume, the Dutch media reported, citing the local authorities. The city’s mayor, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security and as Royal Military Constabulary, reportedly introduced the security measures. “Like the rest of the Netherlands there is extra vigilance at Schiphol. This also applies to other European airports. Additional measures are needed in some cases,” a spokesman for the Royal Military Police told Amstel Television 5. It’s not yet clear what kind of threat the authorities received and what exactly the police are searching for. The Algemeen Dagblad newspaper said that passengers have been also subjected to additional checks. Photos on social media showed long lines of passengers standing in and near the airport. A number of armed police officers could also be seen checking vehicles.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
35 NASA test legacy engine for future Mars missions — RT America The RS-25 engine E0528 adapted for the Space Launch System (SLS) was tested for a full 650 seconds at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Friday. The previous hot-fire test attempt two week ago was cut short due to a problem with the testing facility. The Friday re-test was not an exact repeat though. Previously known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine, the RS-25 was given upgraded controllers and control system, which require testing before the engine is given the green light for the SLS’s maiden flight in 2018. The new rocket will operate its engines in a mode different from that of the Space Shuttle. “During flight, the RS-25 engines will endure more heat, pressure and thrust on SLS than on the space shuttle. Four RS-25 engines will fly at the bottom of the SLS core stage with each operating at 109 percent power level, as opposed to three on the space shuttle operating at 104.5 percent power level,” said Jim Paulsen, vice president for NASA programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne. “The solid rocket booster motors will also be closer in position to the RS-25 engine cluster this time around, and the taller core stage will result in higher propellant inlet pressure on the engine system. All of this adds up to multiple ground tests to ensure astronaut safety,” he added. The test series for the E0528 is scheduled for August 18.
2016-07-31 00:01 www.rt.com
36 Joma Sison: Duterte can be ‘volatile’ but… Is it all over even before it started? Perhaps not, according to Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), who lashed out against the lifting of the unilateral ceasefire by President Rodrigo Duterte. He called Duterte “volatile” and a “hoodlum (butangero)” but clarified that failure of the ceasefire should not derail the peace process. Amid the ceasefire debacle, Sison said the negotiating panels of the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front, CPP’s political arm, should still continue to talk and “iron out kinks.” “As far as I am concerned, dapat ituloy ang August 20 to 27 formal talks sa Oslo (they should continue plans to hold formal talks in Oslo on August 20 to 27),” he said. Sison on Saturday insisted that while Duterte announced a unilateral ceasefire with the New People’s Army (NPA), soldiers on the ground have been violating it. READ: NPA: No ‘veritable’ unilateral ceasefire exercised by AFP, PNP Sison, in an interview with INQUIRER.net , said Duterte also ignored the CPP’s advisory that it will release its reciprocal ceasefire announcement at 8 p.m. Saturday, three hours after the President’s deadline for the READ: Sison: CPP-NPA-NDF supposed to declare ceasefire at 8 p.m. ‘Volatile’ “Volatile ang character ni Duterte at may asal butangero (Duterte’s character is volatile and he has a tendency to act like a hoodlum),” said Sison, who was a former professor of Duterte at the Lyceum University. Sison and Duterte used to have a relatively good relationship. They discussed the possibility of Sison, who is on exile in the Netherlands, going home and Duterte implementing pro-poor policies. In an earlier interview with INQUIRER.net , the chief political consultant of the NDF acknowledged that Duterte has a “loose mouth” but also “strength of character.” READ: Joma Sison talks about former student Duterte, other candidates ‘Fictitious’ ceasefire Sison called Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire “fictitious.” He said that while Duterte, in his first State of the Nation Address last Monday, claimed that it is effective immediately, the “Somo” (Suspension of military operations) was released the next day. He said the Somo itself was “defective” since military operations were allegedly not halted and troops occupying communities, schools and barangay halls remained. “Sabi rin ng Southern Mindanao Command ng NPA na non-existent ang ceasefire ni Duterte sa AFP and PNP. Hindi sila sumusunod sa ceasefire order ng kanilang commander in chief,” Sison said. (The NPA’s Southern Mindanao Command said Duterte’s ceasefire was non-existent to the AFP and PNP. They are not following the ceasefire order of their own commander in chief.) Sison said Duterte was being inappropriate when he gave an ultimatum on the reciprocal ceasefire following an encounter between the military and the NPA. READ: Militiaman killed, 4 hurt in NPA ambush in Davao Norte Sison claimed that the NPA immediately prepared a report about the army’s refusal to follow Duterte’s unilateral ceasefire by allegedly attacking NPA territory and “abusing” local communities. The CPP is expected to give a statement on Sunday morning on the lifting of the government’s unilateral ceasefire.
2016-07-31 00:01 Kristine Angeli newsinfo.inquirer.net
37 Zamalek Downed Ali Gabr's unfortunate 80th- minute own goal handed Mame-lodi Sundowns a deserved 1-0 win in their CAF Champions League Group B clash against Zamalek in Atteridgeville last night. The burly centreback turned in Keagan Dolly's cross-shot and the ball dribbled agonisingly away from the wrong-footed goalkeeper Ahmed El-Shenawy. It was a cruel twist of fate for the visitors but a deserved stroke of luck for the hosts. Pitso Mosimane's side have nine points from their three games and have guaranteed the crucial top spot. The first-half was high on style but lacked goal-scoring substance. Sundowns should have taken the lead in the 38th minute when Khama Billiat beat Gabr for pace but his shot could not get past the excellent El-Shenawy. The tussle between the Egyptian international and the Zimbabwean winger was a highlight. El-Shenawy also kept out a Billiat shot in the 33rd minute. Sundowns battled in the pace stakes with the likes of Mahmoud Shikabala and Basem Morsy creating havoc. However, Zamalek's best chance of the half fell to leftback Ali Fathy, who shot straight at Denis Onyango. Sundowns had other chances through Leonardo Castro and Modise but failed to keep El-Shenawy busy. The chilly conditions allowed for a hi-octane second half where Sundowns again had chances they could not quite bury. Castro and Tebogo Langerman were culprits eight minutes into the stanza though the latter's shot had the beating of El-Shenawy as it skipped wide of the upright. It was a similar case with Hlompho Kekana's 75th minute piledriver but El- Shenawy was equal to the task. It was a pity the own goal spoiled what was a good game for the 25-year- old.
2016-07-31 00:01 KHANYISO TSHWAKU www.timeslive.co.za
38 Microbiologist vs dengue leads science awardees A microbiologist who developed a portable kit that can detect within an hour the presence of dengue virus in the blood and a University of the Philippines (UP) professor who used computer programs to develop designer drugs against tuberculosis were among the winners of this year’s National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) Awards. The five awardees also included an agricultural scientist who researched rice varieties that can adapt to different soil moisture levels, a science administrator who created an enabling environment for UP science researchers and a university scientist whose research on precision food processing can help stakeholders comply with the demand for safe and nutritious food. Given the Outstanding Technology Commercialization Award was Dr. Raul Destura, while Dr. Junie Billones and Dr. Roel Suralta received the Outstanding Research and Development Award for Basic Research. Dr. Alonzo Gabriel was recognized with a Development Award for Applied Research, while Gisela Concepcion received the Outstanding Science Administrator Award. At the opening ceremonies of the annual NSTW on Monday, Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) gave the five awardees a certificate of recognition, a plaque and the P150,000 cash prize. Dengue diagnostic kit The NSTW, celebrated every third week of July since 1993, recognizes the contribution of science and technology to the country’s development and was meant to draw support from public and private institutions for its sustainable development. Destura was recognized for his successful commercialization of the breakthrough diagnostic kit called Biotek-M Dengue Aquakit that can diagnose dengue within an hour at a more affordable cost. By adding nucleic acid to a blood sample, doctors can detect the presence of the dengue virus when the blood turns green. Uninfected blood turns orange. The kit was initially tested in 2012 at Rizal Medical Center, National Children’s Hospital and Philippine Children’s Medical Center. Destura, a microbiologist and an infectious disease specialist who works for the UP Manila National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, was the leader of the Lab-in-a-Mug Project, which includes the dengue rapid test kit. The kit was developed in 2012 as a joint undertaking between the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center, Biotech-Manila and Philippine Genome Center. “Such quick testing makes the Philippines one of the first countries in the world to develop this kind of diagnostic device. Biotek-M is likewise as accurate as the currently available Polymerase Chain Reaction technology, yet less costly,” the DOST said. Designer medications Billones, a university scientist and professor at UP Manila, received recognition for his pioneering studies that used computer programs to develop a new class of designer medications against tuberculosis, one of the top causes of death in the country. The DOST said the use of computer programs led to the “swift discovery” of new drugs without the need to perform costly lab experiments. Suralta, an agricultural scientist at the Philippine Rice Research Institute, was recognized for his outstanding scientific research on rice crops and the flexibility and adaptability of their roots to fluctuating soil moisture conditions, such as drought or flooding. According to the DOST, Suralta’s breakthroughs and pioneering initiatives in researching rice production in climate change-affected areas are crucial in shaping the future of the country’s rice supply. Food processing Gabriel, a full professor and a university scientist at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at UP Diliman’s College of Home Economics, was cited for his research on precision food processing, which can lead to safer and more nutritious food products. Concepcion, UP’s vice president for academic affairs, was chosen as this year’s outstanding science administrator for her many accomplishments, which included lobbying for the creation of the UP Diliman-based National Science Complex, and the grant of a heftier funding for master’s degree and doctoral scholarships. The UP official also simplified the Balik Scientist program to allow Filipino scientists based abroad to return to the UP campuses and enhance their teaching capabilities. Concepcion initiated as well another program that sends faculty members, research and professional staff for short-term training and internships abroad. “Dr. Concepcion has fostered an enabling environment for researchers in UP by providing university funds, which faculty and researchers use to carry out interdisciplinary and basic or applied research and creative work,” the DOST stated in its citation. TVJ RELATED STORIES Davao mayor: Dengue surge ‘disconcerting’ World’s first dengue vaccination in PH sees few ill-effects
2016-07-31 00:01 Jocelyn R technology.inquirer.net
39 Party-list reps buck plan to abolish them While President Rodrigo Duterte was right in saying that the party-list sytem has been abused by the rich and powerful, several lawmakers said it should not be abolished, as it had given the marginalized a chance to be heard. READ: Duterte wants to scrap party-list system Instead, the lawmakers suggested stricter rules and guidelines for party-list representatives, as well as hefty fines and penalties for those who abuse the law. The President on Friday said he wanted the party-list system stricken out of the new Constitution to be drafted by a constituent assembly (Con-ass). ‘Mockery of the law’ “With a new Constitution, I will insist: no party-list,” Mr. Duterte said, adding that the system has been abused, with the rich organizing their own groups and “making a mockery of the law.” But in a statement, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the principal authors of the party-list law, said party-list representation must be preserved, as it was “the intent of the Constitution to have the marginalized sectors represented in the House of Representatives.” Lagman added: “What should be done is not to abolish the party-list system, but to jettison its proliferation as a tool of the economic-political elite, major political parties, and other groups and regional [aggroupments that] do not have any claim to marginalization.” Trivialization Instead of crucifying the party-list system, the Albay representative said the President should blame the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for allowing its “trivilization.” Lagman said the Supreme Court was also to blame for its rulings on how party-list representation should be apportioned, which he said has veered away from the formula provided in the law. “There are only about 15 of the 59 party-list seats that are filled by representatives of marginalized sectors,” Former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said. But Bello said the solution was not to abolish the system but to make the rules on party-list representation more stringent, with bogus party-list groups fined at least P2 milllion and their representatives jailed for at least five years. Progressive The law should also be clear on who qualifies as genuine party-list representatives instead of this being left to the whims of Comelec commissioners, Bello said. Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said the party-list system had allowed individuals like him, a University of the Philippines professor, to get a seat in Congress, which would otherwise have gone to traditional politicians and political dynasties. “The party-list system has facilitated the entry into Congress of the most progressive individuals, including two who are now part of President Duterte’s Cabinet.” Roque said, referring to Anti-Poverty Commissioner Liza Maza and Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano. Maza was a Gabriela party-list representative, while Mariano represented Anakpawis. Act Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio also opposed doing away with the party- list representation in Congress, since the system “has enabled certain marginalized sectors, such as workers, peasants, women and youth to gain seats in Congress. Abolishing the party-list system would leave Congress totally in the hands of the traditional political elites,” he said. “Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Tinio added. Spirit of the law “Instead of scrapping the party-list system, why not go back to the spirit of the law that created it and ensure a stiffer accreditation of groups supposed to represent the country’s marginalized and underrepresented sectors?” said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes. “You don’t need to burn down the house to get rid of termites and other pests,” he added. In a press forum in Quezon City on Saturday, Reyes said: “We just need to go back to the intention of the Constitution—[party-lists] are for the marginalized and underrepresented. You just can’t invent a sector and a representation. If needed, we should amend the law, making the criteria and accreditation of party-list groups stiffer,” he added. Reyes also expressed opposition to the Duterte administration’s decision to convene Congress as a Con-ass instead of electing a constitutional convention (Con-con) that would pave the way for a shift to a federal- parliamentary form of government. “It doesn’t follow that since it’s cheaper, it is better. It also doesn’t follow that because we can save a lot of money, we can be assured that powerful lawmakers will not betray us,” he said. TVJ RELATED STORIES Party-list bloc backs Alvarez, seeks juicy positions New groups make it to party-list’s Top 10
2016-07-31 00:01 Gil Cabacungan newsinfo.inquirer.net
40 Duterte calls off truce President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday night recalled his ceasefire order after a 5 p.m. deadline he had set passed without a response from communist insurgents. READ: Duterte lifts ceasefire with Reds as ultimatum lapses But Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said that although refusing to be bullied, the insurgents had planned to declare a truce at 8 p.m. “But since Duterte had already lifted his ceasefire order, then there’s nothing we can do,” Sison told ABS-CBN News Channel, speaking from Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he is living in self-imposed exile. READ: Sison: CPP-NPA-NDF supposed to declare ceasefire at 8 p.m. The ceasefire, which Mr. Duterte declared during his inaugural State of the Nation Address to Congress on Monday, lasted less than a week. “Let me announce that I am hereby ordering the immediate lifting of the unilateral ceasefire that I ordered last July 25 against the communist rebels,” the President said in a statement. Mr. Duterte also ordered the military and the police “to withdraw the operation guidelines they had issued” after his truce declaration. He directed government forces to be on alert for threats to national security. “I am ordering all security forces to be on high alert and continue to discharge their normal functions and mandate to neutralize all threats to national security, protect the citizenry, enforce the laws and maintain peace in the land,” the President said. Mr. Duterte had made friendly overtures to the insurgents, then issued the ceasefire order to encourage peace talks. Two days after his announcement, however, communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas ambushed militiamen returning to their base in Kapalong, Davao del Norte province, killing one and wounding four others, angering Mr. Duterte, who threatened to scuttle his ceasefire order unless the rebels showed their readiness to match his truce declaration. Insurgents planned truce Mr. Duterte initially threatened to recall his ceasefire order by Friday but extended his deadline after the rebels said they were investigating the guerrilla attack. On Friday, the President gave the rebels an ultimatum, saying he would scuttle his ceasefire order if they would not declare their own truce by 5 p.m. the next day. The deadline passed on Saturday with no indication the rebels would declare a truce. In his television interview, Sison criticized Mr. Duterte for giving the insurgents an ultimatum. Calling the President a “bully,” he said Mr. Duterte could never tell the revolutionary movement to do whatever he wanted. “He is so thuggish, he immediately wants a fight. If he doesn’t want peace, so be it,” Sison said. He said the ceasefire order from the CPP was a public notice from the information department of the party’s central committee, and was recommended by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the political arm of the local communist movement. “Four hours ago, there was an announcement of a ceasefire order from the revolutionary movement at 8 p.m. It was they who would decide whether to release or hold it,” he said. Sison said he was not in a position to order the insurgents to declare a truce. No real ceasefire Even the military was not enforcing Mr. Duterte’s ceasefire order, he said. “He should not give us an ultimatum. We asked for only a little time. What we are trying to resolve here is a real war that has lasted for decades,” he said. Earlier Saturday, a spokesperson for the NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command said the military, militiamen and the police showed no signs they were observing a ceasefire even after President Duterte had declared a truce. “The NPA and the people’s militia are ready to defend [themselves against] enemy troops who are actively present in almost all villages in Southern Mindanao,” Rigoberto Sanchez, the rebel spokesperson, said. “These are not troops implementing innocuous ‘civil-military operations’ but are implementing combat operations, surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence and psychological warfare in civilian communities,” he said. Sanchez said government forces continued military operations in Magpet, North Cotabato, after Mr. Duterte’s truce declaration. “On July 27, platoons of the 84th [Infantry Battalion] were deployed in far- flung communities in Toril, Davao City. In Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, troops of the 2nd Scout Rangers Battalion conducted combat operations on July 29,” he said. Earlier, the NPA admitted the attack on militiamen in Kapalong, but said it was a counteroffensive. READ: NPA: No ‘veritable’ unilateral ceasefire exercised by AFP, PNP Peace talks On Saturday, Sanchez said the firefight in Kapalong was proof of continuing government operations against the NPA. He said military officials opposed to peace were spinning lies to derail the peace negotiations. Sanchez said it would be difficult for the NPA to reciprocate Mr. Duterte’s ceasefire declaration if there were military officials who refused to follow the President’s order. In his television interview, Sison said he remained open to peace talks with the government. “As far as I’m concerned, what has been decided—that the two sides will meet for talks—is still on,” he said. Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said Saturday night that peace talks with the insurgents would continue even with the lifting of the truce order. Speaking on state-run Radyo ng Bayan, Dureza said there was no “intervening factor” that would affect the resumption of peace negotiations. Earlier yesterday, Dureza said peace talks with the insurgents would proceed even if President Duterte scuttled his ceasefire order. “We’re pushing through with it as originally scheduled,” he said. He said the talks, to be held from Aug. 20 to 27 in Oslo, Norway, had been set before Mr. Duterte declared a ceasefire during his inaugural address to Congress last Monday. “[The lifting of the ceasefire order] will not in any way affect the peace talks because we know, even when we agreed to resume peace negotiations, we have tabled as an agenda item the discussion on the current ceasefire. At that time, we did not even consider that a unilateral ceasefire would be called by the President,” he said. “So it is not a factor at all in the planned negotiations,” he added. A bilateral ceasefire could be discussed during the peace talks, he said. “We can fine-tune the ceasefire arrangement there because when you come up with a bilateral negotiated ceasefire, the mechanisms and the other collateral arrangements will be discussed across the table during that particular time,” he said. As for the statement of Sison asking the President for more time to study a ceasefire, Dureza said he respected the statement. But Sison should also respect the position that Mr. Duterte had taken, he said. He said that the President declared a unilateral ceasefire to bring peace, protect communities, and provide an enabling environment for peace negotiations. But the President, he said, had also expected the communist groups to reciprocate with their own truce declaration. With reports from Yuji Vincent Gonzales, Inquirer.net; and Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao/TVJ RELATED STORIES Joma Sison: Duterte can be ‘volatile’ but… AFP handa na sa pagpapatuloy ng operasyon kontra NPA
2016-07-31 00:01 Leila B newsinfo.inquirer.net
41 41 Drudge Gets Wolf Blitzer Wrong: I Was at CNN Party Too Over at the Drudge Report, the estimable Matt Drudge has this headline: From Drudge the link takes you to this story in the American Mirror which blares: The Mirror story focuses on a CNN party after the close of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, capturing CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer and Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger “drinking wine and dancing with delegates as ‘Sweet Caroline’ played over the loud speakers at the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention.” The short piece closes with this sentence: “It was the perfect image of the media and Democratic cabal.” Respectfully? The fly in the ointment of this story is, well, me. As a CNN commentator myself — regularly identified accurately as a “Trump supporter” — I was at exactly this very party. Ssshhhh. I even danced (gasp!) — with Gloria Borger. A tape, I assure you, that will never see the light of day because I don’t have the time to win Dancing With the Stars. This CNN party had zero to do with celebrating the nomination of Hillary Clinton (Really? I — a vigorous Trump supporter — would be celebrating that? I don’t think so) and everything to do with celebrating the end of two intense work weeks in Cleveland and Philadelphia for both the RNC and the DNC. In fact, the others captured on that tape were not delegates — this was not a party for delegates — they were CNN staffers, a number of whom I have gotten to know. Any implication otherwise is incredibly unfair to Wolf and Gloria and for that matter everybody else who was there — again, me included. So. For the record. The story is wrong. The implication in the story is wrong.
2016-07-30 23:27 Jeffrey Lord spectator.org
42 A Thought on The Hacking of Hillary With the FBI now investigating the hacking of Hillary Clinton’s campaign as well as the DCCC, I have but one question. Could it be that the Russians didn’t understand that Donald Trump was only being sarcastic? 2016-07-30 23:27 Aaron Goldstein spectator.org
43 Dick Morris Dismantles The Clinton Narrative In case you somehow were swept away by Hillary’s “herstoric” speech, a little truth tonic: Dick Morris recounts Hillary’s history. It starts with Marxism, chafes in the middle with embarrassment (she couldn’t pass the D. C. Bar exam?), and is replete with corruption. Dick asserts that any parenting Chelsea received came by her dad or the hired nannies. He reminded me of another couple times Hillary should have been put in prison. Funny thing is, as Morris lists the history, I was thinking of more stories that has been forgotten by the media. Time to rummage through the American Spectator archives and remember the badness. There’s plenty there.
2016-07-30 23:27 Melissa Clouthier spectator.org
44 WikiLeaks Crashes the Party Democrats liked secret-stealing Russians so much better when they called themselves Communists. Alger Hiss’s Bokhara rug, 1929 Ford Roadster, Woodstock typewriter, fondness for prothonotary warblers, and papers in Whittaker Chambers’ pumpkin never quite shook the faith of the liberal faithful in the Harvard law grad’s innocence of espionage. Such Sputnik-high evidentiary standards evidently no longer apply. Fred Kaplan states as fact at Slate that the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee to help Donald Trump win the presidency. Then he presents as evidence that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange once hosted a show on RT (formerly Russia Today) and Trump occasionally receives financing from Russian investors. Kaplan contends that “evidence of Russian involvement is fairly clear,” citing that “the hackers’s work hours aligned with Moscow’s time zone, operations ceased on Russian holidays, their techniques carried signatures common to other Russian hacks, and their targets were of clear interest to Moscow.” Such vague circumstantial and suppositional evidence preceded by certain conclusions, common enough beyond Kaplan during convention week in Philadelphia, strikes as an occasion to cart out the well-worn “Have you no sense of no decency, sir, at long last?” retort familiar to those raising concerns of aggressive Russian intrusions into American politics. It’s possible that Moscow hacked the DNC. But the Democrats now share as much proof buttressing this contention as the Republicans did on the Iraqis hiding vast caches of weapons of mass destruction. True believers nevertheless truly believe. Not everyone hoping for a Trump defeat repeats the talking points. The Nation magazine, which might have more honestly changed its name to The Hiss Weekly Vindicator under Victor Navasky’s editorship, demonstrates consistency here. The magazine editorializes that “representative voices of the liberal establishment have joined with the forces of neoconservatism to engage in what can only be described as McCarthyist rhetoric.” Translation? Trump, though not The Nation’s candidate, is no Manchurian candidate. Malefactors often compound their offenses by shifting the blame on their accusers, the aggrieved party, or some other perceived enemy. The Democrat party panjandrums, like any number of narcissists encountered by Spectator readers in life, attempt now to Jedi Mind Trick such a role reversal. Rather than owning up to rigging the primary elections against Bernie Sanders, working in cahoots with “journalists” on messaging, and celebrating job loss and economic setbacks in North Carolina due to its bathroom law as “great” and “awesome” (truths skeptics suspected before they came to know them this past week), the Democrats paint themselves as the victims and Trump and those evil Russians and the Bernie-backing hackers as the villains. The convenience of the flattering narrative matches the inconvenience of the ugly revelations. This crude deflection may work on weak-minded Renothingcrats or hard- wired Democrats. But it failed to dissipate the cloud cast over the Philadelphia convention for everybody else. A few arguments more principled than pragmatic in their approach at least might have sparked a different conversation than the current one born of gutter argumentation. The two that come to mind relate to the modern fetishes for complete transparency and against freedom of association. In an oversharing, TMI age, people without shame operate without respect for secrets. A nation of exhibitionists naturally doubles as a country of voyeurs. We publicize the private on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and think those more modest guilty of covering up some dark, embarrassing truth. But parties, private entities only ostensibly committed to the public good, rate the right to strategize, compile unsavory information, and bounce around bad ideas away from the ears of eavesdroppers. The people cheering surreptitious surveillance on Mitt Romney’s musings on the 47 percent in a supporter’s home now find religion on the concept of privacy when their nominee suffers from unwanted intrusions. The burglars who busted into the Watergate received prison sentences. The boosters of the guy who published the hack of the DNC want him awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his body of work. If only G. Gordon Liddy depicted himself as an electrician turning on a light rather than a plumber plugging leaks, he might have become a hero to our age of transparency. And what is so wrong with the Democratic Party enjoying a say in the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party? For all but a few decades in the history of the republic, parties rather than primaries exerted the primary influence in determining the presidential candidate representing them. It’s called freedom of association, a right morphed into a wrong by open primaries and in a reductio ad absurdum way by allowing a lifelong socialist explicitly rejecting the “D” label to seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. The zeitgeist perhaps renders such points ineffectual. And sympathy remains in short supply for liars even when the methods of those exposing them ignore ethics and law. In a popularity contest, the proficient hackers win over the party hacks.
2016-07-30 23:27 Daniel J spectator.org
45 Arsenal to live stream upcoming fixture through the official club app Arsenal has taken steps to strengthen its digital capabilities by partnering with online video company Ooyala to stream an upcoming pre-season friendly through the club’s official app. The Premier League side will show this weekend’s game against Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas) on its own app as part of its efforts to grow a global fan base and open up more revenue streams through digital platforms. The fixture with the Mexican first division side will be accessible from every country, with the exception of the US. Rags Gupta, Ooyala’s general manager, said: “Sports clubs like Arsenal are now global brands, with tens if not hundreds of millions of fans around the world that they wish to engage via video and multimedia experiences. [They also wish to] deliver value to their sponsors.” He added: “Moreover, these clubs are investing in best-in-class broadcast and digital technology and resources to be able to leverage the rights that they retain that haven't already been bought by broadcasters and pay-TV operators, such as pre-season fixtures. “We are seeing this trend accelerate as clubs look at creating more content with a personalised experience, distributed via their owned and operated social media channels to reach and enrich their fans' experiences and build their brand accordingly. " With broadcast rights out of clubs’ control during the season, pre-season fixtures are increasingly becoming a playground for clubs to experiment with new ways to strengthen their digital platforms, such as live streaming games on different platforms including Facebook Live and YouTube. Fellow Premier League team Liverpool recently trialled a free stream for one of their fixtures on YouTube in a live 360 degree broadcast.
2016-07-30 23:30 www.thedrum.com
46 USA TODAY “Gone” tells the story of Mississippi native Felix Vail and the people whose paths he crossed. Vail goes on trial Aug. 8 in Lake Charles, Louisiana — the oldest prosecution of a serial-killer suspect in U. S. history. Vail is charged in the 1962 death of his first wife, and authorities suspect he is connected to the disappearances of two other women.
2016-07-30 23:20 rssfeeds.usatoday.com
47 3 dead, 1 injured in shooting at party near Seattle, suspect detained — RT America There were approximately between 15 and 20 people at the party in the Chennault neighborhood, the Mukilteo authorities said. " Our community has suffered a great loss tonight, '' Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said as cited by AP. " There were many young people who saw and heard things that no one should ever experience. '' The weapon that is believed to have been used in the shooting has also been found, according to a Twitter post, citing Lewis County PD. The gunman is said to have been armed with a rifle. Parents could be seen gathering at the scene while awaiting further news from the police. A reunification center has been set up by the police. So far, they have not confirmed the age range of the victims, but added that a witness description helped apprehend the suspects, and there are no further manhunts related to the shooting. Mukilteo is a waterfront city in the state of Washington, near the Canadian border, with a population of just over 20,000. It is one of the most affluent Seattle suburbs and Money Magazine ranked it 10th out of its 100 top places in the US to live in.
2016-07-30 23:20 www.rt.com
48 South Sudan Olympics selector claims ad deal swayed sprinter pick for Rio 2016 The secretary-general of South Sudan’s Olympic committee has said he felt under pressure to choose a runner for Rio 2016 because she was the star of a Samsung ad campaign. As reported by the Guardian , Tong Chor Malek Deran has explained in interviews and in emails among athletes that he felt obliged to choose sprinter Margret Rumat Rumar Hassan despite the fact that she was not the country’s quickest competitor. In the emails sent to athletes, he wrote: “We have selected Margret as she is Olympian (Nanjing [Youth Olympics] 2014) her activity was shown during our recognition by IOC in Kuala Lumpur [at the meeting where South Sudan was admitted to the Olympic Games], and moreover she has been contracted by Samsung to commercial on way to Rio, so we are to complete her story to Rio.” In a radio interview with Australia’s ABC, he said: ““That’s correct. We choose her because already we have signed a contract with Samsung, that she is an Olympian. “I repeat it. I repeat it: yes. And I strongly say yes. Because we had a contract already signed with Samsung. This is a violation of our contract.” Samsung had denied that it had any influence over the makeup of South Sudan’s first ever Olympics team, saying in a statement: “Samsung does not have any sponsorship agreements with the South Sudanese Olympic team, and Samsung was not involved in the South Sudanese National Olympic Committee’s decisions.”
2016-07-30 23:29 www.thedrum.com
49 The Mirror Test: America At War In Iraq And Afghanistan This post is an adapted excerpt from State Department official J. Kael Weston’s book, “ The Mirror Test ,” which was released on May 24, 2016. His book chronicles his seven consecutive tours in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2010. The embassy got its first preliminary report from me via classified email, but I had one final trip to make. I needed to find out what happened to the bodies after they had been processed at the Potatoe Factory, where the dead from Fallujah end up. Last rites for “the enemy,” you could say. Their burial, after Marines recorded what they had found on them, in their clothes, called “pocket litter.” Some, they said, had Syrian features. Others looked Saudi. To the credit of Colonel Mike Regner, when asked during the briefing for Pentagon-based press, he conveyed the numbers that some politicians in Washington did not want to hear: “The next question, before I continue on to the tactical laydown because I brought up detainees, is yes, there are some foreign fighters in that element. Predominantly, however, most of the 1,052 are in fact Iraqis. But there are individuals that are from different countries, and I don’t really have that right in front of me at this time. . . but out of 1,052 most likely about 1,040—or 1,030—are Iraqis.” So the foreign fighter body count based on firsthand Marine reports, the best anyone had? Twelve or a max of twenty, according to Regner, out of over a thousand counted and processed up to that point. At the end of the following day, our Humvee stopped north of the city, near an abandoned railroad station that had been out of use for decades. I had hitched a ride with a Marine officer from one of the battalions. This was our destination, located maybe half a mile from the Potato Factory. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow across trenches. A Marine backhoe had graded perpendicular lines, several feet deep. The grid had a mathematical quality to it, the product of engineers laying out an impromptu cemetery for hundreds of dead. I watched as black body bags were lowered into the ground. I did not consider verifying that they were all turned toward Mecca—even if I had the Muslim holy site’s GPS coordinates. It would have been impossible, and I did not want any of the soft and lumpy bags opened. Neither did the Marines. The operation had a brutal and methodical efficiency to it. It was essentially a mass grave. Marines were in a hurry, in a race with the sinking sun. They worked in teams of three. One held the front of the stretcher with remains on top, two at the back. A row of large, green dust-covered seven-ton trucks lined up behind them. Once the body bags were lowered, another Marine signaled the backhoe operator to drop the soil. With a loud mechanical grind, piles of earth and sand fell, creating big swirls of dust in the air. Big enough, I imagined, they could be seen by Fallujans inside the city. Our shadows grew long as the sun set and temperatures dropped. Metal poles about five feet high, sticking up from the ground like a giant iron rectangular pincushion, became the only gravesite markers. Two Marines, shoulder-high in the ground, finished their work situating the day’s final remains in each trench. They jumped up and said nothing. One of the last bags I saw had a single white piece of tape across it that read “Joleen Dist” (signifying “Jolan/Joleen District” inside Fallujah) before it too was lowered into a trench, one of the anonymous, nameless, faceless, story-less dozens. The sun had disappeared, so we made our way back to the Potato Factory. The gravesite was not a place anyone wanted to spend the night, no matter how well armed or armored. I opted not to have any dinner. Around midnight, I noticed the lights had been left on inside several of the large rooms, but no Marines were near. An unattended laptop blinked, strobelike, atop a card table. I peered through a heavy metal door into a reefer on one side of the hallway. It was filled with bags of potatoes and a conveyor belt. On the other side, through a door numbered 10 in bright red paint, was a room filled with bodies in body bags. Both sides of the hallway creeped me out, and I was glad to leave and find a live human being sitting in another part of the Potato Factory. We sat close but did not talk. Follow Elena 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].
2016-07-30 23:20 dailycaller.com
50 Disney-owned Maker Studios hit with layoffs Opened with a bang, and deep investment in 2014, Disney-owned short-form creative specialists Maker Studios confirmed to Deadline that they are, in fact, laying off staff. Initially, Disney made a $500m commitment to the effort and, if certain financial targets were hit, was going to add an additional $450m. However, the company fell short, with the final outlay at $698m. In a statement, the company said that: “Maker Studios’ business is constantly evolving and after careful thought, we have decided to make some strategic adjustments — reducing staff in some areas while still actively hiring in others — to best align with the go-forward strategy of the company.” The company is focusing its efforts on gaming, lifestyle, entertainment and kids/family content — and is home to Internet sensation PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg). In January, Maker launched a premium gaming network, Revelmode, that included the Swedish star and other popular YouTubers such as ackSepticEye (Sean McLoughlin), Mark Fischbach (Markiplier), Ken Morrison (CinnamonToastKen) and Emma Blackery. The current programming is counter to plans in 2015, per Deadline, that indicated the company had plans to work with other Disney properties including ESPN, Marvel and others.
2016-07-30 23:29 www.thedrum.com
51 US urges UN to back African force for South Sudan The United States urged the UN Security Council to back a regional force for South Sudan to shore up UN peacekeepers unable to cope with the violence. The council adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the UN mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, until August 12 to allow time to negotiate another measure authorizing the new force. The proposed resolution is also expected to slap an arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions on those seen as responsible for the violence. US Ambassador Samantha Power said the proposal by the African regional IGAD bloc to send an intervention brigade to Juba should be supported by the council. "We all need to support them," said Power. "The United States believes the region's proposal offers a basis to re- establish a secure environment in Juba, which is critical for the parties to make progress on implementing the peace agreement" and allowing aid deliveries, she said. Juba was rocked by several days of heavy fighting in early July between government forces and those loyal to rebel chief Riek Machar, the latest upsurge in the two and half year war. Nearly 300 people died in the violence and two Chinese peacekeepers were killed in an attack on a UN base, where thousands of civilians rushed for safety. Since the flare-up, there have been at least 120 cases of rape. UN peacekeepers are accused of standing by and doing nothing to help victims who were assaulted near the UN base's gates. "UNMISS as it is currently configured has proven unable and in some cases unwilling in preventing horrors like this," said Power. The US envoy said she had received "very disturbing reports of significant violence" in the Equatorias region. African leaders are expected to meet with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir in the coming days to discuss the regional force, diplomats said. UNMISS has 13,500 troops and police deployed across South Sudan under a mandate that calls for the protection of civilians. There has also been an outbreak of cholera in Juba and other areas, with 14 deaths and 271 cases reported since July 12, according to the World Health Organisation.
2016-07-30 23:21 By AFP www.digitaljournal.com
52 Transgender teen, family share their story Chinook, the new 800 pound California sea lion, is on display at Point Defiance Zoo Tour Tacoma's Union Club, which served for decades as a private men's-only venue, with new co-owners Eli and Amber Moreno. The couple plan to turn some of the grander rooms into "co- working" spaces where artists and entrepreneurs can work side-by-side in a collaborative atmosphere. Finished in 1890, the former men's club's last incarnation was as a restaurant, David's on Broadway. Passengers react positively to Pierce Transit's plan to add free Wi-Fi to the agency's 140 local fixed-route buses by year's end. Jeremiah Saucier and Vicki Niemann talk about the need for the Hope Recovery Center on the Key Peninsula. A look at what's going on at the former Sumner Meadows Golf Course and one regular user's opinion. She wrote a note demanding a teller put $2,000 into an envelope. Northwest philanthropists Mike and Sue Raney visited Longmire at Mount Rainier National Park on Wednesday to be honored for their $2 million donation to the National Park Foundation. The gift targets restoration of Rainier’s iconic Wonderland Trail and the Enchanted Valley Trail at Olympic National Park over the next 10 years via newly formed youth conservation groups. The REI Foundation also contributed $1 million to the national park system and president Mark Berejka was on hand. Puyallup teenager Blake Nelson talks about his grandfather and the '62 Corvette he inherited. Hundreds of people — including tribal, local, state and federal leaders — gathered Tuesday to celebrate the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge’s official name change to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Two of the youngest representatives of the Washington delegation at the RNC are working to engage their generation of voters. They see a "bright" future for the GOP, but have concerns about the public perceptions of their party's leaders.
2016-07-30 23:27 www.thenewstribune.com
53 Verizon to acquire Yahoo's operating business BASKING RIDGE, N. J. , and SUNNYVALE, Calif. , July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Communications Inc. ( NYSE , Nasdaq: VZ) and Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) today announce they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Verizon will acquire Yahoo's operating business for approximately $4.83 billion in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments. Yahoo informs, connects and entertains a global audience of more than 1 billion monthly active users** -- including 600 million monthly active mobile users*** through its search, communications and digital content products. Yahoo also connects advertisers with target audiences through a streamlined advertising technology stack that combines the power of their data, content and technology. Lowell McAdam , Verizon Chairman and CEO, said: "Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers. The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising. " Yahoo will be integrated with AOL under Marni Walden , EVP and President of the Product Innovation and New Businesses organization at Verizon. Marissa Mayer , CEO of Yahoo , said: " Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL. The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo. This transaction also sets up a great opportunity for Yahoo to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising and social. " Mayer added, " Yahoo and AOL popularized the Internet , email, search and real-time media. It's poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile. We have a terrific, loyal, experienced and quality team, and I couldn't be prouder of our achievements to date, including building our new lines of business to $1.6 billion in GAAP revenue in 2015. I'm excited to extend our momentum through this transaction. " Tim Armstrong , CEO of AOL, said: "Our mission at AOL is to build brands people love, and we will continue to invest in and grow them. Yahoo has been a long-time investor in premium content and created some of the most beloved consumer brands in key categories like sports, news and finance. " Under Armstrong, AOL has invested in and grown global premium brands, including The Huffington Post , TechCrunch, Engadget, MAKERS and AOL.com , and market-leading programmatic platforms -- including ONE by AOL for both advertisers and publishers. Armstrong added, "We have enormous respect for what Yahoo has accomplished: this transaction is about unleashing Yahoo's full potential, building upon our collective synergies, and strengthening and accelerating that growth. Combining Verizon , AOL and Yahoo will create a new powerful competitive rival in mobile media, and an open, scaled alternative offering for advertisers and publishers. " The addition of Yahoo to Verizon and AOL will create one of the largest portfolios of owned and partnered global brands with extensive distribution capabilities. Combined, AOL and Yahoo will have more than 25 brands in its portfolio for continued investment and growth. Yahoo's key assets include market-leading premium content brands in major categories including finance, news and sports, as well as one of the most popular email services globally with approximately 225 million monthly active users****. Additional technology assets in the advertising space include Brightroll , a programmatic demand-side platform; Flurry, an independent mobile apps analytics service; and Gemini, a native and search advertising solution. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, approval by Yahoo's shareholders, and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in Q1 of 2017. Until the closing, Yahoo will continue to operate independently, offering and improving its own products and services for users, advertisers, developers and partners. Verizon will generally issue cash-settled Verizon RSUs for Yahoo RSUs that are outstanding at the close. The sale does not include Yahoo's cash, its shares in Alibaba Group Holdings , its shares in Yahoo Japan, Yahoo's convertible notes, certain minority investments, and Yahoo's non-core patents (called the Excalibur portfolio). These assets will continue to be held by Yahoo , which will change its name at closing and become a registered, publicly traded investment company. Yahoo will provide additional information about the investment company at a future date. Yahoo intends to return substantially all of its net cash to shareholders and will determine and communicate a specific capital return strategy at an appropriate time. LionTree Advisors, LLC, Allen & Company LLC , Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Guggenheim Securities, LLC are acting as financial advisors to Verizon. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP , Covington & Burling LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP are acting as legal advisors to Verizon. Goldman, Sachs & Co., J. P. Morgan Securities LLC and PJT Partners are acting as financial advisors to the Yahoo Board and its Strategic Review Committee. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP , Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP are acting as legal advisors to Yahoo. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is independent legal advisor to Yahoo's Strategic Review Committee. Yahoo will hold an investor call at 5:30 a.m. Pacific/ 8:30 a.m. Eastern today. Investors can dial in at (866) 593-9949 and investors outside the U. S. can dial in at (973) 935-8154, using the conference ID 55971720. The call will be hosted by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman. Yahoo will also make the Chair of the Strategic Review Committee, Tom McInerney , and Yahoo Chairman of the Board Maynard Webb available for questions. Verizon will announce second-quarter 2016 results tomorrow, July 26. To provide further context for investors about this transaction and other strategic initiatives, McAdam will participate in Verizon's earnings webcast beginning 8:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow. Access instructions and presentation materials, including Verizon's earnings release, will be available at 7 a.m. on Verizon's Investor Relations website, www.verizon.com/about/investors/ . *B ased on Yahoo internal metrics, Jan. 2016 and AOL Internal, June 2016 ** Yahoo internal user metrics, Jan. 2016 *** Yahoo internal user metrics, Jan 2016 **** Yahoo internal user metrics, Jan. 2016. Mail monthly active users includes 58M IMAP/POP only users - ie. Yahoo monthly users that access their mail using other companies mail application About Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( NYSE , Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York City , generated nearly $132 billion in 2015 revenues. Verizon operates America's most reliable wireless network, with 112.6 million retail connections nationwide. The company also provides communications and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide. About AOL AOL is a media technology company with a mission to connect consumers and creators through open marketplaces. AOL uses data to disrupt content production, distribution and monetization. The company connects publishers with advertisers across its global, programmatic platforms, tapping into Microsoft inventory and original content brands like TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and MAKERS, which reach over 500 million monthly global consumers. Within its mobile advertising network alone, AOL has a reach of roughly 600 million users. A subsidiary of Verizon , AOL is shaping the digital future. About Yahoo Yahoo is a guide to digital information discovery, focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining users through its search, communications, and digital content products. By creating highly personalized experiences, Yahoo helps users discover the information that matters most to them around the world -- on mobile or desktop. Yahoo connects advertisers with target audiences through a streamlined advertising technology stack that combines the power of Yahoo's data, content, and technology. Yahoo is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California , and has offices located throughout the Americas , Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe , Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom ( pressroom.yahoo.net ) or the Company's blog ( yahoo.tumblr.com ). Yahoo!, the Yahoo family of marks, and the associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. Other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Important Additional Information and Where to Find It. Yahoo will be filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC ") a proxy statement regarding the proposed sale of Yahoo's operating business to Verizon Communications Inc. , the definitive version of which will be sent or provided to Yahoo stockholders. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, YAHOO'S STOCKHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO READ YAHOO'S PROXY STATEMENT IN ITS ENTIRETY (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION OR INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE THEREIN BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and stockholders will be able to obtain (when available) a free copy of Yahoo's proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to the proxy statement, and other documents filed by Yahoo with the SEC (when available) in connection with the proposed transaction for no charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov , on the Investor Relations page of Yahoo's website investor.yahoo.net or by writing to Investor Relations, Yahoo! Inc., 701 First Avenue , Sunnyvale, CA 94089. Yahoo and its directors and executive officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from its investors and stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information concerning the ownership of Yahoo securities by Yahoo's directors and executive officers is included in their SEC filings on Forms 3, 4 and 5, and additional information is also available in Yahoo's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 , as amended, and Yahoo's proxy statement for its 2016 annual meeting of stockholders filed with the SEC on May 23, 2016. Information regarding Yahoo's directors, executive officers and other persons who may, under the rules of the SEC , be considered participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction, including their respective interests by security holdings or otherwise, also will be set forth in the definitive proxy statement relating to the proposed transaction when it is filed with the SEC. 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Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others: (i) the inability to consummate the transaction in a timely manner or at all, due to the inability to obtain or delays in obtaining the stockholder approval, necessary regulatory approvals for the transaction or satisfaction of other conditions to the closing of the transaction; (ii) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the purchase agreement; (iii) the potential adverse effect on Yahoo's partner, advertiser, vendor and customer relationships, operating results and business generally resulting from the announcement of the transaction; (iv) the implementation of the transaction which will require significant time, attention and resources of Yahoo's senior management and others within Yahoo , potentially diverting their attention from other aspects of Yahoo's business; (v) risks related to Yahoo's ability to retain or recruit key talent; (vi) the costs, fees, expenses and charges related to or triggered by the transaction; (vii) potential adverse effects on Yahoo's business, properties or operations caused by Yahoo implementing the transaction; (viii) the anticipated benefits of transaction to Yahoo's stockholders may not be realized; and (ix) the initiation or outcome of any legal proceedings or regulatory proceedings that may be instituted against Yahoo relating to the transaction. More information about other potential factors that could affect Yahoo's business and financial results is included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Yahoo's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 , as amended, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 , which are on file with the SEC and available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. All information set forth in this communication is as of July 25, 2016. Yahoo does not intend, and undertakes no duty, to update this information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. MEDIA CONTACTS: AOL Caroline Campbell 404-444-7970 [email protected] Verizon Bob Varettoni 908-559-6388 [email protected] Yahoo Anne Espiritu 408-349-4040 [email protected] IR CONTACTS: Verizon Mike Stefanski 908-559-8018 [email protected] Yahoo Joon Huh 408-349-3382 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160527/373129LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-to-acquire-yahoos- operating-business-300303133.html SOURCE Verizon
2016-07-30 23:27 investor.yahoo.net
54 Trump’s Darkest and ‘Most Brilliant’ Hour Donald Trump claims to be the one person who can avert the certainty of impending doom. “Nobody knows the system better than me,” he asserted in accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for president, “which is why I alone can fix it.” What does Donald Trump know that others don’t know? One thing is how to beat back a gang of hungry creditors and rebound from a self-induced financial disaster. How much is that worth? Profiled in the Wall Street Journal the day before his convention (“How the 1990s Became Donald Trump’s Personal Crucible,” July 20), Trump spoke in piteous tones about being stretched on the financial rack. In the early 1990s, his real estate empire was crumbling under the combined weight of excessive debt (some $3.4 billion) and falling real estate prices. Seeing a blind man with paper cup begging on Fifth Avenue in New York, he realized that this man, with no more than the rags on his back, had a net worth several hundred million dollars north of his own. At this point, the famous deal-maker did not try to trick the beggar (little knowing how fabulously rich he really was, in a comparative sense) into trading places. Instead, he sought personal redemption. He fought tooth and nail against the impecunious demands of the least advantaged of his creditors (not the big banks, but unsecured contractors and the like). Alas, the poor man (Trump, not the beggar) had to suffer the indignity of selling his jet and yacht and being put on a strict allowance for personal and household expenses of just $450,000 a month. “That was a terrible, horrible period,” Trump said. “All of a sudden, you’re in this position, where the world is falling around you, and it could take you down.” But Trump also called this time his “most brilliant period.” Certainly he was no sap. He absolutely refused to play the part of a soft- headed sea captain who thinks it is his duty as ship’s commander to save everyone else before saving himself. Screwing his courage to the sticking place, he battled for space on the first life boat. Speaking scornfully of those he pushed aside, he told the Journal: Trump survived and eventually prospered. In the midst of all his troubles, he dumped one wife and wooed and wed another. He gave wife #2 a dazzling engagement ring “the size of a golf ball” from the shop of a famous jeweler. The bankers controlling the monthly purse strings were stunned by this act of extravagance. Alan Pomerantz, a lawyer with a firm representing Citibank, told the Journal: Trump corroborated the story, saying: “As a celebrity when you would go out in those days, the Harry Winstons of the world would give you jewelry for the night. So maybe they were talking about that.” This seems an especially apt example of Trump’s adroitness — even as a deadbeat — in finding ways to work any kind of a confining “system” to his own advantage. Operating on borrowed time and borrowed money, he still managed to create a super-sized, if false, impression of his own “hugeness.” On a recent visit to London’s Grant Museum of Zoology, I was studying exotic marine specimens when I learned something that caused me to think of Trump’s gift of the one-night-only engagement ring in a new and humorous light. I burst into laughter, startling other visitors in the hushed museum. Here among the fishes, I thought, was some real insight into the great man’s modus operandi — both as a master brander and a wildly successful populist political leader. I was in a section of the museum with small jars preserving the remains of several pufferfish, a group that includes balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, and swellfish — and also the porcupine fish and (truly) the bright orange clownfish. Pufferfish are famous for their “inflatablility.” With highly elastic stomachs, they can ingest huge amounts of water and swell up to several times their normal size — causing would-be predators to flee and a larger group of smaller fish (we might assume) to stand up and clap. What could be more Trump-like? But that still begs the question of whether Trump can puff up anything more than his own persona. Can he — as he says — make America great again? As a 24/7 braggart and self-promoter with a well-known nasty streak, Trump stretches truth to the breaking point with the claim that he “joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves.” All populists are pufferfish — making big promises and pretending to be more than they are. Pufferfish have dominated this electoral cycle — Bernie Sanders on the left, Trump on the right. Free college for everyone who wants it is to Sanders what promised toughness in cutting great-for-the-U. S. trade deals is to Trump — an exercise in magical thinking… the old story of hoping to get something for nothing. More fist pounding at the trade table won’t create millions of new jobs and cause incomes to rise… any more than Sanders (or Hillary Clinton as the now unchallenged Democratic Party standard bearer) can conjure up a college education for all that is both free and costless. Trump seems to have little appreciation for the real well-spring of American prosperity. America became the strongest, richest, and maybe even the happiest nation on earth as a result of unrivalled economic as well as political freedom, combined with deeply ingrained traits of individual initiative and individual responsibility. Trump may puff himself up — even to the point of becoming president of the United States. But to raise a divided and dispirited America to a new pinnacle of greatness will take more than puffery… or the fulminations of a crazily narcissistic blowhard. But who knows? Trump has surprised his critics and the traditionalists so many times before over the last 14 months. Maybe he can do it again — upon achieving high office. There are worse things that he could be than a human wrecking ball — blasting away at all of the conceits and certainties of eight years of progressive government under Barack Obama. Andrew B. Wilson, a long-time contributor to The American Spectator, lives in St. Louis.
2016-07-30 23:27 Andrew B spectator.org
55 55 The Democratic Party Is Tom Steyer's Now The Democratic Party’s platform on energy and climate has shifted dramatically leftward, putting the party in sync with the climate policies advocated by its wealthiest donor, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer. Steyer, who made the bulk of his money as a hedge fund manager at investment firm Farallon Capital, has spent this election year pouring millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of Democratic candidates. All that money may be paying dividends, as the Democratic Party platform’s policies on climate change reflect those of Steyer’s. Steyer brags about the shift. “It is a quantum leap forward from four years ago,” Steyer said, adding that, “I think we have the most progressive environmental platform in the history of the Democratic Party and in the history of American politics.” Steyer, a Clinton supporter, also blasted the ever-increasing influence money has on U. S. politics during the interview, telling reporters the country needs financial reform to prohibit “self-interested” businessmen from purchasing the government. Steyer believes that “you absolutely cannot” buy policy changes with political contributions. Leaked emails show that Steyer intentionally sought to purchase policy changes with political contributions in violation of his own maxim. Steyer’s money heavily influenced the Democratic National Committee’s 2016 campaign platform on climate change and renewable energy, according to hacked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails uncovered by free market group the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal). The new party platform mirrors the green billionaire’s objectives, in that it requires the U. S. to generate at least half of its energy from non-carbon- emitting sources such as solar and wind by 2030. The DNC “adopted the Steyer agenda word for word,” reports E&L. Steyer and his political action group, NextGen Climate Action, wrote a report earlier this year titled , “Fact Sheet: Powering America With More Than 50 Percent Clean Energy by 2030.” The recommendations in the reports are shown here alongside the planks developed earlier this week by the Democratic Party. E&E Legal report comparing word for word the Democratic Party platform and the policies highlighted by Steyer’s NextGen Climate group Steyer shoveled nearly $7 million into the PAC, bringing his total donations to the group to $18 million, according to an Associated Press report July 21. Steyer aso managed to contribute nearly $32 million to Democratic political candidates in 2016. 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].
2016-07-30 23:21 dailycaller.com
56 You Won't Believe Whose Granddaughter Is Voting For Clinton Republican Arizona Senator John McCain’s granddaughter Caroline McCain wrote in a Thursday Medium post that she’s supporting Hillary Clinton. As first reported by The Hill , McCain says that she has “been nursing a grudge ever since” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made comments about her grandfather’s capture during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said. The comment, which was made a little over a year ago at a Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, clearly struck a negative note with McCain. “He insulted my grandfather and attacked the very qualities — loyalty, bravery and selflessness — that he and countless other POWs embody,” said McCain in her Medium post titled “For This Republican, Never Trump Means ‘I’m With Her.'” “He mocked the sacrifice many have given and the anguish families have endured when their heroes have suffered alone miles away.” And that grudge clearly isn’t going away. “I want Donald Trump to be humiliated in November and driven far from the political arena for the rest of his life,” said McCain. McCain also voiced a frustration that many Americans share in this election: dissatisfaction. “Roughly four-in-ten voters (41%) say it is difficult to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton because neither would make a good president — as high as at any point since 2000,” according to a report from Pew Research Center. McCain grapples with her voter identity in the piece, saying she would not identify as a Republican if Trump is elected, but is not quite ready to call herself a Democrat. She added that she would vote for a third party candidate it she could. “If we lived in a system where third-party candidates stood a chance to win, then it would be a different choice. A third-party candidate could be a chance to exercise my civic responsibility while protecting my conscience.” “But I’ve realized that what matters about my vote is not whether it makes me feel good — it’s about whether it leads to the common good.” McCain has also shared her disdain for Trump on Twitter : “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with the nuclear codes.” — Caroline McCain (@ccmccain) July 29, 2016 Um did you forget that Donald talked for 75 minutes? https://t.co/i3uoxMJELg — Caroline McCain (@ccmccain) July 29, 2016 Loyalty to party can #nevertrump loyalty to country. — Caroline McCain (@ccmccain) July 29, 2016
2016-07-30 23:25 dailycaller.com
57 57 7 Of The Most Absurd Emails From The DNC Email Leak Wikileaks released nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffers just days before the convention kicked off. The leaks, dating from January 2015 to May 2016, reveal Democratic staffers colluding with certain media outlets and discussing how to best undermine Sen. Bernie Sanders, among other embarrassing revelations. Despite the magnitude of the hack and its consequences for DNC leadership, there is certainly some humor to be found in the emails. In the spirit of an election that feels more like a reality show than a formal bid for president, we’ve rounded up some of the funniest — and most ridiculous — emails from the DNC email leak. 1. The White House vetoed having Ariana Grande perform at the presidential gala because of a video of her licking donuts. “Can we also vet Arianna Grande?” DNC Finance Chair Zachary Allen wrote in an email, misspelling the famous pop singer’s name. What followed was a back-and-forth email exchange vividly discussing a video of Grande licking donuts and saying she hates America (with DNC staffers continuing to misspell her name). The vetting email summarizes, “Ariana Butera – video caught her licking other peoples’ donuts while saying she hates America; Republican Congressman used this video and said it was a double standard that liberals were not upset with her like they are with Trump who criticized Mexicans.” White House employee Bobby Schmuck abruptly shot down the performance request, writing back, “Nope, sorry.” 2. Literally no one ever took John Kasich seriously (Picture; Wikileaks.org/Screengrab) 3. The DNC created fake, sexist ads from the Trump campaign Deputy communications director Christina Freundlich proposed the Democrats impersonate the Trump Organization on Craigslist. In an email to fellow DNC staffers Mark Paustenbach and Luis Miranda, Freundlich asks for their approval for the fake ad, which seeks “hot women” who “must be open to public humiliation” and “should be proficient in lying about age if the boss thinks you’re too old.” (Picture; Wikileaks.org/Screengrab) 4. DNC staffers mocked a (now accurate) Buzzfeed report that suggests both the DNC and RNC had weak cybersecurity “The dumbest thing I’ve ever read,” reads the subject line of a May email sent from DNC spokesman Eric Walker to an email list. The subject includes the headline to the Buzzfeed story, “These Experts Think The DNC And RNC Are Both Horrible At Cybersecurity,” which the staffers go on to mock in the body of the email. 5. One DNC official casually suggested using Sanders’ religion to undermine his credibility In a May 2016 email, Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall suggests that the DNC “gets someone” to question Sanders’ faith at speeches in Kentucky and West Virginia. “Does he believe in God. He had skated on saying he has Jewish heritage,” Marshall asked. “This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” he added. Staffer Amy K. Dacey responded to that message with: “AMEN.” 6. DNC party officials entertained the conspiracy theory that Cruz’s dad killed JFK Luis Miranda, the DNC communications director, gives some credit to Trump’s conspiracy theory that Ted Cruz’s father killed JFK. “It would not be unusual for [his father] to be caught up in the ugly web of Cuban militants with questionable histories,” he notes in the May email. 7. DNC staffers actually used the phrase “Bernie Bro” (Picture; Wikileaks.org/Screengrab) Miranda and other staffers used the term several times in response to an interview request from Mark Thompson, a radio host for Sirius XM and a Sanders fan. The term “Bernie Bro” refers to outspoken, aggressive white males who support Bernie Sanders. Many involved in the emails have not yet issued public statements — including Ariana Grande, whose donut-licking video will likely haunt her forever after she realizes it cost her a White House performance. Follow Elena 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].
2016-07-30 23:25 dailycaller.com
58 JK Rowling praises Harry Potter fans for not sharing Cursed Child spoilers JK Rowling has praised fans for keeping the secrets of stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Speaking at the gala opening at the Palace Theatre in London, the best- selling author said fans had been "amazing" at avoiding spoilers. "It's the most extraordinary fandom so I'm kind of not surprised, because they didn't want to spoil it for each other. " She added: "I'm so happy we got here without ruining everything. " Rowling said that she'd like the new Harry Potter play to be seen widely around the world. Asked if the show would head to Broadway, she told the BBC: "I'd love it to go wider than that. I'd like as many Potter fans to see it as possible. " The story, by Rowling, writer Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany, is set 19 years after the seventh and final book in the series, the Deathly Hallows. It portrays the stars of the Rowling's wizarding saga as adults with their own children heading off to school. Audiences had been urged to "keep the secrets" since the play - presented in two parts over five hours - began previews in early June. It won a number of five-star reviews earlier this week, with one critic describing it as "a game-changing production". Tiffany said the play had "not massively changed" during the preview period. "We've crystallized and evolved some of the illusions and costumes - all of the actors are still in it, I'm glad to say. It's been great to see it develop in front of an audience. " The script book of the play, billed as the eighth Harry Potter story, is published at midnight after play's gala opening. Book shops around the world are planning late-night openings to allow fans to pick up their copies. Waterstones said 140 of its shops would host Potter parties on Saturday night, with the largest events in Edinburgh, Manchester Deansgate and London Piccadilly. A spokeswoman said: "Our pre-orders have exceeded six figures - numbers we haven't seen since the last Harry Potter book and we fully expect Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to be our best-selling book of the year. " It's a similar story in the US where booksellers Barnes and Noble say it's broken the pre-order record Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Speaking on the red carpet on Saturday, Friedman said Cursed Child was set to be the biggest-selling play of all time. "What we think is beautiful about that is that we are imagining children and families creating the play themselves in their living rooms and bedrooms. " The Harry Potter books have sold more than 450 million copies since 1997 and been adapted into eight films. Potter are also preparing themselves for spin-off film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by Rowling, which opens in November.
2016-07-30 23:06 By Tim www.bbc.co.uk
59 Breaking News English Lesson New research shows that office workers and other people who sit down a lot must exercise for one hour a day. If they do this, they will increase their chances of living longer. Doctors have been telling us for a long time that sitting down all day will shorten our life. Researchers now say that sitting in a chair all day is as dangerous to our health as smoking or being overweight. Research on over one million adults found that sitting for at least eight hours a day could increase the risk of dying early by up to 60 per cent. However, there is good news for those who sit at a desk all day. An hour's "brisk exercise" each day can cancel out the risk of an early death linked to sitting all day. The research was published in time for people to read before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Researchers hope this will encourage people to exercise more. They say that being inactive increases the risk of getting heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Watching TV all day is one of the worst things we can do as that also means we get no exercise and are likely to eat unhealthy snacks. One researcher said office workers should find opportunities to get out of their seat more often. Professor Ulf Eklund advised people to: "Take a five-minute break every hour, go to the next office, go upstairs to the coffee machine, go to the printer. " He added: "Build physical activity into your everyday life. "
2016-07-30 23:06 www.breakingnewsenglish.com
60 Goldman Subpoenaed For Global Corruption Subpoenas were issued to Goldman Sachs for its alleged connections to a global corruption ring, according to reports Friday. Goldman Sachs, a worldwide leading investment bank with ties to the 2008 banking crisis, faces subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday concerning its relationship with a Malaysian consortium at the heart of a global corruption scandal, reports the Wall Street Journal. Goldman has cooperated thus far with authorities, providing the necessary documents to both the SEC and the DOJ. In addition to the documents in question, authorities want to interview both current and former bank employees who have connections with the Malaysian group–1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). The investigation focuses on compliance with the US Bank Secrecy Act, an act that requires domestic financial institutions to “assist U. S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering.” Goldman is being investigated specifically regarding the $2.5 billion in profits it earned from 1MDB bond sales, which were “diverted from the fund to shell companies controlled by influential figures in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi,” reports the Wall Street Journal. It isn’t just U. S. authorities looking into the matter. Singapore’s central bank stated Saturday that it too is investigating. The investment bank has ties to 1MDB dating back to 2009 with some $6.5 billion in bond acquisitions over the course of the relationship. Goldman says that it had “no visibility into whether some of those funds may have been subsequently diverted to other purposes.” Follow Robert 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].
2016-07-30 23:11 dailycaller.com
61 Romney: Hillary Could Lose, And Bill Is A Big Reason Why Mitt Romney now says Hillary Clinton could lose the election, in large part because she’s an “awful candidate” who is perceived as inauthentic — and trying to act like her husband Bill isn’t helping her case. “You can’t forget that Hillary Clinton is a player as well, and she’s an awful candidate,” Romney said on GOP consultant Mike Murphy’s podcast released this month. “People don’t trust her, they don’t like in my view she comes across as not being at all authentic.” “I don’t understand why it is she can’t be what I had expected her to be, which is Angela Merkel or Kathleen Sebelius,” he continued on the podcast, unearthed by Buzzfeed . “There are serious women leaders who don’t go into an audience and put their arms up in the air and make a big guffaw kind of smile. It’s almost like she’s acting like she’s Bill Clinton and she’s not Bill Clinton. Nonetheless, it doesn’t come across well.” The 2012 Republican presidential nominee was one of the earlier Republicans to openly denounce Trump this election season, and has said he will not vote for him or for Clinton for president. Romney told Murphy he thinks it “very possible” that Trump wins in a close race, although he could also lose in a landslide. “I don’t know which it’s going to be and a lot of that depends on what happens to Hillary Clinton. Is there a meltdown moment, or some implosion of some kind?” Hillary got a little bit too excited Follow Rachel on Twitter Send tips to rachel@ 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].
2016-07-30 23:11 dailycaller.com
62 MLB Baseball Box Scores ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Given one last chance to showcase himself before the trade deadline, Rays starter Jake Odorizzi pitched six-plus shutout innings to lead Tampa Bay to a 5-1 vicotry Friday over the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. Odorizzi (5-5) won for the second time in three starts in what would be his last appearance with the Rays if he's dealt before Monday's trade deadline. The Rays (40-61) won their first home game in 12 days, while the Yankees (52-50) lost after having the best record in the majors (8-3) since July 17. Yankees starter Ivan Nova (7-6), also mentioned as a trade possibility, gave up five runs and six hits, and didn't make it through the fifth inning. New York spoiled the shutout on Mark Teixeira's RBI single with two outs in the eighth off reliever Dylan Floro. Rays reliever Erasmo Ramirez, another reported trade target, came in for the ninth but gave up two singles, putting the tying run on deck. That created a save situation for Alex Colome, who got the final two outs for his 23rd save. Odorizzi, who came in with a major-league-high 12 no-decisions this season, gave up two hits in the first three batters, but just one more hit in the first five innings. The Rays had much better success against Nova, who was in trouble from the start. Logan Forsythe and Corey Dickerson hit solo home runs in the first inning -- the 10th this season for Forsythe, the 15th for Dickerson. Tampa Bay added a run in the third inning when Brad Miller led off the inning with a triple, then scored on Dickerson's RBI fielder's choice for a 3-0 lead. The Rays had two on and one out, but Nova was able to get out of the inning with no further damage. Miller sparked the Rays again in the fifth, leading off with a double and scoring on an RBI double by Evan Longoria. After Nova was chased from the game after only 4 1/3 innings, reliever Chad Green gave up a sacrifice fly to Steven Souza Jr. to make it 5-0, but got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning. Odorizzi also pitched well against the Yankees earlier this season, allowing only one hit in seven innings but losing 2-1 when that hit was a two-run Starlin Castro homer in the seventh inning. NOTES: The Rays made injury-related moves before Friday's game -- 1B Logan Morrison (right forearm strain) and OF Oswaldo Arcia (right elbow strain) were placed on the 15-day disabled list, RHP Brad Boxberger was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list and UTL Nick Franklin was recalled from Triple-A Durham. Boxberger had returned from adductor surgery for one appearance in late May, giving up two runs and two hits in two-thirds of an inning before returning to the DL. Franklin is in his third stint with the Rays this season, hitting.313 with 13 RBIs in 94 at- bats. ... The Yankees are one of two major-league teams (with the Twins) whose record has improved in each month this season, from 8-14 in April to 16-15 in May to 15-12 in June. They are 13-11 in July.
2016-07-30 23:11 The Sports scoresandstats.newyork.cbslocal.com
63 Captain Not So Fantastic It seems to me entirely appropriate that the title of Captain Fantastic, otherwise far from clear in meaning, makes Matt Ross’s movie sound like yet another super-hero flick. His hero, Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen), a militant hippie living in the picturesque forests of the Pacific Northwest with his wife and six children, is every bit as fantastical as the most outlandish of the Marvel Comics universe. He also suffers from the same crippling vulnerability that so many of the cartoon heroes do, something far more deadly than Kryptonite, which is that both he and his creator make the fatal mistake of expecting us to take him seriously. That’s a pity, because the idea of the film is a good one. It’s only about half- way through it that one realizes with a bit of a start that Mr. Ross doesn’t actually know that Ben is a political and social absurdity, half right-wing survivalist and half far-left Maoist, who engages in the oxymoronic posturing of the 1960s flower children. Though he (and the children, acting under his direction) pretend to communist-revolutionary sentiments (“Power to the people! Stick it to the man!” is the call and response between father and children), their idea of revolution is the politically inert but very Emersonian/Thoreauvian decision to hold themselves entirely apart from any potentially revolutionary masses, along with all the rest of a society they hold in contempt. There are still a lot of people of my generation who remain similarly blind to the fact that a drop-out revolutionary is a contradiction in terms — though not many are so far gone as Ben, who has taught his children to celebrate Noam Chomsky’s birthday instead of Christmas. You might think that sounds like gross caricature, but it proves not to be so, at least not in Mr. Ross’s eyes, as the works of Professor Chomsky also provide the inspirational quotation for the film’s would be inspirational peripeteia. Perhaps he and his family celebrate Noam Chomsky day as well. The professor himself, one suspects, would point out the contradiction between Ben’s supposed political ideology and his quasi-tribal way of life. The film actually begins with a communal deer hunt by Ben and his children that turns into a rite of passage to manhood for his oldest son, Bo (George MacKay). Ben, we may surmise, hasn’t yet got the memo about hetero- normativity and binary gender prejudice as the latest form of racist- capitalist-imperialism slated for extermination by the new new left. Another director would have Ben’s arrogant self-righteousness and contempt for the masses and their disgusting, consumerist ways set him up for a schooling in humility — and reality — and it looks as if something of the sort is on the way when, in the immediate aftermath of the suicide of Ben’s manic-depressive wife (Trin Miller), he gathers the children into a converted school bus for the long journey to New Mexico and a funeral at which his right-wing monster of a father-in-law (Frank Langella) has made it clear he will not be welcome. Surely, we think, when the children come in contact with the world outside their little Swiss Family Robinson idyll they, at least, will have to undergo some attitude adjustment. But, insofar as they do, it proves to be only temporary. A younger, post- pubescent son (Nicholas Hamilton), who blames his father for his mother’s death, lashes out at him and briefly thinks he wants to stay with his awful grandpa. We also see Bo, embarrassed at his own unfamiliarity with today’s — or any other day’s — courtship rituals, burst out against dad with the reproach that “unless it comes out of a f****** book, I don’t know anything about anything.” Above all, when a daughter is badly injured while trying to retrieve her errant brother from grandpa’s clutches, dad himself suffers from what must be the first minutes of self-doubt he has ever known. They don’t last. Ben barely has time to shave off his mountain-man beard before the children, now unanimous in their appreciation of him (and of mom’s bizarre posthumous wish to be cremated and her ashes flushed down a public toilet), persuade him that he and his hothouse educational methods (all the children have learned to speak fluent Esperanto, and are at degree-level in multiple other subjects) have been right all along — though the sojourn in the wilderness requires a bit of a re-think. In the end, all are content to settle for a rural cottage on a subsistence farm, the kids going to school with other children but at the same time keeping up with dad’s extra tuition — and his still-militant politics. To me this aping of academic Marxism-Leninism — which otherwise Ben seems unaccountably to despise along with practically everything else in the world of everybody else — is the most annoying thing about this very annoying film. Who outside of a university common room identifies intelligence and scholarship with the politics of the infantile left or the childish play-acting of pretend revolutionaries? Both Ben and Mr. Ross, as well as what the latter must have imagined as his target audience, are left in firm possession of the sublime self-satisfaction with which they began, still fancying they are sticking it to the man by remaining aloof from him, their political assumptions undisturbed by anything that has happened to them. Not that that will bother the professors and others who only watch movies to have their own prejudices confirmed.
2016-07-30 23:11 James Bowman spectator.org
64 New Classes at Pisgah Wildlife Center By Don Mallicoat- The WRC Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education has some new offerings for the month of August that may be of interest to the novice angler and parents looking for activities for the kids. The complete list can be found at the Commission’s website, www.ncwildlife.org, under Learning. Here are some we thought might be of interest. Aug. 1-5 – Week in the Woods from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. daily. Open to ages 8-15. This weeklong series of hands-on classes focuses on outdoor skills and safety. Participants will learn about tracking, using a compass, survival skills, wildlife and much more. They will spend one day hiking to the top of John Rock. For the novice trout angler these two may be of interest. Aug. 6 – Fly Tying for the Beginner from 1 to 4 p.m. Open to ages 12 and up. Learn the basics of fly tying during this introductory level class. Participants will work at their own pace to tie a basic pattern. Equipment and materials will be provided. Aug. 19 – Casting for Beginners: Level II from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Open to ages 12 and up. Participants will learn more advanced casting techniques at their own pace from experienced instructors. This class will be held at Lake Imaging in DuPont State Recreational Forest. All equipment and materials will be provided. Participants should bring a bag lunch. With hunting season just around the corner it is time to think about required Hunter Safety training for the new hunter. Aug. 23 and 24 – Hunter Education Course from 6 to 9 p.m. No minimum age. This two-day course will covered hunter responsibility and firearms and is accepted in every state in the United States. Everyone must complete a hunter education course successfully before hunting in North Carolina and all attendees must be present both days. There are also Hunter Education classes at Skyland Fire Department August 3 – 4 and Haywood Community College August 8 – 9. Get it done before the season starts! Speaking of hunting season, it is time to start getting ready for resident goose starting September 1 and of course dove on September 3. I spoke with a WRC officer the other day and he says the recent rains have really helped the dove fields at Sandy Mush and they should be ready for opening day. If this drought persists I’m concerned about the impact on early goose season though. Last year’s drought led farmers to cut their silage corn early. That combined with low water levels made it difficult to pattern goose movement. Hopefully better results this year. And since wingshooting season starts soon here is another last minute reminder to get some shooting practice in. You can have the best equipment, best camouflage, and best location in the field and if you can’t hit the birds there is nothing in the freezer and you will be very frustrated. True, you can’t simulate every target angle you will face in the field but that’s not what you are trying to achieve. The main goal you work on is your timing and re-establishing those motor skills you’ve lost since last season. Do some work at home mounting the gun until you’ve got it coming to the same place every time. Take that to the sporting clays range and force yourself to focus on the target while moving the gun ahead of it for a smooth, consistent swing to break the target. Two to three trips to the range will lead to more satisfaction in the field and a full limit. I talked with a couple of fishing guides this week and both confirmed that conditions are terrible right now due to the persistent drought in our area. Drifting the French Broad for smallmouth bass is impossible. Not only is the water low but it is muddy because what water is there is run off from upstream. They are doing some trips to Tennessee for tailwater trout. About the only fishing to be done right now is wade fishing for trout on streams and it has to be done early morning before the water temperatures rise. Let us hope this drought will subside and conditions will improve before the Fall fishing season begins and Delayed Harvest streams are restocked. Don Mallicoat owns Wings & Clays Guns and Gear and can be reached at [email protected] or 828.633.1806
2016-07-30 23:13 By Don www.thetribunepapers.com
65 TUNE IN TODAY: Yahoo Hosts First-Ever Live Stream of Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting Live coverage begins at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday (4/30) Interviews with: , Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; , Series Creator, "Breaking Bad" & "Better Call Saul"; , Chair, CEO and Chief Designer, Kathy Ireland Worldwide; , Sr. Partner, , and many more --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tune in as (Nasdaq:YHOO) hosts the first-ever live stream of Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders meeting today, , kicking-off with live coverage and analysis from Yahoo Finance Editor-in- Chief , on-the-ground at CenturyLink Center Omaha. Audiences will be able to watch live on Yahoo Finance - across desktop, tablet and mobile - as Chairman and CEO and his right-hand man share their unscripted views on the company, the markets, the economy, and whatever other topic that may come up. Watch the live stream here: http://yhoo.it/BRKLive Throughout the Preshow and Halftime Report we'll also feature a number of live and pre-taped interviews with the Yahoo Finance editorial team, including: , Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; , BNSF CEO; , CEO; , CEO; , CEO; , CEO; songwriter, and long-time Buffett friend ; author and international speaker ; legendary business journalist ; Sr. Partner, , ; BRK-B shareholder and series creator of "Breaking Bad" & "Better Call Saul" ; Chair, CEO and Chief Designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, ; and many others. The shareholders meeting live stream will be available in both English and Mandarin, and will be delivered in 1080p HD quality. Embeddable VOD replay will be available on Yahoo Finance for 30 days following the meeting. For more information, and to register for regular updates on the Berkshire on Yahoo Finance, go to: http://yhoo.it/BRKLive Follow the conversation on Twitter with @YahooFinance #BRKLiveStream
2016-07-30 23:17 investor.yahoo.net
66 60 injured as Yerevan police disperse protesters from besieged police station (PHOTO, VIDEO) — RT News Friday’s violence began when protesters broke through an area cordoned off by police, before being forcibly pushed back. Ruptly footage from the scene shows a large crowd of protesters running away from the police, as loud bangs are heard and a blaze is seen in the background. The police were wearing riot gear as they proceeded to chase off the protesters while banging their batons loudly against heavy shields. Flashbangs shot by police officers created a thick smoke, causing demonstrators to cover their faces. In addition, one of the houses nearby reportedly caught fire from one of the flashbangs, local media reported. Several journalists reported suffering flesh burns after being hit with police flashbangs. Separate reports described a group of people wearing civilian clothes beating up several reporters who were covering the demonstrations. “Sixty people were hospitalized as a result of the police dispersion of demonstrations held around the territory of the patrol police building captured by an armed group in Yerevan,” Ministry of Health spokesperson Anahit Aytayan told Sputnik Armenia. Supporters of the armed group came out on Friday, marching around the besieged police building in the Armenian capital. As protesters made their way across the city, police used flashbangs around Horenaci Street to disperse the crowd. Dozens were reportedly detained. The armed group took control of the police station in the Erebuni district of Yerevan on July 17, taking several police officers hostage and killing one in the process. READ MORE: Two gunmen surrender in Armenia’s police station siege after brief shootout Negotiations have been ongoing ever since. All of the hostages have been released, but the armed men then captured emergency responders who had come to the police station to tend to the wounded. The group’s demands include the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was detained on June 20 after authorities allegedly uncovered a plot to seize several buildings and telecommunication facilities in Yerevan. Last October, Jirayr Serfilyan and his opposition movement, “New Armenia,” announced that they would launch a “process of the civil disobedience and change of power.” Sefilyan openly said at a demonstration that he believes “achieving the shift of power only through elections is impossible; it can be achieved only by an armed rebellion of the people.” READ MORE: Scores injured in Armenia clashes as police station hostage crisis continues in capital Earlier this week, two armed members of the group that sieged the police station surrendered after exchanging fire with police, Ashot Aharonian, the head of Information and Public Relations of the Police of Armenia told the media. This is not the first time the group’s supporters have clashed with police. On July 20, violence between police and demonstrators resulted in the injury of 51 people, 29 of whom were police officers. Police detained 136 protesters during those clashes.
2016-07-30 23:13 www.rt.com
67 Federal judge strikes down WI election laws as benefiting GOP — RT America “The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities,” US District Judge James Peterson wrote in his 112-page ruling on Friday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “To put it bluntly, Wisconsin’s strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease.” Judge Peterson’s ruling keeps the state’s voter identification law in place, but orders the state to issue voting credentials to anyone trying to obtain a free photo ID to vote, even if they lack the required documents, such as a birth certificate. He said the state’s current system had proved to be “a wretched failure,” because an overwhelming number of black and Hispanic citizens were unable to obtain IDs. Judge Peterson also struck down a law limiting absentee voting to one location in a municipality and early in-person voting to weekdays. The law limiting early voting “intentionally discriminates on the basis of race,” Peterson wrote, reported the Journal. “I reach this conclusion because I am persuaded that this law was specifically targeted to curtail voting in Milwaukee without any other legitimate purpose.” “The Legislature’s immediate goal was to achieve a partisan objective, but the means of achieving that objective was to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukee’s African-Americans,” the ruling continued. The judge also struck down new residency requirements, which had increased from 10 to 28 days. “Wisconsin has the authority to regulate its elections to preserve their integrity, and a voter ID requirement can be part of a well-conceived election system,” Peterson wrote, according to the Associated Press. “But… part of Wisconsin’s election regime fail to comply with the constitutional requirement that its elections remain fair and equally open to all qualified electors.” Despite the presidential election being less than four months away, Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel told the AP that he would appeal the court’s decision. The lawsuit was filed by two liberal groups, One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, Inc., which argued that the state’s election laws were unconstitutional and discriminated against the poor, racial minorities, and young voters, who are more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate. “It is a great day for Wisconsin voters and those who care about protecting the right to vote,” Marc Elias, an attorney representing both groups told the AP, while claiming that Republicans have been working nationwide to repeal voting rights and laws that have been place since 1965. Defense attorneys argued that the laws did not suppress voter turnout, while maintaining the state had worked hard to make sure anyone needing a free ID to vote received one.
2016-07-30 23:13 www.rt.com
68 Two charged in cold-case killing Just One More Thing... We have sent you a verification email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your profile. If you do not receive the verification message within a few minutes of signing up, please check your Spam or Junk folder. Close
2016-07-30 23:18 Steve Burns www.ajc.com
69 Shocking images underscore war devastation of ancient Syrian city (PHOTOS) — RT Viral Aleppo, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site, has been at the forefront of the war since July 2012 and has suffered catastrophic devastation as a result. Thousands have been killed in the Battle of Aleppo and much of its ancient heritage has suffered significant damage. READ MORE: Aleppo residents begin escape from besieged neighborhoods via safe passage – local media These 10 images by Olympia.gr show before and after shots of this once beautiful ancient city, now lying in ruins. READ MORE: Palmyra before & after: ISIS occupation has done ‘enormous damage’ (PHOTOS)
2016-07-30 23:13 www.rt.com
70 ‘Bonkers’ govt decision casts doubt on Britain’s first nuclear power plant in 20yrs — RT UK French energy firm EDF, which is financing most of the £18 billion (US$23.7 billion) project at Hinkley Point in Somerset, approved the funding at a board meeting on Thursday, although its board was split. Contracts were expected to be finalized on Friday but the government shocked the industry by saying it wanted more time to study the details. Critics believe the government has been stung by the anger over the amount EDF will be paid for generating power from Hinkley - £92.50 per unit of electricity generated. New PM Theresa May wanted time to look at the deal before anything is signed. Around 25,000 jobs are expected to be created by the project. Justin Bowden, the GMB trade union’s national secretary for energy, told the Press Association: “Theresa May’s decision to review the go-ahead on HPC is bewildering and bonkers. After years of procrastination, what is required is decisive action not dithering and more delay. “This unnecessary hesitation is putting finance for the project in doubt and 25,000 new jobs at risk immediately after Brexit. It is a gross error of judgment and must be reversed. " Bowden added: “Building Hinkley will not only on its own make up for successive governments’ failure to have in place a coherent energy policy, but it is a very important step along that road... As GMB has been warning now for months, the country’s energy capacity is already so fragile that if we have a cold winter there is a high likelihood we will experience power cuts. “The ramifications of this foolish delay are far wider than putting our energy needs in jeopardy – they will immediately call into question other major infrastructure projects coming down the line like HS2 and Heathrow/Gatwick expansion.” Jean-Bernard Levy, EDF group chief, told the BBC he remained confident the project would go ahead. “I have no doubt about the support of the British government led by Mrs May.” Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said in a statement: “The UK needs a reliable and secure energy supply and the government believes that nuclear energy is an important part of the mix. “The government will now consider carefully all the component parts of this project and make its decision in early Autumn.” The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) says the government is right to review the deal, and now it should be scrapped. Its general secretary, Kate Hudson, said: "Even supporters of nuclear power now recognise how bad this deal is. It means signing up our future to some of the most expensive electricity we have seen, and handing over £30 billion in subsidies to France and China just isn't a credible economic plan. " Hudson has criticized the nuclear deal as one which “will saddle future generations with an astronomical environmental and economic debt.” She added: “Nuclear power is dangerous. During normal operation cancer clusters have been observed by scientists around power stations. "There is the risk of nuclear accidents and disasters like Fukushima, and there is still no safe way to store nuclear waste. Tackling nuclear waste ultimately falls to national governments at huge expense.”
2016-07-30 23:13 www.rt.com
71 Austria’s far-right candidate leading in first re- run election poll — RT News Hofer received 52 percent of support from respondents, while his opponent, Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green-backed independent, got 48 percent, according to a Gallup poll, commissioned by the Oesterreich newspaper. Van der Bellen defeated Hofer by a slender margin in the presidential run- off in May, after he had finished in second following the first round. However, May’s election results were declared void in July, after Hofer’s party challenged the result of the presidential election won by Van der Bellen by a mere 0.6 percent, with claims of irregularities in the procedure of counting postal ballots. READ MORE: 'Auxit' vote within year: Far-right Hofer warns Austria could follow in British footsteps If Hofer wins on October 2, Austria could look to follow in the footsteps of the UK and exit the EU. At the end of June, Hofer warned his country could hold a referendum on EU membership within a year if the bloc insists on political “centralization.” “The founding fathers [of the EU] wanted to ensure closer economic cooperation because states that cooperate economically do not wage war against each other. That worked very well until the political union was founded,” Hofer told the local tabloid Oesterreich.
2016-07-30 23:14 www.rt.com
72 English Conversation Questions / Debates 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.
2016-07-30 23:01 www.esldiscussions.com
73 Bloomberg View Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Americas +1 212 318 2000 Europe, Middle East, & Africa +44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific +65 6212 1000 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Americas +1 212 318 2000 Europe, Middle East, & Africa +44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific +65 6212 1000
2016-07-30 23:01 www.bloomberg.com
74 Corbyn: Labour MPs planning split should think again Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for the party's MPs to "think again" after reports that some are planning a "semi-split" of the party. The Daily Telegraph says a group of senior Labour MPs are looking at plans to set up an "alternative Labour" if Mr Corbyn stays on as leader. But Mr Corbyn said there was "no alternative... we are Labour", and the party should unite to fight the Tories. Challenger Owen Smith said Labour was "on the edge of the precipice". The Telegraph said "leading moderates" in the party were planning to elect their own leader and shadow cabinet if Mr Corbyn wins the current leadership contest, and possibly launch a legal challenge for Labour's name. Asked about the reports, Mr Corbyn, who was holding rallies in Hull and Leeds on Saturday, said: "Sorry, this is nonsense, whoever is saying my leadership is leading to a break-up of the party? "Since I became leader membership has doubled, activity has increased. " Mr Corbyn urged MPs to "work with the elected leadership of the party to bring about the defeat of the Tories". He said: "If people want to split the Labour party then they're splitting something that was the creation of pioneers to bring about social justice in Britain - with a party that brought the National Health Service, that brought human rights, that brought the Equalities Act of Britain. "Surely there are some achievements we can all be proud of - and the next achievements are to defeat the politics of austerity and cuts. " He added: "We are getting into some fairly bizarre territory here where unnamed MPs, funded from unnamed sources, are apparently trying to challenge - via the Daily Telegraph, very interesting - the very existence of this party. " Mr Smith, who was at a rally in Liverpool on Saturday, said he worried about a split if Mr Corbyn won. "I do worry about there being a split - I say that very seriously. I think the Labour Party is standing on the edge of the precipice right now. "But we've got to heal the party - we've got to come back together and that's why I'm running to heal the Labour Party, to unite us to get us ready for government. " He said there were "some on the far left of the party who have become fatalistic about the prospect of a split". "And it would be a total disaster for working people in this country if the Labour Party - the party that's been on their side for a hundred years or more - were to split. An absolute disaster. "I'm refusing even to contemplate that happening. I'm standing to unite the party and stop a split from occurring. " The trigger for the challenge against Mr Corbyn - who became Labour leader last year - was the UK's vote to leave the EU. Some Labour MPs said they felt Mr Corbyn had not shown enough enthusiasm and leadership for the Remain campaign. He lost a motion of no confidence, and dozens of his frontbench team walked out, saying he could not win a general election. But Mr Corbyn says he was democratically elected "for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters" and that he will "not betray them" by resigning. The result of the leadership contest will be announced on 24 September.
2016-07-30 23:07 www.bbc.co.uk
75 US election 2016: Onward from the conventions The road from Cleveland to Philadelphia takes you through the Rust Belt of America, the towns where they once made steel and the hills where they mined the coal. That territory, between the two convention cities in this presidential year, is where the battle will be fiercest because that's the cradle of discontent. Two conventions over and angry in different ways. Donald Trump told Republicans that the country was being destroyed by Democrats - its jobs, its self-respect, even its spirit. But he understood what to do about it. He knew the system better than anyone else, he told them, so he alone could fix it. And he personalised the contest more sharply than any recent candidate has dared, calling Hillary Clinton corrupt and crooked. "Lock her up! " they chanted from the floor. The unhappiness seeping through her convention was different, coming from supporters of Bernie Sanders - beaten in the primaries - with some of them still willing to boo her name when their hero urged everyone to get behind her to defeat Trump. The Sanders army from the left is not unlike Trump's own on the right - driven by a passionate but sometimes inchoate rage at what they call "the establishment", for which Clinton stands as a convenient symbol. The candidate for the way things have been. So the conventions exposed the candidates' weaknesses. Trump's capacity for crude verbal brawling - even, some Republicans would whisper to you, demagoguery - and the feeling that he might say anything. And - even with Obama's oratory and her own masterclass of a speech - Clinton's difficulty in persuading some of the most liberal voices in her party that she is indeed the one to beat him. She spoke after being nominated of making a crack in the glass ceiling that had held women back. But there's another invisible barrier for her campaign: reluctance in many electors to give her trust. They've now laid it all out. When he's questioned, Trump's answer to how he's going to "make America great again" - the theme of his campaign - is vague, as if explanation is unnecessary. "Just watch me," he says. For Clinton, in her convention speech - a one-woman solution ("I alone can fix it") was wrong and dangerous. And that deep personal divide is also a sharp fork in the road for Americans. Whether on foreign policy, health care, guns and abortion - perhaps above all on the all-important make-up of the Supreme Court - these two candidates talk about a different kind of country. Democrats spent the four days reminding Americans of Clinton's life story - the young lawyer who fought segregation, the First Lady who championed liberal causes, the senator and secretary of state. Experience that deserved trust, but it makes her dangerously like a status quo candidate at a moment when people want change. Trump says it's his time - a time to take a chance. So each heads into the campaign with heavy baggage. Trump's unpredictability and volatility are a handicap. What other candidate would celebrate the suggestion that it was the Russians who'd hacked into Democratic National Committee emails, and suggest that they might do more? Then say the next day he was only joking. And for Clinton, the private email server that she used when she was secretary of state is a mistake that she can't shrug off: Republicans say if you can't trust her to handle classified messages, why should you trust her to run the country? She says if you can bait Trump with a tweet would you trust him with nuclear weapons? We'll see an intensely personal campaign in which one candidate is accused of having not enough experience and the other too much. That means that the most decisive moments will probably come when they meet in three debates, the first in late September. The irresistible force will meet the immovable object. A confrontation, with nowhere to hide. By the time of the last debate - appropriately in Las Vegas, home of the big fight - we should know which of them has best overcome the doubts of the electorate. America is more partisan than it used to be and divided more deeply. The minority of voters with open minds will decide this election and, with the set- piece conventions over, it may be those face-to-face encounters that will settle the matter. The first woman candidate against an opponent with no political experience whatever. However you look at it, we've seen nothing like this before. James Naughtie is BBC News Book Editor and presents Bookclub on BBC Radio 4. He was a presenter on the Today programme from 1994 to 2015.
2016-07-30 23:03 By James www.bbc.co.uk
76 Belgium charges man with planned terror attack One of two brothers arrested in Belgium in an anti-terror operation has been charged with attempting to commit "terrorist murder". Prosecutors said the 33- year-old man, named as Nourredine H, is also accused of being part of a terrorist group. He and his brother, named as Hamza H, were arrested on Friday after searches in the Mons area and the city of Liege. Hamza H was released on Saturday without charge. No weapons or explosives were found in the searches. Prosecutors did not name the organisation Nourredine H is accused of working for. Belgium has been on high alert since 32 people died in bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station in March. Many more people were injured in the attacks, which were claimed by so- called Islamic State. "Based on provisional results from the investigation, it appears that there were plans to carry out attacks in Belgium," the federal prosecutor's office said following the arrests. But the statement added that as yet no link had been found to the Brussels bombings. Security was boosted in the run-up to Belgium's national holiday on 21 July, amid fears of something similar to the lorry attack in the French city of Nice on 14 July, Bastille Day.
2016-07-30 23:03 www.bbc.co.uk
77 Tokyo's ill-tempered election Tokyo is preparing to vote for its next governor, one of the biggest jobs in Japan, which this term comes with the added pressure of overseeing the 2020 Olympics preparations. But as Mariko Oi reports, the election campaign has been marred by insult-slinging and allegations of sexism. "Traitor". "Too much make-up". "Dressed as a woman but a hawkish man". These are some of the comments that have been flung in what has become one of the most negative campaigns of recent years in Japan. Twenty-one people will be running for Tokyo's top job in Sunday's election and former defence and environment minister Yuriko Koike is currently considered to be in the lead. She would become Tokyo's first female governor if elected. But unusually, Ms Koike's party - the ruling Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) - has chosen not to back her, in favour of Hiroya Masuda, a former governor of the Iwate prefecture between 1995 and 2007, who isn't a party member. The influential local LDP leadership, which is furious with Ms Koike's decision to announce her candidacy without consulting it, has even warned members they risk being ousted if they endorse anyone but Mr Masuda. Ms Koike's lead in the polls has annoyed LDP grandees, with former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, the father of the local LDP federation chairman, telling voters: "We cannot leave Tokyo to a woman with too much make-up. " Her supporters were disgusted by what they called a sexist remark, but after decades in Japan's male-dominated political theatre, Ms Koike laughed it off: "I am used to it. " Harsh comments have also come from other female politicians, however, with former Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima saying that she wouldn't support Ms Koike simply because she was a woman. "It's meaningless when she is dressed as a woman but inside is a hawkish man," she said. This comment drew criticism - it was seen to be insensitive as Ms Koike had her ovaries removed in 1998 because of fibroids. For journalist Shuntaro Torigoe - running as the joint candidate for several opposition parties - it has not been his gender but his age and health that have been publicly scrutinised. He is 76 and a cancer survivor. While also among the front-runners, his critics say his scrawled handwriting and at times rambling and contradictory speeches are proof he is too old and frail to lead. Some, including doctors, have even asked if he might have dementia. Mr Torigoe has said he is fit to govern and is simply being discriminated against because of his successful battle against the disease. He also faced one of the strongest insults possible in Japan, when Mr Ishihara called him a traitor to the country. This was because Mr Torigoe previously questioned whether it would be worth protecting the uninhabited Senkaku islands - also claimed by China, which calls them the Diaoyu - if they were attacked. Mr Ishihara, who had initiated the national purchase of the islands while governor in 2012, was infuriated by the suggestion. What appears to be affecting Mr Torigoe's popularity most, however, is an accusation that he made an inappropriate approach to women. Mr Torigoe is suing two tabloid magazines for libel, but his decision not to hold a press conference about the accusation, as well as his last-minute cancellation to appear on a debate programme, has led to criticism that he is contradicting his lifelong pursuit of a free press. As they go to the polls on Sunday, one of the main concerns in the minds of Tokyoites is the ballooning budget for the 2020 Olympics, which have been hit by other problems including allegations of corruption and plagiarism of original logo designs. Another major issue which the candidates are urged to seriously tackle is the lack of childcare, which would allow mothers to go back to work. But above all, transparency is crucial in many voters' minds after two past governors, Naoki Inose and Yoichi Masuzoe , resigned over money scandals. Whoever gets elected on Sunday will serve a four-year term and could be re-elected - but it is unclear if the next election will take place before, during or after the city's second Olympic Games in 2020. What voters want is stability and to avoid a revolving door at City Hall.
2016-07-30 23:03 By Mariko www.bbc.co.uk
78 Entertainment week in pictures: 23 Brie Larson (with hands aloft) was unveiled as the new Captain Marvel at the Comic Con fan event in San Diego. She was seen on stage posing for a selfie taken by panel host Chris Hardwick. Morph, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and other characters featured on a special collection of stamps, issued by the Isle of Man Post Office to celebrate the 40th anniversary of animation studio Aardman. Ewen Bremner, Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle were seen recreating their roles as Spud, Renton, Sick Boy and Begbie in the first "teaser" trailer from T2, Danny Boyle's sequel to his 1996 success Trainspotting. It was revealed that Monogram, a work by Robert Rauschenberg featuring a stuffed angora goat in a tyre standing on a painting, is to go on display at Tate Modern as part of a retrospective of his works. It is said to have taken him several years to decide where on the work to place the goat. Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie took a break from filming the new series of Doctor Who in Valencia to take a selfie. Mackie, who is to star as new companion Bill, and Capaldi were shooting episode two of series 10 at the City of Arts and Science Museum. Photographs of the glass artworks featured in Salisbury Cathedral's latest exhibition were released in advance of its opening on 1 August. Amy Cushing's Incandescent is one of the pieces seeking to explore the theme of reflection. A video installation of Mary carrying the body of Jesus is to be installed at St Paul's Cathedral in September. Bill Viola's work is a companion piece to the US artist's Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), unveiled in the South Quire Aisle of the cathedral in 2014. They are the first moving-image artworks to be installed in a UK cathedral on a long-term basis. A 10ft (3m) statue of Michael Jackson was unveiled at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, with dancers from a Cirque du Soleil show dedicated to the King of Pop taking part at the event. Jackson had the statue commissioned in 1994 - it was later the basis for the cover of his 1995 album HIStory. Dame Vera Lynn celebrated with a glass of fizz after being made a Companion of Honour. She received the accolade - for nearly eight decades of service to entertainment and charity - from Peter Field, the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, at an investiture ceremony at her home near Brighton. The 99-year-old, who could not make it to Buckingham Palace, said she was "truly delighted" to receive the honour. Michael Keaton, star of Batman, Birdman and Beetlejuice, attended the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The actor will shortly be seen in The Founder, a biopic of the man who turned McDonald's into the world's biggest restaurant chain.
2016-07-30 23:03 www.bbc.co.uk
79 Who are the Corbynistas? There's no disguising the confidence in Jeremy Corbyn's camp about this leadership election. Membership of the Labour Party has soared since the general election and Mr Corbyn believes most of these new members are his supporters. The hope of his opponents is that many may have become disillusioned with his leadership. But having spent a day in Leeds meeting new and older members of the local party, I found scant evidence for this. If anything, Mr Corbyn's supporters seem ever more determined to defend him. So who are these new members; the so called "Corbynistas"? I spent time with four of them: Jane Ingham , 65, a retired head teacher, Ged Colgan, 26, a hotel worker, Marvina Newton, 30, a local charity manager and Jane Aitchison, who is in her 40s and is a trade unionist. What quickly became clear was that, not only was Jeremy Corbyn the main reason they joined the Labour Party, but they remain fiercely loyal to him. Mr Corbyn, they believe, offers inspiration and change. In the past Labour had become too similar to the Conservatives; particularly over austerity, they say. Jeremy Corbyn represented a break with the traditional way of doing politics "He's unlike anyone," says Marvina. "To me that's what is great about him. He speaks from the heart. " What was also clear was the disdain all four had for those Labour MPs seemingly determined to oppose Jeremy Corbyn. "Unfortunately they have been part of a style of politics that has not only failed to win elections but they have been consistently wrong about a whole range of issues," says Ged. Jane the retired head teacher is similarly unimpressed. "I'm quite disappointed with the MPs. Do too many of them have too many privileges and just enjoy the privilege of being members of Parliament? " And there's no disguising the fact these new members are prepared for a fight should Labour MPs continue to refuse to back Mr Corbyn, if he wins this leadership contest. No-one mentions the D-word, deselection. But the warning signs are clear. "It's perfectly legitimate for local members to choose who they want to be their candidate at the next election," warns Ged. "I don't see why being an MP should be treated like a job for life. " Jane, the trade unionist, agrees. "They (the MPs) do feel threatened. We represent change and Jeremy represents huge change and that threatens their very cosy position. " So what of longer-serving party members? How do they view this influx of pro-Corbyn new members? Away from the city centre in one of Leeds' more deprived areas, Seacroft, a rock-solid Labour area, I met up with two long-standing party members: Les Wrigglesworth, a former miner, and Melvyn Burton. They both praise the energy and enthusiasm of the new recruits. However they are more cautious over how committed these new members will remain to the Labour Party. Les says they may prove "fair weather" members. They are both dismissive, however, of claims that many of the new members are so-called "entryists" from Trotskyite and other hard-left groups. Les dismisses the idea as a "red herring". There may be a few entryists, he says, but only a tiny minority. Melvyn believes the new members may be "naive" in their views but they are not Trotskyists. It's only a snap shot but my impression is that even those party members who are not supporters of Jeremy Corbyn are far from happy about the challenge to his leadership. Some regard it as a distraction from the business of opposing the Conservatives; others as undemocratic; others still as a precursor to a possible all-out civil war or even split in the party. The difficulty is that Mr Corbyn has become the sticking point. Many Labour MPs believe he threatens Labour's very survival as a credible political party. But if they are hoping the membership is poised to turn against him - I found precious little sign of it in Leeds.
2016-07-30 23:03 By Norman www.bbc.co.uk
80 1966 World Cup: Special event marks 50 years since England's football win England's 1966 World Cup win has been marked by a special Wembley event exactly 50 years on. Two of the team's stars, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Geoff Hurst, recounted memories at Wembley Arena as the crowd of 10,000 relived the historic day. Actors including Martin Freeman read the words of fans and players, including the late Sir Bobby Moore. There was also live music from performers including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Reef and the Troggs. Chris Farlowe gave a one-off performance of his 1966 hit Out of Time - which was number one in the charts half a century ago. The audience heard fans' memories of that July Saturday, including stories of weddings where men wore earpieces connected to radios so they could listen to the commentary. The match ended with Alf Ramsey's England side beating West Germany 4-2 in extra time. It was a day when the names of Banks, Cohen, Wilson, Charlton J, Moore, Ball, Stiles, Peters, Charlton R, Hunt and Hurst earned their place in football history. The hashtag #worldcup1966 is trending on Twitter, and the Foreign Office has tweeted to say the UK's ambassador to Azerbaijan has met the family of Tofiq Bahramov - the Azerbaijani linesman who awarded Sir Geoff's second goal. But a tweet from actor Gary Kemp shows not everyone was paying close attention at the time. "Six years old and bored of my family watching the match I went out on my own to the empty park and sat on a swing. #worldcup1966," he tweeted . 1966 World Cup: England's tournament behind the scenes How Africa boycotted the 1966 World Cup Sir Geoff Hurst's 1966 England World Cup final shirt goes unsold Bobby Moore and Alan Ball have since died, in 1993 and 2007 respectively. A bronze statue of Moore stands outside Wembley Stadium and is likely to be visited by many of fans attending the commemoration at the nearby arena. At 21:00 BST, ITV will broadcast a documentary called 1966 - A Nation Remembers.
2016-07-30 23:03 www.bbc.co.uk
81 Trevor Gray: Wife's battle to clear wrongly jailed detective's name A High Court judge has said a police force was wrong not to reinstate a former detective wrongly jailed for raping a woman in 2011. Trevor Gray's wife Alison told BBC News how her family won a five-year, £150,000 battle to clear his name. Alison Gray still remembers visiting her husband Trevor in prison for the first time. "He was just a shadow of what he was before," she said. "He had lost a lot of weight and was sat with his knees bouncing up and down like a caged animal. " In 2011, Mr Gray, a serving Nottinghamshire Police detective, was accused of raping a 43-year-old woman at her home. He and his wife were estranged at the time. He claimed he had had consensual sex with the woman but a jury found him guilty and he was jailed for eight years. Mrs Gray was no stranger to fighting battles. She had breast cancer in 2004 and again in 2010, leading to two mastectomies. She now believes the strain of this was probably "the catalyst" for the initial breakdown in their marriage. However, she was still determined to prove his innocence. "I knew what kind of man he was, morally correct in everything he does," the 50-year-old said. "I just knew he wasn't capable of that. Despite our differences, and the fact we'd separated, I knew he wasn't capable of such a crime. " With her husband in prison, she began playing detective herself, while selling her husband's possessions on eBay to pay the legal bills. "I was going through the case files, picking up the inconsistencies and anomalies and I knew I had to do something - there were so many errors in there," she said. She discovered a taxi driver mentioned in the files who had not been questioned by police. He was tracked down and later told jurors at Mr Gray's retrial in 2014 that he saw the woman and Mr Gray kiss and embrace. Mr Gray, 51, was acquitted after a four-day hearing. Despite his acquittal - and a Police Appeals Tribunal board ruling that Mr Gray could return to work - his employers suspended him in April 2014, a decision later upheld by the same tribunal board. "They held a disciplinary hearing in which they said - on the balance of probability - they believed the complainant over Trevor," Mrs Gray said. "Effectively he was being sentenced again on the same point by the police. " Two years on, Mr Gray was granted a judicial review into that dismissal, the result of which was announced in London on Friday. The judge quashed the force's decision and said it fell "well below the standard" expected in such "important disciplinary proceedings". The force has now said it is staying Mr Gray's reinstatement pending an application to the Court of Appeal. Mrs Gray said the saga has taken its toll on the pair - who reconciled months after the first trial - as well as their two daughters Laurie, 25, and Natalie, 23. "I don't think it will ever leave us," she said. "The scars will be there forever. "It's taken its toll, particularly on Trevor. He spends a lot of time at the computer researching, he's been through counselling. " The extensive legal fees involved in a case like this have naturally strained the family financially - forcing them to put their house on the market "just in case" and spending £150,000 - much of which they have recouped. Mrs Gray said she still recalled "going through family members" to try to raise £5,000 in the week of the retrial. An IPCC report, seen by the BBC, recommended two senior detectives, who investigated the case, face misconduct proceedings. But the IPCC and the force later agreed the pair would face no formal sanctions. They were instead "given management action relating to performance development". The IPCC has now said it is considering releasing the report. For now, Mrs Gray is sticking to her philosophy of positive thinking. "[The cancer] wasn't a nice time, but I survived, got through the treatment, then this happened - so I'm ready for a break. "
2016-07-30 23:03 By Alex www.bbc.co.uk
82 Are female leaders disadvantaged by media bias? Hillary Clinton has shattered a glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party in the US. She's now looking to shatter one more and become the United States' first female president. But women are still fighting an uphill battle for equality. Women are typically paid less, are under-represented in boardrooms and, as Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's chief executive recently pointed out, face bias in the media. Yahoo recently announced a deal with Verizon to sell its core operating business for $4.8bn ($3.2bn), but on Monday Ms Mayer took a moment to address what she calls "gender-charged reporting". She told the Financial Times: "I've tried to be gender blind and believe tech is a gender neutral zone but do think there has been gender-charged reporting. "We all see the things that only plague women leaders, like articles that focus on their appearance, like Hillary Clinton sporting a new pantsuit. "I think all women are aware of that, but I had hoped in 2015 and 2016 that I would see fewer articles like that. It's a shame. " She's certainly not the first to make these points, but with the potential for the first woman president in the US and the UK now being led by its second female prime minister, the media will undoubtedly be covering female leaders even more. At the heart of Ms Mayer's comments is the idea that women are judged in the media on their appearance, attitudes or families and that this in turn leads to judgements about their leadership. Researchers at Kellogg business school in Illinois found that companies which appoint female chief executives and receive a lot of media attention see a decline in their share price. Companies that appoint female bosses and don't receive a lot of attention are more likely to see a rise in their share price. Ned Smith, one of the study's authors says this isn't necessarily sexism - it's speculation. Investors worry that others will react negatively to the news, so try to sell their shares before the stock price falls, creating a chain reaction that causes the stock to drop. But when a company receives a lot of media coverage for appointing a male chief, its stock usually gets a boost. Prof Smith said it doesn't appear that the coverage of new female chiefs is naturally biased, but because of how rare female chief executives are - just 1.5% of US public companies are headed by women - they receive three times more media coverage. "As a society we want to know that companies are addressing this imbalance, but on the other hand, if that leads to speculative trading where investors assume everyone else is biased and trades accordingly, companies need to be aware of what might happen," says Prof Smith. While his study focused on coverage of chief executive appointments it's also worth considering the impact of media coverage women executives receive throughout their time as leaders. For example, after Ms Mayer announced her second pregnancy , the amount of coverage of her and Yahoo spiked and the company's share price sagged. "As an investor you have to interpret the event and the meaning of all the buzz around that event, along with what others will think of it," says Prof Smith. To take a different example, not too long after being appointed General Motor's chief executive in 2014, Mary Barra was asked in an interview whether she could be both a good mother and good boss and whether being a mother allowed her to give General Motors a softer image as it emerged from bankruptcy. One month later, when Mark Fields was appointed as the head of Ford, no journalist asked him whether his parenting skills would suffer as a result of his job. Of course this isn't just a business issue. When Theresa May took over as Prime Minister, British newspapers ran wild with stories about her shoes. A line in the Telegraph newspaper read: "Yes, Mrs May works a good shoe… but she doesn't flirt or use feminine wiles to get her way. " Hillary Clinton has faced similar scrutiny over wearing pantsuits and for "shouting" in her speeches. A 2015 study commissioned by women's rights charity The Fawcett Society found that female politicians in the UK are often depicted more negatively than their male counterparts. "There is no reason what a woman was wearing should be a headline in a story over her achievements," says Polly Trenow, senior policy and campaigns officer for the Fawcett Society. So, how should the problem be fixed? Should companies with female heads keep a low profile? Does the public need to change its perception of female leadership, or should the media make a more conscious effort to become, as Ms Mayer put it, "gender blind"? "The responsibility lies firmly at the door of the media, who should work to ensure that women's achievement and not just their looks are celebrated," says Ms Trenow. With Mrs May and Ms Clinton, the media may have a chance to redeem itself. But in Britain, parliament is still only 29% female, while the US Congress is even more gender imbalanced, just 19% of its politicians are female. Only 4% of Fortune 500 companies - the largest corporations in the US - are run by women. All of which means that coverage of female leaders overall - biased or not - will still be the exception and not the rule.
2016-07-30 23:03 By Zoe www.bbc.co.uk
83 In pictures: Fishing for shrimp Eight years ago, families living in the coastal Cham fishing villages of Kampot province managed a small coup - they won back fishing rights for the community from the Cambodian government. Since the establishment of the Trapang Sangke community, catches have increased and the fisherman can now earn $6 for half a day's work. The shrimp is dried in a solar drier which was donated to the community by an international NGO, ensuring it is prepared in an hygienic environment, allowing them to charge a higher price. Members of the community are responsible for security, and make regular patrols to ensure there is no illegal logging of the mangrove forest or illegal fishing which could deplete stocks. Tourists are given tours of the area as part of a drive to create an eco- tourism destination. This has brought in extra income, built confidence and improved English skills among the community. As well as western tourists, Cambodian students and tourists are also encouraged, with educational trips seen as an important part of the community's outreach to the next generation. Here a young student from the community plants a mangrove as part of the regeneration plan. Here a fisherman prepares for a night fishing trip. Buyers wait for the boats to return. Now the community has more control over the mangroves, they have eliminated third party buyers who were driving the prices down. In 2014 catches had increased to the point where income from fishing reached a sustainable level for the community. All photographs © Charles Fox .
2016-07-30 23:03 www.bbc.co.uk
84 84 10 things we didn't know last week 1. "Burn" is the most heavy metal word in the English language, whereas "particularly" is the least. Find out more (New York magazine) 2. Badgers are terrified of the BBC World Service, CBC News and The Wind In The Willows. Find out more (CBC) 3. Barack Obama does not eat exactly seven almonds every night, even though his wife once said he did. Find out more (Politico) 4. Someone has painstakingly recreated 10 minutes of footage, filmed in Milton Keynes, from the 1986 film Superman IV. Find out more 5. You can turn urine into beer using solar power. Find out more (Daily Telegraph) 6. UK police fired their guns seven times in the year to March 2016. Find out more (The Independent) 7. Australia is moving 7cm (2.75in) north every year Find out more 8. Strange markings on a pavement in Oxfordshire, suspected to be the work of burglars, were in fact left by a running club. Find out more 9. There are at least 42 different fares for rail travel between London Euston and Birmingham, ranging from £6 to £119. Find out more (The Times) 10. One in three people have Staphylococcus aureus in their nose, including in some cases the superbug MRSA (multiple-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Find out more Seen a thing? Tell the Magazine on Twitter using the hashtag #thingididntknowlastweek Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook
2016-07-30 23:03 News snippets www.bbc.co.uk
85 Plastic bag use plummets in England since 5p charge Plastic bag use has plummeted in England since the introduction of a 5p charge last year, the government has said. In the six months after the levy was brought in last October , 640 million plastic bags were used in seven major supermarkets in England, it says. In 2014, the waste reduction charity Wrap estimated the same shops had used 7.64 billion bags over the full year. If that trend were to continue over the year this would be a drop of 83%. It follows the pattern seen in the rest of the UK since the introduction of charges for bags. Wales introduced a levy in 2011, followed by Northern Ireland in 2013 and Scotland in 2014. They saw reductions in bag use of 76%, 71% and 80%, respectively, in the first year after the fee was established. The charge means all retailers with more than 250 full-time employees are required to charge a minimum of 5p to customers for single-use, plastic carrier bags, but paper bags are exempt. Over the six months since the charge was introduced, the government said : Environment Minister Therese Coffey said the reduction in the number of bags being used was "fantastic news". "It will mean our precious marine life is safer, our communities are cleaner and future generations won't be saddled with mountains of plastic taking hundreds of years to break down in landfill sites. " This reduction in plastic could benefit the environment, especially the oceans. A report published in the journal Science in 2015 estimated that about eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in global waters each year. Dr Sue Kinsey, from the UK's Marine Conservation Society, said: "Every year we survey our beaches, and last year we found over 5,000 bags over one weekend. " She said that birds and marine mammals ate plastic, and bags were also breaking down into smaller pieces and being consumed by tiny marine organisms. However she said that England could do more to further reduce plastic pollution. She said she wanted to see the exemption for small businesses on charging the levy removed. "There's no exemption in Scotland and Wales, for instance," she told BBC News. "If that exemption was removed, we'd see even more plastic bags removed from the environment, which has only got to be good news. " But extending the 5p charge would be too much of an administrative burden for smaller businesses, the government has previously said. Meanwhile, Andrew Pendleton from climate change action group Friends of the Earth said plastic bags were only part of the problem. He said that attention should now turn to the "millions of non-recyclable coffee cups that go to landfill, and to oversized boxes and excess packaging as a by-product of online shopping".
2016-07-30 23:03 By Rebecca www.bbc.co.uk
86 Testing times for Europe's banks The results of European bank "stress tests" have been announced, with the aim of establishing how well the banks could cope with a new financial shock. Banks have done them on their own account for many years. But this type of exercise has been adopted by official regulators in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008. What has been tested? In short, the resilience of the banks. Some 51 European Union banks were tested covering 70% of the sector. The exercise covered the eurozone and the rest of the EU - including the UK. Regulators have looked at how well banks would stand up under two scenarios up to the end of 2018. There's a "baseline scenario" that assumes continued - though unspectacular - economic growth, in line with most mainstream forecasts. Then there's an adverse one that involves a recession and would lead to more problem loans, and lower profits or losses. The key question being asked is how would banks' financial foundations - their capital - hold up? How much would they have left under these scenarios and how would that compare with the amount they are required to have under banking rules? A stress test looks at how much a bank might lose and whether it would still have a decent amount of capital to keep trading and take any losses that it might be hit by in the future. What is bank capital? Capital is a financial measure of a bank's strength, its ability to withstand losses. It is the value of a bank's assets minus its liabilities or debts. A bank's assets include cash, loans and securities, while its liabilities cover customer deposits, and money it owes to other banks and bondholders. So where does it come from? Two key sources are the money put in by shareholders and profits the bank makes and does not hand out to the shareholders as dividends (known as retained profits). If a bank has a bad year and loses money the amount of capital falls. Shareholders typically see the value of their holding fall, but the bank should still be able pay its debts. If that process goes too far, however, the capital can be wiped out and if the bank can't pay its debts then it's insolvent - bust. The international financial crisis was in part the result of banks not having enough capital to cope with losses on problem loans and complicated financial securities. The bailouts consisted partly of governments providing additional capital which gave taxpayers a shareholding. (Some of this has been repaid or the shares sold off by the government concerned). One of the main aims of reforms to bank regulation since the crisis has been to ensure that they are not caught with insufficient capital in future. What are the stress test scenarios? The key one is the adverse scenario. An ECB official described this hypothetical scenario as a "severe economic downturn". Under this scenario, the eurozone economies, the EU and the UK all contract in 2016 and 2017 - only resuming growth, though not very strongly, in 2018. All of them end up nearly 7% smaller than they would have been in the baseline scenario. The weakness is assumed to be the result of setbacks to the domestic economy, to foreign economies and to the financial system in the shape of higher interest rates, lower share prices and lower property prices. Higher rates and lower asset prices increase the risk of loans not being paid and of there being inadequate security to sell and cover losses if the borrower does default. The stress tests look at how these shocks would affect the values of banks' assets, their profitability and the amount of capital they would end up holding. Who does the tests? The banks themselves make the initial assessments of how they would be affected in the stress test scenarios. Their results are challenged by the supervisors. In the UK that means the Bank of England, and for the large banks in the eurozone, the European Central Bank. The exercise is co-ordinated by the European Banking Authority. Is there are pass/fail threshold? Unlike previous stress tests there is no pass/fail threshold for the level of capital. But the estimates for how much any bank would have under the various scenarios will feed into the regular assessments made by supervisors. A bank that comes out of a stress test really badly could ultimately have to be bailed out or bailed in - this latter is a process in which creditors have to take losses to keep the bank afloat. The tests could eventually lead to some banks having to raise more capital, or face restrictions on the amount of profits they can distribute to their shareholders - because if profits are not distributed they boost a bank's capital. Any particular problem areas? Overall the ECB appears relatively comfortable with the amount of capital held by eurozone's banks. "The ECB perceives the current level of capital in the euro area banks to be satisfactory and intends to keep the supervisory capital demand stable," says Korbinian Ibel, a senior ECB official. "As the banks went into this stress test with a higher average capital ratio than in earlier years and are overall more resilient, the stress test results are not expected to lead to an increase of the overall level of capital demand in the system. " But there have been concerns in recent months about the problem loans weighing down some Italian and Portuguese banks. Deutsche Bank , Germany's biggest, is seen by the International Monetary Fund as a potential risk to international financial stability and its share price is low compared to the value of the bank's assets and liabilities. That said, it is not in immediate danger, though its US operation, along with that of the Spanish bank Santander, did fail stress tests conducted by the US Federal Reserve earlier this year.
2016-07-30 23:03 By Andrew www.bbc.co.uk
87 Premiers past: What now for Cameron? It is a curious fact, but the prime minister never actually has possession of the keys to No 10 Downing Street. So, having metaphorically handed them over to Theresa May, what now for David Cameron? Having achieved the highest office in the land at the age of 43, and departed six years later, what next for a man a few months shy of his half- century? Here is a guide to the futures of prime ministers past. The constituents of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath might have felt a little hard done by from May 2010 to May 2015, as the former prime minister was rarely to be seen in the Commons chamber. In addition to becoming a board director for the World Wide Web Foundation and an unpaid advisory role at the World Economic Forum, he was a UN special envoy on global education. He wrote the book Beyond The Crash, which covered the global financial crisis, in just 14 weeks and made a high-profile intervention in the Scottish independence referendum campaign in 2014. Ultimately, Mr Brown's former constituency, a safe Labour area for the previous eight decades, fell to a resurgent Scottish National Party. Since then, he has taken his first private-sector role, as an adviser to the US-based investment management company Pimco, his fee going to the Gordon and Sarah Brown Foundation to support charity work. After leaving Downing Street, Mr Blair stepped down from the parliamentary seat of Sedgefield, triggering a by-election, which Labour won comfortably. He was soon confirmed as a Middle East envoy for the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia, a role he held until May 2015. He also established Tony Blair Associates, providing strategic advice on political and economic trends and governmental reform, with profits going to support Mr Blair's work on "faith, Africa and climate change". But he has faced criticism for providing advice to the Kazakhstan government, which has been criticised for its human rights record. Two foundations have been set up in his name, the Tony Blair Sports Foundation and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, and a charity called the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative. Mr Blair has also found time to detail his memoirs, with an autobiography entitled A Journey, income from which has been donated to a sports centre for injured service personnel, It is claimed that he has earned up to £100m since leaving office. Mr Blair himself suggests a closer figure would be about a fifth of that sum. Most recently, he has come in for criticism following the conclusion of the Chilcot report on the inquiry into the Iraq War, which criticised the former prime minister for not exhausting all efforts to find a peaceful solution before going to war. John Major served as a backbencher through the four-year parliamentary term, after losing the 1997 general election to Tony Blair, Known for his love of cricket, he was president of Surrey County Cricket Club until 2002 and in 2005 was elected to the committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Sir John was knighted in 2005, the last prime minister so far to receive that honour, but has refused any offer of a peerage. In 2002, his affair with Edwina Currie was revealed in her autobiography. He is a popular after-dinner speaker, and chaired the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. Sir John was a prominent campaigner for remaining in the European Union, and has served as president of the Bow Group and Chatham House. Following the coup that removed her from Downing Street, she remained an MP, representing Finchley until the 1992 general election, when she was ennobled as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. She became the first former prime minister to set up a foundation, although the British wing of it was dissolved in 2005. She was hired by the tobacco company Philip Morris as a "geopolitical consultant" and continued to speak out on political issues. Baroness Thatcher wrote two autobiographies - The Downing Street Years and The Path to Power - and, in 2007, became the first living prime minister to be honoured with a statue in the Palace of Westminster. Periods of ill health followed, though she continued to make a few choice public appearances. She died in April 2013, at the age of 87. After the 1979 election defeat, Callaghan remained Labour leader during the subsequent transition phase, the last leader of note to do so. He jointly founded the AEI World Forum alongside friend and US President Gerald Ford in 1982. Callaghan became Father of the House in 1983, before standing down from his Cardiff South and Penarth seat at the 1987 general election. That year, he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, and published his autobiography, Time and Chance. The longest-living former British prime minister died, one day short of his 93rd birthday, in March 2005, 11 days after the death of his wife, Audrey. Wilson unexpectedly announced his resignation just days after his 60th birthday. Notably, the Queen came to dine at Downing Street to mark his resignation, something she had previously done only for Sir Winston Churchill. He continued as MP for Huyton until 1983, balancing that role with being signed up by David Frost to host a chat and interview TV show. After leaving the Commons, he joined the board of trustees of the D'Oyly Carte Trust and, after being raised to the peerage as Lord Wilson of Rievaulx, was a regular attendee in the Lords. He died in May 1995. Of all the former prime ministers, Heath was the stayer, serving the people of Old Bexley and Sidcup from the backbenches for well over a quarter of a century after he left No 10. He resigned the premiership in October 1974, allowing Harold Wilson to form a minority Labour government, and lost the Conservative leadership to Margaret Thatcher the following February in a bitter internal contest. While still popular within the party, Heath's relationship with Thatcher - famously characterised as "the longest sulk in British political history" - was frosty, and he turned down offers to become Britain's ambassador in Washington, and secretary general of Nato. And he criticised both the Thatcher and Major governments when he felt it was necessary. In 1990, Heath flew to Baghdad to secure the release of British nationals held hostage following the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Knighted in 1992, he became Sir Edward. In the same year, Heath also became the Father of the House, finally retiring from Parliament at the 2001 election, aged 84. He died aged 89 in July 2005. After the loss of the 1964 election, Alec Douglas-Home remained as MP for Kinross and Western Perthshire and leader of the opposition for a further year before he resigned the latter role. New Conservative leader Edward Heath gave him the shadow foreign affairs portfolio and then the Commonwealth relations brief. When Heath became prime minister, he resumed the role of foreign secretary, the post he had previously held under Macmillan, from 1970 to 1974. Following the defeat to Labour, he relinquished his seat and returned to the Lords as a life peer. In retirement, he spent his days with his family and fishing, as well as writing three books. He died at the age of 92 in October 1995. "Supermac" stayed on as an MP for a year following his resignation as prime minister, due to ill-health, in 1963. He remained as chancellor of Oxford University, a post to which he was elected in 1960 and in which he remained until his death In 1964, he became chairman of his family firm, the publishers, Macmillan. In a decade at the helm, the company published his six-part autobiography. Having initially resisted the customary offer of a role in the House of Lords, he was granted the last hereditary peerage given to a prime minister, as the Earl of Stockton and Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden. But he voiced criticism of Margaret Thatcher's handling of the coal miners' strike in his maiden speech in the Lords, and he continued to be an occasionally critical thorn in her side until his death in December 1986 at the age of 92. A combination of the Suez crisis and illness led to Anthony Eden's resignation as prime minister. After initially considering a return to Parliament, he instead became the Earl of Avon in 1961. He served as chancellor of the University of Birmingham, bred cattle at his Wiltshire farm, published four volumes of political and personal memoirs covering his political life, and particularly made headlines when criticising US involvement in Vietnam. He died as a result of liver cancer in January 1977 at the age of 79. Ill health resulted in Winston Churchill's resignation during his second term as prime minister, following a stroke, his second, in 1953. He continued as MP for Woodford for a further two parliamentary terms, but his appearances became less frequent over time. Nevertheless, he remained actively interested in politics, particularly foreign affairs. He divided his time between his home in Chartwell, London and the French Riveria. He died following another stroke in January 1965, and was given a state funeral in recognition of his role as Britain's wartime leader. After losing the 1951 election, Clement Atlee battled on to remain leader of the Labour Party in opposition, unsuccessfully fighting the 1955 election. Only then did give up the leadership, after holding the post for more than 20 years. He became Earl Attlee and took his place in the Lords. In retirement, he continued to make an impact, most notably through his support for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts by consenting adults in private. He helped to set up the Homosexual Law Reform Society in 1958, which ultimately led to the law being changed by the Sexual Offences Act in 1967. He died that year at the age of 84.
2016-07-30 23:02 www.bbc.co.uk
88 Putting it all on the table: Ayman Odeh has a dream of a better future for Israel The Oslo years and Yitzhak Rabin resonate deeply with Ayman Odeh. As leader of the Joint List, a party that combines Hadash, Balad and the United Arab List, he fondly recalls that era of the 1990s, when he was in his late teens and twenties. “In that time of Rabin we were a voting bloc that was giving a safety net to the coalition. That was the best time for Arabs in the Knesset, that [we] had a role.” Twenty-four years later things have changed. A concrete wall and fences separate Israel from Palestinian Authority areas. Thousands have died in conflicts between Israel, Hamas and Palestinian groups. Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. “People change,” says Odeh. “You can come closer to the other, you can pass the hardships. It’s not just about politics and ‘you did this and you did that,’ I believe people can stay in the same house and sip coffee together.” It’s a Tuesday in Jerusalem, in the middle of Ramadan. Odeh, 41 years old and a secular Muslim, has to represent a party that includes pious Muslims as well as Jews and Christians. So, in deference to the more religious, coffee isn’t on the menu. Instead he has come to give an exclusive interview to the The Jerusalem Post to discuss his plans for how Israeli society can better relate to its minority Arab citizens. ODEH’S PATH to power began in Haifa. A witness to the first intifada in his teens, he studied in Romania in the 1990s and was elected to the Haifa City Council in 1998. He was active in Hadash, a party founded in 1977 with roots in the Communist Party. At 23, he was one of the youngest men on the Haifa Council. It is perhaps not ironic that when Odeh speaks he references an anecdote about Emile Habibi, a Communist activist who served in the Knesset from 1951 and was one of its youngest members at age 29. After leaving the Haifa City Council in 2003, Odeh worked for Sikkuy – the Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality – and in 2006 became the secretary general of Hadash. When Muhammad Barakei (MK 1999- 2015) and Afo Agbaria retired from politics in 2015, it paved the way for Odeh, who had been sixth on the party’s list in the last elections, to head Hadash. It’s a mark of how little he was noticed when, in January 2015, one newspaper still spelled his name Aiman Uda. A strange set of circumstances set in motion that catapulted Odeh to head a coalition of all the Arab parties running for the Knesset. A law raising the threshold to 3.25 percent for parties to enter the Knesset presented a severe risk to the small Arab parties trying to make it into the Knesset; they had received between 2.56% and 3.65% in 2013. The media reported that Barakei and others didn’t think a joint list was possible. Nevertheless, two weeks later Odeh presented his list to the elections commission. From the start it was a rocky experience. They wanted to use the letter mem on voting slips, but the Likud refused (it also uses the letter), claiming it could not cooperate with a party that had Haneen Zoabi and the Islamic Movement. Odeh has had a good relationship with the foreign press. Newsweek called him “Clintonian” in an interview in March 2015. He has also encountered stereotyping. The New Yorker gave him a glowing profile, highlighting the fact that he speaks fluent Hebrew as if it were an anomaly for an Arab to do so. The Forward said a photograph of him with his wife and children “looks exactly like an average Israeli Jewish family. It was a brilliant move on the part of the campaign manager,” not wondering if their own idea of what an Arab looks like was jaundiced. In the run-up to the March 17, 2015, elections, he stayed on message in his interviews as well. He said he thought his party would get 15 mandates. “We will raise our hands in support of the handicapped, the pensioners, all the weaker sectors,” he told Newsweek. To Al Jazeera he said he was preparing a “10- year plan for closing civic gaps between Arabs and Jews... undoing the decades of systematic discrimination.” But inside, Israeli politics tested him. Just before the election, the Joint List was accused by the Left of failing “in the ultimate test of partnership,” according to Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On because it wouldn’t sign a vote- sharing agreement with the leftist-Zionist party. Odeh was saying that he believed in partnership, but it appeared his own party’s members did not. Commentator Shlomi Eldar wrote on March 9 that “its members have nothing in common except that they are Arab Israelis. It is doubtful that their desire to survive the elections could keep them united the day after.” Left- wing Zionists scorned the list and the Zionist Union joined the attempt to ban Zoabi, a member of the List, from running in the March election. On election day, Benjamin Netanyahu used a warning that Arabs were “voting in droves” to galvanize voters. The List came in third place, with 10.5% of the vote, and winning 13 seats it became the third largest party in the Knesset. At the election headquarters in Nazareth, where I was in attendance, the occasion was raucous and Odeh joined his colleagues on stage, hands clasped overhead. There was joy, but there was grumbling among secular communist Arabs. Alcohol had been removed from the venue to accommodate Islamic members. One woman joked that the party included secular people and a man in a polygamous relationship, “like putting Meretz and Shas in the same party.” TWO WEEKS after the elections, Odeh set out on a 120-km. march from the Negev to the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, seeking to draw attention to the rights of Beduin of the Negev. The issue of unrecognized Beduin villages is one that he is passionate about. He recalls that villages in the Galilee and center, such as Ein Hud, were not recognized until the 1990s, linking it again with the good feelings of the Oslo period. “It was good for everyone. If my neighbor has no electricity or water [that is not good], so it is good for both [to have recognition and services]. The area where this is the most difficult is the Negev, where 32% of the residents [100,000 citizens] live in unrecognized villages, without electricity and water, and those who want to care about the Negev must know that,” says Odeh. He wants to be solution-oriented. “Since 1948 the state has built 700 new towns and villages, all for the Jewish [residents] and not one for Arabs. To be accurate, they did build five new towns in the Negev [Rahat, Segev Shalom, etc.] only to concentrate Arabs living there, but no new places in the Triangle, for instance. They build new Jewish communities in the Negev, but we ask why not build 60 for Arabs when they build 300 for Jews, since we are 20% [of the population].” His decision to embark on a long march seemed to square well with his oft- repeated desire to be linked with Martin Luther King, the American civil rights leader he admires. “Look at Martin Luther King – and to think that there can be a black president today in the US,” he says. Young members of Hadash said privately last year that they felt he did represent a new generation and that he could be a transformative King-like figure. The New Yorker called Odeh “pudgy” and “mild mannered,” but his performance on the long march to Jerusalem for Beduin rights showed him to be more steely, stubborn and possessing immense reserves of energy. While other Joint List members dropped in for a few minutes of walking, or showed up at night to eat, Odeh walked, with a large Moses-like stick in his hand during one portion of it. Since then, nothing has come of the plan to deal with the Negev Beduin’s demands. A plan to move thousands of them to newly recognized villages was scrapped in 2013. BUT THE unstoppable force of Odeh seems to have met an immovable object in the form of Israeli politics. In December he journeyed to the US and spoke about his views to all who would listen. The trip ran into trouble when Odeh refused to meet at the offices of the Conference of American Presidents of Major US Jewish Organizations because it shares office space with the Jewish Agency. “I cannot in good conscience participate in meetings in the offices of organizations whose work displaces Arab citizens,” he told reporters. Back in Israel, three Balad members of the Joint List were suspended in February 2016 from the Knesset by the ethics committee for meeting terrorist families. The families wanted the return of the bodies of the perpetrators for burial; the government was demanding no incitement at the funerals. Controversy over the behavior of Arab MKs has become a ritual. On June 29 a brawl almost erupted in the Knesset after Zoabi said Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara had been “murdered.” Knesset members petitioned to have her banned for six months. Odeh responded to attacks on Zoabi by writing a letter to the Attorney General accusing Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman of incitement to violence. “The defense minister is known for his statements inciting violence against the Arab population.” The problem for the Joint List leader is that this distracts from his message. He presents a two-pronged approach. On one hand he believes Arabs and Jews share clear economic interests, a worldview that his Hadash party, which includes many Jewish voters and activists, holds. But the easier issue of economic agreement cannot obscure the need to recognize the national minority rights of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. “There are issues from the 1950s and 1948. To build a life together that we must put it all on the table and we must have the strength to believe together. We must not run away from discussing 1948; we need to talk about content. We shouldn’t run away from discussing suffering, but not get held back in discussions of who started it and instead look to the future.” In his view, Jewish Israelis need to recognize not only the fact that 90% of the Arab community living in what became Israel in 1948 became refugees, but that there are others who were internally displaced inside Israel. He refers here to villages such as Ma’alul, a Christian village whose ghostly massive churches still haunt the landscape near Migdal Ha’emek. Its residents, like those at Bir’am near Jish, and Ikrit, were never permitted to return after they fled in 1948. Odeh says he has to field questions from Arabs when he meets with families in the north. They ask why areas are being planned for new Jewish neighborhoods but not for them. “We should recognize those villages that were destroyed in 1948 and that the people are still living here are citizens. So there is a plan for the Galilee, and I want Jews and Arabs together to find an option. Arabs look and see stones and clumps of sabra cactus that indicate where their villages were and feel that Jews don’t recognize that.” One can see the influence of the ideas of Martin Luther King here, the idea that people can overcome their views of the other. “I want to tell Israelis here that there is no other option, to have a real democracy and real citizenship. Every country has done wrong, even relating to delegitimization and victimization, but I think we need to open our heads and hearts and ask who the ‘other’ person is, what he suffered in 1948 and put it on the table.” He says that he understands discussions about 1948 inevitably become bogged down in who did what to whom. “I say we must move forward and it’s not all about the Nakba,” using the term ‘catastrophe,’ that Palestinians use to describe the 1948 war. “It’s not just about right and wrong, or justice. What I say is important is to acknowledge what happened to us indigenous people, and it is important that there must be a real partnership in citizenship.” But even on these basic issues of shared citizenship and the other, there is a deep chasm. Most Americans will accept that slavery was wrong and African-Americans lacked basic civil rights in many states before the 1960s. But Israeli Jews by and large do not accept the term Nakba or what it implies. They want Arabs to acknowledge that Jews, too, have indigenous rights to this region. At the same time many in the Arab community cannot bring themselves to see Israel as their own country. They don’t see the unwillingness to accept partition in 1947 as a mistake. Hadash, whose roots are in the Palestine Communist Party which accepted partition, has a long history of this more accepting view, but members of Balad and UAL often do not. BEYOND THE issue of historical understanding, Odeh advocates for basic changes that would advance equality. This doesn’t just mean recognizing more Arab communities in the Negev, or ending demolitions of houses built without permits. “We speak in the opposition about racism and that’s important, but it’s not enough. We need a place in the country. Since the elections, we came up with a plan and now after a year we wanted to see more women working and that there would be more mortgages and that would be good for everyone. This is the plan,” he says. How would this come about? “I believe for instance in increasing the number of Arabs in civil service. If there are more Arabs there and sitting around the table [when decisions are made] then that adds something to the dynamic and that [increasing] equality means we are not stuck in the past but moving forward.” He also sees a future where the Joint List would play a role similar to what Hadash did in the 1990s. During Rabin’s government Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party supported the prime minister’s policy. The Arab Democratic Party leader Abdulwahab Darawshe was Labor supporter in the 1980s. In those days the proximity of the Arab Knesset members to the government was far closer. Some of today’s members of Balad and UAL are very different in their outlook. Odeh wants to remind people that the romantic period of the 1990s was real and can return. “We don’t see a way to be part of the coalition now, but if we could be a check against the Right we would explore every way to be part of the politics – not sit on the sidelines but be part of politics, even if not in the coalition.” Part of the role of the support for Rabin’s policies in the 1990s was that Hadash MKs helped support the Oslo Accords. “I support a two-state solution,” says Odeh. “But with more and more settlers, there is one state and it will be full apartheid. Either that or democracy for everyone. Either democracy or apartheid.” He thinks that some in the Israeli public don’t understand that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will not accept half of their rights. “Palestinians do not just want economic peace; they want to be freed from occupation, and outside of that they won’t agree.” He seems to imply that Israel thinks it can keep getting by on offering crumbs and limited sovereignty, but admonishes, “Arabs do not see themselves as a weak people. They were strong for 700 years, longer than the Romans, and influenced the world.” He says that while most of the world supports Mahmoud Abbas and two states, Israel is not changing its policies. “The problem is Netanyahu,” Odeh contends. But inside the Green Line, the Joint List leader has hope for the future of Israel and a shared destiny of two nations in a single country. “There is no other way. There is more than one nation here. More than one culture. I speak Hebrew and Arabic, and it adds to people to know both cultures and history.”
2016-07-30 22:59 SETH J www.jpost.com
89 Don't miss these 2016 non-blockbuster films |The highly anticipated "Jason Bourne" movie starring Matt Damon is just one of a slew of big ticket blockbusters that have been released over the past seven months. But what about those smaller and independent films that don't get as much hype as their bigger-budgeted cousins and -- more often than not -- get lost in the shuffle? Fandango managing editor Erik Davis joins "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to share some very good films you may have missed.
2016-07-30 22:53 Don't www.cbsnews.com
90 New documentary profiles 1936 U. S. Olympic rowers |Eighty years ago, 400 Americans took part in the 1936 Olympiad in Berlin. But it was a group of nine rowers from the Pacific Northwest that took the nation by storm. A new PBS documentary -- inspired by the bestselling book, "The Boys in the Boat" -- tells the tale of the incredible University of Washington team that triumphed against all odds in Nazi Germany. The American Experience special, "The Boys of '36," airs Tuesday on PBS. Director and producer Margaret Grossi joins "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to discuss the film.
2016-07-30 22:53 New documentary www.cbsnews.com
91 Retailers are luring shoppers with booze |Retailers are catching on to the latest buzz-inducing trend in the industry -- stores with fully-stocked bars. Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters and even Barnes & Noble have all incorporated bars and restaurants into their retail spaces. CBS News business analyst business analyst Jill Schlesinger explains what's behind the boozy trend.
2016-07-30 22:53 Retailers are www.cbsnews.com
92 Saturday Sessions: Lucy Dacus performs "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" |Singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus is being hailed as one of the biggest finds of 2016. The 21-year-old Richmond, Virginia native grew up in a musical family. Her mother, an elementary music teacher, and her father, a guitar player, both encouraged their daughter to sing at a local church. In college, Dacus opened for local acts around Richmond, where she eventually met guitarist Jacob Blizzard, who invited her to record a CD for his college project. That project quickly became Dacus's critically acclaimed debut album, "No Burden," released digitally earlier this year and hitting stores on September 9th. Making her national television debut on "CBS This Morning: Saturday," Dacus performs "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore. "
2016-07-30 22:53 Saturday Sessions www.cbsnews.com
93 Booze ban for China region's civil servants A province in eastern China has become the latest to crack down on civil servants' boozy working lunches by banning them from touching alcohol during official duties. Business meetings conducted over a meal can often be alcohol-heavy in China, but in Anhui province they'll be sober affairs in future, the People's Daily website reports. Drinking is now banned during the workday and at all official activities, be it conferences or deal-making dinners. It's being described in Chinese media as the "most stringent ever" implemented in the province. The only exceptions will be for events relating to foreign affairs, or those aimed at attracting investment. An investigation was launched in Anhui in February after several civil servants died of alcohol poisoning following official banquets, state news agency Xinhua says . A national alcohol ban for civil servants was proposed in 2009 but not adopted, and while some areas have brought in their own rules to stop on- the-job drinking, they have often prompted complaints from bars and restaurants about a loss of business. Toning down extravagant spending among officials, including lavish dining habits , has been a key part of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive since he took office in 2012. Even Anhui's big government events will be less boozy from now on: in June, the province banned alcohol from being served at most official banquets. One civil servant told China Daily that many Chinese believe you can learn a lot about a person's character from their approach to alcohol, so it can be a way of building trust, but that some officials hate the drinking culture. Among Chinese social media users there's broad support for the changes. "How was this provision not implemented sooner? " asks one user. Another says: "This is good, in my opinion, drinking at work is not a good idea. " And several can't believe that Anhui has taken so long to stop its staff from drinking while on duty. Next story: Museum cats spared eviction after online campaign Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter .
2016-07-30 22:55 By News www.bbc.co.uk
94 The Great Smyrna Fire Reverend Jennings and the Hand of God Part 14 of 14 on Islamic Doctrines By Mike Scruggs- By the end of Sunday, September 10, 1922, The Turkish Army had murdered the elderly Greek Archbishop of Smyrna, Chrysostomos, and exterminated most of the inhabitants and refugees in the Armenian “quarter” of Smyrna. The well orchestrated slaughter of perhaps 25,000 Armenians was according to the usual Jihadic pattern of looting, raping, and killing, which was established by Muhammad and documented in Islam’s most sacred tests. Also as usual, they spared the prettier women and girls for the Turkish Army and later sale as sex slaves. On Monday, the looting, rapine, and killing was extended to the larger Greek quarter, which was now crowded with Greek refugees fleeing the advance of the Turks. Many hid in homes, churches, schools, and other buildings. Eight hundred Christians who had taken refuge in the Catholic Cathedral were dragged out and massacred. In the streets and homes, the same pattern of looting, rapine, and killing proceeded. Twenty women who had fled for safety to the home of a British citizen were raped and then killed. A full account of such wanton savagery would take many articles. The slaughter in the Greek quarter of Smyrna seemed to peak late on Tuesday, but the worst was yet to come. When the wind turned away from the Turkish quarter, sometime after noon, on Wednesday, Turkish soldiers began to spread gasoline and kerosene in tin cans on the homes and streets of all but the Turkish and Jewish quarter, starting with the Armenian quarter, which had already been partially burned. They used rags, sticks, and small bombs to help spread the fire, which quickly spread downhill toward the quay. The small Jewish quarter was too near the Turkish quarter to fire and was also protected by Italian Marines. Within four hours, the fire was raging over two-thirds of Smyrna across a two-mile front and was approaching the buildings on the 300-yard-wide quay. Most of the seaworthy civilian boats in the harbor had already departed for the Greek Island of Chios, loaded with fleeing families and their most necessary belongings. The only hope for rescue from the fire and the Turks were the 21 Allied ships in harbor, whose orders forbade them to take any but their own nationals. The foreign nationals were already queuing at the ships, and thousands of Greeks and the remaining Armenians were filling up the quay hoping to be taken on an Allied ship. One of them was a resourceful 16-year-old Greek boy named Aristotle Onassis. The fire was so hot that it forced the Allied ships to pull back 250 yards from the quay. Meanwhile an estimated throng of 500,000 was caught between the raging tongues of fire and dense clouds of smoke and the water, while the Turks guarded the ends of the quay. According to a representative of an American tobacco company, quoted by Edward H. Bierstadt, author of The Great Betrayal, published in 1924: “So tightly was the great throng packed on the quay that when one died he could not fall, but continued to stand upright supported perforce by his fellows.” Into this already dreadful situation, squads of Turkish soldiers darted in and took away ten or twenty women and made off with them for whatever fate. Meanwhile the Allied ships began to take on their nationals. But they had orders to take none but their own nationals. Small boats and swimmers were pushed away. Only the most distant Italian destroyer was hauling swimmers aboard. Night after night, the Allied warships threw their searchlights on the women screaming for protection. It took the fire about four days to die out. The Turks had never tried to put it out. According to Dr. Esther Lovejoy, who interviewed many eye witnesses after she arrived on September 24, “One could constantly hear the screams and moans and shrieks of these poor women and girls moving up and down the quay…. There was no retreat from that position. If they tried to go back through the ruins of the city they would probably have lost their lives…The quay became a reeking sewer.” The crews of American, British, French, and Italian ships in the harbor were growing extremely agitated by not being able to help the pleading refugees. The ships’ bands played tunes to drown out the enervating screams. Little mercies of hidden stowaways and picking up more swimmers began to increase. Finally, the officers of a British battleship persuaded their captain that the honor of Britain and the Royal Navy would be forever stained, if they did not go against standing orders and rescue the Christians from this Turkish atrocity. He commanded the battleship and his accompanying cruisers and destroyers: “Away all boats.” More than 20,000 were rescued from the quay. French ships screening their boarding passengers allowed anyone who could speak a word of French, no matter how bad the accent, to come aboard as French citizens with no questions asked. Among others, they took aboard an Armenian mother and her eight children. There were many Armenian girls in British and American missionary schools, and they were taught French, which turned out to be a blessed providence. According to dispatches on September 14-15 between three U. S. destroyers and George Horton, U. S. Consul-General in Smyrna, a total of 1,950 refugees were crowded into these destroyers and delivered safely to Greek ports. This may have been contrary to official State Department and Navy orders. Eventually, 12 American destroyers would take part in the rescue. Mustafa Kemal gave an ultimatum that all Christian males between 15 and 50, still in Smyrna by September 30 would be taken to the interior to rebuild Turkish villages destroyed by the Greek Army. Everyone knew exactly what this meant: a long march, hard labor, and then a bullet, bayonet, or the edge of a sword. Rev. Asa Jennings arrived in Smyrna with his wife and three children in late August to be Assistant YMCA Director. He was an ordained minister of the Methodist Church, who had given up his pulpit in upstate New York to pursue an administrative career. He was a small, frail man with occasional health problems, just approaching his forty-fifth birthday. Although physically unimposing, he was very likable, spirited, and could muster an authoritative manner when the occasion demanded. He was deeply touched by the agony he saw all around him. Even his suburban home life was disturbed by the Turks burning wagon-load after wagon-load of bodies nearby, spreading a terrible stench. He felt like he wanted to do more than hand out bread and bandages, so he began to pray—for rescue ships. Through his friends on the American destroyer Edsall, he was already enquiring of every steamer in the harbor, if they would take refugees. On Friday, September 15, two days after the fire had broken out, and was still burning, Acting Secretary of State William Phillips cabled Admiral Bristol and directed him in certain and commanding terms to develop a rescue plan with Britain, France, and Italy to aid refugees in Smyrna. Moreover, Jennings was able to persuade an Italian ship captain and the Italian Consul to approve using a large cargo ship to take 2,000 refugees to the Greek port of Mytiline. He accompanied the refugees and found that the Greek Navy’s 20 troop ships were there. He immediately began to negotiate with the Greek Navy and by radio with the Greek Cabinet to have them pick up refugees in Smyrna. Somehow he was made an acting Greek Admiral and was initially given six transports for the task. Kemal for some reason extended his deadline to October 8. By October 8, Jennings, now with 50 ships, had succeeded in rescuing over 250,000 refugees. Another 250,000 were rescued by Allied ships responding to his initiative and leadership. Meanwhile, Mustafa Kemal had apparently become convinced that exporting Greeks accomplished his purpose of purifying Turkey of Christian minorities, while keeping the good will of the Allied powers. Despite the miraculous rescue of many thousands, however, the genocidal Jihad against Christian minorities in Smyrna was appalling. At least 100,000 died in the looting, rapine, and slaughter in the Armenian and Greek quarters of Smyrna. Approximately 160,000 men were marched off to the interior of Turkey for hard labor followed by extermination. Estimates of those dying as a result of the fire range from 10,000 to 100,000, with the low estimates being Turkish propaganda or U. S. State Department cover- up. Admiral Bristol’s original telegram to the State Department claimed that less than 2,000 died as a result of the fire. Based on the books of Bierstadt, Horton, and Dobkin, I would go with the higher number of 100,000, bringing the total to 360,000. Rutgers University has estimated that the total number of Greek civilians killed in the 1919 to 1922 genocide was 1.5 million. Another 1.5 million refugees were settled in Greece. In addition, about 43,000 Greek soldiers were died in the Greco- Turkish War of 1919 to 1922. According to League of Nations reports, 50,000 Greek and Armenian Christian girls were sold into sex-slavery. The non-Muslim population of Turkey dropped from 19.1 percent in 1914 to 2.5 percent in 1927 and is now less than 0.3 percent. “Democide” scholar Dr. Rudolph Rummel estimates that from 1900 to 1923 various Turkish regimes killed from 3.5 to 4.3 million Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, and other Christians. On December 27, 1927, the Greek Government awarded its highest civilian honor, the Golden Cross of St. Xavier, and its highest war honor, the Medal of Military Merit, to Asa K. Jennings of Utica, New York. About the author: Mike Scruggs Author and Columnist a.k.a. Leonard M. Scruggs Mike Scruggs is the author of two books: The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths; and Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, and over 600 articles on military history, national security, intelligent design, genealogical genetics, immigration, current political affairs, Islam, and the Middle East. He holds a BS degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Stanford University. A former USAF intelligence officer and Air Commando, he is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Air Medal. He is a retired First Vice President for a major national financial services firm and former Chairman of the Board of a classical Christian school. His viewpoint is unapologetically Christian, conservative, and patriotic. He has been a Republican County Chairman in two Southern states and remains an active participant in church, political, and veterans’ affairs. http://www.thetribunepapers.com/category/columnists/scruggs/ http://www.universalmediainc.org/books.htm
2016-07-30 22:52 By Mike www.thetribunepapers.com
95 Alaska’s Tony Dela Cruz helps fight ‘darkness’ ALASKA captain Tony dela Cruz knows darkness. He did not know its name before, but he knew it was around him. “I realized that this is not where I wanted to be when you are sitting alone in the dark and you have these thoughts,” he told SportsIQ, the Inquirer’s newest live sports talk show, Thursday night. “I’m trying to always get to the bottom and think why am I feeling like this? Am I just being to overly emotional? I’d sit in a room and listen to a song and start crying. Watching a movie and ask what’s going on? It’s just a commercial. I just had to admit to myself that I really needed help, this is not normal.” It took a lot of courage for Dela Cruz to admit that he’d been having mental health issues. In the glamorous world of professional sports, where mental toughness sits high above a scout’s preferences, it’s hard to break that barrier of understanding that mental health issues are things that can slow down an athlete. READ: Tony Dela Cruz calls to revive PBA Players’ union Now that he has gotten quite a handle on his issues, Dela Cruz wants to help others battle their own darkness. Reaching out to help, however, started a little bit closer to home for the three-time champion and four-time PBA all-star. “My son battles with anxiety and I’m not ashamed of it,” he admitted. “I’m not saying this is going to be the highlight of his life, but my son admitted to me that he wanted to take his life. My son is 13. For a 13-year old, that’s too young and when he said that, and as a father, I sought professional help and he’s okay now.” Now he has shifted his focus to fellow PBA players. “I think as an athlete, we need mental health resources,” said Dela Cruz. “Because when you mention the words ‘mental health’ you will automatically assume, ‘oh he’s crazy.’ Mental health can mean anything. It’s a huge, huge umbrella. From depression, anxiety, to bipolar disorder, to post-traumatic stress disorder. Even stress is a mental health issue.” Dela Cruz said athletes, especially PBA players, get to experience a great deal of stress not only in games but also in their personal lives. Players are expected to play to their best in the high-pressure environment of the PBA and every move they make on and off the court is put under the microscope. READ: Dela Cruz: I would love to win a championship with Abueva “Imagine you’re on this court, and if you miss a shot, people are letting you know. There is the good side of it, like, ‘he’s the greatest person I’ve met in my life,’ and also in the bad side of it they’re like, ‘you’re the worst person, you’re worthless.’ Imagine dealing with that stress.” Dela Cruz added the PBA should offer psychological counseling to its players. “If you don’t know how to deal with stress, let’s say like a traumatic incident, you bottle up and repress it, it’s gonna come out anytime, and not in a good way. If you don’t have a positive outlet, maybe [you would resort to] drugs, maybe alcohol, maybe gambling, maybe domestic violence.” He’s done his share, introducing a sports psychologist to coach Alex Compton and team manager Dickie Bachmann. Dela Cruz also gives public speeches about mental health when he can. “I encourage anyone to at least talk to somebody, seek out a resource or have a positive outlet. At least just talk. It’s the greatest medicine.” And he said you, everyone can help people dealing with mental issues by spreading a little happiness along the way. “You just have to be kinder to people, more empathetic to people, I know it sounds cheesy, but [if you do that] how happy the world would be.” (For more of commissioner Narvasa’s interview, check out the show’s replay on INQUIRER.net’s Facebook page and other stories at http://sports.inquirer.net. Catch SportsIQ every Thursday 8 to 9 p.m.)
2016-07-30 22:18 Bong Lozada sports.inquirer.net
96 Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat rise NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Scientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft. Mylswamy Annadurai, the project director for the lunar mission, told CNN that temperatures onboard Chandrayaan-1 had risen to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit). The increase occurred as the craft, the moon -- which it is orbiting -- and the sun lined up, a phenomenon which Annadurai said was not unexpected and which would likely last until the end of December. "We have switched off the systems (aboard) that are not needed to be on," Annadurai said, ruling out the possibility of damage and adding that the temperature was now down to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Heat on board the Chandrayaan-1 should not exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), Annadurai said -- but insisted the orbiter is designed to withstand up to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit). The Chandrayaan-1 -- Chandrayaan means "moon craft" in Sanskrit -- was successfully launched from southern India on October 22. Watch the launch of India's first lunar mission » Its two-year mission is to take high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions. It also will search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks, the group said. Earlier this month the Moon Impact Probe detached from Chandrayaan-1 and successfully crash-landed on the moon's surface. Officials say that the TV-size probe, which is adorned with a painting of the Indian flag, hit the moon's surface at a speed of 5,760 kilometers per hour (3,579 mph). It transmitted data to Chandrayaan-1 ahead of impact but was not intended to be retrieved after that. Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria. India plans to share the data from the mission with other programs, including NASA.
2016-07-30 21:55 Harmeet Shah rss.cnn.com
97 Bernie Sanders Won't Rule Out Future Presidential Run We may not have seen the last of Bernie Sanders on the presidential stage. During an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time” Friday night, Sanders didn’t rule out a future presidential run when host Bill Maher suggested he could still mount a future campaign, even at his advanced age. “Bill, I mean, thank you very much, but four years from now is a long time off from now,” Sanders replied, not exactly ruling out another presidential run. “My term ends in two years as a U. S. senator from Vermont. Everything being equal, I intend to run for re-election from Vermont, a state that I love very, very much.” “But what I will tell you is whatever my political future may or may not be,” he went on, “I will be fighting as hard as I can to stand up for a declining middle class, to take on the grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality that we’re seeing right now, to demand that the United States join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right, to make public colleges and universities in this country tuition-free. Those are issues that we have got to continue the fight for.” Even now at 74, Sanders would have been the oldest person ever elected to the White House. At 69 in 1980, Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected president in American history. Follow Jamie on Twitter
2016-07-30 21:55 Senior Writer dailycaller.com
98 Pilot Union Accuses American Airlines Of Compromising Safety American Airlines officials told employees earlier in July to “speed up” operations, and now the company’s pilots union has responded to the call. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American’s 15,000 pilots, told its pilots not to compromise safety to comply with corporate pushing. “This erosion of the safety margin cannot be tolerated. Pilot pushing leads to ‘rush to comply’ behavior, and it must stop,” said APA president Dan Carey in a letter to pilots. The union’s letter was in response to a memo from American Airlines chief operation officer Robert Isom on July 12. Isom told employees that, “for critical flights, our dispatchers and pilots will work together and utilize ‘speed up’ flight plans to reduce delays involving crew duty times where necessary.” Carey highlighted specific problems the pilots are reporting, including that management is manipulating flight plans to keep up with busy travel schedules. “These last-minute manipulations are used to make a flight appear legal when in reality it’s not or is, at best, on the ragged edge,” Carey wrote. American Airlines responded to the union, saying, “Safety and regulatory compliance are always the first and foremost consideration in every decision and in every facet of our company – and we are fortunate that our pilots are the best in the business.” Carey also said, “often, these initial changes are made without the captain being included. There are even instances of managers promising expedited clearance of a taxi route if crews accept the flight plan.” The union pointed out specific concerns , which include, “increased airspeeds nearing aircraft limitations,” and “Increased airspeeds even though aircraft are flight planned through areas of forecast or known turbulence — conditions in which aircraft manufacturers direct lower turbulence speeds.” Follow Ted on Twitter Follow DC Tech 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].
2016-07-30 22:10 dailycaller.com
99 BLM Activist Shaun King Wants College For Cops Black Lives Matter activist and professional social justice warrior Shaun King now wants a law requiring all police officers in the United States to have college degrees. To make his case, he cites several police brutality cases involving — wait for it — college-educated police officers. King, who rose to prominence following the shooting death of Michael Brown, sets forth his bizarre argument in the New York Daily News — in the fifth installment of a “25-part series exploring solutions for police brutality in America.” “Some of the most known cases of police brutality in America, like the violence suffered by Rodney King, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott and Sandra Bland, were all caught on film,” King begins. “Study after study has proven that requiring police officers to earn a four- year degree, any four-year degree in fact, would radically improve virtually every metric essential to good policing,” he writes. King then lists 26 benefits cops could gain from obtaining a college degree including “enhanced grant-writing abilities” and a “decrease in dogmatism, authoritarianism, rigidity” and, of course, “conservatism.” “In spite of the proven benefits,” King writes, “just 1% of all law enforcement agencies in America require a four-year degree.” The Black Lives Matter enthusiast notes that teachers and physical therapists are required to have college degrees. He says that attorneys must have law degrees as well as college degrees — which isn’t the case in all states. “While a few larger cities now require officers to have either two years of college or a mix of police and military experience, many police departments have set the bar so low that all you need to become an officer is a pretty clean criminal history, a high school diploma or GED and a willingness to attend police academy for eight to 10 weeks,” King criticizes. “That’s just not good enough.” The five instances of police brutality against black people which King cites — those of Rodney King, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott and Sandra Bland — involved 10 police officers who faced criminal investigations. Of those 10 cops, exactly half of them either had college degrees or would go on to receive college degrees. Three of the cops did not attend college at all. The educational backgrounds of two officers are unknown. In the 2014 case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, two cops, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, responded to reports of a young boy brandishing a gun. The gun turned out to be an Airsoft replica gun. Almost immediately upon arriving on the scene, Loehmann shot and killed Rice at close to point- blank range. Loehmann, the shooter, obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Cleveland State University. He had a solid 3.1 grade-point average. Garmback, who was driving the squad car, did not pull his gun or shoot anyone. He is a high school graduate with no college experience. A grand jury later declined to indict both officers. The city of Cleveland settled a civil case brought by Rice’s family for $6 million. In the 2014 case of Eric Garner, two police officers, Daniel Pantaleo and Justin D’Amico, approached Garner for allegedly selling single cigarettes without tax stamps. When Garner resisted arrest, Pantaleo choked harshly Garner with his arms for about 15 seconds, causing Garner to lose consciousness and, after about an hour, die. Pantaleo, an Eagle Scout, attended the College of Staten Island. Some reports say he graduated with a bachelor’s degree. Other reports say he did not graduate. The educational history of D’Amico, the other cop, is unclear. D’Amico did not put Garner in a lengthy chokehold and, according to reports, did nothing to cause Garner to die. A grand jury chose not to indict either officer. The city of New York settled with Garner’s family for $5.9 million. A federal investigation of Garner’s death is ongoing. In the 2015 case of Sandra Bland, no police officer caused her death. An autopsy revealed that Bland committed suicide in a jail cell. However, Brian Encinia is the Texas state trooper who arrested Bland because he didn’t like her attitude during a traffic stop for failure to signal. Encinia is a graduate of Texas A&M University . He was later fired and indicted on a perjury charge. His trial is forthcoming. In the 2015 case of Walter Scott, police officer Michael Slager shot Scott after stopping him for a bad brake light. Scott ran off at some point during on the arrest. Slager then pulled out his gun and shot Scott — eight times, in the back — as Scott ran. The cop would later claim that Scott took his Taser gun but video of the incident appears to contradict this claim. Slager — like Scott was — is a high school graduate who served in the Coast Guard . A grand jury later indicted Slager on a murder charge. He faces the prospect of life in prison. In the 1991 case of Rodney King, police chased King at high speeds. When the cops eventually forced King to a stop, they pummeled him severely, kicking him and beating him again and again with batons. Four police officers faced federal criminal charges for their role in the brutal beating (and there were massive riots). Juries found officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell guilty for crimes related to King’s arrest. Two other officers, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno, were acquitted. Koon has a trio of college degrees. He has both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles. He also has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California. Powell did not attend college. After his criminal trial, Wind eventually went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from Loyola Marymount University. He then graduated from Indiana University School of Law in 2003. The educational background of the fourth officer charged in the King incident, Theodore Briseno, is unclear. Shaun King, the Black Lives Matter activist who wants to require all police officers to attend college, does not mention the 2014 police shootings of Michael Brown or Laquan McDonald. However, Jason Van Dyke, the officer who shot McDonald, has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Saint Xavier University. Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, has no college education. King also claims that “Donald Trump supporters” become police officers in overwhelming numbers because “73% of American police officers are white” and “99% of police departments don’t require a college degree.” King makes this odd argument despite the fact that 33 percent of American white people have at least a college degree while only 19 percent of black people in the United States have at least a college degree. King, who has claimed on Twitter that white males enjoy holding firearms because they have “small penises” and “low sex drive,” was once forced to resign from his job at his alma mater, Morehouse College, for brandishing a gun while trying to drive his car through a crowded campus block party. (RELATED: Shaun King Was Fired From Job At Morehouse College Because He Brandished A Gun) King has also maintained in a self-help book that a race-based attack left him clinging to life, bloodied and with a broken back and ribs. However, witness statements included in a police report show that someone beat up King because King threatened they guy’s ex-girlfriend over a broken CD. (RELATED: More Damning Details Emerge About Black Lives Matter Activist’s Hate Crime Claim) Follow Eric, a proud college graduate, on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send story tips to [email protected].
2016-07-30 22:10 Education Editor dailycaller.com
100 What Dems Think Of Unions Supporting Hillary PHILADELPHIA — Democratic National Convention participants denounced union leadership for endorsing party nominee Hillary Clinton when so many union members were behind Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders is viewed by his supporters and many others as genuine in the milieu of political candidates. Many local union members gravitated towards the Sanders message of economic equality and reining in powerful special interests like the big banks. In spite of differences, many national unions endorsed Clinton. “I think it showed they were out of touch with their membership,” Labor for Bernie Volunteer Rand Wilson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I think the last year and a half with union leadership showed they were a little bit out of touch with the rank-and- file. Totally missed the level of frustration and anger on the part of union members across this country.” Wilson, despite his misgivings, believes that Clinton is still a much better choice than Republican nominee Donald Trump. He warned union leadership not to ignore the concerns of workers who support Trump and risk further alienating union members. National Nurses United (NNU) was one of the few major unions to endorse Sanders and is continuing to do so. “Their leadership comes out in support of Hillary but their rank-and-file say Bernie,” NNU Vice President Sandra Falwell told TheDCNF. “I’ll be honest with you, I think they betrayed their membership. If your membership is telling you we need this, this and this and the person you are supporting does not go for that you have betrayed the people you are supposed to be working for.” Falwell has been a union member for roughly two decades and a registered nurse for 43 years. Falwell believes other unions are growing apart from their members, due to a structure that promotes disconnect. “I think far too many including labor leaders are with the status quo,” Falwell also noted. “The one difference in our union and the rest is we’re all volunteers. Everything I do here is on my off time, my own vacation time and my own money.” Some see a silver lining in the Hillary win. “I was originally going for Bernie but I think Hillary will take his vision and act on it and come through for us,” Communications Workers of America Member Moises Lopez told TheDCNF. “I switched when she secured the nomination.” For some, it is less about who took the nomination and more about the process. “We have a democratic process of voting that is membership based,” National Education Association Member Elizabeth Paul told TheDCNF. “Members elect delegates to represent them at the local level, the state level and the national. So it was a voting process. And just like any election there are people who aren’t necessarily happy with the results.” Democratic delegates supporting Sanders staged a walkout Tuesday at the convention in response to allegations the primaries were rigged. Union leadership notes the concern their membership could end up supporting Trump over Clinton. The AFL-CIO has already been utilizing its substantial political influence and resources to oppose the Republican nominee. It has been mobilizing members and supporters on the grassroots level throughout the election. 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].
2016-07-30 22:10 dailycaller.com
Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-07-31 00:02